Ben Stein's Confession

Very insightful and very true....Take a second to read this:

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as “Holiday Trees” for the first time this year which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you. I think it applies just as much to many countries as it does to America . . .



The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.


My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejewelled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crib, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her: “How could God let something like this happen?” (regarding Hurricane Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said: “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?”

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbour as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

Mike Huckabee's Fox Monologue

I’ve said some controversial things from time to time, but none which prompted such a backlash as when I stated that the horrific shooting in CT of school children and teachers couldn’t be blamed on God because we’ve systematically marginalized God out of our culture by removing Him from all aspects of the public square. The vicious attacks that have resulted, most of all o

f which are based on total ignorance of what I actually said have actually validated my point, but I’m quite certain that was not the intent of both the professional and amateur critics who have demanded everything from my being banned from ever speaking in public again, or wished me a slow and painful death. On that alone, I wish to acknowledge that the left has again shown that it defines tolerance and diversity as being tolerant only of that with which it agrees, and diverse only to include slight shades of the orthodoxy of liberalism to which they adhere. They abhor censorship of their own profanity, obscenities, or graphic violence, but are the first to demand that a voice that invokes the name of God to be silenced. A specific act of violence is rarely the result of a specific single act of a culture that prompts it. In other words, I would never say that simply taking prayer and Bible reading from our institutions or silencing Christmas carols is the direct cause of a mass murder. That would be ludicrous and simplistic. But the cause and effect we see in the dramatic changes of what our children are capable of is a part of a cultural shift from a God-centered culture to a self-centered culture. We have glorified uninhibited self-expression and individualism and are shocked that we have a generation of loners. We have insisted on a society where everyone gets a trophy and no one loses and act surprised that so many kids lack self-esteem and feel like losers. We dismiss the

 notion of natural law and the notion that there are moral absolutes and seemed amazed when some kids make it their own morality to kill innocent children. We diminish and even hold in contempt the natural family of a father and mother creating and then responsibly raising the next generation and then express dismay that kids feel no real connection to their families or even the concept of a family. We scoff at the need for mothers and fathers to make it their priority to train their children to be strong in spirit and soul and responsible for right and wrong and exalt instead the virtue of having things and providing expensive toys, games, and electronics that substitute for parenting and then don’t understand why our kids would rather have ear buds dangling from their ears, fingers attaching to a smart phone, and face attached to a computer screen than to have an extended conversation with their family at dinner. And we don’t teach them there is a Creator God who sets immutable rules, a God who is knowable, and to whom we are ultimately responsible. Instead we teach that God was not involved in our origins, that our very lives are biological happenstances and in fact are disposable should they be inconvenient to us, and that any outrageous behaviors are not sin, but disorders for which we should be excused and accommodated. I realize my viewpoint sounds out-dated and archaic, but when that world view was the foundation of our nation’s social contract, we got in trouble at school for talking in class, chewing gum, pulling a girl’s pigtails, or slouching in our school desks. We took guns to school, to be sure, but they were in the gun racks of our trucks and we used them to hunt before and after school. It never occurred to us to use them to murder our teachers and fellow students. So yes, I can stand the contempt and criticism of the left. I’ll gladly accept their scorn as they substitute creative language with a steady stream of profanity-laced tirades that I’m an idiot, a throwback to the past, and a person who should be forever silenced. But when we as a nation feared God, we didn’t fear that a 20 year old with a high powered rifle would gun down our children in their schoolrooms.

I also agree with this.  How about you?

Violence: By Dennis Blackburn

"Some thoughts that have been on my mind the last few days. Every single top 10 video game of 2012 was rated mature. One of the ratings had "brutal violence, extreme profanity, and extensive nudity." Every single one of the ten games involved murdering, many of which involve murdering innocent people.

I went to Rotten Tomatoes and looked up a few movies that just came out or will be coming out soon. These are the names of a handful of them: Kill 'Em All, Killing Them Softly, Zero Dark Thirty, Jacket Reacher, No Rest for the Wicked, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Gangster Squad, Knife Fight, Baytown Outlaws, and Bullet to the End. All but one of these is rated R for extreme violence. The list goes on.

