"What is the 'Christian Vote'?"

Fa-ll-l-lin-g.
The Hard to Find (if Sideways)
TITANIC Memorial, Washington DC

My little zygote heart has felt verrrry detached from my little zygote soul today.
My tiny beating heart does not want to know what tomorrow's election will bring.

But my very desperate and passionate zygote soul knows that A Sovereign Father God has all future days safely held in His hands, and He promises to take them Only Where He Wants Them To Go.

I believe this.

And so, I will watch the pastor of pastors, Jack Hibbs, one more time, and comfort my tiny stupefied little countenance, that I may stop allowing dismay to win the day.


What to do with Trump


And tomorrow morning, early,  I will vote.

LOOP HOLE Hope

OK, now if the RNC was smart, they will have added to their bylaws some new RAINY DAY rule that when a Republican presidential candidate brings down the party through abysmal behavior, they are allowed to withdraw his candidacy and float the VP candidate and the primary runner up.

YES?

YOU guys did this, right?

RIGHT?

Let's GO, Mike Pence. Let's get this job dONe and send Trump packing.

You are FINISHED Mr. Trump. Go home. Let the big boys take over now...

...Thus we prayed after dinner tonight...

MY ZYGOTE EARS ARE BURNING HOLES IN THIS WOMB CAVE BIG ENOUGH TO CRAWL OUT AND BEGIN PACKING FOR HIM. Our baby-might is so can-do.

If only the RNC would do-Do-DO thus,   t O O .

Little Shop of Horrors

Until last week's Dobson broadcast on STRESS,  I had not one reason to admire Fuller Theological Seminary. Apparently, Arch Hart, Dobson's saucy guest, is an academic dean there. So I may allow my disdain for Fuller to abate just a little, for now.

Feeling somewhat less threatened, then, I have finally come up for air after being utterly lambasted by what seems like a plethora of angels recently fallen from Fuller.  'Seems like,' yes; while, although there were really only three incidents, each having occurred w/in the past six months, the cumulative effect has been a little swooney.



Here's how the worst "hit" went down.

"S." is a female pastor for one thing. In purely Biblical parlance, those two words are oxymoronic. You can't lead a flock when you're female, unless you want to Out Yourself as having a problem with male authority, eyeing Christ's job, and basically wanting to wear the proverbial pants in the Christian family. Her poor hubby. At Fuller, Biblical parlance is not --sigh-- what it is most everywhere else.**

The fact that they turn out women with a mind to Take Charge of the church, well, I find that risky, not just for Christendom as Christ intended it, but for the women themselves. Think of an Edward Albee version of a Pastor in Ms.Woolf's clothing... But i digress.

This past election day, I traipsed out of our polling station alongside my husband, and my line of sight landed upon a campaign sign right in S.'s front yard, moderately within the legal limit for campaigning around voting booths, but still...

It was for a notorious liberal democrat state office holder.

My stomach sank. I stopped in my tracks. I asked my husband if he knew what I was thinking.  Wise man that he is, he did.

I needed to hike up those porch steps and ask her WHUZ UP wit the sign?

Hubby advised me right there on the sidewalk: NowNowNOW, hold on there:   What are your intentions? How will you make your point without being offensive? How will you land the plane? Let me pray with you first. And he did. And it was just the calming salve I needed at that moment. I took a nice long deep breath before seeing him to the car and reviewing key points from Sunday's sermon at church.  It just happened to be about Being Nice to people you disagree with.

He drove off for work, leaving me to walk myself home; but first, I hiked the long mile across the street and up those steep "S." steps.

She was pleasant and willing to take a moment out from getting kids ready for their day, and not a little bit thankful that I reminded her what day it was, admitting to having forgotten that it was Election Day, as we moms often do when it's all spills and dishes and messy hair in the morning.

I got right to it:
So, S., tell me about the sign you've posted on your lawn there? (wait for response. LISTEN TO IT, don't glaze over,  don't let your mouth get all dry; wait, why is my mouth getting all dry...?)

She briefly explained her enthusiasm for the incumbent female running for Congress. (Ug. I'm not hearing the greatest case for swaying the neighborhood to keep California a freaking bastion of liberal lostness. Breathe. Ok, my turn:)

I just wondered if you're aware that your candidate is rabidly pro-abortion?

