I am a past tense reader of much in Christian Books. I have hundreds I have read and have become discouraged in the reading. When I go to our local Christian Bookstore (Johns) I peruse what is available and find most to be empty and frankly useless. Most of what is sold in Christian books, even bestsellers, are marginally Christian and barely books.
I’m not talking books that have stood the test of time, Andrew Murray, Spurgeon, etc.
I’m talking about books written by Authors of today. I buy them. I read them and I discard them. Nearly all are wastes of time. I do not buy the idea that “If we get just ONE idea from a conference or book it’s worth it all”. I even wrote one and I’m not sure of it.
I learned to take good notes in college. I can go to a conference (as I did last week) and could give any sermon I heard because I take good notes. I have boxes of notes. Most are redundant. A few are revealing. I believe only the Holy Spirit can take a truth and make it come alive just for you to be worthwhile in your life. I bought a book at the conference that Peggy read and she said it shook her. I read the same book, TWICE and I didn’t get the same reaction.
That’s the Holy Spirit in action. The reaction she had was just for her. That’s OK.
But, to the point:
There are two books that I can report which changed my life spiritually for the better. Turned me spiritually upside down. I say this because I recommend them to you.
One I read a few years ago. If you haven’t read it, do. You will see yourself and your Christian walk in a whole new way.
That book is The Final Quest by Rick Joyner.
If you google this book you will find plenty of anger and hatred on the web about this book. The evangelical fundamentalist community despises and attacks anything that rattles their little world view. This book does. You read it and you decide.
The second I read just this week. It was recommended to me by Brad Hampton of Faith Center in Rockford. He said, "Gene, This will change your life". Big claim but I trust him, so, off to Johns I went. I bought one. I read it. I’m still reeling spiritually.
There is theology in the book that I am not in complete agreement with. But for the most part it is sound in it’s concept. The purpose of the book is to ask you a core question, “What are your motives, why do you do what you do?” For the most part after reading the book I came to the conclusions my motives are not pure. I do things for selfish gain sometimes. My wife tells me I’m (I can’t say it, I must spell it) H-U-M-A-N. I joke of course but sometimes the hubris of life makes some people think they are not. Read post directly below.
The name of this pivotal work is Driven by Eternity by John Bevere
Click on the link above and scroll down to read the comments from people who have read this book. I can only say AMEN to them all.
If you are a Christian, and you want to see your Christian walk without the rose colored glasses you will want to read these two books. My hope is as a result of these you will recommend them to others. I am of the sincere opinion that the revival we all long for will come from a renewed commitment on the part of those who call themselves Christ Followers and a renewal of the fear of God.
Anything less is apostasy. I’m afraid it’s a rampant disease in the Church of Jesus today.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Teachability and the Achillies Heel
I remember years ago reading about Hubris and how it could be the downfall of any of us. I have never forgotten that lesson. I have had to learn it so many times.
But sometimes life comes along and offers additional education. I don't think I wanted to become this smart this late in life at such a high tuition cost. I just got whacked again. I won't bore you with it but because I have sold so much nursery stock and made decent money doing so I made a really dumb mistake that cost me a nice chunk of change. Worse I can only blame one person. ME!
Why did it happen? Hubris. I know what I'm doing, I'm experienced, I'm able, I'm competent, I have it together and frankly you would have a hard time telling me how to do what I do. I know better. That makes me incredibly vulnerable to hubris. My excellence is my greatest weakness. Achilles heel. Where I am weak I am careful and make few dumb mistakes. Where I am strong I can become arrogant and confident to the point where I fall in the one area I'm best at. Achilles strikes again.
I see this with others too. I associate with many Pastors. Those who are most able and gifted many times translate that ability to believing they have answers and abilities they don't possess in other areas. Therefore they move ahead with programs and policies and fall on their face or worse do nothing at all believing that somehow things will all work out. One I am thinking about has no one he is accountable or submitted to and is on an absolute course of disaster. Forget trying to tell him. He knows better. God is on his side. I'll be there to help him pick up the pieces when he fails but it looks like he's got his thumb located directly under the falling hammer.
When I am terrified at failing I do much better. When I enter into a thing that is at the core of my ability I am unteachable. Hence I don't know I can fail and am shocked when I do.
I think we all are.
I am re-examining my life as a result of this faux pax. The net question is, What core abilities do I have that have the potential of being an Achilles heel for me?What am I so good at that life or others can't help me see the error of my ways?
That is my Achilles heel, my blind spot, my area of unteachablitiy.
What are you really good at, very competent at, excellent at, experienced in, educated of, well read in, even respected by your peers for; I submit to you, THAT is YOUR Achilles heel, your area of unteachablity. The very thing that makes you strong is your area of greatest weakness and vulnerability.
I'm discovering (again) mine. How bout you? It's not too late to start. The hammer is falling.
Friday, September 01, 2006
The CURSE of the Power Struggle
I wrote a book on marriage, it is now in it's third printing. A copy of the book is located here. I am adding a chapter today. This is an area I have studied and brought this concept to a couple of Pastors to review. I believe I am right on this. I submit it for your consideration. Comments are appreciated.
One benefit of becoming a Christian is the fact that the curse resulting from the rebellion in the Garden of Eden has been repealed by the Blood of Jesus. For instance, we no longer die but we live again in Christ. We work, but God blesses the work of our hands supernaturally. Of course, thistles still grow. But we are to have dominion over the earth.
There is an element of the curse that is not widely shared. I believe it is not shared because of political correctness. I have never been particularly politically correct. So, hang on.
Let me be bold. When God pronounced the curse on Satan, Adam and Eve at the fall, to Eve he said an unusual thing:
Genesis 3:16 Then he said to the woman, "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband,[a] he will be your master."
Footnotes:
a. Or And though you may desire to control your husband.
This footnote is from the New Living Translation which I find very accurate. Many people as they have interpreted this maintain that because childbirth was now to be a painful experience that God was making sexual desire in women a curse. How can that be?
I don’t agree. I’m may be in the minority. But I’m not alone. Several Bible Scholars agree with me. For Example:
Yet this does not make much sense as a curse. Why should a woman's desire for her husband cause him to dominate her? Most men would gladly accept his wife's desires for him, causing him to treat her more gently rather than roughly, as is implied in this verse. How are we to understand this?
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Is it possible that part of the curse of the fall is a continual power struggle between husband and wife? I believe it is.
Consider the battles royal that go on in non-Christian households. She wants this, he wants that. They fight about things, people, money, relationships and a hundred other big and small things.
When there is a household out of order it can be one where HE is domineering and she is simply a doormat or SHE is a shrew and controls everything and he is a whipped milquetoast.
In both cases this is not as it should be.
This certainly is not as it should be in a Christian marriage. The power struggle was settled at the cross. Jesus is Lord of all, which includes your marriage. Then Jesus implements an organizational structure that makes the husband the head of the home and he is supposed to rule and love as Jesus loves and rules the Church as his bride. (He gives up his life for her and as men that’s what we are to do).
The Devil is in the business of destroying homes, Christian or Not. So he aggravates the curse and propagates this monumental power struggle.
Sadly many good people who profess Jesus as Savior reject him as Lord. They reject him in the power struggle that goes on every day in their home which manifest itself as manipulation, pressure, threats, pouting, temper tantrums, anger, silence and all kinds of other ungodly tactics straight from the pit of hell. This is true regardless of gender. It’s ungodly no matter how is comes off.
What is however covered directly under the curse God pronounced is when a woman wants to control the purse and apron strings in her home as she uses whatever power she can to do so. This is a manifestation of the fall of Man. A curse on wives.
So, what do you do if you are a man and you are married to a wife who controls and manipulates your every move? Who uses the most underhanded threats to push you around? Who will not allow you to make the decisions you were destined by God to make?
First, you must know that no one can make you feel inferior without your permission. She is doing that to you. By your reaction you have given her permission. Not allowing you to be the man she wishes you were by her pressure is causing you to be the man she wishes you were NOT. A paradox.
Second, you must take a stand and prepare to stand the consequences. If you can’t you will continue to sanction ungodly behavior in your wife. You cannot allow this to continue. As painful as it may be you must call this bluff, even if it’s not a bluff. Then, if your stand causes even more problems, even to threatening your marriage, it will surface the root of sin in the whole episode. Right now both you and your wife are in a state of denial. You both know things are out of order. You have both bought into the democracy of marriage. It’s not a democracy. It’s a theocracy and you represent the Theocrat in marriage order.
Third, this is a spiritual issue. You are not at war with your wife. You are in conflict with the devil’s influence. She is not the devil any more than the apostle Peter was when Jesus told him “get thee behind me Satan”. But, you must recognize that the control factor in your wife is a spiritual issue. If she was submitted fully to Jesus at a deeper level you could expect her to respond in a deeper way. She is living on spiritual pabulum. You, her husband, must wash her with the word of spiritual regeneration. She must come to the place where she begins to recognize who she is in Jesus and who He is in you. This is terribly deceptive ground. Most of the time it revolves around money. Money is deceitful above all things, and it is at the root of all kinds of evil.
Get your priorities right and things will come into order. Jesus must be first, all the things of Jesus must be first, His word, what you watch, what you look at, what you do, who and where you fellowship. If you are not getting balanced encouragement in this area, find a Church that believes the word of God. Second in order is your Wife. A distant third is your Kids. Fourth friends and last your job.
If you make Jesus really first, she will follow.
If you are the wife of one of these doormat husbands you are out of order. You not in God’s will in your marriage. You don’t understand the gift of God that is your husband. You are to be subject to him. The devil has you deceived. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but the truth can set you and him free.
Last, Men, if you would have your wife be in order according to Jesus you must be Jesus to her. This means making good decisions, being loving, caring, and most of all forgiving, even when she’s a total shrew.
You will change he by your stoic focused behavior, not by giving in. Consider this, sometimes she might be crying out for you to take spiritual leadership in the home and call the empty bluff she makes. I refer you to the chapter called, “Checking Your Oil”.
It could save your marriage.
Or, it could reveal that what you have isn’t a real marriage. Do you want your heart broken now or later. Do you want to start working on having a spiritually sound and in order household now or later.
The BAD news is, there is no later, only now.
The Curse of the Power Struggle
One benefit of becoming a Christian is the fact that the curse resulting from the rebellion in the Garden of Eden has been repealed by the Blood of Jesus. For instance, we no longer die but we live again in Christ. We work, but God blesses the work of our hands supernaturally. Of course, thistles still grow. But we are to have dominion over the earth.
There is an element of the curse that is not widely shared. I believe it is not shared because of political correctness. I have never been particularly politically correct. So, hang on.
Let me be bold. When God pronounced the curse on Satan, Adam and Eve at the fall, to Eve he said an unusual thing:
Genesis 3:16 Then he said to the woman, "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband,[a] he will be your master."
Footnotes:
a. Or And though you may desire to control your husband.
This footnote is from the New Living Translation which I find very accurate. Many people as they have interpreted this maintain that because childbirth was now to be a painful experience that God was making sexual desire in women a curse. How can that be?
I don’t agree. I’m may be in the minority. But I’m not alone. Several Bible Scholars agree with me. For Example:
Yet this does not make much sense as a curse. Why should a woman's desire for her husband cause him to dominate her? Most men would gladly accept his wife's desires for him, causing him to treat her more gently rather than roughly, as is implied in this verse. How are we to understand this?
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Is it possible that part of the curse of the fall is a continual power struggle between husband and wife? I believe it is.
Consider the battles royal that go on in non-Christian households. She wants this, he wants that. They fight about things, people, money, relationships and a hundred other big and small things.
When there is a household out of order it can be one where HE is domineering and she is simply a doormat or SHE is a shrew and controls everything and he is a whipped milquetoast.
In both cases this is not as it should be.
This certainly is not as it should be in a Christian marriage. The power struggle was settled at the cross. Jesus is Lord of all, which includes your marriage. Then Jesus implements an organizational structure that makes the husband the head of the home and he is supposed to rule and love as Jesus loves and rules the Church as his bride. (He gives up his life for her and as men that’s what we are to do).
The Devil is in the business of destroying homes, Christian or Not. So he aggravates the curse and propagates this monumental power struggle.
Sadly many good people who profess Jesus as Savior reject him as Lord. They reject him in the power struggle that goes on every day in their home which manifest itself as manipulation, pressure, threats, pouting, temper tantrums, anger, silence and all kinds of other ungodly tactics straight from the pit of hell. This is true regardless of gender. It’s ungodly no matter how is comes off.
What is however covered directly under the curse God pronounced is when a woman wants to control the purse and apron strings in her home as she uses whatever power she can to do so. This is a manifestation of the fall of Man. A curse on wives.
So, what do you do if you are a man and you are married to a wife who controls and manipulates your every move? Who uses the most underhanded threats to push you around? Who will not allow you to make the decisions you were destined by God to make?
First, you must know that no one can make you feel inferior without your permission. She is doing that to you. By your reaction you have given her permission. Not allowing you to be the man she wishes you were by her pressure is causing you to be the man she wishes you were NOT. A paradox.
Second, you must take a stand and prepare to stand the consequences. If you can’t you will continue to sanction ungodly behavior in your wife. You cannot allow this to continue. As painful as it may be you must call this bluff, even if it’s not a bluff. Then, if your stand causes even more problems, even to threatening your marriage, it will surface the root of sin in the whole episode. Right now both you and your wife are in a state of denial. You both know things are out of order. You have both bought into the democracy of marriage. It’s not a democracy. It’s a theocracy and you represent the Theocrat in marriage order.
Third, this is a spiritual issue. You are not at war with your wife. You are in conflict with the devil’s influence. She is not the devil any more than the apostle Peter was when Jesus told him “get thee behind me Satan”. But, you must recognize that the control factor in your wife is a spiritual issue. If she was submitted fully to Jesus at a deeper level you could expect her to respond in a deeper way. She is living on spiritual pabulum. You, her husband, must wash her with the word of spiritual regeneration. She must come to the place where she begins to recognize who she is in Jesus and who He is in you. This is terribly deceptive ground. Most of the time it revolves around money. Money is deceitful above all things, and it is at the root of all kinds of evil.
Get your priorities right and things will come into order. Jesus must be first, all the things of Jesus must be first, His word, what you watch, what you look at, what you do, who and where you fellowship. If you are not getting balanced encouragement in this area, find a Church that believes the word of God. Second in order is your Wife. A distant third is your Kids. Fourth friends and last your job.
If you make Jesus really first, she will follow.
If you are the wife of one of these doormat husbands you are out of order. You not in God’s will in your marriage. You don’t understand the gift of God that is your husband. You are to be subject to him. The devil has you deceived. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but the truth can set you and him free.
Last, Men, if you would have your wife be in order according to Jesus you must be Jesus to her. This means making good decisions, being loving, caring, and most of all forgiving, even when she’s a total shrew.
