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Welcome to Varied Expressions of Worship

Welcome to Varied Expressions of Worship

This blog will be written from an orthodox Christian point of view. There may be some topic that is out of bounds, but at present I don't know what it will be. Politics is a part of life. Theology and philosophy are disciplines that we all participate in even if we don't think so. The Bible has a lot to say about economics. How about self defense? Is war ethical? Think of all the things that someone tells you we should not touch and let's give it a try. Everything that is a part of life should be an expression of worship.

Keep it courteous and be kind to those less blessed than you, but by all means don't worry about agreeing. We learn more when we get backed into a corner.

Friday, April 30, 2021

Opus 2021-157: Headlines: Zoning, part 3 of 3, My Fantasy

The Biden administration, and whomever is actually running it, have a scenario and a plan.  They want to turn the entire country into one, door-to-door inner city, except for the places they live, of course.

I also have a scenario and a plan.

Public housing will be built.  Eventually they will have their way and big, ugly concrete structures will be just down the street from you.  If it follows the usual pattern those buildings will rapidly degenerate into a war zone.  Since these prefab ghettos have been usually built in the “bad” part of town, the violence kept building.  The area became unmanageable.  There have been a few cases where the residents who were law abiding banded together, armed themselves and brought peace to the project but that does not play into the Proregressive* narrative of being dependent on government.  It is slapped down when possible.  Remember they control the courts and big city governments.

Here is where my dreaming starts to venture into fantasy land.  Suppose this happens in the middle of a generally law abiding area.  Eventually the citizens find a way to clean out the pestilence.  This can be through strong local government action involving the police and courts, but the deck is stacked against that.  So I would say that eventually vigilantes will arise and clean out the infestation.  Gang bangers tend to be cowards at heart.  Their motto is “watch your back”.  Can you picture John Wayne using that line?  When they realize that people are going to throw aside fear and deal with their violence with violence they will move on to a community that meets their needs.

You now have a large bunch of huge apartment buildings with very few people living in them.  One possible outcome is that the hard working people from the inner city will find a refuge.  If that happens, well and good.  They will fit in nicely with people in the suburbs.  I think this is unlikely.  It will be more a bunch of empty buildings.

Enter the entrepreneurs.  

Investors will buy up the buildings dirt cheap.  They will hire some first class architects and engineers, remodel, renovate and you have some high price condos now coming on the market.  Since they will sell for high prices then the tax base is increased and it becomes a win/win.

I can’t wait.  Of course you then have the problem of tofu and bean sprout pollution but that is for another day.  I am not sure that having Karen live next door is better than MS-13.

Maybe this qualifies as a Should-a-Been rather than a headline.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-156: Headlines: Zoning, part 2 of 3, Case Study

The Proregressives* have been working hard and long on this.  They knew they could not just lay it on our doorstep.  The Infrastructure Act is one of a long line of attempts to destroy the joy of home ownership and freedom of association.  One earlier step I am aware of took place under the guise of civil rights.  It was bludgeoned through by the courts in decisions that forced busing in school districts.  One of the first took place in my home town.  Before the federal government went after the schools of Pasadena for drawing their school boundaries to increase segregation, Pasadena had one of the finest school districts in the country.  I know because I attended before busing.  When I taught there years later it was in the bottom quarter nationally.  I would guess it was close to the bottom of the quarter.

It should also be pointed out that Pasadena was guilty as charged.  They gerrymandered their school zones to try to isolate black students to one high school.  Even at that the segregated school had a majority of white students.  Some of my church group went their and I don’t remember anyone complaining about an inferior education.  Keep in mind though that in the pursuit of the perfect we can destroy the good without reaching the better.

People bought homes based on the school their children would attend.  That is still the case.  If you go on line and check out the internet realtors, one of the things they tell you is the schools your children will attend.  People did this in Pasadena then.  They do it in Texas today.  They chose where to live for the quality of life.  You can find out crime rates and an assortment of information to make an informed choice.  Once the lawsuit was finished they found that their children would be bused to the schools they had moved to avoid or the people in the neighborhoods they had fled would have their children bused into what used to be the school of choice.  The irony of this is that it effected black families who had managed to escape.  What ended up happening was those middle class black families who could afford it sent their kids to private schools.  The point is that the entire effort was to break down the community under the guise of trying to help the down trodden.  The fact that it also lowered the quality of education by removing a lot of excellent students is just icing on the cake.

The Proregressives* have a plan and they are sticking to it.  They are persistent.  If they fail this time they will be back with the plan again, plan B or find a way to go around it.  They have a goal.  America bad.  America worse than Orange Man.  They will not stop until we have Venezuela in our back yard.  Then, if history is any indication, they will begin to eat their own.  Remember that fleeing to Mexico didn’t save Trotsky.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

To be concluded...

homo unius libri

Thursday, April 29, 2021

Opus 2021-155: Headlines: Zoning, part 1 of 3, The Infrastructure Is Coming for You

One of the brilliant plans of the Biden administration establishes regulations to break up zoning for single family homes.  Actually it is not new.  Little of what the Proregressives* push is new, just relabeled.

You can go back to the Fair Housing Act of 1968.  Like much legislation it had noble goals.  It made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, religion and so forth.  Most can get on board with that.  This was very quickly polluted by the diversity crowd with something called Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing.  It even had an acronym, AFFH.  Notice the word “affirmative” hiding in the title.  That is affirmative as in “affirmative action” which was the way in which the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was contaminated with reverse racism.  The groundwork was aided by Jimmy Carter with the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.  This required banks to make bad loans on the basis of race.  The object was to move poor people into neighborhoods they normally could not afford.  Item:  They still could not afford it no matter how much you wish.  When the plan blew up they blamed the banks.  Obama also tried it, but didn’t get very far.  Now it is Biden’s turn.

This time they mean to sneak it by you.  Or just brazenly trumpet the change.  It is part of the plan to destroy the American Dream.  It is part of the bloated Infrastructure Plan being pushed in congress as we breathe.  U.S. News goes into detail.

