Thursday, January 26, 2012

Federal Debt Collection Efforts


Much has been made about how much hasn’t changed since President Obama took office, but it has been brought to the attention of this intrepid reporter that at least one thing has changed.  For one of the parts to the bank bail-out deal was that the Federal government would become the holder of a great many mortgages that were set to be foreclosed upon, and the following is footage caught by a cell-phone video camera of an effort to recover some of the money owed.  You can decide for yourself if this is a change for the good or not, and then cast for vote accordingly, come November.


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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Perfect For Second-Childhoods?



At first, I didn’t know what to think, but then it started getting clearer to me that this just might be about as brilliant of a marketing campaign as we have ever seen.  For with millions upon millions of baby-boomers practicing for their second-childhoods for several years now, they should be more than ready to embrace scarfing down [gummy bear vitamins] by the handfuls to help insure being around long enough to motivate younger generations to legalize mercy-killings.  Of course, mercy for whom will have to be worked out in congressional committee meetings, but as long as it cuts spending on social welfare programs, the Tea-Partiers should be all for it.

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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Worldliness


Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. [Romans 12:1-3 NIV]

It has been widely taught that the passage above is talking about resisting former bad habits, which is as it should be, but it has been personally revealed unto me by our Heavenly Father that it is also referring to thinking of what is generally considered to be spiritual matters in the eyes of this world as we naturally do.  For it is also written: We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.  The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.  The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.  The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”  But we have the mind of Christ. [1 Corinthians 2:6-16 NIV]

Alas, cannot that other part to worldliness be heard from many a pulpit far and wide?  For far too many have been led to believe that the Bible is a book of instruction that only those who have devoted their life in the study of it can be pleasing unto our Heavenly Father.

Again, this is not to say that our Heavenly Father’s Holy Bible is of no significance.  For it does indeed contain the sum-total of His Holy Scriptures, which were given to serve as written confirmation of what He wants to personally reveal to each individual, in accordance to what He wants to accomplish in and through them.

Oh, but that last part is generally ignored.  For on the rare occasion when something is said about the role of our Heavenly Father’s Holy Spirit in the day-to-day life of a believer, it is almost always just in support of what is contained in the Bible, which is the way of this world—not our Heavenly Father’s.

Yes, others have all sorts of things to say about what His Holy Spirit has personally revealed unto them—things that often smell (so to speak) much more like smoke than a sweet-smelling offering, and this is why it is so important to become as familiar with our Heavenly Father’s Holy Scriptures as He will allow and enable you to be.  For the devil and his demons are masters at making even the most wicked of things sound righteous and true.

Nonetheless, woe be it unto all who place His Holy Scriptures ahead of Him.  For they are cheating both themselves and our Heavenly Father out of the very close and personal relationship that He so very much desires to truly have with us while we are still a part of this world.  In fact, that is the only reason why He created it, and have things go as they have. 

“If you love me, keep my commands.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.  Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”  Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”  Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.  “All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. [John 14:15-26 NIV]

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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Chump Change




Is there something about that offer that you find troubling?  There is to me.  For selling a $50 coin for less than $10 certainly sounds too good to be true—especially with the price of gold reaching astronomical heights these days.

Of course, there is no way to tell for sure without doing the math, which is usually problematic for me.  For I am always forgetting to carry something, and with the untimely death of my trusty old solar-powered Casio calculator, I am forced to use either a rusty old slide-rule or a dusty old abacus.

Anyway, I endeavored to persevere, and I came up with some amazing figures.  For it turns out that there is 74 cents worth of gold in one of those $50 coins.

Yep, you read that right.

74 CENTS!!!

Meaning, that the price of gold will have to reach over $22,000.00 per troy ounce before you can recoup your investment.

Oh, but wait—there’s more!  For when you add in the shipping and handling, the price of gold will have to reach over $33,000.00 just to get back what you have spent to purchase one of the coins.

How so?  Well, as disclosed in the commercial, there are 14 milligrams of gold in those coins, and that equals .000450 troy ounces.  So, with the price of gold being $1,652.80 per troy ounce at this very moment, you get 74 cents worth of gold per coin.

Alas, I wonder how many of those coins [they] have actually sold.  One would think that they would have to be selling quite a few just to pay for the advertising.

No, I wouldn’t recommend investing in these coins.  Of course, you could always hope to find another chump needing some change.

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Jesus>Religion



Be assured that we should not be quick to throw the baby out with the bathwater (so to speak).  For the teaching of doctrine that truly is of our Heavenly Father helps to define what He wants us to know and understand about Himself and the righteousness of all of His most awesome ways.  On the other hand, without truly having a very close and personal relationship with Him, which most certainly includes actually hearing His voice, we get the mess we are now wallowing in.

P.S.: I would like to thank Dabuckna for calling attention to this.

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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Katy Perry's Parents

The first thing that I would like to make clear is that this is not meant as a condemnation of [Katy Perry’s] parents.  For it has been made all too painfully clear to me that parents can try to do everything they know to do to put their children on the right path, only to watch them head off in the opposite direction, which happens a lot to [preacher's kids].

Ah, but there is some debate on just how to do that—isn’t there?  Although, I don’t think that neither [RN], nor [Lavender Darwin], would disapprove of their efforts.  That is, unless it isn’t true that she wasn’t allowed to watch television, as reported in at least [this] article.

The following videos provide some more insights, as does [this] article.  I tried to procure the video of her dad preaching at [Church on the Rise], which is the one that helped to prompt this piece, but it was evidently taken down from the church’s site before I could.

Curiously, the video was there at first, and then it was not.  Furthermore, it seems to have been taken down from [other places], as well.







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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Trust, But Verify


Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. [Acts 17:11 NIV]

Trust, but verify was a favorite saying of [President Reagan] while dealing with the Soviets in the 1980’s.  In fact, it formed the basis for his foreign policy.

Be assured that it would do us all well to do the same when it comes to trying to discern between what is truly of our Heavenly Father and what is not.  For it is written: Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.  You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. [1 John 4:1-6 NIV]

No, He really doesn’t mind at all.  For it was for this reason that He provided us with His Holy Scriptures to serve as written confirmation of what He wants to personally reveal unto us all [2 Timothy 3:15-17 NIV].

On the other hand, woe be it unto those who refuse to accept what our Heavenly Father actually says is absolutely true.  For it is also written: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. [James 1:5-8 NIV]

No, it does not make it any easier that much of what our Heavenly Father actually says is absolutely true is quite contrary to what has been so widely taught in His name for far too long.  Compounding the problem is that far too many have been led to believe that He no longer seeks to communicate with us directly, which leaves them to conclude that wisdom must be gleaned from their own understanding of what His Holy Scriptures are really saying.

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Roll Tide/War Eagle


It is said that college football is a religion down in the deep south, which made the comment about Alabama and Auburn fans being like the Israelis and Palestinians all the more poignant.  After seeing this film, you might have a better understanding, but even after experiencing it all too up-close and personally, it still hard to believe.



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Monday, January 2, 2012

My 2012 Resolution


After hours of careful (agonizing, actually) consideration, I do hereby resolve to follow Mr. Rundgren’s example for the following year.  Needless to say, it was a no-brainer.


My Heavenly Father will undoubtedly have something else in mind, of course.  Sigh.

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