‘ALIVE OR DEAD, THEY ARE FLIPPING GOOD AT IT! Dragonfly backflips described in articles in ScienceDaily 9 February 2021, Imperial College London news 10 February 2021, and PNAS 10 February 2021 doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2676. Dragonflies are noted for superb aerial manoeuvres, including flying backwards, but even the most agile flyer can be knocked off balance or flipped upside down. A group of scientists at Imperial College London studied common darter dragonflies to see how they could right themselves after being dropped in an upside-down position. They found the dragonflies righted themselves with a head-first backwards somersault. Anaesthetised (unconscious) dragonflies also did the same backflip, but were slower. Not surprisingly “dead dragonflies did not perform the manoeuvre at all”. However, when researchers used wax to fix wings of the dead dragonflies into the same position as the unconscious dragonflies the dead dragonflies righted themselves, albeit in a slightly more ungainly way. These results led researchers to conclude that the righting process is mainly a passive result, dependent on wing position and muscle tone (live or dead). Samuel Fabian of the Department of Bioengineering commented: “Planes are often designed so that if their engines fail, they will glide along stably rather than drop out of the sky. We saw a similar response in dragonflies, despite the lack of active flapping, such that some insects, despite their small size, can leverage passive stability without active control.” He went on to say: “Passive stability lowers the effort requirements of flight, and this trait likely influenced how dragonfly shapes evolved. Dragonflies that use passive stability in flight are likely to have an advantage, as they use less energy and are better able to recover from inconvenient events.” The researchers concluded: “This lesson from biology can inspire design principles for failsafe attitude recovery in micro aerial systems.”
Links: Imperial College, ScienceDaily
ED. COM. If aerodynamically stable aeroplanes need to be designed so they don’t drop out of the sky, why would anyone believe that aerodynamically stable dragonflies evolved the same characteristic by chance random processes? Particularly when they are dead. Passive stability is certainly an advantage once a dragonfly has it, but, as the experiments with dead dragonflies show, there is only one chance to get both muscle tone and wing position right. Otherwise flipped over dragonflies would drop out of the air and not get any chance to evolve. These experiments are further proof that design is the only way to fly. If you ever had the misfortune to be in an aircraft whose engines failed you would give thanks to the engineers who built a failsafe glide into the design to get it safely back on the ground. Therefore, the lesson to be learned from biology is there is no excuse for failing to give thanks to the Creator Christ for designing wonderful flying creatures like dragonflies that can keep themselves flying even when flipped and dropped.’https://creationresearch.net/
Bible
‘We are saddened by the 500,000 people who have died with Covid-19 in the USA, just as we are fearful of the abject power abuse demanded by many of the politicians boasting their miracle cure will fix it. As one professor of chemistry told us he wouldn’t even trust his own research after only three – six months testing. Ten years of testing would may be help since by then he would’ve found out a little more of what was needed to show it didn’t do what it shouldn’t do as well.
This editor is old enough to remember how long it took to establish thalidomide was a culprit for deformed babies, and to prove tobacco did cancer. No wonder God’s Word advises us to test all things.
No, we are not opposed to vaccination, nor are we opposed to man exercising dominion using scientific and medical research. However, we are opposed to the gross hypocrisy amongst politicians who pretend life is meaningful when all the evidence over decades of policies in so-called enlightened countries has led to legalising the murder of over six million babies in the last two months alone (Worldometer statistics here). We sadly note the same politicians are increasingly pushing for the legalised murder of adults, in the form of euthanasia for those deemed by the medial elite and by themselves as unfit to live.’ An email from https://creationresearch.net/
‘It seems people don’t get embarrassed anymore. The case of Jeffrey Toobin caught masturbating during a Zoom video chat with colleagues from the New Yorker, and WNYC radio comes to mind. Toobin is a famous lawyer, bestselling author, writer for the prestigious The New Yorker, and legal analyst for CNN.
The media discussed whether or not this would destroy his career since it was “a mistake”; and “he accidentally exposed himself.” No one tried to explain how he could accidentally masturbate. Media types wondered if Toobin would be fired or suspended by the New Yorker and CNN; and “has he lost all credibility?” To their credit, both the New Yorker and CNN finally fired him.
There should have been no doubt as to him getting fired.
I find the above reaction shocking. In bygone years, such a person would have crawled into a hole of humiliation and never surfaced except for his funeral. But with Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner, and many others, a simple statement about “making a mistake,” “planning to get treatment,” or “spending more time with the family” seems to be sufficient. Then, back into the limelight. All is forgiven if not forgotten.
We have seen this temporary embarrassment of a vast number of Hollywood type females who slept with the boss. Then 20 years later, they decide the mutual fornication was actually rape and deserving of a financial payoff which amounts to deferred compensation for a job or jobs well done.
