I remember...

Miss Mona sez...

I remember when Memorial Day meant a parade and going to the graveyards to tidy the graves of those who had given the ultimate sacrifice, leaving behind flowers and a little flag to say to whomever came after you that you remember. That you will never forget or take for granted the freedoms that were so valuable that others fought and died for them.

There would be picnics and barbeques, get-togethers of all types, family and friends taking a day to be together, to visit, to appreciate the freedom to get together without being afraid.

There are millions of people around the world who do not have that blessing of freedom. Then there are those who have taken it and turned it into a tool to try to force others to espouse and submit to "their" idea of freedom. That "their" way is right and all others are wrong.

What is up with that?

What makes people so arrogant and self-centered that someone else's idea of freedom is to be destroyed or at least controlled in some way?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights..."

 Self-evident. Obvious to anyone with one eye and half sense.
Created equal. Not some more equal than others and not just those created with a penis.
That these rights were given to us by a Creator. Not a gift with strings attached, an endowment. That comes from somebody that HAS to somebody that HAS NOT. By a Creator. Not the universe. Not a Higher Power. Not primal slime randomly stimulated to growth and evolution.

"that among these..." 

These are not the only ones, but these are the top three that were expressed right off the bat.

"are Life. Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Taking away any or all of these from another human being is not okay, not even if it happens while you are enjoying them for yourself.

Holy Toledo, but that covers a lot of territory, doesn't it?

I could expound at length on what this all means to me but I choose not to. Think about it for yourself awhile and let it sink down into the parts of you that need these words. For myself, I think it can be partly expressed by

I remember.

God bless you,
Love,
Mona

Moose Pass Journal/Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Bill Says: Growing up I cut my teeth on John Wayne war movies, from films like the Fighting SeeBees to the Flying Leathernecks, and even The Green Beret. I saw such a display of comradeship among the military, the glory of battle, the honor and courage the film companies displayed on screen. But then it was my turn to experience the reality of war and for me, it was in Viet Nam. For my Dad, it was Korea and for my sons it's been the Philippines & Africa ( Jeremy), Iraq and Afghanistan ( John, Brady and Joshua).  I've learned there is little glory in war, but truly, the friendships formed in such times can be like no other. True, I saw many acts of bravery and courage, but the honor was often corrupted by man's ego, by too many men all too ready to give up other men's lives to give them a boost in their military careers. I watched as many heroes were never acknowledged or medals handed out, to men who received same but did not deserve them.

Oh, I still watch war movies, but I usually don't watch those movies made about my war- except for "We Were Soldiers". I found this a refreshingly honest portrayal of the Viet Nam War or what I remembered of it.

I still recall the faces of friends and foes, but on these Memorial Weekends I tend to think of my surviving close friends. Of Mike Kimbrel; a hefty old boy from Minnisota, who strangely looked and talked as if he had wrestled alligators in a Mississippi swamp. He never liked jungle fatigues, so he used stateside fatigues with the black thread lettering and stripes. He disliked Orientals of all nationalities and loved to get into a good scrape. Then there was Frank D. D'Mario, the Italian babe-magnet, body lifter from New Jersey. When he got excited it was hard for me to know what he was trying to say, his accent was so heavy. I secretly suspected his family was involved with Organized crime. He was always spending time in front of the mirrors, perfecting his posing for the next contest back home. He shared a metal bunk bed with me and I always wondered which of us snored the worst- he could be used as a fog horn off the New Jersey shore. The fourth member of our group and the one I knew the longest was Chuck Dudley, from either South or North Dakota- I couldn't remember. But for a time he settled in California and worked for the LAPD. We survived Viet Nam and the four of us were later stationed together in Thailand. We flew out of Danang with the end of the war aboard the same C-130. We were part of a small roll-up force and that event was a story in itself. Then Chuck got stationed at Edwards AFB, California with me, until he got out to join the LAPD. Chuck and I thought about becoming mercenaries, but we backed out. I got married, re-enlisted and he got out to become a cop.

The four of us did a lot, saw a lot and I tend to remember only the good times. We went to Viet Nam as volunteers, all Air Force cops, and were quickly disillusioned by what we found there. We disliked leaving, knowing we were abandoning the South Vietnamese and what we found in Thailand wasn't much better in the honor department. Yet, we obeyed our orders, did our jobs and greatly enjoyed each other's friendships. I've never seen these guys again, but know if I needed them they'd be here and I for them. That is what comes when friendships are formed in a fiery forge.

Yet, when I see the actual films of World War One and Two, I can freely admit we never saw the same kind of action these men went through. Our tours of duty were 12-15 months in length, but in WWII, the men were in for the duration and rarely saw a break. From those who island hopped the Pacific or the ones who went from North Africa to Normandy,France, these were true soldiers. For them a fire fight could last for weeks, not hours. They hiked over hard terrain for days on end, while we flew or patrolled short lengths of distance.

So, on Memorial Day I like to remember all those men and women who gave their lives for our country. From the time of the Revolutionary War, the Mexican-American and Spanish American War, WWI & WWII, Korea and Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan, and all the smaller wars in between.

It is nice, a relief actually, to see the respect the returning veterans are getting as they return home. But I do wonder, if the veterans of Viet Nam had received such treatment, how many of them would not have killed themselves through drug and alcohol abuse or suicide, ( more than 100,000 did after returning home). But Americans learn from their mistakes. Our flags are waving, we treat our vets with respect and the men and women wear their uniforms with pride.

Enjoy the weekend, roast a hot dog, wave a flag and may God bless you all. God Bless the USA

Moose Pass Journal for 5/21/11

Bill Says:  Fresh snow on the mountain tops, we just went through a 21-hour blackout, cold winds a blowing and still, we're having to use the wood stove to warm up the house. Thankfully we have a gas stove to cook on too. Makes me think winter hasn't ended yet. Good thing we haven't planted anything either. I've been working on widening the driveway a bit. Our friend Benton Groom, ( he used to have a business long ago and drove wrecker out to my accident scenes or DWI arrests, also rebuilt the engine on my old blazer), who now works for the state, was out cleaning the ditches out along the highway. On Mona's suggestion, I went out to talk with him and see if he could drop some of that stuff into the sloping area off the southern edge of our driveway. He brought in 6 bucket loads of slate, weeds and winter sand and this brought a 30-foot long by 10-foot wide section level with our driveway. Mona wants to put the raspberry bushes out there that were given to us. Then a dump truck brought another 2-3 bucket loads of fill and dropped it off, but I was left with this rather large pile and no front end loader around to level it. So, I attacked it with shovel and rake, and it took about 2-days to somewhat level it out. Lots of large pieces of slate, a few bigger than I could move, so I put them up into a small sculpture like thing. I'm such an artist with rocks. Then I was down for three days for over doing it again. Stubborn streak- inherited from my mom.

