(Image Source)

Last month, my mom was admitted to the hospital for a list of reasons: kidney stones, a urinary tract infection, dehydration, anemia, and the flu. When my brother Joe called to tell me, my heart began to pound. He sounded concerned, but not overly-worried, as he explained how Mom's nursing home doctor had her transported to a nearby, affiliated hospital. This has been something of a semi-regular experience over the last few years. She has breast cancer, and being on chemo makes her very susceptible to infection. She's had so many bronchial infections at this point, I've lost count. Still... my heart was pounding and I was... scared.

This week, during one of my Lenten devotions, I came across Matthew...

President Ronald Reagan and Reverend Falwell. (Image Source)

When last we left off on Falwell, it was the mid-60's, his Thomas Road Baptist Church was growing, and he was staunchly against the Civil Rights Movement, integration, and Christian leaders, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was actively involved in politics. Falwell would eventually change his mind on the first two, but rather quickly changed course on the whole politics-stuff. 

(Image via IMDB)

Albert Einstein (via Bored Panda)

It's been a while since I posted a "Some... Stuff". My bad. Allow me to rectify that today with some links that I find interesting, and I hope you will, too. First up, this post on a letter written by Albert Einstein in 1954 that recently sold at auction for millions. From Bored Panda: 

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who transformed humankind’s understanding of nature and the universe. He laid the foundation for modern physics and changed the views on space, time, energy and mass. He is best known for proposing the theory of relativity and his mass-energy equivalence formula. In 1921 Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics “for his services to theoretical...

Jerry Falwell, Sr. (Image Source)

Ever since Donald Trump's run for president began over three years ago, there has been a whole lot of talk about the "Evangelical Vote," "White Evangelical Christians," or some amalgamation of "silent", "family", "value", "moral", and "voters".

None of this is new, of course. The Religious Right has been a force to be reckoned with since before The Gipper took the oath of office. I remember all too well the cringey time in the late 90s when the Lewinsky Scandal had taken over the news, and every socially conservative Christian televangelist, talking head or megapastor worth his holy oil was castigating Clinton and the country in general, for his, and our, wickedness. Bad times, Folks, bad times. 

But...

Jim Bakker in screen captures from his current show, "The Jim Bakker Show". (Google Images)

This has been one long, crazy story. Nearly unbelievable, except, very true. Sadly true. As a Christian, especially as one with roots in Pentecostalism, I felt shame and anger while reading about the exploits of Jim Bakker. Yes, I know I personally have nothing to do with the man or his ministry. But the greed, lies, and corruption is reflected back on the entirety of the Body of Christ. We all look awful to the very world to which we are called to be salt and light.

While reading for this series, I swung by the library and picked up Tammy Faye's 1996 autobiography, Tammy: Telling It My Way. Published in the decade after PTL's fall and about...