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We all know honesty is the key to any relationship. To show dishonesty in business dealing is not only immoral but illegal. Aside from the moral and legal issues it is simply bad for business. Every business has its reputation following it good or bad....

What does "fear the Lord" mean? Richard Rives explains that it is the acknowledgment that God's laws are still in effect and are to be followed.

“The most highly educated,” wrote the late Herbert W. Armstrong, “view all things through the eyeglasses of evolutionary theory. … That is why the most highly educated are, overall, the most ignorant—they are confined to knowledge of the material, and to ‘good’ on the self-centered level. Knowledge of God and the things of God are foolishness to them.” A recent issue of the Wall Street Journal featured a discussion between prominent thinkers on the subjects of evolution, science and the role of religion which proves the accuracy of Mr. Armstrong’s statement. The feature, titled “Man vs. God,” is far from...

Russia will always seem very threatening and powerful to non-Russians simply because it's necessary to convince the Russians themselves that you, as a leader, have convinced it thereof. In order to rule the nation, you must be successful in that game. Americans will always claim they have more of freedom and are far wealthier than the rest of us, as freedom and material prosperity most often is what immigrants to the US feel they don't get too much of at home. Every country, even Somalia, houses admirable and captivating sides. I haven't been to the African Horn, but of that...

Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. Proverbs 19:27 I used to think that knowledge was the key to life. What I mean by that is, I once thought that if we were all enlightened and went to college, we would know how to solve the world's problems. In fact, with so much collective knowledge out there, why aren't the world's problems solved? But there's knowledge and there's instruction. We often equate the two, and sometimes they're related. More often than not, though, they're as different as night and day. You can...

WILL DIRTY CHICAGO POLITICS BE THE UNDOING OF OBAMA? CATEGORY: Decision '08, Obama-Rezko Where is the wisdom of Mike Royko when you need it? Royko was by far Chicago’s most beloved political columnist. His scathingly brilliant, uproariously funny writings on the Chicago political machine not only shone a light in the dark corners of corruption, favoritism, and mobbed up businesses of Richard J. Daley’s City Hall, he had fun doing it. A small sample: Several theories have arisen as to what Mayor Daley really meant a few days ago when he said: “If they don’t like it, they can kiss...

"Since the attack [9-11], I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them too. Here they are: (1) "We're not good, they're not evil, everything is relative."

My fellow Americans: If you had to choose between shrinking the size of government or shrinking the size of your paycheck, which would it be? Chances are you think you're paying enough taxes already. And I agree with you. The trouble is, your opinions don't always count for much in Washington, DC. It seems to be taken for granted here that the Federal Government has an automatic right to grow at your expense. Listening to people talk, you'd almost think government owns your earnings. So, please be a little skeptical when you hear the moaning from Washington's born-again deficit...

Jeroboam thought to himself that “the kingdom, will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam. After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. 1 Kings 12:26-28 Advice is good. Bad advice is, well, bad. How can...

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm. Proverbs 13:20 The pages of history books are full of people who have been wise and those who have been foolish. We need only look at the newspapers and newscasts to see both types of people (when the U.S. government spends trillions of money it does not have, that's foolish). It has been said that you can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps. When I was a kid, I was often warned about "hanging out with the wrong crowd." Some...

“Increasing in Wisdom” (Luke 2:40-52)When last we left Jesus, he was forty days old, being presented in the temple. From that point on, we know nothing about the life of Jesus up until he began his public ministry, at age 30, except for two incidents. One is the visit of the Magi (and the flight to Egypt), when Jesus was less than two years old--we’ll hear about that this Tuesday evening at our Epiphany service. The only other incident we have in the gospels from Jesus’ childhood is from when he was twelve years old, in our text for today,...

By Burt Prelutsky Today, while making my way through a supermarket parking lot, I nearly got clipped when I didn’t hear a car backing out from its space. I assume it was one of those silent hybrids. Once I got done thanking God for providing me with my cat-like reflexes, it occurred to me to wonder why every vehicle doesn’t come equipped with those back-up beepers one finds on trucks. That, in turn, reminded me that a friend recently informed me that she and her husband had just purchased a hybrid and that it ran as silent as a...

That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you"...Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours? 2 Chronicles 1:7,10 This is truly an amazing passage of Scripture. It gives us great insight into how God thinks. Solomon could have asked for anything at all. Granted, he was king over Israel and he could have commanded any material or societal whim he desired. But he had all of that. He wanted something that was lasting and meaningful....

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout...then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed." Luke 2:25, 34-35 Simeon had waited all his life to say these things. The Lord had revealed to him that he would see the Lord’s Messiah. He knew what was going to happen and spoke it over the boy and his parents. Again,...

