Connecting the Dots

     I work as a part-time liaison in an after-school program for elementary age students here in northern California.  They are a lot of fun, but can, of course, be difficult.  One thing we do, in the 2 to 6 p.m. time span,  is help the kids with homework.   Sometimes the kindergarten and first graders don’t have any,  so we keep them occupied with other things.

  One of these is doing dot-to-dots.   Remember them?  You do if you are a parent!   Well, once they learn numbers and learn the alphabet, the dot puzzles are a breeze.   In fact, they are too easy.   A little boy or girl will no sooner get one than a hand goes up and the child says, “I’m done!”

     I started writing one of our California senators a few days ago, using dot-to-dots as an illustration.    It must have been a bad one, because I hit a wrong key, goofed up the message and still have not got it sent. (That’s what happens to us technologically challenged folks.)

     Well, to try to get to the point.   We have, or had (some have dropped out)  8 Democratic presidential candidates who cannot connect the dots.   They are universally, unequivocally pro-abortion.   I was going to say to our Senator, Barbara Boxer, that when a child is conceived, it is not much more than a dot, but it is a human being and there is straight line between conception and birth and there is no point in that process when the child is not a growing girl or boy.

     We need to drop the euphemism “pro-choice”; “infanticide”  would be a better description.   National Right-to-Life News tells us where the Democratic candidates stand: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich, Christopher Dodd and Mike Gravel are all unanimously, explicitly, outspokenly pro-abortion.

     What does this mean.   It means that these otherwise, quite intelligent human beings,  need to go back to kindergarten.   They just don’t seem to have the mental capacity to “connect the dots” and none of them has sufficient clarity of mind, or reasoning ability, to be President of the United States.    They are subject to their various constituencies.   Even if they know in their minds and hearts that abortion is a bloody blot on the soul of this nation, none of them has  sufficient political character or “guts”  to change to a pro-life stand. 

     Let’s look at the other side of the coin.  With exception of Rudy Giulani, and, to some extent, Mitt Romney, all of the Republican candidats: Fred Thompson, John McCain,  Mike Huckabee,  Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo (some of these have dropped out) are all unequivocally pro-life and opposed to Roe v. Wade.

     In a few days we will mark the anniversary of this heinous Supreme Court decision of 1973.   The passage of 35 years has seen the deaths of some 50 million unborn babies.   Do you think God does not know about these deaths? Do you want a President of the United States so deficient in straight reasoning that he or she cannot “connect the dots”?

     There are seven things God hates; that He calls an “abomination” unto Him.   One of these is “the shedding of innocent blood”  (Proverbs 6:16-19).   The Bible reiterates God’s hatred of such shedding of blood in several other places in the Scripture.      “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that he will also reap”  (Galatians 6:7)  The reaping time is coming; are you ready?

Christmas Eve 2025

     Harold landed on the floor with a thump.  Whoops! He had napped too long.  He’d need to rush or he would miss his favorite service of the year.  The soft candlelight, beautiful choir cantata, and favorite old Christmas carols–these always made the incarnation very real to Harold.  He always felt like falling on his knees in worship before the manger scene.

Harold grabbed his jacket and rushed for the door.   He reached for his Bible, but it was not on the stand by his reading chair.   That seemed strange, but he was in a hurry!

He thought he’d have trouble finding a space, but found the church parking lot empty! Mystified, he ran to the church entrance.  The door was locked, with a sign on it that said “CLOSED” in big, black letters, and just the letters “D.E.S.” in small print at the bottom.

Dazed, Harold drove slowly to the big shopping mall a few blocks away.  Grim-faced shoppers were hurrying to and from their cars.   He decided to go the mall’s Christian book store and ask what was going on.   He could expect some friendly answers there.    But the store was gone!  In its place was a store selling skimpy women’s lingerie. 

Harold half-stumbled to a nearby mall bench.    A teenage boy sat down at the same time.   He looked friendly, so Harold said, “Son, I’m a little confused.  Could you answer a couple of questions?”

“Sure, what’s the problem?”    “Well, isn’t this Christmas Eve; isn’t tomorrow Christmas Day?”

The youth eyed him curiously: “Yeah, I guess it is; hadn’t thought about it.   Hey, it’s Winter Festival Time.  People give gifts, and eat and drink like crazy.  It’s wild!  Say, where you been anyway; on another planet?”

