Satan's BIG LIE: “If I just pray enough or live holy enough, I will get closer to God and enter into His presence.”

I am a subscriber to the E-Mail Greg Dickow sends out. It is really good meaty stuff. The one for today that I received is POWERFUL. He takes the lid off one of the devils big lies:
Read the whole thing:

“If I just pray enough or live holy enough,
I will get closer to God and enter into His presence.”

I want to bring your attention to the fact that some of the thoughts that we need to fast from and eliminate from our heads, SEEM LIKE RIGHT THOUGHTS. But they are subtle tricks and lies.

When the devil approached Adam and Eve, in Genesis 3, it says, ‘he was subtle—more than any other creature.' It's these subtle thoughts that defeat us. They seem so godly and so right, but they are not right; because they produce a WORKS mentality and a LEGALISTIC approach to our relationship with God.

I don’t want to create a theological debate, here. But I want to ask you a question: how much closer can God get than to LIVE INSIDE OF YOU?

* 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Do you not recognize that Christ Jesus is in you?"

* 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God?”

This is not a warning to be afraid. This is a promise. It is a fact when a person is born again. It is a picture of how there is no separation between us and God. Paul is saying in essence (and I am praying you will receive this with an open heart): “The reason your behavior has been sinful and negative, is because you have lacked the knowledge that HE LIVES IN YOU. When you realize that, it will change how you look at yourself, and it will then change how you live.”

When we think we have to do more to get closer to Him, the focus gets put on us. But Hebrews 12:1 says to “Fix your eyes on Jesus.” When you buy into this thought, you TRY SO HARD TO GET CLOSE TO GOD, and then get discouraged, until you give up or assume that that your relationship with God will always be: Distant. That affects your peace, joy, and of course your confidence in prayer.

This is what I call “an illusion of separation." The devil, and even religion has caused us to think God is afar off. “He’s way up there, and we’re way down here. And if we pray enough, fast enough, do enough, we can close the gap, and get Him to come closer.” That’s a lie. He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)

Ok gang. This is a thought that we must deal with--NOW!

1. We don’t earn closeness with God. It is a gift. Hebrews 13:5 says “He will never leave you or forsake you.”

2. YOU ARE ALREADY IN HIS PRESENCE BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS. Hebrews 10:19 says, “we enter into the Holy place by the blood of Jesus.”

3. There is no separation between you and God. When you are born again, you are united with Him, and one with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, "The one who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him." In Acts 17:28, he says, ‘In Him we live and move and have our being.’ This is the reality that the early Christians had and lived by. There is no separation. (Yes, sin separated us from God, but Jesus removed sin, and re-connected us to God—there is no separation now.)

4. Stop thinking, “He’s there, and I’m here.” I don’t have to do something to get God into my situation. He is already in it, because I’m in it. “He is at work IN me, to bring about His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

5. I will fear no evil. Psalm 23:4 says, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for THOU ART WITH ME!

6. Reject the lie that He is out there somewhere. Reject the lie that your answer or blessing is “out there” somewhere. Mark 4:20 says, 'he who hears the Word and accepts it, will bear fruit.' You have to accept this truth. There is no separation.

THINK IT & SAY IT:

I am not separated from God, anymore. I don’t have to earn closeness with Him. It is a gift. He will never leave me or forsake me.

I am IN HIS PRESENCE and HE IS IN ME. In Him, I live and move and have my being. I live in this reality.

I stop thinking that “He is there, and I am here.” He is in my life and my situation right now. No matter what I walk through, I am not afraid—for God is with me.

I reject the lie that He is out there somewhere. I accept that there is no separation between God and me. Romans 8:38-39 says, "Nothing can separate me from the love of God!"

The Father ALWAYS makes room for his GIFTINGS

I won't tell you what, it would sound like a horn tooted.... I will tell you why.

I have sometimes felt alone, felt hidden, felt that I was not understood as a prophet.

But in the last month a prophesy spoken over me a year ago, that the covering Cherubs would be removed. Then six months later at the word of another prophet that the Gift God gave me would be revealed in a supernatural way.

I did nothing different. I just continued to bring the word of the Lord every way I knew how.

And, it has happened. I now find myself in places with people I had never thought I would.

Again, please, for their sake and for my own suppression of pride, I will just say, God always makes room for his Gifts. He is in the business of bringing out his Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers. He puts them in place. One up another down.

I had the opportunity to encourage another prophet a week ago. See my post on the Prophet side called Prophets need Prophets. He was feeling like he wasn't being fully used of God. I encouraged him to flow in new places. To swim in different ponds. God would open the doors.

See the Post on Blood Flow.

This is a new day. This is a place where the old is being cast off. We have to learn to flow in him. And as we do, he will open the doors you and I never thought possible.

Evenso. COME LORD!

Gene's Book Club Reccomendation

I just finished Mark Levin’s fine book, Liberty and Tyranny.

It is to me the most compelling case for taking our country back from the terminally insane that I have read. I have to say, I agree with him completely, I don’t often find myself in full agreement with him. I thought how he behaved during the GOP primaries to be out of line.

But reading this book has given me hope. I wish my liberal friends and even those who consider me an enemy would read it with an open mind and then, if at all possible, tell me where Levin goes wrong.

I wager it might be hard to do.

In any case, the encouragement is out there.

One last thing, he really has the fiscal, cultural and social issues well in hand. He talks about tax cuts and spending in light of our culture and not in light of putting more money in people’s pockets. This is a language conservatives will have go learn to speak if they want to have a shot in 2010 or 12. The game has changed. Taxes and spending as important as they are lose elections.

Read it, you’ll be glad you did. It’s a little hard to find seeing as how it sells zillions of copies and is Number one on the NYT bestseller list.

In fact, in visiting the local bookstore to buy it I was heartened at how many GOOD conservative books are on the good selling racks.

We may be winning and didn’t know it.

The False Berean Spirit comes AGAINST the Prophetic

From John Burton:

As you may know, I’ve had a strong disturbance in my spirit regarding the handling of prophecy and prophetic people. Scripture makes it so very clear that we are all to prophesy and we must not quench the Spirit nor despise prophecies. Yet, it seems that many (most?) are suspicious and even deeply resistant to prophecy today.

Are there issues to contend with? Yes. Is the appropriate reaction to shut it down? No. The ‘false-berean’ spirit that’s invading the church today is doing much damage and we must humbly and boldly deal with it- quickly.

I have a very simple question: If we don’t embrace prophecy, how can we know what God wants for us? Of course, we have the perfect Word of God, the Bible. However, there are also continual, daily, personal and corporate instructions that we must receive via the Rhema Word of God if we are to advance in confidence and obedience. How would Gideon have known how to advance in battle via an extremely bizarre strategy if he hadn’t heard God’s voice? He wouldn’t have. Without God’s instruction for that unique situation, Gideon would have failed. How often does this play out in Christian’s lives today?

I agree with Brother John on this in full. I had not identified it as such, railed rather against the need for reason and intellectualism in the Church that despises the spirit of Prophecy.

Then Kathi Sharp had a dream. It follows with it:

I felt the knife and the emotion and I said, “Lord, what is this?” I saw an array of faces of various prophetic-type church leaders/ministers (I don’t think that identities matter - they were “prophetic leaders” small and large - you were one, so was I, a few “famous” folks too). These people were obviously and emphatically leaders, but not in any way arrogant. This sense of leadership was godly and called, not forced or coerced. These were people who should have been respected and honored and loved by those they led.

Sneaking around behind them were other people, dressed like roman soldiers (?) and carrying swords. They had shifty eyes. Most of the swords are well-used and have old blood on them. A few are new. They’re not “proper” soldiers - there’s no military bearing about them - it’s more like they’re dressed up AS soldiers, if that makes sense. These people aren’t heresy hunters. These are people within the church, known to the leaders, loved by the leaders.

