Wacko Islam

With all the ridicule and abuse the name of Jesus gets, some newspaper guy publishes this cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohamed as a Dog in his paper in Sweden and the Islamics go nuts.

So, at the risk of losing my head, I hereby republish the cartoon. We must take a stand.

Let's see, Jesus or Mohamed? Who is greater? We must make the world see the evil that is fundamentalist Islam once and for all. If rubbing the nose of the nuts in this accomplishes it then let's do it.

After all just yesterday Osama Bin Laden (or his body double) invited all Americans to convert to ISLAM. I just thought a little truth in packaging is in order before we all sign up. Of course in typical Euro-cowardice the Swedish government is trying hard to smooth things over. You can't smooth things over with nutcases.

Why try?

The Gospel is Good News - UPDATE

I am tired of hearing preachers preach about things which have nothing to do with the Gospel of Jesus. I don't mind a good sermon regarding prophecy, or overcoming sin. I think it OK to teach about the truth of the Word of God. Or about the full price paid by the Shed Blood of Jesus, that he died for our sins, that he rose again and we can be saved and be reconciled to Him thru the propitiation of the cross.

All that's true but it's not the Gospel of Jesus. At least NOT the Gospel Jesus came to teach.

It's also not the message of the Kingdom which he DID teach particularly after he rose from the dead. If it was so critical perhaps he should have not wasted time with teaching on the kingdom as he did and concentrated more on the lostness of men and sin. He didn't. I don't think we really understand what it's all about in the modern church.

Both are good, Sin and Forgiveness messages and Kingdom messages, both are essential, in their right place. Both should be taught and preached but people are hungry for the good news Gospel of Jesus. The good news Jesus taught. The good news of the Prodigal Son. Another badly taught parable.

I think a person could preach a facet of the good news every Sunday Morning, every Sunday Night, every Wednesday Night and in a Friday Bible Study and never exhaust the fullness of the true Gospel of Jesus.

I'll let you in because by now you are wondering, "OK Redlin, what is the Gospel". OK, Here's the secret. It's fullness of Salvation. Not just sins forgiven and going to heaven.

It's health, healing, deliverance, freedom, True Joy, Peace, Revelation, Wholeness, Provision, Protection, Covenant, Release, Fearlessness, Sanctification, Overcoming and a hundred perhaps meanings of the Greek words for Gospel Salvation, Sozo and Soteria. I have looked them all up and the list is right at 75 once you spread your search to include all words relating to them. Here's where to start: Iterations of the word Soteria are here. And iterations in meaning of the word Sozo.

Read all the passages referenced and we are talking biblical salvation. John 3:16-17. Jesus didn't talk in terms of his impending death and resurrection. He talked about true GOSPEL salvation. Yet most of the church preaches salvation from sin. Certainly that's a first step but only the first step. The reason so many in the church are so lost and confused is they don't grasp the fullness of the great salvation provided them.

Look at this diagram. You will see that a person sinks in sin, comes to a place of repentance and then after looking to the cross is built up in faith and redemption until they reach the fullness of their salvation on this side of the age or the other.

That's where the badly taught story of the Prodigal comes in. We (I have too so don't holler) preach it as the love of God receiving in a sinner bent for hell. Certainly that's an application that can fill an altar, but it's not the application Jesus made. HE was trying to explain the fullness of the Good News (Gospel) by illustrating that the son, no matter what he did, was always his son, the fullness of his salvation was always his, he needed to come back to the father to enter into it. Not heaven, enter into protection, provision, healing, restoration, and all the other facets we never preach on when we preach the Prodigal. Once a christian saved by grace and returned to the Father, we can then work out our salvation with fear and trembling and looking to the full expression of it all in our lives. That's what's not being taught.

We are too busy preaching folks into hell and then grasping them back. I'm for that. I hate cheap grace. But, let's then help them understand everything wrapped up in the fullness of his salvation. Sozo. Soteria.

Read Ezekiel 36. There is a pretty clear picture of the Fathers salvation and his intent. He doesn't do it for OUR sake. He does it for the sake of his name. He IS salvation. His name is Jeshuah (OT Joshua). God is Salvation.

Back to what you are preaching. If you are only preaching and teaching on the forgiveness of sins you are missing most of the truth of the Gospel.
Let's just suppose you could preach on just ONE of those other facets of full Salvation. Could you exhaust that little partial piece of the full subject of salvation in one Sunday? I don't think so.

Jesus came and when asked to read, read from Isaiah. It's recorded in Luke 4.

16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and He entered the synagogue, as was His custom on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read.

17 And there was handed to Him [the roll of] the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened (unrolled) the book and found the place where it was written,

18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity],

19 To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound.

20 Then He rolled up the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were gazing [attentively] at Him.

21 And He began to speak to them: Today this Scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing.

Notice that Jesus NEVER talks about going to heaven, forgiveness of sins or the rituals we must or should observe. He declares the good news, The Gospel is that he is the anointed one, the messiah, and as such that the poor don't have to be in poverty any more, that those bound up by anything can be freed, that blindness spiritual and physical can be reversed, that those oppressed by situations can be delivered, those bruised can be healed, those crushed by calamity can be restored. He proclaims that a year of Jubilee has been proclaimed over us, the favor of God is given to us profusely.