All this may be a weakness in our culture, education, morality, religion, or a combination of all.
I’ve been reading French History for the last few months during my “non-essential” reading at night. I recently read that King Louis XV was so corrupt, so immoral, so arrogant, so thoughtless, so callous, that he presented his mistress at court to his wife, the queen. Everyone knew he had a mistress, in fact, many mistresses, but to introduce her to his wife—at court was simply beyond the pale.
That’s where we are today. People make stupid statements, take outrageous positions, and are never embarrassed by acting so foolishly. They do not see a need for repentance, restitution, and return to common sense, and they aren’t even embarrassed with their actions.
It is shocking, even scandalous to see major corporations, public schools (that was public schools), most of the mainstream media, major sports’ leagues, and famous (don’t ask for what) entertainers support the totally discredited Black Lives Matter, Antifa, Nation of Islam, etc., groups. Unprincipled people don’t have the ability to blush at their prejudices. Obviously, the bar has been continuously lowered to where there is no bar.
Truth and dignity don’t seem to matter to most people anymore.
Truth lies wounded if not dead in the streets, as Isaiah reported.
In the late 1970s, many leading Democrats in California and Washington, D.C., were loud defenders and promoters of the Rev. Jim Jones. Jim was from Indianapolis as I was for 30 years, so I knew about Jim. He was a local (loco) preacher of the People’s Temple Christian (Disciples) Church on the near north side. He did the wedding of one of my oldest friends before Jones became a public nuisance.
Jim was a white, ordained preacher whose teaching and theology would make Marx, Lenin, and Stalin stand up and cheer. He used Blacks to build his wacky kingdom in Indianapolis.
Jim left Indiana for the eternal sunshine of California and set up camp in Redwood Valley. He started churches in three cities gaining enormous power with the help of leftist Democrats, local and national. While in Redwood Valley, Jim taught public high school. During classes, he taught that little boys should be taught to masturbate. (I wonder if Toobin is from California.) Jones also taught against the profit motive and encouraged Socialism. The school system could not fire him because of his political pull in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
None of the Democrats he used (and who used him) ever expressed any shame or embarrassment over Jim’s outrageous claims of faith healings (fabricated) and building healthy families (false).
Then, Jim took his whole gang of over 900 followers to remote Guyana in 1977 after promising them it was a paradise. It became a nightmare. It took constant backbreaking work to get vegetables to grow in the jungle environment. The people were starving. No complaining was permitted. Word finally got to Congressman Leo Ryan of California, who led a media crew and some cult members’ relatives to inspect the foreign paradise.
After their visit, Ryan (who had been dazzled and deceived by Jones), the media crew, and 14 defectors went to the airstrip to board two planes for their home departure. While the visitors prepared to board their small plane, the cultists began shooting, killing Ryan, three of the media, and one defector.
Even nut case Jones knew it was over, so he put his final plan into play on November 18, 1978. He commanded his followers to drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. Some of them weren’t sure this was real until they “saw the babies frothing at the mouth and writhing” and realized what was going on. Those who refused to drink the Kool-Aid were shot. Over 918 died, 300 being under age 17.
Not only did his congregation drink the deadly Kool-Aid, but also major California and Washington, D.C. politicians drank the Kool-Aid long before the final scene. Willie Brown, who became Speaker of the California Assembly and mayor of San Francisco, gave Jones personal support. So did Senator Dianne Feinstein and Governor Jerry Brown, a guest speaker at Jones’ church!
Jane Fonda spoke about Jones, “setting a high standard of ethics and morality,” and Rosalynn Carter “called Jones at her husband’s behest” showing their support. President Jimmy Carter’s running mate Walter Mondale met with Jones in San Francisco.
Yet, none of these leading Democrats felt a need to apologize or explain their association with the worst mass murder/suicide in American History! It seems no one was embarrassed.
It is also shocking and embarrassing that voters did not hold the politicians accountable.
Five-year-old Cannon Hinton was killed by a black neighbor who shot him in the head for no reason, yet the leftist media and Democrats did not show any anger, and no one is embarrassed at their silence. There were no extenuating circumstances such as a family feud or problems between the shooter and the victim.
Sorry to write this, but the black man was simply a cowardly, racist killer. A Facebook group with 20,000 members supports the killer of Cannon with claims the alleged child murderer is a “political prisoner.” They want the killer released.
The self-righteous protesters and the major media are not concerned about Cannon’s death. You see, he was white. Would it be appropriate for me to declare White Lives Matter? How about Little lives matter?
One problem is that many people, including the media, believe the first story they hear. That is obvious since the response to every celebrated shooting of a black has been premature. In every case of a police shooting a Black man, the Black was resisting arrest and often armed. You see, the media want justification for their twisting of the news like a pretzel. They need it to give themselves some credibility.
