A Quotation About Democrats

Rep. Owen Lovejoy (R-IL) made the following quotation on April 5, 1860, referring to Democrats and their support of slavery:

"The principle of enslaving human beings because they are inferior, is this: If a man is a cripple, trip him up; if he is old and weak, and bowed with the weight of years, strike him, for he cannot strike back; if idiotic, take advantage of him; and if a child, deceive him. This, sir, this is the doctrine of Democrats and the doctrine of devils as well, and there is no place in the universe outside the five points of hell and the Democratic Party where the practice and prevalence of such doctrines would not be a disgrace."

That was the Democratic party on the eve of the Civil War. Something to think about.

The Story of the Bible, Part 3

After the Tower of Babel, the next major character we meet is Abraham. Abraham is called by God to move to another land, which turns out to be the land of Israel; and he is told that he will become a great nation through which the entire world will be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3). This promise of blessing is expanded to Abraham in subsequent years (Gen. 12:7, 13:14-17, 15:1-21, 17:1-22, 22:15-18) and includes a promise that the Messiah would come through his lineage.

Abraham and his wife Sarah have no children until their old age. God's promise is short-circuited by Sarah, who offers her maidservant Hagar to Abraham; Hagar bears a son named Ishmael. He becomes the father of the arab peoples, meaning that Abraham and Sarah's faith-less attempt at fulfilling God's word would have enormous, world-wide consequences all the way to the present day.

Twelve years after Ishmael's birth it is announced to Abraham and Sarah that Sarah would indeed bear a son (Gen. 18); this son was born and named Isaac.

Isaac becomes the father of two twin sons, Jacob and Esau. It was promised that both of them would become nations, yet despite Esau being the firstborn, Jacob was promised to be the stronger (Gen. 25:23). Esau sells his birthright to Jacob (Gen. 25:29-34), and Jacob and his mother trick Isaac into giving him the paternal blessing (Gen. 27, repeated in Gen. 28:1-4).

Jacob flees to his uncle, Laban. En route, God appears to him and repeats the blessings that He had promised to Abraham (Gen. 28:12-19). During the twenty years he spends with Laban, he accumulates two wives and two concubines, along with a large quantity of cattle, wealth, and children. His twelve sons would become known as the "twelve tribes" of Israel—Israel being the name God gives Jacob in Gen. 32:28.

Jacob's eleventh son, Joseph, becomes his father's favorite and is hated by his ten elder brothers (his younger brother is his only "full" brother). These ten capture him, sell him into slavery in Egypt, and concoct a story, believed by Jacob, that Joseph has been killed by wild animals. Joseph ends up in Egypt and eventually interprets a pair of dreams that Pharaoh has (Gen. 41). Pharoah makes him a second ruler in the kingdom, where he prepares for seven years for the great seven-year famine which he has foretold via Pharaoh's earlier dreams.

When the famine comes, Jacob sends those ten elder brothers into Egypt to buy grain to keep the family alive. Joseph recognizes them (they do not recognize him) and after he sends them back home and they return the following year with his younger brother Benjamin, he reveals himself to them. They fear he will punish them—he had that authority—but he reveals to them that God sent him ahead to protect their families from famine and suffering (Gen 45).

Joseph sends his brothers back to Jacob, and all of Jacob's clan moves to Egypt, where Joseph provides for them through the following years. It was in this way that "the children of Israel" found their way into Egypt, where they remain for the next four centuries. In Exodus, we learn how they "came out of Egypt."

The Story of the Bible, Part 7
The Story of the Bible, Part 6
The Story of the Bible, Part 5
The Story of the Bible, Part 4
The Story of the Bible, Part 2
The Story of the Bible, Part 1

The Iraqi Hockey Player

The Red Wings scout flies to Baghdad to watch a young Iraqi play hockey in the new American sponsored league, and is suitably impressed to arrange for him to come over to the US.

Ken Holland signs him to a one-year contract and the kid joins the team for the preseason. Two weeks later the Wings are down 4-0 to the Blackhawks with only 10 minutes left. Mike Babcock gives the young Iraqi the nod and he goes in.

The kid is a sensation - he scores 5 goals in 10 minutes and wins the game for the Red Wings! The fans are delighted, the players and coaches are delighted, and the media love the new star.

When the player comes off the ice he phones his mom to tell her about his first day of NHL hockey. "Hello mom, guess what?" he says in an Iraqi accent. "I played for 10 minutes today, we were 4-0 down, but I scored 5 goals and we won. Everybody loves me, the fans, the media, they all love me."

"Wonderful," says his mom, "Let me tell you about my day. Your father got shot in the street and robbed, your sister and I were ambushed, raped and beaten, and your brother has joined a gang of looters and all while you were having such great time."

The young Iraqi is very upset. "What can I say mom, but I'm so sorry."

"You're Sorry? SORRY!! You should be" says his mom, "It's because of you that we moved to Detroit in the first place!"

