One green-responsible subject I never see addressed is that of building-placement. To wit: Why are dwellings and buildings of all types placed atop arable acreage globally? Less than 10% of land is currently considered arable. An inclusive global-green plan must include proper placement as one of its foundational pillars. Poverty and infrastructure are frequently cited as reasons for disasters like
Mark Overt Skilbred
Does anyone else notice the pink elephant in the room—alcohol? No matter how hard industry and elected officials attempt to downplay the problems associated with alcohol, the facts cannot be concealed. Tobacco causes health problems for people, but alcohol destroys people’s lives instantly, progressively, and indiscriminately. Drunk driving kills thousands every year, and cripples many thousands more. Billions are spent every year protecting, repairing, and attempting to make-up for the evils caused by alcohol. Alcohol destroys families, not just through divorce, but through spousal and child abuse. Alcohol destroys friendships and good neighbors. Alcohol destroys your mind and health. If you don’t believe this, and you still believe the propaganda you hear about the benefits of drinking alcohol, listen to Dr. Daniel G. Amen, and what his brain-imaging results confirm 100% of the time! Would you like to shrink your brain? Drink alcohol! Want your brain to look like Swiss cheese? Drink alcohol! Grow up and look at the truth! Tell the loudmouths who support alcohol what a bunch of liars they REALLY are! Tell them to go get a REAL education before they try to tell the rest of us how good alcohol is for us and our children. Alcohol creates nations of dysfunctional under-achievers whose quality-of-life is far less than if they avoided alcohol. What kind of example are you setting for your children? You tell THEM to study and get good grades while YOU sit around in your most-recently-induced ALCOHOLIC STUPOR! Losers! Wake up! Stop drinking alcohol! And while you are at it, try and do something positive for our planet and its citizens!
Mark Overt Skilbred
There are those who would criticize armchair diplomats for their attempts to promote meaningful dialogue amidst a perfect storm of public debate. These range from newer versions of manifest destiny and still-newer editions of the Monroe Doctrine to those of isolation, protectionism, neutrality, imperialism, colonialism and other politics of a bygone era. The time has come for effective cooperation in the establishment of guidelines, unified efforts toward transformational change and answers which are based on diplomatic solutions more than all other options, but which recognize that proper governance must enforce the rule of law, especially when its neglect will result in civil wars and anarchy. We must support those reforms which do not conflict with God’s Laws and which will benefit society as a whole. It is necessary to promote suggestions for the improvement of world diplomacy and how its general pursuit may rid itself of useless baggage and other hindrances. Have we learned enough from our mistakes to move toward the solutions that are so desperately needed, or are we stuck in an endless cycle of one-upsmanship, revenge, fingerpointing, and entrenched interests? Coldwar tactics are a pointless exercise that risk unnecessary provocation of world neighbors, and their continued use prolongs the terms of vested-interest groups who attempt to shore-up their agendas by hiding in an anonymous role behind a curtain of puppet-diplomacy. We who address this diplomatic theatre from our respective armchairs have an opportunity to short-circuit the plans of these powerful vested-interests by exposing their tactics on the blogging world stage and forcing them to confront us on our terms. Our unity of purpose will successfully bring workable answers to the frustrated diplomatic roundtable and help to persuade leadership and provoke dialogue where needed. Our world diplomacy must be based on more than the selfish ambitions of a few players who seek to turn the world into private divide-and-conquer fiefdoms! Let’s refuse to accept anything but the very best diplomatic solutions for our planet!
Mark Overt Skilbred
We have murdered over 50 million babies, (more than died in World War II), in the name of personal freedom—the so-called right-to-choose. Should we be free to murder? How can anyone who claims to be a Christian vote for a pro-abortion or a pro-homosexuality candidate? God has made it so very clear that we are not to murder or be homosexuals. He will not overlook these sins. I realize “that He is patient, not wishing for any to perish,” but we are “putting God to the test” with these two issues and many others. The individuals who practice murdering children and those who practice homosexuality will be judged by God individually, and the nations who approve or turn a blind-eye to these evil practices will share in their punishment. If this continuing practice of murdering babies and practicing homosexuality does not grieve your heart, you are NOT a Christian. If you are a Christian, DO NOT VOTE FOR ANY CANDIDATE WHO SUPPORTS THE CONTINUING POLICIES OF MURDERING BABIES AND CONDONING HOMOSEXUALITY! You think that it doesn’t matter what we and others do here on earth, but God says that HE CARES, whether we do or not. A little more sin here and a little more over there, and the sins keep piling up God’s judgment against our country. Don’t you get it? The slumping economy is just another symptom of a nation that has lost its moral compass. Watch carefully the politics of a sinful nation!
