So Scrappy is home and still baffling medical science. Essentially, yesterday he was to go on a controlled water fast, in which he would be taken out to do his business at intervals until he dropped 3 lbs. That would concentrate his waste in the urine, so that if it still wasn't concentrating, they would be pretty sure he had a problem they needed to treat with a (assumedly expensive) medicine. Of course, Scrappy actually GAINED a pound at first weigh in, at which point I imagined he giggled and tapped the bag of Cheetohs he had in his pocket.
Eventually, they got him down to test weight and everything turned out normal. At this point, next step options are a) just give him the damn water; b) give him the water plus 25% Gatorade to make sure he has some electrolytes; c) give him an ultrasound to see if he has a hidden nefarious problem that I just don't even want to know about. We'll be trying option b) for now.
The refrigerator, a problem that was about to roll into day seven, finally was solved by the BRILLIANT expedient of, "why don't we just swap it with the one in the unoccupied unit next door until we get Stuckys to come look at it." Needless to say, one "clean out the icebox round two" later, we were back in business, with all of the "iffy" stuff saved from the last round not surviving to see a round three. Of course, there was a size differential against us in the swap, and a slightly higher door guard in the freezer led me to drop the ice tray. No problem there; our canine camel promptly ate about half a tray and licked up the rest.
And, the new flooring: I described it yesterday as "barndoor brown". I took a picture to show you, but with my goofy camera, I had to wait till some of the battery charge wore off before I could post it. Here is what the camera saw:
And frankly, the camera flattered it a bit. But, through the magic of my toolbox, I can show you how it looks in real life:
Yeah, barndoor brown. But it is done, and all of our hassles are done...
...except for that really nasty, unknown smell coming from our half-bath, which our guy is supposed to spray into submission sometime later tonight. So, life is good.
Before we get going, let me give you the lowdown on our weekend. Thursday, the refrigerator the complex JUST PUT IN went belly up. They came out to unfreeze the coil, but that still left it only being cool because the freezer was still operational. So, in anticipation of them actually doing something about it, I took Friday off work because Scrappy had a vet appt that involved him being no-water from 10PM Thursday. I didn't know how long Laurie would be tied up with him and certainly didn't want to miss the frig getting fixed. Scrappy took no time at all, and not even a call about what was up with the frig. Finally we find out, the frig: This requires the company that supplied it coming out, and nobody seems to have a clue when THAT will be (hasn't happened yet). The dog: He is overpeeing his fluid intake, which in turn is not allowing his wastes to concentrate. He needs another OVERNIGHT test to see if it is what they expect, and to find out if we can even afford the medicine (rare case) that he'll need.
That made for a halfway miserable Saturday, but the one bad news/good news tradeoff we had was that Monday is the day the complex picked to install new "barnwood brown" flooring in the dining room, kitchen, and bath/laundry. Which means it's a good thing Scrappy got an overnight stay, but bad because I spent Sunday morning moving every nearly-impossible-to-move object in those areas to places "out of the clear path". Anyway, the status as we speak is- floors are done, Scrappy is away from home, and we're still living out of a mid sized picnic cooler with no idea when that condition will be alleviated. But, just to prove I can have a sense of humor with disaster all around, here we go with the latest craze- pictures off the front page of a news site- paired with another headline on that page that it most assuredly does not go with- or does it?
1- FoxNews
The picture:
The headline:
Gay couple claims airline separated them so a straight couple could sit together
Thankfully, Khan was able to take his Baby Trump instead...
2- CNN
The picture:
The headline:
Mobs of kangaroos take to streets of Australia's capital because of a lack of food
Not many burgers in the Outback, I guess...
3- CNN again
The picture:
The headline:
This could be the food of the future
I guess I better not comment on that one...
4- CNN gets a hat trick
The picture:
The headline:
How Germany goes to the beach
Obviously, this is the smoking section...
5- BBC
The picture:
The headline:
Politician's embarrassing wife gaffe
Wife, soccer player, easy mix-up...
6- Moscow Times
The picture:
The headline:
Protesters Chant Anti-Putin Slogans at Moscow Rally Against Pension Raise Plan
Because "Herman Goering and the Poolside Four" is likely in bad taste...
7- Xinhua
The picture:
The headline:
Tourists visit Nanding Grassland in Baokang, China's Hubei
Runner-up: Detailed report on MH370 disappearance fails to explain mystery
8- Xinhua double play
The picture:
The headline:
Cars used by Queen Elizabeth to be auctioned at 2.6 mln USD
Behind that dignified facade lurked a fast woman....
And finally...
9- The Copenhagen Post
The picture:
The headline:
National crisis group called in as drought crisis deepens
"Prithee, just tell us who we must needs smite..."
When you are a teacher in the Word- or in my case, a "regurgitator of what I've been taught"- you often come around to times where you think you have nothing to share, and then it happens. You prayerfully reflect on a small, seemingly insignificant point, and there you are.
