My wife has a good voice and a good ear for music and she wants to join the church choir and of course she should. The problem is that she will not join the choir unless I join as well, even though she knows I cannot sing a lick (unless I am jointly singing “American Pie” at some wedding).

Joining the church choir is difficult for me since I cannot even read music and my voice is different everyday. If I try to look at the notes in the song book I often lose the words as well. Even when I am in the pews they are often already on the third stanza by the time I get the hymnal open to the right page and get my reading glasses on. (I don’t even have a decent pair of reading glasses because the $5 pair I got from Wal-Mart’s years ago is now too weak and the price for a new pair went up to $20!  As thrifty as I am I do not want to pay twenty bucks for a pair of $5 reading glasses!)

Some days in church I can hardly hear myself sing but maybe that is because I am half deaf. Maybe I should take the hearing aids the VA issued out of the drawer but I don’t know what use they would be in my ears since I cannot hear as good with them on. I used to have a hearing aid that almost worked until it stopped working. That’s when the VA told me they now have more advanced hearing aids and I needed hearing aids for both ears. Problem is, I  never could hear anything with the new hearing aids they gave me and the batteries die after a few hours. So you might as well put corks in your ears (that’s probably not a bad idea in some cases, and now you know why some people like hearing aids)

When I am singing  I often wonder what the person in front me is really hearing coming out of my mouth. I never can reach those high notes so often in the middle of the song I have to drop down to a lower key (if that is what they call it). I don’t know if you are supposed to do that but what other alternative does a person have if they do not have the vocal range required in the song?

I guess I could just sing the base notes if I could follow them (they usually are not near the words). Anyway, I tried that and I always run out of air trying to get enough wind across my vocal cords to make enough sound to be heard in that lower frequency. People who sing base must have huge lungs or amplified vocal cords. I read where some professional singers now have sound systems that modifies their pitch when they get off key before it even comes out of the speakers. Maybe everyone in the choir could sing into that system. I guess that two hundred thousand dollar church sound system will have to be replaced with a two million dollar system. But, if we are singing to the Lord I guess the music committee board could make a strong case for the expense.

I am pretty sure that we will start working on a Christmas cantata soon. I found practicing for cantatas are about as much fun as hunting for snipes on a rainy night in Georgia. I always expect to hear the choir director to tell me to just move my lips and not sing. The choir directors always think you can read music and actually figure out how to get back to the start of the next stanza.    Singing the wrong words is pretty hard to fake.  Someone needs to write a book called “Choir for Dummies”.  I think to  join the choir you should have to pass a course called Choir 101. That would leave me out.

Heck, half the time I cannot even spell the word choir and no wonder everything about music is so confusing. Music is really a different language.  I tried learning  Spanish a couple of times in my spare minutes and I still haven’t a clue what anyone is chattering about. Mexicans speak so fast their words get past your brain before your ears hear them. I guess with their large families they have to say everything they know as fast as they can without ever taking a breath, because as soon as they take the breath they lost their turn in line. But I digress, learning music at choir practice is much like trying to learn German by singing German beer garden songs.

I know I am going to be forced to join the choir, it has happened before. There really is no free will here! I really see no way out unless I can fake laryngitis for the duration.

I do have some food for thought though. Everyone in church should just join the  choir and then the pastor could preach to the choir from the back of the church.  It is logical because then they could just decide to switch sides and the choir problem will be solved and the pastor could literally preach to the choir. Think about it.

I probably should be writing on something more important today like how fascist communists and hedonism are taking over America but all the astute people that read my blogs are already aware of that.  So instead I want to bring up some recent contemplations about church practices in America. What I say here is meant to be taken as food for thought; it is not meant to insult anyone and you certainly do not have to agree on my thoughts on church practices in America.

Contemplation one - I am told by Good Authority (a medical professional) that one of the number one ways of spreading disease is by shaking hands. This is especially true in cold and flu season. Yet, most church practices in America include a ritual where everyone is supposed to go around shaking hands. I know that James, Peter and John gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas but the climate is healthier in Israel. I do understand that this is a hospitality gesture but I really would like to stay out of the hospital. Last week about half of my church was out because of illness. Is there any connection to the hand shaking connection?  Maybe the churches should pass out white gloves at the church door or put alcohol dispensers on the backs of the pews (to wipe your hands – not to drink!) or perhaps we could start a new church practice and just bow to each other like the Japanese?

Contemplation two - Some American churches are hugger churches. I have been in those, and I have nothing against hugging practices if you actually know the huggie.  However, I am told by Good Authority that you can got more diseases in these hugger churches than you can in the shaker churches. Besides the airborne and hand shaking diseases, Good Authority tells me you risk getting head lice and could even getting scabies from hugging. Good authority also tells me it is more of a problem in some parts of America than others and it might depend on the hygiene habits of the people of the area. While I am on this subject, maybe I should tell you that Good Authority also tells me you can get these little critters from upholstered  pews and chairs. I guess you will have to take the risk if your going to be in a hugger church since American churches cannot put a decontamination room at the door. Now don’t those hard wooden pews and metal chairs suddenly sound more comfortable?

Contemplation three - Why is it that the first three rows in church are almost always empty as if the pastor spits? Perhaps people are looking for safety in numbers or they feel unworthy to sit up near the man of God. Or maybe they just don’t want the rest of the church to think that they think that they are holy enough to be sitting in the front of the church. Anyway, it seems to be a place where few have dared to go, and I do not think I am going to become one of the first pioneers. (I actually do know a guy who always sits in the front row, however, he also likes to believe that he is a Star Trek Captain)

Contemplation four - Why do some people let their small kids crawl under church pews? It’s not very sanitary and is annoying to others. What is the attraction for kids anyway? In my day, growing up as a Catholic, if I even got off my knees at the wrong time, the nuns would have picked me up by my ears (which is why they stand out a bit). I am not saying we should go overboard on discipline, but maybe the American church should not be a McDonald’s playhouse either.

Contemplation five - Why do some people have their names on the pew? They are not usually visible but most eventually come to see the  invisible names on their pew. Americans often sit where they always sat and God forbid if someone else takes their spot (go ahead, make my day!). I think the thinking about assigned seating may have been burned into the brain of some kids during early church Sunday school. There probably is some direct correlation to how early one attended a Sunday school that assigned seats.

Contemplation six - Why are most Bible studies in America broken up into small age groups?  Supposedly wisdom comes with age so wouldn’t it be a better church practice to mix the old with the young?  Remember that kid that fell out of the window when Paul was teaching? If he was in our churches in America today, he would be in a youth group coloring the animals on Noah’s ark.

