People we all know

The redneck guy who tells the most unrealistic stories of all time –

He’s seen bigfoot, been bit by a black widow 37 times, beat up an alien, won the “Medal of Honor” while in the Marines and had sex with a former Miss America winner – of course none of these stories are true.

The religious freaks that drink more than a college dorm room –

They force their views on others. Behind closed doors they drink more beer than a homeless alcoholic.

The nosey old hag that lives on every street –

Every noise is someone doing wrong. Every odd smell is drug usage.

  

The left-wing hippie who bitches about the man keeping him down –

Yet the bastard hasn’t held a job in five years and lives off of unemployment.

The Stereotype game

When not hiding from Godzilla, the Asians take pictures of everything!

Not only do they not shower, the French are hairy.

When not picking fruit, the Mexicans ride horses.

While not in Temple, the Jews own all our money, banks and newspapers.

AC/DC – rock icons

I’ve listened to a lot of bands in my lifetime. Some have been great, some okay and others flat out suck. Many bands have all the talent in the world, but no feel for the music. Some bands make decent sounding albums but can’t play live what so ever. For every band I enjoy listening to I can name 25 I can’t stand. Many bands come, and many bands go. Only a select few have made a major impact on music.

(AC/DC 1976, back row left to right, Mark Evans, Angus Young, Phil Rudd, front row left to right, Bon Scott and Malcolm Young)

AC/DC is one of my favorite bands of all-time, probably behind Metallica. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Angus Young is the greatest guitar player of all-time. Not going to debate their “musical” talent with you. I could care less if you like AC/DC. If you think they suck, cool, don’t listen to them. Without AC/DC a lot of great music would be missing from rock n’ roll history.

Some bands were great innovators, such as Led Zeppelin. Others such as Elvis took the world by storm. People like Jimi Hendrix came and died way too soon. Then there’s AC/DC. They didn’t change music. They didn’t take the world by storm. Nothing they did was impressive. AC/DC played simple blues-based songs, normally three chords and backed by a simple 2/4 drum beat. I’m not sure who hated AC/DC more, music critics or parents.

AC/DC never cared what critics thought. Hell, they never took themselves seriously. They were simply five guys that loved playing rock n’ roll music. AC/DC would have been happy playing in front of 25 people no different than when they play in front of 80,000. AC/DC was never about being liked, being the best or famous. It was about fun. The fun can be found in the mass majority of their songs.

Love songs weren’t part of AC/DC’s vocabulary. AC/DC never cared to sing about politics, their feelings or thoughts on life. Their songs were about booze, parties, women, drugs, daydreaming of being rich, women, sex, whores, touring and women. They played the songs fast, loud and good. A lot of bands have tried to copy AC/DC ever since and almost all have come up short.

Seeing AC/DC live was another experience all in itself. The band sounded almost identical live as they did in the studio. You never hear or see AC/DC missing beats or chords. The sound is perfect, note for note. Then there was Angus Young. Seeing him perform live was worth the ticket price alone. You got two hours of non-stop head-banging, giant jumping leaps and his “spaz out”. Then there’s the famous (infamous) strip routine, not recommended for Bible thumpers, children or women. I also doubt you want mom to see unless she likes AC/DC.

(Angus and his famous [infamous] strip tease)

In 1980, AC/DC lost singer Bon Scott. Most bands are never the same once they lose a singer. Some quit all together while others never maintain the same level of fame. AC/DC did the exact opposite. Brian Johnson, along with the band recorded “Back in Black” just a few months after Scott’s death. And how did fans respond? Let’s just say “Back in Black” sold 23 million copies in the USA and 49 million copies worldwide, making it the second best-selling album of all time.

To date, AC/DC has sold 73 million albums in the USA, good for eight all-time. Worldwide AC/DC has sold over 200 million albums.  Their tours sellout all across the globe, from 4,000 seat arenas to massive soccer stadiums. As head-liners, AC/DC once played with other bands in front of a few million Russians. Their last tour grossed $441,121,000, good for third all-time. Not bad for a band that critics blasted as “sucky”, “all songs sound alike” and “childish immature losers.”

You can think what you want about AC/DC. They rock. The band has withstood the test of time. They outlived glam rock, disco, new-wave, early 90’s pop, grunge and new-country. Their musical talent may be nothing when compared to that of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd or Jimi Hendrix. Could any of those bands fit such big balls in small shorts, survive the Highway to Hell and The Jack? Highly unlikely. That’s way AC/DC deserves to be mentioned among the “Gods” of rock music.

