Veteran’s Benefits Aren’t Entitlements March 10, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, Forever GI Bill, Mission Act, National Roadmap to Empower Veterans, Veteran’s benefits, Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act
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Federal law requires everyone who enlists in the Armed Forces of the United States to take the enlistment oath. The oath is traditionally performed in front of the United States Flag. Everyone who has ever worn the uniform has said:
“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
When every veteran took this oath to defend our country, our Constitution, and our way of life they presented the nation with a blank check to serve and protect We the People. That check was written with their lives, their bodies, and their sacred honor. They pledged to give their all. And as the saying goes, “All gave some. Some gave all.”
Those of us who have enjoyed generations of peace need to acknowledge our country is the home of the free because of the brave. We live our tranquil lives unmolested by hordes lurking beyond our borders who would love to pillage the richest nation the world has ever seen. From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Normandy from Flanders Field, Inchon, Khe Sanh, Fallujah, and ten thousand nameless battlefields in-between America’s best and brightest have fought selflessly and heroically.
Often, they’ve come home and quietly taken up their lives unrecognized by those of us who reap the benefits of their sacrifice. Sometimes they’ve been ridiculed, belittled, and even spat upon for the debt they paid for the rest of us. Mostly they’ve been forgotten. The benefits promised by a government swift to call and send but slow to remember were often second-rate, slow in coming, or denied all together. Administration after administration paid lip-service to our veterans while doling out benefits with a stingy hand.
But then came Trump.
Since his inauguration President Trump works tirelessly to provide the benefits and services our brave veterans deserve. He seeks to keep the promises made to generations of veterans. He’s leading the charge and winning the battle to finally give our heroes the homecoming they were promised, the one they’ve earned.
President Trump has declared, “My administration is committed to taking care of every warrior that returns home as a veteran.” As a case in point President Trump is ensuring our veterans receive the student loan and educational benefits to which they are entitled and deserve. He has previously noted the process by which our disabled veterans apply for Federal student loan discharges is too burdensome. Which has led to this sad reality; only half of the roughly 50,000 disabled veterans qualified to have their Federal student loans discharged have received this entitled benefit.
Consequently, on August 21, 2019 the President signed a presidential memorandum ensuring our totally and permanently disabled veterans obtain the Federal student loan debt discharges they’re entitled. The memorandum directs the Secretaries of Education and Veterans Affairs to develop a new expedited process to help totally and permanently disabled veterans have their Federal student loan debt discharged with minimal burdens. This combined with the Forever GI Bill which the President signed into law in 2017 allows individuals to access their veteran educational benefits at any point during their lifetime.
Turning to a more general assault on the stone wall standing for too long between our veterans and their earned benefits in June of 2017 the President signed into law the Veterans Affairs (VA) Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, making it easier to fire failing VA employees and support whistle blowers.
Since the passage of this act, the VA has successfully fired more than 7,600 employees who’ve failed our veterans. Previously the archaic rules of the bureaucratic swamp made it almost impossible to remove these roadblocks to the healthcare of veterans. Using the new streamlined policies, the VA has instituted reforms to increase efficiency and decrease abuse.
Consequently, VA healthcare has now significantly improved since President Trump was elected and trust in VA outpatient health care has risen in all areas.
Building the foundations necessary to win the victory in his Battle for the Vets the President signed the VA MISSION Act. This provides more healthcare options for veterans by consolidating existing programs and expanding access to care in veterans’ own communities. Eligible Veterans can use VA health care services nationwide, including through mobile health clinics serving rural areas and via telehealth (care through a phone or computer). Under the MISSION Act, veterans have more ways to access health care.
This includes within the VA’s network and through approved non-VA medical providers in your community, called “community care providers.” Depending on the situation for example, if a certain type of health service isn’t provided by VA the veteran may be able to go to a non-VA provider, using their VA coverage. This is one way to break the logjam which kept so many deserving Vets waiting in line until they died. Because of the reforms spearheaded by President Trump this is a victory for our heroes.
