Miscellaneous

Obama? Nobel Prize? Peace?

I have to admit that the last piece of news I expected to wake up to this morning was that Obama would be receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.  This shock has nothing to do with my personal feelings for Obama, but rather with my obviously incorrect assumptions that the prize was actually somewhat difficult to win.  Clearly, nothing about this award could be hailed an actual “accomplishment” by Barack Obama.

The first and most ridiculous indication of this fact is that Obama was president of the US only two weeks before the deadline for the nomination of this year’s prize.  It is my understanding that his accomplishments up to that moment were the consideration for his winning of the prize.  Perhaps this explains some things.

One of the noted “accomplishments” of the then two-week-term president was his “pledge” to reduce the world stock of nuclear arms.  While I have no reason to doubt that Obama’s pledge is one of sincerity, it has thus far been little more than political speak.  Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to “work out” a reduction limit on nuclear warheads.  They even discussed the numbers of such future reductions.  What they have not done, however, is to have stipulated nor spoken further about the actual dates at which such reductions should take place.  Their “talks” have remained precisely that.  The world’s nuclear arsenal is not dwindling.  In fact, all evidence suggests, it is instead most likely soon to be growing; right into the hands of murderous mad-men like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man Obama “talks” about regularly.  (Ahmadinejad, once enabled, will not talk about his position; he will act.)  But, apparently “talk” is the substance of reward in the eyes of the Nobel committee.

Another noted reason for Obama’s nomination and win is his work to ease conflict between America and Muslim nations.  Of course, Obama pledged to end the Iraqi and Afghani conflicts.  Since his pledge, ironically, an actual increase in US presence in those nations has occurred, including 21,000 additional troops in Afghanistan alone.

Personally, I’m not in favor of reducing America’s nuclear arms or of getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq before the work in those regions which we began has been completed.  Yet I am swooning from the presumption that Obama has actually done anything concerning his promises – however ill-advised – on those matters. 

The Nobel Peace Prize, it seems, is about intentions rather than accomplishments.

A quote from the prize committee’s announcement describes, “Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.”  Since when is the “capture (of the) world’s attention” tantamount to actual success as it relates to the acquiring of peace?

Clearly, the Nobel Peace Prize fails to meet its charter, which was noted in the will of founder, Alfred Nobel.  In his last testament he specified that the peace prize should be awarded “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”  

Clearly, no distinction is being made between one who “shall have done the most or best work” and one who shall “expressed the best intentions.”

In all fairness, the Nobel Peace Prize committee has historically demonstrated an aptitude for “lack of forward vision.”  Among former nominees are Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, while Yasser Arafat actually won the award in 1994.  Ironically, Mahatma Gandhi, though nominated five times, never won an award.

Perhaps it all makes more sense than we are admitting.


“Return of the King” Study Course

 

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“The Return of the King” Study Course

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Dates:  September 15, 2009 – November 17, 2009

Location:  First Baptist Church, Old Ocean, Texas

Phone: 979-647-4609
Website: http://www.fbcoo.org


Duration:  6:30 PM – 8:30 PM (with break each week) 

Jeff Kluttz, the author of “The Return of the King: a Prophetic Timeline of End-Time Events” will be presenting “The Return of the King” study course at First Baptist Church in Old Ocean Texas. 

The study course is a roughly 20 hour instructional course which follows “The Return of the King” Teacher/Student Workbook set.  The course will run weekly for 10 weeks.

The first class will be Tuesday, September 15, 2009 and will meet weekly until course completion on Tuesday, November 17, 2009.  Class will meet from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. each week, with a short break mid-class.  A question and answer time will follow each class meeting.  Questions will be limited during course sessions due to time constraints.

The Return of The King (ROTK) is a detailed timeline of end-time events as prophesied in the Bible.  Unlike some studies of this nature, ROTK will be presented for a non-technical audience, providing full definitions of all theological terms used in the course.  This course is based on “The Return of the King” book, written by a minister of over 20 years who is accustomed to breaking complicated theological content down for its simplest digestion. 

ROTK is written, and the course presented, from a premillennial perspective, which understands scripture to be literal in nature, and prophecy to be interpreted via normal and customary interpretational methods rather than being relegated to symbolic in its nature. 





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ReturningKing.com is now available to Kindle users as a subscription service.  This new option for Kindle users will provide ReturningKing.com wirelessly to your Kindle device; updated regularly throughout each day so that you will never miss a new post. 

The price (currently $1.99 per month) set by Amazon is very affordable for free wireless Whispernet delivery while you travel and comes with a free 14-day trial.  Kudos to Amazon for embracing the blog community on their outstanding e-reader devices.

Subscribe to ReturningKing.com on your Kindle at this link.

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Conditions of Successful Prayer

Excerpt Quote:  The idea of God simply ignoring the pleas of his children is incomprehensible, yet people commonly feel as if somehow God is not listening.  Or, at times, people think they have heard from God, as the man in this illustration, yet God’s answer wasn’t what they expected.

This study examines several biblical principles concerning prayer to assist believers in understanding the conditions upon which successful prayer is achieved, as well as a proper definition of what “successful” prayer is, by examining the types of answers God gives to prayer.

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