Well, yesterday was my 58th birthday! Thank you who sent your blessings... But where was the cash? LEt's see, one dollar for every year times....Oh well. You know, I was never bothered about turning 40, 50 or even 55 years old. Thought it was cool to be getting older, watching my kids grow up and become adults Mona and I could be proud of, and then my so many grandkids... our 12th and 13th about ready to pop out soon.  But I've told Mona that in two years, when I turn 60 yrs old, I might really freak out. My teeth are either being pulled out or crumbling from drinking too much Pepsi over the years and if I smile just right, I look like ol' snaggle-tooth and I wonder what comes next. That mile mark of 60 yrs has always been a somewhat frightening for me, both my dad and his dad never made it past 58 yrs old so I don't have anything go on, but good old mom is kicking strong at 91-yrs.

So,  I've decided to schedule my mild-life crisis right now, as to not alarm my wife when it happens. My choices are either flying down to Disneyland, borrowing the Mickey costume and chasing Minnie Mouse around the castle to entertain the tourists, sneaking off to Hawaii, passing myself off as a large Saint Bernard and riding in a large dog carrier to save costs- I'm hairy enough and complete a friendly-like car jacking of a corvette from some Magnum PI wanna-be to see the sights before I get arrested. Then there's going to Anchorage, borrowing a corvette off the lot for an extended test-ride and making a 150 mph run to Fairbanks... you'll notice these two ideas involve a corvette and I'm only borrowing- not stealing. Well, I've always wanted to own a 1970-71 Vet, but could never afford one. Though I did once own a sweet 1966 Ford Mustang and a 1974 Camero. Odd thing now, I probably wouldn't even fit in a Vet and now I don't even drive- except for real short trips- too many medications.

So, maybe I will strip down to a leather loin cloth, grab my shotgun( bears you know), a lot of mosquito dope and some Snicker bars and take a long jaunt into the woods to re-discover nature and scare some campers with my best Tarzan yell. It'll probably bring back the legend of some crazy old wild man living in the woods and get some reality show to come to Moose Pass. First thing I'll do is shoot the cameras- I really hate those shows. Hard thing though is to find a way to swing from the trees; the spruce and birch don't make vines. Anyone know where I can get an elephant and a chimp?

There has been a lot of prophecy about a massive earthquake along the Madiran (spelling) fault line. This is the fault line which originally formed the bottom half of the Mississippi River and I believe ends at the river port of Madira. ( thus it is called the Madiran fault line). Prophets say that if America turns its back on Israel, this quake will separate the east from the west in a massive way to show God's anger. No exact word on when this would occur, but our current president seems to be leading in that direction. Then I'm thinking of all the flooding down there and how a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. That makes for a lot of weight on top of that fault line....? Had to laugh the way the Israel PM took the floor away from our President in the news conference, put him down in political way I haven't seen for a long time, for even suggesting Israel would give up hard earned land to those Hamass terrorists. That's like us giving up land to the al-Queda terrorists...like maybe Arizona. We already know the Hamass and al-queda seem to have an interest in our southwest. Too many Americans support Israel and our president may have shot himself in the foot big time.

Last Sunday we had 46-people at church, which mostly filled the school gym, and I gave the 3rd of 4 parts of my mini-sermons. This one was on miracles and how they are still happening around us. Tomorrow I will speak on visions and how many people receive directions from God and yet, how established church leaders often get in the way of God's plans because it doesn't fit in with THEIR "set down in ...." ( you can fill it in, too many choices that fit), -established doctrine. I love "doctrines", supposedly based on the Word of God and yet they so differ from denomination to denomination. Doctrines come from man and I believe we should simply stay with the Word of God to live by. At one church we belonged to they had a doctrine that restricted us from dancing, yet the Bible is filled with acts of dancing to the Lord. Some say we are not to drink spirits at ALL, but the Lord didn't transform water into grape juice ( my once former church of my first 27 years believed this- grape juice!). Lord spoke out and said we were not to be drunk and no longer have control of ourselves. He is so right. I think back and if I had all the money I spent on booze in the first 27 years of my life and the troubles it caused, I'd be able to buy that new Vet right now- such a waste.

As we enter into this new political race for 2012, I am following this Cain fellow. At this point I like what he has to say and he even would like to establish a fair tax, more or less a flat tax, where I believe everyone would simply pay 10% of their money to the government. Everyone would pay the same 10%, and in this way we can eliminate most of the IRS. There would have to be some auditors, but the tax courts would almost be done away with. I like what he has to say and not being a former politician, he doesn't owe any favors to anyone at this point. Too many of our politicians owe favors to lobbyists and organizations. Being a businessman , ( former CEO of Godfather's Pizza), he knows how to run finances and this is what we need right now. I'll continue to follow him and see how he does. I wish Sen. Macain Would step back in- I really liked him and voted for him last time.

They are talking about bring some of our troops home from Afghanistan and as Pakistan becomes belligerent with us, this will become more necessary. Makes me recall how our troops came home from Viet Nam and the effect it had on the people we left behind. We had made so many promises, which we failed to uphold and so many people died because of it. The Montengard people, who helped us so much, we abandoned to their fate and two years after we left the country was in the hands of the communists. I can foresee the same fate for the Afgani-people. Those who had helped us will be killed and the country will be torn apart in tribal warfare. And for thos men and women comes home. The military will be downsized and we will have another 100,000 people out there looking for work. At least in this case the men and women coming home will be looked upon as heroes. This wasn't the case in my day. Viet Nam vets were shunned or spit upon. I'm still affected by it and I am thankful our country learned from this and welcomes the vets home with flags, hugs and kisses, parades and a good slap on the back to say thank you. BUT every time we downsize our armies, something comes along to catch us unaware and we rush to fill the ranks, which makes me wonder- what's next?

Grandma Lee is doing alright. Either Mona or I have to stay in her room with her except at bedtime. Mona does most of this as I have a short temper with the old woman. She still tries to break out at night, but can't walk and promptly falls down. The other night she cut her neck, her hand and bruised her legs. Mona has set up barriers, but she tries to sneak past them. Her dementia has continued to worsen. This next Wednesday we hope to have a couple ladies from church come in and sit on her so Mona and I can drive over to Soldotna for our monthly shopping. This gives Mona and needed break and gets me out of the house too. I continue to pray for a peaceful passing, but for some reason God keeps her going. I pray for this because she is so frightened most of the time because of her loss of memory, nearly blind and about half deaf. She is so bored because she can't work on any of the projects we give her and either sits in her chair or lies in her bed. But her heart seems to be quite healthy, which I apparently inherited. That and her thick bones. With all the falls she makes she has not busted anything. Well, there was that time long ago she fell down a flight of thirteen steps to a concrete floor and busted a collar bone. Joshua was sleeping down there in the basement of his uncle's home and new Grand Lee was okay because she started cussing. Yes, Grandma Lee can cuss up a blue streak.

