What’s All This “In” Christ Business About? August 31, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: born again, Dr. Robert Owens, filled with the Holy Ghost, justification, propitiation, Salvation
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Sometimes we born-again believers talk in such a closed-circuit Christianese dialect that baby believers, old line denominational members, let alone your everyday garden variety sinner has no idea what we’re talking about. We throw around words that carry massive meaning to us but sound like in-crowd jargon to those hearing them from the outside.
Propitiation, justification, and salvation are all words that trip up nonbelievers as they tiptoe around the cross. Then there are phrases we think say it all that leave those we want to reach scratching their heads and standing off instead of kneeling down. Phrases such as: substitutionary death, pleading the blood, I’m born-again, I’m Filled with the Holy Ghost, and here’s one that throws them all, in Christ.
A dictionary will help with the words. The phrases usually take a little time in fellowship with others to sort out and understand. I can’t try to explain them all here, but I will try to address one of the most cryptic phrases to the uninitiated, in Christ.
“In Him.” This is a major theme of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and of the whole New Testament. It’s a central teaching and a foundational truth. If for some reason this sounds strange to your ears or is a new concept study to show yourself approved. We should follow the example of some early believers who upon hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, “searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”
We can’t allow our development as believers to be the responsibility of anyone else. Yes, it’s good and advisable to have teachers and mentors; however, we can’t rely on them alone. In his letter to the Philippians Paul told them to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” and this is advice that we should also take to heart.
This major theme echoes through the New Testament: we are “in” Christ. Thousands of years after it was first presented to humanity it continues to ricochet through this verse into our spirit. The born-again believer resonates like a tuning fork to this life-giving message. The message, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” floods down the corridors of time like an avalanche of hope.
The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ is the living parable of love for all to see.
The birth of Jesus set forth in scripture, is a graphic portrayal of prophecy fulfilled. The Incarnation is the union of deity and humanity. It was divine love’s invasion into the realm of human selfishness. That which had been foretold for millennia finally arrived. Or as the author of Hebrews tells us, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.”
This invasion wasn’t by an army of angels though it could’ve been. It wasn’t by raising up Israel to conquer the world and imposing belief in the One True God by force though that could’ve happened. Instead this invasion took the form of a tiny, defenseless Baby born in a manger on the poor side of town.
His parents called Him Jesus and His name has filled hearts and souls of humanity with songs and praise ever since. The love brought by God through this one birth has given hope to the defeated, healing to the sick, liberty to those in bondage, and salvation to all who confess Him as Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead.
All this is based upon the finished work of Christ. This finished work is the ultimate revelation of divine love. Jesus gave His life freely in place of ours. He voluntarily became sin in our place so that we could become the very righteousness of God.
And we become that righteousness when we claim our place as a part of the body of Christ, the church so that when we stand before God He doesn’t see our sins and our shortcomings, instead He sees the absolute righteousness of His own Son. This is how we can stand before a holy God with no sense of shame, guilt, or inadequacy.
The New Testament describes this well, “The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one-part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one-part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything.”
And this is what we mean by being “in” Christ. We have accepted our place as a member, or part of Christ’s mystical body: the church. It is no longer we who live but Christ lives in us and through us. And now that we know, let’s go forth and be all that God has called us to be, let’s allow Christ to live in us as we live in Him. Let’s allow Him to reach through us and minister to a world in need.
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
How Can I Trust the Bible? August 24, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Biblical inerrancy, Dr. Robert Owens, Isaiah, St. James, St. Paul, the bible
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Sometimes we try to define God’s words and actions too perfectly. In our arrogance we think we can adequately describe exactly what God always means in all situations. This easily can lead us into thinking our doctrines are God’s doctrines. We act as if God is sitting on the throne studying our catechisms and judging by our standards.
When we do this, we’re trying to put God in a box. The biggest problem with this is that when God decides to draw outside the lines, we run the risk of misidentifying a move of God as a heresy because it violates one of our rules.
It’s good to devote our efforts to grasping the meanings of God’s Word; however, we must always be aware that it’s possible to veer from seeking understanding to believing we have cornered the market on this valuable commodity. We just can’t reduce the immensity of God into formulas. In any equation we devise to represent God, His Word, or His actions the “X” of God is always undefined.
Eternity, infinity, and omnipresence are all terms we can define but we can never fully comprehend. The reality of God, the only self-existent One is as far removed from our understanding as the operation of a supercomputer is from an amoeba. Or as one of the prophets put it, “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”
We must acknowledge that we can’t think our way to or through God’s truth. Our human minds are fundamentally incapable of encompassing such immensities. As the man who wrote most of the New Testament tells us, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Many unbelievers and sceptics try to cast aspersions on the Word of God by pointing out what they perceive as contradictions in the text. When we’re reading or meditating in the Word if we encounter anything we feel is a contradiction don’t let it weaken your faith instead stand on faith. Instead of wavering do as one of the New Testament authors suggests, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
And don’t despair, don’t think I just can’t understand this. Don’t think God has given us a puzzle instead of a revelation. Just because we can never fully understand all of it does not mean we can’t understand any of it. Just because we can’t use God’s Word to develop a spiritual unifying field theory for every person everywhere every time it doesn’t mean we can’t understand enough with God’s help to have a reliable guide for life. The Bible itself addresses the ability of the born-again believer to embrace the revelation of God, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
And for those who say, “The Bible has been translated so many times by so many people how can we know it’s the true unadulterated Word of God.” Personally I believe that if the God of all creation went to all the trouble to send prophets and apostles over thousands of years of time to write down His Word to humanity and if after thousands of years of unbelievers trying unsuccessfully to burn and destroy that Word it has not only survived, it has thrived. I can believe His Word has ended up in my hands in a pure enough form for me to hear what He’s saying.
