President Donald Trump -- How He Made America Great Again

I can't tell you how absolutely thrilled I was and am that Donald Trump has been elected as the 45th President of the United States of America. Things have been looking bad in this country for a long time now. Between Black Lives Matter and 3rd wave Feminism I can't tell you how close it's come to Civil War. You think I'm kidding.

As a veteran of the USAF and a Christian and a family man, I never thought I would own a weapon in my home. At least not until after my kids grew up and out of the house. Barack Obama's time in office as well as the vitriolic oppression of the left in this nation over the last 8 years and the outright abuse we on the right have taken since the craziness of the 2000 election and even before that during the Clinton years when we were attacked for holding President (shudder) Clinton to a standard no different than we hold our best friends to. You could say that we've been holding our patience for 24 years. 28 if you count George H.W. Bushes failed promise to lower taxes.

As for me I'm only 37 years old. When George H.W. Bush took office I was only 9 years old. Same age as my oldest son today. And when Bush Sr. lost to Bill Clinton I was 13. As a young adult I remember watching the election returns on our old tube TV in the basement of our house. I didn't know anything about politics but I do know it was disappointing but it wasn't the end of the world. Little did I know how badly things would get.

The Reagan years were amazing. We were proud of our country. We all got along. Sure, I was merely a child but politics was more of an afterthought. We were at war with Russia and the Green Bay Packers just plain sucked. We could handle it. We went to school. Learned. Made friends. We grew up together and worked toward making our world a better place among our peers, neighbors and communities. Maybe it's my naivety, maybe it's because I was nothing but a toddler in the 80's but life was GOOD. People were happy. We trusted the news to tell us what was happening in the world.

Something happened though. I don't know if it was backlash from the Republicans going after Bill Clinton for getting "hummers" in the White House or if it was simply a matter of the flower child baby boomers taking over every facet of society...but something changed. And not for the better. Sure we had the LA Riots in 1993 because of Rodney King. (Who was no innocent saint by the way. Don't get me wrong those cops were wrong in what they did to him though too.) We had our problems but none of them were so bad that we couldn't wake up the next day and press on with our joy.

It was the 2000 election that made me realize that something bad was brewing in America. My Dad would tell me it was starting long before that but I first realized that there was a divide in America that was brewing that just a matter of time would explode all over the face of this nation and had the potential to destroy us all.

The reaction to the 2000 election was a pivot in America that exposed how divided this country was and how deep those divides were going.

"George Bush STOLE THE ELECTION!", they screamed.

"The Electoral College is OLD AND USELESS!", they cried.

Questioning the Electoral College? They couldn't be serious. They were.

I didn't understand a LOT of what I understand now but even I had my reservations at the time about how the electoral process works in this country. I now appreciate the wisdom of the electoral college having studied the ramifications of a straight popular vote. Basically it comes down to "Screw you Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago! You don't get to choose who the next President is for the rest of the country!" If that offends you, then you should consider moving to another country that's based on a true democracy and see how quickly your voice gets squashed by the majority with pitchforks and roadside bombs.

But I digress. The divide in this country was starting to rear it's ugly head in 2000. When I joined the Air Force in November of 2000 at the height of the bickering over the results of that election, I remember telling my Training Instructors that if Al Gore won the Presidency I was going to seek a separation from the military because I refused to serve under an Al Gore administration. Sure, at 21 years old I was hot-headed and a big-talker. I'll never know whether or not I would have followed through on that threat. Thank God.

This told me something though. America was divided like never before. And it wasn't getting any better.

In 2004 I was out of the USAF after a medical discharge but after the 2000 election I decided to get involved. I volunteered for the Outagamie Republican Party as a Ward Captain for George W. Bushes re-election campaign. I was proud of Bushes handling of 9/11 and the subsequent ousting of Saddam Hussein. I truly believed in him and wanted to make sure to avoid another 2000 election fiasco.

During that time I also moved to Kenosha and volunteered for the Kenosha County Republican Party briefly while living with my brother. I got a chance to actually meet a young Reince Preibus before he became the Chairman of the GOP. I had already begun to move more Independent in my political ideologies but supported George W. Bush 100%.

When I met Mr. Priebus I remember shaking his hand and asking him, "So, why am I voting for you?" In retrospect I see how rude and awkward of a question that was to ask while standing in the Kenosha County GOP headquarters just as George W. Bush was rolling into town for a meet and greet. But I was certain that I wanted to be an informed voter and was grasping at any way to justify every vote on my ballot I was going to make.

I didn't really get a great answer but I decided to vote for him any way. I'm glad I did because he couldn't have been more pivotal in Donald Trump's success than he was. I'm actually really proud of him. I had my reservations but Reince proved me wrong.

After moving back to Appleton and going back to Technical College for IT the 2004 election came to a close. George Bush won but the win was bittersweet. Instead of uniting America, it only fanned the flames still burning from the 2000 election. I recall saying to an instructor at the Tech that we are going to see a Civil War in this country in the next 15 years. Little did I know what we'd have to go through before it gets that far.

As the 2000's came to a close and the Democrats took over the senate and the Housing Bubble created by bad policies of the Clinton years busted. Things were looking grim for 2008. What was George W. Bush's solution? Work with Roll over for the liberals in congress and pass a bank bailout. At this point I had all but lost any hope of Republicans remaining the principled conservative party in Washington. Something was wrong with our Government and there was little hope for any real change. The Democrats had outflanked us and the country was paying dearly for it.

With all that was bad in America in the late 2000's I still had a little hope for our country. But it was fading fast. Betrayed by the Bush administration and the leadership in both houses of congress, I could see something was wrong. The people were not in control of their government. Something else was happening. Something sinister. Something unthinkable. I went down the rabbit hole. I swallowed the red pill.

7th Anniversary

I posted this on my facebook timeline. Hence the "facebook limitations" reference. I am reposting here for posterity.

As I venture into our 8th year of marriage with my wife Kelly, I take a look back and reflect. I notice the ups and downs. I look at the good times and the bad times. I've noticed that in this world many people talk about how marriage is difficult and I've often told myself and others that marriage IS difficult. Thinking back though, I must confess that so far it has not held true. Perhaps because of mental preparedness or some other reason but my thoughts don't quite gravitate that way. My marriage (knock on wood :) ) has been quite easy contrary to popular wisdom. Have there been bad times? Certainly! But not in the same vein as you might hear from people with troubled marriages. Our bad times have been times where decisions have been tough. The times we regret are when we haven't done the things we planned on because of certain factors, whether they be financial issues, laziness, lack of a sense of urgency, or whatever. Never have we ever struggled with a problem so bad as to wonder about the state of our relationship. I consider ourselves very blessed in this regard. The really tough times have been through personal struggles that we've taken on together and we always come out having grown and grown closer. There are a number of reasons I believe this has happened.

