ready for the rapture?

Of course you're not.  Nobody is.

So- tomorrow at 6PM, there's supposed to be an earthquake in the east somewhere, and all the Believers in Jesus get to make that cool trip to clouds and watch as God destroys the rest of the world over the next 6 months or so.

Wow.  Some people actually believe this stuff.  Needless to say, there's a veritable plethora of reasons why this probably won't happen.  Strike that.  Won't happen.

Every few years, some whack job with a calculator and a very basic understanding of Scripture comes up with something like this.  This is far from the first time, kids.  William Miller (no relation- thank God) predicted that the Rapture would happen sometime in 1843, and his followers sold their possessions and climbed a hill in Ohio in October, 1844 to wait, only to be sorely disappointed.  (that's the first one I can think of)  Paul Yongghi Cho predicted it in 1989 again.  They just don't learn.  The bottom line is this- no amount of math, equidistant lettering, secret codes or Dean Brown exogesis gets around Matthew 24:35-37, Mark 13:31-33 and Acts 1:6-7.  (To name but a few)  

It's totally ok with me if people want to run their mouths over their 1+1=5 calculations, but there's really two major issues with it- one self serving and one not so much so.

1. This kind of thing makes all Believers just look stupid.  I don't know about you, but I do a darned fine job of making myself look stupid on a daily basis, so I don't need their help.
2. This kind of teaching is false prophecy, plain and simple.

It's the second reason that is really the most troubling and from two really interesting viewpoints.  The fact that anyone claiming Christ as their Savior would even entertain this kind of idiocy is very troubling, because the Bible is full of statements from Jesus and the Apostles saying that there will always be false prophets, and that we need to be aware of them.  The people who entertain this are plainly not cognizant of passages like Matthew 7:15-23 (and 24), or other passages in Acts, 2nd Peter and the Gospel of John.  The final false prophet, shown in Revalation is actually the Anti-Christ- but I don't think this latest idiot has that much juice- and besides, Satan knows Scripture and would never even attempt to get around it.

(And, yeah- I'm saying that this latest prophecy is probably not given by Satan.  It's a foolish man, apart from anything else that is doing this)

The other troubling aspect of false prophecy is that Deuteronomy 18:20 is pretty clear on what is supposed to happen to the false prophet.

I make no secret of the fact that as far as Rapture disposition goes, I'm more of a post-tribber than anything- and that's if the Rapture - as we have heard about it for the last 30 years or so -  is even real.  (I'm not saying it isn't, so please don't start a flame war over that.)  Whatever disposition you adhere to is fine- but, for me, I actually don't care if it's pre, post, during- all I want is to be with Jesus, and however it happens, happens.  I'm not going to worry about the actual semantics of it.  Personally, I think that all that Rapture theology does is divert people's attention from what is important to something that isn't, and that they don't really have control over anyway.  God's ultimate desire for all of us is redemption and reconciliation - end of line.  Nothing else matters.

a cause for celebration?

It's been awhile.  The knee is better; the back is worse.  <sigh>  I hate getting old.

One of the things I really hate about getting old (beside the physical falling apart) is the fact that with age, comes wisdom.  More often than not, that wisdom is a good thing- it's welcomed.  You see things a tad more proactively, and if you're really lucky you even get to act upon that foreknowledge.  Unfortunately, you also get to see things in light of a bigger picture.

Osama bin Laden is dead.  Good riddance, I say.  Last night, when the news first broke, my initial reaction was, literally, "WOO-HOO!  WE GOT THE BASTARD!".  I then had a good nights sleep- hardly because an inflamed boil on the buttocks of society had been lanced, but because the drugs that I took for my back problem, coupled with a nice 3 fingers of Tullamore Dew had the desired effect, but I digress.......

When I awoke this morning, that feeling had changed, drastically:

Ezekiel 33:10-11
Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of[b] them. How then can we live?”’ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

Obadiah 1:12-14
But look not thou on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress. Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay ye hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. And stand thou not in the crossway, to cut off those of his that escape; and deliver not up those of his that remain in the day of distress.

So, what does this mean?

I'm no Biblical scholar.  I won't claim that I am at all, but what I think it means is that God is basically telling us that even though the wicked get what they deserve, it is not a cause that He celebrates.  And, since God would be the only One who would able to actually be above the wickedness, only He could celebrate, and since he doesn't, we definitely shouldn't.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that bin Laden got what he deserved.  No doubt at all.  The world is a far, far better place without his taking up any kind of oxygen displacement.  He was the dregs of what any thinking person would describe as a meaningful member of society.  His brand of his religion is backwards and has no merit at all (and, I am NOT lumping Islam into this category- I am saying that he was apostate to the bulk of Islam as a whole) and hopefully, this will be the end of that part of it, but I also think that this is the beginning for us as society.

