Okay. If you insist, it is on account of the
incredible trumpet playing that I love this song. No, it has nothing to do with the overt
invitations. Perhaps it makes me a
colorist, but I do not find girls who can change colors with their mood very
attractive. Sorry.
From what
I understand of Florida’s [Stand Your Ground] law, it allows someone to use
deadly force whenever they feel threatened, regardless of where they are. Being a self-confessed gun nut, whose neck
has glowed (both literally and figuratively) with a particularly bright shade
of red at times, I like it. For I have
always had a serious problem with having to wait until the bad guy is actually
in my house before I can take measures to protect my family and our property, and
woe be it unto me if they were to get back outside before expiring.
No, that
doesn’t sound like a very “Christian” attitude, but it’s the truth. For as I have been quite forthcoming about on
many an occasion, our Heavenly Father has left far too much of “me” intact for
my comfort.
On the
other hand, He has made it abundantly clear unto me that there are times when turn the other cheek doesn’t apply, and
if we will listen, He will tell us when those times are. In other words, none of us has to depend upon
our own understanding of His Holy Scriptures, nor the teaching of others not so
unlike ourselves, to know what to do.
Oh, but
after the senseless slaying of [Trayvon Martin], some adjustments to the
Florida law is most definitely needed.
For regular people should be held to at least close to the same standard
as police officers in determining whether the use (or attempted use) of deadly
force was warranted—especially when an incident happened on neutral ground.
Alas, I
really hate it when some idiot ruins a good thing for the rest of us. For the murder (yeah, I said it) of Trayvon
has the lily-livered liberals screaming about rednecks wanting a return to frontier
justice, which will undoubtedly lead to another big push to take away our right
to bear arms. It’s a good thing it’s an
election year (naturally-speaking, of course).
The title
to this piece is meant as a tip of the hat to [Good Morning, Vietnam]. Yeah, it is confusing to me, as well.
Nonetheless,
it shouldn’t be confusing to anyone that Afghanistan has become Vietnam all
over again for us. For the vicious cycle
of secure--withdraw--re-secure of territory keeps being repeated at great cost to both lives and funds.
I suppose
I still have some blind patriotism left in me.
For I do not consider Vietnam as being a lost war, but it sure was a
humiliating mistake. For after all of
the napalm and agent orange had cleared from the air, even someone as
conservatively cross-eyed as I used to be could see that many in the south had been
playing one side against the other, and that the North Vietnamese weren’t about
to take their marching orders from the Soviet Union—let alone communist China.
Hence,
another Vietnam all over again in Afghanistan thing.
For President Karzai has been screaming for us to get out of his country
in an effort to appease the Taliban, and since we can’t just kill them all, it
is time to leave before the getting’ gets worse.
Sorry,
some of “me” came out in that last part.
For I know that it would not be good for us to kill everyone in the
region without caring about who was what, but the longer we leave our troops
there as target practice for the enemy, who may have been considered friends
just the day before, the more we will be hearing about massacres of innocents
by the hands of those who were once innocent themselves.
Oh, and
brace yourself for what will happen if SSgt. Bales is not quickly (we are
talking about in less than a month here) sentenced to death, which would be a
great tragedy in and of itself—regardless of how long it takes. For there is not a doubt in my mind that he
was not at all in control of his actions, but try telling that to a Afghanistan
tribesman, who has grew up with blood for blood being a given.
No, I don’t
think we will have to wait for a verdict.
For spiriting Bales out of the country is another decision that the ones
who ran the show in Vietnam could appreciate.
What is
even more horrifying to me is that there are still thousands upon thousands (if
not millions upon millions) who hang on her every word in the hope of learning
how to save our country from the evils of liberalism. Why?
Seriously, would someone please help me understand?
I
couldn’t find the image that I wanted to, and I don’t know where it could be
found. For I first saw it as part of a
television news story about families trying to pick up the pieces of their shattered
lives after tornadoes swept across parts of Alabama, Illinois, Indiana,
Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee around a week ago.
