Wednesday Bible Study: Paul's schoolhouse

Once again this week we return to the ever-dwindling 3:16's, this time in 2 Timothy- and I thought this was a fairly simple verse- and it is- but was amazed by the richness in it.  You may know it- and the following verse with which it goes- fairly well:

2Ti 3:16  All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 
2Ti 3:17  that the man of God may be perfected, thoroughly furnished to every good work. (MKJV)


This is the passage, of course that tells us that Scripture, as Peter says, doesn't come from man but God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).  Easy stuff.  I just want to parse out what all the words meant to Paul as he wrote to his young pastor friend.

First, "God-breathed" or inspired by God.  This was a combination of 2 words, the first obviously being God.  The second though, translated "breathed", I think we get the impression of somebody blowing a gentle secret into the ear- and that would be a mistranslation.  The word used actually is the one for hard breathing, or even a breeze.    God isn't just gently in Scripture- he blows HARD into it, affecting every word, every nuance, every page.

Next up, doctrine.  This is basically, learning from the Master.  It's like your "Doctor of Theology degree", without going to seminary!

Then, reproof.  Sometimes I think we look at this word as "chew out", but it is not what Paul was going for.  Instead, it means to bring forth evidence that convicts you and convinces you- with the thought that you were somewhat going astray previously.

Uh-oh, here comes correction- that word we don't want to hear.  But listen to what it means!  It also comes from two words.  The first means "a superimposition", and the second is another compound word that means "straighten up".  I guess in today's lingo, it means "to straighten up and fly right"!  It imposes a straightening of your ways; if you believe as you read, you will obey, learn, and act differently.

Then comes "instruction in righteousness".  The word for instruction is the key here- it is the word used for "train up a child."  Thus, we see Paul is reminding Timothy that Scripture is a child's primer as well as a doctoral thesis- as you grow, it grows with you.

Finally, perfected and thoroughly furnished.  The words used for both bring in the concept of completeness.  It gives you all you need to do good works.

So perhaps one way to say this all is that Scripture is God forcing in everything you need:  Straightening you up, taking you through every lesson from cradle to grave, giving you all the evidence you need, and making your walk straight so you can do your best.  See? Simple.

MWN: What is and isn't news edition

So I was leafing through the FoxNews site, being reminded that there IS no good NEWS station/site/paper anymore, looking for something relatively funny to make a post out of.  Because, that's kinda my thing.  But what I really found was a plethora of non-stories and societal garbage, and I thought as a service to those out there that think just because conservatives disagree with them, we are "brainwashed" into FN Zombies, I'd do a little primer for ALL persuasions as to what belongs on a front page and what does not.  So let's go down the main headlines and play,"Chris's in or out"!

Banner:  Trump to deliver prime time address from Oval Office, visit border amid shutdown standoff

Well, this is actually something that belongs on a news site.  Of course, the rub is, several networks are mum on whether they will run it or not (Fox having declared for airing it), since A) they are so butthurt over "fake news" allegations, B) it doesn't fit their agenda, and/or C) they just don't like Trump.  So, don't air it.  You'll all end up watching it on Fox anyway, so you can bash him in analysis later, hypocrites that you are.  Plus, it makes you look pretty stupid, cutting off your nose to spite your face out of pique.  My only question is, why weren't you doing this back when I was a kid trying to watch All In The Family or Heidi or somesuch?


Lead Op/Ed:  JAY SEKULOW: This should happen to doc who wanted to sicken Jews

Frankly, the STORY should have made the headlines and not the op/ed.  This Muslim chick who got her medical training at a Jewish university, celebrated her hiring at the Cleveland Med Center by social media-ing that she hated Jews and was going to sabotage their meds.  What did happen: She got fired.  No word from the AMA on lifting her credentials, not word from the Feds on her obvious hate crime and terroristic threats.  The fact that Sekulow had to run an op/ed on the things that SHOULD happen to her tells you everything you need to know about how stupid our leftist, PC society has become.

Next line: Democrat stands by 'hate crime' remarks despite arrests in young girl's murder

This is good news with a misleading title.  Story in a nutshell: 7-year old black girl gets shot in her mom's car and killed.  Witnesses looked around, saw a bearded white guy (who was obviously in the wrong area with shots being fired) running off, pegged him as the shooter.  Everyone called it a white on black hate crime.  Thing is, a tip led to the arrest of a pair of black men, who shot at the wrong car in a case of mistaken identity.  Before the arrest, everyone was blowing off about "hate crime", "racism", and "gun control"- including Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee- a woman which I don't have to explain to conservatives, and liberals won't listen about.  Normally.

