Child of God by Kathryn Scott

Here is another beautiful song I wanted to share with you.

We had such a good time last night!

      One of the companies our business works with invited Country Guy and me to go to the 6th game of the World Series.  We have never been that interested in baseball, but thought it would be fun to experience a game of the Series at least once, so we enthusiastically said "yes".  On Wednesday we headed to the game with Sue, who works for the company and her husband, Dave, who was in my class in high school.  We were looking forward to spending time together, when Sue received a text from her son saying the game was postponed to Thursday because of rain.  We turned around, came home and made plans to try again yesterday.   Sue had made reservations for dinner and for us to stay in a nearby hotel because the game didn't start till 7:00 so they knew it would be too late to drive home when it was over.  Little did they know!  She had to remake the reservations on the way home and even change the hotel we were to stay in.
      We began our journey again yesterday afternoon.  The weather was perfect on Thursday even though it was a little chilly.  We checked into the hotel and then went to Carmine's to see if we could have dinner earlier than our reservation.  It was delicious.  As we were going out the door of the restaurant, a young man came running at top speed at us and through the door, bumping Sue & me, but saying "Excuse me" as he went.  Then there came two or three others chasing him, and then several police cars pulled up with sirens and lights.  We don't know what happened, but it was a memorable experience!
    We then went, carrying our winter coats and blankets, and settled into a packed stadium to watch our first major league baseball game in person in our entire married life.  And what a game!  Of course, since the game was in St. Louis, we were routing for the Cardinals, who weren't playing all that well for the first few innings.  But then it began to get really interesting.  I felt almost as if I was at a close football game.  The crowd became tense, and excited and then practically hysterical as Texas would score, and then the Cardinals would score.  We were behind several points for awhile, but at the end of the 9th inning the teams were tied.  Both scored 2 points in the 10th inning to tie again and so the game went into the 11th inning.  I predicted when they tied in the 9th inning that they would win in the 11th and that they would win the 7th game tonight, to achieve their 11th World Series Championship in this year of 2011.  Now I have something invested, so, of course, I will be watching tonight to see if it happens.

     Our seats were wonderful.  Here is a picture of the field from where we were sitting.

      See the arch in the background?   The tall building next to it is the Millennium Hotel where we stayed after the game.  Do you also see the arch mowed into the infield?  I wonder how they did that!
     The game was over after 11:30!  I could never have imagined spending 5 hours at a baseball game and having so much fun!  What a blessing to be asked to go!  We wouldn't have gone on our own without someone inviting us to go with them.  Once Sue told us the face value of the tickets were $250 and that they had seen tickets were being scalped on ebay for $2500 I knew this was an opportunity we would not have had except for God's favor and blessing.  I'm afraid I would have been tempted to scalp the tickets if they had been mine, and then I would have missed an experience that was priceless because so many memories were created.
      It's a good thing the Lord plans surprises for me that I have no way of changing, otherwise I would miss many blessings.

Cookbook

      I am in the process of publishing a cookbook.  Can you believe it?  The idea started when I decided to see if I could have the recipes from my blog printed into some sort of book to give my children and grandchildren as a surprise Christmas present.  After doing some research online I discovered it is much more economical to print many books (100-200) from a website that specializes in cookbooks than it is to print 25 from the site that specializes in printing from blogs.  It seemed a "no brainer" to get more for the same price, don't you think?
     But the catch is, it is quite a lot of work to determine what recipes to include and to get all them typed in the right format for submission.  I called the printing business to see if I could also include the comments I posted with each recipe on the blog.  They think it is possible, but won't know for sure till I submit all the recipes.  I have spent many hours the past few days working on getting it organized and have been enjoying the learning process.
    I'm almost ready to send the recipes in for publishing.  In addition to those posted on the Recipes Page I have been adding those I had planned to post in the coming weeks and months also.  And then yesterday the thought occurred to me that I would like to have at least one recipe included from other members of my family so I called them to tell them what I am doing--thus spoiling the surprise--to see if they want to contribute, too.  They all encouraged me in the project and most have sent me additions for the book or have given me suggestions of things to include in the book--such as Jess' idea of a "How to" section.
     I am excited to have all my favorites from family and friends, the new discoveries I've made over the years, and especially the recipes I learned to make from my Mom, all in one place.  It looks as if I have accumulated over 200!  Can you tell I have spent a lot of time cooking in my life?  Our family loves to eat but cooking is only fun for me if I am making something really good, or trying something new, so I'm always searching for great new recipes.
     If you have any you would like to share with me, I would love to have them.  It may be too late for this cookbook, but maybe next year for Christmas we could print another one filled with recipes from readers of this blog.  That would be fun!
    Since I am ordering many more cookbooks than I had originally intended, I'm sure I will have some extras available if you need "a one of a kind Christmas present" for friends and family.  Does that sound like a sales pitch?  I didn't mean it to be.  I don't think I will have any trouble dispensing of the extra books.  With Christmas coming up I will be glad to have extras, and then since we have lots of out-of-town guests it will be great to have something special to give them when they leave.
     I don't yet know the final cost--it depends on several things--like how many books I order, how many recipes included, and the format for the book.  Hopefully, I will be ready to submit the recipes by the first of next week and then I will know, but I would imagine they will be around $10-$12 shipped.  If you are interested in reserving one, send me an email.  (Or for those of you who have my phone number--just call.)

Bald Eagle Music Video "This Is America" (AEF)

My uncle just sent me this beautiful video.  I love the words to the song being sung.  It is so inspirational!  And the video of the eagle flying is also excellent!

