Sacrificing Humanity on the Alter of Political Correctness: The Fruits of Anything Goes in Media

 

              I decided to record a show called Saving Grace recently because the ads for the show looked interesting.  Over the weekend my wife and I decided to give it a try and we were surprised to say the least, at what we discovered. We were treated to the image of a strangely hairless male butt that actress Holly Hunter was spanking, groping and ultimately stabbed with a fork. The show continues with a Topless Holly Hunter putting on her shirt as she lets the dog out and then shuffles to the kitchen where she is joined by her stark naked bedmate, who announces that he’s left his wife.  It’s difficult to tell if Hunters character, Grace, is upset or happy by this news.  She seems torn by indecision while the naked man explains how he moved out of his wife’s place and how noting needs to change between them. Grace neither cries nor rejoices but instead decides to empty a squirt bottle of catsup, (and I think one of mustard), on the naked man. This turns into a passionate tussle as the pair wrestle like a couple of day old weenies in a bucket of mixed ball park condiments.  This scene was supposed to show the passion and adventurousness of the main character, Grace, and the Zest with which she attacks life and freedom.

 

 

 

 

              For some unexplained reason, Earl, her “Last Chance Angel”, shows up with some chickens in her living room before she goes off to solve an incoherent mystery about a kid who came through the Oklahoma city bombing in lest then pristine shape.  In the middle of all this Grace seems to lose her dog, “Gus”, who runs off when being walked by the child of the man she was sleeping with who had recently left his wife. Grace, a cop, proceeds to assault her Last Change Angle for suggesting that she ask God about the Dog rather than him.  This painful morass of unconnected scenes and incoherent plotting continues, with agonizing slowness, to the climactic scene of Grace at home throwing what can only be described as a childs tantrum.  “I want my doggie” she bellows and screams while she beats the floor and has her fit.  We are treated to multiple camera angles of her tantrum and the scene seems to go on forever.  Magically she gets her “doggie” back as if the Lord Our God would give into this crazed tantrum in a child, let alone a shopworn, embittered, “adult” who represents the worst in television programming today. 

 

 

 

 

               The beginning of this program features a TV MA screen that assures us that this program is for mature audiences and it does run, for now, late at night when, presumably, kids are asleep. Saving Grace is kind of sleazy soft core porn that only a pimply faced kid with lots of silly ideas about women, or an embittered feminist with too many chips on her shoulders, could have written.  It is both adolescent and very angry as it turns utterly abnormal behavior, and contempt for any concept of values, into a hip statement of how the world should be.  Saving Grace seems to be pushing a view of women and life that most sane humans would find reprehensible and its shock value, anger and depravity is all the show has to offer.  Saving Grace is cultural pollution that results from a self centered generation like the baby boomers mistaking the license to indulge any depravity as human Liberty.  We don’t need to pretend to be powerless before pornography on television in order to prove we live in a free society;  we need to celebrate our liberty to preserve our values and concern for a decent culture.  The fascinating to me that the writers of Saving Grace seem to have this perverse self image of heroism as they battle to turn women into degenerate dirt-bags.  Calling Saving Grace a drama is like calling Jerry Springer a journalist.

                 All laws, by their nature, are a statement of values.  We drive 35 because we value protecting kids in residential areas.  We value truth in financial statements so we have laws that protect us from fraud. I defy you to find me a law that is not a value statement!  Furthermore, these laws reflect the majority rule of our democracy, and while we try to protect minority views; we need not construe this as complete capitulation to social anarchy in the name of tolerance.  We are being ruled by rebellious baby boom extremists who have convinced us that discerning between right and wrong is “discrimination” and that speaking our truth is an imposition at best or a hate crime at worst.  Today’s societal masters value tolerance so we have parades for deviant sexual practices, movies glorifying single parenthood and entertainment the Ancient Romans would have found to be too violent. To be free of human values is to reject humanity; it’s not freedom its anarchy and it’s people who promote this destructive and divisive rejection of human standards and norms who are themselves imposing their views on society!  Take a look around at this so called freedom and speak honestly at least to yourselves; do you like what you see?  Would you call it freedom?  Or would you call it a shame?

               Its not just television but elements of popular music, video games and the internet in which we need to set boundaries lest the lack of boundaries prove to be our undoing. It’s everyone’s responsibility to protect kids by calling a bad show a bad show and in insisting it be taken off the air for the public good. The adults need to start acting like adults again and we need a far less tolerant attitude toward a plethora of social ills masquerading as “Freedom”.  Tolerance in recent years has come to be understood as an abdication of morality and a complete rejection of societal values for fear of being intolerant or a bigot.  The decent people of the country have been browbeaten with words like: “don’t impose your values on society” or simply, “get yourself and the government out of my bedroom.”  The people who peddle this world view have successfully imposed value-less-ness and depravity on our society and it’s making a mess of our kids and our country.  We have lost our ability to judge between right and wrong and to insist that society benefits from values and morality and that we, and our kids, need values and morality to live fully human lives.  It’s not imposing your values to let your Christian Faith dictate your values and inform your vote its called freedom of religion and free speech.  The loudest voices out there pushing homosexuality, hyper sexuality, drugs, violence, misogyny, selfishness and materialism at the top of their lungs are killing this country and our kids.  The time has come to stand up and be counted: enough of the crap on television!

