Happy Thanksgiving!!

The first immigrants was our ancestors who came over from Europe when they discovered America. It was the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower and landed on Plymouth Rock.

They were welcomed by the Indians that were already living in this country.

I’m not going to call them Native Americans. I’m calling them by their rightful names, the American Indians.

It was the Indians who taught the Pilgrims about farming, fishing, and hunting to get a bountiful harvest. They were peaceful Indians.

One of the tricks that the Indians showed the Pilgrims was putting a dead fish in with the seed as they plant their crops. When they did that, they had a bountiful harvest. It was so bountiful, that they celebrated together for the very first Thanksgiving.

What did us white folks give/do for the Indians?

They introduced them to “fire water”; which today is known as whiskey.

You see, the Indians were very spiritual. Once they were introduced to whiskey, things started changing for the worst for them. They picked up the habits of becoming an alcoholic.

Another thing, the American Indians were infested with such diseases as small pox. Now small pox came from the white man. At that time there was no cure; so it killed many Indians.

The American Indians were the first American citizen. They were peaceful and were taken advantage of by the white man. For all the good things they did for the pilgrims, they sure wasn’t treated very nice. They were forced into reservation, got hook on alcohol, and even was given many sickness. They were treated like savage. They were treated like second-rate citizen. Many American Indians had lost their lives due to war as well.

Enough about the Indians though. Let us talk about the first immigrants, the pilgrims.

Now the reason that the pilgrims came to America was for freedom. They were trying to break free from the oppression of the monarchy that ruled England at the time. They wanted freedom of religion. They wanted to get out from being under the King of England’s thumb.

The reason for the Boston Tea Party was because they were upset for the high taxation on teas and other imports. Now the Boston Tea Party was the start of the Revolution War.

So I can understand the reason for immigrants wanting to come to America. They too comes for freedom like our ancestors. They are tired of the oppression in their home country. They also wants the prosperity that comes to those in America as well.

So when they come to America legally, that is fine; but when they come illegally like crossing the boarder between Mexico and the United States, that is where I put my foot down. Not only do they come illegally. Some also brings drugs and guns by smuggling them across the boarder.

It’s almost like they are doing to us what we did to the American Indians.

Not only that, they takes jobs away from our people. They are living on the welfare system set up by our government. Us, taxpayers are paying for them to have a good life without having to work for it. Some are taking advantage of us like we did the Indians.

Like I said, I understand that they are just trying to escape the oppression of their corrupt government in their home country.

What get me is that those on the Left is allowing them to take advantage of us Americans. They also don’t realize what they are offering these immigrants, is the same things that they are trying to escape from. They are offering Socialism; which is total government control.

I will go more into that subject in another blog later.

All I will say, there are some who doesn’t wants Socialism; because they know what it is.

Another example is the riot in China. Some of the people are rioting up against the Chinese government oppression. I’m glad that they are standing up to their government.

My grandfather’s family came from Germany when he was just a kid. Old Frank Heger even served in the military during WW1. So you see, I’m a grandchild of an immigrant.

We all are descendants of immigrant one way or another. So if you wanting to come to America, do it the legal way and you will truly be welcome. We are not here to offer you free money, healthcare, etc. You must work for it like the rest of us.

So this Thanksgiving as you gather with your family eating your Thanksgiving meal, remembered the first Thanksgiving; when the pilgrims ate with the true American citizen, the American Indians. When you happen to see an Indians thanks them for welcoming us into their country. Thanks them for teaching us how to have a bountiful harvest as well.

The most important, may we feel guilty for what we did and are still doing to the American Indians.

Do you know anyone who is an emotional vampire? Maybe you work for them or with them? Maybe you are married to them or it’s someone in your own family. Or wherever you may encounter that person?

Last year for my Halloween blog, I wrote about people love affair with a vampire. How people seems to have this romance with them; compared to years ago.

Even though you may be in love with a vampire, sometimes they can be very dangerous to your emotional health.

Those vampires in your life are bloodsucker. They can suck you dry if you are not careful. They have a way to manipulating you to just drain you emotionally.

I recently read this book that I’m holding in the picture at the top of the blog. This book is very interesting.

