Some Christmas Pictures

Today, I thought I would take a moment and share some of my pictures from the Roberson Museum and Science Center. The first one is of the fantastic train setup that they have, and the rest are of the Christmas decor around the place. Hope you enjoy these.

Best Seats In The House

Looking for something to do in Binghamton, NY in the middle winter is not an easy thing to do, especially if you want to keep it kinda cheap. Well, we didn't keep quite as low cost as we might have liked, but it's not like you can do anything outside, so you have to pay to do something inside. Anyway, we went to the Roberson Museum and Science Center, which is a very neat experience.

Anyway, they have a small planetarium show, and while we were going in for that the attendant told us that the 4th row back would be the best of the remaining seats, and at that time there weren't all that many seats taken, so we sat there as most of the other people filed in. The attendant that was there when we got in there must have had other things to do, and another guy took over, and as we sat there we must have heard him tell nearly everyone that came in, "Oh sit right over there, they're the best seats in the house." This went on right up until the doors were closed and the lights went down. We had quite a laugh over all of this.

As it was, our seats were pretty good, and the show was pretty enjoyable.

As for the rest of the museum, it was very neat, and there were wonderfully decorated Christmas tree's in nearly every room of the old mansion that now serves as part of the museum. It really is a fantastic place to go.

Christmas Eve

Hello all, it is now Christmas Eve, and I hope that everyone is having a great time with family and friends. I have been blessed to be able to spend the last couple of days and today with my mom, and will be spending Christmas day with my wife's family, so it will be a great time for all.

My daughter has been a little sick, spiking a pretty good fever the other night, but we seem to, at least, have that under control now, so thank God for that.

More than anything else though, Thank God that he sent his only Son to Earth to live a sinless life and die on the Cross for our sins, so that we could spend eternity with Him.

Yes, as I said in my last post, that is what Christmas is about for me. It's a time to remember the birth of our Savior and reflect on all that means for us. Of course, we love the time with family and friends, and all the great food and presents and all those wonderful things that make up the Christmas Season.

A funny little side story, last night Mom had to call her Cable Company about something, and at the end of the phone call the woman from the Cable Company says, "Happy Holidays," so Mom says to her, "And a Merry Christmas to you too." Go Mom!

The Separation Of Church And Christmas

There are a lot of people today who want to protest any public display of Christmas Celebration, but I have to question if there is really any point at all to what these people are doing.

Of course for Christians, such as myself, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ. Most of us understand quite well that December 25th was not the actual date of our Lord's birth, but since this is when it has been celebrated for a few centuries, we are willing to go with the tradition. Even Christians though, tend to take part in a lot of practices that are not uniquely Christian, or even Christian at all for that matter.

Look at some of the songs that we sing. Songs like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" there's really nothing Christian at all about this song, in fact, it makes reference to the Pagan festival of Yule, and talks about the Fates, which are directly out of Greek Mythology. I'm not against this song, it's catchy and whatnot, but certainly shouldn't offend anyone, as it's not a Christian song at all.

Any what's the big deal about Christmas tree's? Again, I'm not against Christmas tree's, in fact, I'm rather fond of them, but again, there is nothing uniquely Christian about them. And yet, even Christmas tree's, which also have their roots in Pagan, rather than Christian, culture, seem to be a source of consternation for some of these people. Crazy as it is, they see Christmas tree's as a way of having religion forced upon them.

Then there's Santa Claus, some people even object to Santa Claus... I mean, calling him a religious symbol, I actually object to Santa Claus for exactly the opposite reason. I feel that too many Christians make far too big of a deal about Santa Claus, at the expense of teaching their kids about Jesus, in fact, most parents, even Christian ones, get very upset if their kids stop believing in Santa, but seem to care very little if they believe about Jesus.

As for the manger scene, well, ok, that's a different argument, because that is uniquely Christian, not that I think that public displays of it should be banned, but as I said, that's a whole different argument.

