Spent Shell

Flower petals fluttered in the breeze on a brisk day in May. The time since has not dulled the memory of those moments. Taps rang out from a bugle in the hand of a tall Marine on a nearby hill. The melancholy notes uttered volumes as we laid to rest the body of Jack Wayne Murphy, my friend and brother in the Lord. An aged veteran recited dear words that added to the message of the bugler. A twenty-one gun salute wrote a holy ellipsis at the end of the book of a precious life.

While some may not immediately recognize the term ellipsis, we all know what one is. It’s the three little dots that say there is more than what is seen on the page... On that pristine day, seven Marine rifles fired as one to mark the first dot. Again the solemn barrels shouted in unison, and finally a third and final shot pierced the sky. Twenty one spent shell casings lay fallen upon the flagstone and in the grass near the walk.

Someone thought to gather up the spent shells. I think one was placed into the diligently folded American flag that was carefully presented to the grieving widow. Others were given to the teary-eyed children and relatives. As the minister, one was bestowed upon me.

I weep as I hold the spent shell. That casing is a lot like the body that we deposited into the earth that day; it once held a bullet that was released into the sky. Likewise the buried body once held a man—a husband, a dad, a Marine, a Christian brother. The body once held a soul that has now been released into Heaven.

When I hold that spent shell, I remember how the body of Jack Murphy was ravaged by disease in the process of releasing his soul to God. In the same way, the process of releasing the bullet from its shell was a torrent that bent metal and propelled the bullet from its former place of dwelling unto its noble, ultimate purpose. Just as the expending of a bullet is not its end, so also death is not the end of a man. The spent shell is not the bullet. It is only a remainder, and a reminder, of where the bullet once was...

I recently wrote a novel that was dedicated to my departed friend. My dedication said,

For God’s finest Marine, Jack Murphy Sr, a precious soul who showed us all how to live for Jesus Christ in the midst of the worst adversities that this sin-cursed world can deal out to a mortal body. In a vision, yours was the very first heavenly face I ever saw. It was the single most beautiful sight I ever beheld. See you soon, friend. Semper Fi!

How Many of You Already Knew?

When Michael Jackson died many people went online and looked up the words used in the news coverage of his death and in the investigation and memorials that followed, according to Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster. The situation prompted a notable shift in what words were searched most on Merriam-Webster’s dictionary website.

In a recent episode of “Ask the Editor” Sokolowski said that on the morning Michael Jackson died, the most looked-up words were stricken (#1) and resuscitate (#2). By that afternoon, the words condolences and icon also ranked very highly. The next day resuscitate supplanted stricken as #1. For that weekend the most looked-up word was not a word at all, but rather an abbreviation: R.I.P. (for the Latin phrase requiescat in pace, essentially meaning may he rest in peace). The next day emaciated topped the list, and it remained at #1 for the whole week. In fact, on average, emaciated was the most looked-up word all summer long.

I’ve known the meanings of resuscitate and emaciated (and all of the above) for longer than I can remember. I learned those meanings at such a young age that I cannot tell you when. Did you already know? I'm betting you did, and that (like I am) you may be wondering who are all these masses who have to look these things up on a dictionary site.

Disturb Us, Lord - by Sir Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

– Sir Francis Drake
who sailed in 1577.

Sent to me from Austin, Texas
by Roy H. Williams, aka "The Wizard of Ads."

Sent to him from a war-torn country
by Susan Ryan, an alumna from Roy's school, Wizard Academy.

Susan once told Roy and his wife, Pennie, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

"New I.M.mortal" - Latest book due out soon!

New I.M.mortal
By Doug Joseph

Daniel Talbot is a teleporting, spy-chasing, miracle-working immortal who serves in the royal court of Jesus during the prophesied Millennial Kingdom age. It's quite a ride...

Mixing sci-fi with amazing Christian eschatology, Doug Joseph takes readers on a wild adventure in an unflinching look at humanity, demons, prophecy, and salvation. Explore a paradise-like earth where high-tech is not enough. Fictional characters, set in a prophetic age yet to come, watch the ultimate evil arise as predicted, and find out just what they're made of, and just what God has planned to do about it.

Christian readers will love teleporting with the new immortal-especially if you like science fiction, or if you like end-time prophecy discussions. Non-Christian readers are in for a very interesting novel, especially if you like sci-fi. You won't be able to put this book down, and the immortals just might win you over!

Classifications: Fiction Science-Fiction Christian Prophecy Suitable for Teen and Up

List Price: $15.95
Introductory Price: $7.95
Special Preorder Price: $6.99

Visit www.NewIMmortal.com to pre-order at this price!

About the Author:

Doug Joseph is a Christian husband, father, pastor, teacher, and author. He and his wife, LaDonna, have four children. Doug really likes motorcycle riding with friends. He has been known to go white-water rafting, and he enjoys dreaming about what the Joseph family will do once they're immortal.

The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth about the Real Nature of the Beast

This looks like a very interesting, alarming book.

AOL to Class Action: You Can Turn Off Email Footer

In case you missed it, AOL was a defendant against a class action lawsuit, and the company is telling its users (both paying customers and free users) that they can turn off the annoying AOL ads that get attached to the bottom of each and every email.

But AOL coyly sent the information to only your master screen name. They also coyly made it easy to miss, by not giving the email any distinguishing official flair. If you missed it (like I did) because you usually use a non-master screen name, then go to your master screen name and look for an email with "footer" in the incoming address.

The bottom line is this:

Copy the following web address, and then log into each screen name, and visit the web address from each one. You'll be able to turn off the email footer that AOL's been attaching to all your outgoing emails without your permission.

Here it is:

http://controls.api-mail.aol.com/mailcontrols/app/en-US/FooterControl.html

Man Boasts He Went as Jesus Christ for Halloween

While we were on the road during a recent cross-country motorcycle run with a small group of Azusa StreetRiders from West Virginia, one of our four bikes was found to have a serious problem. Its final drive pulley was bent. We located a dealership of the correct brand, and put it in to get repairs.

While we waited (in a customer waiting area) for the right part to be obtained, we could not help but hear some frustrating conversations by some dealership employees. The conversations were downright annoying in fact. These employees were coming to the reception area for the coffee and donuts that were seemingly mutual domain of both customers and workers.

In one conversation, an older male worker, who was obviously rather perverted, forced a dirty “joke” upon a younger female employee. She suffered it with what seemed to be mild disdain. The joke teller was impervious to any reluctance on her part. After telling the joke, he demanded to have her affirm that, “Wasn’t that a great joke!?” She seemed to mumble whatever she had to in order to get past him and back to her post.

In another, even more alarming conversation a young male employee boasted that he “went” as Jesus Christ for Halloween the prior year. I sat nearby, amazed and disgusted, as the young man boasted to his co-worker,

“Yep, did you not see my get-up last year? I went as Jesus Christ. I rode my bike as Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, nailed to a big cross. As I went by, when people stared, I would reach out and bless them with the sign of the cross.”

Because I was wearing my Azusa StreetRiders back patch, which plainly displays the name of Jesus Christ, I realized their conversation may have been a deliberate attempt to bait me. Part of me wanted to rise up in noble indignation and ask, ‘What is the purpose of such disrespect? Are you aware that is my King you are mocking? Have you no fear of God?’ But another part of me remembered certain Scriptures, including “turn the other cheek,” and I also pondered the distinct possibility that a protest on my part would do nothing to deter the young man, let along change him, and that his judgment could and should be left in the hands of the merciful King that he was determined to mock.

Instead of engaging him in public debate about his disrespect, I determined to boldly tell someone in the dealership about Jesus, my Lord and God. As mentioned, I was already wearing a back patch that publicly displayed the name of Jesus Christ, along with an important Bible verse reference (*Acts 2:38) for all to see. But I determined to do more than that. I soon struck up a conversation with a fellow customer, and witnessed to him about the Lord Jesus, by telling him of a great miracle during which the Lord spared me from a very serious bike crash. If worldly people can be bold in publicly mocking our Lord and King, we can and ought to be bold in publicly proclaiming Him.

