From Memorial Day

The point is…once again….that your rights don’t come from MEN or GOVERNMENTS!! If they did, the constitution wouldn’t be worth a tinker’s damn!! The words of the Declaration of independance and the Constitution, are what created the dream in men’s minds that YOU are now living!! That is all it is people, a dream!! That’s how truly fragile it really is!! It is a chimera, a wil-o-the wisp, A phantasm, sprung directly from the hearts of dreamers from over two centuries ago, that they formed into a living presence and a dream that millions have lived. And, they did so, without truly knowing what it was or how it was attained, but living it none the less. A chimera, that some few among us all, even today, are willing to give their lives for, even though they couldn’t really explain it to you either!! From time out of mind, from even before the dawn of civilization, men and women have felt it, lived for it, trained their children to covet and treasure it, even though they couldn’t explain it, or where it came from then, or where it comes from now. Some shouted it as they died, some whispered it as their lives fled from them in rivulets across the ground, of some far away battlefield, they couldn’t even pronounce the name of properly. Some have pursued it through swamps real and imagined, across deserts that stretched beyond their endurance, just as the hunger for it outlived them. Some have provided it for us without knowing they did so, simply by being productive citizens and paying the taxes levied for the joint defense of us all. Some have preserved it, dying in prisons of the unjust and by being remembered for their courage and inspiring us to ever greater efforts toward it’s preservation. Some have conveyed with a glance, all of it’s meaning and some, with millions of words, have failed to convey even a glimmer of what it truly IS. It is a word, a thought, a deed, a hope, a wish, a memory for some, for others a future untold. But at the end of each day…still a dream, still a chimera, still a will-o-the wisp, unfathomable, unexplainable, unearned, loved and cherished, even to foolishness, but NEVER to be surrendered. NEVER to be given up and never, never to be thrown away! The name of the dream?? One word…..freedom. The place where it was truly given life in the minds and hearts of men? The United States of America. And for at least a while, as it is cast aside by the many for security in the foolish hope that a man can preserve it alone for us, with the hollow promises of a politician, the last best hope for the world, the same, The United States of America. The land of dreamers….may we be preserved as such……. Dedi cated to our troops and those who wonder at our nation. Be well friends………..Rev. Bruce……………………….Tawodi

How much more of this poison do we need to hear??

The following is from Christians United For Israel’s blog and news letter, which I receive weekly I thought it time to bring some of this here so you can see what you may not be aware of, that is in the world.

Mind you this was at a meeting of held under U.N. auspices.   Is it time for some hard thinking vis a vis our relations with them and others??

Rev. Bruce

Author David Broder from his blog;

Last week, the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations anti-racism conference in Geneva.  Here, he did a great favor for all who love Israel — he was honest.  He allowed his virulent hate for Israel and his bizarre anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to flow from his tongue largely unfiltered.  It was an ugly performance. 
 
The delegates from most European nations walked out on Ahmadinejad’s speech.  Even the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, was moved to criticism.  Most other delegates, of course, remained in their seats.  Many cheered. 
 
But Ahmadinejad is rarely so honest.  And he is rarely so helpful.  It is what this man does in the shadows — not what he says in public — that is most dangerous.  And what he does in the dark typically gets far less attention.    
 
In a little-noted development last week, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing an Egyptian source, reported that unidentified warships torpedoed an Iranian cargo ship off the coast of Sudan.  The Iranian ship was reported to be laden with weapons bound for the Gaza Strip.  The warship is believed to have been Israeli
 
In January, there were numerous reports that unidentified warplanes attacked a convoy of trucks passing through the Sudanese desert.  The trucks were reported to be filled with Iranian arms bound for Gaza.  Well-placed sources have confirmed that the planes belonged to Israel.   

Israeli observers believe that this arms convoy contained Iranian Fajr rockets.  Such rockets — with a range of 70 kilometers — would give Hamas the ability to strike the heart of Tel Aviv. 
 
Looming large behind all of these efforts against Israel, of course, is Iran’s nuclear program.  Iran continues to enrich uranium in contravention of United Nations resolutions.  In February, United Nations officials acknowledged that Iran now has enough enriched uranium for an atomic weapon. 
 
Which leads us to one final news item from last week.  In hearings before Congress, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton warned that the US is laying the groundwork for “crippling sanctions” against Iran if diplomacy fails to stop its nuclear program.  This is a certainly a positive development.  Offering Mr. Ahmadinejad carrots without a stick in sight was unlikely to elicit much of a response. 
 
The Iranian threat is not going away.  And walking out on Ahmadinejad’s speeches — while important and deeply appreciated — does nothing to stop his steady, daily, determined actions to confront Israel.  Offering negotiations — while quite possibly a good way to build greater international support — must not be allowed to turn into yet another opportunity for Ahmadinejad to delay and stall.  It is time for the world to graduate from gestures to actions. 
 
