→ Sen. Rand Paul detained by TSA

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s press secretary Moira Bagley tweeted on Monday that Transportation Security Administration officials were detaining her boss in Nashville, Tenn.

I feel so much safer now knowing this hardened criminal was captured and detained before he could do any real damage.

Oh, wait…

From the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 6:

“They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.”

→ She’s still campaigning for SOPA

I’ll be joining Ralph Bristol on Supertalk 99.7 WTN at 6:35am Central Time to talk about the need to stop foreign-based online piracy.

I was saddened to see Marsha Blackburn is still campaigning for SOPA. This is of course the big day of protest. And Marsha chooses to continue campaigning for this reprehensible legislation.

I am reminded of what Mark Twain said:

Politicians are like diapers; they need to be changed often and for the same reason.

I think Marsha Blackburn is at that point…

→ Jeffress wrong on Ron Paul and John Jay

Robert Jeffress was correct when called Momonism a cult, but he could not be more misguided in some of his latest comments.

I a piece run by Fox News, influential pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, is telling evangelicals to be patient in the GOP primaries—not terrible advice in itself. His general reason is admirable: that we should not “abandon principles for pragmatism.” Indeed. But his applications and interpretations of that reason for Iowa and New Hampshire border on libel.

I don’t think that I was under the delusion that someone with the eschatological views that Jeffress holds would endorse Ron Paul, but I’m linking just in case any else did.

Jeffress blithely talks about Dr. Paul’s neo-Nazi ties, which is getting a bit old, and has frankly been debunked already.

A picture I snapped a couple days ago.

I posted this on Facebook, and I’m also posting it here. So if something appears to be in the context of Facebook, that’s why.

I’m writing this over my lunch break, because of some things that have happened on Facebook over the last several weeks.

In the last few months, it seems I have acquired quite a few new Facebook friends, many whom I do not know. That’s fine. The more the merrier. But I think there’s some things you should know about me, because sometimes there seems to be some confusion.

The idea of writing this sounded far less self important when I thought of it. However, hopefully without sound too self important, allow me to go into a few things you can expect to see from me. Read if you’re interested. If not, that’s fine too. If you’re like me, you’re really busy and don’t have time to read every long winded thing on Facebook.

So here we go, a few things you should know about me:

1. I am without apology and without compromise, first a foremost a Christian. This means I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I acknowledge my sinfulness, inherited through the sin of Adam (original sin), and my need of a Savior. God sent His Son to redeem His people, of whom, because of His grace, I can count myself among. This motivates and drives everything I do. I desire to advance the Lordship of Christ in any capacity He has called me. Christ is King!

   This is first for a reason. It is because I identify myself with Christ’s Church, and many churches that I count to be part of The Universal Church may not hold to the specific doctrines or political views I do. Yet I still count them as brothers and sisters.

2. I am Reformed Presbyterian in my Theological understanding. This means among other things that I believe in what is commonly called the Doctrines of Grace (or sometimes Calvinism). I believe in the Total Depravity of Man, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement (that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross accomplished all that it was intended to. Sometimes referred to as the efficacy of the atonement), Irresistible Grace, and the Perseverance of the Saints. Though not all Reformed Presbyterians are, I am Post Millennial in my understanding of eschatology. This means I believe Christ is ruling and reigning right now. He is King!

   I subscribe to The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Westminster Standards and Confession of Faith.

   I hold to, as does the Church where I am a member, Liturgical, Covenant Renewal Worship. And as a Presbyterian, I believe that the New Covenant is not only for adults, but for the families, the Children of believers. And just as in the Old Covenant where the children were given the sign and seal of the covenant in circumcision, so too do New Covenant children receive the sign and seal of our Christian faith; that of baptism. And, this is important in how we understand our Worship. We do not whisk our children away from us as soon as we enter the door of the church, to be off and worshipping apart from us. We believe that Children should worship along side us, as members of the congregation.

   And one points leads into another…

3. I am a strong advocate for Christian education. My preferred method is homeschooling, but the primary goal is Christian education and parental responsibility over a child’s education which should not be abdicated. I do not believe this must be homeschooling, but that I believe is the best way.

   But primarily, Christian parents are to raise their covenant children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Christian children do not “belong” to the parent, nor do they belong to the evil one. They belong to Christ. They are not enemies of the gospel, they are Christ’s disciples. Christian parents are to realize that the children entrusted to them are not their own but Christ’s. We are to take heed to follow the instructions of the Bible when it comes to raising our children. We are to be faithful to teach them correct and sound doctrine, in short we are responsible for every aspect of our children’s training. We do not have the authority to abdicate and hand that off to someone else. Not to the Church, not to government schools, but we bear the weight and responsibility entirely.

4. Politically, I am very conservative. And at this time, I am strongly “campaigning” you might say for Ron Paul. In fact, you will find at the moment, because I am so passionate about this, that most of my Facebook statues, updates, posts, whatever you want to call them, have to do with Ron Paul. It’s a phase I’m going through (because I believe it is very important right now), and I’ll become slightly less annoying on this topic after the elections (probably).

   Some other political points you will often see me making, and that I believe strongly:

   I do not believe it is the responsibility of government to feed the poor, to hand out welfare checks, to meddle in our affairs for our safety. It is the Church’s responsibility to care for the poor, the fatherless, the widows. That the Church has largely abdicated her responsibilities has led to the disastrous situation we are faced with today.

   I believe we should seek to elect Godly, Christian men to office in our country on every level of government.

