RACE RELIGION AND
POLITICS D 2013
1929 LAST NIGHTS DEBATE
Okay- I caught the debate on U-
tube.
Bad choice for sure- missed about
15 minutes because of the bad download.
But- for what I saw- it was kinda
mean to be honest- and even though the President did much better than the first
time- there is enough for both sides to say ‘we did well’.
A few things.
Whenever you hear me talk about
media bias- what I mean is most reporters/news guys usually vote for the
Democrat candidate.
Polls have been taken in the past
and over 90% of those who work in what we call the main stream media are indeed
Dem’s.
So- does this means that have a
secret conspiracy to go after the Repub?
No.
But when you hold to a particular
view- it’s hard to not let it slip out in ways that you- or the hearer- might
not even realize.
On the U-tube event- they had Sam
Donaldson on- a liberal news guy- who was tough on both Dem’s and Repubs over
his life.
But- in one of those ‘unplanned’
media bias moments- when Sam was asked what Obama needs to do.
Donaldson said he has to ‘show
how Romney does not really care for the average people’.
Okay- but the way he said the
statement actually says Romney does not care for the average guy.
It would be like saying ‘what
should Romney do’?
And the reporter says ‘he should
show how Obama ruined the country’.
If you believe either of these
charges- that’s up to you.
The point is- a reporter should
not state the charge as fact.
So- overall the debate went okay.
I thought there were times when
the president said ‘you are just not telling the truth’.
A line I find disturbing- because
if you keep saying the other guy is lying- when both of you have used the facts
the same way- kind of fudging when you can- then you’re not really telling me
what your vision is.
But- when one candidate makes an
accusation like that- its normal- even called for- to let the accused respond.
In this case- the moderator-
Candy Crowley did not let Romney respond back.
But- what’s done is done.
The pre debate chatter from the U
Tube panel talked about Romney’s obstacles.
They said that one of his
problems is people just don’t like him- that he is really- at heart- a very
unlikable person [huh?- both candidates have people who hate/ Love them].
And the panel said the way Romney
must deal with it is to simply acknowledge that he is very unlikable [Huh?] and
appeal to the people on the basis of ‘Sure- I am not a nice person- I’m
actually one of the worst people you will ever meet. Yet- even though I’m so
mean- I think I can manage the country better’.
Now- I’m sure the panel thought
they were being realistic- but when you use words like this to describe one
side- you are being biased.
One more example.
When the president changed his
position on Gay marriage- the media reported it as a very good thing- that he
was ‘evolving’.
When Romney changed on health
care- he was called a flip flopper.
Now- you might think both of
these descriptions are accurate- but they play into a mindset- a way of framing
the words of a story to make you see the person in a negative light.
This is nothing new- it happens
every day in the media.
All in all I think the president
did much better than the last time- and I thought Romney did okay.
The real decision should be based
on the record- in my view.
Last night the president spoke
about how bad things have been for the past 10 years [he’s smarter than Biden-
who said the middle class have been crushed these past 4 years].
He blamed all the ills of the
last 4 years [you know- they are part of the 10] on the republicans/Bush.
He has said you can’t vote for
Romney because he has not actually said- in detail- all that he will do in the
budget.
It’s amazing that the president
says this- he has not passed a budget- in 4 years.
And when he actually has
presented one- he did not get a single vote for it- either Repub or Dem.
As far as I know- this is
unprecedented in the history of the country- for a sitting pres to not be able
to get a single vote from his own party on his budget.
So- these are the things you
should decide on.
If you’re the incumbent- and your
saying things have been terrible the past 10 years because of Bush- then you-
in my mind- have no real solutions.
I am not an Obama hater by any
means- but in the real world if you miss managed the ‘company’ so badly for
your first term- then you would not get another.
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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?
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1927- THE END OF THE ROAD [TRIP]
Well- the N.J. trip was long- and
I realized that I can’t drive like I did when I was younger.
It’s hard to see at night- and it
just seemed much longer than it used to be.
From now on I will fly.
Okay- since I’ve been back I was
able to catch up on all the news- all the shows I missed [I have Rocu- they
basically DVR everything for you].
On the trip I caught some shows-
but I realize now that there are things I do need to cover.
But for today- let’s just hit a
few thoughts from the trip.
On the way back I broke down- for
the 2nd time [the first was on the way to N.J. - I blew a belt and
water pump in Arkansas].
I was in Kansas- and it sounded
like the water pump went out again.
But the guy checked it out and it
was a fan clutch [I have changed these before- it’s much easier/cheaper].
So I lucked out [of course
prayed!]
On both of the ‘breakdowns’ I
wound up getting the van repaired by small- kind of ‘po-dunk’ type shops.
I managed to drive to the shops-
or to the town- and thru using the local stores was able to call the shops.
The shops both did great jobs-
very professional- in Kansas I drove back in the tow truck- a brand new one-
nice.
As we got back to the small shop-
the tow driver was also the repairman.
He had it done in around an hour.
All these services were done by
small businesses.
In actuality- they would be in
the category of the ‘rich who are not paying their fair share’.
Yes- most small businesses fall
under this category.
Why did these guys do such a
great job- treat me well- and were available to do it?
Because they are in business-
they are the capitalists of our world.
Now- if I had to use ‘government’
services- would they too have been there?
Yeah.
If I never made it to a town I
would have called 911- and some type of ‘govt.’
worker would have helped.
Whether it was the local cops-
the DPS- the highway patrol- all of these services fall under the heading of
government- whether city or state- they would be considered govt. [public
safety].
Why?
They are paid by taxes- and they
are in a ‘non profit’ job.
Yet- they do it for a salary as
well.
Point?
Right now in our country there is a debate
that says ‘should we be a conservative people- or elect liberal folk’.
Joe Biden said that’s the choice-
and in a way he is right.
But I think if we see only one
side or the other as the national ‘savior’ then we are setting ourselves up for
a fall.
In a way we do need both- that is
there is a need for government- how big? - well that’s the debate.
But a strict ‘capitalist’
society- where everything was based on services for profit- would not totally
do the job.
Why?
Because there are needed- vital
services- that would not make a profit.
The whole debate on health care-
why do Insurance companies drop- or not insure- the elderly or sick [unless
they are forced to]?
Because there is no profit if you
have all chronically sick people.
That’s the whole point about the
mandate/universal care- the private industry will not do the job- in this
particular case.
So- I get that.
But in many areas- like my tow
truck/mechanic experiences- they do indeed get the job done- and they do it
well.
It’s sad that many of these small
business guys have been demonized this past year.
From what I saw- both of the
shops I stopped at were hard working guys/kids.
They treated me with respect-
they did not rip me off [I know mechanics somewhat- I ‘diagnosed’ the initial
problems and all- right away].
And they did it all under a ‘for
profit’ venture- yet they met a vital service- - one that serves the community
well.
And not just their local
community- I was just one of many road travelers that have used them- and they
do a real good job.
Okay- this week I will try and
hit on some of the major news stories of the last few weeks- there are some
important things to cover.
Last week I read Hebrews 2
[Psalms 128 and Gen 2]- this week lets read Hebrews 4- Psalms 90 and Mark 10.
I will try and comment on them at
the end of the week.
Okay- that’s it for now-
remember- pray for one another- if you disagree with people about stuff [often
politics or religion] try not to demonize them- they are also created in the
image of God.
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1926 THE DEBATES
What the heck- might as well do a
post while the guy works on the van.
I am surprised that I picked up
wireless here- Inkys or something.
O.K.- I have been wanting to
mention the debates.
Of course last night we had Biden
and Ryan go at it [I slept in the van and caught it on NPR].
If you’re a Dem- then you think
Biden won- if a Repub- Ryan.
What do I think? [I am
independent]
I think they both did well- maybe
a sort of tie.
Now- what about the Obama/Romney
one?
Most people think Obama did
poorly- me too.
But- when I first heard the
liberal side of the aisle skewer Obama- I thought it must have been really bad.
Whenever you hear a news guy-
whether Liberal or Conservative- try and give you their narrative- always be
open and make your own call.
I saw the Pres. Debate the next
day on CSPAN- I thought Obama lost- but I did not see it as the Titanic.
I told a liberal friend ‘it
really wasn’t as bad as they made it out’.
A few things.
Right after the pres debate- the
campaign people for Obama put out a line that said ‘sure- Romney won- but it
was simply a good performance from a liar’.
Then- the news media ran with
that story- night after night- you heard them say Romney is a liar- who lied
well.
I was at my mom’s house- she
watches MSNBC a lot [I do on and off].
And I saw how it affected her.
She was furious at Romney for
being a liar.
I explained to her that they all
lie- Obama- Romney- all of them.
I told her how many see Romney as
a ‘liar’ because he flip flopped on ‘Obama care’.
He was ‘for it- before he was
against it’ type thing.
I told my mom that I don’t see
either of these men as angels- or demons.
I said Romney says his health
care plan in Mass [while governor] was different.
Okay- I have heard his
explanation- I think it pretty much was the same.
But- I don’t hate the man- he’s
running as the Repub candidate- and the Repubs don’t like Obama-care- so he’s
against it.
I got it.
But how many Dem’s- who hate
Romney for switching his view- over a period of years- also ‘hate’ Obama for
doing the same thing?
When the president ran against
Hillary- he vowed to never do ‘Obama care’ the way he did it.
Hillary was for universal health
care- with a mandate.
A mandate is the law that says
you must purchase it- or pay a fine.
Now- during the nomination
process- right up until the election- Obama was dead set against a mandate.
Some people voted for him because
of this- during the Dem nomination process.
Yet- it did not take him 6 years-
3 years- or one year to ‘switch’ sides.
It took him one day.
Yes- the day before he was
elected- he was against the mandate.
The first thing he did after
being elected- the major ‘accomplishment’ of his first term- was health care-
with a mandate.
Yet- I don’t remember the news
media spending days with a narrative [story] that said Obama is a liar.
So- it’s better to simply listen
to the sides- if you prefer the conservative side- then you will vote Romney.
If you prefer the liberal side-
then you will vote Obama.
But do we have to watch days on
end of the news reporting- openly- that Romney is a liar?
I said about a month ago that the
real big news story- that is worthy of coverage- is the situation that happened
in Libya- the killing of our people at the embassy.
In last night’s debate- that was
the first question that came up.
Yeah- their catching on- ya
think?
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1925 WHEN TWO BECOME ONE [a short
critique on the pastoral letter from the Bishop of Newark]
Today I want to comment on the
Pastoral letter that the Archbishop of Newark put out last month.
Being I’m here in N.J. for a few
days- one of my goals was to visit all the old places I saw as a kid.
And 2 of those spots were the
Catholic churches I went to as a kid.
I went last Sunday to Our Lady of
Fatima- and this Past Sunday I visited Our Lady of Grace.
It just so happened that the
Bishop of Newark put out this Pastoral letter- a letter to all the Christians
in his area- a few weeks before I arrived.
The letter;
The letter is in some ways a
defense of the historic position of the church.
It’s titled ‘When Two become One:
A Pastoral Teaching on the Definition, Purpose and Sanctity of Marriage’.
In short the Bishop does an
excellent job of defending the traditional definition of marriage between One
man and One woman.
He bases this teaching on both
Natural [Moral] law- and what we call Revelation [or Revealed Truth- which
means teaching that comes to us from God].
Natural Law?
Natural law simply means in
society in general- since the early times of man- there was a basic
understanding of what was right or wrong.
Where did this Moral foundation
come from?
The Church teaches that this
comes from God [Apostle Paul- Romans 1 and 2].
Since this Moral law exists- and
part of this ‘collective conscience’ includes the basic idea of traditional
marriage- therefore we [the Church] make the argument that traditional marriage
is not only a Church teaching- but also a foundational truth that all men have
known since the beginning of mans existence.
The bishop notes that the early
Greek philosophers and other ancient societies have indeed believed that Moral
law does exist- and therefore it is not only a church belief.
The Bishop is also careful to
treat Homosexual people [language that the church does not use- the church
teaches that all people- even those with ‘homosexual tendencies’ are indeed
created in the image of God. The Church says both Heterosexual and Homosexual
are words that describe sexual attractions- but are not fundamental identities]
with respect.
That is even though the Church
believes in One man One woman union- that it recognizes that all people
struggle with ‘sin’ and that the Church calls all people to live repentant
lives- and to strive to live an abundant life in Christ.
The Bishop emphasizes that the
Christian community does include people who have homosexual attractions- but it
simply does not legitimize homosexual lifestyles as an acceptable way of life
for the practicing Christian [I do understand that others see this very thing
as discriminatory- and that would take a long time to get into- my purpose in
this post is to kind of break down the 4 page letter of the bishop and hit the
high points.]
All in all the letter was written
in a scholarly way- the bishop used what we call the classic Apologetic tools
to defend the Faith [he appealed to natural law- he quoted the Greek
philosophers- etc.]
And he made the case in a way
that was as gracious as possible to those who consider themselves Homosexual-
while still defending the Traditional definition of marriage.
I of course did read- and re-read
the letter.
I guess that around 10 % of
Catholic Christians might have gone home after Mass and read the letter [it was
kind of long- and a little scholarly].
But it was written in a well
thought out way- and it does give you the official Catholic teaching on this
matter.
The Church teaches that those
Catholics who reject the traditional definition of marriage are rejecting a
serious doctrine of the church- a ‘Grave matter’- and the church says these
Catholics need to repent from this position.
In the Catholic Church there are
degrees of Moral teaching- that is some areas are not considered as serious as
others- the Church teaches that this doctrine- traditional Marriage- is one of
those serious doctrines.
At the end of the letter it has
the signature of Archbishop John J. Meyers- the bishop of Newark.
This was the first time I ever
read an official Pastoral letter- one that was actually circulated in the
handouts from the Church meeting.
I found it well written-
scholarly- and of course- in keeping with the teaching of the historic church.
Whether you agree with the
teaching or not [for instance I am a Protestant- and not bound to the teaching
of the Catholic church].
You must admit- that the Catholic
church puts out responsible material- material that is well thought out and in
a way ‘peer reviewed’.
Yea- all in all- it was a good
letter.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
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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.
1919 PARKIN’ IN PARKIN
Maybe I will do a little update
tonight.
About a week ago I embarked on an
unplanned road trip.
For a while now I have seen lots
of my street friends live in their vans and stuff- and I always wanted to give
it a shot.
Now- I’m cheating a bit- by
staying at my mom’s house for a few nights- but on the road- I lived in the
van.
It’s not that hard to be honest-
the rest stops on the interstates are great- clean- and safe.
I was kidding my buddy earlier- I
told him that the drive [from TX. To N.J.] was great- cheap.
But as soon as I hit Jersey- the
toll system cost me more cash [around 30] and time [geez- having to stop
multiple times- before getting off!] than the entire trip combined!
But all in all it was an okay
drive.
I was detoured just outside of
Little Rock- Ark.
I blew a fan belt- it was so loud
I thought the transmission fell out!
I realized it was the belt- and
had to drive to the closest exit and get off.
I wound up in a small rural town
named Parkin.
To my surprise the town shop was
able to get the parts and install them- at half the cost that pep- boys charged
in the past![this water pump has a history].
As I spent half the day in
Parkin- I walked around- took some pics- and made the best of it.
As I ‘interviewed’ my mechanic- I
asked him what the town was like.
He was a young- White kid.
He said ‘It’s nice here- but the
NIGGERS ARE NIGGERS.’
Unquote.
I then walked around- and talked
to the Black people in the area.
They were real nice.
I picked up the Arkansas paper.
The top story was the local hero-
who looked just like one of Jeff Foxworthy’s Red Neck’s.
He was on the front page because
he made his annual trip to NYC to protest the Iranian president.
Yeah- he started making this his
cause about 10 years ago.
This time- as he was standing
outside the U.N.- he saw the Iranian security guys walking right by him.
They were protecting some top
diplomat- and the Arkansan thru a punch- and hit the guy!
As I read this story- while
‘parked’ in Parkin- I had to laugh.
The guy said ‘as they walked by-
I thought the guy was Ahmidinejab’.
Yeah- he was proud- grinning ear
to ear.
They asked him how he got
involved with this cause- he has an on-line web site and he leads a group who
regularly protest the Iranian leaders desire for Nukes.
He told the reporter that his
wife died of cancer about 10 years ago- and he needed something to keep his
mind occupied.
Yeah- Foxworthy would have loved
it.
All in all my day [half day] was
well spent- lessons learned- prejudice revealed- and hospitality shown to me-
by a nice Black owner of the local beauty salon [her name was Shea].
Yeah- I learned some stuff in
while parked- in Parkin.
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.
1916 WHO IS JOHN GALT?
Over the weekend- my habit is now
to watch a couple of documentaries from Netflix.
I always got into them- but with
the Rocu thing- I can start a few at a time- and then pick up right where I
left off.
I’m watching the Cosmos- Carl
Sagan [excellent by the way].
Just started Greek Civilization-
narrated by one of my favorite actors- Liam Nessen.
And I caught a short one on Ayn
Rand- the now famous author of Atlas Shrugged.
I have never read any of Rand's
stuff- she is a novelist- and I don’t read them.
But- she is also a philosopher-
the founder of the system called Objectivism.
And her works and thought are
more known right now because a movie was made about the book- Atlas Shrugged.
Rand taught a system that said
mans main purpose in life is the pursuit of his/her own happiness.
Now- she was not a strict
Hedonist- she also taught that man should be productive- should be a
contributing member of society- and should be free to excel- to ‘make it’
without the state making the rich guy feel bad about it.
Yes- back to the 99 versus the 1.
As you can see- that’s why her
work has made it back into the collective consciousness at this point in time.
The other day we went to see my
friend John at the hospital- I took Henry [John Henry], John from Arlington-
Andy- and of course myself.
The day before we went to the
bookstore- and I met father John- a nice Catholic Priest.
The guys were calling John [from
Arlington] Joe.
I told Henry 'no- his name is
John’.
Henry quipped ‘too many John’s’
In Rand’s work- she tells the
fictional story of John Galt [who is John Galt? This sign pops up every so often]
Galt is the leader of the
‘productive’ class in society- the thinkers- producers- etc.
These noble ones rebel against
what they see as an all encroaching Entitlement society- a ‘world’ that keeps
blaming them for the ills of man.
Eventually these productive
people have had enough- and they withdraw from the world and start their own
world- based on the principles of Objectivism.
‘Every man for himself’ type of
thing.
There is one line in the book-
where you have this image of Atlas [the man who has the world on his
shoulders].
He is bowing and bending and
struggling under this Entitlement world.
The ‘have nots’ keep seeing the
‘haves’ as the cause for their problems.
The more pressure put on Atlas-
does not seem to appease the Entitlement class.
So- he shrugs- and walks away.
A couple of years ago when we did
a short history of Philosophy- I never covered Rand.
Why?
She never came up in any of the
stuff I was reading at the time.
Rand was a Russian American who
came to the states in the early 20th century.
She saw the rise of Communism in
her homeland- and she believed that the U.S. was in danger of going down the
same road.
She lived to see the presidency
of FDR- and his creating of what we call the Entitlement society.
But Rand- like other thinkers of
her day- also rejected Faith and Religion [Marx].
