What Other Prophetic Voices are Saying

I am publishing several links from several prophetic people around the USA. I have looked at their prophetic utterances and compared them with what the Lord gave me for 2007.

I suggest if you have time to read them all. They are published independent of each other, no consultation goes on, they all try to publish on or about the last day of the year or the first of the next. All of these people get these words after seeking God for a revelation.

I know some of this can seem strange to my more denominational friends. But, the Prophetic has been raised up for just such a time. It's about your immediate future, you need to hear what the Spirit Says if you have ears to hear.

Here are the words you need to look at (Many compiled from the Elijah List):
Ken Copeland's Mailer Came yesterday. He published this prophecy from November of 06.
Pat Robertson's recent much lambasted Prophecy
Katie Walters.
Jill Austin
Matt Sorger
Danny Steyne
Wes and Stacey Campbell
Patricia King
Rick Joyner
Steve Schultz
Bob Craine
Kim Clement
Lee Grady

And one from a Secular Analyst

Here are the Key Points I read over and over again as I ponder what is being said:

• God is moving in new and larger ways than ever before
• His people will be covered with peace in trouble
• Trouble, big trouble, perhaps terror, something catastrophic, bigger than 9-11 is coming.
• Fear will cause men's hearts to fail. Only Faith will prevail in trouble.
• The Church and organized religion as we knew it is dead and gone.
• Only that which matters and is relevant will survive in these times.
• God's best is still ahead of us, and his finest hours are about to be shown in the body of Christ

All in all, wonderful Glorious Peace in the center of the storm.

Come Lord Jesus

Come to Chicago

I have several YOUNG people who read this blog. I want to invite them to visit Chicago.

They don't have to stay with Uncle Gene. There is a fine Hostel in Chicago.

It's right in the center of Downtown, near all the Art Museums and everything, and a wonderful place to stay.

All for less than $40 per night.

Visiting Chicago is cheap. And, no matter what form of Public Transport you decide to take, Both airports have trains that go right by the Hostel. And the Amtrak comes right into the center of town 4 blocks from the Hostel.

This is just like the program many European cities have. I'm happy to be living in such a hospitible place. Chicago is fun, interesting and just a great place to visit.

Come on in. The waters fine.

Accepting the Sinner, Hating the SIN

I was in an interesting discussion with my sister over Christmas. It was about some friends of hers. The argument was in spite of the fact that the people were social deviants; these people were the nicest people she knew; they aren't at all as you would imagine them. They are contributing members of society who are just misunderstood, persecuted, and unhappy because of it. They go to Church, fall in love, pay their taxes, work hard, and celebrate Christmas, the whole catastrophe. What is worse the deviance they exhibit they can't help, they were born that way. So for that reason, in spite of the fact they are aberrant in society we should accept and even embrace them in all their deviance. That was the core of her argument.

But, lets expand that just a tad. I like to extend argument to illustrated it’s lack of soundness.

I know of a really nice man who worked in a church who was considered a really decent person. One little social sin he had, he tortured and murdered people. You would know him as the BTK killer.

Or that nice man who played a clown in all the children's homes around Chicago some years ago. Everyone agreed he was a good man, a decent man, a giving man, One little problem, one day they found his house stinking of decaying human flesh and found the bodies of 33 People he had murdered. You might know him as John Wayne Gacy.

Or how about a great humble Christian who loved every one. Every day went to Church, was good in every way, looked up to, trusted by all those around him; except he sexually molested little boys. That person was a composite of several Catholic Priests.

Or that family man the press can't say enough good about. He loved his kids, he took care of them, they are all set for life and those that knew him said he was a caring and loving man. It's just that he murdered a hundred thousand people. Saddam Hussein.

What about one of the most charming and kind man many say they ever met in Florida. He dated some of the most beautiful women. Everyone who knew him said he was the most mannerly person you would ever want to meet. In fact he was real husband material to some Moms. . Nice enough but before he was executed murdered 25 women. You might remember Ted Bundy

I had an embezzler work for me once. He was our parts man, Scott. He was a family man, kept a nice home, mowed his lawn, went to church, invited us over to dinner, it's just that he had this little problem of stealing $80,000 from the company.

Every person who goes postal is always a surprise to their neighbors. Some are even eagle scouts. They are just decent misunderstood people with a problem. They go nuts. Out of control.

Even religious people, people of faith fall off the edge of the earth. Think about the guy who killed those little girls in Lancaster PA in the schoolhouse. Nice man, went to church, hard worker, quiet, family man. Before he committed suicide called his wife and said goodbye. No one ever suspected a thing. It's just he had a hidden sin he couldn't deal with.

Or those from my branch in the woods, Ted Haggard, Jimmy Swaggart, men of God, men who preach, men who have everything to offer the world who are good family men who are religious married fathers who have a problem with Whores male and female.

Even Politicians live lives of sin. Representative Tom Foley comes to mind. I'll bet he hated the fact that he was trapped and couldn't get out.

A guy who worked for me is in prison for killing his wife and girlfriend. He was a good guy, hard worker; fun, loved his kids, but he had this uncontrolled violent streak. He just couldn't leave it all alone. He was angery and his anger controlled him until it landed him in prison for the rest of his life. Gary and I knew each other well. He was a great guy. Just uncontrollably violent.

Then there was Skip. A wonderful guy, Christian, when he got out of Jail I invited him to live with me. But, he just couldn't stay away from getting involved with the wrong people. He ended up raping a woman (which is what he was in jail for the time before). Skip probably won't be out again soon. Skip was born with a desire for violent sex. No self control.

On MSNBC they have this sting program, they go online as a horny teenage girl and men show up to have sex. They are videotaped and arrested. These men for the most part are teachers, pastors, bank execs, truck drivers, many married. They are all humiliated. But, the alledged little girl wanted sex, these devients were naturally drawn to respond. What could be more NORMAL than that? They were out of control. That's what.

None of these people listed above were happy in their sin, aberrance, antisocial behavior or deviance. All wish they didn't have to live like that. All felt like they were born this way. All feel like they can't help it. All feel like if someone would only understand. They all feel like if only they could stop they would be happy. They feel out of control.

Sin causes us to be unhappy. Tortured and tempted we foist our behavior on others in society. OR we excuse ourselves by saying we come from a long line of kleptomaniacs. So, it’s normal for us.

They would to a person tell you they were born with these tendencies. I believe them. I was born with some odd tendencies that if I acted on would land me in jail or get me killed.

So, when I hear the argument that Homosexuals are born that way, that I should understand them, that they should be accepted, that the desires they carry isn't their fault I wonder how many of those I have listed above would say the same thing?

Believe me, I know several homosexuals. Some are good friends. They are unsettled. They wish they didn't have to live like this. They feel trapped by the sin tendencies in their lives.

Here's the difference. Homosexuals I know who have learned to control the urges live decent happy lives. If they give into them uncontrolled they live in total despair. Multiple partners. Disease. Rejection by society and each other. The lie is that they can find fulfillment in committed relationships. They never really do. That's why I'm against Gay marriage. It codifies and culturally endorses aberrant behavior.

Like the murderer the pedophile, the embezzler, the torturer, the rapist, the violent, the whoremonger, they were all born with these tendencies, the issue is, can they or do they control them? We have punishment for people who violate most laws against humanity like above. Why are we supposed to stuff cultural and even biblical condemnation of homosexual behavior because people are “Born that Way”. We are all born deviant in one area or another. We just must learn to control and deal with it. That’s called being an adult.

So should homosexuals. Control it or face social consequence. You should see the Gay Pride Parade held each year in Chicago. It’s the “look I have my penis out” parade. It’s so over the top and disgusting I shouldn’t be forced to watch (I don’t) or even have it in my community to deaden our sensitivity to this deviance. I don’t want to be forced to accept them any more than the social deviance I listed at the beginning of this piece.

I suspect some people will throw up the Levitical restrains (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) about this and use it as a Bible Bullet against me. They will say that I base my homophobe beliefs soley on these passages in Leviticus. It’s not true. If I ONLY used the New Testament I have enough warning against this aberrant behavior to justify my position. I won't do a Bible study for you, but if you were interested, I would point you to the Book of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Hebrews, and Revelation. You will find enough here to keep you busy for a while.

