Quotes by Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan, the Great Communicator, is one of the most quoted presidents of the modern era. His speech was so refined many of his sayings were sermons in a sentence. It is little known that Reagan was baptized at age 11 and started teaching a Sunday School class at age 15, which he didn’t miss for two years. As president his favorite hymn was the one with the line “Lord make me an instrument of your peace….”
Many of the following quotes are faith based.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
“If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.”
“Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.”
“As government expands, liberty contracts.”
“I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
“We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.”
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”
“A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.”
“Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas.”
“Sometimes when I’m faced with an atheist, I am tempted to invite him to the greatest gourmet dinner that one could ever serve, and when we have finished eating that magnificent dinner, to ask him if he believes there’s a cook.”
“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
He, like the rest of us, wasn’t a perfect person, but he did have a personal faith that influenced all of his life and decisions. Make sure yours does.
Jefferson’s Words of Wisdom
The neoclassical building known as the Jefferson Memorial is situated in West Potomac Park on the shore of the Potomac River. The first time I stood in it I was impressed not only with its architectural beauty, but even more by the inscriptions on the walls that are attributed to Jefferson. Before I go further I acknowledge he, like all of us, had his flaws, though he had impressive academic acumen unlike most of us. He has not been listed in the Vatican as a saint and has no reason to be. However, by reading the inscriptions we gain insight into the mood of those founding our nation. Following are some.
In the Rotunda
“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
In the Southwest Portico
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We…solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of a right ought to be free and independent states…and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
Excerpted from the Declaration of Independence, 1776.
Northwest Portico
“Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens…are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion…No man shall be compelled to frequent or support religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.”
On the Northeast Portico
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish the law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state to effect and on a general plan.”
Pray that sound reasoning may once again prevail as an evidence that God is blessing America. Be a prayer warrior for America.
Gun Control
We need more and better gun laws! OK, but you have to be naive to believe that will correct the gun violence of today. No civil law will solve the problem. It is systemic in our culture. It is not guns that need controlling, it is culture. The problem is our culture.
Build an eight foot fence and illegal users of guns will build a nine foot ladder. Build a ten foot fence and they will build an eleven foot ladder and the process goes on.
In my youth we carried guns to school so we could go hunting right after school. At recess we played “mumbly-peg” with jack knives. A young adult in Montana told me they took guns to school and shot varmints during recess. Nobody got shot nor knifed. There were less gun laws and more guns per capita then than now. It was the culture of the era.
What happened.? There was a change in our culture. Our culture is our problem
The problem can’t be legislated away. Out of the heart comes the issues of life. It is in the Book. We’ve got a heart problem. Denying it only exacerbates the problem.
Indirectly we have created an environment that encourages violence. Social media, TV, movies, books, and music approve, if not advocate, it. Kids walk around with an X-rated movie theater in their pockets. There is the old computer axiom, GIGO, garbage in, garbage out. Like a computer, what you put in your heart is what comes out. It has become the norm in our culture.
As a generality, churches have gone silent on social issues. There is even a new theology being advocated that portends to make the matters more intense. It goes by a number of titles, but is most commonly called Liberation Theology. The thesis is the church alienated the world by proposing a morality that is outdated. To reach the world we must change our stance on most moral issues and agree with the world. Instead of exhorting the world to elevate its standards, it is proposed the church lower its standard.
Morality has no national voice. There is no John the Baptist crying in the wilderness. Consider our own community, what compassionate, reasonable and logical voice does societal morality have? There are a lot, I mean a lot of good people, but what unofficial spokesman do they have? Who holds the banner to follow?
Our legislative halls have some courageous spokespersons, but the louder voices are often not the voice of reason. Exhibit A is our Electoral College. In their collective wisdom our Founders gave us the Electoral College so that in presidential elections heavily populated states could not impose their standards on less populated states.
They built safeguards to protect the College. In order to amend it a two-thirds vote of both Houses, or two-thirds of state legislatures to propose an amendment to change it and then three-forth of state legislatures for ratification. It is not likely to be changed. Yet, with loud voices proponents of change advocate change.
