God hates divorce. Others love it.

In the Bible, God says, "I hate divorce." So wouldn't you think those who are his children would hate divorce too?

So then why was the late Melody Anne Bodine smiling and hugging her divorce attorney when she finally got her divorce?

Hint: Not everyone who says to Jesus, "Lord, Lord!" will enter the kingdom of heaven. And this is how we can tell who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are.

Seems the good saints at the First Baptist Church of Prescott were happy too. After all, they "supported her" . . . in her sin.

Perverse Times

I tripped across a story a few months ago from the Financial Times, titled "Recovery prompts US divorce rebound." One line of the two lines story has an interesting editorial comment when it says, "In a perverse sign of the economic recovery, the US divorce rate, which dipped in the recession, has bounced back, lawyers and matrimonial experts say."

I read that to mean that when the economy is bad, wives are willing to stay with their husbands. But when the economy gets better, they are willing to leave their husbands. I presume that's because they can leech off their husbands in a recovering economy (to "protect myself financially" as the late Melody Bodine said in court). Whereas there's no point in leaving when there's no pay off.

Mom obsesses about money, murders son. Will history repeat itself?

There's a story in the news today about a Mom who murdered her son and then killed herself as she struggled with debt. (i.e., money) Given an earlier post of mine about the late Melody Bodine's obsession with money, it seemed I should comment. Who knows... the current story might be an omen.

What would you do if you saw this murder coming? Hmmm? While you can't stop someone from killing themselves, would you try to stop them from killing others?

Same question with Andre Yates. Remember her? She was the one who drowned her five children in a bathtub. In her case there seemed to be clear warning signs. According to a media report

Andrea and Rusty had met when they were both 25. Rusty had seen her swimming in a pool of his apartment complex and had decided he was interested in her. She introduced herself to him and they dated for three years. In 1993, they were married and a year later had Noah. They planned on having as many children as came along, whatever God wanted for them, and told friends they expected six.

Yet soon after Noah was born, Andrea began to have violent visions: she saw someone being stabbed. She thought she heard Satan speak to her. However, she and her husband had idealistic, Bible-inspired notions about family and motherhood, so she kept her tormenting secrets to herself. She didn't realize how much mental illness there was in her own family, from depression to bipolar disorder—which can contribute to postpartum psychosis. In her initial stages, she remained undiagnosed and untreated. She kept her secrets from everyone.

This is ominously parallel to Mrs. Bodine's background. She and her husband also planned to have as many children as God would allow and ended up with seven. They had Bible-inspired notions about family and motherhood. (Is "idealistic" a pejorative? The fact is, it was idyllic under Mr. Bodine's headship.) While I never met Melody's mom, I have heard that she was an angry woman. I don't believe in "mental illness" per se, believing it's demonic possession instead. If that's the case, then God talks about generational curses and it seems the late Mrs. Bodine fell victim to that curse. Through no fault of her own, as soon as she would become pregnant, she would become bedridden. Only now do I wonder how mentally depressing that must have been. If it was, and/or if she heard voices, she kept her secrets from everyone.

Sometime coincident to when her mother died, I (and others) who had known Mrs. Bodine for a long time had noticed a white to black change in her. She had become very, very dark, angry and hateful. Her husband was forced to confront her in love, telling her she had "an evil, malignant heart, that she had sinister and ghoulish speculations, that her thoughts were like black India ink on a white table cloth." (Quoting Mrs. Bodine at trial.)

So what do you do when you see this pattern repeating? Do you warn others about what you see, so they can keep watch because trouble may be afoot? Or do you keep quiet until it's too late and be like everyone else who said "I knew something like this would happen"?

You can't go to the police, for no crime has yet occurred. If you warn others who might be victimized and an Andrea Yates or Mrs. Bodine hears about it, you're a pariah. (Although if your children were possible victims, you would have no problem warning your children to stay away. You might even warn your neighbor kids about your suspicions too.) Even if you're right, and a woman ends up killing some children one day, you'll never really be "right." People are funny that way and would rather be in denial.

But if you keep quiet and your suspicions are eventually fulfilled, then God says blood will be on your hands. (Figuratively speaking for those of you who insist on taking what I say literally.)

