MUSLIM STUFF C 2013
1961 What is the main message of
the bible?
I want to continue with the
strain of thought from the last post.
But first- some politics.
Yesterday Susan Rice pulled
herself out of the race for Secretary of state.
Obviously the president felt it
would be bad to have her at the center of a huge nomination process- being
she’s at the heart of the Benghazi scandal.
Okay- what’s the big deal?
Yes- once again- some on the left
side of the aisle [not all] have accused the other side of not being ready for
a Black woman secy of state.
Huh?
Yes- the pundits were out saying
‘when will the Repubs ever be ready for anyone but a White male holding the
office’.
You know- for the money these
guys get [MSNBC] you think they would maybe educate themselves on the main
subject of their job.
We haven’t had a White- male
secretary of state for around 20 years [last one was Larry Eagleburger].
As a matter of fact- the last one
a Repub president had- just happened to be a Black woman – with the last name
of Rice! [Condi].
Sad- these race baiters are
destroying the fabric of the country- and they are doing it on the altar of
vanity.
Sure- they think [make it sound
like] they are the defenders of the minorities- but they hold an elitist
attitude- one that has scorn for the rest of the country [outside the media
market of NYC].
At the end of the day- they
misinform their viewers- they believe that their racist charges are true- and
they incite a sort of ‘reverse racism’ by creating an underlying distrust of
those who are not like them.
Okay- in the last post I
discussed the main message of the bible- what the main purpose is.
Over the years- as Christianity
developed- the church had councils and meetings to hash out various controversies.
Over time- these meetings
produced the historic creeds of the church.
Now- as a Protestant- I am not an
‘anti- traditional’ one.
I have read- taught- studied the
creeds and the councils- and I’m on the side of those who hold to the creeds.
But- this has tended to cloud the
main message of the New Testament.
Which is called The Good News.
What was the message the Apostles preached in the book of Acts?
The bible says they ‘preached the
word’.
This was not simply a ‘bible
message’ per se.
That is- they were not doing what
many modern preachers do- simply going thru the bible to find various verses-
about all types of subjects- and then making application.
No- they were preaching Christ-
they were telling the world of their day that Christ came as the promised
Messiah and died and rose again.
Then they told the people if they
had faith- and they became followers of ‘This Way’- they would be justified by
God- in a way that the law would not be able to do.
This is the heart of the New
Testament message- that people are now saved by faith in the death and
resurrection of Christ- as opposed to the old way of Law.
This is the basic message- what
we call the good news.
But- like I said above- in the
world of politics and religion- this simple message has been obscured.
Many people reject Christianity
because of the hard line creeds and statements that came out of the church
councils.
Many object to the way the Church
has defined the doctrine of the Trinity.
Now- I’m with the creeds on this-
but I do understand how Muslims- Jews- and even many Christian ‘groups’ have
also had problems with the historic definition.
A friend asked me the other day
about the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Now- at first I had no idea why
he asked- but I told him I try and take a much more gracious position then you
might hear from the average Christian teacher.
I told him they did break away
from the historic position of the Trinity- but I also told him there have been
many believers- all thru the history of the church- that have done the same
thing.
I did a quick review of the Arian
controversy [not Aryan- like the racist group].
In the early centuries of the
church there was a famous Catholic bishop by the name of Arias.
He held to the same belief that
the present Jehovah’s Witnesses do- that Jesus was not God- in the same sense
that God the Father is God.
Okay- eventually the church
overruled him- but there was a time where this belief was widely accepted- and
taught- in much of the church.
Till this day there are entire
groups of Christians that never rejected this initial belief- and they have
been around since the days of Arius.
So- when discussing this with my
friend- I tried to say I do understand how other religions have a problem with
the historic way we have defined the Trinity.
He then told me his dad- who was
a heathen his whole life- married a wonderful Jehovah Witness woman later in
life- and he has become a devout believer.
So- in a way he was glad to see
that even though the church does not believe the same way his dad believes- yet
at the same time- there have been- and continue to be- many sincere believers
who have had the same ideas as his dad and step mom.
Okay- said all that to say this.
Many good Muslims- who try to
serve the Lord to the best of their ability- they see this doctrine as the
major point of Christianity.
That is- they do not see the main
message spoken about in the New Testament as the simple truth that God sent
Jesus as the Messiah- more than a prophet- though a prophet he was.
But he came as the fulfillment of
the promise that God made all thru out the history of Israel.
That someday a Messiah would come
and he would not just die for the Jewish nation- but for all people groups.
And that all those who are
struggling to please God thru their own obedience to the law- they are now free
from ‘the law’ and can come to God based on the obedience of Christ.
Now- this would later become a
debate- both in church history- and in the pages of the bible itself.
We read in the New Testament that
some were accusing the apostle Paul of teaching that we can go out and sin-
break the law- because we are now under grace.
Paul defended himself against
this charge- and said we- as children of God- do God’s will.
He did not teach it was okay to
break the commandments.
But- he did teach we are not
justified- made acceptable in the sight of God- thru our doing of the
commandments.
He taught that this system of
trying to please God thru the obedience of the law was flawed from the get go.
Simply because all men are
sinners- and no man could ever keep the law 100%.
Therefore God made a New Covenant
with man [as opposed to the Old Covenant which was based on the law and works].
In this new ‘deal’ Jesus dies for
the sins of the whole world- and all who now believe are forgiven by God and
have eternal life.
This is a free gift that God
gives to man based on the death of his Son.
Jesus said ‘For God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten Son- that whoever believes in him will not
perish but have everlasting life’.
This is the Good News- this is
the main message of the bible.
When I hear people of other
faiths- or even people who have joined various sects of Christianity- when I
hear them have sincere objections to the Trinity- or to some other doctrine- I
try and bring them back to this main message of the bible.
This simple message of Christ
dying for the sins of men- and freeing man from the struggle of trying to
please God by keeping the law- that’s the old Testament that is no longer in
force.
Paul the apostle wrote the
Corinthian church and he said he was worried that satan was blinding their
minds form the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ.
I have found this to be true over
the years- many people have all types of objections to Christianity.
Some have to do with politics and
the Western world.
Some have to do with the way the
church has come to define certain doctrines.
But for the most part- many of
these well meaning objectors have never really understood what I just showed
you- that none of these things are the main message of the bible.
No- the main message of the bible
is that because of Christ we now have a New Covenant with God.
Not one that is based on our
ability [or inability] to keep the law.
No- that was doomed from the
start- no man could do it.
But this New Deal we have is
completed in Christ- we can come boldly to the throne of grace- because Jesus
made the way.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1960 MY APPEAL TO ALQAEDA
I woke up early the other day-
around 1 am [I have had this problem for years].
Right before I woke- I had one of
those dreams that you feel are significant.
I was with a friend- Huey- and we
were on top of a building.
To get down you had to climb down
a rope from a tree- Huey jumped on the tree and almost killed himself- he
managed to escape but hurt himself real bad.
Later that day- in ‘real life’
[no more dream] he called me- he had some ride he needed or something [Huey is
one of those guys that always has something going on- but seems to never
accomplish anything. A few months ago he asked if he could store some of his
stuff in the room at my house- I use the room for the homeless guys. Sure
enough- he’ll come by late at night- needing something- I felt I needed to
learn some patience with my buddy].
The phone he was on was breaking
up bad- but I told him quickly about the dream- that he needs to be careful
about something [you know- I thought maybe it meant danger- not an actual
fall!].
So I haven’t seen him in a couple
of days- but wanted to know how he was.
His brothers- who I’m doing the
halfway house with- haven’t heard from him.
So I’m walking to my van at the
mission- and I see Huey for the first time since the dream.
‘Hey- how you doing’?
He was in severe pain- maybe a
broken rib.
What happened?
I just fell off of a pier and
hurt myself real bad.
Huh?
I told him ‘didn’t you remember
the dream’.
He didn’t.
Figures.
The point?
Listen to my dreams.
Okay- not really.
The point is God uses us- all of
us- in community.
That means in the bible the
various gifts of the Spirit- they are intended to function this way.
We have [in modern church] more
of an individual style of the gifts.
Maybe we attend a church- or go
to some function- and often times we want to hear what God said – ‘thru the
prophet in the house’ type of thing.
But actually these types of
scenarios lean too heavily on one person.
You might have a gifted young
man- a real go getter- maybe the pastor of a church.
Okay- good- but if the format is
trying our best to hear God- mainly thru the speaking gift of one person- then
thats limited- it really is not the way ‘church’ was done in the bible.
Okay- enough of that.
I have a couple of things I want
to write on- but can’t do them both.
I want to write a post- just to
Al Qaeda.
What?
Yes- not one of those ‘got ya’
type titles- but a real life post to members of Al-Qaida.
What would possess you to do such
a thing?
This last year I have had a lot
of web hits from countries where many Muslims live.
My blog changed a function a
while back.
It shows me- not on the site- but
in the private section- how many hits we get.
A while back I stuck a thing on
the site to see what countries view- but I realized the hits were much more than what that Fidgit thing was
showing.
We were goin up a few hundred
every couple of days.
Grant it- that’s not much- but
it’s more than I thought.
We just passed 37,000 hits the
other day.
So- I also noticed that the posts
where I mention Islam- or some type of political thing- they get the most hits.
So- being I already said this
much- might as well make this the Al-Qaida post.
I’m grateful to have Muslim
friends who read the site- I’m grateful if some are Al-Qaida.
My appeal- what I try to do over
the years- is to simply see both sides of a thing- to try and understand the
others view- and then do my best to present the Christian idea.
Now- when I was talking to a
friend the other day- Islam came up.
I told him ‘did you know that
Muhammad- the founder of Islam in the 7th century- had many of the
same protests that other Christian groups would later voice too’.
I explained that Muhammad’s rise
in defense of the poor and down cast [by the way- that’s actually a biblical
characteristic of prophets- in the bible] were similar to Christian movements
that would rise later on- like the Salvation Army.
I went on to show that he also
felt like the growing use of statues in Christian worship was a violation of
the commandment that says you should not make images/idols.
Now- to my Catholic friends- I
have taught the entire history of the use of art- and yes- statues- in
Christian worship.
I have also taught against the
Iconoclasts- those Protestants who destroyed the statues in the Catholic
churches- during the times of the Reformation [16th century].
So- I’m not ‘Catholic bashing’ at
all.
The point is- Muhammad had some
of the same objections- based on the bible- that later Protestants would have.
Gee John- I never knew this? That’s why I teach it- it helps to have less
of a negative view of Muslims as a whole.
