tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67809842524124775412024-02-07T06:07:16.799-08:00Whitt & JudyWhitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-81381179171114129672019-09-23T11:50:00.000-07:002019-09-25T07:36:41.993-07:00PBS primes young viewers for the upcoming elections with "Prohibition"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB26AOhvc7K-C1xOd-SDamww5dsTNEuen-qgNpsMAz5qHlIB21wOd35pUgh8m9CDI4MFbWDXLVl_Il2-p_HAzN2UlrthyphenhyphenLU0uBUMujGuNYI1BXhk_GZ3zi8N5ZaF6oxBYi-weWdDB_P5QC/s1600/prohibition+image.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="209" data-original-width="447" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB26AOhvc7K-C1xOd-SDamww5dsTNEuen-qgNpsMAz5qHlIB21wOd35pUgh8m9CDI4MFbWDXLVl_Il2-p_HAzN2UlrthyphenhyphenLU0uBUMujGuNYI1BXhk_GZ3zi8N5ZaF6oxBYi-weWdDB_P5QC/s640/prohibition+image.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">R<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">ight down to the la<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">st stunning image<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">, where the superimposed copy reads “by viewers
like you<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">,” <span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">PBS has gone all out
with its production, “Prohibition.”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">Created by the revered Ken
Burns (with Lynn Novick), narrated by the <span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">left’s darling<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">,
Peter Coyote, this <span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">is
a spectacular exposition of American history, from the causes leading up to the
Volstead Act to its repeal and the unintended consequences thereof.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">As we would expect,
“Prohibition” is lavish with compelling photos & footage and voices
represented by el<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">ite
big-name actors. The script, and Coyote’s reading of it, is powerfully and
deeply manipulative emotionally.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">We are led from the
horrible alcoholism that gripped the nation, to the sincere and well-meaning
efforts and movements which arose trying to bat<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">tle the scourge<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">. We watch sincere, driven crusaders lay their lives
and reputations on the line, sacrificing and striving courageously until they
actually succeed in convincing the country to address the crisis.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">Then, we witness the
crucially tragic attemp<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">t to legislate the problem away by means of an actual Constitutional
amendment, and the sad cascade of “unintended consequences”—a tsunami of crime
and death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This part is grindingly
thorough and completely honest.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">As the law becomes a joke
everyone is in<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"> on, a
political movement even more aggressive and intense than the "dry" one arises, and, on the
promise of repealing the hated amendment, <span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">FDR is swept into the Presidency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The triumph in Coyote’s voice is palpable.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">We see the heartbroken
clergy and statesmen and women-<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">-who so dearly wanted to save us from alcohol and its associated
evils--crestfallen, defeated, and discredited.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">To the infamous tune of
“Happy Days Are Here Again,” we celebrate the “liberation” of our society and
watch our national descent into libertinis<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">m as though it were a virtual renaissance of the
culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the usually ignored darkest
sense, it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just like the 18th century movement away
from God<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">, taught to
us in state schools <span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">as
“The Age of Enlightenment,” the ensuing era was an all-out, nation-wide spree
of <span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">hedonism.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">FDR, always lionized by the
left elite, brought us an era of ever-expanding government, crucial changes in
the banking system, growing dependence on government, and the concomitant,
eternal tax and debt burden, making him a hero to the suffering <span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">working class. Had death
not taken him, who knows how long he might have reigned as Father of the new
socialist state?<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">The film is a monumentally
successful expose' of why prohibition of sin does not and can not succeed.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">The tablets no sooner came
down from<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"> the
mountain than they were shattered.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">No legislation is effective
against the desires of the flesh.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">It is no accident this film
has been released leading up to the next season of elections.<br />
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">If the effort to
lower the voting age succeeds, the Demonrats wi<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">ll be carried to victory by a landslide of
adolescent self-indulgence triggered by the single plank of the national
legalization of marijuana.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">If the Republican'ts hold
their “moral” ground on this single issue, and fail to also get behind the
inevitable, we<span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">’re
doomed to the final step toward <span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">totalitarian <span style="text-decoration: none; text-line-through: none;">socialism.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-12165515857201642382016-06-05T17:22:00.000-07:002016-06-05T17:32:56.993-07:00Our beginnings...and our new one!<div class="MsoNormal">
James exhorts us, regarding
faith:<br />
“A double-minded man
is unstable in all his ways.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Gospel Music” is what
we’ve always wanted to focus on.<br />
(We’ll define what
that term means to us, later, as we go.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Upon our decision to take a
house out of the budget and begin homeschooling, an opportunity to serve in the
aftermath of Hurricane Andrew arose. We
lived in a big army tent in Homestead among 30 young Guatemalan evangelists and
a handful of gringo youth pastors, homeschooling our girls while the Lord schooled us. Whitt’s former experience (including starting
the first food bank in Tucson) made him helpful to the big relief agencies
working in the area, which attracted the attention of an erstwhile food bank ministry in Michigan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We ended up, as events unfolded,
as fulltime volunteers, living on donated property in a large, nearly finished
house, administrating the non-profit affairs of the corporation, and caring for
a widow living in a house on the other side of the 39 beautiful acres of woods and pastures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We experienced real country life
and served alongside a number of true believers as we operated and established
church-based food banks around the state.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We began The McKinney Family
Washtub Band as the
practicum of our
daughters’ homeschooling in the area of music and performing arts, performing
at churches, outreach coffeehouses, and public gatherings in a part of the country where “gospel music” was widely
welcomed everywhere.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Through the kind indulgence
of a friend we booked
a city park concert series out west and worked our way there playing Christian coffeehouses and churches.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then our lovely jewels went their various
talented ways, as bright children with minds of their own will do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.mckinneywashtubtwo.com/p/welcome.html">The Two of us continued</a>, expanding our repertoire, working out a way we could live compactly and earn our way to
various family events, seeing old friends along the way. No matter
how far they fled, we could chase our various children down!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We saw the majority of our
work as “tent making” in
the sense that it provided a means for us to be more available for ministry to
long-neglected relationships.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To make our way as a duo,
affording our travel to weddings and visits with scattered friends and family,
we developed a repertoire of <a href="http://www.mckinneywashtubtwo.com/p/music.html">clean, positive songs and comedy</a> that proved very popular. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along the way, as time and route would
permit, we have always offered our gospel program on a love offering basis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’ve done <a href="http://www.mckinneywashtubtwo.com/p/past-shows.html">hundreds of shows</a> in 19 states for nine years.
During that same time, we performed at a few dozen churches, across a range of denominations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did that for six years,
on the road, living in
a van.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then, exhausted and seeking
some respite, we stayed “ashore” for three school years, while Judy served as
Dean of Girls at a Christian private boarding school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then, exhausted and seeking
some respite, we went back on the road.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We thought we might settle
in Oregon, to be near our daughter and son-in-law, and intended to work our way
there (from Michigan) by our usual means.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having only worked the summer season in
Michigan and Indiana for three years, we hadn’t been aware of cutbacks in our
two “day jobs.” By the time we had addressed the Tucson
area’s “opportunities,” we could see our goal shifting from arriving safely in Oregon with some money to resettle to making it to Oregon with
what we had.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only kind of music
we can afford to bother with, now, is that which might glorify and/or please God
and sow/minister to His Kingdom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile:<br />
When you’re traveling
and working, you’re self-employed.<br />
When you’re traveling
with no gigs in sight, you’re homeless.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whitt’s first experience in
ministry, 40-odd years ago, was an outreach coffeehouse which grew to include a
twice-weekly free meal, a free store, and Tucson’s first food bank. Then, the fifteen
years from Hurricane Andrew to hitting the road, and we have closed the circle
by becoming part of the rather large homeless “community” clinging to the edges
of Eugene, Oregon, all at one stage or another in the homelessness process.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s illegal to sleep in your vehicle,
motorhomes included, on any street in Eugene.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have been blessed,
through a chain of acquaintances associated with a church, to have had a place
to park and stay every night since we’ve arrived. Two have included electric plug-in and a bathroom and shower to use nearby.
Unless you’ve tried to live this way, it’s difficult to understand what
a huge advantage such thoughtfulness supplies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, we begin to search for
a new living, and a place to do it we might come to think of as <br />
“home.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’ll let you know how it
goes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Whitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05726618278304737518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-59493626960720881882016-03-12T16:02:00.000-08:002016-03-12T16:02:13.788-08:00Are you a saint?<div class="MsoNormal">
The presiding
pastor-for-life of the Catholic church had to make an announcement regarding
concerns about their
half-million-dollar
process for determining “sainthood.” He
has assured everyone that the process will now be “<span style="color: windowtext;">overseen.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Where to begin?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s start with what “sainthood” actually is,
according to the Bible, which most ostensibly “Christian” organizations claim
as the Authority for beliefs and doctrines.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Saint” is a 17<sup>th</sup> century word, found in the King James translation, which is usually rendered as “holy one”
in modern revisions. It’s root is the
same as the words “sanctify” and “sanctification,” words which relate to a process of making something, or someone, “holy,” a term most scholars understand to mean “set apart for God.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Word indicates that it
is <b>He, alone</b>, who sanctifies.
