We learned in a report yesterday how the women of Japan have a longer average life time than any other humans, 85.6 years. That showed me why feminism has taken over the whole planet in my lifetime. Women just survive longer and keep voting. The oldest men on Earth are Icelanders, but their average lifespan is only 79. Now look at how many nations are choosing female rulers. It was India just recently, first female since Indera Gandhi elected in'66, and almost a woman premier nearly being elected in France less than a year ago, plus the queen in England who doesn't need electing. So next it could be the U.S. presidency for you know who. There's still sexism around (it creeps into my own mind at times and the Spirit rebukes me). But Prov.8 ends with this warning from lady Wisdom, "All that hate me love death." Now let's recall that the name Adam gave to earth's first woman, his wife, was Eve. It means 'life" or "life-giver" because she would be the mother of mankind. (By the way, who named him Adam?) Now-a-days science has shown that our species could be perpetuated by females only. That's humbling to males. But ANGELFIRE's answer to such a claim is pointing to the Lord's immanent return. It makes that issue of no consequence. Reproduction will be obsolete in the Kingdom of Heaven;all our sexual passions transmuted into the love (reciprocal agape) between Christ Jesus and His church. Eros(animal love) is swallowed up in agape(angelic love), hallelujah! So long/Shalom
ANGELFIRE 8-4-07 I woke up this morning with Isa.51 in my mind. The Bible was clearly open there and my dream was of reading it. Taking the one by my bed, I went through that chapter and skimmed the rest to Isa.66. It was clear that the huge collapse at the north end of our beloved I-35 gave a demonstration of how suddenly this whole world will pass away. Even an explanation from physics had come to me last night, after so much TV coverage, which just might be verified by all the investigation. My favorite teacher in Mt.Vernon IL High School back in '42 was Lew Cummings. He made science such an appealing study and always had experiments in class that demonstrated what he'd told us in the realm of physics. One was about "resonant frequency" to show us an invisible vibration property of every material thing. At the lecture's end he said we could shake down mountains if we used their resonant frequencies, then "You can take a jack hammer to even the Empire State Building and shake it down." We all laughed at his joke. But I couldn't forget it. I wondered why anyone would want to bring down such a magnificent building. I'd seen it in that King Kong movie and felt it was the marvel of all time. Yet what of it happening by accident? When I heard of the crews using jack hammers in repairing that I-35 W bridge, the words of Mr.Cummings came back to me. Now I'm so eager to learn the full findings.
My best pal in the Navy was from Minneapolis. Right after WW II, before I started at OU, we spent a week in MN on a fishing venture. He knew that "land of the lakes" and we had tons of catch, but I left them all with him to take the bus home (no I-35 yet). I'd hitch-hiked up there and was too tired to try getting home that way. Years later in '78, I joined a clergy group to attend studies at Augsburg University in Minneapolis,. A bus load went up from Norman, and I recall the split in I-35 when we got there. It put us on that bridge across the Mississippi. We crossed it again a couple of weeks later returning. Of course I got hold of my navy pal while there, B.J.Hagan. He'd been a Presbyterian, but had switched to Methodist, so we attended his church and I was presented as his preacher buddy. Yet that city was dominated by Lutheran churches back then. They were everywhere and reminded me of our Southern Baptists down here. Since our studies were about dealing with alcoholism, I was astonished that drinking was so acceptable. That made me glad for all the Baptists we had down here (also proud of our twin cities too--Dallas/Ft.Worth). Beer and liquor appeared as the "resonant frequency" of their Swedish culture up there that makes them vibrate, which has certainly spread across America by now.
