Questions for Obama

I’m certain that John McCain cannot afford himself the privilege of asking some very difficult and exposing questions in a debate with Barak Hussein Obama. It might have something to do with the “throwing stones in glass houses” theory, or Hollywood and the press might have a hay-day making him out to be mean spirited as they did after the last debate in Nashville.

However – I have some serious questions that I need to have answered before I could ever pull the lever (or however we vote here in my district) for Barak Hussein Obama. So, I’m simply going to ask them. Though I don’t exactly fall into the category of “undecided voter” I’m not necessarily a McCain enthusiast either. But as it stands – with the following questions that I need answers to – Barak Hussein Obama makes me very nervous as an American voter – no matter how popular he might be right now.

So – Mr. Obama, if you or someone on your staff could answer these questions – I’ll be more than happy to oblige your campaign with posting your answers everywhere I have posted these questions on the internet.

1. If you grew up in such a penurious home environment – how were you able to afford to attend Ivy League Universities like Harvard?

2. When you attended the Occidental college in California – how did you enjoy such a vicarious lifestyle of drug use (by your own admission) and still maintain the grade level necessary to be accepted into Harvard?

3. What is your current relationship with your then college roommates Muham Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid both of Pakistan?

4. If your family was of meager financial means – how did you pay for an around the world trip in 1981 which included a trip to Pakistan, Africa, and India? Incidentally – I struggle to pay for a trip to DC – and I live 20 miles away.

5. When you returned from that trip – how did you afford to enter into Columbia University in NY?

6. If the answer to the affordability questions to your college was student loans – how did you pay off those loans on a $12,000 a year salary as a Chicago Community Organizer?

7. What is your current relationship with Antoine “Tony” Rezko who was convicted this year of Fraud and Bribery but was in recent years named Entrepreneur of the DECADE by the Arab-American Business and professional Association?

8. Did Mr. Rezko pay for your college tuition to Harvard?

9. Did the law firm you went to work for after your Harvard graduation represent Mr. Rezko?

10. Did Mr. Rezko, who again is guilty of fraud and bribery and a member of the Arab-American Business and professional Association – fund or help fund your Senate campaign?

11. How are you able to afford a home worth $1.65 Million, and maintain your college education bills – because you were from a family with meager financial means?

12. Did you pay $1.65 Million for that house?

13. How and why did Rezko buy the property right next to yours?

14. Is it true that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born Billionaire loaned Rezko $3.5 million only three weeks prior to your new home purchase? Of course you can’t answer that question – because who loans what to whom is really none of your affair – but I do find it odd and highly coincidental. So if you could shed some insight for me...

15. Have you ever med Nadhmi Auchi? Have you ever had a meeting with him and Rezko? Don’t need to know the purpose of the meeting – just whether or not you’re all three “buds” or something?

16. What is your relationship with Valerie Jarrett? Does she have a position in your campaign?

17. Where is Valerie Jarrett from? I heard she is originally from Shiraz, Iran. Isn’t that a conflict of interest considering your current position stated in your campaign where Iran is concerned? Scary.

18. Who is Robert Malley? What is his relationship to you and/or your campaign?

19. Does he have regular contact with ‘Hamas,’ which controls Gaza and connected to Iran as one newspaper supposedly reported?

20. Did you ask Iraqi leaders to do nothing about the war until after you were elected? And did you tell them you would “take care of things”?

21. OH – and those college roomies of yours out in California – were they Pakistani’s? What are those guys up to now-a-days? I hear they are in charge of all those “small” internet campaign contributions your campaign receives, is there any truth to that?

22. Where do those small internet contributions come from?

23. I wonder – and I know you can’t answer this – but I still wonder what the average contributor to your campaign makes per year? Can they really afford you? Or does the money come from the Middle East?

24. Did you tell George Stephanopoulos that you were of the Muslim Faith as The Washington Times reported on September 7, 2008? I know you stated that you made a mistake – but taking a lesson from the Bill Clinton playbook – it could have just been a mistake to let that slip out…so…here’s the more direct question: Are you Muslim in your Faith? (and yes – it does matter).

25. Did you sue anyone or any mortgage related businesses during your career which resulted in Federal legislation forcing mortgage loan companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to approve bad loans – ultimately resulting in our current economic demise?

26. Did you vote down legislation that would have allowed a new born baby that happened to be a failed abortion attempt – denying that child healthcare and was left to die as a result of your actions? Wouldn’t that be defined as Infanticide (that’s how I define it)?

27. Do you really believe that if you raise taxes on the corporations that Bush gave tax cuts to and McCain states that NO ONE get’s higher taxes – that if you raise them – they will cut costs elsewhere (inclusive of new jobs)?

28. Do you really believe that Americans are going to use less fuel to help in the Oil Crisis we currently face? Do you honestly think that’s the best answer coming from our government?

29. And finally – if any or all of the above questions are legitimate concerns – am I going to be able to sleep at night living just 20 miles south of DC with you in the White House?

Savannah Phillips For Student Body Treasurer

Campaign Speech for Savannah Phillips
Nominee for Student body treasurer at Matthew Henson Middle School

Hi, my name is Savannah Phillips and I want to be the COOLEST reasurer that Matthew Henson Middle School has ever had. I like being involved in our school and I care about how YOUR student government is ran.

I will make a great treasurer because my math skills are FOR REAL!!

AND

I CAN ADD!!!

Skills are not the only thing that make a cool treasurer. TRUST is a MAJOR!!

And you can totally trust Savannah Phillips.

Many of you are my friends and I want to thank all of you for signing my petition to be YOUR next treasurer.

By becoming treasurer, I will bring APPROACHABIITY to this office. It's cool to be a friend of the student body leaders and I want you as my friend. As your next treasurer I will work hard to serve this student body in maintaining accurate records and strong leadership within your student government.

My time is up. GOTTA BOUNCE!!

Vote for Savannah Phillips, your student body treasurer. Peace Out!

Bailing On Our Principles

by Governor Mike Huckabee

Frankly, I'm disappointed and disgusted with my own Republican party as I watch them attempt to strong-arm a bailout of some of America's biggest corporations by asking the taxpayers to suck up the staggering results of the hubris, greed, and arrogance of those who sought to make a quick buck by throwing the dice. They lost, but want the rest of us to cover their bets so they won't be effected in their lavish lifestyles as they figure out how to spend their tens of millions and in some cases, hundreds of millions in bonuses and compensation which was their reward for not only sinking their companies, but basically doing the same to the entire American economy.

It's especially disconcerting to see the very people who pilloried me during the Presidential campaign for being a "populist" and not "understanding Wall Street" to now line up like thirsty dogs at the Washington, D. C. water dish, otherwise known as Congress, and plead for help. I thought these guys were the smartest people in America! I thought that taxpayers like you and I were similar to the people at the U. N. who have no translator speaking into their headset - that we just needed to trust those that I called the power bunch in the "Wall Street to Washington axis of power."

The idea of a government bailout in which we'd entrust $700 billion to one man without Congressional oversight or accountability is absurd. My party or not, that is insanity and I believe unconstitutional.

Will there be far-reaching consequences without some intervention? Probably, but we honestly don't know since we've really never seen this level of greed and stupidity all rolled into one massive move. But may I suggest that letting "Uncle Sugar" step in and bail out the billionaires who made the mess will be far worse and will start a long line of companies and individuals who will demand the same of the government---which last time I checked means that they will be demanding it out of YOU and ME. This is not money that Congress is risking from THEIR pockets or future, but ours. Many if not most of us have already experienced lost value on our homes, retirement accounts, and pensions. Now they'd like for us to assume some further risks so they won't have to.

What happened to the "free market" idea? Is that only our view when we WIN and when we LOSE, we ask the government to come in and take away the pain?

If you are a small business owner, is this the way it works at your place? When you have a bad month, a bad year, or face having to close, can you go up to Congress and get them to write YOU a fat check to take away your risk?

Some of what contributed to this disaster is too much government in the form of Sarbanes/Oxley. Some is due to the tax structure that created the hunger for companies to "game" the system. Some is the common sense that was ignored like loaning money to people who can't pay it back.

Wall Street has become Las Vegas east, but at least in Vegas, people KNOW they are gambling and they don't expect the government to cover their losses at the tables. In Wall Street, they do. And the American taxpayer burdens the responsibility.

