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ANGELFIRE 11-3-06 It's a foregone conclusion that whatever voice you hear will be speaking from it's own self-interest. And if it's a well dressed person in a dark suit and silk shirt with French cuffs, immaculately groomed and wearing an impressive tie that hangs above his dainty hands and slender ornamented fingers with finely manicured nails, a pair of them dangling his glasses, as he speaks in professional tones with a voice long honed to the media, then we are enraptured to listen. He's telling us what got him ahead, the very way Las Vegas sold it's Godless culture to America: provide those with the cash whatever they want. Attract them here in every way possible so that they'll spend some of it here with us. Under the guise (or disguise) of sophistication, anything MUST be allowed, because THE CUSTOMER IS KING. Forget your scruples. Defend their rights. Female freedom was violated right here in Garvin county when some guy couldn't buy his wife a drink in the place where she wanted it! So a prominent restaurateur is brought down from OKC to end such an outrage!! Whew, poo, much adoo.
Joe Scarbrough had an expose on his Country show last week about the downside of Vegas. It depicted what seamy things were taking place in the area surrounding "sin city" (their proud title). Of course liquor consumption, like gambling, has be regulated. But the site of it's use is the issue; it's all around effect. Right now our laws mean that what we do at home is private and our own business. But social drinking in public becomes everyone's business. It condones the practice which many of us bewail. I still call it "liquor by the shot" because that identifies it's high alcohol as a drug just like those taken with a needle. We don't like to watch needle users as we eat.. And shot glasses are designed small just because a little goes a long way. Thus "temperance" means moderation in things that can't harm us and abstinance from things that can. And 100 proof means that 50% of it is alcohol (beer in OK is only 3.2%) So the temperance movement of former days was provoked by marketing distilled drinks, not the fermented ones that were long familiar to mankind (as beer, wine or ale). Whiskey, gen and brandy are new comers in the last two centuries that technology created, instead of nature. Thus moderation changed to abstinence as the standard for alcohol use in the word "temperance."
So long/Shalom
ANGELFIRE 11-6-06 Here are the words of Sarah, Abraham's aged wife about how she gave birth to her only child when her husband was a century old: "GOD has made me laugh." She was filled with joy at providing them with a true heir, whom they named Isaac (laughter). What a joke it was for human destiny! Something so utterly impossible that it took a miracle from heaven!! And then Isaac would become the testing of Abraham's loyalty. Wasn't that an awesome type of the Divine Lover Who would offer up His own Son for our redemption. Jesus taught us to pray not to be put to such hard testing in the Lord's Prayer. Thus, laughter is at the heart of our Gospel. That megachurch in Colorado Springs got a taste of it from the pastor's wife in their terrible scandal and shame about her husband's secret conduct. With his letter of repentance and apology, she also joked about the many families that would no longer be thinking the Haggards were of unapproachable perfection. Now such seem right up with, or even surpassing Sarah's words. That weeping congregation of thousands had to laugh amid their tears. And though he's been fired (or ruined perhaps though they've probably forgiven him), life can now go on less bitterly as help came from a wife's joke, the person hurt the most. Hallelujah for a sense of humor to ease such pain in place of wrath. I've always felt some scorn for comedians who become so ungodly in their laughter. But here I'm seeing that it's only been stolen for devilish use. The Living GOD of merriment will have His last laugh after all the wars, elections, scandals etc. , and that's for sure as Christ returns with the heavenly host of holy angels. His forgiveness is available now, so accept it and be ready to meet Him joyfully with a ha, ha, ha as Christmas time draws near. We mark the first Advent(coming) as guarantee of the Second one. So long and shalom (tune in 6:30 Tues. channel 2 for "Song with Spoken Word" as Jack Pack plays and I sing my favorite song).
ANGELFIRE 11-12-06 Here's a salute to the veterans on their special day. We owe them so much for the freedom we have to vote on things. I felt that the DEMOCRAT was fair and balanced about that county proposition decided at Tuesday's election. Though a town boy of PV, I guess I've always had a rural mind set. And that's what prevailed here in Garvin county as a liquor-by-the-drink proposition was defeated. If you read all the letters to the editor in that special insert, you saw how many of our up town community leaders favored it. But remember the old saw about "how ya gonna sell that down on the farm?" And that's where the votes were. Rural still seems more Godly to ANGELFIRE (my other middle name). Can clearly recall the national transition of America back in the fifities when we were shifting to a majority urban population. There was a book by theologian Harvey Cox, that had an impact on me, entitled The Secular City. He was saying that secularity was a "divine activity" in history and he even wrote articles about it in Playboy magazine during the "sexular" (my pun) sixties. It filled a part of me with disgust, though his book was brilliant and profound. Instead of prayer meetings and pious services of worship, he advocated social action committees and public demonstrations. "Secularity" was the theme of that era. He maintained that the Incarnation of GOD in Christ Jesus called for a worldly kind of holiness. And it set the stage for MLKjr's civil rights movement, which was very much of this world yet still rooted in pietism. MLKjr could speak to both audiences (though his personal piety seemed somewhat weak to me).
