The Great Separation

Picture Perfect Friday: Disc Golf Course View.

Snapping away - Several weeks ago I snapped this at Maximo where Jimmy and I were playing a round of disc golf.

It's on the Gulf and it was a beautiful day. Click on it to enlarge it.

Christians, A Question for You.

??????? - Okay, here's a question for you if you're a believer in Jesus as the Son of God.

Do you memorize scripture? If no, why not? If yes, do you have a technique?

Disasters on the Backs of Disasters.

What time is it? - I don't know about you, but all the news over the past couple of weeks has me scratching my head and looking to the clouds.

Volcanoes erupting in Chile, typhoons in Burma (Myanmar), fires here in Florida, floods in the north east, devastating tornadoes across the United States, a horrible earth quake in China, wars in the Middle East and elsewhere, and famine across the globe.

Have you read Revelation or Matthew lately?

Is the season changing?

It sure makes one wonder.

ADDENDUM:

I just clicked over to saw this photo linked to by the Drudge Report because it shows lightning over the volcano in Chile. Very cool photo by Carlos Gutierrez for Reuters.

But I got to say it is a bit eerie. Check out the upper right area that's illuminated in the cloud. What's that look like to you?

Here's a close up of that area.

Kind of looks like a face doesn't it? I'm not saying it is, because I know it's easy to see images in clouds, but hey, it's eerie.

Chile Volcano and Myanmar Cyclone. Birth Pains?

Is this really happening? - With all that is going on in the world it's hard not to look at Scripture and wonder if the signs of the end of the age Christ spoke about in Matthew 24, aren't taking place before our media saturated eyeballs.

“Jesus answered: "Watch out that no-one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth-pains. (Mt 24:4-8 NIV)

I'm thinking today of two major events costing thousands of lives. The cyclone in Myanmar, or Burma as it used to be, and the volcano in Chile which has been dormant for thousands of years and just upchucked debris 20 miles into the atmosphere.

Nasa has before and after images of cyclone damage to the country of Myanmar (Burma) that is terrible to think about.

Eduardo Gallardo reports for the AP on the volcano and the evactuations and damage being wrought in that country.

As Christians we should consider what we can do to aid those suffering and above all be in prayer.

Also, keep in mind the next phase of the birth pains.

“"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Mt 24:9-13 NIV)

The Great Separation continues.

Video Game Mayhem, Violence, and Barbarism.

Garbage in, Garbage puked out over all society. - The video game industry and those excited about huge profits in the finance industry are all agog over the latest installment of "Grand Theft Auto IV".

Having once worked in the retail side of the video game industry for more years then I care to remember, I have long since proclaimed the dangers and depths of depravity that the industry is delving into which are impacting our society.

Matthew Cullinan Hoffman has a notable commentary over at LifeSiteNews.com that is worth reading, particularly if your a parent with video game playing kids.

The debut of "Grand Theft Auto IV", a highly-realistic video game in which players "win" by committing violent criminal acts, is notable for several reasons, but most importantly because of what it says about a society that is engaged in an orgy of self-destruction, and cannot even recognize what is happening.

The Grand Theft Auto series makes the player into a criminal who wins points by stealing cars, assassinating rivals, killing police, running over pedestrians, and even murdering a prostitute with a baseball bat rather than paying her. It is, in short, a game that glorifies brutal criminality and enables players to fantasize their participation in mind-numbing barbarism.

Hoffman notes how one video game player waiting in line to get a copy reacted to the big release day of the game. The gamer stabbed a passer-by. You can read about that episode on the Telegraph.

Not to be out done by Londoners, I suppose, another punk in San Diego attacked store clerks on the big release day of the game. Mercury News has that story.

What does the Scripture offer as advice when it comes to our entertainment choices? Here's a good verse worth looking into:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” (Php 4:8 NIV)

The Great Separation continues.