A sermon in five words

When I was a baby Christian, I could count on two things in every church service. There would be an altar call at the end, and the pastor would utter only one sentence before praying for the morning's offering:

"Let us prepare to invest."

I don't remember too many of Howard Sugden's sermons. However, I do remember him shuffling to the podium (he was over eighty years old at the time), placing his hands on either side to brace himself for the weighty duty of prayer, and uttering a simple sermon in five words before thanking God for the provision He was about to make. I think of it almost every time I put something in the plate. It's investing.

Delightful

Paul Greenberg's Easter column. I would not have guessed that a Reform Jew like Greenberg could so nail that. My hat is off to him!

A thought for Good Friday

I am a Christ-killer.

A forgiven one, thankfully, but a Christ-killer nonetheless.

Gorbachev a believer?

Back in college, when "Glasnost" and "Perestroika" were being introduced in the Soviet Union, I daydreamed about the possibility that Gorbachev might be a closet Christian. Reagan is said to have had the same suspicion.

Today, the news comes out that Gorbachev himself makes that claim, and...quite frankly, I'm not convinced. Didn't our Lord say something to the effect that He would deny him who denies Him?

I hope that Gorbachev has indeed entrusted the safekeeping of his soul to Jesus, or will soon. I'm just not yet convinced that someone who publicly espoused atheism (required for all Communist Party members) can claim that he was simultaneously accepting and denying Christ.

An incredible paradox

We have about an order of magnitude more material resources than our Depression-era parents and grandparents had, but those in the Depression era seem to have had far more things that would last long enough for children and grandchildren to fight over once the patriarchs had moved on or passed on. Here's a little column about the subject; isn't it neat how our grandparents accumulated so much that their children and grandchildren are willing to keep, and on wages that we would scorn today--even if inflation were accounted for?

I dare suggest that we've got something to learn here. Personally, I've noticed that the furniture I've received from my parents and grandparents seems to hold up a lot better than the stuff you can get at Wal-Mart or Target. Maybe filling the McMansion with the new stuff (and paying through the nose on the mortgage) isn't that good of an idea after all.

What do to?

...about skyrocketing STD infection rates, asks Gabrielle. Darned good question. Where to start?

Well, start by taking part in leading young people (and others of course) to Christ, and help to disciple them in the church. Encourage their parents in the marriages God has given them, and help to provide a safe place for them to be when their parents need to be elsewhere.

More? Well, what about helping those who wish to homeschool, or to take in foster children? Can you think of a more vulnerable group to this kind of thing? I can't.

Done all that? Wonderful--I envy your achievement! What about taking a look at your local schools? Read the paper; do they need chaperones at school events? Maybe an "untrained" ear like yours might be able to figure out that somebody seriously needs to edit the playlist at the sock hop, or that the "dance" team is going to be qualified for something a bit less dignified than the Bolshoi, or that local football fans need a bit of training in etiquette?

Little things like this can turn down the temperature. Give it a try.

Watch out for engineers!

According to sociologists at Oxford, it turns out that engineers are over-represented in Islamic Jihad, even outpacing squirrels, apparently. When the perpetrators of outrages are identified, it turns out that about 40% of successful terrrorists who hold a college degree happen to be engineers. I guess I should be shocked and outraged, but in reality, I'm not surprised.

Why?

Well, the historic roots of the practice of engineering lie in the creation and operation of engines of war--hence the "Military Science" degrees historically conferred at West Point. Terrorists are known for creating and deploying unconventional engines of war. Thus, to find a high proportion of engineers among people who make things that go BOOM is about as surprising as finding drunks at a bar.

Leave it to sociologists to downplay the obvious reason for a phenomenon in order to try to score political points.

(reason # 534, 233, 785 why you need to teach your children logic--so they won't grow up to be sociologists at Oxford!)

An example of kinism destroying a church

....courtesy of Anthony Bradley. Yes, Obama's pastor isn't the ordinary hue of those who would (pretend to) reach out to only those of their own race or ethnicity, but he's a kinist every bit as much as the "Little Geneva" crowd we knew and cringed at. Observe how he's doing everything BUT preaching the Scriptures. Playing racial politics in the pulpit will do that to you.

