How to vote for the next President

The upcoming national elections here in the United States will prove to be one of the most important elections in our nation’s history. There are key elements that must be considered in choosing our next president and in fact, all of the politicians that are vying for the opportunity to lead us.

The current Republican presidential primary has followed the script that we have become all too accustom from our national leaders in Washington. It has been a vicious dog fight with the only prize the candidates seem to be interested in, is winning.

One of our current national leaders was recently quoted as saying “my main goal is to ensure that the President is not reelected.” Is THAT what HE was elected to do? Rather than being legislators our national leaders have begun to look more and more like high school sports players looking to be picked by a high profile college.

The United States’ downgraded credit score in August 2011was a shock to most but the greater shock was the reported reason: poor leadership. The global community has always taken its clues from The United States, it continues to do so. The upheaval of young people globally taking to the streets, burning, rioting, looting, and in our Nation, “Occupying,” is a “clue” to where we are headed if we do not reel in our haphazard way of picking our leaders.

Let’s stop choosing a leader because he or she knows how to speak well, debate well, or a great fundraiser. It has become un-American to associate with someone of the opposite party. We ought to choose a leader for the same reasons we would select any other person to lead: they’re the best qualified.

MORAL FORTITUDE

Moral fortitude is VERY important when choosing a leader. You do not allow a convicted pedophile to babysit your children because he repented at the altar on Sunday morning. Yes you forgive the repentant and receive him as a fellow worshipper but he would not be asked to work in the children’s nursery.

If a person has a history of repeatedly divorcing and remarrying, isn’t it a good chance it will happen again, statistically speaking? If this same person has a history of shopping extravagantly with their own money, how would that same person behave with other’s money on a larger scale?

Biblically speaking, if while you are married, you begin to look at another woman, and then leave your wife to marry the one you are looking at, you are committing adultery, and causing all three to commit adultery. Is this the type of person we want our children to revere as the leader of the free world?

In a recent Republican debate, I was appalled, angered, and then fearful when the moderator questioned this hopeful regarding his ex-wife speaking out regarding their former marriage. I had these emotions because he seemed to have a rehearsed anger toward the moderator to forbid him to bring up the question of his moral fortitude during a presidential primary debate.

My emotion of fear was akin to ‘awe,’ in that the other candidates did not remain at that intersection to heighten the awareness of this propensity. My fear was paralyzing when the other purported Christian hopefuls allowed the angered debater to go ‘free’ followed by a resounding applause from the studio audience!

PROVEN TEAM PLAYER

As a nation we have become too partisan, the sad part of this statement, most would agree. One of the key components that ought to be demanded of our leaders today, is a history of ‘playing well with others.’ If the current Republican Primary contenders are fighting amongst themselves as if they hate each other, will our nation survive a well-funded presidential election this summer and fall, or do we have a new future ahead of us? Will we become “The Divided States of America?” Dare we choose someone based on their ability to debate? The sole requisite is to have the ability to defeat the opponent?

Our leaders today must redefine what it means to be a Democrat, what does it mean to be a Republican, what defines a Tea Party member, or an Independent. But in their redefining, the emphasis needs to be on nation first party second. Our nation, our world is changing, we need leaders that understand transformation and sign up to steward it. If not, they WILL become a relic, doomed to be remembered as a hindrance to transformation rather than a champion of it.

The ‘new world’ is proving they will not accept the old way of leading. History has proven the stampede of transformation is ordered by time, it cannot be stopped, but must be understood and stewarded.

FAITH

In a historically Christian nation there ought not to be apologies for standing on biblical principles. In our liberal quest to include everyone, we have misplaced our biblical values. One does not exclude Americans we judge Americans. The bible does not tell us not to judge, it says do not judge when you’re doing the same wrong of the one being judged.

We have allowed the secular world to attempt to redefine what it means to be Christian. Being a Christian means you, in all your human frailties, are striving to follow the biblical teachings of Jesus Christ. If we continue to reset our guideposts, the only certainty of our destination is uncertainty.

In selecting leadership for our nation, high in our vetting process ought to be the compass of faith in their life. Denominations ought not to come into play, we’re not in need of a theologian, but we certainly need to be concern whether or not they have a pastor or priest close to them.

We have given pastors and priest a bad rap because of the few that have gone astray. God has always used prophets to lead His people. The ones that have had highly publicized flaws, sins and regressions have not negated His plan for man.