But if you READ the story, she was confronted by reporters after the real perps were busted, and the following exchange occurred:

The reporter on Sunday asked Lee: “Do you feel it was irresponsible at all to suggest that this was a hate crime when we didn’t have all the facts?”

Her response: “Absolutely not, nothing is irresponsible when it comes to the loss of a precious 7 or 8-year old."

She added: “The good thing was that in the comments that were made, there was no hysteria, there was no encouraging individuals to go out and find that person. It was nothing but orderly respect for the rule of law allowing our law enforcement to be able to do their tasks. And then now to call for an understanding that any violence against a child should not be the norm and that we should stand up against all violence.”

Now you can say that that was pre-prepared, or was the eloquent version of "dribbling down her leg."  But the truth is, she's right.  And THAT is the headline Fox should have went with.


Line three: Survivalist arrested in deadly shooting of scientist camping with daughters

Yes, news.  Good on the local cops that got the dirtbag.  But survivalist?  He was a homeless nutbag who decided to be human trash in a national park instead of the inner city, and had a rep as a burglar (some survival "skill") and a random shooter of vehicle.  Story is correct, another headline just false.

Next to it:  Satan's Pal? Cheney's daughter takes down Bale after actor slammed former VP at Globes

Let me be perfectly clear.  What Hollywood people think is not news.  The Golden Globes belong way down in the entertainment section.  And "Batman" might think it cute to thank Satan for his award now... probably not so much when the bill comes due.


Downstream headers #1: Judge in Russia probe case rebukes attorney who quoted ‘Animal House’

At the end of Animal House, you might recall John Belushi grabbing the girl that found him disgusting as he swung past on a rope, then the picture freezing so they could give us the graphic on their future: Senator and Mrs. John Blutarski.  It was outrageously funny back then... but it seems some people took it more serious than they should have:


(United States District Court Judge Dabney L.) Friedrich told (Eric) Dubelier, a former assistant U.S. attorney, she had read his latest filing and "you have made many inappropriate remarks." She told him to "knock it off.”

In a filing last week, Dubelier referenced “Animal House” and said, “The Special Counsel’s argument is reminiscent of Otter’s famous line, ‘Flounder, you can’t spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You f---ed up . . . you trusted us. Hey, make the best of it.’”


This, like many of these stories, falls into the category of "news that should never have had to be."  Let us bloggers do the comedy, Eric.

#2 Who manufactured conservative 'anger' over Ocasio-Cortez dance video?

BIG BOLD LETTER NON-STORY.  The story you should be reading is, "While her people encourage the Conservatives to make sport of her, AOC slowly puts her plan for leftist subversion into action."  This chick isn't as dumb as the jokes make her out to be, people.  What she is is dangerous.  And she was cute without being tacky in the video.  Let's see Nancy or Maxine pull that off!

#3 Heartbreak as cover girl found dead in apartment

All the sympathy in the world for Annalise Braakensiek and her loved ones.  But if you go to the newspage, you see above the headline the label "entertainment".  Again, entertainment doesn't belong on the front page unless it involves a #MeToo actor getting formally charged and being jailed.

#4 Discovered debris 'most likely' from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, report says

Okay, guys, this plane crashed almost five years ago.  It has been thoroughly played out.  This could have been a "other stories you might like" entry.  Only half-credit on this one.

#5 Police suicides rise as union blames vilification in the news

This should be a big red-letter headline.  Especially with Chicago and New York City headlining the list with 5 each this year.  But the mainstream media with their infatuation with that idiot Colin Kapernick and BLM are causing this- you go to work and everyone's against you; come home, turn on the news, everyone else is against you.  Not only is this a shameful misuse of media power, but it is blood on their hands.

#6 GRAPHIC WARNING: NFL playoffs fight in stands caught on video

Again, what's the little label above the headline? "Sports".  Put it on the freaking sports page.

#7 Teacher tried to traffic underage relative for sex to men in Morocco, cops say

Teacher sex is to the point it should almost have its own section.  Now it crosses over into sex trafficking.  Hopefully eventually this one will cross into "lethal injection" as well.

