I once had a Facebook account; it seemed like a good thing at the time.  I signed up so I could join all the others in my family who appeared to enjoy keeping up with friends and family by reading the various postings they all placed in the forum.

It didn’t take me long to realize the complete indiscretion of those I had contemplated being in communication with.  Friends, cousins, nieces, nephews, brothers, and colleagues all intent on proving to the world just how ridiculous, how absurdly they could behave:  it’s such a shame that we live in Jerry Springer’s America.

The most disturbing revelation; however, was how far our precious middle child had fallen into the confusing mess this world has become.

In deference to the very discretion whose loss I so loudly bemoan I will not disclose the many details of the fall, except to share what I feel is an endemic problem for the entire Christian world: how we have failed so miserably in our presentation of Christ to the world.

Somewhere out there in Facebook Land is a cartoon comedian called Lizzy Lezzy, an apparent characterization of someone similar to Ellen DeGeneres.  One of the supposedly sharply witty comments this character has proclaimed is one in an endless stream of atheistic attacks on Christians, which goes something like this, “Do you really believe there is a god out there somewhere, looking down on us all, saying, Ew! Gay!”

Now don’t misunderstand, this child of ours is not, as far as we know, a homosexual; just one of the many highly intelligent, highly educated individuals of this America who think the very idea of God is absurd and is the source of all the evil intolerance stirring our society.  How did this happen?  How does a child, raised in a home where Christ is clearly presented, not only by the immediate parents, but also by several generations on both sides of the family tree, as the one true God who has created all things and is redeeming all things to Himself, become an angry, atheistic, anti-Christ hater of God?

Let me share my grief.  She has looked at those calling themselves the people of this God and has found us all wanting in every way.  We no more reflect the nature of Christ than does Satan.  Our churches are modeled after Judaistic Synagogues and our worship is the sacrifices of the tabernacle and the observances of Mosaic Law, not at all the model of Jesus, set for us as He walked this earth.

So I say to anyone, everyone who has shaken their fist in anger at God.  No… Lizzy lezzy, I don’t think there is a god out there somewhere, looking down on us, saying, “Ew! Gay!”

In fact I’m certain He is right here, wherever anyone might be, standing with His arms open wide to the adulterer, the murderer, the atheist, the whore monger, the fornicator, to the abused child, the widowed mother, the cop who had to kill to save a life, the doctor who aborts a child, the homosexual, the child abuser, to all of us in this fallen world.  He’s standing there calling out, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Don’t confuse our loving Savior with the desperately fallen people He is still trying to redeem.

I just can’t stand it!!! Americans are soooo ignorant it’s almost intolerable!  Folks get all cranked up about the stupidest things and all because they are ignorant of the very laws they think are being violated.

This rant is all about the American flag.

Recently the local news ran an article about some fool who posted a picture on Facebook of himself standing on an American flag.  Then they continued the story with interviews with another individual wearing a shirt with the American flag on it, who roundly denounced the idiot standing on the American flag.

So what’s wrong with this picture?  Well a close examination of the Flag Code will reveal that the one wearing the shirt is just as guilty of violating the laws governing proper respect for our national flag as is the idiot standing on it.

Here’s an excerpt:

• The flag should not be used as “wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery”, or for covering a speaker’s desk, draping a platform, or for any decoration in general (exception for coffins). Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.
• The flag should never be drawn back or bunched up in any way.
• The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
• The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroidered, printed, or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, boxes, or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use. Advertising signs should not be attached to the staff or halyard.
• The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, firefighters, police officers, and members of patriotic organizations.

And there’s much more (http://us-flag.net/code/ ), but isn’t this little bit enough to let you know that the citizens of this once great nation blithely ignore the respect and honor our national flag deserves?  You can see it anywhere you care to look.  People mistakenly believe that simply displaying some form of our flag somehow brings honor and respect to the display, when in fact it brazenly dishonors our flag and the nation it once stood for.  This is yet another example of the extreme ignorance that pervades every facet of our American culture.  We are no longer a nation of proud citizens, but instead have become a disjointed conglomeration of self-seeking idiots foolishly proud of their disrespectfulness, deceitfulness, and debauchery.  Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing on us and, sadly, we are proud of it.

WOW!  Who would have guessed that maintaining an elevated sense of outrage would be so difficult?  One would think that, with so much ridiculousness going on in America, it would be a simple thing for a reasonably intelligent person to accomplish.

So why am I not continually in an excited state of over-stimulation?  Maybe it’s simple resignation.  How many times must one hear about and see the absolutely insane mob reactions of people who are nothing more than spoiled brats running amok, before becoming desensitized to it?  How many times must one be told that it’s only natural, or that it’s just and right for these mini-minds to act out in violent protest before giving up and no longer caring?  How many times being lied to, how often taken advantage of, how long having endured the trivialization of our once civil society before even the most stalwart of patriots begins simply to  fortify their own and await Armageddon?

