Tuning In

His name was John Romulus Brinkley, but he called himself “Doctor.” Attending a school that taught non-traditional medicine and receiving a certificate (valid in only eight states) gave him the supposed right to confer such a title upon himself to lend reputability to his “practice.” He sold his cure-alls via radio show broadcast beamed from a 1000-watt tower in Milford, Kansas. When Kansas pulled his medical “license” and caused him to lose credibility, Brinkley ran for governor as a write-in candidate (his main motivation seems to have been to become governor so that he could reinstate his own medical license). Quickly converting the Milford radio station into the central means of self-promotion for the campaign, Brinkley made blatant comparisons between the way he was being treated and the trial and death of Jesus, and proclaimed his own brand of quack-medicine to be the salvation of the masses. Ultimately, he did not win the governorship though he tried more than once. Upset by his losses, Brinkley moved to the border town of Del Rio, Texas and set up a radio transmission tower across the Rio Grande in Villa Acuna, Mexico. Whereas the United States had a limit upon the wattage of a radio transmitter (50,000 watts), across the border this regulation was not in place. The new station, XERA, operated with an effective wattage of one million watts. Locals said that birds flying near the tower would drop dead, the old dynamo-powered headlamps on trucks in Del Rio would flicker, and barbed-wire fences would hum all over Texas when XERA operated at maximum power. The “X” overrode the transmissions of Atlanta, Chicago, and even some Canadian stations. So powerful was the signal that it is reported that transmissions reached Russia where the organization that was the precursor to the KGB used the broadcasts to give English lessons to the spies-in-training. Brinkley’s messages of bizarre treatments, fortune tellers, and promised restored health helped him to rake in a reported sum of $12 million in five years. Letters and payments came in from every state of the Union as well as from 14 other countries. These letters were written by the hurting in the hope that a quack doctor with a widespread voice sitting on the banks of the Rio Grande could cure what ailed them.

Sometimes we wonder why confusion and uncertainty exists at such a level today. Could it be that we listen to too many voices? Not every voice that speaks of the promise of comfort and peace is the voice of God, no matter how loudly, widespread, promising or authoritative that voice may sound. Messages pound us daily, but we must select the station to which we listen. In the din of multiple voices, all blaring at once (and sometimes contradictory in meaning and purpose) we must make the time and effort so we will not miss hearing the “still, small voice” of God (I Kings 19:12). We must be aware of the false messages that bombard us, but listen to and follow the truth offered from only one source: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

DCG

Yet Another Likeable Thing...From Mississippi (like me)

I read it for the first time years ago...and it was good.

I've since read it a number of times...and they've all been good.

It's The Bear by William Faulkner. A story of a boy who faces the wild, the wild that is being eaten away gradually by cultured civilization, like so many things grand and frightful. He faces one of the most important rites of passage of his life to date. (The bit about the dog facing the bear, not included here, is priceless).

Permit an excerpt:

He was sixteen. For six years now he had been a man's hunter. For six years now he had heard the best of all talking. It was of the wilderness, the big woods, bigger and older than any recorded document:--of white man fatuous enough to believe he had bought any part of it, of Indian ruthless enough to pretend that any fragment of it had been his to convey.... It was of the men, not white nor black nor red but men, hunters, with the will and hardihood to endure and the humility and skill to survive, and the dogs and the bear and deer juxtaposed and reliefed against it, ordered and compelled by and within the wilderness in the ancient and unremitting contest according to the ancient and unmitigable rules which voided all regrets and brooked no quarter; -- the best game of all, the best of all breathing and forever the best of all listening, the voices quiet and weighty and deliberate for retrospection and exactitude among the concrete trophies -- the racked guns and the heads and skins -- in the libraries of town houses or the offices of plantation houses or (and best of all) in the camps themselves where the intact and still-warm meat yet hung, the men who had slain it sitting before the burning logs on hearths when there were houses and hearths or about the smoky blazing piled wood in front of stretched tarpaulins when there were not. There was always a bottle present, so that it would seem to him that those fine fierce instants of heart and brain and courage and wiliness and speed were concentrated and distilled into that brown liquor which not women, not boys and children, but only hunters drank, drinking not of the blood they spilled but some condensation of the wild immortal spirit, drinking it moderately, humbly even, not with the pagan's base and baseless hope of acquiring thereby the virtues of cunning and speed but in salute to them.(pp. 185-186).

