This world, and a better one

So far today...


Read about the little boy in England who socialized medicine left die.  Second one that made the international news.  How many we don't know about?

Read about a beautiful girl who shared her prom dress on twitter- and got attacked because it had an oriental design and she wasn't oriental.

Just went off on one of Laurie's relatives who keeps filling her FB feed with how blacks do no wrong and every breath I take is racist because I'm white.  Girl, you are white too.  Sharing posts you barely understand doesn't make you rate.  Like I said when I commented, when you want to switch to posts about the races working together to end discrimination instead of blaming each other, let me know.

Komet star Shawn Szydlowski ‏had his mom and his little niece in attendance at the game in Toledo last night.  A Toledo couple got a poster with a monkey on it- with Shawn's mom's face pasted over the monkey's- and waved it in front of the child.  That's low for Philly, let alone Toledo.

About ten million posts about that excuse for a comic at the Washington Press roast this weekend.  I've had many on the left tell me they have a sense of humor.  No, humor is when you are funny.  Maybe if she'd had brought a severed head to the dinner...

Oh, and the nearly obligatory post on a comment thread about some guy who still can't tell the difference between a party that wants everyone to have equal rights of speech and worship and a party that wants to gas the opposition to death.


That's the news for today.  Pretty bad, isn't it?  Hate disguised as tolerance, Hate disguised as sportsmanship, hate disguised as politics, hate disguised as comedy.  Hate, hate, hate.  Is there any good news? 

Sure there is!  Look here:

Dying children go to a better place:   Matthew 18:2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

There's only one clothing style that will matter:  Revelation 7:13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Skin won't matter in the end:  John 4:19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Haters can only do so much damage:  Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


Mockers only bring shame on themselves:  Matthew 11:16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

17 “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
    we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”


There is only one truth; and it will be proved.  John 18:33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.


Thank you for putting up with me on this one; it was more for me than for you.  Sometimes you get a little hung up in the show with so many puppets dancing around you.  Love to all.

Sunday Message- the verses you don't see

This is a story that fits between two thoughts, and two ways of thinking.  The two thoughts are Biblical; the two ways of thinking are not.  They draw the contrast between pride and humility, and ask us where we are supposed to be.  And before we start, let me say, I am NOT yet there, and don't pretend to be.

The first thought came from Alistair Beg, and out of three programs I try to listen to through the static of work and poor reception in the morning, it is the one thought I captured in a very bad day, attitude-wise, for me.

Jesus, at the Last Supper, KNEW who His betrayer was.  He KNEW.  And what did He do about it? HE WASHED HIS FEET.

That is some powerful humility, and an example few of us try to match.  And I don't think we ever really capture the depths of it.  Judas Iscariot was a very blessed man.  He was CHOSEN by the Christ of God to be an Apostle- one of the 12 greatest men the world would ever see.  He spent three years listening to the heart of the greatest teachings the world would ever hear.  He was trusted with the purse, their very sustenance and source of all they could give in the physical realm.  And he sold Jesus out for not only a price, but a joke of a bribe.

And Jesus humbled Himself, even to this.

A few days back, I mentioned that I had tried out MeWe, an experiment I kinda think is going nowhere.  One person I came across fancied himself an internet preacher.  Most of his teaching was good and Biblical, though he was hung up on a couple of what we call "non-salvational" issues I disagreed with.  One day, he posted a fiery diatribe against people (I don't know who they might have been) who didn't like his style of preaching.  When you choose the fire-and-brimstone path, you SHOULD come to expect that.  He then went on to outline his doctrine- again, nothing really wrong with it- but then closed with, "If you don't like the way I preach, you can go somewhere else..."

I commented that that wasn't a very effective way to plant seeds, and was pretty prideful.  He replied in a way that showed he thought I questioned his doctrine, and asked where pride was in his doctrine.  I explained to him it wasn't his doctrine, it was his approach.  I mentioned Matthew 11:29 (where Jesus says He is meek and lowly of heart) and Luke 9:55 (where John and James wanted to blast a town that rejected Jesus with fire from on high, and Jesus told them, "You  don't know of what kind of spirit you are").

Hours later, he DELETED HIS ENTIRE ACCOUNT.  He has not been back.

Now I don't know whether he was so conscientious, that he saw my point and removed everything to self-reflect and change his approach, or if perhaps he was a typical internet bully, who fled when being challenged.  I am hoping and praying the former.  Because it is no sin to examine yourself and find yourself wanting.Outside of Jesus, name one Biblical figure who DIDN'T screw up multiple times, confess their sins and come back stronger.  Well, at least the multiple screw-up part, some never got the second half right.  For example, Judas.

Point being, I believe that every sin we have can be boiled down to pride of some form.  His was a little more blatant; mine is a little more self-pitying.  In fact, on that very bad day at work I was telling you about at the beginning, I was cycling through that same old battle- whine about it, tell yourself you're sick of whining about it, ask God to remove your whining spirit, and then wonder what good it does you not to whine and start the whole thing over again.  (If you ever thought it would be neat to look inside MY mind, that should dissuade you.)  For a moment in that stupid battle, I said to myself, what good does it do to go from a life of work on earth to an eternity of service in heaven- to look at what one might have had on earth had we kept Eden, and not even get to just kick back and enjoy it in heaven.


