Do You Think Bible Prophecy Is True? (#BOTB Results)

If It's in the Bible, Is It True?

        One thing that I've found over the past week is that the topic of abortion can piss more people off than talking about Jesus.  But I guess nothing pisses some people off more than President Donald Trump.  I'm still hoping that during the Trump administration, and soon at that, the United States moves its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and we build even stronger ties with Israel.  That will likely piss the whole world off and I'm ready for that.

        I don't know what other religions of the world are so grounded in prophesy as much as the Judeo-Christian tradition.  From my understanding of Islam, the Hadiths and maybe some other writings contain something they refer to as prophesy, but I see no real trustworthy prophesy of future events in any Islamic writing.  They call Mohammad a "prophet" but I'm not sure what he actually prophesied that can be put in any believable context.  Then again (oh wait for the gasps and stirrings of indignation) I don't accept Islam as truth.

        However, the prophecy of the Bible gets pretty darn specific when you start studying it all closely.  And these prophecies started coming thousands of years ago in regard to events we see coming into shape in our time.  Sure, some might say that its all just generic statements that can be applied to anytime and anything, but places are named and signs are indicated and we can see this all coming about in our age.

        There will always be the scoffers--more of them than believers--but before anyone scoffs too heartily I would encourage a closer study of the prophecies with a comparative look at world events. Is Jesus coming soon?   To me it would appear so, but I'm not going to be one to predict when.  For now I'll just be a watchman on the wall.  

         By the way, for those who are familiar with the Bible, have you noticed how much the Bible talks about walls?   So who says building walls isn't a Christian activity?  In fact, despite what some will say, to my knowledge there is no mention of building bridges in the Bible.   Well, other than a metaphorical bridge which is Jesus Christ.  

           Did I offend anyone today?   I hope not.  I didn't mean to offend, but only to tell truth as I see it.  My hope is that maybe you'll think about what I've said here and perhaps even do some research about what I've said.


Battle of the Bands Results!

     As is often the case, my latest Battle of the Bands was not easy for me to prognosticate the outcome.  However because of the more contemporary more mainstream sound I figured the win would go to the 1970's group Dogwood.  Initially that was the group I was favoring for my own vote, but as usual as the week progressed my vote wavered back and forth between the two choices.  After all I usually pick out two versions that I especially enjoy.  In the end though I decided to go with the traditional Southern Gospel sound of the Blackwood Gospel Quartet despite that strange video they had put together.  Based on the audio only I thought they captured the spirit of the song best.

     From the outset of voting, Dogwood took a rapid lead and it looked like it would be a massive win for them.  Then in the final quarter, like the Superbowl champion Patriots, BGQ raced forward as they captured most of the final votes.  Still it was not enough for a win as Dogwood maintained the lead by a mere two points.  What a contest it was!  I thank you all for voting on this song that I thought might be a turn-off to most, but things didn't turn out too badly at all.

Final Vote Tally

Blackwood Gospel Quartet     11 votes

Dogwood                                   13 votes


Holy Naamgenoot!

        As I alluded to in my BOTB post, one of the featured groups, Dogwood, was not to be confused by a very different Christian punk metal band also called "Dogwood".    This latter band which hails from the San Diego area has been around since 1993 and continues to be active.  The band has ten albums behind them as well as contributions to a number of compilation albums.  For the sake of contrast I'm offering a few of their songs for your listening pleasure--or perhaps I might call it curiosity since you might not care for their style.  I find them to be kind of interesting and it's good to hear their message attached to music that might appeal to a younger crowd.  See what you think...


Dogwood  "Feel the Burn"  (1999)





Dogwood  "Building a Better Me"  (2000)






Dogwood  "Never Die"  (1998)







Next Battle of the Bands Coming Soon!

        Another Battle of the Bands match will appear on my blog on Wednesday February 15th.  This Battle will be related to a post which will precede it next Monday the 13th--a post which may raise ire (so what else is new?) or have some of you nodding your heads in agreement.  As you might have guessed it will be another post in my  President Trump Acclimation Series .   I mean really, there are still many ridiculous voices yammering on about the President of the United States so I might as well keep debunking that nonsense.   I probably won't continue this much longer, though on the other hand, if the antis keep up their fight then maybe I'll keep pushing back.   After all, what else do I have to blog about?

         What else would you like me to talk about on this blog?   Do the controversy posts turn you off?    Would you rather I talk about writing or some such subject?

