Common Sense Lost Today

I won't go back in time. In this blog 5 days after Katrina hit I suggested that the best thing to do with the low places with empty ruined buildings in New Orleans rather than try to rebuild was bulldoze the whole thing, crush and landfill them. This is historically what people have done for centruies. Build on the ruins of former days. We have a landfill that is now a golf course near me. It works. It's less of an eyesore than the rat infestation that is now New Orleans.

Don't landfill a big mountain, just fill in the low places. New Orleans is lost anyway. It will never be what it was. Only wealthy folks are coming back. Heck they are even going to vote republican. Mayor Nagin is over.

So, once more, with gusto, bulldoze the whole works. Fill in the low spots, grow grass for a while then build on that in 20 years.

Here's a couple resources examples:

Chicago was expanded east into the lake after the Chicago Fire. Pretty much everything EAST of Michigan Ave is fill. Smart move. It needed to be raised.

From Comments to this Post:

It's amazing what they'll build cities on top of. Anything named Tel in the Mideast has probably got a mound of cities underneath it. A big thing in the western US is cities that raised their ground level, so you have everyone's old ground floor becoming the basement, as in "Underground Seattle" and even in my own town of Port Angeles. I know they raised Chicago a good 70' (20m) after the big fire in the 1870s. There are probably some pretty neat basements.

I think underground Atlanta is the same thing after Sherman leveled it. Why are we not doing what we should do in New Orleans and start over? Stupid Politics is why.

Otherwise we will have to do this:




HatTip to Barry Kolb

I disapprove of Bush

I heard an AP dispatch saying that nearly 70% of Americans disapprove of Bush's handling of the war in Iraq. Count Me among those people. I disapprove.

I think there are lots of people in my camp. We disapprove. We wish he would have and would still commit us to all out winning of this war once and for all. Use all (read that all) of the warfare tools, pull no punches. Arrest or kill Al Sadar. Forget the political mess. Crush the murderous insurgency with every tool available. That's why you have to read between the lines of a poll when it's published. Disapproval of handling doesn't mean disapproval of the war on terrorists.

I disapprove of GWB's Walk Soft Manner in conducting this war.

IF I WERE ABLE TO MAKE POLICY I WOULD: (White House I hope you are monitoring this phone call)

Give this notice to the Sunni Neighborhoods where most roadside bombs are (after the area is surrounded): You have 3 days to leave this neighborhood. After that it will be bombed to the ground. Only rubble will remain. You can escape death but as you exit we will interrogate, imprison who we want and in general treat every refugee as a potential criminal. Here are the gates from which you can escape. If you try to escape any other way you will be killed. You will be stopped, strip searched, interrogated, and suspected. Then after those 3 days, level the place. Leave not ONE stone on top of another. If anyone stays behind they are killed. Scorched earth policy.

Do this one neighborhood at at time until all insurgency is crushed. You wouldn't have to destroy every neighborhood. After a couple neighborhoods were crushed they'd be anxious to get the criminals out in the open pretty quick.

Declare free Kurdistan. Put borders up. They aren't Iraqi's anyhow. They aren't even Arabs. They are Kurds who are the Ancient Medes, as in Medes and Persians (Iranians) not Arabs either. Have as part of the freedom a debt to be paid via Oil Revenue to finance the battle in the rest of Iraq. Money after that will be remitted as reparations for a while. Don't ask them what they want, tell them.

Put Chalibi in Charge of Iraq as America's dictator. Empower powerful rich Iraqi-Americans in Dearborn Michigan to go there and take over. It's our country now, we bought and paid for it.

Make universal conscription in Iraq the order of the day. Joblessness is rampant. If an Iraqi doesn't have a Job, he's in the army now. The only exemption is if you have an essential job. We would pay them for their conscription but put them in ranks and if anyone gets out of line in the Military type, shoot them, NOW, publicly. That's how you keep order in the army. A few executions from the ranks will enforce discipline. Tell them, rebel, step out of line and it's up against the wall.

IF ANY Cleric acts up in the country and tries to foment revolution he must be hunted down like a dog and killed. I would start with Al Sadar.

I would FIRE the whole "on vacation" Legislature who didn't come back from vacation in 3 days. NO questions asked. Your credentials disappear if you don't show up for work.

Yes, it would be a dictatorship but I disapprove of allowing people to pretend to rule themselves when they refuse to do so. If Chalibi is half the man I think he is he could carry this out easily. If not him, someone else just as mean would be appropriate.

Sure, money would be stolen, lives lost. How is that different from what it is now? We must get this under control. We need to get the Iraqi's to step up by persuasion or force. Persuasion doesn't seem to be working sooo....

The surge was a good idea and it is working. It just isn't enough. George W Bush is just too nice a guy. That is his weakness.

Those Wretched Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers

The most revered man in the early church by Christians other than Jesus the Christ is the Apostle Paul. We have an image of him as a holy man, pure, devoted, nearly sinless and overflowing with wisdom from God. He is most quoted in the Church. He is called St. Paul. Saintly. Holy.

The problem is St Paul was human. Very Human. If he were alive today he would be pilloried by the press of today and discounted in his ability to hear from or report what God is saying. He would be called a hypocrite.

Read what is said in this article regarding this man who called himself Wretched. When they called him a hypocrite he would probably agree. When people call ME a hypocrite I agree. That doesn't make the Apostle Paul any less a man used of God in Great Things. I hope the same is true of the call of God on my life.

I bring this up because I have become aware of a syndrome that has developed in and outside the church. We have a culture of ridicule that we live in. John Stewart, Don Colbert, Letterman and Leno. They don't tell jokes anymore they make fun of people. No one is perfect (except them).

That has now invaded all our thinking. People who don't believe in God will believe what news media and these jokesters say. They believe that the credibility of the message people bring is measured not by the source of the message but by the character or morality of the messenger. Yet in news reportage it seems to be OK that a reporter can be a moral miscreant and still be able to deliver the truth if his sources are good. Yet in spiritual things it seems like we in the church have bought the lie that our messengers have to be perfect or worse pretend to be perfect. We no longer depend on the credibility of the source but on the nature of the delivery system.

