Some Resources to Keep You Informed

For a complete historical overview of Fannie Mae, click the following link: http://www.alliemae.org/historyoffanniemae.html

In 2001 the American Dream Commitment® (ADC) is launched. It is a ten-year, $2 trillion pledge to increase home ownership rates and serve 18 million American families. The project is based on a six-point plan consisting of the Mortgage Consumer Rights Agenda; the National Minority Home ownership Initiative; the Opportunity for All Strategy; the America's Living Communities Plan; eHomeownership; and the Affordable Rental Housing Leadership Initiative.

This was the pivotal moment for Fannie Mae.

Our political leaders in Washington DC, and the corporate leadership of Fannie Mae decided that "The American Dream," of home ownership should be extended to people who have neither sought it nor worked for it.

This had its roots in the administration of Jimmy Carter, a man with a big heart, who really believed that the government could do what churches and charities should have been doing but were not doing.

During a 2004 Congressional investigation there were people who testified that trouble was ahead, but several significant leaders declared that there was nothing wrong with Fannie Mae and no problems lay ahead.



Check out the video about half-way down the page where it says: "WE DO NOT HAVE A CRISIS AT FREDDIE MAC, AND PARTICULARLY AT FANNIE MAE." Because of the "outstanding leadership" of Franklin Raines. And check out Bill Clinton at the end," at:
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/

And then watch this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usvG-s_Ssb0

This will take some time, but boy will you learn a lot.

These are not people saying what people said, these are the people actually saying them.

We dare not go into this next election without being informed.

Get informed, PLEASE!

How to Win Friends and Influence People

(The Picture is of The Liars' Club)

That's the title of an old book by Dale Carnegie.


I suppose that I should spend more time learning about such things.


One of the things I'm not good at is dealing with the politics of church life.

"What!? Politics in church?" I can hear your incredulity.

Yep. In church.

You have to learn to say the right things to the right people and to avoid saying the wrong things to the wrong people.

And vice versa, I think.

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus said, "But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." (Matthew 5:37)

When I first read that, it seemed like a sort of trite redundancy.

Then it began to seep in what it means.

It means tell the truth at all times.

In fact, it means to restrict yourself to truisms.

That's where I get into trouble.

I am much too direct to be an effective "church politician."

While I usually don't go so far as to say, "Why hello, Mrs. Hampton. Welcome to our church. I must say you're not nearly as fat as everyone has been saying you are."

But I've come close.

This propensity spills over into my everyday life, especially my politics.

When I hear a politician tell a flat out lie, I don't try to smooth it over with a, "He parsed the other guy's words and spun them to mean something the other guy didn't mean."

I just say, "He lied!"

If he lied, that makes him a liar.

Frankly, I don't trust liars, because if they lie about one thing, who knows what else they might lie about?

It's not OK, for instance, to lie about sex before a grand jury.

"It's only about sex," means that now I need a list of things about which things it is OK to lie about and which things it is not OK to lie about.

Yet I know that there are many times when I am more direct than the situation demands.

Often I have trouble knowing when the situation demands straightforwardness and when it doesn't.

God grant to me the spiritual wisdom to know when to soften my words and when the circumstances really require a more forceful response.

Where's the Free Money?

We Want Our Free Money!

What you aren't hearing a lot about is the number of phone calls that both Democrats and Republicans were receiving prior to Congress' vote NOT to adopt the $750,000,000,000.00 bail-out package.

The American people can sometimes be complacent, but the majority of those who are paying attention are NOT STUPID.

Congress thought we would be silent and let them do what they want to do.

There was a meeting to assemble the last details of the deal, from which Republicans were omitted.

Nancy Pelosi, genius Speaker of the House, refused to let them into the room to take part in the deal.

So, the Republicans said, "If you don't let us be a part of the deal...it's no deal."

And it was no deal.

Then, Nancy Pelosi, genius Speaker of the House, ran into trouble getting her own party to stand firm with her.

Now Nancy Pelosi, genius Speaker of the House, has the unmitigated gall to call the Republicans "un-patriotic!"

How can Nancy Pelosi, genius Speaker of the House, be so very, very, very stupid?

It is inconceivable that she could be so stupid.

But the truth is that Nancy Pelosi, genius Speaker of the House IS stupid.

She had no idea that Americans could actually understand what was going on.

She had no idea that the great number of phone calls coming into the House switchboard would actually affect the outcome of the vote.

So, what now?

Well, for sure it will be very rough going for a while.

We will lose some banks, we will lose some businesses, we will lose some jobs and we will suffer.

But let me tell you something:

The pain we will experience is NOTHING compared with what we would have had to face had we continued to open the door to nationalize these huge financial companies.

You may not realize it, but FREEDOM is what this country is about...FREEDOM AND OPPORTUNITY.

We are not, and must never become, a country that yields to every whim of those to whom it has given power.

FREEDOM means that we don't let the government tell us what we can and cannot do.

FREEDOM means we tell the government what it can and cannot do.

And Americans, while they don't yell and holler about the mundane, day-to-day stupidity of their leaders, sooner or later reach a point beyond which they will not go.

Today they reached it.

One report said there were 1,000 calls per minute coming into the House switchboard, running 300 to 1 AGAINST the proposed bail-out.

Whatever the actual figures, it was very clear that Americans had had enough.

We are determined that we will not support FREE MONEY for companies and individuals who think AMERICANS owe them a free ride.

You want a FREE RIDE, you can jolly-well work for it, just like I, and hundreds of thousands of AMERICANS have had to do before you.

We tend to think that the phrase, "FREEDOM ISN'T FREE," only refers to battles fought by our military.

We must fight for FREEDOM every day we take a breath.

And if it means we must sacrifice, suffer and struggle to keep it, then sacrifice, suffer and struggle we will.

Let's do it with our heads held high, with our eyes on the future and with our faith in a God who will guide us through if we'll let Him.

Genesis 17 An Outline

REVIEW (Note: The following review was taken from an article by the late, great J. Vernon McGee)

God has been dealing with Abram, destined for a name-change in this chapter, by appearing to him five times up to this chapter, with two to follow in later chapters. God tested Abram (Abraham) seven ways, as follow:

1. God called Abram out of his home, the Ur of the Chaldees, to which Abram responded partially. Although Abram’s faith was weak, he did move out and settled in the land of Canaan, and God blessed him.

2. God then allowed a famine to affect the land of Canaan, from which Abram fled (instead of waiting on God) and entered Egypt. There he acquired riches and Hagar—both eventual impediments to Abram’s walk with God.

3. God allowed Abram to acquire wealth, which eventually resulted in his separation from his nephew Lot.

4. God allowed Abram to defeat the kings of the east and, influenced by Melchizedek, Abram acted appropriately by refusing the spoils of war.

