Ken Nair Marriage Seminar Video Snippet

Posted in Biblical, Christianity/America on March 6th, 2023 by dhawkinsmo

Ken Nair puts on one of the best Marriage Counseling Seminars I’ve ever sat through. Reasons it’s so great (a) Ken is funny and real (b) it’s based on the Original Ancient Hebrew Scriptures, not the modern English versions which can have some significant differences. Here’s a link to a snippet I recorded. Enjoy!

LINK HERE

Trump, Bannon and MacArthur

Posted in Christianity/America on February 25th, 2017 by dhawkinsmo

MacArthurI read a lot. And because I read a lot, I have a view of the world that many do not have. Steve Bannon yesterday at CPAC gave a speech which was picked apart and analyzed by the NY Times HERE. Of course it was a negative article but I want to give some perspective to Trump’s and Bannon’s ideas about The New Nationalism here in the US. I think it’s safe to say that General Douglas MacArthur was a nationalist and a patriot as well as being a brilliant general. And it appears to me that Trump and Bannon are also patriots who want to see the USA be reat again.   I once borrowed a copy of MacArthur’s book “Reminiscences” from the library and copied off some key quotes. Over the years I lost the quotes, but I recently found one of the key quotes on a blog so I thought I should copy it off onto my blog because it’s such an important quote on this topic. Here it is … Sourced from this blogger’s own personal copy of MacArthur’s book … (Reminiscences by Douglas MacArthur, (McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, NY, 1964), First Edition, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64-22955, pp. 414-418.)

Great changes have taken place in our military establishment, some good, some not so good. Materially the improvement has been spectacular, psychologically yet to be proven. The men in the ranks are largely citizen soldiers, sailors or airmen—men from the farm, the city, from school, from the college campus—men not dedicated to the profession of arms; men not primarily skilled in the art of war; men most amazingly like the men you know and see and meet each day of your life.

If hostilities come, these men will know the endless tramp of marching feet, the incessant whine of sniper bullets, the ceaseless rustle of sputtering machine guns, the sinister wail of air combat, the deafening blast of crashing bombs, the stealthy stroke of hidden torpedoes, the amphibious lurch over perilous waves, the dark majesty of fighting ships, the mad din of battle and all the tense and ghastly horror and savage destruction of a stricken area of war. Read more »

America: Land of the (sort of) Free

Posted in Christianity/America, Politics on March 7th, 2015 by dhawkinsmo

Shocking as it may sound, I have come to believe that “America, the Land of the Free … ” is at best a HALF TRUTH. We are “sort of” free. “Relatively” free, compared to say, Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia. But compared to the Native Americans of the 18th Century Haudenosaunee Confederacy, we are not nearly so free. My skepticism comes from studying “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to famously say. Charles Mann has written a fascinating book entitled “1491” which covers some of this, lost my original copy, then bought it again last week. I was alerted to the book by a former intern for Joel Salatin. While I don’t prefer Joel’s method of raising chickens for meat, I think his method for producing eggs is brilliant … and his writing is brilliant. Joel is a prolific reader and a fantastic writer. So I am interested in any book Joel writes and in some books recommended by people close to him. Let me give you a taste of what I am talking about from Mann’s book. More to come on this topic another day.

Benjamin Franklin wrote …

“When an Indian child has been brought up among us, taught our language and habituated to our customs, yet if he goes to see his relations and makes one Indian Ramble with them, there is no perswading him ever to return. And that this is not natural [only to Indians], but as men, is plain from this, that when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and lived awhile among them, tho’ ransomed by their Friends, and treated with all imaginable tenderness to prevail with them to stay among the English, yet within a Short time they become disgusted with our manner of Life, and the care and pains that are necessary to support it, and take the first good Opportunity of escaping again into the Woods, from whence there is no reclaiming them.”

(Letter to Peter Collinson May 9, 1753) LINK HERE

Combatting Warped Ideas About “Modesty”

Posted in Biblical, Christianity/America on March 11th, 2014 by dhawkinsmo

Awesome article by Dale Fincher (PCC Grad). Long overdue. From the article … the entire article is 6 different blog posts, all linked from this one (the first one) … enjoy!

It’s summer time again!

Time to lather on some Summer Shame. The Lifeguards of Summer are on duty, keeping us safe. The whistles blows, fingers are pointed, and we are reminded of the “rules.”

Sadly, many of the well-intended Modesty Lifeguards come from the offspring of shame-based cultures which breed spiritual abuse. Many of the recent arguments could have been lifted straight from the rules of my alma mater, Pensacola Christian College. These assumptions can apply to many “social sins.”