You will change he by your stoic focused behavior, not by giving in. Consider this, sometimes she might be crying out for you to take spiritual leadership in the home and call the empty bluff she makes. I refer you to the chapter called, “Checking Your Oil”.
It could save your marriage.
Or, it could reveal that what you have isn’t a real marriage. Do you want your heart broken now or later. Do you want to start working on having a spiritually sound and in order household now or later.
The BAD news is, there is no later, only now.
From the Email Spam File, Too Funny not to Reprint
Primer on THE BLUES
If you are into Blues music, or like it, but never really understood the why and wherefores, here are some fundamental rules:
1. Most Blues begin with: "Woke up this morning"
2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it.
Then find something that rhymes - sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch... ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the Blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or anywhere in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis and Nawlins are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the Blues in any place that don't get rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the Blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cause you were skiing is not the Blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chomping on it is.
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass
11. Bad places for the Blues:
a. Nordstrom's
b. Art gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses
12. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old person, and you slept in it.
13. Do you have the right to sing the Blues?
Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied
No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived
d. you have a 401K or trust fund
14. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. TigerWoods cannot sing the Blues. Sonny Liston could have. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the Blues.
15. If you ask for water and your darlin' gives you gasoline, it's the Blues.
Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. cheap wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. muddy water
d. black coffee
The following are not Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast
16. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So are the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken-down cot.
You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.
17. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling
18. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie
19. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Jennifer, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
20. Blues Name Starter Kit:
a. name of a physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. first name (see above) plus name of a fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi, etc.)
c. last name of a President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)
For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Pegleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")
21. And I don't care how tragic your life is, if you are reading this because you own a computer you cannot sing the blues.
Hat Tip: Stella and Ken
Thursday, August 31, 2006
I'm an OLD SOFTIE
Last Night, I got one of those infinite forwarded emails we all get. It was from the poor woman who raised me after my folks died. Ruth Redlin. As the Muslims say, "Blessings be upon Her".
Many times I get these fowards and they have been forwarded 30 times. Usually before I get that far It's deleteville for me.
But this was good. Exceptional even. Sappiness overlooked. Sometimes quality is better.
Look at this, if it don't thrill you a bit you're dead.
Many times I get these fowards and they have been forwarded 30 times. Usually before I get that far It's deleteville for me.
But this was good. Exceptional even. Sappiness overlooked. Sometimes quality is better.
Look at this, if it don't thrill you a bit you're dead.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
The Ubiquitous Black Bag
I just flew in from Columbus OH (man are my arms tired). Sorry, I can’t help myself.
I was there doing some technical expert work as I do from time to time.
In picking up my Olive Drab luggage from the carousel I took note of the black bag invasion. EVERYONE has a black bag. They all look alike.
Who buys a square black rollerbag so you can touch every one that comes off the carousel to find yours? They all look exactly alike. I don’t get it. When I bought the bag I have now I was very careful to find one that was distinctive. That way when the bag burper burps my bag I can immediately identify it.
Maybe those who have the little black bags have RFID chips in them. Maybe it’s like that March of the Penguins things. They all look alike except to mom and dad penguin.
All I know is I refuse to be a sheep. They must be cheap, those black bags, but don’t they come in ANY other color than black? I did get a roller bag. It’s fire engine red. I never use it.
Or maybe it’s like the model T. You can have any color you want as long as it’s black.
I was there doing some technical expert work as I do from time to time.
In picking up my Olive Drab luggage from the carousel I took note of the black bag invasion. EVERYONE has a black bag. They all look alike.
Who buys a square black rollerbag so you can touch every one that comes off the carousel to find yours? They all look exactly alike. I don’t get it. When I bought the bag I have now I was very careful to find one that was distinctive. That way when the bag burper burps my bag I can immediately identify it.
Maybe those who have the little black bags have RFID chips in them. Maybe it’s like that March of the Penguins things. They all look alike except to mom and dad penguin.
All I know is I refuse to be a sheep. They must be cheap, those black bags, but don’t they come in ANY other color than black? I did get a roller bag. It’s fire engine red. I never use it.
Or maybe it’s like the model T. You can have any color you want as long as it’s black.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
That Car Doesn’t Owe me a THING!
I grew up a gearhead. Rock and Roll, Hot Cars. The 60’s.
Two things we always said, "I trust that car so much I wouldn't be afraid to drive it to California". And, if we had fixed on a car long enough, "That car don’t owe me a thing". We felt like a hero if we got to see the odometer cross 100,000 miles. That was 1963.
As an older driver I want a car that works. I want a car that I can trust. But I don’t like the depreciation involved in buying a new car. So, when I buy a vehicle, it can plan on going to the moon before I give up on it. Moon?
The moon is 240,000 miles away. So, my goal is to get 240,000 miles on every car I own. I have succeeded a couple times. Mostly they get to about 200,000 and they start to drift. The big lie in car repair is “It’s nickel and dimeing me to death”. Another is, “The repair needed is more than the car is worth”. That may be true but if you can drive it another year with the repair you bought miles. Forget car value, buy miles.
If you fix what’s wrong right away it won’t nickel and dime you to death. The big reason people get frustrated is the electric window quits, then one light goes out, then it misfires some, then the brakes make noise, then the muffler goes out and then it hacks and coughs when you drive. Pretty soon it’s a basket case. Fix it when it breaks and you won’t have this problem. You build a mountain of repairs and then tear out your hair. The new car dealers love you.
An auto repair company, Merlins has just changed its company name to 200,000 Mile Shops. I understand and agree with the concept. They have a pretty good analysis of the situation. You make money by keeping the old girl running. Fix it when it breaks. Read the whole thing. You just might change your mind about going out and getting the newest rice burner on the market for $40,000.
Two things we always said, "I trust that car so much I wouldn't be afraid to drive it to California". And, if we had fixed on a car long enough, "That car don’t owe me a thing". We felt like a hero if we got to see the odometer cross 100,000 miles. That was 1963.
As an older driver I want a car that works. I want a car that I can trust. But I don’t like the depreciation involved in buying a new car. So, when I buy a vehicle, it can plan on going to the moon before I give up on it. Moon?
The moon is 240,000 miles away. So, my goal is to get 240,000 miles on every car I own. I have succeeded a couple times. Mostly they get to about 200,000 and they start to drift. The big lie in car repair is “It’s nickel and dimeing me to death”. Another is, “The repair needed is more than the car is worth”. That may be true but if you can drive it another year with the repair you bought miles. Forget car value, buy miles.
If you fix what’s wrong right away it won’t nickel and dime you to death. The big reason people get frustrated is the electric window quits, then one light goes out, then it misfires some, then the brakes make noise, then the muffler goes out and then it hacks and coughs when you drive. Pretty soon it’s a basket case. Fix it when it breaks and you won’t have this problem. You build a mountain of repairs and then tear out your hair. The new car dealers love you.
An auto repair company, Merlins has just changed its company name to 200,000 Mile Shops. I understand and agree with the concept. They have a pretty good analysis of the situation. You make money by keeping the old girl running. Fix it when it breaks. Read the whole thing. You just might change your mind about going out and getting the newest rice burner on the market for $40,000.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Hyperactive isn’t always Hyper Good
I have noticed a trend among people on the radio, people in business, people in ministry, people who are just plain hyper.
ADHD is the modern term for this syndrome.
Have you ever seen Glen Beck’s program on headline News? Very entertaining but he has an attention span of a two-year-old child.
I have a pastor friend who never reads this blog so I’m safe. He is so hyper that he tries to do 3 things at once and always fails. When he talks to me (which I avoid) he is looking over my shoulder. I don’t know how he stays married. Frankly he barely does and I understand her frustration.
I do business with some landscapers who are so hyper that they harass me to my limits.
I have learned not to sanction or encourage this behavior. The inability to concentrate, stay focused or do deliberative consideration is a weakness these people don’t grasp.
I am happy that among most of my good friends there are few who I allow to abuse me with the inattention the ADHD lifestyle seems to manifest. If you don’t pay attention, I’ll ignore you too.
I have had the misfortune to have people under me who were this kind of talk talk talk rattle on types who couldn’t listen if you forced them. I have sometimes had to grab them by the hand, look them straight in the eye, yell at them, say “STOP TALKING AND LISTEN”. Then they usually start talking about why they talk so much. Then I yell, SHUT UP! Cruel? Maybe, but is it more cruel to sanction this kind of aberrant behavior by pretending it's not a problem? Particularly if this person works for you? I think real cruelty is not dealing with it here and now. By the way, those people that I have had to deal with in this brutal manner were better afterwards. They knew I wouldn’t tolerate the babble. They shut up.
The real crime is these people never develop the social skill of listening or hearing. The mouth they have is their worst enemy. It's always getting them in trouble. They are so distracted by so much that they can’t take direction, can’t follow a series of instructions, can’t reason without talking past the point. It’s a handicap in society to be one of these poor souls.
I could blame it on all the gadgets we live with. I could blame it on TV. I could blame the school system.
I blame a lack of discipline. I blame lazy parents. I blame a culture that seems to reward and encourage this kind of inanity.
If you are one of those bouncing off the wall types, I’ll catch you later. A LOT LATER.
An Amazing Update.
Yesterday Tuesday I get a call from the Pastor Friend I mention.
He's calling to talk policy in his fellowship, he has another cell phone which rings 3 times while he's talking to me and trying to drive, the radio is blaring and he's reading a map.
Needless to say I didn't have his undivided attention although I tried to give him mine.
And he kept saying, "Sorry Gene" when he would force me to listen to someone elses conversation on the other phone. Then he had the audacity to ask, "what were we talking about?".
He had forgotten. HE CALLED ME.
That gives you a clue as to how important he thinks I am. How much he values our "friendship". I pity his parish.
Remember this all happens when he calls ME. I'm not angry, it's just an example.
And believe me, this kind of self importance will be the death of him.
I will not be treated pejoratively. Frankly these inattentive self centered people think they are being caring. One of them said to me once after a particualrly bad row with another person, "But Gene, I'm the most caring person I know". I had to contain myself.
Please call me when you want to TALK!
ADHD is the modern term for this syndrome.
Have you ever seen Glen Beck’s program on headline News? Very entertaining but he has an attention span of a two-year-old child.
I have a pastor friend who never reads this blog so I’m safe. He is so hyper that he tries to do 3 things at once and always fails. When he talks to me (which I avoid) he is looking over my shoulder. I don’t know how he stays married. Frankly he barely does and I understand her frustration.
I do business with some landscapers who are so hyper that they harass me to my limits.
I have learned not to sanction or encourage this behavior. The inability to concentrate, stay focused or do deliberative consideration is a weakness these people don’t grasp.
I am happy that among most of my good friends there are few who I allow to abuse me with the inattention the ADHD lifestyle seems to manifest. If you don’t pay attention, I’ll ignore you too.
I have had the misfortune to have people under me who were this kind of talk talk talk rattle on types who couldn’t listen if you forced them. I have sometimes had to grab them by the hand, look them straight in the eye, yell at them, say “STOP TALKING AND LISTEN”. Then they usually start talking about why they talk so much. Then I yell, SHUT UP! Cruel? Maybe, but is it more cruel to sanction this kind of aberrant behavior by pretending it's not a problem? Particularly if this person works for you? I think real cruelty is not dealing with it here and now. By the way, those people that I have had to deal with in this brutal manner were better afterwards. They knew I wouldn’t tolerate the babble. They shut up.
The real crime is these people never develop the social skill of listening or hearing. The mouth they have is their worst enemy. It's always getting them in trouble. They are so distracted by so much that they can’t take direction, can’t follow a series of instructions, can’t reason without talking past the point. It’s a handicap in society to be one of these poor souls.
I could blame it on all the gadgets we live with. I could blame it on TV. I could blame the school system.
I blame a lack of discipline. I blame lazy parents. I blame a culture that seems to reward and encourage this kind of inanity.
If you are one of those bouncing off the wall types, I’ll catch you later. A LOT LATER.
An Amazing Update.
Yesterday Tuesday I get a call from the Pastor Friend I mention.
He's calling to talk policy in his fellowship, he has another cell phone which rings 3 times while he's talking to me and trying to drive, the radio is blaring and he's reading a map.
Needless to say I didn't have his undivided attention although I tried to give him mine.
And he kept saying, "Sorry Gene" when he would force me to listen to someone elses conversation on the other phone. Then he had the audacity to ask, "what were we talking about?".
He had forgotten. HE CALLED ME.
That gives you a clue as to how important he thinks I am. How much he values our "friendship". I pity his parish.
Remember this all happens when he calls ME. I'm not angry, it's just an example.
And believe me, this kind of self importance will be the death of him.
I will not be treated pejoratively. Frankly these inattentive self centered people think they are being caring. One of them said to me once after a particualrly bad row with another person, "But Gene, I'm the most caring person I know". I had to contain myself.
Please call me when you want to TALK!
I’m thankful for the Iraq Invasion and as far as it has gone
I was thinking about the men lost in the battle for Okinawa in the Second World War. Many many more than have been lost in Iraq. But having that base for our American Marines and Air Force kept a lid on Japan and Korea and maybe China during the post war years as things settled out. What stirred me was the death of the man that took the famous flag raising picture.
Now with Iranian nutcases on the loose, Syrian Collaborators and other Islamic Fascists running rampant we must be thankful for the fact that we have Air Base Baghdad. Wouldn’t it be something today if we had not taken steps to establish this.
I f am not pleased at the fact that we are bogged down, I am pleased that we are there at all. This was a gamble. All the dice haven’t yet been thrown. I’m still on the line. I think a wider more aggresive stance in Iraq would be good right now as things have quieted down.
Is it worth it? For sure! Kurdistan no matter what will stand as a republic unto itself even if everything else fails.
So, let’s see. A free democratic Kurdistan, Air Baghdad, small gains but gains nonetheless.
All the whole deal isn’t in yet. Easy to Monday Morning Quarterback at the beginning of the season. It takes vision to get to the Superbowl no matter how last weeks game went.
If we do not grow weary by the press trying to wear us down we will reap if we do not faint.
Now with Iranian nutcases on the loose, Syrian Collaborators and other Islamic Fascists running rampant we must be thankful for the fact that we have Air Base Baghdad. Wouldn’t it be something today if we had not taken steps to establish this.
I f am not pleased at the fact that we are bogged down, I am pleased that we are there at all. This was a gamble. All the dice haven’t yet been thrown. I’m still on the line. I think a wider more aggresive stance in Iraq would be good right now as things have quieted down.
Is it worth it? For sure! Kurdistan no matter what will stand as a republic unto itself even if everything else fails.
So, let’s see. A free democratic Kurdistan, Air Baghdad, small gains but gains nonetheless.
All the whole deal isn’t in yet. Easy to Monday Morning Quarterback at the beginning of the season. It takes vision to get to the Superbowl no matter how last weeks game went.