When Nick Sandmann settled his libel and slander case against the Washington Post (CNN had settled earlier), he was only a teenager at a pro-life rally who stared at a leftist nut case who banged a drum in his face. Some, who always look for issues when there are none, charged the teen with discriminating against the drumbeater who happened to be a Native American Indian. He had a special status.
Few on the left thought it essential to exercise some embarrassment, maybe even muttering an apology for harassing Nick and all the death threats—for staring without saying a word—to a drum-banging nut. No apology was made by CNN, MSNBC, or the others.
Of course, the money helps, and it looks as if Nick is or will be a rich young man.
The media reaction to the efficacy of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is shocking. Many studies have proved that HCQ, when given with Azithromycin and zinc at the beginning of COVID-19, has had astounding success even with elderly patients. The only negative study, known as the VA study, was done without following the protocols. The patients that died all had the angel of death standing outside their room before treatment was begun.
Was the VA study set up to fail? After all, the CDC had promised a vaccine by the end of the year, and that vaccine would help the cause of political physicians.
I believe in a few months, major politicians and political physicians at the CDC, NIH, and WHO will be embarrassed when the use of HCQ will be unquestionable; however, don’t expect them to apologize or admit they were wrong.
It’s not in their genes—or their character.’http://donboys.cstnews.com/people-who-dont-get-embarrassed-are-without-character-courage-and-convictions
I believe the entire Bible so therefore I believe the Book of Genesis and the account of Creation. Now, I am not a scientist who wears a white coat but I know some people who are scientists, are Christians and may even wear white coats for what that’s worth! Therefore, the following is interesting to me as a Believer.
‘According to evolutionary theory, living things developed from simpler to more complex organisms over billions of years via several major innovations. One such big step was the evolution of multicellular organisms from single-celled ones. This is a crucial phase of evolution, because multicellular organisms allow for multiple cell tissue types. This in turn permits more variability in living beings, allowing for mutations and natural selection to supposedly create a larger variety of organisms.1
Evolution in a test tube?
You might have heard evolutionists make bold claims about experiments which have supposedly shown this important hypothetical step in evolution actually happening.
One example involves laboratory experiments with green algae. These algae include single-cell species from the genus (Figure 1). Another algal taxon (group) is called Volvox, which includes multi-celled globe-shaped algae species of up to several thousand cells (Figure 2). Between these two forms there are several other taxa with intermediate numbers of cells (Figure 3);2 e.g. Gonium, which is made up of 8–32 cells. Evolutionists propose that the multicellular Volvox once evolved from a unicellular algal species like Chlamydomonas, through several intermediary stages with progressively greater cell numbers.
The experiment
Researchers took several groups of the single-celled Chlamydomonas and put them into test tubes with a single-celled predator (the protozoan Paramecium tetraurelia) which could consume them. After 750 generations, the researchers discovered that some of the Chlamydomonas had taken on a multicellular form. This way the algae were too big for the predators to eat them.3 They were not ‘fully’ multicellular, breaking apart into single cells before dividing, but seemed to go through a coordinated life cycle. Evolutionists claim that this is a demonstration of at least a significant part of evolution from single-cell forms to multicellular forms, repeating a portion of the history of life. But is it?
The genetics of multicellularity
Chlamydomonas and Volvox are very similar at a genetic level even though they look very different.4 What caused this change from single-celled existence to at least a form of multicellularity in Chlamydomonas? Certain genes necessary for multicellularity exist in Volvox. One such gene codes for a protein which is sticky. The cells secrete this sticky material, which glues cells together, creating a multicellular form. Volvox, the multicellular species, has more copies of this gene than the single-celled Chlamydomonas. It is significant that both species have the same gene, leaving the question unanswered as to how this gene, necessary for multicellularity, supposedly evolved in the first place.
Researchers also found that several thousand (up to 20% of) Chlamydomonas genes behaved differently after the test tube experiments than at the beginning.5 This suggests that the environment (the presence of the predator species) caused the Chlamydomonas cells to take up a multicellular form by switching genes on or off (called epigenesis).
Evolution from microbes to men requires new genes with new functions to arise, but these experiments show no evidence of any such new genes. It was known that the genes for the multicellular form already existed in the single-cell species. In other words, the single-celled form already had the potential for multicellularity, needing only to be ‘switched on’ by this environmental cue. Whether it was enhanced by the natural selection of types with high sticky-protein production or not is an interesting question, but the point is still the same—no new genes, no new information, no evolution.
This process of a single-celled alga becoming multi-celled involves thousands of genes, and it is in any case inconceivable that they would all evolve in such a short time. But it takes only a short amount of time for these genes to merely change their expression and/or be selected for, as opposed to the genes themselves arising over millions of years of evolution.
