I Used To Be a Normal Person

As an American, I used to think I was pretty much just a regular person, but I was born white, into a two-parent household which now, whether I like it or not, makes me "Privileged", a racist and responsible for slavery…

I am a fiscal and moral conservative, which by today's standards, makes me a fascist because I plan, budget and support myself.

I went to High School and college and have always held a job.  But I now find out that I am not here because I earned it, but because I was "advantaged”.

I am heterosexual, which according to LGBTQEIEIO folks, now makes me a homophobe.

I am not a Muslim, which now labels me as an infidel.

I believe in the 2nd Amendment, which makes me a de facto member of the "vast NRA gun lobby”. Never mind that I'm not a member of the NRA; that doesn't matter.

I am older than 60, making me a useless eater who doesn't understand Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat.

I think and I reason, and I doubt much of what the "main stream" media tells me, which makes me a "Right-wing conspiracy nut”.

I am proud of my heritage and our inclusive American culture, making me a xenophobe.

I believe in hard work, fair play, and fair compensation according to each individual's merits, which today makes me an anti-socialist.

I believe our system guarantees freedom of effort - not freedom of outcome or subsidies which must make me a borderline sociopath.

I believe in the defense and protection of America for and by all citizens, now making me a militant.

I am proud of our flag, what it stands for and the many who died to let it fly, so I stand and salute during our National Anthem - so I must be a racist.

Please help me come to terms with the new me because I'm just not sure who I am anymore!

Funny - it all took place over the last 10 to 12 years! And if all this nonsense wasn't enough to deal with, now I don't even know which restroom to use… and I gotta go more FREQUENTLY.

If You Don't See Yourself in This Video

... then you've been living on some other planet.

The Simpsons - SJWs at Yale

Now Is The Winter of Our Discontent: Political Unrest

(with apologies to fans of Olde Bill)

 

 

The world is undergoing a shaking, right in front of our eyes, as played out on the 24-hour news cycle. Governments and political powers which previously seemed unmovable are trembling. Kings, prime ministers, presidents and rulers who were untouchable in the past are being removed from their places. Aside from unrest from different parts of the world, earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis are getting stronger, and more frequent. It's time to read the signs of the time and check the historical map. Where are we, according to God’s master plan?

"Shaking of the earth" is not something that should surprise any reader of the Bible. God's Word records that it has already happened, and predicts that it will happen again.

Heb 12:26 ~ When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also."

Heb 12:27 ~ This means that the things on earth will be shaken, so that only eternal things will be left.

Heb 12:28 ~ Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be destroyed, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

Heb 12:29 ~ For our God is a consuming fire.

Paul, the author of the book of Hebrews, summarized the above text from the book of Haggai, chapter 2:6-7.

 

That book adds the following prophecy in preparation for the glorious temple and heavenly kingdom:

“I will overthrow royal thrones, destroying the power of foreign kingdoms. I will overturn their chariots and charioteers. The horses will fall, and their riders will kill each other.” Hag 2:22

Today, more turmoil is shaking the Middle East and central Europe, as those who are termed refugees turn on their hosts. From there, they slaughter innocents by the dozens and sometimes hundreds. The heat of Islamic revolution has spread or is now spreading to other countries.

The world as it was has been shaken, which once again reminds us of three fundamental truths.

THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT WILL SOMEDAY SLIP AWAY

Heb 12:26 ~ When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also."

No government or person, no matter how powerful they are, has the power to remain. The world is changing as it revolves.

Again, this shaking of world powers is not new to history. Daniel, chapter two, dramatically described it in prophetic way through the dream of the Babylonian king, and through it, the future transitions of the world powers were revealed.

You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue-- an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing-floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. Dan 2:31-35

 

Historians and Bible scholars generally agree that those symbols match these world powers:

1. The Babylonian Empire by Nebuchadnezzar - the head of gold

2. The Medo-Persian Empire: by Darius and Cyrus - the arm of silver

3. The Grecian Empire by Alexander the  Great - the belly and thighs of bronze

4. The Roman Empire by Caesars - Legs of iron and clay

Daniel 2:44 ~ In the time of those kings, the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure for ever.

