Global Warming and Saddam Hussein

This interesting article from a senior expert in the Climate Change field. You can expect that this will be contested. He can speak because he's a real expert unlike most of the celebrities and amatures who claim that Humans cause Climate Change. There is more evidence for WMD's in Iraq that were held by Saddam Hussein than there is for the idea that Humans cause climate change. We are stupid people for believing that somehow we should destroy our standard of living and chase our tails with peanut technologies to solve a non existent cause of an unrelated problem. We are buying indulgences and sacrificing virgins to fix the unfixable. Read the whole article.


Reid A. Bryson holds the 30th PhD in Meteorology granted in the history of American education. Emeritus Professor and founding chairman of the University of Wisconsin Department of Meteorology—now the Department of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences—in the 1970s he became the first director of what’s now the UW’s Gaylord Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies. He’s a member of the United Nations Global 500 Roll of Honor—created, the U.N. says, to recognize “outstanding achievements in the protection and improvement of the environment.” He has authored five books and more than 230 other publications and was identified by the British Institute of Geographers as the most frequently cited climatologist in the world.

Bryson is a believer in climate change, in that he’s as quick as anyone to acknowledge that Earth’s climate has done nothing but change throughout the planet’s existence. In fact, he took that knowledge a big step further, earlier than probably anyone else. Almost 40 years ago, Bryson stood before the American Association for the Advancement of Science and presented a paper saying human activity could alter climate.

In the 1960s, Bryson’s idea was widely considered a radical proposition. But nowadays things have turned almost in the opposite direction: Hardly a day passes without some authority figure claiming that whatever the climate happens to be doing, human activity must be part of the explanation. And once again, Bryson is challenging the conventional wisdom.

“Climate’s always been changing and it’s been changing rapidly at various times, and so something was making it change in the past,” he told us in an interview this past winter. “Before there were enough people to make any difference at all, two million years ago, nobody was changing the climate, yet the climate was changing, okay?”

“All this argument is the temperature going up or not, it’s absurd,” Bryson continues. “Of course it’s going up. It has gone up since the early 1800s, before the Industrial Revolution, because we’re coming out of the Little Ice Age, not because we’re putting more carbon dioxide into the air.”

Little Ice Age? That’s what chased the Vikings out of Greenland after they’d farmed there for a few hundred years during the Mediaeval Warm Period, an earlier run of a few centuries when the planet was very likely warmer than it is now, without any help from industrial activity in making it that way. What’s called “proxy evidence”—assorted clues extrapolated from marine sediment cores, pollen specimens, and tree-ring data—helps reconstruct the climate in those times before instrumental temperature records existed.

We ask about that evidence, but Bryson says it’s second-tier stuff. “Don’t talk about proxies,” he says. “We have written evidence, eyeball evidence. When Eric the Red went to Greenland, how did he get there? It’s all written down.”

Bryson describes the navigational instructions provided for Norse mariners making their way from Europe to their settlements in Greenland. The place was named for a reason: The Norse farmed there from the 10th century to the 13th, a somewhat longer period than the United States has existed. But around 1200 the mariners’ instructions changed in a big way. Ice became a major navigational reference. Today, old Viking farmsteads are covered by glaciers.

Bryson mentions the retreat of Alpine glaciers, common grist for current headlines. “What do they find when the ice sheets retreat, in the Alps?”

We recall the two-year-old report saying a mature forest and agricultural water-management structures had been discovered emerging from the ice, seeing sunlight for the first time in thousands of years. Bryson interrupts excitedly.

“A silver mine! The guys had stacked up their tools because they were going to be back the next spring to mine more silver, only the snow never went,” he says. “There used to be less ice than now. It’s just getting back to normal.”

What Leads, What Follows?

What is normal? Maybe continuous change is the only thing that qualifies. There’s been warming over the past 150 years and even though it’s less than one degree, Celsius, something had to cause it. The usual suspect is the “greenhouse effect,” various atmospheric gases trapping solar energy, preventing it being reflected back into space.

We ask Bryson what could be making the key difference:

Q: Could you rank the things that have the most significant impact and where would you put carbon dioxide on the list?

A: Well let me give you one fact first. In the first 30 feet of the atmosphere, on the average, outward radiation from the Earth, which is what CO2 is supposed to affect, how much [of the reflected energy] is absorbed by water vapor? In the first 30 feet, 80 percent, okay?

Q: Eighty percent of the heat radiated back from the surface is absorbed in the first 30 feet by water vapor…

A: And how much is absorbed by carbon dioxide? Eight hundredths of one percent. One one-thousandth as important as water vapor. You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide.

This begs questions about the widely publicized mathematical models researchers run through supercomputers to generate climate scenarios 50 or 100 years in the future. Bryson says the data fed into the computers overemphasizes carbon dioxide and accounts poorly for the effects of clouds—water vapor. Asked to evaluate the models’ long-range predictive ability, he answers with another question: “Do you believe a five-day forecast?”

Bryson says he looks in the opposite direction, at past climate conditions, for clues to future climate behavior. Trying that approach in the weeks following our interview, Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News soon found six separate papers about Antarctic ice core studies, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals between 1999 and 2006. The ice core data allowed researchers to examine multiple climate changes reaching back over the past 650,000 years. All six studies found atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations tracking closely with temperatures, but with CO2 lagging behind changes in temperature, rather than leading them. The time lag between temperatures moving up—or down—and carbon dioxide following ranged from a few hundred to a few thousand years.

This Won't Happen Again in your LIFETIME

TOMORROW MORNING AT 2AM IS A CRITICAL TIME.

 

Three minutes and Four seconds after 2 AM on the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be:

02:03:04 05/06/07

This numerical order will never happen again in our lifetime.

Stay up and toast the day.

Finishing Well

Dr. Andrew Weil is a quality of life advocate who wrote recently that life extension efforts that results in extended morbidity is not life extension.  I just buried an aunt who lived 16 years in a nursing home.  Extended life with morbidity.  Weil says the goal of man should be to live well as long as possible and then die shortly after no longer living well.  Slay dragons in the morning and die that afternoon.  I'm up with that. 

 

I spent some time in nursing homes the last year.  A family friend of ours just passed away in the nursing home.  I visited her.  She was alert, alive and full of spunk.  But, incapacitated otherwise.  Tough way to go.  On the other hand my family has the unfortunate late life curse of mental drift.  Late 80's and things drift away.  So, even if alive, alert isn't there.  Sometimes not at all.

 

These things haunt me.  I want to finish well.  With all the talk about life expectancy (the average does go up) we haven't done much about actual length of life.  We are able to keep a few alive for a decade or more past prime.  But in Jesus time Anna was 84 when He was born.  84 was not an exceptional age then.  Old but not exceptional.  We are about at the same length now.

 

Despite all our medical advances that moves up life expectancy, our life expectancy in length is to about 85-95 perhaps a few more.  Average life expectancy is something else.  My concern is not length of years, it's life in the years.

 

In our church we just had a woman die who was a quadriplegic. Bonnie.  She had everything NOT going for her.  But she died full of years.  She worked hard to develop and maintain a quality of life.  Her friend Dianne paid a price and reaped a reward to see her active and involved.  Bless them both.  Bonnie was an inspiration.

 

I get to the keyboard about 7AM.  I work the phones all day.  About 3-4PM I try to do whatever errands or deliveries I have.  Then I come home, change clothes and work in the Nursery till dark.  Mostly about 8PM.  I try to get a little nap in.  I ache.  But I'm happy.  I like to work.  I see so many men my age half infirmed.  I feel I didn't work hard I would lose whatever vigor I have.  Use it or lose it.