The Azusa StreetRiders motorcycle ministry actively seeks to help define and provide a godly sense of masculine identity in the face of many ungodly efforts to pervert what it means to “be a man” in today’s wayward culture. Godly men, discover for yourself the power behind the ASR patch, at www.azusastreetriders.com.

Azusa StreetRiders: Apostolic Motorcycle Ministry of Jesus Christ.

*“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (The Holy Bible, Book of Acts 2:38).

Don't Knock Door-Knocking?

I'm just thinking out loud here. (Dangerous, I know.)

Americans are, by and large, a fairly astute lot when it comes to being highly skeptical of anything being told them by some total stranger who knocked on their door out of the blue. I think that whenever someone tries to cram "religion" down people's throats, being a total stranger (while doing the cramming) is like adding insult to injury.

It seems to this writer that Americans are not actually opposed to a personal dialog about faith and spiritual pursuit of truth. Rather, they do seem to be opposed to the aforementioned throat-cramming, which almost never works, really. The key thing is that the dialog must be personal. They just want to get to know you first, as a friend, and decide that they respect you enough (as a person) to be curious about your faith. They just want to know how much you care, before they care how much you know.

Now, here's the rub. You can call it a double standard if you want, but even after them basically declaring (in an unspoken way) that door-to-door, cold-call type evangelism is off limits for them and won't work, they also (even after getting to know you) will wonder whether you're truly sincere about all this heaven-or-hell, eternal-life-versus-eternal-damnation stuff, if you don't act as serious about it as it warrants, e.g. by going to door to door like the apartment building really is on fire (spiritual speaking) and people really need to be warned.

It's like they really want to believe the "door knocker guy", but only so long as he's not knocking on their door, and only so long as they get to know him first in a non-confrontational friendship.

Keeping up a rather futile door knocking ministry is tough for several reasons. I mentioned that it is rather futile. That's major. Because it is hard to get Christians to be the "door knocker guy" whenever they see practically no results. And that's before we factor in the scarcity of family time, and how hectic life is. There's also the problem of people's shyness. People who are shy just fear any possibility of confrontation, whether they're behind the door or in front of it.

One idea that is working elsewhere, and which we'd like to try here, is to just go about leaving door hangers (which avoids a lot of the fear of confrontation), inviting people to a "block party" (a type of community day). Free food, music, and making friends. The spiritual stuff can come in due time. What do you say?

A Little Birdy Told Me (Bird Invades Local Church)

Our church's alarm system (anti-burglar) went off twice this week. The latest was this morning. We found no explanation the previous time. The police came both times. This time the policeman said, "All the doors and windows are secure, but I saw a bird looking at me from a window in the back." It was a kitchen window.

Sure enough, a bird was inside the church. Managed to shoo it out. Nature. Gotta love it. Now I guess we'll be on poo patrol for a while. No one knows how long the bird was in there. We also need to search the outside of the building to try to find ways to close up any gap that may be letting nature in. And pray there are no more birds inside!

Chaiyong Wattanachat Promoted To Glory

Brother Chaiyong Wattanachat, General Superintendent of Thailand, has died (Friday, September 4, 2009). Brother Jack Cunningham, Supterintendent of VA District UPCI, wrote of him, "He has a great reward awaiting him in glory. He was a powerful Apostolic. I'll miss him."

Brother Jack Cunningham (at left) with Brother Chaiyong in Thailand in February of 1998 to help with a Holy Ghost crusade.

Myself, I was privileged to get to know Brother Chaiyong while I was in Thailand in late 1994 and over New Years 1995 with Bishop Cole ("Achan" Cole, as the Thai church called him; it's a title of respect for their esteemed elders). What a huge honor it was for me to preach their annual General Conference. Achan Chaiyong was a wonderful man.

From left to right: Achan Chaiyong, Brother Frank Poling, Achan Ping, and Brother Cole. Achan Chaiyong (whose name means "son of victory") served faithfully as the first superintendent of the UPC of Thailand. Now that he has passed on to be with the Lord, Achan Ping (whose name means "to lean upon") will surely serve well as superintendent.

Words fail me to express what God wrought through these two spiritual giants, Brother Chaiyong and Brother Billy Cole, who were destined by God to be paired up like Johnathan and David of old.

The Lord laid His foundation in Thailand through Bro. Cole, Bro. Chaiyong, Bro. Poling, and other missionaries and national ministers there, and it will surely grow until the Lord's return.

Below: Altar service at the Holy Ghost crusade in Thailand in February 1998. Over 1,500 Buddhists received the baptism of the Holy Ghost!

Court orders Christian student to attend public school (OneNewsNow.com)

Folks, this is alarming. It is truly scary how far religious freedom in America has eroded. Prepare to be amazed.

Court orders Christian student to attend public school (OneNewsNow.com)

Shared via AddThis

PTFSD: Post Turkey Frying Stress Disorder

Warning: Stop reading now if you’re one of those people who spews your drink if you laugh too hard. What I am about to share is embarrassing, but true. Not “true” like as in “it almost happened and I am pretending it did.” True like as in Bible true. Like as in Moses and the Hebrews really walked across the Red Sea on dry land—that kind of true.

We had never even heard of Cajun deep-fried turkey. We had no experience whatsoever with deep frying something that big. My wife and I were living in West Virginia while my mother and most of my brothers and sisters were in Louisiana. We would go at least once a year to visit. One year my mother told us about Cajun deep-fried turkey. She said it was getting popular down there, and it was delicious. I told her it sounded great and we should try to fix some on our next visit. Did I mention we had never tried that before?

On a holiday visit, we set about to fry the big bird. We had bought the big pot and other supplies. We seasoned and injected the thawed fowl. We put the bird and the peanut oil into the pot, and put the pot on the stove. We turned the flame to its highest setting. Nothing happened. A temperature gauge wand was present (inserted through a tiny hole in the lid of the pot.) The needle was not moving. At all. We waited. A long time. Still nothing.

Until then, none of us had the knowledge that a normal range (stove top) could not come anywhere close to providing enough flame to do the job. It was a simple mathematical matter of too little heat energy versus too much mass of meat and oil.

I advised Mama that it was not happening in the current setup. This was so slow that bacteria could have completely consumed the turkey while we waited for the oil to get warm. I asked how the Cajuns do it. They use big burners powered by LP gas (liquid propane). As we all stood around and scratched our heads, one of my brothers said, “We’ve got a roofing torch in the shop. It uses propane.” They left to fetch it.

I had no solid idea of what a roofing torch was like. The name conjured images of a handheld propane soldering torch, albeit perhaps an oversized version. I was not prepared for the monster they carried in. It was like a deadly military-strength flame thrower from some past world war. The bell at the head was perhaps ten inches across! The propane tank attached to it was also ginormous. I asked if it was safe to proceed, and was assured it was. “There’s a knob on here, see?” I was shown. “It allows us to control the flame,” I was told. My brow was then less wrinkled, and we pressed ahead.

We lit the flame thrower. It threw flames. Huge flames. I asked if we could turn down the volume. My brother said, “It’s at its lowest setting. That’s just the pilot light!” We were doing this in the kitchen. Indoors. We were pyromaniacs ready to roast a bird. Safe. Uh huh.

The pilot light blast was directed at the bottom of the pot. Tongues of fire licked up around all sides of the pot and threatened the wall. Then a rising tide of fire began to threaten the overhead part of the range. It was like the blaze was getting an extra boost from somewhere. In serious concern for everyone’s safety, I suggested that we should turn off the torch. We turned it off.

Yet the towering inferno at the pot continued to burn.

With a sickening realization, it dawned on us that while the stainless steel range top was spotless on the outside, there must have been years’ worth of grease buildup on the inside, in the inner zone between the top and bottom, where the natural gas lines were stored. Apparently grease from that area was now on fire. Flames were shooting out of multiple burner cut-outs, and the intensity was increasing.

Being the brilliant geniuses we are, someone yelled for water. Thankfully, someone else hollered, “No! You don’t put water on a grease fire!” No water was fetched. We all watched helplessly. And, being the brilliant geniuses we are, no one had pre-thought whether we should have a fire extinguisher on hand. (We had none.) I’d like to think that, within seconds, someone would have surely called 911, and we would have begun evacuations. But at that moment we were simply top scholars doing nothing except watching impotently.

