Free Republic

Is there a problem with misguided, even deceived Christians who have taken prosperity to an extreme and gotten the focus off their first love and onto an imbalanced view of prosperity? Sure. But that doesn’t mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater and assume any discussion of prosperity is superficial and manipulative. Are there prosperity attackers who’s sole purpose is to follow in the footsteps of Judas of Iscariot and make everything that anyone says about money or prosperity, or healing and health for that matter, sound like heresy. Yes. But it doesn’t justify eliminating the investigation to...

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) – For those who value their freedom of expression as much as health, wealth, and prosperity, then Finland is the place to be, with an index ranking the Nordic nation the best in the world. The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index, published on Tuesday and compiled by the Legatum Institute, an independent policy, advocacy and advisory organization, ranked 104 countries which are home to 90 percent of the world's population. The index is based on a definition of prosperity that combines economic growth with the level of personal freedoms and democracy in a country as well as measures...

In the first chapter of Russell Kirk's The Roots of American Order we read the following statement: "Our own society, like that of any other people, is held together by what is called an 'order.'" Without order, society doesn't cohere. Instead, it flies apart, breaks up, and disintegrates. And, I would argue, a process of disintegration has been underway in the United States for many years. The breakup of the American order has been masked by American prosperity, which has continued throughout the process of social disintegration. To a very great extent, the financial crisis we are experiencing today is...

On October 2 and 3, Americans for Prosperity Foundation™ is hosting the Defending the American Dream™ Summit where Americans for Prosperity will sponsor a national Town Hall meeting at the Capitol – while Congress is actually in session – so your Senators and Representatives can hear directly from YOU! The Town Hall meeting on Friday afternoon, October 2 will take place on the Capitol steps and then we will go inside the Senate and House office buildings to visit YOUR Senators' offices along with your Congressman's office. Our goal is for these Senators to see a steady stream of grassroots...

President Obama's first address to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, Sept. 23, can only be described as a renunication of American exceptionalism. Obama essentially gave up his nation in favor of being leader of the world when he told world leaders: "No world order that elevates one nation or groups of people over another will succeed." In Obama's eyes the U.S. is tarnished, stained, immoral, and unjust, with a flawed Constitution, and no better than any other nation. It saddens me that Obama does not recognize the greatness of this nation. It isn't that our DNA is differ. It...

America's familiar debate over income inequality conceals and confuses at least as much as it reveals. To hear most journalists and activists tell the story, our country is the scene of a rampant and long-running economic travesty, as the rich grow richer, the poor grow poorer, and the distance between them belies the promise of America even in times of prosperity. As President Barack Obama put it during his 2008 campaign: "While some have prospered beyond imagination in this global economy, middle-class Americans as well as those working hard to become middle class are seeing the American Dream slip further...

Many leaders in high places now [1955] promise us that our government will never again permit poverty and depression to devastate our land. They propose more government spending as a cure for every economic evil. And millions of people believe that such a program will work. The underlying philosophy behind political spending is not new. Similar ideas have appeared throughout all history. They came to full flower shortly after the collapse of 1929, when unbalanced budgets were generally accepted as necessary economic measures for relieving those in distress. You could not let innocent people starve, could you? People pointed to...

Israel’s Friends with Benefits By Norma Zager “See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore He would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.” Deuteronomy 1:8 (New International Version) If the Lord closed the deal thousands of years ago, why is Israel still looking for a cosigner? Israel must survive but American Jews are “over it.” AIPAC sold out for a glass of lemonade in the Oval Office and J Street is as pro-Israel as David Duke. It is time to wake up...

As our nation remakes itself into a European social democracy, bidding farewell to American Exceptionalism, we hear constant calls for "sacrifice." Have you wondered exactly what it is that we've been asked to give up? The radical idea that all men should be equal before the law, each free to pursue happiness using his own means, created a nation of innovators that transformed the world. American culture had little tolerance for hereditary privilege, instead celebrating the self-made man accepting unequal outcomes as the price society pays to motivate entrepreneurial risk. Our founding social contract gave almost everyone a shot at...

