Sunday, August 26, 2012

Try And Take It

      Let me see if I’ve got this right. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has ruined the life of Lance Armstrong over some sort of physical enhancing “dope” he allegedly used during his seven Tour De France cycling victories, yet all the testing done at the time of his winning showed no drugs in his system. The USADA has “proven beyond the shadow of a doubt” that Armstrong cheated in his seven Tour wins and his Olympic Bronze win in 2000, twelve years after the governing agencies of the Tour and the Olympic Committee found nothing to accuse Armstrong of, hard as they tried. While your tax dollars are being wasted on the destruction of the life of a remarkable cancer survivor, someone our youth and cancer fighters alike can look up to with admiration, the metropolis of Chicago is under siege by three known drug cartels, destroying the lives of thousands of people, but you better have every “t” crossed and every “i” dotted before anyone gets accused of “doping” our entire country. That’s all I’ve got to say.

      After what this country went through in the ‘60s, a song made popular by Bill Anderson, lyrics by John Paul Moore (1970) titled, “Drinking From My Saucer” gave an insight to the thoughts of the country, before the electronic age. “I've never made a fortune and it's probably too late now; But I don't worry about that much I'm happy anyhow. And as I go along life's way I'm reaping better than I sow; I'm drinking from my saucer ‘Cause my cup has overflowed’. Haven’t got a lot of riches and sometimes the going's tough, But I've got loving ones around me and that makes me rich enough. I thank God for his blessings and the mercies He's bestowed; I'm drinking from my saucer 'Cause my cup has overflowed. O, Remember times when things went wrong my faith wore somewhat thin; But all at once the dark clouds broke and sun peeped through again. So Lord, help me not to gripe about the tough rows that I've hoed, I'm drinking from my saucer ‘Cause my cup has overflowed’ If God gives me strength and courage, when the way grows steep and rough, I'll not ask for other blessings I'm already blessed enough. And may I never be too busy to help others bear their loads; Then I'll keep drinking from my saucer ‘Cause my cup has overflowed.’” Amen!
      [Romans 8: 31-39] You’ve failed many times, even though you don’t remember. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim. Did you hit the ball the first time you swung the bat? Don’t worry about failures. Think about the chances you miss when you don’t even try. Heavy hitters, like Babe Ruth, who struck out 1330 times, also hit 714 home-runs. R.C. Macy failed seven times before his New York store caught on. English novelist, John Greasey, received 753 rejection slips before he went on to publish 564 books. Thomas Edison denied failure and stated he had only found another way not to do something. Right, wrong, or indifferent, Lance Armstrong has been stripped and whipped. It’s a shame, but he has tucked his tail and yielded to the bureaucratic think-tank. I pray his work in the field of cancer has not suffered a death blow. Jesus my Lord was accused, stripped and whipped and yielded to the think-tank, even to his death. Because of his love for mankind and his obedience to God the Father, he gave his life for the sins of the world and arose victorious over death. My only victory in this life may be to share in the resurrection of my Lord at the time of my death, and nobody can take it away from me.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Secure Their Hearts