Now, OBVIOUSLY that was a flawed perspective of heaven.  I knew it as I thought it- whining, remember?- but I didn't realize HOW flawed until, in reading my Bible that night, I came across the perfect counterpiece to Alistair Beg's concept above:

Luke 12:35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”


Wow.  The Master will SERVE the servants He finds watching.  Not only is this a lesson in WHY we should be humble before God and men, but it brings up one more point.


Now, I am not a novice Bible reader, but that verse had never struck me before.  A few weeks ago, David Jeremiah brought up the part in Job where Job had daily sacrificed for his children, "in case they had committed some sin without realizing."  For Pastor Jeremiah, it was an "I never saw that before in 40 years of preaching" moment; for me it was an, "if it were a rock, you'd have tripped on it" moment.  This is why the Bible is a LIVING book: God often hides something from you, often for a long time, and lets you see it when you NEED to see it.  I tried to explain this on a Catholic site last week, and was called an idolater whose idol was the Bible- they would rather accept the traditions of men.  I told them, "Either the Bible is the Inspired Word Of God- which Peter and Paul and Jesus ALL tell you- or it's an automotive owner's manual, that you throw in the glove box and only consult in case of emergencies."  From their responses, I guess they took the latter.

That is why I do what I do on Sundays and Wednesdays here. To show that the Bible is a LIVING book.  And, as you see this week, it is VERY good at showing you the hidden levels of pride in your life- and very good at giving you inspiration to confess them and change your ways.  Pray for me that it changes mine.

Time Machine co-ordinates VIL48442762

Today is and was April 28, 1962- and once again we go to the day before for our lead story.  Baseball player Harry Chiti- a good, but not great, player in the twilight of his career, was traded before playing a game this season by the Cleveland Indians to the inaugural New York Mets team for a player to be named later.  After a 15-game career with the Amazin' Mets- who had already lost 41 of their still-record 120 losses- he BECAME the player to be named later just 50 days later.  Thus he was the first- though not the last- player to be traded for himself.

Guess that .195 average didn't cut it, huh?

Chiti would get sent down and never play in the majors again.  Guess he won't be wearing the Chief Wahoo hat to the Hall of Fame...


***********************************************

And that brings us to this week's Time Machine, where we creep ever closer to that 300th M10 song; the greatest hits of Kal Mann (who?); and for the second week ever- and second week in a row- ladies only on the M10!  Batter up!

****************************************

Today we welcome Del Shannon into the Musical Tardis! How's it going, Del?

Well, I'm a bit confused... whatta ya call this thing again?

TARDIS- Time And Relative Dimensions In Space.  A time machine, bigger on the inside.

So kind of a Jules Verne-y thing...

Yeah, kinda.  Only with music.

Good.  I never did like science fiction.  So what do I do again?

Well, we got the charts from this week- 30 stations- and counted out the #1s- 14 different songs- and you name them off, with the little odds and ends on the list, and whatever comments you want to throw in.

Okay.  Your first one is Brenda Lee with Everybody Loves Me But You.  Man, I know that feelin'.  She was at #17 on Cashbox this week.

Elvis was at... WHOA, he was at #126 with Follow That Dream.  And then, he was at #5 with Good Luck Charm.  He sure did have one...

Who's this guy?

Um, well, all I found out about Ben Terrell was that he was part of Johnny Winters' band at one point, and they might have backed him on this song.  Some ol' Cajun boy.

So that's why his song- Golly Gee- didn't have a chart number?  Makes sense.  Local boy doesn't quite make good.

Shelly Fabres - she still a little cutie?

Well, we're 55 years later now- but she did age well...

Mmmm... anyway, she's at #4 with Johnny Angel.  'Bout makes ya wanna change your name...

Clyde McPhatter- he used to be in the Drifters- he's at #7 with Lover Please.

The national number one is Dee Dee Sharp with Mashed Potato Time.  Hey, that reminds me, Elvis said...

No, no buffet.

Figures.  He always was a bit of a scoundrel.  Jimmy Dean was at #13 with PT 109.  Say, how'd ol' JFK make out, anyway?

What in the...

It means, I can't tell you.

Okay, sweetie.  Next Is Jay and the Americans with She Cried, at #12.

Ernie Maresca and Shout Shout Knock Yourself Out was at #23.  Good dance tune.

Ah, here's a pretty one.  The Shirelles and Soldier Boy at #2.  Kinda tugs at the ol' heart.

I know what you mean.

...Mister Acker Bilk was at #3 with Strangers On The Shore...

An' the last one on the list- Claude King and Wolverton Mountain.  He was at ... hey!  You didn't mark that one down!  

(Goes back in time and looks it up)  Yeah, I did, it's right there.

I'm tellin' ya, it... well, I'll be.  He was all the way down at #131...

Means it'll be shooting up pretty fast.  Well, thanks a lot, Del, It's...

Hey, can I ask you something?

Maybe...

Are they still using this musitron gimmick we got?  Is it still popular?

Well, they call it a clavioline now... at least, the beast that your guy, Max Crook, based your musitron on is... and I found an article that says...


"Claviolines and their derivatives were sold until the latter half of the '60s, which means that the youngest of them are now entering their 40s. Nonetheless, finding one is not hard in 2007: they appear fairly regularly on eBay and in the free ads of local papers. But buying one that is in good condition and still works perfectly is far less straightforward, because most are riddled with problems." (Soundonsound (dot) com)


Hey, wait... you just blinked out and came back...

