Wednesday Bible study: the "3:16s"

I am working on what I hope will be a series of Wednesday Bible Study posts, and the subject that has been chosen for me is one I have had playing in the back of my mind for a while now.  John 3:16 is well known to most of us, and I have noticed a handful of times that other books of the Bible have interesting 3:16 verses.  And so, I'm going to be looking at the Bible's various 3:16s, starting in Genesis.  Now, not all books HAVE a 3:16, and if there is some mystical reason for that, I'm going to do my best (though it be against my nature) to not try and beat a meaning from their absences.  Nor will I be looking for an overarching narrative in them- though who knows what we will find as we go?  With all that said, let's look at Genesis 3:16.

Gen 3:16  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 

This is, of course the curse on "the Woman," whom I notice is very rarely addressed by her name of Eve.  Maybe another time we'll bring up that in the New Testament genealogy of Matthew, the only one of 4 women mentioned in that list not mentioned by name was Bathsheba- and her possible connections to Eve.  But I want to try to be a bit more directed here, and just look at the portions of this verse that nudged my interest.

First off, "greatly multiply thy sorrow AND thy conception..." I hadn't noticed before that this was "and" and not "of".  And I wondered what it meant- was Eve, and subsequent women after her, now to have MORE kids as a result?  I had to dig around the commentaries, some of which said plainly "it should be read as 'of'", until finally coming to the comments of Keli and Delitzch.  In them, I learned two new words- one which was helpful, the other not so much.  Their main point was that you could not figure it as meaning increased conception, because reproduction was to be both a blessing and a commandment from God ("Be fruitful and multiply"), so how could it be a curse?  Less helpfully, they noted that this phrase could not be what they called a hendiadys- where a modifier-subject pairing is separated by an "and", like, "nice and sunny."  They concluded that the line "thy sorrow and thy conception" were meant to parallel the line "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children"- a device which gave me my second new word, "apposition"- and this meant that sorrow was going to be increased throughout the process.  And you think about it, that makes sense.  The two "sorrow"s, while from the same root, are two different words;  the first one takes more of the emotional end, while the second has more to do with physical labor and pain.  The entire curse not only includes pain, but also "worrisome-ness".  So the gamut from PMS and its mood swings all the way through hormonal changes and post-natal depression all get their start right here.  Oh, and it hurt more.

Here, I'd like to speculate that there had to have been some distance of time between Eve's creation and the Fall;  why would you tell her that the birth-process was going to get worse if she had not had an "easy" birth at least once?  Perhaps this explains a bit more about Cain's fall into sin.  What if he was born to the un-fallen world, and Abel was not?  Could have been a whole different dynamic than we first see if so.  But, like I said, this is but speculation.

Second, " and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. "  This verse is stating that AS PART of the curse, a woman shall now be driven by desire for her man- and the man will often take advantage of that desire.  Which explains a lot about today's world, and why everyone has such a problem living by Ephesians 5: 22-25.  When we ask, "how does the woman being abused stay with/go back to her abuser", perhaps this is the reason.  Which made me wonder, "So how was it SUPPOSED to be?"  And you have to go back a chapter for that.

Gen 2:18  And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 

A helpmeet.  Take a look at what that is in deep meaning.  First, the word for "help".  It means "help".  Plain and simple.  But "meet for him".  That comes from a word that means "counterpart."  The woman was meant to be a counterpart, an "opposite" to "help."  No submission other than that she was brought forth from his body, except for the fact that God seems to have always went to the first-created man first.  He was obviously intended to be the leader of equals...

Eph 5 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”[e] 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

 Third, another commentator went through a long song and dance about the motivations of the order from which the participants were judged.  This commentator believed that the serpent was judged first because " first, because it is a mute, unreasoning animal in itself, and therefore incapable of judicial examination, and it was the serpent only that was palpable to the senses of our first parents in the temptation; and, secondly, because the true tempter was not a new, but an old offender."  Now I don't know that I buy that, because it's basically judging the snake as a snake- a "mute, unreasoning animal", and punishing it for something it couldn't have reasoned how to do.  And in the same breath letting Satan off because he'd already been judged when he was cast out of heaven. 

But what I do think happened- again, my speculation- was more like this:  the only way that the serpent "was more subtil (sic) than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made" (Gen 3:1) was that it WAS Satan in reptilian form, and not just a dumb beast that got possessed.  But since he chose to cause the Fall of Man "dressed" as a dumb beast, he was judged AS a dumb beast.  How better to humiliate someone who had so recently been "the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created..." (Ezek 28:14-15) than to tell him, "upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life"?  While much of that verse where he was being cursed (Gen 3:14-15) involved the prophecy of how he would fall himself at the hands of Jesus, I think part of it was a bit of, "So ya wanna be a snake? I'll treat you like a snake" from God.

And before you think that was all just a bunny trail, actually one commentator points out that judging Satan first was a big lesson for Eve.  After all, she had been taken in by the Serpent's charm, as well as his "logic"- a logic that would lead her from rationalization right on into sin- and now she had to watch while that oh-so-unassailable logic failed, and her tempter was shown far less wise than she thought.  She had been fooled, and now she knew how BADLY she'd been fooled, and knew she was in for it when God finished with the serpent. Because any defense she would have had would have been on the wisdom of the serpent, and, well...

1Ti 2:11-14  Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.   But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 
 For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 
 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. 

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So you see, I'm trying to make this Wednesday project more of a "what if", and using the what ifs to either a) make us ponder the possiblities, or b) dig to see if we can find a truth to it.  Where Sunday message I try to be led by more of a "this is what God says" vibe, I want this to be more of a "what DOES God say, if anything?" vibe. What do you think?  This might not get far without YOUR comments! Next week, Moses and getting the elders of Israel all on one page... if he can!

