In the words of RONALD REAGAN

On abortion Reagan said, "If you don't know whether a body is alive or dead, you would never bury it.  Until someone can prove the unborn child is not a life, shouldn't we give it the benefit of the doubt and assume that it is?"  "These children, over tenfold the number of Americans lost in all our nation's wars, will never laugh, never sing, never experience the joy of human love; nor will they strive to heal the sick, or feed the poor, or make peace among nations.  Abortion has denied them the first and most basic of human rights, and we are infinitely poorer for their loss." (pg. 212,213)

On human nature Reagan said of a lawyer and a farmer who had collided with one another in a head-on collision, "They both staggered out of their cars.  The farmer took one look at the lawyer, walked back to his car, took out a package, and brought it back.  There was a bottle inside, and he said, 'Here, you look pretty shaken up.  I think you ought to take a nip of this; it'll steady your nerves.'  So the lawyer did.  Then the farmer said, 'You still look a little bit pale.  How about another?'  And the lawyer took another swallow.  At the farmer's urging, he took another and another and another.  Finally he said he was feeling pretty good, and asked the farmer if he didn't think that he ought to have a little nip too.  The farmer said, 'Not me.  I'm waiting for the state trooper.'" (pg. 210)

After being charged in a letter for lack of compassion Reagan responded, "I'm sure everyone feels sorry for the individual who has fallen by the wayside or who can't keep up in our competitive society, but my own compassion goes beyond that to those millions of unsung men and women who get up every morning, send the kids to school, go to work, try to keep up the payments on their house, pay exorbitant taxes to make possible compassion for the less fortunate, and as a result have to sacrifice many of their own desires and dreams and hopes.  Government owes them something better than always finding a new way to make them share the fruit of their toils with others." (Pg. 69)

(Quotations taken from the book RONALD REAGAN - How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader by Dinesh D'Souza; The Free Press, A division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York; 1997)

A LETTER TO DAD by Vance Havner

Dear Dad:
   Among the treasures of bygone years there's a faded old letter you wrote to me when I was a puzzled country boy away at college.  I answered it then, but tonight, across the span of years, I'd like to answer it again.  A lot of water has run under the bridge since, with scratchy pen, you put down those words of counsel to help me on the straight and narrow way.  You have long since gone and I know you need no letter, for you see quite clearly from heaven's grandstand what is ofttimes so foggy to us who still run the race.  A letter from me can give you little information, but one from you could certainly throw light on many a subject!
  
   But just the same, I'd like to thank you better than ever I did when you were here for what you did and what you were.  I am so glad that you believed the authority in the home belonged to you and not to me.  I remember that time when your little boy tried just once to talk out loud to another little boy at church and disturbed the service.  You handled that well:  I never talked out again!  I thank you for reading the Bible at bedtime before the old fireplace and then on bended knee committing us all afresh to our Father in heaven.  My knees grew tired sometimes, but you built a wall around my soul that the devil was never able to tear down.  I know you never kept up with the styles, and that funny fur cap I wore off to boarding school lingers still in my recollections:  but I never knew the difference then and I get a good laugh out of it now, so no harm was done.  You didn't have a lot to sell in your grocery store, but you gave away a lot in helpful words and godly counsel:  you cast your bread upon the waters and some of it is coming back still today.
  
   I remember the times I heard you praying in that little store, reminding God that you had given me to Him and asking Him to remember His Word to you in which He had caused you to hope.  I think you got a little shaky about me a time or two:  it looked as if I were going to miss the track in spite of everything, but God didn't let you down, for He never lets anyone down.  I'm preaching that old-time religion that you always hoped I'd always preach and partly because my father's prayers have followed me.  As I look back over the road I've come and see how near I came to leaving it, I know that something greater than myself had a hand in it all; yes, not something but Some One, for the God of my father had an understanding with you and His eye was on me.
  
   I've thought a lot of how you used to meet me when I came home from my preaching trips.  When the train rounded that curve at the depot I could always see you standing beside the little old Ford, in that old blue suit that never was pressed again from the day you bought it.  It never seems right to round that curve and not see you there.  But there are other curves ahead, and when I get home for good I don't know how close to the gate of glory you can stand, but I'm sure you'll be on hand.  I have wondered what you'll look like, but I'm sure I'll know you.  And there'll be plenty of time to catch up on the conversation that was interrupted years ago.
  
   You always liked to sing, though neither of us was unusually gifted that way.  I am sure you're in great trim now, after all these years of practice.  I am anxious to get over there and try out my brand-new voice with you on "Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound."  From the looks of things down here, it probably won't be long till Jesus comes.  I'll see you in the morning!

(From the book, THE BEST OF VANCE HAVNER, originally printed in 1969 by Fleming H. Revell Company and reprinted in 1980 by Baker Book House Company; 49-51)

CHRISTIANS FILET CHICK-FIL-A

Us Christians are a peculiar lot sometimes in ways that are not the least bit flattering.  For example, we rightly lament the continual downward slide of the culture wherein we live and even agree to boycott companies and businesses which cater to the cesspool of iniquity that has in many areas engulfed American culture. 

