A New Church for a New Day - The Value-Neutral Church

Church growth experts in America have been designing new ways to reach the world for God. The old way has been a conservative moralistic and even a militaristic mindset, which in the opinion of many in our new church movement is best represented as a "Nuke the Gay Whales for Jesus" mentality. The leadership of this new movement are compleletly Value-Neutral and reject any opinions on anything whatsoever. We won’t offend you because Jesus isn’t offended with anyone. He just loves and accepts you and doesn’t want you to ever change a thing.

On the heals of successful outreach philosophies such as the Emergent Church, the 12/7/12 House Church strategy, Purpose Driven Church, Seeker Friendly Church, the Sojourner Movement and a dozen other strategies, The Values-Neutral Church Model has these 7 principles as it’s basic theology:

1. V-N Churches take no positions on anything. Abortion, Homosexuality, Gay Marriage, Drugs, Pedophilia, you name it, you do it, we’ll love and welcome you in. Heck we might even make you an elder. "Judge not" is our motto. We have no stones to throw.
   
2. V-N Churches will never ever express an opinion about anything controversial. In fact we embrace anything you embrace. We aim to please and please we will, by golly.
3. V-N Churches are very much against bad things (unless you are for them); in that case we love and agree with you. We are very tolerant. We are against hurting puppies, war, bad people, and narrow-minded people. (You know who you are). We're very tolerant and liberal minded.
   
4. We offer awesome Worshiptainment. We don’t think you should have to learn all those dumb songs. So you just sit back, relax and enjoy the band as it plays it’s worship set for you. We’ll do an entertaining skit. We’ll give you an amusing motivational talk (no more than 10 minutes). We will never embarrass you about talking about sin or hell. It’s just not nice.
5. We built our churches in the middle of a growth corridor. The fact that we are growing demonstrates that our church model works well. We will grow and build and build and grow and just give you a great show every Sunday. It’s the best deal in town. We let the next pastor worry about decline (and the mortgage) when the growth around us stops. We think our success (size of the offering and attendance) validates our strategy.
6. Bring your kiddos to the the V-N Church. We have games and fun every week. We won’t bore them with all those nasty stories from the Bible. We all know that none of that stuff really happened anyhow. I mean Adam and Eve, Noah, Goliath, Virgin Birth, Get Real! We have all read the DaVinci Code and we believe in evolution. So you can relax. Your children after attending our Sunday School will never find anything controversial to conflict with the fine liberal education they receive in the public schools.
7. V-N Churches believe in good marketing. We have hired Jenny McCarthy as the spokesbabe for V-N Church affiliates. We think fine looking blond women with big hooters will bring people to church, don’t you? We have engaged some of the best marketing experts from nationally recognized advertising agencies to promote you and your church. And then there's the sales. Just think of all the CD’s of your messages you will sell. And the Royalties on the books. Heck, you don’t even have to write them, we know you are busy with Golf and can’t be bothered. So we’ll write and market them for you in your name. You’ll be famous.

So, Mr/Ms Pastor, sign up now. We don’t take checks. We do an electronic withdrawal from your bank account every month. We call it our Church-Member-Tithe System. You’ll never have to think about it. We know it’s not really a Biblical tithe (1 Corinth 16:1-2 or Deut 16:17) but we don’t trust you enough to believe you’ll actually give. So we'll just take it.

May the Higher Power
(Whomever you conceive him/her to be, It’s OK with us)
Bless You,

The Bishop at the Value-Neutral Church Movement Headquarters

View Our Video Called "Me Church".

Isn't that the kind of Church YOU want???

Me either.

Pentecost at 25, 100 and 2000

I am so glad to be part of Pentecost’s Peculiar People. I have been since 1980. I had met a man who worked as a custodian in a school. He told me there was more to experiencing God than I was experiencing. I wanted more. He made me hungry. I went to a friend who had heard a little about it. He laid hands on me in a auto showroom floor for the Infilling and overflowing of the Spirit. Finally there was an early Saturday Morning, weeks after having asked for the infilling of the Holy Ghost (Baptism of the Spirit), when kneeling in prayer all by myself I got it like a rushing wind. I began to come alive in a way I didn’t think was possible. The fire came. PENTECOST!

I am so thankful for that day. I am described as a fanatic by some.
fa·nat·ic n. A person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm

Guilty as charged. I will not reason away my faith by worldly means, I am extreme in my Love for Jesus and I am wildly enthusiastic. I love it. I love HIM!

Here are some of the wonderful things that have happened as a result of that overflow and immersion from which I never emerged:

• I can read and understand the Bible supernaturally in a way I never could before. The whole thing just opened up like a flower to me.
• I hear from God in my spirit and I have heard his voice so often that I recognize it at once.
• I am able to pray in a way (Language) that even when I don’t know how or what to pray I can still pray with effect.
• I am empowered to be bold in faith, speak to mountains, and face persecution with joy. Jesus promised that.
• My future is certain even when events surrounding me are not.
• I have unwavering confidence in God and his mercy.
• I live in the full provision of God’s grace for everything in my life.
• Even though I have days like everyone, I live in Joy unspeakable and full of Glory. Those days are temporary and abnormal. I'll never forget Rodney Howard Browne saying to me, “You can live like this”.

This last week represented the week 100 years ago during which the Pentecostal outbreak took place on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. William Seymour was the African American Pastor who brought the Spirit of revival and fire to LA. I won’t bore you with all the story of how that all happened. Others will. Sufficient to say that today around the world Pentecostalism is the fasted growing and largest body of believers globally in the Christian community. Presently one in 10 people on the earth are Pentecostal (650 million). In 10 years it will be 1 in 6. I'm believing for one in one. That's how it is in heaven. Everyone is filled with the fullness of God in heaven. 1-1. Why not get it on this side of the veil?

I’m not nearly the scholar on that issue and scholarship that Julie Niedlinger is. Her post on the subject is comprehensive and impressive. What really struck me about this post was not the scholarship but the relevance of real body ministry. Julie Says:

Some believe prayer for healing and deliverance ought not take place in public. In our church, people come up to the front where the pastor is between worship and the rest of the service to be prayed for. What I value about this time the most is the fact that I see everyone come at some point, from elders to mothers to young and old. I see people praying for each other. I see that we all have needs. I see the church family's faith in action. Real people, really praying.

