Azusa Street Revival.

Azusa Street Revival was said to bring Pentecost to the new world. Here is an excerpt from a local Los Angeles news paper:

"...disgraceful intermingling of the races…they cry and make howling noises all day and into the night. They run, jump, shake all over, shout to the top of their voice, spin around in circles, fall out on the sawdust blanketed floor jerking, kicking and rolling all over it. Some of them pass out and do not move for hours as though they were dead. These people appear to be mad, mentally deranged or under a spell. They claim to be filled with the spirit. They have a one eyed, illiterate, Negro as their preacher who stays on his knees much of the time with his head hidden between the wooden milk crates. He doesn't talk very much but at times he can be heard shouting, ‘Repent,’ and he's supposed to be running the thing... They repeatedly sing the same song, ‘The Comforter Has Come.’"

---

How joyfully hilarious. I want to attend. I can see that glass-eyed black preacher in prayer by those milk crates and shouting "repent" while spirit saturated believers declared the Holiness of God. Man, I would appreciate the presence of God through one of those meeting right now!

by BigHugeThing

What About Those Catholics - Revised

My view of Catholics has metamorphosed with time. Am I a beautiful butterfly? Not yet, but I’m no worm either. Catholics don’t give a hoot what I think, nor should they. I care what I think. There exists this Big Huge congregation of people worldwide, professing faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, and I don’t like thinking of them as not Christian. It bothers me.

My little hometown on the North Dakota Prairie, one thousand people at its peak, had two churches. The “Big Church” North Viking was Lutheran. The “Little Church” (only name I know, and I attended it) was Lutheran. There was a church some miles south of town, South Viking, was a Lutheran Church. And I remember one north of town, yes Lutheran. Several other Lutheran churches lay scattered about the rural countryside. It would not be a stretch to say my hometown was Lutheran. Most people were Norwegian, but although having plenty Norwegian blood, I am a mutt married to a purebred.

A handful of Catholics existed but they took some years to reach critical mass and met in some house, I think. We felt safe as I remember, as long as they met in that house. Then one day, as rumor had it, the Catholics had purchased land within the community, planning a church building. I have no recollection of specific words spoken, only a vague feeling surrounding the calamity. Remember when Sputnik went up, that feeling, Nikita Kruschev pounding his shoe on the UN podium, threatening to bury us, like that.

The church was eventually built in anticlimactic, do-it-yourself style and nothing more came of it.

My only practical knowledge of the Catholics was their extraordinary cooking ability. Each year they held a turkey and all the trimmings feed which we eagerly awaited and stood in long lines to get. Family style, all you could eat. This was the beginning of my Catholic metamorphosis. The way to a man’s heart, no matter how young I guess.

I don’t know how Lutheran’s felt about Catholics exactly, I heard nothing from the pulpit, maybe a Pope shot or two. My mother was not Lutheran, she was Pentecostal so you can imagine her frustration trapped in a Lutheran community. My exposure to anti-Catholic material exceeded a normal Lutheran’s I suppose. I remember the Harlot Church of Revelations, idols, worship of Mary, prayer to Saints … and the Pope never seemed like a nice person, dictators were never popular in our household. But I saw no reason to drift far from the turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes.

Later when I became more involved with evangelical-charismatic teaching and the turkey was only a pleasant distant memory, doctrinal negatives surfaced and I adopted an anti-Catholic theology.

My wife and I started a Bible Study in our Minnesota home in 1975. Many of those involved in our Bible Study were Catholic, nearly the entire town was Catholic so it was no surprise. We tried to hold a nonthreatening approach, sticking to “Good News for Modern Man” it had the imprimatur. We had no idea what to expect and had mixed results. Some accepted Jesus as their personal savior and promptly left the Catholic Church for greener pastures. Some accepted Jesus and stayed in the Catholic Church and are still there. Some felt they had already accepted Jesus through the Church and were happy campers. Sounded like a bunch of Baptists, some saved (personal relationship) some not, and all in the same church. This was straining my anti-Catholic theology.

The Charismatic Renewal was cruising and we found ourselves in a busload of Charismatic Catholics headed for The Kansas City Charismatic Conference held in the summer of 1977. I could not detect a lick of difference between them and us, and every single one as Catholic as the Pope. My position was becoming untenable anti-Catholic wise. Local meetings with Father so-and-so, praying for people to be filled with the spirit, it all became quite hopeless and I decided Catholics must be like the rest of Christendom, some individuals are close to God, some are not, and all slots between those two extremes occupied as well.

