This whole blog thing is not in my job description. I truly enjoy writing. I have often said that I feel I can express myself better with the written word than with the spoken word. All it took back at the end of 2016 was for a couple of the ladies to ask me to write something on a regular basis, and I was ready to go. With the kind help of Miss Mary Earle I learned how to post my writings onto a web page and off I went. It has been fun. There have been 317 posts of the blog, just over 28.000 reads in 80 different countries. I would have never thought that one day all those little errant thoughts that cruise through my mind would find homes.

          In spite of who reads the blog in some distant place, it is written for the folks at Urbana Yoke Parish. This is my place of ministry, a precious place, a people I spend a great deal of time praying for and planning for and seeking to meet as many needs as I can physically meet. The feeling a pastor has, or should have, for the congregation cannot be explained unless you are yourself another pastor. There is someone in Cambodia who reads this blog from time to time. That is nice. But it is written for the Yoke.

          Almost from the beginning I have rubbed people the wrong way. I had written a blog at the time the decision was made to have just one place of worship. I never said it was my idea, nor did I say it was about time it happened or anything like that. A woman in the area called me and proceeded to rip me apart. EVERY THING WAS FINE UNTIL YOU SHOWED UP! THIS IS YOUR DOING! I WILL NEVER DARKEN THAT DOOR AGAIN! I had never heard of her before, so I asked around and found out that she had left the church years before. She was just the first of many in the area who called or e-mailed or did the Facebook thing. I was asked several times to reconsider my decision. If they had been in church in the first place, they would have known it was not my decision. But I listened and I replied and the only time I ever got angry was when the congregation was attacked.

          When you preach or write or do both, and you speak your heart, people will get angry. I mentioned that I didn’t think it was right for religious leaders to endorse Trump when there was an equally conservative candidate who was also a dedicated and practicing Christian. (For the record, I think religious leaders should devote their time to preaching and teaching the Gospel and shut up about politics.) I got ripped for that. I have had people scold me for using personal events in my own life (even though I don’t build myself up with them) and others who tell me that the personal stories explain the point very well. I have talked about Bible versions that water down the Word, and I have been hammered for that. The list goes on. Almost anything mentioned that can have two sides has brought out the ire of the other side.

          And that is awesome! In America we used to call that an exchange of ideas. It is what we are supposed to do. But there are always those who get more upset than they should. Where the desire to exchange ideas is lost in anger. There is such a clamor from the political left to shut down independent thought that it has carried over to those on the right. Over the last couple of months I have managed to anger several. And not just in the ‘you tell me your side and I will tell you mine’ way, but in a way that ends in a hang up or someone not responding to an e-mail or text. I haven’t thought I was being offensive, but my own continuing physical issues have been really taking it out of me. Maybe it has been affecting me mentally! This last blog where I talk about cross jewelry being offensive to me really set some folks off. I wasn’t attacking anyone, just stating something that is in my heart. As I say, people have gotten upset with me before. But if I started talking about all the things I find offensive, I would probably get burned at the stake. It is all just differences of opinions.

          However, I write for the Yoke folk. I understand I have angered some of you. I am sorry. I won’t change my preaching, but I am putting an end to the blog. Maybe there will be something around the holidays or something like that, but I have been writing for five years straight. Physical issues, marriage issues, changes in the church, the pandemic, painful personal loss….it is likely I am just out of gas. It is not now, nor has it ever been, my desire to hurt anyone. Not everyone thinks like me and I certainly do not think like everyone else thinks. For now I believe it is best to fold my proverbial blog tent and cease and desist. Thank you all for being faithful readers and I really appreciate those of you who have come in and sat down and talked things through without anger or rancor. I will continue to post the link for Miss Mary’s blog. I know the link helps a lot of you.

          Thanks again and God bless.

           Maybe it shouldn’t bother me. It has grieved me for days now, but since there is nothing I can do about it, I should just let it go. However, it is just there, in my mind. What does it mean?

          You see, three were left behind.

          I am not talking three Americans were left behind in Afghanistan. There were more than three. But you can look at that and see the reason and you can see that it is a national embarrassment.

