Prophecy
The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ
Christmas is eleven days from today. It is celebrated by more people around the globe than any other holiday. Why?
Because no greater person ever walked the earth than Jesus Christ.
For the next few weeks I will re-publish three of the most important blogs I have ever done. They’re important because they focus on the one person who’s most crucial to our lives–both here on earth and also after we die. He is “the Way” in both realms.
There is no one like Jesus. Read More
It’s Time to Be Brutally Honest about the Democratic Party
For more than thirty years I’ve considered myself an independent who disliked many aspects of both American political parties.
But after watching the post-election rioting following the election of Donald Trump, I believe it’s necessary to wade into some “partisan” waters.
It’s time to be brutally honest about the 21st century Democratic Party.
In truth, I did carry a “Republican card” in my wallet for about ten of my forty-five years as a voter. Most of that occurred in the 1980s when our family lived in Washington, D.C. and our involvement in Ronald Reagan’s election led us to identify with the GOP. The only other time was when I ran for statewide office in 2006.
I have no such card in my wallet today.
It’s true that I more often vote Republican than Democrat, but that is simply due to principles. The Republicans are the only major party in America today that openly believes in God, biblical morality, free enterprise, strong defense, and justice via God-given human rights.
On the other hand, I’ve been very critical of the Republican Party for its compromise of those values on many fronts and their getting in bed with the political establishment that now plagues Washington, D.C.
In the past few years some Republicans leaders have been wimpy and weak-kneed–going along with the economic and cultural erosion of the nation. It appears that about sixty million people agreed with me this year in rejecting a wide slate of Republican governors and senators to elect Donald Trump (a political outsider) to the highest office of the land.
So the Republican Party has its warts–plenty of them.
But that is different than the current state of the Democratic Party.
Before I go there, a little history.
You might not be aware that today’s Democratic Party was once called the Democratic Republicans. That union of now antithetical words took place during Thomas Jefferson’s day when political parties were first being formed in our nation. In the late 1820s, the Republican moniker was dropped when Andrew Jackson was elected the first Democrat president. (Abraham Lincoln brought back the Republican brand in 1860).
Since the 1860s, the Ds and Rs have been the primary political groups in the US. For most of that time, their cultural differences were slight–both being strongly anchored to a Judeo-Christian worldview. In general, it’s probably true that Democrats championed the little guy (populism) more than Republicans, and the Rs were greater promoters of business.
But both shared the overall Christian view of life, including reverence for God. Thus it was Democratic icon Franklin Delano Roosevelt who publicly prayed over the radio during the dark days of World War II. In the 1940s, Democrats, like most everyone else, believed in God, his commandments, and the other necessary bedrocks of a freedom loving society.
(There was one major exception to the Democratic Party’s past faith. They were the party of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, and segregation until very recently. The Democrats were “anti-black” for 150 years–only changing in the 1960s to court the African-American vote which they’d lost in the southern states. This story is well told in Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary “Hillary’s America“–still worth watching after her defeat.)
When I was a young man, I respected many Democrat leaders. I didn’t like the personal morals of John F. Kennedy, but his economic program, vision for the future, and emphasis on strong national defense was excellent policy and historically mainstream. In my own state. Warren Magnuson and Henry “Scoop” Jackson were respectable Democrat senators.
In fact, I think most of my family voted Democrat until the Reagan Revolution. So, for the first two thirds of my life, the Democrats remained a party worthy of support.
But that was then. This is now. The Democratic Party has changed radically in the past generation. Those differences showed themselves starkly in the 2016 election.
Let’s start off with this perspective.
Prior to 2000, people of faith could honestly vote for either party with a good conscience. Not today. Today’s Democratic Party is thoroughly anti-God, anti-morality, anti-little guy, anti-free enterprise, pro-open borders, and pro global government and control. It’s a stunning change from a faith-based core to the aggressive promotion of secular atheism in every area of life.
The 2016 presidential election confirms this. 81% of evangelical Christians and 52% of Catholics voted Republican for Donald Trump (not the greatest “faith” candidate). On the other side, 81% of secular atheists voted for Hillary Clinton.
This reveals the true nature of “gridlock” or the political divide in America. The Democratic Party has become the party of atheism while the Republicans still look to God and his principles.
It’s time to be be brutally honest about how Democratic atheism poses a huge threat to America’s future and the world.
