THE MISGUIDED LIBERAL FAITH COMMUNITY!

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ THE MISGUIDED LIBERAL FAITH COMMUNITY!


++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, December 7th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker this
week will be Brandon Dutcher, Vice President for Policy with the
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. Brandon is an excellent researcher
and presents information in a very logical and rational manner. I
believe he is concerned about the rush towards evermore government
sponsored daycare (excuse me, I meant to say early childhood
education) and as such he will be talking about “Empowering Oklahoma’s
Most Important Early Childhood Educators.” I will also have copies of
an article about the problems associated with government sponsored
early childhood education.

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

* EDMOND OKC AREA - TUESDAY EVENING - Eight home school students,
associated with the Generation Joshua Project, presented their
activities to those attending our meeting last Wednesday and really
impressed our members. Not only were they inspiring, but they really
encouraged our members and friends that there are some of today’s
youth that are hungry to learn and motivated to make a difference in
today’s culture war. Following the meeting, I had a legenthy
conversation with Carson Banks. After our conversation, he contacted
most of the other young people and we have decided to do a fast track
presentation to better prepare and equip these interested young people
with a better understanding of government and the political process.

Therefore, I will be teaching a 4 session course on a wide range of
subjects toward those ends. The dates will be Tuesday evenings,
December 6th and 20th as well as January 3rd and 10th. The location
will be Fairview Baptist Church (Danforth and North Sooner Road) in
Edmond. The meetings will begin at 7:00 and end at 8:30 p.m. The age
range for the Generation Joshua Organization is from 11 to 19 years of
age. If you have a son or daughter in that age group that is
interested in a better understanding of government and the political
process, they would be welcome to attend. Those older than 19 or
adults may attend, but we want to try and keep the questions and
answers mostly to the younger age group.

* MOORE AREA - THURSDAY EVENING - The Sooner Republican Assembly
will meet at Earls Rib in Moore, 6:00 for dinner and 6:45 p.m. for the
speaker and program on Thursday evening, December 8th. The main
speaker will be Pastor Fred Greening. In addition they will be
conducting a silent auction with the funds raised going to the club
treasury.

* OKC AREA - FRIDAY EVENING - Last year several folks got
together for a course on survivor training. They will meet again this
Friday evening from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. at the Northside Bible
Church, 1401 NW 100th street in Britton (the corner of NW 100th and
McKinley). The speaker will be a ham operator, talking about
communications and home security. There is no admission and they will
have plenty of seating. For more information call George Wallace at
(405) 818-2277.

* TULSA AREA - SATURDAY EVENING - As I mentioned in last week’s e-
mail, with the secularists gaining control of the annual Christmas
parade in Tulsa and turning it into a secular event, some of the local
Christians and conservatives have decided to start an new tradition by
hosting a CHRISTMAS parade which will honor the reason for the season.
Therefore, the Christmas parade will be held at the Tulsa Hills
Shopping Center, 71st street South and U.S. Highway 75. The parade
will start at 6:00 p.m.. So bundle up the kids and enjoy the parade.
For more information call (918) 583-2345.

* WARR ACRES - TUESDAY, DEC 13TH - The Change A Nation For Christ
organization will hold their monthly meeting one week from this
Tuesday at Victory Church, 4300 North McArthur in Warr Acres. The
meeting will take place in the “Commons” area which is on the West End
of the campus. The meeting is from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with a light meal
served at 6:30. There is no charge for the meal, but a donation would
be welcome. Speaking will be Mr. Ralph Bullard, the former head master
of Christian Heritage Academy in Del City. Mr. Bullard will be
speaking from his personal experiences about the crucial connection
between Christian education and God’s purpose for America. For more
information contact Travis or Sue Votaw at
Travisue@votaw.org.

++ THE MISGUIDED LIBERAL FAITH COMMUNITY!

A couple of weeks back as reported in the Oklahoman, several liberal
Baptist groups gathered for the “New Baptist Covenant II” regional
meeting at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in OKC. The gathering
was started several years ago by former President Jimmy Carter. I
believe Carter, Al Gore and Bill Clinton are all the products of
liberal splits off of Biblical Baptist churches and as such are quite
different in their theology and world view.

Locally, one of their leaders is Dr. Bruce Prescott director of
Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, in my opinion he is one of central
Oklahoma’s leading false prophets. Mainstream is the word they choose
for themselves, in my opinion they are anything but mainstream. These
groups of progressives are politically active and as such came up with
a supposed problem which they intend to address during next year’s
legislative session.

The senior pastor at St. John, the Rev. Major Jemison, said, “the
Christian community’s role is to speak up for the impoverished who
find themselves in a no-win situation with payday lenders.”

Payday lenders have popped up across Oklahoma over the past 10 years
or so. People with jobs can go into these loan offices and get an
advance before their next paycheck, that is, if they are willing to
pay a hefty interest rate on the advance. Depending on the amount of
the loan and how many days before their paycheck, the interest rate
could climb to 500% or more. That is not 5 times the paycheck, but say
$20 on a $200 loan figured over 7 or 10 days might figure up to that
percentage rate on an annualized basis.

Based on my 20 plus years of financial counseling (not investment
counseling, but rather budgeting and debt resolution) I believe most
of the people accessing these loans are poorly educated,
undisciplined, not very bright and quite often they are in a jam. The
hefty interest rates are posted on the door or window next to the door
as well as listed several times throughout the businesses.

Most of these folks don’t bother to even look at the published
interest rates or if they did, they wouldn’t be likely to understand,
that they are the last people in the world that should be accessing
these loans. All they are interested in is getting their hands on the
cash now. Because they run behind with their bills and other uses for
their money most of the time, shortly after their paycheck is issued,
they are behind again and go back again for another advance. Over time
the interest really adds up, money they need for expenses but they
give it up for the immediate. Just remember, no one holds a gun to
their head and makes them take out these loans. Usually their credit
rating will be so bad that they can’t get a loan from traditional
sources and at a reasonable interest rate. So what to do about this
situation?

Dr. Prescott indicated he would like to see legislation reducing the
interest rates. However, the rates are what they are because these
loan companies are dealing with unstable and risky clients that
probably have no where else to go for a short term loan. Some of these
people have skipped on loans to the small consumer loan businesses
which loan at lower rates. As well many of their friends and families
will no longer loan them money for past failures to repay. So if
Prescott gets his way and causes government to interfere in the
market place, will these loan companies go away? If so, will these
desperate folks turn to crime to meet their immediate needs?

I have an idea for these liberal Progressives, why don’t they get off
their high horses and do something for the benefit of these people and
leave the government out of this. Why not produce a small placard
explaining how detrimental these high interest loans are and stand
outside the loan offices handing them to the people as they enter or
exit. After making the case as to the harm resulting from these high
interest loans, invite them to a dinner and budgeting class. Explain,
there is a way to get off the merry-go-round of financial pressure.
Urge them to come to a meeting, even feed them a meal to help convince
them to come and make a real difference in their lives.

In all reality, most will be offended by the offers of help, but some
may take them up on the offer. Those who reject the offers of help
should be allowed to experience the fruit of their decision. At some
point in time, they may hit bottom and finally reach out. Those
choices are true liberty and true justice. In reality, Biblical
Christians are more likely to reach out in this manner than the
liberal progressives who seem to always want government to fix a
perceived problem.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com