Harold just got up and almost ran towards a mall exit.  On the way he passed a book store.  The window was full of blatantly pornographic material.   A sign said, “SALE–50% OFF ON ALL 2025 CALENDARS–while they last!”

Harold staggered towards the exit.   Some shoppers thought he had had a few too many holiday drinks.   He found his car and drove, erratically, to the coffee shop near his house.   A matronly middle-aged woman was on duty, and he ordered coffee and a donut.

Harold was the only customer.  “Where is everyone?” he asked, as the waitress put his order in front of him.  “Probably doing their last minute Winter Festival shopping.” she replied.  “It’s just crazy!”

The waitress seemed friendly and about his age.  He decided to  chance it.  “Look,” he said, “I need some help.  Maybe  I’ve got amnesia or something.   I took a nap this afternoon.   It was December 24, 2007.   When I woke up, I had to hurry to get to church for the Christmas Eve candlelight service.”

First, I couln’t find my Bible.   Then I got to church and found it locked up with a sign that said, ‘CLOSED.’    I drove to the mall, where all the rushing shoppers looked as if they were late for a funeral.   There was no sign anywhere that tomorrow is Jesus’ birthday–not one! “Who am I, Rip Van Winkle; isn’t this 2007?!

Helen (that’s what her name tag said) was sympathetic.  “I don’t know if you are nuts or not, but you sure need help.  Let me tell you what’s been going on.  It’s not pretty!”

“You sound like you’re a Christian,” she continued.  “I am, too, but these days you don’t advertise to just anybody.  Do you really think it is 2007?”  Harold nodded, weakly.

“Well,” said Helen, it was about that time that this country really began to get sick.   The American Correct Living Union, or ACLU, seemed to have all the federal judges on their private payroll.   They went crazy on this ’separation of church and state’ thing.   Congress and the Presdent caved in to the super-environmentalist, global warming agenda.   Suddenly, we had the new Federal Department of Environmental Safety–D.E.S., for short.  “You wouldn’t believe the new regulations!”

Helen glanced out of the coffee shop window and said, “Oh, no, there’s an example.  That’s sad, and on this night of all nights!”

Outside, stopped for a red light, was a bus that looked like a school bus, except that it was painted gray and had the letters D.E.S. painted on the side.   It had window shades.   They were half closed, but Harold could see faces peering out from under them.  They were old faces; each one a picture of fear and misery.

“Well,” said Helen, “those folks flunked THE TEST!” God help them!”  She explained:   The D.E.S. and Euthanasia Lobby had joined forces.  They argued that energy sources were low; medical costs were out of sight; Social Security was going bankrupt, and the nation could not afford all of those old people living in rest homes, and using up energy.   Besides, their “quality of life” was poor.    It would be merciful to end it.

In 2012 a law was passed requiring everyone 80 or over to take a physical and mental exam.   Those who passed were okay for three years; for those who flunked it was straight to the D.E.S. for a trip to the Clearance Center.  It was all quick, discreet and sanitary; just like the abortionists dispose of  unwanted unborn children.

It was just a matter of a pair of paper pajamas, a lethal injection, insertion in the crematory and sending an urn full of ashes to the relatives, who could then have a memorial service if they wanted to.

Helen shuddered,  “I hope I don’t live to be 80.   I just can’t figure out how we let this happen in our country.”  She said the D.E.S. had probably closed Harold’s church because of new environmental standards.  Any buildings, especially churches, not fully used five out of seven days, could be declared “environmentally wasteful” and ordered closed.  “Lots of Christians have given up their buildings.  But, you know what,  I think the church is actually growing stronger,” Helen observed.  “People have quit ‘playing church’ and are really committing themselves to the Lord.”

Just then, two grim-faced police officers entered the shop.  “Who owns that old car out there with the expired plates?”, one demanded.    “It’s my car, and the plates are good through next year,” Harold responded.

“Who are you trying to kid?” the officer growled.   “According to the sticker, those plates haven’t been good for about 18 years.  Let’s see your driver’s license.”

Before Harold knew what was going on, they declared his driver’s license had also expired.   They said they would have to take him to the station and check him out further. 

