Garden Of Eden

Arizona Getaway

2012-01-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

Word for 2012

2012-01-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

This is what God spoke to me: this is a special year. The beginning of this year does mark a new beginning in the eyes of God for His children. God wants you to be free! God wants you to throw off everything that is burdening you, binding you, shackling you! God wants to get rid of old fears, old diseases that have lingered, old ideas about you that are not according to God's word that come from man who does not really know God.

It is also financial. God wants you to be free of financial worries, and free to pursue your dreams!

In order to step into the new, you must listen to God - take time to listen to Him, and spend time in His word. You must obey Him and be willing to repent of sin.

If you will do these things, He can lead you into the new things He has for you!

Christmas Joy to all who enter here!

2011-12-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

Don't be too discouraged by what I wrote in the last post. Faithful readers, I don't hate people. I was just ranting, and experimenting with going to a lower dose of medication - so low it's getting close to zero.

Finding that my brain isn't quite ready for that yet.

Just enjoy the beautiful things about the holiday and don't let any of the blues get to you! Remember He who came to be your friend at this season.

Let Him warm your heart.

Tramp For The Lord, by Corrie Ten Boom

2011-12-17T07:47:00.001-08:00

This is what I am reading right now. I love her story. I love her spirit and her passion for God, and her hope for women of any age - with no children and no husband. She lived life to the fullest!!! She was in love with Jesus!

In reading her, I realized something: I don't like people. I just don't like people very well. I am going to have a hard time being a good minister of God, because basically, I just want to go away and be alone. People are a constant source of disappointment, and discouragement. In the West, I find people are constantly dragging me away from a fervent passion for Christ. Unbelief is rampant. People who represent God at the pulpit fall short of bringing the kingdom of God to the earth. Few people desire God's presence enough to try to bring His presence to the earth.

I am just weary of people. In reading Corrie Ten Boom, I realize that in order to be a missionary, I have to love people!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I want is to find God's presence, and soak in it, and soak up from Him what I need. Without Him, I cannot do anything.

Unwanted same-sex thoughts

2011-12-17T07:02:00.000-08:00

Now I have your attention! Yes, that's what I said. And I have them, occasionally. It is a residual thing, a result of all the years of heterosexual sin, and rebellion, and not being in the plan of the Lord regarding my sexuality. It is not surprising.

I am not saying that I am attracted to women, per se. It does not dominate my life. Just occasionally, I will find myself having twisted thoughts, or feelings - unwanted thoughts or feelings.

It is nothing that the blood of Christ cannot cure, or is not already curing. I go to the cross, I take communion, I confess, I take the body and blood of Christ. It is already having an effect.

But, I want to tell you what happened when I confessed this to a woman friend - a Christian friend.

She is a friend through my parents - she was at the same church that my parents were going to years ago, and is still there. I met her there, when I was a teen. It is a conservative, Lutheran sect. Anyway, I was helping her find healing from a terrible sickness where she has bleeding internally. She has experienced quite a bit of healing. I was also meeting with her regularly - going out for meals or coffee and we were praying together.

She would send me cards, even on Valentine's day that said "I love you." She loved to send cards.

Then I dropped the bomb. I was telling her many personal and private things, which I now regret. I told her about the thoughts. She talked as if she understood. She had a mature way of expressing herself. But the end result? She has slammed the doors in my face!

She no longer calls me - ever! She never sends a card - ever.

She even sends cards now to my mom and to my parents, and purposely leaves out my name. Spite? I am amazed.

This is the homophobia that people talk about Christians having. It is real!!

I was merely talking about having some thoughts, mere thoughts, occasionally, and not at all about struggling with the temptation to actually get involved with homosexuality.

What if it were that? What if I were struggling with that? I would have such rejection. I now understand the seriousness of the rejection that people with same-sex attraction have experienced. It is so serious. It is so ugly. And now they have taken it to the wrong extreme - and have developed a thing we call "gay pride." It's all wrong!

The people in the ministries "Exodus" and "Outpost" have quite the frontlines battle on their hands. I admire them so much!

Passed away this past year

2011-12-14T12:57:00.000-08:00

Two great giants of the faith passed away this past year in their 90's. One was pastor Erwin Prange, the pastor who helped me so much, bringing me to deliverance from manic episodes, and finally to freedom so many years ago. He was so powerful in the Lord.

When he died he was almost 94.

The other was Thelma Mjorud, second wife of pastor Herb Mjorud, great man of faith. Thelma was very strong in the prophetic area and was a dear friend. She helped me so much with her prophetic gift. She died at the ripe age of 97. I talked with her not long ago and her mind was still intact.

They will both be fondly remembered for all that they did for so many.

What I believe about Healing

2011-12-14T04:57:00.000-08:00

I have been listening to some preachers out there, particularly in Albuquerque, New Mexico who are quite well known – Mark Driscoll and Skip Heitzig. I got started doing that because Skip is a host along with Joel Rosenberg on the Epicenter DVD, and I heard him wishing Billy Graham happy birthday, and I knew he was familiar. I thought I would look up his church and listen to his sermons. Then it led to finding Mark who is also in the same city. I like Mark a lot – he is fresh and dynamic. Skip is good too – very knowledgeable and has a good demeanor. Both of them are likeable men, probably because they have such a good demeanor – such a kind and gentle spirit.

I came to sermons that dealt with healing and found that both of them disagree with me about that, which led to thinking about what I actually believe regarding healing.

Skip said that he disagreed with the “Word of Faith” people who say that God MUST do something. He said that he feels God has used sickness to teach him things, and that Paul’s thorn is an example of how God used sickness for a purpose, and we shouldn’t tell God “no” to sickness. God is sovereign and can decide when and if to heal.

Mark Driscoll is pretty much in the same camp as far as what he believes. He says God is God and can do whatever He wants – that’s what you get to do when you are God, he says, you get to do whatever you want. No one can tell Him you must do something.

But it doesn’t line up with what Jesus taught.

It was included in the gospels for our instruction, the story of the woman who had a daughter who was demon possessed who wanted Jesus to heal her daughter, and she was refused, at first, by Jesus. Jesus was testing her, because He knew her and that she would refuse to back down. He even called her a dog, saying that the bread is for the children of Israel and not for the dogs. He knew this woman could handle that. She told him that even the dogs eat the bread that falls from the table. He told her, “great is your faith.”

What did He mean by that? He meant that she had a high expectation of good from God, that God would do what she wanted Him to do, and that she wouldn’t give up until she got from God what she wanted. That was something He commended her for. It is called faith. We make demands of God. It is our relationship with God that has so much to do with whether or not we are healed. Our expectation, our demands on God He hears and He responds to.

God also saw to it that included in the gospels is the story of the man who had an annoying neighbor who kept coming to bother him, until he finally gave in and gave the neighbor what he was asking for. Jesus was saying in that illustration, that God looks for persistence and responds to it. It’s all wrapped up in our relationship with God – the quality of our relationship. What do we believe about God and His goodness?

In Hebrews 11:6 it says “without faith it is impossible to please God. For he who would come to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

God rewards diligent seeking of Him. He rewards demands on Him, because that means we believe He is a good God and He will give us good things.

And what about this thorn? I heard a sermon in Minneapolis where the preacher was saying he thought the thorn in Paul’s flesh was referring to a person who was bothering him. Now please tell me how you can build a theology on something that no one yet knows for sure? No one has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt what the thorn in Paul’s flesh really was.

And if it was a physical affliction, it may have been some minor affliction, but otherwise he was virtually free of all diseases and just had this one annoying thing. I can imagine I might be able to put up with one annoying thing and might conclude that God was allowing me to keep that one. I have a list of about 28 afflictions that I need healing from. I don’t think that God gave me 28 thorns in the flesh!! I am believing for healing from them all. Some of them have improved, some have gone away already.

Skip also said that he believes that since Jesus told His father “nevertheless, not MY will but THINE be done,” we should do the same, and say, “not MY will God,” regarding healing. It’s only if it’s YOUR will. But we know that when Jesus was shrinking back from the death he would die on the cross, it was a temporary feeling of fear, as a man, knowing what he would have to endure. But He did it to pay the price for sin, and to buy our redemption, and our HEALING. We are not supposed to pay the price AGAIN for our sin and suffer affliction, the way Jesus did. Yes, we follow Jesus’ example, but this is taking it too far, because Jesus paid the price for our sin, and that is something that we do not do.

We know that it IS God’s will, and when I pray for people in a healing room, I do not even stop to ask Jesus for healing many times, I go ahead and command the disease to leave in Jesus’ name, because I already know what Jesus would do in that situation. It has a lot to do with my relationship with God.

But the important thing is, it is not godly to have a resentful attitude towards someone who doesn’t believe the same way you do. So, I do not want to get into pride, or resentment towards those who do not have this revelation or walk in this power. I know I must walk in humility and love towards those like Heitzig and Driscoll.

Billy Graham? Thoughts on his 93rd birthday

2011-12-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

From a 2007 post

I've always felt there was something lacking, something not quite right about Billy Graham. I'm not saying he hasn't had good evangelistic sermons, or done a good job of reaping a harvest of souls, bringing them to Christ, but maybe it's the way in the Decision magazine, the message stays constantly on getting saved and doesn't progress for those who are already saved to other topics relevant to the life of the believer.

I don't know. There is a place for continuing to give the evangelistic message, but something is definitely wrong, and people don’t identify it because Graham has been totally deified. No one dares touch Billy Graham.

The truth is that Graham is powerful. On his 93^rd birthday yesterday, people were saying he is the greatest preacher ever - that he has reached more people than any preacher in the history of the church! Unfortunately, that much power has allowed him to hurt a lot of people.

I can only use one thing as an example - one thing I found in the Decision mag that my parents receive. He clearly writes something false and misleading and even hurtful. He writes about the battlefield of the mind in the latest November edition ( I originally wrote this in Oct. of 2007). And he mentions the doubtful mind. He quotes only a part of Romans 14:23 and says the Bible says "He who doubts is condemned" referring to doubting about whether or not one actually belongs to Christ. Now this is taking it completely out of context. This is only a portion of the verse, and the word condemned is not meant in the heavy, eternal context that he is using.

The verse is talking about the eating of meat and drinking of wine for those who think it's wrong, and whether it is wrong to offend those who think it is wrong. Prior to the words, "he who doubts is condemned," it says, "happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves." And the verse actually says, "he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith." The word condemned is not talking about hell. Graham is taking a verse out of context. Is it as a scare tactic? Doing this is scary and disturbing. Honestly, reading his work, I don't feel I am reading anointed words from the heart of the Father God. I am disappointed in Graham.

I knew there was no place in the bible where it actually said, "he who doubts is condemned." In James, the first chapter, it says, "he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord." We can have doubt that interferes with receiving from God, such as the unbelief in Jesus' town of Nazareth that he said was so bad that he couldn't do mighty works there.

But you can have doubts enter into your mind and into your life and at the same time, the sum total can be faith, such as Abraham, who went through terrible doubt to the degree that he went ahead and had sex with a woman not his wife in order to get a son (Ishmael) yet he still went on to receive the son of the promise through his wife later on (Isaac.)