I’ll take these post by post, tackling one at a time.

All women are sex goddesses that every man wants. (This post!)
Modesty is the opposite of sexy.
Only Men Lust.
Lust is the only sin that results from immodesty.
Christians must do all they can to keep themselves and others from lust.
If we do not keep others from sin, we are guilty of their sins too.
These assumptions, used in the “modesty” language today, are found in spiritually abusive cultures.

America the Beautiful?

Posted in Christianity/America on July 4th, 2013 by dhawkinsmo

Every July 4th, many people sing “America the Beautiful” and I have been one of them for many years. But lately, some pretty big events in my life have caused me to question EVERYTHING, including some very entrenched beliefs about America, our history and the songs we sing every year. They say that to ASSUME things makes an ASS out of U and ME. (Get it?) And I (and probably 99% of Americans with me), have always *assumed* that everything in this song plus everything we have been taught about America is true. Well, it’s not I’m afraid, and I think it’s high time we sort out some of the fact from some of the fiction. Let’s take a look.

First, the title … “America, the Beautiful.” How did “America” get its name?  Turns out it comes from an explorer named Amerigo Vespucci. You can read about him HERE. Why isn’t it called “Columbia” after Columbus who (supposedly) discovered America? Good question and the article above explains. The name “America” is based on the European (German specifically) perspective but the truth is, there have been many “discoverers” of “America” throughout history, for example, the Chinese. The Chinese discovered “America” long before Columbus did.  You can read about that in Gavin Menzies’ recent book, “1421: The Year China Discovered America.” Fascinating read.  So if we really wanted to be accurate about our country’s name, we would have to say that, for good or evil, or in reality a little of both, it was named by it’s current reigning conquerors – Europeans.  How about the “beautiful” part?  Is “America” beautiful?  Sure in some ways, but in other ways not so much. Stay with me and let’s explore this a bit. Read more »

New Dead Sea Tablet Sheds Light on the Jewish Messiah

Posted in Biblical, Christianity/America on July 11th, 2008 by dhawkinsmo

I am an avid reader of Joel Rosenberg’s blog and you should be too. Joel Rosenberg is the author of the uncannily accurate predictive fiction works, The Last Jihad, The Ezekiel Option, The Copper Scroll and Dead Heat, all runaway best-sellers.

Yesterday, he highlighted and commented on an article which appeared in Haaretz (a leading Israeli daily newspaper).  From Joel’s blog

The Messiah stories are particularly interesting to me. Iran, as I mentioned the other day, is running a new documentary TV series on Jewish, Christian and Islamic eschatology (End Times theology), consistent with President Ahmadinejad’s on-going call for the Muslim world to prepare for the “imminent” arrival of the Islamic Messiah, known as the Mahdi. The Israeli archaeological community, meanwhile, is currently abuzz over the discovery of a ancient stone tablet dated not long before the birth of Jesus that strongly suggests that religious Jews of the day were expecting the coming of a Messiah who would suffer, die, and be resurrected three days later. Most Rabbis and other Jewish scholars have long argued that the death and resurrection of a Jewish Messiah was a “Christian” invention, not part of long-established Jewish thought or Biblical teaching. But a front-page story in Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, just a few days ago has a lot of people asking: Are Jews really supposed to believe their Messiah will actually die and rise again, and was this really Orthodox religious thinking before the time of Jesus?

The Israeli archaeological community, meanwhile, is currently abuzz over the discovery of a ancient stone tablet dated not long before the birth of Jesus that strongly suggests that religious Jews of the day were expecting the coming of a Messiah who would suffer, die, and be resurrected three days later. Most Rabbis and other Jewish scholars have long argued that the death and resurrection of a Jewish Messiah was a “Christian” invention, not part of long-established Jewish thought or Biblical teaching. But a front-page story in Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, just a few days ago has a lot of people asking: Are Jews really supposed to believe their Messiah will actually die and rise again, and was this really Orthodox religious thinking before the time of Jesus?

How to Convince A Skeptic That God Exists

Posted in Christianity/America on September 23rd, 2007 by dhawkinsmo

I like to discuss science, God and the Bible online with self-professed atheists and skeptics. One of them (screen name “Notta_Skeptic” … but she is really) has been heckling me for a very long time now. She is an award winning science teacher and would describe herself as a former Christian.

I recently asked her what it would take to convince her that God exists. “What would you do if you were God,” I asked, “to convince people that you exist?”

