Vaughnshire Farm

“American Empire - so long, we hardly knew you. But good riddance! We liked the old Republic much better.”

That is a quote from Bill Bonner over at the DailyReckoning.  Bill also posted a link to the latest version of the corporate bailout plan.  This could also be known as the “taking money from me and my children by threat of imprisonment if I don’t pay my “fair share” of taxes and then using that money to cover problems caused by corporate greed and prop up a godless economy” bill.  But I digress…

Bill points out some great benefits of the bill like raising the limit on our national debt to $11,315,000,000,000, found in Section 122: Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31 of the US Code.  Yes that number starts with a T.

There are numerous other goodies for corporations and states around the nation.  Check them out if you have the time.  Of course, like most laws, the very size of the document defends it from ever being read completely, but that is another discussion for another day.

As an aside, the Daily Reckoning was also involved in the production of I.O.U.S.A. the movie which is produced by the same folks who put out Supersize Me.  It addresses the trouble in the American economy and is probably a great view, although I’ve not yet made the time to watch it.  I’ll post the trailer below.

 The trail that lead me to The Daily Reckoning article started with a few resources I wanted to share.

First, there is Everbank.  They have some interesting foreign currency money market accounts that are designed to help hedge against the falling dollar.  They also have what seems to be a nice precious metals account.  But the specific piece of information that I thought worthy of posting was found in The Daily Pfennig report from Chuck Butler, the Senior Vice President of EverBank World Markets. 

With all the uncertainty around the huge corporate welfare program on the table again, I could not figure out why the dollar was fairing so well in recent days.  Apparently there is some US Dollar and Euro swapping going on due to a requirement for European Banks to hold cash reserves in US dollar for US issued mortgage bonds.  You can get the whole scope along with the rest of Chuck’s currency report here.  I have subscribed for a few weeks now and have found it a great read.

Of course for all those who are concerned about the economy, let me offer this reassurance.  It will fail, the empire of these United States will fall.  It will not happen overnight, but it is in fact happening right now, and has been happening in earnest for at least a decade.  The question on the table it not if America will fall, but how America will fall.  That is the challenge before us as fathers, and as business men who must learn to provide for our family and future generations in this period of history.  I hope to speak to some of the questions this raises in a future post or two.  Until then remember God is in control and this will not be the first time in history that a great empire has fallen.

The use of the pen can be a powerful weapon.  

We place a high priority on learning the art and skill of the pen.  Writing is an absolute must do in this family.  While we do have structured how to lessons on writing here and there, the majority of our writing consists of letters they write to friends and family all over the country as well as “reports” they write for mom and dad on different topics…such as a summery about a book they just read.  They also enjoy writing plays and stories about knights, princesses and castles.  Another way we get writing practice is taking notes during church and if you are too little to write…you draw pictures of something pertaining to the message. 

Our hope and prayer is that we would raise ready writers who are swift and skilled with the pen.  Writers who will write prolifically, from a Biblical perspective, about the very topics in our culture that need to be addressed. 

The other day, we took a trip to our favorite Amish market to pick up some bulk food supplies.  We haven’t been since the baby was born.  We drove through a portion of a small town that we haven’t seen in over 3 months.  As we were driving, we counted a handful of small local stores that have closed up shop.  We drove past one of the little grocery markets we frequented– lights out and abandoned —and next door…. a busy Walmart Supercenter.  I wasn’t shocked.  When the Walmart supercenter came to that small rural town, I knew it was only a matter of months before this little grocery store closed.  My children on the other hand were horrified that it actually happened.  After listening to their ranting and raving over how they felt about small local businesses closing due to being swallowed up by the big corporate giant, they began to propose solutions to the problem.  My answer was “No, we aren’t turning around and picketing today” and “No, we aren’t taping up posters all over town about what we think about Walmart!” 