Contemplation seven - What has happened to attendance on Sunday night and Wednesdays? Many churches in America do not even have a gathering anymore because so few will attend. Is it really about spending time with the family or spending time in front of  the TV? Most do not have children in the house anyway, you know. Why is it that in third world countries where they have lots of family around, the Christians meet almost every night? I guess they do not have 200 TV channels to watch.

Contemplation eight - What, pray tell, is so hard about using Power Point that the next picture of the words always come up a bit too late for the congregation to sing them? I have seen this practice in more American churches than not. I will give the Power Point operators a little lesson since nobody seems to be giving any free lessons in America these days. You hit the computer key for the next picture while people are still singing the last line of your last picture. You church leaders in America might even have the power point operator go to choir or worship team practice, so he/she becomes familiar with the songs and the timing, and maybe discover while there is still time to correct the situation, that one of the songs is missing entirely!

Contemplation nine - Why do many American churches take collections in Sunday school as well as the worship service? I thought people attending the Sunday schools also were attending the worship service? Nevertheless, the usual American church practice is some envelope goes around in class and some put in a buck or two. I always just pass it on. I support my church with a monthly check and I expect the church to provide what is needed for the education of the attenders. Why also the big deal about attendance rosters and numbers on a wall. Are you going to give out gold stars? Who started these church practices in America?

Contemplation ten - I notice in many groups that they have the people say their prayer requests and then either someone is assigned to pray about the request publicly, or the leader repeats each request to God as if God were deaf the first time that the request was brought up. Often we are praying about a third party someone that we know nothing about. Is there a model for this type of prayer in the Bible? I know the Bible talks about two or more agreeing, but in context of the passage it seems to be talking about agreeing on some discipline or forgiveness given by believers for believers. I say that because the verses prior to this passage are talking about discipline of brethren, and the verses after are talking about forgiveness of brethren.  How do I really know how to pray about a situation and a person that I do not even know? Would it not be better that the person that knew about the situation and that was asking for agreement said the prayer? Did that person not really do that when they brought the prayer request up to the Church with the knowledge that God is in the midst?

Well, those are my ten contemplations about church practices in America. If it does not give you food for thought at the very least,  I just proved I could count to ten.

King James only and Gail Riplinger’s “New Age Bible Versions” has more than once been brought up on this Blog and elsewhere. I find it incredible that a woman with degrees in Interior design, with no formal training on the Bible, a woman that cannot even read Hebrew or Greek can set herself up as some authority over the best trained Bible translators in the world. I find it dumbfounding that Christians and even some “discernment ministries” would actually take what she says seriously without even reading what the experts say about her bazaar claims.

I can only surmise that her distortions of the truth appeal to those with a wooden head that somehow became a treasure chest full of conspiracy theories. They want to believe  conspiracy theories so bad that they grasp at anything at all if it seems to support their conspiracy concepts. Nevermind, that Gail Riplinger’s sad works have divided Christians and churches for no reason and discredited good Bible translations and translators. Nevermind, that she would not be allowed to teach a Sunday school to the men in most of the churches where she is held in highest esteem. However, in their wooden minds her books support their King James Only beliefs, so she gets a free pass from them to twist the truth in front of the whole world. 

I think all that are promoting Gail Riplingers books should take what James White said below very seriously. It is understandable that certain people like Riplinger would write books on topics that they really do not have the qualification to write, but why are some Christians, churches and forums promoting her? Where is is the discernment that many doing this claim to have??

I think James White says it best in this summery from his review and his debates on Riplinger’s book and claims. If you want to know why Gail Riplinger views are deceptive, silly and lack discernment read the full article.

Why Respond to Gail Riplinger? | Bible.org | Home of NET Bible on-line, Bible Study tools, Free Bible

Gail Riplinger’s works have been reviewed, and rejected, by numerous Christian leaders and scholars. For most, it’s a waste of time to even discuss the issue, since it’s so obvious that she is a troubler of the brethren, a woman who is out of control, setting herself up as an expert on topics about which she knows nothing at all. Her inability to function as a scholar is plain to anyone who wishes to see. The impact she has had in disrupting churches, damaging missions work, and in generally causing trouble, is hers to answer for.

In closing, though, we should actually be more troubled about what Gail Riplinger’s work says about the church as a whole. Where has discernment gone? Why didn’t someone sit her down a long time ago and try to straighten her out? And what is worse, why are men to this day letting her go on her merry way, spreading falsehoods, and even encouraging her in such activities? I have been informed (but have not taken the time to verify) that Mrs. Riplinger was recently granted an honorary doctorate by Jack Hyles for her work, New Age Bible Versions. Can someone explain how a person who doesn’t even have the first bit of undergraduate training in any of the fields relating to Bible translation can be given an honorary doctorate for having produced the most error-filled volume on the topic ever to grace the planet? Is “acrostic algebra” the stuff of doctorates? One may well forgive Gail, for she is obviously deceived; but what of the many others who encourage her to continue on in her path of disturbing the work of the Church? Might not they be even more liable? It would seem so.

Full article

When people ask about my website I often warn them that there is something  to offend everyone on my website. I don’t write to try to offend everyone but it turns out that telling people my Christian worldview makes me an equal opportunity offender. If you  read all of my articles something is sure to offend you. However, if we really could all agree on every point we all could just do away with thinking.

Obviously much of what I write offends non Christians so if your one of those, you will not have to look far on my website to be offended. For that reason I will not get into all the articles that will offend all you unbelievers. People who do not know God cannot know the truth. (See I just said something to offend almost everyone) I will just tell you here how you can know God and how one really becomes a Christian.

Some of what I write offends Catholics because I tell them the truth. (I was once a Catholic and I I know how most in Thyatria think.)

Some of what I write offends Pentecostals and Charismatics. I was part of your movement as well, and I am aware of the spiritual games you play and how you are often led by the nose by control freaks and hucksters. Christians do not need to get the Holy Ghost in your back rooms because true Christians already got the Holy Spirit when they were saved.  (Maybe I  am a Charismatic by any strict definition because I believe the gifts did not cease. But, I do not believe some of what are claimed to be manifestations of the spiritual gifts, actually are.)

Liberal Christians are offended for many reasons. They disagree with most everything I write. That is because I disagree with most everything they believe. I believe the Bible is the infallible word of God and is meant to be taken literally.  (I never was one of those liberal Christians and never will be.)

I write something to offend conservative Christians as well, for example:

I am sure a few of my articles offend conservative Baptists along with other conservative denominations because I like to drink something fermented once in a while and have a hard time stomaching rule by committee, covenants, putting burdens on the poor in the Church, and often wooden interpretations of various Bible passages. (Although, I often am a member of some Baptist fellowship if the leadership actually permits thinking.)