If Congress wants to do something, here are some suggestions:

1. Eliminate ALL capital gains taxes and taxes on savings and dividends right now. Free up the capital and encourage investment. This is the kind of economic stimulus the Fair Tax would bring and if Congress is going to lose money, let them lose it with lower taxes, not with public dollar bailouts of private market mistakes.

2. Repeal Sarbanes/Oxley. It has failed. It was supposed to prevent this. It didn't. Kill it.

3. Demand that the executives who steered their ships into the ground be forced to pay back the losses of their companies. Of course, they can't, so let them work and give back to the government and they can live like the people they put on the streets or kept there. It makes no sense to put them in jail—that's just more they will cost you and me. I'd rather them go out and earn money—just not get to keep so much of it this time. I'm not talking about limiting CEO salaries---just those of the people who now are up in Washington begging for help because they ruined their companies.

Attempts by Democrats and Republicans to blame each other is nonsense. They are both guilty and ought to own up and admit it. They all lived off big campaign contributions and the swill of the lobbyists who strong armed them into permission to steal. Enough of blame. Fix it!


This would be a start. If we don't hold these guys responsible, we are all finished!

Wolves In Sheeps Clothing

It's Getting To Be A Real Jungle Out There

In Matthew 7:15-20 Jesus issues a serious warning to "beware of false prophets." Sadly, this warning is more necessary today than ever before! Jesus said in Matthew 24:11 & 24 that in the last days there would be more and more false prophets. St. Paul warned the elders of the church in Ephesus to be on guard because after his (Christ) departure "SAVAGE WOLVES" would come among them not sparing the flock (Acts 20:28-31). A few years later St. Peter warned in II Peter 2:1-3:

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift
destruction and many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words, for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

St. John the Apostle likewise warned at the end of the first century in I John 4:1-3

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are
of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you
know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist,
which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

What Jesus, Paul, and Peter warned of - John declared had already occurred before the end of the 1st century. How much more true today are John's words that "many false prophets have gone out into the world?" How much more true today are Peter's words that "...many will follow them?"

I have recently been absolutely appalled by the major Evangelical leaders today that have missed opportunity after opportunity to stand up for Christ on a National level with a major secular audience and have literally denied the power of Christ and His gospel message.





These are only two examples of Popular Preachers who have the audience and opportunity to change lives for Christ and yet deny him. When I first watched these video's I tried to justify the remarks - because these gentleman are so respected in the world.

So many people in our country and throughout the world will have the opportunity to hear this FALSE message of Christ and begin to believe they are "OK with God" when the Holiness of God and the Scriptures require a different outlook completely.

There are a few things I would point out about "False Prophets" or "Wolves in sheep's clothing"

1. Beware of False Prophets because of their Deadly Deceitfulness (Matthew 7:15)

False prophets do not introduce themselves as such. They don't wear name tags or stickers that say "Hello My Name Is FALSE PROPHET." They don't go by the title Rev. Wolf (unless there happens to be a pastor who's last name is really wolf). It is their sly, slick, and sneaky ways that make false teachers so dangerous. They come to the church and to society as wolves dressed as harmless sheep, the most ravenous of animals disguised as the most harmless of animals. This is the deceitfulness of the false prophet.

Jesus may have had a specific practice of the false prophets of his day in mind. During the 400 silent years between the Old and New Testaments in which no prophetic word from God was heard, many "pretenders" arose claiming to be prophets with a word from God. This continued into the first century. They would attempt to dress in animal skins like the prophets of old often had. Jesus may be saying here that all those who try to mimic the attire of a prophet are not prophets. Instead underneath their costume, which is all it is, they are ravenous wolves.

In our modern day, false prophets still use the same tactic: trying to pass themselves off as the real thing by disguising their rue nature.

Islam - who has its own false prophet in Mohammad, claims to have the same God, speaks well of Jesus, but claims Jesus is merely one of the prophets and not the eternally begotten Son of God. They also teach a salvation by works as opposed to a salvation by grace.

Mormonism - who has its own succession of false prophets beginning with Joseph Smith, uses the same lingo, sings the same hymns, family friendly, passes itself off as another Christian church/denomination, but denies the uniqueness of Jesus as the eternal Son of God.

Jehovah's Witnesses - Use the same lingo, talk about Jesus, use the Bible, but affirm the ancient Arian heresy that there was a time when "the Son was not" - a denial of the deity of Jesus.

Joel Osteen - Looks good, always smiling, large church, bestselling books in Christian bookstores, but as the video portrays - will not stand on the word of God and affirm that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, and NO MAN cometh to the Father EXCEPT BY HIM.

T. D. Jakes - Sounds good, knows how to preach, emotional, sweats a lot, but denies that God has always existed in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He also claims (on MSNBC documentary) that he "is God's anointed" he is the man of the hour and "God's Chosen"

These are all signs of false prophets who preach a false god, a false Christ, and a false gospel. As Paul describes them in Philippians 3:18-19:

For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

I understand that these words may seem harsh, but this is serious business. Eternal destinies are at stake. I share a fear that was expressed by the Apostle Paul in II Corinthians 11:3-4:

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his
subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

There is such a thing as another Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel and we must be on guard that we be not deceived by it.

2. Beware of False Prophets because of their Devilish Deeds (Matthew 7:16-18)

Jesus describes in these verses how a false prophet can be recognized: by their devilish deeds. These three verses provide an excellent counter-balance to the first five verses of chapter seven. Those verses' famous injunction to "judge not" is often taken as a command to excuse any kind of behaviour and to forbid any kind of evaluation of the actions of another. That is clearly not what those verses mean in light of the context of verses 16-18. Here, Jesus says that we should e fruit inspectors. The actions/lifestyles of false prophets tell on them.

The truth is stated to begin verse sixteen and is then illustrated by the question of verse sixteen: "Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?" The obvious answer to this rhetorical question is "NO! Of course not." Good trees bear good fruit. Bad trees bear bad fruit. This is a very simple horticultural principle that all of us can understand. It is impossible for a Good tree to bear Bad fruit or visa versa. Therefore, we must conclude, if you see bad fruit, you intuitively know "bad tree." If you see good fruit, you intuitively know "good tree."

What is the implication here? False prophets are known by their bad deeds. They may be able to hide their deadliness temporarily under a coat of sheep skin, but eventually they will be exposed for what they are. Because no matter how much they look like sheep, they will always still behave like wolves.

I don't need to recap the events of the past twenty years detailing the wicked deeds of many televangelists, pastors, and other supposedly Christian leaders in order to understand my meaning. There is no telling how many more will be revealed as charlatans during our lifetimes, but the greatest test of a false prophet is his/her teaching. Does it line up with the consistent teaching of the Word of God? If not, it is false. this means we must know our Bibles ourselves. The best defense against a counterfeit is to know the original. I am told that this is the way banks train their employees to recognize counterfeit bills They expose them to the real thing so much that the false is immediately apparent. That is the kind of people that we need to be. This is what we are called to be as Christians. This is part of my responsibility in teaching the Word of God, that false teachers will be recognized. A mature Christian shouldn't need a master list of all the good teachers and all the bad teachers. If the true preacher has done his job, the layman will be able to recognize the false prophet and if the layman has applied themselves to the study of God's Word - then by their fruits you will know them.

3. Beware of False Prophets Because of their Destructive Destiny (Matthew 7:19)

There is a final reason to avoid false prophets in these words by Jesus. It is that they have a destiny of destruction. Verse 19 states that "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

2 Timothy 4:2-4 states:

Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

In 1 Corinthians 11:13-15 the Apostle Paul describes those who preach another Jesus as:

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into
an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be
transformed as the minister of righteousness; whose end shall be according to
their works.

These false apostles have preached words that lead to damnation and that's exactly what their destiny shall be. Peter says in 2 Peter 3:16 that those who twist scriptures do so "to their own destruction." James warns in the first verse of the third chapter of his epistle: "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment."

The warning is clear: Don't be a false teacher and don't associate with them, lest you share in their destructive destiny.

In closing:

The reason that this matter so much is that there is a true gospel about the True Prophet. Moses prophesied that a Prophet greater than he would come (Deuteronomy 18:15) and the Apostle Peter declared Jesus to be that Prophet (Acts 3). Therefore the existence of false prophets is an attack upon Christ! All messages of hope of deliverance apart from faith in Christ are all false gospels of a false salvation declared by false prophets.