Yeah, in the Tardis I can...

An' you did that back when I asked about Wolverton Mountain, too, didn't you...

DEL Shannon, everybody, nice round of applause.  Now this week the winner had a fairly strong run, though no, er, runaway like last time.  Let me give you a choice of  the top 5- Mashed Potato Time, Soldier Boy, Strangers On The Shore, Johnny Angel, and Good Luck Charm- letting you know, parenthetically that the only UK entrants in the Panel were Johnny Angel debuting at #41 and Strangers at #12, and...

HEY, WAIT!  Listen, everybody!  He forgot to put Strangers On The Shore on my list!  He just went back and had me say it for a "sound check", he said, an' then moved it foreword, an...

DEL Shannon, everybody!  And now it's time for the newest M10 song- and it's the oldest one in a while.  A couple weeks back when we did the Best Original Song feature, I got introduced to Dusty Springfield's The Windmills Of Your Mind.  My first words were, "Best Dusty song I ever heard- and this week, it becomes the oldest M10 in almost a year!  At #10...







****************************************

Honestly, I think we're a little light this week, so let me go right to the 6D, which was Slow Twistin' at #6 by Chubby Checker with an uncredited-on-the-label assist from Dee Dee Sharp.  It took me a bit to stumble on to something interesting, but I did- the flip was written by one Kal Mann- a name I found more than a few times.  In fact, let's just give you the hits that Mann as a lyricist charted- 15 of them, from 1957 to 1963:

You Can't Sit Down, Phil Upchurch Combo, #29 in '61.  We'll hit this song again- much later.

Ding-A-Ling, Bobby Rydell, #18 in '60.  He had a lot of hits with Rydell, as you'll see.

Wildwood Days, Rydell, 17 in '63.  This song mentions South Street, which the Orlons would make a big hit about.  How was it back then, Bobby G?  The Orlons will also come up in a bit.

Kissin' Time, Rydell, #11 in '59.

Cha Cha Cha, Rydell, #10 in '62.

Let's Twist Again, Chubby Checker, #8 in '61.

We Got Love, Rydell, #6 in '59.

Don't Hang Up, the Orlons (see?), #4 in '62.

You Can't Sit Down (see?), the Dovells, #3 in '63.

Three tunes hit #2:

Rydell's Wild One ('60)
The Dovells' Bristol Stomp ('61)
and Chubby's Limbo Rock ('62).

And three hit the very top:

Elvis with Teddy Bear ('57)
and both Charlie Grace and Andy Williams in '57 with that year's latest Panel winner, Butterfly!

******************************************

Debut #2 is a lot newer- from an lp coming out next month called Rebound.  With a lady who just over 2 years separated from an M10 #1 in 2016, here's Eleanor Friedberger at #9- and song #299...





***********************************

Stat Pack Time!

I got 19 "know 'em"s on this weeks hot 100-  and 5 more on the bubbling under, including The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (103), It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin' (107), Al Di La (135), and The Stripper (143)!

the #62 in '62 was The Falcons with I Found A Love.  An early "supergroup" of sorts, they had just replaced Joe Stubbs (brother of Levi) with Wilson Pickett for this one!

#101 was Brook Benton with a song called Hit Record.  It was... in four weeks, it would peak at #36.

The top dog in the UK was the Shadows with Wonderful Land.  It was written by Jerry Lordan, who had also wrote one of last week's panelists, Jorgen Ingman's Apache ( which the Shadows took to the top in the Isles two years before).

And the big mover goes to, ironically, Dion's Lovers Who Wander, which wandered up 30 spots from #72 to #42.


**************************************************


And now, the other M10s:

The last of the Iron Ceiling, Mikaela Davis' Little Bird- now in 7th all time by herself- spends her 9th week on the chart at #8, down 5.

Which means Melody's Echo Chamber had a little room to Breathe In Breathe Out at #7, up 2 spots.

Roseanne Cash slips a pair to #6 with The Walking Wounded.

A pair of 2-spot risers next- illuminati hotties and Paying Off The Happiness at #5, Neko Case's Bad Luck at #4.

Lucius slips from the top to #3 with Eventually.

The Shacks shoot up 3 to #2 with My Name Is.

And at the top... since they hit #1 with Archie Marry Me 72 weeks ago, they've been stopped at 3, 10, 2, and 3- but now they have their second #1...

...Alvvays and Not My Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And on the Panel vote:  if you took DeeDee, the Shirelles, or Elvis, you crapped out with 10% of the vote.

And if you took Shelly, you did slightly better at 13.3 %.

But the winner with 23.33% of the vote...

...Mr Acker Bilk and Stranger On The Shore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, he takes you through 1963, God will...

HEY!  You mean ta tell me, you left the WINNER off the list?  BWA-HA-HA-HA!!! Wait'll I tell Elvis!

Try it, and I'll send you so far back you'll be telling MOSES!

Uh, yeah, I'll just be keepin' quiet now...

Wednesday Bible Study- This all sounds familiar...

So this week, we are in 1 Samuel's 3:16- and it is eerily like last week's entry from Ruth.  See for yourself:

From Ruth:

Rth 3:16  And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, Who are you, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. 

And 1 Samuel:

1Sa 3:16  And Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I. 

