May 10th Global Warming in North Dakota

Bet that's good on those tomatoes planted last week in Grand Forks.


Phooey.

Oil Price Crash - It's not just me

Lehman Bros. Report: Oil Bust in the Cards


Friday, April 25, 2008 5:56 p.m. EDT

Is $120 oil even real? Not if you ask the Saudis, or even Lehman Bros.

The investment bank’s oil expert said this week that the oil boom is due to bust. Economic growth across the globe will slow just as new refineries kick in, raising supply.

Recession or not, a U.S. slowdown will slacken demand sharply, right as new oil hits the market. "Supply is outpacing demand growth,” said Michael Waldron, Lehman’s oil strategist.

"Inventories have been building since the beginning of the year. We have pretty significant projects starting soon in Saudi Arabia, and large off-shore fields in Nigeria,” he said.

Lehman is now predicting prices at $83 a barrel in 2009 and as low as $70 in 2010.

Although some years off, Brazil too has found as much as 8 billion barrels of light oil and gas offshore. The South American giant’s president says his country might well join OPEC when the Tupi field begins to pump, in 2011.

In addition, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds have pushed up the oil price by investing billions of their oil gains, ironically, in commodities index funds.

Now they could be looking to get out, warns Waldron. He figures the money effect has driven anywhere from $20 to $30 into the barrel price.

In addition, a weak dollar is holding oil prices high, according to a series of statements from OPEC leaders over the past week.

If you buy the views of OPEC’s various leaders, that’s at least another $20 of oil price that is not supported by the actual supply and demand situation.

In addition, Europe’s central bank seems bent on containing inflation there. A rate increase in Europe is sure to contain the euro’s rise against the dollar — if serious steps are taken soon.

Couple that with a lower-than-expected rate cut in the U.S. next week, or perhaps no cut, and the oil price drops as the dollar gains ground.

All this is having little immediate impact now, of course. U.S. gas prices at the pump hit $3.58 a gallon just as the summer driving season kicks off.

If nothing changes, analysts now expect gas to rise to as high as $4 a gallon in as little as a month.

Prophecy at Pentcost

Sunday is Pentecost Sunday.  The last month or so has seen a wind changing the face of Christianity once again.  The body of Christ doesn't look the same as she did six weeks ago.  This same wind that thousands heard at Pentecost is the same wind people are hearing today.

 

Some think people are acting foolish. They did at Pentecost. Some are proclaiming that if God was going to do something he wouldn't do it "THAT WAY".   Just like at Pentecost.  Some are intentionally keeping their heads firmly planted in the sand and hope it will somehow all go away and we can go back to church as usual. Just like the Sanhedrin did.

 

This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Once again I am doing a new thing.  There have been waves of my Glory in the past.  Each one crashing on the shores of tradition and breaking down dividing walls.  Some manmade walls of division are so high and so deep that I have to go around them to invade men's souls.  

 

Peter on the rooftop.  Acts 10:15   "Again a voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy."

 

What God has called holy, do not dare to call unholy! By the Spirit of God we can know the truth of a thing by its fruits and by the witness of our spirits. 

 

This new thing that I am doing is pouring out thru you.  I am filling you will all the gifts I ever promised.  I am doing it once again to empower you to be a blessing.  I will open windows of blessing in YOU so that You will be poured out to be a blessing on the earth.

 

Malachi 3:10b

Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

 

Most of the time people think this passage is about giving.  It's not.  It's about testing and trusting God to be the blessing he has called us to be.  That WE are to be so empowered with his giftedness thru the Holy Spirit that we will minister to the lost world in all the authority and charismata he imparted to us: 

• Words of supernatural knowledge
• Words of extraordinary supernatural wisdom 
• Boldness of supernatural faith
• Ministry of supernatural healing
• Prophetic supernatural encouragement
• Proclamation releasing supernatural miracles
• Discerning beyond your ability to recognize spirits of good and evil
• Supernatural ability to speak in tongues you don't know
• Supernatural ability to interpret the utterance of tongues unknown. 

 

In the original Hebrew the Malachi 3:10b verse shown above should read:

Test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour out you a blessing until it overflows.

 

In most versions the translators included the word FOR before the word YOU in this verse. It's not there.  He is about to open windows of heaven in YOU so YOU pour out the blessing. 

 

This is that.  Just as Peter Pointed to Joel on the day of Pentecost  and said This is That.

 

Now in this new outpouring, This is That.

 

God is empowering, filling, gifting and releasing with  dynamo power His Body upon planet earth.  The only question is, will you receive this wave of his glory driven by the winds of change and be part of God's purposes on the earth or will you resist?  You can resist, you won't go to Hell, Jesus will just pass you by.  Like Blind Bartemeus at the roadside, will you call out or will you remain silent and inert.

 

A new Pentecost is here.  The Prophetic word of God:    YOU MUST BE FILLED TO BE POURED OUT.  BE YE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.

I think I see God in all this

Burma and the typhoon. Horrible thing. Hundreds of thousands of people have or will die.

Relief is available just off shore but the Military Government won't allow it to be distributed.

It's all so horrible.

But, whenever i see massive pain and death and suffering and oppression and human cruelty I see God's manifested hand in curing a festering pustule on the face of the earth.

He has done it before and he will again.

Spurgeon said, no person dies before they fulfil their purposes in God. Till then they are immortal.

I think there are a lot of people fulfilling God's will and paying an ultimate price to get it done to expose and destroy evil from the earth.

The fight for freedom is watered by the blood of patriots

How many longs are left in the market?

A primer on market psychology.  Long means you believe the price is going up therefore you bet by buying the commodity.  Short means you believe it's going down so you sell the commodity.

 

Price of Oil has gone up for two reasons.

 

People believe that the price will go up and up so they are long oil.

 

People believe that the value of  the dollar will go lower and lower and so they are short the dollar.

