Mover Mike

The Archbishop of Canterbury has spoken just in time for Christmas. He said there was no manger, no star, no magi, no donkeys and horses, and no snow falling. Jesus probably wasn't even born in December, and that virgin birth thing...fahgedaboudit! He didn't say anything about Santa, the Easter Bunny, Big Foot, the Great Pumpkin or the Tooth Fairy.

Next he's going to tell us that Jesus, the son of God, did not die on the cross for our sins and the resurrection is a legend, too?

The Archbishop of Canterbury is likely to piss the Big Guy off!

I know you are out there waiting for "What did Mover Mike Say?" Well. I found the whole thing boring. Who wants to hear 17 year olds sing songs that an 80 year old man likes. And...who wants to hear the advice given by Tony Bennett and then watch that advice thrown out the window.

Blake Lewis sang Mack the Knife — Blake has that bad hair back and I'm tired of his Michael Jackson moves. Who cares!

Phil Stacey sang Night and Day — Cancer man had dead eyes, and this song he was singing to his wife! Who cares!

Melinda Doolittle sang I Got Rhythm — Let's crown her and start over. She's like the star center for Ohio State wondering if he should go pro before his sophomore year. Do it!

Chris Richardson sang Mr. Saturday Dance — do we need another Justin Timberlake for Cameron Diaz to date? Willie Nelson sang it better. Who cares?

Jordin Sparks sang On A Clear Day — I love that big hair, that big mouth and her big butt. This girl can sing. If it weren't for Melinda and LaKisha, she would be the next Kelly Clarkson!

Gina Glocksen sang Smile — It was forgettable and not her kind of song. I wouldn't buy her CD to hear her sing that kind of song. And really who cares!

Sanjaya Malakar sang Cheek to Cheek — Sanjaya is trying to distract you from his voice each week by his clothes and hair.

Haley Scarnato sang Ain’t Bisbehavin’ — Haley began, when this competition started weeks ago, singing, like she's never had an orgasm, songs for Christian music stations. Now she is trying to distract us with her breasts and long legs from her Miss America pageant act. It might work for a few weeks, but none of us teased by her will bed her. Frankly, she is no Katharine McPhee!

LaKisha Jones sang Stormy Weather — I've said she is not creative. She is a great mimic of other great artists, but there is no there, there. Tonight she created and the melody was lost. Who cares!

Now you can go to sleep, 'cause you got this week's Mover Mike.

American Idol AI Haley Scarnato Mover Mike

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson implies that former Senator Fred Thompson is not a Christian.

"Everyone knows he’s conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for,” (said) Dobson – considered the most politically powerful evangelical figure in the U.S....

"[But] I don’t think he’s a Christian. At least that’s my impression.”

"We use that word – Christian – to refer to people who are evangelical Christians.

The press thinks Dobson's comments are a devastating blow to Thompson's political ambitions. How arogant to define "Christian" as just evangelical. It is the evangelicals with their religion in your face that turns off many of any political persuasion; "Born Agains" as many call them with a sneer or a roll of the eyes.

I'm for people who put into practice the teachings of Jesus Christ rather than those who insist on being judgemental. Senator Fred Thompson's views, as I know them, are just fine with me.

Senator Fred Thompson James Dobson Born Agains Mover Mike

Actor Carey Scott turns director in Hidden Secrets.

Scott's Filmography:
2006 Hidden Secrets Director
2003 Bruce Almighty Actor: Partying Sports Guy
1990 Diving in Actor: Ryes Wallstein
1987 Distortions Actor: Male Hustler
1987 Not Quite Human Actor: Paul Fairgate
1984 Making the Grade Actor: Rand

Scott has directed a Christian movie rated PG, starring John Schneider, David A.R. White, Tracy Melchior and Reginald Vel Johnson. When I think of "Christian" movie, I picture a film that is sacharine, not realistic in today's sex drenched, violent and profane culture. Maybe not dealing in adult reality. Hidden Secrets is PG to be sure, but deals with real adult situations: forgiveness and the impact of past secrets on life today in an overtall Christian way.