Our oldest whipped out his pen and notebook and said he was “going to write about this”.  He spent rest of the trip writing.  He started off like this,

Hello, We’re here to tell you about how bad Walmart is.  First, let’s talk about food.  Let’s start with eggs.  Most hens that lay eggs lay in a battery cage.  A battery cage is a cage that is about 4 square feet and has about 5 hens and is electric and there is about one dead hen every cage.  Speaking of small spaces, let’s talk about chicken mutilation…..”

How he got from Walmart to chicken mutilation in 5 sentences and where he is heading on from there I don’t know yet!  Obviously, we still have much writing instruction we need to cover here at home still.  However, it makes me rejoice when I hear my children pick up the weapon of the pen and seek to use it for good. 

When I was a child growing up, I remember hearing the voices of Marlin Maddox and James Dobson on our kitchen radio while helping my mom cook in the kitchen or clean the house.  Now as a mother in my own home, I too often listen to radio and cd’s.  I love to listen to Kevin Swanson’s radio program while attending to the duties in my home.  We appreciate the Swanson family for their unwavering, uncompromising, bold, outloud faith in the truth of the Scriptures. 

Here are a few of the latest radio programs you can listen to as you go about your daily duties. 

Demographic Winter:  Why Women Won’t Have Babies.  (We like drywall way more than we like kids!)

A demographic winter sweeps across continents, and even evangelical Christian leaders won’t face the cause of it. Women don’t want to have babies, because they aren’t raised with a vision for it. Women are raised for careers.

Well, here’s a father who is not raising his daughter for a career. He’s actually embracing God’s vision for daughters. We know it’s weird. We know it’s unpopular. We know it’s politically incorrect. But we don’t care. Because this is what it will take to save a civilization, and glorify God in the process. We’re raising daughters to be what God wants them to be, not what Gloria Steinem or even Sarah Palin wants.

Daycare - Child Abuse:  Time for a Copernican Revolution in Education

A popular children’s author has enraged mothers everywhere after suggesting that day care constitutes child abuse. But what should we say about some of the K-12 schools out there?

Now after 200 years of increasingly cold, institutionalized education, Kevin Swanson suggests a Copernican Revolution in Education. He unveils a new Education Manifesto in which the definition, goals, method, and content of education are reworked from the perspective of a biblical world and life view

The classical Greek form of education separates knowledge from life, the fear of God from knowledge, character from education, and relationships from the paideia. This is because humanism refuses to treat man as a creature of God, created in the image of God, created for the glory of God, and created to love God as a Father. In this segment of the Generations broadcast, Kevin Swanson suggests that Christians should stop borrowing from the humanists to inform their methods of education, which in the end only cripples the faith.

Raisin’ a Palin:  How To Be A Feminist For Life (Classic Swanson Style!! Excellent!)

Kevin Swanson lays out a vision for raising the next Sarah Palins to rule the country in the year 2035. Then, he interviews Scott Brown on a biblical vision for womanhood and the vision for a feminist America. Contrasts form as worldviews clash on this segment of Generations. In a country where the family has unravelled, fatherhood is MIA, where 70% of men do not achieve manhood by 30 years of age, where the debt-to-GNI ratios are through the ceiling, and the character of the nation is in freefall, will 100,000 Sarah Palins be able to salvage our institutions in the next 30 years? More fundamental solutions are suggested on this broadcast.

There are many more good titles…check them out. 

Having had time to digest a little of the CNN video and to sit down to a keyboard with it on my mind, I wanted to share a couple thoughts about it and some resources that speak to the issues of the last two weeks.

My main take away from the CNN clip, was the stark contrast between one man who was willing to speak about what the scriptures said, and two feminist who wanted to repeatedly talk about what our culture felt the Scriptures should say.  If there was one point in which the modern church could be judged as having failed the greatest, in my mind it would be its inability to understand what the author of the Bible meant when He had it recorded.

