Leaders Tell The Truth

Leaders are involved in one of the most morally significant callings on earth, and nothing the leader touches is without moral meaning and importance. While the leader shares the same basic moral requirements as everyone else, there are certain virtues that the leader simply cannot do without.

In making us in his image, God created human beings as moral creatures. Our minds are constantly in a moral mode of thinking and reasoning. Our consciences demand attention, and we are continually observing others around us for moral signals.

Our Creator gave us laws, principles, precepts, and commandments that guide us, convict us, and protect us. Christian leaders know to be thankful for the common morality that is revealed in nature and has been recognized in some form in virtually every civilization and culture. We are also thankful for the specific moral instruction given to us in the Bible through the commandments and statutes and laws that frame our Christian moral knowledge.

Furthermore, we must recognize the importance of the moral order represented by the government, which, after all, was also given to us by our Creator in order that we might live in societies of order and peace. If these structures of law and morality did not exist, leadership would be impossible.

What Is Dispensationalism? | by Keith Mathison

Dispensationalism is a popular and widespread way of reading the Bible. It originated in the nineteenth century in the teaching of John Nelson Darby and was popularized in the United States through the Bible Conference movement. Its growth was spurred on even more through the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible, which was published in 1909. Scofield’s Bible contributed to the spread of dispensationalism because it included study notes written from a distinctively dispensationalist perspective. The founding of Dallas Theological Seminary in 1924 by Lewis Sperry Chafer provided an academic institution for the training of pastors and missionaries in the dispensationalist tradition. Some of the most notable dispensationalist authors of the twentieth century, including John F. Walvoord, Charles C. Ryrie, and J. Dwight Pentecost, taught at Dallas Seminary.

Dispensationalist theology is perhaps best known for its distinctive eschatological doctrines, particularly the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. According to this doctrine, this present church age will be followed by a seven-year period of tribulation. Before the tribulation begins (thus “pre-tribulation”), the church will be caught up to heaven where believers will be with Christ until the second coming, which occurs at the end of the tribulation. At that time, they will return with Christ, who will then inaugurate His millennial kingdom (dispensationalists are thus also premillennialists).

The Stones of Life (The Sequel)

Lately I've had a little bit more extra time on my hands, that reason is because of my far-too-regular appointment with kidney stones. One of the first blogs I posted, way back in 2006, dealt with this non-welcome guest who tended to all ways overstay his welcome. Well, fast forwarding to September 2025 and we have a repeat performance. 

About ten days ago, while minding my own business and contemplating how to spend the least amount of money at Wal Mart, I suddenly felt "That Pain". It was like a knife had been injected into my left side, I started to sweat, and then the pain decided to take up a more permanent residence. This caused all kinds of issues, as I'm sure you can imagine, from no longer desiring to eat, to not being able to sleep, to not being able to sit at work and going from a maximum day of around eleven hours to five and half hours (which also, remarkably, correlated with the time I could exist without a pain pill.) Called my favorite urologist who it turns out no longer had me as an active patient, and started the fun process of getting a referral, trying to manage pain that was an unrelenting foe, and then scheduling the CT scans, etc. 

But the reason for this blog is this, tracking previous stone attacks, I noticed what to me is a weird coincidence, each time I had an attack of kidney stones, it started in the month of September! September 2002 was my first experience, followed by 2006, 2010, and then 2013. At this point you can imagine my dread that settled on my around the fall season, roughly every four years. But praise Jesus, I've had zero attacks since 2013.

Until now. 

September 2025. 

Pray for me people, please . . . 

Where Do We Go When We Die?

Blog post by Jeff Smith (2022) |

http://www.saltandlightmin.org/blog/where-do-i-go-when-i-die

"My friend Ann and I like to talk when we work out at the gym.  Sometimes, she’ll pose a question about the Bible, which I love to talk about.   Here was her most recent questions: 

What happens to us when we die?

I told her that it might be better if I wrote down my answer to that instead of trying to explain it between short puffs of breath. 

That was about a week ago and I’m still writing.  Since I’ve spent a good bit of time on it, I thought I would just share with all of you.