It's about real people going up front in the little church God gave them to be prayed for by their pastor and the other people. It's about transparency, perhaps. People need to see churches in other countries to see that we are too often trapped in man-made devices and definitions. Nice orderly pews and properly reverent worshippers work great here. I recently read a blog post ruing the architecture of modern churches as unholy in their warehouse-ness. Inartistic, I agree; the art historian in me cringes. But unholy? So, God can't meet in a General Steel building but He can make a trip to some thatched hut in Africa? Or a humid cement church in Nicaragua? I fear Bayly might find much to list and debate after an average service where, in order to get churches planted and preachers in them in extremely poor and rural areas around the world where everyone can't go to seminary, training for all pastors isn't much above being called to preach and being willing to heed that call.

I am personally really tired of the “Professionalism” that comes with much of the church world. I believe that many professional ministers are no more called than a cocker spaniel and many effective called of God "Lay-Ministers" are sidelined because they aren’t credentialed.

Incidentally I hate the term Lay. Lay what? It’s separation terminology that puts a wall between the professionals and the body of Christ. I think Jesus would have a very hard time with all that. But that’s for another post I have cooking called Authority -Given or Taken.

I am hopeful that anyone who reads this and does not experience all the joy and pleasure (yes I am a Christian Hedonist) found in the fullness of the Holy Ghost will give it consideration. I’ve been wild and crazy for Jesus for a quarter century and if given another century will still be wild and crazy.

I am attending a good church that is not (yet) overtly Pentecostal. It is in fact (sit down for this) Mo Synod Lutheran. But there is a hope and a future Just as God promised in Jeremiah. They seem to like what I teach, they like my wild side, they like the fanatic enthusiasm and even once we had people come up for healing ministry. Slow but steady progress. I am called to be part of this transformation, to offer my ministry giftings to those who will access them.

I still have to go get my Pentecostal Fix in other places. I can't live without the anointed spontaneous prophetic word, the Fire of God as manifested in powerful worship and the power of God accessed in Holy Ghost body ministry. I hope I won’t have to forever. I’m believing for a mighty move of God in our area. God has spoken it. I believe it could be in this Lutheran Church. But like Nazareth or Nineveh God can only do mighty works if he is received by faith. These are good folks who want more of God but are just a little frightened of the step of faith it takes to jump all the way in the water. I keep saying, “Its ok, you’ll either get wet or walk on the water, both are going to be fun and exciting”.

I’m thankful I didn’t know it wasn’t OK to be Pentecostal when I jumped in. I might not have. I might have let tradition or fear hold me back. I just walked by faith and stepped into the water.

I have never looked back. Once when in a meeting with Andrew Womack that had 3000 people in attendance he asked this question, “How many of you are filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues?” Perhaps 2500 hands went up.

Then he asked, “How many of you are sorry your were filled with the Holy Ghost?” Laughter broke out. Not one hand went up. It was so preposterous to think you would ever ever ever want to go back again once you experienced and enjoyed this wonderful blessing.

It’s like the note I made to Jack at the bottom of the post below. If you experience the joy of a good marriage and you see someone who isn’t getting all they could out in a bad marriage, you want to say, “There’s more”. Step in. Try it you’ll like it. Believe for Good things. You hurt for their timidity that keeps them from seeking for more in their marriage.

One Last Thing, in the mid 90’s I joined a house prayer meeting with Todd Beery. They were very much like the meetings that began in LA before they moved to Azusa street. The place would be packed. We worried the floor would collapse from all the people. The Holy Ghost would move so strongly I worried that the fire department would see fire coming out of the house’s roof. It was wild and wonderful. I was later warned about not getting involved with such a foolish bunch. Too late Devil, I'm already in the water but you're all wet.

In that early 90s I became acquainted with Rodney Howard Brown at the AG Bible Camp in Devils Lake. I have never ever been the same since. Later I would be warned not to get involved with such a fanatic bunch. Too Late Slewfoot.

I’m so glad I’m too dense to hear these voices of warning from the professional Christians. Look at what I would have missed if I had listened to them. Peter warned Jesus, Agabus warned Paul. They went Anyhow. Sometimes you just GO. Keith Green said, "You gotta be called to stay".

Thank God for Pentecost. More Lord More.

Let your FIRE fall.

To Jack - Try Marriage

I like weddings. I don’t know about all the bride magazines the size of an encyclopedia. There must be a lot of money in weddings and all the fru fru that surrounds them. Sometimes it seems like the more elaborate a wedding is the less likely the marriage will succeed. And many marriages don’t. Some end in divorce. Some continue but are a mess.

This most anticipated day is often disappointing for the people involved because they had such high expectations. And then it didn’t come off just as they had planned. That is the problem.

I think a lot of wedding stuff is foolish. Weddings should be meaningful and worthwhile.

I love some of the ancient wedding rituals from the Semitic people. They can be deep and rich. The man proposes marriage. The woman accepts. The betrothed husband then waits some period of time and develops relationship. Then he goes and prepares the home they will share for her. This involves cleaning and fix up. It’s ready.

The attendants to the wedding know about when the husband to be is to come back. They wait, when the husband to be is near they have a procession. Often it is a lighted procession in the evening. That leads to a wedding feast. No one has to put on a fancy suit, none of the women have to run out to TJ Max and buy a fancy dress and some strappy shoes. When you arrive at the wedding, the father of the bride furnishes you a fancy white robe to wear. Everyone gets one. It’s free. You get to keep it. Only the bride and the bridegroom are dressed extravagantly.

Then the ceremony starts. During it the bridegroom places a glass of wine on the table before the bride after he has taken a drink from it. She then has a choice, she can get up and walk away, no harm no foul, or she can drink from the cup and say, I choose you. If she drinks it is an “I DO”.

Then they take this wineglass, wrap it in a towel, and crush it. That is the last time I will drink of this as a single person. I will not drink anything again until we are married.

Then after a brief time the marriage is complete the wedding feast, dance, banquet, begins. Not fancy, but elegant and profound.

Well, that’s exactly what has happened to the religion of Christianity. Lots of fru fru and big books with lots of you shoulds in them. Expectations. Disappointments. Anticipations. Let downs. It’s become about the ceremonies and the window dressings and not about the functional results. Too much human planning and design.

The value of the life is lost in the noise and bustle of Religion.

