WELL, HERE IT IS!

H A P P Y

N E W

Y E A R!

See...it just can't happen.

A virgin cannot become pregnant and have a child.

That is an anatomical impossibility.

We know that.

The fact that it happened is what makes it a miracle.

What miracle is there to an event that happens tens of thousands of times a day?

None.

But for a virgin to become pregnant and bear a child...

That's a miracle.

And what a son!

(By the way, did anyone notice that she knew ahead of time that it would be a son...even without ultrasound?)

He was not only her son...he was God's son.

That just makes my head spin.

I wish I could figure out how that was done and all that it means.

But I cannot.

All the college, university, post graduate work and seminary training I received never came close to preparing me for its reality.

My wildest imaginations cannot fathom how the Holy Ghost accomplished it.

My most intellectual musings cannot begin to scratch the surface of all that it means.

To say that the birth of Messiah is extraordinary does it no justice whatsoever.

Neither you nor I have the words to express what went on.

This I do know, however: No other birth in the history of the universe has affected mankind like this one.

America, and other countries, too, may try to disparage, deny and denigrate it.

They may try to outlaw it, banish it and ridicule it.

But try as they might, they cannot squelch it.

Not even Wal-Mart could stand up to it.

On this day (yeah, I know, we can reasonably question the actual date) we celebrate the second most meaningful event ever...the birth of Yashua bar Yoseph ben Nazareth; Jesus, the Christ.

(The first occured after it: the resurrection of Christ, without which, Paul wrote, we would all be fools.)

I am so awed by it

So confounded by it

So humbled by it

That all I have left to say is:

MERRY CHRIST MAS!

Denominationally Speaking

Being a politically correct type, a worship leader and not wanting to insult women of a certain hair color, I submit the following:

A worship leader goes to the post office to buy stamps for Christmas cards.

He tells the clerk, "May I have 50 Christmas stamps?"

The clerk asks, "What denomination?

Puzzled, the worship leader exclaims, "God help us!" Has it come to this? Give me six Catholic, 12 Presbyterian, 10 Lutheran and 22 Baptist."

Worship leaders are a unique bunch; a strange blend of creativity, practicality and spirituality that, hopefully, translates into meaningful worship.

However, they have pecular habits.

Do you know how worship leaders turn pages?

Lick left index and middle fingers;
turn pages with right index and middle fingers...
Lick left index and middle fingers;
turn pages with right index and middle fingers...
Lick left index and middle fingers;
turn pages with right index and middle fingers.
(Try this in real life and you'll get the point).

Ode To the New Worship Leader

Here's to the new slick Minister of Music
A most delightful fella.
When he's directing and you're not expecting,
He'll switch to acappella, then
Isn't it a lovely sound,
With no instruments to drown
All of the voices blending so?
Isn't it a pure delight?
Wonder how the Campbellites
Found out about it long ago.
You'll not regret a Sunday operetta,
Just pay your tithe and come on in.
And for religion We'll get a smidgen
Between the special music and the parting hymn.
A-men.....A-women.

A worship leader was out on the lake in his fishing boat.

The Fish and Wildlife officer pulled up beside his boat and declared, "I must come aboard for a safety inspection."

"Welcome aboard," declared the worship leader. "When you're through inspecting, join me for some fishing."

"Will do!" said the officer.

At that point the worship leader pulled out a stick of dynamite, lit its fuse and tossed it in the lake.

It exploded and dozens of fish floated to the surface, which the worship leader just scooped up with his net.

"Hey!" shouted the F & W officer, "Don't you know that's illegal? Why I could fine you $700.00 for each time you do that!"

With that, the worship leader reached into his box, pulled out a stick of dynamite, lit its fuse and tossed it to the Wildlife officer, who caught it in mid air.

As the fuse quickly burned shorter, the worship leader asked, "Well, tell me, now...are you talkin' or fishin?"

Murphy's Factoids

-- Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

-- He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

-- Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

-- Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.

-- Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

-- The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of gettingsomething right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

-- If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them, five or six at a time, on a hill, in the fog.

-- If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.

-- The things that come to those who wait will be the things left overby those who got there first.

-- Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.

-- The shinbone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.

-- A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

(I promise...I'll get to Christmas...hopefully before Christmas of this year.

THE MORONIC OXYMORON REVISITED

In my Sunday School classes over the years I have posed the question that I asked in the blog-before-last.

Here is the question:

If a scientist were able to create life in a test-tube, would that be evidence for or against the intelligent origin of life?

I almost always got the same reaction I got from you, dear blog-reader. A blank stare that seemed to say, "Duhhhhh...what's he talking about?"

Here's the explanation.

If a person is a scientist he/she is supposed to be intelligent.

If a scientist is intelligent, he/she would realize that by simply mixing what already exists (ie:the elements in the test-tube) he/she is not creating, mearly re-arranging.

If the re-arranging of the elements brought forth life, one thing is clear: that life neither "created" itself nor happened by accident.

If it did not happen by itself or by accident, then it must have been by design.

One may conclude, therefore, that the life resulted from intelligent intervention.

If we try to assume that the life happened by itself or by accident, then we must conclude that the scientist is not intelligent. Not an altogether foolish postulation.

It requires the obvious: Life could not possibly have happened by itself or by accident, therefore must have been created by intelligent design, whom we call (upon prompting from Scriptre) God.

I love questions like this, for they reinforce my faith, all of which comes from The Creator, Himself, to begin with.

How cool is that?

FRUSTRATION PERSONIFIED!

For some time, Blogger has had an encouragement to me in my "dashboard" to switch to the new format.

Today I finally gave in.

Guess what! It would not let me change!

Furthermore, I could not comment on many of your blogs which had been changed over because they would not recognize my username and password!

This was not universally true, but seemed random.

There was a link to a lame explanation...something to the effect that they were changing a few at a time.

Then, pray tell, why did they seem so insistant that I change?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

THE MORONIC OXYMORON

Here is a question for you to ponder:

If a scientist were able to create life in a test-tube, would that be evidence for or against the intelligent origin of life?

Montana Cowboy

My sweet wife, Bonnie, has a new web site. Its address is:

http://www.freewebs.com/friendsareagift/index.htm

A mutual friend send a story to the two of us.

Bonnie posted it on her website.

No to be out-done, and to preserve the fine art of blogelony theft, I am posting it, too.

Here it is:


A Montana cowboy was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young man in a Baryon suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

The cowboy looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , GermanyWithin seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored.

He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with e-mail on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy andSays, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says the cowboy.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then the cowboy says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

You're a Congressman for the U.S. Government," says the cowboy.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required," answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows, this is a herd of sheep.

"Now give me back my dog."

Ramblin' Prose

I've been listening to different preachers lately.

A good message is priceless. Sadly, I don't hear many.

Scripture dictates the topic of a "Topical Sermon." (As opposed to finding a topic and seaching for some Scripture that supports the point of view. )

The other method of preaching exposes the Scripture verse-by- verse (which I personally like best.)

In either message, the preacher must have a point he wants to get to. (In my humble, but correct opinion, that should be how to be saved and grow closer to God through trust in, and only in, the finished work of Christ at Calvary.)

Each element of the message should lead logically to the next and move the speaker prgressively toward his/her point.

The sermon should end with a climax that points the audience to Jesus.

Instead, most of the sermons I hear go like this:

"Our text is II Hezekiah 4:12

"Ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, chase a rabbit...off topic, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, tell an unrelated joke, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble.

"Anybody here want to come to Jesus?"

I can hardly express my underwhelmment.

Boudreaux Golly

Boudreaux live across the bayou from Clarence who he don like at all.

Dey all de time yell across de bayou at each other.

Boudreaux would yell to Clarence, "If I had a way to cross dis bayou, I'd come over dere an beat you up good, yeah!"

