Wednesday Bible Study: The fool on Facebook

Well, the bunny trail really whopped me this week- I had to learn and re-learn terms just to understand the context of a very easy passage.  First, let me present the ESV version of 1 Peter 3:16 and its environs:

1Pe 3:14  But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 
1Pe 3:15  but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 
1Pe 3:16  having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 
1Pe 3:17  For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. 

Now, to show you where I prolly shouldn't have went, let me re-present the preceding verse- v15- in the KJV:

1Pe 3:15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 

So me being me, I questioned why it was "Christ the Lord" in one version and "the Lord God" in another.  Robertson's Word Pictures gave me the best explanation:

Christ as Lord (kurion ton Christon). Ton Christon, direct object with article and kurion predicate accusative (without article). This is the correct text, not ton theon of the Textus Receptus. An adaptation to Christ of Isa_8:13.

And what, you ask, does THAT mean?  Well, to unravel that one, I had to figure out just what "Textus Receptus" was.  And I learned:

The biblical Textus Receptus constituted the translation-base for the original German Luther Bible, the translation of the New Testament into English by William Tyndale, the King James Version, the Spanish Reina-Valera translation, and most Reformation-era New Testament translations throughout Western and Central Europe.

The series originated with the first printed Greek New Testament, published in 1516—a work undertaken in Basel by the Dutch Catholic scholar, priest and monk Desiderius Erasmus. They are also the text type used in most Protestant denominations consistently throughout history before the 19th century adoption of the Alexandrian priority position within mainstream Biblical criticism.

Erasmus, in a rush to get his work done ahead of others he had heard were working on similar projects, worked from a very small number of incomplete, very late Greek manuscripts dating no earlier than 1500 that were locally available to him. These were all missing large portions of the biblical text and when all compiled together still left major gaps in the text. Erasmus filled in those holes by translating the highly-flawed Latin Vulgate into Greek to complete his cobbled up mess of a manuscript. The resulting Erasmian text was what the KJV translators used for their project. Knowing the actual history of the document would be problematic, they invented the "Textus Receptus" myth to validate their project and try to elevate it above the other (better) English translations already in existence (Coverdale, Great Bible, Bishops Bible, etc.). TR is therefore among the least trustworthy Vorlage texts, and almost every other translation is based on much earlier, much more reliable manuscripts.[1] (Wiki)

Look at the bold lines to get the gist here:  The TR was basically Erasmus' slopped together Greek New Testament which many versions, including the KJV, used as authoritative.  Robertson was a studier of the Koine Greek of the very best and most ancient Greek texts- and understood what Peter was getting at.  And what was he getting at? Our answer begins with a clip from an article in Answers In Genesis:

The term Lord in the LXX of Isaiah 8:13 refers directly to the “Lord of Hosts.” In Peter’s use of the LXX, he inserts “Christ” (Messiah), asserting that we should honor him as Lord.

So once again parsing it out, Peter was paraphrasing from Isaiah 8:

Isa 8:12  "Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 

Isa 8:13  But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 

But where Isaiah used Lord of Hosts, aka Lord God, Peter inserted "Christ" to make his point.  And in Erasmus's sloppy hurry, you lose that.

If you read this Sunday's message, you know I had another FB dust up with the Catholic crowd.  At issue was a drawing that showed a three legged stool which "their faith" rests on, while "my" stool stands on the one leg of Sola Scriptura.  I made mention that it was a good one legged stool when the leg was God's Word and thus had a base of GOD.  I was told that since Catholics hew to the KJV and Protestants have various versions, that my stool had "thousands of legs" and was thus unreliable.  And here, we have the proof that your "leg" is only as reliable as your version used, and the KJV, made from Erasmus's TR, just isn't the solid pillar he would like to think.

Then, in trying to get a handle on this, I learned that 3:15 is a matter of debate on whether it decreed that everybody, not just the pastor, be versed in 'apologetics'.  Back to the definition we go:

Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse.

So basically here, I learned that some people thought that only pastors have a duty to defend their faith.  Which is an idea that people who wish to debate things they haven't studied on FB might come up with, and not Christians who might find the blade of a Muslim neighbor at their throat anytime they step outside.  My first thought was, "Why should this even be a debate?"  Then I remembered that this is a world filled with the lazy, the cowardly, and those who think their only duties to God are the butt in the pew and the buck in the collection plate.  Some people have to have it spelled out to them.

None of which has anything to do with the end of the verse, or our target verse, which says, "Stand up for your faith, but lovingly, so the people who revile you for it come out looking bad. "  Because our CONDUCT in witnessing is going to score more points than the most eloquent logic that still puts your target audience off.  If they walk away, you've blown the Great Commission, which was my only point in that FB dust-up in the first place.  For my trouble, I was called a heretic by a gentleman who thought "stay on point" meant I was calling him a hunting dog.

Needless to say, I was a bit sweeter about it there, than I am here.  Am I being a hypocrite?  Well, let's take a look at a couple of verses in Proverbs before judging.

Pro 26:4  Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. 

Pro 26:5  Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. 

Contradictory? Not at all.  You cannot use the same foolish arguments the fool uses, or else you look just like him.  However, if you don't let him know he's a fool, he'll never learn.  As Matthew Barnes says:

Two sides of a truth. To “answer a fool according to his folly” is in Pro_26:4 to bandy words with him, to descend to his level of coarse anger and vile abuse; in Pro_26:5 it is to say the right word at the right time, to expose his unwisdom and untruth to others and to himself, not by a teaching beyond his reach, but by words that he is just able to apprehend.

MWN: That's not news

Today I thought I would do something just a smidge different with this subject.  I went to my "go to" MWN sites and asked the question: "How many headlines out of this front page ARE real news?"  And there are some surprises, as we work our way to the 'most news' news sites.


Dead last of five: CNN

One of the things you learn is there is WAAAAAY too much entertainment news on American sites.  And in the IMHO dividing of stories into 'news', 'not news', and 'shouldn't be, but is', CNN took it hard, splitting the vote almost three ways:

News: 40%.  Highlight: "CNN went undercover in Venezuela- Here's Why People Are In The Streets".  Which actually identified the problem- people are broke and starving.  Congratulations, you actually did figure out what the rest of the world (with the possible exception of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) already knew...

Not news: Also 40%.  Highlight: "The Fiji Water Girls were at SAG.  You May Not Have Seen Them."  In fact, I can guarantee it...

Shouldn't but is: 35%.  Highlight: 'Tom Brokaw Tries To Put Out Fire He Started With Hispanic Comments.'  The comments were fairly intelligent if you are a non-public figure not hoping to sound like an old sage, pretty darn dumb if you are trying to be PC like the rest of your crowd...

"I hear when I push people a little harder, ‘I don’t know whether I want brown grand babies’."

"That’s one of the things that I’ve been saying for a long time, you know, that they ought not to be just codified in their communities but make sure that all of their kids are learning to speak English and that they feel comfortable in the communities."

Gee, Tom, ever feel like you pay for ever opening your mouth every time you open your mouth?  First you bash people for being racist, then admit that you've been saying for a long time they need to go assimilate.

4th and trying harder: BBC

BBC has a problem with populating the front page with human interest stories and videos you go out to the kitchen and make a sandwich during when they play the story on regular TV.  Despite that, they did a much better job than CNN...

News: 53.85 %.  Highlight: 'US Charges China's Huawei with Fraud'.  Xinhua took care of the "rebuttal" in their news, naturally.  I just kinda wonder how much this is just one company doing this and how much is, "Hey, let's do this to drum them outta the club"...


Not: 30.7%.  Lots of the aforementioned human interest (supposedly) videos to choose from here... let's just go with, 'Going To Work Drunk Every Day', because I think it would make much of our staff more productive, and you can wonder why this wasn't in the Moscow Times entry...

Shouldn't, but is:  15.4%.  Highlight: 'R Kelly Insisted I Have A Sex Trainer'.  See, Bill woulda left you off with a pamphlet...



