Keep an Eye on the Canaries

I am not the most self-confident person on earth, regardless of how I may come off in writing. For this reason, I am often shocked to see how right I’ve been. I was right when I called Obama “Carter II,” before other people were predicting it. I was right about Pajamas Media, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the housing market…I don’t want to make a list, but I have been right about a whole lot of things.

Today I realized how right I’ve been about anti-Semitism.

I was driving home from church this afternoon, and I saw a well-known graffitti wall beside I-95 in Miami. I can’t recall the exact words that were painted on it, but the gist of it was that we should kill the “Wall Street Bankers.”

That’s the whole message. Not, “Adjust the law to reduce corruption.” Not, “Find those who have committed crimes and give them fair trials.” No, this was more of a Cambodian-style distillation of mob sentiment. “Let’s kill an entire class of people, without trial, based on a vague suspicion that some of them are doing things we don’t like.” This kind of thinking is what put over a million bodies in ditches in Cambodia, for crimes such as reading books and wearing eyeglasses.

For a long time, I have predicted a worldwide increase in anti-Semitism. I’ve also predicted that the blame would spread to Bible-believing Christians, but that’s another issue. I saw what was happening in the appeasement-crazy world after 9/11, and I realized it’s always easier to slap the good child than the brat who is causing the problem. I knew people cared more about oil than morality. Israel and the Jews would ultimately pay for the savagery of Muslim terrorists.

Then I saw Jewish names in the news, associated strongly with economic failure. Stearns, Salomon, Madoff…soon to be joined by Bernanke and Geithner. I knew the Jewishness of the names would not escape the notice of the mob.

Now it’s okay to call for the murder of “Wall Street Bankers.” It’s okay for Occupy Wall Street to threaten to storm the homes of people who have money. They discuss it openly. Essentially, the left has sanctioned Kristallnacht. They’re just waiting for a surge of momentum to get the movement out of the potential well and into an unstabilized state where it can run away like an atomic pile.

What has “bankers” historically meant, in the mouths of mob criminals? “JEWS.” Perennial losers and effete antisocial opportunists with bullhorns are gaining sudden, unmerited prominence and power, and they’re using it to tell our mindless, rebellion-loving children that “bankers” have cheated them. More importantly, they’ve cheated the underprivileged. So killing the bankers isn’t revenge. It’s social justice. It’s altruism. Barging into a rich Jew’s home, beating him to death, stealing his valuables, and raping his wife and daughters isn’t debauchery and mayhem. It’s karma. It would be wrong NOT to do it. So, like Che Guevara, who used economic disparity as an excuse to sate his preexisting love of cruelty and murder, our urchin vigilantes are becoming convinced that any act of sadism, covetousness, or bigotry is a mitzvah, as long as “bankers” are the victims.

Democrats are fanning the flames. Our elected representatives should be recoiling in horror at the hatred and obvious stupidity of the Occupy movement, but they’re not. Elections are won and lost by paper-thin margins these days, and the unanticipated result is that politicians will sink to levels that, in the past, were too low even for those inclined to seek public office. Democrats know they’re unpopular. They’re losing the Jewish vote, the centrist vote, the Latin vote, and even some of the black vote. They don’t think they can sell us the same product that got them through the last few election cycles. Not to the same people. But now they have a glimmer of hope. Dirty, spoiled kids and equally spoiled union hacks will sit in parks and get free media attention for the left. Who knows? Maybe they’ll gain popularity. There are plenty of people out there who would like the government to take other people’s money and give it to them. There are probably millions of deadbeats who don’t want to honor their student loans. Maybe this will pay off at the polls. So our President and many prominent Democrats in Congress are backing the mob. It’s shocking. They’re pouring gasoline on the fire, simply because they think the wind is blowing it away from them.

What do you say when your President applauds the actions of a hate-crazed mob that has no respect for the law and knows no fear? Who protects you when the executive branch is against you? These are the people who look after us. The G-men. The DOJ. The FBI. When our supreme authority says you’re fair game, who are you supposed to run to? Anne Frank could tell you.

Here is our situation. The left is telling us the Jews are the reason for Mideast tension. They cause high gas prices. They cause “unnecessary” and “illegal” wars. They steal land. They enforce apartheid. Now “bankers” with Jewish names have brought our country down, taken all the wealth, caused the real estate collapse, and killed all the jobs. And the message from the media is that the right has gone crazy. The “Jesusland” nuts in the Tea Party want to bring back Jim Crow, starve babies and old people, take away our medical care, and, I guess, kick puppies in the stomach. The President has given this worldview his blessing, and half of Congress agrees.

It’s going to get worse. Within a year, we’ll start hearing the word “Jew” as well as “banker” and “Zionist.” At first, it will be “isolated” incidents. Sooner or later, the cowards will see that they have sufficient numbers to justify boldness, and then we’ll hear it more often. What then? It probably depends on the polls.

Liberals will probably sell the Jews out gradually. Rich Jews who work on Wall Street? I guess we can afford to let them go. Conservative Jews who want an undivided Israel? They’re just troublemakers anyway, and they’re off the DNC plantation. Professional Jews who make good money? Well, this country gave to them, so it’s time they gave a little back. And if Jews start voting conservatively, in self-defense, it will just prove they were on the wrong side all along.

With luck, we’re about 15 years from yellow felt stars, and from there, it’s a short step to Zyklon B.

And of course, Jews will be prominent in the Occupy movement. Until it decides to feed on them. That’s always the way. They helped Russia go communist, and then the state turned on them and gave free rein to endemic Eastern European anti-Semitism. Jews who have no relationship with God have a long history of serving their worst enemies.

I’m glad this disgusting mural went up. I hope to see more of them. I hope they start illustrating them with cartoons of “bankers” being disembowelled. Those who are capable of being educated need a window into the mind of the sleeping (or more accurately, stoned) giant.

Satan hates God’s people, both Jewish and Christian. He will try to kill the Jews to prevent prophecy from coming true, and he will try to get the rest of us so no one will remain to restrain him.

Laugh now. In five years, it won’t seem so funny.

I Will Never Have a Parking Space at TBN

Last night I wondered if I was getting too confrontational with my comments on today’s churches. Then I sat down to read the Bible, and I asked God to guide me. I landed on Thessalonians 1. Here is what I saw:

But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict. For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit. But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.

It’s amazing that I even needed to read this, but I know the reason. Modern churches are being brainwashed with a tactic taken from cults and authoritarian governments. They are teaching that all criticism is evil. They say we have to be “under authority.” They use the word “positive” all the time. They condemn anything “negative.” This is exactly what the Soviets did, except they backed it up with Gulags and firing squads. It’s what the Scientologists do.

I’ve learned a lot by subjecting myself to authority. It’s important to learn to listen to people God places above you. For this reason, I have been affected by the positivity campaign. I saw some true value in it. But when your human authorities blow it sufficiently badly, and your prayers don’t change them in a reasonable amount of time, you need to speak God’s truth, without fear or hesitation. Only the Holy Spirit can tell you when to open your mouth and when to shut it, and you have to pray for guidance.

Over and over, I see confirmation that God’s true servants need to speak up. The greatest figures in the Bible were critics. Jesus, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel, Nathan, Stephen, Paul, Peter, James, Micaiah…the list is very long. Here’s the list of people who are revered because they told everyone that what they were doing was just fine:

Can you think of a single one? I can’t.

It’s not that God likes to beat people up. It’s just that human beings require constant correction. It’s a mathematical certainty. There is only one right path. There are an infinite number of wrong paths. At any given moment, chances are, you’re starting to head in the wrong direction. Think about driving. What do your hands do, several times a second? They make tiny corrections in the path of your car. The nature of the universe makes it unavoidable. It’s not a commentary on your worthlessness. It just how things are.

Look what that material from Thessalonians 1 discusses.

1. Paul was mistreated in Philippi. Of course he was. He’s referring to other believers who didn’t want to listen. The church has always hated critics.

2. Paul spoke BOLDLY in MUCH CONFLICT. He didn’t go up on the platform and receive hugs and encomiums from the pastor and elders (or the synagogue bigwigs, if it was a synagogue). He offended, but he stuck to his guns. He didn’t worry about the resulting hard feelings, any more than Elijah worried when he cut the throats of the prophets of Baal. It had to be done.