Just as he was being hustled out the door,  he heard a voice,”Harold, Harold, it’s time to go, you’ve got to get ready!” Harold blinked and looked around.   He was on the sofa in his own living room.  His dear wife was shaking him awake. 

“You sure took a long nap,” she remarked.  “Hurry, or we’ll be late for the Christmas Eve service.”   Harold did not reply.  He just heaved a huge sigh and shook his head in amazement.  He would tell Betty about the dream later.

Church friends wondered what had gotten into Harold.  He positively bubbled over, saying “God bless you; praise the Lord!,” again and again. 

Afterwards, it was a delight to step outside into the clear, crisp, starry evening.   Harold took a deep breath and smiled contentedly.  Then he glanced towards the street and his smile froze!  Was that really a gray bus at the stoplight?  Did it have the letters D.E.S. on the side?

Harold held his head in his hands.  “What is going on in the world?  Am I awake?  Is the church awake? Or are we all still sleeping!?  
                                             –30–

Muscle Man Wimps Out

Remember the Terminator?  This guy was unstoppable; a one-man army; a man’s man, a mass of muscle, capable of mighty feats of valor on the wide screen.   Well, guess what?  This guy has turned into a wimp, a toady, a pawn of the homosexual agenda!

Perhaps you were like me; pleased when Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California.  Oh, boy, we said, a Republican, maybe even a conservative Republican, to lead our great state!   Guess again!  This governor has just signed into law a couple of socially destructive, anti-family laws that must have gay rights militants bouncing on their mattresses for pure joy. 

SB777, signed by a man who appears to have pumped so much iron it has affected his mental health, does this:  It bans anything in California public schools that could be interpreted as negative toward homosexuality, bisexuality and other alternatve life styles.   There are no such protections for those of traditional or conservative lifestyles and beliefs.   

Any text or teaching which portrays marriage as only betwen a man and a woman is prohibited.   Homecoming kings can be either male or female.  Students, whether male or female, must be permitted to use the rest room or locker room corresponding to the sex with which they wish to identify.   Sex education materials must offer the option of sex change operations.  The list of evils this legislation perpetrates does on and on.

In addition, the governor has signed AB14 which prohibits state funding for any  state program that does not support a range of alternative sexual practices.   Day cares, hospitals and many other organizations will be drastically affected by these actions. 

  These are the most despicable, anti-family, measures that could possibly be imagined.   Our so-called Republican governor is no more Republican than a mule’s hind hoof.    It is difficult to imagine how he has come to sign bills, passed by California’s far left legislature,  that he vetoed a year ago.   As a member, by marriage, of the Kennedy family, he may have been spending too much time with Chappaquidick Ted, the U.S. Senate’s Windbag-in-Chief. 

 Where on earth, or under the earth, did our nation’s legislative bodies get the right to run our schools, and/or teach children anything beyond basic subjects, such as reading, writing, mathematics, basic science and history?

Our Constitution confers upon us, as citizens, the right “peacefully to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”–First Amendment, U.S. Constitution.

 The time has come and now is…the right of initiative and referendum needs to be exercised.   This socially destructive legislation needs to brought to a vote of the people.    The governor needs to hear from the citzens of California   Have we become so morally bankrupt that we will do nothing to fight the moral delinquency into which we are so rapidly sinking?

                                           –30– 

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Dark Night in the Jungle

I’ve had a brief hiatus from this location, due to some traveling.   Anyhow, am back again for all those millions (maybe 2 or 3) waiting with brated beath (that is, bated breath) for more wisdom (or rantings and ravings) from this source.  I just hope I don’t get my tang all tungled up trying to articulate some reasonably sensible thoughts  (incidentally, the preceding sentence includes a Spoonerism–this is a name given to amusing flubs uttered by radio and TV announcers; I once had a list of them which could double me up with laughter (well, there’s no explaining some people’s weird sense of humor!)

Now, back to that dark night.   Picture standing in the back of an open truck with 15 other people, and all our luggage, stopped on a narrow dirt road in the middle of the Amazon jungle of northeast Bolivia, South America.   There is a huge tree which has been purposely cut down to block the road.  There are flashlights coming towards the truck through the darkness, from a nearby jungle village! 

Would you be just a little bit nervous?   Actually, we were.  However, this odd assortment of people aboard the truck had one thing in common.   All were believers in Jesus Christ and were trusting in God (imperfectly) for His protection.