She believed that Reason was
enough to establish morality- and build an adequate Ethical society.
To be honest- Ayn was wrong about
this.
But- because she angered the Left
with her capitalist thought- and the Right with her anti God ideas- well she
would alienate not just the 47% [Romney’s gaff] but both ‘47’s’.
Thus- Rand never came up on the
radar when I was studying philosophy.
I have not read the book- but
from what I picked up on line- I can see how Christians would indeed have a
hard time with Objectivism.
In scripture- we don’t see
‘statism’ per se- but we do see a sort of collective ideal.
In the books of Acts we see the
early believers selling their goods and giving to those in need.
We read many-many portions of the
bible that speak about helping the less fortunate.
Yet- the argument is ‘should the
state force man to do this’.
The state- govt. - according to
scripture- has the right to tax.
Rand’s argument [and others] is
‘fine- but don’t demean me because I am one of the producers- don’t demonize
those in society who are holding the system up’.
Rand did not teach that you
should never help another- but she rejected the govt. forcing you to do it.
In Ayn’s Utopia- the John Galt’s
of the world withdraw- they take their toys and go home.
From a biblical perspective- we
are indeed our brother’s keeper.
That does not mean we encourage
people to be non productive- to live off the wealth of others.
But we see the goal of our lives
as more than seeking happiness- more than pursuing the Dream.
No- we often give things up-
material things- in order to pursue a more just society.
In our World- Atlas doesn’t
shrug.
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.
1914 TOP STORY- OF THE WORLD?
Posted a few pics from our visit
with John David yesterday.
He’s doing better- but they
wanted to re open him up- and do another procedure [heart].
He prayed about it- and wants to
avoid going under the knife again.
I was at the mission during the
day- and I saw David’s brothers- Huey and Andy.
They wanted a ride to the
hospital to see their brother- I was more than happy to take them.
I do want to stay in touch with
David- and do the halfway house thing with him.
But- as we were at the mission-
sure enough someone called the cops.
Why?
We didn’t know.
So a couple of cars came down-
and they were looking for some guys.
Huey just took off- told us to
pick him up around the block.
Then we [I] put 2 and 2 together-
it seems like he was going to sell some drugs to another guy- and somehow they
must have been heard by the mission people.
That’s what is seemed like to us.
So I told Andy ‘look- I told your
brother the other day [Huey] not to be carrying stuff with him when he’s in my
vehicle’.
I was mad that he ruined his
chance to visit his brother- he did get prepared to see him [he was cleaned up
this day].
So- we saw Huey a few blocks
away- he tried to get in my van- I told him forget it- you got the cops chasing
you- your in all types of trouble- we don’t need that.
We left him there.
So- we went and visited David.
I met Jackie there for the second
time.
That’s John David’s girl.
They told me the story how they
met.
Jackie was living in another
state and she saw John David being interviewed on CNN.
Yeah- he told me about this a
couple of years ago.
He started his first half way
house at his sons apt- and somehow the word got out- and CNN did a nice story
about it.
So- Jackie- a drug addict [who
still struggles] saw it and said ‘If I can get to this home- he can help me’.
So- she made it to Texas and
knocked on the door.
John David had no home for girls-
but he took her in.
They became a couple- and that’s
how they met.
His son eventually lost the
apartment they were using [it actually was a facility that was already set up
like a halfway house- what a ‘coincidence’.]
And since then John David has
been looking for another house.
But- he needed the heart surgery
for a while- and he figured he’d finally get it out of the way.
All in all we had a good day- I
had John [my new friend with the little dog] - Henry- Andy with me for the day.
We came back to the house and had
a good fellowship time.
Let me mention a little news as
we end the week.
The other day I caught the world
‘news’ on all 3 stations [abc- nbc- cbs].
The top story on all 3 staions
was the Romney ‘hidden’ video.
Okay- I saw the stupid thing when
it first came out.
Big story?
Not really.
A story?
I guess it should have been a one
day thing- I mean you have these silly things pop up on both sides.
You had the Obama thing a couple
of years back ‘clinging to their God and guns’.
So- they all do this.
But- it was maybe 4-5 days later-
and the world news- all 3 stations- had this as the top news story- well- of
‘the world’.
I couldn’t believe it.
So- I channel surfed some cable
shows- and came back to the main news.
They still had the video of
Romney- parsing each word he said- showing the video with the captions- 9 to 10
minutes into the top news story.
I mean this is so bad- it is not
even funny anymore.
‘John- what’s wrong with this?
Well- a story like this should be
a one- maybe 2 day thing.
And it should have never been top
coverage- on a very busy news week.
What should the top story have
been?
Regardless of who you back
[Romney- Obama].
The top story should have been
the fact that the Libyan govt. has come out and publicly said they warned the
U.S. that they can’t provide security for the embassy in Benghazi.
You basically have [had] a public
disagreement between the White House and the Libyan president.
And by all accounts- it looks
like the Libyan guy was telling the truth.
Now- politics aside- this is very
important.
Did the U.S. [whether Obama-
Bush- Clinton- anyone in charge] drop the ball on the protecting of our
ambassador in Libya?
And- the top story of the
protests breaking out in the Arab world- against the U.S.
Okay- the news did of course
cover this- but when you have real hard news like this- then you don’t run a 10
minute top story about a stupid hidden gaff from anyone- Romney- Obama- anyone.
And of course the other ‘top
story’ was the topless pics of Kate Middleton- I mean on the world news?
This is not world news- maybe
Enquirer type stuff- but not world news- that deserved coverage on all the news
channels- as a top news story.
These examples shows you how
bankrupt our media has become.
I do watch/listen to both sides
[right/left] and frankly both sides of the aisle do this.
I told my friend the other day- I
hear the radio guys every week- and because I comment about stuff like this I
try and hear as many as I can [Rush- Hannity- etc.]
Sometimes I catch the whole show-
3 hours.
But there are times where for 3
hours- all you get is a constant drumbeat of anti Obama.
Okay- I have criticized the guy-
lots.
But if you have no constructive
thing to say- for 3 hours- then what are you accomplishing?
So- that’s the scoop.
I’ll try and add a few notes to
last night’s pics- and hope you guys have a good weekend.
Please continue to for John
David- he looked much better yesterday- but he needs prayer- thanks so much.
John.
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.
1910 PROTESTS CONTINUE
I normally don’t post on the
weekends- but it’s been a big news week.
First- let me talk a little about
the street fellowship.
I saw Henry yesterday- he heard
we had an ‘overnight’ fellowship the other day [had a few street guys stay
over- a chance to get off the streets].
So- I did tell Hugh ‘when you see
Henry- tell him he missed out on a great time!’
Sure enough- as I sat with Henry
at the mission- Hugh showed up.
He told me that he let Henry
know- and that Henry was kinda mad.
Henry said ‘John knows where to
get me- he could have come got me!’
Henry works at the marina.
So you could tell that the gig
was up- Hugh ‘outed’ Henry.
Henry tried to brush it off.
I told Henry ‘I would have come
to get you- but Huey told me when he’s getting free food he prefers the
ambience of a small crowd’.
Yeah- I know.
Okay- the news.
First- the current uprisings in
the Arab world are very dangerous indeed.
The right and the left are
sacrificing true news coverage to gain political points.
You say ‘John- I see how the
right- and Romney are doing it- but the left’?
The way the left [some Democrats]
are doing it is by making most of the news of the past 3 days about some stupid
statement Romney made about Obama not handling the thing well.
Look- I have said I think Romney
jumped the gun by criticizing Obama on the first day of the uproar- but come
on- it’s been 3-4 days- okay- there's real news to cover.
Both Obama and others said Bush
was actually responsible for the deaths of Americans ‘Bush lied- people died’
was the campaign mantra of John Kerry.
He said Bush was directly
responsible for the deaths of Americans- because he lied.
He said this over and over and
over- while the guys were dying.
So please- some of Romney’s
criticism is accurate- Obama is responsible for not beefing up the security at
the embassies.
Last night I heard a report that
Libya actually warned the U.S. that they can’t secure the embassy in Benghazi-
geez- they told us this.
So- the real story- the important
story- is the ‘Arab Spring’ is now an Arab winter- but they are protesting the
U.S.
What do we do?
Hopefully these protests will
peter out- but if not- then we have problems.
The other big news thing.
The Federal Reserve came out and
said they will start buying Govt. bonds- and they will continue to buy them
until things turn around in the economy.
Once again- those on the left
[Dems] are happy.
The right- not so happy.
Why?
This action will cause the stock market to go
up [though it is dangerous to make it go up this way].
And we are about 50 days to the
election- and it can only help the president.
Now- what exactly does QE-3 mean?
What the fed is doing is called
‘Quantitative easing’ which simply means what I said above.
This is the 3rd time
they did it- that’s where you get the 3.
They feel that buying U.S. bonds
will have an economic impact that will help the overall economy because it will
keep interest rates real low- that will prod investors/business people to ‘get
off the sidelines’ and use some of the money that is being saved.
Problem?
The Federal Reserve is the
nation’s own bank.
They are not run by elected
officials- they have minimal oversight- and they can basically do what they
want.
If they decide to print money [by
buying bonds] they simply do it.
Now- when they buy U.S. debt-
it’s like if you needed money.
And you wrote I.O.U.’s to people
all over the world [China, Japan, etc.]
After a while- you wrote so many
[16 trillion debt] you turned to your spouse and said ‘honey- I can’t write any
more to the people down the block- will you buy my IOU’s?’
That’s what the fed is doing-
they are buying the debt- but they are our own bank- we are selling bonds to
ourselves for heaven’s sake!
Now- this will keep interest
rates low- but they are already at all time lows.
You can get a mortgage at under
3%- that’s low.
This tells me that the Fed sees
real problems down the road.
The world economies are in
trouble- the jobs creation in the U.S. is very bad [last numbers were under
100,000].
So- the action of the fed- in my
view- is one of desperation.
It’s artificially inflating the
market.
In the short term- yes- you can
make money.
But in a way it’s like building a
house of cards- in my view.
Okay- that’s it for now- continue
to pray for our country- and yes- for the president.
We are seeing a very serious
situation develop around the world.
People have lost their lives.
I do commend the Libyan govt. -
they tried to stop the attack that killed our ambassador- and by all accounts-
they liked him- and appreciated the U.S.
The attack in Benghazi was by
radicals.
Egypt is another story.
There newly elected leader-
Morsi- responded like he was still the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood- not
the elected president of Egypt.
He later backtracked and made a
better statement.
All in all- this thing has spread
to many Arab nations as of today- and we hope and pray it will only last for a
few days- without loss of life.
If it grows- then we have real
problems.
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.
1909 FROM THE STREETS OF CORPUS
TO THE WORLD
We got up early yesterday- had a
couple of the street guys spend the night.
I cooked breakfast and we went to
pick up Andy’s daughter.
For some reason this past week
she had some kind of mental breakdown.
Her name is Rocelle [yeah- not
Rochelle] she is around 38 years old and Andy [her dad] told me she tried to
commit suicide the other day- she has been acting different- a type of mental
breakdown.
So her husband is afraid to leave
her alone when he goes to work- and we went and got her.
She spent most of the day with
us- we drove over to the hospital to see John David.
He would be her uncle- Andy’s
brother.
He just had open heart surgery.
Rocelle liked my yard/study.
It’s funny- I have verses and
stuff all over the place- lots of people think it looks overdone- sort of
‘trailer trash’.
I do joke about it at times.
But Rocelle told Andy- as they
were walking back into the house- that she wanted to just walk around and read
all the verses- she was ‘fascinated’ by it.
I also had another friend- who
just happens to suffer from mental problems- he too loved the yard- just ‘being
there’.
In a way I do think it’s a sort
of prayer garden type experience- these friends sense the presence of God- I
walk the yard early in the mornings and pray- many of the verses are written
out of this prayer time.
So- in a spiritual way- they are
entering into this time.
We went and seen John David- I
posted the pic last night [with Huey his brother by his side].
I haven’t seen David in a few
years- I have written a bunch of posts about him- he was the one who killed his
best buddy years ago in Dallas.
Got off by his mom hiring the
lawyer who represented the guy who killed Lee Harvey Oswald [remember the
post?].
Anyway David was an addict for
many years- got clean a few years ago and has been wanting to start a halfway
house.
David and his brothers have told
me that he was a very successful business man years ago- made lots of money
[millions?].
You know- he had a construction
business- a big one.
He eventually blew the money on
drugs and became a street guy.
As we were waiting at the hosp to
see him- we walked passed some guy- dressed nice in a suit and all- and later
he came up to us.
He told Huey ‘do you remember
me’?
Huey said no.
He told Huey he was John John.
Huey told me that John John was a
young boy who used to work for David years ago.
They all hauled concrete and
stuff together.
Huey told me that John John is a
‘big wig’ now in the area- runs a big furniture store- lives in Kings Crossing
[a rich area].
He came to see David.
He said David was his neighbor
years ago.
David lived in the rich section
too.
So we talked with David- I prayed
for him- and I told him I’m gonna try and help him set up the half way house.
I drove by the house he’s looking
at- right in the drug area- perfect spot.
I had Andy drive me by John
David’s apt.
We got out to talk to his
girlfriend- Andy tells me ‘be careful round here- it's a big drug dealer spot-
don’t look at anyone’.
I laughed- I told him I have been
‘hanging out’ on the corners the last few weeks [remember the posts on Terri
and Arnold- and the guy I tried to give a dollar to- he ran away!].
Yeah- it was funny.
We had a good day- Rocelle asked
if we could do this again.
I told her sure- she can come
with us when we get together.
Now- I know that driving around-
we did pray- shared scripture- stopped for snacks- I know from years of
experience- that in a way this can be true fellowship [I have actually written
a few books about this- on the blog].
So- Rocelle was simply enjoying
the fellowship time- she is having a hard time- and instead of being out
hooking up for drugs [I think the reason she has been having this difficult
time- in her mind- is her dad and uncle think she might have done some type of
new drug- maybe Bath Salts- the drug that has caused people to go nuts].
All in all- it was a good day.
I do want to mention the current
situation in the Arab/Persian nations right now.
Yesterday I posted about the
killing at our embassy in Libya- and the protests at our embassy in Egypt.
Over the night they have now
spread to Yemen and Sudan- and maybe more.
The news talk now is about the
politics of the whole thing.
Did Romney criticize too soon?
Did the state dept. [our embassy
in Egypt] jump the gun in a kind of apologetic statement they put out- sort of
‘siding’ with the protestors.
This last year [even this last
week- before this broke out].
I have been saying that the media
have not been truly covering the aftermath of the things we have dome in Libya
and Egypt.
I told a friend that Libya is
highly unstable.
I told him that various militia
groups still roam around- fully armed- and no one is really in control.
My criticisms have been that we
sided with the people in the east [Benghazi] and ‘took out’ the leader in the
west [Gadhaffi- Tripoli].
The problem?
The people of the east- many of
them- are/were anti American- and some of them are indeed Al Qaeda [do you
remember Gadhaffi saying this- over and over again?]
Now- without re-posting
everything.
One of the reasons some in the eastern
part of Libya wanted to remove Gadhaffi- was because he was seen as a ‘puppet’
of the west.
Yes- he decided to work with the
U.S. and this angered some of the radicals in the east.
Okay- what happened yesterday?
These same radical groups- who are
walking around with heavy artillery- Rocket Propelled Grenades- they basically
attacked our embassy- in Benghazi- in the eastern ‘capital’ and killed 4
Americans.
See?
The newly installed govt. in
Libya has said that they have no control over the country.
They said this a few months ago.
Why does the average person not
know this?
Why have we not been doing more to protect our embassies- we know [I
hope] that Libya cannot provide the security needed- they have said this
publicly for heaven’s sake.
I do think we need to pray- I do
think the initial statement from the state dept. was bad.
And I do think Romney should have
waited- at least a day- before commenting.
But the bigger story is when the
U.S. involves itself militarily- to depose a leader- any leader- we need to
also be aware of the aftermath- the instability that will result when the job
is ‘finished’ [even in Iraq- and right now in Syria- we need to stop saying
that these leaders- any/all of them- are committing ‘crimes against humanity’-
geez- both sides are. We need to stop making it into a soundbite ‘you are on
the wrong side of history’. No- the answer- moving forward- is for all sides to
sit down and talk- Russia is right in what they are saying about Syria].
The statement [or lack thereof]
from the new Egyptian president- Morsi- was dismal.
Last I heard- he still has not
condemned the attacks- and he basically sided with the protestors.
We have no ally in Egypt- the
people we backed in Libya [not all of them] just killed 4 Americans- and it
seems like the violence is spreading.
Pray for world peace- I know it
sounds ‘liberal’ but it is the will of God.
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.
1908 ATTACKS IN LIBYA AND EGYPT
Last night we cooked late- so I
let a couple of the street guys spend the night.
I have done this every so often
in the past- not really a big deal.
But the reason I usually avoid it
is because I have a ‘million’ homeless buddies- and once you go down this road-
well you got the picture.
But I felt the lord wanted this.
The pics I posted last night [by
the way- whenever I post pics during the day- I never check Facebook form my
phone. So- if I take a trip to N.J. - I’ll probably post pics- but will not get
on line until I get back- so for those who leave comments- I won’t see them
till much later].
So- the pics from the day [or
month!] before will get descriptions when I’m back at the lap top.
Okay- Andy and Huey spent the
night- they watched the Green Mile [twice].
I asked them what channel they
liked- to leave on all night.
They wanted the classics.
We never got a chance to see
their brother yesterday- David.
He had triple bypass heart
surgery- and we were gonna see him.
His nephew [Andy’s and Huey’s
too] hitched all the way from Louisiana- just to see John David in the hosp.
That’s the son of an older
brother who died.
I told Andy ‘bring Leon over in
the morning’ they are sleeping on the streets- geez.
But Huey got a call as I was
cooking- he left last night [hitching a ride].
We will go see John David later-
Andy told me David even asked if I was still around.
Me and David became good friends
after he quit the Ice [he was a huge meth addict].
When he got clean- and got right
with God- he just wanted to get together all the time.
Like a new Christian- wanting to
learn everything he can.
As the guys were crashed out on
the floor last night- I of course caught my news fix.
I was surprised to see the very
serious story about the Islamic protests in Egypt and Libya.
Just a note- this should have
been the top story on every news network- it met the criteria of serious
breaking news [which the networks now say about everything].
But the one station- at least at
7 pm- that did the right coverage- was Cooper from CNN.
Now- Fox of course covered it-
and I guess MSNBC- but Cooper treated it with the coverage it deserved.
What happened?
At first it was reported in a
deceptive way.
The coverage said that these
protests- which killed 2 Americans in the American consulate in Libya- were a
reaction to a negative movie put out by the now infamous pastor from Fla.
You remember him- the guy who
started trouble a while back.
So the way the news reported it-
it made it sound like he just put out another negative Muslim thing- and that’s
why the angry response happened.
But then they reported that this
video was out for weeks [or months].
And that some of the radical
Islamic sights were already calling for protests on 9-11.
So- for there to have been these
types of very serious uprisings- in 2 countries that we had a major role in
removing [or killing] the leaders- this is bad- real bad.
Fox showed a speech by the
president- a famous speech he gave in 2009- called the ‘Cairo speech’.