And thus, we are once again going to have to apply the Kalko rule to learn what is going on.  Just like last week, the outer ring first.

The story:  Eli is the priest who has judged the tribes of Israel the last forty years.  He's gotten old and fat, and his sons Hophni and Phinehas have taken over the business.  But if you remember our study on "the fat is the Lord's" on Leviticus 3:16, you recall that these two were termed "sons of Belial" because they had corrupted the priesthood, taking the best for themselves.  Now, it's not that Eli didn't chew them out over it....

1Sa 2:23  And he said to them, Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings by all the people. 
1Sa 2:24  No, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear. You make Jehovah's people to transgress. 
1Sa 2:25  If one man sins against another, the judge shall judge him. But if a man sins against Jehovah, who shall plead for him? But they did not listen to the voice of their father, because Jehovah desired to kill them. 

But just chewing them out wasn't going to be enough.  Not long after the "stern talking-to", Eli is visited by a prophet of God, and in addition to the very dark fate God had planned for them, this prophet slipped this in:

1Sa 2:29  Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering, which I have commanded in My house? Do you honor your sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people? 

So you see, it wasn't just the boys being bad- Eli had been growing fat, literally and figuratively, off the offerings to God the boys had been skimming.  And that wouldn't be the end of Eli's shortcomings, as we'll see later on.

At this point, we bring in Samuel.  Samuel was the firstborn of a heretofore barren woman named Hannah, who promised to turn her firstborn to God should He so bless her.   So as soon as Samuel was weaned, he was given to Eli, that he might minister to God all his life.

The Ten Verses Before: So now Samuel was somewhere, depending on your timeline, between 8 and 12 years old.  And he begins to get a vision from God- but he doesn't understand what it is.  Why not?

1Sa 3:7  And Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, and the Word of Jehovah had not yet been revealed to him. 

To which I ask:  How is it that a boy who is to be trained in the service of God, by the priest of God, had been with him maybe as much as ten years and STILL didn't know God?  You get the point:  Whatever Eli had been in his past, he was now a "holy hanger-on" at best.  He's not bringing his own house to heel, he's not refraining from the fruit of their loot, and he's not training the next generation.

So God calls Samuel, and Samuel thinks it's Eli.  The preceding verses tell us it wasn't yet light enough to put out the lamps- so about the same time of morning when Ruth came home to Naomi last week- and Samuel wakes Eli and says, "you called me?" and Eli says no.  Then it happens again, and even a backslidden mockery of a priest like Eli knows what's going on.  So Eli says, go back to bed- and if you hear the call again, ask God what He wants.

And what God wanted was to tell Samuel just what the future held in store for the lazy glutton Eli:

1Sa 3:11  And Jehovah said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle. 

1Sa 3:12  In that day I will confirm to Eli all that which I have spoken as to his house, beginning and making an end. 

1Sa 3:13  For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them. 

1Sa 3:14  And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever. 

Now, Eli had already been told that his sons would die on the same day as a sign to him; but now, because he hadn't made the first attempt to prevent that day, the curse on Eli's House was going to damage all of Israel.  The whole thing reminded me of the verse in Proverbs...

PRV 26:14 As a door turns on its hinges,

So does the lazy man on his bed.

15 The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl;

It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.

Eli was that lazy man.  When David had his sin with Uriah and Bathsheba exposed, and God told him their child would die, he pled to the Lord for the child's life, until the moment of death...

2 Sam 12:22 David said, “While the baby was still alive, I fasted, and I cried. I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will feel sorry for me and let the baby live.’ 23 But now that the baby is dead, why should I fast? I can’t bring him back to life. Someday I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me.”

Lesson- we should NEVER give up hope.  Eli, however, never BEGAN hope...

The Ten Verses After:  So a few more years go by, and the Lord is with Samuel in a powerful way.  But Israel is still led by Eli and the "sons of Belial"; and they thought the best way to beat the Philistines would be what one commentator ( and a tip of the hat to Bobby G for his link last week that I used here) called "Rabbit's foot theology".  They would go forth, with Hophni and Phinehas leading the Ark Of The Covenant at their head, and surely God- their lucky rabbit's foot- would lead them to victory.  And for a moment it looked like it would work...

1Sa 4:5  And it happened when the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came into camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. 

1Sa 4:6  And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What is the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they saw that the ark of Jehovah had come into the camp. 

1Sa 4:7  And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp, And they said, Woe to us! For there has not been a thing like this before. 

1Sa 4:8  Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 

Rather ironic, that, just like when Abraham made Sarah claim to be his sister rather than his wife in Egypt, the pagans had more faith in God's ability to protect Israel than they did.  But the rub was, God was NOT with them.  You can't spend a life of nothing but sin and ignoring God and expect Him to pop up and save you when the chips were down.  The Israelites were slaughtered, the sons of Belial were slain, and the Ark was captured.

And the funny thing?  Nobody mourned Hophni or Phinehas.  When the messenger came to the fat, blind, 98-year old Eli and told him the bad news, he was okay with the loss, he was okay with the boys being dead.  BUT...

1Sa 4:18  And it happened when he (the messenger form the battle) spoke of the ark of God, he (Eli)  fell backward off the seat, by the side of the gate. And his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years. 

It was the loss of the Ark that killed Eli- for perhaps the first time, he realized he had presided over the abandoning of Israel by God.  And it wasn't just him, either...