For one, we started our relationship from an understanding that God is the most important member of our family. He is our mediator. He is our refuge. He is our mutual Standard. If ever there is a disagreement we ALWAYS look to Him as our goalpost and when we make mistakes we forgive each other unconditionally. I've done my fair share of apologizing. I'm actually usually the one apologizing. :) Kelly has done very little that I can recall that required apologizing.

Secondly, we have NEVER allowed the thought of separation or "divorce" enter into the realm of consideration from the start. This forces us to ALWAYS reconcile any differences or arguments SWIFTLY. I can count on less than one hand the number of times I've let the sun go down on my wrath.

Third of all, we both understand that there is both a natural and supernatural order to the family structure. (1 Cor. 11:3 "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.") While we may discuss courses of action for our family and I indeed respect and desire the council of my wife, we both understand that the final decision lies with me. Even when I make mistakes or if my decision sounds "off-the-wall" bonkers to her, she respects me as her husband and follows me in whatever direction I take us. No matter what. NO MATTER WHAT. This is not some kind of chauvinistic male bravado position I take. It is rather an unspoken understanding. Don't try and picture me "pulling rank" on my wife at every corner. I don't have to. Since our standard is the same that we pull from we are often on the same page. One of the craziest things in our marriage is when we both agree to do something and then I never set the plan in motion. For example, we, for a long time, have been wanting to get rid of all or a large portion of our material possessions. I have not yet done this regardless of the number of times we've discussed it and have agreed to go forward with it. I have my reasons. Not one of those reasons are very good or convincing, even to me...but I have my reasons. And she doesn't badger me about it. It comes up from time to time. Especially in the wake of problems caused by some of our over-abundance of "stuff".  But it is never a point of contention. I don't know what I'm waiting for. The right time? The right financial situation? Approval of my family or peers? Wanting "the best" for our kids? Who knows? Like I said none of those reasons are good but they are my reasons. But I digress. She loves and respects me as head of the household and that is reason enough for her patience. I love her so much for that.

Fourthly, we are content with what we have. By that, I mean we do not desire MORE. Sure we have our moments of "Oooh, I want that!" but we don't topple dynasties to get it. We are content. Actually, we know we could do with less! We know for certain things could be a lot worse. I was advised by my father prior to marriage that the cliché, "Love can sustain us even in the gutter." or "Love will provide." is not a thing to be hanging your hat on. Well, not to completely disregard my father's advice but in all my experience these last 7 years I am truly convinced that even if we found ourselves living in the gutter, even that would not drive us apart.

Fifthly, (and I'll make this the last reason for now as this post is WAY longer than I expected it to be) Kelly makes this so much easier. She NEVER complains. Well, okay, she complains from time to time. But she never complains about the way it is. She doesn't complain that her life hasn't turned out the way she imagined. I suppose there are a number of reasons for that. I don't gather she was ever the type of girl that pictured her marriage life and children a certain way. She wasn't the type of girl that would practice writing her first name in front of the last name of some childhood crush and imagine a big white house with a picket fence and 1 boy and 1 girl for children both named after their parents and a husband with a great executive job making tons of money who would come home saying, "Honey! I'm Home!" Wait...maybe that's how I imagined things. :D j/k lol. I don't know, perhaps Kelly set the bar really low and even a "schlubb" like me is a pleasant surprise. I remember talking with my friends as a young guy about how, "Nice guys finish last." and complaining about it as if it was such a terrible thing. And at the time, it WAS! We were always getting crapped on by beautiful women and turned down at every turn even though we did EVERYTHING, "by the book". Only to see them run of with some idiot who everyone knew was treating them like total garbage. As a 34 year-old, married to a beautiful bride with two AWESOME kids (even when they are annoying) :D I can honestly say that was the only thing we ever got right as young men. Nice guys DO finish last. But at least we finish, and finish well.

There are so many other factors that have contributed to the relative "ease" of our relationship these past 7 years that I don't think facebook would necessarily allow in one post. And maybe that is contradictory to my premise. But perhaps the fact that these things come so naturally for the both of us is why it works so well. Anyone who knows us, knows that the two of us have some of the most different backgrounds and would have been considered the most unlikely of couples. God indeed works in mysterious ways. I still contend that one of the first times I saw her in Jimmy John's while I was mopping the floor and watching her walk out the back of the sandwich shop, something said inside me, "You're gonna marry that girl." while laughing softly and shaking my head at that most unlikely of prospects. I suppose that was my "Sarah" moment. It wasn't for quite sometime later that I had even seriously considered it. So much longer that I sometimes wondered if it was her that I remember thinking that about. But EVERY time I recall the incident I end up more and more convinced that it was. It's a bit surreal. :)

Anyhoo, I love you Kelly and Love you more and more every day. At this rate of love growth I may explode with love for you before our 14th anniversary! :D And of course, no romantic expression of love can escape the ever-so obligatory Jerry McGuire line, "You complete me." :D Kelly...You....complete me. :)

Happy 7th Anniversary and Lord willing MANY more!

With Love,

Chad

How to edit a non-DRM .mobi to .html and back

This is outside my normal scope of blog posts but a friend on facebook was struggling with this so I decided to put this on here since he's having a busy day and I haven't slept since 4pm yesterday.

This will only work with non-DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected files.

The file may have a different extension but I tested it with a different file extension and simply changed the file extension to .mobi from whatever it was.

Things you'll need:

1. mobi2html win32 tool
2. notepad++
3. Mobipocket creator or another tool to repack the .mobi This one creates a .prc file that seems to open fine in Kindle reader for PC

Unpack the mobi2html tool and run it. (I've been told there is a false positive on some antivirus programs out their but according to multiple sources it truly is a FALSE positive and can be ignored.)

It will ask you for the location of the .mobi file you're trying to "explode" / unpack. Locate the file and continue.

This little tool extracts the contents into a simple HTML file that you can then edit simply with Notepad++.

When you are done editing the file save it and open Mobipocket creator and choose the files accordingly to repack into the new .mobi/.prc file that you'll be creating. Don't forget any images from the cover or table of contents it may have unpacked.

Click Build and off you go. Once it's done you'll have a new .prc file you can then open in your reader.

Again I don't know that this works on DRM protected files. You're on your own if you're trying to do that. Also if you DEFINITELY need it to be ".mobi" you can try simply changing the file extension but I didn't try to as I didn't actually have an actual ".mobi" file to start with.

Anyhoo, good luck and God Bless.

In Christ,

Chad Kennow

1 Timothy 5:16

Someone recently shared their thoughts on 1 Timothy 5:16. I figured I'd share my thoughts about their thoughts in a more creative way. Enjoy.

Love NEVER Fails!