There were also others standing around. At first they seemed to be on the side of the leaders, but this changed.

The people dressed as soldiers sneak up behind those that prophesy/lead and stab them in the back, looking triumphant as they do so. Sometimes they stab once, sometimes repeatedly. This is a quiet action - not like battle. More like Judas kissing Jesus.

Instantly the perception changes so that I’m seeing things from the soldier’s perspective: obviously the soldiers have banded together and consider themselves to be the “good guys”. The leaders are the “bad guys” and “must” be undermined, taken down, betrayed, or otherwise removed from power. Those standing by shifted from agreeing with the leaders to agreeing with the soldiers. There was a heaviness of deception as those standing around shifted their allegience.

But this attack cannot be done from the front - only from behind. The soldiers did not seem to want to be in power - they just did not want these leaders to be the ones in power. They wanted “better” leaders. This type of control is insidious, akin to raising up a puppet king to rule.

One thing that grabbed my attention is that no one moved to protect the leaders. Like there was approval of what the soldiers were doing, or an unwillingness of anyone to stand and fight or confront them. Apathy? The leaders were left standing, bleeding, alone. No one cared that they were hurt. No one cared that they had been betrayed. No one was willing to risk a confrontation.

The leaders did not fight back.

Another thing that grabbed at me is the fact that many of the swords had obviously been used for this purpose before. And yet these soldiers were still in the position where they were able to stab the leaders in the back. The soldiers didn’t leave the church to find another, they didn’t accept leadership… they simply quietly moved to disable the leadership and replace it with something more to their liking.

My attention keeps being drawn to the sandals the soldiers wore. They were worn and dirty and looked uncomfortable. I’m not sure why but I think they represent the soldiers deliberately walking in unholiness and refusing to change. And for trampling things underfoot.

There’s sawdust or confetti or something of that consistency on the floor, too - these are prophecies that have been given by the leaders and refused by the soldiers, shredded and discarded and despised like so much trash because the soldiers don’t want change, don’t want transformation, don’t want Jesus to invade their quiet peaceful lives and so they shred the prophecies and stab the leaders and do everything they can to maintain the status quo.

I put that in red because there’s something important about the sawdust that I’m missing, or not realizing the importance of, and I’m not sure what. Sandals and sawdust.

I'm not an interpreter of dreams, but I understand this one. God is saying, you who are rejecting the prophetic in your ministry, in your church, in your life are going to come up short.

Evenso Come Lord Jesus!

A simple fact of History - Jesus

About this time of year lots of atheists and agnostics will write that Jesus never existed, never died for our sins and doesn't rule and reign today from the throne.

Here is the most inconvenient truth of all. He lived, he died for our sins, and now he rules and reigns.

So when all the pagans are trying to justify their paganism, I like to post a good article to stir them up. This year's is from Grant Jeffrey.

Throughout history many people have examined the evidence regarding the life of Jesus of Nazareth. To any unbiased observer who is willing to evaluate it without prejudice, the accumulated evidence regarding the Gospel record is truly overwhelming. As an example, Otto Betz, a respected scholar, stated in his book, What Do We Know About Jesus? that "No serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non-historicity of Jesus."

However, some writers have suggested that there is little historical evidence regarding the life of Jesus. For example, the writer Solomon Zeitlin wrote, "Even Paul's epistles have awakened the question, Does he speak of a real historical personage or of an ideal? The main sources for the historicity of Jesus, therefore, are the Gospels." However, Zeitlin then dismisses the Gospel historical accounts and concluded: "So we are right to assume that even the Gospels have no value as witnesses of the historicity of Jesus. The question therefore remains: Are there any historical proofs that Jesus of Nazareth ever existed?" Another critic Salomon Reinach has contemptuously declared that he refused, "to consider writings founded upon the memory of a collection of illiterates as historical evidence for Jesus." Scholars such as Zeitlin and Reinach also casually dismiss the strong extra-biblical historical evidence from both Pagan and Jewish sources that validates the Gospel accounts about Jesus. The real reason to reject the evidence is that it contradicts the opinion they tenaciously hold that rejects the Bible's accuracy. If liberal scholars applied the same arbitrary standard of rejection of all historical evidence to other ancient historical personages, such as Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great, they would be forced to reject all history as myth.

.....................................................

Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ's 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity; yet, some of the finest paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Him.

Jesus wrote no poetry; but Dante, Milton, and scores of the worlds greatest poets were inspired by Him. Jesus composed no music; still Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach, and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the hymns, symphonies, and oratories they composed in His praise. Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble Carpenter of Nazareth.

Read the whole thing.

Economic Common Sense we need to Read

Taleb has written an article in today’s FT that outlines Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world.

1. What is fragile should break early while it is still small. Nothing should ever become too big to fail. Evolution in economic life helps those with the maximum amount of hidden risks – and hence the most fragile – become the biggest.

2. No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains. Whatever may need to be bailed out should be nationalised; whatever does not need a bail-out should be free, small and risk-bearing. We have managed to combine the worst of capitalism and socialism. In France in the 1980s, the socialists took over the banks. In the US in the 2000s, the banks took over the government. This is surreal.

3. People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus. The economics establishment (universities, regulators, central bankers, government officials, various organisations staffed with economists) lost its legitimacy with the failure of the system. It is irresponsible and foolish to put our trust in the ability of such experts to get us out of this mess. Instead, find the smart people whose hands are clean.

4. Do not let someone making an “incentive” bonus manage a nuclear plant – or your financial risks. Odds are he would cut every corner on safety to show “profits” while claiming to be “conservative”. Bonuses do not accommodate the hidden risks of blow-ups. It is the asymmetry of the bonus system that got us here. No incentives without disincentives: capitalism is about rewards and punishments, not just rewards.

5. Counter-balance complexity with simplicity. Complexity from globalisation and highly networked economic life needs to be countered by simplicity in financial products. The complex economy is already a form of leverage: the leverage of efficiency. Such systems survive thanks to slack and redundancy; adding debt produces wild and dangerous gyrations and leaves no room for error. Capitalism cannot avoid fads and bubbles: equity bubbles (as in 2000) have proved to be mild; debt bubbles are vicious.

6. Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning . Complex derivatives need to be banned because nobody understands them and few are rational enough to know it. Citizens must be protected from themselves, from bankers selling them “hedging” products, and from gullible regulators who listen to economic theorists.

7. Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to “restore confidence”. Cascading rumours are a product of complex systems. Governments cannot stop the rumours. Simply, we need to be in a position to shrug off rumours, be robust in the face of them.

8. Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains. Using leverage to cure the problems of too much leverage is not homeopathy, it is denial. The debt crisis is not a temporary problem, it is a structural one. We need rehab.

9. Citizens should not depend on financial assets or fallible “expert” advice for their retirement. Economic life should be definancialised. We should learn not to use markets as storehouses of value: they do not harbour the certainties that normal citizens require. Citizens should experience anxiety about their own businesses (which they control), not their investments (which they do not control).

10. Make an omelette with the broken eggs. Finally, this crisis cannot be fixed with makeshift repairs, no more than a boat with a rotten hull can be fixed with ad-hoc patches. We need to rebuild the hull with new (stronger) materials; we will have to remake the system before it does so itself. Let us move voluntarily into Capitalism 2.0 by helping what needs to be broken break on its own, converting debt into equity, marginalising the economics and business school establishments, shutting down the “Nobel” in economics, banning leveraged buyouts, putting bankers where they belong, clawing back the bonuses of those who got us here, and teaching people to navigate a world with fewer certainties.

Then we will see an economic life closer to our biological environment: smaller companies, richer ecology, no leverage. A world in which entrepreneurs, not bankers, take the risks and companies are born and die every day without making the news. In other words, a place more resistant to black swans.

The stop before eternity

Just entered a rest home.....