1Sa 4:19  And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, ready to be delivered. And when she heard the report that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed, for her pains came upon her. 

1Sa 4:20  And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said to her, Do not fear, for you have borne a son. But she did not answer, nor set her heart. 

1Sa 4:21  And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God had been taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 

The loss of the Ark- and what it TRULY meant- is what killed her, as well.  And her naming of the child tells us what was on her mind at the end, because Ichabod means, "No glory".

And now, the verse:  And just like last time, our verse is the hinge at the midpoint of the story.  Last time, it was Naomi wondering how the "test" had gone.  Would Ruth remain a woman without an identity- or would God provide her one through Boaz?  Here, though, we see the man Eli about to have his identity- and the identity of his family AND HIS PEOPLE as well- stripped from them.  Now remember, Naomi- who had every reason to give up, and in fact had been very close TO that- went on to encourage Ruth in the Lord.  And Eli?  Well, the contrast is chilling.  First, revisit Ruth:

Rth 3:18  And she said, Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall. For the man will not rest until he has finished the thing today. 

Which is a lot like the psalmist over and over urging us to wait for the Lord.  And now, Eli's story:

1Sa 3:17  And he said, What is the word which He has said to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide a thing from me of all the words that He said to you. 

1Sa 3:18  And Samuel told him all the words, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is Jehovah; let Him do what seems good to Him. 

That wasn't Naomi urging Ruth to faith in God; that was Eli saying, "Whatever, dude."  He thought that no matter what he did- or didn't do- life would go on, and God would still be with Israel.  It was God's responsibility, not his.  Eli was the priest of God- he KNEW God might have mercy had the people repented, had the brothers been shut down, had they come to God- but Eli, the man who was supposed to take them TO God, the man whose very name means "lifted up", he didn't have the time, energy, or inclination to "lift his hand from the bowl."

And the results:  Through Naomi and her willingness to do what she could and wait on the Lord, grafted Ruth into the tree of salvation, from which Jesus himself was sprung.  And Eli, too apathetic to even care until the enormity of his failure sprung upon him too late- He saw his line die out.  For whatever happened to little Ichabod, it is not chronicled, outside of that his nephew Ahiah, son of Ichabod's older brother Ahitub, became High Priest in the days of Saul.  Ahiah, also named Ahimelech, was the priest murdered by Saul's henchman Doeg the Edomite, thus completing God's curse on the House of Eli.

Just because it's "Live" Science...

SPECIAL REPORT

As I perused news stories last night, I found on LiveScience dot com a story on the purported End of the World that we were supposed to undergo yesterday.  Jeanna Bryner, the managing editor of this "prestigious website actually titled her story, "The End Of The World Is Today:  Here Is Why We're Still Here."  Now you would think that disproving yet another prognosticator of doom would be a fairly easy task- and yet, she manages to make herself look just about as bright as our fearless Groundhog of Armageddon.

She starts out:

Today is the day.

It's the beginning of the end, according to practiced doomsday diviner David Meade. On April 23, 2018, Meade says, the sun, the moon and Jupiter will line up in the constellation Virgo (in actuality, they will not be in that constellation) — an alignment that has biblical disaster written all over it.


So far so good, although one might question what the alignment of stars has to do with anything Biblical.  But she'll soon jump the tracks.  Before that though, she gives us a good laugh:

Sadly, perhaps for Meade, the planet Jupiter will appear not in Virgo but in the constellation Libra from Earth's perspective; the sun will appear to align with Aries, while the moon will lurk in the constellation Gemini today, according to The Sky Live.

For those of you uncelestially familiar, that means his "alignment" actually covers 58% of the zodiac.  Thus, I would have to say her statement, "Meade did a lot of numerical and cosmic gymnastics to come up with today's apocalypse ", is a to-say-the-least" moment.


So where does she go wrong?  Well, apparently she took GQ's recent advice on reading the Bible:

In the Bible, Revelation 12:1-2 speaks of a "woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head," who labors to give birth to a dictator who will ultimately bring about the world's end.

"...labors to give birth to a dictator who will ultimately bring about the world's end."  Just. Wow.

The Catholic Church will tell you that the woman is Mary, and the babe is Christ.  The Protestants will patiently explain that the woman is symbolic of Israel, her appearance the connection to Joseph's prophetic dream in Genesis 37.  Both will tell you that the dictator she mentions is actually the Dragon in the following verses who tries to KILL the babe.  So unless she gets her info from the Necronomicon, I think she failed to do the scientist's first duty- Do the research.

She tries, then, to put the onus back on Meade with this passage:

This celestial alignment is, according to Meade, just the beginning of the cosmic catastrophe. From there, a rogue planet called Planet X will supposedly pass by Earth in October and cause a planetwide mess (worldwide volcanic eruptions) that will culminate in the return of Jesus Christ — also based on the Book of Revelation.

There are a few problems with this part of the prediction. For one, Planet X, also called Nibiru, is fictional. And whereas scientists are looking for an Earth-size planet that they sometimes refer to as "Planet X" or "Planet Nine," this is a different world altogether from the one described by Meade and others.

Nibiru, in fact, is the baby of conspiracy theorist Nancy Lieder, who floated the idea in the 1990s. This rogue planet — a body that astronomers who stare at the skies, looking for actual alien worlds, would not miss — was the basis for the failed 2012 Maya apocalypse, among others.  

