My Cats Are Importune Artists

Again, these aren't my cats; these above are internet cats and could live anywhere from Bahrain to Luxembourg. The colorings are right; these could be the 'stunt doubles' for the cats inhabiting my habitation.
Importune Artists, or "Importunists"-when I come in the door after work they gather and try to convince me that they are starving, that somehow they have been transported to the edge of failing hunger, and
MUST!
BE!
FED!
I point to the food in their dish, and they say (in cat pantomimes or, closer to this subject: 'cat charades')
"Not THAT food! It's boring! We need something else!"
Bless their little importunistic hearts. It isn't the food that they want, really-they want confirmation that I am going to take care of them-a half a handful of 'other' kibble and they are happy cat campers.
There's a parallel at work here, which I state because I think I'm often too obtuse:
We Christians are often guilty of the same nervous importuning behavior-we seek blessings from God as reassurance that He still loves us, is still willing to provide for our needs-a little bit of kibble and we're happy.
Anyone can cry out to God in a crisis; true Faith keeps us trusting in His Providence even when things are going great.

Smile For The Karma

...I'm afraid to denounce Karma-something bad might happen to me.
Just kidding-I met up today with a pre-school teacher who said that 'there's a lot that can be learned from the Eastern disciplines".
Like cultic belief in the doctrines of demons. And that by bringing the mind and body into subjection, spiritual truths can be apprehended. No harm no foul, right?
Here's a spiritual truth for ya:
We are all sinners living in a corrupted world which will be set in order when Christ returns.
Eastern 'disciplines' will become vapor and 'poof'! be gone when Christ returns.
The smart monkeys bow the knee to Christ NOW to avoid the rush when 'at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,' Philippians 2:10 abridged.
Every means you/me/all of us. If that thought bothers you, if you think, "Not I-I shall not bow!" you are wrong. God will be Glorified.

For Eternity

Politics will be gone. Fighting and tears-not even memories.
Today I was part of a group of Christians practicing something
which will continue for eternity: Fellowship.
We will have fellowship in Heaven and on earth when Christ returns.
Christians with Christians with Christ as our King-no barriers of language or
different lands, customs; just Christ, and His people, us.
Wonderful.

Going Down The List...

RING...RING...RI-
"Hello?"
"Yes, is this Bill?"
"How ya doing, Barack?"
"Just fine, Bill...I was wondering if Hillary might have a few moments for her President."
Bill laughs. "Barack, let me take a shot in the dark here...you're thinking of dumping Biden, and you 
want Hillary to be your Palin, to get back some of the sizzle that...went away. Am I right?"
"Bill, I would never lie to you, and I know that you will keep this quiet...we've been polling like mad, and we NEED Hillary, or it won't even be Carter-we'd be approaching a Mondale slaughter!
We need Hillary to even make it close. Is she there?"
Bill laughs again.
"She's right here, buddy-Joe and Jill came by for lunch, and I put you on speakerphone as soon as I heard your voice."
...
Chorus: "Hi Barack!"
click.
RING...RING...RI-
"Yes?"
"Hey Brad-it's Barack. Um...Angie wouldn't happen to be nearby, is she?

Shark Week? No-Shark Strong!

well. That is refreshing. Now we know the that it will be "Romney/Ryan" in November and possibly "Romney/Ryan" for the next four to eight years.
To Mitt: "WELL DONE, SIR!"
To Paul Ryan-"Glad to see you got the gig-get to work!"

Already the haters are gearing up for the 'Hate Ryan Express'-someone I know fired the first shot by saying that Ryan was actually the mastermind (!) behind the 'Scott Walker war on unions', so he hates Ryan.

A little history lesson, folks. Once upon a time there was a politician who hated government waste of resources, and, as a member of Congress, became a watchdog/attckdog going after government agencies  wasting taxdollars (aka:OUR money). He became so well known as a popular fiscal Conservative that he, like Paul Ryan, was a wise and smart choice for the Veep slot on FDR's 1944 re-election ticket.
Harry S. (The buck stops here) Truman would be proud of Paul Ryan. So shall we all.

SCOOP FOR FDW!!!!!