Dis went on for years.

Finally de state done built a bridge across dat bayou right by dere houses and Boudreaux's wife, Marie, say, "now is you chance, Boudreaux. Why don you go over der an beat up dat Clarence
like you say?"

Boudreaux say, "OK," and start across de bridge, but he see a sign on de bridge an he stop to read it and den he go back home.

Marie say, "Why you back so soon?"

And Boudreaux say, "Marie I dun change my mind 'bout beatin' up
dat Clarence.

"You know Marie, dey got a sign on dat dere bridge dat
say, 'Clarence 13 ft. 6 in.'

"You know, he don look near dat big when I yell at him across the bayou."

Blogger's note: Only VERY intelligent people can understand this joke.

Thought You Might Enjoy This

Here are the top fifteen things police have been heard saying:

#15 "Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch out after you wear them awhile."

#14 "Take your hands off the car, and I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document."

#13 "If you run, you'll only go to jail tired."

#12 "Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? In case you didn't know, that is the average speed of a 9mm bullet fired from my gun."

#11 "So you don't know how fast you were going. I guess that means I can write anything I want on the ticket, huh?"

#10 "Yes, Sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I am the shift supervisor?"

#9 "Warning! You want a warning? O. K., I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket."

#8 "The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?"

#7 "Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides and eat cotton candy."

#6 "Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven."

#5 "In God we trust, all others we run through NCIC."

#4 "Just how big were those two beers?"

#3 "No sir we don't have quotas anymore.
We used to have quotas but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we want."

#2 "I'm glad to hear the Chief of Police is a good personal friend of yours. At least you know someone who can post your bail."

And...THE BEST ONE !!!!!!!

#1 "You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? .. You're right, we don't. ..... Sign here

Turkey Day!

HAVE A THANKFUL

TO GOD DAY!

Mule Division

A friend of mine sent me this in an email. I've seen it before, but it is cute:

A Missouri farmer passed away and left 17 mules to his three sons.

The instructions left in the will said that the oldest boy was to get one-half, the second oldest one-third, and the youngest one-ninth.

The three sons, seeing the difficulty of dividing 17 mules into these fractions, began to argue.

The uncle heard about the argument, hitched up his mule, and drove out to settle the matter.

He added his mule to the 17, making 18.

The eldest son then got one-half, or nine.

The second eldest got one-third, or six.

The youngest got one-ninth,or two.

Adding up 9, 6 and 2 equals 17.

The uncle hitched up his mule and drove home

I AM SO CONFUSED

What a trip!!

First I got really, really sick...heart stuff.

Then I lost my Internet connection.

I called Embarq (The new, totally stupid name for Sprint). Their very nice tech ran me through an hour and a half's work to try to get it all back.

At the end of countless adjustments and computer re-starts, he said, "Well there's a 50% chance it is your USB Network Adapter, and a 50% chance that it is your Network transmitter.

I looked into the price of USB network adapters and had resigned myself to purchasing one, trying it to determine whether it was the culprit and if it was not, purchasing a new transmitter.

Then I moved the Linksys adapter to another USB port on my computer.

The computer suddenly did not recognize the adapter...then did.

Then it recognized the adapter, but would not recognize the Internet connection.

Today, somewhat frustrated, I entered my blog's URL into the address bar and, bingo! I got connected.

Then I closed the Internet and bango...it would not reopen!!

Then I typed the address again, and bingo...it opened!!

I went into Internet options and set my blog as my homepage, closed the Internet connection and bango! I could not get back in!

Then I did the whole thing over again and...

I think everything is working.

I think.

Can you read this?

Then it must be working.

UNUSUAL RESPONSE

I recently received a series of comments on this blog from a person who calls him or herself "aztec mutton."

Most of his/her comments were of an attack nature, and he/she linked his name to a blog which he/she now claims is not his/hers, which was pure, rank filth.

Here is what he/she wrote in his/her last comment in response to jim's response to his/her previous comments:

Perhaps. Sorry. You should realize, however, that I find many of the opinions stated on this blog to be alien at best. Frightening. The thing is, despite my intentions, I legitimately thought blogging was intended for arguments, input, responses etc. Especially one that makes blanket statements that are beyond right-wing. I had a blog that was political in nature and I welcomed arguments. That's how I learned more about the world and other people's views. Anyway, didn't mean to offend anyone. Take care and don't forget to brush yer' teeth.

"Perhaps."

He/she seems not to be able to firmly grasp the offense created or the lack of reasonableness of his/her response.

"Sorry."

From what follows, it is difficult to surmise the sincerity of this apololgy.

"You should realize, however, that I find many of the opinions stated on this blog to be alien at best. Frightening."

Here is one who wants us not to find his/her opinions alien or frightening, but who seems to think it OK to find the opinions of those with whom he/she disagrees or does not understand alien and frightening. Interesting intellectual position.

What on earth could one who seems to apply free speech to him/herself possibly fear from the opinions of another?

Am I missing something here? Should I be afraid of his/her opinions because they are "alien" to me?

(By the way, I am 65 years old, have been around the proverbial block, and there are no opinions you could have that would either shock or frighten me.)

"The thing is, despite my intentions, I legitimately thought blogging was intended for arguments, input, responses etc."

(Putting the incomprehensibility of the above statement aside) He/she probably did not know that many blogs are little more than personal journaling. He/she did not realize that many blogs don't even invite comments. In fact, Blogger allows a blogger to turn off the comments altogether. The fact that this blog allows comments must have equated in his mind that it invites commonness, vulgarity and filth, as well.

"Especially one that makes blanket statements that are beyond right-wing."

Funny that a person who wishes to express blanket statements about this blog does not afford to me the same rights.

"I had a blog that was political in nature and I welcomed arguments."

That is absolutely within the rights of the individual blogger. Interesting, though, that the use of the word, "had" seems to indicate that the blog no longer exists. Might it have gotten too hot for him/her?

"That's how I learned more about the world and other people's views. "

If that is the purpose of one's blog, it is certainly permissible...if a bit simplistic.

"Anyway, didn't mean to offend anyone."

It is beyond comprehension that one could use inflamatory language, take pot-shots at one's philosophical position without accompanying rationale, and link folks to a vile, vulgar site without the slightest intellectual understanding that offense might be taken.

"Take care and don't forget to brush yer' teeth."

This was the hardest of all to deal with.

The implication that there might be some short-coming in the personal hygene of me or one or more of my commenters is just beyond the pale.

Let it be known, publically and on my personal blog, that I brush my teeth two or three times a day.

I swish, too.

And I floss.

Comments are welcome on this blog with only a few rules:

1. Be respectful at all times.

2. Disagree with me, if you just have to, but do not engage in battle with the other commenters. Everybody may express his/her opinion on the topic at hand, but I prefer NOT to engage in long strings of back-and-forth arguments, because, in the end, nobody's opinions are ever changed, least of all mine.

3. Vulgar, filthy language that seeks the lowest common denominator of human existance is not welcomed here.

Does all of that seem fair enough?

If so, fine.

If not...tough.

Once again, this is MY blog.

PREDICTION

Here is what will happen:

1. Within one year there will be EXTREME pressure to withdraw from Iraq.

2. Within 3 years of withdrawal from Iraq, we will have had several terrorist attacks on US soil.

3. Many terroist cells already in our country will be joined by others coming in through un-sealed borders and we will be fighting a war against terrorism RIGHT HERE IN THE UNITED STATES.

4. There will ensue GREAT PRESSURE to raise taxes "to pay for many new programs" that will "benefit" so-called "people without opportunity to better themselves."