Many of my articles would offend the amillennial believers since I think it is error. I believe in premillennial theology.

There is no doubt that there would be something to offend everyone that believes in Replacement Theology or Supersession Theology

I know I offend post toasties that think the Church is going through the tribulation because they often take the time to tell me I am leading people to hell with my pre-trib Rapture Theology. They tell me Christians will lose their faith in tribulation. I think they are very confused.

I certainly would offend Word Faith Kingdom Now, blab-it-and-grab-it, prosperity teachers with often their Dominion Theology. I think the leaders are all heretics.

I also write things to offend those who have brought into the teachings of pop psychology and just love to have their purpose driven pop psychology book studies in their church.

I even write something to offend some pre-trib believers when I suggest Jesus is not coming in glory by 2019, the Antichrist will not be a Muslim, pagan’s do not know Bible prophecy, you cannot figure out the date of the second coming through Bible codes and that conspiracy theories are mostly hype from those making a living selling hype to those wanting hype.

I write and offend seeker friendly leaders and their supporters and the various emergent varieties of Christians, and I should do more of that.

I write and offend global warming fear mongers in Christianity because I tell them that man-caused global warming is junk science promoted by the world elite to tax them and bring them under global governance.

If you have not found something I wrote to offend you yet,  just keep reading. I am sure I have someone to offend everyone somewhere. If you have a certain topic in mind that you know will offend you, you might do a search from the search box on either the homepage of my website or the homepage of this World and Church Trends and Bible Prophecy blog.

I do try to be an equal opportunity offender.

I really love these people who tell me that they really believe the world is coming to an end in 2012, or they are certain that the Rapture has to happen within a year or two, or that they have the date of the second coming all figured out, or that Jesus has to come before 2019 because of their interpretation of the “Fig Tree Parable”, or based on some pagan prophecy, or the sayings of  Jack Van Impe, etc., etc., but they continue to retain all their wealth like they are going to live here forever or take it with them.

If you really believe what you say you believe on the Internet and in your emails, what need will you have for all your money? Give it to someone who will use it for Christian ministry in the couple of years that you are certain that we only have left.

I certainly could use a million bucks to hire a staff and to set up a modern office and expand this ministry. I would use your money to help get the message out that Jesus is coming soon and warn Christians about all the latest heresies, and warn about the wolves in sheep’s clothing running around seeking wheat to sell baloney to, so the wolves can devour them (with mustard) before Jesus even gets here for supper.

Not to mention, that the average attender in most congregations today is brain dead when it comes to biblical knowledge and understanding, and they really needs to read my shock courses on basic Christian doctrine so they don’t get Jesus mixed up with the Mahdi or some stain on a coffee table.

Others just need to hear what I want to ramble on about (like here) but I can’t be doing much rambling on if I am busy with other tasks that go along with keeping up a website and Blog and also keeping an abode in the deepest darkest jungles of the Ozark wilderness. (We still have to appease and fight off leprechauns and trolls here, not to mention, the government wilderness control freaks).

So if you are so certain that Jesus must return before 2012 or thereabouts just send me one of those spare millions that you know you won’t ever be needing and help expand this ministry. You will not get a tax deduction because I am not on the list of IRS approved charities and probably never will be with my constitution. But what do you need a tax deduction for anyway?

Don’t get me wrong, I am not asking for small donations from anyone reading this or from those who have any doubts about the Lord coming before 2019. I can’t expand a ministry on a thousand bucks here and there, and certainly can’t on your spare change. Send your seed faith change to the TV hucksters. I need really big bucks, like a million or so from the faithful that have no doubt in their mind that Jesus must return before 2019 and so are certain they will not ever need the million bucks. I give no refunds, if you change your mind or Jesus does not return before your date, your just out a million bucks and probably used it for a better cause than you would have. You probably would have just bought more gadgets like one that will allow you to text with your toes while driving  (now don’t ask me where to buy it).

If you do not want to send the million to me then give it to the ministry of your choice or the poor. So, as the saying goes, put up or shut up!

People spouting this stuff about Jesus coming in 2012 etc., really need to put their money where there mouth is and not be hypocrites or else they should tone down their date speculations. That includes the authors that are banking money from selling 2012 new aged baloney.
You can send those million dollar donations to Don Koenig, PO Box 234, Summersville Mo, 65571.

In return I will send you a semiannual picture of my well fed (thanks to you) six dogs and six cats. Sorry, they cannot write you letters. As a bonus you will receive a envelope of fairy dust from the local leprechauns. I think if you sprinkle the dirt… er…I mean dust.. on your upside down St Joseph statue your multi-million dollar mansion will be the first one to sell on your block (not valid in California, Nevada, Arizona, or Florida).

Think the 2012 date setters are not having a negative effect on many in the Church? Obviously this speculation based mostly on Mayan ages and a Mahdi coming out of well is attracting many followers. Some such as the “Gospel Tract Society” now take the position that we are already in the tribulation. H E L L O… what tribulation? I will say it as gently as I can, those who think we are already in the tribulation have lost their marbles.

I do not see a good end result coming from all this date setting nonsense. By 2013 Bible prophecy teachers will be mocked. It is as if there is a Satanic deception (there is) to destroy the message of the soon coming of Jesus through the promotion of those crying wolf based on pagan crap – not the Bible. This 2012 date setting speculation is not coming from God.

I think I understand why people promote their crap and pet theories in books, it is profitable for them. But, why do Christians buy it and suck it up like it was profound biblical truth. Some of us warned that the 88 reason why Jesus would come in 1988 was unfounded but people bought the books anyway and Bible prophecy teaching in the Church took a huge hit because of that. Now we have to endure the 2012 end of the world books and movies based on pagan fantasy and those who only know enough about Bible eschatology to twist it to fit their theories.

The world is not going to end in 2012 and we are not in the tribulation. Like Nathan Jones said in this article “take a chill pill”

The Christ in Prophecy Journal: Gospel Tract Society Abandons Pre-Trib Heritage

The Gospel Tract Society has changed their longstanding view in the last month. Lamb & Lion Ministries was first alerted to the change when the ministry’s successor, Tom Buttram, asked founder Dr. David Reagan to change the wording in his tract “Living for Christ in the End Times” (based on the article) from “Rapture” to “Second Coming.” The second alert came when a friend of Lamb & Lion Ministries contacted the Gospel Tract Society for copies of that tract, only to be told the remaining 6,000 in inventory were going to be destroyed.