I have to admit when I was working at Kmart, there was a manager, who I would say was an emotional vampire. He was not a manager material. Once he retired and came into the store he was a whole different person. He was calmer. I don’t think he should had been a manager or the store that he was managing was too big for him to handle. He was stressed out and he was stressing out the employees as well.

Emotional vampires are just bullies crying out for help. Some bullies were/are victims themselves.

It’s not your blood that they drain, it’s your emotional energy. When that is drained, you are susceptible to many forms of illness from cancer to ulcers, to whatever will wear your body down. A person may even get migraines.

I have to admit, since leaving Kmart, I haven’t had a migraine for awhile.

Some people can be very good at manipulating to get under your skin and drain you dry. They know how to stress you out and control you if you are not careful.

If vampires want something from you, they may say and do whatever it takes to get it. They may not be totally honest with you either. They thinks that they are being honest but they’re not. They are not telling you the whole story for a purpose. That purpose to control you; so that they can get what they want.

Like the serpent in the Garden of Eden in Genesis. He manipulated Eve into taking the apple from the tree of life; in which God forbid them. You probably knows the story.

Those who are married to an emotional vampire will not see it as abuse. To them abuse is either physical or sexual; not emotional. If there is no mark left on you, there is not abuse. That is how emotional vampire can control you in a relationship.

The Bible says that a person must not be yoke with a non-believer. It will only bring about abuse, emotional abuse.

There is help for those who are dealing with emotional vampires. You just have to admit that you needs help. You have to admit that that you are being abused.

My mother would never admit that she was being emotionally abuse. She felt that since there was no physical abuse, there was no abuse. Throughout my folks 40 years of marriage, he was able to wear her down.

Then again she grew up in that type of environment; so that was all she had known. They say a woman would marry someone like their father and a man will marry someone like their mother.

Toward the end of my mother’s life, she was more concerned about my step-dad’s health than her own. She was worn down, making her easier to control.

That is how an emotional vampire works. They looks for ways to wear a person down just to control them. They are bloodsuckers, leaches, and bullies.

Now bullies are just crying out for help themselves.

Once you are worn down, you will be susceptible to all kinds of illness: such as ulcers, cancer, flu, any kinds of viruses, bugs, etc. Your body is slowly shutting down it’s energy field.

When that happens, it is a must to get yourself out of the situation before you are killed. You also must find someone who can help you restore your energy level. It’s a long process and takes time. But first, you must recognize that you are being abuse emotionally. You must recognize that you are being manipulated.

Once you do that, then you can continue on to the next step to get out of the situation if you can. And also seek the help to restore your energy level to get healthy again.

You can still love that person and even pray for them. You just have to get yourself out of that situation before it’s too late.

Do you know the similarity between Taylor Swift, LeAnn Rimes, and Tanya Tucker?

First of all, they all were under 18 years old when they hit it big in the music industry. Once they became an adult and went Hollywood, they went on a downhill slide and fame started going to their head.

Tanya Tucker was 13 when her first #1 song, “Delta Dawn”, became a hit. She dated Glen Campbell after recording her duet with him. She even accused him of being abusive. That was about the same time that she went Hollywood. She lost her way along the way.

LeAnn Rimes was also 13 when she hit it big in Country music. Her first hit song was, “Blue”. Once she turned 18, she sued her father and gone Hollywood.

Taylor Swift was only 17 years old though. She was a country diva sensation until she decided to go pop. She had a tendency of dating and then breaking up with them. After breaking up, she would write songs about the men she dated. Some may say that she must have a low self-esteem. It even got to the point that some men were afraid of dating her because they were afraid that she would write a song about them. I won’t go into the guys she dated; because I think that you get the message.

The more popular she became, the more of a diva she becomes as well. She had her set of feuds with other stars. She also had gone Hollywood as well.

I have to admit, she does have some good songs. I’m just not too happy with the direction she went. Not that she went pop but that fame went to her head like Tanya Tucker and LeAnn Rimes. She started hanging out with the wrong entourage and I feel that they are taking advantage of her. I’m not even going to go into her political views.

Those 3 are not the only ones where fame had gone to their head. There are many who had fallen. A bad things about child stars, some of them had fallen hard. Some may had went broke or died young due to drug abuse. Some had lost their ways.

There are few that was able to grow up into a mature adult and still make a name for themselves. Those that were able to do that, they were well grounded. My hat goes off to them. Then there are some who just struggled once they became an adult. I’m not saying that they didn’t continue their careers though. It goes to show how fame can go to a person head if you are not grounded.

