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08/12/2008 11:37:52 |
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JOIN THE BOYCOTT! WHEN SHE ACCEPTED HER OSCAR, SHE SAID PEOPLE THANK JESUS FOR THIS, WELL, JESUS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH HER GETTING IT, SUCK THIS, JESUS, THIS IS NOW HER GOD. I, AND MANY OTHERS, ARE BOYCOTTING ANYTHING SHE ACTS IN OR ADVERTISES, HENCEFORTH. CAN YOU IMAGINE IF SHE HAD SAID THAT ABOUT MOHAMMED?
ONLY IN AMERICA! SchelleBell
my_jesusspace06
IF ANYBODY HAS SEEN THIS PERSON ON MYSPACE OR ELSEWHERE, PLEASE HAVE HIM CONTACT ME OR TELL ME HOW TO CONTACT HIM. HIS FIRST NAME IS NESTOR, AND HE WAS OUR FOREIGN EXCHANGE STUDENT MY FAMILY HOSTED 1973-74, AND HE IS FROM PARAGUAY. I KNEW HIM AS NESTOR VIVEROS HOUDIN, BUT ONE OF THOSE NAMES WOULD DROP WHEN HE BECAME LEGALLY 'OF AGE.'
THERE IS MUCH NEWS I NEED TO TELL HIM SINCE WE PARTED WHEN HE WENT BACK HOME, AND I HAVE NO MEANS TO CONTACT HIM.
IT'S A-COMIN'
Three strangers strike up a conversation in the airport passenger lounge in Billings, Montana, while awaiting their respective flights. One is an American Indian passing through from Lame Deer, Montana. Another is a Cowboy on his way to Three Forks for a livestock show. The third passenger is a fundamentalist Arab student, newly arrived at the University of Montana from the Middle East.
Their discussion drifts to their diverse cultures. Soon, the two Westerners learn that the Arab is a devout, radical Muslim and the conversation falls into an uneasy lull. The cowboy leans back in his chair, crosses his boots on a magazine table and tips his big sweat-stained hat forward over his face. The wind outside is blowing tumbleweeds around, and the old windsock is flapping; but still no plane comes. Finally, the American Indian clears his throat and softly he speaks, "At one time here, my people were many, but sadly, now we are few."
The Muslim student raises an eyebrow and leans forward, "Once my people were few," he sneers, "and now we are many. Why do you suppose that is?"
The Montana cowboy shifts his toothpick to one side of his mouth and from the darkness beneath his Stetson says in a smooth drawl, "That's 'cause we ain't played Cowboys and Muslims yet, but I do believe it's a-comin'."
MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE WAS JEREMIAH JOHNSON, WITH ROBERT REDFORD. MY C.B. RADIO HANDLE WAS, AT ONE TIME, JEREMIAH JOHNSON. {ALSO WAS BUFORD PUSSER, TOO.}
ANYTHING JOHN WAYNE,
(INCLUDING MY BROTHER AND JOHN)
"All of my life I've felt privileged to have had good friends around me, privileged to have been able to do the kind of work I know and love the best, and to have been born in a country whose immense beauty and grandeur are matched only by the greatness of her people.
"For a number of years I have tried to express a deep and profound love for these things; to be able to say what I feel in my heart. And, now, in this book, I've had the chance to do so.
"I know most of you feel the same as I do about some of her imperfections, but sometimes that's good. Especially if it gets us working together to make things better. It seems to me we often take too much for granted, and have a tendency to forget "The Good Things about America."
"My hope and prayer is that everyone know and love our country for what she really is and what she stands for. May we nurture her strengths and strengthen her weaknesses so that she will always be a "Land of the Free, and Home of the Brave."
Sincerely,
John Wayne
HEAR HIM SAY:
You ask ME "Why I Love Her"? Well, I think it's pretty well explained with the words and music, but we can dwell a little more on it.
"From the mountains" (and we sure have them). The Adirondacks, the Catskills, the Cascades and the Great Smokies. The Grand Tetons, the Bitterroots, the Allegheny and the Blue Ridge. And let's not forget our Spanish sisters, the Sierra Madres and the Sierra Nevadas, and of course the big daddy of them all, the Rockies. No one in a lifetime could explore them all and I can't help but think of a few lines from a great song by Bob Nolan that the "Sons of the Pioneers" sing.
The desert breeze that brushed my hair,
The leaf that fell from who knows where,
The scent of wild flowers in the air,
Is just the touch of God's hand.
"To the prairie." Well, if you look westward from a Kansas prairie along about evening, you'll be amazed at what God can do with a sunset. Take a slow ride through Nebraska, or stand in a field of tall Iowa corn, or sample the cheeses of Wisconsin. Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio are names and places that spring from some of the richest soil in our known world.
Rivers like the Ohio and wide Missouri funnel their waters into the mighty Mississippi, which in turn, carries much of the bountiful prairie harvest to a needy world. Then there are rivers like the Cumberland, the Osage, the Platte. The settlements that sprung into cities because of rivers such as those are a pulsating heart of America: St. Louis, St. Paul, Natchez, Omaha, Louisville and New Orleans. Their names are a part of our heritage and they grow stronger with each passing year.
"To the oceans, white with foam." The Oregon Coast--unforgettable--awe-inspiring during a winter storm; Massachusetts, with its Marblehead and Martha's Vineyard, and how about rip-roaring, always-moving New York City? The Eastern shore, with Delaware and its apple orchards, makes you wish you were a kid again. The pine forests of North Carolina and the southern peaches of Georgia, it seems to me they still set beauty standards all over the world.
Watch a Hawaiian island sunrise from the old Lahaina Inn or Maui. Go ahead! Dream of old whalers and island kings! In this country you're free to go any place you want to go, from the Florida Keys to Alaska, from Hawaii to Maine; Americans move freely within her border and there's no one going to stop you.
Sure you have to pay your dues--but walleyed pike are waiting for you in Minnesota; backpacking for free in Washington, and watermelons ripe and juicy in Mississippi. Dig for oysters in Maryland or go after steelhead in Idaho. Try shooting the rapids on the Colorado or picking blueberries in Maine.
Try your country on for size. It's free and it's a big order. I've been doing it for years and I can never get enough of America.
"America, America, God shed his grace on thee..."
You ask me Why I Lover Her? Well, give me time and I'll explain.
Have you see a Kansas sunset or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou down Louisiana way?
Have you watched a cold fog drifting over San Francisco Bay?
Have you heard a bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines, Or heard the bellow of a diesel at the Appalachia mines?
Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at her Massachusetts shore, where men who braved a hard new world first stepped on Plymounth's rock?
And do you think of them when you stroll along a New York City dock?
Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies, way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?
Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea,or bow your head at Gettysburg, at our struggle to be free?
Have you seen the mighty Tetons?
Have you watched an eagle soar?
Have you seen the Mississippi roll along Missouri's shore?
Have you felt a chill at Michigan when on a winter's day, her waters rage along the shore in thunderous display?
Does the word "Aloha" make you warm?
Do you stare in disbelief when you see the surf come roaring in at Waimea Reef?
From Alaska's cold to the Everglades, from the Rio Grande to Maine, my heart cries out, my pulse runs fast at the might of her domain.
You ask me Why I Love Her? I've a million reasons why: My Beautiful America, beneath God's wide, wide sky.
"And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea."
THE HYPHEN
The hyphen, Webster's Dictionary defines, is a symbol used to divide a compound word or a single word. So it seems to me that when a man calls himself An "Afro-American," a "Mexican-American," "Italian-American, an "Irish-American," "Jewish-American," What he's sayin' is, "I'm a divided American."
Well, we all came from other places,
different creeds and different races, to form a nation...to become as one. Yet, look at the harm a line has done--a simple little line, and yet
as divisive as a line can get.
A crooked cross the Nazis flew, and the Russian hammer and sickle too--time bombs in the lives of man; but none of these could ever fan the flames of hatred faster than the hyphen.
The Russian hammer built a wall that locks men's hearts from freedom's call. A crooked cross flew overhead above twenty million tragic dead--among them men from this great nation, who died for freedom's preservation.
A hyphen is a line that's small; it can be a bridge or be a wall. A bridge can save you lots of time; a wall, you always have to climb. The road to liberty lies true. The hyphen's use is up to you. Used as a bridge, it can span all the differences of man. Being free in mind and soul should be our most important goal. If you use the hyphen as a wall, you'll make your life mean...and small.
An American is a special breed, whose people came to her in need. They came to her that they might find a world where they'd have peace of mind, where men are equal...and something more--Stand taller than they stood before.
So you be wise in your decision, and that little line won't cause division. Let's join hands with one another...for in this land, each man's your brother.
United we stand...divided we fall. We're Americans...and that says it all.
AMERICANS
What makes the word "America" ring With a sound that brightens the air? It's people, her people, who have done their "own thing" with blood, sweat, tears, and a prayer.
Louis Armstrong on a golden trumpet, and Marian Anderson singing "The Lord's Prayer"; The savage power of Jack Dempsey, and the quiet pride of Jesse Owens; Merle Haggard singing "Okie from Muskogee," and Chet Atkins pickin' a guitar; Bing Crosby at Christmastime, and Charles Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic alone; a sharecroppers's son, an immigrant boy, a hobo who rode all the rails, the magic guitar of an ol' country boy, a lone eagle who pioneered trails; Sandy Koufax staring down at a batter, while Willie Mays chants his "Say hey!"
Maria Tallchief gliding in Swan Lake, while Fred Astaire dances on gossamer wings; Billy Graham bringing God to millions, and Jonas Salk bringing hope to the world; Mahalia Jackson closing her eyes in devotion, and Johnny Cash singing at the White House!
What makes the word "America" ring With a sound that brightens the air? It's people, her people, who have done their "own thing" with blood, sweat, tears, and a prayer. Willie Shoemaker booting Swaps home, while Eddie Arcaro wins the Triple Crown on Citation; Arnie Palmer winning the Open, while Eddy Arnold is winning hearts; Tom Harmon threading the field for Michigan, while Bob Morrison plays his heart out for Troy; Kate Smith singing "God Bless America." and Irving Berlin, who wrote it!