It may be exactly what his flock wants to hear, but I do think the Scripture says something about preaching to "itching ears" instead of the Word of God. It also says something about bringing the Good News not only to Jerusalem, but also Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Kinists of all colors would do well to remember Matthew 28.

Some good news in the culture wars.

No kidding, and it has to do with a lot of the things that we would think are really scary, sad, sinful, and horrible. Things like the Eliot Spitzer debacle, the ongoing trend of teachers molesting students, and someone finding out her "husband" actually was a woman--seven years after they married.

Why is this good? Simple; each disaster gives us a chance to talk about how it should be, and exactly why the perversions are exactly that. Let's go out and talk about these things--and use this as an extra excuse (not that we need any) to figure out a new way to show our wives how much we love them.

Let's remember the second part of "Where sin abounds," and rejoice in that.

Six things about KingDavid

KingDavid is apparently having some difficulty playing "it," so I figured I'd help him with the "six things" meme. Here goes:

1. His favorite foods are chicken and tofu.

2. He has five pet squirrels, all of them from Afghanistan.

3. All of his shoes are Corfam to avoid cruelty to animals.

4. He roots for Army to take the Commander in Chief's Trophy every football season.

5. He's really enjoying the extra hour of daylight when he comes home from work.

6. This is his home.

You're welcome, KD. :^)

Some sad news

It appears that the maker of Hostess and Wonder (if it's) Bread is emerging from Chapter 11 protection. Given what this manufacturer does to innocent flour, sugar, and other ingredients, I was hoping for Chapter 7, or at least for one of their Quality people to a reputable bakery to find out what real baked goods taste like, and change their product line.

A scary statistic

40% of sexually active teen girls have an STD, according to the CDC. This is really scary, as it indicates not only the danger, but also the nature, of sex for teens.

Why so? Well, consider that in 1999, the CDC estimated that about 65 million adults, or about 33%, had been infected with an STD. The numbers are probably somewhat higher now, but we're left with the interesting phenomenon that STD infection rates for teen girls are about the same as those for adults.

Lots of implications here. To start, the parity in rates indicates that most of the seducers of teen girls are adults--it's hard to get an STD from a virgin, after all. One might also infer a fairly high rate of promiscuity--we're not exactly talking about two young hearts falling prey to nature's course after the dance, but rather more of the scene Tom Wolfe described in I am Charlotte Simmons.

Going further, we have a slightly declining rate of teen pregnancy, but a rapidly increasing STD infection rate--we've got to infer that the condoms we're throwing at teens are more effective at stopping some things than others, to put it delicately.

Finally, an exploding STD infection rate ought to put the kibosh on the idea that the main sex ed method--that of SIECUS and Planned Parenthood, not the abstinence method--is having any beneficial effect on helping teens to make intelligent decisions in this area.

I know that I'm not supposed to....

....wish harm on anyone, but I cannot help hoping that Mrs. Spitzer is inspired by Dick Armey's response to the question of what he would be doing if he'd done what Bill Clinton had done to Hillary. I now for sure that I'd have trouble convicting her for that if I were on the jury.

At the very least, it would be refreshing to see a politician come out there with a black eye or two and without his wife, and flat out tell the truth and offer his resignation and a real apology.

Great comment

Mark told me that my links are too scary to click. Insult? Nah, just reality. I took a look at FoxNews on Friday, and realized that the headlines I was seeing on Fox (and elsewhere) today are those that I'd have expected on the Weekly World News a decade or so ago.

Actually, a few of them were so bizaare, I don't know that the WWN would have covered them. It's weird out there.

No links today. You're welcome, Mark. :^)

The real Barack Hussein Obama

...is evidently a man in favor of leaving Iraqi civilians defenseless against Islamists, massive gun control, abortion on demand, and spending and tax hikes that make LBJ's look like child's play.

Evidence with links. By the way, he's said he wants to ban all forms of semi-auto weapons. That would include your bird shotgun, your carry pistol, the Garand you got from the Civilian Marksmanship Program, and more. In other words, it's DC, but nationwide.