Real worthwhile Christianity is like the ancient weddings. Jesus comes and proposes. We can accept or reject. We can remain single. It will mean we stay where we are in our stuckness. There is more to life than what you are living, he offers. He says come away with me. Get to know me better and you will know I will never harm or hurt you and only do you good.

There was a time he was with us so we could get to know him better as a bride. There are 4 gospels that give us pictures of what he is like. Then he says he must go prepare a place for us. We prepare ourselves. Here’s where it gets interesting. We are not only the Bride, but we are the attendants to everyone else that is a bride (fellow Christians). So we are at the same time a Bride and a friend of the Bridegroom. We watch and wait for the Bridegroom to appear. When we became the bride we drank and drink from the same cup he drank from. We crushed it under our feet. He will not drink from it again until he does so at the wedding feast.

What’s really amazing is we don’t have to try to be better or worse. We can be the worst kind of people or having been the best and we will all get that same white robe. With that white robe we look like everyone else. No one is better or worse. The only way we can get into trouble is if we refuse to wear the white robe and show up expecting to be served. The white robe is your ticket in. Of course knowing this, there is an impetus to wash your face and comb your hair. You don’t have to but you want to.

On Sundays (for many people) and on several other days for some, there is a precursor wedding dance, party, feast. IF they are the right spirit they should be fun, exciting, and meaningful. Maybe one of the guests will stand up and make a toast (sermon) to the Bride and Bridegroom. But the party is the big thing. Celebrate.

I know this is kind of cryptic but it’s all in the Bible. Matthew 22 and Mathew 25 and Revelation 19.

I you like weddings and if you particularly like the wedding dances, if you find the right ones you can have a blast. You will look forward to the next one. That’s how Church and vibrant Christianity is for many people. I’m in that number. I’m sorry you have had some bad wedding experiences, I know not every marriage works out. That doesn’t mean you should give up on marriage. There is more, and it’s an exciting life.

I feel very sorry for whoever wrote that in Utah.

It’s like someone in a bad marriage and is down on marriage, or someone who is single and can't see why anyone would want to be married. You feel sorry for them. And you have Loretta. And you know how wonderful it can be. And you wish you could convince everyone on the great benefits of married life. And that, my friend would make you an evangelist.

That’s really how simple it is.

Try it again, find a better wedding dance.

Made in China Won't Fit

I needed a new pair of workboots.  Size 13.  I thought I could get by wearing tennies but I get so much dirt in them when digging it becomes uncomfortable.  So hightops with laces, yea that's the ticket.

 

Off to Farm and Fleet I go.  I mean, workboots, Farm and Fleet, hand in hand. 

 

I use inserts, arch supports.  So in addition to width and length I need a little headroom.  I found a dandy pair of boots, price was right.  But they were uncomfortable with the inserts.  Made in Thailand.  $69.  Another pair, made in China, same price, same fit of discomfort. 

 

So I shopped.  Then I came upon a pair of Wolverine boots.  Love at first fit.  Inserts no problem, lots of "headroom". 

 

I looked at the tag, Assembled in America.  I don't know what that exactly means.  I have a feeling that might be weasel speak for made somewhere else and the laces were installed here.  I'm not sure.

 

But, the "assembled in America" boots fit well, work good, and I'm a happy camper. 

 

I feel so darn patriotic.

Comings and Goings

You know the old joke on the bar wall; you read it when you were young and foolish.  I qualify.

 

"Everyone brightens this place, some by their coming and some by their going"

 

Good for a chuckle but not a guffaw.  I guess what makes it less funny for me is there is more going than coming these days.  People who matter to me - Going.  People who have been part of my life - Going.  People who I wanted to know better - Gone.  Looking at and talking to a gravestone is too one way for me.

 

That's why I value relationships at 61 like I should have when I was 31. The friend pool shrinks at 61.  Oh I'm still hard to get along with.  Curmudgeonly as ever.  Full of opinions (I can't help that I'm right so much).  Willing to share them.  But that's not the problem.  They just keep changing worlds.  Goodbyes.

 

On the other hand, people who I like and consider day brighteners  in my life seem to feel the same about me. I guess that's a good thing.  Even when I'm mean (they used to call me Mean Gene as a kid) I try very hard to give positive reinforcement and encouragement to people around me.  I never ever do it insincerely.  I can always find a good word to say or say nothing at all.  That's not true of groups.  I've been pretty hard on liberals lately.  But if you believe that's about you, you put you there.  I didn't.  I don't suffer fools well.  I won't call someone a fool.  But I don't deal with people well who just don't want to participate in honest discourse.  That's even me sometimes.  Sometimes I'm not sure even I would like me. Sigh.

 

So, I plow on.  Saying hello's to goodbyes at the rate of 2-1.  I hope I don't run out soon. 

 

Getting old is heck.

 

Save Fuel and Money – Fly Standing, Naked or Containerized

Airbus is pitching this. Fly standing up. For real.

To get more people on the plane and so the tickets are much less money if you fly certain airlines in the future you will be offered a cheaper ticket if you fly standing.

I like to take things to logical extremes. Already I have to remove my belt and take off my shoes. I’m no nudist and if you saw me you’d understand why. But think about it, TSA could get you right thru if everyone flew nude. And think of the money you’d save. How elegantly efficient.

Maybe even better is you could fly as baggage. They put you in a box (looks like a coffin), give you a knockout drug to last about as long as your flight plus ons and offs. Then they could stack you on a pallet and you fly parcel post to your destination. This would be particularly effective on very long overseas flights. You’d have to wear adult pampers of course. But think how cost effective it would be. If they made the container large enough you could have your luggage fly with you. You would be run thru the scanner for bombs right at the check in. No TSA groping (non you would be aware of anyhow).

Or, maybe you could fly racked up. I figure if everyone lay down on a rack separated by perhaps 2 feet like in a submarine bunk area you could triple or quadruple stack folks right to the ceiling of the airliner. Really getting efficient aren’t we. Why think of the possibilities. Think of the money you’d save. Think of it.

Or don’t. This isn’t going anywhere. At least not me.

Safe and Trusting in Whom

I live in the western suburbs of Chicago. The other night we went to dinner honoring a friends birthday at an upstairs venue with a very nice shop with lots of expensive things downstairs. The dinner party went late into the evening.

There was no one downstairs. Door open. No one watching the store. Anyone off the street could have come in and stolen hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise and gotten away.