5. The border fence project will be de-funded (or never funded to begin with), and the ranks of illegal aliens will swell until they constitute a large voting block (never mind that they have no right to vote...they will be afforded the right).

6. The slow trend toward civility in interpersonal relationships and polite society will begin to give way to state sanctioned vulgarity.

7. There will be EXTREME PRESSURE to enact the so-called "fairness doctrine," requiring all media outlets to take a liberal, leftist turn...including Christian radio and TV.

8. There will be another move toward nationalized health care which will result in it becoming more difficult to choose your doctors and which will result in long waits for needed health care.

9. Countries which now allow their citizens to come to the US for better health care will no longer have incentive to do so, resulting in fewer patients and higher medical costs.

10. TAXES, TAXES, TAXES...eventually up to 50% of your income for INCOME TAXES alone if you earn more than $50,000.00 per year.

11. The economy will begin to turn around and within three years will no longer be strong and robust. Recession is on the horizon.

12. The stock market will plunge, after having hit record levels under conservative leadership in our government.

13. No more "originalist" judges will pass appointment to the Supreme Court.

Those are some of my predictions.

All because the liberal arm of our government has been given the reins in congress.

President Bush, please be sure your veto pen is full of ink.

Senators, be sure you are on top of things.

In spite of it all, GOD WILL STILL BE IN CONTROL...AND THAT TRUMPS EVERYTHING!

HERE FOR A DAY VOTE!!

I'm here for a day...but I will be back.

Tomorrow is the day when we will decide the future of our country for many years to come.

If you are a citizen of The United States of America you need to make time to vote.

If you do not make time to vote, you do not deserve to call yourself a citizen.

Here's why:

Being a citizen of most countries is no big deal.

As a citizen of some countries, you wake up in the morning, do what the government has said you can do, go where the government says you can go. say what the government says you can say and have what the government says you can have.

In other countries you do pretty much what you want to and hope against hope that some coup does not take place that forever changes the way your government operates.

In The United States of America, you wake up in the morning, and, except for certain activities deemed by society as a whole and undesirable, such as murder, stealing, raping, etc., you do as you please.

In The United States of America, you have the opportunity to be whatever you want to be.

You can be a "captain of industry" just because you want to.

You can drive a bus, fly commercial aircraft, treat people's ills, sell snake oil or whatever you can find that will help other people to the degree that they are willing to pay you for it.

As motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar says, "You can get anything you want out of life if you'll help enough other people get what they want out of life."

But it all hinges on a sufficient number of people being a part of the process by voting for the people they think will make the decisions best for the country.

Now I cannot tell you how to vote.

I can give you advice about voting if you were to ask for it.

For instance, if you asked me who to vote for, I would say the following:

1. Do you want to pay more taxes? Do not vote Republican.
2. Do you want more attacks on the USA than we have had since 9/11? Do not vote Republican.
3. Do you want a weaker economy? Do not vote Republican.
4. Do you want more abortions in the USA? Do not vote Republican.
5. Do you want higher unemployment? Do not vote Republican.
6. Do you want higher inflation? Do not vote Republican.
7. Do you want open borders through which terrorists could enter the country? Do not vote Republican.
8. Do you want a lower wage-to-buying power ratio? Do not vote Republican.
9. Do you want elitists to tell you which doctors you can see, how much you will pay and how long you must wait for medical attention? Do not vote Republican.
10. Do you want to fight a war against terrorists on our soil, in our cities and in our countryside? Do not vote Republican.
11. Do you want to be MORE dependent on foreign oil (not a single viable "alternative fuel" has been found yet and none [that's right - none] is on the horizon)? Do not vote Republican.
12. Do you want more liberal judges on the Supreme Court who will rule in favor of gay marriage, eminent domain for shopping centers, restricting freedom of religion, etc.? Do not vote Republican.

Maybe you are a Republican, but you are angry at some of the decisions they have made lately. To "teach them a lesson" you plan NOT to vote.

News-flash!

You will not teach them a lesson.

All you will do is hurt yourself, hurt the country and (most importantly of all) hurt me, because all of the above listed things will come to pass.

If you do not vote, you are, at best, a liberal (for you will be allowing them to have control), and at worst a traitor.

What? That would make you angry if I called you that?

Tough cookies. I call them the way I see them...'cause in this country I can.

That is how I would answer you if you asked for my advice about how to vote.

Since you have not asked, I will not tell you those things.

Regardless...if I could get one message across to you it would be:

Get off of your lazy, indifferent, selfish posterior and

VOTE

Random Access Moments

Something we all need to learn:

The Holy Spirit of God never, ever leads us to do that which adversely affects the integrity, credibility or continuity of His work; that of pointing people toward Jesus.

If you or I, whether as a pastor, staff member, lay leader or lay person, do anything that calls into question any of these attributes, you can be certain that we are not following the leadership of the Holy Spirit, but of the adversary.

If what we do causes confusion, in our personal lives, or in the church, we are not following God's will.

I Cor 14:33 "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints."

I Cor 14:40 "Let all things be done decently and in order."

To be sure, the Holy Spirit may lead us to change course, as in altering our order of worship, or adjusting our thinking, but when He does, it will always bring stability to the situation and draw us closer to God. It will never unnecessarily hurt people or bring disdain on His church.

When what we do is for the satisfaction of some personal or "political" gain, it is not the leadership of the Holy Spirit, rather it is the yielding to whim.

Father, help each of us determine that we will always seek to do that which stabilizes Your church, grows people in You and point others to the Lord, Jesus, Christ. In His Holy and precious name we pray.

A CHOICE TO MAKE

WARNING: THIS POST COULD BE CONSIDERED INFLAMATORY IN NATURE. PROCEDE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are an estimated thirteen (13) Hezbollah cells in the United States (surprised?)

There are also a dozen al-Qaeda cells (still surprised?)

It gets better.

There are assorted groups of Hamas and other groups associated with various levels of terrorism in the world.

"How can this be?" you ask.

The answer is complicated, but in short, as long as any specific individual cell/group has not specifically been found to have plotted and/or carried out terrorist activity, they are watched, but basically left alone.

In many Arab states, and other countries where Islamics rule, clandestine Christian groups are arrested, deported, shot or beheaded.

Now I am going to delve into a bit of unofficial prophecy.

If we elect left-leaning politicians to office this go around, we will prematurely withdraw our troops from Iraq.

Within three years (maybe not that long), the afore mentioned cells/groups will become active and will be joined by those imported from their home bases abroad.

They will then begin a campaign to eradicate "Christian" Americans ON OUR OWN SOIL!

There are many, many citizens of this country who are devout, practicing Muslims.

A question that haunts me is: When the fighting breaks out here in the United States of America, on which side will they fight?

Does the prospect not present you with a serious dilemma?

How do you resolve it in your own mind?

Once again: When radical Islam brings the fight to American soil, on which side will those of you who belong to "the religion of peace," be?

I do not pretend to know the answer to that question, but I would like to hear from any of those who practice Islam (or those of you who know someone who does with whom you have spoken).

I am not really interested in opinions about what you believe will happen, I want to hear first-hand or anecdotally what you know you (or someone with whom you have spoken) would do.

OK...I'M ANGRY NOW!

I am angry at Republicans!

I am so angry that they have not done what I want them to, when I want them to, how I want them to, and where I want them to on at least two or three issues, that I am seeing red.

Republicans have not yet closed the borders.

Republicans have not yet become perfect.

Republicans have not yet...well, I can't think of what else they haven't done, but I know they haven't done it, because TV newscasters on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and even some on FOX have told me so.

Because Rebuplicans have not done all the things I have wanted them to do, I am not going to vote at all!

Now I know what you are thinking:

Joe, you must not realize that by not voting, Democrats will win and you are hurting yourself.