          However, the three I am grieving over are not people and it seems, on the surface, so trivial, yet it points to the direction of our society’s ails.

          Three were left behind.

          The parents and coaches of the Northfield Junior High football team feel that the team should be together in social situations to establish ‘community.’ To us older folks, that means ‘togetherness.’ It’s a good idea. You have seventh and eighth graders on this team. Neither age group has enough kids to field a team within their own class, so the two classes are together. Up until now, they have been separated. First and second graders, fifth and sixth graders. One group younger than the other. The year difference means a lot early on. But now they have to combine. Not ready to be teammates, yet suddenly they are.

          One of the ways to promote that feeling of ‘community’ is to bring these kids together for a meal once a week. Also a good idea. Boys that age can really put the groceries away. The decision was made to bring the kids and their families together, once a week, for a meal. Done as a carry in, different adults bring various foods. The only thing they really needed was a place to have this feed. The first place was at the school, but that just felt like school. So the next one was at Bachelor Creek Church of Christ. The next week was at the Yoke. We set up enough tables and chairs for sixty four. Remember, it was the players and their families. I would guess fifty five or fifty six came. All kinds of food, all kinds of good smells. After we had set up the tables and chairs, Ed thought it would be nice to give something to the kids as a gift. He dug out some small wooden crosses that had gone to Whites in the past. We needed fifteen, which we had. That would be a nice gift.    

          When they all got to the church, I welcomed them, talked just a bit (yes, I know, you can’t believe I talked for just a couple of minutes…..but that is the truth) and had prayer with them for the meal. I retreated to my office and it sounded like they were having a great time. I did notice that none of the boys sat with their families. They all sat together. Maybe the ‘community’ thing works.

          After it was over, everyone cleaned the place up. By 7:30 I was on my way home. But I was sad. I just hadn’t expected it.

          Three were left behind.

          On the island countertop in Fellowship Hall were three of the crosses we had given out. In a sense, they had been ‘returned.’ I was actually startled. I know some of you are thinking, so what? No big deal. Those kids didn’t want them. And maybe you are right. But…..

          I don’t know why they were left, but clearly, they were not wanted. However, there was a time when a child was taught that when an adult gave them something, they kept it. Maybe you had no use for it, but it was at least polite to keep the gift. You get it home and you let it fall behind your dresser. Maybe you don’t see it again until you move out. But you at least take it with you. That is an old-fashioned thought, I know. Now we tend not to teach our children common manners. Just isn’t done. But even as a child and growing up in a very rough home, I was respectful of a cross.

          But there is also another possibility as to why the crosses were returned, other than bad manners. The parents were there. Did the parents of those children tell them they couldn’t have the crosses? Were the parents offended by the crosses? It is certainly possible. If the cross is a small piece of jewelry, it is OK. A little necklace or maybe on a pendant or an earring. Then it is, well, lovely. But more and more people are offended when the cross is presented in a way that recalls the sacrifice of Jesus. We don’t want to see it any longer than needed. A cross on or in a church is fully acceptable so long as it is made of shiny brass or polished wood, but a cross that is rough is offensive. I wondered if the parents were the ones who told their children to return the crosses. And if so, did they cringe when they walked past a rough and rugged cross to enter the church?          

    For whatever reason the crosses were returned, it is symptomatic of the problems in society. If the message of the cross is not taught or, worse, ridiculed, what chance does society have to prosper? We are turning to philosophies that take God out of the equation. We don’t need Him in government, schools, entertainment, sports…we don’t need Him in our churches. Churches all over the country are fussing over things that are plain and clear in the Scripture. And it is insidious. Judy Eltzroth asked an interesting question at Bible Study one night. She asked when was it that, in the Bible, they quit capitalizing the pronouns that referred to God. As in His kingdom come. Now it is his kingdom come. Even in the later versions and editions of the Word, the effort is made to diminish the Father. So now, we sing The Old Rugged Cross, but we do not want it around us.

          The Apostle Paul wrote the Book of First Corinthians to correct wrong thinking. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” ²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach^] to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

          Three were left behind.