But no one did. I have lived in Illinois 20 years and have not been assaulted, robbed, or shot at while living here. When I lived in North Dakota I was subjected to all 3.

In North Dakota we had to keep things locked up because there were thieves about.

I only mention this because the idea that one place is safer than another is more based on the character and spirit of the people than the name of the state. It's not safer in a place with people who don't share your values. They believe it's ok to rob you because you deserve it. Or put another way, they deserve to have what you've got. That's not my value system. I'm guessing it's not yours.

I'm constantly astounded by the fact that many who live in our area never lock their doors at night. Cars open. High priced stuff left outside. And no one steals it. People just don't bother to steal. Why? They already have all they need.

In the Bible there is talk of a time in the book of Acts 2:44-47 when people held all things in common and no one had need of anything. We assumed it was because there were a few rich and the rest were needy. That the rich shared with the poor. That's the way it is in lots of Churches today. A few have money, those with less look at them and long for the days of Acts 2. But, I have another take on that scripture.

What if all things are held in common and no one had any need because God prospers his people in goods (Propsperity) and Spirit (Values and Character) so much that no one ever needs or would think of taking anything. Could that be?

I know a pastor who from time to time would conduct a service in his Church, never announced. He would ask people to bring money for the poor and place it on the altar. People would respond. Sometimes $15,000 would be laid on the altar. Then, the pastor would tell those who had needs to come and take what they needed. Some would. Many would be needy but not wanting to be greedy would refrain. Sometimes Sam the pastor would take money and pick it up giving it to a single mother with kids who he knew had serious needs. That's certainly the Acts 2 situation. Let's take that a litttle further. I would like to believe that at some very soon point that mother found ways to enter into God's provision and was able to be a channel of blessing next time Sam called for the offering of help.

Maybe that's the real plan of God. Deut 8:18

Maybe it will happen again. I can believe for that. I will believe for that.

Osama bin Laden is Dead as the Proverbial Doornail

He's not only dead, he has been for a long time.  A few years ago it was rumored and then denied that he was dead.  Why?  There is a universal conspiracy of silence for keeping him alive:

 

Muslims - Keeping him alive maintains a leader image for Muslims to look up to.

 

Liberals - Continuing to blame Bush for not catching him serves them well.  Look at what Kerry just said.  So they have this straw man in Bin Laden.

 

The Administration - Bin Laden is the common enemy we can all hate together.  In fact if they admitted he was dead it would be dangerous because liberals would say, he's dead, that's that, let's get out.

 

So, everyone agrees to maintain that the man is still alive.

 

In 2001 at the time of 9-11 Bin Laden was on Dialysis.  Staying alive on Dialysis 5 years for a man on the run even with a lot of money is tough to do. 

 

There have been suppressed reports of his death.  Recently a congressman, Curt Weldon of PA made an outright statement asserting the truth.  It was crushed.

 

In 2002 several reports from credible sources stated he was dead.

 

Wikepedia reports him as quite dead in the section at the bottom called whereabouts. 

 

India reports he was killed during the earthquake in Kashmir.

 

It fits no one's agenda to announce or accept Bin Laden as dead.

 

The final proof and last straw was this impression of his voice with the statement he made.  It is not his voice (in the sense of what he says).  Read his original Fatwa.  Read what he said just after 9-11.   That's what Bin Laden sounds like.  Now read what "He" said a couple days ago.  It was written by an imposter.  Badly at that. Someone hoping to keep his image alive and use his name in vain to promote a cause.  It's not his written "Voice".  Anyone reading these 3 examples will see what I mean.

 

Bin Laden is dead, he's been dead a long time.  It's just nobody wants to be the first to bury him.  I am offering to toss the first handful of dirt on top of that dead man's grave.

 

Another View on George W Bush

I have made ad nauseum comments and statements about my belief in the greatness of GWB.  I get lot of barbs.  I have thick skin.

 

So it was with some appreciation that I read this editorial in today's Wall Street Journal written by Nathan Sharansky who was a student of Andrei Sakharov.  Sharansky spent nine years as a prisoner in a Soviet Gulag.  He is now a member of the Israeli Knesset.  He knows something of conflict and courage.  He says this about our great President:

 

President George W. Bush is an exception. He is a man fired by a deep belief in the universal appeal of freedom, its transformative power, and its critical connection to international peace and stability.

 

Mr. Bush, faced with overwhelming opposition, stands his ideological ground, motivated in large measure by what appears to be a refusal to countenance moral failure.

 

Today, we are in the midst of a great struggle between the forces of terror and the forces of freedom. The greatest weapon that the free world possesses in this struggle is the awesome power of its ideas.

 

The Bush Doctrine, based on a recognition of the dangers posed by non-democratic regimes.  The democratic earthquake it has helped unleash, even with all the dangers its tremors entail, offers the promise of a more peaceful world.

 

Critics rail against every step on the new and difficult road on which the United States has embarked. Yet in pointing out the many pitfalls which have not been avoided and those which still can be, those critics would be wise to remember that the alternative road leads to the continued oppression of hundreds of millions of people and the continued festering of the pathologies that led to 9/11.

Now that President Bush is increasingly alone in pushing for freedom, I can only hope that his dissident spirit will continue to persevere. For should that spirit break, evil will indeed triumph, and the consequences for our world would be disastrous.

I stand with our great President in his quest.  It takes someone with the courage of his convictions to stand strong in the face of the opposition he faces.  Leadership is not a poll or approval driven function.  Fear of man and needing approval is a weakness other Presidents in the past have been hobbled with.  We can't afford to be hobbled at the top with such timidity in a world out to kill us.

 

 

 

Mystery

I vowed to blog every day. I did. But Blogger doesn't agree. So I am trying this. Who knows what evil LURKS in the heart of Blogger.

Air America is Redundant to NPR

Living in Chicagoland we have lots of radio stations. I listen to a several. WIND is conservative talk, WLS is, well, I'm not sure they know exactly, WGN is old people radio, WCPT 850 is the Air America station.

I listen to Rachel Maddux who is uninformed but entertaining, Al Franken who is actually a pretty good guy for a liberal (he goes to Iraq to entertain the troops and doesn't brag about it) and Fargo's own Ed Schultz. He has a great gig. But it's just a gig. It's like the smart kid who was part of the debating team who has taken the case he must make from the hat and is making it well. The whole Ed Show joke is on the public and liberals. He no more believes what he says than the man in the moon. But, he's very good and will do well. Good on you Ed. Local boy makes good. the rest of the hosts on Air America are just I hate Bush yelling all the time.

