Yesterday’s appalling attack on a London street in the middle of the day, which left a British solider dead, was a barbaric act of terrorism perpetrated by Islamist fundamentalists. British Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged the motivations behind yesterday’s cowardly act by saying:
This country will be absolutely resolute in its stand against violent extremism and terror. We will never give in to terror—or terrorism—in any of its forms. Second, this view is shared by every community in our country. This was not just an attack on Britain—and on our British way of life. It was also a betrayal of Islam—and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act. We will defeat violent extremism by standing together.
In stark contrast, the Obama Administration’s response has been to avoid calling the attack terrorism, let alone terrorism motivated by a radical Islamic ideology. Instead the Administration, via the State Department, said it stood with the U.K. in the face of “such senseless violence.”
Senseless violence? One can hardly term a targeted attack on a U.K. soldier in broad daylight — where the assailants gleefully admit the radical motivation behind their attack — “senseless violence.”
Yet, use of this terminology is nothing new for the Obama Administration. “Senseless violence” is the Administration’s catch-all phrase loyally called upon whenever motivations for a despicable act should not be ascribed, lest someone take offense.
Particularly troubling is that “senseless violence” is the same terminology the Administration used when describing the terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed the American Ambassador and three other U.S. citizens.
The terrorist attack in London was indeed a senseless act of violence; however, in refusing to admit the nature and motivations behind the attack, the Obama Administration does disservice to the men and women killed in terrorist attacks. As Heritage’s Nile Gardiner advises in The Telegraph:
It’s time for President Obama to acknowledge reality. This is a global war between the free world and the forces of Islamist terror. These are not acts of “senseless violence.” They are acts of brutal terrorism aimed against Great Britain, the United States and all who defend the principles of liberty, freedom and Western-style democracy. It is important that political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic identify exactly who the enemy is, what their aims are, and why they must be emphatically defeated.
For the Administration to do otherwise would be, well, senseless.
American Family Radio reported that Fox News said: The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others during a shooting at Fort Hood has reportedly been paid more than $278,000 since the 2009 incident. U.S. Department of Defense officials confirmed to NBCDFW.com that Maj. Nidal Hasan’s salary cannot be suspended unless he […]
In Little Rock just a few feet away from where we went shopping the night before a National Guard recruiter was killed by a muslim extremist. President Obama does not want to admit that terrorists have killed anybody on U.S. soil. Take a look at this article about the Ft Hood killing. Debra J. Saunders, Feb 14, […]
Will “CARRYING HANDGUN IS PROHIBITED” poster work? Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute on gun control On 1-13-13 on the Arkansas Times Blog the person with the username “ArkDemocrat” stated, “I visited a church in another state that allows guns, and there was a sign similar to the “No Smoking” signs (i.e. smoking cigarette with […]
Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 2, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider
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Ecclesiastes 2-3
Published on Sep 19, 2012
Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 16, 2012 | Derek Neider
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I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how secular humanist man can not hope to find a lasting meaning to his life in a closed system without bringing God back into the picture. This is the same exact case with Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Three thousand years ago, Solomon took a look at life “under the sun” in his book of Ecclesiastes. Christian scholar Ravi Zacharias has noted, “The key to understanding the Book of Ecclesiastes is the term ‘under the sun.’ What that literally means is you lock God out of a closed system, and you are left with only this world of time plus chance plus matter.”
Let me show you some inescapable conclusions if you choose to live without God in the picture. Solomon came to these same conclusions when he looked at life “under the sun.”
Death is the great equalizer (Eccl 3:20, “All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.”)
Chance and time have determined the past, and they will determine the future. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-13)
Power reigns in this life, and the scales are not balanced(Eccl 4:1)
Nothing in life gives true satisfaction without God including knowledge (1:16-18), ladies and liquor (2:1-3, 8, 10, 11), and great building projects (2:4-6, 18-20).
You can only find a lasting meaning to your life by looking above the sun and bring God back into the picture.
Finding Meaning in Life: A Pessimistic, Humanistic, and Atheistic Look Through the Book of EcclesiastesFinding Meaning in Life Through Experiences
Eccles. 1:8 “Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content”.Finding Meaning in Life Through Pursuing Knowledge and Wisdom
Eccles. 1:18 “The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow”.
Finding Meaning in Life Through Pursuing Pleasure
Eccles. 2:1 “I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things in life’.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless.
Finding Meaning in Life Through Hard Work
Eccles. 2:10b-11 “I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless- like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere”.
Finding Meaning in Life Through Money
Eccles. 5:15-17 “We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us. And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their work is for nothing-like working for the wind. Throughout their lives they live under a cloud-frustrated, discouraged, and angry”.
Finding Meaning in Life Only Comes Through Relationship With God
Eccles. 2: 24-26a “So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him.”
Finding Meaning in Life Comes Through Understanding God’s Timing
Eccles. 3:9-11 “What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”
Part 2: Application
Finding Meaning in Life Through Experiences
Many times it is easy to want to spend life seeking experiences that are exciting. It’s not that having a curiosity of the world is wrong, but at times it can become a distraction from spending time and resources on more important things in life. These experiences are valuable for personal development, but only when done with God in mind. It is God who gives meaning to life and experiences. Without God, experiences are nothing. It’s easy to expect experiences in life to fulfill our desires. So we keep seeking for what gives meaning. But it is only God who can fully satisfy us.
Finding Meaning in Life Through Pursuing Knowledge and Wisdom
The knowledge and wisdom we pursue needs to be rooted in the wisdom and knowledge that comes from God. The bible talks about how people who philosophize are empty and deceitful. Solomon spent his life pursuing what he saw as wise in his own eyes- money, hard work, laughter, women, a beautiful home. And in the end he realized that all of it was vain, empty, toilsome, and a chasing after the wind. When we pursue God, the knowledge and wisdom we receive brings life to us.
Finding Meaning in Life Through Pursuing Pleasure
It’s easy to spend life being a pleasure seeker, gluttonous, shallow, and simple minded. When we are in pursuit of God, the pleasure that we seek gives life to ourselves, others, and our relationship with God. The pleasure isn’t selfish and sinful; instead it is intended to bring us joy. God gives gifts, and many of these are pleasuring, which is why it’s important to keep God in mind when we are enjoying something he has given us.
