ROBERT FINLEY-AGE DON'T MEAN A THING

This 2016 offering from the r & b singer who has found notoriety late in life is something I want to like, but just can't.

On the plus side, this is an album of real rhythm and blues, not some poppy synthesized instruments.

However, the album is just two cliche. The nine tracks hardly say anything many r & b artists, and, indeed, many pop singers, haven't said before. "Snake in the Grass" and "Is It Possible to Love Two People?" are sort of exceptions but they don't do enough to lift up the album. The title track makes an interesting point lyrically but this doesn't come till the song is literally fading out. "Come On", the only really peppy cut, is good but this is because it rips off the sound of James Brown's best upbeat stuff.

While not an entirely bad listening experience, "Age Don't Mean a Thing" isn't any you can call worthwhile, either.

AN ELECTRONIC SILENT SPRING

By Katie Singer. East Sussex, UK: Rudolf Steiner Press, 2014.

Thoroughness is the key to any good truth book.

This book lays out the dangers of electromagnetic pollution in a careful, detailed manner, consisting of a mix of personal stories and factual information, also proposing a large number of solutions to electrosmog. The book is quite well-sourced. Even the appendices have footnotes.

Purchahse "An Ekectronic Silent Spring" here.https://www.amazon.ca/Electronic-Silent-Spring-Dangers-Creating/dp/1938685083

ZEPHANIAH

To open links in a new window, press Shift Enter.

I don’t normally do things like this, but the questions David Hewetson asks in “Zephaniah (Bible Probe)” are so good I figured I’d fill out the answers.

1 1-6

1.       In Genesis, God only promised He would never destroy the Earth by flood. After the millennium, he’ll destroy it by fire.

2.       People subscribe to modern forms of Baal worship in all kinds of ways. See Pastor Peter J. Peters book, “Baal Worship in America” as well as many similar resources from his ministry. We’ve made Baals out of everything from the medical establishment to the education system, including even the government.

Human sexuality is definitely a modern-day fertility religion, part of which is the contemporary sacrifice to Molech known as abortion. I also think sex in itself is worshipped for it’s own sake.

In addition, marriage is certainly “idealized as a means of self-fulfillment,” particularly in Christian circles with their over-emphasis on marrying.

The phrase Hewetson uses, “with sex as its sacred rite” is definitely a thought-provoking one. The Old Testament worshippers of Baal treated the sacred prostitutes as objects. Many Christians treat women and men as sex objects; it’s just you have to be married before you perform the ritual with them.

3.       God’s anger still operates against astrology, but I’d be interested in looking into the difference between astrology and astronomy. God did give us the sun, moon and stars for signs to represent times and seasons after all.

4.       “No man can serve two masters” means the same thing today as it did 2000 years ago. However, I do think Christians do a massive overcorrection in this area through Christian culture. Why do there have to be specific categories of various “Christian” forms of modern music, Christian radio, Christian television, Christian fiction, Christian movies, etc. Why don’t we just put those messages out into the secular arena through these forms of media like Christians used to do?

5.       Christianity is the only religion in the world that simultaneously allows for, and cries out against, pluralism. We have to allow others to practice their religions since Jesus never forced anyone to convert, but we proclaim the truth that Jesus is the only way to God.

As far as the democratic ideal is concerned, however, a pluralistic, multicultural society does not work and, ideally,  Christian countries should not allow in those who aren’t Christians. Sure, it’s nice to look at multiculturalism on a surface level and rave about how cool and interesting the food, music and dress of other cultures are, but below that surface, many of those cultures, culture being shaped by spiritual beliefs, have values which utterly fly in the face of Christian morals, principles and values.

V7-13

1.       The Day of the Lord is a warning to the unbeliever to repent, a reproof to the believer to stay on the narrow Way, and an encouragement to the believer that one day God’s justice will be served and the world will be restored to the way God originally created it to be before the fall.

The second part of this question is interesting. Would Zephaniah and other Jews living at that time have understood the true mission and nature of the Messiah? Would they have understood that Messiah would come twice?

2.       The powerful and the privileged are to apply God’s law on Earth.

3.       Thirty years on, the situation is kind of the opposite of what Hewetson had in mind when he wrote this. We made an idle out of our leisure time, now we are kept busy, both in a real sense through having to work longer hours for less money and purchasing power, and artificially busy through being tied to our tech devices.

4.       There are very few true atheists, or even true agnostics, for that matter. Most unbelievers believe in a God that fits the description of the one herein, one that doesn’t care either way about people’s practical, everyday lives, and thus, doesn’t care about being worshipped or obeyed, either.