Religious Liberty on Trial, Chuck Colson

“That is extraordinary,” proclaimed Justice Scalia.

“I, too, find that amazing,” Justice Kagan chimed in.

As reported by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, The conservative Scalia and the liberal Kagan seemed bewildered by the Obama administration’s unbelievable assertion that there should be no “ministerial exemption” for churches when it comes to hiring.

That’s the issue at stake in the case Hosanna-Tabor Church v. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. Who, in the end, decides who is a minister and who is not? A church, or the government?

In his excellent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Stanford’s Michael McConnell, a former federal judge, notes that for “40 years lower courts have applied a ‘ministerial exception,’ which bars the government from any role in deciding who should be a minister."

But, McConnell continues, “the Obama Justice Department has now asked the court to disavow the ministerial exception altogether. This would mean that, in every future case, a court — and not the church — would decide whether the church's reasons for firing or not hiring a minister were good enough.”

Folks, this is frightening. And I can’t but help wonder if there’s not a deliberate pattern here by the Obama administration to restrict religious freedom.

Now, I’m not given to conspiracy theories, but how else do we interpret the administration’s actions over the past couple of years?

Remember last year, I warned something was up when Hillary Clinton proclaimed that “freedom of worship” was a top U.S. priority. As I explained then, “freedom of worship” and “freedom of religion” are not interchangeable. One allows you to worship any way you want in private — even Chinese citizens enjoy such so-called “freedom of worship.” Freedom of religion, however, means the right to live out your faith in private and in public.

Well, not long after Clinton’s speech at Georgetown, the administration said it would no longer defend or enforce the Defense of Marriage Act — that’s a federal statute!

Earlier this month, the administration announced it would not renew a $19 million contract with Conference of Catholic Bishops to help sex trafficking victims. Why not? Well, we do know the ACLU sued the government to terminate the contract because the Bishops Conference wouldn’t help sex-trade victims obtain abortions!

And recently, the Department of Health and Human Services issued regulations that would force all employers — religious or otherwise — to purchase insurance that covered contraception and other “preventative care.” Could that be true? True enough that the president chirped “Darn Tootin’” at a political rally.

What is the administration up to? The Catholic Bishops are alarmed enough that they are forming a committee to press the administration on its overtly hostile approach to religious freedom.

This is why everybody listening to me today has got to read and sign and get friends to sign the Manhattan Declaration. If you have read it already, go and read it again. We’ll have a link for you at BreakPoint.org.

I think there’s good reason to fear that if we fail to raise our voices now, we will be forced into civil disobedience. It’s time to rally our forces. Christians should not have to compromise their faith to remain free and equal citizens.

Again and again, we must make clear, as the Manhattan Declaration states, we will under no circumstances ever render to Caesar what belongs to God.

Chuck Colson's daily BreakPoint commentary airs each weekday on more than one thousand outlets with an estimated listening audience of one million people. BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends via radio, interactive media and print.

Publication date: October 21, 2011

Wonderful, Merciful Saviour - A Beautiful Song!

I discovered this song while searching for new praise songs.  I had not heard it before, but I love it!  Both the words and the melody are so beautiful!   The version I first heard sung was by Kim Hill, but I couldn't find it on YouTube.  This one is wonderful, too, I think.

Printing From This Blog, repost

I have had more inquiries about how to print recipes from this blog so I am re-posting this explanation from several months ago.  Hopefully, it will help any who are having trouble.   

Someone asked me if it is possible to print directly from my blog.  The answer to that is "yes" and "no".  The 'yes' means you can print the blog, but as in the case of recipes, all the recipes will print when you are asking for just one.  The 'no' means then that you can't print only one specific thing directly from the blog.

     There is a way to do that, though.  Let's use a specific recipe as an example.  You can go to the Recipes page, find the recipe, highlight it by holding down on the mouse button as you scroll across the info in the recipe that you want to print.  Then copy the highlighted text by pressing the word "Copy" under "Edit" in the browser toolbar.  (On a Mac, you can also press Function (Apple key) and C at the same time after you have highlighted the text as a shortcut to copying.  I'm not sure if those are the 2 keys to use on a Windows computer but it will tell you under Edit in the toolbar).  After you have done this open up a new blank Word document, click the cursor at the beginning of the page and press "Paste" under "Edit" from the browser toolbar (or press the Function and V keys together as a shortcut to paste.)  The text you want to print should now appear in the document and you can now change the format, font size, or anything else you want to do and then print it from this document.

       You can also save it for future reference, if you desire, in My Documents by choosing "Save" under "File" in the browser toolbar.  And then telling it to save it to "My Documents" when the 'where to' words appear.  I have created a folder labeled "Recipes" in "My Documents" for that purpose and then every new recipe I receive from others, or type for myself, gets sent there.

     If by some chance you don't have Microsoft Word, you can also follow the above directions for copying, but then instead of Word, open up your email as if you were going to send a new message.  Paste the info in the new email according to the instructions above.  You can then print the email even without sending it.

      I hope this helps.  You can use this same method for most anything you would like to print and/or save from any web page, if you can't print directly from that web page.

Hi, Again!

