I write this blog as a place for me to comment on national politics and world events as I seen them. I don’t usually write about religion or religious topics … mostly because I don’t want to. With that said, I’m a Bible believing Christian. I don’t consider myself to be a Bible-thumping Christian ... I cannot quote scriptures and haven’t memorized Bible verses. Ever since I was a little boy I have believed that Jesus is who the Bible teaches that He is … the Son of God. I’ve never doubted that. I take Bible gospel at its word. I believe that the Holy Bible is God’s word to man.
I’m doubtful about Church. I consider church separately from the Bible. Churches always seem to have a greater dependency on what church leaders have to say than they do on anything else. It doesn’t seem to matter if it is a global church, a mega church, or a store front church. The head of the church always seems to be the focal point of the church. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a church leadership … what I’m saying is that I don’t put my faith in church leadership. I put my faith in Jesus and God’s word. Most of what I have learned about God and the Bible, I’ve learned from Christian hero’s I’ve known all of my life or on TV from when I was just a little 5 & 6 year old kid. After all, God’s word is easily found here in the United States … which is why I believe that United States has been blessed.
I’ve always been taught that faith in Jesus and having a relationship with Him is a personal choice. With that choice comes a connection with Him that is private … it is yours and His alone. It is not a collective relationship, nor is it based on collective salvation. What I mean by that is we are saved individually by confessing to Him that you know that you’re a sinner and unworthy to be saved, but Jesus will save you even if you can’t convinces your loved ones to accept Him with you … they have to save themselves by coming to Him on their own.
Making that choice is both the simplest and most complex decision a person will ever make. There isn’t a lot to do. There aren’t any fees to pay … so it doesn’t cost you a month’s salary. There aren’t any forms to fill out or paper work that you have to submit (at least not for Jesus, anyway). There aren’t any tests to take, no physicals you have to pass, and forget about having to pass a background check. Jesus won’t ask you for a urine sample, and he won’t even need or want any character references. All you have to do it take a leap! … a leap of faith, that is.
Here is where it becomes complex. Even though Jesus will freely save you, what has really happened when you accept Him is that you have saved yourself from yourself, from the world, from the devil, and from hell. Even though all of that was freely given to you it does not mean that there isn’t an expectation of you from Jesus and from God. That is where the Bible (God’s word) comes in.
The Holy Bible is a handbook. Within it we find out what the rules are and what God expects of us. Jesus’ teachings can be found there and so can the ten commandments (not the ten suggestions). There are instructions on how to properly love and care for one another, on personal and business conduct, and on moral and ethical behavior. No where have I read (or I should say, have I ever heard read) in the Bible that the ends justifies the means. Honesty, humility, charity, integrity, are constant themes in the Bible. So are bravery, selflessness, sacrifice, and long suffering. I believe that all of those themes were true of our country’s founding.
I’ve heard that for almost any question you can find an answer to that question within the pages of the Bible. Kind of like the old spaghetti sauce commercials used to say, “it’s in there!” I have put that theory to test on a couple of occasions and have found that to be true (I won’t go into detail here about them here). I have said that the root of most of the troubles we have today are caused by the lack of good basic morals and ethics. Why do I say that? … because the bible tells me so.
I’m no different than most Christians. I find myself looking for God and praying to Him when I’m in trouble or worried about a loved one. I’m working on that. I’ve started attending a Bible study ( I even bought a Bible … two actually). I’ve also been using the internet to study Bible verses and stories and have been making a conscious effort to pray … I usually pray when I’m driving.
I don’t pray nearly as much as I know I should. But, like I said, I’m working on it. Time and time again I have said in my blogs and when talking with others that 2011 is going to be a year we’d like to forget but most likely never will. That is another reason why I’ve started turning to prayer, to the Bible, and to Jesus. I’ve admitted to people that I don’t think I love Jesus nearly as much as I know He loves me. I’m praying for a more intense connection to Him. I also pray that more people will turn to Him before it is too late in their lives for them to take that leap of faith.