If we do not grow weary by the press trying to wear us down we will reap if we do not faint.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Chicago the Magnificent City
I’m from North Dakota. I’m glad I am. Glad I grew up there. But I’m glad I live here now.
Quoting an article that is appearing in tomorrow’s Sun Times. In it the Mayor of San Francisco is describing why San Francisco must emulate what Chicago has done. Why what Mayor Daley has accomplished is so exceptional it is turning the heads of Mayors all around the country. You can read it all here, but here a few key quotes of why people come and enjoy Chicago so much:
I have lived all over the world, Far East, South America and Europe. I think these places are very beautiful. But in my opinion there is no city in the WORLD that I know of any more beautiful than Chicago is today. I’m so happy to be here.
Quoting an article that is appearing in tomorrow’s Sun Times. In it the Mayor of San Francisco is describing why San Francisco must emulate what Chicago has done. Why what Mayor Daley has accomplished is so exceptional it is turning the heads of Mayors all around the country. You can read it all here, but here a few key quotes of why people come and enjoy Chicago so much:
They're drawn not to the classic symbols of old Chicago, such as Wrigley Field or the Art Institute, but to such vivid new landmarks as Millennium Park, a 24.5-acre gathering place that attracts residents and tourists. They're captivated by the manicured streets and sidewalks that transformed once-gritty stretches of this city into urbane green paths.
"When you walk the streets of Chicago, it enlivens the spirit," Newsom said. "The intangibles are evoked. There's a spirit of pride and community."
He is describing such sights as the ornate stone railings along the Chicago River, part of the new mile-long Riverwalk Gateway that brings Chicagoans closer to the south bank of the waterway. Or Millennium Park attractions like "Cloud Gate," an enormous, bean-shaped sculpture of polished stainless steel that already is a staple of postcards.
This vitality also is leaving marks on the city's fabled skyline. Twenty-one towers taller than 50 stories are in the works, most of them for downtown's growing residential population; within two blocks of Millennium Park, five newcomers will exceed 55 stories.
"I don't think there's any similarity between the two cities as it relates to how you can govern," said former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. "San Francisco's about process, totally. In Chicago, the process begins and ends with results."
Considering the self-image of a city celebrated by poet Carl Sandburg as "proud to be alive and coarse and strong," not everyone was impressed. There also was snickering when Daley confessed to Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin that "I enjoy Martha Stewart, all her books and, uh, everything else."
But Daley didn't flinch. Now, Chicago has 73 linear miles of medians that stretch like tentacles from the city's high-profile core of the Loop and North Michigan Avenue, leading to such incongruous sights as beds of black-eyed Susans across from auto body shops and the Erotic Warehouse on West Randolph Street.
What Chicago demonstrates is the ripple effect of physical change. When promising initiatives take root -- literally, in some cases -- it raises expectations of what streets, parks and buildings should offer in terms of appearance and environmental sensitivity.
I have lived all over the world, Far East, South America and Europe. I think these places are very beautiful. But in my opinion there is no city in the WORLD that I know of any more beautiful than Chicago is today. I’m so happy to be here.
Hymnology??
Julie at LONE PRAIRIE wrote an interesting ironic article about hymnology. I think.
I was going to just comment but thought, what I have to say about all this is a bit more than a comment. Besides, this counts as a “Ping”.
I grew up in a hymn based church. Full on Lutheran. The big controversies were about which hymnal was better, red or green. I liked the old black one. It was arguing about the color of the vestments in 1917 as the Bolsheviks were at the door. Foolishness.
I got saved at 33 years old and began attending a Pentecostal Church in Fargo. I loved the old choruses. They were ditties I could sing in my quiet time in my head or under my breath. I still enjoy them. “From the rising of the sun…..”
But some things go around and come around. I attended a wonderful Sunday school class where the instructor just hauled out an old hymnbook and read the texts of the hymns and we would talk about what they meant. Some of those discussions were powerful. You can learn a great deal about theology by reading the old hymns. Now if we sing one of those hymns I get much from them. They mean something to me now.
I pity the one who sings them without apprehending the depth of meaning each word carries.
Of course there are bad hymns. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s good. I don’t revere something that is old simply of it’s antiquity. I love opera. Some old opera is banal.
Some old hymns are banal.
But the ones that are not are rich.
So now, what of today’s music in the Church? Some banal, some rich. Nothing changes.
Julie talks of the Jesus as my Boyfriend music. There is some of that. But there is a level of the genre that is Jesus as my lover that is more genuine. Same concept different depth. If Jesus Lover of my Soul is right then the Jesus as my Lover stuff is right on. Heather Clark is a rich source of this material.
Then there is new music that rips the guts out of anyone who Loves Jesus from it’s passion. I was listening to a Hillsong CD a few days ago. There is a song, More than Life, The refrain was, I love you Lord, more than LIFE. The song before that is called Take all of me. Now, that is the stuff of modern Hymnody that I’m talking about. I could want “I love you more than life” played at my funeral. That’s how rich that kind of music really is.
Music played at a communion service can be so focused that we never lose sight of twhat is happening. The old Hymnals in the past did that, today we treat the music selection so much lighter in the modern Church during Communion. Hillsong addresses this focus in the Songs for Communion CD.
There is so much really GOOD music in the mix today. And there is so much really BAD music. We have a Christian music radio station in our market. K-Love. It’s ubiquitous. I almost never listen to it. It’s dumbed down spiritually. There is another national Christian music station out of California, Air One. Hard loud rock passion. My kind of stuff. Then there is the Flagship Christian Station out of Chicago. 80% is unlistenable except for Saturday PM when they have pure praise and worship on. The rest is almost beyond the pale for me. I have heard teaching on this station that makes my spiritual skin crawl. Doubt and unbelief.
I want to hear music in my head. I hear I love you lord more than life right now. I hear Heather Clark, Take me away, I hear Misty Edwards, You were always on his mind.
I think that as the revival I believe for develops, we will begin hearing better deeper richer music. Better than bad hymns, much better than some (not all) of the Chris Tomlin tunes everybody plays in Churches today. We need better heart touching stuff. We can go deeper, we can come up higher.
And, if I have my guess right, some will be hymns. Come thou fount of every blessing touches me whenever it is done. Read the story of how Robinson drifted from the faith after writing such a wonderful hymn. Now I raise my Ebenezer.
So, let’s find the deeper places and go there. Admit to ourselves that bad church music has existed since the beginning of time. Let’s do good music. People respond to GOOD music, be it hymns or Choruses or some strong lead guitar, a hammer down drum beat, a great bass player and a Hammond B-3. Now that's hymnody.
And to Julie, a well written essay. You are in good form.
I was going to just comment but thought, what I have to say about all this is a bit more than a comment. Besides, this counts as a “Ping”.
I grew up in a hymn based church. Full on Lutheran. The big controversies were about which hymnal was better, red or green. I liked the old black one. It was arguing about the color of the vestments in 1917 as the Bolsheviks were at the door. Foolishness.
I got saved at 33 years old and began attending a Pentecostal Church in Fargo. I loved the old choruses. They were ditties I could sing in my quiet time in my head or under my breath. I still enjoy them. “From the rising of the sun…..”
But some things go around and come around. I attended a wonderful Sunday school class where the instructor just hauled out an old hymnbook and read the texts of the hymns and we would talk about what they meant. Some of those discussions were powerful. You can learn a great deal about theology by reading the old hymns. Now if we sing one of those hymns I get much from them. They mean something to me now.
I pity the one who sings them without apprehending the depth of meaning each word carries.
Of course there are bad hymns. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s good. I don’t revere something that is old simply of it’s antiquity. I love opera. Some old opera is banal.
Some old hymns are banal.
But the ones that are not are rich.
So now, what of today’s music in the Church? Some banal, some rich. Nothing changes.
Julie talks of the Jesus as my Boyfriend music. There is some of that. But there is a level of the genre that is Jesus as my lover that is more genuine. Same concept different depth. If Jesus Lover of my Soul is right then the Jesus as my Lover stuff is right on. Heather Clark is a rich source of this material.
Then there is new music that rips the guts out of anyone who Loves Jesus from it’s passion. I was listening to a Hillsong CD a few days ago. There is a song, More than Life, The refrain was, I love you Lord, more than LIFE. The song before that is called Take all of me. Now, that is the stuff of modern Hymnody that I’m talking about. I could want “I love you more than life” played at my funeral. That’s how rich that kind of music really is.
Music played at a communion service can be so focused that we never lose sight of twhat is happening. The old Hymnals in the past did that, today we treat the music selection so much lighter in the modern Church during Communion. Hillsong addresses this focus in the Songs for Communion CD.
There is so much really GOOD music in the mix today. And there is so much really BAD music. We have a Christian music radio station in our market. K-Love. It’s ubiquitous. I almost never listen to it. It’s dumbed down spiritually. There is another national Christian music station out of California, Air One. Hard loud rock passion. My kind of stuff. Then there is the Flagship Christian Station out of Chicago. 80% is unlistenable except for Saturday PM when they have pure praise and worship on. The rest is almost beyond the pale for me. I have heard teaching on this station that makes my spiritual skin crawl. Doubt and unbelief.
I want to hear music in my head. I hear I love you lord more than life right now. I hear Heather Clark, Take me away, I hear Misty Edwards, You were always on his mind.
I think that as the revival I believe for develops, we will begin hearing better deeper richer music. Better than bad hymns, much better than some (not all) of the Chris Tomlin tunes everybody plays in Churches today. We need better heart touching stuff. We can go deeper, we can come up higher.
And, if I have my guess right, some will be hymns. Come thou fount of every blessing touches me whenever it is done. Read the story of how Robinson drifted from the faith after writing such a wonderful hymn. Now I raise my Ebenezer.
So, let’s find the deeper places and go there. Admit to ourselves that bad church music has existed since the beginning of time. Let’s do good music. People respond to GOOD music, be it hymns or Choruses or some strong lead guitar, a hammer down drum beat, a great bass player and a Hammond B-3. Now that's hymnody.
And to Julie, a well written essay. You are in good form.
James Earl Carter is (Deleted really offensive word here)
I have tried to give Jimmy Carter a pass from time to time. But he is an idiot. He embarrasses himself and his country by talking out of school.
He is a classless nutcase that should be sequestered from the world.
Israel agrees too.
Update:
I wrote this in anger. An anger I have every time I see that man or hear him talk. He is the source of much of the problems we have right now in Iran. (so was Reagan with Iran Contra to be fair).
I just wish he would shut the heck up. He's embarrasing and the worst president ever in all of history, that takes a lot.
That by the way isn't just my opinon. Read these two:
Worst President in History
Jimmy Carter, Traitor and Coward
If he wasn't so old he should be imprisoned for giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Treason.
He is a classless nutcase that should be sequestered from the world.
Israel agrees too.
Update:
I wrote this in anger. An anger I have every time I see that man or hear him talk. He is the source of much of the problems we have right now in Iran. (so was Reagan with Iran Contra to be fair).
I just wish he would shut the heck up. He's embarrasing and the worst president ever in all of history, that takes a lot.
That by the way isn't just my opinon. Read these two:
Worst President in History
Jimmy Carter, Traitor and Coward
If he wasn't so old he should be imprisoned for giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Treason.
Dig out the Parka, you are gonna need it
Now, a Russian guy of Science credentials has come out and said, nope, colder not warmer.
That the whole global warming thing is about to end.
That we are about to see things get really nippy.
Just as I was getting used to global warming, I was enjoying the nice winters.
Heck.
Spoilsports.
That the whole global warming thing is about to end.
That we are about to see things get really nippy.
Just as I was getting used to global warming, I was enjoying the nice winters.
Heck.
Spoilsports.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Lois Lane Would Make a Lousy Wife, Superman
In an article from Forbes online a man in a debate format has advised men everywhere not to marry a career woman.
I don’t know for sure if he is right on or not. I will say that there is some truth in what he writes.
If you marry the gal at the office who is such a go-getter you may live to rue the day because according to the article:
Rush talked about it and said;
I think I might agree if my wife lets me.
I don’t know for sure if he is right on or not. I will say that there is some truth in what he writes.
If you marry the gal at the office who is such a go-getter you may live to rue the day because according to the article:
While everyone knows that marriage can be stressful, recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat, less likely to have children, and, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it.
Rush talked about it and said;
These are the reasons you should not marry a career woman: One, you're less likely to get married to her. She's not interested in it. Number two, if you do marry, you are more likely to get divorced if you marry a career woman. Number three, she is more likely to cheat on you if you marry a career woman. Number four, you are much less likely to have kids. That would be in my plus column. Number five, if you do have kids, your wife is more likely to be unhappy. Number six, your house will be dirtier. This is in Forbes magazine! This is the subject of a study done in 2005 by two University of Michigan scientists, concluding that if your wife has a job earning more than $15 an hour which is roughly 30 grand a year, she'll do two hours less housework a week. Number seven. If you marry a career woman, you'll be unhappy if she makes more than you do. And number eight, she'll be unhappy if she makes more than you do. And number nine, you're more likely to get sick if you marry a career woman.
I think I might agree if my wife lets me.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Jesus – a man without credentials or references
I’m not upset. I’m just a little puzzled. It’s a symptom of a wacky evangelical environment. I have again been uberquizzed about my bonifides in ministry by an organization that may want to use something I have written. There are a lot of nuts out there so I get it. But it raises a question.
While I lived in Germany I got to know Peter Pretorius. He’s famous for working with James Robinson in feeding the poor in Mozambique. He was really frustrated with the western church at that time. He was itinerating around Europe for his mission. It was going OK. But, in trying to approach the Church in America they wanted to know, what were his credentials, what degrees did he have, who was he licensed and ordained by, who would vouch for him? What references did he bring?
While sharing a McDonald’s hamburger in Frankfurt he asked me this question, “Gene, what is with all the DR’s in America. Every preacher thinks they have to have a PhD. Earned or implied”. (I guess you can buy one on the internet. Never looked.) Then he made his point, “Any Church that requires that many Doctors is Sick”.
I have little against higher education. One of my best friends has a Doctorate or two. (sounds like something from segregation days, Some of my best friends are………..)
The issue is, what is with this super credentialed, super referenced, super educated church without fire in America?
I think of some great men of God, Smith Wigglesworth could hardly read yet if I had 1/10th his anointing I could raise the dead (as he did).
And Jesus. Wow, that would be something. Never went to bible school, college, no degree, no credentials. And now that I think of it the religious establishment rejected him.
I guess things never change.
Maybe the fact that we think we need so many Doctors in the modern church in America is because we really are SICK.