Renewal died down, we quit bouncing from meeting to meeting, and I lost track of Catholics. I’m sure they didn’t notice. But now I am in a Bible Study again (30 years later) with a bonafide Christian Catholic couple and the husband is a Big Huge Mary advocate. We also have a wonderful Catholic friend in Florida were we winter like geese. She has been to Medjugorje resulting in a Big Huge life change When she first returned from Medjugorje seventeen years ago, all she knew to do was make Rosaries for people. Now she has much fruit in her life. I am still cautious about these apparitions. There is just something that does not "feel" right.

I’m now reading books on Medjugorje, studying about the Rosary, researching this whole praying to Saints thing. I did no research last time, I do have to close one eye and lean some, I gasp occasionally. Some of it, indulgences for example, may be too far afield for any Protestant perhaps, but if you are a legalist it may work out nicely. And Purgatory, well we Protestants get downright nasty if we can’t at least find some hint of it in our Bibles. Sure there are other Big Huge issues, too.

But the Catholic Church has a long and complicated history, fighting wild-eyed heretics and Kings hundreds of years before Martin Luther was a gleam in old dad’s eye. They can’t just throw out the whole institution and start over. All the powers of Hell have pressured the Catholic Church for two thousand years to distort their message. The Church has resisted and remained on track with their central message of Jesus Christ, not a bad record. Methodists can get up this morning (every four years at least) and decide ordaining homosexual clergy sounds good and bingo, it is done. This is impossible in the Catholic Church. Most and maybe all Catholic doctrine is painstakingly linked to past, new is feared and inspected and has slim chance of adoption without overwhelming "proof". This proof need not come from the Bible for Catholics and that is a problem. Pressure has added to their "Gospel" and all they need to do it is the Pope's say so. Study of Papal backgrounds shows some of them should not have been deciding anything.

Error has unquestionably crept in somewhere. Two Thousand years of pressure and no error, impossible. It is equally as difficult for them to remove old errors as to adopt new ones. We all love our error filled traditions. Catholics have more documentation for theirs. But one wonders about some of the documentation.

The Web is replete with Catholic history. Here is an interesting Rosary history. This praying to Saints article made me think a bit; I can use all the help I can get. So the metamorphosis continues. No butterfly yet and I won’t be converting any time soon, but if Catholics are a tool of Satin, he needs to fire his strategist, in my humble opinion. No group is stronger on right-to-life issues … the list is Big and Huge. I’m no Catholic expert but they trust in a crucified and risen Christ for crying out loud, I’m cutting them some slack. But if attention goes to any one but Christ I can't buy into it ... why risk it, I say. I remain open to suggestions but still not sold.

All I can say is God bless those Catholics for the good they do. I am certain He does, as individuals.

My ecumenism is not going as well as first thought.

I’ll race you to Heaven, with that Purgatory detour I have Big Huge advantage.

by BigHugeThing

Potter’s House

Pastor Melissa Scott

Being a lump of clay is not pretty, nothing beautiful resides in a lump of clay. Potential remains its single redeeming quality, realized only at the hands of the potter. Lumps of clay don’t realize they are lumps. They are oblivious to it. Pain is no Big Huge Thing to a lump of clay. Crushed it flattens, poked it dents, all without a word of complaint. Sound like anyone you know … me neither.

The potter metaphor is a favorite of God’s. It has never been popular with us.

Potter Principles and Adversity Principles link, molding, shaping, blessing … revealing to us who we are, who God is, and what we are becoming.

Now get back on that wheel and shut up … please.

Comment by:BigHugeThing

Drink Water From Your Own Well

Can the Bible give us specific direction in daily living? Don’t go deeply into debt, don’t co-sign loans for others, those are specific directions but I mean more specific, such as which piece of property to buy, where to put a fence, or where to dig a well. Let me tell you a little story.

When I first started in business and built my first hotel (motel then), I bought a piece of property outside the city’s water system and had to drill a well. The driller was familiar with the area and thought we may have problems. He chose a spot closest to the neighboring back lot where he hoped the formations were most suitable. Sure enough the structure was too fine and feared unworkable. He suggested we get permission to drill a test hole on the neighbor’s lot and consider buying the lot. The neighbor was fine with it. We drilled and found the formations much better. The neighbor consented to sell me the property at a fair price.

