Mandy's Mercurial Monologue

I've recently found myself in two situations where someone was so desperate to prove their point that it didn't matter to them what they did to me so long as they won. These are part of the greater gathering darkness of our culture, the swirling Charybdis of anger which threatens to suck this nation down in its gullet. Why is it so vital to be right? Why dog-pile on someone who dares question the politically correct version of history? Why threaten to kill people who disagree with your politician of choice, or those who point out similarities in the overblown rhetoric of a current candidate and the overblown rhetoric of Adolph Hitler in his rise to power? Why chase someone down to argue with them when they've left the discussion because they have more pressing matters to deal with? Why ruin someone's dream, their business, their livelihood- why take their home and freedom just to prove your point? Why is being right so important to us that we would sacrifice one a...

About a year ago I had a 'vision' of sorts which kept nagging at me. In my mind's eye I saw a meat grinder ready to process the world. Every connection would be sundered: people, groups, nations, ideologies, even communities of faith will find themselves divided and separated and the only thing we can be sure to hold onto is our relationship with God. Since then I have seen the separation beginning and building up steam. Families breaking up, churches losing pastors and losing members and losing vision; faith leaders selling out their faith and the faithful alike for the praise of the world; both the left and right disintegrating; governments around the world turning on their citizens for  profit and power; dictators rising and wanna-be dictators vying for election; markets hanging on at the edge of destruction, then temporarily soaring thanks to government manipulations, which one day must  come to an end. Corruption, collusion, apostasy, ignorance, idolatry, hatr...

Tonight as I am listening to music I used to love, I find myself going from one time in the past to another and feeling that I can't settle anywhere. This brings to mind the last moments our cat Poe spent at home before we rushed him to the vet at the end of his life. He couldn't move his hind legs, but he willed himself from chair to chair under the kitchen table, trying to find a place of comfort. They had all been satisfying before, but now nothing worked. That's how life feels now. Something drastic has happened, a tragic change, and there is no way to get comfortable or if there is, it won't last. I feel I will be torn from it... like Poe trying to grab the final chair and hang on as I picked him up to head to the car. Now I feel sick to my stomach, not about the past so much as the present and the future. In seminary we discussed civilizations under collapse; people try to recapture previous times, idealized and romanticized versions of the past, o...

I am not thinking about the election, nor the embassy staff abandoned to their deaths on 9/11/2011, nor the fact that Mrs. Clinton may well never be held accountable by any earthy authority for what happened there. I am thinking about the correct understanding of Ezekiel 38-39 and the determination of people to equate Russia with Gog and Magog, and that it probably doesn't matter if we get it right or wrong at this point. Somewhere I read a great quote that prophecy is not about knowing the future, but about recognizing the appointed time it when it arrives. World War III seemed right around the corner in 2014, but two years have passed. Assad continues to fight against rebels while giving those of his people under siege very little to live on or hope for. Thus ISIS grows in the instability of Syria and Iraq. Now Russia has entered the fray. They cannot win on the world's stage with their continued aggression against Ukraine and their economy is sinking under the load of ...

"Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. "     --1 Timothy 4:16 (NKJV)   doc´trine    Pronunciation: dǒk´trĭn   n. 1. Teaching; instruction. "He taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken." - Mark iv. 2.  2. That which is taught; what is held, put forth as true, and supported by a teacher, a school, or a sect; a principle or position, or the body of principles, in any branch of knowledge; any tenet or dogma; a principle of faith; as, the doctrine of atoms; the doctrine of chances….. (Webster's 1913 Dictionary) We’ve all heard that old chestnut, “It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe something.” There is a loud voice in the world which says that your faith (believing something ) is more important than your religion ( what you believe) and that doctrine isn’t important. W...

Two Thoughts on Psalm 11 In the Lord I take refuge; How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain; For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, They make ready their arrow upon the string To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face. (NASB) His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.   Eyelids tell us so much about what a person feels about a given situation and we tend to gauge what they will do next based on facial expression. God sees what is going on, but He doesn't react to things the way ...

I've been writing some variation of this or another at various sites on the internet all week. I need to say it here, but unless others pick it up and run with it, it's going nowhere against the hurricane of pro-Putin propaganda.     Clearly there are people with money, power and influence who are selling the opposite message. There are misinformed "conservatives" who have been fooled into believing that Russia Today is a non-biased news source and "libertarians" including Ron Paul who are eating up the Russian -state issued talking point and regurgitating them everywhere.   Nationalists did not overthrow Yanukovych. There were some nationalists in the mix; how could anyone keep them out of a popular uprising? The Maidan (pronounced My'-dahn) demonstrators and those murdered there by the Russian-backed snipers were mostly everyday citizens. They became engaged when the Yanukovych government used brutality, and later murder, against those who wer...