If the Law is the Law

Sometimes I get emails that make me laugh and cry at the same time…
For the most part I agree with this message.
Blessings,
iggy

IF THE LAW IS THE LAW
So if the US government determines that it is against the law for the words "under God" to be on our money, then, so be it. And if that same government decides that the "Ten Commandments" are not to be used in or on a government installation, then, so be it. And since they already have prohibited any prayer in the schools, on which they deem their authority, then so be it. I say, "so be it," because I would like to be a law abiding US citizen. I say, "so be it," because I would like to think that smarter people than I are in positions to make good decisions. I would like to think that those people have the American Publics' best interests at heart. BUT, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I'D LIKE? Since we can't pray to God, can't Trust in God and cannot Post His Commandments in Government buildings, I don't believe the Government and it's employees should participate in the Easter and Christmas celebrations which honor the God that our government is eliminating from many facets of American life. I'd like my mail delivered on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter. After all, it's just another day. I'd like the US Supreme Court to be in session on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter as well as Sundays. After all, it's just another day. I'd like the Senate and the House of Representatives to not have to worry about getting home for the "Christmas Break." After all it's just another day. I'm thinking that a lot of my taxpayer dollars could be saved, if all government offices & services would work on Christmas, Good Friday & Easter. It shouldn't cost any overtime since those would be just like any other day of the week to a government that is trying to be "politically correct."In fact.... I think that our government should work on Sundays (initially set aside for worshipping God...) because, after all, our government says that it should be just another day.... What do you all think???? If this idea gets to enough people, maybe our elected officials will stop giving in to the minority opinions and begin, once again, to represent the 'majority' of ALL of the American people. SO BE IT...........

Author unknown

7 Layers to get to Emergent?

I love Brian McLaren and though I personally think the bridge building days are past, I understand what he is attempting here.

Personally, I see we often spend too much time on things that really do not matter. I agree that these things Brian points out do not make one a PM/e church body. Yet, I am confronted with the thought why are we still looking behind us? We are the new visionaries... whether the modern church accepts this or not. We are the Spirit driven church... not the fad/program driven church.We see our purpose and really never needed a book to tell us what it was... for our purpose is to be available for God to work out our salvation with fear and trembling as He does His Will and Good Purpose though us.

I have had a couple or great teachers in my life. One was Bob George, and the other was Major Ian Thomas. Both these men taught of God's grace as none others I have heard. With these men I found the way out of the shame/performance belief system that plagues so many Christians and keeps them from experiencing God's Sabbath rest for them. So many people of faith actually lack faith as they depend on works.

I see a new generation of believers who desire a deep and richer relationship from God through Jesus. They desire THE REAL.

Authenticity and honesty should be at least on the top of our lists as Christians... yet when I look around I see trappings and window dressing that is supposed to substitute a real relationship with God through His people. This is subtle. This is Satanic and cuts across the very heart of the Kingdom of God. It brings us to the temple to worship, yet we bow before Baal and Dagon.

The Hebrews would complain, no they would bitch... to quote Hal Lindsey in a sermon I heard years ago... He said that was the more accurate word for it. They bitched and moaned and wanted to go back to Egypt... not the real one, the one of their fantasy..."all the meat and bread we could eat." What has happened, I believe is we have without realizing it, reduced Christianity back to the sacrificial system... except now we do things like tithe.

Many do not realize that we already had the forgiveness issue taken care of before Jesus arrived. We had the sacrificial system. Sacrifice an animal in our place and we are forgiven.
So, what did Jesus truly accomplish? Redemption and a sacrifice once for all!

He was the atoning sacrifice that ended the sacrificial system by His works! That is why we no longer need to depend on our own works. It is through His Obedience not ours that we are now, obedient children. (Romans 5:19) That is why Paul says it is obedience that comes by faith, as we respond n faith we abide/walk/Live in Christ"s obedience to death on a Cross. For now Christ, as in the beginning is literally our Life and Light.

We as emergent's need to stop looking back at Egypt. We need to follow Jesus. It is interesting that we are content with looking at the shadow when we can turn and see the Reality that Is Christ Jesus.

Brian talks a lot about this bridge, the bridge to nowhere. I think it is a great example of where we are and must be as emergent people of Christ. It was once the main road over the river,which now one must swim or raft to get to the other side. This bridge is now just a tourist attraction. Really it is of no value, yet people come and see it as an oddity.

This to me is the modern church. It's structure stands, yet without any real use. People come and gawk at it as an oddity, but see that to them really will not get them across the water.

Now, we can sit and have pride about how well that bridge was built and how it stood the test of the weather, and not notice it goes nowhere and is of no use.

We need to be visionaries and build a new bridge; One that gets us to where we need to go. We need to realize no matter what we do the old bridge is gone, and the new one is here. We need to stop putting new wine in the old wine skins and get new wine skins. We need to let Jesus build the New Bridge that will stand and be more than an oddity, but a living organism.
Blessings,
iggy

Why does this disturb me?

I understand what this artist is doing, and I think in a way it is pretty cool... yet there is something just weird about these pictures.

I do believe Jesus is with us at all times. I know I have sensed His presence at times as if he literally was standing over my shoulder as I studied scripture.

Maybe it is the drawing of Jesus and that he looks like one of my "grunge friends" of the the 1990's.
Maybe this confronts a side of me that does not desire that much intimacy with Jesus. Maybe I think Jesus has more important things to do than help one with their golf swing....

I found this through ship of fools.com if one was wondering. Which brings me to something else.

I have gone to that site numerous times and have yet to be able to get on. I seem to download forever and that is as far as it gets. Has anyone tried ship of fools?

blessings,
iggy

Life is Whacked!

It seems like i get these jobs that seem, well whacked!

This is a bit of a story here so hang a bit with me. I may even ramble a bit as i am trying to connect this with something that makes some sense.

I applied for a job with a local cell phone company, and it looked like I had the job. I mean they said I was starting it on Wednesday... this was Monday, so i had to quit my job delivering cars for the car dealership, which I did on Tuesday.

Are you with me so far?

Wednesday came and about 4:50 I called and left a message saying, "I quit my job yesterday... you said I was starting on Wednesday, so.... could you get back to me about when i am starting?"

You see in the course of doing interviews I could not deliver vehicles... so any money for about 3 weeks... and it was slow again in getting calls.

Backing up a bit, my wife came home on Tuesday, saying that there was a position open at the local paper... (Billings Gazette) and they were interested in my applying, which i did.I did an interview, and boy was it bad. I had a bit of a cold and was taking some nighttime cold medicine so my head was groggy. It was the worst interview i think I ever did. I had done 3 great interviews, which one was with the president of the company... which from what I was told did not happen that often... I was to be impressed.

