Wednesday Bible Study: Joseph part 2- the Five Guys Method

If you didn't check out Sunday's post first, go back and do it, and come back when you are ready for more.


All set?  Here we go.  I wanted to expand on what I learned from Joseph- about making God the center of thought and life, and coming to the point of total reliance.  I remembered in Ezekiel 14 that God used as an example of righteousness Noah, Job, and Daniel.  I threw in Abraham and David- and of course Joseph, so it really is six guys, but five PLUS Joseph- and sought out what set them apart.  And I put them down in what I thought was a random order to study- but nothing's ever random with God.  And it wasn't here, either.


I started with Job.  Now, you have to say Job was God-centered- he even did sacrifices in case his kids did some sin they hadn't considered!  He was on top of being God centered.  But he wasn't God-RELIANT- when the trouble started, he began whining about how unfair his treatment was, and God wasn't giving him a chance to tell HIS side.  Of course, the only reason he thought he had a side to explain was because he was relying on three friends that told him he MUST be the one at fault.  It was only when he HUMBLED himself- realizing that he didn't know what he was talking about, and God really didn't OWE him an explanation, that everything was restored to him- including the respect of his friends.

Food for thought:  He had had 10 kids with his wife at the beginning.  Then she crapped on him, telling him, "Curse God and die."  Afterwards, he had another 10 kids when all was restored.  Now did that first wife that turned on him pump out another 10 kids- or did God get him a "newer model"?  No answer here, just a thought...


Next up is Noah.  I was running some numbers last night, and I realize this a flight of fancy, but bear with. IF Mt Ararat, where he landed, was as tall as today- like 11,800 feet- and the rain covered it to a height of 22 1/2 feet above the top, and it rained for 40 days- how much rain had to fall?  Realizing that the mountains might have been smaller, and the "fountains of the deep" contributed to the water level, but- the record for rain in 1 hour by the books is 13.8 inches.  This would work out to 13 FEET in an hour... or some such.  Please don't go by this.  But whatever it was, it was a wild ride.  It would have been turbulent.  It would have been a completely new experience- rain had never fallen before.  They were sealed in BY God.  Despite the shoddy construction on the PBS special, no light from outside is getting inside a boat sealed BY GOD.  And, consider- there was never any mention of provisioning the ark with food- now was there?  So for one year and ten days, they were eight people on a boat sailing a sea the likes of which had never been seen, with no natural light, no food, a cargo hold full of animals that MUST NOT have been using the bathroom, as they weren't neck deep in it a year later...

Not only was Noah God centered, he was God RELIANT- for everything, in a way we can't imagine.  He had the faith to RIDE IT OUT.

Next comes Daniel.  We know he was God-centered, because he refused the food that the King's men tried to feed him- and prospered.  But about reliance?  Check this part of the story on Nebuchadnezzar's dreams out, after the King says to kill any wise man who cannot tell Nebuchadnezzar his DREAM, as well as the interpretation:


Dan 2:15  He declared to Arioch, the king's captain, "Why is the decree of the king so urgent?" Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 
Dan 2:16  And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king. 
Dan 2:17  Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 
Dan 2:18  and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 

See?  He took the STEP OF FAITH that God WOULD reveal to him the dream, before even God said He would; then goes back and prays for it.

Next comes Abraham.  One of the things that I never realized before the last year or so:  When Abraham took Isaac to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him, it wasn't that he was hoping God would relent.  It was that God had promised that the line of Abraham would run through Isaac, and that even if Abraham killed him, God would somehow raise him back to life- because he had made a promise.  Abraham was so God-centered that, after all the false starts he had made in not trusting God, this time he was going to RELY ON THE PROMISE OF GOD-  No matter what.  And that made all the difference.

Then comes David-  the man after God's own heart.  You can't get more God -centered than that.  But I want to point you to one signature incident.  After his sin with Bathsheba, God told him through the prophet that the son of adultery would die.  David wore sackcloth and ashes seven days, fasting and praying for the child's life- but, in the end, he died.  And David cleaned up, shaved, and got something to eat.  Which didn't make sense to the staff:

2Sa 12:21  Then his servants said to him, "What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food." 
2Sa 12:22  He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' 
2Sa 12:23  But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." 