The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, the flamboyant minister better known as the Reverend Ike, who preached the blessings of material prosperity to a large congregation in New York and to television and radio audiences nationwide, died Tuesday in Los Angeles, where he had lived since 2007. He was 74. “This is the do-it-yourself church,” he proclaimed. “The only savior in this philosophy is God in you.” Along with Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robertson, he was one of the first evangelists to grasp the power of television. At the height of his success, in the 1970s, he reached...

RUSH: Michael Jackson. I have an observation. I have an observation about this Michael Jackson thing, not about the details of his death or anything. Jackson's success, if you stop and think of it -- and this is going to really irritate some people, which I will enjoy doing -- Jackson's success paralleled the rebound of the United States under Ronaldus Magnus. Michael Jackson's biggest successes, and as it turns out his final successes, real successes took place in the eighties. That was Billie Jean, Thriller and all this. I mean he was as weird as he could be but...

A quick tour through the week’s headlines suggests the Republican Party is beginning to come to terms with the last election and that consensus is emerging among GOP elites that the party needs to move away from discordant social issues. There was Sen. John McCain's daughter and his campaign manager who last week demanded that their fellow Republicans embrace same-sex marriage. Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman – the most devoted modernizer among the party's 2012 hopefuls – won approving words from New York Times columnist Frank Rich for his call to downplay divisive values issues. The party’s top elected leaders in...

The saying goes that when America catches a cold, the black community catches pneumonia. And when the economy goes into a recession, in minority neighborhoods it feels like a depression. Andrae Crayton can testify to that. The deepening economic crisis is taking its toll on him and other members of the emerging black middle class, which had seen its income and homeownership levels rise in recent decades. Educators, business owners, government employees and other professionals have lost their jobs, seen their hours cut back or felt squeezed by the credit crunch. Crayton sat solidly inside Central Florida's black middle class....

Protesters visit AIG officials' lavish Conn. homes By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A busload of activists representing working- and middle-class families paid visits Saturday to the lavish homes of American International Group executives to protest the tens of millions of dollars in bonuses awarded by the struggling insurance company after it received a massive federal bailout. About 40 protesters — outnumbered by reporters and photographers from as far away as Germany — sought to urge AIG executives who received a portion of the $165 million in bonuses to do more to help families. "We think $165...

E.J. Dionne asked a question in his column yesterday that would seem to allow for a quick and easy answer, especially to those who don't bother to think about what he's really asking: Do We Want a More Equal Society? The central issue in American politics now is whether the country should reverse a three-decade long trend of rising inequality in incomes and wealth. Dionne begins this exercise by establishing as fact something that may be true to numbers, but is certainly not true to truth. First, Dionne completely ignores the fact that every group has increased its time adjusted...

Beat The Conference Report, beat the No-Stimulus Bill! Senate Showdown Looms in a Couple Days The Senate mustered 61 votes to squeak through the Collins/Nelson amendment, better known as the “compromise” stimulus plan, which of course is really a NO-stimulus plan! If you listen to the mainstream media, this means the fight is over, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama win, and it’s time to move on. Not so fast! The so-called compromise that will soon be produced by a House-Senate conference committee is another disastrous bill. In fact, they actually reduced the amount of tax relief in the...

Washington never changes, no matter who's in power. Give a gang of politicians a chance to spend our money, and they will spend it -- the more the better. An economic downturn is hog heaven; for now they have a justification to spend big time: "economic stimulus." Anything and everything can be proposed as long as it can be said to "inject money into the economy" and "create jobs." Does $819 billion sound like too much? Au contraire. It may not be enough. Ask Paul Krugman and the other Keynesians. The danger, they say, lies in spending too little. Not...

President Obama fit a lot of ideas into his roughly 20-minute inaugural address, and one of the most welcome was his reference to the fact that the gap between rich and poor has grown too large: a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good. During President...

Thrift is the “miracle cure” for the economic ills of our society, according to David Blankenhorn, author of a new book about the misunderstood word. “Thrift: A Cyclopedia,” is a collection of historical quotes and images — many of which pay homage to a word that today is narrowly defined by Americans to mean “to be cheap” or “to save.” Many misguided consumers think of thrift in a negative light. To them, thrift reminds them of secondhand stores you shop at if you are poor and unfashionable. Being thrifty is being tight with money like your Uncle Al who lived...