 

 

 

 

            

The Coronation of Barak Obama: Americas Socialist Messiah Strokes Europe

 

              Most of the mainstream media has failed the American People given the entirely unprofessional job they’ve done covering the candidacy of Senator Obama. The Free Press has manifold privileges in order that they might get the relevant facts of the day and deliver them to us with as little distortion as possible. A free society depends on freedom of the press so that the people might be informed on the issues of the day and cast their votes in an intelligent manor.  Reporting the news is not just a perk it’s a privilege that too many of our TV news personalities have failed to earn in this tiresome love affair with Obama.  The fawning, sickeningly sweet coverage of this admittedly attractive, charismatic, but utterly inexperienced senator from Illinois has reached new lows with Obama’s European tour.  Where are the truth seekers?  Where are the cynical reporters analyzing his record and his positions so as to make the truth of this man available to the American People? What corruption has so infested the media with Obama-Mania that they’re no longer able to function as credible journalists?

 

 

 

               Lots of mainstream news outlets have lost viewers and circulation in recent years because the people have found the rejection of objectivity in the media distasteful.  Only reporting that tries for objectivity and fairness is entitled to call itself journalism while the distasteful adulation and praise that today’s media spouts can only be called propaganda.  People don’t want to be lied to, talked down to, manipulated, or otherwise conned into whatever the media wants them to believe or do.  Don’t forget that the same TV media who tries to influence our vote for Obama promoted the loans of the subprime debacle, 8 track tapes and trans-fat laden fast food.  I’m sure that no one gets up in the morning and wonders how they can use the media to screw up the country that day, they just push something on us that they feel will be good for them and us.  Barrels of chicken in trans fat, low interest loans so everyone can get in on the housing boom, and even technology forms that are destine to be archaic in months did not start out as terrible things.  As time went by we found that a barrel of Trans fat laden chicken, like loans you can’t afford, or like a Senator with no experience to be President, were not the best choices we could have made.

 

 

 

               The fact that Obama is black and about to be president is indeed newsworthy and historic but the fact of his being black has, in some perverse and twisted racist way, become the principle reason to elect him.  His blackness is all the media can see.  He is black with a winning personality, an infectious grin, soaring speeches that inspire but most importantly he’s black and voting for him somehow says something about the country and the media that shows how far we’ve come.  The Media has made Barak Obama the first Affirmative Action President in history! He’s not going to be in the White House because he earned the job or because we need him he’s going to be their because the media has transferred the worst of liberal racism on him and we want to see ourselves voting for the black guy. Barak Obama and his historic candidacy may largely win the White House because of the worst kind of stereotyping orchestrated by the media and composed by elitists who have planted the idea that it’s the black guys turn to be president now and qualifications don’t matter.  Political Correctness and the crazed notion of multiculturalism run amok may essentially steal the election for a first term senator in his forties to become the leader of the free world.  The election of Barak Obama is not about the United States of America, you, me, or even the media who invented this guy: its about proving how tolerant and open-minded we can be by rejecting the racist idea that he’s simply not ready yet.

 

 

 

               Only in the new dark ages of baby boom politics could the idea that not being a racist means voting for the unqualified black guy over the qualified white guy be possible let alone probable. The Baby Boom has invented the politics of malignant narcissism in which one votes for some image of oneself that one would like to project on a blank slate like Obama.  This election is not even about the issue of race in America its about how crazed baby boomers and the victims of identity politics want to feel about themselves after they vote.  Only Baby Boomers would ignore the energy crisis, the economic crisis, the currency crisis, Islamic terrorism, nuclear proliferation and activist’s judges to conclude its time to prove they aren’t a racist by electing a guy who hasn’t even learned how to be a United States Senator yet, as President of the United States.  In these new dark ages the only guide in voting is how cool it would be to vote for and elect a black guy!  For the typical Baby Boomer, Obama is all things bright and beautiful and in him they see the holy image of themselves.  I hope it’s because of too much LSD because some of us see Baby Boomers as the worst generation in history and Obama, as their chosen candidate, may turn out to represent the very personification of the Baby Boomers malignant narcissism and childlike stupidity. This is the Baby Boomers media who reports based on feeling and elitist views of fairness rather than facts and the faith that a free people armed with the fact don’t need elitists!  Only in a media “educated” in baby boom politics could the candidacy of Barak Obama be possible let alone successful.

 

 

 

Risk and Reward in America: Bankers Reap the Rewards, Taxpayers Billed for Risk

Socialism by Government Bailout

 

 

This is back door socialism.  The very idea that all these banks from bear Stearns to FANIE MAE and FREDDIE MAC and other banks that have liquidity issues should have unlimited lines of credit from the Fed that is ultimately sold to or guaranteed by the American Taxpayer is outrageous.  Banks that took the risk to write crazy mortgages to people who were not credit worthy and who, for a time, profited in driving up the real estate prices, are now unwilling to take the consequences of their actions.  Our federal government is determined to save their undeserving hides while transferring the consequences of this criminal stupidity to the US taxpayer. We can’t have rich bankers going out of business because the whole system might break and we could have another depression!  Can’t have that!