3rd, but not by much: Fox News.  The progenitor of this whole thing came out reasonably this week, though not as well as they probably should have...


News: 60.86%.  Highlight: 'WH Announces Sweeping Sanctions Against Maduro, Oil Monopoly'.  Can't wait to see how the Socialist Elite here in the states tr to spin that one... but I'll bet I put it in Cat 3...

Not: 26.08%.  Highlight: 'Singer Gets Bizarre Tattoo On Face'.  Yeah, let me put the singer of my favorite boy-band on my cheek.  The 'reporter asks, "Does this even really look like Harry Styles?"  I ask, "WTF is Harry Styles?" (Answer: singer for One Direction.  And I bet I know which direction that would be,...)

Shouldn't but is: 13.04%.  Highlight:  'Student Dies After Eating 5-Day Old Spaghetti'.  Yes, it was homemade.  No, it wasn't refrigerated.  And no, "The microwave will kill anything" is not correct.

2nd place by .25%: Xinhua

Xinhua is about as much dry propaganda as you can get outside of the now-blocked North Korean government site.  I usually manage to find something if I dig hard enough, but this is a "just the front page, ma'am" post, so...

News: 61.11%.  Highlight: 'Death Toll Rises To 58 As Hope Fades For Hundreds Missing In Brazil Dam Collapse'.  Kudos to Xinhua for being the only site that hasn't already consigned this terrible tragedy to page 2.  And for winning the "Longest Headline" honor, which Xinhua is also good at.

Not: 33%.  Highlight: 'Xi Extends Spring Festival Greetings To Non-Communist Parties And Personages.'  Xinhua is usually known for 3 things: photographs posing as news stories, out-and-out propaganda stories, and trying to get Xi's name in as many articles as they can.  Only one Xi headline this trip- but it does win the 'least newsworthy Banner Lead headline" category.

Shouldn't but is: 5.5%.  Only one here: 'Henan To Boost Rural 'Toilet Revolution' In 2019'.  Somehow not making the #firstworldproblems hashtag.

And the winner- the Moscow Times!

You have to get through a lot of op-eds to get to actual news, but luckily they do label it 'news', so there isn't much to look at but it's easy to find...

News:  72.72%.  In the interests of full disclosure, though, it should be mentioned that they only gave me 11 articles to the average 23.5 by the others.  Highlight: 'The Kremlin Denies Sending Russian Mercenaries To Venezuela'.  That is the current lead headline.  Three days and several inches downstream: 'Russian Mercenaries Arrive in Venezuela to Shore Up Maduro's Rule'.  Fair and balanced.

Not: 18.18%.  Highlight: 'St Petersburg Named Russia's Most LGBT-Friendly City'.  And the way the rest of the nation treats them, that probably means, "Look, you jail cell has Charmin!"

Shouldn't be: 9.09%.  Highlight: 'Russian Official Fired For Forcing Teachers To Clear Snow In Freezing Weather.'  -4 F is a tad chilly to be clearing sidewalks.  They must have a good teacher's union too...

Sunday message: Don't be fooled- you can be assured

This is going to be short and to the point.  There are denominations (and don't get high and mighty before God, you ARE a denomination) out there that try to tell you, "You cannot be sure of your salvation."  And of course, you go to these people with Romans 10:

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 


And you have the person tell you, " Paul spoke about hoping to be saved, and about working out his salvation with fear and trembling. He didn't speak of assurance of salvation. "


And my question is, how do you go from, "You WILL" to, "He was HOPING"?  Answer, YOU DON'T.  The verse he was misquoting was in Philippians 2:

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.



To take it as he does requires totally ignoring two key points of this passage.  The first being, YOUR salvation.  IF you have met the requirement in Romans- believe in your heart, confess with your mouth- and this is the serious part, not an, "oh, yeah, I believe that Jesus is really cool," but "I believe I am hopeless and am deserving of hell BUT FOR Jesus"- you have YOUR salvation.  Salvation, because of our being embedded in time, comes in three aspects:  You get "your ticket" when you are saved; you then have to 'make your way to the theater', ie you have a life to live in which the "confess with your mouth" needs to be a priority; and then you die, hand over your 'ticket', and join Jesus in heaven.  It was yours when you got it, it is yours now, it will be waiting for you when you get there.


The second part is "work OUT".  This doesn't mean you are building it through your good works- it means you are 'working out', EXERCISING it to gain that better reward.  The longer you are saved, the better Christian you become.  Paul's HOPE was in the REWARD waiting for him as a RESULT of his salvation- not hoping he did enough to "get in.".

There was a lot more "bad theology" that came in this discussion, but like their arguments, it detracts from the point.  We CAN be assured in our hearts of salvation.  But it IS an "if-then" thing.  The working out can come as you go, but it has to start with the IF.

Time Machine co-ordinates VILXXVIII52512575

Today, we venture to January 25th, 1975- and again, I found nothing really happening.  I did see something titled "Electric Light Orchestra and Pavlov's Dog", and I thought, "Hmm, what kind of psycho-social review do we have here?"  But when I hit the link...

...yes, Pavlov's Dog was the opening act!  A prog-rock outfit, they are actually still performing- despite three of their founders having passed the scene...

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ANYway, here we are for this week's TM, with Steve Miller guesting, a 6D that matches up two very different songs at each end; my best Grammy Records of the Year; believe it or not, another 3-debut week on the M10; and a third straight big rout on the Panel picks!  When the bell rings, everybody salivate er, cheer!


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So let me start out with our opening debut- this is a new act to the M10 but they've been around a while- I give you The Essex Green at # 10...





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Okay, so now, let's bring in our guest for this week, St- NARDOLE!! WHO IS THIS??

I am Ivan Petrovich Pavlov!  I vas told I vas needed on your program...

N: Isn't that who you... oh, wait, wait, I see!  I looked at the wrong line...

P: Is this man to be my subject?

Don't give me ideas.  Actually, tovarich, this is a music show, and...

P: I hardly think that we are THAT familiar.  You vill address me as Godspotin Pavlov...

Fair enough, Professor.  Um, well, what we do here is take a list of #1 songs...

Vat, forgive me, is a '#1 song?' Is it a first movement, or a...

Well, Professor, this is kind of a popular music thing, and...

Ah, I see, songs of the unvashed masses...

Uh, yeah... so we collect the votes that various places turn in, and have the audience guess at the winner...

Ja panimaju, my good man, I am game if you like...

Aw, heck, why not!  Here, first I give you the one-vote wonders- they're the ones that...

I grasp the meaning, I am after all an intellectual...

N:  Not after word gets out you were here...

Are you sure you wouldn't like me to 'work with' this man?

Sure is a strong word... anyway...

Ne za chta, my good fellow... So first we have Paul McCartney and the, er, Wings with Junior's Farm- it says, ' on its way down at #29 on... Cashbox?

The national over-all listing.

Ah, spasibo! That was the song from Laurenco Marques... the next one is from Australia.  Billy Swan with I Can Help at #65.

Then Linda Ronstadt is #5 with You're No Good.

Hmm... are these two a married couple?

Nope, sorry...

Very vell... the one is Carl Douglas vith Kung Fu Fighting... barbaric!  This is at # 28.

The other is Carol Douglas vith Doctor's Orders at #12.  He shall need the doctor to order him after the fighting, da?

Uggh...

Then we have the, er Doobie Brothers... should this not be the Brothers Doobie?

Probably has been, at times...

They are singing Black Vater at #18.  Then ve have from South Africa, Neil of Diamonds vith Longfellow Serenade... he sings to a poet?

Not exactly...

Ah, vell.  He is at ... oh, wait, he 'peaked' in the United States in October of... is this right? 1974?

Yeah.  Long story.

Ah... next, Donnie and Marie Osmond... ah, THIS is a married couple...

No, brother and sister...

How perfectly odd...  they are at #6 vith Morning Side of The Mountain.

And the Tymes are at #114 with Ms Grace...