That's where I am this morning. And to explain that seemingly insignificant point, let me go to Peter.
2 Peter 3:15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
It has always been a comfort to me that I was not the only one to whom Paul frequently sailed overhead on. But in the last couple weeks, as Dennis Miller explained the backdrop of 1 Corinthians 7, I began to see just why that was happening, and what we can do about it.
Firstly, Pastor Miller earlier established that Paul was no local yokel. He was intelligent in the extreme. Which makes sense; he was, before Christ, a Pharisee. That entailed having a good grip on logical processes to get from point A to point B, sometimes in microscopic detail. That same attention to detail, that same mastery of logic, he brings to his letters as well. The difference being, now he is inspired by God, which Peter also tells us. In many ways, he is the Calculus prof teaching remedial math students.
Secondly, the language that this is coming from is early Greek.As Pastor Miller points out, this language has no punctuation marks. We read translations of this which tend to make Paul speak in what we might call run-on sentences. One place of that is what Miller covered this week, involving his instructions to the married people:
7 Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
Now, as you and I read that, we see Paul giving a command. But that is NOT how he meant it. Let me switch from the KJV to the ESV and you'll see what I mean:
7 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Now we see QUOTATION MARKS. He wasn't giving a command- he was repeating a question asked of him! When you aren't a linguist it can be hard to catch subtle meanings like that. To us, Greek is all one big run-on sentence, and Hebrew is backwards. Here is a matter that my Catholic friends don't quite get. When I tell them that they should read the Bible of their own and question the Church Fathers in their interpretation, they think I mean that I can just pick up a Bible and know exactly what the passage means on my own, and then they bust me for being "so much smarter/closer to God than the Church Fathers". But I do not do that- I rely on men whose prayer life and connection to the Ultimate Author, the Holy Spirit, is much closer than mine, I lean on historical teachers who have studied both language and culture- and I check my sources.
The other day I had decided to check on just why the Catholic Church believes Mary was "assumed" (taken bodily) into heaven. Apparently the root of it came from a Gnostic Gospel (remember "apparently") in which Mary died and was laid in a tomb- but once again, Thomas was late to the party. When they opened the tomb so he could see ( and why, exactly, would he want/need to?), the body was gone. And even though this was from a book that was NEVER accepted as Cannon, they combined that with the fact that they couldn't conceive how Jesus could have been born of a normal (AKA with Original sin) person, that Mary had to be special as well, and that somehow turned into sitting at His side in heaven telling Him what we are praying and pleading our case to Him so He could plead it to God, yada yada yada. And that I should just accept it, however it happened, because the Church Fathers decided it did. And yet, you have this:
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
"Examining the scriptures to see if (what Paul told them) was so." Which not only tells us that we do have to check one against the other- which sometimes requires a knowledge we don't have, but leads us to point #3.
Third, Paul becomes hard to understand because often, we try to make him say what we WANT him to. Last week, I believe, I pointed out where some people try to point out that Jesus never DIRECTLY attacked homosexuality (not true), thus it must be okay, just a "cultural thing". Today, Pastor Miller mentioned being approached by a young adult who claimed that the Bible didn't give you directions on marriage- which can only be explained as a statement by someone that didn't want to HEAR instruction on marriage. I admit that I tried to do this very thing during my divorce many moons ago.
So where am I going with this? That it is not enough to just read the Word, just like it is not enough to just listen to me. While I know how to work a concordance, I do not speak Greek or Hebrew and have not been immersed in all the several cultures that the Bible touches- though I prolly have a better working knowledge than the local yokel. I have to be taught. And that comes from examination and prayer, sure, but it also includes being taught by those who know more than I do. The more I learn, the more I am humbled by what I have yet TO learn.
So we see in my difficulties with Paul that:
1- Paul was very smart, very meticulous, and I need to learn which bites are small enough to chew at a time.
2- Other languages are not my forte, and Google Translate doesn't replace hearing a commentary from a scholar well-versed in the area- and checking that against other men of faith.
3- We need to approach the scriptures prayerfully, opening eyes and ears to what God is saying TO US, and not what we want Him to say to us.
And one other thing I hadn't hit. Though the entire Bible is inspired by God, it was written by men, who brought their own personalities to the table. Catching on to the logical, methodical way of Paul isn't much help reading the more mystical, esoteric take of John. And all four of these thoughts lead you to one conclusion: You can't do this stuff on your own. Listen to your pastor. Reach out to people whose faith you respect. Do some digging on your own, based in prayer.
Today we hit July 27th of 1975. And finding a news item was such a stretch, that the first thing I hit was a "blind hog finds an acorn" story. "Psychic" columnist Sydney Omarr predicted it might be a hot week for Leos and Aquarrii, pointing out specifically (among a handful of others) baseballers Hank Aaron and Carl Yastremski and union boss Jimmy Hoffa.