(AC/DC 2009, nothing like 70,000 South Americans rocking out)

Christmas is Pagan and clearly not the birthday of Jesus

Like most Americans I celebrated Christmas as a kid. My entire childhood I was taught that Christmas was the birthday of Yeshua (Jesus in English which I will use from this point on).  After spending years reading the Bible and many college courses studying it, I found that no date is given. Why do Christians insist that Jesus’ birthday is Christmas, December 25^th? Are they correct? Are they even close? Or do they believe in a complete myth?

Today, I don’t celebrate Christmas. I still believe in God. I still believe that Jesus was the son of God. But I don’t celebrate Christmas. First off, it’s not even His birthday, not even close. Second, it’s a pagan celebration. Nowhere in the Bible did the Jews (Hebrews) worship this day. The disciples of Jesus did not worship this day. After Jesus’ death, none of His followers worshiped this date. Do most Christians even know what Christmas is? Sadly the answer is, “no”. How can so many people be so clueless? Ask the mass majority of Christians what Christmas is. I’d say 99% would say, “Jesus’ birthday” and not even think twice about how wrong, ignorant they are of facts or how clueless they are.

The Germanic people thousands of years before the birth of Jesus celebrated winter festivals. These festivals included gift-giving, greenery (trees), lights and charity. Does any of this sound familiar? In Pagan Scandinavia, pagans celebrated a winter festival known as “Yule”, which was held in late December to early January. Scandinavia was one of the last European nations to accept Christianity. What better way to make converts than to take their holy day and make it the birth of Jesus? And that is exactly what the Christian missionaries did.  Also note that “Yule” became synonymous with Christmas as early as 900 A.D.

(lights and trees were pagan rituals thousands of years before the birth of Jesus)

Santa Claus, another Christmas figure, is also of pagan origin. Santa Clause is based on the pagan god (among other pagan folklore), Odin. Many centuries before the birth of Jesus, Germanic children would leave their shoes (sounds like stockings) in hope that Odin would fill them with goodies.  The kids would leave sugar and other treats for Odin in hopes of receiving presents. Again, doesn’t that sound familiar? Once more we see Christians turning a pagan ritual into “Christianity”.

(Santa, based on many pagan legends)

How did Christmas become an official Christian Holiday then? Easy, give thanks to the Catholic Church.  Most scholars give thanks to Constantine and his triumph over the pagans as the first celebration of December 25^th being the birthday of Jesus. The 25^th was chosen because the pagan Romans had already been worshipping the pagan Mithra, an Iranian Sun-god. Again, what better way to gain coverts than simply turning an already “holy” day into a new “holy” day?

Do we even know a timeframe of Jesus’ birthday? The answer is, yes we do. The Bible clearly gives us the clues and facts. And it is NOT December 25^th. The New Testament (NT) tells us that the shepherds “abide in the fields”. That proves that December is way off. Starting in November in Israel, shepherds stay in shelters because that is the beginning of the rainy season. This lasts ALL the way through December. Luke informs us that John the Baptist’s father served 15 months in the Temple before the birth of Jesus. We also know from Luke 1:5 that Abijah served. Add 15 months to that and the date is September 5th, not December 25th. The Romans were also taking a census during this time. The Romans never took a census in the winter, which means again, December 25^th can’t be the birthday of Jesus.

Luke and John dates also point to September. We know that Jesus was born 46 years from the beginning of Herod’s temple and the 15^th year of Tiberius, which would bring us to the same year. Co-regencies were counted as part of Roman rule, so Tiberius co-ruled with Augustus starting in 12 CE. Josephus stated that Herod began building the Temple in 19 BCE. Luke tells us that Jesus was “about 30” when he started His ministry. Going by this clock, Jesus would be 30 years and a few months. (No 0 in the timeline so 4 years to 1 BCE plus 26 to get to Rosh Hashanah, which is celebrated in September)

You may say, “so what?”  Maybe to you it’s not a big deal. But how can you worship the son of God on a pagan day? Not only that, how can you celebrate his birthday on the wrong day? How would you feel if people came up to you on random days and wished you a happy birthday? It would be kind of odd, wouldn’t it? You do know that both the Old and New Testament warn about worshipping pagan rituals, right? When you celebrate Christmas you are worshipping paganism and not the faith of the Bible.

Facts are facts. Christmas is pagan and clearly not the birthday of Jesus. Anyone claiming to believe in the Bible should never celebrate Christmas. I may cuss, drink a little and so forth, but at least I don’t worship pagan holidays. Nobody in the Bible, Old or New Testament ever celebrated Christmas. Jesus would never celebrate Christmas. Why would you then? Answer that and then get back with me.