This caused me considerable turmoil. Being my first project, coming in on budget was important for many reasons, including my total lack of money. Mostly it was my ego on the line, and a crushing fear of everything because of inexperience. We prayed and talked to our Christian friends and had no idea what to do. A good friend came to me after a church service. He related that during his daily Bible reading the Lord had illuminated this passage: Pro 5:15 – “Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well”. We felt good about it and took it as direction from God. I remember thinking it had nothing whatever to do with actual water and wells but the Lord leads in mysterious ways.

We proceeded to poke expensive holes around the lot and finally returned to the original spot and tried making it work. The well driller finally devised a screen to handle the silt and we had a 100 gallon per minute gusher and pronounced it a miracle. The well caused me untold problems for years until city water finally arrived but we struggled through and the whole project succeeded. I told the story for years and it was an inspiring example of the Lord’s leading.

Some years later we needed more land for expansion. I returned to my neighbor, who was no longer interested in selling at any cost, expansion was impossible.

Perhaps the Lord does not lead in these specifics of our life through Bible passages. Perhaps the Lord leads through adversity, opportunity in disguise. The only way we can capitalize on this leading is by using faith and trust. With this mind-set I may have thought, “Ok Lord, this looks bad but where is the good in this. Where is your hand in this seeming problem and trouble.”

Fear could have vanished, fear of failure, fear of finances, fear of looking stupid, fear of being abused, fear of paying for the neighbor’s lot. With this mind-set I may have been much more likely to have seen the opportunity of more land, and less likely to grieve over the injustice of it all.

The practical advantages to this would have been:
1. Not spending thousands on dry holes (making the lot price even more attractive)
2. The banker would have seen the necessity and provided the money
3. We would have easily, in retrospect, paid for the land and thought nothing of it.
4. Having a much better well with fewer problems
5. Acquiring more land at a fair price (that God knew I would need or want later)
6. Much more sleep.
7. A happier family

The spiritual advantages would have been:
1. Learning this adversity principle at age 36 instead of age 60.
2. Avoiding years of turmoil and depression
3. Having a closer relationship with God
4. Becoming more like Christ and less like a raving lunatic.
5. A happier family

Do I blame my friend? Don’t be silly. We were all on the same wrong page and doing the best we could. Many thoughts went into the decision, most of them confusing. The project in general has been a great blessing. We are long past the issue and it appears inconsequential now in light of my long, unlearned lesson list. God is faithful and has allowed constant adversity. Understanding it took way too long.

Will adversity stop now that I have “learned my lesson?” Practice is required I suspect. Unavoidable misery fills the world. I’ve only scratched the surface, yet I have no desire to be an expert. Trial is always hard, the blessings are many and wonderful but misfortune is hard. We need not seek it out though … it will come. We must see through it, beyond it to God’s hand.

How did I get so smart? My current suffering opportunity has finally opened my eyes. It is Big and Huge and not my fault … yet still happening; multiple troubles. It is so bizarre and out of my control that God is my only answer. So I looked for Him in it and there he was. Rather I looked at its hopeless immensity and He revealed Himself. The more I see God in it the more I am changed for the better, peace, joy, trust, etc. My vision improved and I could see old adversities with new clarity. Thus my well story.

This was a lesson God insisted I learn or die trying. I feel honored and encouraged that He would want me to know. Yes, I feel a little beat-up but honored and encouraged, nonetheless.

I’m not going to bore you with long lists of Biblical references on how God uses adversity. Scripture is full of it. We just need to understand how it applies to us, on a personal relationship with God level (always the primary consideration).

Oh well, better late than never (procrastinator’s handbook, page 1)

by BigHugeThing

Peace Like a River (2009) - The Movie

Peace Like a River (2009)

I wonder how they will handle the part where Dad is praying and walks in mid-air off the wagon? I loved this book ...

Comment by:BigHugeThing

Against All Odds

Against All Odds

The land of ancient and modern miracles documented.

This is such a wonderful subject amidst struggle and death. I pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and God's Covenant People.

Comment by:BigHugeThing

I’m Starting A New Religion

Starting a new religion should be easy. Look at how many have arisen already. I would think with that much good track record out there we could climb on the rails and go for it. I have the basic idea for one, of course some details need refining, but generally it’s a go.

First off we need to incorporate several, perhaps even most, of some already successful religion. Numbers mean everything here … many followers and followers mean finances. If we do a good job with this, we will be rich, probably famous, definitely powerful and have hoards of loyal followers.

