Sign of the Times

We’ve all see the “Now Hiring” signs, open interviews and sign on bonuses being offered. I hear people say “Every place is hiring right now.” Are they actually hiring or are they trying to hire? For businesses to actually hire people have to come in and apply that actually want to work.

The Burger King sign shown here was up for about six hours in Lincoln, Nebraska. Before you complain about work ethic, lazy kids or minimum wage laws let’s add some context. A manager put in her two weeks notice and about eight members of her crew did the same. At the end of that two weeks nothing had changed in the store and that’s when this sign was lettered up at about 6 o’clock one morning. The store has been short staffed for some time and the employees had been working 50 and 60 hours per week to keep it open. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the air conditioning going out in the kitchen. That’s when they had enough. As the marquee sign went viral on social media, the store began getting calls from higher and higher levels of upper management. By lunchtime it was changed to read “Now Hiring, Flexible Hours.” Time will tell.

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Satur-deja Vu

I know it’s been a couple of weeks since I posted regularly. There was no Satur-deja Vu last week. It’s been wackadoodle here at the Bunch compound but there is no time like the present to get back on the blog wagon. Here’s are some news headlines and random bits that you may have seen, may have missed, and maybe a little something to make your weekend better.

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Cowboy lassos bike thief was recently reported by the BL, and consequently shared on Facebook, but it turned out to be a story from 2016. Here’s a 3 minute video from the CBS Evening News with an interview for those interested. Continue reading

Signs of the Times

Screenshot 2019-08-21 at 11.25.51 AMI am not one of those guys that studies biblical prophecy while pointing to current events in the newspaper going “See, this is what God said would happen.” That can set a dangerous precedent and sometimes you end up looking foolish. I remember listening to a preacher back in the 80’s, and I remember his name but won’t use it here, that said that if Michel Gorbachev was not the antichrist then he was certainly paving the way for him. He had a poster made up of the birthmark on his head in the form of a dragon and the smaller marks in the shape of three 6’s. This was before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev later taught an economics course for the University of Georgia and made a tv commercial for Pizza Hut. He is still alive but at 88 has yet to reveal himself as the antichrist, the Beast or any other figure in Revelation. Continue reading

Doubletake

Screenshot 2019-07-01 at 8.02.19 AMHappy Monday got a headnod from the Wednesday Connect post on Thinking Out Loud for being the best one he’s seen in a while. The music theme was apparent but unintentional; we noticed but didn’t say anything. BTW, I link Wednesday Connect each week on The Master’s Table Facebook page and my personal Twitter feed so if you’re not following Paul Wilkinson you might want to at least check it out.

A couple of items in the news this week; the new round of tariffs potentially affecting Bible prices was covered by several sources, graves being opened at the Vatican perhaps not so much. Continue reading

Opinion: Rebuilding Notre Dame

Screenshot 2019-04-17 at 10.34.18 AMHopefully the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral is not news to anyone. I don’t try to cover breaking news and share you heard it hear first stories because many times the first things you hear are wrong. Now that everyone has had a chance to hear and digest the facts, and many people have shared their opinion, I would like to reflect on a few things. Continue reading

Book Review: The Gospel of Self

Screenshot 2018-03-08 at 10.42.51 AMThe Gospel of Self, How Jesus Joined the GOP is written by Terry Heaton and details his role at CBN and The 700 Club. Before we used terms like fake news and every single person had a voice via social media, the Christian Broadcast Network entered a new frontier of sorts by not only reporting the news but by shaping the way people thought. CBN in general, and Pat Robertson’s 700 Club in particular, played a profound role in shifting the Republican Party to the right back in the 1980’s. While Robertson was in front of the camera Terry Heaton was behind the scenes and very much involved in making the things Robertson talked about a reality. Heaton believes today’s Christian Right is the end result of work they did together back then. Continue reading

Vengeance is Not Ours

Screenshot 2016-06-15 at 11.06.17 AMOur collective attention has been focused on Orlando since Sunday. Every angle of that story, from terrorism to gun control, has been covered. Stories with that much media attention I usually avoid commenting on completely; everything that can be said pretty much has been (whether it should have been or not).

Omar Matten reported posted “All gays must die” before the shooting starting. While Americans debate whether bakers and florists should be closed down for refusing to serve LGBT customers, homosexuality is still punishable by death in Muslim countries. I don’t want this post to disintegrate into a political discussion, but some Christians have questioned the current administration’s support of gay rights and also tolerance of Islam in light of those two things not necessarily being tolerant of each other. I want to remind all Christian believers that vengeance belongs to God. Continue reading

SCOTUS, Where the Rubber Meets the… Playground

 

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Baptist Press reports that the Supreme Court will hear an argument in March or April that may set precedents for future church/state decisions. From the article:

Missouri nonprofits can apply to the state for scrap tires to use for rubber playground surfaces. Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo., which has a daycare called the Learning Center, applied to receive the ground-up tires for its playground. The state ranked the church’s application highly, but refused the grant based on a state constitutional provision that forbids state money going to support churches. About 35 states have similar provisions in their state constitutions.

The implications of the high court’s decision will go far beyond playground equipment. Continue reading Church-state case goes to Supreme Court via bpnews.net.

Age of Disinformation

We live in the Information Age. Pretty much the whole of recorded knowledge from all time is available in a few clicks. Most of us use the technology that makes this feat possible to look at funny cat pictures and argue with total strangers. The proliferation of social media and instant publish platforms means that any one of us can have a global audience, but you need a sensational event to document if you want your Facebook post or Instagram pic to go viral. Case in point: How many have seen this image in the last week which supposedly shows Houston under water?

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This is What Happens When You Fight the Culture War

Way back when in 2008 I posted Should Christians Fight the Culture War? Perhaps that’s a good place to start. This is an example of what happens when we do try to wrestle with flesh and blood rather than powers and principalities.

Video via CNN, no explicit language or images

In Warsaw, Ohio a strip club owner staged a protest outside of a local church during service on Sunday morning, complete with topless protesters carrying signs. Apparently New Beginnings Ministries has been protesting outside of the local strip club for years, taking pictures of customers license plates and calling the girls that work there things like tramps and whores. Church Pastor Bill Dunfee says it is the responsibility of the church to spread the Gospel, uplift the name of Jesus and confront evil. The confrontation of evil has resulted in a small crowd of strippers, employees and friends of the Foxhole Club to assembling a protest of their own. Be careful when you fight the culture war, the culture may just fight back. Continue reading