Thought you would want to see what it looks like before.

I know it's necessary, just sad for me. Life sometimes is too long, not too short.

Chiseled in Granite

I saw this gravestone a few months ago. It impressed me, every marriage, every name change, every divorce, every dirty undewear is clearly carved in the granite. I think this is a little strange.

But there you are.

I want to know Jesus like this

The Lord is faithful. He comforts his spouse, the Church; he holds us with a firm hand, and leads us up to the way of death.

It is a reality: what happened once is always happening; not always again but always the one same event; not today as then, but then and today. Yesterday we entered Jerusalem with the Lord. We spread out our clothing, our egoistic shells, on his way, and we met him in the bareness of a humbled self…

There is no way back; we are here in the city which he rules, the city in which he will suffer. To enter with him means to suffer with him, to die with him, and finally at the end also to rule with him…This is our comfort; we shall see him again. First Judea and Jerusalem, judgment, death, the tomb. Then Galilee, life and sight: “When I shall have risen you will see me.”

Life hangs on to the issue of death; whoever goes with the Lord to die, goes with him to live and rule; whoever dares to go the way to Jerusalem will not miss the way to Galilee. The law that we must die in obedience to God means that death opens up to life…

It is strange; had we not finally entered Jerusalem for the last time, gone into the city of death? Had not the doors shut behind us? Now, suddenly, again we are in Bethany, the house of near friends, the place of quietness, of loving service; there is a meal, and an anointing. Is there a way back when we have laid our hand on the plough; a way back out of the city where brokers in evil have set a ring around the Lord?
— Sister Aemiliana Lohr, OSB - German Benedictine Nun, died 1972

Out My Front Door Last Sunday Morning a week over

It was a mess. I woke up and there was 6" of snow on the ground. Again. We have been buried.

Right outside our front door is one of the first harbingers of spring, the Vernal Witchhazel. Flowers early, fragrant, not showy but nice and delicate. I like this plant. But then I like all plants.

Here is a picture of that beauty, snow and all. Today it's 50 degrees and sunny. Boy does it send off a pretty scent.

Wisdom from David Wilkerson... are your prepared??

PREPARED FOR ANY CRISIS

When a crisis strikes, you don’t have time to build yourself up in prayer and faith. But those who have been with Jesus are always ready.

A couple wrote to our ministry recently in a spirit that revealed they’d been with Jesus. Their 24-year-old daughter had been out with a friend when a madman kidnapped both young women. Then he murdered their daughter in a grisly fashion.

The couple was in shock. Their friends and neighbors wondered, “How could any parent survive this kind of tragedy?” Yet, within an hour, the Holy Spirit had come to that sorrowing couple, bringing supernatural comfort. Of course, in the painful days that followed, those grieving parents continued to ask God why. Yet, all the while they experienced divine rest and peace.

Everyone who knew these parents was astonished at their calmness, but that couple had been prepared for their moment of crisis. They’d known all along that God would never allow anything to happen to them without an underlying purpose. And when the terrible news came, they didn’t fall apart.

In fact, these parents and their surviving children began praying for the killer. The people in their town couldn’t accept it. But the godly couple spoke and taught of God’s ability to provide strength, no matter what they may face. The townspeople recognized their strength as coming only from Jesus. Soon they were saying of the couple, “They’re a miracle. Those are true Jesus people.”

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof” (Psalm 46:1-3).

The Lord of the harvest can only use blue collar workers

A man I know posted a lament on his blog about how pitiful it was that churches were losing members. That people were drifting from the faith.

Hogwash.

Yes, intellectuals are drifting, they are what we Germans used to call DUMBSCHMARDT. I know people like that. Engaged a few a couple days ago.

But the fields are fully white unto harvest. The souls are ready. They are hungry. They want Jesus.

The problem with the church at large is it thinks this is white collar work. Preach a good sermon and people will come to Jesus. Sure enough now and again it happens to validate their theory. So, lots of men and women of God don a white collar and hope it will fit them as they pontificate from a pulpit.

When I look at the job ahead, it's strictly blue collar work. This is going to take men and women who are ready to get their hands dirty. Who are ready to engage the devils keeping people captive.

There is much to be done, but in case you miss what the harvest field looks like, I have a video of it. It's not what you think. People aren't going to be driving up to your front door in a Cadillac to join your church. They are going to come become they are destroyed, destitute and desperate. They will tithe on what they have, which will be nothing. So this is going to cost you everything. Mother Theresa of the slums is needed today. I know I wrote on this before, but I felt like one more swipe needed to be made.

Here's the video of the harvest field.

How I now Know that Barack H. Obama is NOT a Christian (he's not a muslim either)

Barack H Obama has no faith except liberalism. IF you apply the by their fruits you shall know them yardstick, BHO is nothing except a left wing facist dictator in waiting. A nail in the coffin:

New 'Faith-Based' Obama Advisor Says Pope Is 'Discredited,' Knights of Columbus Are 'An Army of Oppression'

By Tim Graham
April 7, 2009 - 07:43 ET

Here’s another story that underlines how ludicrous the media have been in insisting Barack Obama was a natural choice for traditional Catholic and evangelical Christian voters: CNSNews.com correspondent Fred Lucas reports Obama finished stocking the advisory committee of his faith-based initiative with a bang: one new selection was Harry Knox, director of the "religion and faith program" of the gay-left Human Rights Campaign. Just last month, Knox described Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops as "discredited leaders" because of their opposition to same-sex marriage.

In addition to his remarks about the Pope, Knox also criticized the Catholic Knights of Columbus as being "foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression" because of the Knights’ support of Proposition 8 in California last year:

Knox told CNSNews.com that he "absolutely" stands by his criticism of the pope. "The Pope needs to start telling the truth about condom use," Knox said on Monday. "We are eager to help him do that. Until he is willing to do that and able, he's doing a great deal more harm than good -- not just in Africa but around the world. It is endangering people's lives."

On March 19, Knox told the San Francisco-based gay newspaper The Bay Area Reporter, "The Knights of Columbus do a great deal of good in the name of Jesus Christ, but in this particular case [Proposition 8], they were foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression."

The newspaper further reported: "Knox noted that the Knights of Columbus ‘followed discredited leaders,’ including bishops and Pope Benedict XVI. ‘A pope who literally today said condoms don't help in control of AIDS.’"

....According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Web site, the religion and faith program run by Knox has created “a weekly preaching resource that provides scriptural commentary to ministers and lay people interested in an ecumenical gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender perspective on the Bible."

The site further states that the program has set a goal of doing “faith-based transgender education in 40 diverse congressional districts across the country. Clergy participating in the program will take their congregants to Capitol Hill on May 4 and 5 as part of the ‘2009 Clergy Call for Justice and Equality,’” an event sponsored by the HRC.

Last December 19, Knox took to The Huffington Post to decry the "anti-gay" disappointments of the new Obama regime:

Yesterday, our last hope of an openly-LGBT cabinet appointee faded away. President-elect Obama has said he aimed to build a Cabinet that reflects the diversity of America. But after all his bold, first-time-ever mentions of LGBT equality -- in his legendary address at Invesco Field, during his historic first speech as president-elect before a rapt crowd in Chicago -- have we now disappeared? Are we not part of his America?

What can we conclude from Reverend Warren's presence other than that inflammatory anti-LGBT viewpoints are -- unlike racism, sexism or religious intolerance -- an acceptable part of President-elect Obama's vision of political discourse? Let's face it: a religious figure -- admirable works fighting poverty or disease notwithstanding -- who had advocated that the California Constitution should bar interracial marriages, or women working outside the home, or Jews holding public office would never share the inaugural stage with the President of the United States. But for LGBT people, the standard remains different.

The media standard for Obama appointees is to downplay or ignore any controversy over harsh speech against traditional religions, unlike the way they played up what they saw as "fringy" Christian associations on the Bush team.