I have a handbook given me when I was credentialed as a minister. It has lots of warnings about how important it is to live a holy perfect life in order to not be disqualified as a minister of God. On the surface I agree with the concept. A preacher shouldn't spend a lot of time in Strip Clubs and then expect his congregation to hear what he has to say on Sunday Mornings. But there is a flaw in this philosophy. No minister of God is sinless for very long. In fact all have sinned and sin. If a minister particularly in the fivefold gifts is going to have a shot at living up to this ideal he must do one of two things:

Pretend to live holy lives. Pretend to have overcome sin. Pretend to be perfect. I have known many men who crumbled under this self imposed pressure collapsed under hidden sin.

Or be transparent and run the risk that people will judge him on his hypocrisy. I have chosen this and get a lot of flack. How can YOU bring God's Holy word when we know you are very human and prone to sin.

I have been working in Church work for nearly 30 years. This has given me the opportunity to get to know the dark side of many men and women of God. I can tell you with authority that I have never ever met even one who can stand sinless before the throne of grace of their own accord. They all need and continue to need the blood of Jesus.

Here's the question I would have of anyone who uses the idea that the person who speaks for God can't be speaking for God because they aren't externally holy or sinless enough. WHO WOULD YOU BELIEVE? The pope? The Dali Lama? Trust me they sin too. Who among any Christian Leaders today are sinless enough that you would trust that if they said to you, "This is the word of the Lord for you" and you would say coming from Him or Her I would believe him.

Using the hypocrisy test the answer has to be I can believe NO ONE. This is a scheme Satan has used to blind people to the truth of the Gospel. Even the very word of God, The Bible is now doubted to be infallible by many. There is no longer truth or light. People are lost because they can't answer the question, who would you believe. IF you are going to get the word of the Lord from anyone it will have to come thru a fellow Wretched Man or Woman.

Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus. This was not a parable, this was a story about real people, Jesus called him a CERTAIN RICH MAN. Lazarus dies and goes to heaven (I know you theologians it isn't heaven in the story, I'm trying to keep it simple). The rich man dies and goes to hell. He sees Lazarus in Heaven. He says, send someone to tell my 5 brothers about this horrible place. Jesus said, "They have the prophets and the scriptures, they don't believe them, they wouldn't believe someone even if he ROSE FROM THE DEAD, speaking of course about himself." The Leno's and Letterman's of the day (scribes and parasites) defamed the messengers and destroyed the message. They poked fun and ridiculed Jesus constantly until they got the people to rise up and say Crucify Him Crucify Him. It's no different today. People called of God are constantly crucified with Christ. We are ridiculed and poked fun at. In a way it's a confirmation of the Call of God on our lives. No one ever kicks a dead dog. If we weren't speaking truth we wouldn't be so subject to the pressure of criticism.

Thinking of that I qualify pretty well. I'm a hypocrite and wretched. So if you will hear from Paul you might be able to hear from others. I have come to trust the word of the Lord from a sold out man or woman of God and look past the fact that they are really human and prone to fall into sin from time to time. One man I most love and appreciate as a Man of God is at his heart one of the most flawed human beings I have ever known. It doesn't take away from the Gift God has Placed in him to carry. He's the real deal.

The world has it's false apostles. News, entertainment folks, celebrities, popular politicians. They live phony lives and they project an image that can't hold up. Yet the world flocks to them hoping to believe.

I would rather get my message from people who are honest with us and with themselves to say, "I'm wretched and I have a good word for you". The Church needs to hear what St John (who I'm guessing wasn't all that saintly either) said in his dying days to people who were believers and were in church and were trying to make life work:

1 John 1:5-10 NLT

5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

The reality of ministry is, we are sinners. We have seen light. We are no longer living in spiritual darkness but we still sin. We confess it, we believe for deliverance and we stop living the life of the hypocrite.

I regret to say many are still putting on a mask and pretending to be something they are not. God deliver them. Deliver ME!

I once more think of that robe that Pastor Phil mentioned and why old high church ministers put it on to preach or minister: To hide in the call of God on their lives and to deflect people from looking at the weak human bearing the strong message. I think there is merit in all that.

The BIG Lie

It's hot in the southwest. It's never been hotter. In fact it's so hot it may mean the end of civilization as we know it.

That's what the news media promotes. It's part of the Hitlarian BIG LIE. Tell a big lie loud enough and long enough and maybe you can fool the dummies.

Guess what, it works.

When it's 100+ degrees in North Dakota or 114 in Phoenix the reportage is not that, "Phoenix is having a real heat wave". No, the reportage implies that Global Warming because YOU ARE ALIVE AND EMIT GAS is causing really hot temps this summer.

Then, Explain this. Las Vegas on average is COOLER than it has been in the past 60 years.

I don't know why the earth cycles, it just does. And neither do you or anyone else. Visiting Lake Michigan yesterday I saw the shoreline. I told Kevin that recently they found a large underground forest from 25,000 years ago 2 miles off shore.

That forest was on the beach of what was then Lake Michigan as it dried up during a warm cycle in the climate. It may well do so again.

We were pretty human lean then on the planet.

What can the human caused global warming believers be ingesting to make the mind go bad like that? They believe everything they hear and march lockstep without brains engaged. Liberals never learn to engage in critical thinking, oh they are critical, but it's without thinking.

Sheep!

I wouldn't let them testify either

I heard excerpts from the testimony of Alberto Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was disgusting.

A bunch of lawyers playing gotcha. I have been on the witness stand in life. Many times. As a defendant and as an expert witness. Thinking about it all maybe 75 hours total. One thing I know is the attorney from the other side ALWAYS has as his prime purpose in life to impeach the witness. To go thru deposition, past testimony and any other information looking for that one tiny detail badly remembered or badly reported.

Lawyer: Mr Redlin, do you recall in your testimony of 3 years ago you said that the sky was blue on the day in question?

ME: I did say that.

Lawyer: I have here a report from the national weather service which says the sky had a cloud in it. Is it possible you were mistaken and perhaps a cloud was in the sky?

ME: It's possible. I don't know for sure.

Lawyer: Then you are saying that your testimony about the sky being blue is not now your testimony.

ME: I'm just testifying what I remember, I remember it being blue.

Lawyer: But you just testified that it could have had a cloud in it.

ME: That's what your report said.

Lawyer: So your testimony today and that of 3 years ago are different, in which were you lying.

That is the essence of the gotcha game the lawyers (none of whom have ever held actual jobs in life) on the judiciary committee are playing. It's the same as the railroad job they gave Scooter Libby.