Joshua leaves the army next month. He and Jeria are driving back to Alaska, where he will enroll at the University of Alaska/Fairbanks in the fall of this year. James and Becca expecting their 2nd daughter in the middle of August and withholding her name until birth. Their daughter Ava first liked Ava 2  for a name and then came up with Kelly Awesomly. Kelly is Becca's mother and a very nice woman.

Micah and Brady expect Bella Sue to be born on June 16th and due to the baby's position it will be by C section. Bella seems to have her head resting under Micah's ribs and her feet at the opposite end. Brady has needed to extend his time at school to have time off with Micah, so he will probably leave school in September and be stationed at Fort Lewis in October.

Elizabeth has gotten a new good paying job; contact her for details as her job confuses me somewhat. John Leroy is still waiting to hear from Fairbanks Police. It is down to 10 applicants for 3 openings.

That's about it for now. May the Lord bless your days.   

Moose Pass Journal 5/10/11

Bill Says:  As you know, or should know, I am not a political genius, nor a financial wizard and not even an economic's student, ( for those who truly know me you accepted this fact right off), but I find it really strange what the people in Washington are currently doing. 

Columbia, not the movie company but the country, which previously held the number one drug lord in custody, transported him back home to Venezuela and released him to his home town; a slap to our face... and yet, we've given them billions in anti-drug funds and only recently provided them with nearly three billion to build an oil refinery. WHY???????????? Why, do we put up with this??????????????????? Can it be that Venezuela and Columbia are forming an alliance for their oil sales? They seem to be having a lot of meetings lately.

Pakistan, which had a standing agreement with our prior administration to secure and kill if necessary this Ben Laddin dude and now, after receiving hundreds of billions from us over the years, attacks us in the UN. Are they embarrassed over our finding the terrorist in their backyard? How many senior officers might have had meals with him, caught a flick and shared a Pepsi? He reportedly had liked both Coke and Pepsi. So, why do we give all this money to people who hate us so much. They don't seem to be doing all that great of a job in fighting the insurgents and keeping them from crossing into Afghanistan.

The Government, our government, continues to tell us our southern border is protected better than ever, nearly every night on the news, and we see this to be an open lie because we can see footage and hear witness's accounts of hundreds if not thousands coming across every week. But mostly I am worried about the drug mules and the terrorists. We spend a fortune for airport security to stop the terrorists and suffer some forms of embarrassment from TSA employees frisking and photographing us. Yet we do little for our border with Mexico and they flow across. We have hundreds of thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, struggling to keep insurgents crossing in from Iran and Pakistan, but care a whole lot less for our own borders. So, WHY??????????????????  Is it that our political machine makes more money from the cartels and they seek to keep this border open, at the risk of harming more Americans? 

How do we stop a man with no weapons, rush forward in an attempt to open an airplane door in midair. He shouts out his blessing in Arabic and only by the guys of a few attendants and some passengers three airplanes in the last 24 hours didn't crash. What is TSA to search for when the man comes through? So maybe more Air Marshals, like one or two on every jet? 

Our Government is going broke and the politicians want to raise the debt limit, yet government contracts show we throw money out there on unnecessary projects we no longer need or would even truly consider and we're only trying to keep the government afloat because its in one politicians home state or another. Our Government files court action against an American private business, when a large American airplane manufacturer wants to move some of its trade from a pro-union state to another US state, where union membership is not a requirement and they can reduce costs- in order to keep the company open. This is BIG BROTHER, stepping out of bounds and the current administration supports it because they receive so much money from unions. 

Greed, dishonesty, and disloyalty to our constitution is now driving our country bankrupt and possibly, it is only the first of many stepping stones leading to the collapse of America as we know it. 

In Egypt, the government we helped put into play is now allowing Muslims to persecute with violence, the Christians in the country. But we still continue to funnel millions into Egypt, under the guise we hope to keep the Muslim Brotherhood out of office. Who does the US think is trying to kill Christians and with the Egyptian government turning a blind eye or supporting? We are helping Egypt kill Christians!!!!!!!

Today, a government body told a Veterans organization they could not fly the American flag over their memorial for fallen soldiers. One political individual was heard to state that if we should allow our flag to be flown we should also allow the flags of Muslim nations and other bodies. THIS IS AMERICA! Our flag should be able to be flown anywhere and everywhere... TO many men and women have died fighting under this flag to ensure the freedoms we now enjoy.

So many people had such hope in the arrival of this administration and what they got was a socialist in disguise, who seeks to destroy this country through leaving our border unprotected and sending money off to people who really hate us and even going so far as to violate our Bill of Rights. 

( Though I have such a small reading body, I'm sure I've set off some kind of warning triggers and will probably expect the IRS to send me a audit notice, or worse.)

Right now we have a lone border patrol agent driving down a 200-mile stretch of border road. He's by himself usually, because they don't have the manpower for two-men in several areas. Watching him drive by is a man or women known as a coyote and after he sees the patrol vehicle disappear in the distance, he radios or even uses a cellphone, or even a white towel whipped around over his head to signal the all clear. 30-75 and sometimes more than a hundred men, women and children will now come out of hiding. Some will carry backpack frames with a bushel of marijuana or brick of cocaine. Some will carry weapons, or worse, and mostly they all have prearranged destinations. For the real bad guys, a special car or truck will be by on the highway to pick them up. They will most likely toss the regulars into van trucks, or a fuel truck with a special gas tank to conceal their passengers. Its not unknown for the guys across the border to contact the border patrol with the time and location, in order for those poor people to be picked up, they've already paid their money upfront, and take some of the pressure off the real important guys with the drugs and weapons. 

We have actual footage on film of the border runners and the federal government didn't want to act on this. We have a steady flow of complaints by ranchers and farmers who live along the American side of the border, but they feel no one is listening. How can this be.  President Bush put 6,000 troops along the border, but later pulled them. Obama put 1200 troops for a supporting role and later pulled them. WHY? Why do we not have a military presence on our border, it is much to big for our border patrol- over 2,000 miles. We have the troops, they're out training to prepare for war in Arizona, New Mexico and especially Texas. Use them, give them the training they will need for the big sandbox across the ocean. 

Why do the southern governors forced to fight the federal government for immigration control? 150 yrs ago, there were some southern governors upset with the federal government and it led to Civil War. Now I know the issues are different, but the state's should be able to keep their people safe. 

I love my country, I especially love our history of freedom, but I have come to feel it is time for Alaska to become its own sovereign nations and lease our military bases to the US government for a $1 a year. The feds took over one millions acres from Alaska and turned it into National Wilderness  and this was long-long after the creation of the national parks. The feds tell us where we can drill for oil, where we can drill for gold and precious gems. We cannot build an oil refinery or drill off shore, yet we give millions to Brazil to drill off shore and we will order the oil from THEM- and not our own oil.  