Rational Examination Examined

In reading Acts 24-25 and some experiences yesterday with really bright people have taught me that rationalism, taking our finite peanut brains and trying to figure God out is a fools venture.

That's why the fool hath said in his heart.....

NO GOD.

I am now more convinced than ever before that no person can Love God until God puts that love in their hearts, no person can have faith unless that faith is first given, not person can understand Him at any level until that gift of understanding is given.

To try to convince unbelievers to rationally come to faith is a hopeless cause. All you can hope to do is rattle their cage enough to maybe make them take a second look. Who knows, God might just give them the gift of just enough faith to begin to believe.

One can only hope.

Overwhelmed

Sometimes I have more on my plate than I can consume.

Yesterday was one such a day.

Today, I am going to get some perspective. JUST TODAY.

Sort of overwhelmed anonymous style.

No man is a Prophet in his own.... Part Deaux

The good news about Google Video is it has a counter. How many times has this video been viewed.

Last week I posted a video feed of a talk I gave at Faith Center in Rockford. Greatest talk in the world? Probably not. But essential understanding for the body of Christ, friends and family? YES. This is warning and reassurance. I am not going to repost a link. If you want to find it, it's on this blog and you need to watch it for your own understanding of the reasons for the recession and coming great depression IN YOUR FUTURE.

BUT, people I care about, people I hoped would take this to heart, people who need to know what this is going to look like, mostly, my Own Flesh and Blood, relatives, have been just too darn busy to watch the whole thing. So they miss the point. I am disappointed. Just not surprised.

We are going to go thru some very hard times and the impact on you and yours will be substantial. You will not escape.

One man who I care about most, who is single, who lives alone, who has a part time job, who I think is at deep risk in all this told me just a few minutes on the phone that investing 45 minutes in watching this was a big time commitment. I know he watches Jon Stewart on line, he watches Stephen Colbert on line. He watches other crap. Well, I'm not funny, just accurate.

So he walks in total darkness without a clue as to the great difficulty to come and thinks he is too busy to watch this.

This makes my head explode. How dumb can you be and still breath?

I know the problem, it's just Gene. Just that old man. Just that guy who has lots of opinions and this is just another. So we don't need to pay any attention. Then when the wrath to come comes, we can act all surprised.

That would be a great out, except this isn't my opinion. This is nuts and bolts pointing to a collapse. Nuts and bolts that anyone who puts two and two together can understand.

Well, thanks to the several hundred people who have already watched this and the many more coming because of links forwarded. They are welcome to the warning. It's my job. I hope it gives you comfort and caution.

It's just that to those who think they know me well, they place a discount on the message because of the messenger. That is a crime. I'm just a voice.

I guess Isaiah walking around naked would have offended them too.

The reality is, these things will happen if they do or do not watch the video. Despite that they don't believe in the prophet, they must believe in the Prophecy.

Jesus brothers and sisters didn't believe either. Until.....

Sunday's coming.

One of Pastor Dan's Favorite Illustrations

Pastor Dan Rothwell was a dear friend until he died some years ago. I think about his often, he made such a deep and rich impression in my life. Today I got this by email. It reminded me of Pastor Dan. Enjoy:

Asa, a Model King Until...
by Os Hillman
04-06-2009

"Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand" (2 Chron 16:7).

Asa was a godly King of Judah. There were two kingdoms during his reign - Judah and Israel. Israel's king was Baasha, who was a wicked king. To the east of Judah was Damascus, whose king was Ben-Hadad. Asa was an amazingly faithful and righteous king for thirty-five years. He got rid of the idol worship, and even deposed his mother for idol worship. God blessed his rule by allowing peace in the land for thirty-five years.

When Asa came into power the nation was lost. There was no godly ruler. There were many wars and the people began to cry out to God for deliverance. God sent them Asa.

When Judah was attacked by Zerah the Cushite who marched against them with a vast army and three hundred chariots, Asa called upon the LORD and God answered his prayer and delivered them from a larger and stronger army than Judah's.

However, thirty-five years later, Asa began to move away from trusting God and decided he could buy the favor of his enemy, the King of Ben-Hadad. Asa sent gold and silver to him as a bribe asking Ben-Hadad to cancel his treaty with King Baasha and go to war on behalf of Asa and Judah. Asa's strategy worked and he defeated Israel. However, there was a cost.

"In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers" (2 Chron 16:12-14).

What we learn from Asa is that whenever we place our trust and obedience in the Lord, God becomes our source for security and prosperity. However, when we move away from trusting God, that security is removed and we fail to receive those things God intended us to have.

Our culture fails because nothing is anymore sacred

When nothing is sacred, you have nothing to under gird society with. Daffy Duck? Mickey Mouse? Is there an argument that the lack of anything sacred in our culture and in our US social structure has destroyed the fundamental American Ethos of Unity?

When I think of how politicians, artists, comedians, TV Show hosts (Jon Stewart and Bill Maher) skewer all things sacred,it makes me wonder if we haven't crossed some line culturally that cannot be reversed except by a total social collapse. Maybe we have brought this on ourselves by making the Sacred Secular and without honor. We have tried and failed to replace an ideology of sacred hatred with free love, free markets, free speech and independence. It won't work.

I'm just asking. So does the Gates of Vienna bloggers. This is a profound and worthy topic. But, it's only worthy if you take the time to read and think about the whole thing. Here's a part of the content. You will want to read the whole thing:

It is useless to fight Mohammad if you’re too proud to defend a pork chop or a mannequin in the window. Unless you understand the full import of the caption under the Good Baron’s picture at the top of the blog, you don’t have the picture.

The Enlightenment has disembodied that picture. A country can lose its very soul, be knocked off the very kilter of its continuum under Enlightenment “rights.”

I understand Profitsbeard’s anger. But he cites few instances, Newsweek articles… I cite the emptying out of Turkey, all of North Africa. I can also cite Fjordman’s brilliant essays about why science flourished here and not elsewhere. The same goes for humor, entertainment, fashion, and everything under the sun.

It is easy to win an argument against “theocratic maniacs”, but they have their mirror image: the atheist rationalists, the libertarians. So on the one side we have honor killings and chadors and on the other Gay Parades with Virgin Mary dildos. They have everything sacred and we have nothing sacred. We have monomania.

This struggle is not about teeing off the idiots in the asylum, but about the asylum-keepers having lost sight of sanity.

If you want to drop an Alka-Seltzer tablet into a barrel of amoebae and watch them get riled up, go ahead. I understand what’s at play. I can get worked up in a lather about how they’re supposedly crazy (they’re NOT).

Freedom of speech is not going to save the West. Nothing “Enlightenment” will. The sacredness of our homes, our culture, our history, our customs will, if people wake up to them.

Let's get rid of all boomers - the next generation can't do any worse

Baby Boomers, the generation that lost America.

Tom Brokaw named our parents The Greatest Generation. They came of age during The Great Depression and defeated Fascism, Nazism and Communism. They built the Interstate Highway System and landed a man on the moon. They built the great American middle class with safe communities and public schools that were the envy of the world. They deserve the title of The Greatest Generation. One of their few criticisms is that they spoiled us boomers, adhering to the teaching of Dr. Benjamin Spock.

I am 59 years old and a child of perhaps the most indulged and impatient generation in history. I fear we may also become known as the generation that lost the American Dream. The Baby Boomers have rejected personal responsibility and exhibited a lack of mental discipline that could have enormous implications for the future.

The United States House of Representatives, now overwhelmingly controlled by the Boomers, signed a $787 billion legislative “stimulus” package comprised of 1,071 pages and a hefty 8 pounds. Not one legislator read the bill before signing it. Months later, the same House members publicly screamed at the corrupt executives of AIG who received bonuses in 2008 – bonuses specifically allowed in the very legislation they passed without reading.

