Gerry Charlotte Phelps

God's Pharmacy

(From Guest Blogger Michelle Hollon)

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish - all before making a human.  He made and provided what we'd need before we were born.  The things below are best and more powerful when eaten raw.  We're such slow learners..

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God's Pharmacy



A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.




A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.




Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food .




A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.




Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys .




Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.




Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).




Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm cells to overcome male sterility.




Grapefruits, Oranges, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts .




Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

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Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.




Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Making All The Difference

                                        (Image from pro.corbis.com)

From The FAX of Life by Rubel Shelly, at www.rubelshelly.com.

Jack lets us send "The FAX of Life" to him each week. Just over a year ago now, he shared a wonderful story with me and vouched for its details.

The story begins with a nine-year-old boy who was being raised by a single mother. He never met his father, but his hard-working mother put in 72 hours lots of weeks just to make ends meet. He had a sister two years older than himself, and they worked a garden to raise vegetables to eat and to sell.

There was some help from the state welfare agencies. A free-lunch program at school helped feed him and his sister. And the little family felt blessed when they were able to move into a nicer house in a better neighborhood.

Across the street from the new house lived a kind Christian lady. She was not particularly noteworthy. She didn't teach Sunday School. Her own husband wasn't a Christian, and their children followed their dad's lead and were pretty indifferent to faith. On a given Saturday, however, she saw the little boy and his sister playing in the yard. She asked if they would like to go with her to Sunday School the next day. As much from curiosity as anything else, they decided to go. And their exhausted mother gave permission. It would give her a bit of a break.

With whatever flaws there may have been in that little church, it opened up a whole new world to those two children. For the first time ever, they heard names such as Noah and Moses. They read Scripture and learned the story of Jesus of Nazareth. They saw people who cared about each other and whose lives were somehow different. It made an impression. They accepted Christ in that little community of faith. They were baptized there. They grew up there.

College, time in the U.S. Army, marriage, children - all these came in time to that little boy. Success in business has allowed him to bless many good works with generous gifts. He has been a faithful teacher and occasional preacher of the Good News. He has even had opportunities to teach in several foreign countries. He and his wife have taken in a number of foster children. Some of the more recent ones have been unwed mothers. Shades of his own childhood!

But Jack told me the story with less concern about the little boy who became a godly man than to speak of that woman across the street from a family without a father. She noticed and cared. Without benefit of psychology or training in Christian ministry, she did something that most of us might have thought was inconsequential. She cared enough to invite them to Sunday School. There they found their real father - the Father of their Spirits, who gave them a new life.

Jack knows the details of the story well, for he was that little boy. And he loves to tell the story of Kathleen Callen's invitation to Sunday School that day. He hopes that it might encourage someone else to do something, say something, or give something that could make a difference in another person's life.

Things that look small are often the things that make all the difference.

The Whisper Zone - No Right to Speak Out

Why We're Losing Our Right To Speak Out, by Chuck Colson, here .

David Woodard is a political science professor at Clemson University—one who has first-hand experience on how dangerous it can be to speak out in favor of traditional values: He almost lost his job over it.

In 1993, Woodard was asked to testify about the political power of homosexual groups in American life. He agreed to serve as an expert witness for the state of Colorado, which was fighting to defend the recently passed Amendment Two, which made it illegal to give protected status based on sexual orientation.

In his new book, Why We Whisper: Restoring Our Right to Say It’s Wrong, co-authored by my friend, the able South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, Woodward writes, “In that one decision, I unexpectedly jeopardized my academic career and entered . . . into the fiercest battle of the emergent culture wars.”

To publicly oppose the campaign for same-sex “marriage” and gay rights was, he writes, “the equivalent to being sent to the university Gulag.” He was denied an administrative position on the grounds that he was “ideologically incompatible” with the values of the university. He often found the word homophobe scribbled on his office door. The press viciously attacked him for his views.

But in private, Woodard was hearing a different message. People would call to whisper encouragement. So did parents and university staffers. Some students came into his office, carefully closed the door, and whispered their support. “The one thing they all had in common is that they were all scared, and they all spoke in whispers,” Woodward writes.

Homosexuality is not the only issue Americans can no longer speak freely about: Speaking up in support of any traditional belief will earn you attacks from secular elites. “Whether individual, parent, church, or business, Americans holding traditional values are trapped in a ‘whisper zone’,” Woodward and DeMint write, “surrounded by invisible electric fences that threaten to ‘shock’ them if they cross unmarked legal lines.”

This can come sometimes in the form of ridicule and intimidation—sometimes with lawsuits, as we at Prison Fellowship know so painfully well after three years of fighting Americans United over our successful prison program in Iowa. All too often, secularist judges and legislators have thrown the power of the law behind their views—making it ever harder to speak out for traditional positions. 

But as Woodard and DeMint point out, “historically, freedom of speech is crucial in any democracy.” They note that our founders understood that the ability to express our differences publicly was democracy’s substitute for violence.

Democracy is—by definition—a conversation about what is good and what is right and wrong; what is fair to all. “The demise of good government comes when this conversation is abbreviated, as we believe it has been,” Woodard and DeMint write. The result: We are now suffering from, as John Stuart Mill put it, the “tyranny of prevailing opinion.”

“The continued decline of America’s moral life,” Woodard and DeMint say, “will prove fatal to our society.”

I agree, and that is why you need to become informed about biblical worldview and about the so-called culture wars. And a good place to start is with DeMint and Woodard’s book, Why We Whisper. Learn more about how and why we are losing our right to speak freely. And then—speak up! Loud and clear.

This is part one of a two-part series.

"A Tact Attack"

                                         (Image from canjo.net)

From Rubel Shelly's "FAX of Life" today:

My wife tells me I'm seriously deficient in the tact department.  I tend to be direct, clear and forthright.  (Those are my terms.)  She thinks I am inclined to err on the side of being a bit abrupt and blunt.  (At least, she fears that my candid manner can be perceived in those negative ways.)

Even so, I don't think I'm quite as bad as one fellow I heard about.  When Fred went to Europe, he left his beloved dog with his brother Ed.  Three days into his trip, Fred called back to check on things.  "So how is my dog?" he asked.

"He's dead!" replied Ed.  No nonsense.  Straight to the point.

"What?" screamed Fred.  "You can't just hit somebody with news like that!  You have to ease your way into it.  Lay a groundwork for it.  Use some tact."

"Explain what you mean," said his brother.

"Maybe you could have said something about Old Fido being up on the roof.  You reassure me you have it under control and that everything is going to be fine.  When I call the next day, maybe you could say he jumped off and broke his leg, but the vet said he would make a complete recovery.  He's just going to have to spend a few days in the clinic," he explained.  "Are you following me?"

"Sure," said Ed.  "I'm not stupid, you know!"

"Okay," Fred continued..  "When I call back the next day, you could say there were complications and that my dog had died.  That way it wouldn't be such a blow.  That way you could have gotten me ready for bad news.  Understand?"

"Yes, I've got it," Ed told him.  "I'll try to do better from now on."

"Good," said Fred.  I'm glad that's settled.  So how's Aunt Helen?"

"Well," Ed began hesitantly, "she's out on the roof right now."

Some news is hard to receive or to communicate.  Some facts are simply unpleasant.  And all of us need a couple of friends who care enough about us to be really and truly honest with us - and to hold us accountable.  Like Fred, though, all of us would appreciate a modicum of tact and gentleness thrown in.

If you're struggling today with unpleasant or painful truth that needs to be shared, you are not doing anyone a favor by avoiding the task.  But think before you speak.  Don't use a cover such as "brutal honesty" to mask what everyone else will see as "honest brutality."  No swatting the fly on a friend's forehead with a meat cleaver!  Think and pray before you speak.  Then speak with gentleness.

Solomon had it right.  "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."  (Proverbs 27:6)  Nobody benefits from false flattery.  Being a "yes man" (or woman) to a person who needs accountability and loving criticism is a sophistry that will come back to haunt you.

Be kind and have the right motive.  But care enough to speak the truth.

(See Rubel Shelly's weekly "The FAX of Life" at www.RubelShelly.com.)

Treating Only Symptoms

             (Image from pages.frederick.com)

This from The FAX of Life by Rubel Shelly:

Physicians are trained to trace symptoms to their root causes.  Then it is the root cause - not just a presenting symptom - that gets treated.  We can all be grateful for that.  What would happen, for example, if headaches simply got aspirin and belly aches got antacids without further tests?

The obvious answer is that many people would die from the serious underlying diseases behind their relatively minor aymptoms.  Symptoms are like the red lights that appear on the instrument panel of your car.  Don't smash the annoying light.  Change the oil or find out why the engine is overheating.  To focus on the symptoms rather than what is behind them just isn't very bright.

Without wanting to be unkind, let me try to be clear.  We human beings aren't terribly responsible when it comes to the basics of living.  Forget belly aches for a minute.  Let's talk about financial responsibility, intact families, or spiritual life.  Are we treating symptoms or addressing root issues?

A single mom with two children explained why she needed a vacation with her girlfriends.  "I'm so stressed out about money!" she said.  "My credit care is maxed out, and I am a month behind on my rent.  I've just got to have a break."  My suggestion was that she forget the vacation, put the money she had saved for it to catch up on her rent, and start paying down her credit card by taking a sandwich to work rather than eating lunch at restaurants.

Her problem wasn't stress.  It was debt - needless, inexcusable debt that she could take steps to eliminate.  She took the advice.  She tells me I was a real friend to her by insisting she treat the disease rather than the symptom.

It's not so different with trouble in a marriage or one's spiritual life.  "We're not happy and don't laugh like we used to.  Maybe we should take a trip together - a second honeymoon, so to speak, and reconnect."  No.  Find a competent counselor both of you trust, get honest about the things that have broken down, and do your part to try to rebuild the relationship.  Get to the root of things.

It's a bit like the fellow who kept telling me he couldn't pray, didn't like to read the Bible, and hated going to church.  I knew enough of what was going on to ask the right questions.  So he finally started coming clean about the affair and the drugs.  It was the beginning of the healing of his spiritual life.  He quit talking about trouble praying and not liking church and faced up to an out-of-control life.

Symptome are helpful things.  They let us know something isn't working right and invite us to seek the cause.  Then, with the real issues taken care of, it's amazing how quickly the symptoms resolve.

(The RAX of Life is available weekly from www.rubelshelly.com.)

Hillary to Drop Out of Race

                                    (Image from news.filefront.com)

No she's not!  April Fool's!  Gotcha, didn't I?

Over the years, there have been millions of April Fool's Day Hoaxes.  Rubel Shelley brings us some of the best efforts, below,  from the last 150 years.

Today is a day to be on your toes.  It's April Fools' Day - or April Fool's Day or April Fools Day, depending on your choice of spelling.  Believe me, I'll be especially careful.  I work with a guy who celebrates if 365 days a year.  And on this "official day" of pranksterism, he stands to be at his rascally worst.

One of the most famous of all April 1 hoaxes was pulled off in stiff-upper-lip England, no less.  A respected newscaster, Richard Dimbleby, reported on the TV news program Panorama that an early spaghetti harvest was under way in Switzerland.  He explained about an early spring and rambled on about the dangers of the spaghetti weevil.  The story was accompanied by photographs of happy Swiss villagers pulling the delicate strands off trees.

Think nobody could take such things seriously?  Think that no one gets fooled by hoaxers?  The BBC switchboard was jammed on that day in 1957 with hundreds of callers wanting to know more.  Many wanted information on where to buy plants so they could grow their own spaghetti.  "Many British enthusiasts," producer Michael Peacock is reported to have told them, "have had admirable results from planting a small tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce."

Just reading about some of the classic pranks pulled on a gullible public - not all of which were April Fools' Day events - generates giggles.

• Showman P.T. Barnum used to pack people in to see the 161-year-old former nurse of George Washington.
• The New York Sun published articles back in 1835 about the discovery of life on the moon - describing bixon, unicorns and other creatures
• Orson Wells' "War of the Worlds" caused panic across America in 1938 when CBS broadcast his story of an invasion from Mars.
• You can still find photos and occasional offers to sell jackalopes - a cross between killer rabbits and pygmy deer.
• Physicist Alan Sokal wrote a jargon-heavy piece of sheer nonsense in 1996 arguing that gravity was a fiction created for social-linguistic purposes - and actually got it published in a Duke University journal.

Yep, it all makes you wonder about our critical thinking skills.  It also has to make all of us wonder how much drivel we are being fed about our climate, political prospects, human origina, and/or cures for sale.  And we haven't even raised the matter of the hoaxes perpetrated in the name of religion.

So be on your toes today.  But spend a little time trying to get ahead of the curve in your workplace.  "A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day." (Proverbs 15:13 MSG)

(For back issues of "The FAX of Life, visit www.RubelShelly.com)

What We Do Vs. Who We Are

    Former N.Y. Gov. Elliot Spitzer

    (Image from prblognews.com)

Public Figures and Not-So-Private Failings, 3-17-08, by guest blogger Rubel Shelly

The news stories come at a non-stop pace.  It's a baseball player called before Congress.  Then comes a big city mayor exposed for lying and infidelity.  Next is more bezarre behavior and rehab for a music star.  Now a governor steps down because of money-juggling to cover liaisons with a prostitute.

There will be more.  Count on it.  And one of the most common and off-putting responses we will hear in every case is this.  What so-and-so does in private has nothing to do with his or her public abilities.

At one level, that's right.  The ability to paint the corner of the plate with a fastball, belt out a mesmerizing concern, draw business to the state - all these abilities exist independently of dumb, criminal or evil things somebody does.  For a time anyway.  Until the next temptation or blackmail based on the last gaffe.

At a much deeper level, however, the connection between personal ethics and public persona is apparent.  If he will lie to and cheat on his wife, he is not trustworthy in anything he promises us.  If she is out of control, she is on the way to self-destruction and is going to take others down too.  And there are not enough laws or enforcement agents to make things work right.