Back to my dream, I recall the promise of the prophet Joel which is quoted at Pentecost in Act.2, "In that day your young men shall see visions, and your old men dream dreams. And your daughters shall prophesy." My dreams now fit that prophecy and so do all the women in our churches, as mentioned in previouse column. Now they are leaders and even clergy in this fullness of time. So be ready for His coming all you dear readers! So long/Shalom
ANGELFIRE 8-08-07 (Lord'Day extra)
We got to LARC right at seven, were promptly admitted, but then had to wait a half hour for the chapel to be unlocked. It was just the three of us with all the inmates gathering while we still waited. Thus the air conditioning really felt good when we finally got inside (but we had less time). As their three man band played (white, black, hispanic) the guy on keyboard talked of that child at Noble who had been killed by a police shot. He had a friend from there who told him how sad it made the whole town over the five year old. I thought he might make some cutting remark about the cop who ha fired to kill a snake and hit the 5 year old also. Instead he prayed for all the whole of Noble town that had been in OK news and naionally as well. The entire service kept that feeling, as Glen Simonsen taught the book of Lamentations in the brief time left. One black inmate wanted to testify, which always gets the floor. He told how he'd made it big out in the world as a godless and profane drug dealer. Claimed that he had everything money could buy, but still was in turmoil within. He lost all when put in prison, but said he'd accepted Christ and now has peace of heart, which money can't buy. We had not seen him before and I hope it wasn't his only stime. If he keeps coming, his words may ring true. But when Glen finished Lamentations with "waiting on the LORD" I got to lead that Scripture song of Isa.40:31; and the big crowd joined me: "But they that wait upon YAHWEH shall renew their strength. They shall mount upon wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Teach us LORD, teach us LORD how to wait." As we stopped in Purcell for ice cream, Dallas Wade bought it. Later, I let Dallas out at PV while Glen and I came on to WW. Then he went home to Davis in his car. We go every first and third Sun. night. Sometimes it seems our ministry doesn't make much difference, but when they show such appreciation for our presence, we feel bound to keep coming.
I see that 15 OK bridges build between '14 and '66 are being inspected and then 62 more will have to be by OK Dept.of Transportation. Earlier it was estimated at costing us 3B to bring them up to safe standards. Federally that's not much, but for our state mucho money. Maybe the Chickasaws will help with all that loot they're gaining at casinos. ODOT just might take over their 17 mile turnpike between Sulphur and Ada. Maybe they won't be able to afford all those gift watches to legislators anymore. We should respect the few who declined the bribe, though it wasn't quite a hundred dollars each. One legislator from Duncan accepted the centennial watch, but paid for it. That was a wise response I think. Solong/Shalom
ANGELFIRE 8-10-08 In my days as a child during the great depression, the government undertook construction projects all over our nation to create employment. One that was mentioned as a joke was to build a bridge down the Mississippi lengthwise. That talk was in the thirties but it wasn't until '64 that the one way up north was begun across America's long river. It took three years and had been there since '67. In the Bible 40 years meant the lifespan of a race i.e. the length of Israel's wandering in the wilderness, which only Joshua and Caleb survived. Then, before Jesus began His three year ministry, He went into the wilderness forty days, dramatizing the fact that His death would be for all who make this wilderness journey from cradle to grave, the human race. If you don't think this present world is a wilderness, then you must not watch or read any news. But we all need to accept His death/resurrection the same as those on that collapsed bridge had to take the hand of any who came to their rescue. Now they tell us that it can be rebuilt again in fifteen months. If such does happen, I suggest we name it the I-35 Resurrection. Right there at the top of N.America's International Corridor, it would be a powerful witness to life over death. I woke up this morning with a song I'd long forgotten coming back to mind: I CAN TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THIS. I CAN TELL THE NATIONS I AM BLEST. TELL THEM WHAT MY JESUS HAS DONE. TELL THEM THAT THE COMFORTER HAS COME. AND HE'S BROUGHT JOY, JOY, JOY TO MY SOUL./ MY LORD'S DONE JUST WHAT HE SAID, YES HE DID. YES HE DID. HEALED THE SICK AND RAISED THE DEAD, YES HE DID... AND HE'S BROUGHT JOY, JOY, JOY TO MY SOUL./ MY LORD DIED ON CALVARY, YES HE DID... DIED FOR YOU AND HE DIED FOR ME. YES HE DID..../ MY LORD ROSE IN VICTORY, YES HE DID...TO LIVE THRU YOU AND LIVE THRU ME, YES HE DID... AND HE BRINGS JOY, JOY, JOY INTO OUR SOULS. (Just imagine, a singing bridge! Even one that shows how Christ will finally take all those seeking His kingdom across over with Him into heaven).