Out of the possible religious pools, it seems reasonable to tap into a big one. Islam is huge and a great possibility because there is so much argument about what they believe and documentation is sketchy at best. But their religion is closed and it is difficult to get information into their closed system. At least worldwide this is a problem. We could probably pick off a few Muslims in the US, but if I’m going to all of this trouble and taking all of this time to start a new religion, I want it to be global. It just makes sense. Christianity is enormous. Their religion is open, mostly. Catholics may be problematic because of that whole infallible Pope thing, but I believe the infallibility idea is dying out at the grass roots level. The other Christian groups appear open to new ideas. I believe we have found our source of loyal followers … Christians.

Now what should we incorporate from Christianity. What is basic to their belief. Man is sinful and needs a redeemer. The redeemer is Jesus Christ, who is God, came to earth as man, died for their sins, rose again and if they accept this truth, they inherit salvation. I see no problem with any of that in my new religion. I’m not out to change the world, I just want to be rich, famous, powerful and have a bunch of people following me somewhere, I don’t care where.

So what’s new out there? Well, it can’t be so crazy it freaks them out. Even crazy works (that’s been proven) but I would think it much more difficult. It should be to a certain extent supernatural but leaning toward scientific at the same time. Perhaps it can be an improvement on, or extension of an existing belief. It should not be provable or testable. We should be able to rely on the placebo effect here. Odds are that whatever we come up with will appear to work for someone, and we will make a big deal about it. Their “testimony” will serve us well, new book possibly, perhaps they can become a TV host. Prosperity is important but personal empowerment is Big and Huge. Personal riches and power is certainly as important to my potential followers as it is to me, I would think. We can adopt several humility slogans, talk about obedience, that kind of thing, give it a nice religious feel.

Ok, it’s coming together for me. Quantum mechanics. I know it doesn’t sound like it now, but quantum is the perfect basis for my new religion. It is scientific. It is not provable, at least most of it is not. That is the beauty of it. This whole area of physics is not observable or testable, therefore not provable and more importantly, not disprovable. It is safely scientific and wonderfully supernatural at the same time.

But how can we make a religion out of quantum mechanics, you ask. We don’t. Remember Christianity is our base religion, we just want to be the quantum movement within Christianity, the Quantumites. We never want to get so far from our Christian pool that we lose our source of followers. Let’s brainstorm here. There are too many details to create the complete picture right now and we will get clarity as we develop over the years.

Science believes quantum events are so “sensitive” that we alter them through observation. They have no idea really, how charming. Let’s take it a step further. If we can change the essential fundamentals of matter and energy, possible even space and time, by observing it (is that the same as looking at it?), can we alter it by thinking about it or speaking about it. This is Big and this is Huge!

Pro 23:7 for as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

We can make ourselves into whatever we want by thinking. We’ve always loved that verse and we stand upon it!

The Bible is going to come in supremely handy here. I can see that already. The fabric of the universe is ours to alter, create as it were. We are creators, and science is on our side. We are essentially Gods.

Joh 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law, "I said, You are gods?"
Joh 10:35 If He called those gods with whom the Word of God was, and the Scripture cannot be broken,

When we understand this powerful truth nothing is impossible to us. This is what Jesus meant when he said:

Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, Be rooted up and be planted in the sea! And it would obey you.

I know there is something about a mountain somewhere we can use … Jesus walking on water … every miracle. This is why Jesus and basic Christianity are no problem for us; they are assets. If we take these Scriptures out of context, they can mean anything we want, within reason of course. Even in context most people don’t know what they mean, we will just have another of many interpretations. Don’t worry about accusations of heresy. One Christian’s heretic is another Christian’s bearer of truth. We will fit right in. All those pseudoscience people out there, nonChristians, will love this. They will finally see the light and become “Christian” because it finally makes scientific sense. The pool is expanding already.

I know, there is already that Word of Faith bunch out there, but they give us credibility. We are improving on their doctrine, we know now why and how it all works. I am certain we can get many of them to join us anyway because this is such an improvement on what they teach. The added “scientific proof” is irresistible and being able to change the planets, perhaps even create them (when we are better at it of course) … Jesus understood these quantum principles, obviously. He is just now revealing them to me, I mean us, but through me.

Even I feel like following Me. Now we have to think of what to call it.

Let’s open up that bank account.

PS. It will take some time to get my web site up so I refer you to Bleep. Please download the movie trailer and of course buy and read everything. This will get you started down the right path to being “all that you can be” until I get my new religion off the ground. At which time I will incorporate Bleep into essential learning and motivational material.

Happy Creating!

by BigHugeThing

Creation: How long did it take?

