New Blog

Hi everyone,

I'm blogging pretty regularly over at my new blog which can be found at:

http://thatcrazychristian.blogspot.com

I blog at least once a day, so check it out!

Thanks!

Some Progress

Hey Everyone,

I've made some progress in deciding what I want to do to advance my contributions via blogging.

I've started a new politics blog called "A Dangerous Servant" which can be found here. Take a look and let me know what you think. I plan to try and update it on a semi-daily basis. So much is happening so quickly that I don't think it will be a problem.

I still haven't decided with what exactly I want to accomplish with my Christian blog, although my politics blog will always be from a Christian prospective, as this one always was. But, I'm still praying about it and will press forward as the Lord leads.

Please check out A Dangerous Servant for now. And let me know what you think!

Shuttin her down . . . sorta

Hey everyone . . . or rather, anyone who is still paying attention.

I'm shutting down the independent conservative. I'm making this decision mostly because it was a project I started while living in Wisconsin and I now live in Pennsylvania. . . again.

Therefore, I think it's time for a change, and time for me to get back into blogging, but in a new way.

Many things interest me in life, and I'm trying to figure out what is really important to me and why. I can tell you that, for certain, I will be blogging about God, and also about politics. But I am not sure how to handle that. If it should be one blog, or two. If I should completely separate the two, or allow them to play off each other.

I'm also considering blogging about music, evangelism, local Pittsburgh politics and culture, and Pittsburgh Sports. Specifically on music, I was thinking of reviewing old and new albums from artists in genres I like, and also adding a Christian viewpoint, perhaps a report card, on how a secular (or even a "christian") artist interacts with what we as Christians believe. (i.e. do they curse, do they talk about God, are there "explicit" lyrics?, etc.)

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I'll be back in the blogosphere sooner rather than later. :-)

John McCain and Rod Parsley

From ABC News

Now, put the comments about Islam aside in the article. I'm not going to criticize or endorse them.

I have been to Rod Parsley's church. The man is a quack. It's your prototypical mega church with a hyper pentecostal flair. They spend like 2 hours singing 7 songs 11 times and flopping on the floor barking like dogs and "prophesying". Then Parsley gets up on the stage (note I didn't say pulpit) and yells for about an hour saying nothing of substance and hardly ever mentioning the Bible, much less quoting from it.

In fact, the one Sunday I was there, Parsley actually did open his Bible. He said he wanted God's Word to be relevant in people's lives. So we opened up to a Psalm, I believe, and he read some verses aloud. About halfway through he went back and reread some of what he had already read, only this time, he would stop at certain words and say "STOP! Now scratch that word out, and write in. . ." and then he would state a word to write in. And before you knew it, he had a lovely little man made scripture that fit his world view and what he wanted it to say perfectly. His entire church was in the throngs of ecstasy afterward singing praises to God for such an awesome sermon. No, I'm not kidding.

The sad part is that this guy has a "seminary" attached to his church business where he trains students to go and do what he does. These students often are forced to "volunteer" to work for the ministry, college, and church. I used to get calls from many a student soliciting money for this bogus mission trip, or that bogus Bible conference.

Now John McCain thinks that Rod Parsley is a "great spiritual leader." He thinks that he's a good man. We're being told by the GOP to trust John McCain, that he'll appoint conservative judges, work to fulfill our hopes, dreams, and aspirations. What a crock.

I'm so sick of this nonsense.

So called Christians endorsing so called conservatives

I suppose I shouldn't be shocked, but I must admit that when I heard that Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy yesterday, I was rather shocked. The truth is that I should have expected this. I came to the conclusion that Robertson, Dobson, et. al. are merely control mechanisms to keep the "christians" in this country in line and make sure they remain Republican voters.

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis remarked that a method of control used by Satan against Christians, was to get the Christian to think on earthly matters, rather than on heavenly matters. To look at the problems of the world and to think that it might be fun to solve them, or it would be better to solve them, or it is a more positive outcome to solve them rather than leave them alone. Of course, what this does is appeal to the Christian's laziness. He will attempt to solve the problem in the most efficient way possible, without regard to obedience to a moral code or any other restriction. What this does, essentially is force the Christian to think about the tree rather than the forest, and to put man first instead of God.

I think this is a great picture of what is happening in America today, and has been happening in this country since these hucksters began their work of evil. You see, Christians think we have a problem and her name is Hillary. So instead of looking to God for HIS answer to solve the problem, we look to the republican party. Instead of focusing on getting the right thing done, we're getting the practical thing done. As a result instead of God being sovereign in all of our lives, He is only sovereign when it is practical for Him to be sovereign.

