Tag: hope

He is Risen! Resurrection Day 2023

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

This morning, as I lay in bed, The Lord had me thinking about Him. These thoughts were about what today, a day that Christians around the world celebrate as the day that Jesus Christ rose victorious from the grave, must have been like.

Pretend for a moment, that you are an average citizen living at the time of Christ…

[For the past three years, you have seen this charismatic young man speak about the love and mercy of God, and how His Grace and Forgiveness is freely given, IF…

And, there’s the catch…

According to this carpenter’s son from Nazareth, you have to confess your sins, and ask the Great I am, for forgiveness.

Whoa! Wait a minute. Who is this guy? A radical? Ask Yahweh for forgiveness?

And, what’s that he said? You will then have a personal relationship with His Father?

How can that be? This is the Great I am. This is the Deity of Vengeance who destroyed those escaped slaves from Egypt for throwing a party, while Moses was up on a mountain, and building and worshiping a Golden Calf.

And, remember what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar? Daniel interpreted a dream for him, explaining that his kingdom would be ruled over by Gentiles until God sent His King. Ol’ Nebby got mad, because he couldn’t rule over the Israelites and over the whole world unless God allowed him to do so. He forgot that, and became very proud. He tried to make the people think that he was very wonderful, and that they should worship him. He didn’t trust God as some of the kings of the Israelites did, but had the very foolish idea that he could be a wise and wonderful king without any help from God.

So, what do you suppose occurred?

Why, the King had another dream, and when he found out what it meant it was really terrible. In this dream God told him that he would lose his mind and would go out in the field and eat grass just like the cattle for seven years. And Nebuchadnezzar actually did this, too. Can you imagine a mighty king, as he thought himself to be, crawling around on the ground eating grass? The Bible tells us that his hair grew long and coarse and looked like bird feathers, and his fingernails became like the claws of animals.

Finally, though, Nebuchadnezzar’s reason returned to him, and when he found out what he had done he was very much ashamed of himself.

However, he learned by this experience that he was not as wise and powerful as he had thought. Learning this, he gave praise to God for allowing him to be the ruler.

This is the God that some carpenter’s son from Nazareth has been telling us that we can have a personal relationship with?

Strange indeed.

Finally, one of His disciples betrayed Him and gave Him up to the Romans, who crucified Him.

I noticed that while He was hanging there the guards and some of the townspeople there were mocking Jesus, telling Him that if He was the Son of God, to ”jump down off of that cross”. Meanwhile, some of the centurions were casting lots over His robe.

All except this one centurion, who was just watching Him, as if he was waiting for something to happen…]

And, then came the Glorious Morning…
[Wow. It’s really been amazing around here since they crucified Jesus. Did you feel that earthquake? The veil of the temple was torn in half! And did you hear? A bunch of people that had died years ago, were seen walking around the city! But that’s not all. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard?

Listen to this: He has risen! He arose from the dead and was seen by several people. It’s true! I know it sounds unbelievable. I can scarcely take it in myself. Mary Magdalene and Mary, James and Salome’s mother, went to the tomb to perform the anointing of His body and it wasn’t there! On top of that, there was this young guy there, dressed in a white robe. They said he must have been 9 feet tall. He said, “You are seeking Jesus of Nazareth. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. See the place where you laid him.” So they went and told the disciples. But you know how Peter is. He just had to go run up there and see for himself.

Jesus even approached two of them on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t recognize him. He even broke bread with them that night. They realized who He was and He disappeared! They ran to tell the disciples and as they were telling them, Jesus appeared right in front of them! They were all starting to panic. Jesus said, “Peace to you.” But they couldn’t believe it was him, especially Thomas. So he had him touch him in the hole in his hand where they drove the nail and where the spear pierced his side.

Jesus ate with them and performed other signs and miracles in front of them and they understood scripture as never before. He also came to them at the Sea of Tiberius. Peter took the disciples fishing and they weren’t catching anything. Jesus told them from the bank to cast the net down on the right side. They did, and they could hardly bring it in the boat! When they got back to land, Jesus already had a fire going and some fish and bread ready to eat. He asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and each time He told him “Feed my sheep’. Hey, isn’t that the same number of times Peter Denied Him?

Anyway, He taught them many things before He left. They watched as He was taken straight up into heaven. Can you imagine?

The disciples are making plans now to go out and starting spreading the Good News about Jesus’ Resurrection. They are talking about going out in pairs. Man. Nothing is ever going to be the same again.]