The message Christians have for these people is that there is a real, living God who loves them, cares about them and who is interested in having a relationship with the humans He created, guiding them and being with them throughout their daily lives.

5.       The Bible has so much to say about the rich because the only reason anyone becomes rich, even if wealth was obtained through dishonest means, is because God allowed them to acquire those riches. Ultimately, all anyone has comes from God and the world He created.

Zephaniah 1 14-2 3

1. I definitely think we're living in the last days, or more correctly the end times, since the Bible defines the last days as the time after Christ came the first time. (See the first chapter of Hebrews.)

2. Knowing there'll be a day of judgment, as Peter says, means we should be better people, quicker to follow the Lord.

I actually think there would be as much evil in the world, or rather, there is, despite the fact most people believe in some kind of divine punishment for their sins, even if they don't believe it'll be the God of the Bible meeting out the punishment.

3. God's love can't accurately be considered apart from his wrath because a truly loving, just God should be wrathful against people, his creatures, hurting and abusing each other, and at humanity's use of the earth's resources without acknowledging and glorifying God as well as their lack of respect for His creation through environmental destruction.

4. God is jealous because we were originally created to have an intimate relationship with Him. Thus, God's jealousy is a good quality because he's the perfect being one could have a relationship with so God has every right to be jealous when people go after lesser, false gods.

It is totally right for a Christian to be jealous in this way. When you're out with your girlfriend or wife, you don't want to just passively stand by and watch her get hit on by every guy you meet, do you?

5. In Zephaniah's day, seeking the Lord meant making animal sacrifices and obeying the Law as delivered to Moses from God at Mount Sinai. This would save them because those were God's requirements for His people at that time. Under the New Covenant, this is accomplished through repentance, baptism for the remission of sins (see Acts 2 38), and then growing in a deeper and deeper relationship with Jesus Christ through prayer, Bible study, fellowship with brothers and sisters in the faith, and obedience to what God tells us to do.

v 4-7

1. God still does have prophetic words for the nations of the world. I should look some of them up and post them here, or at least post links to the messages.

2. This is what gets me about so much Christian radio, and, in fact, Christian culture in general: the people who proliferate it say Christian cultural items are for the purpose of winning unbelievers, but the focus of so much Christian radio, movies, etc. is to the believers. Even when something has a message clearly inteneded for the world, that movie or whatever instead comes off as an echo chamber, serving to confirm to believers what they already think about things. The verses Hewetson cites in this question should remind us that God's truth is for all people.

3. The sin of the Philistines was worshipping other gods instead of giving glory to the true God.

4. God's people will possess the nations when Christ returns to rule the world. I'm not exactly sure what we will rule with God in terms of what people will make up the inhabitants of the milennial kingdom. You'll have to read my upcoming post on Revelation for the answer to that one.

Christians owe their restoration to God and we are restored to fellowship with God on the basis of what Christ did on the cross.

v8-11

1. There have been many instances of persecution against individual Christians and the church over the centuries and the perpetrators, whether from outside the church or in, will be condemned to Hell.

2. The proper response to persecution is to resist in a Godly manner if possible, have faith in our Lord, pray for the persecutors, and be confident in the eternal life we have in Christ.

3. There is such a difference between general unprovoked hostility and religious persecution because people feel especially strongly about their religious convictions in comparison to anything else. When confronted with the former type of hostility, a Christian should turn the other cheek, but also keep in mind you only have two cheeks.

4. Pride is such a terrible sin because what lies at the heart of it and blocks communion with God is self-worship. As I said in my earlier post on Proverbs, when you're your own god you make your own rules and, hence, all other sins result from pride.

5. One of the biggest points of modern pride I see is knowledge and official-sounding positions. People think if they have a piece of paper saying they can do something or if the employer or network marketing company has given them a title, then that really makes them something. One recent incident that comes to mind is I heard Bradley Jay on WBZ Boston say one night, with quite a lot of arrogant self-confidence, that he knew the Bible was just a bunch of stories because he had been to Sunday school.

v12-15

1. There's ultimately no security in self-security because it's God's world and, apart from Him, we truly can do nothing. In his sovereignty, He could make every person in the world into a nearly brain-dead, complete vegetable in the next less than a microsecond if He wanted to.

2. Yes, it is possible to be self-confident and humble at the same time. This condition comes from recognising that every ability we have comes from the Lord and that, as His children, He wants us to use those abilities to accomplish our potential. Thus, it isn't wrong to be self-suficient in the sense that we deal with our lives and do a good job at taking care of ourselves. If the rich fool in Luke 12 had acknowledged that it was by God's goodness that he grew so much food, he would have been a lot less foolish.

3. Christians don't have the power in themselves to judge and condemn injustice, but rather it is the Word which judges people and which Christians are to proclaim.