In this film we have Dukes of Hazard star Schneider as a man seeking answers, an agnostic, but well versed in the Old Testament. We have a woman who is Christian on the outside, but a hypocrite. We have a Tracy Melchior, the recent widow with a terrible secret who feels unworthy and we have David A.R. White who has lost his ability to trust.

Hidden secrets can be funny and poignant and deals with many hot-button issues like homosexuality, celibancy, pre-marital sex and forgiveness.

I enjoyed the movie and gave it a seven out of 10. I graded it down for the way it treated homosexuality as a moral issue, treating it almost as one would treat an addiction to alcohol, by faith and celebancy. . I know that many think it is immoral. I would guess that is the prevailing view among many evangelicals. I consider myself a Christian who wears the cloak lightly. I am not one to ask if you have made Jesus your personal savior. I count several men among my friends who are gay and believe as I do that it was not a lifestyle choice, but biological; they were born that way.

I would recommend seeing the movie for anyone able to understand the concepts.

The DVD Hidden Secrets was brought to my attention by Active Christian Media, formerly known as Mind & Media, and founded by Stacy L. Harp. ACM was created with the purpose to help publishers, authors and others in media, use the blogosphere to promote their books and other products. The name change happened in March 2006, in order to incorporate Stacy’s passion for activism and media. At my request I was sent the DVD from Pure Flix Entertainment to review. The movie will hit theaters April 30th. For the trailer see www.hiddensecrets-themovie.com

Hidden Secrets Carey Scott Christain Mover Mike

Update:

Jack Bog's Blog carries a letter from Jesus that Jack says has been circulating on the net. First I've seen of it. In the letter Jesus gives us 10 suggestions for holiday actions. Number six hit home for me.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile. It could make the difference. Also, you might consider supporting the local hotline. They talk with people like that every day.

We know that flipping someone off on the freeway can bring on "road rage". I never thought about the rippling effect of an act of love in quite this way.

Jesus Mover Mike

I feel like I've been on a journey these past few years and for me some things have just become clear. The firstt eye opener was this argument from The Copper Scroll by Joel Rosenberg;

Logically, Natasha knew she had only two choices: either Jesus was the Messiah or He wasn't. If he knew He wasn't, then He was a liar, not the good man or moral teacher she'd always described Him as. Then again, if Jesus wasn't the Messiah but thought He was, then He was crazy, a lunatic, a nut case, not worthy of a second thought.

But she'd read the New Testament in college and the Christ whose life she'd read about didn't strike her as deceptive or delusional. To the contrary, she saw a man of love and compassion, someone who was kind to children and willing to take on the religious hypocrites of the day on behalf of the poor and the unloved and the widows. She saw someone humble and wise, someone with the ability to do miracles that astounded even His most bitter skeptics.

Jesus claimed "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6.

Steve Bainbridge, a TCS Daily Contributing Editor and a Professor of Law at UCLA, explains how C.S. Lewis put it of this claim: "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of thing Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

If we take Him at his word, then it is true, No one comes to the Father except through Me. That was the message of Pope Benedict XVI and that's the conclusion I have come to.

Then from a comment to A Shot Across Many Bows at TCS by Robert Bennett:

Beatitudes

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Bennett says, "I noticed something in this passage that shocked me: The meek inherit the earth, but it's those who are persecuted because of righteousness who will inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Why the difference? Right & wrong versus meek, of course.

When one who is righteous defines what is right, he also defines what is not right and what is wrong. This is perilous, especially if one's community is on the wrong side of one's definition, which is just as true today of Christ's followers as it was in the early church. The prevailing reaction to Benedict's comments exhibit this truth perfectly.

In contrast, a meek person defines what is right as, "Whatever works for me is right, so whatever works for you and everyone else must be right as well". Accordingly, meek folk have inherited this earth, purchased with the coin of relativism which, because it attempts to store all values, is without value.

I feel I have just discovered some very great truth here and it sends shivers up and down my spine.

Pope Benedict XVI Christianity Joel Rosenberg The Copper Scroll Mover Mike

Update:

Now this is a strange tale.