But no where does it say that doubt is equal to losing your salvation. Wow! Wow! I was struck by that one!

I remember how he was the representative of Christianity in my early life, and how I gave my life to Christ partly because of him. A good thing, yes? But then, it led to frustration. I kept looking at him and his goodness, and at my own frustrations with sin that I couldn’t overcome, and there was a huge chasm between him and his perfection and my inability to live the Christian life.

He wasn’t making it accessible. He just kept giving the altar call, so, I would repeatedly give my life to Christ, as if this would solve the problems. But it didn’t. It took a long time before Christians came along who started offering teaching for how to overcome the different struggles that a person may have in overcoming sin, and dealing with personality strongholds.

Until then, it seemed like it was only Billy Graham with his fiery sermons preaching salvation. Don’t get me wrong. I always admired him – his integrity, and his message. But something bothered me. I know now that the power of God was compromised in his thinking and teaching. Add to that the anti-Semitism that I learned of later.

There is a serious problem in any Christian’s life who harbors ill will towards Jews. It again shows a lack of understanding in his life. I can honestly say I am thankful to be me and not him, that God has given me the revelation that I have, and that I don’t have the limited understanding that he has shown. And I pray for the people damaged by his bad theology. I think many problems in our country regarding trusting in Christ stem from the misunderstandings that Billy Graham planted in the minds of so many Americans.

That is a serious statement.

Is it possible that Graham’s scare tactics, trying to scare people with threats of hell whenever they doubt that they are saved, has turned people away from God, or turned them towards itching ears – seeking other theologies, and other types of Christianity, opening them up to the erroneous teachings of Joel Osteen and other, even more false preachers?

I read an article in the Dec. 2011 edition on the Fruit of the Spirit that was really good. So, he has written some very good things, don't get me wrong. And the problems I have had with him only require that I forgive him, of course. And someone I told this to said - everyone has some error in them, even Billy Graham.

Looks like Cain needs to brush up on his current affairs before running for president - LOL!

2011-11-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

Cain Maintains Momentum in Polls Despite Sexual Harassment Allegations

2011-11-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Time to Reflect 8/15/11

2011-08-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

It is time to look back and see what God has done in my life.

There are two main victories that have been won:

1. A victory over mental illness
2. A victory over sexual sin

The first victory: not too long ago, I was struggling with mental torment – being visited with mental episodes and running to health professionals on a regular basis. It got so bad, before it got better. One thing is that it was getting worse during a time when I was hungry and thirsty for God and was seeking Him and His healing. Then a counter attack came as I sought to find God’s healing.

But eventually, soundness of mind set in, and peace came. Today, I am on very little medication, and experiencing peace of mind, and in circumstances that would otherwise not produce peace. In the past, one thing that caused mental torment worse than anything else was staying at my parents’ house. Even staying over night for one night would cause such torment that it would almost inevitably cause me to go into a tailspin – possibly cause a manic episode. I dreaded time with my family – I always felt oppressed and tormented mentally and emotionally after time with my family. Thanksgiving and Christmas were almost unbearable.

I hated living in the Twin Cities because I knew that there was a lot of spiritual oppression there – and it seemed there were few offerings spiritually – places to go for spiritual refreshment.

Well, today I have been living for the last five years not only in my parents’ home, but in my parents’ home in the TWIN CITIES! I have made contact with people who are lovers of God, and found spiritual renewal.

I have spent how many hours living in my parents’ home and how much time with my family – in fact, I spend most of my time with my family. Something has changed!!!!

Something has changed inside of me, attitude-wise, but there is also healing.

One milestone is that I was a prayer minister this summer at the Lutheran Conference on the Holy Spirit at North Heights Lutheran Church. It was there, years ago, that I went, broken and demonic, seeking help from my seemingly hopeless problems. Now I went, in total peace, and was even called upon to minister alone – ministering to people that also had demonic strongholds in their lives. I just trusted Jesus to use me to minister to them.

All the glory goes to Jesus for such an amazing victory!!!!

The second victory – I had a seemingly hopeless besetting sin in my life, that stemmed out of a broken relationship with my dad – sexual sin. Jesus led me to use communion, just alone in my home, receiving His grace for my sin, and His power over my sin, and the power of that sin was broken. Now, seven years later, I can hardly believe that I would ever even think of doing the things I once did!!!!! I am repelled by sexual sin! I love sexual purity. I love living this way! It is true freedom! It propels a person into living in the avenue of true love – no longer living for self.

Jesus has done all of this – He deserves all of the glory! He gets the glory – I get the benefits! Joyce Meyer said that! It’s so true!

Healing of High Blood Pressure

2011-08-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

I went to the dentist, and it was a new thing - they test your blood pressure before proceeding, even at the dentist. I hadn't had a physical in a while, so it had been a while since I'd had a blood pressure test. The last time, it was very healthy - a healthful low, this time, the hygienist said, "well, it's a little high, but we can proceed anyway."

I was shocked - never had high blood pressure in my life! I went to a local drug store where they do testings of blood pressure and had it read again. This time it showed to be somewhere in the 160/over 90, around there, range. But, he said it was more like around 130 over 90 or so. The ideal for blood pressure is to be at 120 over 80 or below.

Anyway, it was high. The guy testing said it was in a range where you control it with diet and exercise. I said to myself - "it is in a range where God heals!"

I went to a healing room and got prayer. I wrote into another healing room in the Twin Cities area and told them about the need for healing of high blood pressure. I was praying in my quiet time and reciting scriptures on healing - pronouncing healing over my body.

I tested my blood pressure yet a few more times at a local pharmacy where you can test yourself. It was still high each time.

Finally, 6 months later, I was due for another check up at the dentist. I went for more prayer for healing - a couple of times, at two different places.

I went into the dental office. I had had coffee - quite a bit all that morning at work, and I knew that could have an effect on my blood pressure. It was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I took a short nap while waiting for the hygienist, so I was very relaxed.

She took me in to do my teeth cleaning and again, tested my blood pressure. It was 84 over 62!!!!! Praise God! So low now that some people say, "are you sure that isn't TOO LOW?! Stop the prayer!!" Ha ha!

Being a Mensch

2011-08-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

I told a friend that he is a Mensch - a good man. What is a Mensch? I knew that it was a Yiddish word for a good man, but I wanted to get a definition from online somewhere.

I looked it up and here is what I found:

A mensch literally means "a person" in Yiddish, but figuratively it means something much deeper. A mensch is a person with whom you would be happy to befriend and associate with, because you feel genuine in a mensch's presence. A mensch is a highly evolved human being. Menschlichkeit (the art of the mensch) has nothing to do with looks, with wealth, with success or with intellect. A mensch exudes a certain magnetism that attracts us, whether or not words or glances are exchanged. A person is a mensch because he simply makes others feel good.
I've never really known a full-fledged mensch, although I've come across a few saintly types from time to time. Each one of them contained certain qualities that interested me because, you see, I aspire to become a mensch. Right now, I can't boast that I possess those qualities, but I'm working on it.

I've known a lot of people who think they're mensch's. They'll expound their righteousness: "I'm a good person, I don't harm anyone", they'll tell you. My first reaction is not whether they cause harm; I prefer to ask, "how much good do you do?” although I usually hold my tongue out of respect. Menschlichkeit deals in doing good.

I went about exploring the ingredients menschs utilize to induce people into contentment, starting with the proposition that we're all naturally decent individuals, or at least that's what I think God intended. But then we come across certain roadblocks on our journey through life that brings us unfortunate circumstances coupled with the emotions of fear, anger or sorrow. We all encounter that in some form, at some time. But on rare occasions, we're fortunate enough to meet up with a mensch, and in his presence the uneasiness melts away.

A well-known aphorism from the Talmud's Pirke Avot, the revered collection of wise rabbinical sayings sparked my search for becoming a mensch. The line that caught my attention was attributed to Rabbi Hillel who said, "What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to them". I don't know which came first, but it appears to be the inverse of "do unto others as you would have others do unto you". There's another one that completes a trilogy of wise old maxims and that's the biblical dictum, "to love your neighbor as yourself". These messages illuminate the potential of superb inter-personal relationships, but how do you implement them? Willing it, doesn't work. You have to ask yourself what it is you want others "to do unto you". When I'm hurting emotionally, I want a mensch to listen precisely to what's on my mind without telling me what he thinks or what I should do. If I'm hurting I just want to be heard. Listening is an art we seemed to have lost. But by listening, a mensch would make you feel worthy and cared for. A mensch would listen to what you need and what you feel.

So in my journey towards mensch-hood, I diligently practice listening. In conversations, I listen intently; and in the painstaking process of listening I try to concentrate on the meanings of the words and their nuances. Often body language helps me understand. I won't, however, sit there close-mouthed; I'll utter an occasional "hmmm" or "tell me more" or "I'm sorry that happened to you". And the more I simply comment reflectively, the more people open up to unburden themselves.

As I browsed further through Pirke Avot, another mensch-maker caught my eye: "Do not judge your fellow until you have reached his place". Another Hillellism suggesting that its hard enough to understand ourselves, let alone another person. By permitting others to unfold and unwind according to their own timetable requires that we trust their intrinsic righteousness and dignity. That means to accept others just the way they are, with all of their hang-ups, faults and unruly behavior; we don't have to condone anything. You don't have to conform, agree, approve or praise; you just have to accept unconditionally. It takes unrelenting effort, but that's how understanding someone else comes to light.

How much more godlike can we become than to accept another's imperfections? The Torah states, "And they shall ask me, "What is His name? What shall I say? And God said to Moses, "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh"; translated loosely: "I am who I am" (Exodus:13-14). To "be how you are" is to judge with equanimity, without preconceived notions, renouncing preferences and remaining, at all times, balanced. It's all so remarkably simple and yet as if by alchemy, people transform themselves. And the best part is—that as you learn to accept and to listen to other people's suffering, while developing as a mensch, you learn to accept yourself as well.

URL for this post: http://www.jewishealing.com/theartofthemensch.html

Theme from the movie "What If"

2011-06-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

http://youtu.be/B9ZNaIBzrJE
Can't Save You - Words & Music by Dan Haseltine and Philip LaRue

You sounded desperate when you called
And the words are still ringing in my head
You stood there silent on the phone
And no one spoke until I said,

I'm still with you, but I know

I can't save you,
Save you tonight until you fall
I can't save you tonight, until it breaks your heart."

You're not the one I used to know.
I made the stars so jealous in the light of My soul.
You won the war I can't get in
But the battle that you're dying from is underneath your skin

You lock yourself away,
but there's no way out,
And how long can you stay, can you stay?

Do You Enjoy God's Presence?

2011-05-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

Do you enjoy God's presence? Did it occur to you that if you don't enjoy being in God's presence on earth, you are not very likely going to enjoy being with Him forever, in heaven?

Do you look forward to worshiping God and praying, and relishing the time you have with Him, or do you usually shy away from being with Him, finding that you are too busy?

Once again, may I remind you - if you don't like it here, are you going to like it up there?

It amazes me the people who say they believe and are Christians but they don't really invest their time in God.

It causes me to wonder - are they for real? Is this for real? Is God really that important in their lives?

Does it make you wonder?