 

I used to have great pride at my physical stamina.  I unloaded several large bags of potting soil last night.  I struggled to lift them.  They were unwieldy and over 80 pounds each.  I know 5 years ago I would have thrown them over my shoulder and walked them back.  On the other hand I can still carry six 3 gallon pots at once.  Lots of young men can't do that.  So, I still got it, kinda.

 

Age is a robber.  I keep hoping 80 is the new 65.  That a man or woman in good health should be able to work till 80.  If that's the case is 65 the new 50?   I wish.  So do you.

 

So, I'll go thru my routine.  I'll be out leading a prayer meeting tonight till late.  Up tomorrow.  Men's meeting.  Work hard the rest of the day.  Much to do. 

 

And in the mean time I write on this Blog and make a living.

 

Don't feel sorry for me, don't tell me to slow down, I love it.  I love the pain.  I love the tired.  I love the fact that I sleep well.  It's a choice driven partly by fear of morbidity.

 

I just fear it will all end too soon.  I just hope to finish well.  I have much to do.

 

Our High School Class Poem (or Motto) quoted Frost when he said, "I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep".

 

Still do.

Keith Goes to College

A Blog Friend from NYC, Keith, tells a story you must read if you are a Christian and need your fire stoked.

I have been reading his blog for a couple years. I find him interesting, real, human, transparent (even in affairs of the heart), knowledgeable, smart and worth my time. Maybe for you too.

The nub of the story he tells is of standing in the commons of a university for several hours and preaching the word of God. He is not a firebrand pentecostal. He is much more traditional than am I. But he has passion. He has heart. I admire him for all that.

Drop him a note of encouragement on his comment section. He's a good man.

Kill all the Humans, the Ulimate Global Warming Solution

Now China has boasted that it's population control brutality reduces global warming. That includes forced abortions, infanticide, and murder. Always a bad thing in my opinion. This should make all the eco-nuts really happy. Save the whales, kill the babies. Nice bumper sticker.

Why not solve global warming by killing off say a third of all the people on the planet? That'll cinch things up.

Reading my Bible, it appears as if that's already in the works with the 6th trumpet judgement.

200 million demons let loose upon this earth to literally kill one third of the people that are still left on it!

China just got a head start. I wonder how many of those demons will be wearing an environmental armband as they kill 1/3rd of mankind?

Speaking Truth to Pacifism

"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

WHO SAID THIS?

JOHN STUART MILL

Sorry commenter, wrong again.

Bringing Back the WHITES ONLY Drinking Fountains

Now it's getting really nutty out there. Kansas City airport has installed foot washing benches next to where the prayer rugs are kept.

Muslims need to wash their feet to pray. So, Cab drivers many of whom are Muslim, needed a foot washing station.

The big lie is Anyone Can Use These facilities. So, let's see, If I bring my dog Fido in to give him a bath is that OK? If my potbellied Pig needs to be washed after rolling in the mud is that acceptable? If I want to use this for some other "Religious" purpose am I allowed?

What do you think? NOT ON YOUR LIFE OR MINE.

This is re-installing the whites only drinking fountains. This time I'm the Negro. So are you.

Throw that Bible Out - The New Canon is Here

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Gore.

I have long maintained that eco-nuttyness is a religion at it's core.

I have as evidence this story of a hotel in California (where else) that places the new holy writ, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth on the nightstands of their hotel rooms instead of a Gideon Bible.

From this article:

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Visitors to the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa won't find the Gideon Bible in the nightstand drawer. Instead, on the bureau will be a copy of ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' former Vice President Al Gore's book about global warming.

They have EVERY right to do so. It's their hotel. Actions speak louder than words. They can do what they want too. When they do they telegraph the truth about who They really are.

I can hear it now in the Church of Earth. Let's pray:

Our Mother which art the earth
Warming is thy name..........................

So, the next time someone rails about human caused global warming remember, they're just some nutcase religious fanatic like the islamo-fascists and the basis of their nuttyness has the same depth.

It's all faith.

If I'm going to have faith it's not going to be in Al Gore or a big lie told to the whole world about the idea that I am guilty and therefore need to pay indulgences in the form of carbon credits to some self appointed priest out there in the ozone.

Get real.

Men Like This Are Founding Fathers

I know men who made a difference. One was my Uncle Earl Redlin. He fought at Anzio. He matters. He Mattered. I fear for out country when so many weak and spineless men and women who have no stomach for heroism fill our population and our voting booths. We are being set up for tyranny.

Our fathers, the faith of our fathers, the greatest generation, were men and women of courage and valor. We have once more such men and women fighting for our very lives in Iraq, Afghanistan and soon in Iran. They matter too.
They give me hope that in the generation to come we will get our gonads back.

So, in salute on this May Day I point to one such man of valor who just passed away. We owe him much. Here's his Obituary.

WWII bomber pilot was shot down twice

April 30, 2007
BY RICHARD PYLE
NEW YORK -- Robert Rosenthal, a World War II bomber pilot who twice survived being shot down in raids over Europe and later served on the U.S. legal team that prosecuted Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, has died.

Mr. Rosenthal, who lived in Harrison, N.Y., died April 20 of multiple myeloma, according to a son, Steven Rosenthal, of Newton, Mass. He was 89.

With 16 decorations including the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest award for heroism, Mr. Rosenthal was a quintessential example of the young Army pilots who carried out daylight strategic bombing raids against Germany's industrial war machine from 1942 to 1945.

Mr. Rosenthal's 52 missions included one on Oct. 10, 1943, in which his aircraft was the only one of 13 to return from a raid. Rosenthal's B-17 reached England with two of its four engines gone, severe wing damage and two wounded crew members.

His bomber was dubbed ''Rosie's Riveter,'' a play on his name and the sobriquet given to women working in U.S. defense factories.

Mr. Rosenthal's plane was disabled by flak over France in September 1944. He suffered a broken arm and other injuries in a forced landing but was helped to safety by French resistance fighters. Five months later, he was shot down again during a raid over Berlin and got home with the aid of Russian troops, via Poland, Russia, Iran, Egypt, Greece and Italy.

Born in Brooklyn on June 11, 1917, Mr. Rosenthal was football and baseball team captain at Brooklyn College, a summa cum laude graduate of Brooklyn Law School and was working at a Manhattan law firm when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He enlisted the next day.

After Germany surrendered, Mr. Rosenthal was training to fly B-29 Super Fortresses over Japan when the war ended in August 1945. He came home to a law practice but soon went back to Germany as part of the American legal team chosen for the Nuremberg war crimes trials. Aboard the ship bound for Germany he met Phillis Heller, another attorney, whom he married in Nuremberg.

During the trials he interviewed ex-Luftwaffe Cmdr. Herman Goering, the highest-ranking Nazi defendant, who evaded the hangman by committing suicide, and former Gen. Wilhelm Keitel.

"Seeing these strutting conquerors after they were sentenced ... was the closure I needed," he said. ''Justice had overtaken evil."

I WASN'T ANGRY

The post below this one a (Used or Useful) was not about what you think. After I wrote it I received a phone call from a good friend of mine who was wondering what that was all about. I revised it taking out a bit of the anger and increasing the specificity. I think it says in a bit more in a less abusive tenor the nature of my complaint and irritation.

I tried to explain without naming names. Hope I succeeded.