While I lived in Germany I got to know Peter Pretorius. He’s famous for working with James Robinson in feeding the poor in Mozambique. He was really frustrated with the western church at that time. He was itinerating around Europe for his mission. It was going OK. But, in trying to approach the Church in America they wanted to know, what were his credentials, what degrees did he have, who was he licensed and ordained by, who would vouch for him? What references did he bring?
While sharing a McDonald’s hamburger in Frankfurt he asked me this question, “Gene, what is with all the DR’s in America. Every preacher thinks they have to have a PhD. Earned or implied”. (I guess you can buy one on the internet. Never looked.) Then he made his point, “Any Church that requires that many Doctors is Sick”.
I have little against higher education. One of my best friends has a Doctorate or two. (sounds like something from segregation days, Some of my best friends are………..)
The issue is, what is with this super credentialed, super referenced, super educated church without fire in America?
I think of some great men of God, Smith Wigglesworth could hardly read yet if I had 1/10th his anointing I could raise the dead (as he did).
And Jesus. Wow, that would be something. Never went to bible school, college, no degree, no credentials. And now that I think of it the religious establishment rejected him.
I guess things never change.
Maybe the fact that we think we need so many Doctors in the modern church in America is because we really are SICK.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Trying it One More Time
Years ago when I was in business for myself in ND I asked Peggy to come in and help me. I thought she was smart (She is) and that she would be better at the job than anyone I could hire.
The problems developed when I told her I was in charge. She’s a first born too. We both like being in charge. We both are strong personalities. That lasted 6 weeks.
It’s hard to go home and sleep with the boss. Either way that goes.
We decided then that in the interest of marital bliss we would not work together any more.
Well, ever the optimist, I have asked her once more to make the leap. We visited several nurseries in Tennessee where the wife of the nurseryman is also the office person. It works very well.
She saw that model.
She has quit the school system. She is going to be the administrative half of the nursery biz.
I have higher hopes. Neither of us apart is as good as both of us together are. This isn’t for everyone. I know that. But I think it’s time. Besides, the ability to do what I do is a long-term security blanket for anyone. You can do this till you are a hundred. If Peggy can learn it, I’ve taught her to fish rather than storing up a bunch of fish that might rot in an IRA or 401K.
Oh, we still store, but isn’t it good to know how to make money anyway.
It’s nice having her here. Egos are wonderful, when they are under control. Particularly mine.
The problems developed when I told her I was in charge. She’s a first born too. We both like being in charge. We both are strong personalities. That lasted 6 weeks.
It’s hard to go home and sleep with the boss. Either way that goes.
We decided then that in the interest of marital bliss we would not work together any more.
Well, ever the optimist, I have asked her once more to make the leap. We visited several nurseries in Tennessee where the wife of the nurseryman is also the office person. It works very well.
She saw that model.
She has quit the school system. She is going to be the administrative half of the nursery biz.
I have higher hopes. Neither of us apart is as good as both of us together are. This isn’t for everyone. I know that. But I think it’s time. Besides, the ability to do what I do is a long-term security blanket for anyone. You can do this till you are a hundred. If Peggy can learn it, I’ve taught her to fish rather than storing up a bunch of fish that might rot in an IRA or 401K.
Oh, we still store, but isn’t it good to know how to make money anyway.
It’s nice having her here. Egos are wonderful, when they are under control. Particularly mine.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Attack from the Sky by the Yellow Dogs of Summer
Today has been a most beautiful day. Clear Sky, no wind, 78 degrees, no humidity. Just the kind of day we all wish were every day.
We even sat outside and had lunch. It was as beautiful as it ever gets.
Tomorrow is the 22nd. This is a day feared by many. Drudge is all over it. Lots of prophecy buffs are predicting the end of the world tomorrow. Iran is about to nuke the world. Even Nostrodomus predicted this. So, enjoy.
I enjoyed today. If the end of the world comes tomorrow I had today.
But I want to let you know that a day early we were attacked right here in sunny St. Charles IL from the sky, a day early, lethal flying enemy. Yellow jackets. Whatever we were eating outside they enjoyed too. Who knew that ripe red tomatoes and fried summer squash was on the agenda. They did.
But, I threatened them with a can of wasp killing stuff. They disappeared for a bit, and came back with brethren.
Wasps tremble at the sound of my name (or maybe not).
We even sat outside and had lunch. It was as beautiful as it ever gets.
Tomorrow is the 22nd. This is a day feared by many. Drudge is all over it. Lots of prophecy buffs are predicting the end of the world tomorrow. Iran is about to nuke the world. Even Nostrodomus predicted this. So, enjoy.
I enjoyed today. If the end of the world comes tomorrow I had today.
But I want to let you know that a day early we were attacked right here in sunny St. Charles IL from the sky, a day early, lethal flying enemy. Yellow jackets. Whatever we were eating outside they enjoyed too. Who knew that ripe red tomatoes and fried summer squash was on the agenda. They did.
But, I threatened them with a can of wasp killing stuff. They disappeared for a bit, and came back with brethren.
Wasps tremble at the sound of my name (or maybe not).
Saturday, August 19, 2006
The Tide Rises
This week I was given a vision for the Church at large. I have many who read this blog who benefit from this kind of conversation. On the other hand if this language confuses you I suggest you skip reading this any further. This is closed circuit for Christians alone.
Last Night (Friday August 18, 2006) at the House of Prayer in Bolingbrook IL I delivered what the Lord had shown me in a vision as follows:
I imagine you can determine what most of this is. If you have spiritual ears to hear, this all is clear.
The boats all represent ministries, churches and individuals. The tide is the grace and mercy of God. The docks are traditions and denominations. The Villages and inland are worldly pursuits. The harbormaster is Jesus. The captains are spiritual leaders and pastors.
The tidal wave is human crisis. It is also the outpouring of the Spirit of God and the shaking that goes with it. It turns upside down and destroys everything that these ministries and churches trusted in.
The very leaders or ministers and churches that resisted moving out into deeper water were destroyed. The pride they had for a short time when the first high tide of grace and outpouring came in was crushed by pressure.
Let the church and those who are in leadership with ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the church right now.
The tide is high, but if you don’t get into the deep water now you will be crushed when the big wave comes.
Last Night (Friday August 18, 2006) at the House of Prayer in Bolingbrook IL I delivered what the Lord had shown me in a vision as follows:
I saw seashore. It went for miles. All along the shore were boats. Except these were boats out of water. Some were run aground. Some were tethered to docks that were out of the water. There were large and small, fancy and humble boats. This seashore surrounded a huge harbor. There were some boats, not many, in the harbor still afloat in the deeper water.
Then an exceptional high tide came in. The boats up and down the shore were set afloat. Many were in such bad repair that when the tide came they couldn’t float and stayed under water. The fact that the boats were floating on the water again was an exhilarating thing for those who captained the boats. Many stood proudly on the decks of their boats and took credit for the fact the boat was now afloat instead of giving credit to the tide that had come in.
Boats out in the harbor communicated with the boats tied to the docks and those staying close to the shore that in order to stay afloat they should come out into deeper water to be safe. The Captains of the shore and dock boats told them they had always been boats of the shore. Deep water was strange. They didn’t need deep water. The people on their boats would rather be close so they could get on and off the boat easily, going into the village and then from time to time get back on the boat.
Then a call from the Harbormaster went out. “Come out here. Cast out into the deep. It’s safe and secure in deep water. You won’t run aground again”. A few decided to take the plunge. They burned the docks they had trusted and acted on the word of the harbormaster.
Many of the boats next to the shore and tied to the docks ridiculed those in the deep water. They said, our fathers always kept the boat close to shore. We need to be in control. There became a division of boats between deep-water crews and shore crews.
Then the tide went out again. Those boats on the shore and tied to docks were once again stranded aground. As time went by they talked of the old days when the boat was afloat. How thrilling it was to rise and fall with the waves. They hoped for another tide that would let them regain flotation. Some even said that next time the tide came in they would go out into the deep water so they wouldn’t be beached again.
The harbormaster had known and had warned the shore boats. He knew this seashore was a seismic area and that the potential for tidal waves was a serious threat. One day the world shook. Everything that could be shaken was shaken. As a result a huge tidal wave swept into the harbor. Boats that were in the deep rose higher as the wave passed by. But those on the shore and at the dock were destroyed by the powerful wave. Many people perished, many were offended that the harbormaster hadn’t insisted they come out; some blamed the captains of their boats that were destroyed for bad judgment. The end result was there were no boats left on the shoreline or at the docks. They were all rubble.
The boats safe in deep water came and rescued many of the refugees from the tidal wave. They mourned over the loss of life and property but from that day on it was known to all that the only really safe place is in the deepest water. There were no people willing to board a boat that wouldn’t go away from the shore. Security under the watchful eye of the harbormaster was where they wanted to be. Some people just retreated further inland to other villages and turned their back on the boats and the harbormaster. They felt safer inland. What they didn’t know what the danger of fire would be if they stayed deep in the woods of the inland areas.
I imagine you can determine what most of this is. If you have spiritual ears to hear, this all is clear.
The boats all represent ministries, churches and individuals. The tide is the grace and mercy of God. The docks are traditions and denominations. The Villages and inland are worldly pursuits. The harbormaster is Jesus. The captains are spiritual leaders and pastors.
The tidal wave is human crisis. It is also the outpouring of the Spirit of God and the shaking that goes with it. It turns upside down and destroys everything that these ministries and churches trusted in.
The very leaders or ministers and churches that resisted moving out into deeper water were destroyed. The pride they had for a short time when the first high tide of grace and outpouring came in was crushed by pressure.
Let the church and those who are in leadership with ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the church right now.
The tide is high, but if you don’t get into the deep water now you will be crushed when the big wave comes.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Molek still Kills
I flew to and from Tennessee on business this week. No real hassles. The TSA took away my bottle of Anointing Oil from my carry on briefcase (I carry it in case I run into any sick people who need healing). When I told him what it was for, the look on his face was classic. I’ll bet he had a tale for his wife that night about this nut who… (I actually asked him if he needed healing?). Radical? Guilty as charged.
But, there were 3 events which caused me to ponder.
One was the news about the Muslim couple from Britain who had decided to put bomb material in baby bottles to blow up an airplane, themselves and their 6-month-old baby to kill us all. This really stirred me to think of an ancient god MOLEK. Molek in order to be worshipped properly needed couples to throw their babies in a fire. First born mostly.
How is that any different than some nutcase couple killing themselves and their baby in the name of whatever Islam is to them? This is Molek worship.
EVIL!
Second, while waiting at the airport and young Muslim woman needed to go to the bathroom or something. She asked if I would watch her bags for a few minutes while she did. We were leaving but someone else offered to. I’m sure she was nice. I’m sure she wasn’t a bomber. But this was not thru security. This was just inside the door of the Airport. That bag could have been full of C-4. It was a big bag. I won’t kid you, the further away I got the better I felt. Nothing happened, I’m sure she returned and all was well. But think about what that feels like for her as a scarffed Muslim woman to be looked at with suspicion. The Muslim religious fanatics have ruined it for everyone. Even for those who believe as they do.
Third, we went out for dinner before we jumped on the airplane at a nice restaurant in downtown Nashville named Demos’. We were waited on by a lovely man by the name of Dennis. Any time you go to Nashville, ask for Dennis. He was superb.
While we were eating I told my wife to look around. There in this large supper club were blacks, Hispanics, Whites, old, young, cowgirls in skimpy cowgirl outfits, and lots of hootin and hollarin. Yep, adult beverages were being drunk. People were smoking cigarettes. But everyone was happy, laughing and getting along. I said to Peggy, this is what the Islamic Fascists hate. The life of peace and joy we live here in the USA. All races all people all Americans getting along.
The left wing of our country doesn’t understand that when the fascistic turn the USA into the US Islamic Republic all that will go away.
The evil that is personified and the good that is threatened by the Islamic Fascists is a global threat that we must attack now. Later will be too late.
I believe war with Iran is inevitable. We can meet them now, or later.
What will be gained by waiting for them to hit us first?
But, there were 3 events which caused me to ponder.
One was the news about the Muslim couple from Britain who had decided to put bomb material in baby bottles to blow up an airplane, themselves and their 6-month-old baby to kill us all. This really stirred me to think of an ancient god MOLEK. Molek in order to be worshipped properly needed couples to throw their babies in a fire. First born mostly.
How is that any different than some nutcase couple killing themselves and their baby in the name of whatever Islam is to them? This is Molek worship.
EVIL!
Second, while waiting at the airport and young Muslim woman needed to go to the bathroom or something. She asked if I would watch her bags for a few minutes while she did. We were leaving but someone else offered to. I’m sure she was nice. I’m sure she wasn’t a bomber. But this was not thru security. This was just inside the door of the Airport. That bag could have been full of C-4. It was a big bag. I won’t kid you, the further away I got the better I felt. Nothing happened, I’m sure she returned and all was well. But think about what that feels like for her as a scarffed Muslim woman to be looked at with suspicion. The Muslim religious fanatics have ruined it for everyone. Even for those who believe as they do.
Third, we went out for dinner before we jumped on the airplane at a nice restaurant in downtown Nashville named Demos’. We were waited on by a lovely man by the name of Dennis. Any time you go to Nashville, ask for Dennis. He was superb.
While we were eating I told my wife to look around. There in this large supper club were blacks, Hispanics, Whites, old, young, cowgirls in skimpy cowgirl outfits, and lots of hootin and hollarin. Yep, adult beverages were being drunk. People were smoking cigarettes. But everyone was happy, laughing and getting along. I said to Peggy, this is what the Islamic Fascists hate. The life of peace and joy we live here in the USA. All races all people all Americans getting along.
The left wing of our country doesn’t understand that when the fascistic turn the USA into the US Islamic Republic all that will go away.
The evil that is personified and the good that is threatened by the Islamic Fascists is a global threat that we must attack now. Later will be too late.
I believe war with Iran is inevitable. We can meet them now, or later.
What will be gained by waiting for them to hit us first?
What a Great Vehicle
Peggy and I just returned from Tennessee on a nursery shopping trip. I looked at many thousands of trees and a good time was had by all.
When I go I fly into Nashville, rent a car and drive to the country to see trees.
This time I decided to rent a Jeep Liberty. That’s a large version of the WWII version but with a V-6.
It had 4-wheel drive. Shift in and out. Overdrive. And very high clearance.
WHAT A NEAT SUV. Not great mileage. Driving half time thru mud and ruts and half the time on roads for about 600 miles we got an average of 15 mpg. I understand on the road you can expect 20.
But this is one well engineered SUV, bigger than the RAV 4. Roomy but small enough to park in any garage. But for me, size and all and I am a big guy, I fit in it very well. Leg room was excellent. And so maneuverable.
I think there may be a Jeep Liberty in our future. I like it that much. I just hope they get the mileage up a tad. The Reviews on this SUV are fabulous. Well-done Chrysler.