3. He did not seek to PLEASE MEN. He wanted to please GOD. And in his work, he did not resort fo FLATTERY (seeker-sensitivity), nor did he use the gospel as a pretext for MAKING MONEY. Even though he was entitled to take payment (we know this from other scriptures), this was not his motive for speaking.

4. He did not seek GLORY.

What if you tried this approach today? All I can say is, thank God flogging is illegal, because a person with Paul’s attitude would infuriate a lot of people.

These days, preachers who have learned to trust in money and glory show up in churches, holler platitudes and slogans having little application to their own lives, receive praise and big offerings, and leave. Young people look at them and think, “Wow, I want to be a preacher.” They think all the old scriptures about self-denial are obsolete. TBN canceled that stuff twenty years ago! Now you’re supposed to be rich, and everyone is supposed to love you.

Preachers show up and tell us over and over that God wants us to be rich. They tell us we can be just like worldly people, listening to the same dirty music, dressing the same way, and obsessing on wealth. They lap up praise. They’re pampered and treated like royalty. And these things happen at churches where people in need are treated like flies. Shoo them away; don’t let them bother the pastors!

These days, preachers NETWORK. It’s just like being a lawyer. If you want clients, you go to parties. You speak at seminars. You pass out business cards. You join organizations. You suck up, basically. And it works. These days, many charismatic preachers want giant churches and TV cameras, and they know the short route to these goals is man-pleasing. They use every networking and marketing method known to man, instead of developing God’s power to the point where it draws men all by itself.

Jude spoke harshly of those who flatter others in order to gain advantage; even in his time, the principal was understood and exploited. You’re probably never going to be on TBN or Daystar if you disagree publicly with the herd. So instead of leaders, we have followers. “What is the crowd saying? Okay, that’s what I’ll teach.” It’s the Pontius Pilate method.

We’re becoming so worldly, we are no longer under God’s direction. We talk about how much we love him, but we don’t walk in his ways, and our excuse is “SOULS!” Anything that brings people into the church must be good! This is how the ancient synagogues ended up with altars to Ashtoreth beside the altars to Jehovah. Seeker sensitivity. The masses led the rabbis, when the rabbis should have been leading the masses.

It’s not about numbers. It never was. Besides, the gospels show that only the Holy Spirit can show you where to cast your net. The big harvest you get by listening to your own peanut brain will turn out to be very small, when the false positives are weeded out.

I’m going to make a better effort to refrain from hiding the truth. If I make people mad, so be it. I’m used to that. At least I’ll have some self-respect, and I won’t be helping to keep people from knowing God.

Almost Literally

Last night I had a real “wax on, wax off” moment.

Ancient individuals who, like me, were formed from the Permian mud, will recall that there was another Karate Kid movie, made back in 1984. The clever old Asian character was Japanese, and his name was Mr. Miyagi. When his student, Ralph Macchio, showed up for training, Miyagi made him wax his cars, sand his deck, and paint his fence. Ralph figured Miyagi was going to get his house fixed up for nothing, teach him no skills, and let him be beaten to a paste at the tournament.

Ralph got fed up and said he was quitting. Miyagi made him demonstrate the movements he had learned while fixing the house, and it turned out they were useful in karate. So he had improved more than he thought. And fortunately, the screenwriter helped him, too, seeing to it that he pummeled several bigger kids who had been taking actual lessons for ten years.

Then Ralph went on to a supporting role in “My Cousin Vinnie,” after which, Marisa Tomei got an Oscar, proving that not all competitions come out the way they should. I don’t know if Martin Kove coached the actresses who lost.

Anyway, I was in prayer last night, and I was feeling discouraged, but then I thought about the stuff I was praying for, and I thought of the way my attitude and behavior had changed over the last few years, and I realized I had made great progress. I am still not quite perfect (wonderful though I am) but things have changed a lot. I have very powerful faith. I get into God’s presence every day. I know much more about God than I used to. The Holy Spirit has taught me and changed me. My goals are different. My desires are different. If perfection is 100%, I would give myself a good solid D.

That’s a big step forward.

I am improving in most ways, but I am losing patience with misguided teachers. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. Sometimes anger is the right response.

I’m very tired of people who talk about money all the time. You know what? Trusting God with your money is only a small part of Christianity. And he will not honor you if you give your money to a fool who preaches nonsense and lives in rebellion. Maybe God will return the cash to you if you acknowledge your mistake and ask for another chance. I don’t see why not. But I don’t think he’s going to give you “a hundredfold return” on the Social Security checks you’ve been endorsing over to Benny Hinn. Not unless the Holy Spirit told you to do it.

Once again, I have to ask: if these guys are so keen on giving, why don’t they talk about giving to OTHER HUMAN BEINGS? Seriously, does every megachurch need its own airstrip, while people in Africa are starving for food as well as God? Could we maybe have a ten-story church instead of a twelve-story church, if it means helping more people? Do we have to be ostentatious and tacky every single minute of our lives?

The Bible mentions charity and generosity over and over. In comparison, the obligation to give tithes and offerings gets little play. The Bible says God will ignore our cries if we ignore the cries of the poor. When was the last time a charismatic preacher mentioned that? I can’t recall hearing it a single time, but I can’t even guess at the number of times I’ve heard “pressed down, shaken together and running over.”

“Oh, but the megachurches have charity programs.” Please. They won’t even open their books. Generally, we have no idea what percentage of their money goes to the poor. Real charities have open books and annual reports. Why shove your money down a blind rathole, when you could be giving to an above-board outfit like World Relief or the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews? Seriously, do you want your money to pay for new Pirellis on a preacher’s Benz, or would you like to lift someone out of a refugee camp in Ethiopia PERMANENTLY and move them Israel, in fulfillment of prophecy?

Aside from that, the more you walk with God, the more opportunities he will give you to do good on a personal level. You will meet people who have sudden financial needs. You will meet people who need prayer. Someone will need the old laptop you put in your closet. Someone will need a pair of shoes. You won’t always have to look for an organization to distribute your money for you.

I am angry because I know a little bit about God’s goodness, and churches are preventing other people from getting what I have. God is wonderful. He’s warm. He’s reassuring. He’s generous. He’s invincible in dealing with your enemies. He wants to give you peace and success. He wants to spend time with you when you’re all alone, not just in church. He will do great things for you, BUT ONLY IF YOU COME TO HIM HIS WAY. You’re not going to get there by transferring your parents’ estate to some greedy character who thinks God wants him and his current wife to have matching Bentleys parked in front of all their homes. The garbage they preach has almost nothing to do with meeting God or being transformed by him.

Many preachers won’t talk like this. They’ll be ostracized. They won’t be asked to go on TBN. They won’t get filthy rich. They might offend other preachers. What does it add up to? They’re gutless and greedy. Two great characteristics to combine in a man of God.

Sometimes you have to offend man in order to please God. It’s wrong to offend people without justification, but sometimes it has to be done. And the world will not reward you for it. Carnal Christians won’t, either. They’ll buy the nails and the wood for the cross. They’re so thrilled to be told they can be just like ungodly people–that they can live like ungodly people and be accepted–that it infuriates and threatens them when anyone bursts their bubble. Nobody likes a spanking.

I don’t know what’s going to happen. I pray for God to wake the church up and cleanse it, and I know he will, but will he be able to do it on a big enough scale to make the church his? Probably not. God always ends up with a remnant, not the whole enchilada. He gets Gideon’s tiny troop of left-handed men. He gets 120 disciples praying in the Upper Room. He gets David’s cave army, or the Jewish minority that left Egypt under Moses. He gets 144,000 Jews in the last days. That’s not going to change. Not unless Biblical patterns have lost their predictive validity.