You see, David RELIED ON THE WILL OF GOD.   And accepted His will, for good or ill.

And that is what I learned- first that being God-centered and God-reliant are NOT the same thing.  And to get to that point of reliance, you have to do what the Five Guys did:

Humble yourself

Be willing to ride out the hard parts

Take a step of faith

Rely on God's promise to you

Trust God's will is for the best

And that is how you get to that level of reliance that gets you to do Joseph things- or, more accurately, to do God things in your own life.

Wait, what?

So last week on Time Machine, an intelligent blogger would have announced, "Since next week is Thanksgiving weekend and nobody will prolly read it Friday anyway, tune in for the next Time Machine in TWO WEEKS."  But since an intelligent blogger would have done a Roy Clark tribute on that post as well, you know we aren't talking about me.  So instead of a Friday TM, here's what you will get:

- Be here tomorrow for part two of the Joseph message;
-Be here Thanksgiving Day for Scrappy's Thanksgiving;
-Be here Friday or Saturday for an M10 update;
-and be here NEXT Friday for 1968 with the Strawberry Alarm Clock;

-But be here right NOW for a walk with Scrappy!

A bit nipply for this walk, IMHO...

...but not for Scrappy and his neverending obsession with water.

Right about here, he falls off the blacktop, scaring a nearby muskrat.  "Scritch! Splash!"

"Screw it, I'm getting up here.  I'll be safe from everything but tripping over my own feet."

Suddenly, a spur-of-the-moment trip down to the landing, where he STILL can't find safe egress to the river, lol!

Every time we come down here, we have to find a new way due to falling branches...

Some dude must be nighttime hunting in the lower parts along the river.  Had a sleeping bag in there and everything!  STILL not interested.

Coming home the back way to avoid the wind.

Actually a pretty view in the brief moment the sun was out...

...IF you didn't fall into one of the many mole ruts.  I guess you could say we were on the proverbial mole hill!

Martin World News- who's dumber edition

Rarely have I seen a news site's front page so littered with head-shaking stupidity as today's Fox News.  And it really didn't even require political help!  let me show you what I mean...


CASE # 1- A touch of the hypochondriac idiot






This is actress Joey King.  Rather, this is her before she had to shave her hair for a part.  Then she takes a plane trip, and...


"Y’all I’m on a plane & this man next to me literally turned to me with his phone in my face & took a photo of me as if I wouldn’t notice & texted his wife ..."

Oh, so the guy is excited to be next to a celebrity, right?  Not quite.  Read this from the follow-up tweet Joey posted...


"I read his text over his shoulder it said “some bald chick next to me with Fckn cancer coughed and I don’t wanna catch it”.....um ya jokin?"

Uh, dude?  If common sense doesn't function in your locale, read this from the American Cancer Society"

"Cancer is NOT contagious. A healthy person cannot “catch” cancer from someone who has it. There is no evidence that close contact or things like sex, kissing, touching, sharing meals, or breathing the same air can spread cancer from one person to another."


See, you have nothing to worry about with cancer.  With your IQ, though, the part about sex, kissing, touching, etc., might be a bit dicey, too.  Better hang onto that wife...


Case #2- Um, isn't the job of marketing to get NEW business?

Victoria Secret's CMO, Ed Razek, apparently had a bit of a rough interview the other day with Vogue magazine.  Among other things, he claimed that nobody wants to look at "curvier" models, no one wants to hire curvier models, and nobody wants to watch a transsexual fashion show.  Now, I am not a fashion expert, but my preferred models don't look like Al Penwasser's roomates...

...nevertheless, he's free to opine however he chooses... but he MIGHT want to consider the opening he gave rival ThirdLove's CEO Heidi Zak to make him look bad... and how she MIGHT want to take out a full-page ad in the NYTimes to do it...


"I was appalled when I saw the demeaning comments about women your Chief Marketing Officer, Ed Razek, made to Vogue last week. As hard as it is to believe, he said the following: “We attempted to do a television special for plus-sizes [in 2000]. No one had any interest in it, still don’t.” “It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy.”

