Coming Out of the Fog

I am posting this information for those of you who did not catch Rush Limbaugh on Friday afternoon (6/26/09). On his program he read from an article by L. E. Ikenga, an African woman who has lived in the U.S. since the 1970's. The article, titled Obama, the African Colonial, explains the cultural mindset motivating our president, and who he really is.

Ikenga's article is moderately substantial in length, but once the reader is engaged they will have no problem finishing. She posits that Obama is what she calls an "African Colonial." I had not heard the term before but her description provides what I think is clear insight into the soul of the man in the White House. She writes:

"The African colonial (AC) is a person who by means of their birth or lineage has a direct connection with Africa. However, unlike Africans like me, their worldviews have been largely shaped not by the indigenous beliefs of a specific African tribe but by the ideals of the European imperialism that overwhelmed and dominated Africa during the colonial period. AC's have no real regard for their specific African traditions or histories. AC's use aspects of their African culture as one would use pieces of costume jewelry: things of little or no value that can be thoughtlessly discarded when they become a negative distraction, or used on a whim to decorate oneself in order to seem exotic. (Hint: Obama's Muslim heritage)."

Using Obama's Dreams From My Father as a springboard, the author concludes that our president sees himself not as a "black American" but as an "African." She writes:

In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father -- an eloquent piece of political propaganda -- Obama styles himself as a misunderstood intellectual who is deeply affected by the sufferings of black people, especially in America and Africa. In the book, Obama clearly sees himself as an African, not as a black American. And to prove this, he goes on a quest to understand his Kenyan roots. He is extremely thoughtful of his deceased father's legacy; this provides the main clue for understanding Barack Obama.

For more on the senior Obama, go here.

She then goes on to lay out a fairly bleak picture of the future, concluding her article with these words:

"... understand this: the African colonial who is given too much political power can only become one thing: a despot.

Prior to the November election, much noise was made in the conservative media about Obama's connections to men like the American terrorist, Bill Ayers and to the radical pastor Jeremiah Wright. He also sidled up to other like-minded America haters and cut his teeth as a "community organizer" in Chicago in the "school" of the radical Marxist Saul Alinsky. To date, Obama has yet to provide indisputable evidence of an American birth and many of his college records remain under lock and key.

While conservative pundits sounded the alarm in the summer and fall of 2008, the mainstream media buried their heads in the sand, so wildly enamored with this charismatic, yet enigmatic figure. Today, nearly eight months following that fateful November election, millions of Americans remain in denial about what we have done to ourselves.

I am confident that an unpleasant awakening is around the corner, a day or a season when Americans begin to realize the truth. Signs of this coming watershed moment are already beginning to appear. America committed a grave error in judgment last fall. Let us hope and pray it is not fatal to our republic.

I strongly suggest that you read the entire article. It cleared up a whole lot of my mental fog surrounding this mysterious man that we have elected as our president.

But beware, it is not pretty.

JOIN NOVA 912.

For a Pot of Stew

One of my favorite Bible characters is Jacob. He was the second born son of Isaac, and completes the three part triad of ancient Israel's great patriarchy of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I have read and studied Jacob a fair amount. I've even written a song about him.

Jacob, Israel, my heart beats close to yours, I know
Jacob, Israel, I'm a striver like you
A striver like you
A striver like you

And I am.

Jacob's older twin brother, born just a few moments before him, was named Esau. Prior to their births, the Lord spoke to their mother, Rebekah, and declared that "the older shall serve the younger." (Genesis 25:23).

In those days, being the first born son meant everything. All that the family name represented came to the first born male. But contrary to cultural traditions, God had his eye on Jacob, not Esau. God had promised to do something unheard of, something unprecedented in those days. God was conferring the power and wealth of the family name upon Isaac and Rebeka's second-born.

But though God had promised it, Jacob tried to make it happen under his own power, with his own efforts. This is why he is considered a "striver."

Jacob knew his call even before his birth. When the twins came out of Rebeka's womb, second born Jacob was clinging to his brother's heel as if to say, "wait a minute, brother, I'm supposed to be first."

Now, Esau, though the first, did not seem to take his "natural born" inheritance all that seriously. But Jacob thought about it all the time.

One day, Esau came home from an exhausting hunting expedition. Famished, he asked his twin brother if there was anything in the frig. Seizing on the opportunity, the crafty Jacob struck a deal.

"I'll give you this pot of stew if you'll give me your birthright."

The hungry Esau agreed.

My focus has always been upon Jacob, the one with the promise, the one with the call, the one with the hope of a future. He stumbled and bumbled and literally limped his way to his inheritance, and I often feel like I do the same.

I have never given a great deal of thought to Esau. But recently he has begun to intrigue me.

I tell this story of Esau's sellout because it speaks to me of our own American countrymen. We, too, have a birthright, an automatic inheritance the moment we are born. Our birthright is liberty. Prosperity comes from liberty. In the chain of things American, liberty comes first. Liberty creates opportunity and if opportunity is capitalized upon effectively, wealth often follows.

Today, we hungry, short-sighted, self-focused Americans are, like Esau, selling our birthright, our liberty, for a lousy pot of stew, the empty promise of security.

We have said, "I'll give you my liberty, if you'll take care of me."

What a rotten deal!

JOIN NOVA 912.

Talk to the Hand

I awoke early this morning following a frightening dream. In my dream, God left America to its own devices. He departed, removing His hand of blessing. And many Americans didn't even know He had gone.

Much is being made of the image that has hit the Internet, the photo of our president sitting with his feet propped up on his desk in the Oval Office while talking on the phone. There are two important things to know about the image: 1. when the photo was snapped he was speaking to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, 2. in Arab countries, showing the sole of one's shoe is meant as an insult.