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
How Do I Get To Heaven? August 20, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: born again, Dr. Robert Owens, heaven, hell, redemption, Salvation, sin
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Many people believe they can find their own way to heaven. They think they can figure it out on their own. That’s sort of like trying to lift yourself up by your own bootstraps. I’ve often offered a one-hundred-dollar bill to anyone who can do that. I still have that hundred-dollar bill.
Some people think they’ll get to heaven by being a good enough person. Some may even fool others into thinking they’ve accomplished it. But in our heart-of-hearts we all know who we are and where we’re lacking in this department.
Some think they’ll have the “Christ” experience and transcend from the normal to the paranormal. I once attended a church that started preaching this as doctrine. Instead of rising into the heavenlies they descended into blatant sin and error calling that which was bad good and good bad.
Some think that belonging to the “Right” church, following the “Right” rules and the “Right” regulations will do the trick. Others follow philosophy, psychology, or sociology, biology or some other “ology.” Still others think that education will enlighten them to the point of revelation or evolution will grow them into the presence of God. We can’t think our way to God. He’s bigger than our mind can conceive or our intelligence can comprehend.
Then again, some don’t even believe in God. Some think they can accept or reject Christ, ignore God and still end up with God when they die. An old saying goes, “You don’t prepare for heaven by raising hell here on earth.” Some think someone else is going to pray them into heaven. And then there are those who think there are many paths to heaven. Another old saying goes, “I know there is no Heaven and I pray there is no Hell.”
Some treat Jesus as just one of many avatars along with Buddha and Muhammed. But when they do this, they call Jesus a liar and how could a liar be a reliable spiritual guide. Because Jesus doesn’t mince words, He claims to be the only way to heaven, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
To understand this and to appropriate its power into our lives we need to take a leap of faith. We need to confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. For as the passage continues, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Those who reject the claims of Jesus say, “Show it to me and I’ll believe.” However, the way it works is: believe and you will see.
These scoffers might want to check the company they keep. When Christ hung on the cross paying the penalty for sin the Chief Priests, the Scribes, and the Pharisees laughed at him saying, “Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”
Before we can stand on solid enough ground to take such a great leap of faith we need to arrive at certain realizations.
First, we must realize that God is a person. By this I mean He is a personal God not just a “Force.” Some believe that the mere idea of personhood when applied to God implies some sort of limitation and therefore should never be applied to what is supposed to be an omnipotent and omnipresent reality.
I think this belief arises because these people unknowingly agree with a statement by the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras, “Man is the measure of all things.” This is usually interpreted to mean that the individual human being, rather than a god or an unchanging moral law, is the ultimate source of value. This belief is taught and ingrained throughout our modern Godless education system to the point that when most people graduate from secondary school this forms part of their subconscious foundation of so-called “Common Sense.”
Based on this erroneous belief people assume since our personalities are limited therefore, personality in and of itself is limited. This, however, is wrong. We are a flawed example. God is the only perfect personality, and though He is endless in all ways we are but a pale reflection.
This realization of God’s personhood is vitally important. Without this knowledge it’s impossible to be convinced of His utter supremacy. If God is not a person how can we sin against Him? And if instead of sinning against a person we are merely violating the rules of some system, that sounds like something we should be able to appeal. If there’s no sin and we’re either working with the “Force” or against the” Force” we might ask, “Is there only one Force or are there multiple “Forces” out there?” And if there are multiple “Forces” can we chose to be ruled by one that supports our lifestyle choices, so we don’t work against it?
This type of thinking easily becomes circular and leads to philosophical tail chasing.
When we acknowledge that God is a person we’re almost assuredly convicted of our sins. We instinctively realize that there’s no way for us to measure up to the holiness of God. We understand intuitively that there is a barrier created by our abject unworthiness and God’s all Holy presence. Anyone who recognizes the vastness of the gulf between our sinfulness and God’s sinlessness sees that we need to be forgiven if we stand any chance of ever entering His divine presence.
Conversely, if we deny God’s personhood it’s easy to fall prey to the spirit-of-the-age and its apparently easy going, “I’m Okay You’re Okay” attitude. Everything is beautiful. Who needs forgiveness if there is no personal God and there is no sin?
The true message of Christian evangelism is to the sinner: the one who is conscious of God. If there is no acknowledgement of God as a person as an individual separate reality the word of God will fall like seeds on the street that birds quickly snatch up and take away.
As a former atheist I can personally attest to the fact that unless and until we come to an acknowledgement of God as a personal reality there’s no way that we can be open to the Gospel. To the sinner who faces his total inability to approach a Holy God the first and foremost message of the cross is, “You’re forgiven through His sacrifice and grace.”
And that’s how we get to Heaven.
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 Stands Up For Religious Liberty June 29, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, religious freedom, Religious persecution, United Nations Event on Religious Freedom
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President Trump addressed a United Nations Event on Religious Freedom. In his speech he boldly spoke up for religious freedom and against religious persecution saying, “The United States is founded on the principle that our rights do not come from government; they come from God. This immortal truth is proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the First Amendment to our Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Our Founders understood that no right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous society than the right to follow one’s religious convictions.
The religious freedom enjoyed by American citizens is rare in the world. Approximately 80% of the world’s population live in countries where religious liberty is restricted, or even banned. The United States calls upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution. To stop the crimes against people of faith, release prisoners of conscience, repeal laws restricting freedom of religion and belief, protect the vulnerable, and the oppressed, America stands with believers in every country who ask only for the freedom to live according to the faith that is within their own hearts.”
Taking aim at a tragic truth ignored by the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media President Trump continued, “It is estimated that 11 Christians are killed every day for following the teachings of Christ. The USA is forming a coalition of businesses for the protection of religious freedom which will encourage the private sector to protect people of faith in the workplace. Too often, people in power preach diversity while censoring the faithful. True tolerance means respecting the right of all people to express their deeply held religious beliefs. The United States of America will forever remain at the side of all who seek religious freedom and I ask all nations to join us in this urgent moral duty to allow every person to follow their conscience, live by their faith, and give glory to God.”