We approach the Scriptures like it is some sort of Bible bingo game.  We look at it like each verse might mean something different to each person who reads it.  If that was the case, then the Bible would be absolutely useless to all of us.  It would not be, as 2Tim 3:16, 17 declares, able to make us “thoroughly furnished  unto all good works”.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.  (2Ti 3:16-17)

If each verse did not really have an intended meaning, then we could not depend on our interpretation to be any more than our opinion.  We would not be thoroughly furnished.  We would be thoroughly confused.  But God is not the author of confusion.

I also found that Voddie was not the only prophet on the set.  Kyra Phillips clearly understands the ramifications of Palin’s candidacy better than the majority of evangelicals.  She said of Palin, ”She’s winning over church members, church leaders, that don’t even allow women to preach at the pulpit, but she could be leading the country…”  Now Kyra did not mean for this to be a judgment against the church.  In her mind it was a sign of growth and progressiveness within the church.  But clearly what it shows is the hypocrisy the evangelical majority has embraced because of their fear of an Obama presidency

It is sad as we approach the 7th anniversary of 9-11 that we still seem to fear man more than God.  We as a nation are still looking to the arm of the flesh to defend us, instead of crying out in repentance before the Judge of the world.  Evangelicals could not wait to pounce on the Palin bone they were tossed.  They would rather throw themselves at the mercy of the Republican party than in the hands of our loving Creator.  Not because they think the Republicans are going to be able to save them, but rather because facing God would require an honest assessment of the choices and beliefs we have held. 

In short, it would expose the Christian feminism and the male abdication within the church.  We would have to be willing to evaluate, in light of the intended meaning of the text of scriptures, the feminist propaganda both men and women have embraced and would have to be willing to let it go.  In short we would have to repent.

This is as an untenable position to the American Christian as an Obama presidency.  “Give us Barabbas, Give us Barabbas!”, they chant, not recognizing the Lord of Glory who is giving us yet another opportunity to repent and turn from our evil ways as a nation.  I think as much as anything Palin’s “call to office” is a clear call to repentance.  Will we cry out for the Lord and seek His mercy?  Or, will we cry out for Palin as our savior from an Obama presidency?  It is hard for many to envision something worse than an Obama presidency, but as we remember 9-11 today, we should consider that the life of our nation is in God’s hands.  The question that determines our national security and our safety is not who will be president.  It is, “Will we conform our lives to the Word of God regardless of the culture or will we continue to trust in the chariots of the Republican party?”

There are a few resources I would like to recommend to you on the topic of feminism that Palin’s candidacy has brought to the forefront of our nation.

First if you would like to hear Voddie, on the roles within the family without being cutoff, check out The Centrality of the Home in Evangelism and Discipleship.  Here is a great clip that actually answers the question left unanswered by Kyra Phillips, “What about the verse that says submit to each other?”

Secondly I mentioned Passionate Housewives Desperate for God recently in this discussion.  Jennie and Stacy do a great job of working through all of the details of the cultural challanges of being a wife and mother in this political climate all while taking care of the 18 children they have between them.

Lastly, one of my favoriate resources to recommend is The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women.  This brillantly directed film sports a cast of all women and does great service to the modern church, by painting a scriptural and historical picture of feminism and its effects.

Congratulations to gnipgnat and lgreene who are the winners of the Apron Give Away sponsored by Amelia’s Aprons!   You will be contacted by private email to arrange shipping.

I believe it is an interesting and providential event that this give away was held while we were discussing so many aspects of feminism.  Not only are the aprons a beautiful reminder of feminine women, but the owner of Amelia’s Aprons happens to be a single mom with two children who is supporting her family by working at home. 

Not only does she work at home making these fine aprons.  But she also started a cleaning business where she is working in other people’s homes a few days a week with her mother and her daughter.  She did not start off where she is now, when she found herself to be a single mother.  It was a process and a journey that included counsel and help from her family and her church.  It has been a difficult path at times that required the courage to make changes.  But the point here is that it is possible for a single mother, to find income that does not require the separation from her children every day of the week.  It is possible for her to both earn a living and home educate her children as she walks along beside them as they grow in the Lord together.