Stepping into a tragedy that unfolds in too many lives of those returning from service, President Trump signed a new Executive Order on a National Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End Veteran Suicide (PREVENTS) to address veteran suicide prevention. The executive order creates a new cabinet level task force led by VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. The task force will create a comprehensive public health road map bringing together local government along with the private sector to improve the quality of life for our Veterans and turn the tide on the Veteran suicide crisis.
“It is about pulling together the resources of the federal government, our states and localities our charities non-government organizations and coming together with a road map and resources,” said Secretary Wilkie.
The President said, “Our mission is to mobilize every level of American society to save the lives of our great veterans and support our veterans in need.” The President added, “To every veteran I want you to know that you have an entire nation of more than 300 million people behind you. You will never ever be forgotten. We are with you all the way.”
And remembering Ronald Reagan’s famous quote, “The best social program is a productive job for anyone who’s willing to work,” thanks to the roaring Trump economy since the President’s election, veteran unemployment has been reduced to the lowest level ever recorded.
The VA Secretary Wilke also said, “I’ve said many times that the mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs is to remind our fellow citizens why they sleep soundly at night. They sleep soundly at night because of the sacrifices of a select number of their fellow Americans.” This is a sentiment we would all do well to ponder.
The sum of all this adds up to one thing; Veteran’s benefits aren’t entitlements. They’re payments for services rendered and the least a grateful nation can give to the faithful few who answered the call.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
President Trump Winning Admirers in Strange Places March 18, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Uncategorized.Tags: Corona virus, Dr. Robert Owens, pandemic
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A global pandemic ricochets around the world. Suddenly we find ourselves someplace we never thought we’d be. The world shuts down, millions isolated, separated, and alone. Basic commodities cleaned off shelves by consumers who just yesterday were laughing at preppers who now sit back calmly ready for a world turned upside down for possibly months.
Our president spent his life as a real estate developer who has changed the skylines of cities around the world. One skill that any successful Real Estate developer, like any producer of major films, must acquire is crisis management. Even a short course on crisis management will show that President Trump is a master at it. He’s assembled a team of widely accepted experts, he’s taking decisive actions aimed directly at the root and branches of the current Corona virus crisis, and he’s holding regular briefings to keep all major stake-holders up-to-date on what is happening and what is being done.
Even though as soon as he’s done with his daily briefing the Democrats who identify as journalists for the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media follow close on his heels often saying he said the exact opposite of what he said the President is winning admirers in strange places.
CNN’s chief political correspondent Dana Bash commented on the president’s Oval Office address and Corona press briefing saying, “If you look at the big picture, this was remarkable from the president of the United States. This is a non-partisan — this is an important thing to note, and to applaud from an American standpoint — from a human standpoint. He is being the kind of leader that people need, at least in tone, today, and yesterday, in tone that people need and want and yearn for in times of crisis and uncertainty.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo praised the Trump administration’s efforts to handle the corona virus outbreak on Tuesday, “His team is on it. They’ve been responsive,” Cuomo said at a press conference. “I want to say thank you.” Going further, the Democrat governor said that he spoke to Trump on Tuesday and that the president is “100 percent sincere” in his desire to work with the state to control the virus outbreak, which has mushroomed in the U.S. over the past week. He added, “The administration is ready and willing to help, especially on the hospital capacity issue.”
On Sunday (3-7-20) Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat and one of Mr. Trump’s most vocal critics, at a news conference praised Mr. Trump, saying of the president “He said everything I could have hoped for. We had a very long conversation and every single thing he said, they followed through on.” The governor added, “We are very grateful for this partnership.” Newsom also said he has received “consistent” support from Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the administration’s response to the Corona virus outbreak.
From a slightly less surprising source, the experts he’s assembled President Trump is also receiving high marks.
Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was asked by FOX News whether she was concerned that there could be patients who don’t get a ventilator — or if actual physical equipment that is needed to serve the people who get sick is out there? She answered, “And that’s why the President has taken such bold and decisive action. We’re not waiting for this to get worse. We’re not waiting for this to be a crisis in our health care systems.”
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accompanied the president to the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta last Friday. When he was asked to address the press he took the opportunity to lavish praise on the man standing next to him. “First, I want to thank you for your decisive leadership in helping us, you know, put public health first,” Redfield said. “I also want to thank you for coming here today and sort of encouraging and bringing energy to the men and women that you see that work every day to try to keep America safe. So, I think that’s the most important thing I want to say, sir,” Redfield added.