Have we really come to a point in human history where results, advantage and effectiveness trump character - or the lack of it?  Will we tolerate anybody and anything that turns a profit - without regard to the harm done to others?

If this sounds like a diatribe against corrupt politicians, celebrities who muddy kids minds, and athletes who sully the legitimacy of sport, it is.  But it's the smaller part.  The much larger point is to remind all us moms, bosses and teachers that we are more than our jobs.  Who we are is at the heart of what we do.  Character either legitimates or undermines everything we claim to value.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "By their fruit you will recognize them.  Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." (Matthew 7:16-18)

To be an honorable human being is to be decent in the dark as well as before the cameras.  It is everyone's challenge these days..

(See related post, "Character Trumps Talent, Sooner or Later", here, Chapter 15 from "Up and Out: A Guide to True "Compassion for the Poor.")

Rubel  Shelly's free weekly email, "FAX of Life" is available from www.RubelShelly.com.

Injuring the Truth

                    Child Victims of the Holocaust

                           (Image from ushmm.org)

Some Christians believe that obeying God's commandments is mere "legalism," not really needed.  That approaches blasphemy.  While obeying God's commandments cannot save us, God does expect our obedience.  This is about breaking that one commandment that probably gets broken more often than any of the other nine, with little or no concern.

Today's Guest Blogger, Rubel Shelly, writes today in his latest newsletter, The FAX of Life, that the consequences are bigger than we imagine..

How Falsehoods Diminish Truth

The story is absolutely mesmerizing!  It is a touching tale from the years of the Holocaust.  A little Jewish girl from Belgium makes her way across Europe to search for her Nazi-deported parents.  She is able to escape capture herself only by taking refuge with packs of friendly wolves.  In the course of her incredible escape, she even kills a German soldire.

This multi-layered account of Nazi cruelty, childhood innocence, and unlikely rescue was published as Mishna: A Memoire of the Holocaust years.  It generated millions of dollars in revenue and was translated into 16 languages.  A French movie from the book has been a hit during its current run.

Then came the confession through her lawyer last Thursday that Misha Defonseca's dramatic story is a shameful lie.

Defonseca spent the war years in safety in Belgium.  Despite her moving speeches about experiences that led to her bestselling book, we know now that she made up the stories about wolves and Nazis.  She isn't even Jewish.

Scholars had challenged a garble of dates, events and information in the book.  But their research largely fell on deaf ears, as the public received the book with eagerness.  Now the house of cards has collapsed.

People who misrepresent significant realities with trumped-up, self-serving false claims actually manage to tarnish the truth.  In the words of Dr. Lawrence Langer, one of the scholars who knew all along that it was a hoax, "What happened to the Jews was the worst atrocity in history; and people who exploit it for profit, by posing as Jews or lying about being part of the experience, insult those who went through it.  It's as bad as saying the Holocaust never happened."

The gruesome facts of the Holocaust don't change; a woman's misrepresentation of her experiences related to that event minimizes it, however, and gives comfort to Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites.  Neither do the facts of Christ's resurrection and the life-changing power of the gospel change; people who misrepresent themselves as its messengers or devotees tarnish the Christian faith, discredit Jesus of Nazareth and decrease the likelihood that unbvelievers would consider - much less embrace - it.

Sleazy televangelists, gay-bashers at military funerals, priests who molest chidren, church-member moms and dads who betray families, Sunday school teachers who bully or curse employees at work - all are agents of betrayal.  They sabotage the gospel, undermine Christ's appeal, and make faith unattractive.

Truth's credibility is always tied to the integrity of its messengers.

The Britney Spears in Your Life

                    (Image from newsday.com)

This from Guest Blogger Rubel Shelly at "Fax of LIfe."

This isn't a piling-on piece about Britney Spears out-of-control life.  She has enough people alternately diagnosing and dismissing her.  Even as the TV newscasters tell about the latest bout in court, the most recent episode of partying, or intruduce the latest censored photo, they tend to roll their eyes.  She generates a lot of tongue-clucking these days.  She just seems hopeless.

Ah, but that's the point.  Or, at any rate, it is the beginning of a point somebody needs to make about the latest young celebrity on a path to self-destruction.  Is there nobody who cares about her?  Will nobody risk telling her the truth?  Doesn't anybody love her enough to throw her a lifeline?

Practically everybody has a Britney Spears in her life.  There is a friend or family member, a colleague at work or a member of her church whose life is clearly spinning sideways on a sheet of ice and about to crash.

It's a younger brother who has been experimenting with drugs - while racking up a couple of DUIs along the way.

It's a brother-in-law who has left his wife and their two children to live with someone half his age.

It's a friend who has four or five credit cards maxed out from shopping binges and whose idea of solving the problem is to get another card.

It's the deacon who was arrested a few weeks ago for stealing a computer from his company - and whose absence from church has not been mentioned.

It's the person in your office who used to be cheerful and dependable but who has missed a lot of work lately - and whose presence complicates life for everyone.

See what I mean now?  My point is not to moralize about or to pass another sanctimonious judgement on Ms. Spears.  It is to look in from the perspective you and I share to wish somebody would reach out to her.  Maybe there are people who really care about her.  Maybe they have tried.  And maybe she has rebuffed them all.  That happens sometimes!  More often than not, though, people crash and burn because the people around them look away.

Alcoholics, philanderers, religious bigots, incorrigible gamblers, clinically depressed people, tax cheats - the list just goes on and on.  People have life issues that have them by the throats.  It will likely take a professional to help them dig out.  But somebody who is close to and credible with them has to take the first step to intervene.  Get in his face.  Let her know how serious things are.

You don't know Britney Spears?  Don't think you can help her?  Okay.  But what abou the person you do know who is on a similar path?  You may be that soul's best hope of recovery from a nose-dive into oblivion.

Even if you make the effort, there are no guarantees - except that major problems don't solve themselves.  If the shoe were on the other foot, wouldn't you want someone to reach a hand to you?

(Rubel Shelly's devotionals are available at www.rubelshelly.com )

A Small Light in Great Darkness

                              (Image from sxc.hu)

From Rubel Shelly's "Fax of Life":for 2-11-08:

Whei I was a boy of about ten, my mother and father took me to Carlsbad Caverns.  I still remember the gigantic stalagmites and stalactites.  I can almost feel the cold of being deep inside the earth on a hot summer day.  But my most vivid memory is of the moment our guide had all of us find a place to sit down and - after warning of what was about to happen - turned off all the electric lights that had been put inside the dark belly of the earth.

I felt like I was tumbling head over heels.  My heart raced.  With one hand I grasped the rock ledge on which I was sitting and with the other reached for my father.  Fortunately, the tour guide didn't allow it to last long.  He turned on his flashlight.  And it looked as bright as a million candle-power searchlight!

An ordinary flashlight that costs $3.00, complete with batteries, can push back the encompassing, frighteninig darkness of Carlsbad Caverns.  A beam that would be hardly noticeable at ground level on a sunny day looks like a laser in deep darkness.  As soon as it appeared, my stomach gave up its tumbling sensation.  My lunch became stable again.

I could see my parents' faces in outline again and knew I wasn't alone.  I sensed that the single light in our guide's hand heralded the return of the lights which had guided us perviously and whose presence we had taken for granted.

When God created Planet Earth for our habitation, he came onto a scene that was formless and dark.  He pushed back the darkness with light, then set about to bring order to chaos.  It takes light for life to survive and thive.

When Jesus was re-creating the human race and restoring hope to despairing people, he came onto a scene made formless and dark again.  This darkness had come by human rebellion against his Father and humanity's inhumanity to its own.  In his birth, teaching, lifestyle and personal victory over death in the resurrection, he pushesd back the darkness with the light of heaven's bright glory.  To use John's language, Jesus was the light shining into our darkness; the darkness could not conquer the light he brought.

If you ever feel the head-over-heels sensation that comes of being in the deep darkness, look in his direction.  Jesus is still the Light of the World.  And it is only in the presence of light that yu can live, grow and flourish.

"I am the world's light," Jesus said.  "No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness.  I provide plenty of light to live in."  (John 8:12 MSG)

("FAX of Life" is a free email that can be ordered at gbciii@aol.com, or viewed at www.rubelshelly.com.)

Lumping Christian & Muslim Fundamentalists Together

                   (Image from timesonline.co.uk)

Guest blogger David Trawick asks this question.  Here is his answer.  (Pastor of Northwest Hills UM Church in San Antonio TX, he writes perceptively on important issues.)

The problem isn't fundamentalism, but fundamentalist Islam.

In articles on acts of Islamist terror, we often read the side-comment that "Fundamentalism is found in religions other than Islam."  Certainly that's true.  But I suspect the comment is a not-so-subtle slap at fundamentalist Christians, suggesting that they and fundamentalist Muslims are similarly dangerous and distasteful.

I'm not a fundamentalist Christian, but I have to ask: is this lumping together of Christian and Muslim fundamentalists warranted?

Certainly, fundamentalists of all religions have clear, strong opinions about truth and falsehood, right and wrong.  They are often publicly vocal about their beliefs.   

Fundamentalist Christians (and others) often connect their faith and politics.  (There is a conatitutional separation of church and state, but not of faith and politics.)

But where do we see fundamentalist Christians waging violent jihad against those who disagree with them?  Where have they passed a law requiring everyone to believe and worship the way they do?  Where do they imprison people for practicing other faiths?  Where do they execute non-Christians who proselytize?

Have fundamentalist Christians outlawed possessing, buying, selling, or giving away copies of non-Christian scriptures?  When was the last time you heard of a school teacher being imprisoned because his or her students named a Teddy bear "Jesus?" 

These things only happen in lands dominated by fundamentalist Muslims.

Have you ever wondered why?  Because a literal reading of Islamic scriptures directly leads to those conclusions.

Numerous passages in the Kuran call for violence toward people of other faiths.  Some passages explicitly name Jews and Christians as the enemy.  The Quran doesn't supply any historical context for those commands.  So they are read by fundamentalist Muslims as commands from Allah for all times.

In the earliest traditions of Mohammed's life, there are numerous stories of violent jihad against non-Muslims and brutal assassinations of vocal critics of the prophet.  Historically, Islam has been spread by the sword.  It makes sense that the fundamentalist Muslim would continue that practice. 

True moderate Muslims face a very difficult situation.  A few are honest and brave enough to say, "We must go beyond the Quran.  That was for then, not for now."  They risk their lives for saying that publicly, as the Quean is particularly harsh in calling for jihad against those who leave Islam, as fundamentalists say moderates have. 

Nothing like that exists in Christianity.  It is true that the Bible contains descriptions of violence, murders and wars.   But these passages are in specific historic context and never given as divine commands for all times.  These passages can be used to justify violence today only if yanked from their literary and historical contexts.

In past centuries, when "Christian Nations" did violence, they made very little appeal to the Bible to justify it.  What appeal they did make violated the Bible itself. 

The worst that might be said of today's Christian fundamentalists is that some are narrow-minded, judgemental and condemning of those with different opinions.  At that, they betray the character of the Jesus they claim to serve. 

In a fascinating twist, writers who lump together fundamentalist Christians and Muslims sometimes show that very same narrow-mindedness, judgementalism and condemnation. 

Are they, therefore, liberal fundamentalists?

When The Ads Become The Story

                                  Eli Manning, Super Bowl 2008 MVP

                                           (Image from newsday.com)

(From Guest Blogger Rubel Shelly, 2-4-08, writing at FAX of Life, www.rubelshelly.com.)

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday.  As usual, however, the game was always in danger of being overshadowed by the ads.  There were Clydesdales working to make their team, a baseball diamond following Derek Jeter, multiple examples of how sex sells, and special effects that made the impossible happen.

The Patriots were going for a perfect 19-0 season, the Giants were going for credibility.  Tom Brady was shooting for a fourth ring, Eli Manning was hoping for his first.  There was potent offense and stifling defense.  It was serious football on the big stage - the game every football fan waits for from one season to the next.  And then there were the ads.

Some were real dogs.  They just didn't meausre up in terms of creativity, special effects, or impact.  A few were so bad that they will be memorable only for the embarrassment today's reviews will cause the people who paid for them.  It is a bit like the way life works for all of us the other 364 days of the year.

Many a store or product line has lost customers for something that had nothing to do with availability or quality.  Someone who answered the phone was rude or didn't take a request seriously.  A clerk was more interested in a personal conversation than the rushed customer.  Fortunately, it works the other way too.

A cheerful voice, a clerk who is helpful, someone who actually remedies a problem for an unhappy or angry person - and a first-time or occasional customer becomes both a regular and someone who tells others.

Then we get around to the things that really matter.  Have you seen those angry titles of books bashing God?  They proclaim that God isn't really all that good after all.  Perhaps he is nothing more than a delusion.  And maybe it is time for people to move on - and move away - from religion altogether.

I've read the books and talked with people who think that way.  Most have been distracted from the real issue (God) by a really bad "ad" (a believer) they've seen.  He was sexist.  She was homophobic.  They were big church-goers who didn't have a clue about being good neighbors or simply kind people

And yes, it works the other way too.  Many a life has been rescued by a godly grandmother who keeps on loving when everybody else turns away or a coach who cares more about the kids than their games.  They were neither brash nor pushy.  They were simply there.  They cared.  And they looked a lot like Jesus.

The Kingdom of God is about the big themes of eternity and redemption, history and purpose, freedom and choice.  But the game is always in danger of being upstaged - or, in some cases, sabotaged - by the "ads" surrounding it.

You and I are the story for many people.  Let's try not to blow it.

A New Year's Prayer

                   (Image from thehurricanwatch.files.wordpress.com)

Holy God of Heaven and Earth,

I know that a thousand years are as a day to you, but we humans are bound up in time.  As a new year is beginning, please teach me to....

-care more about people and less about money.

-enjoy my work but not let it enslave me,

-and laugh more easily than I did last year.

