Rick Warren's Folly

I am really going to try to get through this article without hurling lunch.  Please bear with me if I need to excuse myself for a few minutes.  The reason for my digestive distress?  Two words.  Rick. Warren.

Apparently, Rev. Warren, pastor of the gargantuan Saddleback Church in Lake Forest California, has been christened by the media to be one of America’s ‘most influential Christian leaders’ (*gag*… sorry).  In an effort to snuggle ever closer to the Muslim community in Southern California, he is introducing Kings Way, an initiative born from years of outreach between Warren and the Muslim community.

Kings Way seeks to find theological points that evangelical Christians and Muslims can agree on.  Uh, Rick?  Hold onto that dream, pal.  One such little jewel is that Christians and Muslims “worship the same God.”  (Oh no!!  Hang on…I’ll be right back…!)

Whew!  That was gross.  Anyway, this effort to attempt to bridge 1400 years of ‘misunderstanding’ between the two faiths was crowned by a dinner in December 2011, held at Warren’s church which was attended by 300 Muslims and the members of the church congregation.  A real huggy, kissy love-fest, to be sure.

Abraham Meulenburg, the Saddleback pastor in charge of interfaith outreach and Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs in Los Angeles drafted a document together that lists points of agreement between Christianity and Islam. (*Buuurrrp!*  Excuse me.)  This agreement affirms that Muslims and Christians believe in “one God” and also share two of the same commandments; love of God and love of your neighbor.

It also commits both faiths to three goals.  They are to make friends with each other, build peace and work on shared social service endeavors.  And they agree not to try to convert each other.  In order to confirm these goals, the document shows side-by-side quotes from the Bible and the Koran that prove both faiths are commanded to pursue these goals. (*GAG*!!!  No, it’s OK.  I’ll be alright.)

Rev. Warren has faced some criticism for his romancing of Muslims and flatly denies he is trying to merge the two faiths into one which could be known as Chrislam.  He insists, “My life and ministry are built on the truth that Jesus is the only way and our inerrant Bible is our only true authority.”

Really,  Mr. Warren?  Then what excuse could you POSSIBLY have to support the blatant lie that Jehovah and the pagan moon god, Allah are one and the same??  There are only two answers:  you are a heretic or you are a blithering idiot. Take your pick.

 The good Reverend is aware that evangelicals are overwhelmingly in favor of converting Muslims to Christianity and that they view Islam as promoting violence. (What amazing insight!) However, he points out that Christians are still obliged to treat everyone with love and respect, regardless of their religious views.  Not to worry there Rick, I haven’t heard of Christians bombing any Muslim community lately.

Gwynne Guibord, an ordained Episcopal priest, is the co-founder of the Christian-Muslim Consulting Group based in Los Angeles.  She states that her group’s mission is to respond to the growing antagonism between the two faiths.  “I think evangelicals feel a mandate to convert people to Christianity” and thinks Warren’s outreach is unprecedented. “I am not aware of any other evangelical church reaching out to the Muslim community.”  (Oh boy, I’m feeling nauseous again…)

You know, I have to weigh in here on a few points. I have no problem whatsoever with Christians being friendly with Muslims.  Go on…carpool, have dinner at a nice restaurant or get coffee together.  If a Christian sees a Muslim with a need, Christ commanded us to minister to them like the Good Samaritan would.  I wouldn’t have to think twice.

BUT.   I do take issue with the good Reverend’s soft-core approach to building bridges.  Jesus Christ, (remember Him Rick?) commissioned us to spread the Good News of the Gospel to all people in all places.  Have you done that Rick, or is that not politically correct?  What’s wrong, are you afraid that wouldn’t generate enough of a spotlight for you? (My tummy is really upset!)

 Ms. Guibord, did you hear that?  This should be no surprise, so I cannot understand why you are obviously not in favor of Christians witnessing the truth of Christ to the lost?  Isn’t that the whole point of Christianity?  Isn’t it critical we do our best to present the Gospel so these people might not end up roasting in hell for all eternity?  Or is it more important to parade around the sanctuary, in your pretty, embroidered robes, sounding pious and wise to the parishioners?  

And Rick.  Dear, inclusive, non-offensive Rick…surely you’re aware by now that the followers of Islam are commanded to convert, enslave or kill infidels?  They are to pretend to accept Christians and Jews until they are able to overwhelm them.  They are to conquer the world and institute sharia law.  There is no ‘misunderstanding.’  They hate America and everything we stand for.  The only goal of their ‘Purpose Driven Life’ is world domination! What part of those facts don’t you understand?  (*blech*, oops!)

Your priorities are completely unbiblical!  You are being deceived by the enemy and not only are you failing the great commission, you are trying to cozy up with people totally devoted to a poisonous belief system. Do you really think what you are doing is accomplishing anything useful for the Kingdom of God? And what, pray tell might that be?

Theirs is not a religion of peace.  It is a religion of bloodshed, conquest and lies. They’re not interested in what you have to say and it is an outrage for you to even suggest Islam and Christianity have anything in common!  They are diametrically opposed.  Isaac vs. Ishmael.  Jacob vs. Esau. Got it?

 So, please get a grip on your ego, crack your dusty Bible open and get re-acquainted with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  If you keep insisting on being politically correct, know that you are completely wasting your time, making an idiot of yourself and misleading your congregation.  Shame on you!  (*sigh* I need a nap…)

A Mere Inconvenience

The Old Testament tells us when the children of Israel were beginning to enter the land of Canaan, God sternly commanded them not to intermarry with the natives because it would lead to them adopt the worship practices of their new spouses and thus contaminate their relationship with God.

Of course, they disobeyed.  The native pagans did detestable things in God’s sight as a part of their worship practices; they sacrificed to non-existent gods, engaged in ritual sex that included orgies with temple prostitutes, both straight and homosexual, and they even became depraved enough to sacrifice their own newborn babies to these so called gods! 

One of the main gods they worshipped was named Moloch.  These heathens would fashion a hollow metal likeness of what they thought he might look like, with outstretched arms and built a raging fire in it.  After they had cut themselves, jumped around like fools and babbled nonsense, they would place their very own newborns in the red hot, glowing arms of Moloch and dance around some more while they listened to the child’s pitiful screams.  Just the thought of that is utterly incomprehensible to me.

The Israelites had the audacity to turn their backs on the living God who had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and parted a dad-gum sea so they could escape Pharaoh.  He then provided food and water for them while they were wandering around the desert wasting time.  It took them for 40 years to make an 11 day journey! 

