Starbucks Takes Pro-Palestinian Stance on Website

As customary I unlatched my Mac Book Pro at my favorite Starbucks, with a Grande Iced Coffee at my side, ready for work.

Once I moved past the opening Starbucks Connection page, I was directed to a Splash page sponsored by Starbucks. Featured on the portal page was a five panel Cartographic Regression of the Map of Palestine that portrayed the idea that in 1917 only Palestinians were living in Israel at that time, which is historically inaccurate since Jewish people have always been living in the land of Israel.

The chart of maps went on to demonstrate all the land the Israelis "stole" from the Palestinians.

The accompanying text reads, "The battle over Palestine has lasted for most of the 20th century and all of the 21st, causing the region's borders to change several times over the years. Here's a look at how Palestine has shrunk since 1917."

"The battle over Palestine" is a loaded statement since the Palestinians during the 1947 UN Partition plan were offered the Transjordan as a Palestinian state, a span of land three times the size of Israel.  Not until the aftermath of the Six Dat War were Palestinians even concerned about a "Palestinian state." Who are they kidding?

No explanation is offered by Starbucks/Good Politics about the 1947 and 1967 maps that the shrinking "Palestine" was due to Arab inspired and initiated attacks on the Jewish people at which time the Israelis won the land from the Arab bloc due to superior military prowess.

Starbucks is being deceptive and presenting itself as anti-Israel by featuring this misleading chart in this morning's opening portal page. Shame on Starbucks. To be fair, perhaps tomorrow's splash page should
include an historical cartograph of the terrorist attacks by individuals, Palestinians terrorist organizations and Arab nations against the civilians of Israel since 1917.

Starbucks Takes Pro-Palestinian Stance on Website

Feds To Close Down California Pot Shops

I awoke this morning totally bummed knowing the NY Yankees lost the ALDS to the Tigers.  And I don't want to wait to next year. I'm a Yankee fan.  Next year is always NOW!

However, the headlines in this morning's Ventura County Star lifted my spirits:
FEDS TARGET CALIFORNIA POT DISPENSARIES FOR CLOSURE

Yes, I support federal law superseding the stupid state law of California that made medical marijuana legal.  Now the feds are going to close down federally illegal pot shops in the land of fruits, nuts, twigs and seeds.  Here is the essence of what Big Brother is going to do to medical marijuana dispensaries in CA: 

'Under United States law, a dispensary's operations involving sales and distribution of marijuana are illegal and subject to criminal prosecution and civil enforcement actions,' according to the letters signed by U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy in San Diego. 'Real and personal property involved in such operations are subject to seizure by and forfeiture to the United States ... regardless of the purported purpose of the dispensary.'

Plenty of reasons exist why pot shops need to be shut down.  

First, the so-called doctors that prescribe marijuana for patients are mostly incompetent. I've sat in on a session where someone was getting a card to enable them to purchase pot.  The doctor asked a few basic fifth grade level medical questions, took the person's blood pressure and the exam was over. The encounter with the doctor was a perfunctory procedure in order for the patient to get pot. 

Second, the regulations for obtaining pot are virtually absent. I can obtain pot right now simply because I often have trouble staying asleep.  I can call a medical marijuana "doctor" with the questionable diplomas on his wall, tell him I have sleep issues and in two hours, I'm toking on a doobie.  But that's not all.

In another hour or so, I can go to another dispensary and buy more pot and keep repeating the same action until the clinics close for the day. What's to stop me from purchasing all the pot I want? I cannot do that in a regular medical pharmacy.  If I am prescribed Oxycontin, a physician normally prescribes a 30 days supply and the patient cannot get anymore of the drug until after the thirty days are over. 

Third, young adults who underhandedly obtain pot from a clinic because of "back pain" or "insomnia" often sell their stash to younger kids.  If you don't believe me, call the narcotics division of your county's sheriff's department, and ask them about the illegal activity taking place with minors obtaining weed from legitimate card holders.  It's a racket. 

Let's be honest. People who have legitimate cards to purchase grass really just want to get high. 

Pot is not the only painkiller on the face of the earth or sleep aid.  The medical benefits of pot are highly contested, but the motivation to obtain pot at one of these clinics is never questioned:  to get high.  