God created the heavens and the earth. Many of us agree on that point. Many people don’t so they are gone already. I hope they change their minds. How long did all this take? Wow, a Big Huge subject and more of us will disagree. Mainstream science thinks it took a long time. Many of us who believe “God created” also believe he took a long time. It was His choice after all. I know your Bible says days, but the Hebrew word there is “yom or yowm”. As with all things Old Testament, “yom” must be taken in Hebrew context and arguments are convincing that consider “yom” a long period of time. A Jewish view of creation is interesting. Jesus, after all, was Jewish, as were most of the Bible writers. This discussion has, itself, been going on for a long period time. So we can’t blame everything on Carl Sagan (just to pick a nemesis).

Atheists find this all quite wonderful and write articles such as “How Hubble Killed God”. They don’t get it at all but they are having fun and sounding smug, smart, informed, logical and objective. Good luck with that.

Why the big deal? I sort of agree, although it would be nice to be close to what actually happened. I lean toward the longer time periods because the science of it is overwhelming and I think the Bible possibly leans that way as well, perhaps directly stating it. The big panic is some people are all hung up on “original sin.” Death came with Adam. Take a peek under the “motives” behind young earth and this is the issue. If a bug died before Adam’s sin then God is evil because DEATH existed with that bug, and Adam had not yet sinned and caused all this evil. OK, the Bible clearly says death of man started with Adam. Man not bugs, get over it. And if you are hung up on the death of some dinosaur or bug as being sin and therefore destroying the integrity of Scripture, you need to join those P.E.T.A. people and start picketing somewhere. But I love you anyway, just don’t send me any signs or donation requests.

Evolution is particularly terrifying to Young Earth followers. Let's not give old Crow Magnon enough time to become somebody. Mr. Magnon has more trouble than time, but that is for another post.

I’m not saying there are not real, live, breathing scientists on the Young Earth side. But they are so undone by the prospect of any death before Adam’s sin that they torture the science relentlessly, possibly to prove their point, but at least to cast doubt on Old Earth. Their trick (perhaps unkind) is to take any scientific anomaly (there are within many measurement systems and theories anomalous errors) and puff them as proof. Great stuff for Joe Christian but never effective on the informed because these anomalies are well known and understood. Oh well, it takes all kinds and I wish them the best. God seems not to take offense at this and probably gets a kick out of it. Reminds me of the “straining at a gnat,” quote in Jesus time. I daresay the Lord is more concerned about how these two sides are treating each other than the right or wrong of specific points. I believe these people are all good people and trying to do the right thing so God Bless them, and perhaps they are correct after all.

If it turns out God did choose to do all this in six 24-hour periods, one wonders why all the scientific evidence to the contrary. I will enjoy a good laugh with God however, if that is what He did. He surely had them all fooled. God is not humorless after all, but I don’t see the trick here.

Is there any hope for the young earth people. Not much, but Australian scientists Barry Setterfield and Trevor Norman claim a decrease in the velocity of light over time. This would make everything much younger than it appears. They swim upstream in the scientific community but that does not make them wrong, just less likely right. Science is so convinced in the speed of light constant it would take much to convince. The Barry Setterfield interview is interesting.

I have heard it said there is more evidence for a flat earth than a young one. The discussion gets downright mean at times.

I find it all interesting but irrelevant to my walk with or belief in the God of the Bible. An old trick of Satan may be operating here, his first and best trick in fact. He persuaded Eve to add to God’s words. Or maybe it is simply our nature to add and Satan takes advantage of it.

Gen 3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

God did not say they could not touch it. One can imagine Satan persuading Eve to touch the tree (how bad can that be) and, hot dog, she did not die. See, God was wrong. We need to be certain of what God actually said or we end up in BIG HUGE TROUBLE.

Did God say six twenty four hour periods?

Maybe he did but s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d time: Age of the Universe Gerald Schroeder, Ph.D. Ancient Jewish scholars lean toward 24-hour periods. This time dilation is my personal favorite. God did carve in stone that it was six days "for in six days" Ten Commandment style. But from who's viewpoint is the question. It allows God 6 days and me 15 billion years.




One should mention the Gap Theory. I'm not taken with it, you may be.

If you have decided this subject is much more complicated than first thought, you would be correct. I believe God wants us to view it as 7 actual days for prophetic reasons. I am sure they were literal days in some way.

Has Science Discovered God? (Fantastic presentation I viewed on EWTN, a home school must have)

You can listen to an excellent discussion on this by Chuck Missler.

Some very smart people question Einstein (Gasp)! Here is Mr. Flanders on Gravity. Without relativity, many concepts change. Even Big Bang has some problems (Gasp2)! More BB problems.