Speaking of Mileage. A few weeks ago I was pontificating on the great mileage the high mileage Buick was getting. Then all at once the injectors started plugging up. I had to have them cleaned. Clean injectors cost me 4 MPG.
My theory (and I’m sticking to it) is the dirty injectors let just a tad too little fuel in and so we were running lean. Mileage great. But susceptible to dirt.
More tomorrow, it’s late and I have to work tomorrow.
When I go I fly into Nashville, rent a car and drive to the country to see trees.
This time I decided to rent a Jeep Liberty. That’s a large version of the WWII version but with a V-6.
It had 4-wheel drive. Shift in and out. Overdrive. And very high clearance.
WHAT A NEAT SUV. Not great mileage. Driving half time thru mud and ruts and half the time on roads for about 600 miles we got an average of 15 mpg. I understand on the road you can expect 20.
But this is one well engineered SUV, bigger than the RAV 4. Roomy but small enough to park in any garage. But for me, size and all and I am a big guy, I fit in it very well. Leg room was excellent. And so maneuverable.
I think there may be a Jeep Liberty in our future. I like it that much. I just hope they get the mileage up a tad. The Reviews on this SUV are fabulous. Well-done Chrysler.
Speaking of Mileage. A few weeks ago I was pontificating on the great mileage the high mileage Buick was getting. Then all at once the injectors started plugging up. I had to have them cleaned. Clean injectors cost me 4 MPG.
My theory (and I’m sticking to it) is the dirty injectors let just a tad too little fuel in and so we were running lean. Mileage great. But susceptible to dirt.
More tomorrow, it’s late and I have to work tomorrow.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Why I love the Prophetic Voice RE The Middle East
Chuck Pierce, August 14, 2006, writes TODAY--the day of the Brokered Cease-Fire between Lebanon and Israel:
In Daniel 5, as Belshazzar presumptuously moved forward in ruling his kingdom, God came down and wrote on the wall, a statement which caused him to ask for assistance from God for interpretation. His wife had him consult Daniel to interpret the meaning of the writing. Verse 9 says, "Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, his countenance was changed and his lords were astonished."
There will come a troubling moment for the present leader of Iran. Daniel spoke to the king and said, "But you, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart...."
Then Daniel interpreted the writing that was on the wall. I believe the handwriting is on the wall for this leader if he does not humble himself, and disconnect from the spirit that is empowering him to rule through destruction. He will be humbled. Iran is a nation that will be awakened to the things of God.
If changes do not come soon, this will be a nation that will be divided and the Spirit of God will rule in a new way in this land.
Chuck D. Pierce
Glory of Zion International Ministries
www.glory-of-zion.org
Kim Clement is my Favorite Prophet. I find what he says more accurate than anyone. So, Read on.
By Kim Clement
July 8, 2006--Hollywood, CA
"Rejoice, because your prayers are destroying the power and the influence that shall be endeavored, and be sent to the L.A. Airport of this place," says the Lord. For God says, "They are planning already, for they say, 'It is an easy target. It is easy access. They are cleaning it up.'"
But the L.A.X. Airport, and God said, "Those surrounding regions have been targeted with something very stupid, because they do not understand that the saints of the Most High God have been praying." And because they've been praying, God says, "I will once again take them and expose them as I did in Florida. I will expose them on the West Coast, and I will expose them over and over through the summer months as I promised you."
"I told you before, this prophet prophesied just a few months ago that come summer, I will expose, I will bring your enemies out from the very soil of this Nation and you have watched how I have done it. Ho, I am not finished yet," says the Lord. "If you would allow Me, and as your President has said to Me in his private moments, 'God Your will be done.'"
And surely says the Lord, "When the head of a Nation says, 'Your will be done,' then the Nation says, 'Your will be done.'" For surely God says, "My will shall be done through the summer months. I will multiply the vision of the Secret Service and the FBI, and I will cause My Spirit to come upon them so that they will expose, expose, expose."
July 16, 2006--Humble, TX
"I will save you from another war. I will save you from another war," says the Lord.
Syria, who do you think you are? You will not rise against the Lion. Listen to what God says, "Iran, you will not rise against this Nation or the Lion." (Lion referring to Great Britain.)
"Your enemies will come out, and they will bite the dust because of My light. I will send My light, I'm going to send My light to this Nation," says the Spirit of the living God.
July 29, 2006--Detroit, MI
God says, "A lion will roar. A lion will roar from Great Britain. Something shall change, a drastic thing shall happen. And greater shall be the unity of the nations that shall gather around and say that it must be brought to an end now. This is the summer, the one that I promised."
July 30, 2006--Detroit, MI
The Spirit of God says, "Do not take it lightly what you have heard tonight. For you shall watch and you will see in the news. How many times have they said, "It is impossible. This war is too much?'"
But God says, "Watch in these next few days what I do. Iran, Iran, watch now, watch now for you are going to be brought down to Hades. This will not be allowed, for the Spirit will take that which exalts itself."
God says, "They cry out, the blood of the innocent. It is the blood of the innocent in a war, but I will take the lofty ones and bring them down to certain deaths." God says, "Let this be a sign that I will bring the Middle East to a place of understanding of Messiah. I will bring them to that place. There is only one Prince of Peace. There is only one Prince of Peace. Shalom."
"I want you to understand Jerusalem. It shall come to pass that once again peace shall come in for a season as Christ is made known," says the Lord!
By Kim Clement
Prophetic Image Expressions
www.kimclement.com
If this is all weird to you. OK. Just hang in there, you get used to getting tomorrow's headlines today.
I did.
In Daniel 5, as Belshazzar presumptuously moved forward in ruling his kingdom, God came down and wrote on the wall, a statement which caused him to ask for assistance from God for interpretation. His wife had him consult Daniel to interpret the meaning of the writing. Verse 9 says, "Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, his countenance was changed and his lords were astonished."
There will come a troubling moment for the present leader of Iran. Daniel spoke to the king and said, "But you, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart...."
Then Daniel interpreted the writing that was on the wall. I believe the handwriting is on the wall for this leader if he does not humble himself, and disconnect from the spirit that is empowering him to rule through destruction. He will be humbled. Iran is a nation that will be awakened to the things of God.
If changes do not come soon, this will be a nation that will be divided and the Spirit of God will rule in a new way in this land.
Chuck D. Pierce
Glory of Zion International Ministries
www.glory-of-zion.org
Kim Clement is my Favorite Prophet. I find what he says more accurate than anyone. So, Read on.
By Kim Clement
July 8, 2006--Hollywood, CA
"Rejoice, because your prayers are destroying the power and the influence that shall be endeavored, and be sent to the L.A. Airport of this place," says the Lord. For God says, "They are planning already, for they say, 'It is an easy target. It is easy access. They are cleaning it up.'"
But the L.A.X. Airport, and God said, "Those surrounding regions have been targeted with something very stupid, because they do not understand that the saints of the Most High God have been praying." And because they've been praying, God says, "I will once again take them and expose them as I did in Florida. I will expose them on the West Coast, and I will expose them over and over through the summer months as I promised you."
"I told you before, this prophet prophesied just a few months ago that come summer, I will expose, I will bring your enemies out from the very soil of this Nation and you have watched how I have done it. Ho, I am not finished yet," says the Lord. "If you would allow Me, and as your President has said to Me in his private moments, 'God Your will be done.'"
And surely says the Lord, "When the head of a Nation says, 'Your will be done,' then the Nation says, 'Your will be done.'" For surely God says, "My will shall be done through the summer months. I will multiply the vision of the Secret Service and the FBI, and I will cause My Spirit to come upon them so that they will expose, expose, expose."
July 16, 2006--Humble, TX
"I will save you from another war. I will save you from another war," says the Lord.
Syria, who do you think you are? You will not rise against the Lion. Listen to what God says, "Iran, you will not rise against this Nation or the Lion." (Lion referring to Great Britain.)
"Your enemies will come out, and they will bite the dust because of My light. I will send My light, I'm going to send My light to this Nation," says the Spirit of the living God.
July 29, 2006--Detroit, MI
God says, "A lion will roar. A lion will roar from Great Britain. Something shall change, a drastic thing shall happen. And greater shall be the unity of the nations that shall gather around and say that it must be brought to an end now. This is the summer, the one that I promised."
July 30, 2006--Detroit, MI
The Spirit of God says, "Do not take it lightly what you have heard tonight. For you shall watch and you will see in the news. How many times have they said, "It is impossible. This war is too much?'"
But God says, "Watch in these next few days what I do. Iran, Iran, watch now, watch now for you are going to be brought down to Hades. This will not be allowed, for the Spirit will take that which exalts itself."
God says, "They cry out, the blood of the innocent. It is the blood of the innocent in a war, but I will take the lofty ones and bring them down to certain deaths." God says, "Let this be a sign that I will bring the Middle East to a place of understanding of Messiah. I will bring them to that place. There is only one Prince of Peace. There is only one Prince of Peace. Shalom."
"I want you to understand Jerusalem. It shall come to pass that once again peace shall come in for a season as Christ is made known," says the Lord!
By Kim Clement
Prophetic Image Expressions
www.kimclement.com
If this is all weird to you. OK. Just hang in there, you get used to getting tomorrow's headlines today.
I did.
Off to Relationshipville
Peggy and I are going out of town. Business trip. Gone till Friday.
Sole purpose is restoring and building relationships. Nothing else. My business (Nursery) is 100% relationship. In fact everything we have or do in life is relationship. My next breakthrough may well come from the person I share a happy meal with at McDonalds. They know people I don’t. They are a bridge. They can help me and I can help them touch the next person etc.
I wish I had learned this earlier. I didn’t. Now I do.
SO, see you Friday.
Sole purpose is restoring and building relationships. Nothing else. My business (Nursery) is 100% relationship. In fact everything we have or do in life is relationship. My next breakthrough may well come from the person I share a happy meal with at McDonalds. They know people I don’t. They are a bridge. They can help me and I can help them touch the next person etc.
I wish I had learned this earlier. I didn’t. Now I do.
SO, see you Friday.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Lost Vision
"Some men see things as they are and say why - I dream things that never were and say why not."
Most people think John F Kennedy created this. Nope. George Bernard Shaw is the origional author. Kennedy was just a good deliverer of someone elses words. But they are still good words.
Vision will drive a person for better or worse. The vision of the Islamic Fascists of world domination drives terrorism. If their vision succeeds I’ll need to buy a rug. I didn’t want to become a Muslim. Thank you UN, Ohlmert and Liberal Media for pushing our administration until at last Hezbollah Declares Victory. The free world has Lost the Vision.
I have been a staunch admirer of George W Bush because of his vision of Liberty and freedom. This is rare. He is wavering. The liberal media drip drip drip is neutering his vision.
That’s how all vision is destroyed. Public opinion. Eventually the person with a vision is driven back because he or she wants to be popular or well liked. I am of the opinion that wanting to get along is a the heart of liberal thinking. I know reasonable people who try hard not to have opinions in order to not offend anyone. The lie is being neutral or unopinoinated makes you popular. No it makes you inert.
The worst part of having vision is it alienates others. Vision that could be implemented means change. People hate change.
So, what are the options? To have no Vision? That is selling your soul. Vision is driven by the internal engine of creative discontent. Looking at the world around you and asking why do we do it this way? Looking into the future and asking why not? Why not us, why not here, why not now?
The problem vision carriers must deal with are people who say, “What’s wrong with things the way they are”? They refuse to question things. They resist the call to improvement. The vision carrier has to help them see what it could be like if thinks were not as they are and more as they could be. If many start to capture this vision things will change. If the vision killers win then nothing change and we stay stuck which ultimately means we drift slowly away. Supplanted by someone else's vision. Vision will always dominate, ours or someone elses. There is no happy medium.
The good news for conservatives is that liberals have no vision. They are only against everything. But, conservatives lack enough testicular fortitude to stay the course in the face of constant opposition. They need to get the vision back. Like they did in 1994.
This has been the problem with President Bush. He sees it. I see it. But most liberals, because they hate him so much, can’t see what he sees. I wish they could grasp the vision. He sees liberty planted in the navel of the world. Liberty that will spread into the rest of the Muslim World. The Liberal Media and the State Department have pressured him to back off from the vision. So, we drift into oblivion and inert life because of a lack of vision.
People perish because of a lack of vision. That’s in the Bible.
But, even it alienates every person I know, even if I bat against the wind for the rest of my life, I’m going to agree with Shaw and Kennedy.
"Some men see things as they are and say why - I dream things that never were and say why not."
Anything less is living death.
Most people think John F Kennedy created this. Nope. George Bernard Shaw is the origional author. Kennedy was just a good deliverer of someone elses words. But they are still good words.
Vision will drive a person for better or worse. The vision of the Islamic Fascists of world domination drives terrorism. If their vision succeeds I’ll need to buy a rug. I didn’t want to become a Muslim. Thank you UN, Ohlmert and Liberal Media for pushing our administration until at last Hezbollah Declares Victory. The free world has Lost the Vision.
I have been a staunch admirer of George W Bush because of his vision of Liberty and freedom. This is rare. He is wavering. The liberal media drip drip drip is neutering his vision.
That’s how all vision is destroyed. Public opinion. Eventually the person with a vision is driven back because he or she wants to be popular or well liked. I am of the opinion that wanting to get along is a the heart of liberal thinking. I know reasonable people who try hard not to have opinions in order to not offend anyone. The lie is being neutral or unopinoinated makes you popular. No it makes you inert.
The worst part of having vision is it alienates others. Vision that could be implemented means change. People hate change.
So, what are the options? To have no Vision? That is selling your soul. Vision is driven by the internal engine of creative discontent. Looking at the world around you and asking why do we do it this way? Looking into the future and asking why not? Why not us, why not here, why not now?
The problem vision carriers must deal with are people who say, “What’s wrong with things the way they are”? They refuse to question things. They resist the call to improvement. The vision carrier has to help them see what it could be like if thinks were not as they are and more as they could be. If many start to capture this vision things will change. If the vision killers win then nothing change and we stay stuck which ultimately means we drift slowly away. Supplanted by someone else's vision. Vision will always dominate, ours or someone elses. There is no happy medium.
The good news for conservatives is that liberals have no vision. They are only against everything. But, conservatives lack enough testicular fortitude to stay the course in the face of constant opposition. They need to get the vision back. Like they did in 1994.
This has been the problem with President Bush. He sees it. I see it. But most liberals, because they hate him so much, can’t see what he sees. I wish they could grasp the vision. He sees liberty planted in the navel of the world. Liberty that will spread into the rest of the Muslim World. The Liberal Media and the State Department have pressured him to back off from the vision. So, we drift into oblivion and inert life because of a lack of vision.
People perish because of a lack of vision. That’s in the Bible.
But, even it alienates every person I know, even if I bat against the wind for the rest of my life, I’m going to agree with Shaw and Kennedy.
"Some men see things as they are and say why - I dream things that never were and say why not."