 

Now we are at a crisis point in the market.

 

If you had ten thousand dollars, would you bet the price of oil is going to go higher and or that the value of the dollar were going to sink further?   I think that anyone who can read a tea leaf will say that for the dollar to make a big run a great deal higher is a risky bet.  To say that the dollar is going to collapse much more is equally risky. 

 

So we have this convergence.  Weaker dollar but a dollar that is not going to fall much more. 

 

I don't know how many more deeply convinced longs on oil or short on dollar investors there are.  I know this, there are fewer and fewer.  That indicates a bubble.

 

Some good economic news (which is starting to come out) will strengthen the dollar and fundamentals in the oil market are starting to take their toll on people who are speculators.  Part of what is driving this is the money poured into the economy by the government.  Faux money invested by banks in commodities to offset the losses banks are seeing otherwise.

 

The problem is with one single indicator that the jig is up will cause panic selling in oil, and panic buying in dollars.  Meaning that oil sees 70 dollars or less.  If this happens quickly it will amplify the banking crisis because oil speculation has been a safe haven for cash flush banks.

 

This will be a painful thing.  Markets and economies don't like sudden change. This sudden change will have as many ramifications as oil drops in price as it does as oil goes up in price.

 

What we need is for the government to get out of the business of bad market management.  And we need a few business failures.  If you buy oil at 125 and you lose your shirt when it goes to 70 you deserve to be broke.

 

If you bet against the dollar at 1.54 Euros to the dollar (buying Euros against the dollar) and the euro goes back to a par with the dollar and you lose your shirt, you deserve to be broke.

 

My old buddy Larry used to say, that's what makes a horse race.  This is one of those and the lead horse is faltering.

Breaking a Vow

A few days ago Peggy and I in an effort to be frugal decided that was the last day of heat in Redlinville. It broke 70 degrees outside.

NOTSOFAST said the not so warming global. It got close to ice water again last night. We had to turn the heat on this morning.

My global warming rear end can't take much more. It was the coldest April in almost history.

First two weeks of MAY are way way way below normal in temps.

This stinks.

Up in MN they can't get crops in the ground for all the snow.

Al Gore, you huckmeister. You scamomatic. I want an answer. You claimed that the Typhoon in Burma was because of Global Warming. Bulloney.

How bout my frozen tush. HMMM?

I don't ever want to hear about CO2 in the atmosphere and the phony danger it provides again.

AL baby, if you are going to start a religion, you should have some truth to start it with.

Apparently you missed that part of the "how to start a new age religion" course.

Do Over, and next time try to not make it so far out.

No one believes in your fairy tale any more.

Sleeping all Night is a Gift of God

Two nights ago I slept badly. Anguish about people I care about who are drifting off into oblivion spiritually. I wrote of this. Caring too much hurts.

Last night, after dealing with it all, I slept wonderfully. I would say I slept like a baby, except a baby wakes up every two hours and cries. I've done that too.

No, last night I slept like Proverbs 3:24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.

And I know that while I sleep God is in his heaven's working things out despite my best efforts to screw it up. Psalm 127:2. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

So, I'm thankful, as older men often are, for a good night's sleep. And, I know to whom I am thankful.

It's all how you look at it

Some Science Editor posted on Yahoo some comments on research that demonstrates that those with a conservative bent in life are happier.

Her conclusion was that conservatives were more likely to rationalize away inequalities in life.

I'm going to call it as I see it. This writer of the article warped research to fit a liberal set of lenses. To put it another way, she determined a long time ago that she was not going to allow the basic premise of the research to stand alone without her liberal bias reporting. Read her article first. IMHO It was snarky and liberal in it's condescension.

But, a very clever writer over at SerandEz rewrote the article from a more conservative viewpoint:

Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Democrats are unable to comprehend social and economic inequalities.

Regardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found. Conservatives also scored highest on measures of comprehension, which gauge a person's ability to understand the reasons for and existence of inequalities.

The comprehension measure included statements such as: "Due to a myriad of differences in circumstances which may or may not be able to be addressed, some people have more of a chance in life than others to achieve certain things," and "This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are."

To understand economic inequalities, a person would point to the idea of meritocracy, in which people move up their economic status in society based on hard work and good performance. In that way, one's social class attainment, whether upper, middle or lower, would be understood as totally fair and justified.

If your beliefs don't justify gaps in status, you could be left frustrated and disheartened, according to the researchers, Jaime Napier and John Jost of New York University. They conducted a U.S.-centric survey and a more internationally focused one to arrive at the findings.

"Our research suggests that inequality takes a greater psychological toll on liberals than on conservatives," the researchers write in the June issue of the journal Psychological Science, "apparently because liberals lack the comprehension that would help them frame inequality in a positive (or at least neutral) light." Liberals tend to believe that the differences among individuals in terms of intelligence, effort, what choices they make in life, or other factors should not matter. They feel that regardless of those differences, all people should end up with everything in equal amounts and at similar levels.

The results support and further explain a Pew Research Center survey from 2006, in which 47 percent of conservative Republicans in the U.S. described themselves as "very happy," while only 28 percent of liberal Democrats indicated such cheer.

The same rationalizing phenomena could apply to personal situations as well.

"There is no reason to think that the effects we have identified here are unique to economic forms of inequality," the researchers write. "Research suggests that highly egalitarian women are less happy in their marriages compared with their more traditional counterparts, apparently because they are more troubled by disparities in domestic labor."

The last conclusion about equality in marriage and conservatives was for this marriage counseling guy a bit over the top.
The article said:

"Research suggests that highly egalitarian women are less happy in their marriages compared with their more traditional counterparts, apparently because they are more troubled by disparities in domestic labor."

