I’ve been writing a lot about anger of late. As an adult survivor of child abuse (mine was verbal / control / constantly told I wasn’t worth….), I know all about anger.
As a Christian who was abused as a child, I deal with anger and try my best to discern and live by “be angry and sin not.”
That’s the key.
Anger is like a major injury. it takes a very long time to heal, and some injuries are permanent. Anger works the same way.
Here is the latest. Warning. It’s LONG…

Let’s talk a bit about anger today.

The Bible says, “be angry and sin not.”

Do you ever get angry?  Do you live with anger from a traumatic childhood abuse experience?
If so, you are not alone!

And, just because you have anger does not necessarily mean that it’s sinful!

After all, our Messiah Himself was angry when He walked into the Temple to discover money changers “doing business as usual” inside of God’s House.  Their “business as usual” meant they were cheating people (overcharging, upping prices as “certain” people came along, etc) as they sold their goods and services.

Somebody once told me that the Messiah wasn’t angry that day!

Well, suppose for a minute they were right!

He walked calmly into the Temple that day, saw all the cheating going on and that they were desecrating His Father’s House, and calmly braided together three pieces of leather He saw on somebody’s table.  Then He calmly, and without anger popped the whip loudly to get their attention; but He wasn’t mad!  He asked politely if everybody would please leave the Temple because this is a desecration to My Father’s House, and  everybody left.

Is that the way it happened?

NO, IT IS NOT.

He overturned tables and RAN them out of the Temple!  Christ had anger and yet, He NEVER committed a sin!

Residual anger is a problem that many who’ve survived childhood abuse have to deal with.  It keeps popping up at the most inopportune times, and it rears its ugly head at times unexpected when something reminds that angry person of their abuse.

Sometimes, it’s perfume or some aroma that the perpetrator of their abuse used that reminds them of those days of abuse.  Sometimes, it’s merely a thought that pops in their mind from out of nowhere that reminds them of their abuse.

But, whatever it is, it is a “trigger” that will often cause the anger that is burning in their heart and soul to explode.

Sometimes, those explosions are near someone or something that can be damaged by them; in fact that happens most every time there is an explosion of anger.

To add to the already horrible situation, well-meaning Christians will often offer “pat, oversimplified answers” that could be answers except that angry person can’t see the answers for the anger.   If you’ve never been there, it’s a difficult concept to grasp, but I assure you that it’s real and it’s a big deal for a survivor of abuse.

And, when the perpetrator NEVER apologizes for his sin and comes clean about it; rather spends a lifetime trying force his victims into silence, the anger in the abused person continues to grow.  If that perpetrator of the violence happens to have standing (popularity) in his community (many do), especially if the perpetrator is a trusted person such as a clergyman or government official, perhaps a school teacher, whenever the victims hear that person receiving “accolades” for all the “great things they did,” that is a huge trigger that can cause an anger explosion.

I thought my anger would be gone after my Mother passed.  She’d asked me to preach her funeral (an amazing story in itself), and I did.  Someone asked me how I could preach my own mother’s funeral — did I have some sort of special strength or something like that, but it was nothing of the kind.  I was completely numb that day.  Well prepared and basically read my message, but completely numb.  It was weeks later that the numbness went away and I realized that I was in deep depression about it.

I’ve not shared this little detail publicly until now, but it is pertinent to this discussion, so I’ll share it today.  A week after her funeral, I went to her graveside for the first time since that day.  I stood there, feeling the numbness had gone and the true feelings of anger had returned.  I told her about the abuse that I’d never been able to confront her about.  I told her of how she’d hurt me as a teenager and all those years as an adult.  I told her everything.  I was there for over two hours that day.  When I finished venting my anger “to her,” I said, “God wants me to forgive you.  I know that I’m capable of saying that, and I pray He helps me to be capable of living that because I mean what I’m about to say with every fiber of my being.  I forgive you.”

The tears began to flow, first as a release, then tears of joy took their place.  I knew that no matter what had happened to me, no matter how much anger I had to deal with, that part was done and I promised never to “go fishing” again and dredge it back up.  I have tried my best to keep that promise, although I’ve not been perfect about it.

I still have anger.  I still get furious when I hear or see someone who is being abused.  When I see an adult slap a kid around and tell that child they aren’t worth anything at all, I want to belt that parent – POW, right in the kisser.  But, I’ve not done that and will not do that because I also realize that those actions won’t help that child, only make it worse.  All that would do is make me feel better for a bit, until I realized what I’d done; so I don’t act on those angry emotions.

Be angry and sin not.  There are some who condemn me because I’m angry about my past and have trouble talking about it without feeling my face getting red in the process.

