With All Due Respect...

I borrowed the graphic from the Drudge Report, though I had to modify it a bit. Still, with fair use, I note that it came from Drudge.
I got a 'survey' from the National Republican something or other t'other day and I dutifully filled it out.
They asked for money and I said No.
They asked for $15.00 to cover their processing of the survey they had sent me.
No.
They asked me to put a stamp on the return envelope to help save them postage.
Nyet, comrade. Nyet.
Though I am not nearly perfect, though I make mistakes with the skills honed from a lifetime of being human...I didn't make this mess. Politicians broke the country, not me.
In keeping with the earlier posting about not getting into other people's business, I am butting out.
I will pay my taxed like an adult.
I will honor this country, and remain patriotic.
But I will not support politicians until they get their act together, which will probably be never.
In a country of 200 million plus souls, I'm just a drop of water in the ocean-anything I do or don't do is merely a symbolic gesture-it doesn't matter to anyone else even a single little bit. But for the sake of my conscience, I am now a conscientious objector rather than a contentious one.  May change with time,
but that is where I am now.
That graphic up in the header? Surrender and all that? It really doesn't matter anymore. They can make me pay taxes, but they can't make me care.

Long View Is Better

This little guy 50 years ago was me. Right now I sit 5.50 miles from that crabapple tree. That works out to
approximately ten years per mile. Nobody calls me 'Swifty'.
Though this post is in part about what our country is going through right now with the Affordable Care thingie, with the government shut down, with most prominent Republicans getting fitted for "Washington Generals" jerseys...I'm not going to rip or riposte the current events. But I am going to talk about stuff.
In my private library (the one with a shower and sink and...stuff) I'm reading a biography of Will Rogers.
What we are going through now isn't that different from the muck and myre that he would satire on stage
between rope tricks. But everyone has their allotted time and that's it.
My time started approx 54.75 years ago, and will continue until I get to Heaven. Or until Heaven comes to Earth with Jesus Christ.
I have no idea how much time I have left on this sullen rock. But I'm cheered to think that most of my journey is behind me. segue
Right now I exist without 'health insurance'.
I'm not against having it; I enjoyed it for many years until my job went away. COBRA would have wiped out my savings and now, with insurance skying higher and higher, I can't even afford to get dizzy, let alone sick.
It all seems a mess, but even if things get dire...we will survive. I will survive. I trust in God's Providence, which cannot be taxed or taken from me.
May God Bless us all, no exceptions~

Going Forward A Beautiful Day

Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle-both of these have been up before. Today is a beautiful day, and I'm about to go out for a walk.
I have to keep walking-my family is prone to diabetes, and I want to put it off for as long as possible.
That's my Dad up there, standing in front of a haunted house. I might tell that story closer to Halloween.
He had dementia the last five years of his life, and my mother and I had to do all of his injections and medications.
My Dad radar was pinging the other night while watching Boris Karloff in "The Comedy of Terrors"-
Boris was quite old, and his character was feeble and forgetful...as I said, pinging Dad radar.
But also, as I said above, it is a beautiful day. Go enjoy it.

“ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος·”

15But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 1 Pet 4:15 KJV

15Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 
1 Pet 4:15NASB

15If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 1 Pet 4:15 NLT

15for let none of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evil-doer, or as an inspector into other men’s matters; 1 Pet 4:15 Young’s Literal Translation

15 μὴ γάρ τις ὑμῶν πασχέτω ὡς φονεὺς ἢ κλέπτης ἢ κακοποιὸς ἢ ὡς ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος·1 Pet 4:15 Greek New Testament

I threw the Greek in there not just for fun, but also to highlight this: “ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος·”
Point one is that I am not a Bible scholar, and Greek is, well, Greek to me. But I was listening to Dr. John MacArthur, who IS a scholar, and what he said and has written about
this verse and that word has been kicking around in my head.