Our New Energy Source

Now the law of unintended consequences rears its ugly head!  The bail out of the finance industry drives the dollar to record lows resulting in oil being driven to record highs because Oil seems like a much better investment than the plummeting dollar.  So to save the rich bankers we have cut the value of every dollar in circulation, your savings, investments and earnings while unleashing an inflation tsunami led by catastrophic oil price spikes which means the devalued dollars you hold by less and less.  All this to save the financial industry who let people with no ID, job history, credit history have mortgages with nothing down keeping real estate white hot and profiting from the frenzy until the bubble they created bust.

 

 

 

The Stock Market has become a national barometer of free floating anxiety and the extent to which we can all agree to be deluded when faced with the greatest rip off of wealth the bankers have ever perpetrated on we the sheep. Stocks that are bankrupt like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are now backed by the government instead of in receivership due to the folly of their actions.  The weak and the stupid are allowed to remain in the market instead of being destroyed and thus we perpetuate the idea that Uncle Sam will save the day for any financial mismanagement imaginable. What message does this send the finance industry?  Do any stupid thing you like and we’ll get the taxpayers to buy up all your worthless paper?  What’s wrong with this picture? I wonder why people at Fannie and Freddie aren’t in jail rather then continuing in their jobs, in a company they destroyed, being bailed out by the government. Where are our laws?  Why do we imagine that saving companies from the fruits of their greed and stupidity will redound to societies benefit?

Bear Market

The antics of the Stock Market have a sort of grim amusement for me these days because they go up and down in crazy ways with tons of crazy interference from our crazy government and with each fire the government puts out they plant the seeds of five more fires.  With each new fire, beginning with Bear Sterns, they make the conditions that gave rise to Bear Stearns more prevalent and they weaken the fundamental structure of our dollar.  I’m to the point where I don’t worry too much about the latest week bank that somehow manages to miraculously survive on Wall Street when any rational person would think they were about to crash because the government won’t let them.  The Stock Market no longer reflects the bottom line truths about business in America and now reflects some happy nonsense fed to us by the ever growing government.  The Stock Market is not worth worrying about these days because causation has been banished from the equation.

 

 

 

The Banks Survived: Will the Dollar?

The thing to worry about these days is while the dollar continues to slide and the government continues to debt like drunken sailors what happens when no one will by the government debt anymore?  What if other countries start dollar dumping?  It’s bad enough when people lose faith in the stock market and that’s one type of problem but when they lose faith in the government and the dollars they issue that’s another order of crisis.  That’s where we’re headed.  The Federal Government has vastly overstepped its bounds to its own detriment and now any sane country has got to be looking for a non self defeating way to get out of the dollar and into either commodities or some other currency. As all that debt the Japanese and Saudis’ financed becomes worth less and less by the devaluation of our currency they have got to be rather annoyed with us. All this additional debt the government is directly or indirectly taking on to put out fires on Wall Street are but fuel on the fire of the dollars destruction.  When the big crash comes, and it will, the actions of the government will have magnified the crisis by exponential factors creating a world currency crisis that will remove the USA from global leadership overnight.

 

 

 

Barbarians at the Gate: Europe Faces Russian Ambitions

The Russians have rejected the ambivalent attempts at Trans-Nationalism that has so characterized Europe since the end of World War II.  The Russians have many of the same problems as the rest of Europe but they’ve found in Vladimir Putin a strongman who is evocative of their self image and ambitions in the world. They have a demographic crisis, like the rest of Europe, but they also have a national leader who has the force of will to deal with the issue and restore Russia to superpower status. Russia has no intentions of self immolation in favor of a shared regional identity but seeks to rebuild the Soviet Empire with itself as the center of a New Russian Empire.  Mr. Putin will doubtless embrace the best of both capitalism and socialism and organized crime. Life in Russia is still more elemental then the western Europeans who have been made soft and helpless by their many luxuries. Russia has in Vladimir Putin a reason for hope and inspiration which is far beyond what Western Europe has dreamt of in decades.  The Russians will not submit to the stifling of all national ambition lest the demon of war emerge unbidden and bring eternal night to Europe. The Russians don’t have the luxury or the time to be afraid of what the implications might be they just want to have a direction that’s meaningful again. Vladimir Putin has restored an authoritarianism that seems to be welcomed by the Russian people. Russia is raising Cain with their neighbors again, cutting off oil and gas and trade if the neighbors don’t play ball and once again they are as happy as a pig in mud. Nothing wakes up a national identity as much as intimidating your neighbors and resuming cold war air patrols! Russia looks at Europe and sees a people who have the courage to protest air pollution and rally against Islamophobia but little else.  The World is Russia’s Oyster: America is on the verge of an economic meltdown and the Europeans are weak and spineless and even now the Russians make plans to regain their rightful place in the world.   