It is even possible that these algae species devolved from the multicellular Volvox form to the single-celled Chlamydomonas form through genetic loss. This would certainly be consistent with biblical creation, and with the mutational deterioration going on in living things.
Summary and conclusion
Evolutionists would have us believe that they were able to rapidly ‘evolve’ a species exhibiting a type of multicellularity from unicellular forms in a very short time. This would give us the impression that a major and important evolutionary step has been observed happening, and that it can occur easily and rapidly. However, this picture is false, as we have seen. There is no evidence of a single new gene being produced, and not the slightest indication of how the genetic machinery for multicellularity could have evolved in the first place.
When we look at the finer details, as usual we see that the evidence supports creation and not evolution. The evidence implies that these organisms used a highly complex genetic mechanism for switching from a single-celled state to a multicellular state. This mechanism didn’t evolve but already existed, simply needing to be activated. It was created so as to permit this effect.
According to Genesis 1:12, “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds”. Neither plants nor green algae such as Chlamydomonas evolved, but are rather the result of God’s creation. The Creator designed even single-celled algae to be incredibly complex and with a built-in capacity to adapt to various environments.
‘Many Victorians are reeling after the passage of the Andrews government’s ‘Change or Suppression’ Bill. This is the most draconian legislation of its kind in the entire world.
When a man designs a law which is…
- medically inappropriate according to the AMA,
- legally inappropriate according to the Law Institute of Victoria,
- singularly targeting faith communities for things like prayer,
- making parents potential “domestic abusers” for counselling their own children,
- empowering bureaucrats to police, control, and re-educate faith communities…
you have to ask, “What makes Daniel Andrews tick?”
Daniel Andrews is Australia’s longest serving major political leader, having served just over six years as the Victorian Premier. He says he’s a Catholic… but actions speak louder than words.
Let me share some of his policies and public comments to give you a picture of the man…
- Andrews created the nation’s first Equality Minister, whose portfolio is resourced by the department of Premier and Cabinet, in 2015.
- He appointed a full-time Gender and Sexuality Commissioner in 2015 to advocate for LGBTIQ+ issues and they have the ear of the Premier himself.
- Same sex-adoption was legalised in 2015 so that a child can be placed in a motherless or fatherless home by design.
- Andrews was the first Premier ever to walk in a Pride March. He led the Melbourne Pride March in his first year in government and he hasn’t missed one since. Now, in 2021, he has promised that Melbourne Pride will become one of the largest LGBTQ events that there is.
- He opposed there being a vote on same-sex marriage in 2017 because he said it would unleash hate and bigotry. (So, that’s what he thinks of those who opposed same-sex marriage).
- Laws were passed in 2019 to allow a person to change their sex on their birth certificate – whether or not they’ve had any medical treatment – and a child’s sex can be altered on their birth certificate at will.
- A discussion paper was released on a whole-of-government LGBTQI strategy in 2020. Andrews is very clear he wants this to shape every part of his government.
- The Andrews government provided $15M in funding for a Pride Centre that is to be opened in St Kilda in 2021. It will be a government space in which to host LGBTQ advocacy.
- Also in 2021, the ‘Change and Suppression’ Bill was passed without amendments. I have covered this extensively, noting that it imposes massive criminal penalties on doctors, medical professionals, pastors, people of faith, and parents for things as mild as giving advice, praying, or conversations. Andrews said,
“Some faith leaders have been critical of a law to ban the worst form of bigoted quackery imaginable. This is not kindness and love or the protection of a vulnerable and persecuted group. This is not something to be proud of.”
- A government Gender Equality Strategy was released recently. It is something of a Marxist creed, talking at length about colonialism, transgender diverse empowerment, and it attacks gendered clothing and gender stereotypes.
- Rainbow flags have been raised over government buildings on several occasions. Andrews says,
“Pride is not a cold acceptance, it’s a celebration. If you’re a member of the LGBT community and there’s someone in your life that you love, then do me a favour. Next time you’re on a tram in Melbourne, hold their hand. Do it with pride and defiance because you have that freedom. Here in the progressive capital, I can think of nothing more Victorian than that.”
Daniel Andrews will never say something like that to a person of faith. He’ll never say, “Go out there and live out what you believe.”
This is not about equality. It’s not about tolerating everybody. This is about Pride at the expense of everybody else. That is what Daniel Andrews – and his whole government – is all about.
Now, let’s consider his record in relation to life…
- In 2008, Andrews was the Health Minister in Victoria and that’s when abortion to birth was legislated. Victoria led the nation in this respect and, as Health Minister, Andrews played a major role in getting the abortion to birth legislation passed.