My point is that, while I Celebrate the Birth of Christ, Christmas has become a very broad holiday, which can be celebrated by a wide variety of people, who celebrate for a very wide variety of reasons. It is entirely possible that someone could celebrate Christmas, take part in many of the traditions, sing a very great deal of traditional Christmas songs, have a Christmas tree, have presents, have a big family get together and a great family feast, and never Celebrate the Birth of Christ at all.

I'm not saying that this is what people should do, but it is a what a lot of people do do. So there is really nothing for people to get all bent out of shape about, just because someone says "Merry Christmas" does not mean that they are trying to force you to believe in Jesus, they are just observing a holiday, and in the US an official Federal holiday.

I do love Christmas, both for the Christian traditions, as well as for some of the secular traditions, but it's not my favorite holiday, but I won't get into all of that right now. I just don't think that people need to get all bent out of shape, Christmas shouldn't be offensive, it's a holiday that anyone can choose to celebrate, either on it's secular side, or on it's Christian side, but absolutely no one needs to be offended about it.

Road Signs

While driving from Florida to PA I saw a lot of road signs, but I think that one of the best examples of bad signs was in Florida. You know how over most of the country at those little turnarounds on the interstates there will be a sign that says "Authorized Vehicles Only." Which makes a lot of sense, because if your vehicle was authorized, chances are, you would know it. However, in Florida, they don't make sense like that, they say, "Official Use Only." This left me asking, what exactly does that mean? Couldn't pretty much anybody officially make a U-turn?

Oh well, it was a long drive, but we made it, in spite of all the bad road signs along the way.

No Sympathy Here

A man in New Jersey is upset because a Bakery refused to put his son's full name on his Birthday cake, and he just doesn't think that's fair. Of course, if he hadn't named his son "Adolph Hitler" it probably wouldn't have been a problem.

So, to anyone stupid enough to brand their kid with such a moniker, make your own stinking cake.

Where's the Outrage?

I keep seeing these commercials for this Law Firm who is looking for people to join in a class action suit about asbestos exposure, and at the end there is an old gentleman in a wheelchair who struggles to say "I have mesothelioma." And they are obviously exploiting him to try to make people mad and get more people on board for their law suit?

So I want to know, where are all the people expressing outrage over the exploitation of this little old man who has one foot in the grave and needs to be left in peace? I guess they're all too busy hammering away at Burger King for the horrible atrocity of handing out Whoppers to poor people.

What idiocy.

"A Private Hot Line to God?"

"A Private Hot Line to God?"

Gregory Koukl

Does God talk to you personally? Would you bet your life on it? Claiming to receive personal messages from God on a regular basis places subjective experience on the same level as Scripture, Greg argues. This is the claim of a prophet, and not even Old Testament prophets did so unless they were willing to die for the claim.