On Wednesday 3-17 at his daily presser President Trump called the Corona virus fight “a war against an invisible enemy.” As ever sounding the encouraging note he went on to say, “One day we’ll be standing up here and say, ‘Well, we won.’ And we’re going to say that, as sure as you’re sitting there, we’re going to win. And I think we’re going to win faster than people think, I hope.” He added, “If we do this right, our country, and the world, frankly, but our country can be rolling again pretty quickly. Pretty quickly.”
Even such a virulent and vocal critic of the President such as Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar in a series of tweets heaps praise on President Trump’s handling of the Coronavirus pandemic, saying it was “incredible and the right response in this critical time.”
Omar quoted Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., as saying “unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership” adding, “we are seeing that in our country right now.”
She concluded her praise by adding, “Finally, we should never let politics get in the way of good policy. This is a great start and hope others will be part of a united front to push for good policies that will help us work through the economic anxiety the country is feeling right now.”
Omar’s final reflections were a response to a post by The Intercept’s Lee Fang, who tweeted: “Trump suspending mortgage foreclosures, demanding cash payments to Americans, now invoking the Defense Production Act to force private firms to produce needed supplies is incredible. Kind of a shell shock for anyone who reported on any economic policies in the Obama years.”
All I can add is Amen.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Trump’s MAGA Model on The World Stage March 3, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Uncategorized.Tags: America first, DAVOS, Dr. Robert Owens, International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation, KAG, MAGA, The World Economic Forum, Trump’s agenda
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We’ve all heard of the annual conference at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos. The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to the WEF website, “It is independent, impartial, and not tied to any special interests. The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does.”
On the other side critics such as Michael Ivanovitch, an independent analyst focusing on the world economy, geopolitics, and investment strategy describe the yearly conference in less than glowing terms. In a recent interview Ivanovitch said, “The forum is a talking shop without any consequence for world affairs … On the economic front, you will just hear platitudes you’ve heard ‘x’ times already.”
Good or bad this is one of the major platforms in the world of international economics and finance. Most of us out here in fly-over country may ignore it what with the Super Bowl and all, but the movers and shakers on the world stage attend or at least pay rapt attention to who’s moving and what’s shaking. So of course, despite the ever-on-going slow motion coup grinding on in the Emerald City President Trump made his appearance as the biggest mover and shaker of all. And he didn’t’ disappoint those of us who’re moved when he shakes up the collectivists plotting and planning to micromanage our lives.
Holding up the accomplishments of his America First agenda President Trump spoke of the rebirth of the American dream pointing to the success of economic nationalism in front of the globalist elites gathered at Davos. The President cited the fact that since he was elected and thanks to his economic policies, America has gained over seven million jobs, currently has the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, and is experiencing rising wages and household incomes for the first time in decades.
At the annual conference in Switzerland according to the President it’s his economic nationalist agenda in a free market system that provides a successful model for the world not globalism. In his speech, which should be the center stage for forward thinking discussion, Mr. Trump said, “A nation’s highest duty is to its own citizens.” Trump also said, “Honoring this truth is the only way to build faith and confidence in the market system. Only when governments put their own people first will people be fully invested in their national futures.” And, “A pro-worker, pro-citizen, pro-family agenda demonstrates how a nation can thrive when its communities, its companies, its government work together for the good of the whole nation.”
Then getting very specific President Trump continued, “Today I hold up the American model as an example to the world of a working system of free enterprise that will produce the most benefits for the most people in the 21st century and beyond.” Speaking of how previous administrations negotiated we-lose-they-win trade deals that gutted America’s industrial base and impoverished our middle-class the President said, “I think it’s primarily the reason that I ran.”
Turning to those who tell us the sky is falling President Trump said, “We must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse. They are the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortunetellers.” Once again getting specific President Trump addressed the goals of their predictions of overpopulation, mass starvation, and an end of oil based on phony science and media hype saying, “These alarmists always demand the same thing, absolute power to dominate, transform, and control every aspect of our lives.” He went on to declare unequivocally, “We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country or eradicate our liberty.”