Forsake whatever it is that you are clinging to in this pop culture and run to Jesus.

Sabatical is over - time to pull out the elephant!!

OK! Huckabee's new website is forcing me to come out of political semi-retirement and start blogging again. This time - its the congressional race. Who do I support? I support a man that many Republicans say can't win because the incumbent congressman Stenny Hoyer is "unbeatable" but my candidate says IT CAN BE DONE! My only regret that my candidate is running is that if he wins - he would have to resign his elected school board position that oversees my children's schools.

Collins Bailey is active in his role as a Board of Education member. He keeps track of what is taking place in the schools. He listens to parents (like me) about concerns of social and cultural changes taking place that could potentially affect what my children are being taught that would be in direct conflict with my family's values and beliefs.

However - if he wants to run for Congress - I not only endorse him - I support him. I am serving as his County Coordinator for Charles County Maryland and I believe that Collins Bailey is the change that America is looking for (the real change and the right change - not the Obama change).

The American people made a huge mistake in 2006 when they threw out all of the Republicans and we are now paying the price for it. We need to reverse that and throw out those who want to do business as usual in Washington - not concerning ourselves with the R or the D behind the name.

Collins is a Republican. He wants to expel the incumbent and teach Washington how our goals to become an energy independent nation can happen. He wants to lead the nation to show Washington that we can follow its constitution and become a better nation for it. It CAN Be Done. Collins Bailey wants to show Washington that a balanced national budget CAN Be Done. Collins wants to prove to Washington that Americans will be better off without the IRS. It CAN Be Done. Mr. Bailey wants Americans to know that the Education system in America is best run by the state and local governments and not Washington Business as Usual Politics. It CAN Be Done. Collins is a Values minded candidate and believes that Roe v. Wade can and should be overturned.

I want to show Apathetic Republicans in Charles County and Maryland's 5th district that Stenny Hoyer (House Majority Leader) doesn't have a permanent address in D.C. Hoyer can be evicted. Collins Bailey has the plan for America that America needs and he has the "can do" attitude and spirit that led us to the campaign slogan: It CAN Be Done.

If all of the people who said "Mike Huckabee didn't have enough money to win the election" would have given $1 - Huckabee would have been the nominee. If all the people who said "Mike Huckabee can't win the nomination but I like him" would have voted for him in the primary He would have been the nominee. In Maryland's 5th district - we have the same defeatist mindset - but I say it again - if everyone who says Stenny Can't be beat will donate to the campaign, support by volunteering, and vote - we know It CAN Be Done.

Please visit Collins Bailey's website at http://www.baileyforuscongress.com/ and sign up today.

It CAN Be Done

Our House...It's A God Thing

Can God continue to bless our family as He has for us since we moved to Maryland? Don’t worry - this is not a political blog posting. This is an account for how God truly answered prayer and blessed us over and above what me or my family "...could ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20)

In 2003 my family moved from Russellville, AR to Waldorf, MD to pastor a church. Arkansas was my home state – having been born and raised in North Little Rock with summers spent on my grandparent’s farms in Faulkner County. Though I would miss everything I knew and loved and the friends back in the Razorback state, I knew God was calling us to Waldorf and the plus side for my wife was that for the first time in twelve years of marriage she would be close to her home town in Delaware – only two hours from home verses twenty.

When Robin and I were first engaged, I met her parents for the first time and in the same weekend I would ask her dad’s permission to marry me – what a shocker for them huh? Me being from the south – a head to toe redneck and Robin’s picture in the dictionary next to the word "Yankee" – one would think that would be enough culture shock for one life time. Her parents – when I met them for the first time – lived in a town-house. I told my – then – fiancé, that being married to a yankee would mean a lot of changes in my life – but one thing I will never do is live in a town-house. Have you seen these things? Two or three story apartments are about what they amount to – A living room and kitchen (both small) on one level, two or three bedrooms on the upper level, and if yours is a NICE one – a basement to make into whatever you need it to be.

Twelve years later I learned a valuable lesson that I should have learned long before: "Never say never" (I once stated I would "never live west of Arkansas," and spent ten years in Oklahoma – not a bad penance…I mean calling. We actually miss OK every now and again). The first house we purchased in Maryland we rented – a plan for our first year, and then to purchase – took four months to find while I lived with church members. Our first house – you guessed it – a Town-house. However, as town-homes go – I must say ours was quite nice – a blessing that was hard to count at times – but must be counted. The basement was both a playroom and my office. When I needed quiet office and study time – it didn’t get any quieter than that basement. There are times now that I find myself missing the town-house, but not so much that I would consider moving back to it. That just shows me how God blesses in the midst of what I might otherwise think "I’m making do" for now. If you don’t know what "making do" is – then you must be from the north.

Our year was up on our town-home lease. The property manager would not sign us for a month – to – month lease until we found a home. It was difficult to find anything in Charles County that was either in our price range – or big enough for our family. Two months prior to our lease being up we worked diligently with our realtor, looking for a suburban home in a decent neighborhood that fell within our ability to pay.

The deadline came and we had to move out of the townhouse. Now we were homeless (for all intents and purposes). Homeless out of our house, out of our respective states (Arkansas and Delaware) and had it not been for the good nature of a church family with a Fifth Wheel camper, who knows where we would have ended up.

Those who know me well know that my dream is to live in an RV during retirement – and this fifth wheel was nice. It had the slide out living room, nice large master bedroom and as far as camping is concerned, we couldn’t have asked for nicer. We actually had fun in that camper for the first week – me and my wife and two kids. With all of our possessions in storage – again – we tripped over each other, had sleepless nights listening to the traffic pass through the thin camper walls and feeling every movement as the camper shook and rocked when someone turned over in the bed. The second week was wearing on our nerves and by the time the fourth week rolled around – not only were we pulling our hair out – but I think our church members were wanting us to go….as their privacy too had been invaded by our two children upon their invitation to enter their home 24/7 as we pleased. Graciousness and congeniatlities only go so far when you live thick as thieves and you begin to appreciate more fully your privacy and space.

After four weeks of searching to no avail for an affordable housing situation it was time to take the church kids to youth camp. I must admit, I was looking forward to the get-a-way from the RV to go off to somewhere in Pennsylvania I had never been before, leaving Robin and our youngest child behind while I took our oldest to camp. While at camp, I was listening to the camp Evangelist for the week – Ken Cash of North Carolina – and something he said in his message rang a bell. For the first time in six months I had suddenly realized that I had not prayed about our family finding a house. It’s not that I hadn’t prayed in six months – I just hadn’t prayed asking the Lord to help us find a house. We had gone through all of the steps that a person goes through when buying a house. We obtained a realtor, let him do his job, we did our job in looking through magazines, internet, and driving around neighborhoods. We followed all the steps – but what I didn’t realize is that we had actually left God out of the process. Imagine, me a Preacher...a pastor...telling people... young married couples...to "make God the center of your families and you’ll have a successful marriage" and I had forgotten to do just that. So during the invitation that night I made an appointment with God – after I asked His forgiveness. I promised the Lord: "In the morning – I will spend as long as it takes until I have peace about this housing dilemma."

The next morning came. I told the other counselor that went with me that I would not be available for the morning and asked if he minded being with the kids and I would re-join as soon as I could. He agreed and after breakfast – instead of going to the scheduled events with our kids, I stayed in the cabin. Not knowing how to face God – due to the embarrassment I felt – I simply opened up to the book of James – where the camp evangelist had been teaching from that week – and read a chapter or two – or three - OK, I read the entire book. Then I began to pray. My spirit flooded with sorrow, and I began to cry on God’s shoulders. I apologized for neglecting Him and His involvement in our house search. I began to complain to Him of how tired we were of looking for a house and how cramped that fifth wheel was.

I was reminded of how I found myself depending on Him most of my life and certainly most of my married life. Once before, twelve years prior, I had spent most of a night on my knees telling God I couldn’t provide for my newly-wedded wife, who had cried herself to sleep that night because we didn’t have enough money for groceries. I reminded God of his own words "I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10b) and proceeded to tell Him that the life we were living was not one of abundance, but of poverty, stress, and worry. It was that night that the Holy Spirit spoke to me as clearly as my wife had only a few hours before. Certainly it wasn’t an audible voice, but when the Holy Spirit speaks to your inner soul, there is no question for the child of God as to the Source. The Lord basically told me to let go of my problems and give them to Him. At that moment, I realized that I had been trying to run my own life. I was trying to work out my own problems by working two jobs to make ends meet, looking for other odd jobs and sources of financial assistance, not to mention enough energy expenditure in worry and stress to power a small city. Not knowing what else to do or where to turn – I went to God. Why is it that we always wait until the darkest hours of our lives to consider God? I realized in that night of prayer that I had been working the gears and the machinery of my life instead of allowing God to manage the mechanics.

