Irish Reading

An English perspective:

"For the great Gaels of Ireland

Are the men that God made mad,

For all their wars are merry,

And all their songs are sad."

-- Gilbert Keith Chesterton

The traditional Irish wedding toast reflects their worldview before the Potato Famine:

Health and long life to you,

Land without rent to you,

A child every year to you,

And death in old Ireland.

Conservatives Lost More Than an Election

Barack Obama didn’t defeat conservatism.

Mr. Bush ran as a “compassionate conservative.” However, after his election he showed himself to be a neo-conservative: astronomical big government spender, taking us into reckless unconstitutional wars, bombing countries and killing tens if not hundreds of thousands of people.

For six years now all three branches of government have been under the control of these so-called “pro-life” neo-conservatives yet not one baby has been saved.

Worse still Mr. Bush presented himself as a conservative Christian. I remember Dr. James Dobson and his wife Shirley visiting the White House shortly before election time. Mr. Bush kissed Shirley and told James Dobson of his faith and conservative Christians bought into the whole Bush /McCain neo-conservative trickery.

Has Mr. McCain been a conservative? McCain has always voted for amnesty for illegals. In 2006 he pushed for Social Security for illegals. Once he was the only Republican to vote against Bush tax cuts. He called Rev. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance.” He calls himself “an unapologetic supporter of NAFTA,” an agreement that has cost many Americans their jobs. McCain and Bush have allowed the Wall Street banker bailout, and presided over the economy that crated the need for the bail out. Even Gun Owners of America once gave Mr. McCain an “F” for his stands on Second Amendment issues.

Have Christian conservatives become the dumbest demographic? The James Dobsons of this country should be ashamed of themselves. Have they voted party rather than principal? Or was it that worn out horse “the lesser of two evils?” Without a sincere commitment to constitutional government, the GOP has no justifiable reason to ever govern again. Their foolishness is now obvious to all. They have lost more than an election.

Harper Milo Stoops is Coming!

Zerrell and Brigid
Brigid is having contractions, and expecting Harper soon

Zerrell greated us with kisses! (Auntie) Ruth, Regina, (Grandma) Mom

We all enjoyed the party.

Regina met Samatha, a young homeschooled artist

whose hand painted quilt blocks were the most beautiful.

(Auntie) Sharron, (Auntie) Shari

Each lady made an acrostic with Harper's Name:

Harper's

Accomplished

Relatives

Practice

Entertainment

Remarkably

Melody and Max
Max is adopted.

He was born at two pounds after his mother was in an auto accident.

The mother died soon after.

Jonathan, my brother - Samuel, Isaac

Brigid, Shari, Mom (Mary), Regina

New Orthodontic Braces for Jodavid

It was a special day for Jodavid, braces on his upper teeth and a new red Costco bike

to share with Melody. Melody is to get head gear on her next visit.

Dinah's Gravy

Nut Sauce

Grind in a vita-mix blender:

¼ c. raw unsalted pistachios

1 c. walnuts, almonds or cashews

1t. California pepper powder

3 T. Nutritional yeast flakes

2 T. arrowroot or cornstarch powder

1 t. sea salt

In a small covered pan boil:

2 cups water

In a small pan sauté

1T. olive oil

1 ½ T. water

1bell pepper

3 cloves garlic

2 ½ T. onion flakes

Add dry ingredients, boiling water and sautéed vegetables to blender and process till smoothie. Place in a pan and bring to a boil stirring consistently. This will take less than a minute because the mixture is already hot.

Serve over baked or mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables etc.

Unity and Diversity Forum - Nov 21-22

A Great Event in the Sacramento Area

Gary DeMar is coming in from Atlanta, Georgia on Friday afternoon. He is world class. The event is free. They will take an offering. Eschatology, our understanding of the Bible, tells whether we are optimistic or pessimistic about the future of Christianity in the world. Don't miss this dynamic opportunity to hear both sides present their perspective! Register Now! ~ Lance

Four distinct Bible scholars are coming together, Gary DeMar, Barry E. Horner, Thomas Schreiner, and David M. VanDrunen, to discuss how Christians may disagree and still be united over issues of Infant Baptism, Believer's Baptism, Eschataology, and Evangelical Feminism vs. Complementarianism. Each has a unique perspective and will help us learn and grow in Christ.