I went dragging my tail back to the car dealer and begged for my job back....The GM said no problem, but he had to talk to one of the owners... which when she came in I asked and got, "I DON"T KNOW!" (I hate the little games they play) I went back to the GM and he said he would talk to her and call me to let me, know if i got the job back. I thought they would let me come back, but only after they punished me a bit. They are that petty.


The end of Friday I was pretty beat then I get this call. "Hey man, how're you doing? We decided to not hire you, as I don't think I could get you the hours you need. Also, you mentioned benefits and without the hours you won't get those, so bla, bla,bla,bla,bla,bla,bla... you are on the top of the list when something opens up."
Then the Gazette called again."We would like to do another interview with you on Monday."Now, I have yet to hear from the dealership, and really I need to move on from them, as I feel so often compromised ethically as I work there. I decide to go to the Gazette interview.

Monday I get the new job.

I am in charge of all the single copy delivery. Meaning, those paper vending machines, I work on those and manage the night delivery drivers to get the machines filled.

God has a sense of humor, often I don’t laugh at His playing. I will say as I was attending at my first meeting, I had this feeling my phone would ring… so I did the courteous thing and set it to vibrate. And sure enough it rang, a salesman needed a driver. I called him later and said I am no longer working there as no one bothered to call me to tell me I had my job back.

I was called 3 more time since then… I think they may understand I am seriously gone.

I know they would call me when they needed me. As now two drivers are on vacation, which leaves them with 3 on call. They are very short handed.

As I reflect, and again this is a bit lengthy and rambling so I apologize. I see many things. The most obvious is this.
I left a lifestyle I did not feel was ethical for me to live. My job often left me in personal conflict between doing my job the best I could and seeing people who have no business buying cars, getting deeper in debt. I was tired of seeing how sales and management seemed to often lie to banks and to the customer. I was tired of the games they played with people’s lives. The money was pretty good though when the runs came in.

The Hebrews often complained and wanted to turn back to Egypt. I went back, but was not welcome with open arms. So I wandered until God opened the doors.
I am not saying this new job is the promise land. But, it does set me free from living a compromised life.

Blessings,
iggy

A Continuing Conversation on TSKW

A Continuing Conversation on TSKW

This is an offshoot conversation with Jason who entered into a thread concerning Fundamentalism as it may or may not fit into the Emergent thought. I will say upfront I do not think so.
I will not post Jason’s post here as one can read it in full at TSKW’s site.

His main points which I hope I have addressed in my response are, and Jason please correct me as I do the modern thing and reduce your thought to points.

1. The main problem of PM and Fundamentalism is consistency in logic.


2. Dealing with so called “paradoxes”


3. Confronting the “Mystery” of Who God is. Is He truly unknowable?


4. The issue of weird doctrine and interpretation.


5. Biblical inspiration (I am not sure I have addressed this though I will make an attempt at it at a later time.


6. Relativism

I will add Jason as many of my readers are seems well educated. I am always a little intimidated as my own knowledge is lacking in many regards.

Be blessed and feel free to enter the conversation.

Jason,
It is good to discuss with respect isn’t it.

I agree that one of the characteristics of God is consistency. I see that with our own tainted worldview we often input our own Ideals about God into doctrines or miss the main point altogether. As in Isaiah 57, I see that God is saying His thoughts are on a level that only to know Him may we understand. To know Him is to forsake our evil, turn to God and then He will give us His Way.

This Way is a Person, or Jesus Himself. He has given us His mind, yet we still often work from the bottom up in logic to find His Way. When one comes to Christ we are exchanging our will for His Will and Purpose. A purpose is given at the inception of a Christian rebirth into Christ. We do not seek a purpose it seeks us as we live in Christ.

Too often, and I through myself into this camp as often I too fail, we do not look to Christ Jesus as The Truth Absolute. I agree to a point that we finite and fallen creatures cannot understand truth without tainting it in some way. Though we may grasp a part, it is corrupted as it passes through the filters of our mind. In that way I see the Relativists are right. We have had our eyes open to see the difference between good and evil, given statutes and laws that step by step give us all the mercy and grace and forgiveness and blessings of God, yet have not the moral consistency to live it out.

We need something more. That is Truth, or as John said, The Logos of God, came to us and showed us it was possible by a total dependant relationship with the Father, or as I say the Speaker. For the Word is dependant on the Speaker as Jesus was dependant on the Father. I am one with Christ as I am dependant for all things on Christ Jesus.

I do think doctrine is a good thing; the issue to me is that does the doctrine add too or hinder grace. Either way it takes away from the purity of Grace. Jesus’ Grace is sufficient. We can say the line is here cross it and one is saved; yet the true line is with in each person’s heart… and God only knows when that line is crossed.

I do believe God is a mystery… yet not as One that cannot ever be known. Rather One that is continually revealing Himself to us. That was the purpose of Jesus to reveal the Love and mercy and Grace of God in His desire of relationship with a fallen creature. There are levels of this great mystery we will have told to us later.

I agree that it is often a cop out to use “paradox” as a way of explaining what someone does not understand. Honesty is greatly needed these days and a genuine, “I don’t know”, can go so much farther than a lofty “paradoxical” explanation that really makes the person sound either of great knowledge or plain silly. Honesty is much needed in theology.

As far as evil that be stills man, I see in scripture that God will do some great and terrible things in line of judgment. Did He have His hand in Katrina, or the recent earthquakes in Pakistan? How quick we are to blame God, or Satan or Bush, or whoever. How slow we are to respond with compassion and aid and Love. The way I see God having a hand is in our response. What was our reaction? I look at the scripture and see in Luke 13 Jesus talking of those who died when the tower in Siloam as it fell on them. He asks are these men more guilty then any others in Jerusalem? I ask the same here… if this Katrina was God’s judgment, why were those people’s sin worse than anyone else’s in America?

We are quick to judge and slow to give mercy.

God tells us He is not a man that He would lie. To me meaning that He will not go back on His word as say the God of Islam may, or man himself who in one breath can smile then kill you as you turn your back. Though we may lack understanding God consistently desires for us to know Him. In that is a greater mystery than trying to fathom whether God is knowable. We serve that God of revelation, not an arbitrary god like Allah who can be good then bring calamity and have no reason other than he is god. That is what sets our Great God apart from the others.

I could go on…

Blessings,
iggy

Prayer Please...

I don’t know about you, but I seem to have these times when all Hell breaks loose. This seems to be at very crucial times for me. Like becoming homeless and having to choose to move to Montana. Not finding work for a year as my wife gives birth to my first child, then having a major lull in my job where there is little income at the time of my second child’s birth.