How'd he do? Well, even though Yaz drove in the tying run and scored the winner Friday night and went 4-for-8 with his 23rd home run the last two games, the pair combined for a .239 average for the week- .184 without those two games at the end. (Non-baseballers: That kinda sucks.)
Hoffa? He disappeared four days after the column hit...
"Nice job, a-hole..."
AHEM... welcome to this week's Time Machine, where we have a big romp in the Panel Picks, a couple of debuts in the M10, an AWOL 6D, and a neat little special to round things out. Without further ado, let us adjourn to the end zone at Meadowlands Stadium the Musical Tardis, and get buried in the music!
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Our leadoff debut comes in at #10, and it's the second single from the new lp by Gilbert O'Sullivan, at #10...
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All right, let me welcome in Bernard St. Clair Lee and H Ann Kelly of the Hues Corporation!
Hi, folks, glad to have you!
Both: Thank you!
Now I have to ask about the unusual names you two have. Where did you get St Clair for a middle name at?
B: Yeah. Bernard is my first name. St. Clair was supposed to be spelled Sinclair. They made a mistake at the hospital. They spelled it St. Clair. So, my mother left it at that. Basically, before I got into performing music, I dropped off the Bernard. The St. Clair comes from the Indian side of our family. St. Clair means 'Big Bear'. So, it became St. Clair Lee. The headband which I always wear also came from the Indian side of our family. I found out that the Indian side of our family were Blackfoot and migrated down from Canada to Oklahoma and that's how I picked up wearing the headband.* *from an actual interview with Gary James in 2009
And Ann- the H stands for Hubert??
A: Yes...
How's that happen?
A: I don't recall, I was pretty young...* * From me finding zip zing zero about it...
Yeah.
A: Sometimes we just shake our heads and wonder if our parents were strung together very tight...
Yes, my son KC wonders that about his name too...*
* His mother's idea FWIW.
So anyway, how about y'all get right to our list this week? Only 16 contestants from 41 stations...
B: Awl, right. So we have first the "one vote wonders", so I'll have to wonder about YOU if you vote for any o' these! First we have Gladys Knight and the Pips with the The Way We Were/Try To Remember Medley, which was at #15 this week, followed by KC and the Sunshine Band, with Get Down Tonight at #38... A: I have David Bowie with Fame, #48 here and #41 in England... next, an English vote for a song not released here, the Bay City Rollers and Bye Bye Baby. B: Hey, I said I dropped the "Bernard", could you please start putting an S and not a B for me, dude?
Oh, yeah, sorry about that.
S: That's better. Now I have an Australian-only vote for a group called Hush doin' Bony Maroney; and then the Laurenco Marques song of the week, which I guess is a big deal, with the Doobie Brothers and Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While), which fell off Cashbox two weeks ago. A: And finishing out the one-vote songs, I have Glen Campbell and Rhinestone Cowboy at #13, and The Rolling Stones and I Don't Know Why at #45. Bernard? B: Woman, what'd I just say? Now you got HIM doing it again, too! Anyway, next is the better but not good enough group, which is basically the three songs that got two votes each. The first is Elton John with Someone Saved My Life Tonight at #8. HU-bert? H: Boy, you is asking for it... So are you with that H! Grrr... the other 2's are 10cc's I'm Not In Love at #5- #24 in England, and Roger Whitaker's The Last Farewell, which was 29 in the UK but dropped out last week here. S: And that brings us to the four contestants that are in the finals. In alphabetical order, we have... the Bee Gees and Jive Talkin' at #5 in England and #4 here... A: ...Wings with Listen To What The Man Said at #16... S: ...The Captain and Tennille and Love Will Keep Us Together at #12 here, #43 there... A: ...The Eagles and One Of These Nights at the top on Cashbox... S: ...and Van McCoy doin' The Hustle at #9 there and #3 here!
Thanks guys, and sorry about the name thing, but, well, I didn't name ya! So choose from the Bee Gees, Wings, C&T, the Eagles, and the Hustler. One of them got 14 votes- the other four got 13!
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So I had done some preliminary research, if you wanna call it that, on our 6D song- Olivia Newton-John's Please Mr Please who got neglected at #2... but apparently I didn't write it down. Suffice it to say she was once engaged to Cliff Richard, and as a result many of her early songs, like this one, were written and/or produced by members of his old band the Shadows. And that was about as far as I had got. In the meantime, not truly remembering that that's all the farther I got, I abandoned it altogether to ask myself another question. I do all these thingees on the Martin Era 2.0- what lies beyond? I decided to answer that by coming up with my personal top ten Number One Songs On Cashbox Post ME2.0! Now, Cashbox ran charts through the eighties but were kinda hit and miss in the 90's, actually skipping 33 of the 356 weeks between the first chart of 1990 and their eventual demise in November of 1996. Which doesn't bother me much because I skipped a lot of that era as well- I only knew 32 out of 109 #1s after 1990. So, needless to say, this list will all be 1989 or older. And we start with:
10- Mike and the Mechanics- The Living Years, 1989. Not that I didn't have to leave behind a lot of good songs, but the only real fight was for the last slot- and Mike beat Lisa Loeb by a sliver of memory.