Highlighting who the culprits are our President took aim at the metastasizing legions of bureaucrats spreading like a festering fog around the world having the courage to say, “Today I urge other nations to follow our example and liberate your citizens from the crushing weight of bureaucracy.” Then in conclusion he let the world know America doesn’t want to control them instead he is shining a light on a successful way forward, “With that, you have to run your own countries the way you want.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Who’s in the Basket February 18, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: abortion, church planting, Dr. Robert Owens, sharing the Gospel, witnessing
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Saul of Tarsus was the first great persecutor of the church. In a blaze of glory, he met the resurrected Jesus while on his way to Damascus to attack the church there. Then, instead of attacking the Church Paul started preaching fearlessly about this Jesus who rose from the grave. The Jews sought to kill Paul because he was preaching Jesus as the Messiah who bore our sins on the cross, died in our place, and rose from the dead to bring us life. As the enraged Jews looked everywhere in Damascus for Paul, he was lowered in a basket from the walls to make his escape. When we share the Gospel with even just one person, and they receive the message and are born again we never know who might’ve just climbed in the basket.
Long long ago and far far away back in the dream time before Facebook, Amazon, and streaming, my wife and I felt the call to hold church services on the campus of a state university. Everyone told us that would be impossible what with the judiciously manufactured liberal imposed mythical Constitutional separation of church and state doctrine. I questioned God, “Are you sure?” My wife and I questioned each other, “Are you sure?” But try to resist as much as we could the calling wouldn’t leave us alone.
I traipsed from office to office asking one bureaucrat after another for permission to hold church services in a public building on the campus of a state university. Discouragement stalked me as I scuttled from “No,” to “No,” to “No way!” In the natural I was skeptical when I started and after a month or two of pushing that big rock up that steep hill all I could do was encourage myself in the Lord to keep plodding on. All we had was prayer. Happily, that was all we needed.
I finally located the right bureaucrat. He was the one in charge of renting space to outside groups. After a diligent search and several misdirected wrong turns, I located his office buried deep beneath a massive pile of bricks and steel. Then I learned he was never in his office. Whenever I showed up his secretary would tell me, ‘He just left,” “He’s off for the day,” or “You just missed him.” I tried coming at every hour of the day on every day of the week. After a month or so it got to be a running joke between me and the secretary. I’d pop in and she’d laugh, “He just left,” or one of her other variations of “You’re wasting your time.”
Then one day I walked in and there was the invisible bureaucrat standing in the middle of the room. Before the Secretary could laugh or say anything I blurted out, “I want to rent a room to hold church services.”
To my surprise he said, “No problem.” Then as he vanished into his inner sanctum he tossed, “Becky draw up a contract for the second-floor meeting room in the Student Union at the regular rate.” Within a week we were singing praises to God and preaching the Gospel on the campus of that state university. Everyone said it couldn’t be done. I didn’t think it was possible. But God did it.
For the next six months every Sunday we carried our keyboard, guitar, and a box of Bibles into the upper room. Every Wednesday, as part of our rental agreement, we had an informational booth in the Student Union inviting people to the service.
The response was underwhelming but as church planters and domestic missionaries we were used to empty seats. We had some students who came. We had a few who came more than once. And we had one who came faithfully time after time. This one student eventually confessed Jesus as his personal Lord and confessed that God had raised Jesus from the dead. He stepped from the darkness into the light, from death into life and now twenty-five years later he’s still praising God and trying his best to share the life, the light, and the joy he found with others.
As a couple of believers who’ve devoted most of our lives to preaching the Gospel, if this one born again believer is the totality of all we’ve done and all we will do before the curtain comes down … that’s more than enough. Thank you, Father, for allowing us to see the fruit from Your vine.
As slim as the attendance was, we praised God every day for the opportunity and gave him glory for opening a door everyone thought could not be opened. Then they shut us down. They cancelled our contract and slammed the door shut.
I went to see the long elusive bureaucrat to find out why. He told me a delegation of local pastors came to the school to complain because we were holding service on campus and they weren’t. The religious spirit did its best to stop the Spirit. But we know He opens doors, and no one can shut what He’s opened until the appointed time. The anointing moved on and we knew God had accomplished what he’d sent us there to do. Someone had climbed into the basket.