Air America is now sadly now redundant in Chicagoland. WBEZ FM NPR is going all liberal talk. It is now most accurately called National Progressive (Liberal) Radio. There is nothing Bush has ever done that they like that and would pronounce as good, and you will never ever hear of anything good Bush ever got as positive results. Not the economy, not employment numbers, not faith based initiatives, not aid to Africa. In liberal public radio land, it never happened. He gets all the blame for anything bad and no credit for anything good. That means that people who listen to liberal public radio assume Bush never has done any good. I will never ever ever again support them financially.

What I don't get is this: I listen to NPR and Air America to see what the liberals think or say (mostly) without thinking. I would just love to have a liberal say to me, you know I listened all week to Rush, Bill Bennet, Hugh Hewitt or Laura Ingram and have this opinion about what they said. That'll never happen. When I have suggested it to a liberal or two they will say, "I don't have to listen to him (or her) to know what a nutcase they are". Then they will trot out some infraction in life he or she has had. Rush, oxycontin, Bennet Gambling. I guess in the liberal's eye if you have ever committed a sin your views from that time forward have no value. On the other hand, just try to impune some Liberal commentator for an infraction of life, they are quick to trot out "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". Liberals are very narrow and close minded.

Open-mindedness to a liberal is "You listen to what I say, and I won't listen to what you say". But that's why Liberalism is so lost in the fog. They fall for anything because they are incapable to hear another view and analyse it without someone telling them what to think. They don't know how to question the voices in their head. They just do the liberal bobblehead thing and agree with the rambling of the left and assume it makes sense. Sometimes it does, most of the time it doesn't. How do I know? I listen to both sides. Unlike liberals, I'm actually open-minded.

The Real Gift of the Spirit

In the last few years I have said goodbye to several Christian friends,ministers and pastors who had tremendous anointings in God (one of whom died a week ago).  They provided vision and leadership to the ministry God gave them.  When they died they left a huge hole. It wasn't filled or was filled differently from the legacy they wanted to leave.  In one case a great church built on the power of the Holy Ghost is now a seeker sensitive church with no power at all. 

 

Most to the day they died didn't believe the truth of their mortality.  They weren't going to go despite the statistics.  So they didn't prepare the ministry or church they led for the day when they changed worlds.

 

Zola Levitt did. He died Wednesday.  He prepared and left things in good hands.

I respect and honor that ultimate vision.

 

The Apostles of the early church were under no such illusions of immortality on this side of the veil.  Paul had his Timothy.  To the day he died he invested in the young man.  When the executioners axe came he could smile at the face of death.  He would live on in Timothy and then in Timothy's Timothys.

 

Are the Apostles of today developing Timothys?  I fear that many good men do not invest in strong men because they fear that before they are ready the young man might take away their church or split it.  And sometimes, they invest themselves in men who are less than able to take the ministry or church over when they move up.  Kind of like the old adage, ""first rate people hire first rate people, second rate people hire third rate people out of fear of being usurped"".

 

That's true in corporate American and more true than we ever might think in the Christian world.

 

So I address the hundred or so Spiritual Leaders who will read this.  Who is your Timothy? Is he worth your investing in, and if so, are you?  Will your ministry survive you?

 

You owe it to the gift God placed in you to see to it that it will.

 

Invest in Quality.  That's true in the world and truer in the Church.

 

Sheehan versus Dr. Wang

In case you had any doubts about liberal press bias in this country read this:

Cindy Sheehan protests, yells, calls names does all kinds of things and is invited to speak at a public school in California. She is a sweetheart of the liberal press. She is beyond reproach as far as the treason-press is concerned.

Because she felt slighted by the President when she met him, that’s the reason given. The truth is Ben and Jerry’s ice cream empire financed and motivated her (read that puppet on a string) to do this banality. They are behind the True Majority propaganda efforts. Mostly anti Bush yelling all the time.

The liberal press loves Cindy (oh Cindy where has my heart gone). Why?She hates Bush. Ben and Jerry told her to.

Yesterday, a woman, Dr. Wenyi Wang, 47, a Physician, makes a protest against the imprisonment and execution of a religious group in China. She and Cindy Sheehan are the same age. They have a similar beef. Reproach against a government they consider opposing their interests.

This is still a free country except in the treasonous press’s eyes. Some people see thru the conspiracy of silence and bias.

To the liberal press she is considered an embarrassment, a problem, a black mark.

Cindy protests and it's all sunshine and light, Dr. Wang protests and it’s dark and embarrassing.

Unbiased Press my tush. They should be thankful this is still the USA. In China they saw nothing of this. Where is their treasonous allegiance?

8 Billion People will Die Within 7 Decades

New York Post - STUNNING DROP IN DEATH RATE

I gave a start when I read this headline. Then I thought, no, the death rate is still the same. One to a customer. In fact the most accurate headline of all is the one at the top of this post. Nearly every person reading this will be dead in 7 decades.

If there are 6 billion on the earth today and we have normal accident, war and infant death, to say 8 billion people will die in 80 years (7 complete decades) is not a hard statistic to accept.

I just wondered at the idea that somehow we are beating death or that the death rate being reduced.

Ain’t nobody getting outta here alive.

RIP Clear Channel Radio (I really don't mean PEACE)

I maintain a file on certain companies that never fail to disappoint.

Wal-Mart
Ameritech, then SBC now AT&T
And
Clear Channel Radio

There are others on Gene’s Wall of Shame but these three are among the most egregious. What does it take to make Gene’s Wall of Shame you ask?

You must be a large company, which has as it’s operating philosophy, we want to own the whole world and run it like we want without any care for our employees or customers and screw our suppliers into the ground.

I have written about Wal-Mart on this blog the most. You can use the search tool on top and look at all those entries. I still stand by them.

I have written a few times about the idiots at the name change bazaar SBC now AT&T.

But today’s award for infamously stupid and incompetent behavior on a kingdom wannabe goes to: (Drum Roll Please) CLEAR CHANNEL.

Let’s see. First in full disclosure, I have friends that have and DO work for Clear Channel. It would be well if they stayed anonymous on this tirade.