To find out more about this event please Download the PDF Brochure

This Special event will be located at:
Woodland Bible Church
433 California Street
Woodland, CA 95695

Schedule

Nov 21 2008
7:00pm - Forum: Thomas Schreiner and David VanDrunen
7-9pm

Nov 22 2008
8:30am - Presentation: Thomas Schreiner
9:30am - Forum: Gary DeMar and Barry Horner
1:00pm - Presentation: Gary DeMar
2:15pm - Presentation: Barry Horner
3:15pm - Closing Thoughts: Ron Poarch

Will Christians Learn the Lesson?

by Elijah Brown
http://ketoctonbaptist.blogspot.com/
With only a couple of months left in office the liberal legacy of George Bush can teach us a valuable lesson. Eight years ago I remember contending with fellow Christians about the importance of not wasting their vote on a third party. After all “a vote for a third party was a vote for Gore,” even if there was a good third party candidate the election was much too important to waste your vote…why, if Gore wins the presidency it will be like Clinton all over again, yet worst. Besides George W. Bush was a great “evangelical” presidential hopeful that was going to restore Christian conservative values to the American system and champion the constitution..However, when President Bush was elected funding for abortion increased, government expansion went through the roof, and the homosexual agenda became more of a force than ever before. Yet, Christian leaders failed to speak out against the compromise. It was not that the liberal threat of the Clinton years was now abated; it was just that Christians who held Clinton accountable tuned a blind eye toward George Bush. As a result Christians lost the moral authority to speak out about things like just warfare, torture as an assault on the image of God, and the ethical importance of habeas corpus.

The same health care plan that was vehemently opposed as socialism under the Clintons, was passed incrementally under Bush with little opposition. Bush also put the “?” behind what is means to be fiscally conservative. After two terms, two recessions, higher inflation, a $700 billion bailout for banks (with which the government will have the authority to buy an ownership interest where ever it chooses) and out spending the national debt clock and every other U.S. President at the same time, what does the term “fiscal conservative” mean anymore?

We have seen the unprecedented expansion of federal control over education under “No child left behind,” and a faith based initiative that would expand government control over faith based organizations as well. Our second amendment rights were undermined when the Bush administration argued that our constitutional right to bear arms was subject to legislative regulation. We saw our First amendment rights to freedom of speech greatly impaired when Bush signed H.R. 2356 into law. What are Christians to make of his involvement with the establishment of the North American Union?

The list goes on and on, but this much is clear: with conservatives like this who needs a socialist? Yet the majority of Christians turned a blind eye and in the most recent election threw support to an even more liberal John McCain. A liberal, who was not pro-life, not fiscally conservative, was soft on homo-sexuality, and has proved time and time again he is no friend to the Constitution. If republicans or democrats departed from just about any other voter base they would forfeit the base support, but not so for the “Christian Right”. They will support a republican no matter who the candidate is and this election proved it. I honestly don’t think you could train a dog to be more loyal.

This much can be learned. Incrementalism does not work. When Christians attempt to incrementally change the government for the better by voting for the “better of two evils,” they are the ones who are incrementally changed. In the case of John McCain no excuse was spared in order to justify casting a vote for a man who believes it is ok to kill babies under certain circumstances.

James Dobson once promised never to cast a vote for a candidate who believed that it was permissible to kill even one single child…. Dobson changed, and not in order conform more perfectly to scripture.

Pragmatism, does not work either. Pragmatism is the default for those who have no faith in the certainty of God’s word. If we strictly adhere to scripture, they think, the enemy will gain a victory, so we need to set aside the clear teaching of scripture and determine for ourselves what is the greater good. I wonder how well that one will go over when we stand before the throne of Christ.