Hot off the pixels! Fine Dry Wit has scored a scoop, a coupe de taters, A! BIG! DEAL!
Thanks to my hard work (?) here in the middle of nowhere, I have netted a Net first:
An interview with three lifelong Republicans who have had enough (!) and are crossing the lions
to vote for President Obama!
Shown above are the fearless three: Tom Smothers, his brother Pat Paulsen and Dick Smothers (no relation).
Each swears that they have voted a straighter than straight Republican ticket since Eisenhower...but the message, the phenomenon, the magic that is Obama has enthralled their hard core Republican souls, and they are breaking with the party of the first part to follow their hearts into the Obamacratic (Dem) Party.
Such courage! My first question to the heroic trio:
Doug: "Don't your hearts SING when President Obama is speaking?"
Repub Dub chorus: "THEY DO, THEY DO! IT'S LIKE HEARING ANGELS LAUGHING WITH JOY!" Doug: "And isn't his mastery of all situations breathtaking in its scope and strength of purpose?" 
Repub Dub Chorus: "HE IS THE MASTER OF ALL WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE!"
Doug: "Does it seem strange to have a "D" after your names instead of an "R"?
Repub Dub Chorus: "THEY DO, THEY DO! IT'S LIKE HEARING ANGELS LAUGHING WITH JOY!" 
Doug: "Did Mitt Romney's winning of the Republican nomination have anything to do with your switching parties?"
Repub Dub chorus: "THEY DO, THEY DO! IT'S LIKE HEARING ANGELS LAUGHING WITH JOY!"
Doug: "Yeah, okay, we got that."
Repub Dub Chorus: "HE IS THE MASTER OF ALL WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE!"
Doug: "You're not talking about Romney there, are you?"
Repub Dub chorus: "THEY DO, THEY DO! IT'S LIKE HEARING ANGELS LAUGHING WITH JOY!

HE IS THE MASTER OF ALL WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE!THEY DO, THEY DO! IT'S LIKE HEARING ANGELS LAUGHING WITH JOY!

HE IS THE MASTER OF ALL WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE!THEY DO, THEY DO! IT'S LIKE HEARING ANGELS LAUGHING WITH JOY!

HE IS THE MASTER OF ALL WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE!THEY DO, THEY DO! IT'S LIKE HEARING ANGELS LAUGHING WITH JOY!

HE IS THE MASTER OF ALL WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE!

It's official-I've lost control of FDW.

With The Subtures

As usual, when using/creating a 'new' term, I check the internets to see if it is already in common usage-there is a "Subture Design Group" but they have nothing to do with this post.
"Subtures"- a contraction of "Sub-cultures" more streamlined for this fastpacedonlineworld.
My subture may be at odds with your subture, or we may be in agreement (tentatively) against other sutures.
Here's what I mean: when I was in the military, I was a member of a subture which those on the outside didn't/couldn't understand...but that we on the inside knew intimately. Now I am a part of a different subture, the former military, also a distinct group.
This past week saw a (one more) terrible tragedy in Wisconsin, with a 'white supreme-mess' killing Sihks during a worship service. Horrible and wrong.
The 'rules and defining attributes' of his subture caused him to hate to the point of killing those who are 'foreign' to his subture.
It doesn't always come to violence-there are as many 'truces' between subtures as there are subtures- the born again Christian subture generally lives in peace among all other subtures, the Muslim (in this country) subture generally keeps to itself, the sporting and fan subtures self identify and cloister:
"Roll Tide, Roll" may be the call of one subture, or "ABO", or "Gaga for Gaga".
You don't have to seek out Mennonite communities to find subtures which shun outsiders-go into the wrong bar on a Friday wearing the wrong color shirt. I dare you. Or a Yankees hat at Fenway.
But generally all subtures live in private peace amongst the rest, elements in the 'melting pot' of our Culture.
"Be kind to strangers-you might go somewhere and be a stranger yourself."


 

Tyrannical-Sore-U.S.-Rex

This will be short and sweet. 
The Truth needs no straw men to defend it.
The Truth can stand against all fiery darts.
The Truth can answer all questions and win all debates.
Lies (and the lying liars who tell them) can not stand impartial scrutiny.
Lies hide behind strawmen.
Lies cannot answer questions or win debates.
Here's the thing-if a politician cannot defend his policies, if they cannot 
stand up to impartial scrutiny, if he or she must use strawman arguments
to support those policies...that is wrong.
If a politician uses the power of their office to stifle dissent,
or dodge questions, or keep opposing viewpoints from being heard...
that is wrong.
If a politician or a political group ignores/suppresses/takes away the rights of their opposition...
that opposition will grow. 
If I were a blogger in Putin's Russia, I could be jailed for this post, just as those dissenters pictured 
above have been imprisoned...for speaking out against Putin.
If I were living under Sharia law, the religious/political overlords could decide how I cut my hair.
If, in this country, the ruling class succeeds in efforts to 'silence' dissent through control of technology...I would be no better off than if I lived in Russia or Iran.
During the President Bush era, we would see signs stating that "Dissent is Patriotic".
You wouldn't see such signs in President Obama's utopian America...for very long.