In the last year I have worked very hard at developing a new fellowship. Since I am a bit out of the norm as regards to what many call “traditional instutionalized church” I have not been able to find a parent church to back me…. Now before you think I am whining here, I hope you realize that God has been there with me through all this. Sometimes I have not been able to pay some bills, yet, I have never been hungry, naked, or without shelter. God has given me a wife of wives who I see as a testimony of God’s love to me every day.

Hard times fall on us all. As I am entering into phase two of the fellowship I hope to develop in Billings, I have been feeling that breath of Satan on my neck. Though, I don’t enjoy the feeling, I realize that it is He who is nervous and scared, not me. I may have concerns as to how to pay rent, which is temporal, His concerns are eternal.

In the big scheme of things I see that God is moving in my life, I can be bogged down with the lies that God has forsaken me and that He no longer cares for me. If I just look at the superficial circumstances around me I would have to say it is so. Yet, as I dig deeper into that internal place of the heart, that Garden of Peace beyond understanding planted with the Seed of Jesus, I am a rest. My fears are exchanged with Truth, the Person of Jesus Himself.

One can fear shadows, yet as one faces the Sun, the shadows that fire imaginations darker side are squelched. I am not worried in the way someone without hope may worry, as I look forward to what God’s plan is and how He will be working out His purpose in me.

God has been so faithful as He has brought Fellow Fishermen to my side, David and Chad and their families. At a time where I could have felt so alone I have been given the gift of fellow servants who’s hope is the same as mine. Believe me that is a hard measure, and I see that these men are a great and wonderful gift from God.

I ask only for prayers at this crucial time. Not that the trials are taken away as I desire the growth they give me, but the protection over those we minister to. Prayer to be able to fill my worldly obligations. Prayer to become more sensitive to the needs of the lost sheep of Billings Montana. I desire prayer for David and Chad and their families as they are experiencing some attack also.

Romans 5

1.  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2.through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4. perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Blessings,
Pastor Carlos  

God uses Broken Vessels

If you remember last March there was a man charged with murder in the Atlanta courthouse shootings. He held a woman hostage for a time and all the while she read him passages from the "Purpose Driven Life" by Pastor Rick Warren. She was able to witness to this man and was able to get him to turn himself in. She was lauded as a hero.

Now the rest of the story.

She was a Meth addict. You can read the story here.

Now, many are wondering how can this be. A Christian meth addict.

Let me tell you a story of a friend I had in California. Her name was Kathy. She was a prostitute for a while. She came to Christ because one of her johns broke down after she serviced him, and cried that what he did was so wrong. He explained how he was married and a Christian. He the preceded to witness to her and tell her of the love of Jesus... She accepted Christ and left that life and went on to lead women's Bible studies and teach of God's great love.


Rahab was a prostitute. She lived in a land inhabited by a people who hated the God of the Jews. In this story she lies to save the two spys sent my Joshua.
On one hand she did wrong, as she lied, yet the Bible tells us God took notice of her great faith. She is also a relative in the genealogy of Jesus.

God uses broken vessels. No matter what some self righteous Bible thumping fundamentalist church may say. God Uses us as broken as we are. He chose us, He died for us, He gave His life for us, to give His life to us, so He could live His life through us.

We are the body of Jesus... His body broken for us. We are placed in His broken body... And become part of it. Together we make it whole.

Don't hide in shame over your brokenness like Adam and Eve did. No one should live in shame. The worst kind of religion is a shame based faith. Embrace that broken part of you. Tenderly give it as a sacrifice to Jesus. He will understand. Confess to one another these weaknesses so to encourage and build each other up.

Realize that if you are struggling you are making progress. If Jesus did not live in you, you would not even care about this struggle. The fact you do is a sign of Christ working in you. So don't dispair.

Be Blessed,
iggy

What Book of the Bible are You?

You are Romans.


Which book of the Bible are you?
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Whos DNA

Who’s DNA?

If one does a little search of many of the Emergent Churches it won’t be long before you come across the little catch phrase “Our DNA”. This seems to be a way of explaining where they came from. They will sometimes go into a quasidenominational explanation or just say what is the bottom line of what this local church is about.

Some “good” examples would be Connection Church
Another example of this would be St Combs Community Church


Now the real question as I develop a new fellowship is Who’s DNA am I spreading?

I was told at one point by a pastor at a very large church here in Billings “IF we plant a church, it will have OUR DNA in it.” At first I thought, of course, that is how it should be. Now I think much differently.

Let me say this, there is only One who’s DNA we should be concerned with and that is the Holy Spirit. If we are concerned that our church model, or our understanding of what a church is, is what is most important then we are missing out on what the Holy Spirit is trying to accomplish. As an emergent thinker, I desire to keep pure the essence of God who I often refer to as The Real. I think we miss the boat to say that our model or our thinking is only what we will be part of and support. Granted I am not talking about heresy or abusive authoritarian thinking, but rather God planting a vision in a man to start a fellowship by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is what Paul did in Acts. His vision was God’s vision and Paul let Jesus do His works through him to accomplish God’s will and purpose.

It seems, to say we will only spread our DNA is to fall into the trapping of modernism. To only think God can and should be expressed in the way WE see fit.

I was looking for people to support me in this new fellowship in Billings and was recommended to The Acts29 Network I checked them out and they seemed to be a fine organization… and I am sure they are. The issue came up, as I am not a Calvinist. I have some Calvinist leanings but as a system of theology I see it is too limiting of God. In fact I see it as too over simplified. I was told I needed to study it more as was told I could not hold both that man has free will and be elect. I thought that was a bit narrow thinking. I was then told, “ I don’t think you and your vision would be a right fit as we desire to spread our DNA.” That was one of the first times I heard that phrase. Again, who’s vision and works and ministry are we spreading… who's DNA is most important? Paul could have only reached out to the rich and powerful and to a degree in his travels and adventure to Rome he was attempting that very thing. Yet, at the same time many of the churches Paul started had the poorest people in them, and they are the ones who supported Paul and the other churches the most. So if we see only one “target group” that WE want to spread our DNA to, we miss out on the blessings of those who are different and can also bless us in ways we might not have realized.

The bottom line is this; we must be more concerned with God’s purpose, and will and vision then our own. We can be hurting the cause and find ourselves doing what we see the modern church is doing as we create environments of isolationism and exclusivism.
We must not set ourselves apart for our purpose, but for God’s purpose. We must not exclude those who think differently as they are as worthy of heaven as anyone of us is.

Doctrines and theology are great, yet let us not let those stand between someone and Jesus. I am not saying through them out, just be more flexible and try to see what God is doing. If you read scripture Jesus blew the religious leaders away often by breaking the pharisaical law. This is what enraged them in their self-righteousness. Beware that we do not fall into that.