Before I begin, let me say two things:

WHERE you spend your afterlife is not even remotely as important as WHO you spend your afterlife with.  If you confess Jesus as YOUR Savior in the present life you will be WITH Him in the afterlife.   (Luke 9:26)  The primary difference between heaven and hell is not location as much as the company you will be keeping.  Jesus is in heaven.  Jesus is NOT in hell. 

Because I love the subject of Eschatology,  I’ve formulated some ideas about it based on a Judeo-Christian worldview found in the Bible.  The Bible frames the way I look at everything.   So, this is my understanding (at this point) of what the Bible says about the afterlife.

To begin with, I think that where we go when we die will move around a little bit based on the timeline of human history and then eternity.  I will provide my scriptural basis for each phase of this progression.  Generally, I believe it will go something like this FOR THE BELIEVER.

Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Feels Like a Hinge Point (by Peggy Noonan)

 

What a disaster for the young. It will forever shape their understanding of politics in America.

-- The Wall Street Journal: September 11, 2025

During recent national traumas we’ve heard the side argument over “thoughts and prayers.” Something terrible happens, someone sends thoughts and prayers, someone else snaps, “We don’t need your prayers, we need action.” They denounce the phrase only because they don’t understand it, and give unwitting offense. (I always hope it is unwitting.)

Prayer is action. It’s effort. It takes time. Christians believe God is an actual participant in history. He’s here, every day, in the trenches. He didn’t create the universe and disappear into the mists; his creation is an ongoing event, he is here in the world with you. When something terrible happens and you talk to him—that’s what prayer is, talking to him, communicating with concentration—you are actively asking for help, for intercession. “Please help her suffering, help their children, they are so alone.” “Help me be brave through this.”

It’s active, not passive. Catholics, when they’d pray over and over or with friends, used to call it storming heaven. It isn’t a way of dodging responsibility, it is (if you are really doing it and not just publicly posing) a way of taking it.

So pray now for America. We are in big trouble.

How To Tame Your Thoughts

[Taken from an article by Leah Marie Ann Klett | published by christianpost.com]

Four years ago, Max Lucado was sitting with a diagnosis that could have ended his life. Doctors had just informed the bestselling author and pastor that he had an ascending aortic aneurysm, an alarming and potentially deadly condition.

“I spiraled,” the 70-year-old Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, told The Christian Post. “The first three or four days after I heard the diagnosis, I’m not proud of the anxiety level I permitted.”

Then came a moment that changed everything. During a time of prayer, Lucado said he received a vision: God’s hand gently wrapped around his aorta.

“It may sound supernatural or mystical,” he said, “but I can’t deny that God gave me that vision. I believe His hand is on it, and it always was, even when I didn’t recognize it.”

The aneurysm, he shared, has grown only slightly since the diagnosis, and today, he’s grounded in a peace that can only come from God, regardless of what the future holds. 

“I do not want to leave my family. I do not want to leave my precious wife. But I’m excited to see Jesus whenever that time comes,” he reflected. “I really am at peace. That doesn’t mean I want to leave. I don’t. But I don’t have a bucket list. My best life is after this life. I’m very, very grateful for that blessing.”

The Joy of Obedience

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." (John 12:23-26)

In this Gospel lesson, Jesus reminds us, as he had proclaimed many times before to his disciples, "If you really want to be my disciple, take up your cross and follow me." And if we listen carefully and deeply to the lessons of today for a few moments, I think we will discover in a very deep way what Jesus means by that, and also we will be aware of the challenge it takes truly to follow Jesus. And first of all, I think it's important for us to realize that in what Jesus is to undergo.

You see, we have to understand that the incarnation, Jesus in his humanness, is totally separate from his identity, and so he's one like us. He had to trust in God just as we do, and he found that very difficult, just as we do. If you listen carefully to that passage from the letter to the Hebrews, you find Jesus described in a way that I think is almost shocking: "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him." (Hebrews 5:7-9)

The Dangers of Isolation

I have been thinking a lot about isolation lately. Since my divorce a year ago, my life workflow looks radically different. When you couple that life change with selling our house and moving to an apartment, and at times I struggle to even recognize my "new" normal.