Hypocrisy

2011-05-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

No one can be a humbug for five -and-twenty years. HYPOCRISY is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue. It needs an increasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practiced at spare moments; it is a whole-time job. W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) British Author

Bin Laden is dead but.....

2011-05-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

But we are still in deep deep trouble. I cannot rejoice as the crowds have been. America, you have lost, corporately, the sense of having God's protection and blessing, as David did when he went to fight against Goliath, and toppled him with one stone. That is gone. You are sick with sin, and have lost your moral compass. You cannot take for granted that God will protect you!!!!!

You think you are in a Hollywood movie where America always wins - always gets the enemy, always comes out on top. You have no idea the craft and power of your enemies. Your pride waits to trap you.

I cry for you!!!

Donald Trump?

2011-04-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Donald Trump running for president and the current talk about the economy being the most important issue amongst conservatives is why I depart from them in heart and in mind.

Donald Trump? It shows that the most important issue is, indeed, our money, because he doesn't know much about anything else!

And if you believe that the economy is the problem in our country, you are blind!

First and foremost, the problem in our country is our values, and a departure from God. Financial woes are easily resolved when other things line up. God takes care of His own. If you focus on your money first, where is God in the picture?

Oh, God help me not to give up on this country!

Lessons learned from The King's Speech

2011-04-27T05:43:00.001-07:00

I just saw the movie last night, and was impressed with the speech therapist's confidence. He had self worth. He didn't base it on his income, or on the letters next to his name. He trusted in the wisdom and instincts that God endowed him with, to see into the underlying psychological problems of people, and to free them from them.

He didn't rely on conventional wisdom. He found his wisdom through learning on his own, and didn't need colleges and people of high standing to pat him on the back and give him their approval.

And because of his confidence and because he indeed possessed something that had the power to set people free, he eventually came into the company of royalty. It's fairy tale stuff!!!

In the company of royalty, he didn't shrivel under the heavy weight of their greatness against his smallness. He continued to be confident, and he had the same desire to set them free. He didn't think, "well, they have all that money and prestige and power. Let them figure it out for themselves!!" He had the same compassion and understanding towards them as anyone else. He didn't seek fortune or fame. He sought to help them.

He is a type of Christ.

As a result of his fine qualities, he was given a great award by the King, had a lifelong friendship with the King, and I am sure he was paid well for his services.

What a story of the kind of life God has called us to!!!! It is also a picture of the rewards of that life.

It was truly inspiring. It is unfortunate that it was rated "R." There is hardly anything that would cause it to be rated that. That only would keep a lot of good people from seeing it.

Mark Twain and The Jews

2011-04-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

Read this article:Mark Twain and The Jews

Herein you will find words that match so well what I have said about the Jews in my essay "Why Do I Extol The Jew?" The only difference here is that Twain doesn't seem to know the G_d who is behind all of this!!! Amazing! I hope he found G_d.

The Wisdom Of Insecurity

2011-03-28T03:37:00.000-07:00

There is a book with this title out there somewhere. I found this book one day, and picked it up, and I didn't read it. I just read the title. The title was enough for me. Sometimes that's true. The title, or the introduction to a book are enough to tell me everything I need to know.

There is wisdom in insecurity. It amazes me the amount of confidence in people who are wrong. People who have the wrong idea, people who are following the wrong path have a great degree of confidence and a strong voice.

Maybe this is why Paul the apostle said he visited the churches with much trembling. He was insecure. He was insecure in his own flesh. He knew that the wisdom of God and the power of God were all that he had to rely upon.

And he says, he who think he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. Pride. Pride is a poor substitute for knowing the love of God within. The wisdom of insecurity is the wisdom to keep asking God if something is right, and to walk carefully, walking in close fellowship with God, never being "too sure."

And there is wisdom in love. When we see someone who is wrong, we need to weep for them. Our hearts must yearn for them to be free, instead of pointing the finger. This also is a place of insecurity, because we often become critical as a defense mechanism.

The wisdom of insecurity. The wisdom of love.

This goes along with what I wrote in that last post about legalism. People are self righteous and are totally confident in their self righteousness no matter if they have a reason to be. This is rooted in our human nature - it is something that comes from the flesh, the desire to be right in our own eyes, no matter if we measure up to God's standards.

Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri

2011-03-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

Oh brother!

2011-03-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

Can't believe the legalism and religious spirit that I find all over America, and amongst the youth of today. Man, young people today are buying into it. Legalism is when you strive in your flesh to "do the God thing" but you aren't really redeemed from sin on the inside. It is the "leaven of the Pharisees" that Jesus told us to beware of. Why did he call it that? Because, like leaven, a little gets in and then it rises and affects the whole being like the whole loaf.

Amazing how you can hear about young people blowing their brains out taking dangerous drugs and indulging in dangerous sexual activity on one hand, and on the other there are young Christians preaching legalism - abstaining from all sorts of things to try to please God - striving in the flesh, not pursuing the power of God to get free from sin! It makes me want to throw my hands up in the air! It is so discouraging. So, I crawl into the secret place with Jesus, and draw from Him - hope and courage.

Additional notes: Many young people today love a life of self-discipline. They love dietary laws. They like self improvement.

An example of the thing that happens to people who find Jesus, but don't really find Him, instead find religion. (Jesus never intended that belief in him should produce the same thing that he fought against when he came up against the pharisees.)

I have a cousin who was living in the Chicago area during my turbulent twenties. I was traveling to the East Coast from Minnesota to live there, and stopped to visit her and her family on the way. She was raising some small children, and was very sweet. At the time she said she wasn't sure what she believed. Her husband was a Christian but she wasn't sure what her stand was. In that state she was open to me and loving.

Switch to today: she has now resolved her conflicts and become a Christian. She now rejects all attempts that I make to get in touch with her. She has barred me from her life. Now that we are older, and are both Christians, we should have an even better relationship than we had. The only sense I can make of this is that the "leaven" has gotten in. She likes the taste of judgment. She is now judging me as someone so bad she doesn't want to have anything to do with me. Self righteousness has crept in and grown. That is what happens to so many who profess faith in Christ. They become superior and judgmental - so far from mercy and love. It's amazing.

This is a call to avoid doing the same - to know Christ's love and to emulate it.

100 Trillion Dollars

2011-03-11T05:57:00.000-08:00

A guy at work just handed me a 100 Trillion dollar bill. It is from Zimbabwe and it is real. He says it is worth about 10 dollars American. True - look it up on Wikipedia. Zimbabwe has had the least valued currency in the world, and in 2009 just started using currency other than their own. In other words, the dollar bill handed to me is obsolete.

It just got me laughing. You know what they say about the glass being half empty or half full.

In Zimbabwe dollars, I am earning 100 Trillion dollars an hour!!!! See, it all depends on how you look at it.

I had to laugh at God's sense of humor. I said to God, "you weren't talking about Zimbabwe dollars when you promised me prosperity were you?"

So funny!

America's bald eagle - live!

2011-03-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

Stream videos at Ustream

Reign In Us

2011-03-02T18:02:00.000-08:00

GOT TO GIVE IT UP - MARVIN GAYE (1977)

2011-02-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

"Treasures of Darkness" Evangelist Benjamin www.fullflame.tk

2011-02-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

Volition

2011-02-03T14:12:00.000-08:00

Volition

Steve Bridges as Obama pt 1

2011-01-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

Steve Bridges as Obama pt 2

2011-01-24T19:09:00.000-08:00

European Ad against smoking

2011-01-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

The Most Evil Man In The World

2011-01-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

The Most Evil Man In The World
CBS writer, Steve Kroft:

Some time ago I wrote an article questioning who might be the power behind Barack Hussein Obama. It has to be someone because of his meteoric rise to power, with experience at virtually nothing, with questionable wisdom, and with a mysterious past that has been carefully erased and hidden where no one can check it. The puppet master apparently paid for Obama's education and his travels to Pakistan for some mysterious purpose, and promoted him into Illinois , then national politics.

I once suggested it might be billionaire George Soros. I now believe that to be the case more than ever. George Soros might be the most evil man in the world, with intent to destroy America and every value we have held dear. Obama seems to be in lockstep with Soros' philosophies and simply a tool in Soros' world-changing strategies.

The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the "United
States" ~~ George Soros

What we have in Soros, is a multi-billionaire atheist, with skewed moral values, and a sociopath's lack of conscience. He considers himself to be an elitist world class philosopher, despises the American Way and just loves to do social engineering (change cultures).

Gyargy Schwartz, better known to the world as George Soros, was born August 12, 1930 in Hungary. Soros' father, Tivadar, was a fervent practitioner of Esperanto a language invented in 1887, and designed to be the first global language, free of any national identity. The Schwartz's, who were non-practicing Jews, changed the family name to Soros, in order to facilitate assimilation into the gentile population, as the Nazis spread into Hungary during the 1930s. When Hitler's henchman Adolf Eichmann arrived in Hungary, to oversee the murder of that country's Jews, George Soros ended up with a man whose job was confiscating property from the Jewish population. Soros went with him on his rounds. Soros has repeatedly called 1944 "the best year of his life." "70% of Mr. Soros's fellow Jews in Hungary, nearly a half-million human beings, were annihilated in that year yet he gives no sign that this put any damper on his elation, either at the time or indeed in retrospect."

During an interview with "Sixty Minute's" Steve Kroft, Soros was asked about his "best year:"

KROFT: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours who swore that you were his adopted godson.

SOROS: Yes. Yes.

KROFT: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from your fellow Jews, friends and neighbors.

SOROS: Yes. That's right. Yes.

KROFT: I mean, that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?

SOROS: Not, not at all. Not at all, I rather enjoyed it..

KROFT: No feeling of guilt?

SOROS: No, only feelings of absolute power.

After WWII, Soros attended the London School of Economics, where he fell under the thrall of fellow atheist and Hungarian, Karl Popper, one of his professors. Popper was a mentor to Soros until Popper's death in 1994. Two of Popper's most influential teachings concerned "the open society," and Fallibilism. Fallibilism is the philosophical doctrine that all claims of knowledge could, in principle, be mistaken. Then again, I could be wrong about that. The "open society" basically refers to a "test and evaluate" approach to social engineering. Regarding "open society" Roy Childs writes, Since the Second World War, most of the Western democracies have followed Popper's advice about piecemeal social engineering and democratic social reform, and it has gotten them into a grand mess.

In 1956 Soros moved to New York City , where he worked on Wall Street, and started amassing his fortune. He specialized in hedge funds and currency speculation. Soros is absolutely ruthless, amoral, and clever in his business dealings, and quickly made his fortune. By the 1980s he was well on his way to becoming the global powerhouse that he is today.

In an article Kyle-Anne Shiver wrote for "The American Thinker" she says, "Soros made his first billion in 1992 by shorting the British pound with leveraged billions in financial bets, and became known as the man who broke the Bank of England . He broke it on the backs of hard- working British citizens who immediately saw their homes severely devalued and their life savings cut drastically, almost overnight."

In 1994 Soros crowed in "The New Republic" that "the former Soviet Empire is now called the Soros Empire." The Russia-gate scandal in 1999, which almost collapsed the Russian economy, was labeled by Rep. Jim Leach, then head of the House Banking Committee, to be "one of the greatest social robberies in human history." The "Soros Empire" indeed.