Yet, when the President of Chick fil-A, a major player in the fast-food industry, takes the correct public stand and aligns himself with Biblical guidelines regarding marriage (one man-one woman), many Christians scurry to find fault with those who stood in support of the company.

I realize that not every person standing in line or sitting in an overcrowded drive-thru at Chick-fil-A this past Wednesday on "Appreciation Day" was a born-again, bible-toting, fundamental Baptist.  I think that it is safe to assume that not even the majority of folks who patronized CFA were remotely Christian. 

However, I am nonetheless pleased, if not ecstatic, that the position taken by the president of Chick-fil-A, Mr. Cathy, was met with thunderous enthusiasm and overwhelming support from a normally apathetic general public.  Many Christians, however, were not so pleased and began their criticism of the event with the likes of, "Well, it's nice to support Biblical marriage and free speech, but how many of those people will be in church tonight?" 

My question is, would they have rathered the American public stood in agreement with sodomy and same-sex marriage?  I think not.  Would I love for every one of those individuals who supported CFA to be active members of Bible-believing churches? Of course!  But the fact that they are not does not preclude me from rejoicing in the news that it appears a majority of Americans still support Biblical marriage and the freedom to express a religious point of view.

Folks, I appreciate the fact that so many of us were willing to identify with Chick-fil-A and their president's view of marriage as defined by the Bible.  I appreciate that millions came out in support of one man's right to believe what he wishes and, yes, even state publicly what those beliefs are.  This is still America, is it not?

I am not, however, willing to stand with other Christian cynics who see nothing but the negative in everything they view.  Decry the culture, yes; boycott companies that promote wickedness, yes; and while we're standing against those harboring positions with which we disagree, let us stand with those whose values we esteem.  And that is My View From The Porch for Saturday, August 4, 2012.  God bless.

SWORD CONFERENCE ARRIVAL, 2012

The 2012 National Sword of the Lord Conference begins tonight at 7 p.m. sharp and I have arrived here in Winston-Salem with expectation and anticipation for a tremendous week ahead.  The Monday that begins the conference is a travel day for most, and this writer is no exception though the distance traveled is minor compared to the miles driven by numerous other attendees.

From all over America and many foreign countries they will come to be blessed, encouraged, inspired and, yes, perhaps convicted.  We are here to exalt the name of Jesus, the blood of His Cross, the King James Bible, holy, separated living, confrontational soulwinning, and the old-time way.

Tonight, Sword Editor, Shelton Smith, begins the conference to be followed by Pastor Tim Rabon from Beacon Baptist Church in nearby Raleigh, North Carolina.  Last evening this writer had the privilege of attending the services at Beacon and was blessed, as usual, by the powerful, convicting preaching of Dr. Sam Davison.  We anticipate more of that kind of preaching this week. If you cannot attend please pray that God will move on the hearts of those who are in attendance and stir us to steer this nation back to God.

SOWELL NAILS ROBERTS

Betrayal is hard to take, whether in our personal lives or in the political life of the nation. Yet there are people in Washington -- too often, Republicans -- who start living in the Beltway atmosphere, and start forgetting those hundreds of millions of Americans beyond the Beltway who trusted them to do right by them, to use their wisdom instead of their cleverness.

President Bush 41 epitomized these betrayals when he broke his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge. He paid the price when he quickly went from high approval ratings as president to someone defeated for reelection by a little known governor from Arkansas.

Chief Justice John Roberts need fear no such fate because he has lifetime tenure on the Supreme Court. But conscience can be a more implacable and inescapable punisher -- and should be.

The Chief Justice probably made as good a case as could be made for upholding the constitutionality of ObamaCare by defining one of its key features as a "tax."

The legislation didn't call it a tax and Chief Justice Roberts admitted that this might not be the most "natural" reading of the law. But he fell back on the long-standing principle of judicial interpretation that the courts should not declare a law unconstitutional if it can be reasonably read in a way that would make it constitutional, out of "deference" to the legislative branch of government.

But this question, like so many questions in life, is a matter of degree. How far do you bend over backwards to avoid the obvious, that ObamaCare was an unprecedented extension of federal power over the lives of 300 million Americans today and of generations yet unborn?

These are the people that Chief Justice Roberts betrayed when he declared constitutional something that is nowhere authorized in the Constitution of the United States.

John Roberts is no doubt a brainy man, and that seems to carry a lot of weight among the intelligentsia -- despite glaring lessons from history, showing very brainy men creating everything from absurdities to catastrophes. Few of the great tragedies of history were created by the village idiot, and many by the village genius.

One of the Chief Justice's admirers said that when others are playing checkers, he is playing chess. How much consolation that will be as a footnote to the story of the decline of individual freedom in America, and the wrecking of the best medical care in the world, is another story.
There are many speculations as to why Chief Justice Roberts did what he did, some attributing noble and far-sighted reasons, and others attributing petty and short-sighted reasons, including personal vanity. But all of that is ultimately irrelevant.

What he did was betray his oath to be faithful to the Constitution of the United States.