Science writer Matt Ridley on the causes of poverty and prosperityMatt Ridley, an Oxford-educated zoologist, turned to journalism in 1983, when he got a job as The Economist’s science reporter. He soon became the magazine’s Washington correspondent and eventually served as it’s American editor. This time in the United States had a profound intellectual effect on Ridley, ultimately leading him to become a self-described classical liberal, a “person who believes in economic freedom and social freedom, too.� Ridley, 50, has written several superb books that combine clear explanations of complex biology with discussions of the science’s implications for human society....

Hello!P-E Obama will announce major foreign policy choices at a news conference Monday a.m.The death toll in the Mumbai massacres is expected to rise... and the Christmas shopping period may have gotten off to a stronger-than-expected start.

Yahoo! Allows "historical prices" for the indexes to be narrowed down to specific dates. So we did this for the last 3 elections to inaugural dates. Let's study how the market has reacted to G.W. Bush's election vs. B.H. Obama's election. Bush elected on NOVEMBER 8, 2000, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. (Remember, there was a protracted fight over the election, a refusal to concede by the loser, and a flurry of court decisions...) The Dow sank 320 points. Bush re-elected on NOVEMBER 2, 2004, re-inaugurated on January 19, 2005. The Dow rose 504. B. Hussein Obama elected on NOVEMBER...

COB ADDER — Partnering with Iraqi security forces to improve conditions and help protect local citizens means more than just securing the neighboring provinces to the Soldiers of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Part of the combat team’s mission includes aiding the local citizens in improving their economic conditions as well. Iraqi businessmen in Dhi Qar met with U.S. Soldiers and the provincial reconstruction team at an Iraqi-based Industrial Zone program meeting, designed to promote small business development within the security of the base, Oct. 13. The program provides a means to directly impact the economy in...

Sharing the Poverty by: Jesse Masai, October 20, 2008 Is America’s nirvana ending soon? It is, if you believe the contents of a new book: The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy—If We Let It Happen. Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore and Peter Tanous; each of them keen students of Reaganomics and still involved in America’s corporate world and academia, discuss in their book the importance of continuing the pro-growth economic policies of the 1980s. A statement from the American Enterprise Institute ahead of the launch said: “The authors explain how effective economic policies instituted over the...

"Prosperity is being able to do what you want to do when you want to do it in the way you want to do it," wrote Dr. Raymond Charles Barker. That is a pretty good summary of the consciousness of prosperity. Prosperity is about more than money, although having sufficient money to do everything you choose to do is obviously an important part of it. Money facilitates the functioning of individuals, families, and organizations. But the consciousness of prosperity is one of vibrant health (so you're physically capable of doing what you choose to do), of service to your fellow...

Why isn't a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs born in Honduras? I mean, why is it that creative people don't emerge in the Third World, capable of developing innovative products and building companies that market those products, create jobs, generate large profits and influence decisively the fate of this planet? What we know about human intelligence and character features is that they're disseminated more or less equitably. The Finns who created Nokia and live in an opulent paradise in northern Europe are no more intelligent than the Dominicans or the Ecuadoreans who are crushed by poverty. On the other...

My Scandinavian brothers and sisters in Norway and Denmark were raped by Nazi Germany during WWII. Finland was viciously attacked by the troops of Stalin, an army mostly consisting of young Russian farmer sons who never where told why they had to go to Nordic territory and have their throats slit in the cold winter night by a "puukko knife". These small countries, small even from my nation's perspective (I'm Swedish), fought back like hell and in the end they triumphed. Look at the performance of these countries of today. I'm not asking anyone to whine over the hardship the...

It was a beautiful summer evening last Thursday as Tom and I headed from our hotel to Family Harvest Church in Tinley Park, Illinois. The Inspiring Excellence Conference was underway, and after hearing that Ray Comfort was speaking there, we decided to travel the short distance from Milwaukee to see what was going on. We were initially told by the church that Ray was speaking Friday night, but we learned after we arrived that he had already spoken, twice, on Tuesday. We were somewhat early so we looked around at the book and DVD tables in the foyer. We saw...

