Posting on Hold

I won't be posting for this month. It's my busy season at work and I have no time to spare. Plus there is a problem with my main computer. It won't let me log on to blogger. I have to fix that.

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's Time to Pray for Sarah Palin

As I was watching the news this past week, God put it on my heart to pray for the Palins. As, Sarah Palin has stepped into the national race for the Vice Presidency, there have been some horrible attacks on her person, character, family & beliefs. Todd & Sarah Palin have been open about their faith & beliefs and the media is bent on, not just defaming her character, but destroying her & her family.

This is not a political endorsement, rather a call to prayer for a family of God's children that the Devil has set his sights on to destroy.

These latest attacks show the true colors of the viciousness and vitriol of the attackers.

1) "Left-wing internet hackers have been credited for illegally breaking into GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s email. Members of what has been described as the “cyber vigilante” group Anonymous broke into Palin’s personal Yahoo email account and uploaded stolen information to the Internet." Sept. 17, 2008

2) Hollywood actors fell into the deep end years ago, as we know, but it really seems like they've sunk to new lows in their attacks on Sarah Palin. On Sept 15, 2008, Chevy Chase said this: "Well, I thought, I mean, it's extraordinary how well she played her and how much she looked like her. I'd just like her to be—personally I felt we didn't need the Hillary stuff. I'd like her to go even harder. I want her to decimate this woman. This is a, this woman is, I mean I can't believe isn't more about her. All the media have and the press have been going "oh, she's a wonderful, oh God, her speech was great." Just unbelievable to me that this woman is running for vice-president."

3) Leftwing Bloggers coined this phrase “Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a Governor”. Sept. 5, 2008

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Even though the attacks on the Palins seem to be backfiring on the Obama camp, and energizing the conservative base around the country, we cannot forget that there is a huge spiritual battle going on here. The Palins, for the simple fact that they are children of God, are being attacked by Satan. Satan is using lots of people in the media to try and destroy her and tear her to bits.

We need to lift them up in prayer. They need God's protection, provision, wisdom, strength.

I encourage all of us that every time you hear Sarah Palin's name on the radio or on the TV or she comes up in a conversation, let that be a reminder to pray for her, and Todd, her children, and especially Trac who is being deployed to Iraq soon.

I'm not a believer in Mail Forwards, but this word needs to get out to the family of God. Our country is in dire times. We need leaders of character and faith and I believe that John McCain and Sarah Palin can navigate us through the political waters of our times. And there are those out there that have proven that they will cross every line in order to remove her from this race.

Pray with me,
Nev

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Ephesians 6:10-17
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

What Bush & Batman Have In Common

Full article as posted on The Wall Street Journal:

OPINION – Wall Street Journal

What Bush and Batman Have in Common

By ANDREW KLAVAN
July 25, 2008; Page A15

"A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . .

Oh, wait a minute. That's not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a "W."

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society -- in which people sometimes make the wrong choices -- and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.

"The Dark Knight," then, is a conservative movie about the war on terror. And like another such film, last year's "300," "The Dark Knight" is making a fortune depicting the values and necessities that the Bush administration cannot seem to articulate for beans.

Conversely, time after time, left-wing films about the war on terror -- films like "In The Valley of Elah," "Rendition" and "Redacted" -- which preach moral equivalence and advocate surrender, that disrespect the military and their mission, that seem unable to distinguish the difference between America and Islamo-fascism, have bombed more spectacularly than Operation Shock and Awe.

Why is it then that left-wingers feel free to make their films direct and realistic, whereas Hollywood conservatives have to put on a mask in order to speak what they know to be the truth? Why is it, indeed, that the conservative values that power our defense -- values like morality, faith, self-sacrifice and the nobility of fighting for the right -- only appear in fantasy or comic-inspired films like "300," "Lord of the Rings," "Narnia," "Spiderman 3" and now "The Dark Knight"?

The moment filmmakers take on the problem of Islamic terrorism in realistic films, suddenly those values vanish. The good guys become indistinguishable from the bad guys, and we end up denigrating the very heroes who defend us. Why should this be?

The answers to these questions seem to me to be embedded in the story of "The Dark Knight" itself: Doing what's right is hard, and speaking the truth is dangerous. Many have been abhorred for it, some killed, one crucified.

Leftists frequently complain that right-wing morality is simplistic. Morality is relative, they say; nuanced, complex. They're wrong, of course, even on their own terms.