The despair being felt by the average citizens of Rome, at the time, is not unlike the situation which we, as average Americans, find ourselves in today.

We, too, are still struggling in the darkness before the dawn.

Our American Culture has been crumbling before our very eyes, as sin, depravity, and personal irresponsibility have been lauded by “the smartest people in the room” as normal, and values to be embraced…a Golden Calf to be worshiped by those who have turned their backs of the Almighty, because He will not give them the worldly gratification they seek…and because they erroneously believe that they are smarter than God, and can interpret and ignore God’s Holy Word in order to ignore and to rewrite to make it mean whatever they want to, in order to assuage their own consciousness, in an attempt to stifle that “Still Small Voice” within them, Who is reminding them of their sin and the consequences of it.

For the past several years, our Sovereign Nation and the rest of the world have been fighting enemies foreign and domestic, even within our own government, along with a Chinese Coronavirus, a combination of challenges which have claimed thousands of deaths in our country and the loss of jobs for millions of Americans.

Today, as we watch an out-of-control Congress and Administration attempt to take away our American Freedom, we all need to remember the words of President Ronald Reagan:

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.

Fellow Americans….my message to you on this Resurrection Day 2023 is

DO NOT GIVE UP ON GOD. DO NOT GIVE UP ON THE FOUNDING FATHERS’ HOPE, WHICH BECAME AMERICA.

As the old country Preacher’s wife always told him when she took away his plate after supper,

Hold on to your fork, Hon. Dessert is on it’s way.

The final chapter of the amazing story of our Blessed Land has not been written yet. It is up to each and every one of us to write it, strengthened by the Grace of God.

Until He Comes,

KJ

“For God so loved the word, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – John

He is risen indeed!

There is Always Hope

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

Today is Holy Saturday, the day before the Greatest Event in Human History.

The world back then was a very different place but in some ways very similar to what we’re experiencing now.

People were having their freedoms being taken away by an oppressive government who did not care what the people wanted and were only interested in the acquisition of political power and prestige.

Oppressive laws were put in place and people who were already suffering were being taxed to the point of starvation.

They dare not speak out against the government for fear of retribution and being labeled as heretics and revolutionaries or being jailed or killed for speaking out.

So, common folks tried to live their lives as best they could, providing for their families, while looking for some glimmer of hope… Someone to tell them that they were loved and appreciated.

And then, Someone did appear…a Carpenter’s Son from Nazareth, who spoke about the love of His Father and unfathomable joy, grace, and forgiveness.

The professional politicians in charge of the oppressive government saw the fear of those whom they controlled slipping away as a result of the Good News being spread by the Man From Galilee.

So, with the help of one of his own followers who betrayed him, they framed him, tried him, and crucified him.

And, they thought that they had won.

But, they had overestimated themselves and underestimated the Power of God’s Love.

Today, America finds itself facing a new form of oppression. Average Americans are being told that they are ignorant, uncaring, or revolutionaries because they hold on to traditional faith and values,while objecting to their individual freedoms being taken away, because the majority in this country are still guided by the Divine Spark which that Carpenter’s Son left in each of us.

So, I’m going to going to end my thoughts for this Saturday before Resurrection Sunday by telling you that man’s evil political machinations will not triumph.

There is always hope.

Joy comes in the morning.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Christmas 2016: A Clear and Present Hope

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

nativity-sceneRecently, the outgoing First Lady, Michelle Obama, told Interviewer Oprah Winfrey,

Now we’re feeling like what not having hope feels like.

I beg to differ.

Our Hope is ETERNAL.

Luke 2:  1-7 (ASV):

 1 Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be enrolled.

2 This was the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

3 And all went to enrol themselves, every one to his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David;

5 to enrol himself with Mary, who was betrothed to him, being great with child.

6 And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

From the Innkeeper’s Point of View…

…I remember it like it was yesterday.  Caesar Augustus had come up with the bright idea that a census should be taken of the whole Roman Empire, in order to more effectively tax the stew out of all of us.

It especially hurt small businessmen like me.  You see, I’m nothing but a lowly innkeeper, barely keeping my head above water, working 16 hour days.  Oy!  I could continue to gripe, but who would listen?

Anyway, like I said, Caesar decreed that everyone should get themselves registered for the Census.  In terms of business, that actually turned out to be a good thing.

I was about to lock up for the night, when a young man and  woman came to the door.  He was a strong, rugged-looking young man.  I think he was a carpenter.  She was a beautiful, pregnant little thing.  Bless her heart, she looked like she would deliver at any moment.  Their names were Joseph and Mary.

