Life in our time

Why I am a racist

2008-06-11T17:51:00.001-07:00

Since the old British adage that, "Americans have never spoken english" is now demonstrably true (Just wait for someone to aks you a question) I will go ahead and utilize a word which most of the world misunderstands and admit that I am a racist. Well, in truth I suppose a more accurate description might be "speciesist", but since the aforementioned word does not exist, racist must do. I am a racist because when all races (or species) are line up side by side - I choose the human race every time. Beavers are neat, badgers interesting, hedgehogs are cute, but I cannot get around the fact that God endowed my species with gifts no other race has. In case you were wondering, swerving into my lane while talking on your cell phone isn't one of them.

I bring up this topic, one - because the vampires seem to show an interest in it and two, because I intend to vote for a racist for President in the November election. Sadly, Barack Obama is not a racist. How may I make such a claim? His Senate voting record proves he has denigrated his race to somewhere below sea turtle. In his own words, speaking to the National Abortion Rights action league (NARAL), Senator Obama said,

"A woman's ability to decide how many children to have and when, without interference from the government, is one of the most fundamental rights we possess. It is not just an issue of choice, but equality and opportunity for all women."

In Barack Obama's world, society has no right to put pressure on a young black girl not to have 5 children by the age of 16. He also somehow equates this position with opportunity? Must all illiterate young women of our race be permitted to have as many illegitimate children as they can pop out?

The Heritage foundation conducted a study in which they set out to determine what major decisions one makes would guarantee a life of poverty or guarantee that one would not live in poverty. This study boiled life's major decisions to 2 things. To whit:

1. If a young woman has a child before the age of 18, she virtually guarantees herself and her child a life of poverty

2. If a young woman does not graduate from high school, she guarantees herself and any of her progeny a life of poverty.

If, however this same young woman waits until after age 21 and will graduate from High School, she virtually guarantees herself that she will not live in poverty.

Apparently, Senator Obama thinks that societal or governmental influence in this decision is tantamount to a crime.

"I have consistently advocated for reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President. I oppose any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's ruling in this case."

Even vampires understand that "reproductive choice" is a euphamism for abortion. Not wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade means Obama is a horrible lawyer or at least a lawyer who has no concern for law. Even if you are not a racist and could care less if pre-born children are murdered, you should tear your hair out when people speak of upholding a decision that everyone knows was the worst form of policitcal plagiarism the High Court has ever committed.

Another euphamism of the pro-abortion crowd is "reproductive service provider". This statement refers to an abortionist. Abortionists are those whom I most pity, for I cannot imagine the judgment they will receive at the end of the world. We have a sense of judgment in other capital crimes, for example, in Texas this month, the State is set to execute a man who murdered his female neighbor after raping her. We can sense that his judgment here is deserved and perhaps even think about how he may be judged by God. But what about the Abortionist who has killed hundreds of pre-born babies?

The vampires are almost ready for their evening chat (the sun is now setting) so I must sign off. But I want to reiterate that I am a racist of the first water - a determined advocate of my race above all others. I say, "Menscheit, Menscheit uber alles! "

Guys named Bunyan

2008-06-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

As a child, I delighted in reading the tales of Paul Bunyan and his great blue ox, Babe. The territories of the west, filled with trees were laid clear all in a day under the swath of his mighty axe. Now that I am old and broken down, I find that another Bunyan gives me joy - only this one actually exists. His name is John and he once led a life most of us cannot imagine. John Bunyan was born an Englishman to a cruel father and poorly prepared mother. At an early age, John turned to the sea and began learning the arts and crafts of a sailor. Like many young men (myself included) John's naval exploits lent themselves to the darker side of life and he eventually fell in with slave traders traveling from Africa to the West Indies. In the early 17th century there was a great deal of money to be made in slavery and John trafficked many years in that deadly trade. Several times he was shipwrecked and once he even fell under the power of an African Queen who held him hostage on an island.

There were still Preachers of God's word during this time who warned men like John that their lives were accountable to God and no one ignores His terrible wrath forever. John ignored this message until one day it struck him as a harpoon might strike a breaching whale. Pierced through to his soul, John gave up his life of evil and composed one of the greatest songs in human history - Amazing Grace. Once a pirate and slaver, John Bunyan became a crier of warning to others such as he who faced the wrath of God, either in this life or the next.

John wrote, "Friend, because it is a dangerous thing to be walking towards the lace of darkness and anguish; and again, because it is (notwithstanding) the journey that most of the poor souls in the world are taking, and that with delight and gladness, as if THERE was the only happiness to be found, I have therefore thought it my duty, being made sensible of the danger that will befal those that fall therein, for the preventing of thee, O thou poor man or woman! to tell thee, by opening this parable, what sad success those souls have had, and are also like to have, that have been, or shall be found persevering therein.
We use to count him a friend that will forewarn his neighbour of the danger, when he knoweth thereof, and doth also see that the way his neighbour is walking in doth lead right thereto, especially when we think that our neighbour may be either ignorant or careless of his way. Why friend, it may be, nay twenty to one, but thou hast been, ever since thou didst come into the world, with thy back towards heaven, and thy face towards hell; and thou, it may be, either through ignorance or carelessness, which is as bad, if not worse, hast been running full hastily that way ever since. Why friend? I beseech thee put a little stop to thy earnest race, and take a view of what entertainment thou art like to have, if thou do in deed and in truth persist in this thy course. "

What course might you be on? If you aren't sure, may I suggest you take some time and find out? All of the pleasure in the world means nothing to the dying soul wracked in pain suffering from malignant cancer, or the bereaved family whose father has just perished at the hands of a drunken driver.

Jesus Christ once said, "I am the way, the truth and the life". He demonstrated the veracity of His statement by getting up from the dead. No one else has ever done this. There are so many things of which our world is ignorant of today - don't let your eternal destiny be one of them.

Impending world doom?

2008-05-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

Since this is the world's most widely read blog as reported in Vampire's weekly, I thought I would outline a scenario for the end of the world - soon. No, I haven't been reading those pillars of Baptist theology, Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins. But I have been reading the world's commodity output figgers and have been keeping an eye on something called the "peak oil production". Peak oil production is the maximum amount of oil the world can produce. Rather like measuring the maximum amount of juice which can be squeezed from an orange, once the peak production of crude oil is hit, it will take drastic and dramatic global measures to fix it.

It appears that the world has reached peak oil production. According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy the peak output for crude oil in the world is approx. 85 million barrels per day. Today, the world uses nearly 89 million barrels of oil per day. In other words, all of the oil being produced from crude in the world is already being used. Yet, most economies are growing.

The DOE also suggests that China by itself will require 89 million barrels per day by 2018. In other words, China will likely use all of the world's current production capacity. What about everyone else?

Can you say war, children?

I'm no prophet (heck, i'm not even a profit), but it doesn't take a degree in education (yes, that's a joke) to see that if one country needs all of the world's supply of produced oil, and they can't get it, then something drastic must happen.

WHat is this "something"? Could China make a deal with Russia to capture the oil fields of Iraq, Iran, Egypt because America has become a non-entity and has a weak President who enjoys negotiating with foreign heads of state?

Could Russia finally use this as an excuse to rid the world of those nasty Jews?

I don't know what Russia or China will do. What I will do is make sure my family and I are not slaves to crude oil. My next car will hopefully run on electrons or perhaps even air. My next house will hopefully be powered by a huge ball of gas, (no, not Ted Kennedy or Rush Limbaugh)and much of my food will hopefully come from my backyard garden. I won't pay $6 a gallon for gas, much less the $10-$12 predicted by the global shortage. I'm not for killing all the forests so that obese soccer moms can shuttle their kids to practice in monstrous metal machines. I'm not for grading all of Nevada into a plain so that we can harvest crude from the shale in their mountains.

If we could harvest a portion of the methane emanating from Washington, D.C. we could fuel every aspect of American life, but sadly congress won't bend over. At least not for the American people. But I figure if enough of us begin to ignore both government and the oil interests, perhaps - just perhaps we can avert a global meltdown and still buy lead-laced toys from our pals in Beijing. Oh, yeah and don't forget the cavier from our druzya in Moscow!

John McCain, Boeing and American Decline

2008-03-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

Francis Schaeffer once told a reporter that it was a "terrible" thing to see one's country decline so rapidly during one's lifetime. It never occurred to me that I might live to see another period in our history like the 1970's when Jimmy Carter's administration crushed what was already a fragile economy and people waited in gas lines and built homebrew ethanol stations to survive the cost of gasoline.

I thought the 1970's marked a new and final low in the chapter of American decline, but sadly I was wrong. It appears that America is headed for a new decline: one from which we may never recover. This new decline is brought about by an odd combination of ultranationalist empire builders like George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld coupled with the ultraegalitarianism of bankers and what is very likely the most incompetent congress in the history of our nation.

In a nutshell, the Executive branch has stretched our military to the breaking point and embedded our nation in generations-long conflicts in several countries (not just Iraq, but Afghanistan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and even now with AFRICOM - somewhere in Africa). The bankers have plundered a gullible and selfish American population in a mortgage-back securities scam that dwarfs the junk bond scandal of Milken and friends. All the while, the congress spends its time in sycophantic interviews with baseball players, ignorant that the executive branch is usurping even more of their Constitutionally-derived power.

What does this have to do with Boeing and John McCain? Well, the current flap over a contract granted to EADS to supply the U.S. Airforce with tankers is sympomatic of the American decline I mentioned earlier. Initially, Boeing was let this contract without a bid, which suited the Congress because they wouldn't be forced to worry about all those nastly legal, contractual terms and the possibility of having to actually discuss national security escaped them.

Along came John McCain, who for all of his faults is as honest as the day is long. Senator McCain noticed that the executives at Boeing seemed to be spending alot of time with a woman at the Air Force department. He also noticed that the amount of money they agreed to build the aircraft for and the amount they were receiving were grossly disparate - in his words, nearly $6 thousand million worth. So, Senator McCain investigated Boeing and uncovered a contract-padding scam which sent a Boeing executive and an Air Force executive to the Federal hooscow for a brief interlude (probably until they could prepare for a congressional campaign). So, McCain became somewhat of a hero, trumpeting his pork-sniffing aptitude and crowing about how he successfully saved the taxpayers lots of money, which he truthfully did.

Fast forward a bit, remembering that the Air Force is still in need of a gas station that flies. Only now, they cannot dole out contracts based upon Shrimp Cocktails and pajama parties, they have to actually send out an RFP (Request for proposal) to qualified entities. Because France, England, Germany, Japan (and China) are given special status by our government, they were qualified to submit a bid for this RFP. France was the only nation with the capability to submit a bid, through its European subsidiary AirBus, who has a military branch called EADS.

When the Air Force reviewed the proposals from Boeing and EADS, there apparently was no comparison and EADS won. This is grating to some in Seattle (home of Boeing) because their company actually helped the government write the specifications for the new plane!

There will be much political hand-wringing and the infantiles in Congress will hold hearings so they can tell their constituents they worked hard "for America", but the truth is that the Air Force actually did the right thing. The RAF and the French use the EADS tanker and I am glad that we will too.

Finally, the American decline portion of this story comes from the fact that Boeing was so greedy and stupid that it blew a free, no-bid deal for more than $40 billion. This is analagous to the few hurricane Katrina evacuees who robbed markets in Houston while they were receiving Federal aid from FEMA.

America, my country, has become a fat, lazy cow which has grown tired of chewing its own grass and has wandered into a neighboring field, wherein lies a poisonous weed (egalitarianism).
We have feasted off of this weed and are now feeling its ill effects. We should thank McCain and those who worked to bring us the best deal. And if Boeing cared a bit about the country that has given it so much, they would begin to demand quality from their executives and workers and be prepared for the next contract. For those who are myopically bent on French-bashing, please try and remember your first grade history lesson. If it were not for the French, America would still be an English colony.

Wesley Snipes and American freedom

2008-02-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

I am not a fan of Wesley Snipes. I have seen 15 minutes of "Blade" and his acting reminded me that "Babe" should have won an Oscar. Having said that, I am glad he and his legal team defeated the IRS today in its fraud case against him.
Why?
Because, in my view the U.S. government has grown like a cancer to encompass nearly all of American life and I am glad when a citizen beats back the growth of the monolithic monster.

Did Mr. Snipes' celebrity help him? Sure. So did his race. Sadly, his pocketbook also saved him because he was able to buy the services of the best lawyers, which means that you or I would have been convicted on all counts because our lawyer would have farted like a pack mule during the closing arguments.

How does this affect you and I? As soon as I become an African-American film star I plan to stop paying all taxes!

Haven't we had enough of American non-healthcare?

2008-01-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

I was going to begin this post by saying something like, "I hate to pile on", but in reality I do not and so I won't. American healthcare sucks. It is NOT the best in the world. How can I say this?
Here's just 2 examples from this week:

A friend whose parents are uninsured called me to ask for prayer in part because his father who experienced multiple-organ failure could not be admitted to a transplant hospital until a deposit of $225,000 was made. No this isn't a typographical error - St. Luke's Hospital in Houston wanted $250,000 to admit my friend's father. He is currently at the county hospital (Ben Taub) and may die there because America which spends more than $10 billion per month building our empire in Iraq won't help a dying man without making huge profits.

Example number 2 is a woman who came to my house incredibly thankful that we had a used nebulizer for her daughter. We inherited it when a friend died earlier this year. She was thankful because although she has health insurance, it won't pay for things that are "non-essential" like nebulizers.

As an American, I am not accustomed to blindly accepting stupidity when I see it. Years ago, when stupidity reigned in the telecom industry, some other chaps and I saw it and did something about it and I can proudly say I was part of a revolution which brought about low calling rates and ubiquitous service around the world. I am itching to try the same thing with healthcare.

How about no debt in 2008!

2007-12-28T16:14:00.000-08:00

Most people don't find out until it's too late
That someone has to pay the price,
You can pay it yourself,
or get someone else,
But who would be that nice?
To pay a debt that isn't his,
Well I know someone like that.
He's your best friend,
He really is, He really loves you.

Most people don't find out until they're half dead,
that they need another life.
You say you've heard everything that's ever been said,
about the way, the truth, the life.
You say you've heard lots of preaching,
all before,
but did you ever open up your door,
give him a chance to prove Himself,
He's real you know.

I hope you find out before it's too late,
that there's really nobody else,
you know its breaking His heart,
the longer you wait,
Cause' you've only been lying to yourself.
No one believes a word you say - not even you.

You know your gonna find out that He's the way,
no matter which way you choose,
but I pray you'll find out what He's done for you.

Jesus.

(Words above by Keith and Melanie Green)

America the fat?

2007-08-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that America is the earth's most obese large nation. I used the adjective "large" because there are smaller, homogeneous countries where obesity is more of a problem (Samoa, for example). All one need do to verify this fact is to observe persons where one works, travels or spends much of his or her day. Obesity in the U.S. is a national health crisis, and for many a personal crisis as obesity affects every aspect of our physical and mental lives.

Obesity is defined as a Body mass Index (BMI) of 20kg/sqm or greater. The BMI is seriously flawed, I know (in college, at age 18, I had a BMI which labeled me as obese because of my muscular structure, even though I had a measured body fat of only 4% and wrestled competitively) but the BMI is what our country uses so we have to deal with it for now. A BMI which registers 20kg per square meter puts a person at serious risk for quite a number of mental and physical problems. Hypertension, diabetes, gall bladder disease, osteoarthritis, and sleep apnea are just a few of health problems you will suffer if you are morbidly obese.

In the U.S., the diet and supplement industry is a growing, multi-billion dollar industry which purports to help persons lose excess weight. Some programs such as weight watchers and Jenny Craig have some verifiable success, but these programs are fairly restrictive and can be expensive.

Science has experimentally determined that obesity causes major health problems, and yet more and more Americans are becoming obese, why is this?

Recently, I was in China and was given the answer by a Chinese man. He asked me if I wanted to know why Americans were "so fat". Curious, I said "yes". He said simply, "You eat too much".

Could this be true? Could the American obesity epidemic be due simply to volume? Well, it turns out that it can and indeed may be. Dr. Andrew Chung of Atlanta conducted research related to obese cardiology patients in his practice. He found that most persons in his study consumed between 3 and 11 pounds of food per day. Very few modern humans require this much food for survival (the only exceptions being extreme athletes). Dr. Chung discovered that climbers of Mt. Everest required only 2 pounds of nutrition per day during their climb which required constant effort and struggle. Reasoning that the average American doesn't expend even a fraction of the energy of an Everest climber, he designed a diet which he calls the 2pdOMER diet. Basically, this diet restricts a persons food intake to 2 pounds or less per day.

Can this really work, and is weight maintenance really this simple?

I think it might be. While I always lose weight when I travel to wierd places in the world, (often because of illness) I almost always gain it back within 2 weeks of returning to the U.S. However, after the rebuke of the Chinese man, I decided to try Dr. Chung's program for myself. The results? Not only have I not gained back the weight I lost in China, I have lost additional weight and am looking forward to reducing the size of my clothing for the first time in 10 years.

What I discovered in China was that I didn't need huge amounts of food. Even Chinese athletes I met didn't consume nearly as much as I had normally consumed in the course of a day.

In conclusion, if you are struggling with weight, here's some food for thought.
To see what being overweight is doing to you physiologically, go here:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?highlight=obesity&rid=obesity.section.136

Dr. Chung's website can be viewed from the link at the top of the page.

Buy a cheap food scale and try limiting your entire food intake to 2 pounds per day. You'll discover some strange things. One, you'll find that you won't be able to eat much fast food. A whataburger with cheese weighs in at 1.6 pounds. Add fries and you are pretty close to using up all of your available food mass for an entire day.

Will you be hungry? Yes. For the first few days, you will experience hunger, but being hungry for a bit isn't going to kill anyone and will in fact be a benefit to you. Then, as your body adjusts to eating less, the hunger pangs will decrease and will eventually go away.

As an individual and as a nation we must decide to do what is right. All of the information in the world won't do a bit of good if we ignore it. If you are struggling with weight, here is some information - now it is up to you to take action.

Blessings,

Jeff Cokenour

Life in Tibet

2007-07-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

Having just returned from the highest city on earth, I thought it might be a good idea to write down what it is like in Lhasa, Tibet.

Once the secluded fortress of the Dalai Lama, Lhasa, Tibet is now a bustling, if dirty Chinese city. Since the "peaceful occupation" of Tibet by the Chinese army in 1949, the government of China has relocated hundreds of thousands of Chinese into the city and the population is now more Chinese than Tibetan.

Lhasa sits in between beautiful mountains at 12,000 feet above sea level. Once known as the world's most closed city (no westerner ever set foot there before the Chinese invasion) Lhasa is now a bustling center of tourism and a growing urban metropolis complete with trash, vehicle emissions and Karaoke.

But, we weren't there to enjoy the smog or the smoke-filled internet cafe's filled with WOW gamers, we were there for a couple of reasons:

1. To investigate a nasty disease called Kashin-Beck.
2. To share the love of Jesus Christ with those whom we met.

Kashin-Beck disease is a severe form of arthritis which deforms the joints (knee, wrist, neck and others) and curves the spine ( much like scoliosis). Our purpose on this trip was to collect DNA samples from affected persons to determine if there is a possible genetic mutation which increases the likelihood of contracting this disease. While we are reasonably sure the disease does not follow pure Mendelian patterns (it isn't passed on in a recessive or dominant pattern), it does appear that some sort of multifactorial genetics come into play as women predominate over men with the disease, and within nuclear families (families with the same mom and dad), some children may be affected, while others are not. The Chinese insist that there are environmental aspects as well, which we cannot deny, but my suspicion is that environmental factors play a small role, if any.

Here is a woman affected by the disease:

While you might think that nothing appears out of the ordinary for this woman, when I saw her in person (I am the world's worst photographer) I thought she was in her late 60's. her spine is bent and her hands swollen, as are her knees and elbows. She is in her 40's.

This is what happens to your major joints when you have Kashin Beck disease:

Notice the very enlarged areas on both sides of her knees - this lady is only 40 years old. The bones which comprise her knee are rubbing together - the cartilage is gone, which is one reason for the swelling. Imagine, if you can, walking each and every day with no cartilage between your bones.

Well, you may ask, "What can I do about something like this?"

There are at least two things you can do. One, is pray and ask God to reveal to us the cause and the cure for this disease. Two, you can either come with us the next time we go, or you can support a team member by helping to underwrite the cost of their trip.

If you are interested in more information regarding this project, scientific information regarding the disease or supporting this work, you can email me at:

jeff.cokenour@gmail.com

Or visit our website at www.innovativehs.net

A great story for a hard day

2007-07-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

Though we never met, I think that Malcolm Muggeridge was one of the finest men the west has ever produced - or perhaps more accurately, that came out of the west despite its delinquencies. Another fine man of character (and not coincidentally a friend of Mr. Muggeridge) was David Niven - actor extraordinare and British war hero.

Mr. Niven tells a wondrous story of his service which can brighten even the harshest day.

In 1940, about 3,000 people were evacuated from france after the battle of Dunkirk - many of them Red Cross workers as well as British soldiers. Those fleeing were sent on board an old liner called the Lancastria and escorted by 3 British destroyers. Well, the Germans spotted this easy target and placed a bomb down its central smoke stack. The ship began to list terribly to one side as it began to sink. Many people rushed to the upper deck to jump overboard, but several hundred soldiers and sailors were trapped in a hold and could not escape because the ship lay almost on its side.

A young Catholic priest, serving as Chaplain onboard the ship, took a rope and lowered himself down into the hold, knowing that he and the men could never escape. Many of those who jumped overboard amid the burning oil and rubbish and waves said they would have given up and drowned except that over all the noise of the battle, they could hear resounding hymns emanating from the sinking ship even as it slipped beneath the waves.

Perhaps hundreds of men and some women are in heaven now because of a single act of sacrifice by one young man. His light continues to shine atop the hill of the world and his lamp will probably never go out as long as there is an earth.

When your day is hard and things aren't going as well as they might, think of this young man singing and encouraging hundreds of others as they prepare to make the journey from this world to the next.

The best representative of Jesus I ever met

2007-06-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

Since no one reads this blog except me, I figured I might as well put something here to help me remember something good in a world full of things which seem pretty bad.

Jim (not his real name) came to me one day with a "big problem" - he and his wife weren't getting along. Jim is a rather tall, fairly stout man who, on a standardized test might score a little bit slower than most people, but who is perhaps the most sincere, kind person I have ever met.

I knew Jim's children and as Jim went on to explain how his wife had begun not coming home after work, and showing up in public with a scumbag, I began to wonder what might happen if he were forced to raise them on his own.

I also waited to hear Jim say something like "will God hate me if I get a divorce?" Neither those words nor any remotely similar ever crossed his lips. Jim asked me to call his wife and talk to her (which was a very odd exercise in nonsense) and asked me to pray repeatedly so that his marriage would not fail.

The relationship between Jim and I went on for sometime in this manner - he would stop me at odd times and ask me to help him and often reluctantly, I would.

One day was particularly hard for Jim as his wife had assaulted him with a heavy object and his oldest child called the police. His deep blue scar and swollen eye made me wonder how on earth he could remain loyal to such an evil person.

As things progressively worsened, I referred Jim to an attorney and advised him to at least take his kids and flee for safety. Our final visit precluded the necessity of his having to do this because he found his wife on the sofa in the morning - dead from a drug overdose.

I haven't seen Jim in over 2 years and I never tried to keep up with him, but I will never forget him. Every time that I think life would be so much easier on the other side of marriage, I remember this good man who was far more faithful to his wife than I would ever be. Why?

Well, personally I think that the Roman Governor Felix's proclamation to St. Paul wasn't that far off. Felix told Paul, "much learning has made you mad!" Paul went on to tell Felix that he really wasn't crazy and that Jesus really did rise from the dead. We never learn if Felix understood and believed in Jesus, but he was right about "much learning". I don't know if Jim ever finished high school. Certainly, he never attended college and yet he had more kindness, love and wisdom in his little finger than I will ever have. Jim believed what the bible said - lock, stock and barrel. Jim didn't need lectures on dispensational theology and he probably didn't even know what a hermeneutic was.

If I were to find myself in heaven today and were to ask Jesus something like, "Why didn't you give us a real, physical example for our time of how to live?" I think He would laugh and step aside to reveal a smiling Jim, and say, "I did."

Sharing God's love in remote corners of the world

2007-05-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

Lhasa, China (Formerly Tibet) is a beautiful, interesting place with a terrible problem. The problem is a disease endemic to this region, known as Kashin-Beck disease (KBD). KBD terribly affects the children of Tibet, inflicting them with severe arthritis, deformities, and extreme pain.

The physicians at Medicines sans frontieres spent ten years investigating this disease but were unable to develop a treatment protocol or discover a cure for KBD.

Last year, an organization that I have been very fortunate to be associated with was asked by the government of China to investigate this disease. I happened to be conducting research on enzyme-related biochemical reactions and KBD appears to involve problems in enzyme catalysis.

My hypothesis is that the Glutathione Peroxidase-1 enzyme (GPX1) enzyme, which is seleno-dependent, is not functioning properly in KBD victims and therefore the victims experience gross deficiencies in selenium, iron and other trace essential elements.

This summer (July) Innovative Humanitarian Solutions was invited to investigate this hypothesis by initiating a clinical trial in the Lhasa region. This trial will be overseen by the Centers for Disease Control in Lhasa, China under the Direction of Dr. Zugang Jiang.

Dr. Richard Gunasekara, Ph.D., a University of Houston-Victoria professor and well-known geneticist will accompany a research team to Lhasa to oversee the trial initiation and to collect data for genetic screening of the population related to this disease.

Conducting work of this nature isn't cheap, but investigating the cause and developing a treatment protocol for a disease is infinitely less expensive than caring for its victims after they have contracted it.

The half-brother of Jesus Christ named James once asked the question, "If a brother or sister is naked and without daily food and they come to you and you tell them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled" but you do not feed and clothe them, what good is that?"

The Christian life is a life of action. R. Buckminster Fuller once said, "God is a verb". If you understand this and would like to help support the work of Innovative Humanitarian Solutions in Lhasa, providing hope for children of KBD, then please click here: www.innovativehs.net.

Please label your support : Tibet-trial so we will know where to post the funds.

May God richly bless you,

Jeff Cokenour

The dignity of human life

2007-05-19T11:38:00.001-07:00

Dear Friend,

There is a draft bill which is today circulating in the British House of Commons which has the potential to destroy the most important aspect of planet earth – human life itself. This bill, entitled the Human Tissue and Embryos draft bill authorizes British scientists to genetically modify live human embryos with the DNA of other organisms. All persons concerned in any way with human life must be outraged at such a blatant disregard for humanity and indeed for life itself.

By definition, an embryo is an egg which is fertilized. Fertilization of a human egg endows the embryo with all of its potential genetic attributes; each and every aspect of the fully developed human being is contained within this fertilized egg. It is at the point of fertilization that human life must begin. This rule applies to all mammalian life – not only humans. Can one imagine a geneticist proclaiming that the fertilized fish embryo in his laboratory is in fact a giraffe? Of course this would be called silly and foolish – giraffes do not emanate from fish embryos. Neither do anything but human beings emanate from human embryos. To experiment with live human embryos in such a fashion is to disregard the very tenet that human life is special and deserves the utmost care and respect.

One would think that the British of all peoples, would understand this fact. Many of the world’s great scientific and social discoveries emanated from Great Britain. Britain is the land of William Wilberforce who ended slavery in the United Kingdom and whose influence brought abolition to the United States as well. Sir Isaac Newton, who discovered the very foundational laws of our physical world was British and held the utmost respect for human life.