She gave a surprising answer. She said …

Well, I think appearing in person would be a great place to start. Why not just show up in neo-natal intensive care units, lay hands on all the babies there, and miraculously cure them? Sure would go a long way towards convincing people that he/she/it/they actually cared about human beings, by showing compassion to the littlest and most vulnerable ones.
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?p=4784991#post4784991

!!!!!! What ?????!!!!! Does this throw any switches in anyone else’s brains besides mine?

Appear in person? That’s exactly what God did. Miraculously cure babies? Close. He healed lots of people. And He walked on water. And He fed the five thousand miraculously. And He raised the dead. And he fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies. And He himself was raised from the dead. And and and … !!!! Did most people believe in Him after going to all this effort? ……….. NO.

And the important question …

Does Notta_Skeptic believe in Him considering all this? Considering that God has already done almost exactly what she herself said would be convincing proof that He exists?

Only Notta can answer that one.

Disney Returning to Family Roots

Posted in Christianity/America on September 18th, 2007 by dhawkinsmo

From Dale Mason, Vice President of Marketing and Media for Answers in Genesis International …

One unexpected but very interesting part of our time there in L.A. [for a meeting with the National Religious Broadcasters Association] was that when the chairman of Walt Disney Studios (Richard Cook) heard that we were coming, he asked us to stay and meet with several of their lead people (including their lead animator, Glen Keane, who is a believer). They had us on the lot until after midnight Tuesday. They gathered us in a posh, relatively small motion picture theater and announced to us that, basically, they have heard the collective voice of the Christian community and committed that, “going forward, there will no longer be profanity or sexual innuendo in Disney family films.” That’s a great start. Now the Church needs to help them understand that they need to remove the evolution that permeates so many of their productions as well. The bigger problem is that first the pastors need to be convinced to remove it from their pulpits! (God is in control.)” http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/aroundtheworld/#714

About Disney Studio Chief Richard Cook

Moses in the U.S. House Chamber

Posted in Christianity/America on September 19th, 2006 by dhawkinsmo

This is from Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis International, on his blog …

Saturday, September 17th, 2005

You may remember me mentioning on my blog some time back about our visit to the Capitol Building in Washington DC (To Washington and Back). As Congress was not in session, we were able to go into the House Chamber. Around the the walls near the top there are sculptures of lots of famous people—but the one that stood out was Moses. Moses is the ONLY one who is seen face on and he is looking directly at the Rostrum. When the President gives a State of the Union address, Moses is looking right at him. I was able to locate a web site that shows you pictures of all the sculptures in the House Chamber—the following link takes you directly to the Moses sculpture—and you can then look at the others if you want to.

http://clerk.house.gov/histHigh/Virtual_Tours/Artifacts/moses.html

Moses—the law giver who looks over Congress but is not allowed in court rooms or public schools! The irony is stunning.

In my opinion, the display in the House Chamber is quite proper with all the lesser lawgivers facing Moses. This chamber was built during a time in our country when appropriate respect was given to the Bible and its heroes. In fact, the USA was built directly upon Biblical laws and principles, hence it’s great success.

http://info.answersingenesis.org/aroundtheworld/#330

Warren Buffet Quotes Jesus

Posted in Christianity/America on September 18th, 2006 by dhawkinsmo

Here is a quote from the latest Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report, p. 24, http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2004ar/2004ar.pdf

I can’t resist mentioning
that Jesus understood the calibration of independence far more clearly than do the protesting institutions. In Matthew 6:21 He observed: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Even to an institutional investor, $8 billion should qualify as “treasure” that dwarfs any profits Berkshire might earn on its routine transactions with Coke. Measured by the biblical standard, the Berkshire board is a model: (a) every director is a member of a family owning at least $4 million of stock; (b) none of these shares were acquired from Berkshire via options or grants; (c) no directors receive committee, consulting or board fees from the company that are more than a tiny portion of their annual income; and (d) although we have a standard corporate indemnity arrangement, we carry no liability insurance for directors. At Berkshire, board members travel the same road as shareholders.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Charlie and I have seen much behavior confirming the Bible’s “treasure” point. In our view, based on our considerable boardroom experience, the least independent directors are likely to be those who receive an important fraction of their annual income from the fees they receive for board service (and who hope as well to be recommended for election to other boards and thereby to boost their income further). Yet these are the very board members most often classed as “independent.” Most directors of this type are decent people and do a first-class job. But they wouldn’t be human if they weren’t tempted to thwart actions that would threaten their livelihood. Some may go on to succumb to such temptations.

Keep in mind, friends, this is the second richest man in the world, CEO of a public, global corporation, and the world’s most successful investor, and he’s quoting Jesus in his Annual Report! How many CEO’s do you run across that do that?