<b>God is the Authority</b> for holiness, not man, the corrupted creature. <i>(Ex. 31:13)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first instance of this
recorded is in Genesis, when He sanctified the seventh day—set it apart as a holy day, different
from the rest. (A “Pope” actually decided to change this appointed time, a sin Martin Luther and other “reformers” neglected to address. Yeah, I can hear the knees jerking.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Old (or first) Testament uses
the term “saint” (holy one) often to refer to God’s
angels--often enough, in fact, to lead many to interpret the term in every OT
reference as meaning only the heavenly beings who remained obedient. This breaks down when we come to the Psalms,
where David (“a man after God’s own heart”) repeatedly uses it to refer to God’s people—the chosen
nation, as well as obedient believers. <span style="color: red;"> <i> </i></span><span style="color: windowtext;"><i>(Ps. 16:3, Ps. 31:23, Ps. 34:9, Ps. 37:28, Ps.
50:5, Ps. 79:2, and
Ps. 97:10.)</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we come to the New
Testament (and Covenant) we find the term commonly applied to followers
(obedient believers) of the Messiah. Paul explains,
in detail, exactly
how one is sanctified. <i>(1 Cor. 1:2, 30,
6:12, 1 Thess. 4:10, Eph. 5:26, Heb. 2:11, 10:10, 14, 13:12) </i> Jesus made it pretty clear, also. <i>(Jn. 10:36, 17:17, 19)</i><span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;">At no point in the Scriptures is there even a hint that a committee is convened to determine
who may be considered
sanctified, or holy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;">When an early church decided there was a dividing line between
“ministers” and “laity”—that some had authority to preach, teach, baptize, and
marry, while others did not, Jesus, in His letters to the seven churches, referred to this doctrine TWICE as one He hates. <i>(Rev. 2:6, 15)</i> Want to be found following that policy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;">Since the Holy Spirit had not been seen manifesting many miracles since
the deaths of the first disciples, the folks who invented “organized” religion
decided that miracles must be the indicator of true holiness.
Since Scripture requires more than one witness to establish truth, more
than one miracle must be required, and, since all unholy men are liars, there
must be a rigorous investigation to assure the report of any miracle is
true. This is the same spirit which “inspired” the
Inquisition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;">So, a system was devised whereby admittedly non-saints (unholy ones) formed into committees to determine who was deserving of the title. Not surprisingly, we now hear reports that this has been
developed into a small
industry, which the organization’s CEO has had to assure us will at last be supervised. By saints?
Oh, my, we
hope so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;">When we believers are exhorted to “<b>pray always for all the saints</b>,” we are not supposed to be praying for those few on whom some committee has bestowed the
“title.” That injunction applies to all those made holy by <b>the blood of Jesus</b> on behalf of all the others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext;">Don’t neglect to do it. All of us
saints need it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-21813730238674108922016-02-21T23:47:00.003-08:002016-02-21T23:47:54.015-08:00Our new faceFor those precious (and you are, to us!) few following us, some explanation...<br />
<br />
We're seriously trying to shift our focus to gospel performing and ministry;<br />
ergo, the new look and arrangement. We'll continue to share out little essays and perspectives, but have had to forsake the cutesy name for the practicality of making our professional persona easier to locate online.<br />
<br />
For the secular market, we're still <a href="http://www.mckinneywashtubtwo.com/p/welcome.html">The Washtub Two</a>, offering a wide range of entertainment and wackiness--all still G-rated, of course; but, for churches and ministries, we're just Whitt & Judy.<br />
<br />
We believe this will save believers from having to sort through all our general-audiences stuff, so they can get straight to the heart of our gospel focus.<br />
<br />
We hope this will make the choice clearer, while allowing us a platform to share about spiritual topics in which we're interested with greater freedom and frankness, directed to believers in particular.<br />
<br />
We hope you'll "stay tuned"!Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-36440621345146372452015-09-05T08:37:00.001-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.216-08:00Most urgent prayer request ever<br /><br />We don't do this often enough.<br /><br />This is from an email we received this morning.<br /><br />Please pray now!<br /><br />"Missionaries in the area that's being overtaken by Isis are in danger, but will continue their "mission" .Some thing has to be done NOW!! Why our leaders won't take charge is beyond me. Young children are being beheaded!! Pray for those involved.<br /><br />Prayer Warriors please read and pray!<br />This came from a friends church prayer chain leader. Please make it a matter of prayer. <br />prayer Request from Dan and Marilyn Wilson.<br />(They) are Missionaries who are in the areas that are being attacked by ISIS (right now, today) and are asking to be showered in prayer. ISIS has taken over the town they are in today (Sunday). He said ISIS is systematically going house to house to all the Christians and asking them to denounce Jesus. He said so far not one child has and so far all have consequently been killed; But not the parents. The UN has withdrawn and the missionaries are on their own. They are determined to stick it out for the sake of the families even if it means their own deaths. They are very afraid, have no idea how to even begin ministering to these families who have seen their children martyred. Yet he says he knows God has called them for some reason to be His voice and hands at this place at this time. Even so, they are begging for prayers for courage to live out their vocation in such dire circumstances. And like the children, accept martyrdom if they are called to do so. These brave parents instilled such a fervent faith in their children that they chose martyrdom. Please surround them in their loss with your prayers for hope and perseverance.<br />One missionary was able to talk to her brother briefly by phone. She didn't say it, but I believe she believes it will be their last conversation. Pray for her, too. She said he just kept asking her to help him know what to do and do it. She told him to tell the families we ARE praying for them and they are not alone or forgotten -- no matter what. Please keep them all in your prayers.<br />This came this morning...Just a few minutes ago I received the following text message on my phone from Sean Malone who leads Crisis Relief International (CRI). We then spoke briefly on the phone and I assured him that we would share this urgent prayer need with all of our contacts.<br />"We lost the city of Queragosh (Qaraqosh). It fell to ISIS and they are beheading children systematically. This is the city we have been smuggling food to. ISIS has pushed back Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is within 10 minutes of where our CRI team is working. Thousands more fled into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated its staff in Erbil. Our team is unmoved and will stay. Prayer cover needed!"<br />Please pray sincerely for the deliverance of the people of Northern Iraq from the terrible advancement of ISIS and its extreme Islamic goals for mass conversion or death for Christians across this region. May I plead with you not to ignore this email. Do not forward it before you have prayed through it. Then send it to as many people as possible. Send it to friends and Christians you may know. Send it to your prayer group. Send it to your pastor and phone him to pray on Sunday during the service - making a special time of prayer for this. We need to stand in the gap for our fellow Christians."<br /><br />Amen. Whitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05726618278304737518noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-30733326262025631682014-11-06T12:14:00.000-08:002015-12-04T10:03:49.213-08:00Why are so many "Christians" trying to "draw near" to God?<div class="MsoNormal">
A new young friend of mine online speaks, in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRnnA29ExWU&list=UUQCDQrYZ9jqP5BnQ7syzbDQ">his vlog</a>, of "jumping" toward God--trying to "push in" harder.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Try not jumping in. It implies He's outside. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Try standing under/under-standing that He is, actually, <i>literally, </i>inside you. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He has been there since you asked Him to “come
into your heart.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“If any man open the
door…” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What door? The door to the core of you, your heart, your
soul, the source of your will, desires, emotions. It's the thing He gave you at your invention, <i>a
separate identity all your own</i>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He came
in, and your job is to make room for Him. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I must decrease, so that He may increase.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are made in His image. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“God is a spirit.” So are
you. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He imbued a spirit with <i>its own
soul</i>, and, at the moment of conception, downloaded this "identity" into a new cell
with a never-before-seen, unique genetic code He had in mind. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The original interface between us and The Creator was blocked by sin.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we repent, and are forgiven, and we ask Him to be our Lord, Scripture tells us <u>His Spirit</u> <i>enters</i> us with the intent of becoming <i>one with <u>ours</u>.</i> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This begins to actually change our motives so we can begin the transformation into a child of His, dwelling and prospering in a greater, eternal Kingdom, of which all this world is just a shadow. (Even physicists have begun to suspect that is the case.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, there is often a "baptism" experience of feeling drenched in The Spirit; but, that is a <i>sign </i>of the Anointing. The real Anointing is <i>within</i> and <i>ongoing</i>, and grows as the process of sanctification continues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet we have stood among sincere folks who love the Lord as they sang songs indicating they hoped He would "draw near" or "meet them here."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Didn't we each bring our share of Him with us? Is He waiting in the car?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You do know that building isn't really the house of God, don't you?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Where two or more are gathered, He is in our midst" because <i>He emerges from us</i> as we worship and <i>that</i> is our "fellow-ship."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He doesn't have to fill the building with an external sign of His presence, because <i>we are each a temple</i>--a dwelling not made by hands--meant to be joined to others to form one new man, the actual embodiment (<i>our</i> spiritually linked bodies) of The Prince of Peace.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I will come in to him, and dwell with Him, and he with me."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you believe this?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I will never leave you, nor forsake you."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you believe this?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is the Holy Spirit the elephant in your inner room?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stop yelling out the window for Him and look around in there. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He may be sitting quietly in a corner, waiting to be offered some hospitality--</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