This reminds me of another time God called me to do something. He called me to stand in front of an abortion mill. I am the ever-remorseful father of four aborted babies. Forgiven but ashamed of what I did, but not too ashamed to confess my sin publicly if there’s even the slightest chance doing so might save a life and save someone else from living with the pain and emptiness I feel. For about six months several days a week I stood a lonely vigil in all types of weather with a handmade sign reading, “I repent for aborting my children” on one side and “God Forgave me” on the other.
People would drive by and honk. Some would give me the thumbs up. Others would use another digit to send a different message. The police came and told me I had to leave. But I was on public property and I refused. The people from the abortion mill tried several tactics to chase me away. Some people on their way in to end the lives of their children stopped to berate me and call me everything except a child of God.
No matter what the weather, no matter how vile the abuse I stayed there because I felt God called me to bear witness, so I stood my ground. Then one day a couple stopped by on their way into the abortion mill and read me the riot act. They told me what a terrible person I was. They told me it was their choice. They yelled and gestured as loudly as any one ever did. Then about a half hour later they came back and in tears told me God had convicted them and they’d changed their mind. They were going to keep their baby.
Immediately I felt released from that call. Someone had climbed into the basket.
You might not know who’s in the basket. You may never know. All we need to know is that when God says stand there and hold the rope, we need to do our part and leave the results up to Him because it’s not about who we are and what we do. It’s all about who He is and what He’s done.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Trump Brings Home the Bacon February 11, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, Trump Bump, Trump economic policies, Trump economy improves
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According to the December report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and despite what we’re told by the democrats in politics and those disguised as journalists, the wages of America’s low-income workers are rising faster than the democrat’s designated villains: America’s top-earners. The report contains a graph which shows the median wage growth for the bottom 25% of workers hit 4.5% for the 12-month period ending in November.
According to CBS News, this exceeded the 2.9% gain in median earnings for the top 25% of earners. CBS also said, “With unemployment at a 50-year low and the minimum wage rising in states and cities across the country, employers are now opening their wallets to attract low-wage employees.”
And this cannot be attributed to that age-old stalking horse, mandated increases in the minimum wage by the central planning bureaucrats. John Robertson, a senior policy adviser in the Atlanta Fed’s research department said, “The increased tightness of labor markets, or some other factor than hikes in state minimum wages, is playing a role in pushing up the pay for those in lower-wage jobs.”
After conducting a poll CNBC said, “Every economic indicator in the poll of 800 Americans throughout the country is at or near a post-recession high. Half of all Americans judge the economy as good or excellent, the only time the percentage has been above 50 for two-straight quarters in the 11-year history of the poll. In addition, 38 percent expect the economy to improve in the next year, the second highest number since the Great Recession. And 41 percent of homeowners expect the value of their homes to increase in the next year, the highest mark since 2007.”
According to US News and World Report, “Approval of President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy has risen 7 percentage points since the impeachment inquiry began, reaching its highest level in a year.” The paper also quoted a CNBC poll saying, “According to the poll, the president’s net approval on economic issues rebounded from a minus-8% in September, the first negative of his presidency, to plus-9% in December. The 17-point jump is good for Trump, who ran on promises to improve the economy and who has continuously touted strong job numbers as part of his reelection campaign.”
These figures are higher than Trump’s overall approval rating. This may indicate that record low unemployment levels, stable gas prices, a roaring stock market even in the face of a hostile and abusive media could still help get the president across the finish line in November. Gallup Polling puts it this way, “Americans are more upbeat about their personal finances today than at any time in the past 10 years, with 49% saying they are financially better off than they were a year ago. This is up from the 44% who felt financially better off at the same time last year and from a low of 23% in 2009.”
Some attribute this rise in wages for the lowest income bracket to be a result of President Trump’s immigration policies. When there’s less low-skilled foreign competition against Americans through increased interior immigration enforcement these most vulnerable Americans experience a labor market that now resembles the labor market of top-tier workers. Nick Bunker an economist with Indeed.com pointed this out when he told the Wall Street Journal, “A strong labor market makes the bargaining power of lower-paid workers more like the labor market higher-wage workers experience during good times and bad.”