4. The causes of this are human nature in general which results from the fall as well as the fact we live in a world where people aren't worshiping and glorifying God.

Christians should speak out against acts of injustice by governments, proclaiming the Scripture verses that talk about how God feels toward opressors and cruel, unjust persons, especially those in positions of government.

As far as groups like Amnesty International are concerned: Though they do some good work, these groups are quite biased. They have not, to my knowledge, had any campaigns to assist the white farmers who are being slaughtered in South Africa (and who lately have been kicked out of the country.) Also, there reasons for speaking out against injustices are secular and not based on the fact this is God's world, His law still applies and those who break it are going to pay the penalty for the rest of eternity.

5. I am content in the assurance that justice will be done eventually, although it is good to see those instances when God carries it out in this present age. The whole book of Ecclesiastes sheds a lot of light on this issue.

Zephaniah 3 1-7

1. The lesson here is both those who are and aren't God's people will have to stand before Christ in judgment. However, it first begins at the house of God.

2. The civil, judicial and religious leaders are held accountable because they are supposed to be the ones in charge of ruling, carrying out and teaching God's law to the people. Today's leaders have the very same responsibility.

Our religious leaders should be influencing our civil and judicial leaders by instructing them in God's law while those leaders are still children. When these civil and judicial leaders are adults, religious leaders should, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, be re-iterating God's law and warning of the penalties incurred on those leaders for not enforcing and carrying out that law.

3. Our Godly responsibility in the election process is to elect the leaders who are going to enforce God's law, and if they aren't going to do that, or if they're just saying they'll enforce it to get us to cast a ballot for them, then we shouldn't vote. Even if we didn't vote, we should still be taking our elected officials to task and warning them from the Bible when they break God's law.

We should pray for those in authority so that God might intervene and cause our leaders to adhere to and enforce His law or replace those leaders who won't do so with those who will.

4. Romans 13 basically says, in a kind of roundabout way (at least to our modern way of speaking) that governing authorities should only be obeyed to the extent they enforce God's law. When governing authorities break God's law, they therefore cease to be worthy of obedience. If Christians live their lives in obedience to God's law then they will be sure to have their good works rewarded, and the evildoers who ignore or knowingly break God's law can be sure He will punish them.

We can support the oppressed in other countries by praying for them and their leadership and helping materially as the Holy Spirit prompts us and we are able to do so.

5. This question could be a whole post in itself and I do not want to write my answer unless the Holy Spirit tells me to.

v8-13

1. In v8-10 we see the two sides of God destroying the wicked, oppressive people and rewarding with peace, harmony and rest the righteous who have trusted in Him.

2. It is possible for Christians of differing cultures to be united in Christ and still maintain their cultural identity, though with the two natures still battling within us (see Romans 7) there will be tensions and conflicts that come up from time to time.

The best way to present the Gospel to people of different cultures is to preach Christ and Him crucified rather than saying what we think they'll want to hear.

9. It isn't a pious hope. The gift of pure speech will be given to the persecutors and oppressors if they die to themselves in repentance, are buried in the waters of baptism and come up new creatues in Christ. (See Acts 2 38)

4. The humble remnant will be characterized by their humility, their poverty in spirit, their trust in the Lord, their purity of heart, and their truthfulness.

5. We should expect to see these qualities in our Christian fellowship, bearing in mind God's people are not yet perfect, to a large extent. If we aren't seeing them in our church, then we should get out of the institutional church and cultivate relationships with and have fellowship with Christians who do exude these qualities.

v14-20

1. The Christian life is a joyful life in the sense of the joy we have in our relationship with the Lord, though it isn't often joyful in the sense in which we usually think of joy.

I rejouice in my relationship with Jesus Christ and the fact He saved my soul. I also rejoice in the promises yet to be fulfilled and in the many ways He blesses me every day. I pray my joy is manifested in the attitude I display to people on a daily basis.

2. God is a kind, benevolent king who wants to give His people the best of everything, have His justice done and give His people peace, security and every other similar good thing.

3. From 1 John 4 7-21 and Romans 5 1-8, we learn that God loved us when we were Godless, unloving sinners. Therefore, we should love one another and be patient when someone else wrongs us, as well as loving the unbelievers and not looking down our noses at them as if there was some quality that made us special so that Christ saved us, those unbelievers not possessing that special quality.

4. God renews us in His love even now through His Spirit.

5. One key thing I've gotten from Zephaniah is that just as certain aspects of the Law given to Moses at Mount Sinai were shadows of things which were fulfilled in Jesus, so we see a shadow of what God's restored kindom will be like in the fellowship that Christians have with one another today and we also see forerunners of God's final judgment taking place in our world nowadays as well. Praise you Lord for these assurances we have that the promises in Zephaniah and the rest of your Word will be fulfilled.