But then things suddenly turned our way.

The laws of physics tell that fire must have both fuel and oxygen. This fire’s fuel source (the thin layer of hidden grease inside the range) was rather limited. It was being consumed, and there was only so much. So, as quickly as the fire started, it abated. The height of the flames died down. With a loud puff, the fire finally died. We all heaved a sigh of relief.

The laws of physics also show that metal expands when heated. All at once, we heard a big metallic PONK, and the once-level range top suddenly caved downward, forming a dip, much like the impact crater after a meteor makes it to earth. The huge pot of oil and meat began to slide off the burner, toward the center of the stove. I quickly grabbed it and moved it to a safe place on the counter top.

Finally all was quiet on the western front. Silence.

Awkward.

Then my precious Mama, who can roll with the punches of life better than anyone I’ve ever known, breached the stillness with these comforting words: “Well, I’ve been wantin’ a new stove for a long time.”

Everyone began to laugh nervously and recount their view of the harrowing events. We then discussed the under-articulated fact that the Cajuns who know, do this sort of stuff outside. (The Cajuns who don’t know are all either homeless or dead.) We pondered how we might take the fight outside.

While we talked, the metal range top was cooling off, and the metal was contracting. Suddenly, the stove top gave another loud metallic PONK as it returned to its original shape. My Mama used that same stove for many more years.

Cajuns are all about improvisation. They are a crafty, adaptive bunch. They can hob-cob things together like nobody’s business, using whatever they have on hand, to get the job done. It’s an admirable—if unadmired—trait. We were not actual Cajuns by either blood or upbringing, but hey, we were raised in Louisiana, after all. Close enough, right? Why not be Cajun about it? Why not find a way to use what we had (a roofing torch and… what else?) to get the job done?

One of my brothers thought of something. Sometime in the past, he had rescued a wheel-less, two-wheel dolly (hand truck) from the trash heap at his place of employment. The wheels had been worn off this thing, and rather than repair it, they had thrown it away. My brother had scooped it up and brought it home. He decided to explore whether it could be used as a platform to hold the pot over the flame of the roofing torch. He laid the dolly down on its back, horizontal-wise on the ground, and positioned the pot on it. The pot would stand there, but it was unstable. To stop the wobble, he then grabbed a tire iron from the shop, and wedged it in under the unsupported part of the pot. Voila! Instant turkey frying rig. “Fire it up, bro!”

We were then genuine, Cajun pyromaniacs, ready to deep fry a bird outside. Safer than before. My youngest sister stood on “Dignity Patrol” addressing pedestrians who stared or laughed at the sight. You’d have to know my youngest sister to understand. She fearlessly taunted passersby, saying things like, “Yeah, y’all laughin’ at us now, but in a few minutes we gonna be eatin’ tasty fried turkey and y’all still gonna be hungry on the street, wishin’ we’d invite y’all in. But no. We ain’t gonna invite y’all in, ’cause y’all laughin’ at us now!”

Sure enough, quite soon we were eating highly-tasty, wonderfully-juicy, downright-delicious, smack-yo-mama-with-a-roofin-torch turkey, fried on a steel dolly (with no wheels) over fire from a roofing torch. It was the inception of our now-famous dish: Turkey A La Tire Iron. At that moment, somewhere in Cajun Land, a Yoda-like Cajun grandmaster pronounced, “Mmm. I sense a disturbance in the Cajun Mojo, like a family graduation from non-Cajun to Cajun.” (Of course, he did not say it like that. That’s the English version. Since it was spoken in true Cajun—which is actually an eclectic mix of old words including French, English, Spanish, African Slave, and Native Original Peoples—I am not able to show you the actual phonetics, so I’ve translated it for you. After all, I am still just a Cajun Padawan learner.)

We used that same rig to fry turkeys for several more years. Mmm. Good stuff. What memories. If you wish to ever become a true Cajun master, learn to improvise, my young Padawan.

PPSS: Post Piñata Stress Syndrome

I once helped my eldest daughter (when she was about 5 or so) make an overly-fortified, overly-hugified piñata for her birthday. At the party, we could not break the thing. It was a fortress. We did not intend to make it so Schwarzenegger. It was just that we had never done a papier-mâché piñata before, and we had no idea how few layers of paper it takes to make an indestructible horse. Word to the wise: About two or three layers is enough. I think we did, like, twenty layers or something. And did I mention? We made it HUGE. We literally could not afford to buy enough candy to fill it up, and taking out a home equity loan for piñata candy was out of the question. Even the amount of candy we did pour in was too much for any normal party. We supplied a few kids’ sweet-teeth desires for the foreseeable future beyond college graduation.

We suspended it from the drop-ceiling in the basement, but I feared the weight of the beast would pull down the house. The kids started out happy and (naturally) blindfolded. But in that swing-hampered state, they could not connect with the equine behemoth with enough force to break open even as much as a hoof. Eventually, we tilted the odds. We took the blindfold off. The kids were then able to connect with their full force. The result: Nada (that’s a little bit of Piñata Land lingo for you). The unfazed horse silently mocked. The kids were jones-ing for their sugar fix, but the beast was too well-built to give it up. In desperation, we called in a ringer. Tyler was the son of our dear friends, Keith and Barbara Braswell. They were not only our neighbors, but Keith also worked with me at the headquarters of the United Pentecostal Church International, there in the Hazelwood-Florissant area of St. Louis, Missouri. Tyler, then about 11 or 12, was the biggest boy at our house. And anyone could tell that it was not his first time to swing at something.

Thankfully, he was able to break open the floodgates of high-fructose heaven. It would have been embarrassing if we had been forced to resort to power tools. I’d wish I could now say something profound, but, really, the only points I have here are that it was funny and we used too much paper.

Bishop William H. “Billy” Cole Memorial

Brother Cole is seen here preaching a Holy Ghost crusade at the 1996 UPCI general conference in San Antonio, Texas. About 550 people were filled with the Holy Ghost in that one service. Two months prior, Brother Cole had preached a Holy Ghost crusade in Houston, Texas, in an arena that was home to an NBA team. Our UPCI churches there (83 of them) combined forces and brought guests to fill the arena, and about 1,000 people were filled with the Holy Ghost. 1996 was a breakthrough year for Holy Ghost crusades in America. In crusades in California (Concord and San Diego), Texas (Lufkin, Houston, and San Antonio), Virginia (Tidewater), and in "Harvest Rallies" in Missouri and Illinois, a sum total of about 2,688 people were filled with the Holy Ghost. These meetings were preached by Brother Cole and/or his nephew, Brother Jack Cunningham.

Bishop Billy Cole was promoted to Glory today (July 27, 2009) at 11:15 am. He was a few hours shy of turning 75 years of age. (Tomorrow would have been his seventy-fifth birthday.) A very brief biography (from the website of his home church) is below. His arrangements are as follows:

• Viewing: Monday, August 3, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

• Viewing: Tuesday, August 4, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

• Service: Tuesday, August 4, at 6:00 pm

• There will be a private family committal Wednesday morning.

The viewings and funeral are set to take place at North Charleston Apostolic Church, the assembly he pastored from 1981 until his retirement.

Cole Memorial Gift

In lieu of flowers, a financial gift to his widow, Sister Shirley Cole, would be most appreciated and very appropriate. The address is:

Cole Memorial Gift
c/o North Charleston Apostolic Church
2400 6th Ave
Charleston, WV 25312

Bio of Billy Cole (from connect2ncac.com)

Brother and Sister Cole, circa early 1990s, during the peak of Brother Cole's international ministry in Holy Ghost crusades.

William H. “Billy” Cole was born to Reverend Jewel C. and Reverend Mary S. Cole in Newark, Ohio, on July 28, 1934. He was baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ at 7 years of age and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the age of 12 at the Buckeye Lake Camp in Ohio. Nathaniel Urshan was the evangelist and S. G. Norris was the daytime Bible teacher.

