It is impossible to speak of the grace of God, without coming dangerously close to making it sound completely unjust. Remember "The Laborers in the Vineyard," Jesus' parable recorded in Matthew 20:1-16?

The owner of the vineyard hired four sets of workers at different times of the day. The first set agreed to work for a fixed wage, the others agreed to work for "whatever is right."At the end of the day, those who worked just a few hours received the same wage as the first group that worked all day long. Of course, those who worked all day long thought they were mistreated, even though they got the amount of money the owner promised them. They looked at the owner's grace and thought it was "unfair." Whenever we proclaim the great grace of God, it seems unfair to those who need less of it.

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I woke up this morning about 3:00 with severe cramps in my calves. I could barely crawl out of bed because of the pain, and walked back and forth through the house, waiting for the cramping to subside. Eventually, I was able to climb back in bed and go back to sleep. I figured something like this would happen.

Last night, as we were cooking dinner, my neighbor called and asked if I would come over and give him a hand changing a tire on his tractor. Absolutely! I slipped on my shoes (I rarely wear shoes at home) and went over to help. Understand that this was the large read tire on his farm (not lawn) tractor and before we could put on a new tire, we had to first remove a tire from another rim...using nothing but hand tools. No pneumatic tire changer, no fancy service station tire gizmo, just pry bars, bloody knuckles and a hammer.

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Neurotics build castles in the sky.
Psychotics live in them.
Psychiatrists collect the rent.

The Internet is fraught with neurotics and psychotics and some psychiatrists take Paypal.

Ken Welch, a neurotic, is constantly building castles.  His most recent conspiracy theory exploits weaknesses in psychotics with paranoid delusions by slight of hand and voice.  He insists that he has discovered that there is a nuke on a ship in Texas City, Texas and that the government knows about it.  He proves this twisted doctrine by playing speeches backwards, finding subliminal messages of admission.  Unfortunately, psychotics have taken up residence in his newest castle.  Listen to this and see what I mean.

Matthew 24
24:23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not.
24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, [he is] in the secret chambers; believe [it] not.
24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Those who buy into Ken Welch's folly, just might be the ones who follow the false prophets, referenced in Matthew 24:4 and we all know who will collect the rent.

I wonder what Ken Welch, or Christians for that matter, would find if they back masked Matthew 24.  Maybe they would discover that Yeshua is at a Quik-Trip in Des Moines.  Anyone can prove their point when they twist another's words, but the Lord says what He means and means what He says.  It might be a good idea to live by that example and avoid those who don't.

Read this message aloud, record it and play it backwards.  If, after hearing it, you feel an overpowering urge to run for the hills, the average I.Q. level in your neighborhood will raise several points.  You will eventually come home and have to start earning trust and respect all over again.  Ken predicted the nuke will be detonated during the Easter holiday, April 14th-16th, 2006.  It is my guess that he will spin an excuse on the 17th.

Pray that your flight be not in winter and don't be a whack job.  Your eternal life may depend on it.

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War On?

It is chic these days to declare war on something, anything, so long as it isn't a tangible enemy.  Cities declare war on crime, there is a war on drugs, North Korea is waging a war on long hair, Montana has a war on weeds, Denmark joined the war on Apple [computers], South Park declared war on Scientology, bloggers declare war on comment spam, Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, the Taliban supposedly waged a war on women, Microsoft declared war on bugs, there is a war on AIDS, a war on corruption, a war on Christmas, and a war on pornography.

President Bush declared a war on terrorism, or is that a war on terror?  He can't decide.  Writers even mix the two in the same article, but one thing is certain, they are careful not to declare a war against terrorists, because those people are real, even if they are not regionally situated.  Still, some people think he did. 

Here is a reminder for you vocabulary buffs.  You don't declare a war on anything.  You declare a war against someone.  You don't wage battle on someone, you wage battle against them.  A war would be on the ground or in the air, but against a nefarious, tangible foe.

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Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you, for ever.

(Source unknown - early Scottish)

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