As I get ready for 2008, help me to remember things that are easy to forget....

-that it might well be my last year,

-that some people are counting on me,

-and that you have things for me to do.

Lord, with the things I have accumulated over the years, please let me....

-shake off the monotony of life,

-try some new things in this new year,

-and mend some broken fences.

And, Father of Mercies, please teach me in this new and unspoiled year to....

-lighten up and enjoy children, sunsets, reading and long walks,

-avoid quarrels and work at being a peacemaker in this world.

-and start next year with fewer regrets than I bring to 2008.

I cannot know what this year will bring, and I am grateful for that!  But help me....

-eat less junk food.

-exercise and take better care of my body,

-and learn to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

Above all other things, Father, I want to be your instrument for....

-easing some body's too-heavy load,

-relieving some sad person's misery,

-and introducing some lost soul to Jesus.

Come what may in the year about to begin, may we live it for your glory, within your wall, and to your delight.

We pray in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

(From Rubel Shelly's "FAX of Life" at www.rubelshelly.com )

Christmas Teaches Skepticism Toward the World

                                     (Image from artprints.com)

Guest Blogger Rubel Shelly writes about What Christmas Teaches:

There is a wonderful line from the American scholar Stephen L. Carter that is appropriate to the Christmas season:  "Religion is, at its heart, a way of denying the rest of the world."  He is surely, astutely and gloriously correct

Faith's view of this world is strangely skeptical.  No, more than that.  It is a posture of unequivocal distrust leading to rejection!  When the world recites its mantras - you matter only if you are beautiful, the most important thing is money, winning is everything, Look Out for Number One - faith protests them all.  It adopts a posture of doubt and incredulity.  It lives in skepticism and disbelief.

I refuse to believe that selfishness is acceptable or that it is permissible to resent another's good fortune. I will not swallow the world's way of thinkng in order to justify prejudice, aggression, and hatred.  No believer can be anything but incredulous about the claim of this world that she is entitled to anything she can get her hands on or that he should feel no guilt about exploiting others.

So distrust the alleged certainties of sense that cancel the mysteries of faith.  Dispute the tendency of the masses to look forward only for the sake of declaring the impossibility of living with hope.  Deny altogether the inevitability of such greed, hatred and violence that we cannot prove the reality of love.

The Bible warns against being blinded by this world and speaks of the danger of the blind leading the blind.  That warning puts us on notice that things, people, and ways of thinking totally rooted in the finite world of time, space and matter will keep us from discovering, experiencing, and delighting in the greater realities of God, spirit and eternity that can only be known by faith.

Faith isn't self-deception.  It is neither wish-projection nor wishful thinknig.  It is our willingness to hear and stand with the things God has shown us through events and people as awe-inspiring as a trembling, smoking mountain in the desert and as modest as a baby's first cry in the village of Bethlehem.

So let Christmas deny the hold of this world on your heart.  Let it open your eyes to what the willfully blind will never see, your ears to things the incorrigibly deaf can never hear.  See Immanual - and know God is with us.  Hear the song of angels - and receive God's peace given to anxious hearts.  Hold the confusion, cynicism, and antagonisms of this troubled world suspect - and choose God's reign as your way of affirming the true realities. 

Merry Christmas to all!

(Rubel Shelly's free weekly newsletter can be requrested at www.rubelshelly.com or GBCIII@aol.com.)

Grownup Memories of a Nuns' Home

                      (Image from geocities.com)

From Guest Blogger Norman Hoonan's email response to the post juet below this one, "Stranded in the Snow in a Car:"

"Your story about the snow and things of long ago reminded me of another time in my life.  The following letter was written on the eve of my retirement from the United States Air Force.  This letter was the genesis of what resulted in a reunion of hundreds that passed through the gates of St. Vincent's Home..".

October 1982

Vandenberg AFB, CA

Dear Sister,

It has been many years since I last saw you and as I approach my forty-third birthday I cannot help but think that all of my life you have been dedicated to a cause…a cause that I was but a small part…a cause that gave me my values…a cause that can only be repaid in heaven.

Reading your story, “They’re All Of My Children”, in the Fall River Herald News has brought back many a memory.  As I read I could not hold back the tears that swelled up inside me…tears of joy…tears of hope…tears of wanting; wanting to say I love you.

All those years at St. Vincent’s Home and I never said, “I love you.”  Well I want you to know that I have never forgotten you or St.Vincent’s Home, and I could never be thankful enough for the love and dedication you and the other sisters have bestowed upon me.

It was in September of 1945 when I first arrived at Saint Vincent’s and I departed in June of 1954.  I visited you only once since that time…1958 or 1959, I’m not sure.  It was sometime after you made a trip to Washington, D.C., in which I confirmed having seen you across the street.  I’ve always regretted that moment of not having made the extra effort to change my direction and at least have said, “Hello.”

You know ever since that time, when ever I see a RSM in my travels I at least stop to say hello.  I think the last time was in St. Louis, Missouri; however it was the RSM who spoke first.  She said to me, “Do you think you know someone?”  I said, “I was staring across the bus station when I recognized that familiar habit (which is no more) and just had to approach you, perchance you may be from St. Vincent’s.”

All those years have passed but I want you to know the memories of St. Vincent’s have been with me in times of crisis, loneliness, and love.

I remember when I first joined the U. S. Air Force and the discipline those “TI’s” tried to instill in me could not approach the cause and effect results that I received at St. Vincent’s.  Whenever the going got rough, I just pictured that “TI” in a nun’s habit, and everything was just OK.

I remember when I studied in school about far away places that little did I know that someday I would visit such places.  It was in the fifth or sixth grade (Sister Mary Bridgetta) that I first learned of the boat people in Aberdeem Fishing Village in Hong Kong, China.  When in 1968 I was dining on a floating restaurant, observing the boat people as I was quietly saying my grace (I still do you know, before every meal), I recalled where I first learned of such extraordinary people.

I remember the loneliness of Christmas when I was driving across the upper peninsula of Michigan in 1970.  Across all that vast emptiness of the winter snow, I felt a yearning that I once experienced at St. Vincent’s.  The yearning and waiting (in the snow) for a visit from my dad at Christmas time.  And all of the Christmases at St. Vincent’s…the Knight’s of Columbus Christmas parties, the AMVETS Christmas parties, and all the wonderful times we had then.  Back then, Christmas was Christmas.

I remember when I received only one toy…a wooden duck on wheels that would quack, quack when pulled along.  And, when I cried because someone broke my duck.  When I look at my own children today, spoiled with all kinds of toys and not caring as I did for my duck, it makes me realize how important it is to shower your children with love and not toys.

Whenever and wherever I travel throughout the world, people always talk about the various foods; especially the bread!  Well nobody, I mean nobody, could ever make bread like Sister Mary Regis.  I’ve had bread in Sicily, Germany, Thailand, and just about everywhere and always I remember, Sister Regis made the best…crisp hard crust with soft white center that would melt in your mouth.

I  read that you lost your book of names during the move from North Main Street.  I’m Not sure I can remember them all but a few that come to mind are: Emile (Emo), Paul, and Ronnie Duclos, Frankie Nicholson, Armand Huard, Billie Oznick, Kenneth and Jo-Jo Brocheau, Richard (Roxie) Walker and brothers Billie and Joseph, Peter, Dan, and Charles Leary, Richard and Norman Mello, Billie Dennis (I think he had a brother also.), and now my memory is slipping.  Where are they now?  I know Joe Walker drowned in an unfortunate accident and he is remembered in my prayers.  But the others are remembered to…

I suppose that I was the only one from my year group at St. Vincent’s to go to Vietnam during that unfortunate crisis, but I would like to know what happened to the rest of my classmates.  It would be nice to have some kind of reunion someday.

Before I close this letter I want you to know the training and discipline that I received at St. Vincent’s has been with me all of my adult life…it will never leave me.  I, even still, say my prayers each night before I fall to sleep.  To some people that’s no big deal, but I still have to remind my children to do so.  In fact, just raising a family is a big job for my wife and me and I often wondered how you could manage with twenty or thirty children when I have my hands full with just three.

My most sincere love,

Norman Hooben

(Norman adds that "the nun who is the subject of the commentary is Sister Mary Monice.  She is now in a home for elderly nuns and sits quietly in her wheelchair remembering all her children."  www.normanhooben.blogspot.com)

Stranded in a Car in the Snow

                   (Image from edalemountainrescue.co.uk)

This from Guest Blogger Deb Spaulding:

Hebrews 13:2 (NIV):"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."

What is it like to entertain a stranger, to help someone you do not know?  Have you ever received an extravagant gift of hospitality?

Long before seat belts and mini-vans, Daddy would load our luggage into the trunk of our 1962 Chevy, and off we would go to grandmother's for Christmas.  On the way we would sing along with Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley on the radio, and watch for the North Star to appear.

One such Christmas Eve, we were caught in what seemed to be a blizzard.  Gusts blew snow all over our windows, and over everything I could see, barely, through the back window.  I had just dozed off when Dad pulled over to the side of the road.  Startled, I sat up suddenly, wondering what was going on.  A young woman was standing at the edge of the highway, her car wedged in the snow bank.

Shivering in the cold, she hoped someone might stop to help.  My parents agreed to take her back home, wherever that was.  We turned the car around and headed back toward the city.  It was way out of our way, but we were far more concerned about the woman riding in the front seat of our Chevrolet.  I will never forget the look on her face as she sat warming up in the passenger seat.  She said "Thank you" over and over. 

We dropped her off in front of her two-story flat.  My Dad carried her luggage to the front door and waited to see her safely inside.  We never saw her again.

It was very late when we arrived at our grandparent's home.  But we knew that someone who once was lost had now been found.

Is there a stranger stranded along your highway?  Maybe there is something you can do to help them get home.  The best gift you ever receive is the gift you give away.

Deb Spaulding, Faith UMC, St. Charles, MO, www.songofdeborah.com.

"God's LIttle Cowboy"

(Click on "Play" arrow-button at bottom-left of screen to play video.)

From Guest Blogger Storm'n Norm'n Hooben, here:

"Logan is a 13 year-old boy who lives on a ranch in a very small town in Nebraska. Logan listens to Christian Radio station 89.3FM KSBJ which broadcasts from Houston, TX. Logan called the radio station distraught because he had to take down a calf . His words have wisdom beyond his years. "

It was a hard, painful situation for anyone, let alone a 13 year old boy.  But how he handles it is tremendously inspiring.  If you can keep your eyes dry while listening, you will do better than I did.

They Are Expecting You

                                (Image from neatorama.cachefly.net)

Rubel Shelly, guest blogger today, writes:

It was a Sunday morning.  A bright and perky mom went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get up, eat a bite of breakfast, and get dressed for church.  "I'm not going!" he announced.  There was a sullen tone in his voice.

"Hold on, young man!" she replied.  "You know the Sunday routine in this house.  Why don't you want to go to church today?"

"I'll give you two perfectly good reasons," he said.  "First, nobody likes me down at that church.  And second, I don't like them either."

Rather than get exasperated with her boy, the wise mother sat down on the side of his bed.  Rubbing his back very gently, she spoke in her most tender and comforting voice.  "Now, sweetheart, you know you shouldn't feel that way," she began.  "But let me give you two good reasons why you just must get out of bed and go with us.  First, you're 47 years old.  And second, you're the pastor."

Okay.  It's an old story you've heard before.  But it is marvelously adaptable.  It can be Monday mornnig, the people in that office, and their boss.  Or Wednesday morning, the nurses at the clinic, and the doctor.  It even works for Friday morning, traffic court, and the judge.  The reason it is such a flexibla story that fits practically every work situation is that we all have those days or seasons.

When things are going well and everybody's happy with you, there is no problem getting up, going to work, and doing your job.  But things don't always go well.  And people aren't always happy with you.  What then?

Have you noticed how many things are cyclical?  A few good months of sales may be followed by a lean time for the company.  Or maybe it's the mortgage business when interest rates are at historic lows, then the Federal Reserve starts inching rates up again.  It even happens in family life.  There are seasons of health and joy and laughter that seem to vanish overnight in the wake of a heart attack or auto accident or angry exchange.  Does that mean the good times are gone forever?  That it is right just to throw in the towell?

The Bible speaks of a virtue called perserverance.  This noble trait is also known as holding on, staying steady at the task, and persistence.  It deserves more credit than it gets.  And it needs to be cultivated in everyone's character.

Somebody occasionally needs to remind us that tasks need doing because they are ours.  We've made commitments with consequences.  Others are depending on us.  Once we carry through, the outcome can be trusted to the faithfulness and mercy of God.

So what's on your agenda for today?

______

For back issues and other resources please visit www.RubelShelly.com

Where Is Your Church - and When?

         (Image from collegeparkbaptist.org)

Not only where is your church, but when is it? And what is it?  Rubel Shelly, guest blogger,  tells this story:

Dr. Halverson was chaplain of the United STates Senate for several years.  He would occasionally visit the seminary where Cook was a student.  After one of those visits to speak to students, he joined a group of them for coffee and made himself available for informal conversation.

"Dr. Halverson," began one of the seminarians, "where is your church?"  The student was asking about the street location of the Presbyterian Church Halverson served, but he got a deeper and more insightful answer.

"Well, it's three o'clock in Washington, D.C.  The church I pastor is all over the city right now.  It's driving buses, serving meals in restaurants, sitting in board meetings, having discussions in the Pentabon, deliberating in Congress."  He proceeded with a long list of roles and responsibilities where his church was functioning that day.  "And periodically we get together at a building on Fourth Street," he added, "but we don't spend a lot of our time there."

Then Rubel comments,

The pastor-chaplain was not naive with his answer.  He was brilliant.  And he had the clear intent to challenge a young would-be pastor to raise his sights above the Sunday event of the church as an assembly.  Or even church as programs and budgets and organization.