When I was young I remember my Pastor saying more than once that "Without God you couldn’t wake up in the morning. Without God you couldn’t take a breath. Without God you couldn’t even wiggle your fingers or your toes." With that in mind – the first vocal album I recorded in 1995 – I insisted on the song "I Can’t Even Walk Without You Holding My Hand." God reminded me of that message from Pastor Scott and in that reminding I realized that I can’t even provide for my family without His help. I told the Lord in a recalcitrant resonance that I was giving my problem to Him for Him to handle and that I fully placed my trust in His ability to provide for our need. During that next week, I went to the mailbox. There was an envelope with our name written on it – no address, no stamp, no post-mark, and no return address. I opened the envelope to find $150 in cash. In 1991, that bought a lot of groceries and if memory serves, money left over.

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh
in us, Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3:19-21

Forward the video twelve years. I find myself again praying a similar prayer. Not about groceries, but about a roof over my family’s head, now having two children. Alone in a Youth Camp Cabin in the strange land of Amish country Pennsylvania (strange to this Arkansas boy – having never been further north than Louisville, KY) I once again turned my problem over to the Lord. I apologized for not having included Him in the search and process of finding a house. By the end of my prayer I had felt a strong sense of peace come over me and I just wept in the presence of God and enjoyed His fellowship.

The rest of the day seemed brighter as it usually does when you spend quality time with the Lord. I seemed to enjoy the kids more. The entire day my mind was on that morning and the peace was noticeably prominent in my spirit. I didn’t question it; rather I simply relished it, not realizing what I was about to experience that evening.

After the evening service and the night activities were in motion at the camp my cell phone rang. It was Robin. She usually let me call her since I was at Camp and she didn’t know what my schedule was, but she had called me. We had the usual "how are you" conversation then the ominous utterance: "I have something to tell you."

That’s usually not a good thing, so I nervously responded, "what is it?" not knowing what to expect next.

Robin said "I think I found us a house."

I could literally feel the hair raising up on the back of my neck. I had just prayed that morning – for the first time in six months of looking – I had asked God’s forgiveness for neglecting Him in the search process – and asked the Lord to help us. Only nine hours later – after looking for six months – my wife found a house? My mind was racing with these thoughts and others within seconds of my wife telling me this news.

"Tell me about the house" I said to Robin.

"It’s on 7 acres…"

"What??" I interrupted. I know the properties we had seen and researched.
There was nothing in Charles County, Maryland that fit our financial budget and now she’s going to tell me she found a house on seven acres? She had lost her mind – we will never be able to afford that. I then asked "Is this within our budget?" and she stated yes and told me the list price of the property.

"Robin, seven acres, within our budget – what is wrong with the house?"

She said – "there is nothing wrong with the house, it’s in good shape, it’s solid, the realtor said it was more solidly built than the suburban homes we had been looking at. There is just one problem though…"

Today I can quote the words of Jesus "…O ye of little faith" (Matthew 6:30) but that night I was thinking this can’t be true, something is wrong with this house and she is not telling me everything. However, I was also beginning to realize - - "This is the house that God has answered my prayer with – the one I just prayed this morning." At that moment in my thinking while Robin was describing the physical aspects of the house it occurred to me – "this is our house. This is the house God has provided us…I know it because we had searched for six months and this is not just a coincidence. I began to shake, and pace, my spine was tingling, my hair was standing, God was telling me – "stop questioning and accept this answer to prayer."

Robin’s words began to come to the forefront of my mind just then as I heard her say "…one thing that might be a problem…"

I said "What is that?" – while thinking to myself – "nothings a problem at this point – this is our house that God has given us."

She stated "The house is kind of small."

My response after a quick sigh of relief…."Is it bigger than the fifth wheel we’re living in?"

She laughed and answered "Yes, a little bigger – it’s only 900 square feet."

Of course I had no idea what 900 square feet was I just said – "it’s bigger than the fifth wheel – its big enough for me."

I didn’t tell her about my prayer time with the Lord during this conversation – I was still embarrassed as I know my wife had been praying. I just told Robin…"I know this is the house, go sign the contract tomorrow."

"But you haven’t seen it" she answered.

"I don’t need to see it, I know this is the house and I can’t tell you how I know right now – but trust me on this one. You’ve seen it, you like it, I don’t need to see it because I believe the Lord is in this…I will fax you over a Power of Attorney first thing in the morning so you can start the paperwork."

She said "You’re going to buy a house – sight unseen?"

While trying to hold back the tears and shouting I answered – "I wouldn’t buy just ANY house sight unseen, but I’m not questioning God on this one. I don’t need to see it. He saw this house before you or I and I’m telling you all I can tell you right now – this is our house."

She said "OK???" with a question mark in her tone. "I’ll take care of it…"

As soon as she hung up – I walked as fast as I could back to the cabin where I had talked to God earlier that morning – got back down on my knees and thanked Him for such a speedy reply and how I recognized fully that His hand was in this house and I would always give Him glory and credit for our owning it.

There is so much more I could tell about our house that God has blessed us with. I do realize now – quite fully in fact – what 900 square feet looks like. It is bigger than a fifth wheel – but not by much. But I haven’t complained once – and not a single day goes by that I don’t look out of my bedroom window or off my back deck, out into the back field watching a six point buck chase a doe in the spring time and remember the spiritual lesson I learned (3 years ago at this writing) about trusting God for all of our provisions.

"Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? … for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:30-33

"I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope." Lamentations 3:17-29

You can see our Blessing from God on my myspace. I have pictures and video: www.myspace.com/pastormikephillips

AMERICA, Home Of The Free Because Of The Brave

by Savannah Phillips (12 yrs. old)

America today is free because everyone in our country has the same rights. We all can vote. No one is “owned” by another person. Also, we have a right to our own beliefs.

We can practice our beliefs as we please. We have the freedom to speak our minds and we have the right to feel and be safe, because of the brave.

Who has helped make America free? Try 42 Presidents, inclusive of our present President have helped keep America free.

To me, freedom is important because without it, some would have rights that others wouldn’t. All people are equal and deserve the same rights. No one person should have the right to dictate the rights of another person.

Our soldiers and veterans have helped make America free because they have fought for our freedom.

Heroes Don't Have To Be Cowboys...

…In fact, Willie Nelson’s sights seemed to be set a mite low when he penned the words to “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.” In another antithetical anthem he warns mothers everywhere not to let your babies grow up to be one. Willie’s advise: “let ‘em pick guitars and drive them ole trucks, let ‘em be doctors and lawyers and such.”

I guess “Preachers” didn’t rhyme too well with the song – or maybe Willie has even less reverence for the reverend as he does the range roving wrangler. As far as song’s go, I have to side with Mike Bowling and the Crabb Family and “Thank God For The Preacher.” I have this song on 3 of my 5 blog sites that speaks of the thankless job the Preacher does but tells people about Jesus and helps to change lives for Christ.

As far as heroes go – outside of a couple of family members – my heroes have always been Clergies. One hero of mine went home last week. Instead of being saddened, I choose to rejoice because he is where I long to be one day and it has been his encouragement and teaching during my early years as a ministerial student that kept me faithful to what God called me to do.

Even in times of discouragement – it is a mans hero that sometimes sits on his shoulder and quietly reminds him of the example he was and motivates him to go a little further down the road, motivated by trying to live up to his hero’s example.

My Hero – who never had the ability to leap tall buildings, transcend time, self-heal, read minds or any other super natural fantasy – used to tell me that “if you can’t find a church to pastor – start one.” He never met a stranger, and he never let a waiter or waitress come in and out of his lunch hour without asking if they knew the Lord. In fact – my hero was so sensitive to others, in order to protect a Waffle House Short Order cook one night after a Free Will Baptist Convention had let out and descended upon this understaffed dive, he went to the back of the counter where the cook was, grabbed an apron and a spatula and said “move over – I’ll help you serve this mob.”