So- after I try to look at some
of the good things that Islam has done [Hamas- in the Palestinian area. Why do
they garnish so much support among the populace? Because they start hospitals-
they feed the poor- they start welfare programs for the kids. Do they do this
as some sort of trick- a way to gain the hearts and minds of people? No- they
do this because it’s a basic tenet of their faith].
Okay- then what do I say to any
Al-Qaida on the site?
I say that the historic
divisions- the things that divide the East from the West- many of them are
actual misunderstandings.
Yes- some of the religious
objections were misunderstandings.
The classic one.
Muhammad believed that the
Christians worshipped 3 Gods- what we call the Trinity.
But he thought the believers
worshipped God- Jesus- and Mary-the mother of Jesus.
That’s of course not the trinity-
this is simply a misunderstanding.
Christians believe that there is
one God- in 3 persons.
Those persons being the Father-
Son and Holy Spirit.
But the biggest thing I like to
show my Muslim friends- my friends form other faiths- is that the message of
the Cross- it’s one of grace.
Christians believe that Jesus
kept all the commandments of God- then he died to pay the price for our sins.
As Christians- we don’t teach
against the 10 commandants- but we don’t use them to gain acceptance with God-
the acceptance we have with God comes because of the death of his Son on our
behalf.
In actuality- this message is a
great relief for all people who live ‘under the law’.
That is- if your Muslim- if your
Al-Qaida- you too can take this.
Yes- Jesus died for you too.
That’s the appeal I make- I’m not
asking my friends from other faiths to convert- if they want to- fine.
But that’s not my appeal.
I’m saying to all my friends-
this message of the Cross- this is for all people.
Heck- if you want to stay Muslim-
stay- but just accept the reality of this post.
Yes- Jesus is spoken about much
in the Quran.
The prophet Muhammad respected
Jesus.
Jesus can become- should become-
all that he was intended to become- that is he died for you guys too.
Right now in the Muslim world
there is a movement going on- it’s highly debated in Christian circles.
The movement is many Muslims are
receiving Christ in this way- and staying Muslim.
Yet- they are accepting the
Christian view of the death of Christ on their behalf.
As somewhat of a scholar type
guy- yeah- I see where the objections arise.
But as a real world person- who
is glad that I get many readers from countries where I know many Muslims live.
To you- go ahead- accept the
benefit of Christ’s death and resurrection.
Many Muslims have already done
this- many more will.
If you want to keep the other
good points of Islam- fine.
But don’t see acceptance thru
your ability to keep the law- no one can ultimately live up to that standard.
Jesus was the only one who never
sinned- his death on our behalf allows us to come into the presence God.
He died for all- Muslims- Jews-
Hindu’s’ the list goes on and on.
In today’s world- many of the
objections against Christianity are really objections against Western
Imperialism.
A thing I too reject.
That’s not the heart of the
Christian faith.
You can receive Christ- and keep
objecting to all the political ideas of the Western world.
Heck- Jesus railed against the
money changers [the rich capitalist pigs of the day].
In some ways- Jesus was the
ultimate Revolutionary who spoke truth to power.
Yeah- many radical’s- even
Al-Qaida could respect him for this.
That’s my appeal to Al-Qaida
today.
Glad some of you might read- keep
reading- that’s the point.
NOTE- There is a famous prophecy
about Jesus in the bible- it says ‘Gentiles shall come to your light- and kings
to the brightness of your rising’.
This also applies to the ‘rise’
of the church- the people of God.
But in context- the gentiles are
all the nations [even various religions- some are called Denominations] that
are not Christian- not considered benefits of the Covenant of God.
The apostle Paul teaches us that
we are all now part of the covenant of hope- we all now benefit from the
promises of God [Ephesians].
The point being- the bible speaks
about other groups- other nations- seeing the reality of Jesus and his kingdom-
and that these too will come to the ‘brightness of his rising’.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1958 AGAINST HIS OWN PEOPLE!
Its story time again kiddies!
Come- gather at the media
carnival- they have another great fantasy for us all.
Yes- that’s the way I feel often-
when seeing new narratives emerge.
The past couple of days I have
been hearing ‘he might use chemical weapons- against his own people’.
Heaven forbid it- oh my- we could
never have that.
Yes- that’s the way they want you
to respond.
I’m talking about Syria and the
ongoing tragedy of the civil war taking place in their land.
Now- I’m certainly not a
supporter of Assad- the son of Hafez Assad- who ruled with an iron fist for 40
years.
Hilary Clinton called the son a
reformer- a good man who was for change.
Now he’s a murdering thug with a
bent on using the most horrid thing in the world- chemical weapons! Oh my!!
Yes- for those of you who don’t
know- the standard method of killing- shooting lead [or other metals] into the
bodies and skulls of folk- smashing their skulls as the bullet goes in.
In many cases leaving the wounded
person to die- in great agony.
Well- this method is humane.
Or say dropping a nuclear bomb on
hundreds of thousands of Japanese women and children.
You know- giving radiation poisoning
to tens of thousands of moms- many who were pregnant.
These kids dying of radiation
sickness- their limbs melting off like charred meat from a chicken bone.
Yes- this is ‘humane’.
But chemical weapons- against HIS
OWN PEOPLE- o my.
I guess it would be okay if it
were other people?
Did you know our great Winston
Churchill used- and advocated for the continuation of them- during the war?
Bet you didn’t know that little
tid bit.
My point?
I don’t want anyone to use any
weapons- ever.
And yes- chemical ones are very
bad.
But when you see the western
media saying ‘against his own people’.
Watch out- they are trying to
develop a narrative that will excuse our involvement [via NATO] to go in once
again and ruin another country.
Right now- as I write- the guys
who killed our ambassador in Benghazi are walking the streets- freely.
There are reports that no one has
been questioned- everyone in town knows who did it [Ansar Al Shariah].
Yet till this day the U.S. has so
badly dropped the ball- that these guys roam the streets with impunity.
This week I heard an ‘expert’ on
Arab affairs describe the ongoing protests in Egypt as simply a healthy
expression of Democracy.
That the Egyptians were
suppressed for so long- that now that they have freedom- they just can’t get
enough of this new expression of rising up in their streets.
Wow- what a great story.
O- but I forgot- the women have
been raped openly in the famous square- by the great Muslim Brotherhood.
All of these things are examples
of the media wanting to make things look/go a certain way.
It would be terrible if after all
the praise about the Arab spring- the open support we gave to Morsi [Egypt’s
new pharaoh].
If after all this- we now realize
that we were part of a revolution- that simply became anarchy.
That’s why they tell us the story
thru this lens.
That’s why they say ‘chemical
weapons- against his own people!’
So you would think ‘of course we
had to intervene- we had no other choice’.
When the so called rebels
[Al-Qaida] attacked a hospital in Syria and killed innocent victims and
doctors- was this called an attack ‘on their own people’.
No.
When the Al Qaeda group in Libya
hunt down the former relatives and friends of Gadhaffi.
When they torture and kill them.
When the free roaming militias
terrorize blacks and women- do we say they are ‘terrorizing their own people’.
No.
We don’t say it because we backed
them.
The guys running Libya are guys
we put in power.
So when the various atrocities
take place- against ‘their own people’. We don’t say it.
But when it’s time for the west
to intervene again- well watch out- we start saying ‘against his own people’.
All war- and weapons of war- are
sad- tragic.
It’s sad that many young Arab-
Persian and Muslim kids have grown up in this mess.
Its’ sad that some have embraced
radical expressions of their faith because they see no other way out.
It’s sad that Morsi turned out to
be no better than the guy before him [Mubarak].
It’s sad that the U.S. has put
its hand to many times to try and make a certain outcome happen.
Maybe we have done this meaning
well [maybe!] but the end result has not turned out well.
If we go in and depose Assad
[Syria].
That country will fall to
Al-Qaida- that’s a fact.
I don’t want to see chemical
weapons used either.
But don’t fool yourselves.
They are all killing- both sides-
using very bad things- against THEIR OWN PEOPLE.
The only innocent ones are the
true protestors who have not resorted to violence.
Those in the square of Egypt
today- who are not violent- they are noble.
Those in Libya- Syria- all the
other hot spots in the Arab world.
Those who reject violence- they
are noble.
But if you take up a weapon- be
it chemical or any other- then you have chosen to live by the sword.
A great man once said ‘if you
live by the sword- you will die by it’.
His name was Jesus Christ.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1951 ALL THE WORLDS A STAGE [and
the media write the script]
This past week we have seen media
bias on an unusually large scale [that is it’s rarely so blatant].
The current conflict between
Israel and the Palestinians has been reported in the strangest of ways.
Say if you had 2 kids throwing
apples at each other.
You would ask ‘how did this
start’.
And say if we found out that
Timmy had small apples- and Billy had big ones.
Now- Timmy knows Billy has better
apples- that he can launch them with greater precision and power- yet Timmy
thinks if he plays his cards right- that maybe Billy won’t throw in response
[Or that his new friends might come and help him].
So Timmy throws about 300 apples
in a short period of time.
Finally Billy has enough- he
takes his precision throwing skills to the table and slams Timmy.
After a few days of getting
slammed- Timmy’s friend [little Morsi from around the corner- lives on Egyptian
trail] gets involved.
Morsi says ‘damn you Billy- stop
it- Timmy’s my friend’.
Billy has only one request- tell
Timmy to stop throwing.
Morsi is really not a go between
at all- in all his talks he keeps saying he’s on Timmy’s side- he calls Billy a
cold blooded apple thrower- and little Morsi does not even recognize that Timmy
actually started the whole thing [the recent apple throwing].
So- the big brother on the block
finally steps in.
Yeah- the guys from USA Street
enter the fray.
They have recently praised the
guy from Egypt Street- they have made all sorts of statements saying he’s
really a heroic figure- he’s willing to reach out to both sides and play the
mediator.
Yet- in fact- he has not done
this at all.
But the boys from USA Street have
to make it look that way- or else they too will look bad- after all- they were
behind the Egyptian street boys rise to power [in many covert ways- like
calling for Mubarak to step down ‘yesterday’].
So- USA boys have a plan- they
have friends that write comic books [called news paper reporters].
These friends will write and say
anything to help their friends who are currently the bosses on USA Street [the
Obama team].
So- they wrote all types of
articles praising the new leadership role of Morsi- they made it look like
Obama and his risk in backing Morsi was worth it- after all- Egypt has emerged
as the new mediator in these affairs.
Well the truth is- all of this is
a big lie- a true comic strip if there ever was one.
Yes my friends- I have rarely
seen bias on a scale so large.
These last few days the articles
reported that ‘both sides have demands’ [Israel and Hamas].