" How in 2018 can the CMO of any public company — let alone one that claims to be for women — make such shocking, derogatory statements?

You market to men and sell a male fantasy to women. But at ThirdLove, we think beyond, as you said, a “42-minute entertainment special.” Your show may be a “fantasy” but we live in reality. Our reality is that women wear bras in real life as they go to work, breastfeed their children, play sports, care for ailing parents, and serve their country. 
Haven’t we moved beyond outdated ideas of femininity and gender roles? It’s time to stop telling women what makes them sexy — let us decide. "

You have to admire one thing about ThirdLove- at least they are smart enough to look outside their window to see what their customers are really like, and smart enough to put a woman in charge of selling women's clothes.


CASE #3- No, not THAT kinda bomb...

Meet Arthur Posey.  Arthur came to Willie's Chicken Shack in NOLA and got into an argument with staff there.  It got "heated", and apparently the angrier he gets, the dumber he gets...


According to the warrant, the restaurant’s manager said that a man later identified as Posey went into the restaurant and approached the food preparation area, then asked her what time the restaurant closed. She told the man she did not know when the restaurant closed, the manager told police. The manager stated the man, who wore a green hat, blue jacket and carried a white bag, then replied, “Y’all about to close right now because I’m going to get a bomb and blow this place up.”


However, when N'awlins Finest caught up to him a short time later...

Shortly after police were made aware of the bomb threat at the Canal Street restaurant, an officer confronted Posey inside a business in the next block, where the officer saw Posey enter.

Posey claimed to the officer he told a male employee he was going to “’blow the bathroom up,’ in reference to a bowel movement,” the warrant states. 

Obviously once he calms down, his "Bruce Banner" persona has a cuppa and figures out "best excuses out of this mess."  Me, I'm not seeing this on the "best excuses" list personally, but perhaps the restaurant across the street was Taco Bell.


CASE # 4- UK's NHS will have to work hard to top this one...


Have an upcoming surgery at the University of Colorado Hospital?  Better think twice...


A 73-year-old Colorado woman undergoes four hours of dialysis three days a week after she claims doctors erroneously removed both of her healthy kidneys six months ago. Linda Woolley, who is now on a transplant waiting list, claims doctors at the University of Colorado Hospital thought she had kidney cancer.

According to a FOX 31 investigation, a March 2018 biopsy report allegedly showed “no evidence of malignancy,” but two months later both of Woolley’s organs were removed.

Not only did the TV station's investigation find that there was no evidence of cancer 2 months before the operation, but also found no signs there was ever any cancer in a follow-up biopsy!  But did the U of C admit and apologize?  Well...

The hospital hasn't offered Linda an  apology or the Problem Solvers an explanation. Instead it won't even acknowledge Linda was a patient despite her willingness to sign a patient privacy release form.

In other words, they are playing full-court CYA in anticipation of the YUUUUGE settlement they'll be paying out here in a couple of years.  Perhaps the State of Colorado should have restricted the legalization of marijuana to locales OUTSIDE the U of CH.


CASE # 5- Proof that any political persuasion can have stupid people.

This time our idiot is Washington State football coach Mike Leach, who would be considered a genius if you put a fence around the football field and kept him inside.  This time, the pirate who has a wooden leg because he can't keep a foot out of his mouth somehow forgot that among his other duties, a Power Five conference coach is expected to be a positive with potential donors...

Washington State football coach Mike Leach’s tweet of a fake video of former President Barack Obama cost the school more than $1 million in donations, a school official said last week.

Donors altered future estate gifts after Leach tweeted and then defended the fake video in June, university President Kirk Schulz said. A school spokesperson later confirmed that number was around $1.6 million, the Seattle Times reported.

The edited video featured a doctored track that made Obama appear to make statements he didn’t actually make in a 2014 speech.


Leach deleted the original tweet after being blasted online. He then tweeted out the complete text of Obama’s speech the following day.

Mike, let me clue you into two things you forgot.  1- The donor thing.  2- You coach in the Pacific Northwest, home of the $15 an hour minimum wage.  MIGHT just want to keep your political leanings (and your lack of tact) to yourself.