      It’s almost time for the school year to start. If you’re sending your baby to school for the very first time, trust me, they’re coming home a different person. If you’re sending your baby off to college for the very first time, trust me, they’re coming home a different person. The world is going to influence your baby in ways you may not like, so now is the time to influence them at home as to self-discipline and the consequences of disobedience. In today’s world, children have to make tough decisions at an early age and most are not prepared to do so. You’re not being a busy-body wanting to know about your child’s friends, who their teacher is, what they’re involved in at school. If your child is hiding these things from you, it’s a warning sign the world has your child.
      Teacher: “Johnny, why are you doing your math problems on the floor?” Johnny: “You said we had to do our multiplication without using tables.” Teacher: “Glen, how do you spell crocodile?” Glen: “K-R-O-K-D-I-A-L” Teacher: “No, that’s wrong.” Glen: “Maybe it’s wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.” Teacher: “Maria, go to the map and find North America.” Maria: Pointing at the map, “Here it is.” Teacher: Correct …Now class, who discovered America?” Class: “Maria!” Teacher: “Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?” Donald: “HIJKLMNO” Teacher: “What? Where did you get that from?” Donald: “Yesterday you said it was H to O!”
      A 15-year-old boy submitted the following School Prayer for your consideration of adoption in this year’s curriculum. “Now I sit me down in school where praying is against the rule; For this great nation under God, finds mention of Him very odd. If scripture now the class recites, it violates the Bill of Rights; And any time my head I bow, becomes a Federal matter now. Our hair can be purple, orange, or green, that’s no offence, it’s a freedom scene; The law is specific, the law is precise, prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice. For praying in a public hall might offend someone with no faith at all; In silence alone we must meditate, God’s name is prohibited by the state. We’re allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, and pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks; They’ve outlawed guns, but first the Bible, to quote the Good Book makes me liable. We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen and the unwed daddy, our Senior King; It’s inappropriate to teach right from wrong, we’re taught that such judgments do not belong. We can get our condoms and birth controls, study witchcraft, vampires, and totem poles; But the Ten Commandments are not allowed, no word of God must reach this crowd. It’s scary here I must confess, when chaos reigns the school’s a mess; So, Lord, this silent plea I make, should I be shot, my soul please take. Amen”
      [Proverbs 22: 1-6, 15] The song, “How Shall The Young Secure Their Hearts?” by Isaac Watts is inspired by Psalm 119:9 “How shall the young secure their hearts, And guard their lives from sin? Thy Word the choicest rules imparts, To keep the conscience clean. ‘Tis like the sun, a heavenly light; That guides us all the day; And through the dangers of the night, A lamp to lead our way. Thy Word is everlasting truth; How pure is every page! That holy book shall guide our youth; And well supply our age.” I think all parents, including myself, wish they could do it all over again armed with the wisdom and experience we now have. What I can do, though, is help keep the church strong in the truth of God’s Word, and teach it to all who will listen.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Smoke and Mirrors

      The showman, P.T. Barnum, has been attributed with the statement, “There’s a sucker born every minute”, when in reality, even though he never denied uttering the phrase, it is very unlikely it was ever quoted by Barnum himself. All of Barnum's friends and acquaintances told Barnum’s biographer it was out of character. Barnum's credo was more along the lines of "there's a customer born every minute" - he wanted to find ways to draw new customers in all the time because competition was fierce and people could become bored easily. Another source credits late 1860s Chicago "bounty broker, saloon and gambling-house keeper, eminent politician, and dispenser of cheating privileges...", Michael Cassius McDonald, as the originator of the aphorism. According to the book Gem of the Prairie: Chicago Underworld (1940) by Herbert Asbury, when McDonald was equipping his gambling house known as The Store (at Clark and Monroe Streets in Chicago) his partner Harry Lawrence expressed concern over the large number of roulette wheels and faro tables being installed and their ability to get enough players to play the games. McDonald then allegedly said, "Don't worry about that, there's a sucker born every minute." (Wikipedia) Most of the time I try to investigate the history of what I share with my readers, and admittedly, I also enjoy spoofing you once in a while just to see if I receive any reaction. Most of the time I assume a good laugh, or at least a small giggle, is shared by all. Beware of untruths.
      [Galatians 6: 7] “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Singer, John Lennon, during his 1966 interview with American Magazine said, “Christianity will end; it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was OK, but his subjects were too simple. Today, we (The Beatles) are more famous than him.” John Lennon was shot six times in an untimely death. Tancredo Neves, during his Brazilian Presidential campaign, said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from the Presidency. He won the election, became ill, never took the oath of office and died one month into his “presidency”. After the completed construction of the Titanic, a reporter asked the builder how safe the ship would be. With an ironic tone he replied, “Not even God can sink it!” I guess everyone knows what happened after that. Actress, Marilyn Monroe, was visited by Billy Graham during one of her shows. He said the spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. She bluntly stated, “I don’t need your Jesus.” A week later she was found dead in her apartment. Jamaican journalist and entertainer, .Christine Hewitt, said the Bible was the worst book ever written. In June 2006 she was found burned beyond recognition in her automobile. We are living in an age of smoke and mirrors, deception and lies. The internet and the television are mocking the very precepts of God which this great country is based upon. You don’t believe me? Go back and seek out the real historical beginnings of this country. God is not going to allow this to go on much longer. The “Day of the Lord” is coming to judge this country and bring it down. You don’t think so? For the past ten years God has been warning US to repent and return to Him. Unusual weather, disease, fire, drought, floods, quakes and coming soon, famine, are all warnings from God. You think it can’t happen? What has God done historically? Read the book of Joel. Hold it up to what you see in America today.

