Revelation 14:6-13 -- One LAST Call to Salvation!!!

The Proclamations of Three Angels
"Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”
Revelation 14:6-13

Pastor Danny Forshee.  Great Hills Baptist Church.  May 3, 2015:

One Last Call to Salvation - Dr. Danny Forshee - May 3, 2015 from Great Hills Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Outline:

1. The Angels and their message (vv. 6-8)
   - Matthew 24:14
   - Believe, repent, and turn to the Lord; THIS is YOUR Last Chance!!!
   
2. The unbelievers and their punishment (vv. 9-11)
   - 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
   - EVERLASTING Destruction....
   
3. The believers and their REWARD (vv. 12-13)
   A. They Persevere
   B. They Obey
   C. They Believe
   
   - 2 Corinthians 5:8
   
   - Hebrews 6:10

Highlights:

• The gospel is gonna continue to be unpopular until Jesus comes.

• Just because we disagree does not mean we are discriminating.

• Yes it's a message about judgement and it's a message about hell, but it's also a message about blessing and about how God honors His people eternally!!!

• Your way is NOT as valied as God's way, and Jesus is the ONLY way to God.

• Everyone's gonna hear it, most are gonna reject it.

• "I believe Babylon is going to be a city and a force."
• Politics, religion, and business all intermingling in a corrupt morass.
• Author's Note: Basically, all of the worst aspects of the Capitol in Austin or Washington D.C. on steroids.

• If you reject God's final authority, then you will suffer.

Texas "Ethics" Commission admits they got WHUPPED!!!

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
Galatians 6:9

OUCH:

By a vote of 7-0, with Straus appointee Steve Wolens abstaining, the TEC dismissed its complaints against Empower Texans. The move appeared designed to remove jurisdiction from the Third Court of Appeals which was set to shut down the investigation with a legal opinion favorable to Empower Texans.

The TEC halted activities in one theatre of its war against free speech, but more still remain.

The crusade against conservatives began after complaints were filed against Empower Texans and its president, Michael Quinn Sullivan, by former State Reps. Jim Keffer (R-Eastland) and Vicki Truitt (R-Southlake). The complaints alleged the organization had morphed into an unregistered political committee by spending too much of its time speaking about legislators’ voting records.

The TEC embraced Keffer and Truitt’s convoluted legal theory and used its resources against Empower Texans, flouting the state and federal constitutions to demand that the organization turn over the identities of its donors. Empower Texans fought back, knowing that establishment lawmakers would attempt to threaten, harass, and intimidate the donors into silence.

Now Empower Texans is going on the offensive with Joe Nixon, legal counsel for Empower Texans, previewing the coming fight to hold the TEC members accountable.

Read the whole thing here.

#TXLEGE: Straus Crony purchases dying legacy publication....

"He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will be destroyed."
Proverbs 13:20

We've always found they're alleged "influence" to be greatly exaggerated, but this can only hasten their slide into irrelevance:

Emmis Communications is selling Texas Monthly to the Hobby family, which once owned the Houston Post.

Texas Monthly and several other non-core regional magazines were put on the block in August as part of a move to pare down debt for the radio station owner.

Paul William Hobby is the head of the investment firm Genesis Park and is believed to be heading up the deal. Hobby did not return calls seeking comment.

His father William Hobby, had been the publisher of the now defunct Houston Post and was also a six term Lt. Governor in Texas, back in the days when the state largely swung Democratic. The Hobby family sold the paper in 1983 and it was eventually absorbed into the Houston Chronicle in 1995.

Read the whole thing here.

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If the name Paul Hobby sounds familiar, it's because he was (until this past summer) a Joe Straus appointee to the Texas "Ethics" Commission who was smoked out by Empower Texans for creating new loopholes to allow lobbyists to legally bribe 'influence' legislators.  He was also a member of the board of the UT Law School foundation during the height of those shenanigans.  Speaking of U.T., he's also on Chancellor McRaven's Houston "task force."