The word “ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος·” is similar to one used elsewhere to describe a church elder, an “Overseer”-in this case one who negatively looks over or into other peoples business.
I’ll come right out and say that the other people in this regard are non-Christians.
If Dr MacArthur is correct, in simple, though we Christians are to live quiet lives obeying
God in the culture in which we find ourselves, we are not to be rabble-rousers against the
Government under which we suffer, nor are we to bring dishonor to the name of Christ by
Getting into other peoples business.
We can speak of how WE live, but we shouldn’t try to tell non-Christians how they should live. We shouldn’t get bent out of shape because pagans are living pagan lives, as if that were remarkable.
Naturally, this is unnatural for us. We are used to speaking out, exercising our right to Free Speech.
MacArthur’s point is that though the speech may be free, though we may have freedom to do all sorts of ungodly things according to the laws of the land…we live under God’s Law, and must restrain ourselves from many sinful actions. Including, according to this verse, telling unGodly people how they should live.
I’ve been guilty of this many times here at FDW, and have railed against the Government. It never occurred to me that such actions were not fitting for a Christian.  I am a Christian first and an American second. If the meaning of this verse is as Dr MacArthur has stated, I need to keep that in mind.

No Shutdown Here, Pal!

Yah, you think you've seen it before-one of my faves for Fall, which I have past-posted.
But this time I mixed it larger up a bit.
sigh
Rather than attempting to punditry something about the situ we are in {now}, I will
assumerate about what will happen a few nexts from now:
the medical thing will be unpopular.
Party in power loses elections.
Other party is no better.
the end.
post script: If it takes pain and suffering for people to seek God, possibly that may in part
explain why Man continually causes trouble, pain and suffering. That's how God got
my attention, and I am ever thankful for those troubles. May God put in you the faith
to believe.

Made Me Smile

I wish you brighter days, friends.

Three Part Answer That Solves Everything

Been stated many times, but God through Solomon said it best:
" ⁵    Trust in the LORD with all your heart     And do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶    In all your ways acknowledge Him,     And He will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5-6

There it is. I need reminding on this just about every day; when I get caught up in strifes, troubles and the muck of this world, it's because I have forgotten this answer and tried to bull through on my own understanding.
I'm a moderately bright guy, and it would be easy for me to fall back on assuming that I have all the answers-that feeds my ego. That builds me up, can set me up... for a fall, because then I'm not trusting God, I'm trusting my imperfect self.
As I noted a while back, God will humble ALL the proud, Christian and pagan alike. This includes me.
Pagans would do well to read and take in this passage of Scripture in Proverbs, because it could be the first step towards God that leads to Salvation. Come over to the Light side...we have cookies, too.

There. That's Much Better

Don't know if you've paid attention, but the last half dozen posts here at FDW have been kind of...harsh.
Don't I know it. What comes out of a man is what does the damage, and my poor and improper response
to things like Christians being murdered and political nonsense becoming the law of the land kinda sorta turned me a bit cynical. Garbage in/Harsh out.
Other events in my life piled on and soured my normal exuberantly sunny disposition.
But God loves His children too much to allow us to stay sour for very long.
Just like other, wiser Christians I will look at the world trusting that God has everything well in
hand. Living by what we see and reacting to what happens isn't faith. Even when terrible things happen, God
has it covered.
So I apologize if my tone recently has been off putting. One of the {few} rules that I set at FDW is that I will
not fake anything-if times have been tough, I will not put on a happy face and pretend that all is just
ducky.
May God Bless you this day.

The Dead Lady Of Clowntown Speaks!

That is, she would 'speak' if she weren't merely a digirecording of the memory of a formerly alive lady.
With the underpeople in revolt, and D'Joan about to be livingly cremated to bring about " 'The Robot, the Rat, and the Copt'"...stay with me now...the Instrumentality will someday make Scanners obsolete.

I'll Tell You

I just spent a few moments looking at the site of a Democrat 'true believer' who thinks that all of the problems this country and world face can be laid at the dirty oil and blood soaked feet of Republicans.
We don't really know why lemmings jump over cliffs, but we do know why DemoLiberals try to run the entire world over cliffs: 
Hatred. Self hate, God Hate, Everyone else Hate.
There is no love in the hearts of Democrats. They simply hate. Hate God, the world that He created, hate themselves for existing, hate existence itself.
You don't advocate abortion out of love and compassion. You don't embrace any and all death religions
while rejecting God out of concern for your fellow man.
It's hate. The Godless who reject God simply hate.
Shame on you.

