On  Tuesday, ABC introduced us to Last Man Standing (LMS) in back-to-back episodes.

Despite its title, unless it improves, it could be the first ABC show to be cut this season. (The two episodes will be repeated on Friday).

ABC/Disney has had a long relationship with Tim Allen starting with the days of Home Improvement. That family comedy ran for eight years on the network, which led to multiple Santa Claus movies and Tim’s endearing voice as Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story movies.

Obviously, they are hoping for lightning to strike twice with LMS, but are relying too much on the old formula. Instead of playing “Tim the Tool Man Taylor,” Allen is playing “Mike the Internet Ranting Baxter.” Instead of running the “Tool Time” TV show, he is busy with an outdoor sporting goods store. Instead of three sons, he has three daughters. Instead of being married to Patricia Richardson, he’s married to Nancy Travis.

Mike is a man’s man living in household of women. His only ally is his grandson, and he’s only a few months old! He’d rather spend time at his store, “Outdoor Man,” where men can buy guns, jerky and a camouflage recliner. In the pilot episode, we learn that Mike’s job has been downsized and he can no longer travel for work.

Instead, he is put in charge of the company’s website where he decides to voice his thoughts on “What happened to men?” on the site’s video log. Mike works with Ed (an underused Hector Elizondo) and Kyle (Christoph Sanders) the young new hire.

Back at home, his stay-at-home wife Vanessa desires to go back to work full time making Mike a Mr. Mom of sorts. His children include Eve, the 13-year-old tomboy, Mandy, the 17-year-old airhead and Kristin, a 20-year-old single mom. This is the first family sitcom I can remember with an unmarried parent.

The biggest problem with LMS is that the actors are better than the lines they have to deliver. The lame jokes are punctuated with an awful laugh track as well. It is nice to see ABC introduce another family show in its’ line up, but this one feels dumbed down and may be this season’s Hank, Kelsey Grammer’s failed sitcom of last year.

The two shows airing are “Pilot” and “Last Baby Proofing Standing.” The latter is better than the former, but not by much. Allen and Travis make a great pairing and are enjoyable to watch.

They get a few good lines in too. When Mandy the middle daughter asks her father for money and he tells her “no,” she asks, “Oh my God – are we poor?” Mike’s response is “No. You are poor. We (meaning him and his wife) are doing very well.”

On the screener that I watched, there was even a spot where the laugh track hadn’t been added yet and actually made the scene funnier.

Maybe they will be wise and either film the show in front of a live audience or delete the track altogether. Nobody wants to be remembered to laugh. The concept of baby-proofing the entire house should have led to much funnier bits than the writers came up with.

The second problem with the show is that the storylines feel fake. For instance, in Baby Proofing, both Mike and Vanessa make decisions for the family without consulting the other. By the end of the episode, they agree that they must work together as a team.

A nice message, but one never gets the impression that neither parent was that upset to begin with. Like you’d expect, all the storylines wrap up with a happy ending, but without the warmth you’d like to see. It would also be nice to get to know the kids better.

Currently, they feel like accessories. The writers of LMS should take notes from ABC’s better sitcoms, The Middle and Modern Family.

Earl Frost, 35, pleaded not guilty to the felony of receiving The Relic of the True Cross, which was stolen last year from a Boston cathedral, and is being held on bail of $10,000.

Description

Police told the AP that the relic, which is over 2,000 years old, is about two inches in width.

It had been kept in an inner chapel inside of a round, glass case, that was edged and backed with brass. In the back, it was stamped with the seal of the pope’s ring.

When the relic was reported missing Lt. detective Michael Conley told The Boston Globe, “Somebody knew what it was.”

There was no indication of forced entry into the cathedral, but the casing that kept the relic had been pried open.

The relic dates back to the 18^th century, when it was given to Boston’s first bishop, Rev. Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus.

It is one of many similar relics the world over that are believed to be parts of the cross of Jesus.

Terrence C. Donilon, spokesman of the archdiocese told The Boston Globe, “The Relic of the True Cross is an important sacramental that helps Christians contemplate the crucified Savior and the great suffering He endured for the salvation of the world.”

Frost told the Vermont police last August that he had the relic, but he denied stealing it.

Instead, Frost claimed that he acquired the artifact from a person in Rhode Island.

The Vermont State Police told the AP that they came to know of the artifact with the help of Richard Duncan, the partner of Frost. Duncan and Frost had a heated argument, after which Duncan went to the police and told them there was a matter that they needed to know about, but they should hear it from Frost.