Anything less is living death.
Islam is the problem.
Here goes one of the most politically incorrect thing I can say. There is no such thing as moderate Islam. Tooth Fairy. Santa Claus. Same deal..
Evidence?
The response of the "Moderate Muslim" population to the terror plot in the UK:
"The moderate Muslims' message, gives some comfort to the kind of people who say: 'Change your foreign policy or we'll blow you up'."
Until the culture of Islamic World Domination by use of force is crushed as the driving force of Islam there will be no stop to terrorism,
Evil. Pure Evil.
Book of Revelation stuff.
Evidence?
The response of the "Moderate Muslim" population to the terror plot in the UK:
"The moderate Muslims' message, gives some comfort to the kind of people who say: 'Change your foreign policy or we'll blow you up'."
Until the culture of Islamic World Domination by use of force is crushed as the driving force of Islam there will be no stop to terrorism,
Evil. Pure Evil.
Book of Revelation stuff.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Perspective on Time and the USA
Recently I was in Philadelphia PA and visited the site where the Liberty Bell is and the Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed.
It’s a very old place and yet very young. Thinking this all over and thinking about world events the reality dawned on me. We are a very young country.
MY FATHER, was born in 1909. There were many people alive when he was born who were contemporaries of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, signers of the declaration and framers of the constitution. They died in 1826 on July 4th.
That in the scope of human time is a blink. Yet, here we are, without a doubt the greatest country in the world that has ever existed, a dreamchild of men of a few years ago.
So as we think of things happening in Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, or anywhere else and the time they have been in motion we are a bright burning but not yet long lasting flame.
What we have is precious; preserve it with all your might.
It’s a very old place and yet very young. Thinking this all over and thinking about world events the reality dawned on me. We are a very young country.
MY FATHER, was born in 1909. There were many people alive when he was born who were contemporaries of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, signers of the declaration and framers of the constitution. They died in 1826 on July 4th.
That in the scope of human time is a blink. Yet, here we are, without a doubt the greatest country in the world that has ever existed, a dreamchild of men of a few years ago.
So as we think of things happening in Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, or anywhere else and the time they have been in motion we are a bright burning but not yet long lasting flame.
What we have is precious; preserve it with all your might.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
End of World Update
50 years ago I would have had to worn a sandwich board and walked up and down the street.
I just blog now.
According to a British professor Iran is going to bomb Israel off the map on August 22. That's the date the President nutcase of Iran said he would answer the question about nuclear weapons in Iran. It's also a holy date in Islam.
So, read the article. Run up your credit cards. Buy that big screen plasma TV and order the rapid delivery option. You can watch the end of the world from your easy chair. 12 shopping days left till the end of the world.
Have a nice day.
I just blog now.
According to a British professor Iran is going to bomb Israel off the map on August 22. That's the date the President nutcase of Iran said he would answer the question about nuclear weapons in Iran. It's also a holy date in Islam.
So, read the article. Run up your credit cards. Buy that big screen plasma TV and order the rapid delivery option. You can watch the end of the world from your easy chair. 12 shopping days left till the end of the world.
Have a nice day.
Understanding Radical Islam
Takes one to know one they say. I’ll go with that.
I am a radical Christian. I believe the world would be a much better place if everyone were like me. I believe the world is filled with evil bad immoral people. I wish others would see the light. I wish they would stop engaging in behavior that hurts themselves and others.
I do all I am able to do within my earthly power to convince all people at all times that being a Christian is a better way to live. I have learned that arguing the fine points of theology with people that have no comprehension of the Bible (even if they have read it) is a hopeless quest.
So, I live my life, out in the open, trying to attract people to my way of thinking.
If I had my way I would see to it that prayer would be in schools, Jesus worshipped in the public square and our flag symbolically over struck with the Cross of Christ announcing to the world that to be an American is to be a Christian. I would have that flag raised above the White House, the Capital Building and every public building in the land.
I would want the 10 commandments as the law of the land and all laws must rise out of them. The Bible would be taught in schools as part of the curricula. I wish all that could happen.
I know it’s not. Wishing and hoping doesn’t make it so. I’m not going to bomb, march, attack, car bomb, blow up airplanes, or do anything of the type. I know we have laws about these things and although I don’t agree with them all I understand and I live in this country carrying a passport of the Kingdom of God. I’m in that way a resident alien. My allegiance is to Jesus first; To my country second.
I think everyone should live like this.
Now, if you transpose all of what I just said to the Islamic religion and then allow for the implementation of the dream of an Islamic World with people willing to kill themselves and others for the cause because of some false hope of heaven you have a better understanding of the mentality of the Islamic radical fundamentalist.
He believes of Islam:
The difference is there are very few recorded cases of Christians blowing themselves or anyone else up. They are not hanging little girls. They are not trying to blow up airplanes. They are not waging war on America, Israel, the UK, or Spain.
The Islamic Fundamentalist is led by Clerics who indoctrinate them with a belief that if they devote themselves to bringing about this new world domination of Islam somehow the world will be so much better a place that their children and grandchildren will live under a global ordered pure society without sin, without evil, and that Sharia law will be the law of the land. It will be safe and they will rule and reign as Caliphs.
So they fight and die for this utopia in the absolute belief they are winning. These nuts who tried to blow up airplanes in Britain today wear Armani Suits, work in the financial district, were born and raised in Britain, speak with a British accent, and at night go home, put on their Muslim outfits, face Mecca and pray for the day when the whole world by conversion or at the point of the gun and bomb will be just like them. They are not assimilated into society.
They are in America too. The men just discovered from Detroit area with $11,000 for support of Hezbollah are among us. Not immigrants, unassimilated Muslims.
They will be hard to get rid of. We must not let them win. They will kill or convert us all.
The worst is the left doesn’t get it. They think this is some equivalent of Christianity. We fundamentalist radicals are all the same. That lukewarm passive paganism is the answer. They don’t understand that people like those who elected Lamont in Connecticut are useful idiots for the disciples of world domination that is ISLAM. Being against the fight against radical Islam is unpatriotic at least and treasonous at worst.
I know what it means to be a radical fundamentalist. I understand them. They are very dangerous. They will settle for nothing less than killing or converting you. They are intent on taking over the whole world.
And the left just puts their head in a 5 gallon bucket and goes la la la la la la la la in the hopes it will all go away.
It’s not going away. We either face them here or over there. You have zero choice in the matter.
I am a radical Christian. I believe the world would be a much better place if everyone were like me. I believe the world is filled with evil bad immoral people. I wish others would see the light. I wish they would stop engaging in behavior that hurts themselves and others.
I do all I am able to do within my earthly power to convince all people at all times that being a Christian is a better way to live. I have learned that arguing the fine points of theology with people that have no comprehension of the Bible (even if they have read it) is a hopeless quest.
So, I live my life, out in the open, trying to attract people to my way of thinking.
If I had my way I would see to it that prayer would be in schools, Jesus worshipped in the public square and our flag symbolically over struck with the Cross of Christ announcing to the world that to be an American is to be a Christian. I would have that flag raised above the White House, the Capital Building and every public building in the land.
I would want the 10 commandments as the law of the land and all laws must rise out of them. The Bible would be taught in schools as part of the curricula. I wish all that could happen.
I know it’s not. Wishing and hoping doesn’t make it so. I’m not going to bomb, march, attack, car bomb, blow up airplanes, or do anything of the type. I know we have laws about these things and although I don’t agree with them all I understand and I live in this country carrying a passport of the Kingdom of God. I’m in that way a resident alien. My allegiance is to Jesus first; To my country second.
I think everyone should live like this.
Now, if you transpose all of what I just said to the Islamic religion and then allow for the implementation of the dream of an Islamic World with people willing to kill themselves and others for the cause because of some false hope of heaven you have a better understanding of the mentality of the Islamic radical fundamentalist.
He believes of Islam:
- His laws should be the law of the land
- His flag should fly above #10 Downing Street and the White House
- That his Holy Book should be taught in Schools
- That time should be set-aside for Prayer in the Public Forum
- Everyone who is not a Muslim should convert or die (My belief is they will die, twice, once naturally, once eternally, the second death, I just don’t think they should or have to)
- His Allegiance is to no flag, no country, he is a soldier of Allah
- He believes the west is immoral, decadent and unworthy of living
- He will not argue the Koran, you are ignorant if you disagree and should be killed.
- He believes the Jews are a key part of this whole issue
The difference is there are very few recorded cases of Christians blowing themselves or anyone else up. They are not hanging little girls. They are not trying to blow up airplanes. They are not waging war on America, Israel, the UK, or Spain.
The Islamic Fundamentalist is led by Clerics who indoctrinate them with a belief that if they devote themselves to bringing about this new world domination of Islam somehow the world will be so much better a place that their children and grandchildren will live under a global ordered pure society without sin, without evil, and that Sharia law will be the law of the land. It will be safe and they will rule and reign as Caliphs.
So they fight and die for this utopia in the absolute belief they are winning. These nuts who tried to blow up airplanes in Britain today wear Armani Suits, work in the financial district, were born and raised in Britain, speak with a British accent, and at night go home, put on their Muslim outfits, face Mecca and pray for the day when the whole world by conversion or at the point of the gun and bomb will be just like them. They are not assimilated into society.
They are in America too. The men just discovered from Detroit area with $11,000 for support of Hezbollah are among us. Not immigrants, unassimilated Muslims.
They will be hard to get rid of. We must not let them win. They will kill or convert us all.
The worst is the left doesn’t get it. They think this is some equivalent of Christianity. We fundamentalist radicals are all the same. That lukewarm passive paganism is the answer. They don’t understand that people like those who elected Lamont in Connecticut are useful idiots for the disciples of world domination that is ISLAM. Being against the fight against radical Islam is unpatriotic at least and treasonous at worst.
I know what it means to be a radical fundamentalist. I understand them. They are very dangerous. They will settle for nothing less than killing or converting you. They are intent on taking over the whole world.
And the left just puts their head in a 5 gallon bucket and goes la la la la la la la la in the hopes it will all go away.
It’s not going away. We either face them here or over there. You have zero choice in the matter.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
New Nazis
As a Christian Conservative I often am lambasted for what I believe.
It’s like the pagan left (not all are pagan) wants to rewrite the Bible to take out all the really hard parts about sin, Jesus and stuff.
Well, they are too late. Adolph Hitler beat them to it 65 years ago. He rewrote the bible and specifically rewrote the 10 commandments. He actually ended up with 12. You can read the whole thing here.
Here are der Fuehrer’s 12 commandments from the Nazi Bible:
Now, if you look at these they all except numbers 8, 9 & 11 seem pretty harmless. Even a little familiar. I mean think of some of the left wing platitudes you see written. They sort of skirt sin and are all about taking care of yourself and caring for others. Not much about loving and serving God. God in Hitler’s context was pretty much HIM.
A lefty will immediately quote "let he who is without sin ----Cast the first stone". They have lots of weak badly interpreted bible verses that means for the most part opposite of what they are saying.
Is Hitler’s spirit alive and well in the Left Wing of our country?
Just asking.
It’s like the pagan left (not all are pagan) wants to rewrite the Bible to take out all the really hard parts about sin, Jesus and stuff.
Well, they are too late. Adolph Hitler beat them to it 65 years ago. He rewrote the bible and specifically rewrote the 10 commandments. He actually ended up with 12. You can read the whole thing here.
Here are der Fuehrer’s 12 commandments from the Nazi Bible:
- Honour God and believe in him wholeheartedly.
- Seek out the peace of God.
- Avoid all hypocrisy.
- Holy is your health and life!
- Holy is your wellbeing and honour!
- Holy is your truth and fidelity!
- Honour your father and mother – your children are your aid and your example.
- Keep the blood pure and your honour holy!
- Maintain and multiply the heritage of your forefathers.
- Always be ready to help and to forgive.
- Honour your Fuehrer and master!
- Joyously serve the people with work and sacrifice.
Now, if you look at these they all except numbers 8, 9 & 11 seem pretty harmless. Even a little familiar. I mean think of some of the left wing platitudes you see written. They sort of skirt sin and are all about taking care of yourself and caring for others. Not much about loving and serving God. God in Hitler’s context was pretty much HIM.
A lefty will immediately quote "let he who is without sin ----Cast the first stone". They have lots of weak badly interpreted bible verses that means for the most part opposite of what they are saying.
Is Hitler’s spirit alive and well in the Left Wing of our country?
Just asking.
Why I have SO MANY Left Wing Friends
This is a conundrum. I certainly have a lot of right wing people in my life, but they are of the ilk to say, “Yep, you are so right Gene, Absolutely”. I stole that, attribution here. You'll understand in a minute.
That’s fun for a while. But soon I look forward to some confrontation and argument. You remember the Monty Python skit, Eric Idle comes to John Cleese’s office and pays for an argument. Cleese just counters what he says. No arguments whatsoever. Idle argues that the arguments he paid for are not arguments. Hilarity ensues. Well that’s what’s missing in the righty on righty discussions I have. We all hate liberals. Commies. Whackos. Etc. You get the drift. 5 minutes of that and we’re done.
Sometimes when I have engaged controversy with online acquaintances that I might have otherwise agreed with 100% with a slightly differing opinion I am rewarded with anger, disdain or avoidance. I am suspect for having an open mind or a non party line opinion. Like my view on Wal-Mart. Or some of my “Religious” views. I am not all that orthodox in some areas. That appears to be a no no with some of my conservative brethren.
So, I have befriended several lefty people. I genuinely like them. Some I have never met. I just enjoy the give and take of intellectual intercourse. (That is the proper English use of that term for those of you that are shocked). Some left wing friends are less intellectual than others.
One liberal man who I have never met is a favorite of mine. Reality Based Bob. RBB. He comments often on Say Anything. He is always witty and able to execute an argument better than most anyone. I said to him the other day he would be someone who I think I would have enjoyed getting to know better. But he lives somewhere in California and I live in the great state of Illinois. I have encouraged him to start blogging or becoming a submitter to Say Anything.
RBB is as polar opposite to me in political and spiritual thinking as anyone could be. But he is great fun, clever and whenever I see his gravataar I always read his comments.
Today he commented on this blog. He said:
Comments:
What’s going on with you Gene…all these manly man posts?
Is that durn wife makin ya wear matching sweaters again?
Oh that just burns me up too.
# posted by RBB : 6:26 PM
The answer is I used this in a men’s group meeting in Church last Saturday as an opening. I wrote it all myself and was highly amused by it. It was meant to lighten up the open and set the tone. I don’t thing anyone other than RBB ever actually TOOK the test. I just got to use my joke about taking someone bear hunting and if they got one, next time I would give them a weapon. But, RBB, with a 47 you needs to become a pirate. Arrgh!
