Looking back, I don't think I have ever been part any elite groups of rabid followers of groundbreaking shows during their original broadcast run.  I just got into The Wire this summer, have never seen a full episode of Lost or Heroes or Weeds, and got on The Sopranos bandwagon late and fell off in short order.

So last summer, when HBO started pumping their new drama John From Cincinnati, I cleared my schedule for the premier and - even though it left me wholly confused and underwhelmed - was determined to struggle through the boring exposition of the contrived and nonsensical story so a few years down the line when the show was sweeping the Emmys (or being triumphantly snubbed), I could say I was there from the start.

I wouldn't exactly call this plan successful, as John From Cincinnati quickly went from bad to worse and was canceled immediately after the last episode of the first season aired.  But I survived a brutal test of patience and mettle, and I think I am a better man for it.  For those were the qualities that I was calling on during the first two and half episodes if The Island, and they did not fail me.

After suffering through the brain-numbingly forgettable introductory chapters, I am reaping the benefits of sticking with it.  If the season turned a corner with the last episode, it has now downed a fifth of Jack, shut off the headlights and started speeding down the fucking interstate.

While it took a few weeks to reach terminal velocity, the actual format of the game is finally creating some exciting drama.  As Rachel warned Johanna early on, the time would come when people would be begging to go into the challenges to secure themselves a key while they were still up for grabs.  She failed to mention how awesome it would be to watch all the plotting and positioning that would result in Ev getting gloriously, colossally shafted.  Man, seeing that wench bitch and moan as she was outmaneuvered at every turn is as satisfying as a television watching experience as you can find these days.

Now, I'm still sad that MTV's programming has collapsed upon itself and has become theater of the absurd, but at some point you have got to call a spade a spade.  As Redman so eloquently put it a few years back, "If you're gonna be a monkey, be a gorilla."

And that is what is going down, as these producers are pulling out all the stops.  First they lure Abram into a wasp's nest in search of more of the fresh fruit they planted on the set, and now they are throwing broken glass all over the floor and unleashing biblical plagues on the cast.  I was almost positive I caught a few frogs and some fiery hail in the previews for next week's episode.

TJ Lavin has also kicked it into high gear, throwing his weight around more than ever.  He seems to have graduated from simply admonishing cast members who are planning to quit and speaking in hilarious hyperbole to calling out the entire cast for their bullshit antics and schemes.  I really find it hard to believe that he actually gives a shit about what happens just so long as the paychecks keep clearing, so attribute this, as well, to the producers trying harder to exert external influence in an attempt to make the show more successful.

I find all this a bit apropos given the current economic bailout legislation that is being written into law.  Just as poor lending and borrowing practices coupled with hokey, contrived securities caused the credit markets to cave in and required government intervention; poor casting and hokey, contrived formats and jobs had also left The Real World/Road Rules franchise tepid and in need of some serious behind-the-scenes power moves.

Let's just hope everything works out as well for the economy as it has for The Real World/Road Rules Challenge.

As a history buff, I'm familiar with most of the scary diseases of the past: the black plague, aka the Black Death; leprosy; diphtheria; smallpox; tuberculosis; Spanish flu; cholera; typhoid fever; polio; bubonic plague; syphilis. Of course, all these diseases would be plenty scary if they were rampaging everywhere today, as the continuing flu scares remind us. But fortunately, most of them remain under such good control that they've become a part of history rather than a present threat. (Unfortunately, the same can't be said of many Third World countries, where diseases like cholera still kill.)

What I was wondering was which of today's dreaded diseases most people considered scariest. I'm not asking which one is the worst, but which is the one that's most likely to give people nightmares: the most frightening, the horror movie of diseases. Is it cancer, diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer's? Or maybe HIV/AIDS, mad cow disease, West Nile disease, Ebola virus, malaria, avian flu, emphysema? Is there a top candidate based on its symptoms, or do we simply fear most the disease we think we're most likely to get? (Cancer runs in my family, so it is the disease, or I should say, disease group, I most fear, while my grandfather was terrified of getting Alzheimer's like a disproportionate number of his numerous siblings; mercifully, his fears proved ungrounded.) What do you think?

By now you may be wondering what put such a morbid topic in my mind to begin with. Was it reading Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel? Was it all you bloggers out there already getting excited about Hallowe'en and posting scary-cute photos of jack o'lanterns and other decorations?