9- A-Ha, Take On Me, 1985. Still one of my favorite videos ever.
8- Paul Young, Every Time You Go Away, 1985. The long ending version; still thunders in my heart.
7- Samantha Sang, Emotion, 1978. One of two of the Bee Gee wave of the late seventies to make my list- surprisingly, none credited to the trio themselves!
6- The Knack, My Sharona, 1979. And just for the record, that was a GREAT album!
5- Andy Gibb, Shadow Dancing, 1978. This one had the most lasting power for me of the "Gibb wave".
4- Gerry Rafferty, Baker Street, 1978. The ultimate, "Snuck up on you" hit. At least it snuck up on me.
3- Dire Straits, Money For Nothing, 1985. Did I mention "favorite videos?"
2- Bonnie Tyler, Total Eclipse Of The Heart. I was doing my original top ten back then. This one sat at the top for I believe 8 weeks. Couldn't listen back then without crying, still a bit hard to.
I knew 52!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many of my favorites... Orleans was just climbing with Dance With Me... America debuted Daisy Jane... Hudson Brothers' Beach Boys-esque Rendezvous... Morris Albert's Feelings... Johnny Rivers doing Help Me Rhonda... Ambrosia Holding On To Yesterday... Janis Ian At Seventeen... Barry Manilow Could It Be Magic... Hamilton Joe Frank and Reynolds Fallin' In Love... Dawn's Morning Beautiful.. The Rockford Files theme... Pilot's Magic... "Lazy day in bed, music in my head, crazy music playing in the morning light..." excuse me a minute...
Wow. Just wow.
ANYway. The #75 in '75 belonged to Conway Twitty with Touch The Hand. It was a #1 country (big surprise there) that never charted on Billboard. It had a duet with his 16-y-o daughter Joni Lee on the flip, Don't Cry Joni. And as I research this, I see I BOOTED the ball here- somehow I lurched back two weeks in time on the stats? Was I drinking a Golden Monkey at the time?
But this is a neat, if time displaced story, so let me leave it there. The REAL 75/75 is... Orleans and Dance With Me!!! As Mel Allen would say, How about that?
The other thing I messed up in my time-hiccup is the #101, which is Bobby Womack and Bill Withers covering It's All Over Now. What DID I have there? Never you mind...
"No, wait, it was one of mine, dang it! It was..." WOOOOOOSH....
Leo Sayer, ladies and gentleman, sorry you couldn't stay! Anyhow, the big mover was ... oh, wait, recalculating here, too... how about a 19 notch climb to #64 with ZZ Top and Tush!
Finally, the British chart topper- a chart I knew 16 out of 50 on- was another unreleased-in-the-States single for the Bay City Rollers, Give A Little Love.
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Gee whiz, I darn near forgot our other debut! At #9, the return to the M10 of an act with a #1 to their credit, Kidsmoke...
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And the rest of the M10:
A couple of 2 week, one notch movers next- Baywaves and 1954 Egyptian drama at #8, and Jim Croce's Lover's Cross at #7.
Three straight seven weekers next, and two of them hold their spots from last week. The Derevs take a third week at #6 with Now You Know My Name; the Jayhawks remain at #4 with Everybody Knows; and the one song that kept both these former #2s from hitting the top, Caroline Rose hits the 60-point mark with More Of The Same. Which is also known as, "member of a six way tie for 21st all time..."
The Jayhawk's second member of the club moves up to #3- Backwards Women.
Geowulf slides into runner-up position with Sunday.
And that means a second week at #1 for...
...Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears and Nature's Natural!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And my favorite of the post ME2.0 Cashbox #1s...
1- The Rolling Stones, Miss You. One of those "I remember the first time I heard this" tunes...
And that leaves us with our Panel winner, the next POTM... the envelope, please...
"Get it yourself! Lazy Daddy..."
Gee thanks. Anywhat, the winner is...
...the Captain and Tennille with Love Will Keep Us Together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, two more weeks, and then the big 500th anniversary post! But first, 1976!
Well, we have another tough one this week. But it isn't really the verse in question that's tough; it's the one BEFORE it. We go this week to Ezekiel 3:16:
Eze 3:16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:
Now that seems easy: Over and over we are taught to wait on the Lord. Those that can do it are blessed; those that fail, like Saul, lose out. So where are we with Ezekiel? Well, we have to do quite a bit of backtracking to figure that out.
So the Book of Ezekiel starts out with him being with a certain group of the Babylonic exiles. He is with the group at the Chebar canal, which if you are a history nut, is near the ancient sacred city of Nippur. It is basically the main waterway of the area, or was, and I would guess this is like living in "a van under a bridge down by the river", if you catch the old Chris Farley reference. Suddenly, he sees the glory of the Lord, and is transported by the Spirit into Heaven. Now, here I might add that it is debated whether this was a physical transportation or a vision. I'll let Paul handle that, in his description of his OWN trip. From 2 Corinthians 12:
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows.