IF the truth were known, I have a rich internal life. I tell myself a joke and become my own best audience. And I enjoy what I write. I blog for ME. It’s a journal of sorts of what I’m thinking and feeling and reacting to in my life. Read my blog and you know me. For better or worse.
RBB and all my other liberal friends, now you know why I like you and hope you don’t go away. Oh, that doesn’t mean I won’t try hard to bring you back from the precipice of destruction and away from the dark side. Then you’ll become conservative and then I’ll have to find other liberal friends.
Nice to know you have a purpose in life isn’t it.
That’s fun for a while. But soon I look forward to some confrontation and argument. You remember the Monty Python skit, Eric Idle comes to John Cleese’s office and pays for an argument. Cleese just counters what he says. No arguments whatsoever. Idle argues that the arguments he paid for are not arguments. Hilarity ensues. Well that’s what’s missing in the righty on righty discussions I have. We all hate liberals. Commies. Whackos. Etc. You get the drift. 5 minutes of that and we’re done.
Sometimes when I have engaged controversy with online acquaintances that I might have otherwise agreed with 100% with a slightly differing opinion I am rewarded with anger, disdain or avoidance. I am suspect for having an open mind or a non party line opinion. Like my view on Wal-Mart. Or some of my “Religious” views. I am not all that orthodox in some areas. That appears to be a no no with some of my conservative brethren.
So, I have befriended several lefty people. I genuinely like them. Some I have never met. I just enjoy the give and take of intellectual intercourse. (That is the proper English use of that term for those of you that are shocked). Some left wing friends are less intellectual than others.
One liberal man who I have never met is a favorite of mine. Reality Based Bob. RBB. He comments often on Say Anything. He is always witty and able to execute an argument better than most anyone. I said to him the other day he would be someone who I think I would have enjoyed getting to know better. But he lives somewhere in California and I live in the great state of Illinois. I have encouraged him to start blogging or becoming a submitter to Say Anything.
RBB is as polar opposite to me in political and spiritual thinking as anyone could be. But he is great fun, clever and whenever I see his gravataar I always read his comments.
Today he commented on this blog. He said:
Comments:
What’s going on with you Gene…all these manly man posts?
Is that durn wife makin ya wear matching sweaters again?
Oh that just burns me up too.
# posted by RBB : 6:26 PM
The answer is I used this in a men’s group meeting in Church last Saturday as an opening. I wrote it all myself and was highly amused by it. It was meant to lighten up the open and set the tone. I don’t thing anyone other than RBB ever actually TOOK the test. I just got to use my joke about taking someone bear hunting and if they got one, next time I would give them a weapon. But, RBB, with a 47 you needs to become a pirate. Arrgh!
IF the truth were known, I have a rich internal life. I tell myself a joke and become my own best audience. And I enjoy what I write. I blog for ME. It’s a journal of sorts of what I’m thinking and feeling and reacting to in my life. Read my blog and you know me. For better or worse.
RBB and all my other liberal friends, now you know why I like you and hope you don’t go away. Oh, that doesn’t mean I won’t try hard to bring you back from the precipice of destruction and away from the dark side. Then you’ll become conservative and then I’ll have to find other liberal friends.
Nice to know you have a purpose in life isn’t it.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Sharia Law Hangs Teenage Girl for Being Raped
Just in case some of you who read this thinks that the battle against Islamic Fascism is not worth the battle, read this story. Then ask yourself this question, when the Mullahs come for you will you be ready to submit to Mullah Law. Or your Children or your Grandchildren.
This Global War on Terrorism no matter if you like it or not, no matter if you support it or not, no matter if you support Israel or not, this is about you and yours. And I thank God that George Bush is willing to take the slings and arrows to save you're sorry behind if you don't support him in this.
This is evil personified and we must crush and kill them. You must not sanction this by hiding under the covers. The liberal treasonous traitors and cowards in the media aren't about Cut and Run any more. They aren't about planned withdrawal; they are now in full run and hide from the bad guy mode.
Cowards.
Well, I for one want none of this evil on our shores, and I'm not crazy about it over there either.
Iran: Hanged from a crane aged 16
Sunday, 23 July 2006
EXCLUSIVE JUSTICE IRAN STYLE: SICK GIRL EXECUTED BY JUDGE SHE DEFIED
Her crime? She had sex with an unmarried man
By Susie Boniface
The Sunday Mirror - It was exactly 6am and the start of another blisteringly hot summer day when 16-year-old Atefeh Rajabi was dragged from her prison cell and taken to be executed.
Every step of the way the troubled teenager plagued by mental problems shouted "repentance, repentance" as the militiamen marched her to the town's Railway Square.
The Iranian judge who had sentenced Atefeh to death was left unmoved as he personally put the noose around her neck (look at the link with theses pictures to get a flavor for what this is) and signalled to the crane driver.
Kicking and screaming, Atefeh was left dangling for 45 minutes from the arm of the crane as the crowd sobbed and - under their breath - damned the mullahs.
Atefeh's crime? Offending public morality. She was found guilty of "acts incompatible with chastity" by having sex with an unmarried man, even though friends say Atefeh was in such a fragile mental state that she wasn't in a position to say no.
But Judge Haji Rezaii was determined she should hang, regardless of the rules of international law which say only adults over 18 can be executed, and that the courts have a duty to children and the mentally ill.
The brutal end to Atefeh's short life has shone a new light on Iran's Shariah law, where adultery, theft and rape all carry the same punishment - death. Officially around 100 people - some just children like Atefeh - are executed each year. But human rights groups say the true figure could be much higher in a country where only half of the women can read, only one in 10 have a job and two-thirds are beaten in their homes.
Life was never easy for Atefeh, who was brought up in the industrial town of Neka, 250 miles from Tehran and close to the Caspian Sea. Her mother died when she was a child and her father Ghasseem, a heroin addict, left her grandparents to bring her up. She suffered from bi-polar disorder, which led to severe mood swings from hyperactivity to depression. Worried parents told their children to stay away from her - something many regret now. "Perhaps we should have helped her instead," said Hamid. "I think the death of her mother had a devastating effect. Before that, she was a normal girl. Her mother was everything to her. After she died, there was no one to look after her."
Mina, a childhood friend, said Atefeh was abused by a close relative. "She never dared talk about it with an adult," said Mina. "If she had told her teacher they'd have called her a whore. Tell the police? They lock you up and rape you." Atefeh first appeared in court, accused of having sex with an unmarried man at 14. Over the next two years she was accused of the same crime with different men.
They denied it and were sentenced to the lash and then released. But Atefeh pleaded guilty and each time received 100 lashes and a prison term. Mina said: "Atefeh sometimes talked about what these 'moral' Islamic policemen did to her while she was in jail. She still had nightmares about that. Atefeh said her mood swings made it easy for men to take advantage of her, and that most of her lovers were in the security force."
Two of them were members of the anti-vice militia. They encouraged other men to sign statements saying Atefeh had engaged in vice, and even claimed she had AIDS.
It was when Atefeh appeared before Judge Rezaii for a fourth time that she lost her temper - and also her life. In a rage she tore off her hi jab - a headscarf - and told the judge she had been raped and it was his duty to punish her tormentors, not their victim.
Rezaii told her she would hang for her "sharp tongue" and that he would put the noose around her neck himself. It became a personal crusade as he travelled to Tehran and convinced the Supreme Court to uphold his verdict.
Two petitions by her friends, saying she was mentally unwell, were ignored. Her father produced her birth certificate proving she was 16. Yet the judges "decreed" she was 22.
Atefeh also wrote to the Supreme Court: "There are medical documents that prove I have a weak nerve and soul. In some minutes of the day and night I lose my sanity. In a society where an insane person can be serially raped it is no wonder that a person like me is the victim of such an ugly act."
The day before she died she wrote again, saying: "Repentance, repentance, repentance." In Iranian law anyone who shows remorse has an automatic stay of execution and a right to appeal, but she was ignored.
A local pharmacist watched Atefeh's execution on August 15, 2004. "She looked so young standing there," he said. "Rezaii must have felt a personal grudge against her. He put the rope around her neck himself. I looked around and everyone in the crowd was sobbing and damning the mullahs." The family's lawyer has now filed a suit of wrongful execution against the judge and is preparing a murder case. Her life is also the subject of a secretly filmed documentary, Execution of a Teenage Girl, which will be screened on BBC2 on Thursday.
One of Atefeh's teachers said the authorities wanted to make an example of her: "She wouldn't take injustice from anyone, but the mullahs equate these qualities in a girl to prostitution and evil. They wanted to give all the girls and women a lesson."
Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said: "The killing of Atefeh is a catalogue of the most appalling human rights violations. The public hanging of a child, believed to be mentally incompetent, totally beggars belief. To hang a child flies in the face of all that is humane."
CRUELTY OF SHARIA LAW
PENALTIES imposed by Iran's religious mullahs include:
THEFT: Amputation of hands or feet for persistent offenders.
ADULTERY: Death by stoning.
UNMARRIED SEX: 100 lashes.
CONVERSION TO RELIGION OTHER THAN ISLAM: Death.
SODOMY: Death for adults, 74 lashes for consenting child.
LESBIANISM: 100 lashes, or on the fourth occasion death.
HOMOSEXUAL KISS: 60 lashes.
RUBBING ANOTHER MAN'S THIGHS OR BUTTOCKS: 99 lashes - on 4th occasion, death.
This Global War on Terrorism no matter if you like it or not, no matter if you support it or not, no matter if you support Israel or not, this is about you and yours. And I thank God that George Bush is willing to take the slings and arrows to save you're sorry behind if you don't support him in this.
This is evil personified and we must crush and kill them. You must not sanction this by hiding under the covers. The liberal treasonous traitors and cowards in the media aren't about Cut and Run any more. They aren't about planned withdrawal; they are now in full run and hide from the bad guy mode.
Cowards.
Well, I for one want none of this evil on our shores, and I'm not crazy about it over there either.
Iran: Hanged from a crane aged 16
Sunday, 23 July 2006
EXCLUSIVE JUSTICE IRAN STYLE: SICK GIRL EXECUTED BY JUDGE SHE DEFIED
Her crime? She had sex with an unmarried man
By Susie Boniface
The Sunday Mirror - It was exactly 6am and the start of another blisteringly hot summer day when 16-year-old Atefeh Rajabi was dragged from her prison cell and taken to be executed.
Every step of the way the troubled teenager plagued by mental problems shouted "repentance, repentance" as the militiamen marched her to the town's Railway Square.
The Iranian judge who had sentenced Atefeh to death was left unmoved as he personally put the noose around her neck (look at the link with theses pictures to get a flavor for what this is) and signalled to the crane driver.
Kicking and screaming, Atefeh was left dangling for 45 minutes from the arm of the crane as the crowd sobbed and - under their breath - damned the mullahs.
Atefeh's crime? Offending public morality. She was found guilty of "acts incompatible with chastity" by having sex with an unmarried man, even though friends say Atefeh was in such a fragile mental state that she wasn't in a position to say no.
But Judge Haji Rezaii was determined she should hang, regardless of the rules of international law which say only adults over 18 can be executed, and that the courts have a duty to children and the mentally ill.
The brutal end to Atefeh's short life has shone a new light on Iran's Shariah law, where adultery, theft and rape all carry the same punishment - death. Officially around 100 people - some just children like Atefeh - are executed each year. But human rights groups say the true figure could be much higher in a country where only half of the women can read, only one in 10 have a job and two-thirds are beaten in their homes.
Life was never easy for Atefeh, who was brought up in the industrial town of Neka, 250 miles from Tehran and close to the Caspian Sea. Her mother died when she was a child and her father Ghasseem, a heroin addict, left her grandparents to bring her up. She suffered from bi-polar disorder, which led to severe mood swings from hyperactivity to depression. Worried parents told their children to stay away from her - something many regret now. "Perhaps we should have helped her instead," said Hamid. "I think the death of her mother had a devastating effect. Before that, she was a normal girl. Her mother was everything to her. After she died, there was no one to look after her."
Mina, a childhood friend, said Atefeh was abused by a close relative. "She never dared talk about it with an adult," said Mina. "If she had told her teacher they'd have called her a whore. Tell the police? They lock you up and rape you." Atefeh first appeared in court, accused of having sex with an unmarried man at 14. Over the next two years she was accused of the same crime with different men.
They denied it and were sentenced to the lash and then released. But Atefeh pleaded guilty and each time received 100 lashes and a prison term. Mina said: "Atefeh sometimes talked about what these 'moral' Islamic policemen did to her while she was in jail. She still had nightmares about that. Atefeh said her mood swings made it easy for men to take advantage of her, and that most of her lovers were in the security force."
Two of them were members of the anti-vice militia. They encouraged other men to sign statements saying Atefeh had engaged in vice, and even claimed she had AIDS.
It was when Atefeh appeared before Judge Rezaii for a fourth time that she lost her temper - and also her life. In a rage she tore off her hi jab - a headscarf - and told the judge she had been raped and it was his duty to punish her tormentors, not their victim.
Rezaii told her she would hang for her "sharp tongue" and that he would put the noose around her neck himself. It became a personal crusade as he travelled to Tehran and convinced the Supreme Court to uphold his verdict.
Two petitions by her friends, saying she was mentally unwell, were ignored. Her father produced her birth certificate proving she was 16. Yet the judges "decreed" she was 22.
Atefeh also wrote to the Supreme Court: "There are medical documents that prove I have a weak nerve and soul. In some minutes of the day and night I lose my sanity. In a society where an insane person can be serially raped it is no wonder that a person like me is the victim of such an ugly act."
The day before she died she wrote again, saying: "Repentance, repentance, repentance." In Iranian law anyone who shows remorse has an automatic stay of execution and a right to appeal, but she was ignored.
A local pharmacist watched Atefeh's execution on August 15, 2004. "She looked so young standing there," he said. "Rezaii must have felt a personal grudge against her. He put the rope around her neck himself. I looked around and everyone in the crowd was sobbing and damning the mullahs." The family's lawyer has now filed a suit of wrongful execution against the judge and is preparing a murder case. Her life is also the subject of a secretly filmed documentary, Execution of a Teenage Girl, which will be screened on BBC2 on Thursday.
One of Atefeh's teachers said the authorities wanted to make an example of her: "She wouldn't take injustice from anyone, but the mullahs equate these qualities in a girl to prostitution and evil. They wanted to give all the girls and women a lesson."
Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said: "The killing of Atefeh is a catalogue of the most appalling human rights violations. The public hanging of a child, believed to be mentally incompetent, totally beggars belief. To hang a child flies in the face of all that is humane."
CRUELTY OF SHARIA LAW
PENALTIES imposed by Iran's religious mullahs include:
THEFT: Amputation of hands or feet for persistent offenders.
ADULTERY: Death by stoning.
UNMARRIED SEX: 100 lashes.
CONVERSION TO RELIGION OTHER THAN ISLAM: Death.