As far as major political parties go:
1. Only the Democratic Party pays anarchists to cause mayhem. This has been well documented from the days of Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter, to the demonstrations in the streets against the election of Donald Trump. None of these protests were grass roots led and motivated. They were all funded by Democratic business people and organizations. Following Trump’s election, a memo went out from a George Soros-based group saying they would pay people to take to the streets to protest Trump. Prior to that, the Veritas tapes revealed that all the violence at the Trump rallies was paid for by the Democratic Party. Democrats aren’t just supportive of the riots. They are consciously funding a spirit of anarchy in America. Let that sink in for a moment.
2. Only the Democratic Party promotes voter fraud. You’d think the issue of voter fraud might come from different extremes of both parties–each scrounging for votes. But that’s not true. It’s only the Democrats who hire community organizers to sign up illegal aliens, vote in the place of dead people, and encourage folks to vote more than once. In fact in the recent election, it is estimated that there were up to three million cases of voter fraud–most of which is Democrat inspired. (Another good reason to keep the Electoral College. Direct vote democracy is far more susceptible to wide-spread corruption.) Truth be told, Hillary Clinton probably did not even win the popular vote because the vast majority of the estimated three million fraudulent votes went to her–illegally.
3. Only the Democratic Party champions the abortion holocaust . Since 1972, the Democrats and their surrogates, such as Planned Parenthood, have enthusiastically supported the slaughter of fifty-five million unborn children. The number of innocent dead is five times that of Adolph Hitler and equal to the barbaric cruelty of Chairman Mao. They talk about “choice”–but what’s the choice? Death. A dirty little secret is that the abortion holocaust is the primary driver of the need for higher taxes and lax immigration policies because in the past fifty years we’ve killed 15% of our people and need the labor and taxes of immigrants to take their place. Hillary even championed late term abortion. Can you think of anything more cruel in America than 55 million deaths?
4. Only the Democratic Party is intolerant of other positions. Exhibit A: the current marches and riots against Donald Trump. Millions of Republicans were equally upset when Barack Obama triumphed in in 2008 and 2012 but they didn’t have a hissy fit in the streets and break windows and shut down businesses. They respected the political process though they disagreed with the outcome. There is no tolerance in progressivism for anything other than their ideas. It is “group bullying” on a scary and dangerous scale.
5. Only the Democratic Party is riddled with corruption and lies. Hillary Clinton was possibly the most deceitful person ever to run for president. The Wikileaks revelations and the e-mail and Clinton Foundation scandals stunk to high heaven–and the voters noticed the odor. You couldn’t believe a word that Mrs. Clinton spoke, and some of that was also true about President Obama who said: “You can keep your doctor if you like,” and “You can keep your plan if you like,” and “Obamacare will save every family $2500.” Rubbish. They both lied continuously as a means to accomplishing their goals.
How could the Democratic Party, in one generation, become so anarchist, fraud-filled, intolerant and murderous? That’s an easy but sobering answer.
Secularism contains no moral code. The Ten Commandments are thrown out and the rule of life is simply “every man does what’s right in his own eyes.” When you reject God and morality, then you can do any thing that you want. You can even justify your crooked or evil practices in the name of the cause.
There is no longer any restraint or character in the Democratic Party–and it shows in the streets and in their campaigns.
What’s happened to the once-great party of Jefferson, Jackson, Roosevelt and Kennedy needs to be thoroughly exposed in our day. The Democrats have become an enemy of the good in America.
The Bible tells us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Let’s pray for a great spiritual and moral renewal of the Democratic Party in the United States.
The Jewish Prophet Speaks……Again
Six months ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke prophetically before the United Nations about the scourge of militant Islam. At the time, I called him the Lone Prophet.
Yesterday, that same lone prophetic voice of our time spoke to a joint session of Congress–boycotted by 50 cowardly Democrats.
I wish there was a strong American prophetic voice in the world right now.
There is not.
There is a Jew. He is warning us about a potential apocalypse. We had better listen.
Here are his words.
(I have edited Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to make it shorter. You can read the entire speech here. I’ve also BOLDED the main points if you do not have the time to read it all.)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, March 3, 2015 – Joint Session of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Thank you, America. Thank you for everything you’ve done for Israel. My friends, I’ve come here today because, as prime minister of Israel, I feel a profound obligation to speak to you about an issue that could well threaten the survival of my country and the future of my people: Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons. We’re an ancient people. In our nearly 4,000 years of history, many have tried repeatedly to destroy the Jewish people.
