Doug Giles is a pastor, columnist and radio show host. And he's blunt. Really blunt.

If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going
by Doug Giles

The economic times we are living in are rougher and scarier than Rosie just before getting bikini waxed. With our national cash crisis comes a bazillion other ancillary spiritual and physical spin-off problems. As a columnist, talk show host and minister I'm now getting my inbox inundated with emails asking me how to spiritually field this mucked up mess we're mired in (that's how bad it is . . . people are asking me for advice).

 
What follows is my attempt to Dr. Phil you folks thru this crap-laden crunch we're currently getting crushed by with seven hard learned lessons about God and life from the last 25 years of getting my butt kicked.
*Note to rabid atheists: This column (to become a book under the same title) is written to the heaven bound Christian who is currently going through hell. Yeah . . . it's not for you. You might want to read Thus Spake Zarathustra or something for encouragement.

Here are seven observations and exhortations to help us keep plowing through tough times.

1. Jesus Promised Pain.
Jesus said in His first YouTube lecture, the Sermon on the Mount, that "storms" are coming to everyone, Christian or not. Note: Jesus didn't say if storms come, but when they come. I know it sucks, but that's reality. At least He gives us a heads up, eh? Also, Jesus didn't forewarn us of tame storms on the horizon but "squalls" so violent that if you aren't well founded on His word that your house could be destroyed. How we have built our lives is revealed in the storm.

2. Are You Gonna Cowboy Up or Lay There and Bleed?
Modern evangelicals by and large are an emasculated group of Nancies who make mountains out of molehills. We aren't like our scriptural forefathers who were hardy and rowdy, tough followers of a rugged God. We are wussies pastored by wussies who grumble and complain when something pinches our flesh. This is a problem because demons love warfare, the flesh is incorrigible, and God's demands are high and holy—and we love Pepsi. To get through hell the first thing the believer has got to do is shut up, suck it up and grow a pair.

3. It's About Character, Stupid.
People have said over the years that there are two things you never want to see made, and that would be laws and sausage. I'd like to add a third to that list, namely Christians. Watching God process a believer from a dweeb to dynamite is about as fun as watching Blagojevich blow dry his hair. God's not in the least bit interested in your carnal comfort but in His crafted character reflected in your life. Y'know . . . who you are at your core, who you are when no one sees, the habits of your heart, all that stuff that gets avoided by the modern feel good pulpits nowadays. Being originally from West Texas and growing up around a lot of cows and crops, I learned at an early age that cow crap helps make plants grow. God allowing the poop to hit the fan in our lives is the only way to produce the fruit He likes.

4. Don't Blame God if You Brought This On.
I created most of the hell in my life that I have had to go through. I'd love to blame others—even God—but if I have to be honest, I spawned most of the monsters that I have had to deal with. Yep, my rebellious nature, my past hatred for God and His ways, and my innate stupidity has blown through the checks and balances of the Word of God, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and the communion of the saints and has landed me facedown in the mud. There is no way I can fault God or the devil for 99.9% of the stuff that has happened in my life. What about you?

5. Solomon Says, "Relax."
Solomon states in the book of Ecclesiastes that one of the keys to surviving the brutalities of life is to relax . . . chill . . . drink some wine . . . and have a good laugh. When one begins to go through the meat grinder of life, the first thing to vanish is joy. Joy is serious business because according to God, without it we're oh so lame. You and I won't be able to stand against difficulties without getting happy in God. Yep, without the gravity-defying virtue of joy cranking through our spirits we won't be able to pray the fuzz off a peach. Fickle and vapid Christians disobey the command to rejoice in all things, and God means all things—this entails all non-yippee stuff. Consequently, they don't transcend their transient trials, and God has no other recourse but to send them around the mountain again until they learn the power of laughing their butt off in the face of adversity.

6. The "Gift" of Hell.
Y'know, I hate to bring the Bible into this, but according to the book of James, the Christian is commanded to view trials as a gift. A gift? Please. Go sell crazy somewhere else, thus says the narcissistic saint of the new millennium. The postmodern, puny dwarf Christians only regard as gifts that which further augments their immediate wants and needs. To have something come into their life that would rock their self love boat is seen not as a gift but as a curse. However, according to God, that which is meant for evil can be turned into good if you realize that this little pain in the butt has come into your life to test your faith, purge your heart and reveal God's mighty power. Joseph's road to the throne was routed through prison, twice. He didn't whine, cry, or become a Buddhist but rather embraced the gift of going through hell and subsequently was eventually exalted. How are you doing?

7. Once You've Made it Through "Hell", Don't Become a Jerk.
God exhorted Israel to remember that they used to be slaves in Egypt. It's prudent for the believer and profitable to the church for the person who has weathered storms not to become an insensitive jerk but rather a sensei who shows others how to navigate life's tricky streams. And don't get too comfortable or cocky just because you're currently out of this storm because the NOAA weather system says another tropical storm is brewing out in the gulf, if you know what I mean . . .

Barack Obama links Israel peace plan to 1967 borders deal

From this guy's blog: http://jimtreacher.com/

Just to put things in perspective

It has been 21 months since Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

It has been four weeks since Joe Wurzelbacher asked Barack Obama about his tax plan.

Which man do you know more about?

From my friend Roger's friend Taz. (Yes, Roger is the one who introduced me to Rabbi Marc - sigh)

The New President

This is a departure from the normal course of business, but I'd like to say it anyhow.

Start with the understanding that I'm writing this on Election Day, the polls are still open in the Eastern Time zone. Who will win is still up in the air.
 
Like everyone else who has ever served in the Armed Forces when I joined the Navy I held up my right hand and said  " . . . I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States."  Note that I didn't promise to support and defend my personal political beliefs, a political party, a candidate or even a President -  just the Constitution.

That document is the glue that has held us together for almost 200 years. It's a great big list of compromises. 1787 was much like today. Many people had their heels dug in and refused to budge on various issues but in time, saw the wisdom of giving some here, some there - in return for compromise by the other side.

As a result, those 40 people created a country like no one has ever seen, something good and decent - and until recently the world has looked up to us and how well our system works. The Constitution shows what can be accomplished when good people decide to work for the greater good of the whole.
 
Again, reminding you that this was written before the votes were counted. I've heard guys say (about both candidates) "He's not my President," or "I'm packing my bags and moving to another country."

My answer. Dude!  Hop on your yak and head for Mongolia, but first consider who would want you.  Your new homeland might say; So let me get this right. When things didn't go your way, you no longer believed in that Constitution? So why would we want you here? In Britain it's called the Loyal Opposition. Opposition is an integral part of the process, but so is Loyalty.
 
I don't envy the new guy. The country is split into groups who have little desire to compromise at a time when it will be needed badly, plus there's a long list of problems he'll face, longer than any I've seen in my lifetime.

If your guy/gal didn't win, get working on changing things in the next election. In the meantime it was the Constitution and the people who yesterday repeated a process that's gotten us this far.

And help the new President help us through these times.

God Bless America.

We'll need it.

The Onion always has an alternative viewpoint. Satire warning!

Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

November 5, 2008 | Issue 44•45

These women literally risked their lives to vote.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but just in case there's somebody contemplating skipping this one, please exercise your privilege to vote and go to the polls today. I don't care if you think you're the only conservative in your county. Get out there.

Picture: Ace of Spades

Winston Churchill, October 29, 1941:

You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination. But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period ...this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.