   I support shrinking the size and scope of the federal government.

   I believe we should return to a constitutional and Biblical monetary system. The system we have now is based on fiat currency which is unjust and unbiblical (a.k.a. unjust weights and measures; Lev 19:36; Prov 16:11).

   I believe we should only engage in Biblical, and constitutional wars.

   I support state’s rights.

   I desire to return our nation to a Biblical and constitutional foreign policy.

   However, though I am very passionate on political subjects, none should make the mistake that my faith is in politics; who wins, who looses. God is in control whoever wins and looses. He has already written the history of the future. Nothing surprises him or catches him off guard. My faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And now, if you cared to read this, you know a little bit more about me and what to expect.

→ Voddie Baucham - Why Ron Paul?

Dr. Paul does not beat his Christian faith like a drum in his public/political life. Unfortunately, that is off-putting for the “Christian Right”. However, in a world full of ‘posturing’ in an effort to win over evangelicals, I find Paul’s public demeanor refreshing. And it is not as though he is a ‘closet Christian,’ either. “I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and I endeavor every day to follow Him in all I do and in every position I advocate,” wrote Paul on his Web site.[5] I have also had the privilege of talking with both him, and one of his five children about his faith and how it influences his policy positions.

Voddie Baucham’s article shows that I can get along with Baptists, and very much so. I don’t think there is a single thing in the linked article I disagree with. Please go read it all, but here are some other highlights:

Not only is Ron Paul a Christian Conservative; he is also a Constitutional Conservative. He holds himself accountable to the Constitution of the United States, even when it means he has to vote against legislation that may be otherwise beneficial. This has cost him on numerous occasions as people use the “Ron Paul voted against so-and-so” tactic to paint a caricature of him and play “gotcha” politics.

…

I support Ron Paul because he is a military veteran (yup… he refuses to beat that drum too, which is why you may not have known that little tidbit). And though I do not believe it is necessary for a man to have served in the military for him to serve as President, the fact that Congressman Paul knows and hates war lends credibility to his desire and commitment to ending the wars and bringing our troops home. Moreover, he has a constitutional understanding of war (only Congress can send us to war), and a Christian commitment to historic Just War Theory (rooted in the Sixth Commandment… HIS WORDS).

…

I support Ron Paul because he has a constitutional view of foreign policy. Ironically, our foreign policy has been so unconstitutional for so long that many people recoil at the idea of getting it back in line. Moreover, the semantic game Paul’s opponents play (using “isolationism” as opposed to “non-intervention” to define his position) doesn’t help. For most Christians, this is where they believe I’ve left the reservation. They may not say, “We have to be the world’s police force,” but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “Do you know his position on Israel?” “Surely you can’t support a man who doesn’t support Israel!”

Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Ron Paul does support Israel. It is our current foreign policy that does not support Israel! However, there is a deeper issue here. There is a sort of misplaced Dispensationalism that governs people’s sentimental attitude toward Israel. Let me state clearly that I do not believe the Bible demands that the U.S. support Israel. I do, however, believe that it is wise to do so for geopolitical reasons. To do so for theological reasons, I believe, is actually misguided, and quite dangerous. Nevertheless, Israel is our only true ally in the Middle East, and that is important.

Right on!

Finally, I support Dr. Paul because he has been a consistent conservative. He has been married to the same woman for more than fifty years; delivered over 4,000 babies as an OB; never performed a single abortion; has never voted for an unbalanced budget, a tax increase, or a bailout; forecasted the economic debacle long before it happened;[13] and gave back $140,000 last year through his office to pay down the national debt (100,000 in 2010). This man is so principled that he refuses to claim his congressional pension!

Go read it all!

→ Santorum Voted to Subsidize Abortion, Planned Parenthood

GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is under fire in South Carolina for touting his alleged pro-life beliefs but voting to subsidize abortion and Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in America, while serving in the U.S. Senate.

There’s a reason I don’t support Santorum.

Santorum then continued to defend his vote by claiming that the funding was used for birth control. However, because money is fungible, few serious analysts accept the implied argument that tax funds for Planned Parenthood are not used to subsidize abortion. They undoubtedly are.

…

“I am not for federal funding of that, but it’s in a big bill that provides a lot of things. Did I vote for that overall bill? Yes, I did.” He then resumed his attacks on Paul for not supporting enough federal spending.

The legislation in question was also used to fund several other federal departments not authorized by the Constitution including Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. But for many pro-life activists, voting for any bill that sends even a dime of tax money to an organization known to commit over 329,000 abortions every year is deal breaker — let alone voting to appropriate almost half of a billion dollars for the abortionist cause.

Put me in that camp.

Santorum also voted for the Democrat-sponsored “Freedom of Access to [Abortion] Clinic Entrances Act,” legislation purportedly making it a federal crime to “interfere” with a person seeking to terminate a pregnancy. As critics warned at the time, the bill has been used with increasing frequency to prosecute peaceful protesters. The former Senator vigorously campaigned for several rabidly pro-abortion candidates, too — even against their pro-life opponents.

Beyond abortion, Santorum’s voting record in the Senate also includes other evidence that the GOP hopeful is not quite as “conservative” as he would like voters to believe. For example, he supported unconstitutional gun control, the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, raising the debt ceiling, invading Iraq without a declaration of war, and expanding the unconstitutional Department of Education. He also backed indefinite detentions, torture, removing habeas corpus, and other legislation repugnant to American traditions and the Constitution.

That any Christian can support this man is unbelievable to me.