‘Time-alone’ is a sought after treasure.  A time to think, read, and ‘do what I want to do.’  The menu is simpler, conflicts are reduced, and no one is around to question decisions made or decisions postponed.  We all need ‘time-away’.  Time to seek God’s voice, reflect, relax and recover.  We ask ourselves important questions and listen for the Spirit’s voice.  Jesus was reported to regularly retreat and seek out places of solitude and prayer. However, I am coming to understand the dangerous differences between being alone, loneliness and isolation. Social distancing has consequences.

However, the very first warning in the creation story is “It is not good for man to be alone.”  When people are alone, many struggle with burdens, anxiety, addictions and the sorrow of opportunities lost.  Temptation knocks. Loneliness can enhance feelings of depression and can flood your mind with accusations and bitterness.  

But you know what is worse than loneliness? 

Isolation. 

My Favorite, (well okay), My Only Mickey Mantle Story

If you are even a casual observer of this blog, you have probably picked up on some of my gentle hints regarding my loyalty to the Atlanta Braves. As a kid growing up in Chattanooga, TN, our stations broadcast Atlanta baseball on the weekends and covered them in our local news at 6 and 11. But I also grew up in an era where in the month of October, our teachers in our school would roll in a black & white TV on a cart and we would watch the World Series games which were played during the daytime hours. NOTE: Trivia factoid, the first World Series to play a night game was in 1971. (Game 4 between the Pirates and the Orioles) 

During the 60's and 70's, the New York Yankees were frequent participants in the World Series. And even though their greatest player, Mickey Mantle, best years were in the 50's, he had still achieved legendary status by the time I became a baseball fan. My dad would often speak of Mickey's best season that happened in 1954. He won the American League Triple Crown by leading the majors in batting average (.353), home runs (52), and runs batted in (130). Additionally, he topped the league in runs scored (132), slugging percentage (.705), and total bases (376). Mantle also led the AL in walks with 122, which helped his overall offensive production. His stellar performance earned him the AL Most Valuable Player award that year as well. 

Surrenders of the Civil War | From Appomattox to Citronelle

 

The Strange Life of Robert Todd Lincoln

Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was an American lawyer and businessman. The eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, he was the only one of their four children to survive past 18 and also the only one to outlive both his parents.

Most students of history probably recall these basic facts about Abraham Lincoln's oldest son, yet, he is also the equivalent of a real-life Forrest Gump. 

Consider just a few of these historical moments that he either witnessed or was directly part of: 

Sometime in either late 1864 or early 1864, he was saved from possible serious injury or death by Edwin Booth, whose brother, John Wilkes Booth, would go on to assassinate Robert's father. This event took place on a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey. 

He served on General Grant's staff for almost five months, during which he witnessed Robert E Lee's surrender at Appotomax. 

On the night his father was assassinated, Robert had turned down an invitation to accompany his parents to Ford's Theatre due to fatigue after spending much of his recent time in a covered wagon at the battlefront. The president was moved to the Petersen House after the shooting, where Robert attended his father's deathbed.

Lincoln was an eyewitness when Charles J. Guiteau shot President James A. Garfield at the Sixth Street Train Station in Washington, D.C., on July 2, 1881. Lincoln was Garfield's Secretary of War at the time.

He was also present at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, when President William McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz. Though not an eyewitness, he was just outside the Temple of Music when the shooting occurred.

Lincoln himself recognized these coincidences. He is said to have refused a later presidential invitation with the comment, "No, I'm not going, and they'd better not ask me, because there is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present."

"Life Is Fleeting . . . "

"Life is fleeting; it just slips through your fingers. All vanishes like mist." - Ecclesiastes 12:8

As I write these words I'm reminded of Harold Schweizer’s book, On Waiting. An idea that he proposes is that when we are waiting for something, time is passing us by. Or at least, that’s what we think. But time doesn’t pass us by. Actually, he says, we are the ones that are passing by.