At the age of 19, Billy married Shirley Ann Kelbaugh in Parkersburg, West Virginia, on December 22, 1953. After moving to Weirton, West Virginia, for work in the laboratory at Weirton Steel, he recognized that God was calling him to preach. God revealed this to his wife while Billy was away working the night shift. One night God awoke Shirley and she heard an audible voice ask, “Are you willing to sacrifice if I call your husband into the ministry?” She was frightened and didn’t answer. The second night it happened again, and she responded in the same way. The third night it happened, God’s voice came to her three times, very loud and strong. Shirley leaped out of bed and told the Lord, “If this is really You and I am not having some kind of delusion, cause Billy to say something to me this morning when he comes in.” Sure enough he did, and she was convinced.

They began their ministry by going door to door witnessing. Pastor Allen Cayton came to them after a Sunday morning service and asked, “Why haven’t you told me God has called you to preach?” Later, without advance notice, Pastor Cayton called upon Billy to preach. At the conclusion of his first sermon, a Catholic lady, whom the Coles had brought to church, received the Holy Ghost.

Brother and Sister Cole’s first major effort was to open a new church in Ravenswood, West Virginia. Not a single Pentecostal of any sort resided in the whole county. They began by pitching a small tent and preaching every night for a month, resulting in 16 adults being baptized in Jesus’ name.

In Ravenswood, they saw their first great healing miracle. One day they received a call that Sister Barnes, who had been baptized and had received the Holy Ghost, was dying, and the doctor was on the way to the house. Rushing there, praying all the way, Billy believed God had promised to heal her. However, when he got there, the house was filled with people. The doctor had already closed her eyes and covered her with a sheet. The doctor said, “You’re too late, Preacher; she’s gone!” But Billy, believing God to heal her, told the family he would pray for her anyway if they wanted him to. Pulling the sheet down to her shoulders, he prayed. Nothing happened. He prayed louder but still nothing happened. Billy turned to the wall and began praying in tongues even louder, but still nothing happened. Then he got angry and shouted, “Sister Barnes, get up!” She sat straight up in bed and was healed. Reverend Ziegler, her former United Brethren pastor who was there, fell face down on the floor. That church is now pastored by a convert of Brother Cole’s, Reverend T. J. Johnston. There is now a wonderful congregation there, housed in a beautiful new building.

After pastoring in Ravenswood a few years, Brother and Sister Cole traveled as evangelists. A number of people received the Holy Ghost and were baptized. During this time they also witnessed several notable apostolic events. Then they pastored a church in Spencer, West Virginia, with a congregation of one hundred people. The church was debt free when the Coles moved on.

The Coles were invited to Elyeria, Pennsylvania, to preach for their former pastor, Brother Cayton, who was starting a new home missions church. One day while Brother Cayton was at work and Sister Cayton and Sister Cole were shopping, Brother Cole was studying the Book of Esther in the Cayton’s apartment. Brother Cole answered a knock at the door to find a visitor holding a note with the address of the Cayton’s apartment.

He said, “I am Reverend Boon Mark Gittisan, the general secretary for the Presbyterian Church of Thailand. I have been in Detroit, New York City, and Toronto, Canada. I don’t know who gave me this note or for what reason.” Brother Cole was afraid of him but invited him in anyway, thinking about the verse of Scripture, “Some have entertained angels unawares.”

Brother Cole checked to see if Pastor Cayton’s address was in the church directory, but he was still listed 150 miles away at his old address. He looked for the church’s address, but it was so new it was not listed at all.

Brother Cole then asked Brother Gittisan, “Have you ever heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking with other tongues?” Brother Gittisan said, “Yes, I speak with tongues; there are six of us in Thailand who do.”

Brother Cole then intended to ask, “Have you ever heard of being baptized by immersion in the name of Jesus?” But Brother Gittisan interrupted Brother Cole and said, “Oh yes, I have been baptized by immersion in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” Brother Cole asked, “Reverend Gittisan, what is the name of the Son?” Reverend Gittisan was stunned. As tears filled Brother Gittisan’s eyes, Brother Cole asked, “Are you having a heart attack?”

Brother Gittisan answered, “No. You see I can quote the entire New Testament. When you asked me that question, all the scriptures finally came together. Like a curtain being rolled back, I could see Jesus Christ as He really is.” Reverend Gittisan was baptized the next day. This miraculous visit led to the Coles’ being sent to Thailand as missionaries. In seven years they baptized nearly 6,000 Buddhists and witnessed a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost. One of their first converts, Reverend Chaiyong Wattanachant, has been superintendent of the Thailand churches for more then 35 years.

While in Thailand, Brother Cole suffered a stroke, which paralyzed his left arm. The Coles returned to the USA. However, upon his being healed, they returned to Asia as evangelists. Thousands were baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost. When Sister Cole became sick, they returned to the USA again. When her health improved, they went to Wheeling, West Virginia. They gathered together six people who were baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the Holy Ghost, and in four years they baptized another 450 people and prayed them through to the Holy Ghost. The Wheeling church is now pastored by Reverend David Forsythe, an elder mentored by Brother Cole.

Seven elders who came out of the Wheeling church under Brother Cole are:

1. Jack Cunningham, who served as General Home Missions Director for the UPCI and is currently superintendent of Virginia District UPCI;
2. David Ward, who became superintendent of Tanzania;
3. Robert Kelley, who became superintendent of Ireland and Scotland;
4. Jerry Burns, who became superintendent of Costa Rica;
5. Eugene Kelley, who pastors in Ohio;
6. Rondel Moss II, Brother Cole’s son-in-law, has assisted him in various capacities since 1972. For the past 28 years he has acted as music director and preschool director for the North Charleston Apostolic Church.
7. Danny Scott Jr., who became pastor of a large church in Arizona.

After leaving Wheeling, the Coles returned to evangelizing overseas. When Brother Cole’s father asked him to come home to help build a new building in Parkersburg, West Virginia, he did. When this building was finished, the Coles moved to Charleston, West Virginia, in 1981 to pastor the North Charleston Apostolic Church. They have remained in Charleston ever since (about 28 years). In 1997, upon Brother Cole’s retirement, his grandson, Reverend Anthony Moss, was elected to succeed him as pastor of the church.

Brother Cole preached many camp meetings and revival services, seeing many filled with the Holy Ghost. The last ten years of his ministry, he preached crusades at home and overseas. Sixteen times, more than 3,000 received the Holy Ghost in a single service. The Coles preached for 50 years and were just short of seeing one million people receive the Holy Ghost. They were diligent in training many young men, too numerous to mention, to carry on their ministry.

Brother Cole served on the Executive Board for two terms, and he also served on the Foreign Missions Board, where he is currently an honorary member.

Note: You can read the wonderful memoirs of Billy and Shirley Cole, available at BillyColeBook.com!

The Church Mama Shut Down

This is a true story, preached by Bro Paul Mooney.

It happened in Windfall, Indiana. Sister Mooney's parents went to visit a (dead) church. Sister Mooney's mother, Sister Jewel Hart, went up to the front and began to pray. She started speaking in tongues. The church people were horrified. They thought the devil was there. The pastor tried to stop her. He came down to her and said, "You can't do that here." She would not stop. He tried harder. He said, "Lady! Lady! Lady!"

Sister Mooney's father (who is a bit of a redneck) said, "Keep your hands off of her! She's speaking in tongues! You need to speak in tongues! Get back! Get back!" He went on to say, "When she gets done, I will take her out of here, and I will never bring her back. But your church is going to be cursed!" She finished speaking in tongues, and her husband said, "Come on, Jewel" and they left.

Shortly afterward that church began to go down, and eventually there was nothing left. Today that church is just a boarded up thing.

The Mooneys still go by there sometimes, and Sister Mooney will say, "That's the church my Mama shut down."

Fix for Keyboard Lag on Dell XPS Laptop (WinXP)

I have really been loving this Dell XPS M1530 laptop. It's been great except for one very annoying thing. There has been a bad LAG problem with the inputs (both mouse and keyboard). I had searched futilely for a solution. Then, I did the old "give it some time and try again." After a few weeks of suffering the insufferable lag, I Googled again for a solution. Found it!

