DOCTOR CHRISTIAN'S BLOG: BIBLICAL MEDICINE FOR THE SPIRITUAL PILGRIM

MY CONFESSION: I’M AN ‘OUT OF THE CLOSET’ CHRISTIAN

     Sports Illustrated Magazine’s latest cover shows a basketball player announcing to the world he is a homosexual. He confessed he has been ‘living a lie’: he was married for eight years. Both coasts of our nation are in a tither in celebration, while, the majority of our ‘fly-over’ people are in a state of frustrated mourning.

Since Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight are always looking for media-worthy stories, after a lot of mediation…oh, alright, prayer, I’ve decided to take the plunge and just…declare that I’m a CHRISTIAN. Whew, there I feel better now that the world knows about it. My shrink told me I would! If you have any contacts with the media that overly influences the youth of America, let them know I’m available for shows and interviews. Tell them I’d make a cracker-jack debater.

Living in a pagan world where every bacchanal delight is encouraged, and mocking of anything biblical is permitted and celebrated, it isn’t easy letting the world know you are a CHRISTIAN. Perhaps, the hardest part is confessing you aren’t a sinner who enjoys sinning. I freely admit I’m a sinner; but, I’m afraid I will be shunned by the majority of pagans because I’m not proud of my sin. I guess that makes me less than what others would expect of someone like me…huh?

I must confess that after seventy-three years of living a secret lifestyle of a CHRISTIAN, my announcement has given me a new perspective on life; and they say ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’.

I know that in the past I’ve allowed myself to spend time in environments where sin abound and anyone looking in from the outside would have never believed I was a CHRISTIAN; but, I just didn’t know how to handle the pressure of letting others know I was DIFFERENT. It’s not easy being different: all those snickers, whispers behind one’s back, inferences that make one feel lonely and your ‘self-esteem’ really takes a hit. But, as one high school principal wrote to Sports Illustrated: Paraphrasing: I’m so happy this story is on your magazine cover, now it will help our budding homosexual teens feel more accepted. He may be too young to remember how the homosexual community transformed our Health Care and saddled all Americans with enormous additional costs for treatment: the carriers of Aids weren’t targeted, so all were treated as if we were Aids carriers. He forgot to mention that ‘my kind’ of ‘out of the closet’ CHRISTIAN’S will be less accepted and more persecuted as all evidence of biblical truth is diminished and rejected by a majority of America’s people: only forty-six percent of our citizens admit to being a CHRISTIAN.

I realize the day is soon approaching where my announcement may cost me a job or a promotion. It is already costing me censorship as my right to free speech is being censured by all manner of media as unacceptable. Gay Pride Day is forced upon all government employees; but, Biblical Pride Day will get me fired.

Knowing all this, I still feel good about ‘coming out of the closet’. My prayer is that a few more people like me will find the courage to step out of the darkness and into the glorious Son-light. Perhaps, we can start a Biblical Pride celebration on the same day Disney celebrates Gay Pride Day. While a majority of our people is evidently celebrating this announcement, let us ask one pertinent question: if the entire world became practicing homosexuals, in a hundred years, what would the world look like? Snail Darters anyone!

Ranny Grady

Dear Pilgrims,

Sports Illustrated’s recent cover was about the ‘happy’ announcement of professional sports first ‘out of the closet’ homosexual has created a platform for a public discussion concering this topic. I thought it would be productive for Doctor Christian to provide God’s side.

HOMOSEXUALITY

THE BIBLE

ITS SIN AND CONDEMNATION

     As the politics of homosexuality continues to rear its ugly head and make large in-roads into the moral fiber of the world, but especially in the United States, and perniciously into all churches that claim the name of Jesus as their Creator and God, the biblical arguments about the bible’s acceptance of this sin rages on. All manner of apologist and polemics are being prepared to either defend the acceptance of homosexuality or reject it.

     Intellectual jousting and debating is often very useful and may even produce fruits that better mankind, but this continuing battle for a ‘rightful’ place in the church of Jesus, the savior of the world, for embracing the sin of homosexuality isn’t one of them. The reason is simple: people may live an eternity in Hell.

     The idea of Theological Higher Criticism has been a thorn in the church’s side for hundreds of years. After all of its ‘good intentions’ have been stripped away: providing people with a more just and good formula to understand a God of love…minus his wrath, so people can better relate to this God of all creation, the outcome is the same: people who don’t believe the bible is inerrant try to use scripture to fit their personal peccadillos so they can claim to be ‘people of the bible’ but ignore scriptures they don’t agree with. Even worse, claim to be a believer, but reject Jesus is fully man and fully God. Once the bible loses its inerrancy, all manner of biblical interpretation is possible.

     One must be a semantic gymnastic interpreter to read the Genesis account of creation and declare: the sex between a man and a woman isn’t the only sexual relationship God ordained. It is true God could have said to Adam: don’t have sex with that woman; but, go forth and multiply and fill the earth with mankind. He could have given Adam a male partner and said: you’re on your own, figure this one out by yourself; but, don’t fail to go forth and multiple and fill the earth with mankind. Since God didn’t make any other types of human: male and female, God certainly didn’t put any ‘time-limits’ on the need to populate the world. The idea of its ‘necessity’ changing over time because the world changed from a rural to an urban culture, is beyond the pale of writing and reading one’s personal agenda into Holy writ

     The idea of any homosexual biblical apologists seeking to use hearth and home: a person’s idea of Hospitality, or lack of it, to twist the meaning of a bunch of lustful, sex-crazed homosexuals beating on Lot’s door to sexually abuse them: rape them, as not the reason why God’s wrath was loosened upon Sodom and Gomorrah sin of sexual perversion; but, because they failed to adhere to the proper Jewish protocol of Hospitality to strangers that come a calling, is ludicrous and strains the imagination of any believer that possesses an ounce of integrity about the honest interpretation of scripture. God destroyed this place because they had perverted God’s plan for a marriage between a man and a woman and began to reject God’s plan of creation. The sin of this rejection became so great that God decided to punish this unnatural lifestyle.

     The idea of using violent homosexual sex: raping, as a part of the homosexual’s defense of the bible’s acceptance of this sin, defies logic. It is true that rape has been used for centuries by men to emasculate the men of a conquered nation, but this can’t be applied to homosexuals because such a small percentage of men and women are homosexuals. If they had applied this formula to achieve their goal, it would have failed. For any honest biblical person to use this truth about sexual beast-like behavior in the Genesis account, and then draw a correlation to the ‘lack of hospitality’ as the reason a wrathful God destroyed Sodom, rather than he condemned the abomination of homosexuals and their lifestyle, fails all known laws of any kind of Logic, never mind its blatant dishonesty.

     Straining the camel through the eye of a needle is how honest biblical people see the attempt by homosexual apologists to conclude that the ‘Holiness Code’ (their words) found In Leviticus isn’t a condemnation of homosexuals, but a rejection of the Canaanites lifestyle that included homosexual rituals in their religions. The loaded word: Abomination refers to how God reacts to sin. It also shows an emotional response to how God must react because Ontologically he must separate Himself from the presence of sin. This is why Jesus came to die for all those who believe He is the only son of the Creator. It is his blood that allows God to be with us and in us because the price was paid for us to be close to a holy God, despite our sins. If not, God could not be with us because his holiness would demand his separation from mankind. The interesting point homosexual apologists’ error on is the idea of the word: Abomination being classified as a category of clean verses unclean… refutes their argument: the bible puts homosexuality in the category of ‘unclean’. It doesn’t matter what interpretation one gives homosexuality, it is sin and requires absolution via God or a Jewish priest, as in the book of Leviticus. Oops! Homosexuals were to be put to death. I guess God’s isn’t for the practice of homosexuality …right?