Through the eyes of this Christian, it was paramount to me when our current U. S. president had a highly publicize breakup with his pastor, then go on to not connect with any other spiritual leader, publicly. I have had great concern, that he, as my leader, has no obvious spiritual guidance in his life. When you are a public figure, your priorities ought to be of great concern to your constituents.

In choosing our future leaders, what part faith play in their life ought to be of great concern. We must ask, is this something they have always done? Is it shown in the life they lead? We have advisors for every area of our life, what part does their spiritual leader play in their life?

Let’s demand accountability of our leaders. Let’s require our leaders to be drum majors for the Pledge of Allegiance. Let’s remind our leaders of the name of the book they place their hand on prior to becoming our servant. Let’s threaten our leaders with our privilege to vote, and tell them we’re not afraid to pull the lever.

My name is David Aaron Richey and I approve this message

Will we survive the transition of our cultures?

Long gone are the days when tomorrow will be tomorrow. Today, tomorrow brings another lesson to be learned of the new future.

Will children be children again? Will mom ever marry again, or is she frozen in time to remember when dad was dad and we all got ice cream after church.

Sometimes I begin to worry about tomorrow, and then I remember that tomorrow is transitioning into today.

I've experienced three different cultures in the last ten days, Ghana West Africa, Amsterdam Netherlands and our Western world. I can attest that they're all the same, in transition.

Children seem not to be children anymore, where are the ones I knew long long ago? Moms are no longer moms and WHERE IS dad?

Children appear to be transitioning into little adults. They hit the parents, or misbehave until they get what they want. Their attire is no different than the big people, just a smaller size.

As for the teens, if I'm looking at their underwear today, what will my eyes have to look forward to on tomorrow? Moms and dads of old would not have allowed what we wear today, no IFS ANDS OR BUTTS!

Maybe we have some hope, my wife told of her experience while out in public in the big city of Accra, Ghana West Africa. She saw a young man with his "underwear" displayed for all the world to see. If you know my wife it doesn't matter if she's in Africa or Mobile, Alabama she's the man (wo-man that is). "Boy, pull your pants up!" says the pretty lady from Brooklyn, New York. "Ah, yes ma'am!” Said the startled offender as he hurriedly covered himself!

Everything is transitioning I’m looking at the old with one eye on the new. The U.S. government begun with two political parties Democrats and Republicans, now we have three maybe even four? Tea Party and Independents were not happy with the way things were going, so they decided they wanted to be like other parts of the world. “Let’s have multiple parties so nothing gets done but arguing!” I think Standard and Poor lowering the U.S. credit rating sort of told us how that will work out. No leadership, bad credit. Where are JFK, MLK and Reagan when you need them?

I’m settled on the fact that we are in transition globally, I travel around the globe it’s happening right before my eyes. What is not happening at the same rate of speed is the rising up of transition leaders. Prophetic men and women that see and know the future as well as they know and respect the past.

Joshua’s that were trained by Moses, yet lead where Moses could never go. Transition leaders that respect the past, while maintaining order in the present, yet consistently building for the future.

Transition leaders use words like ‘good’ ‘respect’ ‘understand’ ‘history’ they may touch the word ‘love’ and ‘fellowman’ every now and then. They do more listening and nodding than talking down and condescending. They spend equally amount of time with those that cannot help their careers as they do with the ones that can. They stand up for what is right and sit down when they are wrong. They admit to their own errors as quickly as they point out the wrongs of others.

History is waiting for the transition leaders of today, to rise up and take us to the today of tomorrow. Will history write us off or shine on our today, tomorrow?

Will we survive the transition of our cultures? David Aaron Richey - September 1, 2011

Put Some Clothes On!

Okay, so call me old fashioned but there is such a sexual promiscuous state in our culture that it causes an anger to rise up within me.

It seems as if every intersection of life has a scantily clad cutie showing parts of her body that make a preacher hide his bible and take another look.

While watching television your nice little program is constantly interrupted with scene after scene of sexual innuendoes involving seniors, dogs, teens or parents alluding to some form of sex.

Come on! I’m a happily married Christian man, wouldn’t think of pursuing illicit sex, but is this what we have to look forward to in our culture for the remainder of the planet? Is marriage as we know it being attacked to the point of fading off the scene? How much worse will it get. Who has the controls? What are the limits? Is anything OFF limits? Are we becoming desensitized to accepting more and more?