      Sorry I've neglected my blog lately.  I have a new computer so it's taken me awhile to get set up again.  I made 2 trips to Indianapolis this week for help and to leave my computer overnight for 2 nights for software updates, etc., so I had no way to get online.  Now I am having to brush up on ways of doing old things and learn how to do many new things, plus Country Guy needed me to type some documents for him on my new word processing program, so I had to learn how to use it first.
      Technology is so complicated--and frustrating--and amazing--and time consuming if you don't know what you're doing!  I feel as if I am barely keeping my head above water!  It seems as if there is never anyone around who can answer my questions when I get into trouble with a project so it takes me hours to figure it out myself.  I told Country Guy (who hates working on these kinds of problems and therefore waits for me to do it) to ignore me as I rant & rave till I understand how to do whatever I'm trying to do because I really do love my new computer and am very grateful to have it!  He said he would try since he hasn't had much practice.  :o)  I believe he was teasing me.
      I'm not happy to admit that seems to be my typical way of letting off steam when I am frustrated and don't know where to turn.  I wish I could say I calmly reassure myself that all will work out and proceed in confidence, but I haven't gotten there yet!
      How do you handle new technology?  Is it an exciting challenge or a frustrating project?  I hope you enjoy it more than I do.

Lest We Forget

     I believe this is a good reminder to each of us, and something our nation needs to hear.  Yes, we have a part to play in our quality of life and we must do our part, but we've forgotten that all good gifts come from God.  He gives the increase.  He multiplies our seed to bring forth a harvest of "30, 60 or 100 fold".  When our country began, the founders were quick to give God the glory, but over the years we have come to think we have gained all these wonderful blessings on our own.  I pray we repent and give glory and thanks to the only one who can make things grow--and the only one who can save us from our prideful ways.
 God Is Behind Your Increase

1 Corinthians 3:7   (NIV)

    So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Sometimes, we think that the increase or success which we enjoy is the result of our own efforts or hard work. Now, I am not advocating laziness, but the truth is that God is the one behind our increase.

We see this truth when we read the story of Ruth, a young widow from Moab, who worked as a gleaner in a barley field from morning till evening. Now, we could attribute the entire ephah — a substantial 10-day supply — of barley she collected at the end of the day to her hard work. After all, she did work all day in the field.

But when we read about how Boaz, the owner of the field, had secretly told his reapers to “let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean” (Ruth 2:16), we know that it was because of Boaz’s intervention that Ruth ended up with so much.

I believe that Jesus, our heavenly Boaz, does the same thing for us today. He causes people to favor us and “drop” blessings on us because He loves us. Then, He causes us to “pick up” these blessings. Often, it happens so seemingly naturally we forget that it is the Lord who has blessed us with the increases.

A church member who runs a florist business shared that once, God caused someone who needed a lot of flowers to “drop” a huge order with her. She also shared that she was hardly making any money even though she had been working hard for many years. But when she became a Christian after coming to our church, she began to confess every day that God’s favor was on her. Within a few weeks, that big order worth S$14,000 came in. Only God could have given her such a supernatural increase.

My friend, your hard work is not behind your increase. The Bible tells us that it is “God who gives the increase”. He is the one who is behind your increase and He delights in blessing you because He loves you!

Proverbs 17:22

      I have been reading the chapter in Proverbs that corresponds with the day of the month, so since today is October 17,  I read Proverbs 17.  And again today as yesterday, a verse stood out to me--verse 22--which says,
             
                  "A cheerful heart is good medicine, 
                        but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

      This verse seems to be a confirmation and a continuation of the message of verse 24, in the previous chapter (see yesterday's post).  

    It is so much easier to have a cheerful heart when gracious words are spoken to us, but how hurtful to our spirit--and health--when words of criticism and anger are spoken!  They crush our spirit and dry up our bones!

      It seems the Lord is trying to get my attention and has a lesson here He wants me to learn.  Pray that I will be a willing and persistent student, won't you?

Proverbs 16:24

Proverbs 16:24    "Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."

     This verse in Proverbs seemed to stand out as I was reading this morning.  How true it is that gracious words are sweet to the soul!  Can you think of a time when you were feeling down and someone said an encouraging word to you?  I can recall many times when I have been wondering if I've ever made a difference in anyone else's life.  Have I ever done anything that counts for eternity?  Isn't it amazing how the devil can send thoughts like this to our minds?  Instead of recognizing where they've come from and replacing them with what God says, we begin to dwell on them and start to feel discouraged.  

     Often as I am spiraling downward in my thought processes the Lord sends someone to show me how He sees me, or to thank me for something I did, or said. That happened just this week when my friend, Jane, was here from Colorado.  She thanked me for inviting their family to CFO almost 20 years ago, and told me how that had totally changed their lives.  (It was a small thing I did--just one piece to the puzzle--but it has had major consequences because Jane has been, and is, very active in the national leadership of CFO and has therefore affected many more people's lives.)  

     How refreshing to hear words of encouragement!  It gives me new strength and the will to persevere. Those words truly were sweet to my soul.  

     As I continued to meditate on this verse my thoughts turned to all the people who are sick in the world.  Could it be that these words are to be taken literally?  Would gracious words--kind and encouraging words--words that help a person see themselves as God sees them--truly bring health to their bones?  The New Century translation seems to say so.  It translates this verse as "Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, making people happy and healthy."  What a simple way to spread health and happiness!

     How much all of us need positive, gracious, kind, uplifting words because we are daily bombarded with so much negative news!  We hear criticisms everywhere we turn!  We compare ourselves to others.  Could it be that more of us would be healthy if we had someone to speak words of hope to us?  I think so!