That dear reader IS the Gospel.

While to most people it's that Jesus died for your sins. That's how the Gospel has been released but it's not the full Gospel.

I suggest that if you are a pastor and you preach or teach others you might ask yourself today, Am I preaching the Gospel of Hope, Freedom and Deliverance or am I placing people further in bondage?

If Jesus did it, maybe we should too. Preach the Gospel.

Off the Road Again

I have been postless because I have been traveling.  Selling and buying. 

 

I also made a visit to the IHOP in KC.  I am going to blog on that at some future date.

 

I can only say this, this trip gave me a lot of windshield time to decide what is and isn't important in my life right now.  What matters and what is futile. 

 

I no longer feel like I am getting where I am called to be on the path I am on.  It's time for a change.  I don't know what that looks like but it's not the same as now. 

 

More to come.

 

As Peggy said to me 22 years ago when I was offered a position working in the Chicagoland area, "I'm up for a change".  I am.

No Surprise Here

Keith Blogged his results from the Belief-o-Matic Quiz.

Here's what they say I am:

1.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2.	Orthodox Quaker (95%)
3.	Seventh Day Adventist (94%)
4.	Eastern Orthodox (90%)
5.	Roman Catholic (90%)
6.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (65%)
7.	Orthodox Judaism (55%)
8.	Islam (53%)
9.	Hinduism (51%)
10.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (46%)
11.	Jehovah's Witness (44%)
12.	Bahá'í Faith (43%)
13.	Liberal Quakers (42%)
14.	Jainism (36%)
15.	Unitarian Universalism (35%)
16.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (34%)
17.	Mahayana Buddhism (33%)
18.	Sikhism (32%)
19.	Theravada Buddhism (32%)
20.	Reform Judaism (29%)
21.	Scientology (27%)
22.	New Thought (23%)
23.	New Age (20%)
24.	Neo-Pagan (18%)
25.	Nontheist (16%)
26.	Secular Humanism (13%)
27.	Taoism (11%)

Like Homer would say, Duh-o

Really Neat Gadget

If you have ever wanted to know how to include HTML tags in your comments, particularly links, bolding, italics, underlining etc you will want to look at Scribefire. I use it with Firefox, which if you are not using as a web browser, well now, shame on you. It's free and works bout better than anything else I ever used.

Scribe Fire allows you to create a wysiwyg comment with links and pix and then drop them whole using the html button into a comment field. It's really neat.

What are you waiting for?

New Testament Christians Need the Law

I like to read Keith Darrel's Blogsite.  He's a good writer and John Armstrong, who knows him, says he respects him a great deal.  I hope to meet him someday.  On his website profile he says something that is jarring but absolutely true:  I came into the world a still born - dead in my sins and transgressions, a rebel against the one who created and loved me.

 

I could cite chapter and verse on this.  To a non believer it won't matter and to those who know the Bible you already know the references so I'll just go ahead without citing.  If you really want to know where I got that, just ask.  gredlin@cfaith.com

 

Most adults today grew up in a too permissive society.  An indulgent society.  A forgiving society.  On the surface this seems like  good thing.  I mean people like to be allowed to become whatever they can become. Right.  Let's see.

 

My first boss was a hard one.  Tough.  Mean. Demanding.  Overbearing.  So was my father.  He could kick me across the room. And did.

 

Both men in one way or another are reasons that I am so thankful for the salvation I have today.  I know what it's like to fear.  That is a positive.

 

I can't prove what I am about to say exactly but observationally.   I think we have raise a generation of people, now adults who think they are OK.  In fact A-OK.  They have stuff and somehow think it's the blessing of God to have stuff.  They have never suffered anything.  They don't know the meaning of the word NO.  Life has been easy and they think it's supposed to be that way.

 

To them everything is and has always been, "you're the best, no one is better than you are, you can do no wrong, you are perfect".  Self esteem stuff pumped into them from a child.

 

On the surface it seems like that might be a good thing.  It's not.  This false illusion of human goodness sends a damning message. 

 

An employee who is always given awards for excellence even when they aren't excellent, commendations, decent reviews,  when the day comes for reckoning they are shocked.  If they had been corrected and directed all along they would have conformed their behavior and performance to a level suitable for the job they are about to be fired from.  I can't tell you the large number of people who have told me this story over and over again.  The boss thought it was merciful of him to give them good feedback even when they didn't deserve it.  What they really needed was a kick in the butt.

 

In the old testament there were lots of laws.  There were the 10 commandments, the levitical laws and sundry Jewish laws implemented as time went by.  Jews did guilt pretty well.  The problem is forgiveness was a system.  So, on the day of atonement you could sin like hell for another year.  We have that in the modern church.  Structured forgiveness which allows for sin without consequence.  It happens in old line denominational churches more than evangelical.  The classical application is Catholicism, Confess, say a half dozen hail Mary's and you're good to go.  Lutherans do it in communion.  Sin like hell, cop a pop and a wafer and your good to go.  Evangelicals do it at the altar.  Come up, confess, weep, then go and start all over.  We have a quick fix.  It's time to put the law back on the wall.  GOOD: Love God, Keep Sabbath, No Idols, Honor Parents, BAD Killing, Stealing, Lying, Coveting, Adultery, and taking the Name of The Lord in Vain. 