CNN reports an engineer in Dublin, Ireland was

digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer, he spotted something."

It was a book of Psalms and archeologists think it is from the time of 800 to 1000 AD. It is odd that it could have survived in the bog for that length of time and odd that it was unearthed and not destroyed. The real strange thing is that

the book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

Jerry Jenkins along with Tim LaHaye and Joel Rosenberg spoke with CNN's Kyra Phillips about whether this is a signal of the "end times". Jenkins and LaHaye are co-authors of the left behind series of novels detailing the rapture. Joel Rosenberg is a geopolitical writer who has specialized in novels that interpret the prophesies as it relates to Israel and the Middle East. Rosenberg's latest novel is The Copper Scroll.

Psalm 83 Dublin Ireland Jerry Jenkins Tim LaHaye Joel Rosenberg Mover Mike

So, I'm visiting with Craig at the Grant dog park in Portland, Oregon. Craig is a musician, plays the guitar, a passable blues harp, and he knows that Syd Barrett died this week.

Craig is working on an album and was interested in promoting his work through blogs. That led us to a discussion of "Music Blogs" and the democratization of the business and the "long tail". Everyone, NOW, can now be published or recorded, but how do you get the attention needed to be financially successful?

Craig cited as an example a friend of his Dana Dirksen. She started writing music for a Christian school where her children go, to help them learn the Psalms and the catechism. She recorded the songs with children in a nice looking album. Craig says her voice is clear like crystal, a little like Alison Krause, a voice that is instantly recognizable even singing in a crowd. Her voice comes through like a beacon. Her husband, an exec at Realspace, designed a website for her: Songs for Saplings.

Intrigued, I found the website and downloaded the available songs. I was impressed and you will be, too.

From her website:

This CD, Questions With Answers: Vol. 1: God and Creation, is a great way for parents to teach their children about God and His creation. Using an adaptation of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, this CD teaches basic Bible truths and helps young children memorize scripture. Each song is formatted with a question, answer, scripture reference, and scripture. 'Volume 1, God and Creation' is about the attributes of God and His creation."God has given us an amazing gift by making these truths known to us. We hope you enjoy singing with your children these truths from the Bible.

The CD is available through Monergerism Books for $15.00>

Dana Dirksen Christian Music Songs for Saplings Mover Mike

Many radical Muslims are upset over the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. Michelle Malkin has links to the larger series of pictures on her site.

If you were only reading the news, you would miss the real story: a message of hope! Many muslims are quitting the Muslim religion and converting to Christianity.

Joel Rosenberg writes on his blog EVANGELICAL INFLUENCE ON THE RISE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Did you know there are at least ten different evangelical Christian satellite TV networks now beaming their programming into the Middle East? Or that evangelical Christian websites in Arabic and Farsi are springing up by the hundreds and being visited by thousands every day, including Saudi sheikhs and Iranian mullahs? Did you know that more than one million Sudanese have become followers of Christ just since 2001. Not despite of the genocide, but because of it.

"People see what real Islam is like and they want Jesus instead," one Sudanese leader told me. Indeed, the church there is growing so fast new pastors are having to be trained in make-shift seminaries held in caves!

George Bush says people have a hunger for freedom, for liberty. If Rosenberg is right, how can a message of hate have more power than a message of love? It can't and we might want to be more optimistic.

Prophet Mohammed Christianity Joel Rosenberg

On Dec 7th, I wrote Portland Archdiocese Bankruptcy Update in which I outlined the job of Judge Elizabeth Perris was to decide which applies in the bankruptcy case, secular or canon law. Judge Perris has made her decision.

(She) today ruled that Catholic parishes and schools in Western Oregon are not separate from the Archdiocese of Portland.

The decision by Judge Elizabeth Perris was largely a victory for plaintiffs who are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in priest sex-abuse claims.

There is no constitutional requirement that internal church law be considered in determining a purely secular dispute.

The Archdiocese had tried to settle the claims for $53 Million on 130 claims with dozens more frozen pending settlement of bankruptcy issues. This decision would seem to mean that all properties of 124 parishes are now available to settle claims.