     Homosexual apologists’ are easy to spot because they used ‘code’ words: Jesus teaching people to be ‘good people’ rather than righteous. Isaiah said even our righteousness is little more than filthy rags. Jesus said no man is good, only the Father who is in heaven. The entire bible is a declaration that ‘good enough isn’t good enough’. This is why Jesus died for sinners because we can’t earn enough points to earn our way to heaven. The salacious lie of stating “Any interpretation of scripture that hurts people cannot be the right interpretation,” harms all people: believers and pagans. Scripture is designed to discipline and punish those who refuse to heed the truth found in the bible. The fact that Jesus paid the price for that punishment, for us sinners, and that we don’t have to pay the price of death: spiritual death and eternal separation from God doesn’t mitigate the truth that God punishes sin and he doesn’t allow any exclusion… homosexual or not.

     When homosexual defenders work their way to the idea of ‘purity’ to be the goal of Paul in his letter to the Romans rather than demonstrate God’s wrath towards these wayward sexual sinners and his harsh condemnation, and reduces it to a question of how one interprets the words ‘natural’ verses ‘unnatural’, they don’t have any biblical ground to stand upon. They may use all manner of worldly reasoning and intellectual research into even extant papers, but it takes a liar to tell lies to come to this conclusion. In no way can any honest biblical interpreter define the words: natural and unnatural, as it relates to sexual acts, as one’s ‘Character’. If one chooses to use the words: nature to mean ‘born with’ or in relation to one’s cultural environment or family lineage, at least one has some ground to present a form of honest debate.

     When one fully examines the entire idea of homosexual/Lesbian sex in the context of it being natural verse unnatural, what are its conclusions? I suggest one might find these:

• Natural sex between a man and woman fulfills God’s mandate to procreate; all other types of sexual relationships can’t produce this outcome. Homosexuals can’t have children.
• Unnatural sex between same sex people is a perversion of God’s plan for mankind. It is unnatural on several fronts: regardless of the homosexual relationship, one of the males/females assumes the ‘male-role’ and in the Lesbian relationship one becomes the female in the homosexual male/male relationship. Both seek sexual completion and pleasure in an anatomical way that God never intended mankind to do in order to fulfill his mandate to procreate. The perversion the bible speaks about is that same sex genders are sexually aroused by their own kind. Procreation depends upon sexual arousal for a man and a woman; not two males or two females. The fact that our culture is now condoning and promoting the adoption of children into homosexual relationships disregards the harm children will be burdened with because they will grow up with a lot of gender confusion about their role in life. More and more teens will be easily enticed to ‘try’ the homosexual relationship rather than work through the normal rite of passage where each male and female will question their own sexual identity as they mature into adults.
• I think the near silence on this sexual topic by the church over the past fifty years has greatly harmed the church and the silence has enable the sin of homosexuality to grow in leaps and bounds as it seeks to be loggerhead with scripture’s teaching of the sin of homosexuality. The long term goal of the Feminist Movement was to redefine the definition of family as it changed the American culture from a Patriarchal to a Matriarchal one. I’m of the opinion that they can ready the flag of victory, as it is just about complete…even in our churches across America. The support of homosexuality, as a tangent to Civil Rights, and the acceptance of it by the Liberal church members and leadership have emboldened the homosexual agenda. The church of Christ came too late into the fight and the courts of our land have legislated against the bible’s teachings, and have begun to restrict what the church may and may not do according to the majority’s cultural sense of morality: in this case, an Amoral sense of right and wrong.

• The biblical litmus test about the ‘natural’ verses ‘unnatural’ sexual relationships is just this: if the entire world chose to have only homosexual sex, a hundred and fifty years from now, what would the world look like?

• Pedophiles are men who mostly have sex with boys. The Greek and Roman cultures fostered this abomination! Might one conclude that Pedophiles are just another form of homosexuals? Pedophiles are men who are sexually seeking a ‘male verses male’ relationship; but, society doesn’t associate this type of unacceptable sexual relationship  with homosexuality because it is with a young, immature boy, rather than a mature adult…or at least a teenager. If one strips away the idea of ‘age’ concerning the males in the homosexual relationship, is there a great difference in an acceptable homosexual relationship of consenting adults, and a homosexual relationship between a dominate adult male and an immature boy? This is the type of Greek and Roman culture sexual relationships that were openly bragged about and fostered…even in the Senate of Rome. All Pedophile relationships are based upon the need to control; but, seldom is brute/physical force a part of the equation. The idea of biblical guilt is usually the one qualifier used to hide the relationship from public view: loss of family honor, personal shame, and loss of prestige in society. Satan works double duty on this one! He used the bible’s moral code to keep the victim quiet for fear of exposing the sin in a public manner; and he leads the perp and the victim away from heeding the biblical principles because they don’t fit their needs. The child is always innocent for they don’t have the spiritual maturity and knowledge to recognize how they are being manipulated to explore sexual areas of their life until it is too late and they have been victimized.

• If one wears the cloak of homosexuality, he can’t reject this brand of perverted sex: NAMBLA (a wing of the homosexual agenda) seeks to legalize homosexual relationships for an adult male with boys. It isn’t spoken in public or addressed by the media, but it is a plank in the political arena of the homosexual agenda. The bible condemns this great sin!

In my opinion, all homosexuals can’t distant themselves from the demonic ‘Chicken Hawk’ industry that produces ‘Snuff-films’, because it is their sin that opens this evil door and other homosexuals, pedophiles, and even some heterosexuals feed the flame of this sick sexual industry.

• God made me this way so how can it be sin? This question is always brought up anytime the fairness of homosexuality is debated, biblically or not. I must admit it is a question I want to ask when I get to heaven. I don’t pretend to know about the intricate science of the X and Y chromosomes that determine a human’s sex, or that it can’t be denied some humans have more testosterones than others, and this also affects the male or female identity of a human. I can’t provide any answers for why people are born blind, without limbs, mentally impaired, or any other heart/gut wrenching outcomes, it all has to a violation of some of God’s laws of nature being mutated or becoming dysfunctional at the wrong time during the first year of life, and perhaps, sometimes it is God’s will. When it happens, all are left to handle the outcome. All believers are taught to trust God’s promise that all things that happen to us will be worked out to be in our best interest and to ultimately give glory to God.

• Before one chooses this aberrant lifestyle they need to research the data concerning what happens to people who live the homosexual lifestyle so they know how dangerous and difficult it is to live a life with joy and contentment. They have the highest rate of suicide based upon the data known; and since the majority of homosexuals aren’t ‘out of the closet’, it is probably much higher. All manner of disease…Aids is still a part of this lifestyle, are common problems. Data confirms the average homosexual will have had over 200 sexual partners by the age of 50; and I’m of the opinion that is a low figure. The average heterosexual is less than fifty. Why is the suicide rate so high? The pagan world points the finger at the Christians and the ‘Bible-thumpers’ for its harsh condemnation and refusal to accept the homosexual as ‘normal’. If one digs deep, I’m positive they will find that since God made them, and he set up his laws of sexuality: man and woman in a heterosexual relationship to procreate, the long term effect of being out of fellowship with God forces them to live in a perpetually increasing degree of spiritual depression because they, more than any other humans, know they have chosen an abhorrent lifestyle that is objectionable to their maker. Ninety-seven percent of the people they encounter breathe a sigh of relief they are not like them!

• The emotional toll on the homosexual’s family is most often devastating. Siblings are forced to accept in some measure this odd brother or sister, and many just choose to ignore the harm done in the relationship and ‘go’s along to get along’ for their parents and family’s sake. Others just treat the sibling as if they attended a funeral. All things change and nothing really is the same. Parents mourn the loss of the child’s known relationship before the homosexual announcement. Parents mourn the loss of not having blood-grandchildren that are in the image of them in some physical manner. Often the homosexual family member will just live away from the others and seldom will be in the family life. The awkwardness it brings each time they are face to face creates an emotional tsunami both would rather not…so the relationship dies, slowly in most families. When the homosexual child brings his ‘significant other’ home, every time the parents, in particular, look at him, they can’t help but visualize the disgusting intimate picture of anal sex between their child and the other man, or other sexual pictures of another woman seeking to find pleasure in an abnormal way. I’m of the opinion that it is this acceptance/rejection that takes the homosexual to the precipice of sadness, and they end it all by taking their life by suicide.