Finding Meaning in Life Through Hard Work
Hard work is valuable. God gives us tasks he wants us to accomplish and he wants us to do them with perseverance and joy. When we work hard without God in mind, it’s easy to find our identity in what we accomplish. Unfortunately, life isn’t predictable and it’s easy to loose everything that we’ve worked hard to accomplish. At the end of life, if we put our identity in everything we’ve worked for, we may end up becoming bitter. We may realize that we didn’t do what we thought we should have, or we didn’t do what we wanted to do as well as we wanted to. When we work for God and find meaning in the tasks he gives us to accomplish, we understand that our work goes beyond the results that we see. Only in heaven will we have the opportunity to fully understand how God used what we accomplished for him.
Finding Meaning in Life Through Money
Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7:11-12 that it is good to have money and wisdom because they help you make it through life and can get you almost anything. But he also says that only wisdom can save your life. And at the end of life, money can’t go with you. Instead of making decisions in life with a career because it leads to a larger pay-check, instead make a decision for a career that leads to life. Something that you are passionate about, and then find a way that you can most benefit from it financially. Your career will have eternal rewards that go beyond a paycheck.
Finding Meaning in Life Only Comes Through Relationship With God
Finding meaning in life through experiences, wisdom and knowledge, pleasure, hard work, and money are not in and of themselves bad. It is only wrong to pursue meaning in these things when God is not at the foundation of all of it. God uses all these ways to teach us, strengthen us, and make us more like him.
Finding Meaning in Life Comes Through Understanding God’s Timing
When we have God’s understanding of time and eternity, we are able to see life in perspective. We are able to understand the value of experiences, wisdom and knowledge, hard work, and money. We are also able to see the value of having a relationship with God. Since it is true that God has placed eternity on the hearts of man, everything we do should be seen through the reality of eternity. As we are living our lives pursuing meaning, it is difficult at times to understand how God is using that journey. But God’s purposes and plans exist regardless.
This from the American Humanist website: This week we’re pleased to publish a new poem “Ecclesiastes” by Frank S. Robinson. Frank S. Robinson is a retired New York State administrative law judge, a rare coin dealer, and author of five books, most recently The Case for Rational Optimism. He is married to the poet Therese […]
Tampa Bay Rays apologize for Avril Lavigne TMZ reported: According to local reports, Avril’s mic didn’t work at the start of her show … and she responded to the cavalcade of boos by yelling obscenities at crowd. Rays rep Rick Vaughn tells TMZ, “The Rays demand profanity-free performances from all of our concert performers and […]
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
Chris Martin revealed in his interview with Howard Stern that he was rasied an evangelical Christian but he has left the church. I believe that many words that he puts in his songs today are generated from the deep seated Christian beliefs from his childhood that find their way out in his songs. His belief in […]
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school named […]
Chris Martin revealed in his interview with Howard Stern that he was rasied an evangelical Christian but he has left the church. I believe that many words that he puts in his songs today are generated from the deep seated Christian beliefs from his childhood that find their way out in his songs. His belief in […]
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
The Bible and Archaeology (3/5) For many more archaeological evidences in support of the Bible, see Archaeology and the Bible . (There are some great posts on this too at the bottom of this post.) Robert Dick Wilson at the Grove City Bible Conference in 1909. IS THE HIGHER CRITICISM SCHOLARLY?Clearly attested facts showing that thedestructive […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
Above is a clip of 12 questions for Woody Allen. Below is a list of some of his movies. WOODY’S FINEST: Philip French’s favourite five Annie Hall (1977) In his first fully achieved masterwork, a semi-autobiographical comedy in which his ex-lover Diane Keaton and best friend Tony Roberts play versions of themselves, Allen created a […]
September 3, 2011 · 5:16 PM ↓ Jump to Comments Woody Allen on the Emptiness of Life In the final scene of Manhattan, Woody Allen’s character, Isaac, is lying on the sofa with a microphone and a tape-recorder, dictating to himself an idea for a short story. It will be about “people in Manhattan,” he says, […]
As far as I know they have never done an interview together. Therefore, I have included separate interviews that they have done below and I have some links to past posts I have done on them too. Shane Warne – Chris Martin Interview (Part 1) Uploaded by HandyAndy136 on Nov 24, 2010 Originally broadcast on […]
The Bible and Archaeology (1/5) The Bible maintains several characteristics that prove it is from God. One of those is the fact that the Bible is accurate in every one of its details. The field of archaeology brings to light this amazing accuracy. _________________________- I want to make two points today. 1. There is no […]
John Lofton noted: “DR. FRIEDMAN an evolutionist with ‘values’ of unknown origin but he said they were not ‘accidental.’ “ If anyone takes time to read my blog for any length of time they can not question my respect for the life long work of Milton Friedman. He has advanced the cause of freedom […]
The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others during a shooting at Fort Hood has reportedly been paid more than $278,000 since the 2009 incident.
U.S. Department of Defense officials confirmed to NBCDFW.com that Maj. Nidal Hasan’s salary cannot be suspended unless he is proven guilty in the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting in Texas, citing the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Jury selection in his trial is scheduled to begin May 30.
If Hasan, 42, had been a civilian Defense Department employee, Army officials could have suspended his pay after just seven days, NBCDFW.com reports.
A military judge refused to delay Hasan’s trial earlier this month after his attorneys sought to postpone the court-martial to Sept. 1. Hasan’s attorneys claimed military jurors may be influenced by national media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings that compared the two Muslim suspects — Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev – to Hasan.
Prosecutors countered that the delay was unnecessary because Hasan was mentioned only briefly in some news reports about the April 15 attacks in Boston.
Hasan faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
The White House and Pentagon have refused to characterize Hasan’s attack as terrorism, instead terming it “workplace violence.” The victims have been denied Purple Hearts and are suing the military because they claim the “workplace violence” designation gives them diminished access to medical care and financial benefits normally available to those whose wounds are designated as “combat related.
In Little Rock just a few feet away from where we went shopping the night before a National Guard recruiter was killed by a muslim extremist. President Obama does not want to admit that terrorists have killed anybody on U.S. soil. Take a look at this article about the Ft Hood killing. Debra J. Saunders, Feb 14, […]
I got to hear Andrae Crouch at the Billy Graham crusade in Memphis in 1978 and also a full concert at Memphis State University in 1981. The concert in 1981 was in front of a crowd of around 800 in a small room and I was on the 3rd row. The Billy Graham crusade was in front of over 35,000 people at the Liberty Bowl Stadium.