And they wonder why President Bush won't send anyone to testify? Why should he? What benefit is there to him or his administration? Making friends? These people are his enemies and he has no incentive whatsoever to cooperaate. If I were him I would give the a big wave off in the most graphic way possible and instructions on where and what to osculate.

Get the Kangaroos out of the court and maybe there's a chance. The good news is what I saw the American People saw. FOOLS. They know why President Bush will and should NEVER allow ANYONE ever to testify under oath ever again about even what they had for lunch yesterday. It's all about gotcha.

OH, and so you don't think for a second that the example about the weather is exaggerated. That is a masked version of an impeachment of testimony from a trial I was an expert in a several months ago. The problem I wasn't the one being impeached, it was the plaintiff and it nearly exactly was the nature of the testimony. Remembering the weather.

We won. I wasn't proud of being part of such a process even if I did get paid.

I don't think a few members of the judiciary committee are very proud right now. I wouldn't be.

Shakespeare was right, "First Kill All the Lawyers".

Seed, Death and Rebirth - A Prophetic Word

A few weeks ago I was given a prophetic word. I shared it with a few people but hoped it would mature. Some words come because of a quick download from heaven, some are seed and they mature in the spirit. This is one of those words:

I hear the Lord say, "Do NOT Fear Death".

All changes I want to make in your life, all improvement I want to bring, all prosperity I want to produce for you, all new beginnings must begin with a death, a loss, a perceived failure, an end. With pain and a death.

Every time you experience the pain of loss from a situation dying in your life, look up and see the beginnings of a new phase I am bringing. Unless a seed fall to the earth and die it new birth of a new vision cannot begin.

People go thru great financial difficulty, the collapse or failure of a business, the loss of a home by foreclosure, the end of a relationship, the loss of a job, the illness that causes pain and even the tragic death of a loved one. While on the face these are all bad and painful things, they are at their root seed falling to the ground. If you don't keep digging up the seed by hanging on to the past an mourning the loss you will not experience the new life I want to bring to you. Allow the seed fallen to the ground to grow and bloom. There will come a day when that failure or pain will become seed for greatness in your life.

This is MORE than the promise that I will make all things new, this is more than the promise that I work all things together for your good, this is the promise that I will turn your mourning into joy. That I will take the ashes from your life and make them beautiful.

Don't hang on to the old. The new birth of destiny in your life can only come as you release the past. Press on to my high calling, forget what lies behind. Many rob themselves by mourning the past, trying to hold on to the past, trying to keep the past alive and miss what I want to do in their lives.

That is the end of the word of the Lord.

On a personal note, this word came and as confirmation the Lord showed me how in my life there have been many deaths, failures, collapses and loss and how each of them carried in them the seed of greater greatness that I could never have experienced without letting those things go and pressing on.

At 13 I lost my parents in a car accident. I lived for a short time in limbo. But, by the goodness of my Aunt and Uncle, Earl and Ruth Redlin I was taken in and raised in a loving and supportive home. I missed and miss my parents but the question is, would I be the person I am today without that loss? I don't think so. That loss had at it's core the seed for my good education and other opportunities I wouldn't have had without the money set aside for me and my siblings. A fair trade. NO. On the other hand, the pain of that loss carried with it the seed of a new birth.

In my early years of business I formed several business's some of which worked and some of which did not. Northern Data was painful. There was a day when we put it to death. We decided it wasn't worth going on. From that day that we let it go it began to prosper. We were holding on too tight.

There was a cattle farm that failed. There was a Software firm that didn't work out. There was even the Dale Carnegie work that after 10 years ended. In all three of these cases the residual benefit was greater than I could have ever anticipated. My understanding of production agriculture was enhanced. I no longer feared failure. The software firm prepared me for the eventual Presidency of Commodity Communications Corporation. Dale Carnegie Courses where I poured my life for a long time has produced much fruit in ability, relationship and knowledge of who I am.

There was Ag America Radio Network. An apparent Failure. We eventually merged with another organization. The death of that business and the reversal in agriculture in the early 80's meant that I needed to find a new thing. That meant that I moved to Chicagoland to work as CEO of a floundering data communications firm.

In that capacity I rubbed shoulders with the greats, I traveled the world, I lived overseas. Life was good.

Then that ended too. Another death.

However because I had traveled all over the world I had international experience. That meant that I was qualified to move to Europe and manage an international firm in the machine equipment industry.

After a few years that ended. We moved back. Another death. Then I decided to access my ability in Horticulture and at the age of nearly 50 I leaped once again off the pier of life an launched into a new career.

That has been very successful. Then one day a check showed up. The merger of Ag America was paying dividends. Ultimately it paid big time. Big.

I formed another business. The largest one I had ever formed. This one after several years failed. At that point I was in my late 50's and facing near bankruptcy. At this point I had seen the results of the seed of new birth in every failure. Pressing on looking to the future I expected great things. They happened.

At the same time I was pastor of a little church. That closed too. Great pain. Great rejection. Great betrayal.

In that moment to the world it looked like nothing would work out, nothing could be saved, everything was either death or dying. 2002 was a horrible year.

5 years later. I'm in my early 60s. The Lord kisses me in prosperity I could not have imagined. I walk in ministry in places I could never have walked if I would have stayed pastoring that little church, I have lived and traveled the world, in many ways I am among the respected of my generation.

WHY? The seed to every victory in my life began by something falling to the ground and dying. If I had tried to hang on too hard, feared failure, worried about what others would think I could never have become what the Lord is making me.

Death, where is thy sting, Grave, where is thy victory.

I have no fear of you.

In Praise of Tammy Faye

As you know Tammy Faye Messner (Bakker) died Friday after a 10 year bout with cancer of several kinds. Colon cancer got her ultimately. The same cancer that Pastor Dan Rothwell was stricken and died of a few years ago.

I saw Pastor Dan a couple weeks before he died. He looked OK. I saw the Larry King interview with Tammy Faye. She was 65 pounds and looked pretty bad. Same cancer, different effects.

I have great affection for both Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker. It was in a Watertown hotel room in 1977 that this lost Lutheran boy after a night of doing things he shouldn't have done that I watched the PTL show on TV. I hadn't seen it much before. It was a breath of fresh air. These people had joy. Jim would say "You can Make It". Tammy would say, "It's not over till it's over". I needed to hear that. I was hungry for hope. So, when the end of the program came and I sat up in the bed with tears flowing down my cheeks and he said, "Let's pray" I did. In a way, I was born in the flesh in Watertown SD and Born of the Spirit in the same town.