• Perhaps, since God created them, the loss of fellowship and intimate relationship with a holy God finally wears on their spiritual soul to a point they can’t deny they have rejected his love and they have a great need to ‘stop the madness’…so they use suicide rather than repentance of sin and restoration and reconciliation with the creator. Perhaps, they accept the lie that God made them a homosexual; has chosen to punish them in an unfair manner, rather than look to Satan for the choice they made to serve him rather than their creator, and they use suicide to bring about a final solution to the trouble in their life.
  • If you are a homosexual, or if you desire to be one, or are leaning towards ‘trying’ this lifestyle because you have found the ‘normal’ sexual one unfulfilling, if you have a commitment to Christ, then you are called to be celibate, unless and until you decide to find a Godly relationship with a person of the opposite sex.

• The Holy Spirit has two spiritual purposes: give glory to Jesus Christ; convict man of sin by showing him what is biblically wrong and what is right. All of scripture adamantly condemns homosexuality as a sin. If one is a homosexual, it isn’t a sin; the practice of homosexuality is a sin. One can’t claim to be committed to Christ and seek to become more like him and still practice homosexuality.

     What is the church’s obligation; the believers’ obligation concerning homosexuals as members or in conjunction with its evangelism? Since Christ walked on earth, the mission hasn’t changed one iota: love the sinner; hate the sin.

Suggestion:

     Ministers, church leaders may choose to provide biblical counsel to explore these pertinent qualifiers:

• How did the individual come to practice the homosexual lifestyle?
• Who is the present most influential homosexual in that person’s life at this time?
• At what age did this urge to try the homosexual lifestyle happen to this person?
• Did past moral teachings produce any ‘conscience’ challenges with the first sexual encounter?
• Has the world’s/ American Culture acceptance help influence this person’s decision to accept a homosexual lifestyle?
• If they had a heterosexual relationship before a homosexual one, what did they find distasteful about it?
• If they have never had a heterosexual relationship, how do they know they prefer a homosexual one?
• Can you describe how a man’s body/or a woman’s body for Lesbians, changes the way you feel sexually? How does the opposite sex’s body repulse you? When did you first notice you had this feeling?
• How did the homosexual relationship please them that the heterosexual one didn’t?
• Which sexual role did you fill, the male or the female one? Why?
• If they are in a homosexual relationship with an unbeliever, how is it possible for you to have a Godly union?
• Do they believe you were born a homosexual? Do they believe it can be a ‘learned’ choice?
• How do they categorize Bi-sexual as it pertains to homosexuals?
• Do they think God wants one to be a homosexual?
• Do they think God has anything to do with a person’s choice of sexual preference?
• Knowing all they know, would they, if they were to choose again, still prefer the homosexual lifestyle?

     Armed with this personal intimate information, a Christian may be able to help the practicing or leaning towards becoming a practicing homosexual, to recognize the sin they are walking in and the challenges they face if they desire to claim to be a disciple of the one and only living God.

     If they are in submission to Christ and the bible, what are they willing to sacrifice for a more holy relationship with Christ? If it means being celibate to enjoy this relationship, will they do this for Jesus?

     Many times people who want to accept the bible’s teachings, but are at odds with some of it for it doesn’t fit their idea of being a ‘good’ Christian, lead people to Hell. They will use the i.e. of the woman at the well that Jesus didn’t condemn her sinful lifestyle, but they neglect to declare he told her to go and sin no more. This must be the biblical Church’s doctrinal position: We don’t condemn you, but don’t practice that sin. The sin of homosexuality fits this teaching.

     If a Christian has a ‘cherished-sin’, and refuses to give it up…i.e. hooked on porn or adultery…or homosexuality, they must know that this gives Satan access to them and he has demonic powers. Scripture refers to Satan’s ability to disguise himself as an angle of light. Peter says that he is a prowler looking for ‘babes-in-woods’ to devour. Most sin has a tantalizing component and it enables the sinner to believe he is special and even able to handle temptation and the known outcomes and not have his spiritual life come unraveled and fall into an abyss of a living Hell. Often, Satan will send his emissaries to do his work: people who will lead you away from Christ and deeper into sin; sometimes, they will also claim to be one with you as they join you to explore the ‘spirituality’ of your soul, while encouraging you to delve deeper into all manner of sin.

     The Exodus Project: a ministry to help homosexuals embrace a heterosexual one) has proven time and again that homosexuals who desire to have a heterosexual relationship in marriage and model a Godly marriage can do so my rejecting their past homosexual lifestyle.  As Jesus declared, “All things are possible with God.”

Ranny Grady

HOW DOES A MAN THANK THE LORD FOR A WOMAN?

         FROM THE WINTER-SIDE OF LIFE’S MYSTEROUS MOUNTAIN THAT WAS FILLED WITH A FUTURE NONE COULD IMAGINE, HOW DOES A MAN THANK THE LORD FOR A WOMAN?

         Oceans apart, strangers in the night, yet, like lightning bolts crashing into one another midst their divinely appointed mission, eyes met and the skies lit up and all of heaven must have rejoiced because God’s gift was delivered to the right man.

         Needy people not knowing they were needy until their shared smiles, laughter, and touch shook the cosmos and surely angels danced with glee. Before they met, they were captive hearts lost in a labyrinth of chambers designed to fool Cupid, and aching to get out; now, the melding of their souls set them free.

         Like a jigsaw puzzle without ends, no matter how great the skill, the picture remained fuzzy and undone; but after they gazed into each other’s’ eyes, like Fairy dust sprinkled upon the puzzle, the pieces fit perfectly and the picture became a mirror of lovers so madly in love the world became jealous of the gift from heaven; for no earthly Seer could conjure up such magic.

         Fifty years must be no more than a blink in God’s time-table, but it is a span of time where bliss comes from a secure heart that finds wonder and joy in the steady breathing when she lies next to him. Out of site, yet in the house, and all is right with his world, as her light illuminates the sum total of his wealth; for it can’t be destroyed by rust or time.

         A life’s calendar marked by that first meeting, first date, first kiss, and followed by love-sick fools’ letters that fill up a ‘One-day’ album. Courtship, marriage, children that flash mirror images in some manner of the man and the woman, and life’s rollercoaster nearly spins out of control as the dream is chased.

         A nightmare is vanquished as wisdom comes and Jesus Christ becomes the focus of the love that exists. A marriage foundation of rock is put in place as the sand washes away, and God’s blessings are greater than can be stored: each year they fall more deeply in love.

         Thank you Lord for thinking of me when it came time to give me a woman to help blind me see all that I might be. Thank you Lord for thinking of me when your ‘Love potion number nine’ was taken from your ‘Ever-lovin-tree’. Thank you Lord for thinking of weak ole me for you gave me a woman who would respect my need for dignity.

         The answer to my question lies in the pages of God’s holy book. Genesis 2 says a man will leave his home and cleave unto his wife and they shall become as one. God told Adam to multiple and so I have a family of two sons. I Corinthians 7 decree my body doesn’t belong to me because it is for my wife’s pleasure and spiritual health…lest she be sexually tempted by Satan. Ephesians 5 expects my wife and me to be mutually submissive to Jesus Christ and his word. It also expects me to lead my wife, children and home. It expects my wife to be submissive to my spiritual leadership. It expects me to sacrifice for her in the same manner Christ sacrificed for the church (she is first; I’m last). In Proverbs 31, she is told to live her life in such a manner I can sit at the city gate (take my place in society) amongst men and be respected. I will consider her far more valuable than precious jewels. Whatever else she may do with the talents God has endowed her with she will be a wife, mother, and homemaker first. At the end of life, her husband and children will rise up and call her blessed.

         Thank you Lord for blessing me with this this Godly woman: Margaret Denise (Denny) Rogivue Grady, for fifty years.

Happy 50^th. Anniversary

Solo Per Sempre,

Your Redhead,

Ranny Grady

This is current picture.

April, 12, 2013

SO WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT THE CRUCIFIXION?

     In most of the gospels, the depiction of Jesus’ death on the cross gets our attention. While God almost nonchalantly details his only son’s death, we can’t read it without getting very emotionally involved. The entire unfairness of his arrest, beatings, nailed to a cross riles up our spiritual righteous indignation and we want to strike out at the evil doers and extract some retribution…on behalf of God…if not for ourselves.