Andrae Crouch & The Disciples “Take Me Back” 1975
Through It All Andrae Crouch
Uploaded on Sep 30, 2007
Andrae Crouch sings “Through It All” at a Billy Graham crusade in New Mexico in 1975
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Bless His Holy Name (Bless The Lord Oh My Soul) by Andrae Crouch.wmv
Andrae Crouch *Soon And Very Soon* “Live”
Uploaded on Jul 24, 2007
Multi Gospel Grammy winner Andrae Crouch singing *Soon and Very Soon* at one of the “Great American Gospel Sound” concert Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. All Rights Reserved to the “Great American Gospel Sound”, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and Andrae Crouch.
Psalm 86:5 “For thou, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee” – Deut 30:4 “Even if those who have been forced out are living in the farthest part of heaven, the Lord your God will go in search of you, and take you back”
Take me back, take me back dear Lord To the place where I first believed you. Take me back, take me back dear Lord where I first believed.
I feel that I’m so far from you Lord But still I hear you calling me Those simple things that I once knew, The memories are drawing me. I must confess, Lord I’ve been blessed But yet my soul’s not satisfied. Renew my faith, restore my joy And dry my weaping eyes.
I tried so hard To make it all alone I need your help Just to make it home.
Keith Green – Asleep In The Light (live) Uploaded on May 25, 2008 Keith Green performing “Asleep In The Light” live from Estes Park ’78 Russ Taff – Praise The Lord 1983 (Live) For Those Tears I Died – Children of the Day Uploaded on Apr 22, 2007 Children of the Day singing For […]
My favorite Christian music artist of all time is Keith Green. Sunday, May 5, 2013 You Are Celled To Go – Keith Green Keith Green – (talks about) Jesus Commands Us To Go! (live) Uploaded on May 26, 2008 Keith Green talks about “Jesus Commands Us To Go!” live at Jesus West Coast ’82 You can find […]
AMY GRANT tekstovi 800 x 533 | 127KB | tekstovi-pesama.com Michael W. Smith & Amy Grant – El Shaddai – (Live) Uploaded on Feb 15, 2011 MICHAEL W. SMITH with AMY GRANT – EL SHADDAI – (LIVE) — From the album “LIVE IN CONCERT – A 20 YEAR CELEBRATION 2004″ — The View Chatting with Amy Grant in […]
Don Francisco – He’s Alive Adam Where Are You w/ASl & Lyrics – Don Francisco Gotta Tell Somebody Don Francisco In South Africa – “Jehoshaphat” I Could Never Promise You w/ASL – Don Francisco Dolly Parton – He´s alive (Full song) I saw Don Francisco in concert in Memphis in the late 70′s with my good […]
RISE AGAIN – DALLAS HOLM Dallas Holm Harvest Interview 2008 Come unto Jesus My friend David Rogers invited to a concert at First Assembly of God church in Memphis in the late 1970′s and we got to hear Dallas Holm sing and David Wilkerson speak. Here is some info on Dallas Holm from his website: […]
I saw Petra in concert in North Little Rock in the 1980′s. Here is the link for the bio. Classic Petra – 2011 – DVD Documentary Uploaded on Sep 17, 2011 The videos published here are for pure enjoyment, these videos are very inferior quality to the quality of the original DVD, please let us bless […]
Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce so your barns will be filled with plenty…” This principle can be found throughout the Bible. We have to give to the Lord first and then take care of our needs second. Live by this principle and you will be blessed.
I remember when my father spoke at a worship service at Bellevue Baptist back in 1979 and he gave a testimony about his belief that we should tithe to the church. This belief he said was taught to him by his mother when he was a small child at Highland Heights Church back in the 1940’s. The Lord has blessed him through the years and he has brought his check to the church the first week of the month when he got paid.
John MacArthur
I remember hearing Dr. Adrian Rogers say that if he had to do it over again he would read from Proverbs every day to his kids. They turned out to be great kids and they were raised right. Nevertheless, if he had to do it over again he thought a more emphasis on Proverbs is the way to go. That is why I am spending so much time in Proverbs with my kids today.
John MacArthur does a great job on Proverbs and here is a portion of his sermon on Proverbs.
Now, now that he’s working there’s a ninth lesson he needs to learn. Here’s another one…Son, manage your money…manage your money. Go back to chapter 3 for a moment and among these repeated lessons is this one…and there are some basic principles that I would draw to your attention. Verse 9, here’s principle number one with money. “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.” In other words, if you are generous with God, He will be generous with you. So honor the Lord with your money. Teach him how to manage his money. Lesson number one is to give from the top from the firstfruits to the Lord, all of the money is to honor the Lord, he’s to use all his money to honor the Lord…all of it. Teach him how to give. If you’re a mediocre giver, if you’re a come see, come saw part‑time giver, that’s what he’ll be. And as you have forfeited the promised blessing of God, so will he and so you sentence your son to a life time of the kind of thing that you’ve hand. If you want your son to know the fullness of the blessing of God, and all of it poured out on him, then teach your son how to give God generously.
You see, what we do as fathers is simply produce the next generation. And it either moves up or it moves down. The positive thing…teach him to honor the Lord with all his money, that whatever he does with it it is to honor the Lord. Now let me flip that over, there’s a negative thing, too, chapter 6 verse 1, and this is a very good lesson and there’s much more here than initially meets the eye. Verse 1 says of chapter 6, “If you have become surety for your neighbor, have given a pledge for a stranger.” Now listen, if you’ve co‑signed…now the Bible says you should never do that for a stranger. Don’t co‑sign for a stranger. You say…why would anybody in their right mind co‑ sign with a stranger? I’ll tell you, you know what it means? It means that some stranger came along and told you if you gave him this money or if you signed on for this debt, in the end you would become…what?…rich. That’s the whole bottom line. In other words, if you’ll just put your resources behind my project, in the end you’re going to get rich. I mean, how many times have you heard that story? And how much money have you lost believing it? When a stranger comes and says…you know, just put your money behind this…what you have done now is you have yielded up the stewardship of your own money to a person for whom you cannot be accountable. So you have literally released your God‑given stewardship. Teach your son not to do that. Teach your son that God has given him his resources for him to use wisely as a steward of God, not to become liable for another person whose behavior he cannot control. In other words, make very wise investments and make sure you control. Don’t co‑sign for a stranger so that on his default you become liable. That’s the point. Why? Because you are given money as a steward of God and you must use it at your discretion as the Lord leads, not have it snatched out of your hand by the discretion of someone else. Do you understand? Control your money to honor the Lord and don’t get involved in get‑rich‑quick schemes that are going to put you in a position of liability.