5. God delayed providing Abram a son by his wife Sarai, to which Abram took matters into his own hands (at the prompting of Sarai). This resulted in the birth of Ishmael, whose descendants plague the nation of Israel to this day.

6. God tested Abraham at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which will be discussed when we get to chapter 19.

7. God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac, which will be discussed when we get to chapter 22.

Today’s Study

Genesis 17:1-8

Abram is 99 years old

God introduces Himself as El (GOD) Shaddai (Almighty)

Having all power (omnipotence), nothing is impossible with Him

Abram will be blessed with a child by the mighty hand of God.

Conduct Expected

Blamelessness is required to walk with God

Blamelessness is impossible

Christ is our "blamelessness."

Impact of Ishmael and Isaac

Ishmael gave us the line of Arabs

Isaac gave us the line of Jews

No two lines of people have had a greater impact on the world, past, present and future.

Israel’s rights to the Holy Land

The people of the nation of Israel are Abraham’s descendants

The land of Canaan would be given as an "everlasting possession."

Israel has a legitimate right to all the "holy lands" today, not the Palestinians


Genesis 17:9-14

The Sign of the Covenant

Circumcision was chosen as the earthly evidence of God’s covenant

Any child not circumcised would be ostracized (cut off)

Abraham Justified Before He Was Circumcised

Paul recognized that Abraham was justified before he was circumcised

Romans 4:11

Circumcision is replaced by the Holy Spirit, who seals us

Meanings of Circumcision

Circumcision can mean "cut off"

Circumcision can mean "set apart"

Circumcision can mean "a lack"

Uncircumcised lips = lack of skill in public speaking

Uncircumcised ears & hearts = failure to hear, love and obey

Uncircumcised flesh = unclean (like leprosy and leaven)

Colossians 2:11 it means "the circumcision of Christ" – His death on the cross.

Eighth Day Circumcision

The perfect time, for clotting of the blood is facilitated.

Islamic circumcision is done at age 13 as a rite of passage
(no wonder the Arabs grow up grumpy)

Genesis 17:15-22

Sarai renamed – both Sarai and Sarah mean "princess"

Abraham laughed with joy

Abraham’s faith was reaffirmed when God repeated His great promise

Romans 4:16-25

Salvation by faith in Christ alone

Abraham’s faith counted to him for righteousness

Abraham’s Plea

Pled with God for his son Ishmael to be included in God’s covenant-promise

Isaac, as a symbol of the coming messiah, was the only one through whom the covenant could receive its ultimate fulfillment.

Genesis 17:23-27

Nature of FAITH

The essence of things hoped for; the evidence of things unseen

Faith always results in obedience, not to the law, but to God, Himself

The object of our faith is Jesus, and only Jesus

Our good works must result from our faith, and not be the focus of our faith.

Faith without works is dead, that is, it has no meaning

Faith is given by God and grows through exercise

(HELP! I set this up in a word processor where it actually looked like an outline, but when I copied it to Blogger it reverted to this format. Does anybody know how to make a Word document copy and paste properly into Blogger?)

No More Sub-Prime-Time, Please

WARNING: The following post is pedantic, but if you perservere, you will learn some stuff you may not have known.


What each of us needs to understand is this:

The "American Dream" has been twisted to mean Home Ownership.

The "American Dream" is really freedom to conduct one's life without undue interference from government.

Democrats and liberal Republicans, using the twisted meaning of the "American Dream" decided that poor people should be able to own homes.

They passed laws requiring that banks lend money to people who were only marginally likely to be able to pay them back.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were charged with guaranteeing that poor people could have a part in the twisted version of the "American Dream."

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac backed these risky loans, thinking that if they got in trouble, the feds would bail them out.

Trouble came in the form of rising housing prices, rising gas prices and then falling housing prices when the supply of houses became gluttonous.

Trouble was compounded by Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) which adjusted upwards (as they nearly always do).

Trouble was double compounded when poor, unethical and illegal management got thrown in the mix.

Suddenly...BOOM! Everything came crashing down.

And here we are, with Congress trying to bail out the culprits, just as the culprits figured they would.

And we get stuck with the bill.

That's sort of a summary.

Below are 100 facts and factoids, each of which is googleable and each of whose (which's?) original documents can be checked out.

Read them if you can take the time...it's slow going, but worth it.


The Economic Crisis

01. A lot of bad mortgages

02. The housing foreclosure crisis

03. Community Reinvestment Act Passed by the Democrats and Jimmy Carter

04. It included incentives to help low-income borrowers get a home

05. In 1995 the Clinton administration changes the rules, expanding the scope of the act.

06. Democrats added massive new provisions

07. Lenders that did not mitigate loan risk used the new subprime authorization.

08. The government forced banks to issue $1 trillion in new "subprime" loans

09. Required that deposit taking financial institutions offer equal access to lending for everybody.

10. Winter of 2000: Trillion dollar bank shakedown bodes ill for cities…scheme against the nations banks.

11. Subprime mortgage securities were issued

12. Bear Stearns was the first to do it

13. Fannie Mae added fuel to the fire

14. Fannie Mae purchased $2 billion of "My Community Mortgage" loans to customize affordable products for low and moderate income borrowers.

15. Subprime mortgages started to grow.

16. 1994: Almost no subprime mortgages/1998-99 billions in subprime mortgages

17. Home Prices Started to Rise

18. Fannie Mae is a "Government Sponsored Enterprise"

19. Fannie Mae guarantees mortgages

20. Then sells them to banks and investors

21. The more mortgages sold, the more money Fannie Mae Makes

22. How do you increase the number of mortgages? You lower the income requirements to get a mortgage

23. As Fannie Mae triet to increase its business, it gave the risk element short shrift.

24. They emphasized ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) and got people in cheaply.

25. The number of ARMs more than doubled between 2003 and 2004.

26. Interest only loans more than six times from 2003 to 2005.

27. The idea was to "give flexibility to lenders by allowing variances that borrowers need to qualify for loans.

28. The banks HAD to issue sub-prime mortgages or pay BIG PENALTIES

29. How do you keep them affordable?

30. Don’t have any money? No problem…we require no money down

31. You only have to pay the interest.

32. We won’t require income verification.

33. Bad credit…No credit…no problem…just sign here

34. In 2004 92% of Fannie Mae’s subprime loans were variable rate mortgages.

35. In 2005 92% were variable rate loans

36. Only 8-9% of their loans were designed to make real money with fixed rate mortgages

37. Fannie Mae tells the banks, "Make the loans…we’ll guarantee them…

38. Home ownership kept rising and Libs thought that was GREAT

39. Prices kept rising, too

40. BIG PROBLEM!

41. Interest rates rose.

42. Adjustable Rate Mortgages went up for poor people who could not afford payments

43. Then gas prices shot up (only somewhat unrelated)

44. Paychecks got squeezed…especially low income paychecks

45. Some borrowers stopped paying their mortgage payments

46. Banks stopped lending, cause they figured they could not get their money back

47. The subprime market collapsed

48. Foreclosures started piling up

49. There were no more buyers

50. Everybody was trying to sell their homes

51. Supply and Demand required that prices start falling

52. Even more borrowers stopped paying their mortgages

53. Fannie Mae could not guarantee these mortgages because they did not have enough cash….their guarantees became worthless