This is because, even after all the incredible miracles of preservation and protection God had performed on their behalf, they kept trying to decide if they could really trust God; if He would really keep His word and bring them into the land of milk and honey as He had promised Abraham.

When they finally made it , what did they do? You guessed it.  Betrayed God by intermarrying and adopting pagan gods.  How could anyone in their right mind willingly slaughter their own son or daughter?  That thought is so repulsive and alien to us…or is it?

Yeah, yeah, you know where I’m going with this. Well, you only think you do.  OK, we’ll start with the monumental decision in 1973 when the Supreme Court of the land ruled in favor of allowing women in this country to abort their babies.  The number of abortions performed since that year, give or take a small percentage of error, was calculated by the Alan Guttmacher Institute which surveys abortion doctors directly. 

They have estimated the number of babies, a/k/a human beings killed since 1973 by being suctioned, ripped apart limb by limb, chemically burned or partially delivered and having their brains sucked out and skull crushed, to be 39,290,477 million.  America is far worse than the nation of Israel was!

We sacrifice our children to the gods of convenience and selfishness.  Oh, don’t give me the ‘mother’s life or health’ blather.  We all know those circumstances are so incredibly rare as to hardly be measureable, so just save it!

Big deal!  So what, you ask?  So what if we Americans slaughter our unborn; after all, it’s just a blob of tissue. It’s not even a real person yet. Why should we be forced to have babies we don’t want??  Guess what?  I agree with you.  You shouldn’t. So, in order to prevent that from happening, stop having sex outside of marriage!!  What an alien, fuddy-duddy idea!  I won’t carry this thought further because I can see it’s causing your mind to melt down.

 Abortion is just one more brick in the wall that will bring the wrath of God to America.  You see, He considers children to be a treasure and blessing to the parents.  He forms that child during pregnancy.  King David, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote in Psalms 139: 14-16, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members (days) were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

But are 40 million abortions enough for us?  Are we still inconvenienced by these fetuses that are not even human beings?  Apparently we are.  Hold on to your hats people and let me tell you of a new low in the modern day depravity of the human soul.

In February of this year, the Journal of Medical Ethics (*snicker*) published an article by Alberto Guibilni, Department of Philosophy in Monash University in Melbourne Australia and Dr. Francesca Minerva, Center for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

These two bastions of intellectual, compassionate humanity postulate that since society accepts abortion as a woman’s right, we should also be able to kill newborn babies even if they are viable and healthy, because they may be a burden or inconvenience to the mother or family.  Yes, you did indeed read that correctly!  Their reasoning is as follows:

1. “The moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus, that is, neither can be considered a ‘person’ in a morally relevant sense.”

2.”It is not possible to damage a newborn by preventing it from developing the potentiality to become a person in the morally relevant sense. “

“Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of having a moral right to life. We take ‘person’ to mean an individual  who is capable of attributing to his/her own existence some basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to  him/her.”

“We claim killing a newborn should be ethically permissible in all the circumstances where abortion would be.  Such circumstances include cases where the newborn has the potential to have an (at least) acceptable life, but the well-being of the family is at risk. “

 If a potential person does not become an actual person then there is neither an actual nor a future person who can be harmed, which means that there is no harm at all.  (huh?)  A consequence of this position is that the interests of actual people to pursue their own well-being, mental health and self interests over-ride the interest of merely potential people to become actual ones.  Since non-persons have no moral rights to life, there are no reasons for banning infanticide.

These two fools also believe that a baby born to a mother who doesn’t want it, should be able to put that baby to death, even if an adoptive couple is ready, willing and able to care for that child, because, (get this..) the mother might suffer psychological distress from giving her child up for adoption!! 

Awww, poor birth mommy might feel sad she gave her healthy, unwanted kid to a couple who have been praying and hoping for a baby.  Oh no, mommy shouldn’t go through any emotional pain, just because she became pregnant as a result of her own actions and carried that baby to term!  Mommy would be free from all guilt and longing if the baby just went away. Yay!  But how do we make the inconvenient baby go away?  We kill it.

We don’t want to call it murder or infanticide, because those words carry guilt inducing, negative connotations.   No, we want to call this practice something everyone is already familiar with so it won’t seem so unusual; ‘after-birth abortion.’  Now then, doesn’t that sound better?  Abortions are done all the time. What’s the difference?

At what age should we stop the “after birth abortions?”  One week old?  Three weeks old?  How about 6 months? Heck, why can’t we have an after birth abortion when the kid hits 13 and they’re a pain in the butt?!  Who gets to decide?

What a spectacular oxymoronic joke that these two reprobate minds refer to themselves as ethical philosophers!   By what standard are they measuring their definition of ‘morality?’  Oh silly me, of course!  Since they are in the liberal public university domain, they spew relativism which means, what is wrong for you or society in general is not necessarily wrong for me.  After all, who are you to tell me what is good or evil?

Well hot dang, I can have me some fun with that criteria!  WhooHoo!  Where to start…well, there’s several people I know that need killing.  And the waitress at the IHOP was a snot, so I should go and slap her upside the head to get her back.  Hey, don’t judge me!  I get to decide what is good or bad in this system, right?  Oh yeah, my cousin Melanie got herself knocked up again and she don’t want another rug rat, but now it ain’t  gonna be a problem!  We’ll just use the little squirt for target practice when it’s born.  With that ‘psychological distress’ gone, Mel will be up and partyin’ in no time!  I like this relativism stuff!

God Almighty in heaven, please hurry and rescue me from this filthy, immoral sewer we call Earth!

Knock It Off!

I sometimes see news stories that are so outrageous, so brainless, so completely unnecessary that I have to speak up, and this is one of those times.  I’m really going to wade in some turbulent waters here, but enough is enough already!

Am I the only one who has noticed that Muslims in the Middle East will grasp onto any excuse to hold massive riots featuring levels of destructive and even deadly violence that is blown far out of proportion to any alleged outrage they think they suffered?  I can just hear the following announcement:

‘Ladies and gentlemen, this just in to CNN.  Huge crowds in Kabul are protesting what they feel was an insult to their prophet, Muhammad.  Apparently, President Obama’s family dog barked what was interpreted by a visiting dignitary, as an insulting slur against the Prophet.  He reportedly stated, “This dog was obviously trained by the Americans to bark in a cadence and pitch that translates into a grievous slur against the Holy Prophet!”