They reported ‘a cease fire is
now in place- but there are rockets that continue to be fired into Israel- will
Israel use this as an excuse to be the first to break the cease fire’.
Huh?
If the other side [Timmy- Hamas]
are firing rockets after the so called ‘cease fire’ what do you call that?
You say ‘o- Hamas broke the cease
fire’.
But no- the media made it sound
like these rockets had a will of their own- they were fired into Israel- after
the cease fire- which according to them- both sides were still abiding by.
I mean this stuff is laughable-
they must think we are absolute morons.
The truth is- Israel and the
Palestinians have a long feud- and this post is not to say one side is totally
right- I at times have said we also need to see the true plight of the innocent
Palestinians- yes- some are very good people- they are not all Hamas.
But- the recent violence is a
direct result of Hamas deciding to send rockets into civilian areas of Israel.
No nation- that has the
capability to fire back- would sit back and not respond.
Israel did the only thing that
they could- they shot back.
Now- to then say ‘yes- the
violence is a result of both sides having legitimate concerns’ is stupid.
Yes- the Palestinians do have
real concerns- but the recent violence is a result of little Timmy starting the
apple throwing.
I read a report that said
‘Israel’s demands are for the rockets to stop- Hamas wants an end to the
embargo’.
Okay- I got that.
But when one guy starts shooting
at the other- and the other shoots back- and you say ‘okay guys- what’s going
on- what do you want’.
And when Billy says ‘I don’t want
anything- Timmy just started throwing- I want him to stop’.
That’s not ‘both sides having
equal demands’ no- that’s one side saying ‘quit throwing the apples’.
The truth is- this entire thing
is a debacle.
President Obama should not have
been in Asia- there’s too much going on at home [fiscal cliff] and he needs to
have more involvement in the mediation.
Yes- when Bush was in office- and
had an actual peace process on the table- when things hit the fan- Harry Reid-
and many other Democrat leaders were on the floor condemning Bush for not being
involved more.
This time Obama does not even
have a peace process in place- he could not even call both sides ‘back to the
table’ because there is no table.
One article showed a picture of
the president on the phone- it said he ‘skipped dessert and rushed back to the
phone’.
Making it sound like him and
Morsi were these 2 jet setter type diplomats- in a world of ids fighting.
The reality is this thing was a
huge foreign policy mess.
Hillary went in- she basically
told Morsi what he had to do- and she [we] also made it sound like he won- he
prevailed as a new emerging peace negotiator- this is all a false story.
Hamas agreed to stop firing [even
though they were still firing!] because Israel has amassed a ground force and
were ready to go in and demolish Hamas.
Yet- after the agreement- both
the Palestinians- and Morsi- were celebrating a so called military victory over
the ‘terrorist’ Israel.
Yes- Morsi and Hamas all held to
this same line.
How can you call him a new peace
maker- after he says and acts like this?
Yes my friends- we have seen the
worst in media bias- in a long time.
We have seen the comic strip
writers living up to their reputation.
Yeah- they all put on a big show
for us- they wrote a script that had nothing to do with what really happened.
And they did all this because
this time their friend was running the show.
The last time around [Bush years]
well the script looked nothing like this.
NOTE- Why so hard on Morsi [the
Egyptian president]?
Just yesterday he re wrote the
‘Egyptian constitution’ and took to himself more power than Mubarak ever had.
Many Egyptians took to the
streets [they are there right now] protesting this power grab by an Islamic
group.
Yes- Morsi and the group he’s
affiliated with- the Muslim Brotherhood- promised to never do this.
There are Christians and other
non religious secularists in Egypt who fear this move.
One of the reasons he did this
was because he arrested- and wanted tried- many of his political opponents.
The judges in Egypt have a
reputation of being independent.
Yes- they are not as good as our
system- but they are pretty good- in that they are not simply tools of the
leader- like in many other places around the world.
So- when Morsi wanted some of his
political enemies tried- the courts said no.
They said there was not enough
evidence to try them- or find them guilty.
So- Morsi made this move- and is
replacing all the judges with his own men.
Yes- this move is worse than
anything Mubarak ever did.
Yet- we find president Obama and his
administration praising him as some sort of great peace negotiator.
Ah- what a web we have weaved in
this mess.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1949 HEBREWS 9
Let’s make up for lost time.
I was wanting to review Hebrews
chapter 9 last week- so let’s hit it today.
The book of Hebrews [in the New
Testament] is one of my favorites.
Not only chapter 9- but the whole
book speaks about how Jesus started a ‘new and better’ covenant [agreement]
between God and man.
The Old ‘agreement’ [covenant]
was called The Law.
It was based on man approaching
God solely on his own effort- how well he did- how hard he tried to keep the
commandments.
There are many good people today
who still approach God based on this.
The New Testament says the law
came thru Moses- but grace and truth came by Jesus.
Because of Christ- we can now
approach God based on his merit- he kept the law and died for us.
Now- this does not give us an
excuse to sin- but the new approach is one of grace as opposed to law.
Okay- Hebrews 9 says Jesus has
fulfilled the Old Testament law to the tee.
He is now our new High Priest.
He goes into the presence of God
for us- with his Blood- and he makes intercession for us.
In the Old Testament system the
priests went daily [and yearly] into the tabernacle [tent] and did certain
sacrifices.
They used the blood of ‘bulls and
goats’.
The writer says these things
could never make the worshippers clean- but they only served as examples until
the ultimate sacrifice would be made.
That was Christ.
The writer says the real
temple—the real presence of God is in heaven- and Jesus has entered into the
true Holy of Holies on our behalf.
He says ‘this should purge us
from dead works to serve the living God’.
In context the ‘dead works’ are
the old works of the law system- with all of its animal sacrifices- and the New
Way is this new priesthood established by Christ himself.
We don’t need the blood of
animals as a sacrifice- we have the death of Christ.
I wrote an entire commentary on
the book of Hebrews- on the blog.
It’s a great letter- and the main
point of the letter is an appeal to the first century Jewish community- who
were still keeping the ordinances of the sacrificial system.
The writer is trying to show them
that Christ has put an end to the old system of animal sacrifice- and he has
established this new ‘system’ [called the New Covenant] and it is based on the
one and final sacrifice of Jesus.
This truly is Good News [the meaning
of Gospel].
Today we have better covenant- a
better way to approach God.
We don’t come to him based on how
well we kept the law.
No- Hebrews says ‘let us come
boldly into the presence of God’.
How can sinful man come boldly?
Because we come to God- not by
our works- but on the merits of the sacrifice of Christ.
Yes- as simple as this sounds-
Christ died for all- all can come- all who believe.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1948 WAR OF THE WORLDS [or world
views?]
Once again I end the week with
the dilemma of either writing on a bible chapter [Hebrews 9] or discussing
world events.
Let me start with a few news
items.
I find it funny how the media has
been covering some recent events.
I also find it degrading that
MSNBC has begun a new era- yes- for the first time I can remember- they are now
continuing to go after the losing side’s candidate- even after the race is
over.
Yes- They have been doing shows-
I guess we should start calling them skits [they are performers you know].
And they are blasting Romney for
anything he says- even as a private citizen- and they are using his life- I
guess for ever- as a talking point.
I guess we will continue to hear
about Ann Romney’s MS- her use of horses- you know- O’Donnell can’t stop
mocking the woman.
Her kids- watch out- MSNBC will
get you too!
This is so sad.
Chris Matthews had on Jim Clyburn
the other day [a Dem congressman] they were discussing the issue of Susan Rice
[UN ambassador].
She’s under fire for her
statements about the Benghazi attack.
To be fair- it does seem like
some on the right misread it- Petraeus did testify yesterday that she did not
change the Talking Points.
But they were ‘scrubbed’ by the
Intel community- not the White House.
This was the big issue- who
removed the part that said Al-Qaida were part of the attack.
Anyway- Clyburn tells Matthews
that- don’t forget- they are going after a young ‘BLACK WOMAN’.
Matthews says ‘go on’.
Very sad indeed.
There were [still are] very
legitimate questions about what Rice said.
Why did she present talking
points that basically said the opposite of what they knew? [even if she’s not
at fault- they were still not accurate].
She did go on in the Sunday
interviews and say Al-Qaida was on the run- yet the truth was they were part of
the attack.
Even if she is innocent- yet she
did present a false narrative.
If this is business as usual-
than we still have a problem.
Israel;
I was at the mission the other
day and some girl asked one of the older guys who works there ‘what are you
reading’.
He told her a news article from
the NY Times about the Palestinian- Israeli fighting.
She asked him why Israel was
bombing the Palestinian area.
He really didn’t have a good
explanation- right at hand.
So I contributed a brief synopsis
[which he later thanked me for- as well as the girl- just to say it wasn’t
rude].
I told the girl that Israel began
this recent action [it’s the largest military action against Hamas- the group
that they are fighting- in years].
Because Hamas started shooting
rockets into Israel about a week ago.
They sent around 300 rockets in-
with no response.
Now- as someone who has tried
very hard to be unbiased about the middle east question [for instance I have
written in defense of the Palestinians many times- something that is the
minority position in Evangelical circles].
Israel had no choice but to
respond.
But some in the media are making
it sound like Israel is to blame.
CNN said ‘this all began when
Israel killed the top Hamas leader’.
Yes- many of you have seen the
dramatic video of the guy being taken out in his car.
But this was not the ‘start’ of
the violence.
If someone bombed your house- say
3oo times- and then you shoot them with a gun.
Well- who started it?
There is a very important story
that should be told- that takes a little time- but the media is not telling
you.
Let’s give it a shot.
First- I’m not blaming Obama.
But elections do have
consequences.
Over the many years of the
fighting about the Palestinian question- Hamas- the group that won the election
a few years back- took power.
Now- they are actually branded as
a terrorist group by the U.S.
They now feel emboldened to act-
to make an all out attempt to raise world awareness- by these initial attacks-
and they are hoping for their own Arab Spring.
Why are they doing this now?
Understand- Hamas is actually an
arm of the Muslim Brotherhood- the group who has now risen to power in Egypt.
The new Egyptian president-
Morsi- has already sent a team to the Palestinian areas- and they are backing
Hamas.
Obama has been very friendly with
the Muslim Brotherhood- and very cold to Israel [though he denies it].
After the re-election of Obama-
it’s only natural for Hamas to think they have much more leverage now- see?
Now- that took a couple of lines-
why couldn’t the media have told you that narrative?
Fahreed Zakariah- a CNN analyst
who I actually like.
He was asked about the release of
a guy who killed some Americans- Iraq was holding him- they let him go.
He blamed the problem on Bush
[yeah- you can use Romney on MSNBC- CNN will use Bush].