Rather than further make a bold-headline fool of FoxNews on this post, let's just put the remaining headlines into categories:  1- Put it in the frickin' entertainment section:  "Ex-WWE star facing backlash for this awful, disgusting act" (put a tampon down opponent's throat); "Country singer reveals tragic news about her sister" (yep, we all have a story)
2- other non-news categories:  "WILD VIDEO: 15-foot gator goes viral after woman’s close encounter" (Nothing with the word 'viral' should be on the news page unless 'thousands die from' is also present); "Electric Harley-Davidson LiveWire priced at $29,799" (How is this not got 'advertisement' attached to it?); "Mark Cuban urges Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to avoid this 'bad habit' " (I kinda think this should be under entertainment too; but since the habit is 'speaking in partisan terms', maybe the fiction section might be better equipped); "Mercedes Schlapp: Democrats can try to impeach Trump, 'but they will lose' " ( a good candidate for both the, 'the horse is dead' and 'who the hell is...' sections).
3- Perhaps actually news:  four more headlines that solidly land on the news side, and "Lawmakers can now wear religious headwear after House Democrats change rules", which I kinda question, but am waiting for the follow-up when California elects their first Congressperson from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and Congress has to seat someone wearing this:

So if I counted up right, out of 22 headlines, I called 8 of them actual news, with 2 more getting half-credit; 2 more that "are news but shouldn't be"; 1 "yes, but a flat-out lie for a headline"; and 9 "no way, Jose" stories.  Maybe another day, I'll try this over at CNN, too...

Sunday Message: the season and the lesson

Today  I have a simple lesson that took me a long time to learn, told without Bible verse or the story I learned it from, so as to not cloud the point.


Have you ever been through a bad time in life, only to have the realization that God is trying to teach you something in it?  Then, you think you have the lesson- but the bad season rolls on?  You begin to question whether you got the right lesson at all.  You work and try and pray, and you are sure God has taught you the lesson... but the season still goes on.

At this point, I will add something that Charles Swindoll said this week to prepare me for my "bad season".  If you know your Moses, you know they came to a point where the Israelites were complaining about no water for like the millionth time.  God told Moses to speak to the rock.  Moses cracked the rock with his stick and shouted at the people.  That led to bad consequences for Moses, but that is another story.

Swindoll said, "I think Moses was disappointed with God. (and that's why he shouted and hit the rock)"  And I think Moses was going through just such a thing- and so did I.  And here's what we both eventually learned.

Yes, God will teach lessons through a bad season.  BUT...  I think we, and I know I, looked at the pair as a joined-at-the-hip, two headed monster; and when the lesson was learned, the bad season should end- because why should the same thing happen over and over if I GOT IT already?

Moses cracked the rock and shouted at the people.  I told God, "Just give me an "F" and move on!"  Which told God that each of us had another lesson to learn.

See, first you have that bad season.  It happens to all of us.  If I was an atheist, likely the same bad season would have occurred.  The bad season is independent of anything spiritual, it is a condition, a circumstance of the physical world.  And unless God's will decides to intervene, it will play out as it plays out.

The "lesson" is not just a short term epiphany- it is growth from the time you decide to seek God until you meet Him in heaven.  God has individual facets of the "lesson" but the lesson rolls on and on.

And every now and then, the two intersect- and while touching, God uses the one to bring clarity to the other.  The longer the bad season goes on, the longer it is touched by the "lesson", and the more opportunity you have to learn it.  But eventually, they split up, because they were only ever joined at YOU.  The "lesson" moves on to other things, because, yes, you learned it.  The bad season goes on till it's spent.

THEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.

And in fact I had this going on in two different ways- One of them was an ongoing and not-likely-to-change-soon situation; the other was a collection of REALLY bad short term annoyances of which the first had a part, and which God prepared me for days in advance without my realizing it, through the very Swindoll sermon I mentioned above.

And the Lesson- the overarching growth- moved through both, simultaneously and separately.

And when I thought about how I would have reacted to my really bad day even a year ago, I thanked God for the growth, for the Lesson.  And yes, for the bad day, because what the Lesson had taught me brought glory to Him.

The bad day ended.  The bad season has a while to run, and will not end well.  But the Lesson goes on.

The M10- and Beauty Contest VIII

As I type, it's New Years Eve- and not likely I'm going to get in any other trouble, so tonight I'll be hosting your 2019 Beauty Contest- as well as the M10 for this week!  For any newbies, this is the 8th annual Beauty Contest here on Time Machine.  The first was caused by a three-week disappearance of the online Cashbox chart, and having nothing better to do, I found a list of all chart #1s by the ladies, and picked a winner from amongst them- which happened to be Brandy.  In 2013, I changed the rules- a contestant had to have a picture on that year's Time Machine, and Scrappy picked the winner after I winnowed a large preliminary list down to a semi-final list of five or six.  And Scrappy has picked the following ladies:

2013- Patty Boyd
2014- Tina Louise
2015- Linda Ronstadt
2016- Natalie Imbruglia
2017- Jane Birkin
and last year, Justine Brown from M10 act Easy Love.