Proponents of this bill rightly claim that the bill itself contains prohibitions for the implantation of modified embryos into human females. However, any thoughtful person can see that this is a vain and transparent attempt to appease those concerned with human dignity and life in the hope that so-called “successful” experiments will enable scientists to persuade the British government and people to disregard these clauses at some later date.

This sort of dangerous experimentation is simply not necessary. Whatever gene expressions the British are allegedly seeking can be brought about in other ways which do not degrade human life and set the worth of humankind at the level of a laboratory experiment.

Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of propaganda described the medical experiments of the Nazis in the following statement,

“Out starting point is not the individual, and we do not subscribe to the view that one should feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, or clothe the naked…our objectives are entirely different: we must have a healthy people in order to prevail in the world.”[1]

Without a defined reverence for life, this is where mankind must end: the selfish pursuit of desire regardless of the temporal or eternal consequences. Reverence for life can and MUST be the beginning point for all human research, whether clinical, theoretical or genetic.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the physician-missionary who spent his life serving the people of Africa stated,

“Only by means of reverence for life can we establish a spiritual and humane relationship with both people and all living creatures within our reach. Only in this fashion can we avoid harming others, and, within the limits of our capacity, go to their aid whenever they need us."[2]

Contrast Dr. Schweitzer’s thoughts with those of the Cambodian despot, Pol Pot who murdered millions of his own people in the name of “progress”: “Since he is of no use anymore, there is no gain if he lives and no loss if he dies.”

Humanity is already seeing the result of this sort of thinking in the euthanasia and infanticide movements in Europe and in the abortion industry of America. The degradation of human life is also manifesting itself in the form of sexual enslavement of thousands of Russian, Chinese, and Korean girls who are being sold to western “husbands” who treat them as property. Can we not see the ultimate end of this sort of thinking?

The dignity of human life is the gravus eventum of our day. Immigration is not, terrorism is not, neither is economic prosperity, for if we cannot as a race understand the dignity of human life, then no other issue will be of any consequence. Thoughtful persons of every society – not scientists alone, must ensure the proper place for human scientific research.

C. S. Lewis summed up this idea perfectly, when he wrote,

“Who can endure a doctrine which would allow only dentists to say whether our teeth were aching, only cobblers to say whether our shoes hurt us, and only governments to tell us whether we were being well governed?”[3]

Those who value humanity, peace, love and dignity must rise up and stop this madness before it metastasizes into an uncontrollable disease which dooms our entire race. I urge you to avail yourselves of every peaceful avenue to forbid the practice of live human embryonic experimentation.

[1] United States Holocaust memorial museum online, “deadly medicine, creating the master race”.

[2] Schweitzer, Albert, Reverence for life, edited by Thomas Keirnan, Philosophical Library. No publisher listed.

[3] Lewis, C.S. A Preface to Paradise Lost: Being the Ballard Matthews Lectures Delivered at University College, North Wales, 1941,

What do we do now?

2006-09-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, shows you how astute I am - Kinky Friedman apparently can't stop making racist remarks. I don't know him, and perhaps he isn't a racist. And Yes, everyone, has made racist comments at some time during their lives - including myself. But asking to be the governor of the second largest state in the most powerful country in the world requires more than just a good sense of humor and the ability to point out that the incumbent politicians are a genuine detriment to the progress of this state.

So, my question is, "what are we left with?" I personally can't vote for Rick Perry, because that would be like voting to punish myself. "One tough grandma" would turn Texas into a very large New Orleans casino row, and I can't encourage that to happen. What about Chris Bell?

He is a democrat and that is a problem - the current democratic party is the party of Haite Ashbury. (Anyone who kicks Joe Lieberman out of their party can't be sensible). But he seems to know what's up and what's down and he isn't plagued by idiotic remarks.

I need help. But we must never forget that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and we can take that to the bank.

The Texas Gubenatorial election

2006-09-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Folks, God is still blessing me, but I have decided to devote this issue to a pressing earthbound need - leadership. To put it mildly, in Texas, there ain't any.

For those of us who have are conservatives, we are in a real quandry, which is why I have decided to vote for Kinky Friedman.

I would like to list all of Rick Perry's accomplishments here, but unfortunately, there aren't any. Texas lags almost every state in education, (we have a pre-prison system for a Houston school district), our taxes are out of control (my dad recently moved from Texas to Georgia because of property taxes. In Georgia, he pays less with both property and income taxes).

We have no healthcare initiatives in Texas. The only thing we are proud of is that individual small businesses can't pool together to buy group insurance.

Our cities are rapidly becoming Mexican. This isn't racism - my family is Hispanic. But Rick Perry has done absolutely nothing to stop the flow of illegals into our state.

If one looks at his democratic challenger, one would have to check one's brain at the door to vote for "one tough grandma". We had a grandma a few years back and have barely recovered from her tenure to date.

So check out Kinky. I am an evangelical Christian, and yes, he has insulted Jesus. He has also quoted the gospel of John, more sincerely than most I have heard. Regarding his eternal soul, I hope Kinky learns that Jesus is the one way to heaven. Regarding the state of Texas, I hope Kinky becomes our next governor.

www.kinkyfriendman.com

www.crossbridge.cc

How God blessed me today - August 24th, 2006

2006-08-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

Well, as usual I have missed quite a few days since my last post. I get so busy with other stuff that I forget to write. Well, here's what's happened since last time:

God has blessed me by not allowing me to become very sick. Houston, Texas has arguably the worst air quality in North America and this fact, in combination with my poor immune system is a recipe for disaster. I have been sick, but not to the extent I have in the past and my family has been very healthy. This is a great blessing and one I hope to never take for granted.

God got me through the MCAT. I have no idea what my grade will be, but I do know that I didn't sleep at all the night before and I didn't eat anything except 2 appled and a banana during the 8 hour exam. It was the toughest academic thing I have done with the possible exception of completing Physics II. But God got me through it and for that I am very thankful. He even allowed me to encourage a young woman from Lousyana who was discouraged because her school (Tulane) had been flooded and things were chaotic.

God has also allowed me to register for classes and has made a way for me to get my books for this semester. He also allowed for my professors to write LOR's for me so I can complete my med school applications next week.

I got an email from my friend Samantha who is in med school in the Caribbean. She reminded me that I need to be encouraged in Christ.

Won't you let God bless you this week? I am not talking only about finances, although that is a tangible way God blesses. But ask Him to allow you to serve Him in a unique way. Ask Him to provide an opportunity for you to introduce someone to Him.

How God blessed me today - August 5th, 2006

2006-08-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a week or more since I last wrote, and no, I haven't forgotten the blessings of God, not forgotten to thank Him, I just haven't had time to write them down here.
This week coming up will be a killer week - a physics exam on Monday, a physics final on wednesday and then the MCAT on saturday.

God has blessed me tremendously - for one, I'm still breathing!
Two, I had the chance to pray for a young woman named Alana who is recovering froma terrible health crisis.
I was also able to pray for my friend, Kate Moore who is recovering from a terrible infection which the doctors cannot get a hold of.
God blessed me in my relationship with my family and has allowed me to eat (more than I should) and act foolishly by being silly.

Although I have a very tough week ahead, God has blessed me because I am not afraid, (Psalm 23) and I am aware of man other people who have far more difficult weeks, months and years ahead.

How has God blessed you? We must always remember that "In Him we have our life and breath"

How God blessed me today - July 29, 2006

2006-07-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

I am blessed because,

For one, I am not addicted to alcohol, like Mel Gibson, although there was a time in my life when I was sent to an alcohol rehab because of my excessive drinking. I hope that Mr. Gibson will surrender his life to Christ and get some help for his addiction.

I am blessed today because Jesus Christ gave me the "exousian" which is Greek for "power" to become a child of God. He did this because I have believed in His name. So what?

Well, this among other things, gives me a right perspective on life. Sadly, I read recently about a person who lost this.

His name was Charles Brady and he was a retired NASA astronaut. Capt. Brady lived what the world would call an amazing life - he was a doctor, a pilot with the Blue Angels, a test pilot and an astronaut with hundreds of hours of space flight time. Yet, two weeks ago, Capt. Brady took his own life.
What went wrong? Well, sadly, thousands of people do this every day in our country and much of it is linked to depression by the media. I am going to say something here which, if anyone else read this would be misconstrued, but despression isn't the root cause of suicide. Sin is.

Every human being who has ever lived on this planet is full of sin. But not every person commits suicide. Why not? Well, sometimes, sin's effect is that it warps our bodies and causes defects which we cannot control without the supernatural power of God. Sin, makes a brain designed by God for goodness, love, joy and mercy to develop powerful thoughts of rage, anger, jealousy, murder and fear, sometimes through the complex image and signalling system of the mind and sometimes under the influence of chemical reactions.

Sometime's sin's effect is to weaken our faith and open the door for demonic influence - "voices" as it were which encourage us to do harmful things. For the unbeliever, these forces cannot be countered - no human has the power to overcome the devil.

For a believer, the wondrous news is that the devil has already been overcome - by Jesus Christ. His sentence has been passed - eternal punishment, but it has been delayed until an appointed time, which I happen to think is rapidly approaching, based upon Matthew 25.

Capt. Brady was overcome by sin. We all are at times, yet this time, he could not counteract its effect and it took his life. This doesn't make him any more of a "bad" person than anyone else. He isn't worse than I am, he was just overcome. I hope that he knew the Savior of the world personally before he died, which is the only thing that eternally matters.

I write this to remind us that the things which this world believes are important are eternally trivial. Imagine for a moment that you know you will live for 1,000 years. Will you really remember what you did when you were 30? I think not; this would be analagous to my remembering what I did when I was 6 minutes old; I simply cannot recall.

Now imagine that at 1,000 years of age you will not even have begun to live a new life of eternal joy and praise to God. This is exciting: think about how wise you might be had you been born in the year 965 instead of 1965. Emperor Peter I ruled Rome and europe was preparing to enter into a darkness known as the Middle Ages. You would have lived through the battle of Hastings in 1066, and seen the end of the Roman Empire. You would have lived through the rise of the French Empire under Napoleon, the Feudal wars of Japan and Russia, and the emergence of the Tsars. You would have seen the growth of Spain as it conquered the "New World" and you would have seen the rise of the British Empire upon which it was said, the "sun never set".

You would have seen the development of a new nation called "America" and watched as it defeated the great world power - England. Then you would have watched as it plunged itself into bloody civil war, killing more than 600,000 of its best and brightest young men. You would have seen as this new nation grew, and developed and lived through the great Industrial Revolution. You might have met George Washington Carver, Thomas Edison, Nicola Tesla or Michael Faraday. You would have watched as the nations of the world gathered to end the capture of europe by Germany - twice in the same century. You would have seen the towering mushroom clouds of destruction as they loomed over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

You would have seen America dive into wars in Vietnam and Korea. You would have seen tremendous political upheaval and the launching of an all-out war against unborn babies. You would have watched as communism collapsed in the Soviet Union and as China began to open to the west.

If you had experienced all of this, would your like be consumed by the trivialities of daily life, or would your focus be less time-centered and more event or purpose centered? I think the latter.

The crux of the matter is that we all will live for eternity. Some will live in a paradise created by God for those who obey His command to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ as their salvation. Those who refuse to do this, will have chosen to spend eternity without God. There is only one place which fits this description, and we call it hell. It somehow is filled with flame, and brings about unending torture through the revelation of a persons true selfishness - without end, or conscience. Imagine yourself at your worst moment, in a fit of rage, passion or lust, what you might be capable of. Now imagine living in this state forever, with no hope of reprieve - coupled with a gnawing pain which will not go away.

I hate talking about hell, but I do it because Jesus spent alot of time talking about it. Hell, you know wasn't created for humans - it was made for a fallen angel named satan. But those who choose to follow him, by denying Jesus Christ, will follow him into his eternal punishment, which is what he wants most of all - misery really does love company.

Put aside Hell forever. Wash away your anxiety that you will be faced with this future. Do this by trusting in the Son of God, Jesus Christ to save you from this fate. All you have to do is ask.

How God blessed me today - July 23, 2006

2006-07-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

God blessed me today because:

I have 3 healthy children. I don't take this for granted, but neither do I forget to thank my Father in heaven who gives them health.

My children all help my wife and I each month when we care for handicapped children so their parents can have a night out. This event is called "breakout" and is sponsored by Sugar Creek Baptist Church and is the brainchild of Ms. Barbara Waldhuber - a woman who loves children and the lord.

Because they work with children who suffer from Spina biffida, CP, autism, and many other undiagnosable illnesses, they understand how blessed they are and how blessed the other children are to be uniquely created in the manner in which they were made.

I am blessed because I have the honor and privilege of watching God guide my life. When I make foolish mistakes, He doesn't abandon or berate me - He gives me wisdom and sometimes correction, but most often hidden joy, so that I won't continue in my sin.

I am blessed because today in church, our children learned the parable of the talents in Matthew Chapter 25. This passage is very often misrepresented in churches today, because most expositors of this text think it focuses singularly on money. And, while the talent was a form of currency known to the first century hearers of Jesus' message, He wasn't speaking only about money and neither was He excluding it from the perview of His message. The bottom line is this: that God has given each of us gifts and talents and He expects us to use them for His glory - not ours. To use them for our own vainglory is blasphemy and greed of the highest order and will not go unpunished.

I remember an interview of the wife of some author, whose name I cannot remember. He apparently was the first American author to incorporate sex into mainstream literature and his racy novels were made into films which made him immensely rich. He would host parties on his yacht replete with cocaine and playboy bunnies.

When the interviewer asked his wife how she felt after his death, she said "I am the most miserable woman in the world." However, she was not speaking of the death of her husband as the occassion for her misery. She went on to explain how for decades, she sat by and watched as her husband paraded around the world with models and playmates, disregarding his wife and family. She felt as if she had spent her whole life for nothing. She also said that he had died miserably, in terrible pain and torment from a bout with cancer.

His cancer and her misery did not occur by mistake. When we use our gifts only for our own pleasure, that pleasure will last for a season. But eventually the season will end and tragedy will strike. This is not to say that tragedy doesn't strike those who are obedient to God - it often does. But such tragedy does not strike the faithful without purpose as it does those who are outside the will of God.

I would urge anyone who happens upon this blog to seek God earnestly and seek His blessings in your life. You can do this right where you are sitting. All you have to do is ask Him.

How God blessed me today - July 20, 2006

2006-07-20T09:38:00.001-07:00

Well, I am awake!

Also, a friend of mine who was diagnosed with lung cancer was prayed for by his church and now there is not lung cancer. PET scans are wonderful.

My wife has decided to shut down her custom drapery company, as she is just not a businesswoman. Some people would be sad about this because it really had great potential (her clients loved her so much they even offered to fly her to their vacation homes to do the drapes for them), but her heart isn't in it. If your heart isn't in something then you are wasting your time doing it. I am proud of her for realizing this and facing it instead of trudging through life doing something she doesn't want to do.

I am blessed because I have friends.

I was blessed today because another family which we had prayed for (as have many, many others) received a great gift from the Lord which lifted them up and helped them get back onto the right path.

I was blessed today to receive a letter from my friend in Northern Iraq. He is doing a great work for God and is persevering in the midst of some very tough times.

American evangelicalism is giving Christianity a bad name. There are bright spots, mainly among some younger groups, but by and large, ours is a nation filled with largesse, gluttony and greed, and I am not speaking of the pagan population. Some have the misguided notion that to express our gratitude for God's blessings is to pander to an outward desire to be heard, or somehow to demonstrate some form of spiritual superiority. Actually, vocalizing God's blessings is commanded by sacred scripture and if my eschatology and Koine Greek are near correct, has been practiced since eternity past by the Angels in heaven, the four living creatures, (whom I now think represent creation) and by the 24 Elders seated around the throne of God in the book of Revelation.

To express our thanksgiving to God is a natural response of redeemed sinners who have no other material way of thanking Him - we can't offer Him anything. David put it this way, "What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people. (Psalm 116)

Shouldn't we do the same?

How God blessed me today - July 20, 2006

2006-07-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

How God blessed me today - July 18, 2006

2006-07-18T19:40:00.000-07:00

Here's how God blessed me today:

For one thing, I was not born an Arab in Jordan or Israel to a fanatical muslim family.

Two, I was born in America, where we have the ability to worship as we please (for the time being).

I was blessed to eat today as well as walk and see. I also have all of my faculties and am healthy by God's grace.

God blessed me today because He has told me history in advance - this is called "prophecy" in the Bible. No, I am not a prophet, and I do not have the gift of prophecy, as outlined in Ephesians 4:11 in the Bible. But I do know what is going to happen in history. One day, perhaps soon, conflict and evil will advance to such a state that people cannot believe what is happening. Then, someone, somewhere, will emerge upon the world's stage and be hailed as a great peacemaker - offering to quell the world's violence and offer peace to Israel and the Arabs. At some point during this process, I will be out of here, because Jesus Christ, who is God, will return and take me with Him. Then literally, all Hell will break loose.

Imagine Al Queda without restraint, child molesters without prisons or police and rapists without civil or criminal law. That's what it will be like. Then this peace person will convince the world to appoint him ruler over everyone and he will declare martial law to end the violence and restore some peace. People will love it and him. But after 3 1/2 years, he will turn nasty and declare himself to be God - and demand that people worship him. Thos who don't will be killed instantly.

All the while, I'll be in heaven having a feast with Jesus and all the other believers. (hope they have Chick-fil-a chakes there - they are awesome)

Anyway, you can be blessed in this manner also, by reading the Bible books of Daniel, Ezekiel, 1 Thessalonians and the book of Matthew. Then you too can know history in advance.

God blessed me today by letting me out of physics class early to study for my huge exam tomorrow. (Harmonic motion, electromotive forces, electric field theory and stuff like that)

I wish that everyone would be blessed as I am. St. Paul told the Roman governor Festus that he wished he (Festus) would be just like Paul and follow Jesus. If you notice, I said "would" not "could". Anyone "can" be blessed. Not everyone wants to be, which really puzzles me.

To be blessed as I am requires only that you put all of your hope, faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your eternal savior. Nothing less and nothing more.

How God blessed me today - July 16, 2006

2006-07-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

I am going to talk about how God blessed me today, but before I do, I must address the 1 person who actually reads this blog besides me (anonymous Chris).

I write here because I am too lazy to use a pen and write in my prayer journal. Plus, perhaps in some small way, if CHrist does come soon, those who are not taken up with the Lord will see this and have some idea of who He is and what He has done.

God blessed me today because he allowed me to attend a church service where the Pastor preached about the benefits of Christ. The Roman church calls these things the "merits" of Christ, but they do not understand how to achieve them. The only way, is to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died on a cross and that God raised Him from the dead. Other than that, you are wasting oxygen.

God blessed me today because he allowed me to eat a nice, healthy lunch.

God blessed me today because even though the world is in an almost global state of war, I and my family have no fear. I don't own a gun or even a bow and arrow. You know, if I may digress, when I think back on my earlier life, how disobedient I was, it's amazing that God can be so merciful. When I was much younger, serving in the military and afterwards, I participated in military shooting competition and self-defense courses. I followed Jim Cirillo who as a NYC cop survived more than 200 gunfights. In fact, I even had custom-made bullets, mimicking his, which would kill a horse instantly. I carried a H&K USP 45 custom in a custom-designed invisible holster that I even wore with gym shorts and no one could ever tell I had a gun. I used to practise until within 1.5 seconds, I could draw this pistol and hit a bullseye at 40 feet. I would practise, telling myself that one day I may be in a store or restaurant when some freak entered and tried to rob me - and I would kill him.

This is what Jesus meant when He said, "Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,And seeing you will see and not perceive;" (Matthew 13:14). I heard the bible and saw what was written in it but I didn't understand what it literally said.

I wasn't a law-enforcement officer, nor a soldier, just a foolish man. But God didn't strike me down or turn me into a porcupine. Instead, He waited and brought others into my life to tell me the truth of His Son and how I should live. I'm not saying that no one should defend themselves who is a Christian. C.S. Lewis wrote an excellent book entitled, "Why I am not a pacifist" on this subject. But no Christian should live as I lived, hoping and training for violence. You can't turn the other cheek to someone while you are carrying a weapon that would instantly kill them.

God blessed me today because I am a Gentile and I was born during the "time of the Gentiles". This means that God could have had me born in first-century Israel as a Jew, where most likely I would have rejected His Messiah, like most other Jews did and have. Instead, He has allowed me to become "grafted in" so to speak into His original human family - the Jewish nation, because they rejected His Son. One day, they won't reject Him anymore, but we have no idea when that will be.

God blessed me today because He has given me faith. I really don't have any idea how I am gong to pay for upcoming school costs, medical school registration, courses, etc. I only know that I am a child of the King of the Universe and He has made a way for me too many times to even count.

God blessed me today because at church we had a baby dedication.

God blessed me today because we took my 92 year old grandmother to church with us.

God blessed me today because He has given us refrigerant to recharge the A/C in our car.

God blessed me today because He has allowed me to pray for my friends in Pakistan.

This morning's sermon was on the benefits of being a child of God. There are many, among them, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, love, meekness, etc. People who are not followers of Jesus Christ cannot have these benefits. Of course, there are non-Christians who say, "I want peace", but they either follow a religion which does not or they do not understand what peace actually is. Peace is not the absence of violence. Peace is an all-encompassing love for others flowing from the fountain of God. Sure, Buddhists and Hindu's pray for peace, but step on their toes and they will seek revenge just as would any other "normal" person. But Jesus said, this is not to be so for His followers. Peace is asking yourself, "will I offer my only blanket to that cold person even though I am cold?" and then acting upon it.

You can have this kind of peace, but only by following Jesus Christ. I didn't make up this rule - He did. If you disagree, you'll have to take it up with Him. But, if you are willing to endure a bit of advice - take it up with Him BEFORE you die. Afterward, you will be out of options.

How God blessed me today - July 15, 2006

2006-07-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

I woke up again! Lest you think that I am abusing this statement as a blessing - please think again. Scripture commands us to, "Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other." And yes, for those of you who unlearned the eternity of Christ at your local theological cemetary, I do know the context within which this verse was spoken. We are to consider each day and know that God is in charge of it. I am thankful for yet another.

I got to have a free brunch with some friends who are apartment missionaries in a community nearby. (I am what is known as a food freeloader). I also got to serve some people and make waffles!

I got to talk with Raja who is from Pakistan. He is going to high school here and I have shared with him my experiences in Pakistan. Hopefully he will learn to follow Christ soon.

I got to eat some yummy cake and free pizza!!

My friend gave me a gas-powered weed eater. Previously, he gave me a leaf blower and a mulching lawn mower. No, I didn't ask- he asked me. I do not look for opportunities to do yard work.

I got another huge cucumber from my garden.

Yesterday I suddenly developed some terrible intestinal cramping and the accompanying bathroom-related symptoms. Today, I am munching cake and pizza!!!

Today while workin on my physics lab, I listened to a lecture from Richard Feynman. While he was wrong about God (I hope he changed his mind before he died!) he was brilliant and explains the nature of photons and particle theory better than anyone. You can listen to his lectures here: http://www.vega.org.uk/video/programme/45

If you can read this - you were blessed by God today. Have you thanked Him?

How God blessed me today - July 13, 2006

2006-07-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

God blessed me today because:

1. I woke up again!
2. I didn't have to go to trial, for something I didn't do! (passing a loading schoolbus)
3. I got to spend 5 hours with some mega-rowdy special needs kids. My kid o' the day was Andres, a 12 year old with down's syndrome and genetic diabetes. He was non-stop energy and beligerence and unfortunately, he had to go to "time out" for 5 minutes. The really funny part was, that he was crying the biggest fake cry on earth and then I asked, "Are you hungry" and immediately he stopped crying and plainly said, "yep!" Everyone laughed.

4. I got to pet a wallaby and a baby deer and a not-yet-smelly pig.
5. I learned that Hulk Hogan is 52.
6. I met with Prof. France Brown at CBS and had a neat discussion about grading papers.
7. I got to talk with my pal Wendell Smith. Wendell once lived under a bridge and he isn't a billy-goat. He was a homeless drug addict. Now Wendell is half-way through a bachelor's degree at America's best bible college www.cbshouston.edu.

8. I got to talk to my brother
9. I got to pray for a man I knew who was at the gym a week ago and passed out. His family will be signing a DNR order for him as his brain electrochemical function is zero. This is a direct testimony that you had better know where your eternal reservations are and have your ticket in hand because all tickets to eternity are one-way and non-refundable. Do you know where you will spend eternity? Are you absolutely sure? If someone were to place a revolver between your eyes and say, see you in eternity, sucka, would you be terrified or just frightened? (Terrified is when you don't know what will happen next)

10. I got a free lunch of a yummy sandwich.
11. I was able to put gas into my car.
12. I have a car! Which by the way was given to me by God. "How on earth could God give you a car" you say? Well, I had no car, and then my wife and I prayed and asked God if we could have one, and then shortly thereafter someone called and said, "I don't know why, but I just want to give you my car." This person graciously gave us his car - and I'm not even sure he believes in God. I hope he does.
13. I was able to listen to a pretty cool sermon by Neil McClendon of Grand Parkway former Baptist church, now Elder led, or something like that. I vicariously know Neil through my brother Terry.

14. I have been invited to a video game tournament at the luxurious home of a Houston welathy person. I don't know if I can go, but this will be the bomb = tons of networked XBOX 360's playing in team matches on big screens, with unlimited refreshments.

15. I learned that my friend Carol's son Chris is away visiting and she has some time to herself. This is important because Chris is an adult with CP (he is a BIG adult) and it takes alot out of his mom to care for him.

Remember, you too can receive God's blessings - but you have to know Him first. You know Him by believing in His Son, Jesus Christ. That's it - no religion, no ceremony, no fanfare necessary - just true belief.

ttfn

July 12, 2006

2006-07-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Does God really bless me every day? Absolutely, and I'll tell you how right here. All truth, and no baloney.

Today God blessed me because I woke up. According to various sources, anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000 people die every day around the world.

Today God blessed me because I woke up next to my wife of 18 years. Nearly 50% of those who marry in America will stop having to wake up next to someone they love.

Today God blessed me because I know Chris Chavez, who, although short, is pretty cool. He needs a wife though.

Today God blessed me because I prayed yesterday for relief from a trial that I was to attend. I was accused of a traffic violation which I didn't commit (a BIG one - not having to do with alcohol or drugs or guns) and I was sweating the preparation. Then, as I was studying physics, my attorney called and said it was postponed indefinitely.

Today God blessed me because I have 3 children who love me and who obey me.

Today God blessed me because I am able to understand the physics of wave motion, harmonics and sound.

Today God blessed me because even though it is 94 degrees and 60% humidity, I was able to run 2+ miles.

Today God blessed me because I had food to eat and water to drink. Millions don't www.water.cc

Today God blessed me because I work with a group trying to end suffering in very sad places. www.innovativehs.net

Today God blessed me because my friend Greg encouraged me on my way to medical school.
www.colonyheart.com

God wants to bless you too! All you have to do is ask.

What class looks like

2006-06-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

If one wants to know what class looks like, one need look no further than Dallas Mavericks coach, Avery Johnson. Watch his interview following their loss to the Miami Heat in game 6. No excuses, no whining, all praise and a determination to come back again - all done with class, no profanity, uncouth innuendos or anything unnecessary. I am a BIG Pat Riley fan and very glad that the heat won, but you cannot get more class and professionalism than Avery Johnson. Know why he acts that way?

