The Message (MSG)

26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

I once wrote about being 8:28'ed to death.  http://jimpondering.blogspot.com/2012/06/decisions-and-contentment-or-828ed-to.html,
as a matter of fact. So, here I am again, writing about it again, prompted by Dr. Stanley, http://www.intouch.org/Content/27938/LP110626.pdf, again.  This actually all started because I thought it would be something good to pass on to my friend Stephanie; she never needs to be 8:28'ed, she has had more trials in her life than you can shake a stick at (where did that phrase ever come from, any way? Oh, never mind for now). I've talked with her about it ad infinitum ad nauseum. still ...


Digging past the 90%+ of most theological/practical/homilistic interpretations you get around to the concept of being prepared to do something really important. Where we all typically fail AND where we most need to help each other is to figure out how, where, why to apply what God has prepared in each of us.

So, when life stinks (we say stinks instead of sucks because it is a more socially acceptable word choice, eh?) we can search for the way to deodorize it; it's usually right there in front of us, too.

Look at Chuck's notes. They pretty much say it all. Again.

Fun and Games with the Emergency Room

So, last Friday (a week ago today) I sat around from around 11 am on toying with the idea of calling 911. I was having what I guess is best identified as shortness of breath. I could breathe fairly deeply and rapidly, but still did not feel like I was getting enough to breathe. If that isn't "shortness of breath", then call it what you want; but, that's what I had. Also, it felt like someone had a wide belt around me just at the end of my breastbone and was gently pulling backward. This was not the classic elephant on the chest syndrome, just a minor discomfort. Finally, I had an ache, quite akin to and later attributed by my doctor as being due to a pulled muscle, from under my left ear down the carotid/jugular region to the clavicle, across the clavicle to the ac joint (achromioclavicular, if you wish) and down the front and middle of the bicep to my elbow. Not a shooting, yes mildly warm and somewhat characterizable as burning, mostly an aching. Periodically from 11 on I felt a bit woozy, and I don't think my brain was clicking on all cylinders through there.

So, when Peg called at 5:30 to see if she needed to stop at the store I told her no, but I'm about to call 911 unless you think you want to take me.

On the way out to Methodist West, she asked why I had not called 911 or her earlier. Here my sarcastic, skeptical, cynical (true?) nature came out. Quote: "Every time I go with symptoms like this, they put me in the little room, give me an IV, give me nitroglycerin, do some tests, tell me they don't know what's going on and send me home. I thought I'd skip the middle man this time and stay home."

Then, too, in 2001 I went in, they even did an angiogram, told me they couldn't find anything wrong. They did not, in retrospect, do an ultrasound of my gall bladder, like the one they did only 2 weeks later in Orlando where I ended up in the hospital for 8 days and never saw Disneyworld. So, skepticism and cynicism? Yeah, maybe¿

So we got out to Methodist West, they did an EKG, blood tests including cardiac enzymes, hung an IV, had me chew baby aspirin (still as  yucky as they were when I was a kid), and put a nitroglycerin under my tongue. Then they asked if the nitro helped, and I was foolish enough to respond "maybe", so they wrote in my chart that nitroglycerin had made a big difference in relieving pain. Since, at the time, I had not been in pain and had noticed little if any effect, I find that a remarkable comment. The cardiac enzymes said none of the muscles had been beaten up yet. But, there was this thing called a d-dimer. I always thought that would be somebody who saved 10-cent coins made at the Denver mint. Lo and behold, we significantly increased the sum total of man's knowledge with a quick trip to Wikipedia:

• "D-dimer is a fibrin degradation product (or FDP), a small protein fragment present in the blood after a blood clot is degraded by fibrinolysis. It is so named because it contains two crosslinked D fragments of the fibrinogen protein. D-dimer concentration may be determined by a blood test to help diagnose thrombosis. Since its introduction in the 1990s, it has become an important test performed in patients suspected of thrombotic disorders. While a negative result practically rules out thrombosis, a positive result can indicate thrombosis but does not rule out other potential causes."