Center Stage

A brief history lesson, if you will…

For years upon years, humans held to the basic theory that the Earth, not the Sun, was at the center of our universe. Claudius Ptolemaeus, a Greek living in the 2nd century A.D., was the first to offer a detailed explanation of this theory. His work was accepted for many years afterward as true. We refer to this arrangement of the universe as the Ptolemaic model: Earth is in the center and all things (the Sun, the planets, the stars, etc.) move in orbits around it. Only after the passing of a millennium (and some change), was this theory toppled by the extensive scientific work starting with Copernicus in 1543, then Galileo and, after him, Kepler. Now we hold a Copernican view of the universe: the Sun, not the Earth, is at the center. (Interestingly, a recent study shows that 1 in 5 Americans think that the Earth still occupies the central position.)

But long before Ptolemaeus formalized the popular Earth-centered theory, a man named Aristarchus of Samos, born in 310 B.C., offered an alternate idea. He said, even then, that the Sun was the center of our universe. Though he was right, his suggestion was considered ridiculous. According to history, he had only one known supporter, a man named Seleucus.

Seems that suggesting our little world isn’t the center of the universe wins few popularity votes…

Today, even though the old Earth-centered model has passed from the scene, a new way of thinking has emerged: a “me-centered” universe…and it has plenty of followers. We live in an entitlement society: our rights must be met, preferences catered to, freedoms to do “whatever we want to do” preserved, and atop it all, we must be entertained. In short, we feel like the world, others, and even God, owe us something. This line of thought stretches to include the way we shop, vote, and even how we worship.

Someone considering being involved with our Singles Ministry asked me a question once with a tone that sounded very much he was haggling over the options offered on a new car, and I was the salesman:

“So if I come to your Bible Fellowship class on Sunday, what exactly is in it for me? I want to know exactly what you can offer me.”

So, I was truthful.

“Opportunities for people to become followers of Christ, know Him more deeply, become more like Him, and glorify Him through sacrifice and service,” I said.

By all accounts, though it is the right answer, it wasn’t the desired or expected answer.

The “me-centered” universe doesn’t square with the reality found in Christ. In fact, Colossians tells us that “All things were created through Him and for Him” (1:16). He must be the “center of my universe” because He’s the only one worthy to occupy that position.

Jesus doesn’t exist for me; I exist for Him. Or, as a pastor said long ago, “It’s not about what you’re going to get out of God, but what God’s going to get out of you.”

DCG

A Few of My Favorite Things...what is this? # 4 on the list, I think...

Greek food is great.

Sushi is great.

How many times have you thought, "How I wish I could find a place to get sushi AND Greek food?"

Wish no longer.

Kalamata Kitchen (9405 S. Northshore Dr., Knoxville, 37922) right here in Knoxville, has both!

Let me go on record as saying this: They have a samurai roll that is the absolute best thing on the menu. It's unlike any other samurai roll you have ever had...I promise. Seared scallops, great sauces atop it all...you need one...now.

What's That On Your Wrist

I was the only 5th grader in Study Hall reading Soldier of Fortune magazine...

I know that's weird. It was a bit strange then too. There were lots of questioning looks from teachers; I was always glad that no discussion of future plans was brought up in that time:

"Now children, what would you like to be when you grow up?"
"I'd like to be a doctor."
"Good, how about you?"
"A scientist."
"Very good...Dustin? How about you?"
"I would like to travel to various places of conflict about our globe and bring justice to the oppressed."

But anyway, back to SOF magazine. I always saw these ads in the back for elephant hair bracelets...and I always wanted one.
So early last year I found one at a great website (which is approved by numerous elephant hair fans as all the hair is gathered in humane ways):

http://justelephant.com/