Finally, I am against the legalization of marijuana period. Why?  I admit I smoked grass for five years of my life or maybe more. I forgot . . . which is the problem.  Pot destroys brain cells. 

In addition, individuals who smoke pot at an early age usually slow down their emotional maturity process.  Smoking dope stunts a person's emotional growth. Hang around a bunch of twentysomething dopers, and you'll witness this phenomenon for yourself. They laugh at everything that isn't always that funny. 

The majority of pot smoker share the same personality traits. Talk the same. Laugh the same. If I was looking for Big Brother, I say look no farther than a lit joint being passed around at a party. 

Neither are pot smokers the smartest bunch on the planet.  School grades start to plummet once a student starts indulging with a bong. 

Pot smokers are often listless, incoherent, slow in reacting while driving a vehicle (as many studies have proven) often unambitious. 

The police can't really arrest someone for driving under the influence of pot since THC stays in a person's system for 30-40 days.  A pothead could have smoked two joints right before entering his vehicle or he may have smoked a reefer two weeks ago and is just a bad driver. 

My biggest complaint about dopers is that they are narcissistic.  Their main concern is their need to get high and then relax or seek entertainment and food.  

 I've spoken to owners of medical marijuana dispensaries and challenged them to visit drug rehabs where kids who started smoking pot soon graduated to cocaine or a harder drug. These pot professionals could care less. I was told, "It was their choice to stop smoking pot and move on to crack cocaine"  That was not the answer I was looking for.  I was seeking some human compassion. Instead, I receive the same old pot smoker narcissistic answer - I don't want anyone infringing on my right to get high.

Will closing the dispensaries solve the marijuana problem here in LA? Not really. Most likely, the closure of these dispensaries will boost the sales of pot among drug dealers and black market drug cartels. 

Still I applaud President Obama for taking a bold step in overriding state law to impose federal law.  I think a few other presidents did the same thing throughout history, such as President Lincoln regarding the ugly sin of slavery.

If closing dispensaries serves as a deterrent to some from smoking pot, then this federal action is worth it.  I've seen enough kids ruin their lives due to entering into the world of drugs through the gateway drug of marijuana.  

Feds To Close Down California Pot Shops

My Tribute to Steve Jobs is My Job

I started using Apple computers in 1984 when they were first made available to the general public.

For me computers were never used for play, but for work purposes. Even though I love the iPod, the iPad, the iPhone, Apple laptops and desktop computers - and I used them all - I didn't incorporate the use of Steve Job's genius for play.

With the Apple Macintosh I compiled articles and blogs and edited and organized photos.

I researched sermon materials and wrote hundreds of biblical messages using the current version of Apple's operating system. I wrote countless emails, listened to endless hours of music and once in a while I watched a YouTube video.

I changed and influenced lives through the messages and articles I wrote while using Apple computers.

Thanks to the expertise of Jobs,  I never had to deal with viruses and only occasionally tinkered with a crashed PC. I learned to fix at least 90% of the problems I ran into with an Apple product. Jobs made computing easy.

 When I ran out of problem solving ideas, I would break down and call AppleCare.

Apple computers have always been reliant for me and made computing fun. I read all the boring manuals and Macs For Dummies books, and soaked in everything I could using this incredible product.

To Steve Jobs I tip my hat for using his genius to not merely improve our lives, but to make it possible for a person like me - devoted to sharing the Word of God with others - to have an eternal impact.

My greatest joy was not switching from a PC to a Mac - which I never had to do. My greatest joy was switching from a Smith Corona typewriter to a Macintosh computer and never needing to switch to anything else.

As an Applephile I shall ever remain thankful to Steve Jobs. His yearly keynote speeches will be missed but knowing Steve, he used his genius once more in leaving his company in good hands.

My Tribute to Steve Jobs is My Job

Texting For Dummies

If you're thirty years of age or younger, you're in danger of becoming a "texting dummy".

I admit I am not a heavy texter. I find it annoying and a potential source for face-paced emotionally packed misunderstandings between two plugged in iDroids.

Yet what irks me the most is the grammar and spelling errors that accompany those two liners that appear on the screen of our iPhones and Droids.  Here are some examples: "What's" has become "wuts." "When" is now spelled "wen." Punctuation marks are a thing of the past.  "To" is now a number.