Here's the deal- and really give this some thought for a second before you dismiss it out of hand.  That pig was fond of saying that we (the U.S.) did not deserve to live, and that our lives are forfeit because we don't share his viewpoint.  He declared that there were no innocents in the world, and that anyone who stood in the way of Shariah Law and his particular viewpoint of Allah deserved to die, and more than that- he would celebrate when that happened.  

If we do the same thing, aren't we just as bad in some small way?

Now, before anyone gets too red in the face about me even foisting the possibility that the U.S. is anywhere near the swine who ran off to a cave to hide, and in his final moments took refuge behind an innocent woman (only to suffer sudden lead poisoining of the left eye as a gift from a very sure-shotted U.S. Navy Seal) - I am not saying that.  I am saying, however, that this day presents a really interesting challenge that might possibly really show the other parts of the world that we actually get it.  Instead of celebrating his death with chants of "USA!  USA!  USA!", we can and should bend a knee and thank God that we live in a country that is protected by heroes, and repent of our own sins before a just and Living God.  

Killing Osama bin Laden was not a sin- I truly believe that.  It had to be done.  But, what people seem to fail to realize is that killing, necessary or not, does come at a price of our collective souls.  It's not enough to take care of one complete asshole and call it a day- now the real work has to begin.  It isn't good for kids to parade in front of the White House and celebrate this moment as some kind of fraternity party with crowd surfing - this is hardly the time for that.  It is time that we, as a country, put our money (and our faith) where our mouth is and stand up and make a difference.  

I'll finish by saying this- God Bless and keep the men and women of our armed forces.  They did an outstanding job in what must have been a grisly and ghastly affair, and they are to be commended for doing a job that few of us could ever do.  Those people who took part in this operation have every right to celebrate a job well done.  We, as the people that are being protected- our job is not to celebrate it (or use it as a political statement to get re-elected.......everyone feelin' me on that one?) but rather, to acknolwedge that once again, God has provided for us.

God Bless the USA!

happy knee year

Hee-hee.....I crack myself up......literally!  For those that don't know, I blew my knee up on 12/29.  I had sent an email to work telling them of this, and was told I had a gift for writing comedy.  Here's that email-  

Last Wednesday, at about 7:30PM, I took our new puppy, Ruca (5 month old pit bull/labrador mix) out for a walk, and it was snowing.  I was walking down my driveway (which, as some may know, runs downhill as my house sits on the downward side of a hill) and moved to avoid a slippery patch of ice, and stepped onto my lawn - and into a slightly frozen over mud puddle, which I immediately broke thru.  I started sliding, standing up (and Ruca decides this is a race and starts running....), so in order to control the slide, I decided to sit  down.  (That will stop me and the dog, right?) Unfortunately, just as I reached the point of no return on sitting down, my right foot caught the end of the mud puddle too soon, and stopped forward motion, canting my foot to the right at about 45 degrees off center.  My butt contacted the mud/snow mix (at about terminal velocity I think.....) but still had  forward motion, as I did not lock my knee.  (can't lock my right knee- it's been replaced.)  So, my butt slides on the snow/mud mix, into the back of my right heel, putting my knee into a rather odd and not-designed for angle.  (For emphasis, turn your right foot outward at a 45 degree angle, and  then put your heel against your rear end.  See what your knee wants to do?)

KER-ACK!  Several words rhyming with "truck" , "jam" and "split" came out of my mouth at high volume.  I think I mentioned God.  I definitely scared the dog.  Not good.

Got back on my feet, and my knee felt really funny- wobbly.  Great. I know what that means.  I managed to get inside the house and upstairs to my kitchen; grabbed some Aleve; grabbed an Ace bandage; told my wife what happened (still didn't think it was terribly bad- just hurt) and went and laid down with an ice pack and watched some TV.  Fell asleep.  (that was weird)  Woke up 2 hours later, and it felt like I had been riding a bicycle uphill for a long ways.  Decided that I should probably assess the damage.