 

Jesus came.  He fulfilled all of the law and set it aside because of the power of the cross and his resurrection.  Now we have Christians who live, party, marry, divorce, steal and claim to serve God like there was no Hell and the law was neutralized.  It wasn't.  It was fulfilled in Jesus. 

 

The bad news for them is, Hell is Real.  If they continue on this path they will end up there.

 

I blame lots of things.  The ban on spanking.  I didn't need to wonder if I was a sinner as a child.  I knew.  I was spanked and disciplined pretty hard.  Today, we don't allow our kids to know that disobedience is sin.  It is but we couch it.  Spanking is hardly done anymore.

 

I learned early on that disobeying my parents meant I was headed for hell.  I thought the 4th commandment meant that if I disobeyed I'd be killed by God.

 

Is that good.  I'm not sure it isn't.  The Bible says that the law is a way for us to understand the depth of our sin.  It's a mirror for us to see ourselves as we really are. 

 

Some time ago I asked God for a glimpse of Heaven.  What I got was a glimpse of ME thru heaven's eyes with and without the Blood of Jesus.  It was ugly beyond belief.  Yet his love and receiving of me as a vile sinner was without condemnation.  He washes me clean.  My depth of sin and his complete love in receiving me is such a distance so as to cause me to bow and cry Holy.

 

We must allow the law to convict people of sin.  We must start letting people know that if they are living together it's sin, if they are selling drugs it's sin, if they are beating people up, it's sin, if they are stealing it's a sin and if they cause a little one to stumble it's real sin.

 

Jesus did not come to abolish the law, he came to fulfill it's requirements but if we continue to sin in blatant rebellion to the laws of God we are heading for hell even if we name the name of Jesus. 

 

We must warn people of the mouth of hell drools waiting for them hoping they get stupid and sloppy about who Jesus is.  Our culture doesn't like that warning.  It likes soft words.  Let me ask you.  Have soft words won America to Jesus?  Have they even kept pace with the devil's culture?

 

What about other countries and continents?  Do they have any doubt about the requirements of the law?  Is it any wonder why the whole globe is coming to Jesus and we're not in America?  We never learned or believed how lost and stillborn we were spiritually.  Who's fault was that?

 

Mine.  Yours.  It's not too late. 

Like Begets Like. 5 levels of the Christian Walk and Churches - Answering the high calling of God

Most churches and most believers are convinced that the prime directive from God is to get people saved. John Armstrong has a story about one such effort I question.

I have bad news. It's not.

Jesus NEVER told his disciples to go out and get people saved. HERESY I heard you say. OK, let's look and see.

Your prime directive is to make disciples. Isn't that the same? Nope. Our job as Christians and as a Church is to reveal the Risen Christ and the finished work of the Cross which saves from damnation on this side of the veil and the other. The Holy Spirit woo's who he chooses to woo. We can pray, we can hope, we can witness but in the end it's not up to us. If a person isn't called by the Holy Spirit all the witness in the world won't save them. There are professors in divinity school who know the Bible better than you do and are headed for hell. There are pastors of churches who are as lost as the worst sinner in the gutter. Hell bound, unredeemed and unrepentant.

We have a plague of immaturity in the church which means that we are unable to fulfill the great commission. We are weak and ineffective because the church is made up of whatever is replicated by it's leadership. Like begetting Like.

It's a progression. There are 5 levels to this progressive upward call.

Level One -- Head Knowledge and Emotions
A person becomes a new believer. He is excited. He tells everyone he knows. He's a witness. Other new believers come on board. They form a new believers group. They love it. They love each other. They decide to get aggressive in finding others to become part of their group. There are churches who are full of the passion and enthusiasm of new believers but who are not yet taught or stable. The door revolves as people become disappointed and go looking for more.

Level Two -- Hands of Doers of the word

They want to become a follower of Jesus. They find other people who are followers of Jesus. They wear the WWJD band. They get a bumper sticker that says Jesus is my Best Friend. They have a poster on their wall that says, "Jesus is My Pastor". The church they are in is stuck on creating Jesus Followers, doing good works and helping the poor and so forth. They are busy but vulnerable and immature. Eventually something will hit them on the head and they will leave out the back door looking for something more. They have been struck with the futility of empty good works without more. What is more now?

Level Three -- Heart Knowledge, Loving Jesus

They want to KNOW Jesus. Not know about him. KNOW him. Intimately. Passionately. Like a Bride knows her husband. They become engaged in becoming the disciple that Jesus Loves. They pursue true discipleship. They pray. They get to know him. They are really committed. They fall in love with him. The problem is they become inbred. There becomes a spirit attitude about the Body of Christ as them and us. Soon they are like the disciples on the mount of transfiguration, they want to establish a tabernacle there and stay there. It's all good and well meaning but it isn't enough. It's still not the high calling of God. People want MORE. So they move on.

I can hear you saying. This is church hopping. No, it's a spiritual longing for maturity. Each of the steps along the way are important and shouldn't be ignored but many churches are not great at bringing people to spiritual maturity. They teach, preach and take an offering. People ever hearing and never learning or growing. The sermons they hear are good but not what will help them go to the next level.