 President Obama immediately prostrated himself in humility before Afghan President, Hamid Karzai,  as he once again apologized for the United States and signed a Presidential order for another 7 billion dollars to be given to the Afghan people to aid in purchasing even more weapons to use against our military soldiers who are still stationed in that country.  We can only hope this will satisfy the rage of the protesters.’

But it probably won’t.  The latest incident prompting Afghanistan Muslims to get their turbans in a twist is the accusation that American military personnel at the Parwan Detention Facility adjacent to the Bagram Air Base, were burning Qurans and other Islamic religious texts.  Apparently, the detainees were writing extremist messages or inscriptions in the pages of the Qurans as a way to communicate with other prisoners.

These texts and Qurans were confiscated and dumped into a pit and set on fire.  Afghan workers saw the materials burning and suffered injuries as they tried to salvage some of the books.  According to Islamic law, the only way to properly dispose of a Quran is to wrap it in clean cloth and bury it on the grounds of a mosque in a location where no one would ever walk on it.

However, Islamic law also states that writing or making marks in the pages of the ‘holy’ book is considered blasphemy.  Apparently, Muslims are free to cherry pick which laws they wish to observe and which they decide to ignore.  No mention whatsoever has been made by the protesters about the detainee’s crime of writing in them in the first place. 

Two American soldiers were murdered by an Afghan soldier in retaliation and a total of 20 lives have been lost since the protest began.  Now, let me get this straight.  Two of our soldiers, stationed in that barren, sand pit, training ignorant, uneducated Afghan men how to control the security of their own country, were blown away by one of these pupils.  Whom we are there to help.  Into whose economy we have dumped untold millions of our tax payer dollars and entirely too many American lives, trying to support people who insist on living in the 7^th century to free themselves from the even greater oppressive rule of the Islamic nutwads, the Taliban.

One of the protesters, a 25 year old who uses only one name, Kamaluddin, stated, “We don’t care about Obama’s apology.  We have to protest to be responsible to our God.  They are burning our Quran.  An apology is not enough.”   So tell me Kammy, what exactly would be ‘enough?’  How many more lives?  How much more destruction of buildings and cars needs to happen?

 Here’s a question I’ve wondered for a long time:  Is your Allah SO weak, SO pathetic that he needs common, mortal men to defend him?  Can he not strike down his enemies himself?  Is your ‘god’ so repugnant an entity that he must force people, by the edge of a sword, to worship and want to serve him?  Why is he unable to woo and draw and cause mankind to desire him?  What kind of weak, insecure, ineffective god is that?  If he truly is God, who created the universe and all that is in it, wouldn’t you think he could take care of and avenge himself?  

I’m just saying…. 

So, apparently, you cannot burn a Quran but it is perfectly acceptable for Muslims to murder, marry and rape underage girls, use lies as a primary language, steal others blind, use their ‘holy’ book like a white board in which they color and write hate filled nonsense, be completely intolerant of and desire to kill anyone who looks, talks, lives or worships differently than they do!  Forgive me, but where is the ‘religion of peace’ buried in all of that?  Ooo, ooh, I think I got it!

You will be peaceful when you achieve world domination.  Right?  Well, I hate to break it to you, but that ain’t gonna happen. Ever.  So, you might as well grow up and join the rest of the civilized world, utilize that black gold you’re sitting on to rebuild your country, treat your women like the valuable partners they are, master the mysteries of indoor plumbing and stop wiping your butts with your left hands instead of using toilet paper. 

Which brings us back full circle to those Qurans…

The Biggest Mistake

Yeah dude, I know I keep yammering on and on about this, but if I didn’t think it was important, I’d shrug my shoulders and walk away.  I may do that anyway because you’re wearing me out!  Look, the evidence is in front of you every day. What exactly, is so blasted hard to understand?

I’m gonna approach this a different way because nothing I’ve said has soaked into your brain.  This whole rapture thing is going to happen whether you believe it or not.  What makes me so sure?   Because every single prophecy in the Bible up until this point in history, has come true. ALL of them!  That’s a pretty good track record, don’t you think?

So, I reckon the odds are good that the prophecies the Bible says will happen in the future will come true too!  Simple as pie.  Let’s  look at that anti-christ guy, who I’m 99% sure is alive today, hanging out backstage, ready to stroll his suave self in front of the TV cameras.  Don’t snort, I’m serious!

It most certainly IS possible for one man to rule the world!  Not only is it possible, the technology is here and is being put into place right now!

How?  Well, let me tell you.  What would it take to control and administrate the entire population of the planet? Just humor me for a few minutes and let’s pretend the rapture has happened.  That would mean out of the approximately 7 billion people on this planet, we’ll say, umm, a billion people suddenly disappeared.

I hope it’s more than that, but it’s a starting point. Now. You have a billion people missing. Think of all the car wrecks that’ll take place; all of the airplane and train disasters that’ll happen, which will kill hundreds of thousands more because their driver or pilot disappeared into thin air!  Can you imagine  the chaos all over the world; people freaking out because their loved ones and small children are gone?

It’ll be worldwide pandemonium for a while!  I mean, look how people act  when a hurricane is announced; the store shelves are emptied, lines at the gas pumps are a couple of blocks long and it becomes dog-eat-dog, every man for himself!  People turn into absolute animals, right?

OK, you have all that going on.  Of course the churches will be overflowing with people who come to the sickening realization of what has happened.  Civil order will have to be restored so local governments will probably declare Marshall Law and citizens will be kept under control at gunpoint with curfews and all.

Scientists from all over the world will meet and come up with some halfway believable explanation for where all those people went and, because everything is so crazy and the populace desperately needs something plausible to believe, everybody buys into what they say.  Over several months,  the clean up of wrecks will be nearly finished, things will gradually settle down and life will slowly get back to some semblance of normal.

But because of the hoopla, world economies will be in shambles, countries will be bickering over food and fuel shortages and for some bizarre reason, I bet you the whole world will probably blame Israel for the catastrophe because everything bad that happens is always Israel’s fault!  It’ll be the perfect excuse for the Arabs to plan an attack. 

Everybody will be on edge because a World War seems inevitable when seemingly out of nowhere, this handsome, charismatic guy steps up on the world stage and proposes a workable plan to institute that One World Government we keep hearing about.  He’ll make it sound so logical and equitable for everyone and folks will eat it up!