While our Bolivian pastor friend who was with us, got off the truck to talk to the village leaders, the rest of us stayed quietly on the truck and prayed.    I, personsally, felt a sense of spiritual warfare and a darkness deeper than the mere black of night. 

Pastor Saul conferred with the villagers for about 45 minutes, but they refused to remove the bloqueo (blockade).  Then he discovered there was a small group of Christians in the village.   They attempted to influence the others to allow us to pass.  However, the villagers were determined to make some kind of statement regarding their frustrations with the government.  Blocking roads is one of the few ways they can get attention. 

Encouraged by the presence of Christians in the village, we began singing some old-favorite Christian songs, and the tension eased somewhat.   Finally, we got the okay to unload ourselves and our luggage, and walk to the other side of the village and then out to a main road (dirt, very dusty and “washboardy”).   There, miraculously,  a bus came through the night, stopped and let us all on to travel the final 74 kilometers to our destination.    The drivers we had paid and the truck we had rented had to turn around and go back where we started.

What were we doing out in the middle of the night in an open truck in the Amazon jungle?  Basically, we were taking a back road to try to avoid another bloqueo.   Obviously, it did not work, but that’s another story.

Part of the miracle is the diversity of the group of six Americans and nine Canadians enroute to help Bolivian Christians build a boat to use in ministry to remote villages along the winding rivers of the Amazon Basin.   

The Americans included a former drug addict and alcoholic who works on a dredge on the Mississippi River,  an employee of a major communications company,  a  dairyman, a bookkeeper, a missionary leader who has lived in Greenland and Mexico,  a retired editor, and a doctor of psychology.   The Canadians were an equally diverse group.  There was also a couple from Great Britain.  They own a fish and chips restaurant in a resort town near the White Cliffs of Dover.

So, you ask, what’s the point?   The point is that no humanly devised club or organization could bring such a dissimilar group together to work in harmony (and much sweat) towards one objective.   It was our mutual faith in Jesus Christ; our desire to be obedient to His command to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person,” that brought us together to work  with (not over, but under) Bolivian believers to help achieve this  goal in their part of this troubled world. 

The uncertainty and tension we experienced made the Lord’s promise that He “would never leave us nor forsake us” a strong reality,  along with a better understanding that, according to the Apostle Paul’s words to Timothy, his young disciple,  our lives have a “purpose and grace” which were given us “in Christ Jesus before time began” (cf. 2 Timothy 1:9)

“For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” (Psalm 100:5)

                                           –30–

Nightmare at the Ball Park

It was a huge ballpark and the nuttiest game I had ever seen.

The first guy at bat hit a slow roller to shortstop and was thrown out at first.  But he paid no attention and kept on running around the bases.    There was a huge outcry from the defending team, but the player crossed home plate and jogged to the dugout, grinning all the way.

Then the next player struck out, but refused to leave home plate.  He insisted that he have one more chance.  I figured he’d get thrown out of the game.   But no, the umpires (believe it not, there were 9 of them) voted 5-4 that he should get another swing because he had tried so hard.

The pitcher was so mad that he grooved a fast ball, which the batter blooped to short left field.  It looked like an easy out.  But then I noticed the left fielder had his back to the infield.  He was waving at pretty girl in the bleachers.   The other players screamed and shouted,  so he strolled back and picked up the ball.   The runner was rounding third.   The throw to the plate would have nailed him, but the catcher had gone to the water cooler for a drink (it was a very hot day). 

I expected the manager to charge out of the dugout and yank both of those knuckleheads right out of their cleats.    You know what?  He calmly took a lawn chair out to left field so the pretty girl could sit by her friend the left fielder.    Then he set a thermos of cold water by the catcher so he wouldn’t have to go so far for a drink. 

After all this, there was pretty much chaos in the stands, but the game (?) went on.   The next batter popped a high foul behind the plate.   The catcher went for it, but tripped over the thermos and broke his leg.   He was carried off. 

Because of the earlier ruling, all the batters now wanted at least four strikes.    Also, they couldn’t seem to decide on a strike zone.    The umps got together again and decided (5-4)  it should be between the shoelaces and the neck.   The pitcher was pleased, but the batters howled.    Next, one of the umps was carried out.  It appeared he was conked by a beer bottle thrown from the stands.    A new ump was brought in and another vote was held.