I can be specific because the person leading the organization about whom I wrote NEVER reads this blog, NEVER reads what I send him, NEVER hears what I have to say (he's too busy multitasking) and NEVER will allow me to be useful at any level.

Therefore I'm outta there.

If you read this blog it's not about you.

I met with the leadership of the organization in question over dinner last Thursday. I realized as a member of this group I am a fifth wheel. Never a good place. So, I'm gone.

Some groups are just users. It's their genetic DNA. They want (this is a church group) to be live TV for the people they "Serve" on Sundays, Sunday nights and Wednesdays. Dog and pony shows. That is lots of entertainment (activities), worshiptainment (Music), theotainment (Preaching). Spectator Christianity. They are lost in space and will soon crash and burn. I will now step off this sinking ship.

I won't be used and unusful.

My only regret is that the people who really need to get this message will never see it. If I sent them this in vellum and gold they would treat it as small change. I don't need this.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU FEEL INFERIOR WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION". One way to avoid that feeling is not to allow others to ever talk to you that way. You and I should never allow someone to talk down to us. Treat yourself with self respect.

Nobody ever kicks a dead dog. If you are doing something you will be criticized or they may treat you like small change. Never let them. You have a mission and a purpose and allowing someone to rob that God Given destiny by marginalization is a sin.

The man who hid his MINA in the dirt till the master returned was criticised and punished. Yours must never be. Don't let anyone compel you to hide the Mina you have been given. I won't and neither should you. Make yourself USEFUL!

Used or Useful - RSV

Growing up I was often told to "make yourself useful". That may explain some of who I am today. I know this, I cannot abide feeling used, I am genetically programmed to be useful.

If for some reason I ever feel un-useful mode I will change things. Either I will be engaged or find a place to be engaged.

Inert I am NOT. That's why in nearly every company, every club, every group, every organization and every church I act with intentionality to be useful. Sometimes that manifests itself by me working with others, sometimes heading a program or project. Sometimes that manifests itself by me having a specific project with specific goals. I must be useful or I'll leave. Not a bystander Gene.

I don't attend ball games; basket, foot, base, soft or soccer. I am not a spectator in life. I don't go to many concerts. I do love Opera because there is much to be engaged in. I love life theater because I can be part of it.

Church that is oriented toward making me feel USED is soon ex-church. How does it manifest itself? I had a man in a church say once me, "I can handle Gene". I know I can be a handful. But that comment was the kiss of death for him. He never had another chance to "Handle" me again. I saw to it that whatever input I got from him was ignored or reversed. Unless he was smarter than the average bear he would have had to figure out that I was doing the opposite of his "Handling", then try to outmaneuver me. Not too likely.

Use me or lose me. I end up feeling used when I am expected to sit quietly in the pew every Sunday, follow the program, pay my tithe, be on some committee, and keep my mouth shut ("Handle" me). If Gene shows up, the rest comes (Mouth and all).

If you expect me to just "Be on the Roll" and not involved at a level that makes a difference I will be gone. I don't believe in church MEMBERSHIP for that reason. There is in membership an implied "Handling" that is only reserved for Jesus in my life.

In my reading of the Bible I don't see any indication that keeping pews warm was the function of the body of Christ as it built in the book of Acts. In fact the opposite is true. If someone says, "there aren't enough places in ministry for everyone" my response is, "Then everyone is saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, Speaks in Tongues, operates in the 9 gifts of the spirit, heals the sick, raises the dead, delivers the oppressed and in general is fully engaged in ministry". IF that's not the case, there's still plenty of places still in ministry. Our problem is too much ministry doesn't happen because people misleading are in the user mode. People warm pews because there are too few ministers willing to prepare the saints to do what they are called to do according to Ephesians 4. Get everyone on the same page you will have a powerhouse. Let a few do little and you have dead. In the human body when an organ or member no longer is able to be functional it atrophies and dies. If that happens to a couple key organs the whole body dies. I have a friend with MS. That's what's happening to him.

I refuse to be USED. There's a group I belong too where I have been placed on the shelf. I met with them last Thursday. I realized as a result of that meeting I am being used and not being useful. Shelved. Earth to space. If you have chosen to try to shelf me I'll crawl off. The lecture that serves no purpose is to tell someone they must first "Pay the Price or Clean toilets". I have come to the conclusion that those arguments are manipulative. It's a way of marginalizing people into areas of ungiftedness.

As window washers or toilet cleaners they are frustrated evangelists. They do a decent but maybe not exceptional job of toilet cleaning. The judgement about their evangelistic capability is rooted in their toilet cleaning capacity. Judging people by their ungifted performance.

People end up dying and going to hell because the gifted evangelist isn't put in a place of destiny and function according to their God given giftedness. ON THE SHELF.

Long ago I made the decision I would NOT be part of any group, company, or organization that was at it's core a user of people. I am just reaffirming.

Drug addicts are called users. I think there is a parallel.

Good News Bad News

Reclaiming lost memories. Alzheimer's healings. Good News.

Carol Mosley Braun Mugged. Saved by two White Boys. Bad news, Maybe.

Somebody In Baltimore Loves a Tree

To: All Employees

Fm: Your CEO

Re: Exciting new product promises to reduce air and water pollution.

First, let's give a big round of applause to the researchers who came up with today's product launch. They spotted the fledgling market in the U.S. for "carbon offsets" that enable ordinary people to compensate for their personal contributions to global warming by funding carbon reduction projects.

These typically include renewable energy or energy efficiency programs that result in less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere.

After some considerable effort, we've found a way to jump on this particular bandwagon, with a not-so-little thing we're proudly calling the Tireless Recycling and Emissions Extractor - or TREE.

Now, if I understand the science correctly (and hey, I'm an MBA, not a Ph.D.), consumers can buy a TREE and simply place it in the soil. With just a bit of patience and care, the product will eventually generate a whopping $31,250 of oxygen, provide $62,000 in air pollution control, recycle $37,500 worth of water, and control $31,500 worth of soil erosion over a 50-year period. In terms of return on investment, I've got to tell you, that's completely off the charts.

The units are cheap to produce and maintain, long-lasting, totally recyclable (into something we're calling Leftover Organic Generations, or LOGs) and, according to our focus groups, quite beautiful from a purely aesthetic point of view. Really top-notch work, guys.

Incidentally, today is National Arbor Day, and the folks in marketing say we couldn't have picked a better holiday to call attention to our TREE. I think you'll agree with us that with a little investment in advertising and consumer awareness, this thing could really take root and grow.

Tip o the Hat

May I Have Your Permission Please to Call the Left Liars

I will be kind. As kind as I know how. The left Lies. That makes them Liars. The left's main mouthpiece is the media sycophants and mis-leaders like Bill Moyers.

I will also go out on a limb and without reservation call the left unpatriotic. I have called them traitors before. Today I'm being kind. They are just unpatriotic.

Why such vinegar today?

Ken has posted some of the lies the left uses as if it were truth and we are all supposed to just believe what they say and what they do without question.

Question everything. Be careful who you read, see, hear. They lie. They can't help it. They're liars.

STOP SAVING ME SO MUCH MONEY

I was in a conversation yesterday about false economy. The idea that in saving money you can go broke or die.

Can saving too much money kill you? Yes.

• I know people who will not see a doctor on a timely basis because they want to save money.
• I know people who will eat risky foods (dumpster divers) to save money.
• I know people who live in cold damp houses and are sick all the time because they want to save money. (or too hot in the summer)
  
• I know people who won't repair a faulty furnace and die of monoxide poison. (this almost happened to me). I was saving lots of money and almost died of it.
  
