Today on Conservative Christian Movement, I’ll go over what we know so far on the 2020 presidential trail of tears, Democrat style. I’ll talk about what we can learn from Frank Stephens, actor, speaker, writer and survivor of Downs Syndrome. I’ll go over a couple of liberal meltdowns from the past week. Links can be found at ccmpodcast.com. Thanks for joining me. I am Jeff Stipe, your host.
Let’s get started.
The verse of the Day:
Matthew 12:34 (NIV)
“You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
You don’t have to watch the news very long to see how this verse is so appropriate today. Honestly, even Fox News struggles at times to report “fair and balanced” news. When you look at CNN, MSNBC and other networks, the bias is amazing. We have many “Broods” of vipers in our nation and in our world. Even within the churches.
The verse of the day, at least to me and my podcast, means what is buried deep within your core will come out of your mouth. Hate for hate, love for love, your bias shows. Gone are the days when you would never guess someone’s political belief. It is put out on display every day, full screen which is sad. News should be rooted in fact.
Today’s political environment is no different. I talked last week about the train wreck of the Democrats sitting on their hands with disdain on their face as the president spoke. It’s really sad to see. The divisiveness is thick and growing thicker.
Den of Vipers
It’s President’s Day in the US. It’s only fitting to discuss the list of those who currently seek the nomination for president on the Democrat ticket for 2020. The list is long, familiar (in most cases) and unsurprising. Already the press is picking winners, yet pushing positive news for most of them. All, of course in the name of ridding our country of the 45th president.
Some are posting on Facebook (nameless of course), we celebrate 44 out of 45 presidents for obvious reasons. This might be true for me but the one left out isn’t President Trump. It’s sad as I said, the hatred for one man who beat out 16 others to become #45. That is some feat, yet defeating him is some major goal in most liberals, both in congress and in the public.
Since the State of the Union address, there have been 9 Democrats fully announce or explore the idea of running again. To date, the three missing names are perhaps the most expected; Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders (though he is an independent). I did not link to the article, but somewhere I saw up to 450 people have considered a run on the Democrat ticket in 2020. I’m not surprised as there is a feeling of hope to run in the face of hatred for the president.
The Hill listed the top 10 Democrats for 2020: Some have announced, others have not.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-TX)
Former Vice President Joe Biden
Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ)
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
There are many who are considering a run in 2020. Andrew Yang has thrown his hat in along with others. This will by no means be the final list. In fact, some have already considered and turned away from the challenge. I talked at length about using data which has been compiled for you in episode 7- Know your Hot Button Issue. Planned Parenthood is happy to tell you who shouldn’t be elected. Bad politicians receive a perfect 100% rating.
Incidentally, each and every member of the top 10 received 100% ratings from Planned Parenthood. Each also received very low ratings from the NRA, though I did not feel the need to find them for sure.
What I will say, following up from my last episode (#16), the Democrat Party Platform, if not the as I described, will build a socialist utopia. The candidate standing at the end of the bloody feud must embrace LGBTQ, must be pro “anything Planned Parenthood wants”, must give freebies to the underserved (including illegal immigrants), and be absolutely for gun control.
You and I are witnessing this on a daily basis. As time goes on and the field gets more clearly defined, I’ll take a deeper look at the candidates and call the shots as they march toward 2020.
It’s only February 2019, and with nearly two years to go, the rhetoric is priceless. Amy Klobuchar announced her candidacy in her home state of Minnesota, pitching climate change in a snow-storm. Elizabeth Warren told the crowd in her home state of Massachusetts, not only might President Trump not be in office in 2020, he might not be free in 2020.
I might add, the list above and the future of American politics will be heavily shaped by you! Christians have to vote. If you stay home in 2020, more of what happened in 2018 will occur. It’s already a down hill slope we’re on. That needs to change.
Frank Stephens
I’ve come to know of Frank Stephens through a tween recently crossing my news feed. Frank has made multiple speeches regarding his value to society as he survives Down Syndrome. Ashton Kutcher called attention to Frank’s address to congress in 2017. In this speech (as well as one to the United Nations) he talked about the extra chromosome and how his difference makes him special.
He made his impassioned goal to seek solutions to cancer, Alzheimer’s and downs syndrome. I admire his courage for driving change though I do not agree with everything he says. When would anyone agree 100% (except with Planned Parenthood of course?) But what, aside from abortion can we learn from his speech?
Early in his speech to the United Nations, he made this statement:
“I am a man, see me as a human being, not a birth defect, not a syndrome, I don’t need to be eradicated, I don’t need to be cured. I need to be loved, valued, educated and sometimes helped.”
On Fox News recently, he made an additional statement which I thought was uniquely simple, yet well said:
“I don’t want to make abortion illegal, I want to make it unthinkable. Politicians change laws, I want to change people’s hearts”.
Women make the choice for abortion for any number of reasons. Obviously, as a man, I do not know that feeling. Perhaps we should rethink what life means. Some people value life differently than others. Our nation has a problem with the definition of life. The left changes the definition to fit their needs while a social conservative like us see it deeper than they do. Life is a process. The process has a definite beginning and a definite end. We all will go through the entire cycle (unless God sees fit to take us home early).
Whether it is a healthy baby but inconvenient, or a baby with testing which shows a problem or a known and confirmed defect, women make the choice sometimes. They ignore the alternatives which are not talked about, not endorsed by government and are not nearly as publicized as they could be. With the number of couples who can not conceive, adoptions are an excellent alternative to abortion. After the recent vote in New York, a baby could be aborted one minute before being given for adoption. A clear example of a lack of value for human life. It’s only a matter of time, YOU will need to meet the requirements to remain alive. Just something to ponder.
Meltdowns
Last Weeks Question of the week
I received a couple of comments about this question. First, it seems you as Christians tend to agree with my thinking. We are not interested in Theocracy in the least. However, my opinion on the matter is simple. Our leaders must be of a praying mindset. This prayer should be used to seek wisdom to make choices based on the data available. God can help anyone make better decisions. This is true in the face of those who will not like your decisions. You can’t make everyone happy, but you can make God happy.
Question of the week: Are you supportive of prayer for opening a session of congress?
It’s been a busy week this week. I haven’t formatted the plan for the next episode, but suspect it’s time to get into the Israel issue, the capitol- Jerusalem and why they are so hated. But, with the news environment, and my wish to remain relevant into the future, perhaps calling out next week’s episodes in advance is problematic. I’ll play it by ear and see how it goes. I sure missed in from last week. But I will be sure to include those meltdowns.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with like-minded friends and family. Until next time, BE BLESSED…
Today on the Conservative Christian Movement, I’m making a change versus what I planned from my last Episode. Instead of the planned topics, I am choosing to summarize the State of the Union speech from February 5. I’ll do so in a way most other commentators are not; by building the Democrat party platform for 2020 based on their reaction to the president’s comments in the State of the Union. I’ll get back to business as usual next week… Welcome back to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast. This episode was recorded February 8, 2019. I am Jeff Stipe, your host.
Let’s get started.
The verse of the Day:
Proverbs 29:2 (NIV)
“When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
This is perhaps the most applicable verse when considering Christian participation in politics. The founding fathers preferred righteous leadership over wicked rule, which was so prevalent in their struggle for independence. I talked at length about this in episode 2 (A Journey to a New World).
Our nation struggles today with a shifting away from simple Biblical principles which were woven into our Constitution willfully by framers who believed not only in the infallible Word of God, but the positive influence in both our individual walk and our nations standing in the world.
Slowly, over time, Liberals have loaded the courts to speed the separation of Church from the state, something never intended before. In each of the Seven Mountains mentioned in episode 1 (Change the world). These are Religion, Family, Education, Government, Media, Arts & Entertainment and Business. Liberals (of which Republicans are often a part), amplify sin to normalize it and desensitize you to it though these 7 mountains.
The ultimate goal is to minimize YOUR impact as a Christian for the good, while making sin an acceptable and expected normal occurrence.
And now, my take on the Democrat Progressives reaction to President Trump.
Hate of the Union
This week, President Trump gave his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. As is usually the case, he made statements, some cheered, others jeered. I’ve heard many critiques of the speech and of the Democrat reaction to those statements. To which I thought, their reaction signifies their beliefs and ultimately their party platform.
I will preface this statement by stating openly, the Democrat party HATES President Trump. They hated from the start, the plan he put out as a candidate and the steps he has taken to “Drain the Swamp” in DC. But I digress…
The president put forth his message in hopes of unifying the un-unifiable. Hi message spanned the gamut of “Can’t we all just get along” to wow, our nation is in great shape. There was little patting himself on the back. Honestly the year has been a pretty good year for our country and is set to continue for the near future.
It wasn’t all bad. I’ll start with the glimmer of hope which has already faded out to nothingness.
It seems we can all get along with Birthdays, women in the workplace and economic development for women in foreign countries. We saw the house chamber erupt into Happy Birthday (a first ever) and a unified “U-S-A” chant another possible first.
Additional points of agreement came with praise for HIV/Aids and childhood cancer efforts and calls for additional research for both.
The elation came quickly and eroded with the next sentence.
The actual 2016 Democrat Platform is linked in the show notes for your enjoyment. Please keep in mind, this is my interpretation of a progressive mindset. It was painful to write and I DO NOT BELIEVE ANY OF IT to be a legitimate help to our great nation.
Ruling the Nation as two Parties Rather than One Nation
We cannot and will not be seen as working with Republican lawmakers under any circumstances. In order to increase our anti-Biblical, anti-Semitic, lawless and free-giving policies, we reject the offer to work together for the common good of this nation. We reject the opportunities to seek common ground, work to provide a legislative environment which allow free people to determine their own path forward and will at every turn fight with fervor any attempt to see this nation as a Christian Nation.
Victory is not winning as a nation, it is winning at all costs for our party.
Promoting a Safer, More Prosperous America—Our Way, not Theirs
Our nation continues to struggle with mass shootings, gun killings, danger in our schools and racism at all levels of power. Choices which leave our world in danger through climate changes, economic disparity and tax cuts for the rich, leave us bitter and angry.
We reject any and all attempts to utilize capitalism, trickle-down economicsand free markets to promote a so-called better America. Capitalism is incompatible with our ideal environment and cannot be supported in any way. We must find alternatives to Capitalism by any means, to include increasing liberal members of congress, loaded courts and a complicit media.
Politics of cooperation, compromise and the common good cannot be allowed to be spoken in public for the good of our cause. We must keep stalemate, divisions, wounds, gridlock, resistance, vengeance and pointless destruction or we will not win in 2020. Only with a Democrat president, can we achieve our type of greatness.
Economy and Trade
We must continue to ignore the good news in our economy. At any chance we as Democrats must speak of negative news, forgoing truth in an effort to turn the American people further from President Trump and toward the Darkness of Democrat policies.
We reject the premise that all Americans can pull themselves out of the gutter without government assistance. We stand firmly against the president and his claim of removing citizens from welfare rolls. Citizens simply must remain in our grasp and under our power with economic coercion.
A growing economy under a Republican president is simply unacceptable. Unemployment at its lowest rate in a century does nothing to promote our cause. Low African, Hispanic and Asian American unemployment levels are a threat to our voter base. Overall unemployment is a necessity to keep American beholden to our power structure and must be reversed.
Tax cuts for working families must be repealed at all costs. The estate or death tax takes money from our treasury which is ours not theirs and must be reinstated. The Obamacare mandate must be reinstated.
Dark economic policies must be restored or our voter base will see the light and will no longer be dependent on our giving. The Jobs numbers, which are coming out of government policies, consumer confidence and business conditions are a threat to us all.
We support any actions which usher in socialism and its tenants which run contrary to our current economic system.
We simply cannot let facts get in the way or our agenda.
Energy and Environment
Across our nation we see energy usage at an all-time high. Pipelines are in the works creating a risk to our environment. Climate change is having an increasing risk to our people through extreme weather.
A Democrat Utopia will minimize use of fossil fuels in spite of the economic hardship it would impose. We must stop policies which make America a net exporter of energy. The Green New Deal must be put in place so that we can control big business, redistribute wealth and further degrade our place in the international energy market.
We Democrats must continue to build on Al Gore’s work and press on for global climate change regulations, eliminate the combustion engine, regulate cow flatulence and otherwise control our citizens use of energy.
Military and Veterans
Our military is a necessary evil which the American people will never allow to be removed. However, we should always fight to ensure the military is contained a minimized on the world stage. It should never be allowed to force our beliefs on other nations. We must use every tool to ensure we do not outspend our adversaries and find ourselves
We must undo the right of the government to fire bad VA workers. This is incompatible with our desire to unionize and empower blocks of workers to overpower their employers.
It is absolutely wrong on our part to force NATO allies to pay their fair share for common defense. In our view, NATO should be eliminated.
Justice
First Step act cannot be left in place. It was enacted under a Republican president. This stands against our notion of President Trump being racist. The narrative of Republicans being racist will protect our power over minority voters. Though we agree in principle and largely support this, it must be replaced with a law signed by a Democrat president.
Immigration
The fight to build a wall, keeping people out of our country will not work and must not stand. We must continue to allow the border crisis which will provide much needed infusion of illegal immigration and future Democrat voters. Coyotes, Human Traffickers and drug cartels have a right to succeed. We cannot build a wall on our border. The caravans coming to our border place this narrative front and center. We must keep the pressure on these people to keep marching and put ICE in a position to make news of a negative nature.
ICE simply must be castigated, called thugs and ultimately disassembled as a force for protecting our border.
Democrats must keep the narrative of immigrants being good people and fight the truth by ignoring negative news on a national front. We want immigrant to come here illegally and must fight for laws which allow them to vote as we know they will vote Democrat, the party to give them financial security.
The narrative stating “Walls don’t work” must continue and be intensified. Any effort to erect a wall, fence or other structure must be defeated.
Presidential Nominations
We Democrats must hold fast to the stalemate preventing the confirmation of judicial nominations. A conservative president will always pick individuals counter to our plans. As best we can, we must delay and obstruct in hopes of winning in 2020, when we can open the flood gates on activists’ judges who will do the bidding and carry our water wherever possible.
Health Care and Abortion
Abortion and Roe V Wade is under constant assault by the Christian Right. Recent wins in New York have further cemented a woman’s right to abortion as healthcare. Efforts to give protection to any unborn fetus continue. Funding of Planned Parenthood face heavy assault across the nation.
Let us at every turn fight the rhetoric which provides the graphic evidence of what occurs during late term abortion. We believe a fetus is not a child and cannot be afforded the rights of a human until it is alive outside the womb.
We support a woman’s choice to terminate her pregnancy for any reason through any means necessary. We also desire to version of the world would make cost of health care painful. This pain will usher in the desire on the part of our citizens to force a government led solution, single payer and universal healthcare for all.
We Democrats stand in solidarity with Planned Parenthood
It wouldn’t be right to trash the Democrat reaction to President Trump without revisiting the purpose of this podcast. My hope is to get you off the couch, along with your friends and family go to the polls and vote. When people who believe as these people do are known, we owe it to our nation to share and prevent them from ever taking office. We need integrity, morality, sincerity, honesty and selfless service. What a concept. People who act on Biblical beliefs are more likely to exhibit these traits than are not Christians.
Biggest Embarrassments of the State of the Union
Bernie Sanders: for slouching in his seat the whole night, looking on with anger as Socialism is banned from our future.
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez: for standing on occasion with her hands crossed, working hard to ignore the good news, looking sour for most of the speech and mumbling along the way.
Nancy Pelosi: for having that sucking on a pickle look (not my own description but appropriate nonetheless). For controlling her crazy base with orders of when to stand, when to site, when to clap and when to cheer (or jeer).
Last week, I asked the question “Would you be interested in movie reviews, both Christian and Secular, in a Conservative Christian perspective.” The feedback was mixed. My interpretation, the data suggest you would be well served with a brief, paragraph sized comment with a simple review and recommendation. My scale will be a 1 to 5.
Wish I hadn’t
Wouldn’t see again
Take it or Leave it
Would see it again
Want to own it
Question of the week: How involved should Christianity be in a party platform?
Getting back to what I originally planned, In the next episode I’ll introduce Frank Stephens and his comments to Congress regarding abortion. I’ll introduce the known Democrat party candidates for 2020; continue the discussion of Kasich/Beagle, supposed Pro-Life organizations and the failure of Ohio’s Heartbeat Bill and present evidence for the left’s continue assault on Christian through education.
Today on the Conservative Christian Movement podcast, I’ll discuss President Trump ordained by God. I’ll talk about the mid-term election, the 116th Congress which is in full and talk about why DC is so blue. I’ll unpack the abortion drama spreading across the nation like wildfire and continue calling out the insanity that is liberalism in America
You are listening to CCM Podcast Episode 15, Suffer the Little Ones. This episode was recorded Feb 1, 2019.
Thank you all for being here. I am Jeff your host. .
Notes for this episode can be found at CCMPodcast.com. Let’s get started…
The verse of the day:
Romans 13:1 (NIV) Courtesy of Bible Gateway
“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
You and I are subject to governing authorities. There is no question about that. The gulf between conservative and liberal thought these days is wider than ever. In Episode 5 (Link below) I talked about the meat grinder called politics. It’s a wonder any Christian would want to serve in such a bitter world.