If you can’t stop people from working hard and buying a home in the suburbs then you take the ghetto to them.  That will show them.  It will get to the place where the only people who can live in a neighborhood they like will be the ones who can afford 100 acre ranches with fences and armed security.  Is it a coincidence that such a description fits the Proregressive* politicians that are pushing this into the books?

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Opus 2021-154: Headlines: “Science” Now Says No Carbon Dioxide

I kept seeing memes and posts about how John Kerry, America’s Traitor, was declaring that we had to get all the CO2 out of the atmosphere.  I tried to do a search on that and could come up with nothing.  I kept wondering if John Kerry could really be that stupid.  That was a rhetorical question.

I finally came across what looked like a video clip and had a few moments so I clicked and watched.  He was involved in some kind of Covid Fear interview and talking to I don’t know whom.  What he actually said was to the effect that we need to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.  He did not say “all”.  It makes a difference.  What he said would fit in with his kindergarten science.  It simply goes along with the panic about global warming caused by too much carbon dioxide.  Too much carbon dioxide is cause by too many people with too many cars and too many air conditioners....you get the idea.  The only solution is to kill of most humans and their cows and go back to living in caves.  I am not sure what they would use to heat the caves but that is a logical question so it has no place in the discussion.

So, no, he did not say remove “all” the carbon dioxide.  Whether he knows the difference is open to speculation.  I am sure your opinion will depend on whether you believe he was a hero in the Vietnam war and deserved him purple hearts or he was a dirty, no-good, commie traitor even then.

homo unius libri

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Opus 2021-153: Speculation

I sometimes get the impression that the Bible was edited to leave out certain details.  We have such questions as “Where did the children of Adam and Eve find mates?”  The Bible doesn’t say.  My mind was in that mode when I read the third verse of the Bible which says,

(Gen 1:3 KJV)  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
What it does not describe is the scratching sound of roaches looking for a dark place to hide.  They have been scrambling ever since.  I am sure you have seen articles, posts, blogs, tweets or whatever about how roaches have been around for millions of years, unchanged.  We hear how they would survive a nuclear holocaust.  You know the kind of “science” I am talking about.

Was their some unfathomable connection between the Wisdom described in Proverbs and the cockroach?
(Pro 8:27 KJV)  When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
I am not trying to proclaim any new doctrines or share a prophetic insight.  It is just that my mind tends to run in strange paths.  I invite you to join me for just a moment in the glory of speculation.  My observations are at least as valid as those of Al Gore or AOC.

homo unius libri

Monday, April 26, 2021

Opus 2021-152: United Challenges Natural Selection

United Airlines has committed themselves to diversity.  They plan on requiring at least half of the people in their pilot training program to be a protected and preferred group.  Any group as long as it isn’t white males.  If you have been following how these kind of programs are applied in higher education you know that it means a lowering of the standards to meet the goals.  It also means you must reject some highly qualified people because they don’t meet the right racist or sexist quota.

I am not going to worry about it until they change the graduation requirements to allow people to become pilots who have not taken their solo flights.  Think of it as the Olympics setting such a quota system for the ski jump competition.  Lets say that the finals will have 50 competitors.  Lets say that 25 of those slots are reserved for people of color and transgenders.  The transgender category is necessary because women already have their competition.  Lets say that you have a guy who is inserted in the finals with no experience in the sport.  You put him at the top of the slope and ring the bell.  He takes one look down the slope and has a moment to decide whether he wants to walk away and be laughed at or go for the memorial award.  The same is true of pilots.  Keep in mind that the pilot will be on the same airplane with you.  If he knows he can’t land this thing, do you think he is going to take off?  

Actually, from my experience with middle school kids and their illusions of grandeur, I think some of them might try it.  But the odds are against it.

So relax.  By the time these candidates make it through pilot school they will probably have AI to land the planes anyway.  If they can land rockets on Mars they should be able to land an airplane in Los Angeles.

But I don’t plan on flying unless it is absolutely necessary.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-151: Bible Reading: Skip and Scan

Yesterday I begin reading the book of Numbers.  For those of you who are ignoring your culture, that is in the Bible.  I thought I might give a few thoughts on Bible reading for those who might feel tempted from time to time.  If you read it regularly then you have your own ways of doing it.  Mine are right.

I would not recommend that a beginner in Bible reading start at the beginning and read straight through.  It might pay to start with Psalms and Proverbs in the Old Testament and the gospel of Mark along with I John in the NT.  I am now on a cycle of reading straight through but I am doing so to pick up the gestalt rather than learn what the book is about.  I also use it for a study tool so the reading through is just part of my puzzle.

Feel free to skim certain sections.  In the first chapter of Numbers, for instance, I saw a pattern developing.

(Num 1:5 KJV)  And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur.
(Num 1:6 KJV)  Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.
(Num 1:7 KJV)  Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
(Num 1:8 KJV)  Of Issachar; Nethaneel the son of Zuar.
(Num 1:9 KJV)  Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon.

I could look ahead and see that this was repeated again and again so I pretty much skipped over all that.  If you have a Ph.D. in The Mystery of Old Testament Names then you might want to really study this part, but not for me.  I am getting too old to try to figure out the significance of Nahshon being the son of Amminabad.  

You will find this kind of thing frequently.  Some times it is lists.  Sometimes it is almost word for word repetition of what was just said.  There may be a time to focus and meditate on why things are repeated but if you are just starting out feel free to jump ahead.

When you come to something that tickles your sense of wonder or curiosity, pause and think.  Look a little closer.  Allow the Holy Spirit to stir the ashes and maybe light a fire.

Just a few thoughts.  Carry on.

homo unius libri

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Opus 2021-150: Sabbath Observations: Restless

I am not sure where it started.  I am going to guess it was pharmacies.  From there it probably went to coffee shops, the kind called Mabel’s Diner not the ones called Starbuck’s.  Then maybe family restaurants, donut shops and grocery stores.  I can remember when Sears broke the Lord’s Day barrier and opened on Sunday.  Sure, it was only on the afternoon, so you could still go to church.  Now we live in a culture of 24/7.

