tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83381348718470716302024-02-06T17:06:16.775-08:00 The Wall Fly ExhibitFeel Free to EavesdropLarry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-17972257564201588752022-07-10T15:02:00.009-07:002023-06-12T16:55:00.201-07:00World Changers<p> <span> </span><span> </span><span> <br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9dL1x9Wwpsno6ps39wxVETnhkOpKB4klZgnBvdO4GtDt1AsbcQWQhYUFHavksegTTqlNJR65ADqKE8bUROCJd5zb9fFxN61KjTGllzZJBaJx7HEPF1eoadrkOffgodF8eHMMH2wOCW3P9501S3pOB6jdXbg9S5Mr1rWwbfb3DmzHG-A46a_ZDeWan/s453/Pretense.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="453" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9dL1x9Wwpsno6ps39wxVETnhkOpKB4klZgnBvdO4GtDt1AsbcQWQhYUFHavksegTTqlNJR65ADqKE8bUROCJd5zb9fFxN61KjTGllzZJBaJx7HEPF1eoadrkOffgodF8eHMMH2wOCW3P9501S3pOB6jdXbg9S5Mr1rWwbfb3DmzHG-A46a_ZDeWan/w200-h150/Pretense.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Every so often the sociopolitical
plates of our world are forced to undergo a tectonic shift. And what makes it all so completely ridiculous
is that this militant upheaval can invariably be traced back to a psychopathic epicenter. From Attila to Genghis Kahn to Stalin and
Hitler to the arrogant militants of today, such violent social misfits believe
their will should govern the world – no matter the cost in blood or treasure.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the times when
these radical world changers rise up from their birthplace in the underworld, the
more peaceful and manageable status quo of life begins to evaporate.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, with it goes life’s positive
outlook.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, all begins to trend downward,
until finally, one more time, our world is again drowned in its own blood and
starved through its deep poverty.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">In my view, we are now
facing another such uprising.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">But this
time, the world is being assaulted by an invisible oligarchy of
psychopaths.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nevertheless, while this
group of social “puppeteers” is largely unidentified in the public eye, at the
end, I’m sure their impact will be every bit as deadly to the human race as
before – and then some.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">But, what I cannot
grasp is the insanity of it all.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why can
we never identify this pattern of recurring social apartheid – the few forcing
their will upon the many – and stop allowing it?</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why do the violent, the elitists, and the
social experimenters, being in the great minority, get to rule over the rest of
us at the expense of everything we hold dear: </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">peace, safety, prosperity, and the very lives
of our children.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">And who, besides
themselves, declared these social manipulators to be gods?</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, when did so many of us become so idiotic
as to empower their schemes which ultimately destroy us in mass?</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yet we continue to buy in with our political,
philosophical, and material support so they can?</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Obviously, we don’t
really need the dark leadership of dime-a-dozen world changers.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">What we really need to invest in, what’s
truly valuable, are peace-filled lives fashioned by our own thoughtful will and
principled deeds.</span></span></p>Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-71648055454011688232022-02-04T03:15:00.009-08:002023-06-12T16:58:28.956-07:00The Cost of Rose<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRnotNwlLOZ3KRUl0aoWZD9JPbONN02m7Rblbb6c9zhFg34yWmzUEDeBYuzK7ChB6SPRXSZNWpsjkPUuLPqT1re8klqypzWv2Ch5pKyRsgozWE_Kt0cC8-Qmvpw6qlgtieiXCdNy1fVYNrZ5cmw-mBGMgaXaP-BxK4UFfV-GFvQMtHxiJqfb8JO7bC=s510" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="510" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRnotNwlLOZ3KRUl0aoWZD9JPbONN02m7Rblbb6c9zhFg34yWmzUEDeBYuzK7ChB6SPRXSZNWpsjkPUuLPqT1re8klqypzWv2Ch5pKyRsgozWE_Kt0cC8-Qmvpw6qlgtieiXCdNy1fVYNrZ5cmw-mBGMgaXaP-BxK4UFfV-GFvQMtHxiJqfb8JO7bC=w200-h133" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">Humility – the willingness to bow. Faith – the willingness to bow before God. Love – a sense of responsibility for the well-being of others. Duty – the willingness to engage responsibility. Honor – the willingness to be accountable to the higher conscience. Honesty – the determined embrace of objective truth. Morality – a willingness to live nobly. Temperance – the willingness to confront the worth of your own desires.<br /><br /><br /> The phrases written above are not precise dictionary definitions of the virtues mentioned there. They are more a practical description of the real character impacts which those virtues produce in us – and ultimately, in our world.</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> But lately, it seems we’ve started to believe that we can just dismiss the Godly requirement of a virtuous heart which actually produces virtuous living. It seems we’ve started to think of such character issues as just too much trouble and not really that necessary to these “digital” times. So seemingly, we feel we can do fine without that inconvenience.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> <br />At this point, Dr. Phil would probably ask, “Well – how’s that working for you?” And, in the sane reality which always has the last word over the rose colored one, the answer would have to be, “It’s really not.”</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Merely for the lack of virtuous hearts, our national government has mutated from protective to threatening. Our Justice Department and its FBI minions have entirely lost their ethical way. Our national identity is being drained away through our southern border. And, the “home of the brave” has become filled with Covid obsessed Chicken Littles.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Due only to the absence of virtue in the heart of those who have the power to make a difference, the value of our dollar is plummeting. The price of our goods and services is skyrocketing. Our educators no longer do. Our medical system has sold its soul to the bottom line. And, our work force is out on a long, lazy, government subsidized break.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> <br />It is true. A devotion to virtue does have a cost, but not nearly the cost of the upheaval which results from its absence. And virtue’s paybacks are proven and priceless.</span></div>Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-78010530010275799552021-03-21T15:24:00.019-07:002023-06-12T17:00:56.725-07:00Sentiments Mistakenly Consigned to the Tempestuous Teapot <p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbfrOz_f0kRbwliILmNhorj8PbxjE7ymAV_nsBr_EhLY7WFxIx0BVau_lfAm5nG7F79b0coQgXE2tmYnINn9x4PfNtdK5A5ISZMXD7GncSP9ivWyRMrAhUJQn_ej-hhEWkX0NySfWra4/s604/Teapot+Tempest.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="604" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbfrOz_f0kRbwliILmNhorj8PbxjE7ymAV_nsBr_EhLY7WFxIx0BVau_lfAm5nG7F79b0coQgXE2tmYnINn9x4PfNtdK5A5ISZMXD7GncSP9ivWyRMrAhUJQn_ej-hhEWkX0NySfWra4/w320-h180/Teapot+Tempest.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>But, these are no tempests in a teapot</i></b></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Lu54-DBxrBMdOe9X-YQdS-eAbx3oV9YZ3k7FCVVB_HsOqEvYPbpRHOa_keIS2rOGzxigM78aHBep3oiSILUiVxX3M_KvH8qy-9Wz3MW9aLTvptL_6eYEt84Wzp3dwrDb1odgGK81PQQ/s453/Clown.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="453" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Lu54-DBxrBMdOe9X-YQdS-eAbx3oV9YZ3k7FCVVB_HsOqEvYPbpRHOa_keIS2rOGzxigM78aHBep3oiSILUiVxX3M_KvH8qy-9Wz3MW9aLTvptL_6eYEt84Wzp3dwrDb1odgGK81PQQ/w200-h150/Clown.png" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://countermeasures7.blogspot.com/2013/05/intrusions-of-darkness.html" target="_blank">Intrusions of the Darkness</a></i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsERSrVAYUWNnTSvu5MHXYxHk1zgt9K99SHAnlddieLexboQwQYP6Re0CBDy2brpsrxtylaS53F3vAueu-DLpGXMy6fGoo_ISr8bLjsO2KuFkBtRGIl2PXqvfzXJtMrcyBW6A50yba9c0/s400/Flag+Backlit.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="400" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsERSrVAYUWNnTSvu5MHXYxHk1zgt9K99SHAnlddieLexboQwQYP6Re0CBDy2brpsrxtylaS53F3vAueu-DLpGXMy6fGoo_ISr8bLjsO2KuFkBtRGIl2PXqvfzXJtMrcyBW6A50yba9c0/w200-h133/Flag+Backlit.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://countermeasures7.blogspot.com/2018/11/then-and-now_7.html" target="_blank">Old Tactics - New Faces</a></i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtPpTwpBvrvAbrihXcIFlonA5BEgz2ITsgNZkS-PmuYTBzFDaxqmQd2MoHhY7QDby8dPMDioLwfNo_f3DGnJ42won2IgZOFXVJrq4_q9AUWrF76f7chyIZzdI15IRBBYEq9CuLDoKipU/s720/Puppeteer.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="503" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtPpTwpBvrvAbrihXcIFlonA5BEgz2ITsgNZkS-PmuYTBzFDaxqmQd2MoHhY7QDby8dPMDioLwfNo_f3DGnJ42won2IgZOFXVJrq4_q9AUWrF76f7chyIZzdI15IRBBYEq9CuLDoKipU/w140-h200/Puppeteer.png" width="140" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://countermeasures7.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-puppeteers.html" target="_blank">The Puppeteers</a></i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg94cKCNLgqs7suY_hP2qqKt5q6oLLN-zJst4wbOr7ZUIaBypsaFc3H7nIOoXz9ay-Hk7Ll6e86Ke6SC0AbfxPQ4Ij9E3iDSw6deMwVuSvn23Qgb-lDF7CMFFqj9vaQkxy_jQ8XoUTzO24/s583/Rushmore.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="583" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg94cKCNLgqs7suY_hP2qqKt5q6oLLN-zJst4wbOr7ZUIaBypsaFc3H7nIOoXz9ay-Hk7Ll6e86Ke6SC0AbfxPQ4Ij9E3iDSw6deMwVuSvn23Qgb-lDF7CMFFqj9vaQkxy_jQ8XoUTzO24/w200-h117/Rushmore.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://countermeasures7.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-weight-of-this-moment-by-a-joe.html" target="_blank">The Wisdom of A. A. Joe</a></i></b></span></p><p></p><p><b style="font-size: x-large;"><i> </i></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVNN23sCkFmrPS3mGdF63ar982uZND-kyGSxBB02Y0N43oWqR0-nXdAolii1Zffzqoak6V3WfB3F-bUyRy_-AzTBtl-XxF9ZxJRWO8qe220gGcDgUMzArPQ79t9gjqxkRKCg7mN5U0I4/s510/Washington+Sunset.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="510" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVNN23sCkFmrPS3mGdF63ar982uZND-kyGSxBB02Y0N43oWqR0-nXdAolii1Zffzqoak6V3WfB3F-bUyRy_-AzTBtl-XxF9ZxJRWO8qe220gGcDgUMzArPQ79t9gjqxkRKCg7mN5U0I4/w200-h133/Washington+Sunset.png" width="200" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /><i><a href="https://countermeasures7.blogspot.com/2021/03/when-god-steps-back.html" target="_blank">Where America Is Going </a></i></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://countermeasures7.blogspot.com/2021/03/when-god-steps-back.html" target="_blank"> - And Why</a><br /></i><br /></b></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVQ6oRqp9msJN4PEV-aciH9Xat7DWmGIRSXLjkzccQAWITEQhYn0qkdhOiI-X2wcv7yBzda2Yzgrv8kCBfn8J5QkdNp1_9OYlmMRnovUc-ejj5g6g8MnjsHe33oE7MF95J4UM-cn5IF3-QR4ok2Rp4KFFwHHQ-onrQtlBMB0yyzbmCRLGVDDf7drnk=s519" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="519" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVQ6oRqp9msJN4PEV-aciH9Xat7DWmGIRSXLjkzccQAWITEQhYn0qkdhOiI-X2wcv7yBzda2Yzgrv8kCBfn8J5QkdNp1_9OYlmMRnovUc-ejj5g6g8MnjsHe33oE7MF95J4UM-cn5IF3-QR4ok2Rp4KFFwHHQ-onrQtlBMB0yyzbmCRLGVDDf7drnk=w200-h129" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoVDr6136fc" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">O>Portal Exhibit</span></a></b></div></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;"><b><i>A 1985 Look Back</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;"><b><i>Roberson / Reagan</i></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"><b>by</b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #e06666;"> The 700 Club</span><span style="color: #f6b26b;"> </span></b></span></p>Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-13671858521585406942021-03-15T14:06:00.014-07:002021-05-16T18:17:50.194-07:00Where America Is Going - And Why<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjirTD7kW9jV_qG2M_v1OXkLTgbVDQ2dJvDDMdlP5_E4S1LCuIWpV-fcOSmVe06RTo5p85cl8_xbhFHldBPUuHO-WxNpiU9AlljDDrnv6Bv1jEX29Z5cQm6yGasWXKRAj1z1lB1lk2ssUs/s510/Washington+Sunset.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="510" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjirTD7kW9jV_qG2M_v1OXkLTgbVDQ2dJvDDMdlP5_E4S1LCuIWpV-fcOSmVe06RTo5p85cl8_xbhFHldBPUuHO-WxNpiU9AlljDDrnv6Bv1jEX29Z5cQm6yGasWXKRAj1z1lB1lk2ssUs/w400-h266/Washington+Sunset.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span style="font-size: large;">What does it look like when God comes to the end of His
patience with a wayward nation and finally steps back? There is actually a good picture of such in
the Bible. It occurred on the occasion
of God’s commission to Isaiah and His explanation of what the prophet was about
to encounter.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span> This
occasion well demonstrates the look of God’s</span><i>
“end point.”</i><span> This is that point
where a nation has become so willfully indifferent toward God and the
principled lives which He would ask them to live, that the Almighty says, </span><i>“Enough is enough.”</i><span> At the beginning of Isaiah’s ministry, Israel
had largely become that nation – a people who no longer seriously pursued God or the foundational character issues which He wished them to embrace.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p><span> Isaiah’s
account indicates that everything started with a divine question. He writes, </span><i>“Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and
