Faith Revolution

That is what Kim and Val asked concerning my previous post.  Well, I am not sure that we can fix it without a major governmental shake-up (which is why our founding fathers wanted us to be armed).  One of the reasons is that people are too willing to accept things for what they are; would rather watch tv for entertainment and information; and would rather not be bothered with educating themselves and thinking for themselves.

Here’s an interesting piece.  It is actually the forward to the book Amusing Ourselves to Death:  Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business written by Neil Postman.  I first heard this when Ravi Zacharias quoted it in one of his messages.

We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions”. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.

Maybe it’s too late.

If you click on the image to the left, you will get a larger version…I think.

Prior to 1971, prices in our country were pretty stable.  Inflation wasn’t much of an issue.  In 1974, my grandmother bought a brand new Dodge Dart Custom for about $3500.  That same car today would be about

$25-30,000.  What has happened in the past 35 years?  Inflation.  Why after 1971?  Our government decided to get rid of the gold standard.  The value of our dollar was no longer tied to gold.  What is it tied to now?  Nothing.  The chart above shows the value of the dollar vs. gold and oil since 1990.  The green line is the dollar.  The yellow line is gold.  The black line is crude oil.  Do you notice anything?  As the dollar loses value, oil and gold increase.  Why?  When there is uncertainty in the US economy, investors want to put their wealth into a real commodity, not anything attached to US currency such as bonds and stocks because there is nothing real behind it.  Gold is real.  Oil is real.  They have real value.  Money is just paper, since its value is not attached to anything.

Do you notice anything else, especially as pertaining to $4 per gallon gas.  Look again!  The price of gold and oil pretty much track together.  So if our dollar was still attached to gold, do you know what would be happening?  That’s right…price stability! 

One more thing to notice…The dollar that you trade your labor for when you go to work every day is becomming worth less and less while the things you buy, in this case oil, is becomming worth more and more.  So where is the wealth going?  If you were working for a dollar that was backed by gold, then you would be increasing your wealth with your labor, but you are trading your labor for something that is becoming worth less!  Does that make sense to you?  Inflation through fiat money (look it up) is the hidden tax that is robbing you of your wealth.

It’s not “big oil”

It’s not OPEC

It’s your government…your representitive.

You are being robbed.

Ben and Bethany are fine.  We still don’t know what happened to Ben, other than he was probably really afraid of the thunder storm that was occurring at the time.  They are both back to…normal!?!

Check for some new pictures and videos in the next few days or so.  I hope to get around to adding them this weekend.

Busiest time of year, no doubt.  Now that I have the first degree under my belt, it is time to work on ordination.  I am in the midst of writing my positional papers.  I am just finishing one entitled Christ Our Savior.  It is a pretty simple essay to write.  But it is rather time consuming to be constantly looking up Biblical references and making sure that my hermeneutics are accurate as, at some point, I will have to defend my positions before the Licensing, Ordination and Consecration Council.  I have to say, even though I have understood the workings of God’s plan of salvation, I am always amazed at the ingenuity of it.

“20 For no one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it. 21 But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight – not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. 22 We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. 23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. 25 For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. 26 And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”  (Romans 3, NLT)

It funny that we make this church/religion thing so difficult when really it’s all about Jesus and trusting Him with our lives.  Yet in the simplicity is a complexity that only God could conceive.  If you haven’t already, just trust Him with your life.  Listen to Him.  Cultivate a relationship with Him like you would a friend.  Forget all the religious gobledegook and find new life with the living God.  He wants to remake you into who He originally intended you to be.  He wants to take away your guilt and give you a clean slate.

This week is our Community Vacation Bible School.  It is a really great concept for our town.  Six local churches pool their resources and workers and really go all out .  I think that there were  137 kids registered as of today. 

I am not going to go into everything else that is going on, but mid-June to mid-August is always extremely busy and then there are the incidental ministries that crop up in amongst all the extras and the normals and everything tends to get pretty hectic.  But that’s ok.  I am certainly not complaining. 

Why complain when I get to be in the midst of everything God is doing here?  Why, I would call that a privilege, wouldn’t you?  And working He has been!

Family is doing well.  Benny (the dog) had some difficulty this evening.  He had a seizure, so we took him to the vet. and $117.00 later were taking him home with really no clue as to why.  I felt so bad for him, but I felt even worse for Bethany.  They are best buds and she has such a tender heart.  In my fundy days, I would have thought it silly to pray for an animal.  But, hey, we Christians like to promote the fact that God cares about all the details in our lives.  Benny is certainly a detail in our family.  So if you don’t think it too silly, pray for Ben and Bethany.  If you do think it silly to pray for a dog, then just pray for Bethany.  Ben will forgive you.  He’s that way.  Just sayin’ (I have no idea what that’s about, but I notice the gg’s using it a lot lately.  Don’t bother to tell me, ladies.  I think it may be one of those things that I am just better off not knowing.

Hi to mom, dad, Ronnie, Kim, Patti, Sandi, Chris, Kellie, Val, Lonnie and all you other regulars out there.