Christian college remove "Our Lord" from diploma?

I have heard some hugely asinine things in the past two weeks, but this tops the cake with burning candles...


A Christian university--Trinity University--in Texas is being asked by students to remove "In the year of our Lord" from their diplomas. 


Let's see... what part of Christian University is not understood? What part of Christian leaves out Jesus? 


Naturally it would be a Muslim student who considers it right and proper to even ask that the words be removed from the diploma all because "not every one believes in Jesus". I'm thinking that this person isn't Christian. So what possessed him (or her, I'm not sure what gender) to go to the university in the first place?


Get this...

The school's student government association and a commencement committee already has thrown their support behind the proposal. 

I must wonder if any of those students have ever read 2 Tim 1:8  Then do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, His prisoner. But suffer hardship with the gospel, according to the power of God...


Or did they ever read 2 Tim 1:12  For which cause I also suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard my deposit until that Day. 


They want to "proudly display (their) diploma", which is a virtual admission that if the words "year of our Lord" are on it, they won't be proud to display it. How incredibly sad. 


It leads me to question the intelligence of the student, the student government association and the commencement committee. I understand there are some reasons a non-believer would go to a Christian school. Perhaps, it has the best reputation for certain curricula, but if one goes to Rome, one does not ask the Emperor to change clothes.


Asking an institution to change what is close to the heart of more than one hundred years of Christian identity just because "we want to be proud to display our diploma and not everyone believes in Jesus" is beyond the pale of indignity; it is down right blushing.

What is Social Justice?

I asked this question on Mike Duran's blog at deCompose (see the link on the left). The fact is, there is no definition of it, although the term first appeared in The Federalist Papers and, here's a cougher, in The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbons. 


The emperors of the Roman Empire should know. I found that out when I wrote a paper on it back in 2005. The economy was adjusted to placate the masses which resulted in an economic nightmare. Social justice was just an oxymoron. Here's an excerpt...

Growth, plenty, economic boom and the State had copious revenue, so much so that Augustus began huge public works programs when he “repaired all the roads of Italy and Rome, restored the temples and built many new ones, and built many aqueducts, baths and other public buildings. Tiberius, however, cut back on the building program and hoarded large sums of cash. This led to a financial crisis in 33 A.D. in which there was a severe shortage of money. This shortage may have been triggered by a usury law which had not been applied for some years but was again enforced by the courts at this time” (Frank, T. "The Financial Crisis of 33 A.D." American Journal of Philology, 1935 56(4): 336-41).  “The shortage of money and the curtailment of state expenditures led to a sharp downturn in economic activity which was only relieved when the state made large loans at zero interest in order to provide liquidity” (Thornton, M.K., and Thornton, R.L. (1990) "The Financial Crisis of A.D. 33: A Keynesian Depression?" Journal of Economic History 50(3): 655-62).

 Here we have a perfect example of the “invisible hand of the marketplace” being held by big government.  The time frame between the boom of Augustus and flop of Tiberius was just a year or two.  Did Augustus actually practice hands off policy?  Not really, not when there was an abundance of public works underway, and not when the taxes were lowered.  In the traditional Keynes philosophy, public works and lower taxes are government tactics used to give the economy a burst of energy.  In other words, government induced economic growth.  Augustus employed Keynes theory before Keynes was a twinkle in his daddy’s eye.

 

Did the depression happen because Tiberius hoarded large sums of cash (the economy was based on a cash flow system and credit was not widely used).  Was the zero percent interest a shot in the arm in Keynesian style?  In contrast to the laissez faire classical macroeconomic theorist point of view, yes.  Since the government was not keeping a hands off attitude but was digging deep into public revenues it was the beginning of the fall.  The emperors of Rome began to degrade the amount of gold and silver in coins.  This debasement of coinage caused inflation which led to the population hoarding the more valuable coins and paying taxes with the less valuable coins.  This led to a greater need for revenue by the government so taxes were raised and this resulted in the privately wealthy to be slowly robbed of their wealth.  The natural inclination of the patricians to hide their wealth came in the form of tax evasion. The sights of the government were then turned to the middle class.  These employed the tactics of the rich by tax evasion in various forms mostly by appearing to be poor or by outright selling themselves as slaves to the larger land owners.  (Slaves didn’t have to pay taxes.)  The constant drain on the empire’s coffers by the military caused a greater and greater need for more revenue.  The emperors put less and less gold and silver in the coinage.  It was an economic nightmare. Emphasis because it jumps out at me. It happened 2000 years ago, but could be today's headlines!

Does this sound familiar? Will we never learn???


Russia and other countries found out that there is no way to even or spread the wealth. Jesus said the same thing when He told his disciples when they became angry at the usage of some valuable perfume and an alabaster jar that the poor would always be with us. 