• I know people who drive an unsafe vehicle because they don't want to repair it for financial reasons. How many people die for lack of spending $300 needed dollars.
  

This is a big deal to me because:

My own father and mother were killed 48 years ago driving a cheap truck with a load of oats on it and there have been suspicions that it was a "Money Saving" truck. Bought cheap. Good enough. Not perfect but it ran. UNSAFE. Transmission failed, clutch failed, brakes failed. Flying down the hill with 30 tons of grain at 100 miles per hour I'll bet their last thoughts were "boy are we ever saving money as we orphan our 3 children and put them in financial legal jeopardy".

That accident killed not only my parents but several other people. It was a horrible tragedy. WHY? Saving money. They saved so much money on that truck it killed them. (and others)

I used to have this nice lady, Teresa who worked for me. She suffered from false economy. When we bought filing cabinets we had to buy them twice because the ones she bought were so darn cheap they didn't work at all. Price was her only motivation.

Same with desks, chairs. Bought cheap then bought right. If we had bought good value the first time, even high quality used, we would have had something. We didn't. So we bought twice. I finally said to her, "Stop saving me so much money". I'm going broke buying everything twice.

I believe buying right means buying good. If you buy a vehicle that is such a piece of junk that it requires constant repairs you aren't saving money, you are being bled by false frugality. We had a sump pump go out this morning in our house. We are about to buy another. I will spend extra money for one that has a longer duty cycle, more robust system, bigger motor, oil cooled. If I "Saved" money I would get to replace it again twice as often and run the risk of water all over the floor. That would be dumb. Cheap can be dumb.

I don't really understand the allure of cheap. I know this, if you buy cheap you get cheap and you rob yourself of the joy of abundant living. Living like you were on welfare by using the cheapest products available to save a few bucks is on the edge of insanity.

In ministryI have tried to help homeless people by taking them to the grocer to buy groceries and other essentials. It's always amazing how they are driven by the price tag and the volume. When I ask, "what about getting a little better quality" they moan about the price. When upon further examination they discover as I point out to them that it costs almost no more to go first class they are amazed. They live better on the same money. The dollar stores are a haven for the poor. They have a poverty mindset and live below their potential chasing an elusive bargain. I bought a bottle of Ketchup recently at the Dollar Store. I was there with my wife. I asked the clerk how much the Ketchup was. He looked at me funny. Everything's a dollar he said. So I bought it.

We went to our local grocer later. Same bottle, same brand 79cents. People seeking a bargain getting ripped off. They know you are cheap and laugh all the way to the bank.

Few bargain hunters really bag actual bargains. Not every coupon you clip saves money. The big lie is that Sams Club is cheaper. It's not. They just sell you more of what you don't need. Sometimes less price = less value (by a lot).

Those who live with a spirit of poverty possessing them are no better off than those who are actually impoverished. Oh, they have money, but they live like virtual paupers. It's like reading, those who won't read are no better off than those who can't read. Same difference.

I had an aunt who was famous for driving 80 miles round trip to save $3 on groceries for the week. When quizzed about this she protested "I was going to go anyway". It wasn't true. She was going for the chickens, so she could buy some shoes. But she was going to buy shoes so on the way she bought the cheap chickens. Self defeating philosophy.

That's like the guy who says I have lots of time on my hands so since my time is worth nothing I'll do this. This Aunt was so cheap she used coupons to keep even with her own husband in "Sharing the Cost of living". He own husband. How did all this end up this way? How did we become so addicted and deceived by the almighty dollar? I am convinced that in life and in spiritual things riches are deceitful above all else.

LAST EXAMPLE:

My Aunt Dolly died and we buried her over the weekend. She died penniless.

Over the same weekend Sam Walton's Billionaire widow died.

They both took the same amount of money to the grave. None. They both took their last breath in the same way. Neither woman's last years were improved or dis-improved by the amount of money they did or didn't have.

Spend it and enjoy life a little. Read the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. Maybe you can get over your false economy. And for God's sake spend it so you are safe and comfortable. False economy is no economy. Or, you can always send it on ahead. Lay up for you treasures which are in heaven. Send some on ahead. You can then spend some here to make yourself comfortable.

Environmentalists take Longer to Learn

I don't know why but people blinded by the Global Worship of the Earth, the religion led by it's pope, Al Gore are incapable of critical analysis.

When the big push to Ethanol came, I yelled, Whoa. This is not common sense. It takes more energy to produce liquid energy than it produces. What? I was accused of hating the earth. Not loving the environment. NOT TRUE. I just think stupid is as stupid does.

But all across the fruited plain there are mushroom emergences of ethanol plants. I even know a man who has mad millions building them. If for one month the subsidies stopped they would all be shuttered.

Now, the Dutch are coming out with some common sense to say, If we are going to do bio-fuels at least lets try to do it right.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - It's the new climate change dilemma: finding alternatives for oil and gas without doing more harm than good.

In the rush to develop biofuels, forests are burned in Asia to clear land for palm oil, and swaths of the Amazon are stripped of diverse vegetation for soya and sugar plantations for ethanol.

This is good news. Maybe the mania will subside and some REAL research will ensue.

Then this story which is another "AHA". People who issue carbon credits are fraudulent. This is a big ho ho ho. These are the same carbon credits that Al Gore bought to offset his 10X house at home power usage. The same ones that Richard Branson bought to offset his Virgin Airway Jets. Suckers.

Why is THIS a story at all. Of course Carbon Credits are a fraud perpetrated on weak minded people like poor good-singer-fine-looking-women like Sheryl Crowe. The earth worshippers are such guppies for a sad story.

Then some guy comes along and says, "Give me your money and I will assuage your guilt". They think they invented this. HA. The Catholic Church in the 14th Century sold Indulgences. They didn't do anygood either. A hero of mine, Martin Luther blew the whistle on it all. Things changed.

I would have written a clever piece announcing the Gene Redlin Carbon Credits Company and that you should send me all your money to deal with your egregious energy usage. I would have written it but I was beaten to the punch by my better. Julie. Read her piece. Buy a carbon credit from her. It will do far more good than sending it to some scam artist living off the stupidity of the Eco-nuts. She's an artist but not a scam.

Who Should NOT be allowed to have GUNS

The Virginia Tech Murders tells us one thing. The Insane should not be able to buy a gun.

I noted that a famous patriot tell us that there is another category of mental illness should not be allowed to own a gun. Michael Savage says that Liberalism is a Mental Disorder.

Now Rush has identified Cho the Killer as a liberal.

So, the conclusion, Liberals shouldn't be allowed to own a gun.

Makes sense to me.

12 Ways God wants to be Worshipped

In the old covenant there was much written in instruction of the correct manner of worship. It was formal, careful, and precise. In fact if you violated the procedure you were killed by God. That happened to a man who touched the Ark. It happened to priests who didn't purify themselves before entering the Holy of Holys. They had to tie a rope around his leg and bells on his coat so if the jingling stopped they could drag his corpse out of the sanctuary.

Then there were the two sons of Aaron who offered strange fire before the Lord. They were killed. God has pretty precise ways he desires to be worshipped. Man has a need to "Modify" God's plan. That's why in Isaiah 58 God's pretty clear that he doesn't get much satisfaction from Fasting as a religious practice without proper followup.

And in Hebrews when the writer talks of the blood of Bulls and goats not fulfilling the law. When Jesus came the need for further sacrifice stopped.

