About a week or two before Christmas, all on the same day, Jackie gets separate calls from 3 of our daughters. Does dad have such and such a book asks one and then an hour later another call with a question about a different book and then 20 minutes later by the third girl asking about yet another book.
It turns out that I didn't have any of their choices and so last Sunday when our family got together to celebrate Christmas I was blessed with: 41, A Portrait Of My Father, by George W. Bush, - Made In America, an autobiography by hockey player Chris Chelios - and Killing Patton. by Bill O'Reilly from daughter Becky who was kind enough to "scan" the book ahead of time for me.
I've just finished reading 41 which I found really enjoyable. It received almost unanimous praise on the review sections at Amazon and Barnes and Noble but of course got the expected raspberry from it's review in the New York Times. I did read the review and thought it reflected the expected hate and vitriol that they always have had for the author.
I have a personal story about George W. Bush. When President Bush was running for his second term he took a bus tour in South West Michigan and one of the stops was to give a speech at the Ottawa County fairgrounds. At that time we were living just across the road from the back of the fairgrounds and that morning I look out the window of our house and notice snipers checking out possible positions from trees that are no further than 30 yards from us. You just don't see that everyday.
The President is supposed to come for his appearance sometime between 1 and 3 pm and I have road tests scheduled and our test site is a couple of miles down the road from where we were living. It is a beautiful September day and I'm at our office when a police car pulls up and parks at the corner of Aniline and Ottawa Beech Road to block any traffic. I walk over to join a small crowd at the corner to check things out and after a few minutes we see driving by a formation of about 20 motorcycle police followed by an armed personal carrier carrying a dozen men with combat gear and then what looks like a truck equipped with surface to air missiles.
The caravan stops and we look back 100 yards and see 3 big blue buses parked in front of Capt'n Sundae, a local and very popular north side ice cream eatery. Sweet memories from Capt'n Sundae are what every north side kid will have fondly when they grow up. There is a large outdoor seating area located underneath a tree shaded canopy where on a typical summer evening both winners and losers in their little league and T ball uniforms mix with bathing suit clad high school and college guys and girls returning from a day at the Holland State Park waiting in line behind grandma and grandpa, mom and dad and an occasional biker and biker babe dressed in their do rag, leather and tattoo.
A dozen high school kids clad in the blue capt'n shirts frantically prepare the soft serve cones, slushes, Hudsonville ice cream, and speciality ice cream concoctions. One of the most favorite dishes is the Tommy Turtle which is a bowl of vanilla soft serve topped with hot fudge, hot carmel and pecans.
But this is about 2 in the afternoon and the story is that President Bush gets out of one of the buses, strolls up to the order window and asks what's good. They of course make him the Tommy Turtle, offer it gratis but the President insists on paying. He then takes his time and eats the treat and talks with anyone who happened to be there and has his photo taken with anyone else who has a camera. One of the photos is still on display there today.
Unfortunately I am not there. I am still at the corner hoping that my customer would come in the back way to our location. And when he did I didn't want him not to find anyone there. After about 20 minutes, without my customer coming of course, the buses fire up their engines and drive past me and I wave, but you can't see into the buses and the President might be in any one of the identical buses so I smile and wave at all three.
Two of my daughters went to the rally at the fairgrounds. They were way back in the crowd, the President was standing on a flat bed trailer giving his speech and there was another flat bed trailer between him and the crowd and my girls could hear the speech but could not really see the President.
My oldest daughter at that time was a morning DJ at the local Christian radio station. Her co host (interestingly enough named Tommy) really wanted to see the President but like my girls he ended up way back in the crowd. His wife wasn't as interested so she had dropped Tommy off at the fairgrounds and then stopped with her 4 year old twins for some ice cream at the Capt'n. A lot of time in life and in politics timing is everything and she ended up eating ice cream with President Bush and her twins had their picture taken with him. They eagerly showed the picture to their dad when he picked them up. However the next day when their mom asked them if they wanted to take the photo for show and tell at their play school they said no, we'd rather bring our Sponge Bob Square Pants character.
Politically I am to the right of Bush 41 and Bush 43 and also to Bush 45 if that happens. I do find in the story of Bush 41 though qualities that you just do not see anymore in politics or for that matter much in the world at large. There are many words that can describe what I am talking about, such as hard working, loyal, honest, humble, forgiving, encouraging, doing your duty and finally, trusting that if you do your best God will take care of the rest and leave it to Him to ultimately defend your character.
These I will sum up in one word - Honor. The sense of duty one has to serve God, family and country to the best of one's ability, to admit one's mistakes and to try to do better the next time. George Herbert Walker Bush had all of that in spades. 41 is first of all a son's remembrance of the values he learned from his father. It reminded me so much of how my father would tell us these little stories and sayings that reflected what it meant and how it worked to do things the right way.
Many will say that 43 was not the same man that 41 was and I don't know if I was tested like my father that I would have matched up any better. I can only do my best and try to learn from my mistakes and fight the good fight and trust that God will defend my character.
And of course stop at the Capt'n from time to time with my grand kids to make memories.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Sweet Freedom
The first thing you would notice about Charles is that he is missing most of three fingers on both of his 46 year old hands. I was wondering to myself if this was going to be a problem for him to keep his hands on the steering wheel during our test but Charles seemed to manage it just fine.
Charles is a black man who until recently has never driven legally because he always neglected to obtain the required driver's permit or license. Believe it or not I get someone around his age or older almost every day who has never had a license.
His father was a workaholic and successful businessman, now retired in Arkansas, who had owned 2 hotels in Chicago. Charles was a druggie and alcoholic who grew up in Benton Harbor, or Ben Harbor as the locals call it. He had been so for most of his adult years.
Charles tells me that one day he walked into a store in Ben Harbor to get some smokes and there was a guy giving a talk to a group of men in the back of the store and he heard the man say that if they didn't change the way they were living they were bound to die young. At this point in his life Charles felt that he was dying. It wasn't just the drugs and booze, it was also his lifestyle. If something was good, more was always better. He had always run around with the wrong crowd, men and women who were just like him, but now he felt his body wearing out.
The man giving the talk had a recovery home in Grand Rapids and told Charles that if he could make it, there would be a place for him. There was only one rule. He would have to totally swear off drugs and drink.
A few weeks later and not having any money at this point Charles goes into a Salvation Army store and explains his situation to the manager who believes he is sincere and has the store purchase a bus ticket to Grand Rapids for Charles. He gets to GR and is walking to the recovery home on a nice warm June day with 3 dollars in his pocket and on the way passes a liquor store. Nothing at this point sounds better than a nice cold beer. But Charles remembers his pledge to cut off what is killing him and makes it to the home without stopping.
He had been there for 4 years and now 3 months on his own at the time I meet him. He goal is to be able to console others like him and help them have a better life.
Charles asks me if I have had any problem with drinking and my reply is that I use to drink a little many years ago and even did for a couple of years after becoming a believer at the age of 22. My reason to stop drinking was that I like to try to be funny and one time after drinking I said something which later embarrassed me. I then felt the Holy Spirit saying, and this was for me personally, that it was not His will for me to be in a position where I was not responsible for what I was saying or doing.
"So you never had a drink after that?" asks Charles. I reply that I've had a few sips of champagne at wedding receptions but nothing more. "And how long has that been?" inquires Charles and my response is that it would now be 40 years. "Wow!" exclaims my new friend. "I can't believe you've been clean for 40 years!" I try to tell him that it's not like drinking was an addition or anything but my dear Charles keeps shaking his head. He asks me my name and then said; "I'm going to share that at our meeting tonight."
The test ends, Charles did well and passes and walks off to find the friend who loaned him the car for the test. Five minutes later he comes back with a white guy, same age, same look of hard years on his bearded face who walks up to me, extends his hand and asks; "Are you Bob? I want to shake the hand of a man who has been clean for 40 years!"
Initially this seemed pretty funny but then it dawned on me. For guys like Charles and his friend whose body chemistry's are addicted to what will ultimately kill them, every day is a challenge. They struggle so much more than I do to avoid bad company and to overcome life's setbacks and wrong turns by using the temporary painkillers of drugs and drink and sex. For them to actually meet someone who did not drink for 40 years was an inspiration. They were living day to day but I was hope that days could actually turn to years.
So I shake the friend's hand and smile, wish him merry Christmas and God bless and may the Lord be with him every day.
And may my gracious Lord be with you all as well this Christmas season.
Charles is a black man who until recently has never driven legally because he always neglected to obtain the required driver's permit or license. Believe it or not I get someone around his age or older almost every day who has never had a license.
His father was a workaholic and successful businessman, now retired in Arkansas, who had owned 2 hotels in Chicago. Charles was a druggie and alcoholic who grew up in Benton Harbor, or Ben Harbor as the locals call it. He had been so for most of his adult years.
Charles tells me that one day he walked into a store in Ben Harbor to get some smokes and there was a guy giving a talk to a group of men in the back of the store and he heard the man say that if they didn't change the way they were living they were bound to die young. At this point in his life Charles felt that he was dying. It wasn't just the drugs and booze, it was also his lifestyle. If something was good, more was always better. He had always run around with the wrong crowd, men and women who were just like him, but now he felt his body wearing out.
The man giving the talk had a recovery home in Grand Rapids and told Charles that if he could make it, there would be a place for him. There was only one rule. He would have to totally swear off drugs and drink.
A few weeks later and not having any money at this point Charles goes into a Salvation Army store and explains his situation to the manager who believes he is sincere and has the store purchase a bus ticket to Grand Rapids for Charles. He gets to GR and is walking to the recovery home on a nice warm June day with 3 dollars in his pocket and on the way passes a liquor store. Nothing at this point sounds better than a nice cold beer. But Charles remembers his pledge to cut off what is killing him and makes it to the home without stopping.
He had been there for 4 years and now 3 months on his own at the time I meet him. He goal is to be able to console others like him and help them have a better life.
Charles asks me if I have had any problem with drinking and my reply is that I use to drink a little many years ago and even did for a couple of years after becoming a believer at the age of 22. My reason to stop drinking was that I like to try to be funny and one time after drinking I said something which later embarrassed me. I then felt the Holy Spirit saying, and this was for me personally, that it was not His will for me to be in a position where I was not responsible for what I was saying or doing.
"So you never had a drink after that?" asks Charles. I reply that I've had a few sips of champagne at wedding receptions but nothing more. "And how long has that been?" inquires Charles and my response is that it would now be 40 years. "Wow!" exclaims my new friend. "I can't believe you've been clean for 40 years!" I try to tell him that it's not like drinking was an addition or anything but my dear Charles keeps shaking his head. He asks me my name and then said; "I'm going to share that at our meeting tonight."
The test ends, Charles did well and passes and walks off to find the friend who loaned him the car for the test. Five minutes later he comes back with a white guy, same age, same look of hard years on his bearded face who walks up to me, extends his hand and asks; "Are you Bob? I want to shake the hand of a man who has been clean for 40 years!"
Initially this seemed pretty funny but then it dawned on me. For guys like Charles and his friend whose body chemistry's are addicted to what will ultimately kill them, every day is a challenge. They struggle so much more than I do to avoid bad company and to overcome life's setbacks and wrong turns by using the temporary painkillers of drugs and drink and sex. For them to actually meet someone who did not drink for 40 years was an inspiration. They were living day to day but I was hope that days could actually turn to years.
So I shake the friend's hand and smile, wish him merry Christmas and God bless and may the Lord be with him every day.
And may my gracious Lord be with you all as well this Christmas season.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Soap On A Rope
It was Christmas morning during my 8th grade year and opening the brightly colored package I got, SURPRISE!, soap on a rope. From that moment on I've been much more aware of the impact of unwanted smells.
This week it all came back to me. I'm doing a test for a guy from Saudi Arabia and after I get into the passenger seat Faheed tries to hand me a fist sized, round, black, dare I say bomb looking object that has a spray nozzle on it's top. "This is for you" says Faheed in his Saudi accent. "It is Arabic."
He clearly has the advantage because I have no idea what is going on so I reply with a no thanks I'm not allowed to take anything reply. Undeterred Faheed must have given the bomb a good squeeze without me seeing because all of a sudden the car is filled with an awful strong sweet cheap perfume smelling fragrance. I now am looking forward to 30 more minutes of this unless, if the driving gods are kind, Faheed like many of his countrymen tries to turn left in front of oncoming traffic and the test is shortened, one way or the other.
Alas, I keep making him do left turns but this guy turns out to be quite a good driver and we go the entire route.
After the test is done and I give Faheed his review he once more pulls out his little fragrance bomb and asks me again to take it. I still don't know if he is offering this as a gift or he just wants to squirt me but once more I politely decline, eliciting a sigh and response; "But it is from my country."
America has it's own customs, at least the America I drive with. They are the Christmas trees or other symbols that hang from the rear view mirror, heavily impregnated with odors that smell nothing like advertised. If one is good then a half dozen must be better! Of course if you want to be a little more sophisticated about it then there are those tiny little perfume bottles that fit into the dashboard blower vents (always a fun ride).
All these things make me wonder if what they are trying to cover up is actually that much worse than their solution. I mean, the original bad smell must still be there as well, right?
But then I had a guy this week who didn't need vent bottles or mirror hangers or Arabic hand bombs. Roy, who looks like a good old country boy comes with a beat up 1998 Chevy Impala. His brother Lester gets out of the passenger seat and apologizes for the brown paper shopping bags laying on the floor that I will have my feet on. "Sorry for the bags" says Lester, "I just cleaned up the car and parts are still wet."
Let me tell you about the dreams that strong bleach odors will give you if you spend 30 minutes with them. I mean, I really don't think that was a dead squirrel tucked underneath the front seat.
This week it all came back to me. I'm doing a test for a guy from Saudi Arabia and after I get into the passenger seat Faheed tries to hand me a fist sized, round, black, dare I say bomb looking object that has a spray nozzle on it's top. "This is for you" says Faheed in his Saudi accent. "It is Arabic."
He clearly has the advantage because I have no idea what is going on so I reply with a no thanks I'm not allowed to take anything reply. Undeterred Faheed must have given the bomb a good squeeze without me seeing because all of a sudden the car is filled with an awful strong sweet cheap perfume smelling fragrance. I now am looking forward to 30 more minutes of this unless, if the driving gods are kind, Faheed like many of his countrymen tries to turn left in front of oncoming traffic and the test is shortened, one way or the other.
Alas, I keep making him do left turns but this guy turns out to be quite a good driver and we go the entire route.
After the test is done and I give Faheed his review he once more pulls out his little fragrance bomb and asks me again to take it. I still don't know if he is offering this as a gift or he just wants to squirt me but once more I politely decline, eliciting a sigh and response; "But it is from my country."
America has it's own customs, at least the America I drive with. They are the Christmas trees or other symbols that hang from the rear view mirror, heavily impregnated with odors that smell nothing like advertised. If one is good then a half dozen must be better! Of course if you want to be a little more sophisticated about it then there are those tiny little perfume bottles that fit into the dashboard blower vents (always a fun ride).
All these things make me wonder if what they are trying to cover up is actually that much worse than their solution. I mean, the original bad smell must still be there as well, right?
But then I had a guy this week who didn't need vent bottles or mirror hangers or Arabic hand bombs. Roy, who looks like a good old country boy comes with a beat up 1998 Chevy Impala. His brother Lester gets out of the passenger seat and apologizes for the brown paper shopping bags laying on the floor that I will have my feet on. "Sorry for the bags" says Lester, "I just cleaned up the car and parts are still wet."
Let me tell you about the dreams that strong bleach odors will give you if you spend 30 minutes with them. I mean, I really don't think that was a dead squirrel tucked underneath the front seat.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
The First Day
There is pain in the front of my forehead
intense, fierce, unrelenting
starting this morning with the first call
Gone! Missing! We haven't heard!