CASE #6- Bill being Bill

Laurie's number one favorite human being, Bill Maher, had a few choice things to say when Comics legend Stan Lee passed away last week.

“The guy who created Spider-Man and the Hulk has died, and America is in mourning. Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess,” he wrote. “Someone on Reddit posted, “I'm so incredibly grateful I lived in a world that included Stan Lee.” Personally, I’m grateful I lived in a world that included oxygen and trees, but to each his own.”

Maher went on to chide comic book fans noting that, when he was young, it was understood that they were just for children and that people were supposed to grow up and move on to “big-boy books without the pictures.”

“But then twenty years or so ago, something happened – adults decided they didn’t have to give up kid stuff. And so they pretended comic books were actually sophisticated literature. And because America has over 4,500 colleges – which means we need more professors than we have smart people – some dumb people got to be professors by writing theses with titles like Otherness and Heterodoxy in the Silver Surfer,” Maher wrote. “And now when adults are forced to do grown-up things like buy auto insurance, they call it 'adulting,' and act like it’s some giant struggle.”

“I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest that Donald Trump could only get elected in a country that thinks comic books are important.”


Unfortunately for the ultra-liberal Maher, he stepped on a few toes on his way to his cheap Trump joke that normally would have been on his side for the most part- the Comic creators themselves...

“Bill Maher dismissed an entire storytelling medium? Wow. He's so highbrow. His brow is so high, there's probably less room for a mind,” wrote Tom Taylor, bestselling writer of “Injustice: Gods Among Us” and “X-Men: Red.”


Newsflash: Bill Maher is still a dipshit.- Spider-Gwen creator Jason LaTour.

“I never speak on topics I know little or nothing about. Why? I never want to be the fool. In other words, I don’t wanna make a Bill Maher out of myself,” wrote Greg Capullo, an illustrator who has worked on “Batman,” “Spawn,” “X-Force” and more.


And thus, Maher becomes a historical footnote as the 3,123,787th word that can be interchangeably used for Ass.  Well, maybe not that high...

"Well, of course it isn't that high.  Laurie has been using the terms interchangeably for years..."

Sunday message: Joseph part one- Center and reliance

A few weeks back, several of the pastors I listened to entered series about Joseph.  And as I began listening, I felt challenged:  "Name 25 lessons you can draw from Joseph".  Now, God knows me pretty well.  It wasn't a matter of me actually getting 25 things on a list (though I DID come close), but to encourage me to pay attention and garner from his story the lessons I REALLY needed.  Here is where I start to tell the story.


After all the weeks and all the sermons and all the prayer and digging, I think I can boil it down to two things.

1- He kept his CENTER of attention on God.

2- He had to get to a point of COMPLETE reliance on God before God could use him as He wanted.

For those who like to keep it simple, you might want to jump off here, because I'm about to go digging.  For the spiritual spelunkers here, follow along.


Joseph was raised in a family of, let's be honest, reprobates.  Judah got his daughter-in-law pregnant.  Reuben slept with his stepmom.  Levi and Simeon lied and murdered their way to revenge.  Not to mention whatever it was that caused Joseph as a teen to give a "bad report" to his father Jacob about them...

Gen 37:2  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 


(And we won't go into what some of the Jewish writers said it was, other than "not kosher"...)

But Joseph, who was a "retirement child" for Jacob, got the teaching of God from his father, and took it to heart- REALLY took it to heart.  Even when his brothers threw him into a pit, ate their lunch laughing, and sold him to slavers, and he had "every reason" to abandon God (as they had), he did not.  Thus it was, when Potiphar's wife offered him a little more of the "delights of Egypt" than she should of, he was still God-centered...


Gen 39:7  And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me." 
Gen 39:8  But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 
Gen 39:9  He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" 

So there is his God-centeredness.  But now, think of all the distresses he went through.  In the pit, he counted on his brothers to release him- they did not.  He perhaps counted on Jacob to save him from the Egyptians- he did not, because he thought Joseph was dead ( another nice mark on the brothers' resume).  He thought Potiphar would believe him about the incident with his wife, because he trusted him with everything else- he did not.  And then, when he thought he might be saved from prison by the word of the cupbearer he befriended...