And if you get caught…look how he says to deal with it, verse 2…if you’ve been trapped because you made some promise with your mouth, then do this, my son, deliver yourself, get out of it. Don’t let it linger, you get out of it. Since you’ve come in to the hand of your neighbor, go humble yourself and importune your neighbor. You know what you do? You get down on your face and your knees, you humble yourself and you beg and you negotiate a settlement. You do it immediately, you get that thing off your back so that it doesn’t go on and on and on. Settle it, get it done with, humble yourself, don’t even give sleep to your eyes, don’t give slumber to your eyelids until you get yourself out until like a gazelle from a hunter’s hand, or a bird from the hand of a fowl, or get out of that mess, get it settled, humble yourself, plead for mercy and do whatever you can to get out of it so you are not continually under the bondage of being liable for someone else’s conduct. Teach your sons that.
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ONE FINAL QUESTION: WHAT DOES PROVERBS 3:9 MEAN?
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst, (in other words you will be blessed with lots of food)
Keith Green – Asleep In The Light (live) Uploaded on May 25, 2008 Keith Green performing “Asleep In The Light” live from Estes Park ’78 Russ Taff – Praise The Lord 1983 (Live) For Those Tears I Died – Children of the Day Uploaded on Apr 22, 2007 Children of the Day singing For […]
My favorite Christian music artist of all time is Keith Green. Sunday, May 5, 2013 You Are Celled To Go – Keith Green Keith Green – (talks about) Jesus Commands Us To Go! (live) Uploaded on May 26, 2008 Keith Green talks about “Jesus Commands Us To Go!” live at Jesus West Coast ’82 You can find […]
AMY GRANT tekstovi 800 x 533 | 127KB | tekstovi-pesama.com Michael W. Smith & Amy Grant – El Shaddai – (Live) Uploaded on Feb 15, 2011 MICHAEL W. SMITH with AMY GRANT – EL SHADDAI – (LIVE) — From the album “LIVE IN CONCERT – A 20 YEAR CELEBRATION 2004″ — The View Chatting with Amy Grant in […]
Don Francisco – He’s Alive Adam Where Are You w/ASl & Lyrics – Don Francisco Gotta Tell Somebody Don Francisco In South Africa – “Jehoshaphat” I Could Never Promise You w/ASL – Don Francisco Dolly Parton – He´s alive (Full song) I saw Don Francisco in concert in Memphis in the late 70′s with my good […]
RISE AGAIN – DALLAS HOLM Dallas Holm Harvest Interview 2008 Come unto Jesus My friend David Rogers invited to a concert at First Assembly of God church in Memphis in the late 1970′s and we got to hear Dallas Holm sing and David Wilkerson speak. Here is some info on Dallas Holm from his website: […]
I saw Petra in concert in North Little Rock in the 1980′s. Here is the link for the bio. Classic Petra – 2011 – DVD Documentary Uploaded on Sep 17, 2011 The videos published here are for pure enjoyment, these videos are very inferior quality to the quality of the original DVD, please let us bless […]
President Obama has dismissed questions about the Benghazi debacle as a political “side show.” Demand the truth. The American people deserve answers.
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With the weekend’sgrand slamappearance on the Sunday talk shows by yet another official unqualified to talk about Benghazi, the Obama Administration has again shot itself in the foot.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer attempted to defend U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s mischaracterization of the Benghazi terrorist attack, which she blamed on the now infamous anti-Islam video. It was a poor show.
All of this stands in stark contrast with White House’s handling of the Navy SEAL Team Six raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011. We have all seen the images of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton huddled in the White House situation room with the national security staff, riveted to live images of the nighttime raid. It was hardly over before President Obama, speaking proudly as commander in chief, went on national television to announce the death of the enemy of the American people. The Administration even cooperated with the producers of the movieZero Dark Thirtyabout the mission to kill bin Laden.
But now,“irrelevant”is the word chosen by Dan Pfeiffer over and over to describe some of the most pressing questions regarding the White House’s role in the Benghazi affair. Instantaneously, “irrelevant” became the word of the day onsocial media.
Where was President Obama the night of the terrorist attack? Unlike the Osama bin Laden raid, the President was disturbingly disconnected from the attack on an American ambassador. After the five o’clock intelligence briefing in which Obama was informed that the U.S. diplomatic facility was under attack and the U.S. ambassador to Libya missing, the President’s whereabouts remain unaccounted for the rest of the evening. The next day, Obama flew to Las Vegas for a fundraiser. “I don’t remember what room the President was in on that night, and that’s a largely irrelevant fact,”Pfeiffersnapped at Fox’s Chris Wallace.
Or who doctored the talking points, served up to the media and the American people by Rice on September 16 with such conviction? That also, according to Pfeiffer, is “irrelevant.”
Contrary to the election-time narrative that “al-Qaeda is on the run,” defeated by the Obama Administration, President Obama and his staff are now pleading ignorance across the board. Pfeiffer’s problematic media appearance could fit into an emerging narrative that the Obama Administration may have been moreincompetent,than Machiavellian in its handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack. Administration officials spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity, proffering the line that bungling, ignorance, and inexperience may have been at the root of the debacle that left four Americans dead in Benghazi.
It is not likely, though, that Members of Congress will be satisfied with being told that their questions are “irrelevant” when hearings to unearth the truth resume this week.