Matthew 21:42 ~ "Then Jesus asked them, "Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ’The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous to see.’ "

Matthew 21:44 ~ "Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls."

This present world and all its governments will someday pass away. We have to put our hope and trust in someone who will remain forever.

Our relationship with God is the only thing that we can keep forever.

Matthew 16:26 ~ "And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?"

All things may pass away; the world as we know it may be uprooted; life as we experience it may come to an end; but one thing stands eternally sure--the relationship of the Christian to God.

 

If you want to have a closer relationship with Jesus, you can pray this prayer and make that promise your own:

Dear God,

I can't manage my own life without you. I invite Jesus to come into my heart today and be the King and Lord of my life from this time on. I surrender my life to you today and I accept you as my Lord and Savior. Amen.

 

What then? Then you need to find a church which teaches the Bible, not feel-good messages from the Reader's Digest, and can help you find your way.

 

In the meantime, I would suggest you read a modern translation of the Gospel of John (fourth book of the New Testament). It explains who Jesus is, what He did, and why - and more importantly, what that means to you.

 

 

h/t Randy Bataanon

White Privilege, Defined

White Privilege (noun):  The privilege of being called "racist" by people who see nothing else about you but your race.

This. This Is What's Wrong.

On Saturday at the grocery store, we saw a mother & teenage daughter leaving. The daughter was pushing a small shopping cart which was piled a good 18" too high with all sorts of goods.

The daughter came to an abrupt halt as they paused to let us through the entrance. Things slid off the top of her cart and scattered across the floor.

The mother asked, "What happened?"
 

Daughter replied, "I didn't do anything!"

Mother said, "They stacked it wrong."

Sigh ...


The daughter, clearly a special snowflake, is already trained to pass blame to others, and instantly absolve herself of any responsibility for her own actions. It's somebody else's fault, you see, and Mommy said so.

Oh, and Mother picked up the groceries which fell off, while Daughter stood there and watched.

This. This is what's wrong with Americans these days.

Victoria Fedden: Christmas in the '70s vs. Christmas Today

Christmas in the 70s vs. Christmas Today

December 2, 2015

A step by step guide...

Christmas in the 70s
1. Mid-October: When the Sears Roebuck and J.C. Penney’s Christmas catalogs come in the mail, give them to the kids and tell them to circle what they want. Order about a quarter of it. Do not order the rock polisher they keep asking for.

2. Continue about your normal routine until the second week of December.

3. Check the TV Guide for the dates and times when all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials will air. Plan accordingly so the kids don’t miss them again this year. You don’t want to have to listen to Jessica crying about having to wait ‘til next year to see Rudolph.

4. Make a large container of Chex Mix to have on hand. Restock the liquor cabinet and be sure to purchase plenty of Crown Royal and the ingredients for pina coladas. Harveys Bristol Cream is good to have on hand during the holiday season as well. Do not forget both green and red maraschino cherries.

5. Around December 15th drag the fiberglass tree up from the cellar along with the box of Christmas decorations.

6. First, spray everything with several aerosol cans of fake snow.

7. String the tree with blinking, multicolored lights. Spend 45 minutes trying to find the one bulb on the string that’s burned out and thus making all of the other lights in the string not work. Replace that bulb. Become tangled in cords. Go into the den for a cigarette to calm down.

8. Come back in and add an extra shot of rum to your eggnog before hanging red and gold balls on the tree. These would be the Styrofoam balls covered in a layer of silky thread. They only look nice for about five minutes out of the box because the thread always get snagged on the tree branches and starts to fray and unravel. Spray some aerosol Aquanet hairspray on them. It might work. It might not. It also might make the ornaments more flammable, especially if they’re close to the lights, but c’est la vie. All these fire prevention tips are overrated anyway.

9. Cover the entire tree with tinsel. All of it. You don’t even want to see that tree. You just want to see a big, glowing pyramid of blinking lights and tinsel in your living room picture window.

10. Take the children downtown to visit Santa. Snap a couple Polaroids of the event. Give them each a candy cane and get home in time to watch “Nestor the Long-Eared Donkey.”