My hero loved his truck and drove it all over the country preaching the gospel in revival services. In restaurants and hotels, telling people personally about a personal Savior, setting the example to young preachers like me – who will probably never live up to the reputation and standard he leaves behind. He would drive down the interstate with his puppet – a frog – and when he would pass other vehicles on the interstate he would use that puppet to talk to kids in other cars – and maybe adults too. At the next rest stop – if they happened to pull in too – he would have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus.

I’ll never forget sitting in my hero’s office and the phone rang…it was a wrong number. He said to the caller “Maybe this isn’t the wrong number. Maybe you got the right number and I may be just the person you need to talk to – do you know Jesus as your savior?” What a Soul Winner! If the Bible is true – and I know that it is – it says: He that wins souls is wise. My hero must be one of the wisest men in our generation. He lived to win someone to Jesus. “Hallelujah” and “Praise the Lord” were two phrases always on his lips - sometimes to the chagrin of others (I say let them just keep chagrinnin'). He preached 90 mph and had almost as many stories to tell in his sermons – or was that the same story I just heard that many times…but I never got tired of them. One thing I do know about my hero is that he was sold out and never let that hinder his quest for preaching the gospel.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.” In his twilight years my hero was pastor of a church; his age was showing considerably, his knees were giving way to age as well. Most of us would have retired – my hero stayed in five minutes longer. One Thursday night visitation – my hero came to a home with a staircase to the front door. His knees wouldn’t let him climb the steps – so instead of turning around and leaving or going to another house – he got on his hands and knees and literally crawled up the stairs to knock on a door for the opportunity to tell someone about Jesus. If I ever met a truly biblical evangelist - my heroe fits that calling.

I never heard my hero talk about going to Heaven to see his loved ones – but it was always to see Jesus and take as many people with him as he could. Today, my hero is not hindered by hurting knees or failing heart. He is able to transcend the time and space continuum (I guess they can do that in Heaven). He doesn’t grow breathless after a walk, but I’m sure he runs down the streets of Heaven paved with gold. He doesn’t crawl up steps of humility anymore – he sits humbly at the Savior’s feet - the Savior he shared with so many people. I know last week he must have heard the words we all long to hear some day “Well done – thou good and faithful servant – enter into your rest.”

Bob Shockey (1927- 2008) – A generation of Christians and preachers will miss you – and may we never forget the Soul Winning Preacher from Kentucky.

Brokered Convention

A discussion about what it means to be a Republican.
by Conservatives United

1) Republican Brokered Conventions result in wins!

Abraham Lincoln – 3rd Ballot - Won Presidency
Rutherford Hayes – 7th Ballot - Won Presidency
James Garfield - 36th Ballot - Won Presidency
Warning Harding – 10th Ballot – Won Presidency
Dwight D. Eisenhower – “2nd Ballot” – Won Presidency

2) McCain has to win 467 more delegates (44% of remaining delegates) to secure the nomination. Huckabee needs 639 delegates (57% of remaining delegates) to force a Brokered Convention.

3) A Brokered Convention gives conservatives a voice. A Brokered Convention gives Mike Huckabee a voice. A Brokered Convention gives Mitt Romney a voice. A Brokered Convention keeps media attention on the Republican party for the next 6 months for free! If we just roll over and go to sleep the media will almost solely focus on the Democratic contest.

4) In 1968 Reagan stayed in the race and came in 3rd at the convention with 182 delegates. In 1976 Reagan stayed in the race all the way to the convention and prevented Ford from getting to 1130 delegates. Ford cut a deal that secured enough delegates before the 1st Ballot but Reagan did not bow out until Ford had crossed the finish line.

Reagan’s Revolution says: “Reagan came into the 1976 North Carolina primary having lost the first five consecutive primaries to Ford. The national party establishment was against Reagan, the media started to write him off, and his campaign was broke and in debt. Needless to say, the pressure to drop out of the race was nearly overwhelming.”

Even though Reagan won in NC it was soon statistically impossible for Reagan to win. He still stayed in. He said conservatives have a problem with Ford and until he gets 1130 I will press on.
5) Conservatives Unite! There is still time! Win the Red States and we go to the convention for a discussion about what it means to be a Republican.

Hope this brings encouragement and hope. Spread the word. It is not over!

Mike Huckabee....he just keeps on rolling

Can Huckabee Win It? You Do The Math...

Why Huck Fights On

February 7, 2008 by Doug Wead

So why is Mike Huckabee staying in the race for president? What does he hope to gain? What is he seeing that the rest of us don’t see?

Ahhhh, it is the last question that answers the first two. Huckabee is reading different numbers on his chances and so far, his numbers are proving the more accurate. The cable networks and their pundits who keep telling him to drop out of the race are reading the numbers of evangelical voters in a given contest. Huck, who is afterall in a different business than entertainment news, is reading the “born again” numbers and it has made all the difference in the world.Here is how it works. A young couple and their family has been attending a Nazarene Church for the last six years. They like it, they are comfortable, they support the values, they will vote for a candidate who lines up. At the exit poll they are asked by a cable news network if they are an evangelical?

Well, they aren’t sure; this is a term that has been imposed from without, a catchall with negative connotations. In 2000, John McCain called evangelicals “agents of intolerance.” They don’t give to television evangelists. They are just Nazarene, or maybe their church is Southern Baptist, or Assemblies of God or some other “community church.” A huge percentage of evangelicals still do not know that they are, in fact, part of “the evangelical group.”

Huckabee is working with Gallup numbers, the only truly reliable numbers on religion. It is what we worked with in our successful 1988 campaign for George Herbert Walker Bush, who won 81% of evangelicals nationwide. Gallup’s numbers could be trusted then because they offered a definition inside the question itself. And because they offered a point of reference. (They had been publishing their surveys of religion for years.) And because no special interest drove their polling, it was strictly a curious socio-cultural snapshot of America.

Here was Gallup’s question…

“Are you a born again Christian, that is, have you had a turning point in your life in which you committed yourself to Jesus Christ?”

In 1984, as we looked ahead and planned the GHW Bush presidential run, 39% of the American public said “Yes” to that question. Today the number is closer to 42%.

In 1992, Gallup finally added an addendum to the above question to make it clear…

“And / or, are you an evangelical?”

To all of the above that Nazarene couple would have answered yes.

This year, Evangelicals have watched with bemusement and then horror as the cable news networks have hashed and rehashed who they are, what they believe and why they vote the way they vote. One would think that having an evangelical or two also commenting would be good marketing. Can you imagine networks full of whites talking on and on about Black voters with nary a word from the Black community itself? Well, you got it with evangelicals.

And the same arrogance led to their pointless, irrelevant polls. It led to them believe that Huckabee’s diminished evangelical pool could not support wins in the South on Super Tuesday, for example. But while they saw 28% of the voters in a given state as evangelical, Huckabee knew that twice that many were born again Christians who would support him.We encountered a similar problem in the 1988 cycle. CBS News had exit polls showing that 17% of the nation were fundamentalist Christians. This was a period in which national ignorance of religion in the media was so widespread that we couldn’t get the media to see the difference between fundamentalists, in the John Rice tradition, Jerry Falwell, for example, and the larger evangelical movement. The difference was huge. For example, our Gallup polls, including an excellent purloined survey that had been commissioned by Robert Schuller, showed that only 2% of the nation considered themselves as Fundamentalists, while the 39% claimed to be born again.So where did CBS get its 17%? Most of the public was far more informed about religion than the elitists in media who covered it. Some people answered no to CBS, even though they were born again Christians, some thought, well, I am not a fundamentalist but I think they are really wanting to know if I am born again. They said, yes. Others thought, maybe they are getting it mixed up with evangelicals, and so CBS came up with a bogus, irrelevant number that represented nothing more than a grasp in the dark.

For a brief period, the national news media had a perfect window into this world through John Ellis, a cousin of the Bush family who ran the polling division at NBC. The computer programming pioneer, Roman Godzich, who would later become famous for introducing news on the internet, had set up the NBC system. And we, evangelicals at the Bush campaign, were backtracking to NBC, to help them ask the right questions. The secular media thought our campaign was out of its mind for its early courting of evangelicals. But we got our work done, most of it by 1986, and we were moving into mainstream waters completely by the last year, unscathed by media antipathy toward our Christian allies.

