Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Who’s ‘Extreme,’ Governor Cuomo?

Andrew Cuomo at New York City's Gay Pride in 2013 (Photo credit: Bob Jagendorf)
Andrew Cuomo at New York City’s Gay Pride in 2013 (Photo credit: Bob Jagendorf)
While we are not surprised at any outrageous thing liberals say, it is becoming increasingly disturbing how brazen they now are in their un-American pronouncements.  This past Friday the Democrat Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, flatly declared that people who hold conservative views on life, guns and homosexuality have no place in New York.  He called these views “extreme.”  This is the governor of a state in America, not a member of the lunatic fringe Left on MSNBC.  Well, he may be a member of the lunatic fringe Left, but he is—sadly—still a governor!
The New York Post reported on his shameful remarks:
Gov. Cuomo has a message for conservative Republicans — you don’t belong in New York.
Cuomo said Friday that members of the GOP with “extreme” views are creating an identity crisis for their party and represent a bigger worry than Democrats such as himself.
“Their problem isn’t me and the Democrats; their problem is themselves,” the governor said on Albany’s The Capitol Pressroom radio show.
“Who are they? Right to life, pro-assault weapons, anti-gay — if that’s who they are, they have no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”
He added that moderate Republicans, such as those in the state Senate, “have a place in their state.”
“Extreme” is now a false, leftist label for those of us who hold traditional views on morality and freedom.  Of course it’s a lie.  There is nothing extreme in believing a pre-born baby has the same God-given right to life that any other person has.  There is nothing extreme in believing that, to defend our lives, we have an unalienable right to keep and bear arms.  There is nothing extreme in opposing the mainstreaming of the immoral, unnatural and unhealthy behavior of homosexuality and its anti-freedom agenda, and there is nothing extreme in defending marriage as the rightful union of one man and one woman.  The true extremists are those who war against these things.
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Those like Gov. Cuomo who cling to the tyrannical ideology of the Left have no foundation based in truth, freedom or a love for America’s founding, so they lie and distort the truth of conservatism.  It is beyond wearisome to the point of dangerous, utter contemptibility.  Gov. Cuomo and his fellow travelers are the ones who labor to shackle the people of the United States to the dictates of a central commanding government that strips them of their wealth, freedom, opportunity, and in the case of abortion, their very lives.
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In a nation founded on freedom, it is the views and actions of the Gov. Cuomos among us that are extreme.  It is they who wallow in despotic anti-Americanism as they collect power in the state and federal governments, stealing that rightful authority from We the People.  And since they cannot tell the truth about their bankrupt, deadly ideology, they aggressively malign those who speak against them.
Gov. Cuomo employs the fake term “assault weapon” in his rant against common-sense conservatism.  There is no such thing as an “assault weapon.”  Assault is something people do, and they can use any number of items, including their fists, to do it.  The reality is that Gov. Cuomo is a hard-core leftist who understands that armed people are not easily conquered by tyrants like him.
So, early last year, riding the wave of horror from Sandy Hook, he rammed through the New York legislature the “SAFE Act,” an extreme, deeply unpopular piece of gun control legislation.  In forcing this law, he bypassed public input and committee debate and even threatened New York sheriffs who spoke out against it.
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In an exceptional National Review column about this legislative assault on our rights, Charles C.W. Cooke wrote:
Shouting his way through his State of the State speech on January 9, 2013, the governor outlined his thinking. “Guns impose huge economic costs, as well as [a cost in] lives,” he bellowed. “Fear of gun violence invades neighborhoods, causing disruptions in the normal rhythms of life, work, and school. That threat depresses property values and puts a drag on economic development.” This being so, and legislation being inescapable, there would be time for neither public input nor committee hearings. In a startling move, Cuomo issued a “Message of Necessity,” using a provision in the state’s constitution designed to permit expedited state action in a case of emergency. This gave Cuomo the power to suspend the usual democratic rules and charge forward.
He couldn’t allow public debate, he argued, lest it “cause a rush on the market of people who wanted to buy assault weapons.” He couldn’t allow the usual three-day waiting period between a bill’s being introduced and a vote’s being held, in case legislators asked difficult questions or tried to stall the measure. In a move that would have made Nancy Pelosi proud, Cuomo allotted state lawmakers mere minutes to read the bill before voting on it. Indeed, so aggressive were Cuomo’s tactics that the Albany Times Union, which was supportive of the basic thrust of the legislation, editorialized that he behaved like a man possessed of “a truncated view of the legislative process and a cynical view of representative government.” The governor disagreed: “If there is an issue that fits the definition of necessity,” Cuomo shot back, “I believe it’s gun violence.”
Spoken and maneuvered like the true extremist Gov. Cuomo is!
His words from Friday are deeply disturbing and profoundly infuriating to the people of a free country, and shamefully, he’s getting away with saying them.  No one is holding him accountable for such outrageous statements against the residents of New York who hold normal, traditional views.  Regardless of this, what Gov. Cuomo said is a very big, bad deal, and I shudder to think this guy may have designs on the presidency in 2016.
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Michael Filozof, in an excellent piece at the American Thinker, agrees that what Gov. Cuomo said is alarming:
The idea that a sitting governor of the fourth-largest state in the nation can tell people he disagrees with politically that they have “no place” in the state he governs is breathtakingly frightening. I cannot recall any American governor anywhere essentially telling American citizens to shut up or get out of his state. What about the constitutional rights to free speech, free association, and freedom of the press? What ever happened to the Madisonian idea that the rights of political minorities are to be protected from the tyranny of the majority? Whatever happened to all the incessant leftist rhetoric about “diversity” and “multiculturalism”? I guess “diversity” doesn’t apply to conservatives, does it?
How is this any different than saying “The Jews have no place in the Fatherland?” How is this any different than saying “The kulaks have no place in the Soviet Union?” “How is this any different than saying “The capitalist pigs have no place in the Peoples’ Republic of Kampuchea”?
Answer: it isn’t different. Every dictatorship marginalizes, delegitimizes, and dehumanizes its opponents before it strips them of their rights and crushes them.
If you’re under the mistaken impression that the U.S. is still a free country, and New York is still a free state… you’d better read Cuomo’s comments again.
God help us.