I did a little more study of the temperance movement recently and learned that it wasn't just Protestant, as I'd supposed. In the late 19th century a world famed prohibitionist leader was Father Theobald Mathew of Cork, Ireland. Now that amazes me. Yet I knew that piety/love of GOD was in the Catholic church first. In the 18th century a Catholic thinker, Blaise Pascal, was the source of "inner reasons of the heart" preaching. He wrote about feeling going beyond logic or philosophy. I'm thinking he was a Frenchman, and prejudice has caused me to see them as mostly atheistic. I guess that's been my rural mindedness. But I've long felt that when our USA population was more in the country than in our cities, we lived up closer to the national motto, IN GOD WE TRUST. "City slicker" has always seemed like derogatory to me. Yet I know urbanization has long since become dominant in every place on this planet, just as globalism is now taking place everywhere; even here in little PV. Looking back at those 13 years of national prohibition, 1920 to '33, we recall the roaring twenties which Hollywood has made us see as chaotic rampant crime. But our greatest Roosevelt was a leader in temperance long before that. In 1903 when he was president (and the first Water Tower built in PV) the children's favorite toy was a Teddy Bear, named after him as the cultural hero. Since the old Tower's my favorite toy, I wish we'd call it a Teddy Tower. With the hoped for new coat of white paint, it could stand representing the wholesome and temperate life that would "speak softly and carry a big stick" on the world stage. Our soon coming Lord was like that, softly in His first appearance and with a big stick for the defiant humanity at His final showdown (hey, maybe "showdown" comes from poker Iingo? Rather secular if so).
Shalom and GOD bless
ANGELFIRE 11-15-06 Half of Nov. gone already and now Thanksgiving's coming up next. How the days fly past so very fast. I consider it the original holiday for America; at least if that story's true about the Pilgrims and Indians having a feast together near Plymouth Rock. The Indians had seen the Pilgrims come ashore from the Mayflower back in the fall of 1620. They were carrying Bibles instead of guns, though the Puritans would use both later on. If I have it straight, over half of the new comers froze to death that winter, but the rest invited the natives to join them in a spring celebration of their survival, giving thanks to Almighty GOD. Now that's the attitude of gratitude that this next holiday is meant to impart. Though many things have gone wrong, especially in Iraq, we can still count our blessings and give thanks. As we honored our military heroes on Veteran's Day, we'll remember the goodness of the Lord GOD and give Him heartfelt THANKS for divine mercy. Thanksgiving and forgiving sound much alike, don't they. That's why The Lord's Prayer teaches "forgive us our trespasses" right after "give us this day our daily bread." Forgiveness for ourselves is even more needful in soul growth than food is for our bodies. But then, the Lord's Prayer adds "as we forgive those who trespass against us." (or "as we've already forgiven others"). Then the final punch line goes "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Seems those King James scholars didn't want the devil mentioned in such a magnificent prayer. But Jesus didn't use abstract terms for this model prayer of Mt.6, where He reiterates the importance of forgiving; and again in Mt.18:21 where Peter asks Him "how often." Jesus tells a parable of the unforgiving servant to answer and illustrate. So being thankful that our sins are taken away enables us to still love, rather than hate, those who have wronged us. Our hurts say "get even by hurting back." Yet turning the other cheek is hyperbole for letting the heavenly Father vindicate us.
I'm not sure this applies to nations. But it surely does for interpersonal relations. At the national and international level only GOD can intervene. And we must pray for our leaders (whom we have chosen)to direct us according to His will. Our forefathers read the Bible and that's what we need to do prayerfully, thus gain power from on high. That happened after 9/11 but we need such a turning again in 2006. Pray that our Oklahoma Centennial will rekindle the fire of faith here in America's heartland. So long/Shalom
ANGELFIRE 11-17-06 The controversy over "Merry Christmas" is about to start again. Last year I suggested we say Merry Christbirth instead because the Mass on Nativity night isn't our focus. I said it with a chuckle, knowing it would be even more offensive to those ACLUs stirring the stink. And the "Merry" is just as significant as the Mary, whose heart was filled with fear and joy that night. We must live with ambiguity and here's a joke that illustrates what I mean. My friend Verne out in WA state sent it to me:
Catholic priest and a Methodist pastor from two local churches are standing by the side of the road, feverishly pounding a handmade sign into the ground with a large rock. The sign reads: The End is Near! Turn Yourself Around Now Before It's Too Late! As a car speeds past them, the driver yells, "Leave us alone, you religious nuts!"