Who he betrayed were the hundreds of millions of Americans -- past, present and future -- whole generations in the past who have fought and died for a freedom that he has put in jeopardy, in a moment of intellectual inspiration and moral forgetfulness, 300 million Americans today whose lives are to be regimented by Washington bureaucrats, and generations yet unborn who may never know the individual freedoms that their ancestors took for granted.

Some claim that Chief Justice Roberts did what he did to save the Supreme Court as an institution from the wrath -- and retaliation -- of those in Congress who have been railing against Justices who invalidate the laws they have passed. Many in the media and in academia have joined the shrill chorus of those who claim that the Supreme Court does not show proper "deference" to the legislative branch of government.

But what does the Bill of Rights seek to protect the ordinary citizen from? The government! To defer to those who expand government power beyond its constitutional limits is to betray those whose freedom depends on the Bill of Rights.

Similar reasoning was used back in the 1970s to justify the Federal Reserve's inflationary policies. Otherwise, it was said, Congress would destroy the Fed's independence, as it can also change the courts' jurisdiction. But is it better for an institution to undermine its own independence, and freedom along with it, while forfeiting the trust of the people in the process?

IT'S TIME WE LEARNED

Today in a much anticipated decision the Supreme Court of the United States sided with the Obama Administration by upholding the new health care law, known around the country simply as "Obamacare."  The pros and cons have been weighed, arguments have been mounted and a majority of nine justices robed in black have now affirmed, to their satisfaction at least, the consitutionality of Obamacare.

The Supreme Court has now voiced its opinion that it is somehow within the confines of the United States Constitution for the federal government, among other things, to mandate that its citizens purchase health insurance from private insurance companies or face a substantial fine.  One cannot help but wonder where the consenting justices found that in the Constitution.  Perhaps it is hidden away near where one also finds a woman's right to an abortion!

What is perplexing to many of us is the fact that conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by "conservative" former president George W. Bush, joined forces with the majority in this ridiculous decision.  At any rate, the Court has spoken and the law remains in effect barring a repeal from a new Congress under the direction of a new president.

As for now, as the title of this post reads, it's time we learned.  It's time Americans learned that the out-of-control federal government to which "we the people" have acquiesced cares no longer for the desires of "we the people."  It was President Obama and liberals in Congress - and apparently a majority of Supreme Court justices - who wanted Obamacare, not the American people.

It is time conservative Americans realized that a plethora of politicians who claim the mantle of conservatism have betrayed us time and time again.  They smell of conservativism, they speak of conservatism, and they promise conservatism only to compromise their conservative values (if ever they had any) upon election to office in order to gain favorable status among liberals in Congress and at the NEW YORK TIMES.

It is also time that Christian people came to terms with the truth that while it is admirable to fight the good fight of faith against the encroachments of liberalism and big government, the only thing that truly matters in life is to win as many people to Christ as possible.  "This world is not our home" - including these United  States - "we're just a 'passin through; our treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue" as the song says.

So, do not be discouraged and do not cease from the battle.  Continue to stand against error, both in the spiritual and secular realm.  But remember, God is still keeping the books and our day, Christian friend, is yet in the future.  And that is my View From the Porch for Thursday, June 28, 2012.

WHO NEEDS SCOLDING?

The President of the United States recently scolded the American people by stating that many illegal aliens (though he did not refer to them as such) living in the US had "come forward at great risks to themselves" in hopes that we, the citizens of this great land, would "live up to our values" by "doing the right thing."  I'm guessing that what the president meant by living "up to our values" and "doing the right thing" is that we should overlook the illegality of those crossing the border and welcome them here with open arms.

I don't know about the reader but I have a problem being scolded by the president for believing that illegal means just that - illegal.  I have a problem with the arrest of US citizens who violate the law, yet we look the other way when the "undocumented" do so.  I have a problem when our jails are full of fellow-citizens who've broken the law (and rightfully so), but we allow our cities to be filled with law-breakers from another country. 

I have a problem being scolded by a president over what our "values" should be when his entire administration has been about devaluing the laws and Constitution of the United States.  Granting amnesty to the children of those who disregard and disrespect our laws by coming here illegally is just such a case in point.

It is a crying shame that the president and, yes, his challenger Mitt Romney, feel that the only way to get re-elected (or elected) is to bow to the wishes and demands of those who are here in violation of our immigration laws.  It is a sad day in America, but we have long since abandoned the lofty ideal that the United States government is "by the people, and for the people."  That idea, upon which this republic was founded, has long since been laid to rest without so much as a whimper from the lawful citizenry.

Mr. President, one of the "values" that you spoke of as far as this writer is concerned is that of obeying the law.  It would be extremely nice if you and those likeminded in Congress would value the law by attempting to enforce it.  We don't deport illegal aliens; we encourage them by allowing them to demonstrate in our streets and by not requiring them to learn English.  So, I am a bit confused as to what "risks" they have faced by coming clean.

No, it is not the American people that need scolding.  In fact, we are tired of being told to go sit in the corner while our country is being snatched away from us at ever turn.  It is the blind, egotistical, self-serving leaders of this country that need scolding for allowing such a great republic to slip into the shackles of a third-world nation.  And that, my friends, is my View From the Porch for Tuesday, June 19, 2012.