Saturday, August 04, 2012

Wisdom

      If you’re in a pick-up traveling at the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights? Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? Why isn’t phonetic spelled the way it sounds? Why is it when you transport something by car or truck it’s called a shipment, but when something is moved by ship its called cargo? If a cow started laughing uncontrollably, would milk come out her nose? If you tied buttered toast to the back of a cat, and dropped the cat from a height, what would happen? Could the world get any more confusing? It seems our young people are constantly being bombarded with “cultural changes” at the speed of light and the longer I live the more oxymoron’s I have to deal with. No, an oxymoron is not a hyperventilating fool, although I think in the midst of the humanitarian invasion upon the private citizenry of this country, an additional meaning of sort could possibly be applied to the actions of some people today. An oxymoron is a figure of speech combining contradictory words. For example: act naturally; bittersweet; calm wind; constant variable; deafening silence; extinct life; found missing; freezer burn; guest host; half naked; larger half; plastic silverware; pretty ugly; real potential; paid volunteer; working vacation; liquid gas; little giants; least favorite; minor miracle; almost exactly; clearly misunderstood; even odds; good grief and my all time favorite – government organization. There are hundreds more in our “my way” vocabulary mold, but there just isn’t room for anymore today. Why do they put brail dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM?
      The kindergarten class settled down to its coloring books. Willie came up to the teacher’s desk and said, “I ain’t got no crayons.” “Willie,” the teacher said, “you mean, ‘I don’t have any crayons; You don’t have any crayons; We don’t have any crayons; They don’t have any crayons.’ Do you see what I’m getting at?” “Not really,” replied Willie. “Say, what happened to all them crayons?”
      The teacher of the earth science class was lecturing on map reading. He spent the class time explaining about longitude and latitude, degrees and minutes. “Suppose I ask you to meet me for lunch at 23 degrees, 4 minutes north latitude and 45 degrees, 15 minutes longitude. Where would we be eating lunch?” A student’s voice broke the confused silence, “I guess you’d be eating alone, sir.”
      [Ecclesiastes 2] Solomon, the teacher, wanted it all, tried it all, experienced it all and had it all. In the midst of it all he never lost his wisdom, of which he recorded in the book of Proverbs. I think mankind is loosing all sense of wisdom in his daily affairs. The pleasures and follies that are satisfying man today are ever widening the chasm between man and God, which will eventually become an abyss that can no longer be bridged. The “innocent lie” has full blown, blossomed and flowered, into a lifestyle of complete contrast to the will of God for His creation. Wisdom will continue to decline and lawlessness will continue to bloom. Even the Lord’s church is suffering as the world is being forced into the pews and the pulpit. It’s like forcing a square peg into a round hole. Hammer on it all you want, you can’t change the Word of God, or the church, to fit your personal preferences, without chiseling away at the precepts of God’s wisdom. Solomon says wisdom, knowledge and happiness comes from God and it is given to those who please God. It’s all meaningless without the wisdom of God.