Glenn Beck gave his definition of social justice: Here's my definition of social justice: Forced redistribution of wealth with a hostility toward individual property rights, under the guise of charity and/or justice. 


That's how the Romans defined it, lived and breathed it. So how did that work for them? Not well at all. That kind of thinking brought a 10 centuries old empire to its knees and then flat on its face in the mud. Ours isn't half that old, but we will fall just as hard, and the impact to the world will be just as devastating.

Ex-gays get dissed by Disney

For the longest time I have known that the "tolerant" people are not really tolerant, only belligerent about their agendas. As long as we agree with them and accept them, then we're okay. But, when we diverge from the path, oh my! What a tangled web is uncovered when we open our eyes to truth.

Now we have one of the most militant in promoting homosexual "rights" saying that ex-homosexuals do not have any rights within their company.

Disney did not add ex-gays to the non-discrimination list of people who are not to be discriminated against. Of course this is a very serious matter because it is truly crucial to understand there are thousands who make a conscious decision to turn from their homosexual lifestyle. But, "they" [being that group of people whose opinion matters somehow even though they only make up about 4% of the population] don't want that statistic widely known, for how could anyone possibly turn away from such a "normal" lifestyle as homosexuality? [Please note the tongue in cheek!]

I am thinking, why do we even need a list for non-discrimination? Should we have a list for discrimination? It would most likely be shorter, or should be at any rate.

Then again... Why isn't Micky Mouse and Mini Mouse discriminated against? They never got married, did they? I don't recall... but, it should go down as the two individuals who could never commit.
Shouldn't Goofy be on the non-discrimination list? After all, he is one sandwich short of a picnic...
Donald Duck can't pronounce all his words correctly. He's got to be on there somewhere...
Pluto! With a name like that, how can he be normal?

It just doesn't seem right some how.

Praise report

I have been going through the process of applying to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to earn my Master's degree. I've been wondering if this is really what God wants me to do because I had not gotten that epiphany or the Light on the road to Damascus that I was indeed treading down God's chosen path for me. A couple of days ago, I filled out the last of the paperwork and noticed for the first time that the insurance question was for hospitalization not  for car insurance.


Well...


I don't have that. So I thought, as I sealed the envelope with my $25 app fee, this is the road block that I was expecting. Nothing ventured, though. This just makes God's job a bit harder if this is the direction I am to go. So, I prayed, "Lord God Almighty, nothing is too difficult for you. If you really do want me at NOBTS, then you will have to provide hospitalization for me and as you know it has to be affordable... or you could give me a beautiful job that would pay and I could take courses off and on...


Yesterday, I received two letters. I opened the most important one first and there in my hand was a very affordable hospitalization plan with the first 2 months paid for me! I said, "Well, Lord, this is my answer. I believe you want me to go to NOBTS!" Then I opened the second letter and there was another plan, not as good as the first one, but that doesn't matter because it was God's 2 witnesses thing going on. I'm not just on the right track, but I am absolutely on the right track, plus this is God's promise that He will provide. Jehovah Jireh, amen. God had answered my prayer a long time ago. He made sure that those two offers which originated in different parts of the country, weeks if not months ago, to arrive in answer to my prayer the next day. In the fullness of time, all according to His perfect timing.

Israel and the U.S.-- problems, problems

I usually follow anything that is happening in the Middle East, more especially in Israel, because it actually is the Center of the Earth in a manner of speaking. God designed it that way when He blessed Abraham, and made Israel and all his progeny the Chosen People.


Now Joe Biden has come down with foot-in-mouth disease again, although it probably isn't his fault this time, bless his heart.


But let's put this into perspective. Pres. Obama has been showing more patience with Iran than I believe is safe. He's been saying, "Let's sit down and talk about it." After all they have all the makings for the nuclear bomb--the same thing that flattened two huge Japanese cities and ended WW2. Iran is not known for its diplomacy or for its calm dealings within the region, plus Ahmadinejad recently accused the U.S. of playing a "double game" in the war against terror in Afghanistan. 


But toward the one democratic nation in all of the Middle East, Biden "goes ballistic" at Israel for starting a housing project in a region that was never on the bargaining table with the Palestinians anyway. Here's a quote from One News Now...

Gary Bauer, president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families, recently returned from a trip to Israel that happened to coincide with the Vice President's visit. He reports that the neighborhood in question had never been on the negotiating table.

"The Palestinians have never demanded that it be given up," he comments. "What we're seeing here is that Iran is building nuclear weapons and the administration has infinite patience. Israel tries to build homes for its citizens, and the Obama administration goes ballistic."

Of course there won't be any true peace in the Middle East until Jesus comes again. However, there isn't any need to antagonize our one solid friend there, especially when God has promised to bless every nation that befriends Israel. This is not shaping up to be a pretty picture.