Joe, you must not realize that by not voting, Democrats will win and you are hurting ME.

Joe, you must not realize that by not voting, Democrats will win and you are hurting Republicans.

Joe, you must not realize that by not voting, Democrats will win and you are hurting your country.

You must think I am dumber than dumb.

OF COURSE I KNOW ALL OF THAT.

BUT I DON'T CARE!!

I am mad, and that's all that counts.

See? It's all about ME.

It's not about America. It's not about unity. It's not about doing what's right. It's not about being a good citizen.

IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!!

(Editor's note: If you are a Republican or a staunch conservative, and you do not plan to vote, and/or vote for what's right as opposed to what makes you mad, you are lower than the lowest liberal. You are a fobbing , elf-skinned, flap-dragon. You are a gorbellied, folly-fallen, giglet.*

SOOO......

GET OVER IT!

GET READY!

GET OUT THERE AND VOTE! [When the time comes]

End of Editor's note)

*Don't get excited...these are all perfectly good Shakespearian terms. Read him...you might like him.

TIME FOR CHANGE?

I have some gripes and I am now going to express them.

1. My taxes are much too low.

I have a need to pay more to my loving government.

2. Our country's deficit has been dropping much too fast...way ahead of schedule.

I think we need to take steps to get it back up again.

3. Gas prices have come down too much.

If the Europeans can pay $5.00 per gallon, I should get to, too.

4. We have had too few terrorist attacks in the last four years.

We are entitled to at least one per year so we can lose a few thousand innocent civilians.

5. The stock market has been doing far too well.

People who invest their money in the stock market (of whom I am not one), have a right to lose more of their hard earned money and do not deserve to have money set aside for retirement.

6. Medical care is much too immediate.

I should be able to wait at least six months for some of the heart treatments I need periodically. Why, the way it is now, I actually get to see the doctor the very day I go to his office. I should only be able to make an appointment to see the receptionist three weeks from now so that I can actually see the doctor in about six weeks.

7. Wal-mart has a lot of nerve, providing my generic drugs for only $4.00 for a month's supply.

Why I've been complaining about the high cost of medicine for so long, I won't know how to behave if my prescriptions are actually reasonably priced.

Last week I got a three months supply for only $12.00. I used to get to pay $36.00 for the same period of time.

What to do?

8. We are having far to much success in Iraq and Afganistan.

(What? No one told you? The infrastructure is in better shape than it has been in ten years, the government is making strides daily toward being able to take over their own country and the civil war that was supposed to be happening has just failed to take hold...disgraceful!)

Since within three years of an early pull-out from Iraq we will be fighting terrorists on our own soil in our own country, instead of having to go overseas to do it, a pre-mature withdrawal of troops is essential.

9. I am absolutely furious that my home's value, which was supposed to go down because of the bursting of the housing bubble, actually has gone up in the last three months.

Just for that, I am keeping my house and absolutely refuse to even put it on the market.

10. President Bush has refused to be wishy-washy on almost any issue at all.

I think we need a man who can test the wind daily to see where he stands on an issue.

Maybe a good mugwump would fill the bill.

(A mugwump is a polititian who sits on the fence with his mug on one side and his wump on the other. He flies backward, because he doesn't care where he's going, only want to see where he's been.)

11. The general economy is too robust.

We deserve to be able to slow it down.

12. Unemployment is just too low.

Why, I can remember the Jimmy Carter days when unemployment was double digit.

13. The same goes for inflation!

Why can't we return to the days of 12% or maybe even 18% inflation?

14. And speaking of polititians, we need to get rid of these polititians who, when they discover a felon in their own ranks, force them to resign.

What we really need is for party leaders to endorse having members of Congress have actual sex with pages (instead of just writing to them) and then give them standing ovations.

We need strong men serving in Congress who don't mind leaving a woman in a car to drown.

We need more members of Congress who can't remember the story they told last time about their war escapades and so change the story every time they tell it.

For all of the reasons listed above, and for many I am just too depressed to mention here, I intend to vote DEMOCRATIC in the up-coming mid-term elections.

N O T !

REVELATION

One of my favorite sayings is: Everything you need to know about God is found in the Word of God; nothing you need to know about God is NOT found in the Word of God and anything you THINK you know about God that is not in the Word of God, you just made up.

What does this mean?

What it means is that the Word of God; i.e.: The Bible; is the entire revelation of God’s character, His love for his creation and His plan for its redemption.

He left nothing about Himself out.

There is no further revelation about Him needed.

In the Bible we find every iota of information about God that we need to discover who He is and what He is about.

We also discover why He created mankind, how mankind has historically responded to Him and what happened to disrupt what was to have been a fellowship of love between Him and His highest creation: human beings.

The Bible reveals the price of mankind’s disobedience to God and tells us that there is a high price to be paid for that disobedience, a price so high that no man could pay it.

Scripture shows us God’s plan to pay the price Himself, on mankind’s behalf so that humans could once again enjoy fellowship with Him.

Throughout history there have been people who have had "experiences" that they claimed brought them some "new" revelation from God.

For instance, after a fall on the ice, Mary Baker Eddy had a vision from God that healed her and brought her revelation about the nature of existence; that pain and sickness are illusions; Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God and was conceived when Mary "Perceived" the "spiritual idea" of Christ.

Joseph Smith had "visions" during his youth that "revealed" to him that all Christian churches, denominations, and sects were wrong and that he should set them straight, and that a "messenger" named Moroni pointed him toward some burried gold plates containing many "new" revelations about God (written, by the way, in a convoluted form of "King James" English - presumabley because God could not speak 19th century English), etc.

After being attacked by ruffians and struck in the face with a large stone, which left her disfigured and traumatized, Ellen Harmonn (later to become Ellen White) began having visions from God in which she was levitated high above the earth and "revealed" that the door of salvation had been closed to sinner on October 22 1843. She is credited with solidifying the scattered Millerites and Adventists into one denomination know as Seventh-Day Adventists.

Sun Myung Moon had a "vision" in which Jesus told him that He (Jesus) had not fulfilled His mission on earth and that Moon was the only one alive who could accomplish the mission.

I could go on, but what I want you to see is that each of these had totally different "visions" from God, each of which named them as his "chosen" one to share new "revelations" with the world.

Can they all be right?

Can one be right?

Which one?

Who gets to choose?

You?

Me?

No.

If we want the total revelation of God, we need only to turn to the collection of 66 writings by 40 authors, written over centuries, which harmonize with each other, are ALL about the same person, and that leaves absolutely nothing about God unsaid.

We call it The Bible.

Its Old Testament is all about God’s nature and the coming Savior.

Its New Testament is all about God’s acting out His plan for redemption in Christ, its accomplishment and Christ’s soon return.

You should read it…it’s great!

No further revelation needed.

Period.

SUNDAY PRAISE

Lord I Lift Your Name On High
by Rick Founds

http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis/songbook/lordlift.html


Lord, I lift Your name on high.
Lord, I love to sing Your praises.
I'm so glad You're in my life.
I'm so glad You came to save us.
You came from Heaven to earth to show the way,
From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay;
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky;
Lord, I lift Your name on high.

A Normal Quiz

Do you know what that graph represents?

As a Psychology/Sociology major in college, I had to deal with this type of graph extensively.

The "standard normal distribution" is the normal distribution with a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one (the green curves in the plots to the right). It is often called the bell curve because the graph of its probability resembles a bell.

See those little numbers along the bottom? There is a zero in the middle. That represents the point on the graph that is where the most of whatever you are measuring (people, ideas, IQs, pros, cons, etc.) falls.

Let's say you are measuring human characteristics. The further you go to the right or left, the fewer people demonstrate that characteristic.

It is important to realize that the curve measures quantitative results, not qualitative.