One of the most anticipated movies of this holiday is called Django Unchained, due to come out on Christmas day ironically enough. It is directed by Quentin Tarantino. Every movie he's ever directed has been full of blood, gore, and violence....each movie being more violent than the last. In Hollywood he has been praised, awarded, and esteemed for his movies because of his creative genius when it comes to violence and how to film violent scenes. So far, Django Unchained is at a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, which means every critic has given it a good review. Some of the terms used to describe the movie by the critics are, "bloody good time", "Blood bath", "violent, whirling fantasia", and "shocking violence." He is revered in Hollywood for this.

Many movies today come out on DVD in the "unrated" and "uncut" versions, boasting such claims as "bloodier", "darker", and "not the version your parents want you to see."

On top of all of this, TV ratings and censors have become more relaxed dramatically over the years. On cable, just about anything can be said or done now. If it's after 9 or 10 pm, some stations aren't even required to edit any vulgarity, no matter the word. These are standard basic channels. Although stations still have a few (not very strict) parameters they must follow when it comes to language, sex, and nudity, violence has become virtually un-chained. Shows on cable TV are allowed to show the same violence that the original film had in theaters.

In wake of this horrific episode in Connecticut, I can't help but think that our media and entertainment has something to do with this all. A lot of us our guilty of thinking, "Violence doesn't affect me" or "It's only a movie, it's not real." That's probably true for a lot of us, but it isn't true for others. These video games, movies, and other sources of media do have the potential to effect certain individuals and de-sensitize them from reality.

It seems to me that this is the direction our society has chosen. It seems like anyone who speaks for sexual

cleanliness and morals today is labeled by society as close-minded. Anyone who writes an editorial, blog, or letter directed to movie makers and tv stations regarding censoriship of sex and violence in considered old fashioned and out of date. Anyone who speaks in the defense of morals gets ridiculed by the majority.

I don't believe that these recent shootings can be attributed to gun control. Guns were around 20 years ago when I was in elementary and this was unheard of. Guns were around in the 50's and there are no reports of anything remotely close to this happening. I'm similarly skeptical of mental illnesses. Mental illnesses have been around from the beginning. These mass shootings and murders with no apparent motives involve mental illnesses, but they are compounded by what they are seeing in their video games and movies."

 

I agree  with this.  What do you think?

Count Your Blessings

Today has been such an eye opening day for me.  As much as I try to see the world as it really is, and as much as I try to not sugar coat reality it still shocks me at times.  I think I needed this shock to the system today.

This morning I watched "Little Women" (the new one) because I love watching it at Christmas time.  I felt so grateful for many things while watching it.  I felt grateful for my healthy children and doctors and medicine that can cure things when they are sick.  I felt grateful for modern conveniences like heaters.  I also, however, felt like I wanted the sense of love and affection they had for one another and was racking my brain for any idea of how to help my family be like that. 

Then I read a little of the news and heard about the Connecticut elementary school shooting.  I felt so blessed to have my kids be here safe.  I also felt confused at how someone can be so selfish, evil and devilish to have no real motive and just kill for the heck of it.  One reporter I was listening to said that most five year olds 12 days before Christmas are just thinking about how Santa is going to be in their house in a couple weeks.  Today the Devil came to that school, and now all those children have to live with that.  I agree.  I hurt for those babies who had to grow up too quickly.  I am also grateful for the opportunity it gave me to talk to my Jack about this so he will know what to do if, heaven forbid, something like that ever happens to him.

The final eye opener I had has been almost a week long thing but really struck me tonight.  Our church has taken on 85 families that are in need.  The church members alone took on about 60.  This is when I knew we needed to reach out beyond the church members and ask people to help.  I asked a few of my neighbors, my sister, my mother and had my mother ask a few of their friends.  Because we did it this way, we have had the opportunity to take all these gifts to all these families ourselves.  I have taken 7 so far and have 4 more tomorrow.  My friend brought over her gifts for her family last night.  She had a family of four.  She brought in box after box and gift bag after gift bag.  Then she brought in a laundry basket full of household and hygiene items.  I was humbled immediately by her generosity and time spent wrapping each present to beautiful perfection.  My only wish was that her family would really be one who needed it and who appreciated it.  While driving to the address, we were sure it was wrong.  We were driving through car junkyards and old crumbling factories.  Turns out we were in the right place.  We saw the address and saw four trailer homes that also looked like there was no way anyone could survive in one.  The "road" to get to it was covered with broken roof tile and felt like we were off roading.  This house was the most in need of any we had seen and we had seen some terrible ones.  Their floor was plywood, not carpet or tile.  It was so tiny and they had a grandma on the couch too which we didn't know about.  Their clothes were too small and worn through.  The mother was not there but the father was and he didn't speak one bit of English.  The children were darling and so excited and grateful.  They had a little white barren Christmas tree in the corner where we piled the boxes.  Still as we left we wondered if we did enough.  We said a silent prayer for this family and all the other families who are so destitute.

