Voodoo Donuts

My church has done some nutty things but this one took the 'cake' -- cake donuts, that is!

Our pastor loves incentive contests to bring new people in.

I have to say a lot of us don't care for them.  And that is not to say that our church is not a Holy-Ghost filled, Pentecostal church that needeth not to be ashamed,,,,, (IT IS!) ,,,,,,

,,,,,most of the time.

Recently we had one of these incentive contests during a "revival" time, and they were handing out little slips of paper to everyone who came through the doors; if you had a slip with a special stamp or word or picture on the back, you won a $5 gift certificate.  I actually won 3 times.

The first two times I won, they gave me each time, a $5 gift certificate to Cold Stone Creamery.  I went to Cold Stone once and it was realllllly good.  But I sent those two gift certificates off to my daughter's S.O. for his birthday.  He's skinny. ;o)  I'm not.

The last time I won was just about the last night of the incentive contest, and the gal who usually gave out the gift certificates handed me an envelope, saying it was a gift certificate to "Voodoo Donuts."

I looked at her and shook my head, saying, "I don't want that. Good grief, they do same-sex marriages there."

She said, "Hmmmm....all I know is they have good donuts."

Really?  That's all you know?  Did you run it by Pastor where you were sending folks?  Did you get his approval?  Have you done any research?  Didn't the name Voodoo give you pause?

Here's the thing.

I watched a segment on TV once and they described their "cock n' balls" donut, their "Gay Bar",  their "tex-ass" and their "old dirty bastard" donut, and talked about how they married "same-sex" couples, under the Black Velvet Elvis painting, and yes, they made the gay and lesbian travel guide:

http://gaytravel.about.com/od/gaytravelphotogalleries/ig/Photos-of-Gay-Portland-Oregon/Voodoo-Doughnuts.htm

...so I just couldn't get excited about that $5 gift certificate.  If this place is reviewed as one of the great Portland Hot-Spots for gay and lesbian travelers, ,,,,,well, in my humble opinion, the LAST thing we should ever even THINK about doing is handing out $5 gift certificates to this place.

If we are thinking about sending a team there to minister the gospel, street witness to the gay and lesbian sidewalk traffic, ok, that's yet another story.

BUT ---------- ok, nuff said.

I get my Sunday School class a box of donuts every Sunday at a nummy donut shop called "Heavenly Donuts" at 102nd and Glisan.  The workers there are sweet Hispanic ladies, and the one that runs the place that I always see and deal with knows the Lord Jesus Christ.  Oh,,,,and their donuts?  They are pretty cotton-pickin' good. Maybe next time.

K J B: The Book That Changed The World

I have picked out and previewed a new film to show at my Young Adults Sunday School class at my church. 
The movie is entitled "K J B: The Book That Changed The World, the amazing tale of the birth of the King James Bible."  And amazing it is indeed.  The film is a combination of documentary-style, and story-telling style with actors playing the various parts; King James, the Bishops, the Puritans, et al.  John Rhys-Davies is the narrator and he made the story come alive. King James, it turns out, is not anything like I would ever have imagined him to be.  I probably had some stuffy Henry VIII-type king envisioned, and King James was actually a very young, extremely brilliant, and did I know, no, a Scottish King to begin with.  He inherited the throne as the King of England after Queen Elizabeth died via the order of succession as well as personal choice, which lay within the power of the Queen. As soon as he took the throne both the Puritans and the Bishops began to press him to authorize THEIR bible; the Puritans, the Geneva Bible and the Bishops, the Bishops Bible. Fortunately King James knew them both well, and, frankly, despised both translations, knowing they were both full of error.  Well, the rest of the story is better told by watching the aforementioned video.  I can't wait to share it with my class.  And when you come to the end of the video, you will have the truth of the words that Paul the Apostle spoke when he said, "He must increase; while I must decrease," pierce your heart like a sword - the beauty of the truth of those words made me cry as I realized how King James fulfilled exactly the purpose for which our Lord God Almighty intended him, and when that purpose was done, those words were indeed - truth. Beautiful.