Mark Overt Skilbred
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.” Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?” You turn things upside down, as if the Potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the Potter, “He knows nothing”?
We see that the attitude of our hearts towards God is infinitely more important than our words. When it comes to God, talk is cheap, but heart honesty, submission and obedience are vital. When God says that wisdom and intelligence will vanish, He is speaking quite specifically to our generation, as well as speaking a warning to all generations. Those who devise clever ways to “hide their plans from the Lord” are singled out for woeful punishment not only for their evil plans and deeds done in darkness, but for believing in their hearts that any plans or deeds are able to be hidden from the One Who hears and sees all things, and especially the attitude of the heart. He calls this attitude “upside down,” because our understanding is so darkened that we believe our Creator is like us. Just like the clay that we are made from, without God’s Holy Spirit within us, we have no senses capable of recognizing our Creator for Who He is. The comparison of a created pot, which is incapable of reason, saying to the Potter that He did not make it and that He knows nothing is comparable to the preposterous human notion that God has not made us and does not see our plans and deeds. By denying their Creator, not only are humans who use this faulty logic inevitably faced with their own inability to rise above the level of mere humanity, but they deny the Spirit of God who is willing to indwell and grant wisdom to His creatures and communicate with them. The human heart is a complex creation which does its best work when exercised. So too is the attitude of the heart which, when exercised often in seeking after its Creator, is better able to communicate, fellowship, enjoy and live abundantly within God’s created universe. God has told us that he is actively seeking those whose hearts are turned towards Him. Earlier in chapter 29, Isaiah tells God’s people that even after they have been destroyed by their enemies that their dust is crying out to Him from the ground, and that He hears them. We know from Psalm 139 that no matter what our circumstances or location, that God is there with us and is helping us. Why do we wait for a problem to develop before seeking to communicate with our Creator? Some of us have a lone ranger attitude which tells us that we can do this on our own, while others question whether there is a God Who cares or is even listening to us. Still others struggle with sorrow, anger and depression, which affect our perceptions and heart attitude. Before you were formed in the womb, God knew you, and after you have returned to the dust, God will still know you and hear you. When will we realize that our Creator is also with us in the here and now? Should it take a foxhole experience before we begin to seek after God? Must a calamity occur in order for us to recognize our need for a Savior? Before our consciousness of being human occurs, God watches over us, and after our physical death occurs God is still caring for us, so why in these all-too brief years of our earthly existence do we fail to trust Him with our care? God longs to fellowship with us like He did with Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall, and is always watching for us like an anxious Father waiting for our return, and running to meet us while we are still far off. Have we said with the prodigal, “I will arise and go to my Father?” Tell Him that you want to come home and live with Him, and tell Him that you are willing to be a servant in His house if He will only accept you. As we are enabled to become Christians through the power of the Holy Spirit, and as strength is given to us on a daily basis to grow in faith, we are expected to “pray without ceasing.” Psalm 19:14 says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” This is the most beneficial part of life’s difficulties—that we are more likely to have an attitude of prayer and a proper heart attitude during our times of trouble. In addition to our regular prayer time, let’s include God in our daily activities, in our problems, in our successes and in our failures. Would you like to impress God? There is nothing which impresses God more than a growing and vibrant faith. Ask the Holy Spirit to increase your faith!