President Trump is Ordained by God
These days Liberals are so far left, blinded by desire to rid this nation of a president, no individual outside their circle can say nothing correctly. If the president says the sky is blue, they would disagree. Take what Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an interview with CBN.
“I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that He wanted Donald Trump to become president.”
USA Today wasted no time with the rhetoric train, bashing her for such a wild statement. From our verse of the day, God puts people in places of authority for His purposes, not ours. We don’t always understand why but we have to live with it. When Obama won his first term, I was saddened. Then his second win, I might as well have been devastated. But as I have mentioned before, losses in politics are opportunities to play the game differently.
Yes, I agree with Sarah’s assessment. President Trump is the one God chose in 2016. After all, the alternative was worse than Obama (my opinion). USA Today calls out Christians for running to this verse when it serves a purpose. I’m using it because for one thing, the Word of God is infallible, it is alive today as yesterday and we gain from it what God wants us to when we read it. You might get a different message from the word than I do from the same scripture. It’s amazing that way.
Obama’s presidency was an unmitigated disaster for our standing in the world; not exactly a failure in the minds of the left. President Trump has been willing to un-ring those bells.
Is the president perfect? No… Nor was David who was clearly chosen by God to lead Israel at a young age. Are we giving him a pass on his transgressions? Maybe, but he is president and deserves at least a measure of respect for it. Obama got that much in spite of “knowing” he was flat wrong.
What we can see here, is no matter what you say, if you say it with a Christian tone, you’ll get crucified for it. But why? Better yet, what can YOU do about it?
Charisma News actually put some dimensions around all the things (and people) liberals hate. It’s a substantial list but you can’t add everything they hate to a list. It just wouldn’t be feasible. The Constitution, Freedom, Israel, Guns and Wealth can help you to see why when liberals are in power, gridlock ensues. You and I were witness to this while watching any Senate hearing for nominees to any office, especially with Brett Kavanaugh. Isn’t it curious how that just died when it was over? Incidentally, many of the democrats on the committee responsible for the tearing down of a good man will be running for president. No wonder the grand standing.
Now, let’s be honest about what is really going on in DC. The GET TRUMP train is moving full steam ahead. This means the president can not under any circumstances be left to win anything, especially if the democrats hand him the win. That just isn’t to be allowed. Robert Mueller is the main tool in the Get Trump play. He is all they have. And guess what. Mueller got his start during a Republican led House and Senate by what is commonly known as the Deep State, largely in place due to Obama appointments and career federal employees. After two plus years– NOTHING, GOOSE EGG. DC can’t keep secrets. If he had something, we would know it. Net, it appears Russia really was a democratic play against the president. Plenty of smoke and fire in the Hillary camp, but again, Mueller’s job isn’t justice, it is Trump.
If I had to make a prediction, we have just under two years until the presidential election of 2020. Mueller’s job will be to drag this out until October 2020, when he can cause the most damage to the president in an “October surprise.” Frankly if you want to win, you may as well simply stop watching all the news outlets. Or at a minimum stop listening to a story after the first two sentences.
Blue DC
You and I can thank ourselves for the 116th Congress. Well, not literally but figuratively. With Nancy Pelosi now in the Speaker of the House position it says something about the decay of American society. Pew Research conducts polling to see how you and I are thinking and if we’re in good company or not. Sadly, we Christians are falling behind.
The House of Representatives flipped substantially versus the 115th Congress. Representative Nadler (D, NY) tweeted these words on election night 2018.
“Tonight, the American people have demanded accountability from their government and sent a clear message of what they want from Congress. @realDonaldTrump may not like it, but he and his administration will be held accountable to our laws and to the American people.”
What you might take away from this, if applying common sense is this. We will not get accountability, we will not have a rule of law and we will not have a congress working for the people. When democrats are in charge, these are not the real priorities. Quite the opposite will happen, but more to the point, the cries for impeachment will ring louder in the name of supposed accountability.
How did we get here? Pew data shed light on the trends leaving us in dire straights. In almost every religion category, 2018 saw an increase in Democrat vote versus Republican. It is almost back to 2006 when we saw the same trend. What does that mean? Christians, Catholics and others are voting Democrat in spite of the party’s constant abuse of Biblical voters. Mind blowing if you ask me.
How can a hard core liberal use their faith to support the decline in morality? Well, you certainly can’t quote the Bible to do it. You just claim Jesus would want it that way, or the church needs to care for people. Just turn it into a feeling, not facts. This is what happens with the border wall discussion (that’s immoral), abortion (poor woman/non-human parasite), Wealth (Evil rich people/class warfare). In every case, liberals simply demonize something or someone to justify their position. For some reason, people of faith are slowly diverging from Biblical teaching to feel good religion which says do what you want.
I talked previously (Speak the Truth Episode 12) of how the church has slowly grown soft on social issues. We now have full churches fully supporting LGBTQ lifestyles. How do they justify it? Well, if you are against the lifestyle, you’re labeled a homophobe. It seems to me, we as Christians in a (Yes) Christian Nation, should love the sinner, not the sin. God destroyed cities over deviant behavior, as I recall, homosexual sins among others.
It’s not for me or you to judge the sin. It is also not up to us to justify the sin. Let’s agree to call it what it is. SIN. I’m not perfect. What I hope for is a discerning spirit to know when I am doing something sinful, to be convicted of it by the Holy Spirit, and seek forgiveness and strength to overcome. This is true also no matter the sin. What we can’t allow is our response to sin to be a sign of anger or hatred to the sinner.
I had occasion to hear of comments on Facebook by some in our Church at the time regarding Adam Lambert, who was singing on American Idol. The comments were about his being gay and how he can’t be allowed to win because of it. When that thinking was challenged, the roof caved in on us. For this reason, people do not feel comfortable in many churches. The holier than thou attitude was alive and well. And still is. This example of legalistic Christianity leads to a poor opinion of religion and leads many to go to the dark side. This type of person may be compared to the Sadducees and Pharisees in Jesus day.
Abortion Circus
And now for the topic of abortion. I stated this is my hot button issue in Episode 7-Know Your Hot Button Issue. In that podcast episode I talked about why Abortion is my number one issue; one that a politician who support abortion is unqualified for office.
On the heals perhaps one of the most barbaric votes in our past, New York has seen fit to allow the killing of a baby even during delivery. I want to be clear. This is not a religious issue. It’s really not a political issue. For me it is a moral issue. The reason for such action in New York is the fear Roe V. Wade will be overturned.
New York has been proactive to the extreme to protect what they call health care at the expense of a viable human being. Though their actions have ignited the discussion of abortion and infanticide, New York is not alone. Christian Post reports seven states now allow late-term abortions. These include Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont, as well as Washington, D.C. Planned Parenthood considers abortion a basic human right, unlike a viable baby who in their mind has no basic human rights, even during birth. Again, you must suspend a sense of reality and dehumanize a child in order to allow someone to tear a baby apart with scissors, cause death and dismember it for the same of health care.
We as a nation join others in barbaric acts. The list is lacking in distinction. We find ourselves in the company of China, North Korea, Canada, Singapore and the Netherlands in performing late term abortions, or murder on otherwise viable babies. Politifact pointed this out simply to say US Senators were wrong in their assessment of the global pervasiveness of abortion. Many more than those quoted do it. That is not a fact to be proud of.
Then there is Virginia, in which bills are being considered to make the law very much similar to New York if not more barbaric. According to Governor Northam, in an interview, made this statement: “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.” Would care to guess what that means? You could potentially deliver a baby, allow it to die, resuscitate it, then decide to kill it.
In Ohio the Heartbeat Bill was passed by both the house and senate, only to be vetoed by the lying Governor Kasich. I say lying because he always promised a law banning abortion. This was his chance to make good on it. Both the house and senate voted on an overide. The State House passed but the Senate failed by a narrow margine, largely on the flipped vote of one Senator. Then State Senator Bill Beagle changed his vote to a know, thus killing the bill. This ensuring Kasich rode into the sunset without an override and allow possibly millions of babies to die. Kasich will likely run for President again and Bill Beagle now has a nice job in the Treasurer’s office; coincidence? If you are of like mind with me, please remember pro-abortion equals unqualified for office. This in spite of some restrictions which were put in place during Kasich’s tenure as governor.
Liberal Rants and Such
Representative Omar shows her anti-Jewish bent.
Senator Kamala Harris renewed her support for Medicare for All. No need to worry about keeping your doctor or your current insurance to which she could not care less.
Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Omar suggests taxing the Rich at 70-90% to pay for trillions in new spending; jump on the Bernie Sanders crazy train.
It’s gonna be a really fun two years in the 116th Congress.
Question of the Week:
Would you find value in the addition of Movie Reviews of Christian movies from a Christian Conservative perspective?
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 014- Why We Must Fight!
You are listening to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, episode 14, “Why We Must Fight”. This episode is being recorded August 3rd, 2018. Show notes can be found at CCMPodcast.com.
Welcome to the show! Today I will wrap up the Rules for Radicals with Rule # 13. I’ll talk through the myriad of news consuming our world today and talk a bit about where this show is headed and I’ll talk a bit about why it’s been so long since I’ve published an episode I’ll give you a glimpse of the emails I receive on a daily basis which confirms why we must fight. I’ll also give you the two questions to ask your elected officials which can determine their fitness for serving in our government. To end the episode, I’ll give more evidence of meltdowns from liberal minded people.
Without any further delay, let’s get right to it.
The verse of the Day
Deuteronomy 20:1 New International Version (NIV)
Going to War
When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.
The title of this episode, “Why We Must Fight” is a bit of a misnomer. I don’t speak of fighting in the physical sense, fist fights and violence. No, I suggest, and have done so in previous emails, we as Christians must be willing to fight the emotional, spiritual and electional (if that’s even a word), battles. We must understand the rules of engagement. And, as we have studied over the past several episodes, use the rules for radicals for the good of our Nation— for Christian Values.
As we read in Deuteronomy 20:1, God delivers us when we need him to. We must just expect deliverance. We must be empowered in our minds to fight with God on our side. We must not be afraid of those we oppose. Some are Republicans, Most are Democrats, Socialists, Communists, and others. More an more, these groups suggest violence to silence God’s people. The USA will suffer if Christians are unwilling or unable to fight the fight being handed to us.
Rule number 13 from Saul Alinsky…
The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. This is the final rule as written by Alinsky. In case you’ve lived under a rock, this one is the easiest of all to detect. You can recognize it based on the number of people pointing to a specific target. Take President Trump for instance. Just in the past week we’ve heard so much about separating immigrant children, here illegally from their illegal alien parents. I won’t pretend to know what is really going on with this story, but one thing is clear. The president is the target, the press freezes him by talking about it non-stop, they attack him personally, claiming he has no heart and has feelings for humans. What you must fully understand, the rules for radicals were not based on logic, not based on fighting for the Constitution, or specifically to help we Americans be the light of the world. Not, quite the opposite is true. These were to bring about the liberal agenda. These days that means promotion of abortion, gay marriage, equal (special) rights for LGBTQ and whatever next letter happens to fit the agenda, and open borders.
The thirteenth rule can be used when a specific person stands in the way of winning on any of thee issues. Now, with Justice Kennedy retiring, the rhetoric (and use of this rule) are ratcheted up. Interestingly as I’ll share later, Liberals know they will not win against the President and his pick of a new Supreme Court Justice. What they will do, is use the situation for fund raising. This will fund candidates in November in hopes of winning back control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate; an entirely possible thing to do, considering how militant liberals are these days. I almost can’t wait to start seeing television attack ads in October. Just wait for it, they’ll be full of Alinsky’s rule # 13. I’ll cover all these ads when the time comes. That should be fun.
Geez, it’s been a while…
Yes, my last episode was in April… I admit it; times were strange for me. I had some travel to take care of, family issues came up and in general, life happened! In the midst of this, I had grown tired of a 15 minute episode taking five or six hours to edit. I found that editing took so long not just because I am a perfectionist and hater of my own voice, but among other things, deleting the funny noises I was making when I talk took forever. The frustration took my on a journey to see if I could increase the content and duration of the shows, with a corresponding significant decrease in editing. After some practice and some equipment additions, we’ll see how long this one takes. Not to mention I still think I sound like a used car salesman… Not that I dislike people of that profession. Some of them are actually honest…
Where is this show headed?
The environment created by the left in this nation is at a critical point. Civility is gone. No longer are they trying to win in Congress or at the ballot box. There is a sudden lack of class among not only liberal left but some in the Republican Party. I find it difficult to to know what I should be saying about our political system today. I seem to also find it hard to draw a line in the sand, one which I will not cross. Politicians are fair game, but I also just want to share what Christian Voters need to know. What is important for this outreach is to ensure Christians are registered to vote, educated on the issues and actually vote in every election. In the primary in May 2018, voter turnout in my county was 62% of Democrat and 45% of Republicans actually voted! I suspect most Christians are aligned more to the Republican party. This tells me with relative certainty, many Christians probably did not vote in the primary.
Getting back to the topic, I will pay particular attention to voter turnout, education and callout of crazy candidates wherever they may be found. We as Christians need to carry the mantle of those who wrote our Constitution and make sure Christianity and the Constitution remain compatible. Perhaps the single biggest reason for this podcast to exist is to shape the courts in the future. We need to ensure our Constitution is interpreted strictly. The days of judging constitutionality of laws based on feeling should end. Too often judges rule based on what their opinions happen to be, not what our founding fathers intended. So far, President Trump seems to be picking good judges at the Supreme Court and in the federal courts.
Will Christianity be around in the future?
There is tremendous pressure on the church today. In some ways the pressure comes from within as the Catholic Church “unofficially” softens on Abortion and inclusivity of “alternative lifestyles”. Then if those who find Christianity to be hateful can’t find a way to ignore the sin of the active gay lifestyle, people will just have their own church and stop calling it sin.
As more people find fun in sin, easier life in sin and fewer parent telling our youth less about God and more about fun, the choice to live in sin comes naturally. As in everything in the Bible, people read it and each gain different insight from it. Those who want to justify sin can get that out of it without really trying. The disconnect between those of us who are socially conservative and others who are socially liberal is growing. This adds pressure to church leadership in most faiths to adapt to the new culture, something not Biblical yet real.
On the other side of the coin, Christians are labeled in the press as haters, bashed in movies by Hollywood’s so-called elites and those at the highest levels of government worldwide. Between this fast and the ever growing pressure to bend to the alternatives to traditional marriage and family planning, Christianity may well become a minority and further at risk of retribution in the future.
From the Newsbag…
I have always subscribed to crazy mailing lists. Sometimes I am caught and deleted but I simply resubscribe. What this allows me to do is know what liberals are saying, mostly about our Government and to some extent, about Christianity.
First, it seems President Obama has come out of his shell. I received a message from DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee). In this email it suggested Obama was begging for money. The title of the email was “President Obama: “I’m Asking” for donations between $1 and $250 and them some. The reason was to fight to protect his “legacy”. Still to this day, I think his legacy should be a sinking ship, never to be seen again. What is interesting about this email, and something very common among these types of solicitations is this, it claims for each $1 donated, the donation will be quadrupled. Knowing there are campaign finance laws, it is not clear who is paying the “Quadruple.” It only says “Grassroots Democrats” have stepped up. I’d bet George Sorros is part of that plan.
Next was an email which appears to be directly from President Obama. This on the heels of Justice Kennedy announcing his retirement. In the email he stated:
I’m asking you to make a choice. I’m asking you to reject cynicism, reject complacency, reject sitting this one out.
I’m asking you to choose something better — to come together and get everybody you know involved, and engaged, and registered, and out to vote for a Democratic House that will fight for our progress and fight for this country.
I know which I choose. And I’m counting you to be there right alongside me this fall, just like you’ve always been when I needed you most.
Elections matter. There shouldn’t be any question left about that. And this country needs all of us now. So I’m asking: Can I count on $1 now to elect strong Democrats? If he hadn’t used the word “Democrats” I might have been on board; well not really… True enough that elections matter. You and I are living this with the soon to be made choice for the supreme court.
Yes, elections matter. Can you imagine who would be on the supreme court had Hillary won? Given we are all sinners and fall short of God’s Glory, there is no perfect person in government. President Trump is not perfect. That is not judgmental on my part. I’m not perfect. Given a choice between the two, Trump over Clinton was a no-brainer. The fact a liberal will criticize Christians for making this choice is ludicrous. I’m happy to be a so-called deplorable. Obama asks us to come together. I’m not certain, but hearing Maxine Waters suggest kicking administration staff out of restaurants or confronting them in public isn’t exactly coming together. Peter Fonda suggesting kidnapping conservatives children somehow doesn’t fit that request either.
