Sunday: Mike Atkins---True Faith Is Of the Heart By Grace, Not From the Head

NOT ONE OF US CAN REASON OURSELVES OR OUR WAY INTO FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. It's truly a gift of Grace from the Holy Spirit to the heart of each person who comes to trust in Him as the only hope of salvation. Later our minds are renewed and transformed by hearing and studying the Word of God, but it's never a head thing in the beginning. 

The head always follows the heart when it comes to faith.

Ole Miss Barely Beats Vanderbilt In The Wildest, Most Thrilling Game Played In Nashville In Years

FRIDAY: TEBOW'S LAST NFL PASS?

MAYBE EVER

DO WE HAVE AN INSTANT CLASSIC?  Yes we do. You'd better believe it--- one for the record books.  Even though Vanderbilt lost in the last few seconds in a shocker ending---they played like champions. So did Ole Miss. It was one of those spectacular games you hated to see either team lose.

Football at its best---and the season opener on ESPN.

50 Years Later---MLK'S Dream From My World

WHEN MLK GAVE HIS FAMOUS SPEECH 50 years ago, I was a freshman at Vanderbilt University. It was an exciting, heady time to be alive and almost-grown-up---especially in the South where I thought most of the trouble lurked.

I, like so many of my generation, morphed almost overnight from my conservative, modest small-town upbringing into a liberal free-thinking know-it-all.(Perhaps I should have said not thinking)  I arrogantly concluded without hesitation that my parents had gotten it wrong about almost everything from politics, sex and race to morality, religion and parenting.

 It was, of course, nothing that four or five decades of hard knocks and real-life experiences couldn't cure, mind you.   I'm so glad that I didn't live in a world that shielded me from personal responsibility and having to accept  consequences for my actions and mistakes.

In the course of the past 50, I've been blessed to have lived long enough to learn from my many experiences and observe those of others--and to readjust much of my thinking and behavior as my worldview slowly but surely changed. Today, I look back and hardly recognize the kiddish person I was back when MLK made his famous dream speech.

Of course, without a doubt, I think there were some good things that came from the early stages of the civil rights and women's movements which I embraced so whole-heartedly in the beginning-----to wit, we now have a black president and women have broken so many glass ceilings that it's hard to imagine how it was back in the dark ages of my youth.


Still, with the seeming 'success' of each movement has come a dark, slippery side of loss and unintended consequences. Who would have thought with women winning the right to choose, they would never be satisfied?  That the cause would become a perpertual big business and power play for more.

They would then, emboldened, demand the right to choose late-term abortion-killing anytime, anyplace and at taxpayers' expense no less?

Who would have foreseen Dr. King's speech would have started a decades-long blame and race baiting business that would never be satisfied either?

If MLK's dream is not as alive today, could it be it's because his people have chosen another lesser, blame-based dream, like the dream of government-sanctioned irresponsibility? 

Who would have thought that the success of the civil rights, sexual revolution, coupled with government entitlements, would bring an almost complete loss of personal responsibility and  consequences which could have matured the American black family, rather than destroy it? Certainly not I. 

Who would have imagined that the grandiose sexual revolution, abortion-on-demand, easy divorce and women-trying-to-have-it-all would be so wrought with the breakdown of the family, miserable loneliness, disease and mental and sexual confusion?  But that the blame would still be put on the white man.

I will come back with a very short vignette of a personal experience I've had with a lovely black woman who has struggled for years with a  black man of her generation with whom she has two sons,.

I Too Weep For Miley and the Freak Show America Has Become..With No End in Sight.

UPDATE: MILEY, THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILAZATION AND THE OBAMBAS

PLEASE, NO MORE PHOTOS OF HER TONGUE. Usually a sound sleeper, tonight I sit wide awake after seeing one after another of this pitiful young child named Miley---completely out-of-control. I feel sick for the deranged freak show this country is becoming in all its political, cultural correctness, the stunted, aborted growth the feminist movement combined with our taxpayer-supported sexual-gender revolution has wrought. Where ever will it end?