Catholic bankruptcy Mover Mike

Some new shows coming to TV, unless, that is, you tyurn off your set or switch channels or read a book.

The first, is The Book of Daniel premiering on NBC on January 6.

The Book of Daniel is a serious drama about Christian people and the Christian faith. The main character is Daniel Webster, a drug-addicted Episcopal priest whose wife depends heavily on her mid-day martinis.

Webster regularly sees and talks with a very unconventional white-robed, bearded Jesus. The Webster family is rounded out by a 23-year-old homosexual Republican son, a 16-year-old daughter who is a drug dealer, and a 16-year-old adopted son who is having sex with the bishop's daughter. At the office, his lesbian secretary is sleeping with his sister-in-law.

The second show is on HBO called Big Love, a show about a religiously devout and otherwise ordinary family that just happens to be polygamous. Stanley Kurtz at NRO writes

Hollywood is likely suggesting that Americans ought to get over their hangups about family structure and recognize that families should be anything we want them to be. Even polygamists can be “virtually normal.” As series co-creator Mark Olsen says in the Newsweek piece, “It’s everything that every family faces, just times three....The yuck factor disappears and you just see human faces. We found it to be a mother lode.” So this would seem to confirm the link between same-sex marriage and polygamy, except that here same-sex marriage is not being used to legitimate polygamy. No, polygamy is being used to legitimate same-sex marriage! In other words, gay marriage and group marriage are mutually reinforcing, and both depend upon the larger view that families ought to be whatever people want them to be.

Will viewers turn out to watch these two shows? Odds are that one will be cancelled and the other will get Emmy nominations. Yuck!

Is He trying to tell us something?

A Florida restaurant says it has been blessed just before Christmas.
Workers claim a holy image has appeared in one of their cooking pans.
At the Stadium Club in Jacksonville workers have found what they believe is an image of Jesus in a nacho warming tray.
The pan is used to heat water which then heats the food.
The image was created from mineral deposits in the water.
One of the cooks says he went to empty the pan last night and saw Jesus looking back at him.
A spokesman for the Stadium Club says they will not continue to use the pan.

From the SacBee, Judge: School pledge is unconstitutional (you may have to register).

Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was declared unconstitutional Wednesday by a federal U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton, ruling in the second attempt by an atheist to have the pledge removed from classrooms. The man (atheist Michael Newdow) lost his previous battle before the U.S. Supreme Court.

[...]

The Supreme Court dismissed the case last year, saying Newdow lacked standing because he did not have custody of his elementary school daughter he sued on behalf of.

Newdow, an attorney and a medical doctor, filed an identical case on behalf of three unnamed parents and their children. Karlton said those families have the right to sue.

So this US Federal District Judge goes into a talent scout and says, "I have a great act for you!"
"What do you do? says the talent scout.
"Well," says, the judge, "I bend over in public and ---k myself in the --s."
What's the name of your act?
"The Aristocrat!"

My afternoon naps not only serve as a time to refresh, but to think or reflect. As I lay there, I thought about Amber, our golden retriever, who died suddenly on March 5th. My mind drifted to a section of Grant Park, where my wife and I and Amber had had some good times. We scattered some of her ashes there and the rest we put in a ceramic two piece dog. My eyes went to the container on top the dresser. I thought it strange that the dog we knew for eight years was just gone!

I knew that the ashes in the container are not Amber. And of course I not only felt grief, but guilt. Could I have recognized her sickness earlier? When she was younger she could leap up on the bed. When we got a new bed that was 8 inches higher, she was no longer able to. At night she would signal us she wanted up and we would move a bench to the bottom of the bed and she would use that as a step. In the last year, she signaled she wanted up, but even with the bench, needed coaxing. Again, I wondered if she had a soul, and where it was.

I posted about a book I finished called Eye of the Pyramid by Terry l. Krohn. On page 195-196 Esau, The Gifted One, is asked to

search out the mind of this prophet in Jerusalem and make him see the benefits of our Society.