Then there are those, unheralded, whose dedication to our country is strong and true: the builders of America--those who make her factories hum, the loggers of her great forests, the men who labor deep in her mines and the man who works with his hands. The farmer who toils from dawn to dusk, and those who carry her bountiful yield to all the states of our Union. The railroaders, our merchant sailors, the airline pilots, and those modern knights of the road...the truck drivers.
These, and others like them, have earned their rights to walk proudly...with the knowledge that their goals were acheived through honest toil and in the spirit of harmony found in The People...working together...in this great land.
What makes the word "America" ring with a sound that brightens the air? It's people, her people, who have done their "own thing" with blood, sweat, tears, and a prayer.
EVERYONE knows by now that America is made up of every race, color and creed under the sun. The inscription on the base of the Statue of Liberty is for real: "From her beacon-hand flows world-wide welcome." Each succeeding wave of immigrants had a tough row to hoe, that's for sure! When the potato famine of 1846 devastated Ireland, thousands of Irishmen flocked to our shores. They were greeted by signs in Boston, Philadelphia and New York that spelled out the message that "no Irish Catholics need apply", yet those men fanned out across the nation in search of honest toil. And yet, a descendant of those Irishmen became the thirth-fifth President of the United States.
Our country stands today as the world's oldest living Republic. We are the greatest sociological experiment that the world has ever known. If we fail our trust, Democracy fails. Like Ireland, the Middle East has long been divided by ancient hatreds, hatreds that have no place on our shores. Religious wars and fierce idealogical conflicts should never be a part of America. People came to her to escape religious and political persecution. Sure, we've had our problems. What family doesn't? But they haven't stopped us. The total divisiveness that has burdened many other nations hasn't caught on here. We have our disagreements, but let some other country step on our tail and they'll find out how quickly Americans become united.
Each day that goes by seems to make us gel a little more. Maybe it's because each group of people who came here has given us their tastes in food and in music, their skills in art and designs and the customs of their lands. But, more importantly, they brought with them an intense desire for freedom.
Where else in the world can you get a good hamburger sandwich, a cheese blintz, a taco or some real lasagne all in the same block? And what would an early morning call or a cold mountain location be like without some good hot coffee topped off with some Danish pastry or German strudel? Where else in the world can you get Chopin etudes, Dixieland jazz or Country music just by twisting your radio dials? It's hard to remember that bluegrass fiddling is a direct descendant of Scottish bagpipes. And give credit to Peter Tchaikovsky when you hear "Tonight We Love." It is his music.
So bring your recipe for good Irish stew with you, but leave bigotry and hatred behind. Sing and dance to the balalaika but bring no walls with you. Praise God anyway you so desire. Just allow your neighbor the same right, for each person you see has the same needs that you do. We all want respect, concern, and, yes, love. When we all tear down walls of bigotry and prejudice and live in real harmony with ourselves and others, then we'll all say "I am an American," pure and simple. And "The Hyphen" will no longer apply to any of us.
When that day comes, the world can count on us for another ten thousand years, for we'll be a brighter, a stronger and an undivided America.
Personally, I am in love with my country. Someone asked me a long time ago as to what I wanted for my daughters, and my answer was quick and to the point: "I want them to get a good start in life." I tried to give all of my children the values that some people today call old fashioned, but most of all I want them to love their country. It's my prayer that they will never have to lift their hands to defend it but I want them to have a profound respect for those who have.
I have now watched the first four grow into adulthood. (ONE OF THEM HUGGED RUDY) They went to school, learned their lessons well and learned to adjust, to get along with other people. It is a deep satisfaction to me that they all love America. I watched them grow from childhood to adolescence and then into maturity. The thread that has run through all of their lives is the thread of responsibility. It has made them resolute and independent. They love their country and I love them all the more because they do.
In the latter 1930's a man named Adolf Hitler proclaimed that the Germans were the "master race" and would eventually rule the world. On a warm June night in 1938 a sharecropper's son who had made his way from the fields of Alabama to Madison Square Garden gave Americans a thrill lost forever to those who missed that night. That boy was Joseph Louis Barrow, the Brown Bomber. He stepped into the ring against the pride of the German Army, and in less than three minutes he destroyed Hitler's myth forever. And the free world went wild.
Israel Baline came to America from Russia and no one really noticed that fact until he changed his name to Irving Berlin. It seems like he's been here forever. There's one thing we know for sure, his songs will be.
Fabens, Texas, brought a young man into the world in August of 1931. He didn't grow too much physically but he sure has topped his world in stature. Right now he's had about seven thousand winners in throughbred racing. My! Mother Shoemaker, you must be proud of your young son Willy.
America has so much talent running around loose that name dropping is easy. Who can forget the long range clutch passing of Johnny Unitas, the sandlot kid from Pittsburg? How many people, would you say, hum a Cole Porter tune at one time or another? What American lives who never heard of John Denver or Frank Sinatra?
I look back on December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor. Our Pacific Fleet was destroyed, our Air Force reduced to rubble. The call went out to all of us to get busy, to roll up our shirt-sleeves and get things moving. Our factories poured out in less than two years the most formidable fleet and the biggest Air Force in the world. And all of this came about because of the men and women of America working together in a common cause. Unheralded people, your friends and neighbors who may never have stepped on a concert stage or thrown a touchdown pass, but they built a monument to the awesome latent strength of America, and Hitler's and Hirohito's legions were destroyed.
All across our land are people who dedicate their lives to decency and compassion. Whenever a catastrophe strikes anywhere in the world, it seems that our people are among the first to send aid to the unfortunate victims of that catastrophe.
The farmers who drive their tractors along endless rows of cornfields or run giant wheat threshers across miles of golden grain work selflessly and in so doing strengthen our nation.
Millions of road miles pass under the wheels of our giant trucking industry and these drivers feel innately that they belong to America and America belongs to them. The people who work in and on Her soil are wedded to Her and they love Her.
In my fifty years of picture-making, I have been what some people might term a "star." Well, for my money, the stars in my crown are the people who lit the sets, groomed the stock, took the pictures and, in general, put the whole dad-blamed show on the road. People made me a star with blood, sweat and tears! And when it was needed, a prayer!
FACE THE FLAG, SON!
Face the Flag of stars and bars,
Of red and white and blue,
A flag that guarantees the rights
For men like me and you.
Face the Flag, son! Read what's written there--
The history, the progress and the heritage we share. Our flag relects the pst, son, but stands for so much more, And in this Age of Aquarius, it still flies in the fore. It leads the forward movement, shared by all mankind, To learn...to love...to live with peace of mind; To learn the mysteries of space, as well as those of earth;
To love each man for what he is, regardless of his birth; To live without the fear of reprisal for belief; To ease the tensions of a world that cries out for relief.
Face the Flag of stars and bars,
Of red and white and blue,
A flag that guarantees the rights
For men like me and you.
Face the Flag, son! Take a good long look.
What you're seeing now can't be found in a history book. It's the present and the future, son. It's being written now, And you're the one to write it, but the flag can show you how.
Do you know what it stands for? What its makers meant? To think...to speak...the privilege of dissent; To think our leaders might be wrong...to stand and tell them so. These are the things that other men under other flags will never know.
But responsibility...that's the cross that free men must bear, And if you don't accept that, the freedom isn't there.
Face the Flag of stars and bars,
Of red and white and blue,
A flag that guarantees the rights
For men like me and you.
Face the Flag, son, and face reality. Our strengths and our freedoms are based in unity.
The flag is but a symbol, son, of the world's greatest nation, And as long as it keeps flying, there's cause for celebration. So do what you've got to do, but always keep in mind, A lot of people believe in peace...but there are the other kind. If we want to keep these freedoms, we may have to fight again. God forbid, but if we do, let's always fight to win, For the fate of a loser is futile and it's bare: No love, no peace...just misery and despair.
Face the Flag, son...and thank God it's still there.
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HE SURVIVED VIET NAM ONLY TO TAKE A HEAD SHOT IN PANAMA.
MY BLOODLINE: THE REYNOLDS AND THE DOWNEYS, THE HURLEYS, AND THE SAVIOR
OF ALLTHE CELEBRITIES I HAVE WORKED WITH, ONE STICKS IN MY MIND ABOVE THE OTHERS. ONE DAY I WAS WORKING SECURITY AT THE BACK DOOR OF THE ARENA BEFORE THE SHOW, AND THIS LITTLE GUY WITH LONG, DARK HAIR TO THE SHOULDERS, WEARING IVORY BERMUDA SHORTS AND A WHITE T-SHIRT AND SNEAKERS CAME OUT AND STOOD TALKING WITH ME ABOUT THE ROCK FORMATIONS. WE WERE STANDING SHOULDER TO ELBOW WHEN MY RELIEF CAME ALONG, SO I COULD GO TAKE MY POSITION IN FRONT OF THE STAGE, MY BACK ACTUALLY AGAINST THE FRONT OF THE STAGE, BUT AS I WENT TO GO INSIDE, THE LITTLE LONG HAIRED GUY SAID, AS HE POINTED SKY-WARD, "DOESN'T THAT LOOK LIKE SKY KING'S AIRPLANE?" I TURNED AND LOOKED, AND SURE ENOUGH IT DID, AND I VERBALLY AGREED. THE YOUNGER RELIEF MAN ASKED WHO SKY KING WAS, SO THIS LONG-HAIR AND I HAD TO EXPLAIN, AND THEN I WENT IN TO ASSUME MY POST. AS THE LIGHTS WENT OUT AND THE CROWD BECAME EXCITED, I TURNED TO LOOK, KNOWING THE STAR OF THE SHOW HAD MADE HIS APPEARANCE, AND LO, THERE ON THE STAGE WITH ELECTRIC GUITAR IN HAND, WAS THE LONG-HAIR, BUT NOW DRESSED IN A SHINY BLACK FANCY OUTFIT INSTEAD OF BERMUDA SHORTS, T SHIRT AND SNEAKERS. IT WAS NONE OTHER THAN B.J. THOMAS, HIMSELF, WHO HAD STOOD SHOULDER TO ELBOW WITH THIS LOWLY SECURITY OFFICER OUTSIDE, TALKING ABOUT ROCKS AND SKY KING'S AIRPLANE. HE HAS BEEN MY FAVORITE CELEBRITY EVER SINCE THEN. GOD BLESS AND SAVE HIM IF HE ISN'T ALREADY SAVED!
