Flea Powder for Itching Ears

This is another of Pam Dewey’s seminars. She often gives them during the Feast of Tabernacles. As this is the first day of that time, I thought it appropriate to include one of her seminars in my blog. 

I have found that when someone has an unusual perspective on things that they may not present a problem for you, or for a congregation. The problem only comes when the person tries to cram it down everyone’s throat.

Years ago I heard Radio Evangelist Ron Dart say that most people had no problem with “weird” ideas, but people did have a problem with weird people! 

On Pam Dewey’s isitso.org website she had this to say on the issue:

A person is not a heretic just because he believes something different.

He is a heretic because he is using that belief to cause division among those with whom he is fellowshipping.

While the following video presentation stands alone, you might want to look at a companion article by Pam with the same title if this is a topic of interest to you.  Pam has also written a book on various religious leaders called the Wild World of Religion. It is available on Amazon, for the kindle, or iBook for those of us with iThings. 

Flea Powder for Itching Ears from Oasis Ministries on Vimeo.

A Warning To Mockers

I thought this video was amusing. For those of you who do not know, Ronald Weinland is one of the two witnesses, so he says. He has predicted that Jesus will return today on Pentecost. (Technically he is predicting Saturday night at Jerusalem.) This was about 24 hours ago. Hopefully he was wrong. Just to be safe I have not mocked him untill now. I am writing this on Friday to automatically post on Sunday at 10 AM-so if the world ended yesterday please ignore this blog post.

Saturday 10 AM: Of course he was ready with an explanation. Apparently Weinland misinterpreted a word in Strong's concordance. Interesting that he came up with this so quickly, almost like he had an explanation ready. When you have a person like Weinland you are faced with four choices. He is a prophet, he is fake, he is self deceived, or he is crazy. The fact he had this plan B all ready tells us he is the the fake category. There is actually a significant chance of nuclear war next year, or its equivalent, when Israel bombs Iran's nuclear energy sites and it has a similar result as a nuclear weapon as it will spread radioactivity everywhere in Iran

Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me

“Gloom, despair, and agony on me, deep, dark depression, excessive misery. If twern’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me.”  Many of you will not be old enough to have watched Hee Haw on Television. This was a recurring song for a recurring skit. The song would be followed by very bad jokes about bad situations, such as “My wife left me and ran away with my best friend. I sure miss him.” 

Here is the song from YouTube. 

This brings me to my topic for today. We are in a tough economic situation, but I do not expect riots in the streets—not big enough riots to cause societal disruption anyway. I admit that there is a nonzero chance of these kind of troubles happening. The problem with preparation for this unlikely but not impossible event is that there is no way to prepare for it. Unless you are prepared to move away, right now, to a rural area and become self-sufficient, you cannot prepare for this. No matter how big your gun is, the other guy’s gun is bigger. One of my oldest blog posts was on this subject. 

I suggest that you avoid the scam of the modern survival movement. Here is a quote from a blog post by the Prophecy Podcast editor, Pam Dewey, in one of her blogs-Prophecy Panic Button. She is discussing the mania that surrounded the Cold War. In particular the "training" that was given to the young-Bert the turtle! 

Bert was part of an effort by the Federal Government to provide “emergency preparedness” information to the public as part of the Civil Defense program spawned by the post-World War 2 “nuclear arms race” between the US and Russia. Under this program, the average American, from Kindergartener to Senior Citizen, was encouraged to take an active part in dealing with the Threat of Nuclear War. Kids were taught that their main responsibility for preparation was to learn to duck and cover. If they were at school when an attack came, they were to Duck under their desks, and Cover their heads.

If you think things are bad now, think a little about the 50's, the potential for disaster was much greater. 

Have a look at the whole post, as usual, Pam’s blog posts are interesting.  

While one cannot prepare for the Apocalypse, we can prepare for the tough times I am suggesting are 3 to 7 years away. I hope we have this long. Get out of debt, become more self-sufficient, and have a cash reserve.

While I do not expect “Doom, Despair, and Agony on Me,” I do expect that we may wish that new 60-inch TV hanging above the fireplace was a little smaller and our debt was a lot smaller. As Jean-Luc Picard might have said, “Make it so.”

Blind, Deaf and Oh, So Dumb

People do not understand Bible prophecy. They confuse prophecy with predicting the future. There is an element of the prediction of the future in some Bible prophecy—it depends on the book and its purpose.

Mainly, when a prophet "predicts" the future it is along these lines:

“What you are doing is not working. Why do you think you can be a people of violence, and not be subject to violence? When you bash in the heads of the little ones of your enemies, do you really think that your little ones will not suffer the same fate? The hungry cry at the street corners and you drive on by in your Mercedes. Do you think God is blind? The drunk stands on the corner and pretends to cry, so even the just are unable to act rightly. After eating a feast that would feed two you tell the waitress, 'Yes, I want the banana split.' The poor see their bones, but you can't see your toes.”

“I will not even bother to punish you. Instead I will let your own sins blowback be your punishment. Soon you will see your toes again, but you will not rejoice. The Greenlawn you are destined for will turn brown when your children cannot pay your bills. Will your children repent, or will they instead curse you?  ‘Our parents have bought swimming pools, and borrowed money for vacations in Aruba, and there is nothing left for us but this t-shirt.’”

I have not heard anything like this from our modern "prophets," have you? Nor will you. Instead you will hear prophets do like they did for my mom and predict that she would write a book. I knew she would not as she was too frail. I was right, the prophet "speaking for the Lord" was wrong.

Do not listen to the court prophets of this world who speak what you want them to speak. They can be bought. They deceive themselves. I am not just talking about religious people. These prophets in our society are called politicians, pundits on Fox News, and Federal Reserve chairmen. They are at best self-deceived and at worst liars hoping to kick the can down the road one more time.

And no, I do not think I am a prophet. I am merely telling you what a prophet would say if God really wanted to talk to us. He won't because He knows we are blind, deaf, and oh, so dumb. 

Titanic Denial part III

Pam Dewey has completed her three part series on the followers of Harold Camping. 

You see, Harold convinced his followers, something “did” happen on May 21. It just didn’t happen where anyone could see it. It was a “spiritual” event. God judged the world on that day, and closed the door to salvation. (Like when God closed the door on Noah’s Ark once Noah and family were inside.) Only those who were inside the Ship on that day will be saved when the Ultimate End comes on October 21 and the whole world is destroyed. The job of Family Radio now is only to “feed the sheep” inside the Ark. Only five more months to sail, and then all the waiting will be over. Really. Guaranteed.

A good read to help understand the psychology of the "true believers."