Upon inquiry as to why the Gospel Tract Society would desire to change the wording and destroy the existing inventory, Tom Buttram responded with a very startling revelation. “As though someone reprinted my Bible overnight,” Tom Buttram now believes humanity has already entered into the Tribulation and the Church will not be raptured until the Seventh Trumpet Judgment has sounded mid-way through the Tribulation.

after over 80 years of the Gospel Tract Society proclaiming the imminent return of Jesus Christ, they will now refocus their attention on printing materials “needed for all to escape delusion and attack” by the Man of Lawlessness (the Antichrist) and a Mid-Tribulation rescue by Jesus.

the esteemed Gospel Tract Society after 80 years of preaching the Rapture of believers before world judgment has just declared that they got it all wrong, that we are actually living in the Tribulation, and that we will all be attacked (means “massacred,” folks) by the coming world leader — and that is supposed to be a source of calm!?! Just how much “calm” are they now going to spread with their newest batch of tracts?

Secular movies like “Knowing” and “2012″ and books and commentaries and pundits (and the list goes on) are very interested in End Time speculation. Only the overall Church seems to be sleeping on this subject. But, for those believers who are anticipating Christ’s return, a certain hysteria has begun to set in. The people are getting very antsy and have begun chasing after every new theory and speculation that rises to the scene.

Secondly, as Dr. Ron Rhodes once said, we are filtering God’s Word through our human antennae and our fallen nature is putting static in our reception.

Every person believes God is giving them a particular revelation or insight into the Bible that is different than what they once believed — but they all conflict! I get hundreds of emails a week from people all over the world, and many writers purport to have discovered some special insight from God. For example, could the Pope, Javier Solana, Prince Hassan, Tony Blair, Barack Obama, the Mahdi and the entire United States of America all be the Antichrist at the same time? Saved believers in Christ each have a candidate God has “revealed” to them in Scripture. Or, could the Tribulation be seven years long, World War II, the Papal years, only for Israel, for the entire world, and it’s just the conflict in our hearts all at same time? Saved believers each have a position. But, only one answer can possibly be correct.

To use an 80’s term, we all need to “take a chill pill.

Full article

I fear there is another virus worse than the H1N1 swine flu that is taking over America. It is a virus epidemic that infects the mind and it has now spread out of control.  There is something fundamentally wrong with the thinking in America and much of the West today. It is as if a computer virus has spread to humans and has infected their minds.  Specific examples of the symptoms probably are not being noticed because they are rapidly becoming the norm. The virus seems to hinder the ability to process data; the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience, and to think rationally.  I will mention just a few examples that I was exposed to in the last few weeks so you might identify and isolate the virus yourself if those infected should get anywhere near you.

I have been trying to sell a property in New York State and have just bought  a  property in the state where I am now located. Neither of the closings went well. On this end the closing was delayed for a month because of the stupidity of the title company and on the other end the house sale in New York is being delayed by a dumb mistake by one of the lawyers doing the closing. I will not even talk about the minds of some of the realtors that I have dealt with because it is too late for those that are already brain dead (Debbie your excluded).

We had a well known insurance company insuring the property we just bought here (it is the company that uses an umbrella in its ads). They sent an agent out to look at the property and we were told that everything was fine. A few weeks later they sent out a second agent to look at it again while nobody was here and then sent us a letter telling us they are going to drop our insurance  because the wood siding on our house and outbuilding  needed treating and a old chicken coup roof needed repair (no joke).  We then called the independent insurance broker from whom we obtained the insurance and he told us that he talked to the umbrella company and that they will not drop us if we got the siding treated. Fine, we spent almost three thousand dollars getting the wood treated and then sent them pictures proving the wood siding was taken care of.  We were getting positive feedback from the independent insurance broker but he could not tell us if we would actually have insurance  when the drop date was that day at midnight.  So I told my wife to call the umbrella company directly and when she did the umbrella company phone agent said that we were really dropped because their company does not insure houses that burn wood for heat.  Nevermind, that not one word was ever said about wood heat in the letter that they sent us notifying  us they were dropping us. Nevermind, that the only wood burner is outside and away from the house. Nevermind that the first agent they sent saw nothing wrong,  Nevermind, that my wife originally told them we  partly heating with wood when she signed up with the umbrella company in the first place. Nevermind, that their letter was responsible for us spending $3000 to treat the siding.  So apparently the letter they sent us about the siding misrepresented why they dropped our insurance. The independent insurance agent we were going through was also either lied to by them or was just making things up as he went along himself. Since I have the proof in writing I might have a mind to sue them for our costs of getting the siding treated. However, I know if you sue one insurance company under the intrusive insurance system in this nation they will freely exchange this data with every other insurance company in the world. You then will not be able to obtain insurance from any other insurance company.

We went to a county court proceedings the other day because a woman in our area has allegedly been ripping off a charity and we wanted to see the outcome of  her arraignment. I guess I sat through 20 or more arraignments before they got to her case. Most of them were for check fraud. I found out something I did not know. Did you know (at least in this county) that if someone pleads guilty to  felony fraud no matter how many counts there are that they will just require the person that pleads guilty to pay restitution to the victims and the court costs? They also get about 3 months to a year probation but after the probation expires nothing about the charge is retained on their record. So next time they defraud someone their prior convictions will not count! That means that as long as these criminals do not get caught again while on probation they will have a clean record forever to go on defrauding people. Then we wonder why there is so much fraud in America. First these criminals have to get caught, and next the prosecutor has to want to charge them, and then even after they go to the judge he just lets them off by paying restitution, court charges and a little probation. Then in a few months they have a clean record and are free to rip people off all over again knowing that next time they get caught they only will have their wrist slapped again.

My wife had a regional plumbing franchise (named after one of our founding fathers) come out for a flat $45 fee to look at the water line to the refrigerator ice maker and a spray hose on our kitchen sink that was not connected. Most of  the agents time here was spent trying to talk me into a long term contract for all the plumbing in the house. He finally did take a look under the kitchen sink and then he told me that there is no connection for the sink sprayer on the sink so the prior owner probably changed sinks and that is not the original sink. I said there is a connection on that sink and I gave him a flashlight so he could actually at least see it this time. He then looks again and agrees that there is a place on the sink to connect the spray hose.  He then looks in his fee book and tells me that it will be somewhere near $200 to get that working. The agent next looks at the valve for the water line to the refrigerator ice maker and tells me the handle that turns the valve  is stripped so he looks again in his fee book and determines that will cost about $150 to fix. I had enough and I think he got the message when I loudly called my wife and told her I thought you called someone out here that would fix the problems not quote unreasonable prices to fix what I could fix myself for a couple of bucks. My real beef is that he was already here but he wanted to charge us as if  each problem was a separate service call. Frankly, in the time that he made his sales pitch he could have had both problems fixed and I would be happy to use his service again.  Expecting me to pay $400 for plumbing work that could be fixed in about 30 minutes is nuts and to me it seems like he is just a member of a predatory service looking for feeble minded suckers. I flushed that plumbing company.