However, I’m a pragmatist. I know that many will come to him and many will not. The Bible says as much. I differ from a lot of (or probably most of) Christians I know in that I believe that more people will suffer the consequences of rejecting Jesus than they’ll even consider. Islamic terrorist are one example. Many of them are educated and have studied theology. They know about the world’s religions and beliefs. That means that they know about Christ and have rejected Christianity for Islam. That’s their choice. Agnostics very often are people that have grown up in some religion or another. They learned about Christ and rejected Christianity. That’s their choice. The same can be said for most atheist, and New Agers. I’ve even know of people that have been to seminary that have turned from their faith. The Bible teaches all of this. As a Bible believing Christian that accepts the good news of Jesus Christ, I have to accept the not so good news too.
I’m not a gambler. I’ve never enjoyed betting. Every once in a while I’ll play cards with friends, never expecting to walk away with any winnings. I’ll gamble away twenty dollars and call it a night. I’m definitely not a gambler where my soul is concerned. I hope you aren’t either. If you haven’t accepted Jesus, consider doing so … I believe you will find that it is the best bet you’ll ever make.
So why did I write this posting? I’m not really sure … it’s just what has been on my mind and I thought I'd shared it here with you.
There you have it.
Pass it on if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.
Eddie
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
WOW NOW JAPAN
In my first blog of the year I said that I thought 2010 was a strange year and I said that I thought that 2011 would be a strange year, too. In my opinion, 2010 was a disappointing year, but 2011 has been an astonishing one … and we haven’t even been through the first quarter of it yet! I never could have imagined that so many things could happen in such a short time. We see the entire Middle East is in revolt … oil prices, food prices, and global violence is on the rise. That’s all occurred in just January and February alone.
Government unions here in the U.S. are up in arms because states are having to face cutbacks caused by poor decisions that were made in the past. Now the states and the government unions will have to find ways to correct those mistakes. They will have to do so without asking for any more new money from the taxpayers because we don’t have the money for the taking and we will no longer put up with poor government spending. We know that for every dollar a union employee and politician is paid, and every benefit they receive comes from our pockets. In most cases, the benefits and pay government employees and politicians receive is a lot more than the people paying the taxes. If they aren’t careful we the people will fire them all.
I have been saying that 2011will be a year we’d like to forget but most likely never will. I think that 2011 will be forever remembered just as 1776, 1944, and 1968 will always be remembered. Here are just a few of the remarkable happenings we’ve witnessed take place this year: there was the suicide bombing of the church in Egypt, the suicide bombing in Russia, the murdering rampage in Arizona, birds and sea life have turned up dead by the thousands in parts of the country and millions of fish died in California, the Egyptians overthrew their dictator (Libyans are trying to do the same and very many of them have been killed), even more protests are taking place all over the Middle East. In Wisconsin government workers have used the Egyptian turmoil as a false rallying cry for their selfish movement. Disturbingly, the Chinese unveiled their first stealth jet fighter … one that looks almost exactly like ours. It went on it’s first test flight while our Secretary of Defense was paying them a visit ... what a coincidence. Those are just a few of the things that have happened since the first of this year.
And now we have Japan. Japan was hit with the triple crown of disasters … an under water earth quake that triggered a massive tsunami, that then has caused (at the time I wrote this blog) three explosions at nuclear power plants. The magnitude of these disasters was brought horribly to bear as 1,000 bodies of victims washed onto Japanese shores. The death toll will exceed 10,000 it could be in the hundreds of thousands. One official has said that 10,000 are missing from his city alone. Fortunately, Japan has planned for earth quakes and tsunamis, but not of the type and scale that just hit them. Certainly they could never have planned for such devastating disasters to happen all at the same time. Even if they had, there’s no preventing them.
The Japanese have shown tremendous grace and fortitude in dealing with the aftermath of the disasters. There hasn’t been rioting, raping, looting, violence, or disobedience. The people are helping and working with one another peacefully, prayerfully, and civilly. They have been a lesson in politeness at a time when it is most needed. It is a remarkable contrast to what Americans saw happen in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. I pray that the Japanese people will not have to suffer anymore than they are enduring right now, and I know that you and millions (no, billions) of others all around the globe are doing the same. And I pray that 2011 will give us a break for a while.