Being born again transforms you into someone who didn't exist before. What you receive as a Christian isn't the point, it's who you become as a Christian.
It's not what you do as a Christian that determines who you are, rather, it's who you are that determines what you do. Understanding your identity IN Christ is absolutely essential to your success at living the Christian life.
Next to a knowledge OF God--a knowledge of who YOU ARE is by far the most important truth you can possess. Take your stand as a child of God IN Christ. Thank God for giving you this gracious and unwarranted position.
"If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come".2 Corinthians 5:17.
MY MUSIC IS: OLD COUNTRY WESTERN OF THE HEE HAW ERA AND BEFORE,SUCH AS THE STATLER BROTHERS, ROY CLARK, JOHNNY CASH, TOM T. HALL, EDDIE ARNOLD, WAYLON AND WILLIE, CHARLIE PRIDE, AND SO ON,
ALSO THE 50s AND 60s DOO-WOP,
BALLADS
AND OLD HYMNS, QUARTET GOSPEL, THE HARMONICATS,
BLUE GRASS, GOSPEL, AND APPALACHIAN. MY GRANDFATHER WAS IN A BIG BAND IN THE 20s, PLAYING ALL STRINGED INSTRUMENTS AND THE SLIDE WHISTLE BY EAR, AND I HAVE SOME OF HIS TEST RECORDS AND OLDIES FROM THAT ERA WITH SOME HANK WILLIAMS, SR., AND SUCHLIKE.
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 THE VALLEY
I have been through the valley of weeping, The valley of sorrow and pain; But the "God of all comfort" was with me, At hand to uphold and sustain.
As the earth needs the clouds and the sunshine, Our souls need both sorrow and joy; So He places us oft in the furnace, The dross from the gold to destroy.
When He leads through som valley of trouble, His powerful hand we can trace; For the trials and sorrows are sent us Take part in His lessons of grace.
Oft we shrink from the purging and pruning, Forgetting the Husbandman knows The deeper the cutting and paring, The richer the cluster that grows.
Well He knows that affliction is needed; He has a wise purpose in view, And in the dark valley He whispers, "Hereafter thou'lt know what to do."
As we travel through life's shadowed valley, Fresh springs of His love ever rise; And we learn that our sorrows and losses Are blessings just sent in disguise.
So we'll follow where ever He leadeth, Though pathways be dreary or bright; For we've proof that OUR god can give comfort, Our God can give songs in the night.
---UNKNOWN |
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FOR RECREATIONAL READING, I LIKE WESTERNS,
MARK TWAIN, MOUNTAIN MEN,
WAR OF NORTHERN AGGRESSION
TO VIET NAM WAR STORIES, HISTORICAL,
CHRISTIAN, ANTIQUE BOOKS AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS, SURVIVAL MANUALS, HUNTING MAGAZINES.
YOU MAY HAVE WONDERED WHY I DID NOT LIST THE BIBLE, BUT IT IS MY LIFE, AND MY TOOL OF THE TRADE, MY SWORD, MY PILLOW, THE PLAN OF LIFE, MY MAP, AND THE LIGHT UNTO MY FEET, NOT JUST A BOOK.
WE THE SENSIBLE PEOPLE..... of the United States of Amewrica, "In an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights.
ARTICLE I: You do NOT have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.
ARTICLE II: You do NOT have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.
ARTICLE III: You do NOT have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.
ARTICLE IV: You do NOT have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.
ARTICLE V: You do NOT have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.
ARTICLE VI: You do NOT have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.
ARTICLE VII: You do NOT have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.
ARTICLE VIII: You do NOT have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.
ARTICLE IX: You do NOT have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.
ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care WHERE YOU are from, English is OUR language. Learn IT or go back to wherever you came from!
ARTICLE XI: You do NOT have the right to change our country's history or heritage. I happen to have had family on both sides of the War of Northern Aggression, and the Confederates were just as much patriots as the minute men and Continental soldiers (REBELS) of earlier wars. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of OUR heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!!!
"PERFERATED BOVINE, BATMAN!!!"
THE SYMBOL
There is a fad that springs up now and then in America of considering it fashionable to deplore our flag as just a symbol. Well, that's absolutely right. It is a symbol. The only fault that I can find with the pseudointellectuals who therefore discount it is that they live by symbols and apparently aren't even aware of it.
I would like to ask them a few questions. For example, why do they stop their cars when they see a red light at an intersection? It's just a symbol. The answer is obvious. The least unpleasant thing that could result from doing otherwise would be for a patrolman to give them a ticket. The God awful end result could be a screeching, tearing, rendering crash that might end with life ebbing cruelly from broken bodies. It's just a symbol, that red light, but it's wiser to pay attention to that symbol, now isn't it? A driver going down a steep mountain road might look up to see a sign posted with lines on it depicting a dangerous curve ahead. Does that driver slow to take that curve? You bet he does. He pays attention to that symbol because it could mean life or death to him if he doesn't.
To go a step further, let's concentrate on a single dot called a period. It's always important but it can become explosive. If you should promise to pay a man $500 a week on a written contract and your secretary puts the dot in the wrong place, it could be disastrous for either party providing that they signed on the dotted line. Think then of the symbol we call "Old Glory." It came into being by an enactment of the fifteenth Congress in 1818. Rather than go into the purely physical aspects of our flag, I will try to point out what each segment of it means in heraldry and apply it to real life situations.
Red is generally accepted to denote hardiness and valor. Washington's troops at Valley Forge surely lived up to that description just as surely as did Jedadiah Smith and Joseph Walker when they penetrated the vast mountain ranges of the West and so did the people who followed. Acts of great courage are heavily pronounced in the annals of America and they most certainly didn't always take place on the field of battle. Yet, because of the fact that World War II, the Korean War and the war in Vietnam are fresh in the minds of America, there is scarcely an American who somehow, somewhere, is not acquainted with a person who once again had proved American mettle under great stress.
Remember the symbol. The red stripes on our flag represent all of America. They represent us from the dreadful winter at Valley Forge to the present and into the future. America, that is all of us, experts courage and valor from one another. It is a proud symbol and one that future generations will revere. The white stripes in actuality represent purity and innocence. Surely the symbolism of this isn't lost on us. Despite the very real problems created by our human natures, our massive goal has always been the pursuit of justice, equality and personal happiness. To this end the often ponderous wheels of American jurisprudence seek our every avenue of truth and the American people have often asked openly if the expenditures of millions of dollars to prosecute a test case is worth the money. Emphatically yes. The search is for all of us and since those white stripes are gazed upon by millions of Americans every day, let them remember that they symbolize our constant trust to guard truth and justice vigilantly. Truth and justice that seek to be a shield for every American to carry into his daily life.
A symbol? Yes, but a powerful, moving force in the constant drive toward a better world.
In the upper left-hand corner, there is a block of blue emblazoned with fifty white stars. Technically it is called the Union; it symbolized the union of two or more peoples, incorporating their ideas and districts. Let's look at it from its real standpoint and realize that each one of those stars represents millions of Americans and that somewhere in those millions is the name you answer to. No need to pick out a single star and say, "Hey, that's for me." Those stars represent all fifty states collectively and our founders did this with a stroke of genius. For our Union does unite two or more peoples or districts. It unites fifty districts and over two hundred million people. When you stand up and salute our flag or fly it from your home, your boat or your place of business, you are saying, "I'm grateful to be a member of that biggest Union of all, the United States of America." The color blue represents vigilance and perseverance and most certainly since revolutionary days we have epitomized those words.
So in bundling it all together we have a symbol, a symbol that for two hundred years has signified honor, valor, justice, responsibility, perseverance, hardiness and commonwealth. That symbol has been the banner that millions of Americans have marched and sailed and flown within the maws of death. They have been proud of that symbol and in turn it has slowly and patiently nurtured their common good to the extent that America stands head and shoulders over most of the world.
Yes, face the flag. It is most emphatically your flag. It has been at Iwo Jima, at the Maine, it has flown against the enemy in the Coral Sea and soared high in the sky above Nazi guns. Yet, it flies peacefully above every court house in the nation and stands quietly at Arlington. It is your flag, the symbol of unity, strength and honor toward you and toward your fellow Americans. Yes, face the flag, and to thank God it's still there.  We hear a lot about war, Or hurricanes that hit our shore. We hear a lot about hard times And a good deal more about the crimes That make the front pages of our news. But all that does is sing the blues... About America! Now, what of The Good things in our lives-- About the men who love their wives, Who take their kids when they go fishin', And spend their workin' days just wishin' To make things better? A fireman who climbs a tree And sets a litten kitten free. A policeman who helps you cross the avenue. A man who stops when you've broken down And asks if you need a lift to town, Or simply says, "Friend, what can I do?" Have you stopped at a grocery store And watched a kid who's bit off more Than his five- or ten-cent piece can chew? He needs just two cents or three To get that soda pop, you see! And you get that feelin': "Why not?" And you come through. And how about on a Sunday morning, The sun's up high and the day is borning, And church bells break the stillness in the sky, And all your neighbors and your friends Climb in the family car again And go to church, and never question "Why?" Then you look at the U.S.A., The folks at work, their kids at play, And lookin' back, you see how hard they've tried To keep this country free and strong. And somehow you've known all along, The answer's here! Right in your own backyard! For as long as you believe in love... in faith...hope...and God above, The future of this land of ours is strong. And most of us feel just that way, And that's the truth! So let us say, "America...can't be so very wrong!"
It's no real chore for me to write about "The Good Things" of America, although I wondered for quite a while as to why it was so hard to start. Then it came to me loud and clear. There are so many good things about America, I found myself trying to eliminate hundreds of them that I might at least not write a book on the subject. It was then that I decided to dwell upon facets of America that in each case covers a sea of individual "Good Things." Therefore, I suppose that my number one topic should be my job. It's the one thing that takes up most of my time. It's something I'm grateful for because it's a job that I love to do. If any youngster should ask me for some advice on that subject, I'd have to tell him that he must first find out what he really wants to do with his life. Take a long hard look and make darn sure that it's what you really, really want. Then jump in feet first and give it all you have. The chances are that you'll succeed, for success is not measured in your wealth but in your worth. A person who is eager to go to his job every day is a happy man, and that's success. Once you've made up your mind about that life work, you'll find that these United States have every tool in the world to help you along.