All day, phone in hand
computer on lap
watching TV
and I am scared shitless
TV doesn't say
Google's gone berserk
friends and family asking me
but I can't tell them
I am a coward at heart
At 11 or 12 the world opened up a crack
At 17 or 18 the ground started shaking
At 19 or 20 I gave in to logic and ran
When you are young running's easy
There was once a glimmer
like the shimmer of a mirage in a dream
it seems I almost had it
I would often sleep just to catch that dream
but it never came back
and I eventually forgot it's beauty
Someone once told me about this day
as if, yes, as if you could know
something so outrageous and wrong
we sent men to the moon for christ sake
and your little backward mind is living
in a fairy tail
a borrowed one at that
why why why if what you say is true
would this ever happen
I can't like this
Fear is gripping me
sweaty palms and blurry eyes and shallow breath
I am so worried I will pass out
and someone will find me
and take me away forever
there is nowhere to hide
and no one left who really cares
they are all running and I can't go with
because I know
Somewhere, far off
a train is approaching a crossing
and I feel the vibrating moan that warns beware
startled I jumped clear out of my seat
the first time in hours I could move
the TV and computer were blank
the phone was dead
day had turned to night with no progression
and staring at me from the corner of a grand bookcase
was a dusty book with shinny pages
Years ago I had stored an unopened letter inside it's pages
I did not have to read it
I'd known it's author for years
and I knew that one day I would die
that I would have done my best
that it would be good enough
but coward that I am I now needed something
even just to help me breath
and clear my mind
and think
Dear friend, it said
if love could hold you
and keep you safe for a thousand years
and every moment your heart beats you would have joy
so is my wish for you.
That's all it said
well, and - love, your friend
p.s. enjoy this book
That was the first day
it all came back clearly as I kneel here so comfortably
shaved head on the block
waiting for my joy to be complete
praying that now those well worn pages
will be found
by a coward
like me
intense, fierce, unrelenting
starting this morning with the first call
Gone! Missing! We haven't heard!
All day, phone in hand
computer on lap
watching TV
and I am scared shitless
TV doesn't say
Google's gone berserk
friends and family asking me
but I can't tell them
I am a coward at heart
At 11 or 12 the world opened up a crack
At 17 or 18 the ground started shaking
At 19 or 20 I gave in to logic and ran
When you are young running's easy
There was once a glimmer
like the shimmer of a mirage in a dream
it seems I almost had it
I would often sleep just to catch that dream
but it never came back
and I eventually forgot it's beauty
Someone once told me about this day
as if, yes, as if you could know
something so outrageous and wrong
we sent men to the moon for christ sake
and your little backward mind is living
in a fairy tail
a borrowed one at that
why why why if what you say is true
would this ever happen
I can't like this
Fear is gripping me
sweaty palms and blurry eyes and shallow breath
I am so worried I will pass out
and someone will find me
and take me away forever
there is nowhere to hide
and no one left who really cares
they are all running and I can't go with
because I know
Somewhere, far off
a train is approaching a crossing
and I feel the vibrating moan that warns beware
startled I jumped clear out of my seat
the first time in hours I could move
the TV and computer were blank
the phone was dead
day had turned to night with no progression
and staring at me from the corner of a grand bookcase
was a dusty book with shinny pages
Years ago I had stored an unopened letter inside it's pages
I did not have to read it
I'd known it's author for years
and I knew that one day I would die
that I would have done my best
that it would be good enough
but coward that I am I now needed something
even just to help me breath
and clear my mind
and think
Dear friend, it said
if love could hold you
and keep you safe for a thousand years
and every moment your heart beats you would have joy
so is my wish for you.
That's all it said
well, and - love, your friend
p.s. enjoy this book
That was the first day
it all came back clearly as I kneel here so comfortably
shaved head on the block
waiting for my joy to be complete
praying that now those well worn pages
will be found
by a coward
like me
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Perspective
Jackie and I are out driving and some heavy fog has set in. I say to my dear wife; "How much visibility do you think we have here? A quarter mile, maybe a half mile?" She answers that it is perhaps a half mile. We continue on in silence for another minute until Jackie breaks the quiet. "Well, I guess I was wrong. We've driven over a mile and I can still see for maybe a half mile!"
This is how you entertain yourselves after over 42 years of marriage. Sometimes reality is all a matter of perspective.
I had two interesting clients this morning, both with an African connection. One was a lady who had come here from Rwanda. She spoke passable English but her 21 year old son was helping her out with a few words during our parking lot portion of the test. After Basilissa passes that part we no longer need her son for the drive so he wishes his mother "Bon chance". Recognizing the French phrase for "good luck" I say out loud; "Oh, bon chance!" which Basilissa interprets as me also wishing her good luck and so she tells me thank you.
"So you speak French!" she says excitedly and I respond that no, I don't speak French but that I did understand what her son said. Not having learned my lesson we are about to leave the parking lot and I give the instruction to turn right at the approaching street, but because I had someone from France a week or two ago and remembered the French word for right I added, "turn right, dwot."
At this point Basilissa almost demands; "What is your name?" and I tell her "LaBarge" and apparently no longer believing that I really don't speak French she blurts out a couple paragraphs to me in French. I smile sheepishly and from then on just speak English, even when we are nearing our first left turn and I want to yell out in the worse way, "goosh".
Later on in the test I ask Basilissa if her parents are with her or still back in Rwanda. Sadly she tells me that both parents, along with 20 other family members "passed away during the genocide". I tell her I am very sorry and we go on to talk about the Michigan weather and she tells me that for her and her son the cold has been very difficult to adjust to but that her younger son not only loves the cold but complains when it gets too hot. She then goes on to say; "And the schools are very good here. A little cold is a good trade for not having to worry about someone killing you."
My next client Samuel was a college student whose parents were missionaries for the last 20 years in Kenya. His mother runs a village medical dispensary there and his father does things like teaching how to build wells for clean water and they both share the gospel. Things for them are much easier now than they were 20 years ago when his parents hacked their way with machetes 20 miles into the wilderness to get to the village they reside in now.
"Wanting to live just like the locals do for the first 10 years our home was a corrugated metal shack only a little bigger than 10' x 10'. This was fine but eventually other tribes learned that there were white people living in our village and white people must be rich so every few months an outsider would be traveling through and find our hut and then rob us. Our village leaders decided that they really needed to build us a brick home for safety purposes."
Samuel goes on to tell me that although there are a couple of dominate ethnic tribes there are also over 1000 different tribal groups in Kenya and because a lot of them don't get along in parts of the country things can get quite violent. His family for now is lucky because they are far enough back in the bush to avoid most of the trouble.
Last week I tested an African American lady who was in her fifties. Carmen was dressed very nice, wore bright purple lipstick, and gave me a look when she drove up that said; "Don't you be messing with me boy!" I figured she was probably just a little nervous but with everything that had just happened with Ferguson and New York and all I wasn't totally sure. So I decided that my secondary goal (the primary goal would be to conduct a good driving test) would be to make Carmen laugh.
I smiled and asked Carmen if she was a little nervous and she glares at me and says; "I suppose so." That didn't break the ice. As we are driving I ask Carmen if she is from the area and she informs me that she moved here the last year from Detroit. "Have you found a good church yet?" I ask. Carmen perks up and tells me that she has a brother-in-law who pastors a small church and that she has really been enjoying it there.
This leads me to share that I have a son-in-law who is a pastor. I tell Carmen that a couple of weeks ago he was preaching and said that his favorite holiday was Thanksgiving because with all the other holidays like Christmas and Easter there is so much hustle bustle and other things to do but Thanksgiving is not like that and is so much more relaxing. Someone then yells out from the congregation; "You must not be a woman!" Suddenly Carmen gets a great big smile and says; "That's right. I be up all night long before, just cooking and cooking and then cooking all the next day and all the men folk want to do is watch football and eat and eat and then moan about how full they is and then eat some more."
Now we are buddies. Carmen passes the test and thanks me for being so nice and I am amazed at how complicated and yet how simple life can be.
There is so much hate in this world. I am convinced that there are evil spirits that promote racial hatred and hatred between people groups and religions and hatred even between men of good will who should otherwise call themselves brothers. Anytime one group demeans another group, or a person demeans another person for some type of perceived gain, that is a spiritual problem.
Anytime there is a root of bitterness or feelings of inferiority which blind a person to what reality is, that is a spiritual problem. Anytime there are breakdowns in family structures which will almost always lead to income and opportunity disparities, that is not primarily an economic problem. It is foremost a spiritual problem.
The evil one wants to destroy societies. He wants to enslave people and has a thousand ways to do so. He is called the lawless one, the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning.
But we have a heavenly Father who loves us. He sent His only Son Jesus to die for us so that we might be free. Free from the condemnation and enslavement's of sin. Free from the root of bitterness. Free from all the voices that say we are not worthy. Free from living a life filled with hate.
My perspective is that nothing will change in our society unless hearts are changed and evil spirits are driven out so that true healing can begin. Lord, give us your perspective!
This is how you entertain yourselves after over 42 years of marriage. Sometimes reality is all a matter of perspective.
I had two interesting clients this morning, both with an African connection. One was a lady who had come here from Rwanda. She spoke passable English but her 21 year old son was helping her out with a few words during our parking lot portion of the test. After Basilissa passes that part we no longer need her son for the drive so he wishes his mother "Bon chance". Recognizing the French phrase for "good luck" I say out loud; "Oh, bon chance!" which Basilissa interprets as me also wishing her good luck and so she tells me thank you.
"So you speak French!" she says excitedly and I respond that no, I don't speak French but that I did understand what her son said. Not having learned my lesson we are about to leave the parking lot and I give the instruction to turn right at the approaching street, but because I had someone from France a week or two ago and remembered the French word for right I added, "turn right, dwot."
At this point Basilissa almost demands; "What is your name?" and I tell her "LaBarge" and apparently no longer believing that I really don't speak French she blurts out a couple paragraphs to me in French. I smile sheepishly and from then on just speak English, even when we are nearing our first left turn and I want to yell out in the worse way, "goosh".
Later on in the test I ask Basilissa if her parents are with her or still back in Rwanda. Sadly she tells me that both parents, along with 20 other family members "passed away during the genocide". I tell her I am very sorry and we go on to talk about the Michigan weather and she tells me that for her and her son the cold has been very difficult to adjust to but that her younger son not only loves the cold but complains when it gets too hot. She then goes on to say; "And the schools are very good here. A little cold is a good trade for not having to worry about someone killing you."
My next client Samuel was a college student whose parents were missionaries for the last 20 years in Kenya. His mother runs a village medical dispensary there and his father does things like teaching how to build wells for clean water and they both share the gospel. Things for them are much easier now than they were 20 years ago when his parents hacked their way with machetes 20 miles into the wilderness to get to the village they reside in now.
"Wanting to live just like the locals do for the first 10 years our home was a corrugated metal shack only a little bigger than 10' x 10'. This was fine but eventually other tribes learned that there were white people living in our village and white people must be rich so every few months an outsider would be traveling through and find our hut and then rob us. Our village leaders decided that they really needed to build us a brick home for safety purposes."
Samuel goes on to tell me that although there are a couple of dominate ethnic tribes there are also over 1000 different tribal groups in Kenya and because a lot of them don't get along in parts of the country things can get quite violent. His family for now is lucky because they are far enough back in the bush to avoid most of the trouble.
Last week I tested an African American lady who was in her fifties. Carmen was dressed very nice, wore bright purple lipstick, and gave me a look when she drove up that said; "Don't you be messing with me boy!" I figured she was probably just a little nervous but with everything that had just happened with Ferguson and New York and all I wasn't totally sure. So I decided that my secondary goal (the primary goal would be to conduct a good driving test) would be to make Carmen laugh.
I smiled and asked Carmen if she was a little nervous and she glares at me and says; "I suppose so." That didn't break the ice. As we are driving I ask Carmen if she is from the area and she informs me that she moved here the last year from Detroit. "Have you found a good church yet?" I ask. Carmen perks up and tells me that she has a brother-in-law who pastors a small church and that she has really been enjoying it there.
This leads me to share that I have a son-in-law who is a pastor. I tell Carmen that a couple of weeks ago he was preaching and said that his favorite holiday was Thanksgiving because with all the other holidays like Christmas and Easter there is so much hustle bustle and other things to do but Thanksgiving is not like that and is so much more relaxing. Someone then yells out from the congregation; "You must not be a woman!" Suddenly Carmen gets a great big smile and says; "That's right. I be up all night long before, just cooking and cooking and then cooking all the next day and all the men folk want to do is watch football and eat and eat and then moan about how full they is and then eat some more."
Now we are buddies. Carmen passes the test and thanks me for being so nice and I am amazed at how complicated and yet how simple life can be.
There is so much hate in this world. I am convinced that there are evil spirits that promote racial hatred and hatred between people groups and religions and hatred even between men of good will who should otherwise call themselves brothers. Anytime one group demeans another group, or a person demeans another person for some type of perceived gain, that is a spiritual problem.
Anytime there is a root of bitterness or feelings of inferiority which blind a person to what reality is, that is a spiritual problem. Anytime there are breakdowns in family structures which will almost always lead to income and opportunity disparities, that is not primarily an economic problem. It is foremost a spiritual problem.
The evil one wants to destroy societies. He wants to enslave people and has a thousand ways to do so. He is called the lawless one, the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning.
But we have a heavenly Father who loves us. He sent His only Son Jesus to die for us so that we might be free. Free from the condemnation and enslavement's of sin. Free from the root of bitterness. Free from all the voices that say we are not worthy. Free from living a life filled with hate.
My perspective is that nothing will change in our society unless hearts are changed and evil spirits are driven out so that true healing can begin. Lord, give us your perspective!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
What I Sometimes Sing To Myself While Scoring Parking In The Winter
So here I am
standing outside
watching the lady
park before we ride
with each passing minute
getting more old
standing outside in the cold
The temperature's twenty
the wind is eighteen
hopping up and down
like a jumping bean
there'd be days like this
or so I've been told
standing outside in the cold
There are miles per hour
leagues per day
even feet per second
and that's OK
but inches per minute
is not too bold
standing outside in the cold
I think I might be crazy
and I'd be right
can't wait to be finished
and call it a night
hey! just found my pencil
hiding in a fold
standing outside in the cold
Shiver shiver shiver
brr brr brr
move that dang car
lady or sir
hop hop hop
c c cannt f f feeel m m my t t towd
standing outside in the cold
standing outside
watching the lady
park before we ride
with each passing minute
getting more old
standing outside in the cold
The temperature's twenty
the wind is eighteen
hopping up and down
like a jumping bean
there'd be days like this
or so I've been told
standing outside in the cold
There are miles per hour
leagues per day
even feet per second
and that's OK
but inches per minute
is not too bold
standing outside in the cold
I think I might be crazy
and I'd be right
can't wait to be finished
and call it a night
hey! just found my pencil
hiding in a fold
standing outside in the cold
Shiver shiver shiver
brr brr brr
move that dang car
lady or sir
hop hop hop
c c cannt f f feeel m m my t t towd
standing outside in the cold
Friday, December 5, 2014
Marijuana Entrepreneur
Today I was blessed to do a driving test for a guy named Eddie Wilson V. He took the test 12 years ago when he was 16 and failed so he finally screwed up his courage and decided to try again. When I came up to him I told him; "Eddie, you're my 1st 5th. Tell me a little about the original Eddie Wilson. When did he live and what did he do?"
Eddie knew absolutely nothing about the other Eddies. Not Eddie Sr., not Eddie Jr. Not Eddie the III. I asked him; "Weren't you even a little curious about your other ancestors with the same name?" and he responds; "I guess not. I never even asked my dad about them. But one thing for sure. The name stops with me. I got teased at school. They all called me Eddie Murphy and so I named my son Jamal. Jamal Junior I call him.
Eddie named his son Jamal Jr. That was my first clue.
I asked Eddie what he did for work and he tells me that he is a pro grower. "What the heck is a pro grower?" I ask. It turns out that "pro grower" is another name for people who grow marijuana for medicinal purposes. All of a sudden my ears perk up and I start asking about how all of this works.
Just across the parking lot from where we start our tests is a gas station that has several shops connected to it. There is a Subway, an ice cream stand that in season has according to Jackie the worlds best chili dogs, a head shop called Purple Haze which I think sells medical marijuana over the counter and who knows what under the counter, and then just around the corner from the head shop is a doctor's office that specializes in only one thing. A guy stops in every now and then to write prescriptions for medical marijuana.