In our country, the majority of people work for somebody else.

On the graph, they would be plotted between the -1 and the +1, on the green line, or some such position.

The fortune 500 CEOs would fall close to the +3 mark and the homeless would fall close to the -3 mark...approximately.

Remember, "normal" is a quantitative term...it's about numbers compraed to the "norm."

Homosexuality is not normal behavior.

Homosexuals would fall in either the +2 or -2 section of the graph, depending on how one arranged the numbers.

Murder is not normal behavior.

Murderers would fall close to the +3 or -3 section of the graph.

Pollsters use these types of graphs to determine where the issue they'r polling fall in relation the the "norm."

There are many other uses for this type of graph, but for the purposes of this post, that is enough to know.

Would you consider a member of NAMBLA to be a "normal" person?

They would have you believe they are.

But they would fall in the +4 or -4 section of the graph. Definately NOT normal.

By the way, NAMBLA stands for: North American Man/Boy Love Association.

Keeping all of that in mind, here is a quiz for you (each question is multiple choice and has two answers):

1. What Congress person wants to be Speaker of the House and gladly associates with and actively supports NAMBLA?

a. Nancy Pelosi

b. Mark Foley

c. Democrat

d. Republican

2. What member of Congress drove a car into a body of water, escaped, and left the other occupant in the car to die, did not report the incident until the next day and escaped all responsibility for the act?

a. Ted Kennedy

b. Mark Foley

c. Democrat

d. Republican

3. What Lawmaker had actual sexual relations with a young male page, was censured by his comrades, allowed to continue "serving" and held an important chairmanship in his party?

a. Gerry Studds

b. Mark Foley

c. Democrat

d. Republican

4. What leader engaged in actual sexual abborant behavior with an intern, had several extra-marital affairs, was accused of rape by at least two women, was implicated in the deaths of several people who had opposed him and is now seen by his party as "one of our best ever...?"

a. William Jefferson Clinton

b. Mark Foley

c. Democrat

d. Republican

That's probably enough.

Answer in the comments section, if you like.

Here's the thing.

Mark Foley is a sleezeball...a beslubbering, clay-brained, clotpole who should not be in office. Guess what...he isn't!

He is NOT a "normal" Republican.

He would fall in the -4 or + 4 part of the graph, if we were measuring conservatives.

The correct answers to the above quiz, if graphed, would fall very near the "0" on the bell curve if we were measuring liberals.

Ignorance vs Stupidity

I'm ignorant.

I know nothing about nuclear fusion.

I am absolutely unknowledgeable about the grocery business.

I am ignorant.

Ignorance is not a bad thing.

We are all ignorant about something or somethings.

I don't mind being ignorant, since nobody knows all there is to know about everything ('though some would lead you to believe that they do).

What I hate is STUPIDITY.

STUPIDITY is constantly ignoring the facts, acting like the facts have no significance or being unable to draw a correct conclusion from a given set of facts.

Let's say we have 30 students in a second grade class.

In the class there are 3 black students, 2 oriental students and 3 Hispanic students. The rest are White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant or Catholics (OK, maybe a couple are atheistic...but those could be black, oriental, Hispanic or white).

Anyway...the teacher decides it is time for the class to learn to add.

She (or he) stands at the board and writes "2 + 2 = 4"

She then goes around the room and asks each student, "How much is two-plus-two?"

Each student answers, after which she then has the whole class repeat the equation several times as a group.

Question: Which of the children in the class did NOT have the opportunity to learn how much two-plus-two equals?

If you are a member of some groups, you would say that children of certain race or ethnicity did not have the same opportunity to learn as some of the others in the class.

STUPID!

(For those of you who studied new math in a public school, that means they all had exactly the same opportunity to learn the equation.)

Headline in yesterday's local fish wrapper: FOLEY ADMITS HE IS GAY!

STUPID!

Now I believe gayness to be neither hereditary nor a "choice." I believe it is a learned behavior pattern resulting from a variety of influences. And, like some other learned behaviors, I consider it to be sin.

Nevertheless, the headline is STUPID, because it is not related to the issue of writing emails and instant messages to pages (except in the most obtuse sense of the word "related.")

Several "talking heads" on TV have somehow connected the obnoxious behavior of one man to the political group of which he is (or was) a part.

Using that logic, since Ted Kennedy committed involuntary manslaughter, all members of his political party are likewise guilty of manslaughter (or at the very least covering up his).

STUPID!

I can't help but wonder how Barney Frank feels about Foley being gay. Does he consider that a plus for Foley or a minus?

What about a member of a certain political party who was caught having sex with pages? Shouldn't he have been treated with even MORE contempt than Foley, since he ACTED on his yearnings instead of just writing them?

How about a certain President who enjoyed having a certain intern kneel beneath his desk and engage in behavior that would have at least embarrassed most normal people and would have enraged others?

Did the fact that she was consenting diminish the significance of the event?

Was that a less immoral act than writing evi thoughts to a page?

STUPID!

My frustration is that there are certain people who, by virtue of their pre-dispositions and biases, will not be able to see the hypocrasy in this.

STUPID!

I guess some people just don't mind being STUPID.

Not Inspiring...But..Maybe In A Way

http://www.glumbert.com/media/cattoilet

This Is WORTH Clicking On

I know...it's a cheap post...but it is WORTH it!


http://www.kids4truth.com/watchmaker/watch.html

If the link does not work...copy it and paste it in your address box.

I'll Clear It Up for You

I know you're just confused.

So...

I'll clear it up for you.

Whatever you've been told.

Whatever you may think.

This is the way it is:

History will tell whether or not he was right,

but right or wrong

GET THIS STRAIGHT

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH

is

NOT

the

E N E M Y!

The

TERRORISTS

are

the

E N E M Y!!

And if you think otherwise,

you are

(whether deliberately or not)

on their side!

On Being Christian

In the September 2006 issue of National Geographic magazine there is an interview of Alaa Al Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building, the best selling novel in the Middle East.

According to National Geographic, Dr. Al Aswany is a dentist and a self-described expert on the American way of life.

The interviewer, Karen M. Kostyal, quotes Dr. Al Aswany as saying, "...I was born Muslim, so I am Muslim. If I had been born Christian, I would have been Christian.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who think this way. Their reasoning is: I am not Muslim, I am not Buddhist, I am not a follower of Confucius, nor am I Hare Krishna, and I am not an atheist, so I must be a Christian.

That demonstrates a total intellectual ignorance of what a Christian is.

I am surprised that a man so brilliant and revered as Dr. Al Aswany is so unaware.

One does not become a Christian either by being "born a Christian," or by proclamation. (If one proclaims oneself a space scientist, that does not make him a space scientist.)

A Christian is a follower of Christ.

But more than that.

A Christian is a person who has recognized the sovereign God as perfect and as one who cannot even look upon imperfection, let alone blatant sin.

A Christian is one who has then recognized that he/she is therefore a sinner, along with everyone ever born, and has no hope of being in God's presence, never mind living eternally in Heaven.

He/she further recognizes that that sinful state earns eternal death, separation from God for eternity in a place we call "Hell," from which there is no escape, and where there is eternal torment like a blazing furnace forever...a place where Heaven can be seen, but not reached, and where he/she is eternally alone (not partying with his/her friends, as some purport).

A Christian is a sinner who has confessed that Jesus is Lord (technically the second person of the Godhead, which we call the Trinity, hence: Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and who believes that God has raised Him from the dead.

A Christian has placed his/her trust in the fact that Jesus went to the cross of Calvary willingly, and there fulfilled all of the requirements of God's moral Law on his/her behalf, leaving no sin-debt to be paid.

One cannot assume the Christianity of his/her parents, but must enter into a relationship with God in a personal way.