Dearest Cynthia

2006-06-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

My Dear Cynthia,

Thank you so much for the time we spend during this latest recess. It was a much needed break for me and my staff; we are so burdened by the needs of the nation as well as our constituency. Of course, Capital Hill is abuzz about Jefferson's freezer - I wish the idiot had more sense than to leave money in such an obvious place. Now, of course, the media is hot on the topic of corruption - but it will fade away, as always, since our allies in the media know this sort of thing touches them as well (we all know how deep our relationship with the Times goes). I don't think anything will come of Jeffersons' case; even the Majority Leader was upset at the unprecedented breach of protocol by the executive branch. Granted, the FBI did have a Federal warrant, but we will still play the "separation of powers" card until this thing goes away. Pretty sure Jefferson will lose his committee appointments at least for the time being.

What luck we have had my dear in avoiding even the appearance of impropriety - the right friends can be a tremendous blessing!

What I hope the American public never loses sight of is the need for superlative human beings like us to lead them. Because we are the rightful heirs of this government, we deserve the rights which accrue to such leaders; financial and otherwise. The Majority leader knows this, which is why he is so angered by the frivolous investigation into his stock trades. Sure, he owns the nations largest health care agency, which is also Medicare's largest contractor, but it is precisely people like him we need in government - movers and shakers! Can you imagine a carpenter or plumber being a congressman?

Another example is Al Mohallan. Just because a man of his caliber can earn huge amounts of money while in office, does it need to be invesitgated? It states nowhere in the Constitution that congressmen must be poor. By the way, honey, we are invited on another exquisite trip, private jet and all - I'll call you to give you the details, but it is going to be the best yet.

Well, I must run - the work never ends, as you well know. I'll call tonight.

Dear Cynthia

2006-05-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

The following series is a fictitious correspondence between a U.S. Congressman and his wife. Any similarity to real persons, contrived, cloned or otherwise actually breathing is purely coincidental and unintended.

My dearest Cynthia,

What a week I've had. As you know, this week we set our collective minds on health care for the American people. I think that if we play our cards right, the speaker will select me to chair a new committee on this subject. You know what that means..... perhaps another junket to Aruba. (we learned so much last time we were there!)

Anyway, what is so amazing to me is the fact that our poll numbers continue to show that the average Joe doesn't understand a thing about what we are trying to accomplish here; and that's good for us and good for America. Some crazy history teacher sent my Washington office a placard with a speech by George Washington on it, talking about liberty and the need to be careful about political parties and private ambition. Everyone knows that during the 17th century, the average person was illiterate and only a group of elite persons chosen by fate could have put together something as bold as America. Today, dear, as we both know, is no different. Imagine, the average, uneducated factory worker trying to dictate policy to someone like you and I who understand government so well, because we actually live it.

At our committee session on healthcare today the speaker wanted to be sure we were all on the same page - that a national system, empowered and managed by the federal government (congress) was the only viable solution for the nation's uninsured. We expect opposition from doctors of course - poor suckers won't know what hit them, and none of us are sure how we will draft them into the new national service, but we have some sharp people working on how to make that happen. On that note, I met a young policy man today who worked on the Iraqi civil corps and I think he would do well as a part of our healthcare coalition - he has the right connections (wealthy parents) and could serve us well in the future. I had hoped, but never dreamed that we would earn so much money in government. I know that you feel it is still unjust compensation for all the time we must spend apart.

I think a federal health system can be one of my most impacting lifetime achievements. Don't worry, we aren't going to be a part of the system (just like taxes and compensation).

Honey, i really feel good about this - our poll numbers are showing that the American people want government to handle the big things for them - so they can spend time with family, at work, etc. and won't have to worry about them. We will have to deal with the individual rights crowd to be sure, but I don't think they can muster enough opposition to stop us. With both houses of congress and the President on our side, I feel fairly confident we can make this happen.

give my love to Trish and Mike and tell them that I will fly in on Sunday.

Love,

Richard.

The Da Vinci code and Christian silliness

2006-05-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

The media-fed frenzy over Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" novel continues unabated and fortunately for Mr. Brown and the producer's of the upcoming film, the profits likewise grow. My question this week is, "Why is the "Christian" world so up in arms over a silly book? " I haven't read Mr. Brown's book, and I don't intend to, and it seems very strange to me that people who claim to believe in the God of the Christian faith would be so put off and even downright angry about a book. Even more ridiculous is the fact that all over America people are taking valuable preaching time in pulpits from Maryland to California, addressing this work of fiction - engrossing and articulate thought it may be.

What is all the furor about?

Basically, if one reads media related to "Christian" topics, one would be led to believe that God is nervously biting his anthopomorphical finger nails wondering whether or not people will still believe in Him after the Da Vinci Code film comes out. Today's media would have one think that the Bible is somehow now irrelevant because of a work of fiction by an apparently talented author. While Mr. Brown's book does not demonstrate either of these things, what is does demonstrate is the absurdly weak belief system of anyone who claims to be a Christian and is effected by this book or film. What one who is worried about the Da Vinci Code, and claiming to be a Christian is really saying is "I don't have enought faith to allow me to really believe what I say I believe".

I have a hypothesis. I can't prove it which is why it is a hypothesis. My idea is that God wants the Da Vinci Code to become as popular as possible because He wants people to see how little they really believe in Him. What will the "Christian" world do when the next big book or movie comes out, claiming that Jesus was secretly a Raelian and was raised by hamsters until the coming of the summer solstice. How lame are we if we question our belief system simply because of a fictional book? Very lame.

For those of you who claim Christianity and are afraid of this book - get a life. If you have ever read the book of Romans (it's in the Bible) or Genesis, or any other book for that matter and you still have so little faith that you can be swept away by the next "big" thing, you have some serious repenting and praying to do. God isn't intimidated by the next fad. And He died in part so you wouldn't be either.

Lastly, let me save you some valuable money. Quit enriching lame "Christian" authors who write stupid books like "How to answer the Da Vinci Code" or "The truth about the Da Vinci Code'. Take the money you would waste on garbage literature like this and buy some bibles with it to pass out to others. Then start reading yours. You don't need Lee Strobel or any other monkey to help you understand the Bible - it's even translated into your language, whatever that may be.

If someone comes up to you (which they won't) and says "You know, I was reading the Da Vinci Code and it said that Jesus was really a pumpkin ", having actually read your bible, you can answer "No, but if you'd like to learn who He really is, I'd be happy to tell you" Instead of shaking with fear and running to your local minister and asking him "was Jesus REALLY a pumpkin?"

If you have lived in America for any length of time and I approached you and said, "America is the most underdeveloped, impoverished nation I have ever seen." you would probably ask me if I had smoked crack lately. This should be your reaction when people challenge what you SHOULD know to be true about God. Let children read silly books like the Da vinci code and believe them. Get to know the one, true God and let childish games be played on everyone else - don't waste your valuable time with them.

What to do about Iran

2006-04-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

For the Christian, these are very exciting times, indeed! For the non-Christian, the world seems a very scary place right now.

The very obvious:
Today, President Ahmadinijab of Iran announced that Iran's scientific authority has successfully enriched Uranium. He announced that Iran was entering into a new age of scientific enlightenment and entering the "nuclear age". Almost immediately, the U.S. government issued a statement denouncing this latest advance in technology for Iran and restating President Bush's assertion that Iran is a terrorist state and foments Islamic terrorism.

To parallel or not to parallel:

Iran has of late been compared to many things, mostly pre-war Germany, (for most people who know no history, before 1938 Germany was making overtures and a young Austrian corporal named Adolph was making very nationalistic statements about Germany and threatening statements about the rest of Europe) and of course Iran's president is often compared to Hitler, mostly for the statements he has made regarding Israel (he wants them to be "wiped off" of the earth).

Some have made the argument that Iran is more akin to the Soviet Union than pre-war Germany; a strategic enemy, but one which doesn't pose an immediate, tactical threat. While both of these comparisons have some merit, the Soviet comparison fails on several fronts, mainly:

1.The soviets never possessed a viable economic engine. Iran has vast oil reserves and sits very close to all of the rest of the world's major oil reserves.
2. The Soviets did not have immediate access to the major financial markets of the world. Iran, should it attack the oil fields in the Middle East would send the world markets into a tailspin.
3. For 1/2 the year, the Soviets were frozen. Iran doesn't freeze. This sounds odd, but strategic and even tactical exercises in the Baltic and North Sea are very difficult in mid-winter, let alone operating in the White sea or at the fleet yards in places like Novosibirsk. Iran has access to all warm water ports.
4. While the Soviets hated the Jews, there were tens of millions of them in their country. Iran hates the Jews and there aren't any living in their country.
5. only in Kruschev's bizarre boast did the Soviets threaten the west. Iran's President is making a habit of it.
6. The Soviets never held Americans as hostages. Iran held our men and women for 6 months during the Carter fiasco.

So, what do we do?

Neville Chamberlain has been given the moniker of "coward" by history for his coddling of Hitler, but I'm not sure he deserves such a harsh condemnation. He strove for "peace in our time" and I don't know if England was strategically ready to do anything about Hitler before he had gained power. Churchill thought so, but hindsight is always 20/20. Bush has been anything but a "peaceful" president. I voted twice for Mr. Bush, in part because of his determination to protect our nation. This determination has, however, squarely placed us in the center of hatred for much of the world.

Can the world sit idly by while Iran makes nuclear weapons? (I am assuming no one reading this is foolish enough to believe that they want nuclear power only for electricity) Pakistan and india have them. Diplomacy with Pakistan has been achieved. Also with India. But neither Paksitan nor India have the ability to fire their weapons at either U.S. interests or strategic world economic interests. Pakistan and India have also never declared their intention to destroy another nation (one another excluded). Iran's new long-range missiles could hit shipping targets in the Persian Gulf.

To my mind, the question one must ask is, "will Iran make good on its threats?" Today, prior to the development of a strategic bomb, this question is moot, because Iran cannot make good on its threats. But if they have the ability to detonate a nuclear weapon, the argument shifts from "can", back to "will". it is very difficult to predict what someone "will" do. Could anyone have known that Tim McVeigh would blow up a federal building, or Sirhan, Sirhan kill President Kennedy? Of course not, the human mind and heart are "deceitfully wicked" regardless of where a person is born. So, if Iran "can" attempt to destroy Israel and the U.S. , "will" they?

I do not think so. Here's my reasoning:

1. A pre-emptive nuclear strike on the U.S. means instant annhialation. I once worked with nuclear weapons and we can and have used them. Were Iran to sink a tanker of ours in the gulf, they would quickly find themselves searching through the rubble of their former cities. They know this.
2. Islamic terror is carried out by children, not leaders. The President of Iran isn't going to strap himself to a nuke and fire it at Tel-Aviv or Baghdad. Firing nuclear weapons is a strategic option reserved for leadership. They will continue to send terrorists into Iraq and around the world, but their leadership (just like the Baathist's in Iraq) doesn't want to die any more than Arafat did.
3.The people of Iran are ready for a change. If the Iranian people thought the U.S wouldn't hang them out to dry (which we would) they would overthrow the government tomorrow. No one in their right mind actually wants a Sharia-Islamic government, these governments are imposed on people - not chosen. I suspect the leaders in Iran know this also, and will walk a very tight line between threat and action.

How I could be wronger than Oprah on marriage:

Israel.

If Israel pre-emptively strikes Iran - all bets are off. The Israeli's are in a very tough spot. If, for example, Canada had invaded the U.S. 30 years ago and swore to do so again, and we found out they were building a nuclear bomb - we would strike them. This is the position Israel is in. Iran pays for Hezbollah and now Hamas who kill Israeli children in suicide bombing episodes. Iran supported Egypt, Syria, and the others who invaded Israel in the Yom Kippur and days wars. Iran has recently reiterated its desire to see Israel destroyed as a nation. Will Israel allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon?

No. Israel cannot gamble the lives of 5 million people on the POSSIBILITY that Iran would not threaten them. So I believe they will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear bomb.

Russia won't sit idly by:
Russia has been punked twice in the last 20 years by the U.S. First, they lost all of their new hardware in the first Gulf war and then they recently lost the rest of their new hardware in the second gulf war. Saddam had not paid for what Russia gave him. Russia is supplying the technology and materials to Iran (along with the stupid French) for their nuclear programme. Russia won't sit by as Israel destroys the multi-billion dollar system Russia is building in Iran. What will they do?

The Russian options:
Option 1: attack Israel. if this happens, I'll be standing on my front lawn looking straight up, because the end of the world is near and Jesus will be coming back for me, by His Grace. Russian may send its air forces and fleets to bomb Israel.

Option II: Russia may encourage the remainder of the middle east (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon) to attack Israel with the promise of weaponry. All of these countries combined could not destroy Israel, (in fact, God won't allow anyone to completely destroy Israel) and Russia knows this so I think the only reason they would choose this is to avoid open war with the U.S.

Solution:

I wish the leaders of Israel, Iran and the U.S. could meet in Idaho and have lunch and agree to support one another. This isn't going to happen. So, you and I, if we are thinking adults, for any eventuality. The only way to do this is to be prepared for death, because this is the last eventuality. The only way to be prepared for death is to know what will happen to you when it comes. We must KNOW, not GUESS or WONDER. i encourage you to try the Christian scriptures. Read them, investigate them and see if they are not true. Ask Jesus to make Himself known to you - and do it sincerely. You'll be amazed if you do and I will be happy to see you when the world finally destroys itself and we meet in a wonderful place called heaven. But heaven is an exclusive club, the reservations for which must be made here on earth and the only ticket which will admit you or I is our faith in Jesus Christ.

Should there be competition?

2006-04-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

I no longer believe in competition. In fact, like Chesterton, Belloc and others, I am fast becoming a distributist. But this article isn't about distributism, it is about competition; specifically, in children's sport, should there be any?

Just yesterday, while I was extolling the virstues of a unique sport league for young children which specifically removes heavy-handed competitiveness (everyone plays, everyone has the opportunity to score, no one is labeled a "winner" nor "loser"), the person to whom I was speaking, developed a stern glare, placed his hands upon his hips and reminded me that "there comes a time in everyone's life when they need to learn that there are winners and there are losers."

Is this true? What does the Bible say about it?

If one is considering the existence of persons who "win" or "lose", then yes, this is true. Jesus said things like, "the poor you will have with you always" (Matthew 26:11) and "The rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them" (Matthew 20:25), informing His audience and us that there were and will be those who exercise authority, often undeserved - the "winners" of this life. But one must not stop reading at this verse, for in the following stamement, Jesus admonishes His disciples that, "It should not be this way with you". In fact, Jesus made sure that His followers knew that in order to be considered a "winner" in His kingdom, one had to become a "loser" on earth. In American parlance, winners are not beaten, cursed, reviled, tormented, put upon and downtrodden, yet this was precisely the lot of Jesus followers in His day and is frequently the lot of his true followers today. Jesus never said, "to win is the ultimate goal". Rather, He said, "He who would be greatest in the kingdom of God must be the servant of everyone". (Matthew 18:1-3)

Obviously, Jesus wasn't hip to America. If He were here, He would be Jesus, CEO, right?

Wrong. I think Jesus weeps when He thinks about our country and what we have made of it. Yet, as the gentleman to whom I was speaking suggested, "Isn't competition healthy? Doesn't it promote a successful marketplace?"

Competition as in anything devoid of Christ is evil at best and destructive at worst. Capitalism without Christ is far worse than communism for it pretends to offer a path of prosperity and fairness to its participants, when in reality it rewards the strong and punishes the weak. Communism, while a wretched system, at least does not pretend to be fair - communists are avowedly self-centered, and the communist system is understood as such.

Competition in sport for youth mirrors this. When children are rewarded for winning in the western sense, then another is punished for losing. This is ungodly and doesn't help either the child labeled a "winner" or "loser". Think if you will of the 12 Apostles. Although we have no physical descriptions of any of them, (for good reason - Romanists have worshipped them without knowing what they looked like. Can you imagine how things would be if we knew how they appeared?) Some were undoubtedly tall, others short. Some were perhaps strong, others weak. Some handsome, others not. Peter's behavior was brash and James and John were bold enough to desire to rule over the others but were cowardly enough to get their mom to ask for them. But Jesus didn't pick some over others. To each He gave instruction and we know that some received tasks which others didn't (John was to care for Mary, Peter would begin Christ's church) but even Judas who betrayed Jesus wasn't singled out - even though it was known to Jesus that he was a thief and stole money from the Apostles. Did the lack of purposed competition cause these men to become weak-minded do-nothings? On the contrary, through them the church of Christ gained the whole of the world. All of them save John would die a martyr's death without renouncing their faith or purpose.

What has competition given us today? Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Lyle Alzado, etc. etc. In business competition has given us Ken Lay, Michael Milkin and T.Boone Pickens. In government, competition has given us Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and on and on. Does it seem as if competition is working?

Recently, I talked with an amazing man who has developed a non-competitive soccer league. Pele was his model. He told me that at age 17 Pele led Brazil to its first world cup. They win almost every year. Why? No competetive leagues - chidren kick soccer balls everywhere they go because they love doing it.

I prefer Jesus' method where everyone is equal in His eyes and everyone is loved regardless of their ability or skill. Competition isn't God's way and it isn't helping our nation or the world. Find something you love and something which will let you serve God and do your best and forget competing against others, for one day each of us will lose the battle against death and then it will not have mattered.

Teaching - some people just shouldn't do it.

2006-04-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

As a college student again, having aged considerably since my first foray into post-secondary education, I have come to the conclusion that most persons have no business trying to make a living as a teacher. In fact, some persons who are currently filling the position of instructor or professor, really ought to be mushroom farming or working as the video editor on "how to irritate people - part II".

Since very few ever take my advice, I thought that I would give it anyway and set forth a few simple lessons for those of you who may be contemplating a career in teaching someone else something useful.

#1 - Cordiality is often useful. A scowl, and glaring looks often do not enhance the atmosphere of learning.

#2 - Continually repeating the phrase "this is very easy" to persons who have never learned the subject at hand, (particularly subjects such as Physics, Chemistry and Organic Chemistry) is bad form and strangely makes people secretly want to poison your tea.

#3 - A single spaced typed (with a typewriter! in 2006!) sheet of paper which outlines the syllabus is NOT an exam review sheet.

#4 - If 80% of your class FAIL your first exam, either the class has erroneously been filled from the local state asylum or you stink as a teacher. If 60% of your class drops after 3 weeks, then either your body odor has become unbearable, the admin building is giving away starbucks during your class period or once again, you stink as a teacher.

#5 - Learning is a partnership. Ignoring the recent high school graduate who is majoring in pork rinds and accidently took chemistry or physics or OChem because he thought it sounded neat, learning is a relationship with equal responsibility on both sides. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that the student is learning and the responsibility of the student to learn - to put forth the effort and time required to tackle a particular subject. Scribbling on a blackboard is not instruction. Sleeping in class is not learning.

#6 - Don't become a teacher simply because you need a job and can't do anything else. If you do not feel that teaching is what you want to do and should do because you have a passion for it - don't bother. You will waste the time and money of your students and make yourself miserable.

The problem of "Higher education" in America will not be solved until education itself is valued.

How hard it is to get clean!

2006-03-15T08:54:00.000-08:00

If you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, I'll start off this post by telling you that this may sound very strange. Please bear with me, as I am very strange and perhaps together we may make heads or tails of what I am writing.

Have you ever been so dirty that it was very difficult to become clean? When I think of this sort of thing I think of working on an automobile, crawling under a car in overalls and emerging covered in grease and oil which takes specialized cleansers and many baths to remove.

Have you ever thought about your life this way? The Bible is replete with teachings on this subject, telling us that, as one Pastor in Dallas puts it "even on your best day - you deserve Hell". Isaiah 64:6 tells us,

" But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away."

Intrinsically we all know this, but our lives on this earth cause us to build up such a crust of self-deception that we no longer feel its effect. I remember once working for a grease remediation company. After closing I would climb up on top of restaurants and spray acid down their ventilation shafts and blow all of the latent grease into a big vat down in the restaurant. inevitably as much grease would end up on the floor as in the vat and it would take me hours to clean it. It would take me days to remove the oil and smell from my clothes and body. Sometimes I was so tired that I would just arrive home, kick off my shoes, loosen my belt and drop ont the floor and fall asleep; I was so tired the stench and the stickiness of the grease didn't matter.

Our lives become this way, when we spend time apart from God and begin wallowing around in the mud of living - through which we become just like all the other pigs. Orwellian thoughts aside, this isn't a very good way to live. Even a raccoon washes himself before every meal. The washing most of us need is not however, physical. Rather, it is spiritual and requires daily exercise in order to be effective. When I have gone a day without kneeling before Christ (the real one, not the one hung in effigy in some churches) I can feel the spiritual mud building up around me. Frustration sets in, anger becomes common and I begin to think and do things which are contrary to God and my well being.

St. Paul put it like this, " For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do". The evil of our lives begins to take on a life of its own and to drown us in its weight. Sin is very burdensome; anyone who is honest will agree with me. The greatest weight is the one which we deemed lightest but which is in reality very heavy. Ministers suffer from this because they keep everything to themselves, thinking that if they act like humans, people may start to believe they actually are! Imagine that! Pastors and ministers ought to be looked upon like postmen - be glad to see them no matter what they deliver, and don't pay them too much and don't expect them to hang around and open all of your mail for you.

This sticky, tar-filled world could use another Fred Rogers. He used to help us feel less sticky and backed it up with substance, not the facade of Hollywood where some actor plays Hannibal Lecter one month and St. Paul the next.
But Fred Rogers couldn't have helped anyone without Christ. Most people probably had no idea that he was a Christian. They should have, because it is only Christians who can be cleaned. Notice I didn't say who ARE clean. Are, denotes a state of being and no one IS clean here on this rock, but Jesus can and does come and clean us, inside and out. There really is no other way.

Won't you spend some time today becoming clean? You can't do it by listening to some preacher on tape or reading a popular Christian book. You can only do it the way the Ancient King David did it - on your knees, asking God to "create in me a clean heart".

Oh, the places I've been........

2006-03-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

I thought that since by God's grace I have survived perhaps the most grueling week of my young life, I would recount all of the places I have been and the wierd things I did there....... Ready!

Hmmmm, let's start with the Estados Unidos. I've spent more than 2 weeks in, Texas, Taxachussets, Ohio, California, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., South Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, and more than 1 week in Florida, New York and Oregon.

South America - Sorry folks; only Mexico. Cozumel, Laredo, Tijuana, Monterey and some little town I can't even remember the name of where someone kept shutting off the power to my roach-a-rama room in the middle of the night and I would have to get up and go turn it back on.

Europe - Germany (My fave!) I lived in Munich and can proudly say that I only got in a little bit of trouble there, but my roommate did end up naked in our living room one night and we never learned how he got home from the Octoberfest! (we never found his clothes either!)
I got a ticket for making too much noise!

Bremerhaven - awesome museums! A wonderful lady kept her restaurant open late just for me. (I think she wanted me to marry her daughter who was, shall we say, aesthetically challenged).

Darmstadt - great schnitzel.

Heidelberg - my favorite city in the world, best wine fest on earth. The castle rocks and we should be ashamed for bombing it during world war II.

England - London. Nothing wierd to eat in either of these two places. The queen has some styish digs, but what's up with the tax on driving?

Spain - Yummy pizza! Majorca, Madrid and Rota.

Italy - Crummy pizza! Sigonella.

Greece - Athens. Pizza from goat cheese! I still can't figure out why Turks and Greeks hate each other over stupid little island with nothing on it.

Asia - Turkey. Lived for almost 2 years here. Ate lots of wierd stuff but wierdest was tripe soup which would clean out your insides faster than George Michael can pass out.
In Turkey:

Istanbul - almost everywhere, including an infamous "international" incident which almost got me thrown out of the country. Never visit the Champs Elysees if it still exists. McDonald's burgers made from lamb - yummy!

Ankara - NOT 'Amkara".

Sinop - good carpets, great bira and wonderful people. Melia Kesim hotel rocks. Watch out for the Raki!

Trabzon, Samsun. Erzerum.

Outside Turkey:
Dubai - best airport anywhere, bar none. They rock!!!! Good coffee

Pakistan - Karachi. Wonderful people, I hope we can help them fix their water!!!

Arctic circle! Yep! Warmer than San Angelo Texas in winter!

How about that! 13 states and 9 countries. Not bad for someone from Toledo.

Wierdest things eaten: Goat Masala (goat brains stewed in curry sauce). Tripe soup (tripe is the guts of a sheep). Termites. (don't ask).

Scariest adventures:

Istanbul, where I was almost murdered.

Some village in western Turkey where I woke up in a field surrounded by massive water buffalo and thought I was going to be trampled to death.

California, where someone bet me that he couldn't make his motorcycle go from 0 to 100 between 2 stop lights with me on the back - he won.

Sinop, where a Turkish soldier pointed his rifle at my head and threatened to shoot me.

California, where I was arrested for public intoxication.

Coolest adventures:

Understanding for the first time that Jesus actually died for me personally.

The monastary at Trabzon where I looked down through the clouds on the village and ate cheese and drank wine. Then I got to check out the graffiti which spanned 8 centuries!

Fishing in the black sea. I got to fish the way the Apostles fished in the first century. We fished at night and waited for a cloud of silver fish to appear beneath the moon. Then we rowed like mad to encircle the fish and then started pulling in the nets until the fish started spilling over the gunwale of the boat.

Scube diving with my wife in Cozumel. Because the asian dude who went with us didn't have any weight and tried to dive holding onto a rock. I'll never forget this guy popping out of the water like a cork every time he dropped the rock!

Flying in a glider. Can't be beat.

This is what happens after a week like I've had!!!!!!

Do you have any idea?

2006-02-28T19:46:00.000-08:00

I have come to the conclusion that most persons alive today in America have no idea how much God really loves them. I say alive, because those who are already dead know EXACTLY how much God loves them. If they trusted Jesus Christ as their savior, they are now in eternal paradise, fellowshipping with Jesus Himself. If they denied Christ and refused His sacrifice, they are in hell and will forever weep at the fact that they turned away from the unequaled love of Jesus.

Here's some examples of how much Jesus (who is God) loves you, despite the fact that you and I are scum-sucking muckrakers who spend our entire lives trying to foul things up.

Last night I recieved an email from a friend who attended Mardi Gras in the cesspool formerly known as New Orleans. He went there to help people and try and bail them out of their misery. Anyway, my friend has real long hair and looks like Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. So, some young girl walked up to him and asked if she could perform a sex act on him. He asked her "do you speak to your granmother with that mouth?" She ran and he followed her. When he caught her, she was crying and said, "I'm sorry sir, I know that was so wrong, I'm a college student and I don't know why I did that." My friend comforted her and told her about the incredible life that she could have in Jesus.

Gang, that's love. You see, the devil wanted this girl to do this for 2 reasons. 1, to see if my friend would fall for the same old trick (worked with David, Solomon, etc.) and 2. to see if he could capture this girl forever by maybe giving her aids, or oral herpes or some other deadly disease. But God intervened on her behalf and saved her life. Coincidence? don't bet on it.

Another friend of mine had no insurance, or money and had severe stomach pains. One night he couldn't take it anymore so his wife rushed him to the hospital where it was discovered that his entire stomach was filled with cancerous lesions. He was told that no surgery could be performed because of his condition and that he had at most weeks to live. But God sent a couple of monkeys in business attire to see him and they prayed for him. Several weeks later it was discovered that his tumors were gone. The devil wanted to kill him because he is a preacher and dearly loves God. Coincidence? not according to the staff of Ben Taub Hospital.