It’s not just child stars though, that have that trouble though.

Some stars can be very demanding when it comes to performing a concert. You probably heard how some stars only wants certain colors of M&M’s. That is just minor.

Paul McCartney, who is a strict vegetarian. If any meat by-product touch the cooking equipment and/or utensils, they have to be replaced before he would perform there.

Most recently, Celine Dion demanded not one but 2 white leather couch for her dressing room. She also wanted carpet on the arena floor; because she doesn’t want to see cement. The rolls of chairs must be spaced in a way to make the arena looks fuller. She is a DIVA, just like Taylor Swift.

Justin Bieber brought his own hot tub for his dressing room. Try to get it into the room was quite impossible.

Speaking of Justin Bieber, he was 13 years old when he was discovered on u tube. Believe me, I was concerned that fame would goes to his head; and that was what had happened once he hit 18. We all know the trouble he had. He hung out with the wrong entourage and they took advantage of him.

Just like Taylor Swift is doing .

Justin Bieber said that he found Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. I’m not going to judge him because of his faith. That is between him and Jesus. If he is genuine, more power to him; but if he’s pretending, God will knows.

Singers who seems to be more down-to-earth I have more respect for. When I saw Luke Bryan at one of his concert, he gave everyone a high five as he walks past, when he got off the stage. That memory I will treasure.

Now to explain that picture at the top of this blog. It’s hard to be humble. Our pride can get in the way. Fame and success can really change a person, if they are not grounded.

Here’s an example: when I was working at Concordia College and making pretty good money, I was doing a little bragging. I believed that the Lord had taken it away because of my boasting. Pride goes before a fall.

Now, I’m being a little careful with my bragging; so that I don’t become too boastful over the success. Even if and when my blogs goes viral, may the Lord keeps me humble. No matter how high I get, the Lord will still be #1 in my life.

Believe me, it’s not easy to keep fame and success from going to your head. Anyone who says that it is, is a liar.

I’m hoping that these stars who let fame goes to their head will find their way back.

Believe me, I’m all for a person got to be themselves; because no one else can.

As you can tell from some of my blogs, I’m a Conservative Republicans who voted and supported for Trump.

Mr. Rush Limbaugh is also a Conservative Republican as well. He can also comes across as a blowhard like Ed Schultz. The only difference between Limbaugh and Schultz is one is a Republican and the other was Democrat. Even Ed Shultz was a Republican at one time. He just went over to the dark side. He went where the money was at that time. This blog is not about him though. This time it’s about Rush Limbaugh instead.

The first time I heard Rush Limbaugh on his talk show, I had problems listening to him. I knew people who likes him and follow what he says. I just couldn’t grasp it all.

The thing that bothered me about him was this feelings that I get when I listened to him. To me, he felt that he was god; and you better believe him or else. He was so full of himself.

Believe me, people like that, I have problem with.

If you know that person personally either in your family or co-workers, or boss, they can become an emotional vampire. I won’t goes into that at this time because that is another near future blog.

The more I listens to Rush Limbaugh, the more I starts to understands him better. He may come across as a blowhard and like god; but I have to admit some of things he had said seems to be true. All you have to do is gather the facts to what he says. Just do your research and see for yourself.

I have to admit, I would loves to have his popularity with my blogs as well. I would like to have as many followers as he have.

Some people may thinks that I too can be a blowhard at times. Some people may even wondered if I actually knows what I’m talking about; since I’m no expert. Some people may wondered if I too thinks that I am god.

Well I’m not god and I’m no expert. I just have plenty of opinions about things that I happens to write about. I’m not saying that you have to believe everything I say. I just wants you to enjoy what I write. If you happens to believe more power to you.

I can’t fix the world’s problems; but I can at least shares my opinions with others.

I can only hope that is Rush Limbaugh’s motives as well. I don’t believe everything he says; but he is entertaining. It does seems that most of what he says seems to come true.

May that also happens to me as well.

Rush Limbaugh isn’t god; even though I, at one time felt that he saw himself as god. He is just a man, a celebrity. He’s an entertainer.

We have some similarities with each other. We’re both Conservative Republicans. We both have blogs out there to share our opinions with the world. He is just more famous than I am.