Then there are the codes of which I know very little: AAP - Always a pleasure; AAK - Asleep at keyboard; BBS - Be back soon; ACK- Acknowledge; BOYF - Boyfriend; DF- Don't even go there; BIH- Burn in hell; BAY- Back at ya.

Recently I came across an article entitled "Uptight Texter"  by Ventura County Star columnist Starshine Roshell. Ms. Roshell is a journalism professor, magazine writer and an award-winning contributor.  I enjoyed Sunday's column since it "hit the spot" on one of my pet peeves:  texting illiteracy.  

I'm no stickler for rules — at least, not most of them. I've always favored whimsy, irreverence, and originality over propriety, decorum, and tradition. I'm the mom who lets my kids run naked in the front yard, sneaks massive snack sacks into movie theaters under my shirt, and is proud to demonstrate my belching skills at the dinner table. As I type this, I'm staring at a recent moving-violation ticket for rolling through a stop sign (I'm sorry, but some rules just beg to be broken). 

Why, then, do I find myself stiffly — stubbornly — adhering to fusty old spelling and grammar rules when I'm texting my tech-savvy 8th grader? 

I can't fire off a "Heads up: I'm running a few minutes late," or bang out a "How did you do on today's geometry test?" without spelling out every word in its inconvenient entirety, and punctuating each trivial missive impeccably.

Regardless of the rush I'm in — or my hair-tearing frustration over the diabolically obscured tilde and discriminatory lack of an em dash on my phone's treacherously tiny keypad — I'm incapable of embracing the medium's abbreviated style and typing "c u @home in 10".
Not to my son.

For one thing, I don't want to be perceived as trying to co-opt "his" lingo. Every generation needs its own nearly inscrutable vernacular and parents who try to clamber aboard by lauding their kids' new Vans as "sick kicks" or texting "ikr dont b a h8r g2g ttyl" only embarrass the rest of us. To me, Textese is like one of those damned pashminas that's supposed to look effortlessly twisted and tossed about the neck and shoulders; I just don't wear it well.

But the main reason for my reverent texting is plain fear. With the amount of time my kid spends communicating in abridged, thumb-pecked snippets, I'm afraid he might forget what true written English looks like. 

As a writing instructor myself — who once had a student type "lol" in an essay for my class — I can't run the risk that my son might one day offer up "2b r not 2b" on a literary response.

My inner rule-thwarter has to wonder: Why should it matter? Why cling to old-fashioned practices in a modern age? If technology is rapidly evolving for the better, why can't we let language follow suit, slipping and sliding down the wide and inviting slope of casual convenience?

As a parent, I'm hoping to impart some life lessons to my son by modeling proper English in my texts. I want to squelch laziness and encourage attention to detail. I want to remind him that it's important to adjust one's communication style to one's audience — just as he ought not try to fist-bump grandma or test out fart jokes on his junior-high principal.

If I'm being honest, though, I must admit that my persnickety texting is a passionate if pathetic attempt to push back against society's increasing carelessness with the written word. On Facebook and Twitter, in emails and ads, no one seems to recall the distinction between there, their, and they're. Why else would my son's school have invited parents (I wish I were kidding) to Back to School Nite?

At the very event in question, I stealthily took a Sharpie to some anti-bullying posters in the halls that were sorely missing a semicolon; my child was mortified.

But don't you see? I don't have a choice! I may be the last holdout, the only person left unwilling to trade "Don't be late for dinner" for "dont b L8 4dnr." If I give up, who'll teach the next generation how to spell and punctuate? What happens then?

I'll tell you what: we r scrood

Texting For Dummies

Pastor Rob Bell Turns Christian "Rock Star"

From Christianity Today I learned author and pastor Rob Bell is stepping down from the pulpit of the church he founded, Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan.  The best selling author is moving his family to the brighter lights of Los Angeles, CA.

Pastor Bell is joining the ranks of other Christian rock stars who hit the evangelical circuit with their driving metal guitars of false theology and adoring clueless fans.  Rock on, Pastor Rob!

Having been a pastor in Los Angeles for over twenty six years, I can safely say Bell may either sink or swim in So Cal as he tries to broaden his audience with his controversial beliefs.

Remember . . . Bell is the pastor that ignited a hot debate over the existence of heaven and hell.  But that's not all.  He questions the meaning of salvation, the whereabouts of heaven and the entry fee to gain access to eternal life. After reading Love Wins I called StubHub and managed to scalp two tickets in the Loge section of the New Jerusalem Section 104, Row G, Seats 3-4.