I've made what I think is a telling observation about those who hold to a dual source of special revelation. Whenever an organization says, "We believe the Bible is inspired plus we believe our leadership is inspired," or "We believe the Bible is inspired plus we believe this other book of ours" (like the Book of Mormon, for example) "is inspired," the Bible always ends up taking the back seat instead of being on equal footing with these other sources of special revelation. I think most Christians will be comfortable with that assessment. This, though, raises a question about Evangelical claims to multiple sources of special revelation. For all our talk about sola Scriptura, many also hold that God speaks to them on a regular basis giving true information about Himself and specific directions for their lives. Their claim is, essentially, "I believe the Bible is a bona fide source of information and the Spirit also gives private information directly to me." The second step frequently follows the first: The personal, subjective sense of what a person thinks God is telling him trumps the objective Scripture. I was teaching from the Bible recently in a large Evangelical church here in Southern California, and I was publicly opposed by a woman who challenged my view not on the basis of a better interpretation of Scripture (she completely ignored my exegesis), but on the basis of what she was convinced the Holy Spirit had told her. She called me a heretic and said I was sinning because I was "analyzing and dissecting the Bible" instead of letting the Holy Spirit speak to me. My view was merely "man's interpretation." You'd be amazed at how often I run into that kind of response by otherwise orthodox Christians. Note that I have a very robust doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I'm charismatic in that I believe in the perpetuity of spiritual gifts and in energetic worship. The real question is-- and this is vital-- Are we justified in claiming that our personal, private, first-person, subjective experiences give us authoritative knowledge about God, or about what God wants us to do? If a woman said, "God told me to marry this man," that wouldn't be contrary to Scripture unless he was a non-Christian or already married. Even if he was a Christian, though, the statement begs a different question: Does Scripture give us the liberty to assign the authority of divine fiat to our subjective experiences? My answer is nowhere does the Bible give us that liberty. It does not enjoin us to assess our feelings and then judge whether they are a manifestation of the voice of God or not. This is a delicate issue, so I want to take a moment and clarify my view regarding whether the Bible teaches that God speaks to us in this fashion. The question is not whether or not Jesus lives in our hearts in the person of the Holy Spirit. Having believed, we've been sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. We've been baptized in the Holy Spirit. He indwells us. He convicts us of sin. He teaches us. The Holy Spirit regenerates us, washing us in the blood of Christ. He comforts us in difficult times. He confirms in our hearts that we are children of God. The Holy Spirit is in and through every part of our lives, and He ought to be. All of this is specifically taught in the Bible. The question is not whether there is a Holy Spirit, or whether that Holy Spirit indwells us, or whether that Holy Spirit does things for us or to us in an experiential, subjective way. All of those things are the case. The question is actually two-fold: Is it enough for Christians to simply say, "'You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.' I have the confirmation of a subjective experience. I feel Jesus.'?" The answer is no, it is not enough to say that. Because the Mormons feel Jesus. And the New Ager feels Jesus. And a Jehovah's Witness feels Jesus. Lots of people feel Jesus. They have psychological certainty that they're children of God and that they're right with God. The point I'm making is that the foundation of our confidence cannot be placed on the subjective side, because it's too easy to be misled by subjective elements. There must be something else that gives us reason to believe that our subjective certainty-- our personal confidence that Jesus is ours-- is more than just an empty confidence, but is, in fact, the truth. Hasn't it been the case, friends, that you've felt absolutely certain about something that later turned out to be false? Of course you did. And the question is: How do we protect ourselves from that error? How do we represent the truth of Christianity to another person who may not be sharing our subjective certitude, or our subjective experience? We must have some objective foundation. We must be able to point to more than just our feelings to prove the truthfulness of our faith and the legitimacy of our confidence that Jesus is in our lives. But there's a second step here. There's another factor that goes beyond proving to ourselves or others that Jesus is true beyond our psychological confidence. Do we have biblical justification for the idea that one of the ways the Holy Spirit is active in our lives is that He, as a standard operational procedure, gives Christians personal and individual messages from God, contentful, propositional information like, "Marry that person"? Does the Bible teach that having a personal, live connection with God speaking to you is God's way for Christians? Does the Bible teach that this represents the optimal Christian life? You hear His voice and then you know what to do in your life? Is it the case that the Bible teaches that the Bible itself is not the only source of authoritative information about God, but rather, our subjective experience is also a source of authoritative information about God? And can we expect God to speak to us and fill in the gaps, as it were, on things the Bible does not address (e.g., the specific person I should marry)? My answer is, the Bible does not teach such a thing. It's ironic that so many Christians who hold to sola scriptura in debates with Roman Catholics, would also hold that they receive authoritative pronouncements from God. For goodness sake, at least the Roman Catholic Church relegates that only to the teaching magisterium of the church, and to the Pope when he speaks from the chair. But we have Protestants who hold to sola scriptura who then, in the next breath, speak about the authoritative messages they've received from God that they're obliged to follow. By the way, if you're in the habit of saying, "God told me to do..." thus and so, keep in mind that you're making the claim of a prophet, no less than any prophet of the Old Testament. The testing for a prophet was very severe. A prophet of the Old Testament never made that kind of claim unless he was willing to stake his life on it and die for the claim. In fact, if the claim wasn't true, that's just what happened. The prophet found himself under a pile of rocks. So Christians would be good to guard their mouths and not flippantly make proclamations that God has been speaking privately to them. Even the prophets of God did not make those claims with such a cavalier attitude. We ought not assume that maturity as a Christian means receiving daily authoritative revelations from God when the Bible itself does not give us the justification for believing that such a thing is a standard work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit does many things, but it doesn't teach that the Holy Spirit does that.