What’s the solution? As Archie Bunker said to Edith often, STIFLE! And as a Christian what’s the solution? I know people who have overcome this demon of homosex and found happiness. Jesus is the answer. I will love them, not accept the sin, Heck I still love the murderer and the rapist I know in prison. I just don’t want them back out walking the streets unless they get right with God and under control.

So, now that you know the truth, are you still in favor of Gay Marriage? I know I probably didn’t change any minds. I just wish they would all keep it in their pants and go back in the closet. I shouldn’t have to see this mess. Neither should my Grandkids. When I was a teenager of perhaps 16 and heard that there was such a thing as homosexuality I was shocked. I couldn’t imagine one man doing that to another.

Couldn’t we put some shock potential back into our culture?

Come on there - STIFLE!

Shutting the Door

I have a friend who is an expert in herbaceous perennial native plants. He knows so much more than I do about them. When I express an opinion or viewpoint about the application or culture of those plants he gives me a strained smile of tolerance.

I have 2 college degrees. One in Botany. One in Horticulture. 4 year university, not a two year community college. He has none. He does have experience. I defer to him because although I learned stuff 40 years ago in university I am rustier now than I wish I were about herbaceous perennials.

On the other hand HE went to Sunday school as a kid. Once he became an adult 45 years ago he quit church. But, he seems to have no difficulty in telling me all about his "opine" on all things spiritual. How I'm right or wrong on this or that theology. How I'm blinded or not in this or that area.

I'm supposed to take him seriously. In fact, I get lots of this. I just was engaged in a couple conversations with some people on another blogsite. People who's only real knowledge of the Bible is what they read someone say in an article or on TV. And I'm supposed to take them seriously or as any kind of competent argument whatsoever.

Sorry folks. Won't fly. If you haven't paid the price to know what the heck you're talking about, if you haven't studied verse by verse the word of God, if you haven't had the experience of knowing it and Him then your opinion which you value so much is just so much bull poop.

I have decided that as of this day I will no longer entertain conversation which is of a nature of you're right and I'm wrong. He isn't going to be convinced and I certainly am not. I am more and more convinced that what we consider to be evangelism is just argumentation. The only one that can call someone in is the Holy Spirit. If they don't come in that motivation you or I are not going to talk them thru reason into faith.

So, consider that door closed my friend. Want to talk herbaceous perennials, I'm all for it. Your opinions on things Spiritual are spurious and like Paul at Athens, pretty much a waste of time and energy.

Prophecy for the Year 2007

A little explanation first, read the whole thing or you will miss it.

Prologue: Ministry as a Teacher:
Several years ago I became aware that God was using me in a new way as a minister. I had always been a competent teacher of the Word of God. Even when I wasn’t saved, I taught in the Lutheran Church we attended. Some of that came from my public speaking experience and training. I knew how to turn a phrase in front of a group, how to use language to instruct and inspire. It wasn’t anointed, it was just good teaching.

As a public speaker I was paid to do this. At one time I considered a career change to become a professional speaker on the circuit. I did a fair bit of it but didn't develop it as I might have. I knew that the key to doing it well was a "Have Speech will Travel" portfolio. Then promoting myself with that speech, having an agent and taking bookings. It works. I knew several people who did this. Even to this day I have a few champions that will plug me in here and there. But, for now my public speaker portfolio and booking is light. It’s as it should be.

On the other hand, I have always taught the word of God. I like teaching. I like it because concepts and precepts that matter to me and to God are being passed on to another generation.

People I taught in Sunday school classes years ago pay me the high complement of saying, "I use your stuff in my preaching" or "Your words come from my mouth all the time". That is a high complement. It's better than having them say, "You are/were the best Sunday School teacher I ever had". I would rather see a sermon on someone well discipled than hear one.

I am going to recommit myself to teaching again. It's what I do best. It's an area of rich anointing for me. God has placed this in me and not using the gift is wasting them.

Ministry as a Prophet:
So, what about this Prophet thing? Why do I, should I or would I identify myself a Prophet? Let me explain. This is a badly understood area and as a teacher I need to do a little teaching.

Recently a man I know described me as, "A self declared prophet". I puzzled over that description of the Gift of God placed in me. Is anyone a self-declared anything? Or are they defined with or without declaration by what they do and the fruit they produce? Is an apple tree one because someone hangs a tag on it declaring it an apple tree or because it produces apples? In fact some trees sold as apple trees turn out to be pear or peach trees because of poor labeling.

The same is true with ministry gifts. If I teach under an anointing over and above what I am able otherwise to do I demonstrate a gift of teaching. So if I am a teacher because I teach well or as I have the ministry gift of teaching am I self-declaring? Or am I, as the apostle Paul did, just declaring what God has already demonstrated by fruit. He declared himself an Apostle based on his acts of apostleship. Few argued with him.

The same thing is true regarding the ministry office of the Prophet. I am a Prophet not because I call myself a Prophet but because I prophesy with fruit. I operate consistently and with better accuracy than I could ever do in the flesh when I operate in the ministry gift. That is the office of prophet. Of course, just as in the ministry gift of Teaching which has been confirmed by many, and by people with the ministry gift of Prophecy years ago. It is not a gift that comes and goes, it is a gift that I carry by the grace of God. That reality carries me forward to prophecy with boldness. I am simply a Gift box of the gift God has placed in me. To deny or dismiss the office he has commissioned me for defames his ministry gifts. I have assurance of the gift because the gift flows without trying, other prophetic people recognize it in me, and I see the fruit of the gift in operation. Someone would have to kill me to silence it. The same is true of the Gift of Teaching. It will take a bullet to stop me from here on out.

Evidence of the Office of Prophet
If one can dismiss the office of Prophet in others how can any ministry gift stand? On the other hand if I did NOT prophecy or if I were consistently wrong because I didn’t hear from God I would be a false prophet and not a true carrier of the office of Prophet. It is only by fruit I judge the gift I carry.

As a Prophet God gives me insight into situations supernaturally, insight into people, insight into circumstances that is beyond my ability to know or see in the natural. Sometimes it is frightening. I offer what I see to others with fear and trepidation.

The part that is the best in operating in the gift are the personal encouragements and visions God gives me for others. Amazing things come from my mouth far beyond my human understanding. That is a manifestation of the Gift and Ministry Office of the Prophet.

I too am suspicious of people who self-title themselves in ministry gifts they may not manifest, carry or those they may or may not be. There are fewer bishops, prophets and apostles on the planet than have the business cards or titles on the door declaring themselves to be such.

On the other hand there are more Pastors, Teachers and Evangelists than carry the Business card to claim it. Part of the job of a prophet is to let them know they carry the gift of evangelist, pastor, teacher, prophet or apostle. I don’t believe that without the anointing of the prophet that any ministry gift is as valid. Those ministry gifts should be identified carefully and commissioned. Just as God sent Samuel to Anoint David for Kingship, he sends Prophets to do the same today.

How do I know I am called an empowered to teach the word of god as a Teacher? Because he uses me as one. How do I know God has called and empowered me to be a Prophet? Because he uses me as one. I have not demonstrated Evangelistic giftings or Pastoral giftings, and I don't know what to think about myself regarding the apostolic. What realm would I be an apostle over? How does God use me? An apostle is a king over the part of THE kingdom deeded him by Jesus who is King of Kings.

The Prophet Carries a Burden:
There are parts of being a prophet that are difficult. Many people HATE prophets. They despise them. They wish they would go away. Throughout history Prophets have been rejected, persecuted, stoned, killed, made fun of, or thrown into a pit. Sometimes the calling for a prophet is a reluctant calling as it was for Jonah.

This is for certain, the devil’s main goal is to silence the prophetic voice. That’s why Paul warned in his epistle, “Do not Despise Prophecy”, and in another place, “I wish above all that you prophesy”. The angel in the book of Revelation said, “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy”. If you take that to its logical extension, if you despise, reject, or silence the prophetic you silence the voice of Jesus. People, particularly those who are in ministry who have something to hide are the most anti-prophetic. They don’t want the truth about who they really are discovered. If Jesus himself showed up bodily they would try to hide from him. That’s what it says in the book of Revelation. They looked for caves and rocks to hide them.