    Who amongst us can allow our minds to put ourselves in that horrid place without gasping in fear and revulsion? The Creator of the world dying in such a humiliated fashion, void of any personal dignity: naked before God and man, we just can’t fathom its truth; and even our artists can’t handle this, as they place a loin cloth across his privates. The Roman’s certainly didn’t!

     If we allow the picture to blossom, we can’t look… and we turn away our eyes. Crucifixion as a way of dying surely must be the most unusual form of punishment known to exist at the time of Christ. It must have been a demonic form of dying conjured up from the very bowels of hell just for Jesus’ death. Contrary to what we may think about this death of Jesus, his death was unusual in only one way: most criminals were tied to the cross, not nailed. This ensured the criminal would suffer much longer. The death of Jesus on a cross wasn’t an uncommon thing.

     Historians record that the Romans lined the road into Rome (Appian) with hundreds, sometimes thousands of crosses filled with either criminals or victims: enemies of Rome, and especially Christians. They were placed there to teach all people that Rome didn’t trifle with those who would not ‘bend their knee’ to the emperor, literally and figuratively.  It is said that Nero used the burning bodies of Christians on crosses to provide light for his ‘Garden Parties’. I wonder who had the perfume concession for the parties.

     If the angry brutish tortured death of Jesus’ wasn’t the most unusual cruel death mankind has ever known, what’s the big deal about Easter? Why has the world marked time since then by his death?

     Despite Pilot’s own seal on Joseph of Arimathea tomb where they put Jesus’ dead body and guards at its entrance, it remains an empty tomb. Jesus doesn’t even have the distinction of being the only man to rise from the grave: Jesus raised a friend from the grave earlier in his ministry: Lazarus.

     The ‘Big Deal’ about Easter is found in only one place: Eloi, Eloi,   Lama Sabachthani, the words Jesus cried out just before he died. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? At that moment in history, Jesus had all of mankind sins placed upon him: past, present, and future, and our sins were so great Jesus felt as if even his own Father had abandoned him in his greatest hour of need. The Romans crucified him; the ruling Jewish religious and political leaders greased the skids, but it was my sins and your sins that made the cross’s punishment only a moment of pain in comparison to the weight of our sins that reach into eternity.

     On those days when we think we are alone and unloved, ponder how many times you have been given the opportunity to choose that which is pure, holy, morally right, biblical in its principles, choosing to do good rather than harm, choosing to enhance rather than debase, and you chose pleasure, self and sin. Might we all stop and recall those haunting words: My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me.

     When you’ve chosen to live forever, Resurrection Sunday is a ‘big deal’.

Ranny Grady

WHY DIDN’T GOD TELL ME HE CAN ANSWER MY PRAYERS BUT SOMETIMES WON’T?

     Scripture implores us to ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK. It scolds us: You have not because you ask not, and Jesus himself said: Ask and it shall be given unto you…if you have faith.

     At times, we know God did answer prayers: He was ‘Johnnie on the spot’ when old Elijah expected God to vindicate him before Baal…and he did: he liquidated even the water that filled the ditch that surrounded the altar’s water-sodden sacrifice; at other times, when Joseph was in the well…was his prayers answered? I think it was open for debate for two decades, don’t you?

     If you are too much like me: I can’t see many good reasons why God chooses to wait a third of a person’s life-time to answer prayers. Come on God! You’re Omnipotent, get with the program…I often want to yell. I’m with Margaret, I need help now…not when my faith has failed me and I’m too weary to care about the outcome.

     Perhaps, God gave the creative juice to the advertisers who have recently created some interesting insurance ads: I love the one about the foibles of life where odd and unexpected things happen: guy is trimming his tree and he cuts it off and crushes his neighbor’s car; the woman opens her car door and another car flies by and rips it off. The caption: The problem about life is HUMANS making mistakes. Maybe God thinks in the same manner. “If I could just get rid of those pesky ‘Human problems’, I could answer more prayers on their schedules.

     How do you assess God answering your prayers? Can you see the ‘Finger of God’ at work? Maybe it’s more like spying the Catfish on the muddy bottom of the pond. Do you ever wonder how long it took Joseph to see how God was answering his prayers? When his brothers sold him into slavery? When Potiphar’s wife took revenge on him because he wouldn’t have sex with her?

     Take my publishing company and by writing stories. I have prayed for seven years that God would open doors, I’ll settle for a window, so I can find an agent that will sell my manuscripts to publishing companies.  I have prayed that the few thousand people who have read my books will refer my books and start a buying tsunami on the internet; but none of those prayers have been answered. I’ve prayed that same prayer so much I’m positive God has cotton stuck in his ears so he doesn’t have to listen to my pleas. I’m an old man, and I don’t find much joy in knowing that Moses was forty when he fled into the wilderness; and it was forty more years before God thought he was equipped well enough to be given a ministry. I’m not sure Moses had his prayers answered. Eighty seems a bit ‘long in the tooth’ to be given a charge to start a new work for the kingdom. I’m not sure I can make it another seven years!

     If you were to have the balls to offer God some counsel about the answering of prayers, what advice would you give? Have you thought about that profound question amidst some of your unanswered ones? If I did that, I’d offer this: God, just send an honest answer. If a preacher said he received a ‘call’ to ministry…and it was a figment of his imagination, just yell: G.P.G was G.P.C.. Put the book down boy and grab the plow! He could just say: You stink as a writer. You write garbage and no one will ever care about what you think or write. All of those agents can’t be wrong. Do you need a safe to fall on your head, boy? Sure, it would crush dreams; but it would take away the sting of the cruelest form of communication: silence. Perhaps, I the only morbid Christian out there…do you think?

     …You meant if for evil; God meant it for good,” words spoken by Joseph to his brothers during his confrontation with them when they discovered God has foiled their plan to get rid of him.

     So where is the comfort in knowing that God often allows us to suffer…for a long time…before his ‘Finger’ is evident in our lives and we can see our prayers being answered? This Pilgrim, I surmise, is where the test of our faith and our relationship with Christ meets the ‘rubber of the road’, hey? Isaiah declared that God’s ways are different and higher than ours. If we are to find contentment in our relationship with God, might we have to accept that all prayers are answered by him…but on his time? Like the gospel song: Jesus Is Four Days Late, But Still On Time, in reference to Lazarus’s sisters questioning him about why he arrived after their brother had died, it was so that God would be glorified when he rose from the dead. Our prayers may be answered: now, soon, just before we die, or never because God knows what we need rather than what we desire.

     Until next time Pilgrims, pray like it will be answered today! Invite others to join our blog: www.ogradypublishingcompany.com/blog/login.wp-php

Doctor Christian

THE ABSURDITIES OF LIFE

AWESOME SEX AFTER SEVENTY-TWO

     When God told Abraham he was going to be a daddy…at 100, I’m quite sure I’d have joined Sarah’s ranks: she laughed when she overheard this conversation: “After I’m worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

     To really understand this writer’s polemic about marital ‘Senior sex’, you need to know the proper definition of the word: Awesome. Its root is ‘awe’. Webster declares: a mixed feeling of reverence, fear and wonder caused by something majestic, sublime and sacred as if it is almost a religious experience. He adds:  terror and dread.

     I think old Webster knew what he was talking about if one was referring to sex after seventy-two because his definition perfectly fits this awesome event.

     Married at twenty-two and ‘randy-dandy’ on the spot: Yucca Valley, on a huge rock, the most ‘potentially- embarrassing’ location, for decades. Pleasure given and received…like running hot water on command; but, and old man appears and instead of Fourth of July fireworks going off; just a fizzle and a limp noodle is an unwelcomed guest. One’s dignity is challenged, refuted, and grudgingly accepted.

     Awesome sex is marked, in red, on a monthly calendar…once…possibly twice. When and if this sacred, near religious experience is done, for a few blissful minutes, we are kids again sucking on Tootsie Pops and drinking grape Koolade, and laughing at and with each other about days long gone. The pleasure that comes from great sex, when one is young and…in the morning, in the evening and in the afternoon delight, seemed effortless. The joy of clothing flying in the air within seconds of my arrival after a day’s work, added to the excitement of loving a woman that would be my wife all my life. Today, nothing is flying…most assuredly me. Then it was spontaneous, thrilling, daring sometimes as mad-lovers madly in love often risk the risqué. Why do we do it? Who can explain love’s madness?