Sooner or later I will fall out of favor with the TBN/megachurch/seeker-sensitive movement. I’m a nobody, so no one notices me (or reads this blog), but if the enemy sees me as a threat, he will eventually alert his troops. I’m glad I haven’t been embraced and promoted. It would be hard to give that up. You have to live in a tabernacle, not a building of stone. You have to be ready to move at a moment’s notice. You have to eat the matzah standing up, and you have to rebuild the temple with a weapon in one hand. Fortunately, I have nothing to lose. I do things for ministries. They do almost nothing for me. They have nothing to hold over my head if I leave.

These days I pray for direction. I am not pleased with the direction my church is taking, and I really miss sitting in services and being bowled over by God’s presence and wisdom, so I would like to move on. On the other hand, I am very attached to some of the people there, and we are definitely succeeding in introducing believers to the Holy Spirit. Maybe this has to be a time of giving and not receiving, at least with regard to my relations with human beings. I just don’t want to get weary. Every so often, you have to feed the ox that treads out the grain. I am not a person of great character, so I can’t run on empty all the time. Once in a while, I need a return on my investment.

Last night I got a little reinforcement. I will get by on that until I reach the next oasis.

Wrong Holiday

More interesting stuff about the bizarre “Seven Blessings” doctrine taught by Steve Munsey: it turns out he didn’t even get the holidays right. I didn’t know this until just now. I’m no Torah scholar; I just assumed he had a clue when he picked three holidays for his “Seven Blessings” drives. He promotes himself as “Dr. Steve Munsey.” That suggests expertise, does it not?

In Biblical times, there were only three holidays which required Jews to travel to Jerusalem. Those holidays were Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). Yom Kippur was the holiest day of the year, but it did not require a pilgrimage.

Take note: Sukkot and Yom Kippur are two completely separate events. Sukkot is not the second half of Yom Kippur. It’s not a continuation of Yom Kippur. It’s completely different. I say that because I can already hear the apologists trying to draw a nonexistent connection, in order to save face.

On the three pilgrimage holidays, Jewish males (not females) had to travel to Jerusalem and participate. They did not have to give big cash offerings, although I suppose a freewill offering could take place on any calendar date. Nobody promised them seven blessings.

And of course, Gentiles could not participate in these festivals, so even if Steve Munsey had it right, it would have no relevance to Christians.

It disturbs me that TV evangelists are promoting the Munsey events. It shows they don’t know much about Judaism. Why didn’t they research before committing their flocks to this business? Where is the stewardship? My hope is that they were simply so conditioned to believe that they slipped up. But the obvious self-interest angle raises questions. They are preaching a doctrine that brings them money, so is it possible that the prospect of big offerings caused them to rationalize instead of studying?

This is going to blow up in the faces of preachers everywhere. People will eventually start wondering where their seven blessings went. They will obey. They will believe. Then God may or may not give them what they thought they had coming. When people lose jobs and homes in the upcoming economic disaster, will they sit back and take it on the chin, or will they get on the web, find out the truth about the Jewish holidays, and demand accountability?

This is the kind of thing that destroys the reputation of the body of Christ. Why can’t it be about the Holy Spirit, prayer, repentance, love, service, and giving? Why do preachers have to talk people out of their savings and build monstrous churches? No wonder people think we’re suckers. I guess we are. You can’t be teachable and faithful without swallowing a few lies.

God is real. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is real. About 85% of what the money-crazed churches teach is real. But the other nonsense is like a dead rat on a birthday cake. It’s hard to get to the good stuff when so much filth is in the way.

More

Speaking of dubious authorities, here is Wikipedia’s entry on the three pilgrimages Jews were required to make.

Not the Kool-Aid

I had an interesting experience yesterday.

Background information: I am not happy with the “seven blessings” doctrine many churches are teaching now. Supposedly you give a big cash offering to your church on Pentecost, Passover, or Yom Kippur (“the Atonement”), and in return, God gives you seven blessings. This is supposed to come from Judaism, which required all believers to show up in Jerusalem three times a year and give their “very best offerings.”

Problem: Judaism only required men to show up.

Problem: there were no big cash offerings.

Problem: God didn’t promise anybody seven blessings on the Jewish holidays.

Problem: Christians are not under the Jewish law, and even if they were, it would be unlawful for them to show up among Jewish men during Jewish holidays and try to horn in on the observance.

The “Seven Blessings of Passover/Seven Blessings of Pentecost/Seven Blessings of the Atonement” fad is completely invalid. Near as I can tell, these doctrines were made up fairly recently by a pastor named Steve Munsey. They were never part of Judaism.

With all this in mind, I’ll write about my experience.

I went to Ayts Chayim Messianic Synagogue in Boca Raton, because I wanted to see my friends there and enjoy their Yom Kippur service. I got some friends from church to go. The service was amazing. First of all, there was no mention of big cash offerings. In fact, I don’t they mentioned money at all. Second, the rabbi taught about the real meaning of Yom Kippur, and he discussed appropriate teachings from Hebrews, linking Jesus to the most important Jewish holiday. Third, the Holy Spirit showed up like a thick cloud of peace, and we got to spend some wonderful time in his presence.

At one point, the rabbi said that people could present themselves as offerings if they wanted. They were encouraged to go to the front of the room. I went up there with the rest, and while I was there, I talked to God about the inadequacy of the things I do for him. I said any offering I might give him was tainted and corrupt, and I said I was offering myself, because it was “the best offering” I had.

Of course, when I heard that phrase in my mind, I thought of the Seven Blessings nonsense. “Very best offering” is what they tell you to bring. I wasn’t thinking about that when I went forward, but after the phrase appeared in my prayers, I could not miss the similarity.

I believe the Holy Spirit was underscoring the difference between dying charismatic churches and the synagogue. Many charismatic churches are losing God’s presence and favor. They’re wooing people by offering worldly garbage instead of the power and cleansing of the Holy Spirit. They have to rely on gimmicks and drives and so on. God isn’t blessing them, so they use worldly means to get what they want (usually high attendance and bigger collections), and then they claim God did it. Godly people who know better are growing frustrated, and they are leaving churches.

While the Holy Spirit was resting on us, I marveled at the difference between the synagogue and my church. We just don’t get that kind of response from God any more. I get it at when I’m alone, and sometimes it happens in my prayer group, but not in the services. I had forgotten what it was like to experience it in a service.

Now, naturally, I’m wondering if it’s time to change churches. Pastors like to say, “Grow where you’re planted,” in order to discourage people from moving around. They call people “church-hoppers.” In reality, the Bible doesn’t back them up. Over and over, great Biblical figures moved around. Abraham left. Noah left. Jacob left. Moses left. The Jews had to leave Israel for Babylon, and God told them they would suffer if they remained. Jesus left Israel for Egypt. Paul left Israel for Arabia. Lot left. How many examples do you want? Ruth left. Peter left. Timothy left. Jonah left.

“Grow where you’re planted” is something pastors say to keep people–and their money–from leaving. There is nothing godly about it. They ought to say, “GO where you’re planted.”

My friends are telling me I’m getting a lot done right where I am. They’re telling me I’m helping the church change. Maybe so. I would really miss the people. Maybe the answer is to start going to the synagogue twice a month, while cutting back at church.

It’s very refreshing to see that there are healthy houses of worship out there. No church is perfect, but some are very good.

If you don’t sense God in a very direct and palpable way in your church, you are missing out. His presence is something you need, and you should not hesitate to work hard to find it.

Get me my Holy Food Stamps

Now that God is occasionally succeeding in getting an lesson to penetrate the thick bones of my head, I feel like I should try to give Christians practical tips once in a while. I really disapprove of hollow sermons in which preachers use worthless slogans to get us all excited, without telling us what to do in order to please God and get his power working in our lives. There are a lot of simple things Christians can do to get the power flowing, and we don’t hear enough about them. Instead, preachers will say dumb things like, “Tell the person next to you, ‘The rest of your life is the BEST of your life,'” or, “I never met a negative person who did a positive thing.” Is that junk really supposed to be helpful? I don’t recall Elijah or Moses pumping out stale platitudes to save the Hebrews. Maybe they needed to go to a seminar in a hotel ballroom and get some real training.

Here’s something useful. Jesus told us to avoid vain repetition in our communications with God, but he never said to avoid repetition per se. In fact, the Psalms often speak favorably about “meditation,” which means repeating the word to yourself and considering it. Jesus told us to knock over and over until our prayers were answered. Sometimes repetition is very powerful.