Tomorrow night, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we’ll read the Book of Esther. We’ll read of a powerful Persian viceroy named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish people some 2,500 years ago. But a courageous Jewish woman, Queen Esther, exposed the plot and gave for the Jewish people the right to defend themselves against their enemies.
The plot was foiled. Our people were saved. Today the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate to destroy us. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei spews the oldest hatred, the oldest hatred of anti-Semitism with the newest technology. He tweets that Israel must be annihilated — he tweets.
You know, in Iran, there isn’t exactly free Internet. But he tweets in English that Israel must be destroyed. For those who believe that Iran threatens the Jewish state, but not the Jewish people, listen to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, Iran’s chief terrorist proxy. He said: If all the Jews gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of chasing them down around the world.
But Iran’s regime is not merely a Jewish problem, any more than the Nazi regime was merely a Jewish problem. The 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis were but a fraction of the 60 million people killed in World War II. So, too, Iran’s regime poses a grave threat, not only to Israel, but also the peace of the entire world. To understand just how dangerous Iran would be with nuclear weapons, we must fully understand the nature of the regime.
The people of Iran are very talented people. They’re heirs to one of the world’s great civilizations. But in 1979, they were hijacked by religious zealots — religious zealots who imposed on them immediately a dark and brutal dictatorship.
That year, the zealots drafted a constitution, a new one for Iran. It directed the revolutionary guards not only to protect Iran’s borders, but also to fulfill the ideological mission of jihad. The regime’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, exhorted his followers to “export the revolution throughout the world.”
I’m standing here in Washington, D.C. and the difference is so stark. America’s founding document promises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Iran’s founding document pledges death, tyranny, and the pursuit of jihad. And as states are collapsing across the Middle East, Iran is charging into the void to do just that.
Iran’s goons in Gaza, its lackeys in Lebanon, its revolutionary guards on the Golan Heights are clutching Israel with three tentacles of terror. Backed by Iran, Assad is slaughtering Syrians. Back by Iran, Shiite militias are rampaging through Iraq. Back by Iran, Houthis are seizing control of Yemen, threatening the strategic straits at the mouth of the Red Sea. Along with the Straits of Hormuz, that would give Iran a second choke-point on the world’s oil supply.
Iran took dozens of Americans hostage in Tehran, murdered hundreds of American soldiers, Marines, in Beirut, and was responsible for killing and maiming thousands of American service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Beyond the Middle East, Iran attacks America and its allies through its global terror network. It blew up the Jewish community center and the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. It helped Al Qaeda bomb U.S. embassies in Africa. It even attempted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, right here in Washington, D.C.
In the Middle East, Iran now dominates four Arab capitals, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sanaa. And if Iran’s aggression is left unchecked, more will surely follow. So, at a time when many hope that Iran will join the community of nations, Iran is busy gobbling up the nations.
We must all stand together to stop Iran’s march of conquest, subjugation and terror.
Now, two years ago, we were told to give President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif a chance to bring change and moderation to Iran. Some change! Some moderation!
Iran’s regime is as radical as ever, its cries of “Death to America,” that same America that it calls the “Great Satan,” as loud as ever. Now, this shouldn’t be surprising, because the ideology of Iran’s revolutionary regime is deeply rooted in militant Islam, and that’s why this regime will always be an enemy of America. Don’t be fooled. The battle between Iran and ISIS doesn’t turn Iran into a friend of America.
Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam. One calls itself the Islamic Republic. The other calls itself the Islamic State. Both want to impose a militant Islamic empire first on the region and then on the entire world. They just disagree among themselves who will be the ruler of that empire.
In this deadly game of thrones, there’s no place for America or for Israel, no peace for Christians, Jews or Muslims who don’t share the Islamist medieval creed, no rights for women, no freedom for anyone. So when it comes to Iran and ISIS, the enemy of your enemy is your enemy.
The difference is that ISIS is armed with butcher knives, captured weapons and YouTube, whereas Iran could soon be armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs. We must always remember — I’ll say it one more time — the greatest dangers facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. To defeat ISIS and let Iran get nuclear weapons would be to win the battle, but lose the war. We can’t let that happen.