some acknowledgment He exists.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See what you can do to make Him more "at home" so He can do His thing in you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the bumper sticker said, "If you don't feel close to God, guess who moved."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-11909582269722719562014-10-09T08:02:00.001-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.187-08:00The pursuit of happinessThe "pursuit of happiness" has become a central focus for our culture.<br />
<br />
Hardly any other "developed" (industrialized) people group even considers "happiness" to be anything but temporary, and most don't think of it as any sort of deep value.<br />
<br />
Why is it so important to us, here in the "land of the free"? <br />
<br />
Could it be the fact that our national declaration of independence declares it to be a fundamental, undeniable <i>right</i> bestowed by The Creator, Himself, coequal with life and liberty?<br />
<br />
To me, what's strange is how much importance has been placed on a few words inserted as a compromise--a substitute for the original wording with which some founders disagreed.<br />
<br />
I grew up believing, as many did, what my father told me, which may be apocryphal, though I have seen it in a number of sources since; specifically, that the words replaced by the vague "pursuit of happiness" were "private property," a concept government holds in low regard to this day, quite possibly as a result of the omission.<br />
<br />
Words are the tools we use to effect ideas. They have inchoate power as well as derived power--power shaped and driven by semantics, syntax, connotation, and what we call meaning.<br />
<br />
<i>The</i> Word--the Bible--espouses a number of values and goals for us. God's law tells us what our aspirations should be, and what we can expect of life (and God), and what the rewards of those values and aspirations are. <br />
(The original languages of both Testaments were very precise, pictographic tongues anchored by a sophisticated written syntax.) <br />
<br />
There is, for believers, the promise of <i>joy</i>. Joy is an <i>effect</i> of faithfulness to certain values. Though we receive joy as a blessing, we don't pursue it for its own sake.<br />
<br />
The book of Ecclesiastes speaks directly to the vanity--the futility--of trying to produce or find happiness. We see, repeated throughout the book, encouragement to do what we can today, enjoy our refreshment and rest, then repeat the process in <i>contentment</i>, a <i>very</i> different idea than happiness.<br />
<br />
Want to become discontented? Pursue happiness.<br />
<br />
Who insisted so adamantly on the change of wording that has helped shape our sad, self-centered carnival? Which founding "fathers" were so offended by the thought of humble citizens being granted, by God, a right to own land, that they felt it necessary to offer this unhelpful phrase in its place?<br />
<br />
(Dana Carvey/Church Lady voice) Could it be <i>Satan?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Of course, if happiness is your goal, you'll do better if you don't believe there really is a devil.<br />
<br />
Humans have a common enemy most don't even admit exists. <br />
He's been working to destroy us from The Beginning, and doing very well, especially in these latter days. He delights that the most capable nation on Earth is pursuing <i>happiness</i> rather than the joy offered by You Know Who.<br />
<br />
Go ahead. You have the right.Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-9347429207471724772014-08-13T08:12:00.000-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.236-08:00Depression in the newsA celebrity has "committed suicide," premeditatedly murdering himself, and, because he was famous for his comedic abilities, we are all "shocked and saddened."<br />
<br />
To be saddened by the scope of this problem is the right and natural response.<br />The shock is not as understandable. <br />
Why are we surprised that someone with a great sense of humor and all that fame and fortune provide could become a "victim" of depression? <br />
Just look at the list of dead comedians and other artists. <br />
Money not only can't buy love, it can't buy hope.<br />
<br />
It is now in vogue to regard this "mental illness" ("condition," if you prefer) as a result of bad brain chemistry; but, this is just moving the problem down the page. Brain chemistry is affected by a number of factors, among them the emotions that are <i>produced</i>, to some degree by that very chemistry, which is, in turn, affected by diet, trauma, stress, and even genetics. <br />
<br />
This still mysterious closed loop of interactions is being "treated" by medical doctors who have split into denominations.<br />
<br />
Some are researchers in the field of neurology who have focused on the physiological processes and discovered chemicals which can switch the brain into a mode that changes the subject's behavior to a more comfortable, manageable standard.<br />
<br />
Others are invested in the quasi-science of "psychology," a field of endeavor presuming to deal with the part of "the mind" which had, for centuries, been considered "spiritual." The word they have appropriated for this use is, in fact, derived from the Greek word for "spirit," not "mind." <br />
<br />
Of course, it is important for the secular doctor to rule out any possibility of anything "supernatural;" so the entire field bases its approach on <i>correcting</i> the mind through various forms of "therapy" (including chemicals, again), none of which is proven, all of which are fleshly.<br />
<br />
Neither of these genius hordes can regard the heart as anything more than a muscular pump; even though "science" now knows<br />
<i>there are brain cells in the heart</i>. <br />
What? Yep. Why would that be? Evolution is so random and strange, isn't it?<br />
<br />
The Bible (a book you may have heard of, revered as The source of Truth for millennia) has a <i>lot</i> to say about the heart. It turns out it's more than just the place where we <i>feel</i> things.<br />
<br />
The Bible says the heart is the source of ideas, imaginations--that out of it come the issues of life.<br />
We are warned that it is desperately wicked, can be deceived, and can be "given over" to others, including The Creator, who has offered to actually indwell it, <i>once invited</i>, to comfort, heal, strengthen, and deliver to eternal life.<br />
<br />
"Clinical depression" sounds so treatable to the aspiring mind mechanic. To get involved with non-scientific vagaries is pointless to the carnal mind. The Bible also says that. <br />
<br />
Sorrow, however,--deep, inconsolable grief at the state of things--bottomless sadness and hopelessness--is not something we are going to banish with a chemical brew and its concomitant list of dangerous "side effects." <br />
<br />
If you look out there, and are <i>not</i> depressed by what you see,<br />
you may, in fact, be crazy.<br />
<br />
The Bible has answers that explain what has happened, and God's plan to provide a remedy and an escape. It is packed with practical life-saving tools for emotions, crises, finances, marriage, parenthood--every challenge we face. And The Author stands by, ready to <i>personally</i> intervene and to supply the missing character required to effect the transformation.<br />
<br />
Out of answers? Can't really even express the question?<br />
<br />
My personal testimony to you is that the Bible is truer than I ever imagined.<br />
I challenge anyone to forget what you have been<i> told</i><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>about this amazing book, and what you have <i>heard</i> from the desperate deniers, and <i>begin to read it for yourself</i>. <br />
<br />
What are you afraid of?<br />
Would you turn your back on the only real redemption available just because it might change your really swell life? <br />
That <i>is</i> depressing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-26711400747214319712014-08-13T06:49:00.001-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.208-08:00DepressionWhitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-12876756612375659092014-06-20T10:32:00.000-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.189-08:00Gosh darn it!<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;">(This week, we're featuring a "guest blogger"--a friend who has been both that and a brother in the Lord for 40 years. Yes, 40.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That's not the original title. It was euphemized for "Christian" acceptance. But, isn't that just what we do--change the verbage (but not the meaning) to meet the current ethic of the situation? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We know and sing David's plea in Psalm <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2047576912" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">19:14</span></span>, "Let the Words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." Do we forget that's an exhortation to us, too? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In Philippians 2:14-15, we're told to "Do all things without grumbling or disputing; that you may prove yourselves to be children of God in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights of the world.." That certainly encompasses "cussing." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Whether you use good old Anglo-Saxon expletives or choose some more acceptable toned-down alternative, the intent and purpose remain the same. "Oh <i>Fudge</i>!" "Don't be such a <i>poop</i>(head)," and the ubiquitous "Get your <i>freakin'</i> hands out of there!" are a few that come to mind. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Exchanging dictionary and medical terms as well as translating to another language are no more than poor end-run attempts to finesse that "blameless" thing. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">We may feel cute and intellectually superior to substitute "fornicate" in front of a pronoun like it or you, but everyone knows what was meant. So does God. Like my friend and brother in Christ, Whitt McKinney, says, "God never guesses. He only knows!" If it was meant as a curse, that's what it is. ("I'm pooped" is a different story.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">God made speech a creative force. He </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">said</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> "Let there be light", and it became! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We are told we are made in His image, and, as born-again Christians under the power of the infinite Creator, whatever we ask of Him, He will do! With faith as minute as a mustard seed, Jesus said we could command mountains to move and they would go bouncing off to the sea. By His grace and Holy Spirit our words can command demons and heal the sick. You know, <i>just like Jesus did because He is now in us and gave us His creative power?</i> Why then do we go around asking Him to vaporize or plague just about everything and anyone annoying us? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dang it! Are we out of our Philippian minds?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like Paul confessed, I am chief among the sinners here, but probably not alone. Imagine what would happen if God honored that offhand request, no matter how much we "didn't </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">really </em><span style="font-family: inherit;">mean it"? For prime examples of what happens when He </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">does</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> damn something or someone, look no further than Genesis 7-12 at the plagues God visited upon Egypt, or, my favorite, what He did in Genesis 19:1-26 to Sodom and Gomorrah (and Lot's wife -- we </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">are</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> told to remember her). Salt anyone? (Better put some light with it!)