The church was never intended to be isolated from the world but to penetrate it as salt does food.  Jesus wants his people to be "in the world" but not "of the world" - functioning as light to dark places.

Thanks Rubel.  I needed that.  Maybe some others could use it too.

(Rubel Shelly's weekly FAX of Life can be emailed to you free.  Just email him at GBCIII@aol.com )

Eerie Color Photos of WWI and Czarist Russia

Did you know there was color photography back during WWI?  These amazing photos give an unexpected peek into the world your grandparents, great and great-great grandparents saw, almost 100 years ago.

These photos are so incredible that I have taken the liberty of posting the entire post from the phenomenal blog of Frank Warner at http://frankwarner.typepad.com/free_frank_warner/2007/10/1910-in-color-a.html.  Here then is Frank Warner, guest blogger.  (Click on photos for enlargements)

_______________

1910 in color: A peek into Russia before Communism

Did you see the Seriously Cool web site’€™s remarkable photographs of France in the First World War? The big surprise is that the pictures are in color.

To me, the photos are as if the Internet suddenly gave us a time-travel portal to major historical events. Color pictures of 1917. Who knew?

The photos are real, and they are not colorized. They were taken using an early color film process.

Tsarist empire. That same web site has even older color pictures of Russia, also stunning. These are around 1910, and they also give you the sense you’€™re seeing something you couldn’€™t possibly be seeing.

They’€™re Russia before World War I, before the Red Revolution overthrew Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918). The pictures show us some of Russia’€™s most beautiful churches and cathedrals, usually in the sunshine, often in the most idyllic settings. You wonder if this is old Russia, or the land of Oz.

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii took the pictures for the tsar.

There is graceful St. Nil Monastery, a study of blue on blue on Stolobnyi Island in Lake Seliger, northwest Russia. There is the ornate Cathedral of St. Nicholas, atop a green hill in rural Mozhaisk, Russia. There is a panoramic shot, with a depth of color, showing us the city of Tbilisi, Georgia, including the Metekhi Cliff on the Mtkvari River.

You can study these pictures and wonder what life was like that distant time in these remote locations. The scenes are so sunny and romantic it’€™s hard to imagine anyone could have been unhappy. Even color film can’€™t record unrest.

What were the Russians and Georgians of 1910 thinking on those green hills and under those blue skies? How many were stirring against the tsar? How many imagined a revolution or what would follow?

And just out of curiosity, what do these places look like today? Send postcards!

Frank Warner

Click here to see the rest of the color photos of 1910 Russia.

Click here to see the color pictures of the First World War.

____________

Thanks, Frank.  What a terrific post!

Did you see the Seriously Cool web site’€™s remarkable photographs of France in the First World War? The big surprise is that the pictures are in color.

To me, the photos are as if the Internet suddenly gave us a time-travel portal to major historical events. Color pictures of 1917. Who knew?

The photos are real, and they are not colorized. They were taken using an early color film process.

Tsarist empire. That same web site has even older color pictures of Russia, also stunning. These are around 1910, and they also give you the sense you’€™re seeing something you couldn’€™t possibly be seeing.

They’€™re Russia before World War I, before the Red Revolution overthrew Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918). The pictures show us some of Russia’€™s most beautiful churches and cathedrals, usually in the sunshine, often in the most idyllic settings. You wonder if this is old Russia, or the land of Oz.

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii took the pictures for the tsar.

There is graceful St. Nil Monastery, a study of blue on blue on Stolobnyi Island in Lake Seliger, northwest Russia. There is the ornate Cathedral of St. Nicholas, atop a green hill in rural Mozhaisk, Russia. There is a panoramic shot, with a depth of color, showing us the city of Tbilisi, Georgia, including the Metekhi Cliff on the Mtkvari River.

You can study these pictures and wonder what life was like that distant time in these remote locations. The scenes are so sunny and romantic it’€™s hard to imagine anyone could have been unhappy. Even color film can’€™t record unrest.

What were the Russians and Georgians of 1910 thinking on those green hills and under those blue skies? How many were stirring against the tsar? How many imagined a revolution or what would follow?

And just out of curiosity, what do these places look like today? Send postcards!

Frank Warner

Click here to see the rest of the color photos of 1910 Russia.

Click here to see the color pictures of the First World War.

____________

Thanks, Frank.  What a terrific post!

1910 in color: A peek into Russia before Communism

Did you see the Seriously Cool web site’€™s remarkable photographs of France in the First World War? The big surprise is that the pictures are in color.

To me, the photos are as if the Internet suddenly gave us a time-travel portal to major historical events. Color pictures of 1917. Who knew?

The photos are real, and they are not colorized. They were taken using an early color film process.

Tsarist empire. That same web site has even older color pictures of Russia, also stunning. These are around 1910, and they also give you the sense you’€™re seeing something you couldn’€™t possibly be seeing.

They’€™re Russia before World War I, before the Red Revolution overthrew Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918). The pictures show us some of Russia’€™s most beautiful churches and cathedrals, usually in the sunshine, often in the most idyllic settings. You wonder if this is old Russia, or the land of Oz.

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii took the pictures for the tsar.

There is graceful St. Nil Monastery, a study of blue on blue on Stolobnyi Island in Lake Seliger, northwest Russia. There is the ornate Cathedral of St. Nicholas, atop a green hill in rural Mozhaisk, Russia. There is a panoramic shot, with a depth of color, showing us the city of Tbilisi, Georgia, including the Metekhi Cliff on the Mtkvari River.

You can study these pictures and wonder what life was like that distant time in these remote locations. The scenes are so sunny and romantic it’€™s hard to imagine anyone could have been unhappy. Even color film can’€™t record unrest.

What were the Russians and Georgians of 1910 thinking on those green hills and under those blue skies? How many were stirring against the tsar? How many imagined a revolution or what would follow?

And just out of curiosity, what do these places look like today? Send postcards!

Frank Warner

Click here to see the rest of the color photos of 1910 Russia.

Click here to see the color pictures of the First World War.

____________

Thanks, Frank.  What a terrific post!

For All The Saints

For those who have forgotten, All Saints' Day is always the day after Halloween.  And to refresh our collective memory, Halloween was never meant to celebrate hobgoblins and monsters, but to fondly remember and commemorate our dead, those we love who have passed on.  So it was originally Hallowed Evening, contracted to Hallow e'en, then to Halloween.

Here then is Allan Bevere's short list of saints we should know about and learn from, here:

.Aimee Semple Mcpherson

Ambrose of Milan

Athanasius

Bernard of Clairvaux

Blaise Pascal

Brother Lawrence

Catherine of Siena

Charles Finney

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Wesley

Clement of Alexandria

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dorothy Sayers

Elizabeth Fry

Fanny Crosby

Francis Asbury

G. K. Chesterton

George Whitefield

Harriet Tubman

Hildegard of Bingen

Joan of Arc

John Calvin

John of Damascus

John Donne

John Huss

John Newton

John Wesley

Jonathan Edwards

Karl Barth

Martin Luther

Perpetua

Phoebe Palmer

Polycarp

Richard Allen

Sojourner Truth

Teresa of Avila

The Venerable Bede

Ulrich Zwingli

Walter Rauschenbusch

William Tyndale

Many, many thanks to Rev.  Allan Bevere for his labor in compiling and linking this list! See his excellent blog at www.arbevere.blogspot.com

What Our Soldiers Are Like

This photo is not about a soldier grieving for a fallen comrade.  Rather it is....

U.S. military police officer Brian Pacholski comforts his hometown friend and fellow officer David Borell, both from Toledo, Ohio, at the entrance of the military base in Balad, Iraq, about 30 miles northwest of Baghdad, on June 13. Borell broke down after seeing three Iraqi children who were brought to the base seeking medical help after they were injured while playing with and burning a powder that was inside a plastic bag near their farm.

These strong, tough men who break down when seeing an injured child ... how noble they are; how different from our enemy, who plant bombs on children.

From www.cheatseekingmissles.blogspot.com, with many thanks.  Photo from "A Soldier's Blog" at http://www.brandonblog.com/war-blog-96.html. 

Kipling Gets It Right

                                Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling

                                    (Image from twainquotes.com)

This is from Wolf Pangloss, here.  Tremendous for our day and this time.  Enjoy!

Kipling: The Gods of the Copybook Headings

October 24th, 2007

Copybooks were for handwriting practice, back in the days when handwriting mattered. A timeless gem of old wisdom was written at the top of the page in a beautiful hand, and the user of the book would copy it all the way down the page.

By 1919, when he wrote this poem, Kipling had lost his son in World War I. He had lost his faith, though he yearned for faith in something. As is clear from the language of the poem, mentioning “Social Progress,” the “brave new world,” “robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul,” the dangers of disarmament and immorality, and with the overall structure following the evolutionary narrative, the subject is the progressive movement that attempts to reduce human life to scientific, animalistic principles. The poem reminds the reader constantly that old wisdom is still wise and true even if we have lost faith in it, and the last line echoes the toll of the first two years of the Russian Revolution. For the reader in 2007, it echoes the 100 million death toll from Communism, the ultimate progressive movement for the scientific reformation of society and humanity. And it echoes in the toll of 40 million abortions in the United States since Roe vs. Wade. And finally, it echoes the threat of an even greater death toll from the Global Jihad, which in the worst case could end up with multiple American, European, and Muslim cities being attacked by nuclear weapons and a death toll better than half a billion souls.

To all of this, the God who inspired the copybook headings is the answer. Believe if you can believe. Keep trying if you can’t. Chin up old bean. Never give up. Never give in.

The Gods of the Copybook Headings
1919
Rudyard Kipling

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place.
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Heading said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four—
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began —
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire—

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

When God Allows Tragedy

                    (Image from billspringer.com)

What effect does a disaster have on us?  In his weekly newsletter, The Fax of Life, Rubel has this to say:

The Means to Growth

Most of us have areas of life in which we need to grow.  We need more patience.  We want greater self-discipline.  We long to strengthen our families, contribute to our friends, and make a difference.

Then come the setbacks.  She doesn't get the educational opportunities she had dreamed of and sought.  He is seriously hurt in a car wreck.  A business fails.  There is a chronic illness.  Some terrible personal tragedy strikes.

Believe it or not, growth and setbacks seem to be related.  All sorts of studies point to it.  Most people who survive great personal trauma aren't destroyed by it.  They survive.  They learn.  They develop still-closer personal relationships.  They grow from their experience.

Most of us know the term post-traumatic stress, but some experts in the field of mental health are now using the term post-traumatic growth.  They point to people who emerge from severe life crises feeling enlarged rather than diminished.  They speak of spiritual development, stronger personal relationships, greater personal strength, deeper appreciation of life, and clarity about priorities.

"We're talking about a positive change that comes about as a result of the struggle with something very difficult," Dr. Lawrence Calhoun of the University of North Carolina said.  "It's not just some automatic outcome of a bad thing."  To be sure some people bring a fuller sense of security in life to a trauma.  They have a better support system.  They had already learned to rely more on God than self.

I know people who illustrate this phenomonon.  A woman who survived a painful divorce from a cruelly abusive man is doing well in a career she never planned to have and caring for two children who have been protected from what she once had to endure.  A man who wasn't supposed to survive widespread cancer seems perfectly healthy seven years after his diagnosis.  A woman who didn't think she could survive her husband's death is happily married to a man who felt equally devastated at the loss of his wife two years earlier.

God made body, mind and spirit to be marvelously resilient.  Injury or illness, divorce or bankruptcy, relocation or cherished person's death -- each has the capacity to crush or dignify, disorient forever or reorient to the people and things that matter most.  Since God gave us the capacity to overcome, we are more likely to do so by consciously seeking him than by fleeing in our confusion.

Tragedy spares no one.  God gives grace not only to survive but to grow.

(You can subscribe to get The Fax of Life by email weekly at GBCIII@aol.com.)

You Gotta See This. Impossible!

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Impossible! - 3 minutes

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From Milk and Cookies, here

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This married pair are magicians David and Dania.

Apparently they have become the most popular act during NBA half-time shows. 

They also appeared on America's "Got Talent"

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(Thanks and Hat Tip to Fred and Gene Hannah)

So This Bird Walks Into A Store...

A seagull has turned shoplifter by wandering into a shop and helping itself to crisps, here and here. 

The bird walks into the RS McColl newsagents in Aberdeen when the door is open and makes off with cheese Doritos.

The seagull, nicknamed Sam, has now become so popular that locals have started paying for his crisps.

Shop assistant Sriaram Nagarajan said: "Everyone is amazed by the seagull. For some reason he only takes that one particular kind of crisps."

The bird first swooped in Aberdeen's Castlegate earlier this month and made off with the 55p crisps, and is now a regular.

Once outside, the crisps are ripped open and the seagull is joined by other birds.

'Fine art'

Mr Nagarajan said: "He's got it down to a fine art. He waits until there are no customers around and I'm standing behind the till, then he raids the place.

"At first I didn't believe a seagull was capable of stealing crisps. But I saw it with my own eyes and I was surprised. He's very good at it.

The seagull takes the crisps outside and eats them

"He's becoming a bit of a celebrity. Seagulls are usually not that popular but Sam is a star because he's so funny."

A spokesman for RSPB Scotland said: "I've never heard of anything like this before.

"Perhaps it tried some crisps in a shiny packet in the street, and was just opportunistic one day at the shop when it saw what was inside.

"As everyone knows, gulls can be very quick and fearless, and clearly this one is no exception."

He added: "We'd discourage people from feeding gulls though, as gulls in towns generate lots of complaints every year, and the availability of food is the only reason they live in urban settings."

(Thanks and a big Hat Tip to Fred and Gene Hannah)

New Illegal Immigration Problem

                            (Image from unilonleader.com)

This from Ben Blankenship, and also here.  It is from the Manitoba Herald, Canada (described as being a "very underground paper.")

The flood of American liberals sneaking acorss the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration.