 So, I had a positive d-dimer, and they did a spiral cat scan to check for a pulmonary embolism or thrombosis, aka a blood clot in the lungs, like Captain Phil on "Deadliest Catch".

Nope. Couldn't see anything.

But, they decided I should be their guest for the evening, ran me upstairs, wired me up and then did another round of blood tests at midnight, just after I was asleep (of course). I fooled them in the morning though - I was already awake when they came in to poke me at 6.

My doctor was actually the duty doc for Iowa Clinic, so she came in, and we agreed that after they finished negative enzymes I should go home, since cardio don't work weekends unless it's like an emergency bypass or whatever, and get set for a stress and an echo outpatient. But, then slightly after noon I turned white as a sheet, apparently, and my telemetry showed junctional rhythm phasing in and out of sinus bradycardia (look em up if you want to) and a low pulse rate and blood pressure. Great. What-e'ver. The nurse didn't want to send me home; Dr. Taylor told her send me home anyway. I came home.

So this time it was more than 4 hours, the hospital food was pretty much OK but nothing to write home about, and I knew very little if anything more about my health after than I did before.

They said cardio would call on Monday. I'm still waiting. I have felt poopy about half the time this week. Who knows what's going on? We'll see next time.

Guns

This should be a simple post; but, it won't be. I am trying to make a simple statement; but, it can't be. However I put this, someone will take offense or exception or opposition; but, here I go anyway.

For historical background: I learned to shoot when I was 6 with my Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. But, you "Christmas Story" fans, before I could shoot it at all, I had to be able to show my father, WWII veteran of the US Marine Corps, all the parts that were visible and explain their function. If you could have field stripped a Red Ryder I would have had to do so, and put it back together blindfolded, I am sure. I only shot at a target set up in the garage on a backstop built according to Daisy and NRA design standards. [I remember going to the lumber yard, since we had those back then, with mom. She had the plans and the materials list. The two guys at the yard were either bored or took pity on a woman, both highly likely in Oklahoma in the 50's, fired up their 12" radial arm and cut to specification every piece of wood required in the backstop, for free of course, and loaded 'em into the back of the car.] My brother and I each had a Daisy BB air rifle, my Red Ryder and his pump. The only thing we saw was NRA official targets up through Pro-Marksman, Marksman, Marksman First-Class bar, Sharpshooter, all 9 (yes, nine) Sharpshooter bars, and the Expert Rifleman, 15-ft air rifle class.

Although I never made it, my brother, nearly blind as a bat with no depth perception and astigmatism that would cause an elephant to turn his head, made Distinguished Rifleman. That required what seemed like a half a zillion perfect targets to achieve. Nothing at all for Mike.

We got a .22 single shot next. We only shot it at the outdoor range set up on one of the Standard properties near Oklahoma City, a recreation area for employees only. Again at targets.

At the age of 11 or so, we could take the BB guns to our grandfather's farm and hunt pigeons and sparrows. Had we nailed a mockingbird, our grandmother would have skinned us alive. We also got to go squirrel and quail hunting with our grandfather. This is a Winchester Model  74 semi-automatic rifle in .22 short. It was my grandfather's, it was manufactured in 1939, and it is an example of fine American craftsmanship. My grandfather, quite literally, could have driven nails with this at 100 yards with open sights. When my cousin, Bill, brought it out one day and gave it to me saying that Grandpa and Grandma had specifically told him to give it to me, I cried. [It is, by the way, on the shop wall with the spinning rod my dad bought me when I was 6 and my dad's spinning rod and his favorite bass plug].

"Daddy Bill" hunted quail, rabbits and squirrels for the most part - occasionally maybe a dove or two and, at the time, a blackbird (4 and twenty in a pie, you know?) - for food. If you were an annoying wild dog or cat or a wolf (yep, still had them in OK in the 50's) or coyote, you didn't want to get within 200 yards of the house. Not only Grandpa, but my grandmother was known more than once to lay that Winchester across the window sill and pop anything that had been chasing her mockingbirds. She didn't miss, either.