Why I do This.
I offer this detailed explanation with the full knowledge that most people who read this will not comprehend what it means. That’s OK. I only want you to be aware of what God is saying, warning and encouraging for 2007. I want you to treat it as a sign and a wonder. If it makes you wonder that’s a sign.

Therefore, I am publishing what God has revealed for 2007. It's a hard word. It's one I would just as soon NOT bring. I wish it were all goodness and joy. It's not for some who will read this. To those who are overcomers this is great news. To the rest this will be a disturbing vision. Unfortunately I know it's true. Just as the prophecy for 2006 turned out to have over an 80% accuracy (the other 20% was my flesh or when I misheard from God), I believe what God has revealed for 2007.

I am NOT going to publish it on this blog. Below is a link to the Word of the Lord for 2007. You will have to intentionally go to it. I am going to tell you what God says. That's what Prophets do. What you do with it is your choice.

Read the whole Word for 2007 HERE. Read the circumstances under which the word was given for 2006 last January, and read the Word for 2006 in review (link above). You can then get an understanding and confidence for what is about to happen.

God never does anything unless he tells his prophets first. The Prophets job is to say what God said.

I just did.

Exercise is a Waist of Time

File this under Male Chauvenist Pig.

I have always known the doing steady housework was as good as any exercise regimne. Being a loving husband I let my wife get all the exersise she can. Bending to pick up my sox is an act of love on both our parts.

Honest. From the linked article:

Dusting, mopping and vacuuming was also better than having a physical job.

The latest study looked at both pre- and post-menopausal women and a range of activities, including work, leisure and housework.

All forms of physical activity combined reduced the breast cancer risk in post-menopausal women, but had no obvious effect in pre-menopausal women.

Out of all of the activities, only housework significantly reduced the risk of both pre- and post-menopausal women getting the disease.

Housework cut breast cancer risk by 30% among the pre-menopausal women and 20% among the post-menopausal women.

Not Nixon as Legacy

Doesn't it seem just a little strange that the Mainstream Liberal Media is all over this Gerald Ford Legacy as if he was the last good Republican? HMMM?

The headline in the Chicago Tribune the day after he died was, "Could Ford Be Accepted by Today's Republican Party?"

Really??

I liked Gerald Ford. Thought he was a nice guy. But as Tammy Bruce said today, His main Presidential legacy is that he wasn't Nixon. That's about it.

I suspect this Knighted Sainthood drivel from the media has more to do with Antipathy for Reagan and the Reaganesqe GWB than anything else. IF the MSM can lionize Ford at the expense of the policies of Reagan and GWB they will do so. They wish the Reagan era had never happened.

They don't dislike us, they hate us conservatives. Evil people that Liberal MSM as they are dancing on the grave of a dead man (again). But then as the funeral of Corretta King showed, they are shameless clods.

Then there's Bob Woodward's breathless release of the tapes seconds after Ford died. His corpse wasn't even cold. Woodward can't do enough to discredit Bush.

I sometimes would like to revisit that freedom of the press thing. That's probably why I shouldn't be KING anytime soon.

Potentially what will become the most overblogged story of the year

It just came out, but I believe that this story from the NYT will be blogged to exhaustion. Saying Yes to Mess

So, to get in on the front end of this curve here's mine.

It's all about those with messy desks, messy closets and messy book piles like on my side of the bed (about 20), that messy is a sign of a limber and creative mind and of KIND person.

I think I qualify.

The article says:

An anti-anticlutter movement is afoot, one that says yes to mess and urges you to embrace your disorder. Studies are piling up that show that messy desks are the vivid signatures of people with creative, limber minds (who reap higher salaries than those with neat “office landscapes”) and that messy closet owners are probably better parents and nicer and cooler than their tidier counterparts. It’s a movement that confirms what you have known, deep down, all along: really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands.

So there. Don't you feel better?

Pain Pain Go Away

Christmas shouldn’t be painful. There should be Joy.

There is, Spiritually.

But we still walk around in these darn bodies and interact with other bodies.

So, Christmas was painful. In the natural.

Painful because it’s a long drive to North Dakota. Pain in the rear, literally as I sit in the seat for 12 hours. Painful because you say hello and goodbye without knowing if there’s going to be another hello later.

Painful because we all deal with situations differently. Painful because my way is right. That should be a joke, but it’s less funny than all that.

So here’s the whole Redlin Assemblage in North Dakota at Christmas. It was good to be together.

Here’s the Gene and Peggy Redlin family including Son Tim, Raquella and our grandchildren, and Son Kevin who unfortunately inherited hair like mine (none on top).

I don’t see Kevin but once a year. So, this picture of him is a good resemblance. Some people struggle as they get older, but he gets better looking every year, so tall and strong. I guess you could say I am proud of him.

Tim and his family are very exceptional people. Brian, his oldest, 6 years old, read the Christmas story from the Bible along with his dad. They alternated verses. He’s in kindergarten and reads at a 4th or 5th grade level. His reading level is what mine was in the 3rd grade. Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Edgar Rice Burroughs, etc.

I would tell you that his genius come from my side of the family, or better yet directly from the grandfather Gene genes. I would tell you that but it’s not true. He’s been raised well.

Our youngest Grandchild (3) insisted that I leave Nana (Peggy) with him and go find another “Friend”. I said I kinda liked Peggy and wanted to keep her as my friend. I’m not sure he bought it.

There will come a day when these meeting and partings will end. So I treasure them for what they are.

LAST POST

Traveling to Dakota I will be non-posting for a week at least. This may be the last post for the year.

I wish everyone all the best at this season of remembrance. We will face the year to come and I can only encourage you by some wise people saying Quasi-wise things.

"We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn."
- Henry David Thoreau

The snow is gone from Illinois. Winter is sort of here and not. It’s like being in Kentucky for weather. If it keeps going too long like this the Magnolias will have been fooled into bloom. Then again that’s not so bad.

"The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."
- Henry Miller

I will be spending Christmas with Family, Family going thru changes. Some of those are painful changes. I would like to remember when it wasn’t so. I would like to remember the former things. But, I will try to treasure the here and now.

"A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen."
- Edward de Bono

I want to believe all will be well, that all will work out for the best. I want to believe that but sometimes I struggle. Optimism is hard work. So, I watch and wait and am thankful who holds the future in His hands.

"Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness."
- James Thurber

I will or might have much to Blog on in the New Year. But, I must update my diary.

"Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us."
- Oscar Wilde

God Bless us EVERY ONE!

Merry Christmas

See you soon……………………….

Eureka

I just discovered a wonderful blog that I have already bookmarked and recommend. You must see it.

Bill Barnwell is a 26-year-old pastor in Michigan. He is part of a fellowship (that's denomination to those of you from another time) that is eerily similar to the one under which I am credentialed. It appears that our theology would be as near identical as possible.

He is a deep thinker who has a way with the pen (or should I say keyboard).

His strong article, which was published on Lew Rockwell, has caused a great deal of buzz.

If you have NOT read it in its entirety you really must, particularly if you are in the arts and music.

It's time to take the lid off, or as I heard recently, get back to the basics.

Close all Churches

What if that were the mandate from a new ACLU driven Liberal Administration and congress in 2009? What if Churches were seen as anti-freedom and not relevant to society, so in response to a few complaints, all churches everywhere were closed by court order and all Staff had to become sanitation workers.

I know that's not going to happen, but stay with me here. IF it happened and 50 years goes by, will society be better or worse off than it is now?

I submit in 50 years we would be the same as we would have been with or without the church. My proof? Look at the last 50 years. Last Sunday in Church Barry Kolb said that the 1950s aren't coming back. I winced. The 1950s with it's implicit attempts at honor and morality (however veneered), the 1950s when swearing on your honor meant something. Gone? All this time the Church of Jesus has done what it always did, sang and preached. NET RESULT? No effect. 90% sexual activity before marriage, divorce and abortion in the church as high as in the culture. Every deviance exists in the church equal to what it does outside. Ergo, we have had no effect on the culture whatsoever.