I'm horrified at the 'role models' Miley with her older freak sisters Gaga and Madonna and the effects they are having on unsupervised, impressionable children. It's pathetic. They're pathetic.  We're pathetic. Our culture is sick.  I weep and pray God has mercy on us all. I pray God shields my grandchildren  from our decaying culture. I want to take them far, far away to a safe place.

Here's a good piece of lament for this situation on the Gospel Coalition, by Trevin Wax:

Picking up a sub sandwich today, I saw a news report on CNN about Miley Cyrus’ performance at last night’s VMA’s. I was shocked, then sickened, then saddened. For the rest of the day, I wondered: What kind of people are we? What kind of culture have we created? What do we want our children to be? No more wondering. Tonight, I weep. I weep for the little girl who gave us Hannah Montana and became a role model to millions of little girls across America. I weep for the lostness of a girl who doesn’t see herself stumbling around in the dark. I weep for the news channels that profit from their all-day coverage of a young woman spiraling out of control. I weep for the American Idol culture that promises glitter and gold to children, then chews them up and spits them out. I weep for an entertainment culture that celebrates the breaking of every social taboo and the casting off of every restraint, only then to turn and mock the stars that follow suit. I weep for a tabloid culture that finds celebrity gossip and embarrassing moments titillating. I weep for women enslaved by a false view of sexual liberation. I weep for men (myself included) who have failed to say, “Enough is enough.” I weep for all the times I’ve looked at women as objects and failed to see them as someone’s sisters and daughters. I weep for the fathers of Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and all the family members of all the other women who feel they have to sexualize themselves to achieve success. I weep for my five-year-old little girl, who twirls around like a princess and hugs me tight at night, when I think of the world she is growing up in, the world I will send her into. I weep for the broken, messed-up world we live in. But then I weep at the power of grace. There’s Jesus, lifting the head of a woman of the night and sending her away into the light. There’s Jesus in a crowd, healing a woman desperately trying to cover the shame. There’s Jesus at the well, transforming a woman tossed aside by multiple men. Weeping is no longer enough. Now, I pray.

Sunday: David Murray On The Amazing Story of Jephthah and Sacrifice of His Daughter to the Lord

PODCAST WITH DR. LEMAN: A DADDY'S INFLUENCE ON HIS DAUGHTER'S LIFE

FROM JUDGES 11

HAS THIS STORY OF JEPHTHAH FROM OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE (TEXT BELOW) PUZZLED, EVEN UPSET YOU WHEN YOU'VE READ IT?

 It has me, until now.

 It wasn't until I heard Dr. David Murray on this Puritan Podcast that I came to look at this story from Judges in a very different light. Take a listen and see what you think. It makes infinitely more sense this way. When Japhthah 'sacrificed' his daughter to the Lord, and lamented, he was actually sacrificing her to a different way of life---giving up the more traditional role of being a wife and mother---because it would involve her serving God full-time at the Tabernacle. They both lamented because Japhthah lost the chance to have his brave lineage as a warrior be carried on through children and grandchildren. That's a lot to give up for a man, and a woman too.

Judges 11:28-40 New International Version (NIV)

28 The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him. 29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” 32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon. 34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.” 36 “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.” 38 “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite tradition 40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

BONUS SERMON: TIM KELLER---CROSSING OVER AND DE-CREATION

Duck Dynasty Beardless Brother Gives Couples Counselling, Joins Hit Show

UPDATE: WHAT WENT WRONG IN THE MIDDLE EAST? @ HET?
KYLE SMITH: FIVE REASONS DUCK DYNASTY IS A GREAT ALL-AMERICAN SHOW


DIDN'T KNOW THERE'S A CLEAN-SHAVEN BROTHER, DID YOU? I certainly didn't.

Here is (pastor) Alan Robertson in fine form giving godly marriage/relationship advice. More on the story.

Hitler Learns Nasdaq Halted Thursday

TOO FUNNY NOT TO POST BEFORE TURNING IN. These guys are really good at cranking 'em out within hours. This scene played over and over with different scripts over the web, is the finest job of acting out an adult tantrum I've ever seen.  And in German, no less. Who praytell can't identify?   For better or worse,  I can.

No wonder it has staying power. Such a classic.

 Elon Musk.

