Although secular humanistic thought began to penetrate American culture in the 1800’s, 1960 seems to be a watershed year in our nation’s history.  In the early 1960’s, prayer and the Ten Commandments were taken from our public classrooms.  It is interesting that downward trends in academic and moral indicators can be traced to the early 60’s.

A 50 year cultural meltdown has created a moral vacuum in our nation’s public classrooms.  Secular humanism, hedonism, and New Age thought have rushed in, taking the place of our historic Judeo-Christian ethic.  Public education has become politicized.  Political correctness has the education process itself in a death grip.

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”  ~ Thomas Jefferson

Our problem in public education is not a lack of money.  Public education is one of the largest industries in the nation, acquiring one of the largest budgets in the U.S. government.  It has one of the largest unions in the world.  Our problem is not facilities.

The problem is the worldview and belief system of the educational elite.

Consider the following 5 tenets of secular humanism upon which our public education system is founded.  Excerpts are extracted from the Humanist Manifestos I & II.

1. ATHEISM:  “We find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence of the supernatural … as nontheists we begin with man not God … no deity will save us; we must save ourselves.”
2. EVOLUTION:  “Religious Humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created … the human species is an emergence from natural evolutionary forces.”
3. AMORALITY:  “Ethics is autonomous and situational … and stem from self interest – favor right to birth control, abortion, divorce and choice of sex direction.”
4. AUTONOMOUS MAN:  “We believe in maximum individual autonomy – reject all religious, moral codes that suppress freedom, … demand civil liberties, including right to oppose governmental policies – right to die with dignity, euthanasia and suicide.”
5. GLOBALISM:  “We have reached a turning point in human history where the best often is to transcend the limits of national sovereignty and move toward the building of a world community … the peaceful adjudication of differences by international courts.”

These tenets build upon one another.  Notice the downward slide.

It begins with no God.  If there is no Creator, then were did we come from?  Well, of course we evolved from lower life forms.  If we came from the animals, why not live like animals?  Amorality is the absence of morals.

Since there is no God, then man is autonomous or independent.  He can do what he desires.  Finally, man will create his own utopia, a new world order.

Homeschooling, virtual online schools, charter schools, and private education have proliferated because of the damage done to public education.  There are some good people within the public education systems.  And there are parents who are very aware and involved.  But, the problem is systemic.  If public education is going to be what the nation needs it to be, it will have to free itself from political agendas, special interests, political correctness, and a worldview which will never bring the level of success that our children and youth deserve.

Via Of First Importance

“In our vision of ultimate reality, who is occupying the throne today? Are we authentic New Testament Christians, whose vision is filled with Christ crucified, risen and reigning? Is guilt still reigning, and death? Or is grace reigning, and life?

To be sure, sin and Satan may seem to be reigning still, since many continue to bow down to them. But their reign is an illusion, a bluff. For at the cross they were decisively defeated, dethroned and disarmed.

Now Christ reigns, exalted to the Father’s right hand, with all things under his feet, welcoming the nations, and waiting for his remaining enemies to be made his footstool.”

—John Stott, The Message of Romans (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press,  1994), 162

There is a fierce battle over defining reality in your life.  The devil says, “Get real.  This is the way it is.”  Jesus says, “He’s a liar.  Let Me show you ultimate reality which trumps him.”  See previous post.

Truth = reality.  The New Testament word truth is aletheia: truth, reality, the unveiled reality lying at the basis of and agreeing with the manifested (Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary, New Testament).

What about you?  How is the battle going?  Who or what is going to define reality for you?  Humans?  Circumstances?  Environment?  Personal history?  Fear?

ULTIMATE TRUTH-REALITY is found in the heart and mind of the Creator.  God was envisioning you and thinking thoughts about you before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1.4, Ps. 139.13-18)!  Now, a lot has happened since the world was created.  But Christ has come to restore everything.  In Christ, you are re-connected to the heart and mind of God in eternity past.  Christ links you to TRUTH-REALITY.