Protecting children...

The United Nations has a program of sexuality education that is being promoted globally, which I talk about here. On George Barna's blog, I see him asking questions about how churches protect our children, comparing the British law,  Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act of 2006, to what many of us face when we volunteer to work in children's ministry in our churches. We rarely have to do anything, we rarely have to even fill out a form or submit to a back ground check.


The questions asked are simple, but quite frightening to me. Should we take a leaf from British law? 


It terrifies me how much our government has torn from our hands in the education department. We parents, obviously, can't teach our children properly about proliferation. We don't know how to teach about sexual conduct or the sex act, so government in the form of public schools must teach this. 


It is so scary that the president has embraced a person who has an agenda to make everyone in the U.S. accept that homosexuality is a normal lifestyle, and has made him the Education Czar with all the appropriate power to exercise his agenda.


I was incensed that the U.N. is pushing the idea that children as young as five years old should be introduced to sex education and that children should be assured that touching themselves, inappropriately in my opinion, is normal and natural. That just makes me sick at my stomach.


Slowly and insidiously our government is getting too big for its britches. Even now it is changing pants that have bigger and deeper pockets and is looking to fill them with our hard earned money. Big Government is not content with just our money, its long arm is reaching into the future to our grand children and our great-grandchildren. That gives me flu-like symptoms! Are we going to sit silently by and let it happen? Are we like blind Timaeus? Or will we be more like his son, Bartimaeus, who sits by the side of the road shouting for Jesus and asking for his sight?


We can't do anything within our own power, but we most certainly can ask God for help, and for the wisdom to do what He would have us do. 

Opposing Views... atheism rare in prisons

I read an article about atheists and agnostics rare in prisons making up less than 1/3 of a percent of the prison population. You can click on the title of this post to go to the article.

The conclusion of the study which prompted the article was that since there are so few atheists and agnostics in prison, they must live the most moral lives, shunning any criminal acts. The clincher quote is this:

In "The New Criminology", Max D. Schlapp and Edward E. Smith say that two generations of statisticians found that the ratio of convicts without religious training is about 1/10 of 1%. W. T. Root, professor of psychology at the Univ. of Pittsburgh, examined 1,916 prisoners and said "Indifference to religion, due to thought, strengthens character," adding that Unitarians, Agnostics, Atheists and Free-Thinkers are absent from penitentiariers or nearly so.

I think what was disregarded is that when a person is faced with a dead end, when he/she is at the lowest part of the gutter, they only place to look is up. There is an extraordinary number of prisoners who finally meet Jesus. There are also numerous people in the U.S. who profess Jesus but truly do not possess Him.

Another fact that was disregarded, or rather twisted, is that religion does not equal Christianity. I was born a Baptist, but didn't actually meet Jesus and take Him into my heart until I was six years old. Others go to church regularly but never have asked Jesus into their hearts. They are content to set on pews never hatching anything.

It is an erroneous conclusion to some interesting facts.

be still

I get to the screaming point. I want to shout out the truth, but to no avail.
I work and work at trying to be what God wants me to be and I always fail.

Help me, Lord.
Carry me over the fjord.
The chasm is deep and
I weep.

Dry my tears.
Release me from my fears.
Carry the truth to those ears
that refuse to hear
the truth.

Put back that hair that I have pulled out.
Rub the steel bands that are supposed to be my shoulders
for I am done with things as they are, to no longer look back and pout.
Whisper my name, cause me to be still.

Tomorrow I shall go forward,
leaving behind the crumbs and the rust
of broken things.
Tonight I shall snuggle under Your wings
for it is only You that I trust.

Great waste of taxpayer money!

This is an update to yesterday's post... I calmed down a bit and did some research.


I could still go into a diatribe about the stimulus money used to see the effect cocaine has on monkey brains, which was a brilliant idea of one college professor. It has something to do with how addiction works on brains. I am thinking that there are how many rehab centers? How many people who are addicts that would jump at the chance to participate in a study? Why do we need to get a bunch of monkeys high on crack and what how their brains react to the addiction? Give me the grant money. I already know the results. Crack Cocaine is addictive. The addict will do anything to get more to feed the habit. It takes a deliberate decision to want  to quit before breaking the addiction can begin and even then it might not happen. Okay? Where's my money?


However it was brilliant because he wrote a grant and it was awarded. The Stimulus Money is supposed to create jobs. How many did this one create? ZERO. Oh, but it saved one professor's job. Any bets on it was the grant writer's job that was saved? But, that isn't what I'm writing about...