A good friend of mine and his family have been working a gold mine for over 50 years, they have a small cabin on the spot. The feds told him to have the cabin removed and then they blocked off the road with a gate and threatened heavy fines if he crossed- even on foot. Is this the USA or what? The federal grandfather clause should allow him to work the mine, but then he'd have to spend a lot of money for a lawyer to fight the US and they doubt he would make the attempt because of these costs. 

I have an old friend who owned 320 small gold deposits, he's a rock hound and works for the state, but when that millions acres were taken- he was blocked from working his legal claims. Another very special lady built her dream house for her retirement years, a real outdoors lady, but her property became encircled by this new federal wilderness and she was not allowed to reach her cabin by any motoring vehicle. She would be forced to walk miles and miles. Her heart was broken and she died.  Alaska had already given up many square miles for state and national parks and Alaskans had almost no voice in this decision- only two congressmen and one senator. 

Anyway, that's my editorial for tonight. God bless all.    

Sunday's Moose Pass Journal 5/8/11

Bill Says: Mother's Day! I wish to say Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and mothers-to-be and also say a thank you to my Mom for being such a great parent & friend. There, it is now in written form, ( well, typed actually), but legal evidence of how much I value my mother, my daughters and daughters-in-law, other mother type relatives and of course, my beloved wife, and I cannot deny it, if the matter ever came up- which it won't.

Today was my second in a three part series of mini-sermons at church, sort of a deacons corner. I began with explaining the duties of a deacon and then echoed last weeks message with further needs for us to show an open church, one with out discrimination of sinners, other races/creeds and etc. People so easily forget that our church, Christianity as a whole, belongs to our Lord. If someone wants a private fraternal organization, where the doors are closed to anyone that doesn't fit into their personal mold, they should call it something else besides being a church. Look at AMWAY, Tupperware and various Militia elements- bring your own gun.

In Seward, which is 28-miles south of Moose Pass, we now have more than a dozen Christian churches and some of the smaller ones meet in home fellowships. But for decades, the inner squabbling between some of the pastors, ministers, bishops- church leaders, keep a sense of Christian unity from prevailing over the enemy. They bicker back and forth, they live in frustration over who's stealing a member away and thus, possibly taking away funds from their church coffers. The town has approximately 3,000 to 3,500 people and most of the churches number less than 100 people. They, the Christian churches, disagree in doctrine, which version of Bible is better and this is exactly what the enemy wants. Lucifer designs to confuse, disrupt and bring about a disturbance in the ranks, in hopes this will lead to complete destruction. As a result, Seward continues to suffer under heavy illegal drug traffic ( lots of cocaine and meth), alcoholism, domestic problems and severe depression. They had the very same problems when I was a police officer there and that was in the early 1980's.

Sadly, just too many churches are preaching religion, denominational doctrine or a pastor's opinion, and not the Word of God. In my opinion, ( as an individual), if they do not read from the Bible and use sound lessons taken from the Word of God, problems can arise. I see so many doctrines that differ between churches because they are based more on opinion, some from over a 100 years ago, and less on the Word of God.

A dear friend of mine felt led to go to Seward and begin evangelizing the public. But he didn't live in Seward, wasn't invited, was alone and new very little about spiritual warfare. He was slammed hard and suffered greatly, and is only now coming up from it. This is what can happen when a community has such a strong demonic influence. but even here in Moose Pass, we have a similar problem and our little church only makes up for about 10% of the population. We are under attack, for the enemy does not want our new church built- nor the message we have to share.

Some denominations instruct that teachings from the Word of God were for back then, even from the New Testament, though the Lord says His words are forever. I've talked with some Christians who feel the Old Testament no longer matters, though this is contrary to the Lord's word, "I am not here to change prophecy, but to fulfill it."  Then there is the whole Rapture thing, which my church- the Baptists, are strong believers in Pre-tribulation Rapture. They can't wait to be swept up before the bad stuff begins to happen. Mona and I do not believe in Rapture and I will explain why later this week and you can judge for yourself to my reasons.

But I wanted to get on the subject of modern day miracles. I've heard a lot of Christians say how miracles were for the old Biblical days and not now. I suspect if a miracle occurred in front of them they'd probably be looking around for the special effect's guy. You know, "Don't look at the guy behind the curtain" ( Wizard of Oz).  In our 30-years of walking with the Lord, Mona and I have seen a lot of miracles occur and we've testified about them whenever possible. I've been asked why haven't I been healed if miracles still occur and I usually respond in one of two ways; " I leave this in God's hands and have been promised a perfect body in Heaven", or "I have been healed, but from the inside where it truly matters". I've been told I haven't been healed because I still carry either unbelief or sin in my life and I can only respond to my sisters and brothers with a shake of my head.

Yes, I was hurt in a bar fight ( I was the police officer and not the drunk) and my lower spine and upper spine ( neck) were injured. I was forced to retire and eventually spent some time in a wheel chair until a very good doctor found the right medications to get me back on my feet. I was told by more than one doctor how I would be paralyzed by 4 yrs after my injury- that didn't happen and I've gone 25 yrs.  I've gone to a whole lot healing services and I've seen many miracles occur, as people were healed all around me. But for what ever reason the Lord has, He hasn't felt it necessary to heal my back.

One pastor with a healing ministry, who I felt I could trust and I saw the Lord use him, prayed over me three times over a ten minute period and then he backed away, and asked me to look at him. "Bill, you will have a perfect body in Heaven". He smiled, squeezed my arm and then moved to the next person. Believe it or not, I was so relieved. I wasn't concerned after that, but when the pain level reaches the "strangle a chicken by the neck" range, God can handle my temper and I repent later.

I have a dear friend in Fairbanks and this is his miracle, an event that occurred about 12-13 yrs ago. In the long past he had been a illegal drug user, preferred the needle type and after he got saved, he found out he had used an infected needle and had HIV. Mona and I watched as this man, who is my size, lost well over 100 pounds as the virus spread through his body and he knew he was going to die of AIDS. The pain he was going through was incredible, but he continued to come to church. People loved him and I never saw anyone back away from him and he was hugged often. Prayers went out, but he wasn't healed and it was getting harder and harder for him to attend services.

We had this English Prophet come across the ocean and he came to Fairbanks, along with many ports of call, to teach, prophecy and lay hands on people. His name was Pastor Cook. Sometime during the seminar he had my friend brought to the front, laid hands on him and prayed. Then something really interesting happened to our amazement. Pastor Cook told my friend the Lord was going to be heal him, but the virus would remain. He would be used as a testimony to God's power among the drugs users and street people. And that's what happened. He still has the virus, confounds the doctors, gained all his weight and muscle back and bicycles all over Seattle and outlining towns to witness to the lost, the drug users and the infected ones. He came down here and spent a week and I never saw him look healthier.