Since the wacky weed is now legal to sell in Michigan for medical purposes growing the stuff has become an opportunity for eager entrepreneurs like our Mr. Eddie (Jamal) Wilson V. There was a time before it became legal when growing the stuff was fairly easy and inexpensive as long as one didn't get caught. I have a sister-in-law who once found her attic filled with healthy green plants that had been carefully tended by her two boys.
But now that the State of Michigan is involved it is possible but costly to produce a healthy crop. Michigan has a lot of regulations (or regulatories as Eddie phrased it) about the process of growing that weed. You need to keep records, The state has random but surprise inspections and the state will take 15% of any profits made. The required license cost $350 every two years. If you live in the inner city like Eddie the plants need to be grown indoors in a special room that is locked, as Eddie put it, to keep children and other interested parties away. So Eddie needed to build a special room in his basement.
A pro grower is allowed to have up to 5 "patients" and may grow up to 12 plants per patient. Eddie has 1 patient and when I asked him why only 1 he told me that he wants to get everything producing right before he adds more.
One can order the seeds from a catalog but because the plants are indoors there needs to be special high powered sodium lights, humidity controls, and two other types of growing lights just to produce a healthy plant. Eddie had some problems on his first 3 batches and now half way on his 4th he thinks he has the process down.
All this has been a little expensive for Eddie. His girl friend "gave" him her tax refund check for $3700 to get started and they bought all the stuff and made the special room and found a patient. Then after the first 3 crops did not pan out as well as expected and they added the other two lights they received a monthly electric bill for $600.
After getting the bill Eddie calls his lone patient and asks him if he needs to up his consumption but apparently the guy wasn't feeling too much pain at that moment and he declined. Frantic at this point they called their utility company who thoughtfully suggested that they get on a budget payment plan that will average out the rest of the year's bills with the $600 dollar month. Eddie proudly tells me that now his utility bills are only $200 a month!
I guess the silver lining in all of this for Eddie is that it will be some time before he has to cough up his 15% tax on profits to the State of Michigan and if his head starts to hurt after a few more months of cheap utility bills catch up with him he knows where to go to alleviate the pain.
Eddie knew absolutely nothing about the other Eddies. Not Eddie Sr., not Eddie Jr. Not Eddie the III. I asked him; "Weren't you even a little curious about your other ancestors with the same name?" and he responds; "I guess not. I never even asked my dad about them. But one thing for sure. The name stops with me. I got teased at school. They all called me Eddie Murphy and so I named my son Jamal. Jamal Junior I call him.
Eddie named his son Jamal Jr. That was my first clue.
I asked Eddie what he did for work and he tells me that he is a pro grower. "What the heck is a pro grower?" I ask. It turns out that "pro grower" is another name for people who grow marijuana for medicinal purposes. All of a sudden my ears perk up and I start asking about how all of this works.
Just across the parking lot from where we start our tests is a gas station that has several shops connected to it. There is a Subway, an ice cream stand that in season has according to Jackie the worlds best chili dogs, a head shop called Purple Haze which I think sells medical marijuana over the counter and who knows what under the counter, and then just around the corner from the head shop is a doctor's office that specializes in only one thing. A guy stops in every now and then to write prescriptions for medical marijuana.
Since the wacky weed is now legal to sell in Michigan for medical purposes growing the stuff has become an opportunity for eager entrepreneurs like our Mr. Eddie (Jamal) Wilson V. There was a time before it became legal when growing the stuff was fairly easy and inexpensive as long as one didn't get caught. I have a sister-in-law who once found her attic filled with healthy green plants that had been carefully tended by her two boys.
But now that the State of Michigan is involved it is possible but costly to produce a healthy crop. Michigan has a lot of regulations (or regulatories as Eddie phrased it) about the process of growing that weed. You need to keep records, The state has random but surprise inspections and the state will take 15% of any profits made. The required license cost $350 every two years. If you live in the inner city like Eddie the plants need to be grown indoors in a special room that is locked, as Eddie put it, to keep children and other interested parties away. So Eddie needed to build a special room in his basement.
A pro grower is allowed to have up to 5 "patients" and may grow up to 12 plants per patient. Eddie has 1 patient and when I asked him why only 1 he told me that he wants to get everything producing right before he adds more.
One can order the seeds from a catalog but because the plants are indoors there needs to be special high powered sodium lights, humidity controls, and two other types of growing lights just to produce a healthy plant. Eddie had some problems on his first 3 batches and now half way on his 4th he thinks he has the process down.
All this has been a little expensive for Eddie. His girl friend "gave" him her tax refund check for $3700 to get started and they bought all the stuff and made the special room and found a patient. Then after the first 3 crops did not pan out as well as expected and they added the other two lights they received a monthly electric bill for $600.
After getting the bill Eddie calls his lone patient and asks him if he needs to up his consumption but apparently the guy wasn't feeling too much pain at that moment and he declined. Frantic at this point they called their utility company who thoughtfully suggested that they get on a budget payment plan that will average out the rest of the year's bills with the $600 dollar month. Eddie proudly tells me that now his utility bills are only $200 a month!
I guess the silver lining in all of this for Eddie is that it will be some time before he has to cough up his 15% tax on profits to the State of Michigan and if his head starts to hurt after a few more months of cheap utility bills catch up with him he knows where to go to alleviate the pain.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
November Dream
It was a nice fall day and I was with a group of people standing outside a building, a church I think, and I sensed that a person of some importance was coming out. As the man, dressed in garments I've seen a Catholic priest wearing for a regular mass, green vestment with a lot of gold color, walks past me I recognize him as my father. My dad has been dead for 10 years after struggling with a slow progression of Alzheimer's on his body and mind but here he is quite vital physically and mentally.
When he gets about 5 yards past me I call out his first name, My father stops in his tracks, turns around, sees me, smiles and then calls out my first and last name. I come over to him and we hug. I now sense that this is going to be a final goodbye and that in the least I will never see him alive again or at most I will not see him well. Wondering what to say I simply tell my father to take care.
There is a very large lawn or field that stretches from where we are to a road off some distance where there awaits for my father another group of people. Behind the road the trees are at their Autumn finest and the sky is clear and blue and I think as my father is walking away that the color in his vestments are a perfect compliment to the beauty of the scene that God has painted.
As my father goes on I am overcome by emotion and first I fall to my knees and then face down on the ground. Then embarrassed because I remember there are people behind me I get up, turn back to the right with my head down so not to make eye contact with them and join the crowd.
It is a morning dream in late November and as I lay now awake very comfortably between my flannel sheets I wonder if this is a dream that has come from God and if so then what would be the symbolism and meaning for me.
My first thought is perhaps my father wearing those vestments represents the priesthood of the believer and that the time for the Church is running out. Is the crowd that I am with the current Church and the group waiting by the beautiful trees and sky those who have gone before? I was not really sure of any of it.
Later that morning we go to church and because this is Thanksgiving week the service devotes a period of time where people can come up to the microphone and give thanks for what God has been doing in their lives. A certain gentleman, a bit older than me whom I had met a couple of times previously, came over during the earlier greet your neighbor portion to say hi. Later he was one of the people who gave their sharing.
He told about seeing a friend get older and losing his mind and later a relative going through Alzheimer's and then 10 years ago after a doctor's exam he was told that he too had Alzheimer's. The guy didn't say it but I knew that was a crushing pronouncement. He and his wife decided they would do something about it and they knelt down and prayed and so far, praise God, he has not had any symptoms.
That evening I opened my Bible to the section for my daily reading which now is in Psalms and noticed that it says in the fourth Psalm, verses 3-5:
But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him.
Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your hearts upon your bed, and be still.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and trust in the Lord.
The meaning for the images from my dream now came a little clearer for me. It seems that my father represents the overall Church. I know that there are congregations today that are spiritually really alive and others that are spiritually dead with the majority in between. They might even be considered as "lukewarm".
The Lord is present in the overall Church because He lives in the hearts of those who are believers but there is a problem. For the most part today's Church is in the process of losing it's mind! Once strong and vibrant it will as a body become weak and feeble, remembering fragments of who it was but not knowing who it is or where it is going.
The man who spoke at the service this morning gave the solution to the problem. There is something we can do and the first step is to get down on our knees with love ones and pray.
The verses from Psalm 4 complete both the prophetic warning and prophetic advice from the Lord. Know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself. God has a plan for each of our lives. He knows us and indeed loves us and because this is true the Lord hears when I call to Him.
Tremble and do not sin. This is the charge for each one of us. God loves us but all of us are weak and subject to both failure and rebellion. Failure God can understand and He works with His Holy Spirit to bring us back to a relationship with Him. But rebellion builds a barrier that limits what God can do. We should tremble because God is a Holy God whose ways are not our ways and yet they are what's best for us. And how do we know those ways? Mediate in your hearts upon your bed, and be still.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. In this day and age it is too easy to live a life compromised to the standards of the day. This is a huge problem for the Church which wants to be accepted by the society we live in, a society that now accepts almost any type of sexual behavior, worships at the altar of celebrity, excess, violence and many and varied types of occult themes and images, and denies the truth of scripture.
God is not looking for our donations and good works, fine and necessary as they are. He much prefers the sacrifice it takes to live a life holy to Him. The story of the world from start to finish is this. How is that possible? And the answer has been proven over and over. Trust in the Lord.
How much time do we have here? As I've said many times before, I think the time is short but who really knows? Will there be revival in the Church that will change it and seriously affect the society we live in? Many respected prophets have said that that time will come. I know that there are great revivals happening throughout the world today in China and Africa and South America but here in America I only see the steady progression of spiritual decay. I pray for revival here but, like in my dream, I see my father walking across the field and I fear that I will never see him well again.
But it is not mine to know, it is mine to pray. On my knees. On my face. Mediating in my heart upon my bed. Being still before my Lord. Offering the sacrifices of righteousness. Trusting in the Lord.
When he gets about 5 yards past me I call out his first name, My father stops in his tracks, turns around, sees me, smiles and then calls out my first and last name. I come over to him and we hug. I now sense that this is going to be a final goodbye and that in the least I will never see him alive again or at most I will not see him well. Wondering what to say I simply tell my father to take care.
There is a very large lawn or field that stretches from where we are to a road off some distance where there awaits for my father another group of people. Behind the road the trees are at their Autumn finest and the sky is clear and blue and I think as my father is walking away that the color in his vestments are a perfect compliment to the beauty of the scene that God has painted.
As my father goes on I am overcome by emotion and first I fall to my knees and then face down on the ground. Then embarrassed because I remember there are people behind me I get up, turn back to the right with my head down so not to make eye contact with them and join the crowd.
It is a morning dream in late November and as I lay now awake very comfortably between my flannel sheets I wonder if this is a dream that has come from God and if so then what would be the symbolism and meaning for me.
My first thought is perhaps my father wearing those vestments represents the priesthood of the believer and that the time for the Church is running out. Is the crowd that I am with the current Church and the group waiting by the beautiful trees and sky those who have gone before? I was not really sure of any of it.
Later that morning we go to church and because this is Thanksgiving week the service devotes a period of time where people can come up to the microphone and give thanks for what God has been doing in their lives. A certain gentleman, a bit older than me whom I had met a couple of times previously, came over during the earlier greet your neighbor portion to say hi. Later he was one of the people who gave their sharing.
He told about seeing a friend get older and losing his mind and later a relative going through Alzheimer's and then 10 years ago after a doctor's exam he was told that he too had Alzheimer's. The guy didn't say it but I knew that was a crushing pronouncement. He and his wife decided they would do something about it and they knelt down and prayed and so far, praise God, he has not had any symptoms.
That evening I opened my Bible to the section for my daily reading which now is in Psalms and noticed that it says in the fourth Psalm, verses 3-5:
But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him.
Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your hearts upon your bed, and be still.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and trust in the Lord.
The meaning for the images from my dream now came a little clearer for me. It seems that my father represents the overall Church. I know that there are congregations today that are spiritually really alive and others that are spiritually dead with the majority in between. They might even be considered as "lukewarm".
The Lord is present in the overall Church because He lives in the hearts of those who are believers but there is a problem. For the most part today's Church is in the process of losing it's mind! Once strong and vibrant it will as a body become weak and feeble, remembering fragments of who it was but not knowing who it is or where it is going.
The man who spoke at the service this morning gave the solution to the problem. There is something we can do and the first step is to get down on our knees with love ones and pray.
The verses from Psalm 4 complete both the prophetic warning and prophetic advice from the Lord. Know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself. God has a plan for each of our lives. He knows us and indeed loves us and because this is true the Lord hears when I call to Him.
Tremble and do not sin. This is the charge for each one of us. God loves us but all of us are weak and subject to both failure and rebellion. Failure God can understand and He works with His Holy Spirit to bring us back to a relationship with Him. But rebellion builds a barrier that limits what God can do. We should tremble because God is a Holy God whose ways are not our ways and yet they are what's best for us. And how do we know those ways? Mediate in your hearts upon your bed, and be still.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. In this day and age it is too easy to live a life compromised to the standards of the day. This is a huge problem for the Church which wants to be accepted by the society we live in, a society that now accepts almost any type of sexual behavior, worships at the altar of celebrity, excess, violence and many and varied types of occult themes and images, and denies the truth of scripture.
God is not looking for our donations and good works, fine and necessary as they are. He much prefers the sacrifice it takes to live a life holy to Him. The story of the world from start to finish is this. How is that possible? And the answer has been proven over and over. Trust in the Lord.
How much time do we have here? As I've said many times before, I think the time is short but who really knows? Will there be revival in the Church that will change it and seriously affect the society we live in? Many respected prophets have said that that time will come. I know that there are great revivals happening throughout the world today in China and Africa and South America but here in America I only see the steady progression of spiritual decay. I pray for revival here but, like in my dream, I see my father walking across the field and I fear that I will never see him well again.
But it is not mine to know, it is mine to pray. On my knees. On my face. Mediating in my heart upon my bed. Being still before my Lord. Offering the sacrifices of righteousness. Trusting in the Lord.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
We Shall Overcome
In the midst of my anxieties over events in our country this last week I am reminded of the verse in the old civil rights hymn, We Shall Overcome, which declares that like a tree standing by the water, we shall not be moved. Finding the reference in the opening Psalm I would now like to share it with you. But first:
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for the word of God,
which comforts me when this world I live in seems to go crazy,
which assures me that truth and justice will ultimately prevail,
which leads me to keep putting my trust in the Lord Who "knows the way of the righteous".
Psalm 1
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in this law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in what ever he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for the word of God,
which comforts me when this world I live in seems to go crazy,
which assures me that truth and justice will ultimately prevail,
which leads me to keep putting my trust in the Lord Who "knows the way of the righteous".
Psalm 1
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in this law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in what ever he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
When Angels Come For You
When Angels Come For You
There will come a day
your heart will stop
your eyes will close
your head will drop
no more excuses
on that day
when angels
come for
you
Brothers, sisters
sweet aunt mary sue
the clock is ticking
just for you
I hear the tocks
I know what's true
when angels
come for
you
How many years
you've walked right by
creation painted
in the sky
and known what's right
but still you try
when angels
come for
you
His heart is broken
because of sin
which blinds the man
and enters in
then spends a life
not knowing Him
when angels
come for
you
There's still a chance
to be set free
it only takes
humility
you must let go
of all you see
when angels
come for
you
The tombstone said
there wasn't strife
you helped your neighbor
loved your wife
but is your name written
in the book of life
when angels
come for
you
One last word
I must add here
you would do well
to live in fear
if you don't know
what's very near
when angels
come for
you
There will come a day
your heart will stop
your eyes will close
your head will drop
no more excuses
on that day
when angels
come for
you
Brothers, sisters
sweet aunt mary sue
the clock is ticking
just for you
I hear the tocks
I know what's true
when angels
come for
you
How many years
you've walked right by
creation painted
in the sky
and known what's right
but still you try
when angels
come for
you
His heart is broken
because of sin
which blinds the man
and enters in
then spends a life
not knowing Him
when angels
come for
you
There's still a chance
to be set free
it only takes
humility
you must let go
of all you see
when angels
come for
you
The tombstone said
there wasn't strife
you helped your neighbor
loved your wife
but is your name written
in the book of life
when angels
come for
you
One last word
I must add here
you would do well
to live in fear
if you don't know
what's very near
when angels
come for
you
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Star Wars Rosary
I left the Roman Catholic Church the day it finally dawned on me that no one, not even a Spirit filled pope, would be able to change anything of substance in Catholic doctrine. I was convinced that the pagan thoughts and practices that were interwoven with Christian belief beginning even in the early centuries of the faith could not be extracted without either schism (the majority wanting to retain the old beliefs) or the death of Roman Catholicism as a religion. Of the three legged stool - Church tradition, the teaching magisterial of the Church and sacred scripture, tradition and church teaching substituted for the Holy Spirit, over road scripture, and would be defended to the death by the bishops and bureaucracy of the Roman Catholic Church.
