I don't really have any reason to post this picture, except I want to. I don't have anything profound to say. I guess I could say "album art has come a long way".
Friday, July 31, 2009
You can download John Piper's book "Filling Up The Afflictions of Christ", as study of several missionaries, free. Yes, free. Go here. It is in "pdf" format, so you'll need Adobe Reader, which you can also download for free.
Think of it as your Spiritual Stimulus Package.
Think of it as your Spiritual Stimulus Package.
Nissan has an electric car! It looks like the Versa but is completely electric. And it is a plug in. You park it at night and plug it in to recharge it. A cool bonus is you can program it from your smart phone. That means you can program it to charge only after peak demand for electricity subsides.
I'd like to have an electric car to drive to work. I'm tired of paying money to people who kill my friends. The help to the environment is gravy.
If I get one, I'm going to put a picture of Osama bin Ladin on the back glass with a read circle around him and a slash. (I threw that last sentence in just in case you thought my desire for an electric car meant I was evolving as a human being.)
I'd like to have an electric car to drive to work. I'm tired of paying money to people who kill my friends. The help to the environment is gravy.
If I get one, I'm going to put a picture of Osama bin Ladin on the back glass with a read circle around him and a slash. (I threw that last sentence in just in case you thought my desire for an electric car meant I was evolving as a human being.)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
REVEREND IKE TO FIND OUT WHAT THE GOSPEL REALLY IS
The New York Times reports that Reverend Ike is dead.
When I was of high school age in the late 1960's, I sometimes listened to the Reverend Ike on the radio late at night. We moved a lot, and a lot of the time I had insomnia, so I would listen to the radio at night, turning the volume so long only I could hear it on the clock radio next to my head.
Back then we only had AM stations as far as I knew. Late at night, the less powerful stations would fade away and powerful stations, especially clear channel stations, could be heard from far away. Many of the broadcasts were religious.
I had nothing else to do.
Ike's full name, it turns out, was Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II. He was loud and made a lot of bold assertions about his power to heal and make you rich. I remember him selling prayer cloths. Once, he evidently had a revival tent of some sort. He cut it up into pieces. If you sent in an offering, he would send you a piece of the tent as a prayer cloth.
He promised he would wear each piece next to his body, then you could wear it next to your body and be healed. I remember he said "bod-day", as in "I will wear it next to my bod-day, and when you wear it next to your bod-day, you will be healed of any disease in your bod-day."
Ironically, even as a teenager, I never took him seriously, thinking he was a con man or, as we called it in West Texas, a snake oil salesman. Yet, enough people believed him, or hoped, to send him millions of money to heal them or make them rich.
It turns out, old Ike also was one of the original prosperity preachers, long before I even knew what that was. Even as a teenager I had the Puritan work ethic deeply instilled. Prosperity came to those who worked hard, not those who mailed in money to radio preachers in some sort of celestial lottery. And you did not really seek to be rich, just comfortable.
Ike called his "theology" a “positive self-image psychology”. I'm wondering if Joel O'Steen was listening, too.
Even the New York Times realizes the so called prosperity gospel contradicts the Bible. They said "The philosophy held that St. Paul was wrong; that the root of all evil is not the love of money, but rather the lack of it." Why is that the NYT can see this but the modern Pentecostal church cannot?
Here is another quote that would ring today on so called Christian television: “This is the do-it-yourself church. “The only savior in this philosophy is God in you.”
Like many modern televangelists, he flaunted his wealth with expensive cars, houses and clothes. In contrast, Jesus told a rich young man to sell all he had and follow Christ. He also said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
I guess Ike knows by now. He died rich, but he is still dead and facing his eternal fate. Ike had his own take on that. He said “If it’s that difficult for a rich man to get into heaven, think how terrible it must be for a poor man to get in. He doesn’t even have a bribe for the gatekeeper.” I always heard you cannot take it with you. So, I'm not sure how you can bribe the gate keeper.
One way or another, Ike knows.
The New York Times reports that Reverend Ike is dead.
When I was of high school age in the late 1960's, I sometimes listened to the Reverend Ike on the radio late at night. We moved a lot, and a lot of the time I had insomnia, so I would listen to the radio at night, turning the volume so long only I could hear it on the clock radio next to my head.
Back then we only had AM stations as far as I knew. Late at night, the less powerful stations would fade away and powerful stations, especially clear channel stations, could be heard from far away. Many of the broadcasts were religious.
I had nothing else to do.
Ike's full name, it turns out, was Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II. He was loud and made a lot of bold assertions about his power to heal and make you rich. I remember him selling prayer cloths. Once, he evidently had a revival tent of some sort. He cut it up into pieces. If you sent in an offering, he would send you a piece of the tent as a prayer cloth.
He promised he would wear each piece next to his body, then you could wear it next to your body and be healed. I remember he said "bod-day", as in "I will wear it next to my bod-day, and when you wear it next to your bod-day, you will be healed of any disease in your bod-day."
Ironically, even as a teenager, I never took him seriously, thinking he was a con man or, as we called it in West Texas, a snake oil salesman. Yet, enough people believed him, or hoped, to send him millions of money to heal them or make them rich.
It turns out, old Ike also was one of the original prosperity preachers, long before I even knew what that was. Even as a teenager I had the Puritan work ethic deeply instilled. Prosperity came to those who worked hard, not those who mailed in money to radio preachers in some sort of celestial lottery. And you did not really seek to be rich, just comfortable.
Ike called his "theology" a “positive self-image psychology”. I'm wondering if Joel O'Steen was listening, too.