Get the details of the simple fix here:

XPS-M1730 SLOW KEYBOARD PCMSERVICE.EXE

As mentioned in the post, I used MSCONFIG (Start > Run > MSCONFIG) to remove PCMService.exe from startup. PCMService.exe is a Dell executive file that has something to do with some Dell Media or Dell MediaDirect something or some such. I don't recall ever using whatever it is the program does. I am not missing it at all. And the horrible LAG is gone! I don't miss it either.

A Creation Seminar - Going On Now!

A Creation Seminar with Steve Grohman. Awesome. Been going on at our church since Sunday. Will end on Wednesday. Check out www.creationseminar.net

Steve Grohman, his wife Dana, and their son, Paul, travel as family, full-time, year round, visiting schools, churches, etc.

Steve teaches the seminar. Two hours each night. Each night is different. They bring over 350 fossils to display. I don't have time now to go into detail, but this seminar is awesome. If you get a chance to attend one of their seminars, go out of your way to be there. If you cannot catch one, buy the DVDs.

Gearing Up for Fireworks Fundraising Tents

This past Tuesday we dressed up our church's main fireworks tent in the Sam's Club parking lot. Then yesterday, Wednesday, the truck arrived to deliver our fireworks, and we worked to unpack, display, set up price tags, reprogram the cash register (for price changes, product changes, etc), and get opened up for business.

While we were doing that, our daughter church in Weston was doing the same. They were approached by a wayfaring customer before they had even opened for business, and he bought their largest item, a huge box called "The Big Bang." Some years that big ticket item does not sell during the whole period, and they sold theirs before they even opened. Praise the Lord.

Today we dressed up our church's second tent, which is going to be staffed in the main by our youth. This second tent is located at Meadowbrook Mall. The truck is due to deliver the fireworks for that tent tomorrow. Whew! Many thanks to all those church members who helped. What a great bunch of people. God bless you!

Sincere Etymology

I was once taught some interesting history behind the word sincere, and ever since I've always liked the word.

In early days, furniture makers would hide holes in their wood by filling them with wax and then varnishing over their weak additive. All seemed well until an unsuspecting buyer placed his new furniture too near the fireplace. The wax would melt and run out, and the maker's low-grade materials and poor practices would be revealed. Whenever a piece of furniture was made completely of wood, then it could take the heat. It could withstand being near the fire without wax running out. Such a piece would be said to be sincere, meaning pure, whole, genuine. Sincere comes from the Middle French, from Latin sincerus whole, pure, genuine, probably from sem- one + -cerus (akin to Latin crescere to grow). Only the genuine could take the heat.

It is because of Jesus that I am whole. It is because of Him that I am able to take the heat. It is because of Him that I am sincere: pure, whole, genuine. Thus, it is quite fair to say that I am SONcere.

SONcerely,
Pastor J

Dell XPS M1530 - My Experience Switching from Vista to WinXP

OK, here's the deal. When they told you that, "You get what you pay for" -- that was only half true. A more true way to say it is, "You can get what somebody had to pay for." Here's what I mean:

I cannot afford to buy -- NEW -- an awesome, top-of-the-line, laptop like Dell's XPS M1530. But I can afford to buy a USED one. Which is what I did. In the past I've bought new "el-cheapo" laptops, and I've been disappointed. And I've bought used, super nice ones for which someone originally paid "high dollar" (which I got for "low dollar"), and been very pleased and satisfied.

I just bought a very nice, although used (and therefore affordable), Dell XPS M1530. I bought it via eBay. (This makes twice now that I've shopped carefully and bought a nice used laptop on eBay and been very pleased.)

But this unit comes stock with Vista Home Premium. I am no fan of Vista. So here are some tips gleaned from my interesting journey to change the OS over to Win XP Pro SP3.

There are three issues to address with switching from Vista Home Premium to XP Pro:

1. Drivers in general (Are they compatible with XP Pro?)

2. Hard drive access (This Dell uses a recent SATA AHCI Controller that is a little too-new for Win XP. The XP installer cannot understand the device in its mode of highest performance unless you help it out with a driver that can only be supplied right at the start of your OS install.)

3. Dell's MediaDirect 3.5 application (If not installed correctly, it either won't work and cannot be fixed, or worse, can wipe out your XP install just for trying to press the MediaDirect button on the laptop, according to one horror story I read while Googling.)

The good news:

#1 - Yes, the drivers needed are available and compatible with XP.

#2 - Yes, you can use the high performance mode of HD access via SATA AHCI.

#3 - Yes, Dell's MediaDirect 3.5 application is compatible with XP. But only if it's done right.

The bad news:

Dell does not have to help me, because XP is not supported on this unit; only Vista. Finding accurate information on all of this proved extremely difficult, and on some parts I never did. And finally, getting it done right took: time, several failed attempts, a lot of reading, and quite a bit of frustration. Now, to my interested readers who may be trying to do the same thing: I hope to spare you some of that pain I suffered.

Overall status: Complete success!

This story is developing ... So check back soon. My journey (to get the laptop switched over and ready for my media-rich, developer-heavy workload) is just about complete, and I'm nearly ready to report my very good results (even though I suffered a lot of frustration along the way).

More details coming soon.

Not Even a Competitor

When the local youth here at CAC started calling me "the Faster Pastor", none of them had any idea that other ministers elsewhere in the world were already called by that nickname. Neither did I.

When I first set up my blog, it was just www.dougjoseph.net. My real name. At the start, it was not the blog of "The Faster Pastor" (although the youth were already calling me that, especially Brother Rusty). When I began to incorporate into the design of my blog the kids' "k-e-w-l" moniker for me, I continued to use the same domain as always.

Today one of the youth, Sister Amanda, said, "I tried to get to your blog by typing "fastorpaster.com" but I got something else." I thought, 'Hey, I wonder if my nickname is available in either .com, .net, or .org?' I said to the youth, "It's at www.dougjoseph.net, but I will try and see if any of the other domains are available."

None of them are available (none of the big three).

But you should see the website and read the story of the real, original "Faster Pastor" in the UK! I never knew he existed until today. I'm not a cheap imitator or a "knock-off." I'm not even a competitor.

I do ride, and I am a member of Azusa Street Riders (a Oneness, Apostolic, Pentecostal motorcycle ministry), but when it comes to the motorcycle ministry of the guy you're about to meet, I'm not even close. Are you ready for this? Here you go. Enjoy!

http://www.fasterpastor.com/

Did I mention the website yet?

http://www.fasterpastor.com/

In case you missed it, here it is again:

http://www.fasterpastor.com

I'm not even a competitor.

PS: By the way, I just sold my big honkin' 1400cc Suzuki Intruder and downsized to a 650cc Yamaha VStar Classic. It's nice, now! We're planning to join with many other Azusa Street Riders later on this year (end of September, early October) for a cross-country ride (basically, the path will be from wherever one lives ... to St. Louis, MO) for the United Pentecostal Church International's annual General Conference. Bro Adam (from CAC) will be joining me, and several others (mostly other UPC ministers from WV). We'll be meeting up with other ASR riders as we go. It's going to be a blast. Brethren, if you ride, sign up with ASR now! It will be (as the kids say) "k-e-w-l."

Chicken a la Benedum - Recipe Summary

The above pic is not of the actual dish; it's just some photo I found that looks pretty close to what the actual dish looks like.

Chicken a la Benedum

(This recipe serves about 4 to 6 people.)

Ok, you may or may not have read the narrative version of the Chicken a la Benedum recipe. But for the benefit of all, here is the summary version of the delicious recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 chicken leg quarters (using 4 requires a very large non-stick skillet)
• 1/2 large jar of spaghetti sauce
• 1 can of creamed corn
• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 1 cup of chopped green bell pepper
• About 3 oz. of Coca Cola to sweeten and darken the mix a little
• About 10 slices of pepperoni, choppsed into small pieces
• 1 package of spaghetti noodles
• Optional: Your choice of mushrooms

(Note: The amounts on all the following spices should be "enough to suit your taste.")

• Garlic powder
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Sage
• Salt
• Black Pepper

(Note: Following optional -- but not really!)