Newspage go, British division

I thought we might want to have a little fun tonight before a very serious post tomorrow, so I looked around for some NG worthy headlines.  FoxNews let me down- but the BBC stepped right up.  Tonight, an all BBC Newspage Go! edition!

Item one:  Fine, then YOU drink it!

Our first stop is in Egypt, where it is as unhealthy to insult the Nile River as to drink from it:

Egyptian singer Sherine sentenced to prison over Nile joke

I admit, the headline itself isn't chuckle-worthy, but wait'll you here the punchline:

Sherine, one of the country's most famous singers - and a judge on the Arabic version of The Voice TV show, was seen on video being " asked to sing Mashrebtesh Men Nilha (Have You Drunk From The Nile?)

She responded by saying "drinking from the Nile will get me schistosomiasis" - a disease commonly known in Egypt as bilharzia, which once plagued rural water sources."

 For this, Sherine "was found guilty of "inciting debauchery and immorality". The director and another actor were sentenced to shorter terms.


Sherine, meanwhile, has been convicted by a Cairo court of spreading false news. 

But wait, there's more:

On top of the legal case against her, the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate announced that it had banned her from performing over her "unjustified mockery of our dear Egypt".

So is she waiting now for the river to sue her for libel?  An article from Science Direct tells us:


The water quality of 24 sites between Aswan and Cairo along the Nile was investigated. To evaluate the suitability of water for aquatic life and drinking purposes, the indices of water quality (WQI), heavy metal pollution (HPI) and contamination (Cd) were computed. The water quality variations were mainly related to inorganic nutrients and heavy metals, where, the sites affected by intensive load of urban, agricultural and industrial wastewater showed serious deterioration of water quality compared with other sites. The anthropogenic impact sites showed high HPI and Cd values and associated with high risks, where, most of the studied metals often exceeded the drinking water and aquatic life limits. The aquatic WQI indicated that the Nile water quality deteriorated and extended from poor to marginal, while drinking WQI varied from marginal to good. Accordingly, the river becoming unfit for aquatic life and the situation is getting worse by decreases in the water budget from the Nile in Egypt by building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, where the dilution strength of the Nile system will reduce.

I'm guessing no... but it IS "our dear Egypt."

Item two:  Who ya gonna call?

In this case, the story isn't funny, but the headline on the menu page is a bit dodgily worded:

Mexico police sought over missing Italians

And actually, the point was that the Italians went missing in Tecalitlán, a podunk in one of the most dangerous Cartel strongholds, where they were selling "cheap generators and agricultural machinery which they passed off as high-quality branded goods."  And so the cops being sought didn't QUITE arrest them... they SOLD them to the Cartel for $53.  That's quite the bargain for the Cartel, less than $18 apiece, when they get maybe $23,000 in ransom for some vic- a 1300% profit!

Item three:  Consider the source...

This one involves one of Roland Hansen's favorite pastimes- calling people Nazis just because you don't like their policies:

Chancellor Merkel enters 'Germans only' food bank furore

At odds is a food bank in the city of Essen who, since they have been overwhelmed by Muslim migrants signing up for food aid, have stopped taking registrations from non-Germans, which of course put left and right at each others' throats yet again.  One of the victims (or actually two) were the uncharitable charity's van- and good spelling:

So, are they Nazis- or "Nasis"?  Interestingly, I looked up "Nasis", and got three surprise returns:

One is the info system, called the "infinite Portal" used by Santa Fe Indian school...
One is the "National Soil Information System..."

And one had THIS for a description:

"DOD Warning: USG Warning and Consent Banner. You are accessing a U.S. Government (USG) Information System (IS) that is provided for USG-authorized use only..."

Yeah, not clicking on THAT one...

Item four: You're missing the point...

When searching for a lost pilot, one might want to look for a lost AIRPLANE...


Amelia Earhart's stolen car found in Los Angeles

And if she were driving that car across the Pacific, you might have something there.  As it is, well... actually, the car, a " green and black 1932 Hudson Essex Terraplane", of which there are only 14 left, was stolen from its collector owner.

Item five:  Could be a correlation, here...

Yesterday I stumbled upon an article about three men from the remote mountains of north Pakistan, who were the last three speakers of the Badeshi language.  The headline was not a chuckle, and the article of itself was a fascinating look at how a language dies, but the thing that struck me was THIS exchange between two of the speakers...


Said Gul also doesn't know his own age. When he said he was 40, somebody corrected him. "It's more like 80!" Said Gul quickly shot back, "No, may be 50, but not 80!"

If their grammar is as hard as their math, I think we have an alternate cause...


Item six:  For pity's sake, just don't bring him to America...

Headline:

Lift Peeing Video Ignites Fury In China

And it's just what it said...

Chinese state media are using a video of a child urinating in a lift to reinforce better parental controls.

The Ministry of Public Security has shared footage on the popular Sina Weibo microblog from 23 February of an elevator in a building in southwest Chongqing.

"Please educate, and take good care of your children!" it says.

The footage shows a boy urinating over the buttons that take passengers to different floors. His actions caused the lift to short circuit, and then he appears visibly distressed as the lights go on and off, and the doors open and close.

Chinese social media has erupted against the kid's upbringing... and they may have a point.  I for one think dad's excuse is, er, all wet...

However, Beijing News says that the boy's father disputes the video's authenticity. "He [the father] says that his son cannot yet urinate that high, he doesn't believe it, and his son won't admit it, says he didn't do it," a reporter tells the paper.

Trust me, I had a nephew who could hit that high at THREE years old.

Item six: An oldie but a goodie

This is a revist, as Chinese leader Xi Jinping reinforces some censorship rules in prep for changing the rules to allow him a third five year term...

Why China Is Censoring Winnie The Pooh again

The answer:  so internet wags can't do THIS again...

...or this...

Like a sunny Monday In February

Crap!  Here comes that guy and his dumb dog...

