Oral Roberts- Selling God?

Interesting article on the Christianity Today website regarding the life of Oral Roberts- you can read it here. Another well-known pastor, John MacArthur, makes the statement that he NEVER heard Oral Roberts preach the Gospel in all the times he saw him on TV. In not so many words he basically accuses Roberts of profiting from the Gospel.

UPDATE, 12/22/09:

A follow-up article about Roberts funeral, and the controversy between the prosperity gospel folks and those that accuse them of profiting from the TRUE GOSPEL. Click here.

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GWB's Final Mistake

Today's Presidential results would be different if...

(Washington DC, November 3, 2008) In a move that suprised even those in his inner most circle, President Bush called an emergency press conference in the Rose Garden today.

"I have spent many hours listening to and reading up on each of the candidates for this year's presidential race" said Mr. Bush "I have come to respect both of these men for a hard run race. It is unfortunante that one of them will wake up on Wednesday as a loser in this contest."

"But after much thought I have decided that my voice must be heard by the American people. As your President and leader I hope you will value my opinion in this very important time in American history. It is therefore my honor to throw my full support behind Barak Obama as the next President of the United States."

"I believe that Mr. Obama will continue my legacy and initiatives that I began eight years ago. I have looked him in the eye and I can see a man I can trust. I believe that at the end of his presidency he will make people see that my presidency can be headlined as 'mission accomplished.'"

"Therefore, please join me tomorrow voting Barak Obama as your next President of the United States."

Sports Edition

It wasn't too long ago that being a Maryland sports fan meant you quietly wished not to be embarrassed too badly. Maryland Terps basketball has been a frequent visitor to the sweet 16 but in the NIT, the Baltimore Ravens had their worst year in 8 years and went into the 08 season looking like a rebuilding team and the Orioles... well, no further comment is needed.

But things are looking up. The Terps are sitting pretty for a New Year's bowl game, the Ravens are 5-3 and could have finally found their long term solution at QB, the basketball Terps really have no where to go but up and these are typically the years that Gary Williams does best and... the Orioles - well let's just say this is the most exciting part of the year for them... they can't lose any more games and at least they are frequently mentioned as trade partners.

What has to impress you the most about Flacco is how steady he is in the pocket. He looks like he belongs... he oozes confidence like Big Ben in Pittsburgh. The defense must have felt a huge lift after seeing the offense rally during a game they would have lost in the past, but Flacco calmly led the offense to recapture the lead and the win against the Browns.

I don't necessarily think that the Ravens will go to the playoffs. I can see them missing it at 9-7 because they play 4 of the last 8 games against the NFC East and another game against Pittsburg but with Rice, Flacco, a young offensive line and some depth and youth on the defense - the Ravens are heading in the right direction.

Day Light Savings Time, the Election and Halloween Candy

Random thoughts...

It's the last day before we move our clocks back one hour - meaning that tomorrow it gets dark at 5 PM... yuck! We also get to look forward to the sun spilling through our bedroom windows at 6 AM. This all matters because I am sitting in the house during the longest "day" until March - and it's 65 degrees outside and sunny!

Doesn't it seem like the kids get less and less chocolate candy each year at Halloween? When parents buy candy they need to remember who ends up eating most of it after the kids go to bed Halloween night and what it is that we really want to eat and buy accordingly!! By the way - I really need to rememeber to buy stock in Tootsie Rolls next October!!!

Anyone else out there tempted at voting 3rd party this year?

It's not a good sign when you spend the last days of your campaign stomping in states that historically vote for your party. It's a disaster when your opponent has enough confidence to throw a couple million into campaign advertising in your home state!!

Everyone is ready for the election to be over... but has anyone else received phone calls from politicians... hung up and when you pick up the phone they are still talking??? How do they get away with that one?

Facebook is addicting...

At one my previous jobs my boss - who was my age - was a big time Christmas Scrooge. He would sit in his office and listen to hard rock music on the internet. Every November 1st I would sneak into his office and put in a "favorite Christmas hits" CD I kept at my desk. His reaction the first year was so awesomely classic - he couldn't figure out where that Christmas music was coming from!! He would be cussing and spitting up a storm and finally come out of his office and say "OK - whose the wise A$$ who put Christmas music on my computer???!!!" Oh... those were the days!

It's time to get AM Static fired back up...

Grace

Coming home from a long Labor Day weekend at the lake, I had to take a few minutes and catch up with everything that has happened in the world. This headline on the Baltimore Sun caught my attention:

Church's planned relocation, expansion alarm neighbors

The headline didn't surprise me all that much. Let's face it... nothing divides a neighborhood more than a church wishing to expand (please see the sarcasm in that statement). What did catch my eye was not just the sign pictured with the column, but the children who are holding it. It broke my heart!

Radical practice of religion = incompatible with community?

I recently read this article about a muslim women who lives behind a head-to-toe Islamic veil, which shows only her eyes, that has been trying to become a citizen of France for at least 3 years. She has been denied citizenship twice: the first time her life of "total submission" was considered a reason for insufficient assimiliation into the culture. Recently, on appeal, the French Council of State ruled that, "she has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes" and was again denied.

Now I am always skeptical about the government telling people how to live their lives, particularly because I am always thinking, "they will come for me next"... but do the frenchies have a point here? As Christians, we are told to be "...in the world but not of the world", so doesn't that mean we need to assimiliate to our community? There is no mention that the women was forced into this lifestyle, or being oppressed, but women as truely 2nd class citizens in Islam. How will we reach our community if we walk around with a bedspread over our head, covering us from head-to-toe.

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Anybody feel this way?

Does anyone feel good about voting for Obama? How about McCain? Me neither. I thought this picture was funny. Are you willing to vote for a Democrat / Republican even if there are better "3rd party" candidates because you feel by voting for a 3rd party would throwing your vote away? I am full of questions and no answers-

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