HILLARY SMIRKS AT REPORTERS – Still Not Sure What to Call the Benghazi Terrorist Attack Published on Oct 24, 2012 by jackohoft Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a press conference this morning and addressed the Benghazi Consulate attack and cover-up. The Secretary of State would not call the massacre a terrorist attack despite the […]
You want to talk about irony then look at President Obama’s speech a few days ago when he joked about a potential audit of Ohio St by the IRS then a few days later the IRS scandal breaks!!!! The I.R.S. Abusing Americans Is Nothing New Published on May 15, 2013 The I.R.S. targeting of tea party […]
The IRS has thuggish employees and the President was right to condemn their latest actions. Let’s Thank President Obama for Reminding Americans that They Should Distrust the IRS May 14, 2013 by Dan Mitchell Last week, while writing about the latest IRS scandal, I noted that the IRS has a long record of abusive actions. It has thieving employees. […]
In Little Rock just a few feet away from where we went shopping the night before a National Guard recruiter was killed by a muslim extremist. President Obama does not want to admit that terrorists have killed anybody on U.S. soil. Take a look at this article about the Ft Hood killing. Debra J. Saunders, Feb 14, […]
I have been writing to the White House about Libya over and over, but I have not got a response yet. The funny thing is that I have not got over 40 responses in the past to my letters, but this time around I have got even one response. President Obama’s belief that he can […]
Know The TRUTH ~ Step By Step ~ Bret Baier’s ~ ‘Death and Deceit in Benghazi’ Published on Oct 19, 2012 by MamaBarracuda Second Presidential Debate 2012- Obama and Romney on Foreign Policy Published on Oct 16, 2012 by AussieNews1 With just 21 days to go until the presidential election in the United States, President […]
Know The TRUTH ~ Step By Step ~ Bret Baier’s ~ ‘Death and Deceit in Benghazi’ Published on Oct 19, 2012 by MamaBarracuda Second Presidential Debate 2012- Obama and Romney on Foreign Policy Published on Oct 16, 2012 by AussieNews1 With just 21 days to go until the presidential election in the United States, […]
President Barack Obama speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, to comment on the death of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaking ondeadly attack in Libya, during a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in […]
Know The TRUTH ~ Step By Step ~ Bret Baier’s ~ ‘Death and Deceit in Benghazi’ Published on Oct 19, 2012 by MamaBarracuda Second Presidential Debate 2012- Obama and Romney on Foreign Policy Published on Oct 16, 2012 by AussieNews1 With just 21 days to go until the presidential election in the United States, President […]
Know The TRUTH ~ Step By Step ~ Bret Baier’s ~ ‘Death and Deceit in Benghazi’ Published on Oct 19, 2012 by MamaBarracuda Second Presidential Debate 2012- Obama and Romney on Foreign Policy Published on Oct 16, 2012 by AussieNews1 With just 21 days to go until the presidential election in the United States, President […]
Evie Tornquist – It Only Takes A Spark † Pass It On ( 1976 )
Uploaded on Sep 25, 2011
Evie Tornquist – It Only Takes A Spark † Pass It On ( 1976 )
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Evie Tornquist Karlsson on Billy Graham Crusade singing her hit song Born Again
EvieComeOnRingBells.avi
Evie – Shine (1979)
Evie Tornquist Karlsson and her husband Pelle sing “United We Stand”
Uploaded on Apr 26, 2011
Evie Tornquist-Karlsson was Christian Music’s greatest sweetheart , she took the world by storm with her sweet angelic face & voice that touched everyone’s heart with her love for Jesus. She will forever be known as the girl who sang her songs for Jesus Christ. She was born 1957 in Rahway, New Jersey, professionally known as Evie, is a Contemporary Christian music singer who was known in the late 1970s and early 1980s for songs such as “Say I Do”, “My Tribute”, “Live For Jesus”, “Pass It On”, “Never The Same”, “Mirror”, “Born Again”, “Come On Ring Those Bells”, “Step Into The Sunshine” and “Four Feet Eleven”.
Born in the United States to Norwegian immigrants, Evie began her singing career as a young teenager while visiting her parents’ homeland. She released her English language debut album at the age of 16 in 1974, and went on to release more than 30 albums, including several in various Scandinavian languages. Evie was recognized as the Dove Award recipient of Female Vocalist of the Year for 1977 and 1978. She married Swedish pastor and musician Pelle Karlsson in 1979 and retired from performing music in 1981 to pursue other avenues of ministry, such as Sky Angel.
In the early 1980s Pelle and Evie Karlsson felt the Lord’s leading to join the “SKY ANGEL DOMINION NETWORK”. The Lord used them both in a might way for the Lord’s glory. While there, they recorded a few other albums. Evie and her husband has since left the SKY ANGEL NETWORK a number of years ago. Although Evie is “officially” retired from performing and doing concerts all the time on a regular basis since 1981 – she is still pursuing her music ministry with White Field Music, (owned by Pelle and Evie Karlsson) in Florida and very much involved in missions work with Back to Jerusalem. A vital, encouraging work. They also produce a wonderful outstanding 30 minute weekly series for Back To Jerusalem which can be viewed online. The weekly broadcast can be viewed her which is hosted by Pelle & Evie –http://www.backtojerusalem.com/video/…
All of the past episodes of the broadcast can be featured for downloading / viewing here – http://www.backtojerusalem.com/btjPag…
Evie still does some concerts in Churches and in other venues and is also still on tour. She also tours to different venues with Rebecca St. James in a Mother and Daughter outreach series of programs they put on called, the “SHE” events. The SHE event tour with Evie for dates, and locations and more info please visit the SHE event tour dates – http://www.sheevent.com/events.html
Evie currently resides with her husband Pelle in Florida. Their two children, Kris and Jenny Karlsson are now out of high school. Jenny is already now very recently married and is a school teacher. Evie and her music is still loved today more then ever, and Evie albums are still being hunted down and collected by her fans. I had the wonderful privilege of having a very special invitation to a Concert that Evie was able to take part of, in September of 2005. Earlier, that year in February Evie was officially inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame on February 22, 2005. Some of Evie’s best selling LP’S include:
2008 – Jul med Evie (Nyutgivning på CD av LP-skivorna “Jul med Evie” från -74 “Julens
klockor ring” från -78)
— Christmas with Evie (republication of CDs of LPs “Christmas with Evie” from -74 and “Christmas bells ring” from -78)
2006 – Evie På Svenska – 15 Önskesånger
2006 – Evie In Swedish – 15 Wishful Songs
1998 Day by Day (Word UK)
1996 Songs for his family
1993*Exact date unknown- Evie’s Special Christmas Delivery Album
1989 Spirit Song (as Evie Karlsson – Cedited)
Maranatha! Singers, The – Praise 3 Album
1987 Christmas Memories
1986 When all is said and done
1985 Loving Promises – 2 LP Set
1984 Christmas a happy time
1983 Restoration
1983 Evie – Hymns
1982 Evie – PA SVENSKA VOL II
1981 – The Very Best Of Evie (WORD – Release Through Word Austerila with Endeavour)
1981 – Unfailing Love
1980 Teach us your way
1980 – Evie Favourites Vol 1
1979 Never the Same
1978 A little song for my little friends
1977 Come on ring those bells
1977 JULENS KLOCKOR, RING! (Come on ring those bells SWEDISH VERSION)
1977 – Mirror
1977 TILL MINA SMA VANNER (SWEDISH VERSION Little Song Of Joy For My Little Friends
1976 Gentle Moments
1975 FAVORITTER (1971-73) (ENGLISH/NORWEGIAN MIX)
1975 Evie Again (2 Release album covers) WORD
1975 Du skulle vara med i sången (1975 You would be part of the song)
1974 – Evie (1st American Release)
1973 – Jag kommer till dig (1973 – I come to you)
1972 – Evie på svenska (1972 – Evie in Swedish)
1971 Evie Sings Gospel
1971 Evie Synger
1970s Everything Is Beautiful
1970 A song for Everyone (First Album)
If you were an Evie fan back in her heyday…basically, the mid to late ’70’s…you’ve probably wondered whatever happened to the pretty, petite blonde with the golden voice. In fact, it always amazes me that many hits on my website are from people looking for info on Evie (I mention her in my article on Christmas music.)