who will go for Us?’</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: large;"> "Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’ <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i> "</i><i>And He said, 'Go, and tell this people, hear indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but
perceive not. Make the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and
convert, and be healed.’”</i>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> It’s important to understand that
what God was expressing to the prophet here was not a divine decree of outcome,
but a disgusted prediction of it – based in Israel’s previous stubbornness. The essential idea was this. <i>Tell this people for Me - </i><i>One
final time, I’m sending you the truth, so one more time, you can close your eyes and shut your ears and insulate your heart against it, instead of embracing it in order to be healed.</i>
Thus, if the reader simply adds the inflection of disgust and sarcasm to
God’s voice as he or she reads this passage, it actually adds greater accuracy
and understanding to the reading. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i> </i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Then comes
Isaiah’s question to God. It’s this
question which actually leads to a verbal portrait of that point where God
finally runs out of patience with human arrogance. The prophet continues, <i>“Then I said, ‘Lord, how long?’ <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><i><span style="font-size: large;"> “And He answered: <u>‘Until the
cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the
land is utterly desolate, the Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken
places are many in the midst of
the land</u>.’”</span></i> <span><span style="font-size: medium;">(Ref. Isaiah 6:8-12)</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> What Isaiah
describes here is a land which is facing a thorough decimation as a result of their great and growing apathy toward God. And eventually, the trauma described
here did come to pass in Israel. It became a fractured land of despair, and widespread
decay. Indeed, it is both sobering and
frightening to see how deeply a nation can be impacted by the loss of God’s
divine defense and blessing. Such an
absence brings darkness to the very soul of a nation – in short order.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> And, on November
3, 2020, America became set to experience this same kind of impact. That was the day when God finally stepped back
from America. That was the day when God
stopped restraining the Darkness. That
was the day when God finally allowed America to begin experiencing the
consequences of its widespread, many decades-long, and still growing indifference,
and even disdain, toward God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> On that
day, Election Day 2020, that critical election was, in fact, stolen by
seditious political criminals, in service to the Democrat Party – the most
prominent human face of satanic darkness in America. And, it is very telling as to how widespread
this infamous conspiracy had to be in order to succeed. But, more impressive yet is how completely absent
God was from America’s defense against this widespread assault on American sovereignty. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> In each
contested state, election officials chose to turn an obviously predetermined blind
eye to voting fraud and illegalities – even in the face of compelling
evidence. And, the Supreme Court, in
turn, also chose to embrace, what similarly appeared to be, a pre-planned blindness
regarding the legal and political misconducts in this election. And, in doing so, the high court surrendered
the very essence of America’s democracy, the integrity of its elections, into
the hands of these Satan-owned political schemers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> And, across
the propaganda media, the pat reporting was obviously a long planned and well
synchronized part of that scheme – the part designed to cultivate a national <i>normalcy bias</i>. The pitch was essentially this. <i>“What fraud?
Let’s just move on as we’ve always done after an election.”</i> But, the true reality was that a horrible new “normal”
was made entirely imminent for America through the success of that 2020
election fraud. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Now, having
stolen this election with impunity, these dark-hearted political usurpers will
simply repeat their seditious formula for doing so in future elections. And
now, they can much more easily implement that formula from their seats of power
in the government, thus assuring their hold on those seats in perpetuity. So, our future elections will become nothing
more than a sham to provide merely the appearance of legitimacy to what is
actually an unseen dictatorial oligarchy operating from behind the scenes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Nevertheless,
in the days following the election, it began to be obvious that the “normalcy carrot”
which the media held out to the pubic did start to gain significant attraction
across the country. So, fairness, and
justice, and conscience, and principle, and even the rule of law was simply
brushed aside in service to less troublesome and more up-close life pursuits
for a great many citizens. Thus, this widespread
moral and ethical carelessness simply became the freshest example of why God chose
to step back from the nation in the first place. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> So now, America
is left staring at the end of its identity as democratic republic. And yet, at this writing, four months after
the elections, most Americans are still unaware that their republic, and the
liberties and blessings they derive from it, have been mortally wounded – and
the death of it all has now been made completely imminent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> At this
early juncture, the vast majority still choose to believe the lie that, indeed,
<i>all things will go on as before</i>. But, by the upcoming mid-term elections, most
in the country will certainly know better.
By then, most all will have recognized the ever more threatening nature
of the government. By then, most will know that America is no longer being
truly governed by the principles of a constitution and the traditional fairness
of American jurisprudence. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> And, as the
evidence begins to pile up, the country will start to feel the despair of being
governed by the whims of those unseen and unprincipled powerbrokers who are
using mere figurehead political puppets to reshape American society. In coming months, Americans will, indeed,
begin to realize that their government has assumed this entirely new and very sinister
form. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> And, you do
not have to be a prophet to know what the attendant downward spiral will look
like in the real terms of everyday life.
The real powers-that-be, operating from behind the Biden and, not too
eventually, the Harris throne, are truly Satan’s children. As such, they have no ethical restraints. They are as cruel and heartless as is Satan,
himself. They hate <i>true good</i> as much as they hate those who stand for and do it. So, they will ravage the remaining good in
this nation without compunction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Nevertheless,
these satanic operatives do, in fact, now control the seats of power in this
nation. And, they are set to do their
worst. Already they are implementing
policies and getting prepared to weaponize existing and new laws to force their
will upon the population. And certainly,
the previous Covid mandates have already given the nation a taste of the
bitterness of this kind of forced, like-it-or-not compliance. But now, this type
of oppression is coming to America with an unlimited scope, eventually toppling
even the most sacred strongholds of traditional civil protections.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> And, rest assured,
these children of the Darkness will essentially abolish our southern border and
flood this nation with a poor, backward, criminal, and non-invested population
to weaken its social and political fabric. And this will also help assure their perpetual grip on power as they grant blanket citizenship to tens of millions of illegals. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">These dark minded world changers will also finish corrupting our criminal and civil courts, including the
high court, as they have already been attempting to do for many decades. And, House Bill 1, already passed in the House, if passed in the Senate, will legalize election cheating methods of the type done in the 2020 election.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> </span>And they will destroy the ethical trustworthiness
of the nation’s police forces by eventually filling their ranks with their own
mercenary thugs. The opportunity for this <i>police overhaul</i>, will be afforded by the quickly and constantly escalating attrition of good but highly frustrated police officers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> They, will
poison the nation economically with reckless, purely ideologically based policies. The dollar will begin a continuous slip in value and inflation will continue to rise with the printing of more and more of these less valuable dollars. And, they will certainly enact
stratospheric taxes on nearly all Americans to siphon off the nation’s private wealth
for government use. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">They will vastly
over-empower non-elected bureaucrats as decision makers over our daily lives –
including our property, health, financial, and social services issues. They will weaken the military through
economic starvation. They will continue
to encourage class and race divisions so citizens remain disunited. And, they will come for the guns to prevent any
serious resistance or insurrection. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> And
eventually, as companies and corporations begin to fail under the weight of
ominous government regulations, and jobs dry up, and America’s wealth is very
intentionally drained away, the country will fall into widespread decay and disrepair. America’s many fine neighborhoods and homes will
become run down; and, many homes will be entirely lost to their owners due to
the severe economic decline of the nation.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Our
commercial buildings will begin to show the ravages of our poverty in their
cracked glass, broken doors, and elevators with permanent out-of-order
signs. Our roads and highways will
become chronically shabby with potholes, and long broken traffic lights, and other
unattended issues of decay. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> And many
will die and be imprisoned at the hands of these merciless overlords. They will do these supremely horrid things because
they must do them in order to impose their draconian political and social will
upon this nation. They will need these
measures to silence their opposition and to relieve themselves of the burden of
those whom they view as some sort of liability – often swallowing up even their
own in the harshness of these actions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Also, the foundational
things, which Americans have been able to take for granted for so long, such as
freedom of movement, freedom of ownership, freedom of thought and expression, and
the sanctity of legitimate religious convictions – these will vanish.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Our health care will have only a fraction of
its former efficiency and effectiveness due to overcrowding, doctor shortages,
and diminishing federal financial support. And, even the more mundane things
like standards for the quality of food, medicines, and commercial products will
become undependable.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> And, when
all of this, and much more like it, has come to pass in the lives of rank and
file Americans, surely they will wonder how it could possibly have done so. And, many will then, almost certainly, begin
to recap the political twists and turns of the nation’s recent past in search of
answers. And, doubtless, they will also point
fingers of blame even as they curse the Darkness – but, only in low tones for
fear of reprisal. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Nevertheless,
I wonder if this nation will ever understand that these troubles were actually,
most essentially, just the outflow of their arrogant dismissal of the God who
gave birth to the nation in the first place.
And, I wonder, when Americans finally come to this time of soul
searching, if they will see the need to admit their mistake and repent of their
conceit before Him? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> But, be all
of that as it may, in that <i>too-late hour</i>
of their musings, without a doubt Americans will have come to know one thing
with absolute certainty. For, they will know
this thing from their own deeply heartbreaking experience. They will know precisely
what it looks and feels like when God does, finally and decisively, step back from
an incorrigibly arrogant nation who has so long and so willfully gone away from
Him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <i>“Until the cities are laid waste and without
inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate, the
Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span>~</span></i><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span></b><span style="font-size: large;">nd,
lest the reader think all of this, just the rantings of one more doomsday
lunatic, consider these three compelling questions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Can
any democracy, no matter how vibrant, survive the systemic corruption of its
election process?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Can
any democracy survive the unfettered power of its government to weaponize its
laws and its law enforcement facility against its citizens?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Can
any democracy survive a corrupt and irredeemably evil political party which
becomes totally and perpetually empowered?