A man riding a bicycle, stopped by the office of someone I know. He was about 60 years old, and smelled and asked if he could have a drink of water. Instead of turning him away, my pal invited this man into his office and gave him a coke. They talked for awhile and my pal found out that he had been riding a bike across the country for 15 years - ever since his wife died. He was diagnosed with MS and the only thing which helped was to ride a bicycle for 30 or more miles every day. When he rode, he didn't shake. He was hungry, but looked O.K.; someone at Wal-Mart gave him a neat little trailer which he modified to fit onto his bike.
My pal spent the day with him - had some sandwhiches brought in, some more cokes and even a lighter for his cigarettes. The two things he asked for were a guitar pick and a bible, which my friend gladly provided. About 4 pm, the old man rode off never to be seen again. The devil wanted to destroy this man by taking away his life after his wife gave up hers. He even gave him a disease which cripples most people permanently. But God had other ideas. The old man doesn't fit the profile of an everyday American "Christian", but then again, neither did Jesus. Was this man meeting my pal a coincidence? No way.

Lastly, I want to share a true story which happened to me. If you are not a Christian, filled with the Holy Spirit, you may think I'm lying or making it up. God, my family and lots of others know I'm not - but I want to share it because it demonstrates just how much God loves you.
Many years ago I owned a retail store in a large city where there was an "arts" center, meaning that many gay and fringe people lived and hung out there. One day, while traveling to my store I distinctly heard a voice inside my head say, "go into that tattoo parlour". I thought perhaps I had listened to too much soundgarden and so I turned off the radio. The next day at the same place, I heard the same thing, "go into the tattoo parlour". Now, I'm starting to wonder if I need to call Dr. Laura. So, that day during my prayer time I asked God (we never TELL God anything - He already knows) "Lord", I said, "If it is you telling me to do this wierd thing, please do it again tomorrow at the same time." Well, you guessed it, as i passed by, I heard louder than ever in my noggin, "Go into the tattoo parlour".

So, that evening on my way home, I parked out front, grabbed a small bible and in my business attire walked into a tattoo parlour. I was scared. A young man who seemed to be 6'8" tall with no shirt and huge muscles stepped out from behind a table. He had tattoos from his neck to his waist, a huge choke chain around his neck and no hair. "Can I help you?" he said. Now, I'm really not a chicken but I was thinking, "The devil tricked me good this time." But, because I know God will never leave or forsake me, I said, " you're going to think I'm crazy, but God told me to come in here". Instead of punching me in the face (which is what I sort of expected), he said, "Man, that's good because I have been writing all these things about what I think God is - maybe you can help me with them" and he reached behind the table and pulled out his notebook.

Now Ryan (the young man) didn't accept Christ there or even at the clubs I used to visit to watch his death-metal band play at. I still pray for him and trust God to do His thing this is to love people like me and Ryan.

Here's the punch-line. God loves you so much that instead of frying you for eternity in a burning lake of fire (which is not a metaphor folks - trust me - it's real) because you and I are guilty of being nasty critters, He took this punishment Himself! If we are honest with ourselves, (which few people are these days) we will admit that we stink. We lie, cheat, violate one another in the most perverse ways and then try and drink or drug away our guilt. We would all be George Michael if we had his coin. Yet, despite all of this God punished Jesus instead of you and I.

SO we're off the hook, right? We don't have to worry? As Charlie Chan used to say, "So Solly". We are only off the hook if we REALLY believe that Jesus took our punishment and we pray to Him and ask Him to forgive us for what we have done that put him in our place.

If Ryan never accepts Jesus Christ as his savior, he will spend eternity in Hell. That's a fact, Jack. But I know that the same God who sent me into that tattoo parlour loves Ryan more than he could ever dream of and is giving him every chance to do just that. Chances don't last forever - even in God's time frame.

My question for you is, are you missing your chance? You can have the love of eternity, all you need is your knees and solitude.

What if church were free?

2006-02-19T14:38:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't annoyed anyone recently, I thought I would take up this subject again.

Some of you may read the topic of this blog and say, "Now, wait a minute - I don't pay to go to church." I submit to you that if you are in North America, at least in the United States, most persons do pay to go to church.

Do you have to pay to hear a sermon on tape, online or CD, or to attend a meeting? Does it cost you money to hear someone speak at our church? (Note: please be the rest of this post before flaming me - Danke). Does your church have multiple "staff" persons who do not teach or preach the scriptures?

Certainly, God is due his tithe or "tenth". And He is also due offerings as the Holy Spirit lays it upon our hearts. These offerings are to:
Provide for the support of those who preach the gospel, (Luke 10:7) even visiting evangelists and teachers, and care for the poor and needy (everywhere in scripture, but especially in (Galatians2:10).

Well, that seems to be about it.

Pardon my ignorance, but I cannot find any reference to a church building, staff salaries or administrative fees, mortgages, vehicle and copier leases, electronic advertising or profit-sharing.

The Southern Baptist Convention's financial arm - Guidestone Financial reported 2005 assets of $ 8.9 billion dollars. [i] This represents only the investments of the Southern Baptists, not their total assets.

The presbyterian church USA in its 2005 financial statement reported assets of $807 million., which cannot possibly be accurate. (Their statement was labeled "unaudited". )

The Methodist church in America reported assets in the neighborhood of $32 billion. [iii]

If we take only these three denominations, we have nearly $44 billion dollars. Let's say there are 200,000 pastors, teachers, evangelists, (which there aren't) who each make $100,000 per year. (which they don't - most pastors make much less than the average corporate income, despite having much more education and experience on average) this amounts to $20 billion. What's being done with the other $24 billion and where did it come from? This represents only 3 mainline denominations - think of all the others and the untold billions they represent.

Did all these groups learn the secret of a money tree? Have they found what Cortez could not? Did they capture King Brian Conners of the leprechauns and share the three wishes for the crock'o gold?

No, they begged, pleaded, cajoled and direct mailed you and I for money; not to do those things which scripture commands, but to do the things which makes the world happy, and being the faithful "Christians" we claim to be - we blithely give it.

Should we be paying for the activities of a "church"? I don't believe so. I cannot find a single place in scripture, in Hebrew or Greek where we are commanded to pay for worshipping God, "gathering together as is the custom of some." (Hebrews 10:25-27)

What if we decided to conduct ourselves according to the bible? What if the church divested itself of all of its assets and used them to feed, house, clothe the poor, build hospitals (offering free or very low cost services) build schools, and other necessities around the world?

You might have to meet in someone's house. Would that be so bad? Or, you could all pitch in and purchase a tent to meet under in the event of rain or excessive heat? There are many dilapidated, run-down buildings in every city - what if the church purchased these and rebuilt them, using them for the purposes listed in scripture?

Did you know that for $120 a month, a Russian or vietnamese pastor can keep his whole family?
Did you know that for the price of some stamps you can encourage a prisoner in the Lord?
Did you know that for less than $600 per month you can run a medical clinic in Pakistan?
Did you know that for .50 each you can receive bibles from the IBS to give out in your neighborhood?

I submit to you that the cost of attending your average local church is enormous compared to its social worth. How many people accepted Christ through your church last year? How many drug deals were thwarted? How many marriages were saved? How many abortions were stopped and children adopted?

There is a benevolence agency in Texas with a budget of only $200,000 which fed 50,000 people last year and had nearly 700 decisions for Christ.

There is a couple in Dallas who see hundreds of decisions for Christ and their financial outlay consists of buying sodas to pass out at bus stations and tracts to give out at shopping malls.

What if we gave our pastors a pay raise and used our building campaign to fund churches in vietnam, or Pakistan, or Afghanistan or China or our local town?

What if our monthly meetings were held in a coffee shop, or bar, or restaurant, where people might actually overhear us talking about Jesus?

Do you know what your Pastor's salary and benefits are? Why not - every officer of every public corporation in America MUST by law publish this information; shouldn't the church be more open than a greedy corporation?

If you don't know this, ask for it in a kind, courteous and dignified manner - not on sunday morning; call and make an appointment. If your church will not tell you - find another church.

How many homeless persons have been helped by YOUR church? (not your association - not a group you gave money too - but your group of Christians specifically). How many people were fed, clothed and given a drink?

The church ought to be Christ's - not man's. Is His name found anywhere in your church building?

Jesus spoke to a church much like the church in America today: He said,

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." - Revelation 3:14-22 (emphasis mine)

Is Christ not angry when we have the ability to feed the world but will not do so?

[i] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22591
[ii]
[iii] www.gcfa.org

The Jews paid a temple tax in Jerusalem. Are Christians paying a church tax today?

Medicine by proxy or "Do you really want to know who's reading your EKG?

2006-02-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

In this month's NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) there is a very interesting article about teleradiology - the first wave of medical "outsourcing". Here's how it works:

Jane smith is having strange chest pains and shortness of breath and goes to see her primary care doc who refers her to a cardiologist. But, before she can fulfill her appointment with the cardiologist, she experiences a dramatic incident and her husband rushes her to the emergency room. She describes her condition and she is whisked into a room, poked, prodded and electrodes are connected to her chest.

Some time later, a doctor walks into her room and tells her that she has had an abnormal EKG and may need surgery to repair a problem.

"That's funny", Jane says to her husband, "I dont remember a doctor visiting me about my heart condition, how could they know I need surgery"?

What Jane didn't know is that the electrodes connected to her chest, transmitted the electrical impulses of her heart to a computer screen - in INDIA. There, an Indian cardiologist read her chart and made the diagnosis.

Why in the name of Spongebob would someone want to do this? As Mr. Krabbs would say, "Me Money!"

Huge health delivery companies have realized, as have huge computer companies and huge telephone companies that people in India are happy making 10% of what an American earns. This is true for doctors as well as computer programmers. So, the "Humungo medical insurance company" has figured out that if they can pay an Indian cardiologist $20.00 to read your chart instead of an American doctor $125.00", - multiplied by numerous thousands of patients, they can afford that stainless-steel office furniture after all.

What say ye? Are you willing to trust your medical diagnosis to someone who lives in a country where drunken elephants kill dozens of villagers each year? (In fairness, I would take the drunken elephants over gang-shootings any day).

I say, its time for Americans to take control of their health and to stop believing that capitalism equates to success and that cost is the deciding factor in the quality of human life.

Peanuts, anyone?

What if Jesus ran the world?

2006-02-03T18:35:00.000-08:00

For some reason, known only to Him, Jesus has chosen to allow satan, who is also known as the Devil, to have control over this planet. We know this because the Bible tells us that Satan controls the "kingdoms of the world", (Matthew Chapter 4 and also Luke) and offered to give them to Jesus if He would bow down and worship him. Would Jesus not have laughed, if satan had tried to give something he had no right to give? If this were the case, one might liken this conversation to me telling my neighbor, that if he will worship me, I will give him the Taj Mahal. (I don't think he is quite so gullible).

Anyway, there are other passages, and one can also see from any of the news networks that broadcast satan's news day and night that Jesus, by choice, is clearly is not in complete control.

But what if He were? What, if anything can we learn by asking such a question?

The Bible gives us the answer to this question, but before we delve into the Bible, let's use our imaginations and see what we might come up with.

If Jesus ran the world:

1,200 people would not have died last week in Egypt because their ferry boat capsized. Were Jesus to rule the earth, the waves of the sea would not be "contrary" and no boats would sink. Also, the two greatest concerns of every human would be Jesus and other humans, so no one would set out on a journey without providing for every possible emergency.

In Houston, the police would not have fired guns into a car where a mother and her kidnapped child lay frightened and screaming while two armed thugs fought a gun battle with the police. In fact, there would be no police, because there would be no crime; unfortunate for lock, alarm and fire safety equipment industries, but terrific for the rest of us.

Baseball might be worth watching because the top players wouldn't be doped up robots who think everyone else is a moron and can't tell that they use performance-enhancing drugs.

49% of the prisons wouldn't be filled with black males, because black males would be just as productive as Asian immigrant males and everyone else for that matter because racial, social, economic and every other inequality would no longer exist. Instead of identifying oneself as an "african-American" or "Mexican-American", everyone would identify themselves as a "Jesus-American" and it wouldn't matter what you looked like. In addition, the prisons would be torn down because it doesn't make sense to operate a perpetually empty building.

Churches wouldn't have billions of dollars in the bank while billions of people around the world starve to death. In fact, churches would stop pretending that they serve Jesus and want to be like Him, because they really will want to be like Him. Also, there would only be one church because the church is the group of people who worship Jesus Christ.

Hospitals and also doctors would be out of business. I wouldn't mind, as long as Jesus wipes out my student loans.(sic) Actually, I dont mind at all because there would be no more sickness, or pain or death.

The funeral industry would become bankrupt because nobody would need them anymore. Were Jesus to be in direct control of the earth, no one would die.

Lawyers would be unemployed - there would be no courts, because all disagreements would be settled by Jesus and would be righteous and right every time.

There wouldn't be a few mega-wealthy persons and billions of hungry and struggling persons. There would be no need for wealth, as Jesus would provide everything one needed.

There would be no angry muslim mobs because there would be no muslims, or Hindus or members of any religious sect. Anyone who doubted Jesus and His claims to be God would only need to travel to see Him in person.

One might ask, wouldn't it be boring?

Think of this. Every dollar you earned at the job you loved and whcih existed for the betterment of mankind, would be yours to dispose of as you pleased because there would be no taxes. But, your desire would be to use that money for Jesus' idea of human growth and development. Now, add perhaps 2 billion persons to yourself and imagine what could be accomplished.

If Jesus were in complete control, the violence of the universe would have ended (stellar bodies slamming into one another - stars superheating into novae, etc.) and the other planets in the universe could be colonized.

All technology would be beneficial and work 100% of the time. Imagine how quickly the internal combusion engine would disappear if Shell, Texaco and Exxon-Mobile weren't controlling 20% of the world economy. One example, is Magneto-hydrodynamic propulsion for ships, which worked pretty well 30 years ago, but hasn't been deployed for "economic" reasons.

Imagine if all babies were cared for and murderers posing as doctors quit performing abortions. (Don't send me email about the efficacy and need for abortion, unless you are willing to come with me to the clinics to counsel the victims of these abortions - the women who have been duped into receiving them).

Imagine if nursing homes were obsolete because people cared for their aging and elderly parents, instead of passing them off onto a business for convenience sake.

Imagine that mothers would choose to stay in their modest home or apartment and raise their children instead of working 60 hours a week so they can drive a Lexus and buy their children video games and laptop computers. Imagine fathers who chose to live modestly so their wives could do this.

Why am I writing all of this? Well, one reason is that I am pretty sick of this world, although I am grateful to be serving Jesus while i'm in it. (St. Paul put it like this - "to live is Christ, but to die is gain") There won't be any longing for this world after I am gone. And two, these things and more than I could ever imagine will happen one day - I believe soon. I do not know that it will occur within my lifetime, but I hope that it will.

It is my hope that you also long for the day when Jesus returns. Will you be ready?

More on Healthcare

2006-01-11T17:13:00.000-08:00

Before I begin my 7 part series on the distinctiveness of Jello in historical narrative, I shall attempt to cast further light on the national health crisis of America. Though some, (whose foreheads slope upwards to an unusual degree) are bored by this topic, other, more enlightened persons currently residing in North America and not some third world sandpit will hopefully find this information informative.

When last I wrote of healthcare, I left off with illustrations designed to vex those who would see the United States plunge headlong into communistic, governmental health care. This week, let's look at the current status of American health delivery and see where we stand, or more appropriately, where we wobble.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, (www.cbpp.org) approximately 43.6 million persons in the U.S. Are without health insurance. (43.6 million and 1!) This represents nearly 15% of the total population. Excluding government employees who have a non-market based health system (government employees' health premiums are paid by tax revenues from the remainder of the country) perhaps 1/3 of Americans have no form of health insurance.

According to the National Coalition on Health Care (www.nchc.org);

Total national health expenditures increased by 7.7 percent in 2003 (the latest year that data is available) over 2002 - four times the rate of inflation in 2003.(1)
In 2004, employer health insurance premiums increased by 11.2 percent - nearly four times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $10,000. The annual premium for single coverage averaged $3,695.(2)
Health care spending is 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense.
Although nearly 45 million Americans are uninsured, the United States spends more on health care than other industrialized nations, and those countries provide health insurance to all their citizens.
The annual premium that a health insurer charges an employer for a health plan covering a family of four averaged $9,950, or $829 a month in 2004. Workers contributed $2,661, or 10 percent more than they spent in 2003. For single coverage, workers contributed an average of $558 toward the $3,695 annual premium. (2)

Health insurance premiums will rise to an average of more than $14,500 for family coverage in 2006.

These figgers, are startling in that no one seems to be particularly put off by them. My family and I do not have health insurance coverage, a condition which an increasing number of our friends also find themselves in. (This isn't as bleak as it sounds - more on this later)

So, we have a system which costs more than nearly anything else, leaves 1/3 of the population out of it, and is increasing at a rate only those who are financially well off can maintain.

To some, as I pointed out last week, this sounds like a job for Super-Government! However, we haven't a super-government or even a nearly effective one. If such a government existed (which it does not) it would still not be the instrument by which the health care crisis may be solved.

What are we to do?

Necessity, it is said, is the mother of invention. I herewith present an invention, perhaps not original, yet one which I believe would provide a fair, equitable and highly profitable system, driven at least in large measure by market forces.

I have called this system, The American Health Alliance.

This alliance would be established as an official 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the IRS, the purpose of which would be to manage a membership system which assists health delivery workers in providing their services.

The Alliance - Anyone would be eligible to join the Alliance at some predetermined, published cost. For example, $720 per year, or $60 per month, per family. This is less than 1/2 the average cable TV or cell phone bill in the United States.

The Alliance would be managed and governed by volunteers or persons whose salary was capped, also at a predetermined rate of twice the average national salary. (For example, if the average salary in the U.S. were $40,000 per year, the most anyone at the Alliance could earn would be $80,000 per year - including the Administrator(s). Administrative overhead would have a cap too - perhaps 20% of gross revenue. This isn't supposed to become another insurance company and benevolence organizations become flaccid when they start paying people huge sums (look at the Red Cross and the United Way as examples).

The Alliance would not in any way be an insurance organization. It's sole function would be to manage a membership (member and provider) and payment database.

Members of the Alliance would receive a membership card, along with a rate guide for their geographic area. (Please see Appendix A for a rate guide example)

Health Care providers would agree to become partners in the Alliance and to provide the Alliance each year with rates for their services, to be published in the guide. In exchange for this agreement, providers would receive 50% of the membership fees for their patient, with 50% going to the overhead of the Alliance. So, based on our example of $60 per month, a physician would receive $30 dollars per month from the Alliance for each patient in her patient pool.

Thus, if Dr. Sally C. is a provider and has 100 patients from the Alliance in her pool, she would receive $3,000 per month from the Alliance for servicing these patients, whether she sees them each month or not. Pretty good deal, eh?

Each member who becomes part of Dr. C's pool ( at their own discretion) has direct access to Dr. C (NOT her service) and may see her 1 time per month at no additional charge. If the member sees her for other things or needs additional help, her published rates apply and the member pays the doctor DIRECTLY.

Members of the Alliance would then be directed to capitalistic Health Insurance companies to provide them with Catastrophic Health Insurance. For example, a 40 year old non-smoker can buy a $3million lifetime policy for about $35 per month. A Family policy would be about $70 per month and these rates would DECREASE as the product became more widely available and competitive as has happened with TERM LIFE INSURANCE.

Alliance Members who met certain healthy lifestyle goals, would receive deeply discounted services and even cash rebates on their fees.

As the Alliance grew, additional funds would be used to create a fund in order to purchase additional insurance products for members. In addition to this, the Alliance would give grants for extraordinary services not covered by a catastrophic policy.

The Alliance would also show everyone how to set up a tax-free HSA (Health Savings Account) from which to pay your doctor PRETAX dollars, which saves you even more!!

And, perhaps most importantly, the Alliance would be about health, not about enriching drug and insurance companies. Natural healthy lifestyles would be taught and promoted. Courses on healthy living would be provided and those who attend and implement the material would be given discounts on services.

Finally, the Alliance would offer Physicians, for a fee, representation in claims against insurers or medicare, provided by licensed attorneys in the states of record. (No, I'm not a lawyer - I'm trying to become a doctor)

A scenario:

Lord Xarthon (LX) has a family of 4 and works for Wal-mart as a floor supervisor. He decides to join the alliance, so each month his account is debited for the membership fee of $X.

The Alliance sends him a membership card and has an insurance broker contact him regarding a catastrophic policy. He chooses a policy with a $2million lifetime cap, costing him $60 per month for his family. One of his children is an insulin-dependent diabetic and his wife is pregnant.

LX is assigned to Dr. Mork's patient pool. Dr. Mork is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and has a Family Practice Clinic near LX's crib.

In January, LX wakes up with a severe head cold, and after repeated doses of Benadryl isn't going away, so he opens his wallet, takes out his card and calls Dr. Mork. Nurse Ann answers the phone. "Where's the receptionist?" LX asks. "Oh, we let her, the billing clerk, the office manager and the pharmaceutical liasion all go!"

LX tells nurse Ann the details and she gives him some healthy things to do and schedules him for an appointment at 6 p.m.! About 10 minutes later, LX receives a call from Dr. Mork himself, who gets some details and says that he looks forward to seeing him that evening. (Dr. Mork can now do this because he doesn't need a patient pool of 3,000 patients so that after fighting the insurance providers, he might actually be paid something).

That evening, LX drives to the Dr's office and as he walks in, Dr. Mork, nurse Ann and PA Martha all greet him. He is immediately seen by Dr. Mork who prescribes some medicines to provide an initial benefit to the cold and then also some natural products to help prevent this in the future. He escorts LX to the front desk, and LX whips out his debit card (From his HSA), pays the $Amt ($50 for example) of the office visit, for the natural healing products and heads to Walgreens to fill his prescription, which costs him ($25).

The next day LX is back at work and feeling much better - in a week he is 100%. LX takes Dr. Mork's advice on exercise and diet, loses 20 pounds, and doesn't have to see Dr. X for the rest of the year. But His son Jeremy, who is diabetic sees Dr. Mork each month for a check up. Dr. Mork charges LX, a discounted rate of $45 for Jeremy's visits.

So, at the end of the year, here's where LX ended up:

Annual fees for ALLiance membership $720.00
One visit for LX 50.00
Prescription for LX 25.00
12 visits for Jeremy 540.00
Insulin for Jeremy 550.00
Shots for school (3 kids) 100.00
Annual physical for LX FREE
Rebate for healthy choices 100.00
School physicals (3 kids) 90.00
Natural healing products 600.00
Catastrophic family policy 60.00

Total $2,835.0

LX paid $ZERO in health insurance during this time. this saved him $6,000 for this year.

I realize that each person will have an individual scenario, but consider this one at least for the moment.

Where did Dr. Mork end up?

He received $310 for having LX in his patient pool. He also received $540 in fees for Jeremy, plus $600 for the natural products LX bought. Plus the fee for LX's office visit.

So, Dr. Mork earned (Gross - before EBITDA) $1,450 for LX and his family. Dr. Mork received 100% of his billed amount. If Dr. Mork had, say 900 patients like LX (of varying degrees of illness), then his practice would take in $1.3 million EBITDA. After paying nurse Ann ($75K) and PA Martha ($100K), and overhead, Dr. Mork would find that he makes a good living and can still pay off his medical school and fellowship debt of $200,000.

Having said all that, here's where questions tend to help. So here goes:

1). What about a family? Families may join also. There is 1 rate whether someone is an individual or has 39 children. For families, 1 member of the family would get the free office visit and also one member would receive an annual physical free of charge.

2). Why isn't this a copy of Ameriplan? Because one, Ameriplan doesn't cover medical, and two, this isn't a discounted, fee-for-service supplement. It is a whole new health delivery system.

3). What if I have a broken bone and the doctor wants to charge me $3,000 to set it and follow up with me. Why should I pay $3,000 to a doctor for a broken bone, when my current employer-provided insurance costs only $500 per month with a $20 copay?

You are what is known in the insurance industry as "hoodwinked". You see the $500 per month deducted from your paycheck ( for services you may or may not use) but what you don't see are the thousands of dollars your employer is paying on top of this for your policy - thousands of dollars he isn't paying you, but rather the friendly insurance company. Imagine your greedy employer realizing that he can save $150,000 per year on health insurance premiums, or millions if it is a large company. Now, imagine you showing him how to save this money and give some of it to you instead.

Also, how many times have you received additional bills in the mail adding up to thousands of extra dollars despite your payments and $20 copay? With the Alliance, you pay only what is published in the guide, and you pay the doctor directly.

4). I am a physician. Why would I want to be involved in this?
Right now, the Average doctor spends $17,000 per month to break even. The majority of this cost is built-in, non-productive, non-health-related waste. Do you have an insurance billing clerK, an admin clerk, a manager, etc. none of which provide any sort of health care? Of course. Imagine that these folks and their salaries disappeared and instead you were able to hire an additional nurse or PA and you didn't have to fight Medicare or Humana or Blue Cross for every dollar you earned by healing their customer. Imagine if you received thousands of dollars per month from your patients just for the privilege of caring for them - even if you didn't see them.

5). I am a specialist. How would this work for me?
Just like the wonderful Family Practice Physician. Let's say you are a cardiologist. When Dr. C refers Smokey Joe Turner to you for his wierd arrythmia, Smokey Joe would decide, based upon your published fee rates whether or not he wants to see you. If he does, he will know exactly what he is going to be in for. If he has a defective heart, requiring surgery, then this would be covered by the catastrophic policy which he has and your practice would bill his insurance company directly. Any additional costs (office visits, pallative care, etc.) would be paid directly to you. Eventually, should Smokey Joe need care, not meeting the catastrophic policy requirements , but more than say $3000, the Alliance would consider a health grant to help cover these costs.

6). What about my insurance company? They already hate me. Have you ever noticed whose name is on the multi-story, shiny, new buildings in the downtown area of your city? Yep, insurance companies. Once they began to lose thousands of customers, they might actually decide to offer service and compete in the market, which is what we want.

7). What if I am very poor (below federal poverty level) and can't afford to join the Alliance?
A means test would be performed on you. If you have cable television, a cell phone, a car payment and eat take out every day, then you obviously don't have a money problem, you have a spending problem. But, if you are truly in need, and aren't wasting the resources you have, then the Alliance would provide a discounted membership of perhaps 1/2 the cost.

NOTE: I have met very few truly poor persons in America. In my travels around the world, I have met some extremely poor people in Pakistan, Turkey and Mexico. But, I realize there are some persons in America who just aren't able for whatever reason to earn sufficient amounts of money. These persons should and would be helped by the Alliance. But persons who refuse to work, use illness as an excuse, (folks, I have met with one-legged men in the slums of Karachi who pushed cartloads of vegetables in order to help provide for their families. I have also known severely retarded men in wheelchairs who drove throughout my neighborhood in California selling peanuts so he could feed his family. Don't tell me your back injury or ADHD or Bipolar is keeping you from polishing cars, sweeping floors or answering a telephone).

