The Four Horsemen

Hmmmm...nothing says hubris like a dogmatic atheist (you know, the kind who want to take my kids away cause they think I'm abusing them by telling them about God). Does this sound like this:

Revelation 6:1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. 3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. 5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!" 7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

No, they're not the conquerors, they're more like those who see others beset by great disasters and yet they still refuse to acknowledge God.

Rev 9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk

And those who ignore the warning in their own life when disasters come:

Rev 16:8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. 10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

Now, I have to decide if I want to sit through 2 hours of obsessive, bitter, Christian bashing and arrogant elitism. I'll let you know if I decide to waste my time.

(via)

Update: Sorry to those atheists who have a live and let live attitude, I should have qualified the hubris comment and made sure that you know I didn't have you in mind. Whenever I mention atheists on this blog, you should realize that I'm generally not talking about you.

Lott's Retirement

Good riddance!

Actually, federal legislators know how to build tidy nest eggs without spending one day in the private sector — none of them much better than Trent Lott. Except for one year as a practicing attorney fresh out of law school, Lott has spent his career on the public payroll — four years as a congressional staffer, 16 years in the House and 19 in the Senate. Nevertheless, the Center for Responsive Politics in 2005 calculated his net worth at between $1.4 million and $2 million, or 42nd among 100 senators. It put his annual income from the Senate and private sources at $289,710, in the top 1.5 percent of American income earners.

A Speechless Sean Penn!

Here is a WGA produced Internet video to advertise their side in the writers' strike but it really is good propaganda for the other side. Who doesn't want to see a silent Sean Penn? :-) Maybe we can stand to have this strike go on for a little bit longer if it means that Sean Penn shuts up.

Pastor fathers a child with his brother's wife

It's an amazing sight to behold when a man of God tries to hide who he really is and it brings down his entire empire.

The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her.

Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.

In truth, this is not the first - or even the second - sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair.

The living proof of that lie is 34-year-old D.E. Paulk, who for years was known publicly as Earl Paulk's nephew.

The archbishop, his brother and the church are being sued by former church employee Mona Brewer, who says Earl Paulk manipulated her into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. Earl Paulk admitted to the affair in front of the church last January.

[...]

In a 2006 deposition stemming from the lawsuit, the archbishop said under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was Brewer. But the paternity test said otherwise.

[...]

At its peak in the early 1990s, it claimed about 10,000 members and 24 pastors and was a media powerhouse. By soliciting tithes of 10 percent from each member's income, the church was able to build a Bible college, two schools, a worldwide TV ministry and a $12 million sanctuary the size of a fortress.

Today, though, membership is down to about 1,500, the church has 18 pastors, most of them volunteers, and the Bible college and TV ministry have shuttered - a downturn blamed largely on complaints about the alleged sexual transgressions of the elder Paulks.

(via)

What an incredible waste of the Lord's money. Churches based on personalities, not denominations may want to heed this warning. You can't base your church on just one man -- if he falls, the church could fall as well and take all that you've invested with it.

Reid to the troops: Make due with what you got until February

The troops are doing their job, they're putting their lives on the line and what does Reid do in return? Refuse to fund them and their efforts to fight our enemy. If anyone thought that the Democrats supported the troops, this should end that fantasy. The Democrats just told the military to get lost: "We are going home for a nice Thanksgiving dinner but you won't get your funding because we have to please our base, not do our duty. You'll just have to make due with the money you have until February when the risk of a primary challenger is less and then we'll fund the troops. Maybe, we'll have to see if we feel like it then"

Frustrated by Republican roadblocks, Democrats now plan to sit on President Bush's $196 billion request for war spending until next year—pushing the Pentagon toward an accounting nightmare and deepening their conflict with the White House on the war.

"We're going to continue to do the right thing for the American people by having limited accountability for the president and not a blank check," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Senate Republicans on Friday blocked a $50 billion bill by Democrats that would have paid for several months of combat but also would have ordered troop withdrawals from Iraq to begin within 30 days. The measure, narrowly passed this week by the House, also would have set a goal of ending combat in December 2008.

[...]

The Pentagon confirms the military will not run out of money until mid February, after which all Army bases would cease operations.

But Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week that without the money now, drastic steps would have to be taken in anticipation of the shutdown, including plans to freeze contracts and to furlough about 100,000 government employees.

Notices to some union employees would start going out in mid-December, he said.

I hope these union members remember who lost them their job around Christmas time. While the elite enjoy Christmas at home, these workers and the troops will not.

As I wrote this I kept thinking of the line: "Let them eat cake." Same arrogance, same level of compassion, same understanding of the responsibility to those they govern.

Updated: Yeah, I know it should be "do" instead of "due" but someone linked to it and I hate to break the link.

Nevada, if you re-elect this man, you are doing a terrible service to your country.

Reid vows not to fund the war

Well, he might as well have vowed it because this comes close to doing it:

A budget dispute erupted into a full-scale battle Tuesday as President Bush vetoed the Democrats' top-priority domestic spending bill and the party's Senate leader threatened to withhold war funding if the president does not agree to pull out of Iraq.

The long-anticipated clash came to a head as Bush rejected a $606 billion bill to fund education, health and labor programs, complaining that it is too expensive and is larded with pork. Within hours, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) declared that Bush will not get more money to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year unless he accepts a plan to complete troop withdrawals by the end of next year.

(via)

Our troops are not a political football that our politicians use to get their pork. It is all kinds of wrong that he would use them in this way. I hope his phone is wringing off the hook. And our candidates better be quick to jump on this arrogant overreach and denounce it.