Where is it written in any holy script anywhere that men and women are the same? There is no egalitarianism in marriage. The husband must love his wife beyond measure and give himself up for her, even to the point of dying for her if need be, the wife is only to respect and honor her husband. She doesn't even have to love him. Besides, when a woman is younger she will only love him half the month anyway. The other half she'll hate him. She only needs to honor and respect him. God did not design marriage to be egalitarian at any level except in commitment which is not 50-50. It must be 100-100%

That is not by any means an egalitarian relationship. It's fully asymmetrical. And women in that kind of marriage are happier because it's REAL love, a God kind of Love. Nothing will make you happy except that.

When you see Oil Rigs in People's Backyard, the price bubble is about to burst

Long ago I said that everyone will have an oil rig in their back yard. This nice home with a Hummer in the front yard and an Oil rig in the back is a sign.

Hang on to your hats.

When the Price of Oil Drops it's Going to Scare a Lot of People

With the Oil Bubble at it's peak, those who know are trying to figure out how to withstand the huge price drop that is about to happen.

In Alberta this article about surviving the oil price collapse:

"Money is desperately trying to find a place where it can still get a return," he said in describing oil's current global use as a financial asset akin to gold, diamonds or rare art while the value of mainstays from houses to the American dollar decays.

"There is intense speculation," Hall said. "We have a term for that in economics. It's called a bubble.

"The risk is squarely on the down side," he said. "We're at a dangerous point in the world business cycle. Risks are elevated. They are about as elevated as they ever get."

Read the whole thing.

On Speaking inTounges

I confess I am so completely pentecostal that I don't get it when people struggle with the gift of Tongues.

But, that's OK.

Dan over at Cerulean Sanctum has a great post on this with some comments.

I can only add that if My Bible is still accurate, God's will is that we all speak in tongues.

I have fond nothing contrary.

"Brothers" I don't Respect Much

I don't respect Jimmy Carter. I don't respect Bill Moyers. Neither of these men who claim to be Christians are men with whom I resonate in the Spirit.

I think it's possible to name the name of Jesus and not know Him. They may come under the heading of "So Called Brothers".

Bill Moyers did it again today.

Seeing should not be Believing

The Obama rally, as seen on TV:


The Obama rally as seen from the other end of Reynolds:


Read the whole thing regarding these photo's here.

Discipleship Gone Bad

Sometimes it becomes too much and I get frustrated. Trying to help others come out of darkness.

I have come to the conclusion that some people don't want help. They say the words but they don't respond.

I have just experienced the deep backsliding by two different men I have spent in one case years trying to disciple and help. One man has spiritually and in the area I was trying to encourage him, that man has made the decision to go back to the life he had before, one of defeat, one of loss, one of downward spiral.

The other man who has been a multi year discipleship effort has failed and is gone completely back to his old ways.

I could blame a lot of things. I could blame the fact that the Church they attend doesn't recognize the power of the Holy Ghost. That these men sought out discipleship only anemically.

When I got saved I looked for growth anywhere I could find it. Nothing would stop me. I was discipled by the best because I sought out the best.

For them I am thankful.

For the two men I have now failed with I point to 1 Peter 2:

13They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.[e] 14With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—a beast without speech—who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit,"[f]and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."

I won't give up trying to help others, it's just that they are going to have to seek out what I can help them with and not the other way round.

confession

Peggy and I are watching the Lakeland Revival.  Heather Clark is leading worship. She can't get past "When Christ Shall Come With Shouts of Acclimation".  The crowd won't let her.

 

This is real, fresh, and precious.

 

Heather Clark is on my regular worship rotation in the music I play for my own devotion.  Amazing stuff.

 

I know there are critics of this, but I want to say to them, this is far too precious and real to relegate to the ordinary.  This is truly supernatural.

 

It's rough and ugly but it's real. 

 

We are so fortunate to live in this right now.

 

See Heather Clark's website here: http://www.heatherclarkband.com/New_Site/Welcome.html

 

To watch the revival for real on the net:

http://www.freshfire.ca/ffmstream/index.php

 

We are fortunate indeed to be able to enjoy God at this level.

That's the problem, war goes well, people don't care

Anti war types are really on the outs. I mean way out. No one cares. At all.

So they whine.

OK. Whine away.

No one is really interested in supporting opposition to a war that went pretty much OK.

Sorry folks. Losers are Losers.

Give his life for his friends or his daughter

I know this isn't the biggest story on the wire. Not the most earthshaking. But, I felt like all humanity had a chance reading this.

A man, a minister's son, saves his daughter in an accident.

With all the bad news coming out of the south side of chicago. This is good news.

Except for him.

God sees our pain, but doesn't excuse it for our inaction or disobedience

I no longer carry the burden of the Mercy Gift like I did at one time.  I'm far less likely to bail you out of situations than I was long ago.  I'm no less loving, I'm just more discerning.

So, when a person in ministry won't or can't do something because of a hurt, a pain, a slight, a difficulty, are we allowed in ministry to use that as a reason NOT to do whatever God has called us to do?  Don't you think God already knew your pain before you ever were called?

The reality is God loves you, he called you, he wants you to do whatever he called you to in spite of your pain, disappointments, or whatever else you are feeling at the moment.

You want Biblical  examples?  OK.

Here are a few:

Elijah in verse 19 of first Kings.  He has killed the Prophets of Baal.  He has done great things, but now feels alone,feels abandoned.  No one but ME.  God set's him straight and says, I have Thousands who have NOT bowed the Knee  to Baal.

OR Jeremiah.  Whines about how tough it is, God sets him straight in Jeremiah 4.  God basically says to him, wait, you are not the only one.

Or Moses.  He cries out to God, Only I alone.  God wants to kill all the people and Moses coming to sanity says no.

Peter, John, all of them, before the outpouring of the Holy Ghost were spiritual wimps.  Whining about this or that.  God is patient.  He's kind.  But in the end, if he called you he will demand more of you than you knew going in he would.