I received my letter from the U.S. Census today. It said that I would receive my 2010 form in about a week and that I should fill it out and return it promptly. It was postage paid by the U.S. Census Bureau. Bulk mail that would be about $.26 each or maybe $.24 each for non-profit status I am not sure how much the government rate is for bulk mail, plus the printing, folding, envelope stuffing, plus the cost of paper, cost of envelope, cost of black ink. Let's just say that it went out to about 115 million households to "Resident".


What are they thinking??? 


Why do I need a letter to tell me I'll be receiving another letter in about a week which will include the form and I should respond promptly???


Are we idiots? Oh, yes, of course we are. We can't think for ourselves... even though we have seen what the effect that crippling debt will have on our own incomes not to mention our great-grandchildren's incomes. We have told our Congressmen that we do not want this health bill to PLEASE start over and do it right! We saw that there were lots of senators bribed, placated, coerced and bullied into passing the present senate bill. But, no one is listening. Obviously. This latest political gaff which has wasted tax payers money is a huge clue that Big Government which H.G. Wells named Big Brother is muscling in on our pay checks so the huge gorilla sitting on our check books can have fun getting high on cocaine. What exactly would a drug crazed monkey do? Oh, sure! Use the political hammer and mash this huge square peg into the tiny round hole of our empty pockets.


We are now paying $57,500,000 if each letter only cost $.50 to print, fold, stuff, mail and the manpower to do it all, and the cost of gasoline to bring the mail to the post office (do you think the mail carrier could carry all that mail?) just to let me know to check my mailbox in one week.

Dictatorship in America

Is it just me or does anyone else get the feeling that our way of life is slipping away, and we are being indoctrinated with a One World System of government and socialistic brainwashing.

Why is it so important to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" of the military? Why are our children being force fed the ideas that capitalism is a bad thing and a person who has worked for his wealth is not entitled to enjoy that wealth, but must "spread it around" at the dictates of the federal government? Why is the ObamaCare thing being rammed down our throats when we've been very clear about how we feel about it? This is not going to create more jobs. No one will truly get excellent care--all we need to do is study England's socialist health care to understand that it is mediocre at best.

I read an extremely good book by A.J. Cronin called The Citadel, which was about the beginnings of organized medical care in England. The subscription cards of workers were held by their preferred physician and the physician was paid by the company, not the patients. Doing research and going outside the accepted, or rather the traditional, way of treatment was not only frowned upon but was punishable by removal of the practicing certificate. If a doctor wanted to practice in a particular geographical area, he must either work for a pittance for the physician who currently held that geographical area, or wait until that physician retired and purchase the practice from him. Free enterprise was unheard of and if it was whispered, then the physician ranks were closed and the interloper was basically run out of town. There was no room for out-of-the-box thinking for the most part.

I kept thinking as I read, how awful that a person had no real choice in who treated his illness nor was prevention promoted. If we are forced down this path of medical mire, then it won't be long until this top heavy government topples America. Since the boxes of tea were tossed into Boston Harbor, we've known as a nation that heavy taxation cripples the economic growth of our pocketbooks as well as our nation. If we add to that a national regulation beyond Medicare to the medical treatment of every person, making it individually and corporately mandatory, then we are allowing Big Brother to take even more of our freedom of choice.

Our founding fathers were ever mindful that our national government not become a Big Daddy...

Though social policies sometimes governed the course of tax policy even in the early days of the Republic, the nature of these policies did not extend either to the collection of taxes so as to equalize incomes and wealth, or for the purpose of redistributing income or wealth. As Thomas Jefferson once wrote regarding the "general Welfare" clause:

"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his father has acquired too much, in order to spare to others who (or whose fathers) have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, "to guarantee to everyone a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." More...

When I was in college back in 1972, my personal part of the national debt was $18,600. Today, my personal part of the national debt is more than $40,000. That is only $563 per year... but wait! In 2005 my personal debt was $34,000+ which means that the government spending increased at least $1,200 per person per year since 2005. If the growth rate never increases again--don't hold your breath on this--then the burden of debt will increase per person more than $9,000 every five years.

The American people are shouting, Washington D.C., please listen up. No more taxes, we've been taxed enough already. American people, please don't stop shouting, even when our throats are sore and our bodies are tired. Our children are worth the effort and this country is worth it, too!

The OT saints that walked after Jesus rose from the dead

Were the OT saints that came out of their graves when Jesus died on the cross in glorified bodies or were they visible spiritual bodies? Look at Matt 27:52-53

If they were spiritual, then how could there have been witnesses to their "bodies being raised"? There is only one recorded account of a Spiritual body being raised and that is Samuel called by Saul through the witch at Endor. Samuel prophesied what would happen to Saul and admonished him for disobeying the Lord and seeking out the witch and trying to communicate with the dead. This is highly unusual because look at the witch's reaction! She screeches like a banshee! Nope. These OT Saints are not in Spiritual Bodies because that is exactly what God forbids and calls abhorrent.