This is a transcript of a commentary from the radio show "Stand to Reason," with Gregory Koukl. It is made available to you at no charge through the faithful giving of those who support Stand to Reason. Reproduction permitted for non-commercial use only. ©1998 Gregory Koukl

For more information, contact Stand to Reason at 1438 East 33rd St., Signal Hill, CA 90755
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Whopper Virgins

My hat is truly off to the marketing people for Burger King. They have come up with a new ad campaign for the Whopper. Calling them "Whopper Virgins" they have gone all over the world, finding people who have never tasted a hamburger of any kind and having them take part in a taste test of the Whopper and McDonalds Big Mac. Then they went to remote villages, carting along a Burger King Broiler so they could cook Whoppers on site in some of these places where there would be no other way for people to ever get to try them.

Besides being really fun to watch, it was a great idea. I know that they are taking some grief from some morons who claim that they are exploiting the impoverished peoples of the world, but come on, if you lived in a simple village in a remote area, not feeling impoverished because you really didn't know any better, and somebody came in and gave you a Whopper, would you feel exploited? I don't think so.

I think that this is a brilliant marketing scheme, and congrats to Burger King from coming up with it and pulling it off so well.

Bailouts And Such

It occurs to me, as I have been railing so hard against these devastating bailouts that the Government has been handing out right and left that the Bush administration has been a huge supporter of these bailouts, even taking a leadership role in trying to get more of them pushed through. I have mentioned the Bush White House in this before, but thought it might deserve a little more focus today.

With all the pushing for bailouts and nationalization of American industries and businesses and such, George W. Bush has now officially become the most socialist President in American History... so far. That "so far" is important however, because he only gets to carry that title until January 20th, as the policies and regulations, codes and laws ushered in under the incoming Obama administration will bring Socialism to our great land in ways many of our forefathers never would have imagined possible.

The important thing to realize here is that George W. Bush had the opportunity to mitigate some of the things that Obama and the other Democrats want to do, but instead of standing up to Protect America, he is laying the groundwork to allow all of these things to be put into place.

Truly this is the darkest hour for the Bush Presidency. May God have Mercy on us all.

Flint

Fresh off my first time reading of "The Broken Gun" (see yesterday's post) I decided to go ahead and re-read on old favorite, "Flint" by Louis L'Amour. Let me start by saying that L'Amour always wrote a great story, and always spun a good yarn. His stories are always fun to read, and never overly complicated, just really good stories to sit back, enjoy and pass the time with. His stories also are never boring. As I was discussing with someone one time, there is virtually never a lull in a L'Amour story, and if it seems to be going into a valley, you can rest assured, the hero is only going into the valley to escape the villains or Indians (and no, in L'Amour books the Indians, even the hostile ones, are not always cast as villains) and the bullets or arrows whizzing by overhead keep that from being boring either.

"Flint" has all of that, but something more, you see, "Flint" is also a great work of literature. It may be unheard of by many, lost in the shuffle amongst all the other great books L'Amour wrote, or amongst all the other great books that have been written by other authors, but "Flint" truly is an example of the great American novel.