    Jesus, my prayer is that You will remind me how important it is to speak kind and gracious words to all I meet.  I pray You will show me how you see others and the gifts you have put in them, and then to speak those words of hope and encouragement at every opportunity.

Shucking Corn--Clean Ears Everytime

        I wish I had seen this little video earlier this summer when our sweet corn was ready so I could have tried it, but I'm posting it here in hopes I will remember next year.  (I may have to buy a few ears at the supermarket soon just to satisfy my curiosity.)

Sura 9:5 says, "Slay the idolaters wherever you find them

      I received the information posted below in an email this morning.  I believe it is crucial that our eyes be opened to what is happening in America today.  We, the people of the United States of America--a nation founded on Christian principles--need to 'wake up'!  Muslims are mandated to destroy us--the infidel--as we are called in the Koran, but we hide our heads in the sand and think they will stop their destructive ways if we are just nice to them.  No way!  We have got to stop the infiltration of Islam into our schools, government and communities.  How will this happen unless our eyes are opened to the plans and purposes of the fanatics of this hate-filled religion?

 With Terrorist Muslims

Two Black Americans were elected to congress this cycle, and both are Republican. Col. West is from southern Florida. He won in a walk.

This new Congressman was an extremely popular commander in Iraq. He was forced to retire because during an intense combat action a few of his men were captured. At the same time his men captured one of the guys who were with the Iraqis who captured his men.

Knowing that time was crucial and his interrogators were not getting anywhere with the prisoner, Col. West took matters into his own hands. He burst into the room and demanded thru an interpreter that the prisoner tell him where his men were being taken. The prisoner refused so Col. West took out his pistol and placed it into the prisoner's crotch and fired. Then the Col. told the prisoner that the next shot would not miss. So the prisoner said he would show where the American service members were being taken. The Americans were rescued. Someone filed a report on incorrect handling of prisoners. Col. West was forced to retire. Col. West was just elected in November 2010 to Congress from Florida. During the elections he was part of a panel on how to handle or how to relate to Muslims. You will see his answer here explaining in just over a minute the truth about Islam. Please watch and if you agree, please tell others.

"The School of the Seers" by Jonathan Welton

     Dave & Jane, friends from Colorado, have been visiting the past few days.  We've had fun catching up on all that has transpired in their lives and ours since their last visit a few years ago.   Dave has recently retired so they are on a several-week-long road trip to the East Coast.
    As Jane & I were talking on Tuesday, our conversation naturally turned to the spiritual, and to what we had heard, learned, and experienced since our last time together.  She said she is reading the book, The School of the Seers, by Jonathan Welton, to Dave as they have been driving, and is impressed by the message of the book.  She recommended I read it.
     That evening we decided to watch NCIS because they like the show so much.  Afterwards we watched one of the Sid Roth, "It's Supernatural," programs Country Guy and I had previously recorded on our DVR.  How amazed we were when we saw that Sid's guest was Jonathan Welton talking about his experiences and his book, The School of the Seers!  This was obviously a rerun, because as we watched I remembered seeing the show a year, or two before, but had forgotten about it.
       It seems the Lord was speaking to me.  As the Bible says--"out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses a thing shall be established".  What is the likelihood of hearing about this book on the same day from two very different sources--one of which was produced a couple of years earlier?
       It surely means I need to read this book, so I have ordered it on Amazon.com.  I'll let you know when I've finished reading it.  Maybe you will want to get a copy, too.

Joseph Prince's Devotional on Shalom

     This devotional from Joseph Prince explains so well the theme of my blog that I couldn't resist posting it.  I continue to bless all of you with "Shalom".

Jesus Has Given You His Peace

John 14:27 27Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you…

In Israel, Jews greet each other with the words “shalom, shalom”. Unlike the English word “peace”, “shalom” does not just mean peace of mind, but also wholeness for your entire being — spirit, soul and body. It means having a sense of completeness and soundness. In other words, shalom encompasses your prosperity, health and total well-being. When Jesus spoke to His disciples in John 14:27, He did not use the English word “peace”. He would have used the Hebrew word “shalom”, saying, “Shalom I leave with you, My shalom I give to you…” Interestingly, the word “leave” here actually means “bequeath”, the way a rich man bequeaths his estate to his beneficiary. The disciples must have been excited when they heard that Jesus was bequeathing them His shalom. They must have known that to receive His shalom was to have His health because they had never seen Him sick. To have His shalom also meant never being in lack because He was never broke. Whenever He needed money, money was there. Once, money to pay the temple tax came in the mouth of a fish! (Matthew 17:24–27) The disciples also understood that having Jesus’ shalom meant having His abundance because they had seen Him meeting the needs of thousands with plenty of leftovers. They saw him feeding 5,000 men (not counting the women and children) with 12 baskets full of leftovers! (Mark 6:34–44) Jesus wanted His disciples to know that His peace was different from the peace that the world offers. His peace would change whatever trying circumstances that beset them. Even if it was a mega storm, it would have to bow to His peace. The Prince of Peace merely spoke, “Peace, be still!” and the winds and the sea obeyed Him. (Mark 4:39) His peace changed the mega storm into a perfect calm. Beloved, that is the kind of peace that Jesus has bequeathed to you. Therefore, believe that His shalom which He has left with you will change all your difficult situations, bringing you from sickness, lack and mental anguish to health, prosperity and total wellness!

BRIAN DOERKSEN - THE RIVER

I love this song, and the way Brian Doerksen sings it.