It's not that He's mean.  He's not.  He's a good God.  He just isn't impressed with self pity, self delusion as to our importance, selfishness of any kind. 

God sees our pain, but doesn't excuse it for our inaction or disobedience

God, when he calls us into ministry expects much more from us.  If you are satisfied to be never called, just warm a pew, just pay your money and go away, his call on you is limited.  Your reward will be as well.

It's time to get serious about serving God.  Either you are with him or against him.

Pain, whining, complaining or being in it for yourself will be the death of your ministry.

If I might speak by the Spirit of God.  GROW UP ALREADY!!

 

Really effective ad against drug abuse

I saw this the other day on TV. It rocked me a bit. I think about the vices in my own life and what they have cost me. This is sobering stuff.

Practice what you preach, stop wagging your finger

I am an ecologist. That means I believe in doing good things to make the world a better place. I do. I'm quiet about it. I do what I can. I live pretty light on the earth. I'm also NOT a hippycrite. That would be people that think it's OK to wag their finger at you, or me, and try to make us feel bad because we don't jump thru some artificial hoop they created. These Hippycrites are constantly trying to make us feel guilty because we don't follow the same phony baloney politics they do or believe in the fairy tales they do. Besides all that, I'm convinced that on balance my lifestyle and my ecological actions make a far bigger difference than anything they do or would ever do. So, if it's OK when some finger wagger tells me to start doing this or stop doing that to save the planet, I'll ignore them thank you. They don't know any more than you do. They are mostly hippycrites. From the Times of London.

You hippy-crites! When it comes to saving the planet do celebrities practice what they preach?

Is the hot air emitted by celebrities when they spout ecological platitudes a greenhouse gas?

If so, then the melting of the polar ice caps just moved a step closer, following calls by Trudie Styler, a leading celebrity ecological hypocrite - call them hippy-crites for short - for the general public to eat more locally grown vegetables.

Campaigning against food miles might seem an unlikely cause for Styler, given that a tribunal last year heard how she ordered her personal chef to travel over 100 miles to make a bowl of pasta for her youngest child and has sold olive oil and honey from her Tuscan estate, Il Palagio, 1,000 or so miles away, in Harrods in London.

So it was hardly surprising that an alert journalist present at the lecture, which was being staged as part of the Earls Court Real Food Festival, had the wit to question the environmental record of Styler and her husband Sting.

The couple's carbon footprint, the impertinent ink-stained wretch pointed out, has been estimated at 30 times greater than the average Briton's. How did Styler and Sting - who have seven homes - square that with their environmental crusading?

Styler conceded that as Sting "has a 750-person crew to bring around the world, it is a difficult challenge".

Her rare moment of ecological candour was shortly replaced by the more familiar self-congratulation and justification, however.

"I would like to think that we both work pretty hard for the rights of indigenous people and for the rights of conservation of the Amazon rainforest, but we do need to get around," she said.

Of course, Sting and Trudie's "do as I say not as I do" approach to the dilemma of environmental pollution is by no means unusual among the carbon-guzzling lifestyle of the celebrity elite.

Here's a roll call of some other startlingly hippy-critical celebrities:

Scroll down for more...

Does God Shorten Life for Believers who are Disobedient?

I have known more than one Christian who I know is in heaven who God had to remove from the earth to preserve their eternal soul. I know it's a hard teaching and I won't give names to those people here. But if you think about it for a little while you can put names and faces on the thesis.

God is merciful and long suffering but he also knows our hearts and will not allow us to stay comfortable in our sin in disobedience. He will remove us bodily from the earth, shorten our lives, if you will, kill us to save our souls.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hand's of an angry God.

Here's my Biblical Basis for this thesis.. To the questioner on the previous post, I hope this helps.

Acts 5 mentions Ananias and Sapphira, who died as a result of their sin. I know it's not popular, but I believe they went to heaven in spite of the fact God Killed them.

Deuteronomy 32:51-52, “Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.” Moses’ life was shortened because of disobedience to God.

1 Corinthians 5:5, “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

1 Corinthians 11:28-30, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” That means DEAD

1 John 5:16, “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”

Fear God and Live

The Burden of the Prophetic

Sometimes I wish I didn't.  See things prophetically that is.  In the last several days I have been confronted with circumstances and people about whom I have received insight that I never asked for.  Now, I'm stuck with what to do with it all.

 

In some of these they are critical issues that have the potential to be life and death.  How do you say what you know and not have people first think you are a total crackpot, which they are welcome to think, OR without the people that I have received insight thinking this is about them?

 

It's not.  This is about God's Name Sake.  He will not allow his name to be taken in vain.

 

When this gift first manifested in me several years ago I was happy to have it.  I wanted to flow in it.  I wanted to know that I could do the will of God and encourage or help people become more effective.  Now, there has been a change. The bar is raised.  I am finding myself in the place of bringing news that isn't always welcome.  What worked before no longer does.

 

What to do?  I will be faithful to the call.  I will take the ridicule or disdain I will receive.  In the end I know it's true. 

 

God's allowance of things in the past that he seemingly winked at no longer applies.  If a man or woman isn't operating in the fear of God to the point of trembling he or she is a potential candidate for Hell.  It's that serious.  God would rather kill you then let you go to Hell.  At least your soul would be saved even if your body was lost.

 

There are names and faces behind all this. None of which I will share here.  Unless I were called by God to do so, I would never openly denounce someone. 

 

God is not mocked.  Those that do risk life and limb.

 

It's time to get real.

An Excellent Explanation from what appears to be Controversial Source

I found very edifying a video I saw in Sunday Morning Church Sunday.

I thought it was so good at explaining the concept of greater works and why Peter walked on water.

Then in looking for it to post on this blog I ran into all kinds of people who find this man's teaching to be in error. He apparently is from the emerging church movement. I don't know much about all that. I just found his exposition pretty good. It's Rob Bell teaching on the Rabbi's dust.