11. Pick up a pack of Christmas cards the next time you’re in the Hallmark store on Main Street. Maybe something in an elegant Currier & Ives style this year. Run home and write them out and then stop by the post office later for a pack of thirteen cent stamps.

12. Windex the protective vinyl coverings on your living room set and dust your ornate, gilt, rain lamp so your home looks nice for Christmas guests. Water the terrarium while you’re at it and stick a ceramic elf in the soil for holiday cheer.

13. Go downtown to the Sears distribution center to pick up your order while the kids are at school. Wrap everything and hide it in the shed outside where they can’t find it. If you run out of wrapping paper, just use the funny pages.

14. Plan Christmas menu: canned ham, fruit cocktail, Watergate salad, green bean casserole, jellied cranberry salad, Hawaiian punch with rainbow sherbet, nutty cheese ball, fruit cake...

15. Attend the children’s public school Christmas pageant that is complete with a manger scene. Wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

16. Come home and save cat from choking to death on tinsel for the sixty-fifth time.

17. Put on the Donny and Marie Christmas album. Dust off The Carpenters’ “Merry Christmas, Darling” and that annoying Chipmunks record the kids love so much.

18. Dress the girls in matching, floor length, red velvet, empire-waisted, high-collared gowns with white ruffled cuffs. Put the boys in corduroys, plaid button ups with dog-ear collars and matching Hunter green vests. Throw on your new bright red pants suit with the attached silk scarf, finish with a spritz of L’Air du Temps and praise polyester! No more ironing! You are now ready to go to the Christmas Eve service at church.

19. On Christmas morning get the flashbulbs ready and take several photos of the kids opening their Lite-Brites and Slinkies. Relax while Matthew plays with his Starsky and Hutch car and the girls prance around in their new Wonder Woman and Bat Girl Underoos.

20. Slip into your new jumpsuit, wing your hair and put the canned ham in the oven along with a Mrs. Smith’s pumpkin pie.

21. Enjoy dinner with the family on the rec room pool table which you have covered with a plastic tablecloth printed with bells and wreaths.

22. Let the kids play with their favorite gift: COUSINS. The adults can have Irish coffee, fruit cake and a few Benson & Hedges in the family room while the snow falls outside (because it ALWAYS snows on Christmas).


Christmas Today

1. Early September, arrange photo shoot for family Christmas card. Coordinate matching outfits of khaki pants and white button ups. Get teeth whitened and hair highlighted. Practice several poses with the family: jumping in the air, sitting in the grass, walking away from the camera while the little ones toddle adorably behind ...

2. After your mid-September photo shoot, be sure to head over to the mall to admire the Christmas displays in the stores. Then go get a pumpkin spice latte to really get in the holiday spirit even though it’s 80 degrees out and technically still summer.
3. Go to Costco and purchase several inflatable Santas and snowmen and a herd of light-up, wicker reindeer for your front yard. Buy so many lights that your home will look like the Las Vegas strip of Christmas, come December.

4. Find out the “must-have” toys this year. Start researching. Make a game plan for Black Friday.

5. The week before Thanksgiving, begin decorating your home for Christmas. Think elaborate. Each child needs a tree in his or her room. Don’t forget that Olivia wants a PINK tree in her room. Ayden would prefer a Paw Patrol Christmas theme in his room.

6. Have an anxiety attack trying to decide between getting a Douglas Fir and a Fraser Fir. Look for organic, locally sourced Christmas trees from sustainable farms only. Ask the Internet for help.

7. Hire a professional tree decorator to come and string the LED lights on the Fraser Fir which you chose because the Internet said it was the number one pick for Christmas trees seven years running. Worry that the warm white lights you chose are too “90s” and maybe you should have gone retro-chic with the rainbow lights, which might actually be too “70s” and then wish you’d have gone super-retro and asked if real, beeswax candles were available because how totally Martha would that be? Except fires. No, scrap the candle idea. Go with the warm white.

8. Do not be alarmed that the Christmas tree is UPSIDE DOWN. It’s okay. The tree decorator assured you that upside down Christmas trees were “THE thing” this year.

