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Bob and Sue, a young married couple had always dreamed of owning a home, but with no down payment and limited income it seemed out of reach, until they were offered a low-interest loan to purchase the perfect house. Sure, there was an accelerated balloon payment in about three years, but Bob’s income would increase by then and, worst case scenario, they would sell the house for more than the purchase price and pay off the loan. Unfortunately that’s not what happened. Housing prices declined, the payment went up, and Bob, a building contractor, lost his job. Today, Bob and Sue are losing their home at the end of the month. They fell victim to one of the biggest financial meltdowns in US history.

This scenario isn’t too far away from the truth. Just recently millions of people lost their jobs, houses, and their hope. But just what happened to the U.S. economy in 2007 – present?  The answer is that the United States banking system in plain and simple words became insolvent.  Bad loans offered during times of prosperity were sold off to domestic and foreign investors and became worthless bonds. This was the catalyst for the insurance companies, like AIG to exhaust their resources trying to cover these bad deals. This led to the downward spiral that is today’s crash.

The question many people wanted answered was how did this happen and what are we going to do about it?  Not a simple answer, but here are a few explanations for what caused this crash and possible solutions.

Easy credit, plentiful jobs resulting in plenty of money, combined with mortgage backed-securities enabled people, investors and institutions to over invest in the U.S. housing market. This combined with peoples’ expectation that home prices would continue to rise, led to huge defaults on sub-prime loans (where the borrower has a greater risk of defaulting and therefore pays a higher interest rate) and ARM’s (adjustable rate mortgages where payments can balloon beyond one’s means to pay).

Predatory lending and deregulation were additional contributors to the economic meltdown as well.  Consumers were lured by low initial interest rates which were unsafe and unsound and which would later convert to a higher amount.  Also regulation did not keep pace with new financial innovations. In fact, laws were passed but not enforced or the laws passed were weak and unnecessary, allowing self-regulation to take its place.  This was a recipe for disaster.

One last cause worth taking a look at is the idea that Capitalism itself is to blame.  It has been suggested that a surplus of money, which could not be placed in productive capital investment, was instead diverted to financial markets. This combined with deregulation and human greed was the real cause of the financial meltdown.

The impact of this collapse is that credit markets crashed, and corporations couldn’t get loans to fund operations.  Consumer credit lines were slashed or became non-existent.  Spending slowed to the point where businesses were forced to close and unemployment soared.

So what was done to counter this collapse? The immediate response to this was the controversial 700 billion dollar bailout of financial and business institutions.  This was then followed up by a 1 trillion dollar stimulus package to offset the decrease in private sector demand.

Long-term goals will involve more in depth and forceful regulation, and possibly even a governmental watchdog agency to keep laws enforced, to ensure that human greed doesn’t get the foothold it had during and before this crisis.

But no matter how popular or unpopular the U.S. government’s liquidity injection into the credit market is, it probably staved off a global financial collapse.  CSUS retired Economics Professor Albert Lee called it “a necessary evil.”  The purchases of troubled financial entities and businesses has stabilized the economy and slowed the economic contraction.  While job losses, foreclosures, and tight credit continue to plague many people, conditions have improved and the economy has been pulled back from the precipice, at least for now.

You may be surprised to know that the phrase “under God” was not included in the original pledge of allegiance. In fact the first edition of the pledge, written by a Baptist minister by the name of Francis Bellamy, penned it without “Under God”. Over the years several changes and additions were made.

First in 1924 when “Unite States” in the allegiance was amended to “United States of America,” and again in 1954 when President Eisenhower signed a bill to add the words “under God.”

Another famous American document, the Declaration of Independence, references God three times. Both of these documents seem to indicate that Americans believe that there is a higher power then the state.

Faith and state are strongly fused in this country and have been from its beginning. Our national identity for over 200 years has referenced God. There are many examples of our nation’s religious heritage. For example we acknowledge God in court when we say “I do” after hearing “Do you promise to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?” Also our currency has the words “In God We Trust” printed on them.

These deistic references have lead many to question whether or not these professions of ‘faith’ in the political realm violate the notion of separation of church and state. The idea is that by having references of God in our governmental documents that its an obvious supporting of a theistic government, that our government supports one religion, which is of course a clear violation of the Constitution.