There you have it.
Pass it along if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.
Eddie
Government unions here in the U.S. are up in arms because states are having to face cutbacks caused by poor decisions that were made in the past. Now the states and the government unions will have to find ways to correct those mistakes. They will have to do so without asking for any more new money from the taxpayers because we don’t have the money for the taking and we will no longer put up with poor government spending. We know that for every dollar a union employee and politician is paid, and every benefit they receive comes from our pockets. In most cases, the benefits and pay government employees and politicians receive is a lot more than the people paying the taxes. If they aren’t careful we the people will fire them all.
I have been saying that 2011will be a year we’d like to forget but most likely never will. I think that 2011 will be forever remembered just as 1776, 1944, and 1968 will always be remembered. Here are just a few of the remarkable happenings we’ve witnessed take place this year: there was the suicide bombing of the church in Egypt, the suicide bombing in Russia, the murdering rampage in Arizona, birds and sea life have turned up dead by the thousands in parts of the country and millions of fish died in California, the Egyptians overthrew their dictator (Libyans are trying to do the same and very many of them have been killed), even more protests are taking place all over the Middle East. In Wisconsin government workers have used the Egyptian turmoil as a false rallying cry for their selfish movement. Disturbingly, the Chinese unveiled their first stealth jet fighter … one that looks almost exactly like ours. It went on it’s first test flight while our Secretary of Defense was paying them a visit ... what a coincidence. Those are just a few of the things that have happened since the first of this year.
And now we have Japan. Japan was hit with the triple crown of disasters … an under water earth quake that triggered a massive tsunami, that then has caused (at the time I wrote this blog) three explosions at nuclear power plants. The magnitude of these disasters was brought horribly to bear as 1,000 bodies of victims washed onto Japanese shores. The death toll will exceed 10,000 it could be in the hundreds of thousands. One official has said that 10,000 are missing from his city alone. Fortunately, Japan has planned for earth quakes and tsunamis, but not of the type and scale that just hit them. Certainly they could never have planned for such devastating disasters to happen all at the same time. Even if they had, there’s no preventing them.
The Japanese have shown tremendous grace and fortitude in dealing with the aftermath of the disasters. There hasn’t been rioting, raping, looting, violence, or disobedience. The people are helping and working with one another peacefully, prayerfully, and civilly. They have been a lesson in politeness at a time when it is most needed. It is a remarkable contrast to what Americans saw happen in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. I pray that the Japanese people will not have to suffer anymore than they are enduring right now, and I know that you and millions (no, billions) of others all around the globe are doing the same. And I pray that 2011 will give us a break for a while.
There you have it.
Pass it along if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.
Eddie
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
GROWING VIOLENCE IN 2011
Over the last few weeks we have seen the world become increasingly violent. Unarmed people have been killed in Libya, Iran, and Mexico. Two unsuspecting USAF Airmen were killed and two were wounded in Germany by a radical Muslim. In Lubbock, TX, a radical Saudi Arabian Muslim student was caught planning to attempt bombings here in the U.S. … he’d even targeted the home of former President G. W. Bush.
The Middle East is in greater turmoil that anyone could have ever imagined. As the unrest increases, there is no telling just how much more blood will be shed. In my blog from February 20th I said “if the violence worsens and lives are lost in the Middle East, the media, the President, and pundits will have more trouble and blood on their hands than they could ever have imagined”. As we know now, the violence has gotten much worse. We’ve been lucky so far that no America citizens have been killed … yet.
We haven’t been as lucky in Mexico. Too many Americas have been killed in Mexico due to the rampant violence. But even more worrisome than that has been the unacceptable number of Americans that have been killed by the Mexican gangs on our side of the border (in law enforcement and civilians). Recently, a young 21 year old woman that took on the role of Chief of Police in her town has fled Mexico in fear of her life. Yet our federal government still will not secure the border.