Since another teacher is going into space tonight, here's a song I wrote 21 years ago to the tune of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"
Tuesady morning they were going, no one knowing it was farwell. In their places, happy faces; everything was looking swell. In a moment like Halley's comet, they had risen up on high. Then at once all--smoke and fireball, in the sky; in the sky. Lord! L-o-r-d! L--o--r--d!
Littered spaces where the sea rolled, strewn for miles and miles around. Only traces of our heroes by the search team could be found. All seven vanished into glory with the twinklng of an eye. Now their names still tell the story, written there upon the sky.
Nation's weeping, kids not sleeping; grief is spread from shore to shore. Pretty teacher was the feature that made this flight so much more. Many questions, special sessions; Congress demands the facts to know: final showing: "faulty O-ring" had resulted in such woe.
DEAR LORD, let there be no repeat this time! So long/Shalom
ANGELFIRE 8-11-07 Lately our attention's been on that mine cave-in out there in Utah. but this Friday's headline only says "DRILL REACHES DEPTH OF TRAPPED MINERS." So if it's a few inches off target, the other try may yet yield some information as we keep those six men in our prayers. Up at Minneapolis, where eight have been lost on the I-35 W collapse, I keep thinking of "Resurrection Day" being a name for the rebuilt one(though not legal). Such would be quite symbolic to all followers of Christ. He arose on the first day of the week; which most Christians have taken for their time of public worship, calling it The Lord's Day. In this time of collapse and cave-in we have a new start each week with our Lord. And belief in a final Day, when all the dead would be raised again, had been long held by Pharisee Jews, when they returned to Jerusalem from Babyon (though far more stayed to become the major center of Judaism). From rebuilders came orthodox Judaism. Scholars think this fuller view was taken out of Persia, as well as belief in a Satan; though it was Yahweh GOD of Israel guiding His people to gain greater awareness of His will and purpose. "Rapture" is a popular term now for Evangelicals, but tends to cloud the end time understanding for me. I first heard it at Dallas Theological Seminary, way back in the fifties. Someone took me across the city from Perkins Seminary to visit DTS. They were speaking of "the rapture, the great tribulation, mark of the beast, the millennium" and other strange sounding terms to me. After reading from Tim LaHaye's "Revelation Revealed," I've become familiar with such nomenclature; yet still prefer Resurrection Day (as typified by each Lord's Day). We use it without going into detail and some take it to mean a "general resurrection," though Revelation shows it in two parts: the first one and then a second, with the thousand years between. After Christ has reigned for that millennium, the second raising is of all who never repented nor accepted His forgiveness. Along with Satan and the fallen angels, those of the second raising from death are cast into a lake that burns forever (hell fire). The last book of the Bible details all of this, which verifies the final justice nearly as strongly as the Gospel does the agape love of our great GOD. Paul seems to have so indicated in Titus 2:13 where he says "while we wait for the [blessed hope] and the [glorious appearing] of our great GOD and Savior, Jesus Christ." Blessed hope is for the whole church, which is invited to enter in; but glorious appearing is to the rest, those under Judgement hearing only "Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity, down into the bottomless pit prepared for the devil and his angels." In faith talk, this is all combined as our Lord's parousia, or final return--Good News to some and bad news for others. Only trust Him--NOW. He will save you---NOW. Let's heed that wonderful old song.