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. Philippians 1:9-10 This is the second prayer from the New Testament in as many days. It too should be memorized and prayed over people. How desperately we need discernment and purity in the present age. There are just so many moral, financial, social, and ethical decisions we need to make. We need the wisdom that brings discernment. It’s a...

He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers. Proverbs 19:8 The older I get the more I find that wisdom is an extremely valuable thing to have. When we’re young and impressionable, wisdom is a boring and tedious subject. We do foolish things when we’re young. But we’re also more daring and not afraid to try new and risky things (if you find yourself saying “I’m too old to do that,” you’re not young anymore!). Then as life happens to us, we are more reserved and cautious. Wisdom in life is different. Making wise choices...

In January 2007, with Iraq in flames and Democrats set to take over Congress, President Bush had two options. He could side with Senator Barack Obama and begin a gradual drawdown of American troops in Iraq, leaving the Iraqis to a grim fate and dealing a serious and consequential blow to American interests in the Middle East and beyond. Or he could side with Senator John McCain and change strategies, sending additional troops to Iraq in an effort to secure the population and assist the Iraqis in their fight against al Qaeda and the Iranian-backed Shiite militias--the so-called "surge" policy....

Not until a year after Lexington did the Continental Congress muster the resolve to declare the 13 colonies free and independent states, no longer subject to Parliament or Crown. Not for five years after July 4, 1776, did George Washington's army truly attain America's independence at Yorktown. Even then, Washington and his aide Alexander Hamilton knew that the 13 states, while politically independent, were dependent upon Europe for the necessities of their national life. Without French ships and guns, French muskets and troops, the Americans could not have forced Gen. Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown. Cornwallis would have sailed away, as...

KENNER, La. — Senator John McCain marked the unofficial beginning of the general election with a speech here Tuesday in which he sought to distance himself from President Bush and to argue that he has stronger credentials as an independent agent of change than his all-but-certain Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama. “For all his fine words and all his promise, he has never taken the hard but right course of risking his own interests for yours, of standing against the partisan rancor on his side to stand up for our country,” Mr. McCain said of Mr. Obama in a prime-time...

When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit. The studies are analyzed in a new edition of a neurology book, “Progress in Brain Research.” Some brains do deteriorate with age. Alzheimer’s disease, for example, strikes 13 percent of Americans 65 and older. But for most aging adults,...

Obama is a complete fool and Oprah said he has wisdom!!! Shame, on Obama for saying 57 States in the USA, also two States he didn’t see, Alaska and Hawaii.

The Clinton campaign narrative was supposed to go something like this: Senator Clinton’s commanding lead in the polls would persist throughout 2007. January would kick off with a solid win in Iowa, followed by a blowout in New Hampshire. The race effectively would be settled by mid-January, leaving the rest of the primary season to serve as a coronation, allowing Clinton to position herself for the general campaign. Conventional wisdom said the “female vote” was a lock for Clinton. The campaign has a director of women’s outreach, Ann Lewis, who focuses exclusively on building support among women. She encourages the...

Surely there never was a fight better worth making than the one in which we are engaged. It little matters what befalls any one of us who for the time being stand in the forefront of the battle. I hope we shall win, and I believe that if we can wake the people to what the fight really means we shall win. But, win or lose, we shall not falter. Whatever fate may at the moment overtake any of us, the movement itself will not stop. Our cause is based on the eternal principles of righteousness; and even though we...

Most people learn over time, but often learning comes too late to be fully useful. There are certainly many things that I know now that would have been extremely useful to me earlier in my life; things that could have saved me from many of the mistakes and hurts I suffered over the years—and most of those that I inflicted on others too.

Proverbs 5:15-23INTRODUCTION Sex and wisdom are closely intertwined in the OT. Wisdom and Folly are both pictured throughout the early chapters of Proverbs as women – one honorable and blessed, the other seductive and ultimately deadly. Further, the Song of Songs is included among the wisdom books. In some way, skill in living and skill in love-making are connected. BASIC PERSPECTIVES Sex is a mystery. Sex is a mystery because masculinity and femininity are elusive qualities. Sexual desire is a mystery, so spontaneous and powerful that we might almost forgive ancient pagans for thinking of sex as a goddess, a...

Why the world wants believers to shut up — and why we mustn't The blessing of upright men exalts a town, But by the mouth of wicked men it is torn down (Proverbs 11:11, my translation) The interpretive key to understanding many of the Proverbs from 10:1 and on is in knowing the nature of Hebrew poetry, which does not tend to rhyme sounds as much as thoughts. That "rhyming" can be synonymous, or it can advance or complete the thought, or it can be contrastive. In this case, the "but" clues us that it is contrastive. Solomon is giving...