If they were glorified, then humans could see them. Matthew is careful to record they came out of their graves after Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

They had to be glorified bodies and that means there are at least 2 First Resurrections. Jesus was firstfruits, then the OT saints, next will be the dead in Christ at the Rapture. Paul talks about that twice, I think. First in Corinthians then again in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

As I understand it, at death our souls leave our body and Jesus meets us or perhaps angels escort us (Luke 16) to heaven. Then when it's Time and God says, "Go get Your Bride, Son." All the souls will accompany Jesus. Re: 1 Thess 4:14 -- "even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus." In a piece of time that cannot be divided, the bodies of the souls will rise and be changed into incorruptible bodies -- New Temples, if you will, for the souls to inhabit. And in another piece of time that cannot be divided, the human Christians alive in Christ will be changed into their glorified bodies and we will meet Him in the air and will always be with the Lord.

Then next will be those that died during the Great Tribulation. Recall, the souls under the altar that cry out for vengence from God because of their beheadings... "How long, oh Lord? Then they were given white robes and told a little while longer."

According to my count, we have 3 resurrections of the First Resurrection kind or type of resurrection.

If you look at it any other way, those OT saints walking around Jerusalem in front of countless witnesses that recognized them for who they were, sort of sits out there around Pluto with no organized explanation and certainly not Biblical. Unless you have a better explanation?

Healthcare summit

I watched part of that 7.5 hour healthcare summit yesterday. It made me want to reach through the TV screen and just slap some sense into Obama. His dictator attitude was in full force and I caught him in at least 2 lies. He out right accused the GOP of carelessness of the American public's previous condition welfare. That wasn't what the GOPs objected to, it was all the self-serving of the precious few that had them in an uproar.

This is what McCain pointed out to Obama's face. I thought Obama's ears would shoot blood! If we had some transparency while the bill was being discussed and put together, I do believe there would have been more outrage expressed across the country that what has been already.

Who cares if I have healthcare when I do not have a job? When I can't buy food or pay the mortgage or pay the light bill, no health insurance in the world can bring me back to life or give me back my home. The American people have told those guys in Washington over and over again: Arrange your priorities back in proper order. Take care of the economy and let's worry about healthcare when we (or at least most of us) have a job!

Big words cheat sheet

Okay... so is it cheating to see the answers before the questions? I think it is... but the way the blog world is set up, we must go in an ascending order rather than bookish fashion where the pages descend. So, I shall post the last first and the first last (which is Biblical by the way) so those who come and see and want to play can quickly go to the immediate post below this one to take the test.


20. Sufficiency so fanciful to satisfy the situation. Said after a wonderful dinner to please the hostess with the most-est.


19.Those who live in Glass Houses should cast no stones.


18.All work and No Play makes Jack a Dull boy.


17.One who laughs the last, laughs the best.


16.Twinkle twinkle little star


15.    Look before you leap.


14.    You cant teach an Old Dog new Tricks.


13. The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.


12. Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child.


11. Don't cry over Spilt Milk.


10. Cleanliness is next to Godliness.


9.  Beauty is only skin-deep.


8.  Birds of a feather flock together.


7.   A Rolling Stone gathers no Moss.


I suddenly notice there is no 6. I wonder what happened to it? This was a work exercise when I sold advertising so I know it wasn't pornographic... 


5.    A Rolling Stone gathers no Moss.


4.    Beginner's luck


3.    Dead men tell no tales.


2.  Beggars cannot be choosers.


1.    All that Glitters is not Gold.

Big Words

How's your vocabulary? With the onset of the texting generation, our use of really good words that your tongue wraps around is fading. Here's a test. To help you render the correct word from the less used, "big" word are these restatements of tried and true proverbs. If I think about it, I'll post the answers tomorrow.

 1.All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not  truly auriferous.

 2.Sorting on the part of mendicants must be interdicted.

 3.Male cadavers are incapable of rendering testimony.

4.Neophite's serendipity.

5.A revolving lithic conglomerate accumulates no congeries of small, green, biophytic plant.

 7.Members of an avian species of identical plumage tend to congregate.

 8.Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity.

 9.Freedom from incrustations of grime is contiguous to rectitude.

 10.It is fruitless to become lachrymose of precipitately departed lacteal fluid.

 11.Eschew the implement of correction and vitiate the scion.

12.The stylus is more potent than the rapier.

 13.It is fruitless to attempt to indoctrinate a superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.

14.Surveillance should precede saltation.

15. Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minim. (not a proverb)

 16.The person presenting the ultimate cachinnation possesses thereby the optimal cachinnation.

17. Exclusive dedication to necessitous chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders John a hebetudinous fellow.