9. Stage a complicated tree lighting ceremony for Thanksgiving evening, but make sure you hurry up with the whole Thanksgiving dinner thing because you need to hit the stores. Black Friday actually starts Thursday night now and you want to be first in line to get the five dollar, robotic, unicorn pony and every single other piece of Disney’s The Good Dinosaur merchandise because you can SO sell the extras on eBay.

10. Admire your holiday photo cards when they arrive via FedEx. The sepia tone looks fantastic. Praise your own good taste. Your family definitely looks like something out of the Pottery Barn catalog. Actually, no. The Restoration Hardware catalog. Sigh with relief that you chose “Happy Holidays” over “Season’s Greetings.” You’d agonized over that for days. Now drop the already addressed, pre-printed cards off at the post office and pay $437.29 in postage.

11. Host a holiday cookie exchange. Be sure to remind guests that it is a GRAIN-FREE cookie exchange because you and several other guests are suffering from wheat belly, and possibly leaky gut (at least according to your acupuncturist).

12. Take the children to gingerbread house making class, Seasonal Craft Explosion, Reindeer Fest, Santa Days Blitzkrieg and the Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Christmas/ Pagan Winter Solstice Hot Yoga Celebration of Light. You do not want the kids to miss a single event this December. They will not.

13. Become deeply concerned when you read on Facebook that eggnog lattes contain carcinogens. Virtually sign some sort of online petition about Starbucks and chemicals. Order an eggnog latte anyway, skinny with four Splendas.

14. Plan Christmas dinner. Purchase a set of Spode dinnerware. Order an organic, humanely raised, pastured turkey who was treated so well that he was named Ethan and kept as a pet before being slaughtered (yes, humanely). Then go to Whole Foods and buy a Field Roast because you can’t bear to actually eat Ethan.

15. Plan alternative Christmas dinners for vegan, gluten-free, Paleo guests.

16. Make a hip Christmas playlist on Spotify that combines remixed classics from the 40s and 50s with Indie covers. Think Dub-Step Rudolph followed by The Mountain Goats’ version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

17. Burn your arm making homemade cranberry sauce. Jeez, that stuff is like molten lava. Toss the whole pot and use the Trader Joe’s jarred version. Much safer.

18. Take some probiotics. Because stress.

19. Attend the children’s December Pageant at their Waldorf/Montessori Hybrid Charter Preschool. Post several photos of your daughter dressed as a Kwanzaa candle on Instagram along with a video of your son singing a Chanukah song in Hebrew even though you are not Jewish and Chanukah actually ended three weeks earlier. Wish everyone a good month. That can’t offend anyone, right? Enjoy a nice kombucha on tap with the other parents after the show ends.

20. Make homemade, wheat-free, peppermint scented, red and green play-dough to entertain the children during their school break.

21. Blind panic when you realize that OH MY GOD, you completely forgot to do Elf on the Mother-Freaking Shelf. Immediately locate said Elf and pose him on the edge of your toilet with a fishing pole and several marshmallows floating in the toilet bowl. Take a bunch of pictures of him for social media.

22. Check and see how many “likes” and “shares” your Elf pics got.

23. Let the kids watch the classic Christmas specials whenever they want. You have downloaded them all onto their iPads for everyone’s convenience. Olivia and Baylee have seen Charlie Brown 75 times. Today. Ayden is singing the Heat Miser song. Totes cute. Make a Vine of it.

24. Explain sadly to the children that no, Heat Miser isn’t real, but Global Warming is and no, there will not be a white Christmas this year because it’s seventy degrees out in late December again.

25. On Christmas Eve, arrange professionally wrapped gifts under the upside down Christmas tree. Set out a plate of date and coconut raw energy bars and a glass of cashew mylk for Santa. After the kids go to bed stay up until 4am putting all the toys together. Drink wine out of a quart sized Mason jar. It’s okay, no one can see you. I mean, unless you take a selfie, which maybe might be kind of like, ironic funny.

26. Do some breathing exercises. It will all be over soon and the kids love the holidays so much. It’s totally worth it. Think of the memories.

27. #SeasonsGreetings

28. #HappyHolidays

The Nincompoop Generation

Wild Bill does it again.