All of this information is found in God's Word, both the Living Word (Christ) and the written Word, The Bible.

There is no further revelation either required or appropriate.

Christianity is very narrow.

Jesus, Himself, told us that the life-path that leads to eternal destruction is very wide and lots of people are on it.

He further said that the path to eternal life is very narrow and few people find it.

Christianity is not about behavior, it is about being given an eternal relationship with God through faith in Christ.

If one is focused on Jesus, behavior will take care of itself.

I am astonished that a person as brilliant as Mr. Al Aswany has never learned this about what a Christian is.

It is my prayer that he will read this post and come to accept the claims of Christ on his life and become a Christian, not based on where he was born, but when he was born again.

I will pray to this end.

But I will not hold my breath.

E Pluribus Unum

The United States of America has had, and still has, several mottos.

How many of you knew that?

In 1782, Congress approved "E Pluribus Unum" as the motto to be engraved on the first Great Seal of America.

It was originally proposed by Pierre Eugene DuSimitiere, who was a "Swiss-American," even though there was no such thing as a hyphenated American in those days.

"E" is actually Latin for "out of," or "from."

"Pluribus" is Latin for "many."

"Unum" means "one."

So the motto means: "From among many, one."

How often have you heard the United States of America referred to as "a melting pot."

This is where the idea comes from.

Regrettably, we have spent the last twenty or so years turning this around.

A melting pot is a large metal container in which one places two or more elements which are heated until they melt together making one substance, no part of which bears any resemblance to the original elements placed in the pot.

For instance, if one puts candle wax in a pot with food coloring, the result is a candle, not two separate hunks of wax and color.

That is what we are supposed to be, as a nation.

We are not to be Mexicans, Italians, Frenchmen, Irishmen, Iranians, Latvians, Ugandans and others, all living in their diverse cultures in one country, rather we are supposed to be an amalgamation of different cultures into one great culture called "Americans."

When my ancestors migrated to this country, some from Russia, they did not form a Russian neighborhood, with Russian culture, Russian language, Russian schools, etc.

No, they learned the English language, moved south, set up shops and learned how to melt and meld into a unified society.

My Irish ancestors, likewise moved south, set up shops and learned how to melt and meld into a unified society.

One of the ways they melded was through inter-marriage...with each other!

Otherwise, I would not be here.

Some might have preferred this.

But I digress.

"E Pluribus Unum" has, by design, 13 letters in it, representing the original 13 colonies.

Did you know that congress also approved three other mottos, which remain to this day?

They are: "Annuit Coeptis," which means, "God Favors Our Beginning," "Novus Ordo Seclorum," which means, "A New Order of the Ages," and "In God We Trust," which means, "In God We Trust."

The latter was adopted by Congress in 1956 under Title 36, Subtitle I, Part A, Chapter 3, Section 302 of the Congressional Record.

It is the law of the land.

See, that we are to be a united nation, not a nation of diverse cultures, is the reason we call ourselves "The United States of America.

The first job of our government, including Senators like John McAinus and Lindsay Graham-Cracker, is to take steps to insure that we are UNITED.

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect state of cultural diversity..." is NOT a part of our Constitution's preamble.

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." IS.

Peaceful Islam and the Pope

The Pope made a speech.

According to Reuters:

"In that speech, the Pope appeared to endorse a Christian view, contested by most Muslims, that the early Muslims spread their religion by violence. Islamic fury erupted on Thursday and has cast doubt on a visit the Pope plans to Turkey in November."

I actually read the entire text of the speech, which was pretty boring.

He quoted erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus in 1391.

Here is the part of the quote that has caused so much trouble: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

Islam was offended.

To prove how wrong the Pope was, they staged violent protests, bombed three churches, demanded an apology and threatened to get even.

Now I know, in my own mind, absolutely, positively, without any doubt, by Islam's own behavior, with 100% certainty that Manuel II Paleologus, quoted by the Pope, was right.

Grrrrreat!

Subject: Mother of the Year

In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs.

Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine.

The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression.

The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother.

The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment.

Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of adifferent species.

The only orphans that could be found quickly, were a litter of weaner pigs.

The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger.

Would they become cubs or porkchops??

Take a look!!

REMEMBER

When you say 9/11, everybody knows that you are referencing a day in history.

We all know that two airplanes flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

We all know that one airplane flew into the Pentagon.

And we all know that one plane crashed trying to hit another target, but we're not certain what that target was.

What was 9/11, really?

Today, the major media treat 9/11 as though it was some kind of natural disaster, like hurricane Katrina.

Let me point out that, despite early estimates that thousands of people had died in Katrina, the actual numbers were very, very low.

One word you almost NEVER hear on ABC,CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and the others is the word, "terrorists."

But 9/11 was a vicious, unprovoked act of agression against The United States of America, not by another sovereign nation (that would have made things easy), but by a diverse group of men who aligned themselves with a world-wide ring of self-proclaimed followers of "Allah," whose avowed goal in life is to distroy our nation.

It was an act of war.

By terrorists.

If we are not diligent, it will happen again, because these people have not changed their goal.

Thankfully, so far, we have been diligent.

I have heard Democratractors proclaim that we are not safer today than we were before 9/11.

That must be because of all of the subsequent attacts we have suffered since then.

Or maybe it is because we have caught so many terrorists BEFORE they could perpitrate their dastardly deeds.

They conclude that the fact that they were caught makes us less safe.

Wierd thinking. Very wierd.

How much better it would be if we would unite against these radical Islamofacists.

United we can accomplish much.

Divided we will be overcome.

Unity requires a concious effort to put aside self-agrandisement, self-centeredness, self-ambition and selfishness, and to work together to accomplish a mutually beneficial task, in this case, the defeat of these terrorists.

We could sit down with them, find out what they want, give it to them and hope they will go away.

But what we will find out is that what they want is for anyone who subscribes to the American way of life to be dead.

Are we willing to give them that?

I'm not.

And now I would like to remember on of our citizens, who did nothing to the terrorists, but who died in the attack on America at the World Trade Center.

I know nothing about him, but I don't need to.

He was an American, and he did not deserve to die that day.

Ernest James, age 40.
Place killed: World Trade Center.

Resident of New York, N.Y. (USA).

May God grant that we never allow such a thing to happen again.

Who IS This Guy?

Who is William Jefferson Clinton?

ABC has been promoting a mini-series set to run Sunday and Monday night of this week.

It is about the things that led up to 9/11.

It is not complementary of either the Clinton or the Bush administration.

Because there were more Clinton years leading up to 9/11 than Bush years, naturally there is (purportedly - I have not seen the film...few have, not even Clinton) more about Clinton's failure to "connect the dots" than Bush's.

Seemingly intent on preserving his legacy (whatever that is), William Jefferson Clinton assembled a group of Democrat congresspersons to write ABC insinuating that if they don't edit the program in accordance with their perspective, the broadcast licenses of ABC's chain of stations might be in jeapordy.

HOW DARE HE?

What on earth makes him think he has ANY, I mean ANY right to tell ABC or any other media group to edit, change or pull "The Pathway to Nine Eleven," the ABC mini-series?

I mean even if every word of it was false, he still has no right to demand such a thing.

Yet, he threatens ABC with the withholding of their broadcast license, and by implication, threatened the license of every other broadcaster with respect to their licenses.

Who is he, anyway?

I'll tell you who he is. He is a citizen. Just like me.

He used to be President, but he is not President any more.

As much as I deplore the way ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and even FOX news handle stories with unabashed bias, it is absolutely despicable that he would dare even THINK that it is alright for him to do such a thing.

If he wants to write a letter to them expressing his disapproval of this or that, as I do from time to time, that's A-OK.