My inn was packed, for once, and I had no rooms available.  But, some part of my heart told me that I just couldn’t send them away, so I offered them my stable, which would at least offer some protection from the elements.

What happened that night was wondrous.  Men are still talking about it to this day.  A precious little baby boy was born that night and the most miraculous things happened.  People said that animals actually spoke!  And, the local shepherds said that angels came to them and told them about this baby.  They sang His praises and told the shepherds that they needed to come to my stable to see and worship that little baby.

Three wise men, sent by Herod, showed up later, bearing gifts for that special infant.  They were overcome by that little one and decided that they would not report back to Herod, but, instead, would return to their homes.

It was quite a remarkable time.  As the years went by, I heard stories about that child.  They named Him Jesus.  He grew in knowledge and stature.  At 12, his parents lost Him.  They found Him in the synagogue, teaching the old men that should have been teaching Him!  Can you imagine?

He grew up working beside His father in his carpentry business and when He was 30, I heard that He was baptized by that wild man, John The Baptist.  According to witnesses, the heavens parted, and they heard the voice of God saying:

This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

For three years, He traveled with a group of twelve disciples, performing miracles, preaching and teaching about God’s love and His plan for mankind.

And, now I’ve heard that just yesterday, they nailed Him to a cross, executing Him as they would a common criminal.

So sad.  But, you know, there is a still, small voice inside of me that’s telling me that His story is not over, yet.

I originally wrote the preceding story 6 years ago in honor of this special day.

In 1912, C.P.J. Mooney worked as  the editor for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN.  He wrote an editorial that has become a yearly tradition, not only in Memphis, but around the world.  Here it is, as my Christmas Gift to you, my much appreciated readers.

Jesus, The Perfect Man

There is no other character in history like that of Jesus.

As a preacher, as a doer of things, and as a philosopher, no man ever had the sweep and the vision of Jesus.

A human analysis of the human actions of Jesus brings to view a rule of life that is amazing in its perfect detail.

The system of ethics Jesus taught during His earthly sojourn 2,000 years ago was true then, has been true in every century since and will be true forever.

Plato was a great thinker and learned in his age, but his teachings did not stand the test of time. In big things and in little things time and human experience have shown that he erred.

Marcus Aurelius touched the reflective mind of the world, but he was as cold and austere as brown marble. …

Thomas a Kempis’ ”Imitation of Christ” is a thing of rare beauty and sympathy, but it is, as its name indicates, only an imitation.

Sir Thomas More’s ”Utopia” is yet a dream that cannot be realized.

Lord Bacon writing on chemistry and medicine under the glasses of the man working in a 20th century laboratory is puerile.

The world’s most learned doctors until 150 years ago gave dragon’s blood and ground tails of lizards and shells of eggs for certain ailments. The great surgeons a hundred years ago bled a man if he were wounded.

Napoleon had the world at his feet for four years, and when he died the world was going on its way as if he had never lived.

JESUS TAUGHT little as to property because He knew there were things of more importance than property. He measured property and life, the body and soul, at their exact relative value. He taught much more as to character, because character is of more importance than dollars.

Other men taught us to develop systems of government. Jesus taught so as to perfect the minds of men. Jesus looked to the soul, while other men dwelled on material things.

After the experience of 2,000 years no man can find a flaw in the governmental system outlined by Jesus.

Czar and kaiser, president and Socialist, give to its complete merit their admiration.

No man today, no matter whether he follows the doctrine of Mill, Marx or George as to property, can find a false principle in Jesus’ theory of property.

In the duty of a man to his fellow no sociologist has ever approximated the perfection of the doctrine laid down by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount.

Not all the investigations of chemists, not all the discoveries of explorers, not all the experiences of rulers, not all the historical facts that go to make up the sum of human knowledge on this day in 1912 are in contradiction to one word uttered or one principle laid down by Jesus.

The human experiences of 2,000 years show that Jesus never made a mistake. Jesus never uttered a doctrine that was true at that time and then became obsolete.

Jesus spoke the truth, and the truth is eternal.

History has no record of any other man leading a perfect life or doing everything in logical order. Jesus is the only person whose every action and whose every utterance strike a true note in the heart and mind of every man born of woman. He never said a foolish thing, never did a foolish act and never dissembled.

No poet, no dreamer, no philosopher loved humanity with all the love that Jesus bore toward all men.

WHO, THEN, was Jesus?

He could not have been merely a man, for there never was a man who had two consecutive thoughts absolute in truthful perfection.