In 1997 Soros almost destroyed the economies of Thailand and Malaysia . At the time, Malaysia 's Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, called Soros "a villain, and a moron." Thai activist Weng Tojirakarn said, "We regard George Soros as a kind of Dracula. He sucks the blood from the
people."

The website Greek national Pride reports, "[Soros] was part of the full court press that dismantled Yugoslavia and caused trouble in Georgia , Ukraine and Myanmar [ Burma ]. Calling himself a philanthropist, Soros' role is to tighten the ideological stranglehold of globalization and
the New World Order while promoting his own financial gain. He is without conscience; a capitalist who functions with absolute amorality."

France has upheld an earlier conviction against Soros, for felony insider trading. Soros was fined 2.9 million dollars.

Recently, his native Hungary fined Soros 2.2 million dollars for "illegal market manipulation." Elizabeth Crum writes that "The Hungarian economy has been in a state of transition as the country seeks to become more financially stable and westernized. [Soros'] deliberately driving down the share price of its largest bank put Hungary's economy into a wicked tailspin, one from which it is still trying to recover.

My point here is that Soros is a planetary parasite. His grasp, greed, and gluttony have a global reach.

But what about America ? Soros told Australia 's national newspaper "The Australian"
"America , as the centre of the globalised financial markets, was sucking up the savings of the world. This is now over. The game is out," he said, adding that the time has come for "a very
serious adjustment" in American's consumption habits. He implied that he was the one with the power to bring this about..

Soros: "World financial crisis was" stimulating" and "in a way, the culmination of my life's work."

Obama has recently promised 10 billion of our tax dollars to Brazil, in order to give them a leg-up in expanding their offshore oil fields. Obama's largesse towards Brazil, came shortly after his financial backer George Soros invested heavily in Brazilian oil (Petrobras).

Tait Trussel writes, "The Petrobras loan may be a windfall for Soros and Brazil , but it is a bad deal for the U.S. The American Petroleum Institute estimates that oil exploration in the U.S. could create 160,000 new, well-paying jobs, as well as $1.7 trillion in revenues to federal, state, and local governments, all while fostering greater energy security and independance."

A blog you might want to keep an eye on is SorosWatch.com. This blog is dedicated to all who have suffered due to the ruthless financial pursuits of George Soros. Your stories are many and varied, but the theme is the same: the destructive power of greed without conscience. We pledge to tirelessly watch Soros wherever he goes and to print the truth in the hope that he will one day be made to stop preying upon the world's poor; that justice will be served.

In 1997 Rachel Ehrrenfeld wrote, "Soros uses his philanthropy to change or more accurately deconstruct the moral values and attitudes of the Western world, and particularly of the American people. His "open society" is not about freedom; it is about license. His vision rejects the notion of ordered liberty, in favor of an PROGRESSIVE ideology of rights and entitlements."

Perhaps the most important of these "whistle blowers" are David Horowitz and Richard Poe. Their book "The Shadow Party" outlines in detail how Soros hijacked the Democratic Party, and now owns it lock, stock, and barrel. The Shadow Party became the Shadow Government, which
became the Obama Administration.

Discoverthenetworks.org (another good source) writes, "By his ['Soros'] own admission, he helped engineer coups in Slovakia, Croatia, Georgia, and Yugoslavia. When Soros targets a country for "regime change," he begins by creating a shadow government-in-exile, ready to assume power when the opportunity arises. The Shadow Party he has built in America greatly resembles those he has created in other countries prior to instigating a coup."

November 2008 edition of the German magazine "Der Spiegel," in which Soros gives his opinion on what the next POTUS (President of the U.S. ) should do after taking office. "I think we need a large stimulus package..." Soros thought that around 600 billion would be about right.

Soros also said that "I think Obama presents us a great opportunity to finally deal with global warming and energy dependence. The U.S. needs a cap and trade system with auctioning of licenses for emissions rights."

Although Soros doesn't (yet) own the Republican Party, like he does the Democrats, make no mistake, his tentacles are spread throughout the Republican Party as well.

Soros is a partner in the Carlyle Group where he has invested more than 100 million dollars. According to an article by 'The Baltimore Chronicle's' Alice Cherbonnier, the Carlye Group is run by "a veritable who's who of former Republican leaders," from CIA man Frank Carlucci, to CIA head [and ex-President] George Bush, Sr. In late 2006, Soros bought about 2 million shares of Halliburton, Dick Cheney's old stomping grounds.

And I must not forget to mention Soros' involvement with the MSM (Main Stream Media), the entertainment industry (e.g. he owns 2.6 million shares of Time Warner), and the various political advertising organizations he funnels millions to. In short, George Soros controls or influences most of the MSM.

As Matthew Vadum writes, "The liberal billionaire-turned-philanthropist has been buying up media properties for years in order to drive home his message to the American public that they are too materialistic, too wasteful, too selfish, and too stupid to decide for themselves how to run their own lives." Richard Poe writes, "Soros' private philanthropy, totaling nearly $5 billion, continues undermining America 's traditional Western values. His giving has provided funding
of abortion rights, atheism, drug legalization, sex education, euthanasia, gun control, globalization, mass immigration, gay marriage and other radical experiments in social engineering."

Some of the many NGOs (None Government Organizations) that Soros funds with his billions are: MoveOn.org, the Apollo Alliance , Media Matters for America , the Tides Foundation, the ACLU, ACORN, PDIA (Project on Death In America ), La Raza, and many more. For a more complete list, with brief descriptions of the NGOs, go to DiscoverTheNetworks .org.

Poe continues, "Through his global web of Open Society Institutes and Open Society Foundations, Soros has spent 25 years recruiting, training, indoctrinating and installing a network of loyal operatives in 50 countries, placing them in positions of influence and power in media, government, finance and academia." America stands at the brink of an abyss, and that fact is directly attributable to Soros. Soros has vigorously, cleverly, and insidiously planned the ruination of America and his puppet, Barak Obama is leading the way.

Soros was the original funding behind the Global Warming Hoax. For every 10 million Gore makes, Soros makes a billion.

This may explain what has been happening in our country as well as around the world. George Soros may well be The Most Evil Man In The World.

More thoughts about Christmas...

2011-01-04T01:04:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong....I was having fun with it - the gift buying, the light-hearted atmosphere that exists at that time of year. I was appreciating the meaning of giving.

But when it's all over - it's like - wow, I can breathe again.

Christmas is over, and I can focus on Jesus again - now that is a strange statement!

Thoughts about Christmas, now that it's over (ranting)

2010-12-28T17:50:00.000-08:00

I am so glad it's over. All that energy expended on Christmas - all that anxiety over a holiday. All the hustling to get gifts, to find them, to pay for them, to wrap them, to get them to where we are celebrating, to prepare food, to get everyone together to where we are celebrating.

All this, and then we sit down on Christmas day and no one says a prayer - no one thanks God.

Someone did on Christmas eve, but since on Christmas day the meal was being served English style where they dish out the food in the kitchen and hand it to each person rather than pass the food around the table, no one knew when the meal began, so no one knew when it was appropriate to say grace, I guess. But, never mind that my nephew, who was hosting this with his wife, married an unbeliever - and that they probably wanted to do without a prayer.

It's so ridiculous! We all have very little money at this time, so we get little gifts - I bought things for $5. For my brother and sister, who decided we should exchange gifts between the three of us, I spent more - but hardly more, and we told each other what we wanted, then went and bought these things, hardly worth that much - things we could have gone and bought for ourselves, but for the sake of having a Christmas gift, we bought for each other. We do all this just to have gifts to open on Christmas, when we could do without this. It's pointless. I couldn't care less.

It's all meaningless. My sister loves Christmas. She decorated her apartment to the hilt with stuff she collected. She loves Christmas, but it's not about loving Jesus. We aren't centering on Jesus. It's about a holiday. I just don't enjoy it! When it's over, I celebrate. I celebrate that it's over!!!!

Jeff Foxworthy on Minnesota

2010-12-11T11:00:00.001-08:00

Jeff Foxworthy on Minnesota:

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through
18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by,
You might live in Minnesota

If you're proud that your state makes the national news 96 nights
each year because International Falls is the coldest spot in the nation,
You might live in Minnesota

If you have ever refused to buy something because it's "too spendy",
You might live in Minnesota

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March,
You might live in Minnesota

If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there,
You might live in Minnesota

If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead,
You might live in Minnesota

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
You might live in Minnesota

If your town has an equal number of bars and churches,
You might live in Minnesota

If you know how to say...Wayzata. ..Mahtomedi. .Cloquet. Edina ..and Shakopee,
You might live in Minnesota

If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy,
You might live in Minnesota

If vacation means going "up north" for the weekend,
You might live in Minnesota

If you measure distance in hours,
You might live in Minnesota

If you know several people, who have hit deer more than once,
You might live in Minnesota

If you often switch from "Heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again,
You might live in Minnesota

If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow
during a raging blizzard without flinching,
You might live in Minnesota

If you see people wearing hunting clothes at social events,
You might live in Minnesota

If you install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked,
You might live in Minnesota

If you think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and Venison,
You might live in Minnesota

If you carry jumper cables in your car, and your girlfriend knows how to use them,
You might live in Minnesota

If there are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Mill's Fleet Farm at any given time,
You might live in Minnesota

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit,
You might live in Minnesota

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, (my favorite--this is so true for me--Jeff B.)
You might live in Minnesota

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and of course, road construction,
You might live in Minnesota

If you can identify a southern or eastern accent,
You might live in Minnesota

If your idea of creative landscaping is a plastic deer next to your blue spruce,
You might live in Minnesota

If "Down South" to you means Iowa,
You might live in Minnesota

If you know "a brat" is something you eat,
You might live in Minnesota

If you find -10 degrees "a little chilly",
You might live in Minnesota

If you actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Minnesota friends,
You might live in Minnesota

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Declaration

2010-11-25T07:22:00.000-08:00

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

Note:

I have seen depictions of Abraham Lincoln in things like PBS specials on him, and they leave out his reverence for God and the things he said that reveal the relationship that he had with the Almighty. So, I had no idea until one day when I read a prayer by Abraham Lincoln, the depth of his relationship with God. He was a true believer - a devout man, and it is a shame if he is not remembered in this way.

Hallelujah!

2010-11-20T06:10:00.000-08:00

Handel's Hallelujah Chorus: In Macy's

For you older folk who are wondering which store this is, it's actually the old Wanamaker's in Philadelphia, but you know, many old stores were bought out by Macy's, so it's now Macy's. Anyway, for you younger folk, that old store has this humongous organ going back to its early days and for the holidays an opera company in Philadelphia came in to play the organ and sing the Hallelujah chorus. This drew people from all over the store, and people from just off the street were singing along with the chorus. I could not keep the tears back!

Encouragement

2010-11-14T09:28:00.001-08:00

‎"One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement. It is easy to discourage others. The world is full of discouragers. We have a Christian duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word." ~ William Barclay

The story of Esther

2010-11-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

I saw the movie One Night With The King last night, about the story of Esther in the bible. It is a Hollywood version of the story, so I looked up the story in the bible and read it today.