BEAUTY PLUS PITY

By Kevin Chong. Vancouver, BC: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2011.

One of the funniest books, and best stories, I've read in a long time.

Malcolm Kwan, a 24 year old slacker and wannabe male model, discovers he has a long-lost sister around the same time his father dies and his fiance breaks up with him. As Hadley, the sister, and Malcolm get more involved in each other's lives, one learns the history of Malcolm's past relationships with women and sees Malcolm's growing relationship with the only woman he's ever treated right.

This book ripples with humour on every page. There are so many classic lines your hard pressed to remember even a few of them, such as a bed looking as if it was made from prefab recycled plastic prison bars or a person sounding as believable as a teenager playing a senior citizen in a school play. At the same time, the reader gets entirely caught up in the narrative and its well-drawn, and somehow believable characters.

Additionally, as a Christian, it was nice to see a secular book that actually showed abortion does have at least some significant consequences.

Purchase "Beauty Plus Pity" here.https://www.amazon.ca/Beauty-Plus-Pity-Kevin-Chong/dp/1551524163

MEDIA-RELATED STUFF

Picked up WRVO last night with BBC news.

Picked up WCMF this morning with commercials and classic rock.

CHEX-TV will now be known as Global Peterborough and drop all CTV programming. Way to destroy more uniqueness in broadcasting.

Hope 103.2, it seems an odd choice for a Christian radio station to play Shania Twain "From This Moment."

DX LOG 8/24

88.5 WRUR Rochester with interview with and performances by local band High and Dry.

89.1 WBSU Brockport with Owl City and anncr.

89.9 WRVO Oswego with "Morning Edition", NPR, BBC and local news. Wish CBC had as much of a local focus as NPR does.

Hot 89.9 Ottawa with top forty music.

91.5 WXXI Rochester with female anncr, classical music including a piece of obo music by Toronto Strings.

94.1 WZNE Rochester with "Rover's Morning Glory", talking and taking phone calls about acronyms for lgbt community and replacement of the words penis and vagina.

94.7 WMHI Watertown now apparently a Family Life Network station, anncr introducing song by Newsboys.

95.1 WREO Rochester with Brother Weeze.

96.5 WCMF Rochester with commercials, ID and into classic rock.

97.9 WPXY Rochester with commercials including for cbd shop.

98.9 WBZA Rochester with commercials, into no repeat workday with songs from the eighties and nineties.

99.5 WDCX Buffalo with preacher who sounded Native-American talking about the end times.

THE NEW BIRTH

We are born into a fallen world effected by Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden. As we grow up in this fallen world, we learn the attitudes and ways of it and perform the deeds the world does. Other people also display worldly attitudes toward us and do worldly things to us as well.

When we repent of our sins, we die to ourselves. We no longer do what we want to do-something we've been taught by the world, but we now do what God wants us to do. What do you do with a dead person then? You bury them. We are buried through baptism and we come up out of the water new creatures. At this point, we are, spiritually speaking, like newborn babies, just out of the womb.

We may have had good parents, but our parents, however great they might have been, weren't perfect because they, too, grew up in the fallen world. We now have a Heavenly Father. Also, in the same way older siblings help take care of their younger siblings, we now have a family of older brother and sister Christians who will help take care of us, feeding us milk and later solid food (the basic stuff about God, then the deeper stuff) as well as doing things like being an example of how children of God are supposed to act and comforting and soothing us when the hurts of life come.

Throughout our lives as Christians, then, we are growing up in Christ, learning His ways, attitudes and deeds. At the same time, we are also unlearning the wrong thoughts, attitudes and deeds we were taught growing up in the world before we were spiritually reborn.

As we grow older in Christ, we will help nurture new babes in Christ, just as we were nurtured (and are still being nurtured) by our older brothers and sisters as, at the same time, we ourselves are still being taught by our Heavenly Father, and so it continues.

JUDAH'S SCEPTER AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT

It's one thing to hear the identity message discussed in sermons or on talk shows, but quite another to read a book that lays out and analyzes the evidence for the truth that the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, German, Scandinavian and kindred people are the Israel people of the Bible today. Rather, I should say, it provides clear proof of who Ephraim and Manasseh are today, as well as providing proof of who Dan became. However, it does encourage the reader, by its very nature, to look for the identity of the other tribes not mentioned.

This book also refutes some, and inspires one to look up further refutations of, all the arguments against this truth.