Gina Miller - American Clarion Share

Sunday, January 19, 2014

DO YOU KNOW THE CHRIST OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES? - Part 1

"That He (Jesus) died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3- 4)

"And Jesus said, Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39)

"Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27)
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WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?
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Today more than ever, people have a hazy and fuzzy (distorted) view of who the Savior of the World, God’s Son Jesus Christ, really is. Various opinions regarding Jesus may have been formed from a religious upbringing or education, personal experiences, etc. Whenever you ask someone who Jesus is, it will usually sound a lot like the person describing Him to you. They say, “He was a great teacher,” or “He was a Good Man,” or “He died on the cross,” etc. You see, even in Jesus day, there were many who were confused and troubled about who God’s Messiah to the world was. When Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the Sunday before the Great Passover feast (our Palm Sunday), multitudes upon multitudes welcomed Him (Matt. 21:9) but after three days the same multitudes cried, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! (Matt 27:11-26, Luke 23:18-24)” How could this be? It was because the multitudes had their own perception and personal view of who Jesus was, one that was not rooted in reality or in the truth of Holy Scripture.

The big question at hand is this, “Who really was Jesus?” Is it important to know God’s Christ - the Christ of Holy Scripture - and His teachings of salvation for humanity? My friend, the answer to this literal life and death question is: it surely is. It is a matter of Eternal Life or Eternal Death!

The Lord Jesus Christ and The Holy Scriptures give many warnings of False Christs and false teachings that would come into the world to deceive and mislead people. What purpose would such deceptions serve, you might ask? To keep people from obtaining God’s Eternal Life and Pardon of Sin! (See Matthew 7:15-17; 24:4-5, 23, 24; Mark 13:5-6, 22; Luke 21:8; 1 Tim 4:1-2, 16; 2 Tim 3:12-13; 1 John 2:22-23; 4:1; 2 John 7).

Jesus himself stated:“Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many shall come to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU; DEPART FROM ME YE THAT WORK INIQUITY." (Matthew 7:21-23)

A poem written by Jeff O’Hara gives an examination of the professing individual with a very sobering conclusion.

Why Call Me Lord, Lord and Do Not the Things I Say?
You call Me the Way, and Walk Me not!
You call Me the Life, and Live Me not!
You call Me Master, and Obey Me not!
You call Me Bread, and Eat Me not!
You call Me Truth, and Believe Me not!
You call Me Lord, and Serve Me not!
If I Condemn You, Blame Me not!
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This is quite a sobering thought, isn’t it? Jesus informs that there are many who called Him Lord who never were rightly related to Him in truth according to WHO HE IS. How can this be? Let’s take a look at what the Holy Scriptures say:

God’s Christ/ Messiah Fulfilled all of God’s Word and Promises and Claimed to be the Center of the Scriptures.
(Matt. 5:17; 26:54, 56; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39, 46; Acts 3:18; 28:23; Heb. 10:7)

God’s Christ/ Messiah is the Only True Savior of the World.
(Acts 2:36; 4:12; Titus 1:3; 2:13; 1 Tim. 2:5; Luke 2:28-31; John 1:29; 3:16-18, 36; 14:6; 20:21; Heb. 7:25)

God’s Christ/ Messiah is Almighty God.
(1 Tim 3:16; John 1:1-3,14; 10:30; 20:28; Matt. 1:23; Col. 2:8-9; Titus 2:13; 1 John 5:20; Isaiah 9:6; Micah 5:2)

God’s Christ/ Messiah is Perfect Man.
(1 John 2:1; Rom 8:3; 1 Peter 1:19; 3:18; John 1:14, 29; 8:45-46; 14:30; Acts 2:24; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 2:9-18; 1 Peter 2:21-24)

God’s Christ/ Messiah Died, Was buried, and Rose Again on the Third Day According to the Scriptures.
(1 Cor. 15:3-4, 20; Matt. 28:6-7; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6-7; John 2:19; Acts 1:3; 2:22-24, 30-36; 4:2, 10; Rom. 1:4; 8:11; 1 Thess. 1:10, 1 Peter 1:3; Rev. 1:17-18)
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GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION FOR MAN

Who is good? As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10)

Who has sinned? For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Salvation is Not By Our Works! For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)

Where Did Sin Come From? Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Romans 5:12)

What is the Price of Sin? For the wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23a)

Who Paid The Price? But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

There Is Only One Way Out! That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (Romans 10:9-10)

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

Question #1: Does the “Jesus” in whom you are putting your trust line up with the reality and truth of The Lord Jesus of the Holy Scriptures? That is a very sobering question indeed; a question which many are too afraid to deal with. Jesus stated, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24)

Question #2: Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ of the Scriptures? May it be your sincere desire to look into this matter with a contrite (broken) and humble heart in light of the most serious (eternal life and death) consequences to be faced (1 John 5:12).

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN CHALLENGE - LINK
In Part 2 of this study we will see why it is absolutely crucial (or vital) that a man or woman has a saving relationship to the Christ / Messiah of the Holy Scriptures.

The Kingdom of heaven is at hand!

DJP I.F.
What is Sin?



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