This was a modern day miracle and just as the Prophet spoke over him, it occurred.

Yes, we have modern day miracles. As t why some people are chosen over others- I must leave this question with God. He sees the big picture, far beyond what we are able to see and down many generations. For those who do go home early, the ones who know the lord or of course the children, they're with the Lord. What more could we want?We all go home eventually, but are we all ready to be welcomed?

God Bless You All!!!!! 

I believe, Pt 2

Miss Mona sez-

It is a beautiful day here at the guardpost!! Sunny and warm.

So, to continue my mental meanderings, I want to talk about how I respond to the Word (Bible) in my own life. As I said before, I love to read. As a Christian I have been taught over and over to read the Bible, to love reading it, to apply it to my life and choices. When I was younger, the only version available was the King James Version, the first time the Bible was put into the language of the ordinary person. The language is beautiful, poetic, incomprehensible. You see, it was written in the language common people spoke hundreds of years ago and the language we use today has changed from theirs. Like reading Shakespeare, it sounds cool but I am not always sure what the heck it means! What's more, the culture and traditions of the people of the Middle East were totally unfamiliar to this country girl from Oregon. So I followed my usual pattern and looked for books to help me understand. I found my first clues in fiction- Taylor Caldwell's Dear and Glorious Physician, a fictional account of the life of Luke. The Robe, a story about the centurion who won the robe of Jesus in a dice game at the foot of the Cross. The Silver Chalice, the story of a sculptor slave who got the job of making a holder for the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper. There are others, too, but I think you get my drift.. Though fiction, they helped me to know about the way people lived when Jesus did, in his part of the world. Their struggles, the politics, the way things were done. It helped make it all more real and made my reading of the Bible more interesting.

The Jesus People movement of the '60's gave birth to a more modern translation or two and it got easier. Movies like Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell  tried to make Him real and applicable to the modern age. Viewed as vile heresy by the more orthodox and mainstream churches, nevertheless they had an impact on an entire generation. And on me.  A lot of other things had an impact on me in that time and I wandered off the beaten path and into the briar patch for awhile. But I still kept searching. Attended various churches, learned to read the Tarot, tried Eckankar and the occult (I was a "good witch" like Glenda but without the outfit), read palms, studied ESP, tried the water in a lot of different wells. None of them satisfied my thirst, though. Each had some facet of truth, sometimes just a tidbit, but there were puzzle pieces I held onto. Drugs, alcohol, sex...A failed marriage and a beautiful baby girl. Traveled as a carnie, hitchhiked across the country, lost my daughter to her father and generally screwed things up. Still searching.

People in my family prayed. And prayed. And prayed! And I survived.

The man I met after I joined the Air Force (in an effort to curb my tendency to stick out my thumb and hit the road when things got tough) became my husband. His own experience as a post- Viet Nam alcoholic and drug user helped him help me to get straight. Raised Mormon, he became a Christian in our second year together. And we began to search together. We realized we did not have a clue what a healthy marriage was because of our past screw-ups and upbringing filled with divorce, adultery, abuse... So I started looking for books with the answers. A gift of a Ryrie Study Bible, New American Standard Version, helped a lot.

(Pause for a digression- I find it interesting how I started out with a certain idea of what I was writing and end up in a whole other place. Words sometimes have a mind of their own...)

 Anyhoo, I grew in my understanding, started learning how to clean out the debris of my past choices and learned what was taught from the pulpit and from Bible studies I attended. I tried very hard to toe the party line, thinking that all those lovely people who had been at this Christian thing longer than I had knew what they were talking about. Cleaned up my language (I swore like a sailor), learned to wear dresses to church and hold baby showers and clean the church (and my house!). Had babies and taught them to do the same things. And watched as many of the people in the church messed up.

And I kept asking questions and looking for answers.

So many books and teachings and studies. So many opinions and corrections and restrictions. And so many people wearing a good face while they hurt or lied or got lost along the way.

These days there is a great shaking going on. The earth, governments, churches, families- all are being shaken in their very foundations. For my purpose today I am going to stick with the church. Now, since I haven't defined it prior to this, I want to say that when I refer to the church, I do not just mean the building where the local Christians in Moose Pass do our thing. Neither do I mean the Southern Baptists, the denomination we are connected to (and that is a whole other tale to be told at a later date. God has a sense of humor!). And I do not mean just the Protestants. I am referring here to all the people in this country, in the world, for that matter, who are self-confessed Christians.

There is a great change, an upheaval, in the Body of Christ. Christians are asking hard questions about what is and is not our responsibility. What is it that makes us different from all other faiths and why do we think we are the only ones who have it "right". And DO we have it right?? What things that we do are sprung from the minds of humans and have gone on for so long that we believe them to be from the mouth of God?  Many people, young and old, are not satisfied when the answer to "Why?" is "Because that is the way it is done."

I believe that God is big enough to handle our questions. I also believe that a lot of people are going to be surprised at the end result.

Gotta go now, time to give Grandma Lee her shower.

Keep asking questions and I will talk to you again soon.

May the God who is above all other gods bless and keep you in His care until we meet again.
Love you!
Mona

I believe

Miss Mona sez:

I am in the middle of reading the Rob Bell book, "Love Wins". He has stirred up some amazing controversy.
So far I haven't read anything that makes me want to burn him in the village square, but, like I said, I am only halfway.
Isn't it interesting how people will react when someone disagrees with them?

There is so much going on in the world of faith and religion these days. I am not going to try and look outside the Christian mindset, that is way too big for me to address. I just want to talk about what I believe.

Are you familiar with the statement of faith known as The Apostle's Creed? "I believe in God the Father, Maker of the universe and in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son...." That is how it begins. A really wonderful worship declaration song came out some years back that comes straight from it, real stomp your feet and exalt the Lord, fire in your belly kind of song. I love it! Never fails to fill me with joy and a sense of power and connection with believers though out history.

I have been doing the being a Christian thing pretty much all my life. Grew up going to the Methodist Church in my hometown in Oregon, Sunday School, memorized the books of the Bible, learned about the basics of faith. At 12 I got "saved" and baptized in a Church of Christ, rededicated my life at 14 or 15 at a crusade at the local high school and then again, a few years later at an Open Bible Church when I was 21.
Each of these times was a watershed moment in my life when I was trying to get a handle on some of the less than pleasant circumstances in my life. Since then there have been other times when I have reaffirmed my basic belief that God is God and I am not.

In between were many rocky, crooked paths that led me up into the bright mountains and back down into the shadowed places. Good choices, bad choices, deceptions and revelations all along the way. Here and there a wilderness or desert where I felt lost and forsaken. Sometimes I walked in the warmth of sunshine and blessing but more often it seemed grey and desolate.