Now, the point of this post: under the definitions as proposed by good old Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Byrd, this is an assault rifle. It is magazine fed and hold 20 shells at a time, so it is capable of firing 20 rounds in far less than a minute. Probably more like 10 seconds - as fast as you can pull the trigger. I saw today in the Facebook posts from the National Association for Gun Rights that a 92-yr-old WWII veteran had used a .22 to protect himself from 3 intruders. They came in through the basement, he heard them, called 911, and sat waiting with his .22 pointed at the basement door. The last thing the first intruder heard after kicking in the basement door was the report from the slug that hit "center mass", as we say, and nicked some blood vessel quite near the heart. His two buddies dragged him out, took off in their car, and were found, a couple of blocks away, shaking in their seats with their then-dead companion in the back seat.

I guess that makes it an assault rifle, too. It can kill people. I have a daughter who is quite against guns, and, as she points out, guns are made for one purpose and this is to kill. Some folks will argue about shooting targets, but hey, what is the purpose of becoming a marksman? So you can kill trees? I think not. Animals, including people - that's what guns are used to shoot.

If my wife, children or grandchildren (or me, I suppose) were being threatened bodily harm by someone, I would not hesitate to use a gun if I had one to protect them. My dad also taught that if you always fight to win or you don't bother to get in the fight. I suppose those are also separate debates.

My son claims he had met Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before (obviously before) Columbine, lived in Littleton at the time. I went to Virginia Tech and had classess in Norris Hall, home of my major in environmental sciences and engineering. We have a good friend who lives 6 blocks away from the theater in Aurora. It's a small world. That doen't mean we are any more or any less safe. It just points out that evil wanders all around and when you least expect it you're elected.

My brother was an attorney. He had two Glock 10mm semi-automatic pistols, an M-1 Garand rifle, a Saiga semi-automatic shotgun, and heaven only knows what else. None of these were designed for hunting game, and he would admit it. They were to defend himself and his family AND (here it comes) for the real reason that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged:

when a government becomes destructive of the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it

and Mike was always quick to point out that the driving factor of the 2nd amendment is to ensure that "we the people" can protect ourselves from the government. It took me a while to understand this. Now I completely agree with him. And, in that event, the people need military weapons. [Somewhat arguably, I believe that the founding fathers never even gave a second thought to hunting weapons. It would have been assumed that everyone needed their hunting rifle and shotgun. I believe they specifically addressed the right, and the necessity, of the citizenry to have access to arms to protect themselves from oppression. Period.]

I could go into a long rambling (like this isn't already?) discussion of "when guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns", the un-worth of gun-free zones, why banning guns is a poor idea, etc. etc. But I shan't. I am just going to say that I see a LOT on the line through this election. If you don't know or care about the UN gun treaty, I won't bore you for now - google it and see what it is and how people other than "we the people" can subject us to laws we didn't ask for.

Well, anyway, that is it for now. Very simply - we all have the right and, if you were my brother, the obligation to keep and bear arms for military purposes and for self defense. I shall speak more of this later, I just wanted to dump some of this out there today. Thanks for reading, if you do.

Jim

Pro-death vs. Anti-choice Politics, or Parenting?

In my Town Hall email today, I learned about a baby who should have been aborted, according to her obstetrician, and when the parents said no, he refused to continue to treat the mother and daughter-to-be.
http://pearljoybrown.wordpress.com/

http://townhall.com/columnists/marybethhicks/2012/09/05/given_a_fighting_chance_little_pearl_thrives/page/full/

This really is not anything new in the world, it is just a reminder, and a reminder coincident with a Presidential election during which these things have been made political when they are anything BUT politics.