I would love to tell you that from that day forward everything was wonderful and all my problems went away. I would like to tell you that but it would be a lie. Life was hard. My business, my marriage, lots of things. In fact the battle seemed to intensify.

The difference was these two crazy people seemed to have joy in spite of the fact they were doing the program at that time from the back hall of a furniture store. They moved out the furniture for the show and then moved it back in for sale.

I know all about all the "SCANDAL". I'm not impressed. There is lots of scandal in lots of other church groups beginning with Catholic and the churches on the south side of Chicago where "Pastors" rip off those most vulnerable. What Jim and Tammy did was far less onerous. Wrong but overblown.

That small step that early morning began me on a journey that resulted in the man of God I strive to be today. I owe much to both of them. A few years ago I had an opportunity to meet with and talk with Jim Bakker. He was smaller than he looked on TV. More frail. Weaker. But, his spirit was intact. It was after he had written the book he wrote coming out of jail. "I was wrong". During our time together I told him that he was at the genesis of the walk I walk today. He gave me as big a hug as he can give. I treasure that memory and that time.

As I saw the Larry King interview on the last day of Tammy Faye's life I was sad for her but happy for her as well. She more than anyone knew where she was and is headed. There is nothing more sweet than the death of a saint. To her last day she proclaimed the goodness of God.

Her faith, courage and hope was a way maker for all of us. Bless you Tammy Faye.

Thanks for "You can make it" and "It's not over till it's over".

Your pain is over, and you made it.

Repost - Two Generations and The Genes still follow

This is a picture of my dad from 1950 when he was about 40 Years old. He was on the hospital board in Ellendale.











This picture of Kevin was taken after Church on Sunday Morning. We posed it. Kind of like I did when I posed the William Rhenquist Photo and me.

Who said that genetics don't count for much. Dad was a good looking man, Kevin has his nose and hairline. People always said I looked like Ralph (my dad). I don't think I hold a candle to the uncanny resemblance Kevin has to him at the basically same age.

You have good genes Kevin, enjoy them. Even if we never learned to grow hair. Aww, hair was overrated anyway.

Oil at $100 per Barrel? YAWNNNNN

If you have read this humble blog for a while you will know that high oil prices have never panicked me for a second. WHY?

Because the cure for high oil prices is high oil prices. Everything is relative.

In 1962 when I was a hot rod hipster riding up and down main street of Ellendale Gasoline (regular) was .27 per gallon. A good car sold for $2500. A house in Fargo of decent function was $12,000. People who worked for my dad made $120 per week with lots of overtime. A candy bar was a nickel. A coke was a dime. You could mail a letter for 3 cents.

In 2007 Gasoline I bought last week was 2.83 a gallon. A good car sells for $25,000, That house in Fargo is now $120,000, People working at the garage in Ellendale with overtime make $1200 per week, Hershey bars are 50 cents, Cokes from the vending machine are a buck or so, and you need 41 cents to mail a letter.

Overall about a 10X multiplier.

So, when I hear all the arm waving about the price of Oil I only hope it hits $100 soon so it will collapse even faster and further when the get-rich quick-folks try to cash in. Every technology known to man and some not know will be implemented.

Gasoline is a classic bubble.

This bubble WILL BURST. Count on it.

Is There ANY Meaning to This?

I want to think so. This is a type of the subjective prophetic.

Who Needs Israel, Anyway?

I offer this as a reason to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the support of Israel. This is more than a spiritual reason which for me is enough, this is a practical set of reasons. Pat Boone speaks for many of us who love the state of Israel.
Gene

Read the whole thing.

Who Needs Israel, Anyway?
Pat Boone
Monday, July 23, 2007

The above question, either in word or implication, is being voiced by way too many these days, as people and governments cast about desperately for lasting solutions in the Middle East.

Many Western and European political leaders — having heard the deprecations and the determination to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, from the likes of Palestinian Yasser Arafat, Saudi Arabian Osama bin Laden, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and so many other power brokers in the region — have come dangerously close to deciding that little Israel is the "thorn in the side" of world order.

The next logical thought is "Who needs Israel? Let her be erased, her people dispersed (or whatever), and the Middle East can settle comfortably into a harmonious Islamic community of states. Problem solved!"

What folly. What suicidal blindness.

I just returned from a momentous event in our nation's capital. An organization called Christians United for Israel (CUFI) convened 4,000 people from all 50 states in several days of briefings and strategy sessions, culminating in an exhilarating, rousing rally in the D.C. Convention Center featuring Jewish leaders and top Christian ministers celebrating the things we hold in common and the spiritual bonds that unite us.

The next day, several thousand of the participants fanned out over Washington and Capitol Hill, lobbying virtually every representative and senator on behalf of Israel and its sovereignty.

Why? Couldn't we all see this is an exercise in futility, an unnecessary bother . . . that we'd all be better off if Israel didn't exist?

No, we all see clearly that the world needs Israel. The whole world.

What do I mean? Consider:

Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can make claim to an astounding number of society's advances in almost every direction!

Intel's new multi-core processor was completely developed at facilities in Israel. And our ubiquitous cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its largest development center in the little land.

Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology was pioneered in Israel.

AirTrain JFK—the 8.1-mile light rail labyrinth that connects JFK Airport to NYC's mass transit—is protected by the Israeli-developed Nextiva surveillance system.

Bill Gates calls Israel "a major player in the high tech world"; most of Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft-Israel; the Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel; both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the U.S. in Israel; and, with more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of high-tech companies in the world apart from the Silicon Valley.

Get this: Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25 percent of its workforce employed in technical professions, Israel places 1st in this category as well!

It goes on and on.

The Weizmann Institute of Science has been voted "the best university in the world for life scientists to conduct research."

Israeli researchers have:

# Discovered the molecular trigger that causes psoriasis

# Developed Ex-Press shunt to provide relief for glaucoma sufferers

# Unveiled a blood test that diagnoses heart attacks . . . by telephone!

# Found a combination of electrical stimulation and chemotherapy that makes cancerous metastases disappear — and developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer!

# Designed the first flight system to protect passenger and freighter aircraft against missile attack

# Developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill — used to view the small intestine from the inside, enabling doctors to diagnose cancer and digestive disorders!