- Andrews voted against all of the following amendments…
- Providing pain relief to a foetus that can feel pain while being dismembered during an abortion;
- Rendering medical care to a child born alive as a result of a failed abortion;
- Banning partial birth abortion – the practice of partially delivering a baby and then killing it;
- Requiring mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse victims at abortion clinics;
- Requiring information to be provided about the health risks of abortion;
- Offering women impartial decision-making counselling;
- Notifying the custodial parent of a child who is seeking an abortion.
I repeat, these are all amendments that Daniel Andrews voted against. He said afterwards, “I’m not a Catholic Health Minister, I’m a Victorian Health Minister.” In other words, he doesn’t believe his faith has real application in the public realm.
Dozens of babies have been born alive and left to die since these laws were passed, unamended.
- In 2015 the Andrews government was involved in the legislation of “safe access zones.” That is a 100-metre buffer around all abortion clinics where communication on the subject of abortion in a way that could be seen or heard was banned. This directly resulted in the criminal conviction of a sidewalk counsellor, whose quiet counselling ministry had seen hundreds of babies saved and their mothers helped. Their work is now illegal.
- Victoria became the first state in Australia to legalise euthanasia in 2017 (apart from the brief episode in NT in 1995). Andrews gave the Health Minister, Jill Hennessy, a hug when that passed.
- The Andrews government was responsible for removing Special Religious Education from schools in 2015 and then made Respectful Relationships compulsory (with content similar to Safe Schools). Tens of thousands of students once received SRI in Victoria, now it is rare.
- The Safe Schools program was funded and established by the Victorian government in 2010. The program included explicit advice on sexual activity, being trans, chest binding, and worse. When the federal government announced it would review the material, Andrews said,
“If the [federal] government decides to cut the funding for this program, I’m proud to announce that the Victorian government will make up the shortfall. ‘Safe Schools’ is officially saved in Victoria… I get my policy advice from experts not bigots.”
- Guidelines were issued to Victorian schools in 2015 which banned children from singing traditional Christmas carols that “glorified God.” Students were not to sing any carols which welcomed the birth of Christ including Silent Night, Away in a Manger, and others.
- Andrews is responsible for the Doctors in Secondary Schools. One hundred high schools are visited by GPs and students can get health care without their parents’ knowledge. There are issues like abortion, STIs, gender dysphoria – and doctors don’t necessarily have to tell parents.
- Requirements were changed in Victoria in 2019 so that chaplains no longer have to be Christians – they can be people with any faith, or no faith.
- The Andrews government attempted to change religious freedom laws in 2016 so that religious institutions could not hire staff that would support their ethos exclusively. This was one of the rare occasions early in his tenure when a proposal failed – and Andrews wasn’t happy about it.
- Most recently, we saw Daniel Andrews’ attitude toward Margaret Court. She was to receive Australia Day honours and Andrews said,
“I don’t want to give this person’s disgraceful bigoted views any oxygen. Grand slam wins don’t give you some right to spew hatred and create division. Nothing does.”
(While he bullied a 70-year-old woman to hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers).
This is the legacy of one man’s political career. He has radically changed Victoria, and his influence has changed the Labor party.
Nobody in this country has a more radical and aggressive social engineering agenda than Daniel Andrews.
I hope you can see, as a person of faith, that Daniel Andrews despises what you believe. He has a passion against it that has driven him for years now and he’s getting worse, not better.’https://www.acl.org.au/blog_mi_truth_daniel_andrews?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=enews%20210223&utm_content=enews%20210223+CID_4f8151b991bd10dddb83b2cb5d2e9cf3&utm_source=CreateSend&utm_term=Read%20more
What theory, evolution or creation, is backed by real scientific facts? Creation!
‘In 1973, Dr. Alexander Smoagsburcher through meta-analysis of the prefrontal cortex discovered a diagnostic disorder, thus named Smoagsburcher’s Syndrome after him. Susceptibility to Smoagsburcher’s is hereditary; however, it also arises in its victims from particular traumatic events. For me, it is especially childhood related, but it has sometimes accelerated at other times in my life. Those especially at risk are first children whose parents do not make much of them and accept their behavior unconditionally, and, second, the children who were afraid of doing something wrong out of fear of physical parental discipline. I was traumatized as a child by parental disapproval and my fear of my parent’s physical punishment. I had a predisposition to do what I wanted to do and my parents often said, “No.”
As you read this, I understand that you might be thinking that doing wrong is sin, sin displeases God, and results in death. Those are the worst things that can happen to you. My parents thought that too and wanted to keep me from sin and its consequences. Sin should be punished and fear is good, the fear of God the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of godly parents a subcategory of fearing God. That would be living by faith though. What I’m talking about is science, living by science. “Science is real” reads the leftist value sign. A scientist, and then others, backed by peer review studies, say I was damaged, resulting in Smoagsburcher’s. The theologians, the Bible, the scientists, they can’t all be right. You cannot underestimate the power of a victim.