     Today, it takes preparation! An announcement for pleasure is made in advance, preferably two days…if nothing interferes or something more important doesn’t ‘pop-up’: i.e. an unexpected invite for a trip to Dairy Queen. Clean wooly night-gown for her, and leaves her woolen socks at the foot of the bed…a real sacrifice. A dash of Channel # 5 is added for ambiance that masks the lingering smells of Cold Cream and Bengay. It is a shave, dash of Old Spice, and necessity to warm cold sheets with naked body for me. Time for blue pill to work its way from a pulsating warmness from head to…  I can’t get away from ethical dilemma about the pill. If one uses it to enhance performance, it is a Steroid? If one can’t consummate the event without it, does it count as an awesome accomplishment? Then I think: Abraham used Holy- Ghost-power to give pleasure to Sarah; if he can do it, why can’t I use modern-medicine?

     Awesome sex! It is too often accompanied by a sense of dread… and a bit of fear ‘you can’t cut the mustard any more’. Once it commences, you get a near encompassing dread that you can’t give or receive pleasure like you used to provide…followed by an ever increasing fear it won’t end before you have a cardiac arrest and die.

     Awesome sex is accompanied by excruciatingly awesome pain. Before Hollywood went and ruined sensual sex by leaving nothing to one’s imagination, the degree of pleasure depicted on the Silver Screen showed hands and fingers desperately clutching the bed sheets. I discovered if I try to emulate this today, I can’t open my arthritic fingers. By the time the orchestrated cymbals have gonged and the applause is heard, the pain in my arms has spread from my shoulder-blades to my scrotum, and I begin to believe Rigormortis has set in. It is quickly followed by a prayer that cramps don’t come a calling on my calves or one of my toes isn’t trapped beneath a sheet corner that was thrown asunder in the frenzy, because cramps will come. If they do arrive, my seared pained brain tells me to make sure you keep your mouth shut and breathe through your nose (It really does work if you will have the guts to with-stand a few seconds of immense pain). When I was young, once pleasure was given, we lingered and cuddled, then, I jumped up and soon was asking: What’s for breakfast my love? Now, there isn’t any cuddling because the weight from our bodies cries out from its unexpected trauma. There isn’t any jumping! I’m thinking we need a crane to extricate our bodies so we can stand up straight.

     It must be a divine gift from the Creator himself because in the heroic throes of basking in the glow of our accomplishment…once again, like some mystical union spoken of in the bible where a married man and a married woman become one flesh, we are young again. Her eyes with tiny ‘crows-feet’ are suddenly as mesmerizing as they were the first time I laid eyes upon her deep dark chocolate-drop tantalizingly sensual eyes. Her mellow voice, tinged with a morsel of smoke left over from our sometimes awesome sex makes my bones cherry as she whispers:” I love you and always will.”

     We keep asking ourselves, how much longer can we have awesome sex. Is the pain worth the pleasure? I have often contemplated Abraham’s gift at 100: he had a son. Imagine the gravitas he commanded when he sat with the elders at the city gate. Young men who came with their fathers: “Yes, he’s the one,” they’d point to him. Perhaps there were signs held up: ‘This man is a real stud’. Is he not every young man’s fantasy? A hundred years old and he could get the job done. While we only fantasized that we might emulate him and then climb Mt. Everest and scream: “I’m the man”, that echoes around the world; old men can only mutter: “It has to be the Holy Ghost power.”

     We have learned and have become content to accept the fact that we are capable of only one thing a day that maximizes one’s strength. My wife says: “One day we will be too old.” She adds, “We can talk about it, say we did, and don’t.” Awesome sex puts us in our recliners; we watch black and white episodes of Gunsmoke, and sip coffee. Awesome sex should have awesome rewards, right?

Dr. Christian

Ranny Grady

364 Eagle Creek Dr.

Monticello, Ky. 42633

http://ogradypublishingcompany.com/blog/wp-login.php

THE ABSURDITIES OF LIFE

AMERICA HAS REJECTED ITS FOUNDER AND BUILDER: JESUS CHRIST

     In my malaise after the recent Presidential election, I often wonder what that small band of Pilgrims from the Thames River in London think about their cardinal purpose of braving the ocean’s storms and risking life and limb to reach America: to have the religious freedom to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ, only to see it come undone in just 227 years, as our country’s political leaders have welded their legislative ‘Sword of Damocles’ Cicero warned Rome about to ensure the power of scripture would disappear from our nation’s public arenas. In the hallowed halls of today’s congress, one is allowed to pray to god; you will incite the P.C. wrath if you dare invoke the name of Jesus Christ in the prayer.

     I often think about today’s history professors and public/private school teachers who have given their integrity away and demonstrated they possess little moral character for they continue to present Revisionist History that diminishes the truth about the important place biblical truth and principles were to the establishment of this once great biblical nation. Since half of all graduating high school seniors can’t tell you when the Civil War was fought or who won, perhaps it would be a boon to our country’s future if the educators had students do research about the importance of the bible and Jesus Christ when this nation’s sacred documents were prepared. Surprise, surprise, surprise! All were finished with a prayer of thanksgiving for the leading and blessings from the Creator of the universe: Jesus Christ. All of the States charters seek His blessings.   

     Every great university of this country’s first one-hundred years of existence: Harvard, Yale, Princeton and etc., were founded for one purpose: to provide a great education for preparing ministers to teach and preach biblical truths about Jesus Christ. The Divinity School held the most prestigious ‘Chair’ of all the school’s departments. Our enlightened leaders recognized that our nation’s future success depended upon its zeal to take the power of the bible’s truths where ever its people settled. For these enlightened leaders, moral fidelity in the marriage, the church, and in commerce guaranteed the success of America.

     Today, thanks to Christian voters who rejected the biblical principles and voted to elect Atheists, Agonistics, and a sorted array of Pagans, according to one’s political party’s persuasions, for the past fifty years, the bible has been banned from our Public Schools, and public prayer invokes the wrath of the A.C.L.U; and even those school systems who desire to keep the bible and prayer in its classrooms and public arena, can’t afford the legal fees required to fight our Government’s endless supply of ‘Red-ink’ money.

     The Pilgrims pledged their wealth and lives to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. None sacrificed so that Kwanza, Allah, Buddha, or any other gods could be a part of this nation’s Spiritual Manifest Destiny from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. Today, these gods are more welcome in our country than Jesus Christ! Today, there are more Witches Covens on the East Coast than there are biblically based churches; and they are more faithfully attended and supported. A hundred years ago one would be hard-pressed to find an elected official who wasn’t a student of the bible; now, one who is.

     America’s love affair with Sodomites guarantees it is slinking towards another Gomorrah. From its Pilgrim days, women were the bulwark of our nation’s biblical roots; today, it is Feminist women who have rejected Jesus Christ and the bible’s moral principles; for their children and them. Today, the most profitable business industry is Pornography…led by women who provide its core-value. Sixty years ago teachers complained about students talking and chewing gum; today it is ‘Glee’ sexting nude pictures during class. As the cigarette ads catering to Feminist women declared: You’ve come a long way baby. Yes, we have! Our prisons are filled with your children from your male ‘sperm-donor’ only promiscuous life-style; your children drop out of high school at an alarming rate; your ‘sperm-donor’ only fathers help you create Generational welfare families…and our lunatic government officials use its hard working citizens money to provide for your immoral choices…and our citizens have been indoctrinated to not speak publicly against these outcomes for fear of being branded a bigot, narrow-minded, and judgmental.

     America has become a Matriarchal Society and man has lost his place of respect in the home, field of commerce, the church, and society. He is so feminized he isn’t even aware it has happened to him. He has proven he is weak in the face of all feminine competition and willingly capitulated his biblical responsibilities. Boys dream of becoming a foul-mouthed chef rather than an Astronaut, famous scientist or engineer…or perhaps a ‘Captain’ of industry.