Level Four -- Feet for ministry
Here is a church with good believer flow, followers of Jesus and good discipleship. The people are ministered to by the staff. They love their pastor. Unfortunately many churches get stuck here too because the idea that only the minister, called man of God or leaders can do ministry. This creates a cult of personality. Not that they do a bad job as much as they do, but they are not what those dear people need. They need someone to come along side as a mature person. In most churches that mature Christian is not present in quantity or quality because the focus is on the professionals on staff. This is the pattern we see in many good churches but it still isn't the highest calling of God. People can live here for a long time but if they grow in maturity they will want even MORE.

Level Five -- The Master Builders using Knowledge, Hearts, Hands in Ministry
They want to be part of an equipping and sending church. When church leadership really grasps that it's highest call is to serve all 5 levels at all times they come close. I know some churches like this. Faith Center in Rockford is very close. The focus is to equip people for ministry. The church should be a place that builds apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and preachers and then become intentional in finding a place to engage their gift in and out of the church building. That is that is the kind of church a person will settle in for a long time. Become a part of and then be sent from to do the work of the ministry and replicate themselves.

It's a tough balance to achieve. This can be the stuff of Church Splits. As people become equipped they start searching for ways to be used of God in the Body of Christ and not just keep a pew warm. They want to go from being a disciple to making disciples and then to equip them for the ministry and eventually release the 5 fold gifts they have. These people become driven by the great commission.

Abraham Maslow describes this pattern in a humanistic way. I can take Maslow and interpolate it to speak to the spiritual maturity pattern.

1. We need to feel like we are saved and secure as a believer
2. Then we need to be busy doing something as a Christ Follower
3. Then we need to feel the intimacy in relationship as a disciple
4. Then we need to be focused on ministering to others. Many Churches are stuck on this with a strong leader who carries the gifts he does. He becomes the answer man.
5. Ultimately deep inside we need to be contributing to all ministry in our gift. We becomes Body of Christ focused. We become equippers.
   

That is the highest call. It is the upward call we all hear in our spirit.

Unfortunately like produces like.

If you have a church full of baby believers they will be immature and unstable. And they will replicate themselves. The church will be full of baby Christians forever.

If you have a church full of Christ Followers, they will be engaged in good works, feeding the poor, doing stuff in the community. They will be so busy they will never grow up themselves. This church seems to be productive but you know when you are there because the church judges you by what you contribute in good works. Immature believers sometimes are the hardest workers, for a while.

If you have a church of disciples who are passionate toward Jesus and tabernacle builders there will be an inward turn that will cause new believers and Christ followers to be excluded. There will be a them and us division. We're not like those other guys. You will not be judged by what you do in good works but by how much time you spend at the altar in prayer.

If you have a church of with a staff of ministers and strong leadership there will be a good sense of teaching, instruction, learning, and preaching. The pro's do the work and the people enjoy it.

But, if you have a church of mature believers who are called of God to the ministry of equipping the saints, you have a church that is reaching very close to the upward call of God. Equippers from the 5 fold (Ephesians 4). You will know they are equippers because they will select choice people and work hard to develop them. They will concentrate on developing and equipping them for the ministry. God's best is for people to operate at this level.

Jesus had the same situation.

Jesus had lots of people who believed in him. Who came to him with needs. They believed he could heal.

He had many followers who followed him around for a long time. They loved his teaching.

He had a large number of disciples. More than the 12. He sent out 72. They wanted to do the works like he did and be close to him. Intimate.

But he was careful to select out only 12 in whom he would invest himself so they could do the equipping to do the ministry later. And one of them didn't make it.

Paul in 2 Timothy 2:2 advises his spiritual son Timothy NOT to try to spend time equipping every single one for the ministry. It would only frustrate him. He says, "the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." In other words be selective and invest in only the ones who really want it and who you believe will bear fruit.

If Jesus did it, Paul did it, then what about us?

We must get people as high in the call of God as we can but some people will only go to a certain level. Even in life not everyone becomes fully self actualized according to Maslow. We wish they could be. Not all will. We must try.

I believe the high calling of God is best when churches and fellowships are constantly sending our pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets and Apostles created in their midst. Sometimes a painful church split happens because people are convinced they are equipped and ready. Some are, some are not. If they leave they leave. If we are going to error, let's error on the side of equipping and hope they grow before they split. Churches made up of followers and believers seldom split, they fracture and disintegrate. It is churches made up of Disciples, Ministers and Equippers that are more in jeopardy.

Francis Frangipane calls church splits unintentional church plants.

But that's another topic. If you are the leader of a Church, ask yourself the hard question. What is my church made up of, Believers, Followers, Disciples, Ministers, Equippers. Let's hope you have a steady flow of all 5 as they respond to the call of God. But if you have people permanently stuck on levels 1 or 2 it's time to ask yourself a hard question.

Am I answering the High Call of God in my life? Because, Dear Pastor, Like Begets Like. If you are generating immature fragile believers, what does this mean? Who are you? What are you replicating?

You can't impart what you don't possess. 1 Thessalonians 2:8

Nice Others Noticed, God's Warrrior Flawed Moral Relativism

Dan Abrams at MSNBC was pretty tough on CNN and Christina Amapour's slash piece on Christians and Jews and the puff piece on Islam.