The Warrior Class: "Stop Pushing Me"

Six, over at The Warrior Class, has written a masterpiece in defense of his personal faith and Christian values, and the clash with modern societal mores and demands.

Excerpt:

... I'm beholden to my God not to be silent. That is my Faith. Stop pushing.

What I strongly object to is the idea that I must celebrate any lifestyle at odds with my religious beliefs. Why isn't it enough that we can live together in peace and harmony without my having to deny my profound and deeply personal relationship with my Creator and literally abandon Him? I won't do that no matter the cost. Leave me alone and I'll return the gesture. Defend my freedoms and I'll do the same for yours. But stop pushing me.

... I keep getting told that my faith makes me a hater and a phobic and a criminal moron. So be it. If that's what you believe then you are free to do so. You are free to insult me and hate me and preach against me and my faith. But understand that I, and a lot of others just like me, have more than a bit of the Old Testament in us and we absolutely will not lay down and die just because we're inconvenient to your view of the World as you wish it to be.

If you consider yourself a Christian, or even just a tolerant person, please take the time to read his words. It's important.

Political Unrest: What's Going On?

The world is undergoing shaking, right in front of our eyes. Governments which previously seemed unmovable are trembling. Kings and rulers who were untouchable in the past are being removed from their palaces. Aside from unrest from different parts of the world, earthquakes and tsunamis are getting stronger & more frequent. It's time to read the signs of the time and check the historical map. Where are we, according to God’s master plan?

"Shaking of the earth" is not something that a Bible reader should be surprised with. The Bible recorded that it has already happened and predicts that it will happen again.

Heb 12:26 ~ When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also."

Heb 12:27 ~ This means that the things on earth will be shaken, so that only eternal things will be left.

Heb 12:28 ~ Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be destroyed, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

Heb 12:29 ~ For our God is a consuming fire.

Paul, the author of the book of Hebrews, summarized the above text from the book of Haggai, chapter 2:6-7.
That book adds the following prophecy in preparation for the glorious temple and heavenly kingdom:

“I will overthrow royal thrones, destroying the power of foreign kingdoms. I will overturn their chariots and charioteers. The horses will fall, and their riders will kill each other.” Hag 2:22

Today, more turmoil is shaking Egypt, where the 30-year regime of Mubarak fell, and the new Egyptian ruler has all but declared himself a pharaoh, while his government is adopting a Sharia constitution. The heat of revolution has spread or is now spreading to other countries in the Middle East.

The world as it was has been shaken, which once again reminds us of three fundamental truths.


THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT WILL SOMEDAY SLIP AWAY

Heb 12:26 ~ When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also."

No government or person, no matter how powerful they are, has the power to remain. The world is changing as it revolves.

The shaking of world powers is not new to history. Daniel, chapter two, dramatically described it in prophetic way through the dream of the Babylonian king, and through it, the future transitions of the world powers were revealed.

You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue-- an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing-floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. Dan 2:31-35

Historians and Bible scholars generally agree that those symbols match these world powers:

1. The Babylonian Empire by Nebuchadnezzar - the head of gold
2. The Medo-Persian Empire: by Darius & Cyrus - the arm of silver
3. The Grecian Empire by Alexander the  Great - the belly and thighs of bronze
4. The Roman Empire by Caesars -Legs of iron and clay

Dan 2:44 ~ In the time of those kings, the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure for ever.

Mat 21:42 ~ "Then Jesus asked them, "Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ’The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous to see.’ "

Mat 21:44 ~ "Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls."

This present world and all its governments will someday pass away. We have to put our hope and trust to someone who will remain forever.

 Our relationship with God is the only thing that we can keep forever.

Mat 16:26 ~ "And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?"

All things may pass away; the world as we know it may be uprooted; life as we experience it may come to an end; but one thing stands eternally sure--the relationship of the Christian to God.







If you want to have a closer relationship with Jesus, you can pray this prayer and make this your own:

Dear God,

I can't manage my own life without you. I invite Jesus to come into my heart today and be the King and Lord of my life from this time on. I surrender my life to you today and I accept you as my Lord and Savior. Amen.


h/t Randy Bataanon