Well, no. It was, believe it or not, finding a really great parody T-shirt about the plague. It's a takeoff of the tour T-shirts rock groups sell at their tour stops. The front shows a giant rat with the words "Black Death: European Tour 1347-1351," and the back shows a list of all the "tour stops." Much as I love the shirt, it did start my mind wandering down this path. I wonder what the Londoners of Shakespeare's day would think if they were transported to our world: no plagues, no typhoid fever, no smallpox, no syphilis, but instead rampant cancer, heart disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's. Most of their diseases were spread by crowding, ignorance of the causes and treatment of disease, vermin, and grossly unsanitary conditions. What's spreading ours?

Now that I think of it, that may be the scariest question of all!

Nosaltres tenim constància de que s'havia observat alguna a prop de les obres de l'AVE i justament a la visita del dimecres amb l'alcaldessa, també vam veure una al parc de Bellvitge, però no tenim més notícies. També hem tingut informació de la presència de paneroles o cuques a l'Av Amèrica, però des de l'AV no tenim cap altre dada i desconeixem si realment es tracta d'un problema generalitzat o de casos aïllats.

Demanem informació als veïns per tal de conèixer l'estat del barri en aquests temes. Gràcies.

In Revelation Chapter 7 of the Christian Bible, we see the saved. Those saved of Israel, 12 thousand of each of the 12 tribes, making up the 144,000

Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.    

Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

Then we see the rest of mankind who are saved. This is us, all the believers in Christ. You can know for sure whether you are in this group of people. You do not have to wait until you die, you can know now. There is nothing mysterious about Salvation. You can have it now by confessing the Lord Jesus.

The book of Revelation is divided into 2 revelations. They each say the same thing, but in different ways.

FIRST REVELATION Revelation Chapters 6 - 11
SECOND REVELATION Revelation Chapters 12 - 22

The parallel Chapters of Chapter 7 in Revelation are Revelation Chapter 14 and Revelation Chapter 15.

In Revelation 14, the rest of mankind shown here as a great multitude, die and are not raptured.

Revelation 7:

9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;    

10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.  

Revelation 14:

12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.    

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.    

14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

 Death is something we cannot escape. However, it means salvation to us! Look at the Joys that await us:

Revelation 7:

15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.    

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.    

17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.    

Revelation 15

2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.    

3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.    

4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.  

The Mark Of The Beast Is Here Today

The saved are gathered here, because they have not received the mark of the beast.

The next chapter, Revelation Chapter 8, and the parallel Chapter 16, tell us the plagues that follow those who have the mark of the Beast and who worship his image.

Let me say again, you are either in the fold of Jesus, or you are out. There is not a third option.

You do not have to physically decided to worship the beast - If you reject Jesus, you ARE worshipping the beast, whether you like it or not.

Therefore the Beast is here today.

In fact, the beast has been around since Jesus Christ walked the earth. EVERY believer in Christ has had to overcome the beast.

Therefore, what you hear about a future Tribulation is all false. This Chapter 7 of Revelation mentions Great Tribulation. But it is talking about the tribulation of saints throughout time. NOT in the future.

Do you see how the story told in Revelation Chapter 14 is the same as in this Chapter 7?

See, how the children of God are sealed in Revelation Chapter 14, who do not take the mark of the beast in Chapter 13?

They are sealed before the judgments strike the earth for those who have the mark of the beast.

Therefore, these plagues are not reserved for the time in future, but are indeed happening today, just as certainly as the mark of the beast, and the beast himself is around TODAY.

I was watching one programme about the End Of The World cult, and basically a 66 year old man was claiming to be the messiah, and he called himself Michael. Then he had a prophecy about Daniel's Seventy weeks to predict the end of the world.

I believe the BEAST has sent in many people like this, to cause confusion and raise fear about the book of Revelation. The BEAST does not want us to study Revelation. He is trying to make us scared to think that we may be joining another cult.

Isn't it funny? Do you think the enemy is afraid of what you will discover? I think so. As soon as you start to look into the prophecies in the Bible, you will break away from the BEAST. You will become a new person as you begin to understand the prophecies.

A Summary Of Revelation

Revelation can be broken down into the following parts:

THE PRESENT SITUATION
Revelation Chapters 1 - 3

GOD AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD
Revelation Chapters 4 - 5

FIRST REVELATION Revelation Chapters 6 - 11
The four horses (Ch6), Those who have the victory (Ch7), then the seven trumpets (Ch8), till Armageddon (Ch9), Two Witnesses and angel from the bottomless pit (Ch10-11), Judgment Day (Ch11)

SECOND REVELATION Revelation Chapters 12 - 22
The Dragon and The Two beasts (Ch12-13), those who have the victory (Ch14-15), then the seven last plagues (Ch15), till Armageddon (Ch16),
The beast and Babylon (Ch17), then her fall (Ch18), Witness of the Word Of God (Ch19), Resurrection and angel from Bottomless Pit (Ch20), then Judgment Day (Ch20-21)

Armageddon

Today we will be studying Armageddon. From the above summary, we see the same Armageddon revealed twice, in Chapters 9 and 16.