</span></div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There's much more to come as foretold in John's Revelation. Knowing He desires to spare<i> all</i> who will come to Him all that hellfire, pain, and misery--that not one would perish--is it too much to expect us to watch what we're saying, considering the power of it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, the tongue </span><em style="font-family: inherit;">is</em><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the most unruly member of the body, but we </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">must</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> tame it! Not just for our witness to the world, but for own walk. By cursing or damning something while not expecting biblical results, might we be getting dangerously close to Mark </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2047576913" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: inherit; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">3:29</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">, blaspheming the Holy Spirit? God forbid! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In James 3:5-6, we're told ; "So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest fire is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our entire life, and is set on fire by hell."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: inherit;">Oh, that Dave, he's so goofy and light-hearted! Thanks for sharing, brother.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Here's another point of view, from our young friends at </span><span style="color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0jIctUPBK6lHw4AYnGHvCA">Blimey Cow</a>:</span></span></div>
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Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-55838183397986330532014-06-05T15:00:00.001-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.226-08:00Hidden cashThe man giving away money this time calls it a "social experiment."<br />
<br />
He hides an envelope with a random amount of cash and posts clues to the location online. Then he enjoys the results, no doubt, as folks descend on an area frantically searching, hoping to be the winner/recipient of any amount of wonderful cash.<br />
<br />
I am reminded of a book popular in the 60s called "The Magic Christian," by Terry Southern. An extremely wealthy man sets up elaborate projects and campaigns to show what people are willing to do for money, often leaving a mess and problems in the wake of the degrading display. (Maybe you saw the mediocre film version with Ringo Starr.)<br />
<br />
I am also reminded of a story my father told me about his time in Shanghai before the Second World War.<br />
<br />
He told of an old gunnery sergeant he said was "a pig" who would entertain himself while on liberty in town by going to one of the city's many open-hearth eating establishments. There he would place a shovel in the fire with a roll of pennies broken into it. An American penny would literally buy a day's worth of food as ruinous hyperinflation had hurled the entire nation into a catastrophic financial collapse. Once the pennies were glowing, our hero would strew them into the street and laugh uproariously as the starving burned themselves to get the precious coins.<br />
<br />
Newscasters gush about "paying it forward" and "random acts of kindness" as the desperate and even some greedy scramble for what they perceive as a little help.<br />
<br />
For every person beaming and blessed, how many disappointments have risen from false hope? How many just wasted time they already had precious little of because the glimmer of hope was so <i>needed?</i> How many more "philanthropists" and "benefactors" are out there, wanting to play this newest game for the rich? What does it really do, or help, or change?<br />
<br />
Sure, I would also like to find some money; but I'm not jumping into this "experiment" any sooner than I'd become a drug trial participant for money. There are just some things a rat won't do.<br />
<br />
But, I've always had a problem with the "random acts of kindness" thing.<br />
<br />
I get that anonymous giving is more of a blessing; <br />
but, I prefer it to at least be <i>purposeful</i>, not random.<br />
<br />
We know that giving in the flesh can sow to the Spirit. We are even allowed to do so, at times, expecting a harvest--some sort of fruit. <br />
What is the cash cache guy sowing, and what will his "experiment" reap?<br />
<br />
Here's a social experiment I propose:<br />
<br />
There's an ancient book with the answers to all of life's problems in it. <br />
Let's hide copies everywhere, and then post clues to how to find it! <br />
Think of the good we could do, the changed lives, the hope arising from it! <br />
We could even put copies in motel nightstand drawers, and prisons, and hospitals and, well, no, not schools, of course; but, <i>that </i>would surely help <i>everyone!</i><br />
<br />
To learn how you can partner with us in this exciting ministry, just send any amount to Sendmethemoney Ministries, Metoo Blvd, Washington, D.C.<br />
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<br />Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-90748871381497478422014-05-22T09:18:00.001-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.234-08:00This is the day"This is the day the Lord hath made. I will rejoice and be glad in it."<br />
<br />
Most believers are very familiar with this scripture, if only as a Sunday School chorus; but, how many of us can consistently make the deliberate choice that's revealed there? What are we really talking about?<br />
<br />
The first statement should contribute to the second. The Creator, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, has decreed that there will be, in fact, another day, and here it is! Another opportunity for good or evil in the life of every earthling, except, of course, those who will die today, and it's the same for them right up 'til the "last minute." For the believer in His amazing plan, this is, indeed, encouraging; but, we can become so overwhelmed or tried that we have ceased looking forward to new days. That's depression, and we stumble into it just like the zombies if we're not careful.<br />
<br />
Daily I see "positive affirmations" and "motivational helps" and other forms of "encouragement" posted by and from the countless faithless fleshly lost intended to give folks the ammunition to fight on. And fight on, they do, without any Plan other than their own, nor any Guidance than other lost souls. How do they do it? Why?<br />
<br />
The verse we began with tells us the miracle of "ordinary, daily life" has been repeated <i>again!</i> The Hope we have been taught and promised should help us speak the next affirmation with deliberate ferocity, if need be, to confirm our resolve to actively "rejoice." I <i style="font-weight: bold;">will</i> rejoice.<br />
<br />
Now, let's not just trolley over that word--let's think about this term we have heard so many times.<br />
<br />
Does not the "re" prefix indicate doing something <i>again</i>? Does not the second syllable sound like its root might be "joy"? (How can I <i>re</i>-joice, if I've never <i>joiced</i>? And, what does Joyce have to say about this?)<br />
<br />
I can only speak for myself, here; but, my personal experiences of salvation, deliverance, and healings was each accompanied by intense joy. Relief and hope and eternal reassurance has flooded through me every time the Lord has moved. That's what I must learn to recapture during the "other" times, when not much seems to be going "my" way or my prayers regarding something have not yet been fruitful. There's no shame in needing to do this. The exhortation to rejoice is so frequent in the Word, I think we can assume it's something even kings have to remember to do.<br />
<br />
We are told, on at least one occasion, to "comfort one another with these words." I think that applies to The Word as a whole and in part. Take and eat of the Bread of Life twice daily, at least, and The Comforter will rise like the sun in your heart and empower you to execute this decision.<br />
<br />
In the Marines they would often make some announcement regarding upcoming activities and close with the admonition, "You <i>will</i> enjoy it!" indicating that it was not an option. Let's emulate the Psalmist, and voluntarily decide.<br />
<br />
This is the day that the Lord has made! I <i>will</i> rejoice, so the light He has given me can be seen by those in darkness, and so His power can flow through me unimpeded. I will.<br />
<br />
Will you?<br />
<br />
En-JOY some Blimey Cow!<br />
<br />
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<br />Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-39893502951293881972014-05-16T10:35:00.000-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.220-08:00A message from Ben Stein<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following was written by <a href="http://www.mrbenstein.com/">Ben Stein</a> and recited by him on CBS's Sunday Morning Commentary. <br /><br />"My confession:<br /><br /> I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. <br /><br />Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?<br />I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. <br />But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to. <br /><br />In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. <br /><br />In light of recent events--terrorists attacks, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. <br /><br />The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. <br /><br />Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.<br /> <br /> Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. <br /><br />Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with, 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'<br /> <br /> Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. <br /><br />Are you laughing yet? <br /><br />Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. <br /><br />Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. <br /><br />Pass it on if you think it has merit. <br /> <br /> If not, then just discard it. No one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in. <br /><br />My Best Regards, Honestly and Respectfully, <br /><br />Ben Stein"</span>
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Whitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05726618278304737518noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-20266982780705931482014-04-24T05:55:00.001-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.203-08:00Can you give an answer?Wags--comics--have a new technique for ridiculing folks who believe the Bible. It's the assertion that we "don't believe in science ."<br />
<br />
As this nifty tomato circulates among the jeering mob, it becomes soggy and decays to the level of "don't believe in <i>dinosaurs</i>" or "don't believe in <i>fossils</i>." Really.<br />
<br />
Media are doing their propaganda/sales-driven job for the massive conglomerates who now own them and the government. <br />
(Okay, they <i>lease</i> the gov't.) <br />
Kneel Dewgrassy Tieson is condescendingly explaining Everything to us, so we will soon have this species of peculiar people embarrassed, if not out of existence, at least into hiding. Then we can put this laughable god/creator thing behind us.<br />
<br />