As long as I can remember, I have loved to read. Fiction and nonfiction, silly or serious, I love books. I have never found it difficult to immerse myself in the world of the writer's creation. I have never lost the child's tendency to ask why and the route to answers , for me, has generally been through the pages of a book. Hundreds of them have I held in my hands and absorbed, page after page. Hundreds more wait on my bookshelves or in piles by my bed for me to find the time to spend in them. I do not always agree with what I read, even though the author may fiercely proclaim that what is written is THE TRUTH.

That being said, I want to talk about a very controversial book, that which we call the Bible. Ta Biblios- The Book.  One line in the Creed says, "I believe in the Bible, God's Holy Word."  In many church membership statements, people are asked to affirm their belief/faith in the infallible nature of the Bible. Huge battles have been fought over this book and what it contains. Interpretations and opinions abound, all vehemently defended . Which version should be read, translation, paraphrase, language...Many good people have died in the effort to see it get into the hands of others, much wrong has been done and justified by judicious excerpts and interpretations of it.

What do I believe? I believe it IS God's written and inspired Word. Infallible? Inerrant? Actually, yes, in that I believe that every thing written in it is there because God wants it there. Is it perfect? Yes. Perfectly able to teach us, change us, help us to understand the Person and character of God. Is it all literally truth? No. There is poetry, song, history, allegory, law...lots of stuff that is not truth of the empirical/scientific persuasion. There is the truth of the love song, the truth of a man's cries of pain and frustration. The truth of history and laws that were set down as standards for living. So much is recorded there my many different people from their personal perspective (Look at the four books known as the Gospels to see that illustrated!)
Is everything written there for us to imitate? Lord, no!! Much that is written is of the instructive, don't do this persuasion.

In my next post I want to talk more about this, my brain is tired now and it is late so I need to get to sleeping.
God bless and keep you !
Love!
Mona

The New Moose Pass Journal 5/6/11

Bill Says:  So, this is the new version of the Moose Pass Journal and I sincerely hope it catches on because my beloved wife is quite gifted in her writings and I believe all the people who have read the MPJ will be blessed for reading her stuff.... of course there is also my stuff too. I stopped doing the MPJ on our normal e-mail site today and will check to see if anyone has added this fantastically written blog to their sites. For those who haven't, I will send their addresses to the IRS, bomb bard their sites with "You've Won!" e-mails and "I live in Africa and you may have inherited ten million dollars and be related to my third cousin on my...." e-mails. So there!

I really had to grind my teeth as I listened to the mournful sister of the pilot, who lost control of his jetliner to terrorists and crashed into the Pentagon on 9-11, as she explained her very brief conversation with our President. Oh, he had won some points with his decision to get the king pin terrorist, but when questioned about the Attorney General's charges hanging over the head of the CIA personnel who obtained the info needed to get this guy, through "enhanced interrogations"- he had this to say to her question about him offering up an opinion to the Attorney General about not charging these two men and he replied, "No, I won't". He then turned his back on her and walked away.

Now I am not a fan of this water-boarding method and believe we should still wear the white hats in the world, but if it was used and this terrorist was finally found because of it, then these two men may have saved thousands of American's lives. I do not believe they should be charged with anything, but possibly sent to remedial classes on proper methods for interrogating terrorists- like the feather to the feet method; since laughing can be quite painful after 3-5 hours of it. No, these men were trying to save lives and our President acted on it and received some political points out of it. The Seals did all the work though.

As to the Pakistan government not knowing he was there????????? I don't see how they wouldn't and most likely, some of the bigwigs were probably there, at this massive compound, for Sunday barbecues, football games and the occasional, "Let's bomb the USA" rally. AND we still give these people billions of dollars....?

Now, the United Nations, which likes to use New York for their headquarters, seeks to charge us with inhumane practices and a violation of this clown's human rights. Maybe if the UN set up their headquarters on the Ivory Coast, Sudan or even Libya, they'd value the USA more. The Seals did their job, no one outside the compound was injured or killed and the Pakistan's got the rubble of our helicopter to go through for possible secrets. We even used the Muslim burial methods to say goodbye to this Bad Guy.  I thumb my nose to the UN and I also thumb my nose to some of the news services for demanding they see his gory photos. WHY? Why do we need to see his photos. They did the same thing with the Iraqi gorilla, wanting to see his photos as he was hung. I don't need to see these photos, I have enough trouble with what I have in my memory from my days in Southeast Asia.  I enjoy the FOX news service, but even they were clammering to see these photos. The man is dead! He was shot in the head. End of story.

And then their is our congress. Have you heard the latest? Some less-then-smarter political figure has submitted an idea to begin taxing our mileage to help raise money. Not only us, but everyone. They would put this device on all the vehicles to record our mileage. So the trucks that deliver our goods will be taxed, so we will have to pay extra to cover these costs too. Who is this clown, what planet is he living on. We already pay a gas tax. Maybe this guy rides a bicycle to work and figures he won't be caught up in this. It wouldn't be hard for Big Brother to then add a little computer chip on this mileage device to know exactly where we are, where we've been and with an added chip they could just kill our vehicle in the event they wanted to limit traffic. Shades of 1984! Have you picked out your all white tunic, one size fits all and required wear for all citizens? It could be coming. We now have cameras everywhere and someone is always watching you. Makes me feel all cozy inside to know someone cares.

Me, I recommend a flat tax, right across the board. Everyone pays 10%. We could lay off 90% of the IRS and hire them in immigrations (for some reason my spell check doesn't like this word, but my dictionary spells it this way) to patrol the border. Those IRS vultures wouldn't let anyone across, at least without paying a tidy toll and having them complete 12 pounds of paperwork.

They hope to bring our guys home from Afghanistan and then begin downsizing the military. Democrats love to downsize and then we get caught with our pants down when the world catches fire. Plus, you downsize, you have all these men and women out there looking for jobs- when there isn't any! I say we bring these guys and girls home and put them on our southern border to protect our country and keep the IRS dudes in line. With the IRS and Army on the border, I think the Cartels and terrorists will think twice about entering. For those people really seeking America, there are ways of doing it legally. Like I said before, set up schools in the abandoned army posts along the border to teach citizenship and English. The Army can do the teaching, guard the camps and we're still ready when someone lights another match to set the world aflame.