It’s a process that begins now through the born-again experience and unfolds as we walk with Christ.  It will carry through and continue unfolding in the new heavens and new earth.

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How should we think about the career and influence of Michael Jackson?  Michael Medved has a very penetrating post.  Jackson blurred many distinctions as his career progressed, influencing cultures around the world. 

“Are you relying on your own righteousness? Or on ‘the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ’? Do you know the grounds of your standing at this moment? Have you got this solid rock beneath you? Are you relying utterly upon the Son of God and His perfect work on your behalf? If not, you have not got the breastplate of righteousness, and that means that you are already defeated by the devil. This is the only righteousness that avails, not only when we go to God in prayer, but when we are confronted by the wiles of the devil, and as we wrestle against the principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, the spiritual wickedness in high places.”

We have to be proactive to steward our vision in challenging times.  Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, New York Times Bestselling author encourages us with 4 key steps we can take in challenging times.  After hearing this presentation online, I knew I wanted to listen again and take notes.  Here they are.  I think you'll be encouraged by this. 

Every vision goes through challenging times.  It could be related to the economy or it could be some other crisis.  The corolloary to this is that all visionaries have challenging times.  Challenging times are not unexpected.  Anyone who has carried a vision for anything knows this.  How the challenging time comes to us may be unexpected.  But challenging times are not unexpected.  We may even feel we have come to the edge.

Think about it this way.  If someone challenges us about something, it is an invitation to step up.  Challenging times are an invitation to become someone we have never become before, to do something we have never done before, to achieve something at a new, more expansive level.

Remember, that for those who persevere and are transformed through the process, challenging times are followed by a productive burst.  We should look at it as a gift.  Our roots go down deep, leading to lots of fruit when the challenging season is over.

Here are 4 vital steps we need to take when facing challenging times:

1.  Recommit to achieve the vision in your heart.  Challenges test commitment.  We can float by when things are going well.  But, challenges call something more from us than ever before.  It does not matter how hard or complex the challenge is.  We have to go down deep and find the bedrock.  It's about renewing our resolution.  You go through a barrier you have never gone through before.  Put a lock on your mind and heart to keep out the abusive giant of doubt.  Refuse to permit doubts to enter your mind again.  Know that at the end, I will be successful no matter what.

2.  Innovate new powerful strategies.  When the environment and situation changes, we cannot continue doing the same things.  It is time for change.  There is no personal, relational, or professional growth without change.  The challenge is a prod, stimulus, even a threat.  We must innovate.  Try new things.  Reenvision.  Add value, more than ever before.  Re-prioritize time and energy.  Stop certain things.  Ruthlessly eliminate.  Add what needs to be added.  Protect your time, energy, and margin.

3.  Thank God.  Faith is more important than anything.  It is a bedrock issue.  A wrong perspective leads to failure.  Think clearly.  Think like heaven thinks.  Heaven calls a challenging time a trial.  Consider it all joy, my brethren, whan ytou encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1.2-4 NASB).  The joy comes from knowing something.  If we understand the outcome of the challenging season, we will have joy.  We are more mature, complete, lacking nothing.  Something is added to our person and our situation.  Whenever God want to increase us, add to us, he allows trials.  It is a secret "technology" of God.  He increases our character, core motivation, conduct, competence, and capacity.  We become more like Him.  We can be grateful because the process is for our good, temporary, and transformational.

4.  Accelerate success.  Don't just endure the challenging season.  Engage it.  Ride the wave.  Become an overcomer in all ways.  Don't walk alone.  Band together with 3 others (the chemistry has to be right) who may be going through their own challenging seasons.  Take responsibility for the success of others - personal and professional development.  Connect.  Be a source of encouragement. 

Pray the Prayer of Jabez over your season and situation.  Heaven enjoys answering this prayer found in 1 Chronicles 4.9-10.  There are  4 components to this prayer:  1) Bless me,  2) enlarge my territory,  3) put your hand on me (guidance and encouragement),  4) keep evil away from me and free me from pain.