# Perfected a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with congestive heart failure, synchronizing the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

These are only a few of Israel's recent contributions to the welfare of the world. There are just too many to list here. Water shortage, global warming, space travel, anti-virus, anti-smallpox, blood pressure, solar power, paralysis, diabetes, data storage — these and hundreds more — are being addressed by her scientists.

They're pioneering in DNA research, using tiny strands to create human transistors that can literally build themselves — and playing an important role in identifying a defective gene that causes a rare and usually fatal disease in Arab infants!

Who needs Israel?

Who doesn't?

She produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin; she has the largest number of start-up companies globally, second only to the U.S.; she is No. 2 in the world for venture capital funds, financing all these advances; its $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined; and Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.

And while she maintains, by far, the highest average living standards and per capita income, exceeding even those of the U.K., Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth, relative to its population. It is truly an unparalleled marvel of our time.

So what's the point of all this?

Simply that the very idea of eradicating or even displacing Israel from its historic home is suicidal to the rest of the world, not just her Arabic neighbors. Though there are ominous biblical consequences pronounced on those who "curse Israel," there are also wonderful blessings promised those who "bless" her — and we're seeing those real, practical, humanitarian blessings proliferate around the world, blessing all humanity.

Stop just for a second and imagine a world today that never knew Israel. And then go further: Given their living standards, ideologies, and attitudes toward all who dare to disagree with them, imagine what our world would be like if Israel's enemies held sway. Would you rather live in an Iran, Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan? Or an Israel?

Who needs Israel? Let's be honest. We all do.

Action Counts More Than Words

DUH - I hear someone say.

The trouble with many of us is we think we can solve our troubles by words.

Some of that is true. Words matter. God can't confirm a word in our life that we never speak out or hear from the prophets.

Moses didn't lay his staff at the edge of the Red Sea and go to lunch expecting God to part it while he was off at Olive Garden for soup, salad and breadsticks. Moses held his staff and declared the word of the Lord and the Red Sea parted. He was a part of the move of God by showing up.

We have to do more than talk about it. In Ecclesiastics 11:4 there is a verse that says: He who observes the wind won't sow; and he who regards the clouds won't reap.

That means if you are waiting or hoping for just the right time to do something you will miss God. If you wait to do what God has told you to do until you are 100% sure you will be too late.

Some impulsiveness in trusting God for the outcome is appropriate. Some courage of conviction in action is needed. Something other than making our life verse, "God will fight out battles for us" is required. God will fight our battles but we have to show up, take action, do the thing we are called to do.

In 2 Chronicles 20 there is a famous bible story of King Jehoshaphat fighting against an overwhelming army. He seeks the prophets. The prophet says, "don't be afraid, God will fight the battle for you, he will destroy all your enemies".

That was a good thing. What happened next is the issue. They went to battle. Wait! Didn't God say He would fight the enemy and destroy him? Why go to battle?

In fact, Jehoshaphat fielded the army. They marched. They put the praise team at the front of the army.

Then God confused the enemy and destroyed the whole bunch.

Here's the question, what if after getting this strong prophetic word from God, Jehoshaphat and his army had decided to stay in bed the next morning. Not go to the battlefront. Not to show up. Would God have fought the battle for him or not? I mean, God is good as His word, right?

NO, I am convinced that even though it is true that God fights our battles for us we still have to strap on the armor and go to the battlefront every day. He fights our battles only as we engage in the battle.

Those who believe they can stay in bed spiritually, wait for the right time, regard the wind and the clouds will miss God.

If we wait until everything is 100% perfect to act we will be too late.

GO, MOVE, ACT, SHOW UP.

Consider this a spiritual kick in the pants which I heard last night from Pastor Marla at Faith Center.

I'm just passing it on. You're Welcome.

Sometimes I Feel Like a Fraud

I have had much "Glory" in my life. High position. Travel. Executive station.

Mr, Herr, Sir, Mr. President (corporate), etc.

I have also had low position from difficulty, business failures, ministry failures.

When I am "Riding High" sometimes I feel like a fraud. Yes, I get the accolades but in the end I'm just me. This isn't false humility. This is the fact that I sometimes kick way beyond my coverage. I wonder sometimes if people really knew me for who I really am would they hold me in such esteem. But I am fortunate to have a few people who kick the poop out of me on this blog and call me all kinds of names. I am actually not easily offended.

Even Billy Graham in his heyday had Grady Nutt who had the right to come to him and say, "I regret to tell you Dr. Graham that once again sir, you are full of S___".

For those who tell me that, I actually appreciate it. My ego and arrogance is part of who I am and who I appear to be to others. On the other hand, inside sometimes I have self doubt. I guess we all do. My self doubt is the difference between the perceived Gene and the actual Gene. I wish there were less difference than there is. I try hard to be transparent but there are things about me I know that if others knew they might not like or love me the same as they do now.

I know theologically this is a lie of the Devil. In a conversation this Morning Pastor Phil Ressler wisely said, "Sometimes when we feel like this it's the devil saying, THE CROSS IS NOT ENOUGH". That was one of those REHMA words we all need sometime.

The Cross IS enough. I am worthy not because of who I am, Lord Knows, but because of who He is in me.

Pr Phil told me something else I never knew, The reason high church pastors wear robes is to cover the sinful man delivering the word of the Lord. That made some sense to me.

I'm not going to start wearing a robe but the idea that I am covered is a powerful truth.

So, I'll do what I do tomorrow morning, I'll wear the collar, I'll minister in the anointing of the Holy Ghost. I'll be the Called Man for the time and walk in the authority he provides within that call.

I have just been thru a humbling that helps me know, It's not about me, in my own flesh dwells NO GOOD THING.

Sometimes I just need to be reminded, even when I feel like a fraud, HE endorses the back of my phony spiritual check and makes it good.

Thank You Jesus

90

Today a celebration is taking place. Yesterday according to my calender was the 90th birthday of Earl H Redlin, My uncle and a Father to me after the death of my parents.

If I had words I would express my appreciation for him in grand and glorious fashion. My loquacious manner wilts in trying to make fully clear to him what he means to me. I hope my actions have spoken louder than my many words.

He has had some hard bumps in the past year. Life has become more difficult. I wish it were not so. So does he.

He is 28 years my Senior. Before I was born he was at war in Italy fighting at Anzio where in one day more men died than have died in Iraq and Afghanistan together. Gee, now that I think of it, Italy didn't attack us, they didn't declare war on us, but we sent brave men like Earl with family and children at home to fight and many to die for the freedom those criticizing what our great President is doing in the middle east will never understand or appreciate.