This is the fulfillment of high level educational policies revealed in Ben Stein's classic documentary, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=c63awtAyHdU">Expelled</a>."<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, there are <i>thousands</i> of published, professional <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/">scientists speaking out</a> (and being ignored by media) and daily converts in every field to at least the concept of <a href="http://www.intelligentdesign.org/">intelligent design</a> (ID). Unfortunately, the average "christian" in America knows <i>even less</i> about the Bible than he does about science, which is mostly learned through media and the educational system previously mentioned.<br />
<br />
Most of us, though, do know some things about our brains--less than we <i>don't</i> know, of course,--but still enough to convince many to experiment with some of the new info about learning, memory, and cognition recent research has brought to light. <a href="http://www.brains.org/path.htm">Neural pathways</a> have been shown to be something we can consciously establish and develop. New perspectives can be taught to the brain through deliberate challenge and exercise. Sadly, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_%28Star_Trek%29">the Borg</a> caught onto this before mankind, and most of us are already conditioned beyond recovery without help.<br />
<br />
This, for believers, is where Scripture has so much to offer.<br />
The Bible, itself, offers solutions to the predicament of the believing mind facing the faithless flood that is our culltour.<br />
<br />
"<i>Study</i> to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," <i>(2Tim.2:15) </i>"...and <i>be ready</i> always to <i id="yui-gen140">give</i> an <span class="criteria" id="yui-gen139">answer</span> to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you..." <i>(1Pet.3:15)</i> These verses tell us where to begin and why.<br />
<br />
<i>Study</i> your Bible. Use the helps available when you don't understand a passage. (If you're at a computer often, an excellent resource is the <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=answer&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_3">Blue Letter Bible</a>.)<br />
Don't just skip over tough parts. Act as though you were trying to learn more about, and how to please, Someone you love with all your heart. The credibility of your witness is increased when it is clear you know what is, and is <i>not</i> in the Word.<br />
<br />
"...Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of <span class="criteria" id="yui-gen34">science</span> <i>falsely</i> so called." <i>(1Tim.6:20) </i><br />
<br />
"Avoiding profane and vain babblings" speaks simply to the futility of attempting a discussion with someone blasphemous, or who doesn't know what they're talking about<i>. </i>Just excuse yourself politely.<br />
<br />
That bit about "science falsely so called" is important, though. Considerable <i>real </i>evidence abounds for the facts revealed in Scripture. Simply being able to say "There's new research on that," and then citing it, is a very powerful argument turner, even for "intellectuals."<br />
<br />
The "scientific" argument is presumptive of some knowledge of an empirical nature--something <i>proved</i>; yet most of these claims are specious, and easily refuted by someone who has done some homework. <i>Reams</i> of scientific evidence of ID have been published. <span style="font-size: small;">An excellent source for such info is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/In-Six-Days-Scientists-Creation/dp/B00CF6EM92">In Six Days</a>, subtitled "<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle">Why Fifty Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation." There are <i>many </i>more.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle">Those allergic to reading can find many audio ad video resources. Among the best are the studies offered by Chuck Missler of, </span></span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXM41_LNsR4sIYRS64UJSGQ">Koinonia Institute</a></span></span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle"> and by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/answersvideos">Answers In Genesis</a> (regardless of the dismaying performance of Ken Ham in his "debate" with Bill Nye, the "science" guy).</span></span>
<br />
<br />
<i>Learn</i> the Word. Dwell in it. Fit your brain with new neural pathways to Truth<i> </i>by <i>memorizing</i> passages you find powerful.<i> </i><br />
<i>Learn</i> some actual science, and you won't be backed down by ignorant claims or assumptions.<br />
Best of all, the sheer supernatural power of the Bible will transform your heart.<br />
<br />
Here's a little something to get you started:<br />
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<![endif]--><br />Whitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05726618278304737518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-74156432386329305932014-04-17T17:26:00.000-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.231-08:00"Same sex" marriage"Same sex" marriage has always been a poor meme, to me, because my brain goes into dialogue mode:<br />
"Yes, Reverend, we each plan to remain the same sex."<br />
Or the old saw about the old married guy saying, "That's the whole problem...The same old sex!"<br />
<br />
"Same" is a close translation of the prefix "homo" and doesn't require any explanation to a child, so I suppose it's practical; but it's a scriptural oxymoron. And I don't think it is only "the religious right" who are uncomfortable about this. (There are cultures, and religions, in other parts of the world that will never accept this who make that guy with the rude signs seem pretty reasonable.)<br />
<br />
To express anything other than complete approval and actual <i>encouragement</i> of homosexuality (and a group of <i>other</i> practices and conditions grouped in an acronym) is social and political suicide. You will be branded, first, a "homophobe"--a term invented to imply that anyone who doesn't care for homosexuality is simply "afraid" of their true desires. Second, you will be called a "bigot" and a "hater" even though you have never discriminated, never said or done anything threatening in any way.<br />
<br />
A lot of believers chafe under this simply because of how frustrating it is to be misrepresented by assumptions, called names, and not heard. "Now you know how we feel!" they cry, and around it goes.<br />
<br />
Here's the thing. The vast majority of Americans want, and believe in, a separation of church and state. I do, too, now that the state has made ungodly intentions clear, and much of the church is sounding like a political action committee.<br />
<br />
"Marriage" is an institution controversial to the carnal mind because it was invented by God.<br />
<br />
It's recorded right there in the Bible as His pattern for the relationship that anchors a family; nonetheless, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers and humorists have been confounded by it for centuries on end, insisting it can't work, is obsolete, and unreasonable. That's because, "except the Lord build the house, they who build it labor in vain," and "the carnal mind can not comprehend the things of God."<br />
<br />
Soooo, at some point, someone decided that, for legal reasons (related to divorces and estates), the <i>state</i> would offer a legally binding "civil" union for those folks who didn't grok the whole "sacred" union deal. And, so bureaucrats proceeded, without a peep of protest from the Body of Christ, to "marry" people in a revocable legal contract that has nothing to do with the covenant God had in mind--sort of an imitation of Biblical marriage.<br />
<br />
Now, they want to broaden eligibility for this arrangement--expand the market--and "Christians" are outraged, claiming the "definition" of marriage has been violated. Well, that ship sailed long ago when we let them call it "marriage" in the first place. They have their own definition, just as they have their own ideas about the Book on which ours is based.<br />
<br />
I recall that Someone told us our "kingdom is not of this world," that "our weapons are not carnal;" that, though we are <i>in</i> the world, we are not to be "of it."<br />
<br />
Some people want to outlaw sin.<br />
Been done. Doesn't help.<br />
Paul tells us clearly what the Law is for. Until conviction and repentance occur, it's all the same to God, and should be to us. Sin is all the same, in spite of how certain types affect different ones among us emotionally.<br />
<br />
As is often the case, "Christians" thought they would prevail in a public argument (it's hardly worthy of being called a "debate") through indignation and an insistence on some sort of "morality." None of those things makes sense or matters in the culltour we're in.<br />
<br />
"He said the world would hate us!"<br />
Yes, but it better be for the right reasons. If you get yourself persecuted for some cause other than the gospel of salvation--which is NOT the Law--will that glorify or please Him?<br />
<br />
"Conviction of sin is the ministry of the Holy Spirit," not ours. <br />
Stick to the message we were given to pass on: "Be reconciled to God."<br />
If you can't speak the truth in love, please be still. <br />
And let the lost play house under whatever rules they make up. Whitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05726618278304737518noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-20926661449093408732014-04-09T09:43:00.000-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.205-08:00FellowshipLet's start by sharing a video:<br />
<a href="http://www.ijreview.com/2014/04/126780-homeless-man-walked-onto-music-video-one-expected-join-without-missing-beat/">http://www.ijreview.com/2014/04/126780-homeless-man-walked-onto-music-video-one-expected-join-without-missing-beat/</a><br />
<br />
First I have to quiet the nagging voice of my culltour-hardened carnal
mind that's whispering, "It's all staged, set-up and all. Very well
done, but staged." <br />
Does that make a difference? Does that undo the
point somehow?<br />
<br />
Yes, it would. So, let's follow the rules of love set
forth in I Cor. 13, in particular, "charity believes all things." So, what we just saw was, indeed, a really cool blessing.<br />
<br />
I have spent some times, in a wide variety of circumstances, ministering to the whole spectrum of "the homeless," from indigents determined to bum their way, to the uninstitutionalized mentally disturbed, to folks displaced by hurricane, and migrant workers stranded by the same storm. Yeshua was right. There will always be a need for this kind of service.<br />
<br />
Decades ago, I was involved with a coffeehouse ministry which grew into a food and clothing bank hosting two free meals a week for, at times, upwards of 300 "street people." As part of this, and in addition to our coffehouse entertainment, we put on gospel concerts in public parks. (Yes, and we didn't have to file any forms or pay any fees. Most times they even turned on the power for us!)<br />
<br />
Recently (at my wife's urging, of course) I have been "back in touch" electronically with some friends from those days. Some of these renewed contacts have been discouraging and sad. Others have been the opposite, and have felt, in fact, like actual "fellow-ship."<br />
<br />
Fellowship, to my mind, is more than getting together and having a nice time sharing in something. It speaks of a depth of common experience and feeling that is the lasting bond among veterans of anything. Those with whom I have shared experiences of testing are particularly dear in my mind, even if the tests were, in themselves, nothing major.<br />
<br />
A young, long-haired brother, who also played and sang at the coffeehouse and concerts, was helping me put together a print shop, and we had acquired an old offset press and, with the help of an elder brother, reconditioned it.<br />
<br />
I got up exhausted one morning from a night of violent vomiting and stumbled into the print shop to find my young friend with the press running, testing the vacuum on the steel feeding prongs with his finger. "Mark," I said, "don't do that! It could suck your finger right in there."<br />
"That's the problem." said Mark. "It won't pick anything up."<br />
<br />