Since I started praying in tongues a lot, I’ve had the spiritual gift of faith. This is not normal faith. With normal faith, you try REAL HARD to believe, and sometimes you succeed, and sometimes you don’t. With the gift of faith, the Holy Spirit shoots his own faith through you like water through a firehose. You can physically feel it. It’s like being caught in a tsunami. You feel like you’re going to be washed away if you don’t hang on.

There are things you can do to facilitate this experience. Obviously, you have to pray in tongues regularly. Without that, I have no answers for you. But that’s not all you need to do.

First, I’ve found that it’s good to pause after you ask for something and wait for the faith tsunami to show up. God wants to do things for us. Our own faith is nice for what it is, but to God, it’s a mud pie. It’s a crayon drawing for the front of his refrigerator. He wants us to use his faith, which is much better. So if you ask for something, then tell God you’re waiting for his faith, and hold on, very often the flood will follow in a few seconds.

Second, thank him repeatedly. Ask for something, wait for faith, and then thank God over and over for answering your prayer. You will find that it’s like holding up the roof of a tunnel so the faith can pass through. It really works. I can only guess at the reason. Faith is something that moves from God to us and back to God, and thanking him keeps the channel open. You can thank him a hundred times without stopping, if it works for you. It’s repetition, but it’s the farthest thing from vain.

Obviously, there is more to prayer than this. You shouldn’t get the idea that it’s all about asking for things. You need to spend time examining yourself and admitting your flaws to God with complete candor. You need to praise him. But if you want to get things done by supernatural means, thanking him will be a huge help.

And God does want us to ask for things. He is not busy. He does not resent it. He does not want you to get off your butt and fix things all by yourself, no matter what ill-informed preachers who used to be football coaches may tell you. He told Jesus to sit at his right hand while he made his enemies his footstool. He told the disciples to give no thought to financial concerns. God is generous, and he can’t be what he is unless he gives, all the time. How is God supposed to be generous without giving? He tells us to give, all through the Bible. Would he do that if he weren’t giving every second of every day? Is God a hypocrite? Does he heap heavy burdens on us, while he himself won’t touch them with his finger?

When you ask for help, you are admitting you’re a welfare case. We’re all receiving things we don’t deserve, just like the people who wait for government checks every week. We do a little of the work ourselves, but God wants to do most of it. If we could succeed without him, we would have reason to be proud, and we would have little reason to praise or acknowledge him. So he wants to help, even with little things.

You may think you’re capable of handling small jobs without help, but you’re not. I once broke my foot trying to walk across the garage. Don’t mistake God’s patience and grace for your own strength. You can’t even be sure you’ll get your next breath without help. Admit it.

Give this stuff a try and see what happens. It works for me.

Someone Should Build a Statue of This Steer

A few days back, I found an old 2″-thick prime rib eye in the freezer (2010 vintage), and I decided to have it for Sunday dinner. Tonight I thawed it out, salted it down, fried it in butter and salt, and served with garlic butter and a baked potato.

Seriously, this is not normal. Food should not be this good. I have gone beyond the “good cook” phase. I think I am entering the “warped evil food genius” category.

I have never had restaurant food this good. I have never had restaurant food within a letter grade of this good.

The outside of the steak was crunchy and salty, with all sorts of what foodies call “umami.” The inside…buttery-garlicky-agey-tasting fat poured off it every time I cut a bite. It had the perfect touch of aged-prime-rib funk. I overcooked it slightly–I swear my thermometer plays tricks on me–and it was still about three light years beyond the farthest point a Ruth’s Chris steak can see with the Hubbell Telescope. Or even the Hubble Telescope, which, unlike the Hubbell Telescope, exists.

Frigging middle-aged spelling.

What am I supposed to do with this? I can’t eat these things. Not regularly. I would die in a month and a half. I have no practical use for this. I feel like a guy who plays better than Horowitz, but only on the spinet in his aunt’s attic.

Wheeeee. I am still enjoying that steak. Just thinking back on it gives me a thrill. And the potato was even better, especially when daubed in the beef juice and butter.

Surely–SURELY–God has a purpose in this. It makes no sense otherwise.

Time to call Mike and make him jealous.

I Know Where my Shoes Are

I joined a church. I met the musicians who play there. I started playing guitar again. They said I should build tube amps, because I had a physics degree and could understand the circuits.

I started building amps. Then I decided I needed to brush up on electronics and math so I would really know what I was doing.

A few weeks back I started studying electronics, and that got me moving toward math. I dug out some math books. Now I’m studying complex variables. I’m waiting for the arrival of outlines on advanced calculus and vector analysis.

Here’s the interesting thing. I think this work is improving my prayer life.

My ability to concentrate has diminished over the years. It’s irritating. It affects my short-term memory; you tend to forget things if you aren’t concentrating when you learn them. It also makes me less intelligent. You can’t think well if you can’t concentrate.

When you pray, you need to be conscious of the reality–the realness–of God. Jesus told us we would receive the answers to our prayers if, while praying, we believed we would receive. You can’t have a powerful belief that you will receive, if God’s realness is a wavering concept that flickers in an out of your consciousness.

Last night I found that the sensation of God’s realness was stronger and more consistent. I believe it’s because my concentration is getting better.

I was about thirty when I decided to get a physics degree. I had failed math in high school, so I was not all that well prepared. Somehow I had forgotten my bad math history; I remembered it after my first college calculus test!

I guess God propelled me, because I caught up on high school math and learned first-semester calculus during a single term. And that put me on the path to my degree, which meant I would have to work about five times as much as a normal college student. Physics is incredibly hard. It’s much harder than pure math. I used to knock my math homework off very quickly, and I’m talking about advanced subjects like multivariable calculus and complex analysis, but physics took something like four times as long.

When I first started my studies, I could only do physics for a short time before I needed a break. My mind ran out of whatever it is that allows you to think effectively about math, and I had to recharge. By the time I dropped out of grad school, I could do physics until three in the morning and still think reasonably well. During these years, my mind changed. I developed abilities I had not had at the beginning.

I think this is what’s happening to me now. I am thinking better, and I am thinking well for longer periods.

I tend to get caught up in the supernatural things God does. For example, I know prayer in tongues will build faith and the ability to do miraculous things. But I have to remember that the things we do in the physical realm are not a total waste of time. God can cure an infection directly, but he can also send you to a doctor who will know which antibiotic to use. Maybe God is using the math to help me stay in touch with him.

I think it’s useful to write about this, because the natural tendency of the aging human brain is to deteriorate. We poison ourselves with TV and idleness, and we do things that damage our brains, and we fall apart. I have always found that my mind can be changed by what I do with it. I know there are other people out there who are getting nervous because they are starting to get lost or forget what they’re supposed to be doing. Maybe this blog entry will help them. And if you’re a believer, maybe it will help you get in touch with God.

I’ve noticed that it’s not unusual for physicists to remain sharp long after they should have become addled by age. Hans Bethe was relevant even in his 80s. Something to think about, the next time you decide to watch Dancing With the Stars when you could be firing up Rosetta Stone or doing sudoku.

The nice thing about the stuff I’m doing is that it’s useful. It’s not exercise with no non-therapeutic value. It’s not sudoku, which is useless in and of itself and which teaches skills that serve no purpose other than sudoku. Advanced math helps you understand the world. If I can get a grip on math and electronics, I’ll be able to do some pretty neat things.

I suspect that math is unique in its ability to restore the brain. I’ve studied music, and it doesn’t do much. I read a lot, and I write a lot, and those things don’t help. In fact, I think my vocabulary is a lot smaller than it was in the past. Sometimes I misspell words now. That was almost unthinkable in the 90s.

Here’s what I suspect. I think mathematical study may serve as a brain improver that helps in other areas of thought, but I think other types of mental exercise don’t carry this benefit.

I’ve read the claims that Mozart makes people smart. I’m not sure, but I think that theory was debunked. I don’t know if it’s true, generally, but music didn’t do a thing for me. Math, I can guarantee.