Even the New York Times realizes the so called prosperity gospel contradicts the Bible. They said "The philosophy held that St. Paul was wrong; that the root of all evil is not the love of money, but rather the lack of it." Why is that the NYT can see this but the modern Pentecostal church cannot?
Here is another quote that would ring today on so called Christian television: “This is the do-it-yourself church. “The only savior in this philosophy is God in you.”
Like many modern televangelists, he flaunted his wealth with expensive cars, houses and clothes. In contrast, Jesus told a rich young man to sell all he had and follow Christ. He also said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
I guess Ike knows by now. He died rich, but he is still dead and facing his eternal fate. Ike had his own take on that. He said “If it’s that difficult for a rich man to get into heaven, think how terrible it must be for a poor man to get in. He doesn’t even have a bribe for the gatekeeper.” I always heard you cannot take it with you. So, I'm not sure how you can bribe the gate keeper.
One way or another, Ike knows.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
MORE THOUGHTS ON HEALTHCARE REFORM
As more and more people study the healthcare reform package, more and more people find out they do not like it. One group that does not like it is senior citizens.
James Carville's Democracy Corps is a firm that does public opinion polls. You know Carville as the liberal Democrat campaign manager and pundit. Knowing who he is, you know there is no “conservative bias” in the poll.
The poll found that 54 percent of senior citizens oppose the healthcare reform legislation. Further, 40 percent oppose it "strongly."
The reason Seniors oppose the plan is that it moves the government’s expenditure on health care from the elderly to the young. The President wants to provide full and free healthcare to 43 million uninsured Americans. That costs a great deal of money. To raise that money, the President wants to cut the Medicare and Medicaid programs by $500 billion. This will be devastating to the more than one-third of senior citizens who depend on those two programs for their healthcare.
You may have noticed over the last few years the development of euthanasia and assisted suicide as societal benefit measures. That is, kill or assist the suicide of those who are no longer “productive” in society. Think of Hitler with the Jews and others he did not think were a benefit to society, and replace them with the old and sick. The Netherlands engages in similar programs for the elderly and many have considered it.
The President intends to appoint a panel of experts to decide who gets health care and how much. This is based on the British model. So, if you need heart surgery to survive, but the panel of experts decides you are not worth it, you get to die for your country.
The President has candidly stated that the panel would closely examine the chronically ill and the aged because they consume 80 percent of the total health care resources.
As more and more people study the healthcare reform package, more and more people find out they do not like it. One group that does not like it is senior citizens.
James Carville's Democracy Corps is a firm that does public opinion polls. You know Carville as the liberal Democrat campaign manager and pundit. Knowing who he is, you know there is no “conservative bias” in the poll.
The poll found that 54 percent of senior citizens oppose the healthcare reform legislation. Further, 40 percent oppose it "strongly."
The reason Seniors oppose the plan is that it moves the government’s expenditure on health care from the elderly to the young. The President wants to provide full and free healthcare to 43 million uninsured Americans. That costs a great deal of money. To raise that money, the President wants to cut the Medicare and Medicaid programs by $500 billion. This will be devastating to the more than one-third of senior citizens who depend on those two programs for their healthcare.
You may have noticed over the last few years the development of euthanasia and assisted suicide as societal benefit measures. That is, kill or assist the suicide of those who are no longer “productive” in society. Think of Hitler with the Jews and others he did not think were a benefit to society, and replace them with the old and sick. The Netherlands engages in similar programs for the elderly and many have considered it.
The President intends to appoint a panel of experts to decide who gets health care and how much. This is based on the British model. So, if you need heart surgery to survive, but the panel of experts decides you are not worth it, you get to die for your country.
The President has candidly stated that the panel would closely examine the chronically ill and the aged because they consume 80 percent of the total health care resources.
Friday, July 24, 2009
NORTH KOREA BELIEVES IN THE POWER OF THE BIBLE.
The North Korean government, such that it is, has publicly executed a Christian woman for distributing the Bible. Her name was Ri Hyon Ok and she was only 33 years old.
Just in case public exectution was not enough deterrent, the Communists sent her parents, husband and three children to a political prison camp. We used to call them concentration camps, didn’t we.
Oddly, North Korea claims to have freedom of religion. But North Korea lies about a lot of things. The government licensed four churches. There is one Catholic, two Protestant and one Russian Orthodox. However, ordinary North Koreans cannot attend services there, just foreigners.
We in the land of the relatively free should pray for the 30,000 North Korean believers who must worship in secret to avoid death and imprisonment while we worship in air conditioned comfort in spacious buildings. We need to support our brothers and sisters in harsh places.
The North Koreans are right, however. The Bible is powerful. Let it out and see what it will do.
The North Korean government, such that it is, has publicly executed a Christian woman for distributing the Bible. Her name was Ri Hyon Ok and she was only 33 years old.
Just in case public exectution was not enough deterrent, the Communists sent her parents, husband and three children to a political prison camp. We used to call them concentration camps, didn’t we.
Oddly, North Korea claims to have freedom of religion. But North Korea lies about a lot of things. The government licensed four churches. There is one Catholic, two Protestant and one Russian Orthodox. However, ordinary North Koreans cannot attend services there, just foreigners.
We in the land of the relatively free should pray for the 30,000 North Korean believers who must worship in secret to avoid death and imprisonment while we worship in air conditioned comfort in spacious buildings. We need to support our brothers and sisters in harsh places.
The North Koreans are right, however. The Bible is powerful. Let it out and see what it will do.
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