The truth is though that the ‘god’ in the pledge and other documents is not a violation, because this ‘god’ can be any deity in any number of religions. It’s not establishing a government supported religion because it’s to open to interpretation of who this deity is.

The rub comes when Christians and many other groups of people claim that this country is in fact a Christian nation, that the ‘god’ in these documents is the God of the Bible, the Christian God. This obviously means that the pledge and other such writings violate the Constitution and are thus illegal and must be removed.

We may very well be a Christian nation, but its only in name. Our laws were written by mostly Christian men, our Constitution was written with Christian principles in mind. We are Christian by virtue, not by name, or any governmental support. Our leaders may very well be Christian men, but that’s only because it’s dictated by the Bible to bring your faith into your work. These believers form a tradition of practices that are both culturally and judicially accepted, since no one is forced to become Christian in this country, nor any other religion for that matter, it’s Constitutionally acceptable. And while the judiciary has validated these practices and many others, they have not been elevated to constitutionally protected status.

Ours is a unique faith as far as political theology goes. We are a faith based government that separates the church from the state, but not the believer from the state. We are a Christian nation that does not have a Christian government, only Christian ethics and leaders. We are a religious nation that does not have a religious government, only religious leaders.

There are over 300 religions and denominations in the U.S. and all have the freedom to practice their faith, or not. We are multi-ethnic and multi-religious. America continues its tradition of separation and accommodation that forms the history of church-state relations in America.
To recite or not recite the words “under God” is a right established by the Constitution. The pledge of allegiance is patriotic, not religious.

The T.C. vs. East Union High swim meet last Friday, held at Sierra High kicked off this year’s season. The swim team consists of 10 members, and includes one returning senior and a mix of juniors, sophomores and freshmen, both returning and new alike. Paul Mauer is the coach and the practices are held at Pitman High School.

Colin Russell, a returning swimmer, states that the practices are, “Really Hard,” but says he likes the swim meets because of the challenge he gets and the fact that he, “Gets to go fast.” Colin has posted times of 22.84 seconds on the 50 freestyle and 50.07 seconds on the 100 free.

Team mate Johanna Muller enjoys the camaraderie as well as the competition. “While swimming is a team sport it is also an individual one,” she said.

Upcoming meets will include Pitman, Merced, Hilmar and Los Banos, so get out there and support our Swim Team.

War, famine, disease, death and destruction are all around us. There is a constant state of flux in the Middle East, terrorist factions growing and receding in strength. There is disease and famine in Africa. Even here in America, we are vulnerable to attacks both inside and out. When the Twin Towers fell on that horrific day, the fear and realization that we can be attacked finally hit home; the spark of panic started an inferno of fear.

This inferno also enflamed the basic human desire to find understanding in a world that seems so uncaring and cold. Many people find solace, in family or in a sense of community; still others seek comfort in their faith. There are those, however, who look to the prophets who warned about cataclysmic days ahead, one of the more famous is Nostradamus.

Nostradamus was a “prophet” that lived during the 16th century. He made a profession out of predicting future events that ranged from wars and famines to simple things like when to plant crops. His first prophetic books were simple almanacs, which were well received by the public, heralding Nostradamus’s first success as a prophet. Although his almanacs were purchased and taken seriously, the majority of his 6338-prophesized events never took place. Nostradamus followed up these works with his 1,000 quatrains-quatrains being the rhyme scheme he used to make his predictions. The thousand quatrains are divided into sets of 100 and are called centuries. The quatrains are small prophetic “glimpses” of future events, catechisms and even the herald of the end times.

There is just one problem with the quatrains, they are far too vague, far to ambiguous and far too simplistic in their style and presentation that it becomes almost impossible to discern any real measurable “prophetic” outcome. What is meant by this is that Nostradamus wrote in such a way that any prophecy could relate to almost any person or event that has happened in the last several hundred years. Mabus, listed by Nostradamus as the herald of the end, could relate to a historical figure as abominable as Adolf Hitler, to someone like our current president Barrack Obama, or even former presidents such as Reagan or Bush. The ambiguity of the quatrains literally means that Nostradamus could never be wrong, because eventually as it always happens, some figure or some event would match up almost perfectly with his predictions.

A college student by the name of Neil Marshall demonstrated this simplistic ambiguity back in 1997. He wrote a “prophetic” quatrain in the same style as Nostradamus that has been cited as credible evidence that Nostradamus predicted the events of 9/11. The student wrote this “prophecy” to prove that the vagueness can be repeated by almost literally anybody. In spite of the fact that these predictions proved to fall short, end times continues to sell.