When my Dad needed help in the Implement business Earl was there, when my folks died his family stepped up and took me and my siblings in, when the city needed leadership he led first as a councilman and then as the mayor, when the state needed a man to help make decisions he stepped up as a state senator (once even as a primary gubernatorial candidate), later in county government he helped as a leader until just 10 years ago. I have always thought he was a leader not truly appreciated by the city, state and county for whom he has given the bulk of his life selflessly.

When I was in Ellendale last month for it's 125th anniversary parade I watched the parade go by on streets that Mayor Earl had to fight to install as Mayor, the fact that water didn't spew up from people's sewers in the basement last month when the big rains came was because of the watershed management ditches he installed and the big convention in the Fieldhouse at Trinity Bible College exists because of a gift by another good man, Ray Ulmer and the college exists because there came a time that Mayor Earl signed a paper giving the whole campus to the Assemblies of God for a college. It remains and prospers to this day. Even though Ellendale will drift from 1400 to 800 people in the next 25 years unless something happens, the college will continue. This all documented in the book, "The Million Dollar Miracle". Ray Ulmer and Earl Redlin are in many ways the real unsung city fathers. All this time, making a living, farming, investing, making it all work. Every good thing they ever did was critisized and pilloried by the peanuts in the constituency they led. It has ever been so and someone needs to say it. We know who you are Earl Redlin.

You are a Father, a good man, a man who has seen more than people should have to see in his life.

His example is one it is impossible to ignore.

I won't.

Happy Birthday Uncle Earl, you are unique and yet a wonderful representation of Tom Brokaw's Greatest Generation.

Lead on, we'll follow in your footsteps.

THE BIG BANG AND BUSH

Seemed like Big Bang should be in caps, so it is.

I am more and more convinced that the whole war on terrorism idea that has been so roundly criticized particularly in Iraq is and was a Big Bang.

What I mean is he did something that without his intention has turned out to be a radical crash and burn that has forever changed the world and in my opinion for the better. How can that be?

• The evil that is radical Islam has been forever exposed
• Supposed unity in the Muslim world has been shown to be a false unity
• People who have been victims of tyranny at the hands of the mullahs and ayatollahs are moving from being victims to becoming responsible for their futures
• The Palestine issue is now about to come to resolution, it will be bloody but it will resolve.
• The invasion of Europe a drip drip drip at a time has been exposed and the invaders identified
• America is a more vigilant place than it was, we are less vulnerable to easy attack
• Christianity is making tremendous progress in the 10/40 window because of the Iraq and Afghan revolutions
• We as Americans are learning who we can depend on and who is just a sycophant who sucks up to us for no good reason
• We have identified those in our country who are weak and spineless and can keep them from coming to power again

There may be many other things but in his own stumbling bumbling way George W Bush has done the equivalent of tearing down the Berlin Wall, Nixon opening China and securing the Pacific from the Japanese with the atom bomb. He didn't do it incrementally. Most great things aren't done incrementally. They are done with a big bang. People that believe you can accomplish anything incrementally are deceived. Those that thought we could have done this with diplomacy are idiots. With whom are you going to have these diplomatic discussions and agreements that will be kept? Hmmm? The same is true of the blinded quacks that think we can withdraw and "Work With" these radical wackos. It required a big bang and we got it.

In the end this whole adventure will be seen as the beginning of a renaissance in the middle east that tore down hierarchies, kingdoms, evil religious powers and corrupt governments. One can, and I do, only hope that the result will be a new and better world.

Oh, the nutcases won't go without a fight. But we will fight, we will suffer, we will win. It will take a very very long time but it will be worth it. We as Americans will have done what we always do, sacrifice ourselves for the good of the world. We did it in WWII, WWI and many other times.

I'm proud to be an American and I'm proud of George Bush. I don't think he knew what he was doing when he did it. But he had the courage in spite of those weak kneed left wing types.

I wish more things could or would be solved with a big bang. If I could I would do it with the religious climate in America. I would invade every church and run everyone out. Tell them they aren't welcome to come back unless they are willing to get serious about serving God. Oh, we'd still have evangelistic services and try to help people cross over. I just want the fence sitters to stay home till they get a big bang in their lives. I'm sick of pretenders to the Throne of Jesus believing they are seated as it says in Ephesians in Heavenly Places next to Him. They are no more seated, standing or in the throne room than a kangaroo. Worse than that some of these pretenders are on church councils, are deacons and even pastors. They need to find Jesus or stay at home. Stop playing religious games.

We need this big bang in the church. I am hoping and believing it will be a big bang of the Holy Ghost. I hope it will be soon. I'm sick of business as usual. The lukewarm climate in most of the Church in America is nauseating to Jesus too. Time to get hot or cold.

I have quit accommodating nominal Christians and nonbelievers. People who were raised in the church, maybe even baptized and confirmed, if they no longer believe the claims of Christ they are lost hell bound sinners. I won't try make them feel better. They need a big bang in their life. We need more Johnathan Edwards' in the pulpits of America. IF people stay away in droves, the handful that is left will be a start to making the Body of Christ red hot in love with Jesus as it was supposed to be. What we have now is religious anemia of the worst kind. Jesus despised religious people. They are the hardest to break. They need a big bang.

We need a big bang.

NOW!

Ministry reaches the non-gifted

OCALA, Fla. — Cherie Blount struggled for twenty years to try to discover her personal gifts. Finally, she concluded: she has none.

"I am a wonderfully non-gifted member of God’s kingdom, and I’m not ashamed of that anymore," she says.

Blount no longer worries about whether she has a special skill or talent. Rather, she has used her experience to start a ministry called No Gift Required for people who have been through countless "find your gifting" and "Pathways" classes with no success. The ministry has spread to dozens of churches.

"All these years I felt I was born with a spiritual birth defect," says one man at a Sunday morning No Gift Required meeting in Tallahassee. "But here I feel bonded with other non-gifted people. It’s exciting for me."

No Gift Required’s curriculum conspicuously lacks any talk of purpose and destiny and instead focuses on general personal development. On occasions when people actually find they are gifted at something, they are asked to leave the class.

"It makes the rest of us uncomfortable," Blount says. "We politely request that they move on."
Non-gifted members feel they have an advantage over gifted people who have to spend so much time developing their special skill.

"It’s almost like being married," says one non-gifted person. "You’re chained to your talent, whereas non-gifted people have a real sense of freedom."