Anyway he gets a commission from God, to preach to the exiles, and gets sent back to them, at which point he waits the seven days. But that doesn't tell us enough; to learn from this verse, we have to look at the 2 preceding it:
Eze 3:14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me.
Eze 3:15 And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
So there are two things to examine here. What means, I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit? Well, the commentators actually had two ways of looking at this- but to get to them, I'm going to backtrack again. You see, in the instructions God gives Ezekiel in the vision/visitation, He makes two things clear to him. The first is- most of these people are NOT going to listen to him. He would have an easier time going to the gentiles, who don't even speak the same language, than to these people. If you ever wonder why WE can read the prophets and see Jesus and the Jews CAN'T, well, this is why. The second thing God makes clear is, He's going to make Ezekiel just as hard and stubborn in delivering the message as the Jews are in not listening. It will be a contest of who breaks first.
So now, he is sent back to the people, and he's angry. Most of the commentators believe this is the righteous indignation aroused by God's anger at their sins, and he's ready to really let them have it in God's name. But one lone commentator takes another tack, and that was John Gill:
and I went in bitterness; full of trouble and sorrow, that the Lord was departing from the temple; that his people had been guilty, of such crimes they had, and were such an impudent, and hardhearted people they were; and that such judgments were coming upon them he had seers written in the roll, full of lamentations, mourning, and woe:
in the heat of my spirit; the Targum and Vulgate Latin render it, "in the indignation of my spirit"; his spirit was hot and angry, he was froward and unwilling to go on the errand, to prophesy sad and dismal things to his people:
I think, though, that Gill was mistaken here. His description sounds more like Jonah- and Jonah hitched a ride on a ship out of town when he was in that state of mind. No, I think Ezekiel was "loaded for bear" and was ready to let loose both barrels, when he got put back there in v 15.
The second thing, which I believe kinda answers the first, is what means And I sat there overwhelmed? I looked up this word in two spots, the Hebrew and the Greek. And the Greek gave me a different insight. You see, this is another one that different Bibles translated different ways. From benign translations such as "Behaving in their midst" (Apostolic) and "conversant in the midst of them" (Brenton's Septuagint), to the amazed such as "full of wonder" (1965 Basic English) and "shocked" (multiple examples), to "mourning", "astonished", "overwhelmed", and even "appalled". But if you look at what that Septuagint version actually says in Greek, you get a pair of words that basically are "up" and "twisted"
I think this means that, when he returned to them, ready to just chew them out, he looked around and saw their sorry state- and became confused. They were back to being what they were before he left- suffering, orphans without a Father and a home. They were sympathetic figures, and he had a message of wrath to give them.
For me, that sounds familiar. One gets on SM, and is ready to chew out the first idiot that crosses one's path. But then you stop and remember- they might be heading for hell, and you might be the first "Jesus" they meet. And when Ezekiel hit this, he gave him seven days to get his mind wrapped around it. And that leads us to the next part in understanding all this, a few verses farther down the way:
Eze 3:24 But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, "Go, shut yourself within your house.
Eze 3:25 And you, O son of man, behold, cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people.
Eze 3:26 And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.
Eze 3:27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.
So now let's backtrack this as well. When the seven days were up, God explained another depth to the assignment, one he needed now that he was seeing them both as objects of wrath AND human beings needing saved. That was the concept of responsibility. If you speak to them and they listen, they will be saved. If you speak to them and they reject you, they will be liable for their own souls, but you are off the hook. And if you REFUSE to speak to them, you are just as blood-guilty as they are. The Great Commission in 6th Century BC Babylon.
Realizing this was all a bit rough to take in, God led Ezekiel into a nearby valley, where he saw the Glory of the Lord just as he had at the beginning. But this time, the message he got was vv24-27 above. Much of the commentator's discussion on these verses were whether they were literal or not. I believe, from reading them and looking at the situation, we need to see them this way, looking at the 4 parts I boldfaced.
1- If he is going to be successful, he cannot keep himself in his heart with them. He has to "shut himself up" with God, and bring them in. Having sympathy for them does no good if it keeps you from preaching that message of wrath.
2- The things they do, you can't be joining in with. This ties into Sunday Message from a few days back. If you are "with" them, you will compromise your message.
3- This is the part of the "SM" I mentioned before. You don't GET to go out and tell them they are a bunch of idiots, even when everything inside you is screaming, "IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT!!!"
4- When it is time to make your statement, it needs to be GOD'S statement. The complete idiots guide to witnessing, 6th Century BC Babylon edition.
So basically, the whole story is about God COMPLETELY equipping Ezekiel to be his "Watchman"- from the exact message, the way it would be received, the difference between his way and God's way, how to deal with the emotions of the thing, to the manner of delivery, right through to what happens if you refuse the assignment.
