Wednesday Bible Study: The end of all things- Micah

 

Micah 7 has been an interesting study for me- which means I've gleaned a lot of off- the- point stuff (or is it?) in looking at its context and what has gone before... but as I write, I'm still not sure what the application will be.  Follow along with me, and we'll learn together!

First, I need to mention that Micah was preaching near, but before, the fall of Israel.  This will be an important note in a moment.  Second, I need to refresh for those who don't know, that we believe in a Rapture of the Church, described in 1 Thessalonians 4, where the believing Church is snatched away from the earth before the Antichrist and the final fall.

On to the story now, and I'm going to parcel this out in chunks where I was moved by them.  First, the lead in is the last few verses of chapter 6, in which God explains to the prophet how evil those days will be.  I saw one verse that made me wonder about the state of the 'church' that will remain after the Rapture:

Mic 6:14  You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
Mic 6:15  You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.

Without the true faithful, it will be a church going through the motions;  they'll continue doing what they do now- but it won't mean anything, because it means nothing to them.  How, you might wonder, would even a fake church survive after an obvious sign (the Rapture) that they are NOT faithful?  Well, one of the early verses of Chapter 7...

Mic 7:2  The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net.

...led me to 2 things.  First, the word "perished" there doesn't exactly mean 'died'...

A primitive root; properly to wander away, that is lose oneself; by implication to perish (causatively, destroy): - break, destroy (-uction), + not escape, fail, lose, (cause to, make) perish, spend, X and surely, take, be undone, X utterly, be void of, have no way to flee.

The good people did not die... they 'wandered away'.  They are not there anymore.  They have been Raptured.  My physical Bible then had a note to Isaiah 57 that answered my question above in that same language...

Isa 57:1  The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
Isa 57:2  he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.
Isa 57:3  But you, draw near, sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.
Isa 57:4  Whom are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit,
Isa 57:5  you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?

They pay the Rapture no mind; they don't look at the implications; and those that notice at all will make a joke of it.

Right after Micah's look at the 'church' of the day, he gives a tremendous definition of the people...

Mic 6:16  For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people." 

 

Why these 2 kings of Israel in particular?  Here's a lesson in a way to our recent election:  Baasha had been an evil king, and the Lord made it so that an evil usurper named Zimri would murder Baasha and wipe out his entire line.  But Zimri wasn't allowed to enjoy it; because God caused a military leader named Omri to murder him and consolidate his rule.  Not only does that make him a usurper's usurper (not to mention that God isn't adverse to manipulate one evil to punish another), but he passes the king on to his son, whom we all know- Ahab.  Now note what the Bible says about these two kings:

1Ki 16:25  Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did more evil than all who were before him.
1Ki 16:26  For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.

1Ki 16:30  And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.
1Ki 16:31  And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.

Each one was worse than the one before!  And this was the example all Israel was following.  Finally, God explains to Micah that along with the 'church' and the people, the rulers are just as bad:

Mic 7:3  Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.
Mic 7:4  The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.

Isn't that a good word picture for OUR politicians?  Micah's tale then shifts to how, in those days, even your closest intimate, if you are a believer (for such will come even in that day and age), will betray you.  But, Micah sees, there is hope...

Mic 7:7  But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Mic 7:8  Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.
Mic 7:9  I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.
Mic 7:10  Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, "Where is the LORD your God?" My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets.

I want to pull three things from this passage: First, those that wait upon the Lord will be preserved in the end.  Second, let's step-by-step verse 9...

I, me, I am liable to that same indignation from the Lord that the evil are; I am not without sin.  UNTIL... Jesus dies to take MY judgment and goes to the Father to plead MY case!

Third takeaway here- the part where she that betrays me will be trampled into the mire.  How like the fate we saw for the unrepentant in the last of Malachi:

Mal 4:3  And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

Finally, while it is a terrible wrath that falls on the unbeliever and the 'pretend' believer, it is a wonderful salvation for the true believer:

Mic 7:18  Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
Mic 7:19  He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

I imagine that the best takeaway from all this boils down to how God sees us.  Either we allow Jesus to plead our case before Him and He sees none of our sin; or we don't, and all He sees is our sin.  Either we choose to delight in His love, or we're asphalt.