This story follows a man who is dying of Cancer and leaves the fast paced life of New York City, where his name is feared in the financial sector, of which he is truly a giant, the Donald Trump of his day, though he never went bankrupt... but I digress. Anyway, leaving New York City behind him he returns to the Western land of his youth to die alone, on his own terms, and finds himself in the middle of a range war, and decides to take part on the side of right and justice, and as the other players in this saga soon learn, this man is no tenderfoot.

This is a stellar story, fast paced and fun, and never dull.

One thing that I find very interesting is that, unlike most writers, L'Amour never used an outline or planned his stories in advance. He simply sat in front of his typewriter and hammered out some of the best western stories ever written. In fact, this leads to one of my favorite quotes from L'Amour, "One day I was speeding along at the typewriter, and my daughter - who was a child at the time - asked me, 'Daddy, why are you writing so fast?' And I replied, 'Because I want to see how the story turns out!'" Of course, this style of writing fits very well with how L'Amour saw himself, "I think of myself in the oral tradition -- as a troubadour, a village taleteller, the man in the shadows of the campfire. That's the way I'd like to be remembered -- as a storyteller. A good storyteller." And he was, he really was.

The Broken Gun

I have always been a big fan of the books of Louis L'Amour. In fact, he's the author that go me into reading in a big way. When I was in about the 5th or 6th grade, I had no interest in reading whatsoever, to the point that my Dad actually asked my teacher if I could read OK, and she said, yes, he reads well, but he has to find something that interests him. So Dad said, well I've got a lot of Louis L'Amour books, and Matt does like Westerns, would those be OK? and the Teacher told him that even though they were adult books, she had read some and knew they were wholesome stories, with good themes and very little in the way of swearing and such, so, if it would get me reading, then she thought it was a good idea. A voracious reader was born.

So, the other day I ran across "The Broken Gun" and realized that I had never read this particular book, and, not having another book going at that moment, decided to go ahead and give it a read. As it turns out, it was another great book. This one is a rarity in that it's not set in the old west, but rather in the west in the 1960's, and yet he makes a convincing frontier story, and yet another book that you don't want to put down.

This one is about, of all things, a western author who gets caught up in a 90 year old land dispute, and the fast paced story keeps you reading, and as normal for L'Amour, makes you really want to know what is going to happen next.

If you're looking for a good novel that's not going to take all that long to read, and has a good, enjoyable story where the good guys and the bad guys are clearly defined, and the hero is a hero indeed, I suggest you go ahead and read, "The Broken Gun" by Louis L'Amour.

Do They Even Hear Themselves?

I've been trying to pay less attention to the news these days, now that we are past election season. It's not that there aren't important things happening, it's just that it's so aggravating, what with all the unrelenting stupidity out there.

A case in point, the Auto Bailout, which, you can see in a previous post, I think is a terrible idea, and I laid out the reasons why in that post, but it looks to be going forward in any case. The latest thing is that they are saying that if the Government makes these "loans" with our money to keep the Automakers afloat for some length of time, then the automakers have a set amount of time to come up with a restructuring plan that meets with the approval of the Congress. Great idea, because Congress has proven itself to be such a wonderful planning outfit... but I digress.

They then go on to tell us that we need not worry, because, if the automakers fail to come up with a plan that Congress will approve of, they will have to pay the "loans" back in full, immediately. Sounds great right? How? Isn't that the point of the whole issue? THEY DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY! So how are they going to pay the "loan" back? Who's going to loan them the money to do that?

Isn't it comforting to know that the people who come up with these plans can't even think things that far through before they start spouting off? No? I didn't think so either.

Those Government Dollars

I can't believe that we're still hearing this. When I was a kid I remember morons on the news talking about Government dollars being spent on this or that, and I remember my Mom and Dad getting a little disgusted and saying that there are no such thing as Government dollars. The Government gets all it's money from the people. So when they say "Government Dollars" what they mean is "Taxpayer Dollars," that is to say, our money.

