Saturday, January 26, 2008

How to tell if you are deranged


This picture is alive. If you click on it and it goes round and round to the right you are OK.

On the other hand if after watching it for a while it goes the other way, well, you may need help.

If it goes both ways from time to time you are in deep weeds.

The Immortality of Youth

This could have been me. 5 Young boys, young men, now immortal, life ahead of them. Now behind them. Driving very fast down a runway in Florida get the end of the runway and the end of life.

There but for the grace of God go I.

Is there a cause or is there a cure? Probably not.

My sympathies go to their families. Young men are naturally hardwired for danger and excitement. Sometimes danger and excitement strikes back.

Medical Exam

First, stare into the cat’s eyes for ten seconds.




Now stare into the Labrador’s eyes for ten seconds.

Free Image Hosting at allyoucanupload.com




Your cat scan and lab tests are now complete.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Living a Balanced Godly Life

Ever feel out of whack?

Beginning at the Fall, mankind has been mangled as a being. A dead spirit, chaotic soul, dumbed-down mind, and a body that wastes away—not too promising, eh?

All of us struggle with the integration and integrity of body, mind, soul, and spirit. So here are a few suggestion for Christians for improving ourselves for the King and His Kingdom. If practiced regularly, these things will keep us sharp for the Lord.
Body

Sleep no less than seven hours a night. Too few of us get proper sleep, never making up the sleep deficit we accumulate. This make us dull and easily swayed by ungodly voices.

Get up at dawn and go to sleep before midnight. God made the day and night for a reason. I’m convinced that one of the reasons that so many people suffer from depression today is that they don’t get enough sleep or they stay up too late. I know that my own mood brightens when I go to bed before midnight and get proper sleep.

Stop overeating. Almost two-thirds of American are overweight. From what I’ve seen in the pews, I’d say that three-quarters of Christians over the age of 30 are. Gluttony is a sin. Being fat makes us sluggish and slow. Plus, it incurs a litany of health problems. (Charles Spurgeon may have been a godly man and a great preacher, but his issues with eating shortened his life.) God doesn’t want his people to live that way.

Stop eating bad food. Junk food makes us fat—don’t eat it. Buy organic. Cut out the sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. Stay away from artificial ingredients, especially man-made sweeteners like aspartame (NutraSweet) and sucralose (Splenda). Keep the carbohydrates down (see this and this). The closer a food is to its natural state, the better it is for you, so stay away from the heavily processed stuff. God knew what He was doing with the basic foods He gave us. Why then do we have to mess them up?

Get out of the chair and exercise. Walking is one of the best ways to stay fit—do it. And with someone else!


Mind

Read a book! Though the study numbers don’t always agree on the exact numbers, the truth remains that the majority of Americans don’t read books, with some never picking up another book after they graduate from high school or college. That’s horrifying! An uneducated populace only makes Satan’s job easier, as ignorance is one of his chief weapons against us. (Remember that Adam’s intellect was perfect before the Fall.)

Learn the basics of logic. Don’t know a genetic fallacy from a tu quoque? Though our culture no longer values right thinking, Christians must. Learn more here.

Get out of the Christian ghetto and find out more about an opposing viewpoint. Narrowmindedness begins when we fail to grasp all sides of a belief system. None of us should spend time wallowing in filth, but if we fail to recognize those worldviews that set themselves up against Christ, we do the Kingdom a disservice.

Kill two birds with one stone and engage another face-to-face concerning a difficult topic. Wrestling with tough issue is fine. But doing so with another person or a group of people fulfills the “iron sharpens iron” idea in Proverbs. If we isolate ourselves, we fail to learn from our neighbors—and they may have great wisdom to share with us. And let’s not be selfish with what we learn; share it with someone else. Who knows how that wisdom may help another! Too many Christians bury their intellectual talents and they never grow to bless others. If that great book we’re reading isn’t used by us to challenge others, then perhaps we’re wasting our time.
Soul

Learn empathy. Weep with those who weep. Rejoice with those who rejoice. We must make our lives available to others and share in their ups and downs. We’ll never learn what it means to be godly people if we don’t connect with others.

Listen to classical music. Yes, Mozart and guys like him. It’s good for us.

Write music, also. Even if it’s just a simple tune, we can reflect the heart of the God who sings over us.