This from the same person who was singing high praise of Bin Laden last year about this time.

Read the whole thing, comments and all.

Dim Bulb or Genius?

I just took this spam IQ test. Tickle.

It says I have an IQ of 131. OOOOOOOOOOO, be impressed or not. Probably not. My lovely wife scored 138. I knew that. She's always been smarter than me.

I don't know if I'm really bright or just a good test taker. I may qualify for Mensa. Or not.

I know when I was in High School I was always "Achieving Below My Potential". So were you. I don't know what it means to perform at your full potential. Neither does any one else.

So, take the dumb test and don't lie. Report it out as you should.

Maybe we're ALL above average.

The Cure for Boredom

I'm bored.  That was the cry of little kids and now many of those kids have grown and are still bored.

 

It's a tough old row to hoe except that the problem, they never learned the joy of row hoeing.

 

Boredom is easy to cure.  No one EVER has to be bored. 

 

Here's how to avoid and conquer boredom once and for all:

 

Concentrate not on the end goal but on the next step.  Many people get frustrated and then bored because they see the big picture and never successfully see the next step.  It's like picking rocks out of a big field.  If you look at all the rocks and the big field ahead you will become frustrated and eventually give up out of boredom of the task ahead. 

 

The key to overcoming this part of it is focus on just the next rock.  Then the one after that.  Don't imagine or vision the field as being done.  Vision it as better.  One rock at a time.  Keep going, don't give up and at some point you may actually have all the rocks out of the field.

 

Pay detailed attention to what you are doing.  Focus on the next step carefully.  Do it intentionally.  If you are weeding a garden, pull one single blade of grass at a time.  Relish it, take your time, slow down, think about what you are doing.  Do it slowly.  Weed at half speed.  This intentional slowness will help create the mental ability to displace boredom with attention.  People who multitask and try to do 3 things at once burn out and are bored.  Our IPOD Video game cell phone generation aggravates boredom.

 

If you take the most mundane potentially boring task and break it into very small deliberate steps and do those slowly you will find your boredom overcome.  Relish the moment.  Breath the air around you. Sense all the sensations of the thing you are doing. Think of the joy of this single act  Don't think about anything else.  Focus carefully.

 

After just a little while of this focus you will automatically speed up again, your mind will wander, you will find the activity you are engaged in rewarding and you will accomplish your task no matter how monumental without boredom.

 

I have learned this discipline and thought I would pass it along.

Trapped or Entrapped

I have been pretty quiet about the whole Larry Craig Brouhaha. I don't have a dog in that fight. I never knew who he was till this whole thing blew up.

Now I do.

I am somewhat disturbed by it all. I can't tell you why. It's like a bad movie. When the cops seem to be above board but something stinks. My skin crawls a bit. I think there may be more than meets the eye here.

First, let me say I am not a big fan of Minnesota and particularly Twin Cities law enforcement. I very much remember the child molestation charges leveled against some people who never did anything wrong in a daycare some years ago. That was typical Minnesota. There is a liberal self righteousness that exists that I am uncomfortable with. A witch hunt mentality among law enforcement people.

As I have watched this whole Larry Craig thing develop I'm no longer convinced he wasn't entrapped. I have trolled the blogosphere and professional opinion for insight. There is no true consensus.

The Right Wing wants to show itself clean and perfect. They're not. But that's what they want to show.

I am as concerned over this whole thing as potential entrapment as I am over the sexual predator shows on NBC. I think something stinks about all that deal too. I want sexual predators in jail. I'm just not convinced we are catching predators but just stupid people entrapped by a clever scheme.

Color me sceptical.

Back to Larry Craig. I listened to and read his interview with the cop. I thought the cop was a bit overboard in his comments.

Here are several other opinions worth considering:

A guy who is convinced that this is all over but the shouting.

This guy thinks Crag was trapped in a sting operation and shouldn't have been maybe.

This professor insists it's NOT entrapment. My answer, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and has feathers like a duck I think you may have a duck on your hands.

This Woman insists it's all hypocrisy and cultural drift

This College Girl thinks it's kinda weird

The Best Take on all this in "Defense" of Larry Craig

Classical Values does a great review and linkology of the whole thing

Newsbusters (who I like) does a Why Do The Liberals Pile On review

I actually think the liberals on this one have been pretty evenhanded.

My real concern is what in the world are the Republicans thinking of in having the REP convention in The Twin Cities next summer? If I were a delegate I would hold it for the whole 5 days. You never know if the toe tapping sting squad is going to be watching.

How bout Sunny St. Charles? We promise not to ask or tell. Give up on MPLS/ST PAUL. They're out to get you. On the other hand, if you come here, don't tap your foot or wave your hand.

How Many Great Dreams and Accomplishments are Buried UNREALIZED in The World's Graves

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."
- Alexander Graham Bell:

"A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams."
- John Barrymore

"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

"Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience."
- Victoria Holt

"Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only for wallowing in."
- Katherine Mansfield

Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
- T. S. Eliot

wouldacouldashoulda

The opportunity waited patiently for me to make a move
A step to the left or one to the right
But just a step for victory to be approved ...
Yet none was taken and there I stood in a cloud of wouldacouldashould.