Finally, this from Google…
Apparently, in Canada, their supreme court ruled against the Bible. It is now considered incompatible for a school to suggest a person live by Christian Standards, including not partaking of homosexual activities. The case was brought about by LGBT activists specifically to fight the requirement to refrain from such activities of the LGBT lifestyle, commonly understood to be incompatible with Christian Living. Perhaps Canada really needs more Christians to participate in the legal system. Dare to dream… by the way, any Canadian listeners? I’d love to hear from you…
Two Questions…
When you are faced with a decision regarding voting for or against a candidate, there are two questions which will drive a decision. Before I say what these two questions are, a bit of back story is in order. In episode 7 I talked about knowing your hot button issues. For me, the issue which sets politicians apart is abortion. This topic is my hot button issue. And now for the two questions. First, Are you Pro Life or Pro Choice. Second, what have you done in your work to support this position. If a person states they are pro choice, game over. The only give I can accept is for the life of mom. It is rare when this is the case, yet it is tossed around like it happens 99% of the time. On the second question, a person who is staunchly pro-life yet has done nothing to support pro-life legislation is also a no go. The only chance a person in this situation has, is to be on the ballot against someone even worse. The 2016 election fell into this category. Hillary is clearly pro choice, while President Trump claims to be pro-life, yet has not been in office, thus cannot show historical record of working toward legislation supporting his position.
Again, the primary election cycle is when these question mean more, however it can still be a driver for making a choice as it was in 2016. Now for the reality check. I would not ignore the fact there are so many other issues that matter. However, the moral character of a person can be measured based on how they answer these two questions. Again, the primary is the best chance to use these questions to for your own opinion.
Meltdown of the Week…
One of my favorites is Maxine Waters. She’s the ultimate poster child for why you should be active in politics (if you’re a Christian Conservative that is). Apparently she just doesn’t believe in “Make America Great Again”.
Thank you again for listening…
Show notes and links are available at www.CCMPodcast.com. If you have questions, I’d be happy to hear them. Comments are also welcome. If you leave a voicemail linked on my contact page at www.CCMPodcast.com/contact, I’ll likely use it in the next episode.
Speaking of the next episode, I’ll talk about the confirmation process in government, Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments. I’ll get specific on all the anti abortion bills which have been passed or state governments are too chicken to pass them (hear me Ohio?), I’ll find more e’mails of note and as always, more meltdowns and other topics of note.
Question of the week. If I were to summarize key messages of the day via Periscope or Youtube, would you listen? Answer via email at hello@ccmpodcast.com.
Until next time, be blessed and vote the bible.
Episode Links..
Conservative Christian Movement Website www.CCMPodcast.com
Welcome to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast. I am Jeff, your host. This is episode 013; “Rise Through Knowledge”. Today on the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s Twelfth rule for Radicals, We’ll wrap up the conversation about the Johnson Amendment. I’ll finish with more examples of liberal melt downs and talk Serenity in Politics, if there is such a thing. Show Notes for this episode can be found at CCMPodcast.com. Thank you for the opportunity to teach you. Remember to Subscribe, Rate and Review the show. Again, thank you for joining in, lets go!
The verse of the day:
Matthew 7:7 New International Version (NIB)
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
As we move into the US mid-term election cycle, you may notice many television ads, mailers in your mailbox and facebook this and that, all in the name of electing a specific candidate. It is funny how every candidate is miraculously conservative on the Republican side and Liberal on the Democratic side. The truth, however, most are less conservative— hence more liberal than they claim.
There are tools out there to shed light on candidates claims to represent your interests. For many years now we have all heard “I will fight abortion, protect guns ownership, protect property rights, cut taxes and bring sanity to our fiscal house.” One candidate after another, whether local, state or federal has claimed on or more of these promises. The fact is abortion remains, gun ownership is at an all-time threat, property rights are dwindling and our fiscal house, well is crumbling. I wrote a blog post in 2012 about the deficit. At the time the National Debt was $16 Trillion. To be clear a $1 Trillion has 9 zeroes behind it, yes 9! Today, the National Debt is $21 Trillion. Since the US House of Representatives controls the budget, who is to blame? Yes, Republicans, especially those of Moderate and Liberal bent. Not one candidate for the House of Representatives stood in front of a camera and stated openly, I will ensure we reach $21 Trillion by 2018.
Did you ask the question at the time “who should you vote for?” Did you even vote in any of the elections since 2012? Stats say about 3 in 4 Christians voted. Unfortunately, as we have discovered in the last episode, #12 not all Christians are truly conservative. I believe whole heartedly, a Conservative Christian is compatible with Biblical Principles. Those who claim Jesus was a Liberal, are simply wrong. You as an individual should be willing to help with your personal wealth, not ask the government to do it.
I just recently created a video, seen at facebook.com/ccmpodcast, which shared iVoterGuide.com, a tool to root out those not-so-conservative politicians who would fail to live up to the conservative Christian values they run on. This video, specifically created by request in Ohio is linked below. iVoterGuide.com works across America by simply entering your zip code.
The key is to seek wisdom to sort out the fodder by seeking wisdom. As Matthew 7:7 states, “seek and you will find.”
The Twelfth Rule for Radicals—
The Twelfth Rule is: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. You cannot risk being trapped by the enemy in his sudden agreement with your demand and saying “You’re right — we don’t know what to do about this issue. Now you tell us.”
Bill Clinton, back in the day denied allegations of sordid acts with Monica Lewinsky. He denied it to the end with a finger wagging in the camera. The denial unraveled as more an more evidence proved the contrary. You could call the investigation an attack on Clinton himself. He was impeached not for the act itself, but the lying about it. We see through history, the underlying investigation brings charges not of what was done, but the lies about what was done.
These are the situations for which Alinsky speaks. The denial of what is believed to be true gives volumes of information with which to attack a person. President Clinton was one of the most recent presidents to find this to be the case. President Trump lives daily with liberals seeking his head on a pike (uh, impeachment hearing). We have President Nixon before both. Again, the denial proved empowering to the attack itself.
But, what if they had simply admitted the charges were true? Perhaps they would have been found guilty of the charges, but the attacks would have no where to go. Otherwise, when an attack runs its course and the underlying attacks are known to be fruitless, we see it morph into something else. I’ve talked about Russia and collusion before. This is what has happened there. Now we hear porn stars and the president (which I find too coincidental by the way…)
This narrative works in your personal world as well. If you mess up, either with your spouse or at work, if you own it, fess up and learn from it, there is much to learn about what happened. The best outcome is, the issue will simply die on the vine, likely to never be heard of again.
And now, part 3– The Johnson Amendment
Over the past two episodes I talked about the origin of the Johnson Amendment, calling it payback for 501 (c)3 efforts to keep him out of the Senate (Episode 11). I detailed how simply the verbiage was in the tax law and what it was meant to do to charitable organizations, including churches. I also talked about those who would leave the amendment in place last week (in Episode 12). This week I’ll talk about what efforts to repeal it look like and why it seems fruitless.
I find it interesting how our political process can be so finicky. When President Obama created DACA with the stroke of a pen, no judges stood up and called it unconstitutional. Obama himself claimed he had no authority to issue DACA, yet he did it with an executive order. Enter President Trump who used an executive order to cancel it. Activist judges stopped him stating the anti-DACA EO was unconstitutional. Are you shaking your head yet? How could something unconstitutional be kept in place by an activist judge? Well, you have no conservatives willing to stand up to them. After all, if a tree falls in the forest and no-one is around, does it make noise?
Back to the Johnson Amendment. We talked about how few words were included in the amendment. President Trump made a promise to Christians during his campaign to rid the country of the impact to churches. The language to repeal it was written into House Budget. The senate version did not include the language. At the conclusion of the reconciliation process, a process used to ensure two separate versions become one agreed to by both, the final verbiage did not include the new language. You can thank in part the gutless senate along with the Senate Parliamentarian for striking this promise. But, President Trump signed the budget leaving the amendment in place.
Where does this leave churches? In the same place. However, the First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech for Christians. This podcast is my effort to ensure I utilize my rights to influence Christians. Each Christian can use social media (so long as social platforms play nice with conservative language and not block it. Any church can hold voter registration drives, suggest the attendees who have reached voting age to ensure they vote. In any case, they should always talk about issues from a biblical perspective. The voter must still determine the truth about candidates in spite what they hear, see and read. This too is something pastors must press into the minds of their members. This is all free and requires no official documents.
Christians simply must care about what is happening and why our nation is at a tipping point. My fear is our parents, either Christian or not stood by and allowed prayer to be removed from schools, abortion on demand, marriage beyond a man and a woman, etc. I hear too many people who don’t vote, especially Christians, simply because they feel their vote does not count. The truth is, their non vote counts exactly the same for a liberal. It is a vote for their side which is always activated to beat Christian principles at the ballot box. To borrow from a friend running for State Representative, “Bad things happen when good people do nothing.” So true! Good people began doing nothing in the 1960’s in my humble opinion.
The Liberal News of the week…
A local Planned Parenthood office, tied to the national champion for infanticide has called for disney to introduce an abortion princess via Twitter, in an effort to both boost revenue and strengthen public support for the killing of unborn children. Though they came to their senses right away and took the post down, the evidence remains. Snopes, a long known liberal organization confirms the rumor is true, good thing as they couldn’t rid the world of the evidence. It seems some times, the evidence speaks for itself and you just can’t wish it away.
It seems if you are a right-thinking conservative Christian, you are not capable of performing many jobs, including Secretary of State. During Mike Pompeo’s senate confirmation hearings last week, Cory Booker reflected on Pompeo’s prior statements regarding the perversion of Homosexuality. The statement by Pompeo came after the Supreme Court institutionalized same sex marriage in Kansas, and effectively across the nation (time will tell). Of course anyone holding a Biblical view on the issue is a hate monger and not suitable for the job and the Washington Post is all too happy to push that narrative. We talked bout fake news and polling in Episode 3- Honesty Please. This story used both with a claim 60% of Americans support Same Sex Marriage. Gallup seems to confirm this result whether I agree or not with it.
Serenity—
I’ve always loved the serenity prayer. Although it is not really referenced in the Bible, it sure is helpful, especially when I consider the current state of the nation as it relates to Christianity. The Serenity Prayer, credited to Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) is short and sweet. I pay attention to only the first portion for efficiency sake.
–God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
As part of my goals to help Christians be empowered to change the world, it behooves us all to know the difference in what we can and cannot change, courage to change what we can, and to discern early the difference in the two.
If you happen to think getting involved is not important, you need to look no further than Turkey, and the pastor imprisoned for his faith. His trial begins today. I think American Pastor Andrew Brunson likely disagrees with you. Take the first step and sign the ACLJ petition to free Pastor Brunson.
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments about this week’s show.
Hiatus–
I’ll be taking a brief hiatus to reconfigure this podcast. Look for additional episodes starting in May. In the meantime, if you appreciate the topics discussed in this episode, there is a handy contact page on my website at www.ccmpodcast.com/contact. There are very easy single click ways to tell me how great this show is. If you don’t like it, I’d sure love to know why. After my hiatus, I’m happy to include positive feedback in the format. I happen to know lots of people listen to the show but few take the time to rate and review it. I’ve made it as easy as e’mailing hello@ccmpodcast.com.
The question of the week—
Do you vote? Let me know. I’ll publish the results in a future episode.
Welcome to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast episode 012 titled “Speak the Truth”. Today on the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s Eleventh rule for Radicals, We’ll continue talking about Johnson Amendment in depth. I’ll finish with more examples of liberal melt downs. Show Notes for this episode can be found at CCMPodcast.com. Thank you for joining in, without any more Introductions, let’s get started.
The verse of the day:
Proverbs 11:3 Living Bible (TLB)
A good man is guided by his honesty; the evil man is destroyed by his dishonesty.
In our political system we elect (hopefully) human beings, all of which according to the word are sinful beings. I am sinful, you are sinful; we ALL are sinful and have fallen short of the glory of God. That means none of us are particularly worthy of God’s grace, though because He loves us, we are set free of our sins. We are also limited in our capacity to live like Jesus lived.
Aside from good works, our greatest sign of a moral compass is our honesty. As we hire our representatives at the local, state and federal levels, more data exists, giving permanent evidence as to how well they have lived up to their word. In that respect those who fall short can legitimately be fired, while those who have the fortitude to live up to their words and work hard for you, can be blessed with re-election.
Making the choice to give the job and take it away is a personal task each of us, especially Christians, must take– and take seriously if we are to every fight back from the brink of destruction for which turning away from God has led us.
The Eleventh Rule for Radicals—
The eleventh rule is: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside;
The eleventh rule follows closely behind the tenth. Sustainment of attacks is required. But what is it that Alinsky means by “Counterside?” Let’s presume for a moment, any attack by an Alinsky follower is made up mostly of half-truths. The activists publicly state something about company X and continue making the statements over time. The company can react in one of a few ways. They could simply ignore it. They could make a simple statement in defense. They could react with multiple statements.
If reacting with multiple statements, by perhaps multiple people, there is a risk of contradictory statements or even a perceived admission of truth to the claim. Therein lies the counterside. Now the activist can act shocked at the admission, offer a “told you so” and then ratchet the pressure. The counterside now is a changing defense which simply proves guilt in the mind of people.
We see this tactic frequently in hopes of causing an outburst and the hope for increased negative tone on behalf of our president. I’ve talked about Russia in prior episodes. We have a full year of denials on behalf of the administration and a full year of accusations from Democrats and a possible presidential interview with the special counsel, Robert Mueller (which I fully expect to be a gotcha circus). If I had a phone line direct to the white house, I’d say don’t do it… Fodder WILL follow.
And now, part 2– The Johnson Amendment
We talked last week about Lyndon B. Johnson nearly losing a primary election to a candidate supported by a 501 c (3) organization. This was the impetus to the change in the tax code.
As a result, upon winning the election, Johnson saw fit to ensure this doesn’t happen again. What can we learn from this? If a law is used to beat a liberal, change the law. Any time we hear the Johnson Amendment in the news, it is reflective of conservatives and yes, Pastors in the pulpit. You see, the Bible is in direct conflict of Liberal policies, in most cases. Maybe I should say it in reverse, that Liberal Policies are in direct conflict with the Bible. That’s probably the right way to say it. It comes down to just a few issues really– abortion, homosexual marriage and public celebrations of Christianity.
Can you as a Christian, sitting in a church on Sunday imagine your pastor endorsing a candidate who supports abortion on demand, homosexual marriage and does not celebrate the birth of Jesus or His resurrection? Not likely, thought there are some churches who would do exactly that (more on that later).
Johnson knew churches were a primary recipient of the benefits of 501 c (3) status, and thus could shut them down through legislatively threatening that benefit. It worked for years and continues to keep the pulpit, for the most part out of the public policy grudge match. Another result of this is a failure to press Christians in the church to get out and vote.
With the current administration vowing to eliminate the Johnson amendment, many in the press are downplaying the effects of the amendment. They claim the church has many rights to influence the congregation. Perhaps that is true, however the threats placed on them by the amendment, changes the behavior of the church, forcing them to hold short of even mentioning voting, candidates– especially by name, Biblical issues or supporting such positions with scripture. This all in the name of protecting the benefit of tax free existence, something the liberals consider a free ride on the government.
There are in my opinion, two reasons liberals would keep the amendment in place.
To ensure Conservative Christians stay out of politics as much as possible.
To ensure donations to candidates are not funneled through tax deductible charities such as churches.
To be clear, it is not just liberal democrats who want the amendment to remain in place. Liberal Republicans do too. The one reason is any Christian voting according to Biblical teachings would be less likely to support those of liberal nature than conservative politicians.
If you believe I am wrong on that, you need to look no farther than the list of people who support keeping the amendment in place. I found a letter (linked below) of pastors who petitioned the government to leave it in place. Low and behold what I found were churches with gay pastors and churches who support the LGBTQ agenda. Additionally, Atheist organizations, liberal Democrats and an organization known as Americans United for a Separation of Church and State. The harm as they state is this:
Many signers explained why this issue was important to them. For example:
“When we throw our endorsements behind particular candidates and parties, we have crossed an important line which carries us beyond serving as the spokespeople for the moral and ethical teachings of our faiths and into the role of partisan political propagandists.” – Rabbi Henry Karp of Iowa
“It was news to me that my freedom over the last forty-five years in the same pulpit had been limited. Not true. Nothing will destroy the witness of a local congregation [more] than to invite unbridled partisan politics.” – the Rev. Gary Burton of Alabama
“Political groups will use compliant churches as PAC funnels, allowing unlimited political donations and making them tax-deductible.” – Imam Rashid Patch of California
Rabbi Henry Karp is, according to his blog anti-Trump and a reform Jew. Reform Jews are committed to the full participation of gays and lesbians in synagogue life as well as society at large. I tend to agree with Rev. Burton, however, the church absolutely must get involved in partisan politics if only to define the problem, and push a solution to the congregation. Otherwise, I find no disagreement with the Reverend. As for Imam Rashid Patch, I did not dig deep enough to look into his heritage, however his facebook page is clearly anti-Trump and seems a bit anti-Semitic.
What we see here is those who are against repeal do not have Christian thinking in mind, well mostly. Others just think it works well enough as it is without repealing it.
I feel it should be repealed, however I do not want church money to go to candidates. I think on that front, most of us agree. I do however want Pastors to be free to call out politicians who do not share Christian values.
In the meantime, if you are of Christian values and want to prepare for the coming primary elections in each state and the general election in November, check out iVoterGuide.com. Simply enter your zip code and it will give you lots of details on local and state races. It will do the homework for you based on a candidate’s history and score them on the conservative-liberal scale.