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> In
fact, these are the essential conditions which have now been set up in America by
the 2020 election – the point where God fi</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">nally stepped back in resignation.</span>Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-78546831813860623182021-01-20T00:20:00.003-08:002021-03-16T06:49:09.781-07:00Binding Aspirations<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTkpTreLQ13GuNXDpnshUfxFbnfIKUYTeJrUXjeofdLkEwdC85hyBoH_xznWvCrS7DwBVyG-elPtd-rbBUdmOz0LQ78d7LHmHuK9b8aHYGCO6Y4oZuUdaVSNfwGvPsWnYFQypaetEy5LY/s528/Binding+Aspirations.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTkpTreLQ13GuNXDpnshUfxFbnfIKUYTeJrUXjeofdLkEwdC85hyBoH_xznWvCrS7DwBVyG-elPtd-rbBUdmOz0LQ78d7LHmHuK9b8aHYGCO6Y4oZuUdaVSNfwGvPsWnYFQypaetEy5LY/s320/Binding+Aspirations.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">In my 72 years, the only America I’ve ever known has been an imperfect America. But, it has also been the least imperfect nation on earth across all of those years. So, the America which I have seen, and which is portrayed in our history books, is not a perfect nation, but a maturing nation. Indeed, America has clearly demonstrated her willingness to grow beyond previous mistakes to a better national condition. For that reason, I still find it very easy to deeply love, respect, and admire this somewhat “warted” ideal that is America.</span><p></p><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Unlike some in our more naïve generations, I do not require a new American penance which insists on reaching far back into our history to cleanse our national soul. Rather, I more reasonably require that the nation merely presently exhibit an orderly and systemic responsiveness to its own higher good. And since, except in the unhinged minds of our more radical citizens, that is, indeed, the case, I remain devoted to this nation and her traditional pursuits: Personal Freedom, Personal Prosperity, and Personal Goodness. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Before these times, those simple pursuits were considered noble. It was largely unheard of that Americans would willingly embrace an idea where government was to become our daily and detailed overlord. Rather, the typical American intent was to remain as free of government interference as possible in our personal pursuit of happiness. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Nor have Americans previously been intimidated, shrinking from the competitive nature of Capitalism. Rather, they typically chased its broadly available treasures. And, history proves that vastly more often than not, they won them. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">And traditionally, Americans have always, ultimately, embraced the right thing – moved by the reality that it actually was that. It is only very recently that we have fallen so far as to allow the pretentious and angry cursing’s of violent street mobs to stand as a thoughtful conscience. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Freedom, Prosperity, Goodness – a nation doesn’t bring such noble aspirations to its citizens. Its citizens bring them to the nation. But, in these troubled times, too many American citizens no longer traffic in such treasure. May God help us.</span>Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-47359992201891949112021-01-12T12:09:00.006-08:002021-10-16T19:43:53.474-07:00Washington's New Color, "SCOTUS YELLOW"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDIGz_DUw4c_QBY2KueVAyFAD2TDtKT7a67jOXFV3NEf2WK78-nbsO5HxAVhCwC61lA6JPZS0JzHS-apGPYK78Fv9EzijXR6eWzfwmwmXO2QBSmcIPO9REtl3R6QRCwk5deKeeXjV8CEE/s510/Supreme+Court.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="510" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDIGz_DUw4c_QBY2KueVAyFAD2TDtKT7a67jOXFV3NEf2WK78-nbsO5HxAVhCwC61lA6JPZS0JzHS-apGPYK78Fv9EzijXR6eWzfwmwmXO2QBSmcIPO9REtl3R6QRCwk5deKeeXjV8CEE/s320/Supreme+Court.png" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">Recently the Supreme Court ruled that the President had no standing regarding fraud in the 2020 election. How completely lame. It is impossible for me to imagine a circumstance where the President of the United States would not “have standing,” on any issue which he chooses to raise - based in the sheer gravity of his office. </p><br /> So now, sadly, my cynical side now suggests that there are more sinister forces than mere legalities at work within the present high court. And, in that case, I think the court should be reminded of what has ever been a defining American ideal. It’s “courage.” <br /><br /> Nevertheless, at this critical moment in history, the court has chosen to make America’s Lady Justice “blind,” in a new and very ignoble way. To my eye, her blindfold no longer signifies Fairness – but Cowardice.<br /><br /> Our soldiers, our first responders, and the vast majority of our ordinary citizens all regularly face down life’s most fearful intimidations. They choose courage to be the ideal which first defines them. They do not typically even attempt to conveniently invoke some such cowardly approach which suddenly makes them mere spectators to life. Rather, they insist on being people who very purposefully attempt to shape life for the better – every day – come what may. I am, today, so profoundly sorry that this present court is apparently not cut from that same cloth. <br /><br /> In fact, all but the most naïve among us, now know that The American Republic was mortally wounded on November 3rd by seditious political criminals who very methodically corrupted our election process. And, they have now done so with impunity, thus insuring they will repeat their formula in all future elections. <br /><br /> As a result, the failure of our republic is now completely imminent – though it would seem that most, even now, have not comprehended that reality. But, the nullification of its election process is the sure death knell of even the most vibrant democracy. Elections then become merely a way to legitimize unending dictatorial power. And, this is what has been essentially achieved, in this 2020 election by these seditious criminals.
Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-45778646125049761082020-07-12T16:54:00.002-07:002020-07-13T05:43:35.731-07:00The Weight of This Moment by A. A. Joe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcOxuleuHXqLNauwFNRywqSdE7kJCAPRNOK2yg4_JJsTHlHSxv9mq0wBom-DeLn_4Ov-HmPJeMyJiK_vt7V-a-DUyuOiOvf6_s1tD2NdFQmi8O2_P6SYbXmp15huC7JgCGiEthLT5NX4/s1600/Rushmore.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="583" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcOxuleuHXqLNauwFNRywqSdE7kJCAPRNOK2yg4_JJsTHlHSxv9mq0wBom-DeLn_4Ov-HmPJeMyJiK_vt7V-a-DUyuOiOvf6_s1tD2NdFQmi8O2_P6SYbXmp15huC7JgCGiEthLT5NX4/s320/Rushmore.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">They think that America’s Average Joe, of which I am one, is
simply too dumb and/or too ill-informed to know what’s really up in America
these days. But, we’re not really that
dumb or that ill-informed. In fact, we
do know what’s really going on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">For example, we know that what we are presently watching
unfold in America is an actual coup attempt driven by people who might be very accurately
described as “World Class Sociopaths.” They are, indeed, a people with serious personality
disorders which are now expressed every day as extreme antisocial attitudes and
behaviors, all while demonstrating an utter lack of conscience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It is true that these groups and individuals from the Left are
not as easily defined and identified today as they once were. They are not simply holdover Fascists from the
30’s and 40’s or old style Russian and American Communists types of the 50’s
and 60’s. Now, their identifying banners
are a jumbled sea of social and political labels, disingenuous front
organizations, and activist pet peeves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It is also true, however, that all of this jumble of
craziness does eventually coalesce along a Marxist / Socialist axis. And, this
axial Marxist connection is confirmed by at least three things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">First, the Marxist connection is confirmed by their
educational exposures. All of the real
players on the Left read the same warped thoughts of angry, hateful men who,
themselves, were world class sociopaths – Karl Marx, Howard Zin, and Saul
Alinsky, to name a few. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The second Marxist identification is the actual,
street-level tactics which these treacherous people employ. The seditious tactics which they are presently
using in this nation have been previously employed by Marxist around the world
over the last century to bring down other nations, leaving more than
100,000,000 dead in the process. Their
playbook of divide-and-conquer, rabblerousing, pot-stirring, community
infiltration, pretentious front organizations, and the subversion of legitimate
organizations, is the typical Marxist take-over template. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, the third Marxist identifier is their human resource
structure – the types of people they employ to carry out their mission. These useful human operatives are easily
classified by the nature of their actual awareness level of, and devotion to the
Marxist cause. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">There are always the “Dupes.” These are typically naïve pawns, usually
deceptively drawn into the Marxist ranks under the banner of some righteous
sounding purpose like women’s rights, or one type or another of a social justice
cause, etc. These dupes are usually much
more aware of their own little cause than the much more sinister intent of the
Marxists which they are actually ignorantly serving. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">There are also the “Mercenaries.” These are street level
people, sometimes thuggish, sometimes “dupish,” who are actually completely
disinterest in any cause but the money they’re being paid to be on the street
at the right time and place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, then there are also always those highly aware and
deeply “Devoted Ideologues.” These are people who do, indeed, understand and believe
in the ideological message and mission of Marxism / Socialism. Though
typically, most of these are but useful, mid-level puppets to the real
puppeteers of the movement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The face of this dark conglomerate is, of course, the
Democrat Party. Having fallen prey to
Marxist ideology and control, this now long-subverted political party presently
affiliates a wide array of seditious groups and individuals. And, like the party, itself, most all of them
presently masquerade as patriots, nevertheless, their true, overarching devotion
is to the utter demise of America as a free, democratic, and opportunity based
nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The constituents and fellow travelers of the Democrat Party now
include American Communists, Socialists and, so called, Progressives. Also, joining the Democrat parade at the street-level
are their agitating community organizers, and their “dupish” activists of the “higher
conscience.” And, not to be overlooked
are their very valuable devotees in the media and academia, their deep-state bureaucrats, and their wealthy elitists and Hollywood types.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, this present coup which the Dems and the Marxist Left
are now attempting is not just about removing Donald Trump from office. He is but a troublesome, and yet also a very convenient,
strawman by which they can generate division and hate within the nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But, the real agenda of the Left is much more basic and far-reaching
than merely removing Donald Trump. The
real agenda is to grab and permanently hold power with the intention of turning
the American people into another Marxist/ Socialist slave nation. The ultimate aim is that the American people should
finally be made to bow before a completely oppressive Marxist oligarchy, on the
order of those in China and Russia, as a part of the new, Socialist world order.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, Average Joe is not so dumb and/or ill-informed as the
sociopaths on the Left think. And Joe
already knows that this coup attempt can only be dealt with in one of three
ways. The first, and no doubt the best,
resolution would be for a true Christian revival to sweep across the nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">As with other such revivals in the past, this would once
again restore a personal devotion to the divine values in large numbers of
Americans from every quadrant – the values which built this nation in the first
place. And that faith restoration would,
of course, save many souls. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But, beyond that most important thing, a Christian revival
would also restore to that large number of citizens, a world view based in the
divine perspective. And, that would
then, in short order, numerically and philosophically defeat the Marxist power
base in America.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The second possibility for defeating this on-going coup
attempt is to really “burn down” the Marxist Democrats in the upcoming
election. Certainly, the usual 52/48
split among the electorate will simply not do the job. It has to be a real “burn down” of the
Democrat influence in all political quadrants, from the federal level to the city
council and school board level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">If by their present lawless and seditious behavior, these
people, who have made “America” a dirty word, do not come to be one themselves in
the mind of the electorate, the coup will simply continue in an ever more
militant way. And that will bring us to
the third and least desirable possibility for dealing with their take-over
attempt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This third option is simply a widespread blood bath. You don’t have to be a political or social
prophet to know that if you plant the seeds of violence in a population, as has
been done by this Marxist Left. And, if
you then continually cultivate the emotions of that violence every day, as
happens in the media arm of the Left every day.
Then, barring some intervening circumstance, violence is precisely what
you will reap as the end product. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, as is typically the case with widespread civil
violence, it will almost certainly be horribly unpredictable, touching the
innocent and even those who smugly think themselves to be untouchable. No violence is ever easily contained, even
when you are its instigator. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, in this case, the Marxist pretenders among us, who hate
this nation and all that it stands for, should actually steel themselves for
what’s coming. Average Joe is not as
unaware as you believe. And, he is
already prepared for this possibility. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This is easily confirmed in our stores. Notice, the ammunition shelves are always all
but emptied every week. And gun sales
and concealed carry permits are at an all-time high. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Nevertheless, hopefully, before this bloodletting occurs, we
will, indeed, come to our senses, humble ourselves, and once again, in large numbers,
begin to truly embrace the Lordship of Christ with His attendant divine values
based in love and faith. This is
absolutely the best way to find a very thorough, effective, and far-reaching healing
for the nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Or, less beneficial, but yet still a peaceful ending to this
coup attempt would be that “burn-down” at the ballot box option. Such a truly decisive electoral statement by
the country would restore good order in a bloodless way by simply stripping
these sociopathic rebels of their political and social influence. It would also send a clear message to our determined
enemies abroad, who are presently smelling blood in the water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But, if neither of those first two outcomes occur, the third
will. It is not even in serious doubt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This is true because, without that decisive statement from
the electorate in these upcoming elections, no matter who actually wins the
election with but a narrow margin, the Marxist will then remain emboldened to continue
to employ an ever increasing militancy. And, in response, patriotic Americans who are
devoted to a free, fair, and opportunity based nation will eventually be forced
to respond forcefully. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, it is lunacy
to believe that they will do otherwise.