Shortly after the Towers fell Nostradamus books started to show up on the Best Sellers list of many stores. And we all know about the publishing gold mine that is “Left Behind” the series. With 63 million copies sold, it is clear that even fiction is fodder for the insatiable desire to know “what is ahead.” Obviously, the “power” of prophetic books hits upon a base desire in humans, the desire to understand why events happen, a desire to know the future, and a desire to have someone to blame for the evils of the world. This desire applies to not just the books of Nostradamus, but the Mayan calendar and the Book of Revelations as well.

But where does the Book of Revelations fit in, in this new era of fear of the unknown future? Well, if it is to be taken at face value, as the Word of God, then Christians should both be concerned for their unbelieving friends and family and yet be prepared for the redemptive blessing of Jesus’ return. The “rapture” as its come to be known is a time of tribulation, heralded by the coming of a figure who will ascend to a throne of power. Connection with the Mabus figure in Nostradamus’s writings is obvious. In fact it seems that, while vague and simplistic, Nostradamus seemed to connect his prophecies with those presented in Revelations. The most prevalent connection between the two are the prophecies dealing with the coming of an Anti-Christ. Nostradamus most likely based his prophecies off of Revelations.

At any rate, it does not matter what prophesies have been “fulfilled” or not. Revelations is full of predictions that can be associated with any cataclysmic event that has occurred over the last thousand or so years, just the same as Nostradamus’s prophecies.

Yet, Jesus spoke of all that must take place before He would return, His descriptions are viewed by many like those of Nostradamus, simplistic and vague. Jesus describes war and famine and plague in Matthew 24:6-8 but goes on to say that these are just the early stages of the end. For when the end truly does come it will come unexpectedly.

As Jesus said in Matthew 24:42, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” This is an exhortation for us; we are not to live in constant fear of the future, but to live a life worthy of our Lord. Panic and fear will not be our savior, Nostradamus will not redeem us. Only the power of Christ and the assurance we have of an everlasting life with Him will be our assurance in these dark times.

• On average, men shell out $130 each on candy, cards, jewelry, flowers and dates. That’s more than double what women commit to spending.
• More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine’s Day
• 73% of flowers are bought by men, and only 27% are by women
• 85% of all Valentine cards are bought by women.
• The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine’s Day.
• Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts.
• Over 1 billion Valentine cards are exchanged in the U.S each year. It’s the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
• About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.
• Cupid, a symbol of Valentine’s Day, became associated with it because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty.

You may know him as the stunt double to Tevin’s James Bond, but Chuck Boswell is the newest member to the Turlock Christian staff. Besides serving interim for the junior high school principal, he is our new college counselor taking the duties that former counselor Mrs. Dray once had. And although he’s just arrived onto our campus he’s no newbie.

“I started at Livermore high school, and counseled for six years. Then moved to Turlock and began counseling at Turlock High for 21 years. I have 28 years of experience.”

In the winter of his career Mr. Boswell says TC has ushered in a spring breeze. “I’m glad for the refreshing change that this school has brought to me. The thing I love the most is the freedom to express my faith with the students. To help them see the direction God wants their lives to go in.”

Mr. Boswell started out teaching psychology but in 1982 he was given the opportunity to become a High School Councilor. It was a call from God; ever since he began counseling he has impacted high school student’s lives in more ways then just academic. Those students that he has been able to express his faith to, and hopefully guide them, have had wonderful opportunities opened to them.

Yet, says Boswell, it’s relatively impossible to share ones faith in a public school setting. “I loved counseling at Livermore and Turlock High but the atmosphere is radically different. In public school you can’t make God the central figurehead in the student’s lives, to guide them towards the career God wants them to go into. The biggest difference has to be that, for the most part; the students here are more focused academically, and spiritually.”

With all of the benefits of going to TC, Boswell hopes to add even more to prospective graduates. “Academically I want to be able to provide more engineering and medical guidance and hands on practice, create a more hands on engineering club, and hopefully provide students with the chance to participate in outreach programs, such as feeding the homeless.”