So, watch the videos and ignore the offended. Jesus was really right when he said that the spirit of offense would rise at the end of the age.

Part one


Part Two

Feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, and getting people saved is not nessasarily the Gospel

I have communication with missionaries on the ground in Nigeria.

 

There are organizations in Nigeria who feed the hungry, give people a  place to live, put clothes on their back, take care of their medical needs and even go to bat for them in the justice system.  They teach the children.  They become an extended family.

 

As a part of this they preach the salvation message they espouse.

 

If humanitarian efforts were the only qualification for vetting a ministry these folks should get a humanitarian award.  It's a little like the people who point to Trinity and Jeremiah Wright with pontifications on what good they are doing socially as an excuse to overlook what they and he are teaching the people.  

 

Both what Wright and Trinity have done and what this missions group in Nigeria on the face of it are good things.  Jesus even admonishes his followers to do likewise.

 

It's just that the folks in Nigeria are Wahabbi Muslims funded by Saudi Arabia.  Using humanitarianism to mislead people to hell.

 

The parallel with Trinity is striking in my opinion.   

First REALLY NICE day

When I left North Dakota I told people it was for the weather.  Kind of a joke.  Well, this year it has been hilarious.  Today, for the first time it got up to seventy degrees solidly.  I anticipate 6 months of acceptable season, spring summer and fall and 6 months of relative dismal.

 

This year it's been more than relative.  Cold, miserable uncomfortable.

 

So what did I do with this first really nice day?  Put a belt on the mower AGAIN.  This is about the 4th one over the last 4 years.  I think I have figured out the problem. 

 

Peggy meanwhile is out killing dandelions.  I don't know why.  They are so yellow and pretty.  Why kill them. 

 

But she does.  AND ANTS.  She's death on ants. 

 

I love that woman.  A nice day and she goes crazy.  Good for her.  She'll sleep well tonight.

 

But soon we are off for church. 

One other thing. On May 5th of every year our red flowering dogwood usually is in full bloom.  This year it's about 80% there.   Too cold.

 

Nice to see the grass green up.  I have peonies I got from Ellendale, Mom, Ruth, Gave them to me probably 35 years ago.  I never kill a plant if I don't have to.  I have moved the again and again.

 

I have roses and Columbines I have moved several times.  I did have a 35 year old geranium but last winter it went to geranium heaven.  Too many viruses.

 

Spring has finally sprung.  Not a month too soon.

To the Open Minded Only

If you are of the opinion that there is rampant global warming and that horrible things will ensue because of that "FACT" I want to ask you a KEY question.

Are you open minded. If you were misled by a well oiled machine and were willing to dissuade from the misdirection you have experienced, would you be willing to examine the evidence to the contrary? That would be open minded.

If the answer is NO, "I refuse to hear anything other than the narrow reality I have been instructed in, then I can't help you and neither can anyone else". You'll live in your continued deluded state till hell freezes over which apparently it may well be on the way to doing.

If the answer is "OK, it's possible for me to hear another reality, another possibility, another argument", then please read this compilation on the whole global warming debate.

If after you read this you are still convinced that the proponents of Global Warming are right and everyone else is wrong, then I have done my best. If after reading this you might consider that possibly the Jury is Still out on all that (George W Bush 2003) please reconsider everything you have been told. You have been lied to.

I want a clean environment. It's just the whole carbon footprint and CO2 fear is going to kill us all. I'm trying to help.

This is Chilling

Unclean Unclean

That's the name of the post on Chicago Boyz.

It propounds the idea that you and I should not allow our children in contact with children who have not been vaccinated against measles.

WOW.

That is so wrong and so over the top in more ways than I can possibly imagine.

Lee Grady brings Balance

I have been talking on this blog about the remarkable things going on in Lakeland Florida. I have also been asked questions about what that all means from good Christians around the world. Lee Grady is a "Friend of Mine". OK, I've met and talked to him and from time to time correspond with him. Not someone who will show up for my funeral but what he has to say about what is happening in his back yard is worth considering:

Your Hands Have Been Anointed to Heal

5/2/08

By J. Lee Grady

In the days of Jesus, rabbis observed a myriad of extra rules that were not in Scripture. Their legalistic code focused on what they could and could not touch. These guys invented the original version of the holier-than-thou religion. They stayed away from women, children, dead bodies, lepers, beggars, sinners, blood, shellfish, pigs and—especially—people of other ethnic backgrounds. They didn't want "unclean" gentiles to corrupt them.

The Pharisees, especially, were obsessed with hygiene. They had a rule for everything from how to wash dishes to how to stay ceremonially clean after walking in the streets. That's why they got upset when they saw that Jesus' disciples didn't follow the standard Jewish hand-washing ritual.

They asked Jesus: "'Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?'" You can almost hear their smug, nasal tone. Jesus' reply was blunt. He called His inquisitors hypocrites; then He chastised them for "'teaching as doctrines the precepts of men'" (Mark 7:5-7, NASB).

After Jesus rebuked their hypocrisy He immediately left His sanitary Jewish environment and went north, to the gentile city of Tyre. There He healed a Syrophoenician woman's daughter. (Any other rabbi would have avoided her like the plague.) Then He traveled to the Decapolis region and healed a deaf and dumb villager. Some scholars say this poor guy was a gentile, too.

Jesus broke every religious rule in the Pharisees' hand-washing manual when He performed this miracle. The Bible says He put His fingers in the man's ears, spit on His hands and touched the man's tongue with His own saliva (see Mark 7:33). Eeuuww! Jesus was not concerned about germs or spiritual defilement, and I doubt He used hand-sanitizer after the man was healed.

Jesus was making a point. He didn't come to earth to spend His time washing his hands inside a synagogue. His message was not about what not to eat or who to avoid. He came to touch dirty people. He came to cleanse lepers, heal bleeding women, hold children, eat with tax collectors and forgive prostitutes. He even visited a cemetery so He could cast devils out of a lunatic! That's our Jesus.