Obama’s victory is a product of the compromise, pragmatism, and incrementalism of conservatives. With the nomination of John McCain conservatives made the appeal for a socialist candidate, but lost against a slightly more consistent socialist. In other words if it is socialism you want, the full blown socialist will get the job done much better. If it is the restoration of the republic that you want, then John McCain does not at all present that alternative. In fact it seemed the best thing that McCain had going for him was that he was a “maverick” who was used to compromising conservative values.

Two things were made clear last night. First, contrary to popular belief, it turns out that Sarah Palin was not a modern day Deborah after all. (If she were without a doubt God would have seen fit that McCain won the election) Secondly, unlike the last eight years, it is now clear who the enemy is. Under Bush we have witnessed the initiation of socialized medicine, expansion of Government, limitations of free speech, more funding for abortion, ect, which is the same sort of things that President-elect Obama is proposing. The difference is that Christians march into the next four years with their eyes wide open and where we turned a blind eye to the Bush administration, the Obama administration will not receive the same benefit.

If there is to be any future to the Christian political thought, then Christians cannot continue to be Republican lapdogs rain or shine. There must be a return to uncompromising faith in the certainty of Gods word. Every area of political thought must be brought under the authority of scripture, and any candidate that is Biblically unqualified will have to change or give up one of their most influential voter bases. We are called to be peculiar people of faith in Christ, not people called after pragmatism and compromise. If we believe what scripture says then, it is not the voter, but God who rises up leaders for the nations. Christians read that in the scriptures, but they do not truly believe that, do they? If Christians truly believed what the Word of God said it would naturally follows that delivering a vote made in faith for a Biblically qualified candidate (even if he has “no chance” of winning) goes further to raise up strong and godly leaders then a pragmatic vote for “the better of two evils.” Leaders like Obama are given as God’s judgment against all those who disregard His word and are given to compromise.

We have four years to think over the consequence of compromise and during that time we have a lot of work to do.

Puritan Economic Experiments

By Dr. Gary North

Retail Price: $5.95

Your Price: $1.49

Save: 75%

SKU: BKP-0980

Publisher: Inst. For Christian Economics

Paperback, 70 pages

About the Title: When the Puritans got off the Arabella and waded ashore to Massachusetts in 1630, they carried a heavy burden with them: five hundred years of accumulated unsound economic doctrines. This system of thought is today called scholastic economics. Actually, the later Spanish scholastic economists who were contemporaries of the Puritans had adopted free market views, but the Puritans had never heard of them. So, a series of disastrous economic experiments began in New England.

The Pilgrims had been compelled by prior contract to set up a basically socialist system in 1620 - the common storehouse - and had come very close to starving as a result. They dropped this practice within two years, long before the arrival of their neighbors, the Puritans. The Puritans did not make the same mistake. But they made others: extensive publicly owned lands for grazing, controls on who was allowed to buy and sell land, price and wage controls, quality controls, public guilds and monopolies, and controls on people's fashions. They learned first-hand what government controls produce: conflict and shortages.

For almost half a century, the Puritans ran the experiment. They served as willing guineas pigs. Eventually, they learned. Anyway, their children learned. In 1675, the great Indian war broke out - King Philip's War. The politicians tightened controls on the economy, and it began to break down. By the time the war was over a year later, the Puritans had learned their lesson. They abolished economic controls for good, and the economy boomed.

This is a story of nearly half a century of Puritan experiments with government controls, all in the name of Christian ethics, and why those experiments were finally abandoned as a failure. The Puritans learned from experience. Not until the American Revolution broke out a century later did American colonists again attempt to impose a comparable system of economic controls, and the result of those controls was the near-starvation of Washington's army at Valley Forge in 1777. Similar experiment - similar result.

http://www.americanvision.com/puritaneconomicexperiments.aspx

Reformation Camp at Murphys, Ca.