Well, CCM Magazine actually has an article about Evie in its June issue (although I wasn’t able to find it on the magazine’s website…you’ll have to get a physical copy of the mag to read the story.)
Just thinking about Evie brings back memories of my days at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. I don’t think there was a red-blooded guy on campus who didn’t have a crush on the little Norwegian songbird. And I just about wore out the 8-track of her “Mirror” album…come on, there were some really good songs on that album! We’re talking “Lord Send that Morning,” “If Heaven was Never Promised to Me,” “Jesus Was There All the Time,” and more.
According to the CCM article, Evie left the Christian music scene in 1981, while she was still quite popular. She told CCM in 1996, “Interestingly, people think I got out of it because I started having kids. But toward the end of that time, ’79 or ’80, I felt somewhat uncomfortable with what was happening. I felt as though my hands were tied in terms of ministry. I wanted more freedom to pursue ministry; but when people pay to hear you sing, you have a responsibility to do what they paid you to do.” Evie does say she looks back on that time with pleasant memories, calling them “wonderful experiences.”
Evie is 48 now, and lives in Florida with her husband Pelle Karlsson and their children, Kris and Jenny. Says CCM: “The Karlssons have continued their musical ministry as a family over the years, largely out of the limelight.”
Evie did appear with Mark Lowry at a concert here a couple of years ago, sponsored by Radio 91. Although I didn’t make it to the concert, I saw pics that were taken there, and Evie looked as lovely as ever…and I understand she’s still in fine voice.
Keith Green – Asleep In The Light (live) Uploaded on May 25, 2008 Keith Green performing “Asleep In The Light” live from Estes Park ’78 Russ Taff – Praise The Lord 1983 (Live) For Those Tears I Died – Children of the Day Uploaded on Apr 22, 2007 Children of the Day singing For […]
My favorite Christian music artist of all time is Keith Green. Sunday, May 5, 2013 You Are Celled To Go – Keith Green Keith Green – (talks about) Jesus Commands Us To Go! (live) Uploaded on May 26, 2008 Keith Green talks about “Jesus Commands Us To Go!” live at Jesus West Coast ’82 You can find […]
AMY GRANT tekstovi 800 x 533 | 127KB | tekstovi-pesama.com Michael W. Smith & Amy Grant – El Shaddai – (Live) Uploaded on Feb 15, 2011 MICHAEL W. SMITH with AMY GRANT – EL SHADDAI – (LIVE) — From the album “LIVE IN CONCERT – A 20 YEAR CELEBRATION 2004″ — The View Chatting with Amy Grant in […]
Don Francisco – He’s Alive Adam Where Are You w/ASl & Lyrics – Don Francisco Gotta Tell Somebody Don Francisco In South Africa – “Jehoshaphat” I Could Never Promise You w/ASL – Don Francisco Dolly Parton – He´s alive (Full song) I saw Don Francisco in concert in Memphis in the late 70′s with my good […]
RISE AGAIN – DALLAS HOLM Dallas Holm Harvest Interview 2008 Come unto Jesus My friend David Rogers invited to a concert at First Assembly of God church in Memphis in the late 1970′s and we got to hear Dallas Holm sing and David Wilkerson speak. Here is some info on Dallas Holm from his website: […]
I saw Petra in concert in North Little Rock in the 1980′s. Here is the link for the bio. Classic Petra – 2011 – DVD Documentary Uploaded on Sep 17, 2011 The videos published here are for pure enjoyment, these videos are very inferior quality to the quality of the original DVD, please let us bless […]
Imagine a tightrope walker about to take the first precarious step across a thin wire suspended between two skyscrapers. But just as he’s about to begin an assistant cautions, “I think you’d better wait. We haven’t yet secured the cable at the other end……… and we really need to double-check the security lock at this end too……… but you can go ahead if you want – enjoy yourself!”
No entertainer, no matter how skilled, would be foolish enough to take even one step on that tentative wire. Yet that’s a picture of what’s being asked of the youth of America today. They’re consistently taught in educational institutions, “We don’t know what happens to you when you die and we’re not certain where you came from…. but make the most of your life!” With no certainty about their destiny and no meaningful sense of identity is it any wonder that many are indifferent or cynical about life? Any wonder why there’s an increase in teen smoking, body piercing, drug abuse, school violence, sexual promiscuity, and tragic suicides? If we’re just evolutionary accidents who are here for a few brief years and then it’s over we might as well just cash in on the moment. “Whatever!”
That was King Solomon’s conclusion when he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes hundreds of years ago. He examined life from the humanistic perspective and it all seemed meaningless to him – as futile as chasing the wind. We live a few years, work hard to achieve, enjoy some pleasure and then we vanish – so what’s the use?
Several factors made Solomon cynical about life: the failure of any one man to make a lasting impression (1:11), the injustice of the oppressed, (3:16 & 4:1-3), and the inner discontentment with life as it is (4:7-8). But the primary source of Solomon’s despair was the certainty of death. “Like the fool, the wise man too must die! So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.” (2:16- 18)
“As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” (3:19 – 21)
Let’s be honest, Solomon was right in his cynicism–unless……unless there is a God who created us and cares about us….unless the spirit of man does rise upward and there is life after death….unless there is a judgment day when all things will be made right. Wow! Does that possibility ever change things!