Another disturbing development has been the violence we’ve seen unveiled by government union employees at rally after rally held across the nation … and not just in Wisconsin. By and large, the people attending these rallies do not represent the whole of the unions, they are from the most radical arm of them. For all of the negative rumors that were spread by liberals in the media, and in the Democrat party about the TEA parties being hate-filled, it has been union thugs that have actually been caught on tape behaving hatefully. We don’t hear anything about that from liberal reporters, politicians, or from President Obama.
I don’t know if the world is actually anymore violent today that at any other time in history, but it sure seems that way to me. Maybe it is because so much has happened in just the first two months of this year that I’m sensing it. Not only has there been actual violence, but there is great potential that this year may get even more violent. I believe that high oil prices will cause tensions between nations to rise. I think oil producing nations outside of the Middle East will soon use the Middle East’s unrest to even further blackmail the world with even higher oil prices … in a sense that is already happening. I’m convinced that those nations will attempt to increase their wealth and global influence with this new oil money. If that happens, there is no telling how much more violent the world will get.
Libya, Iran, Mexico, Cuba, China, Afghanistan, etc., have shown us a fraction of man’s inhumanity to man. They’ve also shown us just how easily a small group of radicals can take over a nation or a movement and kill without remorse in the name of revolution, or social justice, or simply in the name of change. The only way for evil to win as Ronald Reagan said “is for good men to do nothing”. Change is coming, and what that change will bring none of us knows for sure, but if it is the wrong change (and I believe that it is) will we simply set back and do nothing?
There you have it.
Pass it along if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.
Eddie
The Middle East is in greater turmoil that anyone could have ever imagined. As the unrest increases, there is no telling just how much more blood will be shed. In my blog from February 20th I said “if the violence worsens and lives are lost in the Middle East, the media, the President, and pundits will have more trouble and blood on their hands than they could ever have imagined”. As we know now, the violence has gotten much worse. We’ve been lucky so far that no America citizens have been killed … yet.
We haven’t been as lucky in Mexico. Too many Americas have been killed in Mexico due to the rampant violence. But even more worrisome than that has been the unacceptable number of Americans that have been killed by the Mexican gangs on our side of the border (in law enforcement and civilians). Recently, a young 21 year old woman that took on the role of Chief of Police in her town has fled Mexico in fear of her life. Yet our federal government still will not secure the border.
Another disturbing development has been the violence we’ve seen unveiled by government union employees at rally after rally held across the nation … and not just in Wisconsin. By and large, the people attending these rallies do not represent the whole of the unions, they are from the most radical arm of them. For all of the negative rumors that were spread by liberals in the media, and in the Democrat party about the TEA parties being hate-filled, it has been union thugs that have actually been caught on tape behaving hatefully. We don’t hear anything about that from liberal reporters, politicians, or from President Obama.
I don’t know if the world is actually anymore violent today that at any other time in history, but it sure seems that way to me. Maybe it is because so much has happened in just the first two months of this year that I’m sensing it. Not only has there been actual violence, but there is great potential that this year may get even more violent. I believe that high oil prices will cause tensions between nations to rise. I think oil producing nations outside of the Middle East will soon use the Middle East’s unrest to even further blackmail the world with even higher oil prices … in a sense that is already happening. I’m convinced that those nations will attempt to increase their wealth and global influence with this new oil money. If that happens, there is no telling how much more violent the world will get.
Libya, Iran, Mexico, Cuba, China, Afghanistan, etc., have shown us a fraction of man’s inhumanity to man. They’ve also shown us just how easily a small group of radicals can take over a nation or a movement and kill without remorse in the name of revolution, or social justice, or simply in the name of change. The only way for evil to win as Ronald Reagan said “is for good men to do nothing”. Change is coming, and what that change will bring none of us knows for sure, but if it is the wrong change (and I believe that it is) will we simply set back and do nothing?
There you have it.
Pass it along if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.
Eddie
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