((fyi, dear Zygote reader:

• Voted NO on banning federal health coverage that includes abortion. (May 2011)
• Voted YES on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Jan 2007)
• Voted YES on allowing human embryonic stem cell research. (May 2005)
• Voted NO on restricting interstate transport of minors to get abortions. (Apr 2005)
• Voted NO on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (Feb 2004)
• Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (Oct 2003)
• Voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. (Feb 2003)
• Voted NO on funding for health providers who don't provide abortion info. (Sep 2002)
• Voted NO on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad. (May 2001)
• Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
• Voted NO on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)
• Endorsed Recommended by EMILY's List of pro-choice women. (Apr 2001)
• Rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record. (Dec 2003)
• Rated 0% by the NRLC, indicating a pro-choice stance. (Dec 2006)
• Provide emergency contraception at military facilities. (Apr 2007)
• Ban anti-abortion limitations on abortion services. (Sep 2014)
• Access safe, legal abortion without restrictions. (Jan 2015)
• Ensure access to and funding for contraception. (Feb 2007)
• Focus on preventing pregnancy, plus emergency contraception. (Jan 2009) 

On The Issues dot org ))

"Well," my dear neighbor said in reply,

"I think that might've been a concern years ago,   
but today, i think it's important to take care of the children 
who are already here, 

instead of the ones that never will be."

[stunned. sucker punched. KO'd. lambasted. I think I went white. 

DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT?

THIS? From a graduate of a renowned, so-called respectable THEOLOGICAL seminary?]

I said something about advocating for the LIFE OF THE UNBORN in her future dealings with this misinformed candidate, assuming she might grow a care if I just back away slowly and make nice.    REAL NICE... 

And I have not had a full night's sleep since then.  This was June.  I remain stunned. 

Arch Hart, Fuller Dean, 

would say I have adrenaline issues...

Everywhere I go, I ask people for names of good counselors. It's OK if they have no idea what Arch Hart is talking about.  Any counselor will do.  

Or, maybe Hart is right? Maybe all I need is a boxing membership in a FightClub, to take the angst down a few notches.  

(("...children who are here now are more important" than the ones who are butchered in the womb?? When did Sangeresque  
e u g e n i c s  become a Fuller grad requirement?))

I did take jabs at Fuller two or three times this summer, 
questioning their intentions whenever their name came up. 
And I wondered. 

Especially now.

I ask myself,   

What Would Phyllis Do?

**
Interesting find. On the same day I penned the above, this note was also penned during a morning reflection on a Crawford Loritts message on IDENTITY:

"... JUST AS WHEN [name witheld] was interviewed for the job of senior pastor in a church-wide meeting back in 1986, I floated the "unheard of" idea that the feminist movement actually produced some positive outcomes-- given that now women are seen as credible sources of authoritative ideas and initiatives in society, no longer made to wait outside while men make all the political and corporate decisions-- but that dear pastoral candidate disagreed and made it clear that he was not in favor of anything that smacked of feminism... and he was voted in. His pastorate only lasted three and a half years."

So, cut me some slack. I am not a misogynist stuck in some cultural backwater.

Queen Phyllis the Great

Baby AmZyg's EDITOR wrote:
My first ever actual "Christian Book" purchase was one written by Phyllis Schlafly. It was a thank-you gift for a nice church lady named Jane Webber, who had "discipled me" for three or four months every week at her kitchen table. As she unwrapped it, she looked shocked.

It was one of those not-easy-to-disguise half smiles that really said "...have I taught you nothing? This woman is not a Protestant, she's a, a, a, you know; a Catholic." But I smiled anyway and assured her that she'd love it.

I forget the title of that book, but fifteen years later, I would join the Eagle Forum and soon after, pose for a photo with its founder,

the inimitable, 

the one and only, 

the cutting edge  Mother 

of 

Christian Conservatism 

herself,
Mrs. Phyllis Schlafly. 

And for my fleeting chance to say something profound to this lioness of 20th century heroism while we briefly stood together for our photo, I heard myself ask her whether she finds her Catholic supporters outnumber her protestant ones. I wish I could recall her response.  All that I recall about that momentous opportunity to mine the mind of a truly great person was the soul crushing realization that she... hated my question. It was a 'dismiss' of an answer. A sleight. A wave off. Be Gone You Knave she seemed to insinuate with her quick reply, whatever it was...

My anti-catholicness was leaking out in the asking, even then.

But I still loved her.

And today, I mourn her passing.