HT: Tyler@ZH

OK, I Bite.The Royal Family Is Darling

WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT A BEAUTIFUL COUPLE WITH  SWADDLED SLEEPING LITTLE RASCAL and slobbering, faithful dog?

 Nothing I say, absolutely nothing at all!

Keep calm and carry on!

Shepherd Notes On C.S. Lewis' 'Mere Christianity'

HUMANS JUDGE ONE ANOTHER BY THEIR EXTERNAL ACTIONS. God judges us by our moral choices (God judges our hearts, in other words.). Humans see the results of choices. God judges not on the raw material of our lives but on what we do with it.

Lewis pointed out that Christian morality is making the right choices with the result being a change of character.  In our choices we are slowly turning our inner self into either a 'heavenly' or 'hellish' creature.

Finally, Lewis asked us to remember that the right direction leads not only to peace but also to knowledge.  As we get better, we understand more and more clearly the evil still in us.  Conversely, as a man gets worse, he understands his badness less and less. When  we are moderately bad, we know we have problems,  a thoroughly bad individual thinks he is fine. Actually, common sense tells us: We understand sleep when we're awake, not when asleep.  We know the nature of drunkeness when sober, not when we're drunk. Good people know both good and evil;  bad ones know about neither.

---Shepherd Notes, C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity

Photo credit,  Gary Bailey on Roan Mountain (Tennessee)

Smoke and Fires: Why I Sadly Leave Jackson Hole In Early August Now

NEW STUDY: FACEBOOK IS BAD FOR YOU. GET A LIFE!

THIN AIR THAT'S THICK WITH HEAVY BLUE HAZE

EVEN IN A RAINY YEAR LIKE THIS ONE, AIR QUALITY IN JACKSON HOLE STEADILY DETERIORATES starting in early August.  It's become like clockwork.

This photo somewhat captures it.  The majority of smoke now in JH is from big fires and smoke in Sun Valley, Idaho drifting and settling.  No matter where it comes from, living in this bowl when smoke happens, is like being stuck in a room with ten thousand smokers and no place to hide or run. If you have health issues that are affected by major pollution, then plan your vaca some other time of the summer or year. More on the story.

Meanwhile, back in the Southeast, the weather is heavenly cool and wonderful. And who cares why.

Interesting Case in Tennessee---I Post, You Decide

IS THIS JUDGE RIGHT OR WRONG?  COULD THIS BE A SET-UP?

I can see both points of view but tend to think, as the judge does, that the child's first name could cause a lot of bullying problems down the road.  But should the judge be allowed to protect the baby from the parents' naming decision and potential future problems?

Still, the First Amendment could and maybe should prevail.  What about naming a child hell or Satan, deodorant or penis?

I suspect the parents---or mother---could just be trying to to have their 10 minutes of fame.  It's too bad, little babies might need to be protected from parental craziness by the state.

Still, cases like this raise interesting questions:  what are the limits---if any---of parental authority?

And another thing:  it's possible that this is a set-up initiated by the ACLU or some other liberal, anti-Christian group that wants to target people in Cocke County by coaching the mother to do and say all this. It's possible they even paid her to give her son his first name.

Time will tell.

U2's Bono Now Preaching Virtues of Capitalism Over Foreign Aid In Underdeveloped Countries

 ALSO--SENATOR RAND PAUL WAXES GOOD SENSE, ELOQUENCE ON THE DAILY SHOW 



THIS ROCK STAR HAS BEEN COMING AROUND IN SO MANY WAYS LATELY. Nice to see him taking a stand for capitalism here at Georgetown University rather than advocating just giving, giving and more giving of foreign aid stuff to poverty-stricken countries.  It's called teaching a man to fish rather than giving him fish after fish. And the difference it makes is huge.

What encouraging news for the world at large.