Logs are really moving

Yeah... we gotta go around/past/through that

Practicling shooting blind... this might not look bad, but was the bottom corner of the original picture

A beautiful day to just enjoy the walk.  Scrappy's snoring tells me HE did.

Sunday message: the backwards battle

There are a lot of references to this current world being backwards in the Scriptures, as well as by pastors and commentators.  For example, say Acts 17:

17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.


5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious,[a] took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 7 Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” 8 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9 So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

But I have found that while, in this passage, the world was confused because Paul and Silas were standing straight with God and they were facing the other way, many times we who are Christians are facing the wrong way in another sense.  Let me explain.

How does your day go?  Do you fight with sin, often losing, and at the end of the day feel like your best efforts leave you treading water with God?  Yeah, me too.  But recently I have been praying about "putting God first."  And frankly, I was so backwards I had no idea what that even meant.  But I am starting to get a clue.

Take the sins that so often hit us, the temptations we call, "living in the world."  How do you avoid lust with so much pornography and sexualization out there?  How do you avoid greed or envy when ads give you 24/7 what someone else has- and you can too, with a little more money?  How do you avoid alcoholism with a bar or liquor store on every corner, and today, you will soon be able to buy on Sunday in Indiana?  There are temptations, there are DISTRACTIONS everywhere.  But can we blame them?

A friend of mine posted this passage a few days back, which got me thinking...

"...The Buddhist story is told of Milarepa, who came back to his cave one day to find it filled with demons. He didn’t know how to get rid of them. He tried to teach them Buddhism. They ignored him. He got angry and attacked them. They just laughed. Finally, he gave up and said, “I’m not going anywhere and it seems that you are not either. I guess we will have to live here together. Let’s have some tea.” 

The story says that upon Milarepa’s offer of hospitality, the demons promptly disappeared..."


And it made me think of the "ascetics" - the hermits of the early Church, who abandoned society and its distractions to beat away temptations and get closer to God.  Not surprising, as I found on Wiki a similar story about St Anthony:

Once, Saint Anthony tried hiding in a cave to escape the demons that plagued him. There were so many little demons in the cave though that Saint Anthony's servant had to carry him out because they had beaten him to death. When the hermits were gathered to Saint Anthony's corpse to mourn his death, Saint Anthony was revived. He demanded that his servants take him back to that cave where the demons had beaten him. When he got there he called out to the demons, and they came back as wild beasts to rip him to shreds. All of a sudden a bright light flashed, and the demons ran away. Saint Anthony knew that the light must have come from God, and he asked God where was he before when the demons attacked him. God replied, "I was here but I would see and abide to see thy battle, and because thou hast mainly fought and well maintained thy battle, I shall make thy name to be spread through all the world."

Lesson being, removing the distractions does not get you anywhere.  Because fighting the distractions- fighting SIN- is the wrong battle.

Sin has, you may know, two types.  One is the common sin of all flesh, passed on from Adam.  We don't have to commit A sin to have THIS sin.  It is the one that sends us to hell- unless we accept the fact that Christ died in our place to forgive that sin.  The other is everyday stuff that we do, intentional or unintentional, that we need to confess to MAINTAIN a healthy spiritual, "working" relationship with God.  Now the one, if we have turned to Jesus, is taken care of.  The other is incidental, it is intended solely to drag us down, to make us think God wouldn't want anything to do with us. 

It is a DISTRACTION.

God doesn't want us spending all day breaking ourselves of these temptations, and it wouldn't work if we did.  So how do we stop them, and get closer to God?  By putting God first.  And we do that how?

Solomon, after looking at every other way to give meaning to his life and finding all vanity, ended Ecclesiastes with this:

10 The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright—words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars[b] are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. 12 And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
14 For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

In other words, everything else comes together if we walk away from the distracting battle against individual sins and JUST.  LOVE.  GOD.  Consider one more passage, between Jesus and Peter:

John 21 15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah,[b] do you love Me more than these?"
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah,[c] do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah,[d] do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”
And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep..."


Now, most of us understand that this was Jesus' way of "reinstating" Peter after his three denials of Jesus at His Trial.  But Think on this.  Jesus did not say, "So, Pete, I noticed you denied me the other night when I was in a spot of trouble."
"Yeah, Lord..."
"And you even used some foul language doing so, isn't that right?'
"You have sharp hearing, o Lord."

Jesus didn't bring these things up because THEY DIDN'T MATTER.  They were distractions, that made Peter's relationship with Jesus strained because he felt guilty.  The thing that WAS important is what Jesus hammered through to him:  "Do you LOVE Me?"

And that's why I say we are fighting a backwards battle.  We worry so much about the sin, and that is how Satan wants it.  If we are saved by faith, Satan can't touch us- but he can DISTRACT us.  And we get all carried away with the sin, we stop doing the ONE thing that can beat the sin- JUST.  LOVE.  GOD.  If we work on just that one thing, the rest will soon be behind us.  Not that we won't sin- prime example right here.  But instead of pulling an Adam and Eve and cowering in the undergrowth when you hear God coming because you're "naked", you can go RIGHT AFTER your fall to God- and I am going to tell you, THAT makes the difference, because He will teach you some incredible things if you do.

Time Machine co-ordinates VIXLII47522376

Today we find ourselves in February 23rd of 1976- the day that saw the start of the first trial of serial killer Ted Bundy.  He had been arrested and charged with the kidnapping of near-victim Carol Deronch, who escaped only because, in the fight to handcuff her, he got both cuffs on one wrist, and she escaped.  His second choice that night wasn't so lucky.  I wouldn't have shared this happy story, except virtually nothing else happened that day.  Not even a plane crash.  Nor a birthday worth making fun of.  So we start this week much as it has been all week for me- with a resounding THUD.


(BTW, I just turned spellcheck off once and for all.  It wanted me to spell Bundy "Buddy".  Not. Gonna. Happen.)