 

 

 

 

With life and spunk returning to the Russian Bear Europe finds itself in need of a savior who will do what the various national leaders have failed to do: Unite Europe financially, culturally, politically, and militarily.  It seems difficult to think of the Europe of today becoming a true player on the world stage but the Bible assures us that some version of the Roman Empire will rise again.  The man who finishes half hearted unification of Europe will return Europe to a stature it hasn’t enjoyed since the conclusion of World War II.  He will have to be a very dynamic, charismatic, messianic, (Like Obama I mean!) kind of guy to banish the malaise of Europe and give it a sense of purpose again. When was the last time that Europe found inspiration in one of its leaders instead of a worldly scorn and sullen contempt?  They say that nature abhors a vacuum and with America facing an economic tsunami Europe might want to get off its butt and prepare for the dynamic leader that will rescue them from their own post nationalist depression and give them a shot of regional Prozac.  Something has to change for this vision to come true and I suspect it is the end of the American era.  Europe will rise when it’s forced to and I fear that time is coming soon.  Who will be the European Savior who will manage an economic crisis of global proportions, create a European government instead of the remains of the nation states? Who will raise a European Army very quickly to doubtless protect them from the Russians?  Your guess is as good as mine.  His coming has been foretold and he will solve a lot of intractable problems in the beginning…..  And create a lot of problems in the end. Who is he? I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. 

Europe is in need of a leader who can consolidate the gains made toward a European identity but instill the people with a purpose and will that the national leaders used to do.  Europe is caught between nationalism and regionalism and the world is still a very dangerous place. This is even more imperative if the United States is destroyed by a currency collapse and the sheer weight of all its debt.  If the United States were removed from the equation and NATO was no more what would the Europeans do with an ambitions strong Russia on its borders? Europe may have the financial power of being the next reserve currency but they will have a bunch of segmented, conscripted separate armies instead of a single integrated European Armed Forces.  In a world without America they need a European Army not the French army, the German army, the British army, the Italian army and so on.  Anything short of a European Army won’t get the job done and once you have a true European Army then you’re going to need a “European” Leader to wield it.  The Europeans are still stuck between two worlds: the nationalism of the past and the regionalism of the future.

 

With life and spunk returning to the Russian Bear Europe finds itself in need of a savior who will do what the various national leaders have failed to do: Unite Europe financially, culturally, politically, and militarily.  It seems difficult to think of the Europe of today becoming a true player on the world stage but the Bible assures us that some version of the Roman Empire will rise again.  The man who finishes half hearted unification of Europe will return Europe to a stature it hasn’t enjoyed since the conclusion of World War II.  He will have to be a very dynamic, charismatic, messianic, (Like Obama I mean!) kind of guy to banish the malaise of Europe and give it a sense of purpose again. When was the last time that Europe found inspiration in one of its leaders instead of a worldly scorn and sullen contempt?  They say that nature abhors a vacuum and with America facing an economic tsunami Europe might want to get off its butt and prepare for the dynamic leader that will rescue them from their own post nationalist depression and give them a shot of regional Prozac.  Something has to change for this vision to come true and I suspect it is the end of the American era.  Europe will rise when it’s forced to and I fear that time is coming soon.  Who will be the European Savior who will manage an economic crisis of global proportions, create a European government instead of the remains of the nation states? Who will raise a European Army very quickly to doubtless protect them from the Russians?  Your guess is as good as mine.  His coming has been foretold and he will solve a lot of intractable problems in the beginning…..  And create a lot of problems in the end. Who is he? I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.  

 

 

Post Christian Europe: Their New God is Socialism

Some 21% of Europeans think religion is very important while in France the number is 10% and includes mostly old people.  The new religion of Europe is a mix of hedonism, nihilism, socialism, feminism, and new age; best summed up as a sort of sweltering, self loathing costumed as sophistication and worldliness.  If anyone can put lipstick and a dress on a pig and call it Marilyn Monroe surly the Europeans can.  Religion, and even manhood itself, has been feminized into non existence; and what has emerged is a society that is powerless, faithless, and being sold to Muslim immigrants at no charge. The symbols of Christianity are everywhere in Europe but the Gospel has largely been rejected by the sophisticated Europeans in favor of Spiritual prostitution and cultural suicide.  Europeans complain constantly about the Americans who protect them but continue to suckle the American taxpayer for its defense because they lack the will to defend themselves. To say that Europe is weak is an understatement of epic proportions: Europe is dying because it lacks the will to make babies and the courage to have faith in anything, especially its Christian heritage.  Europe’s Christian heritage has been replaced with a sullen, adolescent sniveling that has given rise to cultureless surfs who are too impotent to reproduce, and too worldly to reclaim faith and meaning in life.It seems that the Europe of today can imagine nothing bigger then itself as it sneers at the church going Americans, even while America succumbs to the same spiritual malaise that has nearly proved fatal in Europe. Mistaking liberty for license has been the vogue in Europe since the end of World War II as they adopted socialism and a hedonist, to create a multicultural utopia that only a demented feminist professor could concoct.  Individual freedoms and democracy is thought to include a right to legal clean hookers, drugs, euthanasia, abortion, free health care, decent housing, jobs, education, entertainment, and free porn on television, US Tax Dollars for defense, and a 4 day work week.  The Europe of Today has cast off all semblance of personal responsibility, and, like the American Baby-boomers who idolize them, will discover that they either change their act and shape up; or they prepare to embrace the dustbin of history.  Europe has so embraced the rejection of morality, the family, and personal responsibility in general, and Christianity in particular; that they can’t find the moral courage to protest their own extinction. A continent of insipid navel gazers whose concept of right and wrong comes from the whims of the moment can only find destruction and pain in the wholesale rejection of Christian Values and the adoption of hedonism and relativism. 