I go down this path because 24/7 has come to my hill.  I noticed that the temperature was perfect and a breeze was blowing so I got my coffee and went out on the porch to enjoy the morning.  Sunday morning is awesome.  Early in the morning there is very little traffic on the road down the hill and between cars you have stretches of what the country used to be like.  That includes roosters and braying donkeys.  Not this time.  A new house is going in close by.  The beginning stages involve leveling and tearing out the cypress that thrives up here.  It seems like the guys doing it have a day job so they are working on weekends.  Today when I went out I could hear nothing but the wood chipper as it made mulch out of the cypress.  Everything was perfect for a porch sit except the decibels.  

I don’t begrudge the local pagans their extra source of income.  That is what free enterprise is all about.  The guy who is willing to work can get ahead.  My problem is with all of us Christians who have taken a tradition of a day of rest and figured that did not apply to the waitress in the restaurant we went to on Sunday.  Or the clerk in the grocery store we shopped in on Sunday.  Or the local attraction that was going like gang-busters on Sunday.  See how it works?

In case you were not aware of it, the idea of a day of rest in rooted in the Bible.  It was called the Sabbath and runs from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.  It was important to God because He knew our limitations.  He declared a day of rest and set the example on the seventh day of Creation.  You will also find it listed in the Ten Commandments.  Yes, it is that important.

Think about that next time you patronize local businesses on a Sunday.  Christians moved the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday.  Some have trouble with that.  I don’t, because the principle is the same and if you have noticed the pagans in publishing have rearranged you pocket calendar so that the week begins on Monday instead of Sunday.  

Just another case of the law of unintended consequences.  

homo unius libri

Saturday, April 24, 2021

 Opus 2020-149:  Next!

According to my notes, April 24 is Armenian Genocide Day.  It is certainly not a day for parties and celebrations.  It is a day to remember and wonder if we are approaching such an event again.  There have been numerous genocidal movements.  They date back to the beginnings of recorded history.  Maybe a few reminders would be in order.

In the Bible during the conquest of Canaan we have numerous cases of entire cities being wiped out.

If you look at the history of Islam you find it is common under devout rulers to have Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians wiped out.  The Armenian Holocaust is part of this ongoing tradition.  You can also see a watered down version going on in Egypt against the Copts and in Iraq.

Among the American Indians of North America the Iroquois stand out.  You also have the disappearance of the Anasazi.  In central America it was always a hope.

We talk about the Jewish Holocaust and in the horror we tend to forget the murder of the Ukranian peasants just a few years later and the millions killed by the Chinese Communists shortly after.

Then we have Pol Pot and the slaughter of Cambodia.

The list could go on.

We should not be surprised by the evil that is lurking in the hearts of people.  We should be worried because we see some of the same thinking starting to develop among the Proregressives* in government, media, education and business.  There is a growing movement to silence those whom are deemed unfit.  That will be all people who believe in the First and Second Amendments of the Constitution.  It will involve all Christians and Jews who are really serious about living their faith.

So pause during your day for a moment.  Remember the Armenians who were slaughtered for no other reason than they were Christians in a Muslim world.  Use their memory to motivate you to stand up for Liberty while you still can.  Perhaps this will speak to you.

    First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out
    —because I was not a socialist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out
    — because I was not a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
    —because I was not a Jew.

    Then they came for me
    —and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemoller

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Friday, April 23, 2021

Opus 2021-148: Headlines: OJ #2

Who was on trial in Minneapolis?  

Maybe “what” is better than “who”.  The American justice system was on trial.  Again.  The American justice system failed.  Again.  I understand that I was not in the courtroom and did not see all the evidence.  All I really needed to know was Floyd was overdosed with a deadly drug, he complained about not being able to breathe before he was held down, being unable to breathe evidently did not keep him from fighting arrest vigorously, Chauvin was using the technique taught him by the police department.  Are there any questions?  

The “who” is the American people.  I know you were not on the jury but we see this kind of thing time and again.  I assume the jury was from the city of Minneapolis and the surrounding area.  These Americans elected the local politicians who made all this possible and they will reelect them.  Keith Ellison was elected by the people of the state of Minnesota.  Maxine Waters, the congresswoman who came and stirred up the mob even more than they were, was elected by the people of California.  Both Ellison and Waters will be reelected if they decide to run.  This is not just an indictment of the jury.  I can understand their fear at proclaiming justice.  This is an indictment of a nation that seems to be willing to put up with this.

George Floyd was a piece of human trash.  The world is better off without him.  With the drug overdose he committed suicide.  I am not sure that Derek Chauvin is any better.  That, however, is not what this trial is supposed to be about.  It was not a personality contest between two men.  It was supposed to be the application of the law in an unbiased way.

We have OJ revisited.  

Stay off the radar.

homo unius libri

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Opus 2021-147: Stop Clicking

I am amazed at how little most of us understand about the internet.  One detail that escapes us is how it is financed.  Its income comes from the same source as any source of information and entertainment, advertising.  The income from advertising comes from a couple of sources:  clicks and sales.  

You have seen those ads on the side of the sites you visit.  The site gets paid more for more people who visit.  You are also familiar with all the pop-up stuff you keep trying to move out of the way.  Every time you click on one of those the site gets a bit of income.  It may only be pennies but pennies add up when you have thousands of visitors.  Amazon has a program like this and then when you buy something after clicking through from that site, more money flows their way.  Think of it as a commission.

The site I have specifically in mind is The Drudge Report.  I have not visited it for at least a year.  I will not link it because I don’t want you to go there, but much of its status on line and its income is based simply on how many people click on the site.  Have you noticed how when you click on an article it moves you completely off of the Drudge Report and then you have to go back to keep looking.  Count the clicks:  One, you go to Drudge, two you go to the article, three you go back to Drudge.  I had a friend who has no use for the Report, knows it is a left wing whack job and yet goes every day to check one item.  How many million people do this?  How many people keep bankrolling a site they despise simply because they are not paying attention?