What a conjunction of events this morning. As I was listening to reports of those drills trying to make contact with the six so deep beneath ground, I heard the very momemt of linkup for Endeavor and it's crew with the International Space Station far above ground. Astronaut Morgan, teacher taking the late Kristi McCallough's place, is also aboard. Our reach keeps getting deeper and higher. Oh that such can be also spiritually true. Some, perhaps many, may not believe in prayer. But there's just no way the devil can completely ban it. Open prayer possibly, but not the deepest kind from the heart. LORD JESUS be with both those six below and that two (plus others) aloft. Those together aloft have a couple of weeks but You know how brief a time that six have down so deep. Amen
ANGELFIRE 8-12-07(Lord'sDay extra) As I watched Jack Pack's devotional on KJCS this morning, it made me thankful that Pauls Valley has a channel where the Bible can be shared without restriction. And those call letters mean "King Jesus Coming Soon," which is an urgent part of the Gospel sometimes neglected in preaching. Advent means "coming" and I see the SDA with a mission of keeping that truth before us. They don't try to impose their view of Saturday as the right day, but just keep it themselves. Otherwise, their doctrine as basically the same as other Christians in general. So it was my privilege to have "Song With Spoken Word" on KJCS for several months, and if the Lord so directs, I'll be on again sometime. Most important by far is the proclamation of His soon return, which looms ever larger week by week in world events. Such awareness should shake Christians awake in their worship pews. We're on the threshold of eternity and can't afford being engrossed in only trivial concerns. "Jesus Christ and Him crucified is our message to all of lost mankind. JesusSaves! As one whose father died prematurely because of his smoking, I don't feel much appreciation for the Donald W.Reynolds(tobaccoZ) Foundation giving PV a recreation center. An ariel drawing of it by Tull & Sparks looks just wonderul. And applying for the grant has been a big undertaking for the PV Recreation Planning Committee. But ANGELFIRE's gratitude to the Reynolds Foundation is zero.
ANGELFIRE 8-15-08 Maybe a third drill hole will give some answer about those six coal miners. But it doesn't seem that there's much hope left now that it's already taken over a week. Even tends to compare on a small scale to getting our troops out of Iraq. We have to consider the safety of those going in just as much as the ones being rescued. And they all are under that CEO, Bob Murray. So he's getting the heat from the public about it happening in the first place. And he claims it was no fault of the mine, but caused by an earthquake instead. Not sure how far to go with this comparison, so nuf' said for now.
Now Karl can Rove to other places than the Whitehouse. In fact, I'm glad to see him turned loose. Don't see why GW allowed that title of "president's brain" to spread. Maybe it was just inevitable, but Rove sure became a mill stone with all that's up for questions. So good riddance, I say. I never did learn what his religious commitment is; or if he claims to be a Christian at all. Just that "genius" talk annoyed me. Next month will be decisive, when the full report is made about success or failure of the surge. There have been several positive stories in the news and so general Petraius may tell us that all is not lost, as so much of the media has implied (especially CNN). With the busy schedules of school starting, it may not keep our attention. But September will surely be a "one way or the other" month for troops in Iraq these past four years. Isn't that as long as WW II lasted? And now it resembles another war that ANGELFIRE doesn't even want to mention. Instead, we must keep praying for our troops. I'm glad that several signs on my route keep making that call. We just can't fail in our prayer support, "...the motion of a hidden fire that kindles in each breast." I was so impressed by the photo of our WW school superintendent, Bill Weldon, last week at the wheel of a school bus. It illustrated an attitude of getting the job done, even if a top dog has to do some lowly chores. That's the American way isn't it! (His last name sounds to me like "well done").
