Dear Johnny

Hi Johnny,

It has been many years since we went to school together and a lot has changed in our world since then. I've had more than my share of ups and downs in the job market and health but all in all I'm a survivor a struggler and a winner.

Some of your friends on Facebook sincerely care about our nation and the special treatment and special power being gained by groups trying to re-define what a family is. We aren't evil or stupid or morons but there is a massive amount of evidence and statistics out there showing the LGBT beliefs are bad for folks long term health, mental/physical health of children and bad for our nation.

Our nation was conceived in liberty but our freedoms stop at other people's noses. Someone has got to establish a very high standard of morality in our world or it just falls to pieces. The reason is everyone then has the right to do anything they want because they are their own moral standard. Its not because our grandparents were stupid and backward and didn't know nuthin' that the LGBT lifestyle wasn't celebrated in their day. No, it was because intrinsically they knew it was un-natural.

For U.S. laws there is no higher standard than a strict interpretation of the United States Constitution and for Man's moral guideline there is no higher standard than God's laws.

No civilization in ancient history has ever ever endured that floundered in perversion, sacrificed babies and children to gods or broke down in utter chaos. It isn't about us its about tomorrow and its about our nation not self-destructing to the point where drugs and sex is everywhere, beastiality is everywhere. The next step is marrying humans to animals and extending rights to those relationships as well. It just is a pandora's box.

If you aren't furious by now and still reading I'm almost done. I've tried to be as kind as possible but you must understand that I did not set up the universe the way it is or make its laws so it isn't me telling others what they can do or not do with their bodies. I'm just the messenger. I do believe in spiritual higher powers and the highest power. The highest power has a name and the Jews call Him Yahweh. Myself and Jim and others call Him God. We have found a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and he cleansed us and made us whole and gave us ways in which we can fight the "snare that so easily entagles"; otherwise we might be celebrating a world of no rules like so many others.

You're looking good man, I'm showing the years. Its been great keeping up with old faces and names these days. Please re-consider your position on this subject and remember that we Christians can't condemn anybody that people are condemned already enough. We believe the LGBT lifestyles forced on America publicly will wreck homes that are already wrecked enough. Children need a mother and a father to be whole complete little human beings that aren't brainwashed. It is essential for their spiritual lives and the very survival of our species.

Shalom,
Wade

Worldly Fun Stuff

Since the Supercenter opened traffic in the parking lot is jammed all the time.  People are so intent on getting the very first parking spot that they jam the whole lane full.  My tactic is to just get my shopping done and get out.  So I park in the back of the lot and, walking in at a normal pace, I get in before all the people parking up close.  What makes it worse is that 4 different groups will load groceries into their cars and instantly want out at the same time.  So they begin backing out.  What a hassle.

The best part is I might start working there.  My wife is pushing from inside for somebody to give me a call.  Makes sense monetarily even if Walmart pays less than the church.  Like earning 12/hr for 20 hours is the same as working 40 hours at 6/hr so if Walmart paid 9/hr then I'd be money ahead over the 40hour week.

  I'm trying to be productive here whilst the hubub is out of the house.  I'm painting some inside trim and front door and touchup stuff.  But I rented a couple of action films to watch that would've been too disruptive.  Braveheart I watched this morning before returning it.  What a long movie that was and it was a challenge eating toast and cereal while spears were going through people's heads.  Ever seen Braveheart?  I recommend it.  The main storyline is historically accurate overall so its not like watching something made up.  Getting the time frame in my head is thought provoking to say the least.  I'm accustomed to reading ancient stories and history.  So when you watch a movie portray Scotland in 1230AD and look how primitive life is portrayed and even how Edinburgh may have looked then you realize that even that is one thousand two hundred years after the death of Christ.  Sort of gives me an appreciation for how well preserved the bible is compared to any documents coming out of Scotland in 1230AD.  Its supernatural in fact.

Oh what do you think of the Icelandic volcano?  You know there are a lot of events happening right now but next time someone decides to launch a volcano they should at least name it something easy like we do hurricanes.  Volcano Betsy is much easier to pronounce than Volcano Eyjafjallajokull!  Sheesh.  Volcano Sheesh is another easy name to pronounce.

Take that global warming believers and think about it.
Give it a ticket!  Fine it a bazillion dollars for pollutin'. 
Tell it not to erupt until it has earned more carbon credits.