It’s famous because critics of
the president have used it to say he kind of sucked up to the Muslims.
As I heard the speech- in context
of last night’s news- I agreed with everything the president said.
He did offer somewhat of an olive
branch to the Muslim world- but he was very careful to say this branch was to
those who reject violence.
He spoke about living peaceably
in a world with other faiths.
I listened carefully- I agreed
with everything he said.
But it is important not to miss
the fact that we have never had our embassies assaulted like this in the past-
and that these attacks took place under regimes that we backed.
This is not good.
I found it interesting that I
‘accidently’ spoke about these issues the last few days.
And here we are- it’s the big
story of the day [week- month?]
The killing of 2 Americans at a
consulate is very serious indeed.
The fact that it happened on 9-11
is very serious.
Today we do need to pray for
peace- we need to of course respond in a proper way- either shut down our
embassy- or whatever needs to be done.
But we live in a world where we
have both freedom of speech- and responsibility.
When this Fla. Pastor first made
waves- it was easy for the media to brand him as a nut- a crazy guy.
And I of course do not hold to
this guys views at all- the way he ‘exposes’ Islam.
But- to react with violence- to
kill people who even show a drawing of Muhammad [which has happened] this is
not civilized.
If we [Christians, Jews- Muslims-
etc.] are going to try and live in the world together- then we need to condemn
these things.
Actually- if you want the right
response- the way we need to move forward- just listen to Obama’s Cairo speech-
that pretty much sums it up.
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.
1907 IS THE GOSPEL REALLY THE
ANSWER?
Of course today we remember those
who died 11 years ago.
We pray for the families and
friends.
I find it strange that I recently
stumbled into some of the verses in Revelation- that deal with nations and
systems that war against each other.
It’s almost unbelievable to
realize that in the last presidential campaign- you had someone on the Repub
platform- talking about the ‘real reason’ 9-11 happened.
I mean comedians got raked over
the coals for this- and others fumbled and fell into a great trap by even
wading on the water’s edge.
Ron Paul often spoke about the
mindset of radical Islam
Paul was the libertarian
candidate who ran on the Repub ticket.
He spoke about the mindset that
led to the terror attack on 9-11.
Now- in no way do I justify
anything like what happened.
But it is important to see the
underlying grievance that the radical wing of Islam harbors.
We often hear that the reason for
the attack was ‘they hate our freedom’.
Was that the reason?
If you actually read the writings
of the radicals- they believe they are indeed in a ‘holy war’.
They see the encroachment of the
West- our ‘values’ [last post] and our ‘occupation’ of their holy lands as the
grievance.
If you think back- the first real
attack against the west was the bombing of the Kobar towers in Saudi Arabia.
This was the first one [that I
recall] that was a direct act of what we call Al Qaeda.
The movement started by Osama Bin
laden.
They saw Saudi Arabia as their
holy land- and the towers were the U.S. base in the land.
Okay- am I justifying the attack?
No- just want you to see the
mindset.
Then- the attack on the World
Trade center.
The radical mind believes that to
hit the ‘occupier’ in her homeland is a justifiable response because we have
been engaged- many times- in Arab/Muslim lands- militarily.
I had a talk with a friend the
other day- we were discussing these issues.
I told my friend that
Christianity- and Judaism- have had their own ‘reformation’ of sorts.
Both religions have come to a
place where they see the separation of church and state- that is- they are able
to distinguish between religious belief and acts of war.
Now- there are critics of
Christianity who still accuse the church of wanting to have a theocracy [church
ruled state].
But for the most part- those who
believe this [reconstructionist's] are far and few in between.
But- Islam has not yet had her
‘reformation’ moment.
Now- as a blogger who has Muslim,
Jewish and Christian readers- my goal is not to offend anyone- nor to skirt the
real issues.
There are many fine Muslim
people- who do indeed reject the entire mindset of radical Islam.
But- in the actual debates that
go in within the religion- there are many who still believe that force- along
with reliogus expression- is acceptable.
Islam is not only a ‘religion’
per se- but it is also a way of government.
Now- like I said- during the
history of the church- obviously the same thing happened.
I mean any person who studies the
rise of Western civilization- the arts- science- history- I mean the church is
the major player on the board- hands down.
But- today most Christians see
their role as more of a spiritual one- yes- being active in politics- voting-
yes- we do have a voice at the table.
But we don’t- for the most part-
want to take up an armed resistance against the world.
So- those who adhere to radical
Islam- they see their struggle- well much like the last post- a Che type of
thing.
I think the future depends- not on
us killing all the radicals- no- this can never be fully done.
The mindset lives on in the
flowing generations.
No- the answer is in learning
mutual respect for each other’s beliefs and cultures.
Now- I’m’ not saying ‘let’s try
and understand the poor terrorist’.
But I am saying that we in the
West do need to see the root cause of why terrorism happens.
In a little while I will be going
to visit John David in the ICU.
John is the friend I have written
about over the years.
He was a coke addict for many
years- got clean about 2 years ago.
I have pictures of him and his
brother on my face book site.
We were having a fellowship at
the house and did the Lords Supper.
John had heart surgery yesterday-
and I will be taking his brothers Hugh and Andy to see him.
The other day I found a few
packets of seeds at the house- the type you plant in the vegetable garden.
Don- the street guy who maintains
the garden at the mission- he asked me one day if I could get him some.
I mean he plants that garden from
scratch [see the pics on face book].
I gave them to him- he was
elated- over seeds!
One day- about 10 years ago now-
I was sitting at the fire house- actually it was soon after 9-11.
The fire depts. were on high
alert- we had things we were to watch out for- stuff that we never worried
about before.
So one day- sitting at the
station- may Captain says ‘hey John- go see what the Muslim wants’.
Sure enough- some guy- dressed
for the part- was walking around the fire trucks.
This station was right by A&I
university [now A&M].
So- we used to keep the doors
open all day [not any more] and people could walk in if they wanted.
So I went outside- the guy was
just checking all the emergency vehicles out.
He told me ‘I’m doing research
for a school project’.
Hmm?
As I talked with him- we got into
‘religion’ and I covered the history Of Christians and Arabs.
I traced back to Abraham- went
into the story of his sons [Arabs trace their roots to Abraham’s son Ishmael]
And when I was done- I told him
the true purpose of God- to redeem all nations of the earth.
That God loves the Arab- the
Persian [we often mistake Persians for Arabs].
That he loves all people- and he
sent his Son to die for all of humanity.
To my surprise- he told me he has
never- not once- heard this story.
His view of Christianity- the
west- the entire mindset- was shaped by world events.
He did not distinguish between
Christianity and the actual Govt. of the U.S.
He- like many others- view the
entire ‘struggle’ as a struggle for who will ‘rule the world’.
In my time with him- I tried to
show him a better way.
No- I am not advocating
passivism.
I’m not saying if we simply try
to understand the terrorist- the he will go away.
But I am saying- in some cases-
these people have never really heard the message.
In some cases- like the Apostle
Paul said ‘satan has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe’.
In some cases- the Good News
[gospel] is really the answer.
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.
1906 CHE
I watched another documentary
this weekend.
It was the story of Che Guevara.
Che is well known today as a sort
of symbol of the revolutionary youth movement.
He embodies the persona of those
who defy ‘Imperialism/Colonialism’.
Che was an Argentinean doctor-
who at a young age took a motorcycle journey thru Latin America [South- Central
America] and he saw the extreme poverty of the people.
He would see one of the main
factors of this poverty being the influence that the U.S. held over these
nations thru corporate agreements with the ‘puppet’ leaders of these nations.
For instance- many of the poor of
these nations were peasant farmers- they worked the land for rich land owners-
and they subsisted on a few dollars a day wages.
Yet the owners of the land- they
were rich.
Likewise- Che believed that the
leaders of the nations were ‘in bed’ with the U.S. - and they allowed U.S.
corporations to rake their countries of wealth- at the expense of the people.
Now- I am not saying I totally
agree with Che.
He has many critics- as well as
supporters [he’s dead of course].
Jean Paul Sartre [remember our
philosophy posts?] supported him- others did not.
The point being- Che saw a
system- the U.S. govt and American corporations- as an all powerful system that
polluted the nations to her south.
He felt the influence of greed
and corruption were the main causes of the plight of the Latin American people.
His revolution- Che literally
left his duties as a doctor and led an armed rebellion against the U.S. - would
eventually lead to his execution by Bolivian forces [Bolivia is just north of
Argentina- Che’s homeland] backed by the CIA.
Che was a key factor in the Cuban
revolution that deposed Batista- the U.S. backed leader of Cuba- and installed
Castro.
Che’s influence lives on today in
many of the leaders of south/central America.
If you ever hear Hugo Chavez
[Venezuela] speak- you hear the words and thoughts of Che.
This last week I have been
reading Revelation- the last 5 chapters or so.
The apostle John writes about the
Mystery- the ‘Whore of Babylon’- this great city- that pollutes all the nations
of the world with her lust for wealth.
This city [nation] lures the
other nations of the world by her wealth and power.
She has all types of merchandise-
even the Souls of men.
As you read the account- it’s
easy to see a type of what Che saw when rebelling against U.S. interests in his
homeland.
I had a talk with my street
friend Dirk the other day.
Somehow we got into a discussion
about the U.S. prison system.
I mentioned to Dirk how over the
last 5 years or so I started cutting out of the news paper all the cases of
people from this region who got sent to prison.
I regularly pray for them- now hundreds
of them- every week [just did this morning].
I try and pick the cases that I
think are really tough.
There was one lady- in her 60’s.
Sandra Briggs [I remember her
name- and her face].
She was sent to prison for a DWI
that killed a person.
Mrs. Briggs was a widow- she
owned a jewelry store for many years with her husband.
He was shot and killed a couple
of years ago by a burglar.
One night she went to a bar- I
guess a place where she would stop in and have a few drinks before going home.
She had a couple of drinks- and
on the way home [I think at night?] there was a wreck- and one car was in the
middle of the road- and she hit it.
Now- as I read the case and
followed the story in the San Antonio paper.
The person who was killed was a
young off duty cop.
The other car that hit him cut
him in half.
Yeah- a very bad accident.
His body was lying over the
barrier- it looked like someone was bending over- to pick something up.
During the testimony- they said
how when she was standing there- after the wreck- she was kind of laughing.
I guess it was a nervous laughter
type thing- she did not know she killed a person.
The prosecutor made it sound like
she was laughing- right over the severed body.
Now- I’m sure the lady had no
idea that this guy was dead- and cut in half.
But they gave Mrs. Briggs 45
years in prison for it.
Now- I make no excuses for what
she did- she messed up- she should not have been drinking and driving- we all
agree.
But I have seen cases where a
gang kid shoots another kid in the head- on purpose- and gets less time.
So these are the tough cases.
As I talked with Dirk I told him
I was surprised about the large amount of cases where guys get sent up for
solicitation of minors.
I never remember hearing about
it- years ago.
But the development of the
internet- and the availability of everyone on line- well the cases must be up a
million %.
Now- here's the rub.
In the U.S. - you have legal porn
all over the net.
It’s legal for 18 year olds to be
in porn.
The U.S. says this is freedom-
this is what we are all about- if you don’t like it- you don’t have to view it-
but the U.S. has made it available all over the world- even to countries that
outlaw it [Iran- and many Muslim nations].
But- many of the cases I have
read- are cases where men tried to contact under age girls for sex.
Yes- wrong- we all agree.
Legally- if you view- or try to
contact an 18 year old- this is deemed okay.
A 17 year old- 364 days- and 1
minute form her 18th birthday- this is a crime.
Okay- yes- this should be a
crime.
But why does the U.S protect this
[the viewing of the 18 yr old]?
Our country calls the
exploitation of the 18 year old- ‘free speech’.
Huh?
You mean viewing or contacting an
18 year old is considered a right- a part of our freedom- yet the 17 year old
is a crime.
There are many nations who outlaw
it all- now- there are ways people in those nations get around it- but the
nation itself does not actually encourage it- like we do.
In some of these nations- we are
militarily involved- on the basis of some type of moral judgment.
Yes- all of our wars- in some
way- come down to the fact that we deemed some act- like 9-11, as immoral.
Of course most of us would agree
that 9-11 deserved a response.
But what about a situation like
Libya.
After the rebels rose up- we
eventually had an air campaign under the guise of NATO- and it led to the
killing of Gadhaffi.
Most people could care less.
His grandkids were bombed and
killed in a civilian home- we said it was a legitimate target.
His daughter- pregnant- was on
the run to a neighboring nation for safety.
If the rebels caught her- who
knows- they might have ripped her baby out right there.
Yes- the rebels we backed have
done stuff like this- and much worse.
Okay- the point?
When we- as a powerful nation-
make moral judgments and intervene in the affairs of other nations- we justify
our actions.
Even though some of these nations
abhor our values [the above 18 year old example].
We- in our nation have in a way
‘increased the sins among men’ [a description of Babylon in the book of
Revelation].
Because we simply deem the
distribution of porno- to all the nations of the world- as ‘freedom of speech’.
Yet- as we ‘protect’ this right-
at the same time hundreds of thousands of cases of on line crimes have
increased over the last few years.
Are our values in any way
contributing to this?
And then we at the same time
interfere in other nations- at times militarily- because of a value judgment.
Do you now see why the Che’s of
the world have such a following?
Don’t misread this post.
Che is a popular figure among
many socialist groups- I am not one of them.
I simply want you to see the
ancient war that has been going on since the days of the apostle John.
John described Babylon [any human
govt. that becomes corrupt] as a system that increases the sins of men- that
pollutes other nations based on her own skewed value system- and that uses it’s
extreme wealth to bribe the other ‘kings of the earth who have drunk from the
cup of her fornication’.
Yes- as I read the many cases of
people being trod off to prison- because they viewed a 17 year old girl- who is
being exploited by some money hungry corporate interest- and this is all
protected- vigorously- by the U.S. govt. if the girl is 18.
I wonder if our values have
contributed to the ‘sins among men’.
A quote from Che ‘man truly achieves his full human condition
when he produces without being compelled by the physical necessity of selling
himself as a commodity’
A quote from the apostle John ‘in
her were the souls of men- she made all nations drink of the wine of her
uncleanness’.
Yeah- some things never change.
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.
1905 DID THE JEWS KILL CHRIST?
Kinda want to try and wrap up for
the week- maybe one more post in the morning?
I posted some pics of the street
guys yesterday- want to make a few comments.
I like taking the pics and
posting them right when I’m with the guys- I’ll tell them ‘hey- right now your
pics are going to the site’- they love it.
I also want to wrap up a few
final points about the church- and the 2 extremes that she strayed into over
the centuries.
In the last few posts we have
been discussing the over emphasis on natural Israel- the promises of God- found
in the Old Testament- concerning the restoration of the land- the re-building
of the temple- stuff like that.
The church also has a sad history
of anti Semitism- racism against Jewish people.
To our Catholic friends- the
church has tried to deal with it in the last 30 years or so.
The present Pope- Benedict- who I
do like [I have read his books] got into some trouble a couple of years ago.
It was a noble attempt to try and
heal some long time divisions within the church.
It has been said when the
Protestants disagree with something- they go out and start their own church.
When Catholics disagree- they
start their own order.
I like that- funny- and true.
So- part of the Catholic
divisions is the older type churches- the ones who rebelled against the noble
reforms of Vatican 2 [The last church council- held between 1962-65].
Within the Catholic Church there
are disagreements over what the council was trying to do.
Liberal Catholics believe the
church was trying to trend into a more liberal institution.
Conservatives say that’s a
misreading- that the church still held to her conservative roots- and was
simply trying to be more Ecumenical.
Either way- one of the results
was the more traditional type churches- sometimes called Tridentine [the ones
who prefer the old Latin Mass].
These churches kind of split off
from Rome and have been worshipping using the Latin mass [which was originally
a violation of Vatican 2].
Vatican 2 said the Mass should
now be done in the vernacular- the language of the people.
So- Benedict made a noble attempt
to bridge this division- and he allowed for the Tridentine churches to do the
Mass in Latin- and he also restored an old prayer- about the Jewish people-
which simply said we pray for the conversion of Jews.
Okay- was this a big thing?
To simply say Christians are
praying for the conversion of Jews- is that real bad?
In my mind- not a big thing.
Might it offend some of our
Jewish friends?
Maybe.
But that’s the tradition of the
church- to want people to come to belief in Christ.
But- because of the history of
anti Semitism- this became a big thing.
‘How dare you pray for our
conversion’ type thing.
So the church has had to grapple
with how she looks at the Jewish people.
Historically- there were times of
persecution of the Jews.
Most of us are familiar with the
inquisitions.
The ones in Spain did ‘force’ the
Jews to convert- and there were ‘inquiries’ made to see if the Jewish people
really converted.
Some were put to death during
this time.
During the protestant Reformation
of the 16th century- out of Germany- which was Martin Luther’s home
country.
There were anti Semitic writings
penned by Luther.
Some of these writings were later
used- in Germany- under Hitler- to justify anti Semitism.
Very sad history.
Now we have the ‘over emphasis’
[in my view] of the role of natural Israel- and the End Times [last couple of
posts].
So- as you see- we have been to
both sides of the aisle on this.
Why did anti Semitism play a role
in the church?
Understand- we have bibles- that
as Christians we accept as the Word of God.
There are also statements in our
bibles- well- to be honest- might not have been written the same way- the same style- if we
‘re-wrote’ them today.
Huh?
Bare with me a moment.
When the Mel Gibson’s movie came
out- the Passion of the Christ- the criticism was he stuck very closely to the
bible text- and it was indeed a violent crucifixion.
The writings of the apostle John
specifically talk about the ‘Jews killing Jesus’.
There are other themes like this
in our New Testament.
It’s not hard to see how these
statements could lead to anti Semitism.
One of the things that the Pope
recently clarified- which I absolutely agree with- is that when we read these
things in our bibles.
We should not read them as saying
‘all Jews- of all times- are responsible for the death of Christ’.
No.
In the bible story- the Jewish
leaders conspired with the Roman govt. to ‘kill Christ’.
Many [all] of the original
believers in the Messiah were indeed Jewish.
And the ‘anti Semitic’ statements
in the New Testament were written by Jews- who were simply saying that they
believed that some of their Jewish brothers were missing the boat by not
accepting Jesus as the Messiah who was to come.
Okay- as you can see- we- the
church- have a long history with this.
I would like to make one last
comment before we close our talks on this.
For many years- as a bible
teacher- writing- doing radio- etc.
It never dawned on me how these
statements can indeed be offensive to our Jewish friends.
I mean say if you read ‘the
Italians killed Christ’ or the Germans- etc.
That would indeed be problematic
if you were trying to get your kids to read the bible.
The same thing with our
references to the Arab world.
There are verses- in the Old
Testament- that talk about Syria- Iraq [Babylon] and other Arab/Persian nations
as the ‘enemies of God’.
So- when we use our bibles- in
the modern day- it’s vital to understand that today- the kingdom of God is not
about natural borders- or ethnic backgrounds.
It’s about Christ’s new kingdom-
the kingdom of God.
All nations and races are
welcome- we do not discriminate.