Too often we fall under the influence of the "religious sanitation police." Before you know it, we too are sequestered inside our holy walls, compulsively washing our hands and obsessing over who wore what and who went where. Legalism is a tool of the devil, but it masks itself as a Christian virtue. Ultimately it has no power over sin and it eventually causes spiritual sterility.

I believe the American church today must confront the spirit of the Pharisees head-on. Religious systems despise healing, and they certainly don't endorse touching the addicted, the diseased, the demonized or the dying. Many sectors of the church have rejected God's healing power altogether, and they certainly don't encourage Christians to touch the pain of our generation.

They think holiness is about isolation. On the contrary, true holiness invades sickness, sin and shame—and overcomes it.

We are on the verge of a holiness invasion today. My friend Matt Sorger, a young healing evangelist based in New York, has recently seen a surge in miraculous healings in his meetings in the United States. He wrote recently:

"As the weight of His glory has filled entire rooms, His healing grace and presence has been sweeping over the people—healing them right in their seats! We worship until His glory comes and then He does the rest. There is a new realm of corporate healing glory being released. We call out a sickness by the Holy Spirit and it gets healed. It's just that easy. It's not hard in the glory!"

Matt also adds that humility is important as we enter this season of healing. "It is very important to stay humble and pure in heart and to always give the glory and honor to God and not place the focus on ourselves. This will be vital to maintaining the purity and integrity of God's move."

This movement of healing is not about one evangelist or one particular revival phenomenon. God wants a holy breakout. He intends for all believers to lay hands on the sick and to restore the broken. The same Holy Spirit who anointed Jesus to cleanse lepers has empowered us with a healing touch. Please don't sit on your hands during this crucial hour.

---------------------------

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.

http://www.faithnews.cc/articles.cfm?sid=8886

© 1999-2008 Church of God Communications.

Oil Price Fall Coming Soon

This noon on WGN radio I heard Orion Samuelson interviewing some oil industry analyst who said to Orion's amazement, Oil is heading for 50 dollars per barrel or less. Orion was stunned. The guy said, the price is twice too high based on the fundamentals. This has been building and building. This rumbling is going on everywhere. See the following

This article by Jay Hancock of the Baltimore Sun:

The Fed is printing money to clean up the housing bubble, which was fueled by the money it printed to clean up the Internet bubble. The only question is what kind of bubble the new money will inflate.

Bet on oil and other energy.

Unfortunately for energy users, which is all of us, it may be years before the oil foam settles down. If this were the Internet bubble, we're probably closer to Nasdaq 2,500 in 1998 than Nasdaq 5,000 in 2000.

Every bubble needs a story. The Internet story was that the whole economy would shift to the Web. The housing story was that people don't trade Cape Cods and ranchers like penny stocks and that Wall Street knew how to lend to high-risk borrowers.

The energy story is that the planet is running out of oil, and we must pay $115 a barrel or more or return to the Stone Age. The "peak oil" theory, a fringe doomsday scenario a few years ago, is now an investment philosophy.

Like the other bubble stories, the energy tale contains substantial truth. It's just a matter of how much the truth is going to cost you.

Some energy analysts believe the natural price of oil, based on supply and demand, is $70 a barrel or less. This implies we're already into bubble territory.

There is no question that heavy speculation helped drive oil to $115. As with all good bubbles, leverage - investing with cheap, borrowed money furnished by the Fed - is a key inflator. Oil is the haven of choice for investors fleeing the dollar, which is the object of its own speculation.

Now taxi drivers talk about investing in Exxon Mobil. Exxon Mobil, The Wall Street Journal reported this week, is planning its future as though oil will return to $65. Maybe it knows something we don't.

With a slowing world economy, oil's price pop has outpaced increase in demand. The Energy Department projects that U.S. consumption will fall this year. Warren Buffett dumped his stake in PetroChina last year, although he later told Fox Business News that he "sold a little too soon."

Read The WHOLE thing.

White Guilt Will Take You Further Down than you EVER thought you would go

It seems to be popular to be striven with white guilt these days. Feel bad for slavery. For discrimination. For oppression. Even if you or I were totally innocent of all that, the fact that our skid is not ebony immediately makes us guilty.

That by any other terminology is racism.

But in today's polarized identify politics it's now necessary to play up to a racist agenda. See Obama's Jeremiah Wright for an example. Or Sharpton. Or Jessee Jackson. Kiss up to move up.

What frustrates me about this is John McCain is engaged in this in a big way. He just plain can't kiss enough liberal posterior to satisfy himself.

I'm sick of it. So is Pat Buchanan. So are a lot of people. My support for Huckabee and lack of support for McCain was solidly rooted in knowing he was the kind of Politician who would make this kind of "reaching out:

It began in Selma, Ala., where McCain went to Edmund Pettis Bridge to hail John Lewis and the marchers night-sticked and hosed down by the Alabama State Troopers on the Montgomery march for voting rights.

Now that was a seminal movement in the fight for civil rights.

But this is not 1965. Today, John Lewis is a big dog in the "No-Whites-Need-Apply!" Black Caucus. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is sermonizing White America. The Rev. Al Sharpton is trying to shut down the Big Apple. And the fight for equal rights is being led by Ward Connerly.

With no help from McCain, Connerly is trying to put on five state ballots a Civil Rights Initiative that declares white men are also equal and not to be denied their civil rights because of the color of their skin.

And where does McCain stand?

From Selma, McCain went to the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective, where black ladies make the famous blankets. The stop could not but call to mind the hundreds of thousands of textile and apparel jobs in the Carolinas and Georgia lost after NAFTA and Most-Favored Nation for China, both of which McCain enthusiastically supported.