A Tribute to Life

An email I received today from a mother of an adopted son who also made a difference in so many lives:

Normally, Deacon Greg Kandra’s homilies are superb, but this one has left me speechless. I believe he has said it all right here. Visit his blog, The Deacon’s Bench, for a daily dose of clarity, balance, and unsurpassed wisdom. Here’s Deacon Kandra: Since this is Respect Life Sunday, and the beginning of Respect Life month, I wanted to talk about one woman who did respect life – and her choice has made a difference in the life of virtually every person in this church. Her name is Joanne Schiebel. In 1954, she was a young unmarried college student who discovered that she was pregnant. In the 1950s, her options were limited. She could have had an abortion – but the procedure was both dangerous and illegal. She could have gotten married, but she wasn’t ready and didn’t want to interrupt her education. Joanne opted, instead, to give birth to the baby and put it up for adoption. And so it was that in 1955, a California couple named Paul and Clara Jobs adopted a baby boy, born out of wedlock, that they named Steven. We know him today…as Steve Jobs. It would not be overstating things to say that Steve Jobs is my generation’s Thomas Edison. As one observer put it, he knew what the world wanted before the world knew that it wanted it. If you have an iPhone or an iPad or an iPod, or anything remotely resembling them, you can thank Steve Jobs. If your world has been transformed by the ability to hear a symphony, send a letter, pay a bill, deposit a check, read a book and then buy theater tickets on something smaller than a cigarette case…you can thank Steve Jobs. And: you can thank Joanne Schiebel. If you want to know how much one life can matter, there is just one example. But: imagine if that life had never happened. Imagine if an unmarried pregnant college student 56 years ago had made a different choice. Now, imagine all the unmarried pregnant college students who make that different choice today. By one measure, more than half of all abortions in the United States – 53% — occur in young women under the age of 25. That is hundreds of thousands of lives every year, snuffed out. Millions over the last quarter century. The horrifying truth is this: we live now in a culture that not only does not respect life, but discards it like trash — not only at the beginning of life, but also at the end, and every place in between. What has happened to us? In Europe , there’s a new industry of “suicide tourism,” for people who are old or infirm and want to kill themselves. In California , when it was announced during a recent presidential debate that 234 people had been executed in Texas , hundreds of people in the audience applauded. What has happened to us? Catholics can disagree about whether the death penalty is necessary. But we can’t disagree about this: cheering death – any death, especially if it involves someone who may be innocent – is an affront to life. And yet we do it so easily. And that is part of the problem. Life has become disposable. In the New York Times recently, there was a long article about the practice called “singleton” – where women pregnant with triplets or twins can arrange to have one or more of the babies aborted, to better manage the size of their family. We don’t talk about it often, but it needs to be said: the reason we don’t see as many children any more with Down Syndrome isn’t because of some great medical breakthrough. No. It’s because roughly 90% of them are being aborted. What has happened to us??? If you listen closely, the gospel this Sunday is, in one sense, about respecting life – and choosing death. It brings us the familiar saying about “the stone that the builder rejected.” Well, we have rejected more stones, more lives, than we can count. When will it end? It’s increasingly clear that the only lasting change will happen when we work to change not only laws, but also hearts. And that begins with each of us. When will it end? This nightmare will end when we pass on what we all know to be true: for all its complexity and complications, all its sorrows and fears, all its headaches and heartaches…life matters. Every life. At every moment. This nightmare will end when we teach our children that nothing, and no one, is ever discarded. Remember the multiplication of the loaves and fishes? When Christ performed that miracle, the story didn’t end when everyone ate. It ended with the people gathering up every crumb. Because every crumb was a part of that miracle. No one, no thing, no life is wasted in the incredible work of God. This nightmare will end when we acknowledge that life is inconvenient, and difficult, and unplanned. But nothing, and no one, is ever unplanned or unwanted when the one doing the planning and the wanting is God. This nightmare will end when we realize, at last, that love is greater than fear. It will end when we make of our lives a continuing prayer – prayer that isn’t afraid to plead, to ask, to question, to hope. Prayer that embraces the beautiful truth of the most popular prayer in the world: “Thy will be done.” Prayer that is able to trust. It will end when we see life not as a problem to be solved, but as a gift to be embraced. It will end when we simply choose life. Beautiful, chaotic, unpredictable, explosive, crazy life. Life isn’t something to be discarded because it is difficult, or inconvenient, or unexpected, or old or sick. It is so much greater than we realize. I sometimes mention this in baptism instruction: the baptism rite begins with declaring the name of the child. It harkens back to Genesis, and the first thing Adam did after God created him – he named everything around him. With that, man continued God’s creative work in the world. And we do that today: with every life we welcome, God continues His creation. Choosing life, we choose to be a part of that. That’s what Joanne Schiebel did. Think of her the next time you make a phone call or plug in your iPod or download music. And this morning, consider the work before us. It begins here, and now. By changing how we talk about life, how we treat life, how we teach life to our children, we will begin to change hearts, change minds. “Respect life” is more than just a catchphrase. It needs to be a way of living. Respect life. Not just in the womb, but everywhere, at every time, in all circumstances — within our families, our communities, the places we work and do business. It means treating every life with dignity, and honoring every life as a gift. Doing that, moment by moment, we will begin to change the culture. And: heart by heart, we will begin to change the world.

David Kupelian's Article from WND

      This rather long, but insightful article by David Kupelian is an excellent explanation of Proverbs 29:27 "The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright," which I mentioned in my post on Sept. 30. It is well worth the read. Hopefully, you will pass it on so others can read it, also. We must "Wake Up" and stand for righteousness before it is too late!