God still has a pattern of worship that much of the Church world chooses to ignore because it's not their "Style". We Prefer to worship otherwise. Preferred style of worship will ultimately lead to apostasy and idol worship. It has in the modern church. We worship symbols, we worship tradition, we worship denominations, we worship comfort and preferences. Unfortunately even if lukewarm worship might comfort you, If I read my bible right, it doesn't do much for God. Does God have a preferred way he desires to be worshipped in the new covenant? YES and most of the church world misses it. Paul is so bold at to say his prescribed worship format is a command from the Lord himself?

There is an important chapter in 1 Corinthians 14. You can read starting at Verse 26 here. That's important because I am going to ask a few questions about the church services you attend or conduct. I will take these questions from this passage. In the church services you now attend:

1. Does one sing, another teach and another tell some special revelation God has given?
2. Does one will speak in tongues, and another interpret what is said?
3. Does everything that is done strengthen all of you?
4. Do two or three speak in tongues one at a time, and someone interpret what they say?
5. Do People speak in tongues to God privately in the Service?
6. Do two or three people prophesy, and others evaluate what is said?
7. if someone is prophesying and another person receives a revelation from the Lord, will the one who is speaking stop? (That includes the Sermon)
8. Do all who prophesy have a turn to speak, one after the other, so that everyone will learn and be encouraged?
9. Are the people who prophesy in control of their spirit and can take turns? (For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people).
10. If you claim to be a prophet or think you are spiritual, you recognize that what I am saying is a command from the Lord himself? (But if you do not recognize this, you yourself will not be recognized as a prophet, apostle, teacher, pastor evangelist)
11. Are People eager to prophesy?
12. Does the Church you are in forbid (Public) speaking in tongues? (But be sure that everything is done properly and in order.)

If the church you attend doesn't follow God's order as defined by the Apostle Paul, Find a different Church. You are partaking in dead works. Show me your works, I'll show you your faith.

I Don't mean to be so direct but we must quit playing games in the body of Christ. It's time to grow up.

There is one part of the passage I skipped intentionally, the one on women speaking. There is much to understand about that part of the text. I will say this in agreement with the passage, a church made up of and controlled strictly by women is a dead church. That's why I have a passion for men's ministry. We must have men who are God-ordained spiritual heads to lead. Women are not disqualified but it's not God's perfect plan.

Now, my challenge to you next Sunday, Take that Checklist from above and see how many of them your Church engages. If it's less than 2 get out. There are still biblical churches in your town. GO THERE! For your own spiritual health.

I'm in Hell and Proud of it

This story hit the wire this morning. Wiccan symbols will now be on the gravestones of Pagans and Heathens. I guess if they want that on their tombstone they can have it. They were exultant to now proclaim their permanent eternal torment for all to see.

Al McKeel, a Reno resident who prefers to use his spiritual name Shadow of the Nine Grays, was excited to hear the news.

"Our religion has been so misunderstood," he said. "Pagans and heathens everywhere are celebrating. I am so happy."

Seems like a finny thing to want a hopeless hellbent proclamation on your grave marker for great grandson to see. It says to the generation after you, "Hi little Johnny. I died and went to HELL because I wanted to. Isn't that special?"

Little Johnny can then ask his mommy, "Why did Grandpa want to go to Hell?"

OK Mommy, splain that.

I know that when I walk the graveyards of my ancestors and see all the biblical annotations that not every ONE of those folks will stand next to me on the Glassy Sea in eternity. I know that. That's why it's called HOPE.

Putting a guaranteed hopeless symbol on your gravestone is dumb, empty and useless.

Rebellion against God: it's been tried, didn't work. Never will.

There is a great White Throne Judgement. He get's the last word.

This isn't a good thing if you have a Wiccan Symbol as your last act of Rebellion.

Ghosts of Christmas yet to Come

I was at a family funeral in Watertown SD, the place of my birth. It was sad to see that the "Plaque" was not up yet. You know, the one that says,

"Watertown Memorial Hospital, Birthplace of Gene Redlin"

A little megalomania goes a long way with me.

While there we got to see aunts and uncles of many years. In the Redlin clan with relative longevity and vigor 80 is still going. 90 is not. Most of my kin work at something till 80. That means I have 18 years till I retire. My Uncle Earl worked just passed his 80th birthday. My aunt Lou is still pretty solid and go ahead at 80. Maybe it's true the new 65 is 80. I hope.

The image and words of "Prophecy" was in watching My uncles Earl and Wally both 90+ shuffle along together talking as brothers. Someone said, "There you and Steve (My Brother) are in 30 years. Not a hopeful sight.

It took me all day yesterday to shake that image. It frankly depressed me. I don't see myself there. I see that 80 year old tiger. 90? Wow.

So, I'm back on even keel.

Oh, the funeral? Dolly my dad's sister, 93.

Living long is a blessing if you live well.

Live long and prosper.

I'll buy that.

100 Signs of Death

Once in a while I get a comment to a post that is a "Blows me Away".  This is that.  In response to Robochurch the comment below appeared.  Thanks to mr/mrs anon.

 

Working in Corporate America for the years as I did and in the Church World this list rings so true it's scary.  I have heard many, yea even most of these at one time or another.  It's a disease born in fear and cowardice.  That's why most of the innovation and creativity and new jobs and groundbreaking takes place in small businesses and small churches.    The big ones are too "STUCK". 

 

Once before I wrote on the emptiness of the cynic.  Any fool can be a coward.  Most are.

 

100 Ways to Kill a Concept:

1.the boss won't go for that.
2.the lawyers won't go for that.
3.the accountants won't go for that.
4.the client won't go for that.
5.the salespeople won't go for that.
6.the investors won't go for that.
7.So and so won't like it.
8.It's not us.
9.It won't fit into our system.
10.We're not ready for that yet.
11.I don't think it will work.
12.I don't understand.
13.Do you understand?
14.Will anyone understand?
15.What will they think of next?
16.It's politically incorrect.
17.It's too complicated.
18.It's too late for that now.
19.It's too expensive.
20.We'll lose money.
21.Why?
22.What!?
23.Who says?
24.nobody will want that.
25.Where are you coming from?
26.It can't be done.
27.Have the committee review it.
28.Let's do more research.
29.Let's take a vote on it.
30.Let's play devil's advocate.
31.I've never heard of such a thing.
32.We've already tried that.
33.that's been done before.
34.It's not how we do things here.
35.We've never done anything like that.
36.We'll get back to you.
37.that's a subject for another meeting.
38.It creates more problems than it solves.
39.Sounds like too many problems.
40.that only solves some of the problems.
41.that's going to cause problems.
42.Here we go again.
43.that's unique, but . . .
44.Very interesting, but . . .
45.I understand, but . . .
46.I love it, but . .
47.Great idea, but . . .
48.Yes, but . . .
49.Sounds simple, but . .
50.But . . .
51.It's just not for us.
52.try again.
53.that sucks.
54.needs more pizzazz!
55.I don't like it.
56.Have you thought it through?
57.It won't sell.
58.Maybe next time.
59.Another day.
60.What are people going to say?
61.People will think we're nuts!
62.that's BS.
63.Be realistic.
64.How about this instead?
65.Get a grip!
66.Are you serious?
67.that turns me off!
68.the client is too liberal for that.
69.the client is too conservative for that.
70.What else do you have?
71.So!
72.So what?
73.Oh . . .
74.Oh?
75.Oh, really!
76.Get real, it's not feasible.
77.Sounds crazy!
78.nobody does that.
79.Are you kidding me?
80.that's too off the wall.
81.You can't argue with success.
82.You can't fight City Hall.
83.We don't have time to do it.
84.Let's not reach beyond our grasp.
85.We're overextended already.
86.Let's wait 'til we see the numbers.
87.You're proposing what?
88.Let's not rock the boat.
89.Silence.
90.Laughter.
91.Boos.
92.Where did that come from?
93.I've got a better idea.
94.Hey, there's a recession going on.
95.We've never done anything like that.
96.the press will kill us.
97.that's not your decision to make.
98.We'll step on too many toes.
99.Just leave it to me; I'll take care of it.
100.You could lose your job for that . .

sound familiar?