Write letters. Write them to God. Write them to friends. Write them to strangers. But write! Our letter may be the only one someone gets in a month. Make the most of it.

Cultivate beauty. We need to make beautiful things. God is an artist, and we are made in His image, so we should create. Also, we must find beautiful places filled with beautiful items and spend time amid that beauty.

Get in touch with the land. God intends that we till the land and take care of it. Are we doing so? Why not? Find time for the natural world. Learn the names of plants, trees, birds, and such.

Get out of the house! If we’re spending all our time shut up within our personal fortresses, we’ll never make an impact for the Kingdom out there where the lost people and our fellow Christians live.
Spirit

Pray more than an hour a day. We simply cannot know God if we toss off a prayer or two. Remember: knowing God IS eternal life. And this is not “practicing the presence” or journaling, either, but concentrated prayer on our knees.

Read the Bible intently. I recommend this plan. We should be reading for deeper discipleship and understanding, not just to tick “Read the Bible” off our checklists!

Cultivate godly horizontal relationships with others. With Christians: fellowship, service, and discipleship. With unbelievers: friendship, service, and evangelism.

Ruthlessly eliminate those things that interfere with our spiritual lives. If we don’t have enough time to pray an hour a day, read the Bible thoroughly, and cultivate horizontal relationships with others, then we need to eliminate all interferences. Turn the TV off, put down the newspaper, and log off the Internet. And if materialism and idolatry are keeping us from God, then we eliminate those items that keep us from growing in grace.

Practice the spiritual disciplines. We can’t help but grow in the Lord if we pray, study, meditate, fast, embrace solitude, practice submission, live simply, serve others, worship, confess our sins, seek guidance, and celebrate.

If we do these things, we will most certainly be better for the doing.

Thanks to Julie Neidlinger for pointing me to this.

Who does God endorse for President?

What if God wanted to Install a President of the USA?

I know, he's not. But, humor me. If he wanted to put one in how would he do it?

With bombast and media blitz? Don't think so. Not his style. Last time the King of the universe came to earth it was pretty humble stuff.

With big horsepower and media endorsements? Nope. There was a time after his earthly popularity waned when Jesus was down to a chosen few. He asked, “are you gonna bail too”. And the local establishment party hated him. He didn't kiss their butts like they thought he should. In fact he was kinda mean to them. They wanted to get even. And they did, for a little while.

So, what would he do? If I know God and I think I do, he would take an unlikely person from an unlikely place and put him into the fray without any resources like he did John the Baptist or Jesus. Poor beaten and crucified. In John's case beheaded.

It would be such that the only way it would work out would be when God caused heaven and earth to move. It would be an irrational candidacy.

In fact he said once, “It's not by power, or by might, but by my Spirit”. Even Paul, who was a big shot and then became hated of lots of people said, “I don't come to you with clever speeches or good rhetoric”. His front men have always been seen as second rate by the world.

So, If God were to want to put a President in place he would do it in the only way He ever does things, by the most unusual and illogical methods possible. He would use humble apparently unqualified people. He would put in the position one on whom people would have given up.

That's how he's always done it. Maybe He wants to do it that way once more. I'm not saying anything, but sometimes when things happen completely out of the ordinary and with the most unlikely folks, people of faith step back and say, that must be God because I'd never have done it that way. That's the story of my life. I'll send God a fax instructing him how to do this or that for me. I can hear him laugh uproariously. He's very amused by my ideas. Then loving me like he does he mercifully does all things perfectly in my life.

So, who's God's candidate? I have no idea. I do know this. He puts one up and takes another down. That's scripture. I don't think he's changed his methods. If I figure it out, I'll let you know. I'm going to vote God's way if he tells me what to do. He'd want me to.

WHY WHY WHY??

I have been following a story that grieves me beyond belief. The suicide epidemic in Wales.

Look at the pictures of those young people. People committing suicide because it's "Popular".

