I have been watching from afar a rather nasty battle over Northland International University of Dunbar, Wisconsin, formerly known as Northland Baptist Bible College. Dr. Les Ollila, their former President and Chacellor, is very upset at critical bloggers who in his view have torn his former school apart. There is certainly a great deal of truth in what he says. This gives me an idea. I will be a RESPONSIBLE blogger who attempts to build people up with uplifting messages in church and positive articles. So I may answer Dr. Ollila's valid complaint about "unaccountable" bloggers who "make me sick" and who should "get a life," I will ask Liz Cutler Gates if she will place a link to my blog on www.fgbc.org website. That way fellow pastors and educators can see my writings and hold me accountable. Dr. Ollila, I promise to be a good boy and will build people up through my blog. Promise.

Dr. David Plaster was my theology professor at Grace Seminary and is perhaps the greatest man I ever knew. It was in his Theology class that I heard that airplanes hit the Twin Tower in New York City. Dr. Plaster later cautioned his students to not use "theodicies," an attempt to explain God's purpose when He allows an evil event to occur. Sadly, Dr. Plaster died a few years ago of a brain fever after returning from a visit to the Central African Republic. If were he alive today my guess is he would tell us, "Yes, evil triumphed in the 2012 election. Since we don't know the mind of God, it is fruitless to try to assign a reason to it. This, however, gives us a reason to proclaim Christ. Get to work!"

Woke up at 2:00AM on the morning of Hurricane Sandy because of the howling wind and went to the computer to read about it. The coverage is much the same as when our family experienced Hurricanes Bonnie, Dennis and Floyd in the late 1990s: "The world is coming to an end!", and then the sun shines brightly the following day. The bad news is Jersey and New York have been dealt a heavy blow. The good news is Perfect Storm Sandy pushes Barack Hussein Obama off the Drudge Report a week before the election. New York trumpeter Mark Gould quipped, "They should have named it A-Rod and it wouldn't have hit anything." But then I went to my favorite political website, The American Thinker (http://www.americanthinker.com/). Someone has written a post mortem of the 2012 campaign and why Romney won ("Mitt's Royal Slam" by J.R. Dunn). Isn't it just a bit early for a post mortem? It ain't over yet! And though I'm confident that Obama's Reign of Error is coming to an inglorious end, we're still talking about Republicans here. I live in rural Indiana, and there is no way that a Republican Senate candidate can lose in this atmosphere, right? Google "Richard Mourdock" and see how he has self-destructed his campaign. I'm voting for him, but he's a doofus. Barack Hussein Obama failed as President because he sold himself as The One We've Been Waiting For. The styrofoam columns, the soaring rhetoric, and healing the planet single-handedly is heady stuff indeed. Those who became AT readers didn't buy it, but many others did. Obama used white guilt to get himself elected. The Republicans dutifully nominated The Next In Line as token opposition, and so the country bought the snake oil. It all worked wonderfully. In reality, though, Obama oversold himself. No man except The Savior possesses the ability to do what he claimed he could do. Just as in a classic Greek tragedy, it was inevitable that his conceit and hubris, and also his laziness, would do him in. The chorus repeated "Don't do that!" over and over, but The Hero pressed on blindly. Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/mitts_royal_slam_comments.html#disqus_thread#ixzz2AlkCdEkB