Kelly and I walked 3.5 miles to Walmart today with the kids. A bit hot I admit but it was a good walk. We had to exchange some items we bought the other day as they were the wrong size. On our way out the door we had rewarded the kids with some Skittles at the candy machines for being good during the long walk. An older couple saw us and noticed how happy the boys were that they were getting candy. I mentioned it was for good behavior during our 3.5mile walk from home. Apparently, the man was very impressed with our decision to walk instead of drive and we had a nice conversation about appreciating the little things in life. The man inquired if we were walking by choice or if we simply were struggling financially. I said, "Well everyone is struggling a bit financially these days...but no we are doing okay. We chose to walk even though we could have drove." He responded that it was inspiring and impressive that a young couple like ourselves were taking the initiative to appreciate the little things. We concurred. He asked if we would be receptive to a donation to help us out. I said, "Well, it's not necessary but I won't deny you the blessing of helping out your fellow man." He asked me if it wasn't an issue if we could wait there at the doors for a moment while he stopped at the ATM since he didn't have much cash on him at the moment. I said no we're in no hurry and reassured him that it really wasn't all that necessary but we won't stop him. He said, "No, No! We always try to keep our eyes out for those we can help and have the right attitude." I said, "God Bless you sir. Thank you." He returned in about a minute with $40.00. Handed it to Kelly and I promptly thanked him with a handshake and a hug! I asked him his name which he immediately showed with body language that he wasn't comfortable giving so I reacted and said, "At least give me your First Name." He said, "Jerry." God Bless people like Jerry. A man after my own delicate heart! More importantly a man after God's own heart. Please send up some prayers of blessing for Jerry and his wife! May we all have the same heart to bless others at any and every opportunity. God Bless you all.


In Christ,

Chad Kennow

"Command those who are rich..."

‎1 Timothy 6:17 "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy."

Now I know there is a lot of "hub-ub" about the "1%" in this country right now, but many would be surprised to learn that Paul is telling Timothy to speak to YOU. Yes, YOU. 

On a relative scale, when compared to those who lived in the first century, we as Americans, (every one of us), would be considered "the rich" by their standards.

It is easy to read this verse and think of people like Bill Gates and just about every Hollywood Superstar in America and point the finger and say..."YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT PAUL YOU TELL THEM!". I would like to caution us here in America to not be too quick to point the finger.

Did you know, that (according to: http://www.globalrichlist.com/) if you make more than $2500.00/yr. than you are among the top 15% of the world's richest people?!

Now I understand that most of us make much more than that in a year. Heck, I spend more than that at Best Buy every year just to keep my Silver Reward Zone Status. :\ Shame on me.

The federal poverty line in America is actually $11,170.00/yr for a single person and $23,050.00 for a family of four, according to this chart for 2012:http://coverageforall.org/pdf/FHCE_FedPovertyLevel.pdf

Now when I punch that into the Global Rich List calculator we come out with: $11,170.00/yr (Top 13.06%) and $23,050.00/yr. (Top 10.5%). This is indeed humbling!

Now you may say that this is all relative. And I would agree...to an extent. But how many times have you gone LITERALLY hungry for days? Ask yourself...how much did you pay for that nice new cell phone? The fact that you are reading this on a computer (whether borrowed or own) is an indication that these statistics are more real then you can explain away by simple relativity.

God tells us, "One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth." Proverbs 13:7 

Let us stop fooling ourselves and take heed the command to those who are rich. Let us not be haughty/high-minded. And let us not trust in uncertain riches. But let us rely on God who richly provides us with EVERYTHING to enjoy!

Hebrews 13:5 "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Bread of Life

Now, usually, the strong can support the weak, the rich can support the poor; but not the other way around. It seems therefore hard to understand how, in Nature, it is the other way around: the lower creatures support the higher creatures: the soil (minerals) support the vegetables, the vegetables support the animals, and all three support man. Take bread, for instance. Bread has no life, no mental or intellectual qualities. Yet, when a person eats bread (or other foods), it is not only transformed into human flesh and blood-which is a most wonderful transformation in itself-but also into those extraordinary cells of tissue which make up the human brain, which enables a person to think and to speak. A child feeding on cereals and other foods grows and develops, not only bodily, but also mentally and spiritually. How is this possible? Does bread have mental and spiritual qualities, which pass on to man as he eats it?

The answer is that it is not the physical matter of the bread (the carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, etc.) which gives and sustains life. For in every particle of matter, there is the "word" of God which created it out of nothing and constantly says to it: Be! It is this "word" of God which is the real thing, while the physical matter is but an outer "shell," very much like our body is the outer shell or frame for our; inner, and hidden, soul. It is this real thing -the "word" of God, which "brings forth bread from the earth" -which really gives life and sustenance to the human being.

To make it a little clearer: When God willed to create the world, there was nothing at first, and God created every- thing out of nothing by saying, "Let there be!" The process of creation has continued ever since. If God should withdraw His "word" for one instant, everything would turn back to nothing as before Creation. Thus it is the "word" of God, or "that which issues from God's mouth," which is the real bread that gives life to the person eating it, and with it all those mental and spiritual qualities which make up a human being.

John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 6:48-59 "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven--not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever." These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum."

Working at Arthur Bay....:D

So this is my new job. I go in at three and dump cheese curds into bags and then I drive to Madison and back. Pretty fun stuff!


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(**Update: I no longer work at Arthur Bay. It was a fun job. Wish I could'a kept up with it. :( )

What is Preterism?

So I figured since I’m a relatively unknown person online and I have been writing some controversial stuff. I figured I would start putting out there some of my positions on certain things that may come up from time to time in the comments.
The first one I’ll “hit up” is Preterism.

Now, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus among self-proclaimed preterists as to solid across the board hermeneutic with regard to Preterism. I can point you to all kinds of sources that talk about Preterism in this form or that form. But I would hate for you to come back and say to me…”Chad, Don Preston (or whomever) says *this* or *that*. Do you believe that? I can’t speak for other preterists. They can speak for themselves. Especially Don Preston. He speaks quite well for himself. There are other big names that are attached to Preterism as well. You may have heard of Max King et. al.

I assure you, that in no way, will one ever be able to point at any ONE leader (aside from Christ and the Apostles) and say, “Everything that guy/gal says is what I believe.”  I guarantee that not one person who visits my blog would ever say/admit/reveal that there is ONE person (besides Christ) that ANYTIME “so-and-so” preaches, teaches or writes anything, that, that is what they believe wholeheartedly.
Case in point. Are you a Premillinialist? Do you believe EVERYTHING Jack Van Impe teaches? Are you a Postmillinialist? Do you believe EVERYTHING Charles Hodge or Greg L. Bahnsen taught? Are you an Amillinialist? Do you believe EVERYTHING R.C. Sproul teaches?
Preterism should never be accused of not being legit in that it has no uniformity among believers/”subscribers”. Just look at this site The Last Days: Four Views. You can see that Millinialism is just as disjointed as many claim Preterism is.
So, now that we have that out of the way. The real question should be…What is it that I (Chad Kennow) believe about Jesus’ return after His ascension into Heaven.
Let’s talk about what we know. I’ll separate into sections.

