"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds." ~ 2nd Corinthians 11:13-15

Welcome one and all where we will see about getting back to our Monday duties, here on this August 29, 2016. The gullibility of people sometimes slays me. Metaphorically speaking, of course. There's this mega rich mega prominent black preacher who previously had come out in support of The Donald. This must not have gone down well in his wide circle of influence. What could be done? Last week he reported that God had come to him and personally apologized for sending him mixed signals about supporting Donald Trump. While his blind supporters all hurt their hands applauding, I see the image from the old TV Gunsmoke series of the snake oil salesman come to town. When I read his comments about God apologizing I will have to admit that it stunned me just a tad. Just when I think maybe I've heard it all, bam! ... there they go again. Now. Let me be perfectly clear. (To quote Richard Nixon.) This is my assessment. My thoughts about it. Yes. I am obviously opinionated about it. Am I making fun of the people that follow a charlatan like this? I hope not but I feel very sad for their situation. Do they have the right to follow this guy and applaud whatever he says? Absolutely. At the same time, I do hope I have the right to have an opinion about it. You see it differently? Join the club where we all get to express the way we see things. You can't get more American than that! (I actually said that last sentence in my head using my very bad John Wayne voice.) Amen.

I think we all have witnessed those who rail against this, that, or the other, but they actually end up when they themselves face hard times seeking relief from the sources they previously castigated. I heard a great example of this the other day. It involves a mountain of cheese. Literally. It seems that production of cheese by dairy producers in the United States has set records during the last five years. However, the world market has stumbled and demand is way off. This leaves a huge backlog of cheese inventory that is currently having to be stored. The cheese producers have a solution to help offset some of their losses. They are asking the US Government to step in and buy a huge amount of their stored cheese. These are the same people who lobbied feverishly for the government to get out of meddling in the cheese production business during the last farm bill that was passed. How soon they forget and how soon folks who loudly called for the free market to be allowed to work can change on a dime and now see themselves as victims. Believe me, I'm not beating up on these folks because it pretty much works that way with most of us. Here's how it goes: Others are needlessly on the dole sucking up our hard earned tax dollars until we find ourselves in the ditch. See what I mean? You have to admit, us humans are a funny lot.

During the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, we were blessed to not need government aid. This doesn't mean that we didn't receive a huge amount of support. HUGE! Our family came to our rescue. Our local fellowship of believers stood in the gap. We were given a home to live in while ours was being rebuilt. We had folks bringing us food. We had people praying for us locally, nationally, and even from far away places on the globe. We had insurance, therefore, we did not qualify for FEMA services. That too was a blessing. My point? We were not special because, we, unlike so many others, were not eligible for governmental support. I humbly submit to you that we were blessed with the support that did come to us. Blessed indeed. Abundantly so. We did not make it through the recovery on our own. I believe the wife and I consistently gave God the glory for all He provided to us through the means we experienced. He certainly deserves the honor and glory for it all. Would I have felt bad were I to have been eligible for these government support provisions? Absolutely not! That's what the laws passed regarding disaster relief are supposed to provide. Here's the truth: The line from an old song the wife and I used to sing comes to mind, "I can't even walk without You holding my hand." Okay. That's one of those for what it's worth vignettes. May God bless each one is my prayer. Amen. ...More later.