St. Louis MO newscast

This truly great American Female has run a race like no one else. She marked her place on this planet like a true QUEEN of the realm, filled with dignity, moral suasion, intellectual prowess, effectual DOING (though her mothering skills might've lacked a certain touch; not all her kids were wild about her), and a legacy of position papers that, G-d Willing, will someday form the oeuvre of great Political Theory courses across the land.

I've long ago parked my prized EF Eagle Pin in the back of my jewelry box, esp after moving away from the monthly gatherings of likeminded Feisty Gals.  But those ten (hello? it was 15) years of monthly service were formative for both me and my children.  Phyllis flew out to speak at our chapter more than once during that decade.

A beloved leader stands center, circa 2000. I think I'm behind the camera for this visit.
(Where is that pic of me and P?)

((Most humble apology begged of the other Female Great captured here,  back in the shadows: EZOLA FOSTER.  Why did i not insist she join this photo?
I am such a dork. She was, and is, a most gracious and humble Giant among us.))

Phyllis, may you rest in peace, and thank you for serving your country in ways none of us can fathom, none can even imagine. When I ponder the lengths you must have gone to study, write, speak and lobby. I am tired for you. Because you never were.

Blessings always, on the name and legacy of Mrs. Phyllis Schlafly. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

For it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgement. 

(Hebrew 9:28)

Salvation is by faith, not works, that no man should boast.

(Eph 3:8)

Justification by Grace, not works...

(book of Romans, entire)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

P.S.

(I've often thought back to that GoLady Activist book, and wondered if Jane Webber summarily shot the book straight into her kitchen trash bin. That's how reviled we were (and still are) by works-based religions that masquerade as Great Faiths.  Great faith in Christ that is "Authentic Christianity," is not one of them. It is not an institution.  It is a two-way relationship with Him who is fully God and fully Man; not a relationship w/ a denomination,  regal hierarchy or no regal hierarchy.  It is an intimate relationship born of the certainty that my sin has separated me from all that is holy; and that He has paid a way for my pardon.  That pardon consists of, and unleashes, unmerited GRACE, arrived at merely by being broken for my sin.

I have experienced the healing power of that Grace, but it did not come by impressing God with my good behavior; not by believing I must attain some level of personal perfection to pay God back for my misdeeds before being allowed into heaven...

...which, for the typical religionist, is a piece of cake. We fallen humans seem only able to own up to the most trivial things. 'Little white lies' or some cheating on homework or MAYBE some necking with dicey boyfriends and the like, denial being denial. But the first leg of the matter relies upon an honest self-eval that agrees with Holy Writ: We are all F*****! (Bleeeeeeeep.) Good news, tho. At the foot of the cross, the ground is level. We all are equal offenders. The point is, just get there, kneel, and heal.

But that, I suppose, is for another post. Meanwhile, tHIS:  Extreme Grace

Eternal Rest happens IN CHRIST, 

not in the prayers of well meaning kneeling votive lighters. 

On REcord

Keep waiting for some pundit to toy with one novel explanation for the surreal political realities of this utterly horrifying presidential campaign season,

but no one does,

so, I must have to:

It hit the first moment I heard Trump was running, and watched him use Liberty University to cloak his decision in spiritual legitimacy.  From the very first nano-second I saw him strut onto their auditorium stage, aglow in the loving (gullible) Christian arms that surrounded him, I couldn't shake the idea that

he and Hillary had to have cooked this up together.

WHAT IF they conspired, four years ago, or more, maybe; laughing and dining and toasting the air somewhere, brainstorming on schemes for her must-win-at-all-costs victory.  This twisted plan probably emerged as a joke at first, but soon the vanity of their cause and the vanity of the players began to sink in as a most likely and highly plausible scenario for success.

I can't be the only one to have wondered, pondered, suspected ... Disgusted.

It's all too in keeping with the creep factor that so aligns with both of them.

Watch. Give it 75 years, but I'll bet history will bear me out.

Excuses

    Baby AmZyg witnessed the NONbrief 1 year foray into Sidewalk Counseling of she who is presently trying to type this.  BabyZyg observed, thru that peep hole belly button of said host, many tired and flimsy excuses from dads and boyfriends of the women whom they so (un)kindly led into the "clinic" while said typist here paced back and forth along the sidewalk out front.  That one year seemed interminable.