McCain's next stop was Inez, Ky., where LBJ declared war on poverty. But LBJ's war was a politically motivated scheme to shift wealth and power to government, which led to a pathological dependency among America's poor, his own abdication and Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign against Big Government that ushered in the Conservative Decade.

McCain then went to New Orleans to backhand Bush for failing to act swiftly to rescue the victims of Katrina.

But the real failure of New Orleans was of the corrupt and incompetent regime of Mayor Ray Nagin and the men of New Orleans, who left 30,000 women and children stranded in a sea of stagnant water.

What I want is the Straight Talk Express we were promised. We are getting the same old soft soaping we get from every other liberal politician on the globe.

Kim Clement just prophesied TWO presidents this year. I don't know what that means, but if it means what it might maybe we won't be stuck with a Liberal John McCain Presidency.

HORRORS - Tony Blair Prayed and Prays

Atheists are outraged. Do you know that Tony Blair prayed before making key decisions as Prime Minister of England? How terrible.

You should make decisions purely on reason and nothing else is what the vocal godless are saying.

Blair said:

"I can't prove that religious faith offers something more than humanism," he said. "But I believe profoundly that it does."

In the United States, where talk of God and church can sometimes seem a prerequisite to getting elected, these open expressions of belief would not be unusual; in secular Europe, where religiosity tends to be viewed with suspicion, Blair said he kept his belief long under wraps for fear of being dismissed as "a nutter."

"One of the oddest questions I get asked in interviews, and I get asked a lot of questions, is: Is faith important to your politics? It's like asking someone whether their health is important to them or their family. If you are someone 'of faith,' it is the focal point of belief in your life. There is no conceivable way that it wouldn't affect your politics," Blair said.

Reason can fail, faith never does. Reason is like noses, everyone has one, everyone had an opinion and everyone thinks they are right. So, we try to reach consensus. That's worse. Committee based government. So we try to govern by polls. reason alone is an uncertain way to try to govern. We need to pray, to the true and living God. He who made all this anyway.

Thankfully Tony Blair and George Bush are men of prayer. God give us more men like them.

I wish George Bush could run for another term.

OVERNIGHT LOW LARAMIE WY 9 DEGREES

LARAMIE

I didn't get saved to join a country club

When I came to Jesus in Holy Ghost Power in 1980 I didn't go  looking for the best church I could join that gave me the most connections.   I already belonged to that church when I was saved.  I already had connections.  I already had people who with whom I networked.  

 

So, when I was saved and delivered I didn't want to be part of a Country Club Church.  I thought that I just missed it.  That somehow at First Lutheran was a group serious about seeking after God.

 

Pitifully there wasn't.  Talk in the coffee place after church was about golf games, vacations, business deals, fishing and  connections.  Nothing about Jesus.  They were nice people.  Just not really interested in anything other than getting members to the club.

 

In fact at that very church I was invited to join the Masonic Lodge.  WOW.

 

Within a few months I was gone.  I ended up at the most despised church in town, at least to some.  It was known as "THAT CHURCH".  They were radical and only wanted to talk about Jesus.

 

No country club.  Not even a Jesus Club.  A group of sold out passionate focused people looking to take back the ground the devil had stolen.

 

I haven't changed.  I have no interest in joining any church country club.  The minute any church I am part of becomes a club I'm gone if I can't yell loud enough to break the deceiving spell of the clubby atmosphere demon.

 

I so much want to be part of a church the Devil hates.  Not some nice little church on the corner.  I want to be part of something so radical, so sold out, so passionate, so on fire, so completely abandoned to seeking the Glory of God that nothing else matters.

 

There are places like that.  I wouldn't have to ever go to a conference or a meeting anywhere else.

 

Today I saw some sold out passionate friends of mine.  They said to me,  "Hey stranger are you lost, No, I said,  I'm home". 

 

Home is where your heart is.  My heart is in sold out passion for Jesus.  So if I'm ever in a place where that's going on, I'm home. 

 

Otherwise I'm just visiting a club.  Not something I look forward to.

The Plot Thickens

I have wondered about the Wright Obama issue. Why.

Leave it to my good buddy Mike Huckabee to sort it all out.

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has some supportive words for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

A Baptist minister, Huckabee said Wednesday that Obamas former pastor is hurting Obama's bid for the White House. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's anti-American comments and racially charged remarks demonstrate that Wright does not want Obama to prove that the country's race relations have progressed, said Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas.

"Jeremiah Wright needs for Obama to lose so he can justify his anger, his hostile bitterness against the United States of America," Huckabee said.

Wright has claimed the federal government created AIDS to kill "people of color" and that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were spurred by U.S. "terrorism" against minorities.

Spirituality in a Cup

At our little church on the corner there has been a great deal of talk about putting in a coffee shop. This story from the Faux News Site, Larknews.com tells you just how far this can go. It's all a joke but Lark News does such a good job, you almost think it's real. That's why it's called satire.