I understand what they are doing, they are engaging in spin, trying to make it not sound so bad that they are spending our money like drunken sailors. I guess what really gets me is that they still seem to think that we are too stupid to realize that this is what is going on. Pretty much everyone now understands that the Government only gets money by taking it from the people, this is called taxes, and some level of taxation is fully legitimate, but things like buying banks and bailing out car companies, are not a legitimate use of our money. The people who write the news understand this, and being liberals themselves they support big intrusive Government which goes well outside of it's legitimate bounds, they want to make it sound better, so they say Government Dollars instead of, your money.

Like I said, I understand what they are doing, but it still disgusts me.

Dishes

I'm procrastinating.

I need to wash the dishes.

I had some other stuff to do this morning, but I've been home for quite a while now... so why haven't I finished them?

I'm tired, but that's nothing new.

I did put all the clean dishes away.

I loaded the dishwasher and now it's running, so that only leaves a few pots and pans.

(A few minutes later) Now I have the sink full of hot soapy water, and the Crock Pot insert is soaking so I can scrub off the roast I cooked in there yesterday.

And yet, instead of scrubbing pans, I'm still procrastinating.

(A few minutes after that) Well, the Crock Pot insert and lid are nice and clean... what should I wash next?

(Yet later still) There now all the dishes are done... except that stoneware pan, I don't have anywhere to put it, but that's ok, once the other stuff dries, I'll go ahead and clean that up, it'll only take a few minutes... if I can get to it, and don't procrastinate... but I wouldn't do that... would I?

Senator, Listen To Thyself

Senator Chris Dodd is calling for the firing of the CEO of General Motors in exchange for the horrific bailout plan that is being rammed down the throats of the American people. Dodd reasons that you can't trust the people who caused major problem to be the ones to fix it.

But is this not exactly what Senator Dodd is asking us to do? Dodd has supported and voted for many of the regulations and policies that have led to much of the economic problems facing the US today, including the Auto Makers.

As chairman of the Senate Banking committee, Dodd did nothing to warn us of the impending crisis. No, he took his sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide, and said nothing while the house of cards that was the mortgage system in the Country fell apart. Not only that, but he also supported the Community Reinvestment Act which required banks to make these high risk loans to begin with. He has also been a supporter of regulations on the Auto Makers that have caused them to be unprofitable, and put them in the situation that they are in today.

There is a lot of stuff going on here, and it would take a lot of time to go through, but the fact is that if you look closely at all of the economic problems that we have in front of us today, you will find Senator Dodd's fingerprints all over all of them. So why doesn't he take his own advice and step down? If he really believes in doing the right thing, and that we can't trust the people who screwed something up to fix it, then he must step down. He has left himself no other option.

I'm not holding my breath.

FDR--Pearl Harbor Speech

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Christmas Card Captions--From Stand To Reason

Christmas Card Captions

Copy and paste these captions to turn your Christmas card into an evangelistic tool...

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O God our loving Father, help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men. May Christmas morning make us happy to be Thy children and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake, amen.

—Robert LouisStevenson

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Jesus is God’s promise fulfilled.
May you take great joy in Him and the celebration of His birth.

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From the cradle to the cross:
What the Child has done for those who receive His pardon…

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Nailed to the top of Jesus’ cross is a “certificate of debt” to Caesar, a public display of Jesus’ crime: “King of the Jews.” When punishment is complete, Caesar’s court will cancel the debt with a single Greek word stamped upon the parchment’s face: “tetelestai.” Finished. Paid in full.

Being king of the Jews is not the crime Jesus pays for, however. Hidden to all but the Father is another certificate nailed to that cross: ours. In the darkness that shrouds Calvary from the sixth to the ninth hour, God the Father unleashes His fury upon His sinless Son who has taken upon Himself the crimes of the world as if guilty of all.