Congratulations again to the winners of the contest and thank you for everyone who entered!  If you could use an apron, consider supporting the work of a single mom and her daughter, Amelia, by shopping at Amelia’s Aprons.

Please share as you see fit… as a recent comment said, “Voddie for President!”

Nevertheless, after watching these eruptions over Sarah Palin, I feel disappointed. Not everybody can live an idyllic existence on a farm, existing on revenue from livestock and produce. Go to the inner city, and tell the single mom who has had her child taken away by CPS and is a recovering crack addict and prostitute that by practicing “feminism”-that is, learning job skills and trying to put herself back on her feet with the help of a loving group of women at church who are teaching her how to conduct herself at a job interview-that she is removing herself from God.

This recent comment brought out some points that I think many folks stumble over when contrasting the ideas of feminism and Biblical womanhood.  I would offer a few comments for those attempting to reconcile these two ideas and believe they are somehow in conflict.

First let’s say upfront, Sarah Palin, is not a single mother trying to feed her children in the inner city.  Her choices are not based on necessity, but rather on her personal desire, agenda, and the life she chose.  So when someone is talking about feminism and Sarah Palin, they are not talking about the inner city single women, or single women who live on a farm.

To be sure there are many single women who have a hard time supporting their children on their own.  They find themselves in situations a Christian nation should not place its women.  However, let us not attempt to read our current experiences into the scriptures as we attempt to find a Biblical solution for this problem.  The question we ask is often as important as the answer.  In seeking an answer to this problem we are tempted to only ask the question, “How does a single woman support her children?”  If this is the only question we ask, then our solution for this problem may indeed bring more trouble than it does help.

However, if we ask the question, “Why is it we have so many single women who need to support their children?”,  then our focus will be on an answer that will actually impact long term change and not simply provide another un-biblical patch to the problem.

Both questions are important and need to be answered.  The former needs to be answered immediately for the single mom with a broken family that finds themselves in that situation.  The later needs to be answered if we are going to prevent other women from finding themselves in this situation.

First let me say clearly, I do not believe any would say a single woman who is trying to support her family by working is in sin.  The question I would place on the table is not one of sin or not sin, but what is best for a single mother and her children.  As the bride of Christ, we don’t simply want an answer, we want the right answer, a Biblical answer.  Please note, there is a distinction between seeking a Biblical answer to the question and calling a person’s choices sin.

In our traditional approach, you can read in here un-biblical approach or egalitarian approach, we think the single mom needs a skill and a regular 8-5 job.  That means her children are off to daycare or public school as an immediate ramification of this solution.  This immediately enslaves that mother to the employer or industry her skill is in and places her children in an environment where they will learn the same lifestyle patterns which caused this trouble to begin with.  This feeds the family physically, but allows them to starve spiritually.

At this point, we need to understand the Biblical hierarchy to which this problem should go through.  There are responsibilities in all three of the government’s God has created, the state, the church, and the family.  First the husband should not be granted a divorce except on Biblical grounds.  His covenant before God is to provide and protect his family.  This means the no-fault divorce in America needs to be changed.  This is one aspect of how the state can help to change the growing trend of single parenthood.  Of course this is a result of the state rejecting the Biblical teaching on marriage to begin with.

The state rejecting the teachings of the church is evidence of it’s failure to be salt and light to the culture.  The church in America has departed from sound doctrine that provides real solutions to problems and has embraced a humanistic wealth based replacement for the Gospel of Christ.  As such we have the minions at Planned Parenthood being salt and light to the culture and the church being trod under the foot of man.  So part of the answer needs to be a reforming church that is examining it’s theology that has allowed this to happen.  We will address a couple reforms the church can make to help in a moment.

After her husband, the responsibility of the single mother would fall to her family.  First her father or her oldest brother if the father abdicates his role or is not alive to fulfill his duty.  After that, her other brothers and extended family should support their own family member.  It should only fall to the church if there are no other family members who are willing or able to provide for this family.