And believe me, this was NOTHING close to what I was thinking this was going to be when I started. If I have ever had an example of, "But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth", you have just read it.
Yes, I apologize, but enough of you claimed you liked this feature last time that I'm gonna try it again. The rules are that I go on a news site's front page, match up a picture with a headline that doesn't go with it on the same page, and hopefully laughter ensues. Let's start with...
1. BBC
The picture:
The headline:
The dried parks and parched lawns of Britain
Darn, it must be getting dry as Africa...
2- FoxNews
The picture:
The headline:
AMAZING VIDEO: Last member of remote tribe melts into Amazon
And good riddance!
3- Moscow Times
The picture:
The Headline:
Belarusians Earnings Go Further Than Russians, Study Shows
Wow, they must, that would set you back a ton at Dicks...
4- CNN
The picture:
The Headline:
Six questions about summer's deadly brain-eating amoeba, answered
Distinguished scholar Sherman Peabody will be taking your calls...
5- Xinhua
The picture:
The headline:
Russian, Jordanian FMs discuss possible cooperation on Syria
There are a couple of sticking points, though...
And 6
The picture:
There is no headline, but I so wanted to caption it, "Winnie the Pooh meets with Tony Dungy"...
7- The Straits Times, Singapore
The picture:
The headline:
Kopitiam mother-son pair look forward to performing for thousands at NDP
Jimmy Swaggert was a fiery, effective preacher- until the day he confessed his "elephant in the room"- a sexual problem that derailed his ministry for years. He still preaches, but now he "isn't talked about in polite society", anymore. Which is a shame, because his confession gives him an insight into problems that we struggle with and mostly don't want to admit. I heard it said on one of the many programs I listened to that as many as 20% of American pastors have a struggle with porn.
"Uh-oh,", you say, "this is going to be a lecture on porn." Not so, follow along. What I am heading towards is a question- do you have a repeated sin in your life, one that takes on such a life that it corrupts any ministry you might have, and makes you think you cannot possibly go farther in your faith because of it? Whether anyone else knows about it or not, for you it becomes the "elephant in the room"- the thing other such matters have a hard time working around.
Another pastor this week made me think on this. He had one line in the midst of a sermon that threw me into debate- and a second that made it hit close to home. In basic terms, he was saying it was NOT about the sin- even the repeated one- but the EFFECT it had on your obedience, on your purity, on your holiness, because these are the things that effect your relationship with God. Let's imagine an actual elephant, in your living room. You start out trying to push it out. But you can shove on that elephant's butt all you want, or tug on his rope. If he don't want to move, YOU aren't going to move him without help. So you start walking around him. Maybe you try staying in a different room, trying not to mind the smell coming from the elephant, er, droppings he's collecting in the living room. Maybe you just accept him, hanging pictures or your TV on his side. Eventually, you start bring home bags of peanuts and feed him.
BUT HE DOES NOT BELONG IN YOUR LIVING ROOM.
2 things are certain. One, you need to get him out, and two, you need help to do it.
Okay, now let's look at this from another angle. If you go through the book of Judges, you see that the judges were men and women who heard God and listened to Him. Oh, some of them had to be really really sure, like Barak and Gideon. But they obeyed, and God blessed them by saving people alive through them, and in most cases bringing the people back to God.
And then you have Samson. Samson was so distracted by the elephant in his room- lust for foreign women- that despite a strength advantage that no one before or since had, he did very little in the way of using it for the good of God's people. How do I know that? Read his story. Feat after feat of strength, NO prayers giving God the glory, No people being turned back to God, and it wasn't until he had admitted that he had made a total mess of his ministry that he even SPOKE to God in the story. God still used him, once he did- but think of what he COULD have been, if he'd have ever got the elephant out of his room.
After Samson comes Samuel. And for Samuel, God WAS the elephant in the room. Because of that, he did what God wanted, even to the point of defying the king HE helped establish, when it became apparent that Saul's elephant was his ego.
God wants to be the elephant in our rooms, so to speak. If we are focused on God, that sin finds it harder and harder to fit into our lives. But while this analogy works to an extent, we cannot treat God like we treat the elephant of sin. We can't hang the TVs and photographs of our old life on Him and turn Him into a wall-unit or room island- He won't stay for that. He won't stay for a handful of peanuts when we get home from work, and He won't stay if we go into another room and try to ignore Him. Because, He is not an elephant, He is a loving Father who expects to be First in our lives.
Sin IS an elephant. It doesn't mind if you "decorate" him with pictures of holiness, he doesn't mind if you ignore his presence, he'll take whatever you give him, AND he'll make a mess on your floor. The only thing that God and an elephant have in common is that the presence of one will crowd out the other. And if you want God to crowd out your elephant, you'd better treat Him differently than you treat the elephant.