          When I think of the cross and what happened there, it causes my heart to swell with love and amazement. God so loved us that He sent His Son to die that horrible death. The ruggedness, the ugliness of the cross will never offend me. A delicate little gold cross on a gold chain or set in an earring does offend me. It was never meant to be a decoration. It was meant to be a reminder.

          Could it be that there were three left behind because we Christians have failed to reach the Youth or the parents of Youth? Imagine a life in which the cross is distained.

          Three were left behind and my heart broke.

           More and more we see ‘faith leaders’ expressing their political views and, in so doing, basically telling us that if we don’t adopt their views (which, therefor, must be the views of God Almighty) then we are in direct conflict with the Lord. Politics have so infiltrated our lives that it seems there is little room for anything else. I drift into the realm of politics myself, occasionally, usually to connect with what I am writing Spiritually. But I have noticed that the more political I get, the more this blog is read. And this is why ‘faith leaders’ have taken it upon themselves to be political leaders. Everyone wants to be listened to, right?

          So, if you are just itching for something with a political twist, click out of here and go to www.foxnews.com. But right now, right here, we are going to delve into the Spiritual.

          I want to get this written and posted before sundown on Thursday, September 16, 2021. From sundown on Wednesday to sundown on Thursday is the one day celebration of Yom Kippur. To a lot of Christians, it is some obscure Jewish holiday and has no meaning for them. For some people of a certain age, it triggers a thought of the Yom Kippur War. This war was launched in 1973 by Egypt and Syria against Israel during both Yom Kippur and Ramadan, believing the Jews would never imagine an attack coming during Holy Days of both the Jews and the Muslims. It threatened to destabilize the Middle East and was a concern here because it interfered with the flow of oil. But that is about all. I would guess most Christians, and certainly most Americans, have very little knowledge of what Yom Kippur is to both the Jewish and Christian people.

          However, Yom Kippur is the holiest of days to the Jews and the very central point of the Christian faith. Nothing else is more important.

           In English, Yom Kippur is The Day of Atonement. For the Jews, it is the holiest day of the year. This goes back to Leviticus 23. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would sacrifice a lamb on the alter in the Temple. Then, he would drain the blood of the lamb into a bowl. Next, he would immerse his hands in the blood and enter through the veil into the Holy of Holies, where there was a place called the Mercy Seat. With his eyes averted from the Mercy Seat, he would sprinkle the blood from his hands on the Seat and the glory of God would fill the Temple as the sacrifice was accepted for the nation Israel for another year. Then, the High Priest would exit the Holy of Holies and step out on a balcony and face the people. With the blood of the sacrifice still on his hands, he would lift his hands wide to either side of his body and shout, “It is finished!” This signified atonement for another year. All of this was very ceremonial and represented atonement for the people. When the observance of the Day of Atonement first began, the people understood that it represented the coming Messiah and His coming sacrifice. In time, they began to believe that they were actually receiving atonement by this act. When the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman general Titus, the ceremony of the Day of Atonement ceased. For the Jews now, Yom Kippur represents great sadness, but also great hope that one day the Temple will be rebuilt and the ceremony reinstituted. It is remembered now with fasting and sorrow.

          For Christians, Yom Kippur is the fulfillment of all that is holy. Old Testament prophecy indicated that the Promised One, the Messiah, would be both the Sacrificial Lamb and the High Priest. In the Messiah’s life and death, all would see how this impossible thing could be fulfilled. In His life, Jesus, bit by bit, established that He was the High Priest. His cleansing of the Temple was not the act of one who was straightening out his church, but instead it was the act of One Who was preparing His House for the Great Day of Atonement, the culmination of prophecy and sacrifice. When they seized Him, tortured Him, tried Him and then murdered Him on the Cross, He became the sacrificial Lamb. While on the Cross, with His hands held wide to either side of His body, with the very blood of His own body covering His own hands, He called out, “It is finished,” thus fulfilling the final function of the High Priest. With this, He died. At that moment, the veil within the Temple tore open, signifying to all that the true last sacrifice had been completed and now all had access to God, if they so choose.