 

 

The European of today has rejected religion for humanism and God for socialism. They’ve become a sulking, suicidal culture that’s about to find itself the custodian of the world’s new reserve currency.  This influx of pure power and wealth will change  Europe overnight and what will emerge from the weak Europe of today is a humanism worshiping, pragmatic entity for which values are relative and truth elusive.  It is they who will deal with emerging nations like China and criminal nations like Russia, who will compete with them for global dominance.  Perhaps the real difference between Europeans and Americans is that, when I think of such a scenario, it tends to drive me to church and to prayer; while I suspect it drives the Europeans to very expensive long held fantasy of their role in the world.  Europe has something to prove, and the European wimps of today will be replaced by the humanist evangelists of Europeanism. Europe will again strive for power and control on the world stage and they will preach a new form of warm and fuzzy humanism and a social pragmatism that will enslave humanities soul. Talk about fertile ground for an Anti Christ! What kind of leaders will thrive in a God rejecting Europe who’s been thrust into world leadership by the economic destruction of the United States?  They will claim that the new Europe is much different and wiser than the old Europe?  For a time that may be so.  A leopard doesn’t change his spots and in the end, I don’t think Europe will either.

Perhaps the ascendance of the Euro in coming years, as the reserve currency of the world, will give the perpetually morose Europeans a shot in the arm.  Since World War II the Europeans have surrendered defense to the United States, rational, logic and critical thinking to socialist professors, manhood and the will to succeed to a toxic feminization of their culture; and perhaps all they really wanted was to matter again.  When the Euro becomes the supreme currency in the world the Europeans will matter again as they trade soulless socialism for regional fascism and start having babies again.  The world will mistake the fall of America as the triumph of Europe. Thebreath of fresh air that the world press has been pining forwill become the chill wind of reality as the Valueless, Pleasure loving Europeans of today assume the mantle of world leadership. The need to worship is inherent in human beings and the search for god is part of the human condition.  What will our European friends worship in the post American world?  What will Europe seek and substitute for religion and God in the Post American world ?  They ’ll have to grow up  and come up with a European defense plan and of some kind of European armed forces if they want the opportunity for real influence on the problems of the 21^st century. Unfettered by oppressive religions systems like Christianity they will be free to worship pragmatism and regional self interest as God.

Ephesians 3

 

SCRIPTURE:

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

NIV

OBSERVATION:

Given the crazy prices of bread these days my wife and I decided to get a really good bread maker rather than pay $4.50 or more at the store.  Maybe this passage should be titled: ”Jewish Gentile Loaf”  Because it again emphasizes Jesus as the culmination of the Jewish faith and we’ve become a new form of the church containing everyone who accepts the gift of pardon Jesus died to give us. In this age it’s intended that God would act primarily through the church which is made up of you and me. We are the repositories of the Holy Spirit who is able to do far more then we ask or imagine according to the measure of faith allotted to us. 

APPLICATION:

This is a big call to action.  The call is to go to church because while we individual have the holy spirit and the gifts he provides this gift is meant to be shared with others.  We share our gifts when we come together in church and this again, a body of believers acting in concert with each other becomes the body of Christ himself and is, as a general might say, a force multiplier.  Never underestimate the power of a body of believers acting in faith because it’s more powerful then we can imagine. 

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father,

Help me to remember that the only perfect person was Jesus and that we can still somehow have a perfect church made up of very flawed and imperfect people. You gave us a measure of faith.  You gave us each other and when we share our faith and act together in unity there is nothing we can’t accomplish.  Other people are the source of our greatest challenges, and our greatest joys.  If ever the world needed an example of community and love ; it’s got to be now amid such an insular, drive thru society as ours.  Together we are the church and we can be your interment if only we show up and be part of the crowd.

In Jesus Name

Amen

S.O.A.P.      SCRIPTURE, OBSERVATION, APPLICATION PRAYER

Ephesians 2

SCRIPTURE:

2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

NIV

OBSERVATION:

We live in a fallen world.  The ruler of this age is Satan and it’s fascinating to see him called the ruler of the kingdom of the air.  In some ways the media had done more to destroy our civilization than anyone else.  The kingdom of the media air, can bring porn to every TV in your house, soft porn disguised as “premium channels” and news that is ever more biased and driven to manipulate public opinion rather than simply inform us of the facts. In Biblical times the demons were thought to inhabit the space between heaven and earth, the air, and so this designation made sense for them.  With what’s “on the air” in our times it makes sense to me to but in a different way.  Media is a tremendous source for trouble and evil in our day.  I have no idea if I’m right about this or not.  Certainly evil is not limited to broadcasting!