...which is the #1 song in the UK this week!  This MIGHT be the first time a #1 UK song is a Panelist in the same week...  Here is the "also receiving votes" list.

But there are only three?  Very vell.  Vith two votes each, ve have Elton John vith Lucy In The Sky Vith Diamonds at #14... the Average Vhite Band vith Pick Up The Pieces at #9... und Neil Sedaka vith Laughter In The Rain at #3.

All right, Professor, and thanks for being such a good sport!

Ne za chta... tovarich!

And that leaves us a three song final, kids!  Choose from Barry Manilow and Mandy at #2; the Carpenters and Please Mr Postman at the top; and the Ohio Players and Fire at #10.  Easy peasy!

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Here's our second debut at #9- the second from the lp She Remembers Everything- for Roseanne Cash:





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So with all the Grammy talk lately, I thought I would look into the songs that have made Record of the Year.  59 of them, since the category started in 1959, and a varied amount of success on the actual charts.  While most (31) hit the top, there were 18 others that hit other places in the top forty, 2 that 'bubbled under' (below #100), and one- Paul Simon's Graceland- that never charted.  And I went through the list and came up with my Top Ten Grammy ROY winners!  First, here's the Honorable Mention 5:

Rosanna, Toto
Clocks, Coldplay
Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel
It's Too Late, Carol King
Somebody That I Used To Know, Gotye and Kimbra

And the top ten:

10- Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In, Fifth Dimension, 1970
9- This Masquerade, George Benson, 1977
8- The Girl From Ipanema, Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, 1965
7- What A Fool Believes, The Brothers Doobie, 1980
6- Hotel California, Eagles, 1978
5- Love Will Keep Us Together, Captain and Tennille, 1976
4- Nel Blu DiPinto Di Blu (Volare), Domenico Modugno, 1959
3- Mack The Knife, Bobby Darrin, 1960
2- Mrs Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel, 1969
 

And the top one for me:

1- Theme From A Summer Place, Percy Faith!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Ok, I'm going to slam a quick sat pack in since I still have a 6D and the third debut to do!

First off, the label game this week goes to...

RCA Victor!  In a week of good scores, RCA-V racked up 4 songs for a 16.2 average position- David Bowie's Fame at #5, Morris Albert's Feelings at #23, and two from John Denver- Thank God I'm A Country Boy at #8 and I'm Sorry at 29!

Meanwhile, our biggest mover was the flip of a Panel contestant- Wings with Sally G moving 21 spots from 90 to 69.

The 75 in 75 was a familiar one to a lot of us- Dan Fogelberg's Part Of The Plan.

Not so the #101- Butter Boy by the 'original' all-girl group, Fanny, featuring Suzi Quattro's sister Patti.
 and I knew 10 in the UK- including Panelists Lucy In The Sky (39), I Can Help (12), Morning Side Of The Mountain (7), and of course the #1 Ms Grace.  In the USA, I knew 52 of 100.  Go me!

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And now, another newbie to the M10 at #8- this is Criminal Hygiene:





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So we start out in 1926, when the tune Tonight You Belong To Me was first recorded.  30 years later, it became a #4 hit for the sister act Patience and Prudence; and that same year, the Lennon Sisters backed by Lawrence Welk hit #15 with it.  Janet Lennon's 2nd hubby was John Baher, who with his brother Tom were members of the Ron Hicklin Singers.  Among the many things this group did were the backing vocals for David Cassidy on The Partridge Family's hits (while the Wrecking Crew played the instruments).  Hicklin himself did extensive overdubs on Gerry Lewis' voice on This Diamond Ring- a classic hit co-written by one Al Kooper.  Al also was a musician, playing keyboards and French horn on the Stones' hit You Can't Always Get What You Want.  Also on that track was a conga player going by Rocky Dijon- his real last name was Dzidzornu; and it was this gentleman who was the only other person involved in the recording of our 6D song- Stevie Wonder's Boogie On Reggae Woman, sitting at #5 but snubbed by the Panel.


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The remaining M10:

Dropping 2 to 7 is Charles Bradley and Luv Jones.

Moving up 4 to #6 is the first of last week's debuts- ELO's Point Of No Return. Moving up 3 spots each in front of them are the other two last week rookies- Animal House's Heavy at 5 and Liz Cooper and the Stampede at 4 with Outer Space.

And the top three hold:  Castlecomer with She's So High at #3, The Beths and You Wouldn't Like Me at 2, and a second week at the top for...

...the Decemberists and Travelling On!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And how'd ya do guessing this week?  If you took the Ohio Players, you got 7.9% of the 38 votes...

The Carpenters?  They netted you 13.1%...

But if you wanted the winner, with a strong 39.5%, you took...

...Barry Manilow and Mandy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The man himself will be here next week (unless I keep my current assistant, in which case all bets are off) for 1976!

Wednesday Bible Study: Satan's four-step plan

I have been in a quandary how to approach our next verse, James 3:16, until Sunday morning I saw this on FB:

And I really think this is the point that James is trying to make here.  Let me give you our verse, with a little context:

Jas 3:13  Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 
Jas 3:14  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 
Jas 3:15  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 
Jas 3:16  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 
Jas 3:17  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 

Now, you might not immediately see the connection, but if I flip over to my handy KJV+ for the original words, we'll get my drift.  In fact, I actually did a "loose translation" myself, to help me see what was going on, and it ran like this:

"Reason being, at whichever spot (you find) hot, fervent emotion and provocation, thither (also) instability and all foul affairs."

So this verse is a "where you find one, you'll find the other" construction.  I know, thanks Captain Obvious, but the question is just what are the "ones" and the "others".  At the point where ESV puts jealousy, the literal translation would be, "zeal".  Scratching your head?  Well the word for each is the same Greek word, and the translation is a bit foggy;

properly heat, that is, (figuratively) “zeal” (in a favorable sense, ardor; in an unfavorable one, jealousy, as of a husband [figuratively of God], or an enemy, malice): - emulation, envy (-ing), fervent mind, indignation, jealousy, zeal.

But if you scroll back to the context verse 14, you see James attach the word "bitter" to it.  So what we are talking about here is the negative version- in other words, zeal in a bad way, emotions without reason, as Sowell said so well. (See what I did there?)  Other versions use envy here, and I shamefully admit I had to look up "emulation":

"effort to match or surpass a person or achievement, typically by imitation."

Now that we have effectively described social media in this one verse, let me VERY cautiously bring in a note from Adam Clarke's commentary:

...fiery, inflammatory passion, and contention - altercations about the different points of the law, of no use for edification, such as those mentioned, Tit_3:9. The Jews were the most intolerant of all mankind; it was a maxim with them to kill those who would not conform to their law; and their salvation they believed to be impossible.

I think Clarke was a bit over the top, and indeed he uses that sentence to springboard into another of his anti-Catholic rants, but the point is valid:  The Judaizers were starting fights over their sanctimonious stand on keeping the OT Laws, and it got heated.  But heated doesn't always equal "right", and this was then the jealousy/emulation/zeal/envy that James was referencing.

So how do we go from "selfish ambition" to "provocation"?  Or, how about the other ways this word is translated (Feel free to raise your hand when I hit the one in your Bible)?  Contention; faction; the desire to get the better of others; rivalry; strife.  All of this coming from a word that if you just glance the surface you get the definition, "properly intrigue; that is, faction", but if you drill a bit deeper you get a source word which means to stimulate or provoke.  So, our "where you find one" side of the equation is basically, "Getting all hot and bothered and stirring things up."

Now, let's work on the "other" part.  Our first word is "disorder" by the ESV, while others may use "confusion" or "commotion", while I used instability.  Maybe even better was the JFB commentary, which uses the phrase "tumultuous anarchy".  If you drill down deep enough, you hit "absence of permanence".  I'm wondering why they didn't just use "chaos."

And that brings us to "vile practice"- easily broken into "foul deed or affair".  But is that the gist of it?  Vincent's word studies says, not quite...