Blessings,
iggy

I am an illustrated sermon

I was going to call this post, “I am an idiot!” But I had a hard enough week already. My attitude was very bad this week. I was about to even delete some of my last few posts about the whole website issue. Yet, I believe I must live my life as real as I can. I am constantly telling people that I want to be real and reflect Jesus Who is The REAL. I don’t want to cover my warts. Though I don’t also want to go around and show all my warts to everyone, I am not going to present only the good side of myself. There is a little shame and embarrassment, yet as I lean into Christ I realize I am an illustrated sermon.

I want to say that I did not live up to 1 Corinthians 13:

1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10. but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.


I do not want to make excuses for my actions and words they are what they are. I tend to pursue things with passion. I was falsely accused; yet I should not have lashed out at the people in the “abuse” dept… (A bit ironic there).

I know without Jesus living inside of me I would never have realized my shortcomings.

I confess this to all of you in hopes that in this weakness I am stronger in Christ.
I will add this, I realized that I was in the “Why” world for a while…. “why me?” “why is this happening?”, “why would someone do this to me?”

If you look at the end of the word “Why”, you notice that the letter Y is like one road going into two roads. The “Why” is like a choice. Which path should I take? I tend to go down the path were the squirrels run around in my head and drive me bonkers. As I was driving I realized that I had gone down that path. I realized also that the self-pity party that the why question led me down was not going to accomplish anything. So I began to think on What and How. What is God trying to teach me? And how can I apply this to my life in the future? The answer is not been given to me, but I believe it will come.

As I thought on this I remembered this scripture in James 1

1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
2. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3. because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
4. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8. he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. 9. The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.
10. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
12. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
13. When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14. but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.
17. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
19. My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20. for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
23. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24. and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
26. If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 7. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Blessings,
iggy

Another reason to hate spammers.

And now for the rest of the story.

I was sent to the abuse dept at www.1colony.com because someone used my site to spam from.
Someone used my address and somehow then spammed people about the yahoo lottery.

How can someone do this? Better, what can someone do to prevent this?

So, watch your domain and let's find a way to stop spammers.

Blessings,
iggy

Word of Mouth Ministries
Word of Mouth Ministries Blog
iggyROCKS!

Politics and iggy

Politics and iggy

I really wish I could avoid politics altogether. I mean so many people put such importance on politics that it has even infected Christianity in a very sick way.

For the record I am a registered Democrat. The funny thing is I can’t remember voting Democrat except for the last local election where a Democrat and Republican ran together.

I see the Democrats as having great values and their focus on social issues as something I admire. I depart from them where the lobbyists infect and corrupt the purity of these values. With the money that is lining the pockets of many Dem I see a great hypocrisy that clouds these values. To be a “good” Democrat one must value human life and support socialized medicine. (I agree). One must also support a woman’s choice and be pro abortion. (I strongly disagree). It seems the value of human life also comes at the expense of human dignity. One must be helped if they have dark skin. I think this is a misplaced value. It is an over simplified attempt to right a wrong of racism that will not ever be accomplish by emphasizing the differences. I see the Democrats are missing the value of education, and should be pushing better education instead of supporting teachers unions that seem to support (their own interests) the teachers yet the money never reaches the schools apart from the bureaucracy. I believe Democrats should look at a better way of supporting teachers and schools. There is so much more I would add here but suffice it to say that the hypocrisy is being played out with the appointments of judges. Only a few years ago Ted Kennedy stated that it was wrong to ask an appointee what he will decide before he is appointed, now it is the criteria of the democrats to attack an appointee, only because they believe that judges should make the laws of the land to fit their own beliefs. If one takes the time to read some to the early founding Father writings they warned of this very thing… we are so ignorant as we sit and do nothing as the Democrats openly go against the Founding Fathers own desire and hopes for this nation. My greatest criticism of the Democrats is they lack true vision and complain about not having power. No one wants leadership with no vision.


I see Republicans as having good ideals; yet have now real plans to carry them out. I see that they are out to preserve the original intent of the founding fathers and the constitution. Yet, huge corporations seemed to have corrupted these men as the corporations line their pockets and Republicans turn a blind eye to the environment and many social issues. My stomach turned as Bush Senior was stating how being a single mother was a bad thing… Being raised by one I found that offensive and clueless. I see that the big issue is the republicans are very big picture oriented, (good thing) yet are myopic to the social issues that have arisen. I see that they assume that all will understand and accept their ideals, yet they miss that most are ignorant and need to have things explained to them on their level. I don’t mean to slam the American peoples, but we have become lazy… or maybe just tired of the corrupt games the politicians have played for so many years. I like the Ideals; I hate the in ability to actually be leaders.
My greatest criticism of the current administration is that they lack the ability to connect and communicate their vision. So they appear, as Idealistic leaders yet do not seem to have easily defined vision.

So what do we have? Two parties that seem to taking us as a nation nowhere! All I can say is as you go to the polls pray, and make the best choice you can. Often it is the lesser of the two evils… so I understand why some don’t vote at all, who wants any evil to run our nation.

I am not a Bushite. I see that there are some good things he is attempting; I see some stupid mistakes he is doing. I do not see that he is responsible for the whether so I don’t blame him for Katrina; Bush is not God so does not have that power! I do blame that we have allowed this nation to become a nation of handouts, of takers who have no drive to give back and help others. We have become a nation who seems to only care for ourselves and to hell with the rest.

We need prayer. We need repentance. We need to call out to God and ask for mercy. Or we need to concede defeat and accept that this nation must fall.

Blessings,
iggy

Kerry, Kerry, Kerry... Give it up man.

John Kerry was using this time of suffering to push HIS OWN agenda criticize instead of giving answers did as he did though out his campaign.... Complain and not give any new ideas...

I could not help but laugh as I read this and remembered my thoughts after the Kerry/Bush debates where Kerry stated that all Bush did was wrong and his plan of action was to do the same things but more of them... So I concluded that Kerry was going to do what Bush was doing wrong and more of it... I think Kerry needed to think that one out a bit more.

So with that thought when you read this... Remember Kerry's promise during the debate to do more of the wrong things Bush is doing. (weary grin).

I do not think Bush has done the best job.. But I think it could have been worse.