In Revelation Chapter 9 of the Christian Bible, a very scary thing happens when the fifth angel sounds the trumpet.

Revelation 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

This prepares the armies for the battle of Armageddon.

We can be sure about the Armageddon, and the end of Revelation Chapter 9 is a massive defeat for the armies of the world. This time we see people dying from Locusts and then Horsemen.

At the sixth Trumpet, the Horsemen are released, they come out of the river Euphrates,

Revelation 9:

13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,    

14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.    

15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.    

16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.    

17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.    

18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

This also happens in Revelation 16, when the sixth vial is poured out. Both come out of the River Euphrates. Both have THREE WEAPONS.

In Revelation 9, Sixth Trumpet releases River Euphrates plagues - Fire, Smoke, Brimstone.

In Revelation 16 Sixth vial releases River Euphrates plagues - Frog from dragon, Frog from beast, Frog from false prophet.

Revelation 16:

12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.    

13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.  

14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

SO we see clearly these are both about ARMAGEDDON.

What Happens Next?

Next comes the Witness of the Word of God Revelation 10,11 and also the witness of the Word of God Revelation 19. Do you see the similarities.

Revelation 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.    

Revelation 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.    

Revelation 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.    

Revelation 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.    

Revelation 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.    

Revelation 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.    

Revelation 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.    

Revelation 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.    

Revelation 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.    

Revelation 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.    

Revelation 9:12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.    

Revelation 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,    

Revelation 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.    

Revelation 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.    

Revelation 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.    

Revelation 9:17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.    

Revelation 9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.    

Revelation 9:19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.    

Revelation 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:    

Revelation 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.    

I really don’t know what I think about her, but you have to admit it will be an interesting race these last two months.  Palin has been all the buzz on late night TV.  Some of my favorites lines from Leno and company are:

• Speaking of Sarah Palin, she said she's a life-long member of the National Rifle Association. Which may explain why she's in favor of shotgun weddings." --Conan O'Brien
• "Governor Sarah Palin gave her speech tonight at the GOP Convention, and it gave people who didn't know anything about her the chance to finally meet her, you know, like John McCain." --Jay Leno
• By the way, here's good news, ladies and gentlemen: the Palin family crisis that we were talking about on Sunday and Monday, that has been solved now, and, today, the baby is being adopted by Angelina Jolie." --David Letterman
• "And you've got to love this: Sarah Palin is an avid hunter. An avid hunter. A vice president who likes guns? Well, what could go wrong there?" --David Letterman

Well, I will give it to McCain, he sure surprised us, and maybe the old maverick still has some of that rebel in him.  I am really not that politically minded, but I think more so than usual politics are on our minds because of the economy and the war – however you vote, this election is critical – both parties realize this, both McCain and Obama are claiming to be agents of real change.  I do think whatever we end up with will have to be an improvement.  I don’t like expensive gasoline and a struggling economy, but the war has me the most upset.  It is difficult to justify it on any front.  We perhaps are the liberators of Iraq, but in the process may also have become the oppressors of the peoples of Iraq and elsewhere.

          I ran across an excellent article by Jimmy Carter on the possibility of war in Iraq before we got involved in the whole sorry mess:

Profound changes have been taking place in American foreign policy, reversing consistent bipartisan commitments that for more than two centuries have earned our nation greatness. These commitments have been predicated on basic religious principles, respect for international law, and alliances that resulted in wise decisions and mutual restraint. Our apparent determination to launch a war against Iraq, without international support, is a violation of these premises.  As a Christian and as a president who was severely provoked by international crises, I became thoroughly familiar with the principles of a just war, and it is clear that a substantially unilateral attack on Iraq does not meet these standards. This is an almost universal conviction of religious leaders, with the most notable exception of a few spokesmen of the Southern Baptist Convention who are greatly influenced by their commitment to Israel based on eschatological, or final days, theology. (Jimmy Carter, “A Just War or Just War?”  The New York Times, March 9, 2003)

So is there such a thing as a just war?  Catholic ethicists have advance something called “Just War Theory” which seeks to define theologically what conditions must be present for war to be justified.  More recently, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 2309, lists four strict conditions for "legitimate defense by military force":

• the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
• all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
• there must be serious prospects of success;
• the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

It seems difficult for me to evaluate the war in Iraq by these criteria, because I am not sure our batting average would be too good in meeting these four concerns.  I don’t know if we have met any of them, Carter seems to think that we did not in his excellent article. Unfortunately, we fight because that is what we do.  Patton said it best when he said the truth is that we American love a good fight.  And as long as we can easy defeat people who disagree with us, it will always be a front line option instead of a last hope desperate measure. It is easy for us to loft bomb from ships hundreds of miles away until resistance is futile.  It is sadly easier and quicker than diplomacy and other tough solutions.