America’s patriots never have, and never will, go quietly into the
night in the face of an existential threat to their beloved nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Every few decades, it seems the whole world goes crazy at
once; and, humanity then starts to drown in its own blood – typically at the
behest of only a handful of sociopaths who stir it all up. We are now, if we cannot secure a better way
foreword using cool heads and common sense, arriving at such a moment and such
a needless and insane circumstance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, in this anteroom of the coming elections, we should ask
ourselves, “Do we really want to blow up the great goodness that we have in
America, such as exists nowhere else in the world. And, do we really want to do it for a
relatively few, but highly manipulative bunch of Marxist sociopaths. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Must we take their every exaggerated accusation against this
nation as unchallengeable truth? As a
people, are we now so emotionally blinded and/or mentally unbalanced by their propaganda
that we cannot recognize their “frame job” against the fairest, freest, and
most widely prosperous nation on Earth?
And, it is that, a frame, constructed from highly skewed exaggerations, half-truths,
outright lies, and non-full disclosure of the real historical facts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Could we not simply pause in this obviously weighty
historical moment, take a breath, and recover our national sanity long enough
to simply ask, “What are we really being enticed to sign on to, here? If the
hate filled rantings and the lawless intimidation tactics of Marxist-cultivated
mobs in our streets is to become our new political process – then are we not,
indeed, already a banana republic – less the republic? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Is this the message we would send ahead to future American generations
as to how best to govern ourselves? Because,
that is precisely what the political Left is pushing for with their
cultivation, glorification, and protection of these lawless methods. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The better message to send to our posterity would be one of
just change through the orderly use of our long proven system for doing so. Our system and our laws have served us exceptionally
well across our national growth process.
And, they can certainly deal with our present issues very
effectively. But, only if we do not
allow a few sociopaths to cause us to break faith with their brilliant efficacy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Even America’s Average Joe knows that what is first being
decided in this American moment is not the complexities of our national history
or the issues of racism. Rather, the
first issue that we are now deciding is this.
“Will we, going forward, seek to be an ever more just nation by law and
good order? Or, will we choose to govern
ourselves and guide our course by a constantly flaring mob militancy which will
ever push aside that more noble and beneficial way?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">There is really but one sane answer to this
query. And, in this present weighty moment, it really
has become imperative that we stand against the seditious Left, in unison –
black, white, red, yellow, and brown – to decisively make that good choice with
both our voice and our vote.</span>Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-43075998123671952892019-03-15T20:15:00.001-07:002020-11-02T21:19:56.157-08:00The Foolishness Of Freedom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTELpmeXL3A8Sm2gz9F_HH7qanLXT2U9a_cALL1Z0zsIna-lO1yHn2az84IyM4vnMOXndXF8J4gTewsmNyNAN2HF7GbdoDOb8zMSkhQE7oBtcSG_e_R33eUhpQdulrmUSQLs2wtb9qTw/s1600/Tightrope.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="509" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTELpmeXL3A8Sm2gz9F_HH7qanLXT2U9a_cALL1Z0zsIna-lO1yHn2az84IyM4vnMOXndXF8J4gTewsmNyNAN2HF7GbdoDOb8zMSkhQE7oBtcSG_e_R33eUhpQdulrmUSQLs2wtb9qTw/s320/Tightrope.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Consider the voice of oppressive governance. It is the voice of czars, and kings, and emperors, and tribal chiefs, and despots of every kind. <br /><br /> Many of them have died among the previous pages of history. But their voices still echo across those pages to join such voices in the present to question and detract American ideals. And from those voices, one thing is clear. They all failed to understand the grandeur that flows from empowering people instead of oppressing them. So, this is what they all might say of America, "America, you are such a fool!" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"You believe in basic human equality. And because you do, your lowest becomes eligible for your highest offices of power. No one is restrained from intruding across class lines. All may participate in the civil franchise. How, can you run a country in such a way - and still control the outcome?"<br /><br />"America, you do not suppress speech. And because you do not, your national conversation becomes an unwieldy dialog of immense dimension. Every sort of citizen has input. How can you fail to control the flow of opinion and information - and still control the outcome?"<br /><br />"America, you allow your citizens to have guns, many guns, all types of guns. And because you do, your citizens are not so easily intimidated. They may even use them to defy the state. How can you allow your citizens to have guns - and still control the outcome?"<br /><br />"America, you allow your press to intrude upon and challenge public officials. Because you do this, the state is threatened, high officers are exposed, and the agenda of the state remains constantly subject to public scrutiny. This does not allow the state to operate "efficiently." How can you possibly grant such exposure - and still control the outcome?"<br /><br />"America, you allow your citizens the vote. Do you not understand that this means they ultimately hold the power. Do you not know that the state then becomes subject to the masses, instead of the reverse. How is it that you believe you can invest the citizens with this great power- and still control the outcome?"<br /><br />"America, you allow your citizens to amass private wealth. In allowing them to do so, they become confident, and influential, and in many ways uncontrollable. Do you not understand this danger. How can you allow the threat of personal wealth - and still control the outcome?"<br /><br />"America, you allow your citizens unlimited freedom of movement. As a result they are exposed to other cultures, they consort with people of differing viewpoints, they are able to elude state scrutiny. Surely you see the inherent liability. How can you give such freedom of unaccounted movement - and still control the outcome?"<br /><br />"America, you allow your people to practice religious choice. Do you not understand that this creates diversity among the citizens. It diminishes order and commonness. Such choice may set them against each other, or worse, against the state, or the god of the state. How can you allow such choice - and still control the outcome."<br /><br />***** <br /><br />The criticisms of the despots are telling. Their insecurity denotes an ignorance regarding the human destiny, which Americans have known and embraced from our beginning. It is this. Each man owns his own destiny as a gift from God. No one - no king, no prince, no despot of any kind has any title or claim to it. <br /><br />America did not invent this idea. But, America has certainly given reality to it as no other nation on earth. And, every day she confirms this principal in the best possible way - in the liberties of her every citizen.<br /><br /> And, America has proven herself to be the nation most willing to risk the implications of this idea. Every day, we risk what our citizens will lawfully do, where they will collectively take us as a nation. We risk their whims, what they will say, and what new things they will devise - both good and bad. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We risk their equal access to power, the influence of wealth or position. In fact, in America, we are not just willing to risk the swift current of our individual, and in turn, our collective destiny. In fact, we embrace that doing with some passion.<br /><br />This unwieldy risk is the very thing that the despots of history have never been willing to take. But, in America, we do not control the outcome, we do, indeed, risk it - under God. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Every day, when the sun comes up on this matchless, and magical, and God blessed land - every lawful thing is in play. It's what we call - <b><i>Freedom</i></b>.</span></div>
Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-20697733912545977502019-03-01T08:35:00.000-08:002019-11-13T08:26:43.337-08:00Militancy<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxEgBAJKbNvH0MEOuvGd4y2KLdJsMXnpROY0zEb0-UE5iARz0Fc7teAohaLVIdvzYU4kcanizwB24P5LGnqVzZf4YVPM7x5Gro-Q7cub8uEusrDMx-w_tM6pYwt8z2TeKLk2YAKuaCIPk/s1600/Protest+8.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxEgBAJKbNvH0MEOuvGd4y2KLdJsMXnpROY0zEb0-UE5iARz0Fc7teAohaLVIdvzYU4kcanizwB24P5LGnqVzZf4YVPM7x5Gro-Q7cub8uEusrDMx-w_tM6pYwt8z2TeKLk2YAKuaCIPk/s320/Protest+8.png" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">These days, it would seem that angry militancy is imposing
itself on the American culture at very high levels on all fronts. So, gays, Progressives, Socialists, Democrats,
and Communist are all now raging activists. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The gun haters and the Never Trumper's are all salivating with
anger. African Americans, Hispanics, Muslims
and university students are all at a take-it-to-the-streets level of militancy. And on it goes until it seems everybody has gone
militantly mad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But, in fact, they have not.
In truth, the preceding paragraph is a blatant exaggeration on all
fronts. It is merely a “head shot” of the
caricature which the liberal media, a cadre of hate filled activists, and a
bunch of arrogant elitists are constantly attempting to sell to the American
people as a tactic to aid their seditious intentions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In reality, however, in all of those people groups mentioned
above, the great majority remains peaceful, reasoned and concerned about, not just
results, but about the justness of how we achieve those results. And how do we know these good people are out there? Well, by the math for one thing. The population of the United States is 325
million people. So those subversive “pot
stirrers,” even with the few off-the-rails extremists and ne’er-do-wells which
they may actually represent, don’t compose even a drop in the bucket of that
number. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, there is another way that we know that the vast
majority of Americans are still strongly bound together by real sanity. It is the anecdotal evidence of our daily
lives. Indeed, in our common values, we continue
to widely cherish the nobility of our humanity, and thus, the nobility of our
behavior. We share a deep love of
country which allows us to beam with pride even while we work together to
remove her warts. And, we continue to believe
the long proven idea that mutual respect is the precious norm which truly yields
peace, brotherhood, and quality of life; whereas, hate is never anything more
than a disabling character flaw. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, fortunately for America, the vast majority of Americans still
embrace sanity over subversion. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Praise God! <i><a href="https://www.theback40museum.com/americana-gallery.html" target="_blank">View The Exhibit</a></i></span><br />
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Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-40378861005526841512019-02-20T06:25:00.000-08:002019-11-13T08:06:44.181-08:00The Puppeteers<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Where there is an earthquake, there is an epicenter. And, that epicenter is where the real force of the outflow movements are concentrated. And, to be sure, the same is true of the sociopolitical movements which are occurring in America, right now. They are being caused by a very well developed and well organized central force. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I am an ordinary, born and bred, U.S. citizen of 70 years. I am a person of no great reputation. And, I fully expect to die in anonymity. But, what I am not, is stupid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">When I look at what is presently going on in America, it is very obvious that there are very real “puppeteers” pulling the strings of our more naive population in these herky-jerky times. And certainly, there have always been manipulative movers and shakers who have attempted to do the same. But, in prior times, they were not so well armed with degenerate media and public school systems, Facebook, Twitter, and a national “propaganda news” platform etc. And now, they are. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And obviously, these “string pullers” know very well how to employ these new advantages at this very strategic time – a time when we have several character-deficient generations in play. And, even this strategic timing is no accident. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">These burgeoning “puppet generations” have actually been carefully fashioned by the very puppeteers who now manipulate their every move. For decade upon decade, American children have been unwittingly bombarded from every direction with the hypocritical values of these who have now become their psychological overlords. From the cartoons they watched as children, to godless public schools, to even more devilish universities, our younger population has been taught, <i>“Reject all previous values and establish your own, based solely in your own nobility of thought.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And sadly, the puppeteers have been so effective in their subtlety that these puppet generations actually believe they are doing that. But, in fact, they are really just mindlessly responding to the long implanted values of the string pullers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And so, every day the puppets join their peer puppet group on Facebook, or Twitter, or in the propaganda news newsroom to obediently embrace whatever party line they are to be fed before they move on in service to the puppeteers for that day. And, every day, when this sad process is finished, they adjudge it to have been, indeed, “noble.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Thus, we are left with these burgeoning generations which can no longer tell the difference between true good and evil, true right and wrong because their minds and hearts have been so co-opted in this way. And, what they don’t know, and sadly, may never know, is that true nobility of thought and action only ever flow out of a personal and abiding connection to the larger moral reality – not the absence of that connection. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But then, we must remember – they are puppets. And, puppets don’t really think, do they? They just jump when their string is pulled.</span>Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-43179406818674811732018-11-07T08:20:00.003-08:002021-03-21T16:51:18.224-07:00Divided: Then and Now<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In 1958, J. Edgar Hoover, famed director of the FBI,
released a book entitled, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Masters of Deceit</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">. In that
book, he exposes the American Communist Party. In chapter 14, Mr.