What did Christ say?

John 18:36
”Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.’”

Millennialists like to speak of a physical kingdom where Christ would rule physically. In accordance with this verse, if they are correct, then they are calling Jesus a liar.

Matthew 23:29-39
”‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’“Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’’'”

Jesus stated that the punishment for the wickedness of all mankind from Cain until the death of Zechariah would be visited on the generation of Jews alive in THAT generation. If it were to occur at ANY other time, including today, or some future date from today, (as millennialists would have us believe) then Jesus was a liar and cannot be trusted or be deemed a prophet of God.

Matthew 16:24-28
”Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.  Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.’”

Millenialists ignore this verse. In my opinion this verse CANNOT hold true with a futurist viewpoint unless someone were to reveal themselves AND PROVE that they are 1,980 (give or take a decade) years old and heard Jesus LITERALLY speak these words in Aramaic. Three gospel accounts reference this statement of Jesus. If He did not return in THAT Generation, then He is a liar.

Mathew 24:14
”And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Then he commissioned it.

Mark 16:14-20
”Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  
So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”

Matthew 28:18-20
”And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

Millinialists typically claim that this has not yet been accomplished. They claim that it is near to completion though. However, if this be true, then the apostle Paul is a liar.

Romans 16:25-27
”Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.”

AND…

Colossians 1:21-23
”And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

I for one do not believe Jesus and the Apostles were liars. One can bring up a plethora of other verses talking about the annihilation of the physical earth and universe but if these cannot be reconciled then it is all MOOT!

Since I do not believe that Jesus and Apostles are/were liars, I must accept that this Return happened when the Gospels claim it was to happen. You can see an ongoing theme throughout the New Testament epistles that the first century Christians were expecting Christ’s return in their lifetime. John’s Revelation uses a TON of language that refers to this being fulfilled SOON, IN HIS LIFETIME. Which reminds me…

John 21:18-23
”Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”

Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?’”

What is odd is that there are some that would willingly believe that John the Apostle is still among us…alive…TODAY. Just so that they can fit it into their weak futurist doctrine. The gullibility of people never ceases to amaze me. I can see why the Lord would state, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6a


If so. Why aren’t people aware of His coming?

I’m not sure why people haven’t taken the time to put the pieces together. There are many accounts of Jesus return in extra-biblical sources. Josephus is one I am familiar with. He was a Jewish General who was tasked with keeping a record of the events of the Jewish people during the siege on Jerusalem. I can recommend many great sources of material on the subject, but you should definitely do the research yourself. Lest anyone say that I am their sole source of information. :)

Here are some links to help you get started:
http://preterist.org/
http://eschatology.org/
http://www.bibleprophecy.com/
Here are some books to add to your reading list:
Avenging of the Apostles and Prophets By: Arthur Ogden
Josephus Wars of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 5 Section 3 How’s this for fanfare? Get it on Amazon.com
There are many other books and resources you’ll find on your journey and discovery of the complete fulfillment of Christ’s prophecies. Feel free to share your finds. Thanks for reading. I will add more as my own journey progresses.
In Christ,
Chad Kennow

Cindy Temple...Child of God!

My Neighbor Cindy decided to Put on Christ in Baptism today. She saw the Power of God working in our lives and was convinced that Jesus Christ is the only one who can take away the pain and guilt and sorrow and the destructive nature of sin. Please pray for her in her new walk with God! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Making Rounds: Apostolic Truth Church (ATC)

Good day to you folks!

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to witness 3 people being baptized into Christ. At least I hope they were. They are friends of mine and had made their decision to be baptized about a week prior. Now, this post isn't going to be about the reasons and  purposes of baptism but rather my experience at this particular organizations services.

There are some students from Turkey here visiting for 3 months and they wanted to do something and I asked them if they wanted to witness a Christian baptism. They agreed and I picked them up and we went. (Turkey is between 98-99% Muslim population) I got pretty excited to find out that they were from Izmir (Modern day Ephesus)!

Anyway back to my trip.

Apostolic Truth Church (ATC) is a building and group of people located on the Northeast side of Appleton near the corner of Meade and OO/Northland Ave. They have a hefty member count. I didn't get an exact number but there was more in attendance that day than Pathways was when I visited there a year ago. The services provided can be seen HERE.

We arrived just before services were starting and were greeted in the parking lot by at least two ushers. They had their little name tags on and I could tell they felt they had a VERY important job to do. Not sure where "ushers" were mentioned in the New Testament but hey, at least they've got something to do, right? Of course as expected we were mostly ignored by the rest of the congregation aside from those whom we were specifically introduced to. (That's the Usher's job after all.)

I greeted my friends who were being baptized that day and was able to speak to them for about two seconds before we were pulled away to do something REALLY important. We were asked pressured into filling out the guest cards.We were allowed to keep their expensive looking pens that had the church name on them. No doubt an advertising tactic used by MANY business's in America to get their name out there. (I guess preaching the Truth isn't enough anymore.) I wondered to myself how much the pens cost and how many poor people could have been fed with that money. I'm sure they got a good deal for buying in bulk.

We then made our way into the auditorium where there were 4 rows of LONG pews and a concert stage up front that was no doubt furnished by some very expensive instruments and audio/video equipment. There were three digital projectors on the ceiling and were used mainly for scripture and spiritual song lyrics. (Good way to save money on Bibles and Hymnals. While at the same time limiting people from reading the context of any verses that are displayed while trying to get your point across during the sermon.) I had my NKJV with me. However, they seemed pretty stuck to the 400 year-old KJV. Which, in my opinion, just makes it that much harder for people to follow along in understanding, while at the same time creating a complacent "laity" that trusts the "clergy's" interpretation. If you wanted to search the scriptures on your own you were better off bringing a notebook rather than your Bible.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The service started off with the baptisms of my friends. The baptism seemed to have been performed properly (i.e. full bodily immersion in water, and in the name of Jesus Christ) But there was a lot of double-talk going on by the pastor performing the baptisms. He rightly stated that baptism was for the remission of sins and that it was the moment you come in contact with the blood of Christ. But he went on to say that they were saved the Wednesday before when they were "baptized by the Holy Spirit". I did ask pastor Soto about this afterwards and of course I got hit with your typical Pentecostal stories attempting to confirm that what they do is legit in regards to speaking in tongues. To be honest, I heard a LOT of gibberish speaking every time the service leader lead a prayer. And furthermore, being honest, it was all quite distracting and I'm not sure anyone heard what was being prayed by the service leader. Yet without hesitation, EVERYONE gave a resounding AMEN when the prayer was finished. That pastor could have prayed for pancakes for all anyone cared.