The problem is that people would rather listen to music than solve simultaneous equations. Either your brain came equipped with puzzle drive or it didn’t. I suspect that God has increased my interest in math through supernatural means. These days I can’t wait to sit down with a pencil and a Schaum outline. I feel like drawn to it; I look forwad to it when I’m doing other things.

I’m not one of these people who think earthly life is what it’s all about. I am not going to get sheep placenta injections and hire plastic surgeons to turn me into a grotesque caricature of a young person, just so I can hold onto this flawed existence. I think that’s pathetic. But I am not in a hurry to shop for diapers. The Bible mentions people who saw well and thought well in their old age. There is some evidence that people who spend a lot of time in God’s presence may live unusually long, healthy lives. Maybe I can be like them.

Here’s some interesting trivia. In the first half of the last century, there was a group of people in Africa known as “the shining ones.” They believed they had a special closeness with the Holy Spirit. They lived in fear of driving him away (“grieving” him). It is said that a number of these people lived to be well over a hundred. Is it true? I don’t know. But I work to get into God’s presence, and I feel very youthful. I know this will sound crazy, but I could swear my hair is thicker than it was ten years ago. Sometimes I’m startled by my own appearance in the mirror. Sometimes my face seems strangely smooth and appears to have a weird radiance to it. I am definitely aging, but in some ways I seem to improve.

I have heard that my great-grandmother’s face used to shine after she spent time alone, praying in tongues. I never knew her. I can’t tell you whether it’s true.

Incidentally, this is an answer to prayer. I prayed for God to fix my memory and concentration, and I felt powerful rushes of faith, telling me it would happen.

Maybe someone who reads this will put it to use. I hope someday I find out it helped someone who was tired of walking from one room to another and then wondering what he was doing there.

And Get Those Poor People Out of the VIP Seats

I am beginning to believe there is no such thing as a healthy church.

I belong to a denomination called the Assemblies of God, but the oversight in this denomination is so weak it amounts to almost nothing, so an AG pastor can do just about anything he wants. For this reason, churches vary tremendously, and the denomination is not well defined, and it makes more sense to talk about a broader movement to which the Assemblies of God belongs. I use the term “charismatic” churches. The main thing that unites them is a belief in the baptism with the Holy Spirit, followed by outward manifestations.

This movement seems like the only hope for Christianity at the moment. The older churches tell us Jesus isn’t God, or that he’s one of many gods, or that he’s God, but he won’t do anything for you, or that he’s god, but now he thinks there is no such thing as sin…they are useless. They have no idea who God is or what he wants. I’m not sure why they exist. Everything they teach can be found in the secular world, and the secular people are more professional and effective. You don’t need to spend three hours a week at the Crystal Cathedral when you can get a better version of the same thing cheaper, in less time, from Tony Robbins or even Richard Simmons.

The problem with this movement is that it is full of greed and heresy. As I understand it, apostasy means believing too little (God is just an idea, tongues are not real), and heresy means believing too much (Joseph Smith read the Book of Mormon off of magical gold plates in a dirty old hat). Many popular charismatic preachers teach stuff that is found nowhere in the Bible or even the Talmud. They make this nonsense up in order to sell books or motivate people to give them money.

There is a guy named Larry Huch. He wrote a book called The Torah Blessing. It’s about our Jewish origins. I thought that might be interesting, so I bought a copy. It turned out to be full of legalism. He wants us to wear prayer shawls and have Jewish-style sabbath dinners. I threw that out. Come on. Paul made it very clear that we are not Jews, and we are not under the law. He said really nasty things about people who tried to bring back the law. I believe Paul more than Larry.

Some pastors are telling their flocks to command the angels. That’s just crazy. The Bible makes it clear that Jehovah is the supreme commander of the armies of heaven. There are no Biblical examples of righteous men commanding the angels. In fact, on one occasion when a man spoke to the Angel of the Lord, asking him whether he was on the man’s side or the side of the man’s enemies, the angel said he was on neither side. He was working for the Lord. Jesus himself did not command angels in the Bible. He said he could ask his father to send them, but we never see Jesus in the flesh, telling angels what to do.

The Bible is highly critical of people who worship angels, and it also condemns fallen angels who got together with women and bred abominations. I believe commanding angels is idolatry. It’s what voodoo priests do every day.

Lately we have been hearing a lot about the Seven Blessings of this Jewish holiday or that Jewish holiday. I believe Steve Munsey came up with this, and Paula White teaches it, too. So far, we’re up to Passover, Pentecost, and the Atonement (Yom Kippur). I think I can safely predict that another holiday will be added eventually, because the three we already have generate a good deal of money.

Here is the pitch: three times a year, all of Israel’s males went to Jerusalem and gave “their best offerings,” and in return, God gave them various blessings found scattered in the Old Testament. So now we’re supposed to give three really big cash offerings per year.

There are problems with this doctrine. Ask any Jew, including Messianics who generally agree with what we believe.

1. There were no big cash offerings in the Old Testament, except for freewill offerings unrelated to holidays. Old Testament offerings were scaled, like a progressive tax. If you were poor, you gave less. The idea that Jews were supposed to strain their budgets to give offerings is antithetical to this principle.

2. The blessings mentioned in these holiday drives have nothing to do with Passover, Pentecost, or Yom Kippur. You will never find a Biblical passage that says God will give you seven enumerated blessings for giving him money on these holidays. The blessings mentioned are in the Bible, but they are not mentioned in relation to holiday cash offerings.

3. The rules about holidays and the offerings that accompanied them only applied to Jews. They were never applied to Gentiles. And as Paul said, we are not under the law anyway. So when the law was in effect, it did not apply to us, and it’s not in effect now, at least with regard to Christians.

It’s extremely obvious that this doctrine is wrong. I actually fell for it once or twice; I don’t know if I wasn’t paying attention, or whether I was blinded somehow, or what. Maybe I didn’t buy it but still felt like giving something. I don’t remember. But it should have been very clear that the Seven Blessings stuff is imaginary.

What I’m learning is that some churches have no faith, and others have so much faith that they get used to believing remarkable things, so when a lie pops up, the first instinct of the people who hear it is to believe it. Hence the Seven Blessings craze.

Unfortunately, there will always be people who have testimonies supporting bad doctrine. I saw someone testify about the Seven Blessings. This person gave a certain amount, and later on, this person received an unexpected amount of money. Problem (which no one but me seemed to notice): the amount received was less than the amount given. Is God skimming now? I don’t think so. If I donate a thousand dollars, and God rewards me with eight hundred, something is clearly wrong. I can do better than that at the track.

If I find three thousand people and tell them God will do x if they do y, a certain percentage of them will get the promised result, even if God does nothing. That’s just probability. In every church, a certain number of people will get unexpected money or jobs every week. That doesn’t mean God is blessing them for giving money. It just means that in the big lottery of existence, their numbers hit.

People don’t understand math, so they don’t think about these things. So you can tell Christians almost anything, and if they want to believe it, they will find corroborating evidence.

If the give-to-get teachings worked, good things would happen to people CONSISTENTLY. It wouldn’t be three people out of a thousand. It would be whatever percentage are giving their tithes and offerings. In a good-sized church, this would amount to dozens or hundreds of people driving around in new Mercedes-Benzes. We don’t see those people. They do not exist.

I do think God rewards giving, and I think financial prosperity is one of the things he uses to reward people. But you have to give at the urging of the Holy Spirit, not some TV preacher who has seven Bentleys and makes up doctrine on the fly.

Perry Stone believes his ministry’s lack of debt is partly due to his support of Israel and the Jews. I think he’s probably right. The Bible makes it clear that God will bless those who bless the Jews, and it implies God will bless those who love Jerusalem. It also says God will reward us for helping the poor. But that doesn’t mean God is contractually obligated to make me rich because I give my Social Security checks to Benny Hinn. God does not owe us anything. Not even air. We are the ones who owe.

If life worked the way the money-lovers say it does, God would be the servant of Satan. If we remain unchanged by the Holy Spirit, our flesh is dominated by Satan, so we want money and property way too much. If we give because we want our flesh to be satisfied, we are giving in order to satisfy the urges Satan inflames in it. If God rewards us, he is doing what Satan wants. Does that make sense? Of course not. The chain of command goes like this: God –> spirit –> mind –> flesh. Anything else is perverse and pathological.