They were not political to my nephew and his wife when their daughter was born at 21 weeks. Now, Mark has a big hand, admittedly, but still it's a hand - and Grace was still smaller than his hand. Historically, and legally, there have been parents and hospitals who would have tucked her in one of those clear hospital baby holder thingies in the corner with no attention, instead of the incubator and constant attention she got, and waited for her to turn from a live baby to a dead blob of tissue (sorry if you read this Mark - it's about the concept, certainly not about our miracle).

They were not political to my classmate Stephanie when her daughter was born at full term, bounced around healthy as could be, and suddenly became the "case in point" that introduced too many of us to Group B Streptococcus. I don't like strep throats anyway; but, this is a strep spine and brain. As Stephanie and Travis watched helplessly but lovingly, Baby Thumper, aka Samantha, went from absolutely "normal" (a meaningful yet worthless concept) to having her brain completely and literally devoured by bacteria. This is not just having a sore throat - this is watching MRI's progressively showing more and more void space in her head until the brain was 80% gone and Sammy no longer had the electrical activity to stay living. Stephanie is a Director of Christian Education and Travis is a Pastor, so their trip has been heavily faith affected. You can find Stephanie's blog, the pictures as previously linked, and a Caring Bridge detailed story if you write to Stephanie for the link.

These are two wanted children with different outcomes. Pearl Joy Brown now enters the same arena. What can you do for her? What would you do for her? How would you treat her or have treated her if she were yours? Why? How do you feel?

Oh, by the way - I don't know who is Republican and who is Democrat here. All I know is who are parents.

Protect and Defend Your Right to the Establishment of a Religion, and the Free Exercise Thereof – Part III

Protect and Defend Your Right to the Establishment of a Religion, and the Free Exercise Thereof – Part III

I was listening to an Andy Stanley sermon on iTunes this afternoon when the doorbell rang. It was Chris Hagenow, my state representative, doing the door-to-door thing for this fall’s election. Now, I don’t know if Chris is Republicrat or Democan, and I don’t care. He emails his constitutents, I email him, he always writes back, takes what I talk about and explains how he is carrying the views of his constituents into the snakepit Iowa House of Representatives. At least it isn’t the Iowa State Senate where he has to put up with dingbat Gronstal on a regular basis.

But, I digress. Yes, I am going to vote for him again and would recommend you do so too if you have the opportunity. But, as we were talking, he mentioned that he hadn’t seen a new blog from me for a while. Just knowing that anyone else reads these things inspired me to go ahead and get back on the keyboard. And, knowing it was Chris kind of puffed me up and pepped me up.

This is the third in a series. It is longer than a typical blog, because this is a really detailed topic that I feel very strongly about. Very simply, it is time for all citizens, let alone all Christians, all Disciples of our Lord, to fight for the right to establish their religion and to exercise thereof freely.

Let’s get clear on this. Please, understand completely from the outset how strongly I feel here. This is what Doug Giles had to say that kicked my mind in to “prolific writing” status:

The Church needs the biblical rebel spirit of our founders injected back into the evangelical mix instead of this squishy, pusillanimous, ignoble and compliant crapola that’s currently cranking through our indolent pulpits and pews. God help the Church to lose its cowardly, effeminate bent in these critical days. Amen. – Doug Giles

I always said that, when the revolution comes and they are lining up people who they try and find to be guilty of Christianity, they would grab me, stab me and slab me without a trial, that there would no need to find evidence, that my true colors are clear. You shall know we are Christians by our love, and there are a lot more reasons that you should know I am a Christian.

As a Disciple of our Lord, you might ask, what is it that I fundamentally believe. Lots of things are variable and optional among those I know to be Disciples and those who profess to be Christians, but the salient points of import to me are:

1.       The Great Commission – found in Matthew 28:16-20

It is our job, directly commanded to Disciples by the Lord, to go into the world and preach the gospel to everybody. Not just the ones who want to hear it, not just where we want to go, not just where they want us to go. It’s like Stansfield in The Professional screaming”I MEAN EVERYBODY!!!”