• 1 loaf of Italian bread, sliced, along with some…
• butter
• garlic powder
• parsley flakes (all three above are for the bread, to make garlic toast)

Directions:

• Boil meat in pot 30-45 min: In a large pot, completely cover the chicken leg quarters with water, and bring to a boil (using a high heat if they were frozen, or a medium heat if they were fresh). Take note of when the water actually comes to a boil.
• Transfer to skillet, and save broth… After the leg quarters have been boiling for about 30 or 45 minutes or so, turn off the heat and remove the meat, placing it into a large non-stick skillet. (Save the broth in the boiling pot.)
• Note: You can either de-skin the meat at that point, or leave the skin on. (De-skinning reduces fat content. Leaving it on adds flavor, and lets the individual eater have his or her choice.)
• Cut some or all of the meat apart (separating leg from thigh) to make it easier to arrange them in the skillet. Ladle out some of the steaming hot broth (from the large pot) into the non-stick skillet (covering the meat less than half way up.)
• Add/Spice/Season: Liberally cover the meat with garlic powder and oregano, and add some thyme and sage, as well as salt and black pepper (to taste). Add the chopped onion and chopped green bell pepper. Pour in the spaghetti sauce and the creamed corn. Also pour in a little Coca Cola. Finally, toss in the chopped slices of pepperoni. At this point you can optionally add your choice of mushrooms.
• Cook all this on a medium-high or high heat--turning the chicken pieces over occasionally, as needed--until the meat shows as done when you slice down to the bone on the thick parts. As the sauce reduces, if it gets too dry, just add a little more broth from the pot used for boiling. If you cover it with a lid, it will cook faster, need checked or turned more often, and may not need as much broth added.
• Spaghetti noodles: Prepare spaghetti noodles separately: Cook up a batch of spaghetti noodles (al dente, of course).
• Garlic Toast: Don't even think about not having lots of garlic toast (sliced Italian bread covered with butter & garlic powder, sprinkled with parsley flakes, and toasted in the oven).
• Presentation: The delicious meal is served by laying down a bed of spaghetti noodles covered with your delicious sauce, and topped with a scrumptious piece of the chicken, and bordered by the garlic toast. Shake on some Parmesan cheese, if desired. Mmmmmm, Mmmmmm. Serves 4 to 6 adults.

Teachers Try to Censor This Girl's Pro-Life Speech

Really do like the above video of a 12-year-old Canadian girl's pro-life speech (an entry in a speech contest). And you should read the good article (on the American Family Association's One News Now news service) entitled "Preteen pro-life speech goes viral"

There is also a good article about this on World Net Daily entitled "12-year-old steals day with pro-life speech." They supertitled the article with "The Kids Are All Right" and subtitled it with "Teachers threaten disqualification, but girl chooses to speak against abortion."

Furl? How about Hurl?!

So, I was reading some article and the "bottom-feeder bar" asked me if I "Digg-it" or if I want to "send it to del.icio.us" or... if I want to "Furl"? I'm thinking, with all the sad news of how bad things are getting, someone should invent a new choice. Instead of "Furl" how about "Hurl"... as in chunder, toss one's cookies, throw up, etc, etc ad nauseum. Sigh.

Anyone else frustrated with America being conquered by socialism and marxism? And the glaring illiteracy regarding biblical truth, and the general lack of a biblical worldview?

OK, enough complaining. Do something about it. Teach your kids. As in, YOU, yourself, teach YOUR own kids. Quit thinking the church's efforts will do it for you (it's your job after all), and quit expecting it to be done short-order on weekends only. And quit blaming everyone else for teaching wrong things to your kids, unless you're willing to step up and do something about it.

I'm talking to the Christians here. Each one teach your own kids what they need to know, and prevent someone else from teaching them what they ought not think or believe. Studies show that almost 9 out of 10 kids raised in Evangelical homes are shown to be non-Christian by just one to two years after they graduate from high school. Based on my own research, I say that Apostolic Pentecostals are not doing much better in having our kids stay in truth after they "grow up." Does that make you want to "throw up?" I think any serious study of this kind of statistical failure rate among us would reveal a sad state of affairs. It's time for parents to step up to the plate.

KJV: "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).

NIV: "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).

Ryrie commented: "Vs. 6:4 do not provoke. I.e., do not nag or arbitrarily assert authority."

Believers Study Bible commentary has this: "Ephesians 6:4: This verse is a warning to parents not to direct their children toward the wrath of God. Rather, the parent is commanded to rear the child in the "training" (paideia, Gk.), i.e., the nurture, education, and "admonition" (nouthesia, Gk.), of the Lord. "Admonition" has the idea of "discipline" (lit., "to put in mind"), which is to remind the child of faults and duties by teaching him self-control.

Voice of Truth Radio - Family Before Ministry

In this edition of the broadcast: A wonderful interview with Metro Missionary Scott D. Grant, who has been appointed to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In the interview we discuss (among other things) how that spouse and family come before one's ministry (in priority).

Why discuss this? Some ministers of the Gospel make the mistake of thinking that simply because God Himself comes before spouse and family, that ministry must also. Such is a terrible mistake, and the Bible as a whole neither teaches nor allows for this error.

Check out the latest Voice of Truth radio broadcast, just posted yesterday, at: cac.us.com/voiceoftruth

A new broadcast is posted each week.

Rocky Walking After 5 Years!

One of our church members, Bro. Jim Starkey, has a friend that he raised like a son. The younger man, Rocky, was bitten by a very poisonous spider about five years ago, and the poison caused a terrible infection that left Rocky paralyzed from the chest down. He has not walked at all for five years.

Rather, that is he had not walked in five years, until after God worked a miracle following a 40 day fast that Rocky completed.

Rocky had read somewhere that demonstrating your faith - by (1) giving, (2) praying, and (3) fasting - would touch God. He began to demonstrate his faith in this way. Rocky had completed several 21 day fasts, and each time he regained something (for instance, the ability to lift himself out bed, etc). He declared to his "Dad" (Bro. Starkey) that he just knew that when he completed this 40 day fast, he would be able to walk.

One of the things he had regained earlier was the ability to stand. As he completed the 40 day fast, he began to stand each day, in the yard. On the third day after the fast, the Spirit spoke to him and said, "Envision yourself walking in your mind, and you will be able to walk." He said, "I don't understand." The reply was something along these lines, "Your spirit and your natural body are connected in your mind. Envision it by faith and it will happen. You have to walk in spirit before you can walk in the natural."

Rocky envisioned himself walking, and then he began to walk. Mind you, there have been five years since he walked. Surely his muscles were atrophied. But he and a witness with him testified that he did not walk like a semi-paralyzed person (who would use the upper body to pick up the legs), but rather he walked like a normal man. He did have braces on, and they actually hindered him some. The next day his legs were so sore he could not touch them, for the pain. Mind you, previously, he had no sensation at all!

On the day he walked, after a while he started counting steps. He counted 154 steps taken after he started counting! He is anxious for the soreness to go down so he can walk some more. Praise the Lord Jesus!

09 WV YC -- A Video Diary (Part 1)

We thank the Lord that at least 16 people were filled with the Holy Ghost at the 2009 WV Youth Congress in Summersville, WV, February 12-13. Praise the name of Jesus!

Here is part of my video diary of the event. Part 1 consists of Thursday night. Look here later on for Part 2, which will show Friday night, including the main service and Friday Night Madness at the gym.



Here are some photos I snapped while at the event:

A Terrible Sign of our Times

Pro-marriage speech garners professor's profane wrath

Voice of Truth Radio

Check out the latest Voice of Truth radio broadcast, just posted today, at: cac.us.com/voiceoftruth

Google Grants "Latitude" to Track Friends, Family

I have a "love-hate" relationship with Google. When they're providing me free services that I really enjoy [and not invading my privacy] then I love it. Whenever they allow for invasion of privacy, I hate it. The following is somewhere in the middle, but serves as an ominous reminder that Google has access to the data.

Google has just released free software that enables ordinary people to track each other using their web-connected cell phones. The new software is called "Latitude." It makes it a breeze to know the location of your friend or family member (by way of encapsulating an accessing of GPS data).