It's becoming very clear that President Obama has a very calculating moral slide rule see American Thinker (I'm using this article as a springboard).

He has a conviction that the United States Constitution assures rights to illegal enemy combatants from foreign soil who seek to kill U.S. civilians.  Simultaneously, he does not believe that all American citizens, conceived in the womb of American mothers, have a constitutional right to live.

In his speech at the National Archives on May 21, 2009, the president stood before the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights, and stated 11 times that our Constitution justifies the ending of enhanced interrogation of terrorists.  "I know that we must never – ever – turn our back on its enduring principles for expedience sake."

The Obama Justice Department is now ordering FBI agents to read Miranda rights to high-value individuals captured and held at U.S. facilities in Afghanistan.  See Miranda Rights for Terrorists.  We seemingly missed something in our civics lessons.  Miranda rights come from a 1966 Supreme Court decision (Miranda vs. Arizona) and establish that a criminal has a right to an attorney and can invoke the 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. 

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the master mind of the 9-11 attack that murdered 3000 Americans, was captured on March 1, 2003.  "I'll talk to you guys after I get to New York and see my lawyer."  This was the stand he initially took according to George Tenet, former CIA Director.  Thankfully, he didn't get a lawyer until after his interrogation was complete and further plots were squelched.  Tenet wrote in his memoirs, "I believe none of these successes would have happened if we had had to treat KSM like a white-collar criminal - read him his Miranda rights and get him a lawyer who surely would have insisted that his client simply shut up see here." 

So, if we picked up Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or someone like him today, we would tell him he has a 5th Amendment right to remain silent under our Bill of Rights?

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!  - Isaiah 5.20-21 NASB

Now, let's apply the magical moral slide rule to the rights of American babies.  As a candidate, President Obama promised that he would "go on the offense (You Tube clip)" by signing the Freedom of Choice Act.  If passed and signed, the FOCA would erase all state and federal regulations of abortion - laws like parental notification and consent for minors, 24-hour waiting periods, laws regulating late term abortions, and the banning of the heinous partial birth abortion procedure.  Click on the previous 2 links and try to say that it's not "torture" followed by murder.  It is barbarism on the level of the work of Nazi doctors in WWII concentration camps. 

As an Illinois state legislator, Obama opposed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, legislation to provide legal protection for babies who are born alive during an abortion.  He opposed this legislation, asserting that it crossed the line of constitutionality and “essentially says that a doctor is required to provide treatment to a pre-viable child, or fetus.”  He was saying that it was unconstitutional to require a doctor to provide treatment to a baby born alive during an abortion.  The baby, who does not even have the constitutional right to live outside the womb of the mother, is to be left to die as discarded medical waste.  It is a failed murder attempt within the womb followed by infanticide. 

Rights are given to foreign terrorists under the United States Constitution and denied to American babies.  This is the magical moral slide rule at work.  It is the constitutional universe of President Barak Obama.  It is a leftist-European worldview that harmonizes with a "gospel" that is entirely social, "committed to the oppressed, to liberation, or just to the 'community' (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy)."  It is not the authentic gospel of Jesus Christ revealed in the New Testament and does not convey the justice and righteousness of God. 

Previous posts:  Pray for a moral constitutional governance and Critical issues for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee

But, what is the basis of our praying?  Jesus taught us to pray to the Father.  What is our standing before Father God as we come to Him in child-like faith, exercising the power of request?

Prayer is such a massive subject.  Our development in prayer is limitless.  Let me offer three points, though, concerning our standing before God the Father in prayer.  I think it helps to build a Godly confidence and increases the release of our faith.