54. But Fannie Mae’s leadership kept overstating their assets.

55. The Regulators spun public to BOOST Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

56. Banks started to collapse because they had made too many bad loans…banks can’t do that and stay in business

57. Remember: The government required banks to make the bad loans.

58. Government sponsored securities were worthless

59. Jobs began to disappear

60. Here’s why the expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act birthed this problem:

61. Before CRA expansion, Home prices increased with inflation at a normal rate.

62. After CRA, home prices came unhinged and began to soar…much faster than inflation

63. The so-called ‘Housing Bubble" was formed.

64. It didn’t have to happen

65. Someone tried to stop it

66. A new agency was proposed to oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

67. In 2003 George Bush saw the problem and proposed the solution.

68. The proposal was rejected by the Democrats and liberal Republicans

69. They feared it wold diminish their ability to finance loans for lower-income families.

70. Barney Frank (D-MA) said, "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable houring.

71. Melvin Watt (D-NC) said, "…in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing."

72. There was a housing price time bomb ticking away.

73. Someone else tried to stop it:

74. In 2005 John McCain warned of impending mortgage collapse

75. He co-sponsored a bill "The Housing Enterprise Regulatory Act of 2005" to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

76. Once again the Democrats blocked it.

77. The bill was reintroduced in 2007, but failed

78. Fannie Mae had friends in the Senate

79. Chris Dodd (D-CT) – Sweetheart Loan Recipient; Barack Obama (D-IL) – who chose Jim Johnson, Washington insider and Managing Director of Lehman Brothers…now bankrupt AND CEO OF FANNIE MAE from 1991-1998…while Fannie Mae was handing out unrecoverable low cost mortgage "guarantees."

80. Not only was Jim Johnson CEO of Fannie Mae, he was corrupt, improperly deferred $200 million n expenses, had Fannie Mae under-report his compensation as $7-9 million instead of the actual $21 million

81. He gave Barack Obama the maximum donation of $4,600.00

82. He is now a wealthy private banker

83. He’s on the board of Goldman Sachs…which gave $700,000 to Barack
Obama and bundled another $500,000.00 to Obama

84. Obama gets housing advice from none other than Franklin Raines, Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae! And its CEO from 1999 to 2004!

85. Raines was forced to resign Fannie Mae when irregularities were uncovered.

86. Who got more money from Fannie Mae than anyone else in the Universe, except Chris Dodd?

87. Barack Obama

88. Obama got 49 time more Fannie Mae money than John McCain

89. Meanwhile, many banks were sued for not issuing enough sbprime loans.
Know who sued them?

90. Lawyer, Barack Obama

91. This whole thing was caused by bad government regulation. That made solid banks become predatory lenders…to fulfil a government mandate for "affordable mortgages."

93. Blame is shared by self-interested lawyers greed and stupidity on Wall Street

94. Obama got his wish: Lots of affordable mortgages that were not really affordable ‘cause the people who took them out could not afford to pay them back.

95. In the end, what Barack Obama adopted and encouraged was not hope, it was not change,

96. Obama’s friends caused this

97. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says, "Democrats accept no responsibility."

98. But they caused this, and now their leader lectures us about "failed economic policies"

99. And you will elect him to lead the county.

100.Your Bad

I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel

If Only I Could Figure Out What It Is




Christians are weird.

They are so weird that if it were not for Jesus, I wouldn't even be one.

As I travel the blogosphere, I read a lot of Christian blogs, as well as some political blogs, conservative and liberal.

The conservative and liberal blogs can be quite nasty toward one another.

Most political writers think the First Amendment guarantees that they can say whatever they want to say, anytime they want to say it, to whomever they want to say it.

It guarantees them no such thing, of course, as anyone with a reading ability above the third grade level knows.

It only guarantees that our federal lawmakers cannot make a law about what they say, one way or the other.

Our federal lawmakers don't like that rule, so they pretend that the First Amendment gives them the right to dictate what people can and cannot say (or write).

And so, reviewing, political bloggers are often nasty toward each other.

Christian bloggers, on the other hand, are always polite, kind, considerate, tolerant, loving, joyful, peaceful, longsuffering, gentle, good, faithful, and meek.

NOT!

Fact is, Christian bloggers seem to be just as nasty toward one another as the political bloggers, although they usually don't use vulgarities as often.

Just let me, for instance, say something that conflicts with the opinion(s) of a "Free Gracer."

I become a heretic.

Similarly, if I disagree with a staunch Calvanist, I am labeled equally heretical.

Suppose I don't subscribe to "Unitarianism," as opposed to "Trinitarianism?"

Then I am told that I am so evil that I might embody the very Anti-Christ.

And it's never, "The way I understand that is...," or, "In my opinion this indicates that...," or "This seems to be saying..."

It's always, "You filthy scummer! You don't know what you're talking about! You are such a reprobate! Here are seven Scripture verses that confirm that I know it all and you don't know anything!"

Then the guy with an opposing view comments, "Arrrgh! You half-witted imbecile! Can't you see by my eight Scripture verses that you are out voted by the Bible?"

Like a manager arguing with an umpire, the fight goes on.


And on.


And on.

Imagine for a moment a seeker traveling the blogosphere and happening on one of these blogs where the "discussions" are going on.

"What is this Christianity thing supposed to do for me?" he questions. "It looks to me like they can't agree on anything. All they want to do is fight and disagree with one another. I don't want to be one of them."

And so, off he goes, riding into the blogosunset, having never heard, nor even finding out that there is a GOSPEL.

Let me be perfectly clear: I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is unto me the power of salvation.

(I read that somewhere.)

"Gospel" means "good news."

One post I read asserted that we should not so simplify the gospel that we reduce it to some common trite, meaningless set of phrases.

I say, WRONG!

The beauty of the gospel IS its simplicity.

It is simply that the sin-debt we owe is paid in full by our Lord, Jesus Christ, and that if we confess Him as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead we are given the gift of eternal life.

See, if we had to pay the debt, that would not be good news...that would mean we could not be saved...and that's no gospel at all.

If I think I have to keep the law, or obey some real or imagined set of rules, that is no gospel, for the law reveals that I am not able to keep it.

If I could do anything to accomplish my own salvation, Christ would have died for nothing...just a waste of God's time.

But His death was not in vain. He accomplished my salvation, requiring nothing of my own power, but only through my faith, which itself comes from God.

