How's the Hope and Change Going?

The title of the post is simply a question I had as I read the resignation letter of Matthew Hoh from his duties serving the military industrial complex (er, I mean, "America") over in Afghanistan.

So where is that "change" we can all believe in? I guess sending more troops into the middle east is technically a change. The economy has also been technically changing, if change meant making it worse. And the health-care system seems poised for a change - the government will take care of all of its citizens' health, because it does such a good job at anything else it does.

Ah yes, the times they are a'changin.

But back to Matthew Hoh's resignation letter. If you haven't done so, please do read through it. He writes on page 3:

Eight years into war, no nation has ever known a more dedicated, well trained, experienced and disciplined military as the U.S. Armed Forces. I do not believe any military force has ever been tasked with such a complex, opaque and Sisyphean mission as the U.S. military has received in Afghanistan...Our forces, devoted and faithful, have been committed to conflict in an indefinite and unplanned manner that has become a cavalier, politically expedient and Pollyannaish misadventure.

A "Pollyannaish midadventure" - I love it. Killin kids in the middle east is just somthin those Americans gotta do to keep themselves safe from the Al-Qaeda!

He then finishes with how the war is causing America to be spent into oblivion and that the sacrifices that families are making by participating in the war machine are simply not worth it. To those two things especially, I say amen.

So how is that hope and change goin? I told many people over a year ago that nothing really would change and guess what...nothing really has. Sure, there's a new face in the oval office but the same planned destruction of America continues full steam ahead.

Make way for world government! That's the real change that looms on the horizon.

Matthew Kowalski - "Freedom in the Spirit" - Bethel University Chapel Message, Oct. 5th

I had the honor of speaking at Bethel University's chapel on October 5th. The audio is now on iTunes, for your listening pleasure.

If you're interested in hearing me speak on the key to living the type of lives that God designed us to live, then:

1. Open iTunes
2. Go to the iTunes Store
3. In the search box, type in "Bethel University" (or, a little faster way is to just type in my name "Matthew Kowalski")
4. Click on the first picture, which is "College of Arts and Science Chapel"
5. Scroll down to #14 and download the message for free!

After you've listened, please do leave your comments and/or feedback. It's much appreciated!

You can read one student's comments on it in his blog post: "Holy Spirit, Legalism, and Tupac"

I pray that God would use the message to bless people with the understanding of how intimately he wants to be with us, and how through that relationship, we can live the lives we were created for.

"Deliver Us" by The Tonic and Shachah

Shachah's "Deliver Us" ft. John Wells - The Tonic from CMR - Outtadisworld In Stores!!! on Vimeo.

I love Cross Movement Records.

Jim Wallis Misses the Mark on Health Care

Jim Wallis, founder and editor of Sojourners Magazine, has been a highly visible and outspoken proponent of making health care affordable and universal for all - a noble goal, indeed. Unfortunately, Wallis (and increasingly many others in Christian circles) believes that the way to go about achieving that goal is through government mandate. In a post on his blog he writes,

We are calling on people of faith to carry on the healing ministry of Jesus by making sure your political representatives understand that the faith community will be satisfied with nothing less than accessible, affordable health care for all Americans, built on a solid financial foundation.

Apparently, the healing ministry of Jesus can be carried out through lobbying political representatives to make laws that force people to pay for other people’s health care. Did I miss that somewhere in the New Testament’s teachings on charity?

If you took a trip back in time almost 2000 years ago, you would find a similar scenario as to what is playing out in America today. People who were poor or sick and had nobody to care for them were often simply left to die. There was no social safety net created by the Roman government. What would the early Christians do without the government’s help?

For some reason, the earliest followers of the Way did not carry on the healing ministry of their Master by appealing to their political representatives to enact new legislation that would force other people to take care of the sick and poor among them. They actually took up their crosses, entered into their situations, and cared for them…themselves. Crazy as that might sound, Christians did radical things like selling possessions so that they could take care of the poor and sick around them.

The government of any nation never has been and never will be the answer to solving the problem of poverty or making sure that people are healthy. That is where Wallis and many others miss the mark. The self-sacrificial love of Jesus Christ as expressed through his body (you and I) is the solution. That solution can take a million different forms and does not have to wait for FDA approval. To me, that sounds like it would hold a lot more promise than anything Caesar, Bush, or Obama could ever dream of.

Back in the Saddle

Alright, the blog is back up and I will be resuming my lovely, often thought-provoking, ramblings shortly.