My parents are still living, which sometimes triggers my Smoagsburcher’s. I’ve read that it would be good to form a boundary for my mental health. The sound of their voices reminds me of being told what they wanted me to do, very often called transactional love by experts, technical language invented by scientists. If I did what my parents said, good treatment, and if I didn’t, bad treatment. I always knew I would be treated differently if I didn’t fulfill my end of the bargain, an expectation of obedience. There is still behavior that I revert back to, that my parents taught me according to this transactional relationship. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and then tamp it down and go back to doing what I want to do. The stress of Smoagsburcher’s is gone.
Smoagsburcher’s causes a stress reaction, even without the trigger. Early manifestations of this stress I’ve witnessed from children at supermarket checkouts, when they reach for an item on the shelf, and their parents say, No. I don’t scream anymore. Maybe I should. It could release the stress, in a sense, ventilate. I had fear of my father especially, what I now know was trauma. It kept me from doing many things that I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to face the punishment. My mom didn’t have the strength to inflict as much pain, and I say that respectfully, not as a sexist. I didn’t hear the word “trauma” for most of my life except for emergency medical technicians in ambulances, dealing with severe physical injuries, but since doing further reading, looking for a better explanation, I now know it’s trauma. Why? The experts tell me that, and by experts I mean people who write on psychological issues on the internet and in self-help books. What I know for sure is that whatever I do, it’s not my fault.
I’ve found popular music is very helpful, because many secular entertainers had tough childhoods too. They express that in their music in a way that I really relate with. The most authentic artists are those who can communicate to their fans the same kind of feelings they’re having. Popular music serves as a kind of therapy for my Smoagsburcher’s. It says to me exactly what I want to hear. When I start to feel the stress of obligation, I turn on a tune and I’m back to my own self again.
It’s painful, but I recall as an older teenager, going to a department store with my father to purchase a pair of blue jeans. I’m picky about my blue jeans. It took me two hours, and he stood there the entire time, waiting to make the purchase, glancing at me, I know, through judgmental eyes. Those eyes were eyes of hatred, so I felt stressed the entire two hours it took me to pick out just the right jeans. A few times, he asked, “What about these?” I knew exactly what he was doing. He looked for blue jeans, actual blue ones. I wanted something less than the traditional, more something that looked a little used, worn out, or what I like to say, authentic. This is very hard for me to talk about, but you, whole world, need to know, not as a basis for doing only what I want to do.
When it was time to buy my first car, my dad rented a car, and let me drive to various dealerships. I liked to drive slow in the fast lane. Everything in my father’s body language said he rejected me. He was against my philosophy for driving. He said in a very calm voice, but I could tell how angry he was, “Could you drive in the slow lane, unless you’re going to pass someone?” I just kept driving in that far left lane. I knew what I wanted to do. I heard him, but I just kept driving in the left lane, until finally I could tell it was coming. I knew it was coming. He raised his voice and said, Get out of the fast lane! That statement, “Get out of the fast lane!” Said in a raised voice. I’ve never gotten over that. Sometimes I can’t stop myself from reliving that moment, I’m in my own car and I have to stop, pull over, so I can spontaneously regurgitate on the side of the road. I breathe into a paper bag that I always have in my glove compartment, to keep myself from hyperventilating.
Not everyone has Smoagsburcher’s, and for a long time, I was just ashamed of this condition. I didn’t want to admit I had it or tell anyone about it. It was like I had a big “S” tattooed on my forehead for Smoagsburcher’s. I was in a state of denial. Rather than self-medicate, as some do with alcohol and drugs, I dealt with it in other ways. I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, far away from people who were the source of the problem for me. Then I wouldn’t have to be under their judgment for just being me.
It’s something I don’t like to admit, but it helps to know that whatever I do isn’t my fault. I’m a victim, first of a hereditary disorder and then a traumatic childhood. I’ve learned that love is, being thought much of. When I’m not being thought much of, I now know, that’s not my fault. I choose friends who will accept me and say nice things about me, think much of me. I’ve left, but when I was on social media, I would allow only “likes” and positive comments. Negative comments elevate my Smoagsburcher’s, and this rejection of others literally does physical harm.
Moving through different jobs with different employers in my lifetime, some yelled at me and treated me harshly. All of this just brought me back to my childhood. I would run football pass patterns as a pass receiver, while my dad threw the football, and when I didn’t run the pattern right, he would just whiz the ball over my head and make me run to get it. If I walked or jogged, he would yell, “Run!” I remember nearly whiting out, fainting and almost collapsing under the weight of that condemnation.