Today we are in July 20th of 1974- and a news flash that reminds me of just how old a news-hound I am. Today, during the summer between 6th and 7th grade for me, Turkey responded to the coup that forced Archbishop Makarios out of power in Cyprus by invading the island. Greek forces, who had instigated the coup by pushing Makarios to have them removed, were driven back to the south until a cease fire ended with yet another divided nation. The northeast half of the island is now ruled by a pro-Turkish government (which nobody "recognizes" to this day), while the south keeps its head down and tries to run legitimate business.
"All this because you all thought I was a communist. Do I look communist to you?"
Welcome to this week's Time Machine, as we edge a little closer to the big anniversary show in just 4 weeks! We have Ritchie Blackmore on the Panel Picks, two new debuts, the first time the M10 achieves the "Devil's number"- what that is and how many times in the Martin Era 2.0 that it occurred on Cashbox, AND... Does Caroline Rose get that semi-mythical 5th week at #1? Pull up a pita and put up your feta, and let's find out!
Let's kick things off with one of two new debuts. The higher one goes first this time, at #8. This week, the #101 song was Melanie doing a Jim Croce number called Lover's Cross. So I listened to both Melanie's and Jim's versions- his was a cut on the posthumous lp I Got A Name in 1973. And it is Jim that comes roaring into the countdown this week with his original:
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Welcome in Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple!!!!!!!!!!!!! How are you, Ritchie?
No' bad, man. Yourself?
Good, good. So, I plucked you out of a pretty stressful time, didn't I?
Yeah, you might say that. Just moved here to get out from her Majesty's taxmen, might be breaking up the band... might be doing a side deal with Ronnie James Dio here in a bit...
I found it interesting that you are currently- as of when I grabbed you- taking lessons on the cello from Hugh McDowell of ELO. How's that going?
It's been interesting. Hugh's just a kid- he's just turning 20 and I'm closing in on 30- and it's like a whole new way of looking at music. Hopefully, I'll get around it enough to do something useful out of it.
Okay, so you know the drill here, you read off the list, make whatever editorials you deem fit, DON'T open that door over there, and then everyone will vote on who the winner is. You get a short list of 12 contestants from 40 stations. Ready?
Surely. Let's see- okay, we have the one vote wonders first. Oy, from Laurenco Marques, we have a vote for the Righteous Brothers and Rock And Roll Heaven, which this says was at #5 this week. Sounds like your Panel didn't give them a fair shake, eh? Here's Paper Lace with Billy Don't Be A Hero. You lot fancied the Bo Donaldson version better, which was at #13 this week. Paper Lace peaked at #96 a couple months back. The lovely ladies of Abba are at #11 with Waterloo. John Denver was at NUMBER TWO, but only got one vote, for Annie's Song. Don't exactly follow the chart, do they?
Not often.
The Stylistics are at #42 with You Make Me Feel Brand New. This one was at #30 back home. An odd duck from Australia was Stevie Wright's Evie. Wright, the lead voice from the Easybeats, had fallen on hard times what with the drugs and all. So his old mates got together to help him get back on his feet with a rock opera in one song. Consisting of three parts linked together, it hit the top in Australia, and supposedly is the only 11-minute long song to EVER top any music chart. I bet Beethoven might argue, but I will not.
Another curiosity is that Malcolm Young of AC/DC played lead on one section of the song. Ah, here's more my speed- Bachman Turner Overdrive with Taking Care Of Business at #18. Now this last one has a note for you..?
Yes, it seems like every time we get a vote from that station in North Dakota, they pull something out of their... er, hat, that is a real head scratcher. This week, they had a tune by Brownsville Station- the guys that brought you Smoking In The Boys Room and Martian Boogie- called I'm The Leader Of The Gang. On Cashbox, it had peaked at 26 a couple weeks back and fell off the chart this week; it only got to #48 on prim and proper Billboard. it was a fun little ditty, actually, but I hadn't heard it till last week. Okay, you want to pick up with the "almost but not quite" section?
Certainly. Wait, ah... there's nothing there...
Oh, that's right. To get you four choices, everyone else has to be in the final four.
Ah. All right then, here are your choices, in alphabetical order: Elton John is at #39 in England, and #6 here, with Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me. Next, why it is Paper Lace again, with The Night Chicago Died, at #27 here. Then, we have Hues Corporation with Rock The Boat, at #3... And finally, George McRae with Rock Your Baby, at #3 back home, and top of the charts here.
Fine job, Ritchie, and I didn't even have to go back and pry you out of a dinosaur's mouth afterwards! So vote from Elton, George, Paper Lace, or the Corpsters, and in a few I'll let you know if you latched onto one of the two who hogged 70% of this week's vote!