The major factor is our free-enterprise system. Under that system you are free to pursue whatever career suits you and you have fifty states to find it in. Yes, a "Good Thing" in our country is that right to decide what you want to do with your life and where you want to do it. Free enterprise means, "do your own thing," and if you really put your heart and soul in it, you'll have a pretty fair shot at the good life. In many parts of the world, even though you may be a national of a particular country, you have to have visas to travel in your own nation. One of our "Good Things" lies in the fact that although we solidly back states' rights in America, every citizen can be as much at home in one state as he can be in any other. A Texan can't get by pretending that he's from New York but he can live there with the same total rights any New Yorker has. A Minnesotan doesn't speak with a Mississippi drawl, but he can move to Tupelo and not create a single wave.
Yes, in America we all savor our native state and often take for granted our unassailable right to work and live in any of the others. For we basically share our entire nation together and that's another of "The Good Things" of America.
Our country thrives on change. In nature nothing is permanent. So it stands to reason that as laws change, ideologies and mores change so that society changes and that is good. When America moves slowly to a change of long duration, that change has to be for the good of the majority. If it isn't we just want to alter that situation, our representatives start paying attention. No guns or bombs or Army coups. Just the biggest and best weapon of them all, our right to vote. X's on paper. The ballot box, a "Good Thing."
Let's take a look at our religious beliefs. While the majority of Americans embrace Christianity, every religion of the world has found its way to our shores. Certainly we have our share of fanatics but the preponderance of Americans have a deep rooted respect for the beliefs of their fellow man. After all, was not one of our Founding Fathers' prime considerations freedom from persecution and freedom of religion?
Here all the world's religions have gathered under the vast canopy of America's skies to live and to let live in harmony. In my opinion that's a mighty "Good Thing."
Under the umbrella of all of these "Good Things" an American can live an exciting and a full life. You may vote for whom you want, pray to whatever deity pleases you, work at whatever trade or profession you really desire and live in a country that affords you every type of terrain found in the world. Day after day in America, people enjoy the good life. It's solid and it's real. There's so much here it's easy to take it for granted and to become alarmed at the headlines that shout out disasters in bold print. Just remember that the bad news makes up less than two percent of our nation's activities. The other ninety-eight percent, a man towing a stranger's car to a garage, a neighbor caring for a sick child or a minister making a call to a dying parishioner in a driving rain doesn't make the headlines because it won't sell papers. But the "Good Things," we have them, here in America.
THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS--ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag"! What do those words mean to you? To me they say, "Thank you, America, for your strength, your courage and your freedom...which has been a beacon to the world for two hundred years."
"Of the United States of America"! Whose bright stars are fifty states...each bearing its own stamp of individuality. People...two hundred million strong...people who have come to her from all corners of the earth.
"And to the republic for which it stands"! A land of laws...with an ingenious system of checks and balances that allows no man to become a tyrant...and lets no group prevail...if their power is not tempered with a real concern for the governed...A land where the right of dissent and of free speech is jealously guarded...where the ballot box is the sword...and the people its wielder.
"One nation under God"! A land where freedom of worship is a cornerstone of her being...A land graced with temples and churches, synagogues and altars that rise in profusion to embrace all the religions of the world.
"Indivisible"! A land forged by the hot steel of raw courage...and formed forever...by the awful crucible of civil war.
"With liberty"! Where man in pursuit of an honest life will not be denied his chance...where her citizens move freely within her vast borders without hindrance or fear...A land brimming with opportunity...where freedom of choice is the guide for all.
"And justice"! The courts of our land are open to all. Its wheels of justice grind for all causes...all people. They look to every avenue for justice...every concern of the law...and they temper their reasoning with mercy...
"FOR ALL!"!
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG...OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS...ONE NATION UNDER GOD...INDIVISIBLE...WITH LIBERTY...AND JUSTICE...FOR ALL.
I can well remember as a little boy standing up in my classroom every morning and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Shucks, I didn't know and I didn't care that the pledge was first published in 1892 and that it was the result of a dream to have "a flag in every school." All I knew at the time was that for some dog-gone reason I had to hide my feelings from my classmates. The inner excitement that took over me when I clasped my hand over my heart and said "I pledge allegiance" was so great I just couldn't share it with anybody. All that I knew then was that somehow, mysteriously, I belonged. I belonged to something far too profound for my young mind to comprehend. But, I belonged. As I grew older, the mystery began to unfold. I wasn't just talking about some nebulous place a long way off, I was talking about the ground I was standing on. Ground that stretched from California to my Iowa homeland and beyond. When I was five years old, my parents moved from Winterset, Iowa, to Lancaster, California. Imagine a five-year-old from the flat plains of Iowa being plunked down in a land that had huge mountains looming over its western rim and that stretched for hundreds of miles eastward--The Mojave Desert. On to Glendale--high school--became involved in dramatics, football. My horizons widened, so did my love and yes my awe of my country. When I was sixteen I had a really personal feeling about a change that occurred in the "Pledge" at that time. It originally read, "I pledge allegiance to my flag': in 1923 the National Flag Conference changed that to read, "I pledge allegiance to the flag." At sixteen I sort of took it personally that my flag had been deleted, until I realized that it really does belong to all of us. Now, after having traveled extensively throughout the world, every word of that Pledge is precious to me. For hidden in its simplicity there lies a tremendous power. For our Republic stands for the innate dignity of all mankind, and our one nation, which became the United States of America at the hideous cost of the Civil War, is under God. We are indivisible and ever since 1776 all the world is aware of our hunger for individual liberty and our thirst for justice. The next time you say those words, let your mind wander back to those days when you stood in your classrooms and recited the Pledge of Allegiance, for they were your first real commitment to your nation. Your first real step toward a bright new world. 
WHY ARE YOU MARCHING?
Why Are You Marching, Son? I'd really like to know! Is it because of Valley Forge, or perhaps the Alamo? Or, "One if by land--two if by sea,"
A trumpet's call...the will to be free? And what of a man who stood straight and tall, Who wept silent tears when he saw brave men fall?
No matter--no difference--the blue or the gray,
All were his brothers...how often he'd pray. And what of Antietam--that now peaceful stream Where the water, blood-red, glittered and gleamed?Appomattox...Chickamauga..Vicksburg...Bull Run...Cumberland...Gettysburg...and then Washington.
Why Are You Marching, Son?
In Flanders Fields, how proud were they
Whose forms beneath the poppies lay. Men who saw Verdun...And died at the Marne...Soissons...And those who tried the fearful foe at Chateau-Thierry, Who fought and bled...whose hearts grew weary, But in whose minds one thought kept churning--That the torch of liberty keep burning.
Why Are You Marching, Son? The planes swarmed in, and the rising sun Glowed fiercely on the evil done To men whose blood runs through our veins, Men who died, and whose remains Life forever locked in waters deep. Now, is it right that they should sleep While the warm sea laps at a twisted hull And see the torch of liberty grow dull? Anzio...Cassino...and the Po! St. Mere Eglise...Le Mans...St. Lo! Gardelegen...Buchenwald...On and on the roll is called! And why?...Why Are You Marching, Son?
Bugles shrilled in the frozen night, And at first dawn, the awful sight Of seas of men...row after row, Left to die on blood-stained snow! Pusan...Pyongyang...Suwan...Kyongju! And blood-red ran the swift Yalu!
In South Vietnam the big guns roared, And once again we fought a war To honor a pledge our nation gave To help that little country save Her people from the certainty That she'd be ruled by tyranny.
No matter where the big guns roar, Our fighting men, like those before, Take the torch we all hold dear And face freedom's enemies without fear.
Our fathers died from sea to sea, And blessed the torch of liberty. Why?...
WHY ARE YOU MARCHING, SON?
That's a pretty potent question and can be answered on both sides of the fence. So when you ask it of a young rebel, he may come back with answers that run the gamut from political corruption to social unrest. I think that a certain amount of questioning of our nation's direction and purpose is healthful, and I for one respect young people for wanting to effect change. If they don't mind however, I'd kind of like to ask them where they intend to go. If you march wildly because you want social reform and have no plan to better the social conditions that already exist, it might be better to stay home. It seems to me that a whole lot of our marches of the sixties have sure discovered that the political process of America, encompassing in its purpose the search for the best common good for all of us, may be slow and a bit tedious, but most effective in the long run.
Now if you take up arms and march for your country when she calls on you, that's a whole new ballgame. To me it means that you've already accepted the belief that your nation is on the right track for you and that you want to keep it there.
Maybe we've had "right" wars and "wrong" wars in our two-hundred-year history, and even now it's only conjectural to say how they will be evaluated a thousand years from now. But I can't help feel for example that our country wouldn't be worth much today if we would have sat back on December 7, 1941, and said, "Ah shucks, maybe we should see it from their viewpoint." And so we marched again, just as we'd done at Valley Forge and at Belleau Wood. The millions of Americans who were transformed from fuzzy cheeked youths into formidable fighting men, marched to preserve their country and preserve it they did. I just wish that our dissenters would recognize a darned interesting point. America didn't keep up that huge army of civilian soldiers, but in remarkably quick time returned them to civilian life. We marched when we had to and then quit marching.
Again, I'd like to ask those dissenters to think about a thing called honor. You can't put it in a sandwich and you can't hold it in your hand. You either have it or you don't and you, alone, are the one who knows. If you think it's honorable to question a commitment made by your Government to a foreign power, that's certainly your buisness. All I ask of you is don't consider that young boy who is fighting for you in some faraway land either a fool or a patsy. In my book, no matter how you may look at it, I feel that he's making it possible for the rest of us to enjoy the luxury of deciding to which tune we will march.
TAPS
It was July in Virginia. The scent of the dogwood and the laurel lay heavy on the land, While the burgeoning fruit of the peach and the apple marked the full sway of summer. For seven fateful days, the trees, the flowers...Yes, the very ground itself...Had shuddered under the roar of cannon...The bark of howitzers...and the crackling of a legion of rifles.
