Jeremiah - Prophetic to America?

I scoffed at the comparison (NYC being modern-day Babylon, for one), but people are talking about it more now. Jeremiah was a prophet to ALL the nations, not just Judah/Israel.

Recent studies point out that because of the dispersia, Jews are a large part of nations other than Israel, particularly, America.

I'll post what I've been reading, but right now, I think it's important to post the whole Book of Jeremiah. It's a cautionary tale.

Jeremiah Chapter One (NIV):


1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2 The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, 3 and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
The Call of Jeremiah

4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew [a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

6 "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

11 The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
"I see the branch of an almond tree," I replied.

12 The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching [b] to see that my word is fulfilled."

13 The word of the LORD came to me again: "What do you see?"
"I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the north," I answered.

14 The LORD said to me, "From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. 15 I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms," declares the LORD.
"Their kings will come and set up their thrones
in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem;
they will come against all her surrounding walls
and against all the towns of Judah.

16 I will pronounce my judgments on my people
because of their wickedness in forsaking me,
in burning incense to other gods
and in worshiping what their hands have made.

17 "Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. 18 Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

Thinly Sliced Pork with Garlic, Fennel, and Apple

I am, of late, eating a meat dish in the early afternoon for energy, and then a salad later at night, in hopes of losing and maintaining weight as I age.

The dishes are still very tasty – I’ve just minimized, which is what I’m doing with most facets of my life these days.

I encourage you to vary this afternoon entree– beef, turkey or chicken breast, lean pork and fish. I think the tastiest, cleanest meat on the planet is Kosher, even though I had pork today! Trader Joe’s has a great selection of Kosher meats, and Chicago, where I used to live and am not far away, has wonderful Kosher butchers in the neighborhoods.

Start with a third of a pound of pork tenderloin or roast. If you buy good, lean, preferably organically fed piece of pork, you can divide it into serving sizes and store in your freezer in quart serving bags. Tip: frozen meat will keep longer if you double bag it.

Defrost the meat, rinse it in cold water and dry the excess moisture with a paper towel or two.

Heat a no-stick skillet – I happen to have an analon hard-anodized 12” skillet and love it. Put heat on low for now.

Take one or two cloves of garlic, peel and slice as thinly as possible with a sharp knife. Put the garlic aside.

Slice the meat thinly. Then put a couple of tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in your skillet. Turn up the gas to medium high and throw in the meat. Save the garlic for later.

In my little herb grinder, I placed the following:

10 black peppercorns
half teaspoon of fennel seeds
minced garlic
minced onion
dry flaked parsely
some red pepper – I have powdered cayenne on hand.

Use only a small amount of herbs/spices because grinding brings out all the flavor and a little goes a long way.

Don’t use salt in cooking because it dries out the meat!

When you turn the meat over, sprinkle on the herb/spice mix.

Chop an apple into big pieces and add to the pan.

It won’t be long before it’s all done. I suggest cooking until meat and apple are a light brown.

I usually strain any fat or juice in a hand held strainer. Serve in your dinner bowl or plate, then salt to taste with Kosher salt and enjoy. Remember to thank the Lord for providing!

I find I can go through the entire day with a small breakfast and then this simple meat meal. Once or twice a week, I’ll sub veggies, soup, or beans for the meat, but I’ll still make a salad in the evening. Great time for a beer to go with it!

What Glen Beck and Most Other Conservatives, Libertarians Are Missing

What was wrong with Glen Beck’s CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) speech last week?

He got up and confidently compared Republicans to an unrepentant alcoholic.

‘ "I have not yet heard people in the Republican Party admit they have a problem," Beck told a packed ballroom in Washington. "I have not seen a come-to-Jesus meeting. . . . 'Hello, my name is the Republican Party and I've got a problem. I'm addicted to spending and big government.' . . . They need that moment." ’

You betcha.

I haven’t heard one speech that addresses the other side of the problem. What other side of the problem?

Good thing I engage - and I’m thankful for this – in conversation with a few very liberal, progressive friends. We are close enough for them to entertain, if not try on, my viewpoint. And we still come away friends.

Generally all liberals are against “big corporation” as much as conservatives are against “big government.” Throw it back a century or so and you’ve got the same argument, but in its initial form: labor vs. management. Corporation still represents management, but now government is looked upon by the left, erroneously, as the people’s benefactor.

Beck knows all this. So where is he missing the yacht? I’ve been reading one of Peter Marshall’s books about the founding of the USA. He uses real quotes, real research and real, handwritten documents - most of which were unearthed from Yale or Princeton archives, ca. 17th and 18th centuries. They’re the “Dead Sea Scrolls” of our country. BTW, Marshall’s mother, Catherine, wrote “Little House on the Prairie,” and his dad was chaplain of the US Senate (1947-49).

Marshall, in “From Sea To Shining Sea,” discusses the first Constitutional Convention in the late 1700s. Talk about special interest! The states were battling so much over MONEY, that individual states were courting foreign countries, whose armies and political power could best suit their needs.

The great experiment that had become the USA was about to fail because the initial focus that energized independence had changed – from unity, to self-interest. Using historical records, Marshall brings us to the convention hall and shows us the key to what turned things around.

A bespectacled gentleman, dottering on his cane, watching the goings on in an overheated, unbearably humid room in Philadelphia, summer, 1787, pointed out something ineffably valuable to the arguing delegates. No fiction setting the scene, it’s written by the participants themselves.