By BigHugeThing

Jesse Ventura says Christians are weak minded

Well, to be fair he said:
"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."
Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura is old news. He was sometimes interesting, usually tiring, and mostly ineffective after being elected governor of Minnesota. But I see something in this statement. He was not entirely wrong if weak minded means those who recognize their weakness:

Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Mat 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn! For they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:5 Blessed are the meek! For they shall inherit the earth.
Mat 5:6 Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness! For they shall be filled.
Mat 5:7 Blessed are the merciful! For they shall obtain mercy.
Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart! For they shall see God.
Mat 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers! For they shall be called the sons of God.
Mat 5:10 Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Mat 5:11 Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake.

Or if strength in numbers means recognizing the strength we gain from being with and talking to other believers:

Heb 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

As to any nose sticking:

Mat 7:4 Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull the splinter out of your eye; and, behold, a beam is in your own eye?
Mat 7:5 Hypocrite! First cast the beam out of your own eye, and then you shall see clearly to cast the splinter out of your brother's eye.

and

Mat 7:1 Judge not, that you may not be judged.
Mat 7:2 For with whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with whatever measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again.

Jesse appears to be 180 degrees off from The Beatitudes in his statement and demeanor, but reminds us of a Big Huge principal of our faith.

by BigHugeThing

Oswald Chambers: Bitter or Better? Fiends or Saints?

Link:The Pen of the Wayfarer:
God is not concerned about our plans; He does not say -
Do you want to go through this bereavement; this upset?
He allows these things for His own purpose. The things
we are going through are either making us sweeter,
better, nobler men and women; or they are making us
more captious and fault-finding, more insistent upon
our own way.

The things that happen either make us fiends, or they
make us saints; it depends entirely upon the relationship
we are in to God.--Oswald Chambers

Brouhaha

"Big, fat, lesbian, loud Rosie attacks innocent, pure, Christian Elizabeth." Quote by Rosie O'Donnell. I thought, now we are getting somewhere. But alas, it was the only true and accurate statement Rosie made.
(I will be removing this post shortly ... just wanted to try youtube vid. post)

Comment by:BigHugeThing

Rev. Tony Campolo about the Iraq War

Michael Medved interview:

---

I heard some of this live. ***comment redacted for kindness*** Tony, you are forgiven ... just stop talking, please.

Comment by:BigHugeThing

Pew Study More Than 1/2 of Muslim Americans Hold Unfavourable Views On Al Queda, The Rest Think It's Just Dandy

Blazing Cat Fur Our Canadian Friend
Lest you think all our neighbors to the North are Anti-American lefties ...

Comment by:BigHugeThing

Our Father

The Lord’s Prayer always seemed too simple for some reason. We evangelicals need more colorful prayers I suppose. More familiar catch phrases make us more comfortable, and of course we can not read or recite a prayer, it must be “original”. What really bothered me more than anything was I felt that I didn’t fully understand the Lords Prayer. I felt there must be more to it. I asked the Lord to give me a clearer understanding. This is how it went.

Mat 6:9 Therefore pray in this way: Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

You are a most Holy God, there is none more righteous or fair or just. Reveal to me, most Holy God more of your Holiness. Help me understand more completely Your goodness and Your unsurpassed greatness. I desire to worship You. Show me how to more fully worship and adore You. Show me how to more adequately proclaim you greatness.

Mat 6:10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

Lord make your Word alive and effective within the earth. Cause every nation and leader and every individual to walk by Your Kingdom principals. Help us all to know and understand what You would have us do and say each day, and give us the power by Your Holy Spirit to speak and act according to Your principals and laws and precepts. All in Heaven follow Your commands and act according to Your will, I pray that all on the earth would do likewise.

Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread;

Teach me to rely on you each day for my smallest and greatest needs. Help me to resist peer pressure and culture. Help me to understand what my needs are and resist greed. Help me to know the joy of your sufficiency. Help me to trust that you will always provide. Help me to be thankful for what you give. Help me to always recognize your generous hand in every provision.

Mat 6:12 and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.

Your forgiveness is overwhelmingly complete, and generous. I am awed and humbled by Your forgiveness toward me. Help me to understand the magnitude of Your forgiveness. Enable me to forgive others in the same way You forgive me. Help me to be always forgiving. Help me to never take offense. Help me to always show love, whatever the circumstance.

Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.

Temptations are always before me. I have no power within myself to resist them. Your power is my only hope. I know reliance on You is my only escape. Protect me from the temptations and evils in this world. Help me to recognize them and avoid them and rely on You. Give me the strength to resist. Please forgive me when I do not.