There are two unrealated trends in the election that perfectly describe the angst surrounding Barack Hussein Obama. The first trend is the AIM Surplus website http://www.aimsurplus.com/ . AIM Surplus is a small warehouse in an industrial park in Middletown, Ohio that primarily sells surplus guns and ammo. I bought a 1942 Russian Mosin-Nagant battle rifle and two "spam" cans of surplus ammo from them. We joke that the reason I'm so well-armed is the coming "Twinkie Zombie Apocalypse" ("They will never get me! They will never get my Twinkies!"). Now if you go to the AIM site, you will find the following weapons are sold out: Chinese Type 53 carbine Russian Mosin-Nagant 91/30 "Hexhead" rifle Russian Mosin-Nagant 91/30 rifle (wartime manufacture) Russian Model 1944 carbine Yugoslav M57 Pistol, "Tokarev" The Mosin is the least expensive military surplus military rifle currently for sale. A functional military battle rifle that is capable of "reaching out and touching someone" at 700 yards (if you can shoot that well) costs about $90, and 440 rounds of surplus Soviet bloc ammo is about $70. The old Soviet surplus arms are flying off the shelves. AIM Surplus cannot keep them in stock. The second Obama indicator is the binder "scandal." As governor Mitt Romney wanted to include women in the governance of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. His administration organized the resumes into binders, undoubtedly purchased from Staples, for easy reference. Feminist groups are now pitching a fit about "binders." They call the use of binders "demeaning and sexist." Unlike tampajeff and my wife I am not a huge Star Trek fan. But William Shatner, the actor who played Captain Kirk, famously told a group of trekkies, "Get a life!" The feminists should listen to Shatner. Greta Van Susteren, the Fox News talking head, asked, "How stupid do they think we (women) are?" Four dead in Benghazi, Libya. I remember well "four dead in Ohio," the 1970 Kent State massacre. There were riots and burnings all over the country because of the "murders." But when Republicans dare point out that there is at the very least a massive intelligence failure concerning Benghazi, the Admnistration accuses the Republicans of "politicizing the tragedy." And then Obama goes onto the television show of record, the final word of Jon Stewart, and calls the four deaths "not optimal." The mother of Ambassador Stevens replied, "My son is not very optimal. He is very dead." This is the hype surrounding the Obama campaign.

Just a little warning, guys. I'm starting to write comments and snide remarks on Boiled Sports, a Purdue fan website that is linked to Google Blogs. It may generate some interest on this page. That would be nice, wouldn't it?

I'm disappointed in you, Coach Lovie.

You are one of the good guys. If I had a son who played football I’d want him to play for you. If you were single I’d want my sister to marry you. I am sure you have many good reasons to support a candidate. It is disappointing that you are basing your support for a candidate on the color of his skin.

Look at a calendar. The year is 2012.

The Theology of Winoism

“I used to be all messed up on drugs till I found the Lord. Now I’m all messed up on the Lord.” Cheech & Chong, Big Bambu album (1972)

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Galations 5:1

It looks like LSD is making a comeback as a cure for alcoholism. Oh, but it gets better:

Why would hallucinogens be suited for these kinds of treatments? Johnson said people taking the drugs in the studies he's helped with report that it is "one of the most meaningful experiences — or the most meaningful — in their life."

Some says the "trip" changes the direction of their lives and can trigger a redefinition of how they see themselves. That could be as profound as, "I'm now a nondrinker, or whatever the addiction may be," he said.

Some of us reading this have had “the most meaningful experience” in our lives, an experience that would “trigger a redefinition” of how we see ourselves. And we did it without dropping acid. How bad off is this world that the idea of repenting before God is so terrible that scientists recommend using drugs to simulate the salvation experience?

I don't believe it

"It is He (God) who changes the times and the epochs;

He removes kings and establishes kings;

He gives wisdom to wise men

And knowledge to men of understanding."   Daniel 2:21

I do not believe the words in bold.  They are true of course, I just don't believe them.  The evidence of belief is to act on the belief, and I don't.  I worry about the establishment and removal of kings in places and at times where I should  have thoughts devoted to only one King. 

I downloaded a sermon from Bible teacher John MacArthur which deals with this issue.  I am afraid to listen to it, because like all good preachers he will be telling me things I don't want to hear.

I'm Back

Facebook cannot hold me.  So I have revived the blog.  You will see on the right the start of a bloglist.  The first blog is by Evelyn, a God-fearing Christian woman married to a God-fearing Christian man (You'd be surprised how often that happens.).  Her blog is about issues concerning her son Samuel, who has a rare form of dwarfism.  Samuel was expected to live for a few weeks.  He has exceeded those expectations by about....six years.  (Goodness, is Samuel going to be seven in August?)

You want to visit her blog because it is prettier than mine.  And Evelyn is a much nicer person than I.  And unlike me, she is sane.  And Samuel is a really neat kid.

What the Church of the Squishy Marshmallow Believes

h/t Jill Stanek

My Thoughts Exactly

To Hell with you people.

