Jesus Made Me Puke : Rolling Stone

Jesus Made Me Puke : Rolling Stone: "Jesus Made Me Puke
Matt Taibbi Undercover with the Christian Right

MATT TAIBBI

Posted May 01, 2008 12:00 AM

"By the end of the weekend I realized how quaint was the mere suggestion that Christians of this type should learn to "be rational" or "set aside your religion" about such things as the Iraq War or other policy matters. Once you've made a journey like this — once you've gone this far — you are beyond suggestible. It's not merely the informational indoctrination, the constant belittling of homosexuals and atheists and Muslims and pacifists, etc., that's the issue. It's that once you've gotten to this place, you've left behind the mental process that a person would need to form an independent opinion about such things. You make this journey precisely to experience the ecstasy of beating to the same big gristly heart with a roomful of like-minded folks. Once you reach that place with them, you're thinking with muscles, not neurons."
--
BHT is not supposing Rolling Stone Mag is a good source of Christian information. But it may be a good place to see how the world views Christians. Not that any of the world's views are surprising or unknown ... it's just interesting to see them explained by the people who hold those views.

The article is quite harmless so don't be afraid to read it. When I read these blurbs about some horrendous (in the author's eyes) meeting, I always think, "Wow, that must have been a great meeting, sorry I missed it." Must just be my muscles thinking.

And The Moon Into Blood

Matthew 24:29 (King James Version)

King James Version (KJV)

29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Acts 2:20 (King James Version)

King James Version (KJV)

20The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:

Watch This:

Linking Eclipses to the Timing of the Second Coming of Messiah

Head for Prophecy In The News and view the 2 Interviews with Mark Blitz. At first they appear a repeat of the above video but there is more information.

Here is the discussion written down.
Thanks to my illustrious daughter for finding this!
--
BHT finds this the most provocative approach we have come across for End Time date setting. Of course there is the obligatory "I'm not setting dates" proclamation but date setting it is. No harm done. No cave hiding, property selling, generator buying or Kool-Aid drinking. Lot's of compelling research (well some at least).

I'm always a sucker for allowing an understanding of Jewish (Hebrew) traditions to influence Biblical interpretation. There were just so many Jews involved in early Christianity ... you know, Jesus, Peter, Paul ... when you think about it, most of them were Jews. And try as we might, Westerners simply don't quite grasp a lot of it. So when a Hebrew (Christian or not) tells me the moon turning to blood is a common expression for lunar eclipse (rough understanding), my eyes pop open. I didn't know that. You mean Jesus may not have been predicting some nuclear haze coloring the moon? We do try hard to complicate things, common when we lack understand.

We are warned about not watching. This is watching of the first order.

Thomas R. Horn -- Is the Vatican easing humanity toward alien disclosure?

Thomas R. Horn -- Is the Vatican easing humanity toward alien disclosure?:

By Thomas R. Horn
May 24, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
Vatican chief astronomer Father Jose Gabriel Funes in a long interview with the L'Osservatore Romano newspaper this week made news by saying there is a certain possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, and that such notion 'doesn't contradict our faith.'

'How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere? Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation,' he said."
--

BHT is busy trying to learn Spanish ... what next. I guess we will just have to wait and see what our "ET brothers" are speaking.

Oh and by the way, when (OK if) that big round disk lands on the White House lawn ... Catholics will now have no problem with it.

Are we being groomed for THE (BIG HUGE) LIE?

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 (Today's New International Version)
11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

The lie comes in different flavors depending on who you listen to, but this is my favorite. One must admit it is at least a mildly interesting end time senario.

McCain Backer Hagee Said Hitler Was Fulfilling God's Will (AUDIO) - Politics on The Huffington Post

McCain Backer Hagee Said Hitler Was Fulfilling God's Will (AUDIO) - Politics on The Huffington Post: "John Hagee, the controversial evangelical leader and endorser of Sen. John McCain, argued in a late 1990s sermon that the Nazis had operated on God's behalf to chase the Jews from Europe and shepherd them to Palestine."
--

BHT thinks getting political endorsements from outspoken, Bible believing Christians is a dicey proposition. Some of the messages and explanations in the Bible are normally not welcome to the "world" or those outside the faith. This should come as no surprise. Jesus said if they hated me, they will hate you.