Stop clicking, folks.  Then maybe they will listen to you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-146: Election 2022: Vote for Pumice

I have rarely been elected to anything.  Usually when I end up in leadership it is because the situation is so hopeless or pointless that no one else will do it.  Once in, I think I do a good job.  In fact I had one liberal teacher share her amazement that a conservative could be so good at including all the kids in what we were doing.  It didn’t fit her mush-head paradigm.  

There are a lot of positions I take on issues that would keep me from getting elected to any office today.  These are in the order they occurred to me.

Defund education at all levels.
Start to develop limitations on whom could vote.
Limit the federal government spending only to things specifically mentioned in the Constitution.
Constitutional carry
Expand the death penalty and apply it.  Make allowance for reasonable appeals but certain crimes such as rape and child molestation should result in cleaning up the gene pool.
Outlaw abortion as a form of birth control.
Define marriage as between one man and one woman.
Define man and woman as a biological fact declared by your genes.
Impeach judges who legislate from the bench.
Freeze government spending by dollar amount and have no provision for inflation.
Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment (Income Tax).
Make laws passed by congress apply to congress.
Sunset all government regulations.
Require legislation to be read by congress.
Make amendments illegal that did not directly apply to the legislation.
Limit legislation to one topic.
Shut down most government agencies such as the Department of Education, Housing, EPA, and Transportation.  I am open to doing away with most of the rest.
Honor current commitments in Social Security but make it optional going forward.
Restructure Social Security so that the government pays back borrowed funds and the money is invested responsibly.  
Do away with the entire concept of hate crimes.

I am sure that I could keep meddling, but you get the idea.  At times I am not sure I would even vote for myself.  In the absence of my candidacy I would recommend that these be adopted as the platform of the Republican Party.  

No, I don’t want to buy a nice bridge from you.

homo unius libri

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Opus 2021-145: Shower Thoughts: Does It Really Matter?

Does it really matter if underwear is inside-out?

Shirts are hard to button and pants have pockets that are hard to access in that condition.  Underwear works the same both ways.  Backwards can be a problem and upside-down is a non-starter, but inside-out?

Think of the many things in life that we work at getting so-so.  Does it really matter if a pillow case is inside out?  Why does it matter which side of the plate your fork is on and whether the knife blade faces out or in?  Why do we fold underwear?  Which comes first, brushing or flossing?  

While we are pondering life issues, which side of the top sheet goes up?

Keep in mind that some people mock the Scholastics for debating how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-144: Surgery, not Bandages

I think it is time to do away with public education.  Like so many good things in Western civilization, public education has Christian roots.  Sunday School started with Christians trying to educate children trapped in the industrial revolution.  In the new world the Pilgrims wanted their children to be able to read the Bible and think for themselves.  It was all good.

Then the Proregressives* got involved.

Keep in mind that the term “Progressive” is not new.  It goes back at least to the time of Woodrow Wilson.  It was eventually dropped because they had become associated with the fascist regimes of Europe.  Now that people have forgotten their history, or their history has been revised by the Proregressives, they have brought the term out again.  After all, who can be against progress?

There was a definite attack on the influence of Christianity in the schools and public aid to the poor.  Marvin Olaksy tracks this is his book The Tragedy of American Compassion.  One of the early attempts to get the federal government involved took place in 1912.  It involved the same groups that are trying to destroy our republic today.

“Again, a coalition of many social and civic organizations, liberal church groups, new welfare professionals, and journalists, went to work.”, p. 141
As is common today there was a definite antagonism among these people toward the Bible and Christianity.  Owen Lovejoy was president of the National Council of Social Work.  
“By 1920, a clear theological understanding was shared by most of  the professional social workers, according to Owen Lovejoy,....  Lovejoy noted that most social workers did not wish "to  `defend' the Bible, the Church, the flag or the Constitution.”
These are the people who have molded our modern society.  

It is a hundred years later.  They have been very successful.  Give the Devil his due.  The entire system is so polluted that it needs to be torn down and something new developed.  We need to display the same attitude toward the education monolith that they have toward our Constitutional Republic.  This time it needs to be done without their influence.  Will children need to be educated?  Yes, if you mean taught the basics of reading, writing, math and thinking skills.  No, if you mean brainwashed to be happy snowflakes.  Do you need professional educators to work this miracle?  Absolutely not.  

Olasky, Marvin.  The Tragedy of American Compassion.  Washington, D.C.:  Regnery
    Publishing, Inc., 1992.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, MSM, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Opus 2021-143: Turn in Your Cynic Badge

It is strange how commercially produced cute sayings can carry real impact.  When I see them in the store I ignore them.  When I get them from my descendants I melt.  By my desk hangs a plaque that says,

“Great dads get promoted to Grandpa.”
Cute.  Mass produced.  Thousands made.  It still gets the heart strings tuned.  

Don’t tell anybody because I might lose my title of cynic.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-142: Lemonade News

I am frustrated trying to find a reliable source of news.

Sources I trusted begin to reveal their feet of clay.  They start accepting the vaccine.  They say they are not sure if the election was stolen.  They have multitudes of ways of backing down from what I consider truth.  They tell me that if surgery is involved then the transgender is acceptable in their confusion.  When I hear that kind of thing I start putting some distance between me and them.  I will still listen; I may have misunderstood.  I will try to see their reasoning and find out why they can’t seem to see the obvious.  I could be wrong on the vaccines.  Maybe the country is in such bad shape that people did vote for Biden.  Maybe.  Probably not.  Eventually I start asking myself if someone so confused on one issue can be trusted on any other.

Certain positions put you on my list of liberals.  If you think abortion is nothing but a woman’s right to choose you forfeit your right to be taken as a moral person.  If you try to water down the Biblical position that any kind of homosexuality is unacceptable, I stop listening.  It isn’t that I can’t live in the same town with you, but that you reject the right of the innocent to life and are willing to destroy the foundation of family in our nation.  I cannot trust your discernment when it comes to right or wrong.

Maybe I am wanting something that doesn’t exist and that is a good thing.  Maybe the call on me as a believer is to keep my mind engaged.  I am to be discerning.  I am to think.  There can be no coasting or free rides.  That applies to the news as much as it does to the preacher I am listening to.  