The Liberal Rants of the week…
I have two for you this week. First we have former Secretary of State Madelein Albright. When I was younger, I would refer to her as Madeleine Halfbright, you know in my youthful exuberant days. But it seems our “democracy” not our Republic is at risk with President Trump at the helm. It seems Miss Albright believes true dictators around the world point to his actions as justifying their own dictatorial actions. She calls the president a fascist, in her words as a government controlled by one party. Well, by her definition, we had that at the beginning of President Obama’s administration and we seemed to survive that fascism.
Hey Madeleine, calling the president a racist hatemongering is not truthful and it is not helpful. I’m just sayin’.
Then we have MSNBC (Yes, it still exists, though few watch it) and their merry band of analysts. It seems their lifelong dream is about to come true. With the hope of finally seeing the president questioned by Mueller, the liberal dream of seeing the president in prison is at hand according to MSNBC.
As I mentioned earlier in this episode, speaking with Mueller in any form is a recipe for disaster. It plays into the hands of liberal activists at every turn. The slighted embellishment or omission would be a trip to the grand jury, or the federal equivalent where Mueller is concerned. Seeing this outcome would serve the 40% of Americans who actually wanted Clinton to win.
I had less than zero respect for anything President Obama had to say, for good reason, but seeing him in prison never once crossed my mind. As I’ve said a few times in my show, politics is a board game, you win some and you lose some, but you should always play fair.
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments about this week’s show.
Coming in the next episode, I’ll cover Alinsky’s Twelfth rule for radicals and finish looking into the Johnson Amendment. As always, I’ll find more examples of liberal melt downs. Hopefully, YOU will share your reaction to my show.
My question for you today is this: Are you concerned about Christian Voter turnout? Let me know.
Leave a message on Speak Pipe, voicemail or email. Each method isfound on my contact page, ccmpodcast.com/contact, I’ll likely share it on the show.
CCM 011- Easter’s Lessons in Politics
Apr 03, 2018
Call CCM Podcast @ 615-669-930
Welcome to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast episode 011 titled “Easter’s Lessons in Politics”.
Today on the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s Tenth rule for Radicals, We’ll see what political lessons we can take from the Easter Story and I’ll begin talking about Johnson Amendment in depth. I’ll find more examples of liberal melt downs. Show Notes for this episode can be found at CCMPodcast.com. Thank you for joining in, without any more Introductions, let’s get started.
The verse of the day: Proverbs 12:17 New International Version (NIV)
“An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies.”
I can’t tell you how many people have asked me about the Johnson Amendment. It’s an important topic, one which demands exacting research. It is also quite powerful. It is a greatly divisive topic. Proverbs 12:17 tells us there are witnesses who tell truth and those who tell lies. Often, lies are shaded with partial truth, or nuggets of lies scattered among facts. Only YOU can define what is factually accurate and what is not. My aim with this podcast is not to cast out my opinion, but to help YOU to know how to sort it out and come to your own conclusion.
The Tenth Rule for Radicals—
The tenth rule: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.
Just watch the news. How long did we hear about Russia? Email Server? The stained dress? How about then Presidential Candidate Trump’s tax returns. Each received an absolute bombardment of coverage in the main stream media– on both sides of the aisle. The difference may only be in the fury of news coverage between left and right, when it comes to the ideology of the candidates of which the news is speaking. Fox News, and their Fair and Balanced claim is largely ceremonial, though they do hit President Trump frequently, mostly over tweets.
The key here is that we as Christians do not need to resort to low blows or innuendo. There are enough facts to share which make your point. In the days of 24 hour news, there are not enough facts to fill the time. As a result, you end up with, as I’ve mentioned before, beyond a couple of sentences worth of news, you get innuendo, opinion and sometimes made up points– sometimes lies.
Rarely in the news cycle do you find a story full of only documented facts. I spoke of this in my episode “Honesty Please” available at www.ccmpodcast.com. Your job as a Christian voter is to recognize how much of a news story is actually true and how much of it goes beyond sourced information considered factual. When candidates are being pummeled with such stories, you can almost certainly bet there is money behind the attacks.
Political Lessons from the Easter Story.
Nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus walked this earth, the Son of God, accepted by some, rejected by others. He did good works for those in need, spoke of God and our soon to be home in Heaven. There is much more to the story than that, but for the purposes of this episode, I’ll focus on the politics involved with the crucifixion and put aside the Biblical plan set in motion upon the birth of Jesus and Bethlehem.
Jesus was tried by the government officials, in this case Pilate, the Prefect (or Governor) over Judaea, under powers granted by Emperor Tiberius . The “Religious people”, some who felt threatened by what Jesus represented– a loss of power in the church wanted Jesus crucified.
Weak politicians will often say one thing and do another. Some may use Christianity as a business card to garner support from you, the Christian voter. I happen to take a person at his word but hold them accountable when their promises outweigh their results. Granted there are many factors in the measure of effectiveness.
Take Pilate for example. He ultimately found Jesus guiltless but proved to be weak in the face of criticism by religious leader. He also feared the Jewish leaders who claimed allowing Jesus to be free would cause a revolt among the Jewish people, thus also showing Pilate’s inability to govern.
Those same Jewish leaders, in spite of knowing of the power Jesus had, failed to believe he was the Son of God. That translated into fears their power– and their status with the prefect would be ended.
When Pilate acknowledged his right to free a prisoner for Passover, he offered the public a choice. Barabbas, a known murder, criminal and thief or Jesus would be set free. This was a weak leader’s cop out. We see this today with spending bills, growing debts and inability to live up to campaign promises. It’s easy to vote yes, simply because someone else does too. Like Pilate, congress washes their hands of good decision making- taking the easy way out.
Thanks to my pastor for speaking of this today. The public which was polled about who to spare, Barabbas or Jesus, chose the criminal over the known innocent Jesus. Must like today when the sinful nature of man is commonly portrayed in Hollywood film, television, magazines– and politics. Sin is often praised while Christianity shunned (Think Joy Behar, spoken of in the last episode.)
If you see weakness in your representative, call him out for it. Vote him out if you must. We are in desperate need of right-thinking, gutsy people who will fight for what is right– Biblical and Constitutional.
The Johnson Amendment–
What is it? I’ll say first and foremost, I am not a tax attorney and do not play one on the podcast. I’m just reading plain English.
Lyndon B. Johnson, back in 1953 was a candidate for Senator from Texas locked in a very tight primary race on the Democratic Party ticket. Johnson won his primary challenge by only 87 votes, ultimately winning the seat in the general election. What he knew at the time, was 501 c (3) organizations were funding his opponent in the primary.
True to the style of a politician with personal influence, unashamed to push his influence, he offered an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code. In two sentence changes, he forever changed the face of political influence from the pulpit. First, He replaced “Individuals, and” with “Individual” making it specific to all including a single person. Second, he changed “influence legislations,” with Influence legislations, and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.” That was the big change. Net, a 501 c (3) organization, of which most churches are included, cannot influence legislation or work on behalf of any candidate for public office. I should add the limits of this appear to be with respect to endorsements and funding of candidates. The penalty for doing such activities is loss of tax exempt status for the individual or organizations charged with doing either.
My personal opinion, is church funds should not go to any candidate for any reason. However, calling a candidate out as pro-choice in a sermon is free speech. Again that is my opinion and I would defend that at all cost. I’ve found very little evidence where any pastor or church has been charged as such and lost their exempt status. With President Trump in office this is unlikely to occur. In the years President Obama served, no substantive examples have been shown as examples of punishment for infractions of this amendment. However, many applications for 501 c (3) status, particularly with conservative groups such as the Tea Party were artificially rejected, questioned or otherwise scrutinized in the Obama era. This too is unlikely to occur with President Trump’s administration.
The Liberal Rant of the week…
Perhaps this one may ruffle some feathers. I’ll bring up what may be considered an “untouchable” with the Pope. He was quoted as saying “Sinners who die without achieving eternal salvation “are not punished, there is not hell; there is the disappearance of sinful souls.”
Being Easter weekend, it seems fitting to call out the pope who is very liberal in his tendencies. But as for sinful souls vanishing, I offer the following:
Revelation 21:8 (New International Version)–
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Take it for what it’s worth. That doesn’t sound much like sinful souls simply vanishing. Now I’m not Catholic by any stretch, but that talk sounds a lot like the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were complicit in Jesus dying on the cross. Fortunately, Jesus, not the Pope is the way, the truth and the life. I’d rather believe in hell and be wrong, than to not believe in it and be wrong.
The only problem with this paragraph, is it is not clear how truthful the report was, or how public the Pope intended his statement to be. The Vatican scrambled to clean up the mess, created as a result of Scalfari, an atheist (and friend of the Pope) writing of an answer to his question. The question at hand was “where do bad souls go?” We may never know how he really answered the question, but the Pope is generally known to be a non-traditional Pope. Perhaps not out of the question, but again, we may never know for sure. I’ll trust what I believe.
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments about this week’s show.
Coming in the next episode, I’ll cover Alinsky’s Eleventh rule for radicals and continue looking into the Johnson Amendment. As always, I’ll find more examples of liberal melt downs. Hopefully, YOU will share your reaction to my show. By the way, if you leave a message on Speak Pipe which is found on my contact page, ccmpodcast.com/contact, I may just play it during the show…
Today on the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s Ninth rule for Radicals, I’ll talk about failed government programs and why it’s important to know about them. I I’ll find more examples of liberal melt downs. I’ll have some bonus content as well. Show Notes for this episode can be found at CCMPodcast.com. Thank you for joining in, let’s hit it.
The verse of the day: Jeremiah 5:21 New International Version (NIV)
Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
This podcast is about opening eyes and ears so that you may Be—Know—Do. People who know the real story are less likely to be swindled, mislead or taken to the proverbial woodshed… I spoke in my podcast about how much of a news story is necessary. In general the first sentence is all you need to know. Perhaps the second sentence will give you a bit more detail. Beyond that, no matter the source, it seems you get into opinions, heresy and flat out lies. For that reason, I suggested the front page of the Wall Street Journal as you source for news. You get a couple of headlines and nothing more (at least until you click the link to the full story.)
Get involved! Share your ideas with your neighbors. It takes a community. If you share my vision, that of Christians getting more involved in the election process, fighting for the ideas of our forefathers, join my community. Like and share my facebook page at www.facebook.com/ccmpodcast
The Ninth Rule for Radicals—
The ninth rule: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
Nike said it best… Just Do It! Have you ever looked at a strange food and buckled under the fear of trying it? That’s me for most foods others eat. I never conquered that. Most hesitation in doing something— anything is rooted in some form of fear. This podcast for instance took two years of thinking, Not Good Enough, or after I get that new cable, or a new “fill in the blank.” Then analysis paralysis takes over. After you know it, something really not so scary in reality has not been done and most likely, the fear of it has grown.
Alinsky was considered by many to be a very smart man. I could argue he had little common sense or even decency when it came to respect for others and the property they own. But, this rule is accurate no matter which side of the isle you happen to stand on.
What is the threat of which he speaks? In my opinion he is speaking partially of the fear his follower felt over employing his tactics to hurt others. He mentions in his book the risk of people referring to a pastor as a racist so and so but softening when they may learn the pastor has some redeeming qualities. That activist may not be so ready to continue slinging mud at the pastor.
If you haven’t picked up on it yet, the world we live in, at least the liberal side of it is living these rules daily, pushed by the left wing media, sometimes Fox News, Facebook, Twitter, and so on. For his rules to function as intended, all these pieces must function without fear, keep up the pressure and ignore the good news while pressing hard to only drive the bad news into YOUR ears. Keep that in mind when you hear the news.
How bad can a government be anyway?
I’d say the quick answer to this is “Really Bad.” Not to knock our government by any stretch, I am simply sitting there is a purpose for government at the federal level, and then there are boundaries which probably shouldn’t be crossed. A simple internet search for “Failed Government Programs” will show you all you need to know. It will also clearly define the boundaries of federal versus state competencies.
Some of my favorite examples came in the Obama era (not specifically calling him out, but he did hire some real wing dingers for advisors).
Take “cash for clunkers” for example. The program was intended to accomplish three goals 1. To lessen our dependence on fossil fuels (and reduce carbon emissions) through more efficient cars (i.e. Smaller, more fuel efficient and Hybrids). 2. Pull in future vehicle purchases to current year sales. And 3. Boost US auto maker bottom lines and employment.
What really happened was typical Washington results. In the short term, car sales saw a bump upward. The $2.85 billion program succeeded in taking some old cars off the road. However, the beneficiaries of this cash giveaway were those who were searching for a new car anyway, not the lower income families who already drove the kind of cars at the center of the effort. This was due to financing being unavailable to those who couldn’t afford it. One could ask why they would borrow money anyway. Perhaps that was a win, keeping people who couldn’t afford payments from taking loans in the first place.
Additionally, to prevent fraud, the program required trade-ins to be scrapped, rather than resold. This took affordable cars off the market for the same families who could not use the program in the first place.
The auto industry in the United States had already been bailed out by the federal government, but the Cash for Clunkers was a second round of stimulus, or bail out, intended to further bolster US Automakers. Ultimately, very few replacement cars were purchased from US Companies. Foreign Automakers such as Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai took the lead and the cash. Perhaps Cash for Clunkers is the main reason we see so many Toyota Prius’ on the road today.
The jury is still out on the benefits to fuel economy and fossil fuel emissions in the US. Cars continue to become smaller, lighter and in my mind, less safe than ever before. Overall, the program has been credited as a serious money pit that fortunately had a beginning, a middle and end.
Then you had the cash for converters back in the transition from analog to digital TV. Upon switching to digital over the air services, old televisions without a converter box would cease to work. Enter our federal government to save the day. Congress allotted $1.3 billion for vouchers worth $40, in an effort to help offset the cost of converter boxes. The problem was, demand for the voucher nearly double the estimates. What’s worse, the supply of converters could not keep up with demand. Both vouchers and boxes were in short supply and ultimately the program died a gruesome death.
These were my favorite examples, but looking deeper and even worse were programs, as usual, intended to help citizens. Of those are the ever draining money loser, the US Postal Service, The ongoing death camp called the Veterans Administration and the broke and failing Social Security Administration.
To end on a really low note, I can’t leave out the US Department of Education. The idea of education is such an important one. Trusting our federal government to run it is the wrong action. I must say it is extremely fascinating to find a liberal magazine touting the negatives of a program, forever run by the liberals who read it. The Atlantic places the US school system performance in the 17th position for math and science.
The Liberal Rant of the week…
Joy Behar, says she is a Christian. As Christian’s we must take others at their word. However, words and actions speak volumes. It is easy to recognize when a person speaks out of both sides of his or her mouth. Miss Behar, one of the hosts of “The View” owned by Disney, was pretty harsh with her words toward Vice President Pence.
And I quote: “As bad as you think Trump is, you would be worried about Pence…everyone that is wishing for impeachment might want to reconsider their life,” she said in the clip. “I am Christian, I love Jesus, but he thinks Jesus tells him to say things.”
Her “Forced?” Apology: “I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone’s religious faith, and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said.”
Joy ultimately apologized for her comments both personally, but the underlying belief is persistent in the left. Congratulations! If your are a Christian who believes the Word of God is infallible, you are a fundamentalist. This in the mind of liberals is akin to having brain damage. What does that mean in the context of obtaining news in today’s world? It means the outlet feeding your information is jaded. If you are not willing to change your Biblical beliefs based on new social norms, then you are damaged as a person.
This is an example of prime tactics according to Saul Alinsky. The media is the mouthpiece, in.
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments about this weeks show.
Coming in the next episode, I’ll cover Alinsky’s Tenth rule for radicals. I’ll talk about How a single issue can guide your vote and why delve into the Johnson Amendment (and it’s a very interesting topic from what I already know. Every Christian should understand this issue. As always, I’ll find more examples of liberal melt downs. Hopefully, YOU will share your reaction to my show. By the way, if you leave a message on Speak Pipe which is found on my contact page, ccmpodcast.com/contact, I may just play it during the show…
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 009 Under Pressure
You are listening to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, Episode 009 Titled Under Pressure. I am Jeff Stipe, your host. This episode was Recorded March 17, 2018.
Today on the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s Eighth rule for Radicals, We’ll look at the number One in public policy and why it’s important. I’ll also discuss the merits or lack thereof for the use of Boycotts And of course, we can’t forget our favorite liberal rant. Show Notes for this episode can be found at CCMPodcast.com. Thank you for joining in, let’s get started.
The verse of the day: James 1:12 (NIV)—
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Since the dawn of Christianity, long before Jesus walked the Earth, those who do not believe in the Christian way of life have criticized those who do. The Jewish people, God’s people, have been and remain persecuted, endured the holocaust and even today are still surrounded by those who prefer their extinction rather than peace.
As we pass day by day, Christian are treated with more hostility than ever. Even beheaded by the so-called peace loving Islam. One cannot forget the image of Christians beheaded one after the other on a beach, or drowned, locked in a cage surrounded by cameras to catch the action from all angles.
Yet one think is certain, Christian persevere in spite of the trials we are all put through. What is certain, if you stand for God, someone will try to tear you down.