          On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the Jewish people are filled with sorrow that their most holy of days has been brought to a halt. On the same day, Christians, who should be filled with joy and blessing because their atonement has been covered by the Lamb, are mostly unknowing that the day is even upon us. Ah, but wait, Pastor! We celebrate this all on Resurrection Day! And this is true. We break out the Easter colors and the rabbits and the chicks and the eggs and we turn our great holy days into pagan observances.

          My Hebrew professor in school was amazing in his lack of humor. He wasn’t humorless. He was just one of those people who, when he said something humorous, it took a day or two for it to sink in. He took the history and the passions and the languages of the Hebrew people very seriously. On the subject of Yom Kippur, he told us the common blessing given from one Jew to the other is ‘G’mar chatima tova.’ It means, ‘May you be sealed in the Book of Life.’ For them, it was meant for the year. For us, it is a blessing for all time.

May the joy of this Day of Atonement fill your Spirit even on the darkest of days. And, as Larry Ray usually ends his e-mails to me, ‘Shalom.’

   

          Flying was never my favorite thing, but in early 2007 I had to fly from Cleveland to Atlanta. The terminal was packed. Several different lines snaked around the wide loading areas. We were holding our belts and shoes and whatever carry-on luggage we had. We moved forward at a snail’s pace. Children cried, adults cursed, unsmiling, uniformed people walked around and scanned the crowd. The flight was disrupted by a terrorist act from six years earlier, set in motion by cowards half a world away who sent their zealots to do their bidding. This really was, as far as I am concerned, my last flight experience.

          Of course, 9/11 did far more than disrupt travel. Our lives have been changed in almost every way. We think of ourselves as being back to mostly normal from the attacks, but I think we have just become so used to the changes that the changes have become the new normal. However, the biggest change has been the least visible. We no longer have the confidence we had. We no longer feel mostly secure. We know now that terror can come to our own shores.

          It has affected us deep within our American souls.

          Some reflect on the sobering realization that it could happen here. Donna Harman tells of being at work as a church secretary and not knowing anything about it until her pastor came in and told her. They found a TV and watched as the tragedy unfolded. Her sadness at the loss of life and her feeling of disbelief that it had happened here are the things she remembers the most. Tami Overman was administering a test at the school and saw that there was a commotion in the hallway. She went to see what it was and was filled with disbelief and sadness and horror. Vi Miller talked about Greg, their youngest, who lived in an apartment complex across the street from the Pentagon. Was he safe? Was he injured? Was he…dead?

          Some shared at how it stirred other feelings. My friend from our Miami days, Noelvys Betancourt, tells of being in a grocery store that had TVs on the walls. (Miami is very different) The news came over the TV and, after the initial shock, all Noelvys wanted to do was go get her girls at school and hold them close and then go to her parent’s house and tell them that she loved them. Carol Layne and Linda Newcomb were at their respective places of work and they felt the shock and the heaviness of sorrow for others.

          And then there are other perspectives. Tanner Chamberlain says he was in second grade and was confused. How can a second grader understand? It would just be confusion. The teachers were all crying and even though the kids were confused, they understood something bad had happened. A pall settled over the children. He talks about his own son and now understands how his parents must have felt, that special fear only a parent can have for their child. He talks about how his parents explained what had happened and still sheltered them as much as they could from the horrific reality. He also mentioned that, as a fireman now, he has such great respect for those firemen who rushed into the buildings, knowing they were probably never going home again. Meanwhile, wife Sydney expressed that she was even younger than her husband and has no real recollection, but she does wish, along with Tanner, that they could remember how it was on the day after, when the whole nation was on the same page. Chrissy Chamberlain talked of being very pregnant and sitting on the floor folding socks. Fear for her children and the world they would grow up in, but also the pride in a nation that came together. And then there is a special one for me. Nicole remembers being frightened when her friend’s parents picked her up that evening and took her to a special prayer meeting at their church. There the adults broke into groups for prayer and the kids gathered with the pastor and his wife. All the kids were scared and confused, but Pastor and Mrs. Wade were calm and confident and caring, and it wasn’t so bad after that. The truth was, Pastor and Mrs. Wade had breaking hearts, but they also had a bunch of kids to care for.