One thing, I think we both can agree on is: you have the rights to thinks for yourself. You can either agree or disagree with us.

Those on the Left don’t agree with that. They get angry if you don’t agree with them. They calls you derogatory, hateful, hurtful names. They are against us being free thinkers, like in the book, “1984”. They are against Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Speech.

If they had their ways, people like Rush Limbaugh and I will not be able to profit with our opinions. They will shut us up or may even have us killed. They may even try to censor us.

So if you like Rush Limbaugh; I hope that you can come to like me as well. Even if you don’t like us, you have that rights too. This is still a free country.

President Trump is wanting to keep America free too!

Happy Halloween to all my readers out there(ha,ha,ha)!

As you can see I love dressing up for Halloween. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.

Some Christian church leaders may frown on this. They see Halloween as Satan worshipping.

I’m not going into that in this blog this time around; but I’m not saying I won’t down the road. I’m just going to keep it light and humorous for a change.

To me, Halloween is one of the most fun time for kids and adults alike. I mean, the idea of playing dress up is so much fun. (You probably didn’t knew this but it was my dream to be an actor in Hollywood, before Hollywood had gotten too weird and gone over to the dark side and became the Far Left.)

What kids doesn’t love getting candies and lots of it?

I could remember the fun I had on Halloweens throughout my life so far.

Plus more kids went out trick and treating for Halloweens than what they seems to do now. Now it seems they just goes to the mall instead. As an adults it’s fun to see the costumes the kids are wearing and the joy on their faces as you hand out candies.

It just seems because of all the scary stuff going on in the world today, kids aren’t trick and treating as much anymore. I can understand that. The world is becoming scary. You never know what people would do on Halloween.

If parents did their jobs; Halloween can still be fun and safe for our kids.

Even though both my parents worked, they made sure that we were safe on Halloween as well. I remembered when we were done trick and treating, my mother would goes through the candies stash we got to make sure that they were safe to eat. She would make sure that there was no open candies, and stuff like that.

As a kid, I think that she had an ulterior motives as well. She was going through to pick out her favorite candy as well.

There was some Halloween that it was raining out. I even remembered snow on Halloween.

My last year that I went trick and treating was when I was 12 years old and in the 6th grade. We were living on the farm and my mother took us 2 youngest kids into Hawley to trick and treat, while she visit with our grandmother.

Some of the costumes that I wore throughout Halloweens were amazing. As I kid, I would dress up as Superman for Halloween. My favorite superhero.

When I went to college, I went to a few Halloween parties where I dress up. In this blog, I will give you some ideas of costumes that I worn so far in my life.

Way back in college, I dressed up as a caveman. I was skinnier and the costume was short, so when I bent over, a person could see my shorts.

I even dressed up as a person from the 50’s. I wore jeans with white t-shirt, black wig, and sunglasses.

I can’t remembered all the costumes I worn because it was too many.

Back in 2008, I dressed up like Obama. I worn the mask of his liking along with a blue suit. I heard someone say that that was the best costumes ever. I went to a Halloween party dress like that; and the people just loved it.

One time I dress up as a prisoner with the prison costume and all. I was working at Kmart at the time, and the manager just didn’t get it. I was making a statement at the time. Halloween was a time for me to make a statement.

I even dressed up as a slave and I used my Kmart id number as my slave number. Once again the manager just didn’t get it.

In 2016, I dressed up as Donald Trump. I wore his mask along with a suit. I think I had gotten more negative comment with that costume than I did with Obama, go figured.

If you remembered last year, I dressed up as a doctor for Halloween. That costume was just perfect since I work at Sanford. I had people calling me doctor at work.

I would even sometimes decorate for Halloween; not as much as Christmas though.

I try to make sure that I have candies for Halloween just in case I get anyone going trick and treating, and if I happened to be home. Living in an apartment, there isn’t many who goes out trick and treating like when I was a child.

I miss those days of innocence. I still likes dressing up and I will probably do it until I can’t do it anymore.

In a way, Halloween is almost like those on the Far left who feels that they are entitled to things. Like the joke goes, “Trick or treat! I’m entitled to your candies.”

Like in the Steven King movie, “Storm of the Century,” “give me what I want and I will go away.”