Get involved! Share your ideas with your neighbors. It takes a community. If you share my vision, that of Christians getting more involved in the election process, fighting for the ideas of our forefathers, join my community. Like and share my facebook page at www.facebook.com/ccmpodcast
.
What is One
Every CITIZEN regardless of race, creed, color, religion, wealth or any box you would want to put them into, should be treated the same by way of public policy.
There are some who would disagree with that for sure. If you look at our tax code, it is graduated. Wealthy people earning more money pay a higher percentage of the burden for our nation than do lower wage earners. This is not about simple wealth, but taxable income.
As a conservative, I see so often how one individual, we’ll say Class of people gets carveouts from one bill but hit like a hammer in others. Free programs given to one, but not available for others. Some get “means tested” by social security after years of paying into it. Success is often punished, while lack of success is often praised. Many times you can trace back the goodness to a beg for votes.
Thinking through the founding fathers intent, I doubt there was a thought of buying votes. Rather the goal was to treat everyone equal, slavery excluded, at least in the early days.
I talked last week about the 13th amendment to the US Constitution. The amendment was all of a paragraph long and could fit on a post card. Take a look at any law these days, and you may be hard pressed to read it. Often they are hundreds of pages. The law itself could be simple, but by the time you add legalese, carveouts for friends, benefits to companies, exemptions for voters and donors, amendments unrelated to the bill, etc., you’re far from a post card. You’re even farther away from a bill that makes sense.
I’d say the Flat Tax plan could be a postcard. If you have a job and earn income, perhaps 10 percent of your pay goes to the federal government. Not a penny more. If that’s not enough from the 200 Million workers, then our government needs a better budget, a balanced one. Stop funding research for crustaceans on treadmills maybe. But treat every worker the same.
A bill to control immigration could be a few pages. That would seem simple. Don’t cross the Rio Grande without permission, don’t stay here when your time is up. The law could be fairly clear. You go to jail if you are here without permission. Oh, and you won’t vote, you won’t drive a car, and won’t have a job. it’s not hard.
I’ll talk soon about how to read a bill if you must, or if you want to.
The Eighth Rule for Radicals—
The eighth rule: Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.
I couldn’t wait to get to this rule. It is perhaps the most employed rule of them all. Watch the news and simply watch how many ways a Republican is attacked with unsubstantiated innuendo. Is some of it real? Probably so. However, as I talked in episode 3, “ Honesty Please”, the use of un-named sources, un-verifiable, so-called facts and spliced video all in the name of making someone look bad is out of control.
It is on you the receiver of the reporting to look at credibility. This is not always easy to do. Often, reporting is very similar on CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC, such that it appears to be corroborated, when in fact it is just bad data replicated. Yes, we ALL need to be aware of bias in media, even on Fox News.
As the rule says, keep the pressure on using different tactics. President Trump is being attacked daily over Russia, over his supposed mental incapacity, over threats of impeachment, over excessive turnover in his administration, among so many other items. Do you really think he’s that bad? I don’t, although I could still see improvement if he would leave his phone alone and stop using Twitter without a second thought before hitting send.
How about them Boycotts…
Perhaps you heard about a few boycotts in the past. Recently Target, Starbucks, Chick-Fil-a and Hobby Lobby found themselves front and center of controversy, but for different reasons. Each were targets of Boycotts by consumers. Do these work?
I have to say with certainty, it depends. Better yet, I might add it may work in reverse if you are not careful. The key here is not so much the threat of taking business away, but letting free markets work as intended. Looking at share prices for publicly traded companies with active boycotts like Target and Starbucks, there is no correlation to threat versus hurt.
Target was hit with a boycott when they dove head first into the transgender bathroom issue. Starbucks jumped into the gun control and social engineering mix. Both may have seen slight impacts to their business, but no appreciable decline in shareholder value. Some shareholders may have sold their shares but clearly from share price perspective, the companies were hurt more from economic pressure than consumer pressure.
On the other hand, conservative companies seem to benefit more from Boycotts than do their Liber counterparts. They also tend to be privately held companies rather than public. Take Chick-Fil-a for instance. When the company refused to yield to homosexual agenda demands, the conservative Christian community supported the company with the single largest sales day in the companies history. Hobby Lobby stood up for their values by insisting they had the right, in the face of Obamacare to refuse contraception requirements. The company won the fight but threatened to shutter all its stores.
I would say additionally, perservering when under pressure is a sign of faith and leadership. The leadership team in any company has the right to take sides on an issue, but also has to expect backlash from one side or the other just as I mentioned of the baker in Colorado or the county clerk in Kentucky.
The free market approach seems to be the best approach when companies take the low road. If Christians are willing to stand together and spend their money in the economy in a way pleasing to God, the natural Boycott will be most effective.
The Liberal Rant of the week…
Looking to the Huffington Post for inspiration? You will most likely leave disappointed if you are conservative minded. Clearly the gap between the left and right is the largest it has ever been. Anand Giridharadas wrong in the Huffington post of Two Americas, a Woke one and a Great one. I suggest he got part of it right. His quote follows.
“Everyone is offended all the time, on both sides of the political divide. Taking offense is, in fact, one of the few things that brings us together. A Hollywood award show, a thermoplastic restroom sign, a visiting lecturer in a cardigan, a question about where one is from, a claim that black or blue or white or all lives matter — anything is fodder for the great American war of offense.”
What he leaves out of the argument is the difference in reaction between the left and the right. In General (and frankly in my experience), the reaction of a leftist to my point of view is slamming a door in my face, or calling me names. I know, I called them leftists… My reaction to their opinion is that of disbelief in the inability to think beyond feelings. Law should not be about what people feel, but what is right. No-one should care what Hollywood thinks bout an issue, a boy and a girl are exactly what God made them to be, nothing else. Public bathrooms are generally set to be one or the other when laid out to be shared by more than one. Crossing gender lines is not appropriate. What is wrong after all with claiming all lives matter?
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments about this weeks show.
Coming in the next episode, I’ll cover Alinsky’s ninth rule for radicals. I’ll talk about failed government programs and why it’s important to know about them. I’ll talk about researching potential laws, I’ll find more examples of liberal melt downs. Hopefully, YOU will share your reaction to my show. By the way, if you leave a message on Speak Pipe which is found on my contact page, ccmpodcast.com/contact, I may just play it during the show…
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 008 Make Your Mark
You are listening to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, Episode 008 Titled Make Your Mark. I am Jeff Stipe, your host. This episode was Recorded March 10, 2018.
Show Notes for this episode can be found at CCMPodcast.com. The link to this episode’s web page can also be found at Facebook.com/CCMPodcast. I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s seventh rule for Radicals, talk about the Grass Roots movement like this one, share some successes in the past and discuss how to contact your congressman. I’ll finish with the latest liberal Rant.
Welcome! Let’s jump right in…
The verse of the day: Hebrews 10:24 (NIV)—
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
One person can have a great idea. They can put their hands to work toward accomplishing task in support of that idea, but until others hear of it, believe in it and put their hands to it, those with the ideas will have little success in meaningful change.
Get involved! Share your ideas with your neighbors. It takes a community. If you share my vision, that of Christians getting more involved in the election process, fighting for the ideas of our forefathers, join my community. Like and share my facebook page at www.facebook.com/ccmpodcast .
ccmpodcast.com/contact.
The Seventh Rule for Radicals—
The seventh rule: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after which it becomes a ritualistic commitment, like going to church on Sunday mornings.
What do you think about this rule? My perspective
Agree, look at Iraq and Afghanistan, Vietnam conflict The word Militant is harsh. Anti-neighborly, not friendly Certainly not biblical Can you hear Jesus talking about being Militant? Certainly, battles that drag on become stale-Tea Party as an example It’s still here but seems to be lacking interest I hope to never become ritualistic about going to church, and always hope to remain charged to play this chess game called politics
Examples of Grass Roots—
Perhaps one of the most successful movements was the Tea Party Ushered in by disagreement with policies of Barack Obama Driven into existence by Rick Santelli, Feb 2009 over the mortgage relief act The ensuing tea party actions resulted in a 54 seat gain for Republicans in the House Sentate Republicans gained 10 seats but not a majority In some ways the movement halted most of Obama’s plans but not his executive orders
What is a grass roots movement?
Grassroots, type of movement or campaign that attempts to mobilize individuals to take some action to influence an outcome, often of a political nature. In practice, grassroots efforts typically come in two types: (1) efforts to mobilize individuals either to turn out to vote or to vote a certain way in an upcoming election and (2) efforts to mobilize individuals to contact a policymaker or other individual with influence to take a particular action (also called “outside lobbying”). The distinguishing features of grassroots movements or campaigns are that (1) they mobilize masses to participate in politics (such as contacting their legislator or turning out to vote) or some other cause and (2) they are conducted through narrow communications such as mail, e-mail, phone calls, or face-to-face visits rather than broadcast media such as television or radio.
Examples—
Azuza Street Revival Tea Party Thirteenth Amendment This Podcast
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments.
Coming in the next episode, I’ll cover Alinsky’s eighth rule for radicals. I’ll talk about the number one and why it’s important in public policy, I’ll talk about whether boycotts are effective or not, I’ll find more examples of liberal melt downs. Hopefully, YOU will share your reaction to my show. By the way, if you leave a message on Speak Pipe which is found on my contact page, ccmpodcast.com/contact, I may just play it during the show…
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 007 Know Your Hot Button Issues
You are listening to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, Episode 007 Titled Know Your Hot Button Issues. I am Jeff Stipe, your host. This episode was Recorded March 3, 2018 and represents the seventh full episode. This is an important milestone as most shows do not make it to the seventh episode.
Show Notes for this episode can be found at CCMPodcast.com or Facebook.com/CCMPodcast. I will also share some feedback. Today In this episode, I’l give details on Saul Alinsky’s sixth rule for Radicals, talk about the Federalist papers and begin prepping for the 2018 congressional election cycle. I’ll finish with the latest liberal Rant— a sign of hypocrisy as usual.
This episode may be a little longer so let’s get started…
The verse of the day: Romans 15:4—
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
There is something timeless about the writings of our founding fathers. When the Constitution was an uphill battle, not unlike today, three men began writing letters to the citizens of New York, explaining why it was so necessary to enact the Constitution. Much like the Bible instructs us on how we should love and respect each other, it also is intended to endure the ages, without changes, regardless of how WE feel should change. The Bible and the Constitution are written for our instruction and through that instruction we should find encouragement to always remain hopeful for a great nation.
Mailbag—
I received this feedback from a listener named Joe:
“I was searching for conservative Christian podcasts on iTunes tonight and stumbled upon yours. I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to listen to someone actually tell it like it is these days.”
God bless,
Joe
Though I do not do this for my own glory. It is wort the effort of doing it when I know people enjoy it, and find the response refreshing. Thank you again Joe for the feedback.
If you would like to share your experience, you can contact me through ccmpodcast.com/contact.
The Sixth Rule for Radicals—
Over the past four weeks I have been presenting Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. The first rule of making your enemy think you have more strength than you really do, and the second and third, remaining inside your skill zone while moving your opponent out of theirs. The fourth, “Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules— the Bible. Last week I covered the use of ridicule to rile your opponent. This week’s rule is is especially good for anyone taking action on their favorite issue.
The sixth rule is: A good tactic is one that your people enjoy. If your people are not having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.
Much like this podcast, a tactic is likely to succeed is one the tactician enjoys. If something feels like drudgery, you will not only dread doing it, you’re interest will fade, no one will join you and you will likely be very ineffective in making headway. When you focus on issues of importance to you, and you use tools that are available, you can identify politicians who do not share your views and vote accordingly.
I’ve picked on California before, simply because it’s pickable. This time however I will focus on the state in general and their federal representatives in the House and Senate. To do an analysis, let’s go to the Planned Parenthood Action Website. Let me be clear, the name of this organization is not factually correct. It is rather Planned Oops Disposal, directly relating to lack of planning.
In any case, back to the analysis. California shows the absolute polar nature of the abortion issue. The state has two senators and 53 representatives. all but two were either 100% voting for Planned Parenthood or 100% against it. For those against it, they received a nice Goose Egg, Zero %. Myself, with abortion being a hot button issue, if someone in my district received a 100% by Planned Parenthood, then I’m sure to be 100% against that candidate. I’ll take my energy and convince my neighbors to support someone less apt to support murdering children. You can see the data at the link below.
You see, just because a source of data shows support against your hot button issue, the inverse is still a good metric for supporting or ditching a candidate. Sometimes, those you disagree with hand you the data you need, helping you to know what to do and how to vote. You can then take that data, when the representative is talking about other issues, you can put that filter over your ears and parse the good and bad out of their words. I mentioned in my first episode how you can treat politics like a game of chess and turn your vote into many votes, legally I might add. That show is listed below as well if you want to check it out.
Crazy Liberals of the Week—
I’d like to think of conservatives as very consistent in application of logic. That’s not to say there is no room for “learning” something new and changing your mind, or just being weak on issues. There are plenty of Republicans who say one thing and do another along with all their Democratic colleagues.
Perhaps you recall the Colorado baker who refused to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding. Liberals were up in arms over such a choice claiming discrimination. The case was heard in the Supreme Court in December 2017. It would seem the court is split on the issue. Not surprisingly the split is likely among conservative and liberal lines. Justice Kennedy stated “”Tolerance is essential in a free society. Tolerance is most meaningful when it’s mutual,” Kennedy said during oral arguments that were scheduled for an hour but stretched to nearly an hour and a half. “It seems to me the state in its position has been neither tolerant nor respectful of Mr. Phillips’ religious beliefs.” The key word is “Tolerance.” As if any liberal has tolerance for any conservative.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky the news of Kim Davis, the county clerk who refused to give marriage licenses to same sex couples. She spent time in jail over the issue. Ms. Davis has filed to run again for her seat in the clerks office, as has a homosexual man who was denied a license. That will be a race to watch. Again, there is no tolerance for her opinion on the matter.
Would I make those choices, I’m not sure I would though I certainly agree they should have the right to make the choice. The cake maker should expect to endure a boycott of his business, and Ms. Davis could have expected to be fired for cause, even though I do not agree with that. Worst case, someone else could issue the certificates.
But now, the Hypocrisy… Just days ago, Dick’s sporting goods decided to stop selling “AR style rifles” in all of their stores and refuse sales to anyone under age 21. I concede they have that right. Liberal, anti-gun people cheered this as a great victory. On one hand, a person decided to say no on religious grounds and that’s not ok. On the other hand, a decision is made by a business on liberal logic grounds and that’s ok. It also wasn’t ok when Hobby Lobby decided to challenge Obamacare’s birth control requirement which also wasn’t ok according to liberals. Remember Miss USA 2009 and Carry Prejean, castigated for simply stating marriage is between one man and one woman? Even this week, Mike Huckabee came under attack as he served on the Country Music Association Board, a foundation to help kids get into music. This almost as soon as he was selected to the board. This simply due to his politics. The board claims they try to stay out of politics, hence launching the group right into the mix of politics. You can’t have it both ways. I could go on with the stories of so-called tolerance But hey, no problem with wishy washy thinking, right?
The last email I received from a liberal organization just today wants the NRA shut down by the government. The NRA is a private business and the US Government has little to say of its existence. The public will not leave the NRA just to placate liberals as the threat to the 2nd Amendment is real AND has nothing to do with the shootings which have impacted our nation for many years. The last thing I need to hear is hypocrisy. Perhaps Planned Parenthood should be forced out of business…
The Case for the US Constitution—
I mentioned in my last episode the basis for the Federalist. These were letters to the citizens of New York with the express purpose of convincing them to support ratification of the US Constitution. The Articles of Confederation which had been in place were not adequate to keep our nation strong and bound together as a complete union. In total there were 85 essays published in the New York Press under the pseudonym of “Publius.” They were written by three men, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison and represent one of the most complete historical records of the thinking behind the words in the US Constitution.
The introduction to the Federalist, more commonly referred to as the Federalist Papers was written from the perspective of those known as Federalists. The writers of the papers were federalists. Google defines the word as a person who advocates or supports a system of government in which several states unite under a central authority. The key need was a strong central government which could hold the nation together, with force if necessary, something which would prove necessary in the coming years. They also knew the government would simply reflect the morality of the nation, therefore would require constraints and checks on powers.
There were, as always those in government who were against a strong central government— the Anti-federalists. The Federalist Papers were also intended to counter their arguments for stronger states. They wanted to ensure these United States maintained a Republican form of union, not a Democracy, as is so often mis-stated. Some would argue the difference is negligible but I would argue the point. In our Republic, the authority rests in each of us as individuals. In a Democracy that power is in the whole. The Pledge of allegiance is made to the Republic, not the Democracy.
Perhaps most importantly, a process for amendments would be instituted and the protection of liberty and the individuals rights to own property was an important addition to the Constitution. Over the entirety of the Federalist Papers, the three men would describe in great detail the ideas incorporated in the Constitution, the benefits of its content and the risks of not adopting it. Although New York was not needed for ratification as the required number of colonies had already agreed, the documents still today provide a record of the original intent of the framers.
November is coming!