Given what God says, I think it best to warn potential victims when your observations are affirmed by others. Are you willing to get involved? Make that sacrifice? Demonstrate love?

Now, you don't have to tell everyone your suspicions. You can be subtle and tell only those in authority, who can do something about the problem. Which is what I did with the late Mrs. Bodine. I wrote to warn the so-called pastor of the First Baptist Church of Prescott, Arizona, Chris Inman. At the time, Mrs. Bodine was working for the church's school (if that is theologically possible) and I was worried she might go on a rage and murder the children there, just as Andrea Yates murdered her children.

In Mrs. Bodine's case, others who had known her for a long time had also written others in "authority" at First Baptist about the change in her. So again, I wasn't the only one who saw a problem here.

You may not believe in demonic possession, but surely a christian church like First Baptist would. So I warned Mr. Inman of my concern. To the best of my knowledge, he didn't do anything except share my letter with Mrs. Bodine to use at trail against me. (Thanks, Chris. Wolf, wolf?)

Fortunately, nothing dire happened to the children at the church's school. (That we know of.) Who knows? Maybe the fact that I said something prevented the act from ever occurring? (As when you stare down someone acting suspicious around a car. Maybe you prevented a car jacking? How would you know?) As far as I know, she no longer works at the school. So, except for her own children (and grandchild), that danger seems passed.

Unfortunately, in her new incarnation as [text and link deleted as a courtesy to cease and desist letter] and the alarm bells are going off again. I'll plan to post a warning about that soon.

So, what would you do if saw Andrea Yates parallels in a long time friend? Would you speak up or remain silent? The demons (and cheating judge hamm) hope you'll keep silent.

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

Shrimp Scampi Oxymoron

I just had Shrimp Scampi for dinner at a friend's house. My friend asked if I liked my favorite meal.

"Favorite meal? What do you mean?" I asked. Then my friend reminded me that I used to delight in buying Shrimp Scampi from Trader Joe's for Bodine family dinners.

Wow. That was more than ten years ago! Amazing that my friend would remember how much I used to enjoy that. My ebullience back then must have made quite an impression. How sad that the death of a family can kill your memories so subtly. I had totally forgotten how much I used to enjoy buying Shrimp Scampi for the Bodines (had to buy a few boxes at a time), how much I used to enjoy bringing it for dinner. But today, it holds no special memories for me, to the point that, perhaps as a coping mechanism, I had forgotten it all.

See, the Bodine family used to invite me to overnight with them before Sunday worship. Under their father's headship, they were very hospitable and often entertained guests. The high point of the visit, at least for me, would be family dinner.

I know most American families have lost sight of  family dinner, where the entire family sits around the table, prays together, eats together and fellowships together. But the Bodines would always begin dinner by reciting a memory Scripture verse for the week. It was always refreshing to be at the Bodine household.

In fact, I always thought that was oxymoronic. And I told others so. See, the Bodine's had seven children. Yet it was always refreshing to visit the Bodines. Refreshing with seven children? Yes, even with seven children.

Now, in my family, we only had three kids. But we were not Christian and I would never describe being with our family as "refreshing." (I admit, a lot of that was due to me, my sin. I wasn't a believer in those days.) We were the typical American family, full of discord and disrespect. I suppose it was somewhat merciful that we never entertained guests. But the Bodine family was Christian. Or at least the kids were raised Christian and, under their father's headship, were orderly and respectful.

Under their father (with Mrs. Bodine and older children willingly helping), the children were always well mannered, and always very friendly. Words cannot describe the joy I felt as we would talk around the table, laugh about my special words (like "pejorative") or my Monty Python-like screechy imitation of  a woman friend of mine. They would graciously make me the center of attention at dinner and I would steer the conversation around to all the children, asking them how they would apply the Word of God to various situations in life. What a wonderful, wonderful time of fellowship. Mrs. Bodine even quoted Scripture, reminding me once that "The two shall become one flesh." (Ha! Apparently she never really believed that.) Their oldest seemed wise beyond her age and carried herself well. (Apparently an illusion too.) Even the youngest was well behaved, thanks to family discipline, and rarely threw tantrums.

But, I'm sad to say, those days are gone. The Mrs. Bodine we knew (or thought we knew) is gone, never ever to come back to us again.