Summing up his position and the policies of his administration the President boldly said, “We’re standing up for almost 250 million Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith.”
And President Trump has put his actions behind his words. Back in 2017 While commemorating the National Day of Prayer, President Trump signed an executive order that he said will “Defend freedom of religion and speech in America.” While addressing the gathering of American religious leaders the President also said, “The Founding Fathers believed religious liberty was so fundamental they enshrined it in the first amendment in the constitution, yet for too long the Federal government has used the power of the state as a weapon against people of faith bullying and even punishing Americans for following their religious beliefs. No American should be forced to choose between the dictates of the government and their faith.” Freedom is not a gift from government. Freedom is a gift from God.”
The order, based on one of Mr. Trump’s campaign promises, provided regulatory relief from Obamacare requirements such as the requirement that organizations provide contraception care. A requirement that many religious organizations felt was forcing them to violate their beliefs.
Taking a swipe at the Johnson Amendment to the IRS Code, which prohibits political speech in churches, the President also directed the Department of Justice to develop new rules designed to establish religious protections for all Americans saying, “Under my administration, free speech does not end at the steps of a cathedral or synagogue, we are giving our churches their voices back, with this order, we will also make clear that the federal government will never penalize any person for their protected religious beliefs.”
And this work to give legs to his promises continues into the present time, on Tuesday June 2, 2020, President Trump signed an executive order on international religious freedom. The order reads, “Religious freedom, America’s first freedom, is a moral and national security imperative. Religious freedom for all people worldwide is a foreign policy priority of the United States and the United States will respect and vigorously promote this freedom.” The executive order also allocates an annual amount of $50 million for advancing international religious freedom by deterring attacks on sects and enhancing security at houses of worship.
Tuesday’s order is aimed at bolstering global incentive programs and restricting the issuance of visas under the 2012 Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which targets perpetrators of human rights abuse and corruption.
This is all part of a coordinated campaign to bring attention to the war against faith being waged by the forces of evil around the world. Following Trump’s lead, the State Department has brought a new focus on religious freedom. The Executive Order states, “The Secretary shall require all Department of State civil service employees in the Foreign Affairs Series to undertake training modeled on the international religious freedom training described by the Foreign Service Act and amended in 2016.” Also, President Trump has hosted victims of religious persecution striving to bring this ongoing attack against faith the visibility it deserves.
Drawing a line in the sand President Trump does not equivocate when he stakes out his position with regard to religious freedom, “Each of us has the right to follow the dictates of our conscience and the demands of our religious conviction.”
On the world stage President Trump, while hosting the Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom event, called for:
- The international community and business leaders to work to protect religious freedom.
- All nations to act to bring an end to religious persecution and stop crimes against people of faith.
Taking the lead, the United States under the Trump Administration:
- The State Department has hosted two Religious Freedom Ministerials, during which more than 100 governments and religious leaders committed to fight religious persecution.
- The Administration is spearheading the International Religious Freedom Alliance, an alliance of nations dedicated to confronting religious persecution around the world.
- The Administration has taken steps to protect victims of all faiths from religious violence.
- The Administration will dedicate an additional $25 million to protect religious freedom and religious sites and relics.
- The Department of Justice hosted its Summit on Combating Anti-Semitism in July.
- The United States has provided humanitarian aid to help Christians and Yazidis who suffered at the hands of ISIS and to help Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing persecution.
Not overlooking the domestic war against religion by the enemies of faith President Trump has made it a priority to support every American’s fundamental right to religious freedom enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
- In 2017, President Trump signed an executive order to advance religious freedom, restoring the ideals that have undergirded our Nation since its founding.
- The President took action to ensure Americans and organizations are not forced to violate their religious or moral beliefs by complying with Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate.
- The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established a new Conscience and Religious Freedom division to help direct the agency’s efforts to protect religious freedom.
- HHS took action to protect the right of healthcare entities to act according to their conscience.
- This year, the Administration finalized a rule providing more flexibility for Federal employees whose religious beliefs require them to abstain from work on certain days.
- The Administration has unequivocally stood for religious freedom in the courts.
This campaign for religious liberty is all part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to advance religious freedom by combating rising levels of violence around the globe. The wide scope of this war against faith being waged by the worldly forces of evil can be seen in facts such as these:
- Eighty-three percent of the world’s population lives in nations where religious freedom is threatened or banned.
- The Trump Administration is deeply concerned for the more than 1 million Uighurs interned in Chinese internment camps.
- Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world.
- Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Baha’is, humanists, and non-believers alike—almost every group has been increasingly persecuted over the past decade.
Many former administrations paid lip service to the freedom of religion which is necessary for humanity to find its way to God. President Trump has done more to stand up for religious liberty in one administration than every other president combined.
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
The Peace That Passes Understanding June 3, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, George Floyd, Insurrection Act of 1807, riots, The Posse Comitatus Act
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America teeters on the edge of the abyss. Professional revolutionaries organized and funded by the Alt-left Progressives seek to provoke the Trump Administration into a response they can label as disproportionate or over-the-top. As President Trump moves to quell the violence by any means necessary the Democrats who identify as journalists take every opportunity to label his response as disproportionate or over-the-top. Some go so far as to say President Trump is assuming dictatorial power and that his attempt to restore the rule of law to the burning blue cities is as ruthless as Khrushchev stomping out the revolution in Hungary in 1956 or Brezhnev smothering the Prague Spring of 1968. This is a stunning bit of hyperbole from the purveyors of fake news.
Here is a truism that has proven itself many times over – violence begets violence or as Jesus put it, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”
There’s nothing easier than to choose a side and if not joining in the assault on the opposing side at least cheering on those who do.
What are we as Christians supposed to do? Whose side are we on? There can be only one answer to that, we are on God’s side.