A Canticle For Leibowitz

It was said that God, in order to test mankind which had become swelled with pride as in the time of Noah, had commanded the wise men of that age, among them the Blessed Leibowitz, to devise great engines of war such as had never before been upon the Earth, weapons of such might that they contained the very fires of Hell, and that God had suffered these magi to place the weapons in the hands of princes, and to say to each prince: "Only because the enemies have such a thing have we devised this for thee, in order that they may know that thou hast it also, and fear to strike. See to it, m'Lord, that thou fearest them as much as they shall now fear thee, that none may unleash this dread thing which we have wrought." But the princes, putting the words of their wise men to naught, thought each to himself: If I but strike quickly enough, and in secret, I shall destroy these others in their sleep, and there will be none to fight back; the earth shall be mine.
Such was the folly of princes, and there followed the Flame Deluge.

Tales of Brave Ullysses, how his naked ears were tortured

Who sees you when you're sleeping
Who knows the thoughts you're keeping
You're reaching out your hand 'cause someone's calling
Don't open your eyes too soon 'cause it might be me

The darkened sidestreets that you've taken
Faces all around say you're forsaken
You see yourself and someone else behind you
Don't open your eyes too soon it might not be m

-Kansas (listen here)

Last month, 32 men were busted in an Internet child sex sting in Leesburg, FL (80 miles north of Tampa). One of them was Brian Weiss who worked selling luxury boxes for the Buccaneers. You can see in this video that he knew his life was over as soon as he saw the cops. How this works is that a police officer (usually some fat 52-year-old grandfather) goes online pretending to be a 14-year-old girl. It doesn't take much effort to get these guys to come over to a house to meet a teen girl home alone.

This incident motivated me to watch some of the old Dateline: To Catch A Predator episodes on Youtube. I looked at them through the prism of addiction and sin, two things of which I am familiar.

The first thing you notice is the universality of sin. These guys are red, yellow, black and white, cancer doctors to the unemployed, married with kids and single, all four branches of the service, Christian pastors, rabbis and good Muslims from Egypt and Turkey. Middle school and high school teachers. Even a guy who was wearing a Sikh headdress. One guy had cerebral palsy. More than a few in law enforcement.

For all the bad press Catholic priests are getting on this issue, not a single one showed up in any of these episodes. And many of these guys seem to be fans of Mike's Hard Lemonade.

The second thing you notice is the power of sin. In later episodes, Dateline was getting guys who had watched previous stings on TV and still came. Some of them even recognized the host, Chris Hanson as soon as they saw him. Registered sex offenders. A guy who got busted in an earlier Dateline sting showed up again. One guy, whose online activity cause the organization hired by Dateline, Perverted Justice to warn him to stay off the web, drove by the house and saw a guy getting arrested in the driveway and still went in!

I am reminded of what Paul said in Romans 7:7-25 about his own struggles with sin. I am thankful not only that the sin that I still struggle with won't cause me to end up in jail, but that “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

Huh?

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan recently sent some mixed signals on his blog concerning the institution of marriage. According the the New York Times Dolan "is worried that the next step in the marriage debate will be another redefinition to allow multiple partners and infidelity." On the other hand:

He also apologized to those in the gay community who may have been offended by the church's stance, saying he's honored that so many gays are at home in the Catholic Church and that his goal from the start was "pro-marriage, never anti-gay."

The Archdiocese of New York is the single largest grouping of Catholics in the United States. Archbishop Dolan will likely be promoted to the priestly rank of Cardinal because of his "chair," or position.

Which is it, Your Excellency? Do you support the Church's teaching concerning the institution of marriage or are you ashamed of it? Our President is renowned throughout the world as "The Apologizer-in-Chief." You're doing the same thing, sir.

tampajeff: Not to mention all those good Catholic legislators who voted for this on Saturday and were welcomed to Mass on Sunday.  I think the American Church is turning into the DNC with holidays; they are so wedded to social justice that they will pay lip service to the life issue and marriage but look the other way when liberal Catholic politicians ignore them.

Review of Love Wins

The website Sharper Iron published my review of the popular Love Wins by Rob Bell.


http://sharperiron.org/article/fifty-million-rob-bell-fans-can%E2%80%99t-be-wrong#sdfootnote5sym

It's Good to be The King

One day so many years ago Tampajeff and I traveled to Versailles, France to see The Palace. We walked around the grounds with some friends and looked in utter awe at this fabulous structure and gardens. Our punch line for the day was "It's good to be the king," which comes from Mel Brooks' "History of the World, Part I." Jeff and I kept repeating the line until our friend Tracy Marker (now Reeber) told us to stop it. Jeff's observation about the Hall of Mirrors: "No wonder they revolted, look at this place!"

