Saturday, March 28, 2009

Is The United States of America Mentioned in The Bible?

Many people assert that the United States doesn't appear in the Bible. However, the four beasts of Daniel's vision, found in Daniel chapter 7, bear an uncanny resemblance to nations in our modern world, including the United States.


Daniel 7:1-9 - Daniel's vision of four beasts.

Daniel 7:4
The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.



Explanation:

Daniel's vision in Daniel 7 describes four beasts - a lion with eagle's wings, a bear, a leopard with four heads, and a beast described as "dreadful and terrible" with large teeth of iron and a head with ten horns. We know from Daniel 7:17 and Daniel 7:23 that these beasts represent kings and kingdoms.

According to Daniel 7:9-12, these kingdoms will exist at about the time of the return of Jesus Christ to establish His 1000 year reign of peace. Many, including myself believe that we are rapidly approaching that day.

Consider the lion with eagle's wings. Great Britain's official animal symbol is the lion. Some of Britain's flags have had the image of the lion. It is common to see Britain referred to as a lion in news articles and political cartoons. The entry for "lion" in Webster's Third New International Dictionary states that the lion is the symbol of Great Britain.

Now consider the eagle's wings. Take a look at the reverse side of the United States' one-dollar bill. On the great seal of the United States you will find the image of an eagle. It is common knowledge that the eagle is the national bird of the United States and that its image is repeatedly used in the news media to represent the United States.

Interestingly, in Daniel's vision, we see the eagle's wings coming out of the lion. Here we have what appears to be a clear depiction of the United States growing out of her mother country, Great Britain.

There are those, myself among them, who believe that the identity of the other three beasts may also indeed be ascertained through knowledge;

The image of a bear is often used to describe a powerful Soviet Union/Russia. Even in todays news media, given recent events such as Russia's incursions into Georgia, etc., there are those who refer to the "Russian Bear" reasserting its dominance. Could this image of a bear in the book of Daniel be modern day Russia?

The leopard could indeed be China. Leopards and other large cats are often associated with Asian nations such as China, and China is fast becoming a major player in the world both politically AND economically.

The final beast in Daniel's dream, the one described as "dreadful and terrible" with large iron teeth and a head with ten horns, is held by some based upon other prophesies to be a global conglomeration/one world government. And with the United Nations seeking to increase its power and influence in more and more ways, including control over world economies and calling for a "global reserve currency" (possible fulfillment of prophesy concerning a "one-world currency"?), it is not too much of a stretch to see this beast as possibly being the emerging UN...

Doesn't this all seem a little TOO coincidental?

God in his foreknowledge and wisdom saw the nations that would exist at the time of His return. In His love, He gave Daniel a vision so that we might have understanding in these last days and prepare ourselves for His soon return!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

We Need To Demand Action...

A 10-Point Plan to return America to true greatness...

1. Stop the government war against Freedom of Religion in the public realm.

2. Secure the borders/Enforce anti-sanctuary laws/Abolish using federal revenues to benefit ANYONE WHO DOESN'T PAY TAXES.

3. Finish the job we started after September 11th, 2001. We must never rest until the EVIL of international terrorism is crushed under our heel.

4. Abolish the earmark.

5. Repeal all FEDERAL INCOME TAX LAWS/The IRS/Federal Welfare and make the states take care of themselves and their own. We survived for over a century without federal income tax revenues, and we can do it again. The federal military can be funded via other revenues which have existed for CENTURIES.

6. Get the FEDERAL government completely out of public education. Ever since they got into public education in 1968 via LBJ's "Great Society", our system has been in steady decline. Coincedence? Doubtful...

7. Invalidate Roe v. Wade as illegal judicial legislation, and return control of abortion laws to the states.

8. Leave marriage alone, and leave it up to the individual states.

9. Abolish the use of any "quota" system.

10. Pass a Constitutional Amendment certifying that ANY ELECTED FEDERAL OFFICIAL convicted of "high crimes and/or high misdemeanors" will no longer be eligible to hold federal office (elected or otherwise). This is the ULTIMATE TERM LIMIT.

My fear though, is that without this... We may be heading straight into a second Civil War.

A New, CRIPPLING, Tax Plan Announced by Obama...

Do you receive company-paid health benefits? Should you have to pay taxes on those benefits as if they were income? President Obama seems to think so, or at least he said as much this weekend. Aside from the personal cost to you (and the fact that Obama deeply criticized Sen. McCain during the campaign last fall when McCain made almost the EXACT same proposal), what are the ramifications of this proposal?

I've been reading a lot of blogs and comments about this latest announcement coming from the Oval Office, and some are missing the point, although only slightly. These aren't taxes on health care YOU BUY. These are taxes on BENEFITS from your employer. If you BUY YOUR OWN, you won't be taxed (remember this key point, it will be important later). Taking that into account, consider the following... The average cost for my wife's school district to pay for health benefits (medical, dental, vision) for a family of 4 is about $1,000 a month. That works out to approximately $12,000 a year. Taking into account that the top marginal tax rate will rise to over 38% (although I believe that the actual final number will be MUCH higher) under the current administration, that works out to potentially an extra $4,560 ($380 per month, or $414.55 if you are a teacher who only gets paid 11 months out of the year) in taxes being deducted from people's paychecks. Now also remember that if the FEDERAL government decides to do this, that many states will most likely follow suit in short order. So, if you live in California, that's an approximate extra 11% per year potentially...