From the riotous coverage of this election, starting months ago and ending with the November 7 crescendo, one might conclude that momentous events are afoot: To the Barricades! Out with the Old, in with the New! Actually we have just endured a typical midterm election, when a president halfway through his second term suffers losses on Capitol Hill. On average that has meant 31 House seats lost and six Senate seats poof. Now, once the lawyers have conjured with the corpus delicti in all the close elections, we shall see that this is about what happened. Do not let the...

Finding Wisdom in the Wreckage November 9th, 2006 In retail the customer is always right; in politics the voters are never wrong. Republicans need to bear that in mind as they contemplate the wreckage left behind by Tuesday night’s Democrat tide. Defeat can be a great teacher and now is the Republican’s time to learn. Waste no time grumbling about the irresponsibility of the voters who handed power to a party so fundamentally unserious that it has nothing useful to say about any of the principal issues with which our government must grapple. Democrats didn’t deserve to win, but Republicans...

Gang: I hope you will excuse the vanity. I am going to be an election judge at a precinct in Galveston County tomorrow. It will be a loooong day (polls open from 7am to 7pm) and we are going to be using a lot of new equipment (including an e-Slate and e-Scan machine). in the final analysis the buck stops with me, the election judge. I have been an election judge before, but I know it is going to take a lot of patience and more than a little wisdom to get the job done right. If I might bother...

The 'can lady', as she was called by so many who certainly recognized a community fixture when they saw one for the three hundredth time, walked the neighborhoods and the business strip every morning at first light, picking up the occasional discarded aluminum can, and the occasional currency and coin, lying upon the city's sidewalks and streets. Many observers may have felt a pang of angst that society did not provide social services to prevent such a sad fate. Some may even have tried to 'remedy' the old lady's perilous situation through the mechanisms of government. Any who did would...

The True Lover Of God Mary Lindow Jun 25 2006 06:04PM THE TRUE LOVER OF GOD DOES NOT NEED TO BE LAVISHED UPON BY MAN THE PRESENT EVILS AND PRESSURES OF OUR TIME ARE NOT NEW TO GOD OR......TO THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD! The Bride of Christ has been either over stroked with false platitudes or has been allowed to be spoiled with a gluttony of self-love, self-analysis, and self-promotion. All members of the Lord’s Body, leaders and simple followers, have all had the virus of “I WANNA BE SOMEBODY” attempt to sidetrack and infect the human nature side...

"Those gentlemen, who will be elected senators, will fix themselves in the federal town, and become citizens of that town more than of your state." -- George Mason (speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 14 June 1788) Reference: The Debates of the Several State..., Elliot, vol. 3 (405)

"Whatever enables us to go to war, secures our peace." -- Thomas Jefferson (letter to James Monroe, 24 October 1823) Reference: Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, Foley (685); orignal The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Ford, ed., vol. 5 (198)

This is the first in a series that will ultimately publish and provide commentary for each chapter of the book of Proverbs. The inspiration for this is the new book entitled “The Richest Man who Ever Lived� by Steven K. Scott. It's the best book I have read in a long time and is already changing my life.Author Steven Scott has been through it all. He lost 9 jobs in his first 6 years out of college and was tagged as a hopeless corporate failure. On the advice of his friend Gary Smalley, who was also a nobody at the...

Florida's Favorite Governor, Jeb Bush Gov. Jeb Bush told the first graduating class of this community's high school Saturday to be giving, be grateful and be humble. 'As you become adults, I hope of each of you continues giving of yourself,' he urged the 65 graduating students during a commencement address held in a courtyard outside The Villages Charter High School. The governor also said the students showed character last year when many of them helped clean up debris in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. When the students look back on that, they should 'be grateful for all the wonderful things...

PROPOSALS INVITED TOWARD A MORE CIVIL DISCOURSE RE RELIGIOUS FIGURES AT ODDS WITH VARIOUS SENSIBILITIES The current thread regarding Pat Robertson is but the latest in a long tradition of certain flavors of evangelical Christian and particularly Pentecostal/Charismatic religious figures being thoroughly shredded by what--90% or more of the posts--usually in the harshest, most hostile, even demonizing wording possible. It seems that when folks are perceived to be in such Pentecostal/charismatic categories, all bets are off, no holds barred--the most viscious attacks are the minimal Standard Operating Procedure. Instead of exhorting one another in Christian Love, the worst attitudes normally...

VIRGINIA BEACH-Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson is warning that, according to God, storms and possibly a tidal wave will pound America's coastline this year.

www.roymcdanielcobsulting.com

The Washington Post religion section recently had an article about the Gnostic gospels. What are they? — A reader in SterlingThe Gnostic gospels are attributed to the work of a community known as the "Gnostics," which existed in the early Church. (Gnosis in Greek means "knowledge.") However, before addressing the issue of the Gnostic gospels, we must first understand more about the Gnostic community and the heresy entitled "Gnosticism." The origins of Gnosticism are unclear. The first traces of Gnosticism arise centuries before Christianity and are rooted in the ancient religions of Syria, Babylonia, Phoenicia and Persia, and in the...