So what do you do? You’re faithful to your church, but every so often, you hear something you’re sure is wrong and crazy. Do you leave? Do you picket on the sidewalk, with a sign saying, “ALL HERETICS BURN IN HELL”?

It’s very hard to know the answer. I know you don’t start fights with people, and you don’t stand up in church and start arguing with the pastor during a service. You can’t achieve spiritual goals by carnal means. Satan wants people who start spiritual living to end up doing using carnality. You see that praying for two hours a day helps you, so you kidnap ten people and put them in your garage and make them pray at gunpoint. That’s an exaggerated example.

Do you leave your church? I guess it depends on how bad the situation gets. You have to be in touch with the Holy Spirit. You have to get his guidance, and you have to listen to it. He will tell you where to go. My guess is that he is fairly slow about telling people to get out. The down side of playing musical churches may be greater than the down side of being in a sick church.

A friend of mine recently left church. He said he could not feel God there any more. I completely understand, but he also rejected a regular prayer meeting where God’s power was pretty obvious. I think he focused on the wrong thing.

You have to pray people who teach this stuff will come around, but don’t you also have to pray that the people will get the right teaching, regardless of who has to replaced? Isn’t it about the mission, not the man?

I know you can’t let yourself lose your soul. You can’t kiss rear ends and say, “What a wonderful teaching!” God never criticized any Biblical figure for telling off authority figures who were in rebellion. He rewarded them for it. But you have to show patience. No one is right every week.

I don’t give as much to my church as I used to. I ask God for a number, and that’s what I give. It has gotten lower. I think I was burdening myself too much in the past. I also know that a lot of what I give will be wasted, and I don’t want to spend God’s money stupidly. I have come to believe that if God approves of a ministry, it will do well, and that indicates that I should give more. If a ministry is in trouble, maybe it needs hard times in order to bring about repentance and change. One of the best ways to ruin someone is to give him everything he wants.

I think giving to people in need is extremely important. The Bible talks about it a great deal. We are here to express God’s love in the earth. Helping the poor does that better than building a giant megachurch with jet runways and bowling alleys. I also think it’s important to find ministries that do really wonderful work, and to support them generously. Generosity is extremely important. But it has to be guided, or it’s destructive. If God had given me everything I wanted, I would have ended up like Chris Farley or Elvis. We have a lot of Chris Farley churches today, and they will end much as he did: bloated, squandered, and cut short.

By the way, you really have to watch what ministers do. Sometimes the preachers who seem most wrapped up in helping the needy are actually ambitious and of little use. Never listen to what they say about their motives. Always ALWAYS look at what they do. I’ve seen preachers walk right by people in need, leaving ordinary churchgoers to fumble and scramble to get help. A person who does that has no authority in my eyes. If you can’t respect people on the bottom who are in real trouble, but you’re always there when someone influential needs a fresh bottle of water, as far as I’m concerned, you’re just another butt in a pew.

I am not going to be discouraged by what I see human beings do. God will steer me to the right places at the right times. I will keep my eyes open and call them as I see them, but I think leaving in haste would be the wrong move, because I will never find a church where everything makes sense.

How Good Can it Get?

I wrote a long piece about the crazy “Seven Blessings of Passover/Pentecost/Atonement” doctrine that is sweeping charismatic churches, but something told me to keep it to myself for now. So instead I’m writing about PIZZA.

My pizza gets better and better and BETTER. Over and over, I find myself saying, “This is the best pizza I’ve ever had.” Every time it happens, I think it can’t get significantly better, but I’m always wrong. I’m positive God gives me food ideas. There is no other way to explain it. If the food were merely great, I could say it was me, but it’s so good it’s beyond explanation. I can’t do that.

A while back I made sourdough starter and froze portions of it in foil. Last night I thawed one out. I would say I got about 100 grams of usable stuff from it. I mixed it with my regular dough recipe, with the yeast reduced by two-thirds, and I stuck it in the fridge overnight. This morning I let it warm up, formed it into a crust, and let it rise all day.

I got Boar’s Head whole-milk mozzarella from the grocery deli counter because I was out of delicious Costco mozzarella, and I used Bel Gioioso provolone. Ordinarily I use frozen cheese, and it’s cheap and excellent, but freezing reduces the quality a little, so it’s not perfect. And deli-counter mozzarella is the only decent substitute I’ve found for Costco cheese.

I topped the pie with quartered Hormel pepperoni slices. I am not a pepperoni fan, because it makes pizzas sour, greasy, too spicy, and orange, but for some reason it WORKS with my recipes. Like you would not believe. So I cut 30 slices in quarters and used them.

I generally use very fresh dough, because it’s fast and convenient. The resulting crust is way better than anything you can buy around here, so I’m satisfied with it for most purposes. But sourdough culture improves the texture of dough, and I suspect letting dough sit overnight is also beneficial. I don’t have the patience to use pure sourdough for an ordinary meal, so I made the little starter packets. You get a lot of the improvements, and it’s easy.

Anyway, I made my usual sauce and put it on top of layers of provolone and mozzarella, and I baked it in the usual way. I somehow ended up with about one and a half times the right amount of pepper in the dough, and that worried me, but it actually made the pizza better. The crust was chewier, and the added pepper really brought out the fruity flavor of the sauce. The aftertaste was almost like cherry pie.

That deli cheese melts much more smoothly than anything frozen. It spread out so well some of it went off the edge of the pie. That’s a plus, though, because you get little bits of crunchy cheese at the edges.

Geez, it was good. I’m still reliving it in my mind.

What is the purpose of this? It’s too good not to have a purpose. If I couldn’t make my own pizza, and I knew of a shop that used this recipe, I’d stand in line to eat there.

We all Voted, and We Decided “God” was Wrong

It amazes me how many so-called “Christians” do not believe in prophecy or God’s promises.

I just read that Anglican, Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran priests in Israel are endorsing the “Palestinian” state, with the 1967 borders and Jerusalem as the capital.

The area that God promised–PROMISED–Abraham and his descendants is not contained within the 1967 borders. In fact, it’s much bigger than the current borders. The 1967 borders amount to a holding area to house the Jews until they can be exterminated. These borders are indefensible. They cut the country in half. What we have right now is a gigantic cession by the Jews. To ask more is unconscionable. Giving Palestinians their own nation within the tiny area currently recognized as Israel is like parachuting armed jihadis onto the deck of the MS St. Louis.

Is it any wonder Jews don’t trust Christians? We stab them in the back every chance we get. The idea that Jews and Christians will eventually reach a state of peaceful agreement is ludicrous. SOME Christians support Israel and will never let it down. The majority will always be tools of the enemy.

I suppose it makes no sense to speak of the Jewish mistrust of Christians in a negative way. It’s perfectly healthy. It shows that Jews aren’t crazy. Trusting us…that would prove they weren’t thinking clearly.

I don’t understand what the old denominations believe. It’s clear they don’t believe in God’s promise to Abraham. They see the Jews as oppressors and land thieves.

I think it all boils down to a fundamental belief that God is not real. They honor him and talk about how great he is, but aren’t they doing it with a wink? Increasingly, God is seen as mythical figure based in ancient superstition, who somehow (in spite of having an existence based on lies) managed to hand down a useful moral code which can be summed up in the two words “Be nice.” People think there are a lot of good things about the teachings of Jesus, but you have to understand: he was part of a primitive, patriarchal culture. Now we know things Jesus did not know. He’s not coming back, and he wasn’t God (they say in their hearts), and some of the stuff he told us has to be discarded.

If you believe God is alive, and that he is truthful and faithful, you have to believe Israel (Greater Israel, not the little bit the Jews possess now) belongs to the Jews. Even if you don’t believe God is alive, it’s impossible for a moral person to oppose Israel’s reasonable efforts to protect its existence, and it’s equally impossible to overlook the horrendous moral failings of Israel’s adversaries. Israel is all the Jews have, and their enemies are vicious and untrustworthy. There is no way they can give up. They are not fighting for wealth or domination. They are fighting for the right to live.