The umps finally ruled (7-2) that anyone hitting under .230 would have a strike zone from the belt to the letters; those from .230 to .300 from the knees to shoulders, and those over .300 from the ankles to the chin.

This was not much help.  The next batter sliced a liner to right and ran to third base; diagonally across the diamond to first and then back to home.   The right fielder just threw the ball in the air and jumped up and down in rage. 

Again, the umpires consulted.   They finally ruled it to be an undue restriction of a batter’s rights to make him run to first first.   If he wanted to run to third first, the defensive team would have to throw to third first or to first first to get him out, depending on which way he went.    They figured this would add suspense to the game.   Anyhow, it was a first!

By this time there was chaos on the field and a near riot in the stands.   I thought maybe I had bought a ticket to a lunatic asylum instead of a ball park. 

Then I noticed the only calm guy in the whole place.  He was seated in a plush box in front of me, handsome, impeccably dressed, and wearing a sinister smirk, seeming to enjoy the increasing turmoil.  I thought his ears looked a little pointed.

I leaned over and tapped him on the shoulder:  “Hey, mister, what’s going on here?  I don’t know what this is, but it sure ain’t baseball!  What happened to the Rule Book?”

“Oh, we don’t have a Rule Book,” he said.  We threw it out a long time ago.   It’s inhibiting.   We don’t want to restrict people.  We’ve got a new game called Do Your Own Thing.  Some people get fancy and call it Secular Humanism or maybe Existentialism, or New Ageism.”

He chuckled evilly and went on: “Everyone’s got a perfect right to do whatever he feels like doing.   There’s no responsibility, no rules, just rights, rights, RIGHTS!”  He was almost shouting at me.

I objected.  “But this place has gone crazy.   They’re going nuts exercising their rights.   They need some rules.   It looks like they’ll kill each other before this is over. ”

He just leaned back comfortably and smirked,  “Yeah, sure too bad isn’t it?”

Well, you guessed it.   I woke up.  It was all a dream…or rather, a nightmare.

Or was it?  It all seemed so real!

Getting Israel’s History Right

I recently received a mailing from an individual who seems convinced Israel should be removed and the nation’s land area should be renamed Canaan.   This person has a warped, misinformed view of Israel’s history, apparently shaped by the twisted propaganda repeated, ad infinitum ad nauseam, by the Arab nations and U.S. and foreign news media.

Here is the tiny nation of Israel (7,800 square miles), smaller than the state of New Jersey (8,721 square miles), surrounded by 22 Arab nations with a land area greater than all of Europe.  And yet, there is no space in Arab thinking for the existence of “non-believers” (i.e. non-Muslims) in any part of the Middle East.

The term “Palestinian refugees” has been so beaten into the public consciousness that no one seems to question the authenticity of this designation.  Well, where did these so-called refugrees come from?

In 1948 on the day that the U.N. officially proclaimed the existence of the State of Israel, five Arab armies invaded the  infant nation from all sides.    At the same time, there was a barrage of frightening radio broadcasts from Arab sources.  These broadcasts urged the Arabs living in Israel to flee, so the invading armies could destroy the Israelis.   They were promised that when the “holy war” was over, they could return and get back their property; along with that of the Jews. 

Well, the plan did not work out.  In a miracle of Biblical proportions, the Jews defeated the invaders.   Those Arabs who fled became the so-called “Palestinian refugees.”  There were about 650,000 of them; a number which has, rather amazingly, now risen to 5 million.  The Arabs who stayed where they were are now full-fledged citizens of Israel.   

 Surprisingly, while the Israel has absorbed, welcomed and helped over 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands, the Arabs, with all their vast land area, refused to admit any of the 650,000 so-called refugees. They  were made to settle in miserable camps, from 1948 onward, and were supported for years by the U.N.    This created the “cause celebre” of the Palestinian refugees and provides the excuse for demands for an independent Palestinian nation.   In fact, there never was a Palestinian nation.   Most of the so-called refugees had come to Israel after Jews who immigrated there began  developing what had been a very desolate piece of geography;  creating job opportunities which were previously non-existent.