For the Christian everything is a gift.  Even the faith to believe is ultimately a gift from God and we are entirely products of his design and craftsmanship.  What good works we do we were designed by God to do from before the beginning of the world.

We are full members of the family of God in which the distinction between the Jews (Our elder brothers and sisters in the lord) and the gentiles have been erased in Christ.  We too are the sons and daughters of God, and in no way are we second class citizens.  In Old Testament times the non Jews were further from God but that is no longer true. Now we are fellow citizens and our faith is built on Jesus who is the cornerstone of our faith and the one in whom all the Old Testament prophets and apostles found their fulfillment.  Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament even as he crafted by his life, death and resurrection the culmination and fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets.

APPLICATION:

It’s very important to remember that we live in a world that has fallen into sin and that evil is largely calling the shots in our times.  We need to be realistic about how easy it is to fall into the trap of narcissism and selfishness, as Satan did, and to live for our pleasures rather than to live for Jesus and our fellow humans. 

Having said that its also very important to remember that our salvation is assured as we grow closer and closer to God and that this salvation is a gift.  Everyone can have this gift from you and me to Nancy Pelosi and Charles Manson alike.  We can do nothing to merit a gift of this magnitude but we can succumb to the evil in the world and find ourselves rejecting God because we want what we want when we want it. We live such insular lives today and its easy to live subtly apart from others by having our noses buried in our I Pods, Computers, Television, Cable TV, Walkmans, Cell phones, and the internet and not realize that we have lost an authentic sense of community.  Our techno toys can sometimes make other people seem, unnecessary. 

Maybe the best application I can make is to do the little things like skipping “drive thru’s” of any ilk and instead go into the store and speak to a person, in person!  I need to remember that the content of what’s “on the air” can be quite bad and counterproductive and therefore I must be very selective in what I expose myself to that is floating around out there “on the air.” Jesus would not drift thru life being oblivious to others by immersing himself in his favorite music, TV, internet sites and email 24/7.  I know more and more people who do.  I don’t have to take after them.

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the precious blood of Jesus who has redeemed me and made me fully a part of your family.  As I walk among my brothers and sisters, whom you love and were made in your image: May I be wary of the evil that exists in our present culture without becoming cynical or unloving of people ensnared by our media culture.  May my walk in you inspire others to consider carefully all the messages and the source of too many messages today and insist on entertainment that is wholesome and information that is true.

In the name of Jesus I pray

Amen

S.O.A.P.     SCRIPTURE, OBSERVATION, APPLICATION, PRAYER

Ephesians 1

 

SCRIPTURE:

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

 

11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory.

 

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

NIV

OBSERVATION:

God intended for us to be saved through Jesus Christ from before the world was formed. He literally predestined us to be sons and daughters of God before the creation of the planet. We are a part of God’s family. This was the result of a free gift of salvation through Jesus and his death on the cross. It was his plan from the beginning to reconcile all things to himself through Jesus.  When we believe in Jesus we are marked with a seal that is the Holy Spirit and the presence in us of the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation on the day when God settles all accounts with mankind.

The spirit of wisdom and revelation help you to know God better. The spirit of an enlightened heart can access hope, and teach us the value of church and Christian fellowship, and the incomparable power of God to help his believers.  Nothing is impossible to God not even raising someone from the dead.

Jesus is far above the angelic orders to say nothing of man.  God has given him everything including us who make up the church and the body of Christ.

APPLICATION:

When I am occasionally drawn to cynicism and despair about what’s going on in the world today I can remember that before the world was formed God adopted me as a son an made provision for me to freely become a member of his family and bestow on me the Holy Spirit so I can know that my sins have been covered. I can remember that an enlightened heart is evidenced by attending church and hanging out with other Christians, and that an enlightened heart can access miracles through the power of God and that an enlightened heart is one that HOPES.  Hope is the antidote to cynicism and worries about the price of gas, food prices and whatever else.  FROM BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD GOD MADE PROVISIONS FOR ME TO COME THROUGH LIFE VICTORIOUS BY BELIVING IN JESUS CHRIST. Now that is an encouraging thought. My belief in Jesus is the foundation of my future with God.

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, thank you for forgiving my sins. By the sacrifice of your son, Jesus, whose name is above all others on earth or heaven you washed me clean and added me to your family. Words can’t express my gratitude for what Jesus did for me. When I accepted Jesus I became your son and you became my father. I want to feast on your word in scripture and by relationships with Christian people and to be a man of Hope as well as truth. I know that nothing is impossible for God and I believe it in my heart and so hope is my constant companion through life.  Thank you lord and may hope teach me that miracles happen and to focus on all the good things too.  Through the name of Jesus I pray.