Liberal Porn Kings Real Motive in Persecuting A/G Gonzalez

There is always a story behind the story. Why has the Liberal Media and the Liberal Nuts in Congress gone ofter Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez? It was a dumb premise in the first case. Firing a dozen Attorneys.

Then I saw the real situation. At the behest of the Porn Kings in the USA the Liberals in Congress have decided to take Gonzalez out. That's right. The left takes it's marching orders from the very same people that bring you all the wacky pornography on the Internet and in your motel room.

This article tells the whole story.

The Nation and other publications say a Sept. 20 e-mail by Ward indicates that the U.S. attorney firings are part of a renewed war against porn. The e-mail, sent to Kyle Sampson, Gonzalez’s chief of staff, reads:

“We have two U.S. attorneys who are unwilling to take good cases we have presented to them. They are Paul Charlton in Phoenix and Dan Bogden in Las Vegas. In light of the AG’s comments … to ‘kick butt and take names,’ what do you suggest I do?”

Despite the e-mail, Truman said the U.S. attorney firings had nothing to do with a crackdown on porn.

ROBOCHURCH

Sometimes I am absolutely struck how many churches I have been in that are so dependant on other people's leadership and direction it's like they have no idea how to worship without a worship leader. Everyone in the congregation does what they are told or led to do. If no one leads or tells them they do nothing. Robotic Congregation.

It's like they can only sing if the band and singers are leading. If the guy running the screens screws up the words everyone is dead in the water. They just stand like a post. Entering in means following along.

Stand up, the worship leader says. You may be seated. Clap. Don't Clap. Raise your hands. Bow your heads. Let's Pray.

Then there is the sermon. If the powerpoint goes out the place goes silent. The sermon is the least interactive part of the whole service.

What did we do before microphones, powerpoint, worship bands and overheads?

We are Robochurch. We will assimilate you. Resistance is somewhat futile unless you backslide and leave.

Sorry, that's just how it looked today.

Nano Nano.

In Honor of the Recent Supreme Court Decision

AMERICA'S CALL
© Steve Shultz 2008

Save the whales and the owls,
Save the seals in the sea
Save the buffalo roaming
And please save the tree

Who could object?
Every person likes life
From the left or the right
We want birds to take flight

Yet a strange thing's askew
Our value is questioned
If God isn't real
We choose what feels best then...

Save every creature that moves
The ones high and low
But the ones we will lose
To the children, say "no"

Since God may not exist
We can dispense with the kids
We say with our fist
We close our eyelids

The cross is long gone
There's only a tomb
It's empty of course
But so are some wombs

We're told "it's convenient" to end a small life
But only a baby's
-- For animals we fight

Convenience is truth
Though animals are saved
Little children are no proof
That God chose our way

Yet God is a God -- who loves man and beast
But to some, God seems a God
who loves children the least

It's the other way 'round
You see children must reign
Over all the earth
To protect fish and game.

But the child might get in the way, some say
There's too many children they think,
To protect animals all day

So some make that choice, because choice is their god
They choose animals and things
Instead of a blob

We call that blob, "tissue"
It makes easier to do --
To a fetus destroy
There's simply no issue

And we forget that our choices killed Deborahs and Davids,
Future judges and kings
We don't need them to save us

It's just cells, only stems and things
It's just embryonic
They don't even have wings

If the truth were told, what was growing inside
Will cause pain when you end it
Did cause pain when they died

The good news is this, though we're made out of mud
There's forgiveness from Heaven,
We can be washed in His blood

Much in America is left to be cleansed
But we're moving toward cleansing

Before it all ends

While we can't judge the sinner
Because of our mirror
We can offer forgiveness
Because He is here

He's Savior and Lord
The Lord of our planet
He loves animals too
But no baby is banished

He loves those who sin
He loves those who blew it
He is the God of Choice
So His choice will "renew us"

He asks us to consider
Only what is best
For the planet He made
So we would find rest

Consider...

-- that what's in a woman
Is not "what" at all
Though He loves animals too
A Baby's a person
A person who's small

Thursday's with Terry

I spent a pleasant afternoon with an old friend. Terry. He's a pastor in Michigan. He has gone thru a similar crisis in business as I did. He is at peace. But he tried. He dared. He believed. Not everything we try in life works, but some do. So it's worth trying.

For you Terry:

"What I've dared I've willed: And what I've willed, I'll do!"
- Melville

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
-- Robert F. Kennedy

"Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try."
- Mary Kay Ash

"Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance."
- John Barton

Monday Night at IHOP

I have been a supporter and participant in the Ministry Todd Beery has had for 10 years.  He has been a major molder of my life and Christian growth. He still is.  I owe him much.

 

His "House" is the IHOP in Bolingbrook.  International House of Prayer.  Ark Ministries.  What is so wonderful is to see it as it came together.

 

There have been ups and downs but it just grows, prospers and develops mature disciples like a nonstopping disciple making machine.  MANY ministers have emerged from this work to go off on their own.

 

Last Monday night was exceptional at IHOP.  Not because of the events at Virginia Tech but because Monday Nights are one of the Two Main "Services" held at IHOP.  There is something every night (but Sunday) but Mondays and Fridays are the Big Nights.  I try to make Friday every week and as many Monday's as I can.  It's always good.

 

The house seats exactly 120 people; the number in the Upper Room at Pentecost.  When it's full it feels like Pentecost.  When it's half full it still feels like Pentecost.  When its just a few it still does. 

 

But Monday night was near full.  Wonderful problem.  We need a bigger building.

 

The worship was great.  There was a band that played from 6-7:30. Preaching went till 8:45 and ministry time till 9.  Monday nights are short nights.  Only 3 hours.  But last Monday night was different.  The service was over.  People didn't want to go home.  Todd sort of intimated that's all folks.  People stayed.  The music picked back up. Second Band.  People prayed, danced, worshipped, and basked.  No one wanted to go home.  About Quarter to 10 things thinned out. 

 

The sign of a great service is when no one wants to leave.  I have been the last one out the door more than once in Churches.

 

One last tidbit.  They have a band that plays the first 90 minutes.  Then after the service a second band that plays an hour or so.  This band is as good as the first.

 

What struck me was there was a drummer, 2 guitars, keyboard and 2 singers.  All young people.  I did a little calculation and the whole total age of the Band was under 100 years old.  One other little thing.  All of them learned to play the instruments they were playing AT the house of prayer.  Todd Dowling, the music guy meets with the band every Tuesday night for 3 hours and teaches them to play and sing.  Even if you couldn't play he will teach you.  That's building and discipling a music team from scratch.

 

And they're cumulatively under 100 years old for 6 band members.

 

Heck, my wife and I are over 100 years old total. 

 

And we don't play nearly as well.

 

It's fun to be part of something great.

 

IHOP.