I am trying to turn my lemons into lemonade but I am running short of sugar.

homo unius libri

Monday, April 19, 2021

Opus 2021-141: Watch Out for Bathtubs

I saw another testimonial for the vaccine today.  It was another man who was nagged into the shot by his wife.  I am wondering how often this is the case.  In his defense, this problem goes back a long way.  Remember Adam and Eve.

(Gen 3:12 KJV)  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
The other big influence on getting the vaccine seems to be the children that people sent off to college to be brain mushed.  Yes, the same ones that are referred to as “snowflakes” and “millennials”.  The ones who don’t have any idea about the scientific method when they claim to follow the science.  The ones who think that global warming is going to kill us all.  The ones who can’t get a job that pays more than minimum wage.

What are we coming to?  We have a media that sees its first priority to brainwash the masses into submissive, fear-corralled sheep.  We have a government that is seeking the same goal with the coercive power of a growing police state.  Now we are listening to the ignorant to decide what to do with out lives.

From what I see, with all the reports of side effects, complications and even deaths, the vaccine is more dangerous than the disease.  And when I say that I acknowledge that most of what we hear is antidotal, deliberate lies or misinformation.  That is true about both sides.  What is clear is that the panic virus is not near as dangerous as everyone claims.  Keep in mind that people drown in their own bathtubs.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-140: Time for a Hug

When I first heard the term I was amazed by the total lack of self awareness involved.  It was the acme of arrogance.  It was the height of hypocrisy.  I felt like an adult listening to a child claim he didn’t take the cookie when the crumbs are still around his mouth and down his shirt.  I refer to the silly speak of “multiracial whiteness.”

And then I realized that I had come home.  The clock that was broken had made it to the twice daily chime point.  I came to understand that multiracial whiteness was exactly what I was raised with.  It was taught in my home.  It was taught in my church.  It might have even been taught in my schools.  

Of course we did not call it such a loaded bit of attempted slander.  It was summed up in the phrase, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”  It started by knocking us down as a race, and by that I mean the human race.

(Rom 3:23 KJV)  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
All.  Not just a social class.  Not just an ethnic grouping.  All.

Then we are told how we can be lifted up.
(Joh 3:16 KJV)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Notice again it is the world and “whosoever”.  And then there is the statement of where we are after God works in us,
(Gal 3:28 KJV)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
You ask, “Where is the multiracial whiteness?”  Glad you asked.  Keep in mind that the people who originally came up with this are actively working to destroy Western civilization.  They have a special hatred for Christians.  When they say “white” what they mean are the people who live their lives in a way that is based on the Bible and the Constitution.  That is their definition of white.  Obviously it has nothing to do with skin color except that whites are easy to attack.  We were raised with this silly idea of “turn the other cheek” and “a soft answer turns away wrath.”  By their definition Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Candice Owens and a host of others are white because they believe in truth that does not change based on the latest Gallup poll.

Keep in mind that the haters of the world make a habit of trying to insult and often the insult is embraced.  Christians first received that name as an insult.  Straight was supposed to be kinky.  

So it is time to embrace your whiteness, whatever the color of your skin.  It is time to realize that there is only one race that counts, the human race.  Sorry NASCAR fans, different kind of race.

homo unius libri

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Opus 2021-139: Foolish or Faithful

How many people read the Bible in an attitude of superstition and how many read it as the word of God?  What strange tangent is my mind going on now?

So often we hear the Bible quoted as if reciting the verse is some talisman to ward off evil.  They roll off the tongue.  They sound so good.  But when people say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheth me,” they do so completely out of context and give it a false meaning.  They like to tell us “God is love”, which is true, but they do so having no idea what love means.  This is extra distorted if they have been watching Hallmark movies.

Superstition is the manipulation of the words and objects of power to gain control in life.  You knock on wood to keep bad luck at bay.  I remember one guy telling me if I would put some money in an envelop, write some phrase on the front and send it to his favorite ministry, I would get ten times as much back.  Superstition in people who think they are Christians is attempts to manipulate God like He is some cosmic vending machine that hands out prizes if you bump it just right.

The Bible is a document that only has real meaning when brought to life by the Holy Spirit in the heart and mind of a believer.  This is why it tells us that “they” will not understand.  Reading the Bible is not a matter of finding a verse that verifies our presuppositions but a call to find the truth that God wants to share with us at this time.

In this time of uncertainty we need to stop being superstitious and start learning truth.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-138: What Would Mary Poppins say?



I was enjoying the memes that George collected at Georges Grouse and came across one that started off,  

“Did you know?  A teaspoon of cayenne can start heart attacks in a minute.”
Now I want you to know that I am not a doctor whether it be Carson, Spock, Phil or Jill.  I am, however, someone who has found that cayenne pepper can add a bit of fun to a recipe.  It is like sardines in Caesar salad dressing.  A whisper enhances.  Too much gags or elicits screams.  When I make chili with a pound of beef, a can of beans, a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce, not to mention the onions and bell peppers, I put in maybe a quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne and when I enjoy the chili the spice livens things up.  I cannot picture taking a teaspoon of cayenne.  

It might work.  It could also be that you might be so shocked by the pepper it is like being hit with a defibrillator.  

Sorry, I think I will pass on this one.  Just because I enjoy memes doesn’t mean I turn off my brain.

homo unius libri

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Opus 2021-137: Crumbling Foundations

Why were the Founders superior to any following generation?  Very few of them were professional politicians.

If you have a copy of the Declaration of Independence take a look at the signatures at the end.  A quick glance shows only one, Samuel Adams, as listing themselves as politicians.  I will concede that there are a lot of lawyers but there is also a good cross section of the types of work that people did in those days.  If you did it to congress today the occupation would be almost 100% “politician”.  Most were lawyers at one point but if you look at how long it has been since they have practiced law then you realize that they are politicians.

I would love to see some serious turnover in congress.  I am not in favor of formal term limits.  I believe the purging should come from the voters booth not laws with loopholes.  Are there people out there who could rise to the level of the Founders?  Probably but they are not willing to go through the attacks and danger of running against the machine of what we call the Deep State.  If I had to recommend anything it would be what I have stated so many times:  Vote the suckers out.  When in doubt, throw them out.  In fact, unless you can make a really strong case to keep someone in office they should be rotated regularly.