"Let me see," I said, touching the middle finger of my left hand onto the tip of the prong.<br />
The machine hungrily seized my finger and stuffed it between two steel rollers where a sheet of paper would just fit. Mark had his hand on the switch, so it didn't go in very far; but it was caught firmly.<br />
<br />
"Get help," I suggested, and the entertainment began.<br />
<br />
Standing at the press I watched Mark dash out the door and turn left. Moments later, he crossed in front of the door again, farther away, running in the other direction. A few seconds later, farther away, he crossed my narrow field of view again and I wondered what someone coming into the shop right then would have thought to see me, finger caught in a machine, doubled over laughing helplessly.<br />
<br />
The memory of that cartoon and its hilarious sincerity have made me laugh aloud many times over the years.<br />
<br />
If Mark Stone had not put his hand on that switch, I might have a mangled hand to this day. <br />
He shared the above video, and shares parts of my testimony to this day. That's fellowship.<br />
<br />
Now, some <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Blimey Cow:</b><span style="color: blue;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://%3ciframe%20width=%22640%22%20height=%22360%22%20src=%22//www.youtube.com/embed/wTtXeXAmCfw?feature=player_detailpage%22%20frameborder=%220%22%20allowfullscreen%3E%3C/iframe%3E"></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTtXeXAmCfw&feature=player_detailpage">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTtXeXAmCfw&feature=player_detailpage</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
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<br />Whitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05726618278304737518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-63981582346405658892014-04-02T08:25:00.000-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.227-08:00The "mounting death toll"<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Television, in its fractal way,
brought three disparate issues together this week.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First, the latest in the endless chain of
catastrophes buried some folks in a mudslide, and the grim facts soon turned
the impossible rescue mission into an impossible body recovery operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Second, some progress has been made in
locating and identifying the remains of still-unaccounted-for U.S. military war
dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Third, the haystack needle search
for a missing airliner has triggered angry demonstrations by families of the
missing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first
event, so small in terms of “death toll,” is made intimate as we see a father’s
anguish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Empathy tells us his heart is holding onto the
hope that a miraculous event has sheltered his child in a pocket of air where
he will be found alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can all
clearly see workers struggling to move through the suffocating, ubiquitous slime
to search.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s exhausting, agonizing,
dreadfully slow, and so difficult, estimates for completing the search have
extended into autumn.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The DOD is
proud of having finally consolidated the bureaucracies responsible for
communicating with survivors of soldiers, sailors, and airmen missing in action
from a chain of wars going all the way back to “The Big One.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some vets who missed getting “decorated” have
finally been awarded their due, and some more remains identified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We saw footage of soldiers sorting through
trays of dirt from archaeological type digs looking for fragments, as part of
an ongoing operation in sites all over the world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When the
jetliner disappeared, precarious, justifiably paranoid politics may have misled
location efforts in the crucial first days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The search that has been going full tilt since the first hours has mushroomed
into a vast, expensive, multinational effort with no end in sight, even though
everyone involved admits too much time has passed to expect success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile, relatives of the missing are
actually angry with their government for not “solving” this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What do all
these people want?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The popular word
for it is “closure.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />The silent emphasis
is on the second syllable.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Decades
after an event, survivors will weep to finally feel the “relief” of “knowing
for sure.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just so hard for us to
actually accept—believe in—death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But,
there it is again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every time, in fact.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Why do
people care so much about the fate of carcasses?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of many
“hard sayings” of Jesus was “Let the dead bury the dead.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />What did He mean?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we not know? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i> do folks who don’t bat an eye at a
growing list of abominations and slaughter seem so dedicated to
“knowing” what became of corpses they knew personally, or were responsible for
nationally?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Remains” is
such a revealing term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />Here is what’s
left, after the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">person</i> has ceased
operating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every culture has ghost
stories about what might happen to the “soul” or “spirit,” based entirely in
fear and ignorance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, they don’t
understand the difference between soul and spirit, and have never consulted the
single document on Earth that explains such things; but, <i>they know what happens
to the flesh</i>, and because that’s all they really get, that’s the focus of their
concern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For long
ages, folks have made a big deal out of what must be done to “properly” and
“respectfully” dispose of human cadavers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even now, when “science so-called” has convinced most of them we’re just
animals, and it’s all just “tissue,” most people have strong visceral and
emotional responses to the issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul
makes plain in Romans, they know deep down what’s right and wrong; they just
can’t get it to work right because of that whole dead to the spirit thing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Being born
again, raised to new life through baptism, is the only Way, according to The
Master, to find eternal Life, and to be transformed, by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the renewing of your mind</i>, into someone who knows the Truth, and
has been set free--<i>free</i> from the law of sin and <i>death</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being one of these new creatures calls for
full-time focus on a greater reality than the soap opera being acted out around
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our
“closure” came as we sank beneath the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
Now we live again, but not as our own. </span> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When someone close to us dies, we rejoice to know there is no doubt of
their membership in The Kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a
loved one has not been saved, then we know they will rise again, with all
mankind, for judgment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Whether we
know the exact time, or the circumstances, or get to have a “proper” burial,
death is the certain end of us all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
happens <i>next</i> is the important part, and the grandest funeral ever celebrated
won’t affect that outcome at all.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here's this week's <span style="color: red;">video treat</span>: </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9yIM5G9QM8&list=WLlcL5vphCZ7CsUSi3BSWwPJ1wALX5pYTo&index=29">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9yIM5G9QM8&list=WLlcL5vphCZ7CsUSi3BSWwPJ1wALX5pYTo&index=29</a> </span></div>
Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-66678599074086375792014-03-27T12:25:00.001-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.229-08:00Eyeset<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I recall the arrival of the term “mindset” on the
consumer level of American language. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now it is commonplace, universally taken to mean <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> we think about things--how we regard
things, by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">choice</i> as well as nature
& nurture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It can be learned/ taught.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In these hypervisual times, we also need to
consider <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">eyeset</b>; because the eye
does more than the miraculous job of seeing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">looks</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Faster than you can stop it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what makes illusions work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This too can be learned/trained.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you think this hasn’t already been done to
virtually everyone in this culltour (sic), then it has like totally worked on
you, dude!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Actually a part of the brain from the womb, and
interacting with intelligence via stunning electrochemistry, my eye is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">constantly</i> scanning (even as I dream!),
registering all it sees, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">focusing</i> as
interest indicators increase, then responding like lightning to something in
the periphery, then darting back to the exact location on which it had focused.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Point is, my eye <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">learned </i>what to seek, so it can be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">re</i>-taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took all your
life to get it ingrained; so, short of miraculous deliverance (as with my
tobacco addiction), this may be your cross, a trial of faith, or just a long
time overcoming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It took an embarrassingly long time to train my
eye not to respond to certain stimuli—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i>
to look. There is, of course, a scriptural term for this problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />Lust of the eye is a trainable, controllable
force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The media know this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is their business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It must also be ours if we are ever to “come
out from among them” in any way. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We have scriptural encouragements galore in the