From the curve they hear screeching tires and a big splash. The pastor turns to the priest and asks, "Do you think the sign should just say 'Bridge Out'?"
Verne's joke shows how things so clear and dear to us insiders may be totally misunderstood by those outside the circle. Only now, after all these years, I can see why Catholics have their greatest Mass right at the midnight when our Savior was born. I'd felt for so long it should be on their Good Friday when He died (though I watched each Nativity night on TV). But I can understand now their ritual means that He was born for the very purpose of being a sacrifice which would be offered up on the Cross. Yet taking a lifetime to get that point, as for me, is just too slow. We must not be so subtle with the Gospel; especially when time is very short. Just "bridge out ahead" makes the urgent point, as I've come to see it. When books are being published like O.J.Simpson's latest, it shows that such brevity is really upon this world. So "come again Lord Jesus" is our prayer. Sooner oh Savior, sooner! (Sounds like 2007, Sooner Year doesn't it) So long/Shalom
ANGELFIRE 11-22-06 Our Thanksgiving holiday could mean so much more than turkey dinners if it would teach each family to offer thanks before all their meals together. Such is a tie that binds hearts in gratitude to GOD as everyone joins in a memorized one or somebody says it for all. "Thanksgiving" (Eucharist) is another name used for The Lord's Supper because Christ distributed the elements "when He had given thanks." Thus, He set the example of always saying a blessing before eating, but then He went on to show that this holy meal means feeding on HIm for the meaning of our existence. So Christians called it Holy Communion in partaking of His flesh and blood. It had to be rather secret, since some worldly outsiders would consider them cannibals, and many did. Drinking blood had always been forbidden to Jews, so this was radical for even the Apostles; though it became the sacred rite thereafter. Families ate of the pascal lambs sacrificed each year in Passover. So now it's kept by spiritual children of the heavenly Father, at least annually but usually far more often; weekly by Catholics, Disciples of Christ and Churches of Christ; monthly by others and quarterly by some.
I began this column in 1991, the year of my retirement and return to the PV area. It's been a privilege and here's my thanks to The PV Democrat for allowing me space these 15 years thus far. I guess being a carrier has given me some tiny pull, as well as my late father's "Sounding Off" daily column back in the fifties. Berry Porterfield writes my headline, which is to the point on each column. So here's gratitude to him as well as the chief, Jeff Shultz, who has improved this paper so much. A thanful Thanksgiving to every reader and Shalom
ANGELFIRE 11-26-06 Had anyone ever seen a comic strip as blacked out as Wednesday's "Geezer"? Only his thoughts were visible, and they were asking what monster had swallowed him. It seemed a timely depiction of Uncle Sam's quandary in Iraq, where everything keeps exploding. And what Geezer thought was his flashlight turned out to be some crackers and peanut butter. That also fit this year's Thanksgiving, when at least we could all eat, though still in the dark. So I recall a short blessing we used to sing at youth camps, "For health and strength and daily food we give Thee thanks Oh LORD." Despite the gloom, there were such blessings from above for most of us. Of course it's been a family holiday and that part of America is really taking a beating. Reports show now that four of every ten newborn babies is out of wedlock. So many couples just opt to live together, and even more babies belong to single mothers. And the meaning of matrimony itself needs to be clarified with that marriage amendment I think. The scam, scandal and corruption at higher levels must be restrained with a solid foundation at the grass root level of society. Marriage is instituted of GOD in the earliest pages of Scripture where "a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife." That means for keeps, not just to try her out. It implies the completion of him/herself in finding his/her other half: "and the two shall become one." Then the Gospel used this bonding as a figure for Christ and His bride. Though He never was married in His first advent, the reason His return is so important is to take the Church and be joined to her forever after. Husbands are enjoined to "love your wives as Christ loved the Church." Her love is a response to His, that He showed by going to the Cross to redeem her from Satan. Thus, marriage is as sacred as Thanksgiving and sex is certainly not something to be played with as a toy or game outside of it. Sex belongs in marriage, marriage in the family and family in our national life. As goes the family, so goes America: we'd like it to be, just one big family including all single folks too, with room for everyone showing respect and appreciation to each one. So long/Shalom