Read "Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright" here.https://www.cbcg.org/franklin/Judahs_Sceptre_Josephs_Birthright.pdf

THE SECRET RIGHT VOLUME ONE

You've heard of the CFR, Bilderberg, Bohemian Grove, freemasonry, and the Jesuits, but you've probably never heard of the Counsel for National Policy. "The Secret Right" exposes this extremely shadowy organization, provides insight into why conservatives can't make any headway and sheds light on the Trump phenomenon.

Purchase it here.http://www.theglobalreality.com/documentaries/the-secret-right-volume-1

THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN

By Andrew Carrington Hitchcock. Self-published, 2006.

This book cleared up for me the question of the extent of the Jewish role in the conspiracy for a new world order. I learned so much from this book, about the Czars, the events between the world wars and about many events which I had not previously heard. I was pleasantly startled every few pages.

Listen to this book here.https://andrewcarringtonhitchcock.com/my-books/the-synagogue-of-satan-updated-expanded-and-uncensored/

ADOLF HITLER-THE GREATEST STORY NEVER TOLD

History has context, and that, eh.??!!

THE TRUTH ABOUT ANTIDEPRESSANTS AND OTHER SO-CALLED PSYCHIATRIC "MEDICATIONS"

Check out The Marketing of Madness, Making a Killing and The Hidden Enemy. Though these documentaries are put out by the Church of Scientology, a fictitious religion whose existence I vehemently disagree with, let the information contained in these documentaries stand on its own merit. Besides, there are many other good resources on this subject, such as "Our Daily Meds" by Melody Peterson. 

FIREHALL FOOD

40 St. Lawrence St. West, Madoc, ON.

Stopped into this restaurant about a week ago and can't say enough good things about it. The staff were friendly, the service was really good considering how busy it was (which is a testament to how good this place is in itself) and the food was excellent.

I had a burger and fries. They have quite a large menu, and from a cursory glance at other online reviews it looks like all there food is really good.

A good vibe all around.

CANADA IS NOT A COUNTRY

I find myself really agreeing with Scott Gilmore's Maclean's column of a few months ago that has the same title as this post.

First, I do actually identify more with the folks in upstate New York than I identify, say, with a Newfoundlander getting 20 inches of snow in May or people in Saskatchewan eating Thanksgiving dinner in the dark because there was a cold snap that knocked out the power. Similarly, I don't really identify with a guy in Alberta drinking hot chocolate on his tractor in the snow in late October or people strolling around Victoria in February watching the tulips bloom.

Second, Canada has no real values. It appears Canadians value things like universal healthcare, peacekeeping, recognition of the rights of various minorities, etc., but that's because we have a mostly Toronto-based mainstream media that constantly tells us these are the things of which Canadians should be proud.

Third, most other nations were founded because the tribe that had occupied the land eventually grew big enough to form a nation, though granted this is somewhat of an oversimplification.

The United States was formed because the colonists didn't want taxes foisted upon them without a fellow colonist representing them and saying it was all right with the colonists that Britain levy that tax. Add in liberty and justice for all, all men are created equal, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and it's pretty plain America as a nation is based on a set of values. Though Americans on different sides of the political spectrum disagree as to what these exact statements mean, still, they all hold their interpretation of those same values.

However, Canada couldn't even get the province where the talks were held to join Confederation till six years after it happened and, as said above, the values the media purports Canadians to have are quite different than the values the average Canadian actually possesses.

Fourth, all the things Canadians think define us as a distinct nation aren't true definitions of a nation. We mostly define ourselves by saying we aren't Americans or we aren't British, and by things like spelling words differently from Americans, having a few different words for things than Americans, and superficial things like our love of hockey and poutine. I repeat, these distinctions does not a nation make.

As for the CFL, I find I can't really get excited about a football league that plays when it's 40 Celsius outside and that is into the playoffs by the time decent football weather rolls around.

Add to this the fact we didn't have the power to ratify our own laws till the Statute of westminster in 1933 or the power to change our constitution till 1982 and the argument Canada is a nation sinks further into the ground.

Fifth, we even seem ashamed of ourselves most of the time. What do I mean by this? As I said in my third argument, as divided as the United States is, Americans are still linked with each other over some semblance of what the founding fathers said. This means that, when something like 9/11 happens, Americans (though blaming each other for why the event took place and arguing over the best response) still stand united on the grounds that America was attacked and America must stand against its enemy. When the Parliament Hill attacked took place a few years ago, we had maybe a day at the utter most of unanimity in the House before our Parliamentarians fell to acting like a bunch of kindergarten kids again, which is actually kind of insulting to all those who will be shortly entering, or who just graduated kindergarten

As further evidence, as divisive as the 2016 US presidential election was, Americans were either saying "Make America great again" or "What are you talking about, America is still great." There's an element in this country that's so ashamed of Canada's past and of Western values in general they'd never even contemplate thinking the words "Canada" and "great" in the same 24 hour period.