This is a powerful little clip from a sermon by Paul Washer. Its not always easy to remember in the middle of loss or continuous physical pain that these things we endure are not only helping to mold us into the man or woman of God, which is our eternal destiny if we be in Christ, but that they are a testimony to God’s Name and Glory: how? by our steadfast faithfulness to Him through it all…and how the world witnesses this. Even chastisement we receive by the hand of God is a ‘witness’ that we ARE a child of...

A possible ethical problem in America’s modern-day Christian Church has developed over the wealthy lifestyle that many television and or mega-church ministers are living. These ministers receive large sums of money from their followers on a regular basis to support their ministries. But, most of the people who send money to these televangelists assume they are mainly using it for the ministry of the Gospel. They also assume that their money is being used frugally. But, do they really expect their contributions to be used frugally?

Mexico City, Official Residence The Presidency reported that President Felipe Calderón met Arizona Senator John McCain, who will be nominated as the US Republican Presidential Candidate in September, at the official Los Pinos residence today. The President remarked that Mexico trusts the United States will value the priority given to bilateral work on migration, trade, development, regional competitiveness and security as the means for promoting the well-being of both societies. President Calderón confirmed his government’s intention of continuing to collaborate on all issues of common interest, including the prevention of and response to natural disasters and pandemics, food security and...

- In Sweden that is. All the same, if various experts are right, the Nordic countries are not only the richest part of the world, but also global leaders in the domain of QUALITY of life. Therefore, living in this part of Stockholm is probably as good as life gets, or? The article: "The Stockholm suburb of Danderyd is the best municipality in which to live, according to a new ranking by the magazine Fokus. Lund and nearby Lomma in southern Sweden follow closely behind. Ljusnarsberg municipality in the Bergslagen region of central Sweden ended up in last place. The...

The signs of the super rich in Reykjavik are as clear as the snow on the black volcanic mountains beyond its harbour.

The technological and economical development of Scandinavia (including Finland) is today more groundbreking than anywhere else in the world. The investments being made in relation to population size is mind-boggling. Despite a mere population of 25 million inhabitants, the combined GDP of the Scandinavian countries today ridicules that of a Russia often viewed to be a "reborn" super power "on the go" (combined Scandinavian GDP is actually 125% that of of Russia - and the gap is widening!!) But, let's focus on telecommunications here; Five bidders have paid €226 million ($346 million) for fourth generation (4G), super-fast mobile telephony licences,...

First Lt. Michael Falk, Troop A, 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, currently attached to 2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div., rescues a chick while poultry farmers load 6,000 of them onto trucks in Hawr Rajab, April 27. The chicks were purchased by the Baghdad-7 ePRT to help jump-start chicken farms in the area, which have suffered in recent years due to insurgent activity. Photo by Sgt. David Turner. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Two Iraqi poultry farmers received 3,000 chicks each April 27 in a bid to jump-start their industry in Hawr Rajab, a...

1/3/2008 - LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- "I make promises and my job is to fulfill these promises," Laghman Provincial Governor Gulab Mangal told more than 200 tribal elders during a shura, or tribal council, held here recently. Six weeks later, that declaration came true with the Dec. 31signing of an $8 million contract between the Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team and the Mashriq Engineering and Construction Company to build the first phase of a major new road here. The PRT meets weekly with provincial leadership to discuss the development of the province. The projects that gain the most interest are those...

Being broke need not mean social death in Sweden - as long as you are well-educated. But for Americans and Russians having a good all-round education is no substitute for having cash, according to a new survey on status symbols in the three countries. The international survey by analysts United Minds asked 1,000 people in each country what values confer status. 'Bling' items such as expensive jewellery and designer clothes come well down the list for Swedes, while featuring more highly for Americans and, particularly, Russians. "Sweden is the only country where you can be penniless but well-read and still...

Washington (AHN) - Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson proposed Friday to reduce promised retirement benefits and to create a system of voluntary personal retirement accounts that can also help to finance the Social Security program. Under the proposal, retirement benefits for workers who are now 58 and older will not be affected. Employees who are now younger will get smaller monthly Social Security pensions because their benefits will be calculated based on the yearly increase in prices. Meanwhile, the personal retirement accounts will be funded with workers' contributions to be matched by funds from the Social Security trust fund. Workers...