So when they comes trick and treating welcome them with candies for their pumpkins or bags. Don’t put anything in the candies that will harm the kids. Don’t ruin Halloween for them. Don’t take away their innocence!

I may not like going out to late after dark if I don’t have to anymore; but I still love Halloween and dressing up for it. I know that I will wear this costume to work on Halloween in the daytime. Who knows maybe I will wear it that evening when I work at the my other job as well.

Be safe this Halloween! May you get plenty of treats. Have fun, because that is what Halloween is all about, having fun. You are never too old to have fun on Halloween. I don’t care what age you are. Some even decorate their car or their place.

Have a Ghoulish time!!!

For those who may wondered how or why Trump was elected; or about those crazies on the Far Left, I’m here to hopefully explain this to you.

I believe that it started way back with Pres. Nixon.

First of all if you remembered your history, you would know that there was a heavy protest on our college campus against the Vietnam War. Some of these Liberals today were possibly protesting on campus and possibly doing drugs and smoking pots.

Another thing that hurt Pres. Nixon was the Watergate scandal. I won’t go into that too much because that is a whole different blog. All I will say that the American people was starting to get upset with our government at that time. Not much was able to be done at that time though.

The reason for that was because of the baby boomer and the older generation wasn’t up to changing Washington.

Now I’m a Generation X. I just missed being a baby boomer by a year. So I can relate very easily with the baby boomer.

The Generation X was responsible for starting the change. They just couldn’t get enough support because of the older generation; who held the country back. It wasn’t until the Millennial came around and the older generation started dying off before any real changes started to happens.

I just had to give you this information to help you see where I’m coming from. Now back to the real reason for this blog.

Pres. Nixon resign as President right on my birthday, Aug. 9, 1974; and Gerald Ford took over as President. Now Ford never stood a chance to be the kind of President he could had been. I mean, Nixon, the Watergate, and the Vietnam War hurt him.

So in 1976, Jimmy Carter was elected President. I won’t go into too much about him because I will save it for another blog once he die. All I will say is this: Carter was different than what they had in Washington.

President Carter only served one term and I will explain that in a different blog. In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected President. Reagan was anti-establishment and a Republican. He was the reason I became a Republican in 1984. He gave the Generation X a voice in Washington for the change that is happening now. He was the last great Republican president. Reagan served 2 terms.

Yet, Washington still wasn’t ready for it. Both the Republicans and the Democrats fought against it and Pres. Reagan. So in 1988, the first George Bush was elected president. He only was elected because he rode in on Reagan’s coattails. Yet he was the old school Washington establishment. He only served one term though.

What hurt him and was thorn in his side was Ross Perot. Even though he was a third party candidate, he took in more vote than expected. Because of all that Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992.

During all this Generation X was growing up and becoming a big part of making a change in Washington. Whereas the older generation was starting to die off.

I remembered as kid growing up, my step-dad would always say, “United States is due for another Civil War. The American people is going to get so fed up with our Federal Government, high taxes, and high regulations.”

In 2000, George W. Bush was elected President. I’m here to tell you that I didn’t vote for him. I voted for Elizabeth Dole instead. The Established Republicans was afraid of her for some reason. They were so determined to nominate George W. Bush. They wanted to keep their power and control.

For those who don’t know this, the Tea Party movement was started under George W. Bush.

In 2008, Obama was elected president on the idea of change. He knew that America wanted a change . He even promised that change; even though it was different than what we actually wanted.

This Republican voted for Obama in both of his election. I didn’t much care for McCain or Romney. They represented the old establishment.

Finally in 2016, Trump came along with the slogan, “Make America Great Again!” I have to admit, I was afraid of him at first. I wanted Ben Carson. I came around to vote for Trump and I’m glad that I did.

He is draining the swamp in Washington. The news media and the Democrats doesn’t much care for him because of what he is doing for this country. He is only doing what the people wants.

He doesn’t play by the rules in Washington!

Now because of Pres. Trump, we have these Far Left on the Democrats side. They are pure nut jobs. They want to destroy America; by making it into being a Socialist country. They want to take away our freedom and all of our rights as American citizen.

If you don’t agree with them they will attack you with hateful words and action. They don’t think that we have the rights to think for ourselves. Anyone who voted and supported Trump is called derogatory names. They will even spit on us and throw things at us. They call us racist and a bunch of rednecks.