Now, all was silent. The sledgehammer blows of Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson Had mauled the Army of the Potomac...And yet that army was not destroyed. Seven thousand men had fallen in that dreadful week...and the savagery of the conflict Was grimly evident in the river of wounded...that wound through the gree hills.
Now, a new sound drifted in the soft evening sky. For Colonel Dan Butterfield, a courageous and able soldier, Was also a man of music.
To honor his fallen comrades, he had composed a simple and heartrending melody.
On July second, in the year 1862, Its strains floated over the graves that scarred the dark Virginia earth.
It has been more than a hundred years since that sound was born...but these notes have never died away. Every night of the year, throughout the world, fighting men of America, From the North and the south, the East and the West,
Close their eyes in sleep to its call. And in each of their hearts...there glows a fierce surge of pride.
"Fading light...falling night... Trumpet calls as the sun sinks in flight. Sleep in peace, comrades dear... God is near."
Ever since the "Seven Days Battle" of the Civil War, "Taps" has been a part of the American way of life. The word alone became a standard and it still lingers very much on the American scene.
In my picture-making, I've done a lot of shows where the Cavalry would bed down for the night in a desert outpost. Even in a movie the sound of that lone bugle would send a shiver through me. It's funny what just a few notes can do. I've listened to some pretty complicated music in my day and some of it certainly left its impressions on me, but that simple uncomplicated strain called "Taps" tells a story that's too big for one lifetime.
How many of our heroes have gone to their final rest to its call? Heralded men whose names were household words and the unheralded, known only to God. When you spin that tune out for over a century of time a lot of history rides on those notes. The Union's Colonel Dan Butterfield had to be a genius, for he sat down in the heat of battle, scribbled the notes down on paper and handed them to his bugler. The rest is history. Some men work for months on end putting down thousands of notes on reams of paper and unfortunately end up in obscurity. Colonel Butterfield, wanting simply to express his compassion and love for his men, captured that feeling forever with just a few notes. It seems to me that when those notes ring out, it is a melody for all Americans."
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  A co-worker and friend at Oral Roberts University Department of Public Safety told me on 08-26-07: "Whereas the growth rings on the cross-section of a tree trunk reveals its age, so likewise does every circle of your life denote a complete cycle of all your thoughts, words, and deeds towards your greater growth. And just as each ring represents the memories and experiences and history of that tree, and history may be told by studying those rings, so, too, then, does every circle complete a record of all your life's memories and experiences which have all led to your greater growth." --Ed Marr, speaker and author, azuwere@godtube.com
LEST WE FORGET
CLIMB DOWN AND SIT A SPELL!
I WANT TO THANK THE LYRICIST AND THE PERFORMERS OF THE OLD SONG "WHEN JESUS CAME INTO THE BARROOM", BECAUSE WHEN I WAS 6 AND LEARNED TO OPERATE THE OLD PHONOGRAPH AND MEMORIZED THAT OLD SONG. IT WAS AN ATTRACTION TO ME BECAUSE SOMEONE WAS TALKING ABOUT A GUY NAMED JESUS AND THEY WERE NOT ANGRY. THEN, 6 YEARS LATER, WHEN I TAGGED ALONG WITH OLDER BROTHER AND HIS FRIEND, PATRICK WILLIAMSON, TO A CAMPUS LIFE MEETING AT THE HOUSE OF JOHN BURNHAM, IN MORTON, IL, I WAS READY TO RECEIVE THE GOSPEL MESSAGE AND GIVE MY HEART AND LIFE TO JESUS, SO, JOHN, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU ARE STILL ALIVE OR NOT, BUT I THANK YOU VERY MUCH, TOO. I LOOK FORWARD TO RIDIN' A TRAIL OR TWO WITH ALL OF YOU UP THERE. AS I SAID, I MEMORIZED THAT SONG, AND LATER TAUGHT IT TO MY VERY YOUNG DAUGHTER, AND ALSO ADAPTED IT TO ALLOW MY JOHN WAYNE, WALTER BRENNAN AND CLINT EASTWOOD IMPERSONATIONS, TO SPICE IT UP A LITTLE, BUT IT HAS IMPACTED MY LIFE FOR CHRIST MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE SHORT OF BIBLE SCHOOL AND THE IN-FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH THE EVIDENCE OF SPEAKING IN TONGUES. THE WORDS GO LIKE THIS:
"ONE SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE BARROOM,
A GOSPEL SINGER WALKED IN,
AND BRAVELY SHE READ FROM THE BIBLE,
AND BEGGED THEM TO TURN FROM THEIR SIN.
"OH COME UNTO JESUS," SHE PLEADED,
"HE'LL BE YOUR STAFF AND YOUR ROD."
THEN ONE OF THE DRINKERS WHO STOOD THERE
SAID, "WELL, I DON'T BELIEVE IN YOUR GOD.
I DON'T RIGHTLY KNOW HOW YOU PROVE THEM,
THAT PACK O' LIES THAT YOU SAID,
BUT IF THERE'S A GOD UP IN HEAVEN,
I DARE HIM TO STRIKE ME DOWN DEAD."
THE SILENCE THAT FOLLOWED WAS AWFUL,
THE OTHERS STOOD THERE IN FEAR,
BUT THE DRUNKARD JUST LAUGHED AND KEPT SAYIN',
"WHY DOESN'T YOUR JESUS APPEAR?"
AND THEN, CAME THE VOICE OF A STRANGER,
WHO STOOD JUST OUTSIDE AT THE DOOR,
A STRANGER WHO SIMPLY WAS PASSING BY,
FOR NO ONE HAD SEEN HIM BEFORE.
"OH, LISTEN TO ME, ALL YOU PEOPLE,"
AND THE PLACE JUST LIT UP WITH HIS SMILE.
"OUR LORD MARKS THE FALL OF A SPARROW,
AND EVERY MAN IS HIS CHILD.
THERE'S NONE SO GREAT OR SO LOWLY
THAT GOD'S SWEET MERCY DENIES,
AND, YES, EVEN THOSE WHO DENOUNCE HIM
WILL NEVER BE LOST, UNTIL YOU DIE."
AND THEN, HE RAISED HIS RIGHT HAND,
AND SMILED UPON EVERY ONE,
AND THOSE LAST WORDS THAT HE SAID
WERE LIKE MUSIC, HE SAID,
"I KNOW, BECAUSE I AM HIS SON."
AND EACH WHO WAS THERE WILL REMEMBER
THOSE WORDS TO HIS VERY LAST DAY,
WHEN JESUS CAME INTO THE BAR ROOM,
AND TOLD OF GOD'S WONDERFUL WAY.
I WANTED EVERYONE WHO VISITS MY SITE TO SEE THE POWER IN THE WORDS OF THAT OLD SONG, FOR THE OLD SONGS MAY BE DUSTY AND APPEAR TIRESOME, BUT THEY ARE STILL JUST AS ANOINTED AND POWERFUL AS THEY WERE WHEN GOD INSPIRED THEM TO BE PENNED, AND JUST AS I REMEMBERED MY PASTORS WHO HAVE ALREADY GONE ON TO THEIR REWARD, WE NEED TO REMEMBER THE POWER OF THE OLD HYMNS AND JOIN THEM WITH THE CONTEMPORARY AND LOUD AND UPBEAT SONGS OF PRAISE AND WORSHIP TODAY, FOR I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY, T'WILL BE MY SONG IN GLORY.
  
THAT SET OFF ANOTHER EXPLOSION AGAINST MY CHEST, AND NONE OF THE THREE OF US WHO WERE BURNED BY IT HAD EVEN A SCAR. WE COULD HAVE HAD EYE DAMAGE, AND I SHOULD NOT HAVE MY HAND, LET ALONE HALF MY CHEST! I HAVE BEEN THROUGH FIVE TORNADOES, ONCE OUTSIDE WITH WHATEVER COVER I COULD FIND, AND ONCE IN A CAR AT NIGHT WITH POWER LINES FALLING DOWN AROUND US AND BALLS OF FIRE BOUNCING ACROSS THE FIELDS, AND I DO NOT FEAR TORNADOES. RESPECT THEM, YES, FEAR THEM, NO. I DO NOT PANIC; HAVE FACED DEATH AND DISMEMBERMENT TOO MANY TIMES, AND IT SEEMS I AM FEARLESS, BUT IT IS GOD WITHIN ME.
I HAD A JOB ONCE WHERE I WORE SPECIAL GLOVES, AND WROTE ON MINE (WHERE OTHERS WROTE THEIR NAMES FOR IDENTIFICATION IF SOMETHING WENT WRONG), "HO KA HAY." A GUY ASKED ME WHAT THAT MEANT, AND I TOLD HIM IT MEANT "IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE." HE CALLED ME CRAZY BECAUSE 'IT IS NEVER A GOOD DAY TO DIE.' I TOLD HIM, "FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST, FOR ME TO DIE IS GAIN." HE WALKED AWAY SHAKING HIS HEAD, BUT IT OPENED THE DOOR TO WITNESS TO MANY OF MY CO-WORKERS IN HOT SITUATIONS, AS WE ARE ALL TO LIVE A TESTIMONY MORE THAN WE ARE TO PREACH IT. OUR LIVES WE LIVE MAY BE THE ONLY BIBLE THEY EVER READ, AND WE ARE BEING WATCHED CLOSELY, BY OTHERS AND BY GOD.
THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT RUDY GREW UP, AND UP, AND UP IN:
THIS IS RUDY IN 4TH GRADE. I WAS NOT ALWAYS AS GOOD LOOKING AS I AM NOW, YOU CAN SEE.
BUT THIS IS MY LONG LOST TWIN
I GREW UP UNCHURCHED UNTIL I WAS 13 YEARS OLD, AN ILLINOIS FARM BOY, & THE ONLY OF THREE SONS WHO LOVED THE FARM. GREW SOME CRAZY THINGS, AND EVEN SOME CANIBALISTIC HOGS!
I GOT VERY INVOLVED IN THE MENNONITE CHURCH,
FROM WHEN I COMMITTED MY LIFE TO CHRIST JUNE 25, 1970, AND JOINED FIRST MENNONITE CHURCH OF MORTON, UNTIL I MARRIED
(AKA: MARCIA).