The craziness of summer, getting married, moving, and finding new jobs has now started to subside, so let the blogging commence! :)

Inflation Nation

An update on the counterfeiting operation that continues to go down at the Federal Reserve:

In May of last year the U.S. money supply stood at roughly $834 billion. Now, a year later, the Federal Reserve has created an additional $941 billion out of thin air. Pay close attention to those numbers…

* The amount of new money the Fed has created is roughly $107 billion more than all the money that was in circulation just a year ago
* In other words, the U.S. money supply has more than doubled

Think about what this does to the value of your dollars, to your savings, to your paycheck, to your retirement income? A doubling of the money supply means your money is worth half what it was.

Of course, your money’s loss of value won’t manifest itself overnight. It will take time for the Fed’s counterfeiting to drive up prices. But those who get the new money first will be able to spend it while prices are still low, increasing their wealth at your expense.

Most people are too enamored by the phony left vs right bickering that goes on to notice the people that really run the show. And so the looting and collectivism train rolls right along.

Alex Jones Interviews Kevin Trudeau

This is one of the best interviews I've heard from Alex Jones. Very interesting information from Kevin Trudeau; a good primer in some of the aims and goals of those making global government a coming reality.

It's a 6 part interview...here's #1:



Visit youtube to watch the other 5 segments of the interview.

Perpetual War & Perpetual Spending

Where's the magical "change" I was hearing so much about?

Men and Church

I must admit that I've been feeling what's said in the following article:

Why Men Don't Go to Church

Click the link and give it a read.

A man is driven by a desire to "matter" in the world, to make a difference. He needs his life to have some significance, some higher purpose that draws him out of himself. Notice how intrinsically men of differing cultures share a principle of self-sacrifice for the larger good of their tribes or nations. Podles points out that while women achieve transcendence through bearing and raising children, men rise above themselves by going to war, and laying their lives down for their country or people. During peacetime men turn to sports (and work) to satisfy this urge for sacrifice. It is through sports that a boy becomes a man, and when a man becomes too old to play the game, he learns to live vicariously through the sport of others. Whatever his occupation in life, he will completely draw his identity from whatever "battleground" he chooses.

The typical church environment does not provide any opportunity for the kind of significant war for which men seek.

Sad, but true. My typical church setting: Singing sappy love songs and lullabies, followed by sitting in a chair listening to someone talk for a while. That isn't really going to war, in my humble opinion.

No wonder women outnumber men 4-1 in the young adults ministry I've been a part of. :(

Don't get me wrong here. Love songs and sermons are great sometimes, but why can't we have some variety (throwing in some bumpin' bass beats and some dialogue would be somewhat of a change)? Does church always have to be just that? Should it be? Talk to me here guys. What can we do differently?

Free Ashton Lundeby - (The Horror, part 6)

Read the story of Ashton Lundeby, a 16 year old kid captured by the FBI and dragged into a gulag because some disgusting pieces of trash thought it might be fun to do so. Yep, fun to terrorize a family and hold a kid hostage for 60 days in a jail for a crime he didn't commit and for which they have no evidence anyway.

Who are the terrorists that Americans need to be wary of?

Some dudes in caves in far away lands who "hate our freedom"? Or some dudes down the street with black masks, lots of guns, and shiny badges with three letter acronyms on them?

Free Ashton Lundeby
by William Norman Grigg

"This isn't America – not the America I knew, the one I grew up in," Annette told Pro Libertate. "This is like something out of a Third World dictatorship where the people in power just do whatever they want to anybody they choose. I want my son back, and I'll do anything I can to free him. But people need to know that if this isn't stopped now, any of us at anytime can be treated the same way. The next time it will be your house they visit in the middle of the night, and your children they take away."

Patriot Act Horror Envelops North Carolina Family of Teen Ashton Lundeby



Teen homeschooler jailed under Patriot Act

This kind of crap just makes me want to scream...from Psalm 35:

19 Let not those gloat over me
who are my enemies without cause;
let not those who hate me without reason
maliciously wink the eye.

20 They do not speak peaceably,
but devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.

21 They gape at me and say, "Aha! Aha!
With our own eyes we have seen it."

22 O Yahweh, you have seen this; be not silent.
Do not be far from me, O Lord.

23 Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.

24 Vindicate me in your righteousness, O Yahweh my God;
do not let them gloat over me.

25 Do not let them think, "Aha, just what we wanted!"
or say, "We have swallowed him up."

26 May all who gloat over my distress
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.

Put these people to shame, Lord. Let justice be done, instead of trampled on in the streets.