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• Happy Birthday Darwin, Lincoln

  12Feb
  Categories: Christianity, Political, Science Comments: 7

  199 years ago on this very day, two famous men were born who have impacted our world tremendously. They both left very distinct legacies in their wakes. The first was President Abraham Lincoln. I quote his own very famous words that summarize his legacy:

  Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. [emphasis added]

  The other man was Charles Darwin. I will quote his words to showcase the legacy that he has left us:

  I could show fight on natural selection having done and doing more for the progress of civilization than you seem inclined to admit…. The more civilized so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what an endless number of the lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilized races throughout the world.¹ [emphasis added]

  At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time, the anthropomorphous apes…will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.² [emphasis added]

  We have two distinct legacies left by these men. One was a moral champion who freed four million slaves³ because he defended the moral principle that all men are created equal. The other wrought incredible damage on America by creating a framework whereby men are mere animals that can be killed and abused at will. This can be seen today as over 800,000 babies are brutally murdered for convenience each year in America. However, not only did Darwin create this foundational framework, he explicitly argued that it would be for “the progress of civilization” if “[t]he more civilized so-called Caucasian race” “[would] exterminate, and replace, the savage races” such as “negro[s]“, the “Turkish” race, and “gorilla[s]“.

  So we see two clear legacies.

  In this Republican nomination for President of the United States, we have two candidates remaining: John McCain and Mike Huckabee. John McCain believes that abortions should be legal in certain cases⁴. Mike Huckabee supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortions⁵. John McCain believes in evolution⁶. Mike Huckabee does not believe in evolution and believes that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”⁷

  If you live the Virginia, Maryland, or D.C., you have an opportunity to vote in the primaries today. You are presented with a choice between two legacies, two worldviews. Pick the one that matches your own.

  A great video in which Huckabee talks about evolution and creation:
  

  A great collection of things that Huckabee has said:
  

  ¹ Charles Darwin: Life and Letters, I, letter to W. Graham, July 3, 1881, 316; cited in Himmelfarb, G. 1959. Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution. London: Chatto and Windus, 343.
  ² Darwin C. 1901. The Descent of Man. London: John Murray, 241-242.
  ³ “Slavery in the United States”. Wikipedia.
  ⁴ “John McCain on Abortion”. OnTheIssues.org.
  ⁵ “Mike Huckabee on Abortion”. OnTheIssues.org.
  ⁶ “John McCain on Education”. OnTheIssues.org
  ⁷ “Mike Huckabee on Education” (1, 2). OnTheIssues.org.

  Tags: Christianity, creation, darwin, evolution, huckabee, lincoln, mccain, Political, presidential-race-2008, Science

• Christian Conservatives, Unite!

  07Feb
  Categories: Christianity, Political Comments: 7

  Romney has dropped out of the race. Now that the options for Christian conservatives have dropped to only one, Romney and Huckabee can stop splitting that vote. Huckabee would have won every Super Tuesday state (except liberal-land states CT, IL, NJ, NY) if those that voted for Romney would have voted for Huckabee. This would have left Huckabee with 746 delegates to McCain’s 330. Moving forward, the latest national Gallup poll has McCain at 41 with Romney at 25 and Huckabee at 21. If only 75% of Romney voters support Huckabee, it would be a statistical dead heat. Further to Huckabee’s advantage is the fact that there are three primaries on Saturday, two of which he is strong in–Louisiana (a southern state) and Kansas (a bastion of evangelical values voters). These have a combined delegate count of 86. Also coming up are Southern States Texas (140), Mississippi (39), North Carolina (69), Kentucky (45), and New Mexico (32) for a total of 325. This isn’t counting any Romney votes. If Romney voters turn to Huckabee, he can be competitive in many other states.

  True conservatives need to unite behind Huckabee. One columnist (a Congressman from GA), who helped run Reagan’s campaign in Georgia, skillfully shows that while many Republicans try to claim the mantle of Reagan, only Huckabee does so convincingly:

  I went to work on the Reagan campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. I was one of the leaders of that campaign in Georgia, and my friend, Paul Coverdell, led the establishment’s efforts to nominate President Ford.

  It was the typical establishment-versus-interloper campaign. Most of the friends I had made in the party were in the establishment. Most of them thought the nomination of Ronald Reagan was not only impractical, but would destroy our party.