Gifted people sometimes drop by the non-gifted class out of curiosity.

"Honestly, it looks pretty relaxing," says one gifted man. "It must be nice to not feel ‘gift pressure.’"

For many, No Gift Required is a much-needed oasis.

"It’s a relief to have this struggle in my life removed," says one woman. "Now I don’t have to be gifted, I just have to be around."

SOURCE: Larknews.com

God's view on Grass

I got this dispatch from Julie this morning. I know Krm is out there somewhere (I’m being sensitive to her needs so I write her name in Hebrew without vowels) and will enjoy this if Julie didn’t send it to her already. I wish my buddy Art had email. He doesn't and his fax machine is broken. Also for my brother and his wife who’s lawn is far too large, green, weed free and mown. This is also dedicated to Lord of Life Church which has far too much grass, far too few plants, far too much mulch and too few trees. I'm trying to help that but it's not easy. They keep wanting to mow too much.

According to this God must love me a lot although I have far too much grass in my yard still. Every year I take a little more back. Soon I’ll have none. I never rake leaves. Never. And my mower is broken. I never ever ever water grass. Grass is supposed to go dormant. Plus, dormant grass will overtake the crab. AND, I only kill the dandelions. I’ll say 20 hail Mary’s and that’ll take care of that sin.

From a theologically flawed but ecologically accurate perspective here’s a conversation between God and St. Francis of Assisi who was the first horticulturalist of note:

GOD:
Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.

St. FRANCIS;
It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD:
Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colorful . It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD:
The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it-sometimes twice a week.

GOD:
They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS:
Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD:
They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS:
No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD:
Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST. FRANCIS:
Yes, Sir.

GOD:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS:
You aren't going to believe this, Lord When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD:
What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.


St. FRANCIS:
You better sit down, Lord The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay To have them hauled away.

GOD:
No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD:
And where do they get this mulch?

ST . FRANCIS:
They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD:
Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

ST. CATHERINE
Dumb and Dumber", Lord. It's a story about....

GOD:
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St . Francis.

Two Generations of genes

This is a picture of my dad from 1950 when he was about 40 Years old. He was on the hospital board.





And, This is a picture of Kevin, 35, taken last week.

Who said that genetics don't count for much. Dad was a good looking man, Kevin has his nose and hairline. People always said I looked like Ralph (my dad). I don't think I hold a candle to the uncanny resemblance Kevin has to him at the basically same age.

You have good genes Kevin, enjoy them. Even if we never learned to grow hair. Aww, hair was overrated anyway.

I didn't think it would be this hard

Last night Kevin and I sat up till nearly 1AM trying to get things to work in the major upgrade to century 21 technically speaking.

This computer stuff is really hard to get right. We haven't YET.

Here's where we are SO FAR. I am now high speed. 6 meg downloads. Pretty quick.

I can send and recieve emails but not on the new machine with any kind of a mail host I want to use like outlook, outlook express or thunderbird.

It appears that Gates and Company didn't think you or I would want our dumb old address books when we moved to Vista. Or all those old email messages. Or our settings.

Ditto with the Favorites list from Firefox.

Kevin and I think we are pretty smart cookies and not easily beset by much. This has beset us some.

It's 9AM. He's not up yet. I am. I'm already fighting the battle. But then I'll get a nap.

Here's a word of advice. If you don't HAVE to upgrade to Microsoft Vista DON'T. It doesn't really work.

A year or 18 months from now it might. I recall XP had issues at the beginning. Vista has issues. Lots of issues.

I would call Microsoft Support in Bangalore India for help but my Hindi is a bit rusty.

Of God's and Goddesses

Regarding the previous post of the worship of Gaia the earth goddess which is behind much of environmentalism:

It's very interesting that people who don't know much about God question that ancient gods and goddesses have influence. In this case, I believe it's important that they are educated on false gods and goddesses.

Here's the facts:

• There is no other God but God the Father as revealed in the Bible, BUT, There are other gods.
• Other gods are those things that we submit ourselves to in worship or adoration.
• Other gods are those things that hold themselves up (strongholds) against the knowledge of the True God
• When God said in the ten commandments, Thou Shalt have no other gods before me, He was saying that in fact there are other gods.
• All the gods of history from Europe, Asia, Africa and the uttermost parts of the earth, gods of mythology, gods of history, gods of Ancient Rome are gods in fact when that test is administered. .
• Those gods are identifiable by the sense of the spirit behind them. Each god carries an idolatry that takes away from, replaces and counterfeits worship of the true God.
• While the gods and goddesses of old are just an image of wood, stone or some other symbol there is a demon spirit that is behind the worship of those symbols.
• That demon spirit wants to divert attention away from the worship of the True God to some other false god.
• The devil is the enemy of God and his scheme is to mask seemingly innocent activities into idol worship.

I said that Gaia is a goddess. She is. She is a false god but she is real in the spiritual sense. As are all other gods or goddesses people put themselves in slavery to.

Even in the Church of Jesus there are people in slavery to false gods. I wrote some time ago about the fact that many, maybe most Churches in America are filled with people who worship at the altar of the demon spirit of the false god Baal. I didn't get much objection to that. The fact that I am getting some flack on this means that I have hit a nerve.

Outside the Church demon inspired false god and goddess worship is even more rampant. We as Christians must identify the false gods and goddesses and the spirits behind them. We must reject the worship of these demon inspired dieitiys.

I want to steward the world in which I live. I don't want to worship it.

That's the problem with the demon spirit Gaia, it has replaced stewardship with worship.

Thou shalt have no other gods before Me saith the Lord, for I am a Jealous God.

I think He's not kidding. I wouldn't go there.

The Neo-Pagan Worship of Gaia

Just to be clear, I don't care how sincere you are in worshipping what you worship, if it's wrong, if it's pagan you are going to go to HELL.

Now, that I have irritated you let's look at what's happening in the world.

We just came off a weekend last where pagan goddess worship was rampant around the world. Live Earth. It was initiated by a good man but one who in an attempt to do good has fallen into a trap. Al Gore.

He has unintentionally endorsed the oldest religion of all. Pagan Earth Worship. The Worship of the goddess Gaia.

People around the world are being drawn into the worship of the earth by the drumbeat of environmentalism. We are being told that we must save the planet. That the planet is our mother. That if mother dies we die.

God's hand in all this never comes up.