What seemed impossible to coordinate in years past will be pulled together over a matter of months.  It’ll be a cashless society because everyone in the whole world will be expected to go to some designated station in their area to receive an official mark that proves they are a bona fide citizen of the New World Order.

This mark, in the right hand or forehead, will have all their personal info, medical records, purchases and “money” recorded on it.  It’ll probably be some kind of computer chip that can be scanned so there won’t be any need to carry cash or credit cards anymore.  Nooo, I do not think that sounds good!  Knock it off! I’m not kidding around with you!  Can I continue? Thank you.

Food and fuel supplies will stabilize and will be distributed by the central government and all the world leaders will meet, agree and even seem relieved to hand over the sovernity of their individual countries to this brilliant, confident, persuasive man.

Oh, he’ll be quite a talker, no doubt!  A natural born leader, instituting laws to ‘protect’ the populace and to provide the goods and services needed.  Everyone will wonder where this guy has been all this time!  He’s wonderful!  He’ll give the most inspirational speeches ever heard and most everyone all over the world will almost literally worship him!

You notice I said, “most everyone” will follow him.  There’ll be a few holdouts that’ll keep yelling about the rapture and calling the new Leader the anti-christ!  They’ll go around telling everybody the rapture happened and they’ve been left behind but that it’s not too late to get right with God and escape hell. 

These rebels will adamantly insist you must not, under any circumstances, take that mark, even though it’ll mean you won’t be able to travel around freely, sell or buy what you need and you’ll be considered a wanted criminal.

They’ll swear anyone who gives their allegiance to the Leader by taking the mark will be damned to hell for eternity. No more chances. What a pain in the neck these people will be!  Most citizens will look at them as a threat to the New World Order’s peace and prosperity and will demand the government do something about them; make them go away! Exterminate them.

Sounds logical.  I mean, you can’t have a bunch of rebels in the New World, constantly begging  citizens for food and other supplies they need to live, so the government soldiers will be given orders to round them up and put them in work camps until the Leader decides what to do with them. Guess what?  FEMA is building those ‘camps’ right now!  No sir, that’s not a rumor. It’s a fact!

Everyone will become so exasperated, even their own families will turn them in to the authorities! Now, that’s cold but, hey, they won’t conform to government regulations so whatever happens to them is their own fault, right?

They’ll be hunted down like rabid dogs! The soldiers will beg their commanding officers for the privilege of capturing them because they’ll get to use all the cool, high-tech gear and no one will even lift a finger when the soldiers torture or rape their captives before they throw them in the camps. 

They’ll use night vision goggles, thermal imaging and stuff like that and will probably even go old fashioned at times and hunt ‘em down using dogs.  A lot of rebels won’t survive being captured but who cares?

There won’t be anywhere for them to run, anyway. They’ll get caught sooner or later, what with all the cameras watching every corner, street, store, gas station, mall and shopping centers 24/7.  Did you know those cameras are being equipped even now with microphones so sensitive, the authorities can listen in to even whispered conversations as you walk by?  It’s true!  Of course, they’re saying it’s all part of “keeping everyone safe from terrorist threats.”

These poor people won’t be able to access any computers because they won’t have the Leader’s mark to scan, so that’ll be out.  The government will be flying those unmanned drones around constantly, looking for them. Those things can just about spot a pimple on a cat, even at night! The technology for this is already in place today, before the ‘Great Disappearance’ even happens and of course, they'll keep getting more high tech and will end up being all but impossible to hide from.

People won’t understand why the rebels don’t just take the mark, turn themselves in or kill themselves.  Can you begin to imagine how awful their lives will be?  Hunted, filthy, hungry, thirsty, no shelter, no medicine, worn out clothes and always being on guard…Well, believe me, it’s gonna get much worse!

The World Leader will no doubt be more than happy to make a big show of their bloody executions.  I bet anything it’ll be on live TV so everyone can see what happens to people who refuse to join the New World Order.  The Bible even mentions something about them having their heads chopped off!

So, whatcha you think so far?  Sound like something you’d like to hang around for and experience?  You think your family will appreciate the fact you were repeatedly warned but didn’t take it seriously?   

Come on, man!  You guys used to go to church, so I know you’re aware of this stuff.  When it happens, you’ll have two choices; refuse the mark, die a martyr for Christ and be able to live in heaven forever or take the mark, save yourselves for a few years and be damned to eternal flames. Some choice!  Yeah…fun times.

Of course, you and your family can turn to Jesus now while you still have the chance.  All you gotta do is repent and accept the pardon He died to provide you.  Then you’ll know for sure you guys will be safe in heaven before all hell breaks loose down here. 

 I haven’t even mentioned the worst part!  What I told you so far will eventually be considered the ‘good ‘ol days.’ 

Yep, you’ll still have nuclear wars which will most likely include chemical and biological weapons, worldwide famine, a global lack of clean water, horrible diseases, catastrophic changes in the sea, sun and moon and freaky stinging little creatures to look forward to.  Dude, I promise I’m not pulling your chain!  I wish I was but it’s all spelled out in the Bible.

And let me remind you once again, that the percentage of Bible prophecy that’s already been fulfilled to the letter is 100%.   One hundred percent!  All this stuff is coming, my man.  It’s gonna happen. Huh?  Heck yeah, I’m trying to scare you!  You should be terrified!  Sticking your head in the sand and refusing to take care of business won’t stop it.

Wow.  I am stunned!  You still think it’s all some scary story somebody came up with, even with what you see happening in the news every night?  Dude, wake up!  Look, I’m not ashamed to tell you I love you and your family.  I care enough to risk your anger or even our friendship to get in your face and tell you the truth.

OK, I've done my duty before God and I won’t bring it up again unless you do, but I sure will keep praying for you guys. When all this happens and I’m gone, just remember I tried my best to keep you from making the biggest mistake of your life!

You Don't Mess With Israel!

Geesh!  Some so-called Christians these days get on my last nerve.  I made the mistake of reading the excellent article, So Jesus Lived in Occupied Territory, by Jan Markell, on the Rapture Ready website and got so disgusted I wanted to stick a pencil in somebody!  Up until that point, I was blissfully unaware that an international conference called, Christ at the Checkpoint even existed.  Blech!

Apparently this symposium, held in Bethlehem of all places, features some of the ‘intellectually elite Christian thinkers of our time.’  This yearly conference started in 2010 and its overall theme is, (hold your nose!) “Hope in the Midst of Conflict.” 