ANGELFIRE 8-18-07 Another collapse in that Utah mine has nine more miners in extra danger, as I heard it just now (later: 3 dead plus 3 hospitalized and 3 safe). So that whole effort is in greater jeopardy than ever. Yet from all we've been hearing from the work crews there, abandonment is no considered alternative (later: drill hole # 4 enlarged for exits). I compared it to our troops in Iraq in my last ANGELFIRE. To this column it seems more like the nation's global economy now, with our market going down deeper each day. Yet last night the federal reserve issued a reduction in it's prime lending rate, which is always a shot in the arm for us borrowers. Is it worse getting more men caught down deep in the earth or more citizens locked into growing debt? Well, the pundits seem to consider the rate cut a good and necessary step for this immediate money crisis. And of course it will allow us to go ahead buying stuff "made in China", while we fumble with future plans in Iraq. The biggest number yet of innocent citizens was just killed by another al-Quida suicide bombing there. Maybe Iraq's goverment took their month's vacation trying to wait and see which way the local militias will go; now it's seeming to be against killing of innocent Iraqis. Hopefully they will return giving more support to the elected Malaci government. Lord we pray for our sons and daughters fighting in that prelude to Armageddon. Make us into fellow "warriors for righteousness" right here at home, where Thy purifying power is so much needed. Turn our hearts to holiness and away from the fleshly corruption/godlessness that appears in daily events of our beloved America. Save us from the folly of seeking to accommodate to such total worldliness. We know from Your Word that it leads to ruin of nations the same as individuals. Yet "blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD(Yahweh)." In our Centennial Year here at the heartland, we seek Thy divine "OK" on this state's witness to a lost and perishing world. Let OK stand for "OurKing" (who is Thy Son and is truly OK with Thee). SoLong/Shalom to you readers
LORD'sDAYextra 11-19-07 We've made no mention of that earthquake down in Peru, but just want to thank the LORD there was no tsuname out over the Pacific as expected at first. Remembering that one over in S.Asia a couple of years ago caused by a quake that become super destructive. And thank GOD for International aid now flowing into Peru. I have a lady from there on my route. She's a devout Christian plus a hard worker (at Stage) and so I'm saying a prayer for her family back in Lima. I see that China's had a mine flooding that has taken over 180 lives. That makes our Utah losses look small and even compares to Peru's # eight size quake. There is "no enduring city" here in the physical world. I woke up thinking of a professor I had in seminary who told us that in the Biblical sense, we Christians are Hebrew-Greeks. (O.T.in Hebrew/New in Greek) The latter see everything as an extension of our mind, while Hebrews take the physical as their reality. It was the body/mind issure, or body & soul. Soul is a Greek notion which the N.T. adds onto "flesh and bone" of the Old. We consider ourselves bodies when food, housing and medicine are basic. But we are souls (minds) when we start school and keep thinking ever after. Yet the body's still essential because a mind is the conunction of flesh & blood with spirit & breath. We have to be both Hebrew and Greek to fully exist, as I see it. Shalom for now.
ANGELFIRE 8-23-07 In you'll punch up this URL with /index13.html added to it, you can see what I first wrote about 9/11 just after it happened. Several weeks ago I watched a bit on one of the cable networks as the Seven Wonders of the Modern World was being determined. They were keeping a tally of phone-in votes and a couple of things here in the US were making the list. But WTC with it's twin towers, was not one of them; great as it had been. You may even have forgotten by now what the World Trade Center looked like. It was the most fantastic sight on Manhattan Island in NYC. Yet on one day, that we now call 9/11, it collapsed to disappear. In a couple of weeks we'll be marking six years since. I think nearly all the seven wonders of the ancient world have also disappeared and that's why new ones were being chosen. One of them was that Colossus on the Isle of Rhodes. There in the Mediterranean Sea, it was a gigantic size bronze statue of Apollo. I can recall looking down from our plane as we returned from a tour of Israel (Land of Promise) in '80 and seeing dwellings, down there where pilot told us it was Rhodes. An inspiration surged into my mind that moment, "so this whole earth is also the Promised Land." No ancient wonder gave me such a thought, but only the sight of human dwellings and roads that looked like toys from the sky. Colosseum was a similar name give to Rome's huge amphitheater, and a city was named Colossae, which is recorded in the Bible because of a letter St.Paul wrote to the Colossians. With such a name, you'd think it was a gigantic place too. Yet the letter's only five chapters long. In it he lays stress on avoiding false notions that were creeping into the practice of believers. Then when he writes to the church in another Greek city, Ephesus, he reiterates