Left and right, all Americans know that freedom is better than slavery, that love is better than hate, kindness better than cruelty, tolerance better than bigotry. We don't always know how we know these things, and yet mysteriously we know them nonetheless.

The true complexity arises when we must defend these values in a world that does not universally embrace them -- when we reach the place where we must be intolerant in order to defend tolerance, or unkind in order to defend kindness, or hateful in order to defend what we love.

When heroes arise who take those difficult duties on themselves, it is tempting for the rest of us to turn our backs on them, to vilify them in order to protect our own appearance of righteousness. We prosecute and execrate the violent soldier or the cruel interrogator in order to parade ourselves as paragons of the peaceful values they preserve. As Gary Oldman's Commissioner Gordon says of the hated and hunted Batman, "He has to run away -- because we have to chase him."

That's real moral complexity. And when our artistic community is ready to show that sometimes men must kill in order to preserve life; that sometimes they must violate their values in order to maintain those values; and that while movie stars may strut in the bright light of our adulation for pretending to be heroes, true heroes often must slink in the shadows, slump-shouldered and despised -- then and only then will we be able to pay President Bush his due and make good and true films about the war on terror.

Perhaps that's when Hollywood conservatives will be able to take off their masks and speak plainly in the light of day."

Mr. Klavan has won two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. His new novel, "Empire of Lies" (An Otto Penzler Book, Harcourt), is about an ordinary man confronting the war on terror.

A Christian counselor wrote, quote,
"It's the only humane choice ahead
If you can't support it
Why don't you abort it instead?"

You say you pray to the sky
Why? when you're afraid to take a stand down here
'Cause while the holy talk reads like a bad ad-lib
Silence screams you were robbing the crib

Say it ain't none of my business, huh?
A woman's got a right to choose
Now a grave-digger
Next you pull the trigger
What then?
Whatever happened to sin?

I heard the reverend say
"Gay is probably normal in the good Lord's sight
What's to be debated?
Jesus never stated what's right"

I'm no theology nut, but
The reverend may be a little confused
For if the Lord don't care
And he chooses to ignore-ah
Tell it to the people
Of Sodom and Gomorrah

Call it just an alternate lifestyle, huh?
Morality lies within
Consciences are restin'
Please repeat the question again
Whatever happened to sin?

When the closets are empty
And the clinics are full
When your eyes have been blinded
By society's wool

When the streets erupt
In your own backyard
You'll be on your knees
Praying for the national guard

If you don't care now
How the problems get solved
You can shake your head later
That you never got involved

'Cause the call came ringing
From the throne of gold
But you never got the message
'Cause your mind's on hold

A politician next door
Swore he'd set the Washington arena on fire
Thinks he'll gladiate them
But they're gonna make him a liar

Well he's a good ol' boy
Who was born and raised
In the buckle of the Bible Belt
But remember when you step
Into your voting booth
He'll never lie
He'll just embellish the truth

Promises were made to be broken, right?
You've gotta play the game to win
When you need supporting
Tell them that you're born again
Whatever happened to sin?

Election Year Politics

The Press Conference

It's a personal thing, and I find it odd
You would question my believing in a personal God
I'm devout, I'm sincere, ask my mother if you doubt it
I'm religious, but I'd rather not get radical about it

The old-time believers had timidity and grace
But this new generation doesn't know its place
You're entitled to believe, but the latest Gallup Poll
Says you mustn't interfere--that's the government's role

'Cause when you throw your hat in the bullring
Before you know know know it's a personal thing
And when he comes to the day of reckoning
He's gonna tell 'em, "uh, uh, uh, it's a personal thing"

The Nomination Speech

It's a personal thing, and I boldly state
That my views on morality will have to wait
'Til my personal life's out of the public eye
And the limitations statue can protect my alibi

I'm devout, I'm sincere, and I'm proud to say
That it's had exactly no effect on who I am today
I believe for the benefit of all mankind
In the total separation of church and mind

'Cause when you throw your hat in the bullring
Before you know know know it's a personal thing
And when he comes to the day of reckoning
He's gonna tell 'em, "uh, uh, uh, it's a personal thing"

The Victory Night

It's a personal thing, and I plainly speak
(From the same code of ethics that I held last week)
As I promised if elected this election day
With the help of God almighty, I'll do it my way

'Cause when you throw your hat in the bullring
Before you know know know it's a personal thing
And when he comes to the day of reckoning
He's gonna say, "back off, buddy, it's a personal thing"

(It's A Personal Thing (1985) from Album - On The Fritz)