For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

I acknowledge Your kingdom and Your power, and Your glory. I understand that it is from everlasting to everlasting. Thank you for revealing this wonderful truth. It gets me through each day. It brings great joy and hope. Help me to show this truth to others and walk in the knowledge and understanding that Your kingdom truly exists and its power and glory is never ending.

I may have seen something like this before. I apologize profusely to the first person who may have seen the possibility and recorded it (if they exist) and I claim no originality. There are so many thoughts and amplifications that could be made, never ending perhaps. But isn’t it just like God to give a brief outline of something so powerful and let us fill in the blanks as He gives us understanding.

Understanding the Lord’s Prayer is important, I think. The verses that follow it sound too much like a warning to be ignored. We must need to understand and accept how great and forgiving God is and how weak and needy we are before we can adequately forgive others.

Mat 6:14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

Mat 6:15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

by BigHugeThing

Ex-Muslims tell why they left Islam

Link:BibleProbe
Insights into Islam but encouraging as well. God appears to be quite active in these dark regions. I always love a good angel story, and Jesus, Himself, has appeared on occasion.

comment:BigHuge

A Prayer For Israel

Psalm 83

Earthquakes in Diverse Places

Edit: Read the Update for current opinion.

OK, now who we gonna believe? Some say we are having more some say everything is as it has always been.

Discerning The Times says eh not so much but more people die from them.
World Net Daily says yep more.
India Daily says increase is EXPONENTIAL.
Lambert Dalphin says nope.
USGS Earthquake Center data says ... look for yourself.
USGS says we just measure better ... definite maybe???

So what's the big deal?

Bible says:
(Mat 24:7) For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

(Mar 13:8) For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes and famines in various places. These things are only the beginning of the birth pains."

(Luk 21:11) There will be great earthquakes and famines and plagues in various places, and there will be fearful events and awful signs from heaven.

I see no reference to increased activity.

by BigHugeThing

Books I Like

Always use your local Christian Book Store first.
The Christ Clone Trilogy Thinking man's "Left Behind Series" I loved it.
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger - Absolutely wonderful.

Just Didn't Get It

Ever know people who just didn’t realize how bad their situation was? It is more typical to see one’s situation as worse than it is, and I plead guilty. But some people always seem to have some bad-going-on-horrible thing happening yet still talk about how good God is.

Well I have some cousins like that. I won’t reveal any family secrets here but … come on … divorce, financial trouble, sickness, and even death. You guessed it … God is so good. These cousins are the sweetest, kindest people on earth but let’s get serious here. I’ve considered myself a Christian for some time now too, but in the face of things I just had to throw in a tad bit of reality. You guys are just not firing on all cylinders. Sure I’d smile and say “Yes He sure is,” but to my thinking they were at least one pickle short of a jar. I enjoy a positive attitude as much as the next guy, but there must be a line that can’t be crossed and these people just were not playing with all fifty-two cards.

When will I ever learn that when I think I’m right, it’s probably a sure sign I’m wrong. I just received a peek at how, in the face of serious problems, God can not only help you through it, but give you joy and reveal loads and tons of insight into His goodness and greatness and faithfulness. See, I always thought that when God helped, it meant that the bad stuff didn’t happen. If the bad stuff happened then God had been blocked somehow from helping. I guess I thought that the devil was quite tricky and could outsmart God somehow. Or maybe I thought that it was me (always more than possible) not enough faith … that kind of thing. It never dawned on me that God could just let it happen because it was the only way this thick-headed, proud, self-sufficient knuckle head could ever in this life time understand. Not just me either, usually others are involved and have their own path to blessing. Quite efficient when you think of it. Many people blessed from one horrible event.

People who know and trust God intimately never make any sense to the rest of us who don’t. They seem unrealistic, superstitious, naïve, even somewhat crazy. I see those cousins differently now. I was the one short a card or two. I actually brought a Rummy deck to a Pinochle tournament. From now on, when someone seems too thankful, too grateful, and just too trusting of God; instead of being secretly critical, I’m going to find out what kind of “game” they are playing and try to join in. Because God’s deck does not contain the ordinary number of cards and his rules are completely different than ours.

Can we cause our own trouble? I think we often do. Does this somehow cancel the blessing of God? Surprisingly, it seems to not matter with God . Our peace and joy is internal not external. It comes from within not from outside. That is what makes a Christian such an “over comer”. You can’t beat him. He can even be blessed through his own stupidity. Even killing him won’t work … the great escape. So you have to torture him here to have any chance of making him miserable. And even then, if he starts trusting and relying on God it only makes him stronger and more blessed. This is almost hilarious. I’m getting down right joyful just thinking about it.