(As usual, I have no idea why there is double spacing between my words in this post or the one before. It doesn't show up until I post it. I can't figure out how to take the extra spacing out. Sorry. I keep hoping someone who knows something about HTML will contact me and help me correct some things.)
 

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Sarah Palin and the war for America's soul

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Posted: October 05, 2011
12:57 pm Eastern
© 2011 WND

       For just a few minutes, clear your mind of the endless political analysis and intrigue that fill the news media, talk radio and Internet. Let it all go, and take a deep breath.

       Now, let's consider together the extraordinary spectacle we see unfolding before our eyes in America today.

       Sarah Palin, who just announced she will not run for the presidency in 2012, is a good place to start. Consider the following Twitter comments made by young Americans earlier this year about the former Alaska governor:

• "Join us in praying to God that Sarah Palin contracts cancer and dies."
  
• "My hatred for Sarah Palin continues to grow. I think this woman should be assassinated."
  
• "I hope Sarah Palin dies a slow and painful death."
  
• "I hope she dies gnashing her teeth."
  
• "Sarah Palin is the single most dangerous threat to the future of the human race. Thick venomous cretin she is. Someone bloody shoot her."

       These are only five out of dozens of similar Twitter messages, all equally horrendous, all calling for a torturous death for Sarah Palin. They came after a deranged man named Jared Loughner tried to assassinate Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in downtown Tucson – and many people, for some utterly incomprehensible reason, decided to blame Palin.

         The irrational hatred toward Sarah Palin cannot be explained in the usual terms of politics and ideology. The traditional divide of "liberal versus conservative" or "Democrat versus Republican" cannot explain such dark, almost other-worldly expressions as "I hope she dies gnashing her teeth" or death threats against the Palins'children.

         As we all know, ever since John McCain chose Palin as his VP running mate three years ago, the left – including the entire elite media – have been pathologically obsessed with her. During the 2008 presidential campaign, the big media couldn't be bothered to investigate Barack Obama, whose background was chock full of Marxists, terrorists, pornographers, criminals and rabid anti-American racists. Nothing of interest there. But they sent platoons of journalists to Wasilla, Alaska, dumpster-diving for dirt on Palin – including, for example, their investigation into who paid for the tanning bed she had installed in the governor's mansion. (She did.)

         Since then, there have been continual attacks and dirt-hunting, most recently with both the Washington Post and New York Times begging readers to join in the witch hunt to find something incriminating in 24,000 Palin emails. Once again, they found nothing of consequence.

       Many pundits have opined as to why there's so much hatred toward Palin: She's too conservative; she's too good-looking; her voice irritates them; she shoots wolves from a helicopter.

Early on, I took a passing stab at this question in "How Evil Works":

Haven't you ever wondered why, when someone on the public stage radiates noble character, common sense and natural grace – like Ronald Reagan did, or more recently Sarah Palin – he or she is regarded by the "big media" with an inexplicable revulsion? Hatred is almost too soft a word. It's because Reagan and Palin manifest the very qualities of character that the jaded media elite lost long ago, and since being thus reminded of their lost innocence is painful and unwelcome, they feel compelled to attack the "reminder."

       Since then, "Robin of Berkeley" – pseudonym for a Berkeley, Calif., psychotherapist – wrote a poignant and meaningful column along these same lines in American Thinker. Here's what she concluded: "Leftists loathe Palin because she has retained something that was stripped from them years ago: a wholesomeness, a purity of heart. People on the left despise Palin because she shines a bright light on their shame and unworthiness, which they try desperately to deny."

       Of course, this syndrome goes way beyond Sarah Palin. In fact, if you look carefully, this is actually the defining phenomenon of modern American life.

We're talking about literally a war between light and darkness. I don't mean that as a metaphor, but as hard reality.

       Michele Bachmann caught some of this recently as a presidential candidate, when Newsweek did a hit piece on her, plastering a maniacal "evil eye" photo of her on the cover and headlining it "The Queen of Rage." Bachmann is one of the most gracious and genuinely caring ladies I've ever met. Indeed, caring for a couple dozen foster children, as she and husband Marcus have done (not to mention five of their own) takes love – not rage.

Of course, the so-called "rage" Newsweek accused Bachmann of being "queen" of is the "rage" of the tea party, for which both Bachmann and Palin are icons.

        Allow me to digress here and point out that leftists are masters of what psychologists callprojection – meaning, you literally accuse innocent people of the very faults of which you yourself are guilty. So the left, which is fueled entirely by rage and envy, accuses the tea party, which is fueled by love of country and concern over Obama's "fundamental transformation of America," of being full of "rage." If you've ever been to a tea party event, this notion is seen as laughable delusion.

          Do you remember in the early months of Obama's presidency, the Department of Homeland Security produced a report warning about the threat of homegrown, radicalized, militant and potentially violent "right-wing extremists"? And who exactly were these scary people? If you were pro-life, had an NRA bumper sticker, were concerned about illegal immigration or government debt, and especially if you were a returning military veteran – just home after having defended your beloved country with your very life – you were potentially a dangerous "extremist" and threat to the country, according to the government.

Ollie North wrote a great piece in response, called "I am an extremist," in which he explained:

According to the U.S. government, I am an extremist.