Again this post is not going to be about specific doctrine, (I will answer those questions in another post), but I want to just cover my experience.

So, anyhoo, what I did enjoy about the service was the singing. I really enjoyed the praise and worship. I even teared up a few times singing those songs. Singing is probably (in my mind) the most pure way to worship God. Unfortunately, there were a number of people jumping and dancing around erratically during many of the songs. I understand lifting up Holy hands to God in praise, but I don't remember jumping around and causing a raucous being in scripture. What I do remember is a chastisement by Paul telling the Corinthians to keep things decent and in order lest non-believers come in and think your crazy. See 1 Cor. 14

Now I know what you are thinking, "Chad, Let's be reasonable here. Jumping and dancing to praise God does not mean it's not decent or in order. And certainly anyone who attends there will know to expect that." I would be inclined to concede that for lack of evidence, however, the first thing the Turkish students mentioned to me when we got in the car to leave was that they thought some of the people there were crazy because they were jumping around and speaking gibberish with no explanation. Hmmm, point made?

After the service was over I was visiting with my friends and shortly after we were called to the "Hospitality Room" which felt more like being called to the principal's office. There, we were treated to coffee and cookies. Of course we were surrounded by clergy there. They seemed WAY more interested in the Turkish students than myself. This didn't bother me much. What did bother me is that I'm not sure what the whole point of dragging us all off to the side to talk to us was. And when I did ask some questions they didn't really want to answer them.

One saving grace was that they were willing to help the Turkish students find a place to live with one of their members as they have a little bit of a housing issue right now. I wasn't about to let them be subjected to that though without fair fore-warning that they would be in store for 3 months of straight up militant evangelism. :\

After they had their fill of us, and when most of the other people had left we were quickly ushered out. I guess they all had other things scheduled. I got to speak with my friends for a whole of about 5 minutes of the 2 hours we were there. I didn't get a chance to discuss anything with the "leaders" of the congregation and I certainly didn't get a chance to properly introduce myself to anyone there.

So in essence it was just a smaller version of Pathways Church to be sure. A lot of fake sales tactics being used to rile up the laity and get them to put more money into the coffers of their organizations treasury.

I think the Father's day gift of extra dark chocolate they gave me as I walked out of the auditorium summed it up quite nicely. Extremely bitter taste. My son Max had grabbed a piece of it when I came home and it brought him to tears. Literally. :\ Maybe they should have saved the money they spent on pens and got some decent tasting chocolate. :P

Needless-to-say I enjoyed the singing. But I had absolutely no impression that the "leaders" of the organization had any intention to preach the Gospel but rather to put on an entertaining show. I need to stop attending these churches on holidays. It did seem, however, oddly appropriate having attended this "mini-Pathways" exactly 1 year after attending Pathways itself.

In Christ,

Chad Kennow

P.S. My wife said this post sounded like it had a lot of sarcasm in it. I think she's right. But I will leave it be as I felt that the service I attended was mostly a joke anyway.

P.P.S. You'll have to excuse my bitterness. I haven't slept much recently and I am going through a bit of a current disappointment with humanity in general. Feel free to suggest any overly offensive parts be changed and I'll be sure to season it up a bit.

Happy 1st Birthday to my darling Son Elijah Jesse Kennow!

 

I’m so proud of him. His first steps were at 9 1/2 months and he’s been trying to put a lot of words together lately. Mostly trying to copy what Woody says when you pull his string. “Reach for the SKYYYYYY!” So Eli goes, “KYYYYYYYY”. So cute.

Here’s to another wonderful year with my little boy. And with the whole family! I am so blessed! Thank you God!

In Christ,

Chad Kennow

Update….

Okay. So I haven’t posted anything in a while but it seems I’ve gotten some hits. Here’s a summary of what I’ve posted so far.

1. I did some reviews of a few churches and seem to have inadvertently exposed a ‘pastor’ for some wrong doings in his past.

2. I celebrated Atari’s 33rd anniversary.

3. I solicited donations for purchasing books written by Frank Viola to be given out freely.

4. I wrote this update.

What would you like to  see me write about? Leave a comment below and I will try to write about it. It can be anything at all. I will research it and write what I know. Let’s see some great ideas folks! And please Subscribe so that I know people are reading.

In Christ,

Chad Kennow
Appleton, WI

Happy 33rd Anniversary Atari 2600

On October 14th 1977 Atari Inc. released the Atari 2600 Video Game Console. Effectively igniting one of the more lucrative industries in human history. The Video Game revolution was now in full swing.

For a full history check out this Wikipedia article.

Did you know you can actually enjoy these great games STILL to this day. That's right! on your own PC you can play these old games. You don't even need an old controller however if you still have those rickety old hand cramping devices you can purchase a USB adapter for use with these games. But you can use your keyboard or if you have an Xbox360 controller you can use that as well. Windows update will automatically install the correct drivers for your computer when you plug this controller in.

To start you will need to download the free Stella Atari 2600 emulator from HERE. Or HERE if you have a 64-bit OS running on your computer.

Once downloaded just run the file and follow the simple instructions. After installation you will need some games!

Get the Games!


Remember those old cartridges? Yeah? Well you don't need those anymore. Today the games come in files called ROM's. These ROM's contain the programs that would run on your Atari 2600. Since the games were pretty simple programming they don't take up a lot of space. This was 8-bit computing back then and if you remember the graphics weren't too impressive by today's standards.

You can pretty much Google the name of any game you would like and add the term 'ROM' after it and you'll find the one(s) you want. However many times getting a package of all the games that came out for the 2600 is much more sensible and time-saving. Here is a page where you can download entire packages of the games or you can search for the specific game you would like and download them individually.

Go ahead and plug in any controller(s) you have right now before starting up Stella. (If you don't have one don't worry you can use your Keyboard and/or Mouse.)

Once you have them downloaded (you'll need to unzip any ROM packages you downloaded into a file on your hard drive. However the individual ROM's can stay zipped up) go ahead and start up Stella. It should be in your Start Menu Programs list. Browse to the folder where your ROM's are and double click the game you want to play.

ENJOY!!!! Have fun reminiscing and welcoming back the classic days of gaming! Nostalgia Rulez!

Combat originally shipped with the Atari 2600 so here is a screen-shot of the game loaded on my laptop.

Thanks to the Stella Developers and AtariAge.com for hosting these programs! So fun.

Donations for Bibles and books

Hey there everyone. I was able to strike a deal with Author Frank Viola's Publisher at a deeply discounted price for his books. I'm hoping to raise $1000.00 to purchase multiple Bible's and books in order to hand them out to people I come across. Every penny donated will go to the purchase of Bible's (ESV), Frank's books and other study materials. If you are not familiar with Frank Viola's books please visit his website http://www.ptmin.org/.

