A few of Dr. Thomas Sowell’s “Random Thoughts”.

Most of the problems of this country are not nearly as bad as the “solutions” — especially the solutions that politicians come up with during election years.

Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain.

It is amazing to me that there are people who still take seriously claims by some candidates that they are against “special interests.” All politicians are against their opponents’ special interests and in favor of his own special interests.

Among the many wise things said by the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was that you are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. Yet an incredible number of people make up whatever “facts” are needed to support whatever they choose to believe.

More good, old fashioned common sense thoughts at the link.

I was sent the following video in an email and it disturbed me so much I thought I’d share it with any readers who may care to watch it.

So, when Oprah was about 27 years old she went to church early one morning and listened to a very charasmatic preacher. She was caught up in all the feel-good things the preacher had to say but was turned off and disturbed when she apparently heard for the first time that God is a jealous God.

Apparently, rather than go to the preacher or one of the ministerial staff for answers to her questions so she could understand what was said, she just drifted around for over 20 years, upset that God is a jealous God.

I’m not being sarcastic when I say if she had just discovered at age 27 that our God is a jealous God then what was she doing for those 27 years, most of them spent in a Baptist church? Was she not paying attention, or was she paying attention only to the things that made her feel good and discarding the uncomfortable things?

Things such as Jesus saying He is the Way the Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father but by Him (Jesus). Things such as “You must be born again”? Did she miss the uncomfortable story Jesus told of the poor man named Lazarus who was in the bosom of Abraham while the rich man who fed him the scraps from his table was in hell? Did she miss the part that Jesus actually told us of a literal hell in that passage? And it’s interesting to note it is not a parable or Jesus would have said “Listen to the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.”?

This story is found in Luke 16:19-31 (NIV)

19″There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22″The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[a] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25″But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27″He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29″Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30″ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31″He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ “

Exodus 20:5 tells us the context in which God declares Himself to be a jealous God:

5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

(NIV)

Yes, Oprah, and anyone else who does not believe and does not know in what context God is jealous, God is a jealous God. He wants no other gods before Him. He is the Only God and there is none before Him or after Him.

He is not jealous of Oprah or any other human being unless we hold that human being to be higher than God is. God is jealous of anything we put above Him and make a god.

Exodus 20 shows us the Ten Commandments. Read the very first commandment and the punishment for disobeying it:

1 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before [a] me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

He’s not jealous of you, Oprah, but He is jealous of what you put ahead of Him now.

It is my prayer that Oprah Winfrey and anyone else who believes there is no real Being called God Who is The Creator, is ominscient, omnipotent and all the other adjectives given to Him by Himself, will be awakened to the Spirit of God and cast aside the false gods and accept God’s Only begotten Son Jesus as their Savior and Lord, because there is something on the other side of death. We are not meant to not exist after this life. There are only two places we can go, and all the money Oprah has is not enough to keep her from hell if she has not accepted Jesus as her Savior and Lord.