2022 is coming.  Elections matter.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-136: Should-a-Beens: Court Packing

I have heard from two lawyers with integrity endorsements that the packing of the Supreme Court is not going to happen.  In their eyes it is just a ploy to distract the peasants while they pass all the other damage to destroy the republic.  We will see if they are worthy prophets.

How worried should we be if it does pass?  I got to thinking about a Proregressive* dream team for the last court of appeal.

Let’s start with Barak Hussein Obama.  You know it would happen.  He is the man who was so blessed that he could go around the Constitution with executive orders.  I think his words were something to the effect that if congress wouldn’t do what he wanted done then he would do it himself.  Just imagine what he could do to improve the world from the bench.

Then of course we would need to have Hillary.  It is possible she might be too old but age discrimination is unconstitutional.  Imagine what would happen to the view of ethics in this country if she were appointed.

That is two.  We need two more.  How about a Shiff/AOC tag team?  You think people are starting to laugh at the Supremes now, just think how it would go if these two were wearing the black robes.  It might make it worth televising hearings and billing it as reality TV.

I am sure we could come up with a lot more from Nadler to Beto.  

God help us.

homo unius libri

Friday, April 16, 2021

Opus 2021-135: Ode to Old: Running on Automatic

I am finding that I can’t run on automatic any more.

I guess another way of saying it is I can’t multitask.  I never was good at it.  Now it is a disaster.

I need to focus or tragedy awaits.  If I am going to put down my coffee cup I need to pay attention or I end up setting it on the edge of a book where it tips over.  The other day I was starting to take my pills for the day and found myself going on automatic. What that meant was I would forget to take one and possibly miss both.  I need to focus.  When driving I now need to either control the car or use my mouth.  

Of course I do go on automatic.  It usually involves sitting and staring out the window, thinking about all the great thoughts of the universe, or, as the comedian said, “Nothing.”  It is also something that I can only get away with when firmly rooted in a non-moving chair.  It does not go well when I am washing dishes or driving.

At least I can’t trip if I am not moving.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-134: Epoch Times: A Primary Source for Statistics

In my search for a reliable print newspaper I finally succumbed to the advertising of the Epoch Times.  I am now on a one year subscription.  I will refer to articles featured in the print edition and try to link them online for anyone interested.  Some posts will deal with the news shared and others will deal with my odyssey of deciding if the Epoch Times is a reliable source of news.

One of the frequent statements you see if you get out of the rut of CNN and other Proregressive* sources of news is that the statistics related to the China Virus are distorted.  It is a constant meme about how people who clearly died from other causes, such as a motorcycle accident, are listed as Covid-19 deaths.  If you are looking for evidence of this you need look no further than the Epoch Times edition of March 24-30 in an article titled “CDC Skewed CCP Virus Fatalities Higher, Peer-Reviewed Study Claims”.  You can also find it at the link.  

They boil it down and let me take it another notch.  Early in the so-called pandemic the CDC issued a new and novel handbook to count the deaths from the new and novel virus.  The old handbook is still in use for every disease except Covid-19.  At the time the study was done the CDC was attributing 161,392 deaths to the virus.  That was under the new guidelines.  Under the old guidelines the total would have been 9,684.  Take another look at those numbers and ask yourself why the CDC would distort the truth so much.

One of the advantages of reading the news on line is that links are embedded in the text and all you need to do is click to look further.  Thus to find the actual document being quoted you only need to click on the highlighted word “study”.  You are welcome to wade through it if you know any woke snowflake that might actually be influenced by science based on facts instead of America hatred.

It is not just the media that is lying to us.  It is not just the Democrat party.  It is a government agency that is supposed to be working to keep us safe.  Instead it is manipulating the country by the use of fear based on false data.

Heads need to roll.  Don’t hold your breath.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Opus 2021-133: Wildflower Watch: Focusing on Yellow

There are all kinds of yellow wild flowers in Texas.  They seem to come up early, stay late and turn up when unexpected.  Identifying them is not on my front burner but I noticed something today.  Some of those ubiquitous yellow flowers seems to be Dandelions.  I only know this because I am seeing the distinctive seed pod appear.

I also am claiming to identify Brown-Eyed Susans.  They have been around before but I had to look for a different picture than the one I had.  They are doing well on our hill.

I also noticed that over night Indian Blankets have bloomed.  I swear there were none yesterday but today I saw them in several yards.  Eventually I expected to see them on my property.

I am wondering if we are going to get more blue bonnets later in the year.  The ones that came up in my yard are already forming their pods.  They may dry out and spread in time to give a second crop.  We shall see.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-132: How Easy It Was

It is hard to avoid the constant mantra about the China Virus and the quick fix vaccine.  On one side we are constantly whipped with panic and told life will never return to normal.  On the other we are told that the vaccine is here and all we need to do it take it to survive.

In case I have not shared it before, no thanks to both paths of thinking.

It occurred to me that the virus and the vaccine have a lot in common.  Both of them have almost no effect on the masses of people that are exposed or inoculated.  It has been clear for months that the virus doesn’t do much to rain on the parade of most people who come in contact.  It also seems clear that the vaccine, at least in the short term, doesn’t effect most people much.  We hear horror stories about both but for the majority it is a far away crisis.

The clear problem in the whole panic is the lies.  The government and media have consistently lied to us about the danger of the virus, the effectiveness of the vaccine and the safety of the vaccine.  They have distorted the numbers of deaths by changing the way the information is recorded and counted.  They have created false studies and reports about the dangers we face.  All seems to be closely tied to creating a fear that convinces people that they must give up their freedom of action and choice.

It is clear that the masses have been well conditioned.  Even when the mandate for masks are lifted, the signs are taken down and the ineffectiveness of the masks to protect you are well known, people still wear the masks.  If the government is allowed to get away with this on a virus that is genuinely mild in comparison to historic plagues, what will they try if China comes up with something really deadly.