Charlie Strong, Herm Edwards, and the Horrific Flashbacks of a Jet fan in recovery....

"Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
Matthew 7:20

For those unaware, we grew up in New York City.  As a result, prior to a very public breakup in 2013, we were fans of the New York Jets (yeah, we know).  That's where we've seen this movie before.

Herm Edwards was, for awhile, a very popular coach.  The players loved him.  He gave great quotes to the media.  He was, and remains, a strong Christian man.  But his football teams constantly blew games with stupid, self-inflicted, errors.  Everyone wanted him to be successful.  But he just wasn't.

The parallels with Charlie Strong and the Longhorns are obvious.

We first noticed the parallels between Strong and Edwards following the Oklahoma game...two years ago.  Charlie Strong in year 3 forces us to remember it took until year 5 to accept regarding Herm Edwards: the team is still making the same sloppy mistakes they made in year one.  Like it or not, the improvement just hasn't been there.

At some point, you have to stop grading on potential and start grading on results.  At least for this website, that point came with the third blocked extra point against Oklahoma State.  The perpetually optimistic can talk all they want about how this team has the potential to be 4-1 right now, but that doesn't change the fact that they're 2-3 and in eighth place in the Big 12.

A year ago, it made sense to stick with the rebuild.  Strong legitimately inherited a bad situation, the extent of which was not fully understood at the time.  Strong has legitimately increased the level of talent with which he has to work.. But the self-inflicted wounds continue and the wins simply haven't followed.  Frankly, two coaches in three years isn't nearly as destabilizing to the organization as three coaches in two years might have been.

Bottom Line: We haven't made a final decision, but it's getting very difficult to justify not moving in another direction at the end of the current season.

Usual suspect special interests line up behind Adler's "Corridor" Bond....

"He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will be destroyed."
Proverbs 13:20

"A New Way Forward" our Aunt Fanny:

The campaign to pass Austin’s $720 million transportation bond initiative, powered by donations from real estate, development, engineering and construction individuals and companies, has raised eight times as much money as opponents of the measure, according to campaign finance reports filed Tuesday. 

Austin Forward, the political action committee supporting the bond proposition on the Nov. 8 ballot, had through Sept. 29 raised $662,705 from 215 cash and in-kind donations, or about $3,082 per contribution. At least $380,000 came from companies or individuals engaged in industries that might actively participate in the substantial road and sidewalk construction resulting from the bond’s passage or from the real estate development sector. 

The committee has about $315,000 cash on hand as it enters the final four weeks of the campaign. 

.... 

Jim Wick, a former Adler staff member who is running the pro-bond campaign, said the trove of donations demonstrate the bond’s breadth of support. 

.... 

The bond program, primarily conceived by Adler’s office and supported by an array of business associations and groups that advocate for bike and pedestrian improvements, includes $482 million for improvements on some major streets, $137 million for “local” transportation (primarily bike, trail and sidewalk projects) and $101 million for expansion of about a half-dozen major roads in the city’s western and northwestern suburbs. 

.... 

The Greater Austin Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit arm of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, gave the campaign $130,482 in cash and in-kind donations, according to the report filed Tuesday. The Austin Board of Realtors and a political committee of the Real Estate Council of Austin each gave $50,000. 

Other large donations: $20,000 from Manchester Texas Financial Group; $15,000 from the Austin Apartment Association; and $10,000 each from Grayco Partners, Brandywine Realty Trust, Stratus Properties, HDR Inc., investor Michael Klein, Silicon Labs CEO Tyson Tuttle.

Read the whole thing here.

"Economic Development" -- A Debate on Corporate Welfare in Texas

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

This afternoon TPPF hosted "Economic Development: A Debate on Corporate Welfare in Texas."  Speakers included Richard Corcoran (incoming speaker of the Florida House of Representatives), Senator Craig Estes, Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Businesses, and Dean Stansel of the SMU Economics department.  We'll present our thoughts thematically rather than chronologically.