It really is time for Canadians to realize we aren't a real country. Let the Western provinces become their own country, or four separate countries. Let Ontario become a nation with northern Ontario as its own province, Toronto as its own province, and everywhere else as sub-provinces. Give Quebec what they've always wanted. Make Newfoundland a country again. Make the Maritimes a country or three and make the north a country, too.

This of course doesn't mean we couldn't have friendly relations with one another. We'd eventually figure out pretty cool ways to be up hear north of the 49 and hopefully be a happier, freer, more convivial group of people rocking the North American continent.

CHRISTIAN IDENTITY IS NOT RACIST

At least not in the true sense of the word, viz. I am not in favour of a Hitlerian regime that would kill or enslave all those it deemed inferior.

As far as the question of superiority of the white race is concerned, while we have come up with most of the worlds discoveries, inventions and achievements and even arguably helped the world become what it is today, that does not make us superior in any real way since, in the first place, we were chosen because it was God's good pleasure to do so and not because of anything we had done as a people at the time, and, in the second place, many of us have been twofold more sons of Hell throughout history.

As far as inferiority is concerned, burning widows, putting baby girls to death and not allowing individual freedom does seem kind of inferior to me. However, no individual of another race is automatically inferior just because he isn't Caucasian, though it can be argued his culture is inferior.

Personally, I would have no problem working or associating with a person of colour.

As far as the question of the Jews being evil is concerned, there really isn't a way to have a fair discussion with anyone on this subject due to the Jewish control of much of the media and publishing industries. However, let the record show I have preached the Gospel to the people we call Jews today. Check the archives for December 2010 or January 2011 if you don't believe me.

PROVERBS 1-9

Proverbs Chapters 1-9

Chapter 1 v10-19: In a modern context, I picture a father talking to his son as Solomon talked to his son. Today, the father might say, "Son, if you start running with the wrong crowd and they get you to participate in purse snatchings and other stuff like that, don't do it." Of course, no gangster is going to come up to you in the halls of your high school out of the blue and be like, "Hey, wanna do a purse snatching or a b and e or whatever with us tonight." When you start running with the wrong crowd, or a friend of yours does, it is a gradual progression from just hanging out to participating in their criminal activities.

True, Jesus was the sinners' friend and we are to be imitators of Christ, so therefore it comes down to a matter of who is influencing whom more.

v20-33, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 v 1-6, v13-18: It's interesting wisdom and folly are both pictured as women. Wisdom is a sweet, kind, gentle, loving woman who calls out across the city for people to come in, eat with her, listen to her, and live. Folly also calls out loudly, but she is a brash woman telling people it's good to steal.

Chapter 6 v16-19: The other sins mentioned in this passage all come out of the first sin, pride.

Chapter 7 v5-27: I don't know whether or not they had brothels in ancient Israel at this time, but I picture the simple young man in this passage as a teenager who's too scared to visit an actual brothel for his first time, so one of his friends at school (to put it in kind of a modern frame) tells him about this woman in such and such street who has men in when her husband goes away on business. All you have to do is walk by her house at a certain time of day and she'll feed you a good meal and show you a good time.

DX LOG 8/5

88.5 WRUR Rochester with interesting music as always.

89.9 WRVO Oswego with "Weekend Morning Edition", official ID listing all the WRVO stations, local talks by anncrs, NPR news.

90.1 WGMC Greece with jazz.

90.5 WBER Rochester with new and older alternative rock songs.

91.5 WXXI Rochester with classical music I hadn't heard before.

92.5 WBEE Rochester with commercials.

93.7 WBLK Buffalo with R&B.

94.3 WIYY Syracuse with adult contemporary music and ID.

94.5 WNED Buffalo with classical music.

95.1 WREO Rochester with "The Billy Detori Sunday Morning Show."

95.7 WPIG Olean with syndicated show playing a variety of country music, commercial for county fair.

96.1 WJYE Buffalo with commercials.

96.5 WCMF Rochester with commercials.

97.3 WYXL Ithaca with ID.

97.5 WFRY Watertown with country music.

97.9 WPXY Rochester with "On Air with Ryan Seacrest."

99.5 WDCX Buffalo with "People's Gospel Hour", later pastor taking a phone call from a guy in Missouri.

99.7 unid. Christian radio station with Christian contemporary music.

102.5 WTSS Buffalo with adult contemporary music.

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

Noticed "Bringing a Message" is no longer on WWCR Saturdays at noon eastern, though the schedule does show it at other times.