Since LA is an eclectic playground for the likes of Rob Bell, he'll most likely fit in and then slowly fade away after he's spent a few years spraying the bullets of his drive-by false theology throughout Southern California.

According to CT Bell:

  . . .  will launch his "Fit to Smash Ice Tour" in Canada in November and continue the tour in the U.S. "We serve a big God and none of this is shocking to him,” WZZM reports Bell said during his sermon. “All we can do is embrace a future that is going to be brilliant."

One another bit of juicy evangelical gossip comes from CT:  David Vanderveen, editor of the Mars Hill Review announced the completion of the Love Wins companion study guide due from HarperOne in November.  So now the erroneous theology of Rob Bell will be propagated in more and more unsuspecting churches and among more and more clueless Christians as they study a book I call a "masterpiece of confusion and theological uncertainty."

Why should I even report on such an a potentially insignificant event as a pastor leaving a church?  I admit it. I was inspired by Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life.  Upon the news that Bell is departing his pulpit to take his show on the road, Pastor Rick tweeted:

 "Always less. No base 4credibility @LarsRood Do u think well-known pastors who leave their churches have more or less impact?" and "Speaking tours feed the ego=All  applause&no responsibility.It's an unreal world. A church gives accountability& validity" after tweeting "Bell resigns."

Thank you, Pastor Warren.  Now it all makes sense.  Without any accountability to a church board and without any need for validity from older and wiser Christians, Rob Bell can let his theology all hang out.

Rob Bell, the Christian rock star has arrived, tight leather pants and all.   I can see it now - speaking tours sprinkled across the U.S. as adoring fans scream for more theological junk from an ego driven former pastor from Mars Hill Bible Church.

The good news?  Once Bell leaves Mars Hill Church, perhaps they will hire a pastor who will help them put the word "Bible" back into the name of the church.

Pastor Rob Bell Turns Christian "Rock Star"

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Arafat Attempted to Free Murderer of RFK

In 1994 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East".  However, let me share a little known fact about the PLO leader that deeply affects our country.

On June 5, 1968 Palestinian Christian Sirhan Sirhan shot and ended the life of democratic presidential hopeful Senator Robert F. Kennedy in the ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.

Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian-born Jordanian, opened fire with a .22-caliber revolver. Kennedy was hit three times and five other people also were wounded.

Sirhan was sentenced to life imprisonment and is currently serving his term in solitary confinement at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.

Let it not be forgotten that Sirhan shot RFK during the one year anniversary of the Six Day War involving the Arab nations of Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq against the nation of Israel. Due to his hatred of Israel and RFK's strong support of Israel, many historians have concluded Sirhan's motives are found in his anti-Israel sentiments.

What's most astounding is that according to Mel Ayton's book The Forgotten Terrorist, he records that in 1973 Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat and soon to be named Nobel Peace Prize winner, ordered the kidnapping of three American diplomats.  Arafat offered them in exchange for Sirhan, the murderer of a potential American president!

When President Nixon refused the offer, according to Ayton, the PLO leader ordered the diplomats be tortured and then murdered. During a private dinner with Romanian President Nicolai Ceausescu, Arafat took credit for the slayings of the three U.S. diplomats.

One cannot ignore Arafat's response to the cold blooded murder of pro-Israel presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, was to free the murderer. When his offer for a prisoner exchanged was refused by an American president, this "man of peace" murdered three of our diplomats.

The stance of the Palestinian Authority today has not changed since the days of Yassar Arafat.  Their stated goal is to deny the legitimacy and destruction of the Jewish state and to reject any diplomat's efforts to persuade the Palestinian governing authority to recognize the state of Israel.

As Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas plead this week before the U.N. for the acceptance of Palestinian statehood without the Palestinian recognition of the legitimacy of Israel, I could not erase the memory of the bloody roots of this would-be nation; a nation founded by a gun-toting terrorist, Yassar Arafat, and presently ruled in part by the terrorist regime of Israel-hating Hamas.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Arafat Attempted to Free Murderer of RFK

Introducing Scripture Solutions

People have asked where they can obtain copies of my sermons, links to articles and updated information on projects I am involved in.  To fulfill these requests, ScriptureSolutions.com is a new website I am launching today.