I have been hearing one word from God as am waiting for him to develop what he wants to say thru me for 2007. That word is relevancy. Ron at Blessed Economist just wrote about it, the Pope just spoke about it. John Armstrong just wrote a post about it. I think that may be the word for 2007: Make a difference or disappear.

We in the Church (and I love the Church) have become as close to irrelevant to the society at large as anything can be. Our (the Church’s) influence on humanity is about the same as the Flat Earth Society. We just don't matter anymore. Worse we have become targets of spite and sardonic humor. What hurts the most, we did it to ourselves.

Oh, those of us IN the Church sure think we matter. We read each other's press releases. In Reality - We don't matter at all. I used to believe the Church of Jesus was that restriner against the man of Lawlessness as is described in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. I no longer do. We don't restrain anything. In fact if the man of lawlessness is among us we make him a Pastor or some other church leader. As I read the whole chapter of 2 Thessalonians 2 I think we are in the dead center of this time. It is only the Holy Spirit living in each person alone that restrains. The institutional Church as we understand it in America is without hope, in the world outside of the Covenent. Eph 2:12

This must change or why bother?

We have become neither salt nor light to the world.

We are an inert ingredient.

Massachusetts Takes Action on Killer Disease

(AP) BOSTON Massachusetts could become the first state to ban the HIV-spreading behavior of anal intercourse if a bill to be filed today wins legislative support.

Massachusetts is considering reviving the puritanical sodomoy laws banning homosexual men from engaging in anal sex -- a move some in the gay community are giving a thumbs-down.

State Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Health, filed a bill Tuesday to make Massachusetts the first state to impose the ban.

"It's basically killing people," Koutoujian said.

He said health officials have known about the "evils" of the HIV virus for years. He said two recent developments -- greater access to condoms and a move by some in the gay community to shy away from casual sex -- now make a statewide ban possible.

"People are dying and suffering from AIDS all around us and anal intercourse is something that is easily replaceable," he said. The HIV virus can be spread when homosexual men engage in casual, unprotected sex.

Oh Wait, I got a wrong version, here's the real one.

What does this mean???

Nativity is Pretty Good

Peggy and I went to see the Nativity last Saturday PM.

It was very traditional in theology. I was ok with that. It was also beautiful in it's portrayal.

For me the most interesting two situations in the movie was the relationship between Mary and Joseph and the manger scene.

Both had impact on me.

The rest was just really pretty good.

What breaks my heart is that according to this report the movie isn't doing very well. That's too bad. It'a pretty good flick.

What is happening end of Feb??

Hearing from God regarding 2006 in late Dec of 2005, many things were spoken by the spirit responding to the zeitgeist of the times. There was a lot of fear among people, even christians, at the end of 2005. We forget what things were like at the end of 2005. Katrina had just happened. Things were very uncertain. Fear was in the air. Here are some areas where the Lord wanted at that time to allay or help get perspective. In fact, the beginning of the prophetic spoke most about fear and reaction to fear. You can read it for yourself.

NATURAL OCCURANCES
We had just come off the biggest hurricane season in years. Predictions abounded that because of global warming we would have more hurricanes in 2006. God said no. He did say however that we would have other radical weather. Most tornadoes in history, flooding, and rainfall. His word was intended to get those with ears to hear off the pronouncements of Man and on to what God says. Are there yet earthquakes?

Men’s hearts have been failing them for fear, even in the Church, about bird flu.
If you don’t remember this you should. I was one who in the flesh believed we were all gonna die. We didn’t. There were some minor outbreaks here and there. A couple hundred die. But, this was an important reassurance for Father to give us.

CULTURE
God cares about the culture in which we live. He speaks against the areas where our culture is out of line. He judges those things that must be judged.

My judgment will come against corrupt media in 2006
Many people were confused and discouraged by the dominance of mainstream media at the end of 2005 and on the opinions of others. God wanted to tell us he would do what needed to be done. That’s called RESTING in God. He did and will

In 2006 I will initiate the beginnings of an educational implosion.
There were more articles, news programs, news stories, exposé’s of the corrupt public school system in 2006 than ever before. At the end of 2005 many were dissatisfied. Now in revolt.

People have given up on cities.
That was a headline at the end of 2005. But, God wanted to reassure his people that he doesn’t forget or condemn. Cities are becoming a new destination for many people to live.

I will continue to expose those workers of darkness in media
The big stars at the end of 2005 in shock jock radio. Name one who is still on the air in a big way. God cleaned house.

The music industry which possesses an antichrist spirit will be cleansed.
At the end of 2005 there were lawsuits and raii infringement issues that reached a fevered pitch. I believe this word must have come to reassure those in the music business that God has it all in hand. This is a case of me knowing nothing in the flesh of these things but hearing it clearly for someone who would read this. I would be interested if anyone who did read this could tell me what this meant and why. None of these things are for naught.

The Economy
There were all kinds of prognostications at the end of 2005. Few were positive. Cost of Oil and Katrina and the cost of War were all going to take us under. Then there was a weak stock market. Some were saying the stock market was going to take a major dive in 2006. The spirit of the day was doom and gloom. But GOD had other ideas.

This will be a year of restabilization.
It was
General Motors will face bankruptcy
It did
The employment of my people in America will remain about the same
It does
Nearly a 25% decrease in housing starts.
There was
At the end, the economy, although shaken will continue to be good.
It is
Inflation concerns and tighter credit will cause fear
It does
Oil prices
Stable and falling in real value
Media empires
Collapsing
There will be a major scare in the stock market
There was


POLITICS (God puts up and takes down)
I put up whom I will and I take down whom I will.
Boy did he (at the end of 2005 it looked like the R's had a lock)
Judge Alito will be confirmed.
Yes he was, but at the end of 2005 conventional wisdom was he would not be, Roberts was enough, filibuster
departures from the Presidents administration
There were, but Bush kept saying, no changes.
The fall elections will be of little consequence.
Still remains to be seen. What appears to be change may not be
Your President Bush will be protected
There were assassination predictions at the end of 2005
I am purifying government. The scandals
The rumbling under the floorboards in the government was that these scandals would pass and have little effect. God said, it’s a purifying. Boy did he..
All the issues below were up in the air at the end of 2005
Patriot act – Passes but with modifications YES
Dems had said that there was no way in heck it would at all,
Social Security – no change in 2006 YES
Big priority at the end of 2005, lost of smoke and mirrors
Health Care Reform – serious talk begins YES
At the end of 2005 no glimmer of this conversation which begins again
Tax Reform – will continue but still not enough YES
In Dec of 2005 everything was about rolling back tax reform, more passed

Global Affairs
Things happening globally are of concern to God, Otherwise why did Jesus warn about Wars and rumors of war. Why didn’t he just talk about souls being saved. God wants us to be confident when the rumors start.

The long questioned WMD issue will be settled
The drumbeat at the end of 2005 was that Bush lied. He didn’t. BUT, WMD deniers will never be convinced. Then we have holocaust deniers too, same thing. Facts don’t matter to deniers.
Iraq will settle down. I will raise up leaders for this season of restoration.
At the end of 2005 it seemed like no election would happen, no government organized, no national representation that this would be without any hope. Now, while things are still a mess, there is a government, a police force, national representation and a glimmer of hope that the leadership of Iraq will solidify.
An alliance of Iran and Russia’s Putin
At the end of 2005 Russia still seemed to be the USA’s friend. The real colors of our “friendship” have begun to be revealed..
Afghanistan will require new interventions
At the end of 2005 it seemed like Kahrzi and government had things well in hand.
As a result Terrorist efforts will be come less frequent but more deadly
At the end of 2005 people expected a ramp up of terror bombings. I think of the Wedding Bombing in Jordan as a deadly example.
I have raised my hand against the UN.
2005 many believed that the UN could play a key role in solving the worlds problems, it has wider and deeper been shown for what it really is, an inept corrupt useless entity.
I will judge North Korea for the sake of a Christian South Korea
2005 many believed that North Korea might attack or be a danger. The paper tiger they really are and the desperate circumstance of their people is the real story today.
China and India will continue to ascend.
2005 there were questions how far these countries could go. The answer is further than we thought.
I have placed a mantle of peace over my promised land, Israel.
2005 Sharon stroke, civil war potential, Gaza in flames, Arafat gone. It looked bad. But, despite the brief war with Hezbollah 2006 was peaceful.