This week, as frantic conservatives tried to drive Huckabee out of the contest, he saw numbers twice as big as theirs. He, alone paid attention to how evangelicals were cutting in Iowa in the last three days when the estrangement between Mormons and Evangelicals surfaced. He knew that if he dropped out, his supporters would not go to Romney. The race would be over. He knew that the bogus attacks on his conservative credentials would not phase his base. (Huckabee’s most liberal moment as governor of Arkansas was raising cigarette taxes in state. Evangelicals don’t care about “sin taxes.” They cared more about Romney’s support of gay civil unions and pro choice in Massachusetts.)

So why does Huckabee stay in the race?

Because in their rush to destroy his chances they have frightened the whole evangelical movement, maybe even awakened parts of it and united parts of it that Huckabee had not been able to reach. MSNBC openly sneered at him, for no apparent reason other than his faith. CNN marginalized him, excluding him from a debate when he was only 1 point separate from Mitt Romney in national polls. FOX News led its Super Tuesday morning program with Karen Hanratty’s anti-Huckabee rant, “Thank God he won’t be the nominee. I don’t care what he does.” Evangelicals themselves feel under attack.

But Huckabee’s numbers proved prescient, the networks bogus. And he is still reading those numbers and must follow them to their end conclusion in Virginia and elsewhere. Now he has become something more. He represents a huge segment of the nation that is feeling excluded, ripped, vilified and powerless. The media hostility and pushing and shoving is awakening the giant. Too late to win the nomination but not too late to bargain at the table of a beleaguered candidate.

This week the media elites, in their great ignorance of evangelicals, will announce that the negotiation have begun at C-PAC between Movement Conservatives and the nominee, John McCain. But C-PAC will represent only the Catholic talking heads and institutions inside the beltway. The negotiations will not be over. Any bargaining with evangelicals will now have to pass through the hands of Governor Mike Huckabee.

Oops! I Did It Again...

Remember that email I blogged about between Sean Hannity and myself? Seems that Gary Bauer (who I CC'd) want's to weigh in. I received his response today.

For the sake of bringing you up to speed (in case you missed the first one) let me remind you that when Sean Hannity came out and endorsed Mitt Romney - I received an email from a frustrated friend in Ohio who - like many others - has a very difficult time in watching the continued mis-treatment of any GOP Candidate - but certainly Mike Huckabee since that is who the Principaled and Values Voters support. You can read the detailed account below - but the remark I made that "offended" Sean Hannity was "So much for Faith and Family Values. It's all about the money and the Mormon funding these guys receive."

It was that email that now the Evangelical Leader Gary Bauer decided to weigh in on. Gary is one individual that I have been discussing Huckabee and other candidates with quite vigorously for a while. His response was:

I understand the strong negative reaction to Senator McCain. I would caution, however, that some of the criticism is overblown. For example:

He has an 82% American Conservative Union voting record.

He has repeatedly promised to veto any tax increase.

He voted against the hate crimes bill.

He is the toughest Republican Senator on fighting pork barrel spending.

He has voted pro-life on every issue except, unfortunately, stem-cells.

Hillary or Obama will destroy our military, shut down conservative talk radio, raise taxes,
surrender in Iraq and give us socialized medicine. How can anything that bad for America possibly be good for conservatives?

Gary

Mr. Bauer is reacting to my comments of voting for Obama if Huckabee isn't at the very least a VP candidate.

I will close this blog with my copy and pasted response to Mr. Bauer and trust it will speak for itself without further commentary (but please feel free to add your comments).

Mr. Bauer,
In response to your reply (be forwarned - Hannity has called me a Huckabee Conspiracy Theorist on National Radio so whatever you have to offer I can take).

Is it overblown that McCain doesn't support the "Sovereignty" of the US?
Is it overblown that McCain supports gay marriage?
Is it overblown that McCain supports stem cell research ("unfortunately" not)?

As for promising to veto any tax increase - so has Huckabee. I'm not going into full explanation here - but you can listen to the same YouTubes and the radio interview between Huckabee and Colmes that I've heard regarding Huckabee's position on tax increase and his POSITIVE record of surplus and LOWERING Taxes in Arkansas (his record is far better than Romney's), along with fixing the education fiasco, the HealthCare problems and Road Problems, the Clintons left behind.
The Hate crimes bill has not been an issue (at least a major one) in this election (that I'm aware of)
Huckabee promises to be tough on Pork Barrel spending and has promoted a Line Item Veto to accomplish it.

Conservative Talk radio is far from conservative - and I'm at the place that they need to be shut down as you suggest the democrats will do. If they aren't going to report objectively and truthfully - why should they exist. It is gross misconduct to be King Makers. The reason FOX came into existence to begin with was so we had an alternative to the Main Stream Media King Maker's - now we have Conservative King Makers. As a matter of fact - what makes you think John McCain wouldn't shut them down alongside the Democrats - his McCain/Feingold bill certainly had the intent of shutting Evangelical Ministries down (even though it was only self-serving to get him the GOP nomination - and now that he has come out and stated that M/F is 'unconstitutional' and your candidate stated it was "bad legislation" the purpose of the M/F bill has been served - and Americans have been duped - and our Government Used like last nights prostitute) Their (FOX and relative pundits) journalism is and remains unethical in practice, and has been bought and paid for.

Socialized Medicine is a Romney plan as well as the democrats.

My position is - if we're going to elect a RINO - let's just put a Democrat in. At least we'll know what to expect of them. Then the GOP's will rally to keep their hands tied and regain Congressional/Senate seats back in 2010. Hillary would probably be the lesser of two evils between her and Obama - so maybe I overspoke in which Democrat I would vote for - but I will not vote for McCain unless Huckabee is the VP (provided he doesn't get the nomination in a brokered convention at this point). I will not vote for Romney even if Huckabee is his VP because of his dirty politics and "Do anything to get elected" mentality. He is as bad if not worse on flip-flopping than John Kerry and the Democrats will hand him his head on a platter in November should he win the nomination.

Evangelical Leadership, the GOP Washington Insiders, and Fox News (Conservative Radio) have all grossly mis-handled this election and probably have cost us the White House.

I almost ended with that - but just to be clear, I'm not upset because the groups I've listed have "Not supported" Huckabee (with exception to the Evangelical leadership who should know better). I'm upset because they clearly ostrosized Huckabee and (yourself included) came out very early stating that "we don't endorse" but you all eventually ended up endorsing when Mike Huckabee started showing promise and even early on - the non-endorsing crowd had no problem saying "we don't endorse - but Mike Huckabee is liberal" and spun his very conservative, very humane, very Christian governing record into what amounted to out-right lies. Evangelical leadership seemingly (this is a "Conspiracy Theory" floating about) have been simply trying to jump on the winning horse in this race - thus they have not backed their clear choice candidate.

THERE MR. HANNITY is why I stated "So much for Faith and Family Values" it seems that the Evangelical leadership can be bought and sold too (along with you and Clear Channel - if that offends you - I'm sorry - - I'm offended too). In the name of "power and open communication lines" with whomever becomes the next President, Evangelicals have remained silent. I have been told by Tony Perkins' staffer's and close friends of James Dobson that my thinking of Mormon Money lining their Organizational pockets is off - but I still maintain "follow the money" How many Mormon Dollars compared to non-mormon dollars pays their utility costs, payroll costs, etc. A comparison I'd like to see. But even taking the words of these individuals - one of which I trust greatly - the silence of these Evangelical leaders is not warranted and not appropriate. Sorry - my Bible tells me that once "having done all to stand... stand." and Evangelicals across this country have given to Focus on the Family, FRC (Tony Perkins), ACLJ (Jay Sekulow), AFA (who have done the right thing in this election), and I would even venture to say Gary Bauer's org and supported their battle cries and calls - and when the rubber met the road when Huckabee threw in (which would have been, should have been, and WAS their prime candidate) they should have gotten behind him with everything their organizations could throw....but they remained silent (an epitaph for their tombstones). They took to the political low road. When it came time to Put up or shut up - they shut up. That's what the Bible terms as being "lukewarm." They had their chance and missed it, and I will be watching and listening throughout the next Presidents adminstration and everytime I hear a complaint or a stance against abortion or any other "Christian issue" - I'm going to tell them Mike Huckabee, Mike Huckabee, Mike Huckabee....you had your chance and took a pass." Every aborted baby's grave should have that on their tombstone: "You had your chance to save me and took a political pass."