Clear Channel, How do I hate you, Let me count the ways:

• You pay your suits way out of proportion to your working people
• You run your vanilla radio stations such that driving across country you can hear the boredom without any effort. You can spot a programmed clear channel station at a mile.
• You continue to participate in sleazy practices like Pay for Play (Payola). That’s so 50’s
• You treat your employees like a number
• You have no soul.

But, the good news is, the market is beginning to notice. Incompetence is it’s own reward. You qualify Clear Channel. I note that when you were asked to comment on your inability to run a radio station for actual profit you declined the interview. What a shock.

A couple exerpts from the analysis:

Clear Channel grant excessive severance, Clear Channel overpays its executives,

Representatives of Clear Channel and OfficeMax declined immediate comment.

For you kids out there, this is the message, big is not better, it’s just bigger and hubris (like in the case of Clear Channel) is always death.

I hope some real radio operators will pick up the scraps and make real radio stations out of them when Clear Channel has to divest because of poor performance. Disney did.

You’re NEXT!

Sick in the Spirit

I read a good man's Christian blog.  I recommend it.  He makes an observation which has bugged me for years.

 

I have DISH TV.  There are 3 "religious" channels.  TBN which I watch often.  ETWN the catholic channel (I'm as catholic as Jesus is) where I only watch one fellow who teaches basic catechism.  I find him pretty challenging.  Then the 3rd is Angel 1.  Robert Johnson from Florida put this up many years ago with great promise. 

 

He's dead now.  But this is the worst TV you can imagine.  Only occasionally there's a Christian program.  The rest of the time it's ads for watching their channel which has nothing on it, ads for vitamins and snake oil, and ads for bibles of some sort or another.  What's even worse is some time ago Angel made a deal with Dish that they couldn't add another religious channel.  Daystar was on for a while.  That was great.  But money over God any day.  They made Dish take it off the feed. 

I am considering taking it off my favorites list. 

 

We used to have a pretty good Christian Radio Station in Chicaoland.  106.7 the fish.  It's Hispanic now.  The only objection I had to it was on weekends it was wall to wall advertisements for vitamins, nostrums, and other things which cost money and do no good at all.

 

When my dear friend and Pastor Dan Rothwell was sick with cancer many many people came to him with junk that if he took he would be well. He showed them to me.  It was pitiful.

 

He passed away a couple years ago.  It was his time.  We are all like the grass and then we wither.  Why do Christians depend on such junk?  Jesus is all you need.  Go to the doctor and believe for Jesus to heal you with or in spite of what the Doctors do. 

 

How have we drifted so far?  And on so called Christian TV and Radio. 

 

It's beyond Belief.  It's no belief except in Man.  That's a curse according to the Bible.

$29 Minimum Wage Solves Everything

I am sympathetic to poor people having to pay these $3 per gallon gasoline prices. I also want to do something to preserve the Republican party's majority in America.

It is a proven fact that people earning $60,000 per year or more have no discernable impact in their standard of living from gasoline, even if it went to $4 per gallon.

It is also true according to statistical analysis that people earning $60,000 per year or more vote overwhelmingly republican (unless they marry or inherit the money like John Kerry or Ted Kennedy). Or are high earning idiot celebrities who stumble upon money mindlessly like Cher and other Hollywood types.

Average Joe Pinot Noir (He’s now better than Joe 6 pack) won’t be as stupid as those people.

So, if we just raise the minimum wage to $29 per hour we will in one fell swoop eliminate the impact high oil and gas prices has on working people and we insure that the Republicans will win elections from that day forward.

I know there will be naysayers. I can hear them now. Oh, I know it might increase unemployment a bit. The underground economy and illegal aliens would flourish. That this kind of move would likely destroy small business in America. That this would be highly inflationary as the Wal-Marts of the world would have to pay a “Living Wage” and therefore raise prices. That this is economically a stupid move.

Maybe that’s the point with all minimum wage discussions.

Stupid Move!

A Demonstration of the Real Solution to The Mexican Immigration Problem

The Mexican's stream across the border to El Norte.  Mostly to California.

 

Our borders are indefensible.  I have a solution.

 

So, we make a deal with the Mexican Government.

 

They patrol the border.  If ANY undocumented Mexicans get into the USA after the day they take over we get Paid $10,000 per head for each one we find and return to them.  They have currency.  They sell us Oil.  This should fix a balance of trade issue with them some.

 

Why should they do this?  To demonstrate our good will, we will give them Southern California.  They pretty much own it now.  From Tijuana to San Francisco and Sacramento.  To the west there are the Sierra Madres.  After that Death Valley.

 

Let them demonstrate how well that will work out.  Does that mean that in a few months or years Mexican's will be trekking across the desert or the northern border to find work.  Will the southern California state of Mexico be any better? 

I doubt it.  You see, the dirty little truth is, the country of Mexico with all it's natural resources, hard working people, favorable climate and miles of coastal lands should be a powerhouse economically unlike our neighbor to the north, Canada who has polar bears and frozen tundra thru much of the land up there.

 

Mexico doesn't work because it is corrupt.  Very corrupt.  If you don't change the government, the culture of corruption, the way this most unegalitarian culture works even if we gave them the whole of the USA back, it would look like the slums of Mexico City in a few years.

 

Corruption can't govern.  Just ask Illinois.

 

 

Pruning

It was a beautiful day yesterday.  I spent much of it outdoors.  Pruning and trimming branches.  By the end of the day, I was exhausted.

 

But, It was worth it.  Things look better, they will grow better.  They will become what they were supposed to become.

 

In the middle of cutting off one particularly large branch it occurred to me that pruning in my (and YOUR) life is essential to us becoming what we were destined to become.

 

Considering these Pruning Truths:

 

• Pruning is always traumatic for the tree being pruned. Sometimes they even bleed.  It doesn't kill them, but it is traumatic for the moment.
• Cutting off dead wood protects the tree from infection and disease.  It keeps it from being susceptible to difficult winds in life. 
• To prune properly the one pruning must have an image of what he wants the tree being pruned to look like when it's done.
• Some plants (like grapes and wisteria) won't bloom or bear fruit without pruning.  They will just grow randomly and become fruitless.
• The branches cut off are only good for the burn pile.  Pining over lost branches is a waste of time and energy.
• The best pruning  leaves nothing of the branch pruned as a reminder.
• Some pruning takes place pretty close to the trunk.  Seems dangerous but the best thing to do.
• Sometimes a pruning is best accomplished (like on a dogwood shrub) but cutting everything off to the trunk.  It will look dead, but when it comes back it will grow with twice the vigor and beauty it had before.
• That branch that grows out of proportion with the rest of the plant must be pruned or it will eventually kill or damage the plant.  Balance is essential in look and in growth.
• The ultimate prune for every plant is death.  Every tree, not matter what, dies.  The space it used to occupy will become the growth for new life that will follow.