Amen

 

S.O.A.P    SCRIPUTRE, OBSERVATION, APPLICATION, PRAYER

Have You Seen My Mahdi? Ahmadinejad Searches For His Mahdi

Searching for the Madhi

           

 

And now for a little Islamic End Times prophesy: While Christians wait for the Rapture and the Second Coming and the Jews wait for the Messiah our Islamic neighbors wait for the Mahdi.  The Mahdi is the Islamic version of a savior who will become like a worldwide Pope for Islam and be a descendant of Muhammad.  Just when the earth enters some period of unrivaled chaos the Mahdi, who is also a sort of super general and political quiz kid will come and make war and concur all the unbelievers.  Then he will establish peace and justice for everyone and will usher in a time of plenty and be loved by all.  But first he has some infidel butt to kick and he needs to settle the score with the Jews in the last battle against the Jews.  Once everyone else is wiped out or converted then it’s one big peaceful Islamic world and everyone will love the Mahdi.

        Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, our little friend in the Members Only Jacket, who’s so intent on obtaining nuclear weapons, is said to be a true believer in the Mahdi to the point where he’s looking around at any and every way to create the necessary planetary chaos that will give rise to the Mahdi’s return. And who is his chief ally in this quest?  Who is giving him nuclear assistance and weapons systems to deter the best the US and Israel have to offer?  Who is warning the US and Israel about setting the world on fire if Israel attacks Iran? Monaco?  No.  Russia.

           

            Our Russian friends seem bent on affirming that Ahmadinejad wants to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and the west just misunderstands him and so is being unfair in denying Iran this peaceful energy technology. Why is Russia doing this?  What do they hope to accomplish by either allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons or by forcing Israel to attack and destroy the Iranian nuclear sites?  Does Vladimir Putin not realize just how crazy Ahmadinejad and his Fundamentalist Islamic buddies truly are?  What is it that has so captured the Russian leader’s attention that it would arm an obvious crazy like our friend Mahmoud? 

 

            OIL.

 

            If recent events have taught us anything, it’s that the entire world, as we know it, runs on oil, and that whoever controls the oil and its distribution controls the world.  Cut off the oil from the western democracies and the capitalists of America and the socialists of Europe would see their economies collapse overnight.  What does Iran and the Arab Middle East have that Russia could covet to this degree?  What has Russia looking agog at the Middle East?  If the Russians, who have considerable, amounts of oil themselves, were to control access to Middle East oil the Russians could squeeze the world economies at will and essentially have the wealth to maintain the stature it believes it should have. Oil is wealth beyond imagination as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States have demonstrated.  Oil is power to control the western democracies because it’s their very life blood and oil is the opium of the new emerging nations especially China and India. Emerging nations must have oil to realize their dreams of development and modernity.  Oil is the key to unmatched power, influence and wealth. 

 

 

The World Runs on Oil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Why do the Russian think it’s so in their interest to support the hapless Ahmadinejad to the point of giving the guy time and assistance to develop nuclear weapons?  If Mahmoud is successful he would destroy Israel and the thus the west’s best friend in the region.  If the Middle East catches fire the demand for Russian oil goes through the roof and Russia comes out the big winner. If the region maintains its craziness with Iran and Israel glaring at each other than the price of oil remains high and again Russia wins. Everybody wants oil and conflict in the Middle East keeps the prices high, the supply uncertain and keeps the money flowing into Russia.  Who cares enough to share this vital technology with Muslims?  Russia.  Who is on the side of the Muslims who have all that oil?  Russia.  Who helps them defy the US and Israel, the big and little Satan respectively? Russia.  If you’re a crazy Arab then you must think those Russians are just wonderful!   Makes you want to cooperate with oil rich Russia just to put the screws to the West again!  Why shouldn’t they pay through the nose for Middle East Oil?

 

            So Ahmadinejad needs chaos in the world to advance the coming of the Mahadi and the existence of the Jewish State has long proved a convenient excuse to keep the hatred at a fever pitch.  They are assisted in this quest for chaos by their good friends the Russians who worship only money and power and who would doubtless shoot the Mahadi if they saw him. The West is in the position of having to attack or have Israel attack Iran because the only thing worse then attacking Iran right now would be a Nuclear Iran terrorizing the region with atomic weapons.  The emerging nations of the world led by China keep a weather eye pealed and fixed on the Middle East lest their dreams of development and modern standards of living go up in smoke.  Chaos serves Iran, Islam and the Russians and everyone is looking for a way to control it and protect their national interests except for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: He just wants his Mahdi.

China Becomes the King of the East: Military Buildup Continues Amid Olympics Games.

 

 

Chinese military build up continues

Adolph Hitler hosted the Olympics just before he became the belligerent little fellow who set the world on fire.  I can’t help but see parallels between the Hitler of yesteryear and the China of today.  Unfortunately the weapons of today make Hitler’s panzers and air force look like toys in comparison. A war weary world looked the other way as Hitler developed his military machine in contravention of the Treaty of Versailles. Today our childlike, overfed and utterly self involved baby-boomers pioneer ignoring China because they don’t want to acknowledge China’s obvious intentions:  They’re planning for a war we won’t admit is coming! Like Hitler China is going to put on a show about how much progress has been made during the Olympics and like Hitler, they’re going to make a play for world domination in the years to come.  To coin a phrase, they need “breathing room” rather desperately.