The more they attack us and try to impeach Trump, the more I will vote for him. The more they keep this up, I will never vote for a Democrat again.

So what is happening right now in America; you could say that my step-dad was right. I’m just glad that he isn’t alive to see it. He would be laughing at these Democrats. I believe that he would approve of Pres. Trump; even though he was an Independent voters, who usually voted for the Democrats.

This may or may not surprise you; but I always enjoyed history. History was one of my favorite subject in high school. But what can you do with a degree in history? My grades in history was exceptional.

What we learn in history can help us from repeating things and making the same mistakes over and over again. But first, we must study our history to prevent repeating it.

Even though there was some things I was never taught in history class. There are some things the teachers will leave out. Sometimes, teachers may be a little bias too.

For one thing I wasn’t taught about the Vietnam War in History. I was taught about what was going on in this country during the Vietnam War. It could had been that it was still fresh on the people’s minds. I don’t know the reasons. We could had ran out of time during the school years.

What you are not taught in history class; you can look it up on-line. Thank God for the internet.

Few years ago, I read in the paper, that today’s high school students are not taught about the Holocaust. Some don’t even know what the Holocaust was. Ilhan Omar is one prime example; especially at what she says about Israel.

Teachers are more Liberal than they were when I was in school. They will slant history like the fake mainstream news media just to suit their own agendas. Some may even try to rewrite history if they could. If they don’t agree what was in the history book, they may either overlook it or change it a little.

Luckily for the internet, we have the opportunity to really know what happens in our history.

There is this person I know who just recently became a teacher. I heard her say, “if any of her students did a history report and it wasn’t in the history book or she doesn’t agree with the truth about the history information; she will fail them.”

Believe me, if I was a parent of that child that she failed because she doesn’t agree with the historic information; I would take it to the schoolboard and have her fired.

So many of these Liberals, teachers, news media, and the Leftist Democrats are trying to rewrite history. The reason, they don’t agree or like what they see.

Let’s get straight the point!

As you know the Democrats under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and these Leftist are trying to impeach President Trump. They have nothing on him. They couldn’t get him for the Russian collusion involving 2016 election. So they are now trying with this Ukraine incident; which is just big theater, just a joke; and a bad one at that.

They dislike and disrespect him so much that they can’t see straight. They know deep down that they can’t beat him in the 2020 election. They just wants to stop him so bad that they will stop at nothing to bring him down.

They should learn from history.

I mean back when Bill Clinton was President, the Republicans went and impeach him. Believe me, he was guilty; whereas Trump did nothing wrong.

President Clinton was guilty of the Whitewater scandal; yet it couldn’t be proven. All the Republicans were able to get Pres. Clinton on was the fact that he had an affair in the White House with an intern(Monica Lewinski); and then he lied about it.

That impeachment just blew up in the Republicans’ faces. They were the laughing stock in Washington. Just like the Democrats are today. It cost them the House and the Senate, the following election. It took them a few years for them to get back control of the House and the Senate too.

If the Democrats continue with this foolishness, they too will lose the House once again. The Presidential candidates will not get elected in the 2020 election.

Even though, the Republicans went all out to impeach Clinton, Newt Gingrich and Pres. Clinton was able to work together to balance the budget.

Just like Tip O’Neill and Pres. Reagan was also able to work together in end. They had respect for each and were friends when all said and done.

You can’t say the same thing with Nancy Pelosi and Pres. Trump. It’s pure hatred on the Democrats sides. Nancy Pelosi is only trying to appease her own Leftist party.

Like I said earlier, if they would just learn from their history; they wouldn’t be doom to repeat it and make the same mistakes. Instead of rewriting history, we must learn from it.

What they are trying to impeach Trump on not only will it hurt them; it will also hurt Joe Biden.

What they are accusing Trump on, President Obama had done the same thing when he was President, and no one bat an eye.

To me, it’s like they are saying, “an employer doesn’t have the right to do a background check on possible employees.” That’s all Trump may or may not have done involving the Ukraine and Joe Biden; and even Hillary Clinton.

The Democrats will never ever get my votes again because of what they are doing.

Next week, I will discuss more about why I like President Trump even more today, in part 2: “We got who we got because who we had.”

What does the world thinks of the church today?

