I did my best!

It’s Monday, July 13, 2009 and I am here to say that I did everything I could to avoid watching anything related to the death of Michael Jackson. It was not only a daunting task but practically speaking, it was impossible. I saw the headlines flashing for attention each day on every news site on the internet. When I watched TV I had to limber up my already quite capable fingers to remote switch anytime I saw an update coming. One newspaper cartoon I saw showed a news person in the entertainer’s coffin saying that his network was covering this story from every angle imaginable. If we ever needed to know whether news of importance really counts, one need only look at how all, and I mean all, the so-called serious news outlets obsessed in their 24x7, wall to wall, coverage of this single event. Now we know why. Ratings. Pure and simple, it was ratings. Ratings means dollars and this, my friend, is what Americans wanted to see. Not hard news stories about someone standing up to hold this new administration accountable for failure after failure. Not hard news about what’s really going on in Iraq, Iran, China, North Korea, Honduras, and other threats to our safety and security. But it was slime and sleaze that ruled the news airwaves even as flag draped coffins passed in the night ignored and unreported.

Yes, Pogo, you were right. We have met the enemy and it is ourselves! A U.S. Representative from New York State has been widely criticized and condemned for calling this debacle to be nothing more than a tribute to a child predator in whom we should collectively be embarrassed, not proud. I feel for those in the family who are grieving and for the children who no doubt have only begun a continuation of the nightmarish life they have lived. However, I think it’s a telling commentary on America and what it says about the people we have become. Sure, we all are sinners and we all are in need of redemption. But when we idolize a life of degradation and depravity as an example of the best we have to offer, it is time for us to do what the Prophet Haggai called on Israel to do: “Stop and consider your ways!” (See Haggai Chapter One.)

I saw one headline that said Michael Jackson’s Jehovah’s Witness beliefs precluded their being a heaven or hell. The headline finished by saying: So where is Michael? My thoughts immediately turned to the truth, God’s truth, as found in God’s revelation of Himself in His Book, The Holy Bible. In His Book He tells us there does exist a heaven and there is a real place called hell. I was talking with a fellow here at the company the other day and he was telling something about a particular spiritual matter and he finished by saying his views where consistent with what he had chosen to believe. My response to him in a very respectful way was that what I might choose to believe, or what he might choose to believe has a great impact on our lives and the lives of our families. However, it does not change the truth because God has given us the truth and regardless of our choices, our practices, or our convictions, we must accept God’s Word in every area where He has spoken. Okay, that should be enough venting for one day, so, get back to your rat killing and I will get back to mine. Have a blessed week. Amen. ……..more later.