I had a flat on my Hyundai the other day on a dirt rood in the middle of nowhere. Guess what? After you get the lug nuts off and jack up the car with their toy tools, the wheel does not come off no matter how hard you pull on it. My wife had to walk up a hill where she could get cell phone reception to call our mechanic to find out how they get tire wheels off of this Hyundai. We find out that he uses something like a sledge hammer and bangs on the inside of the tire and rim. That was useful information but was not much help with my problem since we do not carry sledge hammers in our trunk. I tried big sticks, rocks, kicking, cursing, etc., to no avail. Finally a logging truck came down the road and the driver had a wrench as big as a sledge hammer and we knocked the tire off. Otherwise it would have been a very long day. The moral of the story is if you are going to buy a Korean Hyundai prepare to use a sledge hammer on it.

We have been doing a lot of visiting of churches in the area trying to find a new church home. I notice that almost all of the Baptist churches in the area have a six foot framed church covenant hanging somewhere where you cannot miss it (I really think those signs fornicate at night and  reproduce themselves). These churches do not hang the ten commandments, mind you, they just hang a huge church covenant that came out of some old hymnal that certain people blow up, frame and hang on a wall for legalistic emphases. This is a  Church Covenant that only makes sense if you speak in King James and expect everyone in your church to go way beyond just keeping all the ten commandments. One church was actually a top contender for a church home for us until I noticed that big framed church covenant in their lobby and then also found out that their youth minister cannot be ordained or become a deacon in that church because he once had a divorce. Seems they think he cannot be a deacon but he can preach from the pulpit at times and pastor the youth of the church all of the time. I guess the Bible does not say anything specifically about youth ministers so it is fine with them if he pastors their kids but God forbid that he becomes a deacon in their church.  How can people be  that wooden minded in Biblical discernment?

I ran into this issue in my last church as well. There you even had to agree to that church covenant or you could not even become a member and if your wife was divorced before she was even saved and you married her you could never become a deacon. I wonder why members in local churches cannot have the wisdom to discern who is or is not qualified for leadership? Do they have to woodenly use passages that they probably do not even fully understand to determine matters that are meant to be discerned by the local body? Where is the freedom in Christ for the local body to actually determine who is or is not suitable to be their church leaders? Who on earth really knows the spiritual maturity of  people in their congregations better than the people in the congregation and why is one supposed sin of the past the primary rule to disqualify proven people of  integrity today?

Anyway, we could not join the church in our old location without being hypocrites by agreeing to that covenant and I never could get them to change their membership requirements even after attending the church for over a year. In that time, they hired and fired a pastor and I had no vote in the matter. So when we moved here I had already decided that I am not going to keep attending any church where I cannot be a member (without being a hypocrite). So the church search still goes on for us because many Baptists want to display on the wall that they lack freedom to use their own spiritual discernment.

Anyone ever try to change a direct deposit routing with Social Security? Totally nuts! It seemed like I was speaking to a female version of  Hal, in ” 2001 A space Odyssey”.  This Ro-bot (lets just call her Ro) must have asked me about thirty questions most requiring spelling of names or a series of numbers that Ro would repeat back and ask if it was correct. Only thing, Ro was no Hal, Hal understood English pretty good and even though I thought I was talking English to Ro she kept reading back numbers and letters that I never said. This conversation with Ro went on for about a half hour. I still wonder what bank Ro actually will send my direct deposit to since the one thing that Ro never repeated back was the bank routing number. Maybe Ro and Bo (her male counterpart) have their own account for funds with wrong routing numbers and they intend to use it to buy Cray’s as their offspring.

Every time I go into Wal-Mart these days there is something to remind me that prices keep going up even though the government tells us that there is no inflation. Come on.. $4.50 for a twelve pack of soda! twenty dollars for a pair of reading glasses that were just $5 two years ago!  Why are 5 lb packs of water coated chicken wings that once were $4 a few years ago now four lbs and $11? Often the prices stay the same but the packages keep getting smaller. I remember that happening in the days of Jimmy Carter when inflation was running 10 to 20 percent each year but now we are told there is no inflation. So why are most half gallons of ice cream now 48 ounces. Why are 8 ounces of yogurt now 6 ounces? Why are lb packages of candy now 11 ounces? I saw lb packages of lettuce drop to 12 ounces and then 8 ounces in one place, etc ,etc. Do the manufactures really think the American people are so brain dead that they will not notice that they are buying less for the same amount of money? Seems that we are or these rapidly shrinking products would rapidly shrink off the shelves when we refuse to buy these obvious deceptions. Just wait until the value of the dollar drops and all the Chinese produces in Wal-Mart suddenly double.

Believe me there is a lot more I could bring up but I think you get the idea why I think that many minds are infected by a brain viruse. I am sure you have your own stories to bring up as fitting examples. You can if you want. Using me and this article as an example does not count.

Is stupidity the real problem in America? Most of us really did not need to watch Jay Leno ask people questions on the street to realize that many Americans are quite stupid.

The American system now seems designed to make idiots of intelligent people:

If we were smart we would not be spending the most money per student in the world but getting some of the worst results.
If we were smart we would not be spending far more of our GDP on health care then anywhere else in the world and not even covering everyone.
If we were smart people on welfare would not have cell phones, 200 channels on their TV and be smoking and drinking on our dime.
If we were smart we would have small efficient functional governments at all levels instead of intrusive entrenched bureaucracies.
If we were smart our preachers would be teaching us God’s truth instead of teaching us psychology, how to get rich and social gospels.
If we were smart our teens could make make change for a dollar and would have a vocabulary that is more than “like” “awesome”.
If we were smart nobody in this nation would think that global warming is a dire threat to the world or that Al Gore is sane.
If we were smart people would not think that we can cure our debt problems by spending more money.
If we were smart we would not keep making the same mistakes and expecting different results (socialism comes to mind).
If we were smart we would not have czars turning America into Amerika.
If we were smart this nation would repent of its sins and for rejecting God.
If we were smart we would take this advise and start taking responsibility for ourselves
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I cannot find in Bible prophecy where America becomes dumbed down in the last days but I cannot find America in Bible prophecy either. Is there a connection to our growing stupidity and why America is not in Bible prophecy? Stupidity alone may eliminate America as a superpower.