This abandonment of personal responsibilities by the Lost Generation took on historic significance on January 20, 1993. That’s when the first President Bush, a member of the Greatest Generation, was replaced with President William Jefferson Clinton, the first Baby-Boomer to reach the Presidency. The Clinton presidency was notorious for its personal indulgence – and not just by introducing oral sex to the Oval Office. During Clinton’s watch, 100,000 Islamic terrorists were trained in camps in Afghanistan while terrorist strikes against American interests went unanswered. Clinton failed to respond to the attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 servicemen. Our enemies grew emboldened believing that America did not take their deadly threats seriously. On September 11th 2,996 American civilians died in part because the government did not see its first priority to be protecting them.

Also under President Clinton, the Federal Government in 1999 relaxed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s requirements of home mortgages. The decades old formula of 20% down and a 30 year fixed mortgage that allowed the Greatest Generation to lift home ownership to more than 60% was replaced with an array of instruments including sub-prime loans, “no-doc” applications where income was not verified, and teaser rates of 1%. Such tinkering led to unqualified purchasers with 100% financing pushing home values up at 20% per year. The bubble burst in 2007 with disastrous consequences. The heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made tens of millions in annual salary. Despite the calamitous consequences of their stewardship, no one was fired.

Another Boomer, George W. Bush followed Clinton and continued the Lost Generation’s abdication of personal responsibility. He also failed to comprehend the extremist Islamic threat. Again, no one was fired. On December 12, 2002, George Tenet, fellow Baby-Boomer and Director of the CIA assured President Bush the case that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction was a “slam dunk”. President Bush authorized the invasion of a sovereign nation based on that intelligence. No weapons of mass destruction were found. America’s soldiers inherited a broken country and hundreds of billions of responsibilities. No one, including George Tenet, lost their job. In fact, on December 14, 2004, President Bush awarded Tenet the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

READ THE WHOLE THING!!

The Eagle Weeps

Norman Matton Thomas (November 20, 1884 - December 19, 1968) was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1911. As a candidate for President of the U. S. , Norman Thomas said, in a 1944 epoch speech: "The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism", they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform".

In fairness, the secnd part of this quote is uncertain, the first is recorded.

In either case, it's come true. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave is now no longer either. The mighty eagle weeps.

Spiritual Maturity comes from Spiritual Hunger

I have been leading a group of men for four years at Lord of Life. The ones who faithfully and regularly come have become solid. They have grown by retreats, by our Men of God things we do, by many of the opportunities presented.

I have watched these men grow into hungry mature Christians. I struggle with the concept of discipling people. I don't think you can disciple a Peter if when you say, Follow Me, he keeps fishing.

There are a couple of men who came today because of the topic. Not regulars. We talked a great deal today about the application to our lives of the broken Body of Jesus. He said Broken so I'm going with broken. I know there are other opinions. I won't argue it.

Those men are not well discipled. All the opportunities they have had for discipleship have been un accessed. Always something else to do.

Well, it's not like that. You can't force feed discipleship to someone. I am against any program that is more dependant on the discipler than the disciple. They have to decide to stick.

I'm not critical as much as I am astounded at the level of maturity shown by the men who have dedicated themselves to being discipled and those who frankly have dodged, dipped and weaved.

It's just not that way. Spiritual Maturity comes from Spiritual Hunger.

I'm going to Des Moines to marry Frank

It appears that Gay Marriage is going to be OK in IOWA. Since it's now every man does what seems right in his or her own eyes, it shouldn't be a problem for me to do this. I mean, yes I'm already married to a woman. Equal opportunity nuptuality, right? So polygamy shouldn't be an issue. And, of course the fact that Frank is a Goldfish I hope to buy in Iowa, (I'll name him Frank) and then marry him shouldn't be a problem either.

Right?

How dumb can you be and still breath.

Held for Ransom - We just paid it - with funny money

Calling Good Evil and Evil Good - Abortion is a Blessing

There is a move by the Obama administration to force catholic hospitals to do abortions. EVIL. But never mind, Evil can always find a friendly voice with a collar and REV as a nombre prefix to make it sound good.

In this case, the notsoreverendinmyhumbleopinion Rev Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, Dean of the Episcopal (that says a lot right there) Divinity (oxymoronmuch?) school in Harvard has declared Abortion as a Blessing. How dumb can you get and still breath?

What I love about my Catholic Bretheren is the capacity they have to stand for something even when the culture doesn't like to hear it. From the Anchoress:

These remarks were made before a NARAL audience, in 2007, but are only just getting some reaction, perhaps because of the current movement to suppress the conscience clause that protects doctors, nurses and pharmacists from losing their jobs, and Catholic hospitals from closing their doors.

Or, perhaps her words are becoming more widely distributed because The Rev Katherine Hancock Ragsdale has just been named Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massacusetts.

If you do not mind, in the interests of space, I am going to put Ragsdale’s sermon in bold, and I’ll respond here and there, in italics

Too often even those who support us can be heard talking about abortion as a tragedy. Let’s be very clear about this: When a woman finds herself pregnant due to violence and chooses an abortion, it is the violence that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing.

If you actually talk to women who have kept the babies conceived ‘due to violence,’ as I have in my life, you would more likely find that their allowing their child to live has delivered them from their trauma, and brought love, healing and light into a very dark reality. When “violence” has been done to someone, it seems counter-intuitive to suggest that further violence - via both penetration and a ripping, violent murder done deeply WITHIN her body - can be a blessing…unless you subscribe to the odd two-wrongs-make-right equation.

When a woman finds that the fetus she is carrying has anomalies incompatible with life, that it will not live and that she requires an abortion – often a late-term abortion – to protect her life, her health, or her fertility, it is the shattering of her hopes and dreams for that pregnancy that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing.

These two young mothers and their babies belie the idea that doctors are always correct in their predictions about sustainable life. With extremely rare medical exception, a woman never “requires” an abortion, and even the AMA has testified that late-term abortions are unnecessary, given the availability of safe Cesarean sections, to protect “life” or “health” or “fertility.” It is certainly a crushing and painful thing for any pregnant woman to learn that child she is carrying and nurturing in her womb has a problem and may not live, or may live “differently” than most of us. But healing is a funny thing. It only comes when you walk through the fire rather than by attempting a detour around it. I wonder if Rev. Ragsdale has ever talked to women who have delivered children destined to die, who have managed only to swaddle them, name them and kiss them before burying them. She might learn something about what a powerful, and unending - Eternal - love comes with those experiences. It is the difference between being able to say “I know you and you know me”, and not knowing, at all. Blessings, indeed.

When a woman wants a child but can’t afford one because she hasn’t the education necessary for a sustainable job, or access to health care, or day care, or adequate food, it is the abysmal priorities of our nation, the lack of social supports, the absence of justice that are the tragedies; the abortion is a blessing.

Certainly there are women who struggle with these issues, but there are pretty extensive government programs in place to assist them, and I have never heard of a church that has refused help when a need has been made known. And I reject out of hand the notion that if someone is poor, they should simply kill their children. Barack Obama’s mother surely had few social “justice” mechanisms in place when she chose to give birth to him!

But if Ragsdale is really worried about women being forced to abort because of insufficient government or community help, and if she is sincere about the notion of “informed choice” - including the “choice” not to abort, then perhaps she will head into the monied enclaves of the pro-choice, on the Upper West Side, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Hollywood and elsewhere to urge the establishment of a “Pro-Choice Mother’s Help Foundation,” so that more women have even more resources to help them. It seems to me the pro-abortion side raises enormous amounts of money to support their facilities and their lobbying efforts. Why not spend some of it putting some money on the “life” side of the “choice” they’re so very, very “pro” about? I’d donate to it - a show of good faith.

And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion – there is not a tragedy in sight — only blessing. The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing.