I SERVED IN SUNDAY SCHOOL, VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL, DRAMAS,
MENNONITE DISASTER SERVICE,
MENNONITE RELIEF SALES, AND AS A CAMP COUNSELOR AT CAMP MENNO HAVEN, TISKILWA, IL.
I HEARD THE CALL TO BECOME A PREACHER DURING THE SUMMER OF '77 AT CAMP, BUT THAT DID NOT COME TO PASS UNTIL THE SPRING OF '06. HOW-SOME-EVER, I DID NOT TURN FROM THE CALL, AND THOSE YEARS WERE ALL TRAINING AND LEARNING, BEFORE TAKING THE BIG LEAP,
EVEN BEFORE BIBLE SCHOOL.
MY DAUGHTER
OFTEN SAYS, "THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON," AND I AGREE, FOR LIFE'S EXPERIENCES ARE SO WE CAN TELL PEOPLE WE HAVE BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, AND WE UNDERSTAND, AND THAT GOD CAN AND WILL BRING YOU THROUGH.
IN THIS, WE CAN ATTEST TO HOMELESSNESS,
JOBLESSNESS,
A HOSTAGE SITUATION, CARLESS-NESS, BEING DISOWNED AND DISINHERITED,
ORPHANED OR ADOPTED, RELATED TO A HOMOSEXUAL WHO DIED WITH A.I.D.S., (MY PARENTS DID NOT WANT ME TO MARRY MARCIA AND THEY GAVE US A LOT OF GRIEF, SO WE ELOPED ON MARCH 21, 1981, AND I THINK SHE TELLS THE STORY OF PROPHECIES ABOUT THAT WHICH WERE FULFILLED IN SO DOING, ON HER SITE, BUT ONE THING LED TO ANOTHER AND I WAS LEGALLY REMOVED FROM THE WILL, DISOWNED AND DISINHERITED, BUT WHEN WE WENT AHEAD WITH THE BIG WEDDING PLANS, WE SENT THEM AN INVITATION AND THEY DID NOT SHOW UP FOR IT ON JULY 11, 1981. ON 2 SEPARATE OCCASSIONS, WE WENT TO VISIT SOME OF MY OLD FRIENDS, AND THEY ANSWERED THE DOOR AND SAID, "WELL, YOU DON'T LOOK DEAD TO ME!" WHEN ASKED WHO WAS TELLING THEM I WAS DEAD, THEY SAID THAT MY MOM WAS. MY DAD WENT ALONG WITH THE LIE, AS DID MY HOMO BROTHER, OUT IN CALIFORNIA, WHOSE HUSBANDS THEY WOULD ACCEPT INTO THEIR HOUSE BUT WOULD NOT ACCEPT MY WIFE. I WAS THE BABY, AND THE WORKHORSE OF THE FAMILY, I GUESS, AND THEY COULDN'T HANDLE THAT I HAD MARRIED A HOLY-ROLLER GIRL WHO WAS OLDER THAN ME AND COULD NOT PHYSICALLY BEAR CHILDREN WITHOUT A MIRACLE, IN WHICH THEY DID NOT BELIEVE.
GOD HAD BROUGHT US TOGETHER, AND WHEN THEY SAID THEY COULD NOT ACCEPT HER, I TOLD THEM IF THEY COULDN'T, THEY COULDN'T ACCEPT ME EITHER. THEY SAID, "SO BE IT." I SAID, "SO BE IT." THIS LAST COMMUNICATION WAS IN 1988.
IN DECEMBER OF 2000, WHILE I WAS IN FIRST YEAR OF VICTORY BIBLE INSTITUTE, A CLASSMATE FOUND OUT ABOUT MY FAMILY SITUATION AND LOCATED MY OLDEST BROTHER IN ST. LOUIS, USING THE INTERNET. I WROTE A VERY SHORT, ULTRA-DIFFICULT LETTER, A FEW LINES, AND A FEW LINES WERE WHAT I GOT BACK, FOR HE WAS UNDER ORDERS NOT TO CONTACT ME. I HAD NEVER SEEN MY NIECE AT THAT POINT, AND HAD ONLY SEEN MY NEPHEW, 9 MONTHS YOUNGER THAN MY DAUGHTER, ONCE.
THE LETTERS GREW, AND FINALLY, IN AUGUST OF 2001, HE TOLD ME, IN 2 TYPED LINES OF A LETTER, ABOUT THE LOSS OF 40% OF MY FAMILY 5 YEARS AFTER THE PASSING OF MY BROTHER, WHOM I HAD NOT SEEN SINCE BEFORE I WAS MARRIED IN 1981, AND 4 YEARS AFTER THE PASSING OF MY DAD. ALSO, HE WROTE THAT MY MOM HAD ALZHEIMER'S AND WAS IN A NURSING HOME JUST BLOCKS FROM HIS HOUSE.
IN FEBRUARY OF 2003, WE WENT TO VISIT IN ST. LOUIS, AND HE HAD TO GO SEE MOM. HE ASKED IF WE WANTED TO GO. I RELUCTANTLY SAID YES, MARCIA ADAMANTLY SAID NO,AND RASCHELLE SHYLY DECLINED. MOM DID NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING BAD, SO WE HAD A DECENT VISIT.
I STARTED WORKING AT O.R.U. IN MARCH, 2003,
AND MY CAR BROKE DOWN IN APRIL, SO I WALKED TO WORK AND WAL-MART FOR GROCERIES, AND WE WALKED TO CHURCH (OR BUMMED RIDES) FOR 7 WEEKS. ON SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 2003, THE MORNING MARCIA WROTE IN HER CHURCH NOTEBOOK THANKING GOD "FOR OUR NEW S.U.V.," MOM DIED IN HER SLEEP AND I HAD TO GET AN ADVANCE FROM WORK TO RENT A CAR TO GO TO THE FUNERAL THAT WEDNESDAY.
AT THE FUNERAL, WHEN I THOUGHT EVERYBODY HAD LEFT THE ROOM, I PLAYED 'TURKEY IN THE STRAW' ON MY HARMONICA AND SAID, "FOR THE GOOD TIMES," TURNED AROUND AND THERE WAS MY FAMILY, HARLEY'S FAMILY AND THE PRIEST, STARING AT ME LIKE I WAS WIERD OR SOMETHING. LATER, HARLEY SAID, "YOU KNOW YOU WERE DISOWNED AND TAKEN OUT OF THE WILL, RIGHT?" I SAID, YES. HE SAID HE WAS "THE EXECUTOR, WE ARE THE ONLY 2 LEFT," HE DID "NOT CARE WHAT THE WILL SAID, WE WERE GOING TO SPLIT EVERYTHING." I THOUGHT, "AW, SHUCKS!" ON JUNE 7TH, WE WERE DRIVING A BRAND NEW 2003 FORD EXCURSION TO CHURCH WHICH GOD HAD GOTTEN A DOOZY OF A DEAL [OLD 'EMPLOYEE SALE' SIGN FOR $8000 OFF. WE SAW IT, SO THEY HAD TO HONOR IT!], I ALSO PAID A WHOLE YEAR'S TUITION AT V.B.I., WHICH SAVED $600, AND MUCH, MUCH MORE. SO, GOD GAVE ME THE INHERITANCE, ANYWAY, AND THOSE WHO SAID I WAS DEAD ARE NOW DEAD, THEMSELVES, AND I AM STILL HERE, BECAUSE "NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST ME WILL PROSPER AND ALL WHO RISE AGAINST ME WILL FALL", AND "TOUCH NOT MINE ANOINTED!" HE WILL GIVE THE WEALTH OF THE WICKED TO HIS PEOPLE!).
BUT SO MUCH FOR THAT RABBIT TRAIL..BACK TO WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT, OUR MANY EXPERIENCES GOD WANTS US TO USE TO TELL OTHERS WE KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, SUCH AS...BEING A VICTIM OF A VIOLENT CRIME (stabbing),
(IT TOOK 2 WITH KNIVES TO DO IT! I DID NOT KNOW ONE HAD A KNIFE UNTIL I HEARD IT OPEN, AND IT WAS AIMED FOR MY CHEST BUT I BLOCKED IT WITH MY ARM AND THEN PERSUADED THEM TO LEAVE MY DRIVEWAY.), AND MUCH MORE.
GOD TAKES THAT WHICH WAS MEANT FOR EVIL AND MAKES IT GOOD, AND BRINGS US THROUGH, FOR YEA, THOUGH WE WALK through THE VALLEY...YOU DON'T CAMP OUT THERE, AND HE'S NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS, SO WHAT HE'S DONE FOR OTHERS, HE'LL DO FOR YOU! JESUS HAS ALREADY GIVEN US THE VICTORY! WE JUST HAVE TO WALK INTO IT, WHICH MAY TAKE A LITTLE EFFORT ON OUR PART. HE DID NOT PROMISE US AN ESCALATOR OR ELEVATOR, WE MAY HAVE TO TAKE THE STEPS.
I'VE BEEN A ROYAL RANGER COMMANDER IN SC, '84-89,
MT '89-92, IL '92-98, CO'98-99, AND OK '99 TO '08. NOW, I'M BACK IN MT!
I ALWAYS SAY "I DON'T HAVE ANY SONS, BUT I HAVE BOYS IN FIVE STATES!" I'VE BEEN ON DISTRICT STAFF IN IL AND SC, AND AM F.C.F. SINCE '87, WILDERNESS F.C.F. SINCE '96.
I LIKE PRIMITIVE SURVIVAL,
WITH MY MOTTO: "I'VE EATEN WORMS, I WILL TO SURVIVE."
I HAVE WORKED FOUNDRIES, ASSEMBLY LINES, BEEN AN E.M.T.,
HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATOR,
PLUMBER,
SHERIFF'S CORPORAL,
HUNTING GUIDE, MULE PACKER,
TRAPPER AND TRACKER,
LANDSCAPER, AUTOMOTIVE INTERIOR REPAIRMAN, GRILL COOK, AND A LOT MORE. YOU'RE EITHER LEARNING AND GROWING OR YOU'RE DYING.
WE FINISHED VICTORY BIBLE INSTITUTE IN TULSA, OK, IN '04.