I will also be working on striking a deal with Wayne Jacobson as well for copies of his books. More about  him can be found at http://lifestream.org/

I would consider Frank Viola a leader in the push for an organic expression of the church. If you can afford to, please purchase his books directly from his page as he receives a better cut from Amazon.com. My goal is to give these books out to people who appear to be ready to hear Frank's message but are not able or unwilling to go out of their way to purchase these books. I want to remove any excuse people may use to refuse to hear a message that could possibly change their lives forever.

I've put a Paypal donation button up on the top-right of my blog. If you feel inclined, please donate to what I feel is a worthy cause.

Response to Norman Horn...

I recently came across an article shared by a friend of mine on facebook. The article is by a gentleman by the name of Norman Horn. I don't claim any knowledge about this author more than what is written in this article by him. But after reading it this was my gut reaction to his discourse.

Here is the link to his Article.


Norman invites you to comment on this article at LibertarianChristians.com.

I find it amusing that he claims his motives are purely apolitical whilst propagating his agenda through a politicized website. Unfortunately he discredits himself and shows himself to be a wolf in sheep's clothing by posting this where all of his libertarian friends will see it encouraging them to change the hearts and minds to a political viewpoint closer to his own. He claims in the article that it is not a political issue but recognizes that at face value his position is completely political. His article unfortunately comes off as nothing more than a DIY Libertarian propaganda "tract" if you will. He seems to be attempting to sell Libertarianism as a more morally Judeo-Christian ethical political viewpoint. Unfortunately Mr. Horn misses the point. I agree that we should pray for our enemies and for our leaders and especially for our brothers and sisters in Christ. However, he uses terms like "US invasion" a buzzword used to initiate a particular emotion in those who are supporters of the efforts in the Middle East, and "indiscriminate warfare" and "indiscriminate killing". All in effort to show some kind of immoral injustice being propagated by the American Government and the incompetence of the American military.

Also his statement, "..this war – which is now the longest prolonged conflict in American history – ..." is tossed out there without any basis in fact at all. The Vietnam War lasted for 10 years from 65 to 75. But either way it doesn't matter. WWI and WWII and The Revolutionary war are all contenders for the longest conflicts in US History. Again none of this even matters. The length of time is of no added consequence to the calamities that come to those, whom, when the nations of this world make war with each other, suffer. But either way, his claims to keep the issue completely apolitical, when put in context with his overly political nature, unfortunately, proves to be too much for this reader to accept.

As I stated above. I believe with the proper Kingdom mindset the issue can be more easily addressed without having to unnecessarily criminalize a government or unduelly ruffle the feathers of our more politically minded brothers and sisters.

Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies and bless those who persecute us. Turn the other cheek, and pray for our leaders and for those who are suffering in this world especially for persecuted Christians. All these points can be made without even entering into a discussion about the political nature of the current world events. It should be no surprise to us that this world has once again shot itself in the foot. It happens in every generation. Sometimes multiple times. Jesus and His disciples/apostles also taught us to not speak evil of anyone. Nor to judge another man's servant. These principles alone should drive our concern for those trapped in these worldly affairs.

I admire this authors concern for our brothers and sisters conditions, however misguided they may be. I also share in his concerns, perhaps even for similar reasons. And in this I rejoice that the love of Christ is being spread. But I urge every Christian to examine themselves continually, (myself also) that we not find ourselves caught up in this Worlds affairs in a way that will distract us from that Kingdom mindset that will allow us that peace that surpasses all understanding with the love of Christ at the center of our hearts, minds, and souls.

The peace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Forever and Ever. Amen.

Making Rounds: Pathways My first "Mega-Church" experience!

Alright so I showed up to Pathways Church on Sunday Morning at 9:00am. I didn't exactly know what to expect other than maybe a mega-church experience. Their website: http://www.pathwayschurch.us/ is quite vague in description as to what exactly happens when you get there.

I was planning on going to both services except that all three of their services: Saturday, Sunday 9am and Sunday 10:30am are all exactly the same.

When I got there I was surprised that visitors get preferred parking. I didn't really like the idea but I figured I would get the raw experience and take advantage of all the "amenities".

When I walked in after being greeted by 2 members in yellow shirts at the door handing out the weeks bulletin, I found myself lost almost immediately. I don't know if that is due to my paradigm of a "typical" church and service or if the blame could be placed on the organization's efforts in trying "too hard". But never-the-less, I wanted to give them a chance.

To my left was a long reception desk and to my right was a Cafe of sorts that I think was handing out water and perhaps a light breakfast. I didn't approach the cafe simply out of lack of curiosity. I got the picture and I was fine with it.

So I walked up to the reception desk where there were more volunteers with yellow shirts on and noticed a sign that said, "Guest Central". I figured, "Well, I'm a guest so I guess thats where I'll start." I walked up to the counter and told them I was a guest and waited to see what happened.

Immediately I was presented with a guest card and asked if I would like a tour. They were instantly curious about whether or not I had a family and presenting me with all the different amenities they had that would be of interest to me. I couldn't help but recognize the sales tactics that were being employed by the staff to sell me a membership. Many of these tactics I remember reading in employee manuals while working at places like West Business Services and in other sales jobs I'd had. I smirked and decided to just go with the flow.

Of course since I have 2 little ones they were instantly compelled to show me the elaborate nursery and daycare they have setup. It was almost like a separate business all on it's own with registration forms and a computer database system with volunteers to watch and teach the kids while Mom and Dad enjoy the worship service in the main auditorium. When I say elaborate I mean it's almost an entire wing of the gigantic building. Right away I was curious as to how much this must cost to maintain on a weekly or monthly basis.

As we continued on, my tour guide seemed at a loss as to where to take me next. She had mentioned a grades 1-6 area in the basement so I was curious as to how that was set up. When we got down there it was obvious it was setup exactly like the main auditorium (stage and all) but on a smaller scale. I assume it was a way to get the kids used to this type of worship so as to understand how to behave themselves when moving on to the adult worship service. She showed me the classrooms in the hallway in the basement that seemed somewhat unemployed with the exception of the game-room that was in use by two children at the moment. There were 3 or 4 televisions with video game systems hooked up to them as well as some arcade games. I commented that it must be exciting for kids to come with that kind of motivation. She assured me they didn't try to emphasize those things at all. I thought to myself, "I bet. It probably wouldn't look very good.if they did."

As we walked back through to return upstairs I ran into an old friend of mine Nathan Fietzer who was one of the youth volunteers and was talking to some of the children there. When I greeted him I lost my tour guide and after talking shortly with him decided to venture out on my own.