I was in Israel in 1977  with a group of fellow journalists and interviewed Dr. G. Douglas Young, founder of the Instititute of Holy Land Studies on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, and a widely respected scholar    He confirmed the above account regarding the first days of the nation of Israel, along with other details. 

In fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, the Jews are back in their ancestral homeland.   In fact, in attempting to live at peace with neighbors who refuse to let them live at peace, they have, I believe, given up much more land than they should have.

In a modern miracle, the Jews are where God has placed them and they will not be moved.   Much more could be said, but it would be well for all of us to obey the Biblical command to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you” (Psalm 122:6). 

Don’t Sell Your Beachfront Property!

  As the title suggests, you really don’t need to call your real estate agent if you own property looking out on an ocean–Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, whatever!

 One website (www.CO2Science) estimates that, according to satellite radar altimetry, sea levels may have risen .05 to .03  millimeters per year in recent years.  At this rate, it would take over 20,000 years to raise global sea levels by one meter.

According to Alarmist-in-Chief Al (“The ocean’s at your door”) Gore, we should be worrying about an ocean rise of around 20 feet in the next few years, due to global warming.

The mantra about “global warming” has been hammered into our heads so much recently that many are beginning to believe it is the gospel truth.  

In this regard, it might be good to refer to some alarmist prophecies of recent years, as quoted in a recent book, “Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming” by Christopher C. Horner, a senior fellow at Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Paul Ehrlich, one of the foremost “prophets” of impending environmental disaster, said, in 1968:  “The battle to feed humanity is over.  In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now.”  In 1969, he had this dire warning to offer:  “Hundreds of millions of people will soon perish in smog disasters in New York and Los Angeles…the oceans will die of DDT poisoning by 1979…the U.S. life expectancy will drop to 42 years by 1980 due to cancer epidemics.”

Undeterred, Ehrlich offered the warning in 1974 that “A situation has been created that could lead to a billion or more people starving to death.   In another bit of “green wisdom” offered in 1978,  Ehrlich opined that “Giving society cheap, abundant energy…would be equivalent of giving an idiot child  a machine gun.”

Horner quotes many other such gems of environmentalist panic in his book.    Actually, there is no way to accurately determine the mean average temperature of the world.  One thing that has apparently skewed recent averages slightly above preceding years is that, following the collapse of the Soviet Union,  thousands of Russian measuring stations closed, many of them in cold regions.   What some declare “the hottest decade” (1992 to 202) coincided with the closing of a huge portion of surface measuring stations.

Media alarmism about climate change has run in cycles, with some overlapping,  as follows: 1895-1932, catastrophic global cooling; 1929-1969, catastrophic global warming; 1954-1976, catastrophic manmade global cooling; 1981-present, catastrophic manmade global warming.

But, on the other hand, a ”Newsweek” feature article in 1992 warned that “The advent of a new ice age, scientists say, appears to be guaranteed.  The devastation will be astonishing.”

Well, the news media thrives on disaster headlines.  And many scientists, vying for grant money, go along with the global warning mantra, even when they know a lot of poor science is involved.   

Al Gore comes across somewhat as a has-been politician desperate to stay in the lime-light and finding the platform of global warming a good way to remain there. 

Whatever the case may be, Horner’s book shatters much of the green gloom hysteria and reminds us we don’t need to quit breathing quite yet (and thus breathing out too much carbon dioxide.)    One environmentalist opined that the world would be a lot better off if about two billion of us would simply die!  He did not offer to be the first to go. 

The Bible tells us there are disastrous events ahead for this troubled world.  However, they will come according to God’s timing, not according to Mr. Gore’s.    Jesus commented on a couple of seemingly random events in Luke chapter 13; events not unlike the Minneapolis bridge collapse, or the Utah mining disaster.  He indicated that such things can happen to any of us.  He did not offer any explanation except to say, that no matter what happens, we need to be prepared now to meet our Lord.

Well, we also need to be excellent conservationists; not alarmist environmentalists.   Glaciers are shrinking in some places, but growing larger in others.   The toughest “glaciers” are often our hardened human hearts.    

Grieving and Rejoicing!

  I just returned home after attending a funeral.   You will probably discover, as you grow older, that you attend more and more of these events.    I now find, to my consistent amazement,  that many of the funerals are for people who are (were) younger than I am. 

  As you grow older your perspective changes.   At age 20, those over 30 seem old; at 40 it is those over 60 who seem pretty ancient; at 60 those over 70: well, it goes on and on.