An inadequate rendering, because it fails to bring out the particular phase of evil which is dominant in the word: worthlessness, good-for-nothingness...


Now, I semi-facetiously made mention of social media on the first two, and they fit right well; but you look at what it leads to in the "other" side of the equation, and it isn't quite so funny or tolerable anymore, is it?  But, if you scroll back up to the context verses, we see that it is what you get when you replace God's Wisdom with man's.  You go from calmness and meekness to hot angry emotion; from reasonable and persuasive to provocative and selfish; from stable to chaotic; and from good behavior to good-for-nothing behavior.  Note the third of the three descriptors of man's wisdom- demonic.  So what we have really witnessed here today is Satan's four-part plan for destroying mankind.

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Before I close, I would like to not libel Adam Clarke without an explanation.  To us, the Catholic Church is the place down the street with the bells and the organ, and the nuns teaching school.  For Clarke, he saw the Catholic Church as "Bloody Mary", Queen of England about 200 years previous, who "besides multitudes who suffered by fine, imprisonment, confiscation, etc., two hundred and seventy-seven were burnt alive, among whom were one archbishop, four bishops, twenty-one clergymen, eight lay gentlemen, eighty-four tradesmen, one hundred husbandmen, fifty-five women, and four children!"  in her ZEAL to destroy the Reformation in England.  Maybe it wasn't right, but it wasn't blind prejudice.  IT DOES teach us, though, again where Satan wants to head us with his plan, because both Mary's actions and Clarke's words fit the first side of our equation.

MWN: What isn't news #2

This post is a division of MWN

I haven't felt good today, I've amused myself by sleeping, watching war shows on American History, and debating a self proclaimed twitter nerd that thinks that my not wanting to see babies killed also means I want unwed mothers dumped by the wayside and condoms banned.  So not in a festive mood.  Which, despite my lowered energy levels means it's a perfect day to once again peruse the FoxNews page and point out to the world what is news and what is not.


Headline 1- House Judiciary Democrat: Kavanaugh 'likely' will be investigated for perjury

Just so everybody knows: Democrats, I am sick to death of you slowing things down every step of the way by making up charges that have no other purpose than delaying things.  Republicans, I will be just as sick of it when you do it.


Headline 2- Flight attendant accuses man of sexual harassment after disgusting demand

Without having read it- I'm sorry, but don't you think by now these idiots do it- or airlines publicize it- just to get attention?  Does not belong on a front page.

With reading it- I'm guessing somebody at the airline is saying, "We should have just banned him after the FIRST time...

(And no, I'm not gonna comment on the demand, because it was, well, disgusting.)

Headline 3- TODD STARNES: Where is the apology for wrongly maligned students?

Truth is, I wanted to just bring this up because I wanted to say something about the story.  Basically, Kentucky High Schoolers at the Right To Life March were minding their own business when a veteran radical left "Native American" troublemaker inserted himself into their group, backed up by some BLM-reject thugs, to do what he does best.  Media clips the video to match HIS story; others produce the FULL video which proves his (and their) claims are BS.  By this time, the usual listing of SJWs are threatening life and limb of the kids and their school (over 6,000 "loving and tolerant" tweeted threats registered).  The Governor of the State told all comers, "Just try something- we DEAL with crime in Kentucky."  The High School cowers in a corner, apologizing.  The media?  They give their usual full IDGAF to their fake news stories, and set up this miserable excuse for an Indian as a hero.  In other words, a news story, but shouldn't be.


Headline 4- Alyssa Milano has shocking new claim about the MAGA hat

Why is Alyssa Milano like a zit?  If you stop messing with her, she'll just go away unnoticed.  Not sure she even rates the entertainment page, but prolly better than Kathy Griffin, whom I see is farther down the page.


Headline 5- Ships catch fire in Black Sea killing at least 14, Russia says

C'mon, Chris, what's wrong with THAT one?  Nothing at all.  I just put it up to highlight the ones that were ABOVE it:

Pastor stunningly predicts Patriots-Chiefs score

WILD PHOTO: Horrified family finds huge python coiled in toilet

Man accidentally plays porn through speakers at girlfriend's sister's wedding

But yeah, Mr Editor, I can see where you would think a football game, a beloved family pet in the drink, and a guy who won't get an invite to the next wedding are more important than 14 lives...


Headline 6- For this one, let me bring in our good friend, Captain Obvious:

"Majority of guns used by criminals bought on black market, study shows"

Headline 7-  This one combines the KG reference with the Kentucky story...


Controversial anti-Trump comic calls for doxing student's identities after viral video at Native American march

Because it's more important these kids pay for the rest of their lives for something you idiots made up than to admit the truth...  BTW, another so-called comic said that the young man who went to the local TV station, begging them to tell the real story, should be "kicked in the balls."  Honestly, I'm not sure these people count as human beings, much less funny.

Now, here's funny:

Headline 8- Louisiana eye doctor offers free exams for NFL refs after Saints crushing loss

For anyone that missed this, the referee in question defended his not calling of pass interference on "suspecting that the pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage".  The pass was about 4 feet above the outstretched fingers of the nearest player on the line when it whistled over him.  The only way the excuse would be valid is if the ref were lying on the ground on his back at the time.  Were I the NFL's head of officiating, I'd MAKE that ref take the doc up on the offer.

Sunday message: More than one way out

Saturday morning I was reading my new "project"- I am in my 3rd month of reading one of the 31 chapters of Proverbs every day- and I hit on a verse that really spoke to me.  Not just for what it said, but what I had just gone through, and the bigger message I found in it.


You see, Scrappy is proceeding down the "everything is falling apart" path, and lately the problem has been because of his water obsession, he spends his "bathroom time" licking up snow rather than TCOB.  As a result, he has been dealing with, well, problems that have necessitated me taking him out on walkabout after his breakfast to make sure he gets #2 done.  That morning we had success even as the snow fell all around us, and when we came in he went around licking up snowprints we brought in- and then had a tiny little accident.  One of a string of such incidents which is lowering quality-of-life for all involved.

The discussion has been had lately about Scrappy's future, and you can guess it is very emotional and I am very conflicted.  I know, not Sunday Message material here, but let me get to the Proverbs part.  You see, one of the great things about this book is that there will ALWAYS be something that speaks to you that you never noticed before, if you are faithful in praying and reading.  And Saturday, I read this verse:


Pro 19:18  Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death. 

Boom, anyone?  Now, I am not suggesting either that we are that close- though the day seems to be closing on me- or that this is God telling me not to do it.  In fact, Scrappy's situation is just a facet of what I see here.

What I get is, that in the course of trying to do things in our own strength, in applying our own wisdom to a situation, we often get fixated on the concept of "one solution"- that this is the only way out, because it's the only path I can see.

God sees more.  In fact, God can open up a range of HIS solutions to what is going on. But the key is giving it to God.  You might be looking at one facet of the entire problem, and God's solution makes you say, "But that doesn't do anything for my REAL problem"- when the problem is you aren't even recognizing the REAL problem. Or, you are just perception-limited in what God can do to resolve it.

But beware.  I have noticed that you can be "led" to think God is involved in a way He isn't- like I talked about in the "lesson and circumstance" post a few weeks ago- and Satan might be using it in a way to lead you to the false conclusions of, "God doesn't care, God is cruel, God is playing games."  When you hit that point, you know it's time to reject that path.

And before I get into a "big picture" analogy here, let me sum up the point.  Anytime you feel there's only one way out, consider this verse...

Pro 19:18  Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death. 

...For there is HOPE.

Time Machine co-ordinates VILXXVII52411774

Wow, dudes, as proud as I was of last week's show, this one is going to be a HUGE disaster!  I found absolutely nothing of note at target date January 17th, 1974 (excepting a pair of Norwegian deep-sea divers who died when their bathysphere rose too fast);  I haven't done a 6D because I thought I had an even better storyline- and I'm going to wear some BIG donkey ears when I tell THAT one; the Panel was another rout of epic proportions; and I FORGOT to do the label game, so we are going to try to do that LIVE (EEEK)!  If nothing else will make me humble, this debacle will!