He said that Bush was too willing
to work with the radical Islamist groups- and he allowed them to gain some
power in Iraq- and that’s why this happened.
He also said Obama came in and
tried to fix it- but it was too late.
I find it interesting that
Fahreed- who advises the president- has been part of the entire ‘new approach’
to the Arab world.
Yes- Obama [for good or ill] had
very high hopes of starting a new relationship with the Muslim world.
He sincerely felt if he could
reach out to certain groups [Muslim Brotherhood] than he might be able to
change the tone in that part of the world.
He has made more effort- at
normalizing relations with Muslim groups- than anyone in the history of the
presidency.
I just showed you how some of
these efforts might be the root cause of the aggression right now with Israel
and the Palestinians.
Yet- in the middle of the
greatest effort ever made to reach out to- and work with radical groups.
One of Obama’s top defenders said
‘the reason Iraq released the guy who killed our men- is because Bush was too
cozy with radical Islamist groups’.
This would be funny if it weren’t
so sad.
I try to be fair in my analysis
of these things.
When you are simply a cheerleader
for either side [MSNBC on the left- Fox- some- on the right].
Then you lose all credibility-
because people know they can’t trust you with a fair analysis.
But if we can’t- as a nation- as
a globe- see behind the lines- see what’s really going on- then we will
continue to blame one side- or the other- while not really seeing the root
cause.
Yes- there are questions still to
be asked.
Maybe the president’s noble
attempt at reaching out to radical elements was doomed from the start.
Maybe one of the reasons we are
seeing some of the worst violence in the Palestinian areas has to do with this.
But for one of the president’s
biggest cheerleaders- who has himself criticized Bush many times for his hard
stance and ‘unwillingness’ to see the Muslim side.
For him to say one of the
problems is Bush was too chummy with radicals- it’s beyond belief.
Yeah- but if we don’t blame Bush-
who else could we blame?
Easy.
Just switch to MSNBC- they’re
still blaming Romney.
Yeah- that will work.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1946 JEWS TEACHING SCIECNE- WHAT
IS THIS?
I want to try and cover a little
bit more on Einstein.
But just a few quick notes.
The last few days- as I have
watched some of the post election coverage- I find it funny how the ‘4th
estate’ has tried to rise above their own ignorance.
This past year- as I have both
read- viewed- listened to many media sources- all sides of the various debates
that go on in the country.
There was a conscious decision
made- by some on the left- to ‘suppress the vote’.
What?
I thought it was the Repubs that
were trying to do this?
Yes- there were efforts made-
whether noble or not- to suppress some of the minority vote [noble - some say
they were just trying to stop voter fraud- others said they were trying to
suppress the minority vote].
But- how did the left do this?
Once again- yes- hailing from the
great state of N.J. [ the headquarters of many media outlets- it is sad that
the most grievous offenders come from my hometown area! - Fort Lee- Secaucus-
spots right where I grew up].
MSNBC spent an entire year
mocking the faith of Romney.
I saw Martin Bashir- actually
say- on air- that Christians should not vote for Romney because he denies the
Trinity.
Can you imagine him saying this
about a Muslim candidate?
Chris Matthews- he spoke about
Romney and his religion as weird- a cult- and other interesting terms [Matthews
says he was taken out of context- but simply using the word accomplishes the
task].
Now- after a year of this- it is
true that some White evangelicals [their target audience of suppression] did
indeed not vote for Romney.
In media lingo they call this
‘failed to get out his base- the White vote’.
Mission accomplished.
They see what they did as a noble
cause- a good thing.
When you convince yourself that
those who don’t embrace your ideas are racist nuts- then it justifies this
double standard.
There was an article on Hillary
Clinton seeing the Broadway play the Book of Mormon [yeah- Bloomberg manages to
keep the lights on Broadway on- but watch out if you’re from Staten island or
the Rockaway’s!]
When she came out of the theater
she said it was so funny- she couldn’t stop laughing.
What was she laughing at?
The play is an open mockery of
the Mormon faith.
Yet- this same state dept
official- she was outraged over the release of some on line movie clip that
depicted the prophet Muhammad in a negative light.
They just sentenced the maker of
the movie to a year in jail- over some probation thing.
Yes- that’s the double standard
of the media- politicians- it is quite obvious.
Okay- Einstein.
As I read a few chapters every
few days- I want to comment on the important- relevant stuff.
One of them being the very word
Relativity.
Now- I am tempted to go back and
review all the posts we did on physics [you long time blog readers might
remember?].
But this book is not a physics
book per se’- but a biography.
Yet a quick review might help.
Einstein became famous for a few
things- most of us know the famous equation E=mc2.
Simply a conversion of mass into
energy formula- it works for all things- not just Nuclear.
His theory of Relativity shook up
the world of physics- and Einstein is indeed the father of what we call modern
physics [and Quantum theory].
Okay- what he did was he took the
centuries old ideas of Newton [the father of classical physics] and he said
that time and space were not absolutes.
That’s is- that depending on the
observer [and his speed] time actually changes.
Some in the scientific community
could not fathom what he was saying.
The book has actual headlines
from the NY times- they openly doubted some of Einstein’s work
I remember reading this years
ago- but this time I saw the real headlines.
They said stuff like ‘what is
this new theory- that space might be limited- this defies the actual definition
of space’.
Now- it would take too long to
tell you what they were covering- but it is one of the various theories of the
universe.
In actuality- the times might
have been right in this one case [it’s a theory that the universe is curved-
has no detectable edge- if so- you can than argue for an infinite universe in a
closed space- because there is no edge- or end].
As a side note- logically- the
times was correct.
Just because you can’t find a
‘sharp edge’ to a thing- that does not mean the thing is ‘endless’.
I covered this years ago in our
apologetics posts- it was interesting to have re –read this from this author
[Isaacson].
He is a good author- and explains
stuff well.
Okay what was the other stuff
that some objected to?
Some associated- wrongly- the
theory of Relativity- with the modernist philosophy called Relativism.
Relativism [remember the
philosophy stuff?] said that there was really nothing as objective truth- that
what you see might be just as true as what someone else sees.
You might both be looking at the
same thing [morally- murder- etc.] yet to one it might be wrong- to the other-
right.
This idea- Relativism- was
strongly rejected by many philosophers- especially those with a
Christians/Theist background.
Even today this is one of the
major debates going on in the world of the philosophy.
But- some confused what Einstein
was saying- and they thought [or used it] to back up the ‘moral’ philosophy of
Relativism.
This was a mistake.
Einstein himself- as I mentioned
in an earlier post- was not a relativist at all- that is when speaking about
moral absolutes.
So some began to associate him-
as one of the new ‘Jew’ scientists- who were introducing dangerous doctrines to
the world.
Yes- some of the objectors to
Einstein objected on the basis of this new ‘Jewish science’ that was breaking
away from the moors of Christian science- whose father was Isaac Newton.
See how both anti Semitism- and
religious belief played a role in this?
I’ll end with a quote from a
famous man of the time- an up and coming politician- I mean he could awe his
audience like no other.
Obama- Clinton- even the great
communicator- Reagan- were no match for this man when it came to giving a
speech.
He said ‘Science- once our
greatest pride- is today being taught by Hebrews’.
Who said this?
The future leader of Germany-
Adolph Hitler.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1945 BIRTHER- ME?
Before we end the week I want to
simply quote a few verses from Isaiah 26.
‘Thou will keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on thee’
‘Trust ye in the Lord forever-
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength’
‘When thy judgments are in the
earth- the inhabitants of the world will learn justice’.
I stumbled upon this chapter the
other day- I did not realize how many verses I have memorized over the years-
ones that I would quote and stuff- not realizing they were lumped together in
this chapter.
Over the years I have had times
[years] where I would read thru the bible every year.
Or maybe read the New Testament
thru many times- and the Old Testament a little slower.
These past few years I have
slowed down a bit- still reading every week- but less ‘volume’ and more
meditation.
I’ll read a chapter- then stay on
it for a few days- and then see more stuff each time.
I try and listen for ‘daily
bread’ type of a thing.
In the Lord’s prayer [Our father]
he said we should pray for ‘our daily bread’ and in a way that speaks about
what God wants to tell us each day.
Sort of like the story of Manna
in the time of Moses.
The people of God were in the
wilderness for 40 years- and God fed them bread every morning.
It was called ‘angels food’ it
was this little wafer type thing that was on the ground each day.
God told them only take enough
for you and your family- if you take too much- and store it up overnight- it
will spoil.
But on the 6th day
they could take enough for 2 days- because they were not supposed to gather it
on the Sabbath.
So God in a way has daily manna
for us- if we try and overload the system- by eating too much- then it will
spoil.
Its funny- over the years I have
seen/gone thru stages where you get involved with movements- good people- who
for whatever reason get into some type of teaching.
Maybe they will emphasize some
new thing- and for years they will go down that road.
Maybe it’s not a bad road per
se’- but these things were not supposed to be ‘roads’ at all.
That is- as believers we should
establish our hearts in grace and the reality of God.
The reality of the Cross and
death of Christ for us.
And then as we learn and grow-
sure- we will learn lots of stuff- but when you get into fads- well it’s like
the verse in the book of Hebrews.
‘It is a good thing that you are
established in grace- not with meats [ side doctrines] for it is not profitable
for those who are occupied therein’ [my paraphrase].
Okay- a few things.
The other day at the mission I
had to intervene- sort of like a Ref.
2 of the guys were getting into
it- over all things- politics and religion!
Now- these guys happened to be
sober- but you have a few guys who start drinking early- and by the time I get
there- well let’s say they are feeling pretty good.
So- I could think of no better
environment to discuss politics and religion- can you?
Somehow one of my buddies- who is
very smart- got a hold of ‘birthirism’ somewhere along the line.
I first heard him talk about it a
few months back- and was kinda surprised.
He is not a ‘right winger’ at
all- he attends a classically more liberal church [Methodist] and we often
discuss the Sunday school teaching from the previous week.
He has the notes from church- and
they are always taking a more liberal side- and I have told him that the
Methodists are a great church- and they do an excellent job at social justice
[like the Catholics].
So- it was a surprise for my
friend to have launched into birthirism [the belief that Obama is not a U.S.
citizen].
By the way- those who believe
this are not total nuts- if I have time I’ll share a few facts- things that
have caused people to question- yet I have never swallowed the Trump view.
So- my buddy starts into his
talk.
‘Obama was sworn in on the Koran-
even if he was born in Hawaii- that’s not part of the continental U.S.- so he
still is not legitimate’.
A few more things like this- that
coming from this particular friend- surprised me.
Now- this day we were sitting
with my other friend Don.