Iran has proven itself able to talk and act at the same time.  The Israelis, too, are acting with constant vigilance to keep Iran from arming its proxies on Israel’s border.  There is no reason why we should not act as well.  There is indeed a time for “crippling sanctions” against Iran.  That time is now.  

 These are dangerousd times and we ALL of us owe Mr David Broder and Reverend Hagee our thanks for bringing these things to our attention when so many will not, especially our main stream media.

Rev. Bruce Holzrichter Sr……………………….Tawodi

A conversation in progress with a Chaplain friend

I made a post on another forum and thought it might make for interesting reading here;  The beginning premise of the questions are,   prevenient grace from God.

O.K.

The accusation of not being able to be objective wears a little thin with me and here’s why. For most of my life you could have called me an agnostic at best.

I studied, compared, analysed, debated, argued, fussed, fumed and finally said, the hell with it all, at about the age of thirty two.

Then came Jan 8th 1983….ah crap!!! talked to my counsellor I was seeing at the time, told him what happened and finally said to myself, O.K. fool, now you know what a nervous breakdown feels like!! And got on with it….that’s the way I am, for a whole host of reasons, quit B***chin and GET ON WITH IT!!!

I Kept reading though, checkin’ things out, still wouldn’t fully commit to ministry, though I did attend church sporadically from 1991 on and did work as a lay speaker and things.

2002 June, Bang!!! Slam!!! Dunk!!! Alright why me, and moreover, why NOT me?? Started REALLY checking things out and found out something….there have been literally hundreds of times when things that I did, made no sense what-so-ever for the person I was at the time, but they all each and every one of them turned out good and sometimes with totally unforseen outcomes that were NEVER seen that way before by me till I sought the answers.

And man, did I get some flipping answers!!!

Now, I don’t ask a single person to accept, or believe, the reality that I have found, because they have to find it on their own….but it is real, it is proven, and I live it every day and will till I die!!

AND!!! It was REASON that brought me here!!

So make of it what you will, I will not argue it, I will not defend it, it needs no defense, I’m not selling it to you, if you want it, it’s free!! Take it or leave it…your choice…..

Choose wisely….T

And, immediately followed that with this for others who participated.

Alright fellas I needed to say the forgoing first, because there’s more!!

The above is about me, and me alone. Others have had similar experiences and feel as I do. Some are not as erudite as I, so be it. Some are much more so….so be it.

There are others though, that have NOT done the work I and others have done. They listen to others tell them things and parrot those things as gospel and fall into large dark places and bring others with them. I don’t argue that point with you, or anybody else, because it is true.

Extremeism is ugly, destructive and deadly, as we all know and it is destructive in ways that are not violent but destroy the person, not the place, on personal levels not seen with the eye, in families, in society and in the world in general.

All of you also know I’m not afraid to call a spade a spade and point out along with you, those times when it needs doing, and I do more than just point fingers, as you all know as well.

But to stop the destruction, stop the violence, and stop the devision, you guys of no religious systems and I, are in my mind, allies and brothers in arms, as we once were, for real, in the world. I take pride in seeking justice with you in those times when it is hard to find, or simply overlooked because of biases that some possess and can not see beyond.

So, stick that in your hooka and smoke it!!

T

And then my friend asked the following question;

Bruce…

Did you ever wonder why we only see the real prevenience when looking back. Sometimes over many years and in many situations, but always when looking back. Just some thoughts…
Be well…
CJ

And, the answer was………

Yeah C.J., I have wondered that, and don’t any longer.

What has to transpire, is the loss of surity of, “self”.

Some thing, or series of some things, must occur to rattle you down to your very core and force you to ask questions of your self, that are too frightening to ask under normal circumstances, or the need simply never arises within you to ask them.

That something does NOT have to be life threatening, destructive, or simply uncomfortable. It must motivate you, to do the work, to see who you REALLY are though.

You must be willing to stand naked in front of the mirror of your mind, SEEING the scars and how you got them, the pimples, the warts, ALL of it, and take each answer as it comes, honestly, no matter how disparageing to your self image it may be, no matter how painful the truth is, and incorporating it into who, and WHAT, you truly are.

I have learned, that very damned few of us will do that.

I learned it by the time I was twenty, I never could stand the illusions that people try to foist off on me, and could not stand excuse making on my part either. This has caused untold misery for me in my life, because if you have no illusions about yourself, others see that, and they understand that you will not tolerate theirs, about themselves. This is enemy making 101 in the social hierarchy that we have created in the world today. Perhaps it always was, I don’t know.

I mostly kept to myself, even when participating in so many different things, throughout my life.

The short answer to your question is, we always credit ourselves with too much, when citing our accomplishments, forgetting family, friends, co-workers, and too many others, that are forgotten along the way, that we learned from, took advantage of, or simply observed and copied, to achieve whatever it was, we have achieved.