When the police contacted Frost, the latter informed them that he had the Catholic relic.

He added that Duncan and he had argued because Frost wanted to return the artifact directly to the church, while Duncan said it should be handed over to the police.

Church verifies authenticity

Officials of the church verified the authenticity of the artifact, but by then, Frost had gone to New Hampshire, where he was arrested on unrelated charges.

Because he did not agree to be extradited to Vermont, his arraignment at the Windsor County Superior Court was delayed and only took place last Tuesday. His next court hearing will be on July 12.

Prosecutor Robert Sand said the value of relics such as these is usually established by the church and by eBay.

“The standard definition of fair market is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller,” the AP reported.

Sand placed the value of the relic at around $3,000.

The National Association of Evangelicals said in a statement that the move is detrimental to religious liberties and violates the country’s First Amendment.

Leith Anderson, president of NAE said, “Jews, Muslims, and Christians all trace our spiritual heritage back to Abraham. Biblical circumcision begins with Abraham. No American government should restrict this historic tradition. Essential religious liberties are at stake,” CNN reported.

Anderson also said, “The proposed ban violates the First Amendment’s guarantee to exercise one’s religious beliefs,” according to CNN.

While the Jewish and Islamic faiths necessitate circumcision of all believers, not all Christians are required to do so.

The originator of the measure promoting the ban is Matt Hess, who lives in San Diego and is the creator of a comic called Foreskin Man, which has been slammed by critics as being anti-Semitic.

Foreskin Man is a blond superhero who saves a baby boy from the evil, knife-wielding Monster Mohel, a character who wears a traditional Jewish prayer shawl and hat.

In the Jewish faith a mohel performs circumcisions.

Hess has denied that Foreskin Man is anti-Semitic, and claims that the comic is told from the point of view of a baby.

Hess tweeted, “People who forcefully cut the genitals of children are not reasonable. If they were reasonable, they would have stopped doing it by now.”

Hess, through his organization MGMbill, managed to gather 12,000 signatures of support, the number that is required for it to qualify being voted upon in the pending November ballot.

Under the proposed bill it will be “unlawful to circumcise, excise, cut, or mutilate the whole or any part of the foreskin, testicles, or penis,” of any person who is 17 years old or younger.

Anyone violating the law may face a penalty of one year in jail, or be fined a maximum of $1,000.

Sponsors of the bill claim that circumcision wreaks damaging psychological and physical effects on men, not unlike genital mutilation on women.

Many doctors disagree with this, however. Health benefits have been linked to circumcision and complications rarely occur. If ever, they are only temporary and usually minor.

By contrast, World Health Organization has said that there are no health benefits that are linked to female genital circumcision, and in fact there are long-term consequences including higher mortality rates of mothers and newborns, higher incidence of infection, difficulty urinating and fistulas.

Circumcision is widespread in the U.S., with 65 percent of male American infants being circumcised in the hospitals where they were born as of 1999, statistics from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate.

However, while the percentage of circumcisions nationwide remains steady, there has been a strong drop in the West by 64 percent in 1974, and then a 37 percent drop in 1999.

An 85-year-old man in Spain, who has no formal training in construction, has singlehandedly completed two-thirds of a 131-foot tall cathedral that he has been working on for the past 50 years, using scrap, on a piece of land that he owns.

Justo Gallego has been working on the cathedral since 1963, using rejected bricks, wood, metal, oil drums (for the pillars), broken tiles, plastic food tubs and cardboard that he collects every day from yards and factories nearby, BBC reported.

So far Gallego has singlehandedly put together a huge central dome which he had worked on for 20 years, more than 24 unfinished cupolas, a sacristy, cloisters, a spacious crypt, walls with biblical, albeit gaudy paintings, and perhaps 1,000 stained glass windows, BBC said. 

He built it without any experience in architecture, construction and no building plan, although he read a lot of construction books on his own, TravelDudes said. In fact, he doesn’t even have a license for its construction, making the cathedral illicit, BBC News reported.

But the former Trappist monk who calls his work in progress Catedral de Nuestra Senora del Pilar continues to work with no interference from the city council—perhaps, because it has become a singular lure for tourists to the small town, Mejorada del Campo, which is very near Madrid, according to Tales of a Brit Abroad.

Work of faith

Gallego told BBC the cathedral is a work of faith. “My mother was very pious. She taught me my faith and I love the church. So I put everything into this.” Born in 1925, his education was disrupted by the Civil War in 1936.