Folks, what is really at stake here is literally your health and mine. I don't have all the answers - this is simply one man's wacked out idea, which still needs much thought (i.e. what about multiple specialties involved in a patients' care. Perhaps. like insurance, once the Alliance became large enough, rish could be spread throughout the member pool and grants could be provided for those who need ongoing, specialized care. This is only a start. Plus, these ideas aren't new or original. Dr. Patch Adams and the Ithaca Health Alliance thought of this long before I did. I just added some capitalism to their awesome idea. http://www.ithacahealth.org/

Jeffc

Some animals are more equal than others!

2006-01-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

Most literate persons are familiar with the title of this post, taken from George Orwell's "Animal Farm". Mr. Orwell, one of the most brilliant persons never to have his picture on a chewing gum card, foresaw that the world was moving to equaninimity of plebiscite, or perhaps more appropriately; the laying down of all rights in favour of promises.

The subject of my banter today is healthcare. As I have written many times before, the United States is the only G7 nation, without national medicine, some thing of which I am proud. We are also, by the way, the only nation on earth with real aircraft carriers. (The Russians and the Brits can't figure out how to make one without a ramp).

Anyway, as I become further enmeshed in my attempt to become a doctor, I hear more and more cries of "Why can't the government just provide health care?"

The proper response is, "Because according to our constitution, they are not supposed to", but unfortunately the constitution doesn't bear much weight in today's consumeristic world. So, one must deal with reality. Here it is:

If you are one who thinks the government should provide health care, I suggest you visit Canada, our neighbor to the north. In Canada, everyone has health care; everyone that is, except those who truly need it.

According to the Canadian government's own figures, the current wait time for cardiac surgery is 10.4 weeks. http://www.healthservices.gov.bc.ca/waitlist/cardiac.html

Imagine you have been having chest pain. So you pop off to the local clinic and see a doctor. He runs a few tests and discovers that you have an abnormal arrythmia or there seems to be some difficulty with your heart. He smiles, gives you a lollipop and enters your name on a waiting list. If you do not die of a heart attack over the next 3 1/2 months, you will get heart surgery.

What if you needed an organ transplant? As of November 3, 2005, there were 368 patients in one province awaiting transplant. To date, 40 of them have received their transplant. Now, I will give you that some are awaiting organs that haven't arrived yet, but this is only 10% of the group. Is that the kind of healthcare you want?

How about Neurosurgery? For patients who "in the opinion of the physician, the individual's health may be significantly compromised if the procedure is not performed within about two weeks of submitting the booking form to the hospital." Their average wait time was 6.8 days. Can you imagine knowing that you need emergency brain surgery and having to wait at least a week to get it?

"In 1999, Dr. Richard F. Davies, a cardiologist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa, described in remarks for the Canadian Institute for Health Information how delays affected Ontario heart patients scheduled for coronary artery bypass graft surgery. In a single year, for this one operation, the doctor said, "71 Ontario patients died before surgery, 121 were removed from the list permanently because they had become medically unfit for surgery," and 44 left the province to have the surgery, many having gone to the United States for the operation. (According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, 33 Canadian hospitals performed approximately 22,500 bypass surgeries in 1998-99.)

In other words, 192 people either died or became too sick to have surgery before they could work their way to the front of the line." http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=15524

But! everyone says, "It's Free!" Are Americans really that lazy or stupid? Does anyone seriously believe that providing any sort of medical care is free - or even should be?

According to the Canadian governments own figures (Which, like ours must be suspect) 40 % of total government spending in Canada goes toward this system. (They do not have an aircraft carrier). Consider this against our incredibly inefficient and bureaucratic Social Security system which takes 4.3% of our governments expenditures.

I am willing to admit that there is one good aspect of the Canadian System - it is a single payer, Universal system. In America at least 40 million of us do not have any form of health insurance. But this isn't something to be solved by our government - it should be solved the American way - by ingenious, thrifty and entrepeneurial people.

Next issue - the Solution!

The academic requirements for Medical School

2005-12-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

"I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places.
He told me to quit going to those places." - Henny Youngman

There is a strange air of mystery around the field of medicine, which is one of the 3 classic fields of study; the others being law and theology.

Here I will dispel some of those myths.

Myth#1 - you have to be a genius to be a doctor. Since my grandmother's former doctor prescribed a medication for her for 40 years, which had a maximum prescription length of 5 years, obviously this isn't the case. Recently, a friend in her forties was told by her doctor that she was pregnant. When she asked him to conduct a urine test to make sure, he berated her with "I have been a doctor for years, and years!" Well, turns out she has a fibroid tumor. One would think that after "years and "years" one might be able to distinguish between a tumor and a human baby. Go figure.

Myth#2 - You have to decide to be a doctor when you are 20. As the Roaming Gnome would say "Pish!". Most medical advancement is made by men and women in their late 40's to their 60's.

Myth#2 - You have to be a straight "A" student to be a doctor. Again, "Pish!" The truth is, it certainly helps to have a high GPA. The average is about 3.0. But a higher science GPA is better than a high overall GPA. For example, my undergrad GPA was 3.35, but my science GPA so far is 4.0. , which is better than having an overall GPA of 3.9, but getting 3.2 in your science courses.

Myth#3 - Medicine is a science. A science is defined as "The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena." (American Heritage Dictionary). Much of medicine falls into the theoretical portion, because as organisms, humans are most complex. Each individual is a subset of him or herself. If I develop a vaccine which provides a killed virus, it may react differently in different people, which is why some people have strange side effects to certain drugs while others do not. Medicine is not exact.

Myth#4 - You have to be a science genius before medical school. Does one have to be a theological genius before seminary? or a literary genius before graduate school? Medical school is no different. Medical school in fact, doesn't want people with bizarre preconceptions trying to act as if they know everything already. The basics are all that is needed - a foundation from which to build. To that end, here are the science academic requirements for admission to most medical schools:

1 year of Chemistry (with lab)
1 year of Biology (with lab)
1 year of Physics (with lab)
1 year of Organic Chemistry (with lab)

That's it! By the way, one doesn't even have to have a college degree. Only 90 hours are required (though most people do have a degree)

Myth#5 - only science majors become doctors. Nope. Actually, unless you are not going to practice clinical medicine (you are going to do research) liberal arts degrees are preferred!

If you don't believe me or are generally inclined to ignore God's mercy and be pessimistic, then you may obtain all of this info for yourself by visiting the American Association of Medical Colleges at www.aamc.org.

Happy doctoring!

I got an "A"!

2005-12-16T10:15:00.000-08:00

Only God could be so good to me. Well, I suppose my Bio prof had something to do with it. Check out his website at http://www.gideonadjei.com.

So far, I'm on track for a 4.0!

Not bad for a white guy!

Meanderings and musings

2005-12-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless." (Isaiah 40:22-23)

"To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" Says the Holy One." (Isaiah 40:25)

Whom indeed. Today, the nation of Iraq experienced its first parlimentary election - in its history. How did this come about? Some in Washington would like to take credit for it. Nearly all who lead media organizations would decry it, but the fact of the matter is that the Bible and this passage in particular tells us that God plainly did it.

God involved in freeing the nation of Iraq? Absolutely. By the way, I am writing here of the God of the Bible; nowhere in the Quran is Allah given to freedom or freeing people from tyranny. Now, I cannot say why God allowed Iraq to suffer under decades of torture and tyranny, just as I cannot suggest why He would allow 100 lac Pakistani's to die in a terrible series of earthquakes. I can say however, that He, in His mercy has freed an oppressed people and He used the United States of America, and her allies to do it. We ought to be humbly proud.

Our world today is filled with both the child-like wonder of Charles Dickens and the fear and loathing of Hunter S. Thompson. We are living in historic times; times which if we are not careful will sweep us away into history and leave our children gasping for their souls. My children learned nothing of this election in school. On the various radio stations I turned to I heard how to decorate a Christmas tree, why persons of African descent should be paid reparations for slavery and why a lawyer should be able to sue for the violation of the rights of illegal immigrants. On only two stations, did I hear anything about the elections; one was Shawn Hannity and the other Michael Savage.

I believe that the import of today's event is lost, in the myopic world of American consumerism, nearly everything except the hawking of the latest product - is. I am as guilty as most of turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the workings of the world; something that as a Christian, I am woefully ashamed of. After all, it is God's world and I should be particularly interested in what is happening in it.

The myopia of America often causes me to forget that in my lifetime, the greatest threat to world freedom was destroyed (Soviet Communism) and the greatest threat to world survival is being beaten back (Islamic statism). It is God's grace that America has led the way on both of these fronts.

As God sits enthroned in heaven, we must rejoice as He pours out His grace upon our world. We must also entreat Him, asking His favor to stop the violence and brutality of the middle east and Islamic terrorism. Take some time today and thank Him for freeing the people of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Soviet Union. Thank Him that you can read this post and thank Him if you live in the U.S. - a nation where one can freely express any opinion, even one full of banality or vitriol. Thank Jesus that you were not born in Kamchatka twenty years ago, when the mention of animosity toward Comrade Andropov might have produced a midnight visitation of a black sedan and an unwanted free trip to a Siberian labor camp.

Thank God that you were not born in Afghanistan 5 years ago, when the Taliban might have cut off your hands for trying to gather some food to feed your starving family. Thank Him that you were not born in Uganda 30 years ago, or as a Tutsi in Rwanda, just a few years ago. Thank Him that you did not live in Germany under Hitler, or Cuba under Castro.

After you have thanked God for this grace, let's remember to ask Him for more for those still suffering - those in Kashmir, Indonesia, India and other places devastated by natural disasters. Pray that the Mullah's of Iran will fall in a bloodless transfer of power and that Syria will learn democracy and put off terrorism. Pray that the Arab brothers of the Palestinian people will take them in and teach them to live for something other than the death of a Jew.

Please take some time today to thank God - you will be glad you did.

Oxidative Phosphorylation, chemiosmosis and God

2005-11-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

Oxidative Phosphorylation is part of the final step in a process known as cellular respiration. When one eats something, depending upon what it is (protein, fat or carbohydrate) it is converted into glucose and then encounters this or that and eventually through the process mentioned above is converted into the most important stuff inside your body - ATP. ATP (which is short for Adenosine Triphosphate) is the fuel that all of your cells use to do things. Without ATP you would be dead because none of the 3+ trillion cells in your body would regenerate, or do anything else for that matter. In effect, one eats because one needs to make ATP.

Did you know that your body is electrical? When you run a comb quickly through your hair, the friction causes an electrical current, causing your hair to stand on end. This same affect is going on in all of your cells - all the time.

Outside each of your cells is a membrane, called a plasma membrane. Inside the cell are other objects called organelles which also have membranes. Across these membranes flow hydrogen ions, or more accurately protons. This flow of ions across the membrane creates a "friction" of sorts and generates an electrical current. This current is used by proteins embedded in the membrane to carry out work, such as the making of ATP by the protein complex - ATP Synthase, during a process called chemiosmosis.

Animals use this process and plants do also - in a slightly modified form.

The whole process looks something like this:

Glucose (sugar) + Oxygen = Carbon Dioxide + Water + Energy (ATP)

What on earth does this have to do with God?

Dr. Gerald Schroeder, an MIT Physicist has put together some terrific material about the probability of this type of complexity happening by chance. To quote from Dr. Schroeder,

"Humans and all mammals have some 50,000 genes. That implies we have, as an order of magnitude estimate, some 50,000 proteins. It is estimated that there are some 30 million species of animal life on Earth. If the genomes of all animals produced 50,000 proteins, and no proteins were common among any of the species (a fact we know to be false, but an assumption that makes our calculations favor the random evolutionary assumption), there would be (30 million x 50,000) 1.5 trillion (1.5 x10 to power of 12) proteins in all life. (The actual number is vastly lower). Now let's consider the likelihood of these viable combinations of proteins forming by chance, recalling that, as the events following the Cambrian explosion taught us, not all combinations of proteins are viable.

Proteins are coils of several hundred amino acids. Take a typical protein to be a chain of 300 amino acids. There are 20 commonly occurring amino acids in life. This means that the number of possible combinations of the amino acids in our model protein is 20 to the power of 300 (that is 20 multiplied by itself 300 times) or in the more usual ten-based system of numbers, 10 to the power of 390 ( Ten multipled by itself 390 times or more simply said a one with 390 zeroes after it!!!!!) . Nature has the option of choosing among the possible 10 to the power of 390 proteins, the the 1.5 x (10 to power of 12) proteins of which all viable life is composed. Can this have happened by random mutations of the genome? Not if our understanding of statistics is correct. It would be as if nature reached into a grab bag containing a billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion proteins and pulled out the one that worked and then repeated this trick a million million times.

But this impossibility of randomness producing order is not different from the attempt to produce Shakespeare or any meaningful string of letters more than a few words in length by a random letter generator. Gibberish is always the result. This is simply because the number of meaningless letter combinations vastly exceeds the number of meaningful combinations. With life it was and is lethal gibberish."

Gibberish is indeed lethal in the human genome. Any non-specific cellular activity is in fact, lethal. Even viruses which attack and destroy are cells are specific in the way they go about doing this.

Can order and specificity emerge out of randomness? No. In fact, just the opposite - the universe is decaying or experiencing entropy - disorder, out of the grand order it began with.

Where does this leave us? Well, one can either accept that order cannot occur from disorder and understand that an intelligence must have designed the universe or one can, like Mr. Newdow in California, walk blindly in ignorance and pretend that this intelligence, which we know to be God, does not exist.

I have actually spoken to some persons who desire ignorance. They had hearts and minds which have become so calloused that despite any pleadings to the contrary, they refused to believe the truth. Yet, unbelief does not negate truth. Just because I do not believe in gravity does not mean I will not die if I jump off of the roof of a multi-story building.

Every deliberate action in the universe (and they are all deliberate) has a cause. This cause also creates an effect. There is no randomness in the universe.

The bible tells us that God is a God of order, not chaos. He desires order in our lives as well as the universe around us. He also tells us in the bible that He created us to enjoy this universe and Him as well. But we cannot enjoy either the universe or God if we are tainted with sin, which we all are.

So in order to "untaint" or remove the stain of sin from us, God designed another process - He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to take the punishment for all of us and thereby act as our scapegoat and remove our guilt - if only we will believe.

Have you believed in Jesus? Do you believe in the order He created? Isn't it time you did?

The problem of American Education

2005-11-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

In a recent column, Dr. Walter Williams wrote;

"A 1990 Gallup survey for the National Endowment of the Humanities, given to a representative sample of 700 college seniors, found that 25 percent did not know that Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere before the year 1500, 42 percent could not place the Civil War in the correct half-century, and 31 percent thought Reconstruction came after World War II.

In 1993, a Department of Education survey found that, among college graduates, 50 percent of whites and more than 80 percent of blacks couldn't state in writing the argument made in a newspaper column or use a bus schedule to get on the right bus, 56 percent could not calculate the right tip, 57 percent could not figure out how much change they should get back after putting down $3 to pay for a 60-cent bowl of soup and a $1.95 sandwich, and over 90 percent could not use a calculator to find the cost of carpeting a room. But not to worry. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni's 1999 survey of seniors at the nation's top 55 liberal arts colleges and universities found that 98 percent could identify rap artist Snoop Doggy Dogg and Beavis and Butt-Head, but only 34 percent knew George Washington was the general at the battle of Yorktown."

Why such disastrous results? It is my hypothesis that American Colleges and Universities have become the Soviet Union. In Soviet Russia, perhaps the most sought after commodity was not diamonds or cavier, but "tuletnaya Bumaga" - toilet paper. Pensioners and wives might wait in lines in the bitter cold for 8 hours or more to purchase a single roll costing a days wages. Why would the soviet citizen put up with such nonsense? I asked this question myself and the perfunctory response I received was "potomy chto my dolzhni" (Pardon my transliteration - I never could combine english and cyrillic; my brain thinks in either one or the other - but never both at the same time) which means "because we must". There was no competition in the Soviet form of Communism.

Today I drove the 20 minutes to the campus I attend in order to see an academic counselor. I only need one to sign a simple form allowing me to select a degree program so that I may apply for financial aid. Upon reaching the campus and standing in a brief cue, I was told by the kindly desk attendant - "Oh, they are in a meeting today"; perhaps you could call later and see if they are out."

Clearly there is a problem. The posted hours of counseling are 9:00 - 1:00 on fridays and I was there at 9:00. If the school were a hamburger stand, and I were told the hamburgers were out today, I would boycott the stand, advertise to all I knew my displeasure, and on the basis of the laws of common markets the stand would be doomed and close. So why do I have to put up with such gross inefficiency in academia? Because I must.

As many of you know (this includes the one other person who reads this blog and my schizophrenic partner) I am preparing to go to medical school. The hoops I am encountering are necessary in order to apply. But they dramatically illustrate why our nation is enduring a precipitous decline in the arts, sciences and even hamburger distribution. If I want to attend medical school, I have no choice but to enjoin the services of a local institution of higher learning. There is no competition in the American higher educational system.

Above the cries of "Wait - that's not fair", and "What about the University of Phoenix online?" I must say that anyone who has recently attended college knows that I speak the truth. While online universities are indeed popping up everywhere; many of whom are fully accredited, those who wield academic authority are not seriously thinking of allowing them to supplant the gross bureaocracy found in most schools. When applying for a research position, even in todays "enlightened" world, non-classroom, or online study isn't going to cut it.

Though there was no competition in Soviet Russia, wouldn't the personal pride of the individual bring about a positive work ethic? Unfortunately, comrades Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Brezhnev and Gorbachov crushed the idea of the individual and so no personal pride was allowed to bloom and grow. In the university today, cronyism, nepotism and reverse upward mobility ensure that individuals with a creative bent are squashed at each turn. As an experiment, visit your local administration office and take a survey of how many family members and friends work there. The labor union movement has nothing on the college administrative fraternity.

What are the options? Well, one can be disgusted as I was for 3 decades and ignore the educational system, choosing instead to earn money and use entrepeneurship to advance myself and my family. But this leaves us with a feeling of inadequacy - education is a God-ordered gift,

2 Timothy 2:15 tell us to "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth"and in Acts 24, Festus (not the one on Gunsmoke) told St. Paul, 'Too much learning has made you mad!" to which he replied " I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness." Paul was a very learned man - having studied at the highest level of Jewish thought under Israel's greates teacher - Gamaliel. God wants us to be educated. Education is also a gift of mankind - no other creature in the world can learn as we can. A dog can learn to sit but it cannot learn the various muscular contractions necessary for this to occur, or the amino-acid sequences which provide its impuse.

We might just "go with the flow" which is the sad state of most students today. Better is to demand something more. Not through militancy, but through respectful correction to incorrect actions. Write letters, ask for public forums and hearings and vocalize your displeasure in a courteous manner.

A professor of mine recently told me that the dean of his department called him to tell him of students who were complaining that he was "making them study too hard". This is a shame. Rather, we ought to complain that the administrations of schools aren't working hard enough. Let's have the Soviet Union remain a parcel of history. American students deserve better.

Death part deux

2005-11-01T19:15:00.000-08:00

Today I attended the funeral of my friend who died on saturday. His body lay in a very ornate silver casket. I didn't think of Lenin in Moscow, but I should have; not because my friend in life resembled Lenin, but because in death everyone resembles Lenin. Dead bodies are pasty, pale, flaccid and icky looking no matter how much makeup is applied.

On my graduation night from High School, one of my best friends was decapitated in an auto accident. His parents, being new to America were convinced that an open casket was the best way for people to remember their son. The mortuary did a very poor job of sewing his head back on.
and I will always remember the way his body looked in death more than in life.

I have seen my share of death and dead persons. I have a close friend who through two tours in Vietnam saw enough for a whole city. It is hardest when young persons die prematurely. The old are expected to die and so their deaths shouldn't be the shock that it often is.

As a denial society, Americans, who are allegedly preoccupied with life, spend most of their time pursuing things that bring about death. Alcohol, smoking, violence, sex outside of heterosexual, monogamous marriage, overeating, under-exercising and stress all lead to premature death. These are also the things which most spend their lives pursuing - often unwittingly.

At the funeral today, a young member of the deceased's family chastised the other, older members for not being a close-knit family unit. Some of his relatives, he claimed, had not been seen in years. He was visibly shaken by this and his speech was a good lesson in the things which are important - God, love, family, relationships.

Is it not odd that America which has the highest level of medical care in the world has one of the highest premature mortality rates and highest disease rates?

I have always wanted to open a Gen-X cemetary called, "The Bone Yard". The entrance would have neon pink and green flashing lights and dancing skeletons. The hearse would be a '69 lincoln painted lime green with fur on the dash. The caretaker would dress like Huggy-bear from Starsky and Hutch. Gravesights could also be lighted - for a fee, with neon signs and even animatronic creatures. The mausoleum would feature pachinko machines with cool prizes. We would raffle off one free gravesite per month. I bet the place would be filled in no time.

I mentioned this idea to someone earlier and they said I was nuts. I already knew that - but wouldn't having an eclectic place to visit and spend time thinking about a loved one be better than walking or driving to some wasted golfcourse land and staring at a piece of stone? Wouldn't it be cool if while you were visiting the gravesite of a loved one, you could get a diet coke from a machine? I bet less people would be sad. It would be pretty hard to be sad if your loved one was buried in a place that boasted dancing skeletons and neon lights. Beats the heck out of the undertaker motif most places have. Besides, how come only the living get to have fun?

I know that I will be accused of being irreverant and lots of people will email me and ask when I lost my salvation, blah, blah, blah. What is more irreverant than staring at a composite of dying tissue which in no way resembles the person who once resided in it? WHat's more insulting that staring at the dead corpse of someone we wouldn't give the time of day to when they were alive? What is more selfish than going to pay your respects to someone you never respected?

What if you died today?

2005-10-31T09:50:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't taken an evangelism course from the Navigators, I simply thought it was an apropos question for today. Have you thought about dying? When I ask people this question, some quickly turn to small-talk or make a simple joke, but everyone is affected by it in a serious way.

As humans and certainly as Westerners, we do not like to think about death. Subconsciously, everyone knows it will happen, and yet most people spend their entire lives pretending it does not. Did you know that some of our most frequent customs stem from death? When sitting on a bus or in a restaurant and someone next to you sneezes, immediately someone will say "bless you". Ever wonder where that practice stems from? It actually stems from England during the black plague of the 19th century. Sneezing was seen as an imminent sign of oncoming death and to say "bless you" was to offer some spiritual guidance to a person one thought would die horribly very soon.

Death for all of us is just around the corner. For a friend of mine, it was literally, as on friday he was found dead in a room where he was painting. My friend was a God-fearing man who had a very close relationship to Jesus and so I'm not concerned for him, but he left behind a 19 year old daughter and a fiance'. What do they think about death?

As with everything, death in America is commercialized. In the middle east, some deaths result in violence especially if a person was killed in a crime or by a non-muslim. In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the dead are left where they fell in order for animals and time to wear them away. In Japan, the lack of space has neccessitated cremation as the main form of disposal of corpses.

We have a great movie about dead people "The Corpse Bride" and my favorite film contains lots of them; (The Nightmare before Christmas). What do you thing about death?

Rather, what do you know about it? You see, some things are acceptable to think of casually. "What will I wear today?", or "Will I visit someone?" or "What's for lunch?". Some things must never be thought of this way, and death is one of them. Why?

Because unlike everything else we encounter on earth, death is permanent. Has it always been?
For all but a few people it has been and continues to be. So, unless you are one of the very few persons throughout history that has returned from the dead, it is incumbent upon you to think very seriously about yours. What will happen when it occurs? We mustn't forget those who will be left behind (death insurance is VERY cheap - it is called Term Life Insurance) and we must prepare ourselves for this inevitible occurance.

How does anyone prepare for death? Well, I for one have a great need to be certain about my death. Not that it will happen, of course but of what occurs afterward. For those who think that one can't possibly know, you are mistaken.

If I wanted to climb the K2 summit of Mount Everest, I would first start by finding someone who knows how to do such an incredible thing. Reinhard Messner would be the guy. As the greatest mountain climber that has ever lived, I would ask Mr. Messner to show me how to do it - because he has already done it. To just set out on my own is an invitation to disaster for myself and anyone else I bring along; many, many people have died on the slopes of that mountain.

But, if I have the guidance, training and encouragement of someone who has already conquered Everest, then my chances of success are very great.

If I wanted to know how to die (and I do) then likewise I would consult someone whom I knew had already "done" it and succeeded and could tell me what I need to do. Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of those folks around. In fact, when I looked around for someone who had died, came back, was confident that death could no longer harm them, and could teach me about death so that it couldn't harm me - I found only one person. His name is Jesus Christ.

Jesus not only historically died, he also historically came back and has promised to do so again. He offers anyone who will believe in Him the same immunity to death that He experienced. I wanted this immunity and He offered it to me so I accepted. Now, because of Jesus I no longer have a fear of death; in fact in many ways I look forward to it.

A long time ago, St. Paul wrote in a letter, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain". In other words, if Paul said that if he kept living he would get to live for Jesus Christ who has conquered death and so he could live fearlessly and if he happened to die, then great! He gets to see Jesus face-to-face. We should live our lives this way too - it changes your perspective and makes one excited to wake up in the morning.

Why Hillary Clinton must never be President

2005-10-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

In my attempt to annoy as many people as possible, I am, (in this brief issue) delving into the hostile arena of politics; being as dogmatic as possible about the subject of this post. Hillary Clinton must never be President. All political loyalties aside, she is a communist and someone of her political ideology must never fill the office once held by Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Ronald Reagan. If one does - America is finished.

Last week, Hillary Clinton called for a $20 Billion dollar tax on oil companies because she would suggest that "we reinvest the tremendous drain that higher energy prices are exacting on middle-class families and the economy in a better energy future." She then went on to make perhaps the single most idiotic statement any American can make when she said, "Americans cannot just let the current marketplace go at its own pace."

I wish I were indeed joking.

The puzzling thing about these two most incredulous statements is that they were made by someone generally regarded as having some intelligence. They weren't made by Arlen Spector or Dennis Kucinich or Nancy Pelosi. We would expect Ted Kennedy to say something like this in between martinis. But there appears to be (at least if one believes the intelligentsia in New York and Washington) some thought that she might actually be capable of making decisions on a presidential level. God help us.

Vladimir Putin might have said something on this order. On second thought, he actually embraces free markets.

What we have in Senator Hillary Clinton is a communist. Before the firestorm of pedantic name-calling begnis, let me remind you that a communist is simply a "member of a Marxist-Leninist party" (American Heritage Dictionary). Communists, are allowed to live in America (precisely because we are not a communist country). Communists are not allowed to govern America.

There are certainly more communists in government than Ms. Clinton. Both political parties have them. Some are communist because they aren't smart enough to recognize that their belief's make them such and others - the dangerous kind, know precisely what it means to be of a Marxist-Leninist persuasion. I know these dangers well myself having spent many years studying them and tracking them for a very highly overbudgeted governmental agency. I also speak the language of the former Soviet Union and as part of my work for the government interviewed hundreds of dissidents and expatriots who had first-hand experience with those who felt as Hillary Clinton does that; "We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society."

Dr. John Warwick Montgomery has said that "civil rights is a sexy subject" and that "everyone is in favour of human rights - even the most evil dictator". These are truisms; claiming a passion for people is the mantra of every evil leader who has ever sat in a seat of power. Hillary Clinton isn't satan, nor is she going to single-handedly transform America into a gulag. But gulags aren't created overnight and dictators almost always come to power upon the heels of a disastrous political administration. Hillary Clinton's actions, voting record and rhetoric are clear - the individual is important, but only government, led by someone like her can effectively bring about a stable society. New Yorker's may have their communist as long as she remains theirs.