My outrage has turned to despair; my hope for a once bright future now forgotten in the wake of the destruction brought on by the ineffectual governance of our elected officials everywhere at every level.  It seems the Soviets were right; America has dissolved from within, made nothing by the perversions of the politically correct and morally debased who have taken over every facet of power in this nation.

Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries!

Beware America!  Abaddon awaits his day with you; and when his day comes there will be no where to hide.

Has anyone noticed how lawless this nation has become?  From the lowest street thug to the highest public offices and corporate boardrooms this nation is rife with lawlessness.  And it’s not enough that people everywhere think nothing of violating whatever law doesn’t suit their daily agenda; our elected officials, those we have entrusted to run this country, the very ones who are supposed to not only enforce the laws of the land, but who spend their every day thinking up new laws that they, and many of us, will then violate at first inconvenience, are often the worst offenders if only because they purport to have such a better understanding of what is actually best for this nation and its people.

We have laws that our president and the members of congress have sworn to uphold and defend; laws, for instance, like our immigration laws.  Instead of executing the law, which is his sworn duty, purposely stated in both of his swearing-in ceremonies, this president feels it his duty, as a much more intelligent and right-thinking demigod, to proclaim, posture, and issue by edict more profound and proper decisions by the power of his “Pen” than the entirety of the duly elected representatives and populace of this nation could possibility understand.

And he is not alone is this high-minded stance.  Many there are, the Romneys, Clintons, Bushs, McCains, Boners (OK… Boehners),  and Pelosis of this world who are right in there with him, directing the plebeians of society, those incapable of clear thought and correct action, into the better way of living in this modern age.

Laws be DAMNED!  Who needs laws set in stone when we have such benevolent and resourceful gods eager to  subject us all to their every cogent whim?

I have a problem with homosexuality; and, by extension, with homosexuals in general.  It’s not that I hate them or think they deserve death or dismemberment; it’s just that I find the whole concept of the normalcy of a homosexual lifestyle ludicrous.  Even dismissing the Judeo/Christian idealized creation of man and the biblical definition of marriage, homosexuality just does not make sense as any normal pattern of behavior.

Suppose for a moment that evolution is not just a theory.   If homosexuality is a natural expression of genetic code, then it must be continually passed on through the progeny of a homosexual parent(s).  Given the cultural prohibitions against homosexuality, in most societies,  through the last six thousand years of human history, this would only have been possible through the progeny of individuals who suppressed their homosexuality and entered into heterosexual relationships.  Would that not have necessarily left a very small percentage of the population of mankind as carriers of the code to continue homosexuality?  In fact, supposing that evolution is true, then the necessity of the billions of years of adaptation it took to get to the complexity of genetic material comprising a human being, and the subsequent eons it took to get the human to its current genetic status, the homosexual gene, even having no moral or cultural inhibitions to impede its development, should probably have already expressed itself out of existence.

Since that does not appear to have been the case;  there would therefore seem to be no evolutionary support for the genetic homosexual.

How then do we account, not only for the continued existence of homosexuality, but for it’s most recent increase as a percentage of the world’s population?

This is what bothers me the most about the entire issue.  If it is no one’s fault that one is a homosexual, if it absolutely MUST be acceptable that there are homosexuals, why then can it not be acceptable that it is simply a choice that one has made.  Why is it not enough for individuals to own their life decisions?  You want to, demand to, be accepted as normal, yet refuse, even in the light of the evidence of the science you proclaim as your god that  it cannot possibly be that you are genetically coded to be homosexual, to admit that you have made a choice to be homosexual.  If it is OK to be one, then own it!  Quit blaming anyone or anything for the decisions you have made.

In the beginning of this new relationship the followers were called Christians as a demeaning slur, because they practiced the teachings of Jesus, teachings like forgiveness, graciousness, kindness, gentleness, caring, loving, turning the other cheek; teachings that the world of their time considered ridiculous and wasteful. Nobody considered others more important than themselves, no one put the sick, elderly, infirm, or poor on equal status with the rich and powerful; this was foolishness.  Only the strong survived and if they didn’t look out for themselves first, then they only had themselves to blame for their troubles.

But look what happened; in no time at all the number of followers exploded and their influence became such a threat that, much like the Pharaohs with the Hebrews, the Roman Emperors began to murder and subjugate the followers in their efforts to control the influence and potential power the followers might realize.

Yet the followers survived and their numbers continued to grow.  Having failed to contain this growing source of power and influence the world leaders did the only thing that could keep them in control; they joined the movement.  They joined it, but not really.  They said the right things, dressed the right ways, adopted the correct language, and studied the history and literature of the movement and its people, and then slowly took control. They changed the direction of the movement away from the teachings of Jesus and turned it back to the failed Law of Moses.