Their aim is to, “provide an opportunity for Evangelical Christians to prayerfully seek proper awareness of issues of peace, justice and reconciliation in the context of the realities on the ground in the Palestinian territories.”  What a load…

Hmmm, let me think about this for a minute…bad ‘ol Israel is living on ‘Palestinian’ land and is being ugly to them because they won’t pack up their belongings and move.  If I remember correctly, no one was living on that barren, weed infested, scorpion sanctuary before Israel returned and miraculously became a country, as the Bible promised, in one day. After they moved in, all of a sudden, the WHOLE Middle East loses its collective mind and just HAS to have that tiny little plot of territory!

Now, be sure you don’t look at a world map to see the THOUSANDS of miles of open land these ‘Palestinians’ could settle on.  Don’t pay attention to the fact that they are Arabs whose kinsmen refuse to provide them a place to live, say in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, etc...No sirree!  They have to live there, on that one small stretch of land those cursed Jews have ‘stolen.’

By the way, there are no such people as “Palestinians.” Never has been. You ever heard anyone speak ‘Palestinian?’  Of course not, because they are Arabs!  Look it up.

Tell you what; let’s all rewrite history and conveniently ignore the fact that their Islamic brothers stuck them in squalid refugee camps and refused to settle them on Arab land so they could later be used as pawns against Israel. Oh no, we can’t talk about that!  It’s all Israel’s fault for being such bullies to these poor, poor, rocket launching, AK47 toting little angels.  You bad, bad Israel!  Shame on you!

Are the ‘Christians’ who are holding this conference completely insane??  Do they ever crack open the Old Testament?  How can they, with a straight face, denounce Israel and demand they make even more concessions to these heathen people than they’ve already made, in the name of ‘peace’??  I am completely appalled.

Apparently God must have changed His mind and canceled the covenant He made with Abraham and I didn’t get the memo.  I can think of no logical reason for ANY Bible believing Christian to think Israel owes anyone anything!  What have these people been drinking?  You don’t mess with Israel!

The original promise was outlined in Genesis 15:18. “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates...”  End of conversation.  Oh excuse me, God must not have meant the Gaza Strip or the West Bank.

Perhaps Jehovah said that once Israel was brought back together after being dispersed all over the world that they could only camp on that land but not own it.  Oh wait a second, I got it!  God probably included in the covenant’s small print, that His chosen people could live there, but only until the year 2015. Yeah, that’s it.  Has to be!  Otherwise, all those people cursing Israel are nuts!

Hey conference speakers—this is a 4000+ year old fight!   How fantastically arrogant of you to think you can meet, have a left-wing think tank and make any difference whatsoever by ‘providing a proper awareness of issues of peace, justice and reconciliation.’  WOW!  After 4000+ years, you are the ones who will be able to smooth things over and maybe convince Israel to give up even more territory so the poor little lamb Palestinians can finally have a place to lay their innocent heads. 

These Christians need a Holy heiny kicking and if they keep it up, I predict they will receive just that! Again, you don’t mess with Israel!

Besides, how could they ignore what the Bible says?  That land belonged to the Jews from the moment God said it was to be their ‘everlasting possession.’  From what I found in Webster’s, “everlasting” means forever.

The poor, downtrodden widdle Palestinians will have peace when Jesus sets foot on the earth and wipes those who harassed and opposed His chosen people out.  That is also the day all the world will see justice. Until then everyone is simply wasting their time.

Genesis 16:12 speaks of what the angel promised Hagar, Abraham’s slave girl, about the child she would bear in Sarah’s place. “And he (Ishmael) will be as a wild ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man’s hand against him, and he will live to the east and on the borders of all his kinsmen.”

 A wild ass among men.  Lord, have mercy, ain’t that the truth!  A perfect description of the Arabs.  Reconciliation with them?  HAHAHAHA!! Oooh, ohhh, wait, let me catch my breath!

I am disgusted at the skewed thinking of these conference leaders because, quite frankly, it is a satanic mindset and it is spreading among the politically correct congregations of America. ANYTHING that goes against the Word of God is satanic, so let’s call this what it is.  How can they not see they are being deceived?

Bottom line?

God gave Abraham and his descendants (Israel) that land forever.  It is their land. Deal. With. It.

God does not change His mind and He NEVER breaks one of His covenants. Ever.

God blessed Abraham with the following promise in Genesis 12:3, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

The descendants of Ishmael, the Arabs, have cursed and harassed God’s chosen people for over 4000 years and according to the Bible, they have a pant load of curses coming their way. And now, Evangelical Christians (they don’t represent me!!) are joining the oh-so-compassionate, satanically orchestrated fight.  OK, you so-called intellectual elites, say it with me…

You don’t mess with Israel!

Is That Noose Comfortable?

You know, I've been thinking.  Ever since the 9/11 attacks, our government has pretty much done nothing but concentrate on this mission to keep ‘we the people’ safe and secure.  Sure has been nice to see all the security measures implemented, even though some are so inconvenient, like those airport scanners.  I don’t like those things; no one needs to see my post baby, middle aged body underneath my clothes!  But, we gotta do what we gotta do, right?

 Like they say, we live in a new normal now.  I’m so glad the government knows the best way to prevent another attack.  We can trust them to do what is best for the country and that means we can continue to live our lives protected from the terrorists.  Hang on a minute, will you?  I need to set the DVR for Dancing with the Stars before I forget!

OK, I’m back.  Speaking of new laws, I was surfing the net and saw a brand new one Congress just passed that says we’ll have at least 30,000 of those drone things flying all around our country by 2015, looking for suspicious activity. Thirty thousand!  You know what I’m talking about; those little unmanned airplanes we use in Afghanistan to blow our enemies straight to hell?  Well, I wrote this down because I thought it was just fascinating!  The law is H.R.658 and is called the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act.

Those drones are so cool!  Listen to this!  It says they’re great military tools because they can be set up with facial recognition cameras, license plate scanners, thermal imaging cameras and they can even tap into the local Wi-Fi. Can you believe that?  They probably want to make sure those terrorists aren’t making plans on their laptops.  Sounds like something out of a spy movie, doesn’t it?  You don’t think they’ll read our email, do you?

 Make sure your curtains are shut or they may see what kind of underwear you have on!  It’s true! The article said they can hover hundreds or even thousands of feet up in the air for hours at a time and will provide ‘unprecedented levels of physical surveillance.’  Now, if that doesn’t sound like great protection, I don’t know what does!  Kind of like that saying, “Someone to watch over me.”