China is building! China is buying up every piece of armament they can lay their hands on. They now have the largest military in the world and they even have the women in the front lines. I fought against female Viet Cong and they're even nastier then the men. I believe we should have our women in combat, let them shoulder some of the load. Be a bit clumsy at first, but it would catch on. But, China is coming and when they do, we'd better be ready. They will need resources they no longer have enough of. People get hungry, they act! The dragon is being awakened and while it loosens up its limbs and cleans the sleep from its eyes, Chinese lobbyist are doing their best to buy out our politicians to weaken our military. Once everything is in place, the dragon will charge and if we're not ready with a good can of bear spray or a shotgun loaded with ICBM's, we're going to be run over by a hundred million Chinese soldiers. Alarmist? I don't think so. I just watch the news and listen to reports on China. It is so quiet over there and that is a sure sign that something is brewing. China and Iran?

Some people want to leave our military busy on the three fronts, helping the country's we've sort of conquered - except for Libya- there we've just smacked with Tomahawk missiles. But lets look at our history for the country's we've occupied since World War Two. We have Korea and we still have a strong military presence there to keep an uneasy truce in place. But in Viet Nam we left and the communists took over within 2 years- 58,000 plus soldiers dead. Philippines, we saved their butt and they kicked us out. We even saved China against the Japanese, but few of them are still alive to remember. So, we don't do too well leaving a place. We only seem to help by leaving a military presence. We even helped Burma, but they changed their name and closed the place down to tourists. Thailand, our old bases now look like the back lot of Fox studios and are not even shown in the tourist book anymore...after they kicked us out. We had a presence in several South American and African countries, but we were asked to leave. Odd thing, we still send them billions in dollars to help them. Oh they don't like us much, but they do like our money.

We are going broke and we still send funds to people who do not want us there and don't even like us much. We send billions to Brazil to begin off shore drilling for oil, but won't allow us to open a new drill in the US. Now we send billions to Columbia to build a refinery, but we haven't had a new refinery, which is badly needed, since the 1970's. Does this make any sense? Alaska could be served by our own oil, our own refingery and we could have natural gas going into almost every house- but they won't let us.

That's it for today. The bears have awakened, Moose preparing for having their babies and I'm going to go watch a movie. Love to all. 

Bill's New Moose Pass Journal

Bill Says:  For the last 3 or maybe 5 years, (memory loss due to advanced age, (ug-g-g, I can feel the bones cracking),life's stress ( being retired and living here in Moose Pass one would not think I had much of this, but through e-mails, phone calls from family and being a deacon in church- I still have some stress and I haven't reached becoming a hermit yet) and then there is 25 years of pain medication; pills, morphine patches, needles and of course the CIA sending out their miniature robotic mosquitoes to test new drugs on me while I sleep. You may laugh, but that buzzing sound you might hear as the flying insect torments you, could be coming from their little jet engines, as they swoop by your head. Their little-little eyes could be those new cameras we've heard so much about in our official CIA online catalog, only $1,095 each. Of course, the stack of paperwork you have to file to obtain a license for same is quite thick, but I digress - ( I've also taken my medicine for the afternoon and pretty soon will be sitting in my chair of leisure and watching western movies- drives Mona crazy).

I've been writing the Moose Pass Journal via the E-mail, which has gone out to family and friends ( people who continue to like me even after reading this junk for 3-5 yrs, family is just stuck with me). Through this journal I've kept everyone on the list updated with family affairs, my brilliant thoughts about various things, new ideas ( like why Alaska should become its own country), my writing, misc stories and then there is the whatnot. BUT, these people have missed out on reading my beloved wife's creativity and I believe she is by far a better writer than I, ( no, she is not looking over my shoulder as I write this). But sadly, she mainly writes about real life( boring), while I am in to escapism, mutiny- ( I just hit my keyboard with a splatter of strawberry cream cheese and its quite messy. One should be careful with what one is eating, while typing and it makes one look like a slob!) anyway, I am into fiction, while my beloved sweety, honeybun and Bozo; a name I gave her when we began a serious relationship 31 years ago, is into non-fiction. So, as a result I have decided to bring the Moose Pass Journal to our blog, so if the rear so desires they can come to this site and read the latest poop. You will also notice I use a lot of commas, my spelling isn't all that great and please, my opinion are strictly my own and you should not hold my wife accountable for items discussed in this journal.

Today, the news people, who I usually have a lot of respect for, sounded a lot like the high school kids I remember from 1970-71, who were out shouting "Hell No, We Won't Go!", "Ban the Bomb", "Burn Your Draft Card", "Burn Your Bras", ( sorry about that one, but it was being shouted out at the anti- Viet Nam rallies.) Today, though happy that our President had this big time terrorist killed, now were demanding to see pictures of his body. Head blown away, they wanted photos. Made me sick. Then they were questioning why wasn't he taken prisoner?   "Why did he have to be shot?" Like our courageous Seals had time to lay siege upon his compound in an attempt to get him to surrender. When they crashed into his bedroom, it was a choice of shoot him or risk losing a Seal.

Can you imagine what would've happened around the world had we taken him prisoner? Important dignitaries, maybe even an actor or two would've been kidnapped and held for ransom and the price would've been this terrorist's return. Anarchy could've developed and the right decision was made and at first all the newsmen were overjoyed, but the story suddenly ended and they wanted more. Give us photos, we want to see the gore. Believe me, I was in Viet Nam and no one should have to see this and sure, it could have inspired any number of fanantics to carry out another bombing or worse. Not sure about the actor part I mentioned earlier.... anyway, for once I agreed with our President.

But as to his decision to go to Ground Zero, I believe he would've been better off he had done it spontaneously and quietly. This would have brought him more votes. To do it this way, makes i look like he is using the moment as part of his campaign and this was a poor choice on his part. I suspect this is why President Bush declined.

Our beloved country is in dire need of leadership. But IF, this the beginning of the dark days spoke of in the Bible; Book of Revelation, then what is to come will only be darker and a time of mourning for our country's downfall- led by greedy people who only think of themselves. People who are secret Atheists; socialist and communist. May not be in our lifetime, but we are drawing ever closely. It is is time to love one another, to help one another and prepare ourselves and our friends for the coming calamity. To love our Lord, to serve our fellow man and preach the Word of God to all who will listen.

More to follow....Blessed be the Name of the Lord. May the Lord bless you all.

Bill's Short Sermon for Sunday 4/21/11

Bill Says: For the last couple of months I have had this little voice in  my head telling me I need to shout out a warning to our congregation, but I often have trouble listening to this voice- until a brick falls on my head. The last couple of weeks people have mentioned things to me, which had a direct bearing to the message I was given and then just a couple days prior to Sunday, I was again approached by a member with the same concerns. So, yes, I'm a bit hard of hearing at times and I am always concerned I may be speaking out about my own concerns, thoughts, worries and of course worse of all- my opinions, that I tend to refrain from speaking out. But now, as senior deacon for the church I need to sincerely listen, evaluate and especially pray and if the go ahead if given by my pastor- to speak out. And this is what I did this last Sunday.