          Almost everyone who responded remarked that they were disappointed with the America of today. Brian Chamberlain summed it up by saying that 20 years ago, America fought together. Now we fight each other. That is a true statement. 9/11 happened less than a year after one of the most contentious presidential elections of all time. The Supreme Court had to get involved to decide if Al Gore or George Bush had won. Feelings ran deep and strong. But on September 12, 2001, when President Bush walked into the joint gathering of Congress to address the nation, everyone in the room leaped to their feet with deafening cheers. They all tried to crowd to the center so they could reach out and just touch the President. One of the President’s worst enemies (and one of the weirdest people in the history of American politics), Dennis Kucinich, from Cleveland, grabbed the President’s hand and placed the other on his shoulder in a clear gesture of support. Yes, we were together then, and now we are not.

          But what I remember most was around 4 AM on September 12^th. I had tossed and turned all night. Filled with negative emotions, sleep would not come. Finally I got up and made a pot of coffee. I was on my second cup, standing in our living room at the window looking out to….nothing, I guess. It was then I heard a deep rumble. I was startled. What was that? I turned my head to look down the street toward the sound. It was trash day and the garbage truck had just pulled onto the street. To you, that might be nothing. But to me, I was filled with peace. The country had just suffered the worst day in our history, but life was going on. The trash was being picked up!

          We have changed over 20 years. But if we can get our personal selves together, if we can turn to the Lord in all things, we will make a difference in those around us. Then they will make a difference in those around them. And it will keep going. We are not beaten. We just need to bring the big weapon  out…..Prayer.  

 

           Thirty eight years separated the two events, yet I can tell you exactly where I was when the news came through. The first incident, I was a seven year old boy sitting in the back of the car as my mother was driving to the bank. My sister and I were both home from school sick, but my mother needed to do some things and, even sick, we had to go. Mom had the radio on and they broke in to tell the nation that President Kennedy had been shot. I was little and didn’t understand why my mother started crying. I was amazed that there in that bustling little town, cars were pulling over and even men were weeping. The most amazing thing to little boy.

          Thirty eight years later I was in my office when one of our men came in and told the secretary and myself of planes flying into the twin towers. The radio confirmed it. I sent the secretary home and I went home. Marsha and I watched the second building come down. I wasn’t a little kid any more. My family needed me, my church needed me and, surprisingly to me, the entire faith community of our small city would soon turn to me. I wanted to be one of those men from thirty eight years before who pulled over and wept, but I was needed in a way I had never been needed before. No time for tears.

          We had a prayer chain at our church and I often used it as I do at this church; as a means to transmit information. I put out that we would open the church that night, September 11, 2001, at 7 PM for anyone who wanted to come in and pray. Several other churches in town did the same thing, but we had people come in to our church from all the other churches, as well. We had a bunch of Elders, so I divided people up into prayer groups with an Elder leading each group. Marsha and I took the kids. It was a very large group of kids, from first grade to senior high, and they were all scared and confused. The impromptu prayer service lasted a couple of hours and then people just kind of wandered away. A lot of you remember the feeling.

          In that small city we had a very strong pastors’ group. Twelve churches where all the pastors were sincere friends. On September 12, early in the morning, one of the guys called me and said they were going to have a meeting at the Church of Christ to plan a community service. I told him I might make it, but I would be late. Whatever you all decide. I got there just a little late, but they were already done. The service would be at my church on the evening of September 18. Every pastor would speak for five minutes and I would finish up. There were bigger buildings, but they wanted our church. When I asked about how this would be put together, they told me to do it how I wanted.

          Our building was fair sized and we could seat a lot of people. On the 18^th we were triple packed. I worried about the floors. I had left it up to each pastor to use their five minutes on whatever they wanted and we would sing a hymn between each speaker. I had decided to let the Holy Spirit do the directing, so the only planned thing was the order of speakers and the songs we would sing. Nobody could have ever predicted the way it would go.

Other than opening with the National Anthem, I stayed away from patriotic songs. I just felt that way. The building was unbelievably packed. Each pastor’s five minutes turned into ten or more and each hymn after each speaker so closely linked to what they were saying that it almost seemed as though the song had been written for the moment. Not one speaker had gone the patriotic route, but all proclaimed Jesus. Ten pastors in attendance, other than me, so by the time I took the pulpit it was going on 9:30 PM. No one seemed anxious to leave. They were in the presence of something special.