Here is what Suicide is really like when you hang yourself. From two experts:

Strangulation by hanging can take several minutes and is a far more excruciating experience than people know. The carotid arteries in the neck, which supply blood to the brain, are compressed, and the brain swells so much it ends up plugging the top of the spinal column; the Vagal nerve is pinched, leading to something called the Vagal reflex, which stops the heart; and the lack of oxygen getting to the lungs due to compression of the trachea eventually causes loss of consciousness due to suffocation. Death then follows in the same pattern as it does when the neck breaks, with the entire process ending in anywhere from five to 20 minutes.

and this

Suddenly everything you hear or see becomes a blur. You try to breath, but the rest of your body is no longer with you. Your thoughts and your brain chemicals run wild. Since your heart was pumping very hard from fear, or excitement, or whatever, your brain cells are full of oxygen, and they last for a while after your neck has long broken. You try to grasp every last bit of consciousness, knowing that everything is about to end and, if you believe in the afterlife, everything else is about to begin. Suddenly you're alone with yourself (or rather, without). Blood pressure keeps dropping rapidly. Your head aches badly from the lack of oxygen. All you feel is pain as your brain dies down little by little. AND ALL THAT LAST FOR A GOOD SEVERAL MINUTES.
There is only one answer for this, His name is JESUS. He brings a hope and a future. These are kids without hope trapped in a hopeless lifestyle. We must snatch these back from the fires of HELL.

How Huck can Win - UPDATE

Super Tuesday is coming up. Lots of delegates will be won. McCain will do well in the NE and maybe in CA. BUT, there are lots of other state in play. With lots of Delegates. Here is the map:



Now compare this with a satiric (but truthful) map from Michael Moore. There are a large number of believers in these states who are about to vote. I'm convinced that believers in those states are taking another look at Mike Huckabee. This could be great. GO MIKE.



I hope someday all of the USA can become Jesusland. I'm sad that Wisconsin, MN, ND, SD and IL are not yet part of Jesusland. SOON maybe.

I note Texas is part of Jesusland. That ought to encourage a new pastor in the Texas District. ;>))

UPDATE:
I note that all the land that is NOT Jesus Land (ergo devil land) is on the water. On the seashore. HMMMMM. I recall Revelation 13. John sees the devil coming up on the beach from the sea. The sea in Bible terms can be a large lake or an ocean. Maybe Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota all bordering the great lakes are on the sea. Of course all the Devil's Land on the oceans east and west are also part of this evil plot.

So,does this mean that those states on the sea who are deceived are Satan Land. The Devil has come up out of the various large bodies of water and caused them to vote democrat. That's absolute proof.

OOOOOOO

I think I'll write a book. I love a good conspiracy theory.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

What First Love Looks Like

This is a note written by a 15 year old teen. He had been at the One Thing IHOP conference. The flavor of this is an example of the passion and reality in depth of faith of these young people. This is first love I want to continue to stir up. I agree with his sentiment. He is talking about Misty Edwards leading worship. Funny, his reaction is not about what a great singer she is, It's about how wonderful Jesus is. This is what real hunger looks like.

It was very powerful last year(Dec 07). Especially the few times she led worship; I am truly changed in my desire to answer my desperate need of God. In the days to come, I believe I would die without God. After I've tasted Him, I couldn't live without Him.

Another Teen
This video (the one below) and song is burning in my heart. This is what I have been hungry for. Thank You Father for having willing vessels to deliver fresh manna so that your seed will not be begging for bread.


The House of Hypocrisy

The Story of Two Houses

House #1- A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms ) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400.

In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern "snow belt" area. It's in the South.


House #2- Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.

The water (usually 67 degrees F) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house.

Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee; it is the home of the "environmentalist" and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford,Texas; it is the residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

An "inconvenient truth" that you won't read about in the New York Times, Washington Post, or see on MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC.

Skeptical? Go to www.Snopes.com and search for The Story of Two Houses.

Tip of the hat via email from my friend and roommate Don Beeks.

He won't relent until he has it all

Many mornings I tune into GOD TV on Direct TV to the worship portion of The House of Prayer from KC. It comes on at 10 am so it's not always easy to do. Its part of my love language in worship.

This morning I was staggered emotionally by the song they did. "Set me like a seal upon your heart, a seal upon your arms".

The counter chorus is this:
You won't relent until you have it all, my heart is yours.

I knew the song. I had heard it before. But this morning it hit me. He won't. He won't stop until he has all of me. Nothing can be left behind. Nothing can be hidden. Nothing is allowed to be held in reserve.

He won't relent until he has it all.

This is a powerful truth that shook me to the bone this morning. He's so good.

Watch Misty do this at the call.




Or at the one thing conference

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The power of a Hug

I watched Boston Legal last night.  I enjoy the show but they can get politically pretty far left.  Shatner is such a hoot however.  Comic genius.  And it's encouraging for me that a man can come so much into his own at HIS AGE!
 