  Hears the faith lesson in all of this:

• In the last 365 days we have seen a volcano ground all the planes of the European Union.
• The earth shook half an island and reduced it to rubble.
• The earth shook the southern tip of South America causing infrastructure to collapse like a child's playthings.
• Tsunami waves washed ashore thousands of miles away.
• Earthquake in northern Mexico causing a little confusion
• Submarine earthquake off the coast of Honduras plus an earthquake on the mainland of Honduras wrecking roads and disrupting day to day lives.
• A plague launching out of Mexico called H1N1.
• A very lovely fireball meteor landing and not hurting anything but reminding us all that we don't know where everything is in space.
  

With one exception, the virus, insurance companies are left with no other terminology other than calling them Acts of God.  It isn't their statement of belief necessarily they just have to fill out a form and put something on the blank line.

This is a quote of something, an event, that is still to happen in the future, that was dictated to a man named Ezekiel.  It hasn't happened yet but you can see now that it is possible from just what I wrote above and what you catch on the news about world events. 

"When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign LORD. 19 In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every man's sword will be against his brother. 22 I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. 23 And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD." This isn't even the final battle just a warmup.  Ezekiel 39 then describes the drunken feast of the animals that normally clean up roadkill.

To Steven Hawking and Richard Dawkins and others likeminded I say "A fool says in his heart there is no God."

YouTube View Counts - What they mean in the Atheist debate

Tonight I got sidetracked viewing YouTube postings of Richard Dawkins snappy responses to stupid questions and I discovered something.  There is a huge discrepancy between the number of people looking for comfort from the Christian Evangelical viewpoint and the Christians looking for a way to dispute and embarrass Atheists.  Search for 'Dawkins' and look at the view counts of some of his snippets of videos answering questions about God.  One for a speech he gave at a women's college near Liberty University had well over a million views!  The question an audience member posed was "What if you are wrong?".  By contrast the number of views of Christian originated videos refuting atheism were lucky to earn 25,000 views!

What does this say?  It says that Christians are making a huge difference because if their arrows weren't hitting their mark in day to day life the atheists would never need to seek the balm of videos of Dawkins making smartypants, shallow, Biblically illiterate comedy answers.  Answers always followed with tons of laughter from audiences with itching ears.

The sad part is if the scene was traded; if the audience were filled with Christians and Dawkins or another leading atheist were at the podium there would be sincere concern for souls to be won and that's serious business.  We wouldn't laugh at atheists and make fun of them and minimize them and trivialize them and marginalize them.

The issue in our society was well defined in a recent newsletter from the Ravi Zacharias International ministry:

"In fact, long before theology was ushered out of the public square, out of politics, economics, and the sciences, it was considered to be the highest science, the study of the rational Mind behind our own rational minds. It was the discipline that made sense of every other discipline, the subject that united every subject. Such a perspective is inherently foreign to the contemporary mindset. But it cannot be shooed away like a meddling religion or deferred like an unwanted question without dismissing some sense of cohesion—and without dismissing Christ himself. His very life is a refutation of compartmentalized thought, belief, and action. His cross was neither public nor private; it spanned both, and every century following its own." (Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.  )

The real answer that Mr. Richard Dawkins should have given the student is "If I'm wrong then I will be eternally separated from the creator I thought didn't exist.  I will be sent to a place where my sins will be played back to me forever and I will be tormented forever and long for a single drop of water and I will want to warn everyone of this place." That would've been the braver more intellectual more scholarly researched answer but he's a naughty little smart-mouthed boy.  He gets paid to help fellow atheists feel good about themselves and make Christians appear like foolish half-wits.    Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mmskXXetcg
Probably his most embarrassing remark is his statement that because the questioner is American she is Christian and that if she were from India she would be Hindu.  I felt sorry for his ignorance and I wish there was something I could do for him.

YouTube is all about entertainment and the true intellectual thermometer of our country and our world is read by just scanning down a few comments.  Vocabularies are so limited that very soon you find yourself descending into a middle school toilet stall range of intellect.   I say this because of view counts.  They are like an unofficial poll of what interests our students, what interests our public, and where their focus is.

Richard Dawkins is afraid to read the book of Ecclesiastes because it would be too threatening so how could he ever make it to Acts Chapter 9?  God only knows because to Him all things are possible. 

Here is another  intellectually embarassing video.  When people produce dialogue like this I just can't bear to hear it all because it reveals so much ignorance.  It takes a lifetime to clear up those questions with real answers that God gave us thousands of years ago and this poor fellow doesn't have a lifetime left.  But look it earned 5 million views!  Compare that to videos from the evangelical point of view.  Lucky to get 2,000 views.

It isn't circular logic to go to ancient scriptures to look for answers to modern questions.  If I were asked for the phone number of the nearest Dominoes Pizza I might go to Superpages.com.  You ask me "How do you know that number is for Dominoes Pizza?"  I tell you "Because Superpages.com told me so."