Mark Belling had some interesting thoughts on his radio show yesterday. Basically he said that this endorsement demonstrates two points. 1. That at least half of evangelical christians don't care about abortion as much as they used too, either because it's not important, or they don't believe that the President can do anything about it. 2. Some evangelicals think that Islamic radicalism and defending Israel is a bigger problem than abortion. Let me respond to Mark's points.

1. I am shocked and amazed that any evangelical in this country actually thought abortion was a problem. With the consistent endorsement of the do nothing GOP and the lack of any action or compassion for their pre-born neighbor, I was convinced that only a select few really cared about the issue. Oh sure, it always gets thrown around in debates and in politics, but no one actually wants to DO anything. The pre-born in this country have been reduced to political footballs and it is sickening.

2. I'm sure Mark is absolutely right that many evangelicals find Israel and the Islamic bogeyman to be bigger problems that the slaughtering of innocent children in our own cities. Is it really a surprise that evangelicals would put another country ahead of their own because they think they are responsible to see that Biblical prophecy comes true? (The idea is that we have to protect Israel so that it's here when the Anti-Christ comes so that Biblical prophecy comes true. Really, I'm not kidding. Go to some God-forsaken evangelical church, they'll tell you) Does it really surprise you that evangelicals as a whole have such a low view of God and such a low view of Scripture that they actually think they have to protect it here on earth. Isn't interesting that this little viewpoint of theirs tells us about the inner workings of their hearts? Truly sad.

And of course they fear the Islamic bogeyman more than they hate abortion. They don't hate abortion at all. Some of them have baby bones in their closets, some of them are secretly thankful it exists (I mean what if the wife gets pregnant when I'm 43??!! We can't have a THIRD KID, why that would be disaster!!), some of them can't tell you why they think it's wrong (because they don't think it's wrong) The pre-born baby is out of sight, and therefore not important. The Islamic bogeyman, well now he's coming right now to blow up my city with a suitcase bomb, or so I'm told by the propagandists I trust more than scripture.

The fact of the matter is that real Christians in this country are few and far between. Pat Robertson endorses a pro-abort liberal, Bob Jones endorses a god hating moron (err, I mean mormon), Sam Brownback endorses that snake oil salesman, McCain. And little by little the Christians in this country are neutralized and the establishment doesn't have to deal with them.

One last point, pray for God's mercy. The church in this country is nothing but a whore. They sell their birthrights for soup, they give up their rightful place as standard bearers to be made to feel powerful by weak men. They remind me so much of the old testament nation of Israel that chased every false god, every sin imaginable, all to obtain, temporarily, a cheap knock off of what God offered them permanently. God's justice did not sleep on that nation forever, and it will not sleep on ours forever either. What this country needs is it's own prophet Jeremiah. May God send him soon.

My letter to congress

I wrote the following letter to Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Senators Feingold and Kohl, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Harry Reid. I would like to encourage you to write a similar letter about Ron Paul's H.R. 3835. The bottom line is that President Bush has zero respect for the Constitution, and it is time for the voice of the people (yeah, right) the congress to check and balance him.

Here's the letter:

I am writing in regards to H.R. 3835, also known as the American Freedom Agenda Act, that has recently been introduced by Representative Ron Paul of Texas. As a Republican constituent who supports Ron Paul for President, I am deeply concerned about the direction our nation is heading and am writing you to ask that you make sure H.R. 3835 reaches the house floor for a vote and that you vote to make this legislation law.

The American Freedom Agenda Act will overturn the Military Commissions Act of 2006, limit our current out of control Executive branch, and restore basic civil and human rights to Americans. Also, the legislative branch, the voice of the people, would have a legal standing against executive signing statements that are used too often to destroy our constitution and our way of life. Most importantly, our country would be out of the business of torture.

As a conservative, I have watched with dismay as the so called “conservative party” in this country has clearly lost it's way. I was impressed by the Democratic Party's criticisms of the Bush administration and it's constitutionally questionable policies like The Patriot Acts, warrantless wiretapping, and the Military Commissions Act. However, the time has come for the Democratic delegation in The House and The Senate to live up to it's campaign rhetoric and truly check and balance the executive branch, before it is too late.

Please support Ron Paul's American Freedom Agenda Act (H.R. 3835) through all means at your disposal.

Ron Paul in Chicago

Ron Paul held a rally in downtown Chicago, and I made it a point to take my son and go hear him speak. It was amazing. I'll post some pics now, and collect my thoughts later and edit this post with a review of the rally. . . so check back, mmm'kay? And yes, that's me with the good Dr. at the bottom.