Anyway---
 
One of the 3 vignettes (there are always 3) was about hugging in Schools.  A teacher hugged a student and was discharged for it so she sued to get her job back.  The argument by the attorney was about the lack of personal interface in today's world.  How hungry people are for any real human contact in a world of IM, eMAIL, and all kinds of other forms of distance.   People can grow up and never get a hug.
 
I like hugs.  I particularly like them from certain people.  Jon Byrd at Faith Center gives a hug like no one else.  Gary Sebela might be a close second.  Man Hugs.  Good stuff. 
 
Last Sunday Pastor Aaron preached at the Reformed Church in Berwyn.  They loved him.  He's a hugger.  He encourages hugs.  Bob, one of the elders, a sweet man in his late  70's told with tears in his eyes how when he came to visit the E-4 church that meets in the same building he was hugged by everyone.  Not just a perfunctory hug.  A real hug.  Men to men.  And women. 
 
With tears in his eyes he related the story of feeling loved and touched.  He's alone, a widower.  Hugs matter.
 
This is a man of authority.  A good man.  A man of history.  A man who grew up in a good Dutch Reformed church but wasn't hugged much.  I guess hugging isn't a part of the normal routine of a Sunday in that Church (Pity).
 
What a gift a hug is.  What a loss if you aren't ever hugged.  A real hug.  A legitimate hug.  I'm thankful for a powerful sincere hug.  And, sometimes when I get one from Gary it comes with a Kiss on the Cheek.  First time I was shocked, now it seems like a Hug Plus.
 
Give a hug today.  It's the manly thing to do.  Even if you're a woman.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Public Education at Work

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual similes and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners:

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E.Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other fromTopeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are known to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for awhile.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with powertools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

IF God can use me he can use anyone

This is explanation enough:

What happens when people don't believe in eternity's consequence

In a culture that seems to embrace the idea that "there is no god" there are consequences. Japan has shown that clearly. I am disturbed by a global trend without reverence for life.

In Wales young people, teenagers are hanging themselves en mass.

The friends who killed themselves

Dale Crole, 18, hanged himself at the Coney Beach funfair at Porthcawl, near Bridgend, January 2007
David Dilling, 19, a former classmate of Dale from Pyle, near Bridgend, hanged himself, February 2007
Thomas Davies, 20, who had been at school with both Dale and David, found hanged from a tree in David’s home village two days before his funeral, February 2007
Zachery Barnes, 17, of Wildmill, Bridgend, a friend of Thomas’s family, hanged with washing line, August 2007
Liam Clarke, 20, a friend of Dale, found hanged in a park in Bridgend, December 2007
Gareth Morgan, 27, who knew Liam, found hanged in his bedroom, January 2008
Natasha Randall, 17, of Blaengarw, Bridgend, a close friend ofLiam, hanged herself in her bedroom, January 2008


And the friends who commemorate the deaths of these young people seem to be as completely lost to the eternal consequence of suicide as those who are dead by their own hand:

Friends have set up memorial pages where well wishers have posted messages or bought virtual “tablets” in a remembrance wall. The 19 tablets on Tasha’s memorial page include the messages “RIP chick”, “Sleep Tight Princess” and “Sweet dreams, Angel”.


The reality that those kids are in Hell based on what I know of theology. That fact seems to be of little concern to their friends. It's like the dead are away on vacation. No. They're dead.

Never mind the pain of Mothers and Fathers who worked to raise these kids with purpose to perpetuate their name, be support in old age and maybe even produce grandkids to love. All that is lost forever to some inane ideal. Atheism Kills now and eternally.

If you have children and want them to grow to adulthood maybe you should let them know not only is life worth living here, it's worth living Over There.

Not everyone who commits suicide goes to Hell. I can give you chapter and verse for that. But if you die lost, you're lost forever.

The Sky Didn't Fall this Morning

Chicken Little is nearly always wrong. Oh, sometimes she sees things that might cause us to duck but the "Let's all run for our life" fear based infoglut is nearly always wrong.

But I hear you say, What about when she's right? OK. Then she's right. You'll deal with it. But fear and panic over Chicken Little's prognostications are nothing less than bondage and a stronghold that puts you in chains. Most of the time over things that will never happen.