This year, we registered 92 official contestants- from my Mom to Ma Rainey, from the two ladies of Dawn to Stevie Vann of Night!  I selected a a top sixteen, and then chopped that list down to five.  First, we have the ladies who lost out, starting with:

Winner, best song of 2018, Mikaela Davis...

Fellow Iron Ceiling act, Sunflower Bean's Julia Cumming...

Movie legend Ann-Margaret...

The gone-too-soon Tami Terrell...

Reaching into obscurity, the Hubbells' Mary Ann Frizzel...

And Connie Francis...

Yep, I know I have five more "also receiving votes", but first, I have one of two M10 Debuts!  This was the choice I was trying to make as I started typing, and either way, I was going to give someone a second hit on the 10!  And the winner of that contest is... Charles Bradley...





Charles second hit off Black Velvet comes in at #10, while Slip Away slips away from a peak of 4 to #7 this week.


And the rest of the best of the rest (?)....

Star Kendrick of Geowulf...

Debbie Reynolds...

The hula-hooping Anna Burch (who just missed getting two songs on the ten this week...)

Florence Ballard of the Supremes...

and Mary Travers!

And now, whilst you breathlessly await to see the five that beat these lovely women, here's our second debut at #9... from the Parlor Mob...





Like Springsteen and his boys, Parlor Mob is a four guy (yes, that is a helluva convincing falsetto) outfit from Asbury Park, NJ.

And now, time for the final five...

2017 winner Jane Birkin...

From the Starland Vocal Band, Taffy Nivert...

Dorothy Martin of her band Dorothy...

Mary Wilson of the Supremes...

And Blackberry Smoke guest violinist Amanda Shires!

Hmmm... you'd think I like long hair or something!  Anyway, here's the remaining M10 for this week...


At 8, a one notch move upwards for Papa Roach and Not The Only One.

6 goes to the Justed sisters and Tangerine with the Christmas(y) song This Time Last Year, also up one spot.

Next a pair of songs that dropped last week move back up a spot- Sade's former top dog The Big Unknown at 5, and The Beths with Future Me Hates Me, another former #1, at 4 this week.

And that brings me to another hard choice for the top three this week.  Anna Burch drops from the top to #3 with 2 Cool 2 Care...


...holding at #2, the Decemberists and Travelling On...

....which means, after five attempts, Castlecomer takes their first #1 with She's So High !!!!!!!!!!


And now- the moment is here!

We have the doggie... we have the treats...

We have the ballots....

...but we missed the pick, because Scrappy was like a flash to the winner- so fast, in fact, I wondered in my mind whether I should try again!  But Scrappy literally put his foot down- he was on the third treat when he read my mind and WENT BACK AND STEPPED ON THE FIRST BALLOT- and then sniffed it for more!  Thus, it is with great pleasure I give you the winner of 2019's Time Machine Beauty Contest...  and bonus, recorded live right here in Fort Wayne...






Dorothy Martin wins it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And there you go!  Next week we'll be back to what passes for normal- God willing- with 1972, and Melanie!

Fun with Bible Study

So I thought we'd take a week off the Wednesday Bible Study to have a little fun here.  I found and article on "20 really weird complaints pastors receive", by Thom S Rainer of the Christian Post, and thought I might share them with you, along with how I'd answer them... (apologies to Thom for replacing his comments, except on # 10...)

Keeping in mind these are real complaints pastors submitted...


1- “You didn’t send me a thank you note for my thank you note.”

Please reference Matthew 6:3.  I think you have too much communication between your right and left hands...

2- “You are too happy!” Well, they can't all be eulogies....


3- “I will leave the church if you don’t put tissue seat covers in the bathrooms!”  I hear they have them at the filling station across the street...

4- “I would be happy to take your wife to the store to help her select some appropriate clothes.”   This time I'll reference you to Matthew 3:4 and ask if you can come to our house later for locusts and wild honey.

5- “I guess I have to die to get you to wear a suit and tie to church again.”   Probably.  But as long as you're still breathing, how do you think I rock these Speedos?