18.Individuals who make their abodes in vitreous edifices would be advised to refrain from catapulting petrious projectiles.

19.Where there are visible vapors having their provenance in  ignited carbonaceous materials, there is conflagration.

20. Sufficiency so fanciful to satisfy the situation. (not a proverb)

10 things that have a gender

I keep finding these things in archives. I'm trying to clean out my files... I keep getting side-tracked. Does that ever happen to you? 

I have no idea who wrote this...

You may not know that many nonliving things have a gender.
For example"
1) Ziploc Bags -- They are Male, because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them.
2) Copiers -- They are Female, because once turned off, it takes a while to warm them up again. It's an effective reproductive device if the right buttons are pushed, but can wreak havoc if the wrong buttons are pushed.
3) Tires -- Male, because it goes bald and it's often over-inflated.
4) Hot Air Balloon -- Male, because, to get it to go anywhere, you have to light a fire under it, and of course, there's the hot air part.
5) Sponges -- Female, because they're soft, squeezable and retain water.
6) Web Page -- Female, because it's always getting hit on.
7) Subway -- Male, because it uses the same old lines to pick up people.
8) Hourglass -- Female, because over time, the weight shifts to the bottom.
9) Hammer -- Male, because it hasn't changed much over the last 5,000 years, but it's handy to have around.
10) Remote Control -- Female.... Ha! You thought it'd be male! But -- it gives a man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know the right buttons to push, he keeps trying


I find it so very delightful that women and men are so different. Scarlett's papa once told her, "Just being male and female is opposite enough." That is such a true statement. If we yoke ourselves to someone so totally different than us, then we are unequally yoked.

When we yoke with someone who had Jesus as LORD, then the oppositeness of the other translates into a oneness in Christ. He prayed for that you know.

 John 17:20  And I do not pray concerning these only, but also concerning those who will believe in Me through their word; 21  that all may be one, as You are in Me, Father, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22  And I have given them the glory which You have given Me, that they may be one, as We are One: 23  I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected in one; and that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them, even as You loved Me. 

How incredibly astounding that Jesus not only thought of us and all Believers, He prayed for us, that we may be perfected in one so that the world would know God sent His Son because He so loved us and He loved Jesus. Now there is a sermon!

Light of the world

The Light of the World is Jesus....        
John 9:5  While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world. Rev 21:23  And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, even its lamp is the Lamb.


How astounding to live in a place that has no sun or moon nor stars, and there is no need for them to give light because the glory of God will be the light.


Every Sabbath, the woman of the home lights the candles. Only the woman of the house may light the candles because she is the light of the home. It follows that through a woman, Mary, the light of the world came into the world. 

School Shootings: Pray for the children by Unknown

I found this in my archives dated 1998. Something to pause and ponder.

We pray for the Children

 who sneak Popsicle's before supper,

 who erase holes in math workbooks,

 who can never find their shoes.

 And we pray for those

 who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,

 who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,

 who never "counted potatoes,"

 who are born in places where we wouldn't be  caught dead,

 who never go to the circus,

 who live in an X-rated world.

 We pray for children

 who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,

 who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.

 And we pray for those

 who never get dessert,

 who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,

 who watch their parents watch them die,

 who can't find any bread to steal,

 who don't have any rooms to clean up,

 whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,

 whose monsters are real.

 We pray for children

 who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,

 who like ghost stories,

 who shove dirty clothes under the bed,

 who never rinse out the tub,

 who get visits from the tooth fairy,

 who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,

 who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,

 whose tears we  sometimes laugh at and

 whose smiles can make us cry.

 And we pray for those

 whose nightmares come in the daytime,

 who will eat anything,

 who have never seen a dentist,

 who aren't spoiled by anybody,

 who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,

 who live and move, but have no being.

 We pray for children

 who want to be carried and for those who must,

 who we never give up on

 and for those who don't get a second chance.

 For those we smother and . . .

 for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

 ~Unknown

 In Memory of........

 Natalie Brooks, student  age 12

 Paige Ann Herring, student age 12

 Stephanie Johnson, student age 12

 Brittany R. Varner, student age 11

 Shannon Wright,   Teacher age 32

 This is in memory of the children and teacher killed in the shooting

 on  Tuesday, March 24, 1998  in  Jonesboro, Arkansas.

and at Columbine, and at Pearl High School, and at West Virginia, and more recently at University of Tennessee.

Since 1996 there have been more than 40 school violence by firearms with three quarters of them here in the U.S.  I find it terribly disturbing that this is basically safer to fly on an airline than to go to school. Since 1996 there have been 59 fatal accidents on airlines out of the millions of flights. 

What profit circumcision?