Gen 40:14  Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house....

Gen 40:23  Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. 

And for 2 years, he waited- on top of the time already served for the crime he didn't commit.  How many of us would be saying at this point, "But I would've, had I known..."

Not Joseph.  And when it became apparent that only God would ever get him out of the mess, he stayed God-centered.  And God got him out.

End of story?  Close, but not quite.  Because I wanted to see how the example applied- I wanted to see a bit further.  And in doing so, I discovered that there is a wonderful process here in applying this to my life- and in Part two- which will be a special Wednesday Bible Study - I will show you the Five Guys method to applying this.

Time Machine co-ordinates VILXXI513111667

Here we are in November 16th, 1967- and back to the plane crashes...

Not this plane (because basically there was nothing left of the one in question by the time of its notoriety), but a similar one serving as Aeroflot flight 2230 from Yekaterinburg to Tashkent crashed today.  Investigation showed that first, the plane had one engine catch fire, the prop wouldn't feather (move out of the way of the airflow) which made it bank and go up- and then the artificial horizon failed, and the pilots aimed it right into a plowed field.  107 people died in this one.

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But happier times are on the horizon, as here comes Time Machine! the Beach Boys in town, another big list, another new debut, a Panelist you may know if you are from around here, and details on the Beauty Contest and another quick approaching anniversary!  Strap in, no need for flight insurance!

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So first off, I cheated a little bit this week and went to the much easier to manipulate Cashbox year-end chart for our Label contest, and while Atlantic bagged the most hits with 8, there was no contest as to our position winner:

Yes, Capitol for a third straight week!  This time they got there on two Beatles hits (All You Need Is Love at 43 and Penny Lane at 45), plus Bobbie Gentry's Ode To Billie Joe at 4 and Aretha Franklin and Respect at 11.  As far as overall hits, Capitol is up at 56 so far, followed by Columbia at 48, RCA (who got shut out this week) at 45, MGM at 44, and Mercury well back at 30.


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This week, Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys joins us!  How are ya, Carl?

Groovy!  So, like, Dennis came last time, right?

Yes, and he was stoned, and got the munchies and left.  Didn't really do much of the show...

Yeah, he's kinda like that.  So how come me?

Well, you did sing Good Vibrations, which was the winner last week... and, well, Brian...

Yeah, gotcha.  So like, let's do this!

Okay, this week we have 32 contestants from 89 stations...

Wow, man, that's a lot.  Can I like, go get a soda and come back for the big finish?

Sigh.  Really?  All right, but could you please manage to make it back in time?

Will do, buddy.  See you in a couple...

I have a bad feeling about this... anyway, here's the one-vote wonders:

A studio outfit called Le Cirque- and virtually all I know about them is that Leon Russel was PROBABLY in on the recording- with a song called Land Of Oz, a no-charter.

Next up is actually our #67 in '67- a band called the Sunshine Company out of LA, who would eventually crack the top 40 with Back On The Street Again.  They were supposed to release as their first single Up Up And Away- but the Fifth Dimension beat them to it.

Vicki Carr was at #5 with It Must Be Him.

Cher was at #59 with You Better Sit Down  Kids.  You too, Sonny!

Another offbeat band called the Last Word peaked last month at #81 with Can't Stop Loving You.

George Hamilton IV (not the tan guy) peaked at #6 Country with HIS version of a song called Break My Mind.  Also getting a vote was another version by singer/writer Bobby Wood, a session man best known for writing Talking In Your Sleep and Half The Way for Crystal Gayle.

Next one I'm going to throw in because I KNOW I know this song, and this version somehow- but it never charted, and the hit version never cracked the top 50- but it got a vote and I love it!  This is the lead singer from Music Explosion, Jamie Lyons, with...





Another non-charter this week was producer Bobby Patterson and the Mustangs with Let Them Talk.

Small Faces were just starting at #95 with Itchykoo Park.

Robert Knight with a song I always swore was Stevie Wonder, Everlasting Love, at #15.

Guess what? Our big mover of the week gets a vote too!  The Fantastic Johnny C with Boogaloo Down Broadway, another song I haven't heard in so long I forgot I knew it, was at 39, leaping 29 spots from #68.

