"Bill O'Reilly Attacks War on Easter"

The PC police strike again.

First they took the 'Christ' out of Christmas and now they want to ban Easter.

Why? Because nothing outrages secular progressives like the idea of children being exposed to Christianity.

Last week, political commentator Bill O'Reilly said in his Talking Points memo, "The Judeo-Christian tradition is under attack" in certain American public school districts. These institutions are guilty of replacing the traditional Easter celebration with something a little more politically-correct: "Spring Events."

That's right, folks, Easter eggs are out. So's the Easter Bunny. And anything else containing the "E" word.

According to O'Reilly, this is about the secularization of the country. One more step in an ongoing attempt to dismantle the religious heritage of modern America. O'Reilly believes the ultimate goal of the secular progressives is to marginalize religion in all forms. "If the far left can marginalize Santa and the Easter Bunny, they can tell the children those symbols are obsolete and unnecessary and they set the stage for a totally secular society in the future."

O'Reilly's heart is in the right place even if his theology is off. He's worried about the de-Christianizing of the country.

And while most Christians realize Easter and its traditions have pagan roots and use the term "resurrection day" rather than "Easter", Bill O'Reilly's premise is correct: This move by secular progressives is yet another attempt to wipe Christianity out of the minds of our children.

A wise man once said: "Of the many world religions, only one claims that its founder returned from the grave. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very cornerstone of Christianity. If Jesus overcame the the grave, He's still alive and available for me to personally encounter. If Jesus conquered death, He can  open the door of eternal life for me, too. If He has divine power, He has the supernatural ability to guide and transform me as I follow Him. As my Creator who has my best interests at heart, He rightfully deserves my allegiance and worship." --Lee Strobel,  author of The Case for Easter

News:

• Huffington Post: A Florida Atlantic University student suspended for refusing to stomp on a piece of paper with the name "Jesus" written on it as part of classroom assignment.
• Drudge Report: Supreme Court debates ban on gay marriage; Gay activists: 'We've won--in the court of public opinion
• Debka File: Russia orders large-scale military exercise in Black Sea sending a hands-off warning on Syria from Moscow to the U.S. and NATO
• Associated Press: U.S. sends nuclear-capable B-2 bombers to South Korea in show of force amid threats from North Korea that include nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul
• Sky News: Cyprus's banks have opened their doors after the longest enforced bank holiday in Europe's history
• Daily Record: Rep. Leonard Lance, R-NJ, demands "a full explanation" from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on why the agency want to stockpile 2 billion rounds of ammunition
• MSN Money: More Americans than ever using food stamps, up 70% since 2008 despite so-called 'economic recovery'

"Is The Government Spying On You?"

Governments around the globe have always been nosy, and totalitarian regimes made spying on its citizens into an art form.

But here in America its different, right? Wrong! 9/11 was the ultimate game-changer. The fear of terrorism has led to a new era of trading privacy for security. Remember the outrage when it was discovered that President Bush was wiretapping suspected terrorists without a warrant?

Well, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Over the last decade, as the world went wireless, surveillance became virtually invisible. Only it isn't just suspected terrorists and criminals they're watching anymore.

It's us. That right, it's directed at all of us.

The ACLU, in its campaign to stop illegal spying, says, "Increasingly, the government is engaged in suspicion-less surveillance that vacuums up and tracks sensitive information about innocent people. The erosion of reasonable restrictions on government's power to collect people's personal information is putting privacy and free speech rights of all Americans at risk."

What is the government interested in?

• email
• phone calls
• tweets
• texts 
• Facebook
• Google
• and apparently our finances, too

According to Reuters: "The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country." This info came from a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters.

The above information gathered on all of us will then be:

• tracked
• analyzed
• archived
• and kept indefinitely

Is nothing sacred anymore? Even our idle web-surfing is tracked. Aaron Saenz of Singularity University writes, "Nokia, Sprint, Ericsson, Facebook, Google--think of a business that helps people talk and exchange information and you'll think of a company that has helped law enforcement agencies look through private data."

What's next? Micro-drones the size of a small bird. Think we're kidding? Think again.

Next time you see a cute little hummingbird peering in your bedroom window? 

Shut the blinds.

A wise man once said: "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail." --American statesman Henry L. Stimson

"For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men" --2 Corinthians 8:21

News:

• MSN: Iran's supreme leader warned the Islamic Republic would level the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa if Israel launched a military attack.
• NBC News: North Korea issues fresh threat to U.S. with new YouTube video. This time the U.S. Capitol is destroyed.
• Reuters: U.S. beefs-up missile defense against North Korean threat.
• CBC News: The Federal Reserve foresees unemployment remaining high into 2015.
• CNBC: Illinois passes new law requiring gold/silver buyers to register.

"Where's America in Bible Prophecy?"

Is it just us, or is this administration's strategy of lead-from-behind leaving something lacking?

Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? But that is how one Obama adviser described the President's "style": lead from behind. Unfortunately, the description seems made to order when you consider some of Washington's shocking passivity on some major issues.

Face it people, things are starting to pile up. Let's see...we've got Israel and Iran simmering on the back burner, for what--four years now? Syria is in absolute shambles and getting worse everyday. (How is it that Libya qualified as a humanitarian crisis but Syria does not?)  And please, don't even get us started on the federal budget. After four years, it took threats of "no budget-no pay" to actually get Congress working on one.

Procrastination is one thing, but this is something else. It's abdication. Somebody needs to tell Washington this lead-from-behind business isn't working. In fact, it seems some countries are beginning to think we're weak. For instance:

• North Korea threatened the United States with a preemptive nuclear strike last week in response to new sanctions. (Of course, no one believes they have the capacity to hit our mainland, but still, the nerve!)
• Hamas is warning President Obama not to visit the Temple Mount in his upcoming trip to Israel. If he dares, they will consider it a "declaration of war" against the Islamic world. Really?
• And just last month we had to scramble fighter jets after catching Russian nuclear bombers circling American airspace over Guam.

One of the most frequently asked questions in the Western church concerning Bible prophecy is: Where is America? You'd imagine the world's only superpower would have a least a few verses devoted to it, but it doesn't. Not even one. Why not? Nobody knows for sure, but on its current trajectory, it doesn't take a prophet to see the vultures are circling.

General Douglas MacArthur warned: "History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster."

How is it possible to lead from behind?

Ask Jesus who said:" I am the Good Shepherd. My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:11, 27-28).

A wise man once said: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" --John the Baptist

News:

• NBC News: Israeli farmers on "locust alert" after an estimated swarm of 30 million devastated Egyptian crops.
• Reuters: Venezuela will set up a formal inquiry into claims that President Hugo Chavez's cancer was the result of poisoning by his enemies abroad.
• Mail Online: Golfer swallowed by sinkhole in St. Louis.
• Fox News Channel: New Jersey woman arrested for making a "terrorist threat" after reading the Constitution while protesting the doubling of her property tax.
• World Net Daily: White smoke rises over Vatican, announcing the election of what "many believe to be the last pope in human history."

"Drone Strikes on American Soil?"

President Barack Obama has the authority to use an unmanned drone strike to kill U.S. citizens on American soil. No trial. No jury. No judge.

Don't believe it? Ask his Attorney General, Eric Holder. "The President could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland," Holder said. "It's legal and justified in an extraordinary circumstance," he added. (He later excluded "non-combatants" after embarrassing public scrutiny).

So far, only three U.S. citizens have been killed using drones, and they were all in Yemen and suspected terrorists. Our point is not that the government is going to start droning law-abiding citizens and we're not crying over dead terrorists. Our point is this: Why does this administration keep trying to sneak end-runs around the Constitution?

Some see the constantly-widening powers being claimed by the Executive branch as a threat to civil liberties. What happened to our constitutional due process rights?

A leaked Justice Department memo last month was an alarming wake-up call. It set out the legal framework under which the Executive branch can order the targeted killing of a U.S. citizen outside a battleground area.
Many experts agree the reasoning in this memo was so broad and so vague it virtually gave our government unchecked powers to kill.

According to the white paper (a white paper is an authoritative report or guide to help readers understand an issue): "The government has the authority to carry out targeted killings of U.S. citizens without presenting evidence to a judge before the fact or after, and indeed without even acknowledging to the courts or to the public that the authority has been exercised. Without saying so explicitly, the government claims the authority to kill American terrorism suspects in secret."

Eric Holder emphasized that it is unlikely that they would ever use this authority. "The U.S. government has not carried out drone strikes in the United States and has no intention of doing so," he said. "As a policy matter, moreover, we reject the use of military force where well-established law enforcement authorities in this country provide the best means for incapacitating a terrorist threat."

But...Holder reserved the right to use drones if deemed necessary.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY., blasted the White House policy as "more than frightening, it is an affront on the constitutional due process rights of all Americans."

We find this latest power grab the most disturbing of all. It's both secretive and suspicious, just like the NDDA Act which allows for the indefinite military detention, without trial, of American citizens. Of course, the President promised he would never actually use that law either.

So why have them? Maybe Obama wouldn't use them, but who knows what the next president might do--or the one after that.

If we, the people, don't safe-guard our constitutional rights while we still have them, they will erode and disappear before our very eyes.

A wise man once said: "...I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people, by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations." --James Madison

"Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you. He will make your innocence as clear as the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun" (Psalm 37:5-6).

News:

• Fox News Channel: U.S. sends an additional 250 million dollars to Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood amid U.S. military cuts.
• NBC News: North Korea threat of nuclear attack against U.S. not easily dismissed.
• BBC: UN officials say "Syria is spiraling towards full-scale disaster with 1 million refugees and 90,000 dead.