Even with the Constitution and its process of governing, November is coming. Your first best chance to select candidates who support your values is with the primary election. These elections are held well before November and on state specific dates. Most incumbents are not challenged within their own party (with the exception sometimes of true conservative Republicans). When the November General Election comes around, it is ok to vote for the lesser of two evils. You sometimes need to hold your nose and vote. Do not simply ignore the opportunity. That just gives someone on the opposite side an unchallenged vote…
One addition is the special election in Pennsylvania. Liberals are licking their chops at the opportunity to take a seat from Republicans, and as usual stick it to President trump
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments.
Coming in the next episode, I’ll cover Alinsky’s seventh rule for radicals. I’ll provide an overview of how to contact your representatives, share some prior wins on the part of grass roots movements and as always, I’ll find more examples of liberal melt downs. Hopefully, YOU will share your reaction to my show. By the way, if you leave a message on Speak Pipe which is found on my contact page, ccmpodcast.com/contact, I may just play it during the show…
Until next time, be blessed.
Links for this episode
Bible Verse—
http://www.sandersweb.net/bible/verse.php
Vote in 2018—
http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/374131-10-senate-democrats-are-up-for-re-election-in-trump-country
Democrats in Trouble—
http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/370773-these-democrats-will-have-a-hard-time-keeping-their-seats-in-2018
Ohio 2018—
Conservative Christian Podcast Episode 1 and making your vote count–
https://ccmpodcast.com/ccm001/
Planned Parenthood Action Congressional Scorecard—
https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/congressional-scorecard
Kim Davis—
http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-davis-election-country-clerk-david-ermold-2017-12
Colorado Wedding Cake—
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/05/gay-wedding-cake-supreme-court-280944
Miss USA 2009—
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2009/04/20/carrie-prejean-says-answer-to-gay-marriage-question-cost-her-miss-usa-crown.html
Hobby Lobby 2014—
https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/30/politics/scotus-obamacare-contraception/index.html
Dick’s Sporting Goods
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/02/news/companies/dicks-sporting-goods-tweet/index.html
Federalist Papers—
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1786-1800/the-federalist-papers/
Mike Huckabee—
https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/03/02/590236960/mike-huckabee-resigns-from-music-education-board-after-fierce-backlash-from-nash
CCM 006- Join or Die
Feb 25, 2018
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 006 Join or Die
Today I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s fifth rule for Radicals. I’ll talk about how the US Constitution came to be and how it almost didn’t. I’ll finish with the latest liberal Rant. I also want to touch on hot button issues and why YOU should pay attention to the news and Opposition Editorials.
You are listening to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, Episode 006 Titled Join or Die. I am Jeff Stipe, your host. This episode was Recorded February 24, 2018.
Show Notes can be found at CCMPodcast.com or Facebook.com/CCMPodcast.
Let’s jump right into it…
The verse of the day: Matthew 20:27—
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
As we prepare to consider the founding fathers, Matthew 20:27 is a reminder of how people who govern should first be servants to their people. Can you say with any certainty, you have witnessed such servant leadership in our government on a consistent basis?
Each of the 56 signers were servant leaders. Regardless of their politics, each risked their lives and that of their families. Though many later served as governors, senators, representatives and in other capacities, signing the Declaration of Independence could was a treasonous act. It took tremendous courage to believe in America to that level and actually put themselves out there for the cause. Dare to dream to see that in our leaders today.
The Fifth Rule for Radicals—
Over the past four weeks I have been presenting Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. The first rule of making your enemy think you have more strength than you really do, and the second and third, remaining inside your skill zone while moving your opponent out of theirs. The fourth, “Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules— the Bible. This week’s rule is perhaps the one of the top three most used rules of the lot. And I quote:
The fifth rule: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.
Crazy Liberals of the Week…
The meltdown over guns continues. The news this week is fixated on Florida High School students, their seeking “Change”
Recall last week the presentation of Alinsky’s Fourth Rule for Radical. The rule suggests forcing Christians to live by their moral code.
“For a group that regularly preaches about the “sanctity of marriage” and inveighs against the evils of divorce, it was a major political puzzle to me when evangelicals first backed the thrice-married, adulterous Trump over Hillary Clinton.” Juan Williams, February 2018
One could say Juan Williams, in spite of being the token liberal on Fox News is not anywhere near main stream. In fact, you might consider him the typical left wing media member, so prevalent in today’s fake news In retrospect I watched an interview with Pastor Robert Jeffress and Juan Williams. The pastor did a nice job easing the blow as he suggested “His Friend Juan” was just wrong. I agree. Juan’s OpEd is a glowing example of the Fifth Rule in action.
Now here is a teaching moment. There are two times in presidential politics you make a choice. The Primary and the General elections. In the case of the Republican party, there was a choice of up to 16 individuals to represent the Republican Party in the general election. But in the General Election, as Mr. Jeffress pointed out gave everyone a binary choice between two people. This is irrespective of how anyone voted in their primary. I suggest to you, the chance to get the 100% candidate comes in the primary. With a binary choice, you will not get 100 percent, a perfect candidate, if that person even exists. Jesus will never be on a ballot, but one could hope someone who serves him would be.
Yes, I hate to say it… BUT, the lesser of two evils is sometimes your best choice. Each time President Obama won the general election, data supports the fact that many Republican conservatives stayed home. It wasn’t necessarily Christian who didn’t vote. What is obvious however, is the rate of Christians voting is actually increasing. It is widely acknowledged the Christian voter propelled Donald Trump to beat Hillary, the clearly anti-Christian candidate. Thank you for that. Now imagine what we can do if this were always the case?
Join or Die—
Early America saw many challenges long before our forefathers to the British to bug off. The Declaration of Independence was one of the first and most public proclamation of freedom from the crown but came nearly a year after the Revolutionary War started. The shot hear round the world, on April 19, 1775 was a full year beforehand. The road to our current Constitution was a tough one to walk even after the war ended with a peace treaty and ultimately, George Washington resigning as commander of our forces in 1783
The first real attempt to create a system of government came before the war with the Albany Plan, drafted in 1754. It was the first time the independent states were at least considered possibly joined together as a group. The cartoon by Benjamin Franklin used as the artwork for this episode shows a segmented snake representing the states as individuals, but stating “Join or Die.” The fate of this plan was sealed as a result of it’s continued recognition of the crown as the governing body, something that would soon sour nearly everyone in the colonies.
During the war with the Articles of Confederation were adopted. The articles served as a type of legal agreement between the states in what would be considered a loosely binding agreement. It arguably failed to provide for common defense and was considered more problematic than successful. The founding fathers seemed to agree we needed another try at something permanent and began drafting the Constitution which was signed by congress in 1787. It then however had to be ratified by two thirds, or Nine of the states. They faced a headwind for sure. Rhode Island did not participate at all. The press didn’t want it and New York, a highly populated state, and liberal even then nearly didn’t want it either. The main concern of some, the anti-federalists was the lack of states power and the fear of a strong central government.
One of my favorite stories of grass roots activism (and something sure to come up in this podcast from time to time) is that of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay who began writing letters called the Federalist under an assumed name of Publius. These letters, a sort of early letter to the editor was aimed at the citizens, and legislators in New York who were needed to ensure the Constitution was ratified. The 85 letters give a look at what the founding fathers were thinking when the constitution was written. It also serves as an understanding of the intent of the constitution for legal considerations, though it is not thought to be law.
The US Constitution was ratified in 1788 after New Hampshire agreed to it. New York ratified it later that same year but was not necessary at New Hampshire was the ninth and final required state. Whether the Federalist papers were effective or not, they serve as a permanent record of the thought that went into our long-standing constitution and worthy to be consumed by those of us who just want to know. You can find all of these as audio books for free in podcast form. I highly recommend it. It further shows the potential one or three individuals can have when they engage their minds and use their hands. We should all try that.
To you, my audience–
I know, sitting in my studio I am speaking to YOU! Each week I remain prayerful, asking that not one word I speak fall to the ground, be untruthful or be hurtful. Knowing you are out there listening is important to me. This was my fifth episode and I’ve had valuable feedback which I take to heart. If you need something different, I’m all ears. My goal is to help you be active in politics and to vote.
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments.
Coming in the next episode, I’ll cover Alinsky’s sixth rule for radicals. I’ll provide an overview of how the Articles of Confederation. As always, I’ll find more examples of liberal melt down.
Until next time, be blessed.
Links for this episode:
Juan Williams Op Ed
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/374480-juan-williams-evangelicals-sell-their-souls-for-trump
Founding Fathers
http://www.freedomslight.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1268:independence-day-risks-of-our-founding-fathers&catid=113:2011-building-self-trust&Itemid=650
Juan Williams and Robert Jeffress on Fox News
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5738881526001/?#sp=show-clips
Pew Research on Christian Voting History
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/
The Albany Plan
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1750-1775/albany-plan
CCM005- The Meat Grinder of Politics
Feb 18, 2018
You are listening to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, Episode 005 Titled “The Meat Grinder of Politics.” This episode was Recorded February 17, 2018. Show Notes can be found at CCMPodcast.com or Facebook.com/CCMPodcast. Today I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s fourth rule for Radicals. I’ll talk about how ideas go through the meat grinder and may come out a law. I’ll finish with the latest liberal Rant.
Let’s jump right into it…
The verse of the day: Matthew 22:21—
They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.
Clearly in Biblical terms Government has a place among men (and women). We are expected to do our part to pay the cost of governing. There comes a time, however when the government taking of what is ours becomes excessive, spending exceeds what is necessary and exceeds the funds collected. The US Government has been a burden for some time now.
As I record this episode, it is the weekend of President’s Day. As the men, and someday perhaps women occupy the highest office in the land, it is important to remember one thing about this day every year. It is still President George Washington’s birthday. Let us not forget the man who became the first president, the man who delivered us a victory over British tyranny and helped us to become the nation we have become.
Making this political, there is no law which has even been passed by congress making this holiday anything but Washington’s birthday, yet the holiday is mis-named on calendars and even inside our government. Perhaps a law can be passed or better yet, an executive order making it known as George Washington’s Birthday “officially.”
Let’s jump right into it with the Fourth Rule for Radicals—
Over the past three weeks I have been presenting Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. The first rule of making your enemy think you have more strength than you really do, and the second and third, remaining inside your skill zone while moving your opponent out of theirs. This week’s rule makes it more important than ever you live by principles and stick to them.
* The fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.
Have you ever witnessed an example of hypocrisy? One way to lose face with anyone is to say one thing and do another. The principle of do as I say, not as I do rarely brings favor to anyone. This is the basis of Alinsky’s fourth rule for radicals. I’ll go out on a limb here and state what is obvious to me— maybe you as well. Most politicians crumble when faced with a choice to follow their principles or risk re-election. A group who want action contrary to Biblical principles can use the fourth rule against a weak politician, or one that buckles under pressure.
More than one law has begun based on a phone call from a voter, someone like you— a person with a concern for how something is happening or not happening. Our Declaration of Independence states clearly, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Isn’t it interesting how Blacks and Women continued to be treated differently for many years after we became a free nation? Why would that be? Certainly some people, lawmakers didn’t seem to read those words or take them to heart. It took a grass roots movement to bring about real change. Strong leaders within the government passed the laws and the president signed them. That is why YOU are important.
What we see today is gridlock in what makes lawmaking, just as it was back in the day, even worse. Two major parties exist. Both separated by ever increasing differences in philosophy, both hanging on, trying to save power. Most of those serving in Congress forget the foundation of our nation and the religious influence that was part of our young beginning. George Washington warned us not to lose track of morality and religion. Keep in mind there is a difference between making decisions with a moral compass based on religion and a theocracy. One yields freedom, the other steals it.
Our modern day sausage mill called government consists of several pieces. The point man is the president serving in the executive branch. A bicameral congress (The House of Representatives and the Senate) serving as legislative branch. And the Supreme Court as the Judicial Branch. Each serves a purpose to balance the powers of the others in theory.
The gridlock I spoke of rears its ugly head in so many ways. The president, regardless of the party is almost always embroiled in a bottle of wits at every turn, either because the majority party doesn’t like him or because he is just wrong. President Trump is stuck in the Russia problem not because there has been one shred of evidence against him, but because Democrats (or liberals) want to keep him off balance (recall the rules for radicals?) They will not give up on Russia ties because it keeps the Republican side of the government on the defensive and off balance.
Then the two party system is embodied in what seems to be a three tiered systems. Liberal Republicans, Liberal Democrats and Conservative Republicans. I’ll talk about the conservatives in another episode, but you can identify these people by who is criticizing them. If a Republican is tearing down a Republican, you can bet its a liberal-conservative fight. All this infighting is causing the gridlock. Can you guess what is going on in May and November this year? !00% of the house of representatives will be re-elected or thrown out this year. Yes, this alone is the basis for all that is happening politically for the next thee to nine months. Both parties want a majority in both the House and Senate. I believe the Democrats want it more. You’ll see the rules for radicals employed more and more as television ads are starting to play in April. They’ll be dirty ads you can be sure. Each year it seems record spending occurs. He with the most money to blow wins in many cases.
Laws are made in the legislative branch. The process can be simple, but can also be messy. Jimmy Stewart starred in a movie called “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” The movie set in 1939 shows a young scout master, picked to replace a recently deceased Senator. The plot shows what is ugly in politics, the lies, cheating, and power brokering which clearly occurs. I highly recommend you check it out. Laws are initiated mostly in the House of Representatives, agreed to by the Senate and signed by the president. When one bill is passed and the other chamber passes the same bill with differences, a conference works to align the two bills into one agreeable to both. At that point it goes to the president. He can sign it or veto it. Vetoed bills can be voted on again to override the veto. Remember “I’m just a bill”, the Saturday morning cartoon? They never thought about the politics we see today when that cartoon was created.
Incidentally, Obamacare was a bill passed by both chambers in different forms. What did not occur was the reconciliation process to make the bill one form agreeable to both chambers. The House of Representatives did not vote on the new version and simply “Deemed it Passed.” Technically not legal, but if no-one really objects, then no harm-no fowl.
Enter the judicial branch. The Judiciary, which includes the Supreme Court and all its subsidiary courts and the Justice Department, jumps into the political mix. Ultimately the supreme court is charged with upholding the US Constitution as are all branches of government. What has been happening these days is legislating from the bench and judge shopping by political foes. Any court case requires legal standing in order to be heard. That means you have been “injured” legally speaking. If you as a citizen want to get a law or executive order shut down by a court, just find a judge who is against it and a reason someone in his jurisdiction is harmed. They’ll stay the law or the order. it’s that simple even if wrong.
If you didn’t follow this mess, it comes as no surprise why. It really is akin to putting a bunch of ingredients into a blender and making sausage. If you watch the news for five minutes, you can see why government is ineffective. I’ll talk in future why the government is ineffective and needs to be limited in scope.
Crazy Liberals of the Week…
This has been a terrible week in our nation with the horrific shooting in a Florida high school. There have been so many of these events in the past and it’s very distressful to so many and countless people. It also serves as a launchpad for liberal rhetoric about guns.
All I will say about that is this; if you think another law to control guns will control guns and crazy people who use them to kill others, you’re crazy and clueless. With each senseless event the words “meaningful gun legislation” are spoken. We have enough gun laws. After all, killing someone is generally not a legal action, especially when pre-meditated. You could round up every AR-15 you can find, threaten to behead anyone caught with one, and flatly ban outright possession of a firearm and you will not impact violence in any way. Maybe it won’t happen at gun point, maybe it will.
Our nation turned for the worse a generation ago when my parents and likely yours decided to sit idly by and watch God be taken out of our schools, evicted from our homes, and be mocked in public by those who would rather continue living the 70s flower child movement or the hate the soldier movement after the Vietnam conflict.
No, this week is not about a specific person who stood up in the light of prominence. It’s more about the mentality that says the government is the only institution that can solve your problem for you. When you prepare to vote in a primary or general election, take one thought with you. Does a candidate think you are best suited to decide your life or do they thin the government is? Had the government not taken God our of our lives, perhaps we would not be facing the gravity of psychotic event generally caused by hatred, hopelessness and psychosis which I consider a symptom of liberalism itself.
Special request from me to you!
I know sitting in my studio I am speaking to YOU! Each week I remain prayerful, asking that not one word I speak fall to the ground, be untruthful or be hurtful. Knowing you are out there listening is important to me. This was my fifth episode and I’ve had valuable feedback which I take to heart. If you need something different, I’m all ears. My goal is to help you be active in politics and to vote.
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments.
Coming in the next episode, I’ll cover Alinsky’s fifth rule for radicals. I’ll provide an overview of how the Constitution came to be and how it almost wasn’t to be. As always, I’ll find more examples of liberal melt down.
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 004 California Dreamin’
You are listening to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, Episode 004 Titled California Dreamin’ This episode was Recorded February 11, 2018. Show Notes can be found at CCMPodcast.com or Facebook.com/CCMPodcast. Today I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s third rule for Radicals, Talk about the craziness of California politics, and the latest Liberal Rant.
Let’s jump right into it…
The verse of the day: Isaiah 52:7—
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvations, who says to Zion, “your God reigns.”
Based on Isaiah, it would be nice to have more good news to share, but liberalism is broad. And it is always attacking Christianity. I will soon be giving lessons on being a better, more engaged Christian and more effective. More to come on that.