Ordinarily, old memories are cheerfully remembered or at best forgotten. But these memories are painful now.

It's not just the emptiness death leaves in its wake that makes the memories painful now. We can remember the fun times we had with people who have departed as a result of natural means. But here, Mrs. Bodine has been replaced with the overtly evil Melody Thomas-Morgan. The current reality has killed off the pleasant memories, illusionary though they were, never to be revisited or relived again.

See, as often happens in divorce, while Mrs. Bodine was dying, she poisoned the children. She poisoned them against God, against their father, their grandfather, and others. She took her children with her. As of this writing, it appears most of the children (at least the daughters) are still with her in death. (Spiritually speaking, for those of you who aren't Christian and are taking 'death' literally.)

While I believe in confession of sin and restoration, none of the kids have been forthcoming. (I would have heard.) Nor am I optimistic that any of the older will be resuscitated. See, the longer you remain in sin, the likelier seared your conscience. So for now, the Bodine family—what little remains—is just like every other godless American family. They're normal. Worldly. (Carnal.) No more reciting of Scripture verses before dinner.

Ironically, that's exactly what the late Mrs. Bodine intimated she wanted during her divorce trial. Now she has it. (As the saying goes, "be careful what you pray for. You just might get it." And there's some Scriptural basis for that saying.)

Well, at least the kids don't present an oxymoron anymore. No more fellowship with them around a meal anymore. Instead, as they are now, they make Jesus want to vomit.

Me too.

Talking about death IS constitutional

I plan to develop this post more later, but for now, a "Melody Thomas-Morgan" posted in the local Prescott newspaper that "death threats are unconstitutional." She is wrong.

Turns out that the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that one can talk about the death of another, even talk about 50 caliber bullets and a candidate for President of the United States, but that is Protected Speech under the First Amendment. See this article, "Threatening To Kill Then-Candidate Obama Is Protected Speech."

Now, I would never condone threatening to kill someone. But if such a threat is protected speech under the First Amendment, then surely other speech that someone might not like—for example, suggesting someone might have committed the sin of adultery—must also surely be protected under the First Amendment.

I remember someone explaining this to cheating judge Mary Hamm at an Injunction Against Harassment hearing. Our guys said,

Yes, ma'am, since Mrs. [Melody] Bodine just opened the door for religion and God, and the Court has shut me down each time, but you've allowed her to go, I would like to state for the record, ma'am, that this is a very dangerous First Amendment issue. The Court knows from the evidence submitted that I am a Christian evangelical minister.

Yes, it is my job to tell people unpleasant things in the name of God. I have not threatened anyone with any physical violence. That would be un-Christian and un-Biblical.I have, as Mrs. Bodine said, I have not approached her at all. I've been very circumspect because I believe in Biblical headship to stay out of her marriage. It's not my place. Where others have gone to rebuke her, long time family friends, I have not.

It seems to me that we're on a very dangerous edge here of First Amendment, not just freedom of speech but freedom of exercise of religion. It is my religious duty as an evangelist, and as a Christian who loves other Christians, to warn people when they err. That is in the Bible, the Bible is full of people rebuking. In fact, it's a command in both the Old and the New Testament that we are to rebuke our neighbors when they were in sin and error.

Rebuking for sin may be uncomfortable. We do it because we love others. We believe they are on their way to hell if they do not repent.

Yes, sometimes you get punched in the face because you tell people the truth. That is not harassment.

It would be harassment if they said, "I don't want to hear it anymore." Mrs. Bodine has never approached me, and never needed to because I never approached her, and told me, "Don't talk to me. Don't come near me." I never have, and she has testified to that.

Have I written to others about her? Yes. I could write my comments about, pardon me, but the judge on her website. That is not harassment I'm entitled to my opinions, as unpleasant as they may be to some.

Wow! How prophetic! I could be a judge in the Ninth Circuit! (I read in the Bible I will be a judge someday. Might as well start practicing now.)

Yet the cheating judge Mary Hamm pulled out the ol' stupid "You can't cry fire in crowded theater" analogy.

I say she is "Off Point."

There is currently a federal civil rights lawsuit against judge Hamm for this.

Hey, judge Hamm? You've been overruled.