Mortality, the sense that time happens, that we are in time, and that our time will end, is responsible for much anxiety. The writer of Ecclesiastes had the same feeling. All is vanity. It’s all meaningless, because, in the end, we’re all going to die: “A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” (Ecclesiastes 1:4)

And yet during our march past the constant, watching eyes of time, we are all destined, for at least one moment in our lives, with a confrontation with "The Truth". The truth of our mortality, our helplessness, and our sinful nature measured against the standard of the law of our Creator.

"NUTS!"

“Men, we are surrounded by the enemy. We have the greatest opportunity ever presented an army. We can attack in any direction.” - Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe

On December 22, 1944, at about 11:30 in the morning, a group of four German soldiers, waving two white flags, approached the American lines using the Arlon Road from the direction of Remoifosse, south of Bastogne. The group consisted of two officers and two enlisted men. 

The Americans defending in that location were members of F Company of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. The Germans walked past a bazooka team in a foxhole in front of the Kessler farm and stopped in front of the foxhole of PFC Leo Palma, a B.A.R. gunner. The Germans explained that they had a written message to be presented to the American Commander in Bastogne.

They consented to being blindfolded and taken to the American Commanding Officer. In fact, they had brought blindfolds with them. The German surrender demand was typewritten on two sheets. One was in English, the other in German. They had been typed on an English typewriter as indicated by the fact that the diacritical marks required on the German copy had been entered by hand.

How To Approach A King . . .

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30\

We don't get a lot of insight into Jesus in the same way that we know and describe the fellow humans who reside in our circles. I mean, we know that he lived more than 2,000 years ago. And I realize that this is a basic stereotype, but he was Jewish so its probable that he had a long nose and dark hair. He was from the Middle East and spent the majority of his time outdoors so he likely had a dark complexion. But in regard to whether he was he tall, skinny, had brown or green eyes, we just don't know. And at this point we should reach the conclusion that God doesn't feel like Jesus's appearance was of great consequence as well. Because his appearance doesn’t really matter nearly as much as what he did for us does, and that’s why we’re grateful for him.

Yet, we are not without clues . . . 

The Greatness of Henry Mancini

 

One of my favorite childhood memories is sitting on our couch in our living room, with the sunlight dancing through our three bay windows, anchored on both sides by floor-to-ceiling handmade bookshelves, (crafted by my Dad) which of course contained books, our Encylopeidia collection, and our stereo amplifier, record player, and speakers. 

Sitting in the exact center of the couch, you could hear the different sounds coming from the left and the right speakers, a pretty new phenomena in the 60's, but one that was soon embraced by most of the music culture. Dad's record collection consisted of gospel, Elvis, Son's of the Pioneers, Henry Mancini, Boots Randolph, Roger Williams, and more. My personal favorites were Elvis and Henry Mancini. 

Mancini also composed some of the greatest soundtracks of the time, including Hatari, (my favorite) Creature from the Black Lagoon, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Pink Panther, and so many more. The music selection featured in the video is from the John Wayne movie, Hatari, which I highly recommend. 

Enjoy! 

Is Music A Universal Language?

This blog is based on a article by: David Ludden Ph.D. | Psychology Today 2015

"Music is a universal language. Or so musicians like to claim. “With music,” they’ll say, “you can communicate across cultural and linguistic boundaries in ways that you can’t with ordinary languages like English or French.”

On one level, this statement is obviously true. You don’t have to speak French to enjoy a composition by Debussy. But is music really a universal language? That depends on what you mean by “universal” and what you mean by “language.”

Every human culture has music, just as each has language. So it’s true that music is a universal feature of the human experience. At the same time, both music and linguistic systems vary widely from culture to culture. 

RMP #1

Starting a new series, titled "Random Memory Posts", which should play out just like the name describes. Now I'm not promising that these will occur on a regular basis, but I here I am at the starting line and that in itself is a powerful commitment. 

Today's RMP is from the year, 1968 and is both a painful and wonderful memory, depending on the person you ask for their perspective. 