And we- as the church- do confess
our sins against our Jewish friends- against our Arab friends- yes- we confess.
In the heated political
environment of our day- the post 9-11 world- it’s hard to avoid animosity- and
at times- hatred- towards others.
But we- as the people of God-
should strive for forgiveness and unity- at least unity as people who live in a
global society.
Yes- maybe we- as preachers
especially- should re-think how we phrase things.
Yes- there are out and out
statements in the bible about the ‘Jews killing Jesus’.
But in context- it would be wrong
to put this on all Jews of all times- and if we ‘adjust’ the way we say these
things- I think God would be well pleased.
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.
1904 JERUSALEM DIVIDED?
I want to pick up a little from
the last post- but I also got with the street guys yesterday and maybe will
make a few comments.
Yesterday we talked about the
first century context of the Jewish people- as it relates to the Messiah.
That is the Jewish nation was
waiting for centuries for the promised one who would come and deliver them.
Jesus showed up on the scene and
claimed to be the One.
The early followers of Jesus- all
Jews- did not fully grasp the spiritual nature of Gods kingdom.
He would teach them principles
about the kingdom that seemed to go against the flow of normal life.
‘The last shall be first’
‘He that dies shall live’
‘You have heard an eye for an
eye- but I say love your enemies…’
All these principles were showing
them that the Kingdom that Jesus was talking about was a spiritual kingdom-
that would also affect the world as we know it- but at its heart it was not
about material stuff.
Okay- now- the Jewish people at
the time of Christ were wanting a national deliverance- they were pre-occupied
with getting free from the rule of Rome- and their hopes- like many people
today- were tied up in the advance of their nation- their people.
But you have the writings of the
early apostles talking about this new kingdom- where Jesus died for all people
[Jews and Gentiles] and he ‘reconciled both [groups] unto God in One Body on
the Cross’. [Ephesians]
So- your getting a different
picture here- Paul the Apostle is saying that we are all now part of this new
community of God- he says ‘we are now partakers with the Jewish people- we are
this new commonwealth’.
The actual teaching- from the
bible- is very advanced for its time.
I mean if you think about it-
these words were written 2 thousand years ago- and they speak about relations
between groups that the modern church seems to miss.
When we- in our day- appeal to
the Old Testament verses about God giving land to Israel- and we couch all of
our ‘end times’ preaching in scenarios that have one side killing the other- or
when Western Christians visit the ‘Holy Land’- talking about the staging of the
final ‘assault’ [Armageddon] and how many Arabs [Muslims] will be slaughtered
by a Jewish army- lead by Christ- I mean do we really realize what we are
saying?
I just read Revelation chapter 4-
and it had nothing to do with this post- but as a side note it said there was
thing angel flying in heaven- preaching the ‘everlasting gospel’ to all nations
that dwell on the earth.
The gospel means ‘good news’- we
often read the book of Revelation- and use it to back up the scenarios I just
spoke about.
But this verse says the intent of
God is to tell the good news to ALL ETHNIC GROUPS.
No one is left out- do you hear
this?
Arabs- Jews- everyone- the good
news is Christ brought us all back to God by his death for us.
That’s good news.
Would it be good news if I said
‘hey Arab- guess what- Christ is coming back- oh- he will lead a war against
you and your kids- if you get lucky you might be killed by Christ’.
Now- I know this sounds absurd-
but that’s the majority teaching in the American Protestant church today.
Just last night I caught a little
of the coverage of the Democrat convention.
They were reporting on a ‘big’
news event.
What was it?
That the Dem’s took the wording
out of their platform that said they believed Jerusalem should be the undivided
capitol of Israel.
Why would this big a big deal?
It dates back to the 19th
century- and the rise of what we call Dispensational theology.
Basically the development of this
whole teaching that I just covered.
Eventually the teaching would
influence large swaths of American Protestantism.
And it would seep in to the
political world.
Yes- the actual statement that
Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel- found in the political parties of our
day- stem straight from the influence of the Dispensationalists of the 19th
century.
Okay- what am I saying?
Do I advocate for the
Palestinians getting half of Jerusalem?
[See- now I’m getting into
politics]
Practically speaking- I don’t see
how that could ever be workable.
You have Hamas- a recognized
terror group by the U.S. - holding elected positions in Palestine.
So- I don’t see how this same
group can share Jerusalem- practically speaking.
But- when you begin basing your
political agenda on your view of the bible which might very well be wrong- then
that’s when we get into trouble.
See?
The New Testament apostles saw
Jesus as the Messiah that they were waiting for.
All Jewish people do not see it
that way- that’s their right- they have the freedom to believe the way they
want.
Arab people have the freedom to
believe the way they want.
Christians have the freedom to
believe the way they want.
We as believers should share the
Good News with all people groups.
That’s our mandate.
I just fear that much of what we
are preaching is not good news.
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.
1903 JEWS AND THE END TIMES?
I want to delve into a hard issue
for the church.
The last few weeks I have been
watching the documentaries from net flix.
I mentioned that most [if not
all?] are done from the liberal perspective- which I’m okay with.
But it is important on all issues
to see both sides.
One of the things they dealt with
was the history of the church and anti Semitism.
Yes- the Christian church has had
a long history of treating the Jewish people badly.
Why?
As a Protestant- those of you who
have been reading my posts for a while- well you realize that I’m not in the
‘normal’ category of Protestantism.
Many of the subjects I hit on are
going against the strain of what we normally view as American Evangelicalism.
I often reference the Pope- in a
good way- or talk about our Catholic brothers and sisters- well- as brothers
and sisters!
So- I realize I have rubbed many
the wrong way.
So- this subject of the treatment
of the Jewish people has seen extremes- and in the American Evangelical church-
much too much of the ‘end times’ stuff- in my view- is missing the boat.
As we read the New Testament we
see Jesus and the disciples [all Jewish by the way] living at a time when the
Roman govt. ruled over the Jewish people- and the Jewish people were waiting
for their ‘salvation’ by means of a Jewish Messiah who would come and deliver
them from their oppressors.
Much of their understanding of
salvation was tied in to a national deliverance.
When you read the prayers/praises
of both John the Baptists dad- and also Mary’s praise [called the Magnificat]
you see a strong sense of national deliverance.
They speak about God sending the
Messiah to deliver the people form their oppressors.
Okay- in this milieu we have
Jesus and his guys living and believing that the ‘salvation’ of God is near.
It was only natural for the
disciples- especially those who we call Zealots [Simon- not Peter] to think
that this whole salvation story was about God restoring natural Israel back to
a place of prominence once again- no more Roman rule type of thing.
But we see an interesting thing
with Jesus- he keeps making statements that seem to lead the disciples away
from seeing things this way.
‘My kingdom is not of this world-
or my men would fight’
‘Put up the sword- those who live
by it will die by it’
And the verse I quoted the other
day ‘see all these buildings- temple- there will not be one stone left upon
another’.
He basically is rejecting the
nationalistic idea of him being the Messiah who would redeem Israel in a
nationalist way.
He’s showing them that his
purpose is different- it’s salvific for sure- but not in the way they perceive.
Okay- I’m beginning to realize I
won’t be able to cover the whole thing in this post.
Maybe I’ll do a few more like
this in the next few days.
The point is- I want you to see
that God’s purpose for our Jewish friends- our Muslim friends- for all races
and ethnic groups.
His purpose is not to pit one
side against the other.
It’s not about Jesus defending
one side- at his second coming- and actually leading that side in a real war-
where he shoots people- or kills them with a sword!
No- these scenarios- which
prevail in the End Times books you see at Wal mart.
These ‘narratives’ if you will-
go against the entire grain of the teachings of Jesus.
This is why you see me so
negative at times- against the Evangelical church.
Many Protestants- well meaning
people- have such a negative view of the historic church- that they reject the
ancient church’s position on these things.
For the most part- the historic
church took a position called A-Millennialism.
Basically it’s a kind of
spiritual way of seeing all these things.
God’s kingdom is not seen thru
the eyes of natural war- but thru the eyes of a heavenly kingdom.
I think that’s the correct
position- for the most part.
But most American protestants
believe that this position is just one of the many ‘doctrines of the Whore of
Babylon’ see what I mean?
Okay- lets end there- think on
some of this stuff- read the New Testament with this in your mind.
Why does the Apostle John refer
to natural Jerusalem as ‘spiritual Sodom and Egypt’? [Revelation]
Was his intent to be anti
Semitic?
No- he was showing us that God’s
concern was for all people groups- no longer was it about a nationalistic
thing- a type of salvation that the disciples at first were thinking of.
As I end this post- I want to
make sure that all my friends- Jews- Muslims- all- understand that my position
is that God loves us all- and he’s not in the business of backing any side-
militarily.
I hope to show you this in the
coming days.
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.
1902 ARNOLD AND TERRI
Yesterday morning I took one of my early drives.
I kinda ride the main roads in our area- Cross-town- 37-
these are the overpasses that let you drive the whole region without having to stop
at a ton of red lights.
On the way back- around 6-7 am- I got off by the area where
I bought the Jesus carving last week [remember the pic?]
I have been wanting to kind of start an outreach to the guys
in that area for a while [remember the dollar I offered to the Mexican brother-
who thought I had a gun?]
Yeah- that’s how it works- you just walk up to the guys- say
hi- and over time you make new friends.
Isn’t that risky John?
To be honest- yes.
But I determined a long time ago that we [I] would take the
risk.
Have there been times where you thought- for real- that this
might be the big one?
Yes- a couple of times.
A friend- freaking out over some stuff- walking around with
his loaded gun- I did think he might have killed us both that day- for real.
Another friend- who actually attempted to murder a couple of
cops- one day I was at his house.
He knew that everyone knew him to be crazy- and that
everyone feared him.
One day at the Fire House- the guys were talking about one
of the local gang type guys.
His name was Campos.
They come from a big drug family in Kingsville.
Anyway- they had some ambulance run the night before- a
shooting or something- and this Campos guy was involved.
The guys who knew Campos- some of the younger Mexican
firefighters who grew up in the area knew all the war stories about him- he was
the local ‘infamous hero’ to them.
They were talking about all the stuff Campos has done-
shootings and stuff.
I got tired of hearing it- I told them ‘heck- my buddy beat the
crap out of him one night’.
They shut up.
Yeah- this is my friend with the reputation of being nuts.
So anyway- as I was at his house- he just got out of prison.
He is talking to me- and he pulls out a very large hunting
knife.
I could see it’s a test- he wants to see my face.
I sat there- knew it was a test- and gave him the look like-
‘I have been here before my friend’.
I guess I passed the test.
Both of these friends [the gun guy and knife] are long dead.
My ‘knife’ friend- well I mentioned him the other day and
didn’t want to say too much- his brother and nephew are friends on my Face Book
page.
But I’m sure they know- one night at the firehouse we had a
call that some guy was attempting to kill a cop [again? I don’t know the whole
story- but that’s how we heard it].
Something of that nature.
He possibly swallowed a bag of coke and went into a coma.
It was my friend.
I visited with him and his family at the hospital for about
a week- they finally took him off life support.
He’s the one that’s buried at the ranch picture I posted the
other day- in Bishop- Texas.
Okay- enough of this.
The reason I bring this up is I always felt I would take the
risk- that I was supposed to.
So- Sunday morning when I got off on Morgan street- I really
wasn’t intending on meeting any new ‘friends’.
We were going to go to church and all- and I try not to do
outreach on Sunday.
But to my surprise there were a couple of street guys
sleeping right on the bus benches.
In the ‘olden days’ you couldn’t do that.
This road [Morgan and Cross-town] is a high crime spot.
A kid- Jacob- committed a triple murder right at the
intersection not too long ago.
But as I saw the guys on the benches- I thought ‘damn- let
me stop and get them breakfast’.
There’s a McDonalds right there.
I got a laugh- when I ordered the breakfasts- the girl asks
‘is this a senior discount’.
Hell- I just turned 50- but I told her ‘if you want it to
be’.
Yeah- the Lord blessed me.
So I got the meals- and headed out to the street.
It’s funny- all the people driving by- you know- one of
those spots where you make sure the doors are locked.
I took a few pics- hope to post this morn.
But I walked across the street and simply told the kid on
the bench- ‘hey bro- you want breakfast’.
I woke him up- he said ‘yeah man- thanks’.
I talked to Arnold for a while- nice Hispanic kid.
I gave him a few bucks- and he ran across the street to get
some coffee- on the way back I told him I was gonna go offer the other meal to
the guy on the other bench.
Arnold grabbed a car rag out of his pocket- he was going to
the car lot right off the main street- the guy pays him 10 bucks to simply wipe
the dew off the cars in the morning.
I walked over to the other guy- sleeping too.
‘Hey man- you want a breakfast’.
‘Oh yes- thank you so much’.
Terri has been homeless for a while.
He’s around 57- used to print the Ad Sack- our local paper
where you list the stuff you want to sell [you know- the caveman Craigslist]
I sat with Terri for a couple of hours.
He enjoyed the meal- told me how breakfast is the most
important meal of the day.
We walked across the street- I offered to buy Terri some
smokes- not beer.
We walked in the store [Stripes] and the girl kicked him out
fast.
I guess they know him.
I told Terri ‘I’ll get the smokes- what do you want’?
He wanted Kite- they are the roll your own type- lots of the
guys buy these when they are broke.
‘C-mon Terri- my treat- get what you want’.
No- he said the Kite were fine.
Sure enough- they don’t carry Kite- he got the classic-
Marlboro Red.
I sat there- right on the street- having a good time talking
to Terri.
It was obvious Terri was an alcoholic- I did tell him I’m
trying to get clean myself.
I told Terri that I passed this road many times over the
years.
When I was a firefighter in Kingsville we used to take the
badly inured to the hospital that’s right across the street.
It used to be called Memorial- it was the highest rated
Trauma hospital in the region- it was also the free public hospital for those
who had no coverage.
So lots of the addicts and stuff use it.
I noticed Terri had a medical band on his wrist- and he was
wearing the hospital type pants.
Yeah- he was probably what we call an MHMR patient.
Mental health pt.
Terri seemed like a nice guy- down on his luck- living on a
bus bench- right across from Arnold- living on the other one.
Yeah- I finally made 2 new friends- I will go back at least
once a week- maybe take the guys to the buffet.
This is how it’s done- I have been doing this for years-
ever since the day my buddy pulled out the knife- or the other one with the
gun.
Sure- you do take risks- but most of the guys are like Teri
and Arnold- harmless people down on their luck.
It’s not a race thing- Black- White- Mexican- they all have
had their hard times.
I will try and chronicle their stories as time moves on- I
want you to see these people.
Even though Terri was obviously not all there- he still had
his senses.
As I sat with him- a pack of dogs walks right by us- you
know- those little dog gangs.
A few cute pups were in ‘this gang’.
I asked Terri ‘are these regular’s’
He said no- he has never seen them before.
I told him ‘I guess they just heard some guys giving out
free food’.
Terri laughed.
Yeah- I made some new friends- living on bus benches.
I told them ‘hey- can I take your pics for the site’?
They loved it.
Enjoy the pics [if they post?]
NOTE- As I sat with the guys on this Sunday morning- I
noticed not all of the cars driving by ignored us- some stopped and gave a few
dollars- or a taco- to the guys.
They were wearing rosary beads and stuff- the people who
also helped.
I felt like they were good Catholic people on their way to
Mass- living out the teachings of their church- helping the poor.
May God bless them.
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.
1900 A LITTLE CROW?
I caught part of the Repub convention last night.
I haven’t been following it- but I found the coverage very
interesting last night.
I have been a critic of MSNBC and Chris Matthews over the
years.
But- to his credit- I thought he did a great job last night.
Why? Because he made the conservative points?
No.
But he did indeed differ with the others and defended Jeb
Bush who made the conservative argument about school vouchers.
Vouchers are funds that you could use to send your kid to
the school of your choice.
The way it is supposed to work is if you’re a poor mom-
maybe a single Black mother living in a tough inner city area.
You could apply for the voucher and send your son/daughter
to a better school then she would normally have access to.
Now- there are those against this and for it- and like most
things- if your hear one side only- well you begin to say ‘o- I see your
point’.
Then you might hear the other side and say the same thing.
My point is Matthews did take the voucher side- and to the
obvious dismay of his liberal panel [Sharpton, Maddow, etc.] he knew he was in
the minority.
I also liked the view that Matthews and Sharpton took about
Romney’s Mormonism.
They were consistent and said it is wrong to go after him on
that.
I caught CNN and Fox- all in all- I was happy to see that
their coverage- even though they all play sides at times- was pretty fair.
Why was I glad to see this?
Because whoever wins this election- the next president will
have to try his best to govern a very divided nation.
And it will be hard-
for either side- to do this if the losing side [whoever it be] simply spends
the next 4 years trying to make the winner fail.
This last year I have criticized the president lots- and I
have done the same with Bush in the past [mainly over the wars].
But there have been things that I credit Obama for.
As a big news buff- one of the geopolitical issues that came
up was this Pakistani road that we used to get supplies to our troops fighting
in the border region of Afghanistan/Pakistan.
We had an incident where we accidently bombed the wrongs
guys- we killed a bunch of Pakistani troops- thinking they were Taliban.
Now- Pakistan has not been the best ally in this whole war
in Afghanistan.
And make no mistakes about it- we buy their support with
tons of money.
But- when we killed their troops- they had it.
They shut down this vital road for our supplies and refused
to re open it unless that got an official apology.
The Dilemma?
They wanted the U.S. [Obama] to apologize during a campaign
year- when the opposing side were accusing him of being weak in the world- and
making apologies to other nations.
See?
So- instead of apologizing- the U.S. spent millions of more
dollars- every week [day?] flying and using other ways to get the support to
our troops.
Now- the Pakistanis did indeed charge us lots for the use of
the road- but these other options were much more expensive.
So what happened?
One week- after months of the stalemate- Hilary Clinton made
the apology with the approval of Obama.
Huh?
Yeah- he did the right thing- and that was that.
Now- he could have just spent the extra millions and not
apologized.
But I’m sure he consulted with the military brass- and they
gave him the frank advice that it would be better to get the road back.
He did the right thing- not the most expedient thing- not
the thing that would help his election the most.
No- he did the right thing.
My Point?
If Romney wins- or Obama gets re-elected- they will need the
support of the people to do ‘the right thing’.
They will need to have some consensus- some middle ground-
to fix the things that are really broken in this country.
And we won’t be able to do that if we continue to simply
hate the other side.
I was very impressed with the cordial coverage that the
networks gave to Romney.
And I trust they will do the same with the president’s
convention.
Yeah- I must admit that Chris Matthews was a real news man
last night.
Kudos’ to him and MSNBC [geez- I hate the taste of crow!]
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.
1899 GIZMO
This week I met John at the mission.
Maybe the last 2 weeks?
Anyway- when he first showed up he just looked like one of
the new guys that shows up every so often.
You have people from all over that gravitate to the shore
regions of the country- and we are one of those spots.
John was a little different- he had this cute Chewowa [sp?]
dog- named Gizmo- and he is a ‘jolly’ type fella.
So- to some- they might paint John as gay- you know- loving
on this little dog- jolly.
Now- if he were- I wouldn’t care- I mean I still be-friend
people from all backgrounds- and I forgot to mention this in the post I did
about race.