Funny thing, though, I can’t believe this wasn’t on the national news!  You’d think it would be all over the TV, wouldn’t you? Come to think of it, that NDAA law they passed last November didn’t make the news either!  Huh. I wonder why?  You’re kidding!  You don’t know what that is?  Oh, come on, I told you about it.

It’s that one that gives our military the right to seize anyone they think is a threat to national security. It says American citizens on our own soil can be can be fingered and hauled away to some internment camp for however long they want to hold them.  They don’t even have to provide legal representation for that prisoner!  I suppose that’s due to all these American born nut cases who convert to Islam and want to do their personal jihad stuff on us.

I’m glad they thought of setting that up but I do remember hearing some people were scared Obama would start labeling regular people who didn’t like him as terror suspects and they would disappear into the night, never to be seen again. Can you believe that?  How ridiculous! Anyway, he made a statement that would never happen, so I’m not worried about it.

Speaking of Obama, he just set up something called the Strategic Implementation Plan, or SIP for short.  Now, I didn’t see anything about it on the mainstream news either, but they say it’s supposed to put a muzzle on all those Tea Party loons for speaking out against these new laws.  You know how they run around like Chicken Little, yelling that our government is quietly dismantling the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Puleeze!

All I know is they’d better start watching their mouths because talking like that can legally get them identified as an extremist or terrorist threat and the military police can put them into those camps I mentioned, and it’ll be their own dang fault!  Nobody needs to be saying such things anyway!  The President and Congress aren’t trying to take away anybody’s rights!  They’re just trying to protect us, that’s all, you know?

Oh yeah, did you happen to see that little story on the back page of the paper that said the FBI has now come up with a list of ‘terrorist threat identifiers’?  Well, hang on and I’ll tell you what that means.  It’s suspicious behavior that will make the government take a second look at you; like having more than 7 days of food in your house and what not.  Hmmm.  I wonder how they'd know?

 Anyway, I bet all those doomsday crazies are mad as a hornet they can now get in big trouble for using or even having those shelters they built!  Heavens, what are they going to do with all that water and food they’ve been hoarding, not to mention all that gas and those generators?   I know a couple who has one, and I told them flat out they were just wasting their money, building that fool shelter, but they are convinced this country is going to hell in a hand basket and they are not going to be caught unprepared. Whatever.

I mean, come on.  That is just crazy talk! Wouldn’t you agree this is probably the safest ‘we the people’ have ever been?  Our government isn’t gonna let anything happen to us because they are watching us like a hawk!  No sir, no one is going to get away with anything!   I don’t know about you but it makes me feel so much better, hearing all the laws and rules that are being passed to ensure the private, tax-paying citizens of this great country stay safe and secure!  Makes me proud to be an American!

Oh, hey, when do you think the new People magazine will come out?  You just know Whitney Houston will be on the cover…

It's Not Too Late

You know, it really is fascinating to watch and read the national news these days. Even if you weed out the ever increasing natural disasters, such as the earthquake du jour or the mudslide extraordinaire and of course, the drug resistant pestilence of the week, the gyrations and power plays of world governments against each other is stunning in the light of Bible prophecy.

It’s astonishing to witness the changes the in attitudes of private citizens all over the world who seem to be increasingly desirous to live in nanny states, where big government bureaucrats dictate nearly every aspect of their lives. Europe is a great example.

Look at the situation in Greece. We’ve all seen the riots and rage of the people over having their government handouts cut to preserve the national economy. Are these folks really so selfish and shortsighted that they are unable to comprehend the dangerous situation decades of entitlements has put their country in, much less the consequences the rest of Europe will face if the economy of Greece implodes?

All I see are a bunch of big babies, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at hapless police officers who have had nothing to do with the government’s decisions. The poor little darlings are enraged that they won’t be receiving the free benefits they’re used to getting. Sorry guys, the government teat is dry. Gee, they might have to save up their money to provide for healthcare or the education of their children. *sniff*

China is another great example of a nanny state, and boy that nanny is strict! Apparently the people are told what kind of occupation they will have, where they will live, what they can do for entertainment, what they can or cannot say about their repressed lives and even how many children they are allowed to produce. I shudder to think what happens to all the unexpected pregnancies and unwanted babies.

We all realize the very nature of government is to control and rule over its citizens. When we give our consent to a few officials to decide and implement laws and public policies, those lawmakers quickly become drunk on the power and prestige their position engenders.

Just this week, Washington announced that 30,000 drones, the kind used to bomb Iraq and Afghanistan, will soon be flying over American cities to watch over us for our ‘protection.’ They won’t be armed, of course. Yet. Don’t believe me? Look it up!

And our lovely First Lady’s bizarre obsession with food has caused our public schools to completely lose their minds. A few days ago, the Carolina Journal reported that a Hoke County four-year-old preschooler’s homemade lunch was confiscated by “a state worker” because he/she didn’t feel it met USDA guidelines. The child’s negligent parent had packed a turkey and cheese sandwich, apple juice, chips and a banana! Child abuse! Child abuse! The state should take that kid away from the parents!

Apparently the state worker was inspecting lunch boxes and took the child’s lunch and gave her a school supplied lunch of chicken nuggets.  Yep, that certainly sounds like a MUCH healthier option! A note was sent home to the mother explaining the incident and charging her $1.25 for the school lunch. The Journal reported, “When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones.”

Since when does a ‘state worker’ have any business ‘inspecting’ the lunch boxes of private citizens?? The government is now controlling what we eat! The outrageous arrogance of this is breathtaking!

What’s next? State workers inspecting whether we are using 1 ply rather than 2 ply toilet paper? I would just like to cordially invite a ‘state worker’ to inspect my child’s lunch. I guarantee they won’t do it again…

Since 9/11, we Americans have seen our personal freedoms steadily chipped away in the name of safety and security. The pathetic and inexcusable thing about it is we’ve allowed this situation to get completely out of control like some snowball from hell!

At first it was a perfectly logical reaction to having had the living daylights bombed out of us, but the contemptible little rodent who unfortunately is our current President has steadily nibbled away at our Constitution and Bill of Rights until I am now barely able to recognize the America in which I was born. The freedom eating pestilence that infects the White House, along with a congress whose sole focus seems to be maneuvering to hold onto their cushy jobs, are destroying this country.