Friday's lead story in America's largest newspaper must have made for sober reading at AEI and the Council on Foreign Relations, the twin dorms that house the Wilsonian wings of our national parties. Americans, it appears, have had a bellyful of interventionism and globaloney. Reporters Susan Page and David Jackson merit quoting at length: "In a USA Today/Gallup Poll, nearly half of those surveyed said the United States 'should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along as best they can on their own.' ... "The leave-us-alone mood is apparent not only in the proportion of Americans,...

At this command, we have written in large, black letters: DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) on the back of our security badges." Maj (CENTCOM) "'Leaning forward' is really just the first phase of 'falling on your face.'" Marine Col (MARFOREUR) "I am so far down the food chain that I've got plankton bites on my butt." "None of us is as dumb as all of us." Excerpted from a brief (EUCOM) "We're from the nuke shop, sir. We're the crazy aunt in the closet that nobody likes to talk about ..." Lt Col (EUCOM) in briefings "Things are looking up for...

It was 15 years ago today that our 8-year-old son Ryan suffered a severe brain injury that left him unable to walk or talk or feed himself. He was in the hospital (in two hospitals, actually) for over six months, and ever since has lived with us at home. I thought I would share some of the lessons I've learned in these past 15 years: Some Run Away I thought I'd start out with the most unpleasant reality first. That in times of real trouble, some people you thought were your true-blue friends or close family members you thought were...

Fanatical Muslims can be very dangerous to the society. 9/11, 3/11, 7/7 or countless other terrorist attacks on innocent civilians across the world show that we are dealing with a very dangerous clique. These people (and I use that term loosely) should not have rights. They should be kicked out of the country or locked up in concentration camps and treated as dangerous. A Persian proverb says, “Compassion to the wolf is cruelty to the lamb”. In nutshell, stop apologizing! Become tough and threatening. You'll be surprised to see how soon these " valiant" jihadis will head back to their...

by Br. Shane Johnson, LC Other Articles by Br. Shane Johnson, LC The Visionary 01/05/06 He is a pope of surprises. He always seems to be the Benedict we thought we knew, but didn’t. He was the surprisingly endearing father at World Youth Day and the equally endearing grandfather at his recent encounter with young first communicants in Rome. He was a defanged, compassionate German Shepherd at his private heart-to-hearts with dissident theologian Hans Küng and the head of the schismatic Lefebvrite movement, bishop Bernard Fellay. In This Article...A Transcendent HopeLies and SeductionsThe Truth of Peace A Transcendent Hope And so,...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

The Wisdom of God is one of His most profound attributes. With it, God acts right in every situation. God is perfect in all His applications of knowledge. This wisdom is seen in designing this world. Ps. 104:24 "O LORD, how many are Your works! in wisdom have You made them all: the earth is full of Your riches." It was used in providing salvation for this world. Eph. "And to make all humans se what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus...

In Muslim nations that go to the ballot box, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, extremist political parties get crushed by voters. Those extremists are not able to earn more than a small per cent of the vote. Most people want good government, the electricity to work, the trains to run on time, low crime and so forth. The people are wise, and with a proper outlet to let that wisdom flow to government, superior outcomes prevail. Voters choose secular political parties over religious ones, and moderate parties over extremists. Saudi Arabia and Iran are the two best examples of...

WHO DIED AND left Cindy Sheehan in charge? Not her son, Casey. When he was killed in Iraq, he left only a bereaved, bereft mother. We put her in charge — the press, the politicians, the people. We put her in charge not just of her own message and her mission, which is all she had asked for, but we cranked up her voice to equal volume with the man she's calling out: POTUS himself, George W. Bush. "We" are the TV bloviators who prefer talking-head chatter to the shoe-leather work of reporting; the only shoe leather some of them...

The liberal media is delighted with Cindy Sheehan. This is the woman who lost a son in Iraq and has camped outside President Bush's Crawford Ranch, intending to stay until the President speaks with her or returns to Washington. For the reporters waiting around in the dusty heat of West Texas, Ms. Sheehan is a godsend, a dramatic, heart-wrenching story that gives the media both a telegenic drama and another opportunity for indulging their dislike of Bush and the war in Iraq.

...."... I think it's important for me and for you to look for the depth of a person's soul and character. I was touched by the fact your mother gave you the cross.' " Bush publicly testified of Putin, "I was able to get a sense of his soul." ...Bush is even apt to apply this particular brand of illogic to his own character. In one of the 2000 presidential debates, Al Gore pointed out that Bush as governor of Texas opposed a measure to expand children's healthcare and instead used the money for a tax cut. The debate moderator...