An unfortunate, unintended incident? Think again. Our president spent a number of years out of our country, and under the sway of the Muslim world and its worldview. He spent the last twenty years of Sundays sitting in the church pew of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. You remember him, don't you? He's the man who preaches hate from his pulpit, casting insults at America. "Not God bless America, God d*** America!" Just a few days ago, Rev. Wright said in an interview that he had not spoken to his former parishioner since Obama became the president. Referring to the president's advisers, Wright told Virginia's Daily Press, "Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me ..."

Israeli newscasters and many others in Israel read this odd photo as a direct insult to their Prime Minister and to their nation. If this publicity shot was staged and released intentionally, our nation's immediate future looks grim. If it's a case of simple insensitivity (he's had others), it still demonstrates a genuine lack of class and character.

Last summer, during the primary campaign, Obama appeared to be giving "the finger" to someone (above). The apparent target? His primary opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Later that year, during the election itself, our future president is caught again, making an obscene gesture (below). Who was his target this time? Republican candidate, John McCain.

For a man as politically savvy as Barak Obama, a man raised in Chicago style "thug" politics, surely these three seemingly separate symbolic gestures cannot be mere coincidences. In fact, for this man, who trumpeted his many Muslim connections to the Arab world on his recent trip to the Middle East, allowing the world to see the soles of his shoes while speaking on the phone with Israel's leader is the Muslim-world equivalent of the middle finger.

Raising one's middle finger to a political opponent is childish, sophomoric and crude. It does not speak well at all of our president. But deliberately insulting the leader of one of our nation's staunchest allies represents a tragic, radical shift in American diplomacy.

"Talk to the hand" became a popular phrase in the mid 1990's. The saying is a shortened version of "Talk to the hand because the ear's not listening." The words, usually accompanied by the gesture of putting up one's hand in the face of the one who's speaking, represent a "brush off" or an intentional ignoring of the other party's thoughts. Like the middle finger and the shoe's sole in the Muslim world, a hand in the face is rude, crude, and deliberate.

But upon reflection, our nation has been telling God to "talk to the hand" now for quite a good number of years. Could it be that our classless president is but a mere reflection of the rude, crude, classless culture we have become?

It's one thing for a segment of society to be crude and classless. It's another for our president to behave in this manner. Many things shifted in November. We expect that policies and the ideologies behind them will change with a new administration. But we do not expect the man at the top, the one individual who represents our nation to the world, to behave like the basest among us. We expect better.

A switch was flipped this week. A cosmic shift occurred. A signal was sent to heaven's throne. It is now official. Our nation has just told God to "talk to the hand because the ear's not listening."

Snubbing Israel is a very bad idea. Add this offense to the forty million murdered unborn, and the growing cultural acceptance of homosexuality (remember Sodom and Gomorrah), and our Creator cannot be pleased.

This can't be good.

America's Freedom DNA

We cannot help that our experiences, both painful and pleasant, shape our view of the world. I am working on a book tentatively titled Echoes of Eden. It tells the story of my growing up years in Ohio in the fifties and sixties. Though not without heartache, my childhood and youth were relatively pleasant. I had a good, solid home life. My folks were model parents. And my memories of those years are sweet.

In elementary school we learned about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We learned of Nathan Hale and Paul Revere and Molly Pitcher. We pledged allegiance to the flag and we even prayed the Lord's prayer in school. On our classroom wall hung a cardboard replica of the Ten Commandments. We sang patriotic songs. In later years we studied the Constitution.

I realize, with much sadness, that that America is not the America of today. But that is the America that is in my heart. And it will always be there. I cannot let it go. I WILL not let it go. I will give my life if I have to to recapture and restore it.

Not that my grandchildren could ever enjoy the same childhood as I did. Too much has changed. But I do believe that my grandchildren can yet know the same joy, the same freedom, the same patriotic pride as did I in my youth.

Deep down, I believe that most Americans are good, decent people. I think that many Americans have lost their way, become swept up in popular culture, and abandoned the Judeo-Christian principles that made America a great nation. Many have not been as fortunate to see America through eyes like mine, eyes that see the good, eyes that saw America as something to rejoice over, even with her flaws. Sadly, many have been blinded to that America by their education, by popular culture, and by that hideous human sin called selfishness. And our land is now awash with the putrid swill of immorality and godlessness.

But there are enough folks out there who still love this country, who instinctively know that something is not right. There are millions of people, right now, in denial, heads buried in the proverbial sand, not wanting to look at and witness the train wreck that is happening right before their eyes. One day, and we hope soon, these people will wake up and say, "Wait just a minute, here. This is not right. This is not America."

There will at some point be a revolution, bloodless we hope, but perhaps not. Actually, it has already begun. And some of us may be asked to lay down our lives.

Freedom is in the American heart. We may have it stripped from us for a while, but freedom has a life of its own. Freedom is our DNA. It cannot be destroyed.

Freedom is likely not the DNA of the Iraqi people, or the Afghan people. There is no long history of freedom and self-government in that part of the world. Our type of self-government has a slim chance of surviving in those places. Look what happened to Russia in just a few short years. They had great opportunity to build a free and self-governing nation. But they have stumbled and stumbled badly. Look at how quickly Europe succumbed to socialism, just a generation after American armies liberated Europeans from Hitler's murderous scourge. Even Great Britain, the root from which we sprang, has not had the internal fortitude to pay the cost to remain free.

There is a reason that America is the last to stand. Though freedom's branches are withering, though the outer shell is decaying, beneath the surface, America's freedom-roots still pulse with life.

We have stood while all around us have surrendered. And though presently faltering, we will not go down easily. We will not go out with nary a whimper like so many other nations. If we go down, we will go down fighting. And I plan to be there. I trust you do as well.