Do you see how important a spiritual belief system is? Faith is not just something for superstitious, religious people who, “need that sort of thing” Faith is a huge issue for everyone. If the Biblical account about God and eternity is true then every day has significance. If it’s not, life is totally meaningless and we all might as well stand in line for the high windows and get it over with because, “God has set eternity in the hearts of men”. (3:11)
Just as a goldfish in a small bowl keeps bumping up against the glass instinctively longing for a wider body of water, so the human heart craves something beyond this life. There is an undeniable, inner longing to live beyond the grave and until that need is satisfied the soul is discontented and troubled. But when that desire is confidently fulfilled there is an inner peace that passes understanding. There’s a familiar saying that wraps up the theme of Ecclesiastes, ‘Life without God is a hopeless end; but with God it’s an endless hope”. That’s a BIG difference!
This from the American Humanist website: This week we’re pleased to publish a new poem “Ecclesiastes” by Frank S. Robinson. Frank S. Robinson is a retired New York State administrative law judge, a rare coin dealer, and author of five books, most recently The Case for Rational Optimism. He is married to the poet Therese […]
Tampa Bay Rays apologize for Avril Lavigne TMZ reported: According to local reports, Avril’s mic didn’t work at the start of her show … and she responded to the cavalcade of boos by yelling obscenities at crowd. Rays rep Rick Vaughn tells TMZ, “The Rays demand profanity-free performances from all of our concert performers and […]
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
Chris Martin revealed in his interview with Howard Stern that he was rasied an evangelical Christian but he has left the church. I believe that many words that he puts in his songs today are generated from the deep seated Christian beliefs from his childhood that find their way out in his songs. His belief in […]
Picture of Adrian Rogers above from 1970′s while pastor of Bellevue Baptist of Memphis, and president of Southern Baptist Convention. (Little known fact, Rogers was the starting quarterback his senior year of the Palm Beach High School football team that won the state title and a hero to a 7th grader at the same school named […]
Chris Martin revealed in his interview with Howard Stern that he was rasied an evangelical Christian but he has left the church. I believe that many words that he puts in his songs today are generated from the deep seated Christian beliefs from his childhood that find their way out in his songs. His belief in […]
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
The Bible and Archaeology (3/5) For many more archaeological evidences in support of the Bible, see Archaeology and the Bible . (There are some great posts on this too at the bottom of this post.) Robert Dick Wilson at the Grove City Bible Conference in 1909. IS THE HIGHER CRITICISM SCHOLARLY?Clearly attested facts showing that thedestructive […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
Above is a clip of 12 questions for Woody Allen. Below is a list of some of his movies. WOODY’S FINEST: Philip French’s favourite five Annie Hall (1977) In his first fully achieved masterwork, a semi-autobiographical comedy in which his ex-lover Diane Keaton and best friend Tony Roberts play versions of themselves, Allen created a […]
September 3, 2011 · 5:16 PM ↓ Jump to Comments Woody Allen on the Emptiness of Life In the final scene of Manhattan, Woody Allen’s character, Isaac, is lying on the sofa with a microphone and a tape-recorder, dictating to himself an idea for a short story. It will be about “people in Manhattan,” he says, […]
As far as I know they have never done an interview together. Therefore, I have included separate interviews that they have done below and I have some links to past posts I have done on them too. Shane Warne – Chris Martin Interview (Part 1) Uploaded by HandyAndy136 on Nov 24, 2010 Originally broadcast on […]
The Bible and Archaeology (1/5) The Bible maintains several characteristics that prove it is from God. One of those is the fact that the Bible is accurate in every one of its details. The field of archaeology brings to light this amazing accuracy. _________________________- I want to make two points today. 1. There is no […]
John Lofton noted: “DR. FRIEDMAN an evolutionist with ‘values’ of unknown origin but he said they were not ‘accidental.’ “ If anyone takes time to read my blog for any length of time they can not question my respect for the life long work of Milton Friedman. He has advanced the cause of freedom […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of his own secular view. I salute him for doing that. That is why I have returned to his work over and over and presented my own Christian worldview as an alternative.
I think there is too much wrong with the world to ever get too relaxed and happy. The more natural state, and the better one, I think, is one of some anxiety and tension over man’s plight in this mysterious universe.
80% of success is showing up.
Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don’t have a good partner, you’d better have a good hand.
[Responding to fans, skeptical of his plan to direct an opera] I have no idea what I am doing. But incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.
I do feel that in everyday life people on a great spectrum get away with crime all the time, ranging from genocide to just street crime. Most crimes do go unsolved, and people commit murders and ruin other people and do the worst things in the world, and, you know, there’s no one to penalize you if you don’t have a sense of conscience about it. There is an element in life of enormous, enormous injustice that we live with all the time. It’s just an ugly-but-true fact of life.
[Movies are a great diversion] because it’s much more pleasant to be obsessed over how the hero gets out of his predicament than it is over how I get out of mine.
My mother always said I was a very cheerful kid until I was 5 years old, and then I turned gloomy.
I can’t really come up with a good argument to choose life over death. Except that I’m too scared.
I was never bothered if a film was not well received. But the converse of that is that I never get a lot of pleasure out of it if it is. So it isn’t like you can say, ‘He’s an uncompromising artist.’ That’s not true. I’m a compromising person, definitely. It’s that I don’t get much from either side.
Your perception of time changes as you get older, because you see how brief everything is. You see how meaningless … I don’t want to depress you, but it’s a meaningless little flicker.
I once thought there was a good argument between whether it’s worth it to make a film where you confront the human condition, or an escape film. You could argue that the Fred Astaire film is performing a greater service than the Bergman film, because Ingmar Bergman is dealing with a problem that you’re never going to solve. Whereas ‘Fred Astaire’, you walk in off the street, and for an hour and half they’re popping champagne corks and making light banter and you get refreshed, like a lemonade.
I’ve made perfectly decent films, but not 8½ (1963), not The Seventh Seal (1957) (“The Seventh Seal”), The 400 Blows (1959) (“The 400 Blows”) or L’avventura (1960) – ones that to me really proclaim cinema as art, on the highest level. If I was the teacher, I’d give myself a B.
Ireland’s one of the few places that lives up to the hype, that is as beautiful as everyone tells you it is.
[on directing the LA Opera, alongside William Friedkin] I figured, “Eh, I’ll be dead before it happens. I’m 72. I’m never going to make it to the opera.” But it came around, and next Monday, I start rehearsal. I’ll just do the best I can and then get out of town and let them tar and feather Friedkin.
