7 problems I have with the modern corporate church

The seven reasons I have all but abandoned the corporate church:

 

1. overpaid pastors. Many pastors today are millionaires. They make good money preaching the gospel. I believe it says something in the Bible about not profiting from the gospel. I could be wrong about that. 

2. Lukewarm congregations. Everyone goes in there to the church puts on their phony face and then when the church is over they all disperse back to their respective homes. There is no camaraderie, there’s no warmth... it’s all phony glad-handing plastic banana pseudo-friendliness 

3. They have abandoned the service mentality. The church's job is to help the community. Wherever there is a church, especially a big church, the surrounding community should be a zone of decency. Instead churches sit there isolated behind iron gates essentially functioning as a safe-zone for it’s overpriced preacher. 

4. Entertainment-centric. In the church today the primary goal is to “win the youth". That’s done by playing rock ‘n’ roll music or rap. Lots of instrumentation (especially drums), lots of music, a light show... all that mess. A church should be holy and set apart we are in the world but not of the world. And if I have to sit through another epic song where the self-righteous self-absorbed singer stands there with his acoustic guitar, eyes shut, singing "we love you Lord" for 25 minutes... I’m gonna eviscerate myself.

5. Go ask the church for help and see what happens. Some of them might help you. But it’s rare. It might be a smaller church that would help you. But go ask somebody in a mega church to help you. Better yet go to a mega church and try to talk to the pastor. He has an entourage, security guards, and he’ll act like he’s some kind a celebrity or something. What in the world is a celebrity pastor? Is there anything more horrible than that? 

6. It’s not just about the preaching or building a big church or receiving funds or tithing it’s about changing fundamentally the world around you for the sake of Christ. We also should show our Christianity not just talk about it. It says in the Bible they will know you are Christians by your love. But when I go to churches most of them are very cold and distant and nobody wants to commit. 

7. The political aspect. Yes the church is open to all political persuasions but how anyone could attend a church and be pro-choice, and pro-homosexual I’ll never know. Or how anyone could attend a church and be a leftist I don’t know. And yeah it happens a lot. Progressive liberal churches make me sick So too do the hyper-conservative right wing extremist churches. It’s very difficult. I see churches right now trying to make a living off of the church.

As more and more Christians fear taking a stand for what’s right, for fear of losing what they have in the name of Christ, the church becomes more and more lukewarm (neither hot nor cold). Just sort of there... and you know what Jesus said about that. I’m not saying we should all be activist churches but I’m saying we should be active churches. An active church is one that puts their money where their mouth is. These kind are few and far between nowadays. They are what is referred to as the “remnant”. It is what remains of the true church of God.

Here’s another couple of things. Do we really need special music? Do we really need Gertrude to stand up there and warble her way through some modern "devotional" song trying to drive a tear out of our eyes or get some sort of emotional reaction for her own personal pleasure? What is the point of sitting there and listening to some person, who wouldn't even get past the screening process on American Idol, ululating their way through some modernist Christian song designed to sound all holy-Joe, holier than thou,  Christ thy Lord with hollow sanctimoniousness?

Give me that old time religion!!!!!

Baseball: The Texas Rangers

(This post was originally written and posted on 6/23/18)

Starting in 2016 I started watching baseball again. I had taken a nice 20 years hiatus. At the time I remember thinking "Why in the &^@#* have I NOT been watching baseball all this time?" Since I couldn't come up with a decent answer, I decided to watch every Ranger game I could. The first game I watched during my baseball renaissance was the game on May 15, 2016 between the Rangers and the Blue Jays. That is the game when Rougned Odor punched José Bautista in the face. Here is the way the incident is described on Wikipedia...

"During the May 15, 2016, game against the Toronto Blue Jays, there were two benches-clearing incidents. Following a contentious meeting in the ALDS the previous season, many people thought the Rangers would target Jose Bautista for his controversial bat flip in the ALDS. However, the first six games of the season between the clubs were played without incident. Finally, in the last regular season game between the clubs, Rangers reliever Matt Bush hit Bautista in the ribs with a fastball. On the ensuing play, Bautista slid hard into Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor. Odor, taking exception, pushed Bautista, then proceeded to punch Bautista squarely in the face. This fight caused both benches and bullpens to clear. Bautista, Odor, Steve Buechele, and Josh Donaldson were ejected after the brawl. Later in the game, Blue Jays pitcher Jesse Chavez hit Prince Fielder with a pitch causing the benches to clear again, although this time no punches were thrown. Chavez and DeMarlo Hale were ejected following this incident. Odor would serve a seven game suspension for his actions. Toronto manager John Gibbons and Chavez would serve three games suspensions while Bautista and Elvis Andrus served one game suspensions."