6- “Every sermon you preach is better than the next one.”  As a Time Lord, I appreciate that... I think...

7- “Why do we have to follow something an apostle wrote 2,000 years ago?”  Um, you're new here, aren't you?

8- “The VBS hot dogs are too cheap.”  Yeah, well, wait'll you try the meatballs that we used as an ice-pack during the lock-in last summer.... (This is a shockingly TRUE story, BTW...)

9-  “You don’t tell enough jokes when you preach.”  Tell, me again, which Commandment was it where you have to entertain the Lord Your God?

10- “You need to stop talking about making disciples.” Yes, that criticism came from an elder.  

11- “When you changed the name from Sunday school to small groups, you took Jesus and the Bible out of the church!”  I refer you to scene II, act II of Romeo And Juliet.  No need to invoke the Lord when Shakespeare will do.


12- “You didn’t give good advice about the family vacuum.”  And that's a shame, as it's been handed down since 1901...

13- “I heard you are going to cancel Christmas.”  Well, I had to let God know we couldn't afford a Savior this year, with the drop in tithing...

14- “I don’t like the color of your beard hair.”  I refer you to Isaiah 53:2, for starters.  Jesus didn't save mankind by His good looks.  Perhaps the purple highlights ARE a bit much, but...

15- “Your hair color is too dark for someone in your profession.”   Would you believe this can really be a thing?  I actually went into "how to select a pastor" articles to say, "well I found nothing on that in the job description", but afterwards I actually found a pretty interesting and amusing article  (if I can share without being 'too happy') here, and the comments really were better than the article!  Also, I hit a search topic on Bible verses about hair color- and other than gray being a mark of wisdom (One only needs to go to Washington to cast shade on that), there wasn't anything ON hair color directly- only to not let it become a matter of vanity.  So I guess my response, were I the pastor, to this criticism, would be, "Please feel free to go to the elders and have it written into the by-laws for hiring your NEXT pastor."

16- “Just because it’s in the Bible, you don’t have to talk about it.” I'm guessing this person's only exposure to church before was watching Seventh Heaven.

17- “Your wife used the wrong spoon in the coleslaw at the church social.”   Okay, so I've heard of having salad forks and using the silverware from out to in and all that ettiquette stuff, but there's a spoon for coleslaw????  I'll bet this isn't an SBC thing...


18- “We need to throw out the guitar to the streets. The piano is the only instrument that belongs in the church.” Okay, I'm flipping to Psalm 150 right now.  Let's see- trumpet, harp, lyre, timbrel, strings- I imagine that would include guitar- pipes, and cymbals.  Not seeing a piano.  The piano was invented earliest 1698.  Do the Amish even allow them?

19- “You ended a sentence with a preposition in your sermon.”   On the bright side, you were awake during the sermon...

20- “Your pregnant wife is faking morning sickness.” Then YOU stand between her and the bathroom, and let me know how it comes out.  Well, not literally, but...


You notice, the sad thing here is that the only complaints of a spiritual nature were by people who apparently wanted to leave the spiritual OUT of church!

2018 in pictures part 2

And here's the second half of the year...

4th of July cookout at KCs...

The great new game of the year- bunny tag!  This was the second time we watched it- one would hide in the tall grass- the other would jump up and scare him!

July brought another- much hotter- trip to the zoo, with the kids

"Isaiah, no!  Don't grab poop from the goat's butt!"

My next favorite, "KC pees in the corner while Peanut gets boxed in"

These two were our buddies all year.  One time we played tag from the woods to the river.

Early evening walks due to the heat were great for spotting them...

In August, we took a morning walk taking shots at the beautiful "weed" flowers...

...followed up by a trip to Salamonie Lake

This was the closest we got all year- a mom and three younguns, close enough to video.  Of course one took a poop while we filmed...

The next day, a Scrappy and Piper walk-date at Shoaff.

Next up was a trip to Pokagon, and touring Angola...

Then, a trip to Black Pines, where we got to observe the ba... er, the famous Mufasa, just weeks before he passed...

Fun with the kids

...inculding a rainbow...

...and hop on mom

In October, we faced the "threat" of Scooter, Chip, and the Sparrow Mafia...

Scrappy can still see SOME things...

Probably the best Autumn colors we've ever had here...

Thanksgiving saw us snarf down a very wiggly turkey...

In December the dog that NEVER would go on ice before wonders where the water's at...

...and Christmas was the best, with presents and euchre!

And there you have it!  Happy New Year!