But to threaten them?

Beyond the pale!

Way beyond.

It makes me think those accusations against WJ when he was governor of Arkansas and while he was preparing his run for the presidency were true after all.

I saw him on one of the morning talk shows today.

When asked why he pressured ABC to make the changes, his answer was "I don't want there to be any lies in that film."

Newsflash!

Films lie all the time...even so-called "docu-dramas."

The Michael Moore film, "Fahrenheit 911," lied about George Bush.

Nobody tried to have it quashed.

Lot's of talk shows commented negatively about it. But nobody called Michael Moore and threatened him with anything if he did not edit it or pull it.

NOBODY!

I will tell you this: This is the most egregious afront to the First Amendment in over 100 years.

If you can't understand that, you have NO idea what America is about. NONE.

If you are benefiting from the rights of citizenship in this country, with First Amendment rights given to the likes of the ACLU, Michael Moore, Jane Fonda and other anti-Americans, and you cannot see how evil and dangerous this action is, you just don't understand American citizenship.

But then, William Jefferson Clinton is an evil man.

So are those who sided with him to try to interrupt the artistic license of ABC with regard to making "The Pathway to Nine Eleven."

The following is my opinion.

It is right, but it is my opinion.

I will now exercise my First Amendment right to freedom of expression by stating my opinion.

William Jefferson Clinton is worse than the most aggressive Mafia boss.

He is a low-down, stinking, anti-American skunk.

He is actually MUCH lower than that, but I can't use such vulgar words on this blog.

Mr. Clinton, I challenge you to get together with some of your Congressional cronies and threaten me with something for having stated my opinion about you in a public forum, the blogosphere.

Maybe you could threaten to have my driver's license confiscated.

Well, why not just repeat some of your Arkansas tricks and hire someone to hire someone who can find somebody to have me snuffed.

After all, who would that surprise?

Not only would it not surprise anybody, your supporters would actually agree that it should be done.

So, goodbye cruel world!

I won't be around to bug you much longer!

William Jefferson Clinton will see to that.

Who IS this guy, anyway?

About Aboutness

I've noticed that much of the time people read a story and think it is about the characters and events in the story.

Most often, though, the story is OF the characters and events, but it is ABOUT something altogether different.

For example, there is the story OF the Fox and the Grapes. It's one of Aesop's Fables. (How do you do that AE thing in Blogger?)

Here it is.

"One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: 'I am sure they are sour.'"

How many of you think this is a story ABOUT a fox trying to get some grapes?

You are wrong.

It is a story OF a fox trying to get some grapes, but is is a story ABOUT covetousness...wanting something you cannot have, and since you cannot have it, thinking of it as something awful.

How do I know that?

Well, in addition to being able to draw the correct conclusion from given information, I also have Aesop's rendering of its meaning:

"It is easy to despise what you cannot get."

Many readers thought my last post was about church members being dense, or evolution or science.

It used those examples, but it was ABOUT getting the right answers to our questions from the right source.

Take the Biblical story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego.

How many of you think this is about three guys who disobey a king, get thrown in a furnace and survive because of their great faithfulness to God.

WRONG!

It is a story OF three guys who disobey a king, get thrown in a furnace and survive, but it is ABOUT God's faithfulness and His great mercy and grace to be with us and to save us in the midsts of our circumstances.

How about David and Goliath?

Is it about a shepherd boy who was brave and faithful to God? Is the part about him using Goliaths sword to decapitate him there to show us that David knew how to get ahead?

No.

It is a story that teaches us that when we are on God's side, He will be faithful to carry us through.

It is so very important to be able to figure out what a story or parable is really about, rather than just its characters and what happened to them.

We have, for the most part, forgotten about what we used to call the "moral" of a story...the lesson it is really designed to teach. We tend take to the story our own biases and philosophies.

Every story in God's Word is designed to teach us something about His character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption.

If you miss that, you may get the Biblical story right, but you will miss what it is about.

Whence That Idea?

It's one of my favorite questions.

"Where did you get that idea?"

The other day a church member came to me and said, "I believe God has told Hortie and me that it is OK that we are living together outside of marraige."

"Where did you get that idea?" I asked.

"It just seems to me that a forgiving God, who wants us to live in love, would not be upset by it. After all, marriage is just a formality."

"Well guess what?" I answered, "It doesn't matter what it seems to you. What matters is what it seems to God. And He has already told us what it seems to Him."

His response, "You are so legalistic!"

Many of the things we believe, we just sort of determine by the "It seems to me" method.

Other ideas we get from those who taught us.

Evolution is one of those ideas.

We are taught that, since two things look alike, or have certain characteristics, they must therefore have the same biological "ancestors."

Since we were taught that, we believe it.

Since we believe it, because we were taught it, it must be true.

But just because we were taught it, doesn't mean it's right.

Science taught me that atoms were made of a neutron, a proton and an electron.

They were wrong!

Atoms are made of much more than that.

Science taught me that they knew the mass of the universe and therefore its size its content.

Then they sent up the Hubble Space Telescope and, surprise, it is more massive than we thought and had things in it we never dreamed of.

Now Isaiah has always taught that God's right hand spans the universe.

Since the universe is bigger than we thought, God's right hand must be bigger than we thought. Therefore God, himself, is bigger than we ever imagined!

What a mighty God we serve!

Something I have noticed about "scientific" writing these days. It is full of words like "could," "might," "may," "should," "may have," and the like.

Personally, I don't think those are very scientific terms

They represent a change in the very meaning of science.

Science has always required such things as observability and repeatability.

That is no longer the case.

So, we must now ask scientists, "Where did you get that idea?"

Many of them got their ideas from other scientists and pseudo-scientists, many of whom had or have a particular agenda.

For instance, the concept of evolution, as espoused by Charles Darwin in his book, "The Origin of the Species," is based on conclusions he drew after visiting the Galapagos islands. In other words, he thought them up.

He was considered very controversial at first. But as he continued to teach his theory, a few scientists believed it, taught it to their students, some of whom then taught it to theirs and slowly the theory of natural selection and evolution became "mainstream" science.

Whether it was observable or repeatable became irrelevant. What became important was unity of scientific theory, right or wrong.

The same thing happens in theology.

One person espouses a particular theology, teaches it to his followers, who teach it to theirs and before long a "new" sect, cult or even "mainstream" denomination or faith is established.

Some even "discover" new "scriptures" or have new revelations about God.

"After all," they ask, "Can't God continue to give revelation to stuff?"

Well, God is sovereign, and can do whatever He wants.

Thing is, we don't need any new scriptures.

He has already given us all we need to know.

See, everything we need to know about God is found in the Word of God; nothing we need to know about God is not found in the Word of God; and everything we think we know about God that is not in the Word of God, we just made up.

There is nothing that needs to be added to our understanding of God's character, His nature, His love of His creation or His plan for its redemption.

The very reason that what we have as The Bible was canonized was that it was complete and its various books, as inspired to various authors, agreed with each other and needed no further revelation.

When people come up with outlandish or non-scriptural theologies, we must ask the question, "Where did you get that idea?"

The answer is always the same: they got those ideas from someone was taught that idea by someone who was taught that idea by someone who imagined that the idea was "revealed" to them.

Additionally, any, and I mean any, theological bent that does not recognize Jesus as God, Himself (not just "a god," or "a prophet of God"), manifested as The Son, and The Holy Spirit as God, the revealer and magnifier of Jesus, is a bent that has failed to learn what Scripture has to teach.

We would be better served by getting our ideas from the source, God, Himself, as revealed in His Word, not in part, but in whole.

Unable to Plug the Borders

I was born in Miami, Florida.