Write a letter, visit a friend, take part in charity
Save a dollar, thank a client, finish my degree ...
All opportunity is around begging me to take a stand.
Read a book, compose a song or simply take someone by the hand.
Yet nothing was done and there I stood in the cloud of wouldacouldashould.

Dodidanddone will be my cry through a life of happiness,
Taking action, having fun and making a difference.
Wouldacouldashould, the saddest word known to man,
It breaks the hearts of maidens and wreaks havoc in the land.
Wouldacouldashould, a word I'll never say again!

Because from this day forth I'll rise above the cloud of discontent
To capture all the potential of the time that is well spent.
Dodidanddone is how I'm known and how my life is lived
Clear choices with strong actions is the best gift to self I'll give.

- Jim Paluch

30 Days to Complete Freedom

Lew Rockwell has described a very comprehensive plan I am on board with. So should you be. If only...............................

Hat tip to KDNY.

On recent Christian Leader failings

I have been made aware of some very sad outcomes of high profile men and women pastors of some very large churches in America.

Divorce and damage.

God cares about these things more than anyone can imagine. The vitriol about all this on the christian blogosphere is unchristian. Holier than thou or anyone else is the nature of the comments.

Here's the spiritual reality:

• God demands that we develop our own levels of intimacy with Jesus, we can't surrogately live thru others spirituality. Many mega church pastor leaders try hard to allow us to enter into what is ultimately a show.
• Men are fallen human beings. None are sinless or perfect. One who puts his trust in man is cursed already.
• Even the most fallen sinful man or woman can relay the truth of God. The duty of the Christian is to discern what and when it is.
• Who are you going to hear from for the truth that you need? If you only can trust those who are without failure you will not hear much truth.
• The fact that some people who preach a given gospel are failures as people does not affect the truth of the gospel. In fact they are and were most targeted by the enemy and did not live in the covering they needed. The truth of the gospel they preached is not affected by the failures they are.
• I am sad but not dismayed. I know in whom I have believed and I am convinced that neither death nor life not anything made or not made can in any way separate me from the love of God.

Not divorce. Not beatings. Not moral failure. Not stupidity.

I am careful to whom I will give my allegiance. I know too many good men and women of God and what they are like in the dark to allow myself to be dissuaded in faith by the actions of a few public failures.

God is still God today and forever.

I really feel sorry for the holier than thou sorts who see the raw stupid humanity of others and use it as a bludgeoning of a precious faith. They will be held to account ultimately for this just as those who have failed their flock.

Being a Christian isn't beanbag. It's tough and rough and if you fall into the holier than thou crowd it'll get rougher.

Don't.

8 Things you didin't know about me MEME

 In all my blog life I have never participated in a meme (whatever that means).  But I like Steve Scott and so I am going to go with it.

 

I am supposed to tag 6 others.  I'll see what I can do but I don't know that I have 6 others who blog and with whom I am regular enough with I can tag. 

 

So,

 

8 things:

 

1. I used to be really skinny.  Really.  6' 152# upon HS graduation.  I'm not now.  A hundred extra pounds snuck up on me somehow.

 

2. Related issue, gout frustrates me sometimes

 

3. I always awake exactly at 7am.  Why?  I don't know.  Time zones don't matter.  I just wake up at 7.

 

4. I don't ever remember not  being fascinated by living and growing things since I was a small child.  I grew beans in cups in winter when I was 6.  I haven't yet stopped.

 

5. I had laser surgery for my eyes in Germany before it was legal in the USA.  1990.  My nearsight before was a -11 diopter.  The glasses I wore were coke bottles.  I was so nearsighted I was considered legally blind without glasses. Even today they don't correct that deeply in the USA with Lasix.

 

6. My feet are getting larger as I get older.  Used to be a size 12, now I'm up to 14.  If I live long enough I'll be a size  20.

 

7. I have always had the ability, even as a child, to see the future in an uncanny way.  I didn't understand it.  I didn't know what it meant.  I read some books as a pre teen (Jeanne Dixon and all) to try to understand what was going on.  This has been a mixed gift, mixed blessing and mixed in my understanding.  I can't turn it on and off.  It just comes.  Sometimes I see things I wish I didn't.  I'm still learning this thing.  Maybe I never will understand it.

 

8. I believe in Genetics more than I should.  Hitler would have loved me for that.  I think some people are just born that way.  I know the arguments about Homosexuals will arise but I do believe in Genetics over culture and upbringing.

 

Those are mine.  Now I am tagging those who I believe read this blog and have a blog.  If you do, you are tagged to follow suit if you choose to.

 

Earl, Dan, Barry, Julie

 

Sorry Steve, that's the whole list.  I'm guess I'm shallow person, That would be number 9.

 

Or, if someone who normally comments would want to contribute, feel welcome.

 

Steve, in all honesty I never have done this but it was an interesting experience.  I probably won't again.

 

What is Being Faithful?

In a conversation with a good pastor friend of mine over lunch he made a comment regarding the importance of the Church of Jesus on the earth to be faithful. While on the face of it all I agree in principle, I began to ask myself, what is faithful, what does faithful look like and what if anything could be a person who thinks they are faithful, but are in fact not? Confused? So am I but in my normal stream of consciousness way here goes;

I know men and women in North Dakota who are faithful in marriage. They don't cheat on their spouses. They show up for occasions. But there is nothing between them except the faithfulness they show. IF you asked they would say, "we're still married by God". No love, no passion, but permanently faithful till the day they die.