“You don’t need to study. You just need strength. It all comes from above,” he told BBC News. And as for his building plan, he said it is all “in my head,” although he adds that he has gained inspiration from St Peter’s in the Vatican, a number of castles, other churches and the White House.

A normal day for Don Justo begins at 4 a.m. when he collects scrap material from nearby factories and junkyards. By 6 a.m. he is at the site, and starts his work. He rests every Sunday and on holidays, BBC News said.

With barely any funding, he relies largely on donations from tourists (there is no entrance fee to the cathedral). He does welcome donations whether through money or materials, however, TravelDudes reported.

And according to Tales of a Brit Abroad, he has hired a Romanian who lives in the town and a man from Toledo to work “part time on the windows and more intricate aspects of the job.”

TravelDudes noted that “everything has been started, but nothing has been finished. The central dome is uncovered, revealing a patch of sky, and the cathedral’s towers stop abruptly.”

 BBC News mentioned the bare floor, and spiral staircases that lead nowhere, ending in mid-air. Pablo Queralto, an architect with Mejorada council told BBC, “The bricks don’t meet minimum standards, either in themselves or the way they’ve been laid.”

But Don Justo told the BBC he has no regrets, and if he lived again he would do the same, only larger. “People have called me crazy and insulted me. But they’re ignorant. When I look at what I’ve created, it overwhelms me and I give thanks to the Lord.”

At a recently-held event in Seattle, a man who was born with no arms and legs led more than 1,692 people to accept Jesus Christ into their lives.

The man is Nick Vujicic, author of Life Without Limits. He can surf, swim, fish, play soccer and golf. He has degrees in accounting and finance. And, he heads the nonprofit organization Life Without Limbs, Pasadena Star-News reported.

But last Sunday the Christian motivational speaker told the Seattle Harvest crowd of 15,000 people (plus some 93,000 viewers online), that more than arms and legs, he needs God, The Christian Post reported.

Vujicic gave his life to Jesus when he was 15 years old, after reading a story in the Bible about the blind man and Jesus. For a long time he prayed for his arms and legs to grow, according to The Christian Post.

Then he realized that even when God doesn’t grant your prayer, another kind of miracle can happen. “God can still use you to be a miracle for someone else,” he said. Vujicic has been used by God to inspire thousands of people around the world, The Christian Post said.

Although Jesus healed the blind man, Vujicic told God, “I don’t know what your plan is, but I trust you. I need you not just for arms and legs, [but] I need peace. I need forgiveness. I need purpose,” according to The Christian Post.

Vujicic added, “It’s not about the outside. It is about being complete on the inside. Because I have seen so many people complete on the outside but who don’t know the truth. It is the truth that sets you free and who the Son sets free is free indeed,” The Christian Post reported.

In an article that Vujicic wrote for The Huffington Post, he compared giving love to planting tomato seeds. He recalled how his father suggested they plant seeds so they could watch the tomatoes grow. His father told him it would take a long time.

Because he was just a child, Vujicic watched for three hours and saw no change. He thought if he watched, it would grow faster, but day after day, he only became more frustrated, he wrote in The Huffington Post.

Vujicic concluded, “I cannot help but relate it to the experience of love. We often give love, and then get frustrated when we cannot see its fruit. We fail to realize that once the seed of love is planted, we must find freedom and comfort in simply knowing that the seed is planted. It is not our job to watch it grow.”

In the same article he noted that while he can’t live without Jesus, one of the people who inspire him is Garry Phelps, a 25-year-old singer, actor and writer with Down syndrome.

One day a group of people were talking of a baby who was diagnosed with Down syndrome. Garry said, “That’s great!” They were confused and asked, “What does Down syndrome mean to you, Garry?” To which he replied, “It just means you love everybody and never hurt anybody,” Vujicic wrote in The Huffington Post.

The next Harvest event will be in Auckland, New Zealand, in June 2011, The Christian Post said.

Question: “What does the Bible say about ghosts / hauntings?”

Answer:Is there such a thing as ghosts? The answer to this question depends on what precisely is meant by the term ghosts. If the term means spirit beings, the answer is a qualified yes. If the term means spirits of people who have died, the answer is no. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that there are spirit beings, both good and evil. But the Bible negates the idea that the spirits of deceased human beings can remain on earth and haunt the living.

