It's a rhetorical question, and you certainly may never have thought of the two having anything in common but I do.  I have talked to many people who have told me that they don't vote because it is God who puts in power those He would have and they don't want to oppose God.  While I agree God has the final say in who rules within the kingdoms of men, I don't think it removes from us our civil duty to vote.

We  pay taxes, even though we know our taxes go for things God condemns, yet it is God who commands us to pay taxes.  We pray for those who are our elected leaders even though we know they oppose many things taught by Christianity, yet it is God who commands us to pray for them.  It may seem inconsistent to us, but were not God.   

So, how is it that voting is like praying?  If you pray for something and God says "no" does it violate the will of God?  If it does then Jesus violated the will of God.  

In that respect voting is like praying, we vote for who we want but if God says no, we have not violated His will, he has just said, "no."

One other thing, Christians should not delude themselves into thinking that if every form of Christianity voted exactly the same we could somehow get everything we want.  Influence yes, but the powers that be as well as ourselves are still subject to a sovereign God.

TRACKING IMMIGRATES
 

I was talking to a buddy of mine and we came up with this idea for tracking everyone who comes into this country legally. 

What we need to do is issue an I.D. card when anyone enters our country.  Now this not a novel idea, but here is what would make it effective.  When the card is issued they must open an account in their  name and make a minimum deposit of $1,000.00.  The amount needs to be enough to cover the period of time they plan to be here or enough until they start earning some income.
The point of the card is it becomes the only means of making, receiving and spending money.

Then when they earn any income the employer must pay them by direct deposit to that account.  The person who has the card can use it just like a ATM or Debt card.  If we want to really want to make it effective, you set the card up so it is issued by international credit card companies like Visa or Master Card.  In fact you could set it up so when people sign up they are evenly distributed among any company that meets a criteria to participate.

Then every time this person earns income, receives a bank transfer or spends money we know where, when and how much.  Takes care of income taxes and tracking their movement within the country.

Now you could tweak it and accomplish other things.  For example, if you suspect this person of some type of illegal activity you have their last known location and a photo I.D. to go on.  You could then use it to post an alert when they use the card to buy something the clerk would see an alert to contact the police, FBI or some other authority.  

You also solve one of the problems for employers, no card, no employment.  Now you know people are going to find a way around that little problem right, just pay them in cash.  So, let's use an incentive to get them to sign up people who they know are illegal.  For example, all the income taxes that are collected the first year go to the employer. Sure you don't collect any tax for a year, but you weren't going to collect any way right?  So right away you have a person working towards becoming legal and paying tax.

For those who want to become legal who entered the country illegally they pay a fine (they could pay the find on the installment play by having so much a month taken out of their account).  Next they must get a card and start working to become a citizen.  The card could be used to track their progress.  For example, let's say you must take a citizenship class, when they pay for the class it's tracked by the card.  When they attend class it is used to track attendance  Then if they have to learn to speak english, take a test to prove they can; again you can track if they have taken the test or are taking classes to learn english. 

Once they become a citizen the card can be done away with, another incentive!

If the person goes back home to their country, we know when they have left.  If they want to then withdraw the money in their account they are free to do so.  If they want to reenter the USA then once again they have to have a minimum amount in their account first and the process begins once again.

Now this idea is not perfect, but it would help make a big difference until a better way comes along.

Shortly after 911 I happen to be at a customer's house performing a service call when the customer offered an explanation for "why they did it."  She said she had lived over there for a few years and got to know the people fairly well.  She then explained how they see how rich we are in America via tv commercials  and it creates feeling ranging from envy to hatred.  While I had my doubts as to that being the reason, I nevertheless let her quickly know that If that was case then she as well "they" needed to realize something.

Needless to say I didn't have much patience, even though she was a customer.  I told her those who are motivated by such flimsy reasoning forget about what Americans have done to get where they are today.  I told her about how my parents came to California in the 30's, only about 70 years ago and was so poor they camped out and picked fruit and cotton.  The live on baloney and crackers and thought that was good "eats."  And they were not the only ones who lived like that.  I told her about my in-laws who lived in dugout(a hole in the side of a hill) and raised 5 kids, literally scratching out a living during the depression. 

Our freedom did not come without a price, hard work, and sacrifice.  Today we may be a wealthy county but there is no guarantee that we will remain that way.  For us to remain the nation we have become it will take moral vigilance and continued hard work.  "they" should take a lesson on how we became the nation we are and see how they can apply it to themselves, If that is why they were motivated. 

I hear a lot of complains from many who have a lack of enthusiasm for their current elected republicans. Dem’s and the press are doing all they can to suppress the republican turnout and if you listen to them it is working. However, we need to take a lesson from football. Allow me to use sports analogy that I think captures the essence of the situation. .

When you go to the ballot box it is like trying to get good field position in a football game. Every time a team faces fourth down and punt the ball they hope it’s a good one so they can get better field position which will hopefully lead to an opportunity to score. The same thing in politics, when election time comes you vote for those in your party and hope you get your players elected which equates with good field position. But as everyone knows good field position is no guarantee that you have the game won. You still have to play the game and fight like everything if you hope to win, Right?

Neither do you talk about trading players when it’s time to punt. My point, if you’re not happy with the some of the players you don’t try and trade them when you’re punting for field position, you do that in the off season. Too many think when they vote they are trading players, they aren’t they are fighting for field position. So when do you trade for players in politics one might ask?

Well it is sort of like football, you do that in the off season, meaning before the election. You do it when a candidate is selected to run. If you don’t like the prior office holder then you better do your best to find another one you do like and get them in the position to run against the one you don’t like in a primary election. If your player wins then you’re in a position to get them elected and if you do you have succeeded in effecting a trade for what you hope is a better player. If you are not successful then you punt and hope for good field position.

Every good team knows the advantage you have if you can take another team out of the game early. If you can get them discourage then you stand a better chance of winning, Right? What do think the Dem’s and the press is doing? If they can take the voters out of the game then they know the “punt” will be bad and they stand a chance to get better field position. So the question is, are you still in the game?

D. Hope