That a couple years back there was a nice Black kid- he came
from a ministry background [family started churches and stuff all over the
area].
One day I took him shopping- to the grocery store- we had a
couple of other street guys.
Sometimes I’ll take the guys to the store and let them buy
some stuff they need [on my debit card].
But Tracy basically food shopped.
Tracy is also gay.
It was quite expensive.
The other guys got mad ‘hey- John pays for this out of his
pocket’.
Sometimes people think I have some type of ‘ministry fund’
and they might spend more than they need.
I just went with it- I was broke for the rest of the month-
but what the heck.
So- just wanted to defend myself a little- being I do write
on race issues- yet I believe in helping all types- even gay friends.
So- even if this new guy was gay- I don’t judge him.
But- as I talked with ‘jolly John’ I came to find out he’s
not gay- but a widower.
John was a plumber for 35 years- lived in Arlington [Texas-
the city where the Texas rangers come out of].
A few years ago his wife got real sick- and in October of
last year she took her own life.
John always wanted to live near the ocean- he sold
everything he had and spent the money coming to Corpus.
He got a job right away- working right by the mission for a
mechanic shop.
Yesterday I took my van for an inspection- sure enough he
was there.
So right off the bat I know John is different- lots of the
guys have stories- but to put it bluntly- they don’t want to work.
This is a real problem for sure- and when you read all my
posts defending the poor- don’t confuse that with thinking I’m defending able
bodied people- who are not working.
No- I try to spend my money helping people who are not on
the free programs- or who are really in need.
Yeah- I have given to those who I probably shouldn’t have-
but all in all I am against guys just living off the free dole- when they need
to work.
So- John has a good job- and he’s saving up for a cheap
apartment.
He told me he’s living in the broken down car wash that’s
attached to the mechanic shop.
For you local friends- he works at Fast Trax- in the Bluff-
right by the HEB parking lot.
John sleeps there with his little dog- Gizmo [I’ll try and
post some pics this morning?]
Yeah- John has an interesting story- a hard working man- who
came upon hard times- and wound up ‘on the street’ at least for a little while.
It would be easy to look at John and judge him- I mean he is
eating at the free mission [I never eat the free food by the way].
And he is a big boy- overweight- and admits it.
So- at first glance you could peg him as a freeloader who
refuses to work.
When John told me about his wife taking her life- John
cried.
I felt bad for him- he seems like a very nice guy.
As I sat in the shop waiting for my inspection- sure enough-
his little dog Gizmo is chained up to a chair in the waiting area.
The poor baby is shaking- you know how those little pups
shake- and I guess he sits by himself all day.
He’s just staring at the door where his ‘daddy’ walked thru-
hoping he comes back.
Kinda sad story to be honest.
Yet John has this happy go lucky way about him- he laughs
and jokes at the mission.
He lets his little puppy lay on him- he’s really an
interesting guy.
John is one story- one friend- out of hundreds- maybe
thousands of friends I have made over the years.
Yeah- there have been times where some of ‘my friends’ were
people that others would not be around.
Dangerous type people.
Others are like John- just a good person who fell on bad
times.
I have a verse posted here right behind me.
It says ‘she that tarried at home divided the spoils’.
It’s in the book of Psalms.
I posted it a few years ago- right behind the chair I’m
sitting on right now while I blog.
To me it says there will be friends who read these posts-
and maybe they will never see the John’s of the world.
Maybe they will live their lives as most people do.
Good lives- working- raising kids- things that are noble and
good.
But to these friends- the verse I just quoted is very
important.
It tells me that God intended for some of our ‘community’ to
‘stay at home and have a part’.
To you- most of you are women- don’t underestimate the need
to pray for me and my friends.
I have gone thru the Gospel of Matthew- Acts- Romans and am
in Corinthians right now.
Yes- I am a big bible reader- as well as a writer on all the
other things.
The Apostle Paul was used by God- and in most [if not all?]
of his writings- he says ‘please don’t forget to pray for me’.
For those who can- those who tarry at home- try and pray the
‘Our Father’ every day for me and my friends.
It might not seem much to you- but to be honest- I think it
at times it has saved my life.
Thanks- from John- John- and oh yeah- little Gizmo.
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.
1898 NIGGER
I got with the street guys the other day.
Every so often one of the guys gets in the mood to ask me
stuff- things about the bible- things they have questions about.
Hugh sat down next to me and asked me a few things.
It was funny- because I was just posting about Greek gods
and all- and he asked me if there was a goddess that’s mentioned in the bible.
I told him there was- in the book of Acts it talks about
‘the great goddess Diana’.
It was a reference to the idol that was set up in the city
of Ephesus.
The reason I mentioned this was Hugh told me ‘John- I like
talking to you about this stuff- you know the answers [most of the time] but
you don’t try and make us believe everything your way’.
Hugh and Andy and John David- all brothers that I have
written about over the years- they grew up in a preachers home.
They had experiences with many preachers over the years- and
they are familiar with men- good men- but men who see things a certain way- and
they often demand that others see it to.
When Hugh made the above statement- I didn’t tell him this-
but his brother Andy- who is a very able bible person- had told me the same
exact thing a few years ago.
Before I write in the morning- I quote a verse from the book
of James.
‘let every man be swift to hear- slow to speak- slow to
wrath- for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God’.
Last night I caught about 5 minutes of MSNBC- and I need
this verse because of them.
Rachel Maddow was ‘covering’ the campaign of Romney- and she
went on to say that who would ever believe that in this day and age- a
candidate for president would run his whole campaign on being anti black.
She went on and said Romney is targeting the racist white
vote- that this is blatant and open.
As I watch these race cards being played- another MSNBC host
said Romney was calling the president a Nigger.
Huh?
Yes- Toure’- a regular on the network- said when Romney used
the word ‘angry’ twice in a row- that he ‘niggerized’ Obama.
I heard a few actual quotes this past week- actual
recordings from the 2008 campaign.
‘He knew he was going to play the race card- we now have the
proof that he did this on purpose’.
Who said this?
Bill Clinton.
He was referring to some memo that leaked our – Clinton said
it proved that this was calculated.
Another quote.
‘Obama- you say you want to run a clean campaign- but your
actions are not in line with your words- Shame on you- shame on you’.
When you see the person saying it- she’s outraged.
Who said it?
Hillary Clinton.
I think it’s sad that any side would resort to stuff like
this.
This is not new [unless you believe that Bill and Hillary
were lying].
Okay- the other day when I posted the pic of the Jesus head
carving [Facebook] I wasn’t sure if I should tell this or not.
But I got up at midnight again- and when I was just praying
before I post- I felt it was time.
The reason I went down the road that the Re sale shop was
on- was because that part of town is a very bad place to be.
Normally- White folk don’t go there.
Many years ago [18?] I had a bad year.
I hung out with drug addicts- and partied in the bars that
were right off the street where I bought the carving.
As I was standing on the street that day- waiting for the
owner to get to the shop- I had about 20 minutes or so of just being there.
As I looked east- I saw a club called Ceilo- where a
shooting just happened a few nights before.
I thought about the nights when I was in another club just
like it- on the same block.
I was the only English speaking person in the place-
including the bar tender.
One night as the guys were ‘shooting up’- somehow the
conversation got into God.
When I told one of the guys I used to preach- he said he
felt God sent me- that in a way he thought even though drugs were all over the
room- yet he thought God sent me.
Many nights I would be up all night- and drive home at
around 6 in the morning [an hour drive to Kingsville].
I would get home just in time to put on my uniform and go to
work.
There’s a song that’s been playing on the Christian station
these last few days- it says we are all on borrowed time.
As I stood on the corner that day- right across the street
there was this Mexican guy.
So- being I’m waiting for the owner of the shop to show up-
I figured I might as well do some outreach.
So- I yelled ‘hey brother- you need a few dollars’.
I just wanted to spread the wealth round.
He looked at me for a second- and I wasn’t sure he
understood English.
So I started walking towards him- and I was taking my wallet
out- you know- to say ‘look- do you need a couple of bucks’.
I guess he saw me reaching for the wallet- and maybe thought
I had a gun.
He turned the other way and started walking- real fast.
At this point I was laughing- yeah- out loud.
I grabbed my trusty cell phone camera and took a couple of
pics- was gonna post them but they came out bad.
Over the years I have had Mexican friends- Black friends-
all races.
God’s kingdom is color blind- we are here for a very short
while.
It gets me mad to see the race card played- I know racism
exists- it inside White people- Black people- it’s comes in every color.
When we as a society play the card so freely- we damage each
other.
We give people excuses to hate other people.
Yes- some people hate Obama because of his color- but most
of those who disagree with him do so because of his politics.
If people don’t like Romney- then ‘don’t like him’ because
of his too.
But when you say he ‘niggerized’ the campaign because he
used the word ‘angry’ twice- then you are not contributing to the overall
healing of our land.
Remember- short time- let’s not waste it on stuff like this.
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.
1897 WHITE’S CREATED
AIDS TO KILL BLACKS
Okay- we spent the last few days talking about the Todd Akin
comment.
Akin is running for senator in Mo.
He said that ‘legitimate rape RARELY produces a pregnancy-
because a woman’s body has ways of shutting that stuff down’.
Yikes!
So- the national media has spent days on this.
Last night I caught a short clip of ABC world news with
Dianne Sawyer.
It teased an upcoming special 2 DAY coverage of Mormonism.
So- I figured instead of my usual channel surfing- I would
watch the entire 30 minutes of ABC news at 5:30.
It was revealing.
For their political coverage- they showed a few negative ads
about Ryan/Romney [none of Obama].
They covered the abortion views of Ryan.
Then they said ‘okay- that’s it for political coverage’.
Was that political coverage?
No.
It was free ad time for the President.
How so?
Many of the web ad’s that are produced- by both sides- only
produce them for the purpose of various media outlets picking them up and
showing them on their shows.
Yes- nothing wrong with the strategy.
But- when the so called unbiased media only plays the ads of
one side- they are spending hundreds of thousands giving free ad time to one
side.
What about the Mormon coverage?
ABC began a 2 night ‘world coverage’ of Mormonism.
Like I said before- I am very aware of their teaching- I
have Mormon friends- but quite frankly- the media realize that if they high
light the religious beliefs of Romney- it will hurt him.
So- during the coverage they used words like-
‘strange- peculiar’ [fits in with MSNBC’S mantra of
referring to Romney as weird- member of a cult]
‘imposing temples’
‘secret rituals’
‘all male leaders’
‘suspicious’
Got it?
Now- you might ask ‘so John- if these things are true- then
what’s wrong with the media exposing it’.
That’s the point.
When President Obama was running in 2008- his church
background had almost no coverage at all.
The little coverage it did get was by Fox- or those in the
media saying his religion is off grounds.
Matthews [MSNBC] kept accusing the conservatives of imposing
a ‘religious test’ on Obama.
So- the church Obama belonged to was a Black Liberation
church.
Now- for the record- much of what you read on my site has a
very strong strain of liberation theology in it.
Yes- my defense of the poor- the illegal alien- many of my
themes are indeed found in liberation theology movements.
In the past I covered this teaching- how it rose from the
Catholic bishops in Latin America- how the Catholic church had debates within
their church over it.
All in all- in some ways I actually defended Liberation
Theology- and even Rev Wright [to a degree].
So- having said that- what were some of the beliefs of
Obama’s church?
Rev Wright [Obama’s pastor for 20 years] believed that AIDS
was created by the White man [the govt.] for the purpose of infecting Blacks to
kill them.
Wright worked closely with Farrakhan in Chicago- and they
often espoused hatred for the White race.
How much of this did you ever see on the news?
Did ABC do a 2 night ‘world coverage’ of the ‘strange
beliefs’ of Obama’s church?
Now- how much of this affected the President?
Obama’s defense was he never heard Wright say any stuff like
this- though he said Wright was one of the most influential men in his life.
He was married by Wright.
Wright baptized his kids.
And Obama titled one of his books after a phrase from the
pastor [The Audacity of Hope].
Now- as a listener of both the right and left- I also get to
hear [radio] stuff that you don’t hear on the news.
These are actual quotes from President Obama
‘White man’s greed rules a world in need’ [he was quoting
from his own book- he did an audio version of it]
‘White’s move into the suburbs because they don’t want to
pay for the education of inner city kids’
Does he really believe this?
If you are White- and you move out of the city- he says you
did this because you are racist.
Not because you want to escape the crime- pollution- have a
better school for your kids.
No- according to the Presidents own words- it’s because you
don’t want your money going to educate inner city kids [mostly Black kids].
Why are these actual quotes important?
They show you that the beliefs of rev. Wright did indeed
affect the President.
Yet- you never heard any of this from the media- they would
not dare cover the religious beliefs of Obama.
They said it was outrageous that anyone would ask.
As I watched last night- I was reminded of all the comments
I heard these past few weeks by the media.
Bashir [MSNBC] said outright that Christians should not vote
for Romney because he denies the Trinity.
A major Democrat funder said Romney does not give to
charity- but to ‘his cult’.
On and on.
I personally do not believe we should pick a candidate
because of his faith.
Other Christians do indeed differ- I have friends who will
not vote for Romney because he is Mormon.
The point I’m making is this is what you call media bias.
You would never see a so called news man say ‘you should not
vote for Obama because he is a Black Liberation Christian’.
Now- you will hear that from others- but never from the news
itself.
Yet- we have heard all of the above from so called main
stream news sources.
If we- as Citizens- are expected to make informed votes- then we either need to
know all of the above- about both sides- or none of the above- about both
sides.
I assure you- if the world news covered the statements- of
the president himself- and the beliefs of the church he attended for 20 years.
That the 2008 election would have been much different.
But the media had their man- and they did all they could to
cover him in a favorable light.
Now- they are covering his challenger in an unfavorable one.
They are outright saying he is a cult member- that he denies
the Trinity- that his church is strange- weird.
They are covering Romney’s religion nonstop.
Yet- the church belief that the White man created AIDS to
kill Blacks- well that’s a personal religious belief.
We have no right to know that.
O- Sorry.
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.
1894 HEROD- FAME- AND ONE COOL DUDE
I mentioned the other day that
some of the street guys said ‘wow- were gonna be famous’ when I told them I was
gonna post their pics to the site.
The next day I was watching the
local news- and they did a report about 2 guys getting arrested for peeing- on
a cop car- at the police station.
So- whenever I see a news teaser
like this [you know- ‘coming up next’] I think ‘geez- wonder if I know them’.
Sure enough- it was Albert and
another guy that I just saw at the mission.
They did want to be famous.
Right after I posted yesterday- I
read an article that backed up my suspicion.
It was so obvious it was funny.
I wrote that I saw an NBC news
clip that portrayed Romney as this angry- mean- loser who can’t stand the heat.
Then- they spoke about Obama as a
very calm- almost messianic figure.
So- right after the post I read
my paper- there was a report by the AP [associated press].
Let me quote the first paragraph-
it’s right here ‘Romney is portraying THE OUTWARDLY CALM PRESIDENT as a man
seething with animosity and power lust as the Repubs seek to undermine one of
the Dems greatest strengths- his PERSONAL LIKABILITY’.
I mean it’s so obvious- you can’t
take these guys serious.
I was watching MSNBC- Matthews
was responding to the court ruling that backed the Repub rule that in
Pennsylvania you need to show voter I.D.
This has been an ongoing
political battle in a few states- including mine.
The Dems charge that there is
absolutely never any voter fraud- ever.
[note- a few years ago they
showed a tape of a Texas Dem- she was speaking to a room full of Mexicans- down
by the border- she said ‘go out and vote- even if your not a citizen- they cant
check!’]
They say the Repubs are doing
this because they know many ‘poor Blacks’ who vote Dem- cannot get their I.D.’s
Once again- they don’t realize
that this stereotype is racist.
Like when Harry Reid said of
Obama- and Biden too ‘he’s the first CLEAN BLACK guy- on a national scene- he
can talk good- he doesn’t SOUND BLACK- only when he wants to’.
Yeah- you tell em guys.
I’m surprised Biden didn’t kick
in ‘yeah- you need a slight Indian accent in the 7-11’s and Dunkin Doughnuts too’-
‘I’m not kidding either’- yeah- we heard.
So Matthews goes on and asks his
guest ‘tell us what this rule means for the poor voters in the state who
usually vote Dem’.
The lady goes on and says that
this forces them to travel across the country [huh?] in order to obtain their
proof of birth from their state.
What about the fax machine?
Then she said many of these
people were born by midwives [many- these people- hmm?]
And they don’t have birth
certificates.
One of my daughters was born by a
midwife- she has a birth certificate.
My homeless friends are
constantly losing their picture I.D.’s- which is an important thing for them to
have- and they regularly write- contact their home state of birth- without
actually going there- and they get new I.D.’s
I really don’t know why MSNBC
calls itself a news station.
Then the wonderful Chris Matthews
says ‘they are going back to the days of King Herod- where he made all the
world travel back to their homeland to
be taxed’.
Please- Please- try and stick
with the news as best as possible- because when you guys delve into the faith-
you really screw stuff up.
Oh- I forgot- I also cut out the
picture from the article- it shows the most calm picture of Obama I ever did
see.
He’s with his wife at some
function.
She looks good too- like a happy-
sweet angel.
Romney?
He is on a plane- doesn’t look
that bad- but maybe a little stressed.
Now- I’m sure they searched high
and low for a stressed pic of Romney- this was probably the best they could
come up with.
I remember when Newsweek posted a
cover picture of Michele Bachman- I mean it was the most insane shot I ever
saw- like some wild eyed lunatic.
Yeah- the media do stuff like
this- all the time.
People don’t realize they are
affected by it- but they are.
Okay- this past week I posted
some pics of old friends and I also shared a story about some of these friends
with the homeless guys.
So I think I’ll post another
‘post’ right below- one that has some info about these old friends.
So- enjoy your weekend- Oh- if
you’re a Black person from the great sate of Penn.- say high to King Herod for
me.
1893 CHAINS- TREES AND RYAN
It’s been a few days since Romney
picked Ryan as the V.P.
And I find it interesting how the
media has covered it.
Last night I caught Blitzer [CNN]
grilling a Repub on all the votes/positions Ryan has held since being in
congress.
I mean the media have been doing
this since day 1.
So- Ryan and his defenders have
spent time saying ‘look- when someone is picked to be the V.P. - he realizes
that the top guy on the ticket is the one who calls the shots’.
Is this true?
Of course.
As a matter of fact- I never
heard one reporter ever pose a question like this to Biden.
When Obama picked Biden- Biden
had cast tons of more votes than Ryan- he has been in the senate for years.
Yet not a single question- not
one- about Biden casting votes that were contrary to Obama.
Yesterday we also had some bad
news- a shooter walked into a political opponent’s office [he held the opposite
views of this organization] and opened fire.
Yes- the shooter was associated
with groups on the other side- politically- of the people he shot.
Now- where were the Bryan Rosses
of the world?
You know- the reporters who were
going thru the shooters background- even reporting that they found people with
the same name as the shooter [Jim Holmes] who held the opposing political views
of the people he shot [Ross falsely associated the batman movie shooter with a
Tea party guy].
No- for the most part yesterday’s
shooter got little coverage.