Catted

Catted, or, as in the picture, "Cat s'up, dude?"
I now have cats or, better stated, cats now have me. They aren't the ones shown above-that's
a pic from the internets-but the two that are now sharing my house have helped to make this a
home.
A good friend reminded me today that we should Praise God first when going through troubles-who doesn't have troubles, right? We all have struggles, pains, issues in our lives which tempt us to worry and BE troubled.
But God is pretty clear in His Word:
Philippians 4:6-9 (HCSB)
⁶ Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
⁸ Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things.
⁹ Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you."
Dwell on Praise and moral excellence-the best way that I know of to do that is to imbibe/take in/meditate on/study God's Word. I don't find much to praise or moral excellence in the world. But the Bible is filled with both.
I am as well taken care of as my two new feline friends-God meets all of my needs just as I take care of theirs. That's a win/win. 

YaY! TWO-FER!!!!!

Yum Yum! I'm hundreds of miles from the closest "CHICK FIL A" eating estab, but the thought will do until the deed can be, um...done.
Pictured above is the Chick Fil a 'grilled chicken sandwich'.
Chick fil a shouldn't be in the news in any derogatory way, but, "Oh, those Craaaazy Democrats!"
An election year happenin' is the only reason the Dems are in high dudgeon over sweet little old 
Chick Fil A. Check it.
They close on Sundays, you know. Because the guy who owns the restaurant is a (whisper it!)
Christian! One who actually believes what God says, about a sabbath and (uh oh!) homosexuality.
Okay, so the Democrats are having a bit of trouble energizing their base, as their base and the rest of the country are hurting from the whoopin' on the economy that this Admin has administrated (in the name of fairness, don'tchaknow!).
So the Dem leadership, seeing their base ready to vote for "Anybody but Obama" gins up the alleged controversy of the Chick Fil A owner actually exercising his right to freedom of religion. Which they've been complaining about for years!
They don't care if I exercise that same right-who ever heard of me?
But he's a NAME.  Someone they can vilify for holding religious beliefs which are different than theirs...how very, very bigoted (open minded?) of them!
Speaking of jerks, I DID mention a two-fer in the title of this post. Part Deux!
More than soup nazis, the Palestinian Authority (which is funny in itself as there are no Palestinian people)
has begun jailing miscreants who eat food in public during (wait for it.....) Ramadan!
Even non Muslims can be (and have been) arrested for the sin of eating in public during a Islamic fast...in the
P.A.'s non-country, on their non-streets. I'll put a link to a post about this in the comments.
SO! If I had a Chick fil A grilled chix sand in hand, and I were walking in the territory where the Palestinian
Authority claims to have...uh...authority...I could be imprisoned. Sweet little ol' me!
I do have an ace up my sleeve, though-I would write to President Obama and tell him that I was a high school substitute teacher on vacation kidnapped by Somali pirates who just happened to have a condo in the P.A.'s non-country.
I'd be out of there quicker than Michelle Obama running from a fundraiser held by Sarah Jessica Parker!

India Inc

Oh boy- I just read the news of India- a power outageof a 10 point wow magnitude-370 million people without electricity. I think that number is higher than our U.S. population; it's only the upper part of the subcontinent that's affected, but wow. Imagine if we had such a power loss here-there's been talk of possible EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) attacks wiping out our electronics, figuratively bombing us back to the 'Stone Age' or at least the 1840's.
Yesterday our landline phones and internet were down all day-a friend was getting the shakes as she WANTED, NEEDED to be online-so instead we talked on our cell phones until they died. We wouldn't
cope well with an outage such as Northern India is suffering right now.
If you are the Praying kind, you might join me in praying for the people of India.