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

So let's open with one of three new debuts- and the only one that was among the four I TRIED to get you all to guess at last week!  Form 2012's compilation titled after the hit Mr Blue Sky, here is ELO at #10:





Well, we can't be TOO bad off if we lead with ELO, can we?


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Nor if we start the Panel Picks by introducing our POTM this week, Carly Simon!

How are you today?

A little cold... what's with the heat in here?

That is a very good question... NARDOLE!

N: Yes, sir? 

Could we like get the heat up to, say, room temp?

N:  It's aftereffects of the End Of Year Redundancy Transclaudication... we're still trying to synch up.

That's never caused the furnace to go out before...

N: Well, that's because you were never 13 months late paying the bill before...

Oh, fer the luvva... maybe you could get Ms Simon a jacket... and none of Harrison's or Elvis's stuff!

C:  It's all right... can we do the list?

Sure.  We have 20 contestants from 45 stations- and our winner took a third of 'em!  So I'll give you the onesie-twosie list (1 or 2 votes), and everyone... maybe that should be ANYone- left is in the final picks!

All right, let's start with the 2s... Charlie Pride's The Most Beautiful Girl was at #20 this week- and by the way, I'd just like to say I appreciate being in the Beauty Contest... 

You mighta won had I found that pic above before...

Aww... anyway, Brownsville Station was at #3 with Smoking In The Boys Room... Gotta love those bad boys!

N:  Here's a jacket, ma'am... I think it was Liberace's...

Oh, well THAT was appropriate...

Thank you, Noodle...

N:  That's Nardole, Ms Simon.  N-A-R...

That'll be all, noodle.  Go ahead, Carly.

Hmmm... Next with 2 votes is Terry Jacks and Seasons In The Sun, new on the chart at #76.

Al Wilson held the #2 slot with Show And Tell.

And Stevie Wonder was at #6 with Superstition.

Now comes the fun stuff- the one-vote wonders!

This first one is from the Netherlands- a fellow by the name of Gerard Cox.  His song you could name three ways.  You could call it by it's Dutch name- 'T Is Weer Voorbij, Die Mooie Zomer...

Well said!  At least, I think so...

...or by the English Translation- It's Over Again, That Beautiful Summer... or, you could just say, that Dutch song to the tune of City Of New Orleans, I guess...

Then we have Coven, two weeks into their second go-round on the charts with their version of One Tin Soldier, back at #87...

This one I'm afraid I don't know...

Oh, I do.  This is Canadian band Lighthouse- who had a hit here with One Fine Morning- and their beautiful follow-up, Pretty Lady.  It was a top ten in Canada (if I'm not mistaken), peaked at 53 here- and this week it was number one on KPOI, Honolulu, of all places...

Okay, then we have Perry Como who was #1 in Australia with his version of the country classic For The Good Times.

Grand Funk Railroad was at #17 with Walk Like A Man.

Love Unlimited Orchestra and Love's Theme was #9...

David Bowie was charting in the UK and at the top in South Africa with a song called Sorrow...

Having listened to this one, I don't get why they never released it here...

...and another Australian station had Sweet's Ballroom Blitz, which was 21 months from hitting here... boy, this time stuff can be handy!

Ringo Starr was at #4 with You're 16...

Olivia Newton-John was at #12 with Let Me Be There...

...and Wings were at #13 with Helen Wheels!  There you go!

Ah, but for such a beautiful guest, how about you do the finalists?

Aww, okay!  Choose from, Steve Miller's The Joker at #1...

Byron MacGregor's The Americans at #8...

Barbara Streisand with The Way We Were at #10...

And Jim Croce's Time In A Bottle at #5!

Okay, thank you very much!  There you guys go... the funny, the serious, and two songs about TIME!  Is that an omen?  Take your best shot!


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Okay, before we try the LIVE Label Game, here's the next debut at #8, coming to you from 2014... this is Animal House...







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

And now, let me bring up the Cashbox top 100 for the year 1974...

So we start off with a new one right at the top, Rocky Road... then two for last time's winner Epic... then of course, Capitol and Columbia... hmm-de-hmmm...  then another each for the C-n-C guys... and another for Cap!  They're on fire!  Then a couple quick ones for MCA... and for A&M!  And MCA... and again!  There the first ones to qualify... and they have SIX already!  Capitol qualifies next, but it's gonna be hard to top the leader...  ABC is now on the board, but doesn't stand much of a chance...MCA starting to hit songs in the backstretch now, that might end up helping Capitol... and here's RCA-Victor qualified...  Now Columbia makes the board after wasting away its strong start... and MCA is now up to NINE...  Epic now does the same thing Columbia did... we have a Virgin at 75!  Apple finally gets on the list... A&M joins the party now, as does Atlantic...  From here on, they just hurt you, as Columbia and Capitol may have just found out...  Ohh, Clap For The Wolfman at 94 may have just sunk RCA Victor... Apple just got 88 AND 98...  A&M just swallowed 99... and we're done!  Time to calculate the results!

Atlantic had 5 for an average spot of 61.4...
A&M had 5 for 57.6...
Apple got 6 for 64.33...
Epic had 5 for 44.2- that's a little better...
Columbia had 5 for 44.6...
RCA-Victor got 6 for 37.16- new leader!
ABC had 5 for 41.4...
Capitol grabbed 7 for 38.4... just missed!
And MCA took 9 for 36.4!  the winner...

MCA!  Their ten songs were...

I Honestly Love You, Olivia Newton-John at 62;
Lynyrd Skynyrd and Sweet Home Alabama at 58;
Marvin Hamlisch's The Entertainer at #45;
ONJ again with If You Love Me at 31;
Cher's Dark Lady at 26;
ONJ #3 with Let Me Be There at 22;
(and here the disaster continues- I gave MCA credit for an MGM song at #15!  They still win, but the numbers have been changed above so you'll never know for sure won't have to worry about it...)
...and three from Sir Elton John- Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me at 51, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road at 21, and Benny And The Jets at #12!


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

All right, let me get to the sad story of my great adventure in disaster.  You might have noted last week that I said I wanted to know what the 45 was on the Beths' video.  I knew it was (obviously) a Kama Sutra release, but where I stopped the video was so darn blurry, I couldn't make out but vague outlines of act and song.  So, after about a half hour of reading Wiki, "the Kama Sutra/Buddah Records Story", and various other places, I finally came upon the KS complete discography- but it didn't help.  So I gave up, b/c I was just starting to write last week's post, and these things take long enough as it is.

Skip ahead to a couple of nights ago my time (Tuesday your time), and I thought, "Maybe I can stop it in a different place, and it will be clearer!"  So I stopped it in a different place, and it WAS clearer- or so I thought.

It said, "Ohio Express, Turn! Turn! Turn!".

I thought, well, this ought to be interesting, so I searched the song- and found nothing.  I searched some more, and more nothing.  Not only did the Ohio Express not record on KS but on Buddah, but they seemed never have had recorded it- and nobody that ever DID record it did it for Kama Sutra!  So I assumed it was a totally made up record and that was that.  Except it wasn't.

Wednesday I said to myself at work, "Kama Sutra and Buddah are owned by the SAME company.  See if we can find where it might have cross pollinated."  And when I got home, I did.  No luck- until I got to Allmusic.com, where I saw on the discography for the Ohio Express that they listed a re-recording of the lp Yummy Yummy Yummy in 1994 on Kama Sutra!  But when I clicked the link- it was dead.  And nothing I did would find me that 1994 re-release.