But that, my friends, is exactly what could happen, if the deal now being negotiated is accepted by Iran. That deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. It would all but guarantee that Iran gets those weapons, lots of them. Let me explain why. While the final deal has not yet been signed, certain elements of any potential deal are now a matter of public record. You don’t need intelligence agencies and secret information to know this. You can Google it.
Absent a dramatic change, we know for sure that any deal with Iran will include two major concessions to Iran. The first major concession would leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure, providing it with a short break-out time to the bomb. Break-out time is the time it takes to amass enough weapons-grade uranium or plutonium for a nuclear bomb.
According to the deal, not a single nuclear facility would be demolished. Thousands of centrifuges used to enrich uranium would be left spinning. Thousands more would be temporarily disconnected, but not destroyed. Because Iran’s nuclear program would be left largely intact, Iran’s break-out time would be very short — about a year by U.S. assessment, even shorter by Israel’s.
And if — if Iran’s work on advanced centrifuges, faster and faster centrifuges, is not stopped, that break-out time could still be shorter, a lot shorter. True, certain restrictions would be imposed on Iran’s nuclear program and Iran’s adherence to those restrictions would be supervised by international inspectors. But here’s the problem. You see, inspectors document violations; they don’t stop them.
Now, I know this is not gonna come a shock — as a shock to any of you, but Iran not only defies inspectors, it also plays a pretty good game of hide-and-cheat with them. The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, said again yesterday that Iran still refuses to come clean about its military nuclear program. Iran was also caught — caught twice, not once, twice — operating secret nuclear facilities in Natanz and Qom, facilities that inspectors didn’t even know existed.
But the second major concession creates an even greater danger that Iran could get to the bomb by keeping the deal. Because virtually all the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program will automatically expire in about a decade.
Now, a decade may seem like a long time in political life, but it’s the blink of an eye in the life of a nation. It’s a blink of an eye in the life of our children. We all have a responsibility to consider what will happen when Iran’s nuclear capabilities are virtually unrestricted and all the sanctions will have been lifted. Iran would then be free to build a huge nuclear capacity that could product many, many nuclear bombs.
Iran’s Supreme Leader says that openly. He says, Iran plans to have 190,000 centrifuges, not 6,000 or even the 19,000 that Iran has today, but 10 times that amount — 190,000 centrifuges enriching uranium. With this massive capacity, Iran could make the fuel for an entire nuclear arsenal and this in a matter of weeks, once it makes that decision.
And by the way, if Iran’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program is not part of the deal, and so far, Iran refuses to even put it on the negotiating table. Well, Iran could have the means to deliver that nuclear arsenal to the far-reach corners of the earth, including to every part of the United States.
So you see, my friends, this deal has two major concessions: one, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program and two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. That’s why this deal is so bad. It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb; it paves Iran’s path to the bomb. So why would anyone make this deal? Because they hope that Iran will change for the better in the coming years, or they believe that the alternative to this deal is worse?
Well, I disagree. I don’t believe that Iran’s radical regime will change for the better after this deal. This regime has been in power for 36 years, and its voracious appetite for aggression grows with each passing year. This deal would wet appetite — would only wet Iran’s appetite for more. Would Iran be less aggressive when sanctions are removed and its economy is stronger?
If Iran is gobbling up four countries right now while it’s under sanctions, how many more countries will Iran devour when sanctions are lifted? Would Iran fund less terrorism when it has mountains of cash with which to fund more terrorism? Why should Iran’s radical regime change for the better when it can enjoy the best of both world’s: aggression abroad, prosperity at home?
This is a question that everyone asks in our region. Israel’s neighbors — Iran’s neighbors know that Iran will become even more aggressive and sponsor even more terrorism when its economy is unshackled and it’s been given a clear path to the bomb. And many of these neighbors say they’ll respond by racing to get nuclear weapons of their own. So this deal won’t change Iran for the better; it will only change the Middle East for the worse.
A deal that’s supposed to prevent nuclear proliferation would instead spark a nuclear arms race in the most dangerous part of the planet. This deal won’t be a farewell to arms. It would be a farewell to arms control. And the Middle East would soon be crisscrossed by nuclear tripwires. A region where small skirmishes can trigger big wars would turn into a nuclear tinderbox.