    None of those excuses come close to this one: AmZyg took five months to return here because Madame host of the wide gapped navel --gimpy typist, master of the delete key-- broke her arms twice this year.  Rehabbing for the second break begins this week...

    ...and while said physical therapy is ALWAYS excruciating and extremely time consuming, 

this excuse is merely that. 

An excuse. 

She really could've spared the time to post, but she just chose not to,
presuming her broken arms stood to bale her out; 

hence, you may officially call her lazy.

  

Laziness will always show up when one is
 shellshocked,

 and this has most definitely been a season of shock and shells.

Yes, SHELLS. Those little metal canisters leftover after making bullets whiz by. 

A most upsetting quantity of shells,

both literally (think terrorism; think racism) and

figuratively (think SHTrump. Think SHrillary). 

Yes, shell-shocked about says it all.

    And since this has ALSO been a season for Russian hacking, and my widget monitor tells me that the only visitors to this site appear to be Russkies, poor little AmZyg is feeling sadly more vulnerable than usual.

So, here. 

    Go bug this nice blog. They seem vastly more savvy than us two belly ache-ers. Yes. ANTHING by George Grant will be an uplifting foray into the intellectually stimulating world of Good Right Thought:

FRIENDS .::. HOOThoot

And remember. There's no excuse for bad behavior when you can better explain yourself by just

telling 

the 

TRUTH.

(...which one will find none of  in the male escorts slithering like worms through the entry doors of an abortion clinic.)

Kew worm. Eats its prey by dissolving it.
Apropos, no?

:::::::::: Can't Get This Out of My Head ::::::::::

Deuteronomy 28 from the Hebrew Scriptures

Blessings for Obedience

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. 2 You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:

3 

Your towns and your fields

    will be blessed.

4 

Your children and your crops

    will be blessed.

The offspring of your herds and flocks

    will be blessed.

5 

Your fruit baskets and breadboards

    will be blessed.

6 

Wherever you go and whatever you do,

    you will be blessed.

7 “The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!

8 “The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

9 “If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. 10 Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.

11 “The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. 12 The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. 13 If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. 14 You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.

Curses for Disobedience

15 “But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you:

16 

Your towns and your fields

    will be cursed.

17 

Your fruit baskets and breadboards

    will be cursed.

18 

Your children and your crops

    will be cursed.

The offspring of your herds and flocks

    will be cursed.

19 

Wherever you go and whatever you do,

    you will be cursed.

20 “The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me. 21 The Lord will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy. 22 The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These disasters will pursue you until you die. 23 The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. 24 The Lord will change the rain that falls on your land into powder, and dust will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed.

25 “The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away.

27 “The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. 29 You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.

30 “You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you. 32 You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break for them, but you won’t be able to help them. 33 A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment. 34 You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you. 35 The Lord will cover your knees and legs with incurable boils. In fact, you will be covered from head to foot.

36 “The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! 37 You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.

38 “You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops. 39 You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines. 40 You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens. 41 You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity. 42 Swarms of insects will destroy your trees and crops.

43 “The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker. 44 They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!

45 “If you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and to obey the commands and decrees he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed. 46 These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever. 47 If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, 48 you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has destroyed you.

49 “The Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth, and it will swoop down on you like a vulture. It is a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young. 51 Its armies will devour your livestock and crops, and you will be destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, or lambs, and you will starve to death. 52 They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land—the walls you trusted to protect you—are knocked down. They will attack all the towns in the land the Lord your God has given you.

53 “The siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you. 54 The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children. 55 He will refuse to share with them the flesh he is devouring—

the flesh 

of one of his own children—because he has nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns. 56 The most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter. 57 She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns.

58 “If you refuse to obey all the words of instruction that are written in this book, and if you do not fear the glorious and awesome name of the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will overwhelm you and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, 

making you miserable 

and unbearably sick. 60 He will afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no relief. 61 The Lord will afflict you with every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this Book of Instruction, until you are destroyed. 62 Though you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not listen to the Lord your God.

63 “Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy. 64 For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone! 65 There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. 66 Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive. 67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were night!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ For you will be terrified by the awful horrors you see around you. 68 Then the Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, to a destination I promised you would never see again. There you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will buy you.”

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

((("...WHAT does theLORDyourG-d require of you? To love him and serve him with all your heart and all your soul... Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of YOUR HEART and be STIFF NECKED no longer...")))   

...let others go first. Simple. so SIMPLE.