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So welcome to this week's Time Machine, where we have 3 new debuts; three of my favorite songs in the top ten that were IGNORED by the Panel this week, along with a third consecutive near miss of overtime; and who were Cycle V, and what did they have to do with Giorgio Moroder, Jane Birkin, or Fritz Lang's Metroplis?

"Truth be told, zey had nothing to do vith me..."

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First comes our first debut- a song I stuck into the top ten literally halfway through my first listen!  From Everett, WA, here are the Moondoggies...






They take the #10 slot with their latest.


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Today, we welcome Barry Manilow into the co-pilot's chair!  How goes it, Barry?

You know, playin' the piano, writin' the songs...

Now, your future self has actually had a hit on the M10 just recently- this might be a first for a POTM to be a M10er!

M10?

My non-time-limited weekly top ten.

Oh, really?  What song did I do?

Well, I can't tell you, because you haven't done it yet!  Uh, actually, I guess you've done half of it by this point...

I did half a song already... and the other half I did in...

It's a medley, and you put the two halves together last year my time- in 30 or so years, your time...

Good grief, I'm still doing music in thirty years?  And people still like it?

Sure!  I don't call you "the Sinatra of our generation" for nothing...

Sinatra... wow...  When do they start calling me that?

Um, well, I'm the only one so far doing it, but...

Hey, that's something, I guess.  So what are we doing here?

I give you the list of this week's contestants- 16 #s on 41 stations- and you read 'em.

Okay, let me have the list...  Eric Carmen is the first guy, with All By Myself at #4 on the week's Cashbox chart.  Hey, can I make comments if I like it?

I encourage it!

But if you get the "POTMs" from the year they won... and have them read a list from the NEXT year...

Let's not over-think this, B.  Okay?

Right.  Next is Queen- always did like their style...

So I've heard...

...with Bohemian Rhapsody, which is at #28.

This week has two songs about the CB radio fad.  The first one is CW McCall's Convoy, at #32.  Say, these songs are all charting pretty low...

Yeah, that seems to happen a lot in the '70s.

Gary Wright is at #16 with Dream Weaver.  Getting warmer...!

Paul Simon is at the top with 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.  Say, I recall that having quite the chart contest with MY I Write The Songs.  Is that coming up?  

Funny story about that.  We'll pick it up in a bit.

Hmmm...  So Elton John has both sides of a double-A in the countdown.  Grow Some Funk Of Your Own is at #10; I Feel Like A Bullet In The Gun Of Robert Ford is at #27.

Larry Groce's Junk Food Junkie is at #30.  You know, I should do that in one of my shows...

Yeah, you'll kill 'em at the part about having a Big Mac on your breath...

(Cross look)  ANYway, the Miracles are at #5 with Love Machine.

The Ohio Players are at #29 with Love Rollercoaster.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were at #17 with Oh What A Night (December 1963).

Dr Hook covers a classic, Only Sixteen, at #31.  Another low charter!

9 out of 16 were #15 or below...

Wow, lot of variety there.  Rhythm Heritage was at #2 with the Theme From SWAT.

Rufus and Chaka Khan was at #18 with Sweet Thing.  I mean, were.

The other CB song, Cledus Maggerd's White Knight, was at #22.

And that leaves us with Hot Chocolate's You Sexy Thing at #6.  Hey!  So were is I Write...

We're getting to that, hang on.  So this time, I'm going to twist the game a little bit.  I'll give you all the top 2- which were 12-11 in votes- and three ringers with only one vote each to choose from.  So your choices are:  You Sexy Thing;  SWAT; Bohemian Rhapsody;  Love Rollercoaster; and 50 Ways.  Pick out those top two, and I'll update you a bit later.

So now, about I Write...

No, now we get debut #2.  You remember her from Dent May's Across The Multiverse, and here she is on her own at #9- Frankie Cosmos:




This is a fan-made video so hopefully you'll all get to see it before some record company guy complains and it gets pulled.


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Now, getting to the point Mr Manilow was trying to make.  There were 4 songs on the Cashbox top ten that didn't get a Panel vote.  One was our 6D victim at #3, which we'll get to later.  The remainder were three of my favorites of all time- at #7, the Eagles and Take It To The Limit; at #8, I Write The Songs;

WHAAAAAT!?!

...and at #9 ELO's Evil Woman.  In fact, out of 41 stations, Take It appeared in the top 10 of a chart 15 times, with a high of #2;  Barry made the top ten 14 times with a high of #3; and ELO made the top ten 10 times with a high of #4.  Needless to say, I am a bit disappointed...

WE are a lot disappointed...

...with the Panel this week, but if it just went off the CB chart, what fun would that be?

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I know we are a bit early for video #3, but I have a surprise in the Stat Pack, so here is a new debut off a soon to be released lp by an act that becomes the second act to have SIX M10s under their belts...  this is... Beach House:





Note:  If you don't want to be hypnotized, you might wanna look away during the video.  And, this debuts at #8.


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The first (and basically only) national concert I saw (sorta) at the Memorial Coliseum was Joan Jett.  I didn't get to see Joan- my future ex-wife saw someone she apparently didn't want to be seen with me by, and made up a story about avoiding her "brother"- making us leave HALFWAY through the first act.  We can bash her some other time;  important thing is, the act I was TRYING to watch was called House of Lords, and they were led by one Greg Giuffria, who I would hear later as the leader of his own, self-named band, which had a hit with Call To Your Heart.  This becomes pertinent to our story as he was later (or earlier) bandmates with one Frank Dimino in an outfit called Angel.

Uh...yeah...