Actually, in this scenario, there are several tragedies “in sight.” There is - lest we forget - the ripping and shredding up of a human life (come on, Rev. Ragsdale - it’s a baby - a living being, species human, not vegetable, not wolvine), and more tragically a weird societal validation of the supremacy (and stagnation) of the beloved self, which compromises for no one and nothing, and puts nothing else before it. This is the ultimate, intimate idolatry, whereby one has made oneself a godling, a facsimile I AM. It is very tragic, indeed. It is also a lie and an illusion.

These are the two things I want you, please, to remember – abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Let me hear you say it: abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.

Oh…boomers….they do love their group chants.

I want to thank all of you who protect this blessing – who do this work every day: the health care providers, doctors, nurses, technicians, receptionists, who put your lives on the line to care for others (you are heroes — in my eyes, you are saints); the escorts and the activists; the lobbyists and the clinic defenders; all of you. You’re engaged in holy work.

As you see, Rev. Ragsdale and I have very different ideas as to what constitutes a saint, and holy work.

Christian TV is Failing

I am becoming very irritated with Christian TV. I won't name names, but let's just say one ran for president, and the others are TV networks raising money for continuing their programming.

This has become frustrating.

In the throes of what is going to be one of the most earthshaking economic upheavals seen in nearly 80 years, one that will close churches, one that will strand Missionaries, one that will shut down many ministries..... They pay it all no attention.

It's whistling past the graveyard.

Instead it's about lowering your Cholesterol, losing weight and frankly really stupid non kingdom priorities.

I'm discouraged.

When it all hits and it will, what a howl will come up.

They will find the well empty because they put nothing in it. It's time for the Body of Christ and her ministers on TV and off to prepare the people for the coming flood. This times it's for real.

The Fields are White unto Harvest

This video of some Christians visiting a Tent City near Sacramento CA made me think of only ONE thing. This is the perfect place for a Church Planter hearing from the throne.

Who will go?

These people need to be taught to prosper in God then to prosper in the world. They are starving for the bread of life. They need to be given a hope and a future in Jesus.

Who will go?

There is worldly supply for these people but no mechanism to dispense it. There is a need for a father in the Lord to father these people. Who is the real Father....WE KNOW. But there is a need..

Who will go?

You? Me? Anyone? Anyone? Macedonia calls from Sacramento.

This must be Critical for the Holy Spirit to spend so much time on it

I know that the presentation I made was possibly discounted by many because, well, it’s just Gene. No man is a Prophet in his own home town.....etc.

Well, a man who is highly respected in the world of Christians, Dr Gordon MacDonald has just published an article that walks lockstep with what I brought in my talk.

You have been warned, life is about to get very very tough indeed. You can read the whole thing here where he says:

One of the speakers suddenly stopped talking statistical language and in plain English offered some observations. Here in bulleted form is what I heard him saying:

* There is all kinds of evidence that this economic tsunami (the speaker’s word) is radically changing the ways Americans think about money and the ways it has defined our modern way of life.
* We’re seeing an economic paradigm shift in the way people are beginning to save rather than spend.
* New and cautious views of the meaning of career, risk, wealth, success, and personal satisfaction are emerging.
* Trust, the “glue” that holds financial systems together, has been almost destroyed.
* Economically speaking, the world has gone from peak to trough overnight, and we are likely to remain in that trough for several years. Better to plan with that long range view in mind than keep getting disappointed by every quarterly business report.

As the speaker ventured these speculations, the audience seemed to freeze, each person appearing to turn inward as if to ask: Where am I in the midst of all of this? What do these new realities mean to me and to my loved-ones?

From the Anchoress Blog.... Worth Reading what Elizabeth says

“Not believing is even worse.”

So, yesterday I was off in Brooklyn again, for another coupla episodes of In the Arena, and as usual the good folks at NET had arranged a car for the ten minute drive from mass transportation to studio.

Typically, the drivers are immigrants from the Middle East or India, and - with the exception of one cranky sort who seemed to have had enough of driving through pedestrians for one day - they’ve all been sweet, soft-spoken fellows with genial natures.

Yesterday’s driver had an ornament hanging from his mirror - a red-cube thing with a rose atop it and some calligraphy. I asked him what the writing meant and he replied, “it is the name of the prophet and of God and it is a blessing for the car, a blessing for travel.”

“Oh,” I said. “I have something like that in my car, too.”

He must have noticed my cross. “You are a Catholic,” he said, and added. “I try to bring God into everything I do, throughout the day.”

“I do to, as much as I can,” I said. “It’s not always easy; I don’t always come up to snuff.”

“God is merciful,” he said. “Many people, all kinds of people, try to live in this way. My people, some Christian people, some Jewish people, they all try, but it is not always easy, as some think it is.”

“No, but we try.” I mused. “We people of faith all try to live it, and we all believe, and yet we have no peace between us.”

He shrugged. I got the impression that this was a conversation neither of us would be having, if one of us did not have our back to the other. “Faith is good,” he mused. “But peace…is difficult. We all believe different things.”

Ah, the eternal struggle - the mobius upon which we all ride and cannot escape. Why can’t believers simply allow other believers their beliefs? Because they believe.

I teased the driver, “maybe, then, we believers should just stop believing, and that would solve everything.”

“No, no,” he answered very seriously. “Not believing is even worse.”

I was so struck by his answer, and his gravity, that I wrote it down in my notebook: “To not believe is even worse.” It’s wonderful. It acknowledges that fact that belief is imperfect, that faith cannot be perfectly communicated and lived in faulty and imperfect humanity; to believe is not the perfect good. It is only a way to search for and encounter the Perfect Good. If we fail in that (and we all do, in one way or another), then all that is left is grace. And mercy.

And of course, for believers there is the reality that our lives and our ways continually give scandal to “the faith,” no matter what faith. The Islamofacists give scandal to the Muslims, the shyster-televangelists give scandal to the Evangelicals, the sins of our priests give scandal to the Catholics, the Hadassah lady sneaking a pork egg roll gives scandal to the Jews. My sharp answer to a stranger, while I wear the cross of Christ crucified, gives scandal. The cranky driver who yelled at me two weeks ago gave scandal to whatever his faith is.

Believers aren’t any better than anyone else, and belief - for all the good it does, and it does much - still serves as the impetus for so much that is bad in the world!

And yet…not believing is even worse.

RE Obamamotors

Perhaps President Obama can merge GM with Amtrak. This way the cars that no one will buy can be parked next to the tracks that no one rides.

News Flash from 860BC - CNN Israel

Dateline Israel:

In the second year of the drought and famine in our country King Ahab's Press Spokesman admitted today that there was a warning. It wasn't taken seriously by the King or his wife when it was given. A Prophet who supposedly represents Yahweh by the name of Elijah is rumored to have said that there would be 3 1/2 years of drought. He has not been taken seriously by the king or his wife since all the Priests of Prophets of BAAL have said that things are going to be OK, that rain will come any day now.

The king said that it wasn't a good idea to torment his people with the idea that there might be some difficult days in the future. His job as King is to make sure his people are undisturbed.

And THAT is the reaction I have received from many in the Body of Christ to a warning about things to come. Don't disturb the sheep. Let them go to the slaughter without being aware. If you choose to ignore or hide your head and by default the heads of your people in the sand, pastor, you are committing the sin of Ahab and will be judged. It's a warning direct from the throne. The priests and Prophets of Baal are wrong. Things are about to change. A Lot!

What Obamamotors will be like

Obama with his new auto company will be making clean cars. Crappy little things that get mileage but are rolling tin cans.

Remember “in a Yugo”?

Well, now at Obama Motor Corporation he is going to command and control the production of Clean Cars.

Of course no one will buy them, then he will do what every other communist leader has done, mandate that only HIS cars from HIS car car company can be sold. That’s how it was in East Germany. In Russia.