ScriptureSolutions.com contains many of the messages I have given over the past years. These are sermons that are biblically based and centered on giving the listener wise and easy-to-follow responses to God's word.

I have a strong convictions the Word of God is being neglected in many pulpits today and too much erroneous theology is being taught by individuals who dare to call themselves teachers of the scriptures.  In the name of progressive theological thought the Bible is taking a beating by those who are subjecting the biblical text to their own thinking rather than place their own thinking in submission to the precious Word of the Lord.

As a result of errant teaching Christians are hearing messages that question the basic tenets of the faith regarding the authority of the Scriptures, salvation, the person of Christ, Jesus' second coming and the relationship of Christianity to other religions.  The church is suffering from the poor teaching of a new generation of Christian "intellectuals" who question conservative Christianity in favor of a more progressive, emergent brand of the faith.

Young, biblically uneducated followers of Jesus are being duped by the teaching of today's misguided Christian intelligentsia and I am deeply concerned.  Hence, the need for ScriptureSolutions.com.

In addition to my commitment to the expository teaching of the Scriptures, I provide a strong emphasis on the Jewish background of the Scriptures in my messages.  Many passages in the New Testament have been wrongly interpreted by well-meaning biblical scholars due to their lack of sensitivity to the first century Jewish influence on the New Testament.  Let us not forget the majority of the New Testament was penned by Jewish followers of Jesus who remained committed to their Jewish roots and customs.

Currently, a strong opposition to the preeminence of Israel exists in the teaching of both evangelical traditional and left leaning progressive theologians.  The list of theologians who fail to see God has a present-day plan for the Jewish people is growing.

A need exists to take a stand on the biblical importance of Israel from both the Jewish Scriptures and the New Testament. Apart from any political commitment to Israel or due to the fact Israel is America's only democratic ally in the Middle East, the Bible is clear on God's unending commitment and covenants He has made with Israel.

Furthermore, since I have earned two master degrees in Old Testament and Semitic Languages, I am devoted to focusing on the continuity of the Jewish Scriptures with the New Testament.  Too many teachers of God's word either omit preaching from the Old Testament, use the Old Testament merely as a resource to prove the Messiahship of Jesus or fail to see the value of the Jewish biblical text as profitable for today's Christians.

It is my conviction the Old Testament text must be understood first as though there is no New Testament. With that deep comprehension of the Jewish text,  the expositor needs to bring New Testament truth as a light to bear on the older covenant.

One cannot start with the New Testament and work backwards to interpret the Old Testament.  Instead, the Old Testament principles must be understood first before interpreting the New Covenant.

Replacement theologians who believe the church has superceded Israel and all the promises God made to Israel has been fulfilled in the Church are commonly deficient in Old Testament theology. These biblical academicians ignore Old Testament passages that contradict their erroneous view of Israel evidenced through the blurry lens through which they interpret the New Testament.

In a strong sense, Scripturesolutions.com is also an apologetics website - a messianic research institute of biblical theology.  Please feel free to re-post the blogs you find to be helpful in defending the faith to others.  Suggestions for additional articles are always welcome.

ScriptureSolutions.com will grow as I add more sermons, write more resources, share new projects and grow in my own understanding of the messianic faith.

My goal is to shape ScriptureSolutions.com into a refuge for an individual to utilize where they can be sure they will be hearing messages based on the centrality of the biblical text and not religious gimmicks or contemporary, unbiblical trends that sweep through the church like a tornado leaving the wreckage of innocent lives in its path.

ScriptureSolutions.com should be a haven for individuals who are not committed to Christianity, but are searching and asking questions.

If churches or groups want to invite me to come speak or present a series on a contemporary topic, ScriptureSolutions will provide an avenue to contact me.

I close with the mission statement of ScriptureSolutions.com with the hope you'll visit the site over and over, read the blogs, download the messages and share your comments:

Recognizing the lack of a biblical focus in many churches and ministries throughout the United States, Scripture Solutions is dedicated to an expository perspective on the Word of God as communicated through the sermons and printed materials of Louis Lapides.

 In addition, Scripture Solutions has set its sights on shedding light on much of the questionable teaching in today’s congregations and seeks to enlighten believers about false doctrine permeating Christianity both on an individual and corporate level.

Introducing Scripture Solutions