Well Mr. Bauer, you and I may never see eye to eye on this election. But you have lost a lot of respect of some very good Christian individuals that I've communitcated with. Why exactly - outside of your failed support of Huckabee and your attacks against him - I'm not sure - something transpiring before my time regarding political interests and involvment.

As stated earlier - I can vote for a McCain/Huckabee ticket as long as I follow it up with a stiff drink (just kidding - I don't drink - just watch too many westerns - since I don't have FOX News to watch or WMAL radio to listen to any more). I would hope we could work together in the future - but unfortunately until this election is over - I have the "if your not for me - your against me" mentaility as applied to Hucakbee - which as you should know is a Biblical Principal.

As for conspiracy theories - - a friend of mine has a very good concept on conspiracy theories - too long to get into here, but there is definately a conspiracy theory that is reality when you think about "principalities and powers" in high places. Many people are working (possibly at odds with others) for the same ultimate goal of the Prince of Persia - but our goal is for the Prince of Peace, and we are currently losing a well-fought battle with this election - haven't lost - but behind at this writing - and in the end you and I both know Who wins the war whatever the outcome of the battle may be. The battle at this time is only the Nomination for GOP Candidate, the next Battle is the General Election, but the War - is the Kingdom of Heaven and it's citizens, to which - in Jesus Christ - we are both a part of. I will stand with you anytime for that ultimate victory - and wish you and the other Evangelical Leaders who chose to go left when they should have gone right had stood with me and many others in this current battle we now face.

I don't know what you think about Don Wildmon - I've always thought he was pretty "out there" but he has supported this candidate and for now - has won my appreciation. I'm not sure how effective he is - but I give him an A for effort, diligence, and faithfulness to his calling over the years. The other more well-known Arlington Group members left their first love and as Mr. Hannity suggested for me...."should be ashamed" of themselves. You can read about that on my blog.

Thanks for the reply.

With respect,
Michael Phillips, Chairman
Maryland Faith and Family Values Coalition
Waldorf, MD

African-Americans Support Huckabee

On Monday, February 4th a group of Black Conservatives from across the country gathered at the National Press Club to announce their backing of Mike Huckabee for President. Michael Brown (Washington DC) and Mike Phillips (Waldorf, MD) of Hucks Army – a grassroots organization supporting Mike Huckabee – were present to show their support and be able to report back to the Huckabee constituency.

The purpose of the press conference was to urge former Governor Mike Huckabee to remain in the Presidential race for the GOP nomination. They each stated their strong support for Mike Huckabee to remain in the race all the way to convention in September despite the efforts of intimidation and “cry-baby tactics” of Mitt Romney’s campaign. Don Scoggins – a black Republican for 50 years and President of Republicans for Black Empowerment located in DC – stated that “mike Huckabee should not be intimidated to stop his bid for the nomination.” Star Parker, founder and President of C.U.R.E. (Coalition of Urban Renewal and Education – www.urbancure.org) stated that “black Americans have been duped by the democratic party for too long.” Ms. Parker, a former welfare recipient admitting to four abortions before understanding the misleading myth that abortion is a harmless form of birth control, stated that “Barak Obama is the most liberal candidate in this election. His views do not reflect Christian Values or the values of Black People.” She further stated that black people have been repressed and it is the Democratic Party that has led us to believe that they are the answer to our plight. “Welfare doesn’t work for the black American, young black men need to go to work and build themselves a future” according to Parker. Star also stated that African Americans need to “…understand that moral and economic health go hand in hand and should not be underestimated.”

All of the speakers maintained the concept of the Christian’s responsibility to vote according to principals and values. If that is the goal, “Black people in this country will not choose Barak Obama or Mitt Romney as their choice for president” maintaining their records on abortion.

50 African American conservatives were represented at the Press Conference denoting their support of Mike Huckabee including but not limited to Ron Miller (a former congressional candidate of MD), Eric Brown of FL, Daryl Bassett of LR, Marvin Harris, GA and many others.

Rev. Clenard Childress of Montclair NJ asked the question “Does Barak Obama fit the dream of Martin Luther King?” Using the “I Have A Dream Speech,” Rev. Childress suggested that voters line each candidate up with the challenge that Dr. King gave America in Washington. Dr. King stated that we need to be a “Nation of conscience” to which Rev. Childress stated “Obama denied healthcare to babies who survived abortions, and he has a conscience?” He further stated that Barak Obama was an “African American perpetrating a fraud.”

I'm A Conspiracy Theorist: So Says Sean Hannity

Is the next attack to be compared to Ron Paulinian conspiratists?

Today I had the distinct honor of exchanging emails with one of the Faux News Huck Heister's: Sean Hannity.

The exchange began last night with an email I received from a friend in Ohio (who's name I'll leave out for her benefit - but suffice it to say she is an Ohio leader of political values voting responsibility). Sean Hannity - yesterday - came out and endorsed Mitt Romney for President. Certainly Sean has that right - but where he and most every other Faux News Pundit has erred is that they have all tried to ram-rod this election from behind a camera and microphone.

It's difficult enough for a candidate with little money to show he is electable and can win in November while running against seven other candidates - one of which will climb a tree to tell a lie as to stand on the ground and tell the truth (Sean's choice - Romney). But add to that mix of seven candidates a slew of pundits like Sean, Rush, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingram, Britt Hume, Bill O'Reiley, and every other so-called Fair and Balanced campaign conjurator Fox and Bain Capital (Romney's Corporation) have on their payroll and you have a very difficult campaign hill to climb indeed. For most it would be impossible, but for Mike it has been impressive. With little funds, lies fabled, and limelight Fox-fettered Huckabee is still in the game.

Certainly the liberal media (Faux News included) would have you to beleive it's all over but the shouting with McCain in the driver's seat. But there are many states in the south that Mike Huckabee is either in a clear lead or tied for first place for Super Tuesday. He still has a chance - even though snow-ball might be looming in the back of our mind to further descript the chance. If there were no chance - I hope he remains in the race to muck up Mitt's opportunity to lead this country into a socialistic, government controlled wreck of a nation and GOP.

Senator Obama is calling for Obama Republicans in like fashion as Reagan called for his Reagan Democrats. If Romney wins the GOP nomination - I'm ready to roll for Obama. If McCain wins the nomination and chooses anyone but Huckabee - I'm rolling left in November. My rationale? If we're going to elect a democrat let's be honest about it and get a REAL Democrat in the Whitehouse.

Let's deal with my Consipiracy Theorisms

In recent weeks I've learned some things about the "money trail" in politics. Duncan Hunter has suggested in a few debates to "follow the money." Briefly, if we follow the money - or at least ask the question as to where the money originates, it becomes quite enlightening without a conspiracy anywhere in sight. As Mitt Romney told McCain the other night in the CNN debates "Facts are a funny thing." It is a fact that Mitt Romney owns Bain Capital. It is a fact that Bain Capital owns Fox News Network. It is a Fact that Sean Hannity is under contract until 2010 with Fox News Network. Any questions as to why the endorsement? Facts are a funny thing.

I stated in my email reply last night - when asked by my Ohio friend of what we can do at this point to help our canididate overcome these obstacles presented from our own GOP family - that I was just learning of Hannity's endorsement of Romney. I was also just learning of some very disheartening information as to Evangelicals participating in the Romney campaign. The only way I can rationalize in my mind the reason for Hannity's support for Romney (at least until I learned who his boss was) is that McCain is just too liberal and Huckabee is just too Christian.

"I just learned from the Mike Huckabee blog that Jay Sekulow is
a Senior Staff advisor for Romney. Unbelievable. I'm sorry - If Romney
wins this nomination - I'll be one of Obama's Republicans. At least we can count
on him to be honest with America. We've lost the Evangelical leadership that's
certain. Tony Perkins is pulling for Romney and Dobson seems to be with his
silence. So much for Faith and Values. It's all about the money and the
Mormon funding these guys receive."

To which Sean Hannity responds...

"This statement is beyond offensive.............you should be
ashamed of yourself..........and for the record pointing out that Rudy saved NY
from Pornography, prostitution, drugs murder, crime, high taxes, and excessive
welfare is not an endorsement.....IT IS A FACT!"