As soon as I put weight on it, I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong.  The room became very bright, my vision went grey and I heard rushing water in my ears - I'm passing out???  No pain - oh, wait- there it is.  Like nothing I've ever felt before.  My knee is the size of a grapefruit (and about the same color, too)  It won't bend at all, and I'm afraid to  move in any direction.  Hearing the commotion, my wife came downstairs, says "You don't look good.  Oh, My, GOD- your knee..." and at that point my stomach decided to get in on the action and give back my dinner due to the pain.  I honestly don't remember much past this point- paramedics coming through the door; an ambulance ride to the emergency room on a VERY bumpy freeway; being asked if I wanted pain meds (my wife told them "yes" for me - good call) and I got some x-rays.  Called Jim at least once to say I wouldn’t be at work the next day.  I think I made some other calls to some of you, but I can’t remember very well.  (My apologies about that, but please understand that nothing I said will hold up in court.)

The x-rays say that it’s not broken, but they can't tell me what's wrong exactly with an x-ray.  They gave me Oxy and sent me home.  My wife made an appointment with Dr. XXXX, my orthopedist - can't see him until Monday.  I spent most of the holiday in a drugged-out haze just sleeping.

Yesterday, saw Dr. XXXXX, the orthopedist who did my right knee replacement back in 1999.  (Had a partial replacement done back then)  The fear is that I've done something that is going to require extensive surgery to fix. Turns out, I dislocated my knee (badly), I may have a slight tear in my vastus lateralis and a strained but not broken anterior crusceate ligament.  Thank God.  My appliance in my knee is completely undamaged and took the accident very, very well. Thank GOD!!!!!

Dr. XXXXX will now shoot you full of many, many drugs, and will play "Quarterback Sneak" where he will endeavor to run your right foot into the end-zone for 6 points, or to re-align your knee - whatever comes first.  (All I'll tell you is that this little maneuver - however painful you think it is - is much, much more painful than that.   Times 10.  And, yes, there were more rhyming words.)

I have an MRI scheduled for later this week, and that will tell the tale of whatever surgery I may have to have- and it does seem likely that there will be some.  Absolutely no walking, lots of bed rest, lots of anti-inflammatory drugs, decrease the pain meds ; keep the knee iced and elevated.  I’m in an immobilizer from the top my ankle to my top of my hip until at least 1/12, barring any surgery.  I will be working from home until I can drive myself- which I do not think will be much before 1/16, but we will see.  

the state of "metal"

My wife and kids will tell you that I'm rather opinionated about the state of music today- and, strangely enough, even more so on the topic of heavy metal.   And, yes, I said heavy metal.  Yes, I am somewhat of a "jazzer", but I listen to everything, or at least try to.

First, let's say what heavy metal is: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Iron
Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, early Metallica, Dokken, Living Color,
Pantera, early Slayer, Megadeth, Dio, Ozzy, Rainbow, Sevendust and
anything with Tony Iommi, Richie Blackmoor, Randy Rhoads, Dimebag
Darrell, KK Downing, Steve Harris, Paul D'Anno, or Rob Halford in it.  I
will go as far as to say that bands like AC/DC, Kiss and a few others
that skirt the edge of classic rock, as well as things like Dream
Theater and Tool also fall into this category.  (And, no- I'm not
interested in what you call heavy metal.)

Second- let's say what heavy metal is not: Darned near anything else that calls itself metal- especially these days.  Specifically, I'll state that bands like Mudvayne, Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death, new Metallica, Mastodon, Killswitch Engage, Into The Moat, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Bring Me The Horizon, As I Lay Dying, Gwar and, yeah- even Opeth (my apologies to the Swedes) are no more metal than say, Abba.  I dare you headbang to "Dancing Queen".  Go ahead.  I'll wait. 

(And, before I go too much further, let me again state- I am not interested in what you call "metal".  This is my blog.  Get your own.)

Now, let's get specific.  Both my son and my wife are what I like to call "rivet heads"- they enjoy a bunch of different bands, and make regular trips to various concert venues around Seattle to see some bands that tout themselves as metal, but I can't stand them.  It's not the cookie monster vocals that bother me.  It's not the "black magic", death images or even the satan worship stuff that bothers me.  (The satan worship cracks me up, actually)  It's not the screaming, unintelligible lyrics; the crunching guitars; the swearing; the constant barrage of sexual and dismemberment images; the darkness- none of that bothers me.  It's just schtick.

What bothers me is the kick drum.  What????!???

It used to be that heavy metal had some lyrically social relevance and actually required a certain amount of ability for all the players to pull it off.  Now, all it requires is a drummer with a double-kick pedal that functions like a pneumatic jack-hammer and at least 2 guitar players who do nothing but play dropped D5 chords that sit on top of the kick drum firings, and you have what people call "heavy metal".  There's no concept of major, minor, diminished, half-diminished chords, no semblance of melody and certainly no semblance of style - and all the tunes are the same thing, regurgitated, straight from whoever can tune down the lowest.  Even a lot of the theatrics are gone.  Heavy metal is now nothing more than a shriek and a kick drum, and all the "new metal" - all of it - is completely and totally irrelevant.  No one tries anything new anymore. 