There is a lot at risk. We are not a democracy, but we are increasingly acting like one. We are a republic. The word democracy is not in either the Declaration of Independence or Constitution. We pledge allegiance to the Republic. Acting like a democracy is risky. John Adams warned, “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.”
Former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall opined, “Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.”
May reason prevail and societal sanity be restored.
Design Reveals the Designer
Where there is a design there must be a designer. A clock has a design. The older design of a clock has a large hand that goes around the surface once every hour. Each time it does a smaller hand goes around the surface one-twelfth of the surface. Each time it does a much smaller hand goes around its cycle three hundred times. They each perform their cycles exactly day after day. They do it by design.
By removing the back of the clock and studying the operation one can see how a human being could have designed it.
A study of various designs in the universe ranging from that of an atom to a galaxy reveals no human effort could have made such a design. A designer is required.
Of Him it is said, “For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.” (Hebrews 3:4)
The changing foliage in Autumn reveals a design requiring a creative designer with a colorful palette.
Chlorophyll is the pigment that gives vegetation its green color. Only plants that are green have chlorophyll. These plants have red, yellow and orange pigmentation, but they are usually masked by greater amounts of green.
In the fall, due to the changes in temperature and changes in the daylight length, the leaves stop their food-making process (photosynthesis). The carotenoids and anthocyanin that are present in the leaf are then unmasked and show their colors. The chlorophyll breaks down – the green color disappears. This results in a clear, identifiable color of red, yellow, orange and occasionally brown.
Evergreens: pines, spruces, cedars, firs, and so on are able to survive winter because they have toughened up. Their needle-like or scale-like foliage is covered with a heavy wax coating and the fluid inside their cells contains substances that resist freezing. Thus the foliage of evergreens can safely withstand all but the severest winter conditions, such as those in the Arctic. Evergreen needles survive for some years but eventually fall because of old age.
This designed complexity shouts there is a Designer. God had a purpose in establishing this design: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)
If at all possible go outside, inhale, and revel at the blanket of color that wafts over your soul as you are blessed by the creative artistry of the divine Creator.
If He has done all of that by design He is surely able to refresh and renew His apex creation, the wonder and wonderful you.
Jesus, Who Is He?
Imagine, just imagine, Jesus is who the Bible says He is. Millions do believe He is, but just suppose you need a bit of help understanding who the Bible says He is. Likewise, those who are convinced He is do well to establish why they believe He is. For these and others the following is offered.
Isaiah asked, “To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare Him to? (Isaiah 40:18).
No human being or marble statue could represent God. However, God-in-the-flesh could represent Himself. To whom will you compare God? To Jesus for He is God.
Three times in the New Testament He is called “the image of God:”
“Christ who is the image of God” (II Cor. 4:4).
“He is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).
“His Son…the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:2, 3)
In the Bible books of Corinthians and Colossians the Greek word, EIKON, is translated “image.”
In the Bible book of Hebrews, it is the Greek word, CHAKTER, which is translated “image.”
In both instances the word “image” has the meaning of an icon.
An icon is a precise copy or representation. A form of the word is the basis for our word, photograph. The word was also used for the official accurate legal description of a person. It was a means of identification.
“Chakter” in the Greek world referred to the sharply defined impression made in clay, wax or metal by a seal. Thus, it is used to illustrate Jesus as being “the expressed image of God,” or “the very stamp of His nature.” In other words He was God.
When He walked across the Judean sands He left the footprints of God. His shadow was the shadow of God. His blood shed on Calvary was the blood of God.
He was the God who created: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1: 3)
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible….” (Colossians 1: 16)
That is what He did, now more definitively who He was: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1: 1)
Jesus being God creator of all things loves His creation of humankind referred to as “whosoever” in John 3: 16). That is furthermore what He did and does. He loved us and died to prove it, to provide pardon for our sins and make available the gift of everlasting life in heaven with Him.
Now, who is He to you. To say He is God is little better than saying there is no God. Only when we say He is my God, I love Him, and commit to live for Him that He becomes personally our Lord and Savior. The God who created all there is can create in you a new creature. Affirm it now and live like it hereafter..