His Church
At the end of 2005 people in the Church at large were asking what was going to happen in unity. What would bring revival? Where was God in all this? What God said wasn’t a word of peace peace. In fact the last year has brought exactly what God said it would bring.

• I am forcing a wedge into the body of Christ
• The middle ground is disappearing.
• Lukewarm is becoming vomit
• The purifying I am doing is not just for people; it’s for the church at large.
• Overt direct persecution of those of faith will accelerate.
• Polarization of those who say they believe
• Spiritual deception from high places

You will lose 5 major leaders of the Church in 2006.
To date we have only lost 3 of consequence

1. Zola Levitt
2. Ted Engstrom
3. William Sloane Coffin

While I wonder about William Sloane Coffin, he does represent a major arm of the Body of Christ and an important historical figure for those of my generation.

The other question is, do we consider the fall of Ted Haggard a "Loss of a Major Leader"? Is the word accurate but misundestood? Did it have to mean death. I’ll wait it out. There are still 14 days yet in 2006.

In waiting on the Lord for 2007, I’m not getting much vision past the end of February. I don’t know what that means if anything. Last year it was wide open. Revelation flowed. Now it seems like things have closed up after February. I’ll still wait. More coming.

What does this mean?

Is something happening in Feb or early March that changes everything? Something really big?

I'm still waiting.

Christmas Drives Me Crazy

Saw this, toooo Funny. With Attribution:

* 1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?

* 2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are

* 3. Dementia --- I Think I’ll be Home for Christmas

* 4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

* 5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and Airplanes.....

* 6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me

* 7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire

* 8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I’m Gonna Cry, I’m Gonna Pout, Maybe I’ll Tell You Why

* 9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooh look at the
airplane - can I have a chocolate - why is France so far away? - all is calm

* 10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --- Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells , Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells,! Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

I hope Jesus is a Bears Fan

So, the news is that Tank Johnson, who has fumbled more off field balls in the last week than it is possible to imagine, is going to be playing next week and as long as we play even and into the SuperBowl.

This after a week of problems of illegal guns, raids and his bodyguard being killed at 2AM in a VIP room downtown Chicago. None of this is good.

I heard Lovie Smith, Coach of the Bears speak on this last night. I knew right away. They need him. The Bears are a little light right now and can use all the help they can get. He'll be back on the team.

So when today I heard the announcement that the Tankmeister was back I actually thought it was a good play. Winning is real important and Lovie Smith's job is to win. Building character should have happened in High School. This is pro ball. Whatever character Tank does or doesn't have is already in his DNA.. Win the stupid game.

So, this afternoon we hear the big news. Jerry Angelo GM of the Bears announced that the Tank was back on the team. I'll bet Mr Tank will be very very good the rest of the season, he'll play hard. So, all in all it was a right move.

But, as to this comment: Jerry said, "The decision to keep Johnson on the team was not based on the playoffs".


This is on video tape. In front of God and everyone.

Now in the Bible there are admonitions about the really bad thing liars recieve in punishment. Lakes of fire and all that. But these are the playoffs Lord. We need this win.

I only Hope Jesus is a Bears fan and can overlooke this one little, let's say slightly adjusted for media, remark.

Go Bears!

Amen

Holy Resiliency

Last night I met a couple who had two beautiful children in tow. Oriental. The Children not the parents. They were kids who had been adopted from an orphanage or something.

That’s not the story. The story is how, not many months out of hell, these kids are bouncing back. Wounds and all, they have light in their little eyes. They are resilient. Kids are resilient. That’s why parents seem to have no trouble getting a divorce, “Kids are resilient” they tell each other and go about being selfish and bullheaded.

Yes, I am one who believes parents should stay together for the sake of the kids. Unless there is physical danger.

Those little kids will always carry some scar on their soul. Jesus can and will heal it but they will always walk with a slight limp emotionally.

The real gift God gives them is the gift of Holy Resiliency. Bouncing back from difficulty.

So, when do we lose this? When do we reach the stage where everything that happens to us is a huge disaster? I know people who will stay in bondage to events and circumstance because they love the attentions they get in travail and they reject the gift God wants to give them in Holy Resiliency. I have lots of Bible bullets I could quote. 2 Timothy 2 is a good place. But I won’t.

Sufficient to say, the whiny folks you see on the evening news after some little thing complaining about their circumstances, that somebody did em wrong, that their feelings were hurt and oh by the way where’s my attorney’s phone number.

I think the world needs a dose of Holy Resiliency. Last Sunday my Pastor and Friend Barry Kolb said something I wish weren’t true. He said, the 1950’s aren’t coming back. Making a deal over a beer and a handshake, being stoic in the face of great pain and suffering. Not good news.

How did we lose all that? I sound like an old guy. Maybe the 50’s weren’t perfect. I’ll submit they weren’t. But having this thin-skinned wounded generation who can’t take an occasional sling or arrow of outrageous fortune without being destroyed and complaining about it to everyone is out of balance. Many prayer requests I read are really a lack of Holy Resiliency.

My hope and prayer for you and yours is that you develop the gift of Holy Resiliency.

I may preach this. I’m a bit ticked off at all the whiners. I’m more ticked off that I am one sometimes.

Lord give me the Gift of Holy Resiliency.

Northern Lights Spectacular

This morning I opened a link sent to me by Ken which blew me away.

I have always been in awe of the Northern Lights. Have sat in bitter cold and watched with mouth open as the heavens explode and crackle.

So, for a glimpse into what life was like in North Dakota last Thursday Night at 2 in the morning, look at these pictures. They are amazing.

Also, his website with other pictures from the prairie is worth looking at. This is the kind of land I grew up on.

Studying for Finals

In a little over a week or so we will enter a new year. 2007.

I have so many things that “Must” be done by then. Actually, most of these things are self-imposed. I don’t HAVE to do them. But if I don’t, I’ll pay later. So, I’m wrapping things up for 2006.

It’s like college.

I kept up with assignments so the idea of studying for finals always seemed a bit strange to me. Others would be up all night. Wracking their brains, drinking coffee and other things to stay awake.

Then, the next morning bleary eyed show up and hack thru the test. Getting interesting grades.

A = Average
B = Better
C = Courageous
D = Distinctive
F = Fabulous

I was a Fabulous student.

I never got it. Oh, I studied; I had term papers with the ink not yet dry sometimes. But mostly I slept thru preparation for finals. I thought, whatever I don’t know, it’s too late to learn.

But in life and in school, a little every day gets me to the end. There’s always a last minute flurry to get things done. But, usually it’s odds and ends. Not as one young lad whose term paper was due the next day was planning at 3PM to get a start on it “pretty soon”.

I need a nap by 3PM.

Always did, Still do.

Talent Isn’t Everything

I won’t bore you with the old Calvin Coolidge quote about Persistence.

I’m not completely sold on everything about his quote. I have known some very persistent people who didn’t make it. I have known many educated and bright people who squandered their genius and education like it was small change. So do you.

But, most legendary are those extraordinarily talented people who fail in spades. Talented, educated, bright people with terrible flaws that causes them to crash and burn in life. They torment me.

Coolidge’s quote will live on after my lame observations.

Tank Johnson, a powerful talented player on the Bears football team has just self destructed. Terril Owens of The Cowboys threw a tantrum and spit in a teammates face. Spoiled brats. Lack of character. Our professional sports system systematically destroys more people than it helps. This is a result of our big pay for play system in professional sports. Baseball long ago crossed this barrier. The carnage along the first base line is horrid.

What of “Real” life? I have so many examples that this could be one of Gene’s really long (ergo unread) blogs. The problem for me is all of these are real people with names and addresses and lawyers they know. It will do me no good and potential harm to talk directly of these people.

I think as I get older and I see these shipwrecks it becomes so clear to me what could have been done earlier to avoid the disasters that are left on the rocks of life. Not avoiding the conflict, avoiding the disasters.

• Marriages ill conceived
• Trysts without sense
• Skilled but without vision.
• Able but unable to draw others into the plan

Skilled and talented people who can’t do the job. They just go the easy route and hope you won’t notice.