So having left that church as one that still knows and loves so many still in it, a number of whom are true believers in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I do from time to time like to point out the contradictions of church teaching and tradition with the Holy Word. These are all so obvious if one does not have to think that father knows best but instead believes that sacred scripture is indeed inspired and can be understood by even a simpleton with the help of the Holy Spirit.
My inspiration today was a statement tweeted by Pope Francis earlier this fall;
"The Christian who does not feel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan."
As have been all the popes in my lifetime Pope Francis (the hope of modern day liberals) has a deep devotion to Mary. This pope even has a special devotion to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, which he picked up in Austria and then introduced to his flock when he was the Archbishop of Buenos Airas. This is a prayer to Mary that because of the immense mercy that exists in her heart one should surrender into her hands the ribbon of their lives (all their worries and pain and problems). The prayer declares the trust that Mary will undo those knots.
The University of Dayton, which has a large Marian studies center, publishes a list of Marian statements made by Pope Francis. In October this year Francis is quoted 18 different times invoking and referencing Mary in his addresses to various groups. I will only share the following two;
October 25: Pope's remarks to The Schoenstaff movement.
"Mary is Mother, and one cannot conceive of any other title of Mary that is not 'Mother'. She is Mother because she brings us Jesus and she helps us with the strength of the Holy Spirit, so that Jesus will be born and grow in us. She constantly gives us life. She is Mother of the Church. She is maternity. We do not have the right, and if we think we do we are mistaken, to have a psychology of orphans. A Christian does not have the right to be an orphan. He has a Mother! We have a Mother!"
October 31; Pope's address to Fraternity of Charismatic Convention.
"I was told about prayer groups in Charismatic Renewal in which the Rosary is recited together. The prayer to our Lady must never be lacking, never!"
I was always taught that Catholics don't worship Mary when they pray to her, they only "venerate" or honor her. Yet here it is pretty clear that not only are Catholics encouraged to pray to her she is also given attributes that belong to God alone. What the Father desires, what the Son has done and the outworking of the power of the Holy Spirit, in Catholic teaching are all routed through Mary. She is the dispenser of graces, she is the co-redemtrix with Jesus for the salvation of our souls, she is the queen of heaven, she is mediator between us and God, she is the one who loves us because she is mother, she is the one we should trust.
Contrast that to what Romans 8: 14-17 teaches, especially about our status as orphans;
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry out, "Abba, Father". The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."
The following comes from a post I did in 2007 called - Star Wars Rosary.
One of the forms of adoration to Mary is the rosary. The roots of the practice began in the 10th and 11th centuries. In certain monasteries monks would pray the psalms every day. There are 150 psalms and these were divided in 3 groups of 50. Later on the common people wanted to adopt this practice but because most were illiterate they would substitute memorized prayers such as the early forms of the Hail Mary in place of the psalms.
Catholic legend says that Mary appeared to St. Dominic (founder of the Dominicans) in 1214 and give him the first rosary. The rosary is a set of beads, 50 of which are for the Hail Mary prayer. There are other beads for the Our Father and Glory Be prayers, the Apostles Creed and places to contemplate events in the life of Jesus or Mary called The Mysteries. For example, one of the glorious mysteries is called; "Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth".
In 1858 Mary appears to Bernadette at Lourdes and the apparition is wearing a rosary. In 1917 Mary appears to 3 children at Fatima and tells them that for the conversion of the world everyone must do penance and pray the rosary daily. Pope John Paul II was very devoted to Mary and especially to the apparition of Mary at Fatima.
There are actually quite a number of other Marian apparitions. The most famous recent one began when Mary appeared to some children in the Croatian village of Medjugory in 1981. Ever since she has given a least one of them a monthly message (all are available at the Medjugory website) which usually includes a request to do penance and to pray the rosary daily. The fact that tens of millions of people go to these places should remind us that Mary veneration is not just a blast from the past.
I have a personal story about saying the rosary. My mother grew up in the Reformed tradition but because my father was Catholic that meant that his children must be raised Catholic. About the time I was in 5th grade my mother had a crisis of faith which led to her becoming Catholic. Of course I was pleased when my mother became Catholic but the down side came when initially she wanted to be a very devout Catholic.
For awhile during the summer before my 6th grade mom would gather her innocent little children into our hallway, in front of the crucifix hanging on the wall with palm branches stuck behind it, and ignoring the sounds of other children outside, happily enjoying the forbidden pleasures of freedom, she would lead her tiny clan in saying the rosary, using the same boring tones as the ladies from the rosary guild who would sometimes lead the school children in the saying of the rosary before the mass that began each academic day, a monotone "halemaryfullofgracethelordiswiththeeblessedartthoughamoungwomenandblessedisthefruitofthywombjesus", over and over.
My mother really didn't understand anything about my asking Jesus into my life when I was 22. In her mind I had become "religious" and a little overboard at that. After a couple of years, although still Catholic, I immersed myself in scripture and read many books written by non Catholic authors. It had already become obvious to me that scripture contradicted many Catholic practices.
One day my mother stopped by to visit Jackie and me at our little place in Kalamazoo. She and my dad had just come back from Europe and she said that she brought back a present for me. Our of her purse came an ordinary little rosary. She proudly gave it to me and said; "The Pope blessed it." Now I must tell you in my mind I pictured the Pope walking through a warehouse somewhere in Rome full of holy cards, rosaries and other religious objects while waving his hand in one great swoop and saying in Latin; "Bless this stuff."
I realized that my mother was trying to express a spiritual connection in terms that she understood but I soon became really distraught at the thought that maybe my parents were actually missing a saving relationship with Jesus. A day or two later I was kneeling by my bed, pouring out my heart with as much emotion as I ever had, praying for the salvation of my parents. In the midst of that the Spirit of the Lord settled upon me and unspoken gave me the assurance that they were right with God. Even though we couldn't talk the same talk, and even though our theologies were quite different, God had given me a life long peace about them.
Jackie and I sent our oldest 3 children to a Catholic school for a few years. When Ben was in 2nd grade he came home with a black plastic rosary that the school gave each of the kids. Jackie went into his room, decorated with sports and Star Wars items and noticed his new rosary hanging from his top bunk. Curious she asked Ben why he had it hanging like that. Now the rosary has a medallion which usually has a picture of Mary on it but in Ben's 2nd grade mind the image of Our Lady of Fatima on the black plastic medallion looked just like Darth Vadar from the Star Wars movie. And so he proudly displayed it. We thought it was quite humorous and were actually relieved at the limits of Catholic school indoctrination.
Prayer beads have been around for thousands of years. Jesus could have been addressing those types of prayers in Matthew 6 when He said;
And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the gentiles do; for they suppose they will be heard for their many words.
Jesus then provides a pattern for prayer which is now called the Our Father. Well guess what? Repeating the pattern as a prayer with endless repetitions was exactly what Jesus was telling us not to do. And saying 10 Hail Mary's to each Our Father is not exactly addressing our prayers to the Father as Jesus taught.
Our heavenly Father wants to change our lives and draw us closer to Him. He speaks to us through His Holy Spirit in many ways. It is the Holy Spirit, not Mary, that always works to reveal Jesus to us because we can go directly to the Father through Jesus. To hear God we need to have a heart that seeks Him and is willing to respond to what He says. When I cry out to God from the depths of my heart and worship Him with made up songs and unknown tongues and weep in response to a verse of scripture that I've reflected upon, moving me to repentance, that is better than ten thousand rote prayers.
The veil has been torn in two. Neither priest or minister or saint or Mary should be an intermediary between us and the Father.
So having left that church as one that still knows and loves so many still in it, a number of whom are true believers in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I do from time to time like to point out the contradictions of church teaching and tradition with the Holy Word. These are all so obvious if one does not have to think that father knows best but instead believes that sacred scripture is indeed inspired and can be understood by even a simpleton with the help of the Holy Spirit.
My inspiration today was a statement tweeted by Pope Francis earlier this fall;
"The Christian who does not feel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan."
As have been all the popes in my lifetime Pope Francis (the hope of modern day liberals) has a deep devotion to Mary. This pope even has a special devotion to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, which he picked up in Austria and then introduced to his flock when he was the Archbishop of Buenos Airas. This is a prayer to Mary that because of the immense mercy that exists in her heart one should surrender into her hands the ribbon of their lives (all their worries and pain and problems). The prayer declares the trust that Mary will undo those knots.
The University of Dayton, which has a large Marian studies center, publishes a list of Marian statements made by Pope Francis. In October this year Francis is quoted 18 different times invoking and referencing Mary in his addresses to various groups. I will only share the following two;
October 25: Pope's remarks to The Schoenstaff movement.
"Mary is Mother, and one cannot conceive of any other title of Mary that is not 'Mother'. She is Mother because she brings us Jesus and she helps us with the strength of the Holy Spirit, so that Jesus will be born and grow in us. She constantly gives us life. She is Mother of the Church. She is maternity. We do not have the right, and if we think we do we are mistaken, to have a psychology of orphans. A Christian does not have the right to be an orphan. He has a Mother! We have a Mother!"
October 31; Pope's address to Fraternity of Charismatic Convention.
"I was told about prayer groups in Charismatic Renewal in which the Rosary is recited together. The prayer to our Lady must never be lacking, never!"
I was always taught that Catholics don't worship Mary when they pray to her, they only "venerate" or honor her. Yet here it is pretty clear that not only are Catholics encouraged to pray to her she is also given attributes that belong to God alone. What the Father desires, what the Son has done and the outworking of the power of the Holy Spirit, in Catholic teaching are all routed through Mary. She is the dispenser of graces, she is the co-redemtrix with Jesus for the salvation of our souls, she is the queen of heaven, she is mediator between us and God, she is the one who loves us because she is mother, she is the one we should trust.
Contrast that to what Romans 8: 14-17 teaches, especially about our status as orphans;
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry out, "Abba, Father". The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."
The following comes from a post I did in 2007 called - Star Wars Rosary.
One of the forms of adoration to Mary is the rosary. The roots of the practice began in the 10th and 11th centuries. In certain monasteries monks would pray the psalms every day. There are 150 psalms and these were divided in 3 groups of 50. Later on the common people wanted to adopt this practice but because most were illiterate they would substitute memorized prayers such as the early forms of the Hail Mary in place of the psalms.
Catholic legend says that Mary appeared to St. Dominic (founder of the Dominicans) in 1214 and give him the first rosary. The rosary is a set of beads, 50 of which are for the Hail Mary prayer. There are other beads for the Our Father and Glory Be prayers, the Apostles Creed and places to contemplate events in the life of Jesus or Mary called The Mysteries. For example, one of the glorious mysteries is called; "Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth".
In 1858 Mary appears to Bernadette at Lourdes and the apparition is wearing a rosary. In 1917 Mary appears to 3 children at Fatima and tells them that for the conversion of the world everyone must do penance and pray the rosary daily. Pope John Paul II was very devoted to Mary and especially to the apparition of Mary at Fatima.
There are actually quite a number of other Marian apparitions. The most famous recent one began when Mary appeared to some children in the Croatian village of Medjugory in 1981. Ever since she has given a least one of them a monthly message (all are available at the Medjugory website) which usually includes a request to do penance and to pray the rosary daily. The fact that tens of millions of people go to these places should remind us that Mary veneration is not just a blast from the past.
I have a personal story about saying the rosary. My mother grew up in the Reformed tradition but because my father was Catholic that meant that his children must be raised Catholic. About the time I was in 5th grade my mother had a crisis of faith which led to her becoming Catholic. Of course I was pleased when my mother became Catholic but the down side came when initially she wanted to be a very devout Catholic.
For awhile during the summer before my 6th grade mom would gather her innocent little children into our hallway, in front of the crucifix hanging on the wall with palm branches stuck behind it, and ignoring the sounds of other children outside, happily enjoying the forbidden pleasures of freedom, she would lead her tiny clan in saying the rosary, using the same boring tones as the ladies from the rosary guild who would sometimes lead the school children in the saying of the rosary before the mass that began each academic day, a monotone "halemaryfullofgracethelordiswiththeeblessedartthoughamoungwomenandblessedisthefruitofthywombjesus", over and over.
My mother really didn't understand anything about my asking Jesus into my life when I was 22. In her mind I had become "religious" and a little overboard at that. After a couple of years, although still Catholic, I immersed myself in scripture and read many books written by non Catholic authors. It had already become obvious to me that scripture contradicted many Catholic practices.
One day my mother stopped by to visit Jackie and me at our little place in Kalamazoo. She and my dad had just come back from Europe and she said that she brought back a present for me. Our of her purse came an ordinary little rosary. She proudly gave it to me and said; "The Pope blessed it." Now I must tell you in my mind I pictured the Pope walking through a warehouse somewhere in Rome full of holy cards, rosaries and other religious objects while waving his hand in one great swoop and saying in Latin; "Bless this stuff."
I realized that my mother was trying to express a spiritual connection in terms that she understood but I soon became really distraught at the thought that maybe my parents were actually missing a saving relationship with Jesus. A day or two later I was kneeling by my bed, pouring out my heart with as much emotion as I ever had, praying for the salvation of my parents. In the midst of that the Spirit of the Lord settled upon me and unspoken gave me the assurance that they were right with God. Even though we couldn't talk the same talk, and even though our theologies were quite different, God had given me a life long peace about them.
Jackie and I sent our oldest 3 children to a Catholic school for a few years. When Ben was in 2nd grade he came home with a black plastic rosary that the school gave each of the kids. Jackie went into his room, decorated with sports and Star Wars items and noticed his new rosary hanging from his top bunk. Curious she asked Ben why he had it hanging like that. Now the rosary has a medallion which usually has a picture of Mary on it but in Ben's 2nd grade mind the image of Our Lady of Fatima on the black plastic medallion looked just like Darth Vadar from the Star Wars movie. And so he proudly displayed it. We thought it was quite humorous and were actually relieved at the limits of Catholic school indoctrination.
Prayer beads have been around for thousands of years. Jesus could have been addressing those types of prayers in Matthew 6 when He said;
And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the gentiles do; for they suppose they will be heard for their many words.
Jesus then provides a pattern for prayer which is now called the Our Father. Well guess what? Repeating the pattern as a prayer with endless repetitions was exactly what Jesus was telling us not to do. And saying 10 Hail Mary's to each Our Father is not exactly addressing our prayers to the Father as Jesus taught.
Our heavenly Father wants to change our lives and draw us closer to Him. He speaks to us through His Holy Spirit in many ways. It is the Holy Spirit, not Mary, that always works to reveal Jesus to us because we can go directly to the Father through Jesus. To hear God we need to have a heart that seeks Him and is willing to respond to what He says. When I cry out to God from the depths of my heart and worship Him with made up songs and unknown tongues and weep in response to a verse of scripture that I've reflected upon, moving me to repentance, that is better than ten thousand rote prayers.
The veil has been torn in two. Neither priest or minister or saint or Mary should be an intermediary between us and the Father.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Someday When I Retire
Someday when I retire I will spend my idle time sorting through stacks and stacks of driver's permits and proof of insurance documents that I did not give back to my clients, even after they accused me of keeping those documents when they could not produce them themselves. I did this, not out of any spite or malice but solely for the purpose of having something really interesting to do after my useful labors are over.