Why?
He was a left leaning Democrat-
active in all types of liberal causes.
Now- Biden just came out and made
the now infamous ‘they are gonna put YOU ALL back in chains’.
You all- the Black folk in the
audience.
How lovely Joe- you just keep
hittin' them out of the ball park ole buddy.
So- when you have a shooter
‘shoot’ at some type of Democrat type organization- or at some type of liberal
leaning organization [abortion clinics].
The media spend days- weeks-
asking the question ‘do you think the language of ‘the right’ is responsible
for this’.
Yet- you have Biden- Obama- and
the entire left side of the aisle spending the last few months demonizing rich
folk- business people- people who hold to conservative views.
And not one single question [that
I saw] asked about whether or not this type of incendiary language [their
words- when covering the right] might have caused some unstable person to shoot
at the Focus on the Family people.
See?
As the media can’t seem to stop
covering every vote Ryan made that was not 100 % in line with Romney- I saw a
short report last night from the local NBC affiliate.
It portrayed Romney as being
angry- mad- unable to handle the tough campaigning.
It showed Obama and his team as
good natured folk- people who live and let live.
Yet- as I have been watching the
news- I have not seen Romney openly angry- stressed out- or frustrated to no end.
No- as a matter of fact- many on
the ‘right’ are upset with Romney- because he is not doing this.
Let me make a point here to some
of my Christian friends.
I know most of you know Romney is
Mormon- and has played a very active role in his church.
Did you know Romney was what we
consider a Pastor for many years?
People that know him will tell
you straight up that he is the basic pastor type person in all of his dealings.
That in all his business
dealings- even if you disagree with him financially or politically- they say he
is a very honest guy.
So- when the NBC report was
painting a narrative that said Romney was this stressed out angry guy- I knew
they were telling ‘their story’ and theirs alone.
Then- at the end of the piece-
they added in the recent comment of Biden that Romney wants to put Black people
back ‘in chains’.
Which was what you saw in the
clips they played of Romney- his response to the latest attack.
I also saw another interesting
news story.
It was on one of the world news
shows that come on at 5:30 in Texas- 6:30 in the east.
They were talking about the
wildfires out of control- they then mentioned the global warming thing- how it
is behind the fires.
Then- they showed a picture of
Palm trees burning- all by their lonesome.
Hmm?
They then insinuated that global
warming is so bad- that palm trees are ‘spontaneously combusting’ from the
heat.
I kid you not.
Now- did these trees just ignite-
by themselves- because of the heat?
As a firefighter- who worked 25
years in a very hot state- days of 110 degrees- with many palm trees.
We never had a case of a palm
tree doing this.
So what was the news doing?
More than likely- they were
showing you some trees- that probably did ignite- but they were not showing you
they were about 100 feet from the rest of the blaze.
Yes- in fire science you learn
that the heat from a fire- many more times hotter than the actual temp- even in
the worst ‘global warming’ spot on the planet.
The heat from a fire can heat up
a close object to its ignition temp.
Now- the fire has to be real hot
[your talking thousands in degrees- not 110!]- and the object has to be pretty
close- like the fire in the above scenario was probably right out of the
picture- on purpose.
So- the news story can say- with
some truth ‘this palm tree spontaneously combusted by the heat’ and in the same
breath talk about global warming.
They did not outright ‘lie’ but
they gave you a narrative that mislead you.
The media do this day in and day
out- with everything.
So- as we watch the media go with
a fine toothcomb thru every vote Ryan ever made- as they portray Romney as this
angry cult leader- who is unable to deal with the stress of a campaign.
Yes- as they show us the palm
tree that spontaneously combusts- because those damn Repubs won’t stop global
warming!
Yes- as we view all this thru the
looking glass of the tube.
Just remember- that when Biden
[or Obama] accuse the other side of wanting to put ‘you all back in chains’.
Or wanting to kill grandma while
rolling her off the cliff.
Remember- when the left uses this
language- and a Democrat walks in to a Christian ministry and starts shooting-
remember- this has absolutely nothing to do with the man’s act.
But when some nut shoots and
wounds a Democratic senator from Arizona- Gabbie Gifford’s- the media spend an
entire week asking if the use of the word Target- by Sarah Palin- was
responsible for the shooting.
Yeah- that’s the good ole honest
media for ya- you know- the ones who just happen to spot palm trees
spontaneously goin’ up in smoke.
NOTE- I kid you not- right now-
just as I wrote ‘up in smoke’ I look up- and yes- my desk top [wood] is
actually on fire- for real.
What?
I have a habit of burning
candles- lighting my own home made lamps [bottles with wicks in them- filled
with lamp fuel].
And burning incense.
So- my wife keeps telling me
‘your gonna set the house on fire one day’.
Sure enough- I had a candle
burning- and it lit some spilled wax on the desk top [I have a spot where I
burn candles and the wax gets on the wood].
I look up- the thing is in
flames.
If I had the time I would have clicked a pic!
I put it out with a towel- but I
almost had to grab the garden hose- let’s hope my wife does not read this one
[or one of my daughters squeals on me! You know- Biden style.]
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.
1892- WHAT A DEAL!
Well I finally sold the Mustang
last night [a car- not horse].
I put it on Craigslist for about
a week- geez- too many calls.
People would ask for directions-
I’d give them the address and directions- then they would call back ‘well- I
don’t speak English too good [lots of Mexicans buy the cars from this area and
sell them in Mexico] - I’m still in the parking lot ‘[Wal mart].
Okay- would could I do?
I told a few people ‘look- I gave
you the address- directions- part of this project is you need to be able to get
here- if you can’t complete this part of the ‘mission’ then I guess you won’t
be buying the car brother’.
Yeah- they need that type of
tough love.
So anyway it sold for 700.
That was a steal to be honest.
1998 mustang- runs good- does
need a starter.
Another one was selling for 1500-
with a blown motor!
Okay- let’s do another verse from
the prophet.
‘In all their affliction he was
afflicted- and the angel of his presence saved them’ Isaiah 63:9
If you read the entire chapter
you get a scene of someone treading the Winepress.
I spoke about this a while back-
the imagery of a Winepress- a place where you crush the grapes and make the
wine- is used by the prophets in the bible.
Jesus himself uses the same
imagery in the gospels.
Here you have God saying ‘I
looked for a man- someone to do this mission- and I found no one- so my own arm
brought salvation’.
It is important to note that in
this chapter we see God [Jesus] stained with the blood of those who are being
trampled at the Winepress.
In the book of Revelation we this
same thing.
Many modern prophecy teachers
[another pet peeve of mine by the way] have an end time scenario all figured
out- they see these things thru the ‘lens’ of modern warfare- which nation
should get which piece of land [Israel- Palestine- etc.]
But they fail to see how the New
Testament focuses on all ethnic groups- Jews, Palestinians- etc- as being One New Man in Christ [Ephesians].
So- this image of the winepress
sometimes is associated with a final battle of Armageddon scenario- that makes
me cringe when I hear it proclaimed- in an ethnic way- from the media pulpits.
‘John- how should we take it
then’?
Look- I’m not saying ‘my way’ is
the only way- or the right way.
But when we read the bible- we
must also take into consideration the broader themes of the love and grace of
God- yes- judgment too- I don’t deny that- but the mercy of God must be there
as well.
So- in this imagery of Jesus
being stained with the blood of sinners- at a Winepress- the ‘place of
pressing’ [like the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus started to bleed- pouring
out his blood].
We can also see this as a type of
the Cross- the place where the judgment and wrath of God was poured out- on
Christ himself.
Maybe the blood that the
‘treader’ is soaked in- maybe its redemptive- just maybe.
See?
But the actual verse I wanted to
hit on was that ‘in all our affliction- he is afflicted’ [which by the way fits
in more with what I just said].
In 1st Peter 4 we read
that we are partakers of Christ’s suffering.
The apostle Paul said ‘I fill up
the sufferings of Christ’.
They saw their trials as being
redemptive in nature- that is they felt like the things they were going thru in
life were for a higher purpose.
They did not view the Christian
experience thru a lens that was primarily seeking self benefit.
Many today see ‘church’ and
Christianity as a means of self improvement- often times you hear the same
thing from the pulpits as you hear on the weekend self help infomercials [or
the ‘how to get rich’ guys].
Is this a right view?
No.
We are on the earth to glorify
God- and to finish the work he gave us to do.
If part of the cost is suffering-
then so be it.
These verses I have quoted show
us in no uncertain terms that we are called- at times- to suffer.
As a student of all types of
scholars- I must confess that our Catholic brothers and sisters get this right-
much more often than Protestants.
So- those of you who have been
tracking this journey- you have seen some flat tires- some wrecked trucks- and
yeah- some up’s and downs.
I’m not saying all of this is
equal to the sufferings of the early apostles- but in a small way- we can identify-
and gain comfort- to know that these are not ‘strange trials’ these are things
we all go thru in life.
I just wish we could take turns!
LOL
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.
1888- THE NEW AMERICAN GIGOLO
Okay- let’s talk.
Before I forget let me finish a
note on one of the pictures I posted last night [Facebook].
I posted an old pic from a
fellowship we had at a ranch in Bishop- at Eli’s house.
The reason I have posted some of
these blurry pics- taken from a very old cell phone- is because they have
friends in the pics who have died and I will never get any new pics from them.
In this photo there was a shot of
Shelby- who passed away a few years back.
Henry was also there- these are
my friends from the streets of Corpus Christi- and the Bishop fellowship was
one of the few times that the 2 different groups met- one group from the old
days in Kingsville/Bishop- when we had our little home church.
And the later days- the guys who
I now work with each week- the homeless guys.
Part of the note that got cut off
was one night I was driving Homer home- he was Eli’s- Bebe’s and Rudy’s dad.
They all came to the church.
And Homer told me how happy he
was to see all his boys in church.
I am still in touch with these
Kingsville/Bishop guys- some are on the site [Facebook].
I plan on making a trip soon [so
if you guys are reading- let me know the best day- I’ll bring a few street
guys].
Okay- that finished that.
I also had one of those strange
experiences.
The other day while I was praying
for all the different guys- I also prayed about the ‘jail’ ministry.
For many years I used to preach
at the county jails in Kingsville.
When I moved to Corpus- I tried
to get in at the one here- but they had certain rules that made it hard for me
to get in.
I usually do stuff like that thru
the name of our ministry- corpuschristioutreachministries.
But this time they wanted me to
go thru another church- so it didn’t work out.
I left it at that- I mean I still
have plenty of other guys to work with.
So- as I was praying I asked the
lord if he wanted me to get more involved- then he would have to show me.
It was only a day or 2 and I got
the letter from my friend in prison- in N.J.
So I felt this might be an open
door.
I mentioned that I was suspired
to get a letter from Jersey- and the next morning I wrote a post and
‘unwittingly’ titled it I KNEW A LITTLE GREEK.
Just a play on words [the post is
a few back- I was talking about the Greek language].
Later in the day I realized that
this buddy who just wrote me- he is the only Greek friend I have!
So- that was cool too [you know-
the first letter in years- just happened to be the only Greek guy I know].
Okay- let me quote another verse from
Isaiah-
‘Behold- I create new heavens and a new earth-
the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind- be glad and rejoice
forever in that which I create’.
This verse is also found in the
book of Revelation.
Here in Isaiah God is speaking about
a new future for his people- a time of restoration.
God’s people went thru years of
struggle and hardship- and he is telling them ‘look- those days are now over-
yeah- they served a purpose- a lot of it was stuff you reaped from making bad
decisions- and to put it bluntly- sinning and messing up. But no more- this is
a new time- rejoice- be glad- this is a new season’.
Got it?
For those of you who need it-
just take it- no charge!
And I’ll end with the tragic news
event.
Yeah- I’m sure you have all
heard- Romney kills women [to my less astute political readers- I kid.]
Yeah- Obama’s people put out an
ad- I watched it.
It sounded very sincere- the guy
said he worked for the company that Romney’s firm eventually shut down.
He then said ‘when Romney shut us
down- I lost my insurance- soon after my wife died of cancer- we had no more
insurance thanks to Romney’.
Now- by just watching the ad- you
would have thought that the guy’s insurance covered his wife- and thanks to
Romney- the lady died.
The truth is- the lady was not
covered by the husband’s ins.- she had her own.
When the guy got fired- his wife
still had insurance.
She finally lost hers- and later-
6 years later [after Romney left the company] the lady got sick and died.
I mean if you want to blame
somebody- why not the employer who she worked for?
This whole thing is stupid- they
now found out that this guy also did another ad for Obama.
That’s a big no no.
The latest ad was by one of the
super pacs- and the actual campaigns are not allowed to co-ordinate with the
super pacs.
It looks like the Obama people
might have screwed this one up- big time.
I also liked the other Romney
story I read the other day.
Some guy smashed his wife’s lap
top.
Why?
He saw a picture of Romney on her Facebook
page- and thought she was a ‘cheatin’
on him [he did not know who Romney was].
Yeah- he hit her and broke the
computer- all because of that darn home wrecker- Romney.
Wow- he kills women with cancer-
he wreaks havoc in homes- homes he has never been in.
Yeah- that Romney is some piece
of work- a reincarnation of the American Gigolo- way to go Romney- way to go.
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.
1887- SIKH YE FIRST THE KINGDOM
OF GOD
Let’s talk about the temple
shooting- but first a verse from the prophet.
‘I will gather all nations and
tongues and they shall come and see my glory- I will set a sign among them and
send those that escape to the nations’ Isaiah 66:18-19
Over the next few weeks I will
try and post some of the verses from Isaiah that I have been reading- the ones
I think have special importance.
This one is a familiar one I have
been praying for years- it speaks of the greater purpose of God.
He wants ALL NATIONS and cultures
to come into the kingdom of God.
The purpose of the church is not
to fight and be a stumbling block to the nations- but to be a sign of peace- a
witness to Christ’s kingdom- and those ‘that escape’ those that come ‘out of
Babylon’ and into the new kingdom- they are the ones who will ‘go tell it to
the nations’.
Okay- now the shooting.
As most of you know- the day
before yesterday we had a shooting at a religious temple.
The religion is Sikh [pronounced
Sick- or Seek] they are not Muslim- but they look Muslim- so these past few
years they have been the target of hate.
The guy who shot and killed about
7 or so people was killed by the cops at the scene.
Now- as I watched the media coverage-
they used this type of language.
‘He comes from a White
Supremacist group’
‘They hates Jews and Blacks’
‘Stupid and uneducated’
‘Domestic Terror’
‘He was not nice- he was crazy’
On and on.
Now- once again- I in no way want
to make light of this terrible tragedy.
This type of hate crime- if it
turns out to be one- is obviously terrible.
The point I make is you would
never- ever- hear the media describe a radical Muslim shooting with these
terms.
As a matter of fact- the
president himself refused to describe the Hassan shooting as terror [the
shooting that took place here on the military base in Texas- Hassan was a
radical Muslim- and also a major in the U.S. military]
They made a huge point that if
Hassan acted alone- then it was not terror.
Yet- the president- and the FBI
have been saying this temple shooting is indeed domestic terror.
As far as we know- this shooter
at the temple also acted alone.
Why the distinction?
A few weeks ago Brian Ross from
ABC- along with his ‘partner in crime’ George Stephanopolous were the ones who
jumped the gun and associated the Colorado shooting [the Batman movie] with the
wrong person.
Ross reported- on air- that there
was a Jim Holmes from the same city who had a Tea party web page.
So?
Could it be that maybe another
person with that very strange name- you know- about as strange as John Smith-
might be the web site guy?
Sure enough- they ‘outed’ the
wrong guy.
So- Ross was one of the first to
come out and use this language about the temple shooting.
He couldn’t seem to wait- to say
‘see- I told you these Tea party- I mean right wing groups- are the real
threat’.
Yeah Ross- you tell em!
Now- as someone who holds to the
theological belief that the above verse speaks about- I have made efforts to
have Muslim friends.
I have Jewish friends as well.
I try not to only have
associations with other Christians- because I think we all need to talk to [not
at] each other- and that Gods purpose is for the church to be a blessing to all
nations and cultures.
So- that’s my position.
Also- we need to be honest about
the real threats that face our world today.
As a student of history and
religion I have come across a few recurring things.
One of the themes I see every so
often is ‘look- we all [Jews, Christians- Muslims] have radical terrorists in
our ranks- and we should not condemn the other group’.
Realistically- the very real
threat that exists is within the extreme elements of Islam.
Everyone knows this- it’s no
secret.
Now- do I want to offend my
Muslim friends?
No.
But- the truth is- are there
real- huge scale threats of radical terrorism coming from the Jewish people?
Of course not [they usually point
to a single incident in the history of the Jewish people- during the restoration
of their nation in the 20th century- and this one incident has
become the mantra for those who say ‘see- the Jews have terrorists too!’]
What about the far right wing
hate groups?
A little more of a threat- yes-
but a global threat- one that has the potential to destabilize nations- no.
That’s the whole point.
During the broadcast of the
temple shooting- you also had the other news of the Syrian uprising.
These are the various nations in
the Arab world and North Africa [Tunisia- Egypt- Libya] that have been going
thru the Arab Spring uprisings now for a couple of years.
One of the major players in the
overthrowing of the leaders of these nations is Al Qaeda.
Now- there are also innocent
Arabs/Muslims who are being caught up in the fire fight- but you also have a
very real presence of Al Qaeda in these rebellions.
The leaders themselves- who we
have demonized to no end- have been saying this.
Gadhaffi, Mubarak- Assad- they
have all said that the ones ‘rebelling’ have Al Qaeda in their ranks.
We [the western world] have for
the most part played that down- heaven forbid that we should go against the
‘democratic spring’ that is sweeping the world!
The fact is- during the same news
broadcast that is so quick to associate a single- isolated shooter- as an act
of terror.
The same news media that refuse
to use this type of language when a person [Major Hassan] who did indeed
identify himself with radical Islam- a worldwide movement that is responsible
for many worldwide terror acts- the media refer to his shooting- at an actual
military base here in the U.S. [Fort Hood].
As ‘work place violence’.
The double standard is so big-
you have to be blind to not see it.
Yes- right wing hate groups are
dangerous- but they pose absolutely no threat on a global level.
Do they pose a Tim McVeigh
[Oklahoma city bombing of the fed building] type threat?
Yes.
But not a real global threat- one
that would in fact meet the criterion of being terrorism on a global scale- no.
We need to be honest about these things- the
media have once again dropped the ball by associating what seems to be an
isolated act- with terror.
They showed video of the hard
right rock group that this shooter played in- with no disclaimer that the other
members of the group do not condone the actions of the shooter.
They used quotes from bystanders
who said ‘they are uneducated idiots’- referring to this movement that does
indeed have racist elements in it.
But I have heard the same racist
stuff from Farrakhan- many times.
Yet the media would never- ever
use this language about him.
As a matter of fact- Obama
attended the million man march before he was president [I think he was the
senator from Illinois at the time- the march was held by Farrakhan].
So- if hate speech is wrong- then
it’s wrong all the way around.
If we condemn White hate groups-
which we should- then we need to condemn Black hate groups too.
The New Black Panther party are a
bunch of racists.
The leader of this group was
photographed behind Obama during the 2008 campaign.