I know Parents who are faithful to provide for their kids, see to it they go to school, see to it they have a roof over their heads but let the TV do the baby sitting and the baby sitter do the changing. Parenting for them is a title not a love. The kids grow up and never really knew for sure if they were loved by the parents they had. But the parents were by all accounts faithful.

There are politicians in Washington and in state governments who succeed by keeping their heads down. They show up for meetings, they do the minimum needed to keep being reelected. They never say or do much that could be construed as controversial. They put in time. BUT, they are faithful.

I have had employees who were faithful workers. Showed up on time, few sick days, never a problem but if I tried to figure out what they accomplished there was a problem. They depended on the demonstration of faithfulness by showing up to keep from being fired. They did not depend on effectiveness. Was that faithful?

Jesus talked of faithfulness in the parable of the mina or talents. You can look it up. Those who made something of the resources entrusted to them were rewarded with more. The one who was faithful in his own eyes tried to just preserve what was given him and had it stripped from his hands. He was called unfaithful. Wait a minute, didn't he do the minimum of what he was called to do? The criticism is he didn't do what he could have done. He didn't do what he was called to do. We all have a called on what we are to do. We just should all that and more if we are truly faithful.

I know a pastor who pastors a congregation on a good salary. The congregation requires that the pastor visit the old folks in the home, make every member visits and pray with the fold, visit the sick in the hospital and conduct the old women's bible study. He has a facility, he has a territory he should be reaching but he is marking time being faithful. A hireling. Oh, in one case I understand it. He has about 40 members with a legacy endowment that allows him to take 70 grand a year in remuneration. Reaching out could cost him his "deal". Not a bad man, but faithful to the call of God on his life? I'm not convinced. Would Jesus judge him faithful? You answer that one for yourself.

Can a church or denomination be unfaithful? Yes!! If it deals with the world from a protectionist standpoint it is unfaithful. If it just goes thru the motions it's unfaithful. If it just tries to preserve the status quo it's unfaithful. If reaching out to it's community is sacrificed by sacred cow theologies that are like arguing over the bar tab on the Hindenburg then it's being unfaithful. The question gets to be, how faithful are you, we, us in what has been entrusted to us. More important to whom are we faithful. To our denomination or some ancient theologies? Or to the Spirit of the Living God. How much do we really want to reach a fallen world or are we going to try to keep pouring new wine into those cracked broken busted leaky old wine skins.

It has never worked and it never will. Every attempt by man to use the old in "Harmony" with what God is doing today is a complete and utter failure. In short order the provider of all new wine will stop and tradition takes over. Then like the Rolling Stones sang, "It's all over now".

When you think you are being faithful and it is really an excuse for mediocrity you no longer are being faithful. Mediocrity at the expense of excellence has no place in Marriage, Parenting, Politics, Work, Pastoral and Church callings.

We don't have to be lukewarm and mediocre to be faithful. True faithfulness will exhibit true passion and desire.

I want to be truly faithful. How bout you?

Reno 911

Sweet Ann has done a little Attorney General comparison. Read it here.

The Phone Just Rang

Tim, our oldest son, is on the phone with his mom. Our fourth Grandchild was born at about 4 pm. It took all day. Everyone is worn out. She came crooked and that complicated things. 7 hours of labor. Tianna Dawn is 7 pounds 1 oz.

I think this may be their last one of Tim and Raquella. I hope it's not the last grandchild of ours forever.

It went harder than they thought it would go.

Tim now has a full quiver.

God Bless them all.

Everyone needs a good night's sleep.

We live in a Clockwork Orange World

If you ever happened to look at my personal profile you will see that a favorite movie of mine is A Clockwork Orange.

Not that it's such an inspiring flick. But it defines a depth of degradation that when it came out in 1971 exhibited such a horror of life no one ever thought we would ever get to.

We are there.

I compare the following:

• "You've proved to me that all this ultra-violence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I've learned my lesson, sir. I see now what I've never seen before. I'm cured, praise God! . . . I see that it's wrong! It's wrong because it's like against society. It's wrong because everybody has the right to live and be happy without being tolchocked and knifed."--Alex de Large (Malcolm McDowell) in "A Clockwork Orange," 1971
  
  
• "First, I want to apologize, you know, for all the things that--that I've done and that I have allowed to happen. . . . I was ashamed and totally disappointed in myself to say the least. . . . I want to apologize to all the young kids out there for my immature acts and, you know, what I did was, what I did was very immature so that means I need to grow up. . . . I feel like we all make mistakes. It's just I made a mistake in using bad judgment and making bad decisions. And you know, those things, you know, just can't happen. Dog fighting is a terrible thing, and I did reject it."--dogfighting conspirator and erstwhile NFL star Michael Vick, Aug. 27, 2007

Just to dig up my tired old slippery slope again. We are on it and sliding rapidly to Gomorrah.

On the Other Hand

Some people shouldn't sing. This video of a crackhead singing at a funeral is a cautionary note.

And funny as all git out.....

A Romantic Mood

I believe in Love and I am a hopeless romantic. I mess in other peoples business when I shouldn't. I guess I'm incurable.