All screaming aside (all caps are considered shouting in emails - a FACT I'm sure Sean is aware of) Sean Hannity should be offended. He should be offended just like I'm offended. I am offended as a right of right conservative that Checkbook Journalism has won the day in this election. I didn't question Giuiliani's record in any email sent to Hannity. However, in my response, I reminded Hannity that Rudy is

"...Pro-choice, his position on Roe v. Wade is weak with his promise only to appoint judges. Huckabee's goal is to overturn Roe v. Wade. We've appointed enough judges in the last 30 years to have been able to get the job done by now. I am convinced that 'appointing judges' is Washington insiders little stroke to appease the 42% of Evangelicals in this country."

Hannity further responded

"You should be ashamed of yourself saying this,............ I will not even respond to your crazy conspiracy theory which is also FALSE--I speak for MYSELF only........."

I should be ashamed of myself.
For what exactly? For calling a duck a duck? For stating the facts as I see them? I'm not ashamed of that. I stand firm for principals in every aspect of life. I have let church member's walk out of my congregation because they wanted me to turn a blind eye to the wrongs they were committing, because others wanted me to water down the message of the Bible, because I taught what the word of God says whether the hearer liked it or not. I am Principaled and am not ashamed of the truth. The truth is, when I watch Fox News and listen to the Sean Hannity show (radio or TV), Huckabee is being ignored. I know it and see it. Other do as well - so while Hannity speaks for "HIMSELF only" I speak for me and MANY OTHERS who I've spoken to personally, read their comments in discussion boards, and blogged about on the internet.

What I AM ashamed of is what pretends to be "Evangelical" in this country. The so-called Evangelical leadership have failed this country, this consitituent, and this candidate (Huckabee). Sean Hannity could not today - nor can he deny that Tony Perkins, Jay Sekulow, and quite possibly James Dobson (though sources adamantly tell me otherwise) have BIG MONEY coming into their organizations from the LDS Church (Mormons). I hear Duncan Hunter's voice distantly in the past debates saying "Follow the Money"

In defending himself Hannity mentioned that Huckabee was on his TV show tonight at 9:00 - leaving me to beleive he was being gracious only later this afternoon to learn that Chip Saltzman requested the time for Huckabee to "pick a bone" with Hannity. I will certainly watch with interest. I did give Hannity his due kudos in that he has allowed Huckabee to have more airtime than any other candidate...

"And in those time frames, you have demeaned Huckabee's record by either lying or being mis-informed about his fiscal conservatism and raising taxes in Arkansas. The candidate you endorsed raised more taxes and fees that Huckabee did. The candidate you endorse pandered to the Homosexual agenda as Governor of his state. The candidate you endorse allowed for $50 co-pays for abortions in his mandated health-care program that he will bring to Washington.
Are you for mandated health-care? If so - I'm quite surprised.

Also in the majority of your time with Huckabee you have made it a point to call
him a Baptist Preacher and question his ability to lead. You and other FOX
pundits have all used the "Christian" aspect of Huckabee to cause his demise,
but where Romney has been concerned he is always referred to as a Governor - not a Mormon.

I will also give you credit for the post-debate interviews that you
have given - - as opposed to FOX's overall mishandling of the debates. The
last FOX debate allowed 22 minutes for Romney to speak and only 11 for
Huckabee. I didn't track McCain's time. There is no excuse for that - well
except for the excuse of having an agenda for electing the owner FOX and
Baines Capital as President. Our GOP Nomination has been bought and paid for
and I'm not the one who should be ashamed."

So, time draws nigh for the Huck/Hannity showdown. In closing, I'm no more a conspiracy theorist than I am a potential Vice Presidential pick for Huckabee should he win the nomination. I hope Huckabee is tough, firm, and Presidential tonight. I pray that many will watch the show - both the Fox Coolaid Swallowers as well as those of us who have spewn their lukewarmedness out of our mouths when we realized they were bought and paid for and trying to be king-makers instead of ethical and legitimate journalists.

Before I had the chance to hit the "publish Post" button Frank Luntz states to Hannity on Fox that Huckabee came out of the CNN Debate as the favorite. How many debates does Mike Huckabee have to win before FOX and the other Liberal Media outlets with them will see him as a viable candidate that can beat the Clinton Machine and "out debate" Obama.

"CHANGE" the current Buzz Word

By: Doug Ritchie, a resident of Charles County, Maryland


What has happened to make us wonder just what words mean?


Take the word “CHANGE.” We hear much ado about change. Who are those among us who cry out for "change?" What do they mean?

Political comments have changed. Since Clinton was President, we have been hearing charges of every and all sorts about our republican leaders.

It has been ‘so long and far away’ since we have heard any of the music we all used to listen to and hum the melody during our day's work.

Lately all we read or hear from the media make us feel afraid to do what we have been doing all of our lives. I stopped reading newspapers years ago. I’m betting you will think: "What wisdom!"
Newspapers are so biased. I can’t believe them. I stopped when Vicki the Vulganizer was doing her very sincere best to destroy our republican county commissioners in the mid 1990’s. Wasn’t I smart! {I mean ‘wise.’}

Soon, folks, now Congress with that thin democrat majority will be trying to cause me to stop listening to radio. Have you heard about their Fairness Doctrine bill? Seems Congressional leaders want to violate the First Amendment to the Constitution with their version of “Fairness.”
‘Imprimis*’, they will violate the first of the Bill of Rights by making a law regarding the use of our public's air waves. Somehow they construe the idea that mandating Free Speech must be Equal Speech. What do you think of that? In using the term "fairness" they they twist the definition of fairness to mean what that bill will mandate. Really insightful.

Churches don’t pay taxes because they are not supposed to be houses of politics. [Editors Note: In Maryland we may not pay taxes as a church - but we do pay fee's in order to maintain tax exemption - go figure, sounds like something right out of Mitt Romney's playbook] Yet we see time and again democrat politicians at the main stations in many churches soliciting votes. We see church leaders touting openly candidates of their flavor so they obviously are convincing their group to support those candidates. Those churches should have to pay Federal and state income taxes as do all other groups who support candidates. Why hasn’t the IRS gone after them? They do come after us!

That they do what they do has been overlooked for what reason? Is that a FAIRNESS Doctrine?
Do you find it strange now that we hear and see words being used in strange ways?

Charles County, Maryland

When I hear the word SMART I think of "hurt." As in, “boy did that bee sting smart!”
What does Planning and Zoning Committees mean by SMART GROWTH?

That is why the term SMART GROWTH means painful growth to me. When you read your recent new tax assessment for your home didn't you feel pain? I did. My home assessment was increased by one hundred thousand dollars.

I could feel the pain of SMART GROWTH when I must pay not $2000, but $3000 per year to live in my brick Chicken Coop. [Oops, now they have me using double meanings.] Anyone who recently had to meet the demands of SMART GROWTH zoning will easily recant the pain they experienced.

Use of words such as Change, Fairness and SMART don't carry the same meanings anymore.

There are other terms you could easily add to this short list. Truth is one, isn't it?

As to the sounds we hear that are supposed to be "music" why don't they set us to humming any melodies do they? Are those sounds music? I don't think they are. Somehow we have warped back in time to that hypothetical year "1984." What was anticipated in 1948 in Great Britain was off the mark by just a couple of decades in our lives.

Seems it took a little longer for those among us to bring about the same changes here.

What are we going to do about all this?
Do we sit back and do the politically correct thing or are we going to stand up, declare our disdain, and do the right thing by fighting for those freedoms we are about to lose?

Don't we have grandchildren to leave those very freedoms we have had handed to us by those multitudes who actually died to keep for us?

I see a start of a war against "terrorists" of a new kind. Just as we know why in the mid 1850’s the French cried out "To Arms, Citizens!"

Don't you agree that Rudy Guiliani lost his fight for the Presidency of this great nation because he forgot what it was we must fight for? He forgot he was the first to tell us it is FREEDOM we will lose if we don't stand up and fight! How "slick" his media enemy was! Hillary did not wish to take him on later! All that glitters is not GOLD. The truth is not what it really is any more.
Now it has come to be the time for all good voters to go to the polls on February 12th to vote for fighters who can remember from day to day just what it is like to lose one's FREEDOM.

Experience is a dear teacher.

It will be so easy to stay home.

It will be so much harder to win back what we’ll lose just as it will be to pay the coming heavy tax bills from Governor O’Malley. His lesson taught us what truth really is, didn't he?

* Imprimis is Latin for “in the first place.”

Doug Ritchie
dougr33@earthlink.net
Proudly serving the cause of patriotism

MD General Assembly enacted the tax increases to support Socialism's growing hunger!

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