Later- or earlier, I never noted the timeframe- Frank was the lead singer for an outfit called Cycle V, a studio throw-together that did Seduce Me Tonight on the Flashdance soundtrack- and one other thing.  Producer Giorgio Moroder decided to do a modern soundtrack to the 1927 silent cult classic Metropolis by Fritz Lang.  Among those on the soundtrack were Freddie Mercury, Bonnie Tyler, Pat Benatar, Jon Anderson of Yes, Billy Squier, Adam Ant, Loverboy- and yes, Cycle V.  Moroder was much more known for a song which a singer of his had started a lead lyric to but had no idea where to go with it.  He thought about it- and then combined it with the near-orgasmic parts of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsborough's Je T'aime Moi Non Plus- which is why Jane told us she wasn't really involved- and came up with the song at #3 without a Panel vote- Donna Summer's Love To Love You Baby.


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Sta Pack time- in a sec.  But first:  Your two songs that do the real duking out are- SWAT and 50 Ways.  If you took them, you are still in the running!

The top song in the UK this week is one of our Panel contestants- Oh What A Night!  Also charting from the Panel picks in Jolly Ol' are Bohemian Rhapsody (#36), Convoy- yes, Convoy (4), Love Machine (14), and our 6D victim from Ms Summer (#12).

The #76 in '76 goes to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils with If I Only Knew, a song from the lp strangely- well maybe not strangely- The Car Over The Lake Album...

No, that IS strange...

The #101 was a song by Anne Murray called, The Call.  It was top 5 Canadian Country, and was written by Gene McLellan, who also wrote Anne's Snowbird and Ocean's Put Your Hand In The Hand.

Big mover was Maxine Nightingale's Right Back Where We Started From, up 27 spots from #77 to #50.


I knew 58 songs in the hot 100 this week, and while I didn't see much I knew in the Bubbling Under, I found Terry Bradshaw, of all people, at #120...




What I wouldn't give to watch him look into Bill Shatner's eyes and sing this on Better Late Than Never...

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The remaining M10:

Moon Taxi stuck again, this time at #7 with Let The Record Play.

Shilpa Ray goes up 2 to #6 with Rockaway Blues.

Back down again, stopping at #5 again, for the Shacks and Follow Me.

Reversing direction in week #7 is illuminati hotties, one spot up at #4 with (You're Better) Than Ever.

The Decemberists get shoved down a very unwilling notch to #3 with Severed. 

Voodoo Children move into the runner-up slot with Tangerines And Daffodils.

Which means a second week at #1 for...

...Lucius with Neighbors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAND the winner of this week's election, with a mere 2.43% margin...

Paul Simon and 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, Rhymin' Simon and 1977!

The upcoming student gun protest, and all I have to say on it

If there's one battle currently in the wars of society I'd just as soon check out of, it is gun control.  By that I mean, I can see where both sides have screwed the pooch over and over again, and not owning a gun isn't a big deal to me.  HOWever, I can look unbiased at history and realize that in the past REAL Nazis showed that they could control a country without private guns so much easier.In other words, no matter who you are, I am prolly on your more moderate side.  That said...

I heard on the way home today an IPFW student was organizing a gun protest at the Courthouse for Saturday.  Said that the latest shooting was his tipping point, he'd had enough, and wanted to do something about it.

My first thought was the usual... "Good, hope it rains Saturday."

Then I remembered that I need to work on my attitudes and my ways of looking at things, and my next thought was...

I said to myself, "Why SHOULDN'T it be a tipping point?  You know, this is happened too many times now, and no matter what you see as the solution, one thing is obvious...  something's broken."


Even President Trump seems to think so... although his "solution" is ineffectual and not germane to what's happening.   Bobby G is more to the point in his blog today: "If you want culpability, look to the FBI, who managed to drop the ball with this latest shooter (because they were too busy trying to unseat our president with bogus charges), and the physicians and pharmaceutical companies who allow the over-medication of at-risk people while not taking into account any possible adverse "side-effects" from their drugs."

But those are also the tip of the iceberg.  The couple who took the latest shooter in said they knew he was troubled over his adoptive mother's death, so why do you let him into your home WITH A GUN?  I'm not saying refuse him a place to stay, but you say to him, "As long as you live here, the gun stays with US and LOCKED UP."  Some doctor somewhere was treating him at one point, and with someone like this, shouldn't a doctor keep in touch regularly- and have to report to authorities if they lose touch with him? 


Or how about "The gun wasn't an automatic, it was SEMI-automatic."  I don't know that much about guns, but does the "semi" really matter if it SHOOTS FAST?  But that is one thing we are good at in America, parsing words.  I'd really love to loop in the abortion debate right here, but let me stay on one controversial subject at a time.  Admit it:  The NRA holds back certain laws that MIGHT be beneficial because of the fear titled, "If we give in on this one thing, how long before..." and the gun-control people are too busy playing their political game to think about what little Sherman might do to Peabody if he DIDN'T have a gun...

I tried to bring up the mental health aspect on FB the other day (shoulda been my first clue) and a "former friend" decided that instead of just pointing out where she thinks the President is doing wrong, has to festoon her comments with the extreme hatred she felt for Trump, completely invalidating anything productive she might have had to say.  Who's going to listen to a sermonette on what a bastard the President is, when you get labelled a "hypocritical Christian" for saying the whole thing is better debated without the insults?

So let us tally a few things up.  Among the problems we AREN'T talking about are:

Wasting time on political agendas
Throwing out non-solutions to placate the masses
Discussing the topic from a basis of hate
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY both at home, school, and doctor's offices
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY from big Pharma and political parties
Why the FBI cannot seem to take the time to do its job competently
Wasting time on semantics

All of which add up to...

So, to Brandon Blumenherst, my apologies.  I shouldn't have wished precipitation on you just yet.  If you can divest yourself of political hate and focus on the real problems, I will wish you a dry and successful protest.  However, if your agenda is the same as MOST protests- bash Trump and scream at the NRA- then you're on yer own.

After the "flood"...

So yeah, wasn't around last night.  The "under construction" sign on my head took a bit of a beating the last two days, as I begin to pay the price for not disciplining my spiritual life ere now.  Yesterday was a "fuse waiting for a light" kinda day that I mostly managed to keep under wraps, followed today by a "feel sorry for me" day today.  But things were better once home, as we present for your brief viewing pleasure, "What a 68 degree day in February looks like".

water...