Growth in doctrinal matters is important.

But there is not a single doctrine worth fighting over in the light of the Person, Jesus Christ, who is the in all, of all, by all and through all of everything we are or ever hope to be.

Focus on Him.

Exalt Him.

Lift Him up.

And all men will be drawn unto Him.

Let's Have A Party!

Connie Mack has reiterated his claim that he went to Washington to decrease the size of government, and thus is not going to vote for the bail-out package.

That makes him an exception to my post two days ago about the evilness of our representatives, right?

Wrong.

He has not posed any serious threat to an ever-enlarging government.

He has not decreased the size of government at all.

Not one whit.

(What is a "whit" anyway?)

Our government is larger than ever and growing daily.

The bail-out will not decrease the size of government.

What will happen is more government control.

New committees will be formed, new agencies will be formed, new policing tactics will be initiated.

They will blatantly, and with no shame, remove a few more American freedoms, taking us out of the frying pan of economic collapse and into the fire of socialism.

Don't worry.

We'll get used to it.

Someday, some who realize what has happened will hold a Tea Party in Boston and will become very revolting.

Remember, history repeats itself.

Some think it also mumbles.

EMAIL RESPONSE

My last post ruffled some feathers.

You, of course, are smart enough to understand that often exaggeration is used to make a point.

My mother told me a million times not to exaggerate.

According to one of my emailers, I over-exaggerated in my last post.

Isn't "over-exaggerated" a bit redundant?

Let me be perfectly clear: I am like Hortense, I meant what I said and I said what I meant. And Scoggins is clear, 100%.

"But...but," I can hear you objecting, "There are some very good legislators...even some who are Christians."

They may be Christians, but they are not good legislators.

When Republicans held the majority in both the House and the Senate, they were constantly whining because the Democrats kept using procedural tactics to prevent certain things from getting done.

Meanwhile, instead of standing strong, and exercising their supposed power in unity, many Republicans cowered and capitulated...letting Democrats have their way.

Now the Democrats have the majority.

Republicans will not use procedural tactics to disrupt the Democrats. Instead, they whine and cower, capitulating to them, because, "...they are in the majority, and we can't do anything."

Bull honkey!

It was under the Clinton administration that the groundwork was laid for the financial issues we face today.

But the blame cannot be placed at his feet, because Republicans, when they were in the majority and when they were not, just went on like Clem Kadiddlehopper, "Dum-de-dum-dum."

There should have been at least a few who would stand up and give fiery rebuttal to the decisions that led to our present economic crisis.

But no, that would not have been gentlemanly, or bold, or whatever.

So here we are.

Blame greedy corporate heads if you want. They certainly are not blameless.

But the atmosphere for this all was set by the Congress and the Senate years ago and is now coming to fruition.

"Too much regulation!" shout some.

"Not enough regulation!" shout others.

Here's the way congress should write the law: "Be nice. Don't be greedy. Don't hurt anyone."

Otherwise they should keep their cotton-pickin' hands off of businesses.

Do you want to know where the problems we face really find their source?

Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

It's source is the tax code.

Yep!

There are so many deductions, exemptions, reductions, and loopholes, each one designed to give something to a corporation in exchange for some political favor, that companies are encouraged to do things they would never do without those special tax treatments.

The answer is to get business out of politics and politics out of business by completely reforming the tax code.

We have "The Fair Tax" proposal, which is a user tax...like a sales tax.

But let me tell you: The "Fair Tax" is neither fair, nor appropriate.

It would place a burden on those least able to bear it.

"But they would get their money back, if they're poor," you say.

Ah, but first they have to lay it out (You can't get BACK what you have not put in). And if they can't afford to lay it out at the time of purchase, it does not matter that they will "get it back," they won't be able to buy, thus preventing a sale and the tax.

The only fair solution is to establish a poverty level (for the sake of this post, let's set it arbitrarily at $20,000.00 per year income), and then tax every earned dollar above that amount, both personal and corporate income, at a specific and unalterable percentage with NO deductions except for actual charitable contributions.

So, if a family earned $20,100.00 ($100.00 above the poverty level), and gave $50.00 to the Salvation Army, their taxable income would be $50.00. If we assume a 10% federal income tax, that means the family would pay $5.00 in income tax.

The Microsoft corporation would pay income taxes on 10% of its gross profit (That's how much money it earned).

Bill Gates would pay 10% of his total income in taxes.

Those two entities would be paying a LOT of income taxes!

In fact, the taxes received by the feds would far exceed what they take in now, and all of the inequities in the system would be done away with.

Then require that government keep spending within expected and real income, and that they establish a "one bill one law" requirement, thus preventing "earmarks."

This would require three Constitutional amendments: One to the tax code and two to cover government spending rules.

That would be very tough, because a lot of "incentives" to make political earmarks and other junk would be done away with.

There would also be some adjustments to our thought processes needed.

For instance, the idea that a person who makes more money should have more of his money confiscated by the government would have to change.

There is no logical reason for that idea other than class envy.

So. Do you want to fix it?

Better elect people to congress who will stop the foolish, "I'll do this and I'll do that for you," and who will really put the country first.

An Open Letter to Democrat & Republican

Representatives









You are, to a man, dishonest, disingenuous, liars and cheats.

You have snuck into what was supposed to be a specific bail-out, items that are not related to the bail-out, amounting to millions of EXTRA dollars that the tax-payer will have to pay.

Do the words, "student loans," "credit card debt" mean anything to you?

You have failed to inform your constituents that you were doing it because you are so loathsomely wimpy.

You leave a foul smell behind you everywhere you go.

You "representatives" are the ones who got us into this mess, but are not man enough to own up to it, so you try to pass it off on someone else.

You have deliberately moved us away from what we were supposed to have been as a country.

You are inept.

You are foolish.

You are useless.

You are so full of self-pride and anti everybody who doesn't fall in line behind you that you reek of elitist egotism.

Every one of you should be fired today and replaced by real Americans.

In case you missed the point, I don't like you, I don't respect you and I will do everything in my power to see to it that not a single one of you is re-elected.

You are a joke.

A very dangerous joke.

Go ahead. Send your goons after me. I welcome them.

I'll tell them what I really think.

A Testimony

Three years ago I had 12 heart attacks in one weekend.

This year I had three cases of atrial fibrillation.

Medically, I should be dead.

As far as I can tell, I'm still here.

During these events, and subsequent to them, I have never doubted that God was right there with me, pouring out His grace sufficient to see me through by either letting me live longer or by taking me on home.

Either way was fine with me.

I trust Him with every molecule of my being, evey gigasecond of my life.

He has me, in life or in death.

I'm His to do with as He chooses.

I love Him and trust Him.

He has chosen to let me live at least long enough to give you this testimony.

Maybe that's why.

Or maybe He has some other use for my life.