Blessings,
iggy

Kerry Accuses Bush of Leading 'Katrina Administration'
By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/EditorSeptember 20, 2005

(CNSNews.com) -- In a speech reminiscent of the 2004 presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) Monday charged that President Bush is heading a "Katrina administration," an accusation a GOP spokesman called "unsavory at best."
Kerry -- who unsuccessfully opposed Bush in last year's election -- said Hurricane Katrina was a "horrifying disaster" that has shown "Americans at their best and their government at its worst," but "the bottom line is simple: The 'we'll do whatever it takes' administration doesn't have what it takes to get the job done. This is the Katrina administration.""
Addressing an audience at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Kerry stated: "Katrina stripped away any image of competence and exposed to all the true heart and nature of this administration.
"The truth is that for four and a half years, real life choices have been replaced by ideological agenda, substance replaced by spin, governance second place always to politics," the senator added.
"Yes, they can run a good campaign -- I can attest to that -- but America needs more than a campaign," Kerry said.
While charging that Bush administration policies have "taken us into a wilderness of lost opportunities," the senator acknowledged that the president last week had accepted responsibility for what Kerry called "Washington's poor response" to Katrina.
However, "there's every reason to believe the president finally acted on Katrina and admitted a mistake only because he was held accountable by the press, cornered by events and compelled by the outrage of the American people, who with their own eyes could see a failure of leadership and its consequences," Kerry said.
"Katrina is a symbol of all this administration does and doesn't do," he added. "Michael Brown -- or Brownie as the president so famously thanked him for 'doing a heck of a job' -- Brownie is to Katrina what Paul Bremer is to peace in Iraq; what George Tenet is to slam-dunk intelligence; what Paul Wolfowitz is to parades paved with flowers in Baghdad; what Dick Cheney is to visionary energy policy; what Donald Rumsfeld is to basic war planning; what Tom Delay is to ethics; and what George Bush is to 'Mission Accomplished' and 'Wanted Dead or Alive.'
Kerry said Americans would "compensate for government's incompetence" through individual charity, and he said the hurricane's aftermath has created "a rare accountability moment, not just for the Bush administration, but for all of us to take stock of the direction of our country and do what we can to reverse it.
"This is the real test of Katrina," he said. "Will we be satisfied to only do the immediate: care for the victims and rebuild the city? Or will we be inspired to tackle the incompetence that left us so unprepared and the societal injustice that left so many of the least fortunate waiting and praying on those rooftops?"
Kerry told the university audience that it's the government's job to prepare for the future, not ignore it - to solve problems, not create them.
"This administration and the Republicans who control Congress give in to special interests and rob future generations," the senator added. "And the fact is we do face serious challenges as a nation, and if we don't address them now, we handicap your future."
Kerry said he plans to address some of those challenges in detail over the next few weeks. And he said students must "speak out so loudly that Washington has no choice but to make choices worthy of this great country."
Republican National Committee Press Secretary Tracey Schmitt was not impressed with the senator's address.
"John Kerry's attacks on President Bush's efforts to assist the victims and rebuild the Gulf Coast don't come as a surprise -- armchair quarterbacking on tough issues has never been a problem for Sen. Kerry," Schmitt said.
"Such tactics haven't served him well in the past, and today is no exception," he added. "The American people have pulled together during a difficult time, and Democrats' efforts to politicize this tragedy are unsavory at best."
Kerry wasn't the only Democrat from last year's presidential campaign to criticize the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina on Monday.
Speaking before the Center for American Progress -- a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C. -- was former Sen. John Edwards, who was Kerry's vice-presidential candidate in 2004 and often spoke of "two Americas," one for the rich, another for the poor.
During his speech, Edwards claimed the president is wrong to believe Americans seek a "wealth society," but instead want a "working society."
"Stand with me today and pledge to work for an America that doesn't ignore those in need and lifts up those who wish to succeed," Edwards said. "Pledge to hold your government accountable for ignoring the suffering of so many for far too long.
"And pledge to do your part to build the America that we have dreamed of -- where the bright light of opportunity shines on every person," Edwards added.
Copyright © 1998-2005 CNSNews.com - Cybercast News Service

Faith & values: On-campus ministries feed needs of students

I thought this article in our local paper had some great insights.
blessings,
iggy



Faith & values: On-campus ministries feed needs of students

By KIM WOESTE
For The Gazette

Last year I was invited to do a presentation about young adults and worship for a church-related gathering.


As I prepared, I realized I didn't have enough first-hand knowledge about the topic, so I began conducting some highly unscientific research with students at Montana State University-Billings.


Any time I could create an opportunity, I asked some questions: Do you attend church? Why or why not? When choosing a church, what do you look for? What style of worship is meaningful to you? What helps you connect with God, and what turns you away? What is needed to keep young people active in the church today?


Unfortunately, the answers I received didn't help much with my presentation. Each student described a different expectation for worship and different hopes for the church. However, as I listened, I did hear some common themes that have proved helpful to me in my work with campus ministry.


The first had to do with food. It was something they all mentioned - that, when money is tight, food can be a powerful motivator. For many, food was the determining factor when deciding whether to attend a function.


The second common theme was a need for community or for belonging.


Each student I talked with described a desire to be welcomed. Several mentioned how important it was to be more than noticed, to be known by name. Others highlighted being prayed for or supported in tangible ways. Most acknowledged that they did not need to be friends with others, but they did need to feel companionship and caring.


The third theme was more difficult to pinpoint. Several students specified a need to discuss the new ideas they were learning in the classroom and how they were being affected by them. Many expressed frustration with sermons and identified the desire to ask questions or to talk about issues instead. Others expressed a need for being heard, no matter how radical their beliefs might sound. They were describing a desire to explore knowledge and faith in a safe environment.


A final commonality among students was a desire to be involved with something meaningful. A few students talked with evangelical fervor about saving souls. Many described a connection with social action; they wanted to work to make a difference in the world. Others simply wanted to believe their faith and their actions mattered.


While these results are certainly unreliable, I believe they help to highlight a few of the purposes for ministry in higher education. These include supporting students and providing pastoral care for persons on campus, encouraging intellectual growth that is integrated with spiritual growth and fostering ethical decision-making or faith that is put into action.


When people ask me why chaplains or campus ministers are necessary, I like to mention these common needs. I also like to remind persons that, when Catholic and mainline Protestant denominations moved into frontier lands, they established schools and hospitals alongside churches. Education was recognized as a basic human need, and denominations stepped up to meet this need.


Ministry in higher education remains a place where churches and denominations meet needs. Through campus ministry programs, students are supported as whole persons - body, mind and spirit; they are fed physically, intellectually and spiritually.


In the midst of transition, students are known by name and welcomed into a safe space for exploring faith and connecting with God and others. In a changing world, students are empowered to live in ways that make a difference.





The Rev. Kim Woeste is campus minister at Montana State University-Billings.


The Faith & Values column appears regularly in the Saturday Life section of The Billings Gazette.