The return of spam e-mails

 

So here of late, spam hasn't been all that interesting.  My 'resume' apparently is a good match for 'an exciting job in package management'; I've ignored several hundred versions of how Tommy Chong's life changed; and the coincidence of timing between acquiring Miss Noisy curled up at my feet and ads from "Bark-b-gone" made me wonder if a neighbor hadn't clued them in to me.  However, I recently got a missive with a topical spin that caught my eye- and if Firefox/Blogger doesn't trip out again (and I'll tell you what I mean later)- I will share it with you now.

Attention: Esteemed
Beneficiary:

In the course of our General Auditing and Account revision of the last quarter of the financial fiscal year 2020, we discovered that the Bank Accounts belonging to some Benefactors have been changed and their addresses changed for receiving their approved fund.

After the investigations however, it was revealed that there are foreigners who are collaborating with Staffs of our commercial banks to make these changes illegally without the knowledge of the Bonafide Benefactors and one traced to your own change is this Mr. Robert Johnson who said you died of Covid-19 and he has also submitted Affidavit of claim, latter of administration, deed of ownership and bank account which is not in your name to claim your fund.
.

But we wanted to confirm if actually this is true and hence decided to write to your email address. If you are not dead or authorize Mr. Robert Johnson to receive your fund on your behalf by trying to divert your money through the documents he presented.

In this manner, you are required to reconfirm your personal details below to my private email : ( gemefiele550 @ yahoo.com ) to ensure immediate payment within 3 bank working days in line with international best practice..

* Your full name
* Contact address
* Personal Tel or Mobile #: for easy communication
* A certified means of ID.: for identification purpose

Sequel to the above, These details from you will help to assist us reach a conclusion that you are not dead.

Best Regards
Mr. Godwin Emefiele
Executive Governor Central Bank Nigeria
© 2020 CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

 

So... Robert Johnson has reported to the fabled Nigerian Central Bank that I died of COVID-019!  But, isn't Robert Johnson my long-lost 'next of kin' who died in a car crash last month, leaving me $10 million USA Dollars he won on the EU Lottery?  It was almost funnier that that paragraph starting with "But we wanted to confirm..." which after 4 read throughs the only thing it confirmed is someone's train of thought jumped the tracks, went off into the ravine, hit the bottom and bounced and slid sideways into a Nevada voting precinct.  Or, how about, "a certified means of ID: for identification purposes", which apparently have a variety of other uses in Nigeria.

But I guess the funniest thing occurred the FIRST time I tried to paste the letter.  I hit paste, and the blogger page that I was typing appeared.  I scratched my head at the sheer WTH-ness of that, and switched to HTML mode to erase it easier.  So I shaded the obnoxious code and hit backspace.  

And it MULTIPLIED.  Every time I tried to erase any of it, it added MORE.

I finally had to trash the whole post.  Try pasting again- this time it worked correctly.  So I trashed that and this time re-wrote my lead-in first.  Closed my eyes, hit 'paste' and... it worked!  So here we are.

I know when not to push my luck...

Bad news at black rock...

 

Guess what?  Your favorite Time Lord FORGOT to do a Panel vote this week, mainly do to old age the visit of my grandboys Saturday.  Thus, instead of a full Time Machine, let me catch you up on the M10 this week, which I DID do, and we'll try again next week.  I had three debuts, two of them by acts who have hit the M10 previously.  At #10, here's a duo from NYC who call themselves Purr....

Our second at #9 is the second time from their early 2020 lp Never Not Alone, for Nada Surf...

And third at #8, brand new stuff from M.A.G.S.....

And then, the survivors...

The Ron Keel Band move up 2 to #7 with Ghost Riders In The Sky... BTW, I did some looking up, and here's how many times this tune has charted, under various er, variations of the title...

In 1949, it hit 4 times: Vaughn Monroe got a #1, Peggy Lee a #2, Bing Crosby a #14, and Burl Ives hit #21.