Unless you are stupid I am sure you can fill in the blanks above with many statements of your own. You might also read “American idiots” by James Quinn. Of course I am assuming that if you got this far you are also one of us Americans that can read.

AMERICAN IDIOTS

According to the CDC, 66% of adults over the age of 20 are overweight or obese. That is approximately 140 million adults. Somewhere between 15 and 20 million Americans can be classified as alcoholics. As many as 50% of those on welfare are alcoholics. There are 225 million people over 18 years old and 32 million of them do not have a high school degree. There are 32 million adults or 14% who are illiterate (23% in California, 22% in New York, 20% in Florida, 17% in New Jersey). The United States’ spending per pupil in public schools at $9,266 is in the top 5 in the world. New York and New Jersey spend $14,000 per pupil and one-fifth of their adults are illiterate.

Forrest Gump, when asked “Are you stupid or something”, responded “Stupid is as stupid does”. A person’s appearance does not prove they are stupid. It is their deeds and actions which prove whether they are stupid or not. The terms stupid and idiot are not politically correct in today’s America. Intellectually challenged, IQ disadvantaged, aptitude deficient, brain power wanting, and acumen poor might satisfy the PC police. Let’s take a look at their definitions according to Webster’s Dictionary and assess whether they might apply to anyone in the increasingly socialized United States of today.

Full article

I know that is off topic for this blog but it affects my blog and all who blog about news indirectly.

Rupert Murdoch has made it clear that his media empire is about to start charging people to read Internet news that would include Fox News as well as many others. He also expects other Internet news sites to follow suit. I do not know what world Rupert Murdoch is now living on he certainly is not living on Internet earth. Murdoch has been wrong about a lot of things lately and is losing a lot of money because of such irrational thinking.

Let me make something clear to Mr. Murdoch and those who think like him. Those of us who casually scan the news for information for our blogs are not going to sign up with news sites to pay for the news. Where would we get the money if the big news sites cannot even make money with all the advertisements that they have on their huge news sites? I also do no not see the common casual Internet user paying for news services when all they have to do is turn on the radio or TV or get the news from someone that is not charging. That pretty much just leaves well known news commentators that have big budgets to sign up to get these news services. There are not enough of them to even start to pay the budget that is required by these news services.

The rest of us will find our news from commentary sites or alternative news media and the news sites that do not go along with Murdoch’s plan to start charging.  It only stands to reason that it would be smart for some news services not to charge because one thing is certain. The more news sites that start charging, the more visits the other news sites that do not charge will get. That will increase their advertising revenue. So this whole exercise of charging for news seems to be doomed to failure to me.

If Internet news sites cannot make a go of it by online advertisement I think they need to go broke and get off the Internet. There are obviously too many news sites on the Internet. There needs to be a shake out so those that remain can make money. If there is not enough advertising revenue to go around for all the news sites on the Internet it is only because there are far too many news sites. Charging is not going to solve that problem, Those that charge will start to lose their following while others that do not charge will become increasingly more popular. Therefore, all who wish to be popular news sites on the Internet will be forced to revert back to free news.

That is my prediction Mr. Murdoch. So bring your charging scheme on. I assure you that I will promptly remove Fox News as my home page and that I am not going to sign up with any other site that charges for news either. I also know that I will be in the vast majority. Does Murdoch really not know these things? Perhaps this announcement is really a long term scheme to cause that shakeout in Internet news sites so that Murdoch with his deep pockets can come back with a free service with then far less competitors surviving. Sly devil!

FT.com / Media – Murdoch vows to charge for all online content

It simply amazes me what people think that they find in the Bible and then publish on the Internet. I get emails much too often from people who think they found what everyone else missed in the Bible and it usually relates to some strange interpretation of end time Bible prophecy. There are some people who seem to do nothing but look for cryptic messages in the Bible in order to impress other people with their faulty detective work and deficient analytical skills.

This particular piece published on YouTube about Barack Obama being the Antichrist would be humorous if so many people did not take dumb on YouTube seriously and then just pass it on to dumber to try to convince biblically illiterate people that do not like Obama that Obama is the Antichrist.

I would suggest that before people tell others about hidden messages in the Bible that they consult with a real language expert. If you read the article you will get a clear picture why proper interpretation of ancient languages is not for the novice. Dr. Heiser using his expert knowledge of these ancient languages wrote a book exposing the Bible codes as bunk but some people never stop beating a dead horse and I also expect that we will hear this drivel about Obama being the Antichrist until someone finds a more attractive Antichrist candidate.

Anyway, Dr. Heiser thoroughly debunks the idea that Luke 10:18 and Isaiah 14:12 refers in any way to Barack Obama, so let all the astute Christians put that silliness to rest.

Jesus didn’t give name of antichrist

Jesus didn’t give name of antichrist
Posted: August 03, 2009
1:00 am Eastern

By Dr. Michael S. Heiser
© 2009

A recent WND exclusive brought attention to a viral video that attempts to persuade viewers that there is a cryptic reference to President Barack Obama’s name in Luke 10:18 and Isaiah 14:12. The creator of the video understands these passages to refer to the antichrist, and so viewers are left to connect the dots
between Barack Obama and the great satanic enemy of the biblical end times. Do the arguments of the video have any merit? The short answer is no, and anyone with an interest in handling the biblical text responsibly should dismiss the video’s claims without hesitation. The arguments of this video would be laughed aside by anyone with competence in the ancient biblical languages. Anyone with a solid grasp of the English Bible would see other logical problems pretty quickly.

Full article

During the past two weeks I have been relocating to the Ozarks. The comments are now opened again on all posts. I will be quite busy off and on until I get settled here so your comments could take a day to appear at times. I probably will not have a lot of time for new posts either for a few weeks.

I see while I was gone the nation has gone back to irrational exuberance as if the worst is now over. Don’t bet on it! There is a whole other shoe to drop on home foreclosures and commercial real estate foreclosures are also about to hit the banks. By this fall banks will be failing like dominoes all over the nation.

When the government puts trillions of dollars into the system it has to be spent somewhere and that is why you see some signs of a recovery. The problem is that the government money is not endless and it does not come from nowhere. They are now charging trillions on their national credit card that is already overextended. The next major crises will come when the creditors want to get paid back. Since we can only pay these huge debts with paper money fresh off the printing press it will result in a devaluation of the dollar or high interest rates. That will either make everything more expensive (inflation) or the high interest rates will put us back into a worse depression. Either way, there is no major recovery on the horizon. Things really could get significant worse.