Let’s jump right into it with the Third Rule for Radicals—
Over the past two weeks we covered the first rule of making your enemy think you have more strength than you really do, and the second, remaining inside your skill zone. It is fitting to note the third rule is focused inside the organization.
The third rule is: Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
Saul Alinsky knew one thing for sure, you’re fighting a losing battle if you are not in a position of strength. Liberal activists have also learned this rule and learned to use it efficiently. In fact, looking back at last weeks episode where I talked about the second rule which is all about the activist and his/her team. The third rule is all about the adversary and keeping them off balance— or on the defensive. In some ways President Trump needs to stop looking like he’s on the offensive all the time. Have you ever had a task to do and just felt the skills required were above your head? This is a very uncomfortable place for most people. It changes how you think, react, and definitely affects your confidence level.
Knowing this is likely true, Alinsky recommends the activist be within his skill level while pushing the adversary outside his or her skill levels. Why? You make mistakes when under pressure and outside your zone. This creates that artificial power we have already discussed. They may make inflammatory statements, ask questions of very detailed and disagreeable nature or even name call— much like a bully. Again this is simply to keep you off balance.
What shall we do to push this tactic back? Stick to biblical facts, don’t back down, and certainly don’t step beyond your skill level. Remain calm and know God’s word is true and correct. With God on your side, who can be against you.
It is sad how today, the Republican Party backs away from social issues such as abortion, marriage defined as between one and and one woman, and Christianity in general. The Republican Party simply will not touch it. The main issue I had with the Tea Party Movement was it’s straying away from social issues. Without focus on social issues, we will continue to be fractured. In fact, we are more divided than ever today.
One party however which does not usually back down, especially on issues of a liberal nature, is the Democratic Party.
California Dreamin’
if you consume news from any outlet considered more conservative, or certainly middle of the road, California comes up frequently. If a stupid law has been passed anywhere, there is a better than average chance it was in California, hence the title of this podcast, California Dreamin’.
Though California is not listed as the state with the most debt, it is certainly high on the list. It is fortunate the state has includes profile tech companies, and a very high tax base to pay for their idiocy. But to what can we identify as the source of so many laws which to a conservative’s way of thinking, make no sense.
I can remember long ago, hearing Governor Brown referred to as Governor Moonbeam. It was so long ago, in my youthful 1970s, when I first hear of him. It just wan’t clear to me why he earned the title or if it was rightly applied to him. Now that the Governor has been selected again, it is crystal clear. There is no crazy law too crazy for him or his state government.
Thanks for Breitbart for doing he legwork on this one (linked below). What they found when looking for the “stupidest” (their word, not mine) laws which took effect January 1, 2017 were short of amazing for lack of a better description. Even better, there were 898 new laws to cope with. But, as most should know, the US has something called the Constitution. It calls out responsibilities of Federal Government and State Government takes responsibility for everything else. The last I heard, states including California can not pass laws simply to overcome the US Constitution. Enter California Liberalism.
Apparently, the state feels it is above the Constitution— Sovereign. Among the new laws is the Proposition 63 aims to curb gun violence by systematically making it prohibitively difficult if not impossible to purchase a firearm, or ammunition in California. It’s a back door nullification of the 2nd Amendment. As we all know, the way to stop a criminal with a gun is with just more laws. The jury is still out as to the effect of this law, but liberals tout it as a success.
California just had to jump in on the bathroom argument with AB 1732-The Single Use Bathroom Law. This law simply required all public single use bathrooms be labeled with signs indicating they are “All Gender”. I’m scratching my head on this one. I know, it’s only a buck.
Bathrooms and methane gas clearly go together Breitbart refers to SB 1383 as “Controlling Cow Flatulance”. Not entirely untrue or unfair as a title. In the bill, livestock owners have an obligation to clean up manure in order to prevent climate change. it’s true.
We can’t forget the children however. California, thru SB 1322 has seen fit to allow children to be prostitutes. As Isaac Newton proved, every action has an equal but opposite reaction. The law prohibits law enforcement from arresting children for prostitution, either in action or attempted, thus legalizing it. Is something really illegal if you don’t enforce the law?
Not to be outdone, California need not rely on elected officials to write laws. A college students can do so. UC Berkeley students have penned a new law offering abortion on demand, on campus. The law is claimed to be life changing but provided only convenient abortions on campus as an example.
Laws in California seem to be crazy in every way. Yet, California cannot prevent homelessness. According to “not so conservative” LA Times, one in five residents of California are poor. In fact record spending has not improved the situation. It has actually made it worse. Now put your shocked face on. California spends more money than any state in the union and is unable to solve the problems. Clearly money isn’t always the answer.
Crazy Liberal of the Week…
Surprise, we stay on the trail in California (or Washington, DC). Our super liberal of the week is once again Nancy Pelosi, the house minority leader. There really is something about California… Maybe Christians in California, or San Francisco specifically should begin waking up and participating in our political process.
In any case, Ms Pelosi took to the house floor this week in what I’ll call an 8-hour incoherent ramble. Her goal was to obtain a vote on DACA, something only House Speaker Paul Ryan can schedule. She promised to block votes on the budget, yes shutting the government down until her demands were met. Even other Democrats were put off by the antics. Maybe there is some hope in Washington after all.
During her 8-hour marathon, she read letter after letter from illegal immigrants on how their lives would be dismantled without a fix in place. I have no doubt they make good points. Many are successful people in their own right despite their parents crossing the border, living here illegally. To be clear they are not citizens.
The number of people as quoted by President Trump is likely near 1.8 million. That’s a lot of people to just pardon of their crimes. Even though it will be quite good for them personally, and even better with 1.8 million new Democratic voters. However, if the shear number of people matters in an argument, I could likely find a mass of people who would perhaps, take a candy bar from a store at the same time, take a neighbor’s newspaper (as if we’d read it anyway, or best yet, go rob a bank. After all if so man people are desperate enough to commit the same crime, there must be a good reason to “forget” the infraction. At least Liberal Logic would say.
I also appreciate when liberal minded, anti-Christian people quote the Bible to back up their quasi-point. In her dialogue she quoted Luke Chapter 10 regarding the Good Samaritan. One could look at this Biblical reference and know the situation is not the same as it was back then. Using it to justify giving citizenship to illegal immigrants is a bit of a stretch. Yes, the story in Luke showed compassion. Compassion and ignoring law breaking are not the same and can’t be. Back in the day, the journey from Jerusalem to Jericho was about 18 miles, yes a difficult walk and as referenced, quite dangerous at least some of the time. No where did the Bible claim anyone who made that walk was breaking the law— a major distinction.
Special Thank You!
Thank you to Dean for the feedback. Dean mentioned some additional details regarding polling and LGBT polls of surprise to me. It seems there are times when Rape Victims in prison are conveniently considered LGBT when it serves the interests of pollsters.
Coming in the next episode, I’ll cover Alinsky’s fourth rule for radicals, provide an overview of Congress and its way a Bill becomes a Law, hopefully in more detail than the cartoon I watched as a youngster.
Join the discussion at CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments.
Until next time, be blessed.
Links for this episode:
Stupid California Laws
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/12/29/top-10-stupidest-new-laws-california-2017/
Student Written Abortion Law
http://www.dailycal.org/2018/01/25/uc-berkeley-students-pen-bill-requiring-ca-public-colleges-provide-medical-abortion-services/
Contraception— Life Changing?
http://www.refinery29.com/2018/01/188982/abortion-medication-on-campus-california-bill
California Homeless
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-jackson-california-poverty-20180114-story.html
Pelosi filibuster:
https://sojo.net/articles/nancy-pelosi-quotes-bible-filibuster-style-speech-dreamershttps://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2018/02/08/even-democrats-are-scoffing-at-pelosis-useless-filibuster-stunt-n2446345
CCM003- Honesty Please
Feb 04, 2018
Show notes for episode 003 of The Conservative Christian Movement Podcast
Today on the podcast, as promised I’ll cover Rule # 2 of Saul Alinsky’s rules for radicals. I’ll talk a little bit about journalism and hit up the craziness that is liberalism with the meltdown over President Trump’s State of the Union address.
Let’s jump right in…
The Second Rule
The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
Would you act as your own surgeon? Would you take the transmission out of your car, strip it and try to put it back together? Well, someone might, but the vast majority of us do not have that skill or courage. The Rules for Radicals exist for the sole purpose to push the left agenda forward. Fighting a battle with untrained, inexperienced soldiers never works. One can get caught behind the 8-ball– outmatched if this were the case.
As I mentioned some time ago, the Rules for Radicals were based on some fact but mostly on presumption of strength on the part of the adversary. The second rule specifically details how best to win a battle, by having the tools to fight.
If you were to negotiate the purchase of a car, having data in your mind about what it is really worth, what work has been completed on it, how it has been damaged, etc. puts you more equal to the salesman. The dealership is not necessarily concerned with you getting a good deal. It is more about making the most margin on the sale of the car. Again, through the use of presumption. The more facts you present, the weaker the dealer’s position becomes.
In our Christian walk, where politics are concerned, this can be applied by understanding what is being told to you, understanding history, agendas at play and the reputation of those telling you what you are hearing. The more you know, the less likely you will be taken advantage of. Your strength in all situation is the knowledge you are able to use at any given point.
How about fake news?
No matter who you watch for news, there is an agenda at play. This is true not only of CNN or MSNBC, it’s true of Fox News as well. Though the news sounds much different. You would think President Trump is a heartless psychopath, plain crazy or he is the Anti-Christ if you only listen to the mainstream media.
Journalism is defined as:
The activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast.
Liar is defined as:
A person who tells lies.
The problem we as a nation, and the world really is the advent of the 24-hour news cycle. There just isn’t that much news going on in the world. This creates the need to fill 24 hours of broadcasting with what used to be detailed in 30 minute news casts. What will we do over the remaining 23.5 hours? The so-called journalist fill the time with opinions, talk about the news, interview “experts”, of course selecting guests which agree with whoever is in charge of the network.
If networks would state the facts and forgo opinions, we would be so much better off. When I say fact, what exactly do I mean?
Going back to the dictionary again,
Fact means:
A thing that is indisputably the case.
You get this by hearing unedited audio, uncut video, memos and attributed statements. Generally when it comes from the horse’s mouth, it is most likely attributed to that person. Is it opinion or news? When it comes from a news-maker, (i.e. a Congressman, Senator, Governor, President, Councilman, Trustee, Fireman, Policeman, etc.) it’s generally attributed as news, until it becomes about someone else. Back to the trusty online dictionary.
Hearsay is:
Information received from other people that one cannot adequately substantiate; rumor.
To be a good consumer of news, you MUST become proficient at determining if you are hearing Facts or Hearsay. This is generally as easy as answering two questions.
Is this person directly involved in the subject of the report? Is this person stating fact of their own knowledge or opinion of someone else with knowledge?
Good journalism comes from the former, not the latter.
You must also consider the source. Let’s take for instance, reporting on President Trump. Love him or hate him, he is never 100 percent wrong. If your news source can never say anything good about him, it is not a viable news outlet. Granted, I am not a journalist. I do not play one on TV. I am simply a concerned individual who sees what is happening daily and decided to talk about it. Only you can decide how best to be informed.
What did Ben Franklin think about journalism?
He strongly believed a few things. 1. A free press is necessary to protect society from its government and ultimately Constitutional freedoms. 2. Press should be free to make a profit for its work. 3. The press should not refrain from printing something of need simply to prevent offending someone.
Thomas Jefferson also had an opinion on a free Press. “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
He would rather have a free press to criticize government rather than a government unchecked.
NPR, of which I find much too left leaning seems to have a very good definition on honesty in journalism.
Honesty:
Journalists who conduct themselves honestly prove themselves worthy of trust. In the course of our work, we are genuine and candid. We attribute information we receive from others, making perfectly clear to our audience what information comes from which source. We avoid hyperbole and sensational conjecture. We may sometimes construct hypotheticals to help explain issues and events, but we reveal any fabrication, and do not otherwise mix fiction with our news reporting. We edit and present information honestly, without deception, and we identify ourselves as NPR journalists when we report. Only in the rarest of instances – such as when public safety is at issue, or when lives are at stake – might we disguise our identity or intent when reporting. Before we take such a step, we engage in rigorous deliberation and consider all alternatives. Then, when we tell the story, we fully disclose what we did and why. Your part in this process is simple. Understand there are agendas in the world, incompatible with your own. Know what constitutes honest reporting so well you get goosebumps when less than genuine reporting occurs. Cycle through news sources to find the one that give you more facts than hearsay. There is also a very fine line between full transparency, outright lies and omission of key details to sculpt the news consumer’s opinion. Dishonesty is prevalent in some news, but journalists do not have a lock on it. One needs to look no further than the State of the Union address to see blaring examples of dishonesty inside a political party The speech by President Trump, I thought was filled with hopeful messages, verification of positive trends and generally good news for individual Americans.
For instance:
1. The State of the Union is Strong 2. Creating 2.4 Million Jobs 3. Stating we proudly stand for the national anthem 4. Americans are dreamers too 5. Close the border loopholes 6. Extending a hand to work with both parties 7. Reminder the Congress has a duty to defend the constitution and work for Americans 8. Keep open Guantanimo Bay Cuba 9. Honored Otto Warmbier’s memory 10. Honored families of two slain daughters at the hands of MS-13
There were many more items listed in his 1 hour and 20 minute speech. To see the Democratic party simply sitting on their hands for all these accomplishments is a travesty. One Democratic member, Luis Guttierez (D, IL) walked out during the speech as GOP chanted U-S-A. Maybe his claim of “going to prep for an interview”, but I found now report of such interview. According to Time Magazine,11 other Democrats Boycotted the speech altogether joining with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, also skipping the event.
The one additional item which has to be detailed is the lowest Unemployment Rate among African Americans ever recorded. This is widely reported as true, yet the Congressional Black Caucus members would not accept the fact. They would rather ignore it than to remotely credit President Trump for doing anything positive for their own people.
This is why every Christian should vote– to understand who these people are (and they are not just Democrats). They must identify these politicians who chose politics over accomplishment and work to legally replace them with Bible-Believing men and women, without respect to the color of their skin, wealth or background.
As for the specific crazy liberal of the week is concerned:
Take Nancy Pelosi, current House Minority Leader from San Francisco. I received an email from her after the State of the Union address. In it she made one statement. “What I hear Trump say last night is still ringing in my ears”. She claims his policies are divisive and leaves millions in the dust. Not one word about anything that is positive in his speech.
I’m really unclear how anyone can support her or anyone who plays politics as she does. It goes far beyond what I believe is a chess match to both support Americans AND build your party. Clearly party is the main objective.
By the way, the election is over. President Trump won. Get back to work for us, the people who are actually here legally. When Obama won last time, it was not a happy event, but we conservatives did not simply boycott everything. We moved on and waited for the next election, and the next.
Your Assignment for this week.
I would ask you to define your hot button issue and tell me what it is and why.
Next on the CCM Podcast:
Well my friends, that will wrap up episode three of the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast.
Next week I’ll take you through the analysis of Alinsky’s Third rule. I’ll dig into what in the world is up with California and it’s politics. Then I’ll wrap it up with the next crazy liberal story to share.
Join me next week as we learn together how to influence our nation for the better.
Have a topic you would like to know about, hit me up at https://ccmpodcast.com/contact/. I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time, BE BLESSED!
Dictionary Quotes: From <https://www.google.com/search?q=dictionary&rlz=1C1GGRV_en__751US751&oq=dictionary&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0l5.2131j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#dobs=journalism>
From <https://www.google.com/search?q=dictionary&rlz=1C1GGRV_en__751US751&oq=dictionary&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0l5.2131j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#dobs=liar>
Ben Franklin Quotes: From <http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2015/01/16/history/great-american-thinkers-free-speech.html> From <http://www.librarycompany.org/BFWriter/plain.htm>
Thomas Jefferson Quote: From <http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2015/01/16/history/great-american-thinkers-free-speech.html>
From NPR From <http://ethics.npr.org/category/d-honesty/>
CCM002-A Journey to a New World
Jan 28, 2018
Show Notes for The Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 002 A Journey to the New World
Today on The Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, I dig
deeper into Saul Alinsky’s first rule for radicals, talk about why the pilgrims set off from England to the new world. We’ll look at some recent news and hit the most ridiculous message from liberals. Links and show notes are available at CCMPodcast.com/CCM-002.
Verse of the day: 1 Chronicles 19:13
Be courageous! Let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. May the Lord’s will be done.
Let’s jump right into it.
Saul Alinsky wrote in 1971 his Rules for Radicals. I detailed all of his rules in episode 001. Now I will give you the full rundown on the first rule.
The first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
Any time you are trying to influence people and are using Rule for Radical Number 1, you’re using deception and threats to achieve your objective. There are a number of ways to “appear” to have more power than you actually have. If you look at advertising today, you’ll see broad examples of this.
Advertising:
Advertising uses people who are paid to read a script. I’d say mostly those people do you use the products they are pitching. The aim is convincing you that person does in hope you will also purchase and use the product.