             They need Oil, Food, Land, Jobs, and losing a couple of hundred million people in a war to get these things might be an equitable trade.  China is a powder keg and neither Mutually Assured Destruction doctrines nor some new Ronald Reagan is going to peacefully defuse the dragon that is China. China is a sea of humanity that has been introduced to western materialism and has no intentions of going back to rickshaws instead of Chevys and an abacus instead of the Latest Dell Laptop. The people of China would like to join the west in the twenty-first century but the sheer number of the Chinese people makes that impossible. 

          Something has to give in order to resolve the myriad problems of employment, consumerism, health care, pollution, food production, oil supply, water supply, just to name a few.  The home of the largest population on Earth has become a planetary toxic waste dump as the air, water and land become more polluted and unlivable by the day. Their economy continues to boom but the money is being used to build a military, certainly a navy that can challenge the USA for control of the seas.  To support this economic expansion, and its military expansion, the Chinese need oil to fuel the factories and its fledgling middle class.  We all know the effect that’s having on the world economies as the Chinese develop an insatiable taste for oil. There is no going back because China would revolt it the government tried to take back its economic reforms. 

 

 

Suprise Suprise

 

 

 

I read a report that U.S. Navy officials just about had a collective heart attack when a Chinese Sub surfaced in the middle of an American Aircraft Carrier Task Force having eluded detection by at least a dozen US Warships. They were in the Pacific Ocean engaged in exercises and out of nowhere a Chinese Sub surfaces in their midst that had been undetected. Since then the emerging consensus is that the Chinese subs are able to “shadow” our fleets in a not so subtle message that the Pacific is their lake and we should think twice about playing on their side of the lake. I expect it was quite a wakeup call for the American Navy but the American People, as usual, slept through this interesting development. 

          Remember the recent shooting down of an old satellite by the Chinese who wanted to both test its Anti satellite capabilities and advertise its seeming resolve to control access to space above China should it be deemed necessary. More people seem to be aware of this one and our own American Government sent the Chinese a nasty note over the incident.  The Chinese are serious about control of space because so many of our smart weapons and intelligence capabilities, to say nothing of communications and navigation are dependent on space based assets that without them we might be blind and impotent rather abruptly. The control of space is the high ground of today and the foreseeable future and the nation who controls the high ground may well find itself in position to dictate terms to those who do not.  The Chinese are ever active and very aggressive in this new undeclared space race that they are running and we are ignoring. 

          Perhaps the most intriguing element of the new Chinese War Fighting tactics, and certainly the most belligerent, is the aggressive gains made by China in Cyber-Warfare. The Chinese have been going crazy hacking into every western nations computers.  They don’t just hack the western military but all the infrastructure as well; banks, power grids, transportation grids, railways, you name it: the Chinese have hacked it.  And denied it, of course.  The Chinese are hacking into the pentagon, congress, the white house, the military all the time and it’s clear that cyber-warfare is going to be a big component of the Chinese version of “Blitzkrieg”.  Its not just the USA but virtually every western and developed nation including India and Japan.  Its becoming a world joke how the Chinese are into everyone’s computers and the damage they cause.  This is a branch of the Chinese Military who has the greatest computer hacking warriors in the world.

          Look at the manufacturing base the world has willingly outsourced to China!  They deal with the pollution and sell us the products cheap to keep the outsourcing coming their way!  Look at the money they have!  China holds enough US Dollars to create a currency crisis for the dollar all on its own and we clearly have to add economic warfare capabilities to Chinas impressive resume. Thanks to the Clinton Administrations idiotic policies the Chinese have made tremendous strides in nuclear weapons, missile technology, computer technology whose new capabilities close the gap with the west in general and the USA in particular.

          The fascinating part is that no one seems to have noticed.  China keeps feeding the world manufacturing things and growing its economy and its military capabilities while the world ignores the import of what’s going on in China.  I guess the best analogy I can make is too a recent situation in which the USA woke up one day and found that Oil prices were so high and supplies in the hands of such anti Americans that overnight the American economy found a gun to its head that it couldn’t do anything about.  Don’t you hate it when that happens?  Like our surprise at an oil crisis we have manufactured for ourselves with our own arrogance, shortsightedness and uncompromising environmental ideology.  Even as we struggle with Energy Policy we’re busy pretending China is not up to something very unsavory.  How many times do we have to learn this lesson?  Who was it who said that the price of liberty was eternal vigilance?

          Enjoy the Olympic Games!  We in the west love our games and we play them constantly and give them a prominence in our world they don’t merit.  We like to win these games and we polish the shiny medals we’re awarded whereas the Chinese don’t play as many games but when they do they tend to be very single minded and they play for keeps.  Most Americans are concerned how we will compete at the poll vault, gymnastics, swimming races and winning a bunch of footraces: While the Chinese host the spectacle of athletic completion the game of military completion goes on beneath the surface.  The Chinese are playing this game with a single-mindedness and determination far beyond what we in the west are capable of, amid our many luxuries, and they’re playing with some intention in mind.  This is the only game we should be concerned with but the world, as it did with Hitler, wants to enjoy the spectacle of the games while their Chinese host continues preparations for some future event for which only they will be prepared.