There are a few things atheists can't explain away and Nick Vujicic is one of them.  I don't think the Randolph-Macon Women's college would ever invite him to speak.  There just isn't enough intellectual bravery there.

 

The Making of a Murderer - The Making of a Christian

Kate Uttinger writes in this month's Leben Magazine issue an article that will capture your imagination.  It is about Apache Indians in the 1800's.  Specifically one man born to the Bendonkohe Apaches in southwestern Arizona.  The Indians always had fascinating names for their people, to me at least.  Its like inventing your own name for playing the blues- pick an infirmity, pick your favorite  fruit, add your last name and that's your blues name.  Mine would be "Blind Watermelon Meyer".


Goyahkla translates to "One Who Yawns".  Early in his life, according to Ms. Uttinger's research, he "lived the idyllic picture of native simplicity."  Played hide-and-seek among  the rocks and brush with his siblings, learned how to track animals and from the adults learned to recognize medicinal herbs.  


Apache warriors grew up able to travel on foot 70 miles per day. Running, bathing in icy water, wrestling and marksmanship made up a large part of their training.  This is what Goyahkla did and more.  He married Alope, a delicate girl and had 3 children by her.  "He farmed, occasionally raided nearby Mexican outposts for supplies, and played with his children on the dirt floor of their wickiup."  This all changed one day.


The day that would change his life forever was the day he left with his fellow warriors to trade at a Mexican village.  They left a small guard with the women back in their own village.  Upon their return Goyahkla  found his wife and children and mother and many of the other women butchered by hostile Mexican raiders.


He vowed to avenge his family and avenge he did.  Murdering many and he raged and hated for decades.  The last words of his unfortunate Mexican victims would consist of crying out to Saint Jerome.  Phonetically it comes out "Sahntoe YAH ro-may!" in the Spanish language thus giving Goyahkla a new name Geronimo!


How many of us have yelled that name as kids as we jumped from our tree forts and tree limbs and creek banks?  But why Geronimo?  According to Leben magazine there was a young man nearly 70 years ago named Private Aubrey Eberhart that  leapt out of a C-47 transport with a parachute.  He had been influenced by wild west movies popular at the time.  He delivered on a promise that he would yell something recognizable to fellow paratroopers on the ground when he jumped out at just several hundred feet.  And that is the way it all began.


Geronimo is quoted as saying in 1902 "The Jesus Road is best and I would like my people to travel it...Now we begin to think the Christian white people love us!"  After being captured and relocated to Fort Sill, Oklahoma two Dutch Reformed missionaries invited him and his men to attend services in the evening.  The pastor preached on the atonement.  An old warrior by then Geronimo limped into a service a year later after a recent fall from his horse.  He heard the sermon titled "Jesus Made Just Like Sin For Us".  Right then Geronimo begged that the pastors would "Pray that Jesus would give me a new heart."  A week later he was examined to satisfaction to have "more knowledge than anyone anticipated".  "No consistory of our church could refuse to admit this man into membership." said Dr. Walter Roe and so Geronimo was baptized into eternal life.


That is the end of the story of Geronimo but there are more details that I will leave you to discover.  He is a man I may one day stand side by side with in eternity along with St. Jerome, whoever he was.

INSULA SERVO IPSUM

To avoid stress from conflict is

to avoid responsibility

to avoid responsibility is to

avoid accountability

to avoid accountability is

to avoid integrity

to avoid integrity is to avoid honesty

to avoid honesty is to avoid the truth

to avoid the truth is to avoid God's laws

to avoid God's commands is to hide

to hide is to admit guilt

to be guilty is to cover ourselves up in the Garden of Eden.

If you believe this you now have the justification to stand firm for what is true. This is different from "stand firm for what you believe." Why? If what you believed were not true would you want to know? (start over from the top)

Intelligent Design

Today I was scooping up a new wallpaper from the National Geographic website. I enjoy animals and this time I found a glowing photo of a lion pride. For many years I supported NG with my subscription but no more. It became so sure of itself with regard to evolution that it was obnoxious. It wasn't scientific at all it was defacto acceptance of foregone conclusions with no apparent flexibility to new data. This isn't scientific its religous so I dropped them but I appreciate their free photography. At one time it would've been a dream of mine to work for them in that capacity.

Now, as you can see in the illustration above, they are finally admitting nature possesses a quality that can only be described as Intelligent Design. Substitute "nature" with the name of God "Yahweh" and it fits. Take out the smirking comment about "got right the first time around" and you have an appreciative magazine that I would subscribe to once again. Unlike Man Yahweh does not make mistakes. Are you with me?