Don is the gardener at the
mission- the pics I posted on Facebook- with the garden- that’s Don.
Don is quite the intellectual-
for real.
It never ceases to amaze me when
I run into the smartest guys that are homeless.
Don has a well rounded education-
knows all types of subjects- sort of a renaissance man if you will.
So- for Don to have heard my
other friend launch into his thing- well- he could not believe that my friend
was saying this.
Don- rightfully- corrected my
buddy in no uncertain terms.
My buddy went on about Obama
being a non citizen.
Then they appealed to me- to be
honest I did not want to get into it.
But I did.
I had to side with Don- and
correct my other friend because he was so misinformed.
Obviously Hawaii is part of the
U.S. - even though Alaska and Hawaii are not part of the land mass that makes
up the lower 48.
Yet they are states- and they
count as being born in the U.S.
But I had to throw out some cover
for my misinformed friend.
He looks up to me as sort of a
teacher- and when someone sees you that way- it’s hard for them to be corrected
by someone they look up to.
So- I did tell Don that I have
read/watched so many news things over the past 4 years- that there were things
that gave some people real reason to doubt the president’s place of birth.
Now- be careful here- I want you
to hear carefully.
Because what I think has
happened- is the president did things in the past- like we all have done
[skewing the facts to gain a benefit].
He possibly presented himself- at
various times- as being from Kenya- or as sharing the Muslim faith.
What- are you nuts?
Not 100% [maybe half?]
Okay- here’s the cover for my
buddy.
As people started looking into
the birth certificate thing- there were some indications that the president
might have said he was from Kenya- maybe to sort of play into the role of ‘this
new and up and coming author- with such an interesting background’.
Or maybe at times- in applying
for school- you might say you’re a
foreign born person- because you get an edge if the school has a quota type
thing [thus the Trump challenge to show his college records].
Why do I think this might have
happened?
When you wade thru all the
accusations- there were a few things that did come up that quite frankly looked
strange.
One of the more questionable
things was the actual promotion of one of Obama’s books- the book publisher
actually introduced Obama- the author- as a ‘Kenyan born’ person.
Now- when this came out- the
president- and the publisher- both admitted that this was not a fake.
They simply said it was a typo.
Huh?
They both admitted that the intro
for the book said Obama was Kenyan- but it was a typo.
Look- a typo is hitting a wrong
key on the keyboard [unless this type writer had Kenya as one of the keys?]
And what are the chances that
this typo just happened to name Kenya as his birthplace?
I mean that’s a bit much to swallow to be honest.
So John- he’s a Kenyan!
/
Now- here's where I give the pres
the benefit of the doubt- but why I say he too has given the birthers a reason
to question him.
There are a few people that
said/think that Obama used this ‘I was born in Kenya’ thing to simply help
promote himself.
He has spoken about his own
identity struggle in the past.
Growing up he had the name of his
step dad [Sotero].
As he got older- being raised by
a single mom- he eventually learned more about his real dad- from Kenya- and he
did try to identify more with his father’s heritage.
So- maybe did he start saying
‘I’m Kenyan’
Sure.
Was this so bad?
No.
But is this possible?
Yes.
The more believable explanation
for a book publisher to say you’re from Kenya- would be that Obama might have
presented himself as such.
Others have said that he did say
this to them as well.
And some think he might have used
this on his college application.
This is very possible- and to be
honest- for a book publisher to accidently pick Kenya- as a typo- that’s a bit
much.
So- I gave cover to my birther
friend- by leaving him room- that is to say there are people who question it-
Obama’s place of birth- and they are not all nuts.
But- I also sided with Don- that
at the end of the day- I think this issue is settled.
It’s hard to have friends on both
sides of these things.
Because when you take one side-
the other feels alienated.
I think it’s also wrong to assume
that those who did not support Obama are all birthers.
I supported Romney simply on the
basis of experience.
Those who want a real honest
critique of the president should read Bob Woodward’s latest book.
He tells the story- the true
story- of how many of the president’s closest inside fiends felt he was so far
out of his league- after he got in- that others had to actually run the show-
for quite some time.
Yes- these are actual reports
from friends of Obama.
I remember hearing his main
financial guy [I forget the name right now- Lawrence Lindsey?]
He said at one point ‘if we were
not running this show- no one would be in charge’.
Yes- there are some real- honest
critiques that have come out- and they did indeed feel like the president was
way out of his league for this job.
And these were not birthers.
So- at the end of the day- some
supported one side because they had real questions.
Others supported Obama because
they too had honest positions.
But we also need to correct those
in our midst who have wrong views- things that they picked up along the way.
If we want good discourse- it
must be informed.
And yes- at times both sides have
missed this mark.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1939 THE MORE IMPORTANT STUFF
Today we are going to do an ‘all
nighter’.
A few months ago I started a new
thing- I invited a few of the homeless guys over to the house [actually that’s
not new].
But I cooked a good meal for them
and let them crash out on the floor for the night.
Over the years I have had a few
friends spend the night- but not on a weekly basis.
So- I fixed up a room for them-
and tonight they will use it.
Before the weeks out [I guess
that means in the morning?] I will try and write a post on Luke chapter 15.
I at least want to cover one
bible chapter a week.
But let me just make a few notes
today.
For those of you who are not
familiar with ‘our ministry’- the whole basis of what I do could be summed up
from Isaiah chapter 58.
In a way it’s an encapsulation of
the whole intent of the Judaic law.
Actually that will fit in with
tomorrows post.
In the Old Testament prophets we
read many times where God rebukes the Jewish people [called the People of God
under the old covenant].
And he says time after time ‘I
don’t want your religious ritual- I want your heart- I don’t want to know how
good your are at making animal sacrifice- I want you to sacrifice by loving
your neighbor’.
These themes are found all thru
out the prophets.
Now- in the New Testament we see
the same thing with Jesus.
He says ‘you tithe and do all
types of religious stuff- yet you have left out the more important matters-
love and mercy’.
Jesus truly fulfills his
prophetic role by defending the poor and speaking ‘truth to power’.
I see the role of the church- the
main job of Christians- as one where we are not building religious empires-
where we are not all about getting a lot of money to ‘reach the world’.
But where we are to live- as best
as possible- the new command that Jesus left us.
‘Love the Lord your God with all
your heart- soul- mind and might- and your neighbor as yourself’.
That’s the crux of the matter.
So- today I will go down to the
mission and invite about 5 or so friends.
We will pick up some food for the
‘party’ [I got paid last night!]
We will come back to the house-
hang out- share what’s been happening- eat- and then crash for the night.
Now- don’t be fooled- we will
talk much about Gods will- the guys always wind up bringing it up- it’s a
natural part of fellowship.
There will be no drinking or
smoking [pot].
Yeah- the guys will smoke cig’s.
But all in all they know the
rules- and they abide by them.
Last week Michael- the street
artist I have written about over the years.
Mike is a great painter- and
right now he works as a cook at one of the local buffets.
He came over just for a few hours
with some brothers- and later he told me that was one of the best times he has
ever had.
We did nothing- but hung out.
Many street people live lives of
quiet desperation.
I see them every day- they go
thru their routines- they know each other by name- but yet they rarely interact
this way- that is just getting together without it being a drug induced party.
And when they do get together
like this- it helps them.
The other day I was talking to
Joe- a friend I have known for 20 years.
Somehow he brought up the name
Tom.
I asked him ‘do you mean the Tom
that hit the 100 thousand dollar lotto ticket a few months ago’?
Yeah- one of my good friends hit
the Texas lotto thing- a scratch off- and won big.
He bought 2 Harleys and a bunch
of stuff.
I posted the pic on my site- you
probably would find it under the Photo album named ‘homeless 2012’ [Face book
site].
As I mentioned Tom- the Harley
guy.
Joe told me ‘no- not him- he’s my
biological brother’.
Huh?
I have known both of these guys
for 20 years- have seen them on the streets- at the mission- all over.
Yet I never knew they were related-
actual brothers.
It’s easy for the guys to live
their lives- to pass by each other- and never really have fellowship- a good
time where they all get together and have fun- without getting drunk- without
getting high- just eating good food and knowing that we are doing it as a
ministry/friendship thing.
I simply spend my money on the
stuff- I take no offerings for it- imagine if we all did stuff like this? [I
know many others do- but most Christians don’t see this as a regular part of
the Christian experience].
If people all over the world did
this on a regular basis.
Then if you had all the church
people doing it- then you wouldn’t need to raise a million to do ‘Gods work’.
It would be getting done thru the
small sacrifices that each of us make on a daily basis.
The Apostle Paul wrote the
Ephesians and said ‘he that is not working- get a job- so you can have to give
to those in need’.
What?
No tithe here?
Not pouring it into a huge
ministry budget?
No red tape?
Yeah- the New Testament [and old-
Isaiah 58] teach us to actually use our resources to reach out- directly- to
the poor and hurting.
Read the epistle of James- or the
letter’s of John.
This teaching is not a side
issue- it’s one of the main things.
As a matter of fact- that’s why
the prophets of the Old Testament- and Jesus in the New- kept rebuking the
religious people of their day- because they knew how to keep the religious
rituals.
But they forgot the ‘more
important stuff’.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1937- WAR CRIMES AND OTHER STUFF.
In the aftermath of the Benghazi
debacle [the U.S. putting an embassy in the middle of an unsecured area- with
known militants roaming the land- and then pulling out their security]. There
were voices [including the president] that condemned the killing of the
ambassador as acts of terror- or on the same grounds as a war crime.
The president used language like
‘bring them to justice’.
When one nation declares war on
another [or in this case- a specific group- Al Qaeda]- then the killing of
actual representatives of the other side- when that side is dumb enough to
plant them like sitting ducks- is actually considered a legitimate military
target [compared to the killing of an ordinary citizen who holds no official
capacity].
Now- before I lose my
conservative readers- listen clearly.
I of course condemn the killing
of ambassador Stevens- and the 3 other Americans.
After watching/reading the
stories about this incident over the past couple of weeks- I fault the U.S.
administration for failing to properly protect the area.
We now know that that the U.S.
watched the attack unfold- over a period of 7-8 hours- and did nothing.
There are conflicting stories-
our people on the ground said they requested help- multiple times.
They said that help was denied.
We had a brave young Navy seal
who took it upon himself to try and save the ambassador- he was killed in the
attempt.
And we had the president say-
that as soon as he heard of the attack- he immediately made ‘the call’ to
increase security around the world- and start the steps to bring the attackers
‘to justice’.
What our guys needed was ‘real
time’ help- we had a drone filming the thing- some possibly armed- and we watched
our guys get killed for 7 hours- and did nothing.