Things boys do better than girls - Part 1

2005-10-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

This week's post is the first in a series of lectures I presented to a small, green fern which sits beside my computer monitor. I have entitled this series "Things boys do better than girls" not owing to any jealousy or inherent disdain for the "fairer sex"; rather it is my desire to highlight the unequivocal supremacy of males in certain aspects of the the order of life.

Requests for the audio series of this lecture may be made to:

Things boys do better than girls - series (include lecture number)
Attn: The plant behind the computer monitor
Andrew's bedroom, left wall
Ipswich, U.K. 33245

Lecture one:

First of all let me begin by saying that it was very gracious of you, being a small, slightly green fern to welcome me in such a gracious manner and to so attentively listen as I rambled incessantly on.

As any sentient being knows, there are a great many things which boys do that are far superior to the things girls do and it is my intention throughout this series to highlight them in the hopes that someone will become enraged or at least mildly irritated and also to initiate a rivalry of sorts between girls and boys on the subjects I present. The first and most obvious action in which boys are far superior to girls is the act of eating dirt. Before you begin shouting "that's not bloody fair!" at your screen or the audio player, let me remind you that I am a scientist and everything described in these lectures will have been tested according to the scientific method.

Now, to continue, when I discovered that boys were far superior to girls in the eating of dirt, I began developing hypothoses which might explain or at least demonsrate this important fact. I asked the following questions:

1. Do boys generally live closer to dirt?
2. Does dirt have an attraction to boys?
3. Are boys electronegative compared to dirt?
4. Does dirt not like girls?

After much investigation I determined that none of these questions even began to explain how boys might be better at eating dirt than girls. Then, one morning as I and the plant began discussing this subject, I hit upon it.

May I have the first slide please? Yes, thank you.

Here we have Ascaris Lumbricoides. (plant has waved slightly in approval or perhaps from the ceiling fan)

Ascaris Lumbricoides is an intestinal roundworm found mainly in males which lives in soil (Dirt). It lives in the human body and breeds, (sometimes as many as 200,000 eggs in 1 - day) and are ingested from soil, then multiply and pass through the digestive system and into the pulmonary system, through the walls of the Alveoli and into the respiratory tract. They then are re-digested in the intestinal tract and start the whole things all over again. The discovery of large numbers of this parasite in males vs. the relatively few incidences of infection in femals is proof positive that boys are far superior to girls in the eating of dirt.

One can imagine the elation I experienced having discovered this proof. I must say that at the risk of sounding boorish or perhaps even a bit conceited, it is now my belief that I am much better at finding intestinal parasites in boys than girls are. Perhaps a subject for another lecture?

At any rate, it has been my great pleasure to lecture before you and my thanks go to the academy for all of its support during my long minutes (O.K. seconds) of painstaking research.

I love the writings of John

2005-10-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

Everyone should learn classical Greek. We sell our society short by not teaching the languages upon which ours was founded.

Anyway, reading John's gospel in it's original language, allows one to picture the aged apostle, sitting at a dusty desk somewhere, sometime in the latter portion of the 1st century. Scribbling on parchments with a quill, the Apostle must have smiled as he recollected his life and the journey that God had taken him on.

The first portion of his gospel is my favorite and specifically, Chapter 1, verse 12. In the Greek, this verse reads "Hosoi de elabon autou, edooken autois exousian tekna theo genesthai, tois pisteuousin eis to onoma aoutou". (pardon my transliteration)

The most important part of this verse for me is the highlighted portion above. This portion reads, "He gave (granted) the power to be children of God".

This unspeakable gift is in response to "those who believed in His name" which is mentioned previously. Now imagine John writing this. He may have been in the city of Ephesus, and he had no idea that he would be soon exiled to the island of Patmos in a slave-labor camp and called upon by God to write yet another book - Revelation. John was "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and was the only disciple present at the cross when Jesus was crucified. He cared for Mary, the mother of Jesus and his gospel more than any other expresses the love of God. When he wrote these words, which have been the foundation of Christian faith for more than 2000 years, did he really understand what he was saying? I believe so, and this is where the Greek language is so important. The word "exousian" means, "the granting of authority or power" (shorter lexicon of the Greek NT - Wilbur Gingrich,Fred Danker). In the Greek context, since the world at that time was ruled by Rome, this would have meant the authority of a Roman tribunal granting some power to a person - an official act. Rome brought about the rule of law (unfortunately enforced by brutality) to a unified world, and the granting of authority under Roman law was a serious issue. One did not flaunt the laws of Rome casually.

John, in writing this, tells his readers "everyone who has believed in the name of Jesus, has been granted official authority to become a literal child of God". By whom? Jesus Himself.
This authority comes from its only possible source - and cannot be derived or coopted by man. Only God can grant the right to become one of His children. This flies in the face of all of the mysticism or spirituality we see today - beliefs that empower man and deny any external authority.

My love for this passage doesn't stem from authority, (I know God has that) it stems from its meaning - that if I believe in the name of Jesus, I become a child of God; with all of the accompanying rights and responsibilities. No denominations, no church buildings, no testimonies, no clubs, no money - just believing in Him. This passage scares the heck out of most prefessional clergy because it pokes a hole in their false theology and undermines their desire to aggrandize themselves in the guise of Christianity. Yes, people are to gather together in worship and study. Yes, people are to tithe to support the poor and widows and help their neighbors and support their pastor, but it is only God's amazing grace- free and conditioned only by belief which gives us the authority and the right to become His children.

Our world does not need programs, advertising, radio stations, concerts or DVD's. What people need today is what they have always needed - a Heavenly Father who desires to grant them the right and authority to be His children.

Do people REALLY understand what is happening in Iraq?

2005-10-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Whether one is a fan of George W. Bush or not, what is taking place in Iraq must be looked upon with an indifferent, historical eye - not one tainted by political fervor. Voting is taking place in Iraq. Now in America, where voting is looked upon as a nuisance, especially if one is a politician, casting a vote in Iraq makes one think of other blase' events like mowing the lawn or picking up one's mail. It is not. Iraq has NEVER in its history, held a vote. Since its inception in 1920, Iraq has been ruled, but never governed.

This morning in a newspaper, I saw a photograph of a woman voting in the current election. Having lived in an traveled about the Muslim world, this is an incredible feat. It would be foolish at best and deadly at worst for us to miss the significance of this. Under Shariya Islamic law, women have no rights. Apologies in advance for the "pro-Islam" folks who will email me disagreeing, but I have read the Quran and have lived in and traveled about the middle east. Women have no rights under the strict interpretation given to the Quran by the theocracies in most Islamic countries. Yes, there are exceptions (Yemen is one, Pakistan in changing) but by and large, women do not express opinions or vote in elections. In a new Iraq, (as in a new Afghanistan) women will not only express their opinion, but will be a part of government.

Was it worth it? That is a question I cannot answer. The humanistic part of me (what the bible calls the "Sin nature") believes that if Iraq was such a threat, a squadron of B1-B bombers could have taken care of the entire country in less than a day and there would be no insurgency. The Christian part of me ( the part I hope governs my life and actions) has seen the dramatic suffering in the middle east and wishes that Saddam could have been persuaded to go and live in San Francisco with the rest of the illuminati and a transition to democratic government could have happened peacefully. Neither has been the case so we now have what is commonly seen as a "difficulty". The average man or woman on the street in Baghdad wants nothing more than to live life with the hope of peace and some measure of prosperity. This was of course, impossible under a dictatorship, but will now be possible because of a new government. But will it be reality?

We need to pray fervently that it will be.

You have to give the devil an A for perseverance

2005-10-14T11:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was thankfully unlike many other days in that I received notice of a very unfortunate event. The announcement was that a couple which my wife and I had counseled in the past, were filing for divorce.

As I have said many times previously, the devil is out to make as many nasty things happen as possible and mankind (often unwittingly) gives him a glad hand in doing so. With regard to the couple mentioned above, they had struggled through many things, some dark and some not so dark, but at one point it looked like the lights were coming on and they had finally resolved that being married to the person with whom you first make a marital commitment is the best thing, (notwithstanding the fact that God says this is the BEST thing.) However, they have thrown in the legal towel.

What I cannot fathom is how humans believe that by simply changing environments and biological partners, everything will be rosy and soon one will find oneself floating in a quiet pool beneath a cabana on Cozumel, sipping Red Bull. If environment were the problem, Sherwin Williams would be the great relationship-saver: all one would need to do is paint their room! But Alas, that won't cut it. You see the problem with changing marriage partners is that we are still involved in the relationship, and more often than not, WE are the problem! (I know, not in your case).

Here's a bit of a wierd analogy that might work if you really use your imagination. You are 20-something, full of energy or ("piss and vinegar" as my grandfather used to say) and you meet the man who looks most like your favorite movie star, but not really and you get married. Well, things go O.K. for about 5 years and then he starts working late to make more money to pay for the larger house you had to have and he isn't paying as much attention to you, and so forth - you get the idea. So you listen to Dr. Laura (Whom you should never listen to) and you decide to get a divorce because "you deserve better". So you divorce. It is painful (Always is) and after about 6 weeks you are starting to recover and you meet someone new at the pet store. He is very nice and so is his dog and so you begin to date and soon, you decide to marry - again. About 3 years pass and then guess what - he isn't paying as much attention to you as he should and the story repeats itself.................................

Now there are tons of variations on this theme, some include violence, some include infidelity, some include laziness and so on. But the general idea is that no matter which relationship you enter into, one thing is certain - YOU are in it. And so are all of your proclivities, and "needs" and desires, etc. which you will carry with you into every relationship , until you get rid of the one thing which keeps recurring in this scenario - YOU!

No, I am not advocating suicide or enlightenment. I am advocating God through Jesus Christ. If you've come this far, don't hang up now - hear me out.

The Bible says that Jesus can and will make us new persons (creatures) and by doing so will get rid of our "old" person and put in its place a "new" person. This in fact does happen - it did in my case and I have seen it countless other times in people in all walks of life, from the boardroom to the penitentiary and everywhere in between. So if you will follow Christ - He can and will remove the one factor which hinders every relationship - US!

I am 39 years old and have been married for nearly 18 years to the same woman. Before we met, I knew her a grand total of 5 months, 4 of which I spent floating in the North Atlantic on a huge, grey chunk of metal, propelled by atoms slamming into each other. Well, how does a 22 year old navy punk marry a 20 year old woman and stay faithfully married for almost 2 decades (having spent less than 2 weeks in the same country)? Because I was not in the equation. I'm not being metaphysical or silly - the only reason my wife and I are still married is that for a large portion of our time together, we have been "new creatures" in Jesus Christ. And these new creatures don't think about proclivities, desires and wants ahead of Him or of serving others. Not a bad recipe for success? Best of all, its free!

Before you call the $69 divorce ad in the back of the Greensheet, try asking God to fix what you can't. You'll save money and I guarantee you'll be much happier.

Sexual Russian Roulette or why there won't be a cure for HIV

2005-10-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hopefully, most literate persons by now understand that HIV and the fatal disease this virus carries are wholly preventable. The only transmission medium for this virus is body fluids, thus no body fluids - no virus!

What I have had difficulty with is why the virus and its accompanying symptoms are so difficult to figure out. Last night, I was given the answer.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV is an incredibly devilish creature. I mean this sincerely - it is my belief that this virus was not created, but engineered by the devil himself.

All living things contain DNA as their basic building block of life. There is a counterfeit if you will to DNA which nature has developed, called RNA.

The HIV-1 virus is a retrovirus. A retrovirus isn't called retro because it like Elvis Presley. A retrovirus uses the counterfeit RNA instead of DNA as its basic genetic material. The HIV virus is one of these viruses. Here's where the devilish part comes in:

The retrovirus (in this case HIV) enters a healthy cell and uses a special enzyme called RT or "Reverse Transcriptase" to switch its RNA into DNA which the healthy cell incorporates into itself. The HIV virus is extremely effective in doing this and may do so very rapidly, multiplying itself by many generations is a very short period of time (perhaps as quickly as 15 minutes). Normally when cells pass on DNA information, the information is read by a "reading frame" and it is passed on in tact or without error. The reading frame catches errors and eliminates them. But a retrovirus such as HIV doesn't have this reading frame and so each time it replicates itself, it may be filled with errors, creating a new mutated offspring.

Here's the plumber's view of what I'm talking about:

Jimmy is single and in college and is fairly attractive and meets Sally at a party. They like each other and after dinner and some drinks a few nights later, they end up in Jimmy's apartment having sex. Jimmy thinks Sally is a pretty nice girl and they agree to date for awhile. What Sally doesn't know is that Jimmy has done this before and 2 times ago, unbeknownst to Jimmy, he became a carrier of the HIV-1 virus. It has not spread throughout Jimmy's body for some reason, but he is still a carrier.

Sally dates Jimmy but she also really likes Mike who plays college volleyball. One night after a tournament she has the "opportunity" to sleep with Mike and she jumps at the chance. Mike has a great car and a terrific apartment. He also has something else which he doesn't know about.

About 2 weeks later, Sally begins to feel lethargic. Her energy is gone and she seems to be losing weight, even though she doesn't do much exercise. She goes to see the doctor who is very busy trying to pump as many patients through his practice as possible and after 1.88 minutes, he tells her that she is probably under alot of stress and prescribes something to help her sleep.
Sally feels much better, after resting and sees Jimmy again. They sleep together.

After another week, Sally feels tired again and this time she thinks she is looking pale. She re-visits her doctor and he suspects anemia so he orders a blood test. Sally is at work when she receives a call from her doctor's receptionist telling her that she must come to the office immediately and he will explain why. Sally is worried and she should be - she is about to learn that because of her behavior, she has just been sentenced to death. So has Jimmy and Mike, although they don't know it yet.

Why doesn't a pharmaceutical company make an inhibitor or an agent which will directly kill the HIV-1 virus which is known?

Because the virus mutates as I described above - sometimes very rapidly and sometimes not for years. Each person's symptoms will be different. And even if a vaccine for the virus itself were given, the offspring's mutations and use of RNA to enter healthy cells means that each succeeding generation could be an entirely different organism. So what entered your body as a single virus may now be millions of unique variations all trying to kill you.

Is sex worth it? If you are single, before you have sex with anyone - marry them. Before you marry them - each of you should get a complete physical including blood screening.

Your life depends upon it.

Answered Prayers

2005-10-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

The God of the bible is the only true and living God, but he is not the only one who can answer your prayers. For many years I have spoken with persons who claimed gifts from God - gifts which turned out to ruin their lives or cause them great pain. We must remember that there is a mastermind of evil in the world - his name is satan and it is his entire purpose for being to cause you pain and either convince you that you need to spend eternity in torment with him, or if you have already accepted Christ and are free from the possibility of eternal separation from God, that you should forfeit your eternal inheritance (gifts - not salvation) by living a life filled with sin.

Satan, though he is not God, can also answer your prayers. In the 4th chapter of Matthew's gospel, (Vv. 8-10) satan confronted Jesus with desire and the offer of answered prayer. We read that;

"The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

Jesus' reply?

"Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

Notice that Jesus did not say, "satan you are such an idiot - you can't give me those things!" because satan can and he does. But when he gives you a gift - it is always deadly.

I am reminded of Mr. Walid Shoebat who as a young Palestinian terrorist, traveled into Jerusalem with a huge loaf of bread - ostensibly as a "gift" for visitors to the church of the nativity. This gift contained a large bomb and Mr. Shoebat had been trained his entire life to use it to kill jews and himself in exchange for glory. By God's mercy and grace, Mr. Shoebat flinched - he saw children at the site he intended to bomb and could not carry out his evil plan.
(you can read Walid's story at www.shoebat.com)

I have asked for many things in my life which have harmed me and my family. I asked for riches and when I had them, they nearly destroyed all that was important to me. Not long ago a young woman shared with me her joy at having a brand new car. "It must be a gift from God" she beamed, because: "we prayed about it and after 3 dealers turned me down, this one financed me!".
This young woman made about $25,000 per year, placed her children in daycare (even though she is married and her husband earns a good living) and now had a $600 a month car payment not including insurance - for 6 years. Folks, that is not a gift from God, it was a lie of the devil and she now realizes this every time she has to send her children to daycare so that she can work full-time to support her new $600 per month payment.

Composer Nicolo Paganini asked for something that was given him by the devil - he asked to be the greatest composer in the world. As a young man, he floundered in his art and played the violin poorly. Yet, one day he entered a court-sponsored contest and won. Paganini went on to begin composing pieces for the court of Napoleon's sister. He wrote music that only he could play - he was born with extreme flexibility in his wrist and fingers, giving him an unequaled reach on the violin. Paganini was capable of playing three octaves across four strings in a hand span, an impossible feat even by today's standards.

He sought fame - and achieved it, as well as riches and lust; his home was filled with beautiful young women waiting to spend time with the great composer. He fathered one child by a singer who toured with him, yet whom he never married.

How did Nicolo Paganini go from inept musician to world-class composer in such a short time? His friends claimed he made a deal with the devil. His life seems to back this up. In his portraiture, he looks evil. While playing, his eyes would roll back in his head - exposing the whites of his eyes. Despite earning millions, he would scrounge through the streets of France searching for coins. He once had to pawn his violin, having lost a fortune in gambling.

He died at age 58 of cancer in Nice, France.

How do we know it is God who is answering our prayer?

The Bible tells us over and over again that God wants to be the one who answers your prayers - the God of the bible wants only our good. There is a catch however. The catch is, He cannot and will not violate His will or His holiness. What do I mean by this? If you are asking God for something, then thee are certain rules which you must follow. In America today, the devil has tricked the church into believing that one can ask God for anything no matter what. This is not true. God Himself tells us that in order for Him to answer our prayers, we must worship Him, and worship Him in a manner which He will accept. (John 4:24). If a person has never accepted Christ's sacrifice on the cross in payment for her sin, then she can ask God for everything under the sun and He will not give it to her. Therefore, if she gets it - it didn't come from God as an answered prayer. It may have come from God by virtue of His universal goodness, (for example, it rains in Iran even though their country is a Muslim theocracy) but this person cannot claim unique favor from God.

So, before one may ask anything of God, one must be a Christian. A real one.

Now, having become a Christian, does God give us everything we ask? Of course not. I know people who ask for amphetamines or Marijuana or crack. God is not in the business of giving His children bad things. (Matthew 7:11) tells us that God wants to give us good things. If this is true, why do people spend so much time asking for things which they seemingly never receive?

Because we ask the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. (James 4:1-5) tells us all about this.

By the way, James 4 defines the source of all human conflict. Anyway, in James we are reminded that "you ask and do not have". What gives? Why not? Because, "You ask and you do not receive, because you ask for the wrong reasons". What are those reasons?

"that you may spend it on your pleasures." (v.3b)

God does want to reward you and give you good things, but He isn't interested in rewarding you for your pleasures. The word used here for "pleasures" is the Greek word "Hedone" which would be better translated as "lust". God isn't going to give you things to fulfill your lusts - lusts are bad for you!

Psalm 37:4 tells us, "delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart".
If you want answered prayers, then you better delight yourself in the Lord.

Proverbs 10:22 tells us, "It is the blessing of the Lord that makes men rich AND HE ADDS NO SORROW TO IT." (Emphasis mine).

So here's the formula:

If one asks of God, one must:

A. Be a child of God. The only prayer God will hear from non-children is "help, me I need to be saved".

B. Be delighted in God and seeking His purpose.

C. Ask for a reason other than you really want it (lust).

D. Praise Him when you receive it.

E. If it ever comes with sorrow - it ain't from God.

Example:

1. A man asks for riches and starts earning as much as $100,000 per month. But he can't sleep because he is afraid he will be audited or someone will sue him or one of his vendors will rip him off because his product is not collateralized. Is this a reward from God? No, because it fails test #E - it has lots of sorrow. It also failed test #B and C, because even though this man talked about how great God was and gave lots of money to the church, he wasn't helping anyone HIMSELF.

2. A woman asks for a new car, because the preacher at her church told her that if she wanted it badly enough and could emotionally claim it (see it in her mind), then God would have to give it to her. Is this a reward from God? No, because it fails B and C and will at some point fail E.

3. A Christian woman knows of a divorcee who has to find work to support herself. She hasn't worked in many years and has no money. The woman gives her an old car that she has so the divorcee can drive to find work. Some time later, someone gives the Christian woman a car. Is this a reward from God? You bet. It passes every test.

I think you get the idea. God wants to answer your prayers. Just be sure when you get what you asked for that it really came from Him.

Further peanut devastation

2005-09-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

Recently a very annoying person happily posted a comment about my peanut anarchy. This person's annoyance-ability initially stems from posting a comment as "anonymous". Unless one is wanted by the FBI for human trafficking it is very silly to write in terms of anonymity on the internet. Blogs are where stupid things are supposed to be said (just read most of my posts).

Now, onto her comments. (How I know it was a female is my little secret. - YEARS of very-expensive government training)

This piece will consist of Ms. Anonymous' quotes followed by my highly evocative and disdainfully sarcastic reply.

"My concern is about some of the unintended misinterpretations that have been made in your piece."

If the interpretation is unintended it is a corollary that it is a misinterpretation. This is a literary error known as a reverse-axiomatic entendre' with a syllogistic falsification. (Please see Jesse Jackson for a detailed explanation of its usage)

"For those who are NOT peanut allergic (a large majority), it is actually very important that they are regularly exposed to peanuts."

I heartily agree. My next proposal would be that all children between the ages of 6 and 11, be buried in peanut butter at least once per week. I am going to assume that "anonymous" is suggesting prolonged exposure to peanuts either to develop in children a system prophylactic against allergens or because she wants them to smell nutty. Not sure which. However, if it is the former, this type of prophylactic measurement does not work with all allergens and may not work with peanuts. For example, all humans are highly allergic to tetrodotoxin, found in highest concentration, I believe in the ovaries of puffer fish. If we were to apply Ms. Anonymous' theory to this substance we would lose large segments of our population. (as long as we started in California or Massachusetts, it really wouldn't be such a big deal).

"On the flip-side, peanuts are one of the single most dangerous allergies known to man. This sounds dramatic right? However, those with severe reactions, can be effected by simply the smell. As you might be aware, smelling a peanut doesn't require that it be actually placed in one's nose."

Actually, it does. When one uses the word "smell" and is not referring to the President, or Charlie Sheen's acting, one is referring to the use of an organ medically referred to as a "nose". The nose is a wonderful thing. It provides a transport pathway from the outside world into your respiratory system. But it does much more. Have you ever seen a Mexican or Latin woman with huge, black hairs growing out of her nose? Didn't it give you the heebee-jeebies? (Just imagine if you were her husband!) Anyway, as unerotic (is that a word) as those hairs may be, they are part of a defensive system which keeps all sorts of nasty creatures from poisoning you. As air enters your nose, the hairs within it, capture foreign particles and screen them out. These particles, some of them known as "airborn pathogens" could be very harmful. The nose also warms the air, etc. But back to peanuts. In order to be physiologically harmed by a substance, said substance must interact with our bodies on at least the tissue level. An allergen which could harm you through your nose must be airborne. Medically this is known as a "aeroallergen". I am not Leonardo DaVinci (you thought I was going to say DiCaprio, didn't you!) but I am pretty certain neither peanuts or peanut butter are airborne unless one throws them. Now, certainly, Ms. Anonymous is correct if someone heaves a honking-sized peanut up your nose. You will be hating life - BIG TIME. But otherwise, it can't harm you physiologically. But Psychologically is another matter. I'm not a psycho so I can't address that.

"Imagine, little Joey sits at his peanut-free table in the school cafeteria. Joey's best friend Matt can't sit with his buddy. This is because he is at the table across the aisle is eating his peanut-butter sandwich. After lunch, Matt says "hhhhi" to Joey. The peanut butter smell from Matt's breath enters Joey's cardiovascular system. Joey's system begins to shut down. His blood vessels throughout his body begin to constrtict. His airways begin to close. Joey can no longer breathe and begins to turn blue. He passes out. If an epipen is not near, he will go into a coma and die. This isn't a hypothetical - this is what happens."

If Matt's saliva, laced with toxic peanuts flies into Joey's mouth or nose (see above), then Joey would need access to vasodilator such as epinephrine. Even the folks who make the "EpiPen" in whose best interest it is to SELL them as often as possible state, "There have even been rare cases documented in which inhalation exposure to a food has triggered an anaphylactic reaction." They cite a parameter from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and immunology, which must provide the most extreme possibility for doctors to be aware of. But Joey cannot have a physiological reaction to something he is not actually exposed to. He can have a psychological reaction to a problem, but that is for the psycho's to comment upon - I am not qualified. So obviously, this is not "what happens". Nyah, Nyah, Nyah, Nyah, Nyah, Nyah.

"The Food and Allergy network does NOT recommend peanut bans in schools, but instead education. But while you can certainly trust Joey to wash his hands and stay away from peanut products, how do you ensure that Matt washes his hands well enough? That a small amount doesn't get smeared on the monkey bars? That he brush his teeth? Should peanut allergic kids be kept in a bubble?"

How do you know you can trust Joey to wash his hands? The Monkey bars? Joey needs to stop licking them. Brushing his teeth? Tell Joey to stop using Matt's toothbrush!
You may have just stumbled onto a solution for the problem of this generation - stopping radical Islam and extricating the U.S. from Iraq. Peanuts! If we have thousands of Americans brush their teeth after having eaten peanut brittle, we can then partially sterilize the brushes and send them in deceptive packaging to the terrorists who will then use them and die! Or, we can construct hundreds of sets of Monkey bars, laced with peanut butter throughout Baghdad. Either way, we win!

Yea Baby!!!!!!!!!

And some of you want a woman to be President?

The fearsome Peanut

2005-09-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

When chemist George Washington Carver began his discovery of the myriad uses of the peanut, little did the unwitting American public understand that Dr. Carver was in fact creating a monster. ( I was tempted to use the term "peanutstein" but that would be going to far. )

Anyway, 100+ years later, Carver's discoveries strike fear in the hearts of frail children and anxiety-ridden mothers from Seattle to Annapolis and all points in between. Peanut Butter - once the staple food of champions (and something I literally lived on for more than 2 months at sea) is now believed to be as deadly as Anthrax and something to be avoided at all costs. The reason? Allergies.
School districts throughout the country are asking parents to rid their children's lunch boxes of this nasty menace. Is this fear unfounded? Or is the sinister peanut biding its time, while hapless children munch blithely away on their modern hemlock?

Today a frantic mom told me that she was asked not to pack peanut butter anymore because the "scent" of it is enought to trigger allergic reactions in some children.

Since I am embarking upon a career in science (well, sort of - medicine is actually a combination of art and science) I thought I would use this time to find out what the skinny is regarding peanut butter.

For the frantic mom, I didn't need to consult the latest scientific journals because I already knew that peanut butter's molecular structure is a SOLID, not a GAS, so unless someone stuffs it up their nose, it would be impossible for the substance of peanut butter to react with one's immune system.

Now, as the Thomas Dolby would say; science!

In the Journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy (Clinical & Experimental Allergy
Volume 35 Issue 7 Page 933 - July 2005), the results of a test conducted by researchers at the Imerial College at St. Mary's London tested 13,638 seven-year old individuals, of which 6,412 yielded results. (I guess the others snuck off for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - ungrateful cretins).

Anyway, the chillins were exposed to MTV, aeroallergens (dust mites, cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, and one other thing. Then, as if this weren't cruel enough the children were exposed to peanuts and other nuts as well as more than a few very angry squirrels.)