I had led all the music and, by the time I got to speak as the last speaker, I was hot and tired. Everyone was, actually. My planned ten minutes went to twenty and the people would have taken more. A couple of hundred had seats, several hundred others stood. But they were people who were stirred. Finally, I announced that our praise team would lead the final song, which was one they may not have yet heard. We put the words up on the screen. Ray Boltz’s I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb. One would assume it would have been am inspiring song of patriot emotion, something along the line of I Am Proud to be an American, but the whole evening we had devoted our words and music to Christ. Each pastor had, in their own words, told us that the country’s salvation was in the hands of Christians. The final song was perfect.

When it was over, we prayed and dismissed. It seemed odd that no one wanted to leave. People stayed and talked for a long time. I was totally drained and I sat down in one of the pulpit chairs. What a night.

I have always been one to look at things with a view to five years or ten years or twenty years down the road. One of those things that makes me weird. I looked out over that church that night and wonder about the country in twenty years. It hasn’t turned out well.

Twenty years later, the country’s leadership favors a socialist approach to government and is proving daily that they have no understanding of history. As a country we were far more united when we went to bed on September 11, 2001 than we will be when we go to bed on September 11, 2021. And why is that? We have looked for answers in politics, in military might, in leadership that shuns Christ unless they are speaking to Christians. We have pledged our allegiance to anything other than Jesus.

Here are the words to Ray Boltz’s song:

I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

With all my strength, with all I am

I will seek to honor His commands

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

I have heard how Christians long ago

Were brought before a tyrant's throne

They were told that he would spare their lives

If they would renounce the name of Christ

But one by one they chose to die

The Son of God they would not deny

Like a great angelic choir sings

I can almost hear their voices ring

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

With all my strength, with all I am

I will seek to honor His commands

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

Now the years have come, and the years have gone

But the cause of Jesus still goes on

Now our time has come to count the cost

To reject this world, to embrace the cross

And one by one let us live our lives

For the One who died to give us life

Till the trumpet sounds on the final day

Let us proudly stand and boldly say

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

With all my strength, with all I am

I will seek to honor His commands

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

To the Lamb of God who bore my pain

Who took my place, who wore my shame

I will seek to honor His commands

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.

Only the Lord can heal this country. 

 I know you wonder about it. It is so hard to believe. How do you explain this cultural phenomenon?

How can anyone look at what is going on in America today and not be offended? Yet not only are people not offended, they support the very politicians who are perpetrating this evil on us.

Let’s go back to September 1979. On November 4 of that year, Iranian revolutionaries seized the American embassy in Tehran. 52 hostages were taken and were held for 444 days. The president at the time, Jimmy Carter, ordered a rescue attempt that failed miserably. It was terrible. President Carter, a Democrat, was going to run for re-election. But not even fellow Democrats would support him. The media tried to prop him up, but this terrible thing had happened on Carter’s watch. The entire country felt humiliated. Marsha and I had a dog named Gunther, and I believe Gunther could have beaten the president. Ronald Reagan became the next president.

So, what has changed in the country that makes an even greater debacle no big deal? I think I have found the reason.

I get my news from various newsfeeds on the computer. I don’t watch TV news. An earnest face can affect your thinking. I prefer to read my news. I have two feeds that come up when I turn on my home computer. One feed is your typical liberal feed and the other is your typical conservative feed. I believe two sides to a story is necessary to make a proper judgement. On September 1, 2021 I took the top ten headlines, in order, on each feed and wrote them down. This was the news of that day.

Top ten news stories on liberal newsfeed

1.)            Millions Swelter Without Power in Louisiana.

2.)            Mormon Vaccine Push Rachets Up, Dividing the Faithful.

3.)            Minnesota Family May be Trapped as Town Declares Their Access Road Doesn’t Exist.

4.)            Married Couple’s DNA Test Shows an Uncomfortable Truth.