I have been these people. The trouble with being bold and stepping out is you fail in full view of everyone else. Like our current national sweetheart, Barak Obama who represents whatever you think he does to you. I mention it because in business and life there are people who successfully do nothing and keep their head down with the hope that you might believe they know what they are doing and get away with doing nothing.

I had such a one that worked for me. The upper management of the company in telling me how good he was often said as an appellation, “He dresses well”. Like that mattered when in fact he couldn’t do the job.

Oh, they get found out eventually. Not before becoming a major disappointment. If you never do anything no can criticize you. It becomes the parable of talents not used.

Talent, Skill, Knowledge, Education, Smarts AND Persistence and just a little bit o Luck is everything.

So get it and stick with it.

Global Warming – No Sweat OR? UPDATE

I had a terrarium when I was a kid of 11. Frogs, crickets, fish etc inhabited Geneland. It was a sealed system. No air or water in, none out. The idea was that the O2 generating plants would trap the CO2 and keep the O2 using animals alive. In subdued light it worked pretty well. Oh, we had the occasional muerte. But it went on for weeks.

Then I had the bright idea of exposing it to a great deal of extra sunlight.

So I did.

It was instant global warming at least for the residents of Geneland.

HereÂ’s what happened. Plants wilted, things on the surface of Geneland became crispy. Frogs hated this and spent more time in Geneland lake. Crickets headed underground. Life changed.

Then something happened that I thought about yesterday. All at once the whole environment became very sultry. Sticky, humid, and everything was wet. The inside of the terrarium dripped. The plants were soggy, and the frogÂ’s little tongues hung out.

What happened was after the first flush of drought resulting from the increase in temp, the moisture was trapped in the air and precipitated out. This happens with Meringue if you bake, this happens when you try to soften bread rolls in the oven or microwave.

The first thing is a crisping, a crusting, then moisture is released and everything gets soggy. Your flambe' is ruined.

So, let's think about a larger terrarium, oh, let'’s say, THE WORLD.

We live inside a closed system. For one reason or another our world is warming. That warming accelerates the production of decomposition of previously frozen tundra and that releases even more warming atmosphere that increases the decomposition etc. This is a cycle that has repeated itself every 20,000 years for a while.

People who are smarter than us (they say) who will tell you smugly that they have a degree in Science and that makes them better able to think are for the most part unable to do so beyond what ever the herd mentality allows them to think.

Maybe the end result of Global warming is a GOOD THING. Of course it will mean change, and all change is interpreted as loss to people. But, Here'’s a hypothesis based on a 50 year ago terrarium experiment.

The world temp increases 10 degrees in the next 100 years. THAT'’s a LOT. Instead of everyone baking in the sun and dying, what if the net result of that is a radical increase in the worlds Rh factor. Humidity. Steamy. Tropical rainforest conditions. Nearly pole to pole.

The humidity in the air has the net effect of making much of the planet look like the Amazon, or the rainforests of Washington state.

That would be bad because........................?

It would be different. Huge rainfall would create lakes where none were before. It would make deserts that formerly were forests reforest again. Sahara and the West China deserts would blossom and flourish.

Much of the western USA would become verdant and the east would become lush. Rainfalls of 100 inches per year would be common on the globe. And in true rainforest fashion it would rain every night.

Look at Florida, southern India, Indonesia, Philippines, Central and equatorial South America. Maybe instead of toasting, drying up and blowing away we will swelter. And things will grow and people will eat, and animals will thrive and life will change.

I can'’t prove my theory, that a higher temp will evaporate more of the water from the planet into the atmosphere and cause an ultrahumidification of our global climate. It seems to me that to extrapolate straight line that warmer means drier as we hear from some people with degrees in science is as valid my as thinking there may be an inversion coming by a shift in the hydrological cycle. A release of global humidity driven by a radical speedup of the Water Cycle we all learned about in School. More heat, more water, more atmospheric potential, more rain, more clouds, instant tropics.

My bet is that the increase of heat on the planet is net net net a GOOD thing for everyone. Change, but good. Besides there is NOTHING you or I can do about it. We didn'’t cause it, we canÂ’t cure it. You would do just as well to sacrifice a virgin (if you could find one) on the top of Mt. St. Helens to the God of weather as most of what the Kyoto treaty wants us to do. It'’s useless.

Oh, and the frogs and crickets in Geneland? I let them out after the frog ate the fish. There are descendents of Frog and Cricket walking the earth today talking of this myth of how the Gene created all.

I wonder what ever happened to that dumb terrarium. I know this, that once I removed the lid, life went back to "“Normal"” in Geneland and it wasn'’t better. I hope the creator of all of this doesnÂ’t remove our lid. I'’ll take whatever comes.

There is no other choice.

Based on the comments from the intelectual left who only parrots what misleaders say here are other voices. I wish I could take full unmerited credit for this thesis. I can't. I can just support what may be the FACTS (not that it ever stopped the global warming mafia before).

Global Warming is cyclical and normal

No one knows what the net effect is going to be and liars only say they do

These things have happened before and life goes on

As late as 12,000 years ago

So relax. It is what it is. No amount of hand wringing will solve this. No amount of artificial sacrifice will have any effect whatsoever.

Learn to live with Global Warming.

To Ken and Karma, who insist I must not read any scholarly scientific journals, I'll match my scientific reading and in depth science education (2 degrees and most of a masters in the life sciences) to anyone who decides to match mine. I'll match you journal for journal, book for book, degree for degree, and experience for experience. You don't know what you are talking about and you are living in a world driven by liberal delusion. You have been dumbed down and blinded. I would offer you books of scholarly treatises that will go against the conventional wisdom with competence and authority. You wouldn’t read them. It would mess with your worldview and could cause you to actually doubt what the ecomafia wants you to believe. Even if they told you the truth you wouldn’t believe them. You are blind to reality.

I only wish you would open your mind and start to just question what the ecomafia is feeding you. You are a sheepling.

Life is Short - so - Git-er-done

I got a call this morning from a friend of mine in the nursery business. He and I were supposed to link up this week. We didn't.

Then he told me his sister about my age was in her last days in hospice dying of cancer. He had been spending time with her. He knew she had been sick but had no idea it was terminal. She had been a nurse in Cleveland and worked hard all her life. No vacations, working hard.

Now with imminent death she made time to do some things she always wanted to do. His sister had spent the last year taking all kinds of life extending things and enjoying a bit of travel. I said made time. She didn't make time. She reclaimed it.

Biblically we are told to redeem the time. Get it back from the tyranny of busy.

The same is true of Money. We think because we have little or it's scarce we can do nothing. It freezes our lives.

Well, I'm NOT dying of anything other than the disease called terminal humanity. 3 score and 10, 20 or maybe 30 which is how much my genetics proclaims I will have. I have tried to abuse my body so maybe 29.

There are two great truths reinforced this morning by my conversation with Doug:

1. We always have enough time to do the things we want to do. When people say they don't have enough time, what they are really saying is I don't want to. Oh, I don't mean to be unkind (see earlier post on kindness). But we have time to do what we want to. Deciding that and doing it are acts of true life.

2. We always have the money to do what is necessary or important to us. We find a way. If your child or spouse walked in with a broken arm or a hole in their head from a gunshot wound, would you say."We don't have the money right now to take care of that, so you'll just have to suffer". Of course not. We would find the money one way or another. The fact that we don't have the money to do certain things is an indicator of it's importance to us. We have whatever money we need for the things that must be done. If it's important we'll find the money. In America in particular.

So, in my most KIND way possible, don't ever say to me, I don't have the time or the money to do that important thing. You do and you know it. You take time and find the money to do whatever is important to you. If you don't, it wasn't that important. We get done what is important to us. We find a way. Heck and High Water won't stop us.

I'll get just a little political here. I liked Bill Clinton. Think it would have been fun to hang out with him. Think he would have been a fascinating night on the town talking about all kinds of things. I think he's a bright man.

BUT

I'll never forget how as President he kept telling all of us that "I've never worked so hard in all my life". I just can't get anything with this uncooperative congress (1994 Republican takeover). So for the years from 95-2001 he just marked time. Complained about things and did little.