It may be fairly said that of all the cathedrals and castles Jeff and I visited during our time in Europe, none was more decadent than was the Palace at Versailles. Three King Louis's were "livin' large." All of this was built and maintained on the back of a starving feudal kingdom. Part of France's economic problem was the cost of their support of our Glorious Revolution. In those days France and England were bitter enemies, and the "Frogs" were an integral part of the forces arrayed against George III. Most of us remember Marquis de Lafayette. He was French royalty. My son goes to college in West Lafayette, IN.

These days I'm reading Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" in order to break-in my Kindle which is a birthday present from my wife. When I see our President golfing most every weekend at our expense, taking multiple vacations and "livin' it up" at our expense, allowing his wife to travel from the Costa Del Sol to Cape Town at our expense, throwing lavish parties at the White House featuring $100 Kobe beef at our expense, and then threaten to not pay the troops in the field because he can't convince the Republicans to allow the Government to borrow even more money, one wonders how long the good citizens of the United States will allow this "kingly" behavior.

Dickens blamed the French Revolution on the royalty's extravagant living contrasted with the hungry peasantry. Both the royalty and the clergy were arrogant to a fault. After several years of a bad economy and poor grain harvests but plentiful wine production, the hungry peasants had had enough. They rebelled and created one of the darkest periods of human history. Tens of thousands of Frenchmen died at the whim of the revolutionaries, which led to millions of deaths during the Napoleonic era that followed.

Propaganda aside, America is far from hungry. Our economy is another matter. It is at best "flat," or no growth. We are involved in three wars. The leadership of both parties are arrogant and continues to spend wildly on the backs of the people. When I hear that Michelle Obama's trip to South Africa cost the taxpayers $800,000 for one week and then hear her husband blame the Republicans for not allowing the Government to raise the debt ceiling, one can only say ENOUGH!

I do not begrudge the President "livin' large." I have no problem with Air Force One and a fleet of choppers at his disposal. After all, he still has the nuclear "football" and is entitled to some perks. But good grief, enough is enough. You cannot tell me that the Government can't cut expenses somewhere without borrowing more capital, inflating the currency, and raising taxes.

America is not yet 1789 France, but I wonder what the next powder keg is and when it will explode. I also wonder if there is a Madame Defarge knitting in the corner and her bloodthirsty friend The Vengeance, who killed with an axe and then ran home to sharpen it.

I Want to Barf

This guy really is Father Oprah.

The former South Florida Roman Catholic Priest caught locking lips with his lover on the beach and then left the church to marry her spoken candidly about his story and his new TV show.Father Alberto Cutie announced Tuesday he will host the talk show “Father Albert” on FOX Television stations. “It’ll be everything from sex to salvation,” Father Alberto told The Hollywood Reporter Tuesday in Miami during the NATPE TV trade show.

 But here is the money graph:

“There’s no difference in the job description in the Episcopal church,” said Father Cutie. “It’s just a different place and a different geography. Our congregations are smaller but I do the same work I always did. The governance is different. There’s a little more democracy in our church.”

As a non-Catholic I may be speaking out of turn, but it looks like this guy left the Catholic Church before he left the Catholic Church.  He saw himself as a social worker and not a priest.  Maybe his fame caused him to have issues with humility before his issues with celibacy.  "There's a little more democracy in our church."  I'm sure there is, with gay NJ governors and women priests, the Episcopalians will ordain anything with a heartbeat.  Democracy? This church is the DNC with holidays.

The State Republican Party of New York..

..voted itself into extinction last night.

The Other McCain explains how.

House Votes For And Against Obama

Leave it to our intrepid Congressmen and women to vote against giving Obama authority in Libya and then vote for the money. This sounds like the "I was for it before I was against it" act that John Kerry used in the 2004 election.

tampajeff:  Sorry for jumping in on your post, but I still haven't figured out how to comment.  Congress and the Pres have been playing chicken with the constitutionality of the War Powers Act since day one.  The pres is CINC, but Congress has the power to declare war.  I was hoping Congress would find its huevos and get this question before the Supremes to be resolved once and for all.

Still No Respect

Click the picture in order to read it.