Pastors, ethicists, educators or other experts who would like to write a column about faith, ethics or values for the section, should contact: Susan Olp; Billings Gazette; 401 N. Broadway; Billings, Mont. 59101. Or call her at 657-1281; fax to her attention at 657-1208; or e-mail to solp@billingsgazette.com

Continuing Discussion about Authority the church and relational models

Here is an outtake of a discussion aboutÂ…. Ahhh Josh McDowell and well morphed into this discussion. I am discussing with Dan on Tall Skinny Kiwi's blog.
It seems to me that churches desperately want to display the same certitude that Paul and other NT writers evidently display in their writings. Paul seemingly knew exactly where to draw the lines in terms of heresy, so why shouldn't we? Paul seemed to have many clear cut answers, so why shouldn't we? (I realize that Ro. 14 would be an exception, even for top-dowChurcheses, although which categories fall into this passage is a matter of debate.) Overall, they read and preach with this mindset: "Here's the scripture which _obviously_ means such and such, believe it and don't argue about what it says [which really means, don't argue with my interpretation]".
Two questions. First, does the NT support such an approach? Iggy, you wrote: "I also agree with Paul that there must be some division in the Church to tell who has sound doctrine and who does not". Could you expand on this? Is a dialogue format of understanding "truth", through the Spirit, shown in the NT? Would 1 Co 12-14 perhaps be an example? Secondly, does the fact that we no longer have apostles make things different in our day? In other words, is dialogue, the role of the Holy Spirit, and the priest-hood of all believers that much more essential in our day?



Dan,
I want say first off that I want the Relational model to be THE model yet, I must say even within the Relational model there is to be some recognized authority.

Now, with that being said, i beleive that is up to the community of belivers to decide how that authority is plaid out as they see and understand scripture. I believe there are many RIGHT models and only a few wrong ones. But again that is my stinky opinion.

Paul of course was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he wrote and given "authority" (oh that "A" word) by God to preach the Gospel to the gentiles. So we will find a wonderful and colorful mixture of Jew, Gentile, ex temple prostitutes, and such all joining and learning how to fellowship under the New Covenant, which I am sure many had no idea, there was an Old Covenant. And learning also new morals and ethics and many other ways to live with each other under this incredible thing we call God's Grace and the Body of Christ.

Here are some disjointed thoughts about discussion and arguments.

1. Paul gave warnings: Col 2:4 (be sure to read these all in context my dear brothers and sisters).


2. We are told to not have anything to do with "stupid" arguments, now lets argue over the definition of stupid! LOL! An argument for the sake quarrelling is just stupid and wrong! and I better not have anyone disagree with that! (2 Tim 2)


3. More on the "stupid arguments" Paul teaches that we are not avoid controversy and arguing over genealogies and such, why? I think with these things so much is up to conjecture. Titus 3:9


4. Paul said that there must be heresy amongst us to be able to tell who has the truth. At least if one reads the KJV. Now in the NIV it says "differences" that right there makes exclusivism just plain wrong! If we have differences without discussion then how would anyone know? This is a way to be able to spot those who need "correcting" and also allow for helping in the spiritual growth of people.1 Cor 11:19

Now about a model.

In 1 Corinthians there was problems, why? Because there were people at that church! These people as I said were Jews, gentiles, temple prostitutes and such so you can only imagine how that would all mix together. There would be so many different backgrounds and stories and thinking and opinions and... You get the idea. We are called a family. In fact Jesus called us His brothers and said those who do the will of His Father were His mother, brothers, and sisters, we are family. We are even more. We are joined together lets say as Adam was "placed" in the garden, a type of Christ in the OT we are now literally placed in the Body of Christ and have become one in Christ in that way. The body has an authority, the Head...The same with us Jesus being our Head. If He lives then so much more His Body, so to me that shows the "institutional" model may not be Biblically accurate. The body inter-relationally interacts with itself. If part is ill the rest of the body suffers and also finds ways to deal and correct itself to heal itself, usually this is regulated in the brain, which is in the Head. I think often in the institutional model we lose out and not let Jesus through the Holy Spirit minister as Husband and the True Head He is. This to me shows a lack of faith. As the Body of Christ we need to learn how to trust Jesus more and not lean on our ideals of "authority".

Authority is not bad, but think about this. All of us, even the lost are under the Authority of God. Demons are under His authority, as all creation is. So, the issue is what makes us as "Christians" above and transcend this authority? Grace and Mercy but most of all our Relationship with the Father through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is in the relationship authority is not a real issue. We learn to live and love God's Life and Love. This is so much more than just living under authority.

Blessings,
iggy

10 Things I Have Done You Probably Haven't

Rick set out the challenge to give 10 things I have done that you probably haven't.
Sooooo...

Here is my list.


1. I have been married to the same woman 21 years.
2. I waited 19 years of marriage before our first child was born.
3. I owned a custom Harley... That was pictured in Hot Rod Harleys magazine (before it was renamed Hot Rod bikes.)
4. Rode with bikers for Christ, the vampires, Hells Angels and Hells Bells (the Lesbian biker group)
5. Receive regular emails from major Christian Musicians.
6. Operate an online Christian radio station.
7. Lost the feelings in my hands and feet from neuropathy (doing much better now)
8. Delivered chairs and tables to Clint Eastwoods 2nd wife. We used to see Clint all the time as we lived in the Monterey Ca. area.
9. Attended movies for free between 1995 -1997.
10. Wrestled with a four year old brown bear.


Blessings,
iggy

Something to think about... The death of individualism in America

Much of this disaster was already in place before Katrina.
Just a thought.