Signs of the Spiritual Sea Change

I have for a while noticed a change in the books that are being sold in Christian Bookstores. If you know me, I'm not a big fan of most Christian Books. I find many of them empty. I have hundreds I have consumed and am sorry for half of the ones I have read.

Tonight I stopped at the Family Christian Bookstore in our area. I bought a Bible for my son. Some years ago, Tim Campbell bought me a New Living Translation Bible. I have come to use it more and more. I find it very accessible. I don't use it in preaching so much but I use it in developing understanding. Well done guys who did this work. This is a hidden treasure. If you don't have one, you will find it really enlightening. Anyway:

While I was at the bookstore I noticed at the front of the store they have a rack of the current bestsellers. Since I don't spend much time in Christian Bookstores I looked them over. Suddenly it hit me. I knew most of the writers on the rack. I had been to some of their meetings. Joyce Meyer. John Eldridge. I was shocked. The bulk of Christian books being purchased today are written by Charismatics. For those in Rio Linda, Those would be your tongue talking, radical, pentecostal types.

Maybe not the scholarly of writers all the time. But they write things originating from the Spirit of God that touches the soul of man. They are able to create a hunger and thirst for more of God because they deliver living water from the printed page. Never "Dry" reading.

20 years ago nearly NONE of the bestsellers in Christian books were written by those in Pentecost. In fact they had a "section" right next to Cults for Charismatics. We were separate and unequal.

No more. I'm happy, pleased, thrilled that the message of the fullness of the Holy Spirit is being spread abroad in Christendom. This is not triumphalism. This is reporting something you can discover for yourself by googling "Christian Bestselling Books" as I did. There are several lists. They are good news.

I see this as a positive sea change. Maybe this heralds the final nail in the coffin of cold dead religion as has been practiced for too long in too many dying churches led by nominal quasi-christians. Maybe the fire of the Holy Ghost is being spread once again. I can only hope and pray.

Adding Insult to Injury - I want my Country Back

In all the sadness and anger from the VT murders I watched the convocation yesterday.

What's up with that? Here's a take that will Set the Tone.

Nice talk, platitudes. President Bush did OK. Under the circumstances I guess there isn't much to say. He didn't.

Then the Multi-Cultural Politically Correct attack force descended. I was shocked, insulted and angered. 4 Clergy were presented. Equals. Peers.

An Imam - Spoke in Arabic. Fatalistic. Empty. Hopeless. Godless. Praised Allah.

Some Buddhist Convert weirdo (who I'm sure made her Baptist parents proud) got up and gave some empty philosophy about this or that writer. Quoted the Dalli Lama who I'm sure is a nice man. Hopeless.

Some Female Jewish Rabbi or something and a woman who translated what was read in Hebrew. I know God, that wasn't His Representitive.

And, sadly the representative of the True Savior of the World never even mentions his name. Some milquetoast Lutheran pastor got up and babbled on about hope and all. Never mentioning the Resurrection, never mentioning the Joy found in the giver of Life. Just PAP.

In fact during the whole convocation only ONE NAME, the name above all names JESUS was never uttered. Not once.

No wonder the Church of Jesus is become the Church of Political Correctness and vanilla. It has no appeal. It has no power. Ichabod over all those church doors that have become conformed to the world.

The only hope for America is JESUS. It was when we first came, it still is. I'll even be more bold. The only hope in all the world is basic pure Bible based proclamation. That young man might have been redeemed from his personal hell if somehow he had been touched with the truth of the Word of God.

The hopeless Church in America isn't Americas pathway to Hope. The only hope for the Hopeless Church is a new Pentecost. A pouring out of the Spirit.unrestrained by political correctness. The sick dead church needs a transfusion. The same blood that courses thru The Risen Jesus veins, The Spirit of God must flow thru a cold dead Church or it must be allowed to die the slow death of the disease it already has.

Virginia Tech Murders - I Won't Stay Silent

My thought when I heard was, "What was going thru these young people's minds and spirits when they saw and realized that they were about to be killed?"

Think about it, put yourself in their place. This nutcase shows up, 2 pistols. Tells you to line up against the wall. Starts shooting. What do you do? What do you think? Who do you call on? Did they try to negotiate with the killer? Did anyone even try to rush him knowing they were going to die anyway, maybe if they all did they would stop him. What God given instincts kicked in? Or did they engage in passive resistance and die like sheep as was ingrained in their heads in grade school. The whole idea of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of letting the tyrants win without a struggle (as is now taught in our godless public schools) has robbed our national soul of it's strength. This is the same Gandhi that told the British they should just allow Hitler to take over, not to resist. That told the Jews being taken to the slaughter to go willingly and allow themselves to be murdered. Pacifism in this way is evil.

It's the evil that causes hesitation in a time like this. Programming for sheep. Would you line up against a wall if a gunman told you to? If he shot one and aimed at you would you fight back in whatever way you could or would you just stand there and die. You are dead anyway. How do you want to go? I'm angry and grieving over this and I'm not going to heal for a few days until I've allowed my anger to be spent. I will be angry and sin not. Pacifism is UN-Goldy in this context. It's Gandhi, not Godly.

Now they have been pushed over the edge prematurely into eternity. When they got up this morning and pulled on their jeans for that 9:00 class in structures thinking about eternity wasn't on their mind.

UPDATE:
In hearing the reports of what went on, there appears to have been some resistance. For that I am grateful. We must not allow the evil among us in Media, Education, Religion and Oppressors to succeed. Only if we do nothing will they.

I'm thankful for every one who fought back. WE are not defeated until we fail to act. Fight on Hokies, Fight on.

The recriminations will be huge on all this. They will be useless. If a person wants to spread mayhem no one is going to stop them. This is not a grade school. The idea of "Lockdown" is stupid. Yes some attempt to notify would have been good. The administration fumbled the ball.

But How far does the idea of controlled "Lockdown" go. Do we lockdown Neighborhoods or Cities because someone breaks loose.

This killer is a symptom of a spiritual emptiness not driven by any eternal perspective. He had no fear of God in his Soul.

But the vacuous spiritual condition of the day preaches that Jesus is Bad, Global Warming Religion Good. All on your tax dollars. And we get soulless killers.

As for me, I am going to spend time being angry, grieving, in pain, considering the loss of potential and hardening my desire and purpose to turn this evil around. To fight against the mindsets that produce soullessness.

It wasn't always like that. Read this.

Read all the links above. You will get a perspective on what is really going on and how far we have drifted from the course we were once set upon.

For Earl on the Holy Ghost

A couple weeks ago I began a series on the Holy Spirit. I didn't stop it, I am in the middle of my busy season and have all I can do to keep my head above water. My friend Earl asked me about this. Here's a little more for him.

I have been working in a denominational church for the last few years. Good people. Love God. Educated. Flat.

BUT:

Now that I have been back among Spirit Filled people in ministry I have come to this conclusion, trying to do ministry without the Holy Spirit's fullness is like:

Playing tennis while blind.

Singing with an orchestra while deaf.

No matter how much training, skill or ability in the flesh you have it is always going to be far short of the mark without the fullness of the Spirit. Preaching, teaching, ministering, or leading a ministry without the Holy Ghost will be like Blind Tennis or Deaf Singing. Clumsy and out of tune. Nothing to do with ability or talent.

The difference is tangible.

I told some denominational mainline Pastors the truth about this and they were insulted. I guess I thought I had earned the right to tell them the truth. I was wrong.