Later when asked if he had searched out Jesus, will he join us, were you able to sway his thoughts, "The Gifted One breathed deeply and then exhaled. He looked directly into the master's eyes and spoke slowly, his words carrying a melodius tone"

Master, my power is but a grain of sand and His all the sands of the Earth, my thoughts a drop of water and His all the oceans of the world. The tides would stop; the sun would hide its light, would He but ask. The very air He breathes is loath to leave His body; the food He eats nourishes Him with unbridled joy.

He sees my thoughts through mine own heart, mine own mind, my very soul; His presence in me is benevolence incarnate, my ecstacy at His spirit's gentle touch beyond humble words. I am but a man; He is so much more.

Even had I the power to act against Him, I could not, His kindness is so strong, His compassion a force far stronger than the greatest of mountains, the whole of the earth.

So, there I lay, all this running through my head and I glanced again at the ceramic dog. Suddenly, this thought hit me. Why do I look for her among the dead?

With a little help I found this passage in Luke 24:

1 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen!

The passage from Luke had another meaning for me. It is easy to look back and focus on regrets, mistakes, and sins, but there is no life there. He knows what love is in my heart. And, reading the passage from the Eye of the Pyramid filled me with knowledge of His love and magnificense. Amber can't help but be in good hands and filled with His love. Bev and I are ready to share this good life with another furry friend.

Krohn

Do you have a "cousin Ginger", who sends you "nasty" stories. I can just hear her chuckling as she slaps my name on her email, "Mover Mike will like this!" In fact I do like her stories. Stories that seem to have picked up every email address, a visual 6 degrees of separation, from my cousin.

Here's an example of a Ginger email:

When someone puts in for Child Support, the proper thing to do is to find out who the father is and see why he is not providing support. Here is an example of the replies that Dallas women have written on Child Support Agency forms in the section for listing father's details.

I cannot tell you the name of child A's dad as he informs me that to do so would blow his cover and that would have cataclysmic implications for the economy. I am torn between doing right by you and right by the country. Please advise.

or

So much about that night is a blur. The only thing that I remember for sure is Delia Smith did a program about eggs earlier in the evening. If I'd have stayed in and watched more TV rather than going to the party at 146 Miller Drive, mine might have remained unfertilized.

Once in a while, there is some true wisdom, in her emails. Yesterday I received this email from Ginger:

Why is it that our children can't read a Bible in school, but they can in prison?

Why do I have to swear on the Bible in court when the Ten Commandments cannot be displayed in a federal building?

We have a new Pope, German, Joseph Ratzinger! COMING GERMAN POPE? predicted by The Trumpet.com

As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the infamous Inquisition, he holds the most influential position in the Catholic Church under John Paul. The department he controls oversees moral and theological issues and is responsible for enforcing church doctrine or fighting heresy,...

The Church took a turn to the right under Pope John Paul II and I am not surprised that whomever was chosen continues on the same road. Remember one American Bishop chosen by Pope John Paul II was asked about the many straying Catholics in the US. And the young Bishop said in effect, to be Catholic is to be Pro Life, anti-Euthanasia, anti-birth control, anti-priests marrying, and anti-homosexual. If you do not believe that way, maybe you should leave the Church.

I suspect the church will get a lot more confrontational, preaching not only on those issues, but against moral relativism. For Catholics, no more "two from column A, and one from column B" Makes sense to me. Why would I belong to an organization, if I agreed with only part of the rules? The liberals in the world are going to have fits. Senator Kerry may want to get legal council to defend against charges of heresy.

You should know that on my sidebar is a logo for Mind & Media Exclusive Reviewer. I have agreed to review books of my choosing from a list supplied by Stacy Harp at Mind & Media. They are Christian books. In return for reading and writing a review on my site, Mover Mike receive a listing on the Mind & Media site. I chose to read The Jordan Tracks by Steven W. Wise. I haven't finished the book, but let me say that it tells about a mother Christa Bates and her son Aaron, who is a Marine in Vietnam in 1968. The two share a strong Christian faith. The boy's father Ernie "could only invoke a spirit world that he knew existed, but did not trust." I could have been Aaron in 1968 and I could be a father or a grandfather of a Marine in Iraq. The book is available at Amazon.com You can read it along with me.