areas of mindset <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and “</i>eyeset.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I will set no evil thing before my eyes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Set? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Remind you of anything?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I wondered about that for a long time, that choice
of words, but it holds up everywhere I’ve looked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evidently, in what we think of as “Bible
times,” there was something folks put up to look at that wasn’t nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">set</i>
it there, and admired it, perhaps.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Forty years of personal study <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>convinced me that the translation we need is
the one in our hands, and that the odd coincidence of certain archaic terms as
they now relate to current language is not, in fact, coincidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the words “talent” or “set.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some folks had a radio <i>set</i>, when the medium was
new, but most soon just had radios.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same
with television.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everyone who watched TV had a TV <i>set</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, we all say “TV,” for both the
item and the medium, but ads still say “TV set” or “television set.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span> The tuner must be
“set” and then the screen must be “set” in a place where we can conveniently
gaze upon its seductions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I will set no
wicked thing before my—children? </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good advice, no doubt, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> exactly?</span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Motivational “experts” in the flesh know that our
mindset is repairable, even replaceable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We have user access to reprogram conscious, voluntary operating
systems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can change our mind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bombarded by powerful engineered images as we all
are, we owe it to ourselves to learn to retrain our eyeset,
utilizing the powerful mind/eye relationship, and become wise to the machine
and protect ourselves from it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Watch</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t relax in front of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Watch</i>
it, skip everything you can, mute commercials, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">don’t look!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Don’t just
accept programming, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">choose </i>it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">watch
it</i> not as one entranced, but as one studying it for glimpses of the truth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Better yet, think of it as the monitor for your
DVD/DVR and select only edifying/educational material.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even then, stay alert to the mind altering
effects of the flickering image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Seriously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Start being aware of
hypervisual techniques, and resist while you still can.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No, I’m not trying to be funny. Retrain your mindset and eyeset for a
new set of pleasures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The creation is
full of them, as is the world of art, if you seek them out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Seek, and you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shall</i> find.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are a Christian video producer at any
level, I beseech and exhort you to stop the quick cutting, flashing, whip
panning, and rapid zooming in and out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><br />“Be not conformed to the (very) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">image
</i>of this world!”<br />Don’t give “as the
world gives.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Become part of the
solution, not a panderer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take a look at
your eyeset, and how it’s trained.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This week's <b><span style="color: red;">sight for sore eyes</span></b> is another Tim Hawkins clip: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ynRWWy2sWyQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-13003352752981440672014-03-19T07:55:00.001-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.192-08:00The heart of God, and our place in it<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What does He feel?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, presumably, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How deeply?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
intensely?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, it’s unimaginable,
isn’t it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If Love is the motivation for a construct this vast and
complex, how strong is the loneliness which evokes such longing desire for a
Bride—a child-friend-brother-companion to just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">be </i>with and enjoy forever?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Maybe a few <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">million</i>
such creatures would keep such a mind occupied, such a heart full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope we will.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What joy to know Him finally <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">satisfied</i>, the whole immense, complicated thing accomplished, the
King victorious and the Kingdom prospering eternally!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Please let me be part of that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I want my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feelings</i>
to be righteous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Change of heart: to not
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feel</i> the same way--to allow His Word to
change my emotional responses and reactions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Create in me a clean heart.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He persists,
loving each of us with the depth and intensity of a first born, only child and
actually gave to this mob of disappointing brats the crown of blessing, His
First Born, only begotten, DNA-related Son.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He so loved
the world, and so trusted His plan, He came as a baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perfect
love casts out fear.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We mortals
completely lived up to His expectations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Prophecy was fulfilled 131 times before we finished torturing and
killing Him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh, He
didn’t really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">die</i>,--” some moron said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were the police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They checked--quick stab to the heart with a
spear, just to be sure.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By
obedience—living the perfect battle of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">obedience</i>—He
became the only animal in the herd capable of carrying all the sins of
believers according to the sacrificial system of law He gave them. He had created
a costly plan of repentance and sacrifice and mercy, drilled in for literal
millennia, all part of His plan to get us back to Heaven with a soul capable of
appreciating the worth of it all.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We are told God is
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s in it for Him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I
know I am.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s a
huge Family of brothers and sons, sisters and daughters, forever and ever and
ever and victory over evil, doubt, and disobedience also forever--a definite
biggie for the universe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only daughters and sisters?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No wives or mothers?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latter are strictly earthly
relationships, in my opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since no <u>wrong</u>
thing can enter God’s Kingdom; therefore, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">no
husbands</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No husbands, no wives or
mothers either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s that simple, as am
I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I am currently involved in research
to discover scriptures which support this view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stay tuned.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: red;">Weekly treat:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">So controversial to some that he often begins with a promise </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">of "something to offend everyone," Chuck Missler is one of our favorite expository teachers</span>. Here's a tidbit of his we can all agree on: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHxZn4MHoOA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHxZn4MHoOA</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 45.0pt;">
<br /></div>
Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-39789765239003585802014-03-12T12:54:00.000-07:002015-12-04T10:03:49.218-08:00Making a difference“Catch phrase” is one of those hybrid word pairs idiomatic in our increasingly short-hand, cobbled-together lingo. My mind is prone to being caught; but I have always had another habit in a similar vein, i.e., quoting favorite lines from movies, musicals, sitcoms--any form of entertainment--particularly enjoyable when others laugh, remembering the shared experience.<br />
<br />
In the 60s, my generation found a lot of this sort of material on comedy albums. <br />
Then came “The Firesign Theater.”<br />
<br />
For the undergraduates I will explain that Firesign was a group of comics doing ensemble recordings as though they were radio shows, produced to play off the effects of psychedelic substances. The result was a layered production with so much going on that most folks just couldn’t get it all the first time around. By the time we had heard everything, and sifted through the layers of meaning, we had learned many of the key lines, and had great fun inserting them into our day’s dialogue. They must have had a wonderful time writing and producing these complex romps through nonlinear satire.<br />
<br />
To this day, breaking out one of those lines is a quick way to find those in a group with a similar background, or, at least, part of the same generational experience.<br />
<br />
Nowadays we read Scripture with an advantage the “actors” in the script never had. We have all 66 books right together where we can find the connections and see how the picture interlocks. We even have teachers and study guides to help us.<br />
<br />
We are the “in” crowd who get all the references and call-backs and images which prove these 44 disparate writers were directed by a single Author. <br />
(Over time, the Bible proves It is what It says It is.)<br />
<br />
But, as it works out, fools don’t read it. (So, don’t worry about the company in Heaven…No fools there, thank You, Lord!)<br />
<br />