Back story, I've always loved to read, and by the time I was eight, I was diving into easy-to-read mysteries, as well as fantasy and sci-fi books. I had started devouring the Lucky Starr science fiction books that were written by Isaac Asimov, though through the first few books in the series he used the pseudonym, Paul French. Another of my favorite authors was Arthur C. Clarke and if my memory is correct, I had read an article in Boys Life magazine where Clarke referred to a movie coming out later in 1968, which was based on some short stories he had written a few years earlier. 

That movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

Happy 4th of July!

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were lifelong friends. They were both patriots during the American Revolution, both worked on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, and both held the title of President of the United States. Although different in many ways, when the two met at the Continental Congress in 1775, they developed a strong friendship and respect for one another. They bonded over a love of books, reading, and writing.

However, despite their closeness, Jefferson and Adams fought often over their political views. Jefferson and Adams were the last surviving members of the original American revolutionaries who had stood up to the British empire and forged a new political system in the former colonies.As a Democratic / Republican, Jefferson advocated for the rights of states, while Adams, a Federalist, supported a strong national government.  Both friends ran for president in the 1796 election, and Adams beat Jefferson by just 3 electoral votes. Still, the two remained friends. And after receiving the second highest number of votes, Jefferson served as vice-president to Adams for the next four years. 

It was during this time that their ideas about policy-making became as distinct as their personalities. The irascible and hot-tempered Adams was a firm believer in a strong centralized government, while the erudite and genteel Jefferson believed federal government should take a more hands-off approach and defer to individual states’ rights. As Adams’ vice president, Jefferson was so horrified by what he considered to be Adams’ abuse of the presidency–particularly his passage of the restrictive Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798–that he abandoned Adams and Washington for his estate at Monticello. There, he plotted how to bring his Republican faction back into power in the presidential election of 1800. After an exceptionally bitter campaign, in which both parties engaged in slanderous attacks on each other in print, Jefferson emerged victorious. It appeared the former friends would be eternal enemies. And they were enemies for the next ten years.

Pulling back the curtain . . .

It has been brought to my attention by the two or three of you who read this blog on a regular basis, that my postings have become less personal over the past six months or so. (Or to be more precise, since I renewed this blog in early 2025). 

It is always revealing when reminded of how much of oneself is oblivious to your own thoughts, perceptions and actions. 

So to quickly deal with the surmised motive behind my slipping behind the fence of my public facade, I'm still dealing with grief and pain. Grief for a life and love that also I let slip away, no matter the rapidly changing introspections of that period of my life. And to be brutally transparent, so much of the past few years is literally a blur. Some of it can be attributed to me painting over memories in an effort to recast myself in a more favorable light, perhaps. Then, there is a more physical cause, as I'm getting older, memories are becoming more of an hurdle to recall than in years past. And then there is the unknown that hovers over us all. What is the old saying, there are two viewpoints in every relationship and then there is the truth?

Well, I'm not sure I believe that is always the case. Sometimes there is just the truth, and two people trying to navigate their own survival in the vacuum of what used to be. 

"Keep Me In Your Heart For Awhile"

When Warren Zevon learned he had a terminal illness he was determined to put together a final studio album. Fortunately, his record label; Artemis gave him a generous budget and he set out to bring as many of his friends together as possible. Check out this list:

Guitars – Ry Cooder, Bruce Springsteen, Brad Davis, Randy Mitchell, Tommy Shaw, David Lindley, Mike Campbell and Joe Walsh

Bass – Jorge Calderon and Reggie Hamilton

Vocals – Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, Bruce Springsteen, John Waite, Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmidt, Jordan Zevon, Jackson Browne, T Bone Burnett, Tom Petty and Emmylou Harris

Drums and Percussion – Don Henley, Jim Keltner, Steve Gorman and Luis Conte

Piano – James Raymond

Saxophone – Gil Bernal

Not only is this one of the best farewell albums ever recorded, I believe it stands as one of the best. Every track is sensational. The musical contributions from the group listed above is jaw dropping. You can hear the effort that every player brought to this project. And yet, the most powerful song on the album has the most simplistic arrangement.