Anyway,
what was pointed out to me in this image was clean concrete blocks piled on the
floor of what used to be someone’s living room.
No, there wouldn’t be anything too unusual about something like that in
the aftermath of a direct hit from a fairly large tornado. That is, except for the part about the blocks
previously being a part of the outside wall of the house, and being clean—as in
not having any mortar still clinging to them.
After
seeing footage of the utter destruction of several very substantial-looking
houses, the thought had zipped through more than once, but it was seeing
an unintentional close-up of those clean concrete blocks that caused me to
start paying closer attention to the possibility that much of the damage being more a
result of poor construction than the power of the storm. For I know for a fact that many homes in the last 10 years or so have
been built with only their weight keeping them on their foundations, and using
only enough mortar to keep bricks, blocks and flagstones standing fairly
straight until the interior walls are up to provide more bracing would not be out
of the question for an unscrupulous contractor trying to make as much profit as
possible.
In all
fairness, there were several older building also utterly destroyed, and one
would assume that they were built better during a time when integrity was taken
a little more seriously than it has been lately. Ah, but one of the most destructive things
about a tornado is debris being hurled about, and when one of even the
lighter-weighted (around 30 pounds) cinder blocks hits the outside wall of a
100 year-old court house at over 130 miles-per-hour, something has to give.
The first
few times I tried listening to [Rush Limbaugh] on the radio back when I was
trucking all over the place, I just couldn’t do it. For I found so much of what he had to say
simply appalling.
The first
few times? Hey, it can get awfully
boring out there after you have had your fill of what the advertisements say is
the freedom of the open road, and after hearing some sort of reference to
Limbaugh almost everywhere else I could land on the AM/FM dial, my curiosity
continued to be piqued.
Anyway,
it finally “dawned” on me that most of his outrageous comments were meant to be
funny, and I quickly became a devout ditto-head, which is Rush-speak for a huge
fan. For I have a rather twisted
sense-of-humor by nature.
Oh, but
it was not meant to last. For after our
Heavenly Father started making Himself real to me, which involved enabling me to
recognize things through His eyes, it became easier and easier for me to see
that what Rush Limbaugh wanted and what our Heavenly Father wanted were two
completely different things.
Alas,
Rush got me again. On second thought,
maybe it was my Heavenly Father? Anyway,
I got sucked into the outrage over what he had to say about Sandra Fluke, and
it had to be pointed out to me that he was trying to be funny again, which came
days before Limbaugh made his public apology.
Yeah, I
had to laugh—both at being so slow, and at what Rush had done. For that rather twisted sense-of-humor of
mine is still firmly intact. Woe is me.
Have we really become so arrogant (as a nation) that it is beneath us to apologize for
making a mistake? From the howls of
protest coming from sea to shining sea over our president making a public
apology to the Afghan people for the accidental(?) burning of some Qurans and religious
texts while cleaning out a library on a military base in the country, it would
seem that we have.
As indicated, there is
another thing about the incident that bothers me. For what were we doing burning books of any kind in the
first-place?
No, the
violent reaction of the Afghan people is certainly not helping. For with them rioting in the streets and
murdering U.S. servicemen, they just bolster the resolve of those who think
that we have not done anything to apologize for.
Ah,
but there is a warning in place that we would do well to heed. For it is written: Pride goeth before destruction, and a
haughty spirit before a fall. [Proverbs 16:18 KJV]
[The Amish] is a wonderfully (and sometimes painfully) honest documentary of a way
of life that seems to be in more danger of dying away than ever before, and I
must admit that I have greatly conflicting emotions about that. For on the one hand, there is so much to be
admired about such a simple way of life, but on the other hand, the Amish are a
cult in every sense of the word.
Did you
notice that I did not include humble with simple as a description of the Amish
way of life? There is a good reason for that—be assured. For they are quite proud of their
stand against the modern world.