What an amazing story of God's redemption.

While originally God was angry with His people for not totally annihilating a people, and those people eventually became the enemies of Israel, the story ends up that the people befriend Israel. Instead of Israel wiping them out, they become Israel's friends, and it says later on in the book, that there were those who even became Jews as a result of the influence of the Jews in the land.

That is so amazing - there were conversions, even then.

Amazing story!

The Song That My Soul Sings Today

2010-11-09T09:26:00.000-08:00

To fuel the fire of evangelism....

2010-10-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

I have been reading two books. One, 23 Minutes in Hell, by Bill Wiese, about a man who had a bizarre experience one night where at 3:00 AM in the morning, he woke up and suddenly found himself making a descent into Hell. He returned to reality at 3:23. He tells of the experience in this book, and explains that God allowed him to have this experience so that he would tell people that Hell is real, and how to escape it.

He says that he is the most normal of men, not ever having had any kind of mental health issues, and being very organized, etc. He said this is why he believes God chose him for this experience, so that people would know it was God and not some mental health problem.

The description of Hell is terrifying, and it does fuel the fire of evangelism, as it made me so upset at first. The evening I read the main bulk of the book, I couldn't sleep. It is deeply disturbing that anyone would go to such a place of torment, and you want to warn people that Hell is no joke!

This brings the fear of God on me, causing me to think of His judgment, and wanting to be pleasing to Him in this life, so that I will have no regrets in the next life.

The next book is Just Walk Across The Room by Bill Hybels. This book is completely different from the last one, centering on God's goodness and grace. Hybels mainly helps you to write down your story of coming to faith, and to condense it to only a few words. He says that you must reduce it to 100 words or less, but I came up with 172 words. I figure that is not important as long as it is still short.

He points out some of the typical mistakes that people make when telling their "God" story, and shows you how to avoid these. I realized that I was making one of the big ones at first when I wrote my story. I was telling my "weird God story" right away when telling my story - the thing that you don't want to tell up front to someone you hardly know that they might not understand, or that might be too much for them right away. I was telling them that. I realized that this was just on the periphery of the real story.

He helps you get to the meat of your story and tell that.

He also just tells lots of stories of encounters with people that resulted in them coming to faith.

It is an interesting and engaging book that fuels the flame of evangelism.

Here is my story that I came up with after following Hybels' instructions:

I grew up in a Lutheran pastor’s home, and though I knew God as a child, as a teen I ended up hating God!

God turned my life around at 18. Because of some devastating problems, I turned back to God.

Then He showed me Hell was real, and I would have been going there, but Jesus had saved me from it!

So, I stopped hating God and knew He loved me enough to save me from Hell, but still doubted He loved me like a true friend because of the difficult things I had gone through, and because I couldn’t find love in the church. I was unhappy with Christians.

I looked for love in “all the wrong places,” but eventually found an ‘alive’ church.

I found out what the church is like when it is alive! The Christians there helped me and I found out God loves me more than I can possibly imagine! What would I do without Jesus who gives me hope in every area of my life?

We're supposed to then memorize the story and tell it whenever we "walk across the room" to make an attempt at sharing our faith.

My Story

2010-10-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a Lutheran pastor’s home, and though I knew God as a child, as a teen I ended up hating God!

God turned my life around at 18. Because of some devastating problems, I turned back to God.

Then He showed me Hell was real, and I would have been going there, but Jesus had saved me from it!

I looked for love in “all the wrong places,” but eventually found an ‘alive’ church.

I found out what the church is like when it is alive! The Christians there helped me and I found out God loves me more than I can possibly imagine!

What would I do without Jesus who gives me hope in every area of my life?

Rock and Roll

2010-10-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

This was sent to me by my friend who is in a Catholic community on the East coast of the United States.

The timing is incredible because I was just thinking, as I heard some music with a heavy beat with it's origins in the 60s, that we are surrounded now by music that has that African-based drum beat. Every where we go, even in church, there is that beat. When do we have quiet music, like streams of rivers, music that just calms the soul? That occurred to me, and then my friend sent me this. Now, let me say that I do not want to be holier-than thou. I do not want to discount all of the music being done today by Christians that is contemporary and has a rock sound. There is revival going on, and much of the music has a rock sound, as young people are at the heart of it.

I don't want to miss out on revival by getting all hoity toity about rock rhythms. But I think there is a valid point to be made about how rock music has permeated our culture, and that we need to ask what effect this has had on us, or is having, especially, we need to be concerned about young people and their choices, as always.

With that said, read this.....

O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: 8 When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way: that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. 9 But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way he shall die in his iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul.

A watchman is a man who is appointed to protect buildings or property. Formerly, he patrolled the streets at night to guard their belongings. You are God’s baptized property and a priest is your guardian, your watchman. And I have message for you that isn’t very popular. It is a message about a medium which is dominated by the enemies of Christ. It is a message about music and the angels who inspire this music. Yes, good angels inspire good music. But bad or fallen angels inspire bad music. This sermon is mostly meant to protect your children because hopefully most adults, if they listen to music, know the difference between good and bad music. But just in case, let the listener watch out.

… as time went on, the poets themselves introduced the reign of vulgar and lawless innovation. They were men of genius, but they had no perception of what is just and lawful in music; … ignorantly affirming that music has no truth, and, whether good or bad, can only be judged of rightly by the pleasure of the hearer. And by composing such licentious works, and adding to them words as licentious, they have inspired the multitude with lawlessness and boldness, and made them fancy that they can judge for themselves about melody and song.[1]

Though this could have been written today, this passage was written some 2350 years ago by the philosopher Plato, who claimed that bad music had corrupted the democracy of Athens. Plato argued the problems had started when good manners were broken by educated people during music concerts. That’s right; Plato said music concerts were to blame.[2][3] Sound familiar? Plato also said that, “Music is a moral law.” Meaning, according to Plato the music we listen to influences what moral guidelines we follow. If we listen to good music, we will be inclined toward the good. If it is bad music that we listen to, we will be inclined toward evil.

Now Thomas Carlyle wrote that, "Music is well said to be the speech of angels. [4] Let us look more deeply to see how true the connection is between music and the angels – in particular the fallen angels.

Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis, will be remembered with Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley, as one of the true fathers of Rock & Roll. I have the devil in me! If I didn't have, I'd be Christian!" said Jerry Lee Lewis at a 1957 recording session. "I was directed and commanded by another power: the power of darkness," Little Richard said, “the power that a lot of people don't believe exists. The power of the Devil. Satan. ."[5]

Elvis was a great fan of occultist Madame Blavatsky. Elvis constructed is own “personalized religion out of what he'd read of Hinduism, Judaism, numerology, theosophy, mind control, positive thinking and Christianity"[6]

These three great fathers of Rock and Roll were all into the occult. In 1951 when this new kind of music came onto the scene, it was called by different names: boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues, etc. However, none of these terms seemed to “Hit the spot” until a DJ. named Allan Freed, who worked on a Cleveland Ohio radio station, went down into the ghetto area of Cleveland and asked them what they called this kind of music. “Rock and Roll” they replied, “Due to the fact that we commit fornication and/or adultery to the beat of the music; many times in the back seat of a car, so we rock and roll.” Allan Freed returned to the radio station using the term and the rest is history.

JIMI HENDRIX, was still considered in 1992 by Rolling Stone Magazine to be the “greatest guitarist of all time.” “Jimmy was into mysticism, said a friend of his. “He admitted he was possessed by an evil spirit, and he wrestled with it constantly.” When Hendrix sacrificed his guitar on the stage, burning it and smashing it, he wasn’t joking around. Rather, when he sang, “I am a voodoo child,” he meant what he said.

Jim Morison of the Doors, admitted he was possessed by spirits. In his journals, he identified the spirit that was, the spirit of his music. Satan was his “secret mind,” he wrote. Band member Ray Manzarek commented on his deceased band leader by saying, “Jim was real, he was not a showman, he was shaman, and he was possessed...”

In 1988 Rolling Stone reported of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, that he is continually plagued with spirits and voices…though he had seen 39 different therapists and had been bed-ridden for a long time. He was a tortured rock and roll legend that many today, still sing to. “We were doing witchcraft, trying to make witchcraft music,” Brian admitted in a Rolling Stone interview. [7]

In the book, the “Rolling Stones in their own words.” Keith Richards was asked, “Do you think of yourselves as servants of Satan? Keith said he was a follower of Alexis Crowley. “Once you start there is no turning back,” Keith said. “Everyone’s Lucifer”

Who was this Aleister Crowley that the Rolling Stones followed? He was an early 20^th century British bi-sexual occultist who came to see himself as the prophet entrusted to inform humanity, that it was entering the new Aeon of Horus. In other words, he ushered in the New Age. Who was this New Age going to be dedicated to? Horus is the Egyptian deity we call the devil. “I was not content to believe in a personal devil and serve him,” wrote Crowley, “I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his chief of staff.”[8] Crowley taught that one could be a musical genius through contact with demon spirits. Crowley is the Satanist who the Beatles counted as one of their “Heroes” and is featured as such, on their Srgt Pepper’s Album cover. The Doors also featured Crowley on their album cover as did the Rolling Stones. So, we see Crowley was a major influence among rock n roll musicians.

IN Ozzy Osborne’s most famous song called “Mr. Crowley,” Crowley is eulogized with the following words:

“Mr Crowley, what went down in your head
(Oh) Mr. Crowley, did you talk to the dead
Your lifestyle to me seems so tragic
With the thrill of it all
You fooled all the people with magic
(Yeah)You waited on Satan's call”

In 1970, The Beatles' number one status was eventually replaced by the band Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page, the group’s leader, was also a follower of the Satanist, Aleister Crowley. “I have employed his system in my everyday life,” Page said. Part of Crowley’s so-called magic was to train his adherents to write backwards.

And so we have the famous instance of Led Zeppelin’s number one rock song of all time, Stairway to Heaven with interesting forwards and backwards messages.

Forwards, a phrase in the song goes: “your stairway lies on the whispering wind.” But backwards can be heard, “because I live with Satan.”

Forwards is sung:

"If there's a bustle in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now.
It's just a spring clean for the may-queen.

Yes there are two paths you can go by.
But in the long run.
There's still time to change the road you're on."

Backwards can be heard: “Here to my sweet Satan… I want to live it backwards like the Zep whose power is Satan… He will give you give you 666.”

Now I had heard about this backwards masking decades ago but didn’t really believe until I heard it recently with my own ears. These satanic verses can be heard as plain as day.

In Led Zeppelin’s song "Houses of the Holy", they sing outright, "Let the music be YOUR MASTER/ Will you heed the master's call/ Oh, Satan . . ."

Pink Floyd in their song Lucifer Sam sings:

Lucifer Sam, …
Always sitting by your side
Always by your side

By the way all of these tunes are readily available as ring tones on your cell phone in case you were interested.

The song "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones, is the official anthem for the Church of Satan. In it, Lucifer speaks in the first person and asks sympathy for all who meet him.

Lead singer, Mick Jagger claims that Anton Lavey, the founder of the Church of Satan and author of the Satanic Bible, help inspired their music!