[on directing an opera] He [Plácido Domingo] said, “What if we do the Puccini trilogy – it’s three one-acts that are always done together? The first two, Billy Friedkin will direct. You’ll only be responsible for a one-act, a one-hour opera, and it’s funny.” You know, funny to opera people is not funny to the Marx Brothers.
It would be a disgrace and a humiliation if Barack Obama does not win… It would be a terrible thing if the American public was not moved to vote for him, that they actually preferred more of the same.
I never had a teacher who made the least impression on me and if you ask who are my heroes, the answer is simple and truthful: George S. Kaufman and the Marx Brothers.
I don’t believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.
[on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)] It was one of the few times in my life that I realized that the artist was so much ahead of me.
I’ve never felt that if I waited five years between films, I’d make better ones. I just make one when I feel like making it. And it comes out to be about one a year. Some of them come out good, and some of them come out less than good. Some of them may be very good and some may be very bad. But I have no interest in an overall plan for them or anything.
If I write a film and there is a part in it for me – great. But if I sit down in advance and think, “I’d like to be in this film,” or “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a film so it would be fun to do one,” then all of a sudden there’s an enormous amount of limits and compromise. I can only play a few things so that compromises the idea instantly. I think Deconstructing Harry (1997) would have been better with Dustin Hoffman or Robert De Niro, for sure. I also tried very hard to get another actor to play the part I did in The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001). I think we tried to see if Tom Hanks was available, and Nicholson. Either they weren’t available or didn’t want to do it. So I finally played that part. And I shouldn’t have, because it wasn’t my usual kind of role, and I think that hurt the film.
I’ve been around a long time, and some people may just get tired of me, which I can understand. I’ve tried to keep my films different over the years, but it’s like they complain, “We’ve eaten Chinese food every day this week.” I want to say, “Well, yes, but you had a shrimp meal and you had a pork meal and you had a chicken meal.” They say, “Yes, yes, but it’s all Chinese food.” That’s the way I feel about myself. I have a certain amount of obsessive themes and a certain amount of things I’m interested in and no matter how different the film is, whether it’s Small Time Crooks (2000) here or Zelig (1983) there, you find in the end that it’s Chinese food. If you’re not in the mood for my obsessions, then you may not be in the mood for my film. Now, hopefully, if I make enough films, some of them will come out fresh, but there’s no guarantee. It’s a crapshoot every time I make one. It could come out interesting or you might get the feeling that, God, I’ve heard this kvetch before – I don’t know.
Related posts:
I love the movie “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen and I have done over 30 posts on the historical characters mentioned in the film. Take a look below:
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
Woody Allen video interview in France Related posts: “Woody Wednesdays” Woody Allen on God and Death June 6, 2012 – 6:00 am Good website on Woody Allen How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? If Jesus Christ came back today and […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
A surprisingly civil discussion between evangelical Billy Graham and agnostic comedian Woody Allen. Skip to 2:00 in the video to hear Graham discuss premarital sex, to 4:30 to hear him respond to Allen’s question about the worst sin and to 7:55 for the comparison between accepting Christ and taking LSD. ___________________ The Christian Post > […]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 1 If you like Woody Allen films as much as I do then join me every Wednesday for another look the man and his movies. Below are some of the posts from the past: “Woody Wednesday” How Allen’s film “Crimes and Misdemeanors makes the point that hell is necessary […]
I really enjoyed this documentary on Woody Allen from PBS. Woody Allen: A Documentary, Part 1 Published on Mar 26, 2012 by NewVideoDigital Beginning with Allen’s childhood and his first professional gigs as a teen – furnishing jokes for comics and publicists – WOODY ALLEN: A DOCUMENTARY chronicles the trajectory and longevity of Allen’s career: […]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 3 Uploaded by camdiscussion on Sep 23, 2007 Part 3 of 3: ‘Is Woody Allen A Romantic Or A Realist?’ A discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, Crimes and Misdemeanors, perhaps his finest. By Anton Scamvougeras. http://camdiscussion.blogspot.com/antons@mail.ubc.ca ______________ One of my favorite Woody Allen movies and I reviewed […]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 2 Uploaded by camdiscussion on Sep 23, 2007 Part 2 of 3: ‘What Does The Movie Tell Us About Ourselves?’ A discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, perhaps his finest. By Anton Scamvougeras. http://camdiscussion.blogspot.com/antons@mail.ubc.ca _________________- One of my favorite Woody Allen movies and I reviewed it earlier but […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 1 If you like Woody Allen films as much as I do then join me every Wednesday for another look the man and his movies. Below are some of the posts from the past: “Woody Wednesday” How Allen’s film “Crimes and Misdemeanors makes the point that hell is necessary […]
I have spent alot of time talking about Woody Allen films on this blog and looking at his worldview. He has a hopeless, meaningless, nihilistic worldview that believes we are going to turn to dust and there is no afterlife. Even though he has this view he has taken the opportunity to look at the weaknesses of […]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 1 Uploaded by camdiscussion on Sep 23, 2007 Part 1 of 3: ‘What Does Judah Believe?’ A discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, perhaps his finest. By Anton Scamvougeras. http://camdiscussion.blogspot.com/antons@mail.ubc.ca _____________ One of my favorite films is this gem by Woody Allen “Crimes and Misdemeanors”: Film Review By […]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 3 Uploaded by camdiscussion on Sep 23, 2007 Part 3 of 3: ‘Is Woody Allen A Romantic Or A Realist?’ A discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, Crimes and Misdemeanors, perhaps his finest. By Anton Scamvougeras. http://camdiscussion.blogspot.com/antons@mail.ubc.ca ______________ One of my favorite Woody Allen movies and I reviewed […]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 2 Uploaded by camdiscussion on Sep 23, 2007 Part 2 of 3: ‘What Does The Movie Tell Us About Ourselves?’ A discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, perhaps his finest. By Anton Scamvougeras. http://camdiscussion.blogspot.com/antons@mail.ubc.ca _________________- One of my favorite Woody Allen movies and I reviewed it earlier but […]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 1 Uploaded by camdiscussion on Sep 23, 2007 Part 1 of 3: ‘What Does Judah Believe?’ A discussion of Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, perhaps his finest. By Anton Scamvougeras. http://camdiscussion.blogspot.com/antons@mail.ubc.ca _____________ Today I am starting a discusssion of the movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” by Woody Allen. This 1989 […]
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