2.       One Way – found in John 3

Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

3.       One End – found in Revelation 21:

Conquerors inherit all this. I’ll be God to them, they’ll be sons and daughters to me. But for the rest—the feckless and faithless —for them it’s Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!"

Conveniently, Doug Giles then brought up 4 points that he proposed as talking points. Then he did not do a lot of talking. Silly boy. That leaves room for me to talk, right?

Point, the First

Some dainty saints of today think rebellion against tyrants is disobedience to God, when the converse is actually true.

One of the greatest learnings of a Disciple is discernment; that pretty much either follows or leads to willingness to buck the flow, another key ingredient in life according to the Voice of Truth.

The “unknown epistle writer” tells us in the letter to the Hebrews in the 5^th and 6^th chapters:

By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong. So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ.

Practice in telling right from wrong. Easily said, difficult initially to discern. God makes it pretty clear to me in His Word that right is right and wrong is wrong; but, the world of today, post modern as it is, has phased to a state of relative truth. Relative analysis is dangerous, because what we end up with what I think is right may be wrong for you, what I think is wrong may be right for you, and we both are right and wrong at the same time.

Sol Davidson, who was pretty much regarded as the smartest man around then and could have given Hawking , Freud, Kant, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Einstein a run for their money, in the 29^th chapter of his book of witticisms says:

  1 For people who hate discipline and only get more stubborn, There’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break, but by then it’ll be too late to help them. 2 When good people run things, everyone is glad, but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans. 3 If you love wisdom, you’ll delight your parents, but you’ll destroy their trust if you run with whores. 4 A leader of good judgment gives stability; an exploiting leader leaves a trail of waste. 5 A flattering neighbor is up to no good; he’s probably planning to take advantage of you. 6 Evil people fall into their own traps; good people run the other way, glad to escape. 7 The good-hearted understand what it’s like to be poor; the hardhearted haven’t the faintest idea. 8 A gang of cynics can upset a whole city; a group of sages can calm everyone down. 9 A sage trying to work things out with a fool gets only scorn and sarcasm for his trouble. 10 Murderers hate honest people; moral folks encourage them. 11 A fool lets it all hang out; a sage quietly mulls it over. 12 When a leader listens to malicious gossip, all the workers get infected with evil. 13 The poor and their abusers have at least something in common: they can both see—their sight, GOD’s gift! 14 Leadership gains authority and respect when the voiceless poor are treated fairly. 15 Wise discipline imparts wisdom; spoiled adolescents embarrass their parents. 16 When degenerates take charge, crime runs wild, but the righteous will eventually observe their collapse. 17 Discipline your children; you’ll be glad you did—they’ll turn out delightful to live with.

My first thought to discuss that popped immediately out of this is: “When good people run things, everyone is glad, but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans.” True then, true now, shall be true forever.  And, another line worth noting especially is “A sage trying to work things out with a fool gets only scorn and sarcasm for his trouble.” And, finally, “Discipline your children; you’ll be glad you did—they’ll turn out delightful to live with.”

The same principles are equally or moreso true with respect to tyrants and kings.

Next time:

Point, the Second

A lot of evangelicals would rather live as government slaves than live and die as free men.

Protect and Defend Your Right to the Establishment of a Religion, and the Free Exercise Thereof – Part II

This is the second in a series. It is still longer than a typical blog, because this is a really detailed topic that I feel very strongly about. Very simply, it is time for all citizens, let alone all Christians, to fight for the right to establish their religion and to exercise thereof freely. I mean, obviously this was in the founding fathers’s mind in the forefront – after the Constitution this was the first amendment in the Bill of Rights, right? Today, though, we wimpy wussy foot around talking about our religion. Happy holidays? Baloney – and what holidays are those? Christmas, for me, so Merry Christmas. Easter? Actually, I celebrate the Feast of the Resurrection; Easter is a pagan holiday honoring Oestre the goddess of fertility and birth, which is why all the eggs and chickens and rabbits hopping around. Discrimination?