Every army that has ever marched with the exception of the godless communists has said they were fighting on God’s side. And even Stalin invoked “Holy Mother Russia” and had Orthodox priests released from his dungeons to bless the soldiers protecting his right to operate those dungeons.
So what is God’s side in this current season of proto-civil war wracking America?
God has called us to a ministry of reconciliation. As Paul stated in his second letter to the Corinthians, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
On one side of our current divide we must admit that there is police brutality, and in some places, even systemic police brutality. As an individual who has borne the brunt of such brutality, I can testify that it does exist. On the other side we must admit that the numbers of rogue cops and complicit agencies is miniscule when compared to the legions of dedicated peace officers who put themselves in harm’s way to maintain the order necessary for a civil society.
On one hand we cannot allow the revolutionaries, criminals, and thugs to burn our cities. This must stop. The saddest thing of all is that most of the property damage is in the neighborhoods of the very people who have the least. And there is no possible way to justify attacking the innocent to protest an attack against the innocent.
First, the violence must end. Next, we need to address the underlying issues. One of the biggest has been the Biden Crime act passed by the Democrat Congress and signed by Bill Clinton. This atrocious law imposed unfair and unequal penalties on certain behaviors while allowing other behaviors which were equally as bad to slide. It also imposed mandatory sentences that allowed for no mitigation. Thankfully, this crime bill aimed right at the ghetto has been repealed under President Trump. However, we must take up the challenge and devise some means of ridding our police departments of those who want to peruse a private agenda of hate.
Reconciliation is a two-way street. If we stand on opposite sides and call each other names, there is no chance of peace. While reconciliation takes two to tango forgiveness does not. We as Christians are called to forgive. Or as Paul said in his letter to the Colossians, “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
Christ has forgiven us perfectly, completely, and for all eternity. And that is how we are called to forgive others. Once we’ve forgiven others we can move forward into the ministry of reconciliation. But until we forgive, we’re locked in the endless cycle of tit-for-tat, he-said/she-said, recriminations, and hate.
So how far should we take this? What should be the limit of our forgiveness? There is a short conversation recorded in the Gospel of Matthew between Peter and Jesus that sheds light on this. “Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’”
So as the wall-to-wall talking heads do their best to implant anxiety and fear, as they practice their mantra, “If it bleeds it leads” we must turn to the source and summit of wisdom: God’s holy Word. Turning again to Paul in his letter to the Philippians we find God’s recipe for peace. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Watching the unfolding drama that is the daily news we find it easy to feel powerless, separated, and alone. Which way to turn? Who to believe? What to do? These are all questions that currently divide our lives. Personally, I find only one answer and His name is Jesus. He tells us plainly, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” Do that and find the meaning of this old saying, “No Jesus no peace. Know Jesus know peace.”
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
Somebody Has to Say It May 19, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: abortion, Dr. Robert Owens, infanticide, Pro-choice, pro-life
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Where are the voices of those crying in the wilderness? Where are the watchers on the walls? If the alarm isn’t given how will the people know when the enemy enters the camp?
In America today the descendants of those who fought the most powerful empire in the world to gain their freedom, the children of those who scaled Pointe du Hoc and slogged their way from Normandy to the heart of Germany to defeat the Nazi killing machine cower in government mandated lockdowns in fear of getting sick. The speed with which Americans have surrendered their hard won and hard defended freedom is shocking. What’s next? The “Show me your papers,” of tyrannical internal passports, or the ludicrous idea that we keep the economy closed long enough to destroy it?
Politically and economically we’ve not only found the elephant in the room we’re riding it into the ash heap of History.
Much the same situation exists morally and spiritually among the many organizations that call themselves American Christian denominations. There is a very visible counterpart to the invisible Social Security Flu stalking our land. And this visible sickness is 100% fatal.
I’m speaking of the life denying sin of infanticide, which the Progressive Ahabs and Jezebels have disguised with the harmless sounding name of Pro-choice. It is designed by focus groups and PR firms to entice those worshipping self to sacrifice the innocent on the altar of convenience.
Not only have many Christians fallen into this diabolical trap of the enemy, but six large Christian denominations are not only silent in the face of industrial scale murder they endorse it. These collaborators include: The United Church of Christ, The Metropolitan Community Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Christ Church (Assembly of God), and the United Methodist Church.
Though many individual Christians and independent ministries stand forthrightly and valiantly attempting to throw the monkey wrench of public indignation into the gears of the abortion industry those denomination which proclaim they’re against America’s holocaust say little if anything publicly. As the saying goes all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.
There’s one denomination that’s spoken out against this sin consistently and publicly. Unfortunately, the word doesn’t seem to make it from the headquarters to the pew. In most cases the courageous words of the leaders are not expressed from the pulpit being replaced in many places by an “I’m Okay you’re okay” lukewarm mishmash of platitudes at best and New Age gobbledygook at worst.
Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, recently wrote on Twitter, “Just saw a headline in a Catholic newspaper with the phrase ‘pro-abortion Catholic.’ Sorry. That’s a contradiction in terms. You can’t be a Catholic, at least not an authentic one, and be ‘pro-abortion.’ Or ‘pro-choice.’ It’s the same thing.”
And Bishop Tobin is not a solitary public voice among the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.
Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila wrote in the diocesan newspaper, The Denver Catholic, “Catholics in good conscience cannot support candidates who will advance abortion.” The Archbishop explicitly refuted attempts to assert the “moral equivalency” of different ethical and social issues pointing to those “who divide ‘the personal’ from ‘the public.’”
The Archbishop continued, “When people of faith do not stand up for their beliefs, the government will become ‘god’ and impose its beliefs on the citizens. One only needs to look to the Health and Human Service contraceptive mandate, or the attempt by President Obama to force a transgender agenda onto public schools.”