Jesus must have been what Christendom proclaims Him to be — a divine being — or He could not have been what He was. No mind but an infinite mind could have left behind those things which Jesus gave the world as a heritage.

Today, we celebrate the birth of Our Savior Jesus Christ.

As you spend today with your family and friends, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our nation and those who are away from home, protecting you and me.

God bless us, everyone.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Michelle Obama Thinks America is Now Not Having “Hope”. Perhaps She Confuses the Word “Mooch” With “Hope”?

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

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Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. – Martin Luther

Foxnews.com reports that

First lady Michelle Obama’s suggestion that the United States has lost hope now that Donald Trump has becoming president after eight years of husband President Obama bringing “hope and change” to Americans was met Saturday with some pushback.

Michelle Obama says there is no hope,” Trump, the Republican president-elect, said at a rally in Alabama. “I assume she was talking about the past not the future. I honestly believe she meant that statement differently than the way it came out.”

Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker said before Trump spoke at the rally: “Yes, Michelle, we have hope again.” 

Obama said in an excerpt of her final White House interview, conducted by Oprah Winfrey: “We feel the difference now. … Now we’re feeling like what not having hope feels like. … What do you do if you don’t have hope, Oprah?”

The full interview is scheduled to air Monday on CBS-TV.

President Obama was a first-term Illinois Democratic senator when he won the White House race in 2008 with a captivating message of hope and change and became the country’s first black president.

“Barack didn’t just talk about hope because he thought it was a nice slogan to get votes,” the first lady said in the CBS interview. “He and I and so many believe: What else do you have if you don’t have hope?”  

The first lady during her time in the White House made top priorities of empowering young women and promoting healthy eating habits.

She argued in the interview that children are the ones who most need hope.

And to try to explain how her husband gave Americans hope, she said he was like the soothing parent who didn’t overreact when a child bumps his or her head on a table.

“Barack has been that for the nation,” the first lady said.

The Godfather of Conservative Talk Radio, Rush Limbaugh, once said about outgoing (Thank God) President Barack Hussein Obama that

I think the essence of hope and change, I think the hope was not so much hope for the country’s future economically, hope for people’s personal economic success.  I think the hope was that if this country made the statement, a majority white country electing an African-American president, that alone would serve a significant role, play a significant role and cause there to be massive progress toward eliminating, or not eliminating, but reducing the racial strife in this country, and the exact opposite has happened.

Rush was right.

Like her husband, President Barack Hussein Obama, Michelle Obama has done her best to play The Race Card at every opportunity.

On January 23rd, 2008, during a speech given in Columbia, South Carolina, Michelle Obama said:

We don’t like being pushed outside of our comfort zones. You know it right here on this campus. You know people sitting at different tables, y’all living in different dorms. I was there. Y’all not talking to each another, taking advantage of the fact that you’re in this diverse community because sometimes it’s easier to hold onto your own stereotypes and misconceptions, it makes you feel justified in your ignorance. That’s America. So the challenge for us is, are we ready for change?

Then, in February of 2008, while campaigning for her husband in Wisconsin, Mrs. Obama said:

Let me tell you something. For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.

And let me tell you something. I need to believe that we live in that kind of nation, where hope and possibility and unity is still what drives us.

She made the “proud” comment twice in 2 different speeches.  David Axlerod, Obama’s Chief Strategist, tried to explain it away at the time, saying:

She gives this talk all the time, and I don’t think she formulates the words quite that way generally. But if you look at the whole quote and read beyond it, she was plainly talking about this burst of participation, this sense of hope, the sense of possibility and so on. And she was talking about the politics of our country.

In an article titled “The Other Obama”, published on March 10, 2008, in The New Yorker Magazine, writer Lauren Collins gives us the following insights into the Future First Lady’s true feelings about America:

The four times I heard her give the speech—in a ballroom at the University of South Carolina, from the pulpit of Pee Dee Union, at an art gallery in Charleston, and in the auditorium of St. Norbert College, in De Pere, Wisconsin—its content was admirably consistent, with few of the politician’s customary tweaks and nods to the demographic predilections, or prejudices, of a particular audience.

Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and life is not good: we’re a divided country, we’re a country that is “just downright mean,” we are “guided by fear,” we’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents. “We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day,” she said, as heads bobbed in the pews. “Folks are just jammed up, and it’s gotten worse over my lifetime. And, doggone it, I’m young. Forty-four!”