When I returned upstairs I walked down a hall that had rooms labeled for the different classes that were being held for different people in multiple situations (i.e. Married, Single, Recovery, etc.) even some general study groups. I believe they are holding a study in the Letter to the Hebrews. Or it was a class to learn about the Hebrew people. I wasn't sure. :-p

But anyway I made my way back to the main entrance and the auditorium and decided to find myself a seat. It was expressed to me that they have over 1400-1500 members. I can't imagine trying to get to know that many people all at once but I hope they weren't trying to impress me with their large membership. I guess it's a paradigm thing.

So I found my seat and soon the music began and it seems the volunteers(yellow shirts) were all up on stage leading in song along with the band. There were three screens projecting the lyrics as well as those who were on the stage performing. I kind of enjoyed it. It was a nice idea all in all if this were viewed as a place for Christians to get together and worship God and socialize and fellowship. I even thought to myself, "Maybe I wouldn't mind bringing the family here once in a while and maybe even get involved."

A lesson everyone should learn when visiting churches like Pathways is to not let the glitz and glamor suck you into thinking it is something it's not. (I think that makes sense). As the service went on and I filled out my guest card and looked through the bulletin. I was excited to hear the lesson for the day. There was a small skit mimicking the "Mac vs. PC" Apple commercials in honor of Father's day that was clever but a little too deep of a topic to be summed up in quick-witted banter between two generalized characters attempting to represent a father and son in modern day America.

After that I was thinking, "Okay! On to the lesson." I was really hoping for one of those really inspiring talks that you see on Tangle.com. You know the ones. But instead what I got for the next 15-20 minutes was a run down of EVERY single program currently in progress and a ceremony for the 30+ teens who raised $70k+ to take a missions trip to Ireland. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous. I would love to go overseas to experience life in Europe for a while. But whatever. I wasn't sure why this wasn't paid for by the church since it was being presented as an evangelical missions trip. But anyway.

At that point it was time for the collection. Of all the positive feelings I had about this place and what they were trying to accomplish, it was all ruined in the next few moments. The "Senior Pastor" Brad Liebe, went from the gentle, loving, heart of God pastor and turned into, LEGALIST CENTRAL! It was almost like he was angry about it. Pulling no uncertain punches, he declared, "YOU MUST GIVE YOUR TITHE. YOU NEED TO GIVE YOUR FIRST 10% TO GOD! THESE PROGRAMS MUST BE PAID FOR! WE CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT IT AND YOU WILL BE RICHLY BLESSED IN RETURN! If you look in your bulletin this week you will see what Malachi 3:10 says printed there right above our contribution goals." or something very similar to that. I wasn't recording it but I know they were.

So in shock at the sudden harshness coming from the stage in front of me, I looked in my bulletin to see what he was speaking about and realized why he was so adamant about the "tithe". It seems their WEEKLY budget for running this "church" is...are you ready...$25,000.00! WEEKLY! I couldn't believe it. "WOW!" I thought to myself. It seems they haven't been making their goals though. Last weeks contribution was only $17,443.75. I guess there might be some reasons for that.

1. Not everyone is giving their 10%
2. Everyone is giving their 10% but their memberships income isn't such that this amount would cover this much or...
3. People who would otherwise be able to make extra contributions (more than 10%) are not compelled to do so because the request being made is only 10%.

I guess there is something to be said about making it a "free-will" offering.

There was a plea to contribute more money. And it was requested that any extra money donated be earmarked by the ones donating. It was also pointed out however that this was not to be construed to be part of your 10% that is "commanded" by God.

It was really disappointing actually. I had to ask myself why are they so dogmatic about the contribution and not about anything else? What makes the money so important? And why use Malachi 3:10 to compel any Christian to do anything. I thought we were Christians...not Jews. But I digress...again.

It seems on top of their weekly budget of 25k they also have a monthly missions budget of 7000 smackers and an ongoing project called Project Cornerstone with a 2-year goal of $1.2 million buckaroos! With financial expectations like that it's no wonder they ride their members for cash.

So anyway, after the 15 minute sales pitch to it's members and a collection of funds for the "tithe" for the week we finally got to it. The sermon/lecture/homily. Now I don't know what happened here. Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe it was a paradigm issue. Or maybe I just wasn't smart enough to get it. But, I have NO CLUE as to what Mr. Liebe was trying to say. I'm not sure there was one coherent thought process that came out of his lips for the next half hour. I was trying my best to follow along but in his efforts to continue along the same study of Luke 8 and also tie it into father's day as well as keeping it entertaining and an effort to personalize the lesson, I think he forgot to string his thoughts together cohesively so that others could get something out of it. Without going into GREAT detail about the experience, lets just say, it was some thing left to be desired...again. To be fair, I do understand that every one who preaches in this type of venue, is allowed an off day and this may simply be the case. I was assured by my friend who actually suggested I visit and who knows Mr. Liebe personally, that this is more than likely the case.

Unfortunately, however,  this left a bad taste in my mouth.  My final impression was that these people have a great opportunity to provide a place for Christians to get together and worship and grow and learn and be immersed in the Lord. It is too bad though that they come across as an organization whose goal is simply to drain this community of every last extra cent they have under the guise of religion and even more disappointingly under the name of Christ. I guess if it was treated more like a YMCA or admitted to being an organization for Christians instead of a Church, I'll be honest, I might have considered a membership myself. But never-the-less. Sadly, disappointing.

On the plus side. Since it was Father's day, I was given a token for a free Ice cream...err...frozen custard at Culver's. WOOHOO. Hey why not just pay people to come to church? I've heard that somewhere before. hmmm....

Anyhoo...LATERS!

Edit: As you can see in the comments below there has been a firestorm of malcontent with Brad Liebe on issues unrelated to this post. As of April 7, 2013 it appears Mr. Liebe has resigned been fired due to adultery with his sister-in-law. I hope Pathways can recover and move on. I still recommend the book "So you don't want to go to church anymore?" By" Wayne Jacobsen (http://www.jakecolsen.com/) as it deals with a similar issue in the book.

Making Rounds: Appleton coC and Victory Baptist.

So I've decided to check out the different churches in the area. Not to become a member of any of these organizations but simply to evaluate and get a true perspective on the way others in the community practice their faith. I will be visiting only Christian churches. This excludes Unitarian Universalists and Mormons. I will be checking out their websites if available and listing their times of service followed by a review of my impressions.

Appleton church of Christ

I actually started this past week. I went back to visit my friends over at the Appleton church of Christ on Newberry Street on Sunday Morning. I attended both the 9:30am Bible Study as well as the 10:30am Worship Service. It was really good to see many of the faces I have come to know and love over the last 10 years. There will always be a special place in my heart for those folks there at Newberry St. Especially the preacher Whit Sasser. Heck, I named my kid after him. (His first name is James and my son's middle name is James.)