     Our own President declared: America is no longer a Christian Nation. Did you hear the loud rumble? It was our Mayflower Compact Pilgrims turning over in their graves. “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14 History is rife with great empires who settled into dust after a brief period of ‘lightning in the sky’. In my opinion, America’s days are few because I don’t see any evidence that Gomorrah’s kith and kin are growing weaker. Before that happens, Christians that share the biblical mandate with the Pilgrims that touched-down at Plymouth Rock will be openly persecuted in America by its government and its fellow citizens. 

      Perhaps, this persecution will trigger another ‘Day of Pentecost’ and the church will return to its glory-days!

Dr. Christian

Ranny Grady

364 Eagle Creek Dr.

Monticello, Ky. 42633

http://ogradypublishingcompany.com/blog/wp-login.php

THE ABSURDITIES OF LIFE:

SIN’S GONE MISSING FROM AMERICA

     America, the once great biblical bastion where Jesus Christ was espoused, intelligently pontificated, and certainly glorified, has rejected him as being narrow minded, prudish, racist, bigot… an ordinary god or man.

     Dr. Menninger’s best-selling book: What Ever Happened To Sin, was a shot-over-the-bow warning about a road to perdition that America was travelling on a few decades ago, and millions read it…and let dust gather on it…and considered him a religious ‘Chicken-little’.

     It seems that only two people in the past fifty years has the gift of discernment:  the judge that declared: I don’t know how to define pornography, but I know it when I see it; and the fictional character, played by Robert Preston, in the movie “The Music Man”: he declared it was the game of POOL. This flim-flam con artist needed a foil for his SIN, as he conducted a ruse on the unsuspecting farm community in Iowa to produce a marching band, complete with music books for today’s parenting-culture pre-SEL-ESTEEM parents who could have been modern American Idol models, while lusting after the ‘town’s librarian’. The outcome surprised all, including the con-artist: It was akin to what Joseph said to his brothers when he arranged a meeting with them, after they had sold him into slavery and he had ascended to the rank next to the Pharaoh of Egypt: you meant it for evil; God meant it for good. The writer of I John declared: Everyone who sins breaks the law, I fact, sin is lawlessness. I Jh. 3:4

     As I watch the ‘cutesy’ commercial from Geico’s pig…not the Gecko… perhaps I’m one of a few who see the historic time-line about the sin of homosexuality and the fog-horn warnings of what the acceptance of this sin would do to America: it will redefine marriage and lead to bestiality for NAMBLA won’t be satisfied with innocent boys. The commercial intimates that the girl would like to have sex with the pig! I must admit, I never saw the idea of a girl desiring sex with a pig! Where is the hue and cry of our biblical people about this perverted commercial? Why the silence? Our heathen media continues to prove that one can sell anything if it is wrapped in humor…even ‘sick’ humor.

     Since our culture has embraced all that is demonic and slavishly drools about the entire Occult World, including sexual relations with demons…though it is depicted as ‘romantic love’…even teenage love, is it any wonder America can’t recognize sin? Sin is absent, from drama designed for the teenagers, like Glee, to the pulpits of our churches, sin and redemption have become ‘old fashion’ and unseemly. Might America really become frightened by the real demonic world that does exist rather than the ‘make believe’ one nobody is afraid of…until they die, that is found in the teachings of the bible. Scripture teaches that the demons recognized who Jesus was! Modern preachers send their congregates home filled with a sense of ‘I’m good enough’ and God is a pretty good fellow, rather than have them leave the worship hour dreading to look into the Spiritual Mirror that exposes one’s sin and drives one to seek forgiveness and redemption.

     Satan must be laughing his head off as he sees his schemes find fruit in a once great biblical land. He must howl with glee as America redefines what sin might be: homosexuality is another choice and those who dare say it is isn’t are the sinners; abortion on demand is a ‘woman’s right and those who say it isn’t are sinners; promiscuous sex between ‘consenting adults’ doesn’t harm anyone and those who dare say it isn’t are sinners; passing out condoms to teenagers is the ‘wise thing to do’ and those who dare say it isn’t are the sinners. Alcohol and sex addictions are diseases, not the result of sin, and anyone who dares say it isn’t are the sinners. You and I could add infinitum. 

     Will America ever recognize sin again? Personally, I doubt it. It could happen if it returns to the Bible and realizes how much God the Creator…Jesus Christ…and the Holy Spirit hate sin: God redeemed man and forgave his sin. He loved mankind so much he willingly sent his only son, Jesus Christ as a ransom to die in our place, and the Holy Spirit was left to show man how to discern sin and its message of truth is found in the pages of the holy book: the Bible.

Dr. Christian

Ranny Grady

THE QUESTION FOR MY PILGRIMS:

If you enjoy this blog, why don’t you help me enlist readers? if you chose to help, i’m quite sure this blog would take on a ‘lfie for istself’ in a short period of time. Please pray about this.

In His service,

Doctor Christian

www.ogradypublishingcompany.com

HOW TO WIN ONE FOR JESUS IN 2013

     Did 2012 end on a sour note for you? Were your goals for the year frustrated and left for dead along-side the road marked: Success? Did the jolly old fat-man leave a lump of coal in your stocking? If you answered ‘yes’, what will you do different in the New Year that will ensure you have a better 2013 than you did in 2012? You say that is a 64,000 dollars question!

     I have a suggestion, learn from your mistakes. For many, last year was “all about you”…wasn’t it? Tut, tut, don’t fib! Take a few minutes and assess the things you chose to do to    accomplish your goals:

• Botox left your face looking stiff
• Liposuction didn’t cure your ‘Dunlap’ problem
• A snip here and there didn’t change the size of your undies
• Your Varicose Veins are less slightly, but…
• Tattooed eyebrows!
• Implants and augmentation didn’t fool the mirror
• A bushy moustache and extra-long sideburns didn’t compensate for bald spots
• The Red and Blonde wigs help, some
• Cucumbers left you with a fetish
• A luxury car didn’t heal your ‘self-esteem’ issue
• A fabulous cruise on the Riviera didn’t cure your loneliness

     So….Pilgrims, take a little biblical medicine from Dr. Christian’s subscription pad to ensure you enjoy a successful 2013.

     Daily, choose the proper dress to wear to impress the world. Stop obsessing about wearing the most chic thing or You-tubing to know the ‘in-designers’ so you won’t commit a fashion faux pa and embarrass your ancestors to the fourth generation; instead, daily, choose to put on the full armor of God so you can take a stand against the Devil’s schemes: Satan wants you to forget that your battles aren’t about those things made of flesh and blood, but the evil and darkness that resides in the heavenly realms…and in your heart. If Satan can get you chasing after things that will gather moth and rust for treasures you put your trust in, he will keep you tethered and captive to all of your base weaknesses and put a cult-like shroud of darkness on the covering of your spirit and heart.

     Shock the world and wear as gaudy-looking belt of TRUTH that you can find. In a world filled with lying snakes and people who only speak-with-forked-tongue, everyone will notice your belt. All will pay you compliments for your fashion taste. Most will think you are silly for being so bold to wear such a gaudy thing, but they will even grudgingly admire you for it.

     Wear a BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS even under your Armani suit. It won’t spoil ‘the look’ like you may fear. When you wear it, remember who gave it to you: Jesus. Thump it a few times any time you’re faced with a moral dilemma and beg others to do the same. WHAT WOULD JESUS DO…is the right pill to swallow at any crisis moment. Recall Paul’s warning about how easy it is to fail to choose INTEGRITY and demonstrate CHARACTER when one can choose self and please the Devil verses God and the good of others: Romans Seven. Remember, no one can take your integrity from you; you can give it away in a second.

     Choose foot-wear, whether ubber expensive women’s shoes: Manolo Blahnik or men’s: Edmond Allen, or even Red Wing, to fit your feet as you use them to spread the gospel of peace: the type that only comes from Jesus.

      Any properly dressed warrior will carry a SHILED OF FAITH for protection as one mixes and mingles amongst Satan’s henchmen who constantly shoot poisonous, flaming arrows to strike you down and void all your boldness for the Lord.