Assuming, these other steps fail, what should the churches response be?  What if the church’s response to the single mother was to first and foremost feed them, take care of them, and house them.  If they are widows indeed, shouldn’t the church respond as such?  If the mother desires to work and her children are of an age where she can build a business with them, to provide for their future and launch them into life, how should the church council her?  Shouldn’t the mother be able to sustain herself and her children in some manner that does not place her as a pawn in the industrial workforce and her children as lemmings in training in the public school?  What if the church had entrepreneur training sessions that taught the single mom to work with her children as she educated them?  What if the church had business men who were willing to fund the startup of a small cottage business for this family?  Or there was a family in the church who owned a small business that was able to put her to work part time to help through a tough transition? 

I realize it is easy to talk about this in theory and it is something completely different to have the body of Christ actually function as the body of Christ.  But, I have seen this work and it is a beautiful picture when the body of Christ makes sacrifices to deal with issues Biblically.  When we separate ourselves from the world’s way of thinking; when we stop embracing it’s failed philosophies, and begging for the scrapes from it’s table, then we can see that God has called us to something better.  He has given us solutions that not only solve the immediate issue of putting food on the table, but it also provides the long term generational issues by having the children trained by their mother and loved by the church.  It provides a foundation to deal with the sin that caused children to only have one parent and it provides the ability for those children to avoid the sins of their parents.

In short, the Bible provides an answer that is not a quick fix, but a serious re-aligning of the culture to a Biblical standard.  Of course I must say that for most who make this argument it is not really about the inner city needs of hurting people, but the big city life they have developed for themselves.  Usually, not always, the real hang up is addressing the areas of our own lives that need to be re-aligned with the Bible.  It’s a hard process, but what else can a Christian do?  Either we continue to live off the scraps of the humanistic lies of the feminist movement and deal with the destructive fall out of single parenthood or we embrace the truth of the scripture, reject the philosophies of the world, and begin to see our families and our nation healed.

I wish I could remember where I read this quote in regards to the upcoming election…. 

“Pray hard and plant a bigger garden….”

(this would not be a picture of our garden)

Thanks to one of our commenters who reminded us to mention Voddie’s blog.  We regularly follow his blog, but lately Dr. Baucham has been hitting the issues hard over there: 

• Evangelical Two Step
• Framing the Abortion Debate 
• Did McCain Make A Pro-Family Pick 
• Waking Up The Sheeple

If you haven’t heard Dr. Baucham speak, you must get a hold of some of his CD’s.  We especially love his humorous but bold,  straight forward messages.  It is so refreshing to hear a man, with much influence in the evangelical world, boldly defend the Word of God without compromise. 

Next up on my book reading list is his new book Family Driven Faith of which I have heard great things about.  Hopefully, I can put together a book review after I get a hold of the book. 

Over the next week, in all of our “spare time”, we will post a few more highlights of what others are saying about the upcoming election. 

The most liberal translation of Scriptures clearly shows the normative pattern for women is to be their husband’s (not some other man’s) helpmate.  Many seem to be willing to give Palin a free pass on this issue, because she is pro-life, or because she may help to keep a muslim out of office, or for some other “noble” reason.  I’m at a loss to understand their thinking, or at least in my ability to see it as Biblical.  Perhaps, we have just become so use to feminist dogma in this age of female preachers, priest, and senators that we are tainted.  Perhaps, we are so influenced by the culture around us that we are simply unable to think like Christians any more.

It seems that the critiques fall into two categories.  Some are saying we, those who denounce Palin candidacy outright, are being judgmental and are being unfair to her as an individual.  Yet, others are saying that we are not giving due consideration to the idea that God may place Palin in office - that it may be part of His plan. 