A long time ago, Satan managed to cut man off from the Holy Spirit. Jesus died partly so we could be inseminated with the Holy Spirit and wield his power, and we get that power through the charismatic gifts. Satan convinced us we had to earn God’s favor and his power, and tongues died out. When the Holy Spirit left us, we also lost revelation. We lost the ability to perceive God’s thoughts. As a result, we believe all sorts of stupid things, and the Palestine lie is one of them.

The clerics who are attacking Israel probably have no idea what God is like. They have probably never heard his voice. They have degrees. They’ve read books. They’ve learned ritual. Meanwhile, they’ve never met the subject of their studies. If they knew him, he would shape them. Because they do not, they have decided to shape him.

It’s fine to study flowers and learn about the chemistry and genetics that underlie their workings. It’s fine to learn about the soils they prefer and their natural enemies and their climatic needs. But these things can never replace the experience of walking outside and seeing a flower for yourself. The Holy Spirit permits us to know God personally. The books and rituals don’t do that. In fact, being based in fantasy, they tend to prevent us from knowing him.

I have often said that it’s better to know God than to know about God.

I know God. I don’t know him perfectly, and I let him down all the time, but I know him. Jesus himself entered a room where I was trying to sleep. He entered a car I was driving. I encounter the Holy Spirit every day. I learn from him. Sometimes I physically feel him doing things to my body. He has healed me a number of times. He has shown me spirits. He has changed my moods. He answers prayer after prayer. He explains the Bible. And here is one thing he has made clear: I am to be a friend of the Jews. So I don’t care what a blind man with a fancy costume tells me. God is right. Guesses made by frail human beings don’t matter to me.

Israel is going to prevail. I don’t care how many bombs the Iranians build. I don’t care how many benighted people march in the street chanting slogans. God will judge those who divide the land, and I am not going to be their ally.

The Vessels of the Temple are not Man’s Spittoons

Last night I had some fun. My chef friends Liz and Donna volunteered to prepare food for a fundraiser at my church, and they asked me to help, so I got to work in the big commercial kitchen Donna manages. There were about seven of us, all told.

I didn’t do anything all that interesting. I followed other people’s recipes. I chopped herbs and made herbed cream cheese spread, and then I grilled a whole bunch of chicken breasts and sliced them into hors d’oeuvre portions. I also got to use a deep fryer for the first time in my life. We have one at church, but I never fooled with it. Last night I used it to make piles of fried plantain slices.

This kitchen uses knives provided by a service. They come and pick up the knives every week, and they replace them with sharp ones. I didn’t bring any of my own knives, so I grabbed a 10″ chef’s knife off the wall and went to work on the herbs. I was very impressed. It took an edge very quickly, and it made short work of the herbs, much as a Chinese cleaver would.

I decided to check the brand and look into it further. The name is “Mundial.” It’s a European company, but they manufacture in Brazil to keep prices low. They’re not fancy. The blades are thin and somewhat flexible, and they have plastic NSF handles. But they seem to work extremely well.

Anyone familiar with this blog knows I have had bad experiences with expensive Japanese knives. They chip easily, they can’t be put in a dishwasher, and they cost a fortune. I think they’re a complete waste of money. My favorite chef’s knife is a $22 Forschner, and my favorite all-around knife is a carbon-steel Chinese cleaver that ran me $9. I love a good cheap knife.

I found the Mundials on Amazon, and I decided to try a cleaver, a santoku, and a 14″ slicer. I’m hoping the cleaver will work as well as my Chinese job, with the added convenience of stainless. We’ll see.

I don’t know if the fundraiser will work. I got an invitation, but I’m not going. I will make a total of four trips to or for church this week. I felt like that was plenty. On the way to the commercial kitchen, I got a text asking me to start teaching a class in a discipleship program. I’d love to do it, but I can’t do everything.

The church has a gigantic mortgage, and I don’t think there is any possibility that we will be able to pay it off, so the fundraiser doesn’t seem like a good idea. I think we would be better off moving to a building we can afford. Most people who attend the church are poor or middle class, and the size of the congregation (and therefore the offerings) is limited by the size of the sanctuary. It’s very obvious that this is not a good situation.

I don’t think God is going to swoop in and save the day, because we don’t take care of the things he has already given us. We’re doing many, many things badly instead of doing the important things well.

We’re also having problems because we attract the wrong kind of people. We’re using secular music and prizes and all sorts of other tricks to get people to show up. The problem with this is that we get people who want to party, while we offend serious Christians. Over and over, people come to me complaining. They hate the loud music. They find the rap beats offensive. I can’t defend these things. I just tell them not to worry about the services, because they can get what they need in the prayer groups.

We have something like 2,000 young people coming to the youth services every week, but an awful lot of them come to socialize, not to meet God. Let’s face it. They come to get laid. Kids have always used churches as cheap substitutes for clubs, and we are helping them by making our church as much like a club as possible.

Some people believe that anything that gets people to come to church is a good idea. They say, “It’s all about souls.” That’s wrong. The problem with that kind of thinking is that it grows a church full of weak people who will eventually fail. A human being is like a seed in dry soil. When you receive salvation, you’re like a seed that has sprouted. If you don’t get the right teaching after you sprout, you rot. You can’t grow a healthy church with stunted Christians who never grow up.

I believe we’re trading strong future souls for the weak ones we’re getting now. These people won’t have power in their lives. They won’t be blessed. They won’t have anything going on that will make other people want what they have, so they will be very poor evangelists. If we taught people to live for God and walk by faith, and if we made them understand that they are not to conform to the world, great things would happen to them, and down the road, they would be so blessed the unsaved would find their testimony compelling.

We worry too much about pleasing men. We never hear anything about the anti-Christian things our President does, because so many people in the church think he’s great. We have given special treatment to rappers, and I don’t mean the Christian kind. We hear a lot about the great things God will do for us, but we don’t hear much about getting in touch with him personally and submitting to him, and we don’t hear much about his angry side. God kills people. God gives people cancer. Sin and iniquity are still very dangerous. We don’t talk much about that. That puts the people in danger.

What can you do? No church is perfect. Some churches let the mob lead. Others reject the Holy Spirit. Every church has a weakness. At least our people acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s existence. He still has a foothold.

I would like to move north and find a church where I would not be faced with the amazing paradox of liberal Christians. How anyone can claim to serve God while voting for enemies of Israel, the church, God-given sex roles and the unborn is beyond me. People who know God well and study his ways inevitably become conservative, because the left is doing everything it can to oppose God. I never imagined I would see a charismatic church were so many people preach one way and vote another.

I know many wonderful people at my church, and I would really miss them if I left, but I know there will eventually come a point where the church changes or I move on.

God is still doing powerful things in my prayer group. More people are praying in tongues and learning about the Holy Spirit. The other day someone who has been heavily into carnal effort came to me and started talking about the way prayer in tongues was changing his life. This is someone who has become extremely intolerant of any kind of dissent, so it surprised me to see him talking this way. He hasn’t been learning this in the sermons, I guarantee you.

My friends are I are seeing more and more blessings in our lives. That will continue. We are getting more revelation. We are getting help with our character flaws. God is bringing people to us and slowly increasing our numbers. Maybe a time will come when there are enough of us to draw attention to God’s power, so others will turn away from baby food and try what we’re having.

The other night I felt God’s presence more strongly than I have in twenty years. I could physically feel the Holy Spirit moving in my body. For a time I felt a strange pressure in my head, and it reminded me of a tree root growing in a rock and splitting it. For a long time, I’ve been saying that the Holy Spirit is the living water that feeds the mustard tree within each of us, which is the kingdom of God. I’ve said it grows and splits the rock and changes us from inside. When I felt it inside me this week it struck me as funny. I felt that God was reminding me that my head is one of the hardest rocks there is.

What is happening to us is as real as dirt. I guess that means persecution is coming. Oh, well. I’ve started keeping a diary of revelations that come to me, and here is the latest thing I felt God was saying to me: “Satan isn’t that tough.” It doesn’t mean Satan is weak or stupid, or that we don’t have to give him the same respect we would give loaded guns or rattlesnakes. It just means he isn’t as hard to beat as you might think, and that you should expect to win. It should not surprise you. He has made himself seem bigger than he is, but he’s just a mortal spirit. He is very small compared to our God. He has an end, and we don’t.