Welcome!
Lance studied on the way.

Leader's in Action series; Give Me Liberty: the Christian Character of Patrick Henry

Horsehoes.

Our grandpa always loved this game. We were too young to play.

Ron and Lance

Colating

Checking on Victor's Photography


Strategy


Uncle Jay was Surrounded
Luke wanted Regina to talk to the young ladies about blessing their families.

Alexis de Tocqueville on American women:

"For my part, I have no hesitation is saying that although the American woman never leaves here domestic sphere and is in some respects very dependent within it, nowhere does she enjoy a higher station. An now that I come near the end of this book in which I have rendered so many considerable achievements of the Americans, If any one asks me what I think the chief case of extraordinary prosperity and growing power of this nation, I should answer that it is due to the superiority of their women.”

-- Democracy in America 1831

Sisters Serinity

Important AnnouncementsLadies Pannel

We're Almost All Here

Several had to leave early.

Victor and Viktor are taking pictures.

The "Prayer Huddle" Jay started in the 70's.

Victor filmed most sessions.

Viktor and Constantin

Wake the Warriors
http://whydotheheathenrage.blogspot.com/

On Sunday morning, the young men got to speak.

Daniel, on Man's wisdom and God's

Lance, on Numbers 13 and Joshua 2

Give Thanks in Romanian

Accompanied by Merijke

The Men Outnumbered Us!Addresses

Serenity

Jay: "I'm going to adopt this guy!"

"Me to!"

"And me!"

Ivan, Dennis and Mike

Goodbye Yana!

California Sunset

Daddy, we're in the Sacremento Bee!
The Homeschooler Callers Made the Difference in McClintock's Campaign

Home Again!

It is always exciting to see each other again and share the news.

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19 7-11, 14

Grandma's House

Grandma & Piccolino

Between events, R, L, V & M stayed at Grandma's Nov. 5-7
Auntie Mary lives with her and does some substitute teaching.

Her daughter's fiancé is a Von Trapp and

Manages the family lodge in Vermont.
Uncle John came by for a few hours.

An incident occurred over Proposition 8.

As the TV focused frequently on Sodomites,

Auntie Mary claimed that some people cannot help it

as they were born homosexual.

Lance responded, "No, they were NOT born homosexual.

They were born in sin."

As King David said, "In sin did my mother conceive me."

All mankind has a sin nature.

The Tom McClintock Campaign

Tony led our morning devotion.

Let your light so shine before men

that they may see your good works

and glorify your father in heaven.

Be a city on a hill

Everything you do on a hill is watched.

Phone Banks

Sam had a question from a voter,

he asked Mr. McClintock, Are you for "Fair Tax" or "Flat Tax"

He called his person back and reported, "Flat Tax."

We had competition.

Even young ones called as many as 500 in a day.

Homeschoolers and their parents were calling side-by-side.

It was always a delight to hear "YES"

the person is voting for Tom McClintock.

It was an honor to campaign for Mr. McClintock Lance gave him a New American magazine.

Lindsay Paula reporting on Channel KCRA 3

Nearly a week after the election, the campaigns for Democrat Charlie Brown and Republican Tom McClintock are both waiting to see how thousands of provisional and vote-by-mail ballots turn out in the 4th Congressional District race.

The most recent results as of this afternoon show McClintock, leading by 970 votes, out of more than 313,000 cast.

Tony, center,is from San Antonio worked for Vision Forum.

He studies at Patrick Henry College

He hopes to help police departments improve their intelligence gathering.

Tim, on the right, brought his son from the bay area and worked together with him on the campaign.

He joined our meet-up.

4th District California Assemblyman Ted Gains with Lance

Ladies to the left of the family were his mother and mother-in-law.

His mother-in-law, Marilyn, said to Regina,

"When Tom says something he means it.

I couldn't be more proud of my own son.

When he says he'll do something.

he does it!

Mr. McClintock joined the guys around 12:30 AM

They were pleased to gather around and pray for him.