To the first, I would state that when someone puts themselves forward for a position of civic or ecclesiastical leadership, they are no longer simply a private individual.  There are two things that happen.  First, their private life becomes open to public scrutiny.  After all, you cannot lead in public if your character is not sound in private.  Secondly, you and your life become intertwined with that office or position.  When we speak of “the president” we are speaking of a person and an office. 

Next, there are two things that come out of the intertwined life of a leader.  First, there is an honor that is due a properly ordained magistrate.  We are to honor the office, because it is ordained by God and by showing honor to the office we procure peace and order for society.  Secondly, that individual life is measured by the qualifications of that office.  As an example, if my 12 year old wanted to run for mayor, he would be judged not on his ability or character as an individual, but on the fact that he does not meet the minimum requirements for that office. 

I point this out to help to clarify, that when someone speaks critical of Palin they may not be speaking of her as an individual, but of her qualifications for an office.  When I make a claim that she is a feminist, I am not making a judgment about her eternal soul, her relationship with God or her heart.  But I am using her life decisions, the words she speaks and the actions she has taken, to judge whether or not she if qualified for the office she is seeking.  I am judging whether her claims to be a Christian line up with the claims her life makes.  It is not my place to make a judgment about her eternal soul, but it most certainly is our place to judge whether or not she is qualified for the office she seeks.

However, the fact that Palin is a woman, means I don’t have to go into those details to determine if she is qualified for civil office… she is not, based on her gender alone.  If you read that last statement and thought I said something about someone being chained to a stove, please re-read the statement and then read this article or look at the posts found on the topic of feminism for a more complete understanding of a counter cultural, but completely biblical concern.

Many seem to try to bend the Scriptures to either say that it is allowable for a woman to serve in a civic or ecclesiastical role.  Or they try to make a distinction between a civic leader and an ecclesiastical leader.  One does not need to go far in Scripture to understand God’s created order and the roles he gave to men and women.  Even if there was not a clear created order in the relationships between men and women, could we find examples of women leading in the scriptures? 

Let’s go through all the kings of Israel, do we see any women leading there?  How about the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, do we see any example of God’s people being lead by a woman?  Let’s search the entire New Testament, are there any examples there?  We have two examples of women who were in the “Whitehouse” of their day.  Both Ester and Jezebel are spoken of as entering into the things of the civil realm.  However, neither of them were civic leaders.  They were married to the king.  One is a great example of courage and the other… well, the other is not.

To be sure there are great women shown to us as examples in the Bible.  In addition to Esther, there are the examples of the mid-wives, Ruth, Rehab, the prophetess Anna in Luke 2, and certainly we should not forget the mother and grandmother of Timothy, Eunice and Lois.  But in all the passages we find, we see but one that seems to indicate some sort of public role, that of Deborah in Judges 4.  Bill Einwechter dealt extensively with that topic and with the topic of women in leadership in general very thoroughly here.  Look for item 5 for the commentary on Deborah.

One last point, on this topic and then I plan to dismiss it from my life.  Many are saying that God may be calling Palin forward as a non-normative leader by His sovereign will.  God may do what He wishes.  But He has given us a standard to live by.  He has graciously given us His Word so that we might be able to make sound judgments and decisions in our lives, including who we might elect for civil leaders.  I’ll be the first to admit, it is difficult to make those decisions in this post Christian nation, but that is our duty none-the-less.  The bottom line is a pro-life feminist, as a VP does not make a bad presidential pick a good one.  If McCain was not a worthy object of our vote last week, he is not worthy of our vote this week. If I may recommend one more article to you, Chuck Baldwin, who is a man worthy of your consideration for this election, has written a thorough review of John McCain’s so called pro-life record.  If we can sum up this issue, it is not about perfection.  We all are sinners worthy of the judgment.  What we are looking for is someone who can meet the minimum requirements.  McCain fails on his understanding of life and the civic and biblical duty to protect it, along with his past martial issues, and Palin fails because she is a woman and a feminist.  Anyone interested in holding Obama up to the light of scriptures?