iggy


An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State by

Robert Tracinski Sep 02, 2005

by Robert Tracinski

It took four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it also took me four long days to figure out what was going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.
If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.
Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists—myself included—did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.
But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.
The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.
The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over four days last week. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.
The man-made disaster is the welfare state.
For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency—indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.
When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us. I have seen this a hundred times, in small examples (a small town whose main traffic light had gone out, causing ordinary citizens to get out of their cars and serve as impromptu traffic cops, directing cars through the intersection) and large ones (the spontaneous response of New Yorkers to September 11).
So what explains the chaos in New Orleans?
To give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on, here is a description from a Washington Times story:
"Storm victims are raped and beaten; fights erupt with flying fists, knives and guns; fires are breaking out; corpses litter the streets; and police and rescue helicopters are repeatedly fired on.
"The plea from Mayor C. Ray Nagin came even as National Guardsmen poured in to restore order and stop the looting, carjackings and gunfire....
"Last night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders.
" 'These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets,' she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.' "
The reference to Iraq is eerie. The photo that accompanies this article shows a SWAT team with rifles and armored vests riding on an armored vehicle through trash-strewn streets lined by a rabble of squalid, listless people, one of whom appears to be yelling at them. It looks exactly like a scene from Sadr City in Baghdad.
What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to speed away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Superdome?
Why are people responding to natural destruction by causing further destruction? Why are they attacking the people who are trying to help them?
My wife, Sherri, figured it out first, and she figured it out on a sense-of-life level. While watching the coverage one night on Fox News Channel, she told me that she was getting a familiar feeling. She studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, which is located in the South Side of Chicago just blocks away from the Robert Taylor Homes, one of the largest high-rise public housing projects in America. "The projects," as they were known, were infamous for uncontrollable crime and irremediable squalor. (They have since, mercifully, been demolished.)
What Sherri was getting from last night's television coverage was a whiff of the sense of life of "the projects." Then the "crawl"—the informational phrases flashed at the bottom of the screen on most news channels—gave some vital statistics to confirm this sense: 75% of the residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and of those who remained, a large number were from the city's public housing projects. Jack Wakeland then told me that early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had no plan for evacuating all of the prisoners in the city's jails—so they just let many of them loose. [Update: I have been searching for news reports on this last story, but I have not been able to confirm it. Instead, I have found numerous reports about the collapse of the corrupt and incompetent New Orleans Police Department; see here and here.]
There is no doubt a significant overlap between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa.
There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit—but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals—and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep—on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.
All of this is related, incidentally, to the incompetence of the city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city, despite the knowledge that this might be necessary. In a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters—not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency.
No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact, some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans had drafted an adequate evacuation plan. The worst example is an execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail, by a supercilious Canadian who blames the chaos on American "individualism." But the truth is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the exact opposite of individualism.
What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. And they don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.
But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.
People living in piles of their own trash, while petulantly complaining that other people aren't doing enough to take care of them and then shooting at those who come to rescue them—this is not just a description of the chaos at the Superdome. It is a perfect summary of the 40-year history of the welfare state and its public housing projects.
The welfare state—and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages—is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.
Source: TIA Daily -- September 2, 2005
Robert Tracinski is the editor and publisher of TIADaily.com and The Intellectual Activist magazine.

"He gave us the gift of love and laughter," Goodbye Bob Denver

As a child I grew up with Bob Denver and the Castaways... They made my after school time seem not so long.

Blessings,
iggy

TV's Gilligan Dead
By Joal RyanTue Sep 6, 9:21 PM ET
Somewhere, on some channel, in some time zone, the first mate of the S.S. Minnow is snoozing in a hammock, still boyish, still bumbling, still Gilligan.
Bob Denver, immortalized in TV reruns as the most clueless castaway of Gilligan's Island, died at a North Carolina hospital Friday from cancer-related complications, his family announced Tuesday. He was 70.
Denver underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery in May.
"He gave us the gift of love and laughter," the Denver family said in a statement, "even in his passing."
Russell Johnson, the brainy professor to Denver's brainless wonder on Gilligan's Island, said he shared tears with Denver's friends and fans. "Frankly, Bob Denver would adore your laughter most of all," Johnson said on his Website. "That's more likely why God created him."
Denver starred on Gilligan's Island from 1964 to '67. The sitcom about seven shipwreck survivors, from Hollywood bombshell to Kansas farm girl, was never an Emmy nominee, was not a critical favorite and was a top 20 hit just once. It produced 98 episodes, two fewer than the traditional 100 believed to be mandatory for syndication success. And yet it was in reruns that the show became inescapable, if not indestructible.
"It's 40 years this year it's been on the air continually," Denver observed in 2004 to the Charleston Gazette, a newspaper based in his adopted home state of West Virginia.
If viewers wouldn't let go of Gilligan, Denver never broke with the Skipper's "little buddy," either. He revisited the character several times, in several incarnations, from Saturday morning cartoons (1974's Gilligan's Planet, 1982's Gilligan's Planet) to reunion TV-movies (led by 1978's top-rated Rescue from Gilligan's Island), to a cameo on ALF.
A slightly earlier TV generation, however, arguably best remembered Denver as Maynard G. Krebs, the bongo-playing beatnik on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-1963). "I just loved him," series star Duane Hickman told the Associated Press Tuesday. "He was wonderful. One of my dear, dear friends. I feel like a part of me died.
Though not a rerun phenomenon, Dobie Gillis was a heartier prime-time specimen, cranking out nearly 50 more first-run episodes than Gilligan's Island.
Denver's 1993 autobiography played tribute to both of his iconic incarnations: Gilligan, Maynard & Me. Like a good parent, the actor refused to play favorites.
"I enjoyed both equally, but in different ways," Denver wrote on his Website. "Maynard gave me the chance to do wonderful word comedy...When I was offered Gilligan, I chose it because that character gave me the chance to do physical comedy, which I love."
"With Maynard and Gilligan, I had the best of both worlds."
Born in New Rochelle, New York, on Jan. 9, 1935, Denver enjoyed a prime-time run of 11 consecutive years, from 1959, with the debut of Dobie Gillis, to 1970, with the demise of The Good Guys, a little-remembered sitcom that ran for two seasons. Gilligan's Island--a script Denver snagged only because comedian Jerry Van Dyke turned it down first--was sandwiched in between those two shows.
Following The Good Guys, Denver returned to series work with the 1973 syndicated Old West comedy, Dusty's Trail. In 1975, the gone-gray comic starred in the Sid and Marty Krofft children's TV demi-classic Far Out Space Nuts.
Three years later, Denver dusted off Gilligan's floppy white hat and long-sleeved red polo. At 43, the shirt seemed baggier and the antics more desperate, but Rescue from Gilligan's Island was popular enough to spawn two more TV-movies, 1979's The Castaways on Gilligan's Island and 1981's The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island.
The critical kibosh on the show, however, remained. In a 1994 Canadian radio interview, Denver was asked if the Smithsonian Institution, home to Archie Bunker's living-room chair and Fonzie's leather jacket, had requested Gilligan's hat.
"Nah, the Smithsonian doesn't ask for anything back from Gilligan," Denver said. "They haven't dropped that low yet."
Denver was back in the headlines in 1998 when he was arrested for marijuana possession. And he created some buzz last year when he launched an oldies station, dubbed "Little Buddy Radio" in West Virginia, and called out TBS' new reality series spin on his old show, The Real Gilligan's Island.
"I really don't think this show is going to work," Denver told the Bluefield [West Virginia] Daily Telegraph. "...I'd like to see them put a lion or a tiger on the island, but I really don't think that would happen."
With Denver's death, Tina Louise, who played movie-star Ginger Grant, and the rest, Johnson and Dawn Wells, as Mary Ann, the farm girl, are the only surviving castaways of the original Gilligan cast. Alan Hale Jr., the Skipper, died in 1990; Jim Backus, the millionaire, in 1989; Natalie Schafer, the millionaire's wife, in 1991.
Denver said all the actors on the series were typecast as a result of the Gilligan reruns that never died, but he, for one, wasn't bitter.
"When you've been part of a show that has made so many people happy and continues to do so to this day, it's hard to resent it," Denver said on his Website. "Besides that, I'm also known as Maynard, which means I say 'WORK?!?!' for fans almost as much as I say, 'Skipper!' "
Survivors include his four children, and Dreama, his wife of 28 years.
"Bob was and always will be my everything," Dreama Denver said in a statement. "I love you, Bob Denver."
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Taking responsibility for actions...Louisiana Officials Could Lose the Katrina Blame Game

Of course this article is a bit slanted as it is from the GOP party. Yet, I see it raises some of the same thoughts I have had in the last few days. I again think the blame game is not necessary at this point, yet since all fingers seem to be pointed at Bush, which I do think many should be, we must recognize that states are sovereign and must ask for help... Also local government is in place to take care of the needs of the city. My belief is that the local city gov't should all be arrested for their lack of action before this disaster.