With a bravery lacking in many protestant leaders the Archbishop even ventured to relate these spiritual and moral teachings to the political world where real world decisions are made saying, “Catholic voters must make themselves aware of where the parties stand on these essential issues. The right to life is the most important and fundamental right since life is necessary for any of the other rights to matter.”
And to drive the point home that the sin of abortion is fundamentally different from all other social issues the Archbishop said, “There are some issues that can legitimately be debated by Christians, such as which policies are the most effective in caring for the poor, but the direct killing of innocent human life must be opposed at all times by every follower of Jesus Christ. There are no legitimate exceptions to this teaching,”
Becoming even more specific in his comments of a political nature the Archbishop said, “Christians must reflect on the platforms of both parties, with an emphasis on the human life issues. If you truly live your Catholic faith, you will not find complete alignment with any political party, and that is okay. But in voting, Catholics must look at how each party platform supports human life from conception through natural death, the freedom of religion and the freedom of conscience, the family, and the poor.”
Other voices ring out from the Catholic Hierarchy some even venturing into a hotly contested presidential campaign. In 2016, Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann wrote in a column in his diocesan newspaper, The Leaven, “It was painful to listen to Senator Kaine repeat the same tired and contorted reasoning to profess his personal opposition to abortion while justifying his commitment to keep it legal. He said all the usual made-for-modern-media sound bites: It is not proper to impose his religious beliefs upon all Americans. He trusts women to make good reproductive choices. And when all else fails, there is always the question, Do we really want to criminalize and fill our jails with post-abortive women?
Regarding the imposition of religious beliefs, Senator Kaine appears to have no qualms with his public positions conforming with his religious beliefs with regard to such issues as the church’s opposition to racism or our preferential option for the poor. He appears not to be conflicted with our public policies mirroring the Ten Commandments with regard to stealing, perjury, or forms of murder, other than abortion.”
I’m not a disinterested party. If not for the forgiveness I’ve received in and through Christ, I’d stand convicted of my part in four abortions. My children were all offered up as sacrifices to convenience on America’s version of the altar of Moloch.
I’m not writing this to heap condemnation on those who through fear, ignorance, or even those who knowingly killed their babies. Instead, as a fellow participant in the sin of infanticide, I want to tell those who agonize over their decisions to still those tiny lives that there is hope. There is forgiveness. When Jesus hanging on the cross took on the sins of all humanity our sins were included in the weight pulling against the nails. When our Blessed Savior cried out “It is finished,” the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil was broken even for us. Instead of mourning each day for who might have been, instead of wallowing in the condemnation due for our crimes we have a way of escape.
All we must do is confess Jesus as the Lord and Master of our life and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead and we will be saved. And I don’t mean just saved from hell fire somewhere off in the future. We are saved from every aspect of the condemnation which is a natural part of our fallen human existence. The instant we’re born-again we step out of the darkness and into the light. We become children of God able to stand in the presence of God without any sense of sin, guilt, or shame.
We’ll never forget our children. We may never be able to hold them or watch them grow. But we can rest assured when we step through the door separating this mortal reality from the immortal reality beyond, we’ll get to spend eternity with them there.
Some of this might be hard to hear but somebody has to say it.
This is not only a message of forgiveness this is a call to all American Christians: stand up for life with your words, your actions, and your votes.
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
Are Democrats Smarter Than Republicans 2020? May 6, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Bill Clinton, budget compromise 2010, budget compromise 2012, Donald Trump, Dr. Robert Owens, election 2020, election of 2010, election of 2012, election of 2016, George Bush, John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Nunes Recuse, Ronald Reagan, Ross Perot
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I’ve asked this question several times. Have recent events changed my mind?
Remember this headline, “Nunes steps aside from Russia probe.” Why? As Nunes puts it, “Several leftwing activist groups have filed accusations against me with the Office of Congressional Ethics. The charges are entirely false and politically motivated and are being leveled just as the American people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of U.S. citizens and other abuses of power.”
Do you think if House Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Democrat Adam Schiff was serving as the head of the committee he would’ve stepped aside? No way. If this had been going on against a Democrat, the entire Progressive establishment would’ve attacked the Ethics Committee for even accepting such accusations.
In a second example let’s look at the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. He recused himself from the Russian witch hunt over non-issues. Does anyone remember Obama’s last AG Loretta Lynch meeting with Ex-President Clinton on an airport in Arizona while her department was conducting a criminal investigation of his wife? Did she recuse herself from overseeing that investigation? No, only Republicans hold themselves to these standards.
Or look at the fake news tsunami about Russian meddling in the 2016 election. After all this inquiry there was no evidence to support it. WIKI Leaks provided documents that show our own intelligence organizations routinely hack computers and make it look like the Russians did it. And as I pointed out all along if the Russians did hack the election and Hillary won the popular vote who was the recipient of any Russian help? It has come out that President Obama’s political hatchet woman Susan Rice was the one unmasking people from the Trump campaign and transition team in broad sweep intel gatherings. So, it looks like if any government was trying to interfere in a fair election it was the Obama Administration.
And yet the media drumbeat, the secret hearings, investigations, and charges continued. If this happened to a Democrat, say to President Obama what would we have heard? The media megaphone would’ve shouted day and night it was a racially motivated witch hunt. And unlike the Republicans who had some of their leaders in and out of government as well as many in the media join in the attacks, in a similar situation the Democrats would’ve circled the wagons to defend the attacked 24/7.
Many members of the media received Pulitzer Prizes for the courageous reporting which ended up being nothing more than the propagation of lies and democrat talking points. Now that the faced has fallen why don’t these supposed paragons of the Fourth Estate return those prizes or at least admit they were all based on fiction? Since these were all given to democrats who identify as journalists don’t hold your breath waiting for any one of them owning up to their part in the PR campaign for the failed coup.
Like Charley Brown trying to kick the football repeatedly only to have Lucy pull it away; each time the Democrats keep running the same play and the Republicans keep falling for it. The Democrats have called every Republican since Nixon illegitimate. Their shills in the media magnify the false accusations and then try their best to turn the lies into history.