We went to Iraq to destroy weapons of mass destruction, and to liberate the Iraqi people from a tyrant.  So are we a country of liberators?  I believe that we are, but we must also be careful not to turn into the oppressor, a role that we are seen to play by many in the world.

In today’s lectionary passage from the Exodus, we find a story of liberation, in fact the classic story of liberation that has inspired the downtrodden, the enslaved and oppressed peoples everywhere.  But I would also suggest that there is more than just liberation going on here, that at least on the surface there is a new kind of oppression as well.  Maybe it is as Dan Clendenin states, God has become both the liberator the oppressor.

Exodus 12 describes the institution of the Jewish feast of Passover that commemorates Israel's liberation from 430 years of bondage to slavery in Egypt. Liberation from oppression is a good thing, and always worthy of celebration. But the writer of Exodus construes Israel's emancipation to include Egyptian subjugation. Today we would say that the horribly-oppressed became the new oppressor, except in this instance the writer insists that Hebrew revenge was the very act of Yahweh Himself. Yahweh will "bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt." In something akin to divine infanticide, Yahweh will slay the first-born of every Egyptian, from the highest in Pharaoh's house to the lowliest prisoner languishing in a dank dungeon, even including the firstborn of Egyptian livestock. To punctuate his point, the writer adds: "there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead" (Exodus 12:30). In a departing act of humiliation, the Hebrews looted and plundered their Egyptian oppressors. (When Faith is Hijacked, Dan Clendenin)

            This is of course one of the foremost and most important stories in the Hebrew canon and we seldom stop to pause to consider that it is also one of the darkest passages in all the Bible as well.  I believe that it is a deeply disturbing undertones, where Yahweh liberates the children of Israel from terrible bondage (a fundamentally good thing) and in turn subjugates the Egyptians by sending a series of plagues including an unbelievable infanticide.  Now sure God warned Pharaoh with a series of plagues of escalating intensity, so you might say Pharaoh had multiple chances to do the right thing.  You might argue that God’s people would have never been freed short of something this radical, and from where we sit we cannot fathom the cruelty that the taskmaster directed toward equally innocent Israelites. But on the other hand, one also might argue that God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart as the text say so that he was after a point incapable of any other action other than the one he chose all for the purpose of being an object lesson that you don’t mess around with Yahweh.  You might also argue that two wrongs don’t ever make a right.

So where does that leave us?  What might be the greatest story in the Old Testament also includes a very dark subplot of a God who accomplishes his purposes at the expense of the most helpless and innocent in society – he appears to kill babies, and that is a tough deal in a corpus of holy writings that is as full of tough deals as the Old Testament.  I understand that I was not there and that there is more to the story, but as it reads it offends my civilized sensibilities.  And you won’t hear this point in any other Baptist Church this morning, but the truth is we get so caught up in the greatness and power of the Almighty to do battle for the measly Israelites, that we conveniently overlook the means behind the way. And I am sorry if that sounds harsh, I don’t like it either.  I wish it would not have happened (well, more on that later).  The Nile turning to blood was cool, and the frogs and bugs, well OK.  That hail turning to fire was a neat trick.  Even the famine might be justified.  But surely not killing the babies.  Why does that have to be part of this story?  Why the heck didn’t God just kill Pharaoh and his henchman?  It seems to me that what happened here is not nearly as cool as what Charlton Heston portrays happening in the “10 Commandments.”  This is more than a “God is great” story.    I think the real miracle would have been to deliver the children of Israel without using intrinsically evil means to do so.  Anybody can force peoples into coercion who carries a bigger stick. 

So I guess this passage raises an important question this morning, namely is this evil necessary for God to accomplish his purposes, to accomplish a great good?  Are any tactics justifiable in order to achieve noble ends?   There may be no more relevant question in a day where all wars seem to be holy wars, and religion is more fragmented than ever on our planet.  This question of the means justified by the ends is hard to fathom. It is hard to explain what happens in our text by any rules other than the one that says that God can do whatever he darn well pleases because he is God.  