 

How much the husbandry of trees and shrubs is like life.

 

Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches.

 

 

 

 

The Greatness of President George W. Bush

I Understand hat some of the readers of this blog are liberals. If you are among them, you won’t want to read this post. It will damage your thinking.

I’m about to say something that is rumbling below the surface. People who may not have been Bush backers are beginning to say this:

A hundred years from now when Presidencies are evaluated President George W. Bush will be acclaimed as one of the Greatest Presidents of ALL TIME.

Don’t believe me? That’s OK, perhaps you will buy into what a friend of our great country from Australia says. President Bush is a great, not a good, not an OK, but a Great President.

You don’t have to believe it but your Great Great Grandchildren will. History has a habit of redeeming the vilified of their generation. Remember Harry Truman? Abraham Lincoln? They were universally hated by their generation. And then, revered Later.

Thought I would give you an advance read on the Textbooks of 2106.

The Pope Calls Out Satan - It's High Noon, 3 O'Clock's Coming

I'm not catholic except in the universal church sense.  As a man said the other day in another context, "I'm as catholic as Jesus is".

 

But, I think when a person or a Pope says something of significance it needs to be repeated.  Here is a partial text of what will happen during the Stations of the Cross at St. Peters today, Good Friday:

 

THE Pope will deliver a blistering attack on the “satanic” mores of modern society today, warning against an “inane apologia of evil” that is in danger of destroying humanity.

In a series of Good Friday meditations that he will lead in Rome, the Pope will say that society is in the grip of a kind of “anti-Genesis” described as “a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family”. He will pray for society to be cleansed of the “filth” that surrounds it and be restored to purity, freed from “decadent narcissism”.

The meditations is striking in its contrast to the contemporary fashion for feel-good religion.

At the Third Station of the Cross, where Jesus falls for the first time, Archbishop Comastri has written: “Lord, we have lost our sense of sin. Today a slick campaign of propaganda is spreading an inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan, a mindless desire for transgression, a dishonest and frivolous freedom, exalting impulsiveness, immorality and selfishness as if they were new heights of sophistication.”

At the Fourth Station, where Jesus is helped by Simon the Cyrene to carry the cross, Pope Benedict and his followers will pray: “Lord Jesus, our affluence is making us less human, our entertainment has become a drug, a source of alienation, and our society’s incessant, tedious message is an invitation to die of selfishness.”

One of the strongest meditations warns against the attack on the family. “Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family.”

There is a moving meditation for the Eighth Station, where Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, describing the “River of tears shed by mothers, mothers of the crucified, mothers of murderers, mothers of drug addicts, mothers of terrorists, mothers of rapists, mothers of psychopaths, but mothers all the same”.

The Pope will also confront the question of evil in the world in a meditation that asks: “Where is Jesus in the agony of our own time, in the division of our world into belts of prosperity and belts of poverty . . . in one room they are concerned about obesity, in the other, they are begging for charity?”

Perhaps we are too accepting of the evil that surrounds us.  Perhaps we shouldn't be.  Isaiah said there will come a time when men will no longer call sin sin.  Are we there now?

 

HYBRED

Yesterday I had to go deliver some plants to Walkerton Indiana.  While bumbling down I-80 at 70 miles an hour (or be run over) with 4 lanes of traffic on both sides of the interstate I encountered a sight that made me laugh out loud.

 

A huge motorhome, (you know the kind, size of a city bus, costs a hundred grand) was cruising with the rest of the traffic and on it's trailer hitch was a small car trailer with a small car in tow.  That's not terribly unusual. 

 

I know from asking that one of those big 2 person busses will get 5 miles to the gallon.  This was a gasser not a diesel. 

 

So what made me laugh?  The little car in tow was a Prius.  A hybrid car.  And the license plate was one of those vanity plates.  HYBRED. I know they spelled it wrong.  They can. It's their car.

 

I have this vision of a retired couple with lots of money who are driving this behemoth to every state in the union, see America first kind of thing, filling the hundred gallon tank every 500 miles to the tune of $270 per shot and then when they pull into the KOA drive off to see the sights in their little Prius with the license plate that screams, "We're saving the planet and saving gas, we drive a hybrid".

 

Never mind that the contradiction is mindboggling.  I'll give them a break.  Maybe they like the Prius.  I mean it's maintainance cost will be much higher in the long run as batteries need replacing and will make operating the motor home look cheap and the hybrid cost a third more to buy than a simple compact car.  They can afford it and if having a cape makes them think they are superman, have at it. 

 

It just made me laugh.

 

 

 

Bullys on the Left Suppress the Truth about Climate Change

I love being ahead of the curve on things but I’m angry with the elite leftists who impose their views on us expecting us to accept them without complaint or question.  I was taught to question everything.  That skill is now lost in our society.  We are a gullible people. 

 

The lack of good science education and willingness by people who believe liberal socialist dogma to be duped makes appealing the idea that we need to change society to stop something we didn’t start.  Climate change is happening.  Man didn’t cause it and doesn’t accelerate or slow it by his actions.  Full Stop!

 

Al Gore is the high priest of this conspiracy.  Earth in the Balance, his book from a decade ago was a manifesto for global economic control dominance by the left wing elite.  It’s all-wrong.

 

Read this from today's Wall Street Journal.   A few disturbing excerpts are below:

 

There is a more sinister side to this feeding frenzy. Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science that supposedly is their basis.

 

So how is it that we don't have more scientists speaking up about this junk science? It's my belief that many scientists have been cowed not merely by money but by fear.

 

This has much to do with misunderstanding the science of climate, plus a willingness to debase climate science into a triangle of alarmism. Ambiguous scientific statements about climate are hyped by those with a vested interest in alarm, thus raising the political stakes for policy makers who provide funds for more science research to feed more alarm to increase the political stakes.