Technically speaking, it uses cell tower triangulation, which means it seeks the three cell towers closest to the person in focus (scary, no?) and combines the data to show where that someone is. (Again, scary, no?) It is available on phones with Internet capabilities, although it does not work on iPhones (yet, but they say that is coming soon). This is being marketed as a tool to help parents keep tabs on their children, but it can be used to find anyone willing to be found.

Check out:
Latitude video on CBS website
Google Latitude on CNET

And Don't Forget Google's Fleet of Camera Cars



In a related tidbit, you may not know that Google also has a lot of "camera cars" all over the place, taking pictures everywhere. These vehicles have special cameras mounted on top, and they are piloted by contracted drivers. (By the way, they don't all look the same. They're being made from many different models of car. Below is just one example of a model that is being used.)



Google's official policy is that their drivers are not to go on private property, but some of their drivers have said that does not match what they were told. I read one report in which the driver said he was told simply to go out and take pictures of stuff. Evidence abounds on the 'net of many instances in which a Google camera car went onto private property, having driven straight past posted signs to keep out, and the cars have taken photos of private residences on private driveways. It seems that Google may be of the "private" opinion that privacy is a thing of the past. All the while promising to respect your privacy.

Check out:
Google Camera Car Detail
Google Streetview Camera Car Fleet Set to Invade America
One Google Camera Car Follows Another

Senate Refuses to Remove Discriminatory Language

The powers that be are cramming the so-called "stimulus" package through so quickly, and there is so much detail buried within it, that Americans and institutions concerned about what's being proposed and passed ... hardly have time to read it before the vote!

In a very disheartening alert message just posted by Jay Sekulow (general counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice) on the ACLJ website, Jay wrote:

I want to let you know about an important - and disappointing - vote that's just occured in the U.S. Senate.

As you know, we supported an amendment put forward by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) that would have invalidated language included in the stimulus measure that prohibits higher education facilities that accept federal stimulus funds from permitting religious groups and organizations from using those facilities.

Tonight, the amendment failed. Here's the final vote: 43 Senators voted in support of the amendment - 54 against. That means that the discriminatory language remains in the stimulus bill.

For a breakdown of the Senate vote, click here.

This is a very disappointing development. What’s most troubling is the fact that a majority of the Senate supports a discriminatory provision that prohibits religious activity from taking place in college and university facilities nationwide that take federal stimulus funds. If this language remains in the stimulus package that’s ultimately approved by Congress, we will challenge this provision in federal court by filing suit. This provision has nothing to do with economic stimulus and everything to do with religious discrimination.

To read the second half of the alert, click here.

Obama’s Apology (Good'un @ Doug Wead's blog)

Found a good article. I like this guy, Doug Wead -- so far anyhow.

Click here: Obama’s Apology

President Obama apologized for the tax problems of his recent nominees, and just in time.

Fawn Follows Beagle Home, Through Doggie Door

I can just hear the conversation between the dog and the deer.

Dog: Hey, little one what ya doin' all by yourself?

Deer: Well, my mom was hit and killed by one of those big square things that roll really fast down the black strip.

Dog: So, what ya gonna do?

Deer: I dunno, but I sure am hungry and scared!

Dog: Hey, why don't ya just come home with me? My mom will feed ya!

Deer: OK, so what's it like at your place?

A fawn followed this beagle home -- right through the doggie door -- in the Bittinger, MD area. The owner came home to find the visitor had made himself right at home. This hit the 6 o'clock news big time.

Note: Thanks to my friend, Lorren Godwin (an Elder at our local church) for forwarding this to me. (This story is circulating via email; author unknown. If you are the author, please let me know.)

Why Google is the Go-To Gorilla

Blogging is the new free press. "Google the Gorilla" provides all the modern counterparts for the ancient tools -- ink, printing die / printing plate, etc -- for your new printing press.

Google is always one step ahead. Everywhere that you decide you need to be (each decision made individually), you find that Google is already there. I searched out a good free tool for blogging, and settled on Blogger. Google now owns them. While previously using a different blog software tool (VineType), I had already searched for a good monetization tool, and I chose Google's AdSense service. Also I had searched for a good feed-burner tool, and decided that http://www.feedburner.com/ was the choice for me. Google had just bought FeedBurner at that time. Now my blogging tool, my ad service, and my feed burner are all owned by the same company and all working well to integrate. As the kids would say, "Kewl."

It does not end there. Need mapping? Google. Need a shared event calendar? Google. The list is not endless, but pretty long.

Wherever you decide you need to be, Google is already there. They are "The 800 Pound Gorilla" is this media-rich, info-dense age.

Chicken a la Benedum

Note: This story was originally written and posted on 12/7/2007, back when I was using a different software for blogging. The Benedum family has since added a third child. (Praise the Lord for blessing our church families with children.) Also, the above pic is not of the actual dish; it's just some photo I found that looks pretty close to what the actual dish looked like. :-)

I did not go bonkers over Italian food until I came to West Virginia. But they do it really well here! Now, I'm a big fan of Italian food. Clarksburg, WV is an Italian food mecca. Annually, the city hosts the West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival. Now, after having lived in the state for a combined 14 years or so, I'm already an honorary (adopted) West Virginian. But I cannot yet say I'm a "bona fide" expert Italian chef. However, to hear the Adam Benedum family tell it after eating this dish I invented the other night, I should be up for the nomination.

It all started when I got a hankering (that's a southern word for a strong desire, a yearning) to have some homemade Cajun Gumbo. That's a delicious chicken-&-okra-&-whatever-else stew, based on a dark roux dissolved into chicken broth, to thicken and flavor the broth. (As you may know, I was born in San Antonio, Texas and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. Now we all know that Louisiana is the home of Cajun Country, and delicious Cajun cuisine. I don't use the word cuisine lightly. Cooking great Cajun food is literally an art form, and some expert Cajun chefs are paid big bucks to do it right.)

To make Gumbo right, you gotta boil chickens. Well, I went to the store to buy chickens and other needed ingredients. They had fresh chicken quarters ("leg & thigh") on sale ($0.62/lb.), and so I bought leg quarters instead of whole chickens. Quarters have a good mixture of meat (dark meat and medium meat, if that's a term?) on them, so one can make just as good a Gumbo with them as with whole chickens.

Anyhow, it so happened (a day or two after the grocery shopping trip) that we invited Adam & Brandy Benedum and their family (they have two cute boys) over for dinner. He is a great brother in our local church who's been helping me a lot around our house, over the last few weeks and months. When we arrived home, I knew there wasn't enough time to complete any Gumbo that night, but I wanted to get the lengthy Gumbo process started anyhow--while trying to figure out whatever else we could cook up for that night's dinner.

I put all 10 pounds of meat on to boil. After the quarters had been boiling for about 30 or 45 minutes or so, I got this idea to invent something. I was winging it. Well, leg-quartering it, actually. Into a huge Teflon skillet I deposited about three of the leg quarters that I plucked out of the boiling pot. I cannot remember if I de-skinned them at that point, but I think I left the skin on. They would have been easy to de-skin then, since they had been cooking for some time. (De-skinning reduces fat content. Leaving it on adds flavor, and lets the individual eater have his or her choice.)

I cut one or two of them apart (separating leg from thigh) to make it easier to arrange them in the skillet. I ladled out some of the steaming hot broth (from the chickens boiling in the big pot) and gave it to the orphans in the skillet. (Covering them less than half way up.) I liberally covered them with garlic powder and oregano, and added some thyme and sage, and salt and black pepper. I added 1 cup of chopped onion and 1 cup of chopped green bell pepper. Then I poured in 1/2 large jar of spaghetti sauce, and 1 can of creamed corn. I wanted corn in the dish, and knew the cream would help thicken the broth. I also poured in about 3 oz. of Coca Cola to sweeten and darken the mix a little. I chopped up about 10 slices of pepperoni into small pieces, and threw those in, too.