Then I finally had the one brilliant idea on this entire journey of stupidity you haven't guessed at yet.  "Why not search Google images for 'Ohio Express on Kama Sutra Records'?"  And there I found this:

...a fuzzy picture of Ohio Express's big hit Yummy Yummy Yummy... and I said, "you don't suppose..."  And sure enough, I stopped the video in yet another spot and saw it plain as day-

"Yummy Yummy Yummy- Ohio Express".  A #4 hit in 1968 which I am well acquainted with.  And a song that I thought MIGHT be the culprit last week, but said, "Those aren't Ys, they are Ts- and that sure ain't an O on the artist."

God finds amazing ways to keep me humble.  Let's do the debut at #7- Liz Cooper and the Stampede:






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

Stat Pack, take me away!

The Stones grabbed the big mover with one of my favorites, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), moving 30 spots from 72 to 42.

BB King had the #74 in '74 with I Like To Live The Love.  A #6 soul song, it would peak at #28 and be his last time in the top 40- with the not-quite exception of his joining U2 for When Love Came To Town in 1989 (got #2 mainstream rock and 6 alt) and a sampling from his song How Blue Can You Get on the Primitive Radio Gods' 1996 #1 Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand (a seriously great song, despite the title, gives me chills).

#101 was (Benny) Latimore's Stormy Monday, which got no further despite cracking the top 30 R&B.

The UK charts were represented in the Panel Picks by For The Good Times (26), Living For The City (30), Sorrow (34), and Helen Wheels (41).  The numero uno Britannia was You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me (my theme song this show) by the New Seekers, which only registered a #18 on the AC charts here (AKA you might have heard it in the Doctor's waiting room...)

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And that brings us to the remaining M10 songs...

We have 2 8-weekers in this week's show- the Beths with Future Me Hates Me falls from 4 to 9; still hanging in there is Anna Burch's 2 Cool 2 Care, slipping one to #4.

Papa Roach gets hung up at #6 for a second week with Not The Only One.

Charles Bradley moves into the top 5 with Luv Jones.

I have now heard Castlecomer twice on the radio- I heard The Noise at the gas station last week, and this (Thursday) morning I heard a out-of-range alt station playing last week's #1, She's So High!  They slip to 3 this week.

Roaring up from 10 to 2 is that group whom has an unexplainable hold on me- the Beths again, with You Wouldn't Like Me.

And that means our new top dog is the third #1 for...

...the Decemberists and Travelling On!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And your Panel winner?  Well, if you add MacGregor, Streisand, and Croce together, you only get 20%- so the winner with 33% is...

...Steve Miller and The Joker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next week, God willing, is a better 1975!

Wednesday Bible Study: to the 9s

So this week we have one of those verses whose meaning turns on something rather funny.  I'm first going to show you the verse, plus the ones before and after from the ESV to get context- and then show you another translation of our verse.


ESV: Heb 3:15  As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." 
Heb 3:16  For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 
Heb 3:17  And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 
Heb 3:18  And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 
Heb 3:19  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. 


But now, let's look at the Modern KJV:

Heb 3:16  For some, when they had heard, did provoke; however, not all who came out of Egypt by Moses. 
Heb 3:17  But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? 

"OMG, it's one of those contradictions in the Bible!"  No, gentle reader, there isn't a REAL conflict here.  First, let me examine HOW we got to this point; then, the WHY of God letting it come about this way.

From the Adam Clarke commentary, here's why we have the battle between 'some' and 'all':

There is a various reading here, which consists merely in the different placing of an accent, and yet gives the whole passage a different turn: - τινες, from τις, who, if read with the accent on the epsilon, τινὲς, is the plural indefinite, and signifies some, as in our translation; if read with the accent on the iota, τίνες, it has an interrogative meaning; and, according to this, the whole clause, τίνες γαρ ακουσαντες παρεπικραναν ; But who were those hearers who did bitterly provoke? αλλ 'ου παντες οἱ εξελθοντες εξ Αιγυπτου δια Μωσεως ; Were they not all they who came out of the land of Egypt by Moses? Or, the whole clause may be read with one interrogation: But who were those hearers that did bitterly provoke, but all those who came out of Egypt by Moses? This mode of reading is followed by some editions, and by Chrysostom and Theodoret, and by several learned moderns. It is more likely that this is the true reading, as all that follows to the end of the 18th verse is a series of interrogations.

So for those of you that glazed over, it all depends upon where you put a simple accent mark.  It brings me to mind of this passage:

Mat 5:17  Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill. 

Mat 5:18  For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. 

So then, what can we gather here?  One thing we know: 99.9999985% of those who left Egypt with Moses died in the desert, because they had SEEN the miracles wrought in Egypt, they had SEEN the Red Sea split in two, and even WHILE they heard God thundering to Moses on the mountain, they said, "Screw it, Moses is cooked, let's build a golden cow and go back to Egypt."

Anyone who wants to know why God picked the Jews to be His special people, look no further.  If He could do it with THESE guys, He could do it with anyone.  But the ones who turned on Him DIRECTLY by their unbelief weren't going to benefit by His choice.

Anyway, I mentioned a number: 99.9999985 %.  By any statistical reference, you can mark that as "essentially all".  How I came up with it was an estimate by Chuck Swindoll (who said that by the time you worked out women and kids might STILL be low-balling) for how many followed Moses out of Egypt- and the 3 people we KNOW for sure made the entire trip: Joshua, Caleb, and Aaron's son Eliezar.

So, in God's eyes, all the generation that defied Him perished in the desert, so you can 'put the accent on the iota'.  But for the nitpicky who say, 'Not so!', you can move it to the epsilon.  To me, this is not the Bible having an error; this is God covering ALL the bases.  So that no jot or tittle is overturned.  And in case you think I'm being foolish, consider how MINUTE, yet perfectly placed, an issue it is that gave us BOTH translations!  For me, considering this a grammatical accident is right up there with evolution and creation without God.  The chances against it would need me to use a LOT more 9s.

All kinda things...

Okay, so I thought I would do a few things today, starting serious, ending in fun.

First off, I have made a confession- I like to get the glory, more than I should.  That became painfully clear when a couple of Time Machine comments twisted my underoos.  One I handled well enough... the other I did not.  I had a long talk with God- basically me talking and Him letting me listen to myself so I could see what a dumbass I can be.  One thing I can never wrap my mind around properly is the disconnect between man's concept of self-esteem and God's concept of humility.  So, apologies all around, and hopefully I will do better henceforth.


Second, this past weekend "Lambo Pastor" John Gray confessed to considering suicide.  His confession- and following help by another oft-attacked pastor, TD Jakes- I think (and pray) might be a watershed moment for a preacher that I don't think was all the way connected to Christ before.  Here are some excerpts from the Christian Post article:

“The truth is some of the stuff that tried to kill me I helped. Nobody wants to shout. Everybody needs to know some stuff wasn’t the devil, some stuff was you. It would be great if we shout for that too because when you shout for that what you’re saying is I take personal responsibility,” he said.

“I wanted to call it quits. ‘Hey you sound like you need counseling,’” he said, mimicking criticism.

“You do too. You do too. And I have counselors,” he revealed. “And let me help you. Some stuff you can’t slap oil on your forehead and ask for it to go away. Some stuff you gon’ have to work out. Some stuff you gon’ have to walk out. And you gonna need some certified Christian counseling and some therapy.”


“The external trappings of success have given us rose-colored glasses to what we think will give us peace. But if money could give you peace, if cars and houses could give you peace, then wealthy people wouldn’t commit suicide. And people who are on TV wouldn’t be taking anti-depressants because fame and money and things do not give you peace,” he said.

He also talked about facing his insecurities and said his wife, Aventer, married a broken man.

“When you’re single and you can lie to yourself, it’s easy to love what you see. But when you live in community with another person, all of the masks begin to crumble. So now my wife is left with a picture of a shadow of a man that she thought she knew and now I’m dealing with the unintended consequences of not healing properly from sexual abuse or not having the proper information on how to foster intimacy or what it means to be a Christian and a black man and the child of a single parent and not know what it means to build your house,” he explained.