Wait a minute? Where did discrimination come from, you ask? It’s right SDM, smack dab in the middle, of the whole brouhaha. If I am, in accordance with your definition, non-accepting or intolerantof your particular beliefs, then, by nature of public misbeliefs of today, I must be discriminating against you. This is obviously and particularly the case if I have proclaimed myself a “Christian” and somehow you infer that I think you are not Christian.

OK, let’s get clear on this. Please, understand completely from the outset. How strongly do I feel here? This is what Doug Giles had to say that kicked my mind in to “prolific writing” status:

The Church needs the biblical rebel spirit of our founders injected back into the evangelical mix instead of this squishy, pusillanimous, ignoble and compliant crapola that’s currently cranking through our indolent pulpits and pews. God help the Church to lose its cowardly, effeminate bent in these critical days. Amen. – Doug Giles

I always said that, when the revolution comes and they are lining up people who they try and find to be guilty of Christianity, they would grab me, stab me and slab me without a trial, that there would no need to find evidence, that my true colors are clear. You shall know we are Christians by our love, and there are a lot more reasons that you should know I am a Christian.

As an aside, it’s actually neither an appropriate nor exact demarcation to call me a Christian. Oh, yeah, as far as the general public, the media, the family, my folks, my friends and my church community associates are concerned Christian is a convenient tag. But: did you realize the word Christian only occurs 4 times in the New Testament (my version) and all 4 times it is a derogatory and disrespectful appelation used by non-Christians.  We, that is to say the group with whom I would have associated and with which I now identify, preferred to be and are more appropriately called followers of The Way, or Disciples (not really a proper noun, but I decided to use it as such to show specificity rather than just generality).  Since there was a reasonable prolific cult in the late 70’s early 80’s period, around the time of the Blessed Father and Mother Divine and The Church of Jesus Christ of What’s Happenin’ Now, whose name was “The Way International,” I have chosen to eschew saying that I am a follower of The Way, simply because I don’t want to be associated with that quote. So, if you ask me for my definitive answer as to what I am and how I believe, I am a Disciple; and, I suppose more fully and most correctly, I am a Disciple of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We were discriminated against in the First Century. Nero fiddled, threw us to lions, burned us – you know, all those things you see in the movies that must have, of course, actually happened. OK, most of that stuff did happen and pretty much that way. Watch the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and The History Channel, if you can miss Ice Road Truckin’ Swamp Pawn Auctioneers, and see some of the real documentaries about early life of the Disciples (Christians).

Just today (today, for now, being July 12, 2012) I made a comment, my second cousin made a comment and my oldest daughter made a comment on Facebook. Had to do with sin, defining sin, going to Hell, who will go to Hell, if there is a Hell, how do you raise kids, how do you go all in at Texas Hold’em – you know, the general kind of humdrum discussion. We are talking here a very fundamental Baptistally bent person, a devout lifetime Catholic, and a sockdologizing old bald fat coot with a heart of gold and an ankle of mush who has tripped through Southern Baptist, American Baptist, Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. I guess I could also mention dalliances into Eric Berne and Claude Steiner with the somebody’s ok somebody’s not ok analyze my transaction school, Henri Nouwen, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoffer, Charles Stanley, Andy Stanley, Jamie Bakker, Jack (aka C.S. Lewis), Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. My apologies to the others I have forgotten. In my bottom line, you might ask, what is it that I fundamentally believe as the Disciple of the Lord I profess to be. Lots of things are variable and optional among those I know to be Disciples and those who profess to be Christians, but the salient points of import to me are:

1.       The Great Commission – found in Matthew 28:16-20

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally. Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

2.       One Way – found in John 3, along with the 3:16 on the sign of the rainbow afro bespectaled guy at every football and basketball game:  folks, if was all just that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life,” things would be so simple. I have to read verses before and after to get the context:

5 Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind hovering over the water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom.