I have to order parts for my next tube amp now. Hope this material is useful to someone.

Too Good for This Earth

Here are some cell phone photos of yesterday’s lunch extravaganza. It’s amazing what you can do when God is in control. Best pizza I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot.

The big orange thing is a mango cheesecake, made with homegrown mangoes. The little round things are obviously pineapple upside-down cakes made with tons of butter. The pizzas…are pizzas. Too bad we didn’t get a shot of the Hawaiian we made.

Zechariah 4:6

Samson yanked the gates of Gaza out of the ground and carried them up a hill. He beat a thousand idiots to death with the jawbone of an ass. How did he do these cool things? Easy. The Spirit of God rested on him.

In the movies, Samson is always a big steroid addict with no neck. In real life, Samson was probably about five two, with a thirty-inch chest and bandy legs. Seriously, why would God pick Victor Mature? When it comes to pulling city gates out of the ground, Victor Mature is no better than Burgess Meredith. The gates aren’t going anywhere without something extra. I think God picked someone who would make the Holy Spirit look good, so I really doubt Samson looked like Lou Ferrigno.

Why bring this up? Today I returned to my church’s cafe and made pizza and garlic rolls, and I brought two cheesecakes. My friend Liz brought individual pineapple upside-down cakes plus salad and chocolate-dipped strawberries. We were cooking for the pastor from the biggest AG church in the US. He works in a city known for pizza. And my pastor said we “blew his mind.” So you could say we did a good job.

In the past we were limited to pepperoni pizza and cheese pizza. Today I decided to open up the throttle. We made cheese, pepperoni, sausage, pizza with multiple toppings, and Hawaiian. I arrived at church at 8:15. We didn’t serve until 11:45. I didn’t eat until after 2:00. When I finally got to try the pizza, my skull nearly exploded. A shock wave of ecstasy shot up to the ceiling and rippled across the acoustic tiles. It was stunningly good. I have never had pizza like that.

The cheesecake…I made it with homegrown mangoes, of a cultivar I chose for its deliciosity. These things taste like ice cream, right off the tree. After I got home, a buddy texted me and said, “That mango cheesecake is probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten!!”

The pineapple cakes were perfect. She made them with real butter and lots of whatever that sauce is that gives pineapple upside-down cake its heft. Right on target. Could not have been better.

I don’t think I can cook as well as I cooked today. In fact, I didn’t do all the cooking. I got two young people, Travis and Eboni, to show up and help, and once I showed them what to do, they cranked it out like General Motors. Okay, bad analogy. Like Ford. Or some other company that actually functions well without socialist handouts.

We had a shortage of pizza pans, so we didn’t really have the equipment to keep pizza crusts rising fast enough to meet demand. Somehow, though, we ended up with three extra pizzas and some extra dough portions that had to be thrown out. I don’t know what happened, because I was too busy to watch.

It seems like things went much better than they should have.

I think it’s because of the Holy Spirit counterrevolution that has been going on among my friends. We commit to pray in tongues a lot, and we try to listen to the Holy Spirit. Things just plain go well for us. Life goes together like a dovetail drawer. So I feel like Samson. I shouldn’t be able to do the things I do.

We got to do the things I wanted to do when I tried to start this ministry last year. I made everyone pray in the Spirit for ten minutes, with worship music, as soon as we were able to get a moment. In my opinion, that is what assured our success, and it made an impression on my crew, whom I have been trying to reach for quite a while.

I don’t know if we’ll ever do it again, but it was a blast. I am so grateful. I know I’m not the reason it worked.

If you want what I have, do what I do. That’s all it takes. It’s not genetics. It’s not random chance. It will work for you just like it works for me. In many instances, better.

Wonder what great things will happen during the rest of the week.

Still Standing

As always, too much is going on to write about.

Some of you know I used to cook at my church. I made everything from scratch. I cooked pizza and garlic rolls, cheesecake, pies, brownies, and all sorts of other stuff. But some people there treated me so badly and decreased my duties so much, I realized it was wrong to reward them and waste my time by continuing to work there.

Since then, the cafe has not done well. Can’t tell you everything. It’s closed these days, except for a few hours on the weekends. Everyone who gave me a hard time and treated me disrespectfully is gone. None of them have ever apologized or admitted wrongdoing.

Last week, the pastor called and asked for a “huge favor.” He knows a pastor from a gigantic church in another city. That city is known for pizza. The other pastor sent my church four frozen pizzas from a well-known pizzeria. They sat in the freezer for a long time. When the other pastor scheduled a visit, our staff cooked the pizzas and ate them, so they would be able to say something about them when our guest arrived.

Our pastor thought it would be fun to make pizza for him, in our own kitchen. So tomorrow I cook for about 35 people.

I’m making Sicilian pizza and garlic rolls, plus two mango cheesecakes. One cheesecake is strictly for my team; the guests don’t get any. We’re also having desserts and pineapple upside-down cake.

I have helpers.

I got driven out of the cafe just as I was getting moving on a ministry there. A number of young people wanted to work with me, and I was going to show them how to cook. We were also going to ground everything in prayer. God provided me with a friend who is a successful chef, and she was going to help. I was doing all this at the urging of people above me in the volunteer structure and staff.

After I was asked to cook this big meal, I started looking for people to assist. Who showed up? You can guess. My chef friend was on board in about ten minutes, and she volunteered to leave work and bring salad and desserts. I also got the two young people who had been most interested in learning to cook.

On Saturday we cleaned the kitchen until it was safe to use, which was a horrible chore, and we made a pizza and some rolls. We had a fantastic time. Only the kids showed up. They did an excellent job, and they’re coming back tomorrow morning to help again.

The pizza we made was astounding. It was just pepperoni pizza, but it was better than anything I’ve had in a restaurant. And we’ll do even better tomorrow.

Right now I have cream cheese warming up for two cakes. I’m also going to prepare topping ingredients for the pizzas. I may also make a coconut flan.

I don’t know where this is going. The church is faring poorly, so I don’t know if the cafe will exist in six months. Nonetheless, it’s very rewarding to be able to accomplish the most important parts of the job. I’ll be able to improve my relationship with the people who are helping, and we will draw closer to God. And it’s nice to be vindicated, without lifting a finger to defend myself or harm those who mistreated me.

It’s not about vengeance or seeing obnoxious, carnal people suffer. It’s about God, being faithful and powerful to establish the things he begins.

Needless to say, some of the tools I got for the cafe have been lost, stolen, or destroyed. Here’s a great lesson for Christians: never give your church anything, unless you know they’ll make good use of it. The pizza stones that used to be in the cafe are gone, so I brought one from home, and today I bought a second one. Am I leaving them at church when I’m done? Forget it. I’m not a moron. I’ll have one stone to use, and I’ll have a spare. If the church needs pizza, I’ll throw them in the truck and take them for a visit.

It’s funny how things are working out. Someone else ended up paying for the cheese for the pizzas. When I went to Gordon Food Service to get flour, they only had one bag of the kind I wanted, and it had a tiny hole in it. A cute girl came over, put tape over the hole, and marked the bag down 50%. Today when I went to get the second stone, the store had stopped stocking them. I told God I was not going to any more stores. On the way out, I saw the last stone on a clearance rack.

I haven’t done much to make this work. People and things are coming to me. That’s how it should be. I would just mess it up, if I got in there in the flesh and started mud-wrestling. If the whole event falls through, it’s not my concern. God started it. If he wants it to happen, he’ll finish it.

In other news, my buddy Mike is divorced now. He met a nice lady, and they’re attending a charismatic church. Her dad owns a dog track that has legislated out of business. The dog track contains a fully equipped pizzeria. She also owns a storefront that needs a business. Mike is planning to open a place that sells pizza, rolls, and my cheesecake. How about that? He says I have to go up and help get it started.

I hope things go well tomorrow. I am already looking forward to resting on Wednesday.