Mark Overt Skilbred
ALL-INCLUSIVE POLITICS
As we examine the electorate, it seems only natural to categorize voters along party lines. Republicans in 2008 tend to be the more conservative of the two-party system, and Democrats tend to be the more liberal party. We realize that there are many different viewpoints within each party that define the degrees and kinds of conservatism and liberality. Just as it is unusual for any two people to agree on all the issues, so it is even more unlikely for all members within political parties to completely agree. The inevitable compromises are predictably along “party lines” that have been established historically by the parties-in-question. The issues that are chosen for consideration then become a focal point for those seeking to move the party into adopting certain issues into the party platform. There are issues chosen for their universal appeal, such as national defense, where both parties favor a more-or-less strong national defense, but may disagree on its implementation. The methods of implementation may then become the “wedge-issue” that divides the two parties along party lines. Once these “wedge-issues” have been clearly defined, the electorate proceeds to vote for the candidate that they trust will best-be-able to implement the party platform. There are, however, certain issues that have not been chosen for their universal appeal, but have been formulated to persuade skeptics that their opposition is based on certain groundless and unsubstantiated fears and prejudices. Two such issues confront the electorate again in November of 2008, and they are “abortion-rights” and “homosexual-rights.” Advocates for these positions appeal to the electorates’ sense of fairness, justice and legitimacy. Arguments include the contention of Roe v. Wade that a mother has a “right-to-choose” life or death for a developing child. “Homosexual-Rights” advocates contend that individuals have the right to choose sexual partners from the same gender, enter into domestic partnership, and be recognized by the state and society as married in the same sense as heterosexual couples. Both of these issues have gone from being closet issues in the ‘50s and ‘60s to becoming “wedge-issues” in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and now into the 21st century. Proponents argue that justice demands that we legitimize freedom on behalf of pro-abortionists and pro-homosexuality advocates. The “umbrella of democratic principles” we are told, must protect these “minorities” from infringements that obstruct their exercise of freedom and its legitimization. There are some advocates who view questions of morality on their face-value, reasoning that “as long as no one gets hurt, what’s the difference?” Others seek to persuade us that we must choose “the lesser of two evils” and permit the mother to choose life or death for her child. Still others reason that no government, person or power has the right to dictate sexual rights and prohibitions to any human. These viewpoints can all be categorized as humanistic in the sense that their advocates represent the view that humanity can best determine the most legitimate course of action for its members. Some who hold these views claim that religion and even morality have no place in politics and the establishment of the rule-of-law. They reason that humanity can decide on a case-by-case basis what course-of-action should be taken. They argue that, as times change, so our public policy must change, in the same way that we set traffic laws and curfews. The impression has been created that religion and morality itself are the results of the evolution of codes-of-conduct that shelter us all under a common umbrella of shared protection—sort of a “you-don’t-bother-me-and-I-won’t-bother-you” mentality. The church is viewed as an enemy of those who would seek to implement moral self-determination. Governments and law enforcement bear the brunt of individual objections to the rule-of-law. The church boldly stands in contradiction to this self-deterministic attitude by stating that we are NOT the source of our own rule-of-law. The church says that laws and rules of behavior were given to us by God, that He expects these laws to be respected, obeyed, enforced, and lived-out in our daily lives. Furthermore, God expects us to be perfect, (since He is the One Who enables us), and to love His Laws, and to hate when His Laws are disobeyed. There are some “christians” who choose to ignore some of the commands of God, to their discredit. The best source of Truth is found in the Bible itself which will lead you into a relationship with God Himself, through the person of the Holy Spirit: “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” II Cor. 16:9. American law is founded on Biblical principles. God does not permit “killing-for-convenience.” Life is sacred to God, and those who deliberately take-a-life without legitimate cause risk God’s judgment of death for breaking His Law. Similarly, God’s penalty for practicing homosexuality is death. I am well-aware that reminding you of how these things stand with God is a bit old-fashioned, but I, like all Christians, have been told by God through the Bible and the Holy Spirit, that practicing and advocating abortion and homosexuality are both prohibited by God and punishable by death. You might ask, “well—who is this “god,” that we should fear him or pay any attention to him?” This was the same question Pharoah asked Moses and Aaron before the ten plagues of Egypt descended. Again, regarding homosexuality, you might ask, “who is this fellow, trying to tell us what to do?” This was the same question asked by the men of Sodom before God caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone that created the Dead Sea and the lowest point on the surface of our planet. Consider the following: Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying, “I have installed My King on Zion, My Holy Hill.” I will proclaim the decree of the Lord; He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become Your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; You will dash them to pieces like pottery.” Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. Psalm 2:1-12. So I have some advice for you who call yourselves liberal, conservative or independent in the election which is fast-approaching: Consider wisely the issues before you. There is a God in heaven Who cares very much about the choices we make. Think about your children and those who share the planet with us. Don’t snuff out the beacon of God’s Love that has been present in America since its foundation. If you think that your independence is worth more than God’s kingdom, you are mistaken! Kiss the Son! Soli Deo Gloria!
Mark Overt Skilbred