I submit, that was all Billoney. If he had wanted to cooperate with and work with Congress he could have made things happen. Congress didn't help much (Impeachment) and Clinton leaned into the punch (Definition of Is is).

For the most part, Clinton was a decent President who could have been great if he had just moved out with courage and boldness.

In business as CEO of a couple large Corporations I had minions who constantly complained about how hard it was, things weren't happening, people weren't cooperating, they didn't have time, they didn't have money.

I had one tactic I always used on these folks. I said, "If I could take away that hindrance can you do the job?" In other word I called their bluff. Most of the time the real hidden agenda came out. We went to war a couple times. And, in the end I had to fire them or they quit. A few fessed up and stepped up to the plate, did the job and they outlasted me.

Life requires doing what's right and not what's easy.

NO EXCUSES. If you were assigned a job to do and don't do it, the man in the mirror is the problem. I'm not the sports fan my friend Barry Kolb is but, I suspect this is an area of agreement I would have in spades with Bobby Knight based on what I read in Barry's Blog. I need to get one of those armbands that asks the question, WWBD? What Would Bobby Do? Then do that. How much do you want this Coach Sheldon in my high school used to ask. If we wanted it bad enough we got it. Jesus asked the Rich Young Ruler how much do you want it? The King who threw a wedding feast ended up with a lot of people who were pretty busy with Oxen, Land and Marriage problems. They missed out. Life's like that, enough excuses as to why you can't do something and life passes you by.

Life's too short to do it stupid. Get it done. Or, is the truth you really don't want to?

Sorry, kid. You got the gift but looks like you're waiting for something. (the Matrix: spoken to Neo by the Oracle in the Kitchen).

Truth is Kind.

Not NICE but KIND

At a recent conference in conversation with other ministers the comment was made about me, "You're not Nice but you are Kind".

I took that as a high complement. I hope to be Kind. I hope never to be mistaken for nice. I know that I was hearing in the conversation a rehash of a recent sermon this minister had just given. We all do that. Give something we have poured our lives energies into at the drop of a hat rehearsing it back. I mean we have a new audience who hasn't yet heard our sermon. I can always tell.

But there is something revolting to me about the idea of a God (Jesus) who is syrupy nice. IF I met Jesus face to face I would most likely tremble in my shoes and fall to the ground as if I were dead. That's what happened to the Apostle that Jesus Loved, John, when he met the resurrected Jesus. Revelation 1:12-18

12 Then I turned to see [whose was] the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 And in the midst of the lampstands [One] like a Son of Man, clothed with a robe which reached to His feet and with a girdle of gold about His breast. 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, [as white] as snow, and His eyes [flashed] like a flame of fire. 15 His feet glowed like burnished (bright) bronze as it is refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth there came forth a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full power at midday.
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, 18 And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead).

I am not the only one revolted by the idea of supersweet Nice God. In the Tribune today two articles piqued my interest. I would commend them to you. It costs nothing to sign up for this service and it's worth it. One is about a movement called GodMen that has a basic tenet, I THANK GOD FOR MY TESTOSTERONE.

The Other is about a man I never met but that a friend of mine knew quite well. Jay Bakker. Scion of Jim and Tammy Faye. He is now a "Preacher" in his own right. His ministry sounds anything but NICE. I think I might like attending his church.

These two articles are signposts along a highway that is leading us away from a namby pamby Jesus, babe in the manger, all nice all the time, to a Jesus who is here to kick some serious devil butt. I can relate to that.

I have relatives who struggle with the fact that I'm not nice. I ask hard questions. I don't give up. I stay with an issue. I'm Kind. I'm not Nice. I don't plan to change. Is it NICE or KIND to yell at a kid running out into heavy Traffic? Sometimes LOVE compells me to take actions that others may see as not nice. If its not driven by love it's just so much clanging gongs. I always hear this from people who take offense and my lack of NICE, "You could have picked a "Nicer" way to say that". OK, I'd translate that ineffective and obscure. You may be familar with the concept of Minnesota Nice. If you grew up in Minnesota (or as I did near it) you know that is code for mumbling indirectness while looking at your shoes hoping the hearing party catches onto the nuance. WHAT? Say it already! The other argument for nice is that you can't get others cooperation by not being nice. OK, so what? If nice is the driving force for your cooperation it will dissolve into a heap of BS very soon. Just as soon as someone doesn't do what you or they thought someone did or didn't do and has their feelings hurt. I'm just sick of it. MEN, be a man, KIND, caring, compassionate but don't try to be nice. Be strong but not cruel. Life is too short to be nice.

On my bookshelf are large heavy books of Greek and Hebrew words. I looked up any reference to NICE in any iteration in the Bible. Smooth Words was a close as I came and they were not in a positive context. Had to do with a whore soliciting business.

But Kindness. Lots of References. Like Romans 2:4

Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

So, I thought, what does it mean in the original language. Here's what I came up with.

Kindness in it's meaning Biblically has to do with Demeanor, not necessarily action. It has to do with justice and generosity. With being Tolerant at the right time and intolerant at others. Patience when patience is proper and direct when not. It has to do with appropriate Gentleness and proper distance when Gentleness isn't correct. Some translations confuse the word Gentleness for Kindness. They are not the same word. In Galatians 5 as the word is translated it seems to go either way, but it is not the word Kindness as used in the rest of the Bible (Mostly). Getting at the root of Greek and Hebrew words is more art than science but in a way unless you do you miss the color of the meanings.

I think the best way is to say, kindness is how a child feels when her Father who loves her is at her side. She knows that he might deal with her if she gets out of line. She knows while she is by his side and that his purpose is only to do her good and protect her. He will discipline her, sometimes severely, but not harm her. In Lewis' "Lion Witch and Wardrobe" series there is a description given by Mrs. Beaver of this "Kind but not NICE" God type Aslan the Lion King.

"Is -- is he a man?" asked Lucy. "Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of the Beasts? Aslan is a lion -- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh," said Susan, "I thought he was a man. Is he -- quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion." "That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else silly." "Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy. "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver, "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

It's my goal in life to be Kind in every way possible and never to be mistaken as nice. I want to emulate my King. As he grows in me I will be thankful for my manhood and it's kind but not nice nature. I hope as I get old(er) it will be said of me, "He's a very kind man, but he can be a little testy".. The worst thing they could say is, "He's a nice old man". What a disdaining thing to say.

I am thankful for a Jesus who is at the same time Kind (Not safe but good) and you can trust Him. I have seen all the pictures of him with a lapful of lambs and all. That's OK, but lets see if we can get a better picture of him.

Kind but not Nice.

Maybe those lambs were for Lunch? Now that makes sense.

Now, don't get all offended on me you old religious spirit; I love a good rack of Lamb, crusted with herbs and dried mustard, baked to perfection, YUM!

I think I'll go make some right now.

I'm not from There anymore.

Being from North Dakota and about to embark on a long trip to the "Old Country" as my Grandma Lee used to call Norway, I read this column in the Chicago Tribune from an occasional correspondent of mine and a man who is of the same vintage as I who carries a well-written wisdom worthy of reading.

Read this:

Charles M. Madigan
Even in the familiar thicket, we're not from here anymore

Published December 12, 2006

A few weeks ago, we were in the town of Summit, Pa., which sits, appropriately, at the top of a mountain on the Pennsylvania-Maryland border, when I heard a comment that planted itself so firmly in my head I have not been able to forget it.

My wife and I were looking for directions to the burial place of a poet-theologian ancestor in her family. A woman at the library was helping us.

"We're not from here anymore," my wife said. "We need to get to Mercersburg."

That statement, "We're not from here anymore," struck me as profound.

Of course we are no longer "from" Pennsylvania. We are literally "from" Evanston now.

The less obvious part, and the one that applies to me, to my wife, to all of us as a matter of fact, is that the place we were from is no longer literally there anymore, not the way it was in our youth.

To say "We're not from here anymore" is a statement that recognizes the nature of change in one's own life, and in the life of the place where it all began.

Briefly put, there is no "here" in my life anymore.