No, I do
not believe that you will ever hear one of them say as much, but it’s clearly
evident if you listen close enough. Of
course, if I am listening to the wrong voice, woe be it unto me.
As if we
did not have enough going on already, another political firestorm is
threatening to burn out of control. It
started with the remark from Rick Santorum about President Obama being guided
by a phony theology, and then more fuel was added by Rev. Franklin Graham.
I missed
the last part of the interview when it was being initially aired, but I heard
enough to be fairly disgusted with the way the panelists were trying to get
Rev. Graham to come right out and say that President Obama is not really a
Christian, along with being fairly impressed with the way Rev. Graham refused
to go there. Oh, but they backdoored him
in the part that I missed. For instead
sticking with answering their questions about whether or not Rick Santorum,
Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney were Christians by saying that they would have to
ask them about that, he came right out and said that Santorum and Gingrich were
while saying of Romney, “Christians would not recognize Mormonism as being of
the Christian faith.”
Did I
miss the memo? For Rev. Graham is
supposed to be a Protestant while Santorum and Gingrich are avowed Catholics,
which used to make them unrecognizable to each other. For Protestants are supposed to believe that
we are saved by grace through faith alone while Catholics are supposed to
believe that the sacrifice that Christ Jesus made for us did not pay the price
in full.
Yes, I
understand that the baptismal waters have been becoming steadily more murky for
several years now, but I thought there was still as much of a distinction
between Protestantism and Catholicism as there was for Mormonism? Yes, it matters.
Besides,
what does theology have to do with politics in the minds of most in the
Christian community today, anyway? For
it has been widely taught that our Heavenly Father has very little (if anything
at all) with the daily affairs of this world, which most certainly covers
politics.
So, why
is this a news story in the first place—let alone the beginning of another
political firestorm? Again, it matters.
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their
mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human
rules they have been taught. Therefore
once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of
the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish. Woe to those who go to great depths to hide
their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, ‘Who sees
us? Who will know?’ You turn things
upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who
formed it, ‘You did not make me?’ Can
the pot say to the potter, ‘You know nothing?’” [Isaiah 29:13-16 NIV]
If you happen to be one of the 27 who hasn’t heard
yet, [Whitney Houston] was found dead in her hotel room yesterday afternoon,
and if you are one of the 5 who are not aware of her epic struggles with drug
addiction the last several years of her life, the cause of her death is yet to
be determined. May she rest in peace.
It
is said that silence is golden, and many in the Christian community have been
led to believe that this applies to dealing with those who oppose them in some
way or another. For it is written: Do not answer a
fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. [Proverbs 26:4 NIV]
Ah, but what about the very next verse? For it is also written: Answer a fool according to his folly, or he
will be wise in his own eyes.[Proverbs 26:5 NIV]
Could this be a contradiction? No, not at all. For the fourth verse is referring to getting
down in the gutter with someone instead of taking the high road while the fifth
verse is addressing what can happen if we choose to ignore an opportunity to
serve.
Tragically, far too many have been to led to
believe that our Heavenly Father is rather indifferent and distant—certainly
not very personable and having been actually there with each and every one of
us since the womb. Subsequently, they
see nothing wrong with thinking that it is not worth their time to try to
reason with someone who does not want to accept what they are presenting.
Some take it a step or two farther by being careful
to not throw their [pearls before swine] in the first-place.
Ah, but are we not all naturally swine in comparison to our Heavenly
Father’s Holiness, and yet, He keeps giving us as much of Himself as we are
willing take?
Quite simply, it all comes down to love—His love,
to be exact. For who in their right-mind
can honestly say that they are being led by His love while remaining silent as they
watch the blind being led by the blind toward a bottomless pit?
The
following is an ad for [Randall Terry], who is running as a Democrat for the
office of the president of the United States of America. One of the main platforms to his campaign is
a repeal of [Roe vs. Wade], which is the United States Supreme Court decision
that legalized abortions in this country.
