Addition thought on Mark Twain and the Jews

This would also make me think that prosperity could be a hardening

Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.  (Proverbs 30:8-9 ESV)

God also promises prosperity so it does make it confusing.  The case is made that wealth and prosperity is not always a sign of God's blessing.  When his people (the TRUE sons of Abraham) are blessed that is something different.  When physical blessings are added to existing spiritual blessing, that is fulfillment of God's promise.  That is what I don't see in the Jews as a whole.

Mark Twain, Jews, and the "End Times"

On the radio today, I heard this quoted:

”...If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky way. properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and had done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it.

The preacher in question was going through Revelations (which is actually The Revelation) and pointing out five reason why we were living in the end times:

1. God always keeps his promises...I didn't get it either
2. God has blessed the Jews and quoted the above statement which is by Mark Twain who considered himself unbiased since "It is my hope that both the Christians and the Jews will be damned."
3. Then I had to go inside

So is that God's blessing on the Jews?  Seems an odd blessing to give them that and then send them to hell without Christ.  If all this "blessing" has not led them to Christ then it is part of the partial hardening.   After all

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 

(Matthew 19:23-24 ESV)

How emasculating

Mob Robs Convinience store

What this indicate to me:

• Our society(namely our inner cities) has reached a point where there are few who would uphold the law.  They are forced to obey it by compulsion.  While there are always those elements in a culture, they should be in the minority.
• That personal-protection is seen as duty of law enforcement.  This quote bothers me greatly

  The inclination might be to try to stop it. We don't want people to do that. We want store employees to be witnesses to shoplifting, not victims of assault, says Skoogman.

  And certainly not enforcers of justice. The understanding is that insurance will cover it so let the wrong be done. What does insurance cost? What will it cost? An 8-shot Maverick 88 cost around $200 with some shells. Are we going to be corralled in these stores like animals? Just a few at a time?
• Of course this mob will not likely be "reformed" by our "justice" system, so they will likely move on to murder mobs and rape mobs in the future. It renews my desire to get a concealable 9mm which can take high capacity mags: Keltec P11, Glock 26, Ruger SR9c, Springfield XD.
  

XM25--Gamechanger

U.S. SOLDIERS LOVE THE ARMY‘S NEW ’PUNISHER’ SMART WEAPON

I was struck by the term "game-changer." The game is changing frequently these days, the game of power projection affects the games of politics and economics. This development will make the entry level for warfare higher. Its ability to injure encourages the use of body armor(expensive) and requires the receiving end to have advanced medical logistics (extremely expensive). The fact that it is man portable and squad level firepower negates many of the advantages insurgents have. I pray I am never on the insurgent side.

Satirical infomercial--Eat your Poop!

Eat your BLEEP would be even funnier. A fake infomercial that highlights the crazy arguments health peddlers use. Perhaps investigative reporting that cuts to our fake infomercial. Good looking people eating brown stuff. It would be great to travel to one of these pristine areas and see what health problems they have (doubtless vaccines will come up). The truth about microwaves. Toxic realities. Talk to actual nutritionist at major universities. What does the infomercial sell. A special chair with a plate attached (well made unlike the other guy's chair--oo Hand crafted by the Amish) I just need a budget...and a little more fleshing out.

Arminianism and Pacifism

Reflecting on a recent discussion, I wondered if there was a connection between free will and not wanting to take a life (pacifism). Carrying Arminian theology to a logical end, you would not want to kill anyone because you might be sending them to Hell before they heard the Gospel. A Calvinist could be confident that if he was the means of sending someone to Hell that person had no chance of salvation anyway because he had been passed over by God. Why should be careful to not take life for personal gain or carelessness? Because that is what is taught in the Bible. We need not add reasons. God commands are enough. We should fear God and not the consequences of our actions.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28 ESV)

The destruction of the soul is something which God claims for himself. We need to fear offending God by taking a life in a way he forbid and not fear condemning someone to hell. It continues to amaze me how theology affect our actions and outlook.

Beating the inheritance tax

HOw are my boys going to provide for their families in the days to come? With the decline and death throes of democracy, wealth with be hard to acquire and hard to keep. One thing I can leave them is relationships and reputation. Prov 22:1. That means I need to be confident, friendly, and outgoing. Shucks.