ANGELFIRE 11-29-06 My program each Thurs.6:30 on channel 2 is called "Song With Spoken Word," but I got into so saying so many extra words that I failed to sing "Bless This House." It's one well attuned to Thanksgiving and I plan to include it this week's Thurs.6:30, even though the holiday has passed. The words fit our Pinkhouse in everyway but the fireplace. But the one Niece is remodelling now, next door east has a fireplace, though it lacks an upper story. Thus I'll just sing the song to envision both places. If you should drive by 910 E.Juanita, you'll see carpenters hanging new sheet rock and windows in what was once the home of the late Robert Parker. I know when my wife has it ready to sell, it will be a beautiful place. They say that "home is where the heart is" and a lovely dwelling place can surely gladden our hearts. It has for me living here in the pink of this place. And WW is such a friendly town. I drive all around it on my route each day as I like to wave at folks. And just as often, they wave back. I could count on the fingers of one hand the times any have refused to return the greeting from my uplifted hand. When I was a pastor holding weekly worship services, I came to see that lifting my hand to pronounce the benediction was asking the Lord to continue blessing them as they went forth from being a congregation. Now I feel that just a wave can be the same, even out in the world, so long as the Spirit keeps allowing me to greet anyone from my car window. And I'm invited to be back in a pulpit this Lord's Day 11am down at Joy, where pastor Clay Shannon has invited me to fill his while he and Barb are away in KA. My message is from John 7, and I'm calling it "The Stranger From Galilee." Everyone's welcome; so come on down a few miles S. of WW, unless you plan to be in your own church
Now we hear of reviving the draft instead of recruiting a volunteer military. That might provoke the wild protests as of Viet Nam era all over again. And I wonder if Rev.Charley Rangel didn't get his idea from Canada, since he's up there at NYC. Remember how many of our draft dodgers went up north to avoid duty. And I think most of them became Canadians. Rangle's proposal seems repulsive to me. He can "rangle" with Canada as much as he likes, but shut up about the USA. A report on CNN just showed that we already have over 200 deserters up there from the Iraq war. Ugh. But I have also heard of experiments with salamanders that might develope a possibility for humans to grow new limbs the way those creatures do. Wouldn't that be marvelous for all our veterans from Iraq who have lost limbs. It alreay happens in our bodies before birth, but shifts into just healing wounds afterward. So if we could restore than pre -natal growth ability, what a marvel! Come Lord Jesus, Shalom
ANGELFIRE 12-2-06 I ended my "Song With Spoken Word" on channel 2 by singing "The Stranger of Galilee." It's a song I'd learned years ago but never quite grasped the point of it's title. Now it's to be my message for 11am down at Joy this Sunday, with Jn.7 as the Scripture. My awareness keeps increasing as I ponder that puzzling title. Some things in the Bible are like riddles that only faith can crack open. The last time I preached at Joy it was from the faith chapter, Heb.11. I like that whole book since it lights up the Old Testament. Right before chap.11 we read "For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of GOD, you may receive the promise...we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul." Then Heb.11 lists the faith heroes and goes on in Heb.12 "let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Even as I preached then, I wondered aloud why Solomon was not mentioned in Heb.11. The list ends with David and bounces back to Samuel, who had anointed Jesse's youngest son to be king instead of Saul. Then the Lord Jesus later on said that just a tiny lily of the field had greater glory than that of Solomon, who had so much wealth and wisdom. That's sort of a riddle to me, like the calling of Jesus "stranger." But I can deal with the latter issue in my message as Spirit has helped me understand. Sometimes a song just comes in the moment, as that little one I sang on my birthday for Thurs.6:30: Had to do it solo since I had no rehearsal to play it: "Dear little Stranger slept in a manger; no downy pillow under His head. But with the pure He slumbered secure, that dear little Babe in His bed." Can't even recall where I learned it, but glad I could sing about His birth, the greatest of all. Hallelujah for this season when we remember it. I see a movie's being acclaimed entitled "Nativity." That's a better designation than Christmas, in my opinion. Just hope it is an accurate one. Did you hear that the pope went to a shrine while in Turkey where Mary is claimed to have died? It's also sacred to Muslims. I've read in their Qu'ran where they include her and even report the virgin birth of Jesus, but don't mention GOD being the father; so Jesus is only another prophet even though one that's coming again some day. There needs to be a Muslims for Messiah movement just as the Jews for Jesus. Instead of arguments over religion, the Savior must be lifted up. A song comes to my mind, "Lift Jesus higher, lift Jesus higher. Lift Him up for the world to see. He said 'And I if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.'" Now that's our Gospel to the world, brothers and sisters, Christ crucified and risen in power to return some day soon. So long and Shalom