Tha actions of President Bush are prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray and agree with Bill O'Reilly.

Canadian border farmers say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal-rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.

"I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota.  The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry.  "He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken.

When I said I didn't have any, he left.  Didn't even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?"

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them.  So he tried installing speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields.  "Not real effective," he said.  "The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn't give milk."

Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves.

"A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said.  "I found one carload without a drop of drinking water.  They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though."

When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives.  Rumors have been circulating about the Bush administration establishng re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer and watch NASCAR races.

In recent days, liberals have turned to sometines-ingenious ways of crossing the border.  Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs.  After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers on Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney hits to prove they were alive in the '50s.

"If thay can't identify the accordian player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get suspicious about their age," an official said.

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan Sarandan movies.

"I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them," an Ottawa resident said.  "How many art-history majors does one country need?"

Friday Mornings at the Pentagon

       (Image from army.mil/images)

This will stir you.  It will also make you think what you might be able to do. (Courtesy of Fred and Gene Hannah)

Friday Mornings at the Pentagon

By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY McClatchy Newspapers, here. 

Over the last 12 months, 1,042 soldiers, Marines, sailors and Air Force personnel have given their lives in the terrible duty that is war. Thousands more have come home on stretchers, horribly wounded and facing months or years in military hospitals.

This week, I'm turning my space over to a good friend and former roommate, Army Lt. Col. Robert Bateman , who recently completed a yearlong tour of duty in Iraq and is now back at the Pentagon.

Here's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony that fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers, applause and many tears every Friday morning. It first appeared on May 17 on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Alterman at the Media Matters for America Web site.

"It is 110 yards from the "E" ring to the "A" ring of the Pentagon. This section of the Pentagon is newly renovated; the floors shine, the hallway is broad, and the lighting is bright. At this instant the entire length of the corridor is packed with officers, a few sergeants and some civilians, all crammed tightly three and four deep against the walls. There are thousands here.

"This hallway, more than any other, is the `Army' hallway. The G3 offices line one side, G2 the other, G8 is around the corner. All Army. Moderate conversations flow in a low buzz. Friends who may not have seen each other for a few weeks, or a few years, spot each other, cross the way and renew. Everyone shifts to ensure an open path remains down the center. The air conditioning system was not designed for this press of bodies in this area. The temperature is rising already. Nobody cares.

"10:36 hours: The clapping starts at the E-Ring. That is the outermost of the five rings of the Pentagon and it is closest to the entrance to the building. This clapping is low, sustained, hearty. It is applause with a deep emotion behind it as it moves forward in a wave down the length of the hallway.

"A steady rolling wave of sound it is, moving at the pace of the soldier in the wheelchair who marks the forward edge with his presence. He is the first. He is missing the greater part of one leg, and some of his wounds are still suppurating. By his age I expect that he is a private, or perhaps a private first class.

"Captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels meet his gaze and nod as they applaud, soldier to soldier. Three years ago when I described one of these events, those lining the hallways were somewhat different. The applause a little wilder, perhaps in private guilt for not having shared in the burden ... yet.

"Now almost everyone lining the hallway is, like the man in the wheelchair, also a combat veteran. This steadies the applause, but I think deepens the sentiment. We have all been there now. The soldier's chair is pushed by, I believe, a full colonel.

"Behind him, and stretching the length from Rings E to A, come more of his peers, each private, corporal, or sergeant assisted as need be by a field grade officer.

"11:00 hours: Twenty-four minutes of steady applause. My hands hurt, and I laugh to myself at how stupid that sounds in my own head. `My hands hurt.' Christ. Shut up and clap. For twenty-four minutes, soldier after soldier has come down this hallway - 20, 25, 30. Fifty-three legs come with them, and perhaps only 52 hands or arms, but down this hall came 30 solid hearts.

"They pass down this corridor of officers and applause, and then meet for a private lunch, at which they are the guests of honor, hosted by the generals. Some are wheeled along. Some insist upon getting out of their chairs, to march as best they can with their chin held up, down this hallway, through this most unique audience. Some are catching handshakes and smiling like a politician at a Fourth of July parade. More than a couple of them seem amazed and are smiling shyly.

"There are families with them as well: the 18-year-old war-bride pushing her 19-year-old husband's wheelchair and not quite understanding why her husband is so affected by this, the boy she grew up with, now a man, who had never shed a tear is crying; the older immigrant Latino parents who have, perhaps more than their wounded mid-20s son, an appreciation for the emotion given on their son's behalf. No man in that hallway, walking or clapping, is ashamed by the silent tears on more than a few cheeks. An Airborne Ranger wipes his eyes only to better see. A couple of the officers in this crowd have themselves been a part of this parade in the past.

"These are our men, broken in body they may be, but they are our brothers, and we welcome them home. This parade has gone on, every single Friday, all year long, for more than four years." Did you know that? The media hasn't told the story.

How can we do something like this in our communities?  Many of us can think of something, and bring it about.

Methodists Can Be Encouraged

      (Image from ariustile.com)

James Heidinger has long been president of the evangelical Good News caucus of the United Methodist Church.  In his August 2007 newsletter, he was optimistic about the future of the UMC. 

More than 15 years ago he wrote that the UMC is

...basically a conservative denomination being controlled, if not dominated, by a liberal minority.

This was supported by an official study done by one of our church agencies.  It showed clearly that 70% of United Methodist laity hold to conservative/orthodox beliefs on moral and theological issues.  In fact, in the Southeastern Jurisdiction, more than 76% of the laity embraced conservative beliefs. 

I wrote at the time that "a small, efficient, liberal bureaucracy is adept at maintaining control by working the system and controlling the debate."  We asked in Good News magazine, "Will lay people become more assertive in demanding that their convictions be represented in the official decisions and policies of the church?

We said at the time, "Yes, it has already begun to happen."  (Emphasis added.)

Now he writes that it continues to happen. 

...the church looks and acts much more orthodox and evangelical.  Theologian Tom Oden has written that United Methodism is centering itself around the Apostolic Faith.  While such change happens slowly, I believe he is right.  We are slowly recovering our Weslayan heritage!  (Emphasis in the original.)

Further, for the first time ever, two bishops attended the Good News summer board meeting.  Jim writes:

...we engaged in very candid, cordial and honest conversation about the needs of our denomination and our concerns about issues facing the church.

Later, at the banquet, Bishops Scott Jones and Sally Dyck...

...shared with us the vision of the Council of Bishops for renewal and revitalization of the denomination through their Seven Vision Pathways, which has been condensed into four Action Goals.

Their first goal, "To Live the United Methodist Way," is simply Wesley's vision of being a real Christian, and that is an evangelical and orthodox vision.  The other three goals evangelicals can endorse wholeheartedly: Starting New Churches (which evangelicals are already doing), Reaching out to children, and Working to help stamp out malaria and HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Finally, Jim writes more about the factual evidence supporting his optimism:

Well, the results of the recent elections for the 2008 Central and Jurisdictional Conference delegates are in.  We've had the chance to look at the make-up of the delegations.  What we can say is this: the delegations to both bodies next year are significantly more orthodox/evangelical than even in 2004.

So, the trend toward a more evangelical United Methodist Church continues.  This trend is exceedingly good news, and many of us expect it to continue.  (Emphasis in the original.)

This is tremendously encouraging news.  Getting this far has been a decades-long, rough, often discouraging road.  Many pastors have lost appointments and damaged their future in the UMC because of their support for this evangelical movement.  Many of us have stayed in the UMC when we have longed to leave, because we felt that staying was God's will for us. 

Now we are finally beginning to see some of the fruits of so many sacrifices.  The outcome is by no means guaranteed.  Despite these many gains, we still face an enormous struggle ahead within the UMC. 

Yet, with Jim Heidinger today, we can cautiously begin to say, "I confess that I am encouraged."  While still keeping our wits about us, that is. 

We must continue to be in fervent prayer for guidance and help.

(The Good News Magazine's website is www.goodnewsmag.org.)

We Have More Influence Than We Know - IV

       Trenton, Tennessee

(Image from images.medhunter.com)

This is from the free newsletter of Mac Anderson, head of Simple Truths.  He wrote this:

I grew up in Trenton, a west Tennessee town of five thousand people.  I have wonderful memories of those first 18 years, and many people in Trenton influenced my life in very positive ways.  My football coach, Walter Kitzer, taught me the importance of hard work, discipline and believing in myself.  My history teacher, Fred Culp, is still the funniest person I've ever met.  He taught me that a sense of humor, and especially laughing at yourself, can be one of life's greatest blessings.

But my father was my hero.  He taught me many things, but at the top of the list, he taught me to treat people with respect...to live the Golden Rule.  I remember one particular instance of his teaching this "life lesson" as if it were yesterday.  Dad owned a furniture store and I used to dust the furniture every Wednesday after school to earn my allowance.  One day I observed my Dad as he talked to all the customers as they came in...the hardward store owner, the banker, a farmer, a doctor.  At the end of the day, just as Dad was closing, the garbage collector came in.

I was ready to go home and I thought surely Dad wouldn't spend too much time with him.  But I was wrong.  Dad greeted him at the door with a big hug and talked with him about his wife and son who had been in a car accident the month before.  He empathized, he asked questions, he listened, and he listened some more.  I kept looking at the clock, and when the man finally left I asked, "Dad, why did you spend so much time with him?  He's just the garbage collector."  Dad then looked at me, locked the front door and said, "Son, let's talk."

He said, "I'm your father, and I tell you lots of things, as all fathers should, but if you remember nothing else I ever tell you, remember this...treat every human being just the way you want to be treated."  He said, "I know this is not the first time you've heard it, but I want to make sure this is the first time you truly understand it, because if you had understood, you never would have said what you did."  We sat there and talked another hour about the meaning of the Golden Rule.  Dad said, "If you live the Golden Rule everything else in life will usually work itself out, but if you don't, your life will probably be very unhappy and without meaning."

I recently heard someone say, "If you teach your child the Golden Rule, you will have left them an estate of inestimable value."  Truer words were never spoken.

We Have More Influence Than We Know - II

                        (Image from newfreedownloads.com)

We have more influence than we know, or may ever know.  How?

There is almost always someone watching us.  They may imitate what they see us doing, or learn something from it, good or bad.  Just like in this true story from Rubel Shelly's "The Fax of Life," August 13, 2007.*

"Just Like My Dad"

Matty Lovo is only nine years old, but the story of his level-headed daring deserves to be told.  In the telling of his story, there is a line from the hero himself that should make all of us who are parents and grandparents take notice.

Matty's father drives one of those huge big-rig trucks that are part of American commerce.  Last week his semi was pulling two trailers loaded with lumber through St. Helens, Oregon.  Matty was riding in the cab with him.  He was enjoying the high-sitting ride and view.  He liked the powerful sounds of the motor.  He took pride in being with his Dad.  Then the unexpected happened. 

Matthew Lovo Sr. had a seizure of some sort.  Doctors are still trying to figure it out.  He lost consciousness at the wheel of his truck, and it veered into oncoming traffic and struck a utility pole.  Matthew Lovo Jr. didn't panic.

When he saw his father had collapsed, Matty called his name.  When there was no answer, he smacked him to try to wake him up.  Then he did what he had to do.  He climbed across his Dad and into the driver's seat.  He steered the big truck back into its lanes and had the presence of mind to get on the truck's C.B. radio to ask what he should do.  Somebody heard his plea for help and told him to turn off the ignition key.  He did that.  The rig began to slow down.

At just that moment, the semi passed Christopher Howard.  Driving the opposite direction on the highway, he saw that a child was at the wheel of the slow-moving vehicle.  He stopped his car, jumped out and chased down the truck on foot.  He jumped aboard, climbed into the cab with Matty, and applied the brakes that a nine-year-old boy's legs could not reach while steering. 

The St. Helen's Police Department didn't ticket Matty.  To the contrary, it made a public statement of support for his "cool demeanor" in an incident that could have ended tragically. 

"I just did the stuff," said an humble Matty.  "I thought, I should just do what my Dad does."  He did.  And he is a young hero for it.

Some of us Dads and Moms should think about this father-son story very deeply.  Our children watch.  They absorb.  They take their clues about how to react to crises and joys, family and friends, God and men.  You've heard all your life about how more lessons are caught than taught, haven't you?  It is true!

If it won't do to have your children do what you're doing today, maybe it isn't too late.  It's worth the effort for both of you.  Get some help to change! 

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*Rubel Shelly's weekly "The Fax of Life" is available by email for free, from www.RubelShelly.com.

Why Term Limits For Just The President?

Robert Martin thinks we should put some others under term limits too.

        (Image from demandmore.org)

Here's Bob's take:

The federal government was set up with three branches.  The executive, legislative and judicial branches were designed to form a check and balance system on each other. 

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If each one is equally powerful why the difference in term limits?  The president can only serve 2 terms, congress has no limits and the judicial branch appoints federal judges for life.  This doesn't look like they were given equal power for the purpose of check and balance.

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There should be term limits in all three branches of government with no lifetime appointments. No term limits allows individuals in congress to have too much power. 

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What can I say about lifetime appointments?  We are appointing people and making them  millionaires with their retirement program. This needs to be changed. 

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Let's get out and start something.

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That's how I C M    Bob

Nail Job Down First, Then "Go Sharia"

My friend Stef in Quebec just emailed me about Muslim women being hired in Quebec who seem thoroughly integrated into Canadian society, but once they pass the probationary period and attain job security, suddenly they "go Sharia."

            (Image from jupiterimages.com)

This is what Stef wrote me:

One of my best-friends works in a govt-subsidized daycare centre in northern Montreal. Last year they hired a new worker originally from Lebanon. She was dressed in a western manner albeit conservatively, her head was bare, and she aced the interview very well.

Their new employees have a probation period for three months.  She was very good with the kids, very friendly with the co-workers, etc. So after three months, she was hired with full-benefits.