So far health care legislation and carbon tax and-trade legislation has not make it to the President’s desk yet. Lets hope they never do or the costs of those programs will aggravate an already weak economic situation. By the way, has anyone noticed how cold temperature records are being broken all over the world even with rising CO2. The global warming models have been wrong but that should not surprise us since the whole global warming theory is junk science baloney. The earth is now growing significant colder. We better hope that a big volcano does not go off or we could be in a deep freeze this winter.

lets also not be myopic about Iran and N. Korea either. Do liberals really think that if we ignore these urgent problems that this is still not going to bite us in the butt within months? What will a strike on Iran bring to the economic stability of the West?

Someone might be interested in my relocation experience. I loaded a 26ft UHaul truck and towed a car behind it on a flat bed car carrier.  I guess the whole rigg is fifty or more feet but you do not need a special license for a rig that is  longer than a semi. Frankly, if you see someone pulling that set-up near you, you would be wise to get out of their way. Most gas stations are not set-up so they can make a turn in their station. In one place I could not make the turn and hit the post and had to unload the vehicle from the flat bed and get some people to push the trailer back away from the pump and then put the vehicle back on again. Now you know why those posts are protecting the pumps. At one rest stop I could not make the turn in an unusually narrow rest stop for tractor trailers and about tore off a bumper of a flatbed trailer parked at that rest stop. So now I have to deal with that accident report. My advice is to let someone else move you, you might save a little with the Uhaul but it is not worth the risk. Last time I moved with a UHaul a semi hit me in the rear.

So here we are in the Ozarks. It is a great spot to get away from people. I can only see one light at night. We have about five acres of open area in the middle of heavily forested area. I think the house sit on top of a ridge for the view or else they built it there it to try to catch passing tornadoes.

I cut the grass yesterday and that took all day. That was not much fun in the heat. I think I will go to brush hogging most of it  every year or two rather than trying to mow the whole thing a dozen times a year.

The house is nice in some ways and strange in others. In most of this part of the Ozarks there are no building codes so people build the strangest houses. This house has two bathrooms but to get to one you have to go through the other? The one bathroom is as big as a bedroom and has kitchen cupboards and even a double kitchen sink? The pine siding on the house needs work because they did not coat it with quality wood covering so now we need to get that taken care of pronto or insurance is going to drop us.

Of course we only have a 28K Internet connection. That seems to be the standard for rural areas of the country, you cannot even get 56K dial-up. When is someone going to develop long range over the air Internet for us rural people? I probably will have to move to a third world country to get it.

We looked for a Church on Sunday and showed up for the service time they had on their sign. That was a big mistake we got there for the last fifteen minutes of the service.  I don’t think that Church will work out for us so we will be looking again next week. Looks like we will have to travel about 25 miles to find a church that even has a full time pastor.

Hay, the blue grass music on Saturday night was fun.

The gospel according to Rick Warren is to establish a coalition of faith with unbelievers. That is what I read according to what he said to the Muslims. Actually the gospel coming from Rick Warren does not even exist, at least for the people who really need to hear the gospel.

Read what Jan Markell thinks about the latest from Rick Warren and his Islamic Society of North America appearance. I am to the point where I do not not think the guy has anything to offer the Church or anyone else. I simply do not know why Christians call him their pastor, buy his sermons or read his incredible line of baloney. Rick Warren is a creation of the media because he rubs elbows with billionaires and CFR people. It is perhaps time that serious Christians take Rick Warren out of their vocabulary. It seems to me and Jan that Rick Warren is only going to lead people into the harlot one world religion described in Revelation.

An Open Letter to Pastor Rick Warren

Rick Warren told his Islamic audience, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA,) that he envisions “a coalition of faith.” Whether Pastor Warren knows this or not, this is just another term for the coming one-world religion outlined in Revelation 13. It is further outlined in Revelation 17.

Full article

I bring this runner-up Miss USA issue to your attention since it is the number one story on Fox news right now and it shows a strange mindset among Christians in the United States. I have to wonder about the Christian reasoning of Carrie Prejean. She thinks God was testing her faith by her being asked a question about gay marriage? First of all Miss Prejean, did you really pass the test of faith when you entered these vanity contests and paraded around in skimpy bathing suits for all the nation? Does the Bible imply that women should display themselves this way? What do they teach you in that California church anyway?

I suppose your deep faith in God allows body enhancements and I guess you think God also wanted you to starve yourself so you could win this vanity contest? Still, you tell us that God tested your faith in Him by allowing this perverted person that you willingly paraded yourself in front of to ask a question about your position on gay marriage. Are we a little confused Miss Prejean, or what?

For the sake of argument, lets just say you told this jerk what he wanted to hear. How then would you be able to face all the people that you already told that you are against gay marriage? Had you lied you certainly would have been exposed as a liar and even if you won the contest you would have lost. So lets get real here for a change. You had to answer the question as you did and it was not a test of your faith by God. You  put on this Achilles heal yourself when you put yourself in this position to start with.

You said you actually prayed that you would not be asked that gay marriage question? But you got that question anyway. The jerk asked the question because he obviously knew you claimed to be a Christian. Have you ever considered that this was allowed to happen not because it was a test of your faith but because God does not approve of you being in vanity contests?

Also your appeasing disclaimer was really wonderful, “I have nothing against gay people and I did not mean to offend anyone in my answer” Well why not miss Prejean? Homosexuals spread disease and are in rebellion against God and His natural order. If you do not think that will bring negative consequence for this nation you are not reading your Bible. If that offends people that are living out of the will of God, so be it. Your statement of appeasement was right up there on the same level as “some of my friends are black”.

If you disagree you might read this article by Dave Welsh, Should Carrie Prejean be held as the example of a Christian hero?

With Christian examples paraded before us like this no wonder our young people are confused.

FOXNews.com – Exclusive: Carrie Prejean Says ‘God Was Testing My Faith’ With Gay Marriage Question – Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment

In an exclusive interview with FOXNews.com’s Courtney Friel, Miss California says her phone has been ringing off the hook with people offering her support after she took on a question about gay marriage on Sunday night’s Miss USA telecast.

“I have no regrets about answering [judge Perez Hilton] honestly,” she said in one of her first interviews following the show, where she answered that she was against gay marriage becoming legal in California. “He asked me for my opinion and I gave it to him. I have nothing against gay people and I didn’t mean to offend anyone in my answer.”

FOXNews.com: How are you feeling today?

Carrie Prejean: Honestly, happy. This happened for a reason. By having to answer that question in front of a national audience, God was testing my character and faith. I’m glad I stayed true to myself.