But I am convinced of something else today. This is just a story (albeit an important one), meant to convey a spiritual truth.  I don’t know it is a historical event orchestrated by Yahweh or not as there is little archaeological or historical evidence that such a wide scale Exodus ever occurred, but who the heck knows.  I do know that Biblical critics have a field day with this one my friends.  Take a look at the International Critical Commentary on Exodus and read up, it will make your brain hurt and slap the theological Pollyanna right out of you.  But for whatever reason it is the story that we are told.  And even in light of what I have already said, I do believe that we profit by it being told. 

            I don’t know if God really killed babies or not, and I don’t know if that is ever really OK.   But here is what I do know: We use God to justify all kinds of evils.  I am convinced that as the story was retold so that the children of Israel believed that their enemies were God’s enemies, and I also believe in retrospect that even if that were the case, God was working with what he had to work with and had an entirely different plan in mind.

            Today, many have preached that America’s enemies are God’s enemies and it is on my mind since the seventh anniversary of 9/11 is this Thursday.  There has been a truckload of bad religion exposed since that fateful day, and not all of it has been by the Muslims, as they are not the only ones to glorify and valorize war. They are not the only ones to suggest that wars are holy and that God is on their side fighting the infidels. Many Christians have added fuel to this fire as well. About a year after the 9/11attacks, on November 16, 2002, Franklin Graham, Billy's son, appeared on the NBC Nightly News and derided Islam as "an evil and wicked religion." Jerry Vines, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, denigrated the prophet Muhammad as "a demon-possessed pedophile" in his annual address to the convention on June 10, 2001. Call me naive, but I think that may not qualify as loving your enemies as Jesus preached. In a speech before his colleagues on March 4, 2004, Senator James Inhofe from Oklahoma characterized the Middle East conflicts as "a contest over whether or not the word of God is true."  On his television program The 700 Club, Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who is an ardent critic of President Bush especially his foreign policies.  We could go on and on and on.  We often believe that our enemies are God’s enemies and God wishes us to kill them, or if we do it then we are doing God’s will.

            It is an old story.  I suppose that it all began after three hundred years of sporadic, state-sponsored persecutions of Christians, most of whom were the peripheral and the poor, the Roman emperor Constantine credited his military victory over his rival Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge to the Christian God. Tradition says that on the evening of October 27, the night before the battle, Constantine had a vision of a cross emblazoned on the setting sun, and the Greek letters XP, the first two Greek letters of "Christ," superimposed on it. Constantine either saw or heard the phrase, often rendered in Latin, "In Hoc Signo Vinces"—"With this sign, you shall conquer." Constantine, who was a pagan at the time, put the symbol on his solders' shields, thus transforming a sacred symbol of innocent, redemptive, suffering love into a talisman of violent, hate-filled, military conquest.  And people have done the same ever since, killing in God’s name

            So how do we get to this point of advocating violence in God’s name?  Clendenin says that somewhere deep within the human psyche there seems to reside a dark and primitive impulse toward hatred, exclusion, and deadly violence. Perhaps to justify ourselves, or to calm our deep insecurity, we insist that God not only sanctions our hatreds and our causes, whether personal or national, but that He himself hates our enemies and at some points in history even exterminates them. But when God hates all the same people that you hate, you can be confident that you have created Him in your own petty and paltry image.   

            So while it is not a pretty picture, there is an important point this morning. I believe whatever else this story means it does at least mean this: that God seeks to liberate the captives and is serious about it and does so in a way that points out the gravity of the Pharaoh’s evil.  The over-the-top killing of babies makes the point emphatically that God wants the oppressed to be liberated and the captives set free.  And I would suggest to you this morning that there are captives to all kinds of things all over our world in need of such a gift, but that is another sermon. 

            If indeed the children of Israel thought their enemies were God’s enemies, and if indeed God did battle for them, one other thing I know:  God’s intention was never violence even if it were some kind of justified or necessary evil, and God’s master plan is best revealed in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.   God’s intention was to not save the world through a conqueror, but through a suffering servant, one who fully expressed God’s heart of love.  After hundreds or thousands of years of not being messengers of the Grace of God, Christ intervenes in our world to do just that.  Jesus Christ is the embodiment of the Godhead revealed to us, and he showed us a different way.  One that does not seek revenge, but one who repays evil with good.  One who wins through compassion, not through conquests.  One who taught us to turn the other cheek, to walk the second mile, and to love our enemies because anyone can love a friend, right?  One who said that being his follower meant something different, that we would be known by one thing and one thing only, our love.  It is hard to imagine Jesus sanctioning any kind of violence. After all, he could have called down as the saying goes, 10,000 angels, but chose the way of the cross, a sacrificial option in response to the greatest injustice of all time.  