That KILLS many folks financially. That's a car payment that they cannot afford anymore, etc... What hurts American families' saving/spending, hurts the American economy in a very impactful way by killing the ability of consumers to consume and thus for companies to remain solvent and to help pull us out of this economic quagmire.

There are two realities to this proposed plan:

1) Following this announcement I fully expect the DOW to have a loss, most likely a SUBSTANTIAL one, on Monday the 16th of March. Should the plan become reality, WATCH OUT BELOW!!! Could I be wrong? Sure. Some good news could come out before tomorrow morning which could counter this devestation, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Also, remember what caused this past week's uptick in the DOW: the administration finally put a lid on all this "gloom and doom" about the economy (for the most part), and there was very good news coming out of Detroit (Ford reworking their UAW agreement and eliminating the "jobs bank") and CitiGroup announcing they expect to turn a profit.

2) People could actually SAVE money under this plan by purchasing their own health care insurance, and then getting a tax credit the following spring. Although the savings will only be seen when they file their returns, and that added cost per month to their budget for health care will be about the same as the taxes that would have occurred (thus, having the same impact on their wallets AND our economy). Also, does anyone REALLY believe that employers will replace that lost benefit with more pay? Of course not, they will take it as a nice new "profit". And I wonder who will sell the people that insurance? This is all a ploy to further the push of UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE.

Are we sufficiently angry yet folks? I know I am. And as odd as it sounds, I'm also tired of being RIGHT. The evidence keeps mounting... Government control of anything it can touch, a dependent electorate, etc... It is SO obvious what is coming...

Thursday, March 5, 2009

It's Been A While...

Many things have occurred in my private life since the last time I posted... As such, I have only recently been able to make my return to blogging.

Since I last posted, some 60 million American voters were duped by a smooth-talker into electing him as President. It seems as though many Americans just could not remember the lessons learned when we previously elected a smooth-talking socialist with a thin resume (Jimmy Carter). Obviously, I am not happy with the current state of our nation from a political leadership standpoint. That being said, I will not act like those who cried foul in 2000 (and who showed their obvious lack of Constitutional knowledge, and this would include democrats in CONGRESS) and even had the gall to wear shirts which read "Not MY President". Barack Obama, despite my reservations with the man (Marxist tendencies, etc...), is my president for better or worse. HOWEVER...

When will this man and his complacent Congress led by Pelosi and Reid realize that they are SOLELY RESPONSIBLE for the CURRENT crash of the stock market? I know, I know... Some people will argue that it is a continuance of what Bush left behind (The fact that BDR, Bush Derangement Syndrome, continues just boggles my mind... Trust me, someone will blame events which occur YEARS from now on Bush. It'll probably be Keith Olbermann, and how he and Rachel Maddow call themselves "non-partisan" is BEYOND me...), but the facts simply don't support this. The stock market had relatively settled down by Inauguration Day, but has since been slipping further and further into an abyss. This has been a result of Democratic Party policies being announced and implemented. Trust me on the following folks; YOU CAN WATCH OBAMA SPEAK ABOUT NEW ECONOMIC PLANS, AND HAVE A STOCK TICKER NEXT TO THAT PICTURE AND WATCH THE MARKET FALL!!! Some major news channels have already picked up on this. THE MARKETS KNOW what is coming; more regulation, and less PROFITABILITY. Thus, why would ANYONE be active in BUYING?!?

But alas, democrats and their constituents seem to believe that this is all necessary and what we really need now is a NEW New Deal, or according to British P.M. Gordon Brown a GLOBAL New Deal. All of this of course ignores the fact that while FDR's New Deal APPEARED to help to begin reversing The Great Depression in the beginning, the reality is that unemployment still hovered around 20 percent, and after more than 8 years in office only World War II saved his legacy. One other tidbit of information that gets lost in this is a little known Executive Order in which FDR deemed any income over $25,000 to be EXCESSIVE, and would be taxed at 100%. WOW...

But the biggest lessons that Obama and his cronies need to remember are the lessons which got us INTO The Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover was the president under whom The Great Depression occurred. The Great Depression was the result of Hoover Administration policies which allowed a deep recession (which we were coming out of) to turn into a MASSIVE depression. What were those policies? Higher taxes, bigger economic regulations, and protectionist policies (such as Obama and the democrats' "Buy American" provision in the latest stimulus bill).

So, what should this administration do? In a word; NOTHING!!! Let the system work, and let insolvent companies fail and go away. Stop continually bailing out companies over and over again (if AIG or GM get another bailout, I may actually lose my friggin' mind), and tell them to do what countless of other people and businesses have had to do throughout history; GO BANKRUPT. The more we keep these companies (and bad mortgages too) propped up, the longer this is going to last.

But, to be honest, I hope they keep making these obviously foolish decisions. It only makes the return of Conservatism that much easier.