SODOMY: Death for adults, 74 lashes for consenting child.
LESBIANISM: 100 lashes, or on the fourth occasion death.
HOMOSEXUAL KISS: 60 lashes.
RUBBING ANOTHER MAN'S THIGHS OR BUTTOCKS: 99 lashes - on 4th occasion, death.
Menaissance Evaluation
How much are you like John Wayne, Pilgrim?
1=not at all 2=seldom 3=occasionally 4=mostly 5=always
____ Stoic (If I get shot, I just wrap a kerchief around the wound, dig the bullet out with my knife and remove it with my teeth.) I never complain.
____ Self Respecting (I know who I am and if you don’t like it, well, pardner, that’s tough)
____ Decisive (I know what to do, when and how quickly to act. Never taken by surprise)
____ Assertive (I don’t go pickin fights but if you punch me, well, you better duck)
____ Doesn’t wear heart on his Sleeve (I might be ahurt’n but you’ll never know)
____ Able to react to dynamic situations, critical people, ornery sheriffs, and rapid change all without taking offense.
____ Dutiful to the Mrs. and to the family. (a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do)
____ Provides and protects those he loves (You come after my wife or kids, I got a gun and I know how to use it)
____ Responsible (If he gives his word you can count on him to do what he said)
____ Moral (He knows the scout law and although there were no boy scouts then, he lives by it)
God made nothing in vain, he made you a man, he made her a woman. “Male and Female made he them”. Let’s not get all confused by being girly men.
Score 10 or less. You shouldn’t be in this meeting, the slumber party is next week.
11-20 Good start, let me take you bear hunting, and if you kill one, next time I’ll give you a weapon.
21-30 You are sorta manly but you need to get out of the suburbs a bit more. Eat more meat.
31-40 You are a guy’s, guy, not quite a man’s man yet. But, there’s hope. Lay off the quiche.
41-50 Harrrrr, a parrot on the shoulder and a peg leg and we’re off to sea.
Let’s Celebrate Manliness:
Restraint, courage, stoicism, rational thinking, nutty professors working on inventions in their garages, guitars, geeks, football, sweating in a tee shirt, baseball, and loving it most when women are women.
1=not at all 2=seldom 3=occasionally 4=mostly 5=always
____ Stoic (If I get shot, I just wrap a kerchief around the wound, dig the bullet out with my knife and remove it with my teeth.) I never complain.
____ Self Respecting (I know who I am and if you don’t like it, well, pardner, that’s tough)
____ Decisive (I know what to do, when and how quickly to act. Never taken by surprise)
____ Assertive (I don’t go pickin fights but if you punch me, well, you better duck)
____ Doesn’t wear heart on his Sleeve (I might be ahurt’n but you’ll never know)
____ Able to react to dynamic situations, critical people, ornery sheriffs, and rapid change all without taking offense.
____ Dutiful to the Mrs. and to the family. (a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do)
____ Provides and protects those he loves (You come after my wife or kids, I got a gun and I know how to use it)
____ Responsible (If he gives his word you can count on him to do what he said)
____ Moral (He knows the scout law and although there were no boy scouts then, he lives by it)
God made nothing in vain, he made you a man, he made her a woman. “Male and Female made he them”. Let’s not get all confused by being girly men.
Score 10 or less. You shouldn’t be in this meeting, the slumber party is next week.
11-20 Good start, let me take you bear hunting, and if you kill one, next time I’ll give you a weapon.
21-30 You are sorta manly but you need to get out of the suburbs a bit more. Eat more meat.
31-40 You are a guy’s, guy, not quite a man’s man yet. But, there’s hope. Lay off the quiche.
41-50 Harrrrr, a parrot on the shoulder and a peg leg and we’re off to sea.
Let’s Celebrate Manliness:
Restraint, courage, stoicism, rational thinking, nutty professors working on inventions in their garages, guitars, geeks, football, sweating in a tee shirt, baseball, and loving it most when women are women.
Saloon Ethics
Don’t draw unless drawn upon. Sometimes people say and do stupid things
Overlook Most
Forgive Much
Correct only a little
Thin Skinned people end up taking offense. Taking offense will get you killed and worse break up a lot of good bar furniture and some really fine whiskey bottles. That’d be destroying the spirits.
If someone cheats you in a card game know who he is before you call him out on it.
Always tip the piano player. He might be playing at your funeral if you aren’t careful.
Watch your back, and you better have some good cowpokes you trust watch it for you. You cain’t never have too many friends.
Some fellows at the bar think they’re big shots when they get too much redeye in em, they want to be the center of attention and cause trouble by big talking. You could lose a good cowhand if you don’t help him off to the side and quiet him down.
Some blokes order a drink and if the barkeep don’t serve what they thought they wanted (“You call this whiskey, I’ve had better from a sewer”) they throw a fit become offended and never come back again; sometimes they leave in a box.
Let’s apply some good saloon ethics to the Church shall we?
Overlook Most
Forgive Much
Correct only a little
Thin Skinned people end up taking offense. Taking offense will get you killed and worse break up a lot of good bar furniture and some really fine whiskey bottles. That’d be destroying the spirits.
If someone cheats you in a card game know who he is before you call him out on it.
Always tip the piano player. He might be playing at your funeral if you aren’t careful.
Watch your back, and you better have some good cowpokes you trust watch it for you. You cain’t never have too many friends.
Some fellows at the bar think they’re big shots when they get too much redeye in em, they want to be the center of attention and cause trouble by big talking. You could lose a good cowhand if you don’t help him off to the side and quiet him down.
Some blokes order a drink and if the barkeep don’t serve what they thought they wanted (“You call this whiskey, I’ve had better from a sewer”) they throw a fit become offended and never come back again; sometimes they leave in a box.
Let’s apply some good saloon ethics to the Church shall we?
Friday, August 04, 2006
Beautiful Hookers
In my recent foray to Atlantic City I was confronted by a mass of hookerdom.
One thing struck me. They were nearly all beautiful women. Stunning even.
The whore you see on TV in most movies is well worn and haggard. This was not them.
Oh they were in business for others or for themselves. No doubt about that.
I have thought about that since. I know prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. (There’s a joke here somewhere but I forget it). I know they make good money. I don’t think when they were 7 years old and grandpa sat them on his knee and asked what they wanted to be when they grew up they said, “Grandpa, I want to make big money on my back”. Grandpa would have had a cardiac.
I know all the socio-economic reasons women become hoes. Don’t bore my by rehearsing them.
What I struggle with is how and why beyond that. Everyone had a bad childhood. When I do talks to mixed groups on family issues I always ask this question, “Who here came from a dysfunctional family”. All hands go up. 100% of the time. We always think we had it bad.
So that’s not it. I look for someone to blame.
I think I know who. MEN!
Not because they patronize them. But because they don’t commit to a ring and a ceremony. Getting it on for $200 bucks is easier. Some would say cheaper.
I think the one hooker that disturbed me most was a beautiful young girl who couldn’t have been more than 18. She gave me a wave and a smile that broke my heart. Why wasn’t she out with a boyfriend rather than selling it? Why wasn’t she planning a wedding rather then planning her next trick? She was so stunning there are a lot of women who could take a clue on the flirt business from her. She had it down. Of course for her it was commerce. Smile for a buck. Or two.
The whole idea that girls make this choice because there isn’t a man who will love and treasure them for the rest of their lives is an indictment of men and not women.
I’m not living in a dream world. This isn’t because I saw the movie, “Pretty Woman”. I know how much a woman wants to be treasured by a man. Valued, esteemed, held up, reinforced, supported, encouraged, treasured.
Men are weenies at being lovers. They don’t get it. Yet it’s so simple. You just find her, then you give yourself to her unconditionally and without reservation. She don’t want stuff, she wants you.
How far is the distance between hookerdom and the loved lover? Tell me, I wanna know.
One thing struck me. They were nearly all beautiful women. Stunning even.
The whore you see on TV in most movies is well worn and haggard. This was not them.
Oh they were in business for others or for themselves. No doubt about that.
I have thought about that since. I know prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. (There’s a joke here somewhere but I forget it). I know they make good money. I don’t think when they were 7 years old and grandpa sat them on his knee and asked what they wanted to be when they grew up they said, “Grandpa, I want to make big money on my back”. Grandpa would have had a cardiac.
I know all the socio-economic reasons women become hoes. Don’t bore my by rehearsing them.
What I struggle with is how and why beyond that. Everyone had a bad childhood. When I do talks to mixed groups on family issues I always ask this question, “Who here came from a dysfunctional family”. All hands go up. 100% of the time. We always think we had it bad.
So that’s not it. I look for someone to blame.
I think I know who. MEN!
Not because they patronize them. But because they don’t commit to a ring and a ceremony. Getting it on for $200 bucks is easier. Some would say cheaper.
I think the one hooker that disturbed me most was a beautiful young girl who couldn’t have been more than 18. She gave me a wave and a smile that broke my heart. Why wasn’t she out with a boyfriend rather than selling it? Why wasn’t she planning a wedding rather then planning her next trick? She was so stunning there are a lot of women who could take a clue on the flirt business from her. She had it down. Of course for her it was commerce. Smile for a buck. Or two.
The whole idea that girls make this choice because there isn’t a man who will love and treasure them for the rest of their lives is an indictment of men and not women.
I’m not living in a dream world. This isn’t because I saw the movie, “Pretty Woman”. I know how much a woman wants to be treasured by a man. Valued, esteemed, held up, reinforced, supported, encouraged, treasured.
Men are weenies at being lovers. They don’t get it. Yet it’s so simple. You just find her, then you give yourself to her unconditionally and without reservation. She don’t want stuff, she wants you.
How far is the distance between hookerdom and the loved lover? Tell me, I wanna know.
RAPTURE!
I know some of you like it better when I write my own stuff. Sometimes I do too. But when something like this comes across I just have to reprint it for those who may not get it directly. Olfunso Omadarin is a Pastor of a mighty ministry in Nigeria. I read what he writes, I have spoken with him by phone several times. I know he and I are nothing less than true brothers in Christ.
The rapture is a theology I waffled on for a while. I no longer do. The closer I get the more I long for that sounding trumpet. Evenso come Lord Jesus.
RAPTURE! Culmination of the mystery of all ages
The climax of salvation story, rallying point of all history
On that day, the truth shall be exalted above all lies
When the patience of the saints will be rewarded
The day when the hope of the elect will be realized
RAPTURE! The long awaited vindication of the righteous
It is the hour of gloom and doom for the backslider
It is the moment when the eternal ultimatum will be reached
When the Word of faith that men disdained and despised
Shall be confirmed in heaven and endorsed on earth
RAPTURE! When the harvest of the nations shall be full
The grave shall lose its power and the dead in Christ shall rise
The lovers of the truth, the martyrs of faith shall rejoice
The Resurrection-our expectation will come to manifestation
Those who are alive but dead to sin will be changed
RAPTURE! In a twinkle of an eye will all be gone!
For abject mortality shall put on absolute immortality
And weaknesses shall give way to priceless strength
The eternal will of God will be fulfilled in all nations
And the expectation of the saints will be resurrected
RAPTURE! It is the hour of an amazing judgment
When the unexpected will happen before the on-lookers
Men will be amazed at the sudden change in all nations
Petrified, dismayed, discomfited , frustrated and dazed
Flimsy excuses of men will be hopeless and needless
RAPTURE! Men who refused the gospel will run for cover!
Even those who frittered away opportunities to be saved
Skeptics will be drowned in the ocean of their doubts
Yea, the ignoramus will not be spared the rod for their folly
True men have beheld the Lamb in His blessed Word
RAPTURE! They shall also see Him sin His awesome glory!
But the remnant of the rebels shall be lost in their fiery gory
Wherefore shall careless men escape the certain judgment?
The beauty of the Saviour they must behold now
The message of the gospel they must receive now
RAPTURE! The power that saves is meant for all and onto all
But the joy of salvation will only be for those who believe
Iniquity is attractive only to those who must perish
The rage of hell is as a cruel and worrisome magnet
Unto which men of unbridled lust and sinful quest are drawn
RAPTURE! And the King shall appear in His majestic glory
As the trumpet is sounded with the shout of the Archangel
And then shall the saints rejoice in His ineffable glory
But endless woe betide all the company of transgressors!
Even their hopeless end, the endless shame of faithless men
Here is the mystery of the RAPTURE, an unmistakable story
-Olufunso J. Omidiran
http://www.livingsword.org/
The rapture is a theology I waffled on for a while. I no longer do. The closer I get the more I long for that sounding trumpet. Evenso come Lord Jesus.
RAPTURE! Culmination of the mystery of all ages
The climax of salvation story, rallying point of all history
On that day, the truth shall be exalted above all lies
When the patience of the saints will be rewarded
The day when the hope of the elect will be realized
RAPTURE! The long awaited vindication of the righteous
It is the hour of gloom and doom for the backslider
It is the moment when the eternal ultimatum will be reached
When the Word of faith that men disdained and despised
Shall be confirmed in heaven and endorsed on earth
RAPTURE! When the harvest of the nations shall be full
The grave shall lose its power and the dead in Christ shall rise
The lovers of the truth, the martyrs of faith shall rejoice
The Resurrection-our expectation will come to manifestation
Those who are alive but dead to sin will be changed
RAPTURE! In a twinkle of an eye will all be gone!
For abject mortality shall put on absolute immortality
And weaknesses shall give way to priceless strength
The eternal will of God will be fulfilled in all nations
And the expectation of the saints will be resurrected
RAPTURE! It is the hour of an amazing judgment
When the unexpected will happen before the on-lookers
Men will be amazed at the sudden change in all nations
Petrified, dismayed, discomfited , frustrated and dazed
Flimsy excuses of men will be hopeless and needless
RAPTURE! Men who refused the gospel will run for cover!
Even those who frittered away opportunities to be saved
Skeptics will be drowned in the ocean of their doubts
Yea, the ignoramus will not be spared the rod for their folly
True men have beheld the Lamb in His blessed Word
RAPTURE! They shall also see Him sin His awesome glory!
But the remnant of the rebels shall be lost in their fiery gory
Wherefore shall careless men escape the certain judgment?
The beauty of the Saviour they must behold now
The message of the gospel they must receive now
RAPTURE! The power that saves is meant for all and onto all
But the joy of salvation will only be for those who believe
Iniquity is attractive only to those who must perish
The rage of hell is as a cruel and worrisome magnet
Unto which men of unbridled lust and sinful quest are drawn
RAPTURE! And the King shall appear in His majestic glory
As the trumpet is sounded with the shout of the Archangel
And then shall the saints rejoice in His ineffable glory
But endless woe betide all the company of transgressors!
Even their hopeless end, the endless shame of faithless men
Here is the mystery of the RAPTURE, an unmistakable story
-Olufunso J. Omidiran
http://www.livingsword.org/
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