And this is where we find ourselves today; oh yes it is!  Everywhere you look today you see angry Christians demanding their rights, pointing to a plaque with the Law of Moses proclaiming all of its Thou Shalts and Shalt Nots, hating sinners instead of only the sin, as Jesus did.  How have we become so blind?  How have we so missed the heart of God that we have returned to following the Law of Moses instead of the teachings of Jesus, the Christ who was sent to save the lost and redeem the world of sinners from their sin and the failed legalism that kept the Jews captive for so many centuries?  Have we learned nothing from His record, so carefully preserved and handed down through the ages, about how absolutely futile it is for mankind to try to follow laws that might possibly lead to perfection, when he is so fundamentally imperfect?

Mankind has always demanded laws, because with laws come loopholes; with laws come interpretations and extensions, amendments, deletions, and adjustments; an endless progression of legislation and litigation that forever excuses the depravity that drives us to refuse the God who made us and who loves us and wants only our love in return, not our endless compliance to a bunch of laws.

If you NEED laws to live by, how about these:

• If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone
• In humility consider others better than yourselves
• Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure children of God

Relevancy?

I would love to have the freedoms that were guaranteed to us by the Constitution of the United States of America.  I would love to live in a country where states did not feel the need to protect their citizens by enacting religious freedom laws; but have you not yet realized that that America, the one of the so called founding fathers, is no more.  That America has been being dismantled piece by piece, year after year, by the complacency and debauchery of the comfortable, pampered people, Christian and not, living within its borders.

One final thought; a question, not a judgment, sure to raise the ire of all who, though they consider themselves above the filth of bigotry and judgmentalism, are truly the most bigoted and judgmental.  Has any nation in the entire history of man ever survived the acceptance of homosexuality as a normal lifestyle?

I went to a medical clinic this week, something I have had to do far too much the last two years (getting old is HELL), and the experience caused me to reflect on several things I’d like to share with my ever burgeoning audience (HA!).

The reason I had to go to the clinic is truly immaterial to any of my musings, I was simply there because of the restrictions placed upon the issuance of pharmaceuticals for the long-term treatment of various afflictions known to man.  It matters not what affliction, nor what particular pharmaceutical; it is all a collusion between the governing bodies, the litigating bullies, the manufacturing entities, the issuing professionals, and the marketing merchants designed to keep my (and your) time, attention, and money flowing in the proper direction of control.  But rather than continue with a treatise which can only further damage my credibility with the sheep, I will let you think on that as you will; it is not where I intend to take this.

As I waited, somewhat patiently (is there a correlation between being a patient and being patient?) for my appointed appointment time I noted a sign in the lobby which warned against missing an appointment.  This caused me to wonder how the missee would receive the warning, but I digress.  Underneath said warning was another, warning against being late for an appointment.  This caused me to casually glance at the clock and notice that, though I had arrived 10 minutes early for a 7:00am appointment, at a clinic which did not even open until 7:00am, and had checked in for my appointment shortly after 7:00am, being delayed somewhat by the processing in routine, I was now LATE for my appointment.  I then began to wonder, as I waited to be called, becoming progressively later for my appointment, would the liability for the lateness at some point shift from a burden on my part, to that of the clinic?  Could it be that the penalty ascribed to the tardy appointee would somehow result, should the tardiness be attributable to the clinic, in a reverse penalty and therefore reverse charges on the billing applied to the visit?  I THINK NOT!

At 7:30am I was finally seen for my 7:00am appointment.  I chose not to mention my tardiness, nor the causes there of, and as I happily paid my health-care insurance co-pay amount, so I could leave the clinic and complete the process I came to complete, I couldn’t help to wonder why we put ourselves through this process time after time for so little effect, but that will be for next time.  Until then, good day.

No one really knows who I am.  Oh, there are certainly many who have labeled me over the years and many more who do so even today.  Some think me a radical conservative, though I grew up quite liberal, to the point of even planning my trip to Canada rather than submit to being drafted and going to Vietnam (I didn’t end up needing to carry it out since the order to bring our boys home came one month before my 18th birthday…whew!).  Some call me a religious nut, but I’m not religious, I’m spiritually minded.  My point is that… wait for it… no one really knows ME, and that is the entire point behind this blog.  I’m going to let the whole world (at least those who may possibly stumble upon it) know who I am and what I really think about whatever I’m thinking about at the moment.  And right now I’m thinking about how incredibly, complacently ignorant the American populace has become.