5.)            Is Rural America Becoming a New Confederacy?

6.)            Lobster Fishing Will Face Restrictions to Try to Save Whales.

7.)            Black Man Executed in 1951 Rape Case Granted a Pardon.

8.)            Cliff Diver Drowns After Jumping 125 Into the Lake of the Ozarks.

9.)            Man, 60, Admits to Sexually Abusing Two Underage Granddaughters.

The sub-headline talks about his trial in a Singapore court. He and all his family live in Singapore.

10.)        The 22-year-old MAGA Influencer Running Rudy Giuliani's Communications Team Has Been Replaced by a Former Hooter’s Spokesperson.

Just these headlines give the liberal person some vital information. Only one, the first, is actually news of national interest. #2 puts the idea of crazy Christians in the liberal mind. #3 tells of the hardship of a single family whose driveway is not maintained. #4, we assume, tells of a married couple who are actually blood related. #5 is no doubt an attack on rural America because those rural folks are conservatives. #6 would have to be related to environmental themes and probably eventually gets around to global warming. #7 pushes race to the forefront. #8 is just a sad and stupid thing. #9 tells of a sad thing in Singapore. #10 is your typical attack on conservatives. ONLY #1 IS ACTUALLY NEWS. This is what the typical liberal gets daily.

          Next…..

Top ten news stories on a conservative newsfeed

1.)            Citizens, experts, lawmakers across political parties question Biden’s leadership after Afghan disaster.

2.)            Mother of Soldier Killed in Kabul Rips Biden: ‘Let me know how I can sleep'.

3.)            Over 100 Men Stranded on Ship in Gulf, Rode Out Hurricane Ida's 80-Foot Swells.

4.)            Monster Storm Leaves Grand Isle 'Uninhabitable,' says La. Parish Leader.

5.)            AOC Slams Biden's Rahm Emanuel Nomination as 'Deeply Shameful'.

6.)            Experts Warn Basic Freedoms at Stake in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan: ‘That's the legacy that we've left’.

7.)            Private Payrolls Rise by 374,000 in August, Sharply Missing Estimate.

8.)            Stefanik and Daines Demand Pelosi, Schumer Advance Bill to Reopen Canadian Border as Biden Keeps it Closed.

9.)            Texas School System Closes After 2 Teachers Die of COVID-19.

10.)        5 Missing, 1 Rescued Off of San Diego Coast After US Navy Helicopter Crash.

All ten of these headlines are news. Granted, they may have a conservative bias, but they are still news. All of the liberal stories have a liberal bias. But they aren’t news. Reading the conservative feed, the reader will come away with an understanding of the world situation. The person who gets their news from the liberal feed will come away feeling sorry for a family in Minnesota, angry at a perverted grandfather in Singapore and a desire to no longer eat lobster in order to save the whales.

Liberal ‘news’ and conservative news are different.

Does this apply anywhere else in our society? Well, sure. Just check out Christianity. (Some of you are rolling your eyes now and thinking ‘this was just getting good.’) I always say that if Christians started living like Christians, the evil would be crushed. Do you share the Gospel? Matthew 28:18-20 addresses that. Have you ceased to think of abortion as sin? Exodus 13:1-2 speaks to that. Is homosexuality just another form of love between two people? Leviticus 18 lists unlawful sexual encounters. Verse 22 condemns homosexuality. Proponents of homosexuality will tell you that there is no condemnation of the act in the New Testament, but Romans 1:18-32 shoots that down. And they will say that Jesus never said anything about it. However, if we believe the Bible is God’s Word and we believe that God and Jesus are one (as Jesus said), then the whole Bible is the Word of Jesus. And what about the Word? Has your Bible changed the actual wording to make it gender inclusive or fit some other niche? Many of you have Bibles that have been thusly polluted. Yet, Proverbs 30:5-6 talks of this. If we can accept one small bit of altering the Word, then we can soon accept it all.

All of these things came on gradually. Whether political or Biblical. It all goes back to Satan and it all involves Satan’s weakening the Spiritual moral code of the believer.

Personally, I believe the culmination of God’s time is upon us. How will we explain ourselves when we stand before the Lord?