            So what is the answer to the violence question? In a nutshell it is Jesus Christ.  And as his followers we have to develop a new culture of peace. One based not on power, not on might but on the word of God, on the law of love. You remember the one – to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. In fact, you have heard it said love your friends and hate your enemies. Jesus says unto us, love your enemies too. It is hard to love someone you are fighting, abusing, mistreating, or simply bombing the hell out of. The gospel message is that only the law of love will win the day. Only the law of love will change our culture of violence. Only the law of love will make the Kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And in the end it is more up to us than not.  And if we don’t realize that, then September 11, 2001 was truly a tragedy of epic proportions.  May it not be so.  Amen.

Revelation 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.    

Revelation 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.    

Revelation 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.    

Revelation 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.    

Revelation 11:6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.    

Revelation 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.    

Revelation 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was staked.    

Revelation 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.    

Revelation 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.    

Revelation 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.    

Revelation 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.    

Revelation 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.    

Revelation 11:14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.    

Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.    

Revelation 11:16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,    

Revelation 11:17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.    

Revelation 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.    

Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.    

Revelation 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.    

Revelation 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea.    

Revelation 16:4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.    

Revelation 16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.    

Revelation 16:6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.    

Revelation 16:7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.    

Revelation 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.    

Revelation 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.    

Revelation 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,    

Revelation 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.    

Revelation 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.    

Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.    

Revelation 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.    

Revelation 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.    

Revelation 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.    

Revelation 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.    

Revelation 16:18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.    

Revelation 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.    

Revelation 16:20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.    

Revelation 16:21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.  

Solomon's Egyptian wife caused him to follow Ashtoreth, to produce the mark of the beast. THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST, the image of Ashtoreth, is things which encourage fornication. The image of Ashtoreth is every fornication material on this earth.

She is THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS. Ashtoreth, or BABYLON-Ishtar is the CAUSE of fornication:

Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The Greek word for 'fornication' is the same word 'porno', which today is defined as a visual representation or IMAGE of fornication. People hardly use the word 'fornication' today, because the word is now 'porno'. Fornication (or pornography) is mentioned six times in Revelation in connection with this whore called Babylon, who is also Ashtoreth and Ishtar (EASTER).

Revelation 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Revelation 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Revelation 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Revelation 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

Revelation 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

Revelation 19:2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

THE EASTER BUNNY AND THE EGGS

The symbol for Tammuz the son of Ishtar is actually the Easter bunny. The real Tammuz is involved in pornography with his own mother, Ishtar or Easter. This mother-son perversion between Ishtar and Tammuz is the root cause of pornography in the world. The Easter eggs represent Ishtar's fertility in this encounter.

 WHAT IS FORNICATION?

Fornication = Adultery, things which cause adultery. Inc. pornography

ADULTERY. Provided a man is a virgin, he may have sex with any virgin he wishes. If he has taken a virgin, she becomes his wife. If he is not a virgin and has taken a non-virgin he has to find his own virgin otherwise he commits adultery. It is fornication. If he thinks lustfully after a woman he cannot take, such as pornography, it is adultery and fornication.

Some of the renowned men of the Old Testament took more than one wife, such as King David and King Solomon. But no woman ever had more than one husband. There is no instruction in the New Testament to take only one wife. This is surprising, as it is now expected that a man should have only one wife. However, according to the BIBLE, it is not fornication to take more than one wife at the same time, provided the women are virgins.

Fornication is to leave a wife and to marry another. This is fornication. Therefore, a man must stay with his first wife (or all his wives). It is a blood covenant between him and her, unless she is another man's wife.

Fornication is to have sex with another man's wife. This is fornication. A woman becomes a man's wife if she is a virgin, and he is the first man to have sex with her. Fornication therefore is to have sex with a non-virgin. Unless she was only ever married to one man and he is dead.

WE CAN BE FORGIVEN OF FORNICATION

Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

FORNICATION WILL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED

If the mark of the beast is the star that developed from Ashtoreth worship, then the image of the beast is the fornicating image of Ashtoreth and Baal or Babylon-Ishtar and Tammuz or EASTER.

The same mark AND image is mentioned together six times in Revelation, in connection with severe punishment and the return of Jesus Christ. These Scriptures mention both the mark and the image:

Revelation 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Revelation 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Revelation 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

ACCORING TO REVELATION 18 and 19, Jesus Christ will return once fornication is punished by the above judgements of God, and we PUT AWAY Babylon worship from our midst.

Revelation 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.    

Revelation 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.    

Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.    

Revelation 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.    

Revelation 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.    

Revelation 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.    

Revelation 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.    

Revelation 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,    

Revelation 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.    