The result of all of this exposure was that 8.5% of the population demonstrated some reaction to the airborne allergens and 1% demonstrated the same reaction to the evil nuts. Hopefully they were all allergic to MTV.

If this data is to be extrapolated (and it is), this test reveals the following:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau there are now approximately 72 million persons under the age of 18 living in this country. If 1% of them would suffer an allergic reaction to the peanut or any nut, this amounts to 720,000. If we spread them evenly between states, (which, of course they are not) then we would get 14,400 children per state who demonstrate an allergic reaction to peanuts. In Texas there may be 81 school districts (not sure - couldn't get a definite number from the TEA website) which would mean 177 children per district. The state's largest district is Houston, which has more than 50,000 students. There are at least 300 schools in this district (per the HISD website, not counting charter or magnet schools) which means a bit more than half of all schools could have a child with an allergic reaction to nuts.

But this test was conduct with BRITISH children, not Americans. When a similar test was conducted by the NIH (Prevalences of positive skin test responses to 10 common allergens in the US population: results from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.) they found that Americans are far more sensitive to allergens than our English counterparts. The NIH study - not nearly as comprehensive, nearly 3% demonstrated a positive reaction to nut allergens.

Even if the results were tripled, this would still mean that each school district in Texas (statstically, very loose, I know) would only have 2 or 3 students who were allergic to peanut allergens. While this seems incredibly inconsequential, it is very symbolic of our nation at this time. We are ruled by minutae. Instead of the minority or aberrant, making their way in society, society must bend to make way for them. This is why the single Epehdra patient who died was allowed to create a huge windfall for the plaintiff's lawyers, and why persons who die from smoking still sue tobacco companies for wrongful death.

And this is why school districts want the thousands of parents with children who don't have allergies to change their lives to accomodate the very few who do.

Children who have allergic reactions to peanuts should not touch them. Such reactions can be anaphylactic or hypotensive, meaning they can bring on very nasty symptoms. If your child has a KNOWN allergy to these substances, then avoid them. But don't try and make all of society accomodate you and your child. Instead send your child to school with chicken salad, or just jelly and train them to avoid the foods which cause problems. There are many more times the number of children in society who suffer from genetic diabetes. Should all sugars be eliminated so that they won't be tempted to risk their lives by eating them? Of course not, and parents of diabetic children DO teach their kids what they can and cannot eat.

Give GW Carver his due and society a break. The peanut is a great thing; so is peanut butter. We ought to be asking ourselves why we are 3 times more allergic that the Brits, but we should also be willing to take responsibility for ourselves, our children and our actions - and hopefully research will soon bring about a prophylactic against peanut allergies.

Meanwhile, if you care to join me, I would be happy to share my peanut butter sandwich with you!

More tales of the nutty and insane

2005-09-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today I received an email telling me that someone I know who is a fireman, was being shot at by residents of Beaumont, Texas who wanted their houses to burn so they could get the insurance money. Others were actually setting their houses on fire. I know that stupidity is rampant (always has been), but do these people actually think their insurance company isn't going to ask the local fire inspector who started the blaze that consumed their house?

This is almost as bad as the morons who looted the convenience store here in Houston. After they broke in, the owner went to the store and boarded it up and called the police. The police waited in the parking lot across the street and sure enough, the morons returned to re-loot the store and were arrested. When a local reporter asked one of the world's dumbest people why he did such a stupid thing, his only reply was "I was only inside - that's all". Good thing for him breathing is an automatic reflex.

Filed under the "funny, but kind of wierd" section are the people who are now angry that the Hurricane didn't even bring enough rain to water their lawn or alleviate the 100+ temperatures we are having. I thought not being hit by a hurricane was a GOOD thing? Who knew?

How about the supra-genius mayor of New Orleans, inviting Louisiana residents to return to their flooded, biologically infected disaster area? Does anyone else have qualms about giving this guy and Governor "hold it, I'm weeping", Blanco 50 Billion dollars to rebuild their corrupt state? Am I being to harsh? Well, the 100+ families I interviewed at a relief center here in Houston all told me "We ain't goin' back". They were stunned that somebody like Nagin would receive 50 cents to rebuild the city (er, slum) of New Orleans. The only people I found who really wanted to return were a group of very friendly Rastafarians and in this particular blog I can't tell you why :)

I know there are some folks who think that Christians ought not to label certain acts as "stupid" or the people who do them as "morons", but there is a precedent for doing such things. When Job's wife advised him to curse God and die after he had suffered so much, Job told her "you speak as one of the foolish women". In other words, you are an idiot. (very large paraphrase from the Hebrew). Job then went on to say "are we to accept good from God and not bad"? (Job 2:10). People are always made in the image of God, but when I do something very stupid, I want people to let me know so that I don't continue to do it. If I were going to rob the same convenience store twice in one day, I would hope someone would have sense enough to call me an idiot.

Some advice for men and women in marriage

2005-09-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

Not that I'm gunning for Dr. Laura or Dr. Phil, but last night I experienced a very sad event and think it needs addressing:

A young minister was buried today, his funeral held last night. He was murdered by an act of sin and killed by a virus designed by the devil, commonly referred to as AIDs. This young man, for some reason, known only to him, decided to have sex with a woman to whom he was not married and it cost him his life. Unfortunately, most of the statistical data tell us that this is not an uncommon occurrance. George Barna, the Christian researcher, has come under fire recently for telling the truth about the hidden sin within the church. Data from the Census and other statistical references point to a behavioral pattern among those calling themselves "Christians" that is very unhealthy at best and deadly at worst. It can properly be said that today more "Christians" are divorced and engage in extramarital affairs than those who do not identify themselves with God.

Why? Well, one reason is that the "church" has been redefined as a building, which is a topic for another conversation, but another more important reason is that most people have placed their trust in a god they neither know, nor obey; not the God of the bible. Many persons living in America today, claiming the Christian faith, simply do not read, understand and follow the bible.

"Wait!" I can hear the cries now. I attend Beth Moore's study every monday! I have read the purpose driven life 3 times! I pray Jabez' prayer every day! Good resources all, but I repeat; most people have no more than a rudimentary understanding of the Bible.

If you have read this blog previously, you may know that the axiom upon which I have built my adult life is, "Reality is the mind of God revealed in the word of God". Dr. Steve Sullivan, Pharmacist, Pastor and Seminary Professor came up with this - and he's correct.

So, what does the word of God (reality) say about the subject of marriage?

1. It says that married people do not belong to themselves. In fact, all people belong to God, but Jesus makes is even clearer in the New Testament when He says that "wives submit to your husbands" and "Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church." (1 Cor. 5:22-25).

How in the world can a wife love someone who ignores her, stays gone all the time, never talks to her and isn't interested in her goals, dreams or ideas and instead of having a six-pack stomach now has the whole keg?

or

How in the world can a husband love a wife who nags, sticks plastic cylinders in her hair, appears to have more and more menstrual cycles every month, has decided to start looking more like a man every day and who has exchanged her svelte figure for some new figure consisting of double digits?

How do we as fallen, nasty humans live with someone else for our entire lives?

We cannot - as fallen humans. But as children of the living God, we can put aside our nastiness, our selfishness and our laziness and carve out a life worth living - together.

This is the Bible's secret to lifelong marriage. Living together isn't marriage. Homosexuals live together, as do geese and octopi. Marriage is a man and a woman living in a triune love relationship with Jesus Christ, themselves and one another. How can the Bible help us have marriages that reflect this?

We must read it! But read it carefully!

The bible's wisdom section (Proverbs) tells us "It is better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife." (Proverbs 21:9). This is a truism, but not a recipe for a lasting relationship unless you are a roofing contractor.

The Bible does have an answer for everything. It does not address every situation, but its principles apply to any thing we may face living on this planet.

I recall an exchange between a man who had come for counseling prior to a divorce.
A question was asked of the man, "do you love your wife?"

No! He replied, I can't stand her.

"At this point, would you consider her your enemy?"

"You bet", he replied.

A smile came upon the counselor's face; the sort of smile the Grinch smiles when he has
discovered yet another unsuspecting Who, that has believed in a merry Christmas.

The counselor, casually picked up his bible and asked, "Let's look at what Jesus had to say about our enemies."
He turned to Matthew 5:44 and read, "But I tell you, LOVE your enemies, pray for those who persecute you."
The husband began to squirm.

Was Jesus making up a biblical rule He knew nobody could follow? Was He the greatest practical joker who ever lived?
No, Jesus is God and God's Son and wants only the greatest benefit to accrue to the account of those who worship Him. So why such a demanding doctrine?

It isn't demanding. It only seems so. Satan, or the devil or whatever you want to call him, has deceived our world into thinking that living life together as husband and wife is a demanding, thankless task only to be undertaken for the sake of appearance or as one psychiatrist has written, "for the sake of the kids". Nonsense.

Marriage is hard - if you try to do it on your own. In fact, I believe its impossible without God, which is why so many western "Christians" find it hard to remain faithful to their spouses.

Make no mistake - being a real Christian does not guarantee perpetual happiness and fun in marriage. While the bible tells us very little about Peter's wife, we know that Peter was martyred by crucifixion. His wife must have been devastated by this; it certainly was not a source of fun for her.

But these things are only like shadows on a mirror, not the true reality which are untold treasures promised to believers in Jesus Christ. (See 1 Peter 1 for details)

What the Bible tells us is that by following Jesus Christ and living by adoption into the family of God DOES guarantee us eternal power to overcome the trials, snares and temptations which destroy marriage. If human beings were capable of overcoming these things on their own, this world would be devoid of drug addicts or alcoholics; there would be no need for counselors or detoxification centers. The trials of this life are often not ours to choose.

What is ours to choose is whether we use the power of God as He has intended it to be used in order to overcome them.

Although much of popular psychology and self-improvement is garbage, there is an exercise which I believe has great merit. Anthony Robbins of late-night T.V. fame calls it his, "rocking chair" test. He pictures himself in a rocking chair at the age of 90, looking back over his life. He then asks himself the question, "did I live my life to its fullest?"

I would keep the chair, but swap the question for one more eternal; "did my marriage reflect God?"

If you asked this question regarding your marriage, what would the honest answer be?

The good you don't hear about Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

My friend Rick Leatherwood, who has faithfully served God for many years in very hostile places has a saying with which I heartily agree; "The media is the handmaiden of the devil." It is. There has been a tragedy of immense proportions in the United States; one which in geography, loss of life and economic impact dwarfs 9/11. And true to form, every media outlet and every reporter are salivating at the opportunities for criticism, and the hope that some even greater catastrophe will befall those who have already suffered so much. So, to counteract some of the idiocy of the media, I would like to offer the following:

These comments are derived from counseling sessions with refugees from Louisiana, which I have had over the last five days.

"Thank you so very much for what your city and state are doing".

"I am being treated very well and am so grateful".

"Praise God for Texas".

One family I met with had been robbed 3 times on interstate 10 by roving gangs of armed bandits. Their shoes, money and watches were taken. Having arrived here, they received food, clothing and temporary shelter and a chance to take a deep breath.

Another woman I met lost her 3 children in the flood. Yesterday I received news that they have been found in Mississippi. She last saw them on a bridge in Louisiana. All are safe.

Wal-Mart, Inc. has ordered its Texas store Directors to Lousiana and when all is said and done will have provided at least tens of millions of dollars in aid.

Chili's restaurants has offered to hire any employee of their chains who was displaced by the floods and hurricane.

In the Houston Astrodome, somewhere around 17,000 people are safe, sleeping on clean cots, taking hot showers and eating three square meals a day, plus ice cream. Children have a play center. The Reliant center is now a hospital complete with a 24-hour pharmacy.

At the second mile mission center in Stafford, Texas more than 3,000 refugees have been given food, water, clothing, gasoline and temporary housing since last wednesday. When the churches of Fort Bend County, Texas decided to support the relief effort, 4 - 40 foot trailers were donated to collect goods as well as 2 box trucks to deliver them. Nearly 100,000 sq.ft of warehouse space has been given free of charge.

So far, churches have been helping without trying to take credit for it!

At the Galleria Hampton Inn where I attended a medical missions symposium on satuday night, the hotel hand an excellent command center complete with a job locator and a red cross representative.

At Hope House Houston, nine families have each received a 2-bedroom house rent free for one month.

You have all undoubtedly heard similar reports - these are just the ones I have first-hand experience with. God is blessing the people of New Orleans in incredible ways. This is a great gift to them and to us - another opportunity to serve.

In a strange metaphysical way, it almost seems like God allowed this tragedy so that people who claim to be His could indeed serve. Some of us were getting lazy.

So, turn off your television and read a good book AFTER you return from helping somebody today. Don't pull the old junk out of your closet to give, go buy a package of diapers and some baby food. Better yet, find a place to serve - doesn't have to be all day, even 30 minutes will be welcome. If you see a Louisiana license plate, stop what you are doing and greet the people in the car - share the love of Jesus with them. We have been given a great opportunity to be a light in a very dark world and to help some truly needy people. Good things are being done. Could they be better? Of course - humans are involved. But there must be hosts of people and angels praising God for His goodness and mercy in a time of terrible tragedy - make sure you are one of them!

Are you really living?

2005-08-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

"In 1927, at the age of 32, Buckminster Fuller stood on the shores of Lake Michigan, prepared to throw himself into the freezing waters. His first child had died. He was bankrupt, discredited and jobless, and he had a wife and new-born daughter. "(www.bfi.org)

On the verge of suicide, it suddenly struck him that his life belonged, not to himself, but to God. At that moment, Mr. Fuller decided to embark on what he called “an experiment to discover what the little, penniless, unknown individual might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity.”

Over the next fifty-four years, he proved, time and again, that his most controversial ideas were practical and workable.

During the course of his remarkable experiment he:

•was awarded 25 U.S. patents
•authored 28 books
•received 47 honorary doctorates in the arts, science, engineering and the humanities
•received dozens of major architectural and design awards including, among many others,
the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects and the Gold Medal of the Royal
Institute of British Architects
•created work which found itself into the permanent collections of museums around the
world
•circled the globe 57 times, reaching millions through his public lectures and interviews.

Was Buckminster Fuller a Christian? Near the end of his life, when speaking to a group of young people about his amazing life, told them that in his lifetime he had earned between 25-30 million dollars, all of which came without plan. He said "You have to live in absolute faith in God - and I have". Sounds like a Christian to me!

So, my question is, why do so many people who claim to be Christians, live defeated, suffering lives filled with self-hate, covetousness and waste?

Because we forget who made us, and why we are here, and we have distorted the teachings of Jesus to fit our modern minds. We fuss and scream when we are denied our "rights". Listen to what Buckminster Fuller said about getting what we want, "The amazing thing is that when I don't get what I thought I wanted, it's because I didn't need it. I was on the wrong track. This way God can steer me."

Now, I am going to share with you a statement which is incredible in its complexity and yet so simple that even a small child can understand it. Yet, most completely miss it. I will preface this statement with the teaching of Jesus as recorded in the book of Matthew, chapter 10, verse 39; "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake, will find it."

Here's what Mr. Fuller said, "If I am going to carry on that way, and if I actually get on, if I really get on, I am going to have to, then, bound to have insights that would not develop if I were trying to earn a living. Can you understand that?"

Buckminster Fuller made such a huge impact on this world precisely because he decided never to make a living, but instead to make a life. He understood his place in this universe and more importantly understood his relationship to God. Having just received the Medal of Freedom from the President of the United States, Mr. Fuller said, "So when things like being given the medal of freedom and things like that occur, I simply do what I do every time I am going to lie down and take even a nap. I try to talk, as best I can, to God and I say, "Yours, dear God, is all the glory! All the glory! I am nothing."

Buckminster Fuller had a right perspective on his life, that even through great achievement, nothing or no one deserves glory but God. The power of this message is so clear, if we will only see it. Mr. Fuller also said, "That's why I am trying to let my audiences know that there is nothing that i've been able to do that they couldn't do, individually, equally well or better if they'd gone down the same circumstances; because I made this experiment, I am actually free from earning a living! And for fifty years I haven't thought about how to earn a living."

Are you bent on earning a living?

I know all the arguments, as I hear them almost daily; "Pastor, you don't know what it costs to feed my family" or "You don't understand what I have been through" or "Have you ever had to raise 3 children on your own?" And though I don't pretend to have the answers to any, let alone all of these questions, I know someone who does. He is the same person who helped Buckminster Fuller not drown himself in lake Michigan, and his name is Jesus. If you are focused on earning a living, you aren't focused on making a life - which is what Jesus wants. When Jesus told us to lose our lives, He really meant it. And we must never forget the second half of his promise which is that we will find a new life in Him. And when we find it, it won't be the same as it was - it will be entirely new - much better than we could have dreamed.

Just because we choose to live for Jesus instead of a paycheck, does that mean each of us will become a Buckminster Fuller? No. Some of us will be Sister Mary's who for 40 years has cared for retarded children in Pakistan. Some of us will be Marshall Rorie's who counsels men, women and children in need of God and direction in their lives. Some of us will be Charles Swindoll's who preach to thousands of people and some of us will be Ted Curby's who quietly and faithfully clean rooms, move tables and chairs and set up a church for people to visit on a sunday. A pastor friend of mine told me this morning about a young man in his first church who had suffered a brain trauma in a motorcycle accident and the only job he was capable of carrying out was to replace the chalk in the various classrooms of the church. Some of us will be like him. in fact, I hope that when I meet Jesus, I am considered 'like him" because this young man was faithful in all that he could do. Are you and I so faithful?

One of my professors, who is also my friend, told me that in his P.hD. program, only 31% of those who began the program completed it 3 years later. When I asked why, he said, "Jeff, they just quit. Earning a doctorate isn't really about being the smartest person in the world, it's about perseverance; about finishing what you start, and starting when others will not."

If you are living to earn a living, may I please urge you to stop. Seek God while He is near and don't put off another day, what He has intended you to do. it may be very hard at first, but as you look back, I promise you it will have been well worth it.

Is Martin Luther Forgotten?

2005-08-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching the film "luther" the biographical story of Martin Luther who began his ecumenical life as a Roman monk and ended it as the catalyst used by God to break apart the tyranny of organized religion in the 15th century and to open the door of the gospel to every man, woman and child, first in Germany and then throughout the world.

What I couldn't get out of my mind is how similar the church today seemed to the Roman church in Luther's day. In the 15th century, Pope Leo and the Roman church sold indulgences - the offering of salvation for one's relatives suffering in purgatory; all for the price of a few pennies. For a bit more, one could save several family members or even one's long dead evil friend. Pope Leo took this a step further when he offered salvation for monies given to build St. Peter's Basilica.

Today in any major city are gigantic buildings dedicated to the memory of men, built upon the few pennies of the faithful, with the promise of rewards for those who give freely. These buildings are mistakenly called churches. Not that in some of them, perhaps even many, people are worshipping the One, true, God, it's just that the word we translate church never once applies to a building in sacred scripture.

For hundreds of years in America and certainly with much aplomb and grandeur in the 20th century, Americans have built great buildings to God, each one bigger and brighter than the next. Pass by the former Compaq center in Houston and one now sees "Lakewood Church" in all it's newly remodeled glory, with its benefactor in clear, orange letters "Joel Osteen - Pastor" emblazoned for everyone to see. It isn't hard to find one of these monuments to man, they are in nearly every city, whether one is in Houston, or Atlanta, California or Arkansas - these temples of man are increasing in number and grandeur.

Now wait a minute, some are now saying, "You've gone too far; My church is built out of the desires of the people to honor God and after all shouldn't He have a grand house to live in? "

Did you undergo a "building campaign" to build this magnificent house for God? What were you promised if you freely gave? Or perhaps you were told that "The Lord loves a cheerful giver" while you were made to feel guilty for not supporting the campaign, while the rest of the church kicked in.

What might God say about this? In Isaiah 66:1-3 states, "This is what the Lord says, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Could you ever build me a temple as good as that? Could you build a dwelling place for me? My hands have made both heaven and earth and they are mine. I, the Lord have spoken! I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word. But those who choose their own ways, delighting in their sins, are cursed. Their offerings will not be accepted, when such people sacrifice an ox, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice."

Am I saying it is wrong to build a church? No. But we need to stop kidding ourselves, that the temples we are building for the glory of men are built to serve God. How does burdening people to give money to build something that will burn up one day, honor God? And if you think I have just had too much coffee today, consider this: People who come to the church for help, frequently bring up the fact that "I tithe to the church", as if this entitles them to some special consideration. They are convinced they have stored up for themselves treasures - an indeed they have. Where do they get this idea? From the church! They aren't getting the idea from cereal boxes.

Drive by a Mega church this week. Whose name is on the outside? Is Jesus mentioned anywhere? The very odd thing is - if you drive by a Mormon temple, His name will be prominently displayed.

What do we do? I propose we stop pretending we are glorifying God by building structures for the glory of man. People can worship God under a tent, in a warehouse and in the mall. There are more than enough empty buildings for you to put your church and you'd be doing both the landlord and the local business community a favor. Some might say, "Isn't that what Lakewood did, by renting and remodeling the Compaq center?" Well, did the 90+ million they spent to remodel it and the millions in lease payments they will spend, have any eternal significance? Will anyone get into heaven because of the shiny, new building? Whose name is on the building?

I would very seriously like for you to consider the following question - don't play games with your own mind; consider it truthfully. Picture the follwing person coming to your church - dark skin, thick, black hair, long nose, a fairly well trimmed beard and worn hands. Being poor, and not having bathed in many days, he would stink. His clothes have holes from wear, his shoes also would be worn or perhaps broken. What would happen? At my church, a "campus alert" would be issued in case he were a robber. He would be encouraged to visit our benevolence center - several miles away from our church, at a safe distance. If he asked for water, he might get it, but he would certainly recieve some strange looks and wouldn't be encouraged to sit on our very plush furniture.

The person described above would not be very welcomed at our church - and I suspect at many buildings in our country which are incorrectly named after a group of believers who are to gether to worship Christ, fellowship together and bear one another's burdens. Sadly, the description above is probably a fairly accurate description of a first-century Galileen, who is named Jesus. Jesus said "a prophet is not without honor except in his own country." The people of Jesus own hometown rejected Him. Would the "church" do the same today?

The truth about Pakistan

2005-08-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

"U.S. drafts war plans in case of terror attack". Reads one headline of a major U.S. Newspaper today. And in every city in the western world, similar headlines attempt to stir people into buying whichever magazine or paper posts such articles. If one should pick up and actually read one of these articles, one would discover that terrorists are lurking at every streetcorner, governments are powerless against them and that Pakistan is a major source of terrorist funding and training. The problem is that all of these ideas are patently untrue.

Having just returned from Pakistan, and having visited the church there, I can tell you that Pakistan is no friend of terrorism. General Musharraf is no friend of radical islamists - in fact, they tried to assasinate him in 2003. Nearly every day while I was in Pakistan, I read local reports of the arrest and conviction of radical clerics calling for Jihadi nonsense. And in the two weeks I spent there, I did not meet a single person who was "anti-U.S." as CNN, the BBC and every other media outlet portrays Pakistan and the Pakistani people. No, I didn't stay in my hotel room, in fact the team I traveled with were invited to speak to more than 1,000 students at a large cultural center and I traveled about the city of Karachi freely. Security was excellent and all those I met wanted to be a friend of the U.S. and couldn't understand why our media were determined to paint their country as anti-american and pro-terrorism.

Are there terrorists in Pakistan? Absolutely. But there are also terrorists in the United States. And in Britain and in every other country in the world. Let us not forget that the second most violent act of terrorism we have ever experienced in the U.S. came about not because of radical muslims, but because of a deranged former U.S. soldier named Tim McVeigh.

What is most encouraging to me about Pakistan is not their pro-American stance or even their willingness to erase terrorism, but the power of the Christian church. While Pakistan is certainly overwhelmingly Islamic, the evangelical, Jesus-following church there is growing and the believers I met there were bold, joyous and filled with a deep longing to know Jesus and serve Him. As human beings, they aren't perfect, but they taught me many things which I hope will serve me as I walk through this life in the service of Jesus Christ. What were some of the things I learned from the Christians in Pakistan?

1. Jesus doesn't give a whit about denominations. Catholics, methodists and perhaps even some Baptists will be in heaven and probably some persons from each and every denomination will be in hell. I already knew that God "is no respecter of persons" but the Christians in Pakistan helped me to remember this important fact.

2. Materialism has blinded the American church. I already knew this also, but I saw first-hand how Jesus wants us to serve Him no matter what our material standing and without regard to buildings, or programs or any other manmade idea. I was reminded of Jesus' admonition to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2, that they had left their first love. They didn't repent and Jesus removed their lampstand from its place as He said He would. Today, the church at Ephesus is a swamp filled with the ruins of a pagan temple.

3. The church is not a business. Corporateness has no place in the church. Yet, in America the church has become one of our nations biggest businesses. Pastors earn high salaries while families in their own congregations struggle to provide housing and food for their children. Many large churches spend more on audio/video production than third-world churches will ever take in during the lifetime of their pastor. Yet, churches in the developing world are baptisting hundreds and even thousands of believers a month. Christians in the muslim world are gathering to pray all night simply because they felt called by the Holy Spirit to do so - without a pre-arranged conference or vote. You might want to read John Piper's excellent book "Brothers we are not professionals".

4. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). I have prayed for healing for men and women and then sent them to the doctor. Why? Because I didn't really believe that God would heal them. Why? Because I had little faith. In Pakistan, where becoming a Christian can mean very serious persecution (loss of family, job, home, etc.) I saw incredible faith and consternation at my lack thereof. When someone prayed for healing, it was a surprise that the prayee wasn't healed immediately. Kinda like in that strange book the Bible! I had forgotten that Jesus said "I am the Alpha (first letter of the Greek Alphabet; denoting "beginning") and the Omega (Last letter of the Greek Alphabet; denoting "ending") the beginning and the end, the first and the last." (Revelation 22:13) Jesus doesn't change - people do. And just like those Israelites of old, many of us have either lost our faith or never really had it in the first place.
One study of over 1,000 churches around the world, demonstrated that advanced theological training actually corresponded directly to negative church growth. I wondered about this until I visited Pakistan. When you think you know everything, you don't need God and you can start to rationalize away His sovereignty. "God works in dispensations" we say in theological circles - which really means that God changes His mind and is different today than He was in the past. The problem is that the Bible doesn't say this anywhere. James 1:17-18 tells us that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." God doesn't change. I would encourage you to read the account of Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu, who died in a car accident and was certifiably (by several major hospitals) dead for nearly 4 days. God raised people from the dead for His purposes in the past, why can He not do so now?

5. It's all about God and nothing about us. I have written before on the subject of money and so won't belabour the point here. But are you sure your giant new house is a gift from God? Does the Bible say that you should store up treasures here on earth and claim them as God's blessings? Read Luke 12:22, Luke 14:25, Luke 16:19 among many other passages and ask yourself "how many glasses of water or how much food or clothing can I not give the poor because of my earthly treasure?" The only difference between the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 are what they did and did not do. This does NOT mean we can work our way into heaven. It does mean that when Jesus comes back He will not be here to make everyone feel good about how we wasted His resources.

