Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Quit being a wishy-washy, revolving door Christian. Choose THIS DAY whom you serve! Then...Serve the... Lord with ALL thy might! The highways of life are full of flat squirrels who couldn't make up their minds. Have a "made-up mind"!

Hopeful change. Education just doesn't work.

online.wsj.com
The Wall Street Journal on 'triggering' school reform in Compton.

ONE person complains. An Atheist. And BOOM the Nativity Scene is gone.

What IS the definition of Tyranny?

CANONSBURG, Pa. -- A local town town has removed a Nativity scene from the borough building after a resident complained. Monday, December 6, 2010.

Present yourself in the best possible light by avoiding common mistakes.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Impact People

I just spent several hours with Larry Ristvedt, a friend, a business partner, a very wise man.

We enjoyed our time together...

He is struggling in his body but he is Larry. In every way.

Makes me laugh.

What is most amazing is as we hashed over old times from our past so much of who i am today was deeply impacted by him. I told him, you were always the Ying to my Yang. I don't have anyone today even who is.

I run pretty high and his calm manner always caused me to rethink what I was doing. He even helped me avoid shipwreck a few times.

He is about my age yet he is so many years more.

I want to see him again soon. I will.

Good man.

He made such a rich impact on my life.

Thanks Larry

Monday, December 06, 2010

SING A LITTLE LOUDER "I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I considered myself a Christian.

"I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I considered myself a Christian


After a speech, pro-life activist Penny Lea was approached by an old man. Weeping, he told her the following story:

"I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. I attended church since I was a small boy. We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people today in this country, we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really taking place. What could anyone do to stop it?

A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from a distance and then the clacking of the wheels moving over the track. We became disturbed when one Sunday we noticed cries coming from the train as it passed by. We grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews. They were like cattle in those cars!

Week after week that train whistle would blow. We would dread to hear the sound of those old wheels because we knew that the Jews would begin to cry out to us as they passed our church. It was so terribly disturbing! We could do nothing to help these poor miserable people, yet their screams tormented us. We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns. By the time that train came rumbling past the church yard, we were singing at the top of our voices. If some of the screams reached our ears, we'd just sing a little louder until we could hear them no more. Years have passed and no one talks about it much anymore, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. I can still hear them crying out for help. God forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians, yet did nothing to intervene.

"Their screams tormented us . . . If some of their screams reached our ears we'd just sing a little louder."

Now, so many years later, I see it happening all over again in America. God forgive you as Americans for you have blocked out the screams of millions of your own children. The holocaust is here. The response is the same as it was in my country - SILENCE!"

Have you ever wondered HOW people could have stood by and let the holocaust just happen? Do you wonder why the Christians in this story chose to just sing their praise to God a little louder to drown out the victim's cries?

The old man's story is in the past. The past cannot be changed. It is easy to think we would act differently now. But the old man's last words are haunting "It's happening all over again in America with abortion. The Holocaust is here."

As American Christians, we have become so comfortable in our lovely buildings and padded pews. We have beautiful fellowship halls for our many banquets. We have the latest sound equipment for our praise and worship. We have computers to keep our records. We gather together each week and shut ourselves inside our buildings. We raise our voices as loud as we can, all in the name of God.

And yet, in the heavenly realm, our voices raised in praise are drowned out by screams of agony from millions of babies who are being executed before they are born. We can't see them. We can't hear them. But it is happening right now!

Babies are being aborted UP UNTIL THE DAY OF BIRTH in this country. Their organs and brains are "harvested" for use in medical experimentation. In Wichita, Kansas, the smoke stack from the furnace of Dr. Tiller's abortion clinic belches out black smoke and the sickening smell of burning flesh. These are the bodies of 7th, 8th and 9th month old babies being "disposed of".

If the Christians in the old man's church had done something, they would have probably been killed. That is not the case with us. We don't even have that as an excuse for our silence.

Years from now will you be like that old man trying to explain your apathy as millions were led away to slaughter in abortion clinics? Or will you raise your voice and cry out in protest for those who have no voice! The choice is YOURS!

FACTS ABOUT ABORTION

Fact: In the United States it is legal to abort a baby up until the day of birth.

Fact: In the D&X procedure babies are "partially aborted" so the head is still in the cervix but the body is out. While in this position the live baby is still considered an "abortion" therefore a non-person. The live baby's brains are sucked out and the other organs are harvested and sold to "researchers". The baby receives no anesthesia and is alive until the procedure kills him.

Fact: Every day in America about 4,400 babies die painful deaths by dismemberment, chemical poisoning, lethal injections into the heart, being torn limb from limb and now, being partially delivered and having their brains sucked out and their organs sold.

Fact: Abortion has two victims - the baby and the mother. Many women who have abortions suffer both physically and mentally. Depression, anxiety, grief, infection, sterility and even death are not uncommon as a result of the abortion.

Fact: Only 1% of abortions are performed as a result of rape or incest. Most abortions are done as a form of birth control because the baby is "inconvenient", "too expensive", or a "burden".

Church V Casino

Driving north yesterday we passed the DeJope Casino near Madison WI. It was about 9AM. The parking lot already had a good complement of cars in it early on that Sunday morning. I jokingly said to Peggy that they must be having Church in the Casino...

THEN it hit both of us: there are amazing parallels between a casino and the modern church as practiced in the USA:

  • People gather to seek hope and a better way of life
  • It's a place of prayer "Come on, let me win just this once"
  • People give money in the belief that money will be multiplied if they are faithful
  • The lame halt and poor occupy the seats (visit one on a senior day with a busload of people on oxygen feeding the slots)
  • There are just enough testimonies (stories) of people receiving large payoffs to keep faith alive
  • The atmosphere is saturated with music
  • From time to time the Casino / Church brings in a big name and it draws a crowd (Vegas Shows)
  • There are small groups that gather. They share in meetings of hope, it's a time of fellowship. Most of the time in casinos small groups gather around a green felt covered table. Church??
  • Hospitality is a gift. Drinks and eats flow freely
  • People let their guards down. They quickly make friends. In fact many meetings leading to matrimony happen in both places.
  • No one asks you to be a member to be part of the fun.

I'm sure you can come up with others, these were just the most obvious. I wonder how many cars were on church lots in Madison that morning at that time?

OH, one other thing. Both build huge edifices to the honor of their mission. Casinos seem to be able to easily make payments on the buildings. Look at Vegas. Churches? HMMMM