God's wrath

Rev. Bill Shanks, pastor of New Covenant Fellowship of New Orleans, also sees God's mercy in the aftermath of Katrina -- but in a different way. Shanks says the hurricane has wiped out much of the rampant sin common to the city.

The pastor explains that for years he has warned people that unless Christians in New Orleans took a strong stand against such things as local abortion clinics, the yearly Mardi Gras celebrations, and the annual event known as "Southern Decadence" -- an annual six-day "gay pride" event scheduled to be hosted by the city this week -- God's judgment would be felt.

"New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion -- it's free of all of those things now," Shanks says. "God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there -- and now we're going to start over again."

The New Orleans pastor is adamant. Christians, he says, need to confront sin. "It's time for us to stand up against wickedness so that God won't have to deal with that wickedness," he says.

Believers, he says, are God's "authorized representatives on the face of the Earth" and should say they "don't want unrighteous men in office," for example. In addition, he says Christians should not hesitate to voice their opinions about such things as abortion, prayer, and homosexual marriage. "We don't want a Supreme Court that is going to say it's all right to kill little boys and girls, ... it's all right to take prayer out of schools, and it's all right to legalize sodomy, opening the door for same-sex marriage and all of that."
Discuss.

Our vows, our name... you squander them on swine!

I called this direct contact person at the Red Cross that scirocco hooked me up with, to try to sign up for a Disaster Training session. Right now they have three sessions in my area: one this coming Thursday from 1-8pm, and two on Saturday from 9-4. Would you believe that this Saturday is the first Saturday in about THREE months that I have a commitment? Argh!

This coming Saturday is my work's annual "Family Day" at the Aquarium. Which isn't really a big deal except that I made Jen totally rearrange her work schedule so she could come with me. So I ended up giving the guy my name and number to call me with further trainings, and told him I'd call back if I arranged to make one of the sessions. I have a million knots in my stomach about it. I can't /believe/ the available sessions clash with something I freaking signed up for THREE months ago! So I guess we'll see what happens.

~//~

In other news, we have all of these butternut squashes that my grandfather gave us from his garden, so I'm trying my first attempt at making squash soup. I am going to improvise this recipe that I found and try to simmer it in the crock pot instead of on the stove. Right now I'm baking the squash and it is slowly getting to be a million degrees in here. But hopefully the soup will be yummy! I'd love it if my smoochie was able to come home to a steaming hot (and delicious) meal.

Also, I am taking out my Red Cross frustration on our apartment. I have already taken everything out of the hall closet and rearranged it. PH34R!