How serious are these Rock and Roll bands? At the 1992 MTV Awards, the group Red Hot Chili Peppers, upon receiving their award said:

"FIRST OF ALL we want to thank Satan . . ."

Santana says that when he played with Eric Clapton for [the album] Supernatural, they were literally "calling out the spirits." [9]

The band leader has been quite candid about the fact that he has had supernatural direction and assistance from an occult spirit entity, which calls Metatron. This spirit entity guaranteed and even prophesied the tremendous success of the album Supernatural before the project had even gotten off the ground.[10]

Michael Jackson also believed that it was from the spirit world that he received his songs.

Weird Rock n Roller, Frank Zappas went further when he said: “I'm the devil's advocate. We have our own worshippers who are called 'groupies.' Girls will give their bodies to musicians as you would give a sacrifice to a god."[11]

According to the book, Satanism in America, which is endorsed by the National Criminal Justice Task Force on Occult Related Ritualistic Crimes, hard-core Satanism is, "the fastest-growing subculture among America's TEENS." Studies taken by the Georgia Police Academy revealed — 90% of those involved in Satanism are TEENAGERS!

Madonna is quoted as saying: “I’m a tormented person; I have a lot of demons inside of me.”[12]

The Beatles press officier is quoted as saying: [The Beatles are] completely antichrist. I mean, I am antichrist as well, but they're so antichrist they shock me which isn't an easy thing.[13]

John Lennon said, quote: “I've sold my soul to the devil.[14]

One of the top songs of the 1970's was “Hotel California” by the Eagles.

Most people have no idea the song refers to the Church of Satan, which happens to be located in a converted hotel on California street. On the inside of the album cover, looking down on the festivities, is Anton Lavey, the founder of the Church of Satan. People say, the Eagles aren't serious, they're just selling records. Hardly! The Eagle’s manager, Larry Salter, admitted in the Waco Tribune-Herald, in 1982, that the Eagles were involved with the Church of Satan. Not surprisingly, one of the Eagles's songs is titled “Have A Good Day in Hell”

As I hope is evident we could go on and on and on about the satanic influence of one rock band after other and their music. I have avoided the worst of it by not speaking of human sacrifice and other atrocities that goes on in heavy metal music. But then, can we then take refuge in Christian Rock?

Let’s let a twenty-one-year-old student from Michigan answer this question:

"'Christian rock' has hindered my life because the only difference between 'Christian rock' and secular rock is the words. The beat, rhythm, and the melody are not different; they are the same.

"It does not matter whether I listen to secular or 'Christian rock,' when the songs are over, I feel the same. I feel an emptiness in my soul, a heavy burden. Even 'Christian rock' sometimes makes me feel like going out and getting rowdy or even hurting someone else if they provoke me, and that is against all of God's teachings, and everything God stands for. So get rid of all rock!!!"

The quotes from other young people that think the same about Christian Rock are numerous and readily available.

Let’s take our cue from this 21 year old. What should you do if you now possess Rock n Roll music? The trash can is too good for it. As with other possessed objects, this music should be burnt and destroyed. But in a pinch, a garbage disposal will do.

In the early 1970’s, Christian Rock was brought to a remote town in Indonesia were Christian missionaries were serving there. Christian Rock was supposedly the “in thing” at the time. One night they were playing a record, when an older Christian stopped by the door in astonishment and asked: “Why are you playing witch doctor’s music, by which Satan is called upon?”[15] [16] The music is the same though the words maybe different.

Fr. Basil Nortz spent 3 hours putting together his “Music and Morality” series in which one can easily make the point that Christian Rock is an oxymoron. It is like saying someone can be a Christian hedonist. Rock and Roll appeals to the lower nature of man – it preys upon our emotions. It doesn’t lead us up towards heaven; it delivers us up to our fleshly desires. Rock and Roll is based upon Voodoo rhythms. It doesn’t matter what the words are, the music can never be Christian.

Instead of bringing calm to the passions, which is the aim of Christian virtue, Rock music, whether Christian or not, stimulates the passions and makes what is already difficult to control, even more so.

In the Catholic Church, we have the founder of Life Teen Masses to thank for introducing Rock and Roll regularly into the Sanctuary. The founder of Life Teen is Dale Fushek, who, may God have mercy on his soul, has been indicted for predatory acts with boys, and who thinks it's okay for priests to officiate at Protestant worship services. Needless to say, he is no longer a priest in good standing. And neither is Christian Rock. Church documents on liturgical music throughout the 20^th century are explicit in that the music, aside from the words, the music must be sacred. To think that rock and roll, whose very name conjures up mortal sin, to think that this music is sacred, is blasphemous.

"My true belief about Rock 'n' Roll, Little Richard said, “is this: I believe this kind of music is demonic. ... A lot of the beats in music today are taken from voodoo, from the voodoo drums. If you study music in rhythms, like I have, you'll see that is true. I believe that kind of music is driving people from Christ. It is contagious"[17] unquote Little Richard, King of Rock and Roll.

Rock star, David Bowie, who should know what he is talking about said, “Rock has always been the devil’s music, you can’t convince me that it isn’t. - I believe rock and roll is dangerous.”[18]

Plato said that “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul” May those secret places reserved for God alone never be assailed by such music that clearly leads souls to hell.

Go With God!

2010-09-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

Go where God leads you! He has led me here!

TVKim- Watching: Kim's Picks- Drawing Heaven

2010-09-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

TVKim- Watching: Kim's Picks- Drawing Heaven

We The People

2010-09-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

I've Noticed!

2010-09-23T10:08:00.001-07:00

I've noticed that Christians (we Christians) get together and fast and pray for changes, value changes that will make things better. But we don't make it a priority to first reach out to the lost (and pray for the lost) - to those who are far from God. Instead we shame them and tell them to shape up!

Better said: Christians and conservatives fight to make changes in the society that reflects our values, but we forget that in the process we often shame the lost and tell them to shape up rather than reach out to them and win them for Christ.

This is what I really meant to say!

40 Day Fast For America!

2010-09-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

The 40 day fast for America info is found here.

Mayor in Canada story!

2010-09-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

This is a video about an 88 year old mayor in Mississaugua in Canada. A most amazing woman, this is one of the most delightful things I have ever seen!

Pay close attention to what she says are the secrets to her success as far as the economy of Mississaugua.

Acting and thinking out of your gut!

2010-09-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

Time to write my story

2010-08-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

I've decided it's time to figure out how to effectively write my story - you know? Really write a story that will engage the reader - so it will make the greatest impact, so the reality of what Christ has done for me will sink in.

I have ordered Bill Hybels' book Just Walk Across The Room in hopes that he will be able to help me.

The story gets so complicated and windy - after how many years - the essence gets lost. And it is full of impossible things. But I have decided that this is my theme:

"did I not say if you would believe that you would see the glory of God? Nothing is impossible with God!"

God puts the impossible in your life so His glory can be revealed through your faith believing beyond what you see, so God can overcome that impossible thing.

Loving Our Enemies

2010-08-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

This post may be a little surprising because of the post just recently about my dad. They may seem almost opposite in attitude, but the truth is that the last post about my dad was the one that is a little out of the ordinary. This one reflects the truth that I feel most often.

I received an email from a friend who shared a passage from Luke about loving our enemies. This was offered in reference to coping with radical Muslims, but for me it relates to dealing with someone who in many ways is my worst enemy - my father.

Here is the passage:

Luke 6:
20 ¶ And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
27 ¶ But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.
30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Proverbs 25:21 ¶ If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
Proverbs 25:22 For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.
Matthew 5:43 ¶ Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Acts 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Romans 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
Romans 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Romans 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
1 Thessalonians 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

And here is my response to my friend:

Dear ________

More thoughts on this: These words always cut to the heart. I need to hear these words. I am dealing with the issue of loving my enemies.

It is hard to truly love, as is described here.

My father has never repented to God of his abuse towards my mother or me, or his abuse and indifference towards his children, nor has he ever made amends. He is almost in his grave. He has spent 15 years of agonizing affliction, following a horrible stroke that has paralyzed him. In all this time he hasn't asked God what he has done wrong, examined his heart. It is evident because you can tell that there is something separating him from God. He doesn't have peace. Day in and day out he complains and yells. He watches TV from the time he gets up to when he goes to bed, to drown out any voice that might speak to him.

I don't enjoy his company. His spirit is not at rest. I want to hate him for disappointing me.

I want to hate him for never even setting right what was not right in my childhood, the things that hurt so deeply.

I want to hate him for not reaching out and loving us as a father and a husband should.

But God gives me the grace, being my true father, to be the one to reach out first, with mercy towards someone who doesn't deserve it.

Yet, reading the passages that you have sent me reminds me time and time again that I still don't measure up to God's high standard of love.

My dad is like my greatest enemy, and the question is: do I love my enemy? Because Jesus asks us to love our enemies. He asks a lot!

Thanks for sending those, so I can ask myself again if I measure up to God's standard.

I realize that I will never love anyone in this world well enough until I learn to love my dad, who is in many ways my great nemesis.

Love,

Hello to the whole world!

2010-08-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

Since this blog can be read by anyone, anywhere, and has had comments from England, and the United Arab Emirates, I am shouting out to the whole world!

I guess I am growing weary of having a blog. I didn't want to make you feel guilty for not commenting, as I seemed to be doing in that post just before the last one. I was just trying to show how it gets to feeling a little pointless to be doing a blog if no one comments, and the comments sort of keep you going.

But it goes beyond that. The internet has just sort of lost its glitter for me. I am not as enamored of it anymore. I just feel I am drifting on to something else - something I cannot see, but that God has for me.

I am doing Facebook and will continue to do that, but even there I am not so passionate.

I hope you understand.

I will leave my blogs here for you to read, and will post again, as the spirit leads. But I won't be so passionate about contributing to this blog, or the Journey blog anymore. The Journey blog has pretty much all of what I wanted to post, minus a few entries, which I'll add as time goes on.

But otherwise, this lady is looking for new worlds to explore. Are there worlds outside of the web?

Daily Prayer For The Single Woman

2010-07-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

Lord Jesus,
GUARD MY GOING OUT AND MY COMING IN FROM THIS DAY FORWARD (PSALM 121)
GUARD MY HEART
GUARD ME FROM THE DECEITFULNESS OF MY OWN SIN
GUARD MY TONGUE AND MY ACTIONS
GUARD ME FROM MEN AND WOMEN IN LEAGUE WITH THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL, SONS OF YOURS OR NOT
GUARD ME FROM THE TRAPS SET FOR ME
MAY I ALWAYS SEE YOU BEFORE ME - THE ONLY TRUTH
MAY I ALWAYS PRAY BEFORE I BEGIN TO WORRY OR BECOME FEARFUL
HEAL ME OF WHATEVER CAUSES ME TO SIN AND WHATEVER KEEPS ME FROM LOVE
MAY I SOMEHOW MAKE YOUR TRUTH REAL TO OTHERS AND BRING THEM INTO YOUR LOVE
BRING ME TO THOSE WHO THINK AND FEEL AS I DO ABOUT YOU!
HELP ME TO HAVE FAITH REGARDING A HUSBAND, BUT TO LIVE AS IF IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER
SURPRISE ME! HAND ME YOUR INSCRUTABLE AND HUMOROUS WAYS OF DOING THINGS, ALWAYS
LEAD ME ALWAYS BACK TO LAUGHTER
WHEN MY MIND BECOMES HOSTILE TO YOU, BRING IT BACK TO YOU
MAY I TRULY BELIEVE, BEYOND ALL I THINK, ALL I FEEL, AND ALL I SEE
AMEN

I'm Giving Up On My Blog!