The stock market was supposed to fall off the edge of the earth this morning. It didn't. Even if the Fed hadn't notched 3/4 of a point before the market opened, it wasn't going to collapse.

The news media had everyone (not me) convinced. I was looking for a chance to get LONG.

Quit worrying yourself to DEATH. That's what it is. DEATH.

LIVE. Even if every newscaster including FOX says things are going to heck, they're not. You'll be OK. I'll be OK.

Be Bold Be Strong for the Lord thy God is with THEE!

I said that to a friend yesterday. It's true today too. It's been true for thousands of years. It'll be true thousands of years from now.

What in the world could worry anyone that much?

Global Warming Pshaw - Here's the REAL PROBLEM

Living in IL I watch rivers that are high percentage of silt run to the sea daily. Wash and run off from farms. Your life is sustained by about 3 feet of topsoil that circles the globe. It's being washed and blown away by industrial agriculture.

I see it happening all around me. I'm far less worried by the effects of Global Warming than I am by the result of scarified sterile land unable to produce or sustain.

An article that is worthy of being read.

Why Not Ron Paul?

I know I have some readers who look at this blog that believe Ron Paul might be a good option since so many of the others in the race seem to be lacking this or that.

Ron Paul has some very deep problems.

I am posting a link to an article that details them clearly. If you read this in whole and then conclude Ron Paul is the man to lead this country I am concerned.

Monday, January 21, 2008

So Now What - Everybody Stinks

Let me get this straight.

Fred Thompson is out of the Republican horse race.

McCain is a bum. To put it the way Glen Beck just did. "Clinton McCain isn't a race for the White House, it's a ticket". Glen, Rush and the others are really over the top angry at McCain.

Rudy is Socially not acceptable. And, he's losing in New York to McCain. He may not make it in a national election. I like Rudy but he's out in left or in this case a one shot Orange field called Florida.

Romney is a flip flopper. Plus we have a bad habit of humiliating (or assassinating) Massachusetts Politicians. Kennedy's all. Dukakis. Romney is in favor of anything that will get him elected. He has sound foundational principles, just ask him what they are. They are the same as yours as soon as he figures out what yours are. Romney is the Chameleon Candidate.

Ron Paul's positions are obscured by his tinfoil hat. Duncan Hunter says anyone but McCain. Fred's best friend is McCain. What a mess. We have no one as a nominee and no one electable.

Or do we..................

So, let's see, who does that leave? Who is it that can appeal to a "change" focused electorate. Someone who can stand socially and fiscally on a platform we can get behind. Someone differentiated from the Bush administration the current electorate seems to have such animus for.

It's a whole new horse race out there. Everyone is pretending that the horse
running just behind the lead horse is invisible in spite of the fact that he is drafting right behind the front runner. Yet ignored.

It's time to recognize we still have a real candidate. A candidate that is not cookie cutter to the Republican party of 1973, one that has new and workable ideas with sound unchanging ideals. It's a new day, we need a new man. He's still in the race and everyone keeps saying LA LA LA LA LA LA hoping he'll go away. To what?

Let's see if we can win this thing.

Chicago Cops at their worst

What in heck is going on here?

Why are these men beating this patient in a hospital?


This video starts with a commercial but it begins to make sense as you watch it. Or rather makes no sense at all!

Tasercide - AGAIN

How long are we going to pretend that murder by cops with a Tazer is OK?

If I began to link the deaths by Tazer in the last 2 years alone the list would be very long.

Why is it OK to murder people with Tazer and get away with it?

Am I missing something here?


Just because it’s ostensibly not a “Deadly Weapon” (except that it kills people) why is this OK??? Lots of other bloggers are asking this question.

IF this is true then all people calling themselves Lutheran should condemn the ELCA today

I heard about this Sunday.  I decided to look it up.  Sure enough, the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) pays for elective abortion thru it's health care plan.
 
Somehow having elective abortion paid for by a seminarian health care plan somehow seems out of line.  Ya think?
 
Call me narrow-minded.
 
But I looked it up.  So should you. Prove and correct me if I'm wrong.  A few months ago when the ELCA had its convention in Chicago and embraced gay clergy or at least allowed for it, I made the proclamation that if YOU are part of an ELCA congregation, you are in jeopardy.  Get out.  Run.  Leave the Church.  Never give another dollar.  Starve out Jezebel.
 
Apostasy should be shunned; not rewarded by apathy. 
 