WE TOOK A TRIP BACK TO MT TO 'SPY OUT THE LAND' IN '06,
AND HAD A GOOD TIME, MADE EXCELLENT CONTACTS,
AND WE CAME BACK, FOR GOOD, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, SEPTEMBER OF '07, TO START MINISTERING TO THE RESERVATIONS, TO START A FACTORY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF AN INVENTION GOD GAVE ME IN JULY '99,
WHICH WILL HELP ALLEVIATE THE 70-80% UNEMPLOYMENT ON ONE RESERVATION, AND TO SPONSOR INDIANS TO V.B.I. SO THAT THEY CAN COME BACK AND PREACH TO THEIR OWN BETTER THAN WE CAN. WE WILL START RELIEF CENTERS NEAR EACH OF THE THREE GROUPINGS OF RESERVATIONS, PIONEER A COWBOY CHURCH IN CENTRAL MT, OUT OF WHICH TO MINISTER TO THE LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY, SUCH AS RODEOS, STOCKYARDS, AND SHOWS.
WE WILL HAVE A DUDE-TYPE RANCH FOR TROUBLED YOUTH, TIRED MINISTERS, MINISTERS WHO NEED RESTORED, AND FOR ITENERATING MISSIONARIES WHO NEED A PLACE TO STAY (FREE, WITH A 'VACATION' ATMOSPHERE).
YOUTH (especially of incarcerated parents) AND INDIANS WILL ALSO BE TAUGHT MARKETABLE JOB SKILLS AND WORK ETHICS IN A CHRISTIAN FAMILY-STYLE ATMOSPHERE AT THE RANCH.
WE WILL ALSO DO JAIL AND PRISON MINISTRY,
SHORT-TERM OVERSEAS MISSIONS, EVANGELISM, AND STREET MINISTRY. THIS VISION IS BIGGER THAN US, WE CANNOT DO IT, WE COULD NOT HAVE EVEN DREAMED IT UP WITHOUT GOD, BUT MY GOD IS A BIG GOD, WHO IS MORE THAN ENOUGH!!!
I AM LOOKING FOR PLACES TO PREACH EVANGELISTICALLY, AND TO SPREAD THE VISION WE HAVE HAD SINCE 1990, WHICH IS COMING TO FRUITION VERY SOON. I LIKE TO LAUGH, AND MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH, WHILE PREACHING SIMPLE, PARABLE-LIKE SERMONS THAT GET DOWN TO THE NITTY-GRITTY, BECAUSE THE CHURCH MUST BE WITHOUT SPOT OR WRINKLE OR THE 'REACHING THE ENDS OF THE EARTH' IS WASTING OUR, AND GOD'S, TIME. I STEP ON MY OWN TOES WHILE I PREACH THE TRUTH AND PROSPERITY THROUGH REPENTANCE,WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD, WITH SIGNS AND WONDERS FOLLOWING AS HE CONFIRMS HIS WORD THROUGH ME, AND MY WIFE, IN SEVERAL GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
I CAN BE CONTACTED PERSONALLY THROUGH:
OR MESSAGE ME THROUGH JCFAITH AND WE CAN TALK ABOUT PHONE CALLS.
HE'S JUST LOOKING FOR WILLING VESSELS. ARE YOU UP TO IT?
THE ARMY OF GOD IS THE ONLY ARMY SINCE NAPOLEON THAT, INSTEAD OF ROTATING FRONT LINE TROOPS OUT FOR SOME R+R, WE PUSH THEM ASIDE WHEN THEY ARE OLD, WEARY, WOUNDED, OR FALLEN, OR WE JUST PLAIN EXECUTE THEM. NO! WE NEED TO RESTORE AND REVITALIZE THE EXPERIENCED WARRIORS
AND GET THEM BACK ON THE FRONT LINES WHERE THEY CAN DO EXPLOITS FOR GOD AS THEY ARE ACCUSTOMED. HE'S NOT DONE WITH ME, YET, AND HE'S NOT DONE WITH YOU!!!
AS I HAVE 'EXAMPLED', I HAVE FACED DEATH AND DISMEMBERMENT MANY TIMES, AND EACH TIME MY FAMILY HAS BEEN DOING SOMETHING FOR GOD, LIKE ADOPTION, BIBLE SCHOOL, MISSION TRIP, ETC., THE ENEMY HAS LITERALLY TRIED TO KILL ONE OR ALL OF US, WITH THE STABBING, BEING SIDESWIPED BY A LOADED SEMI ON A BRIDGE WITH ONLY 9" MORE WIDTH THAN THE WIDTH OF BOTH VEHICLES, STALLED ON A TRAIN TRACK WITH A MILE-LONG AMMUNITION TRAIN
BEARING DOWN ON US, ALTITUDE SICKNESS AND BLOOD PRESSURE PROBLEMS AT 9000 FEET AND NOT ALLOWED OFF THE MOUNTAIN, AND SO ON. BUT HE HAS A PLAN FOR OUR LIVES, FOR YOUR LIFE, AND HE WILL NOT LET THE ENEMY DESTROY YOU IF YOU KEEP FAITH AND FOCUS ON HIM AND NOT THE WIND AND THE WAVES! HE WON'T LET YOU GO UNDER! HE TOLD US TO GO AND PREACH AND MAKE DISCIPLES, NOT GO AND SINK! HE DOES NOT CALL THE PREPARED, HE PREPARES THE CALLED, AND IF YOU GET RID OF YOUR "STINKIN' THINKIN'" AND DON'T LET YOUR MOUTH HANG YOU, YOU WILL DO EXPLOITS FOR HIM, AND HE WILL SAY "WELL DONE, THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT." TOO MANY OF US JUST WANT TO BE FAITHFUL SERVANTS AND SPEND TIME IN THE PEWS AT HIS FEET ADORING HIM, BUT THE GOOD SERVANT IS OUT THERE DOING THE FATHER'S BUSINESS, WITH EMPHASIS ON THE SERVANT, NOT ON THE FAITHFUL OR GOOD. OUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS IS AS FILTHY {MENSTRUAL} RAGS.
JESUS WAS BAPTIZED IN WATER WHEN HE WAS 30 YEARS OLD. WHO ARE WE TO THINK INFANT BAPTISM WILL GET US THROUGH?
JESUS RECEIVED THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BEFORE HE STARTED MINISTERING, WHO ARE WE TO THINK WE CAN MINISTER GREATER THINGS THAN HE DID WITHOUT THE FULLNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH THE EVIDENCE OF SPEAKING IN TONGUES?
JESUS PRAYED TO HIS FATHER OFTEN, GETTING AWAY TO THE MOUNTAINS TO DO IT MOST OF THE TIME, BUT GOING OFTEN TO THE SYNAGOG (CHURCH), SO WHO ARE WE TO THINK WE CAN DO OTHERWISE?
WE HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THOSE WE WIN FOR THE KINGDOM, OUR VETERAN MINISTERS, AND OUR FRONT-LINE FIGHTERS AGAINST DARKNESS. WE MUST GET OUT AND BE ABOUT THE FATHER'S BUSINESS TO USHER IN THE RETURN OF JESUS. I DON'T APPRECIATE PEOPLE SAYING, "I JUST WISH HE WOULD COME AND GET US OUT OF HERE." GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING TO CAUSE IT!!! THERE ARE PEOPLE DYING AND GOING TO HELL BECAUSE YOU ARE LAZY AND NOT TELLING THEM ABOUT JESUS, AND THAT'S WHY HE IS NOT RETURNING! HE WISHES THAT NONE SHOULD PERISH. HE DID NOT JUST WANT IT TO STOP WITH YOU HEARING! THAT IS SO SELFISH!!! GO, AND ALSO FEED THE SHEEP, IF YOU LOVE HIM. BOTH WERE NOT SUGGESTIONS, THEY WERE COMMANDS. HELLO? |
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  MY PRIDE AND JOY:
ARE MY WIFE, MY DAUGHTER AND MY DAWG:
PREACHING THE GOSPEL AND WATCHING GOD CONFIRM HIS WORD WITH SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES FOLLOWING.
MY HORSE,
EAGLES,
MY RIFLE, KNIVES AND TOMAHAWK;
PLAYING THE HARMONICA, JEWS HARP, AND SOMEDAY THE BANJO;
TRAVELLING.
TALKING ABOUT JESUS,
FRIENDSHIP, COOPERATION, AND LOVE,
MAKING A LONG SHOT,
MONTANA,
HOTDOGS, MOM, APPLE PIE, DOGS,
JOHN WAYNE, AND THE AMERICAN WAY.
TRUSTING PEOPLE (UNTIL THEY GIVE ME REASON NOT TO),
BUT LETTING THEM KNOW WHEN THEY DO.
HORSESHOES,
AND VIEWING THE WONDERS OF NATURE.
WE BELIEVE:
...THAT THE BIBLE IS THE DIVINELY INSPIRED AND INFALLIBLE WORD OF GOD.
...THAT THERE IS BUT ONE GOD, BUT THREE PARTS, THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT.
...THAT JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH, BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT, IS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, WHO CAME TO EARTH AS PART MAN, PART DIVINE, NOT TO CONDEMN THE WORLD, BUT TO SAVE THE WORLD.
...THAT JESUS CHRIST LIVED A SINLESS LIFE,
SUFFERED AND DIED TO TAKE THE SINS AND INFIRMITIES OF THE WORLD UPON HIMSELF AS THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
AND PROPITIATION TO REDEEM US FROM OUR SINFUL NATURE, AND SO WE MAY BECOME CHILDREN OF THE FAMILY OF GOD, JOINT HEIRS WITH JESUS, THERE IS NO NAME GREATER THAN HIS, AND THERE IS NO SALVATION EXCEPT BY THE NAME OF JESUS.
...THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY FOR US TO REACH HEAVEN THROUGH ASKING FORGIVENESS FOR OUR SINS, ACKNOWLEDGING HIM AS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, ACCEPTING HIS FREE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS AND SEEKING TO LIVE A LIFE PLEASING TO HIM.
...THAT HEALING AND DELIVERANCE AND BLESSING WAS PROVIDED ON THE CROSS OF CALVARY WHERE JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED, THOUGH INNOCENT,
AND HE WAS BURIED, AND ROSE FROM THE DEAD ON THE THIRD DAY, WITNESSED WALKING, EATING, AND FELLOWSHIPPING WITH MANY, AND THEN ASCENDED BEFORE WITNESSES INTO HEAVEN TO BE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER,
WHERE HE INTERCEDES ON OUR BEHALF WITH THE FATHER.