He was holding up his hand- in a
Black Power display- and he was walking right behind the president.
They were in Selma at the time.
The media never covered this- or
showed this picture.
That’s what you call a double
standard- that’s what you call ‘media bias’.
See?
NOTE- do you think a Romney type
person- who was running for president- if he attended a David Duke rally- and
had Duke march behind him on the campaign trail- would have escaped Scrutiny?
Not on your life baby.
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.
1884 AND THEY CALL THEM ‘SMART PHONES’
I dropped my daughter off at the
San Antonio airport [by the way- we do have a nice Corpus airport- but the
flights are cheaper if you fly from the Alamo city].
The next day [yesterday] as I was
catching the news- I saw that they locked down the airport- they had a bomb
scare at the same time we were there the day before.
Glad I missed it for sure.
Okay- there are always a few
current event things to do- lets hit some real quick.
The Chick- Fil- A debacle.
As most of you know the president
of the restaurant got into some hot water by saying he was for traditional
marriage-- not ‘gay’ marriage.
Then you had the ‘left’ go
ballistic ‘how dare you hold values different than ours'!
The mayor of Boston [Menino] and
Chicago [Emmanuel- yeah- him again] were outraged.
So outraged- that they said they
were banning the chain from opening up restaurants in their cities.
Wow- what noble ethics these guys
have.
If the CEO of a company simply
holds traditional values- you forbid him to operate in your city.
Even though gay people actually
work for the company- and they also serve gay folk.
No- if you say your view is
different- you’re out.
I like Old Emanuel [not really].
The other day he teamed up with
Farrakhan- he said they were going to work together to combat the killings that
have taken over the city ever since Rahm took the reins.
So- let me get this right- you
are not only willing to let Farrakhan operate in your town- but you give
credibility to the man by publicly teaming up with him.
His values?
Jews are lying cheating bastards
that need to die.
Whites are the demon seed- the
kids of satan.
This nut job has spewed the most
racist stuff that you could ever imagine.
Yet- Rahm refuses to let Chik-
Fil- A operate- because ‘we do not share their values’.
Great job Rahm [and the political
strategists of Obama- who were probably behind the whole thing].
Okay- enough of that ;stuff’.
Now that I have my new ‘smart
phone’ I have been noticing the commercials and stuff about the phones.
I actually have learned a few
things from just watching the commercials [sad- I know].
So the other day I’m watching the
news with Dianne Sawyer [ABC] and they do a piece on all the injuries that have
increased because of these new devices.
They do the stats on the increase
of broken head/face bones [people walking off stuff].
All the neck injuries and stuff.
Then they show a clip of a guy
walking into a bear- he’s not looking- he’s got his face in the phone.
Some person walking off the
subway rail tracks.
A few other ‘smart’ phone folks
walking into walls- or the pond thing in the middle of the local mall.
I mean it was funny in a way- I
just didn’t realize I was getting into another high danger field- just by
purchasing a phone!
I remember years ago at the fire
house- all the younger guys were getting the latest phones and stuff.
I never was the type to update
something just because the next new thing came out- I kept the laptop and phone
for years before I would upgrade.
But you had the guys walking
around the fire dept with the hands free thing- you know they are walking-
talking- and nothing in their hand.
I thought they were talking to
me- or themselves.
No- they were just doing the
hands free thing.
Then we all got new pagers- and
we had to wear them- all the time.
You know- just in case the chief
needs you.
At a fire?
Yup.
Fine.
So- I would be at the scene of an
emergency [fire- car wreck- heart attack…]
And sure enough- the ‘darn’ pager
would buzz.
‘gee- who could that be- after
all I’m just inside this house- on fire’.
I look at the pager [after the
smoke clears].
It’s the latest scores for the
college game [Basketball?]
I was ready to chuck the thing in
the fire.
Yeah- we had pagers that went off
every time the sports channel did an update.
So- we live in this strange new
world of technology.
We also have Dem mayors refusing
to give business permits to restaurants- at a time when people are dying for
jobs.
And these same mayors- who refuse
on the grounds that ‘they don’t hold my values’.
They are teaming up with leaders
of racist movements who call for the deaths of Jews and Whites- way to go Rahm!
Yeah- it’s a strange new world.
Okay- that’s it for now- need to
upload some of the S.A. pics I took the other day.
You know what that means?
Yeah- I’ll be using the phone-
pray for me- please!
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.
1883- ALL AND ALL IT’S JUST
ANOTHER BRICK [NOTE] IN THE WALL?
So the news for the last few days
has focused on Romney’s ‘world tour’.
As most of you know- he embarked
on this trip to boost his foreign policy credentials.
And of course- the ‘main stream
media’ has made it sound like he has made the worst gaffs since the time Biden
told one of his political ‘close friends’ to stand up at some rally.
Biden ‘go ahead- stand- don’t be
shy’ of course the guy sat there- still- hoping Biden would move on.
Not Biden.
‘Go ahead stand man- stand damn
it- enough of this false MODESTY- stand!!”
Finally- someone from the
audience yelled ‘he’s crippled you ….’
Close friend- remember?
So- in London Romney’s asked
about the Olympics- does he think there might be some security problems.
And as a former CEO who ran the
Olympics in the past- he was honest- he said there might be some difficulties
with the security people who were hired to do the job.
Oh my- the press in the U.K. and
the U.S. made it sound like this was the worst thing in the world.
They spent days- top headlines-
top world news- yes- ‘how can this be- Romney singlehandedly has destroyed the
greatest coalition ever- NATO and the Brits will fall apart now!! Oh my!!!’
I mean it’s hilarious.
Most don’t realize that Romney
simply expressed- in a nice way- what the British press has been saying for
weeks.
As a matter of fact- the security
company who was hired to do security were about 3,000 men short.
The British military filled the
gap.
This is bad- very- very bad.
Though I’m sure the military are
good guys- yet they are not trained for this type of job.
The London games is a major target
for terrorism- and if the truth be told- Romney’s comments were mild.
But because they decided to
portray them the way they did- now the media are stuck in a way- because the
games have had a bad start.
Most of the seats are empty- they
actually need people to attend the events.
Yet- you have people who can’t
get tickets.
Why?
They don’t know for sure- but it
might be that lots of companies bought tickets- and gave them to their people-
and the people are not going.
I mean I’m sure it couldn’t be
the fact that the media have been reporting for weeks that the security is in
fact not good- no- it can’t be that.
Either way- Romney was right- and
those who follow the news know it.
Then- Romney trotted off to
Israel.
Of course the media have found
their niche- they are waiting to stomp on him every time they get a chance.
So- he tells the Israelis ‘your
culture obviously has contributed to your success as a nation’.
Okay- is this true or not?
Look- as a bald faced statement-
it is true.
What did the media say?
Oh my- Romney has insulted the
Arab world- he has defamed the Palestinians- how could he ever have made a
statement like this!
Now- as an independent- I do not
always side with U.S. policy in that part of the world.
And- I think the American
Evangelical church has made some big mistakes when they read the bible- and try
to fit current U.S. policy in with their interpretation of end time events.
So- I do not see the Palestinian
problem as one side being the enemy [Palestinians] and the other as the ‘people
of God inheriting the land’.
For the most part those are Old
Testament mindsets that overlook the New Testament view- that we are all called
to inherit the kingdom thru the Cross.
So- just wanted to make that
clear.
But- the truth is Israel has one
of strongest Democracies in that region of the world.
They are governed with a system
of courts and laws- that have even ruled on the side of Arab people- against
their own govt.!
That’s rare- very rare- you do
not find that in Arab states- that a court in Iran would rule against their
leaders- and side with a Jew.
You have certain Arab states-
that to even be Jewish would get you killed on the spot.
And some Arab states [not all!]
have no real rule of law- even though they have tried- many are living a
lawless existence.
Okay- I know there’s more to the
debate- but on its face- Romney simply told the truth.
Yet the media are reporting it as
a huge blunder- the likes of which has never been seen before!!
So- they show a clip of Romney
putting a folded prayer request in the Wailing Wall [Jerusalem].
They then do a quick story ‘I
wonder what he said’.
You know- it’s a traditional
thing- the wall is a place for the Jewish people to connect with God- and they pray
daily at the wall.
So- Romney kinda says what he
wrote in the note- he says he thanked God for the source of our salvation- a
few other things.
Then they show the shot of Obama
when he did his note- of course they had the scoop form Obama’s note.
He asked for ‘wisdom and
knowledge to govern the people’.
Basically the same prayer that
king Solomon prayed [convenient that this slipped out- in Jerusalem!]
Then they had the shot of good
ole G.W. [Bush].
I braced myself.
They simply showed him putting
his hands on the wall.
I was waiting for Brain Ross to
break in [you know- Ross is the news guy who ‘outed’ Jim Holmes from the
Colorado shooting- he said he was a Tea Partier from Aurora- of course he outed
an innocent man].
Yeah- I was waiting for the ‘Ross
Report’.
‘George- I have breaking news- I
don’t know if this is the same GW from Texas- but a goat herder was walking by
the wall- and he found this note had fallen- strangely- it was signed by a GW
from Texas’.
Go on Brian- what does it say
man?
‘Well- like I said- we don’t know
if it’s Bush- but the note says- and I quote- “What’s it like to be a wall”
unquote’.
Yeah- I was waiting for the
scoop.
So- you get the idea- the media
have the power- and the desire- to depict one side as total idiots- and the
other as those who can do no wrong.
I’m not on either side- trust me-
but the bias is hard not to see.
Okay- I actually do have more to
say- maybe tomorrow.
Right after I post this- I’ll
post some pics from the weekend- now that I got my smart phone- I’m taken pics.
In a little while I will be
driving my daughter to San Antonio- she’s catching a flight back to Indiana-
she’s staying there for now- her boyfriend has been working across the country-
right now they are in Indiana.
So- I’m sure I’ll take some pics.
That’s it for now- enjoy the
pics.
And don’t forget the lesson of
the day.
If you’re in a political rally-
and Biden says ‘go ahead- stand up man- for the love of Pete’.
Just leave- it will save you from
a very awkward moment for sure.
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.
1882- IS GAIN GODLY?
As we close the week- lets re-cap
a few things.
As an avid news watcher- once
again the media over covered a very tragic event.
There were numerous days of
nonstop coverage on all the news networks- of the tragic killing of 12 people
in Aurora- Colorado.
While we don’t know all the
motives of the sick person who did this- yet it is possible that one of the motives
is attention.
And if we give a person nonstop
coverage- then in a way we are playing into his distorted mind game.
The next day or 2 after the
shooting [or the same day? I forget] we had 15 people killed right here in
South Texas in a truck crash.
It was another case of a bunch of
illegal aliens in a truck- coming into Texas.
The tire blew out- and 15 died.
Now- we also have had a string of
murders going on in Chicago- it is really strange.
Ever since the former White House
chief of staff- Rahm Emanuel- became mayor of the city- the death rate has sky
rocketed.
I don’t know why this is- but it
is a fact.
So- the real danger in the
country is not the lone psycho who will walk into a theatre and open fire.
But it’s the regular gun violence
taking place in Camden [N.J.] or Chicago- or any other inner city USA.
We have a terrible culture that
exists in the gang lifestyle- and these are the real stories that if not dealt
with will eventually kill tens of thousands more each year.
So- don’t want to lessen the
horrendous act of Holmes- but just want to keep things in perspective.
The other week I caught an
interview with David Brody- a reporter for CBN [Pat Robertson’s ministry].
He put out a book-
Teavangelicals- and was talking about the ‘religious right’ and stuff.
The interviewer brought out some
very good points- he challenged some of the ideas of the so called right.
Brody said many identify their
faith with capitalism- he used a famous verse form the Old Testament ‘a good
man leaves an inheritance to his kids, kids’.
I have heard [and read] this many
times over my life.
So- Brody said that’s why the
religious right identify with ‘right wing’ politics.
The interviewer quipped back
‘yes- but that’s one Old Testament verse- and all thru the New Testament Jesus
railed against riches’.
Wow- I was surprised that the guy
new his stuff.
Was he right?
Actually- yes.
This is what I talk about a lot-
keeping things in context.
Avoiding what we call ‘proof
texting’ which means you pick one verse out of the bible- and then build an
entire belief system from that verse.
Jesus did say stuff like ‘What
does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?’
‘You cannot serve God and money’.
‘It is easier for a camel to go
thru the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven’.
Now- I can go on- and in the past
I have.
But the point I wanted to make
was the news guy was right.
We need to see the Christian life
primarily thru the ‘lens’ of the teachings of Christ- and emphasize the things
he taught the most.
Now- this does not mean we should
ignore a verse like ‘leave an inheritance for your kids’.
But we should absolutely avoid
making stuff like that the main thing- I mean we- in the modern evangelical church
have seemed to have fallen into the whole trap of ‘keeping up with the
Joneses’.
Years ago one of the prosperity
preachers of the day put out a little book- the title was ‘righteousness is
profitable’.
Of course the title told it all.
It was a short- and all consuming
teaching that comes from this camp- and it basically taught that if you are a
child of God- you will make lots of money [profitable].
The problem?
Once again- the verse comes from
the Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy [1st Timothy chapter 4].
And in context it does not mean
what the author said it meant.
2 chapters later Paul will
actually write ‘the love of money is the root of all evil- some say gain
[profit] is godliness [righteousness] avoid them’.
The point is- the author took
Paul’s words- from the bible- and ‘made’ them say the opposite of what he said.
Then taught ‘see- that’s in the
bible’.
Actually ‘that’ was not in the
bible- at least not the way the author made it sound.
So- at the end of the day- we
need to keep ‘first things first’.
Yes- there are many people who
live day by day- lives without purpose or meaning.
And we- the church- don’t want to
tell them that the purpose is more material stuff.
That’s not the message Jesus
gave.
Sure- we can find a good verse
about leaving money to your kid when you die.
But read the WHOLE bible in
context.
Jesus put much more emphasis on
warning people that if they ‘gain the whole world- and lose their soul- it
profits nothing’.
The Kingdom of God is not about
making a fortune- it’s about living your life for a higher purpose- a more
noble goal- give your life away- that’s what the Master said.
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.
1881- GOAT MAN SAGA CONT.
Okay- I never thought I would
write a follow up post on the Goat Man [few posts back].
But- yesterday morning I read
another story about this masked [or fur coated?] man.
Yes- this time I figured I’d read
the whole thing.
For those who didn’t read the
post- Goat man was simply some guy- dressed like a goat- ‘living’ among the
goats in Utah.
Some tourist spotted him and
reported him to the cops.
So- Goat man made national news-
and the story went viral.
They were looking for the guy-
fearful that he might get shot.
So- the follow up story said the
local authorities received a call- by a ‘very agitated man’.
He simply said- quote ‘leave Goat
man alone- he’s done nothing wrong’!
Hmm?
Could this caller be wearing a fleece?
Yes- it was the infamous goat man
on the line.
The story went on and said he was
a hunter who was simply preparing for a Canadian hunt.
He made the ‘goat outfit’ using a
painters type suspendered pants- and some type of hair.
Okay- maybe goat man is innocent.
But I must correct our furry
friend- no sir- dressing like a goat- making it into the national news- twice-
at the age of 50 something.
O- this is wrong- so very wrong.
Second- I find funny stuff in the
most unlikely places.
The other morning I was listening
to NPR [radio news] and they were doing a story on Muslim athletes who are
competing in the Olympics.
The reporter introduced the piece
by saying the Muslim fast of Ramadan has just started- and that some Muslim
athletes are ‘struggling’ with whether or not to observe the daily fast.
Muslims are not supposed to eat
during the day.
So- I was expecting to hear the
athlete say ‘Praise Allah- I have struggled much with this decision- and…’
You know- some type of real
personal turmoil over this great dilemma.
They guy comes on and says ‘Nah-
I’m not gonna be doin that’.
Huh?
Sounded like this Muslim brother
came straight from the streets of Jersey- sort of like the Henry Hill character
from Goofellas [or Depp in Donnie Brasco- take your pic].
So- over all- I had a few good
laughs.
Okay- It’s been a few days since
I did economics/politics.
But I must say- the news this
past week has been very bad- economically.
Britain has reported a worse
recession than previously thought.
China has been fudging their
numbers too- they made it sound like they were doing better than they were.
And the E.U. crisis is not
getting better- or even staying stagnate- but getting worse.
So- the other day after the
markets looked like they were going into another sell off.
The dow was down around 200.
The Fed chairman popped into
action and basically said they were going to do another Qe-3 [put more money
into the system].
Normally- this would drive the
market way up.
This time- it simply stopped the
sell off for the day and the market has only risen a few points since then.
That’s a bad sign- even the
investors are saying this won't do.
I heard a quote from a
knowledgeable guy the other day- on one of the business shows.
He said the real money- the
institutional investors- they see all this Fed action as dangerous.
That to simply print money like
this- and for the market to ride on it- is not good economic policy at all.
It looks like he was right.
We really should have a national
debate over stuff like this.
I feel bad for the seniors who
were forced out of the interest rate market [Cd’s and bonds] and were told ‘you
need to be in the market- look- you can’t live on 1 % inertest’.
So- many of these older folk- who
were perfectly happy with 5-7 % on their money- they were forced out of that
stable market- and into this terrible market that we have had these past 12
years.
That’s the fault of the various
Fed chairmen- when they decide to enact fiscal policy that says we want to keep
the rates really- really low- then that leaves the seniors no other option-
they get thrown into the risky stock market- and then they take a hit.
I am not a ‘right winger’ or left
winger on these things- but I do see the Fed at the end of the road- they
simply have done all you can do at this point.
I think they should leave the thing alone- no
more stimulus- it’s just throwing money into a system that’s in the process of
de-leveraging- and just like the real estate market- we simply need to let the
system bottom out- because if we keep propping up the system- then it will
never really get fixed.
[yeah- Krugman- it’s not that
easy]
And Cali.
We have now seen 3 cities declare
bankruptcy in the great state.
Some city is messing with the
idea of actually doing Eminent Domain on the houses that are underwater.
They want to ‘seize’ the
mortgages of these homeowners- and force the banks to re-do the loan- at a loss
to the mortgage holder.
If they do this- trust me- your
home in that town will be worth nil.
Why?
Everyone in the state will know that if you invest in a house in that
city/county- that you might someday be forced to take a loss on that house- by
Eminent Domain.
These ideas come from well
meaning people- but for the most part they have no business experience.
Last year the president talked
about stuff like this on a national level.
It wasn’t Eminent Domain- but he
made the argument that if we come to some type of a deal with the banks- to
‘make’ them lower the values on these homes- that it would help everybody out.
Obama said ‘it does no good for
you to have 3-5 foreclosed homes on your block- so this will prevent that from
happening’.
Look- anyone who has any
knowledge at all on real estate will tell you this would be an unmitigated
disaster.
Why?
If you go into a neighborhood
where the homes on average sell [or sold] for 150,000.
And you take half of the homes on
that block and reduce the value of the homes to 100,000.
You did not do the other home
owners a favor [the ones who by the way are paying their bills!]
You simply ‘revalued’ their home
to a hundred thousand as well.
See?
So all in all- sometimes people
mean well ‘look- lets seize the mortgages on these struggling folk- and force
the bank to take the hit’.
