A Common Religious Lie

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If I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times that we are all children of God. I have even heard it from behind the pulpit. Either it is a lie or Jesus lied. I am going to believe Jesus.

When Jesus was being confronted by the pharisees, (John 8:40 to 48) He said that their father was the devil and that they did the will of the devil.

While all men and women are created by God, not all men chose to be his children. Instead they chose to follow Satan. When a person chooses to not follow God, then he follows Satan and Jesus, according to this passage, says that their father is the devil.

Only when a person accepts Jesus as his savior and master does a person become the child of God. Once a person becomes a child of God, that is permanent. It is irreversible. Argue with me if you like. First read the passage. Read what Jesus has to say on the matter. Read John 3:16 and 17. (Note, if eternal life might be reversed, then it is not eternal.)

A Stumble and a Fall

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I don’t remember the year, but it was a while ago. I went to school in Syracuse on a large printer. The school was ten weeks, which was as long as any school I went to. It was the first time I had heard of someone called Jimmy Swaggart. In the parking lot of the hotel where I was staying were three big semis with his name and photo on the side of them. From that, I could tell he was a preacher, but I had no idea what church he represented or what he taught.

Some months later, I saw him preaching on TV. He seemed to be genuine. His words were right and certainly most of what he was teaching seemed to be legitimate. He certainly had a huge following. Still, I was reluctant to refer anyone to him. I don’t know, but something inside me told me to steer clear of him.

Years later, it became public that he was taking photos of prostitutes. It would see he stumbled and he fell, big time. It was on all the news and it would seem to be celebrated.

And so it is that men do such things everyday and worse. No one says anything. It is not on the news. If something does make the news, it is only a few words. It is only those who stumble and fall big time that get their name in print, and then only after the the fact. There was not much news about Swaggart before he fell. Indeed, he probably hardly rated a mention on the internet.

The world loves it when someone such as he stumbles and falls on his face with great embarrassment. Moreover, the accusations fly the instant someone stumbles at all, even if it is falsely reported. Those who stand behind the pulpit and preach, more so than all others much be particularly careful. The world is watching ready to pounce on them. The world loves it when they stumble. I have seen it over and over.

I suppose those that study human behavior have their theories. Maybe I can share a couple of mine. Certainly, right at the top, people say, “You see. He’s like everyone else so why should we believe him?” In a way, it gives the unbelievers a reason, an argument why they shouldn’t believe. It justifies their non-belief.

I do have a little different point of view. If what they are teaching is true, what benefit is it to anyone when he fails. Moreover, we all fail. Sin is an illness common to humans, no matter how many sermons they preach or no matter how accurate his message is.

If the best soldier in the platoon falls wounded, is that good? Do we want to stand over him and mock him. Well, preachers, the real preachers are soldiers in a way. They help fight evil and spread the plan of salvation. They are the leaders we should look to. Are we to laugh and mock those that fall flat on their face?

Maybe, as in the case of the soldier, we should help them up, provide help, and maybe bring them back to their feet.

If you are the type that takes pleasure in seeing the Godly stumble then fall, maybe it is time to take a good look at yourself. None of us are immune to such a thing.

The Bible says we are to look to Jesus Christ as our example. All humans are subject to failing us. There is a saying, never get to know your hero. They will always disappoint you. However, it is good to get to know Jesus. He never will never fail you no matter how well you get to know Him.

As for Jimmy Swaggart, his church refused to reinstate him. However, as near as I can tell, Swaggart’s pride would not allow himself to be subject to his church. I suspect the same might be said about his willingness to follow the instructions of God himself. He has decided to separate himself from his church and go out on his own.

Every now and then, I hear of him. However, if he is being a soldier for God, it is nowhere near as before. He has nowhere near the following. I say this not to belittle him all the more but to point out the problems of stumbling and falling, especially for the ones who are most followed.

As an aside, when someone does fall like that, maybe they were never an anointed leader in the first place. It might have all been a big show. Some have big egos, you know. They love the attention and they love the money. The Bible calls them false prophets. If Swaggart was a false prophet, then he never never had far to fall in the first place.

Cement?

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This is sort of a continuation of “Cars and Pickups.” The wife and I went to Abbay’s Restaurant yesterday and had a wonderful meal of country fried steak. On the way out, we encountered a guy with a very nice big gray truck. I told him, Nice truck. My sons call that dress gray.”

He smiled and said that that it was officially called cement. Now I must admit that one caught me by surprise. I wonder who came up with that name. It makes me wonder if he is looking for job today.

Well, maybe I am the one in the wrong. After all, that truck was sold. Still, I am wondering if the name of the paint was part of the reason. Now tell me please, would you want to have a nice looking truck with the color name of cement?

Cars and Pickups

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If you would like a guy feel good, complement him on his truck or car, especially if he has a big nice pickup. They can’t help it. Let’s face it, when a man goes out and gets himself a big pickup, it is something of an extension of himself.

I say this because I have complemented a number of them and you can always tell, the appreciation of the compliment is genuine. Nonetheless, me with my desire to be humorous, one day I offered to trade a man my HHR for his huge beautiful pickup. With a smile, he said, “No thanks. I already have one.”