When I was a teenager, I heard this adage, the best leaders are the ones who will best follow leadership. That’s a view that I learned later was seriously flawed. The best leaders are the best servants. Leadership must earn respect by serving those under them. I’ve read a lot about leadership. Now I know a leader must earn my respect and he does that through faithfully serving me. I had some, but rarely to never did I find a leader who would serve me, and hardly ever had leaders who thought much of me, that is, they never really loved me. I won’t have a leader who isn’t willing to serve me. And from this I learned myself a lot about leadership. Sometimes my requirement of serving others clashes with my desire for others to serve me. It’s still something I’m trying to get a grasp on.
In closing, I almost didn’t write this, but I knew there were people out there that it could help, people like me. I also know that they, and you know who they are, will say, “just get over it,” like nothing is really wrong. Don’t believe them. Talk to me. I’m a victim. You might be one too.’https://kentbrandenburg.com/2021/02/23/my-story-my-battle-with-smoagsburchers/
Is there a hope of salvaging the Southern Baptist Convention? Dr. Boys writes that ‘Russell Moore, head of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), is a longtime Trump hater who called upon him to “please step down and let our country heal?” Well, if he thinks America needed to heal because of Trump, I wonder what he thinks about the rotting taking place under Biden and what’s-her-name. Moore is an embarrassment and lightning rod among the rank and file of the SBC. Many consider him a lobotomized liberal.
The SBC has an illustrious past with about 48,000 churches, some significant colleges, universities, and seminaries, plus an impressive world mission’s outreach. However, it is fast becoming a haven for mixed-up blacks, mushy fundamentalists, mild evangelicals, and manly women.
And moronic pathetic, political pundits, à la Russell Moore, helping destroy a once viable organization.
The membership of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination plunged to under 15 million for the first time since 1989. Bible-believing churches are leaving to become what every church should be: independent. The pastors are leaving or closing their church checkbooks because of the group’s decades-long leftist drift.
After being encouraged by the conservative takeover in 1979, Bible preaching Baptist pastors are now pressed to explain why the convention is committing corporate suicide. Astute pastors are aware of the SBC’s controversial deadly issues—booze, sexual abuse charges, pro-Muslim advocacy, extreme Calvinism, emphasizing education at the expense of evangelism, social justice activism, women preachers, radical minority leadership, and radical progressivism led by Trump-hater Moore.
The denomination split in the 1860s when they broke away from national Baptists in the north over slavery. They are about to split again over severe issues just as definite, although not as serious as the slavery issue. One big problem is between militant Fundamentalists and mushy Fundamentalists with some very loud and pushy pastors with eyes on leadership positions in the various seminaries, cooperative mission program, etc.
It seems it is in the DNA of the SBC to make moves in the wrong direction. They did it in 1860, and they are doing it again.
While it must be acknowledged that denominations have no scriptural reason to exist, many denominational groups in their original formation and early days did an outstanding job of preaching the truth. Many SBC pastors have strongly asserted that the SBC is not a denomination, only a fellowship of cooperating churches united to be more effective in doing world missions.
Those same preachers also believe Pepsi will sell for a nickel, Bill Clinton has lived a virtuous life, Jeffrey Epstein was a misunderstood choirboy who killed himself, the coronavirus did not originate in China, and Stacey Abrams is the real governor of Georgia.
Every year the SBC grows greyer and grayer and balder and balder as the leadership is hipper and hipper, gushing over anything progressive like a teenager in his first crush.
People are dreaming if they think the old guys will vote for women preachers, reformed theology, and progressive black leadership. I see a major confrontation soon, resulting in another split.
President J. D. Greear promised to lead the convention in a different direction, and that direction was to the left. Greear teaches that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, yet Muslims do not believe in the Trinity, the sacrificial death of Christ, or His physical resurrection. Greear gives the old-timers constant heartburn. He compared homosexuality to “greed” and “boasting,” even stating that those sins are “more egregious in the eyes of God” than homosexuality.
I heard Greear say Christians should “stand up and be among the fiercest advocates for the preservation of the dignity and rights of LGBT people because we recognize that gay and lesbian people are essentially just like us.” Not like me, J.D.
He does not mention that God destroyed cities for their perversion.
Greear should be less concerned about “greed” and “boasting” and more concerned about heresy or even apostasy!
There was talk of adding many females to leadership positions at the Dallas national meeting in 2019 by the ERLC, the SBC’s political arm headed by Moore. Some even whispered of electing a woman as president of the SBC! Of course, diversity was discussed, and a black pastor led the conference, and six out of the 12 preachers were non-white.
I believe a minority CEO will run the SBC within two years, and he (or she) will run it even further to the left.
As more blacks and Hispanics achieve leadership positions, the theological and political directions will change 180 degrees. It will also be more political, rushing to the left, and it will be more charismatic. That will not be your father’s Southern Baptist Convention.