these warnings against religiously self righteous behavior. It was a city famous for their female idol named Diana i.e. "great is Diana of the Ephesians." She made money for the metalsmiths there in a big way. So these statues and monments can become false gods. I don't now what happened to the Colossus on Rhodes, but maybe our WTC had gained such a similar financial prominence to us. Even our ISS and successful flight of Endeavour to there and back are only temporary. Recall the story in Genesis how that tower of Babel was reaching clear up so high to the sky that GOD disapproved of it. Thus He let their language be confused (from all nations) and work came to a halt. In Revelation that very name for confusion, Babylon, is linked with Satan; same place where the ancient tower got it's name for Satan's the author of confusion. In Rev.18:2 we read "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city," as man's proud achievementa come to naught. The return of Christ Jesus will be our Seventh Wonder of the Heavenly World, far greater than any man or money made accomplishment. But 9/11 also portends the soon coming end of this old world. The death of those two NYC fireman Saturday recalls again that shocking disaster when so many firemen perished as in the twinkling of an eye our WTC was gone from the NYC skyline. Right now we continue seeing collapse continue: that I-35 W last month where the death toll has risen to 13, Utah's coal mine where a collapse took three more lives, and collapse in the stock market where the Fed had to step in a week ago. Today we hear of more flooding near and far. That can cause everything to collapse before the raging storms with fierce their hurricane force winds. So long for now
ANGELFIRE 8-25-07 William Rusher's editorial on Wednesday asked "Is America Ready to Be a Superpower." That means, of course, from now on. We certainly were during the Cold War, standing against the only other one. It was called USSR. But it collapsed in '89, so we've kept the title for the USA since then. Rusher suggests that we may be getting weary of all that goes with the "honor." I was intimating last time in ANGELFIRE that 9/11 was a turning point with the collapse of those Twin Towers in NYC and the beginning of this global War on Terrorism. Now I recall Gen.Tommy Franks (from WW) saying in his book "American Soldier" that it had made a "crease in history." That sounded quite like a military expression to me. I was only of low rank in WW II, and we never wore pressed "bell bottoms." But the officers did have pressed trousers and we knew they were running things. So that crease to me has meant more military authority, more government direction, greater all round in'crease'. For six years we've been at war without needing a draft. But the talk is rising that it's necessary. Regimentation will follow in civilian life also, as the stand against Iran builds. It's all so Biblical too. I looked at a map of ancient empires: Assyrian, Babylonian Persian. And Persia(Iran) had the greatest one ever back then.So we see history at full circle again as Iran is determined to destroy Israel with nukes soon to be made. I called this Iraq War the front edge of Armageddon and it keeps looking more so to me. Yet the real SUPERPOWER will be that Kingdom of Christ Jesus on earth when He returns in glorious majesty. It's not won with carnal weapons because our spiritual fight is against Satan and his minions. A heavenly sword is the Word of GOD (Scripture) and we must read it daily i.e.(Eph.6). So let's keep the faith, dear PV folks. With football season beginning, let's be aware of some comparisons: yardlines are decades of our lives, goalposts their eternal destiny, Christ is our team's coach, GOD the game's referee (so we'd better play by the rules), stadium crowds of alumni/fans are the departed saints looking down from glory and that big score board shows our gain/loss toward heaven or hell. Of course that's not meant literally. Thus, even injuries could signify the sacred Blood of Coach Jesus that has redeemed us. We know they hurt the coach as much as players who suffer from such. SoLong/Shalom
LORD'sDAY EXTRA 8-26-07 ANGELFIRE previously mentioned the Seven Wonders of the Modern World and thought a couple would be listed in the US on that July 7 global ballot by The New7Wonders Foundation. But not so. Here they are in order by votes: Christ the Redeemer statue 105' tall in Rio DeJenerio Brazil, the Colosseum in Rome, TajMahai in India,GreatWall of China, cityPetra in Jordan, Inca ruins of MachuPiochui in Peru and the ancient Mayan city Chichen Itza in Mexico. Sure did leave us out, so I doubt that we rank as a Superpower globally any more. I thought the new Freedom Tower in NYC would certainly be on the list since it's to be tallest buildingt on earth; though it's not being completed until 2009 or later. Sort of seems the world thumbed it's nose at US. We still think that we are the "seventh wonder", but looks like the world no longer shares that view of us. We've learned how money can't solve everything, but we have a billionair named Tom Monaghan who as a devout Catholic is planning to build the New Jerusalem over here. Maybe it will get into the Seven later on. But that New7Wonders Foundation is in Oslo, Norway, which may have helped overlooking US.