Someday when I retire I will write a book called The Encyclopedia Of Stupid and regale you with stories of people slowly cruising past our auto test site, staring blankly at our large orange cones, yellow test lines and examiner standing there clipboard in hand. After the third time past I give up and wave the poor suckers in, then watch them drive 100 yards to the end of the parking lot, come back, lean out the car window and ask if this is where they do auto tests. "No" I say, "you must be confused. "This is a Keep Safe Michigan site where we offer coffee and donuts to tired drivers. Would you like a cup?"
Someday when I retire I will think about my test subjects from this morning. First up was 40 year old Kevin. When I asked him if he had a previous driver's license he said no, just thought it was time to start driving. When I asked 40 year old Kevin to sign his name on the form he asked; "Can I print my name or should I use cursive?" When I asked him to do the sight side parking which is akin to backing up an auto into a driveway or garage while looking out one's driver side window Kevin takes an S route, ending up 90 degrees the wrong direction. Try as he may from this position he cannot extract himself. If this were an actual garage it would now have two extra doors, one on each side.
That was followed by 20 year old Nedim who when turning right out of our parking lot onto Clyde Park Avenue at the beginning of the driving portion crossed over not only the first and second lanes but also the turning lane to get into the far left lane so we could head the wrong way down Clyde Park. Two minutes later after we got back home and Nedim realized that maybe there was something a little wrong with that maneuver he drives off Lord knows where or how all by himself.
That was followed by 18 yr. old James Brown. James drives right through the 4 way stop in the residential area near the beginning of the driving test. When we got back a few minutes later and I explained the error of his ways he did not feel good, da da da da da da da.
And that was followed by 20 year old Rohullah. His permit said "corrective lens" so I asked him if he brought his glasses with him. He tells me no, he only wore them one day and that he doesn't need to wear glasses. I tell Rohullah that unfortunately the day he decided to wear them was when he took the eye exam and that he could not legally drive with out said glasses. He didn't feel good either, da da da da da da da.
This morning is why I don't trust anybody out there on the roads.
Someday when I retire maybe I'll ride the bus. I was told last week however that in Grand Rapids you need to avoid bus number 1 that goes downtown. The roads there are really rough, the bus is designed to carry 40 but they always have about 60 passengers so people need to stand in the aisles, which may be a better option than sitting anyway because the homeless ride bus 1 all day to keep warm and some of them cannot hold themselves so they wet their pants and the regulars all feel the seats before using them.
Ah! So someday when I retire maybe I will sit by my window in the fall, watch the trees turn their brilliant reds and oranges and yellows and whenever 10 or 20 leaves hit the lawn I will be all over them. I thought of that the other day when after I mowed the grass and cleared off the leaves and wondered how long the yard would look so nice I got whacked in the head by an errant orange missile.
Someday when I retire I may help out 88 year old Hank who is in charge of the drop off area at the local Bibles for Mexico Thrift Shop. The last time I was there I saw him struggling with a large sofa and love seat that someone left out side in the rain the night before. If was now worthless but still Hank needed to move it to the appropriate dump site. Even though he clearly required assistance with this he insisted that he didn't. "That's OK" I say loudly so he can hear me. "I'll help you with this and then you can help me unload my computer keyboard and mouse."
Or, maybe someday when I retire I will spend my idle time sorting through stacks and stacks of ? ? ? ?. Wait. Did I just say that?
Someday when I retire I will write a book called The Encyclopedia Of Stupid and regale you with stories of people slowly cruising past our auto test site, staring blankly at our large orange cones, yellow test lines and examiner standing there clipboard in hand. After the third time past I give up and wave the poor suckers in, then watch them drive 100 yards to the end of the parking lot, come back, lean out the car window and ask if this is where they do auto tests. "No" I say, "you must be confused. "This is a Keep Safe Michigan site where we offer coffee and donuts to tired drivers. Would you like a cup?"
Someday when I retire I will think about my test subjects from this morning. First up was 40 year old Kevin. When I asked him if he had a previous driver's license he said no, just thought it was time to start driving. When I asked 40 year old Kevin to sign his name on the form he asked; "Can I print my name or should I use cursive?" When I asked him to do the sight side parking which is akin to backing up an auto into a driveway or garage while looking out one's driver side window Kevin takes an S route, ending up 90 degrees the wrong direction. Try as he may from this position he cannot extract himself. If this were an actual garage it would now have two extra doors, one on each side.
That was followed by 20 year old Nedim who when turning right out of our parking lot onto Clyde Park Avenue at the beginning of the driving portion crossed over not only the first and second lanes but also the turning lane to get into the far left lane so we could head the wrong way down Clyde Park. Two minutes later after we got back home and Nedim realized that maybe there was something a little wrong with that maneuver he drives off Lord knows where or how all by himself.
That was followed by 18 yr. old James Brown. James drives right through the 4 way stop in the residential area near the beginning of the driving test. When we got back a few minutes later and I explained the error of his ways he did not feel good, da da da da da da da.
And that was followed by 20 year old Rohullah. His permit said "corrective lens" so I asked him if he brought his glasses with him. He tells me no, he only wore them one day and that he doesn't need to wear glasses. I tell Rohullah that unfortunately the day he decided to wear them was when he took the eye exam and that he could not legally drive with out said glasses. He didn't feel good either, da da da da da da da.
This morning is why I don't trust anybody out there on the roads.
Someday when I retire maybe I'll ride the bus. I was told last week however that in Grand Rapids you need to avoid bus number 1 that goes downtown. The roads there are really rough, the bus is designed to carry 40 but they always have about 60 passengers so people need to stand in the aisles, which may be a better option than sitting anyway because the homeless ride bus 1 all day to keep warm and some of them cannot hold themselves so they wet their pants and the regulars all feel the seats before using them.
Ah! So someday when I retire maybe I will sit by my window in the fall, watch the trees turn their brilliant reds and oranges and yellows and whenever 10 or 20 leaves hit the lawn I will be all over them. I thought of that the other day when after I mowed the grass and cleared off the leaves and wondered how long the yard would look so nice I got whacked in the head by an errant orange missile.
Someday when I retire I may help out 88 year old Hank who is in charge of the drop off area at the local Bibles for Mexico Thrift Shop. The last time I was there I saw him struggling with a large sofa and love seat that someone left out side in the rain the night before. If was now worthless but still Hank needed to move it to the appropriate dump site. Even though he clearly required assistance with this he insisted that he didn't. "That's OK" I say loudly so he can hear me. "I'll help you with this and then you can help me unload my computer keyboard and mouse."
Or, maybe someday when I retire I will spend my idle time sorting through stacks and stacks of ? ? ? ?. Wait. Did I just say that?
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Ice Caps, Polar Bears And CO2
I wrote the following blog post a few weeks ago and then put it on the shelf because, oh I don't know, the timing didn't seem quite right. Then the other day I heard that John Coleman, the award winning meteorologist who started The Weather Channel came on CNN to declare that (A) There is nothing historically different about our current climate (B) Man made climate change has not been demonstrated (C) Being introduced for the interview and debate as a "climate change denier" shows a bias which promotes climate change but excludes facts (D) There is no overwhelming consensus among all scientists that man made climate change is happening, and (E) the guy he is going to debate who is the current CEO of The Weather Channel is not a scientist whereas he is.
That seemed to fit in pretty well with my post so here it is.
About 6 years ago a local TV head meteorologist wrote that in his mind the book was not closed on global warming. A couple of years ago the head meteorologist from a rival station made basically the same comment. In case you are thinking that these are just pretty boys pretending they understand science let me give you another take. Both were fascinated with weather even when kids and as weather geeks today they continue to spend amazing amounts of time studying and trying to understand weather patterns and what makes what work. They are surrounded by the same types of people. I mean, when severe weather breaks out in West Michigan and their channels interrupt regular programming to give you endless details of reverse curves in a front 10 miles away you would think that everyone was wetting their pants they are so excited.
Some years back 9000 PH D's and 31.000 scientist and meteorologists signed a petition questioning some of the base beliefs of global warming advocates calling global warming "a hoax". This was of course derided by the global warming click and when they discovered that a couple dozen names on the list were suspect they painted the entire list as loons and fakes. But as I've said before, whether truth or not, it's all about politics. Sadly the true believers don't realize that it's also all about money, power and government control and that their supposed leaders are men and women without scruples who have another agenda besides the health of mother earth.
So let's talk facts. Of course, even though these are facts everything is debatable. For example. Since it has not been proved that ocean temperatures are rising as fast as predicted a new claim by the pro global warming crowd is that the oceans are storing all that heat well below the 600 meter level. I've read on both sides opinions on the current and future effect of the oceans storing in their depths an immense amount of heat but who am I to judge. For every point on either side there is a counter point. At least there should be some debate. So here goes:
Today there are 19 colonies of polar bears world wide comprising between 25,000 to 30,000 individuals, most of them in good shape. Currently about 3 or 4 of the colonies are considered stressed. In 1975 there were between 5,000 to 10,000 polar bears. At that time international treaties to limit the hunting of polar bears came into effect, obviously contributing to their increase in numbers.
About 70% of the world's fresh water is contained in Antarctic ice. This year ice coverage in Antarctica is at an all time high as measured by modern methods. Most of the ice sheet in Antarctica is one top of land (the increase is sea ice) and because the average snowfall in the interior is extremely low and the maximum temperatures never gets as high as 10 degrees Fahrenheit there is scant chance ocean levels will rise due to melting Antarctic ice.
In contrast, a lot of the ice in the Arctic is sea ice. This ice sheet increases and decreases according to the seasons. When sea ice melts it does not raise sea levels just as a glass of water filled with ice does not overflow when the ice melts. The last decade has seen slightly longer Arctic melting seasons although things tended to moderate a bit this year. Global warming scientists predict an ice free Arctic by 2050 and the extinction of the polar bear caused by their change of diet from seals to ? Coke. The global warming scientists who get all the money and press tell us, despite pretty good evidence otherwise, that polar bears can only survive on a seal diet or else they will resort to cannibalism.
Ah, facts. Funny things those. Not to be confused with computer models where garbage in means garbage out. I've checked numerous on line sites, both pro and con global warming. The facts listed below come from FriendsofScience.org They have wonderful visual charts which really provide a clear sense of the statistics.
The description for human caused global warming is "anthropogenic global warming", or AGW.
In the comments below GHG stands for green house gas.
The IPCC is the Intergovernmental Panel on Global Warming.
AGW sceptics do not deny that humans have some effect on climate. The questions are, how much, is it scientifically verifiable and is it necessarily bad?
AGW sceptics do not disagree on the direct greenhouse effect of CO2. They disagree on the climate systems response to that radiation effect. The main problem that AGW sceptics have is shown by their claim that computer climate models greatly overestimate the effects of GHG emissions likely by a factor of 3.
AGW would warm the exo-tropics much more than the tropics, reducing the temperature difference that drive storms. So global warming actually reduces storminess. Studies show that colder climates had more severe storms and the actual number of strong tornadoes have been declining over the last 40 years.
Since the spiked temperatures of the El Nino in 1998 temperatures as measured by both surface and satellite have been flat despite the rise in CO2. IPCC climate models predicted +0.20 per decade. Actual has been -0.054 per decade. Although there have been increases in temps in parts of the world and decreases in others there has been no average increase in global warming for the last 16 years! (one reason that the press is no longer calling this crisis "global warming" but rather "climate change".
95% of GHG's are water vapor. Warming causes more water vapor in the lower atmosphere but declining water vapor in the upper atmosphere, where it has more effect on warming by a factor of 80.
Historical records seem to indicate that the Minoan, Roman and Medieval periods had warmer temperatures than today. Greenland was farmed for awhile by the Vikings just before the last mini ice age.
Solar activity measured since 1600 shows direct correlation between solar activity and temperature.
IPCC computer models include little if any natural factors such as solar activity.
There is no evidence that a warmer climate will increase extinction rates.
The Global Integrated Drought Monitoring and Prediction System shows a declining trend of world drought over the last 30 years.
Global sea ice in 2014 has risen 300,000 sq. km greater than the 1979-2008 average.
Atmospheric methane has risen 0.2% over the last 10 years. The IPCC forecasts methane to increase 6 times faster than recent obllservations.
And finally from other notes - Ocean levels are not like lake levels. Sea level varies in different parts of the world because of gravity, winds and other factors. The Indian Ocean is about 200 feet below average and the coast of Ireland is over 200 feet above average. Water expands as it warms and sea levels have been gradually increasing which should be totally expected if long term natural trends mean anything. Even though some low lying islands in the Pacific have lost dry land, because coral reefs are still being produced the last couple decades have seen an actual increase of island land by 11%. Antarctic ice is in no danger of melting and Arctic sea ice as discussed before will not raise sea levels. That leaves Greenland which is still chugging out those large chucks of ice, but not at a clip that is radically different than the past.
The idea that 97% of scientist believe AGW is a threat to our planet is a totally bogus number. But don't believe me. Do your research.
That seemed to fit in pretty well with my post so here it is.
About 6 years ago a local TV head meteorologist wrote that in his mind the book was not closed on global warming. A couple of years ago the head meteorologist from a rival station made basically the same comment. In case you are thinking that these are just pretty boys pretending they understand science let me give you another take. Both were fascinated with weather even when kids and as weather geeks today they continue to spend amazing amounts of time studying and trying to understand weather patterns and what makes what work. They are surrounded by the same types of people. I mean, when severe weather breaks out in West Michigan and their channels interrupt regular programming to give you endless details of reverse curves in a front 10 miles away you would think that everyone was wetting their pants they are so excited.
Some years back 9000 PH D's and 31.000 scientist and meteorologists signed a petition questioning some of the base beliefs of global warming advocates calling global warming "a hoax". This was of course derided by the global warming click and when they discovered that a couple dozen names on the list were suspect they painted the entire list as loons and fakes. But as I've said before, whether truth or not, it's all about politics. Sadly the true believers don't realize that it's also all about money, power and government control and that their supposed leaders are men and women without scruples who have another agenda besides the health of mother earth.
So let's talk facts. Of course, even though these are facts everything is debatable. For example. Since it has not been proved that ocean temperatures are rising as fast as predicted a new claim by the pro global warming crowd is that the oceans are storing all that heat well below the 600 meter level. I've read on both sides opinions on the current and future effect of the oceans storing in their depths an immense amount of heat but who am I to judge. For every point on either side there is a counter point. At least there should be some debate. So here goes:
Today there are 19 colonies of polar bears world wide comprising between 25,000 to 30,000 individuals, most of them in good shape. Currently about 3 or 4 of the colonies are considered stressed. In 1975 there were between 5,000 to 10,000 polar bears. At that time international treaties to limit the hunting of polar bears came into effect, obviously contributing to their increase in numbers.
About 70% of the world's fresh water is contained in Antarctic ice. This year ice coverage in Antarctica is at an all time high as measured by modern methods. Most of the ice sheet in Antarctica is one top of land (the increase is sea ice) and because the average snowfall in the interior is extremely low and the maximum temperatures never gets as high as 10 degrees Fahrenheit there is scant chance ocean levels will rise due to melting Antarctic ice.
In contrast, a lot of the ice in the Arctic is sea ice. This ice sheet increases and decreases according to the seasons. When sea ice melts it does not raise sea levels just as a glass of water filled with ice does not overflow when the ice melts. The last decade has seen slightly longer Arctic melting seasons although things tended to moderate a bit this year. Global warming scientists predict an ice free Arctic by 2050 and the extinction of the polar bear caused by their change of diet from seals to ? Coke. The global warming scientists who get all the money and press tell us, despite pretty good evidence otherwise, that polar bears can only survive on a seal diet or else they will resort to cannibalism.
Ah, facts. Funny things those. Not to be confused with computer models where garbage in means garbage out. I've checked numerous on line sites, both pro and con global warming. The facts listed below come from FriendsofScience.org They have wonderful visual charts which really provide a clear sense of the statistics.
The description for human caused global warming is "anthropogenic global warming", or AGW.
In the comments below GHG stands for green house gas.
The IPCC is the Intergovernmental Panel on Global Warming.