But this is nothing you haven’t heard before on the conservative talking head shows on TV and the radio. Americans seem to be in some Stepford Wife daze, content to go to work, come home, eat dinner, yell at the kids and watch Jersey Shore. I am constantly amazed at the lack of concern people have for what is going on!

I used to get quite worked up about all of this. I really don’t anymore because, quite frankly, it is a lost cause. Now, don’t misunderstand me, while I do grieve what has and is currently happening, I take great comfort in what the Bible tells me must occur before Jesus can physically come back to rule this earth. The puzzle pieces are coming together quite nicely.

I get a bittersweet thrill watching the nations, including America, slowly but surely being weakened and prepared to accept the world wide rule of one charismatic, b.s. spewing man. He’ll come on the scene at the perfect moment, promising peace and prosperity because he will supply everything the people need. And because the world’s economies will have tanked and world war seems inevitable, people will lap it up and accept everything he says.

I may sound nuts but I couldn’t care less about the economy, the threat of war, the price of gas or the fantastic moral decline and increased violence of this age. I’m not gonna be here much longer. God has a wonderful track record of getting his servants out of harm’s way before He wreaks judgment on those who refuse to know Him.

Noah and his family were rescued from the flood. The Israelites were protected from the plagues visited on Egypt. Lot and his family were rescued before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. And those of us who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ “are not destined for the wrath to come.”

Nope. We are destined to blow this joint and attend the greatest wedding feast of all time. Like any groom who is in love, I am confident Christ will not allow His Bride to endure any of the punishment that is due this world. He will take us out of the way, like He has always done for His servants. Just like He promised.

I tell you what, it is SO wonderful to be able to look at the world around me falling apart and have perfect peace and even joy. How do you people who don’t know Him cope? How do you sleep at night with all the worry you must carry?

It’s not too late, you know. Christ paid a huge price for your ticket to heaven. You can still accept Him but you’d better hurry. If you have any sense whatsoever, you will make sure you’re ready when He calls His Bride to meet Him. I can assure you once we hateful, bigoted, narrow minded Christians are gone, the circumstances you will face will be unspeakably horrid.

My family and I are ready. As far as I’m concerned, let’s get this party started!

That Dirty Word

As most of my readers know, I am a gratefully redeemed child of God so I naturally try to watch my language. However, I’ll admit I routinely use a word that is SO offensive, SO outrageous, that it literally causes a ruckus sometimes. People act like its a dirty word! I am sadly amused at the comments I receive. You’d think I say it for shock factor, it is so hated.

Today, most people recoil in distaste when it is spoken of in the context of God. It is a word every true believer in Christ should be using, now more than ever. Unfortunately, you don’t hear many people talking about it, even in the churches and rarely in the pulpit! Wanna know what the word is?

BLOOD

It’s interesting stuff, really. It starts off slippery and quickly congeals into a sticky goo. The smell is distinctive, nauseating and very metallic. When you’re in the medical field as I am, you quickly get used to seeing this bright red fluid that automatically testifies some type of violence has occurred.

I love action movies. Not brain dead horror, but good guys against the bad guys kind of stuff. Of course, there’s usually a lot of shooting and, due to audience appetite for gore, lots of blood being spilled. I’ve seen video games in which soldiers are running around killing zombies and features unbelievable amounts of blood! Bloody pools where the zombie was killed. Blood spatter on the walls and clothes. (And no, my son does not have that game!)

People can’t seem to get enough, just like the raucous crowds in the Roman coliseum crying out for another bloody battle. ‘Give us more, gladiators, more guts, more gore, more….blood!’

Blood is made up of four basic parts; red blood cells carry oxygen, white cells battle infection, platelets cause clotting, and all of these are contained in a thin, yellowish liquid called plasma. Its design and function is pure genius! It is literally life itself. No blood or blood flow, no life. Death occurs within minutes.

So what is the point of this article? I want to know why there is such a difference in attitudes between everyday blood and the blood of Christ.

Why does the average Joe cringe when the blood of Jesus is mentioned, but he can hardly wait to get home to see the next Tap Out match? What makes Jesus’ blood different?

It’s because when Joe was a child, he learned in Sunday School that God sacrificed His own Son so he could be saved and go to heaven. Whoa! That is a really uncomfortable, awkward story. It makes Joe feel guilty because he knows he is a sinner but he doesn’t want anyone telling him how to live his life, so he simply doesn’t think about that blood. Ewww!

Our Creator put on skin and walked among us, experiencing all the frustrations, ills, anger, highs and lows we humans endure in our lifetime. He had to learn how to walk and talk. He had to go through puberty. He grew up, learned His earthly father’s craft, became a carpenter and found out how heavy the burden of making a living really was. All while knowing He was God and what He was facing.

How would you like to live your whole life knowing you were born for the express purpose of being horribly tortured to death, just so the filthy, crude, rude, selfish, violent, sinful creatures you made could be reconciled to you and join you in your home forever?

What exactly is the penalty we deserve for our sins? Death. He couldn’t have satisfied His own justice if He had been smothered or drowned; there had to be a visible symbol of that sacrifice to prove sin had been paid for. He had to spill that which represents life itself. His innocent, Holy blood.

Almighty God, the one who set the earth on its foundations, held the oceans in His hands and formed you in your mother’s belly, was beaten, slapped, spit on and mocked by men who didn’t even know Him but thought it funny to curse Him.

He was then stripped and whipped by Roman soldiers. The Bible doesn’t give us much detail on how this was carried out and with what, but knowing the bloodthirstiness of Roman culture, it was without a doubt nauseatingly brutal. By the time they got finished with Him, blood was flowing freely.

The soldiers then made a so called, ‘crown’ woven from thorny branches and jammed it down on His head, pounding it into His scalp with a stick. And we all know how much blood flows from a head wound! Nice.

Another round of kangaroo court and mocking and it was off Golgotha, a designated place outside the city gates where the worst criminals were executed and left to hang for the birds to eat. By this time He had lost so much of that life giving blood that he was too weak to carry the cross beam of the cross, so the soldiers forced some guy in the crowd to carry it for Him.

More bleeding occurred when those spikes were nailed through, most likely, His wrists and ankles. Blood everywhere! From His ripped up back and torso, from the cruel, mocking crown of thorns to the iron that fastened Him to that cross. Blood. Slippery, smelly blood.