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All of the sudden, everything changed.  She started to wear a abaya (not the veil, she was wearing the full black coat like in Saudi Arabia and Iran) all the time.  She stopped chatting with the co-workers like she used to, etc. Once she threw a major public tantrum because at a parents and kids potluck there were not enough hallal sausages or some reason like that.

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So my friend talked to her supervisor. She said that the daycare centre has got to be more careful because it seems like a lot of Muslim women are getting hired because they seem well integrated into our society but then they do a switcheroo.  Once they have the job for sure their real selves come out.

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My friend then mentioned terrorism, and her boss told her that it was a huge problem because a lot of veiled Muslim women go to work in our daycare centres. We have no problems at all with the Vietnamese, Chileans, Congolese and others who sometimes arrived with only the clothes on their back (and they came from brutal dictatorships) and now they live very well among us, totally well integrated.

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So my friend is now on the watch, and a lot of people here are as well.  As long as they integrate in our society, good for them.  But if they want to put the sharia here then I will stand up for what is right. Islamic terrorism IS the scourge of our times, and no one will make me take back this statement.

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The other day I had an Algerian cab driver.   He said that he left his country in the mid-90's because of the Islamic-led civil war.  He told me that we better open our eyes before it is too late.

My first question about this was "Why don't these women hang on to their new freedom and refuse to adopt Sharia garb again when they don't have to?"  But my second question was "What would happen to them if they did?"

Silly question.  Muslim women risk "honor killings" by their relatives if they defy Sharia Law.  Western countries often ignore such killings in their Muslim areas.  Though such women might like to continus their Westernized behavior, it is often just too dangerous for them.

BTW, Bookworm has a similar story based on her own experience with her day care center in California, here, dated July 31, 2007. 

US Military Chaplain Proudly Salutes Flag of Another Nation

If you have not yet discovered the blog of military chaplain Mitch Lewis at http://mitchlewis.net/blog/ , this post from his blog today will give you a very partial idea of what you have been missing.

                            (Image from whirledview.typepad.com)

SALUTING THE FLAG(S)

I saluted the flag today, and stood at attention as the national anthem was played. Actually, I did it several times as I attended a number of different ceremonies on post. Oh, and it wasn’t always the U.S. flag or “The Star Spangled Banner” that I was saluting. I stood at attention and rendered honors to the colors of our host nation as its beautiful national anthem was played. In fact, our two nation’s flags fly side-by-side all over post.

The people of the nation in which I am stationed are proud of their country and its flag. They have plenty of reason to be proud of their accomplishments over the past half-century and their thousand year old culture.

As I stood saluting the colors of a nation not my own - but which I will spend the next two years defending - I thought about the ignorant argument of some self-described “progressive” Christians that equates patriotism and patriotic acts with idolatry. The existence of nation-states is NOT the root of the world’s problems. Love of one’s own country does not stop one from respecting or cooperating with the people of other nations. It certainly does not imply that one has given one’s nation the absolute and unconditional loyalty due only to God.

If some misguided Christians think that I’m committing idolatry and worshiping “the American imperial god” when I salute my national colors, I wonder what god they think I’m worshiping when I salute the flag of my host nation.

Military chaplains are often in as much danger as the service men and women they serve.  Chaplains fill a vital role in supporting their spiritual needs, standing beside them in grief and addressing their searching questions.  They are too little in our prayers.  And we honor them too little. 

Do yourself a favor and track Mitch's blog.  Do him a favor by adding him and other chaplains to your prayers.

(Mitch cannot say where he is stationed, only that it is not Iraq or Afganistan.  The photo above is not from his location.)

(See also Marvin Olasky's article "Caught With Their Flags Down", at the excellent World Magazine, at http://www.worldmag.com/articles/13016.  Hat Tip to Joseph Slife.)

Why Men Are Never Depressed

Warren Yowell knows why.  Here it is:

                (Image from fotossearch.com)

Men Are Just Happier People

What do you expect from such simple creatures?  Your last name stays put.  The garage is all yours.  Wedding plans take care of themselves.  Chocolate is just another snack.

You can be President.  You can never be pregnant.  You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.  You can wear NO shirt to a water park.

Car mechanics tell you the truth.  The world is your urinal.  You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.  You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. 

Same work, more pay.  Wrinkles add character.  Gray hair is handsome and sophisticated.  Wedding dress $5000 and up.  Tux rental $100.  People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.  The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected.

New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.  One mood all the time.  Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.  You know stuff about tanks.  A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.  You can open all your own jars.

You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.  If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.  Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.  Three pairs of shoes are more than enough  You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.

Everything on your face stays its original color.  The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.  You only have to shave your face and neck.  You can play with toys all your life.  Your belly usually hides your big hips.

One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one color for all seasons.  You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.  You can "do" your nails with a pocket knive.

You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.  You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier!

(Don't show this to women who can't handle it.)

New Thought-Control Law

             (Image from nndb.com)

The Thought Police

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By "Guest Blogger" Chuck Colson
5/1/2007

Congress is busy trying to pass a new "Hate Crimes Prevention Act."  But it's not about hate, or even crime.  It is about outlawing peaceful speech that says such things as homosexuality are morally wrong.  In other countries, such laws recently have caused pastors to be arrested for what they said in the pulpit. 

This article by Chuch Colson tells how, and why.

What the Hate Crimes Law Would Do

In George Orwell’s classic novel 1984, the government Thought Police constantly spies on citizens to make sure they are not thinking rebellious thoughts. Thought crimes are severely punished by Big Brother.

1984 was intended as a warning against totalitarian governments that enslave and control their citizens. Never have we needed this warning more urgently than now, because America’s Thought Police are knocking on your door.

Last week the House Judiciary Committee, egged on by radical homosexual groups, passed what can only be called a Thought Crimes bill. It’s called the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. But this bill is not about hate. It’s not even about crime. It’s about outlawing peaceful speech—speech that asserts that homosexual behavior is morally wrong.

Some say we need this law to prevent attacks on homosexuals. But we already have laws against assaults on people and property. Moreover, according to the FBI, crimes against homosexuals in the United States have dropped dramatically in recent years. In 2005, out of 863,000 cases of aggravated assault, just 177 cases were crimes of bias against homosexuals—far less than even 1 percent.

Another problem is that in places where hate crimes laws have been passed, hate crimes have been defined to include verbal attacks—and even peaceful speech. The Thought Police have already prosecuted Christians under hate crimes laws in England, Sweden, Canada, and even in some places in the United States.

If this dangerous law passes, pastors who preach sermons giving the biblical view of homosexuality could be prosecuted. Christian businessmen who refuse to print pro-gay literature could be prosecuted. Groups like Exodus International, which offer therapy to those with unwanted same-sex attraction, could be shut down.

In classic 1984 fashion, peaceful speech will be redefined as a violent attack worthy of punishment.

This is the unspoken goal of activist groups. We know this because during the debate over the bill last week, Congressman Mike Pence (R) of Indiana offered a Freedom of Religion amendment to this hate crimes bill. It asked that nothing in this law limit the religious freedom of any person or group under the Constitution. The committee refused to adopt it. It also refused to adopt amendments protecting other groups from hate crimes—like members of the military, who are often targets of verbal attacks and spitting. They also shot down amendments that would protect the homeless and senior citizens, also often targeted by criminals. Nothing doing, the committee said—the only group they wanted to protect: homosexuals.

Clearly, the intent of this law is not to prevent crime, but to shut down freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of thought. Its passage would strike at the very heart of our democracy.

The full Congress may vote on this bill as early as this week. Unless you want Big Brother telling you what to say, what to think, and what to believe, I urge you to contact your congressman immediately, urging him or her to vote against this bill. If you visit the BreakPoint website, you’ll find more information about this radical law.

If we do nothing, 1984 will no longer be fiction, and Big Brother will be watching you and me—ready to punish the “wrong” thoughts.

(Mr. Colson's article above appears here.)

To Warm Your Heart On A Chilly Day

(From Fred and Gene Hannah)

Outstanding!  Just 9 minutes. You will be glad you did.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2487638612433437293&q=Veterans

YOUNG WINSTON CHURCHILL ON ISLAM

                       

(Images from Thailandoutdoor.com and bermuda-online.org)

By guest blogger Robert Martin.

(For those who may not be very familiar with Britain's Sir Winston Churchill, he is considered one of the greatest men of the late 19th and 20th centuries.  He was a brave young soldier, a billiant young journalist and foreign correspondent, writer and historian, an extraordinary politician and statesman, a great leader and England's Prime Minister in World War II.  The Western World is greatly in his debt.  He was also a prophet in his own time, predicting the Cold War with the U.S.S.R.  He died on 24 January 1965 at the age of 90, and after a lifetime of service to his country, was accorded a State funeral.)

(He wrote this in 1918, drawing from his observations as a foreign correspondent.)

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!  Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia (rabies) in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.  The effects are apparent in many countries; improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

"A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity.  The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

"Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

"No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.  Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.  It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step.  Were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

TIGER & PIGLETS: THE REAL STORY

(The comment re-posted below deserves to be published in full.  HT and many thanks to the commentor, who refers to http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/tigerpig.asp.)

As often happens, this appears to be a case where someone came across some unusual photos with no explanatory context, so the viewer decided to make up his own background story. The pictures are real, but the accompanying explanation about a mother tiger in California being given piglets to ease her through a depression stemming from the loss of her own cubs is fiction.

The images displayed above were taken in 2004 at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Chonburi, Thailand. Although the Sriracha Tiger Zoo hosts one of the world's most successful tiger breeding programs, unlike most western zoos it also offers circus- and carnival-like shows, exhibits, and interactions, including (as evidenced here) the mixture of adults and young of quite different species in the same enclosures. As described by the AWI Quarterly, a publication of the Animal Welfare Institute:
The Sriracha Tiger Zoo, an hour outside of Bangkok, Thailand, is truly an amazing place. Boasting more than 400 tigers, a handful of Asian elephants, piles of crocodiles, camels, snakes and other exotic animals, the zoo has some intriguing, yet troubling exhibits.

In one glass room, a farrowing crate entombed a pig who, lying on her side, nourished both her piglets and tiger cubs. Across the hall, another glass room housed a female tiger, who fed piglets adorned in tiger-print costumes. This incongruous display was replicated elsewhere, where enclosures housed tigers, pigs, and dogs together.

In another area, a visitor could feed milk to a young tiger resting on his or her lap — a young tiger still in possession of his claws ... There was a tiger circus, not dissimilar from a circus anywhere else: tigers leaping through rings of fire, walking across a double tightrope, parading around the ring on hind legs, and riding around on the back of the horse.
The mixture of tiger and piglets depicted in the images above therefore was not something undertaken for functional reasons, but rather it's a common form of visual entertainment provided by the zoo for the amusement of its visitors. According to the Pattaya Mail, these tiger-pig nursing relationships have also been reciprocated to the extent that the mother tiger shown suckling piglets was herself nursed by a sow:
Visitors recently witnessed some bizarre feeding habits of the zoo's most famous inhabitants. A two-year-old female pig named Benjamaj is a blended pedigree of parents, Land-Less and Las-White, that were imported from Norway. Benjamaj is a kind and maternal porky. She has taken 4 baby tigers under her care and along with 3 tiny piglets is nursing the tigers as though she were their mum. She loves those cats and they love her back.

Unbelieving, wide-eyed tourists pressed their noses up to the cage to get a better look. As they moved on to the next cage they were in for another surprise, as there, a great Royal Bengal tigress was lolling on her side and suckling 6 tiny piglets.

'Momma' tiger Saimai is two years old and as a baby was suckled by a pig until she was 4 months old. This democratic start in life allowed her to form a loving relationship with other pigs and even a dog. Food in the wild, maybe — but at the zoo, tourists who witness these amazing scenes come away with food for thought.
Although these pictures might appear charming and innocent, the AWI noted back in 2004 that there may be a darker side to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo, as press reports stated that Sriracha was under investigation for illegally breeding protected wildlife for commercial export and had been implicated in the sale of a hundred tigers to China (where there is strong demand for tiger body parts for use in traditional Chinese medicines). The AWI also noted that in late 2004 the zoo was closed for a month when between 80 and 100 tigers died or were euthanized due to an avian influenza (probably spread via the raw chicken carcasses fed to the tigers) that swept through the facility.

LOOKING BEYOND THE EMPTINESS

(By Guest Blogger Shad Williams.

You should know that Shad and Sheila Williams practice what he recommends here, and have for 29 years.  The Lord does not permit them to ever ask for funds.  Sometimes, as a result, funds for a trip to, say, Africa may not come in until they actually leave for the airport.  Yet it has always come.  Would you like to know the thinking that goes with that kind of faith? Here is Shad's letter to you.)

Dear Christian,

Do you have "empty places" in your life, needs you cannot meet, problems you cannot solve? Probably. Are you praying about those things with little or no apparent results? Maybe you need to change your focus - look "beyond the emptiness" to God's supply.

In I Kings 17:10-16, we find Elijah asking a widow woman for something that she did not have and could not make - bread.  Her reply was that all she had was a meal barrel that was empty, except for a small hand-full, and an oil jar containing only a few drops. Elijah knew that, and yet he asked her to make enough bread for him, herself and her son.

How could he make such an unreasonable requrst of that poor woman?  Because he could "see beyond the emptiness."  He could see the inexhaustible supply of God.

In Matthew 14:15-21, we find the disciples in a similar situation, only they needed enough bread to feed 5000 men, plus women and children. They were in a panic, not because of short supply, but because of short-sightedness.  They could see only the five loaves they had, in the visable, rather than the thousands Jesus had in the invisible. They could not see "beyond the emptiness."

Many years ago (before Jesus) I had a job working for a men's clothing company that owned four stores in Memphis. My job was to maintain a running inventory in all the stores and keep the floors stocked with everything except suits.