I am a Christian and meet regularly with other Christians to study God's word. My faith convinces me the prophesies in the Holy Bible are true. I believe in the sanctity of human life, oppose abortion and want to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

I am a veteran with skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. I own several firearms, frequently shoot them, buy ammunition and consider efforts to infringe on my Second Amendment rights to be wrong and unconstitutional.

I fervently support the sovereignty of the United States, am deeply concerned about our economy, increasingly higher taxes, illegal immigration, soaring unemployment and actions by our government that will bury my children beneath a mountain of debt.

Apparently, all this makes me a "right-wing extremist." At least that's what it says in the April 7, 2009 "assessment" issued by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security.

          Fast-forward to August 2011. After the debt-ceiling melodrama in Washington, in which the tea party demonstrated the most sanity of any of the characters, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd – in a column titled "Washington Chain Saw Massacre" – described tea partiers as "cannibals" "zombies" and "vampires." She wrote:

They were like cannibals, eating their own party and leaders alive. They were like vampires, draining the country’s reputation, credit rating and compassion. They were like zombies, relentlessly and mindlessly coming back again and again to assault their unnerved victims, Boehner and President Obama. They were like the metallic beasts in "Alien" flashing mouths of teeth inside other mouths of teeth, bursting out of Boehner’s stomach every time he came to a bouquet of microphones.

        Again, let's be crystal clear who is being talked about here. "Tea party" is just a contemporary cultural label for what used to be called normal.

         Normal people – regular, fair-minded, live-and-let-live, law-abiding citizens with traditional values: work hard, save your money, play by the rules, help other people, don't spend more than you have. These are the people being called "cannibals," "vampires" and "terrorists."

         On this video of Bernie Goldberg on "The O'Reilly Factor," pundit after lefty pundit can be seen passionately comparing tea party folk with terrorists:

• MSNBC's Steven Rattner: "It's a form of economic terrorism. These tea party guys are like strapped with dynamite, standing in the middle of Times Square at rush hour, and saying, 'You do it my way or we'll blow you up.'"
  
• Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson: "They strapped explosives to the capitol."
  
• MSNBC's Chris Matthews: "The GOP has become the Wahhabis of American government, willing to risk bringing down the whole country in the service of their anti-tax ideology."

       Ironically, noted Goldberg, "these are people who don't call real terrorists 'terrorists.'"

And of course, before tea party people were maligned as "terrorists," "zombies," "cannibals" and "vampires," they were "racists." And before that – before the name "tea party" even came into use – the same normal American people were maligned as "right-wing extremists," as noted above courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security.

       Do you understand what we're looking at here?

       There is a growing and highly influential segment of our society that thinks normal, "Ozzie and Harriet," traditional-minded Americans are evil.

The picture of 'normal'

        When I see a tea party scene with a patriot dressed up as George Washington, or a soccer mom with her kids holding homemade signs saying "God bless America," or a grandmother thoughtfully picking up litter after the rally so the city's maintenance crew won't have much to do, I like to think of these good folks as characters right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

        Rockwell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for painting "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country" – like the man standing up at a town hall meeting to exercise his freedom of speech and the crowd pledging allegiance to the flag andThanksgiving dinner and Boy Scouts and saying grace before a meal and Christmas andbaseball and hunting and fishing and ... Well, you get the idea.

Norman Rockwell painted the America normal people love.

         But did you know there are influential people in America who hate Norman Rockwell paintings?

Blake Gopnik, until just recently, was the chief art critic for the Washington Post for the past decade.

         Gopnik says he is "offended" by and even "hates" Norman Rockwell's art. "I can't stand the view of America that he presents, which I feel insults a huge number of us non-mainstream folks."

         Hmm. "Non-mainstream" – wonder what that means. If Gopnik hates Norman Rockwell's vision of America, what does he love?

         Here's a clue: He came to the defense recently of a taxpayer-funded exhibit at Washington's National Portrait Gallery by homosexual artist David Wojnarowicz of a film featuring a crucifix with ants crawling on Jesus' body. You paid for this.

         The Wojnarowicz exhibit also featured male sex organs, naked brothers kissing, men in chains and other stuff I'm sure you're delighted to have paid for. This is what the Washington Post's chief art critic for a decade calls "wonderful art." But he hates Norman Rockwell because of the image of America his art portrays – namely, love, affection and respect for this nation.

         The ants-on-Jesus video, with its mocking, demented soundtrack, is so incredibly creepy that it makes normal people want to run screaming from the room. But to some people, "art" from the pit of hell, a creation that is repulsive, disgusting and nausea-inducing ... is "wonderful."

         People, what we're looking at is nothing more nor less than a radical spiritual polarization of Americans – citizens literally of opposite polarities. It's a spiritual battle between darkness and light, playing out in all our lives, and also dramatically on the national stage. And, as has always been the case, darkness cannot stand the light – so it curses it.

How did we get to the point that many of us are comfortable with perversion and corruption and death – but threatened by brightness and virtue and life? (For the whole answer, you'll have to read "The Marketing of Evil.")

         In a nutshell: All of us are shaped and influenced by other people – first parents and family, later on friends, school, college, work and of course our wildly immoral culture. And the truth is, we human beings – just like Pinocchio on the way to school when he meets up with the fox ("Honest John") and the cat – are pretty easily led astray from our common sense and corrupted.

         We are tempted first and foremost into becoming upset all the time by other broken, thoughtless and cruel people around us. Then, once we're living in an upset and confused state, we're easily suckered into every other area – into giving up our modesty and our purity, and embracing garbage philosophies diametrically opposed to reality, and so on.