Who would have thought that, his other vehicle really was a Chevy HHR. Never would have figured on that.

My experience has made me wonder though. Would that billionaire like it if I complimented him on his limo? Would he like it if told him I like his jet? Do you suppose he would laugh if I offered to trade my HHR for his 100 foot yacht?

While we are on the subject, I will have to start keeping a bucket of sudsy water next to my electric car. Being as I never go into gas stations, the windows never get cleaned. I tried hitting the window cleaner button today and all it did was rearrange the mud on the window. Where did all that dirt come from. I had to get the Windex and paper towels out to get it done right before we could go eat. That is sort of one of those things you don’t consider when you buy an electric car.

We don’t go out at night much. Yesterday, we went out to dinner late. When we got in the car, I noticed there was no courtesy light. It was dark in my Nissan as we got in. Now that did not make sense. All cars have courtesy lights.

I made do until we got home and investigated. I do keep a flashlight in may car and I used it in my search. I noted two large lights in the back but I could find no way to turn them on. Now I was really confused. It didn’t make sense. I finally found the switch above the rearview mirror. Now you will be happy to know, when I open the door, the lights come on. After a year, I am no longer in the dark.

However, it does make me wonder. If I took it to the dealer, would they have been able to point me to it. Sometimes I think they just overengineer things. I guess, if we didn’t go out for a late diner, I might not have ever known where that switch was.

I wonder if they do that sort of thing in the pickups.

One Reason I Would Like to be a Millionaire

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Every time I would hear someone say how he hates the US, I would offer them a ticket to anywhere on the face of the earth, both for him and his family. No questions asked. Better to no have people like that somewhere else, no matter what his color he is. Better for us, and apparently for them too. I mean, if he hates it here, I would be doing him a favor sending him to a place he likes.

My guess is, the instant I offer him the ticket, maybe he would decide the US isn’t so bad after all. After all, so far, the people are breaking the law to get in, not out. The more US haters we have here the more probable that traffic will go the other way.

How to Win at Football

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It’s easy. I have been observing and I believe I have the perfect method to win and I could beat any of the other teams.

  1. Don’t get penalized. I have noticed that penalties almost always kill drives, especially the 10 yard variety. The 15 yard types are the really bad stoppers. When I see a fifteen yard penalty on TV, the cameras almost always cut to the coach, who is generally ready to start pulling his hair out. On occasion, I have seen one of them jump up and down and yell. It doesn’t do any good. Better to tell the players not to commit the penalties.
  2. Do not fumble or get intercepted. Turnovers are particularly bad when it is close to one end of the field or the other. Imagine the team is on the five yard line and drops the ball. Yeah. That is not a good way to get on the good side of the coach. On the other hand, fumbling the ball on your own 10 yard line isn’t good either.
  3. Long gains are good. However the real secret to winning is to make sure you gain 5 1/2 yards per play. This will get you first down after first down with a good margin for error, especially in light of item 4.
  4. Make sure the quarterback never gets sacked. All offensive plays should result in positive yardage.
  5. Make sure that each possession of the ball should result in some kind of score, even if it is a field goal. For this reason, it is good to have a kicker who has a cannon for a leg. If he can kick a field from the 50 yard line, it will have a very positive outcome on point production. It means that it is not necessary to reach the goal to score, only the opponents 40 yard line. It really puts a lot of pressure on the opponent’s defense.
  6. Defensively, remember, don’t allow the other team to do any of the above.

Now that I have shown I know how to win football games, I offer my expertise to someone willing to pay me a few million dollars. I am not greedy. 10 million will be fine.

As an aside, I find it interesting that football coaches get paid more the the commander in chief. This is true even though the coaches army is far smaller. Does that mean that a football coach is more important?

The Truth Is In the Lies

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As the people went in to rescue and provide supplies to the folks in Georgia and the Carolinas, the accusations flew this way and that. They couldn’t all be telling the truth as they were contrary to the reports of FEMA.

I have already said which side I believe. It was based on the history of the years of lies told by the dems. I mean, I couldn’t believe what they said before. Why in the world should I believe them now.

Alright. Let’s just say for the sake of argument, I don’t know who is telling the truth. Let us say I don’t know for a fact that it took a week for the gov to do one thing to help out.

And so it was I watched the news on CBS last night. They were interviewing an official, a really high up guy in FEMA. The guy from FEMA rebuked the so-called lies told by those that actually did go in and rescued the folks and flew supplies in. The interviewer, who actually didn’t interview, but was busy helping the guy from FEMA disparage the real heroes.

After close to 5 minutes of their taking turns running down the brave and selfless folks who really helped, the interviewer asked, “So how do the victims request your help.”

Very calmly, very matter of fact, the official gave out the web page info where they could ask for help. And in that, he has exposed the lie. You see, the victims, the large majority of the real victims have no access to power, let alone the internet. Don’t you think it would be far better if they sent people into the area and looked for victims, sort of like the real heroes did. I never heard of any of them put up web sites for the victims, only in and effort to get others to help.