Time Is Almost Up

Do you have a hundred dollars on you? 10 Tens, 5 Twenties, whatever?
Lay it out in front of you.
Then take approx 3/4 of it, 75 dollars, and separate it from the rest.
Today a suicide bomber did his thing as a Christian church was letting out
from their morning service.
75 women, children and men killed, and reports
are still coming in. There will probably be more.
If you are not at Peace with God, you are considered His enemy, and eternity
will be no better for you than for this suicide bomber.
Christians have been looking for the return of the Lord since He went back
up to Heaven.
We think that we might be coming up on the edge of the final last days, but
what we think doesn't matter. Whether He returns today or a thousand
years from now, those of you reading this today do not have another thousand years.
You might not even have tomorrow.
Seek the Lord while He may be found.

Mankind Is Wishful Thinking

Another day, another mass shooting. Syria is the kickball of global "diplomacy". No wonder "Duck Dynasty"
is such a hit.
Disjointed? How did those three items end up on the same page? Read on.
MAN is not kind. Man is the only creature capable of murder and boy, do we murder!
Early reports may be wrong, but the MAN (or MEN) who killed so many today at that Navy Yard were
doing what comes naturally.
Bash al Assad was murdering Syrians with impunity-the WORLD accepted that as business as usual...until
he unleashed the chemical weapons. Now, all of a sudden, he's a bad guy?!
No, that son of a tyrant has been a bad guy for decades. He was gulfing buddies with Saddam Hussein, even took in Iraq's chemical stash when the World's cops showed up. It's a wonder that Liberals haven't ever put him up for the Nobel Prize.
So-"Duck Dynasty". Never have seen an episode; it seems to be one of the most positive "happy story"
TV shows out there. People tune in, buy the DVDs, the hats and shirts, the duck calls.
Why?
Why does this show seem to resonate with so many?
Because, even though MAN is not KIND...he wishes that we were. He wishes that the world was positive and happy like that family on TV.
All is vanity.
By now you might be wondering about the picture. This is part of my particular twisted psyche. When something bad or evil happens, I seek out something good, positive to help restore my emotional equilibrium.
When my family moved into an farmhouse in 1962 we found this trunk left behind by the former owner.
For years it held my Mother's yarn. Now it is in my house, and I store extra blankets in it. Today I bought some cedar and cut it to fit in the trunk, aromatic and a defense against mustiness. I feel better now. 

"Why So Syria?"

Yeah, sure, we could use a hero right about now. Evil knuckleheads pompositing on the international stage; aside from Obama and Putin there's also the worst ophthalmologist/tyrant EVER!
Killing his own people the old bad ways wasn't enough-once he started using chemical weapons the world looked up from "Duck Dynasty" and started denouncing al-Assaassaaaad in earnest.
President Obama, fresh from the Wally Cox school of MMA threatened to shake his fist at Syria.
While frowning.
Ooh, that'll put a scare into them!
If he really wants to win this proxy fight, President Obama should threaten to send VP Joe Biden over to arrange a beer summit. 
This entire situation is so fouled up-don't ask me what the right answer might be, as there may be no right answers. At least, none that the world would find acceptable.
Whatever happens, it will happen for awhile and then end and something else will happen.
Larry Norman echoed The Preacher when he sang, "Nothing ever changes, everything remains the same-you are what you are till the day that you die." If you don't know the song, there's a twist at the end.

You Have No Health Assurance, World

Don't mind the pix too much-just reminders that God makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
Well, not always. Sitting with friends last night we were discussing how, during the Millennial reign of
Christ, even with God Himself (!) ruling the world (and the universe) from Jerusalem, there will still be knuckleheads who reject His rule.
"Zechariah 14:16-19 (HCSB)
¹⁶  Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths.
¹⁷  Should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, rain will not fall on them.
¹⁸  And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter, then rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague the LORD inflicts on the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Booths.
¹⁹  This will be the punishment of Egypt and all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Booths."

'The survivors from the nations'-after Christ returns and cleans house on planet Earth, there will be some survivors who repopulate the planet. Don't put any faith in the faint hope that you will be able to squeak past the Day of the Lord without repentance. Even if you survive into the Millennium, you will still be confronted with Christ Who IS the Lord of your life-your Liege and your King. You've ignored Him during this age of Grace. Not going to happen then.
Right now the world is focused on Syria and the tyrant who has used 'chemical weapons' which seems to be a more offensive threat than the starvation, torture, bullets and bombs which Assad has 'rained down' on his victims for years.
And, of course, President Obama lacks. He fumbles. He attempts to shift focus and narrative away from his weak lackings.
Just remember the mantra, Odie: "It's All George Bush's Fault!"