1. We appeal to Him solely on the basis of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.  We do not come to the throne of grace with a sense of standing upon our righteousness.  We have right-standing with God the Father because we are the righteousness of God in Christ.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5.21 NASB).  This is not to say that we do not work out the righteousness of God in Christ in our lives in a practical way.  For the Christ-follower, this is sanctification, progressively being conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8.29).  But the essence of our standing before the Father in prayer is the righteousness of God in Christ that is accredited to our account by faith.  It is a solid foundation. 
2. Second, Jesus said that we would pray to the Father in His own personal name.  Praying “in Jesus name” is not something we casually say at the end of a prayer because we’re ready to stop praying.  It is actually a power of attorney before the Father.  It is legal.  Jesus has given us His name.  As we have the mind of Christ, praying in His name, it is as if Jesus Himself is interceding before the Father.  This understanding is a prayer weapon that the adversary of prayer does not want us to know and move in.
3. Third, we come to the Father on the basis of Jesus Christ’s firstborn rights over all creation.  This understanding has come to me within the past several months in my own devotions.  The firstborn had special rights and privelages.  As the only begotten (unique) Son of God, Jesus has firstborn rights over the entire created order.  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Col. 1.15-17 NASB). 

So, we can preface our asking and intercession with something like this:

“Father, hallowed be your name.  I worship you and recognize you for all that you are.  May your kingdom and your will be progressively realized in our world.  I now come before You on the basis of the perfect obedience and righteousness of your only Son, Jesus Christ.  As I seek to have the mind of Christ, I make request before You in Jesus Christ’s name, praying before you in His stead, employing the authority of His name.  And I appeal to You on the basis of Jesus Christ’s firstborn rights over all things.  It all came through Him and it’s all for Him.”

“Worldview” is translated from weltanschauung, a German word meaning “a comprehensive conception or image of the universe and of humanity’s relation to it.”  Our “worldview” is our overall perspective from which we see and interpret the world; a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or group (source).  Here’s what Jesus said: “The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear (healthy), your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad (evil, wicked), your whole body will be full of darkness … (Matt. 6.22-23a NASB).”    - Brian

via citizenlink.com

We were at a conference over the weekend focusing on spiritual awakening for the church and the reformation of society.  Here’s the 2nd of several posts underlining several themes.

In Mark 1.15, Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand (lit., has come near); repent and believe in the gospel.”  Jesus said we must be born again to see and enter into His Kingdom (John 3.3-8).  When we are born again in Christ, the DNA of Christ’s Kingdom is birthed within us, awaiting full development and manifestation.

These 3 elements, given to us by our Creator, release a synergistic power and fruitfulness within our sphere of influence:

• The DNA of our natural gifts
• The DNA of our spiritual gifts
• The DNA of the Kingdom within us

 The president uses rhetoric that justices should interpret the Constitution and law and not make policy, but his choice to replace retiring Justice Souter does not line up with his words.  President Obama has nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

I, and I believe millions of Americans, would love to see a Hispanic woman as a Supreme Court justice.  But, could it be one that honors American law (not international law) and the United States Constitution as it was written by our founding fathers?

Watch it unfold.  You will now see a strong effort to shape the confirmation process by focusing upon her personal story, her race, and her gender.

Martin Luther King dreamt of a society that pays no attention to the color of skin, but instead focuses upon character.  Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas has a compelling life story that is formidable and a rock solid character.  Yet, he was savaged by many senators and the media during his torturous confirmation process.  Why?  Because his philosophy of judging is to honor and interpret the constitution as it is written by our founders and to honor American law over international law.

Miguel Estrada was nominated by President Bush in 2003 for an appointment to a circuit court.  He was filibustered for years before he withdrew from the process.  He was born in Honduras.  Moved to the U.S. with his broken family as a teenager.  Graduated with honors from both Columbia University and Harvard Law School.  He excelled in clerkships and served in the Department of Justice.  His story is compelling and he is Hispanic.  Yet, he was strategically denied a seat on a lower court.  Why?  According to a leaked memo from his enemies, “The White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment.”  More here.  Like Clarence Thomas, he believed in honoring the constitution as written and the supremacy of American law over international law in American courts.