"You think?"

"Could be a bit warmer... but feels good..."

"Hmmm... which lake do we go?"

Sunday message: Letting the Egyptians get to me

Sometimes you check the oven and the cake isn't done.  And I think that is where I am at today.  Last night was a big ordeal and I had to learn a lot of lessons in a hurry.

At least, that's what I told myself.  I am going through a lot of self-reflection and changes, and it is changing the way I see the world around me.  Once upon a time, a Christian would go to a grocery store and wonder if the lady ahead of them in line was a believer or not.  Now, you go on Facebook and you can figure it out in 10 minutes or less.  Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration, but a line that was once fairly blurry is a lot sharper to our perceptions these days.

And it can hurt.  To know that someone you might have been friends with 10, 15 years ago, you just can't be around now.

And this is one of the many things that I am trying to work through.  And I want to do it RIGHT NOW, because that is the instant-gratification temperament the world has taught me.  But God has a different plan.  He has heard my prayers about "doing things right this time", and that involves a lot of reflection, a lot of leading, and a lot of prayer.  All of which are things I either never possessed or haven't used in a while.  So I get all froggy, and want to move on to the "easy" part.

(Pause to let the laughter die down)


And I get this for an answer.  "Lightning is expensive.  And it will burn your butt."

And I chuckle at first, because I realize I have been asking for a bolt from the blue.  But there's a deeper meaning.

There is a cost.  Lightning is expensive.  You pay for moving faster than God wants.  Ask my kids the price of moving into a marriage at my speed instead of God's.   Ask them if the butt-burning we ALL suffered was worth it.  And that's just one example.  My life, quite frankly, is a big bowl with a variety of "examples" mixed in with "things I'd like to go at my speed."

Then, I get another answer:  Are you praying as you ought- "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"- or are you trying to bring YOUR perfect world into focus?

Three days after adding the lost souls of India to my prayer list, I read an article about a Christian minister in India, hung in his own living room.  Three days after adding foster children to my prayer list, a foster child kills 17 people at his old school.  And I'm like, "Am I doing more harm than good?"  I told Laurie, "Perhaps I should stop praying in the bathroom, before the floor gives and it falls into the living room."

And she reminds me, for every story the media overreports, there are a lot of stories where that Hindu turns to Christ, where that troubled teen gets help, that you'll never hear.  And that is so true- and it points out just how many potential messed up people are out there.  PRAY FOR PEOPLE.


And I get stuck on people who don't love the Lord, that attack me for being "a typical hypocrite Christian", and their words keep me up at night, that the more I pray for them, the more hostile they become.  Fuzzy line coming into focus.  And I am comforted by, "Why focus on those whose hearts are hardened, what they think of you.  Consider instead the ones who know you best, who support you."

And I see that.  But I am just learning these things, and it is hard to realize that some people just won't be helped.  And of course, I argue with God.  And God says, "I chose Israel and delivered them, but I did NOT deliver Egypt.  Look and see who chose to harden Pharaoh's heart first."


So I did.  Exodus 7:3, God hardens it first.  In fact, going down the list, you see 6 times that God hardened his heart, twice it "became hardened", and three times Pharaoh hardened it.  But the curious thing is when you look at the aftermath of plague #7:

Ex 9:34-  And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart...

2 verses later, Ex 10:1- Now the Lord said to Moses, "Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart..."

What do you draw from that?  I draw that there is a decision making process by man that is yet controlled by God.  Being outside of time, he knows which way you will choose- and then sets things up to make it easier for you to make that choice.  That's why I saw a Christian mother spend time every morning with her prayer book, and Pharaoh- well he got magic tricks from fakers.  That's why a man who saw himself as the Pride of the World was humbled by a man who SIX TIMES made excuses why he COULDN'T do the job.

We can't let the Egyptians get to us.  The Spirit teaches us what they will never accept.  And this world is theirs, not ours.

And most importantly, we really don't want to be hit by lightning.

Time Machine co-cordinates VIXLI47421675

Today, we leave the fields of 2018 and drift down to February 16th, 1975- the day BEFORE AC/DC released High Voltage for us old timers, and the day that South African PM BJ Vorster told fellow apartheid boss, Rhodesian PM Ian Smith, that he was no longer going to send him South African troops to help him stay afloat, as he had concluded, according to Wiki, "white rule would be untenable in a country where blacks outnumbered whites 22:1."   Unlike his OWN country, where the odds are only 10:1.  Unless you count the people in country illegally right now from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), escaping their wonderful majority rule government, a number approaching 3 million.  Nice improvement, Zimbabwe!

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And having had my fill of politics for the day now, welcome to the music end of the story here, where we will have:  Ringo Starr on the Panel picks; a trip through commercial jingles thanks to the #75 in '75; the bizarre story of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel; the all-star team on the lp I put in the category of "Stupidest names for #1 albums"; and a new #1 on the M10!   No, we're not bringing the Young brothers in for a visit, so leave your copies of Highway To Hell WAAAAAY outside, and let's go!


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One debut this week, and you know this lady- at #8, Shilpa Ray:





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Let's welcome in Ringo Starr!

Hello, Sir Richard, and... uh, you know this isn't a Thomas the Tank Engine thing...

Say wat?  But Elvis told me...

Well, you know how, on Doctor Who, the first rule is, "The Doctor lies"?  Well, on TM, the first rule is, "Elvis lies".

Oh, faddle.  Then this is music, after all?

Yep.  I'm going to give you the Panel picks- songs that were getting #1 votes around the country this week in 1975- and you'll read 'em off for the listening audience.

Well, thank God!  I am quite fed with Sir Toppem Hat and all that rubbish.  Fancy a blast? (Pulls out a flask)

Uh, well, I would, but I've gotta fly this thing.  Laurie's off to work, and Scrappy...