The Story of the Bible, Part 2

After Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they began to have children, who had children, and so forth, until there were multitudes of people on the earth. Some of them are described in Genesis 4-5: Cain, who killed his brother Abel; and a genealogy which connects Adam to Noah. As time went on [the genealogies cover a period of over 1600 years] mankind grew increasingly wicked, until God came to Noah, one of the few remaining righteous people, in Genesis 6:

"13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Another 120 years would pass before the Flood, during which Noah preached—unsuccessfully—to the wicked people of his day and built the ark. After no one repented, Noah, his three sons, and their four wives entered the ark and God closed the door. The waters of the Flood covered the entire earth and wiped out every living thing upon the earth. Noah and his family would be in the ark for about a year until the waters receded sufficiently for them to exit the ark and begin a new life. God gave the rainbow as a symbol of His promise that He would not again destroy the earth with a flood (Gen. 9:12-17).

Wickedness, however, would again be seen. Ham shamed his father Noah, who had become drunk, and Ham was cursed (Gen. 9:20-27). The multiplied generations of Noah gathered together, despite God's command to overspread the earth (Gen. 8:17), and built—or rather, began to build—a tower (Gen. 11:1-4). At this time, God "confounded" (Gen. 11:7, KJV) the one language that they spoke, and the race of mankind split up into groups by language, and consequently scattered across the earth.

The Flood is a controversial subject to some. There is, however, bountiful evidence nearly everywhere that water covered the planet at one time, depositing the strata that we study in geology today. The Bible itself makes it clear (Gen. 7:19, 2 Pet. 2:5, and elsewhere) that the Flood was worldwide. Large quantities of useful information written by people more expert than me can be found at icr.org and answersingenesis.org. A particularly excellent article about the extent of the Flood can be found here.

The Story of the Bible, Part 7
The Story of the Bible, Part 6
The Story of the Bible, Part 5
The Story of the Bible, Part 4
The Story of the Bible, Part 3
The Story of the Bible, Part 1

The Story of the Bible, Part 1

The Bible, as one book, tells one story.
What is that story?

The Bible is a collection of 66 books containing a total of 1189 chapters. At five minutes per chapter, it would take nearly 100 hours to read. But what does it contain? What, overall, is it all about?

This week I wish to summarize the contents of the Bible over several blog posts. The purpose of these is to state what the Bible says about itself. With Easter approaching, it is a good time to contemplate the Bible, God, Jesus Christ, and salvation.

It starts with one of the most famous quotations from the entire Bible: Genesis 1:1.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

God created everything. The opening two chapters of the first book describe how He made all things, inanimate and animate, in six literal days. Everything He created was "very good" (Gen. 1:31). He placed Adam and Eve, the first two humans, over His creation (Gen. 1:28).

Adam and Eve were given one particular command:

"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Gen. 2:16-17)

In Genesis 3, we learn that Satan, in the form of a serpent, came to Eve and tempted her to eat this forbidden fruit. She did, and gave it to Adam; he also ate the fruit. This was the first sin, and prompted the following by God:

• The serpent was cursed (Genesis 3:14).
• The first prophecy of a Saviour, or Messiah, was given in Genesis 3:15.
• The physical universe was put under a curse, under which we have to labor to this present day. Crops would not grow of themselves; degeneration began (see the Second Law of Thermodynamics).
• Death entered the world. This, according to Romans 5:12 and 6:23, was the direct result of the sin of Adam. All of us are now born with a sin nature, and all of us face the prospect of death.
• Clothing was provided by God, to cover the nakedness and shame of sinful mankind.

These opening chapters of Genesis are exceptionally significant to all of human history, as they provide the framework for everything that comes afterwards. Some of the ramifications:

• Evolution is debunked. Not only has it never been observed, it will not be observed, nor will any evidence for it every surface...because it never happened. God created it all.
  
• Mankind is not able to rescue itself from the consequences of sin. A Savior is needed.
• God promised a Savior. The Bible is, in large part, the story of how this Savior came to Earth to save mankind.

The Story of the Bible, Part 7
The Story of the Bible, Part 6
The Story of the Bible, Part 5
The Story of the Bible, Part 4
The Story of the Bible, Part 3
The Story of the Bible, Part 2

Hymn of the Week: Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

Palm Sunday has come, the day where we especially remember the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, just days before his crucifixion. On that day, the people were recorded as saying,

And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. (Mark 11:9-10; see also Matt. 21:9 and John 12:13)

Although "Hosanna" is not a word we commonly use today, this is an especially good time to remember Who He was Who came into Jerusalem that day, knowing fully that His time to die for the sins of men was close at hand.

It is also prudent to remember that if Christ had not died and rose again, mankind would be without hope; therefore, we must be grateful for the sacrifice He willingly made for us.

This hymn, like many others, helps us to remember fondly the sacrifice Christ made for us, and to meditate upon the One Who has provided every good thing we enjoy.