Now- this was a debacle in no
uncertain terms- and the loss of our guys is tragic.
But- when you declare war- and
put an official representative of the opposing side smack dab in the middle of
those we declared war on- what the ‘heck’ do we expect?
War crimes.
Right now in the media- this term
is often used against those we deem ready for removal.
It makes no difference to us
whether the side doing the removal are Al Qaeda- we simply refer to the leaders
as having committed ‘war crimes’ or ‘crimes against humanity’.
We did this with Gadhaffi- doing
it with Assad [Syria] and will probably keep doing it from now on.
When you see one side as having
committed ‘crimes against humanity’ in general- then it justifies the other
side- no matter how bad they are.
The whole concept of holding
people responsible for war crimes arose after world war 1- yet it wasn’t until
WW2 that we really had the concept down.
After the war was over- there
were trials held in Germany- the most famous being Nuremburg- and we tried the
German military men who committed ‘war crimes’.
Some of the criteria for a war
crime simply said ‘if the losing side did it- and the winning side did not-
then that’s a war crime’.
Sounds a little like Jeff
Foxworthy type stuff.
But this is true- some of the
German submarine captains actually used as there defense- that the allies [our
side] did the same thing- and that was enough to say ‘okay- not a war crime’.
As you can see- war crimes- or
‘crimes against humanity’ are in the eye of the beholder.
Now- in the entire history of the
world- the biggest one [or 2] day killing of civilians- that is a targeting of
civilians for a military/political goal- was the bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
Yes- out of all the nations on
the planet- the U.S. killed more civilians- on purpose- in these 2 attacks-
then in any other single bombing in history.
We had our reasons for sure- but
the immediate deaths were around 200 thousand- not counting the many women and
children who died many years later- from the long tortuous process of radiation
cancer.
These types of deaths- especially
on many of the thousands of young kids who suffered extreme agony- great fear
in their deaths- were not considered ‘crimes against humans’.
Yet- the water boarding of a
terrorist- an actual enemy who is in our custody- is considered tortuous- and
meets the criteria of a war crime.
See how messed up this is?
Now- in the past 2 years the U.S.
has worked closely with the state of Israel in monitoring/spying on Iran- to
see how far along they are coming with their nuclear program.
We share intelligence- and have
even ‘partnered’ with them in some clandestine op’s.
The famous Stuxnet virus- a
computer virus that was launched to disable Iran’s nuclear reactors- was a
joint program between the U.S. and Israel.
Okay- one of the other secret
operations that has been going on is the killing of civilian scientists who are
working with Iran’s nuclear program.
These scientists are not military
targets- they are civilians- who are deemed ‘worthy’ targets because of their
role in the nuclear program.
I have heard no one call these
killings ‘crimes against humans’ or ‘war crimes’ even though these scientists
are civilians.
No- in the reports about their
killings- there is a sense of ‘hooray’.
In the past 3 years there has
been a collection of various bomb parts- dropped by the U.S. - in the
mountainous region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
There are legal teams on the
ground- representing the families of kids and women who have been killed by our
nonstop use of Drones in the area.
We- the U.S.- have a military
objective- to root out the Taliban [who were ‘created’ by the U.S. govt. when
we aided them against the Russians]. In the process of this rooting out- we
have killed- and keep on killing- Muslim women and kids.
Now- do we ‘mean’ to kill them?
Of course not.
But we are making the
military/political calculation that so many kids and women will indeed be
killed- we know this.
So- we are basically saying
‘look- we really don’t want to kill these kids- but this does happen from time
to time’.
Can we help it?
Of course- stop using the ‘darn’
drones- solved.
The whole point I’m making in
this post is we- the citizens of the world- are often manipulated by the way a
story is told- by the way the media show us stuff.
I know of no U.S. citizen who
even thinks twice about calling the killing of the Japanese- and thousands of
kids- with radiation poisoning- a very tortuous death- a war crime.
Yet many see the water boarding
of a terrorist as a war crime.
Does this make any sense at all?
All killing- all war- is wrong.
What?
You mean our response to 9-11 is
wrong?
I mean that when humans resort to
killing other humans- because they see no other way to resolve the problem-
then it’s wrong.
I don’t like hearing the words
‘this guy committed a crime against humans’.
When you put a bullet in another
human- and kill that person- it is never a just act- not in my book.
Yes- there are people who have
committed terrible crimes- and I- like everybody else- also think ‘that so and
so needs to die’.
But as a society- we should be
able to deal with them [life without ever getting out] without having to kill
them.
Over the next few weeks we will
see the outcome of what really happened in Libya- but when I hear words like
‘we will bring them to justice’.
I don’t truly get it- if we [the
U.S.] declare war on a group- we then need to be more responsible about where
we put official rep’s of the U.S.
Our official Rep’s are deemed
‘justified’ targets- they represent the U.S. govt. in an official capacity.
The U.S. needs to respond to
attacks on them as an act of war.
I heard Leon Panetta say ‘we couldn’t
put our troops at risk in an unknown situation’.
No- you say that if it’s some
type of rescue operation of non U.S. citizens- but when it’s an attack by those
we have declared war on- and they are attacking our official U.S. rep on the
ground- no- we do indeed put our troops at risk to go in and do what needs to
be done.
That’s war.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1931 A PLACE CALLED REST
When I get up in the morning- I
spend about an hour or so praying/meditating before I write.
I get the entire ‘message’ during
this time.
This morning- in my mind- I saw a
sort of panoramic view of all of church history- quite a message for a short
post.
I also felt like covering the
history of Judaism during the time of Christ- another long subject.
I think the main reason for these
themes popping up is because I have been reading some in the book of Hebrews-
and I want to cover Hebrews 4.
But- let’s try the other stuff
and see if we can get it in.
In the early days of the church-
in the 4th century- we had the rise of the Roman emperor/military
ruler- Constantine.
Part of the achievements of
Constantine was his development of the eastern half of the Roman empire- whose
capitol was named after him- Constantinople.
Over a period of years the early
Roman church fought over whose bishop would have more influence- the bishop of
Rome [Pope] or the bishop in the east.
Many bishops in the Catholic
Church have disagreed over the influence of one bishop being greater than the
others [the idea that all the bishops should have an equal voice at the church
councils is called Collegiality].
This has caused splits within the
Catholic Church thru the centuries [the last big one in the 19th
century].
Eventually the early church
split- and the Eastern Church separated from Rome.
The eastern empire [called
Byzantium- the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church] officially split in the
year 1054.
Now- in church history we call
this the Great Schism- even though the Protestant split which took place in the
16th century was greater in effect.
Okay- the Protestant reformers
split over various issues- I have an entire study on the blog about this.
But the main issue became what we
call justification by faith.
Over the centuries many good men-
and average church goers- lost the main message of the New Testament- which was
a message of being saved by the grace of God.
Many well meaning Christians were
struggling to do penance in a way that sort of earned them their salvation thru
works.
The Protestant reformer Martin
Luther was teaching the book of Romans [he was a scholar and a Catholic leader
in intellectual circles at the time].
During his teaching on the
epistle of Paul [Romans- in our bible] he came across a verse that said THE
JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.
As he mediated on the passage-
and the other themes in Romans that speak about being saved by faith and not by
works- he started a sort of mini revolution amongst the students and he became
a sort of favorite teacher in the area of Germany where he was teaching.
Over a period of time- thru all
sorts of religious and political machinations- he launched what we now call the
Protestant Reformation.
Okay- Hebrews 4.
How does this fit in?
In Hebrews 4- the writer is
appealing to a first century Jewish audience who were steeped in a legalistic
mindset.
That is- in many ways- they were
like the Christians of the 16th century who lost the idea of grace-
and were seeking to please God thru the works of the law.
The writer tells them that thru
the appearing of the Messiah- Christ- we can enter into a new type of covenant-
one based on rest.
He says ‘those who have entered
into Gods rest have ceased from their own works- as God did from his’.
Okay- there’s a lot to unpack
here- and time is running out.
The writer uses the creation
account in Genesis chapter 2- where the bible says God created the world in 6
days- and on the 7th day he rested.
He symbolically says ‘there is a
place- called Gods ‘rest’ that we too must enter into’.
He’s using an analogy- God rested
from his works on the Sabbath day- so we too must strive to enter into this
Sabbath rest [a type of the New Covenant- established on the death and
resurrection of Christ].
If you read the chapter- you
should be able to pick up this main theme- the main point he is making is
because Jesus has come and become the final Passover sacrifice for the sins of
man- therefore the Old law- with all of its sacrifices and demands- has now
been fulfilled thru Christ.
We sit ‘at the table’ with the
other disciples- the Lords table- and we freely partake of the Body and Blood
of Christ- and by faith we receive eternal life- not by the works of the law.
See- this is the whole point.
Thru out the centuries Christians
have lost this sense of free grace- this reality that we come to God by faith-
not based on how good we have been- how hard we have tried to obey the law.
No- we come to God- Boldly
[Hebrews] ‘because we have a great high priest who is now in heaven- seated at
the right hand of God’.
Jesus represents us to God- he is
before the throne of God interceding [praying] on our behalf.
It is no longer a matter of our
effort- our striving- no- we are truly saved by grace.
Amen.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1928 BENGHAZI- LIBYA
So much to say- where do we
start?
Okay- I have caught up on the
news shows/papers for the past couple of weeks.
And even though I have been able
to follow snippets of the news on my trip- yet I really didn’t see the entire
picture until now.
First- as most of you know many
in the Muslim world protested the U.S. on 9-11-2012.
Many of these protests seem to
have been instigated by a stupid film about the prophet Muhammad that was put
out by some guy living in the U.S.
One of the attacks that took
place on that day was in Libya- our embassy was stormed and for the first time
in 30 years an American ambassador was killed on foreign soil [the other incident
was the famous raid in Iran].
The difference between the attack
in Benghazi- Libya- and the other protests was the attack in Libya was a
militia type attack- they used heavy weapons and there were no protests during
the day.
Now- for whatever reason- the
White House ‘spun’ the attack as part of the protests about the film. They used this language to describe the
attack- even after the U.S. knew this was false.
I saw Ambassador Rice on the
Sunday talk shows saying that the killing of Stephens was part of the protests
over the movie- this was 5 days after we knew that this was not true.
As more facts surfaced- and the
White House began adjusting their story- they later said that the Libyan attack
was different.
Now- what’s wrong here?
As the story developed- it was in
the best political interest of the president for this attack to have not been
Al Qaeda related.
If Al Qaeda was indeed
responsible for the hit- then it would contradict one of the major arguments
for the president to be re elected.