Well, go ahead and pass judgment on me.

But, when you do, try to put yourself in my place and see if you’d be any stronger.

I know that many of the people who criticize me and tell me that I’m not right with God because I still have anger would have knuckled under decades ago.  So, your condemnation and criticism has finally become like water on a duck’s back.

It just rolls off.

Next time, why don’t you try spending the same amount of time, effort and energy in praying for me rather than criticizing me and trying to bring me down to your level.

Just one prayer lifted to Christ on my behalf would be more productive than all the fiery darts your tongue could spout about me in a lifetime.

The bullies at Facebook stuck a “fact checker” ban over this post!   Facebook has become intolerable!  As a large corporation, they have bullied everybody on their platform to fall into their “community standards” and tries to force everyone to cater to their opinions.

Facebook testified before a court that their “fact checkers” indeed did not check facts; rather they only expressed their opinions.  However, FB tends to block our opinion in lieu of their twisted “facts.”  

It’s time to take a stand against the bullying!  Big corporations and big tech got together to “save the election” in 2020.  They ADMITTED this in a Time Magazine article published a few months after the election was over.  Facebook and Twitter banned everyone they didn’t like; but when the banned the President of the United States; and I could care less whether you loved him or hated him; these social media outlets went WAY over the top.  Whenever a corporation of any sort acts “bigger then the President,” they should have been called on the carpet by the Congress and forced to stop the censorship.  But, since they were not stopped then, they think now that they control Americans.

I reinstated my former username on Twitter when I learned of the Elon Musk buyout and the promised changes coming.  Now, Twitter has “permanently suspended” that account that I never used since restarting it; claiming I’d “violated their” rules.  When I followed their instructions to get it reinstated, it popped up a notice that said, “In order to reinstate this account, Google will scan your computer.”  Are you kidding me?  They want me to outright give them permission to scan my computer?  No way.  I shut that thing down, so my former username will have to wait until the bans are lifted at Twitter….but, even then, I’ll NEVER give Google permission to scan my computer.  It’s bad enough that they already get what they get through browsers.  Chrome is the worst.

It’s time to stand against tyranny in America!  If we don’t do it now, it will get exponentially worse as time goes on.  Stand for Christ lest you fall for anything.

A story that brings hope…

There are good people in the world today, in spite of all the garbage you hear on the news.

One good Samaritan was in tears as he recalled bolting from his place of employment, a gas station nearby when a collision took place and one of the vehicles hit a woman and her three children.

Richie Dulany said he immediately bolted to the scene of the nearby accident.

A woman had been trying to cross the street with her young kids when the cars collided. 

“They were innocent; such things shouldn’t even happen like that,” Dulany told WFAA-TV.  One of the kids, whom he said appeared to be under the age of five, had what seemed to him to be a head injury.  So, Mr. Dulany laid down with her to keep her awake until help arrived. 

He says he’s hopeful they all make it.

KUDOS to the hero of the day!  I pray that people everywhere take note of his heroism and follow in his footsteps.

Pray for the woman and the children who remain hospitalized, and for their loved ones who will be struggling during this trying time.  A police investigation of the accident is ongoing.

Video courtesy of Faithwire

See the Video HERE

Source:  Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US)

What is the real source of the runaway inflation? 

The government.  They are printing more counterfeit money today than ever.  The chart is from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and it is very telling.
My friend, Bob Allen nailed it….as he usually does.

“Contrary to the lies we’re fed… it’s not Ukraine… not Putin… not Russia… it’s primarily money-printing by our own Federal Reserve and national government. Price inflation is a monetary phenomenon.
More officially counterfeited dollars chasing fewer goods… dollar value craters, takes more to buy things.
Look at the chart. When did the rocket of printing money launch? The impact of such foolishness is never immediate, but it is inescapable. And just as that line has not significantly changed trajectory neither will prices for a long time to come.
This chart reveals the huge lie of anyone in DC trying to get price inflation under control. The pain is going to increase—a lot—before the year ends.
Take any steps you possibly can to reduce unnecessary expenditures—you‘re going to need that money for true necessities. I don’t even want to think about winter heating costs late this year and into 2023.”
–Bob Allen

“The power grid will handle the extra load of recharging electric cars.”
No problem, they said not too long ago.
Apparently, they lied.  Even liberal MSN reported the story.  Now, that’s gotta be something to pay attention to in this market where liberals are pushing electric cars to “clean up the environment”…

MSN reports this story from “The Drive.”