So long, Land of the Free.  It has been good knowing you.

homo unius libri

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Opus 2021-131: Wildflower Watch: Milkweed by Any Other Name...

The neighbors told me it was milkweed.  When I went to my source for Texas Wildflowers it told me it was Antilope Horns.  I little further looking told me that AH is a type of MW.  This seems to be developing as a good year for them, whatever they are called.

For a couple of weeks I have been noticing some flowers that are there in the morning and not during the day.  I think they are called Evening Primrose.  The ones at the link above are pink.  Ours are yellow.  I think they also come in white.

One yard has something that I think is a Texas Dandelion.  It is a pale yellow with specks shooting out of the center.

Another lot has a sprinkling of what I am claiming to be Pincushion Daisy or Perfumeballs.  They develop a globular red head which is distinctive.  I can’t remember how they change as they move toward seed time.

There are some purples all over the place.  My guess is that they are Prairie Verbena.  

Yellow flowers proliferate but there are so many slight variations that I can’t identify them much beyond “yellow flowers.”  Enjoy the mystery.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-130: Off with Her Head

Sometimes I think we are all Proregressives* at heart.  We are very good at throwing our own people under the bus.  What brings this to mind is the recent stumble, or seeming stumble, by Governor Kristi Noem.  

The problem is that I don’t really trust sources from the right much more than sources from the left.  If I look at Noem’s record I see an unbroken string of taking the high road.  It was getting to the point that I was expecting perfection.  Now we have one stumble and everyone is ready to throw her out.  

I would suggest, not so fast.

One of the problems of people on the right is that they have standards.  We believe things.  As a Christian there are certain things I believe, basic doctrines.  I am not willing to be flexible on those.  As a wary Republican there are certain issues I believe in.  Usually they are the ones that are consistent with my Christian beliefs.  That is good.  If we did not stand on what we considered truth then we might as well be Proregressives*.  

Sometimes, or I guess I should say usually, we include things in our “must” categories that would be better in our “should” column.  In theology we have a lot of disagreements.  I enjoy telling Calvinists who believe they cannot lose their salvation that I am more secure than they are.  I can know I am saved.  They cannot.  They can’t really know if they have anything to lose.  I also understand that I need to lighten up and reassure them that they can make it to heaven even if they are wrong on that issue.  Many will not agree with me on that because they don’t think I will make it.  That is their problem.  I refuse to kick them off the team for their error.  We agree on the basics.

In politics you see the same thing.  When Vice President Mike Pence refused to reject the delegations from the states, a lot of people cast him under the bus.  It didn’t seem to matter that he was following the letter of the Constitution and they wanted him to do something that was in that penumbra that the liberals like so much.  What mattered was that he did not conform to their interpretation.  Now for expressing this some of you might be ready to kick me off the reservation, or onto it depending on how you understand the concept.  

Get over it.  And take a deep breath in regard to Governor Noem.  Give the sauce time to simmer and see if it was a quirk or an indication.  

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)
 
homo unius libri

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Opus 2021-129: Wildflower Watch: A New Entrant

The Indian Paint Brush has appeared on our hill.  So far it is just a few red blooms.  I am hoping for more.  I have not been watching the wild flowers in Texas for long but it seems to me that we might be headed for a light season.  The blue bonnets are short and scattered.  I am wondering if the extreme cold is having an afterthought.  

The inch worms are making up for the lack of flowers.  They are letting themselves down from our oak trees on threads like spiders.  They are crawling the walls and getting mashed into everything.

Spring is here.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-128: Olive Branches

The American Revolution was fought by a group of states united against an island trying to dictate to them how to live.  I submit we are in a similar situation.

Washington, D.C. is, for all purposes, an island in the nation.  It was deliberately set up so that no state could control it.  It is now an island that dictates to us in an ever increasing list of ways.

When the colonies rebelled against Great Britain, the British did not have enough troops to send to America and keep up their other commitments.  In the hour of need they turned to mercenaries.  Most have heard of the Hessians.  They were generally German speaking peasants from the Hesse-Cassel state in Europe.  Keep in mind that at the time Germany did not exist as a nation.  

Who would the mercenaries be if Washington needs to deal with defiant states?  How about the Blue Helmets of the UN?  Could the Mexican army be hired to deal with Texas?  Or maybe the soldiers of the Mexican drug cartels.  

The American Revolution did not need to happen.  Samuel Adams and a few other citizens of Boston may have wanted violence but the vast majority of American leaders were trying to find a way to work the differences out peacefully.  Most considered themselves Englishmen and were loyal to the king.  The Olive Branch Petition was sent to the King on July 5, 1775 by the Continental Congress.  This was after the shot heard round the world at Lexington on April 19.  It was a year before the Declaration of Independence.  The King laughed it off.

Will the elites in Washington D.C. continue to laugh the average American citizens off?  Time will tell.  We have a lot of give in the country.  It is hard to know when the camel’s back will be broken.  Let’s hope there is an awakening before it is too late.

homo unius libri

Monday, April 12, 2021

Opus 2021-127: Pauses for Pitter-Patter

It has been ages since I have posted.  I keep having ideas but not finding the time and energy to write.  It has been a glorious time.  My grandchildren were staying with us and they deserve a lot of attention.  I don’t know how many times I sat down, flexed my fingers and started to write when there would be the pitter-patter of little feet and big eyes would be looking up at grandpa.  My ideas got pushed aside and I began building little characters.

Blogging is an ego expression anyway.  I think most of us write because we have something to say and we can’t get anyone to listen.  That is healthy as long as we don’t get our lives out of balance.

The kids have finally gone.  Now all I have is a wife recovering from hip surgery and a country turning into a Marxist state.  They both need some attention.

homo unius libri

Monday, April 5, 2021

Opus 2021-126: The Growth of Systemic Racism

Every time I check headlines I read about another company jumping on the anti-white bandwagon.  It seems that our Proregressive* betters feel that the world created from the ideas of Protestant Europe is a cesspool that needs to be fixed.  I frequently wonder why these people don’t collect their passports and visas and go live in the areas that were molded by other cultures.  Being typical adolescent bullies they would rather destroy what is good than build something else.  It is always easier to destroy than to build.