...THAT WE ARE A CHOSEN GENERATION, A ROYAL PREISTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, SET APART TO BE WITNESSES OF HIM TO GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND
PREACH THE GOSPEL, HEAL THE SICK, DELIVER THE OPPRESSED, AND MAKE DISCIPLES.
...THAT MIRACLES THAT JESUS DID, AND THE DISCIPLES AND APOSTLES DID, ARE BEING DONE TODAY, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT FILLS US WITH POWER WITH
THE EVIDENCE OF SPEAKING IN TONGUES, AND THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ARE PREVALENT TODAY AS THEY WERE IN THE BIBLICAL TIMES OF THE APOSTLES SINCE THE DAY OF PENTECOST, AND HE WILL BE POURED OUT ON ALL FLESH AND GOD'S CHILDREN WILL PROPHECY AND DREAM DREAMS AND INTERPRET DIVERSE TONGUES AND HEAL THE SICK BY LAYING ON HANDS AND PRAYING THE PRAYER OF FAITH,
AND ALL THIS IS RELEVANT TO TODAY IN THIS HOUR, FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.
...THAT THERE IS A LAW OF SEED TIME AND HARVEST, GIVING AND RECEIVING, BLESSING AND BEING BLESSED, AND WHATEVER WE SOW SHALL BE RECEIVED MANY TIMES OVER.
WE KNOW THAT WE ARE CHRISTIANS BECAUSE WE HAVE ACCEPTED THE FACT THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, WHO DIED ON A CROSS, WAS BURIED AND ROSE FROM THE DEAD, AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, TAKING OUR SINS UPON HIMSELF. WE HAVE CONFESSED OUR SINS AND CONFESSED HIM AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, AND ACCEPTED HIS FORGIVENESS, AND BELIEVE HIS HOLY SPIRIT DWELLS IN AND GUIDES US, CHANGING OUR LIVES FOR THE GOOD, AND WE PRAY TO HIM, GO TO CHURCH AND HAVE OUR OWN WORSHIP AND
FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM AS WELL AS CONGREGATIONALLY, AND WE READ THE BIBLE OURSELVES, WITNESS TO OTHERS ABOUT JESUS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE
FOR US, AND TRY TO HELP OTHERS AS MUCH AS WE CAN IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
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CIGARETTE SMOKE,
DRUNKENESS,
DONOR-CYCLES, MURDERCYCLES, ETC. (WHEN I WAS AN EMT, WE SAID YOU CAN TELL A FAST MURDERCYCLE FROM A SLOW ONE BECAUSE THE SLOW ONE YOU PICK THEM UP WITH A STICK AND A SPOON, THE FAST ONES YOU PICK UP WITH A BROOM AND A DUST PAN.)
(POOR BUBBA'S LAST WORDS WERE, 'HEY, WATCH THIS!)
GROUCHES:
CROWDS:
TRAFFIC:
AND CRUELTY TO AMINALS:
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION:
THIS IS WHAT WE ALL PRESENT OR PRIOR MILITARY SERVE THIS COUNTRY FOR? IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL FREEDOM OF SPEECH OR IS IT [b] TOTAL DISRESPECT FOR THE COUNTRY THAT ALLOWS THEM DO THIS.
I guess they have already finished their English homework!!!
Montebello High School in California
YOU HAVE HELPED PAY FOR THIS!!!
You will not see this heart-stopping photo on the front page of the NY Times, nor on the lead story of the major news networks.
The protesters at Montebello High School took the AMERICAN FLAG off the school's flag pole and hung it upside down while putting up the Mexican flag over it. (*See pictures below*) [center] 
I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in Washington . The image of the American flag subsumed to another and turned upside down on American soil is already spreading on Internet forums and via e-mail.
IT MAKES ME WANT TO SINK-O THEIR MAYO AND YELL REMEMBER THE ALAMO! MY FAMILY'S BLOOD WAS SHED FOR THAT FLAG THEY DESECRATED, AND I AM WILLING TO FIGHT AND DIE FOR IT. WHEN WE WENT AFTER THEM AFTER THE ALAMO AND "REMEMBER THE ALAMO" WAS THE BATTLE CRY AT SAN JACINTO AND CHAPULTEPEC, THEIR RESPONSE WAS TO THROW DOWN THEIR RIFLES AND THROW UP THEIR ARMS AND YELL, "ME NO ALAMO" BECAUSE THEY DID NOT WANT TO BE SLAUGHTERED LIKE THEY DID THE 160 OR SO MEN WHO HELD OUT AT THE ALAMO FOR 13 DAYS AGAINST 3000-4000 MEXICANS PLUS ARTILLERY, WHO WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SURRENDER WHEN THEY WERE WEAKENED FROM LACK OF SUPPLIES AND AMMUNITION.THEN THEY COME HERE AND TRY TO TAKE OVER LIKE THIS!!! I AM OUTRAGED AND INDIGNANT!Pass this along to every American citizen in your address books and to every representative in the state and federal government. If you choose to remain uninvolved, do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation to call your own nor anything you have worked for left since it will be 'redistributed' to the activists while you are so peacefully staying out of the 'fray'. Check history, it is full of nations/empires that disappeared when its citizens no longer held their core beliefs and values. One person CAN make a difference.
One plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one........ .
The battle for our secure borders and immigration laws that actually mean something, however, hasn't even begun.
If this ticks YOU off...PASS IT ON!
IF IT DOESN'T IT SHOULD!
"I cross ocean, Poor and broke, Take bus, See employment folk. Nice man Treat me good in there, Say I need Go see Welfare. Welfare say, 'You come no more, We send cash Right to your door.' Welfare checks, They make you wealthy, Medicaid It keep you healthy!
By and by, Got plenty money, Thanks to you, TAXPAYER dummy. Write to friends In motherland, Tell them 'come, fast as you can'. They come in turbans and Ford trucks, I buy big house With welfare bucks. They come here, We live together, More welfare checks, It gets better! Fourteen families, They moving in, But neighbor's patience Wearing thin.Finally, white guy Moves away,...I buy his house, And then I say, "Find more aliens For house to rent." In my yard I put a tent. Send for family They just trash, ...But they, too, Draw welfare cash! Everything is Very good, Soon we own Whole neighborhood. We have hobby: It called breeding, Welfare pay For baby feeding. Kids need dentist? Wife need pills? We get free! We got no bills! TAXPAYER CRAZY! He pay all year, to keep welfare running here. We think Canada/America darn good place! Too darn good for white man race. If they no like us, They can scram, got lots of room in Pakistan."
TWO RETIRED OKLAHOMA HIGHWAY PATROLMEN RENTED TWO BILLBOARDS NEAR TULSA AND PUT THESE MESSAGES ON THEM, CONTROVERSIALLY, BECAUSE THEY WERE TIRED OF THE ALMOST "DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY" GRANTED TO OFFENDING AND CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE FROM THE BILLBOARD.
THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IN DISNEY, OK, (YES, NAMED AFTER WALT DISNEY) 13 YEARS AGO HAD 3% HISPANICS, AND NOW THEY HAVE 40%, MOST OF THEM CHILDREN OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO ARE NOT PAYING TAXES, AND PROPERTY TAXES MUST GO UP TO COVER THE COSTS OF EDUCATING CHILDREN WHO SHOULD NOT BE HERE. THESE ARE JUST PART OF THE PROBLEMS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CAUSES, AND IT MUST BE STOPPED.
LET'S SAY I BREAK INTO YOUR HOUSE
A lady wrote the best letter in the Editorials in ages!!! It explains things better than all the baloney you hear on TV.
Her point: Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country
protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration.
Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to
stay indefinitely. Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these
protests. Let's say I break into your house.
Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave.
But I say, "I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors. I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).
According to the protesters: You are Required to let me stay in your house
You are Required to add me to your family's insurance plan You are Required to Educate my kids
You are Required to Provide other benefits to me & to my family (my husband will do all of your yard work because he is also hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part).
If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my RIGHT to
be there. It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm a hard-working and honest,
person, except for well, you know, I did break into your house, And what a deal it is for me!!!
I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused
of cold, uncaring, selfish, prejudiced, and bigoted behavior. FURTHERMORE, I do not care that YOUR property TAXES will have to go up because I don't own property, and YOUR property value will go down because of wear and tear of homes and streets and amenities and utilities and services, and I will trash your parks every time WE get together for a soccer game.
Oh yeah, I DEMAND that you to learn MY LANGUAGE!!! so you can communicate with me.
Why can't people see how ridiculous this is?! Only in America! If you agree, pass it on (in English). Share it if you see the value of it.
If not blow it off......... along with your future Social Security funds, and a lot of other things.
SUBSTANCE, SPOUSAL AND CHILD ABUSE,
THE WORST OF WHICH IS ABORTION;
CRIME AND INJUSTICE;
PREJUDICE;
MASHED POTATOES AND LIVER; DISREPECT OF WOMEN
MULTI-TASKING,
AND THOSE WHO DISRESPECT MY COUNTRY AND ITS SYMBOLS;
PROFANE AND VULGAR DISPLAYS OF IGNORANCE, SUCH AS ATTRIBUTING INANIMATE OBJECTS WITH THE ABILITY TO COPULATE; DRIVERS TALKING ON CELL PHONES OR DRIVING WITH BABIES ON THEIR LAPS FOR AIRBAGS;
CONFUSION AND INDECISION.
AND LAZINESS;
AND ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO HATE MY COUNTRY AND MY CHRISTIANITY AND MY WAY OF LIFE!!!
WHO WAS IT THAT PUT THE WORD "FREE" IN FREEDOM, ANYWAY?
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm Flight 103!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World
Trade Center in 1993!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military barracks in Saudi Arabia!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on 9/11/2001!
REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!
Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class holiday postage stamp.
REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp when purchasing your stamps at the post office. To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.
SHOULD WE DECIDE TO TUCK TAIL AND RUN FROM IRAQ:
[/b]
ASK THEM WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T CONTROL THE BORDERS!
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MT_bigfoot_preacher has 29 friend(s)
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