So, the truth about Pakistan is that it is a pro-American nation, struggling to wrest itself from millenia of violence and decades of Islamic oppression. We should pray for the church in Pakistan - believing that God will open the doors of this struggling nation and reveal Himself fully to them, and that they will choose Jesus over anything else. Pakistan is not a breeding ground for terror any more than Los Angeles or Detroit. We can also learn some things from Pakistan - despite the fact that almost all of their marriages are arranged - they have almost no divorce. We claim to be a Christian nation and yet we have almost no lifelong marriage. Today, lift up the people of Pakistan and also ask God to work in your life to bear fruit wherever you are. A Christian life without fruit is like a pizza without cheese - it just doesn't make sense.
Find some people from Pakistan in your area and let them know you are praying for them. You just might see God do something for His glory and your benefit.

What will the church of the next century look like?

2005-07-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

This is the $1.38 question which is on the minds, not only of the leaders of the church, but also the world. Though each generation asks this very important question, I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the answer to this question for this generation is as once the most difficult in history and as plain as the noses on our faces. Why?

Well, for one thing, the world we live in is experiencing unprecedented change. Our world population changes, requiring only 1 decade to add another BILLION people.

Information changes - think about that slow, annoying desktop PC you bought 2 years ago which is now a paperweight, but was the fastest thing going when you bought it.

Technology changes - do you know that the world now has its first cyborg? Nanotechnology is allowing humans to be fitted with machines to provide new limbs, which can detect pressure and temperature and repair damaged organs. Nasa is crashing probes into comets and Burt Rhutan flew a ship into space twice in less than a month. The FDA has approved ubiquitous cloning of meat-producing animals.

Human emotions change - the overwhelming fear of nuclear holocost in the the 1950's was replaced by a hatred of the status quo in the 60's. Today, "social anxiety disorder" is listed as the greatest fear; people are afraid to be alone, which is pretty ironic on a planet that is rapidly running out of real estate.

Recently, our church conducted a survey through a recognized polling organization. This survey revealed some surprising things, but the most surprising was that the respondants, who intentionally were not a part of our church, said their most pressing desire was to "belong to something meaningful" or to "help others". Man is a very social animal, despite the odd hermit or Howard Hughes.

So, what does a church look like that ministers to the needs of people who see their world flying by them at breakneck speed, cannot manage the overflow of information which bombards them and are afraid of being alone, yet deep down want to help other people?

(Please see Acts 2:40-47)

In a nutshell, the real church will be full of sheep. The bible often refers to humans as sheep and in truth, we are more like them than we care to admit. Sheep can't handle much information, they are definitely afraid of being alone and are extremely social animals. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd." (John 10:14-16 )

The church of the next century may or may not have a building. It may be in the city, or in the country. It will be in every nation on earth, and perhaps every nation will be in it.

If my definition sounds like nothing new; you're right - because the church is nothing new. It is now nearly 2,000 years old. And while the church must be relevant to the culture around it, it will be if we remember that the church is not a building, but an ecclesia - a community of people who believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He has saved them from their sin. If we look at history; enormous buildings, huge budgets and a myriad of programs are a new phenomenon, borne out of the wealth and affluence of the 20th century.

Picture if you will, the scene in the George Lucas film, Star Wars: Episode II - attack of the clones, when Anakin Skywalker chases a would-be assassin into a club on a busy thoroughfare. The club is filled with creatures of every shape and size and the boulevard with neon signs and vehicles filling up every inch of available space. Inside the club, Anakin's Master; Obi-Wan kenobi is approached by a young creature trying to sell him something called "death sticks". Obi-Wan uses the force to pursuade this young person to give up selling illegal drugs and to change his life for the better. This is a pretty good picture of the church of the future - active, separate believers intervening in the lives of hurting people no matter where they find themselves. This model, established by Jesus many centuries ago, is a model which will only change when He returns to set up His eternal kingdom on earth.

So, my advice to you, (if you are worried about what the church will look like), is to not be put off by technology, or programs, or the lack thereof - but rather become a faithful sheep. As sheep, we must follow our shepherd, Jesus Christ who tells us that if we really do belong to Him, we will know His voice and follow it as He calls out to us. (John 10:4)

JC's weekly June 27th - Why is the world so afraid of Jesus?

2005-06-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

Why is the world so afraid of Jesus?

It is interesting to note the reactions of human beings when the name of Jesus Christ of Natsareth is used. I encourage you to try a short, rather unscientific experiment for yourself: ask three people today what they think about the name, Jesus Christ. The reactions you receive may amaze you. Some will express ambivalence, others, indifference or perhaps a mild curiosity. You will probably run into someone who says "oh, I am a Christian" (which, by the way, doesn't answer the question). Still others will demonstrate stark terror as if you had asked them, "would you mind if I bit you on the neck?"

Why? What is it about the name of someone who died 1,972 years ago that produces such reactions in people today?

It is my assertion, that it isn't he fact that he died 1,972 years ago that scares people - it's the fact that he didn't stay that way, that gives people in 21st Century America, the heebie-jeebies.

P.T. Barnum's statement "there's a sucker born every minute" aside, people really aren't stupid. Yes, there is mass hysteria over seemingly ridiculous things and the public eye is often focused on some absolutely trival nonsense. But meet a normal person on any given day in America and you are likely to find someone who is reasonably intelligent and savvy, at least in their own sphere of influence.
The fear invoked by the name of Jesus Christ upon the seemingly normal people of America occurs, because no other word in our language conjurs up images of truth, accountability and most importantly life and death like his name does. One may have never attended church, and may in fact be of a completely different religion than the followers of Christ, yet upon hearing his name pictures enter into our minds - pictures which most of us would rather avoid.

The most pressing thought that come to mind of course is, "what if he was right?" Surely he wasn't - most believe, but since in today's mind almost everything is possible, there may be a slight chance he was. If so, we had better change some things, hadn't we?

But mention his name and people intuitively know that something is definitely different.
When I go to a public place and people are cursing, drinking or doing things which aren't really good for them, and I mention the name of Jesus, immediately, they say "I'm sorry" or "oh! I didn't realize". Why? What is it about the name of Jesus which invokes such energetic responses among people at large?

The bible tells us. Jesus' name is unique in all of history. The bible says that the name of Jesus is "above all other names" (Philippians 2:9). Certainly, it isn't the spelling of his name, or even its pronounciation, (in Arabic-speaking countries, his name is pronounced "isa"). The name of Jesus is unique because Jesus is unique. No one else in all of recorded history ever got up once they were verifiably dead and buried. Jesus' name, represents Jesus himself - who did something that no one else has ever done. This is another reason why the Bible tells us that one day, "Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord." (Philippians 2:10)

Jesus' name is so great and so famous that even those who normally don't pay any attention to him, are disturbed by it. What really muddies up the waters of our normal, workaday lives is the notion that Jesus Christ has declared himself to be the Son of God - which he is, and which also explains why he alone of all the people of the earth didn't stay dead.

Neither Mohammed, Confucious, Buddha, the Dalai Lhama, nor any other figure in history can make this claim and provide the objective, historical evidence to back it up. The historical fact of his resurrection, makes the name of Jesus the only name that can save you. The Apostle Peter as recorded in the book of Acts, Chapter 4 tells us that, "there is no other name under heaven, given to men by which we might be saved". Saved from what? Well, from the very thing that makes Jesus Christ unique - death. When he woke up after having been dead for three days, Jesus had vanquished death; instead of death having power over him, he had power over it and it could no longer operate as if it were invincible. Jesus demonstrated that he alone has the ability to contravene death and he offers this unique power to anyone who will believe in his name.

David Frost, the popular british T.V. journalist has interviewed Billy Graham for many years and in one such interview, told Dr. Graham, "When I get to heaven, I'm going to tell them Billy Graham said I could come in." Dr. Graham's reply? "That won't do you any good, David - you'll have to tell them Jesus said you could come in." The only ticket to heaven bears the name Jesus on it.

Jesus' name is unique and deserves the utmost respect. Even if you don't believe in him, you would be well served to give his name the honor it deserves. Remember, today - anything goes and there just may be a chance that he was right. Picture yourself for one moment having died, and finding yourself standing before Jesus; trying to explain why you only said his name after you had smashed your finger with a hammer or when something shocking happened to you. Wouldn't it be much better if you stood before him and were able to actually thank him for all that he had done on your behalf?

Of course it would, and all you need do to make sure this happens is to follow the advice of St. John. He wrote, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."

Believe in Jesus' name. Then try using "darn!" or "crap!" or "beeblebrox!" the next time you hit yourself with a hammer.

JC's Weekly June 20th 2005

2005-06-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Looking Up?

The race of man is rapidly growing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, world population is at an all-time high, with 90 million people entering our world each year. It took 123 years for the population of the world to grow from 1 billion to 2 billion, but each successive billion people have arrived in ever-shorter timespans. From 2 to 3 billion took only 33 years, from 3 to 4 fourteen years and it only took 11 years to grow from 5 to the current 6 billion people. The population of the world's most economically developed countries is actually dropping, while 95% of all population growth is taking place in the world's poorest countries.

Coupled with this incredible population explosion, is a dramatic increase in premature death. According to the worldwatch institute (www.worldwatch.org) for the first time since the great famine of China in the 1960's, the world's mortality rate is increasing, despite and perhaps even because of rapid population growth. The main causes of this dramatic calamity? HIV, water depletion and the scarcity of cropland for food.

HIV, which leads to the fatal AIDS Syndrome is wiping out whole cultures on the African and Indian Subcontinents. I have spoken to African pastors who have told me that they fully expect half of their church to die of AIDs in the coming year. One out of every three people on our planet live in Africa or the Indian subcontinent and these are the regions most devastated by thie terrible disease. In Botswana and Zimbabwe, the life expectancy of males has FALLEN from 62 to less than 44 years - primarily because of HIV/AIDS. The saddest fact of these statistics is that this disease is entirely preventable - And only children and rape victims indescriminantly die of AIDS, having inherited it from their sexually promiscuous parents or attackers.

In China, the world's most populist country, despite strict controls on families and forced abortion and sterilization, another kind of epidemic is raging - the lack of women. More than 50 years of the forced abortion of infant girls have created a gender imbalance that will dramatically affect Chinese and perhaps the world's culture. Some statistics I have read state that there are 152 men for every 100 women in China and in rural areas, where boys are needed for work, the figure may be much higher. What happens in a society where there are tens of millions of men with no women to marry?

The shortage of drinking water is something that we cannot imagine in America. One example of the effects of no available water could be seen in the Masai tribesmen of Africa who for generations, drank the blood of their cattle during the dry season because there was simply no water to be found. God has graciously helped in the case of the Masai; Living Water International (www.living-water.org) has provided clean water to this tribe and others, but one organization cannot even begin to address the global water shortage efectively. One film I recently watched from some of our missionaries in Bangladesh showed the condition of water in much of the undeveloped world - in the same river, people bathed, gathered drinking water, dumped their trash and human waste - all at the same time.

Even though there are perhaps millions of American families who struggle with meeting their daily nutritional needs, no one in America really knows what it is like for there to be NO food sources. Rich in farmland, our country pays farmers each year not to grow their crops. But in many parts of the world, there simply isn't any food because there isn't any land on which to grow it, or the population growth is far outpacing the ability of land to produce crops. One cannot feed 10,000 families from a single acre of land, and yet in some parts of Africa and India, this is the demand placed on the earth.

What does this have to do with the church?

In the book of Luke, Chapter 21, Jesus is giving His disciples and vicariously, you and I a picture of what will happen as the end of time draws near. "And He said, "nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven" (Vv.10-11).

In December of 2004, approximately 280,000 people died within 15 minutes from an earthquake and tsunami in the Indian ocean, which qualifies as a "great earthquake" in my humble opinion. Jesus went on to say "But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake." (v. 12) The Jewish believers until the time of Constantine (285-337 A.D.) were brought before the synagogues and persecuted in Jerusalem. Many Christians since then have been brought before kings and rulers for naming the name of Jesus' Christ. It is estimated, in fact, that since the Stalinist persecutions in Soviet Russia until the present time, more Christians have died than in all the centuries before combined.

For the last 2000 or so years, this particular prophecy of Jesus has been fulfilled. Further on in this passage (v.20), Jesus provides some startling detail. Jesus says that Jerusalem will be surrounded and that "Jerusalem will be trampled until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled". Jerusalem was crushed by the Roman Emperor Vespasian in A.D. 70 and not one single Jewish person was left alive inside the city.

Jesus then goes on to talk about His return. He states in (v.28) "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."

One doesn't have to be Chicken Little to see that our world is heading for a disaster. Jerusalem has long been considered the "center of the earth" (according to Herod the Great) because on this tiny stretch of land alongside the Mediterranean sea lies the most fertile land in all the earth. Everything grows abundantly there - water is plentiful, the weather is just right and the soil is rich. If you were the dictator of a nation filled with starving, dying people where would you go? If you had an army of trained men, hundreds of millions strong and couldn't feed your people, in what direction would you travel?

That's right - to the most fertile slice of land on earth. This is precisely where these nations will go. When? I don't know. But what I do know is that before these nations of the East march toward this rich source of food and water, Jesus Christ will return. There have been earthquakes and famines on the earth for thousands of years. But there has never before been a time when mankind could no longer find food and water or when millions of men could not find women to take as wives, because these things simply were not there.

When Jesus comes back He is going to quickly leave again, taking with Him all those who have joined with Him in their hearts and minds. Those who do not leave with Him will be left here to watch as the great masses of humanity, driven to seek their basic necessities, march toward that most ancient city of Jerusalem; filled with food and exotic women. The Bible talks about what will happen when they get there. The details can be found in the book of Revelation, Chapter 19.

The Bible asks the question, "Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?Or who may stand in His holy place?"(Psalm 24:3)

The answer, "who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully." (Psalm 24:4) In short, only those who have not lifted up their soul to anything else but Jesus Christ. In a world where sex, money, fortune, notoriety and self-indulgence are the loftiest goals one can obtain, it is easy to lift up our lives (our souls) and sell ourselves for these things. Don't do it. Nike is wrong. And when Jesus comes back, he won't be wearing tennis shoes. Set your mind and your life of the things of God. That way, as the end of time approaches, you won't be like Chicken Little, wondering what is going to happen next. Don't guess at the most important thing in your entire life - eternity. Be certain that when Jesus Christ returns, you will go with him. The trip is free; all you have to do is ask.

JC's Weekly June 13th 2005

2005-06-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

In a recent interview with British author Joseph Pearce, the great Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, spoke about his worldview, having lived much of his life in Soviet prison camps and now watching as Russia struggles to free itself from the grip of communism.

Mr. Solzhenitsyn was asked; "A British journalist recently stated that you believe that Russia has overthrown the evils of communism only to replace them with the evils of capitalism, is that a fair statement of your position and, if so, what do you feel are the worst evils of capitalism?"

To which he replied, "In different places over the years I have had to prove that socialism, which to many western thinkers is a sort of kingdom of justice, was in fact full of coercion, of bureaucratic greed and corruption and avarice, and consistent within itself that socialism cannot be implemented without the aid of coercion. Communist propaganda would sometimes include statements such as "we include almost all the commandments of the Gospel in our ideology". The difference is that the Gospel asks all this to be achieved through love, through self-limitation, but socialism only uses coercion. This is one point.
Untouched by the breath of God, unrestricted by human conscience, both capitalism and socialism are repulsive."

There is a common tendency in the west to equate materialism (capitalism) with Christianity. This is not of God as many in America would claim. And yet, capitalism as an economic system appears to have many benefits. It offers the individual, if properly administered, with the ability to enjoy the fruits of his or her own labor. However, capitalism is an economic system and not, as we in America have come to understand it - a political one. Neither is it intended to be a religion; yet in America it has become just that.

The Bible speaks a great deal about money. Jesus warned His followers not to seek after financial wealth. Jesus was not an aesthete as some claim, denying all property rights and ordering people to live communal lives of poverty. As I have mentioned before, He and his followers had a bank account and through St. Paul, we learn that money is not the root of all kinds of evil - but the love of it is. The great problem of our generation is that the west is in love with money. Jesus taught a proper perspective for money; a perspective which I believe we have lost.

American life is inseperably intertwined with this natural desire for money. I use natural here in the pejorative, negative sense - as the Bible does. It is a "natural" person who cannot understand the spiritual things of God (1 Corinthans 2:14) and it is this same natural desire for money that permeates American society. But is Solzhenitsyn correct? Is capitalism, bereft of God, repulsive? I believe it is. And stand guilty of having participated in its ugliest aspects.

Capitalism as a system seeks the attainment of capital, for production and profit. In and of itself, this system is neither good nor bad - it, like the money upon which it operates is neutral; purely a system. But nothing in our world is truly neutral when it involves mankind. This principal illustrates the foolishness of much modern thinking ( or rather non-thinking) about government, schools and religion. There are no real atheists and to suggest that someone must remain "neutral" toward all things is idiotic. No one lives life without emotion, desire and will and so no system of man can exist without these things. This is the problem of capitalism. This is also the reason Jesus spoke in such harsh tones about the pursuit of money. He identified the "deceitfulness of riches". (Mark 4:19) and He said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to Heaven. (Mark 10:25)

Solzhenitsyn did not say capitalism was repulsive. He said capitalism "untouched by the breath of God" is repulsive. My assessment of America is that much of our country is "untouched by the breath of God" and certainly our economic system must be included. For the Christian, our highest aim is always to love God and secondly to love man. One of the ways we demonstrate this love is out of service. No one can seriously suggest that the system of capitalism which we utilize in America serves mankind.

At a recent government hearing of the Joint Economic Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan said, "The income gap between the rich and the rest of the US population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself." Thus the problem of American capitalism. In a system where each individual seeks his or her own highest good, someone eventually loses, because what may be in my best interest is not necessarily in yours, or anyone else's for that matter. When my own economic benefit is my highest priority, I and those whom I influence will eventually suffer.

Jesus taught that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21) If we are honest, we know this to be true. When my aim in life was to become wealthy, my energies, efforts, time and resources were directed to this cause. Which means they were not directed to the love of God and my neighbor. "But can't we do both?" someone has asked. Not according to Jesus. He said "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Matthew 6:24)

Communism as a system is of the devil. It operates by force and coercion and Sozhenitsyn knows this well - he suffered by it. Capitalism is not necessarily of the devil - it is a system of economics. But without God as our guide, capitalism quickly becomes a tool of the devil - as does anything mankind uses or develops having left God out of the development.

How can we know where our "heart" is? Ask yourself the question, "If I lost all of my material possessions tomorrow, would I be burdened by this?" If answered honestly, most would say "yes!" If someone were to come to your house and ask for anything in it - could you give it to them? Or is there some cherished possession you must hold on to which is really the repository of your heart? Jesus taught us that no material thing is really worth anything. Sleeping in a bed under a roof with hot food and even transportation is a blessing from God. And so can be other material things. But ultimately, even the most opulent material thing will waste away into nothing. If there is something which you possess which you could not this day give away, then you do not possess the object - it possesses you.

Recently, a friend of mine was awakened by the smell of smoke and jumped out of bed to find his house on fire. He rushed to his children's rooms and woke them and he and his wife and children fled to the safety of the street outside and watched as their house burned. When I called him later that day, and asked how he was doing, he said "fine. My house burned down, but my family is safe and I can always get a new house - but only God can give me a family". His heart is in the right place.

Sozhenitsyn might ask, "is yours?"

JC's Weekly June 6th

2005-06-06T06:29:00.000-07:00

" The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." (Isaiah 40:5)

It is an incredible, awesome fact that one day every living creature will see the openly revealed glory of God. We see His glory today, but we see it through weary, darkened eyes.

Have you ever been in a room filled with smoke from a fire? Not the grey or white smoke caused by burning bisquits in the oven, but the thick, black smoke which rises from intense heat and burning wood, fabric and oil? In this type of environment, one must crawl on the floor in search of oxygen, and if we try very hard, through the choking soot and ash we can make out the faint outline of a door, or window. In my case, having seen the door, every ounce of my being was spent trying to crawl along the floor, reaching it. And once through it, after a fit of coughing, sneezing and hacking, I was finally able (after what seemed forever), to take a deep breath of fresh, clean air. (Thankfully I wasn't in Los Angeles !)

The scenario above aptly describes, I think our lives today. We live in a world filled with the thick, black smoke of sin and evil. We spend our lives gasping for breath, struggling to find a door through which we might escape.

The difference between my experience and our world today, is that God has placed a great, shining door in the room of our world - a door that we can see from anywhere on earth, if we will only lift up our heads and see it. Unfortunately, it appears that many people are focused on the floor and the short gasps of oxygen that can be obtained there. They bump their way around the room we live in and horribly, never reach the door.

It is my job to tap people on the shoulder and point them to the door. This is very easy work for me, because although I have to continue to put up with the wheezing and sneezing of this smoke-filled world, I have been allowed to peek through the door and know what is on the other side.

In contrast to the smoke-filled room where we now find ourselves, on the other side of the door, are enormous, rolling hills, filled with every imaginable flower (and some you cannot even imagine). On these hills live beautiful creatures; there are majestic horses, lions and even some lambs - all of which live in perfect harmony. It is never night there and through all of the hills flows a great river, which is so clear that you cannot even see your reflection in it.

In the world beyond the door, one never has to gasp for breath. In fact, you could run for a thousand years and never even become tired. Beyond the door, there is no sickness, disease or pain. Believe it or not, I even saw a unicorn there.

Sometimes I have to scratch my head and wonder why more people aren't headed for the white door. But this weekend, I met someone who is and I want to introduce him to you. His name is Billy and he is twelve or thirteen years old. Billy doesn't fit into the box that most of us put twelve and thirteen year olds. Billy lives in a foster home far away from where he was born, because his father tried to kill him. He arrived in Texas without any possessions, except the most precious possession any of us can have - a key to the white door. Billy talked to me about his mom, who he prays for because she "lives with lots of men". He prays for his father who is in prison in another state. Billy was very excited this weekend, because the tooth fairy brought him seven dollars for his tooth. (In case you didn't know - the tooth fairy is a Christian).

Billy and I spent three days together and I have to tell you that those three days were some of the most rewarding I have had on this side of the white door. I think that once we pass through the door to that world with rolling hills, I will look up Billy and we will spend a few years talking about the tooth fairy.

In case it's not clear, the dark room in my story is this earth and the white door is Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

Billy and I would like to encourage you to lift your head from the floor and look up and see Jesus. Yes, the smoke is dark and thick, and yes, we know you sometimes have to cough and sneeze and it is hard to crawl through this dark room, but if you will just look up, you can see Jesus and He really will give you a key to the door and let you briefly look on the other side. Billy and I can tell you that once you have seen what's over there, you will never be the same.

It's awfully hard to be sad once you have seen a unicorn.

2005-05-31T09:01:00.001-07:00

The beautiful Messier 81 galaxy

2005-05-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

The beautiful Whirlpool Galaxy

JC's Weekly June 1st 2005

2005-05-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today about the magnificence of God. Contrast this with the "mannishness of man" as Francis Schaeffer said. In my contemplation, I began thinking about the universe. Because I am not a scientist, I am limited in my ability to understand as much as I'd like to, but fortunately, there are some friendly scientists who have helped me. For example, there is the beautiful whirlpool galaxy pictured on my blog's opening page.

When we think of the universe, we tend to make our observations earth-centric. This is natural, but not a good idea. (When we think of our lives, we often think of them as "me-centric", which is also a bad idea) Perhaps some numbers can help?

According to the Sloan Digital Survey astonomical site, there are approximately 10,000 billion, billion stars in the visible universe. http://cas.sdss.org/dr3/en/proj/advanced/hr/

I have done some rudimentary calculations and if we say that 96 billion people have lived on the earth at some time, this means that each person that has ever lived could have somewhere around ten trillion of their own stars!

Some European fellows have discovered a group of stars called "Redshift 10" which are the farthest known observable objects in space. These stars are 13.2 million light years away. This means that to see them on earth, the light they emit left them 13.2 million years ago!http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2004/pr-04-04.html

Now the really awesome part of God's universe is that we can only see about 4% of it because most of it is dark! We see stars, because they emit light. But we cannot see most planets, or black holes or other objects because they do not. Now, if we KNOW that there are somewhere around 10,000 billion, billion stars and these represent only about 4% of what there really is, well, you get the idea. God's creation is unimaginably vast.

And it is unimaginably creative and beautiful. If we look on the ocean floor at giant tube worms, we see these worms and some species of shrimp which live in environments that are unbelievably hostile. These creatures live in a solution of hydrogen sulfide which would kill any other living thing. they also live in temperatures which would melt steel. And yet they live and thrive just where God put them.

In the Bible book of Psalms, verse 104, the Psalmist wrote; "Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD my God, You are very great:You are clothed with honor and majesty, Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain."

When we look at the universe we can see the majesty of God, in brief. We could not survive a true glimpse of the full majesty of God. But one day, when Jesus Christ comes to take His followers with Him into His eternal kingdom, we will be able to not only see, but interact with the God who created us and His universe.

I am excited about this coming day. Are you?

JC's Weekly May 23

2005-05-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

According to the UK Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk) the President of France, Jacques Chirac is threatening to ignore the French public and press ahead with the new European constitution even if the people of France vote "no". It was once difficult for me to imagine any western leader saying such a thing, let alone actually doing it, yet as history progresses as we see the prophecies of the Bible come to pass before our eyes, nothing surprises me anymore.

Francis Schaeffer wrote: "Today we are left largely not only with a religion and a church without meaning, but we are left with a culture without meaning. Man himself is dead."(1) This is the position of the French People. Recently, I had the great pleasure of visiting with Pastor Fred Decoster who leads a Baptist congregation in Honfleur, France. This church now has 400 people attending, which in France is a vast number. Pastor DeCoster shared with me why France, which had such a rich Chrisitian history during the reformation, has become cold, pagan and dead. Beginning at age 5, French children are educated in philosophy - secular philosophy, which is atheistic, teaching the citizens of France that there is no God. This is why France is a morally bankrupt country (with the United States not far behind). If there is no God, then one's own personal good is the supreme desire of every man, woman and child. So, if the French people don't want to be a part of a grand new Europe, as it is designed, then their President's personal desire for this new government trumps the desires of the people he leads and so he is free to make any decision he chooses. In America, we recently had such a leader - Bill Clinton.

How does this affect those of us outside of France? Well, there is an old saying which is largely true, "As goes France, so goes Europe". History tells us this is correct. But the French people, who struggle to live each day as does everyone else in the world, can see that something is wrong with a united empire called Europe. There was once a united empire on the European continent; this empire was called Rome, which ended sometime around the year 400.(2)

The Bible tells us that once again, as history draws to a close, there will be a new united empire, consisting of ten nations, which forms out of Europe. This prediction, or prophecy was given to the Prophet Daniel, approximately 600 years before the birth of Christ, while the Jews were in exile in Babylon. (Daniel chapter 11)

The French people may largely deny the existence of God, but inside each of us is a yearning to know Him. Solomon wrote that, "God has placed eternity in their hearts"(3) and this is true, even for a people who don't understand why. Each person instinctively knows that this life on this planet is not all there is. I believe it is this innate feeling that there must be something more, is what is keeping the French people from ratifying the European constitution.

At any rate, history is indeed unfolding before our eyes, and whatever the outcome of the French referendum on the EU, there will one day be a new "Roman Empire". The question for all is "are you ready for this time?" This new empire isn't important simply for the economic and social power it will bring (a truly United Europe would dwarf the United States and as a trading partner with China would make the U.S. at best the third most powerful country in the world) but also because it signals the coming of the end of human history. Are you ready?

1. (Francis A. Schaeffer, Death In The City, Ch. 1)
2. Rutilius Numantius: On His Return, I.xi.47, The Greatness of Rome in the Days of Ruin, 413
3. Ecclesiastes 3:11