Will our culture eventually become completely demoralized?

We have spiraled to the point that it is an accepted fashion to be unclad in public. It is accepted in our worship houses to show breasts, butts, crouches and legs. It is uncommon for men and women to be completely covered regardless of the venue. If you’re not showing flesh it’s not normal.

The President of the United States frequently appears in public without a tie and rolled up sleeves. His wife almost never covers her arms. In many photos our First Lady looks more like a model for a sexy clothing retailer than the public figure that she is. I expect more from the couple that are the leaders of the ‘Free World’. But, it has been happening slowly in recent years in the White House the Legislature the Judicial System and the Church! Sex sex sex!

Have we moved from the weightier matters of character, morals skills work ethics? Is our culture more focused on temporal things like money, flash, bling, games and false reality? If this is our final decision the ones that will pay the bill for this fast track highway to Sodom are our children and grandchildren.

It is wrong to raise our little people in a world that says sex is for recreation. We must teach and show them that our bodies are a temple not a toy.

At the sake of sounding like a sooty old man longing for my younger years, can we just all go home and get properly dressed?

David Aaron Richey July 2, 2011

Put Some Clothes On!

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Where did yesterday go?

While traveling this past week I marveled how much our culture has changed in my short sixty-one years. I travel very often, however this week my senses seem to have been amplified to the drastic changes that have overtaken me.

Was it the type of trip it was? Was it the location? Did I miss my family THAT much? I'm a big boy now, I've traveled 10's of thousands of miles in the last year alone!

Where did yesterday go?

Is air travel of yesteryear gone forever? Has air travel now become the new Greyhound bus transport? My fellow travellers are dressed as if ready for the beach or a best dress couch potato with video games. Gone are the business suits and the cute Sunday-go-to-meeting dresses. Am I complaining or just longing for yesterday?

While waiting at the boarding gate I thought, has it gotten worse or is it just me? Like every waiting area in the 'free world' there are televisions all around beckoning you to watch. You're not able to concentrate on TV even though its sound is blaring because the intercom is shouting the next ten flights and little Johnny has to go to the bathroom. Mom says he just went to the bathroom!

Am I complaining or merely longing for yesterday?

Let’s talk cell phones? Sitting at the 'gate' reading the news on my iPad ignoring Whoopi Goldberg on ‘The View’, which is a feat in and of its self, when who plops down across from me 'Mr. I Have An Important Call To Make'! The guy is laying so far back in the airport seat the bottom of his back is on the seat's edge! If someone kicked his feet he'd fall on the floor. Maybe when he purchased his phone to get him to buy it they told him it could double as a bullhorn! Okay so NOW I'm bordering complaining.

There are truly good servers in the various industries. Many of those servants totally make your day. One such servant came to check my air-conditioner in the hotel that I had no say in choosing, and announced he would change the entire system, which he promptly completed. There are several like this gentleman that probably outweigh the not so great. But the ones that are not so good will try to make you forget all of the good ones that went that extra mile to make your time with them enjoyable.

Where did yesterday go? I miss it like an old friend that time has shuffled out of my life. I miss the respect that seemed oh so common that has now become a surprise when shown. The pay phones were inconvenient and cell phones have become a way of life, but I miss those days when I didn't know what strangers were talking about.

Is yesterday gone forever?

David Aaron Richey
June 20, 2011

Is yesterday gone forever?

How to become a homosexual

‎It is amazing to me how people think that a person becomes a homosexual by simply being born. As vast as the human mind has been proven to be, it is a widely known fact that one may achieve practically anything if the mind is trained.

It is not proper to say a person’s genitals have a predisposition upon birth. It is equally improper to say that our entire body has a predisposition. If that is the premise, why must so much emphasis be placed on a person’s training, education, thinking? That is especially important when a person is a little person. Who is designated to train the little person how to think?

A person's genitals may be stimulated by anyone or anything to do what God intended for them to do, but thinking is what causes a person to decide who will stimulate their genitals. A person learns thinking from life's experiences. If one learns perverted thinking regarding their sexuality, either the thinking is reinforced and accepted or they must relearn how to think in that area. This thinking includes mannerisms.

If you blindfold someone in the ideal atmosphere and begin to stimulate their genitals they are bound to be aroused by the stimulation, not by who is doing the stimulating. That is what they were created to do, that is simple. Eyes were created to see but we must be trained what to look at and how; ears were created to hear, yet many have not been taught how to listen; teeth were created to bite and chew, but a mom spend countless hours training her child to properly eat and so forth. Genitals were created to reproduce, in order to do so they must first be aroused, that is how they were created to function.