John Binder of Breitbart observes, “For the first year in decades, the U.S. economy has tipped toward American workers rather than employers in terms of the labor market. Today, due to less foreign competition, workers have more chances to seek out the highest-paying job. For decades, it was employers who would bid on workers.” Now its employers trying to attract workers.
On a recent broadcast of the New York City-based radio show “Cats Roundtable,” White House’s Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy director Peter Navarro said “Under President Donald Trump, everybody who wants a job can get a job.”
The current casting call of presidential wanabees tries to gain center stage by out bidding each other to buy our votes; “I’ll give everyone a thousand dollars a month and free healthcare!” “I’ll give every retiree $250 extra per month, free healthcare for everyone, and forgive all student loans!” “I’ll give free healthcare for everyone, free college, forgive all student loans, and get the banks to write off debts.” Blah, blah, blah, ad infinitum.
Meanwhile President Trump with little fanfare and totally ignored by the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media brings home the bacon. This may be bad news for the bi-coastal elites but it’s good news for those of us out here in fly-over country thinking about paying the rent and putting food on the table.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Time is of the Essence February 4, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: believe and receive, Dr. Robert Owens, Salvation, the Gospel
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According to the Business Dictionary the title of this essay is a provision often included in construction, supply, transport, and other types of contracts to stress the punctual completion of the job (or repayment of a loan) as a vital element of the performance of the contract. Any failure to complete the work (or to pay the sums) within stated time limits may constitute breach of the contract.
Salvation is not a transaction based on a contract. It’s a gift. It isn’t earned. It’s based upon the grace of God extended to all and accepted through faith. And while this gift shines from the cross of Christ through the meandering corridors of History, each of us has but a fleeting moment upon the world’s stage. When it’s done it’s done. It’s just the opposite of a concert; when the curtain comes down, we face the music. Or as the Word of God puts it, “Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences.”
The world tells us, “Opportunity only knocks once” meaning if you miss your chance it won’t come again. Looking at the totality of life that’s true, but looking within the fragile bubble of time that is our here-today-gone-today life we have opportunity after opportunity. We had last week, and yesterday, today, and God willing tomorrow. At any moment we can make an altar of our prayers and confess Jesus as our Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. If we’ll do those two things the Word of God promises, “You will be saved.” If the curtain comes down before we do so we might not like the sequel.
The whole of the Old Testament points to Christ: the fulcrum of History. And throughout the New Testament God points back to examples and signposts of what was to come. To the Jews there is no more powerful story than their exodus from Egypt. Because they refused to believe God they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. These people who witnessed the miracles of Moses, crossed the Red Sea on dry land, ate the manna from heaven, and drank from the rock which followed them refused to worship God. Instead they followed the trinket gods of their own imagination. And God left their bodies in the dust as a testimony to their hardheartedness.
Their rebellion and their lack of faith becomes a warning to us when the author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us, “Today, please listen; don’t turn a deaf ear as in ‘the bitter uprising,’ that time of wilderness testing! Even though they watched me at work for forty years, your ancestors refused to let me do it my way over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked, oh, so provoked I said, ‘They’ll never keep their minds on God; they refuse to walk down my road.’ Exasperated, I vowed, ‘They’ll never get where they’re going, never be able to sit down and rest.’”
Today is all we have. No one promised us tomorrow. If we miss our chance, if we refuse to follow God and instead embrace the world we should be prepared for a hand full of ashes. The Apostle John put it like this, “Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out.”
But John didn’t leave it there. He finished the passage with a promise, “but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.”
And when it comes to the promises of God we need to realize, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”
Sometimes life seems like a long time. It always feels like we have hours to kill but not a moment to spare. Our fleeting moment upon this stage is rushing by. Like flowers in the field we sprout, bloom, and fade away. For most of us one or two generations at the most and no one will remember we were here. So grab the chance and remember time is of the essence and listen to these words ringing in our ears, “Today, please listen; don’t turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising.”
It’s never too late. Until it is.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