  The point is that we are all headed for the exit.   One day it  is “is” and the next day it could be “was.”   As in, “He (she) IS a pretty nice (rotten, crabby, generous–you name it) person” one day and then, suddenly, it is all past tense, as in “He (she) WAS a…(such and such) kind of person.”   Last week, in mentioning this friend to someone, I would have observed “Boy, he sure is a nice guy!”  Today, there’s a world of difference.

The funeral I attended today was a cause for grieving and also for rejoicing.   One reason is that the individual was a kind, loving, extremely generous, and very well-liked person.   The second, and more important reason, reminded me of something that the Apostle Paul said in his first letter to the church at Thessalonica (I Thess. 2:19)–”For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?  Is it not even you in the presence of the Lord Jesus at His coming.”

(Whoops, you’re saying, now he’s gotten to preaching; I’m outa here!  Well, stick around a few minutes; there could be something here worth thinking about.)

Paul had some very encouraging words regarding his future and the future of other believers in Jesus Christ.  He said, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).

I remember many years ago when a pastor came to our house and talked about personal faith in Jesus.   I brushed him off with some bromide about, “Well, I believe that truth is really whatever I decide to believe and if I’m sincere about it, I’ll be okay.”

It reminds me of the people who say confidently, “Well, there are no absolutes,” which, in itself, is an absolutely self-contradictory statement.    I feel like suggesting they go to the top  of a tall building and jump off.   They will  discover that the law of gravity has not been rescinded and they are absolutely sure to die.

Anyhow, the point is that, at the funeral of a person who has placed his or her trust in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins there is, with the sadness, cause for hope, joy and rejoicing.

The old question is: “Suppose you died today and stood before God and He said, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?,’ what would you say?”   

If asked this, you might say, “Well, I don’t believe in God, or judgment; it is all a bunch of religious nonsense!   Hey, that can be your choice.   I think there is overwhelming evidence, it anyone will make the effort to examine it, that the Bible is totally trustworthy.   As for me, a hopeless sinner saved by grace, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep  what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Tim. 1:12). 

There are many absolutes in life  and one of them is the certainty that it will end.  “It is appointed unto every man once to die, and after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27).  No one will argue with the first part of that statement; it is the second part that creates a problem.

 Well, if you ever happen to come to my funeral, which I hope will not be soon (God knows) you can rejoice because “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that Day” (2 Tim. 1:12).

P.S.–Sorry, couldn’t help the preaching.  Watch this space. Next time some thoughts about global warming.  He won’t read them, but, if he did, they would probably not get cheers from Al (the ocean is at your door) Gore.

  

A ‘Manchurian Candidate’–Who Knows?

     A news item the other day reported how successful in fund-raising Barack Obama has been.   He is apparently ahead of all of the other Democratic presidential hopefuls.

It might be helpful to look at who Obama is, although the real Obama might be a closely guarded secret.    I do know that he talks a good talk, which usually seems to consist of rewrites of some of the more eloquent statements of former prominent politicians, without much real substance.

I do know that, as a state legislator in Illinois, his voting record was totally liberal, including “no” on prohibiting partial birth abortion, “no” on prohibiting state funding of abortion; “yes” on permitting purchase of 10 hypodermic needles without a prescription; “yes” in restoring the Illinois estate tax, etc.

A radio news report this morning said that the now first-term Senator is proposing sex education for kindergarten age children, and federal health care payment for all abortions.  Clearly, he is not a pro-life candidate.

But even more important is the question of “Who is he?”  He was born in Hawaii to a Muslim from Kenya and to
Ann Dunham, a professed atheist from Wichita, Kansas.  The two divorced when Osama was two years old and his father returned to Kenya.  His mother married Lolo Soetero, a Muslim from Indonesia.    The family moved to Indonesia when Obama was six years old.

At this very formative age he was enrolled in a Wahabi (Muslim) school in Jakarta.   Wahabism is a radical form of Islam that is followed by Muslims now engaged in jihad (holy war) against the western world.    Saudi Arabia, our ostensible friend, is ruled by Wahabis.   (I suspect their friendship would be greatly reduced, if not entirely absent, if they had not needed, and continue to need,  U.S. technology to extract the oil resources which have made them wealthy.)