          A perfect place for losing your common sense and innocence is school. The government ("public") school system and colleges today are a disgrace. One of the dominant features of a modern university campus, something leveraged across every area – from curriculum to campus culture – is the mainstreaming and forced acceptance of sexual perversion, literally the elevation of everything degrading and perverse. The darkness worldview is taught and glorified as something "wonderful" – and all for only $35,000 per year.

          Unfortunately, once we have had our innocence and integrity ripped off and have oozed into becoming a darker, more conflicted version of our former self, now when somebody comes along who simply radiates the wholesome qualities we left behind, we feel uncomfortable. In fact, we feel positively threatened, as though there's something seriously wrong with that person.

          This is what we're witnessing daily – people who are broken and seduced to the dark side, shrieking like a vampire when they encounter a bright, wholesome, outspoken person like Sarah Palin, or the tea party, or Oliver North, or millions of normal, law-abiding, traditionally minded Americans.

          Likewise, this syndrome plays out daily in the Middle East between the Arab-Muslim world and Israel. Though in spiritual terms Israel may be the center of the universe, in worldly terms it's just a little strip of desert the size of New Jersey with no oil and no unusual riches. Yet the Jewish people, with a special blessing of God on them, have made it bloom. And people living in darkness and oppression cannot stand that – they feel persecuted by the light. So their minds invent all sorts of truly insane conspiracy theories to demonize Jews – Jews eat children, Jews never lived in Israel, Jews caused 9-11.

          What's it really all about? Envy – blinding, all-consuming envy. The Islamic world is obsessed, for example, with Al-Aqsa Mosque, supposedly the third holiest place in Islam, which just happens to be located directly on top of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest of all places in the world.

           There is no mention of Jerusalem in the entire Quran. Mecca, the holiest place to Muslims, and Medina, the second holiest, are mentioned dozens of times. But Jerusalem? Not a single reference, nor is there any historical evidence Muhammad ever went there.

Here's how I see it: The Islamic world's obsession with the Temple Mount – which is exceedingly precious to Jews – is like the desire an angry, jealous sibling has for a toy that his brother is happily playing with. The jealous kid never cared about that toy before, but now that his brother has it and is happily playing with it, the angry boy feels compelled to take it away, because he hates his brother. Of course, the only "happiness" he would obtain by getting the toy is the perverse satisfaction of depriving his brother of it.

           Another example: The Turks degraded and killed 1.5 million Armenians, including my grandfather and many other members of my extended family, all because of envy and a need to scapegoat. Like the Jews, the Armenians in Turkey tended to be more successful and prosperous than the Turks. The Armenians were accomplished and civilized people – merchants, tradesmen, intellectuals – because of their Christian religion and the values and disciplines it imparted. The Turks, a repressed, fear-based tribal culture, hated the Armenians because of their brightness, and so they degraded and killed them. By the way, to this day, the Turkish government denies that the Armenian Genocide ever even took place, which is why Turkey will never be blessed until it repents and admits its great national sin, as Germany did after the Nazi Holocaust.

          Now, let's bring this back home to America and Obama. He's got a bad case of this syndrome of sympathizing with bad guys and being mysteriously repelled by goodness. If you've ever seen him at events with subversive groups like ACORN and SEIU, and especially if you've watched him closely in front of a group of homosexual activists at one of their big fundraising events, his smile is broader, wider and more animated than any smile I've seen on him – almost an uncontrollable smile like a little boy would have at his birthday party when the pony ride arrives. Obama feels deeply at home with weird, perverse, radically dysfunctional people – after all, that's who he grew up with and was shaped by. But get him around normal people – Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu or Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister – and there's this mystifying coldness, aversion and incomprehension.

         This growth of spiritual darkness in America is the result of decades of assault by the political and moral left – a two-front war consisting of confrontation and simultaneous infiltration of almost every major institution in America: our government, our public schools and colleges, our news and entertainment media, the arts, the foundations and philanthropies, psychiatry and psychology at the highest levels, and even our churches.

         Thus, tens of millions of us have been indoctrinated and infected over decades with philosophies and worldviews that glorify everything wrong with human nature and attack America's Judeo-Christian foundation. At the same time, we've been tempted to cross the sacred moral boundary into sexual anarchy, which locks us into the realm of sin and all the irrational philosophies and phony experts we need to justify our sin.

         I'd say some significant portion, but less than half, of Americans have been thus corrupted – not all irredeemably, of course, but right now they're siding with the enemy. Once that percentage passes 50 percent, that's the end of America.

         In closing, let me say I believe God is being very kind to America right now. He still loves us.

       Why do I say that?

       Europe is just a few years ahead of America in all the bad things plaguing the West – Islamic subversion, godless secularism, stupid socialism, multiculturalism and bankruptcy. So we can easily see our future by just peering over the Atlantic. Ironically, just as Obama is intent on "fundamentally transforming" America into a socialist utopia like Europe, socialist Europe is melting down, country after country – Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy. And the smaller countries are threatening to bring down the bigger countries, because of the interconnectedness of the European state economies.

         If we in America cannot manage to heed such an obvious and mercifully clear message from God – "Stop. This Is Not The Way To Utopia" – then we deserve the very hard fall awaiting us.

         Our fall, actually, will be harder than Europe's – because the Bible says, "To whom much is given, much will be required." And nobody's been given more than America.

Read more:Sarah Palin and the war for America's soulhttp://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=352225#ixzz1aDXj8C1R