Hanging there, nearly bled out, He called out that He was thirsty. He was so dehydrated and weakened that the Bible states His tongue stuck to the roof of His mouth. Crucifixion was and is still is known as one of the slowest, most cruel ways to die. He hung there for six hours, held only by those spikes; and a heart of love. For YOU. He didn’t have to do that…

The God, who made you, loves you SO much that He willingly laid down His life for you. He shed His blood for you. All of it. Just to give you the choice of accepting the pardon He paid for with His life.

Just before He died, He cried out in a loud voice, “Paid in full!” He was announcing that the ultimate blood sacrifice He gave for our sins was perfect and sufficient to cleanse and enable us to stand sinless when we face Him.

And that, my friends, is the ONLY way you or I will be able to enter heaven. Because of all that yucky blood.

Of course, you can be like the average Joe and choose to ignore or put off making a decision to surrender your life and your plans to Jesus; of accepting the pardon He paid dearly for. You can go your own way, living your life by your own terms and, most likely, have a happy life. For all of, what? Maybe eighty years? Then what?

Every single person ever born will live forever. It’s up to you to decide where. In heaven with the one who knows and loves you enough to be slaughtered in your place? Or will you slap the hand that holds your pardon, away and turn your back? As you are deciding, remember that dirty word. Blood.

What kind of a stupid fool would take the chance that all of this is not true? Perhaps a fool like you?

What a Waste!

Ya’ll are just going to have to bear with me here.  I’m honestly not a mean spirited person.  Actually, I have a huge heart but I will admit I have a very low tolerance for stupidity. I don’t mean low I.Q. stupid, you can’t help that.  I mean had-the-world-by-the-tail-on-a-downhill-slope-and-threw-it-away, kind of stupid. Unfortunately, I think you know who I mean.

 Geesh, Whitney, how could you have let yourself down so much?  How could you have let the whole world down; those who supported you and bought your albums and went to your movies?  How could you have failed that precious daughter of yours so completely?

I was as shocked as anyone today, hearing about the untimely death of one of the most beautiful and talented women ever to walk the earth.  I was a fan of hers myself but it didn’t take long for it to sink in for me to start getting angry.  By now, anyone who reads my stuff knows I don’t mince words. I tend to say what everyone else is thinking but don’t have the guts to verbalize.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the 2012 Spoiled Brat Award goes to…Whitney Houston!!

Oh, I’m being mean and heartless, huh?  Why don’t we take a walk down memory lane and look at this woman’s preternaturally perfect start in life, shall we?

Ms. Houston was born in 1963 to well known gospel singer, Cissy Houston and everyone knows ad nausea, that she was the cousin of Dionne Warwick, a popular singer from the 1970’s. Her godmother was Aretha Franklin, for crying out loud!  She was brought forth into a world of privilege and readymade advantages.  Then there was that voice…

When have you ever heard a voice like that?  Such effortless power, pitch and emotion, all pouring from the mouth of this young woman of exceptional beauty.  Dang, at least the girl could have been homely, but Noooooo, she was even blessed with such splendid looks that she ended up on magazine covers in her late teens, even before her first hit record.

She started singing in her church at five years old.  When she was approximately twenty-two, her debut album was released.  It spawned 4 hit singles and sold 25 million albums worldwide. This was when she was starting out! The child never had to hit the streets, hustling for the opportunity to submit audition tapes to producers; legendary record producer, Clive Davis came to HER!

Throughout the years, she went on to release 7 albums, which sold over 200 million copies.  She produced 3 motion picture soundtracks, starred in 3 movies and won 6 Grammys, 20 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards and 2 Emmys.  I’m guessing she made a considerable amount of money with these achievements. In 1991, she gave what is still thought of as the quintessential performance of the Star Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XXV; a performance that gives me goose bumps to this day. And then came Bobby.

For some unfathomable reason known only to Whitney and God, she began to shed her ‘good girl’ image when she started dating and married former boy band singer, Bobby Brown in 1992.  A well known troublemaker, he had already racked up several arrests for drugs and DUI’s.

A once cherished daughter, Bobbie Kristina, was born in 1993, but Whitney was already sliding down cocaine hill before her pregnancy and, shortly after Bobbie’s birth, she resumed her hard partying ways.  Rumors were flying about the wild, late night drug and alcohol fueled parties she and Bobby Brown threw and those around her, who were still in their right mind, were very concerned.

Her family and Clive Davis begged her to dump her primary drug dealer, her husband, and get help for her substance abuse problem.  Her innocent daughter was caught in the middle of her parent’s tumultuous fights and lifestyle.  What was Whitney thinking??  Apparently, she refused offers of help and let everyone know she was just fine and perfectly able to handle her own life, even when child protective services came calling.

Her rendition of Dolly Parton’s song, I Will Always Love You, was her last huge hit and it earned her several awards and rave reviews.  She must have felt vindicated when she proved her critics wrong.  However, the fights with Bobby became more frequent and abusive and in 2007, they divorced. 

Her fans and family seemed to give a collective sigh of relief and held out the hope that  Whitney might be able to regain in music and reputation what she had carelessly thrown away in the previous years.  Her last album was released in 2009 and went platinum.  She was in and out of rehab during this time and was, by her own pronouncement, drug free by 2010.

From what I understand, Clive Davis decided to try one last time to get Whitney back on her feet musically and set up a concert schedule. Unfortunately, much to her family and fan’s horror, that magnificent voice was ruined by the years of drugs, inhalants and booze. Her singing was raspy and hoarse and she was unable to hit those soaring high notes of her earlier career.  It was embarrassing and pathetic to witness.  Fans booed her and walked out. Concerts were canceled. Whitney’s golden career was officially finished.  

Back to the ‘stupid’ issue.  I am saddened by her death. I am sad that her daughter no longer has her mother.  But, I am disgusted that this woman, born with the God given advantages she had;  stunning beauty, unparalleled vocals, music industry connections and a Christian upbringing to boot, arrogantly wasted it on some loser husband, booze and drugs.  

She had every advantage plus the support and encouragement of family and friends who would have done anything necessary to assist her in getting her life back in order.  I can just imagine the years of pleading and tears they wasted, trying to get her to listen to reason only to witness a slow-motion train wreck.  I am very sad and angry for her family.  What she must have put them through…

I can just hear the jeers of, "You're not a very good Christian to be saying these things!"  Oh, puleeze.  I'm only speaking the truth.  And the truth is she had it all; had it handed to her on a silver platter.  And she deliberately threw it away.  THAT, my friends, is what I call a major dose of stupid!