ANGELFIRE 8-29-0 When I wrote of Seven New Wonders-of-the-World that were chosen July 7 by an international call-in (like American Idol), I hadn't seen those picked. Now they are posted on this website in LORD'S DAY extra. But not any are in the USA and only one is in N.America. I had assumed that the tallest building on Earth, NYC's new Freedom Tower, would be included. Though it's a couple of years from completion, it will stand 1776 feet high where the Twin Towers once stood. So I think that global poll showed such disrespect because we're no longer considered a Superpower. And if we wimp out in Iraq it will verify that opinion as the verdict. I got a newspaper from Lansing MI sent by a boyhood PV friend, Ed "Skip" McRee, telling of his son's command there in Baghdad. His son Chad's troop battalian train the Iraqi police and assist them with law enforcement. That seems to me the biggest problem the Malaki Iraqi government is facing. In fact, I read another General's opinion that this hasn't been a War (in Iraq as it's beeing called), but a matter of establishing martial law. And that's why we have to keep Iran out of it for democracy to have amy chance. Iran's a theocracy, the very opposite of what we're trying to establish in Iraq.
Have you heard of Tom Monaghan, the billionaire who formerly owned Dominoe's Pizza? He's a religious guy and has taken all he made several years ago in selling his huge Pizza chain to build a holy city around an Ava Marie University down on the FL west coast. Since he's a devout Irish Catholic, he will allow no prostitution nor abortion in it and will focus on faithful worship along with civil morality. I don't know if profanity, liquor and gambling will also be banned. But laws are to be enforced and there will be plenty of recreation facilities plus several golf courses. It's his effort to show how big money can be used to give a Godly demonstration. Somehow it doesn't seem real, but I would be very pleased to see it work. Then maybe we could get him to take on Iraq next there with Chad: Chad & Tom working together, using both military and monitary means.
I've hated to see Bob's Easy Mart closed on S. Walnut from all that fire damage. But I drove up Walnut to the other Bob's at the north end of town, the Pig Shop;p where it was open and packed at noon, so then I just stopped at my favorite Bob's (1stUMCpastor's office) but it was locked up at noon. So then I bobbed on down to my route that begins at Bob Martin's on Liberty Road, way south of PV. Labor Sunday reminds us to hold steady in our work for the Lord without bobble or wobble, until His appearing; which gets nearer each day. I like to sing in my car. So sing with me: "What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see; the One who saved me by His grace and I shall look upon His face. Then He'll take me by the hand and lead me through the Promised Land. What a day, glorious day that will be."
Niece and I went to hear the Booth Brothers from Nashville at Elmore City on Sunday evening. They really glorified our Savior with their music. Then it was a pleasure to speak with pastor Bruce there at the church, first chance since we had conducted a wedding there together several years ago. The church (which holds 400) was filled back then, but packed even more Sun.nite, with folks from near and far. Hallelujah! JosephA