At the last, it is not the cross that takes Jesus’ life. When the full payment is made, when the last of the sin debt melts away and the justice of God is fully satisfied, Jesus simply dismisses His spirit with a single Greek word that falls from His lips: “Tetelestai.” It is finished.

Colossians 2:13-14
John 19:30

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Christmas Blessings…

…with a prayer that you come to a quiet place of reflection on the simplicity of Jesus’ birth and the magnitude of His purpose.

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Christmas is not about giving, it's about a gift. May the gift of forgiveness through Jesus, our Lord, fill your heart this year.

Merry Christmas

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Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name “Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”
Matthew 1:23

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The God of all creation humbled Himself to become a human being—our Savior, Christ the Lord. Because Jesus was born He could die, bringing the abundance of life we enjoy through Him. May each of you rest in the security of the Babe who’s birth we celebrate this day.

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Have You Heard This One?

OK, let me start by saying that this is not a big political post, it's just something that strikes me as being very funny.

It turns out that, as of right now, Hillary Clinton is not eligible to be Secretary of State. Article 1, Section 6 of the US Constitution basically states no Senator or member of the US House of Representatives may be appointed to an office if that office were created, or the salary (it calls it "Emoluments" but it means salary or compensation) for that office were increased during that Senator or Representatives term of service. Even if that person voted against such an increase, it doesn't matter, they still are not eligible to be appointed to that office. And yes, the salary for Cabinet Members, which the SecState is one of, have increased while Mrs. Clinton has set in the US Senate.

The reason that I said, "as of right now," is that Presidents have gotten around this in the past by getting Congress to lower the Salary for a given office back down to the pre-raise levels, which seems to pass muster, allowing the Senator or Representative to be appointed, and I'm sure something similar will be done here, so it's really a non-issue, I just think it's funny.

Blaming Wal-Mart

After that poor man was trampled to death at a Long Island Wal-Mart, there are lots of people out there trying to blame Wal-Mart, and maybe they share in some of the blame, but clearly the lion share of the blame lies somewhere else.

I'm not talking about legal liability, I don't know how all of that works out, but just from the perspective of a regular guy, there's plenty of blame to go around.

I think that Wal-Mart's biggest contribution to this tragedy is in hyping up the Black Friday deals, but, or course, they are not alone in this, virtually every store out there gets into that. They also kept everyone outside where a mob mentality had the chance to form. Wal-Mart's in this area, most of them anyway, are open 24 hours a day, and so people are able to come into the store and line up near the items that are of interest to them. It can still be kinda scary if you're in the store, but it would generally avoid this kind of thing.

The largest part of the blame in all of this has to go to the mob. Those people that were so worked up in their selfish frenzy to get the things that they wanted, that they were willing to push and shove their way into the store, no matter what, or who, they had to step on in order to get in there.

Now we also have some morons crying that this employee didn't have any crowd control training or experience. Two things on that, one, duh! Of course he didn't have any crowd control training, he was a part time Wal-Mart employee, not a cop or some such person as that. And secondly, what kind of moron thinks that crowd control training would have helped? This was a mob, not a crowd. They actually broke down the doors of the store, so anyone there, regardless of training, would have been trampled by this mob.

Of course, if the individual people had some sense of respect and care for people other than themselves, and the things that they wanted to get for themselves, they would not have allowed themselves to turn into a mob, and kill a man who was just trying to make enough money to get by.

I will say, just for the record, not that I've heard anyone blame him, but just to make sure it's clear, the victim here does not bear any of the blame for this, he was just trying to do his job, doing what he was told to do, and the mob killed him for his trouble. I feel terrible for him, and for his family, and while I'm not sure how much Wal-Mart is responsible for this, I can understand why the family has sued Wal-Mart, but regardless of the outcome of that lawsuit, I hope that they are able to find some healing over the course of time.