Of course, depending  on how you interpret several OTHER passages of Revelation, you can make a case for several "Nibiru-like-objects" getting past those same astronomers- much like the school-bus-sized asteroid that they nearly missed last week.  But that's not here nor there.  What does go in our story is, she couldn't bear to be the only Biblical illiterate in her article.  She goes for her coup-de-gras to Allen Kerkeslager, a professor of ancient and comparative religion at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia:

"The author of Revelation was wrong in his predictions, so neither this book nor any other ancient book is of much relevance for predicting the future," he told her.

So, tell me prof:  Any remotely intelligent Bible studier would say to you, "How could the 'author of Revelation' be wrong about predictions that AREN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE HAPPENED YET?  Kerkeslager's statement is roughly the equivalent of telling someone picking the Yankees to win the 2018 World Series that they were wrong, despite the event still being 6 months away.

So how did he manage this?  Because, as I have often told you all- organized science is not trying to prove anything that doesn't start with the agenda.  And the agenda is, God doesn't exist.  Even if you have to make stuff up.

"How dare you? This is serious science!"

So here's the $10,000 question for the day- who is dumber- the guy of questionable sanity that ignores ONE verse of the Bible (Matt 24:36, "No one knows the day..."),  or two alleged intellectuals that try to trash-talk a book they've obviously never read?

BTW:  I have learned that Kerkeslager teaches a course on the letters of Paul.  After such a quote on Revelation, I bet he's a real gas (likely hydrogen sulfide).  In fact I looked at the comments on Rate My Professor, and I had not before seen the words "awful" and "sucks" so many times.  In fairness, there was one comment that said, "I am an atheist, and I was spellbound."  Well put, mon ami, well put.

Picture post

Okay, got quite a bit of film to review today, so Scrappy, get the lights and take the mike...

What?  I gotta narrate this thing?

Okay, fine.  The other morning, Daddy told Mommy he thought we got egged, whatever that means.  But what it was...

...some stupid goose laid eggs right by our front door, and some stupid humpty-back raccoon dug 'em up and ate 'em.  He had breakfast for 2 days.

Saturday, they left me by myself to go see Peanut's big brother Aaron play his first baseball game of the year.

Everybody gets to bat- he batted 11th out of 13.

Daddy said Peanut was more interested in running around than watching...

...and why not? Lookit the score!

Aaron got two walks in his 2 times up.  Daddy says his OPB is 1.000, which I guess is good...

There he is at first...

Daddy said they ended up with 3 runs... and Aaron had an RBI!

Here's ball three... 

...the set... the pitch...

OOPS!  Ball four inside, a bases-loaded walk!


Sunday we saw some ducks sleeping, and a bunch of deer!

And this afternoon, Daddy left me off the leash for a LONG time!

Sunday we saw one little Dutchman's Britches.  Today, there were a LOT!

And other little flowers, too!

I got to sniff around all the dens...

Daddy said, Wow, it's really starting to green up!

Then we heard some deer, but they were hid really good.  But Daddy found them...

Or at least the one's head and the other one's butt...

And after a few more flowers, we came home.  The end!

Sunday message- from your mouth to His ear

I want to tell you a story today about how God can use you in any condition.  As with many of these stories, it starts at my machine at work- but also with a bit of history.

Those of you that don't know me well might not know that I have a bit of a temper.  It is something I have been making good progress against, but it has left me with a bit of a reputation- one that I don't like.  You become known more for the outbursts than for the control. 

And for those that don't know my routine, my morning at work begins with me listening to David Jeremiah, Alistair Begg, and Chuck Swindoll, followed by going down my prayer list, which I keep in a "Little fat book" that Laurie got me.  The whole process can take me to or past our first break, depending on how smooth the work is going.

So, the day in question was anything but going smoothly, work-wise.  But God teaches in these moments too, and today's lesson was going to be, "He hears everything you say to Him."

At one point after one of an ever-growing pile of things I needed to do "hot" was added, I turned back to the prayer list, praying, "Next up..."  I was immediately struck by my facetiousness, and noted that, while God has reached me humorously before, I wanted to be respectful in this venue.

Boy, was I gonna regret that...


Not long after, I was praying on the subject of things God wanted me to do- and how I wanted a "clear sign" of what it might be because "I didn't want to look like a dumba$$..."

Instantly, I knew how stupid that was.  In my heart I knew what I MEANT was, I don't want to make God look stupid by doing something I wasn't supposed to.  At least, I HOPED that was what I meant.

Boy, was I gonna regret THAT.


We reach the finale around 10:30.  As I was taking a fabric color off my table and preparing to switch racks for yet another "hot" item I was fighting my way towards, ANOTHER hot item- of course in the color I was taking down- came out.  Growling the whole way, I brought the fabric back up, assumed incorrectly that I hadn't moved it enough to knock it out of line, and soon had trashed the new hot item about halfway through.  That was the last straw- I cursed the machine, cursed the fabric, slammed my hand down on my desk, and shouted (which is normally okay since the machine is so loud and my partner uses another of the same machine), "Why does it ALWAYS have to be a test till I snap???"

My partner looks over from her machine.  "Are you okay?"  I nodded and grumbled something.