AGW sceptics do not deny that humans have some effect on climate. The questions are, how much, is it scientifically verifiable and is it necessarily bad?
AGW sceptics do not disagree on the direct greenhouse effect of CO2. They disagree on the climate systems response to that radiation effect. The main problem that AGW sceptics have is shown by their claim that computer climate models greatly overestimate the effects of GHG emissions likely by a factor of 3.
AGW would warm the exo-tropics much more than the tropics, reducing the temperature difference that drive storms. So global warming actually reduces storminess. Studies show that colder climates had more severe storms and the actual number of strong tornadoes have been declining over the last 40 years.
Since the spiked temperatures of the El Nino in 1998 temperatures as measured by both surface and satellite have been flat despite the rise in CO2. IPCC climate models predicted +0.20 per decade. Actual has been -0.054 per decade. Although there have been increases in temps in parts of the world and decreases in others there has been no average increase in global warming for the last 16 years! (one reason that the press is no longer calling this crisis "global warming" but rather "climate change".
95% of GHG's are water vapor. Warming causes more water vapor in the lower atmosphere but declining water vapor in the upper atmosphere, where it has more effect on warming by a factor of 80.
Historical records seem to indicate that the Minoan, Roman and Medieval periods had warmer temperatures than today. Greenland was farmed for awhile by the Vikings just before the last mini ice age.
Solar activity measured since 1600 shows direct correlation between solar activity and temperature.
IPCC computer models include little if any natural factors such as solar activity.
There is no evidence that a warmer climate will increase extinction rates.
The Global Integrated Drought Monitoring and Prediction System shows a declining trend of world drought over the last 30 years.
Global sea ice in 2014 has risen 300,000 sq. km greater than the 1979-2008 average.
Atmospheric methane has risen 0.2% over the last 10 years. The IPCC forecasts methane to increase 6 times faster than recent obllservations.
And finally from other notes - Ocean levels are not like lake levels. Sea level varies in different parts of the world because of gravity, winds and other factors. The Indian Ocean is about 200 feet below average and the coast of Ireland is over 200 feet above average. Water expands as it warms and sea levels have been gradually increasing which should be totally expected if long term natural trends mean anything. Even though some low lying islands in the Pacific have lost dry land, because coral reefs are still being produced the last couple decades have seen an actual increase of island land by 11%. Antarctic ice is in no danger of melting and Arctic sea ice as discussed before will not raise sea levels. That leaves Greenland which is still chugging out those large chucks of ice, but not at a clip that is radically different than the past.
The idea that 97% of scientist believe AGW is a threat to our planet is a totally bogus number. But don't believe me. Do your research.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
The Long Coal Train
The Long Coal Train is one of my favorite posts from when I did the 2 Timothy 2: 1-2 blog. This one is from August of 2007.
I am still trying to figure out how to cut and paste copy using my new Chromebook. Oh well.
The Long Coal Train
I am still trying to figure out how to cut and paste copy using my new Chromebook. Oh well.
The Long Coal Train
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Will We Still Be Here After 2017?
The year 2017 will mark 120 years from an event known as the First Zionist Congress which met in Basil, Switzerland beginning on August 29, 1897. It was called by Theodor Hertzel who declared that the goal of Zionism is to create for the Jewish people a home in Eretz-Israel secured by (international) law. The congress came up with four goals, including promoting the settlement in Eretz-Israel with Jewish farmers, artisans and manufactures, the organization and unifying of worldwide Jewry, the strengthening of Jewish national sentiment and national consciousness and promoting the cause with national governments.
Theodor Hertzel is known as the father of modern day Israel and August 29, 1897 marked the beginning of the reestablishment of the Jewish people into their ancient and promised homeland.
The time frame of 120 years is first mentioned in scripture in Genesis chapter 6;
Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God (fallen angels in this reference) saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said; "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
God was not pleased with this corruption of man's genetic code and He also noticed that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So God decides that He is going to wipe off mankind from the face of the earth with the exception of Noah and his family. Before this judgement God gives man another 120 years of grace.
Now let us look at a couple of things that Jesus tells His disciples in the 24th chapter of Matthew. The temple during Jesus day was considered to be one of the wonders of the ancient world. In Matthew's account Jesus is walking out of the temple and His disciples come up to Him and point out the temple buildings. In response Jesus informs them;
Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.
Jesus words came true in 70 AD when at the end of a 2 year campaign the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem, slaughtered the inhabitants, set fire to the temple and when the massive amount of gold in the temple melted in the flames the soldiers tore apart the stones to get to the gold.
The disciples later come up to Jesus and ask Him; What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? One of the things Jesus tells them is the parable of the fig tree. In scripture the fig tree is one of the symbols for the Jewish nation.
Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so you too, when you see all these things recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
The Jewish nation basically ceased to exist after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Millions of Jews were either killed or hauled off into slavery and although there were other rebellions such as Masada some years later. that was it. There would always be a small remnant of Jews left in the land but most would eventually settle in other parts of the world.
In Matthew 24 Jesus is talking about things that would happen in a reestablished Israel and it's capital Jerusalem. Israel is the fig tree that would start to bloom and the word generation is not, as many try to suggest, a time frame for the last generation. It refers to the Jewish people. They would be scattered throughout the world but would not become extinct. Always God's unique people they would be restored to their promised land and see Jesus prophecy fulfilled.
From this we must notice two things. First, Israel is now after almost 2000 years once more a Jewish nation. And second, "When you see these things (false Christs, the gospel of the kingdom being preached to all the world, the Abomination of Desolation standing in the holy place which would require a Jewish temple located in Jerusalem,) recognize that He (Jesus) is near".
And why is Jesus near? To bring about a judgment on the world, the purpose of which is to prepare the world for the return of Jesus, this time as the King of kings who will rule the world from the nation of Israel, based in it's capital, Jerusalem.
And the judgement will be horrible, both for the world as well as for all Jews living either in Israel or any other part of our planet. Jesus words from Matthew 24 goes on;
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
There are other significant dates concerning the Jewish nation. In the year 1517 Jerusalem and the promised land became controlled by the Ottoman Empire. In 1917, twenty years after the First Zionist Conference in 1897 and 400 years after 1517, control of the promised land switched over to Great Britain who conquered Jerusalem without a fight during WWI.
In 1917 Britain issued The Balfour Declaration which was a letter from Foreign Secretary Balfour to Baron Rothschild, a leader of the Jewish community, stating: "His Majesty's government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best efforts to facilitate the achievement of the object."
In 1947, 50 years after the First Zionist Conference, 30 years after Jerusalem was freed from total Arab and Muslim control, and 30 years after the Balfour Declaration the United Nations adopted on November 29 Resolution 181. This called for the creation in Palestine of an independent Arab state, an independent Jewish state, and the status of the city of Jerusalem to be under international trusteeship.
On May 18, 1948 Israel declared itself to be an independent Jewish nation and survived all attempts during the next few years to wipe it out.
Then in 1967, 19 years after becoming a nation, 20 years after the UN resolution, 50 years after Jerusalem was freed from total Arab and Muslim control by the British who gave consent to the Jews to settle there and 70 years after the First Zionist Conference, the eastern half of Jerusalem was captured by Israeli forces during the 6 day war against Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Prior to that the old city of Jerusalem was divided into four quarters. One was Muslim, one was Christian, one was Armenian and one was Jewish. Almost all of the Jewish holy places, including the temple mount, had been under Muslim control and were not accessible to Jews. Now for the first time in almost 2000 years control of the entire city reverted back to Jewish hands. The foundation for prophecy to be fulfilled was now laid. Israel was once again a nation and Jerusalem was once more at the center of everything.
The year 2017 will also be the Jewish year 5777. On May 18, 2017 (5777) modern Israel will celebrate it's 49th anniversary. That is a time frame of 7 weeks of 7 years (7 x 7). It will probably wait until it's 50th anniversary in 2018 to begin the rebuilding of the temple. The year 2017 will mark 120 years from the call in Basil, Switzerland for a Jewish homeland. It will mark 100 years of freedom from total Arab and Muslim control. It will mark 100 years of exodus from the gentile nations back to the promised land. And it will mark 70 years from when the world via the United Nations called for the creation of a Jewish state.
On June 4, 2017 (5777) the Christian world celebrates the feast of Pentecost. The corresponding Jewish feast of Shavuot is celebrated on May 30/June 1. As I've suggested before, if the Rapture is to occur on a feast day it is my opinion that because the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church on the first Pentecost after Jesus resurrection and ascension it would make sense that the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the Church would be removed via the Rapture on another Pentecost.
Like Noah and his family the Church is first taken from the world (secured in the ark) so that God's judgment can proceed.
Pentecost is the middle of the 7 major Jewish feasts. In His sufferings and death (Passover), His time before the resurrection (Unleavened Bread) and resurrection (First Fruits) Jesus prophetically fulfilled the first 3. These were Spring Feasts. Passover/Shavuot was 50 days later and then we have waited all these years for the fulfillment of the final 3 Jewish feasts which happen in the fall. Most prophecy scholars are looking for the Rapture during the Feast of Trumpets / Rosh Hashanah (the first fall feast) because of the mention of trumpets that the Bible talks about in a couple of end time prophecies that are connected to the Rapture of the Church and also because the idea of the trumpet blast was to call out the assembly (the Jewish nation or in this case the Church) from the world. And maybe they are right.
Rosh Hashanah is also known as the Jewish New Year. in 2017 Rosh Hashanah occurs on September 20/22 and will be at the beginning of the Jewish year 5778.
If the Rapture does happen on that Pentecost or Rosh Hashanah there will still be at least 7 years before the return of Jesus to Jerusalem sometime in the year 2024 or later. There may be a gap of days or weeks or even years until the Antichrist makes a 7 year agreement with the Jewish nation. In the middle of that his image is set up in the holy place of the Jewish temple (the Abomination of Desolation) and the Jewish people will flee Jerusalem for their lives.
The world can change quite a bit by the time we reach June of 2017. Ebola or something else might lead to panic, the collapse of the financial markets, martial law and the overall destruction of our society. Or, as scripture says, everything could be just fine. People will be eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, blissfully unaware that an hour later The Restrainer will be taken away and the Righteous Judge will begin the process of reclaiming what is rightfully His.
Theodor Hertzel is known as the father of modern day Israel and August 29, 1897 marked the beginning of the reestablishment of the Jewish people into their ancient and promised homeland.
The time frame of 120 years is first mentioned in scripture in Genesis chapter 6;
Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God (fallen angels in this reference) saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said; "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
God was not pleased with this corruption of man's genetic code and He also noticed that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So God decides that He is going to wipe off mankind from the face of the earth with the exception of Noah and his family. Before this judgement God gives man another 120 years of grace.
Now let us look at a couple of things that Jesus tells His disciples in the 24th chapter of Matthew. The temple during Jesus day was considered to be one of the wonders of the ancient world. In Matthew's account Jesus is walking out of the temple and His disciples come up to Him and point out the temple buildings. In response Jesus informs them;
Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.
Jesus words came true in 70 AD when at the end of a 2 year campaign the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem, slaughtered the inhabitants, set fire to the temple and when the massive amount of gold in the temple melted in the flames the soldiers tore apart the stones to get to the gold.
The disciples later come up to Jesus and ask Him; What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? One of the things Jesus tells them is the parable of the fig tree. In scripture the fig tree is one of the symbols for the Jewish nation.
Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so you too, when you see all these things recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
The Jewish nation basically ceased to exist after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Millions of Jews were either killed or hauled off into slavery and although there were other rebellions such as Masada some years later. that was it. There would always be a small remnant of Jews left in the land but most would eventually settle in other parts of the world.
In Matthew 24 Jesus is talking about things that would happen in a reestablished Israel and it's capital Jerusalem. Israel is the fig tree that would start to bloom and the word generation is not, as many try to suggest, a time frame for the last generation. It refers to the Jewish people. They would be scattered throughout the world but would not become extinct. Always God's unique people they would be restored to their promised land and see Jesus prophecy fulfilled.
From this we must notice two things. First, Israel is now after almost 2000 years once more a Jewish nation. And second, "When you see these things (false Christs, the gospel of the kingdom being preached to all the world, the Abomination of Desolation standing in the holy place which would require a Jewish temple located in Jerusalem,) recognize that He (Jesus) is near".
And why is Jesus near? To bring about a judgment on the world, the purpose of which is to prepare the world for the return of Jesus, this time as the King of kings who will rule the world from the nation of Israel, based in it's capital, Jerusalem.
And the judgement will be horrible, both for the world as well as for all Jews living either in Israel or any other part of our planet. Jesus words from Matthew 24 goes on;
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
There are other significant dates concerning the Jewish nation. In the year 1517 Jerusalem and the promised land became controlled by the Ottoman Empire. In 1917, twenty years after the First Zionist Conference in 1897 and 400 years after 1517, control of the promised land switched over to Great Britain who conquered Jerusalem without a fight during WWI.
In 1917 Britain issued The Balfour Declaration which was a letter from Foreign Secretary Balfour to Baron Rothschild, a leader of the Jewish community, stating: "His Majesty's government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best efforts to facilitate the achievement of the object."
In 1947, 50 years after the First Zionist Conference, 30 years after Jerusalem was freed from total Arab and Muslim control, and 30 years after the Balfour Declaration the United Nations adopted on November 29 Resolution 181. This called for the creation in Palestine of an independent Arab state, an independent Jewish state, and the status of the city of Jerusalem to be under international trusteeship.
On May 18, 1948 Israel declared itself to be an independent Jewish nation and survived all attempts during the next few years to wipe it out.
Then in 1967, 19 years after becoming a nation, 20 years after the UN resolution, 50 years after Jerusalem was freed from total Arab and Muslim control by the British who gave consent to the Jews to settle there and 70 years after the First Zionist Conference, the eastern half of Jerusalem was captured by Israeli forces during the 6 day war against Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Prior to that the old city of Jerusalem was divided into four quarters. One was Muslim, one was Christian, one was Armenian and one was Jewish. Almost all of the Jewish holy places, including the temple mount, had been under Muslim control and were not accessible to Jews. Now for the first time in almost 2000 years control of the entire city reverted back to Jewish hands. The foundation for prophecy to be fulfilled was now laid. Israel was once again a nation and Jerusalem was once more at the center of everything.
The year 2017 will also be the Jewish year 5777. On May 18, 2017 (5777) modern Israel will celebrate it's 49th anniversary. That is a time frame of 7 weeks of 7 years (7 x 7). It will probably wait until it's 50th anniversary in 2018 to begin the rebuilding of the temple. The year 2017 will mark 120 years from the call in Basil, Switzerland for a Jewish homeland. It will mark 100 years of freedom from total Arab and Muslim control. It will mark 100 years of exodus from the gentile nations back to the promised land. And it will mark 70 years from when the world via the United Nations called for the creation of a Jewish state.
On June 4, 2017 (5777) the Christian world celebrates the feast of Pentecost. The corresponding Jewish feast of Shavuot is celebrated on May 30/June 1. As I've suggested before, if the Rapture is to occur on a feast day it is my opinion that because the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church on the first Pentecost after Jesus resurrection and ascension it would make sense that the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the Church would be removed via the Rapture on another Pentecost.
Like Noah and his family the Church is first taken from the world (secured in the ark) so that God's judgment can proceed.
Pentecost is the middle of the 7 major Jewish feasts. In His sufferings and death (Passover), His time before the resurrection (Unleavened Bread) and resurrection (First Fruits) Jesus prophetically fulfilled the first 3. These were Spring Feasts. Passover/Shavuot was 50 days later and then we have waited all these years for the fulfillment of the final 3 Jewish feasts which happen in the fall. Most prophecy scholars are looking for the Rapture during the Feast of Trumpets / Rosh Hashanah (the first fall feast) because of the mention of trumpets that the Bible talks about in a couple of end time prophecies that are connected to the Rapture of the Church and also because the idea of the trumpet blast was to call out the assembly (the Jewish nation or in this case the Church) from the world. And maybe they are right.
Rosh Hashanah is also known as the Jewish New Year. in 2017 Rosh Hashanah occurs on September 20/22 and will be at the beginning of the Jewish year 5778.