Revelation 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:    

Revelation 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,    

Revelation 18:13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.    

Revelation 18:14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.    

Revelation 18:15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,    

Revelation 18:16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!    

Revelation 18:17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,    

Revelation 18:18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!    

Revelation 18:19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.    

Revelation 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.    

Revelation 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.    

Revelation 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;    

Revelation 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.    

Revelation 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.    

Revelation 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.    

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.    

Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.    

Revelation 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.    

Revelation 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.    

Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.    

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.    

Revelation 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.    

Revelation 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,    

Revelation 21:11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;    

Revelation 21:12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:    

Revelation 21:13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.    

Revelation 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.    

Revelation 21:15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.    

Revelation 21:16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.    

Revelation 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.    

Revelation 21:18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.    

Revelation 21:19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;    

Revelation 21:20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.    

Revelation 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.    

Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.    

Revelation 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.    

Revelation 21:24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.    

Revelation 21:25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.    

Revelation 21:26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.    

Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.   

This was something I typed out a few weeks ago but had to look over again. I don't have anything to write from Oregon today so have some of this instead:

Yesterday I went to Lawrence in the afternoon to hang out with Siwon. He has bikes and so I wanted to take them out. It has been a few years since I have ridden a bike. Sometimes I get ideas about things that I can do, very well forgetting that it has been over 10 years since I have done them. It's odd though, for some reason I can picture myself doing them without any trouble. Not so much the case.

I learned this the hard way back when "Rollergirls" was on A&E and I decided that getting rollerskates might be a good idea. Never try and do something that you were good at 15 years ago and think you can do it well at present. You are old and are afraid of things now, like falling. If you haven't been doing said thing often over the past 15 years you may not have forgotten how to do it but your body definitely has. If you are fatter than you were it is way scarier because you have to work harder and may feel like you are dying, your shins and knees hurt from pavement vibrations and you have to clench your buttcheeks together to aid in balance. Not pretty.

Anyway, Siwon happens to have 2 bikes as one is his sister's and she lets me borrow it. Great. I am excited until Siwon tells me to get to this particular path, we are going to have to cross the intersection at 23rd and Kasold. Fuck that. There are cars and I don't have any protective gear, not that I would have anyway because I think that shit is for pussies. So I made him load the bikes in the trunk of his Cougar(that in itself was an endurance trial). We drove to the river where we used to ride our bikes. There are some nice nature paths and they go on for miles and miles. It's actually quite pretty despite being next to the Kansas river which is extremely stinky in the summer.

I lowered the seat as low as it would go, secured a water bottle on my handle bars with wax twine I found in a box of left over flower shop shit I left in his car, hiked my pants up and off we went. Siwon does this quite regularly and is used to it but I got off to a slow start.

What promised to be a great bike ride started to turn into a video game of sorts. Team Yi verses the 7 plagues:

The first plague was runners. There were runners scattered all over the first part of the trail. Smiley, shiny, pony tailed, tan, blond runners. We had to dodge them. It was like an obstacle course. Sometimes there were 3 in a row, other times there were 2 single file, a few times they ran out in front of us. We made it though. Score.

The second plague was dog shit. There were large piles of dog shit every where, like science fiction large. It was like riding through a mine field. Luckily neither of us hit any. So far I was feeling pretty good about being able to steer my bike through rough terrain. Score.

The third plague was pesticide. There is a large corn field next to the path. We saw it was being watered or de-bugged up a little ways. Siwon seemed to think they were spraying the field with pesticide and it was dangerous because we had to ride through it and he was scared it was going to go in our mouths and kill us. We made it through the spray, mouths closed and breath held. I still think it was just water. Score.

The fourth plague was mud. The spraying of the water/pesticide on the path made it into a mush of mud gravel, puddles and tire sucking ruts. We had to steer off into the wet grass which was even worse because it gets slick. No one fell or got stuck. Score.

The fifth plague was dragonflies. For some reason there was a swarm, a gigantic clustering of dragonflies of all sizes staying in one spot of the path ahead of us. We could see them and having no choice or any other place to go, we had to ride through them. It was bizarre. I HATE dragonflies but we managed. I almost rode through with my eyes closed even though I had protective covering(my glasses), and I could hear them tinging off my tires and bike frame. A few of them ricocheted off my arms and shit but no harm done. Score.

The sixth plague was mosquitoes. We made it all 6 miles to the railroad tracks in the middle of nothing. We were tired, our asses hurting and burny from the small bike seats. I got my ghetto water bottle out to sit and have some aqua snacks when we started slapping ourselves. Arms, elbows, legs, faces. Sad, sad times. No patience to fend off the death squad of mosquitoes coming to feast on our tastiness we headed back the other way. Defeated by the mosquitoes. Tamara/Siwon-5, Plagues-1.