I has simply said, that to conduct a prophetic meaningful charismatic service for people filled with the Holy Ghost was something they were incapable of doing. In spiritual leadership in those conditions they were deaf singers, blind tennis pros. I'm sorry they were insulted but I am more and more of the opinion that ministry without the power of the Holy Ghost is mostly tepid stuff.

All the training, seminary, instruction, books and experience in the world can't make up for the fullness of the Holy Ghost. I wish that wasn't insulting. It wasn't meant to be. It's just the truth.

The Thinkers Get IT!

I listened to NPR Sunday Edition with Liane Hansen this morning.

She's really liberal. Not as liberal as Dianne Reems but that's another story.

She had a man on who has written an article for Esquire Magazine about the War in Iraq. His name, Thomas P. M. Barnett. I would be smarter if I had two initials for middle names. But, his conclusions about the Iraq war were right on the money.

He believes despite all the fits and starts that it was the right thing to do. That it was a Big Bang. From the interview:

What the Bush administration basically did by going into Iraq was - the best rationale is really to lay the big bang on the Middle East and set that part of the world down some pathway of change.

And they certainly accomplished that. And the cynic in me says basically the worse Iraq goes, sort of, the better the big bang goes because it's more realistic that Iraq was going to go badly as opposed to well in terms of our expectations and the breakup of Iraq really forces the fights that need to occur in the Middle East now that Saddam is gone and those fights are all going to be tricky. They're going to be overlapping, and there's not going to be an obvious conclusion to it.

globalization is finally penetrating the part of the world to which it hasn't found much purchase in the past. And you, know, when you add those three new billion capitalists in the East, you create impulses. You create the oil boon. You create all sorts of interests in that part of the world that's really discombobulating because these are still fairly traditional societies.

So we got to look at this as a process to be managed where there will be countries that come apart, and there will be countries that rise and fall, and there will be societies that are in some ways completely made over, just like they were in Asia for the last 20 years.

But what we don't have in the Middle East is basically some sort of regional security dialogue, which I would argue is the required diplomatic, political top-cover. We've had this tendency in the Middle East to assume that if we can find, sort, of the perfect peace plan for Palestine versus Israel or if we can find the perfect peace plan now or whatever you want to call the plan - surge - in Iraq, that we can take care of individual problems and on that basis create, sort of, oases of stability in that part of the world.

But what we found in the Middle East over the last 20, 30 years is that whenever there's an ongoing conflict, basically everybody in the region uses it to rough each other over. They take it as a venue for proxy conflict, and that's really, in many ways, what's going on right now in Iraq, which means Iraq can't be separated from everything else. And if you want to fix everything else, in some ways, you got to fix Iraq. And that was what the Iraq Study Group called for.

While I don't hardly agree with everything Mr Barnett said, I do agree with this.

This war was important. We had to fight it. It must be that this part of the world comes into the 20th Century. Ms Hansen is a rampant radical liberal without a lick of sense. So forget what she says.

But listen to the behind the critisizm in the Barnett interview.

The Iraq war is essential and prophetic.

Get on the right track and start seeing reality.

Second Week In --- Berwyn Church Plant

We had the second official church service of the New Church Plant in Berwyn this morning.  Peggy and I are going to help them until they are ready to fly on their own.  We will be part of the ministry team during that time.  How long, till God releases us.

 

Good news, we found a place to meet.  It's on the corner of 16th street between Roosevelt and Cermak on Harlem.  Big parking lot, Big meeting hall, place to store our stuff.  Everything.

 

So, we are off and running.

 

Pastor Aaron gave a great sermon this morning.  I wished a million people could have heard it.  It was a hard but essential message for Christians.  The essence of it was, if you want to get right with God expect intimidation and difficulty.  The devil isn't going to let you go that easy.  Are you willing to walk it out?  Or will you give up when the pressure comes?.

 

Pretty tough talk, but people need to know the truth.  Serving God can be really hard sometimes.  Lots of people start, many people never finish.

 

The exit from Egypt of the Children of Israel was the text.

 

I opened the service with a prophetic word and a prayer.  The people leapt to their feet.  The worship band was skeletal.  The keyboard player had a sick child.  So it was 2 guitars and a drum.  It was some of the most anointed worship I have been involved in for a long time. I wasn't playing, I was just in the back enjoying the anointing.  Sometimes a little rough, ugly and minimalist is better.

 

We didn't have to tell the people to raise their hands, didn't have to tell the people to clap, didn't have to tell the people to dance.  We just enjoyed the moment.  This is an ethnically mixed group.   1/3 White, Black and Hispanic.  I love it that way.  We enjoyed the mix.  They amened and things happened.  Some of those folks are really new Christians.  They are so hungry.  They feed on every word.

 

I am amused at my prejudice.  I harangue the Lutheran Church I have been working in about communion every week.  So, what does Pastor Aaron do?  Communion every week.  Pentecostals a few years back discovered the Lords Supper in all it's reality and now they think THEY invented it.  That's ok but I guess that's the way he wants it that's the way it is.  Pastor Aaron comes from the International Pentecostal Holiness Church in Chile.  There the Pentecostals baptize Babies.  I told him I didn't think we should do that here.  He is ambivalent.  If someone wants a baby baptized, we'll do it (he said).  I need to help his theology.  He's a dissertation from a PhD from ORU.  So, maybe I'll back off for now. 

 

During communion we had the people come up, I laid hands on every one of them.  Some I had a word for, some I had a prayer for, some needed healing, some just needed encouragement.  That is hard for me because I want to spend time, a lot of time with each one.  The Lord gave me grace and we moved thru the people in not too much time.  Pastor Aaron took some who didn't want to wait and Pastor Dan who is a Baptist Pastor who just transferred into our denomination and is getting his Pentecostal feet wet took a few.

 

Pastor Dan said when he grows up he wants to be just like me. He's 55.

I told him that probably wasn't a good thing.  One Rev Gene is enough.  Besides he'll be better at being himself than someone else.  I laid hands on him and prayed for a release of the Holy Ghost in his life.  He's Baptized in the Holy Ghost but he's not fluid yet.  He will be.

 

At the end I closed the service by using the traditional Benediction Aaron the brother of Moses was give from God thru Moses.  Numbers 6:24.

 

I helped them to understand the language of it all.  They had never heard anything like that.  They had never heard it explained.  Then after I explained in detail the essence of the language I pronounced it over them prophetically.

 

They will never ever hear "The Lord Bless you and Keep you............" the same again.  I wonder how many people really have a clue what that really all means.  You have to spend a lot of time in Hebrew to get it.

It was wonderful to look into those peoples eyes.  We went 70 minutes.  Communion and everything.  You could tell,  they didn't want it to end.  They wanted the service to go on and on.  They are so hungry for God.  Hungry for hope.  Hungry for a word of encouragement.  Hungry for Jesus.

 

I needed this.  It's great to be back in the saddle again.  Ministering like I was meant to.  To people who really want Jesus and not religion.

 

All this while Peggy and I have been fighting a cold between us.  We didn't even go to Rockford to our Sunday Night Church.  I know Apostle Lyon misses us when we are gone. He's so gracious. They encourage me to bring a prophetic word in every service as the Lord leads.  I don't.  But only when the Lord leads.  But the Prophet was whipped and not well.  So, we deferred.

 

One last thing.  There is such a thing as Collar Power.  I never would have believed it.  I didn't experience it but Pastor Aaron in calling on places to meet gets a whole nother reception from people with a collar than without.

 

So frankly did I.  I guess the uniform can help make the man. 

 

I always thought it was the anointing.