Picked up Hits FM St. Catherine's a few days ago.

Picked up the Peterborough transmitter of Life FM Barrie a couple Sundays ago.

THE TRUTH ABOUT STRESS AND URGE INCONTINENCE IN WOMEN

Cross-posted from my other blog.

A lot of the problems with stress incontinence in women go back to toilet training. Most parents mess up potty training by making the child go on a schedule, even when the child insists she doesn't need to pee. Thus, the child never develops proper awareness of when she needs to void, and into adulthood will not realize her body is sending her the signal, laugh, cough or whatever, and have an accident. Either that or she'll be aware of needing to pee but not be comfortable with urination as a part of her life. Thus, she will hold it, laugh, sneeze, or whatever, and have an accident.

As far as urge incontinence: Other parents mess up toilet training by insisting the child use the potty frequently _and telling the child that, if she has an accident, it will be horrifically embarrassing for the child and terribly inconvenient for the parent. Thus, the fear of wetting her pants is instilled and the child grows into a woman who gets seized by the urge to pee every half an hour, feeling like she's going to burst if she doesn't get to the bathroom and often not making it, all out of fear of not getting her bum on the toilet in time as opposed to an actual large quantity of urine in the bladder.

Stress and urge incontinence can show up in men for these reasons, too, but boys tend to learn how to relax and have fun with their stream, if you catch my drift, whereas girls are more likely to be taught to be ladylike and that urine only goes in a toilet.

SPEED RACER

Au contraire, John Goodman. Racing and other professional sports are all about money. Read "The Fix Is In" by Brian Tuohy if you doubt that.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE-OBSERVATIONS

1. Its unrealistic depiction of Heaven and angels, including the fact the Bible never says each person has a guardian angel assigned to them, though God does send His angels to protect us.

2. If you contemplate suicide, then change your mind, all your problems don't get instantly solved in a Hollywood ending. I think the originally planned ending, with George Bailey dropping to his knees and reciting the Lord's prayer, would have been much better. "You're in control, God, and you gave me my life. I don't have the right to end it, no matter how terrible the circumstances. I've got to keep on keeping on and realize you're in control and that there's a whole eternity coming and that there will be justice for the Mr. Potter's of this world in the end."

3. Couldn't Clarence have gone down to Earth at the beginning of the film, rescued George, taken him up to Heaven, and shown him all the parts of his life the audience sees to prove to George the impact he has had on those around him?

4. Too much lame humour. "You're eighteen? Seems like only last year you were seventeen." That's funny when someone says it to you when you meet them on the street, not when you're watching it on the screen.

5. Would it have been so bad if Bedford Falls had a few more bars and other kinds of places?

6. Lunkhead Uncle Billy is allowed to handle large sums of money in amounts such as 8 thousand dollars.

7. Bedford Falls was Pottersville all along, if for no other reason than George and the townspeople had to constantly prevent Mr. Potter from officially taking over everything. When you devote so much time and mental energy to someone you hate, that person controls you.

8. Even though Clarence tells him several times, George never seems to realize he's being shown the world as it would exist had he never been born, though really;

9. George was actually being shown the world as it really was. The townspeople would have been quite happy to have Potter take over Bedford Falls tomorrow and turn it into a den of iniquity if it meant jobs for people, seeing as how the town's one major employer, the factory where George wanted Sam to put the plastics factory, had closed, throwing half of them out of work, in edition of course to however many other residents of Bedford Falls were already unemployed.

JUDAS GOATS OF THE PRO-FAMILY MOVEMENT

is a book I'd really like to see published and to read.

I recently read the late Michael Colins-Pyper's informative (though dated) book "Judas Goats." I was, however, disappointed there was nothing in the book about the pro-family movement of the religious right.

It seems to me when you have James Dobson saying things like "Spongebob is gay" (though he clearly is) rather than using his breath to put out the truth about what causes homosexuality and how homosexuals can indeed change, it kind of makes me think he's actually working for the gay movement. I feel the same way about the rhetoric on homosexuality I hear coming from a lot of these right-wing Christian family organizations.

Similarly, when I hear some of the so-called reasoning a lot of these organizations put out in "defense" of an unborn baby's right to life, I think they are secretly working for the pro-abortion movement, and that includes a lot of things Pastor Ernie Sanders on WHKW Cleveland says on his program "What's Right, What's Left" on the issue of abortion. If I were a desperate young woman facing a crisis pregnancy and having no idea what to do, what gets spewed from the pro-life side much of the time would make me want to get to the nearest abortion clinic post haste.