The church today is struggling. They are having a difficult time in reaching the young people. Church’s attendance is lower than it was years ago.

It’s not because people are working on Sunday; even though that is part of it.

The fact is people are choosing to have fun instead. They want to party and live it up. They want to drink and have sexual intercourse with whoever they want. Their motto is, “You only live once.”

I’m not criticizing that. Believe me, when I was in my late teens and early 20’s, I too loves to party. I was a party animal.

I believe what is keeping our young people out of the church is how they perceived the Christians inside of the church.

First of all, there are those who believed that you can be a believer and still live it up. There are some that say that they believed in God. They just wants to have their fun while they are young.

Then there are those who perceived those in the church to be hypocrite. They sees them as being self-righteous. They sees them as being very judgmental over their lifestyles and choices that they make. They feel that if they are Christians, they should love everyone like Jesus does; and not judge them.

For example: some believed that those in the church are being judgmental over those who are homosexual. I’m not going too far into that because that is a whole different blog.

The point I’m getting at is that those in the church are perceived as being Self-righteous.

I have to admit, even though I’m a Christian and have been since 1990, I have struggled with the ideas of self-righteous people in the church.

I’m going to start at the beginning, I was baptized Catholic as a baby and confirmed Lutheran. Yet, I didn’t really knew the Lord until later on in life. I came to accept the Lord in 1990 after the Lord spoke to me. But first, I saw a movie called, “I Know my first name is Steven.” It was about a boy who was kidnapped and molested. I related to him; to reason I may tell you later in another blog. I then had the TV on to Dwight Thompson, a televangelist. At that time, I didn’t much care for televangelist. Somehow, I couldn’t turned the channel because of some forms of spirit. Then one evening he preached on Luke 15, the Prodigal Son. That night, the Lord spoke to me saying that he loved me and was always there for me. I cried as I accepted the Lord. I was soon re-baptized, by being submerge in water. I’m now a member of a Nazarene Church in Moorhead, MN. The church is Bridgepointe Community.

As I said earlier, I too had struggled with self-righteous people in the church. I almost left the church because of it. I still believed in God and Jesus. I just didn’t believed in the church.

I think that this may be one of the reason that keeps the young people out of the church. They may believed in God and Jesus; but they see some of the people and/or the pastor as being self-righteous.

I believed that young people are searching for something and not finding it in the church. They are finding it elsewhere; like a cult for example.

There are churches that are trying to reach the young people. They are going to where they needs to go. I give credit to Prairieheights Community Nazarene Church for doing just that. At the same time they are not becoming lost to the world.

As Jesus said, “even though we lived in the world, we are not a part of the world.” it doesn’t mean that we are to become self-righteous though. Remembered, Jesus accused the Pharisees of being self-righteous and look where that got him. They crucified Him!!

I have been teaching Sunday School the Sermon on the Mount series. It’s a very good lesson on how we are to live for Jesus. It’s also show us how we can reach the lost without being judgmental.

In the end times, there will be even less people in church than it is now. Christians are being persecuted because of their faith and will be before Jesus returns again.

It’s not just the world’s fault though. Some people in the church are just too blame. Some of them bring it on themselves. The Pharisees did in Jesus’ days as well.

Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest President. He became President after the assassination of William McKinley.

He was a rough rider from New York.

He was a distant relative of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Even though FDR was a Democrat, Teddy was a Republican. He was a Nationalist.

Even though he was from New York, he loved North Dakota. To him, North Dakota was God’s country. He had a vacation home in North Dakota. It was a place he came to, to go hunting. He loved hunting.

He was in the top ten of the best President. It depends on what polls where he ranks.

You can find his likeness on Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota.

One of the things that you probably didn’t know about him. He was an Environmentalist. Now that is an oxymoron for being a Republican; since those on the Left thinks that Republicans cannot be an environmentalist.

He was also known as a Progressive. Back then Progressive means something totally different than what it does now.

His most famous quote was “Walk softly and carry a big stick.”

With what we know about Teddy Roosevelt, I was wondering what he would think about the oil boom in North Dakota?

What would he thinks about the Keystone pipeline?

I will tell you what I think he would think. First of all he would like the idea of harvesting our resources.

Yet at the same time, he would not approve of the pipeline. He wouldn’t approve of the pipeline going through the badlands of North Dakota.