This brings us to the question under consideration, “Are Democrats smarter than Republicans?”
I was a fourth generation Republican who cut my teeth in Nixon’s first presidential campaign back in 1960 and then in Barry Goldwater’s failed Presidential bid. I worked for Goldwater, Reagan, and all the following Republican flag wavers who tried to rally the country to a return to limited government, personal liberty, and economic freedom. That is I did until Trent Lott’s Republican Senate Majority gave us the impeachment debacle and the explosion of government growth and spending under Hastert, Lott, and Bush. When the Republican Senate refused to impeach President Clinton for crimes he later admitted and when they and their House brethren became Democrat Lite as the party of power, I returned my membership card to the party that was no longer the Grand Old Party of my great grandfather and became an Independent.
For most of my life I was a party man: accepting some things I didn’t agree with for the greater good of electing a party with a platform I could agree with. However, once it became apparent that as far as the budget went we had elected the foxes to watch the hen house, that the conservative social agenda received a tip-of-the-hat during elections followed by no action, and that the only victims of the impeachment were those brave enough to bring the charges the scales fell from my eyes. Once I saw that the Republicans had lost their moorings and were swilling at the public trough, I realized the platform we conservatives battle so hard for and hold so dear is merely a mirage held in front of social and fiscal conservatives to keep them loyal to a Party captured by the Progressives.
Back in the Dream Time my mind was locked in the glow of Ronald Reagan, his example, and his message of Make America Great Again. But, even then I wondered, “What’s wrong with these leaders of ours? Why do the Democrats always seem to outsmart them at every turn?”
Even Reagan, the best of the best until Trump, was hoodwinked by Tip O’Neal in the amnesty bargain: we would grant amnesty and then seal the border. The problem was the illegal immigrants got the amnesty; however, America’s border was never sealed. He also signed several tax deals with the Democratic majority. We the People lost many deductions in exchange for lower rates. The deductions never came back even though the rates started rising again as soon as the Gipper said good night and George the First forgot to read his own lips.
George Bush the Elder was out maneuvered by the Progressives so many times that 20% of his base ran to Perot opening the door for Clinton and the first attempt to ram national health care down America’s throat. That time they overplayed their hand and the last great strategist among the Republicans, Newt Gingrich, was able to sell a Contract with America and bring the first Republican majority in Congress in 40 years.
Newt kept the promises and brought some fiscal sanity back to Washington. Within a few short years the Republican led Congress ended welfare as we’d known it for generations and balanced the budget. Unfortunately, the Party of Lincoln then nominated someone who campaigned as if he’d voted for Lincoln. The 1996 Republican campaign would’ve had to improve several thousand percent to make it to dull. Suddenly, with an assist from the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media it was Clinton who’d been dragged kicking and screaming to the benefit and spending cutting table, who was the author of everything positive Congress had accomplished. The Republicans were outmaneuvered and outsmarted again.
According to every one of the serial re-counts Bush the younger won Florida and legitimately the presidential race of 2000. Yet, to this day people talk of him being selected not elected. After the dastardly deeds of 9-11 the rhetorically-challenged George captured the hearts of America and the admiration of the Western world by taking a bullhorn and talking to a crowd at ground zero. Yet by fighting and winning America’s first preemptive war and then losing the peace through the lack of planning he soon lost the PR campaign which led to the Pelosi-Reid Congress in 2006 and eventually to the absolute triumph of Progressivism in 2008.
Once their secular messiah was enthroned at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the Progressives with their filibuster proof majority took the reins of single-party rule and imposed their radical agenda to transform America into a Nanny-state based upon the re-distribution of wealth. This wanton destruction of the traditional American society based on limited government and free enterprise sparked a vast rebellion of the silent majority resulting in the teanami of 2010 which brought a Republican majority back to the People’s House and an expanded minority to the Senate.
And what is the first thing these political savants do? They reaffirm the same tired leadership and strike a deal that anyone who was paying attention could see was tailor made to save the discredited Obama presidency. Then they set the stage for him to follow in Mr. Clinton’s footsteps taking credit for anything good the historic election might have made possible. What were these so-called leaders thinking? They turned the victory of the grassroots into a capitulation to the elites. Not only did they sign a deal that extended uncertainty and raised estate taxes, they gave the Administration cover for a stealth stimulus filled with porkulous payoffs designed to help re-elect the President.
Along comes 2012 and the Republican establishment and their friends in the Progressive Media engineer the nomination of the one man who couldn’t beat the worst president in American History with the worst economy since 1932. They surrender the issue of a massively unpopular Obamacare by nominating the author of its prototype. Mr. Romney spends the last debate agreeing with the President’s handling of foreign policy and ignoring the raging controversy over the debacle in Benghazi. He didn’t throw the election, he tossed it away.
Then came Trump, he wins fair and square, yet he’s illegitimate. There was no evidence of any collusion with the Russians, but the seriousness of the charges demand an investigation as is the Democrat standard operating procedure. All this smoke and mirrors was a cover so no one would investigate the real scandal: the Obama administration spied on and distributed the findings to sabotage the incoming Trump. And the Republicans are either right in there working with the Democrats, they recuse themselves, or they’re merely ineffective in dispersing the smoke and revealing the truth.
And now the coronavirus lockdown destroys the best economy the world has ever seen. Many are asking, was it necessary to put the entire country under house arrest? Was President Trump played? Some even say the whole reaction to the virus doesn’t pass the sniff test.
So, “Are Democrats smarter than Republicans?” The answer is they aren’t. It isn’t a matter of intelligence it’s a matter of people with dedication to something larger than themselves, as opposed to people with dedication to seeing themselves as something larger than they are.