Odor lands a beauty!

It was a lively reintroduction. I was hooked. My old team had spunk. And surprisingly, they were first in their division. So they eventually won the AL West in 2016 with a record of  95-67. Then they lost in the playoffs. Oh well.

2017 was a tough year. They didn't do too well. They finished tied for 3rd with a record of 78-84 [tied with the Mariners]. There were 16 blown saves. So we should have finished 94-68. But we didn't and that's that.

2018 - So now here we are 78 games in (as of this writing) and we are in LAST PLACE in our division. Darn!! We are at 34-44. But we currently have a 7 game win streak going (we just whipped the Twins today 9-4)

I don't know what this season holds, but we shall see. I will update the blog as we go.

Bottom line... I AM A HUGE BASEBALL FANATIC!!!! Go Rangers!!!!!

Update: The 2017 season. We finished 4th with a record of 78–84. It was the last season for Carlos "Gomi" Gomez, Mike Napoli, Yu Darvish, and Jonathan Lucroy. We acquired Willie Calhoun. Beltre hit his 3,000th hit.

Update #2: 10/26/18 - The rangers finished the season with a poor 67-95 record. Yuck! It was so bad, Rangers manager Jeff Banister lost his job. Oh well. Maybe next year!!!

Update #3: 9/27/19 - We have 3 more games to go and our season is over. It was a good season. We actually reached .500 at one point. Surprising as we are in a rebuilding year.

Springsteen Takes one step up then two steps back

Dateline June 22, 1018 - Tallahassee Gazette

Springsteen Steps Up

by Art Mayhew

Once popular rock legend Bruce Springsteen announced today his plan to take in more than 4,000 undocumented immigrants onto his sprawling 378 acre property in Colts Neck New Jersey. Springsteen, having been recently provoked by certain media articles presenting a very biased and limited perspective on a hugely complicated problem, decided to wade in and make public comments about the Trump administration’s recent border enforcement policies. More precisely, the separation of children from their mothers (a practice Trump has since suspended). From the stage of his exorbitantly priced Broadway show Springsteen said "...we are seeing things right now on our American borders that are so shockingly and disgracefully inhumane and un-American that it is simply enraging." and "...we have heard people in high position in the American government blaspheme in the name of God and country that it is a moral thing to assault the children amongst us. May God save our souls."

Now the 60-something former hit maker, who’s last hit climbed the charts 24 years ago, has decided to not just talk the talk, but to walk the walk. "I have decided to take in, house, clothe, and feed all the undocumented immigrants that come to this country illegally. Especially the children." said the soon-to-be septuagenarian rocker, whose massive estate now boasts a veritable tent-city where his prized horses once galloped in open splendor. The cost of this project, though astronomical, is worth the price according to Mr. Springsteen, whose album Born In The USA captivated the nation 34 years ago. I asked what would be the maximum number he would be willing to house. "Keep ’em coming." he said, as his wife Patti Scialfa, who was standing nearby, began to quietly cry into her Dolce & Gabbana scarf.

-----UPDATE!!!-----

Dateline July 25, 2018 - Tallahassee Gazette

Springsteen Takes Two Steps Back

By Art Mayhew

Once popular rock legend Bruce Springsteen, who last month decided to take in undocumented immigrants from the southern border, may have bitten off more than he could chew. According to sources close to the aging rocker he now regrets his decision. An un-named source close to the fading star reveals there are many problems happening in the once gorgeous Colts Neck New Jersey property owned by Bruce Springsteen. "The place is teeming with people. Thousands of people milling about, many are hungry, naked, and sick." said the source "Bruce and his wife Patti are trying to feed and clothe all of these thousands of people all by themselves. The last estimate was over 42,000 undocumented people packed in there. There is garbage everywhere, bon-fires, and we heard that some of his horses have been eaten." Springsteen’s goodwill gesture has gone unappreciated, not just by the refugees who often riot for more food, but also his neighbors and friends. He has received absolutely no help from local authorities, and his high powered Hollywood friends are ignoring him in droves. The only Hollywood "friend" who came to his aid, reportedly, is fellow 80’s relic Joe Piscopo. However Mr. Piscopo reportedly left after only 4 hours. "It is a nightmare." said the source "many of the men have escaped into New Jersey", which has coincided with the surrounding county seeing a 236% spike in the local crime rate, "On Bruce's property there have been some fatalities, and numerous rapes,and many of Bruce’s prized possessions have gone missing. It’s a damn nightmare." When contacted by phone, a person believed to be Springsteen himself simply muttered "Sweet Lord what have I done?" in his characteristic raspy voice, before the line went dead.