From a column I wrote last year at LiveAsIf.org 

What is the superiority of the Jew? What is the profit of circumcision? Paul asks these rhetorical questions in Romans chapter 3. Then he answers them in the following verses in stating that the Jews were trusted with the Word of God. Imagine how great a trust this was from God to these people.

God is no respecter of persons, yet He did choose Israel. He did give His words to Moses, He was a Pillar of Fire by night and a Pillar of Cloud by day for 40 years. He performed miracles in the wilderness and in the Promised Land. He settled within the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and eventually in the Sanctuary built by Solomon. He has made Jerusalem the center of the universe virtually for all mankind down through the centuries. The advantages of growing up a Jew in the ages before Jesus rose from the dead were Spiritual, if not physical.

In a good Jewish home, the Mamma taught the babies about the LORD. Along about the age of seven, the Papa began teaching the son. Each child was bade to memorize the Scriptures. The Rabbi would teach not only Scriptures, but also the traditions. It was a reverential treatment of the Torah, the Songs, and the Prophets. So, when we find partial references to the Old Testament passages, it is not surprising because the few words of reference brought the whole passage to mind and all knew what the purpose of the scrap of quote pointed to in the whole scheme of things. Context, context, context was not an issue.

Tradition was an issue, though. The Sacredness of the Law was such that the elders of Israel put a hedge of protection around it so that no man could misunderstand and break the Law. Then the next generation put a hedge around that hedge, and again another hedge around that hedge on down through the centuries until the Tradition out weighed the Torah by 18 volumes of tiny type to one small volume held in one hand.

Deut 10:16  And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and you shall not harden your neck any more.

Always the outward symbol of the covenant with God was circumcision. That one act of removal of the tough hedge around tender flesh was a blood covenant. It separated God’s Chosen from the goyim of the surrounding nations. It was the physical illustration of a Spiritual Truth. God wanted man to be sensitive to all things Spiritual. When God wanted the heart circumcised, He was talking about removing the hedge which prevented direct contact with Him. He wanted those who loved Him to honor the tender feelings He had placed within us. That stony hedge which surrounds the heart keeps God’s people from being obedient, from seeking His face and His forgiveness. That stony hedge blunts the sharp edge of conviction and dulls the blade of passion which will make any one of God’s children ineffective in ministry.

What is so important about a circumcised heart? You can’t have one unless God gives it to you. You can’t love without it and you can’t live without it, and if you don’t have one, your children may not get one either. Deut 30:6  And Jehovah your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.

A circumcised heart is a legacy which will continue on through the ages. It breaks down strongholds and builds bridges. It is necessary to know God, for without it the heart cannot be pierced. That is not a good thing.

Some of the Pharisee’s (in Acts 15) declared that all Gentiles must be circumcised and must keep the Law of Moses. It was such a hullabaloo that a conference was held with the Apostles and the Elders to discuss it and reason it out. Now, discussion was not such a great thing because for the Jews a loud discussion could occur anywhere there may be a disagreement. However, this was a formal thing. Peter pointed out that from ancient days, God had planned for the world to know about Himself through Israel, and that He made no distinction between Us and Them because He purified Their hearts (meaning Gentiles) by faith giving them the Holy Spirit. But… circumcision was the accepted sign of covenant.

Paul made sure Timothy was circumcised before they traveled to Jerusalem so that he, being one half Greek, would not offend any of the Jews. What profit was that? It was an outward illustration of the blood covenant. But, Paul made sure all knew that being circumcised did not make one immune to the Law, but rather made one a slave to it: …for as many as have sinned within the Law will be judged by the Law. (Rom. 2:12) And again in verse 25: For indeed circumcision profits if you practice the Law, but if you are a transgressor of Law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

God’s people keep His commands. Jesus said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. How do we know His will in order to keep it and to make it our will as well? It can’t be done with an uncircumcised heart.

The Hebrew word for circumcision is מוּל  mûl (mool) A primitive root; to cut short, that is, curtail (specifically the prepuce, that is, to circumcise); by implication to blunt; figuratively to destroy: - circumcise (-ing, selves), cut down (in pieces), destroy, X must needs.

That is exactly what is described by God circumcising a heart. He cuts short the mulish will of the sinful nature of man. He destroys that bent toward sin and the temptations of the heart are blunted. It is only as good as we allow it, however. We were made in God’s image with the characteristics of Him. We can discern the difference between good and evil, between the clean and unclean and we have been given the ability to choose. As Joshua told the Israelites after they had come into the Promised Land, “Choose you this day who you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

With a circumcised heart which is acutely sensitive to the LORD, to His still small voice, to the merest touch of His guiding hand, we will know beyond doubt which is the good choice and which is the bad. With an uncircumcised heart, one can be a good discerner and resolver of cases of conscience, but would be a very poor Christian. As Matthew Henry said, “…accurate in notion but loose and careless in application… A man may be well skilled in the controversies of religion, and yet a stranger to the power of godliness.” This, then, is a picture of how there can be “good” people who do not know Jesus. They know what is The Right Thing, and even capable of doing The Right Thing, but not how that applies to eternity or understanding of Godly things.