The Arrogance of Ignorance

Body language. Not too hard to figure out-mime, ballet, kabuki, noh-even TV ads where we see
someone folding his arms while smiling confidently- that's a power move, an authoritative gesture.
One overused bit is the raised finger noted above-"This is important!" "Note This!" "I'm Serious!"
No-you're just using a visual cue to make a point. You could be talking about the Judge desertions
from American Idolatry, or how your Mom's tomato soup was the best, or anything else that fills your imagination.
Look at the assembly of 'heros' above. They reek of Authority, Confidence, Gravitas.
They are all fools. They are willfully ignorant fools. In case you haven't figured it out yet, this is a continuation of my last post. We go from Isaiah 52 all the way back to Psalm 52. Look on the faces above as you read:
"Psalm 52:1-7 (HCSB)
¹ Why brag about evil, you hero! God’s faithful love is constant.
² Like a sharpened razor, your tongue devises destruction, working treachery.
³ You love evil instead of good, lying instead of speaking truthfully.Selah
⁴ You love any words that destroy, you treacherous tongue!
⁵ This is why God will bring you down forever. He will take you, ripping you out of your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living.Selah
⁶ The righteous will look on with awe and will ridicule him:
⁷ “Here is the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, taking refuge in his destructive behavior.” 

'The abundance of his riches'-would you like to make a guess as to the aggregated wealth represented in the picture above? Take Mike Moore out of the equation and the rest of them basically made their pile on the Public dime. Moore made his fortune complaining about Conservatives, so even his money is tangentially political.
Look at them. Godless all, secular all...doomed all, unless they come to Christ through His granting of Faith to believe. It can happen for anyone-God sometimes takes His children from the absolute dregs of humanity.
And makes them Holy. Only God can do that. Don't be a Schumer.

Imagine President Obama...With His Mouth Shut

President Obama-have you ever seen him answer a question with one word? 12,000 is more like it, if, in his filibuster of verbiage, he answers the question at all.
Like any other con man he acts as if everything coming out of his mouth is pure, the simple and honest truth.
A good example: during the health care debate, in a televised meeting Representative Paul Ryan told the President that his numbers for savings and costs didn't add up. He asked for an explanation.
You would have thought that Ryan had asked the President to name all the left handed red heads down through history-his answer was so long that eventually the networks went back to the soap operas...and he never did get around to explaining how Obamacare would be financed.
But this isn't JUST a pick on President Obama post.
Raul Castro. Hugo (rhymes with Yugo) Chavez. François Hollande. Vlady Putin.
Imagine them, all of them, uttering not a word. Not telling any more lies. Tossed out of power.

"Isaiah 52:15 (HCSB)
¹⁵ so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him, For they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard."

I've been listening to a bible study by John MacArthur which notes this verse as being about the return of Christ. When He comes back and sets up His Kingdom, ruling the entire Earth with a rod of iron...all the rulers (kings) will be silenced.

MacArthur notes that the word 'sprinkle' in the verse above can also be translated 'startle', as in springing up, surprising. If that is so, the verse could read: "so He will (startle) many nations."
And so He will.
I have no idea when Christ will return-it may be long after I'm gone to Heaven. But whichever corrupt human rulers are in charge when He does return, they will be startled and silenced. What a wonderful day that will be!

Practice By Not Preaching

I heard an interesting term this morning. "Practical Atheist".
If you think that each of those words is a synonym for the other-if being an atheist seems practical to you, reasonable...then this post might just be your cup of Java.
I'm back on the bean, by the way-after six months of no coffee, I decided to go back, though I drink much
less now, which has nothing to do with this post.
From our Bible study this morning:
"A 'practical atheist is someone who professes to believe in God but lives as if God does not exist."
Boy, I've been there-that used to be me. I was a Christian, having been saved for a decade or so, and I stopped going to church, hardly cracked open a Bible, went weeks, months without praying, was just floating-going about the business (busy-ness) of my daily life. I was practically an atheist trapped in a Christian's body.
Real atheists don't bother going to church for more than weddings and funerals.
Real atheists may love their family, friends, loved ones...but they don't worry about their eternal damnation, as they don't believe that Judgement is coming for any of us. They worry about how good their lives are NOW, as NOW is all that they have.
If you know Christians, isn't that the one thing that really separates them from You? Christians are always nattering on about Judgement and eternal consequences and hell and stuff. Aren't the Christians that you are most comfortable with the ones who talk about their golf score rather than God keeping score?
Back to "ME"!
God loved me too much to allow me to remain a practical atheist. He is a jealous God who keeps His children safe from the world, sometimes even when they would prefer the world. He brought this lost sheep back into the fold, and during the seven or so years that I ignored God, He was still taking care of me.
What a Wonderful God!