So what is the "Devil's number?" Well, if you look at the notebook I keep the weekly M10 in, you'll see each line starts with 3 numbers- weeks on chart, last week's position, this week's position. This week, for the first time, I had a song that read 6-6-6.... and I'll let you in on who that is in a bit (or you COULD go back to last week's post and figure it out yourself). But it made me curious, so I scoured the Martin Era 2.0 on Cashbox (once again, that runs from Rock Around The Clock's debut on May 14th, 1955, to How Deep Is Your Love's debut in September 24th, 1977) to see how many times it happened there.
Answer: ten times. And none of them since December of 1967- no seventies at all!
In fact, the closest the seventies came is when John Denver missed out by having weeks 7,8, and 9 at #6 with Fly Away. So, because it's what I do, I ranked the Devil's Ten by how big of hits they were, and deliver them here for you...
Numbers 10-7, with a peak of #6 for 2 weeks:
An Open Letter To My Teenage Son, Victor Lundberg, December 16th, 1967- the last time it happened;
Rubber Ball, Bobby Vee (a record I wore the grooves off of as a child), January 14th, 1961;
Everybody Loves A Clown, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the day before Halloween 1965;
and ironically, A Must To Avoid, Herman's Hermits, January 22nd, 1966.
Numbers 6 and 5, peak of six for 3 weeks:
The first one, Bill Haley and his Comets with See You Later, Alligator, February 18, 1956;
and the Beach Boys, Fun Fun Fun, March 21st, 1964.
4- peaking at #4 for a couple of weeks, Simon and Garfunkel's I Am A Rock, June 4th of 1966.
3- peaking at #3 for 3 weeks, Dean Martin, Return To Me, May 3rd, 1958.
2- peaking at #3 for three non-consecutive weeks, Pat Boone's April Love, Thanksgiving 1957. Now we can explain that heavy-metal lp of his...
And number one? Saving it for the reveals, silly...
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Here's the lower debut at #9. You might remember these boys- they peaked at #6 a while back with Time Is Passing U By. They are Spain's Baywaves...
I know we had a 6-6-6 degrees, but I did try to put a little something together for the real 6D victim. The thing that caught my eye was the talent that had a part in this record. Start with Michael Omartian, Christian artist and all-over the place producer, on the piano. Throw in Jim Gordon, session man and convicted matricidist on drums; Dean Parks, another vet who was briefly a member of touring Bread when Jimmy Griffin had enough of David Gates during the Lost Without Your Love tour; Timothy B Schmit of the later Eagles on backing vocals; Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, later of the Doobie Brothers, on lead guitar; and jazz percussionist Victor Feldman playing the barely -audible flapimba that got cut out of the start of the 45 rpm version.
Oh, and Walter Becker and Donald Fagan, because the song is Rikki Don't Lose That Number, at #4 without a Panel vote.
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Stat pack time:
I knew 46 on the Hot 100, and 14 of the UK top 50.
Donna Fargo had the #74 in '74 with You Can't Be A Beacon If Your Light Don't Shine, a country #1 that would peak at #57.
Our big mover was Eric Clapton's I Shot The Sheriff, leaping 24 spots from 83 to 59.
The UK #1 was one of the fastest risers in UK history, debuting at #11 and spending the next 4 weeks at the top. His name was Charles Aznavour, a second generation Armenian immigrant to France, who would eventually go back to Armenia to forge a diplomatic career. A songwriter with some 800 songs (including a co-credit on Roy Clark's Yesterday When I Was Young) and over 1,000 recordings under his belt, he was known as the "French Sinatra", and was one of the few Europeans Sinatra ever dueted with. His song was She. Elvis Costello would later have a UK top 20 with it in 1999.
Phantogram finally gives up the ghost, sliding to 10 in week #9 with Saturday.
There have been 14 songs get 9 weeks or more so far on the M10. And this week, Shilpa Ray's Shoot This Dying Horse makes it two 9-weekers in one countdown for just the second time in M10 history. She actually moves back UP a single notch, from 8 to 7. The last time, it was two former number ones- Mo Kenney's Unglued and Plume Of Feathers' Rhyl Love.
And the M10's own Devil's Song? The Derevolutions with Now You Know My Name.
Back to back Jayhawks next- Backwards Women moves up 2 to 5; Everybody Knows down 2 to 4.
Geowulf claims their biggest hit ever, with Sunday up one spot to #3.
So how did it go? Did Caroline break the record, or become the sixth 4-weeks at the top and stop act?
It was the latter. The new #1 is...
...Black Joe Lewis and Nature's Natural!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the biggest Devil's Song? How about...
Billy Williams, who peaked at #2, who did it on July 20th, 1957- 61 years ago TODAY- with I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (BTW, I had NO idea that it was going to be the anniversary until I just typed this...)
...and the Panel winner, with 52.5%- an official lapping of the field...
... the Hues Corporation, with Ann Kelley getting a shot at the Beauty Contest, with Rock The Boat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A lone man looking for means of expression in a tsunami of information. Seeking truth justice and the American way in the perspective of a Nixon conservative. And the Commissioner of the free world's smallest and best fantasy football league.
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