Me. I am inclined to believe the truth. While Old Joe sat on the beach, Trump was spending his own money, using his his own resources to provide real help, that is as much as he could. While Kamala was seeking campaign funds in California, helicopter pilots were using their own helicopters and paying for their own fuel to move supplies in that they paid for out of their own pockets and flying victims out of danger. While FEMA was thinking about it, hundreds of people were busy trying to mobilize people, asking for help.

They say, in the event of disaster, we should be able to self sustain for at least 3 days. Newsbreak, folks. It was a week before FEMA had anyone on site. It was almost 2 weeks before orders were made for the military to help, though there were several bases, so-to-speak, right over the hill.

And of course, if the victims are going to seek help from any of FEMA, they must first find a working computer and somehow hook it up to the internet. Now, why in the world didn’t all those who raced in there think of that. It would have been much faster and it wouldn’t have cost nearly as much.

Think about it, If they those heroes were going to lie, why would they spend their fortunes in doing it? On the other hand, it didn’t cost the officials of FEMA a penny to spread their falsehoods.

Is Anyone Else Confused as Me Over This One

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In the urban areas, the one place you need a means of defense most, is the one place that it is most difficult to have a gun legally. It is also the one place it is easiest to get a gun illegally. Think that over, please.

If you live in an urban area, it sounds more and more like a good reason to leave. I did. I am beginning to think I didn’t move far enough south.

Pilgrims Drank Beer

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I did have all this planned out on what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. However, when I did my little bit of research, I realized that facts got in the way. (frustrating things, those facts) It would have been little more than guessing.

As I looked, one article would say this. One would say that. There were even doubts it would seem, within the individual writings. It seemed simple when I started. They drank beer to avoid getting sick. It was what I heard from several sources. Now, I don’t know what is true about it. I read one article, which says one thing. Then I read another that says something else.

Let’s try to at least start with what is commonly accepted by one and all. Beer was put on the Mayflower before they sailed. I think we can assume from that that they drank beer before they left. Whatever they did after they arrived was likely close to what they did before they left.

It is said that the reason they landed at early, at Plymouth Rock, because the ran out of beer. I have no idea. Some say one thing. Some say another. You are welcome to do your own research.

It is generally accepted the children drank the beer too. Also, no one drank to access.

Finally, it is true that in the day, people did get sick from the water. It contained all kinds of microbes they knew nothing of. It would stand to reason that if they drank water, they might get sick. When they drank the beer, they remained healthy. It would stand to reason that they avoided that which seemed to make them sick.

As an aside, I also heard that the Roman soldiers boiled water as a religious thing, It greatly attributed to their health which made them stronger and faster soldiers. I don’t know if that is true either. It does sound logical. People who are sick can’t fight as well. However, I don’t know. I suppose it might have been because they drank beer as the pilgrims, instead of water.

Fact is, when making the brew, the water must be heated. That would kill the microbes. The fermentation has nothing to do with it.

At any rate, we no longer have that reason to drink beer. We have perfectly safe water, most of the time. Staying healthy is no longer a valid reason.

Those that know me; those that have read most of my posts, know that I don’t like alcoholic beverages. When people find that out, I get these sayings, “The pilgrims drank beer,” as if that makes it okay. They they find out I am Christian and they say, “Jesus drank wine.”

Let’s get this straight. You want to drink, then drink. Don’t try to justify it. Regardless of anything else, the alcohol is still the one most society damaging drug, no matter the reasons.

This one fact I know. I have seen it all my life. I have even experienced it myself. If you want to do something badly enough, you can think of a reason. So, let’s get it straight. You drink alcohol because you want to. You say you can stop any time you want to. However, of course, you don’t want to. You can always find reasons. But the one truth you don’t want to admit. You want to drink. There is no force on earth that will change that.

As for Jesus drinking wine, I am not about to try to defend that. Some say the wine was weaker back then. I don’t know.

My reason for being against alcohol started a long time before I was saved and has little to do with my belief in Jesus. It was from a personal experience in my family. My belief has only been fortified over the years. Moreover, it is backed up by the numbers today. One third of fatal accidents are caused by drunk drivers. Think about that the next time before you drink before driving.

Let me throw this at you. If you come home and find your babysitter drunk, you would fire her and refuse to pay her. Yet, you get even more drunk than she while watching your kids, and never think a thing about it.

As I said, you want to drink, you will drink. If you want to get drunk, you will get drunk, no matter who else it endangers. I know. I’ve seen it. You think it over a little. You’ve seen it too.

The fact is, excuses are easy to come up with. We are all well practiced at it, myself included. It just is, I had different things I wanted to excuse.

One excuse I did find most remarkable was Mickey Mantle’s. He admitted it. Those in his family died early in life. So why not drink? Well, he did die early, because of the alcohol, not because of the genes he inherited. He came on TV and admitted he made the mistake. And so it was that his liver failed him. That’s a real shame. Mantle really seemed to be a great guy, the type most would like to know.

Well, at least he didn’t use the old excuse that pilgrims drank beer. He made the mistake. He knew it and he owned it. I guess I need to recognize him for that.