I asked the pastor for a few moments of time to address the congregation, though there wasn't a whole lot of people there. Weather was great, people weary of a long winter all out doing things and our worship teams was down to a quartet. BUT, our church is under serious spiritual attack and the Word of God, and this message, will spread.

We have a Religious Spirit assaulting our fellowship, attempting to cause splits in the church body, repeated bouts of discouragement and dismay among the brethren, too many people quick to judge their fellows and of course the old labeling bit. A simple word of rebuke, meant in humor, could easily drive a person away from church. "Your hair looks funny", " Your clothes- when did you wash them last?" and my favorite- "Christians shouldn't drink alcohol or smoke."

For those of you who are not aware, Moose Pass Community Church was previously known as Moose Pass Baptist Church. We had this small mobile temporary structure, which had far out lived its temp status by a good 40-yrs and it was hooked to a 1950's style 12 by 50 foot mobile home, ( this was where the visiting pastors lived). They Baptist Convention, which owned this structure and property, would have retired pastors volunteer to come to Alaska for 6-month stays as missionaries. Church membership was about 6-8 people back then and often only 5. Then things began to stir and people began to move to Moose Pass, such as us, and attend church. Strangely enough, most of them were not Baptist. So, we eventually changed the name, but we were still connected to the Baptist Convention since they owned the place. The building was sort of falling down around our ears and we needed to do something. Membership bloomed to around 40 people, with another 10 or so individuals attending when they could. Christmas and Easter could have 75 or more people and you could hear the building complain with loud groans. Our worship team grew from a piano player to an 8-member team; drums, congas( me), mandolin/flute, bass, 2-guitar players and keyboard/violin, and a young singer. We were even invited to be the closing act at the Seward Music Festival, 10-songs ( most written by a member of the team), and that was a lot of fun.

Through a lot of prayer over nearly 10-years, ( Mona and I began praying over this property once we had moved into ours), and the gift of $200,000 ( YES! This was a cash gift given to us), from a church body in Soldotna, we were able to purchase half of the property next door to our home. This came with a 4,000 square foot home for our pastors and a two-bedroom apartment for one of our seniors. We were then given our old church to sell, sold for $46,000 cash and with a loan on our new property, we were able to purchase the property connected to our parsonage. This involved another acre of land, which held a 4,000 square foot metal warehouse- also known as the bus barn. The former owner drove school buses for the area and parked 4 buses in this building. We then began transforming the bus barn into our new church. Several teams from the Lower 48 have come up to help us, bringing funds, their muscles and sweat and we now have the place framed and mostly sheet-rocked. The sanctuary, which has a cathedral style ceiling, will seat 100 people, and the rest of the building will have two classrooms, conference room, two bathrooms, a very nice kitchen, a nursery and pastor's office. We will have room for our food bank storage and a nice stage for the worship team. We still have a lot of work to do, needing a new septic field/tank and a new well. We also need more money, but this has been coming in too. The new church, hopefully we will be in by late summer, will be on high ground and we all look forward to the day we can mount our huge cross on the roof so passer-bys will know this is now a church. I will only have to walk about 40-yards to go to church- so much for my excuses about being late! I also won't have to haul my drums for Sunday service.

For now we hold our services at the Moose Pass School and summer Sunday night services on the new property around a bonfire.

But with the building of the new church, the enemy's forces have begun their attack against us. They do not want this place built and are causing a lot of problems for the church members. This was what my short sermon was about- We need to love our brothers and sisters more and judge less. We need to welcome the sinners, for all of us have sinned. We need to comfort the lost, the angry and the hurting. We need to open our church, which is the Lord's church, to Homosexuals, drug users and alcoholics, wife and husband beaters, any other addictions you can think of and speak to them about the Lord's love. For HE would be hanging with these people and HE wants us to love them and show them God's love through relationships and NOT Bible thumping- which normally just drives them away. We cannot pass judgement on someone and say God told me to tell you this, if there is no relationship already in place. ( Mona remembers when a nice lady came up to her and said, "The Lord told me to tell you that you shouldn't wear your nose ring any more") Otherwise the person is liable to smack you in the kisser, or walk away and have a foul taste in their mouths for Christians after that. We need to love them, tattoos, nose rings and all and teach them up in the Word of God so they will know what is right and wrong. What is really important and was is simply wasted foolishness to be concerned about. We especially do NOT need to use our own opinions, thinking its of course God's Will, to get someone to change. Often we want them to fit in our idea of a cookie cutter Christian mode and this can drive so many people away.

A Religious Spirit can whisper in your ear, using Biblical scripture, and telling you to address someone else's problem with blunt force trauma effect. Lucifer knows the Bible better than us, he was probably hanging around the meeting house, causing confusion and bitterness, as the men put the first Bible together. He challenged Jesus with scripture, but our Lord was too smart for him and fought him off with using scripture in return. Demons was to confuse, to destroy and drive us away from God.

In our 30-years of marriage, nearly 31-years, the Lord has taken Mona and I through some real interesting stuff. We've entered into Spiritual Warfare against demons posing as ghosts, entered into warfare against Witches convents as pretty young Christians, gone up against all forms of Religious Spirits; which brought about church splits, marriage break-ups and disrupted many a church gathering, and even ex-communication. We've been Sunday school teachers for kids and adults, Youth group leaders, Cell-Group pastors and now deacons. ( I'm used to the Elder title- Deacon is still Baptist, but our by-laws say deacon and it is a very little thing). We were even brought here to be part of a Baptist fellowship and for an ex-Mormon, saved in a Four-Square Church and spent most my time in either Assembly of God or Non-denominational fellowships, this is strange. We have seen a lot, but still have so much to learn about God and His ways.

I remember a particular incident in my life, one in which I truly knew the Lord was transforming me into a better person. I used to have a real problem with homosexuals, until the day I had this gay young man in my home in North Pole, who was dying of AIDS. He had been a serving Christian, but from his lifestyle he was spurned from the church and though he still loved God, he was bitter. Not so much over his coming death, though he was frightened, but by the way the church had mistreated him. Not even really thinking about it, I and Mona were laying hands on this young man, praying over him and hugging him. Something truly broke in me that day and I really believe that for a moment there I saw this young man as the Lord saw him. A very injured person who needed the Lord's comforting love. The young man died, but I will never forget that moment and my whole thought process involving homosexuals changed. I know what the Word of God says, I believe it and I also know that the Lord God would be loving to all persons if they would come to him. Like the Beatles said  in their song, "All we need is love". But God's love!!!!!! and our love to our fellow man.

Some churches won't let you in their doors because of the color of your skins, your apparent sinful life styles, the shape of the clothes you wear and even the length of your hair ( guys). There are some churches that won't allow a woman to speak- at all! Some that play with snakes and others that believe there is no hell. This is religion!  Jesus Christ is not about religion!!!!

So, that was my sermon. God bless all of you!!!!!