     You must put on your hat… even a Houndstooth or Coonskin, for the HELMET OF SALVATION will keep your mind from being filled with every manner of improper information, and act as a filter for your conscience when it is inundated with the world’s filth.

     Carry the Spirit’s SWORD on your lips and in your heart as you use God’s Word to teach, admonish, and encourage the world to demonstrate wisdom: show a reverent fear of a holy God. Use it to flash daringly and clash your saber with all enemies of the Savior: Jesus Christ.

     The world spends millions to soothe their aching bones in saunas and all manner of water therapy, when bathing their souls in Gilead’s balm of unceasing PRAYERS would cure what ails them.

     In 2013 change your biblical modus operandi: find your spiritual contentment…even in the midst of worldly burdens and disappointments, by seeking to die to self and give yourself away to others. How might you do this? You don’t need to make some arduous journey to some monk’s monastery in a hamlet the world knows little about, you can accomplish this spiritual goal by doing any or all of the following:

• Compliment someone each day
• Encourage someone each day
• Refuse to reply in kind to mean-spiritedness
• Seek ways to be a mentor so you can stand in the shadows of the stage’s limelight and applaud a protégé
• Send a note/card to congratulate another’s success
• Call someone and pray with them
• Not only root for the underdog, but use your resources to lighten their load
• Learn the power and wisdom of saying: I’m sorry; please forgive me
• Treat hugs as copper pennies rather than gold, so don’t hoard them; share them
• Say “I love you” ten times more than you say “I don’t understand you”
• Laugh when you reflect: God loves me; smile when you think: I love God

You can add to this list your own unique items and enrich its outcomes.

     Never forget that you are a pilgrim on a journey to a distant land. Your destination isn’t the here and now; but the hereafter.

Happy New Year!

Doctor Christian

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Dear Pilgrims,

     This is my take on the Newtown horror story.

MAKING SENSE OF NEWTOWN

(The Five W’s of the massacre)

      God knows there will be events and circumstances that overwhelm us and we are too weary and spiritually weak to even pray.  When this happens, the Apostle Paul comforts us when he writes in Roman’s eight that the Holy Spirit becomes our advocate and carries our unsaid prayers to the altar of God on our behalf. The tragic event in Newtown tragedy must surely be one of those times where the human-spirit has been rendered too weak to utter a sound or is too confused to know what to ask for.

          Who were the people in this unspeakable crime? As times passes after this tragic event,

we have learned Adam Lanza (the perp) was a mentally unstable twenty year old boy/man. His

first victim, his mother (Nancy), was a single mom struggling to make sense out of rearing a son

who was detached emotionally and evidently lacked the ability to show empathy…even to his

own mother. From the womb, he couldn’t stand the touch of another human’s touch. How sad

and how awful this must have been for her. On webpage: Café Mom, one can read her essay:

“I’m Adam Lanza’s Mom”. She writes about how she is a ‘potential’ mom like those killers at

Columbine and Va. Tech. She is also the mom involved with police encounters for violent

behavior and threats of being murdered by her son; or his threats to commit suicide. We now

know that Nancy was seeking a way to institutionalize Adam. She was friends with personnel at

Sandy Hook Elementary. 

     Twenty innocent students and seven educators from Sandy Hook Elementary school were gunned down by this ‘highly-functioning’ mentally challenged man. Little is known except that some of the administration knew Adam’s mother. What degree of personal relationships they shared hasn’t been reported for the public’s consumption.

     “High-functioning’ is certainly open to a debate…medical and otherwise, regarding what Adam did and was allowed to do, given the state of his mental acuity. He recently earned his Driver’s License. Word is that he had plans for college; his mother evidently had a different plan. How did he finish high school is one of my questions? Did he actually complete the classes and earn the diploma or was he given a ‘social-pass’, like our education system has been doing for decades for those students who are ‘problematic’ and it is far better for student and the school to take the road of least resistance to survive and carry out its mission for educating all kids.

     Was Adam a boy with some form of Autism or Asperger Syndrome? Is it fair of us to include him in this mentally challenged group of people; or was he just a boy who was allowed to have his mind filled with violence…he was an adult ‘gamer’, without a normal understanding of its consequences; and acerbated by an ill-advised mother’s choice of allowing him the use of guns, though they were ‘recreational’ in nature. Supposedly, this was done by his mother to please him and perhaps, to allow her to find a way to bond with her son.

     A few of the people interviewed depict a young man full of life and a ‘good kid’. In the aftermath of the carnage, a different description seems more honest. Nancy Lanza ‘s son wasn’t mentally normal and he could become a monster in a nano second, and she was a woman at her wit’s end seeking a way to provide a solution to her nightmare. Her mistake was she waited too long to find a workable solution…for herself and Newtown.

     Missing from this story is a Father who gave him life. So far, his name hasn’t been interjected into this tale. There isn’t any mention of a marriage or a divorce in the story. Any information from his brother that might shed some light upon the ‘potential’ knowable information that may help make some sense of these evil acts is also missing.

     What happened? Despite numerous layers of security protection for the school, Adam entered the school and murdered children and adults as if he were enjoying himself with his mother at the Shooting Range knocking down ‘clay pigeons’. This took place sometime after he had put four slugs into his mother’s head. He evidently bypassed all security by just shattering glass and entering the school. Alarms are seldom if ever a deterrent to a madman bent on a killing spree. He must have taken the Office personnel first and then moved to the hallways and classrooms.

     Where did it take place? Newtown Connecticut’s own website provides details about an affluent small town…less than 30,000 people located off Interstate 84 that leads to New York, some 60 miles away. It is a ‘yuppies’ paradise, on a small scale. It is the kind of town where a mass murder scene would seldom, if ever enter into the consciousness of any of its citizens, or the rest of our nation. It must be a place married people move to so they can provide their children with the ‘best money can buy’ without all the hassles of living in a crowed large city. If I were to choose to live on this North-east coast, it would be a place I’d gravitate to.

     Unfairly as it is, Newtown will be forever stigmatized by the tragic events of that day ‘that will live in infamy’. It will be a day like the day President Kennedy was assassinated or the World  Trade Center Towers melted when the Muslim Jihadists kamikaze planes attacked American soil, for every citizen in this nation will recall what they were doing when they first heard the horrific news.

   Sandy Hook Elementary will be razed and only its memory will be left. Young children who become adults will share a bond that will be different than normal graduates, perhaps much like soldier during war time, which will leave them scarred for life. Most of them will find a way to accept things about their lives that they can’t change and move on; some won’t; and this will add another dimension of mourning that will cast a pall upon this town tragic legacy.

     When did it happen? We all know this information.

     Why did it happen? As our political process gears up to once again attack the Second Amendment: right for every citizen to bear arms, gun sales are going through the roof. Frightened citizen are doing what they know the government can’t do…protect them from madmen, evil killers and criminals of all stripe; as they fear the political power brokers, including the President, may use this ‘shock and awe’ time to fool our citizens into giving up their right to bear arms out of a ill-chosen need to sympathize and empathize with the victims’ families to show a united-front against violence with guns.    

     It is now known that Adam’s mother was secretly seeking counsel and a method to find a way to get him institutionalized where he could receive the kind of medical treatment he needed. Perhaps, he discovered this plot and though he couldn’t stand his mother’s touch, he couldn’t live without her. Killing and murder, on any scale, other than random killing: i.e like a gang initiation… comes from one’s perception of a loss of control or some type of perceived betrayal. Perhaps, Adam considered his mother’s attempt to send him away as a heinous betrayal. Putting four slugs into her head has a tint of purpose to get a measure of revenge, doesn’t it? Perhaps, he went to the school and killed all those people because he thought she loved the students more than him; or some of the administration was guilty of plotting to put him away in an institution. In the delusion of his mind, how maniacal this might have been no one knows, the removal of anything separating him from his mother, in this case people at Sandy Hook Elementary, might have been a goal that gave him a sense of control about his future. The fact that he had already rendered this goal mute by his murder of his mother, evidently didn’t register with his ‘highly-functioning’ mental acuity. This proves just how mad he really was! This is pure conjecture on my part, but it seems to possess logic for me.