The problem is I love heartbreak romantic music that makes me swoon.

One of the all time romantic ballads that I NEVER get tired of is Joni Mitchell's "CASE OF YOU". My son Kevin (fellow hopeless romantic) gave me an MP3 of every single thing Joni Mitchell has ever done. Ever.

But Case of You always tugs at my heart. You can Hear Joni sing it with just a dulcimer.

Or Diane Krall sing it with a piano.

OR, A recent CD where K D Lang sings it. I love her HYMNS CD. Listen to it and tell me your heart doesn't beat just a little faster.

Perhaps the best song on the whole CD is IN THE VALLEY. There is discussion about if it's a "God" song. I think I want to hold your hand by the Beatles is a "God" song. But then I see Jesus everywhere.

Speaking of the romantic. One of the best is from Tom Waits on his 1974 Heart of Saturday Night CD. Call Me Baby. I have played that for couples going thru tough times and they always relate to the mood in the song.

I'm a hopeless romantic. I want everyone to be happy and fulfilled in a prosperous relationship. Maybe that really is hopeless, or maybe not.............

I Want Full Parity and I Want it NOW

I just learned there is a critical shortage in America. We need a government program to bring us to the proper levels.

As it stands today, and I hang my head as an American, we only are 90% armed in America. Only 90% of Americans own a gun.

This is a travesty. We must be fully armed and ready to fight off the invasion of the whomever is invading. So, Democrats that hold congress, let's have a bill right now to right this wrong. Let's have gun subsidies for those who can't afford them.

Better yet, lets have gun subsidies so every man woman and child in America has two guns. I mean, you can't shoot the same gun all day now can you?

Then I would feel safer, and so would you. I want every thug in the USA to believe that the next little old lady he tries to hijack her car from or steal her purse is packing a Glock Nine and knows how to use it.

Then you would see crime drop off the edge of the earth.

You really would, and you thought I was kidding.

How to know if a Church is in Trouble, the Seven Step Death Spiral

1. It becomes internally focused on problems inside the church and loses focus on the culture around them

2. It tries to solve those problems with short term shortcuts, the quick fix

3. Good people, good staff, good members leave the fellowship to pursue their purposes elsewhere

4. Low morale develops in the staff and the congregation

5. People consistently undermining colleagues and members

6. Increased cynicism particularly among leaders and about leadership

7. Months or longer, of inconsistent attendance, participation and giving leading to drift and financial pressures which leads back to numbers one, two and so on.

This is a death spiral and once a church enters it the getting out is very hard.

The only cure to break the power of this certain death is to:

1. Tell yourself the truth - value candor and honesty above tradition and protocol

2. Pursue the best over the easiest and the most comfortable (familiar)

3. Focus the energy to make the main things the main thing particularly if it isn't how you always did it

4. Leverage the power of partnerships in and out of the church, get out of your denominational box and drink from fresh streams

5. Show the courage of accountability, if there is a problem and you are the one in charge you are the problem

6. Learn, grow, and adapt every day. You know far less than you think you do. It's new every morning. The idea that "you've seen it all before" is a show stopper to the renewal your church needs.

Do what works, not what used to work.

New Orleans and Grand Forks

A few days ago I postulated that if New Orleans had been full of Norwegian Descendants there would have been no discussion about what to do with flood threatened lower than sea level property.

This is not an abstract concept. Some years ago Grand Forks North Dakota was overrun by the Red River of the North. It made many homeless and caused much havoc. I'm not sure there weren't a few who died as a result. The evacuation and devastation was equal in magnitude relative to the population.

Same as New Orleans except for two things:

1. The victims weren't black
2. It was dealt with after the fact on a rational basis

The authorities came in, razed the houses in flood plain, did some diking, made the flood plain greenspace and prohibited folks from moving back in there.

Grand Forks survived and I might say even prospered since.

So would New Orleans.

BUT, the race card in politics trumps all; it displaces common sense. So, some politician sometime will allow folks to build where their houses will be flooded again. "It's the humanitarian thing to do". Except it's not.

I hate the race card. I think it has brought us much destruction and degradation in America when played by the liberal establishment to victimize the Black Man who would like to do better than they want him to do. They live politically off the victimization of the Black Population.

Rebuilding New Orleans is all about preserving votes for the left. Nothing else.

If you want to see what to do with New Orleans, look at Grand Forks.

I was sent this by someone a while back. I didn't post it although I read it. It seemed a little harsh even if it was written by a Black Man who is critical of the attitudes of the victimized black. On this second anniversary of Katrina maybe it's worth a second look.

My Screen Saver or What I Miss about North Dakota

Thanks to Karma, here is the link to these pictures taken north of Bismarck last winter. I miss the Northern Lights. Sometimes they were so brilliant and spectacular they took my breath away. This one is the Background to my windows display on my computer and my screen saver. I never tire of it.



How can the wrapping of these brilliant lights in the sky do anything but inspire an awe for God. I know the physics of all that. Who created the physics?

North Dakota is a beautiful place for me but mostly in my memories.





I have a complete set of these spectacular pictures. If you want them, email me and I'll send you a set. I have shown these to friends origionaly from North Dakota who now live in Texas. They had already seen them. I think this must be a North Dakota thing. Kind of like the sunsets.