Term Limits:

During his opening remarks, Corcoran made an offhand comment about how eliminating various corporate welfare funds in Florida (including their equivalent of the enterprise fund) only came about because of the churn term limits forced upon their legislature.  The short version is that as the RINO's were forced to retire, they were replaced by conservatives until a critical mass was finally achieved in the past few years.  There's a lesson in there Texas would be wise to learn.

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Texas' "Uncompetitive" Property Tax system and "abatements":

Hammond argued that property tax "abatements" by school districts are essential for "large capital investment" because Texas' property tax system is, in the words of Bill Hammond himself, "uncompetitive."  Hammond was essentially arguing that, because high local property tax burdens eliminate the return on business investment, local jurisdictions (esp. school districts) need to be able to "abate" those taxes.  Hammond cited Louisiana as some sort of vague example of a state that does this successfully.

Of course, Hammond's newfound chagrin for Texas' "uncompetitive" property tax system was amusing to anyone who followed the last session of the Texas legislature.  Last session, alongside Team Straus, Hammond led an effort to obstruct Lt. Governor Patrick's property tax reform efforts. At the time, rather than fixing the property tax system, Hammond et. al. pushed a dopey scheme "alternative plan" to instead cut a sales tax nobody is complaining about.

Thankfully, several other panelists and audience members pointed out that the solution to an "uncompetitive" property tax system was to fix it for everyone, not create new carve outs for politically connected special interests.

In a separate piece of semi-related good news, Hammond announced he's leaving TAB at the end of the year; we'll help him pack.

One final note: Apparently, Hammond was once a Dubya gubernatorial appointee to the workforce commission, which means he's a Karl Rove crony...boy does that explain a lot.

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Sen. Craig Estes:

Senator Estes appeared genuinely torn.  We kept an eye on his body language throughout and he looked like...a guy legitimately wrestling with the issue.  A cynic might argue that he's an incumbent reading the writing on the wall in Dan Patrick's Senate.  An optimist could say that he's recently gotten wise to the issue.  Either way, we always welcome movement in our direction and encourage Senator Estes to discuss the issue with Konni Burton.

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Impact on Florida:

Corcoran pointed out that no company, or professional sports team, or film production outfit that threatened to leave Florida following their elimination of various corporate welfare programs has actually followed through and done so.

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Bottom Line: Corporate welfare leads to the politically directed allocation of capital, which serves no positive economic purpose but undermines credibility for other aspects of economic liberty; Texas cannot eliminate all of it fast enough.

Burton to make Local DEBT office priority during 85th #TXLEGE....

"The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender."
Proverbs 22:7

We don't believe in the concept of "spirit animals," but to the extent that we have a spirit animal in politics, it's Konni Burton:

Texans are saddled with the second highest local government debt burden in the country. Local governments currently borrow through the use of bonds, which are approved by the voters in their jurisdiction. Often these elections are not held during the November general elections when voter engagement and turnout are highest. Despite the low level of voter participation in bond elections, the entire community is responsible for an outcome in which more debt is incurred.

Local governments owe it to their citizens to provide a compelling case for taking on new debt in a way which recognizes and discloses both the ultimate impact on an individual's property tax burden and the entities' current, outstanding debt obligations.

To this aim, I intend to propose legislation requiring local governments to disclose to individuals the impact of a proposed bond on their property tax burden through mail. Further, after this information has been mailed out, the local government must hold a public meeting in which the total fiscal impact of the proposed new debt is explained and the citizens are afforded an opportunity to participate in dialogue on the merits of the proposal. And finally, when citizens go to vote, the ballot must contain information on the proposed new debt, including the average increase in taxes for the properties affected, as well as the total cost to repay the debt.

If we arm citizens with the most complete information, they will be able to make the best decisions for their community and their wallets. Bonds are a necessary tool for financing large projects, but we cannot allow "death by a thousand cuts" for our Texas property owners to continue.

Amen Sister; read the whole thing here.