“And so now I’m trying to be a husband and a father and a leader and I didn’t see any of those up close. So how can you be what you’ve never seen? No I’m running blind, scared outta my mind, crying most nights and I’m tired. And so I said I wonder how many other people have been faking it? Many of us are weary,” he said.


I found this to be a powerful confession, and I hope we will all pray for this man to at last put his life back on the track he needs to find to be in God's will.  And I love what Pastor Jakes told him about getting there...


“It’s not a stage that you prayed for. It’s not a building that you prayed for. It’s not an opportunity that you prayed for. You’ve always wanted God to make a man out of you and He’s using the stage to make a man out of you. He’s using the building to make a man out of you. He’s using the opportunity to make a man out of you,” he said.

He told Gray that he was gifted and anointed because he was “broken.”

“You know how to bless everybody and everybody got your gift but nobody got you,” he said. “They got your gift but nobody got you.”


NOBODY GOT YOU.  Because, you see, there's two sides to every Pastor worth his weight- God's Word and man's frailty.  Pray for your pastors.  You never know when they might be at that point...

(And, if you would, don't leave me out...)


And now, the funny stuff.  It seems survey engine YouGov took on the subject about British sarcasm and American inability to detect it.  It all started with a list that's floated around for a long time, of Brit phrases and what is really meant by them...

YouGov took the list and surveyed how many Birts saw the negative meanings vs an equal group of Yanks.  The phrases they polled showed that "With the greatest respect" was understood as a slam by 68% of the Brits  but only 40% of Americans; some of the other splits were:

"I'll bear it in mind" 55/38
"I hear what you say" 48/32
"You must come for dinner" 57/45


But before the Brits start patting themselves on the back for being clever, bear in mind that a master of snark like myself will be misunderstood 50% even with American phrases.  It's not for no reason you hear social media comedians like myself lobby for the "sarcasm font."  So I thought I might add my own list of "what Chris means if he says" the lines on the British list.

I hear what you say:  And it is frigging stupid...
With the greatest respect:  Can't wait to get out of this so I can go home and tell Laurie what an idiot you are...
That's not bad: It will take me years I don't have time to waste on it to get used to...
That's a very brave proposal: Better you than me...
Quite Good: I prolly mean 'quite good' here...
I would suggest: I might just as well do this myself...
Oh, incidentally/by the way:  We used to use the phrase "evidently, it ended up" to indicate I am about to extricate myself from your boring story to bore you with mine...
I was a bit disappointed that:   THAT really pissed me off...
Very interesting:  Arte Johnson on Laugh-In:  "But it stinks!"
I'll bear it in mind:  But only when I have to deal with you, you turd...
I'm sure it's my fault:  But you helped...
You must come for dinner:  I should be pretty safe, I can't imagine you'd actually darken my door..
I almost agree: But my reputation couldn't take the blow...
I only have a few minor comments:  Frankly, I always use, "Do you have an hour?"
Could we consider some other options: This will require dragging me kicking and screaming...

Sunday message: the sword

Today I'd like to start with a passage I used when typing up the coming Wednesday message:

Mat 5:17  "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 
Mat 5:18  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 
Mat 5:19  Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 

I have a reason for this- and sadly, again that reason is Andy Stanley.  You may remember me mentioning him some weeks ago in connection with his 'doctrine' of "unhitching ourselves" from the Old Testament.  Now, there are parts of what he said that make some sense- just like there were parts of the Serpent's soliloquy to Eve that made sense.  I am hopeful today of showing you there is a black-and-white line in all this.

From an article in the Christian Post by Michael Grybowski:

In a column published by Relevant Magazine, the North Point Community Church pastor argued that the Ten Commandments are “the old covenant” and no longer apply to believers.

"[I]f we’re going to create a monument to stand as a testament to our faith, shouldn’t it at least be a monument of something that actually applies to us?" he posed.

“Participants in the new covenant (that’s Christians) are not required to obey any of the commandments found in the first part of their Bibles,” wrote Stanley. “Participants in the new covenant are expected to obey the single command Jesus issued as part of his new covenant: as I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

This new commandment is "a replacement for everything in the existing list. Including the big ten," he maintained. "Just as his new covenant replaced the old covenant, Jesus’ new commandment replaced all the old commandments."

Now, if you want to parse out the things that Jesus said to leave you without responsibility for Scripture, this might sound good.  Did he lie, was he wrong about what he said?  I don't know that he intentionally lied, but I KNOW he made a BIG mistake, that led to all the other mistakes that he made in this statement.  His mistake is the word, "replacement."

Mat 22:34  But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 

Mat 22:35  And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 

Mat 22:36  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 

Mat 22:37  And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 

Mat 22:38  This is the great and first commandment. 

Mat 22:39  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

Mat 22:40  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." 

Jesus was NEVER telling us to throw out the OT.  What He WAS telling us was, the Law and the Prophets boiled down to two things- love for God (the first four of the Ten Commandments) and love for everyone else (the other six).  If you follow what Jesus preached, you ARE required to obey the Ten Commandments because they are the PROOF of doing the two commandments of the New Covenant.  For Stanley to say what he did would be like passing a new law in the secular world:  "You must respect the law at all times.  You don't necessarily have to OBEY it, but as long as you respect it, you're okay."

Stanley has a backwards reasoning in his ministry.  He feels that the OT is connected to all the things that MODERN people dislike about the Bible, and reasons if he teaches from a New Testament-only perspective, people will respond.  And it is a fine distinction...

For his part, Stanley explained that critics needed to understand the context, especially since his remarks were more for an audience that is turned off by biblical arguments.

"I told my kids growing up, if anyone ever asks you 'do you believe Adam and Eve are real people?' here is how you are to answer: do not say 'yes because the Bible says Adam and Eve were real people,'" commented Stanley in an interview with Michael Brown last July.

"You say this: 'I believe Adam and Eve were historical characters because Jesus did. And when somebody predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off, I go with whatever they say.'"

And right there is his folly:  He claims to be "unhitching" from the OT, but cannot do it without showing Jesus was THOROUGHLY hitched to it!  One source tells me, "Jesus quoted the Old Testament 78 times, the Pentateuch alone 26 times".  So if he begins to know the Bible, Andy Stanley knows his whole ministry rests on a fallacy.

But like he says, it makes modern people more "comfortable" with their faith, and thus draws them in.  According to a database by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, only Prosperity poster-child Joel Osteen draws a bigger "congregation" than Andy Stanley; by contrast, his more orthodox father Charles Stanley's church is only a sixth or seventh that size.  And "comfort" is the name of the game, right?  Fit in with society, right?

That is where the mainline Protestant churches are going.  The Episcopal Church in the USA is FORCING congregations to accept LGBT members, even pastors, or be thrown out.  The United Methodists are facing an upcoming conference on the same subject that may well destroy the denomination, at the very least taking the U out of UMC.  And why is this happening?  Because Jesus taught homosexuality is a sin, and society is teaching these churches it isn't.  And the result Jesus predicted long ago...

Mat 10:34  "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 

Mat 10:35  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 

Mat 10:36  And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 

Mat 10:37  Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 

  TRULY following Jesus doesn't mean going to a "comfort church"... it means being on the right side of the sword.  I think we see where Andy is.  Where are we?

Time Machine co-ordinates VILXXVI52311073

Today we find ourselves in January of 1973.  1973, you say?  Aren't we supposed to be in 1972?  Well, I forgot about the End Of Year Redundancy Transclaudication- that if you do the end of 1971 one week and the start of 1972 the next, you haven't moved one year, but one WEEK.  So I skipped ahead, and ramifications abound.  One of them is that we land in January 11th of 1973- the day baseball voted in the designated hitter.  Like it or not, it's here now (mostly in the AL), and it would be 115 days from now (give or take, I counted on my fingers) that Ron Blomberg of the Yankees would take that first fateful at-bat.