Whatever...it's OK with me.

I hope you have that kind of trust, even if you have not had the same medical experiences.

In fact, I hope you have not had significant health issues.

But someday you will...that's a guarantee. And when you do, I hope your trust in Him is more than adequate to carry you through.

Having had Him beside me in all of this, how on earth could I ever turn my back on Him?

How on earth could anybody who had this kind of trust ever turn their backs on Him?

I, personally, don't think they could.

One does not truely get adopted into the Family of God and then un-adopt oneself.

GENESIS 16

1. Abram was God’s chosen man.

2. Paul used Genesis 16 to paint a clear picture of the contrast between Law and Grace.

a. Galatians 4:21-31.
1) Many Christians recognize that they are saved by grace
2) Become convinced that they must live through obedience under their own power in accordance with the law of Scripture, self-imposed prohibitions and the dictates of others.

b. Colossians 2:6
1) Living for Jesus is accomplished by the same means that one comes to know Him: FAITH
2) Only when we realize this is God able to unleash His Holy Spirit’s power in our lives.

3. Genesis 16:1-6

a. Abram and Sarai were not fully surrendered to God.

b. Abram relinquished his position of faith and submitted to his wife’s nagging.

c. Fathered a child by Hagar, Sarai’s maid-servant..
1) Sarai had the right to dictate what Hagar could and would do.
2) Strife and contention between Abram and Sarai, Sarai and Hagar and Hagar and Abram resulted .

d. The Bible never hides the sins of its heroes
1) David – Bathsheba
2) Samson – Delilah

e. Hagar’s motherly instincts kicked in and she did not want to give up her child.

f. Sarai drives her out of the house

g. Proverbs 30:21-33

4. Genesis 16:7-16

a. The Angel of the Lord was a pre-incarnate Jesus. This is known as a Christophany.
1) Hagar recognized that she was in the presence of God (the God who sees –16:13)
2) The Angel identifies Himself ad The Lord in Genesis 22:16
3) Jacob heard the Angel introduce Himself as the God of Bethel (Genesis 31:11-13
4) Moses hid his face from the Angel of the Lord on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 3:2)
5) Gideon feared that he would die because, in seeing the Angel of the Lord, he had see God (Judges 6:22)
6) When Jacob struggled with the Angel, he struggled with God (Hosea 12:3-4)

b. The Lord instructed Hagar to return to Sarai and submit to her.
1) The path of submission is the only one that allows a Christian to fulfill God’s purpose and to achieve peace, joy and power for living.
2) Hagar got a promise from God: that she would have many descendants
3) Hagar’s descendants are what we now know as the Arabic nations.

5. In all transactions between God and man, mentioned in the Scripture, we see one uniform agency; the great Mediator (Christ) in all, of all and through all; God ever coming to man by Him, and man having access to God through Him. This was, is and ever will be the economy of grace. “The Father hath sent Me – and no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.”

6. The only ones who can rightly call themselves “Christian” are those who, by faith (which comes from God) confess Jesus is Lord, believe God has raised Him from the dead, and place their trust in, and only in, the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary. All others are lost, and will remain lost until they are told of and respond to the Gospel.

A Yearly Event

Today, Bonnie Jean (B.J.) and I celebrated 15 years of marriage.

I can honestly say that I love her more today than ever before.

I love her company, her humor, her love of God and her busy little self, flitting here and there doing all kinds of unexpected things.

She is the reason I hurry home from work each weekday.

I love just sitting around talking with her about whatever we are talking about at the moment.

When I am with her, all of the love ballads from the 50s, 60s and 70s come flooding into my mind.

Sometimes I stay up way past my bedtime of 8:00 PM (Remember, I'm up at 4:00 AM to get ready for work), and we just sit and watch whatever is on TV at the time and I just enjoy the fact that she's there.

From time to time we play games Online, she at her computer in the master bedroom, I at mine in "the office."

We mostly play a sort of poor man's Scrabble game in Yahoo games.

Our house is small enough that we can talk to each other while we play, and when we are done, there's no mess to clean up.

She works with me a church to prepare the morning worship, in which she operates the overhead projectors.

She is my help meet, just like in Genesis.

We went to Red Lobster for our Anniversary dinner, and boy are we the fatter for it!

Thank you, Baby Doll, for 15 wonderful years.

To Increase My Readership

I was visiting a blog the other day where there were instructions about how to increase one's readership.

One suggestion was to redesign one's blog so it is more eye-catching.

I don't know how to do that.

As for the blogs I like to read, the simpler the better.

Another idea was to make use of pictures and illustrations.

OK...here goes (I think)

How's it doing?



Are there more of you now?

He said I should be sure to comment on other's blogs.

I obviously can't do that here...I'd be commenting on my own blog. That's no good.

Then he said to be sure to answer comments on your blog (Well, not your blog...my blog).

Problem: If I have few readers and fewer comments, how can I respond to comments that are not there?

I could make up comments on my own blog, but that seems a little desperate to me.

Besides, sometimes I get Emails.

An answer to an Email in the comment section of my blog would make no sense.

For instance, here's an answer I might give: "Let it go, dude. It's not working."

Now, did that make sense to you?

I thought not.

It didn't make sense to me, either, 'cause I just made it up.

With regard to redesigning the blog, every time I start a post, leave it for some reason and then come back to it, the spacing is all messed up and I have to spend time trying to get it back the way I want it, which seldom works.

What's up with that?

(Does anybody say, "What's up with that?" any more?)

Any way, if I can't master the one or two things this helpful person wanted me to do to get more of you to read my blog, what makes me think I can master the rest of the suggestions he made?

What do YOU think?

How do YOU think I can increase my readership?

Why do either one of us care?

WE TALK FUNNY

I have a pastor friend who must be related to the old time Nazis of WWII Germany. He keeps telling us to "Turn in your Bibles..."

Now, why should we turn in our Bibles? I want to keep mine.

Sometimes he is even stranger.

He says, "Turn over in your Bibles..."

I cannot describe to you the picture that pops into my mind as I imagine the whole congregation laying their opened Bibles on the floor and rolling over in them.

One pastor friend of mine constantly refers to what he calls the "dirbish of life."

In his mind, "dirbish" is what one finds at the bottom of a garbage can. It is a mix of dirt and rubbish.

"Dirbish."

The other day a news anchor called me a moron.

She said, "Moron this after the break."

A song leader I know asks us to sing two songs at once.

"Turn to number two hundred and eighteen."

I think he means, "...two hundred-eighteen," but that's not what he says.

Sometimes he says, "Let's sing number four hundred and seventy-five."

I don't sing numbers. I sing songs.

Reminds me of the old (but good, in my humble, but correct, opinion) joke:

At lunch one of the inmates stood up and shouted out, "Sixteen!"

Everybody burst out laughing.