OR at least do what some Episcopalians have done.  Start a conservative move to split the Church.
 
This is pure and simple sin.  That's what prophets are supposed to do. Call sin SIN.  I just did.

I want my Rights!

“If you are a black, vegetarian, Muslim, asylum-seeking, one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you.”

Tip o the hat to Ken McCracken

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Chuck on Huck

Chuck Norris on why we should all get behind the only guy who can beat Hillary. I didn’t say this, Chuck did. I agree with Chuck. He told me to say this or he would beat the crap out of me.
Hillary vs. Huckabee

Posted: January 20, 2008

8:45 p.m. Eastern

Sitting at another full-throttle World Combat League event in San Antonio, Texas, on Friday night, I caught myself momentarily reflecting back upon the previous two days of campaigning with GOP frontrunner Mike Huckabee. As the contestants combated in the WCL ring, I thought to myself, “The fight of the century would be Hillary vs. Huckabee in the presidential ring.”

Unless Barack Obama’s surge shatters everyone’s expectations, or he manages some strategic alignment with John Edwards as a dynamic duo, it seems Hillary will win the nomination. And the question that continues to loom on everyone’s mind will remain: Who can beat Hillary? Which GOP candidate has the background, experience and savvy to wage war against the Clinton machine?

I know unequivocally who that man is. It is Mike Huckabee. I’ll tell you why.

The problems with other GOP punches

I’ve trained fighters for nearly four decades now. I was a six-time world champion. I pretty much know what it takes to create a winner. And I believe there are similarities between making winners in the fighting ring and the presidential one – only the strong survive.

Right now the Clinton machine (which Huckabee calls “the sausage grinder") is planning how to slice and dice each of the GOP candidates if they make the nomination.

Ron Paul would battle Hillary with substance, but I believe he would ultimately bow to her shrewdness. Her prowess would prey upon his constitutional cries. He simply lacks the finesse to handle her fortitude.

Fred Thompson is a good man with a fairly conservative record. However, I believe the Clinton-malevolent marketers would aim at his lack of personality or passion and score a direct hit with the public.

John McCain would put on a strong battle against Hillary, though I fear he would be crippled simply on account of the age factor (72 in August). If the presidency ages one at 3-1 year rate, one term could advance McCain into his 80s.

Rudy Giuliani, if he survives this strategy to jump start his campaign in Florida, would be sized up and found wanting as the “New York senator vs. the New York mayor” battle began. Trumping his 9/11 apprentice through trite compliments, Hillary will accuse him of being more Democrat than he is Republican and undervaluing middle America by ignoring the initial primary states.

Mitt Romney might be able to match Hillary’s advertisement monies, but the Clinton character assassins will shoot at the series of flip-flops in his platform. And who better to understand how to attack a waffler than one married to Bill Clinton!

Mano a mano from Hope

The person the Clinton sausage grinder fears most is Mike Huckabee. Why? Because …

1) He has the longest and largest executive experience running government among GOP candidates – three years a lieutenant governor and 11 years as governor of the State of Arkansas – more experience than even Bill took into office.

2) Hillary can’t belittle Huck’s origins because they are theirs too – Bill and Mike were both governors, both from Hope, Ark.

3) Mike has far more passion and personality than Hillary, and he is the only one who can persuasively outlast, outplay and outwit her in any debating ring or campaign arena.

4) Mike has a record she can’t punch. She can’t even swing at the false allegations against Mike on immigration, taxes or pardons, primarily because the Clinton legacy has a record of condoning illegals, raising taxes and releasing criminals!

Though I’m sure Bill is now regretting the compliment he offered Huckabee when Mike was nowhere near the top tier of candidates, let me remind the world. Bill said Mike was the “only dark horse that’s got any kind of chance … He’s the best speaker they’ve got.”

The fact is Mike is the best opponent to fight Hillary, because, most of all, as he has reminded us in many occasions,

The only resource Clinton has that could combat Mike is more money – and in this ring we all know the muscle in that fist. But we can prevent that, and must by financially joining Mike’s army before it’s too late.

So can a man who was raised in a poor background from Hope, Ark., become governor then president? As Mike says, “Our country has already proven that!” What I would say is: Give Hope another chance! This time they want to send in the real cavalry.

Keep Hope alive! Join my wife Gena and me in electing Mike Huckabee!