But if you ask Mr. Boswell what career choice he recommends his answer will be, “Put God in charge. This of course is difficult, if God’s in charge you have less control of your life, you don’t always no what direction your life may go in. This may make students feel panicky, fearful, or apathetic. They may say, ‘Okay God, lead me where you will, you’re in complete control’, which isn’t bad, but when a student doesn’t do his work, and expects God to do it all, well there are problems.”

In the end it all comes down to one thing, says Boswell, “How do you feel about letting God take control of your life?”

• Only 1% of the People of China breathe air that is considered safe by the European Union
• The U.S alone produces enough trash everyday to outweigh the Empire State Building
• 1 in 4 mammals faces extinction
• About 30% of the ocean is acidic, due to pollutants, and no longer supports basic forms of life, such as plankton which is necessary for the food chain to continue
• 20% of the Polar Ice Cap has melted since 1979

Going Green, is it an issue that has a basis in fact, or is it propaganda spewing forth from the mouths of nutty socialists?

For many Christians, there are several factors causing alarm with the Green Moment. First there’s a general lack of trust with Going Green proponents. The majority of those supporting the movement are found to be Left Wing supporters, with the loudest mouthed supporter of the Green Movement being Al Gore, “inventor” of the Internet. Then there’s a belief that the movement might be politically driven. After all, billions of dollars were earmarked for “Green” projects last year. But perhaps the most genuine concern is seeped in faith. What is the proper Christian response to the Green Movement in light of what Christ teaches?

History of Green

Christians might be surprised to learn that the Green Movement began with ideals most believers would agree with. During the Industrial Revolution for instance, there were no health inspectors so businesses were free to pollute to their hearts content. The areas around Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania for instance were so heavily polluted that the public drinking water became contaminated.

Later on, health inspectors were appointed in New York due to the epidemic of yellow fever, caused in part by smog spewing smoke stacks surrounding the city. When the 1900’s saw the inception of the gasoline powered engine for both motor vehicles and ships, air became heavily polluted with smog, and the seas and rivers became contaminated with oil spills. But thanks to environmentalists, the last 30 years has ushered in corporate awareness in companies such as General Motors, who have begun to take a more environmentally friendly approach to how they build engines.

During the late 1960’s through the early 90’s however, the movement shifted to cult status. The name Hyper Environmentalists comes to mind or tree huggers; those people that chained themselves to trees in order to prevent lumberjacks from doing their jobs. Those supporters gave the Green Movement a bad name because they used fear of a doomed world to garner support.

The Green Movement of today is a far cry from the days of the Hyper Environmentalists, who regarded a total, albeit completely voluntary, self extinction of man as a good thing for “Mother Earth. Going Green in the new millennium is often about caring for the environment by investing in renewable energy programs, preserving endangered animals and making life here on planet earth as enjoyable as possible for everyone.

Green Pork

There is a lot of debate over the politics of the Green Movement. Some groups use the “Go Green” slogan to garner support from real “Greens”; ironically it sometimes results in a nominee that is not a supporter of the Green Movement and its causes. But for the most part, Members of the Green movement are generally Democrats, leading Republicans to be a little suspicious of the movement, especially when Democrats paint Republicans as insensitive earth destroyers.

Also of concern are the billions of dollars earmarked toward eco-friendly businesses. Some outspoken conservatives, like Rush Limbaugh, have gone so far as to accuse the Obama administration of pushing a political agenda that remains grossly unsupported by the American people. “Nobody wants them!” Announces Limbaugh regarding government subsidized hybrid-vehicles. “The manufacturers are making them in droves to satisfy Obama,” he says.

Whatever the political motivation regarding the Green Movement, Christians need to get involved. There is much money at stake and silence is seen as a free pass for congressional spending.

God Made Green

For Christians looking to God’s Word for answers about how to live life, the question must be asked. Are the scriptures silent on all things green?

We read in Genesis 1:28 an account of God mandating Adam and Eve to, “Be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” This leads us to believe that we are to be caretakers on behalf of God, to replenish what we use for the benefit of mankind.

And in Romans 8:21 the Bible tells us that all of creation will benefit from Christ sacrifice and resurrection. We are to take care of, and even in some cases, better the earth to glorify God.

So what if all the facts are true? What if our planet is dying? What is our biblical obligation? Although it’s important to discern whether this movement is based upon a liberal agenda, or fueled by power hungry politicians, it’s imperative that Christians have a biblical opinion, and that it is based upon fact, not fear.

After all you can go Green for God.