6  When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

7  "So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak.

8  You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."

9  Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?"

10  Jesus said, "You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics?

11  Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions.

12  If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?

13  "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man.

14  In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—

15  and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

16  "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

17  God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

18  Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

3.       One End – Revelation 21:

6Then he said, "It’s happened. I’m A to Z. I’m the Beginning, I’m the Conclusion. From Water-of-Life Well I give freely to the thirsty.

7  Conquerors inherit all this. I’ll be God to them, they’ll be sons and daughters to me.

8  But for the rest—the feckless and faithless, degenerates and murderers, sex peddlers and sorcerers, idolaters and all liars—for them it’s Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!"

Terse recap and leaving everyone hanging now until I pick up part 3, and strictly because this is already longer than a 1-day read should be:

It is our job, directly commanded to Disciples by the Lord, to go into the world and preach the gospel to everybody. Not just the ones who want to hear it, not just where we want to go, not just where they want us to go. It’s like Stansfield in The Professional screaming”I MEAN EVERYBODY!!!”

That gospel we preach is what we live: there is only one Way to get out. Unless a person submits to this original creation it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. Anyone who trusts in Him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. Totally binary, yes no, 0-1, zero sum game, no push, no edge to the house or the player, straight up.

The end result is binary, too. Yes no. In out. Zero sum. Paradise as the sons and daughters of God orthe Lake Fire and Brimstone, second death. Not maybe. Not for a while. No purgatory thing. The word is forever, kinda like kids saying what-ev’-er today. Always. Eternity. Really long; even longer than that.

Think about that overnight. I may be up again as soon as tomorrow.

Protect and Defend Your Right to the Establishment of a Religion, and the Free Exercise Thereof – Part I

Protect and Defend Your Right to the Establishment of a Religion, and the Free Exercise Thereof – Part I

A few days ago as I started out reading my email, I got my normal tickler from TownHall. TownHall is my kind of place – a gathering place for right wing extreme writers for most of whom Tea Party is, correctly, recognized not as a party but as a movement, and a rather wimpy movement at that. Writers for whom real political parties are the American Nazi Party (no, I do not advocate Nazism, but it is a real and active party and you gotta admit not liberal at all), the Libertarian Party (liberal in its espousement of liberty) and my party, The Constitution Party.

My current TownHall homeboy is Doug Giles. Well, one of my homeboys. So is Chuck Norris, of course, and I like Ann Coulter, Cal Thomas and several others who show up on TownHall. They all have their own column websites in their home papers or publishing, but TownHall aggregates them handily for me. Anyway, back to Doug Giles. Anyone who writes a book about and for his daughters is quite OK by me, especially if that book is Raising Righteous & Rowdy Girls. You need to learn how to drop it, dress it, skin it and butcher it before you learn how to cook it, as Doug and Ted Nugent would point out. Me? Not quite that extreme. But, as I think of extreme I recall one of my most favorite quotes of all time:

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue! – Barry Morris Goldwater

One suburb away, in Evanston, I was president of Evanston Teenage Republicans when Hillary Rodham was president of Skokie Teenage Republicans. To my recollection, we never met. We did, I am sure, both work hard for Barry that year. I still have a boxfull of “AuH₂O in ‘64” buttons somewhere in the basement. Why did the extremism thought come to mind? Because Doug had written on

The Current Cowardly Church Needs a Mega Dose of the Rebel Spirit

read it here

In turn, then, I thought of the Armor of God and that we frequently try to go on front-line offensive with minimalist defense in the religion arena of politico-socio-ethnoracial-correctness of the post modern milieu; so, well to remind us of what we really should put on when we get up in the morning and why to do it:

The Message:

Paul Höganmöcher in his letter to the church at Ephesus, Chapter  6:

5 respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ.