Subsequently, since he is afforded the same considerations as any other legitimate
candidate running for president, that extremely graphic ad will be allowed to
be aired during the Super Bowl, this coming Sunday, February 5, 2012.
To be
quite honest about it, I am torn on the issue.
For I despise the airing of something so graphic.
On the
other hand, an abortion is indeed murder, and anyone who can stomach more than
a few seconds of the ad will not be able to honestly say that it isn’t. I only made it around 10 seconds, and I hope
NBC will air some kind of warning just before it airs so that parents can at
least cover the eyes of their small children—if not get them out of the room.
The clip
above was taken from “Rocks and Shoals,” which is the second episode of the
sixth season of the [Star Trek Deep Space Nine] series. To give you a little context, if you are not
already familiar with the episode, the Star Fleet contingent have crash-landed
on an unchartered planet, and they soon discover that they are not alone. For a Jem’Hadar ship, who are the
monstrous-looking non-Star Fleet warriors, had also crash-landed there several
weeks before, and their Vorta, who is of another species, had made a deal with
Captain Sisko to get rid of them out of fear of them killing him after the drug
that is used to control them runs out.
On the
other hand, I suppose none of that really matters. For what I would like for you to focus upon
is what the Jem’Hadar leader told Captain Sisko at around the 2:57 mark.
Alas, if
only I could be so simple-minded, which is not at all insulting in this
case. For there that Jem’Hadar was with
an option to save his life, and the life of his men (so to speak), but he was
locked onto what he considered to be the simple truth to their existence, which
is that it was not their lives to give, and it never was.
You see,
the Jem’Hadar had been created by the Founders, who are another species, to
serve as both their protectors and shock troops in their quest to rule over as
much of the galaxy as possible. Are we
any different? That is, at least in
regards to being created beings, and subject to the will of our Creator?
No, that
is not something that far too many (both inside and outside of the Christian
community) want to focus upon. Count me
as being one of them far too often. For
I want things to go my way at times, and I do not believe that anyone has ever
had a thing on me when it comes to throwing genuine hissy-fits.
Yes, I am
quite sure that my life would be much better if I could just resist having
expectations. For when they are not met,
I usually dive to the bottom of deep, dark depression.
No, this
is not to say that we should not want more of what our Heavenly Father wants us
to have—especially in regards to experiencing more and more of a very close and
personal relationship with Him, but even that can be taken too far. For He is not one to cheat anyone out of anything,
and bitter complaints will not force His hand.
Of
course, the pain from my physical ailments would remain. On the other hand, what if they are really
just a result of my belligerence, and if I would just try harder to be a better son, maybe I won't have to hurt so badly?
Yeah, here
I go, circling the proverbial drain again.
Woe is me.
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.
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.
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]
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.
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.
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.
This site is meant to present as many views as possible of what we may want to believe is the truth about a number of subjects. For the more closely we seek to examine such, the closer we can come to accepting what our Heavenly Father actually says is absolutely true. For He will be there to counter what is not right, and He truly is interested in every aspect of our daily lives. Ah, but who is so deaf as the one who does not want to hear?
No, this is not for just articles about the possibility of us truly being in the end times. For it has been personally revealed to me that every day in this world is one of tribulation. In fact, even what we would naturally consider to be the best of lives is absolutely miserable in comparison to the worst of lives in our Heavenly Father’s Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, be assured that this is a place for articles on politics (both secular and religious), business practices, social issues, environmental concerns, as well as spiritual matters—not all from a strictly “Christian” perspective, neither.
If you would like to be a contributor, please drop me an email at FishHawk7@gmail.com. Reposting of articles that you have published elsewhere is permitted, and all rights to your own material will be retained by you. If you would like to publish something while remaining anonymous, just email it to me, and I will assign you an alias. For a small fee, I can even promise to keep your true identity a secret. (LOL?)
On the other hand, you could contribute just as much by leaving comments that will encourage further discussion, but please try to be civil. For a challenge can be made without getting ugly about it. Well, at least that is what I have heard.
