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!

Not Comic

I've been to Aurora. This sick, deranged individual who shot so many people at a screening of
the Batman movie there...hardly any words.
He wants to be infamous; I wouldn't put his smirking picture on my site, which we've seen everywhere.
I also won't show the Joker, as that is how he referred to himself to the police. The psychopath
known as "The Comedian", shown above, is a placeholder for that...person.
It's not just the slaughter of innocents that is shocking-he also 'boobytrapped' his apartment, leaving the stereo blaring to draw police into entering.
That is ALL Sick, and I can say that in this society because we still honor Life and see it's destruction as a
crime.
'Evil' is like that Justice's famous description of pornography: "We know it when we see it."
This young man is evil, twisted...not like us, those of us who affirm Life is to be treasured.
 Weep with those who are weeping. Pray for the survivors. Thank God that it wasn't worse.

You Wanna Play Movies, Mr President? All Righty!

Just to show how weak and desperate the Obama Campaign has become, they are attempting to make political hay into political gold with the new Batman movie coming out which has as the main villain "Bane"
(Sounds like Bain, doesn't it? As in Romney/Bain!).
To me, that is weak. What next? Find out what type of shoes Romney wears, and mock the brand?
So, Mr. President Big Shot Obama wants to play "Gotcha" with movies. That's right in my wheelhouse, friends!
Our good buddy Meat Loaf, pictured above, is doing his "Thor" imitation in a little movie called
"Americathon".
If it doesn't ring any bells, that's okay-I'll link to the wiki in the comments.
In a nutty shell, "Americathon" tells the story of a bankrupt United States-one where we have run out of both money and oil...and those organizations (NIKE?) and foreign governments holding our debt (China?) want to get paid. NOW.
President Chet Roosevelt (John Ritter) knows he's up against it, and no joke-the USA is busted flat from Baton Rouge to Kipnuk. 
What to do? How about...stage a TELETHON? It's worked for Jerry Lewis and MDA!
A National Song and Dance and pass the hat.
You know, I would prefer that over being taxed back to the Stone Age.

Zen masters WISH They Had This Peace!

Habakkuk 3:17-18 (HCSB)
¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!


Doug's corollary: Though my body may ache and sickness become part of my life, even with diminishing
hearing and sight, even when circumstance seems to rail against Peace, yet I will triumph in Yahweh; I will
rejoice in the God of my salvation!
If that's hard to understand, it's okay-it is the Peace which passes all understanding. Don't buy an apple from anyone who tells you that he's got this Peace all figured out. I sure don't.
But I have it, just as God has promised, and I've had this Peace for over 30 years.
Not constant-I am human and frail and have sometimes acted and lived as if this world can engender such Peace...or snuff it out. Those are MY failings, not God's.
Christians are indeed promised lives freed from sickness and sin...once we get to Heaven. But our prime
directive on this side of the Gate of Pearl is to glorify God in the midst of our troubles and unbudded fig trees (such as job loss/health loss/everything loss).
My brothers and sisters in Christ who have been crippled, blinded, stricken with Cancer or worse down through the centuries... are now in Heaven, praising God. They made it; I will make it, too, someday. But until that day, I have a foretaste of Heaven known as Peace. It is enough.

Which Hell?

Hold on there, funny guy. I hope you aren't making fun of hippies. That's a line that shouldn't ever be crossed, even in jest.
You look young enough-did it occur to you that your own MOTHER might have been a hippy?
Would you mock your Mother's belief in auras? That would make for an uncomfortable family visit on the Summer solstice, even with Jupiter ascending. 
C'mon, man-show some respect! Even if you don't believe in auras (as is obvious) why not let people who think they can see them enjoy Life? 
How small your aura must be....and full of cockroaches.

The Happy Intolerant Christian

Oh no, I'm not talking of being intolerant of YOU! That's another post.
I have tried-not often, but tried-to listen to Christian music being put out these days-drives me nuts.
Talk Radio I can handle. Listening to a good sermon is fine. But what passes for 'new' Christian artists and music these days has me turning to Jazz quicker than a liberal could shut off Rush Limbaugh.
I love music. My church is a singin' church, and we have a great hymnal of wonderful songs to choose from.
I'm not anti-CM. I'm anti-BAD CM.
Think of this: When Christians sing "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine-Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!"we are singing in agreement, in tandem, with every other Christian who has raised their voice in that Fanny Crosby anthem. We're all singing with Fanny Crosby.
The stuff being perpetrated on Christians these days? Forgettable weak pap. Won't be remembered tomorrow, while Isaac Watts is still going strong 260+ years later. He may be jamming with Fanny Crosby
up in Heaven right now, with JS Bach on piano.
Today's Christian music, much of it, is irreligious and insulting to both Creator and Christian alike.
Bad theology doesn't sound any better when it is chanted to a rock beat.
Christians, if you want to honor God, shut off your radio and open your hymnals. And start singing.

What If They Held A Convention And Nobody Came?

From Doug Powers via Michelle Malkin:
"A fresh round of Democrats has announced they will not be attending the party convention in Charlotte. Most troublingly for President Obama, several of them are from North Carolina, and not only have they decided not to drop in on a convention held in their own state, they’ve refused to endorse Obama for president in 2012.
The latest round of Democrats fleeing from Obama include North Carolina congressmen Mike McIntyre and Larry Kissell, plus candidate Hayden Rogers. Additionally, news broke just before the Fourth of July holiday that Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas has decided not to attend the party convention, although he does support Obama for president."

I imagine some arm-twisting and possible threat/ bribery will occur to get some Dems to the big show.

When President Obama was asked today if he is bothered by these Convention Demfections he shocked the crowd in Ohio by NOT blaming George Bush...he said it was all Romney's fault.

Joke.
While President Obama has the mainstream media in his pocket, he will never be bothered by any such inconvenient queries.        segue
Does anyone out there ever recall a Presidential campaign that held fundraisers in other countries?
George Clooney is the draw, though I wouldn't pay a dime to see him chew food. It just seems so strange-Switzerland and France? President Obama complains that Romney outsourced jobs, but he sends Clooney around the world to raise funds?
Maybe his infernal polling has shown that he's more popular overseas-is this the first step in his campaign to become a future Sec Gen of the U.N.? They can have him. Cheap-make offer/OBO.

Honest

How Is This For An Idea?

Sure, it's a crazy idea, but it might be fun.
Obviously, there is a LOT of dispute about Obamacare, whether it should be fully implemented, or run out of town on a rail.
It barely won in Congress by using trickery, deceit, arm-twisting and that special procedure which allows a bill to be passed with less than the usual number of votes-don't remember the name of it, but anyway...
the Legislative branch has spoken. The Judicial branch has spoken. The Executive branch has spoken, getting in one or two digs at George Bush in the process.
Process. That's the word. As this Obamathingie is going to affect all citizens, hows a bout we put it on the ballot in November?
Yes to keep or no to scuttle. Let the citizens speak. If it's all that greatly desired by the populace, it will win in a landslide, and I will shut up about it.
If it ISN'T the choice of the majority of the people, it should be done away with.
Sure, our representatives in Congress are supposed to be our voice. But to hear us, they would have to listen.
It isn't too late to be added to the ballot-we haven't even had our Conventions yet. Hillary might make a play for the Top Spot yet. Running mates TBD (Biden again? Really?)
Let's put it to a vote! See you on the sunny side of the street.