The problem with America to them is White Privilege which has caused systemic racism.  Those who pay any attention wonder how a nation suffering from systemic racism elected a black man president twice and has large numbers of various minorities who have been successful in business and entertainment.  It seems like the two are mutually exclusive.  Of course seeing that requires paying attention and being able to think.

I will submit that systemic racism is a problem but it is a new problem.  I would also submit that it is not white privilege that is the problem but parasite privilege.  That is a growing population of people who are lined up at the trough of the government and sucking down the tax dollars.  In order to keep doing that they need to demonize someone and so they have decided that the white man is the devil.  In order to deal with this devil you must drive it out of places of power.  Thus we have Coke telling people “White is bad”.  One of the blurbs I read said that inside memos in Cigna Insurance have stated that white people will not be promoted.  We have two senators who have stated they will not vote for Biden nominations unless they are minorities.

Yes, we have a problem with systemic racism and it is growing.  But it is not growing the way you have been told.  And to be honest it isn’t just “race”ism because other factors are emerging.  It started with whites, flaunts anti-Semitism, moves on to men regardless of color, then Asians.  What next?  

Keep in mind these are Proregressives* and their style is to accuse you of what they are guilty of.  Any time you hear these people call out a problem you can be sure that they are guilty of what they complain about.  

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Opus 2021-125: Fear Antidote

Unlike Christmas, Easter is not an arbitrary date.  It is based on the Lunar calendar used by the Jews and thus is tied to Passover.  It changes because it is lunar instead of solar.  Lunar dates are based on full moons after the Winter Solstice.  That is the shortest day of the year and can be observed at all levels of culture.  

So the Easter celebration is tied to real calculations.  It is rooted in history.

Don’t get hung up on the name.  The point of Easter is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the grave.  The early church celebrated this on a daily basis but I believe they quickly learned that if you do something too often it becomes routine and then ritual.  Rituals soon lose their meaning.  For events you really want to let touch you, once a year seems to be good.  Think about celebrating Christmas.  We start playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving.  By the time December 26 roles around I am ready to move on.

So pause and grab hold of the historical reality that Jesus, who died on a cross, was resurrected from the dead so people who believe in Him would not need to fear death.

And think about that next time someone tries to get you to panic over a virus that has a 97+% survival rate.

homo unius libri

Saturday, April 3, 2021

Opus 2021-124: Headlines: Cancel Music

I continue to wonder how the Proregressives* can look themselves in the mirror and not laugh themselves to death.  It seems that the cancel culture has come for written music.  Somehow the ability to take something you hear and write it down on paper so that others can have access to it is an element of white privilege.  Musical scores are now racist, at least if you use the method developed in Europe.  Once again the people who call themselves progressive become regressive.  They are turning the clock back in such a way that hundreds of years of acquired culture are to be thrown away in the name of multiculturalism.  

This is not the Babylon Bee.  The first place I saw this was in The American Thinker but I have seen it other places as well.  The Thinker lists The Daily Mail as the source.  The claim is that scholars at Oxford University are claiming that musical notation should be done away with in the interest of equality, and might I add ignorance.  

This kind of thinking is typical of what “higher” education is advocating today.  The sole agreed upon goal of modern universities is to undermine and destroy Western civilization.  Art has already been twisted to the point of being meaningless.  Literature is now reaching new heights when it achieves mediocre.  Math evidently has a racist component.  Now music must be reduced to just what can be remembered.  Can you picture trying to play the Nutcracker Suite from memory after hearing it played by people who could not read music?  

Maybe we should support ideas like this but carry them to their logical conclusion:  We need to close down Oxford University for the same reasons they want to do away with music notation.  In the article it says that Western music is racist because it was developed in the period of slavery.  That would also apply to Oxford University.  It should apply to just about every college and university that is not solely  on line.  Actually even the most recent would qualify to be disbanded because of slavery.  Slavery still exists.  It is a formal reality is much of the Muslim world and it is hidden in the sex industries and much of the sweat labor industries of the West.  China currently holds millions of people in bondage.

So I approve.  Cancel Oxford.  Cancel Columbia.  Cancel Harvard.  Cancel all of them.  Go back to OJT and such things as reading for the bar in a local lawyer’s office.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Friday, April 2, 2021

Opus 2021-123: Reminders: #3, Blind Spots

There are certain topics I have written about.  They are worth repeating.  I need to revisit them to refresh my memory and enhance my thinking.  Others need to be reminded.  There is a constant bombardment of ideas that clutter our minds.

It happened again last week.  Someone quoted II Chronicles 7:14 and left out the most important part, the part no one wants to remember.

(2Ch 7:14 KJV) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Guess which phrase is usually overlooked:  “Turn from your wicked ways”.

Up until that little statement most people can be on board.  We find the idea of being God’s people and being called by His name as potentially beneficial.  If you think about the bloodiest wars, such as the American Civil War, both sides seem to think God is on their side.  It is possible to humble ourselves without actually doing so.  Again, we can feel good about that.  Most people pray even if they don’t know the difference between prayer, thinking good thoughts and cursing.  They can even seek God’s face because most people’s conception of God is pagan and is based on a mirror image.

The following promises are all good.  God will hear us.  God will forgive.  God will heal.  Who could have any problem with that, accept the part about us being sinners needing forgiveness.

The problem is with the in-between, the sandwich filling, the turning.  Turning means change.  Change is inconvenient.  Change makes demands if we do it the way the verse implies.  A word that brings it home is “repent”.  Do a quick run down of the Ten Commandments and ask yourself which ones you are up to date with.

America is at a cross-road.  In a sense that is nothing new.  Each generation needs to make the decision of whether they are going to turn from their wicked ways or go for same-o same-o.  In the past we have had enough people turn that we have not come apart at the seams.  The turning has to take place one at a time.  No one can do it for anyone else.  God will be the one to decide if He just honors us as individuals or as a people.

Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?

homo unius libri