The leadership of the Democrat Party is composed of committed radical Progressives. They have a long-term agenda to transform America into a socialist welfare state with an unlimited government, and they never lose sight of that goal. They’re willing to commit political suicide, or more accurately they’re willing to encourage their follow travelers who do not occupy safe seats to commit political suicide usually with pay off jobs in government agencies. They never take their eyes off the ball. They’re constantly pushing to move closer to the goal line even if it’s one inch at a time. And after the debacle that was Hillary they warmed up to the idea of allowing an outright Socialist to become the leader and agenda driver of their Party even if they wouldn’t allow him to carry the ball as their nominee.
They say a leopard can’t change his spots but at least the sheep’s clothing is falling off the Faux Socialists who call themselves Democrats. It’s interesting to remember that the Communist Party USA went all in for Obama and Clinton. Why run your own candidate when one of the major parties is doing it for you? These are some dedicated community organizers who aim at nothing less than fundamentally transforming America. They realize that two steps forward and one step back is still one step forward.
By comparison, the leadership of the Republicans is composed of professional politicians. They’re pragmatists who do whatever they have to do and say whatever they have to say to retain their seats, their power, and their perks. They believe the inside the beltway press who tell them how visionary they are to compromise, losing sight of those back home in fly-over country who instead believed the campaign promises and expect their representatives to stand up for principles.
The Party of Lincoln over-and-over chooses to be on the receiving end of Pickett’s Charge instead of behind the split-rail fence firing point blank as their enemy wastes itself in a senseless assault against an immovable barrier. After the election of 2016, the Republicans controlled the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. They could’ve been that immovable barrier holding back the advancing forces of socialism. Instead the Progressives of the right once again embraced the frivolous and spurious attacks of the Left against anyone who is really trying to lead away from the super state. Led by Paul Ryan they joined the Progressives of left in a bi-partisan campaign to continue the spending, increase the debt, fool the public, and stop President Trump from accomplishing the things he’d been elected to do.
Paraphrasing the first Republican President, Historian Will Durant once wisely observed, “It may be true that you can’t fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.”
Looking again at the question which is the title of this essay, “Are Democrats smarter than Republicans,” over many years of pondering this question, I haven’t changed my mind. Singleness of purpose and focusing on a goal will make one appear smarter than someone who is merely in it for what they can get out of it. In other words, people who’re dedicated to achieving long-term goals who have the ability to delay gratification will always outmaneuver self-serving pragmatists who can see no further than the feathers in their own nest.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, 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 / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
Okay We Get It April 28, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: Coronavirus, Dr. Robert Owens, herd immunity, lock down, pandemic, quarantine, Wuhan Flu
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The Social Security Flu is hitting the old, the halt, and the lame hard. But out there in the wider, younger, healthier population it’s often so mild people don’t even know they have it. As a member of the high risk, or as my son puts it, “Someone in the kill zone,” a well-seasoned citizen with an underlying health concern I think it’s time we all said, “Okay we get it.”
Now let’s quit charging giveaways to my grandchildren’s grandchildren and open the country up for the vast majority. They can go back to work, save the economy, and let us targets self-isolate.
This isn’t just an offhand rant by an old foggy wondering who’s going to pay into the Ponzi scheme we call Social Security to keep the checks coming. The evidence and the recommendations for this approach are mere clicks away.
Dr. Scott Atlas, the former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University in an opinion piece published in The Hill said, “The tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be entering the containment phase. Tens of thousands of Americans have died, and Americans are now desperate for sensible policymakers who have the courage to ignore the panic and rely on facts. Leaders must examine accumulated data to see what has actually happened, rather than keep emphasizing hypothetical projections; combine that empirical evidence with fundamental principles of biology established for decades; and then thoughtfully restore the country to function.”
To help people understand the course of action he recommends Dr Atlas shares what he says, “Five key facts are being ignored by those calling for continuing the near-total lockdown.”
Fact 1: The overwhelming majority of people do not have any significant risk of dying from COVID-19.
The recent Stanford University antibody study now estimates that the fatality rate if infected is likely 0.1 to 0.2 percent, a risk far lower than previous World Health Organization estimates that were 20 to 30 times higher and that motivated isolation policies.
In New York City, an epicenter of the pandemic with more than one-third of all U.S. deaths, the rate of death for people 18 to 45 years old is 0.01 percent, or 11 per 100,000 in the population. On the other hand, people aged 75 and over have a death rate 80 times that. For people under 18 years old, the rate of death is zero per 100,000.
Of all fatal cases in New York state, two-thirds were in patients over 70 years of age; more than 95 percent were over 50 years of age; and about 90 percent of all fatal cases had an underlying illness. Of 6,570 confirmed COVID-19 deaths fully investigated for underlying conditions to date, 6,520, or 99.2 percent, had an underlying illness. If you do not already have an underlying chronic condition, your chances of dying are small, regardless of age. And young adults and children in normal health have almost no risk of any serious illness from COVID-19.
Fact 2: Protecting older, at-risk people eliminates hospital overcrowding.
We can learn about hospital utilization from data from New York City, the hotbed of COVID-19 with more than 34,600 hospitalizations to date. For those under 18 years of age, hospitalization from the virus is 0.01 percent per 100,000 people; for those 18 to 44 years old, hospitalization is 0.1 percent per 100,000. Even for people ages 65 to 74, only 1.7 percent were hospitalized. Of 4,103 confirmed COVID-19 patients with symptoms bad enough to seek medical care, Dr. Leora Horwitz of NYU Medical Center concluded “age is far and away the strongest risk factor for hospitalization.” Even early WHO reports noted that 80 percent of all cases were mild, and more recent studies show a far more widespread rate of infection and lower rate of serious illness. Half of all people testing positive for infection have no symptoms at all. The vast majority of younger, otherwise healthy people do not need significant medical care if they catch this infection.
Fact 3: Vital population immunity is prevented by total isolation policies, prolonging the problem.