Once you give credit to God for his creation and not worship the creation but the Creator then the door is opened to you. It doesn't prevent you from calculating the potential energy in the sinews of the hind legs of a cheetah switching directions and accelerating from 30kph to 0kph to 43.5kph. Worshipping God does not prevent you from plugging in the 35Kg mass for the cheetah and graphing inertia vs potential energy. It doesn't prevent you from indexing the DNA of the cheetah to a certain point and comparing that to a dog's DNA for gestation periods!

Reader? Are you with me? Do some research on famous scientists of the past whose very last names make up units of measure, have world-wide fame and acclaim and whether or not they were bible believing saints. If you are an atheist this will shock you with the discovery that Christians have brains! We are all around you and we believe in the inerrancy of the Bible and the exitence of a creator God. Ever heard of someone say "okay I've planned this project all out and now I'm going to breath life into it!" God creates with His breath that is why it takes breath to pronounce His Hebrew name 'Yahweh'. Say it out loud don't be afraid and you will see. God creates with perfection the first time around unlike you and I.

Atheist reader when you insult Christian scientists and wish them dead you are looking Blaise Pascal, Charles Babbage, Leonardo da Vinci, Issac Newton, and Joule among 100's of others and saying the same thing!

Brad Paisley and Josh Turner Marriage Tune-up

    Coincidental or maybe not to the Marriage Tune Up weekend I downloaded some mp3 files that caused me to think about what is wrong with folks struggling marriages and what is right with thriving ones. Now you may not care for Country music or maybe you do but there are some substantive but simple songs out there being published. That was an understatement. Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood sing together on Oh Love:
'You're the simplest truth and you're the biggest mystery.'
'Deep as the life from God's own breath. Endless even after death.'
The lyrics go on and are worth listening to. Thought provoking, appreciating the timeless qualities of love.

     Some songs tell stories about us that are worth listening to. Paisley again telling a story in Waitin' on a Woman. Reminds us of what and why and how we fell in love. Uses humor and testimony from an older man to place things in perspective. Taking the long view the old story teller says he has read statistics that man is always the first to go and no wonder. It takes the woman time to get ready. Old love persists to death with the old story teller speculating that he'll just get to the other side and find a bench, if they have one, to sit on and wait. When was the last time we showed patience to our mates? is a question a struggling man needs to ask himself.

     Mr. Paisley then sings another song, on a different album, in harmony this time with Dolly Parton called When I Get Where I'm Going. The listener is transported into what can be assumed as husband and wife characters; hearts in synchrony anticipating the mysteries of Heaven by reflecting on the hardships of life. Shedding the weight of sins and struggles carried during the years of life. The two dream of seeing the face of God and stroking the mane of "The Lion of Judah" and to love and have no fear and to hear the Hallelujah. The song has more substantive healing power than most of the hymns we sing in church.

     Now Josh Turner is another Country artist that also turns out substantive songs. In Everything is Fine the listener is shown an example of someone who is appreciating the simple basics of life. How God has blessed him in ways that would seem silly to most. A character that prays to God and instead of asking for something makes a point to thank Him for his life. Husbands really need to turn of the TV or the PC and take a walk and just ponder what God has done for him lately. It tends to shed away all those disappointments the world brings on and maybe even the disappointments a wife might bring on. Christ got alone with his heavenly father and away from the world for refreshment. Men need to do this too...and not be intoxicated at the same time with anything liquid or otherwise.

     King Solomon said there is a time for every season. A time for holding and a time to refrain from holding. Another song, called The Longer the Waiting by Josh Turner, talks about anticipation of a reunion. In that process the fact of knowing a separation had to occur but in reunion there will be treasures and rare things. The man promises that he will give up his second love to be united with his first love forever. In this case his second love is his work and service to country but any thinking person can get a lesson from this song. It is a metaphor that demands patience from the woman and promise keeping from the man for sweet reward.

     Either I'm over simplyfying the problems people have in relationships or I find help in the strangest places. Not saying that all troubled marriages are the failing of the man but from my experience a lot can be said for just keeping your antennae up for help for your heart. Here I downloaded some mp3 songs just because I liked the first 15 seconds of the songs but in listening more deeply just to 7 songs strengthened my life and my marriage. Another piece of advice I would give to struggling couples is to attend, by yourself, the marriage ceremony of someone you don't know. Times when I've been on duty when a marriage ceremony was performed here I'd sit by myself out of sight in a balcony area occasionally and watch and listen and remember. Respect the aged and talk to them. That's free. Encouragement can come from the darndest places and not cost any more than 7 dollars.

May God bless your Marriage!