 

Sen. Al Gore. In 1992, he ran two congressional hearings during which he tried to bully dissenting scientists, including myself, into changing our views and supporting his climate alarmism. Nor did the scientific community complain when Mr. Gore, as vice president, tried to enlist Ted Koppel in a witch hunt to discredit anti-alarmist scientists--a request that Mr. Koppel deemed publicly inappropriate.

 

And then there are the peculiar standards in place in scientific journals for articles submitted by those who raise questions about accepted climate wisdom. At Science and Nature, such papers are commonly refused without review as being without interest.

 

Alarm rather than genuine scientific curiosity, it appears, is essential to maintaining funding. And only the most senior scientists today can stand up against this alarmist gale, and defy the iron triangle of climate scientists, advocates and policymakers.

M. Lindzen is Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT.

 

The left wants to take over the world, starting with your freedom and your pocketbook.  Let's stop them!

Gnostic Confusion and Deception of Judas Papers and DaVinci Code

The Apostle Paul was very concerned about people being prey to another gospel.  Something wrapped up in religious facade but having the look and feel of truth even though it is a lie. In fact he was quite clear.  He said that even if an angel came down from heaven and proclaimed ANY other gospel than Jesus Christ, him crucified and risen again that we were to identify it, reject it and call down a curse on it and a curse on those who bring it.  I didn't make this up, here's what he said.   I think it's pretty darn clear.

 

Galatians Chapter one starting with verse 6.

I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel; ^1:7and there isn't another gospel. Only there are some who trouble you, and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. ^1:8But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any gospel other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed. ^1:9As we have said before, so I now say again: if any man preaches to you any gospel other than that which you received, let him be cursed. ^1:10For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn't be a servant of Christ. ^1:11But I make known to you, brothers, concerning the Gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according to man. ^1:12For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.

 

I know it's controversial.  I know that many of my evangelical readers might be uncomfortable with this idea but I believe that a Biblical curse is in order.  Remember the Book of  Daniel abomination of a few months ago on TV.  The uproar?  It died.  It was cursed.

 

So what do I want you to curse?  The lie of the enemy regarding two of the recent "other gospels" which raised their demonic heads.

 

The Judas Papers (I refuse to call it a gospel)

and

The DaVinci Code Movie

 

Both of these are Gnostic lies.  If you are not aware of who the Gnostics were and still are in these forms (an earlier iteration was the "gospel" of Mary Magdalene), you can read all about them here.  Or, read this very excellent Catholic explanation.  Fairly lengthy but accurate.  These are people who deny Jesus blood.  That is a risky dangerous place to be.

Or just google the word Gnostic and you will find lots of info.  The fact is it will confuse and deceive you if you entertain it.  So, for your own sake, don't.  I don't want you to be ignorant.

 

I am constantly puzzled why the world will reject the concept of Jesus coming to earth fully God incarnated as a man living perfection in his life, demonstrating who God is, and dying a cruel death, beating death, hell and the tomb and ascending back to heaven.  I mean that's what Easter is all about. 

 

Yet these same well meaning people will read and digest the deception delivered as fiction as if it's real.  Or believe some apostate professor from a college in North Carolina without doubt.  I have a friend of an online friend who is in one of Bart Ehrman's class right now.  I would RUN. 

 

One is about entertainment.  The other is about your eternal soul.

 

Therefore, I am calling on my Christian Friends.  Call down a curse on these two abominations in Jesus Name.  I can't instruct you on the curse or it's method, but this might help.  Jesus cursed a fig tree and it died.  There are examples of Curses against evil all thru the Word of God, and in Deuteronomy 28 a whole chapter on blessing and cursing resulting from obedience or disobedience.  Blessing and Cursing are in the power of the tongue, be careful that the thing you curse and pronounce doom upon is not people but exploits of the enemy.  My first recommendation would be to speak into the air about these abominations.  Pronounce doom and failure on them. The second would be to bind them using the power of God given to believers when Jesus said, "Whatever (not whoever) you bind on earth will be bound in heaven".

 

Will this work?  I believe God.  And I believe that we are here to be the restrainers until God decides to take us out.  Restrainers against the evil of the enemy.  Against the spirit of antichrist.  2Thess.2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He Who now restrains, will restrain, until He be taken out of the way.

 

We don't war against flesh and blood.  But some of the principalities and powers behind these things are pretty blatant.   I think the devil is more bold in these days.  He looks exactly like an angel of Light (revelation).

 

So, call down whatever curse on these schemes of the devil you can believe God for.  Have no fear, God is not mocked.  Paul, if he were here today, would cheer you on.  Onward Christian Soldiers.

 

 

Oil at $100 or $45? Yes

FEAR AND GREED

 

That’s what makes the market. 

 

T. Boone Pickens, Texas Oil Billionaire makes his money by being right about the price of Oil.  He is right this time too.  He says with political unrest in the oil producing countries of Iran and Nigeria Oil is going to go to $100 per barrel. FEAR.

 

On the other hand Ben Dell, a respected oil analyst says the price of oil is about to fall to $45.  His whole document is here.

 

He then says that the price will creep back up to about $60 by 2010.  So relax. 

 

Gasoline is going to be cheap with a short-term spike for a while yet to come. 

 

How is all this possible? Fear means if you believe the world is running out of oil and we are going to die then you buy oil futures.  Ride the ride up.  Political unrest only drives your fear further.  You make money on fear.

 

If on the other hand you believe that the world is awash in crude oil looking for a market and when that bird comes home to roost you are going to see an oil bust, then you look for a way to make a buck by selling the market when it hits $100. Greed.

 

In this context greed is good.

 

So, who is right Pickens or Dell?  Both!

 

Here’s what is about to happen.  Political unrest and instability will cause the world oil markets to peak at over $100.  This will be driven by a couple speculators.  This will last until the world settles down again.  Then reality will set in.  Oil will drop like a rock. It will go to $45 and then over the next 4 years creep back up to $60.  That’s all in today’s dollars.  If we have huge inflation, a devaluation in our currency, (Gold at $1000) then you must think in today’s dollars. 

 

If you want to become hugely wealthy wait until the oil hits $100 then sell it on the futures options market (a put) and wait as it drops to $45.  Send me some.

 

PS: For Christians only.   You already knew this. God never does anything unless he tells his prophets first.