Never mind giving credit to God, for the very life we enjoy!!!

I sincerely believe, that when people see how little it is, that they truly “control”, it is of a power to drop most to their knees!!! It scares the average person to their core, to realise the helplessness that each of us truly labors under, when we tout ourselves so highly, unthinkingly!!

Then when you see, as I have, the indomitable courage of the aged to face life on it’s own terms as the end come rushing toward them, it is the most humbling thing to endure as you witness it.

The posturing of the politicians, and the power that people ascribe to them, to control their existence is laughable. When you KNOW the truth about life. The atheists have, by and large, bestowed the fealty that you and I feel toward God, to men, politics, and themselves. It would be sad, if it wasn’t so futile and empty, becuase of it’s predictable futility.

Politics is the new religion of the twenty first century. It’s too bad that it is already showing itself threadbare and worn, as the politics through the ages, have shown them selves to be.

CLUE; the oldest continuous writings we have, are found in the Bible and almost EVERYBODY misses the point!!!

This is the story of human kind!! NOT how it was formed. NOT who God is. NOT what God wants!! BUT, the stories of HUMAN BEINGS and how they interacted with each other, and the things they SHOULD have learned about God, and didn’t, along the way. The stories always have a human protagonist don’t they? There’s a reason for that, the POINT, is how the HUMAN responded, NOT God!! God is consistant, even predictable, while through out the Bible man is not!! All the variables, the foibles, the frailty, the dishonesty, the thieving, murderous nature of us all, is exposed for all to see, and people concentrate on God when they ought to be examining themselves!! THAT is the point!! Self examinination and THEN, apply the lessons learned in the BOOK!

So, all in all, that is why we don’t see it, till we look back!!

T

As you can see there is some stuff here to think about that is of a personal nature for us all, as I said choose wisely!!

Rev. Bruce…………………………………….Tawodi

A KNOTTY PROBLEM IN THE CONTEMPORARY CHURCH

This question was asked of me and others on a different forum  by a minister who is considering taking training to be a military Chaplain. When he found out that the place he is going to take his training at is very liberal in it’s approach to the issue of homosexuals in ministry. I Answered as follows.  Many have seen this answer and have taken comfort from it, as well as some who have disagreed with it,  but,  those who disagreed stated that they saw it as one of the most considered replies that they had seen concerning this issue. That may be true,all I can say is  these are my feelings.  Where my family and I worship our Church has stood by the precept that homosexuals cannot engage in the practice of their prediliction, if they are in the clergy. If they become active in a relationship, or do not remain celibate, they must leave their ministry.

The pressure of the liberal elements of the hierarchy is tremendous and you can rest assured, that this stand will eventually fail.

Same sex marriages being legal in Massachusetts now almost gaurantees this will probably be overturned during the next world conference session in 2008.
It was incredibly close in 2004.

The proscriptions against sexual iniquity in scripture were to preclude the abuse of the helpless or the weak in relations of potential power based sexual encounters, as well as the simple degradation of human beings as objects, to be used to slake your thirst then once they had fullfilled their purpose to be discarded much like a used kleenex. A crappy way to treat any human being but unfortunately all too common.

The sexual slavery practiced by the Romans that St. Paul preaches against in the Roman letter to the congregation in Rome, is the stand out case in point if you are speaking of homosexual behaviour.

A personal stance in todays world supposedly must consider the “newly revealed research of the present” which you will note, I place in quotation marks.

As clergy the consideration is two fold,  personal,  and then the position of servant leadership that a minister must fulfill. Also to be considered,  is the role of the minister in authority,  as one in the line of apostolic succession and the discipline, which must in conscience be maintained, for the integrity of the church.

Now,  we must consider what it is we are being asked to do. In my opinion it is to be,  simply put,  Christians.  It is not for us to condone this behaviour,  due to scriptural proscription,  but we must not condemn out of hand those who are so inclined. We as human beings are all with fault, we all are broken in some way. Homosexuals are simply broken in a different way than I am, or you are.

This position has been reached after years of deep unrest and thought on my part and should in no way be considered to be an official position of anybodies church, but the result of soul searching and consideration of the human condition.

I support the position of the church at present, but will not, if the ministry is allowed to be degraded further due to scriptural caveats and directives being disobeyed.

As for those NOT in ministry, my feelings are best stated as follows,  what ever problems God has with homosexuals is between He and they, not they and I.

They are,  and will continue to be,  welcome in my church to worship,  as long as their deportment is commensurate with decorous behaviour.  Which, by the way,  I would demand of heterosexual couples also.  We must consider also,  who directed them to worship,  perhaps God?
No living human being has the answer to that one, least of all me.

I hope this will help you, Be well sister and best wishes to your husband and may he be found worthy. Rev. Bruce Holzrichter………Tawodi