I’m holding on to my Buick until I get orders from the great leader that I have to buy his crappy little cars.

We are sooooo screwed.

Baptized for Hell

In not so great Britain about a hundred thousand atheists have bought and signed certificates renouncing any faith in God or any efficacy of their baptism.

Not that it probably had that much. I'm not a fan of infant baptism.

BUT, this seems like a highway to hell.

Harmony of the Gospels

I have friend who forwarded this article to me and concluded that because of the premise the scriptures weren't consistent or accurate and couldn't be trusted.

I didn't make a vigorous defense because I didn't study it out. Finally I did. Hooey. That's what the article is. It's what you get when someone is trying to get his PhD.

The scripture is fully in sync, in harmony with each other. The thing that tripped me up for a day or two was the flight to Egypt from Bethlehem and the slaughter of the innocents.

Once upon reading further, it was clear that Mary and Joseph stayed for a time in Bethlehem. Maybe a long time. This wasn't a vacation. This was a trek. One from which a mom and a newborn weren't about to engage in again.

I am always of the assumption that the Bible is right. If you disagree with it, you are wrong.

That settles it for me........

What Life will be LIke under the Obamawaranty Plan for your car

I thought of cutting and pasting, but you need to read this whole thing, It's funny, sad, frustrating, angering and hair pulling out bad.

SO, hang on to your hat, keep your hair. Read this account of trying to reach the White House Warranty Department.

This isn't going to go well.

When Liberals have no argument they resort to these seven straw men

I have been a participant in argument with liberals. I have quit. They are bad at what they do and when they are caught in a lie with their back to the wall they nearly always employ one of these seven:

by John Hawkins

Liberals spend much of their time trying to hide what they believe from the public while conservatives are perpetually frustrated by the fact that the American people don’t seem to understand what we really believe. Both problems spring from a single source: liberals lie incessantly. That’s not to say that there aren’t conservative liars or truthful liberals; there are, but for liberals, lying is the rule, not the exception.

There are two reasons why liberals lie much more than conservatives. First off, this is a center-right country and liberal beliefs are much more unpopular than conservative ones. If liberals told the truth about what they believe and want to do, the Democratic Party would practically be wiped out in much of the country.

Additionally, conservatives tend to think liberals are merely stupid or emotional, while liberals tend to view conservatives as evil—and liberals use that belief to justify lying about conservatives. After all, if you lie about someone who’s evil to keep them from doing bad things, couldn’t that be considered virtuous? You may disagree with that, but liberal politicians, bloggers, and journalists live by that rule. Any lie told about a conservative, even one that liberals know isn’t true, will be uncritically repeated ad nauseum by the Left until the point it becomes politically disadvantageous to do so.

So, in order to help fight the lies of the Left, here’s a guide to the most prevalent techniques that liberals use to mislead people about conservatives. If you’re listening to liberals talk about conservatives, you’re virtually guaranteed to hear at least one of these techniques used.

1) Question The Motivations:

[...]

2) The Anonymous Smear:

[...]

3) The Teary Eyed Spokesman:

[...]

4) Rewriting History: The American public has a short memory and liberals count on that to get away with many of their most egregious lies. For example, that’s the factor liberals count on when they try to pretend that George Bush lied about WMDs to get us into Iraq. Lies of that sort usually seem to work until someone points out that Democrats, including our current Secretary of State, were saying things like this before the war,

“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security.”—Hillary Clinton, October 10, 2002

5) Everybody Knows:

[...]

6) The Ransom Note Method: One of the Left’s favorite tricks is to take something a conservative says completely out-of-context and to attack that comment, even if it’s obvious that they’re twisting the meaning of what was said.(This is a favorite of several of the leftie spammers on this blog-r108) This is how the Left can accuse John McCain of wanting to fight for 100 years in Iraq or say Rush Limbaugh wants Barack Obama to fail even if it hurts the country.

This one is especially insidious because some conservatives foolishly blame other conservatives for having their words taken out of context. However, the reality is that if someone is determined to distort what you say, he can always find something to twist around. The people who deserve blame in that situation are not the people whose words were misrepresented; it’s the liars who have chosen to misrepresent what they said.

7) The Straw Man:

[...]

Unlike liberals, conservatives believe most Americans share our values and so, if you want to know what we think, all you have to do is ask us and we will tell you.

Read the whole thing.

A Bad Case of "No Man is a Prophet"

Yesterday, after successfully posting the talk on the future economics of our world on Google Video, I received great feedback from many who viewed it. Some were Christians, a few prophetic types on Open Heaven and Reformation Prophet. But, most of the the feedback I have seen is from Pagans who post on Say Anything Blog.

They seem to like it.

About a hundred or so Christian leaders were sent this talk as a link. I am trying to encourage people to face what we are about to go thru head on.

The only real feedback I got was from a guy who knew me back thirty years ago. He has a hard time with the whole "Prophet Gene" situation.

Reminds me of how Jesus was treated. "Isn't this the carpenters son, don't we know his mother and his brothers?"

I think Jesus came at just the right time. If he had come now he would not have had a chance. The body of Christ's ears are plugged up to the word of the Lord.

That is a pity.

An adage worth remembering....Pig Wrestling

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.
George Bernard Shaw

I keep forgetting that sometimes it's not really about winning the wrestling match, it's entertaining the porcine....

I need to cut that out.

The Economic Future of the USA and the World Prophetically and By a Son of Issachar

A week ago I spoke prophetically at Faith Center in Rockford IL. It was a warning and an encouragement regarding whats going to happen in our country in the next decade and beyond, particularly as it has to do with the economy and our money.

This is NOT a political talk, this is a straight up explanation of what is about to happen. The whole of the service is contained in this video. I begin speaking at about the 52 minute mark. You can move the cursor across at the bottom and go right to that section without having to sit thru the whole service. I hope you will however. It's good. I encourage when you watch to watch in the full screen mode. There are a number of charts and graphs to see and read. I have all the charts and graphs in a PDF format that I would be happy to email you if you request it at the email address on the left. I encourage you to tell people about this. I am also scheduled to give this Prophetic talk at a few other venues and answer questions. If you are anywhere near Northern IL I am available.

There is no fear in God, but in man there is something to be concerned about. We are about to go thru some very hard times. This is a word to the wise. Let he who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit of the Lord says:

Compare and Contrast

From Chicago Boyz:

This with this.

Discuss the role of civil society when it is healthy, and the role of the state when it is weak or damaged.

Obama, Less than expected

Mark Steyn on Obama.....YIKES

The Economist is the latest of the smart guys to notice that President Obama is proving strangely unlike the guy they told us he was back in late October:

His performance has been weaker than those who endorsed his candidacy, including this newspaper, had hoped. Many of his strongest supporters—liberal columnists, prominent donors, Democratic Party stalwarts—have started to question him. As for those not so beholden, polls show that independent voters again prefer Republicans to Democrats, a startling reversal of fortune in just a few weeks. Mr Obama’s once-celestial approval ratings are about where George Bush’s were at this stage in his awful presidency. Despite his resounding electoral victory, his solid majorities in both chambers of Congress and the obvious goodwill of the bulk of the electorate, Mr Obama has seemed curiously feeble.

The geniuses then go on to explain why this is: first, he hasn't "grappled" with the economy as singlemindedly as he should; second, he hasn't managed his relations with Congress very well. Jennifer Rubin gently explains what the smart guys have missed:

The Economist had Obama pegged wrong. Yes, there is an element of managerial incompetence, but the real issue is that the Right was correct about Obama: he’s an ultra-liberal at least on domestic policy, not a pragmatic centrist either on policy or in style. His mode of governance — denigrate the opposition, engage in ad hominem attacks, refuse to compromise on substantive policy, disguise radical policy intentions with a haze of meaningless rhetoric — bespeaks someone supremely confident in his ideological views...