How would Judge Sotomayor judge?  She has put forth the idea that legal interpretations are influenced by the experience and cultural background of the justice (this is inevitable and unavoidable she claims).  “Impartiality” is just an “aspiration.”  She has said, “I wonder whether achieving that goal [of impartiality] is possible in all or even in most cases.”  [This was in a 2001 speech at Berkeley School of Law.  See Sotomayor doesn't live up to Obama's word.]

Speaking at Duke University Law School in 2005  see 34 sec. video:  “Um, all of the legal defense funds out there, um, they’re looking for people out there with court of appeals experience, because court of appeals is where policy is made.  And I know, I know this is on tape and I should never say that because we don’t make law, I know.  Um, um – [laughter] – I know.  I’m not promoting it, I’m not advocating it, and, I’m … you know. [laughter]

Presidential elections have consequences.  The deepest and most enduring consequences are the seating of Supreme Court and federal court justices.  Their life-tenured appointments affect generations.

Of the six decisions from the 2nd Circuit that have come before the Supreme Court that Sotomayor was a part of, five were reversed.  The Supreme Court disagreed with Sotomayor’s reasoning in the sixth case.

“President Obama’s choice of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court is consistent with his ideological view supporting Supreme Court justices that rule based on personal feelings and political agenda, rather than a strict and disciplined adherence to the rule of law.”   – Leslie Hiner of the conservative group Freedom for Educational Choice

The idea of a constitution as a living, breathing document that changes with the times (in how it is interpreted and applied) would be alien to John Adams, James Madison, George Washington, and the original Framers.  [An example: Barak Obama as an Illinois state legislator claiming that it was "unconstitutional" to require a doctor to provide medical treatment to a baby born alive during an abortion.]  I mean let’s think about the concept of a constitution as a changing document that is altered by changing times.  Why, it would cease to be a constitution.  I’m not sure what it would be, but it would become something else.  See Pray for a moral constitutional governance.

Let me make a statement and see what you think.  If anyone desires legal outcomes based on personal experience and identity politics, rather than applying the law created by a representative democracy, they should not be in the judicial branch of the government.  Our culture and our legal system are too important.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph. 2.10 NKJV)

The Christ-follower is the workmanship of the most skilled Artisan in the universe.  When we come to Christ in saving faith, we are regenerated, created anew.  The Father takes us in Christ as His workmanship.  The word workmanship is a fascinating word here.  Poiema (poy-ay-mah) is a Greek word from which we get our word “poem.”  The word means something which is manufactured, a product, a design brought forth by an artisan.  Just as God is the Master Designer of the universe, he is the Designer of the Christ-follower.  He brings forth rhyme, reason, balance, symmetry, beauty, and order.  And this is art with a purpose.  We are recreated in Christ for those good works that He has prepared beforehand for us.  We are “looped” back into the heart and mind of God concerning us before the foundation of the world.  This is no small thing. 

Can Jerusalem be divided?  There are reports now that President Obama intends to roll out an Isaraeli-Palistinian peace plan in a June 4th speech in Cairo, Egypt.  In this speech, he intends to make the claim for a Palestinian state with it's capital in Jerusalem.  This assurance has been given to the Palestinian authority.  More here.  Read Joel Rosenberg here.

A letter signed by 76 U.S. senators urges Obama to "continue to insist on the absolute Palestinian commitment to ending terrorist violence and to building the institutions necessary for a viable Palestinian state living side-by-side, in peace with the Jewish state of Israel."  It's said that a similar letter has 200 signatures in the House of Representatives.

Israel is America's best ally in the Middle East, the most volatile region in the world.  Rosenberg writes - "Right at the moment when the U.S. and Israel need to be working with Arab states in unity against the Iranian nuclear threat, this White House is systematically turning against Israel." 

Are the Palestinians willing and able to establish a peaceful state next to Israel?  What have been the results of the last 3 "land for peace" offers that Israel has made - Camp David in 2000, unilaterally withdrawing from southern Lebanon in 2000, and unilaterally withdrawing from Gaza in 2005?  Each offer triggered more war, waves of suicide bombers, and thousands of rockets and mortars raining down on Israel.