Sounds good- but if you do that-
you will ruin the value for all the other people in that county.
Also- the biggest retirement fund
in the nation- in Cali- just reported 1% growth- not the 7% it had counted on.
I think California is in danger
of possibly declaring bankruptcy for the whole state.
They say ‘they way Cali goes- so
goes the nation’.
Let’s hope this is not true this
time around.
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.
1878- THE DARK KNIGHT OF THE SOUL
Well today is surely a day of
mourning.
As you all know- yesterday marked
another tragic day for our nation.
We had another deadly rampage in
Colorado [Aurora].
Right down the road from
Columbine.
James Holmes- a 24 year old
student- walked into a theatre- carrying multiple guns- and shot randomly at
the audience.
Last I heard- 71 shot- 12 dead.
It was at the premiere of Dark
Knight Rising- the new Batman movie.
We don’t yet know the motivation
for the killings- maybe we never will.
But of course- that won’t stop
the media from making fools of themselves.
Brian Ross- ABC’s ‘chief
investigative reporter’ had breaking news on their morning show.
He actually had the audacity to
report that he found a man with the same name- James Holmes- who had a web site
affiliated with the Tea Party.
Huh?
Gee- I’m sure there are no other
people with such an odd name that live in Aurora Colorado.
I’m sure if this were a Muslim
name- I’m sure you would have reported a random find- that you found another
Muslim name- sounds the same- and he’s affiliated with Al Qaeda.
The sad thing is- after a little
while- Ross had to apologize- the man he ‘outed’ was not the shooter.
The shooter was a 24 year old-
the Holmes from the Ross report is 54.
The 54 year old had to disconnect
his phone- his family immediately became a target for revenge.
What a bang up job you did Brian-
may God have mercy on your soul- and please- please go away.
It’s sad- right up the road from
where I live- we had the Fort Hood shootings.
Major Nidal Hassan walked into a
crowded room on the base and fired on his fellow military men and women.
Killed many- shouted ‘Allah
Akbar’- and opened fire.
During the investigation we
learned that Hassan carried a card that identified himself as a soldier for
Islam.
He dressed in garb that indicated
he was Muslim.
He made many statements thru out
his career that said he was a radical.
He had on line contacts with nut
sites that advocate radical Islamic terrorism.
Yet- for all this- the
administration refereed to this killing as ‘work place violence’.
Yet- ABC news thought it fine to
simply share- with the world- that someone with the name Jim Holmes was
connected to the Tea Party.
We had another ‘attack’ just up
the road from me a few years back.
The nut who flew his plane into
the IRS building in Austin.
The NY Times reported- on their
on line forum- ‘Tea Party unhinged’.
It was later found out that the
pilot was actually a communist sympathizer- not a Tea partier at all.
Gifford’s- when the congresswoman
from Arizona was shot- the media spent a week trying to connect the dots- that
somehow the political use of ‘targeting a district’ used by Sarah Palin- was
responsible for the tragedy.
And of course- who can forget the
nemesis of the large size cola.
Yes- a few years back Bloomberg
[mayor of NY] referred to the Times Square bomber as ‘probably someone who is
mad at Obama Care’.
We later found out- yes- once
again- that the guy was a radical Islamist.
It’s sad how slow the media are
to report the associations of radical Islam- when it’s obvious for everyone to
see.
Yet- they go hunting- and even
report innocent names- when they think there might be a connection with a right
wing group.
How did Ross do his research?
You think he just stumbled upon a
name that was the same?
You think he might just have
googled ‘Tea Party- Jim Holmes’.
No- I’m sure the chief
investigative reporter would never stoop so low.
I’m sure.
This last week I’ve been reading
Isaiah- chapters 49 thru the end.
There are so many key verses in
these chapters- ones that I have memorized and quoted over the years during
prayer.
In chapter 53 we read that God
saw the ‘Travail of his soul and was satisfied’.
‘Because he poured out his soul
unto death’.
‘He was numbered with the
transgressors’.
The chapter speaks about the
suffering Messiah.
Our Jewish friends apply this to
their struggles as a nation.
I think both are applicable.
There is a term we use in
Christianity- it’s called ‘The dark night of the soul’.
Saint John of the Cross [a famous
Christian from church history] made the term popular.
Mother Theresa- we found out
later- lived many of her years in this state of ‘darkness’.
It simply speaks about the trials
we all go thru- times when we think all hope is lost.
Some people experience it more
than others- the above chapter says this travail- this numbness- is redemptive
in nature.
God uses it- and the people-
nations- that go thru it for a purpose.
It was because Christ suffered-
poured out his soul ‘unto death’ that he became the savior for mankind.
It was because of the struggles
of the Jewish people that they have now become one of the most prosperous
nations in that part of the world.
I’m not saying God ordains that a
mad man shoot innocent people in a movie.
But I am saying that we as a
nation can become a better people thru it all.
Yesterday Obama and Romney both
suspended their campaigns for a day.
And I even heard MSNBC give credit to both men
for it.
Yeah- we saw civility- by both
camps- for the first time in a while.
Today we pray for the victims of
Aurora.
We try and resist the stupidity
of associating this mad kid’s act with any group- at least until we get more
facts.
And we- as a nation- have an
opportunity- we have a ‘dark night’ opportunity- we can either become worse-
hate more- blame the other side for it.
Or we can reflect- we can turn
our minds to the things that count.
In the end- we can find
redemption in the collective ‘travail of our souls’.
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.
1877 CHINESE FOOD- RELIGION-
POLITICS [WOW!!]
Let’s try and cover a few things
today.
Yesterday I went down to the
mission to see the guys.
Henry showed up- I was hanging out
with Dirk and Joe for a little while.
Henry heard they were serving
chili – he has stomach problems- so he invited me and Joe to go to the Chinese
buffet about a block away.
Henry has been working regularly
at the boat dock and he had some cash.
We walked down to the Chinese
place and Joe and Henry ate- I never eat lunch [or b-fast].
We had a good time- I actually
took a few pictures and my daughter will try and post them [I’m bad at that].
We talked for a while- actually
the guys brought up politics on their own.
Geez- Chinese buffet- homeless
outreach and politics- I thought for sure the Kingdom had come.
Henry told me ‘John- did you
hear- the cops cuffed me at HEB the other day’.
He told me the story.
Henry is one of the most
upstanding guys you could ever meet.
He is a deacon for church without
walls [a homeless church].
He is practically a scholar when
it comes to the bible- and he does not do drugs or get drunk [he drinks wine.
Not a lot- he thinks it helps with his stomach- that’s actually in the bible.
Paul told Timothy ‘drink a little wine for you ailments’].
So- just to let you know- Henry
is not a trouble maker by any means.
Why did the cops cuff him?
He went to HEB [our local
grocery] and bought lunch.
He ate- then went to catch the
bus.
Someone had called the cops and
said a homeless guy was threatening him if he didn’t give him money.
HEB is right next to the mission
so it’s possible that one of the other guys did do this.
So- when the cops got there they
thought it was Henry and they cuffed him.
Henry does get mad- over the
years they have arrested him- for no reason- they were just doing a sweep of
the area- business people complain about all the ‘bums’- the cops pick a bunch
of them up with no real charge- Henry is not loitering- he’s not drunk- he just
looks bad [check out the picture on Face Book].
So- he has had to sit in jail-
without doing any crime- and of course it would piss you off- it would me.
So anyway he told me the scoop-
they finally uncuffed him- and let him go.
I took a few more pictures of the
guys- now that I started posting pictures of the guys- I’m like the dad that
keeps making his kids pose for pics on vacation [like my dad did a lot].
The guys were like ‘why are you
taking pics’?
I told them I started posting
them to the site.
They said ‘wow- were gonna be
famous’.
One of the guys said ‘you can’t
take my pic- the cops might find me’.
Yeah- figures.
I mentioned that I regret the
fact that some of the guys have died and I never got a picture.
I talked about Bill.
Bill was one of the first guys I
met on the street- he was about 30 years older than me and I have written a few
posts on Bill over the years.
Bill eventually saw me as his
‘best friend’ almost like a son/brother.
I guess I took Bill out to eat
more than any other street guy.
Bill died a few years ago.
So- as I mentioned Bill- Joe told
me that they have a picture of Bill hanging up inside the mission.
I couldn’t believe it- they had
one of Bill- and the camp!
I took a pic- will post it.
Many of the guys live in
makeshift camps- I have visited hundreds of camps over the years.
These are little ‘tent cities’
that pop up in the vacant fields all around the area where I live.
I live on a bluff- a peninsula
type jetty sticking out into the bay- right off the gulf.
So- there are lots of beach
spots- and areas where the homeless can camp out.
My area is nice- it’s been
developed over the years and marketed because of its closeness to Padre Island
[right over the bridge and you’re at the beach- the national sea shore- you
could walk it].
So- after a while the locals
complain about the homeless population- and every so often they do a sweep- and
go thru the camps and cut the tents [cops] and stuff like that.
I have bought tents for the guys
over the years- and I get mad when I hear the cops cut another tent.
I’ll try and get these photos up
loaded soon.
On the way back to the marina
[where Henry works].
We started talking about all the
guys who have died these past few years.
I told Henry that when I do my
early morning prayers- I try to ‘see’ these guys as part of the community- the
little fellowship of friends I have worked with over the years.
I told Henry- that in a strange
way- I still sense Bill- Shelby- etc. - as ‘hanging out’ with us [I just looked
up over my head- I have a ball cap of Bill hanging on my shot gun rack- after
Bill died I found it under my car seat.
He must have left it there one day when going out to eat- I kept it as a
memento].
I mentioned that as Protestants-
we usually neglect the biblical teaching that our Catholic friends emphasize.
The Communion of the Saints.
That even though Protestants
don’t practice prayers to Mary and the saints- yet in a very real way those who
have died in the faith are indeed still part of the community.
I mentioned the book of
Revelation- it speaks about the prayers of the martyrs [dead Christians] going
up to God as incense.
I told Henry- just because our
friends have died- that does not mean they can’t still pray- even for us!
Being Henry knows the bible well-
he was familiar with the passage that I mentioned- he just never saw it like
that [see- there are lots of things like this in the Christian journey- that’s
why we should hold judgment on other Christian denominations as much as
possible- we all ‘see dimly’ at times].
Okay- I guess will end there.
I was gonna do a few news items-
yesterday the ‘rebels’ in Syria bombed a key headquarters of the leader- Assad.
This was a suicide bombing- by
most accounts- Al Qaeda did this.
Yet- the U.S. - and the western
media continue to describe these guys as innocent civilians whom Assad is
killing.
This happened in Libya as well.
I am not defending Assad- but we
in the West need to stop referring to all the rebel groups in the various Arab
spring uprisings as ‘innocent rebels’.
Many are not- many are
terrorists- they practice such things as suicide bombings.
The one yesterday killed some key
Syrian men- one was the brother in-law of Assad.
Things are getting very unstable
over there.
Our recent killing of an Indian
fisherman [we shot the fishing boat off the U.A.E the other day].
And yesterday’s terror attack on
a bunch of Israeli tourists.
These are all signs of major
unrest in that region- It’s possible that this might be the straw that breaks
the camel’s back when it comes to Israel taking out the nuclear facilities of
Iran.
Obama has been trying to get
Israel to hold off on the Iranian attack- you guessed it- till after the
election.
But after yesterdays bus bombing-
they might decide to go.
So all in all- there’s lots of
stuff going on in the world- lets pray for peace- for all people.
PEACE ON EARTH- GOOD WILL TO MEN.
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.
1876- THE SPEED OF LIGHT
Wasn’t sure which way to go- but
this morning I was walking in my yard [I get up real early!] and I thought
about the story of the Unjust Judge.
It’s a parable that Christ told-
I actually haven’t read it in a while- but remember it pretty well.
Jesus said in this city there was
a widow who went to this judge- the judge did not ‘fear God—or care about men’.
She had a situation where she
needed the judge to do justice on her behalf.
The judge at first put the woman
off- but then he said ‘I better do something- because her continual nagging is
driving me up the wall’ [my paraphrase].
Jesus then said ‘see what the
judge did- how much more will my heavenly father do for those who come to him’-
then he says ‘he will avenge THEM SPEEDILY’.
We often tell the story like this
‘see- God is like the judge- he will defend you’.
Actually Jesus is saying ‘God is
not like the judge’.
This judge acted- not out of what
was right- but out of pressure- you know- the lobbyist wins.
But God- he does what’s right.
I was thinking about my governor
when this verse ‘speedily’ dropped into my head.
During one of the debates Rick
Perry used an example- I forget what the whole thing was about- but he said
‘such and such will happen- at the speed of light- literally’.
I think he was talking about Iran
coming into Iraq and having more dominance in the region [which by the way he
was right about].
But- when you use an example that
has ‘the speed of light’ in it- well- it’s usually Figuratively- which just
happens to be the opposite of literally- you know- a minor detail.
Okay- I can hear my Jersey
friends now ‘wow John- you got one heck of a governor in the Lone Star state’.
Yeah- what can I say?
Maybe this ‘didn’t I see Christie
on the boardwalk the other day’?
Let’s let bygones be bygones-
deal?
Our timing- what we think is
speedily- is not the same time line of God.
There are many texts in the bible
that talk about the ‘end of the world’ and ‘the coming of Christ’ and it says
it will happen fast.
These verses were penned 2
thousand years ago.
[Actually this is a pretty in
depth study- how the church has handled the verses that deal with the End
Times.
We call this Eschatology.
There are different views on
this- Futuristic- Historical- Preterist.
This entire teaching is worth
doing- I have done some over the years.
In a nutshell- some of these
verses say ‘at the end of the age’ not ‘world’.
In the Greek language- which the
New Testament was written in- the word used is age.
So- they are not always saying
‘the world will end soon’.
But ‘the age’.
What age?
In context- the old age
[dispensation] of law- the Old Covenant.
And the New age- the age of
Grace- has come.
This debate does have some
[lots?] of merit to it- and it ‘solves’ some of the complaints from the critics
of Christianity who say ‘Jesus was wrong when he said the end of the world
would happen soon’.
In the above context- it did
happen soon- see?]
So- we all have requests- we are
in a way like the woman going to the judge.
Ask- Knock- don’t quit.
Jesus said ‘men ought always to
pray and not to faint’.
Pope John Paul said ‘prayer is
strength for the weak’.
James said ‘the continual fervent
prayer of a righteous man avails much’.
Yeah- whatever the request is-
the good judge will do what’s best- not because you’re bugging him nonstop- but
because it’s right.
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.
1875- FELON
I wanted to cover a bunch of
stuff today- but I know I won’t be able to get to it all.
I haven’t commented on the news
in a while- and there are some trending narratives that we probably should do.
This last week the Obama campaign
accused Romney of possibly committing a felony.
Now- most of us know why the
accusation was made- and yeah- we all know politics gets dirty.
What I find ‘funny’ is- out of
all the presidents- and potential presidents of the past few decades- none-
zero- has had the corrupt connections like the present president.
Why?
Look- I’m not an Obama hater- nor
a Romney lover.
But- the reality is- our current
president has all types of current/former political connections that are
presently on the verge of being convicted for committing felonies- or are
serving time for just that.
But- as you listen to the news-
you would never know it.
Right now- as I write- Jesse
Jackson Jr. is in ‘treatment’ for a Mood disorder.
Jackson left his post a couple of
months ago- and his Chicago constituents were asking where he was [he’s a congressman
from Chicago].
The story finally made it into
the national news.
Some thought he was in hiding- or
on the run.
The latest is he is being treated
for the mood disorder.
Why was there speculation that he
was on the run?
Because another associate just
got sent to prison for his involvement in the Chicago political corruption.
The case?
It involves illegal contacts with the Obama
people when he was running for pres- yes- real felonies- not fake ones.
Enter the former governor.
Rod Blagoavich [sp?] also got
sent to the pokey.
Why?
You guessed it- more illegal
contacts with the actual Obama people- caught on actual FBI tapes.
Rahm Emanuel- the president’s former chief of
staff- and current mayor of Chicago- he was on the tapes.
Yeah- real felonies all around.
Tony Rezko.
Who’s he?
Glad you asked.
Once again another close
confidant of Obama sent to prison for corrupt real estate deals- they were
committing crimes by doing illegal deals for their friends.
Obama actually bought real estate
from this man- he actually was involved in one of the deals.
These are all real felonies- real
crimes- that all of the people who were wheeling and dealing with the
president- while he was a senator from Illinois- have gone to prison for.
Yet- the media covered these
stories at a minimal rate.
Some of you never even heard of
them until now.
But- the major media market has
been intensely going thru all the business deals of Romney.
Not one news organization that
has investigated it has said Romney has done anything even being close to
illegal- yet this is the major story of the day.
This is what you call media bias.
You have one person [Obama] who
was surrounded with friends/political partners who were all convicted of
felonies and sent to prison.
One of the players is currently
in treatment for a ‘mood disorder’ yet- the media rarely mentions that the real
problem is they were all involved with illegal deals while in contact with the
Obama people.
This is real- these people were
all sent to prison because of this.
Rezko sits in prison right now-
and he actually sold one of the homes to Obama- no joke.
To even have this ‘side’ make an
accusation of a felony is unbelievable- yet- the media try to make you believe
it.
‘John- how do you know Romney wasn’t
really doing an under the counter deal- maybe he was lying to the govt. when he
said he was still the CEO of Bain’.
This is how- if you are trying to
deceive the people- and your plan is to say- on paper- that you’re the CEO of a
company.
Then- as you are trying your
hardest to stay ‘undetected’ you then proceed to run the U.S. Olympics for 3
years.
I mean who in their right mind
would do something like that- unless the story is true.
The story that Romney says is
true.
He went and took the job at the
Olympics because he thought it was a good thing to do.
He refused to get paid by the
way- just like when he was governor of Mass- he refused to take a check.
There are other things that the
president has done that has turned some heads- even liberal ones.
Obama is the first president in
the history of the nation to have executed an American citizen without a trial.
Huh?
Yes- no lie.
When asked what his justification
was- the ACLU sued to get the administration to release the justice dept. papers
that justified the killing.
The Justice dept refused to
release the memo- and instead made a statement that said ‘Due process does not
mean you get a trial’.
Huh?
Most observers- liberal ones-
said this is outrageous.
The U.S. constitution says U.S.
citizens have the right to due process- which means the courts.
Holder interprets that as saying
the process ‘they do’ at the justice dept will cover it.
Even Colbert mocked it- he said
‘o- they mean it’s a process YOU DO’.
I’ll end with this.
When Obama authorized use of
force in Libya- he did not go to congress to get approval.
The constitution does give the
power to go to war to the congress.
When this happened- some in the
media reported that Bush did it too.
That was wrong- Bush sought congressional
approval twice- and got it.
Obama was the first to go it
alone.
He argued that planes dropping
bombs was not ‘military action’ but ‘kinetic action’.
[it was later reported that we
had men on the ground in the action]
He forever changed the standard
of war.
I could go on- but I think you
get the hint.
So- the next time you see a media
report about Romney being a felon.
Re read this post- it will help
you keep things in context.
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 ‘click’ the note App on my Facebook
Profile- I have posted lots.
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