Choose you this day to keep the circumcised heart, to keep sensitive for this the path of usefulness to our LORD. When we are useless to God, He withdraws nourishment and we wither as aptly illustrated by the story of Jesus and the fig tree without fruit. Even though it was not the season for figs, for us, there is no fruit bearing season. WE are always to bear fruit. Therefore, let us be useful in our ministry. Let us plant and water and weed and tend and harvest for the time is growing short.

The question of where Golgatha is

To the left, a threshing floor.


In Genesis 22, we see the story of the sacrifice of Isaac where Moriah (mo-ree-yah) is mentioned first. The Hebrew word means seen of God.

Moses states "the land of Moriah", not Mount Moriah. God tells Abraham to go into the Land of Moriah to a place He would show him. God did not say, "There is a mount called Moriah where I wish you to offer up your only son as a sacrifice to Me."


Gen 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it will be seen.

The Targum which is the Aramaic translation/interpretation of the Torah and the Prophets states that the place David bought (the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite 1 Chron 21) to build the House of God was Mount Moriah.

But... how could the Romans profane the Temple by crucifying Jesus inside the Temple walls, since Solomon had no choice in where to build the Temple, God told him to build it on the property David had bought from Ornan the Jebusite. Also...

The Bible states that they took Jesus outside the city walls for crucifixion. The place that tradition states is Golgotha, is not a logical site for the wall expansion. While I do not think Wikipedia is full of accurate information, the section on Calvary is full of legitimate references, and it quite interesting.

Bottom line, no one really knows for sure where Golgatha literally is. If they did, then history illustrates that people would worship the rock instead of the Rock.

Older, Wiser, Better Employee

Being ancient in the over 50 age bracket does not mean it is time to search for good pasture. Unlike this rusted cannon that "guards" the Alabama coastline, the over 50 worker still works and swivels and can still aim in several directions accurately.

Employers often think that younger means more energy and better education, but statistics are proving that the younger generations do not have the wisdom and people-training that the older generations possess. There are numerous other advantages to hiring someone over 50 such as patience, purpose, problem solving, putting square pegs in round holes and vice versa. Young people are not adept at that yet because they don't have the years of experience which affords those skills. There is a lot you can learn from a textbook, but the actual practicing of the principles learned is what brings perfection to the skills.

Last week I was calling about a job opening I found on CareerBuilder.com. I had more experience and better qualifications than required for the position, so I sent my resume thinking it would be received well. In the cover letter, I let To Whom It May Concern know that I would be unavailable that day because of Mom's doctor appointment, but free for phone interview the following day. I also paraphrased my understanding of the job.

I got a terse reply: "Wrong. You would be selling the program. Any other questions you have will have to be addressed in the phone interview." Then a follow-up phone call stating I must call an 800 number to set up an interview that day. Obviously, the voice belonged to the email author because it was quite caustic in tone.

How's that again?

The company responded promptly enough but did not pay any attention to what I had said. I wrote about something similar to this back in 2006 after five months of job hunting. Things have not changed at all. What has happened to integrity, courtesy, and human kindness?

The experience is very much worth the paycheck. You literally do get what you pay for.

Here is some advice for employers who are searching for excellent employees:

1.  Rejection is crushing. Call the applicant to set up an interview. Letters indicate rejection before they are even opened. Never send a letter to set up an interview.

2.   Return emails. Resist the temptation to prolong suspense. This is only good in excellent novels and is not appreciated by the applicant. Don't keep us wiggling on the hook. Either throw us back or put us in the keeper pile.

3.  If you want a phone interview, then set a time and follow through. Why ask for a phone interview and then never respond after that?

4.  Before you toss your hook in the water, make sure you know what kind of fish...er, applicant you need and don't be afraid to be specific. That saves a lot of wasted time and energy for both of us.

5.  If your "opportunity" is MLM (Multi-Level Marketing), for goodness sakes say so. Offer all the particulars up front and quit the hems, haws and coaxings. It wastes too much time. (I know this because I was a Director for an MLM). No one wants to spend 30 minutes on a long-distance phone call if they don't know what the product is.

6. I love the "if you are still interested" response. It kicks! Tell me what you are looking for, how much it pays, your precise expectations and then tell me, "If you are still interested _________." That is the best time saver ever.

I do not know an older person who would not sacrifice a few dollars from their paycheck to be able to do something really interesting. We are established and we have a lot to offer. Play to that. It will absolutely be worth your while.