     In the history of mankind’s connection with guns, no manner of a gun has ever killed another person. The gun is an inanimate object void of purpose, feelings, or malice. Left alone, it is incapable of harming any human or animal. It has caused the death of millions because a human chose to put bullets in it and kill with it. If guns are forbidden in our society, only criminals and madmen will have them. WE ALL WILL BECOME EVEN MORE DEFENSELESS AGAINST THE EVIL CAUSED BY MONSTERS AND EVIL PEOPLE.

     Why did God allow this or cause this to happen all ask?  For the Christian, the answer will depend upon how one interprets the bible’s doctrine: Predestination possesses several shades and colors. I might interject: knowing isn’t the same thing as causation. My opinion, God didn’t cause it; He allowed it because he loves you and me so much he allows us ‘Free-Will’. Each person on earth gets to decide between good and evil. In my humble opinion, time will reveal that people with responsibility for this mentally challenged man failed miserably to handle that accountability. Even our entire Mental Health System will be found culpable…and consequently, all of us will need to take some blame for this tragic event.

     Why did it happen? Philosophers and Psychologist will probably get government grants to study this mayhem, and most of the money will be ill spent because there isn’t any answer that will please us. Despite the fervent pleas and honest chagrin from our President and his promise to use the government’s resources to guarantee our children will be safe…even at school, he can’t; no can. It isn’t popular in our Atheist, secular society, but the truth is that Satan (the demon that really exists and not like the Texas Chainsaw one) is alive and well on planet earth. His mission is to kill and destroy mankind by any means. No doubt the Sandy Hook evil will cause some to leave their faith in Jesus Christ and their church. They will end up bitter and disturbed and seek answers for why God is so cruel. Others will come closer to the cross and seek his peace: …love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5: 22 Monsters don’t demonstrate these qualities and they don’t harm innocent people… unless they are allowed amongst us un-supervised.

Ranny Grady

     Hello fellow Pilgrims! I have been ‘missing in action’ for a while…but with good cause: I finally published my third book of fiction: GRANDPA’S MAGIC CARPET AND THE LOST TREASURE. I was so consumed with all the details it required, I didn’t post any new material. Please forgive my absence. I will endavor to write something new more often.

     I decided to break format for my blog by giving you a copy of an article I wrote that was published in the local newspaper: The Outlook, Monticello, Ky.  In keeping with my biblical format for my blog, I would ask God why he didn’t warn us that millions of people who claim they serve him above all gods, reject his word when it becomes inconvenient for their lifestyle: particularly  their Political Party affliations. It is as if they have begun to worship at the false idol altar: beleive in separtion of Church/State.

A HARBINGER FOR ALL CHRISTIAN VOTERS

     Regardless of which side of the ENTITLEMENT (WELFARE), REDISTRIBUTION WEALTH Socialist verses Capitalist HAND-UP, NOT HAND-OUT, LESS TAXES…MORE JOBS ideology fence you are on, all Christian voters must recognize this Presidential Election is first and foremost about FREEDOM OF RELIGION.

     The HARBINGER concerns a Christian’s FREEDOM OF RELIGION as the SAME SEX AGENDA is about to be forced down America’s once great biblical throat. If this happens, the LEGAL definition of a BIBLICAL MARRIAGE will be changed and our CHRISTIAN heritage will pass from history.

  In a blink of an eye, the Congressional homosexual agenda will pass HATE SPEECH legislation…i.e. our CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, and any citizen…Christians and PREACHERS will be charged with a crime for preaching truth about the biblical sin of homosexuality. It is happening in Canada!

     The Democrat Party’s SAME SEX MARRIAGE agenda will define what America will become: a SECULAR, ATHEIST, SOCIALIST COUNTRY, or America’s CHRISTIAN voters…of all races, colors, creeds and political parties will deny them a victory this November, and seek to restore its biblical foundation in America.

     Many may call me a liar; but one only needs to read the front pages of the nation’s newspapers: CHICK-FIL-A, a profitable Christian company is boycotted for its PUBLIC support against SAME SEX MARRIAGE; HOBBY LOBBY for its stand against Abortion-on-demand and Morning –after-pill.

     America is in a spiritual war! Our Nation’s soul is at stake! FREEDOM OF…OR FROM RELIGION!

 Ranny Grady

364 Eagle Creek Dr.

Monticello, Ky

rmgrady@windstream.net

DOCTOR CHRISTIAN’S BLOG

BOOKS OF LEVITICUS & NUMBERS

QUESTION

IF MOSES’ SERVANTHOOD FAILED TO PLEASE GOD, HOW CAN WE EXPECT TO ACCOMPLISH THIS BIBLICAL GOAL?

            Hello! This is God speaking: How do you like my little ‘biblical trick-bag’? Ha ha Until God called Moses up to view the land of Canaan on top of Mt. Nebo, Moses evidently didn’t know he was counted amongst the ‘stiff-necked’ rebellious Israelites. Oh sure! He used that staff I gave him and he brought those erring children out of slavery in Egypt…after I nearly disemboweled them with all manner of plagues…even death, but he forgot the one who ‘brung him to the dance’ as you earthlings like to say: his fear of me: the great I AM.

            I know, I know, I can hear your whimpering and whinnying about the ‘unfairness’ of it all concerning my servant Moses being punished for just be human: expressing his frustration for the job at hand…which I gave him. Pilgrim! Get this through your thick-head: I don’t give two hoots and a holler about fairness! Righteous is what I long for. Yep, righteousness is all I need. More than a smidgen of awe and reverence will do me just fine. Moses and Aaron were faithful, nearly to a fault, but they failed me in that spiritual crisis moment: a demonstration of their faith in me before the entire nation of Israel. Just like my holy writ, my instructions are clear. I don’t stutter when I give instructions. My boy just ‘cooked-his-own goose’ when he decided to allow his impatience with his faithless crumbling charges to get the best of him, and he wanted to show them how much they should acknowledge his leadership, which I gave to him, by adding his own ‘personal touch’ that produced the miracle of water gushing out of a rock in the desert of Zin (Sin).

            Thirty-seven years ago, when my people first came out of Egypt, in the same spot, Moses had to trifle with these kids parents: Exodus 17. He struck the rock while camped at Rephidim, which he named Massah (means testing) Meribah (means quarreling), and stopped the venting about being left in the desert to die of thirst. He did good the first time; not so good the second time. Great leadership doesn’t allow for an improper model if the goal is to have the followers become like their leader. “I said to speak to the rock.” No! Moses had to put his spin on my command: Struck it twice: Numbers 20. The elders of the nation knew I had told Moses to ‘speak’ to the rock. If their acknowledged leader didn’t have faith in me, how could I expect them to? If his choice of action caused me to ‘lose face’ before the nation, how could it be restored? You got it! Show all of the people who is in charge. A holy God can’t reward disobedience…can he? Besides, the taking of Canaan called for a new man with greater vigor and open to new visionary planning. No man lives forever. He did get to see the ‘Promised Land’; he just didn’t get to walk in it.

              Pilgrims, the answer to the blog question is you can’t expect accomplish this goal. It is impossible to demonstrate your type of unique merit that warrants God not meting out what he considers an appropriate punishment for sin…sin of any kind. Moses was denied the privilege of ushering his charges into the ‘Promised Land’ for his disobedience. What punishment would fit your crimes? Moses struck a rock…twice! Some of us have lied a thousand times! Achan and his entire family were destroyed for one lie! In case you haven’t noticed, it seems that God has a different take about sin and its consequences: man is often caviler; God is deadly serious: Jeremiah cries out :…the soul that sins shall die.”

            Praise God! He loved us so much he sent an adequate ransom for us: Jesus Christ (fully man and fully divine), God’s only son. As with Moses and his loss of faith, God rescued all sinners who couldn’t lift one tiny finger to save one ’s self, or hold back one incident of one’s demonstration of a loss of faith in God’s works. If he hadn’t, we’d all be like Moses: miss entering the “Promised Land: Heaven.

Until next time, Pilgrim, add your comment, ask your question.

Doctor Christian

http://www.ogradypublishingcompany.com/blog/