Trying to calm down (and cut the hot item correctly), I told God, "I can't finish this prayer list until I understand why it is always a test until I snap..."  I was totally frustrated with myself at this point.

Then God began, with Elijah, listing all the characters He had tested to the point of snapping.  And He told me, "You don't grow unless you go out as far as you can.  And every day, go a little farther."

Which calmed me down- and gave me opportunity.  I went over to my partner, and explained all this in abbreviated form so we weren't stopped working too long.  I told her God reminded me about what he did to Elijah, and she asked what it was He did.  So I gave her the 15-second version- the big victory, the defeat, the pity party, and how God refreshed him and told him to get back to work.  So I had turned something bad- EXCUSE me, God had- into a seed planting opportunity.

And then, as I went back to my machine, another thought hit me, and I went back to my partner.

"A few minutes back," I told her, "I had been praying about doing God's will, and I accidentally put it that I didn't want to do the wrong thing and look like a dumba$$.  But God showed me He can use even that- because I looked like a dumba$$, and it gave me a chance to tell you about Him!"

I don't know if the seed took.  Her response was basically she wasn't one to judge me as the Haney (her piece of crap version of my machine) prompted her to far more cursing than I do anymore.  But the thing was God gave the opportunity in the midst of my dumba$$ery- and he takes care of seed growth.

And as I went back at last to work, and the prayer list, I realized that I should never get upset at myself for using humor with God- He's a lot funnier than I am.

Time Machine co-ordinates VIXLIX48342061

Today we fly to April 20th, 1961- and a good deal more comfortably than Harold Graham, who today made the first test flight in this:

 attr. Dave McLear from Roxburgh, Scotland

This is the Bell Rocket Belt, which propelled one on superheated steam.  Today it propelled Harold 121 feet in a 21-second burst.

Now you have a comfy seat in the Musical Tardis, which is, of course, propelled by music!  Among the stories this week:  Two new M10 debuts- and not by any strangers; Lenny Welch, the in-between guy (?), stars in the 6D- though the victim is not himself; yet another children's favorite makes an appearance; and was the Iron Ceiling the BEST top three of all time? Plus, a runaway winner in the Panel vote! All this and Johnny Horton, too!  Ready to blast off?  Good!

*****************************************

First up, let's bring in Mr Johnny Horton!  How are ya, John?

Jes' fine, padner!  So what's up?

Well, I thought I might first point out that you were pretty much king in the early sixties, with 3 top 4 pop hits and 3 #1 country songs!  Darn impressive.

Aw, shucks, it's just all about findin' a good story ta tell, and tell it good.

I was surprised to find you had an early hit about Alaska, separate from the North To Alaska movie, called "When It's Springtime in Alaska (It's Forty Below)"!  Had you ever been to Alaska?

Naw, but the movie weren't there, either, so I figure it don' matter much.

True, true.  It's not like you're really here, either...

Wait, what're you gettin' at?

Nothing, John.  Now here's the list- 12 contestants from 31 stations.  Have at it!

Well, okay...First off, he have Mr Gene Daniels with A Hundred Pounds Of Clay.  Good tune.  It was at #5 on Cashbox- was this Country and western or pop?

Pop, John.

All righty.  Next, we have Jorgen Ingman- I think he's a foreigner- with Apache.  Say, that's instrumental that goes kinda like... (plays a few notes on his guitar)

Uh, yeah, I think so.

Then come them pretty Paris Sisters with Be My Boy.  It.. what's this here?

I couldn't find it on the charts of the week.  It peaked at #56 sometime in '61.

Ah.  So then comes Blue Moon by the Marcels.  That's that doo-woppy stuff.  It was at #1 this week, so it's probably pretty big.

Then comes, Hey, Look Me Over by Peter King.  It didn't do so well.  This here says that it peaked at #109 in March.

It's still a pretty famous tune.  You should look it up, I bet you all remember it.

Who you talkin' to?

The audience...

You think you see an audience out there, boy?

They're just as real as you, Johnny.

O...kay...  Linda Scott is next with I've Told Every Little Star at #11.

Ernie K-Doe's Mother In Law was at #3.  I bet that boy got slapped for that one!

The Edsels- why you'd wanna call yerself that, I dunno... they were at #21... SOMEtime during the year... with Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong.

Ah, here's a good one- Del Shannon's Runaway was at #2.

Then comes Roy Orbison with Running Scared at #16.

Okay, this says, "let Chris do this one..."

Yeah, this is one of those issues we get with early Cashbox- they combine all the versions of a song floating around that week to get an overall score.  The tune we have up is called Wheels, and the most popular version was by an outfit called the String-A-Longs.  However, the Panel station(s) voted instead for the other version, by Billy Vaughn.  Together, CB had them at #15.  In Britain, the String-A-Longs' version was at #20.  Which reminds me, a take on A Hundred Pounds Of Clay by Craig Douglas was #34 in its debut week, which means the only Panel Pick in the picked version on the Brit chart was Blue Moon at #12.  Okay, Johnny, take us home...

All righty, the last song is Brenda Lee at #14 with You Can Depend On Me.  Back to you, Chris-TOE-fer!

Thanks, Johnny!  So like I said at the top, this was a close race for about half a minute, and not for long thereafter.  But in the interests of giving you choices, the top three-  Blue Moon, Runaway, and Mother In Law are the choices- and the winner beats them both a combined 16-6!  Make your pick, and find out at the end of the day...