Another family we went to had four children and the mother was crying and pretty quiet the whole time.  The kids were so excited.  They had nothing.  There wasn't even a toy on the ground when we entered.  You should have seen this little girl when she opened her Barbie.  She never had had a Barbie and here my daughter has about 20.  We got a text from her after saying how sorry she was that she didn't thank us more.  She said she was speechless.  She said the kids had lost their dad last February and she went from being a stay at home mom to working 40+ hours a week. She lived on a really busy almost highway in a square adobe "house."  We have prayed for her too.

It is interesting because about half of the families were extremely grateful.  One even invited us in for nachos.  The other half seemed to not be as grateful.  They would say, "Put them over there.  Thanks Bye."  Maybe they don't express themselves as well.  Maybe they are going through a harder more cynical time.  Maybe they have lost all hope.  It made me think though.  How often does my Heavenly Father give me an amazing gift that I almost pass over or don't notice or don't offer up the appropriate thanks?  How does that make our Father in Heaven feel?  I know I need to be better and more grateful for the incredible abundant blessings I have.  Even the simple things like having a husband who loves me or having a house that has heat or a warm coat for outside.  I don't ever have to wonder if there will be food on the table.  Most importantly though, I know I am a daughter of God who loves me.  I know Jesus wins in the end.  I have hope for the future and His coming to cleanse the earth of the wicked and bound Satan so he has no influence.  I am grateful for many things this day and glad I had these three experiences to wake me up to reality even more.

What are you grateful for today?

Do You Remember?

Do any of you remember the days that we could go weeks without some real breaking news?  I really don't think it was too long ago.  I find it hard to believe, but the evidence is clear, that almost weekly if not daily we are having tragic events.  Not only are they natural disasters but they are acts of terror and evil.  I just want to recount the recent weeks and every incident or event that has taken place to prove once again that these are the last days and there are signs of the times happening everywhere.

Some of you might already think, "Well this is the most depressing blog I've ever seen."  It might be hard to see or read some of this but if you don't open your eyes and know what is happening then you won't be prepared.  

12-14-12 At least 26 dead at Connecticut Elementary School

12-12-12 Oregon Mall Shooting

12-11-12 Young Penn. Mother Tells Teens to ‘Get a Job’ When They Ask for a Cigarette — And They Kill Her

12-10-12 Man Shot and Killed Execution Style on Busy NYC Street

12-9-12 Man Kills TSA Agent before Turning Weapon On Himself

12-7-12 Japan has 7.3 magnitude Earthquake

12-2-12 4 Bodies Found Face Down Outside California Suburban House

12-1-12  NFL Player Kills Girlfriend then Commits Suicide

11-26-12 Mexican Beauty Queen Killed in Shootout Between Mexican Drug Gang and Soldiers

11-20-12 15 Year Old Boy Shoots and Kills 13 Year Old Girl In Florida

11-15-12-11-21-12 Israel Hamas At War

11-19-12 "My Life In Israel For the Last 48 Hours" (Israeli's have a right to live; to their country)


10-29-12 Hurricane Sandy Hits New England States

10-21-12 3 Dead and 4 injured in Milwaukee Shooting 

9-5-12 Costa Rica 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake


I left out the articles about people who got caught trying to plan a shooting or attempting a shooting but there were lots of those.  Thanks to our Police and Law enforcement.  I had to talk to my 7 year old today about what to do if someone breaks out with gunfire.  Sad world but once again it is better for him to be prepared then be caught off guard without any knowledge of it at all.

Not to mention the war that is going on against religion.  Don't we have a 1st amendment for a reason?

I could list all those incidents if I wanted to sit here at the computer for the rest of my life.  You have heard about it all I know.  This country was based on God.  It was founded on principle, morals and God-given rights.  If you don't like a Nativity being displayed or don't like Christmas trees then leave.  Why does anyone care?  If you want to put a menorah up go ahead.  It is your right as well as ours, as Christians, to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Stay tuned for post on how to be positive and have hope through all of this.