  Deja vu. The Congressman goes on to show in detail how Reagan and Huckabee are very much alike, not only in positions, but also in charisma and methodology.

  On the other hand, McCain has betrayed conservatives time and again by voting against key measures. The liberal press absolutely loves McCain–even liberals have admitted this–and are trying to cast Romney’s dropping out of the race as a victory for McCain. On the contrary, this is a watershed moment for Huckabee. Even the Washington Post’s ultra-liberal editorial board has reluctantly commented on the “surprising resilience” that Huckabee has shown. This resilience was just handed a huge boost by Romney’s dropping out. (A large portion of Romney’s vote was the anti-McCain vote and the Christian conservative vote.) In the same breath, these ultra-liberals of the WaPo say that they believe McCain would save the Republican Party–not a comforting sentiment, considering the source. Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter have come out strongly against a McCain nomination. Ann Coulter went as far to say that if McCain gets the nomination, she will campaign for Hillary. Absurd overstatement, but telling nonetheless.

  This is the time for all true conservatives, especially the cultural conservatives, to unite behind Mike Huckabee as the 2008 GOP Presidential nominee. He has been consistent, honest, and straightforward. He is a top 10 governor who has executive experience, unlike Senator McCain. He is strong on conservative issues, rather than pandering to the press as McCain has often done. (To be fair, one area in which McCain has not pandered to the press is his unwavering support of the Iraq war.) The reason I am involved in politics is for moral reasons. I want someone who will do what is right. Huckabee is the one whom I believe will do the best job in being a straight-shooter and a man of conscience. For more details on why conservatives should vote for Mike Huckabee, read my earlier endorsement.

  Update: James Dobson just endorsed Mike Huckabee! This is the first time he has ever endorsed a Republican primary candidate. AP:

  [Dobson] ruled out front-runner John McCain in a blistering commentary on Super Tuesday, and on Thursday the fight for the GOP nomination narrowed to a two-man race between McCain and Huckabee…

  Dobson released a statement Tuesday that criticized McCain for his support of embryonic stem cell research, his opposition to a federal anti-gay marriage amendment and for his temper and use of foul language.

  He said if McCain were the nominee, he would not cast a ballot for president for the first time in his life.

  Hat tip to Dad for news of the Dobson endorsement.

  Tags: Christianity, dobson, huckabee, mccain, Political, presidential-race-2008, romney

• Security Lockdown

  07Feb
  Categories: Personal Comments: 1

  SMBI is in security lockdown right now. All doors and windows are locked and no one is allowed outside unless necessary. There was an attempted homicide just down the road and the would-be killer is on the loose in our immediate neighborhood (his car was found parked at the bottom of the hill by the funeral home). Helicopters have been circling throughout the day and there are police roadblocks around.

  
  Unique locking mechanisms

  
  Chained doors

  This is somewhat strange in light of a recent similar event at CBS. If I have the details right, CBS also went into lockdown because of a killer on the loose. The man was caught when someone at CBS looked out the window and saw a man hiding in the woods.

  Tags: fulton-county, harrisonville, homicide, Personal

• Stories from a Volatile Kenya

  02Feb
  Categories: Political Comments: 0

  The Kenya situation continues to be unpredictable and violent. Ruth writes from Kisumu:

  As you may have guessed from my latest update, the political situation in Nakuru has been very desparate. The women and children from the Nakuru mission station contemplated fleeing here to Kisumu for a while, but it’s not safe enough for them to travel over here. Today there has been a fresh uproar in Kisumu–there is burning, gunshots, and the sound of rioting. The reason for this is that gangsters stopped a bus, pulled the Luos off and killed them. This stirred the Kisumu folks to revenge. They, in return, have stopped a Molo bus, pulled off the rival tribe’s people and did the same. Nakuru has transferred those in hiding at the Lamp and Light office to Nakuru’s center of town to join the masses that are awaiting evacuation. That way they can move with the main refugee flow instead of being an isolated target. Meanwhile, the mission folks are tuned for any need/chances for their own evacuation. But things seem quiet there at the moment.

  Ruth:

  The political situation is quite unpredictable. We never know if this will be a day we must be confined to the compound or if it will be safe to go away. On Tuesday I had arranged to visit a whole string of people from Ogandi, but the night before, an ODM parliamentary member was ambushed and killed. The following day, the Luos protested his death by burning a gas station, blocking off roads, and burning tires. Instead of doing a pile of visiting, I sat at my computer and typed up recipes for Mom. It was a disappointment to have to stay in the compound and hear gunshots instead of visiting my friends.