The other evening, as I was driving home from a jazz gig, I was trying like mad get "All The Things You Are" out of my head, so I flipped on Sirius Radio and tuned into one of the metal stations, and I was immediately struck by the fact that every, single, solitary band sounded exactly alike.  I thought, "ok, Marc- you've turned into your dad" and felt sick to my stomach at the very thought of it.  (My dad considers Supertramp to be "hard rock"........yeesh.)  Then I flipped to one station who was playing "Wishing Well" from Sabbath's "Heaven And Hell" as a tribute to Ronnie James Dio (someone who is TRULY deserving of many, many tributes) and I was equally struck by the absolute genius of it all.  It's dark.  It's stylized.  It's got intelligence.  It's got balls.  Dio sings like his head is about to come off and fly through the speakers.  I turned it up to about the highest the radio could go, and reveled in its dark glory.

Last night, while on (yet another jazz) gig, I found myself talking to one of my guitarist's students, who was obviously another rivet head.  We got to talking about what his band does, and he proceeded to tell me that they all "tune down to B!"  (like that's impressive) and that most of their songs are centered around "the B note", and once again, I was saddened to hear this.

Why has this happened?  What took guys like Yngwie Malmsteen and Rising Force and made them into The Jonas Brothers with Cookie Monster from Sesame Street on vocals?  Doesn't anyone care anymore?  I miss the days of Maiden and Priest- bands who had something to say and a way to say it that was original - and I desperately now believe that all double kick pedals should be removed from all but Dennis Chambers' feet.  How about you metal-heads- you know who you are- learn a couple of actual chords - not barre chords, by the way- and learn to write a song rather than a kick pedal ornamentation?  What you're doing isn't heavy- it's just crap.

misguided

Lots and lots of stuff going on here- family stuff, music stuff, work stuff.....just lots of stuff.  Since, apparently in the blogsphere I'm something of a malcontent, I have to share one thing- but I think that this topic transcends more than just the obvious.

Lately, I've been working on a side project- I can't go into too many details about it, but it's an online music education system that, if it's done right, will be a total game changer.  The concept is something I've never seen before, and it's truly revolutionary.  It's been dreamed up by two players who are in that strata that can only be described as "the best of the best" (and, no, I hardly qualify in this company) and will be something that will be emulated- I guarantee it.  If it's done right.

If.

The problem is that in the "inner circle" of this project is one person who I'm not sure really understands what is being attempted.  He has a modicum of technical knowledge, but that knowledge is really limited to his skillset (he's a marketing dude) and how to hook this piece of barely functioning software to that other piece of barely functioning software in kind of a "cobbling" methodology.  And, the gameplan seems to change day to day, minute to minute, and I'm partially convinced that this happens for his own amusement- but, I'm more convinced it's because his knowledge of what's being attempted is at such a high level that he can't get down into the weeds (where I am) and worse than that- he doesn't want to, nor does he see any value in it.

We've all experienced people like this in our personal and professional travels.  They've experienced a small amount of success in doing something a certain way, and that certain way becomes their hammer.  The trouble with always wielding a hammer is that everything else begins to look like a nail.  Pretty soon, all the identity of what you're trying to do -be it a web site, band, widget - goes out the window and what you're left with is something that is far, far less than what you started out envisioning. 

Why am I telling you, my gentle readers, about this?

In this day of microwave society, everything anyone does has just become mediocre.  It only has to be good enough, and no one expects or wants craftsmanship.  They don't see the value in deferring to people who have been doing things for years and years at a level that they don't understand.  Some of that mindset is actually good and warranted- it keeps things simple- but when the person who is directing your efforts has no interest in the value that you are providing, you're faced with only two options: Educate or Eradicate.

I like to err on the side of Educate first.  That's where I am right now with this thing.  I'm extremely passionate about how this thing is supposed to work, and I'm passionate about working with the two owners of the project.  The marketing guy seems to see our passion as unnecessary- and we're having a devil of time convincing him otherwise.  If we can't convince him that the passion is an absolute requirement in order to do this correctly, we'll have to move to Eradicate.  Hopefully it won't come to that- unlike him, I see the value that he is providing in his misguided way.

The next time you're faced with someone who's "know-it-all" attitude just doesn't have the juice to back up what's trying to be attempted, my fondest hope is that you'll remember this and identify it for what it is.  Misguided.