Luck or Providence? (D)Written by Terry Dashner
Luck or Providence? (D)Terry Dashner…………………..Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013 May I share several more significant historical events that didn’t just happen by luck. I believe that hand of Providence was behind them to serve God’s purpose. Let me start with Charles Martel grandfather of Charlemagne. Charles Martel (Charles Hammer) defeated Spanish Muslims at Battle of Tours in 732-733 AD. His grandson, Charlemagne would later be crowned “Emperor of Romans” by Pope Leo III (751-816 AD) on Christmas Day 800 AD. Thus, Western Roman Empire, which had not existed for 325 years, was back in business, this time as Holy Roman Empire. Had not Charles Martel defeated Spanish Muslims at Battle of Tours, there would have been no revived Roman Empire in 800 AD. As a matter of fact, West would have been dominated by Islam, and Christianity would have had little impact on Western culture. Was God behind this balance of power? I believe so. But, then again, I believe that God rules as Sovereign over affairs of men. As recent as 20th century dictators have tried to invade England by force, Hitler being most recent one. He failed. Napoleon tried but met his Waterloo. The last invading force which succeeded was led by William of Normandy (1027-1087 AD). William gathered an army of Normans and Frenchmen, crossed English Channel from Normandy and invaded England. King Harold II (1027-1066 AD) met William on October 14, 1066, at Battle of Hastings. Says author Bill Yenne in his book entitled, 100 Events that Shaped World History (Bluewood Books 1993), “With Norman conquest, England was opened to influences of European art and literature. Although England retained its English language, it filtered and adopted best that Europe had to offer. It was this basic building block of English civilization which would in turn create and define that of North America.” From mighty England came greatest polity of law since Decalogue of Moses—The Magna Carta. The original Charter was a 63-part compendium of rights granted to “free men.” “The Magna Carta is still recognized as foundation of English legal system, and indeed for legal systems in many parts of world—including North America. It stipulated numerous rights which protected individual, including right to a jury trial, that punishment should fit crime and that taxes should be based on fairness and proportion. However, most important, lasting accomplishment of Magna Carta was that it made sure king was no longer above law but would be held accountable to laws and customs of land just like any other citizen” (Yenne p.34).
| | What are they saying now?Written by Terry Dashner
What are they saying now?Terry Dashner……………………Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013 Think back to mid 1990s. Do you remember harangue against welfare reform? Many people in powerful positions spoke against it. In fact, many went on record saying that it would create more problems then it would solve. Did it? Here are facts. In her wonderful and well documented book entitled, Do-Gooders How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim To Help (And The Rest Of Us) (Sentinel 2004), Mona Charen records following. “When it became clear that President Clinton was ‘going wobbly’ on welfare reform, liberals sent in reinforcements to buck him up. The National Organization for Women (NOW) organized a vigil outside White House to urge president to veto legislation. ‘Millions more will swell ranks of poor and hungry as a result of this bill,’ predicted NOW president Patricia Ireland. “’With 4 to 10 million children scheduled to be cut from nation’s welfare rolls in next seven years through caps on AFDC and Supplemental Security Income, two major assistance programs, [Los Angeles County child welfare official Peter] Digre predicts that Los Angeles will see more than 17,000 new cases of child abuse due to poverty and family stress,’ reposted Time magazine.” Other people “in know” carped as well. I’ll spare you agony by mentioning only names of those who spoke against this sacred cow. Here’s list: Tom Brokaw, Sam Donaldson, Dan Rather, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Representative Charles Rangel, Robert Greenstein, Senator John Kerry, and Senator Hillary Clinton. (There were many more, but I wanted to keep my comments to two pages.) So, what really happened? Charen writes, “Welfare reform did of course become law in 1996. Since that time, every wild prediction liberals made has been proved false. Poverty did not increase by millions; instead, it has fallen precipitously. Women and children are not sleeping under bridges; instead, millions of women have found jobs that give them a sense of pride and help them reach first step on economic ladder. Since 1996, welfare rolls have been reduced by 60 percent. The poverty rate has declined from 13.8 percent in 1995 to 11.7 percent in 2003. Some 3.5 million fewer Americans are poor today than in 1995, including 2.3 million children. Poverty among African American children has reached its lowest point in history. Hunger among children has been reduced by half.” I could go on and on and on. But, I won’t.
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