Osama downplays his Muslim background and notes that he also attended a Catholic school for two years and has now joined a United Church of Christ congregation. 

It is interesting to note that Muhammad approved of deceit and lying, in fact any kind of conduct that, in his opinion, would advance the cause of Allah.    One of his followers decided it would be good to kill an individual who had spoken in opposition to Muhammad.   He was authorized by his leader to feign friendship, and ingratiate himself with this person in order to gain an opportunity to murder him. Which he did.  This happened on more than one occasion.

Islamic radicals overlook some of Muhammad’s more mild “revelations” in the Qur’an–in the earliest writings– and instead look to the more severe commands regarding treatment of enemies, which are in later “revelations.” 

This is excused on the principal of abrogation, in that the later revelations supercede those that were earlier.    The Qur’an states that Jews and Christians are accursed in several places.  “From those, too, who call themselves Christians, We did take a covenant, but they forgot a good part of the message that was sent them: so we estranged them, with enmity and hatred between one and the other, to the day of judgment” (Qur’an 5:12-16).

Hamza Yusuf, an influential American convert to Islam, said in November 2004, regarding Islamic strategy for world domination: “There are times when you have to live like a sheep, in order to live in the future like a lion.”

I don’t know whether Barack Obama is ”a wolf in sheep’s clothing” or not.    But I do oppose his political voting record,  think he will bear careful watching. and shudder to think of what might happen if he gains a presidential nomination.   It would be interesting, if it was possible, to trace back to original sources, all of the millions of dollars in campaign funds that he has received. 
 

Helping the Enemy Shout for Joy

     I can almost hear them shouting “Whoopee!”–or however you say that in Arabic.    The Islamofascists who hate us, and would rejoice if they could kill us all, love to read headlines in U.S. newspapers like the one in USA TODAY  a couple of days ago.

It read: “Anti-war views on Iraq rise to record,” followed by a sub-head, “Poll: Bush approval drops to low of 29%”.   I can’t help but wonder how many more U.S. soldiers (and Iraqi citizens) have been killed because of the delight the U.S. media takes in broadcasting such reports.     They just encourage al-Qaeda to keep on making more bombs and murdering more people.

This is largely because our news media and Bush-hating liberal Congress members continue to support al-Qaeda’s  belief that, if they just  keep blowing people up, public opinion will turn against our efforts in Iraq and that we will soon “cut and run,”  leaving them to impose their will on the hapless populace–including: no rights or education for women,  absolute imposition of Islamic law–cutting off hands and heads, etc.–and whatever other horrors the Imams declare that Allah has decreed.

Do you know how the Taliban got Russia out of Afghanistan? (Unfortunately, in hindsight, with our help.)    They had all the time in the world, and convinced the Russians that staying simply was not worth it.   The Russians found themselves almost prisoners themsevles in the Afghan cities, and getting blown up and picked off by snipers when they ventured outside the cities.  Also, their helicopters were getting shot down by Sidewinder missiles–which we supplied to the muhajadeen fighters. 

We have better equipment and a skilled and determined military force, but our enemies think the same tactics will work again in Iraq and also in Afghanistan.   Thus, headlines like the one in USA TODAY, and other negative reports in our liberal media, give them great encouragement.

At least, the newspaper had the grace to mention some other negative polls relating to past presidents, including Truman in 1952 with a 22 per cent approval rating.   And he is now upheld in history as an outstanding president because he stuck with his convictions and declared: “The buck stops here”– at the president’s desk.   If President Bush, also a man of deep convictions, can stay the course, history will say the same about him.

I think we should get nervous about people with super high poll numbers.   Just think about Jesus!   If Gallup had been around then, Jesus would have had about zero percent in the polls.   All he had was 12 disciples, and one of them was a traitor.   And these disciples, preaching about the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, literally “turned the world upside down.”

Do we really want to make a difference?   Perhaps we should examine how obedient we are to the Apostle Paul’s command that “supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made…for all who are in authority” (cf. I Timothy 2:1,2).   Supplications is a strong word!  How often does it describe our prayers?  

Do we pray expectantly, earnestly, consistently?   God does answer.  We can make a difference!  And we should, as hard as it may be, obey our Lord and “pray for our enemies” (cf. Matthew 5:43-45).