I cooked all this on a high heat--turning the chicken pieces over occasionally, as needed--until the meat showed as done when I sliced down to the bone on the thick parts. As the sauce reduced, if it got too dry, I just added a little more broth from the boiling pot.

We cooked up a batch of spaghetti noodles (al dente, of course), and we made lots of garlic toast (sliced Italian bread covered with butter & garlic powder, sprinkled with parsley flakes, and toasted in the oven).

The delicious meal was served by laying down a bed of spaghetti noodles covered with my delicious new sauce, topped with a scrumptious piece of the chicken, and bordered by the garlic toast. Mmmmmm, Mmmmmm. We all enjoyed it immensely. Adam asked what the new dish was to be called. Well, I named it after him and his family. I don't know if Benedum sounds Italian, but the "a la" part does. :-)

Now, don't you want to come to the pastor's house for dinner? To all CAC members: You're officially invited! Just call, email, or hint to get a date and time arranged.

Children: A Blessing or a Burden?

An excellent message (and offer) from the Vision Forum (a great resource site):

Summary: As the world faces a potential demographic winter of underpopulation, political leaders move to clamp down on babies, and liberal social commentators use the language of hatred and fear-mongering to further anti-family campaigns aimed at proponents of fruitful families, many Christians remain undecided as to whether or not babies are a blessing or burden in troubled times. This e-mail explains the controversy. It also points you to resources that will help you to better communicate to neighbors, relatives, and friends the practicality and blessing of children in tough economic times. After more than fifteen hundred years, Japanese culture is on the verge of extinction. There are not enough children. And similar fates may be in store for France, Italy, and elsewhere. These nations and others are on the brink of a demographic implosion with far-reaching economic implications — and they know it! There are simply not enough babies being born to maintain their economies. But they are not alone. In the United States, the birthrate has been experiencing a dramatic and steady twelve-year decline. Despite this fact, last week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi defended her proposal that an important ingredient of the nation’s $825 billion “economic stimulus package” would include a taxpayer-subsidized effort to prevent the birth of more children. Why? She argues that children are bad for the economy. [For a more in-depth look at this international crisis, click here] Three Key Issues Addressed Are babies a blessing or a burden? This is a simple question, but one fraught with tremendous controversy and significant implications for nations and families. There are really three issues on the table: First, the demographic implications of having babies; second, the practical issues concerning babies and the family during a recessionary economy (or at any time); and third — and most importantly — the scriptural foundations for a Christian worldview of the womb. What May Happen to America and Other Nations Because of the Dramatic Decrease in Childbirth? This first issue goes right to the heart of the present culture war: Will we be a self-indulgent nation with little regard for the sanctity of life, or will we recognize the God-ordained blessing of the biblical institution of the family with its emphasis on fruitfulness and the blessing of children? As a nation, we have chosen the former. Now the question is this: What are the practical implications of our selfishness and disobedience? What happens to a country when the Malthusian dream is realized, and women have fewer and fewer babies? The ultimate result is a culture-eradicating phenomenon and economic catastrophe called “Demographic Winter” — where the selfishness of a generation of families who refused God’s gift of children leads to a national birthrate that is insufficient to replace its aging population. Don Feder put it this way: Demographic Winter is the terminal stage in the suicide of the West — the culmination of a century of evil ideas and poisonous policies. Here is how one demographer described the imminent catastrophe that will result from declining birthrates: The ongoing global decline in human birthrates is the single most powerful force affecting the fate of nations and the future of society in the twenty-first century. —Phillip Longman, The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity. This perspective may be a shocker for those raised during the libertine ‘60s and ‘70s with the message of the Pill and population control, or for those spoon-fed on a diet of Green theology in the ‘90s. It is not comfortable to radical feminists who have made the “right” of a mother to destroy her own child the highest virtue a society can embrace. But the facts are inescapable. And this is the subject of the documentary, Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family, one of the most important and groundbreaking films of the last year, maybe of the last decade. This is the first significant film to explore the most overlooked crisis of our generation: the rapid worldwide decline in birthrates. The data presented is chilling. Columnist Don Feder summarizes the important issues raised by the film (i.e., how “demographic winter” will impact many areas of our lives): What will happen in the First World as fewer and fewer workers are called on to provide pensions for more and more retirees? At what point will the burden become so onerous that young workers will simply rebel and refuse to support a system that they couldn’t possibly hope to benefit from? How will Russia, which is expected to lose a third of its population by mid-point of this century, defend its borders? If Russia, which occupies the largest territory of any nation, dissolves into enclaves of squabbling ethnic groups, it will destabilize both Europe and Asia. Due to falling birthrates, at some point in the century, the world’s population will begin to decline. Then the decline will become rapid. We could even reach population free-fall. Throughout the course of history, there is no instance of economic growth accompanied by population decline. How can an industrial society be maintained with fewer and fewer workers and consumers? [1] This film does not pretend to be a Christian film with a biblical analysis, but it is so full of carefully-researched data that is indispensable to this critical culture battle that Christian parents around the nation need to own it, and watch it, and then watch it again. What Does Managing a Large Household Look Like in the Real World? Can I Really Afford Children? The second major issue pertains to practicality: Assuming that children really are a blessing and the fruitful womb “is His reward” (Psalm 127:3), how does that concept work in the real world where economic resources are scarce and time is at a premium? Sometimes people pose the question this way: “I can barely manage and afford a family with one child. How could I possibly handle three or four, let alone (gasp!) seven?” But there is another question that needs to be asked: Are there practical, economic, and spiritual blessings for the family that flow from an economy of scale? I believe there are. And these are precisely the types of blessings and benefits that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have modeled for all of us in their beautiful new book, The Duggars: 20 and Counting: Raising One of America’s Largest Families — How they do it. From a practical perspective, this book offers definitive answers. And it is absolutely delightful, transparent, hands on, and full of humor. After reading it, you will walk away loving your own family more and will gain great ideas for household management. My wife gobbled it up: This is a totally delightful book, easy to follow, and full of personal stories about their life as well as practical, tangible information about THEIR family which can be easily adapted into MY family, or anyone else’s. It is honest, humorous, humble, and completely in earnest. . . . You will read about their life story, from Michelle and Jim Bob’s childhood up to right now, their many businesses, their solution to laundry, education, music, and even food preparation. (Read more of Beall’s review here.) There is a reason why this family has captured the imagination of America through their top-ranked television show, 17 Kids and Counting. They are communicating a Christ-exalting vision of home. And they are the real deal! A family that loves their children — all eighteen of them. There is so much negativism in the world, but the Duggars are using their life as a large family to show the beauty and practicality of the Christian household to a generation where many children never even experience the blessing of sitting down with their whole family for dinner. What Does the Bible Say about the Blessing of Fruitfulness? Does this Apply Today? The final issue is the most important one: What does the Bible say about having babies? For Christians, the Bible is our standard for faith and practice. Everything necessary on the subject of having babies is found in God’s Holy Word. It is both the starting place and the “final court of appeal” for prayerful Christians who desire to make wise decisions regarding the womb. Related issues include: Why are children a blessing? What does it mean to be fruitful? How does the Bible specifically link low birthrates to national judgment? Does the Bible promote, condone, or encourage baby banning? Is it a good idea to have babies in times of economic hardship? These questions and others are answered in our CD, Children and the Dominion Mandate, and the book Be Fruitful and Multiply, both of which are included in this week’s special offer. If you have ever found yourself wondering how to respond to such questions, or if you have friends or relatives that disapprove of the number of children in your family, these indispensable tools will help you to use Scripture to reason through the many complex issues which are on the table. Save 30% on Our New Collection: The Blessing of Children The Blessings of Children Collection is available now through February 10, at the special price of $42.70 — a 30% discount. The set includes The Duggars: 20 and Counting, Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family (DVD), Be Fruitful and Multiply, and Children and the Dominion Mandate (CD). This special offer expires February 10, 2009 at Midnight (CST). Order online at http://vf.sparklist.com/t/3367123/6069831/161193/0/, or call us toll-free at 1-800-400-0022. View The Blessing of Children Collection. [1] Don Feder, “‘Demographic Winter’ Exposes the Century’s Overlooked Crisis,” March 27, 2008, Human Events