By: Dale Weckbacher
Josh 1:7-8
Only be strong and
very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which
Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the
left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
NKJV
Upon the death of Moses, Joshua found himself thrust into
the role of leader of the Nation of Israel.
He is going to be leading a group of people whose parents had failed to
follow God’s will and thus were prohibited from entering the promised land. Joshua and Caleb are the only two people of that
generation allowed to go with the people into the Promised Land because they
courageously went against the popular opinion of the day and chose to step out
in faith believing that God could prevail against any giants in the land. (Numbers 14:1-10)
Now faced with the loss of his mentor and the task of
leading a nation into the Promised Land, which by the way enemies to Israel and
their God currently occupied, is given the command by God to be strong and
courageous. God understood that there
would be tremendous battles ahead and pressure placed on Joshua to compromise
with the people currently occupying the land, by worshiping their gods,
something God explicitly prohibits.
(Exodus 20:3) Joshua then
proceeded to lead the people into the Promised Land and stands as a great
example to us today of how a courageous leader can prevail even when facing
tremendous odds.
Unlike Israel, our nation is not looking to enter the Promised
Land but instead faces tyrannical leadership that threatens to transform our
nation. Their goal is to transform our
nation from a constitutional republic in which individuals have been able to
thrive and succeed into a European style socialist nation or worse a South
American style banana republic. We need
courageous leaders like Joshua that are willing to stand up against the
socialist, statist, and progressive elites of our nation and restore our nation
back to the free society that resulted in us becoming a world power. We need courageous leaders that will
courageously stand up against:
1)
Out of control spending – The out of control
spending of our government and the accompanying debt will have to be paid
someday, most likely by our children and grandchildren. These same people are already having
difficulty finding employment in the fields in which they are educated. The lack of employment opportunities also
means many are unable to pay their student loans. When we add to that the additional taxes they
will be asked to pay to service our nation’s debt, their financial future is
bleak. I would not doubt that when they look
back at our generations irresponsible spending, they will probably accuse us of
economic child abuse.
2)
Progressive taxation that stifles productivity
and ingenuity. Our progressive income
tax is designed to tax those making more money.
As people advance in their careers or see their businesses grow, they
find themselves having to pay a greater percentage of their incomes to the
government in taxation. Our income tax
is so top heavy that 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97 percent of all income
taxes. The top 5 percent paid 57 percent
of all income taxes, and the top 1 percent paid 35 percent of all income taxes
in 2011, the most recent statistics available.
(1) In fact, 43 percent pay no federal income tax
and many of these receive transfer payments from the wealthy through refundable
tax credits like the earned income tax credit and additional child tax
credit. (2)
(3)
3)
Moral decline that threatens the very foundation
outlined in our nation’s founding documents.
This moral decline has virtually destroyed the traditional family with
single parenthood in America tripling since 1960. (4) These single parenthood households are mostly
single moms that earn about one-fourth of what married moms earn. (4) The main causes of single parenthood are
either divorce or pregnancy out of wedlock.
In other words, the virtual destruction of the traditional family has
trapped many women in lower paying jobs and forced them to seek government help
through food stamps and Medicaid. As a
tax preparer, I know many of these single moms also receive transfer payments
through the Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit on their
tax returns.
Our nation is in trouble and is on life support, but this
means our nation is still alive.
However, we have a leadership void in this country because our leaders,
or so called leaders, are more interested in preserving their political
positions and ambitions and less interested in doing what is best for the
country. There is no doubt that any
leader daring to courageously stand up against these issues will be attacked by
the media and political establishment.
However, anyone daring to courageously stand up against these issues has
an opportunity to be viewed by historians as the one that turned this nation
around.
In the next two elections it is critical that we the voters
elect strong and courageous leaders like Joshua to lead our nation. Next Saturday we will look at another quality
of a great leader, vision.
1. Pomerleau, Kyle. Summary of Latest Federal
Income Tax Data. taxfoundation.org. [Online] Tax Foundation, December
18, 2013. [Cited: February 21, 2014.]
http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-income-tax-data.
2. Sahadi, Jeanne.
43% pay no federal income taxes. money.cnn.com. [Online] CNN Money,
August 29, 2013. [Cited: February 21, 2014.]
http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/29/pf/taxes/who-doesnt-pay-federal-income-taxes/.
3. Jeffrey, Terence
P. CBO:Top 40% Paid 106.2% of Income Taxes; Bottom 40% Paid -9.1%, Got
Average of $18,950 in 'Transfers'. cnsnews.com. [Online] CNS News,
December 9, 2013. [Cited: February 21, 2014.]
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/cbotop-40-paid-1062-income-taxes-bottom-40-paid-91-got-average-18950.
4. Aparna Mathur,
Had Fu, and Peter Hansen. The Mysterious and Alarming Rise of Single
Parenthood in America. www.theatlantic.com. [Online] The Atlantic,
September 3, 2013. [Cited: February 21, 2014.] http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/09/the-mysterious-and-alarming-rise-of-single-parenthood-in-america/279203/.
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