The seventh plague was homeless people. We trekked back the 6 miles back to the car experiencing the aforementioned plagues in reverse. No problems. Score. We decided to keep going past the park and under the bridge to the other side so Siwon could show me where we could go next time, a direction I had never been in all my time in Lawrence. In order to do this yes, we had to go past a bunch of benches where the homeless dudes had spread out for the night with their bags of shit and shopping carts and other shit everywhere. Another obstacle course under the bridge as well. The only thing that could have made it more of a challenge is if they would have walked towards us in all directions shaking plastic cups at us for change. We made it safe and back to the car, no incidents. Score.

So now I am writing this sitting on a cushion because my ass hurts so bad from that damn bike seat. Oh exercise, you have won this round but I will be back, and I will kick your ass next time.

Andy and I want to start a blog about infomercials.  This is, obviously, a contender.

(Via Andy's gchat status/Buzzfeed)

We seem to be in one of those periods of time, and it has happened before, where I would not be surprised if we started seeing clusters of pandemic influenza in other areas of the world, including here in the US.

This is what makes this so tough, we just don't know. The flip side to that is that not knowing means it's not here now and for that I am very thankful. For when it comes we will know and I am dreading this.

So what do we know?

TWe know the pandemic will be upon us suddenly.

High fever, shortness of breath, coughing.  When that happens, take cover. Be ready to "take cover" at a moments notice and for a prolonged period of time, up to 6 to 8 weeks.

A pandemic like 1918, or a worse one will ensure our desire to shelter in place. This will close down many things we rely on now in our daily lives. We will be overcome with the desire to avoid others so as to not spread or contract influenza. Grocery stores, department stores, the places where we tend to congregate, we will want to stay away from for fear of contracting the virus. Even school as usual may change. Schools could even be closed for the duration - our children are our "treasure". Doctors, nurses, cops, firemen, truckers, bank tellers, teachers, trash collectors, etc., may have this same desire for seclusion and isolation, meaning they may not be available for us in their usual capacities.

Does your church have a working phone tree, open pantry, plans for childcare if parents are too ill, bereavement care?

These are just some of the things that came to mind rather abruptly today so I thought I would mention them.

There are many downloadable guides listed on this blog or the flu boards that can help with the many emergencies that may come up. 

One fact to add to this ---- Too many people are not preparing now!

This is not your usual flu. A pandemic is something else altogether.

A leader in rice, seafood and fruit production, the region is now in danger.

Cai Khe trade centre releases waste polluting Cai Khe Canal in the southern province of Can Tho. The region is in dire need of environmental protection or risks losing ground in agriculture development. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai

CUU LONG DELTA — The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta is in dire need of scientific, technological and administrative measures to stop the growing pollution in the area, according to experts.

Huynh Van Hoang, head of the Southern Institute of Science and Technology, said as the country leader in producing rice, seafood and fruit, the region’s agriculture is the first sector affected by the environment pollution.

The rapid development of aquaculture in recent years has worsened environmental pollution in the delta as most waste from aquaculture activities is released directly into rivers and canals, according to the Southern Environment Protection Department.

Mud and water from aquaculture activities in the delta generates 456 million cubic metres of waste a year.

Experts warn that when the quantity of aquaculture-related waste exceeds the capacity of the delta’s fresh water resources, the ecological balance would be tipped, leading to even more serious water pollution.

Moreover, households in the delta release 600,000 tonnes of solid waste and 102 million cubic metres of wastewater annually.

The delta’s 12 provinces and one central-run city have more than 12,700 companies and 197 industrial parks and industrial complexes. They collectively release 47.2 million cubic metres of industrial waste water and 220,000 tonnes of solid waste a year.

Most industrial wastewater is not treated as industrial parks do not have a consolidated water treatment system.

"It is impossible for the delta not to develop industry but industrial development must be combined with environmental protection," Hoang said.

Monitoring investment projects in the past has not been demanding, as several projects with outdated technology were granted licences, experts say.

Several industrial parks generally focus on attracting investors and ignore environmental protection.

According to experts, research on the environment and technology should be applied to treating household and industrial waste and other toxins.

A project to support companies using advanced technology for production and waste treatment would be welcome, experts say.

The Southern Institute of Science and Technology is hosting a seminar this month to collect scientists’ opinions on solutions for pollution in the region, said Hoang.

"Based on their opinions, the institute will look into a plan for treating pollution in the delta," he said. "Priorities will be given to research measures to protect the environment around industrial parks." —