More info can be found at:
http://www.appletonchurchofchrist.org/

Review:

My review of this congregation would be slightly skewed because I know them all so well and they know me as well. I don't feel I can properly gauge the experience on a relative scale since I would have to be a total stranger for there to be an understanding from my current perspective. I will say this however, that when I first appeared there over 10 years ago I was greeted very well by many if not all of the members. They were very kind and very heart-felt. A group that genuinely cared about being hospitable and making strangers feel welcome.

As far as anything else is concerned I dare not say since, like i said before, 10 years of experience at this congregation leaves me with a bias that would not be fair to the other congregations in which I will be attending and writing reviews about. First impressions, unfortunately, in my case, are lost.

Victory Baptist

For the evening service I attended the Victory Baptist church on Richmond St. Since they don't have a website, here is a link to as much info as I have:

http://www.baptist411.com/churches/details/7362/

Their evening service time is at 6:00pm. I am not positive on the morning services.

Review:

I actually grew up in a Baptist church which is why I decided to "check them out" first. When I walked into this quaint little building I wasn't quite sure what to expect. When I had driven by earlier that day, I figured there couldn't be more than 20 or so members in this congregation. Indeed, it was a small congregation of about 4-5 families. the only young members were the members children and it seems it has been this way for some time.

Now, I must admit. I am quite familiar with the core Baptist Doctrines, so I had a little bit of a "heads up" before walking in the door. When I walked in of course it was right before services were ready to start so I assumed I would have to rush to my seat and try not to hold up the service.

I was greeted by the evangelist of the group, one Mr. Ken Griesbach. Much to my surprise he took some time to get to know me a little bit. Albeit, with a small amount of confusion. I got the impression that this congregation doesn't get too many visitors from the area. The atmosphere was a little uneasy as I observed the strange looks on some of the members faces and the children's blank stares of curiosity.

Of course the first question on Mr. Griesbach's mind was, "Are you saved?" To which I happily responded, "Yes!" This was a little weird for me since it's not often one asks me this question. I told him that I had grown up in a Baptist church but didn't have the heart to tell him that I lost count of the number of times I was "saved". But to ease his conscience I told him, and later on, another one of the member's that, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." For some reason, I wondered at that moment..."How do they know I'm not lying?" Of course I wasn't lying, but how would they know?

Well, services started and there were many songs that were sung with the guidance of a single slightly out of tune piano. I tried to recall the days of my youth as a Baptist growing up but it was tough since the church I grew up in only used a guitar. Played by "Pastor Mark" every Sunday. I knew quite a few of the songs they sang and we got to one of my all time favorites, "Jesus Loves Me". I always enjoy watching the kids sing that song. Sometimes I think of how innocent they are, liking the song for it's simplicity and not necessarily for it's message. As an adult it makes me appreciate the song all the more. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so! There is a GIGANTIC message there and speaks to so many fundamental tenants of our Christian faith.

As the service continued after the songs, a collection was made but the Lord's supper was not served. I found that particularly interesting. I was actually looking  forward to witnessing how this is practiced at this particular congregation.

I always find it humorous when small congregations still insist on "passing the plate" for their contribution. Especially at evening services. If you watch you might actually see someone put something in there that wasn't present that morning or perhaps they believe they must give every time they gather together. Who knows? I still find it funny though because the guy holding the collection plate kinda looks around aimlessly knowing full well that out of the maybe 10 people in the congregation that have money to give either already gave or are too young and don't have any income. But I digress.

The sermon was unfortunately something left to be desired. Without going into a huge discourse about why I can't stand the 1611 KJV of the Bible, I will just say that for most of the sermon I was kicking myself for not having brought my Bible. I understood what the preacher was trying to get at though with the lesson.  It was a discourse on Genesis 30 and the slick business decision by Jacob to take the spotted and speckled sheep and then breeding the spots and speckles out of the sheep thereby showing how smart the Isrealites were, having the basic understandings of genetics. A good lesson all in all.

Of course no wonderful Baptist "homily" can be let go without at least one paragraph on Pre-millinialism. So he told a story of a news reporter asking an old friend of his when Jesus would again re-appear. Slickly quoting Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."

I remembered that so I could fulfill his request that if anyone had questions they could ask after services. So I approached him after some fellowshipping with a couple other members who did their best to sell me a membership. :) I asked Mr. Griesbach what exactly the Apostle Paul was referring to when he said in:

Romans 16:25-27 "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest , and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen." KJV (emph.added)

and

Colossians 1:23 "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard , and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;" KJV (emph. added)

He readily admitted that throughout history there have been times that Christianity had been preached to the whole world but gave no explanation as to why Christ did not return at that time. I just smiled and said "Okay." He seemed interested in talking about the Christians role in our government but bordered on tossing out the validity of scripture when I brought up Romans 13. I was quite surprised at this. But I didn't want to argue. So I changed the subject. He asked me about my family and wondered if we would be seeing each other again and I told him "Perhaps."

One other thing of note was that during a conversation with one of the other members, it was decided by him that it was important that I know that there are churches "out there" that believe that baptism is necessary for salvation. WHAT!!!! lol. :D I told him, "And you're okay with that, right?" I then stopped paying attention when he went on with the calvinist cookbook, eventually moving on to my conversation with Mr. Griesbach.

Overall, I would say these are genuinely nice people but I can see it getting ugly if anyone were to disagree with them. Heck, I am not sure one would gain any respect if you studied from any other Bible than the 1611 Authorized KJV.

One question I would LOVE to have asked and just didn't get the chance would be why they don't worship with Grace Baptist a few blocks down the road since they also are an independant Baptist Congregation. Maybe that is where I will visit next Sunday.

Have a wonderful day folks!

Fiscally Responsible?

My Mother-In-Law showed me something she received from a Democratic Co-Worker of hers yesterday. This was the Chart she was shown:

This was My response:
The Constitution
Article I
Section. 7.
All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Section. 8.
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

  
Now who’s the “Knuckle-Draggers”?

My Review of Angus (DVD)

Originally submitted at WB Shop

Angus is fat, dorky and smart, a kid with an uncool pal and a crush on a cheerleader. Angus is funny, rowdy and triumphant, a totally cool movie with a dead-on eye and ear for the hilarious, heartbreaking rite of passage called high school. A great cast (including Academy Award® winners* George C. ...

Angus (DVD)

AMAZING!

By Chad the Conquerer from Appleton, WI on 4/8/2010

 

4out of 5

Pros: Entertaining, High Production Value, Engaging Characters, Original

Best Uses: At Home, Younger Viewers, Adult Viewers

Describe Yourself: Avid Moviegoer

I have been waiting for ages for this to be released on DVD and it has finally come. This can be a life changing movie for many. Whether you struggle with your weight or being picked on at school or even if you are/were the bully. There is a great message in this movie and it was well taught. There is a bit of language but it adds to the realism of the movie without being overdone. I think Everyone will enjoy this movie.

(legalese)