Hoover lists the seditious tactics used by that party in its subversive bid to
over through the American way of life. Among others, he lists, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Mass Agitation</i></b> using all exploitable issues, <b><i>Infiltration</i></b> into all types of organizations, including educational and political, and the <b><i>Subversion and Exploitation of Minorities</i></b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Using these tactics, Marxist based Communism has now devastated
many whole societies, leaving behind ruined economies and tens of millions dead,
all along its bloody historical pathway. And yet, this Marxist
insanity continues to survive in the minds of delusional ideologues. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These arrogant social experimenters simply
refuse to see the abject failure of the Marxist Utopian idea: a classless,
“worker bee” based society of absolute equality which rigidly follows this very
simplistic axiom - "</span><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">From each according to his ability, </i><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">to each according to his need."</i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But, in fact, this exaggerated tenet actually prescribes
Marxism’s failure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This terminal end is
decreed by “social physics,” which define an important reality. And that
immutable reality is this: </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Marxism and human nature simply cannot be “peacefully” reconciled. </i></b></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, that reality is based in an even more basic one: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the universal “wiring” of the human
brain. If one exposes the brain to any type or level of
gratification, it always wants to seek more. And, therein lies the Marxist
problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">By its very rigid nature, this philosophy absolutely forbids
to humanity, the liberty to satisfy this basic human desire to pursue personal
gratification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The American forefathers
had it precisely right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All human beings
share an ingrained appetite for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And,
it is this simple but powerful human appetite for which Marxism always and
entirely fails to account - and refuses to tolerate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Thus, the Marxist belief system is necessarily forced to a dark
position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To enforce its inflexible requirement
of absolute social and economic equality, Marxism must necessarily police every
human being’s every activity – from what we can and cannot say, to the size of
one’s soft drink, to absolute control over one’s health care. Indeed, this oppressive
militancy is always the unavoidable end game of Marxism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, this need for control then demands a centralized
control mechanism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, as has always
actually been the historical case with this devilish philosophy, the state, in
the form of a repressive central government, insistently becomes that
controlling overlord of the individual’s daily life, as well as the society’s corporate
national life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Thus, when placed in a fair and objective scale, a Marxist
system of government and economics will always be found completely atrocious, when compared to a capitalistic democracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There really is no contest when one puts the “live and let live” and “go
for it” ethos of democratic capitalism up against the hateful and joy-strangling
effects of Marxism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, it is true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The element
of competitiveness is intrinsic to a capitalist society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, competition is a vital part of, not just
capitalism, but of freedom, itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And,
this motive is moderated easily, and much better, at the personal level, by the
balancing effects of ethics, compassion, generosity, and personal restraint –
not to mention, the rule of just laws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And these incorporations are, and have historically always been,
every day realities in capitalistic societies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And, if there are some individuals, within those societies, who fall short
of these ideals, at least their failures don’t inflict the more universal
damage which occurs when an all-powerful government becomes virtue deficient - as
has always been the case with all Marxist governments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, why do we do it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why, in America, do our children, who live in the freest, most
accomplished, most compassionate nation on earth, keep falling for the same old
subversive lies, propaganda, and empty promises of Marxism?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Why do so many Americans continue to be very willing to
endanger our wonderful personal liberty (and, for that matter, our security and
prosperity) by electing undercover Marxists - now newly evolved into “Global
Socialists” etc. and masquerading as our fathers’ Democrats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why do so many continue to prefer deceitful political
reprobates over enlightened leaders who embrace the supremacy of personal
liberty, personal aspirations, and personal initiative?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Surely, such widespread and trans-generational folly can
only be explained by these divinely given prophetic words which truly speak to
our time…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For
the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains </span></i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[the Holy Spirit] <i>will do
so</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> until He is taken out of the way. <sup><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></sup>And
then the lawless one </i>[the antichrist] <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">will
be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and
destroy with the brightness of His coming.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The coming of the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">lawless
one</span> is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and
lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish,
because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.</span></i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“And for this reason <u>God will send them strong delusion</u>, that
they should believe the lie, so that they all may be condemned who did not
believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”</i> [</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Brackets added]</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">2Thessalonians 2:7-12 (NKJV)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Certainly, many in this world are not now prepared to embrace this truth. But, ultimately and unavoidably, Jesus wins. Thus, the smart and enlightened play is to embrace the true Christ, not these empty, end-game delusions of the coming, flash-in-the-pan antichrist. </span></div>
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Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-71593353398397489432016-10-20T07:56:00.005-07:002021-03-16T06:51:10.710-07:00Intrusions Of The Darkness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi1TyrxlMM2u2TVXmkL1MVZypVOnFOBgP5vM4auEYCPRmSkYb4_D4xAwu3l9mQ93Vnezw8XtOV_0VJ1fnNXS7RkIm_YxbrM2N-lShdZsafQ-RqoHedIzLuFJaAHpbh05k3x5oKOXq5q9M/s453/Clown.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="453" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi1TyrxlMM2u2TVXmkL1MVZypVOnFOBgP5vM4auEYCPRmSkYb4_D4xAwu3l9mQ93Vnezw8XtOV_0VJ1fnNXS7RkIm_YxbrM2N-lShdZsafQ-RqoHedIzLuFJaAHpbh05k3x5oKOXq5q9M/s320/Clown.png" width="320" /></a></div>The larger human picture is not that hard to grasp. And yet, most of us really never do. Perhaps it’s that generational thing. Every time a generation kinda’ figures it out, before you know it, they’re all dead. Then we have to start all over in the next generation, trying to make ourselves, once again, broadly and accurately aware of that complex experiential picture before us which we typically just call, "life."<br /><br />Or, maybe our struggle to understand life accurately simply lies in our willing ignorance. It seems that many of us share the feeling that if we know something, then we come under some obligation to act on what we know. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, if we don’t want to be bothered, then we just don’t bother to know. Thus, we often merely bury our head in the “sands” of life’s blinding tedium as a means of escaping the responsibility of that "knowing."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But, be all of that as it may, for those who are courageous enough to take in the larger human landscape, there is a more truthful perspective to be had. And, that larger view does allows us to see far beyond the the more simplistic life interpretations. As a prime example, it allows us to quickly move past the assumption that our competing social and political philosophies are just a ho-hum, every</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">day part of our world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Rather, the more sophisticated view of our reality accurately places these competing philosophical intrigues into the context where they truly belong. It understands them to be a very real extension of the ever raging war between <b><i>the Light</i></b> and <i><b>the Darkness</b></i> - that cosmic conflict which has been an ingrained part of the of the human experience from our very beginning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> Indeed, this larger landscape shows us the background dynamics of our confrontations. And, for those who want to understand </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">those dynamics, the jumping off point is at a very simple and very basic question. And, that question is this: <b><i>"What is Truth?"</i></b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, here is the short and simple answer. </span><b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Truth is merely the correct interpretation of reality.</i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The nature of the truth is just that simple. Truth is only ever just reality as it actually is. So, all we have to do to arrive at truth is correctly <b><i>interpret</i></b> reality - right?<br /><br />But wait! Therein lies the human dilemma. The real difficulty lies not in knowing the definition of truth, but in actually achieving what the definition specifies. It is in the fog of our varied interpretations of reality that we typically lose our way.<br /><br />And, that is understandable; because, You and I were never meant to be the authoritative interpreter of reality. Rather, God has always reserved that role for Himself – and rightly so. <br /><br /> Even the brightest human beings are pitifully under-qualified to define true morality, true right or wrong, true good or evil. We simply do not have the capacity to make those calls. <br /><br />Thus, God requires that we trust Him and embrace, through Christ, His values and the interpretations of life which result from those divine values. The Bible refers to our <b><i>awareness</i></b> of those divine values and interpretations as <i><b>"Light."</b></i> And, it refers to the absence of that awareness as <i><b>"Darkness."</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Further, it follows logically that in the absence of an accurate awareness of God's truth (His correct and authoritative interpretations of life), great space is left for <i><b>alternative interpretations</b></i> of reality, bogus though they may be. And, it's these alternative interpretations which compete with God’s view of things, His truthful interpretations, and give rise to the conflict between the <i>Light</i> and the <i>Darkness.</i><br /><br />The roots of this conflict can be traced all the way back to the mind of Satan. This idea that there can be an alternative view of good and evil which can "legitimately" compete with God's views originated there. And, in turn, Satan then passed it on to mankind by his treachery in the Garden of Eden. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">His false promise to Adam and Eve was this, <i>"You shall be like God, knowing good and evil."</i> But, the <i>“knowledge of good and evil”</i> which Satan offered to Adam and Eve was not a knowledge based in an accurate and concrete interpretation of reality. Rather, it was a very <b><i>subjective</i></b> determination of good and evil - entirely based in <b><i>the ever changing personal perspective of the individual</i></b>. <br /><br />In other words, Satan offered a view of good and evil which was no longer based in God's authoritative interpretations of life. Instead, with the fall of mankind, <i>"Good"</i> became,<i> "What seems good <u>to</u> <u>me</u>." </i>And,<i> "Evil" </i>became,<i> "What seems evil <u>to</u> <u>me</u>."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i>In the moment that Adam and Eve embraced this competing interpretation of reality, their relationship to their Creator became poisoned, as was their relationship to each other. For, they no longer shared a consistently common view of good and evil even between themselves.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, in turn, through this first couple, the whole of mankind was also infected with this dark alternative view of reality which was personality based, and ever changing. And that was exactly what Satan intended to achieve. <br /><br />So, in the Garden of Eden, mankind lost the divine perspectives on reality and replaced them with his own self-generated and very individualized interpretations. And, in doing so, the whole of humanity became infected with the<i><b> prime motive </b></i>which clearly marks and identifies the Darkness: the motive of <i><b>Self-determination. </b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i></i>And, indeed, it is this motive which is the <i>primary sin essence</i>. It is from this <b><i>motive</i></b>, <i>the intent to determine good and evil for ourselves</i>, that all <i><b>acts</b></i> of sin then emanate. So, this heart motive is the <b><i>first issue</i></b> of God's judgment of the human soul. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Thus, it is this <i>dark elemental motive of self-determination</i> within the human heart which the redemptive work of Christ first and most urgently targets. The reason being, it is the <i><b>sin-source</b></i>. Solve this problem, and all else all but solves itself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Nevertheless, even at this late hour in redemptive history, much of humanity remains lost in the dark delusions of what might be very accurately called, <i>"designer truth" - </i>the Satan inspired alternative versions of reality, the <i>alt truth</i>, if you will. Many, even now, know only their own small, deluded perspectives on life issues - which then become just one more competing antithesis to God’s authentic truth. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, because these believe in their own moral superiority, they become easy pray for Satan's sophisticated subtlety. Thus, they become his dupes - the unwitting servants of the Darkness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, through these deluded human pawns, the Darkness finds an easy means to repeatedly insert itself into the human political and philosophical landscape to confront God's truth and agenda</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">. And </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">sadly, humanity, absent the benefit of the divine perspective on reality, repeatedly fails to recognize the work of the Darkness for what it is. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, in generation after generation, the Darkness is able to powerfully intrude into the human experience with horrible results. And, this remains true, even though the Darkness never really bothers to change its essential tactics.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />For example, always, the Darkness comes with the prospect of some delusional noble cause, the worth of which ultimately justifies the hateful actions which are required to see the cause through. Then, using this cause of twisted and exaggerated worth, the Darkness tempts deluded individuals, who fancy themselves, <i>people of the higher conscience</i>, to do its treacherous bidding. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And eventually, the Darkness always points to some straw demon at which its hateful energy might be directed. And so, the satanic encouragements come: hate the black man, or the white man, or the rich man, or the capitalist, or the Jew, or the Christian, etc., etc., etc., “for they threaten our noble agenda.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />Then, when the Darkness has secured enough dupes to its delusion, it <u>always</u> turns militant. It begins to <i>demand</i> the submission of non-subscribers on pain of violence. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />In this stage of its intrusion, the Darkness becomes the open oppressor. The cloak of pretense is cast away. And those who have given themselves to the Darkness are now forced to abandon, altogether, any lingering shred of questioning conscience. Now, they too are <b><i>forced to follow</i></b> the cruel dictates of the Darkness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, so they do. They consummate the sale of their soul by mindless obedience. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, by now, their actions are more to protect themselves from the wrath of the Darkness than to achieve any "noble" cause. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> So, by the time the consuming fire of the Darkness is finished, even those who fanned its flames are destroyed by it. And, one more time, the Evil celebrates the success of its intrusion into the human thought process and experience. And always, it does so standing on the new graves of a freshly slaughtered humanity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />In the 1930’s, Adolf Hitler, one in a long line of human apostles who have served the Darkness in this way over the course of history, followed this exact pattern. His noble cause was German supremacy and prosperity – an Arian Race who "deserved" to rule over the Earth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, to that cause, he drew his dupes of the Darkness – the Nazi rank and file. And, he directed their manufactured hatred toward his straw demons, especially the Jewish people, among others. <br /><br />Eventually, the ranks of Hitler’s Nazi Party, devout and ready to serve the Darkness, became sufficiently powerful to capture the German Government. And predictably, with power came the militant phase. They began reprisals, including outright murder, against all who opposed their “noble” agenda. <br /><br />In the course of this offensive from Hell, millions died. And six million defenseless Jews, from little innocent boys and girls, to their mothers and fathers, to feeble old men and women were callously butchered by these deluded, satanic henchmen. And, it was all in the name of their “righteous cause” - essentially Hitler's deluded perspective on good and evil - the Nazi version of the "truth."<br /><br /> And then, roughly contemporary with the Nazi madness, the Darkness opened a second offensive - this time, alighting on Russian soil in the form of Marxist Communism. First, Vlad Lennin became the new apostle of the Darkness, spouting a new cause and pointing to a new straw man to hate and destroy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> His cause was to free the world of the scourge of Capitalism with its "Bourgeoisie" ruling class. His twisted delusion was a world of working class equality.<br /><br />Again, by means of political intrigues and murderous force, when the ranks of his deluded followers became strong enough, Lennin made his revolutionary move. He then violently and mercilessly put down all opposition to his Socialist interpretations of reality - his version of good and evil. And again, from Lennin, to Stalin, through a long list of violent oppressors, even to the present day, millions of innocents have died under the boot heel of the Darkness wielding the Communist / Socialists banner. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In total, it is estimated that 100,000,000 graves were dug around the world to mark the blood path that this offensive of the Darkness has taken over its decades. And still, that total continues to rise. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />That is true because, even as its Russian host was waning under the weight of its own infection with the Darkness, Satan managed to spread the delusions of Marxist Socialism to other parts of the planet. He found many willing converts to the delusion of this <i>"noble cause,”</i> including many in America.<br /><br />And so, an expanded offensive of the Darkness began. And, indeed, this time it has an American epicenter. And from that epicenter, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">the composite energy of Neo-socialism, Liberalism and Progressivism, radiates its tentacles outward in the new "noble cause" of the Darkness: <b><i>Globalism</i></b>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, especially in America, the Darkness has now begun to very forcefully use this aggregate of the political Left. Its face in America is the Democrat Party leadership. And, its muscle is the smug elitists who empower them, and the ever necessary rank and file dupes who mindlessly buy in to their insanity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Thus, one more time, we see a deluded, devilish group who believe themselves to be </span><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">the people of the higher conscience. </i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, true to form, they are following the normal track </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">and employing all the typical tactics of the Darkness.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">They tout their cloaking "<i>noble cause"</i> of <i>"social justice in a global community"</i> to cover their true ugliness. And, their new <i>“straw demons”</i> are the Wall Street capitalists, the political right, Christians, the "one-percenters," and on, and on, and on, goes their hit list to include any opposition to their version of good and evil. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> And now, very systematically, as the Darkness always does, American Liberalism is becoming increasingly militant. Recent revelations have clearly demonstrated just how militant with the intentional culturing of race and class hatred, the riots inspired and financed by the wealthy Left, their encouragement of the murder of police officers, election fraud, free speech suppression, and every kind of political intimidation - including the hiring of violent thugs to attack opposition voters. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Nevertheless, increasingly, Americans, especially naive young Americans, are buying into the empty promises and twisted interpretations of good and evil offered by these satanic liberal spin doctors. And, as they become augmented by the largest American generation in history, the Millennials, things will quickly go from bad to worse. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">You need no prophet to forecast what lies ahead for an America that fails to recognize this Darkness of American Liberalism / Progressivism for what it is. One need only look to those large cities in the USA, which the Left has controlled for many decades. They serve perfectly well as a very accurate and foreboding omen of what is to come for this nation as a whole if it becomes dominated by the political Left in service to Satan's destructive agenda.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But still, many Americans, especially young Americans, just don't see it. They just don't recognize Satan's dark economy operating through the American political Left for what it is - though it still appears much as it always has, historically. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, as a result, each day we lose a little more of our moral sanity, of our daily hopefulness, of our personal decency. And, if this American cycle of the Darkness is not arrested, as always, our graves, and the graves of our children, and the ash heap of our national greatness, will memorialize our gullible stupidity as a people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />But, there does yet remains a better way forward. Both individually and nationally, we can still embrace the divine light. We can still choose the path of true enlightenment that is confirmed by Christ in opposition to the interpretations of the Darkness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Individually</i></b>, we can still choose </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">to embrace the Lordship of Christ with its inherent allegiance to God's values and His interpretations of reality. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>As a nation</i></b>, we can again turn to the good ways of God produced by following those values. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We can again recognize the worth of God's good ways and return to the light of love, respect, forgiveness, patience, tolerance, understanding, compassion, honesty, honor, integrity, truthfulness, justice, holiness, and a respect for life. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />The Darkness would tell us that this approach is the wrong one. But, that is just the Darkness being the Darkness – creating an alternative view to compete with the truth and goodness of a God guided reality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Nevertheless, the only truly good way forward for an individual, and for the nation as a whole, is to <b><i>humbly</i></b> pursue and embrace the divine <i style="font-weight: bold;">light.</i> Such </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">humility has the power to save both our soul and our nation. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But, our continued arrogant national tendency toward the dark prescription of </span><b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">"</b><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>designer truth"</b></i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> will see both destroyed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">When we look past those dark human faces on the pages of history, we can then easily recognize, in the background, the hideous face of Satan and what are actually his violent intrusions into the human experience. And, in each succeeding generation, his tell-tale tactics confirm his mean hand in humanity's suffering. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">At that point, his twisted deceptions start to become apparent for what they are. And, by comparison, the Light, God's benevolent truth, once again begins to shine as the glorious thing that it has always been, and shall always be - despite the tendency of our species toward gullibility and arrogance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>“I am the light of the world.”</i></b> - Jesus</span></div>
Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-66590568399601566852015-01-05T09:36:00.003-08:002018-02-26T11:18:22.650-08:00Long Ropes And Stone Cold Hearts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In these modern, or as those who are so full of themselves like to say: in these “Post-modern” times, there is a question which has lately begun to desperately present itself. The question is this. <b><i>Is there a way to deal with an arrogant, majority America who typically has no real awareness of, or concern for, anything beyond their own “small-life shopping list.”</i></b> Is there yet a way to cause this self-consumed majority to care again about the divine perspective on their character and behavior?<br /><br />The great gift which Christ offers to the individual is a way back from this <b><i>self-centered darkness</i></b> which so blinds us to the divine perspective. But, how does that work when we don’t even recognize that we are, indeed, immersed in a personal darkness?<br /><br />Well, sometimes it simply doesn’t work. Sometimes, our darkness is so impermeable that it is, in fact, terminal. Sometimes the long rope of God’s great patience becomes the very rope with which we simply hang ourselves, spiritually. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Thus, as we continually ignore His overtures, we eventually just miss our opportunity for personal renewal and a life lived in the joys of the higher plane. And, that’s that. <br /><br />But sometimes, there is a better outcome. Sometimes, resulting from the twists and turns of life, we find ourselves humbled before God and <i>at the end of our own arrogant rope.</i> And there, sitting in the puddle of our own calamity and stripped of our sense of self-sufficiency, finally, we are able to truly see the degraded condition of our life for what it really is. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, in those moments of clarity, we suddenly understand the value of Christ’s offer to start us over and make all things new. So there, at the end of our own rope, we decide to tie a big knot of devotion to God and hang on for dear life.<br /><br />And, in those desperate moments, it becomes much easier to see the stupidity of ever believing that the quality of life could actually reside in such fleeting things as possessions, or primo jobs, or costly hobbies and toys, etc. And how could it not become obvious when we find ourselves surrounded by those things, and yet, also find that we are still devastated and miserable in both our inner and outer life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">From gold chains, to custom wheels, to smartphones, to nice homes, to bank accounts and spectacular vacations, all taken together, such “trinketry” and low aspirations never amount to anything more than a powerful testimony to our own small mindedness. And this is especially true when we compare the empitiness of those things to Christ’s offer to bring a sweeping elevation and nobility to our life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> And, indeed, He does entirely change who we are and what we are about. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">He brushes aside our silly little materialistic ideas of what life is supposed to be and brings a hugeness, not only to our awareness level, but to our personal potential. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, He does it in precisely the right way. He empowers a profound transformation of our character which entirely changes how we encounter life – and thus, the quality of life, itself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />So - is there a way to deal with this very self-assured majority in present day America? Oh, there’s a way. It is just a matter of giving them <i>“enough rope,”</i> and then, waiting to see which one of those aforementioned knots they tie when they come to the end of it. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, in fact, God is doing that very thing, right now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /><b><i>If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!</i> </b>- Jesus</span></div>
Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-19200909954698741472014-08-31T18:05:00.002-07:002018-02-26T11:32:57.221-08:00Before Now<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I am 65 years old. And here is the America I knew before now. <br /><br />It was an America that had racial resentments. But, it was not an America where government officials actually sought to catalyzed those resentments and use them for political gain. Even in the 60’s when the Civil Rights Movement brought racial tension to a pinnacle, the core interest of the government was to bring the nation together – not racially divide and inflame it. But, that was before now.<br /><br />And granted, in the former America, there was racial inequality. But, in that America, we righted much of that inequality with more just laws and a true change of national heart on the issues of civil diversity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, for a time, in that America, our progress was truly measurable. Our definition of <i>“my neighbor”</i> actually was becoming more broadened. But sadly, that was before now, when we have lost so much ground.<br /><br />And, in the former America, the Office of the Attorney General was the devoted guardian of the integrity of our laws. It did not summarily dismantle that integrity with grotesque reinterpretations and a pick and choose enforcement style as with the Obama administration.<br /><br />In former America, we elected presidents who saw the nation’s warts and sought to change them. But, they did not do so by disavowing the character of the nation as a whole and acquiescing to its twisted caricature as some sort of world oppressor. <br /><br />In that former America, there were the “Have’s” and the “Have Not’s,” as there always will be. But, in that America, we largely rejected the hateful “Cain and Able” notion that the way up is to pull your brother down. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> Rather, the former America more widely embraced the idea that hard work and risk taking were the way up. In that America, personal wealth building was thought to be an admirable pursuit and the best means of personal security.<br /><br />Barack Obama promised to profoundly changed America. Regrettably, I believe he has kept his word. But, I much prefer the <i>“Old America”</i> where we sought to employ the more honest and truly effective processes of trans-formative national enlightenment over political <i>“thuggery.”</i> But, as usual, the Darkness prefers to employ its own familiar means.</span></div>
Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-73125159213753013112012-12-17T06:48:00.001-08:002019-11-13T08:10:36.570-08:00The Space Between<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">More gun control! Better legislation regarding the mentally disturbed! We raise our voices to say something that will help us somehow endure the painful insanity of 20 dead children in Connecticut. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> We frantically search our mind for anything that will move us back from this horrible aberration and return us to the peacefulness of normal. And, no doubt, in the intensity of our present emotions, we will find new mechanics to make our society more and better controlled.<br /><br />And it seems we must do this for the sake of our own sanity. Because we know, deep down, that what happened at Sandy Hook and in many other such instances is, on some level, endemic to the species. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> And, while most of us, on a normal day, would rather die, ourselves, than harm a child, we also know very well that, as a group, we are not absolutely impervious to lapses in the certainty of normal. So, we are tormented by the possibility of those abnormal days. <br /><br />Maybe, our slip will stem from mental illness, as in Sandy Hook. Maybe it will come through a moment of road rage. Maybe aberration will find us in a moment deluged by alcohol. Or, maybe we will lose ourselves because of the fierce emotions of a broken heart, or some grinding abuse, or some deep disappointment. <br /><br />There are a thousand directions from which our variance can come. And that awareness frightens us as a species. And so we look for better ways to contain ourselves and make our behavior more certain.<br /><br />Many do look to laws and legislation. But, while those things are helpful and necessary, they are not really the headwaters of the solution – especially in a society as free as ours. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> With this higher level of personal freedom, also comes the opportunity for higher levels of personal and social misconduct. And, in fact, the progressing reality in America is that the society has very intentionally moved away from the mechanisms which help us hold at bay the dark side of liberty. <br /><br />For example, we have more recently embraced a parental attitude which says it’s OK to dispense with implanting a respect for the values and authority of a holy God in the heart of our children? But, is it really OK to send a child into adulthood and into society without their own well vetted moral compass? <br /><br />What, then, will guide them when they are deciding whether or not to drink and drive, or use drugs, or resort to violence? Will we, as parents, always be there when they are deciding whether or not to risk their future to premarital sex? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> Is it really reasonable to believe that we will always be there to guide them every time they are faced with reckless, or dangerous, or immoral choices? We, absolutely will not. <br /><br />But, God can be there. He can accompany them through every moment of every day in their mind, their value system, and their conscience. And yet, as a society, we are quickly trending away from His influence on the hearts and minds of our children – and on our own, for that matter.<br /><br />As a further example of this vector, we have largely surrendered our children to base and violent movies and video games while neglecting their exposure to the Church and the Bible? And we seem also to have surrendered to the idea that public schools and peer groups are an adequate replacement for loving and available parents wielding a resolute “veto power” and well proven values to pass along?<br /><br />If, in the wrenching emotions of such national tragedies as Sandy Hook, we are desperately looking for redemption and answers, we would be well served to simply return to the old ones. The best way to hold the line against social aberrations and the excesses of freedom is to begin with the inner person. Our best hope is to reinvest ourselves in the cultivation of a government within the heart of the citizen. <br /><br />The larger reality is this. <b><i> A society that is not first governed in the heart of its citizens is not truly governed at all. </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b>This is true because, in the space between the gaze of a police officer, and the reach of law, and the decrees of political governments, people will always do what they want to do. And that space where there are no external controls always exists.<br /><br />So, the real hope of any society is that the heart of its people will simply incline to good and right things. Then, we are truly governed – even in the space where no one sees. </span></div>
Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-32957489684025069642012-11-30T15:40:00.001-08:002018-02-26T18:41:04.190-08:00Double Down Devotion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">OK, I admit it. I listen to the politicians talk in their capital rotunda interviews. I listen to the pundits give analysis. And I listen to my people (family and friends) making their case, expressing their point of view, decrying conditions, defining the facts as they see them. And, I do the same, myself.<br /><br />But, my question is this. <b><i>Who in the world are we all talking to? </i></b><br />We all go on and on, as though we were making our case before some “Cosmic Political Referee” who might be persuaded to side with us and settle the issues once and for all. And sometimes, it seems we imagine some vast, untapped voter pool who can be persuaded to come along beside us and suddenly change the balance of power in our favor.<br /><br /> Really? Who are we kidding? That empowered political referee is just not out there? And, that unspoken voter pool is silent for a reason – they don’t exist. <br /><br />The hard reality which patriotic, conservative Americans must face is that no political reinforcements are coming. There simply aren’t any. <br /><br />So, here is my suggestion. Why don’t we stop appealing to some imaginary political force, and start appealing to the supreme force in the universe. And, instead of spending so much time "talking to the hand" of those who adamantly oppose us, why don’t we simply take the hand of the One who made us. <br /><br />If we have a case to make, doesn’t it make more sense to get on our knees in humility and make it to Almighty God? Isn’t that smarter than talking to the uninterested, the unempowered, and the un-convincible? Isn’t it better to take that same level of energy, and angst, and intellect and aim it toward someone who actually has the power to change the situation? Did I mention that He is - ALMIGHTY!<br /><br />If we can persuade Him to our cause – nothing else really matters. So, maybe we ought to stop addressing our “imaginary friends” and our avowed political enemies, and just persuade Him, convince Him, sway Him to act in our behalf. <br /><br />If we're looking for a "Referee," it's God. The Divine Referee is the only one who actually has the power to settle this life and death argument between the darkness of liberalism and enlightened America? And, we <u>will</u> lose this argument to the Darkness without His help.<br /><br /> So, as patriotic Americans, isn't the better course to simply embrace a real lifestyle upgrade? Could we not just double down on a new level of personal devotion to, and respect for, God? <br /><br />This is the real key to our delimma. It is only as God notices a rising tide of humility and devotion in the national character, that He will be persuaded to arrest the social and financial devastation that militant liberalism is inflicting on this nation. <br /><br />"Double Down Devotion" - it's a much better plan than trying to talk our way out of this mess with our “imaginary friends.”<br /><br /> *****<br /><br /><i>You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart</i> - God </span>Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-58203686508757510862012-09-16T15:20:00.000-07:002024-02-01T10:03:30.437-08:00Interpretations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I hope you can bear with me for three or four short paragraphs while I wax a bit abstract. When we look beyond the small panoramas of our daily tedium, we realize that, indeed, the Apostle John had it right. In his writings, he portrays life in terms of Light and Darkness, and the tension which exists between the two.<br /><br />We now know the meaning of the apostle’s analogy. The Light represents an accurate perception of reality, or truth - especially God’s truth. The Darkness represents a false interpretation of reality, or delusion - especially the delusions authored by Satan. So, the idea is that our perception of reality is defined by one or the other of these views. <br /><br />Thus, either the divine voice interprets reality to our mind, giving us a true perspective on the circumstances of life. Or, the satanic voice interprets our reality with a deceptive alternative view, so that we no longer see reality correctly - as God sees it.<br /><br />Alright, I’m done with “waxing.” Now, let’s look at how these ideas play out in the more concrete terms of this American culture. <br /><br />America, in service to God’s purpose, was raised up by Him for a very specific reason. It was to champion the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the modern world. There are many more facets to America's existence. But, this is God's priority for her. <br /><br />As the practical means to serve that purpose, God has used American capitalism. And, in the process, He taught the culture to embrace these primary values: personal liberty, personal responsibility, charity, and faith. And from these economic and philosophical threads the Creator has woven the unique fabric of the American culture. <br /><br />And, though there have been growing pains, glitches, and mistakes along the way, for America’s first two hundred years, this mix has been a winning combination. This blend of elements has, indeed, enabled the nation to accomplish its divine purpose. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> It has also made the nation benevolent beyond any other. It has made her ever more just. And, it has made her broadly and wildly affluent.<br /><br />Thus, America has truly been a bright and shining reflector of God’s light and goodness to all peoples of the modern world. And, bottom line, the Darkness “ain’t” one bit happy about that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Darkness, the satanic antithesis to God’s light, has its own designs for America. The intention of the Darkness is to bring down this instrument of divine enlightenment. And it has found willing servants for its plan in the leadership of the Democrat Party and their supporting network of elitists and "sell out" special interest groups.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />Under the pretentious banner of “Social Justice,” these servants of the Darkness, whether wittingly or unwittingly, intend to rip apart the good fabric of American life, and reweave it into a much more sinister pattern. Their intention is to use the coarse fibers of Marxist Socialism to do this. This political philosophy necessarily leads to a demanding and intrusive central government, much diminished civil rights, and the micro regulation of citizens and institutions. <br /><br />The Democrat plan to achieve this transformation of the American culture is really just a simple one-liner. It goes like this. “By whatever means - make every citizen and institution dependent on (and therefore subject to) the central government.” <br /><br />So, for example, states are made dependent by the money which is returned to them from federal funds for transportation, education, social programs, etc. Business is made beholden to government through contracts, loans, crony capitalism, and bail outs, as well as the need for favorable laws and regulations. Citizens are made dependent on the government through give-away and entitlement programs, government provided medical care, retirement and disability programs, etc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And on and on it goes, the plan being to eventually engulf all of our citizens and institutions in a similar way. Then, as the number of “federal sucklings” swells to a sufficient level, the harsh intent of these Socialist schemers will emerge as an empowered national tactic - without pretense: <i>“Do as we wish or know the pain of our disapproval.” </i><br /><br />The Darkness and the liberal elitists who serve it have every intention of extinguishing the bright light of America by this simple, “sell your soul to us” method. And, they intend to do so while keeping their treachery carefully cloaked under noble sounding rhetoric and the pretext of serving the "higher social conscience.” <br /><br />But, in truth, the Darkness cares nothing for any moral high ground, social or otherwise. The Darkness cares only about extinguishing the light of God’s love and benevolence. Their real intention is to remake America, and ultimately the world, into a place where only the views of the Darkness shape and rule reality.<br /><br />Indeed, American politics do not happen in an existential vacuum. As do all other things, they occur, just as John indicated, in the context of this larger struggle between divine Light and satanic Darkness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, the vortex of this great conflict draws all of us in, on one side or the other. Be assured, our political affiliations in these days make very clear the true allegiance of our heart and the real destiny of our soul.<br /><br /><i><b>May a merciful God dispel the liberal darkness in America before its natural outflows become our just deserts.</b></i><br /> <br /><i><b>*</b>John 1:1-5 // 3:16 – 21 //1st John 1:7</i></span></div>
Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-37723562260161561742012-07-30T09:40:00.003-07:002018-02-26T19:59:24.214-08:00The Big Disconnect<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">There are two realities which we must embrace in this life in order to “get it right.” First we should embrace the reality that God is holy. And second, we should understand that humanity remains always accountable to His holy value system. <br /><br />So, “The Big Drama” tends to go down like this. In America, we have many people who, like unruly children at play on a long summer day, have somehow dismissed the fact that "Dad" will be home at five o’clock. So, as the day wears on, they simply ignore his established rules for the family. <br /><br />And, when mother Wisdom attempts to correct them in order to save them from later punishment - nothing doing. They only become more incorrigible, choosing still to ignore the five o’clock realities. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> Why, because, for them, they are not realities. They are merely the idle threats of a prudish old woman with antique ideas and not one clue when it comes to having "real fun" in life. <br /><br />So, they write off Wisdom. And they write off the rules. And, they do as they please, and all the more so as the day wears on, eventually throwing out even their respect for the Rule Maker.<br /><br />Thus, is the big disconnect in this present American culture. It is a widespread kind of mental oblivion when it comes to God's governing values. In fact, we have many "wayward children" who have so far dismissed the Rule Maker from their personal world view that He is simply a non-issue for them. <br /><br />So, for example, these disobedient children have no reservations about throwing off the God defined sexual mores’. Thus, they easily embrace twisted, and base sexual behavior as in same sex pairings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> These "care free" citizens often think it fine to murder children in their mother’s womb as a matter of personal convenience. They tend to believe it better to live by the expedient of the moment than by any divine rule. <br /><br />And, this great disconnect has, indeed, broadly touched our culture. Thus, in every venue of our national life, we are now divided by the vastly differing values between those who embrace a Holy God and those who don't. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And because of this division in America - for now - there is no longer a universally recognized moral referee. Nor is there any longer an argument-settling set of values, such as we once knew through God's preeminence in the nation.<br /><br />And sadly - for now - there is no decisive way to expose the folley of these wayward children of the darkness. There is no way to win the intellectual argument of right and wrong with them. Their arrogant disconnect with the truth, and the authority behind it, is so complete that there is simply no basis for explanation. They have so thoroughly replaced the divine value system with the confused concoctions of their own "higher conscience" that God's truth has become incomprehensible to them.<br /><br />So - for now – we are left with only this maddening stalemate between the enlightened values of God and the dark values of the disconnected. Yet, there remain two possibilities for breaking this stalemate and once again establishing God's truth in the nation. <br /><br />The first is the possibility of a Spiritual Revival in the country. We can always hope, and we should already be praying that the Holy Spirit would sweep over our land to once again refresh a national embrace of our Creator and His holy values. And, this is certainly the course which faith and true charity would choose. <br /><br />However, this failing, the alternative means of correction remains eminent. And this alternative has nothing to do with a voluntary response. It has only to do with the hour. The reality is - <b><i>It's almost "five o’clock."</i></b></span></div>
Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-89251297771464962872012-06-04T11:28:00.001-07:002018-02-26T20:06:45.694-08:00Attacking The Arrow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The writer of Proverbs said, <i>"Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life."</i> So, that wise writer advises us to watch out for the condition of our heart "with all diligence." But it would seem that such scrutiny and self-discipline are not a priority for most in the country today. <br /><br />As a result, the collective heart of our nation has become degraded. It is a simple matter of mathematics. Within a nation there are many individual hearts which, when taken together, create a kind of "composite national heart." And the big numbers are on the side of baseness these days.<br /><br />However, I was once told that, in one way, it is safer to hunt a lion with a bow and arrow than with a gun. <i>(Stay with me here. I know that last turn was a tight one, but we gotta' go to Africa, just for a minute to finish this conversation.)</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It seems that if the archer is off the mark, the lion sees the arrow that has wounded him and attacks the arrow, believing it to be the source of his trouble. So, the archer stays safe. <br /><br />But, in the case of the gun, if the shot is not well placed, the lion will turn and attack the hunter. Because he cannot see the bullet, he attributes his pain to the right source. <br /><br />The point? To solve our national problems, we must stop merely attacking the arrow. It may be the source of our pain, but it is not the root of our problem. We certainly have to take care of practical, everyday political and fiscal concerns; but, we must never forget that those things are only "the arrows." <br /><br />The real source of our trouble lies within ourselves. The issues of life, as the proverb says, always, in reality, revolve around the condition of the heart. There would have been no Enron debacle had the CEO of the company simply had a good heart. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">There would have been no need for a Wall Street bailout, if the Wall Street players were well governed within. Fanny Mae, and Freddy Mac, and the Social Security Trust Fund would be perfectly healthy today if good hearts had been directing and managing those institutions. <br /><br />When you think about it, a nation of people not governed in their hearts is not really governed at all. If we only behave and do the right thing when someone is looking, with what then are we left. We are left with the necessity of a police state. <br /><br />But, in fact, even then, we cannot hire enough policemen; we cannot pass enough laws; we cannot form enough oversight committees to govern a nation that has no inner, heart government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> It is not the constitution and the laws of this republic which distinguish it and make it great. It is the righteous hearts which embrace and honor those things.<br /><br />Our basic instinct is, of course, to take the most direct action to stop our pain. So, we just "attack the arrow." We make up our minds to hire and fire our politicians. We develop new economic strategies, etc. etc., etc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But, in reality, we don’t have a political problem (though we do). We don’t have economic problems (though we obviously do). But, what we have first is a heart problem. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We are not well governed within, as a people. And, until we are, no matter how intensely we wrestle with the "arrows," the pain will just keep on coming.<br /><br />How do you stop the demise of a nation? You point it back to God, the Fixer of Hearts, and let Him do His work on a national scale. This may not seem the most direct solution; but, in fact, it is the only course which will correct the mathematics of good and evil in the national heart.</span><br />
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Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-56393206370112445642012-04-22T15:47:00.002-07:002018-02-26T20:28:40.119-08:00Above All Keeping<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Nations, like people, draw their greatness from their value system. And, like people, they rise and fall on the worth of that value system. <br /><br />Our system of values, whether national or personal, is composed of various standards, morals, ethics, ideals, principals, tenets, and beliefs which are important to us, and thus deeply held. And these values shape who we are, what we do, the quality and worth of our existence, and generally, how we end up. <br /><br />The large difference between our personal value system and our national value system is, of course, the “sharing” aspect. Our national value system is distilled from the entirety of the population to become only those values which we hold in common. Our national values are those values which we are willing, as a nation, to embrace and employ to establish order and guide our course forward. <br /><br />And so, we come to the present American dilemma. We are conflicted, as a nation. We are no longer certain who we are or what we should do, because our individual citizens have become very diverse in the values they hold. Thus, we can no longer distill from our whole society a clear set of deeply and widely held beliefs. So, we have become “a house seriously divided.” <br /><br />From our early history up to the last several decades, Americans were broadly impacted by the Christian world view, if not the faith, itself. The nation, as a whole, held a widespread confidence in the values which Christianity brings with it. Thus, the vast majority of our citizens have historically believed in and actually employed those values to shape their character and guide their actions. <br /><br />These deeply held values include honesty and integrity, love and respect of fellow man, respect for human life, and accountability and responsibility toward others. They include personal initiative, the belief that good must and will prevail, mercy and forgiveness, a concern for character and reputation. They also include charity and hospitality, a deep respect for justice and fairness, respect for all things holy, humility before men, and a profound humility before Almighty God. <br /><br />Now, however, these and other Christian values are no longer settled issues within the American conscience or consciousness. Presently, all are being vehemently challenged in the national debate. And these proven and precious tools for a sturdy social construction are coming to disuse by increasing numbers of our citizens. <br /><br />And, so much so, that the loss of our cultural grip on these worthy values, and the slippage of their grip on us, has now become undeniable. Realistically, we are forced to admit – the Christian value system is no longer efficiently and effectively shaping the composite character of the country, and less so with each passing year. <br /><br />Now, we are considering, and far too often choosing, a competing set of values. They are the values of the Darkness. And they only ever lead to a diminished quality of life and ultimate failure. <br /><br />This value system includes such values as a preference for the momentary expedient over principle, a disapproval of absolutes, cheating, selfishness, greed, minimal investment, baseness, forcefulness, hyper-materialism, hypocrisy, subversion, irresponsibility, fatalism, and the highest levels of arrogance - to mention a few. <br /><br />More recently, it has been these dark values which are enjoying a momentum in the "national heart." Thus, these qualities are, more and more, shaping our national character and behavior. And already we can easily note their diminishing impact of the quality of life in America. <br /><br />And the present societal condition is conducive for that trend to continue. We have a serious breakdown of the parental role. We have institutionalized the philosophy and teachings of the Darkness in our schools. <br /><br />Add to these, the multi-form media presence which is constantly promoting ugliness in the culture, and the present weak influence of the Church, and the stage is well set for an eminent social catastrophe in America. <br /><br />Nevertheless, ultimately, it is all about the value system. Whether we speak of a nation or the individuals within it, the proposition is simple and intrinsic to our existence. We do, indeed, rise and fall on the quality of our value system. <br /><br />The Bible puts it this way, <b><i>“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”</i></b> No individual is truly well governed unless he or she is well governed in the heart. And no nation is truly well governed unless it is well governed in the hearts of the vast majority of its citizens. So, as usual, the Bible provides the key to success, both for Americans - and for America. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">
</span>Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8338134871847071630.post-47894242416853601832012-04-10T12:02:00.003-07:002018-09-11T22:52:52.533-07:00The Genesis Voice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Long ago, in a perfect place, a voice was heard making promises. It was a smooth voice, as articulate as a scholar, and as affable as a pleasant friend. Essentially, it said this, "I can show you a better way forward. All you have to do is believe in yourself. Then, you can cast off the old paradigms, with all of their restrictions, and embrace a new truth which will place your destiny firmly in your own hands and change everything." <br /><br />And that treacherous voice was, in part, exactly right. Everything did change. Paradise was immediately lost. Mankind became entirely broken - and broken hearted. Death became an invariable part of the human existence. And real access to God was lost. <br /><br />And, no doubt, at the end of it all, that same dark voice could be heard laughing a sinister laugh of sarcastic satisfaction. "See," the serpent must certainly have quipped to the first couple, "everything has changed, just as I promised. Enjoy." And, for the first time, mankind tasted the deep bitterness of what it is to be a very great fool. <br /><br />I hold a simple world view. It goes like this: "There are really just two primary influences in the world." One is God’s. His influence is the expression of all that is good, and descent, and worthy, and holy in life. The Godly influence always promotes an agenda of true and pure goodness. <br /><br />The second primary influence is Satan’s. It is always dark and deceptive, employing treacherous tactics to enable the subversive purposes of evil. This Satanic influence is never straightforward, or honest, or truthful. <br /><br />So, these two influences, with their opposing agendas, are really the only two basic influences in the world. The rest of us are merely subscribers and/or amplifiers to one or the other of these. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It doesn’t really matter if we are a president, a pauper, a pinhead or a patriot. Whenever any of us express our own influence upon our world, verbally or otherwise, we are really only identifying with one or the other of these two primary voices and their respective agendas of good or evil. <br /><br />I came to this ingenious way of sorting things out because of something Jesus said in the Gospel of John, chapter 8. There, He said to some who could not grasp His point of view, <i>"You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it... And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God." </i><br /><br />Now, I know that to share this simple binary world view with Jesus is to do so at the expense of my own credibility with some people. And that is especially the case with those elitists who fancy themselves the more sophisticated thinkers of our time, the world’s unassailable "higher consciousness," and thus, the best intellectual hope of the species. However, my thinking is that, at the point of that last conclusion, they may want to look toward their own credibility, rather than bother with assessing mine. <br /><br />But, be that as it may, here is what I know. The Darkness has 3 kinds of "children". Some are very aware and committed to the causes of Satan. They are the true devotees to the dark agenda. They understand perfectly, the hatefulness, the violence, and the treachery with which they are involved. And, they are deeply committed to getting it done. <br /><br />Then there are others who are merely "fellow travelers" with the dark crowd. These cohorts are not quite so aware or committed, but they have some vested interest in the darkness. These subscribers often couldn’t care less about good and evil, moral or immoral. They really don’t care whose voice they are listening to or following, as long as it promises prosperity etc. So, for the possibility of some momentary gratification, they will ride anybody’s bus - even Satan’s.<br /><br />And still others in our culture are simply the dupes of the Darkness. These are the naïve’ and the deluded. These are the poor, sad creatures who sincerely believe themselves to be children of light, people of the higher conscience. They have no idea that they are actually serving the dark agency.<br /><br />So, these well-intentioned people are drawn in by noble and conscientious endeavors which they can heartily believe in. But, whether by choice or delusion, they never quite come to see the other end of the dark influence which advocates for the killing of innocent unborns, for example, or the legitimizing of immoralities like homosexuality and gay marriage. Indeed, their ignorance makes them completely the dupes of the Darkness.<br /><br />So, Jesus has it right. In our American culture, as in every other, there are those, of whatever level of commitment, who loyally follow this articulate, high sounding, and affable voice of the Darkness. And, as the children of the Darkness, they quickly dismiss the divine ideas of right and wrong, to enlarge their own. <br /><br />Nevertheless, using the simple lens through which Jesus and I view the world, it becomes easy to distinguish the light of God’s graceful impact from the darkness of Satanic treachery. And, in doing so, one thing becomes very obvious. <br /><br /><b><i>If the present culture does not alter its present level of involvement with the Darkness, we are very certainly destined to hear that sinister Satanic laugh once again. </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b>One more time, that gloating, sarcastic voice will surely utter, over the smoldering ash heap of our national greatness, <i>"See, everything is changed, just as I promised."</i> And one more time, we in America will taste the deep bitterness of what it means to be a very great fool. <i>May God forbid</i>.</span></div>
Larry Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17910480952271312620noreply@blogger.com