6  Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do.

7  And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God.

8  Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free.

9  Masters, it’s the same with you. No abuse, please, and no threats. You and your servants are both under the same Master in heaven. He makes no distinction between you and them.

10 ¶  And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong.

11  So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way.

12  This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

13  Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet.

14  Truth, righteousness,

15  peace,

16  faith,

17  and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon.

18  In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

Now finally to the meat of what I will be later writing in my blog: Doug is right and we have a LOT of work and probably changing to do!!! And, here is the prayer he expressed to do it:

The Church needs the biblical rebel spirit of our founders injected back into the evangelical mix instead of this squishy, pusillanimous, ignoble and compliant crapola that’s currently cranking through our indolent pulpits and pews. God help the Church to lose its cowardly, effeminate bent in these critical days. Amen.

OK Here is Doug Giles column:

The Current Cowardly Church Needs a Mega Dose of the Rebel Spirit

By Doug Giles

7/8/2012

Whenever the ends of Government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the People may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new Government; the doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind. –Declaration of Rights, Maryland
Unlike America’s original rebel Christians who dumped the Brits’ taxed tea into Boston Harbor and told King George that he could kiss their King George, today’s evangelicals, I believe—especially the dandy ministers who love to be loved—would have folded like one-ply toilet paper before British oppression. We’re a timid tufted titmouse compared to our rowdy founding forefathers.
Here are four reasons why I believe today’s evangelicals would have melted like little bon-bons during the American Revolution:
1. Some dainty saints of today think rebellion against tyrants is disobedience to God, when the converse is actually true. Yep, these stooges of the machine believe that Yahweh wants Christians to be the corralled cattle of corrupt politicians and policies. Indeed, a lot of pop evangelicals have become nicer than God. Our current craven “faithful” think it’s sinful to say bad stuff about bad elected leadership. Many somehow think it’s righteous to go in an unrighteous national direction. And we’ve got stacks of do-gooders who are turning the other cheek to political abuse and generational theft so fast that they make Shakira look arthritic.
2. A lot of evangelicals would rather live as government slaves than live and die as free men. Some do it out of sinful slothfulness, completely passive and thus complicit in the face of evil. Others do so because they actually think Christ was a Communist and that government theft and wealth redistribution somehow fulfill the Sermon on the Mount. D’oh.
3. Others, especially in the ministry, won’t say squat about our political squalor because it’ll offend the emotional members of their congregation and thereby jack with their weekly offerings, which, in turn, will cause them to lose their vacation home in Naples where they’re currently banging their mistress. Here we are during one of the most crucial elections of our lifetime, and ministers don’t (or won’t) address these issues or show up at protests. Wow. Good luck at the judgment seat. I’ve been to many, many Tea Parties up and down the east coast of Florida and have only run into a handful of ministers. Where are you, ladies? Your absence and silence during America’s demise is more obvious than Pam Anderson’s recent enhancement. Hello, Judas.
4. Another thing that irks me is this end-of-the-world Rapture mentality that, supposedly, all of this bad stuff we’re currently fielding as a nation is God’s plan for the ages and that there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m sure glad our predecessors didn’t look at the gargantuan junk they were facing during times of oppression and upheaval and say, “Oh, well. The Rapture must be right around the corner.” No, what they did was think, work, pray and fight. And guess what, end-of-the-world Christian? They yielded up this grand experiment in self-governance, that’s what.
The Church needs the biblical rebel spirit of our founders injected back into the evangelical mix instead of this squishy, pusillanimous, ignoble and compliant crapola that’s currently cranking through our indolent pulpits and pews. God help the Church to lose its cowardly, effeminate bent in these critical days. Amen.
Doug Giles is the author of Raising Righteous & Rowdy Girls. Follow him on Twitter @Doug_Giles and on Facebook. You can see and hear Doug’s video blog and talk show at ClashRadio.com.