Another stood and hollered, "Twenty-one!"

More Laughter.

The new prisoner asked the guy next to him what was going on.

"Well," said the seasoned inmate, "We don't trouble ourselves with telling whole jokes any more. We've been here so long that we know them all. We've assigned a number to each joke so all we have to do is call out the number. Everybody knows which joke it is, so they laugh."

Upon hearing this, the newbie stood and called out, "Forty-eight!"

Silence. Nobody laughed.

"What the...

"What happened? Nobody laughed when I shouted the number to my joke."

"It's just the way it is. Some people can tell 'um, some can't."

So what has that to do with how we say things funny?

Nothing.

I just remembered the joke, that's all.

Can you think of any expressions we use that might have more than one meaning?

What to Do with Baby

She was alive!

She wasn't supposed to be alive.

This was an abortion procedure. She was NOT supposed to be alive.

Yet there she was, wriggling and squirming in obvious distress.

Now what do we do?

Dr. Hamilton turned to the nurse, "Let's put her in the room. We'll come back later and check on her. Everything should be alright by then."

"Are you sure we can do that?" The nurse's lip trembled just a bit.

"Yeah, yeah...it will be alright. We can do this."

The nurse picked up the baby, walked to the closet they called "the room." The little tiny heart beat double-time.

She laid the baby on the little table.

There were numerous plastic boxes in the room, each with the standard, "Medical Waste" stamped into its push-in lid.

The baby's breathing was labored. She struggled to take in air.

When the door to "the room" closed, it was dark.

Only the sniffle-like breathing pierced the silence.

The baby fought for another little inadequate breath.

Her heart began to slow down and skip beats.

It wasn't really all that long before nothing pierced the silence any more.

The baby died on that cold little table in that dark, uncaring room.

Aren't you glad that little scenario could not happen in this great, moral country called The United States of America?

Only it did.

Over and over again.

Not every day. Not even once per week. But not seldom, either. Up to 15% of abortions are unsuccessful, meaning the baby does not die as planned.

Three times the state legislator had produced a bill that would make such a series of events impossible.

It was called the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

Three times one senator voted against that bill, at first because its language did not match the similar federal bill, then, he says, because it did not protect the mother's health.

(Question: How would helping a baby live, AFTER AN ABORTION WAS OVER AND DONE WITH, albeit unsuccessfully, harm the mother?)

To this day that senator, now serving in the U.S. Senate, has continued to insist that he opposes the bill, although an identical bill has been signed into law by President Bush.

Oh! You want to know the name of the senator who supports such a despicable, horrible, inhuman procedure?

Barack H. Obama

RELIEF

I was reading selahv 's post about Southern Baptist relief efforts following hurricane Ike in Texas.

So few people understand how great the effort is on behalf of our Lord by Southern Baptists when disaster strikes.

That's because we don't run around bragging about it, we just do it.

Here's an article that will help you understand:

100-plus Baptist units responding to Ike

Two reasons I am a Southern Baptist: 1) Because we are first and foremost about missions; ie: telling people at home and abroad about Jesus; and 2) Because we respond in such a dynamic and organized way in the name of Jesus when disaster strikes.

Contrary to what most people think, there is no such thing as "Southern Baptist Doctrine."

There is only Christian Bible doctrine, to which, in general, we subscribe.

Each Southern Baptist church is an independent entity, controlled by no "centralized authority."

The "Convention" only exists once per year, when it convenes wherever it convenes.

After that, the instructions of the "messengers" to the convention, some from each church that wants to send members to the convention, are carried out by the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, which operates the various agencies as dictated by the convention.

So Southern Baptist churches run the convention, the Southern Baptist Convention does not run the churches.

The main thrust of Southern Baptists is missions, which at any given time, counting both paid and volunteer missionaries, number between 10,000 and 15,000 missionaries.

Any way, I thought you would be interested in how Christ is exalted as we (and others) seek to give meaningful aid in His name where it is needed.

AN EXECUTIVE DECISION

There are a great many blogs I visit that invite controversy and argument.

This is not one of those blogs.

It is not that I don't want disagreement. I encourage you to disagree with me, if you must.

However, there are those whose main goal in life seems to be to set everybody else straight.

Now, I need to be set straight, as much as the next guy, but I have a cadre of cohorts with whom I share accountability. They do a good job of keeping me straight.

The actual purpose of this blog is to provide for me an outlet through which I share my perspective on all sorts of things with others, who may be inspired by it, irritated by it, or may just ignore it.

When I state facts, I try hard to verify them before I write about them.

When I state my opinion, I try hard to communicate that it is my opinion, and you may accept it or not (After all, this is America. You have the right to be wrong).

OK, so you think that is egotistical of me.

Oh yeah?

Well write me a list of the opinions you hold that you think are wrong.

If you think they are wrong, why do you hold them?

The point is, I welcome honest, polite disagreement.

I don't welcome an attack mentality.

So, as the executor of this blog, I have made an executive decision: I will no longer engage in argument (not to be confused with discussion...which I welcome and will engage in), nor will I allow attacks on me or any of my other readers/commenters.

Since I check my comments several times per day, and try to manage them, I will reinvest my efforts and will simply delete those that do not exhibit an attitude of Christian love and tolerance of others' views.

If, therefore, you are one who just likes to attack me, my Biblical stand or others on my blog, don't waste your time. Your attack comment will only be up until the next time I check my comments. Then I will delete it.

How do you know if your comment is acceptable?

If it stays up, it was acceptable.

If I delete it, it wasn't.

The decision of the administrator (me) is final.

By the way, three deletions or more will result in fines being levied against the offender.

If your comments are deleted three or more times, send your penalty payment as soon as possible (cash only- no checks and I don't accept credit/debit cards).

The handsome prince went around the neighborhood looking for the girl whose feet fit the glass slipper. When he got to the ugly step-sisters, he tried the slipper on each of them, to no avail.

If the slipper doesn't fit, don't try to put it on!

(Translation: This post is not aimed at you, unless you fall into the category of one of the argumentors, or other bad-nasties.)

I really love hearing from the majority of my readers (2 out of 3 is a majority, isn't it?). It is only the ones grumpier than I that raise my blood pressure.

So read away, comment away and enjoy.

Just remember: I'm watching.

(Oooo! Scary)

Who Can Be Saved?

Anybody.

Absolutely anybody who wants to be.

The central verse in the whole Bible says so.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

No other verse in the Bible can be inserted into any section of the Bible and shine the light of interpretation on it.

If you interpret Genesis 15 in the light of John 3:16, you get the interpretation right. If you don't you don't.

You can do the interpolation.

That's what the Bible is about.

In my humble, but correct, opinion, the Bible is very clear that there are no restrictions on who can be saved.

That's because salvation was accomplished when Christ experienced the penalty of your sin, my sin and the sin of every other person who ever has lived, is living, or ever will live while on the cross of Calvary.