We know from decades of medical science that infection itself allows people to generate an immune response — antibodies — so that the infection is controlled throughout the population by “herd immunity.” Indeed, that is the main purpose of widespread immunization in other viral diseases — to assist with population immunity. In this virus, we know that medical care is not even necessary for the vast majority of people who are infected. It is so mild that half of infected people are asymptomatic, shown in early data from the Diamond Princess ship, and then in Iceland and Italy. That has been falsely portrayed as a problem requiring mass isolation. In fact, infected people without severe illness are the immediately available vehicle for establishing widespread immunity. By transmitting the virus to others in the low-risk group who then generate antibodies, they block the network of pathways toward the most vulnerable people, ultimately ending the threat. Extending whole-population isolation would directly prevent that widespread immunity from developing.
Fact 4: People are dying because other medical care is not getting done due to hypothetical projections.
Critical health care for millions of Americans is being ignored and people are dying to accommodate “potential” COVID-19 patients and for fear of spreading the disease. Most states and many hospitals abruptly stopped “nonessential” procedures and surgery. That prevented diagnoses of life-threatening diseases, like cancer screening, biopsies of tumors now undiscovered and potentially deadly brain aneurysms. Treatments, including emergency care, for the most serious illnesses were also missed. Cancer patients deferred chemotherapy. An estimated 80 percent of brain surgery cases were skipped. Acute stroke and heart attack patients missed their only chances for treatment, some dying and many now facing permanent disability.
Fact 5: We have a clearly defined population at risk who can be protected with targeted measures.
The overwhelming evidence all over the world consistently shows that a clearly defined group — older people and others with underlying conditions — is more likely to have a serious illness requiring hospitalization and more likely to die from COVID-19. Knowing that, it is a commonsense, achievable goal to target isolation policy to that group, including strictly monitoring those who interact with them. Nursing home residents, the highest risk, should be the most straightforward to systematically protect from infected people, given that they already live in confined places with highly restricted entry.
And there you have it. It makes no sense to destroy the country we love to save it. I look at my grandchildren and it breaks my heart to think of the fear we are instilling in them: fear of social contact and fear of the unknown. My heart breaks for my son and his generation as we’re throwing a monkey wrench into the gears that drive the greatest economy the world has ever seen. This economic tsunami is reducing the horizons of the dreams.
In a much more eloquent and scientifically informed manner Dr. Atlas expresses the advice set forth in the first paragraph of this article when he says, “The appropriate policy, based on fundamental biology and the evidence already in hand, is to institute a more focused strategy like some outlined in the first place: Strictly protect the known vulnerable, self-isolate the mildly sick and open most workplaces and small businesses with some prudent large-group precautions. This would allow the essential socializing to generate immunity among those with minimal risk of serious consequence, while saving lives, preventing overcrowding of hospitals and limiting the enormous harms compounded by continued total isolation. Let’s stop underemphasizing empirical evidence while instead doubling down on hypothetical models. Facts matter.”
Or, as Paul says in an exceptionally good book, “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”
In other words, let’s free the country from solitary confinement, concentrate on protecting the most vulnerable, and practice this advice, “Why worry when you can pray.”
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
Resurrection Reflections April 14, 2020
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Religion, Uncategorized.Tags: born again, Coronavirus, Dr. Robert Owens, pandemic, resurrection, Salvation, shelter-in-place
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As we hunker in the bunker and wait for the Death Angel to pass over it’s good to remember that being negative is positively one of the worst things we can do. Not only is it a waste of time, it’s depressing. God tells us in many ways “Do not worry” more times than He tells us “Do not steal.” And we all know what stealing is. Can any one of us by worrying add a single hour to our life or add an inch to our height?
As with almost anything that happens it doesn’t take long for Christians to start asking, “Do you think these are signs of the End Times?” The Bible tells us we’ve been in the End Times at least since the writing of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. All I can do is repeat what Luke told us so long ago, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Wars and pandemics shake our world. In a moment we’re in a brave new world wondering, “Will we ever get back to the way it was?” Things can seem so dark, so forbidding, so bleak it’s easy to lose our focus on Christ and the life He’s given us in the middle of so much sickness and death. If we focus on the negative, we may lose sight of the positive reality: Christ triumphed over death. He conquered it through His death on the cross where He died so we may live.
He lived a life of love and perfection. He died a death of hate and rejection. He rose to share joy and perfection. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Accept Him and find life. Reject Him and reject life.
God is so vast yet so personal, so sublime yet so simple. We are His creation, yet He adopts us as children. He sustains the universe and all that’s in it, yet we ask Him to find us a parking space at MegloMart. The wisest humans who’ve ever lived could never devise a system of religious rules or disciplines that can lead us through the snare of the flesh to the liberation of the spirit. Or, as Paul expresses it, “For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.”
In these times of stress, we need to stand strong, keep our eyes on the prize, and refuse to waver. The government may try to become our all in all but believing that will be the surest way to fall. We may be riveted on the daily briefings and the emergency alerts in the natural, but in the spirit we need to turn our eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace
“Don’t be misled no one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others — ignoring God! — harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.”
Here’s some good advice from the days of a war long ago which was also based on truths from the Bible:
Johnny Mercer began his #1 hit by saying, “Gather ’round me, everybody.
Gather ’round me while I’m preachin.’ Feel a sermon comin’ on me. The topic will be sin and that’s what I’m ag’in’. If you wanna hear my story
then settle back and just sit tight while I start reviewin’ the attitude of doin’ right”
Then he crooned:
You’ve got to accentuate the positive
eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
But don’t mess with mister in-between
You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
have faith, a pandemonium
Libel to walk up on the scene
To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the Whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do
just when everything looked so dark
They said we better
accentuate the positive
eliminate the negative
latch on to the affirmative
But don’t mess with mister in-between.
As I reflect upon the Resurrection, I can see this is still good advice today.
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
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 