In 1961 the Ramrods got to #30.  Also that year, Lawrence Welk got to #87.

In 1966, the Baja Marimba Band made it to #52.

In 1973, Roy Clark got to #27 on the country chart; 6 years later Johnny Cash got to #2 on that same chart.

And in 1980, Cliff Richards' old mates in The Shadows got to #12 in the UK; while American band the Outlaws did a very similar to the RKB's version that was 31 pop and 15 mainstream rock.

Despite the fact that we disagree on her inspiration on this tune, Roseanne Cash goes from 10 to 6 with Crawl Into The Promised Land.

Continuing a two week rocky streak for the previous week's #1, Blue Oyster Cult tumbles to #5 with Tainted Blood.

Bon Jovi slips a spot down to 4 with Beautiful Drug.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons zoom up 4 to #3 with The Girl I'll Never Know.

Acres Wild (and yes, I made sure this was NORWAY'S Acres Wild) climbs two to the runner-up spot with their biggest M10 hit, Mirrorball Stars.

And that means, the new #1......

...Yuno with No Going Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I promise to get that Panel for NEXT week going tonight... and hopefully I can re-book Johnny Nash to be here!

Wednesday Bible study: The end of all things- Matthew

 

The last Chapter of Matthew hinges on the reactions of four groups of people to the Resurrection of Jesus- and on meditation, you see that three of the four are in the categories we learned from Proverbs:  the simple, the fool, and the scoffer.  To remind us, we learned that the simple is one who doesn't follow God somewhat innocently, because they haven't been taught (or taught properly). The fool "says in his heart, there is no God", but through witness and disaster, their heart can be turned.  The scoffer has become his/her own god, and almost no amount of convincing will turn them, because it's not in their vested interests.  But out of this, I'm going to focus on the good person who obeys God- and where he might cross the line.

The simple

Mat 28:1  Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
Mat 28:2  And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
Mat 28:3  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
Mat 28:4  And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

The guards are our simple folk- brought up in superstition, without an idea of what was going on, instead of even being curious about the momentous event, they shut down and passed out.

The scoffer

Mat 28:11  While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.
Mat 28:12  And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers
Mat 28:13  and said, "Tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.'
Mat 28:14  And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."
Mat 28:15  So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

I want you to pause a minute and consider what really happened here.  They had been given eyewitness accounts of a supernatural event.  Whether they understood what it was or not doesn't matter so much as the BELIEVED it happened, because why would you bribe someone to lie about something you didn't think actually occurred?  So why would not this event TURN you to belief?  Because, that belief would destroy much of what they taught and all of how they lived.  And maybe the first wasn't valuable to them, but the second sure was.  They would rather manufacture a "truth" that sustains their agenda than seek the truth.  I was just reading a book in which I came across a quote from revered liberal justice Oliver Wendell Holmes which not only shook me with its dishonesty, but explained perfectly to me the mindset of ONE of our political parties (and to a great extent, both):  "The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market."

Truth is truth, not something that you manufacture, send it into the market, and see how it flies.  Unfortunately, we have an electorate that goes by this maxim, and believes whatever lie suits their perceptions.  Which is why I recently told a former Congressman, "This is why I believe myself to be a Bonapartist displaced in time."

But I digress.

The fool

Mat 28:16  Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
Mat 28:17  And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

Of course we all know the finger here is pointing at Thomas.  (Perhaps there were others among the disciples who hadn't yet seen Him- perhaps the 500 Paul mentions in 1 Cor. 15.)  But what makes Thomas a fool rather than an honest doubter is the ATTITUDE he came at it with.  Let me compare Thomas with another famous doubter- Gideon.  First, Gideon's words:

Jdg 6:36  Then Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said,
Jdg 6:37  behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said."
Jdg 6:38  And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.
Jdg 6:39  Then Gideon said to God, "Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew."

See how you never lose the concept in his doubt that he truly believed in the God that spoke to him.  Now, Thomas:

Joh 20:24  Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
Joh 20:25  So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."