Anybody who wants to can become a member of the elect.

God knows whether you will accept His offer, and when you do, He predestines you to become conformed to the image of the Son.

If you choose to accept His offer, you become one of the elect.

Now you can try to argue with me about the nuances of those thoughts if you want to, but it won't do you any good. I won't argue about it.

John 3:16 says what John 3:16 says.

If it cannot be trusted, then the rest of the Bible is suspect, at best.

But it CAN be trusted and is the victory verse of all eternity.

So...who can be saved?

Anybody.

Absolutely anybody.

Now why don't you get busy and tell them so?

Covenants - Old and New

Genesis 15

This is one of the pivotal chapters of the Old Testament.

It is about the grace of God.

His people are unable to transcend up to God, so He condescends to them.
Salvation is by faith in which man by his will accepts and places his ginuine confidence in God’s Word, the person of Jesus Christ.

God’s salvation is based on an iron-clad covenant…an unconditional promise from God.

In the Abrahamic Covenant God executes the ceremony that demonstrates to Abraham the surety of His irrevocable words of promise and blessing, which will be fulfilled in His Messiah.

Genesis 15:1-3 – God speaks to Abram

God speaks in the Old Testament by a personal appearance of Jesus Christ (the fiery furnace)

God speaks in the Old Testament through an audible voice

God speaks in the Old Testament through visions

God speaks in the Old Testament through angels

God speaks in the Old Testament by the Spirit of God

It must be scary to hear audibly from God for He always says, "Don’t be afraid."

The Hebraic mind was materially oriented…Abram thought God’s blessings would be wealth.

Genesis 15:4-5 – Numbers of stars: visible versus invisible

In Genesis 13:16, God promised Abram descendents as numerous as the dust…picturing Abram’s natural posterity: Jews by birth.

In Genesis 15:5 The promise is for his spiritual seed: those justified by faith.

Genesis 15:6
This is the first mention of justification by faith.

Romans 4:2-8

Romans 4:3 signifies that the means of salvation on man’s part is the same in both the Old and New Testaments

Galations 3:6-8

Hebrews 11:8

Genesis 15:7-21

The Abrahamic Covenant is an unconditional covenant.

Abram wanted a sign of confirmation. God enacted a covenant that was common in ancient Eastern cultures with one difference: the covenant was to be sealed with the blood of a perfect sacrifice.

This points to Jesus – God’s final and perfect Covenant of salvation by grace through faith in His shed blood.

Community Organizer

Barack Obama is concerned that certain politicians running for office are denigrating his service as a Community Organizer.

BO believes that his service is worthy of qualifying him for the presidency of The United States of America.

Maybe...let's see.

In 1985 he was hired by the Developing Communities Project, a coalition of churches on Chicago's South Side, to help empower residents to win improved playgrounds, after-school programs, job training, housing, and other concerns affecting a neighborhood hurt by large-scale layoffs from the nearby steel mills and neglect by banks, retail stores, and the local government.

He was what?

He was hired?

You mean it was a job?

He wasn't elected?

Hmmm.

Nothing wrong with a job...everyone should have at least one.

So how did he do?

Turns out, not so well.

For example, he organized tenants in the troubled Altgelt Gardens public housing project to push the city to remove dangerous asbestos in their apartments.

Whew!

That sounds great!

Good idea, removing dangerous asbestos.

Only it didn't work.

He failed.

The dreaded asbestos didn't get removed from well over half of the targeted housing.

BO was trained by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

According to their own manual, ACORN seeks "better housing for first time home buyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better public schools."

They accomplish this, according to their own manual, "through direct action, negotiation, legislation, and voter participation."

ACORN has long been associated with gang-style strong-armed tactics to enroll voters (some of whom were already dead), with providing material blessings to those politicians who would support their causes and other rather suspect involvements.

In fact, Milwaukee's top election official announced plans to seek criminal investigations of 37 ACORN employees accused of offering gifts to sign up voters (including prepaid gas cards and restaurant cards) or falsifying driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers or other information on voter registration cards.

A New Mexico TV station reported on the child rapists, drug offenders and forgery convicts on ACORN's payroll.

In July, Pennsylvania investigators asked the public for help in locating a fugitive named Luis R. Torres-Serrano, who is accused "of submitting more than 100 fraudulent voter registration forms he collected on behalf of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now to county election officials."

Also in July, a massive, nearly $1 million embezzlement scheme by top ACORN officials was exposed.

But BO sees his association with ACORN as a plus, and whines when his adversaries snicker at it.

The Obama campaign has admitted to failing to report $800,000 in campaign payments to ACORN. They were disguised as payments to a front group called "Citizen Services, Inc." for "advance work."

Seems like communities are not the only thing BO is "good" at organizing.

Read! Read! Read!

I am absolutely astonished at how many people read my last post, EVANGELISM IMPLOSION, and completely missed the point...completely!

Some thought I was advocating making sure the prospective Christian had a firm grasp of all the right doctrines before he/she could become a Christian.

That interpretation is absolutely, positively the opposite of what the post meant.

The point is that we get all tangled up in "right doctrine" and thereby leave our first love.

Now we have another problem.

Those same dolts who missed the point of EVANGELISM IMPLOSION will now go away saying, "Joe Scoggins doesn't believe in Right Doctrine."

You blithering donderhead! That's NOT what I said!

In the book of the Revelation, Christ speaks to seven churches.

To the angel of the church at Ephesus He said, "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love."

We can, and should, love "right doctrine."

We can, and should, love "hard work."

We can, and should, love "perseverance."

We can, and should, love "identifying and rejecting wicked men...those who claim to be apostles and are not."

We can, and should, love "keeping on, keeping on."

But we must never, NEVER put those things ahead of our first love, who is, and must always be, Jesus.

He must have preeminence in our lives.

He must supersede those petty arguments in which we love to engage.

He must not be replaced with rationalizing.

He must not be replaced with emotionalism.

He must not be replaced with scholarship.

He must not be replaced with philosophy.

He must not be replaced with theology.

He must not be replaced by anything at all.

He must occupy first place in our lives, before family, before work, before hobbies, before fellowship, before play, before entertainment, before anything that might draw our attention away from Him.

It must be Jesus...Jesus...Jesus and only Jesus.

You and I will not always agree.

I and I don't always agree.

But before we disagree, there's Jesus.

Before we offend one another, there's Jesus.

Before we get offended, there's Jesus.

Before we reject one another, there's Jesus.

Jesus must be the unifying entity in our lives.

He must overshadow our trials, our heartaches, our fears.

He must overcome our doubts.

He must overthrow our adversary.

He must permeate our thinking.

He must overtake our failures.

In the beginning, the middle and the end, it is Jesus.

Only Jesus matters.