This from Mark Perry's Carpe Diem blog:

In the past, rock star Bono has been a major supporter of greatly expanded U.S. foreign aid and other government programs (including debt cancellation) to fight poverty, HIV/AIDS, malaria and disease in places like Africa. In recent months, Bono has developed an appreciation of how markets and capitalism are powerful forces for poor countries like Africa, and more effective at lifting people out of poverty than government-to-government foreign aid. In a recent speech at Georgetown University, the rock star passionately preached the virtues of capitalism, see the video above and his key quote below (full speech available here). “Commerce is real. Foreign aid is just a stopgap. Commerce and entrepreneurial capitalism take more people out of poverty than foreign aid, of course we know that. We need Africa to become an economic powerhouse.”

Nice going, Bono. Rock on.

Conversations That Matter: Rosaria Butterfield, Former Feminist, Atheist Lesbian Talks Homosexuality And Christian Faith

ANOTHER POIGNANT DISCUSSION OF HER UNIQUE CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY from her once radical feminism.  I have featured excerpts of her book---on my sidebar---here over the past year.

Dr. Butterfield discusses her new  life, beliefs, and marriage to a Presbyterian pastor discussing how it came about---by the supernatural Grace of God. It was not something she wanted or aspired to. But then the undeniable force drew and drew and drew her towards Himself.

Is homosexuality the greatest sin, her greatest sin? Or is there a much deeper sin for Dr. Butterfield and all of us? Her unique and unlikely journey to Christ is one all of us can take inspiration and encouragement from.

Blatant Political Opportunism: No Liz, Still Not Gonna Happen for You In WY, Part 2

HEAVEN KNOWS, I'M THE CONSUMMATE CONSERVATIVE, but Liz, this campaign in Wyoming, now, is a losing proposition of heroic proportions.  It's embarrassing.

Why don't you go back to Virginia where you belong? Where you and your family have been for decades? And run there?

I'm losing respect for you and your father for advising you to do this and attempt to create another silly political dynasty. Most of all, I'm sad you're using the good people of Wyoming as a base for further, future political aspirations.

BTW, get yourself a new haircut with a little more style and lightness. It's terribly dated and makes you look dreadfully tired and washedout. Then it won't be so hard  to hand you back your head on a big silver platter in the fall.

Last Day On the Buffalo

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: ENZI AND CHENEY SPAR OVER RESIDENCY AND WHO KNOWS WY BEST

ONE 18" NATIVE CUTTHROAT FOR MARTY, ONE FOR ME.

Beautiful, peaceful day. All fish caught and gently released back from whence they came. Photo credit, Marty. Winning fly of the day, Marty again.

Now You See It, Now You....Don't---North Pole 'Lake' Now Gone, Vanished

CLIMATE NEWS: SHORTEST, COLDEST ARCTIC SUMMER ON RECORD
SATURDAY: DID WH LEAN ON CHATTANOOGA NEWSPAPER TO HAVE THEM FIRE AN IMPERTINENT EDITOR?

BACK TO ICE

OH DEAR, IT WAS JUST ENOUGH TO GET THE ECO-NAZIS---those who relentlessly declare man-made climate change---a little front-page coverage. Then suddenly, as if in a dream, the olympic swimming pool sized lake all went poof and all went away! This from Business Insider today:

GoneLike a politician whose peccadillos lead to "family time," the North Pole lake has had its fill of Internet notoriety. The stunning blue meltwater lake that formed on the Arctic ice disappeared on Monday (July 29), draining through a crack in the underlying ice floe. Now, instead of 2 feet (0.6 meters) of freshwater slopping against a bright-yellow buoy, a remote webcam shows only ice and clouds.

Though the North Pole lake's 15 minutes of fame focused worldwide attention on global warming's effects on Arctic sea ice, the melting is actually part of an annual summer thaw, according to researchers who run the North Pole Environmental Observatory. "The formation of these ponds and their disappearance is part of a natural cycle," said Axel Schweiger, head of the Applied Physics Laboratory's Polar Science Center at the University of Washington, which helps run the observatory. After the "North Pole lake" vanished into a crack.

The lake, about the size of an Olympic swimming pool, started forming in mid-July, LiveScience first reported on July 23. The size and timing of the lake are typical for this time of year and location, the researchers said. However, scientists at the observatory and elsewhere are studying the Arctic's meltwater ponds to understand how global warming is changing their total extent. Please note, the scientists studying this assume that global warming is a foregone conclusion.