If the Rapture does happen on that Pentecost or Rosh Hashanah there will still be at least 7 years before the return of Jesus to Jerusalem sometime in the year 2024 or later. There may be a gap of days or weeks or even years until the Antichrist makes a 7 year agreement with the Jewish nation. In the middle of that his image is set up in the holy place of the Jewish temple (the Abomination of Desolation) and the Jewish people will flee Jerusalem for their lives.
The world can change quite a bit by the time we reach June of 2017. Ebola or something else might lead to panic, the collapse of the financial markets, martial law and the overall destruction of our society. Or, as scripture says, everything could be just fine. People will be eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, blissfully unaware that an hour later The Restrainer will be taken away and the Righteous Judge will begin the process of reclaiming what is rightfully His.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
The Meaning Of Isis
Submit. To submit or die. That is what the word Islam means.
The Bible talks about God calling Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans to go to a land that He would show him. Abraham was to walk through that territory and any place he traveled would be given to Abraham and he would become the father of a great nation. Go forth from your country . . . to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great . . . And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. (Gen: 12: 1-5) This "royal grant" is much larger than what is occupied by the nation of Israel today. God's covenant promise to Abraham was reconfirmed by God through his son Isaac and then again through Isaac's son Jacob, who had the 12 sons who were the beginnings of the 12 tribes of Israel.
God had promised Abraham that a great nation would come from him but Abraham had some doubts because he and his wife Sarai were getting along in years. So Sarai arraigned for Abraham to have sexual relations with their Egyptian servant Hagar. As soon as it was obvious that Hagar conceived Sarai got jealous and had Abraham send her away. The offspring from this union was Ishmael. God then made a promise through an angel to Hagar; I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count . . . Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael . . . he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him; (Gen. 16: 10-12) Those descendants would become the Arab nations who settled in the regions of central and north central Arabia.
The child that God's promise was to go through from Abraham was not Ishmael but rather it was through Isaac, the child that Sarai (now Sarah) bore some years later. When Isaac's wife Rebekah first conceived she had twins, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the first born and the promise was to go through him but as you remember Jacob tricked Esau into selling this birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Later on when it was time for now blind and dying Isaac to give his blessings Jacob and his mother Rebekah conspired to trick Isaac into giving the first born blessing to Jacob. The blessing ends with the same phrase that God gave to Abraham; Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you. (Gen: 27: 29)
Esau then comes for his blessing and this is what he gets; Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, and away from the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve . . . So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing. (Gen. 27: 39-41) The descendants of Esau would become the Edomites and would settle in a land much less fertile than Canaan in territory which is now part of Jordan. Most people calling themselves Palestinians have come from this area.
Let us now jump ahead over 1500 years. In about 570 AD in central Arabia (Saudi Arabia) in the town of Mecca was born a man whose name was Mohammad. His parents, part of the dominate tribe of the area, left him orphaned at an early age. Eventually he was raised by an uncle and became a traveling merchant. Every year he would take a week or two and go into a cave in a mountain to contemplate. Around the year 610 Mohammad claims that he was visited by the angel Gabriel who gave him certain revelations. At first he thinks he has been visited by a demon but after a few years he starts preaching to his family and neighbors the revelations he has received.
Eventually he gets some converts, things snowball, his revelations, teachings and examples are written down in books called the Qur'an and the Hadith and the religion he created is spread by force in the Arabian peninsula and beyond, spreading throughout northern Africa, Spain, the Balkans, Asia Minor (Turkey), southern Eurasia (all the "stan" countries), Persia (Iran), eastern China and parts of India. Islam began in the Arab world but as you can see there are many other races that claim Islam as their faith.
The basic precepts of Islam for every Muslim are very simple: Acknowledge that there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet. Pray toward Mecca several times a day. Make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. Give alms to the poor. Fast and make an animal sacrifice during the Islamic holy month.
To understand the roots of Islam, where it has come from and where it is going, we need to start looking at the time and place of Mohammad back in 610 AD. The Arab people were tribal with no central leadership. They worshiped a pantheon of gods and each tribe and city had a special god that was their protector. There was a building in Mecca called the Kaaba which housed 360 of their pagan statues as well as a black meteorite which people would honor and worship by kissing it. The head and most powerful god of the Arab pantheon was named Allah, who was the male moon god whose symbol was the crescent moon. There is a tremendous amount of archaeological evidence showing that the moon god was worshiped widely throughout the Mid-East at that time and well before. Allah had several daughters who were considered goddesses.
Mohammad was familiar with both Jewish and Christian thought and their scriptures. He had a Jewish and a Christian wife and Mecca was the center of a trade route which saw the mingling of many cultures. His new religion declared some things that were payback for the historic enmity between the Arab and the Jew and their offshoot, the Christians. He taught that there were certain prophets throughout history that worshiped only one God. These were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and others who worshiped one God and the God they worshiped was Allah. Mohammad taught that he was the final and last prophet and as the last prophet he declared that the Jewish and Christian scriptures were corrupted and must be understood by his teachings. Thus you see the first tenant of Islam, there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet.
Now here is a point that I don't want you to miss and is crucial to understanding what is happening today with ISIS and all other expressions of what is now being called radical Islam. Mohammad taught that God's promise would come through Ishmael, not Isaac and that the promise of land, not just for the Arab but for those that submitted to Islam would eventually cover the entire world. The charge for the followers of Allah was to take the land, by force if necessary and either convert all the conquered to Islam, or have them submit to Islamic rule and pay an annual tax, or die.
In the early 300's the Roman emperor Constantine recognized Christianity as an official state religion for the purpose of uniting the far flung empire. He didn't ban all the other forms of religion and the worship of their gods but he heavily supported the Christian religion making it the dominate religion. Mohammad would in effect do the same thing for the Arab people. He didn't come up with a new god that the people were not acquainted with. Allah was already recognized as the chief deity. Most Arabs would pray toward the Kaaba in Mecca several times a day and would make an effort to make a pilgrimage there sometime in their life. Killing an animal like a sheep as a sacrifice to their god was already practiced and most people gave alms to the poor. The annual month of fasting that Mohammad instituted would begin and end on a crescent moon, thus honoring Allah, an obvious connection to Allah as the moon god.
And because Mohammad was the last prophet, what he taught and did became the basis for a new legal system that would be imposed on all the conquered peoples.
Today there are 4 streams or factions of Islam. They all recognize Allah as the only god and Mohammad as his prophet but are divided on their interpretation of the Qur'an and the Haddith and on which successors to Mohammad were most legitimate. The Hanbali school of law is the strictest, meaning that it follows most closely the literal meaning of the Qur'an and Haddith. This is the one followed in Saudi Arabia and is also the one accepted by most Islamic terrorists. They believe that any land once ruled by Islam still belongs to Islam but also that the ultimate goal is for the entire world to become ruled by the same brand of Islam that Mohammad and his armies followed.
They view the world as being divided into two; Dar al-Islam, which means the house of Islam (land now ruled by Islam) and Dar al-itarb, which means the house of war (any other land, including our dear USA that eventually will become ruled by Islam). And for the ISIS's and other militant groups it isn't just good enough to already be Muslim. One now has to accept the Hanbali brand of Islam or die, no matter if you are man, woman or a child.
The goal of ISIS on the road to world domination is to create an Islamic caliphate covering all the territory once ruled by Islam or currently heavily populated by Muslims. Recently the head Turkish imman revealed a map listing 13 Islamic states that will form this caliphate. They are named Andalus (Spain), Maghreb (north western Africa), Alkinana (north eastern Africa), Habasha (central Africa), Orobpo (the Balkan region of Europe, Romania and Austria), Anathol (western Turkey), Qoqzaz (all the land between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea), Kordistan (eastern Turkey, western Iran), Sham (Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan), Iraq (Iraq), Hijaz (Saudi Arabia), Yaman (Yemen and Oman) and Khurason (all the stan countries plus India and western China). The plan is to eventually eliminate the Christian states and end up with 10 states, all headquartered in Turkey.
At one time this all seemed so far away to us living in the U.S. The average American is not aware of the violent conflicts that exist between Muslims and other religions in places like India, Africa and Asia. We are not aware that Muslim populations have skyrocketed throughout Europe and that they establish communities that do not intermingle or assimulate with the general population and have their own Islamic laws. We are not aware of the many mosques being built in our country which are paid for by Saudi Arabia, many of which teach the Hanbali school of thought. We are not aware that cities like Dearborn, Michigan are heavily populated and run by Muslims, that although Islamic law is not officially on the books there it is still being enforced in the Islamic community. And now 13 years after 911 we forget that 19 of the hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.
However, now that Americans have been beheaded with the public warning that our homeland is next there seems to be a greater awareness that we are not facing a threat from an isolated bunch of loony radicals. Our politicians, dumb as they are toward Islamic thought, have always thought that land for peace would be a good deal for Israel. Western thought could not fathom the idea that land for peace was always a ploy, a tactic toward the eventual goal of reclaiming Islamic lands and enforcing the edict of their prophet, to destroy all the Jews.
Let me end by retelling a story that I heard in church last Sunday. Our pastor received an email from a missionary family from our church who are ministering in northern Africa. They said it was the beginning of the Muslim holy month and the talk of the town was all about sheep. Every family needed to purchase at least 1 sheep to sacrifice and people would say, "Have you got your sheep yet?", or "Where did you get your sheep?" or "How much did your sheep cost?" The missionary family was actually quite sad for the people because their faith was so works based. Theirs is an angry god who requires animal sacrifices and in return gives no assurances to the people that they could ever do enough to enter paradise.
Our pastor then read from the book of Hebrews which talks about Jesus being the lamb who was slain for our sins. and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb. 9: 12)
We are not to hate anyone but we need to be aware that the world is rapidly changing and that traditional Islam is on the move and gaining steam and with each success there will be a switching of alliances from the moderate to the radical. The foundations of our laws, based on Judeo Christian thought, have been crumbling for decades and what is to replace it? If it is not rebuilt something else will replace it and everything we hold dear as Americans will be doomed. Wake up America!
The Bible talks about God calling Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans to go to a land that He would show him. Abraham was to walk through that territory and any place he traveled would be given to Abraham and he would become the father of a great nation. Go forth from your country . . . to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great . . . And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. (Gen: 12: 1-5) This "royal grant" is much larger than what is occupied by the nation of Israel today. God's covenant promise to Abraham was reconfirmed by God through his son Isaac and then again through Isaac's son Jacob, who had the 12 sons who were the beginnings of the 12 tribes of Israel.
God had promised Abraham that a great nation would come from him but Abraham had some doubts because he and his wife Sarai were getting along in years. So Sarai arraigned for Abraham to have sexual relations with their Egyptian servant Hagar. As soon as it was obvious that Hagar conceived Sarai got jealous and had Abraham send her away. The offspring from this union was Ishmael. God then made a promise through an angel to Hagar; I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count . . . Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael . . . he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him; (Gen. 16: 10-12) Those descendants would become the Arab nations who settled in the regions of central and north central Arabia.
The child that God's promise was to go through from Abraham was not Ishmael but rather it was through Isaac, the child that Sarai (now Sarah) bore some years later. When Isaac's wife Rebekah first conceived she had twins, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the first born and the promise was to go through him but as you remember Jacob tricked Esau into selling this birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Later on when it was time for now blind and dying Isaac to give his blessings Jacob and his mother Rebekah conspired to trick Isaac into giving the first born blessing to Jacob. The blessing ends with the same phrase that God gave to Abraham; Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you. (Gen: 27: 29)
Esau then comes for his blessing and this is what he gets; Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, and away from the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve . . . So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing. (Gen. 27: 39-41) The descendants of Esau would become the Edomites and would settle in a land much less fertile than Canaan in territory which is now part of Jordan. Most people calling themselves Palestinians have come from this area.
Let us now jump ahead over 1500 years. In about 570 AD in central Arabia (Saudi Arabia) in the town of Mecca was born a man whose name was Mohammad. His parents, part of the dominate tribe of the area, left him orphaned at an early age. Eventually he was raised by an uncle and became a traveling merchant. Every year he would take a week or two and go into a cave in a mountain to contemplate. Around the year 610 Mohammad claims that he was visited by the angel Gabriel who gave him certain revelations. At first he thinks he has been visited by a demon but after a few years he starts preaching to his family and neighbors the revelations he has received.
Eventually he gets some converts, things snowball, his revelations, teachings and examples are written down in books called the Qur'an and the Hadith and the religion he created is spread by force in the Arabian peninsula and beyond, spreading throughout northern Africa, Spain, the Balkans, Asia Minor (Turkey), southern Eurasia (all the "stan" countries), Persia (Iran), eastern China and parts of India. Islam began in the Arab world but as you can see there are many other races that claim Islam as their faith.
The basic precepts of Islam for every Muslim are very simple: Acknowledge that there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet. Pray toward Mecca several times a day. Make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. Give alms to the poor. Fast and make an animal sacrifice during the Islamic holy month.
To understand the roots of Islam, where it has come from and where it is going, we need to start looking at the time and place of Mohammad back in 610 AD. The Arab people were tribal with no central leadership. They worshiped a pantheon of gods and each tribe and city had a special god that was their protector. There was a building in Mecca called the Kaaba which housed 360 of their pagan statues as well as a black meteorite which people would honor and worship by kissing it. The head and most powerful god of the Arab pantheon was named Allah, who was the male moon god whose symbol was the crescent moon. There is a tremendous amount of archaeological evidence showing that the moon god was worshiped widely throughout the Mid-East at that time and well before. Allah had several daughters who were considered goddesses.
Mohammad was familiar with both Jewish and Christian thought and their scriptures. He had a Jewish and a Christian wife and Mecca was the center of a trade route which saw the mingling of many cultures. His new religion declared some things that were payback for the historic enmity between the Arab and the Jew and their offshoot, the Christians. He taught that there were certain prophets throughout history that worshiped only one God. These were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and others who worshiped one God and the God they worshiped was Allah. Mohammad taught that he was the final and last prophet and as the last prophet he declared that the Jewish and Christian scriptures were corrupted and must be understood by his teachings. Thus you see the first tenant of Islam, there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet.
Now here is a point that I don't want you to miss and is crucial to understanding what is happening today with ISIS and all other expressions of what is now being called radical Islam. Mohammad taught that God's promise would come through Ishmael, not Isaac and that the promise of land, not just for the Arab but for those that submitted to Islam would eventually cover the entire world. The charge for the followers of Allah was to take the land, by force if necessary and either convert all the conquered to Islam, or have them submit to Islamic rule and pay an annual tax, or die.
In the early 300's the Roman emperor Constantine recognized Christianity as an official state religion for the purpose of uniting the far flung empire. He didn't ban all the other forms of religion and the worship of their gods but he heavily supported the Christian religion making it the dominate religion. Mohammad would in effect do the same thing for the Arab people. He didn't come up with a new god that the people were not acquainted with. Allah was already recognized as the chief deity. Most Arabs would pray toward the Kaaba in Mecca several times a day and would make an effort to make a pilgrimage there sometime in their life. Killing an animal like a sheep as a sacrifice to their god was already practiced and most people gave alms to the poor. The annual month of fasting that Mohammad instituted would begin and end on a crescent moon, thus honoring Allah, an obvious connection to Allah as the moon god.
And because Mohammad was the last prophet, what he taught and did became the basis for a new legal system that would be imposed on all the conquered peoples.
Today there are 4 streams or factions of Islam. They all recognize Allah as the only god and Mohammad as his prophet but are divided on their interpretation of the Qur'an and the Haddith and on which successors to Mohammad were most legitimate. The Hanbali school of law is the strictest, meaning that it follows most closely the literal meaning of the Qur'an and Haddith. This is the one followed in Saudi Arabia and is also the one accepted by most Islamic terrorists. They believe that any land once ruled by Islam still belongs to Islam but also that the ultimate goal is for the entire world to become ruled by the same brand of Islam that Mohammad and his armies followed.