Hebrews 9:27 declares, Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. That is what happens to a persons soul-spirit after deathjudgment. The result of this judgment is heaven for the believer (2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23) and hell for the unbeliever (Matthew 25:46; Luke 16:22-24). There is no in-between. There is no possibility of remaining on earth in spirit form as a ghost. If there are such things as ghosts, according to the Bible, they absolutely cannot be the disembodied spirits of deceased human beings.

The Bible teaches very clearly that there are indeed spirit beings who can connect with and appear in our physical world. The Bible identifies these beings as angels and demons. Angels are spirit beings who are faithful in serving God. Angels are righteous, good, and holy. Demons are fallen angels, angels who rebelled against God. Demons are evil, deceptive, and destructive. According to 2 Corinthians 11:14-15, demons masquerade as angels of light and as servants of righteousness. Appearing as a ghost and impersonating a deceased human being definitely seem to be within the power and abilities that demons possess.

The closest biblical example of a haunting is found in Mark 5:1-20. A legion of demons possessed a man and used the man to haunt a graveyard. There were no ghosts involved. It was a case of a normal person being controlled by demons to terrorize the people of that area. Demons only seek to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). They will do anything within their power to deceive people, to lead people away from God. This is very likely the explanation of ghostly activity today. Whether it is called a ghost, a ghoul, or a poltergeist, if there is genuine evil spiritual activity occurring, it is the work of demons.

What about instances in which ghosts act in positive ways? What about psychics who claim to summon the deceased and gain true and useful information from them? Again, it is crucial to remember that the goal of demons is to deceive. If the result is that people trust in a psychic instead of God, a demon will be more than willing to reveal true information. Even good and true information, if from a source with evil motives, can be used to mislead, corrupt, and destroy.

Interest in the paranormal is becoming increasingly common. There are individuals and businesses that claim to be ghost-hunters, who for a price will rid your home of ghosts. Psychics, sances, tarot cards, and mediums are increasingly considered normal. Human beings are innately aware of the spiritual world. Sadly, instead of seeking the truth about the spirit world by communing with God and studying His Word, many people allow themselves to be led astray by the spirit world. The demons surely laugh at the spiritual mass-deception that exists in the world today.

Recommended Resource:
The Truth Behind Ghosts, Mediums, and Psychic Phenomena by Ron Rhodes.

We have been looking at why there are four Gospels and what were the main reasons for John writing his account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, because it is so very different from the other three.

John 1 verse 1. John wants us to believe and to believe correctly, and to believe what is right, and to believe what is worth believing. We cannot afford to base our life’s work on something that is untrue, or on a myth, or a legend, or rumour or hoax, and having been a disciple of Jesus Christ, and a preacher and teacher for some 60 years, John saw some funny teachings creeping into the Church of Jesus Christ.

This is a book which is highly relevant when peculiar teachings are even finding their way into the Church of Jesus Christ. Do note that I am not speaking about denominations here, but the Church of Jesus Christ. There is a difference!

John writes His Gospel so that we might believe and have life, and so that we can be drawn closer to Jesus down through the ages, and so that we may know without any doubt Who Jesus Christ was and Who Jesus Christ is. He is the Son of God, God the Son, the Saviour, the Lord, the King of Kings – God and Man.

What we believe influences how we behave. Our creed affects our conduct. Our faith determines how we live and what we say and how we act and react. Our doctrine determines our deeds.

If the belief, if the faith, if our creed is suspect, then everything else is open to question too. Hence, the sad mess the Church of Jesus Christ is in today in so many places. It is because we have permitted doubt to take over. We have allowed doubt to creep in – doubt about God’s word and its authenticity and authority, and this has opened a door and permitted a moral mess to develop.

A flabby faith results in a flabby church, until for many people church becomes something they are connected with, but they are not sure why, and they go only if there is nothing better, or nothing else to do, and nowhere else to go.

The tragic truth is, that is NOT the church of Jesus Christ, and this type of thinking will do no-one any good once this life is over.

What we believe and why we believe it is vital. John realised that, and so he writes, and this is one reason why we have turned to the Gospel of John.

Jesus Christ was God, and Jesus Christ was Man. Jesus Christ was Divine and Human. It is Charles Wesley who expresses all this so wonderfully well and with accuracy.

The angels are worshipping the new born King, who is the Son of God.

He Who is born of a Virgin is Christ the everlasting Lord. God is clothed in flesh. This is God, and He is pleased to come among us as a Man.

If only those who sing that only around December time of year could see and experience its light and truth, and its reality and power.