Procol Harum's Homburg was at #37.

Human Beinz with Nobody But Me was at #97.

Crap! Al Martino is back, p.o.ed because we couldn't find his song last week, with More Than The Eye Can See, a #54 peak in October.

The Soul Survivors get a vote for Expressway To Your Heart at #7.

The Temptations are at#16 with It's You That I Need. 

AND Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys round out the OVWs with Different Drum at #91.


In the also receiving votes category, we have:

With 5 votes apiece, Engelbert Humerdinck with The Last Waltz at #21, and Bobby Vinton's Please Love Me Forever at 8.

With 4 votes, Dionne Warwick with I say A Little Prayer at #23.

3 votes go to the Who's I Can See For Miles (17), The Bee Gees with their new debut Massachusetts (64), Gladys Knight and Der Pipsters with I Heard It Through The Grapevine (45).

And getting 2 votes were the Association with Never My Love (20), Michigan garage act the Soulbenders with Hey Joe (DNC), and Sam and Dave's Soul Man (the #1, for crying out loud).

Nardole, any sign of  Carl?

Ummm... not yet...

Okay, well we'll give him a little time and come back to our big four contestants.


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Next up, because it's the time of year I finally start compiling the Beauty Contest list, I also decided, let me go back even further and see just how many POTM elections we have had.  Are you ready for this?  We are at election #94!  Which means that right in the middle of our holiday hijinks, we'll be hitting the 100th POTM!  94 elections, 93 different songs (the Monkees won twice with I'm A Believer), and 77 acts have been awarded the Laurels.  That means, of course, we've had several multiple winners:

Our current winner the Beach Boys, along with Johnny Horton, the Fleetwoods, Elton John, the aforementioned Monkees, Bobby Vinton, and the Bee Gees have all won twice...

The Rolling Stones, the Everly Brothers, and Elvis have won three times...

And, not surprisingly, the Beatles have bagged FIVE POTMs...

Y'know, that Jagger guy was right last week about the Beatles...

And as I followed up, I found that, without this week, we have so far 79 beauty contestants, from Ma Rainey to MY mom, from Pia Zadora to Peg Bundy!  And we might just have another one THIS week yet!  Stay tuned!

Nardole...

No...

Sigh.

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Because of Frankie Valli's solo contract, there were a handful of Four Seasons songs on which the Four Seasons were not credited.  One of them was one of my faves, The Proud One, which was credited to Frankie alone- and peaked at #68 for him.  Or them.  At the other extreme of our 6D this week, we have a song that was credited to a group- when it was the lead singer recording solo!  And at the far end of the whole thing, we have two people on a song that was actually credited as two people!  Here's how we get there...

The Proud One was covered by the Osmonds, and it was their last top 40.  Earlier, they did a song called Love Me For A Reason, and when it peaked at #10, it was their last time in the top ten.  It was co-written by one Johnny Bristol, who was best known for his Barry White-ish sing Hang On In There Baby, which made it to #8.  He was also the writer of Someday We'll Be Together, the last #1 of the 60's, and the last credited to Diana Ross and the Supremes.  The Supremes, as was often the case, were actually nowhere near the studio when this song was recorded, though.

Johnny B had actually recorded that song first- as Johnny and Jackey with duet partner Jackey Beavers- but it didn't chart and he got involved in the writing and production end of things.  One song he produced, along with partner Harvey Fuqua- was our 6D victim- Marvin and Tammy with Your Precious Love, at #6 without Panel Love...

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All right, let me get to the M10 debut of the...

Hey, man, I'm back!  I better make it quick, though- I think that Balogna Casserole was rancid or something...

Oh, jeez, here, read fast...

Okay!  You get to pick from The Cowsills and The Rain The Park and Other Things at #4- Strawberry Alarm Clock and Incense and Peppermints at #2- The Monkees and Daydream Believer debuting at #56- and (uuurp) Lulu and To Sir With... where's the bathroom?

Nardole!!!

Come along, Mr Wilson, step lively...


