Church Retreat

If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our LORD Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

-1 Timothy 6:3-5

You could also add to that a conspicuous compulsion to flee from the Brethren's midst, lest a certain false teacher get any of the Gospel splattered on her fastidiously pagan royal robes:

Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a campaign sermon Sunday, but didn't stick around to hear the pastor do his preaching.

"We're still at church. We're still going to worship no matter what," the Reverend Lee Maxey said as the Democratic presidential candidate, her daughter, Chelsea, and their entourage left Corinthian Baptist Church, the media pack close behind.

You'll have to forgive me if I question the piety of Pastors Maxey and Green (see below) when they allow enemies of the faith like the Empress to defile their pulpit with her naked ambition to gain the whole world, and step on all of our souls to do it.

Does that sound harsh?  It won't after the other shoe drops:

The Reverend James Green took a poke at the just-departed Clinton as he began his sermon.

"When I first got here I was a little overwhelmed. All the dignitaries came in," he said. "I thought they were going to stay for service, but they're still campaigning."

Earlier this year, Democratic candidate Barack Obama also joined the mostly black congregation.

He, too, left early.

Well of course he did.  If he, or his future boss, had stayed, they might have learned something that would have been awfully inconvenient to their lust to stand astride the high places and chancellories of this world.  They might have had to listen to what God has to say instead of pretending His nonexistence and elbowing Him out of the way.  They might have been told to stop trying to be the Messiah and start following - and obeying - Him.

This is a glimpse into how liberals "separate" church and state, gentlebeings: by casting the church into the outer darkness and making the state all.

T'ain't happening, ultimately.  But more than reason enough for our eventual nominee to take her Nib's "champion" scepter and shove it straight up her ass, with her arm still attached to it.

In a good Christian way, that is....

UPDATE: Admiral Ed has great fun ridiculing Senator Clinton's ignorance of Pakistani politics and yet another classic Clinton fable:

Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton's eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she's looked for an opening to strike back.

On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced, arguing she risked her life on White House missions in the 1990s, including a hair-raising flight into Bosnia that ended in a "corkscrew" landing and a sprint off the tarmac to dodge snipers. ...

It turns out that Clinton wasn't quite flying solo into harm's way that day.

She was, in fact, leading a goodwill entourage that included baggy-pants funnyman Sinbad, singer Sheryl Crow and Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, then 15, according to an account of the March 1995 trip in her autobiography Living History.

This "dangerous, life-threatening diplomatic mission," made to "advance United States interests and values," as she claimed then and now, was actually, as the details quoted above suggest, something other - namely, a USO visit (i.e. typical Clintonoid photo-op) into the most secure U.S. base in the Balkans (sorry, no "snipers," unless they were part of the show), and in March 1996, as the Dayton Accords weren't signed until the fall of 1995, as even li'l ol' yours truly hasn't forgotten.

Perhaps it's that Mrs. Clinton embarked upon so many Jack Ryan-like capers that they've all blurred together in her self-admittedly spotty memory.  Because, after all, she was doing it "for the children," which I guess is supposed to explain why she took her only child with her into a "war zone" filled with "snipers" and "hair-raising" landings and such.  Maybe Chelsea was her human shield or something, which still would have left those Volkswagon-bus-after-a-hailstorm thighs fully exposed.

You can see why Ed had so much fun with this.  As one of his commenters, um, commented, "Shameless self promotion is just stupid when things like that are so easily verifiable."  Particularly in the age of the blogosphere and its vigilant, pajama-clad army of fact-checkers.

And for anybody else, it would be stupid.  In Hillary's case, it's irrelevant comic relief.  Those of us old-guard Clintophobes who still remember that dark period of recent American history chuckle at such ludicrous PR antics because that dark period taught us we could do little else.  They never damaged the Clintons then and they won't damage Hillary's presidential steamroller now.  Indeed, if anything, she'll be helped by this buffoonery, and those old guard Clintonphobes who have forgotten the first Clinton Hedony will be left spluttering in indignant astonishment and frustrated incredulity yet again.

The only thing more painful than learning a hard lesson once is having to learn it twice.  I learned eleven years ago that the Clintons are invincible.  I've never forgotten that lesson.  That's why I've learned to laugh in the face of the looming disaster of President Rodham.  As future Klingon Governor Qaolin of Raknal V will put it 326 years from now, "There are times when laughter is the only rational response."

Senator Clinton, of course, met with Governor Qaolin once.  That was to prepare her diplomatic mission to Q'onos to speak before the Klingon High Council.  But that's another of her stories.  I'm sure she'll get to it eventually.

Wonder if Reverend Green was preaching on the evils of bearing false witness....