Now consider the thought processes. It brings in an entirely new dimension when you couple thought processes with how the body operates.

The main duty of a father is to teach thinking, ask the homosexual who taught them how to think? The more we have lost fathers in our society, the more prevalent homosexuality has wrapped its tentacles around our culture.

The task of the father is to affirm the child in their sexuality. I ask you where the fathers are. You tell me where our society is.

David Aaron Richey

How to become a homosexual

Transformation Leaders – Changing a nation

Body
What are the steps to make your body a better leader?

Soul
What are the steps to make your mind emotions and the choices you make cause you to be a better leader?

Spirit
What are the steps to make your spirit a better leader?

To be a transformation leader you must have your body under control, have maturity in your soul and have a clean spirit.

Many people today allow their body to be the controller of who they are. The body wants to eat sleep be pampered have sex and generally do nothing. It’s the animal nature the base of who we are as people. If you allow your body to be in control you will not be a successful person.

Many employers today understand that an employee needs to possess more than a degree and skill. They too must have emotional maturity. You may have the job requisites but your emotions are out of control and no one wants to work with you. Or you may be hired as the manager and on one of your ‘bad days’ fire every one of your team members. Further, if you don’t learn how to make proper decisions you will not get far up the ‘proverbial corporate ladder’.

Your spirit too must be illuminated by the right spirit or people will be uncomfortable around you. Some allow evil spirits to rule in their spirit destine to lead them to a destructive end. We were made to have the Spirit of God dwell in our spirit so that we may follow Him on the path of purpose. Our spirit is our ‘knower’ and leads us to our God ordained destiny.

This is the short version of ‘You need your Body Soul and Spirit to be a Transformation Leader’

David Aaron Richey
Transformation Leaders - Changing a nation

Lead Follow or Get out of the Way

The leaders of today were trained for the most part in the 20th century yet called to lead in the 21st century. The last ten years has cried out for ‘Transformation Leaders’ that have been in the laboratory of life these last ten years to come forward and change our systems to correspond with the 21st century. Lead follow or get out of the way!

The Love of a Woman

I have had many friends throughout my life, several would be categorized as ‘great friends’. Most of my experiences with my dad were memorable I would place them into a little mental box and label our relationship ‘good’.

But when it comes to mom, there was something special that you cannot express. Moms are special. There is nothing to compare with the love of a good woman.

I have been blessed with a great mom, great sisters, and great mother-in-law; and to share my life, a great wife and great daughters. It doesn’t get any better than that!

My mom, mom-in-law, sisters, wife and daughters are the best a man could ask for.

Okay, this is not a measure, but every one of them is or was, both moms have passed on, an excellent cook. Mom could make water taste good, my wife has that same gift!

When I think of how blessed I am with all of these awesome women in my life I can only give thanks to the Mighty God whom I serve.

I thank God for my dad he was my first pastor my mentor and a man of God, but this is not an algebraic equation, Mom was off the proverbial ‘hinge’.

On this Sunday when we are celebrating ‘Mother’ I want to publicly say I am truly blessed. Thanks ladies please take a bow, my hat is off to you.

David Aaron Richey
The Love of a Woman

When I grow up

When I was a child, at eye level of my parent’s waist, I looked at the world as a place to dream about tomorrow. Being the youngest of nine everyone had self-appointed themselves as my superior before I was born.

But one of the things that I remember as my eye level begin to rise like a slow moving elevator was little things all of my ‘superiors’ would say to me about my future. As it had been foretold before I arrived, “he’s going to be a preacher”. I hadn’t had my first cry in the new world and already my life was planned for me!

All of my ‘superiors’ would tell me I was blessed, it wasn’t until I was much older that I finally realized, I’m blessed.

One of my main superiors, my mom, told me I had much faith, it wasn’t until many years later when I begin to confess: “I have strong faith”.

With the recent passing of my birthdate can I continue to say “when I grow up?” I think so, in life you never arrive, one remains on this continuous journey with the final destination being dearly beloved we’re gather here today…….

During this journey, if faith is your mode of transportation you can be guaranteed two things, your trip will not be boring and YOU will not be at the controls.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the staircase - Martin Luther King, Jr.

David Aaron Richey
When I grow up