2010-07-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am getting weary of my blog. When I think of a new post that tells about something that happened in my life, I think, "no one is listening."

It hasn't bothered me too much that there are very few comments, but comments would help me to connect with readers. Without them, this gets to feeling like I'm just making a journal to myself, which has value, but what is the point of it being online?

This has started to feel rather pointless.

I am beginning to give up on this project, and wondering if God has some other project for me.

Breakfast With Ginger

2010-07-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

On my dad and the elderly

2010-07-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

I am getting ready to leave for a week so I am rushed.

I just wanted to pen these thoughts about my dad who is 86 and deteriorating. My mom and I have discussed that since he is suffering, it would be best for him to "go home," and so we have prayed that God would take him.

I realized last night one of the reasons why God may not have taken him yet. It is because we are not yet ready to say goodbye. I will find it hard to say goodbye to the man who loves cats so much.

Insert: picture of my dad with my new kitten. See kitten, top right of my blog.

He had her on his lap and was petting her, and saying how much he loves cats. I was awestruck by that. He was talking about how cats are so cute. They're cuddly and soft and you love to hug them. These are reasons why cats are usually enjoyed more by women. Guys like dogs: big, strong and not necessarily as cuddly, though great companions.

But my dad's appreciation for cats, for what is true about them - they are cuddly, soft and one loves to hug a cat - shows his security in his masculinity. I sensed my mom was almost embarrassed when he said those things about cats, because it almost sounded funny coming from a man. But I think, "wow, that is so cool. He is so secure as a man he isn't afraid to say he loves to hug soft, cuddly doll-like animals, or baby-like animals."

This sent my heart out to him, and made me realize this is why he is still here, even though he is suffering. That moment of being reminded of his love for cats would have been lost if he wasn't still here. It was a special moment. It is for those special moments that an aging parent or loved one hangs on.

We can't say goodbye to a person we've known for a lifetime without plenty of special moments. I thank God for that one!

Alternative!

2010-07-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

I've discovered an alternative to the syndrome of Sunday morning going-to-church doldrums, for the Christian looking for a challenge to his faith, and a way to grow.

Instead of looking to be fed, try finding getting fed somewhere other than a Sunday morning service (since you usually don't get fed very well there) and go looking for the unchurched who aren't going to church on Sunday morning. Imagine the possibilities - imagine the people who are out on a Sunday morning, who are searching for meaning, purpose, answers to their lives, but simply have no expectation of finding these inside a church. BE the church. Go to them! Bring Jesus to them!

I thought this morning of going to a neighborhood known for being inhabited by gay people, and looking for "clues" (prophetic evangelism.) This can be an exciting way to spend a Sunday morning, and a way to stop just being fed and start giving out what you have been given so you don't dry up from not giving.

I realized that Satan makes me think that I need so much help, so much taking in, when what I need is to give out. Sure, I will continue to need to be in the corporate worship setting, I will continue to need prayer, and to hear a good message, and to study the Word, but if I don't give Jesus away, He will become like the manna that the children of Israel hoarded and went bad.

The clue that the Lord gave me this morning was a fairly young man, in his 30s to 40s, with a crew cut, and cut off sleeves, masculine, sitting like in a coffee shop setting. Then I saw a snake wrapped around his arm. It could be more than one thing. It could be a tattoo, or it could be that the snake represents bondage to some sin problem. It could be sexual, but I don't know. I'll find out when I meet him.

Prophetic evangelism - very exciting!

The Lord was giving me clues over a period of a couple of weeks after reading Kevin Dedmon's book The Ultimate Treasure Hunt. I saw overweight people - severely overweight and heard God ask me "can you love them?"

So, I was looking for overweight people, particularly a woman who was grossly overweight in an automated chair of some kind - that's what I saw.

Time went on and I never ran into any one like this, especially the woman with the chair. Then I worked at the healing rooms yesterday, and a woman came in who was very overweight and said she had diabetes. We prayed for her, and God gave me compassion for her, especially since He had prepared me with seeing someone like her in my mind's eye.

Now I wonder if she isn't the lady with the chair. Maybe I was seeing her as she would be if the diabetes had advanced and her weight got worse.

God gives you clues and you are left to try to understand what He is trying to show you.

National Anthem - Star Spangled Banner - tear jerker

2010-07-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

I cried this morning listening to this!

Mount Rushmore Singers

2010-07-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th - don't let Obama get to you!

2010-07-02T17:18:00.001-07:00

image: www.myspace.com/mangojohn

Israel: Defying all odds

2010-07-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

I've been reading Kevin Dedmon

2010-06-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

I've been reading two books by Kevin Dedmon. First I read "Unlocking Heaven" where he talks about being "naturally supernatural" - he talks about how to bring divine healing to other people, and that it's not out of our reach.

God has used him to do amazing re-creative miracles - growing out severed limbs, things like that. His writing just melts in my mouth. I can't put him down.

Then, I read "The Ultimate Treasure Hunt" in which he explains how to be led prophetically to people so that you can show them that God specifically led you to them, and gave you specific details about them, so that they will open up to God and receive him. He shows how you are not so far away from being prophetic. I tried it once - I tried going on a treasure hunt by myself - and it worked. God led me specifically to this one lady. He told me who to look for, where and what her need was. Then I had to find the courage to go up to her and tell her what I was up to, and ask her if she wanted prayer.

I was amazed at how God had given me the exact "clues" and they were accurate.

You must read him. He will put the fire of the Holy Spirit back into your life because he walks in it daily.

Happy Birthday To Me!

2010-06-24T09:48:00.001-07:00

The Greatest Threat Facing America...according to Dennis Prager

2010-06-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Dennis Prager says, it's not Obama, it's the failure to pass down to the next generation the values of the American Trinity.

The American Trinity is found on every coin - did you know that? They are: E Pluribus Unum, Liberty, and In God We Trust.

E Pluribus Unum means, from many cultures, one, meaning that people are to come here with their culture and language and become part of America, not insist on changing America to suit themselves. That's how it has always been. They are to learn the language and culture and become part of it. That doesn't mean throwing away their original culture.

The other two are sort of self explanatory.

I Love My Dad!

2010-06-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Shown with Buddy, my cat who is in heaven!

FDR and now

2010-06-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

Interesting Insights about music

2010-06-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

This is a letter sent by a friend who lives on the East Coast. She and her husband and two kids live in a Catholic community. I met her in my hometown in Minnesota in Junior High.

These are some cool insights.

While doing my decluttering, I came upon the attached review by Joseph Sobran from 1988 of a book called Seductions of Crime by Jack Katz which I’d saved and marked up. I was struck by his descriptions of what we’d call “cool.”

Katz discusses criminals (and those not at all opposed to becoming such) having:

“...’an alien aesthetic’ of strutting, glaring, tattoos, slang, dress and general demeanor, all signifying a ‘toughness [that] manifests that one is not morally or emotionally accessible.”

“...[scary tattoos] suggest that the wearer...is unresponsive to conventional moral appeals.”

“...taking the posture of an alien presence, a being who moves coolly above the mundane realities of others.”

“The person who would be tough must cultivate in others the perception that they cannot reach his sensibilities.”

I wonder if the reality is that they CANNOT be reached. That it isn’t any cultivated act...just fact. That if it IS an act, it’s a way to sluff off and deny & defy the reality of who they are, what they have done, what they have become.

Take what interpretation one may, I found Katz’s “take” (pardon the pun) “arresting” – his description is something we all recognize but perhaps haven’t seen expressed so clearly. Of course Socrates recognized the attitude millennia ago in relation to music (music, as Ted pointed out, was seen as being capable of being bad, loooooooong ago!):

'Through foolishness they deceived themselves into thinking that there was no right or wrong way in music, that it was to be judged good or bad by the pleasure it gave." With these words Plato complained about the "promiscuous cleverness and a spirit of law-breaking" that characterized the music of his time—the fourth century B.C.

Socrates points out that music “makes men [adolescents! PN] think they are knowers” – and, when they get the wordsmiths involved, music incites them to a state of mind where they “publicize what is properly private.” Socrates talks about certain types of music making the young, when ensconced in it, unable to recognize their betters (IMHO, take, say, certain rap music, or as Cassie as a kid thought it was called, “rat music”).

Another factor regarding music’s power - I remember how Plato wrote that whatever music is currently in vogue “presages the regime to come.”

presage: Etymology: Middle English, from Latin praesagium, from praesagus having a foreboding, from prae- + sagus prophetic — more at seek

Date: 14th century

1 : something that foreshadows or portends a future event : omen
2 : an intuition or feeling of what is going to happen in the future
3 archaic : prognostication
4 : warning or indication of the future

Jim once observed that he was feeling perplexed about what music IS, about what it IS that makes humans suddenly go from our normal way of being to that state in which we feel impelled to break into “song” and create “music” -- the answer that came: “Celebration.” “Music comes when we celebrate. And shows exactly WHAT we celebrate.”

As Socrates and Plato knew, it isn’t always nice or lawful.

But as far as prognostication of the future, I actually think things “musically” have improved. Not to sound like the old fogey that I am, but I’ve seen and heard and passed thru a lot in my day! And I think in general what we hear now is less confused and more hopeful than, say, the punk era...

Paula

A kid who likes puddles!

2010-06-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

Glory the cat at 4 months

2010-06-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here is my little cutey at 4 months at the breakfast table.

Glory the cat and water

2010-06-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

Now that my cat Glory is 9 months, I am used to her habit of interfering with my brushing my teeth every night. She climbs on the sink and tries to knock the toothpaste cap off the sink. Then she gets in the sink and plays with the running water. Does it annoy me? Not really.

Watch her here.

We con the world!

2010-06-06T12:57:00.001-07:00

My cousin sent me this.

Lord, let me never cease to praise you!

2010-06-05T23:54:00.000-07:00

Psalm 107: 8-9

⁸ Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
⁹ For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.

The Lord SATISFIES THE LONGING SOUL.

HE FILLS THE HUNGRY SOUL WITH GOODNESS!!!!!

Soldiers Surprising Their Loved Ones

2010-05-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

Go here

My only prayer is that the incredible sacrifice, demonstrated here by the lives who made it home (think of all those who didn't) would not be wasted by losing our freedom here at home.

In honor of all who have sacrificed for our country!

2010-05-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

The Nature of the Tuxedo Cat!

2010-05-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

Boys will be boys - no matter the species!

2010-05-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Shocking Anti-Semitism in France, part 2

2010-05-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

I just talked to a friend yesterday who has spent a considerable amount of time in France. The reason is because she loves France and has a vision to bring revival there.

She has spent a fair amount of time in places such as Paris, but has also gone to the countryside. She is fairly well off and has been able to vacation there quite a lot.