That argument being he has ‘Al
Qaeda on the run’ and ‘go ask Bin Laden if we are tough on terror’.
Now- whether you’re a Dem or
Repub- there is no doubt that this has been a major part of the campaign this
year.
If you ‘tune out’ the first
story- about the attack being a response to a film- and look at another set of
facts- you will see a quite different story.
Okay- the ‘other facts’.
A few days before the Libyan
attack- we killed a very top official of Al Qaeda.
A few days after the killing the
president once again said- publicly- ‘we have them on the run- they are on
their heels’.
Now- we just killed one of their
tops guys- we basically said ‘look- you guys are on the run-we are killing you
like ducks in a pond- and you can’t respond’.
Okay- this is not the smartest
move on our part.
Then while all this was
happening- the top Al Qaeda guy who replaced Bin Laden said ‘we are going to
retaliate for this’.
A few days more- Stephens was
killed- by Al Qaeda related groups in Benghazi- Libya.
Questions?
Why did V.P Biden say- in the
debate ‘we did not know this was a terror attack- our intelligence learned
about it later’.
Actually- there were
congressional hearings on this very thing- the same day of the debate- in the
hearings our guys testified that we did indeed know it was a different attack-
a terror type attack- and not the same type of protests that were taking place
in the other nations.
The next day- when this came out-
that Biden simply got it wrong [heaven forbid that we use the word lie- which
by the way just happened to be the actual label they put on Romney for 2
weeks].
When the contradiction surfaced-
the White House press secy- Jay Carney- said that Biden was telling the truth-
that he and the president did not ‘personally’ get a call telling them about
the nature of the attack.
It seems unthinkable that the
intelligence agencies- the state dept.- and many other top officials- including
some Administration officials- could know about the nature of the attack- and
yet a sitting Vice President would still say ‘WE did not know’.
Who are we?
We- the U.S. govt. did indeed
know- it came out in the hearings.
The best spin you could put on
this is that Biden simply flubbed it once again- the worst is that they are
trying to cover for themselves at the expense of the state dept.- by making it
sound like they got the info wrong- and that’s why Susan Rice and others said
the attack was simply a protest- versus an Al Qaeda attack.
Okay- now do you see what’s been
going on- why this story is not simply some silly thing- like the first page
coverage the papers gave to a 40 year old story about Romney cutting some kids
hair in prep school?
No- this story is about the false
spin that we have been hearing the last year- that Al Qaeda is ‘on the run’.
No- lara Logan- the news reporter
who was raped during the protests in Egypt- she put out an article that said Al
Qaeda is in no way on the run- that they have grown strong- and that they are
on the verge of hitting us here in the U.S.- once again.
No- this is a serious story- it’s
about whether or not the current administration took seriously enough the real
threat that our ambassador in Libya faced.
Ambassador Stephens said he was
on an Al Qaeda hit list.
CNN found his diary a few days
after he was killed [it’s amazing that we left the crime scene open- to the
point that 3 or 4 days later CNN walked in and found this key piece of evidence
just sitting there next to a chair].
In the diary our ambassador wrote
about the very real threat of Al Qaeda in the area- he had requested additional
resources to guard against the threat.
For some reason- we turned him
down.
A few days later he was attacked-
dragged thru the streets- sodomized [yes- most news shows did not tell you this
part] and murdered in cold blood.
And till this day- over a month
later- we don’t have the answers.
Yeah- this is a story that
deserves coverage- real news coverage.
See?
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1924 A FREE BUS RIDE
In the last week I have had some
good conversations- talked to various people- from different backgrounds.
I have actually defended other
groups [Catholics] from false accusations.
One friend said ‘the Catholics
put tradition OVER the bible’.
I said- ‘actually-that’s not
true’.
The other person- a fellow
Protestant- insisted it was.
I told them that the church
believes that Gods voice comes to us in 2 ways- scripture and tradition- but
they see them both as means to communicate God’s word- they hold equal value-
at least in official Catholic teaching it is this way.
I had another friend- a Muslim-
ask me about the teaching from the bible that says ‘another prophet will come’.
Is this in the bible?
I told him there is a famous
teaching you find in the bible that says ‘another’ prophet must first come.
But- he was under the impression
that this verse was referring to Muhammad- I explained that the disciples
actually asked Jesus about this.
They said ‘if you’re the one-
that what about the prophecy that says Elijah must come first’.
Jesus said that there was indeed
a prophecy that says before the Messiah comes- Elijah must first come.
Then Jesus said ‘John the Baptist
was Elijah’ [John the Baptist came in the power and spirit of Elijah- and
according to Jesus- he fulfilled the prophecy].
Jesus said that the prophecy
about another prophet was fulfilled by him and John the Baptist- Jesus was the
final and ultimate ‘prophet’ –Messiah- sent from God.
In all of these dialogues- I was
friends with these people- I talk to these people as co-equals- I try real hard
not to ‘preach at them’.
Sure- in a way- this type of
conversation- is a type of preaching- but how long would it have taken my
Muslim friend to have wandered into some church and have heard this?
Maybe never.
The point?
We- all of us- need to have
friendships with people from other backgrounds.
We need to know- really- what
other people believe.
My Protestant friend started from
a wrong understanding of what Catholics believe.
If she wants to dialogue with
Catholics about the differences between us- then she needs to know what the
differences are.
The other day I was riding the
old bus that drives down Bergenline ave.
Back in Texas when you buy a ticket
with a transfer- it’s good all day.
So when I got on the bus I asked
the guy if it was still good.
He looked at it real quick and
said ‘yeah’.
After I sat down he told me ‘you
know it did expire- but don’t worry about it’.
I told him I would pay for the
ticket- but he said that’s okay.
So I talked to him from 48th
street to 91st.
I told him I was visiting from
Texas but grew up here in the area.
I told him I retired from the
Fire Dept. after 25 years.
He has worked for the state for
30 years.
He asked me what it was like to
retire- sort of like he is thinking about it too.
I told him that a lot of my
friends put it off- they are scared of doing it.
Even though a job like mine might
be considered dangerous- yet you get used to the routine- and some guys don’t
know what they will do if they retire.
He kept agreeing with me- like he
is having the same thoughts.
He was nice guy- a Black guy.
Why mention Black?
I asked him where he lives- he
said East Orange.
I haven’t been around here for so
long- I did not know that it is a predominantly Black area [I found out later].
But when he said he lives there-
he said ‘you know- I like it- I don’t want to go home and have a lot of drama-
I get that on the job’.
I think he was saying he has to
deal with people who are racist- people who look down on others because they
are different.
And when he’s home- he doesn’t
want the same thing.
Sure- I understood what he was
saying.
When I sat down that day- I never
met the man before- after about 40 blocks- we were talking like friends- plus-
I got a free ride.
It’s worth treating others with
respect- listening to their side of things.
Sometimes they have picked up
ideas that you might be able to correct- to show them that they might have a
wrong impression about Christianity.
Other times you will learn too.
All in all- if you start without
prejudice- you can go a lot further.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1920 SHEEP FROM ANOTHER FOLD
One of the challenges on this
journey is I have friends/family who have hearing problems.
My dear mom has a hard time
hearing- and it’s natural to talk loud.
You think because it’s difficult
for you to hear- that to talk loud will somehow help the hearer as well.
I have a homeless friend who has
been legally deaf his whole life.
He has learned how to talk low-
on purpose.
I was telling my friend Patrick
that this homeless friend also likes to dominate the conversation- he will
talk- nonstop- literally for hours.
To be honest- I don’t mind- or
lets say I realize that it helps him- so for 20 years I have had lots of talks
[or should I say ‘hearings’] with him.
Okay- so as I’m sitting at my
mom’s house yesterday- everyone is out- and I figure ‘wow- some quiet time-
let’s make the most of it’.
Well- let’s at least try.
My phone rings- it’s a Texas
number ‘what the heck- might as well get it’.
I usually never answer my phone
unless it’s a number I recognize.
I get it- it’s my deaf homeless
friend on the line- yelling ‘hey John- I can barely hear you’.
I know.
So- this is my buddy stuck in the
forest in Texas- his girlfriend left him there [remember the last 5 posts?]
Anyway- he does not know I’m in
Jersey- none of my homeless buddies know- I had no plans to have left the day I
left- so no one knows.
So- as Dirk’s on the phone-
telling me ‘I can’t hear you- you’re breaking up’.
I keep saying- well- yelling ‘I’M
IN NYC [that’s really the spot- N.J. - right on the Hudson] I CAN’T TALK RIGHTT
NOW’.
He keeps telling me he can’t hear
me- but says ‘well- I can’t hear- but I guess I’ll just talk anyway’.
No- no- don’t guess that- not
today!
I finally got thru and told him
I’ll talk whenever I get back to Texas.
Okay- the journey has been
interesting so far.
Whenever I drive cross country
[or south to north] I enjoy reading the different ‘church’ names along the way.
You can see the development of
Christianity across the country- by reading the signs.
As somewhat of a church historian-
when I see the signs- I remember the times I read about the various movements.
Some church signs show the debate
over the Trinity ‘Pentecostal oneness church’- they emphasize the divinity of
Jesus a lot.
‘Pentecostal Trinity church’-
they are saying ‘we are not the other guys’.
Of course you see the standard
Baptist churches- the Methodist regions as well.
Over the years all of these
groups have come to emphasize various teachings of Christianity.
As I headed further north- of
course I come to my ‘homeland’- and I see the great catholic churches- the ones
I remember from my youth [sort of like crossing the Tiber in a way- for you non intellectuals- google it].
It’s a sort of spiritual lesson-
this past week- as well as the coming months- the Catholic church is going to
focus on Vatican 2- the last church council.
This council [a meeting of all
the catholic leaders/bishops] emphasized Ecumenism- for the first time the
church recognized the various Christian churches- you know- all the ‘signs’ I
saw on the road- as ‘separated Christian brothers’.
It was a big step for the church-
a step of unity- based on the desire of Christ we read about in the gospel of
John- chapter 17 ‘that we all would be one’.
In my talks these past few days-
and my bible reading in the gospel of John- a theme kept popping up.
The Lord has been telling me to
‘shepherd all the people I bring to you- all those who are on a spiritual
journey’.
In John’s gospel the message- at
least to me- is to do my best to present the pre-imminence of Christ- that he
is the source of salvation- and to recognize that there are also ‘sheep- not of
this fold that he will bring’.
Now- in context Jesus was
speaking about the Gentiles- the ‘non- Jews’ who would convert.
In the ‘broader’ context- I am
taking it as being open to the other Monotheistic faiths.
So- I have good talks with
Muslims [and have even shared some good things about Islam- yes- there are good
things- with fellow Christians].