Now let's suppose that one of the stores was low on oxford cloth shirts. It was my responsibility to "fix that problem" to meet that need.  But how was I going to do that? I had no money with which to buy more shirts from the manufacturer.  I had no truck to haul them in, if I could buy them.  And I certainly did not know how to make shirts.

Operating on my own, out of my own ability and resources, I was in a hopeless situation. But I was not on my own.  All I had to do was look "beyond the emptiness" to the supplier, and use the authority given to me by the owner of the company.  When the stock was low, I would count up what was needed to fill it in. Then I would send a purchase order to the manufacturer containing a specific request - colors, sizes, quantity, etc.  Then I would receive a confirmation of shipment.

Because I believed it was coming, I would prepare for its arrival.  I would make sure there was room on the shelf to receive it. I would have the pricing machines set up in advance to process it, so it could get to the floor as soon as possible. I did not know how it was coming - that is, what truck line they would use or what route he would take.  That was up to the shipper and was not my concern.  My concern was to be ready for it to arrive.

Now how did I do all that?  I was just a kid with no money, no recognition and no authority . The manufacturer did not know my name and had no reason to trust me.  Well, here is how I did it.  I used the owner's money and I filed the order in his name.

Now what do you think the manufacturer did when they received my order?  Did they go to work frantically making shirts? No, they were already made.  They were in boxes stacked up in a warehouse just waiting for me to call. The supply was provided long before my request to receive it. All I needed was reason and authority to access it.

Now what do you think would have happened if I had just stood there looking at the empty space on the shelf? Nothing! I had to look "beyond the emptiness" to the one who could fill it with his supply.

Dear friend, do you have an smpty space in your life? Well let me assure you that God is ready to meet your need, within the scope of His will, no matter what it is - money, car, clothes, house, mate, job, health, strength, wisdom, guidance - and He already has the supply. All you have to do is "take inventory" and then file the "P.O.", a prayer order, with the Manufacturer, Who also happens to be the Owner of the company. Make your request as specific as possible and file it in the Name of Jesus, using His authority.

Once that request has been approved by the Father, then demonstrate your faith: prove that you believe He is answering by making perparation to receive. As Brother Manley Beasley used to say, "Act like it is so when it is not so, so it will be so"

Now, you may ask, "But how is God going to do this, who is He going to use, where can it come from?"  That is not your concern.  All of that is up to the Shipper. You just get ready to process, to use the shipment when it arrives.  I never did know exactly what shipping company the manufacturer would use and I did not always know the exact date of arrival. But I knew it was coming and I made sure I was prepared.

The moment I filed that P.O. I stsrted getting ready to receive. Why? Because in my mind it was already there. I could "see it" on the shelf. I had seen "beyond the emptiness."

Dear Child of God, stop looking at the empty place as empty. Look beyond the emptiness to God's inexhaustible supply.  It is just sitting there waiting for you to request it. Get on your knees right now and file your "prayer order" by faith. Be specific. Leave the details of shiping to the Sender and begin right now to prepare for its arrival.

You say, “Oh, but I have no money, no power, no influence, no authority.” That’s right, you don‘t – so use the Owners, use HIS. When you do you will find that the empty place is not as empty as it appears.

“We walk by faith, not by sight”.

(See also Shad's series here on "Hearing His Voice," and "Being On Time For God," under "Discipleship" at left.  Shad and Sheila Williams may be contacted at www.wegotothem@aol.com)

ISMALIC BOMB MAKERS?

The inimitable Bob Martin wrote:

"Iran says it needs enriched uranium for power plants.  What about having one of the world's largest oil reserves?  Iran needs enriched uranium for power plants like Mexico needs Mexicans for cheap labor!

"One more thing.

"Ahmadinejad said he will not attend a UN luncheon because alcohol is being served.  The world would be a safer place if the Muslims gave up murder and took up alcohol.  It would be interesting to watch a drunk build a bomb.

"As I C M.  Bob"

A Word From Shad

(This is from Shad Williams, frequent guest blogger here.  See his previous lesson series posted here earlier, " Hearing His Voice," and "'Being On time' For God".  They are posted under "May 2006". 

Shad and Sheila Williams, evangelists to the world, have the incredible record of leading more than 5 million to Christ, mostly in Africa and India, as well as raising up and training many native pastors and evangelists there   Their ministry, www.wegotothem.com, is tremendously worthy of your support.)

"Good morning everyone,

Just a word to wish you all a wonderful week.  I have been up for a long time this morning, meeting with the 'Committee,' and have had a wonderful time with the Lord.

"What a great joy and priviledge to get up and find the Creator of the universe, the Maker of heaven and earth, waiting to receive you into His presence.  What a thrill to sit before the One Who died for us and rose again, and now sits at the right hand of the Father.  What an amazing thing to hear the Holy Spirit speaking within your heart, giving instruction, guidasnce, comfort that is designed especially for you in your specific situation and circumstances

"I have brought many of your names before the Lord today, as I do every day, and I will continue to do so as the day progresses..

"May God bless you all and may you all walk in the knowledge of His will today.

"Much love in Jesus,

"Shad" 

IMMIGRATION: HISPANIC LEADERS SPEAK

(The following is excerpted with permission, from a message sent by guest blogger Bob Bailey.)

                            (Image by Stratfor)

"Hispanic Leaders Speak:

"Augustin Cebada, Brown Berets: 'Go back to Boston!  Go back to Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims!  Get out!  We are the future.  You are old and tired.  Go on.  We have beaten you.  Leave like beaten rats.  You old white people.  It is your duty to die...Through love of having children, we are going to take over.'

"Richard Alatorre, Los Angeles City Council: 'They're afraid we're going to take over the government institutions and other institutions.  They're right.  We will take them over...We are here to stay.'

"Excelsior, the national newspaper of Mexico: 'The American Southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot.'

"Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez, University of Texas: 'We have an aging white America.  They are not making babies.  They are dying.  The explosion is in our population.  I love it.'

"Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party: 'Remember 187 - the proposition to deny taxpayer funds for services to non-citizens - was the last gasp of white America in California.'

"Gloria Molina, Los Angeles County Supervisor: 'We are politicizing every single one of these new citizens that are becoming citizens of this country...I gotta tell you that a lot of people are saying, "I'm going to go out there and vote because I want to pay them back."'

"Mario Obledo, California Coalition of Hispanic Organizations and California State Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Governor Jerry Brown, also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton: 'California is going to be an Hispanic state.  Anyone who doesn't like it should leave.'

"Jose Pescador Osuna, Mexican Consul General: 'We are practicing "La Reconquista" in California.'

"Professor Fernando Guerra, Loyola Marymount University: 'We need to avoid a white backlash by using codes understood by Latinos...'"

"Are these just the words of a few extremists?  Consider that we could fill up many pages with such quotes.  Also, consider that these are mainstream Mexican leaders.'

"Finally, the U.S. vs. Mexico:

"On February 15, 1998, the U.S. and Mexican soccer teams met at the Los Angeles Coliseum.  The crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Mexican even though most lived in this country.  They booed during the National Anthem and U.S. flags were held upside down.  As the match progressed, supporters of the U.S. team were insulted, pelted with projectiles, punched and spat upon.  Beer and trash were thrown at the U.S. players before and after the match.  The coach of the U.S. team, Steve Sampson, said, 'This was the most painful experience I have ever had in this profession.'"

"Hearing His Voice" - Part 5 (Last Part)

                        (Image from CNN) 

(Shad Williams is today's guest blogger.  His long article about hearing the voice of God will be broken up into shorter daily segments.  This is Part 5, the final part.

Shad and Sheila Williams, at www.wegotothem.com, are evangelists to the world who have raised up pastors, churches and seminaries on two continents.  They have brought millions to Christ.

The Lord does not permit them to ask for funds, so it is a "faith ministry" in the truest sense.  Yet their faith is such that sometimes when they leave for the airport, they still do not have the funds for the trip.  Yet the funds always come, on time.  Few have such faith, but we all want to.  Now Shad shares with us about how to have a strong walk of faith with God.)

"Look at the lives of those throughout Christian history who have made the greatest impact for God.  Martin Luther said, "If I fail to spend three hours each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day.  I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer."  Adoniram Jusdon, pioneer missionary to Burma, advised, "Arrange thy affairs if possible so that thou canst leisurely devote two or three hours every day not merely to devotional exercises, but to the very act of secret prayer and communion with God."  Robert Murray McCheyne wrote,  "I ought to pray before seeing anyone.  I feel it is better to begin with God - to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another."  James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission. spent at least two hours every morning in prayer, beginning at 4:00 a.m.  C.T. Studd, pioneer missionary to Congo, Africa, did the same, as well as George Muller of Briston.  E.M. Bounds wrote, "The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees.  If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, he will be in the last place the rest of the day."

"Dear friend, why do you think these men and others like them had such an impact on the world for Christ?  It is because they were full of faith, and THAT is because they spent TIME in the presence of God cultivating the ears of their heart, honing their ability to HEAR the voice of God.

"Do you want to have an impact for God in this world?  Do you want to walk by faith?  Do you want to live a life that is pleasing to your Heavenly Father?  There is only one way - you must spend time with Him and learn to hear His voice.  The Bible tells us in Romans 10:17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

"There are two words in New Testament Greek for "word."  One is logos, which means the written Word of God.  It is the general revelation of God, the "said word."  The other word is rhema, which meant the living word or the "saying word."  The word in Romans 10:17 is rhema.  Faith comes by hearing the word of God spoken into your heart by the Holy Spirit.  Rhema is the Word of God applied to your personal life in specific situations.

"The voice of God is revealed to us through His Word and by His Spirit.  It is His word spoken to us in our spirit, in our inner man - not our intellect - that reveals to us His will.  It is knowledge of His will that enables us to act in faith, to walk by faith.  And according to Hebrews 11:6, it is living by faith that enables us to please Him.  It all begins with hearing, recognizing and obeying His voice.  That takes TIME.

"Now, you might say, "Yes, I know all this is true, but there is just no way I can get up early enough to spend an hour or two with God.  My schedule just will not allow it."  Well, let me ask you this - if Bill Gates called you and told you he was going to give you one million dollars, but to receive it you would have to meet him at the Waffle House at 4:00 a.m. and talk with him for two hours - would you go?  I guarantee you would!  Why?  Because it would be "worth it" to you.

"Dear Child of God, I promise you that there are far greater riches waiting for you in the presence of God than in the presence of Bill Gates.  I have learned that, for the most part, people do what they WANT to do.  It was "worth it" to Jesus to meet with His Father in the first part of the day.  It was "worth it" to David, to Hudson Taylor, to others who have impacted the world.  It is worth it to you?  Yes, it is!

"How do you begin?  You just begin.  Don't look for a plan.  Don't try to get organoized.  You don't need a plan - you need a decision.  Set your clock, get out of bed, pick a place and DO IT.  The Heavenly Committee (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) are always in session and They are waiting on you to join Them.

"Determine in your heart that you are going to join Them tomorrow morning and you are going to learn to KNOW and HEAR and OBEY the voice of God.  Pray this prayer; 'Dear Father, I confess I have neglected You, but those days are over.  From now on you will have the FIRST, the BEST and the MOST.  I WILL learn to hear your voice and I WILL obey You by faith.  In Jesus' precious Name I pray.  Amen.'"

MOUSSAOUI VERDICT GOOD

                 (Image from wcnc)

(From Guest Blogger Robert Martin this morning)

"I'm not really disappointed that the terrorist did not get the death sentence.  He wanted the death sentence.  He did everything he could, during the trial, to show his hate for the U.S.A., trying to sway the jury to put him to death.  He never once proclaimed he was innocent.

"Given life in prison, instead of death, will deny him the 72 virgins and all the other perks that go along with his religion.

"One more reason for life instead of death, as has been said many times, is that life in prison is cheaper for the taxpayer than carrying out the death sentence.  There will not be all of those dozens of lengthy appeals, involving court costs and lawyers, etc.

"As I see it, this sentence is not a bad thing.  Let him sit and do a lot of thinking for a long, long time."

'Hearing His Voice" - Part 4

                         (Image from CNN) 

(Shad Williams is today's guest blogger.  His long article about hearing the voice of God will be broken up into shorter daily segments.  This is Part 4.

Shad and Sheila Williams, at www.wegotothem.com, are evangelists to the world who have raised up pastors, churches and seminaries on two continents.  They have brought millions to Christ.

The Lord does not permit them to ask for funds, so it is a "faith ministry" in the truest sense.  Yet their faith is such that sometimes when they leave for the airport, they still do not have the funds for the trip.  Yet the funds always come, on time.  Few have such faith, but we all want to.  Now Shad shares with us about how to have a strong walk of faith with God.)

"How do you hear the voice of God?  It is not with your intellect or your emotions or with your physical hearing - it is with your spirit, your inner man.  Human beings are three-part creatures, body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians, 5:23).  Out of the three parts only one is actually born again - the spirit.  The spirit of man has never been touched by Satan and cannot be.  It is reserved for God.  The Old Testament Temple is a type of man.  The outer court represents the body, the inner court, the soul (intellect - emotions - will) and the Holy of Holies, the spirit.  Only the High Priest could go into the Most Holy Place and only by the blood of the sacrificual lamb.  It was the secret residing place of God.

"Dear Christian, there is a secret place where you and I can go and meet with God, a place where Satan cannot interfere or overhear our conversations.  He cannot go because he does not have the blood of the Lamb - but we can because we do.  We must learn to listen with the ears of our spirit.  That, however, requires TIME and as I said, there is no short cut.

"The Bible gives us a wonderful promise and assurance for our daily walk with God in Isaiah 30:21, "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, 'This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.'"  The catch, however, is that we must know how to recognize the voice of the One Who is speaking the word.  1 Kings 19:11-12 tells us that we need not expect the voice to be loud, or to be revealed in wind, earthquake and fire.  Rather, it will be a "still small voice."  It is only detectable to the attentive spirit of the Child of God who is waiting before Him.