Do I belive that Hitler was used by God to encourage the Jews to move back to the homeland? It does seem to fit the passages mentioned by Mr. Hagee. Our problem is in justifying God's actions, if true, to the loving God from Sunday School. This may be humorous to God, we lowly, ignorant, short sighted, weak beings feeling a need to evaluate God's actions and/or motives. But it may have something to do with what God knows will happen and how He has incorporated those foreseen events into His master plan. Some get so confused on the issue as to retreat into hypothesizing that God doesn't know everything ... this entire discussion gets more complex and slippery as we try to nail it down. All attempts to completely understand it are probably futile.

But something is changing. Christians began to believe (USA Christians) that infiltration into government and places of power was God's will and a sure fire way to transform (some say retain) the USA as a Christian nation. That strategy has produced little fruit and seems doomed (even cursed). Increasing numbers of pastors are speaking against the emphasis on political solutions (we should still vote I presume) and are urging a return to ... something else.

Perhaps Christians need to abandon the political approach to the Gospel and return to the position of being "in the world but not of the world." Maybe we should be less concerned with our worldly kingdoms and more concerned about the kingdom of heaven. If I read my Bible correctly, things are going to get rougher and tougher toward the end. Is that where we are, toward the end?

Who knows, maybe God is creating (or is that foresaw) a clear separation coming between us New Testament Jews and the world. Maybe we will be driven by some new Hitler to return to our true homeland ... The Kingdom of Heaven.

David Ask - I love this guy

http://www.davidask.com/

What an impressive web presence! David is an amazing talent and a kind and gentle soul. Check him out, you won't be sorry.

David Ask is a Big Huge Thing, I promise.

War Deaths

As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the following statistics:

The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006:

1980 .......... 2,392 (Carter Year)

1981 .......... 2,380 (Reagan Year)
1984 .......... 1,999 (Reagan Year)
1988 .......... 1,819 (Reagan Year)

1989 .......... 1,636 (George H W Year)
1990 .......... 1,508 (George H W Year)
1991 .......... 1,787 (George H W Year)
1992 .......... 1,293 (George H W Year)

1993 .......... 1,213 (Clinton Year)
1994 .......... 1,075 (Clinton Year)
1995 .......... 2,465 (Clinton Year)
1996 .......... 2,318 (Clinton Year)
1997 .......... 817 (Clinton Year)
1998 .......... 2,252 (Clinton Year)
1999 .......... 1,984 (Clinton Year)
2000 ...........1,983 (Clinton Year)

2001 ............. 890 (George W Year)
2002 .......... 1,007 (George W Year)
2003 .......... 1,410 (George W Year)
2004 .......... 1,887 (George W Year)
2005 ............. 919 (George W Year)
2006.............. 920 (George W Year)
2007.............. 899 (George W Year)

Clinton< /st1:place> years (1993-2000): 14,000 deaths
George W years (2001-2006): 7,932 deaths

BHT finds this interesting. It's a partial reprint of an email floating around. Some light checking and we find them probably credible.

Here is the Snopes link.

Kings and/or Priests

Some of the most exciting proclamations in the Bible are controversial among believers. Revelation 5:10 is a good example.

Here are the basic differences in translations of this passage. (LINK)

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."

King James Bible
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Now I'm no theologian and this is no exegesis but some views, despite sounding good, don't follow Biblical patterns and themes.

There are people who subject themselves to the leading and discipline of God. People who like Job have found who is really in charge. People like you and me. They agree with the "kingdom of priests" translation.

Then there are people who think God wants us to control, take over, dominate earth. You know, Adam lost it and we are taking it back. On the extreme end of this thinking are the Dominionists. We as Christians should take over the government, business, etc. The most extreme believe Jesus will only return once we take over. Others are only "helping" His return along. I suspect some think our taking over is the return of Jesus (Jesus is within us kind of thinking). Whether they even believe in a physical return of Jesus is unclear. These people like to read "kings and priests." The king part fits their dominion theology. So unlike Joseph, who influenced government and Pharaoh, they want to be Pharaoh. Unlike Daniel, who influenced government and Nebuchadnezzar, they want to be Nebuchadnezzar.

Most Christians drift back and forth between these two positions (or hang around the middle) depending on their situation or who they are listening to.

So I was just thinking that I am no longer fuzzy about my position. I'm no king. There is but one king ... The Christ of the Ancient of Days. I may be a priest, created to fellowship with and worship the King, but I'm no king.

I know what you are thinking ... it says we are reigning. But we reign as priests, not kings.

This may be a BigHugeThing.