Jude (KJV)

Jude 1

1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:

23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Still Fearing Sarah

Sarah Palin showed up in Georgia to campaign for Senator Saxby Chambliss in a runoff election. There is something to be said for this being a news story, at least a minor one.

I don't have a problem with this being reported, but just about the only thing you hear from the media is that Gov. Palin isn't really doing this for Senator Chambliss, but for her own political ambitions, and they say it as though she is doing something wrong.

The fact is, I'm sure, that she is doing this for two reasons, one is to help Senator Chambliss get re-elected, which is good for the Party, and also, yes, for her own political ambitions. To keep her face out there and make sure that people remember that she's still around, and that she isn't finished on the national stage.

There is nothing at all wrong with this, it is what politicians do. She has a opportunity here to help a fellow Republican, and help herself while she's at it. I am quite encouraged to see her being active again so soon after the election is over. She's not being selfish, or trying to undermine anyone, she's simply keeping herself visible to the American people so that she is remembered, rather than fading into memory. Nobody, especially a politician, wants to fall victim to the old "out of sight, out of mind" scenario.

The fact is that the media and the leftists, and the leftists in the media, who spent the entire election drooling all over Obama, are very fearful of Governor Palin, and what she might be able to accomplish if she can stay somewhat in the spotlight over the next four years.

The liberals finally have their power, and they are scared to death that the American people might wake up and they will lose their newly acquired power. They feel that they must continue to attack her at every opportunity, because they fear the possibility that she might defeat Obama for a second term if she is able to run in four years, and so, they feel the need to keep that from ever happening.

When you have to fear what will happen to your side when the people learn the truth, maybe you're on the wrong side.

More Leftist Lunacy

As most of you already know, I'm neither a George W. Bush fan, nor am I a Bush hater. This makes me just a little unique, because it can be hard to find people who don't fall into one of those two camps. And yes, even though you don't really see them on the news, there are plenty of Bush fans out there.

Something is bothering me though. There seem to be a lot of people, all of them on the far left, who are saying that President Bush should resign and allow Obama to take office earlier than the scheduled January 20th time frame. They even have some wild ideas of how this could be done. They say that Bush and Cheney could resign together, and then Nancy Pelosi would be President (since she's the speaker of the House right now) and she would just go along with Obama's ideas. This, of course, is nothing more than a ploy to make sure that the Democrats get the first woman President, showing how they are still running scared of Sarah Palin. As a side note, if this were going to happen, which it won't which I'll get to in a moment, the right way to do it would be for Dick Cheney to resign, Bush to appoint Obama as VP and then resign once he's confirmed, which would take this Senate all of about three seconds.

Anyway, the idiocy of these people is simply stunning. One of the things that really sets the United States apart from the rest of the world is the fact that every 4 to 8 years we elect a new President, and power is transferred in a clean, efficient, peaceful way. As much as Republicans didn't like Bill Clinton, when Bush won the 2000 election, you didn't hear all these calls for Clinton to step aside for him to take the office early. It was enough for Republicans that we had won, and would soon have our man in the White House. Likewise, as much as I disagree with Obama, and am not anticipating a good time for the next 4 years, and based on that am hoping that a really good conservative Republican is able to defeat him in 2012, should that happen, I would not expect Obama not to serve out his term.

This is driven by a couple of things, first and foremost being the rabid hatred that the leftists have for George W. Bush, and the other is their lust for power. They have tasted victory with the election of Obama, and can't wait for him to destroy... err... change our Country.

One funny part of this is the fact that on the biggest thing that is going on right now, the economic woes, Bush is basically doing (sadly) exactly what Obama would do, and most of the other issues in the far left agenda will take some time to move forward, so rushing to power won't do them any good.

For myself, while I'm no big fan of George W. Bush, I think that it would be a grand time to be able to sit down and have lunch with the man, sometime after January 21st 2009. I question some of the things he did as President, but he seems to me that as a regular guy, he could be a lot of fun to hang out with.