From these bleak generalities, Obama moves into specific complaints. Used to be, she will say, that you could count on a decent education in the neighborhood. But now there are all these charter schools and magnet schools that you have to “finagle” to get into. (Obama herself attended a magnet school, but never mind.) Health care is out of reach (“Let me tell you, don’t get sick in America”), pensions are disappearing, college is too expensive, and even if you can figure out a way to go to college you won’t be able to recoup the cost of the degree in many of the professions for which you needed it in the first place. “You’re looking at a young couple that’s just a few years out of debt,” Obama said. “See, because, we went to those good schools, and we didn’t have trust funds. I’m still waiting for Barack’s trust fund. Especially after I heard that Dick Cheney was s’posed to be a relative or something. Give us something here!”

Her expensive tastes, during his time as “First Lady”, which include Wagyu Beef and Lobster, her penchant for taking the most expensive vacations ever imagined by man (with larger entourages than an NBA Player), along with her attempts at telling Americans what we HAVE to feed our children and grandchildren, and how we should be raising them, have not exactly endeared herself to the overwhelming majority of Americans.

Especially when she started telling us how to feed our children and grandchildren…

Past First Ladies always took a cause to tackle during their husbands’ terms.

Usually, it was a non-intrusive cause such as literacy or combating hunger in America.

Not, in the case of our globe-trotting (on our dime) soon-to-be Former First Lady, “Moochelle” Obama.  Under the guise of battling Childhood Obesity, she decided to sic the food police on America’s school menus, turning our children into the Liberal Administrations’ own personal lab rats and overruling the parental authority of the average American Family.

Mrs. Obama eventually had to adjust her diet plan, because children were not receiving enough nourishment from her Diet Plan and literally falling out by the middle of the afternoon.

In response to this danger to the health of their students, several school systems across the nation told the First Lady what she can do with her non-nutritious Diet Plan, including the Liberal Bastion of New York State!

Most of the other First Ladies in my 58 years have brought a certain degree of class and decorum to their unelected position as “FLOTUS”.

Hillary Clinton being a notable exception.

Where that woman spits, grass never grows again.

But, I digress…

Michelle Robinson Obama is the most useless, racially divisive, and downright hateful excuse for a First Lady that this country has ever seen.

Bess Truman was Mother Teresa compared with the woman whom I affectionately refer to as “Mooch”…

Quite frankly, all of us out here in the Heartland, think she stinks on ice.

For Michelle Obama to drop her carefully concealed mask of racial tolerance this late in the game, with still time left in her husband’s presidency, shows how little regard she has, not only for the decorum of her position, but, for the well-being of America and her citizens, both black and white.

She’s classless.

That being said, here is a little ditty I wrote a while back, in “honor” of the most beloved mate of a national leader since Eva Braun:

50 Ways to Get Your Mooch On (to the tune of “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” by Paul Simon)

A young lady came up to

The First Lady

She said, “Like you I want to

get everything free”

‘Chelle said, “You’ve come to the right

person, baby”

I’ll teach you fifty ways

To get your “mooch” on

She said it’s easy if you put

your mind to it

By gaming the system 

you can get a lot of sh#t.

In Presidential Politics,

Taxpayers’ money you will get

And, if you’re a Democrat

if you’re caught, they will acquit

There are Fifty ways to get your ‘mooch’ on

[CHORUS:]

Go vay-cay in Spain, Jane

Get you some pearls, girl

Chow down on Wagyu,Sue

Pay attention to me

Just listen to ‘Chelle, Nell

You don’t need a brain cell

Marry The Prez, honey

And get it for free

She said I hope my rap

Is getting through to you

I am laying it out very plainly

These things that you should do

The girl said,” I am diggin’ this,

But, would please tell me some more 50 Ways”?

‘Chelle said. “Please take everything I’m telling you

and place it in your heart

Marrying a politician is

a great place to start”

And, then ‘Chelle left her

And she caught on to the game

‘Chelle did have 50 ways to get her “mooch” on

50 Ways to get her “mooch” on

CHORUS:

Go vay-cay in Spain, Jane

Get you some pearls, girl

Chow down on Wagyu,Sue

Pay attention to me

Just listen to ‘Chelle, Nell

You don’t need a brain cell

Marry The Prez, honey

And get it for free.

With a little over a month left before “Mooch” leaves her Palatial Digs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Console yourselves that after President-elect Trump takes the Oath of Office on January 20, 2017, we will all be singing the Country song made famous years ago by the great performer, Roy Clark….

Thank God and Greyhound She’s Gone.

Until He Comes,

KJ