This article confirms my gut response.

The city did not have a "plan of action".

This senario was a when, not an if. Did you see the 1000's of buses now underwater? I heard a story of a lady who went for two days to get on a bus out of town... Each time she was sent home at dark because of the curfew... Only to spend the night fighting for her and her families life on the roof of her house. That was not Bush's fault... It was the local gov'ts.

Was Bush late in reacting? YES! He seemed like someone who witnessed a car accident and was stunned, then asked someone next to him, "did you see that?" hoping they would say, "nope". Yet, all they said was, "DO SOMETHING!"
He seemed immobilized with who knows what?

Fear? Awe? Shock?

By the way, the news spent too much time on Trent Lotts SECOND HOME that was destroyed.

TOO FREAKING BAD! Especially when so many ONLY home was destroyed. I was a little upset that Mr. Trent was able to get his hands on a helicopter to go an view his SECOND HOME while so many were still waiting on the roof of their house in New Orleans.... Dying. Mr Trent.... You need some priorities!

blessed?
iggy

Louisiana Officials Could Lose the Katrina Blame Game
By Jeff Johnson

(CNSNews.com) --

The Bush administration is being widely criticized for the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina and the allegedly inadequate protection for "the big one" that residents had long feared would hit New Orleans. But research into more than ten years of reporting on hurricane and flood damage mitigation efforts in and around New Orleans indicates that local and state officials did not use federal money that was available for levee improvements or coastal reinforcement and often did not secure local matching funds that would have generated even more federal funding.
In December of 1995, the Orleans Levee Board, the local government entity that oversees the levees and floodgates designed to protect New Orleans and the surrounding areas from rising waters, bragged in a supplement to the Times-Picayune newspaper about federal money received to protect the region from hurricanes.
"In the past four years, the Orleans Levee Board has built up its arsenal. The additional defenses are so critical that Levee Commissioners marched into Congress and brought back almost $60 million to help pay for protection," the pamphlet declared. "The most ambitious flood-fighting plan in generations was drafted. An unprecedented $140 million building campaign launched 41 projects."
The levee board promised Times-Picayune readers that the "few manageable gaps" in the walls protecting the city from Mother Nature's waters "will be sealed within four years (1999) completing our circle of protection."
But less than a year later, that same levee board was denied the authority to refinance its debts. Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle "repeatedly faulted the Levee Board for the way it awards contracts, spends money and ignores public bid laws," according to the Times-Picayune. The newspaper quoted Kyle as saying that the board was near bankruptcy and should not be allowed to refinance any bonds, or issue new ones, until it submitted an acceptable plan to achieve solvency.
Blocked from financing the local portion of the flood fighting efforts, the levee board was unable to spend the federal matching funds that had been designated for the project.
By 1998, Louisiana's state government had a $2 billion construction budget, but less than one tenth of one percent of that -- $1.98 million -- was dedicated to levee improvements in the New Orleans area. State appropriators were able to find $22 million that year to renovate a new home for the Louisiana Supreme Court and $35 million for one phase of an expansion to the New Orleans convention center.
The following year, the state legislature did appropriate $49.5 million for levee improvements, but the proposed spending had to be allocated by the State Bond Commission before the projects could receive financing. The commission placed the levee improvements in the "Priority 5" category, among the projects least likely to receive full or immediate funding.
The Orleans Levee Board was also forced to defer $3.7 million in capital improvement projects in its 2001 budget after residents of the area rejected a proposed tax increase to fund its expanding operations. Long term deferments to nearly 60 projects, based on the revenue shortfall, totaled $47 million worth of work, including projects to shore up the floodwalls.
No new state money had been allocated to the area's hurricane protection projects as of October of 2002, leaving the available 65 percent federal matching funds for such construction untouched.
"The problem is money is real tight in Baton Rouge right now," state Sen. Francis Heitmeier (D-Algiers) told the Times-Picayune. "We have to do with what we can get."
Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Mark Drennen told local officials that, if they reduced their requests for state funding in other, less critical areas, they would have a better chance of getting the requested funds for levee improvements. The newspaper reported that in 2000 and 2001, "the Bond Commission has approved or pledged millions of dollars for projects in Jefferson Parish, including construction of the Tournament Players Club golf course near Westwego, the relocation of Hickory Avenue in Jefferson (Parish) and historic district development in Westwego."
There is no record of such discretionary funding requests being reduced or withdrawn, but in October of 2003, nearby St. Charles Parish did receive a federal grant for $475,000 to build bike paths on top of its levees.
Democrats blame Bush administration
Congressional Democrats have been quick to blame the White House for poor preparation and then a weak response related to Hurricane Katrina. U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, joined two of his colleagues from the Transportation and Infrastructure and Homeland Security committees Tuesday in a letter requesting hearings into what the trio called a "woefully inadequate" federal response.
"Hurricane Katrina was an unstoppable force of nature," Waxman wrote along with Reps. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). "But it is plain that the federal government could have done more, sooner, to respond to the immediate survival needs of the residents of Louisiana and Mississippi.
"In fact, different choices for funding and planning to protect New Orleans may even have mitigated the flooding of the city," the Democrats added.
But Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) suggested that Waxman "overlooks many other questions that need to be asked, and prematurely faults the federal government for all governmental shortcomings; in fact, local and state government failures are not mentioned at all in [Waxman's] letter."
Davis wrote that Waxman's questions about issues such as the lack of federal plans for evacuating residents without access to vehicles and the alleged failure of the Department of Homeland Security to ensure basic communications capacity for first responders might "prematurely paint the picture that these are solely, or even primarily, federal government responsibilities.
"This is not the time to attack or defend government entities for political purposes. Rather, this is a time to do the oversight we're charged with doing," Davis continued. "Our Committee will aggressively investigate what went wrong and what went right. We'll do it by the book, and let the chips fall where they may."
The House Government Reform Committee will begin hearings on federal disaster preparations and the response to Hurricane Katrina the week of Sept. 12. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is schedule to hold hearings on the economic recovery from Katrina beginning Wednesday morning.
Copyright © 1998-2005 CNSNews.com - Cybercast News Service

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iggy