The words were originally written in Latin by Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century.

Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.

Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find
A sweeter sound than Thy blest Name,
O Savior of mankind!

O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.

Jesus, our only joy be Thou,
As Thou our prize will be;
Jesus be Thou our glory now,
And through eternity.

O Jesus, King most wonderful
Thou Conqueror renowned,
Thou sweetness most ineffable
In Whom all joys are found!

When once Thou visitest the heart,
Then truth begins to shine,
Then earthly vanities depart,
Then kindles love divine.

O Jesus, light of all below,
Thou fount of living fire,
Surpassing all the joys we know,
And all we can desire.

Jesus, may all confess Thy Name,
Thy wondrous love adore,
And, seeking Thee, themselves inflame
To seek Thee more and more.

Thee, Jesus, may our voices bless,
Thee may we love alone,
And ever in our lives express
The image of Thine own.

O Jesus, Thou the beauty art
Of angel worlds above;
Thy Name is music to the heart,
Inflaming it with love.

Celestial Sweetness unalloyed,
Who eat Thee hunger still;
Who drink of Thee still feel a void
Which only Thou canst fill.

O most sweet Jesus, hear the sighs
Which unto Thee we send;
To Thee our inmost spirit cries;
To Thee our prayers ascend.

Abide with us, and let Thy light
Shine, Lord, on every heart;
Dispel the darkness of our night;
And joy to all impart.

Jesus, our love and joy to Thee,
The virgin’s holy Son,
All might and praise and glory be,
While endless ages run.

Wagoner's Gone; What About That UAW Guy?

Jack Hoogendyk, in his insightful Core Principles blog, wrote this about the fact that while Rick Wagoner, who was trying hard to bring GM back to profitability, got fired by the Obama administration; Ron Gettlefinger, the president of United Auto Workers, continues to get to supervise a greedy union whose finances are built on the backs of those same auto workers. An excerpt:

Every UAW officer made in excess of $141,000 in total compensation in 2008. More than 550 employees (over half of the staff making above $10,000 annually) made more than $100,000 in total compensation. Over the course of the year, the union expensed $98,775 on golf courses, another $75,492 at casinos, and over $150,000 at resort conference centers.

The $33 million UAW-owned Black Lake Golf Course came with its own costs. The union spent $23,488 in member dues in a tax assessment dispute regarding property taxes for the course, and $28,000 transporting people to the resort. Unlike years past, the union did not file an auditor’s report revealing how much the course lost in operations.

You can read more here.

Isaiah 12:2-5: Words of Joy

2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

5 Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

Now It's Kathleen Sebelius's Turn...

It's hard to be surprised anymore....even as a professional tax preparer!

This time, Kathleen Sebelius has admitted to errors on her tax return and has repaid over $7000 to the IRS for the past three years. Here is a summary of the statement she submitted:

In her letter to Baucus and Grassley, Sebelius wrote that the accountant [hired to "scrub" her returns] discovered these errors:

--Charitable contributions over $250 are supposed to include an acknowledgment letter from the charity in order for a deduction to be taken. Out of 49 charitable contributions made, three letters couldn't be found.

--Sebelius and her husband took deductions for mortgage interest that they weren't entitled to. The couple sold their home in 2006 for less than what they owed on the mortgage. They continued to make payments on the mortgage, including interest. But since they no longer owned the home they weren't entitled to take deductions for the interest. The same thing happened with a home improvement loan. Sebelius said they "mistakenly believed" the payments were still deductible.

--Insufficient documentation was found for some business expense deductions.

Perhaps she should have hired this new accountant for the first go-around.

Let's take a look at these three matters individually.

(1) As a recognized tax professional myself, if a client comes to me and says, "I made a contribution of [insert dollar amount here] to [insert charity or church here], but I do not have documentation of it," here's what I tell them: "I can only include this on your Schedule A if you have documentation of the gift." I would then inquire if they had (or could get) a canceled check, receipt, or other documentation besides a formal statement. If they said they could, I would include the gift on the return...and remind them that they needed to track down and secure that documentation.

But notice—I take the word of the client in this case, and do as the client instructs.

(2) If a client came to me with a mortgage interest statement [Form 1098] for their own home (which can be lawfully deducted), another for a home they didn't live in, and at least one more for a home equity line of credit, I would be asking some questions. I might not think, however, to ask if the client still owned the home. It is not uncommon for people to own two homes, and mortgage interest can be deducted for one's principal dwelling and one other (assuming other conditions are met).

But again notice—It would be expected that the client would share the relevant facts with the tax preparer.

(3) This is a no-brainer. No document, no deduct. While I might include a deduction on a Schedule C if the client did not physically show me receipts, I would be doing it on the client's word that the documentation exists.

And at the end of the interview with the client, I would tactfully emphasize the importance of proper documentation of all these things, and remind the client that these documents (which you tell me you have) need to be kept in the event the client is audited.

Or nominated to an Obama cabinet post.