Comedy/Music Comment: Chonda Pierce. A Piece of My Mind

Chonda Pierce is a hilarious Christian stand-up comedian and singer whose performances have the same effect as those of Michael Jr. whom I have mentioned in several earlier posts. While making the listener laugh uncontrollably, she carries a sword, and thrusts with that sword to deliver her message. She is a warrior and an evangelist of the first order. All of her comedic routines are sermons.

Chonda talks about subjects not normally considered to be funny, especially for a Christian comedian. Her topics include menopause, depression, clothes which for some unknown reason no longer fit, aging parents, annoying neighbors, and family dysfunction. Nothing is off limits. Why should it be? Christians  live in the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbZ4MLc4th8  menopause

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LdGs-eioMQ  depression

Chonda Pierce. A  Piece of My Mind, INO Records, 000768303917

Book Comment: Fruit Happens!

Michael Christopher’s book, Fruit Happens!, (2010) is a free Christian young adult novel distributed by the 1687 Foundation. The short (only 112 pages) is the story of an old man named Dellie O’Shea who is reminiscing about his boyhood adventures.  He is a retired stage singer and dancer who describes himself as  “little person” since he is 37 inches tall.

Dellie has adventures with a girl he probably loves. Her name is Paisley Baker, but Dellie calls her “Cake.”. “I’d known for some time that Cake Baker went to church every Sunday, but I hadn’t held it against her.”

This is a doctrinally sound book written in a conversational style.  The book is an easy read for its intended age group of age 10 to 14 year old readers. The point of the book is to explain the Fruits of the Spirit and how they develop in a believer.  The process of Sanctification is explained. The novel does a very good job of that. I do have problems with this book, however.

1.     All the children have the same “voice.” One of the marks of good fiction is the establishment of clearly discernable characters who “read” differently from one another.  The children all speak like adults. In fact, they all speak like the same adult, clearly the author.

2.     The book reads like a disguised sermon.

3.     The Bible study meetings develop along the lines of an outline with each child adding just the insight that is needed at that moment in the exposition.

4.     I do not think that any teenager who is not already a Christian will read this book. It will hold no appeal for non-Christians.

The book is a very clear in its explanation of several doctrinal points:

1.     The fruits of the Spirit are not natural to us. They develop within Christian believers because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

2.     The fruits of the Spirit build gradually, with one leading to the next. God is conforming us to Christ. Sometimes we humans lurch forward in starts and sputters. The problem lies with us, not God.

3.     There are suggestions and study questions provided to aid the reader in expressing the fruits of the Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation 
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

A link with a children’s sermon about the fruits of the spirit:

http://www.sermons4kids.com/fruit_of_the_spirit.htm

A Dream About Jesus and the National Championship Game

When I heard this, at first I thought that JJ was having a Michael Jr. moment but, then, about halfway into his story, I realized that he had veered off into a totally different direction.  As long time readers of this blog already know, Michael Jr. is my favorite comedian.  Michael tells funny stories and then, suddenly, the story becomes a sermon or a twist of the Holy Spirit’s sword, exposing our failings or hypocrisies.

I find this video to be troublesome.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W6QAy9dR78

I am not going to tell you what to think, or why.  Make up your own mind.

Oldest Person in the United States Dies

Mamie Rearden, of Edgefield, South Carolina (USA) died Wednesday 2 January 2013 at the age of 114.  She was, until her death, the oldest living person in the United States.  Her rapid decline in health came after she fell and broke her hip.

Mamie Rearden, a schoolteacher and homemaker, was born on 7 September 1898.   She had eleven children, ten of whom survive her.

When asked her opinion of a local preacher’s very boring sermon she had nothing negative to say because, as she said, “Well, it came from the Bible.”

Mrs. Rearden was not the oldest person on Earth.  That honor belongs to Jimeron Kimura of Japan, who is 115. 

One Minute Sermon

This sister talks very fast but she is speaking the truth.

(Some videos will not play properly when you click on the triangle.  Instead,  click on the title line in the picture and the video will begin .  When the video is completed, close the You Tube pop-up window to return to this blog.)

This Is a Sermon?

For full disclosure: I am opposed to same sex marriage and will firmly state that I will never vote for any political candidate who is pro-abortion.  That said, I find the following video to be repulsive.  This "sermon" by Pastor Charles L. Worley seems to be based on hatred and has nothing to do with Christianity.  The pastor is actually calling for concentration camps.

(Some videos will not play properly when you click on the triangle.  Instead,  click on the title line in the picture and the video will begin .  When the video is completed, close the You Tube pop-up window to return to this blog.)

Held For Ransom

“A young couple was visiting a church for the first time.  As the preacher’s sermon dragged on, their little girl became restless.  Finally, she leaned over to her mother and whispered, “Mommy, if we give him the money now, will he let us go?”

“From The Big Book of Church Jokes, published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Used by permission.”

Why The Clown Ministry Won't Be invited Back Anytime Soon

The elders of the church decided that they would not invite the traveling clown ministry to return again next year.  They were concerned that during the sermon the children kept on popping their balloons and that the cotton candy made the hymnals sticky.

Sermons

"The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible. " George Burns