[Note: This article is a satirical article conceived and written by Michael V. Walk]

The Human Family Tree!

[This post was originally conceived on 2/28/2012. It was finished on 2/18/2021]

Okay, so we are told by enlightened scientists that "we descended from apes". This didn't work well so they retooled the terminology and came back with "we descended from the same common ancestor" as apes. Well this is now under attack by people who are intelligent and who don't automatically gorge themselves on whatever agendized scientists portray as truth.

Well here is is, my friends! The HUMAN FAMILY TREE! Let's shine a little common sense [and satire] on the subject and see what we come up with.

Current thought holds that we have 15 steps from there to here. In other words, modern humans have evolved over 15 distinct "steps" over the last 6 million years. Okay. So lets get started.

#01. Orrorin tugenensis - the "evidence" for this creature is made up of 13 fossils, including a partial femur, some framents of a lower jaw, and some teeth. It is controversial because some scientists disagree with it being a hominid at all. However clever artists have made this bust which is like catnip to evolutionists:

 #02. Ardipithecus ramidus - The "evidence" for this thing being an early human ancestor consists of a partial lower jaw from a child (catalogued as ARA-VP-1/129). Other fossil evidence for this critter includes some teeth, a mandible, a few pieces of a skull, and several arm bones. However that doesn't stop imaginative artists from whipping up an imaginary image that will be purported to be "accurate". Like this:

 #03. Australopithecus anamensis - all that has been found and attributed to this thing is a partial tibia and a jawbone with teeth in it. Here then is a work of artistic fiction claiming to show this animal.

#04. Australopithecus afarensis - Here is the first of the "monkey men" that scientists can really get excited about since they have convinced themselves that it is some kind of proto-human. The famous, or infamous, skeleton dubbed "lucy" is one of these. The specimen in this picture's name is Reggie and he was huge fan of slinging feces at intruders.

#05. Kenyanthropus platyops - This is an ape. But some artist claims that THIS is what it looked like. I say IT because IT is an animal. Specifically, like mentioned before, an ape.

#06. Australopithecus africanus - It is also an ape. But some artist claims that THIS is what this one looked like. I say IT because IT is also an animal. Specifically, another ape. Nice smile though.

#07. Australopithecus aethiopicus - Once again this shows an extinct brand of ape.

#08. Australopithecus garhi - Good lord, another extinct ape?

#09. Australopithecus boisei - Here is the next phase in human evolution. Still has nasal problems cuz it's just another extinct ape.

#10. Homo habilis - Dude looked like this. Oh wait, its a female. My bad. Really, I feel bad.

#11. Homo erectus - Hey, this isn't funny. Why are you smiling? I know, I know, either because I said "erectus" or because he looks like someone you know. Well, he isn't someone you know. He's homo erectus and he lived 82 gazillion years ago, give or take a couple billion. If he existed at all, he was a man. [Editor's note: NO ONE could possibly know what the nose of any of these creatures looked like, because the nose decays and rots away very quickly. The "artists impression" makes it look ape-like because of the nose, which, as mentioned, is pure speculation. Thank you.]

#12. Australopithecus robustus - A search of google images returned a hodge-podge of various other creatures (many of which are pictured above). I could not find one that was identified specifically as ol' robustus. (in other words: no usable picture available) Tell you what, let's slap this photo in here! Works for me!

#13. Homo heidelbergensis - Looks fairly bright eh? Bright enough to invent the wheel. This is the guy who did that. No really. Brow ridge is rocking.

#14. Homo Neanderthalensis - Even though scientist now admit that Neanderthal man had NOTHING to do with our evolutionary chain of development, I am listing it here simply because I want to.

#15. Homo Sapiens - Here we see man has finally reached a point where he resembles many modern males. Numerous famous football players, basketball stars, and artists resemble homo sapiens.

#16. Modern man - Every man on Earth now looks like this. As you can see we have come a long way baby. I'm proud of how we have evolved over the last bazillion years.

What you have just read is a lot of hooey based on guess-work and blind speculation, oh and a generous helping of satire.

Thanks for dropping by!

By the way, there is one specimen that scientists have had trouble classifying.

The Mugato...

Good luck scientists!!

Most of this info was ripped off of this site:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/humans/humankind/i.html