Anyway, the point is, she reads a paper regularly from there, and has first-hand knowledge from having spent time there, so I thought I'd ask about the information I received about wide-spread anti-Semitism happening in France. She said she has not heard of such a thing. She thought the number of Muslims sounded far-fetched and that the Muslims in France were not lashing out at Jews.

She said that the Muslims in France do not have the same rights as in the United States. If the women want to wear Burkas in Paris they are not allowed to. If children want to dress differently to public school, they are not allowed to.

Children born to Muslims in France are not granted citizenship as they are in the United States. They are considered people without a country, so by the time they are 18 or so, they become angry, and there have been riots by some of these young people. These riots are aimed at the government of France, not towards Jews.

Certainly there have been instances of anti-Semitism, she said, just as in the United States, but not in alarming numbers.

This is interesting news, and it causes me to question the validity of Snopes, which didn't deny the account of the email that said there was all this widespread anti-semitism happening in France.

I would believe my friend first and foremost. She has a heartfelt interest in France.

She said that the Muslims that live in France are concentrated in the larger cities such as Paris and Marseilles. And she said there are probably about 4 million of them.

It sounds like A) the Muslims in France are more interested in protesting their own hindered rights than attacking Jews

B) that they are more peace-keeping than what was described in this email

C) that they have legitimate reason for their protests

It also sounds as if the person circulating the email was trying to create unnecessary alarm about the spread of Islam and the danger of Muslim beliefs. We need to understand people. Not all Muslims are being destructive, and France is not such an impotent country. Look, it doesn't even allow Muslims to practice their religion as freely as we do in our country.

Radical Islam shouldn't make us crazy. OK, don't deny that it exists, but don't see it under every tree either!!!

Life Changing Message!!!!!!!

2010-05-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

This comes from Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park, MN. It is James Hammond, Mac Hammond's son. Mac Hammond is the senior pastor at Living Word.

This is the most amazing message about the power of our words.

I cannot think or talk the same anymore!

Here is the link:

http://www.lwcc.org/MEDIA/onDemandPlayer.cfm?lwlID=620

I was amazed at what he said about the water changing with the words "do it" and "let's do it" and the difference with that one word was so great. The water crystallized for the word "let's" - it was so much more positive.

And he talked about time. He said it takes time. We give up. We don't wait for results.

Watch this, open your mind, and let it change you!!!!!

Is It Right To Judge?

2010-05-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

I found this great writing on the subject of Judging. I have been burdened by my own judgment of people lately, and asking if I should be judging others.

This essay answers those questions.

Note: I think that the biblical passage that says "judge not" means "condemn not." The word judge in this essay is really being used to denote discernment. The kind of judging that was bothering me towards others is condemnation - I was being condemning. But it is important to make a distinction between condemning and "judging" in the context that is being written about here.

Shocking Anti-Semitism in France!

2010-05-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

This is an email my uncle sent to me. He says Snopes doesn't deny it. There is other news on Google that seems to corroborate this.

Once again, the real news in France is conveniently not being reported as it should. To give you an idea of what's going on in that country where there are now between 5 and 6 million Muslims and about 600,000 Jews, here is an E-mail that came from a Jew living in France.

Please read! "Will the world say nothing - again - as it did in Hitler's time?" He writes: "I AM A JEW -- therefore I am forwarding this to everyone on all my e-mail lists. I will not sit back and do nothing. Nowhere have the flames of anti-Semitism burned more furiously than in France. In Lyon, a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire. In Montpellier, the Jewish religious center was firebombed; so were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseilles; so was a Jewish school in Creteil - all recently. A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Molotov cocktails and on the statue of Alfred Dreyfus, in Paris, the words 'Dirty Jew' were painted. In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars. The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months. According to the Police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti-Jewish incidents PER DAY in the past 30 days. Walls in Jewish neighborhoods have been defaced with slogans proclaiming 'Jews to the gas chambers' and 'Death to the Jews.' A gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher's shop (and, of course, the butcher) in Toulouse, France. A Jewish couple in their 20's were beaten up by five men in Villeurbanne, France (the woman was pregnant). A Jewish school was broken into and vandalized in Sarcelles, France. This was just in the past week."

"So I call on you, whether you are a fellow Jew, a friend, or merely a person with the capacity and desire to distinguish decency from depravity, to do - at least - these three simple things:

First, care enough to stay informed. Don't ever let yourself become deluded into thinking that this is not your fight. I remind you of what Pastor Neimoller said in World War II: 'First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.'

Second, boycott France and French products. Only the Arab countries are more toxically anti-Semitic and, unlike them, France exports more than just oil and hatred. So boycott their wines and their perfumes. Boycott their clothes and their foodstuffs. Boycott their movies. Definitely boycott their shores. If we are resolved we can exert amazing pressure and, whatever else we may know about the French, we most certainly know that they are like a cobweb in a hurricane in the face of well-directed pressure.

Third, send this along to your family, your friends, and your co-workers. Think of all of the people of good conscience that you know and let them know that you - and the people that you care - about need their help.

The number one bestselling book in France is....'September 11: The Frightening Fraud' which argues that no plane ever hit the Pentagon!

Please Pass This On, Let's not let history repeat itself, thank-you for your time and consideration."

Clever Church Signs

2010-05-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

Letter to Orange County California Newspaper

2010-05-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

Orange County California Newspaper

This is a very good letter to the editor. This woman made some good points. For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when arguing against supporting the currently proposed immigration revisions. This lady made the argument pretty simple.

NOT printed in the Orange county Paper ....................

Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published; but, with your help it will get published via cyberspace!

From: 'David LaBonte'

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to 'print' it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented . Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the E mperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2009 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules; one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

Ever heard of Laminin?

2010-05-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

Watch this video to learn what it is.

I Hope You Dance Radio Version

2010-05-01T17:19:00.001-07:00

I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack

2010-05-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

This is also one of my favorite songs!

This One's For The Girls by Martina McBride

2010-05-01T16:47:00.001-07:00

This is one of my favorite songs!

Cute Dog Trick on Jay Leno

2010-04-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

This is a Jack Russell Terrier

Mexican Tombstones!

2010-04-30T16:20:00.001-07:00

Healing!

2010-04-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

I just completed four weeks of healing training with the Healing Rooms of St. Paul.

At the end of it they blessed us and talked about how this is the beginning of something that we will be doing for the rest of our lives.

This is something that I am very gradually moving in to - and prayerfully embarking on. I want to bring healing to others, while I have initially sought healing for myself.

They talk about how healing can be used as evangelism - how we can go out into the marketplace and bring healing to total strangers - and in the process, bring them into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

They talk about the prophetic, about hearing from God - knowing what a person needs to hear, knowing what a person's needs are, so that we can touch their hearts with the love of Father God.

Cuddling with an elephant seal

2010-04-24T19:03:00.001-07:00

How much you want to bet this elephant seal is a male?

Bill Graver's Church's New Video

2010-04-13T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the new video, it's called Hero Bill.

Date Night! I so laughed!

2010-04-11T14:06:00.001-07:00

This is the hardest I have laughed in a while. It's the best comedy I've seen in a while. Great movie! Don't read any of the spoiling reviews, because I went without knowing anything about it and was pleasantly surprised.

It's just this couple, bored with their lives, deciding to go on dates, and they go on this date in Manhattan. There! That's all you need to know.

Qualifier: This is a Hollywood movie! Not everything in it is squeaky clean. I laughed at things that if I were a completely innocent person, I probably wouldn't have laughed.

Animals tell us what God is like!!!!!

2010-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

The bible tells us that nature declares the glory of God. And the reason I love animals so much is because of the way they purely demonstrate the nature of God.

Here you see examples of the mother instinct that God has placed in the animals. God is truly not just a father. He is also a mother.

Guess What This is?

2010-04-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

Can you get it on the first picture or second or third or?
Do you have to wait till the fourth??

???

New Cook County Correctional Center, Chicago, Illinois
It shows that in most cases the quality of life for prisoners has improved considerably from what you might expect.

Oh yea, they can also choose from the menu!?

Let me see now .. Who was the US ?Senator who helped arrange the

funds to build this beautiful "punishment center"??? Oh yes, it was Obama!!!? No wonder he sees nothing wrong with the wasted

spending in his "Stimulus Plan".

This is where he plans on putting the terrorists from Gitmo, and we have Americans living in cardboard boxes on the streets that have never killed anyone. Nothing makes sense anymore.

Dream last night

2010-04-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

Again a vivid dream, only now it's fading, but I'm going from place to place in America - just as I did in 2005, and everywhere I go, God is doing something incredible - people are being touched by God. Places that are old, antiquated are revived.

It is a dream of revival. It was so real and so pleasant.

Gotta love the New York Times!

2010-04-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

A biker is riding by the zoo, when he sees a little girl
leaning into the lion's cage.
Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and
tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of
her screaming parents.
The biker jumps off his bike, runs to the cage and hits the
lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.

Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of
the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents,
who thank him endlessly.

A New York Times reporter has watched the whole event. The
reporter says, 'Sir, this was the most gallant and brave
thing I saw a man do in my whole life.'

The biker replies, 'Why, it was nothing, really, the
lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger,
and acted as I felt right.'

The reporter says, 'Well, I'm a journalist from the
New York Times, and tomorrow's paper will have this
story on the front page... So, what do you do for a living
and what political affiliation do you have? '
The biker replies, 'I'm a U.S. Marine and a
Republican.'
The following morning the biker buys The New York Times to
see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads, on
front page:
U.S. MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH

He Is Risen!

2010-04-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

How do I know He lives? He lives within my heart!!!

He has come through. My mind was under attack. I asked you all for prayer, and thanks so much, because so much peace has come in and taken the place of the attack.

Enjoy this B.C. cartoon about the resurrection! We have nothing but joy in our lives because Jesus has conquered death and the devil. He gave us all power - over disease, death, the devil, over every evil!!!!!!!

I tell you I am so full of joy I could burst!

image:www.wghsuccess.com/he%20is%20risen%20closeup.htm

3 Nuns at a baseball game!

2010-04-03T11:35:00.001-07:00

3 NUNS WERE ATTENDING A YANKEE BASEBALL GAME.

THREE MEN WERE SITTING DIRECTLY BEHIND. BECAUSE THEIR HABITS WERE PARTIALLY BLOCKING THE VIEW, THE MEN DECIDED TO BADGER THE NUNS HOPING THAT THEY'D GET ANNOYED ENOUGH TO MOVE TO ANOTHER AREA.

IN A VERY LOUD VOICE, THE FIRST GUY SAID,

"I THINK I'M GOING TO MOVE TO UTAH.

THERE ARE ONLY 100 NUNS LIVING THERE."

THEN THE SECOND GUY SPOKE UP AND SAID,
"I WANT TO GO TO MONTANA

THERE ARE ONLY 5O NUNS LIVING THERE."

THE THIRD GUY SAID,

"I WANT TO GO TO IDAHO . THERE ARE ONLY 25 NUNS LIVING THERE."

THE MOTHER SUPERIOR TURNED AROUND, LOOKED AT THE MEN, AND IN A VERY SWEET AND CALM VOICE SAID,

"WHY DON'T YOU GO TO HELL...

THERE AREN'T ANY NUNS THERE!"