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson waded into the politically potent issue of Social Security on Friday and proposed overhauling the retirement system by creating 401(k)-style personal accounts. Tampering with Social Security is fraught with political peril and President George W. Bush's attempts to change it during his second term fizzled as lawmakers balked at his drive to create private investment accounts subject to the whims of the stock market. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, is seeking to show he is willing to take on tough issues if elected in November 2008, telling a news conference in Washington he is...

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The gospel message that links God with dollars has been called to judgment before a powerful U.S. senator. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) sent letters requesting detailed financial documents to two metro Atlanta preachers and four other ministries nationwide whose leaders are known for opulent, or as the ministers would say, blessed, lifestyles. Grassley is the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and has developed a reputation for demanding financial transparency from non-profits. He wants to know how much Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia and the Rev. Creflo and Taffi Dollar of World Changers...

This article is a part of a collection of essays written recently by Dr. Horton after his interview on 60 Minutes which aired on October 14, 2007. "Name it, claim it"; the "health-and-wealth" or "prosperity gospel" : these are nicknames for a heresy that in many respects is only an extreme version of perhaps the most typical focus of American Christianity today more generally. Basically, God is there for you and your happiness. He has some rules and principles for getting what you want out of life and if you follow them, you can have what you want. Just “declare...

October 14, 2007 Commentary: "Faith & The Gospel" Welcome to another broadcast of the White Horse Inn. Joel Osteen in his bestselling book Your Best Life Now, Seven Steps to Living at Your Full Potential writes, "Don't sit back passively, hey I'm just looking out for you own happiness when I say, "You do your part and God will do his. Sure we have our faults, but the good news is God loves us anyway." Instead of accepting God's just verdict on our own righteousness and fleeing to Christ for justification Osteen counsels readers to just reject guilt and condemnation...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2007 – New buildings constructed under the guidance of coalition forces are sparking prosperity for Iraqi citizens, a senior U.S. military engineer in Iraq said today. “It’s a concept of ownership,” Navy Capt. Joe Hedges told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call from Baghdad. “We’re using Iraqi funds to build Iraqi facilities.” Hedges is assistant chief of staff for the engineering directorate of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq. His team is currently working to build military bases, barracks, airfields, schools and a hospital on 12 different sites in Iraq. “I’m excited,” Hedges said. “I think...

Staff at a hotel in western Sweden have received what must be their best-ever tip: shares worth 1.5 million kronor ($225,000). The shares have been given to the staff of the Laholmen Hotel in Strömstad, on the Norwegian border, by 93-year-old Stockholmer Matts O Westerberg. He has been a regular guest at the hotel since 1986. The dividends from the shares are to be given to the hotel's employee of the year. "I was given such a fantastic welcome from my very first visit that I have been back for a couple of weeks in the spring and a couple...

Last week Fred Thompson was speaking to a crowd of close to three hundred people at the Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa, explaining how he accidentally fell into a movie career. In the early 1980s Hollywood producers came to Tennessee to make a film about a famous case Thompson had handled as a young lawyer. "They asked me to play myself," Thompson told the audience in his folksy, Southern drawl, "and I said, well, they can't tell me I'm doing it wrong - although they still did from time to time." The line always gets a big laugh,...

Norway's oil-fuelled economic growth has outpaced all other western countries durng the past four years, and statistics experts think the good times will keep on rolling.

National Talk Show Host Reuben Armstrong will be filing a Racial Discrimination and Breach of Contract Suit against the largest Christian website

The great existentialist philosopher Yogi Berra once famously said, "history is just one damn thing after another." Of course the antithesis of Yogi was George Santayana, an equally famous philosopher who said wisely, "those who neglect the mistakes of the past, are doomed to repeat them." As I write these words in the dog days of August, with all the bad news of the subprime mortgage market, liquidity crunch and a fluctuating stock market, it's important to keep things in perspective and heed the words of Santayana, not Berra. In other words, we should turn to history and its empirical...

New research shows us that people around the world, including in the West, are satisfied with their lives and are enjoying a rising quality of life. So why are westerners so pessimistic, asks Nima Sanandaji, of think-tank Captus. Our planet is a happier place these days. That, at least, is what the Pew Research Center is telling us. Their latest survey of global attitudes in 47 nations has found a number of trends that are worth analyzing. According to Pew, people in the developing world are growing ever more satisfied with their personal and financial situations. In Latin America, 59...