"Dear Christian, how can you obey a voice you cannot hear or recognize?  How can you receive comfort and encouragement from a voice you do not know?  John 10:4-5 tells us that the sheep follow the Shepherd and they know the difference between his voice and that of a stranger for one reason - because from their (new) birth they have spent time in His presence LISTENING to Him.

"Let me ask you again, do you spend time with God - yes or no?  Do you set aside time at the beginning of your day for God?  Is there room in your schedule to meet with the Heavenly Committee every morning?  There was in the life of Jesus!  Mark 1:30 tells us, "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."  Dear friends, if Jesus Christ the Son of God found it necessary in His humanity to spend private time in prayer and worship with the Father at the beginning of HIS day, then what about you and me?  The answer is obvious.

"In Psalm 63:1, David wrote, "O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee."  In Genesis 19:27 we read that "Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord."  In Job 1:5 we see that the man God called "perfect and upright"..."rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings."  Look at the lives of Jacob, Gideon, Samuel, David, Jehoshaphat and on and on.  What did they all have in common?  They all spent time with God at the first part of the day in private worship."

(To be continued)

"Hearing His Voice" - Part 3

(Image from CNN)

(Shad Williams is today's guest blogger.  His long article about hearing the voice of God will be broken up into shorter daily segments.  This is Part 3.

Shad and Sheila Williams, at www.wegotothem.com, are evangelists to the world who have raised up pastors, churches and seminaries on two continents.  They have brought millions to Christ.

The Lord does not permit them to ask for funds, so it is a "faith ministry" in the truest sense.  Yet their faith is such that sometimes when they leave for the airport, they still do not have the funds for the trip.  Yet the funds always come, on time.  Few have such faith, but we all want to.  Now Shad shares with us about how to have a strong walk of faith with God.)

"How do you hear the voice of God? It is not with your intellect or your emotions or with your physical hearing - it is with your spirit, your inner man. Human beings are three-part creatures, body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians. 5:23), and out of the three parts only one is actually born again - the spirit. The spirit of man has never been touched by satan and cannot be. It is reserved for God.

"The Old Testament Temple is a type of man. The outer court represents the body, the inner court, the soul (intellect - emotions - will) and the Holy of Holies, the spirit. Only the High Priest could go into the Most Holy Place and only by the blood of the sacrificial lamb. It was the secret residing place of God. Dear Christian, there is a secret place where you and I can go and meet with God, a place where satan cannot interfere or overhear our conversations. He cannot go because he does not have the blood of the Lamb - but we can because we do. We must learn to listen with the ears of our spirit. That, however, requires TIME and as I said, there is no short cut.

"The Bible gives us a wonderful promise and assurance for our daily walk with God in Isaiah 30:21, "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." The catch, however, is that we must know how to recognize the voice of the One Who is speaking the word. 1 Kings 19:11-12 tells us that we need not expect the voice to be loud or to be revealed in wind, earthquake and fire. Rather, it will be a "still small voice". It is only detectable to the attentive spirit of the Child of God who is waiting before Him.

"Dear Christian, how can you obey a voice you cannot hear or recognize? How can you receive comfort and encouragement from a voice you do not know? John 10:4-5 tells us that the sheep follow the Shepherd and they know the difference between his voice and that of a stranger for one reason - because from their birth they have spent time in His presence LISTENING to Him.

"Let me ask you again, do you spend time with God - yes or no? Do you set aside time at the beginning of your day for God? Is there room in your schedule to meet with the Heavenly Committee every morning? There was in the life of Jesus! Mark 1:35 tells us, "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Dear friends, if Jesus Christ the Son of God found it necessary in His humanity to spend private time in prayer and worship with the Father at the beginning of HIS day, then what about you and me?! The answer is obvious.

"In Psalm 63:1David wrote, "O God Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee." In Genesis 19:27 we read that "Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord." In Job 1:5 we see that the man God called "perfect and upright" "rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings." Look at the lives of Jacob, Gideon, Samuel, David, Jehoshaphat and on and on. What did they all have in common? They all spent time with God at the first part of the day in private worship.

"Look at the lives of those throughout Christian history who have made the greatest impact for God. Martin Luther said, "If I fail to spend three hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer." Adoniram Judson, pioneer missionary to Burma, advised, "Arrange thy affairs if possible so that thou canst leisurely devote two or three hours every day not merely to devotional exercises, but to the very act of secret prayer and communion with God." Robert Murray McCheyne wrote, "I ought to pray before seeing anyone. I feel it is better to begin with God - to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another." James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission spent at least two hours every morning in prayer, beginning at 4:00am. C.T. Studd, pioneer missionary to Congo, Africa did the same, as well as George Muller of Bristol. E.M. Bounds wrote, "The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the rest of the day."

"Dear friend, why do you think these men and others like them had such an impact on the world for Christ? It is because they were full of faith, and THAT is because they spent TIME in the presence of God cultivating the ears of their heart, honing their ability to HEAR the voice of God."

(To be continued)

"Hearing His Voice" - Part 2

   (Image from CNN)

(Shad Williams is today's guest blogger.  His long article about hearing the voice of God will be broken up into shorter daily segments.  This is Part 2.

Shad and Sheila Williams, at www.wegotothem.com, are evangelists to the world who have raised up pastors, churches and seminaries on two continents.  They have brought millions to Christ.

The Lord does not permit them to ask for funds, so it is a "faith ministry" in the truest sense.  Yet their faith is such that sometimes when they leave for the airport, they still do not have the funds for the trip.  Yet the funds always come, on time.  Few have such faith, but we all want to.  Now Shad shares with us about how to have a strong walk of faith with God.)

One day not long ago Sheila and I were conducting a meeting in an open-air market in Kenya and I noticed something that really got my attention.  The meeting was over and while the guys were packing up I walked away from the market about a hundred years.  Sheila was talking with the team while they packed.  There was a lot of noise in the market - people talking, vendors shouting, music blaring and so on.  Sheila was speaking in a normal tone of voice, and yet above all the jumbled noise, there was one single voice that stood out in my ears and was very clear - hers.  Why?  Because I have spend 39 years daily in her presence - LISTENING to her.  I know her voice because I as accustomed to HEARINIG it.

I have a good friend here in Adamsville named Mike.  He has a beautiful old yellow lab named Zema.  We were sitting out on his porch the other night, as we often do.  Zema was lying on the rug.  Sheila called her name, but she didn't move.  Not even a twitch of her ear.  I called her name.  No response.  Then Mike very quietly said, "Zema."  With that, she bolted up and sat in front of him.  Why?  She KNOWS the voice.  Why?  Because she spends hours every day LISTENING to Mike's voice.  If he goes hunting, Zema goes.  If he goes to grade lumber, Zema goes.  She responds to him because she KNOWS him.

Dear friend, essential to the Christian life is KNOWING the voice of the Master.  And the only way is to spend TIME LISTENING to it.  There is no short cut.  Now that brings me to this question - DO YOU SPEND TIME WITH GOD? 

I am not asking if you spend time reading the Bible and devotion books.  Or watching preachers on television, or having fellowship with other Christians.  I am asking if you spend quiet, unhurried, uncluttered, personal, private time with God alone - getting to know HIM?  Learning to recognize HIS voice?

(To be continued)

"Hearing His Voice" - Part I

                      (Image from CNN)

(Shad Williams is today's guest blogger.  His long article about hearing the voice of God will be broken up into shorter daily segments.  This is Part 1.

Shad and Sheila Williams, at www.wegotothem.com, are evangelists to the world who have raised up pastors, churches and seminaries on two continents.  They have brought millions to Christ.

The Lord does not permit them to ask for funds, so it is a "faith ministry" in the truest sense.  Yet their faith is such that sometimes when they leave for the airport, they still do not have the funds for the trip.  Yet the funds always come, on time.  Few have such faith, but we all want to.  Now Shad shares with us about how to have a strong walk of faith with God.)

"Some years ago I was conducting an evngelistic campaign in Malawi, Central Africa, along with my old friend and ministry companion in those days, Chief Hardwick Adam Kachaje.  He is known throughout the country as "Mfumu Thumba," presiding Chief of Thumba Village and District.  Throughout his 82 years he has been a farmer, politician, schoolteacher and preacher.  "The Chief" and I have traveled from one end of that country to the other preaching the Gospel. 

"One day we were holding a meeting out under some trees in a remote area - "out in the bush".  We were using a sound system powered by a portable generator so that people could hear and come.  Nothing unusual about that.  But on that day something VERY unusual happened.  I was preaching and Hardwick was interpreting for me.  The sound system would usually reach out to a maximum distance of about a half-mile, depending on weather conditions. But this day it miraculously went much further.

"Eight kilometers (five miles) away there was a man sitting in a bar drinking with his friends.  Seems that there is always a drinking establishment available no matter how remote the area may be.  Amazingly, even above the noise of the bar, a very faint, yet recognizable voice came into his ears.  It was the voice of his old schoolteacher from his childhood days long ago.

"Later, he gave this testimony.  "I was in the bar drinking and I heard a voice that was very faint yet very familiar to me.  As I listened, I realized it was Mr. Kachaje, my grammar school teacher.  All of a sudden I could not resist.  I had to get up and go toward the voice.  I began walking and then I began running.  And as I was running toward the voice it became clearer and I began to understand what he was saying.  My old teacher was preaching the Gospel and when I arrived he was asking people to receive Jesus.  I had heard every word as I ran, and they had gone into my heart.  When he asked people to pray, I did, and I received Jesus into my heart.  I was saved right then and there.  The voice of my old teacher was faint, but thank God it drew me to Jesus."

"Now, you may ask - how could that man hear the voice of the Chief as far away as five miles?  And how could he recognize a faint, far-away voice he had not heard in over twenty years?  I cannot answer the first question but I can answer the second.  He could recognize the voice because he had spend years in the presence of the Chief listening to his voice every day.  He recognized it because he had spent so much TIME LISTENING to it."

(To be continued)

Immigration: "From the Other Side of the Fence"

(This is #6 in a series on immigration.  My purpose is not to support any given political view or legislation.  Rather, it is to lay out the basic issues that must be tackled, regardless of what any particular partisan view may be.)

The following comes from Tom O'Malley, who was a Director with SW Bell in Mexico City (HT to Ben Blankenship) :

"You remember I spent 5 years working in Mexico.  I worked under a Tourist Visa for 3 months and could legally renew it for 3 more months.  After that you were working illegally.  I was technically illegal for 3 weeks waiting on the FM3 approval.

"During that 6 months our Mexican and U.S. attorneys were working to secure a permanent work visa called an FM3.  It was in addition to my U.S. passport that I had to show each time I entered and left the country.  Barbara's was the same except hers did not permit her to work.  To apply for the FM3 I needed to submit the following notarized originals (not copies) of my:

"1. Birth certificate for Barbara and I;

"2. Marriage certificate;

"3. High school transcripts and proof of graduation,

"4. College transcripts for every college I attended and proof of graduation,

"5. Two letters of recommendation from supervisors I had worked for, for at least 1 year,

"6. A letter from the St. Louis Chief of Police indicating I had no arrest record in the U.S. and no outstanding warrants, and was 'a citizen in good standing.'

"7.  Finally, I had to write a letter about myself that clearly stated why there was no Mexican citizen with my skills and why my skills were important to Mexico.  We called it our "I am the greatest person on Earth" letter.  It was fun to write.

"All of the above were in English that had to be translated into Spanish and be certified as legal translations and our signatures notarized. It produced a folder about 1.5 inches thick with English on the left side and Spanish on the right.

"Once they were completed, Barbara and I spent about 5 hours accompanied by a Mexican attorney touring Mexican Government office locations and being photographed and fingerprinted at least 3 times.  At each location - and we remember at least 4 locations - we were instructed on Mexican tax, labor, housing and criminal law, and that we were required to obey their laws or face the consequences.  We could not protest any of the Government's actions or we would be committing a felony.  We paid out $4000 in fees and bribes to complete the process.  When this was done we could legally bring in our household goods that were held by U.S. Customs in Laredo, Texas.

"This meant we had rented furniture in Mexico while awaiting our goods.  There were extensive fees involved here that the company paid.

"We could not buy a home and were required to rent at very high rates and under contract and compliance with Mexican law.

"We were required to get a Mexican driver's license.  This was an amazing process.  The company arranged for the Licensing Agency to come to our Headquarters location with their photography and finger print equipment and the laminating machine.  We showed our U.S. license, were photographed and fingerprinted again, and issued the license instantly after paying out a $6 fee.  We did not take a written or driving test and never received instructions on the rules of the road.  Our only instruction was never to give a policeman your license if stopped and asked.  We were instructed to hold it against the inside window away from his grasp.  If he got his hands on it, you would have to pay ransom to get it back.

"We then had to pay and file Mexican income tax annually, using the number of our FM3 as our ID number.  The company's Mexican accountants did this for us and we just signed what they prepared.  It was about 20 legal size pages annually.

"The FM3 was good for 3 years and renewable for 2 more, after paying more fees.  Leaving the country meant turning in the FM3 and certifying we were leaving no debts behind and no outstanding legal affairs (warrants, tickets of liens) before our household goods were released to customs.

"It was a real adventure and if any of our Senators of Congressmen went through it, they would have a different attitude toward Mexico.

"The Mexican Government uses its vast military and police forces to keep its citizens intimidated and compliant.  They never protest at their White House or government offices, but do protest daily in front of the U.S. Embassy.  The U.S. Embassy looks like a strongly reinforced fortress and during most protests, the Mexican military surrounds the block, with their men standing shoulder to shoulder in full riot gear, to protect the Embassy.  These protests are never shown on U.S. or Mexican TV.  There is a large public park across the street where they do their protesting.  Anything can cause a protest, such as proposed law changes in California or Texas.

"Please feel free to share this with everyone who thinks we are being hard on illegal immigrants."