Hal Lindsey Report ~ March 15th, 2013

March 15th, 2013

This week on 'The Hal Lindsey Report'

Last week, the junior senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, stood to his feet in the Senate chamber and began to speak. He said, "I rise today to begin to filibuster John Brennan's nomination for the CIA. I will speak until I can speak no more."

Though Senator Paul's 13 hour filibuster stalled the nomination of Brennan to be the new director of the CIA, his real intention was to direct the public's attention toward the Administration's use of weaponized drones. He wanted to force the government to publicly declare that it did not have the right to use drones to kill Americans on American soil.

When he had earlier demanded a response from President Obama, he got the run-around. He told the Senate that he had asked the President, "Can you kill an American on American soil?" He was disappointed in the answer he received. Senator Paul said, "It should have been an easy answer. It's an easy question. It should have been a resounding, an unequivocal, 'No.' The President's response? He hasn't killed anyone yet."

Senator Paul explained his motives, "I wanted to sound an alarm bell from coast to coast. I wanted everybody to know that our Constitution is precious and that no American should be killed by a drone without first being charged with a crime...."

Finally, Attorney-General Eric Holder wrote a letter to Senator Paul. In it, he answered the Senator's question: "Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil? The answer to that question is no."

Between you and me, it's stunning that anyone even needed to ask the question, or that a government official had to begrudgingly answer it. According to our Constitution, killing an American on American soil -- or even "holding" him or her -- without due process is NOT an option.

Unfortunately, this is not the America most of us grew up in. So many of the rights and freedoms we have traditionally taken for granted are now being eroded, challenged, or even arbitrarily stolen from us. And most of us are going like sheep to the slaughter -- silently and meekly.

Why?

Two reasons. One, we're afraid. 9/11 left Americans angry and fearful. So fearful that we have allowed our government to slowly dispense with the freedoms and Constitutional safeguards that have been our heritage as Americans.

Sadly, the fear has outlasted the anger.

Two, we've become greedy and lazy. To keep the bureaucrats feeding us, subsidizing us, educating us, protecting us, and making us feel like we deserve it, we let them do whatever they want.

Frankly, the amount of power now in the hands of government, especially the federal government, would terrify America's founders. We are now undoing what they worked so hard to secure for future generations.

This week, I'm going to examine the current status of our rights as Americans by discussing our "Rights and the Bible," our "Rights and Power," and our "Rights and Righteousness."

One last note. As I'm sure you know by now, the Roman Catholic church has a new leader. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was elected last Wednesday evening by the College of Cardinals at the Vatican. He has chosen to be known as Pope Francis. Because of our production schedule, his election occurred too late for me to cover it in this week's program. We will, however, cover it thoroughly on next week's show.

Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, The Word Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.

God Bless,

Hal Lindsey