And with that, welcome to the first TM of 2019!  And to start out what will be a post full of surprises, I'm going to start out with- a 6D quiz!  Our song that was the highest nationally on Cashbox's survey without a #1 vote from the Panel was Curtis Mayfield's Superfly.  Among the things that I learned in trying to do a 6D on it was that it was in the 2012 movie version of Dark Shadows... how that works out, I'm not quite sure...

Anyway, the actual soundtrack lp had four songs that were in the movie and DIDN'T make the album- and Superfly was one of them!  So was a cover of the Raspberries' Go All The Way, redone by the Killers... and Black Sabbath's Paranoid... and one more song, that is actually one of this week's Panel Contestants!  So your first of three guessing games this week (including the usual Panel winner) is, which contestant was the song in the Dark Shadows movie but NOT on the soundtrack?

And while you wait with baited breath to see who you get to pick from, I would normally show you our one M10 debut this week- but I'm gonna have a little fun with that, too!  Here are four acts that in the last few months have had #1s on the M10:

Rosanne Cash
Anna Burch
The Beths
ELO

Each of them had a new to the M10 song vying for that one spot- and there were 2 newbies also in the mix!  So here's contest number two (and I'll just add that Laurie failed miserably on this, so don't feel bad):  Which act got the #10 spot this week?  I'll even be nice and tell you it WAS one of the acts listed above, and not a newbie.  But which one?  Answer in a little bit.

"Youse really make this hard on a guy!"

Don't worry, inspector- if you want, pick a win, place or show horse, and it will give you a 75% chance of at least being partly right!  (BTW, Laurie hit the "show" pick.)

And now, for your entertainment- and before I open the door to let them in- I have a special suprise!  This week is Melanie's job to do the M10- but I'm going to give her a couple of helpers that we sadly lost between last time and now.  Won't you all welcome...

Melanie...

Ray Sawyer from Dr Hook...

...and the Captain!!!

Nice to see you all!

M: Thank you!

R: Groovy!

C:.....

It is going to seem kinda funny to have three of you here since we had just 9 contestants from 46 stations, but hopefully, we can have some fun with it!  With this few contestants, I'm going back to the ol "alphabetical order" list, so here you go!  Any questions?

C: .....

R:  Yeah, I was just wondering about... you know, the.. hee hee, man it's SOMETHING in here!  I think that fat guy in the sequins got me buzzed... can I say buzzed here?

Sure, Ray!

R:  Cool, so like I was... well, hang on, I think I have a ding dong in my coat pocket... here it is!

Uh, Ray, you had a question?

R: OH, YEAH!  The signs, man.. the signs... at the food area... what was that stuff... balogna casserole... what's up with that?

Oh, there just a health department requirement.

R:  Oh... freakin' narcs...

M:  May I see the list, Ray?  Thanks.  Maybe I better start us off.  I see we have Gilbert O'Sullivan with Clair, which was at #4... Elton John had Crocodile Rock at #9... and a vote from South Africa for Johnny Nash's I Can See Clearly Now which was on the charts here back in November.  Captain, why don't you do the next three...


C:...

Um, I might want to add here that Lobo was the Laurenco Marques song this week, having peaked a month ago here; Last Song was climbing at #42; and Billy and the Mrs were at #3.

M:  Ray would you like to do the last three?

R...mmmbll ... pink puppy doggies.. mmmblll...

I'm thinking Ray passed out...

M; All right, let me do them.  Johnny Rivers had the Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu at #5... Stevie Wonder had Superstition at #2... and Carly Simon was at #1 with You're So Vain.  That's it!

Thanks, Mel!  And hey, I'm sorry that Scrappy has stiffed you on the Beauty Contest so far...

M:  Don't worry.  I have a way with doggies...

R:  mmmm... li'l PINK doggies... mmmbll...

M:  ..and I'll bet NEXT year it will be a different story...

Hey waitaminit, he just picks the last four or five's winner- I'M the one that gets you there...

M:  Oh, Captain?  Don't you have something for him, to encourage him...?

C: ... 

"Hey, good looking..."

Oh, good grief... Allright, I'll do the best I can!  Meanwhile, while Nardole helps them wheel Ray out, have you made your picks?  Here's your help, both for the Panel winner and the 6D quiz!  Pick from Elton, Carly, Stevie, or Billy!  Remember, one vote for the winner, one for the song in the DS movie!  And now, let me give you the reveal on which act got the lone debut on the M10 at #10...






And I looked everywhere I could to figure out WHAT that 45 was... no luck yet, but you know me...


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

One of the problems with the  End Of Year Redundancy Transclaudication is that I STILL owe a 1972 label game, as well as a 1973!  So, first off- the 1972.  This was a stubborn year!  It took till the #60 song of the year to get one label with the minimum 4- and when I got it, it went crazy, and NINE labels ended up making the cut!  It came down to a three way battle between little noticed United Artists, barely heard-from Sussex- and the winner ...

Epic Records!  Unlike a lot of these contests, Epic got it's 34.6 average from a variety of acts:  Looking Glass and Brandy (#9 for the year), Sly Stone's Family Affair (#11), The Hollies and Long Cool Woman (#20), Argent's Hold your Head Up (#60), and Bobby Vinton's Sealed With A Kiss (#73)!

1973 was a retrun to what we usually expect, with Columbia winning the number of hits with 9, and getting clobbered on position average by someone who had a lot fewer- and one dominant act-

...Bell Records!  They got two from Tony Orlando and Dawn (Tie A Yellow Ribbon at the top, and Sweet Gypsy Rose at 17) along with backup from Vicki Lawrence's The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia (23) and Sweet's Little Willy (51).

So, ready with your pick for which Panel contestant got on the Dark Shadows movie but not the soundtrack?  Why, it was...

Sir Elton Duck with Crock Rock!

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

Stat Pack Time!

We had a three way tie on the big mover, and I have to say that two of them I really didn't know.  One of those was the 5th Dimension with Living Together, Loving Together, which leapt the 15 spots from 72 to 57.  It would have the lowest future, eventually peaking at #20.

The second was Bette Midler covering Do You Want To Dance, going from 62 to 47.  She would manage to squeeze up to #13.

But the one I knew was the biggest of the three- Lobo's Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend, which went from 47 to 32 and would end up at #4.

The #73 in '73 was one of the last, low charting hits for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, called I Can't Stand To See You Cry.  It didn't get into the top 40.

Harry Chapin took the 101 spot with Better Place To Be.  This song, though, would never find it, as it began dropping the next week.

Little Jimmy Osmond was on top in the UK with Long Haired Lover From Liverpool.  I knew a whopping 19 of their top 50, including 4 of our contestants- You're So Vain (7) Crock Rock (20), Clair (27), and Me And Mrs Jones (42).  On the Cashbox chart, I knew 37- including our guest this week, Ray Sawyer, singing lead on Cover Of The Rolling Stone, at #54 and climbing slowly.

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

The remaining M10:

The Parlor Mob hang on at #9 for a second week with 4th Of July- but they have a LOT of hands knocking at the door next week!

Sade will likely give up her spot- she dips 3 to #8 with The Big Unknown, 8 weeks on the chart.

Charles Bradley and friends jump 3 to #7 with Luv Jones.

Papa Roach makes a two notch climb to #6 with Not The Only One.

Tangerine slides up one to #5 with This Time Last Year.

And now for the "tell me if this sounds familiar" section:

The Beths at 4 with Future Me Hates Me;

Anna Burch at #3 with 2 Cool 2 Care;

The Decemberists at #2 with Travelling On;

And at the top for a second week:

...Castlecomer's She's So High!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(But don't tell Ray...)

And for your final guess, the Pannel winner and next week's President of Time Machine:

If you took Big Stevie Wonder, you got a little 6.5%...

If you took Elton for the win-win, you came up with but 15.2 %...

If you took Billy Paul and the Mrs- shame on you!  But you did get 21.7%...


But the winner, with a whopping 45.6%...

...Carly Simon and You're So Vain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And that's it for this time!  Next week, it's 1974, and I WON'T be asking Carly who the song was about!