This is the point: The nuancey boys were wrong on Obama, and the knuckledragging morons were right. There is no post-partisan centrist "grappling" with the economy, only a transformative radical willing to make Americans poorer in the cause of massive government expansion. At some point, The Economist, Messrs Brooks, Buckley & Co are going to have to acknowledge this. If they're planning on spending the rest of his term tutting that his management style is obstructing the effective implementation of his centrist agenda, it's going to be a long four years.

And how about this?

In an accomplished press conference this week, Mr Obama reminded the world what an impressive politician he can be. He has a capacity to inspire that is unmatched abroad or at home.

Oh, dear. That's so January 20th it makes these toffee-nosed Brits sound like straw-sucking hayseeds. Here's Gail Collins in The New York Times:

National Consensus Update...

Barack Obama — Kinda boring. Did you see the news conference? Same thing over and over again. Not that we mind. In these troubled times, we like stability. Thank God we didn’t elect somebody who was all charisma and exciting speeches...

This One Hurt

If you suffer from too much YOU don't read this. I am too much ME. Weightwise.

But, if you have the guts and if you are willing to do something about it perhaps, this might be a word to the wise. I'm sort of convicted by all this to be honest about it.

From Peter Beck:

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Negative Church Growth

There’s a lot of issues facing the church. Baptisms are down in many denominations. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-80% of all Protestant churches have plateaued or are in decline. The average age in many congregations hovers around 70. Those things don’t bode well for the immediate future of the church.

Those issues and a myriad of others just like them, and all probably closely related, have been the subject of untold books and conversations. Another problem, just as big, goes largely overlooked: gluttony.

Look around many churches and this is a huge problem. We’ve got overweight members. We’ve got rotund children. We’ve got pastors in the pulpit who are wider than the pulpit. Many have gotten so large that the can no longer button their coats. Clearly gluttony and the baggage that accompanies it is a big deal.

Obesity often comes to church hand-in-hand with another big issue: hypocrisy. Like so many other matters that strike so close to home, the topic of obesity/gluttony is painfully personal. We can talk about the biker culture with little reservation because we’re not of it. We can lambast the liberal media for their godless reporting because they don’t come to our church. But, we don’t talk about divorce because the person sitting next to us in the pew has been divorced. And, we never talk about overeating because that one hits far too many of us where it hurts, just below the belt (or maybe I should say over the belt since a lot of us who are carrying too much weight wear our belts lower every year).

My point is this: as Christians we are quick to point out the problems and moral failures of others. We rightly preach against drugs, sex, and … well, not rock and roll, I still like it. But, you get my gist. We have a host of sins that we expect our pastors to roast from the pulpit. Yet, we rarely hear a sermon on the sin of gluttony because many of our pastors (and even more of our members) like roasts. To preach against that one would require the pastor to say, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

We’re all aware of the physical dangers of obesity but let’s consider the spiritual ones. Once considered one of the seven deadly sins, this sin is silently killing our churches, one member at a time. Moreover, the hypocrisy of the obese criticizing others who struggle with another physical sin is staggering. We are hurting ourselves and we are hurting the church when we preach the new birth and ignore our fleshly girth.

I’m not saying that obesity and gluttony are sins that are unforgivable. Nor am I saying that overeating is on par with mass murder. I would be foolish to suggest that and you would be foolish to caricature my argument in that way. I am saying, however, that gluttony is a sin that the church has too long tried to overlook.

The proverbs are always good for a zinger or two (no, I’m talking talking about Little Debbie snack cakes). Consider Proverbs 23:20-21. “Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, or with gluttonous eaterss of meat; for the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty … .” Or, 28:7, “But he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father.” Okay, neither are direct condemnations of overeating but they paint a pretty unflattering picture.

The Bible addresses this issue in other places and ways as well. In Deuteronomy, Moses connected heavy drinking and gluttony as well (Dt 21:20). The old priest Eli died when he fell over and broke his neck because he was obese (1 Sam 4:18). Paul told Titus that the spiritual leaders of the church are to be self-controlled (Titus 1:8). The lack of which was grounds for passing over a would-be overseer. Surely that applies to food as well as the other vices we expect our pastors to avoid religiously.

One last text that we must consider is one we quickly bandy about when we want to outlaw certain behaviors that we deem unacceptable — 1 Corinthians 6:19 (12-20 actually). Consider the things often condemned with this text. Don’t commit adultery, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Don’t drink, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Don’t get tattoos, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Body piercings? Forget it.

According to 1 Corinthians 6:19, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, should we assume the physical abuse we heap upon our bodies with our second and third servings of grandma’s gravy have no bearing on the temple of the Holy Spirit? No! Obesity and the damage it does weigh heavily on the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Everything that we do with and to our bodies, Paul says, has spiritual ramifications. If I overeat and then complain of another’s physical sins, I am hypocrite. If I gain weight precipitously, I shorten my lifespan and limit my effectiveness for the Kingdom of God. We cannot divorce the physical from the spiritual as the gnostics tried to do. My body is part of who I am and who I am is part of the body of Christ here on earth.

Our churches are suffering under the weight of many burdens. Let’s make every effort that our own weight does not add to that burden. Let’s do all things to the glory of God, including eating.

Please note, I readily acknowledge weight control is a serious problem for many people. Many suffer from ailments and medical issues beyond their control. To them, I say, you're in my prayers. However, many others are like myself capable of changing, if only they truly desired to do so. To them, I say, join me in guarding jealously the temple of the Holy Spirit.

It's a cycle and we are about to enter into a new phase

In 1787 when the United States drafted its constitution for a democratic government of the people, for the people and by the people, Professor Alexander Tyler (University of Edinborough –circa 1787) wrote about the stages of birth and death of democracy. According Alexander Tyler it takes an average of two hundred years for a democracy to mature, reach its crescendo and then revert back to bondage.

There are eight stages of democracy he observed:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage. (where I think we are headed right NOW)
   

But, number ONE is coming again.

The Time of Great Spiritual Faith is returning as we will indeed come out of bondage. Be ready. Get ready. Stay ready. Jesus Reigns.

Cycles Don't Lie - We are in for some HARD TIMES

Bill Clinton famously said that under his administration the Business Cycle had been Repealed.

Nothing could be further from the truth. He was a pawn in the business cycle, taking credit for something over which he had no credit due. In fact if you have an open mind, the Clinton Administration is in large part responsible for much of the economic mess we have today. I know you won't read this, but this article clearly documents and supports my thesis.

So, I'm no drinker of liberal Kool Aid. Nor do I believe in the tooth fairy. I do believe this.

There is a business cycle. It is inexorable. It can be expanded or contracted by economic policy at governmental levels. It can be taken advantage of to enslave a people as Stalin did and Obama is. The fact is there are certain things that will happen in the economy in the future that are going to nearly impossible to stop, delay, perhaps, but stop NO. It's the cycle.

Now, you think I made this up? NO, I'm a student of Economics and one of my heroes is Freidrich Hayek. You can watch power points of his analysis at this web site. It's worth looking over.


An economist I rely on even more is The Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev. The Kondratiev wave is and has been proven accurate for two centuries. In fact in long waves he provides evidence that this cycle has been going steady since the times of King David in Israel.


That is why I speak with confidence about the things that will happen in our economy. Another economist who uses the long wave and demographic overlay to predict the movement of the market and economies is Harry S Dent. I have read his books since the early 90s. So when I say with confidence what the market and our economy will do in the future, I do so because I did my homework. I have paid a price to know what I'm talking about.

I don't mean to be combative, but when you too have studied the schools of economics above including the failed John Maynard Keynes theories that Obama is following, you are welcome to argue with me. Otherwise your opinion has little reputation comparing to the anvil of proven historical experience.

We are in for a bumpy ride.