...well, he don't fly, so...

Quite all right.  You have the list?

Right here.  13 candidates from 27 stations.

Very good.  In alphabetical order, as well!  First off we have the "weekly song from Lorenzo Marquez."  Where exactly IS Lorenzo Marquez, anyway?

Well, apparently I have been spelling it wrong for forever, because it's Lourenco Marques, and it isn't an island like I thought, because it is the capital city of Mozambique in Africa, and it isn't even Lourenco Marques anymore, because when the Portuguese left it got renamed Maputo.

Maputo.  Wonder what that means?

I don't know, but don't ask a Spanish speaker!

Why- oh.  OH.  Anyway, the #1 song there was the Rolling Stones' cover of Ain't Too Proud To Beg, which had peaked in the States last December.

Then we have the Eagles with Best Of My Love, which was #4 on Cashbox.

And The Doobie Brothers and Black Water at #5.

Carol Douglas, a young woman with a one-hit wonder called Doctor's Orders, was at #18.

The Ohio Players held the second spot on the survey with Fire.

Olivia Newton-John- speaking of loverly ladies- is at #9 with Have You Never Been Mellow.  

Then comes one of the most influential acts of Australian music- the Skyhooks.  Their song was called Horror Movie, and it was the first of two #1s they had Down Under- and to show how big a career they had, the second one didn't come until 1990!

Labelle and Lady Marmalade was at #17.

Barry Manilow had the first of four contestants that were on the current British chart.  Mandy was at #13 in the states, and debuting at #41 back home.

And another was Frankie Valli with the uncredited Four Seasons and My Eyes Adored You- #8 here in the states and #12 back home.  Good heaven, what is with all the red squiggles?

I don't know, the Google/Blogger dictionary took stupid pills today.  It wants me to spell Manilow "Mani-low", it wants me to spell Lourenco the old, wrong way, and wants me to spell Valli "Villa".  I'm good and close to turning it off.

Perhaps I shouldn't 'ave spilled my my drink on the keyboard, wat?  Anyway, next we have AWB, the Average White Band from up in Glasgow, with their song Pick Up The Pieces at #3, as well as debuting at #32 back home.

The Carpenters are at #19 on their way down with Please Mr Postman- which is all the way up at #3 in the UK.

And finally, another loverly lady- Linda Ronstadt, at #1 with You're No Good.  How's that?

Excellent, my friend, excellent.  So with a short list of stations that gives us an average of 2 votes per song, needless to say the vote totals were awful low- 5-4-3 was the tally at the top.  But to keep you good and confused, let me give you five choices.  Pick yer winner from Mani-low, Ohio Players, AWB (or as the squiggle prefers, AWN, whatever THAT is), the Eagles, and Linda.


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So this week's 6D victim was Stevie Wonder's Boogie On Reggae Woman at #6.  What struck me about this tune's album- the bizarrely-titled Fulfillingness's First Finale- was the sheer amount of current and future star power it had.  Among the names you'll know (?) on the credits are:

Michael Sembello, the "Maniac" guy;

Jim Gilstrap, whose claims to fame are two- he's the voice on the first two lines of You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, and he sang the theme to the TV show Good Times;

Denise Williams, the "Too Much Too Little Too Late" girl;

Paul Anka- yes, Paul Anka;

Sneaky Pete Kleinow of the Flying Burrito Brothers;

Funk Brothers bassist James Jameson;

a capella stars the Persuasions;

The Jackson Five on You Haven't Done Nothin';

Minnie Ripperton of Loving You fame (which the squiggle thinks I should spell "Coppertone");

And even Sergio Mendes dropped in to do some Portuguese lyrics.

With a list like that, who NEEDS a 6 degrees?

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The UK #1 this week is a tune called Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) by an outfit called Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel.  But it wasn't actually "THE" Cockney Rebel.  Allow me to explain.

You see, this band had a couple hits over there, but friction developed, as it often does.  It seems that ol' Steve let things get to his head- and before the height of their fame, the band said adios muchacho and quit.  Steve went on with session players, but kept the name.  And Make Me Smile- supposedly written about his "traitorous" bandmates- became "their" biggest hit.

You've done it all, you've broken every code

And pulled the rebel to the floor

You spoiled the game, no matter what you say

For only metal, what a bore

(Ooh la la la)

Blue eyes, blue eyes

(Ooh la la la)

How can you tell so many lies?

(Ooh ah)

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A second Stat Pack story this week involves our #75 at '75- A tune called Isn't It Lonely Together by (Fred) Stark and (Rod) McBrien.  Fred Stark, was apparently known for his commercial jingles- including the McDonalds "you deserve a break today", the WindSong perfume "stays on my mind", the Mountain Dew "Hello sunshine, hello Mountain Dew", GE "we bring good things to life", and "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet".  With McBrien, another ad exec and music engineer who I found little else about, he charted with this:

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Since I've pretty much done most of the Stat pack, I should mention that I knew 47 of the hot 100, but only one of the bubbling unders- Jose Feliciano's Theme from Chico And The Man.  I always loved that show but my favorite scene involved Charo coming up to Jack Albertson and saying in her inimitable accent, "I've got something to get off my chest."

Albertson turns to the camera with slightly bugging eyes and says, "This is a job for Superman!"

Our #101 this week was the pre-fame Atlanta Rhythm Section with Angel (What In  The World Has Come Over Us).  I listened to this, because the AllMusic reviewer said:  "and "Angel (What in the World's Come Over Us)" even adds harmonies almost worthy of Crosby, Stills & Nash. "

If anyone sang on that song but Buddie Buie, I sure didn't hear 'em.


And I just realized I never figured up the week's big mover.  Ringo, could you turn that dial right there... no, that one...

Why certainly... well!  The winner is, Ringo Starr, the No No Song, 26 notches to #50!