The arrogance of ignorance.  And here is the lesson from this passage for me, as this has been a year of changes and I want to know I do right by God.  I want to follow the path He directs- but am unsure of my own ability to judge. And so I am "putting out fleeces", hoping to be seen by God as Gideon-like and not Thomas-like.  And there is one more, related, lesson in this, and it came with a verse that my Bible linked to an earlier verse in Matthew:

Mat 28:9  And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.
Mat 28:10  Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." 

The reference verses:

Mat 26:31  Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'
Mat 26:32  But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee."
Mat 26:33  Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away."
Mat 26:34  Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."

I want you to see that the promise of 26:32 was fulfilled:  Jesus always fulfills His promises. But also, that Peter let his big mouth and his pride get in his way of LISTENING to the promise.  Instead of bragging on himself- as the others did as well- he should have been looking into the where and when of Jesus meeting them afterwards.  Pride and self-importance kept Peter from realizing his Lord was coming back; it kept Thomas from believing He was coming back.  How is it keeping us from seeing Jesus's fulfilled promises?

MWN- besides the election

 

So I thought I'd look over my usual haunts- and a few unusual ones- and see what BESIDES our election was the top story.  Amazingly enough, not everyone even mentioned you know who and you know who (even if he doesn't).  Finland had nothing on them- they led with a 'just as interesting' (AKA OMG this is dry) discussion of the nation's place in the EU by a member of parliament who noted he didn't have a lot of say in the matter.  Egypt was less news and more "what should we as Muslims be insulted by today", with the lead a long and just about as dry statement by an Imam who chewed out the French foreign minister over French Prez Macron defending journalists who publish cartoons that 'make fun of Muhammad- peace be upon him'.

In addition, the dynamic duo didn't dominate EVERY news site.  Japan started with a report on the ceremony that officially made Crown Prince Akishimo the first in line for the Japanese crown.  At least, until he meets the Japanese Meghan Markle.  The next in line was preliminary discussions of a joint Japan/USA space adventure.  Of course, the chances of that probably went up in smoke last week, so...

Fox News, CNN, and the BBC all went second with the saddest news story of the day...

...the passing of a true man of courage- Alex Trebek.  I would have thought Canada would have, too, but their first feature was on the rising COVID numbers. He did still beat out Those Two Guys, though.

COVID was much on the mind of the news sites.  The Moscow Times reported a third straight day of 20K new positives; and in India, after 7 weeks of dropping cases, they had a slight uptick this week- leading doctors to speculate that the fall of cases "has bottomed out."

Now there were a few more non-typical "other headlines".  Here they come in order of my looking them up:

Russia's Tass: A discussion of how officials should do a thorough investigation on the Vienna terror shootings last week before speculating- and then, after wasting three paragraphs on why that is, pointing out that Austrian officials were doing just that.  Tass is a lovely news source that reads like the minutes of the last Supreme Soviet.

Deutsche Welle of Germany: A discussion on why the consumption of meat is now a topic for sociology, complete with gender ramifications.

Australia: Former PM Malcolm Turnbull discusses the government in Canberra's "culture of boozing and screwing the staff" on an upcoming news show.  Now that I'd totally watch!

Note:  I know little about the man, I just wanted what appeared to be the funniest meme...

China's Xinhua gave the usual rousing story about the China International Import Expo.  In that article, I learned more about powdered camel's milk from Kazakhstan than I'll ever apply...

And finally, from France 24, the exciting announcement that Jean-Luc Melenchon- their version of Bernie Sanders- will run for president in 2022, once again- IF he can manage to get 150,000 signatures on a petition asking him to by them.  Otherwise, he'll just ask the DNC for his quadrennial free house... oh, wait...

Pictures!

 Let's start a few evenings back...

Painted sky

Early evening look at Mars

How about Saturday at the wrestling matches?

And now, Sunday morning after church...

"Hurry up, wouldya?"

Crow was really chewing us out for some reason.  Wouldn't stick around to explain...

Leaves falling hot n heavy now...