Carrie Prejean: I had a gut feeling. I knew he was controversial, and so was the question. Out of all the topics I studied up on, I dreaded that one, I prayed I would not be asked about gay marriage. If I had any other question, I know I would have won.

Full article

Dan Brown, Christopher Hitchens and Ron Howard (of Happy Days are here again) have teamed up once again on their continuing agenda to attack Christianity through presenting demonic half truths and outright lies in their books and movies.

“Angels and Demons” is a book and a movie designed to mislead our postmodern generation that is dumbed down on history and on Christianity.

Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels basically said if big lies are told often enough people will come to believe them. Satan was a liar from the beginning and he continues to tell big lies through people who love his lying message. All Christians can do is to continue to expose the demonic lies and liars and give people the truth that they are increasingly denied through the world’s educational systems.

The irrational lies behind ‘Angels And Demons’

Reading Dan Brown’s “Angels And Demons” in preparation for the May release of the movie by the same name is an excruciating task. Not just because page after page wrongfully attacks the church, but more so because he gets his history and his facts wrong, yet pretends to be intellectually astute.

G.K. Chesterton once said that, if a man doesn’t reason from first principles, he will go mad. Dan Brown’s “Angels And Demons” lacks a principled approach to history, science and religion, and therefore spreads lies and half-truths that have been circulating in the occult world for the last hundred years.

Almost daily you read of some Christian who has fallen for the lies about the Muslims and the Crusades. Brown spreads other lies, such as: the Founding Fathers being occult Freemasons, the church being a conspiratorial institution, the Christian Coalition being wickedly opposed to real science, or the Christian faith being built on irrational superstitions rather than the objective, transcendent logic rooted in God’s Divine Character, and the historical facts and reliable eyewitness testimony that withstood and overcame hostile prosecution and persecution.

None of the facts support any of Dan Brown’s views about Jesus Christ and Christianity, but we live in an age gone mad where people have forgotten first principles.

There is a principle that can help us out of this madness. Trust the ancient sources of Christendom much more than the modern pundits and scriveners. William Tyndale is a much more reliable source about the Bible, or Martin Luther (who did a German translation of the Bible), than the modern heretics running our “schools” these days – and he is certainly a far more reliable source than ignorant fools like Dan Brown or contemporary atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

The traditional doctrines of Christianity are worthy of your faith and trust. Please warn your relatives, neighbors and friends about the lies coming from such anti-Christian bigots like Dan Brown and Christopher Hitchens. There are much better, much more accurate books and novels to read than “Angels And Demons.” And, there will be much better movies to see this summer than director Ron Howard’s version of Dan Brown’s occult madness.

Full article

Dr. David Reagan has been receiving attacks on the Internet for his article in Lamplighter that debunked the concept of a Muslim Antichrist. One of the misconceptions of Muslim Antichrist proponents is that Islam is looking for a Mahdi that all Muslims will unite behind. They believe this Mahdi will be the Antichrist and will lead Muslims to fight against Israel and the “Christian” West. Never mind that there really is no Christian West there is only a pseudo Christian West. There are more true Christians in Communist China than there are in today’s humanistic Europe.

I frankly do not know why Christians believe Muslim eschatology as if the lies of Islam can give Christians prophetic truth?  Perhaps they do so for two reasons.

One reason is because one of the main proponents of this Muslim Antichrist theory recently converted from Islam and instead of properly learning Christian eschatology used his shoehorn to ram Shiite eschatology and Christian eschatology into the same shoe. Yet, only ten percent of Islam even believes the eschatology that this man claims all Muslims will follow.

The other reason is because they want to make biblical eschatology fit the main threat that they see in the world today because they think Jesus has to come within a decade. Sorry guys, but the Lord is coming on God’s time schedule not yours. They fall in the same trap so many others did in history, i.e. the Pope, Hitler. Today the observable threat is Islam so the Antichrist has to come from Islam.

Nevertheless, I keep telling everyone that the Antichrist will be lawless. That does not fit Islam at all because Islam is all about trying to keep the moral law. When the real Antichrist arrives people will believe that He is God and if there is any religion in the world other than the worship of him it will be more like new age and alien concepts.

These Muslim Antichrist proponents have a strawman Antichrist. When the real Antichrist figure comes people will want to follow him like he was their God. The world does not throw a party when the Antichrist arrives on the scene and kills the two witnesses because he is now imposing Islamic law on them. They are rejoicing because He just killed the two prophets of God and set them free from moral law. Are these Muslim Antichrist proponents serious telling me that the whole world will follow some Islamic Mahdi with Islamic moral laws all the way to Armageddon? Give me a break! The concept is beyond ridiculous.

Dr. Reagan in this article points out why the Muslim Antichrist proponents have it all wrong about the teaching of Islam. Ninety percent of Muslims are not looking for a Mahdi and if one came they would not receive him. To think that all Muslims would accept the Mahdi is on par with expecting true Christians to believe that Jesus will gather all Mormons to New Jerusalem in Missouri before the judgment.

Further Thoughts About a Muslim Antichrist

By Dr. David R. Reagan

The January-February 2009 issue of our magazine, the Lamplighter, was devoted to the issue of whether or not the Antichrist could be a Muslim. I argued that there is no possibility.

Several readers questioned one of the points I made in the article, and I would like to respond to the question they raised. In the article I pointed out that those who believe the Antichrist will be a Muslim argue that he will be received by the Muslim world as their long-awaited Mahdi, or Messiah. I took the position that this is misleading to believe “that all the Islamic world is living in breathless anticipation of the appearance of the Mahdi, when the reality is that 90% of all Muslims – the Sunnis – are not looking for a Mahdi. In fact the concept of a Mahdi is not even found in orthodox versions of the Hadith like Sahih al Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.” I further observed that “the Sunni Muslims are looking instead for the appearance of the Antichrist, whom they call the Dajjal. If a person were suddenly to appear on the world scene claiming to be the Mahdi, he would be automatically rejected by the vast majority of Muslims.”

Those who questioned my position on this matter all pointed to two pieces of evidence which they said prove that Sunni Muslims do believe in the concept of a Mahdi. One was a fatwa issued by the Muslim World League, a Sunni organization, in 1976 which proclaimed that belief in a Mahdi is “obligatory.” The other was a long article on the Internet entitled “The Twelfth Imam.” In that article the author points out that there have been Sunni theologians throughout history who have believed in a Mahdi.

On the surface, both of these items seem to prove that the concept of a Mahdi is central to Sunni eschatology. But I would argue that both give support to my position.

Let me explain.