“Texas’ power grid doesn’t exactly have the best of reputations, especially during inclement weather. Whether it’s a snowstorm or an extreme heatwave, the Lone Star State’s isolated power infrastructure seems to have a bit of an issue staying afloat when demand for power increases. And now, charging electric cars certainly isn’t helping.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) announced last week that six of its power generation facilities went offline following a high demand for power amid a heatwave. During the outage, the six stations would have produced enough electricity to power more than half a million homes. Electric automaker Tesla, which is now headquartered in the state, followed up by asking owners of its vehicles to avoid charging their cars during peak hours in order to help prevent a further increase in demand for electricity.
“A heatwave is expected to impact the grid in Texas over the next few days,” reads a photo of a message pushed to Tesla vehicles in Texas posted to Reddit last week. “The grid operator recommends avoiding charging during peak hours between 3 pm and 8 pm, if possible, to help statewide efforts manage demand.”

The National Weather Service says that the average temperature in the Dallas area for the month of May is around 73 degrees. During the recent heatwave, average temperatures rose above 83 and spiked as high as 94 degrees. A week later, however, things aren’t cooling down much. In fact, that goes for nearly half of the country as summer-like weather is expected to blanket the southeastern U.S. with temperatures above 90 degrees this weekend.

For more information, or to read the rest of the article, you can check out the article on MSN…..  https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/tesla-asking-owners-to-limit-charging-during-texas-heatwave-isn-t-a-good-sign/ar-AAXxdoY

In the Pictures:

Top:   Aldi Memphis

Bottom:  Aldi in the UK has woman held at knife point by robber.

It’s happening all too soon in America these days.  Angry mobs destroyed and took over cities in the name of “defunding the Police,” and now, that reckless attitude about law enforcement is taking America by storm, mostly in liberal-minded cities across the country.

Now, Aldi is closing in Memphis.  Because of out of control crime.

“Aldi announced Thursday they will shut down their store located on Lamar Avenue because of crime.

“We do not take the closing of this location lightly,” a spokesperson for the grocery store chain said. “Our decision was based on several factors, including repeated burglaries, property damage and poor sales performance. Out of concern for our employees and customers, keeping this store open was no longer a sustainable option. Our employees will continue to work at one of our other ALDI locations in the immediate area.”

Local residents say they are disappointed, but not surprised.

“Absolutely ridiculous the grocery store is closing due to crime,” one resident wrote on Facebook. “Lord have mercy can’t have nothing in this city. This is sad as hell.”

“The neighborhood elders appreciate the business community, but this new generation only have their hands out for what someone will give them or what’s not nailed down to steal,” wrote another.

It’s even more disturbing to know that the Democrat nominee for District Attorney wants to soften criminal penalties. Steve Mulroy even wants to try 25-year-olds in juvenile court.

“When people do not mind walking in stores and filling up baskets of things they intend to steal knowing they are on camera like they have hit the jackpot with little effect to them who should be surprised,” wrote another outraged citizen. “It is done daily in Memphis. What business wants to keep supporting this? Then add in the fact the customers are robbed or car jacked at the stores in broad daylight including the elderly.”

Another wrote, “One of the decent stores want to have anything in these crime infested neighborhoods and nothing is being done about crime and we wonder why they don’t want their businesses in the black neighborhoods and it hurts the decent hard working people and elderly that are trying to make it.”

–Courtesy Todd Starnes

  Picture courtesy of Faithwire

“On April 8, a 15-year-old girl went to an NBA game with her dad. It was 10 days before he saw his daughter again.

The teenager from North Richland Hills, Texas, was at a Dallas Mavericks game with her father at the American Airlines Center in Dallas when she went to the bathroom right before halftime, according to KVUE-TV. Surveillance footage seen later that night showed the girl leaving the arena with a man, never returning to her seat at the game.

Police found the young teenager a week and a half later, on April 18, in a hotel room in Oklahoma City. She was rescued after the girl’s parents identified her through nude photos posted online, advertising her for sex.

In total, it was 11 days before the girl was reunited with her parents, family attorney Zeke Fortenberry said.”

Source:  Faithwire, May 17, 2022

The article goes on to say that the police were of “little to no help” in locating the girl, but ultimately, it was “a Houston-based anti-trafficking organization, the Texas Counter-Trafficking Initiative, that successfully located the missing teenager using facial recognition technology. Thankfully, the group was able to swiftly locate a photograph of the kidnapped daughter online, according to the family attorney.”

Ed’s Commentary:

While I am extremely thankful this girl was found and I give God the praise for her safe retrieval, she is not without damage.  She was repeatedly raped and molested during the days she was in captivity.  Also, the vast majority of these stories don’t have a happy ending.  Sex trafficking is a real thing these days, and these animals who kidnap children to sell for sex must be stopped!  Hint:  If the penalty for sex trafficking was automatic capital punishment, this practice would quickly come to an end.