This is pure and simple goddess worship. Gaia is and was a strong pagan god. As Christians we must rise up against this evil spirit and while respecting and and operating in good stewardship of the creation God has given us not allow ourselves to be drawn into the whole sacrifice to the goddess of Gaia in the form of Man made Global Warming propaganda conspiracy.

Gaia is a false but real goddess. She has risen up ever so stealthily against the knowledge of God as a stronghold. We can tear down that stronghold only by the truth. The media and modern culture has bought and is promoting the Gaia as goddess lie without knowing it.

It all seems so good. It all seems so right. Meanwhile millions are led off the edge of the earth into oblivion without hope. Only the Truth of Jesus will save souls from the deception of Gaia.

The GATES of HELL Shall NOT Prevail

I just bought a new computer. It came preloaded with Vista and Office 2007.

If you ever had any question that Bill Gates and Microsoft were the Antichrist and that Microsoft was the mark of the beast, owning those two travesties will cure you of any waffling in that regard.

They are an abomination unto the Lord; and to me.

So, I will now wipe my hard drive clean and install XP, a much more Godly operating system and resinstall Office 2000 in all it's Holiness.

I know these both came from the same pit of Hell, but I can't for the life of me make Vista work. And Office 2000? YIKES!!!!!

So, bye to Vista for now. I may try to isolate it in a partition and if at some far future point a major exorcism takes place and allows Vista to stand before the throne of Gene (Seated in Heavenly Places) I'll not use it for now.

Why are we in computerland always the alpha and beta test sites for Microsoft's crappy software?

But we are and all we like sheep are led astray into believing that it actually works.

We are, above all men, deceived.

Intimidation

I have been at a couple of events in the last two weeks. Ellendale Reunion and 125th anniversary and the IPHC E-4 Conference annual meeting. I was credentialed once again.

But, I am somewhat intimidated. If you have noted a slight vanilla form in this blog of late that is the product of intimidation.

I heard many many times in Ellendale, "Hey Gene, I read your blog." Fine, I'm glad they do, hello out there in Blogdom.

More intimidating is at the conference people I respect, folks with PhD's, Folks who are peer or better are reading this humble blog and all it's bluster. I frankly was comfortable when it was a couple dozen family members, a few others, some friends, some long time blog acquaintances, and a bunch of pastors and church members from the various fellowships I am affiliated that read it.

Now that list is much larger. Much larger. Much larger than I knew. I am intimidated. I should behave. I should dumb down and take out the energy or passion I write with. I did. Knowing these people I respect greatly are reading what I write makes me think carefully and carve my words.

Add to that the affirmations I received this last weekend at the conference from Men of God of a national platform confirming and affirming the giftings God has placed in this jar of clay. They didn't know me from Adam. But, they prophetically saw and confirmed twice the prophetic gift in me by the grace of God. I am pleased and twice intimidated. Not only are people reading what I am writing, but they are reading it with the understanding and expectation that I write sometimes in the anointing of the Holy Ghost as a prophet.

No pressure there.

I have decided that I am what I am. The fact that I am read and recognized won't change who I am. I will be faithful to the call on my life. I will write and prophesy with the same fervor I ever did before I knew how many people were reading this.

When it is a prophetic utterance you will know. When it's just Gene spouting off you will know that too.

I hope whichever TRIBE you are reading this from you will read it with the understanding that I write for a wider audience than I thought I did.

I'm from Ellendale North Dakota, So I am of the tribe of Dakota. Some of my readers are fellow Dakotans, we are tribal brothers and sisters. We may not get along all the time, but we are brothers and sisters.

I'm a Redlin, from the tribe of Redlins. It's a big tribe. We are having a tribal gathering in a few weeks at Watertown SD to meet other tribal members and in part to honor those Sr Tribal members. Even Terry Redlin.

I'm from the tribe of Pentecostals. I was born into this tribe in the Spirit. There are other tribes. Catholic tribes, Methodist tribes, Baptist tribes, Lutheran tribes. I can pow wow with those tribes but in the end I am a pentecostal and when I go to war with the enemy I go to war with the warpaint of a Pentecostal. It's a fearful warpaint and I know the enemy hates it when he sees the stripes of the Pentecostal across the face of a warrior. It scares hell out of him or more accurately scares him to hell. I know the other tribes have other paint schemes. I think it's good if you are puffing the pipe of peace. But if I have to go to war, I want the brother and sister on either side of me painted with the fierceness of Pentecost.

I want to know that when the battle comes we will lock arms and run to the battle without looking back. Not fearing for our lives.

I mentioned at a previous post the Call in Nashville. I have heard of some of the things that went on. Where 60,000 gathered in Titan Stadium to pray and do warfare for the soul of America.

One thing that impressed me, when the call for martyrdom came, nearly 100% of those attending signed up to be martyred if necessary. I wasn't there but I'm signing up. I hope it's not necessary but I want to be counted among those ready to put on the warpaint and go to the front and battle the enemy.

Who shall go? Send me Lord, Send me.

A Question Every Church Leaders Must Answer

What kind of church do you love to attend? What kind of service really does something for you?

Do you pastor or lead that kind of church or service?

If you are a Pastor, Worship Leader, Elder, or any other kind of church leadership, the question is apt.

What kind of Church would you attend if you could, Or when or where have you attended church when it really was deeply meaningful, moving, motivating and lasted a long time.

If the last church service you led or were part of leading wasn't that kind of service, I have a question for you.

WHY?

Why in the world do you expect anyone to attend the service you don't like to attend? Why do you conduct or participate in a church service you wouldn't like to participate in.

Why in the world are you leading a church you don't really even want to be part of?

I know what I love, and if someone came to the kind of service I resonate with and didn't like it, I would say, "There's a franchise down the street, perhaps you should go there". Wave goodbye and feel good about it. I have done so. We don't know who we are and what we stand for. If people don't like it they will vote with their feet. If you have already had some of that, figure out what you like, do that. Others will buy into it.

Trader Joes grocery store had made a good living out of the idea that they only carry product THEY LIKE. If you don't like what they like, you can go elsewhere. If you go to Trader Joes expect some things strange and wonderful.

Too many grocers and too many churches try to be all things to all people. Too much vanilla is nauseating.

Pastor, start leading the services you would want to attend. Who knows, others might like it too.

Trader Joes does OK with that philosophy.

You should expect to buy product loved by the ownership and management. Why should Church be any differeny.