Benjamin Franklin, 82, had less than three years to live. Only 10-15 yrs. previous, he was a chief mover in founding this country. In fact, his prodigious inventions and writings set the tone for the American way of life - electricity for one. Franklin/Edison/A Teen on a Cell Phone. Yes, yes, and a few stops in between.

Franklin, the elder statesman, recalled the marching orders that gave the country its freedom from repressive, selfish British rule. You think the Brits are nice? Ok, they’re nice. But they used America as a cash cow. 225 years later, they barely have a country.

Franklin’s words quelled the bickering among the states at the 11th hour as the nation they formed with the unity of their blood, sweat and tears was about to be torn and shredded from its flagpole. He implored them (quote from Sea to Shining Sea):

“I have lived sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: ‘that God governs in the affairs of man.’ And if a sparrow can’t fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire cannot rise without His aid?”

Franklin reminded that a house is built in vain unless the Lord build it Himself. He believed the same held for America, that “we shall succeed in this political building no better than the towers of Babel, [and] divided by our little, partial local [special] interests, and become a reproach and a byword down to future ages.”

Ain’t that the truth? Worse, Franklin said, is that by building the nation on “human wisdom” would leave it open to “chance, war, or conquest.”

Couple centuries later, and boom, it’s the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Toke toke, sniff sniff, cough cough, giggle giggle. Adultery, swap partners, intense restriction of Christianity, rise of sodomy, money grab, power grab. You’d think the Lord is sitting up there wondering, “what the h#&& kind of wimpy people did I create?”

No, I don’t think He’s doing that. This country, this land o’ plenty, has been a supreme test. You want it, you got it. Every sparkling doo-dad, tech and perversion imaginable. But the rules are, and Franklin saw this – the more you take on your own, the less the Lord has His hand on us.

Could Franklin have foreseen this slide into oblivion, masked, at present as intellectual, benign socialism? All he had to do was pick up the bible. He concluded to the Con-Con delegates:

“I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business.”

Powerful words. They held a mesmerizing sway over the crowd. And the members, teetering on the edge of an irreversible secular democracy instead of a republic, were stirred. America, instead of being a large teat up for grabs for whoever squeaked the loudest (or sucked the hardest), was to be a light for all men.

A light for all men. Corny? You betcha. It’s the HONOR SYSTEM. That’s all God asked: to be pure in heart and let the Holy Spirit guide you – corporation head, banker, politician, pastor, the common man and woman.

Did we lose sight of that? We should write it on our hands.

From Pat Boone

In his column for WND this morning, Pat Boone restates the prophetic warnings about big government, given by no less than Ben Franklin and second president of the United States, John Adams. Here are the quotes:

"But early on, Ben Franklin warned, "Beware; if the congressmen discover they can appropriate funds by taxation for their own purposes, the republic will be lost."

And on Oct. 11, 1798, President John Adams stated in his address to the military: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, or revenge, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Thanks Pat Boone, for the wisdom and insight. Mr. Boone is a descendant of Daniel Boone - his relatives were there when this country was started. But it's not Boone, it's the words, the thoughts, the ideas grasped by a core of individuals who understood what tyranny was and what it would take to build a truly free nation. Proof of their keen understanding (it comes from the Lord, not man), is shown in their words of forebodding.

We forgot about the rules. Oh, everybody knows right from wrong (you'd think, eh?). But we went to sleep and as long as we were taken care of, we let the rules become twisted, self-serving and even perverted. At our expense. Not just our money, but our freedom.

And, judging by what all my friends are going through, we're not so taken care of anymore. Is it too late to fix? You tell me.

Bacon and Bourbon, and Somewhere, Catfish

There's a fresh piece of catfish under there, look close!

I like the new Analon skillet and it was about time I cooked some fish. The flavors came together, so here we go:

1/2 catfish filet
3 strips of bacon (i've found nitrate free, Hormel, I think)
1/4 bermuda onion
orange zest and a little juice
a few baby carrots
bourbon (just enough to make the fish and chef happy)
fresh parsely
peanuts
three mushrooms, sliced
green peas
olive oil
Earth Balance spread
whole wheat spaghetti (i used capellini, which is thin spaghetti, for this one)


Start by grinding 1/2 tsp. ea of these herbs:
granulated garlic
granulated onion
coarse ground black pepper or peppercorns
basil
oregano
parsely flakes

Put 2/3 of this mixture into the boiling pasta and the rest (later) into the fish dish.

Fry the bacon. Add the catfish, tablespoon of Earth Balance spread. Add chopped or sliced onion. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Throw in a handful of peanuts. Add the mushrooms, carrots and the orange zest (squeeze in a little juice).

As it all starts to brown, add a splash of bourbon. Add the rest of the herbs. Add fresh parsely and the peas towards the end.

I cooked the peas separately in the remaining juice - either way is fine.

In the bowl:

pasta, crumbled bacon, peanuts, kosher salt, more pepper, parmesean or any shredded italian cheese, a little olive oil.

Put the fish/onion, etc. on top with the peas and parsely at the very top. a little more kosher salt and you're done!

If He Were Among Us Now

"The constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."-Patrick Henry

Darwin, can you hear me?

This morning, Dennis Miller came up with the best Darwin line I've ever heard. Ready?

"God created Darwin."