*****************************************

Debut #1 is from Sara Tudzin's illuminati hotties, from the upcoming lp Kiss Yr Frenemies- and it comes in at #7...






************************************

This week will likely be the end for the Iron Ceiling- which truly just about made me cry!  To get over it, I asked the question to myself, "Right now, the IC songs have a combined 188 chart points- has any set of three ever BEAT that? "  Well, in 138 weeks worth of M10, only 4 sets top that- and three of them featured Mo Kenny's Unglued and the Derevolutions' Something Good!  When combined with Dent May's Picture On A Screen, that set spent 3 weeks as the top three, and ended up with 202 chart points!  Second was the same duo with Alvvays's Your Type, which garnered 198 points, and fourth saw them team with Tom Petty's Walls (No. 3) for 189 points.  The only other set that beat the Iron Ceiling were the combo Quiet Corners by the Jayhawks/ Believe You're Mine by Nada Surf/ Madness by Lucius with 193.  Interesting that Lucius and Alvvays should be involved in this- considering what's going to happen in the M10 this week...


*****************************************************

So a little bit ago, I called Lenny Welch " the in-between guy", and now I'll tell you why.  I found a curious thing about his hits other than the big smash Since I Fell For You.  He recorded a lot of covers- and they were many times the donut hole between two bigger versions.  For example:

In 1960, he squeezed his take on You Don't Know Me (#45) between Jerry Vale's #14 in 1956 and Ray Charles's #1 in 1962.

In 1964, he squeezed his Ebb Tide (#25) between the first big hit done by Frank Chackfields and his orchestra (#2) in 1953 and the Righteous Brothers' 1965 #5 hit.

In 1966, he bubbled under with Rags To Riches (#102) between Tony Bennet's 8-week #1 in 1953 and Elvis' #33 in 1971.

In 1973, he managed only a #25 on the AC chart with Since I Don't Have You- which the Skyliners took to #12 in 1959 and Don McLean reached #23 with in 1981.

And perhaps the oddest of the in-betweens, he charted Breaking Up is Hard To Do at #34 in 1970- between Neil Sedaka's up-tempo original (#1 in '62) and the Welch-like slow ballad remake (#8 in '75)!

And what, pray tell, does ANY of this have to do with the 6D song?  I'll tell you.

The first fame for songwriter Paul Gayten was with this tune, by his trio featuring a rather obscure young lady named Annie Laurie...

After that, he leaned towards writing and production, and discovered Clarence "Frogman" Henry- whom Rush Limbaugh introed to a generation of his followers by using Clarence's hit Ain't Got No Home for his "homeless updates" bumper music.  That was also Clarence's first hit, and the one where he did one verse "like a frog" and earned his nickname.  But it was his biggest hit- another Gayten production called (I Don't Know Why) But I Do- at #4 that was the highest charter without a Panel vote.

***************************************************

Our second debut, at #6, is a lady we met when she, kd lang, and Laura Viers combined for the #1 Honey And Smoke.  Form an upcoming lp called Hell On, this is Neko Case:







"I died and went to work"- favorite line of the year!


************************************

Stat pack:

I had only a crappy 14 I knew- but they were good ones! 

Big mover was Shep and the Limelites with Daddy's Home, a 55-notch rocket from 96 to 41!

The #61 in '61 belongs to hard luck Chuck Jackson and his I Don't Want To Cry.  I might have, though- the man wrote songs that became big hits for others, including Michael McDonald's I Keep Forgetting, and Ronnie Milsap's Any Day Now- but his own chart resume shows 2 top 40's and 15 tunes that stuck at #90 or below...  On the bright side, he did have some fame as a member of the Del-Vikings, so there is that...

Buzz Clifford had our #101 this week with a rather odd version of The Three Little Fishies, featuring Shep and the Limeliters!

And the UK #1 this week was Elvis with Wooden Heart.  This song, which never charted here, was only ever released as the flip of Blue Christmas. 


*****************************************

And the remaining M10:


The last stop for IC member Twenty Two by Sunflower Bean is likely this week's #10, down 4.


The two claim jumping debuts got Melody's Echo Chamber stuck at #9 with Breathe In Breathe Out.


Lemon Glow also falls 4 spots to #8- albeit, with a week more (9) under its belt than the other two, that puts it into a tie- ironically, with Something Good- for 11th all-time.


The Shacks hustle up 5 to #5 with My Name Is.


Roseanne Cash moves up a spot- and with those hellions coming, it might be the last I say that- to #4 with The Walking Wounded.

Mikaela Davis gives the IC one last week in the top three at #3 with Little Bird- which matches Keep It Warm for 7th all-time.

Alvvays has 7 M10 hits- but only one #1 so far.  Not My Baby has its sights set on changing that, moving up a spot into the #2 slot.

And the flip side of that story- the new number one belongs to an act that has now hit the top 4 of 5 attempts...

attr Peter Larson

... Lucius with Eventually!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



***************************************************


Shame on you if you didn't get this week's winner!  Remember the tease...



 ...Plus, a runaway winner in the Panel vote...

So of course the winner, with 51.6% of the vote...

...Del Shannon and Runaway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, where were you in '62?  I was about two weeks away from a date with a doctor at the Parkview maternity room...