The SBC has played the Black Card for many years and has jumped into the deep end of the progressive pool. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, declared, “Black lives do matter. We have to say that even more powerfully than #BlackLivesMatter does.” It is shocking that a highly educated and sophisticated man is so naïve.
Or uninformed.
The SBC president shocked many this summer when he urged church members to declare “black lives matter” and denounced the use of “all lives matter.” It is shocking and somewhat embarrassing that so many Baptist leaders could be so uninformed or so far left to make such a racist statement. That snapping noise you just heard was hundreds of church checkbooks being closed and pastors running from the convention into independence they left many years ago.
The convention apologized in 1995 for its past position on slavery and, in 2016, condemned the Confederate Flag and, in 2017, condemned the “alt-right,” whatever that is. The last two resolutions were the brainchild of Dwight McKissic, a popular black pastor from Texas who recently pulled out of the Southern Baptists of Texas and has threatened to leave the SBC. His church averages 1800 each Sunday, and it has a hefty bank balance, so he has maneuvered his way to be a significant voice in the SBC. He leans obviously to the left, speaks in tongues, and is a strong, even dictatorial leader, as are most black pastors—and many white pastors in independent Baptist groups.
McKissic was horrified that some SBC pastors identified with the alt-right, but he doesn’t seem to be horrified that so many black pastors are in bed with the far left. Oh, my, it is so difficult to be consistent.
McKissic was a supporter of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and said, “I’m thoroughly convinced, the quality of life for all persons will be better under Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump. I’m voting for the highest quality of life for all Americans.” Well, the one and a half million butchered babies each year would not agree with the reverend if they were permitted to live long enough to disagree.
Thabiti Anyabwile, a black Southern Baptist pastor in Washington, DC, tweeted that “any ‘church’ that cannot denounce white supremacy without hesitancy and equivocation is a dead, Jesus denying assembly. No 2 ways about it.” However, the race-baiting Baptist did not add, “Any Baptist pastor who cannot denounce Black Lives Matter movement is a Jesus-denying assembly.” Thabiti is a vicious racist who teaches that all white people are guilty of murdering Martin Luther King, Jr. and has demanded an apology from all Whites for that “murder.”
Could Thabiti be Al Sharpton’s twin brother separated at birth? Whatever, Thabiti doesn’t mispronounce simple two-syllable words, and he wears cheaper suits than Al. But then, Al has a radio show, a television show, and almost unlimited finances from a nonprofit organization. He also has a long history of not paying his taxes. At present, he still owes $700,000 in back taxes.
The SBC declares that since each member church is independent, they can put up with significant differences, even theological deviates. However, they have removed churches in the past. The once-great Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga was removed because it started its own college and had its own mission’s program of Independent Baptist missionaries. A Georgia church was removed from the convention because of racism, but will the black racist churches be removed? Don’t bet the farm on it. You see, Blacks cannot be racists!
More than half of new SBC church plants in the past four years have been predominantly “non-Anglo.” That would be great if each church took a biblical stand.
Even without a formal split, the SBC is no longer dominated by white men with combed-over hair speaking with a distinctive southern drawl, preaching from a well-worn King James Bible.
The fading SBC and most Evangelical churches are dying because they are wallowing in diversity and are choking on heresy.’http://donboys.cstnews.com/southern-baptist-convention-haven-for-mixed-up-blacks-mushy-fundamentalists-mild-evangelicals-and-manly-women
Isaiah 22:11“Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.”
‘Since the days of Charles Darwin, over a century ago, naturalists have generally classified living things by their appearance. A zebra and a horse are said to be more closely related than a zebra and a whale. This has been the foundation of all those evolutionary trees that claim to show that all living things have supposedly come from older, simpler living things.
In recent years, some scientists have been comparing another feature that all living things share. Today, scientists are able to look for similarities and differences among the biological chemicals – like hemoglobin. What they are finding does not agree with the evolutionary tree in their textbooks, according to Dr. Colin Patterson of the British Museum of Natural History.
Among the examples Dr. Patterson offered to American evolutionary scientists was a comparison of alpha myoglobin among mammals, birds and reptiles. According to evolution, comparisons between mammals, reptiles and birds should show mammals and birds to be most distantly related. Reptiles should have more similarities to each. However, when humans were compared with crocodiles and birds, birds were closer to humans than were crocodiles – the opposite of what evolution predicts. Dr. Patterson asked, “What’s going on?”
While Dr. Patterson did not become a creationist before his death in 1998, he was definitely dissatisfied with evolution.’https://creationmoments.com/sermons/scientist-says-evolution-makes-bad-science-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=scientist-says-evolution-makes-bad-science-2&mc_cid=6c1db3f0d1&mc_eid=00c1dcff3c