As he was saying, the fourth contestant is Lulu's To Sir With Love at #3.  And now, our debut at #10, from the lovely ladies of Lucius...







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Let's kick off our stat pack with a real oddity- Ft Wayne's own WOWO was a Panelist this week!  Here is WOWO's top ten:

10- The Last Waltz
9- Just Loving You, Anita Harris
8- Peaches and Herb, Love Is Strange
7- Elvis, Big Boss Man...

6- The Doors, People Are Strange
5- Spanky and Our Gang, Lazy Day
4- Neil Diamond, Kentucky Woman
3- The Rain The Park And Other Things
2- To Sir With Love

And FTW's #1...

...Bobby Vinton's Please Love Me Forever!!!

In other statsy stuff, the UK top fifty included Panelists The Last Waltz (5), I Can See For Miles (10), Daydream Believer (42), Soul Man (25), Massachusetts (2), and Homburg (14).  And their #1 was the Foundations with Baby Now That I Found You.  I knew 17 on their list, and 42 on ours (go ME!)  And thanks to so many of our stat categories being IN the Panel Picks, all I have left is the #101 was Tony Bennett covering For Once In My Life.


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The M10 remainders:

A lot of "moving up one notch" this week, including Elvis Costello's Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter (9), The Derev's Research Cognitivity (8), Bad Wolves' Remember When (5), Alkonost's Paporotnik (4), and Blackberry Smoke's You Got Lucky (3).

Moving down were seven weeker Frankie Cosmos and Apathy (3 to 6), and last week's top dog, ELO's Surrender (to #2).

One song stayed in place- Anna Burch's 9-week charter What I Want (7).

Which means we have a new #1- and a new BC contestant-

...Roseanne Cash with Not Many Miles To Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And the Panel win... yes, Nardole?

Sir, a Mister Love is wondering, "Just what the hell you did to my cousin?"

Tell Elvis to handle it.  He makes that crap.  Don't know why these idiots keep eating it...

I believe he pays them five quid a plate...

Wow, less than $7 American to go through hell.  Any way...

If you took the Monkees, you got 7.8% of the vote...

If you took Lulu, you got just shy of 9%...

The Cowsills netted you 11.2%...

And the winner, with 15.7%...

...the Strawberry Alarm Clock with Incense and Peppermints!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be here next... yes, Nardole?

I thought I should inform you that Ms Cash was already a contestant...

Drat.  Oh well, maybe we'll hit #80 next week in 1968!

Wednesday Bible Study- lesson and application

So, last week we came upon a verse- or verse-set- that lead to a study more of the Old Testament than of the new.  This week, in Galatians, we have much the same sort of thing- and that will lead to my main point later on.

For now, we look at the verses at hand.  This is, if you know your Bible, what I call the "Oh, foolish Galatians!" chapter, as that is how Paul begins it.  Their foolishness is that Judaizers have come into their midst and made them start to live by the Law instead of faith.  Paul points out to them the two problems with that:

1- Anyone who lives by the Law is bound to keep the WHOLE LAW.  99% does not give you a passing grade.

2- They were NOT saved by the Law- they were saved by Faith.


The main problem here, and one that Paul will preach on often- without faith, the Law is a wedge that Satan uses to tell you you've lost the fight.  Satan uses the sin you know- the one that fells you often- blows it out of proportion (remember the "elephant in the room" Sunday Message?), and makes you lose out on your ministry.  If I may, let me go to the chapter in Proverbs I read just before composing this:

Pro 24:16  for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. 

Even in the Old Testament, the righteous knew to live by faith.  But what then about the Law?  Here is were we come to our verses- and I want to thank Laurie for pointing out a great Dennis Miller sermon which pointed me in the right direction:

Gal 3:15  To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 

Gal 3:16  Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. 

Gal 3:17  This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 

Now, how does Paul mean this?  The Law came 430 years after the Promise to Abraham, which was the covenant made by God with Abraham in Genesis 15.  It was a covenant made just as the custom was for men to make with each other in that day- EXCEPT that when it came time to pass between the offerings together, God put Abraham into a trance, and walked ALONE through them- indicating that no matter how men followed the covenant, God would be faithful and carry it out.  After establishing this, Paul reminds them that the culmination of the covenant was Christ, who establishes the new covenant based on the old.