Now, the biblically illiterate don’t let their ignorance stop them from having lots to say about this book they have never studied. They’ve heard and read <u>plenty</u> <i>about</i> the Bible, so they can be experts without toiling through its unfamiliar organization and difficult language.<br />
In fact, adding their many diatribes—books, articles, PBS specials—to the myriad of <i>legitimate</i> studies and commentaries makes the Bible the most written-<i>about</i> book in the planet’s history. Sadly, it is the least <i>read</i>, especially in our used-to-claim-to-be-christian country, even among professing believers.<br />
<br />
What if we became a trend--a movement of Bible fans who enjoyed quoting it back and forth, laughing with joy when a phrase was the perfect fit for what was happening?<br />
<br />
At lease we’d be having more fun than the “out” crowd.<br />
<br />
Stop trying to <i>make</i> a difference and just <i>be</i> it.<br />
<br />
Here are some new "in" crowd memes for ya from my very favorite entertainer, Tim Hawkins: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/PLySvI7KMGY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-44585625930383972502014-03-05T07:20:00.000-08:002015-12-04T10:03:49.222-08:00The Bible<br />
is like a puzzle disassembled and put back in the box sorted by color. As good a way as any, one might say; but until the correct relationships of the sections begin to be seen, it can be hard to even imagine the overall picture.<br />
<br />
You carefully separate the puzzle’s pieces to put them away for someone else’s enjoyment and a few fall to the floor. Picking them up, you realize they fit together in a way you had not seen, revealing a <i>new</i> part of the picture!<br />
<br />
After a while, <i>all</i> the pieces fit with <i>all</i> the others, producing limitless new pictures. Not different pictures…<i>new</i> ones with the same subject. <br />
<br />
I now see 66 books, by 40-plus authors over a period of literally (and literately) millennia, so dove-tailed—so completely self-reinforcing, it could only have been produced by Someone with an overview of ages and an understanding surpassing human intelligence.<br />
<br />
I’ve heard the critics’ voices: “It contradicts itself.” “It’s unscientific.” “It’s mistranslated.” “Men conspired to put it together.” “It oppresses women.” …and so on. Until I began to study it myself, I believed some of that, and, as a result, did not understand it myself. After 42 years of careful reading and serious study of this amazing collection of books, I know all those to be the false claims chanted by those who are afraid of even the idea of God.<br />
<br />
I often encounter folks who get <i>very</i> upset at the mention of the Bible, and begin to <i>shout</i> these things they have heard. It’s impossible to discuss any book intelligently with someone who has never read it.<br />
<br />
Non-readers will grasp any straw, from the simple-minded by-faith imaginings of evolutionists to science fiction scenarios about aliens from other worlds. They would rather believe <i>anything</i> than the possibility that a loving Creator gave these writings to us.<br />
<br />
If you are a believer, and not immersed in this wonderful document, you are neglecting the most important thing in a believer’s walk: <i>understanding</i>.<br />
<br />
What you thought you found when you first tried the puzzle is just the beginning of possibilities. It is a written work so perfect, profound and intricate that it will last you at least a lifetime, providing its kaleidoscope of insights and beautiful views.<br />
<br />
No longer a puzzle to me, it is ever a wonder. What a great gift idea!<br />
<br />
(Here’s a video that should help you to at least begin to trust the translations.)<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8hOKA9fR2p4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8hOKA9fR2p4</a><br />
<br />Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-32080161593138205712014-02-26T06:07:00.000-08:002015-12-04T10:03:49.214-08:00Is DNA User code?...and what does that mean for "genetic engineering"?<br />
<br />
The "science" segment of a major network's evening newscast described<br />
a new experiment in genetics--just a plan, at this point--which may result in<br />
certain children having three biological parents.<br />
<br />
The basic idea is to provide in vitro fertilization for a woman with healthy nuclei,<br />
but weak mitochondria, by having <i>her nucleus</i> implanted <i>in the egg</i> of a woman<br />
with healthy mitochondria.<br />
Yeahhhh...<br />
<br />
Anyway, that got me thinking about the actual genetic engineering that<i> is</i> going on,<br />
all the time.<br />
<br />
Everyone wants bigger, bug-proof crops and cures for diseases--it's almost like the whole planet's cursed with death and disease! We <i>have</i> to <i>do</i> something.<br />
Well, we've been looking for the key to this whole suffering and mortality problem<br />
for thousands of years, and we've found it!<br />
<br />
We have discovered a simple four-letter code that controls all life,<br />
and we're scurrying day and night fiddling with it. It's so complex, we've hardly figured out the corner of it, but we're using it to modify lifeforms.<br />
It is the most elegant thing in the Universe, this <i>obviously</i> artistic, <i>obviously</i> designed<br />
detail-by-detail planning <i>and</i> operating system for <i><u>every living thing</u></i>.<br />
<br />
Hey! We're in! Now we can do as we please!<br />
Transform ourselves to the next level of humanity! We shall be as gods.<br />
<br />
Now, I don't care if you think it's "the universal consciousness" or "alien terrafarming," <br />
whoever it is, they're smarter than you.<br />
<br />
What if they come back, expecting something of us, and they find out<br />
you've hacked in and are already fooling with their finely tuned, highly sensitive system.<br />
I hope they're "evolved enough" not to be upset.<br />
<br />
Just sayin'.<br />
<br />
He <i>is</i> coming back. Try to look innocent.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Okay, here's your treat--</span> <br />
Remember being taught about the "simple cell"?<br />
Here's a peek at what Harvard's medical school knows about what's going on in there. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yKW4F0Nu-UY?feature=player_detailpage" width="640"></iframe><br />
<a name='more'></a>By the way, if you're a believer who still thinks science supports evolution,<br />
here's something to check out:<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=d3jrcP-o6Vs">https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=d3jrcP-o6Vs</a><br />
Hope it helps! Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-13582550281260838882014-02-19T07:00:00.002-08:002015-12-04T10:03:49.197-08:00Old man down!One of my favorite "God things" is when He puts together a "theme." To the carnal mind, it's just a string of small "coincidences"; but those who know Him recognize His secret signature, and His subtle way of bringing us to ideas or conclusions.<br />
<br />
I’ve been asked to address a small group of highschool students during a brief devotional. Their "theme" is "How to keep the 'old man' in his place"--death to self (see last week's blog).<br />
<br />
Were I superstitious, I might think it is I who needs to hear this. Can't be. I am the humble vessel being used to transmit this to others. (Like you, you stumbler with the mote in your eye!)<br />
<br />
Years ago I found a "study Bible" with a "cyclopedic index.” Early in my education I discovered the insights available by studying tables of contents and appendices. You can quickly ascertain much about an unfamiliar book that way.<br />
<br />
Turning to "self" in the index, I found an array of verses under several self-related sections:<br />
"Self abasement." (Uh-oh.) "Self condemnation." (Boo!) "Self control." (Ow!) "Self deception." (Not me!) "Self denial." (Again, ouch.) "Self exaltation." (Wait...I need a "selfie" of me reading this.) "Self examination." (Did that in the shower just this morning.) "Selfishness." (Hey, I'm sharing right now.) "Self righteousness." (What's that smell? Yeast?) And, last, but never least, "Self will." (Implying, I think, there is another kind.)<br />
Each listing, with subtopics, is followed by scripture addresses, plenty of them. It's one of the most addressed subjects in the Bible, and the list itself is a complete study for any relatively mature believer.<br />
<br />
How does one get this concept across to a young person still waiting for their "own" life to begin? This is particularly problematic in the din of the world's drum beat of "self esteem." Most young folks have no idea how conformed to the image of this world they are, nor have their "church-going" parents.<br />
<br />
Bible-reading believers are immediately reminded of the verse, "Let each esteem the others more highly than himself." This is cultural anathema. How am I supposed to "look out for number one"? It lies in deciding Who really is number one, of course; but, that's where all those unpleasant character chores begin.<br />
<br />
“I must decrease so that He might increase.”<br />
“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”<br />
<br />
Check this out: <br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/vFAax4qjTzY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
I love these kids! Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6780984252412477541.post-55346439781911570682014-02-12T06:00:00.000-08:002015-12-04T10:03:49.224-08:00Olympic passion?One of my favorite Bob Dylan songs has a phrase in it: "You can play your Olympic games..."<br />
The week before the official Day of Industrial/Carnal Romance, we are treated to the self-proclaimed "spectacle" of the "Winter" Olympics.<br />
It is wonderful to see beautiful teenagers creating their own sports and winning medals for it, isn't it? <br />
Of course, the literal flag-waving and the inspiring tribal grunting of "U-S-A! U-S-A!", never gets old to me, just as I am still truly blessed to hear an "artist," who employs soft-core porn videos to showcase his crude lyrics, thank God or Jesus for their Grimy Award.<br />
The "interviews" are my favorite part of winter games; 'specially when "passion" is spoken of. Everyone now has a passion. Do what you have a passion for. Whatever you do, do it with passion.<br />
So, now, it’s like “awesome.” It means nothing more than a preference.<br />
Mel Gibson was widely vilified for a movie about Passion in its archaic meaning, which I consider proof that his film glorified God by making the experience of Jesus vivid enough for modern audiences to get. Nonetheless, passion ain't what it used to be.<br />
Science shows the heart and the brain work together to produce hormones affecting our emotions, and the heart is found to contain cells unique, we thought, to the brain. Does the Holy Spirit ever drive me emotionally, or are emotions always flesh? The only thing able to help me make such distinctions in my own heart is the Word, rightly dividing between His will and mine.<br />
I am passionate about being transformed, becoming more like Him, and dying to self. My concerns about my own ability to accomplish—or even submit to—this have been assuaged, of course, by His promise to complete the work Himself. I am zealous to progress in that which I have been given to do, which is, now that I have been reconciled, to increase in faith.<br />
It's often difficult to translate faithfulness into joyful hope—tough to wring enthusiasm from duty. I’m trying to get excited about dying to self.<br />
How’s that workin’ out for me? “Me, who?” he cried with passion.<br />
In the vernacular of the current celebration of the flesh, "We're gonna stomp this!"<br />
<br />
I'd like to share a clip of a guy I became aware of only recently. He's
been at this for years, and I'm glad to know he's out there, producing
one of my favorite fruits, Joy!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pb80dbVUKM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pb80dbVUKM </a><br />
<br />
Hope to see you next Wednesday!Whitt & Judyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05741103963160046000noreply@blogger.com2