Political polling:
How many elections have you seen polls claiming a liberal candidate is winning over a Republican? A Conservative? A Christian Candidate? The closer a candidate gets to Christian Status, the wider the margin against them is reported much wider, regardless of the reality. They do this by often by under-polling the side they don’t want to win. Yes, using deception.
Media Influence:
The Media perpetuates lies, deception, fake news by ignoring news which runs counter to their opinion. Our president recently gave fake news awards to the media. CNN received a few of them. MSNBC wasn’t mentioned, probably because nobody watches their network anyway, but continued to push anti-Trump/anti-conservative agendas. New York Times summarized Trumps awards (listed below). The Bias in the media is clear. Note the differences between how the mainstream media covered Presidents Obama and Trump. Clearly there is a tremendous difference— AKA Bias.
The New York Times’ Paul Krugman claiming markets would ‘never’ recover from a Trump presidency
In Trump’s words, “‘RUSSIA COLLUSION!’ Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!”
Schoolyard Bully:
Can you think of a time when you or your children were in school dealing with a bully? I can recall a time in my life dealing with bullies. Their source of power was based on the fear they can place in my mind. Without physically hurting you, that power can give them great control over me. It impacted me greatly. That is what the bully is seeking. Did you ever hear “My dad is bigger than your dad?” It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, it’s believing it’s true that matters.
Gay Agenda:
According to Gallup, in 2015 the United States population associated with LGBT was about 3.8 percent. What is claimed is nearly 25% of the population. How do they do this? By over-polling LGBT respondents is one way. There is an agenda at play and the narrative only works if the Christian belief is minimized or ridiculed.
Anti-Christian Activists:
This leads me to Anti-Christian Bias. This Bias is not new by any stretch. What is different is the desire of the left and the complicit media to berate, marginalize and demonize the conservative Christians who stand for the Bible. The Pro-Abortion and LGBT activists are perhaps the largest users of the rules for radicals, for good reason. Their opinions are not shared by the majority of Americans. According to ABC News, the majority of Americans claim to be religious. How does the minority push their agenda? With the Rules for Radicals of course.
Israel:
Frankly, Israel is a perfect place to end this segment. No single nation has suffered persecution than Israel. Even the United Nations joined in on the beat down of Israel. USA Today gleefully reported only seven nations supported the United States relocating the Embassy to Jerusalem. In fact the UN was strongly in opposition to this (not surprisingly I might add).
Putting a bow on this discussion, you as a consumer of information must know the left pushes non-Christian agenda to the extreme. Fox News is also guilty of this but to a much lesser degree. Just watch any news channel with a questioning mind. Media should average neutral is the liberal/conservative spectrum by eliminating opinion with fact, bias with objectivity and lies with truth. If news feels heavily weighted for or against any politician, it is likely biased reporting. The Wall Street Journal front pages provides a simple paragraph with the topic at hand and no analysis. You just know what happened. Beyond that point, it should be fair and objective, fact based reporting, but sadly, this is rarely the case. Just think “Russia” as an example of this and other Rules for Radicals.
How do you defeat and exploit rule number one? Make the opposition show their cards, show their strength, put up or shut up. That is all there is to it.
The Brave New World and the Pilgrims:
When Christianity is assaulted, whether today or in the 1600s, some would submit to pressure, others might move on. This latter is the case of the Pilgrims from England. This group of what I will call adventurers were seeking something new. Before leaving England each of them were separatists seeking to depart the oppressive Church of England. Though most were of religious minds, many were also business minded. As King James I and King Charles of England tried to solidify the grasp of the Church of England, separatists sought to evade the wrath. Some did so by leaving England for Holland.
Holland provided freedom from the Church of England, however was not a suitable place to raise a family. Opportunities to provide a living were scarce and growing food proved challenging. This fact forced their hand. The pilgrims either had to return to England or find another land to call home. To reiterate, the Pilgrims were a mix of Religious separatists, merchants, soldiers and orphans seeking to rid themselves of a government run church. Some would say they didn’t leave for religious freedom, but that would not be completely accurate. They left Holland for America but still required religious freedom and a better life. The trip would be long and hard, but would not be the final test.
Enter the Mayflower.
What many people do not know, Mayflower was not the only ship intended to arrive in America. The Speedwell, attempted twice but returned because it was not seaworthy. Finally, about 30 crew and 102 men, women and children eventually set off on the Mayflower alone, in search of modern day New York City. On November 11, 1620, after 66 days, they arrived in the new world only to find brutal weather conditions. They were forced to live on the Mayflower during the winter, and venture out daily while they built their homes. Many died during the winter.
One inspiration from their journey was the Mayflower Compact, perhaps the first documented guide to organized living in America. The text of this document confirm the purpose of their journey. It reads as follows:
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.
The key point here? Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and the Advancement of the Christian Faith.
Are you a Pilgrim?
Are you willing to work in order to help restore the faith of our forefathers? Bringing back that faith is the point of this podcast.
So You Don’t Have to…
I read the crazy stuff of others so you don’t have to. In the “Crazy thing of the week” segment, President Trump’s public behavior is questioned. Key here is another of Saul Alinsky’s rules—
Does President Donald Trump’s unstable public behavior render him too dangerous for office?
The choices given are Yes, No, and Maybe. Clearly if you answer either way you are saying you believe his is unstable. Anywhere you consume news, save perhaps Fox News, the narrative that President Trump is mentally unfit to be president is present. You can’t escape it. The goal is to say it often enough that people believe it. More importantly that President Trump will lash out and prove it. I feel compelled to add, Fox News’ Sean Hannity does this as well. It is an annoying tactic but it is employed broadly because it is effective. More on this in coming episodes.
Next on the CCM Podcast:
Well my friends, that will wrap up episode two of the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast.
Next week I’ll take you through the analysis of Alinsky’s second rule. I’ll talk about what you should look for when trying to understand if news is fake or real— Something that used to be called journalism. Then I’ll wrap it up with the next crazy liberal story to share.
Join me next week as we learn together how to influence our nation for the better.
Have a topic you would like to know about, hit me up at https://ccmpodcast.com/contact/. I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time, BE BLESSED!
CCM001- Let Us Change Our World
Jan 22, 2018
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 001 Let Us Change the World
Welcome. Here I motivate the Christian community to action. Join me today for a look at what I believe is the source of all the fake news, bitterness and contempt for conservatism today. We will learn why people think their vote doesn’t count and I’ll give you a brief background on how this show came to be. Join me on this, the inaugural episode of the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast.
Verse of the Day:
2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
This simply means people of faith, don’t be prideful. Ask God to help people, especially those leaders in government to be faithful to the past, ask forgiveness and guidance and He will heal our land.
Saul D. Alinsky:
You don’t have to look very hard to see protests, As I record this on January 20, 2018 Women across the nation are protesting for women’s reproductive rights. Additionally, what I will call fake news and a general disdain for our president runs rampant. This hatred is placed upon anyone perceived to represent conservatism, the Constitution and yes, Christianity. This is by design as I will show.
The first lesson for Christians involves how those against conservative Christian think about Tactics. Saul D. Alinsky remains widely credited as the father of community organizing. Educated at the University of Chicago, he is the author of several books pertaining to radical acts which build his kind of world through coalition building and hardball campaigns for many issues, not just one.
His premise was three-fold
Communities face inner-city problems due to a lack of power to implement solutions;
The only way to build long-term power is through money and common vision
Viable organizations can only be achieved through broadly based indigenous (Native or local) leadership–and not one or two charismatic leaders.
On the surface his premise is sound, however coupling them with his 13 rules, a Christian minded person might think differently– a slightly inverse set of rules. His rules are as follows.
The first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
The third rule is: Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
The fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.
The fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.
The sixth rule is: A good tactic is one that your people enjoy. If your people are not having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.
The seventh rule: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after which it becomes a ritualistic commitment, like going to church on Sunday mornings.
The eighth rule: Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.https://eagleholic.wordpress.com/
The ninth rule: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
The tenth rule: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.
The eleventh rule is: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside;
The twelfth rule: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. You cannot risk being trapped by the enemy in his sudden agreement with your demand and saying “You’re right — we don’t know what to do about this issue. Now you tell us.”
The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
In coming episodes I will analyze each of the thirteen rules and formulate a conservative corollary. For now I will focus on Alinsky’s assumptions.
Sadly, in American politics, there is but a small subset of politicians, specifically at the national level who seek something other than long-lasting power. This is true of both Republicans and Democrats. To a lesser extent, at least what I know about the it, the Libertarian Party seeks freedom from government over reach, seeks to be an island in the world, yet lacks social or biblical values. Yes, the social conservative caucus in both the House of Representatives and the Senate are small and lack power. Of course both parties outside this small circle seek to belittle and shame conservative members at every turn.
What we see in Washington DC and at the state level is legislating to increase the voter base in an effort to retain power. This is an example of the first assumption.TheOf interest to me, of his three assumptions is this– in general inner city politics are as far from conservative values as possible. Sadly, power soaks people in darkness. Consolidating power in down trodden areas keeps people beholden to their government, far from free. Conservative values are the basis of our Constitution which was written to conform to Christian principles, whether you agree or not. Granted the verbiage is not Bible-centric, yet nothing in the original language contradicted any principle held dear to Christians at the time. The Bible has not changed, only American culture has, therein lies the plight of Conservative Christians and the Alinsky movement.
It does not take money to build long-lasting power. It takes a strong, well communicated message and a thought of benefit to all. Any time money and politics join together, surely evil will follow. Money simply buys power while true power is given to those who earn the respect of the electorate.
As for viable organization. Today we see many organization in the political and religious realm. It is true one needs not be “charismatic” in order to produce change. It certainly helps, however. Today we have a president from New York, a vice president from Indiana, a speaker of the house from Wisconsin and a Senate Majority Leader from Kentucky. Our system is not built around what Alinsky refers to as “Native” leaders. More to the point, leaders with a resonating message are selected. Often times however the message is less than respectful, more often than not delivered by Liberal minded candidates as we saw in the Alabama special election for Senator in late 2017. It was ugly and we may never know the whole truth in that situation. It smelled pretty bad though.
Consider the basis for the thirteen rules. A true conservative will see some truth in the thought processes, but flawed actions have left cities in shambles, broken and destitute. In spite of his writings in 1971 and beyond, the thirteen rules for radicals often leave a trail of destruction in American cities.
Does your single vote count?
I hear so many people make a blanket statement, considering their vote a waste of time. What I find is people have the wrong attitude about voting and elections. Take for instance, if you were to live by yourself in your home or apartment, your vote would be ultimately powerful. This of course limited by your own ability to fund your choices, the law, etc, wink wink. Get married and your vote could possibly be split between two opposing sides of an argument. Add children to the mix, the vote generally remains the same, however the forces pushing the decisions one way or the other multiply.
My thinking about politics in general is similar to playing chess. Each move is strategic, much like Alinsky’s rules. The way I move through the process. Keep score along the way. Did your candidate of choice win? If not, why? Look at voting records to see if your actions moved the needle versus other areas. There are many ways to impact elections. There are also ways to measure your effectiveness. You can’t win ever chess match, or every election. However, What if I (or you) understood the process, the dynamics and the players well enough to cut through the noise? Could you change the hearts and minds of others? I think so… If so, you may well see your influence grow along with your effectiveness.
If you spend time learning about politics, politicians and policies, you can explain what you know to others. Then all of a sudden, you might take your one vote and parlay it into additional votes of your spouse, your neighbors, your community, etc. Now is your vote wasted? Does it count? You betcha… What if you were to take it one step further and start a blog, record videos for Youtube, start a podcast or even run for office? These options give you more ability to reach others, influence their opinions and multiply your own vote.
Why this podcast?
Today on the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, I’ll give a brief background on the purpose, scope and goals of this podcast. I’ll talk about how the United States became a Christian Nation and the philosophical differences which fight to change our History. It’s been a long road getting to this point but it will be a long journey of learning for the future.
I am Jeff Stipe, your host. Join me on this walk as I present to you the knowledge and tools which help you be an educated, active and principled voter; one that changes the world for the good.
This is a Christian Based podcast first and foremost. That is not to say it is a Bible Thumping show. Rather I will use this show to present the compatibility of the Bible and the US Constitution. From the time the Pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower through today, Biblical values have served as the basis for our laws in one form or another. The very foundation of our nation is at a minimum based on a search for freedom to practice religion and a freedom from the government proscribed Church of England. Yes, it may be a lightning rod topical show, BUT the importance is of great concern to Christian Americans.
Now for some background into how this show came to be. Conservative Christian Movement was at one time an organization within churches with the goal of sharing the Christian Nation Heritage which had been held so dear, but fading. Christians across the globe are more likely than ever to suffer persecution for their belief. What had been called the Seven Mountain Strategy by so many pastors served as the basis for turning back to Christian principles. This strategy involved placing believing citizens into positions of influence, such as Religion, Family, Education, Government, Media, Arts & Entertainment and Business.
What we know is for some forty years, non-believers have occupied these positions with the express purpose of limiting religious influence (Call it a dumbing down of faith). One needs only to pay attention to see how all the seven mountains have degraded into a condition sorely lacking a moral compass and it’s just growing worse.
My belief is two-fold. First, focusing on the benefits a solid, Biblical-based moral code applied to the seven mountains can do wonders for the United States. Second, sound reasoning will always win out over in your face disagreement. To that end, this is not a Republican versus Democrat show. Just watching the news will prove both parties have their fair share of anti-religious sentiment. Through these episodes, I will attempt to share how a conservative philosophy is the best hope for America just as it was intended by the founding fathers.
What this show is NOT. It is not a push to create a Church of America. It is also not about beating down those of different opinions.
A Biblical Based and political discussion will undoubtedly touch on lightning rod issues for sure, however it should not diminish the rights of those who disagree, especially those who remain friendly. Yes, this is an audio program consumed by people away from the provider, yet it is quite possible and very much important to have dialogue.
The topics in this show fit into three groups or buckets- Be Educated about the process, Know how you influence others and Do what it takes to coach others and change your world.
Welcome again the the first episode of the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, I am Jeff, your host. Let’s begin!
In the next episode, I talk about why the Pilgrims left their homeland and what they were looking for. How about those Pilgrims? Additionally we’ll look at Alinsky’s first rule and what inverse logic can benefit the Christian Conservative on the public stage.
Join the discussion at www.CCMPodcast.com. I look forward to your comments.
Until next time, be blessed.
CCM000- Introduction to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast
Jan 15, 2018
The Conservative Christian Movement Podcast is a continuation of Christian meetings held in churches since 2010. The purpose is to hold elected government officials accountable and to promote Conservative Christian values in all of their legislative and judicial decisions.
Those values will include but not limited to:
1. Taking a stand against abortion.
2. Taking a stand against homosexual overt agendas.
3. Taking a stand against sex education outside of abstinence.
4. Taking a stand against the perverted view of separation of church and state, kicking God out of the Public school, government, community, and justice system.
I will work to ensure our government officials consistently exhibit:
Integrity
Morality
Sincerity
Honesty
Selfless Service
To this end CCM will evaluate and selectively support candidates for elected offices who share these values.
I also want Christians to:
BE: Educated in the political process
KNOW: How to make change in a peaceful way, and
DO: What it takes within the law to effect a positive change back to our Christian Nation heritage.
Most importantly, to ensure Christians VOTE in according to Conservative Christian Values which are always consistent with our founding fathers intent and the United States Constitution.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 014- Why We Must Fight!
Welcome to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast. I am Jeff, your host. This is episode 013; “Rise Through Knowledge”. Today on the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s Twelfth rule for Radicals, We’ll wrap up the conversation about the Johnson Amendment. I’ll finish with more examples of liberal melt downs and talk Serenity in Politics, if there is such a thing. Show Notes for this episode can be found at 
Welcome to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast episode 012 titled “Speak the Truth”. Today on the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast I’ll give details on Saul Alinsky’s Eleventh rule for Radicals, We’ll continue talking about Johnson Amendment in depth. I’ll finish with more examples of liberal melt downs. Show Notes for this episode can be found at 
Politics”. 
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 006 Join or Die
You are listening to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, Episode 005 Titled “The Meat Grinder of Politics.” This episode was Recorded February 17, 2018. Show Notes can be found at 
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 004 California Dreamin’
You are listening to the Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, Episode 004 Titled California Dreamin’ This episode was Recorded February 11, 2018. Show Notes can be found at 
Today on the podcast, as promised I’ll cover Rule # 2 of Saul Alinsky’s rules for radicals. I’ll talk a little bit about journalism and hit up the craziness that is liberalism with the meltdown over President Trump’s State of the Union address.
Today on The Conservative Christian Movement Podcast, I dig
deeper into Saul Alinsky’s first rule for radicals, talk about why the pilgrims set off from England to the new world. We’ll look at some recent news and hit the most ridiculous message from liberals. Links and show notes are available at CCMPodcast.com/CCM-002.
Verse of the day: 1 Chronicles 19:13
Be courageous! Let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. May the Lord’s will be done.
Let’s jump right into it.
Saul Alinsky wrote in 1971 his Rules for Radicals. I detailed all of his rules in episode 001. Now I will give you the full rundown on the first rule.
Conservative Christian Movement Podcast Episode 001 Let Us Change the World