Took me a minute to realize... guy on the left was recording their game

Pigeons getting a bath

And now, another exciting round of "Places Misty's Never Been to".  Now normally, where we are going looks like this:

But with the river WAYYYY down...

Going down...

Onto the mud flats

Normally, that's an island...

What's left of the creek meandering to the river

"The crap a girl's gotta do to get a drink around here..."

Where we came from, from where we went to

And finally, passing by the Swamp, I saw something I don't think I've ever seen before...

A turtle- in November!

Time Machine co-ordinates VICXLVI65011672

Today, we go, in a very frustrating "New Blogger" way, to November 6th, 1972- the day before Richard Nixon gave George McGovern a sound whupping...

Easy, buddy, I'm on your side!  And if that alienates you, get a grip, this is Time Machine and it's all in fun!  Today, we have Cher- I hope- one new debut, and a bit of an odd 6D coming your way.  So let's move on from the dusty dregs of politics and into the vibrant world of music!

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Now, I have to admit this was one of the more bizarre Panel weeks ever, because one station, labelled 'progressive' but I peeked at it anyway, had Bread's Sweet Surrender at #2, Loggins and Messina at #3 with Your Mama Don't Dance, and Joni Mitchell's You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio at #4!  On the other hand, another station labelled 'top 40' had Black Sabbath, Yes, T-Rex (not with Bang a Gong), and The Move (ELO before they were ELO) in their top ten! I had two reactions: on the first, Bread as progressive is one of the most enormous stretches in TM history, and the other, man, I wanna listen to THAT station!  I just hope that the dozen and a half other stations labelled progressive weren't cleverly hidden fake ballots... Oh crap, that's politics again, sorry!

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I had a lot of new songs come in for M10 consideration, along with a couple still knocking on the door, but the winner of that new debut slot at #10 goes to my girl Roseanne Cash, with some help from hubby John Levanthal...

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Well, that was SORTA political, but hopefully we can avoid that with our POTM today, as I introduce you to... Cher!

Wait... why is it something you want to avoid?

Well, in MY time, we're pretty much on separate planets politically...

Oh?  Why is that?  Are you against Gypsies?  Are you against Cherokees?

No, but I...

You're some kind of racist, aren't you?  You prolly think someone like me should be locked up!

Well, at the mome...

Your hair was probably orange before it went gray, wasn't it?  All you orange haired people are the same!  Nothing but Nazis!  

Now wait just a minute!

I bet you have Russian listening devices all over the place, don't you?

I would think they'd be more your type, actu...

Don't ever call me again!  SLAM!!!

Well, don't ever win the Panel picks again!

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There was a point to all that.  We have become incredibly stupid voters, believing any lie that supports our position without checking into it, claiming hate is our enemy while hating our enemies, treating politics and politicians like gods when that position isn't open.  I promise next time Cher visits, I won't be so over the top, but this time, this week, I wanted to show some of you out there (not necessarily regular readers) how ridiculous this all has been- and sadly, I suspect will be.

Now, this time, NO MORE POLITICS!  Hey, Elvis, got a minute?

Yeah, I heard the door slam, gimme the list...

21 songs from forty-three stations.  And we didn't skip no ballots- those progressive stations we skipped we all legit- tho' one of 'em had Bread's Guitar Man at #1...

Here's who ya get to pick.

Johnny Nash 'n' I Can See Clearly Now at #6 on Cashbox...

Lobo with I'd Love You Ta Want Me... or is it, I want You To Love Me?  I always mix that up.  Anyway, it's at #11.

Michael Jackson an' Ben at #8... better hope he don' win, we ain't made it ta 1955 yet!

An' the numero uno, Moody Blues with Nights In White Satin!

Thanks, bud.  At this rate, we may HAVE to call them the Presley picks...

HB:  I sincerely hope you are kidding, sir.

EP:  What, Priscilla ain't signed that rights thingie yet?

HB:  No, but she has chosen to ask for a rather substantial sum to compensate the estate if we do so without her consent...

EP:  Hard-headed woman, anyway... Say, I think I recorded that once!