And the Law?  It came later, to help Moses lead a group, some of whom would believe and some would not.  Because it was not based on faith but authority, it needed rules and regulations.  For those of faith, they would come natural.  For the rest, it needed spelled out.

Now, you have the fledgling Christians in Galatea, having been saved by faith, being told there are rules to this thing.  Rules that the Patriarchs never lived under, rules that the kings never lived by, and rules that the "scholars" had morphed into something never intended, despite being warned by every prophet worth his salt.  But they were not saved BY the rules- they were saved by the PROMISE.

Now, I want to make an observation given me by God that is waaay pertinent here.  A few months back, I discovered the "controversy" swirling around about the teachings of Andy Stanley, the son of Dr Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries.  The controversy seems to stem from Stanley the Younger's teaching that if we want to gather today's lost, today's millenials, into the Church, we must "unhitch from the Old Testament."  Too many rules, too much archaic customs, too many differences between the actions of the old and new covenants- that was my sense of his point.

I will admit to not following his sermons and looking into his point.  So what I am about to say is based just on his pull quotes, and in particular the one above about unhitching, on its surface.

THAT is one of the dumber things ever said from a pulpit.

It came to me this week that both last week's verse and this week's show us that the Bible is just like a sermon.  The OT is the LESSON; the NT is the APPLICATION.  You can't teach application without lesson; the listener, without a reasoning before hand, will respond to the application with, "Why should I?"  IT REDUCES THE APPLICATION TO A SET OF RULES.

Is Andy Stanley a modern Judaizer?  I don't know, but application without lesson is what gave us the Pharisees.  That is why I have enjoyed this so much- we are finding the lesson to the application.  And this week, the application is this:

Yes, I stumble, yes I fall.  And if all I have is Law, that is enough to defeat me.  But we have faith, we have The Promise.  And so, we can rise again.

Tuesday odds and ends

Here we sit tonight, playing the M10 suffle and parying for a world that seemed so well described when I just read Psalm 120:

Psa 120:1  A Song of Ascents. In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. 
Psa 120:2  Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. 
Psa 120:3  What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? 
Psa 120:4  A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree! 
Psa 120:5  Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! 
Psa 120:6  Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. 
Psa 120:7  I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war! 

I can release it all to Him as I am cooled by Blackberry Smoke singing You Got Lucky, or picked up by the Derevs doing Research Cognitivity.  But I threaten to turn this into a Tuesday message, so let me just finish with, "God is good, all the time..."


So anyway, I haven't done much Martin World News-wise lately, and frankly, there hasn't been much MWN-worthy news out there lately.  I did just find a list of the "states whose winter sucks the worst."  For my Australian friends, here is what a "sucky winter" means here:

Anyway, here are the top ten suckiest winter states:

10- Massachusetts

9- Montana

8- Idaho

7- Wisconsin

6- South Dakota

5- Maine

4- North Dakota

3- Alaska.  Yes, Alaska.  They'd prolly be higher, but you have to expect sucky winters that far north.

2- Michigan.  Say YES! to Michigan!

And of course, 1- Minnesota.  KC tells me the story of going to his first Vikings game and walking the "short 10 blocks" from the hotel to the stadium- in 20 below temps.  And you wonder why I am a Miami Dolphins fan?  Makes me wonder what all the attraction is for the large and unruly Somali community up there.

Oh, BTW- Indiana made #16, better off than New Hampshire, Ohio, Illinois, Wyoming, and Iowa, but not as well off as Pennsylvania (#23).


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I haven't bitc- er, complained about work much lately.  It might not be much better, but it IS improving, with prayer and patience.  Except for we have a nagging problem of our "corporate scheduler" who can't seem to keep straight which jobs she released when.  I did want to let you know that the race is on- the replacement for the Haney WILL arrive first quarter 2019!  My prediction is, it better make it early in the quarter, because I've doubts that this machine will make it TO 2019.  My own machine gets the golden toe second quarter as well.

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Ah, the new #1 is playing.  Sorry, wait till Friday.  Tempo, baby.