Mysteries in the Night

           Halloween will continue to be a primary topic on this blog until the end of October--that is unless an onslaught of disgruntled comments ask me to stop.  I do have more to say on the subject of Halloween and the economy which I will continue. In future blogs, I intend to address issues such as Halloween as Tradition, ways that Halloween is celebrated, the whys of Halloween,  costume ideas, Halloween from the religious viewpoint, Halloween entertainment, Halloween stories, and other Halloween related topics.  If any readers have anything special about Halloween to bring up I'd like to talk about that as well. 
          
           In a comment to one of my earlier blogs, Jennifer Hudson Taylor suggested that a "regular blog schedule" might be a helpful approach to giving a sense of continuity to one's efforts.  She suggests that readers like to know what to expect and may come back if they are routinely looking for something that interests them.  I guess this might be similar to watching a favorite TV show on a regular basis.  Many of us are creatures of habit.  I may try to develop my entries somewhat along these lines. Maybe I won't go so far as WACKY WEDNESDAYS  or SOMBER SUNDAYS, but the idea has merit and I may be playing with this.  So in that spirit I offer you the following:

          In my post of a week ago, I talked about some DARK MYSTERIES that I had read about recently. Yesterday's Los Angeles Times offered an update on the story of Mitrice Richardson, a 24-year-old woman    who had just outright seemed to have disappeared after she was released  from police custody at 1:25 AM on September 17.  She had been arrested after she had refused to pay a bill at a Malibu restaurant and then police discovered marijuana in her car.  Witnesses reported that she had been acting "odd, but entertaining".  Later police decided it was okay to let her go and sent her on her way with no purse, cell phone, or car.  That was the last confirmed sighting of Mitrice.  Since then there have been several reports of possible sightings but nothing confirmed.  Earlier this week a body was found in a burning dumpster in Santa Fe Springs, CA but police determined that the body was not Mitrice.  However police and relatives of the young woman are convinced that she is still alive somewhere. Where is Mitrice?  Let's pray that this young woman will be found unharmed and can continue on with her promising life.

             In the same posting I also mentioned the death of Amy Farris, a talented violin player who had been  in the group DAVE ALVIN AND THE GUILTY WOMEN.  Suicide is the suspected cause for death but so far I have not seen any other confirmation about this.  I have seen nothing but praises and accolades for her talents and for her as a person.  The loss of someone like this is so tragic.  And there have been so many.
The story made me think of another musical artist who departed having left a huge impact, but with so much more that could have been accomplished. 

            Gene Eugene was a musical genius the way I look at it.  I had been a fan and follower of Gene's for many years when I heard that he had died.  He was the primary creative force behind the highly innovative Christian rock/funk band ADAM AGAIN.  Gene produced, engineered, sang, played, and wrote most of the songs on the group's albums.  If they had not been hindered by the label of being identified as a "Christian" band they might have been much bigger than they were.  Let's face it-- to be indentified as a "Christian" band tends to turn off a lot of the pop music audience. Nevertheless, Gene was highly regarded in his music circles.  He also lent his immense talents in contributions to other groups' recording efforts and produced the albums of many more in his Green Room recording studio in Huntington Beach, CA. On March 20, 2000 Gene Andrusco (his real name) died in his sleep.  His friends said he had not been feeling well prior to his death and had said he had a headache before he had gone to bed.  He had also been in a car accident prior to his death and had been complaining about headaches. I never saw any absolute confirmation of what the cause of death was but at the age of 38 it was far too soon.  I met Gene at a party once, but didn't talk to him as much as I wished later on-- I think I was so surprised to find him at this particular party, a Halloween related party strangely enough, that I was just taken by surprise that he would have been there.  In any case, any rock music fans who are not familiar with Gene Eugene and the music with which he is associated you should check him out.  Some of the bands that he was connected with besides ADAM AGAIN are the LOST DOGS and THE SWIRLING EDDIES, not to mention the numerous bands for which he produced albums.  Click on this link to read more about Gene Eugene .

          Finally, last week I talked about another stupid gang-related death.  One could probably do an entire blog about nothing but this topic.  I am not going to go into this subject today, but I'm sure that I will sometime in the future.

           Leave a comment if you wish.  I'd love to hear what anyone has to say about any of this.  Anybody familiar with the music of Amy Farris?   Do you have any favorite Christian artists?  What is you opinion of Contemporary Christian Music?  I look forward to hearing from you.