  [...]

  While we were there, we got word that another ODM parliamentary member was killed, and Kisumu had exploded into riots. These demonstrations were the worst ones yet. It wasn’t safe for Dad and me to go back to Kisumu. We decided to spend the night with Pastor John Omondi from Ahero. A couple of the other pastors actually drove home–it was fortunate that they made it through the masses of rioting people, roadblocks, burnings–with people trying to jump onto their vechicles. We are thankful that God kept them safe.

  Jonathan, another missionary in Kenya, relates this story:

  Just want to let you all know after the fact that it was not safe to pass through Kendele today. After supervisors meeting at Oroba I was considering meeting with the Kajulu supervisors yet so I started home Miwani way, but decided it was to late to meet with them and that I will just try to make it home. Around Neamiah Int. Minist. there was a group of youths partially blocking the road but they parted the way and let me pass with only one man swinging his ponga in the air and shouting ODM along with some other shouts. I waved and tooted as I passed. I passed a number of partially opened road blocks in Mombalao some of which were still smoking but had no trouble. As I turned left at the Kakamega Kajulu junction one youth tried to stop me and when I did not stop he came running after me trying to jump onto my ladder. I out ran him but as I began to ascend into Kendele I saw too much smoke. A big fire was burning in the middle of the road just as you start ascending to Kondele but before you even reach Clement’s shop. I saw another trooper coming upon the fire from the other side and as he took the ditch to go round the fire a group of people surrounded the vehicle and he stopped. I immediately came upon another smaller road block without fire and as the youths started coming to stop me I turned left to take the hard road through Manyata which would bring me out on the other side of the fire. I was not real familiar with this road but knew I had taken it a few times in the past. When I finally got within sight of where I wanted to come out, I saw a huge fire on the road totally blocking the only way I knew to get inside town from there. Some helpful man told me to go back, and that it is far to dangerous to try to pass into Kondele that way. I said “the road is blocked back there too”. “Oh then you will have to go inside Manyata “the slums” to reach inside town.” Here let us give you someone to guide you through. Talk about quick decisions. I was carrying to much money to be guided by a stranger. I asked how much they will charge. Only 500/= they said. That’s to high I complained still maintaining my bargaining mentality. “How much you have” came the ususal question. “I can give 100/=” The guy reaches inside the window unlocks the door and jumps in. “Lets go we will talk price later, we”ll need two people to go along” and he promptly opens the back door and another guy enters. Soon a crowd started gathering around the vehicle and many people wanted the job of “guiding” the white man. “Just go” said my guide” as we started heading straight for the first road block where a phone booth was laying on its side with a tire burning on top if it. We made our way around it as my guide talked to the youths manning the block. Slowly but surely I started to smell the unmistakable stench of changa “beer” inside my cruiser coming from the back seat. I told my guide I smell changa and I don’t like that. He grinned and said “don’t worry just go”. We navigated our way around several other road blocks and turned around several times when there was fires blocking our way. We made small talk about the election violence and the man seemed friendly enough. He said this kind of thing will continue until Raila is the president. But he said “Don’t worry” we are Africans they won’t burn your vehicle if we are along”. He also said he was a matatu driver but his vehicle was owned by a Kikuya and had been taken away from Kisumu and he was now out of a job. He said the other guy was also a driver. Finally after about 15 min of muddy paths through the slums, with pigs and ducks wallowing in the road we finally emerged into Kibuya just across from the big Catholic church. I looked to the right and the road was completely strewn with rocks and stones. There would have been no way whatsoever to pass through. My guides assured me that now things will be ok and I can drop them off at the Hass filling station. They would not budge on their price of 500/= each, insisting that they had really helped me “which they indeed did” and that they were now among the jobless people of Kenya. After some deliberation I gave the money and thanked them and they me. They walked away smiling and I breathed a breath of relief, thankful to God for his “angels”. Town was very empty with remains of fires here and there and I reached home safely.
  Praising Him Jonathan

  Despite the violence, God continues to display his beauty over Lake Victoria. Ruth took the following pictures recently:

  

  

  Tags: kenya, Political