My parents are gone. The railroad that built my hometown, Altoona, is gone. Most of my friends are gone. The old neighborhood is strange, not as meticulously kept as when the Pennsylvania Railroad employed 54,000 people at very ripe wages. My grade school is gone. The convent is gone.

My first newspaper is gone.

I still have my brother and my sisters. But everything else that was familiar exists in my head, not on the ground.

I found that a pretty sad thought until I concluded that what doesn't change much in the formula is the individual and some rituals.

That was why there was a powerful resonance for me in being in Pennsylvania in the woods on the opening day of deer season.

Hunting is a ritual, like church. Even though the weapons have changed and the gear is fancier, it's still about the season, the quest, the win or lose prospect of coming home with your deer.

A week into combined buck and doe season, hunters had worked the deer far up into the mountains. At altitude (2,000 feet is high in the Keystone State) it was not unusual to run into little herds of deer high-tailing it for the Maryland border. It was rainy and in the 60s, unusually warm for the post-Thanksgiving hunting season.

I had witnessed this season many times in my youth. The symbol used to be the front-fender deer carcass, which you would see all the time as hunters hauled their trophies down the highway. Now the hills are alive with sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks of every description, so the deer are stowed before the trip home begins.

Hunting season eve seemed pretty much unchanged, at least at the little store where we stopped to pick up some food. A long queue of hunters waited to pay, armed to the eyes with turkey and deer jerky, lots of canned food, meat for dinner. Some of them wore orange coveralls.

That, in retrospect, was somehow comforting.

I talked with a man in the checkout line. He said the deer were not as plentiful as in previous years. Lovely as they are, deer behave like 200-pound rodents. They are dangerously wild, especially if accidentally confined. A big herd causes trouble, and a good hunting season will solve much of the problem.

Because we planned to be in the woods with our cameras and our eyes as the season played out, we stopped at Wal-Mart and purchased, for $3 each, orange Wheaties "Breakfast of Champions" hats to warn hunters that we were not a part of the harvest.

Happily, this worked.

A few cabins away from us, I talked with a young man who was icing down a big buck and a doe that were tied to the porch rafters, legs spread to open their cavities.

He told me the story of his hunt for the buck, and how his dad, who had just joined him on the porch, shot the doe a few minutes later in the same location. He was proud and I was honored to hear the little saga.

To some, I know, hunting sounds brutal. But I also know families who depend on deer season for their winter's meat. We're not all townspeople. We're not all well paid.

I felt that sense of loss, deep in the woods, that I was not from there anymore.

But it was comforting to know that this part of life, the deer-hunting ritual and the stories it creates, has not changed.

We didn't get our deer this year, but we got deer meat. 5 of them, thanks to the Frankhauser Gang who never met a deer they didn't shoot.

So, venison is still on the plate if you come to visit the Redlins in 2007. But, I didn't shoot it, I'm not from There anymore.

Oh, and if we do invite you to a nice plate of Deer Liver, There are no hormones in Deer Meat; Other than Lead.

Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

I am very pleased that Kofi Annan gave his LAST speech to the world yesterday. Pleased that is was his LAST!

He has been the most horrid leader of the UN, a disgraced entity, that is possible to imagine. He represents all that is bad about the UN. And that is saying a lot. It would please me if tomorrow the UN just dissolved. But that's another Story.

So the king of Corruption and inaction goes to Independance MO to the Truman Library and goes off on the USA, GWB and all things American. What an idiot.

What makes this so unique, this coming from a man with no discernible gonads. Whiny and hopeless. I only hold James Earl Carter ex pres ret in lesser standing. But that's another story.

Today's Chicago Tribune has a brilliant piece in it's lead editorial.

excerpts:

Annan said when the U.S. "appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused." Translation: Have I told you this week how much I resent the U.S. for enforcing the 17 resolutions against Iraq that my Security Council adopted but then abandoned?

Paul Volcker called Annan's reign a "culture of inaction"--that aggravated one crisis after another:

- The corruption of Annan's bureaucracy in the oil-for-food scandal is Exhibit A. While UN swells slept (or shared in the booty), Saddam Hussein funneled fortunes looted from his own people to his influential pals in Russia, France, China and elsewhere.

- Sudanese officials may have slaughtered Muslim villagers "with genocidal intent," a UN panel reported in 176 pages of blather. But the mass killings in Darfur aren't "genocide." How convenient for Annan. A finding of genocide by the UN would have forced the rest of the world to act. Russia, France and China didn't want embargoes or sanctions to gum up their trade with Sudan--and Annan didn't apply the muscular diplomacy that might have persuaded those governments to help stop the killing.

- A 2004 internal UN report admits that the body is hamstrung by "an unwillingness to get serious about preventing deadly violence." Two years later, nothing has changed.

- Iran ignores an Aug. 31 Security Council deadline to halt uranium enrichment. Does Annan demand sanctions? No, he flies to Tehran and, with the naivete of a 3-year-old, announces that Iran's president "reaffirmed to me Iran's preparedness and determination to negotiate" a solution to the nuclear confrontation. What? In Mahmoud Ahmadinejad we trust?

- North Korea sets off a nuclear device. Kofi Annan's UN ... blinks. No pressure, no punishment. How better to teach other rogue governments and their mad-hatter rulers that acquiring nukes is the best way to snub the world?

- A new UN Human Rights Council replaces a disgraced Human Rights Commission that coddled member nations with dreadful records of oppression. Except Annan's new panel blames almost every indignity it mulls on Israel. Even Annan fusses briefly. And then does nothing.

It has been said that if the oil-for-food scandal alone had occurred in any legitimate organization on Earth, its CEO long ago would have been ousted in disgrace.

Today Jeff Skilling began a 24 year prison sentence for the Enron situation. This in itself is a travesty. But if there was any justice Kofi Annan would be in the cell next to Skilling and I would hope he would find a nice 300 pound "girlfriend" named bubba.

As to Annan. I don't like him much. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

American Taliban

A few weeks ago I saw a sad video of a little girl from Gaza who was rehearsing for her parents her hatred of Jews and Americans. She rehearsed how they (The Jews) were pigs and apes.

It was horribly sad. I thought, it's going to take a great deal of reprogramming to get that child to even be partially accepting and adapted into the world at large. Or she will be marginalized and maybe die a homicide bomber.

Then I saw this video. An 8 year old child. Indoctrinated by the hate speech of the left.

I only have one question. True or False. The Taliban is alive and well in America. Destroying young minds with hatred and evil. If you think this is OK for this child to spew this kind of hate the liberal left routinely spews, you are a sick person.

Between Two Worlds

I am between two worlds right now.

I'm feeling more peaked than usual. Sniff, Cough, Ache.
But I'm a tough old goat, I'll get back to the otherworld of wholeness soon.

My business days are wrapped up for the year. We are in the process of finishing things up and beginning for next year. That is the nature of seasonality in the nursery business. Between two worlds. Good world in the year gone by, hopeful one in the year yet coming.

I'm back to a routine that is December for me, It's one I value and nurture. I was in Dallas. Another World. At a conference that opened my eye to a world I have long been a part of but on the outside looking in. Now I'm back in my world. Very interesting. Without elaboration, I was changed and see the world differently as a result of that conference.

During the Conference we stayed at what must be the largest resort hotel in the world. Maybe it isn't. But it was for me. The Gaylord Texan in Grapevine TX. WOW! I honestly have never seen anything that intentionally grandueresque (if that's a word) in my life. And, I'm hard to impress. I have traveled all over the world. I have been lots of places. It was another world. I found it interesting to go there but I wouldn't want to live there (in the hotel).

In about 13 days we make our occasional trip to ND for Christmas. It is going to be interesting, painful, difficult and perhaps enlightening. We will only be there for 5 days. Long enough and short enough. That is for me now another world. A world of familiarity and yet strangeness. Son Kevin is coming in to help drive his older than he parents to Dakota land. It's always good to go to that other world and then to return.

In the end, I'm happy where I am, doing what I do, with whom I do those things. I couldn't do what I do elsewhere. I feel sorry for those who are less than content with life as they know it. It's so short and so terminal, there is little reason to spend one minute of it in a world not of your first choice.

There are two worlds, choose carefully.