Church transforms into coffee chain

DENVER — Connection Metro Church, which used its foyer coffee bars to attract visitors to its eight satellite churches in the Denver area, has decided to abandon ministry altogether to focus on coffee.
"People liked the coffee a lot better than the ministry, according to congregational surveys, so we’re practicing what we preached and focusing on our strengths," says former teaching pastor and now chief marketing officer, Peter Brown.
Many in the congregation seem downright relieved.
"The sermons were okay, but the vanilla frappes were dynamite," says one woman who regularly attended the church for two years so she could enjoy the special brews. "I even brought my Jewish neighbors and they loved them."
The staff of Connection Metro Church began noticing last year that more money was coming in through the coffee bar than in the offering.
"People complimented us about the pastries and mochas but didn’t really mention the teaching," says Brown. "After feeling disappointed, we got pragmatic about it and realized God was telling us where to put our efforts."
The church renovated each of its locations into Connection Coffee Houses and removed most traces of its spiritual past. Now crowds are up and many former members are flourishing.
"Who knew I was so gifted at making foam?" says the former head usher, now the head barista, as he makes a heart-shaped design on a cappuccino.
The church’s small groups have been turned into neighborhood reading clubs, with some reading Christian titles and others following Oprah’s recommendations. The only visible remnants of the coffee house’s past are the offering bucket which serves as a tip jar, and the greeters stationed at the door to give a more welcoming feel than the nearby Starbucks.
Some former members were stunned to arrive at church Sunday morning to find the sanctuary transformed into a seating area with newspaper racks and coffee-themed gift items.
"I guess we’ll go back to the Methodist place," said one father who had brought his family. "But only after we try those delicious looking chocolate cream-filled croissants."
People in the surrounding neighborhoods say they are far more likely to stop by now. One man who came occasionally says he feels less guilty standing around the coffee counter now that there is no service taking place.
"Before, we had to sit through the service and pay our dues," he says. "Now we go right to the good stuff — the double espressos."
The staff also feels liberated now that the pressure of ministry is off.
"The best way to be relevant is to give people what they want," says Brown. "In our case, that’s coffee drinks." •

The Bed is Occupied

During our joint bouts with flu et al in the Redlin Domicile we have experienced a degree of separation that is painful.

She out of consideration for me and her own sanity has been sleeping in another bedroom. I coughed so much and then as my bout subsided she did. So it's been almost two weeks.

We both took granny's absolute flu formula cure, Beverly Hillbillies. You remember. Take it and in 7 days you get better?.

We did and now we are. It's a miracle.

Last night, she came back to bed. We both slept the night. It was comforting to have her there again. I don't enjoy being alone and neither does she.

When you are one flesh, and part isn't there, something is missing. You know how much when reuniting takes place.

Wonderful to Know

Some years ago I wrote a little booklet on marriage. I have sold or distributed over a thousand copies.

From time to time I get feedback from folks who have read it and it seemed to help them.

I got one such today.

It's wonderful to know that it has made a difference in someone's life. Makes all this keyboarding worth it all.

Secret Global Warming

Turns out there is no global warming. We are cooling. A Lot.

No less than the liberal main stream media democrat party sycophant the New York Times has come up with this reportage.

So, now we must fear freezing to death for the next 30 years or so.

But, never fear, global warming caused by humans is real and we need to do something about it right away.

I don't buy it, and if you have half a brain in your head you won't either. It gives me no pleasure at all to link to this article of freezing your rear end off prediction.

The last line of the article says it the best, In other words, CO2 is secretly warming the planet. Or not.

Sound Bites worth Consuming

From Mark Batterson's blog

"I was at a conference recently on generosity, and I asked a man who works full time with churches in the area of stewardship what typifies generous churches. His immediate response: 'They have generous senior pastors'."

"Suffering causes people to ask questions like no other force in the world. It snaps the threads of our illusions of control and sufficiency."

"We get so used to the Bible, we miss its edginess. The prophets were the original street performance artists. What they did was much more like radical street theater than it was like a church service."

"If I'm honest, what holds me back is not lack of creativity. It's lack of urgency. I don't think the main force that drove the prophets was creativity for creativity's sake. I think it was spiritual reality. There was such a desperate awareness of the need for God to come fix things up that it drove them to do anything to make space people's awareness for God.

"The teachers I most learn from often find non-verbal ways to drive home what they are teaching."

"People don't care what I know. They care about what I'm learning."

Rev Wright's Church Represents the minority of Black Churches

THIS FROM PROTEIN WISDOM:

While this story confirms that Wright’s Black Liberation Theology is a minority movement, even in urban black churches, it sadly demonstrates that some black leaders did not proactively debunk the suggestion that Wright was representative of “the black church” out of deference to Obama’s prior attempts to make the issue about race instead of religion and theology.

Perhaps worse is the degree to which the establishment media not only avoided soliciting the opinion of other black religious leaders, but also promoted the notion that Wright was expressing views commonly expressed within black churches. The offenders in this respect already noted here at pw include TIME magazine, as well as the taxpayer-funded PBS’s Bill Moyers and NPR. The list includes Andrew Sullivan, whose Obama crush has turned him into a human windsock. HotAir’s Ed Morrissey notes the attempts of the New York Times and the Washington Post to maintain the fiction even now that Wright’s estrangement from reality was not well-known and documented prior to this past weekend.

Those who engage in this level of intellectual dishonesty may serve Obama’s campaign and their own willingness to jump in the tank for him when he proclaimed that he could no more disown Wright than he could disown the entire black community. But this effort has been — and remains — a libel against the majority of black churchgoers who do not share Wright’s warped view of the world or his warped view of Christianity. Moreover, by suggesting to non-black America that Wright was representative of historically black churches, such media outlets set back the cause of race relations to the detriment of all Americans.

You can't pick your relatives

I am traveling today. Posting will be light. I'm much MO better flu wise. Peggy is still in full on chicken soup mode. We'll live but at our aging not back from the tomb as quickly.

I thought about Obama Wright et al.

I had a cousin once. He was a corker. People knew he was my cousin. They would ask me, isn't so and so your relative. Particularly when his name appeared in the police blotter of the paper.

Yep.

I couldn't pick my relatives. They are just relative.

But, I have picked my brothers of the faith. I'm pretty careful. It's about who they are and who I am in Jesus. If my spirit resonates with theirs we are brothers. But, Paul warns of "So Called" brothers. I'm afraid not everyone who calls me "Brother" is one. Not everyone who who says Lord Lord will be let in to the Kingdom.

Particularly since the defense of Rev Wright is all the good he has done. Feeding the poor, Preaching to the wounded, Helping the downtrodden. Good works.

I read something that helps put it all in perspective.
Matthew 7

15Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

You can't pick your relatives but you can pick your spiritual brothers. Obama Picked Poorly.