You realize that no one is going to believe that I forgot this until now, and it just happened to be you...

Pfaugh!  Let 'em doubt!  We know it's true!

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The M10:

It was a tremendous battle, with new songs clawing to get in, but the Tracks hang on with, er, Hanging On at #10 for a second week.

BORNS, however, erodes still further, dropping 2 more to #9.

Moon Taxi gets a chance at last to move up, but can only move up one to #7 with Let The Record Play, because Dent May lobbied his way into dropping just 2 to #6 with recent #1 Take Me To Heaven.

A much bigger drop for illuminati hotties, as (You're Better) Than Ever drops from its second turn at the top to #5 this week.

Which means the Shacks nestle back into that #4 slot with Follow Me- and there they stick because the top three have the seeming of another "1a, 1b, 1c" ordeal.

At #6, up 3- Voodoo Children and Tangerines And Daffodils.

At #2, up a spot- Decemberists and Severed.

And the new #1- and their third-

Lucius, with Neighbors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the Panel pick, capturing that whopping 18.5% of the vote and narrowly missing a third straight OT:

...Barry Manilow with what was, in '75, my favorite song (and still in my top 5)- Mandy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next up, 1976! Be there!

Parkland

I am sure you have heard by now, we had another school shooting.  And we who are Christians pray for the victims, and atheists say, don't waste your time.  Tough tooties, atheists, I prayed anyway.  For the families, for the victims, and for the shooter and those like him.  I asked hard questions about the whys, and got hard answers.  Some might say cold answers and cold comfort, but bear with me.

First thing I want to point out, is Jesus our Savior has been there.  On both sides perhaps.  I am going to go into speculation here, because we don't know this kid's motivation.  We know he was "a former student", 18-years old.  So let's make a speculation he was a loner, bullied/ignored by the popular, the mainstream.  And he felt a need to "pay them back for what they did."

Now think of Jesus on the Cross.  At a certain level, He is the victim.  We don't know the motivations of the crowd, jeering at Him, spitting on Him.  Maybe He was for some of them just a generic victim, representing in their hateful minds someone who told them what to do at some point.

At another level, He is the shooter.  Bullied, attacked by "popular opinion", suffering like no one else could have- and He more than anyone had the ability to stop the pain, and declare, "Vengeance is mine."  He could have blown them all away with a thought.

But the conclusion of either angle is, He said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

He made a choice not to hurt back.  He made a choice to forgive.

Second thing, He HAS spoken about such things to us, IN THE BIBLE.  Here is His take on what happened today- and what might happen tomorrow:

Luke 13 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”


See, the Heavenly perspective is that there isn't a lot of difference in how you live OR die on this earth, if you haven't been saved by grace.  If I may "go Pence" again tonight, it was explained to me, "There is no difference between his sin and yours.  You shut Me out and did what you wanted.  SO DID HE."

People keep getting lost in the whole good deeds, good life" thing, and it just isn't so.  Will Hitler and Stalin end up in hell?  By the way their lives ended, I'd bet heavy on it.  What about a good guy like, say, John Denver?

John Denver?

From an article by Bill Fay, Baptist Press, from 2010:

One day in a frequent flyer room, I looked over and saw John Denver. It was pretty obvious with his distinct features and signature guitar that it was him.

I went over and said, "John!"

He jumped up, stuck out his hand and said, "I haven't seen you in a while."

I said, "No sir, we've never met. But I am a man who's prayed for you for over five years, and I have a message for you from your dead father, Dutch."

You see, years earlier, in the height of my pagan lifestyle, John Denver's father was the co-pilot on the Learjet that used to fly me around the country to do my illegal mob business.

His father -- whose hand I held when he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ -- made me promise that one day I would share with his son. I said, "Dutch, if God provides the moment, the privilege is mine."

Now it looked like the moment was going to come.

I met with John in a private room in the Denver airport for the better part of two hours. I took him line by line through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There wasn't a single verse of Scripture he did not understand -- nor was there a single verse of Scripture that he would accept.

Finally, I said, "John, when did you make up your mind Jesus Christ would never become your Lord and your Savior?"

He could remember the date, the time and the place. A godly Sunday School teacher, like some of you, said to him Jesus Christ was The Way, The Truth and The Life.


I left with a saddened heart, tears in my eyes.


And that is the cold, hard way of things.  Perhaps John had a change of heart after that meeting; we can't know.  But without it, he'll be right there with Adolph and Joe.  Maybe on a different level?  Who knows.  And why would it matter?  Hell is eternal, and it is awful.  And you wouldn't wish your worst enemy there.

Even if he was an 18-year old who let anger control him, and destroy a lot of innocents with him.  So let's pray for the victims and their families.  And include in that the prayer that they will be able to forgive.

What you chose...

So eminent spiritualist Joy Behar tells us that Mike Pence is mentally disturbed for communing with his Savior.  Well guess what?  So am I.   But you knew that.

"See?  We agree on something!"

Tonight was a prayer time in which I learned several things.  But the one most important involved a prayer for her- and others like her- whose all-inclusive, tolerant hearts have nothing but hate for those she disagrees with- especially those who love the Lord.  "Lord," I said, paraphrasing myself, "You can open the hardest heart, and replace it with a "heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26 for your benefit, He already knew).  Why can't you do it for (insert your favorite committed unbeliever) ?"

Because they made their choices long ago.  I cannot do anything for them if they choose not to let Me.  They will one day ask why, and I will have to say, "This is what you chose."

"This is what you chose."

We will all hear this one day beyond this world.  But which way will we be facing when we hear it?

"As for I and my house, we shall serve the Lord. " (Joshua 24:15)

But what about the Joy Behars you know?  What about you?

The prophets prophesy falsely,

And the priests rule by their own power;

And My people love to have it so.

But what will YOU do in the end?

(Jeremiah 5:31)