My mom told me ‘John- do you know
who died’.
No- who?
Sandy.
Huh?
Sandy is a nice Jewish lady who
lived right up the block from me when I was a kid.
I was friends with her son.
She became a Facebook friend a
few years back.
I am always grateful when I make
Jewish/Muslim friends on the site.
When I first friended Sandy- we
talked some.
Then I noticed one time- we
didn’t talk much [you know- when you write a lot- people are going to get
offended at one time or another].
So- when I did not see her
comments- I figured she got upset about some post.
But then one day- about a month
ago- I saw some action form her page- I forget what it was- but I saw that she
came back to read the posts.
Then- well- she passed on.
When my mom told me that she
died- I said ‘are you sure’.
I went to Sandy’s page- and there
was no indication that she died.
So I left a little note to tell
my friend good bye.
Yes- I’m grateful for ‘the other’
sheep if you will.
The other friends of mine who are
on a spiritual journey.
I’m grateful for all the ‘separated
brothers’ those various Christian churches who are now seen as brothers in
Christ.
Make no mistake- as a Christian I
believe that Jesus is the Son of God- who died- was buried- and rose again
‘according to the scriptures’.
I believe he will come again to
judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the resurrection of
the dead- the forgiveness of sins- and life everlasting.
I also believe that in this life
God will bring to us others who are on a journey as well- and maybe for a time
these people might be on a different path- maybe they do not see everything
like I do.
But when these contacts are made-
do your best to try and see them as ‘others who are not from this group’ but
others whom God has brought your way- at least for a season.
NOTE- One sign I liked was on the
side of this huge gun store ‘GUNS- GUNS- GUNS- JESUS IS LORD’.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1917 MENTOR?
Went down to the mission
yesterday.
I saw Julie- Dirk’s girlfriend.
I usually don’t see her at the
mission- and when I do- she’s always with Dirk.
At first I wasn’t sure it was
her- but as she walked by I asked ‘aren’t you Julie’.
Yeah- it was her.
If you remember- I wrote a post
about them both going to one of the national parks here in Texas.
It’s called the Angelina national
forest.
Over the years Dirk has told me
lots about how much he loves being there.
It’s kind of a ‘second’ [or 3rd?]
home away from home.
Dirk spends most of the year
living here in his van.
Every so often he goes home to
Michigan to see family.
And sometimes he stops at the
national forest for a few weeks- he knows the locals- older retired guys who he
plays cards with and stuff.
He has told me how he loves to
hunt for arrow heads along the banks of the river.
Okay- I asked Julie where Dirk
was.
She told me ‘I left him there’.
They got in a fight- over the
arrow heads!
Yeah- every morning Dirk would
get up and take Julie arrow head hunting.
So she told me she bought a few
books in town and one morning wanted to read.
Dirk went hunting for the heads.
He came back- found something and
was all excited- he tried to show it to her or something and she was into the
book.
One thing led to the next- they
got in a fight- and she drove back to Corpus [about a 600 mile drive by the
way].
He has no ride back.
I knew from the start that they
were going to get into a fight- I just didn’t think she would leave the guy.
I think that’s why she was down
at the mission- sort of waiting to see if he makes it back.
I mean I did have to laugh- as I
talked with Julie I told her I thought something like this would happen.
I do want to mention something
that will sound self serving- buts it’s the second or 3rd time Julie has told
me this- and to be honest it surprised me.
Julie tells me that Dirk is
always talking about me- that he sees me as his ‘mentor’ and that he has
nonstop praise for me.
I find it ‘funny’ because Dirk
usually has nothing good to say about anyone- to be honest.
Many times he has put down the
other ‘street’ preachers who work in the area.
I have had to defend Brother Rey-
a street preacher- many times.
But being she brought it up
again- I want to simply say a few words.
I have known Dirk for many years-
and he realizes that me getting with the guys- often taking them out to eat-
just being friends with the homeless.
He knows that this is ‘ministry’
to me.
Now- when you become friends with
people- of course- over time- they will learn stuff- you will talk about God-
and many times the guys have questions- things they might have heard as kids.
Misconceptions about God- things
that have hindered them from believing- and often times it’s a simple
explanation that clears it up.
So- I guess after knowing Dirk
all these years- he has come to see me as a sort of mentor.
I have Henry sleeping in the
living room right now- we hung out most of the day- I cooked some simple stuff
last night and let him crash on the couch.
I have started doing this at
least once a week- I see it as a way to contribute a little more- without it
costing a lot of money.
Henry is a football nut- he knows
the sport like I used to follow boxing.
Over the years at the fire house
the guys realized I was a boxing fanatic.
I would usually know who would
win the fight- and when they had a question about some rule- they would ask.
I had a laugh one day- I was
upstairs watching the fights- they were down in the main room- I guess they put
it on as well.
James- one of the guys- came up
to ask ‘what’s it mean when they say- no 3 knockdown rule’.
I told him ‘that means you can’t
knock the other guy down- more than 3 times’.
Actually- it means you don’t stop
the fight if the other guy goes down 3 times in 1 round.
Some states have this rule- they
think it prevents a fighter from getting hurt too much.
But in some cases maybe one of
the knockdowns is a fluke- then a guy might lose a fight when he really wasn’t
hurt.
So- being Henry is a football
nut- you guessed it- we watched the bad call in the game the other night.
I think it was Green Bay and
Seattle.
It made the news because the NFL
has the replacement ref’s in the game- the regular guys are locked out over a
dispute about their contract.
Henry could not get over the
amount of coverage- I mean I had ESPN on for 4-5 hours at the house.
I finally told Henry ‘man- I’m
gonna catch some news’.
Yeah- it was on the world news
too!
Obama and Romney and all the
politicians had to have their say.
I’m just waiting for the Al-Qaeda
statement.
So- we watched the play- around a
hundred times thru out the day.
In a little while Henry will get
up- we will head out to some area- maybe go visit my friends in
Bishop/Kingsville- it’s been a while and I probably should see them.
It really doesn’t take much to do
this- I read John chapter 15 earlier.
Jesus says the most important
thing is to love your brother.
That he showed us that to lay our
lives down for another- to sacrifice your time- money- etc.
That this is the heart of the matter.
It doesn’t take much- and your
friends will never forget.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
1915 DIARY OF A MAD MAN?
Read a news article yesterday
morning.
It was the State Dept. blasting
CNN for an ‘unconscionable’ [yikes!] report on the ‘private journal’ of the
dead U.S. ambassador who was killed in the Benghazi attack.
If you just read the headline- it
seems as if CNN were the bad boys [and girls] and the U.S. govt. were most
holy.
But- as you read- you realize-
once again- that what should have been one of the biggest news stories of the
year- has become a non issue because of political propaganda- by the media
networks themselves [minus CNN].
Okay- the story.
The last few days you have read
more than one post by me- about the reality that the Libyan govt. - and our
ambassador himself- have told our govt that they were in danger- that the
security of the embassy in Benghazi was not good.
Then- you had the U.S. kill a top
Al Qaeda guy- with a drone- and Al Qaeda said they would seek revenge.
Now- the last year- because of
the political campaign- you have had the Obama team talk much about the death
of Bin laden- and a sort of ‘boasting’ about how many Al Qaeda guys we are
killing.
In a few weeks a movie is coming
out- probably timed in co-ordination with the Obama campaign [though they deny
it] that is going to glorify the killing of Bin Laden.
Why all the glorying?
The reality of politics is you
focus on what you think the candidates strength is- and one of the strengths of
the president is seen to be his policy on killing Al Qaeda guys.
Okay- now- if you simply put 2
and 2 together- is it possible that the killing of Stevens [our ambassador in
Libya] was a direct retaliation- by Al Qaeda- for all this darn bragging we are
doing about killing their guys?
Of course it’s possible- and more
than likely a reason why they killed him.
Then why would the media- and the
Obama administration push the initial story line that this killing was nothing
more than outrage about a movie ad- on line?
Because if the fact is- that we
were warned- over and over again- that our security was bad.
And- that Al Qaeda were growing
tired of our bragging about all the drone killings.
If this were [is] the case- then
not only did you just lose one of the main strengths of your campaign [if
you’re a Dem].
But you also might have
‘provoked’ the killing- by all the bragging.
See?
Okay- why the feigned outrage by
the state dept?
CNN found the journal of the
slain ambassador- and in the journal he wrote that he- as well as the Libyan
govt. - all feared an attack.
They warned the state dept. -
over and over again- that this might happen.
And it did.
The State dept. was basically
outed for their failure.
And in response- they said that
CNN ‘broke its pledge’ to the family by releasing this info.
The state dept said CNN took
evidence form a ‘crime scene’ [the journal] and shamelessly spread it around.
The State dept. called this
‘disgusting’.
The truth is- CNN- who in my view
have done the best reporting on this story- read what the ambassador himself
feared- and they backed it up with interviews from other people who knew
Steven’s.
They then reported- only on-line
[not like the top news story of the other night- the Romney gaff].
That the ambassador feared that
the security that the state dept. was providing was inadequate.
This story should have been
reported- much more in my view- because it shows that the U.S. govt. dropped
the ball- after many warnings.
It would be like finding a
journal in the World Trade towers that said – ‘we have been warning Bush that
this would happen!’
This is a big news story- yet the
response of the state dept is that CNN shamelessly revealed the secrets of a
dead man- and also ruined a ‘crime scene’.
These are stories I see all the
time- both in the print media- and on the tube.
Many have debated whether or not
the news media actually coordinate with the Obama people [actually a report
just showed that a govt. person emailed a group- Media matters- and this ‘non
profit’ group contacted the major networks- and they ran the story on the news
that night].
I don’t know how ‘planned’ this
type of bias is.
But- you can see it exists.
The point I want to make is when
you have an important story like this- one in which it’s quite possible that
the ongoing bragging about killing Bin Laden might be actually leading to
counter killings of our people.
Then we need to ask ‘should we
keep bragging’.
When the Muslim ‘world’ rose up
in anger- according to the Obama people- because of a video that might have
antagonized them.
The Obama people condemned the
video- and did all they could to discourage the release or making of any other
movies that might incite violence.
Then if this is so- should the
American movie makers release the Bin Laden movie [that portrays the President
in a favorable light]?
When I read the above article
about CNN’s ‘reprehensible act’- at first I thought they really did a terrible
thing [just by reading the headline].
But as I read- they simply
reported- what should have been a big story- in a minor way [on-line].
Don’t be fooled- this happens all
the time- we live in a day where the blogging community- and the free on line
news sources can now ‘correct’ it- but there are many who will never read the
correction.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
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