Please excuse me, I have to go roll on the floor and laugh out loud now, so see you later.

by BigHugeThing

Angels appear as humans

Link:Angels appear as humans

I love current day accounts of angelic encounters and I will tell you one I know. But it is very important you follow the link and read the report. It will likely change your world view.

This is from a long time acquaintance. He still lives in my community and is a newspaper reporter. We attended the same church. One day his family along with their young child was on a dock on the lake. The child had wandered away from them and had fallen into the water. She could not swim and the dock was so far above the water she could not be reached. I no longer recall the setting but something prohibited simpler methods of retrieval. Amidst the father's struggle to reach his child a stranger took the father's hand and he was able to reach far enough to retrieve the child. He turned to thank the man, who was no longer there. No one in the small group had seen the man.

I'm certain my "facts" are flawed but the essence of the story is accurate. The father had given testimony to this in church and some years later I had him retell the incident to me at my request.

I know of another from a friend of ours on her pilgrimage to Medjugorje, Yugoslavia. It is too complicated for me to tell but exciting.

by BigHugeThing

Angels Heard Singing!

Link:Angels Heard Singing!
Here are some recordings of Angel's voices joining with congregational worship. I do not question the possibility.

One day my Mom and Dad walked to the entry of their home and a shaft of light, like a sun beam, appeared and beautiful heavenly music seemed to emit from the light. My Dad, ever curious, interrupted the light stream and the music stopped. He stepped back from the light and the music continued. He did this more than once and finally they just listened. I no longer recall how long the music played, I'm not certain if they knew how long, but remember it was a remarkable experience for them.

by BigHugeThing

Count It All Joy

Count It All Joy:

Jas 1:2-3 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into different kinds of temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith works patience.

Heb 12:6 for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives."

Heb 12:11 Now chastening for the present does not seem to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it.

How often do we think we understand a concept, only to be jolted by new realizations of our own ignorance. Most of us are given daily opportunities to advance our spiritual understanding and blessing by acknowledging the small chastisements and trials sent our way or allowed by God to teach us and guide us and bless us. Too often I have chosen not to see their significance and fail to act aggressively to grasp and embrace and appropriate their value.

Then some big, huge, horrible thing comes our way … completely beyond our ability to deal or comprehend and we give it over to God because there is no other hope and He reveals our short comings and lavishes us with blessings and embraces us with His love. Then we feel stupid and see how easy it would have been to embrace each day those smaller trials. We kick ourselves for having missed out on all that God had for us.

But we glory and revel in our new understanding of God, an understanding that goes wildly beyond doctrine or rules or catechisms or creeds. We stare blankly at the Protestant expounding why Catholics should not use Rosaries or at the Catholic pontificating how Protestants are so far off not believing the wine is actually the blood of Christ “before” in enters one’s mouth. We wonder what that has to do with anything.

We think, “Don’t you understand how unbelievably fantastic and wonderful God is? What is wrong with you!”

But yesterday, before this big, huge, horrible thing came your way, you pondered infant baptism, whether tongues were for today and if 10% was really a required tithe.

Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Mat 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn! For they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:5 Blessed are the meek! For they shall inherit the earth.
Mat 5:6 Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness! For they shall be filled.

Some of us understand this more easily than others. One person’s big, huge, horrible thing may seem only a mere inconvenience to another. But what ever it takes, God will help us understand ourselves and understand Him as well.

Ok, so post BHHT we stop seeing big, huge, horrible things the same way we use to, and that is very good. But now we alertly ferret out those little trials in order to mine each gem, refine the gold, appropriate the wisdom … that is even better.

by BigHugeThing

Blog Code

YouTube:

Choose the little "gear" next to embed and choose 480. Uncheck show related videos.

Display Code As Text

This is tricky. The beginning and ending <> will appear like this <<> Here is an explanation.

Sound Embed: Replace the MP3_FILE_URL (I can't figure out how to add the pop out feature.)

<<>embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3247397568-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=MP3_FILE_URL" width="400" height="27" allowscriptaccess="never" quality="best" bgcolor="#ffffff" wmode="window" flashvars="playerMode=embedded" /<>>

Hot Link Your Files:

Here is a list of audio hosting sites: http://www.audiohostings.com/
finding one that allows streams is tough.

Stop Autoplay, this does not work well with flash <<>param name="autoplay" value="false"<>>