Oh, it’s not a new nor recent condition, but it is getting exponentially worse as time passes.  I cannot imagine how blind and deaf one must be to continue to follow and believe in our president.  The man is despicable!  If his mouth is moving, he’s lying; and yet there are thousands (millions?) of folks who hang on every word he speaks.  And then there is Hillary Clinton… Teflon Hillary.  Nothing sticks to her.  How can this be?!?  Of these two (though not only these two) it is true that, “God will send a powerful delusion so that, if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived”.

Now before you all (?) cry, “He’s a Religious, Conservative Republican!” let me just clear the record.  I used to be a card-carrying Republican and then I realized that there isn’t a spit’s worth of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats we have placed in Washington.  There should be, but there isn’t.  When the best candidate the Republicans can come up with for president is John McCain, a man who voted with the Democrats more often than the Republicans for his entire career, there is no longer any reason to vote a party line.

I’m going to just say it and risk being dismissed as a lunatic.   I truly believe that Barack Obama will be the last American president.  I don’t base this on anything I’ve heard from any conservative news source, I’ve thought this from the very first day of his presidency and he has continued to firm my convictions by his actions in every situation since that day.  I have witnessed the failures of many, highly placed men in my lifetime, but none of them has had the mesmeric power over the people that this man displays.  It matters not what he says, his agenda is progressing unfettered and unqualified.  He will destroy this once great nation and will do so without so much as a hiccup of real resistance.

Think about this.  Without so much as a single qualifying support document, he has made these statements; “Most American gun owners support universal back-ground checks”,  “Most Americans support same-sex marriages”.  Does anyone see anything wrong with these statements?  If they were true would guns fly off the shelves and ammo be impossible to purchase every time he opens his mouth about them?  Would carry permits and laws supporting them continue to be passed and strengthened IN EVERY STATE?  Would state after state enact new laws seeking to protect religious freedoms from the homosexual agenda?  Where are these “Most Americans”?

My rant will continue.

Here’s a thought, a couple of them actually; my bracket (if I had a bracket), you know, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket, is doing quite well.  The teams that are going to the Final Four are all my favorite picks.  Who could have guessed I’d do so well?

Last night my wife and I were blessed to get to go to a Brian Regan Comedy Concert, thanks to the best brother-in-law in the whole world.  He gave us tickets last Christmas and they just so happened to be for seats RIGHT DOWN FRONT!  What a hoot!  If you’ve never seen Brian, you need to, he’s hilarious.  He’s an awkward individual (forgive me Brian) who has figured out how to turn his awkwardness into hilarity at his expense.  His routine is absent the vulgar language so many rely on to get their laughs and his stories will keep you in stitches.  Had I never heard him before last night I would be combing the internet for more.  Thanks again, Brian, for your wonderful humor.

Before we went to the concert, we got to spend some time at Honky Tonk Central, not a bad place for a few brews, a big plate of nachos, and some good country music. We got to see and hear the Karen Waldrup Band.  Good local talent who will keep you entertained; they seem to still really be having fun with their music.  If they ever get big, I’ve got a Koozie that Karen gave me herself.  All I did to get it was, when Karen came through the crowd at the end of a set, I tipped the band with a two dollar bill and then asked Karen for the Koozie on her beer bottle.  I got lucky, I guess I look like her Grandpa.

Good times in Music City, I love Nashville.

Alright!  Got all that heavy stuff off my chest.  How about those Cowboys?  Oh, wait a minute, it’s not football season, IT’S MARCH MADNESS!  How about those Wildcats?  No… that’s too easy; how about those Spartans?  Now we’re talking!  But really, rooting for college sports is easy for me, I have no affiliations; I did not attend college.  So this dummy can pick and choose whomever he wants to cheer.

So here’s the breakdown; I watch Professional football, though less each year since the Cowboys were purchased by that buffoon Jones (money doth not a wise man make), college basketball, but only the end of the season, and the occasional boxing match, golf tournament, or other, potentially interesting sporting event, depending on how lazy I’m feeling and how famous one of the participants may be.  They all take way too much of my time to really keep me entertained, so I try to record them (praise the almighty DVR) so I can cut out all the commercials and much of the excess (read replay here) of the games and view the meat (we Have the Meats, OK, I do watch the occasional commercial).  What I don’t get is why anyone would watch any more than this.  Is professional (and I use the term loosely) basketball really a sport?  I think you’d as easily call professional wrestling a real sport instead of simple-minded entertainment.  Can anyone possibly sit through an entire professional baseball game, live or on TV?  That would have to be an exercise in brain-dead patience or maybe drug-induced coma for me.  Even pro golf is more exciting than pro baseball, especially when Tiger is playing well (has that happened lately).  All the rest of televised sportsdom is viewed by whimsy: I just don’t have the time to waste, I’m not getting any younger.

So there you have it; another piece of me. Questions?  I thought not.