They view the world as being divided into two; Dar al-Islam, which means the house of Islam (land now ruled by Islam) and Dar al-itarb, which means the house of war (any other land, including our dear USA that eventually will become ruled by Islam). And for the ISIS's and other militant groups it isn't just good enough to already be Muslim. One now has to accept the Hanbali brand of Islam or die, no matter if you are man, woman or a child.
The goal of ISIS on the road to world domination is to create an Islamic caliphate covering all the territory once ruled by Islam or currently heavily populated by Muslims. Recently the head Turkish imman revealed a map listing 13 Islamic states that will form this caliphate. They are named Andalus (Spain), Maghreb (north western Africa), Alkinana (north eastern Africa), Habasha (central Africa), Orobpo (the Balkan region of Europe, Romania and Austria), Anathol (western Turkey), Qoqzaz (all the land between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea), Kordistan (eastern Turkey, western Iran), Sham (Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan), Iraq (Iraq), Hijaz (Saudi Arabia), Yaman (Yemen and Oman) and Khurason (all the stan countries plus India and western China). The plan is to eventually eliminate the Christian states and end up with 10 states, all headquartered in Turkey.
At one time this all seemed so far away to us living in the U.S. The average American is not aware of the violent conflicts that exist between Muslims and other religions in places like India, Africa and Asia. We are not aware that Muslim populations have skyrocketed throughout Europe and that they establish communities that do not intermingle or assimulate with the general population and have their own Islamic laws. We are not aware of the many mosques being built in our country which are paid for by Saudi Arabia, many of which teach the Hanbali school of thought. We are not aware that cities like Dearborn, Michigan are heavily populated and run by Muslims, that although Islamic law is not officially on the books there it is still being enforced in the Islamic community. And now 13 years after 911 we forget that 19 of the hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.
However, now that Americans have been beheaded with the public warning that our homeland is next there seems to be a greater awareness that we are not facing a threat from an isolated bunch of loony radicals. Our politicians, dumb as they are toward Islamic thought, have always thought that land for peace would be a good deal for Israel. Western thought could not fathom the idea that land for peace was always a ploy, a tactic toward the eventual goal of reclaiming Islamic lands and enforcing the edict of their prophet, to destroy all the Jews.
Let me end by retelling a story that I heard in church last Sunday. Our pastor received an email from a missionary family from our church who are ministering in northern Africa. They said it was the beginning of the Muslim holy month and the talk of the town was all about sheep. Every family needed to purchase at least 1 sheep to sacrifice and people would say, "Have you got your sheep yet?", or "Where did you get your sheep?" or "How much did your sheep cost?" The missionary family was actually quite sad for the people because their faith was so works based. Theirs is an angry god who requires animal sacrifices and in return gives no assurances to the people that they could ever do enough to enter paradise.
Our pastor then read from the book of Hebrews which talks about Jesus being the lamb who was slain for our sins. and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb. 9: 12)
We are not to hate anyone but we need to be aware that the world is rapidly changing and that traditional Islam is on the move and gaining steam and with each success there will be a switching of alliances from the moderate to the radical. The foundations of our laws, based on Judeo Christian thought, have been crumbling for decades and what is to replace it? If it is not rebuilt something else will replace it and everything we hold dear as Americans will be doomed. Wake up America!
Monday, September 22, 2014
This Generation's Call
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. Eph. 1: 18-19
The talk radio pundit Rush Limbaugh likes to say that everything is political. If the press has wall to wall coverage over something like the personal behavior of NFL football players then there are underlying political reasons to do so.
I am thinking more and more that everything is actually spiritual. At one time I looked at the constant breaking down of morality, the glorification of violence, the acceptance and inroads that occultism has made throughout society, the indifference and then hate toward anything Christian and I saw that as irreversible, a sign that we are in the last days before the return of Jesus.
Now I am realizing that even though we may well be on the very brink of seeing our blessed Lord return the spiritual battle we are in today is no different than any other since the time of the Apostles. Each generation of believers, whether they know it or not, is placed in the midst of a conflict that has been going on since the evil one rebelled. We are the forces, in our place and time, that God in His great wisdom has chosen to fight the forces of darkness.
It would seem that we are at a great disadvantage. The enemy's spiritual forces have an established game plan and play book that is both ancient and being constantly refined. Their leader is called the father of lies who also seeks to murder and destroy. Religions, societies and people groups are infiltrated by their agents for the express purpose of denying or distorting the truth.
And what do we have, each generation of us, born into such a dangerous world filled with traps, snares and enticements to follow an attractive way that ultimately leads to disaster?
We have a heavenly Father who loves us and only desires the best for us. Any other testament about Him is a lie.
We have His Son Jesus, who is one with the Father, who gave up His heavenly estate and became man and as God and man suffered and died for our sins so that we could find eternal life in Him. This He gives freely to any who would surrender to Him as Savior and Lord.
We have The Holy Spirit, the power part of the Godhead, who moved through the prophets of old, who gave Jesus as man the wisdom, knowledge and power to teach, to prophesy, to cast out evil spirits, to destroy strongholds and to perform mighty miracles. This Holy Spirit Jesus poured out upon His church to do the same.
These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Eph. 1: 19-23
Christ, our Savior and Lord both lives in us and is seated in the heavenly places in a position of authority over everything. He is head over His body which is the church and which we belong to because we are in Him. By His great grace we have been freed from the power of the evil one who is the god of this world and we have been set apart to do the work that God desires to help free this fallen world from the grasp of the destroyer.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience . . .
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us . . . made us alive together with Christ . . . and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus . . .
And the reason that the Father has done that is
so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Eph. 2: 1-6
The spiritual battle we are in today is not just for ourselves or our family. It is not just for our city or nation. It is not just for the time that we live in. What we do, believing in the grace and mercy of The Father, trusting Him in every circumstance and hurdle, worshiping Him through the midst of our tears, rejecting the passing attractions of this world to walk a life pleasing to Him, all of this is a testimony that resounds in the past, present and future.
As the church, the body of Christ, we must fight the good fight now, not accepting that the enemy has territory that cannot be conquered or is too powerful to prevent the light of Christ from shinning in. Perhaps we are in a period that is just like the days of Noah, when the world became so evil and debased and Jesus is just around the corner to judge the world and the rebels of this age and their leader. Yet our marching orders are still the same.
May we be a generation willing to do all that God has called us to.
The talk radio pundit Rush Limbaugh likes to say that everything is political. If the press has wall to wall coverage over something like the personal behavior of NFL football players then there are underlying political reasons to do so.
I am thinking more and more that everything is actually spiritual. At one time I looked at the constant breaking down of morality, the glorification of violence, the acceptance and inroads that occultism has made throughout society, the indifference and then hate toward anything Christian and I saw that as irreversible, a sign that we are in the last days before the return of Jesus.
Now I am realizing that even though we may well be on the very brink of seeing our blessed Lord return the spiritual battle we are in today is no different than any other since the time of the Apostles. Each generation of believers, whether they know it or not, is placed in the midst of a conflict that has been going on since the evil one rebelled. We are the forces, in our place and time, that God in His great wisdom has chosen to fight the forces of darkness.
It would seem that we are at a great disadvantage. The enemy's spiritual forces have an established game plan and play book that is both ancient and being constantly refined. Their leader is called the father of lies who also seeks to murder and destroy. Religions, societies and people groups are infiltrated by their agents for the express purpose of denying or distorting the truth.
And what do we have, each generation of us, born into such a dangerous world filled with traps, snares and enticements to follow an attractive way that ultimately leads to disaster?
We have a heavenly Father who loves us and only desires the best for us. Any other testament about Him is a lie.
We have His Son Jesus, who is one with the Father, who gave up His heavenly estate and became man and as God and man suffered and died for our sins so that we could find eternal life in Him. This He gives freely to any who would surrender to Him as Savior and Lord.
We have The Holy Spirit, the power part of the Godhead, who moved through the prophets of old, who gave Jesus as man the wisdom, knowledge and power to teach, to prophesy, to cast out evil spirits, to destroy strongholds and to perform mighty miracles. This Holy Spirit Jesus poured out upon His church to do the same.
These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Eph. 1: 19-23
Christ, our Savior and Lord both lives in us and is seated in the heavenly places in a position of authority over everything. He is head over His body which is the church and which we belong to because we are in Him. By His great grace we have been freed from the power of the evil one who is the god of this world and we have been set apart to do the work that God desires to help free this fallen world from the grasp of the destroyer.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience . . .
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us . . . made us alive together with Christ . . . and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus . . .
And the reason that the Father has done that is
so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Eph. 2: 1-6
The spiritual battle we are in today is not just for ourselves or our family. It is not just for our city or nation. It is not just for the time that we live in. What we do, believing in the grace and mercy of The Father, trusting Him in every circumstance and hurdle, worshiping Him through the midst of our tears, rejecting the passing attractions of this world to walk a life pleasing to Him, all of this is a testimony that resounds in the past, present and future.
As the church, the body of Christ, we must fight the good fight now, not accepting that the enemy has territory that cannot be conquered or is too powerful to prevent the light of Christ from shinning in. Perhaps we are in a period that is just like the days of Noah, when the world became so evil and debased and Jesus is just around the corner to judge the world and the rebels of this age and their leader. Yet our marching orders are still the same.
May we be a generation willing to do all that God has called us to.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
The Line
Well little bugs have littler bugs
Up on their backs to bite'em
And littler bugs have still littler bugs
And so ad infinitum
From: Their Ain't No Flies On Me
It's like you've been working for a week to unravel a knot and once you've got it you realize that the knot you've just finished is only part of a much bigger tangled mess. You don't see the beginning, you don't see the end and you don't know where the heck you are along the line.
At some point you realize that as beautiful and intricate as the line is there are some parts that seem rotten and look just plain ugly. And to top everything off it's impossible to just let the line be. I mean, one can go on and live their normal life but eventually you notice the line and wonder where it goes and as you work on that next knot the blisters on your fingers get cut and as you bleed you let out a nasty curse.
Cursed is the man who works on a knot
and never sees the ends
who knows not what
or if or but
it only just depends.
Perhaps it's chance
or poetry
that's placed me by this line
there are endless possibilities
and so little time.
Then one day, totally out of the blue, a thought crosses your mind. In that flash of inspiration you are able to see the twists and turns, the ins and outs of the knot structure and you can visualize how to place your fingers for maximum advantage. You rush to the line and untangle the knot in seconds. Exhilarated you quickly clear up every knot in sight, letting out a little whoop with each.
Later, reflecting on what has just happened, you stare long and hard at the line. Now one would think your focus at this point should be on the line ahead but something is drawing you to the line before. Grabbing the line you give the before part a little tug and as you grasp it starts moving and changing. Nothing is as you remembered it. And here you are. For the first time in like forever you have finally seen how to manipulate the line yet at the same time it starts changing on you. As you look at your nice callased free fingers you again blurt out a curse.
I am nothing but a man
lost on an island
an endless sea in every direction
I'll build my hut
and oil my beard
a chief by my own election.
Weeks later another thought wakes you up in the middle of the night. You had a dream and in the dream you saw yourself actually walking on top of the line. A knot came, you stepped over it. The line rose up to form a giant gate, you passed right through it. It started raining but your traction remained firm. Eventually you saw a form a distance away walking on the line toward you. For a split second you debate if you should stop and let the form meet up with you or if you should advance. But then you let out your little knot whoop and start sprinting toward the form. Losing sight of the line you fall helplessly and wake up.
Not able to go back to sleep you start crying. It was so close if even just a dream but now everything is as it always was. The line is ugly you think. It has always been ugly. Whomever or whatever made it is ugly. I will not play with the line anymore. But you find out that now the line will not let it be ignored.
During the day when you are busy on some project you hear the line snap. You briefly peek at it while watching TV and at just that moment it changes color. At night if inserts itself into every dream, sometimes not so nicely. For the third time you curse.
Am I now lord of nothing
of nothing in control
not birth nor death
nor in between
the spirit and my soul
One day something very surprising happens. Over the last few weeks your precious line has developed a lot of new knots. Knots that are different and which you have no idea how to undo. You were just about to get grumpy about it but thought, oh what the heck, let's have some fun with this. So you speak to the line and tell it that you are quite thankful for all the new knots. "You win line. You're the boss. If you like being tied up it knots, well then that's just fine with me. But if you want to get rid of them I'll do whatever you want". This time instead of cursing you sing out a blessing.
There is beauty in every fiber
purpose in every inch
wonders around the corner
to be found.
Joy is in the journey
strength with every step
rest when they lay me
in the ground.
And in your happiness you feel a tear streak down your face. One tear leads to more and you can no longer stand. You now feel ashamed and ask the line to forgive you. And as you do the line fills the room and the knots gently wrap around you and you can feel life coursing through the fibers. And now you know.
Up on their backs to bite'em
And littler bugs have still littler bugs
And so ad infinitum
From: Their Ain't No Flies On Me
It's like you've been working for a week to unravel a knot and once you've got it you realize that the knot you've just finished is only part of a much bigger tangled mess. You don't see the beginning, you don't see the end and you don't know where the heck you are along the line.
At some point you realize that as beautiful and intricate as the line is there are some parts that seem rotten and look just plain ugly. And to top everything off it's impossible to just let the line be. I mean, one can go on and live their normal life but eventually you notice the line and wonder where it goes and as you work on that next knot the blisters on your fingers get cut and as you bleed you let out a nasty curse.
Cursed is the man who works on a knot
and never sees the ends
who knows not what
or if or but
it only just depends.
Perhaps it's chance
or poetry
that's placed me by this line
there are endless possibilities
and so little time.
Then one day, totally out of the blue, a thought crosses your mind. In that flash of inspiration you are able to see the twists and turns, the ins and outs of the knot structure and you can visualize how to place your fingers for maximum advantage. You rush to the line and untangle the knot in seconds. Exhilarated you quickly clear up every knot in sight, letting out a little whoop with each.
Later, reflecting on what has just happened, you stare long and hard at the line. Now one would think your focus at this point should be on the line ahead but something is drawing you to the line before. Grabbing the line you give the before part a little tug and as you grasp it starts moving and changing. Nothing is as you remembered it. And here you are. For the first time in like forever you have finally seen how to manipulate the line yet at the same time it starts changing on you. As you look at your nice callased free fingers you again blurt out a curse.
I am nothing but a man
lost on an island
an endless sea in every direction
I'll build my hut
and oil my beard
a chief by my own election.
Weeks later another thought wakes you up in the middle of the night. You had a dream and in the dream you saw yourself actually walking on top of the line. A knot came, you stepped over it. The line rose up to form a giant gate, you passed right through it. It started raining but your traction remained firm. Eventually you saw a form a distance away walking on the line toward you. For a split second you debate if you should stop and let the form meet up with you or if you should advance. But then you let out your little knot whoop and start sprinting toward the form. Losing sight of the line you fall helplessly and wake up.
Not able to go back to sleep you start crying. It was so close if even just a dream but now everything is as it always was. The line is ugly you think. It has always been ugly. Whomever or whatever made it is ugly. I will not play with the line anymore. But you find out that now the line will not let it be ignored.
During the day when you are busy on some project you hear the line snap. You briefly peek at it while watching TV and at just that moment it changes color. At night if inserts itself into every dream, sometimes not so nicely. For the third time you curse.
Am I now lord of nothing
of nothing in control
not birth nor death
nor in between
the spirit and my soul
One day something very surprising happens. Over the last few weeks your precious line has developed a lot of new knots. Knots that are different and which you have no idea how to undo. You were just about to get grumpy about it but thought, oh what the heck, let's have some fun with this. So you speak to the line and tell it that you are quite thankful for all the new knots. "You win line. You're the boss. If you like being tied up it knots, well then that's just fine with me. But if you want to get rid of them I'll do whatever you want". This time instead of cursing you sing out a blessing.
There is beauty in every fiber
purpose in every inch
wonders around the corner
to be found.
Joy is in the journey
strength with every step
rest when they lay me
in the ground.
And in your happiness you feel a tear streak down your face. One tear leads to more and you can no longer stand. You now feel ashamed and ask the line to forgive you. And as you do the line fills the room and the knots gently wrap around you and you can feel life coursing through the fibers. And now you know.
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