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So after years of trying to talk him into it, Bill Champlin joined Chicago to share lead vocals on several songs, notably Hard Habit To Break.  What brings him up? Well, the 6D actually led me to the Grammy for best R&B songs, and I noted a lot of names that you wouldn't expect to find there.  Bill joined Jay Graydon and former Skylark keyboardist Dave Foster on the writer's award for Earth Wind And Fire's After The Love Has Gone, and with Toto's Steve Lukather and Jay on George Benson's Turn Your Love Around.

Others on the list was the 1978 winner- Leo Sayer for You Make Me Feel Like Dancing; Boz Scaggs and another Toto-ite, David Paich, for Lowdown in 1977;  and KC of Sunshine Band fame with his partner Richard Finch for Betty Wright's Where Is The Love, a #96 pop and #15 R&B that won in '76.

The reason why I went there was because our 6D victim was runner up in '73 to the Temps and Papa Was A Rolling Stone- Curtis Mayfield for writing and recording Freddy's Dead- from Superfly- the #7 song this week with no Panel love.

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I have to tell you the funny story behind this week's UK #1.  Two dudes, Rob Woodward and Nigel Fletcher, had a side act they were working on- a song recorded in Rob's living room, with his mother Hilda on piano!  They named the act Lieutenant Pigeon, and released the song to a crashing thud on the charts.  Then, a Belgian current affairs program, for some reason I can't imagine, chose it to be their opening bumper music.  It caught on in Belgium, hit the top, got re-released in Merry Ole, and hit the top there, too!

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The remaining Overseas If You Please are as follows:

New Zealand: 3 Dog Night's Black And White, which was #1 here in September.

Australia:  Hot Butter with Popcorn, which peaked here at #11 2 weeks ago.

Canada:  My Ding-A-Ling by Chuck Berry, our #1 2 weeks ago.

South Africa: Finalist I Can See Clearly Now.

And, in Laurenco Marques... The Bee Gees' Run To Me, prolly my third favorite of theirs, another September peak at #11.

And this week's big mover:  Johnny Rivers with Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu, up 21 from 77-56.

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Boss, I didn't get any votes...?

You know darn well you did.  Burning Love at #2 got 2 votes.  You beat over half the field, and tied another quarter.  And doubled the vote of the #1 on the alleged top 40 station with all the progressive songs, Help Is On The Way by Bloodrock.

Oh, boy...  Can I at least do the M10?

I'm surprised you're interested!

Every li'l bit of PR helps the NEXT song, boss!

Holdin' at #9, Ron Keel's Ghost Riders In The Sky.

When yer first week at #1 is yer 7th on the chart, you can expect the next week's gonna be a bit rough.  America's Remembering drops all the way to #8.

The Four Seasons go back ta back, with The Girl I'll Never Know goin' up 3 to #7, and the Any Day Now medley dropping from, 4 to 6.

That Shilpa Ray chick an... do I have to say the whole name?

I didn't last week...

Ok, then her HH Blues goes back up a spot to #5.

Acres Wild goes up 3 to #4 with Mirrorball Stars...

Bon Jovi 2 to #3 with Beautiful Drug...

One spot ta #2 fer Yuno and No Turning Back...

An' their first time at #1....

...Blue Oyster Cult with Tainted Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back ta you, boss!

Nice job, buddy!  How's the planning for the Christmas Party going?

Why's it's going so... it's gonna be a real... uh,  I got nuthin'... But Noodle...er, I mean NARDOLE... is helpin', I'll have a good report next week for sure!

You better, you only have six weeks- and it goes live Christmas Night!  I want it to top last year's!

I dunno anything c'n top last year's... but I'll give it my best shot!

Alright, so we close it out with this week's winner!

MJ and the Moodys got you 9.3% each...

Lobo gets you 11.6%...

But the winner, with 16.27%....

...Johnny Nash and I Can See Clearly Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This'll be his second win with I Can See, so we'll have to see if we can have a little more fun than we did last time- he won the week of the Big Board Meeting, and thus was in and out.  Once again, cue up 1973!