He is the Prince of Peace who comes with Light and Life and Healing, and He comes to save and He comes in Love that we might be born again.

Read the first Chapter of John again, and read slowly and prayerfully these great words of Charles Wesley, “Hark, the herald angels sing”.

We are just beginning to lay a foundation for what this mature man is about to write to rescue the Church from confusion and deception and compromise.

After a most exhausting and draining thirty hours or so, Jesus Christ is led away to be crucified. We are in Luke Chapter 23 and at verse 26. The authorities force a dark skinned man from Tripoli to carry this heavy wooden beam. No Roman would carry the cross, and the Romans would not ask a Jew, not in this situation, in the middle of a Religious Festival. It was the Passover.

Simon of Cyrene carries the cross of Jesus, and this man received a mighty reward. It appears from Mark 15 and verse 21 that he and his wife and two sons became disciples of Jesus.

No man carries the cross of Jesus faithfully without receiving a work of God in his own life, and on occasions, through his life into the lives of his family.

Remember what your Cross is. You can lift it up or put it down. It is not sickness or anything of that nature.

Luke 23:27. The news had travelled fast of what was happening in Jerusalem and a sympathetic crowd had gathered, and they are not afraid to express their emotions.

They are not afraid to allow their deep feelings for Jesus to flow out towards Jesus. And yet, Jesus says, Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.

Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, but they did not know what was going to happen to them, just as many today have no idea what Jesus is doing, and what is about to happen to those who live as if there were no God.

Jesus, as he climbs Calvary, begins to refer to the coming day of judgement, because as the Judgement of God is revealed, unconverted unrepentant sinners will cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them.

These, understandably, are serious and solemn words. There are not many new songs and choruses based on these words from Jesus Christ! I wonder why?

It has been found that people believe what they sing and find it easier to believe what is sung rather than what is preached and taught.

We have to be very careful as to what words we give people to sing when they come together for praise and worship. Some of the songs today are no more than vain repetition. And, there is a difference between singing and praise and worship and we need to inform and teach our people that too. This is an area out with these current studies but it is a crucial matter which demands our serious consideration.

When I hear people say, “O, the worship was wonderful today”, I usually make the comment, “I wonder what God thought about it”. That is what counts. Not the feelings in the hearts of men, important though these are, but was the singing and praise pleasing to God the Father?

After a most exhausting and draining thirty hours or so, Jesus Christ is led away to be crucified. We are in Luke Chapter 23 and at verse 26. The authorities force a dark skinned man from Tripoli to carry this heavy wooden beam. No Roman would carry the cross, and the Romans would not ask a Jew, not in this situation, in the middle of a Religious Festival. It was the Passover.

Simon of Cyrene carries the cross of Jesus, and this man received a mighty reward. It appears from Mark 15 and verse 21 that he and his wife and two sons became disciples of Jesus.

No man carries the cross of Jesus faithfully without receiving a work of God in his own life, and on occasions, through his life into the lives of his family.

Remember what your Cross is. You can lift it up or put it down. It is not sickness or anything of that nature.

Luke 23:27. The news had travelled fast of what was happening in Jerusalem and a sympathetic crowd had gathered, and they are not afraid to express their emotions.

They are not afraid to allow their deep feelings for Jesus to flow out towards Jesus. And yet, Jesus says, Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.

Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, but they did not know what was going to happen to them, just as many today have no idea what Jesus is doing, and what is about to happen to those who live as if there were no God.

Jesus, as he climbs Calvary, begins to refer to the coming day of judgement, because as the Judgement of God is revealed, unconverted unrepentant sinners will cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them.

These, understandably, are serious and solemn words. There are not many new songs and choruses based on these words from Jesus Christ! I wonder why?

It has been found that people believe what they sing and find it easier to believe what is sung rather than what is preached and taught.

We have to be very careful as to what words we give people to sing when they come together for praise and worship. Some of the songs today are no more than vain repetition. And, there is a difference between singing and praise and worship and we need to inform and teach our people that too. This is an area out with these current studies but it is a crucial matter which demands our serious consideration.

When I hear people say, “O, the worship was wonderful today”, I usually make the comment, “I wonder what God thought about it”. That is what counts. Not the feelings in the hearts of men, important though these are, but was the singing and praise pleasing to God the Father?

Author bio:
Alexander “Sandy” Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness – on the Moray Firth Coast – not far from the Loch Ness Monster! Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word. Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40 a.m., New Orleans time, at wsho.com.