The same kinds of things can be said for a good chunk of the stance's many of these organizations take on other issues, including of course premarital sex and, it stands to reason, probably suicide, though I haven't read a lot of their literature on that.

If anyone knows of any resources that discuss this, leave a comment or email me.

MINI DX LOG 8/6

Family Life station on unknown frequency with Museum of the Bible spot and promo for prayer line.

96.5 WCMF Rochester with commercials including PSA about healthy things to drink during the summer, ID and into Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody."

97.5 WFRY Watertown with country music and commercials, including spots for two mattress retailers in the same stop set.

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

Oh great: Bruce Stevens is back on WBZ.

Been picking up 98 PXY regularly throughout the summer.

Ed on CKOL does a wonderful job at being succinct.

CKWE Deseronto is on CJLX's old frequency now.

Picked up WRVO with "Tuned to Yesterday" on the FM band of my fancy, powerful shortwave radio a couple Sundays ago, mixing with and ultimately overcome by Hot 89.9 Ottawa.

Picked up CKNT 960 Mississauga very faintly several weeks ago.

Enjoy Buffalo Bisons baseball on WWKB on a summer night.

Glad 91x got rid of the repeat of the last hour of "Nightcap" for "The East Coast Countdown."

WINB 9265 was coming in really well the Saturday before last.

Picked up WAAM Ann Arbor with Alex Jones last night.

"Cross-country Checkup" was interesting this Sunday.

Again this summer, CBC Radio is just throwing on their podcasts and a bunch of repackaged material

PARODY TIME-MEET JULIE

(Open on the Happy Wallet shop. Joyce and Tracey Allbright are making apple seed bracelets.)

Tracey: Mom, this was such a good idea you had, opening up a shop in the Haight-Ashbury district to sell cheap hippy knockoffs to tourists.

Joyce: Yeah really. It’s 1975. The hippy thing ended here, what, five years ago?

(Julie bursts in, crying.)

Joyce: Honey, what’s wrong?!

Tracey: Yeah, sis, all that crying is definitely ungroovy.

Julie: I tried to join the basketball team at my new school, Harold Robins Elementary, but the coach said the team was only for boys. (Makes disgusted noise) He wanted me to bake cookies for the bake sale they’re having to raise money for the team.

Tracey: Man, that is definitely something that can’t be categorized as boss.

Julie: Could I take a look at those newspapers? I have to find out about Title 9. Once I tell the coach about that new law, he’ll let me play for sure.

Joyce: No, Julie, I’ve got a much better way of getting you on the basketball team.

(The next morning. Joyce is lifting a sheet of basketballs out of the oven. Julie and Tracey are standing nearby.)

Tracey: This was such a groovy idea, Mom: baking basketballs for the team instead of cookies.

Joyce: Thanks, dear. I was a little worried, but the oven we use to bake the fake hash brownies worked out just fine.

Julie: I’ll take these to school today and if the coach still doesn’t let me on the team, I’ll have to resort to plan b.

(Shift to coach’s office. Julie knocks on the door.)

Coach: Enter.

(Julie enters, carrying a box of basketballs.)

Julie: Here’s my contribution for the team, coach. Can I join it now?

Coach: (Opening box) These are the weirdest rum balls I’ve ever seen. … What are these, basketballs?

Julie: Yes, my family and I baked a dozen basketballs last night. That should really help the team out.

Coach: I don’t know what to say. I, uh, really appreciate this, Allbright. It definitely will help the Pussycats finish somewhere other than dead last this year. However, I still do not allow girls on our school’s basketball team. It’s a boys team and that’s final.

Julie: Well, sir, then you leave me no other choice.

Coach: Oh, you gonna get a bunch of hairy-legged feminists marching around the school, burning their bras and giving me a bunch of grief about Title 9, the law of the land, that sort of thing?

Julie: How ‘bout a little one on one.

Coach: You’re challenging me to a basketball game?

Julie: I sure am. There’s still plenty of time before the first bell rings. Come on.

Coach: I, an adult male, am being challenged to a match-up with a nine year old, and a nine year old girl at that. Sure, why not. Wasn’t planning on using the time before school to do anything constructive anyway.

(Shift to the school gym. Coach is lying on the floor, exhausted. Julie is standing near him.)

Coach: Oh my gosh, I think I’m having a heart attack. You creamed me, Allbright.

Julie: So, can I be on the team now, coach?

Coach: Of course, of course. We need someone with your skills. Welcome aboard, Pussycat.

Julie: Thank you, coach.

(The bell rings)

Coach: Allbright, on your way to class, could you call me an ambulance, please.

Julie: Students are only allowed to make phone calls at lunch and after school. See you at practice.

Closing credits.

Based on “Meet Julie” by Megan McDonald.