When the Native Americans were protesting the pipeline being built across their burial ground. I was on their side. It went too far when those on the far left got involved. They took it to the point of being violent.

I also thinks that Teddy would approve of Pres. Trump. He would sees him as a man after his own heart.

North Dakota wasn’t always one of the riches state due to the oil industry.

Under Gov. Art Link, in the late 70’s and early 80’s, he closed the oil fields in the Western part of the state. For reason, I don’t fully understand. All I can say, “he was a Democrat.”

Anyway, when the oil fields were closed, cities like Dickenson and Williston became almost like a ghost town. They were drying up and loosing people right and left.

Since the oil boom, both Dickerson and Williston had grown quite a bit.

Not only did the oil boom help those 2 cities grow; it puts North Dakota on the map and be noticed. It’s still a fly over state; but at least it’s finally being recognize for something.

People would link North Dakota to South Dakota; and there was talk of merging the 2 states and making it into 1.

Another State that North Dakota was link to was Minnesota. For example: I had an Aunt who thought that North Dakota and Minnesota was the same state; and she was from Casselton before moving out West to Seattle.

It was hard to keep the young people in the state after they graduated from either high school or college. There was really no jobs in their fields.

Ever since Ed Shaffer was governor of North Dakota, the state’s economy was booming. He opened the oil fields again. He worked to bring jobs into this state to keep the young people in. Of course, he was Republican also. Since Shaffer, the state of North Dakota had a Republican governor. Before Shaffer, the Republicans couldn’t get elected governor of the state.

This blog isn’t about Shaffer or the Republicans controlling the Governor. It’s about the oil boom in the state.

As good and important the oil boom was to the state of North Dakota’s economy, for putting the state on the map, for job prospects, and for bringing new businesses in to fight to keep our young people in the state. It wasn’t all perfect.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for that.

Some of the downfall of reopening the oil fields are as followed.

I actually believe that the oil company had taken advantage of North Dakota’s naïve. I mean, as the title said, “Black Gold-Texas Tease,” who haven’t seen the original Beverly Hillbillies? The oil company took advantage of the characters, because they saw them as bunch of hillbillies and hicks. I actually thinks, the oil company saw the people in North Dakota as being a bunch of rednecks; that they could take advantage of. Because of that we weren’t prepared for what came out the oil boom.

First of all, I’m glad that we are harvesting our own resources. It keeps us from being dependent on Foreign oils. It keeps us from dealing with terrorists. It keeps us from dealing with the enemies of Israel. It’s boost the economy of North Dakota and made the state competitive with other states, such as Texas.

There are things that came out of this oil boom that cause me to be alarmed.

One of the things it did, it brought in a bunch of riff raffs and crimes. Not everybody is qualified to work the oil fields. It’s a hard and dirty job. The crime rates had risen since the oil boom. It’s getting to the point I don’t feel safe being out after dark in Fargo anymore.

The cost of living in the Western part of the state is much higher now. People on fixed incomes cannot afford to live there anymore. There was poll that showed that to rent an apartment in Williston cost as much if not more than New York City.

I remembered hearing because of the oil boom out west, the Bismarck Kmart store had a hard time in hiring help. They would just put the box of product out on the floor, because they had no help to stock the shelves. The reason was because of the pay didn’t match the cost of living.

I remembered when I took the train heading out West for a vacation. The train would go by Williston and the oil fields work camps. I mean, you could see those camps from the train as it went by. It looks like a slum area. It was worse than the old west. It was even worse than the inner city of Indianapolis; when I went there for a work & witness trip.

I think this is one of the reason the homeless population is as high in the state of North Dakota. The people are coming up to the state for jobs because they hear that the state is busting with jobs, due to the oil boom.

Like I said earlier, not everyone is able to work the oil fields. Not everyone can work these jobs that is being created by new businesses coming into the state. Some may have to do blue-collar work to make a living.

Even with the surplus, those in our state government don’t want to raise wages. Then they wondered why people have to work 2-3 jobs to make a living. They wondered why alcoholism is a big problem in the state. Some are even working past retirement age and/or until they die.

I won’t go into that because that is a whole different blog.

I didn’t mention the Keystone Pipeline because I’m saving it for next week blog; which will be part 2. Here is a clue to part 2: Who it may be about may surprise you.