I have lived in: Miami; Brazil; Miami; Puerto Rico; Miami; Midwest City, Oklahoma; San Antonio, Texas; Miami; Tacoma, Washington; Miami; Fountainbleau, France; Miami; Westover AFB, Massachusetts; Warner Robins, Georgia; and the Florida cities of: DeLand; Palatka; Miami; St. Augustine; Miami; Naples; Ft. Myers; Punta Gorda; Auburndale; Hialeah (near Miami); Ft. Lauderdale; Punta Gorda (again); Port Charlotte; Ft. Myers (again- in four different homes); and now, Lehigh Acres.

Hurricanes have been a significant part of my life.

There has not been a hurricane in Florida, not one, that has failed to affect my life in some way.

I drove my Studebaker Lark through hurricane Donna (not even knowing I was in a hurricane until I got to my destination (Miami, where else). The road was free of traffic, and though the wind blew, I made good time.

See, here's the thing about hurricanes: they happen and there is absolutely, positively nothing anyone can do about them.

A hurricane will either: a) wreck your home; b) drive a piece of debris into you; c) both of the above or d) neither of the above.

Whatever it does, you are totally helpless to do anything about it.

Two years ago, hurricane Charlie unexpectedly roared up the Peace River into Punta Gorda (where I was not living, but where I had lived and where I had many friends), and virtually flattened the place.

The forecasters had told us that what had to be feared from Charlie was the expected 10 - 12 ft storm surge.

What flattened the city was the wind.

Well boarded-up houses were blown over. Their windows were fine, but the rest of the house was gone.

One elderly man was picked up by the wind from his mobile home and deposited in the shell of another 100 yards away. He broke some ribs but was otherwise OK.

Point is, weathermen, with all of their expensive technology, know as little about hurricanes as I know about the effects of nuclear physics on the former planet, Pluto.

Today, South Florida is being "ravaged" by an illegal alien named, Ernesto.

His flight plan called for him to fly south of Cuba, east of the Yucatan and into the Gulf of Mexico, landing somewhere between Texas and Louisiana.

Instead, Ernesto came to US from Cuba, having been born in the Caribbean and having spent some time on the island of Dominica.

He was not invited, but crossed our borders via Key West.

There was no Border Patrol, customs check or fence to keep him out.

First he packed 45 MPH winds. Then, while he visited Cuba, he suffered a set-back and winds dropped.

As he emerged over the "globally warmed" waters of the Florida straits, he was predicted to gain strength and to rummage across the Everglades wreaking havoc wherever he went.

First he threatened Southwest Florida...no, no, then it was Miami...uh, no, he's going right up the middle of the state. Now a bit to the right. Now a bit to the left. Now a bit to the middle.

(I just love how God's forces of nature can make complete idiots of the "science of weather.")

Today I sit at home, having Voice Tracked my on-air time at the radio station (heard online at http://www.kingdom.fm/), and been told to stay home as Ernesto approached.

Schools are closed, government offices are closed, some businesses are closed, shelters are open and people from the east coast of Florida evacuated to the west coast of Florida. Most of those who run these entities are not from Florida and have little or no long-term experience with hurricanes.

Winds are a resounding twenty (20) or twenty-five (25) miles per hour, and construction workers continue building the house across the street.

See, because you can do nothing to affect a hurricane, there are really only two options when one approaches: 1) head for the Mid-west (where you may be accosted by one of those really big tornadoes) or 2) board up, hunker down and go on with life as usual until you can't any more.

And so, the alien known as Ernesto does what he wants to do.

The day will pass.

God's on His throne.

All is right with the part of the world that knows and loves Him.

Bonnie's Progress

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for Bonnie.

She is now taking insulin shots nightly to control her sugar which went sky high when she got the cortizone shots for her back pain.

Her sugar has stabalized (more or less) and her back pain has lessened.

I am so very happy to see her smile and hear her laugh. She has the world's best laugh.

It still blesses my heart to hear her get tickled at some antics of the dogs or whatever, after all of these years.

God has blessed!

Planes and Other Stuff

I took my first airplane flight when I was a little boy (is that an image, or what?).

My father, an officer in the United States Air Force, was stationed in Brazil and we flew down there to be with him.

We flew in a C-47, the military version of the DC-3.

The DC-3 is sometimes called "The Gooney Bird" because of the tendency of its wing tips to flap when it flies. It is also known as the work horse of the air.

DC-3s are still flying today. The Lee County, Florida Mosquito Control Board uses them to...well, to control mosquitoes.

Anyway, the plane we flew on was designated 4311. Those numbers were emblazoned on its vertical stabilizer (the part of the tail assembly that sticks up), and under one wing.

On one flight, the pilot, a friend of my father's invited me to sit up front and "fly" the plane. What a thrill!

Some years later, as a member of the State Mission Board of the Florida Baptist Convention, I frequently flew from Ft. Myers, Florida to Jacksonville on a Boing 727. Eastern Airlines called them "Whisperjets," because the engines were in the rear and could hardly be heard from the seats toward the front of the plane.

I usually flew the late night, "milk-truck" run. Most of the time there were few passengers on board.

One night, before pulling away from the gate, I struck up a conversation with the pilot, who had ambled back into the passenger compartment to kill time before going over the pre-flight checklist.

After take off, and before we began our decent into Sarasota, the pilot came back and asked me if I would like to visit the flight deck.

You bet I would!

And I did.

For the next ten minutes the Captain showed me everything there was to know about the cockpit of a 727.

Then, with great tact, he told me it was time to go back to my seat as we were ready to begin our decent.

How many of you have ever been invited to the "office" of the commercial aircraft in which you were a passenger?

My guess is somewhere between 0 and 0.3 of you.

Can you imagine such a thing today?

Today, some planes are equipped with double-thick cabin doors with a sliding steel bolt to allow no one into the front who does not belong there.

These precautions are in place for the safety of the pilots and passengers.

They are not there to protect us from little old ladies.

They are not there to protect us from curious little girls.

In the world today, there is a group of people, who are fairly identifiable by their outward appearance, whose purpose is to do harm to citizens by exploding air planes or by hijacking them and flying them into significant buildings.

Those doors are there to help protect us from them.

It is sad that the majority of "their people," who claim to be peace lovers, do not take extrordinary measures to keep these "few" from accomplishing their purposes, but instead, allow them to do their work almost unchallenged.

They have allowed the "few" to make thing tough for everybody.

Personally, I conclude that these fellow countrypersons either condone what the harm-doers are up to, or are too cowered by them to do, or even say, anything negative about them.

I can tell you this, I would rather be inconvenienced by protracted pre-flight security measures, or have my flight delayed by the discovery of a "suspicious" item, even if it turns out to be a can of shaving cream, than to look out and see an office window of a tall building rushing toward my plane.

And if there are six little old ladies, three curious young girls and a couple of men from the afore mentioned identifiable persons group on board when a "suspicious" item is discovered, I would probably not prefer that the little old ladies and young girls be removed from the plane and searched.

That would be the epitome of stupidity.

Surely you are intelligent enough to understand that, aren't you?

Distracted

I have been distracted lately.

My wife, Bonnie (seen with me in the picture), has had some severe back trouble, caused by a "bulging" disk. In addition, she has type 2 diabetes.

She underwent "Vax-D" treatment for the back, but that proved to be a farce.

So, she went to another doctor who injected her with cortisone or some such thing, which eased the pain somewhat, but sent her blood sugar over 300!

She has been put on insulin injections, which is a stressful idea to me.

I know...she is the one getting them, not me. Nevertheless, my reaction has been to become somewhat stressed over it.

Anyway, this morning her blood sugar was down to about 118, which is good news!

We would appreciate your prayers.

I will get back to my regular blogging, as well as my current series, as soon as I can.

Maybe later today.