Is there something that matters more than Jesus in your life?

Move it over and give Him first place.

In all things, remember your first love: Jesus...only Jesus.

EVANGELISM IMPLOSION

With Apologies to The Late D. James Kennedy

Hey there!

I'm a self described evangelical Christian, searching and seeking those who would be saved.

The other day I came across a man who looked a bit down.

Up to him I went, "Hey, Buddy. Do you have any spiritual beliefs?"

(See, using this approach puts the ball in his court, 'cause he can't give a wrong answer...I asked him a "yes" or "no" question).

"Uh, I'm not sure," he said, "What do you mean?"

(Hold it...the book doesn't tell me that's an option...now what do I do?)

"Well, let me ask it another way. If you were to die today, would you go to Heaven?"

"Hmmm. I guess so. I've heard that God is love and I guess a God who is love would not turn anybody down."

(Goodness! This guy is not following the script!)

"Look," I said, "If you want to go to Heaven, you have to accept Jesus as your savior!"

"OK."

"What do you mean, 'OK'?" I was getting nervous.

"I mean that I want to have Jesus as my savior."

"Look, it's not that simple. There are some things we have to make clear, first."

"Like what?" He looked a little puzzled.

"Well," I said, "Let's make sure you understand what you are doing.

"For instance, do you believe in the plenary inspiration of The Word of God? Or are you one of those who just sort of takes it allegorically?" I tried to stretch out the word, 'God' so it sounded sort of like an evangelist, you know: Gawwd.

"Well, I don't know. I've never read The Bible. I've never thought about it."

"Start thinking." I said. "And another thing: do you believe in the virgin birth?"

"The virgin birth? I don't know. I flew once on Virgin Airlines, does that count?"

"No, no, no. To be saved, you must believe in the virgin birth."

"What else?"

"Oh! Are you Calvanist or Armenian?"

"Say what?"

"Look, there are different camps of Christianity. You need to decide which one you want to be in."

"Good grief, man! I don't even know what that means!"

I saw that he was becomming agitated.

"See, Bud, Christianity is a very open religion. Why, you can be pre-millenial, post-millenial or even a-millenial, although that one has pretty well gone out of style."

"How do I choose?"

"You study the Bible and follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit, of course!

"The great thing about the Holy Spirit is that He leads some people one way, some people the other. You have choices!"

"You said, 'He.' What did you mean by that?"

"Oh yeah," I remembered something I hadn't covered yet. "You get to choose whether to be trinitarian or unitarian."

"Trini-what? Uni-what?"

"See, Christians fight and get angry with each other over whether God is Three-In-One or just One with each one of the One being the One."

"You know what? My head is hurting. Is that normal for a person who wants to accept Jesus as his Savior."

"Now or later, you're going to get a headache over some of this stuff. No one ever said it would be easy.

"And don't forget, you have to pick either non-charismatic or charismatic."

He wasn't smiling, "What's the difference?"

"One group believes that you receive the Holy Spirit when you are saved and that's that. The other group believes you can be filled over and over with the Holy Spirit. The latter group tends to jump around a lot in worship, and raise their hands, and clap and I don't know what-all.

"Some of them bark like dogs, roar like lions, laugh and squeal, dance around and fall over, almost always caught by some bouncer-like usher who never suffers from the filling of the Holy Spirit, so he won't drop them."

"This all sounds so complicated!" He was clearly distressed. "I thought I was just going to accept Jesus as my Savior and I would enter into a great relationship with God through Him."

"Don't be silly," I said. "Nothing is ever that easy."

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." John 17:20-21.

Grrrr!

I actually voted for Blogger before I voted against it.

I had a really amusing post written and posted, but the spacing was so messed up after I had saved it and come back to it that it looked as though it had been written by a person of lesser abilititus formaticus.

So I have withdrawn it and will try to make Blogger format it the way I had intended.

Be back soon.

WHICH DO YOU PREFER?

Do you:

a. Favor drilling for oil to increase the supply and bring down the price of gas
b. Oppose drilling for oil off shore or in ANWR

Do you:

a. Prefer judges who interpret the law
b. Prefer judges who think they should make law

Do you:

a. Prefer a Commander in Chief who has served in the armed forces
b. Prefer a Commander in Chief with no armed forces experience

Do you:

a. Prefer a president who has 22 years of federal legislative experience
b. Prefer a president who has less than 200 days of federal legislative experience

Do you:

a. Prefer strengthening the present health care system
b. Prefer to socialize the health care system

Do you:

a. Oppose abortion, believing that human life begins at conception
b. Support abortion, believing that human life begins when the government says it does.

Do you:

a. Prefer a president who supports helping Iraq become a free nation
b. Prefer a president who will make Iraq another Viet Nam by withdrawing and thus losing the war

Do you:

a. Agree with the Constitution that you have a right to gun ownership
b. Want your guns to be confiscated and that you not be allowed to own them without many more intrusive rules and regulations

Do you:

a. Support the traditional definition of marriage between a man and a woman
b. Want to change the traditional definition of marriage to include same sex marriages

Do you:

a. Want to keep more of what you earn
b. Wants the government to take more of what you earn

Do you:

a. Prefer English to be the official language of the United States
b. Prefer English not be the official language of the United States

Do you:

a. Do you support giving Social Security benefits to U.S. citizens and those here legally
b. Support giving Social Security benefits to any and everyone

Do you:

a. Want to keep the present policy of you paying 0% tax on your profit when you sell your home
b. Want to pay the government a 28% tax on the profit you make when you sell your home.

Do you:

a. Want to keep the tax on dividends you earn at 15%
b. Want to raise the tax on dividends to almost 40%

Do you:

a. Want to keep income taxes at their present level or lower
b. Want to raise income taxes to pre-Bush tax-cut levels

Do you:

a. Want no tax on the inheritance you leave to your heirs
b. Want up to 50% of the inheritance you leave to your heirs to go directly to the government.

If you prefer a president who is represented in the letter "a" above, vote for McCain

If you prefer a president who is represented in the letter "b" above, vote for Obama.

In The United States of America, the choice is yours (for now).

The Luck of the Irish

God is Irish.

You thought He was anational (that's like atrib), or maybe Jewish.

But He is Irish.

I know He is Irish because He is so lucky.

He is lucky to have someone like you to be offended for Him.

He is lucky to have someone like you to defend Him.

He is lucky to have someone like you to explain Him.

He is lucky to have someone like you to understand Him.

He is lucky to have someone like you to serve Him.

He is lucky to have someone like you to set others straight for Him.

He is lucky to have someone like you to praise Him.

He is lucky to have someone like you to affirm His Word for Him.

He is lucky to have someone like you to speak for Him.

He is lucky to have someone like you to tell Him what to do.

He is just plain lucky.

Lucky, lucky God.

Yeah...right...like He needs you at all.