If anyone thinks — if anyone thinks this deal kicks the can down the road, think again. When we get down that road, we’ll face a much more dangerous Iran, a Middle East littered with nuclear bombs and a countdown to a potential nuclear nightmare.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve come here today to tell you we don’t have to bet the security of the world on the hope that Iran will change for the better. We don’t have to gamble with our future and with our children’s future. We can insist that restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program not be lifted for as long as Iran continues its aggression in the region and in the world.
Before lifting those restrictions, the world should demand that Iran do three things. First, stop its aggression against its neighbors in the Middle East. Second… Second, stop supporting terrorism around the world. And third, stop threatening to annihilate my country, Israel, the one and only Jewish state.
If the world powers are not prepared to insist that Iran change its behavior before a deal is signed, at the very least they should insist that Iran change its behavior before a deal expires. If Iran changes its behavior, the restrictions would be lifted. If Iran doesn’t change its behavior, the restrictions should not be lifted. If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country, let it act like a normal country.
My friends, what about the argument that there’s no alternative to this deal, that Iran’s nuclear know-how cannot be erased, that its nuclear program is so advanced that the best we can do is delay the inevitable, which is essentially what the proposed deal seeks to do?
Well, nuclear know-how without nuclear infrastructure doesn’t get you very much. A racecar driver without a car can’t drive. A pilot without a plan can’t fly. Without thousands of centrifuges, tons of enriched uranium or heavy water facilities, Iran can’t make nuclear weapons.
Iran’s nuclear program can be rolled back well-beyond the current proposal by insisting on a better deal and keeping up the pressure on a very vulnerable regime, especially given the recent collapse in the price of oil.
Now, if Iran threatens to walk away from the table — and this often happens in a Persian bazaar — call their bluff. They’ll be back, because they need the deal a lot more than you do.
And by maintaining the pressure on Iran and on those who do business with Iran, you have the power to make them need it even more. My friends, for over a year, we’ve been told that no deal is better than a bad deal. Well, this is a bad deal. It’s a very bad deal. We’re better off without it.
Now we’re being told that the only alternative to this bad deal is war. That’s just not true. The alternative to this bad deal is a much better deal. A better deal that doesn’t leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure and such a short break-out time. A better deal that keeps the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in place until Iran’s aggression ends.
A better deal that won’t give Iran an easy path to the bomb. A better deal that Israel and its neighbors may not like, but with which we could live, literally. And no country… … no country has a greater stake — no country has a greater stake than Israel in a good deal that peacefully removes this threat.
Ladies and gentlemen, history has placed us at a fateful crossroads. We must now choose between two paths. One path leads to a bad deal that will at best curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions for a while, but it will inexorably lead to a nuclear-armed Iran whose unbridled aggression will inevitably lead to war.
The second path, however difficult, could lead to a much better deal, that would prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, a nuclearized Middle East and the horrific consequences of both to all of humanity.
You don’t have to read Robert Frost to know. You have to live life to know that the difficult path is usually the one less traveled, but it will make all the difference for the future of my country, the security of the Middle East and the peace of the world, the peace, we all desire.
My friends, standing up to Iran is not easy. Standing up to dark and murderous regimes never is. I can only urge the leaders of the world not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Not to sacrifice the future for the present; not to ignore aggression in the hopes of gaining an illusory peace. But I can guarantee you this, the days when the Jewish people remained passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days are over.
We are no longer scattered among the nations, powerless to defend ourselves. We restored our sovereignty in our ancient home. And the soldiers who defend our home have boundless courage. For the first time in 100 generations, we, the Jewish people, can defend ourselves.
This is why — this is why, as a prime minister of Israel, I can promise you one more thing: Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand. But I know that Israel does not stand alone. I know that America stands with Israel. I know that you stand with Israel. You stand with Israel, because you know that the story of Israel is not only the story of the Jewish people but of the human spirit that refuses again and again to succumb to history’s horrors.
Facing me right up there in the gallery, overlooking all of us in this (inaudible) chamber is the image of Moses. Moses led our people from slavery to the gates of the Promised Land. And before the people of Israel entered the land of Israel, Moses gave us a message that has steeled our resolve for thousands of years.
I leave you with his message today, (SPEAKING IN HEBREW), “Be strong and resolute, neither fear nor dread them.” My friends, may Israel and America always stand together, strong and resolute. May we neither fear nor dread the challenges ahead. May we face the future with confidence, strength and hope.
May God bless the state of Israel and may God bless the United States of America.