Mostly cloudy, with 100% chance of Saviors....
Rep. Don Kopp (R-35/Rapid City) is not seeking re-election to the South Dakota Legislature. Hallelujah!
In possibly related news, Rep. Kopp believes Jesus is coming. By October 2015:
I believe the imminent return of Jesus for His church will happen within the next 18 months! I have never made a prediction like this before, but after watching the events unfold here on earth as they have been, I feel compelled to write you about these things which we clearly see coming unto the world. I am aware of Scripture that says “no man knows the day or the hour.” However, it doesn’t say anything about knowing the time within a one or two year period. He gave us definite signs for a reason so that, as Paul wrote: “You brethren, are not ignorant so that day should overtake you as a thief.” (I Thess. 5:4), well folks I believe “that day” is at hand [Don Kopp, "The World Is About to Be Changed... Forever!" The Right Side, 2014.04.03].
Translation: I believe the Bible is the literal word of God... except when I want to say really crazy stuff to boost Gordon Howie's blog hits.
Harkening to his belief in astrology, Kopp says "blood moons" (all on Jewish holidays!) and eclipses are among the signs that the Carpenter is coming to dinner. Kopp does not explain whether He is coming by spaceship or mere teleportation. But hey! We've all been warned... that Don Kopp is nuts.
I'd listen. This sounds pretty legit: "I am aware of Scripture that says “no man knows the day or the hour.” However, it doesn’t say anything about knowing the time within a one or two year period."
To say Kopp is nuts is an understatement, you should see some of the stuff he writes in the RC Journal.
And he might be one of the more sane one's in our legislature.
About 20 miles due South of mike from iowa is the "funny farm" in Cherokee,iowa. Used to be MHI-Mental Health Institute and was changed to a place for criminally insane. Rep Kopp would fit right in. I'm sure they accept drag-ins,for their own good,doncha know.
If Koop is a lunatic, what does it say about the people that voted for him and kept him in office?
Since he has chosen not to run for re-election, it would even better if he elected not to write anymore letter to the Rapid City Journal. There were numerous letters published by the Journal that called out for mental health help.
Don Kopp is a good guy, a real good guy. Whether you agree with his political philosophy or not, his integrity is impeccable and he's upstanding in every way. And he's obviously a Christian, a committed one. Many Christians are watching what is going on in the world and the signs are many, the end of the age is on us. Before you scoff too loudly, realize secularists have their own version of an imminent apocalypse and it involves climate change hysterics, wild weather and us destroying ourselves - Al Gore is the biggest date-setting false prophet alive today.
From my Christian vantage point I don't believe Jesus is returning in eighteen months but that is because my eschatological outlook places a significant period of tribulation before the return of Jesus. Many, including Don, believe the return of Christ precedes the tribulation. Others Christians think it's all about today and our Great Hope is in brotherly love today which Jesus modeled. Considering the nature of man, my view is it'll take divine intervention to turn things back around. The Christian Hope isn't fire balls from heaven on bad people - it's when God returns and removes everything that hinders love and releases every captive ---setting every sex slave free, righting every wrong, good news to the poor, the oppressed. Wicked regimes and the greedy won't fare so well.
Aren't these things we all want whether you believe in Jesus' return or not? Sure they are. I guess we all just have different beliefs about how we can get to this better world. Don thinks that world is not possible without Jesus in the center of it and I agree wholeheartedly with him there.
I never said he isn't a nice guy, I'm sure he is, I just said he's nuts, also sure of that based on what comes out of his mouth and keyboard.
Okay, we all need to understand that the end of an age and the promise Jesus gave to return is not the same as hoping for the end of the world.
There are some interesting things going on with Eclipses and Jewish holidays, actually.
I'm hoping Don will reconsider that time frame. Star Wars VII is scheduled for a December 2015 release and I'd hate to miss that over judgement day. On a side note, should I continue to pay my bill or should I just say "screw it?"
So let me get this straight, Mr. Hickey. Your party will not use constructive legislation to fix the problems of the poor and the oppressed, or reign in the wicked regimes and the greedy, because you think Jesus is going to come down to earth and fix everything for you? Are you expecting him to miraculously clean everything Big Oil is polluting? Will he stop our climate from changing at such a rapid pace? I will believe the "false prophet" Al Gore and the scientists who support him before I will ever believe a prophet will drop from the sky, wave a magic wand and everything will be "all better".
Don't put words in the Lord's mouth he never said. "I will return" does not equate to "I will drop from the sky, wave my magic wand, and everything will be all better." I don't know why you are so shocked at the idea of a "Judgment Day." Did you think the devil would be allowed to persist forever? And why would the judgment of the devil solve every problem on Earth? The devil is not responsible for all the error in the world.
Bree - if Christians are precise theologically they will not speak of the end of the WORLD but rather of the end of the AGE.
SDBlue - no, no, no, no. Christians were left behind at the ascension of Christ to go be salt and light and influence society with Jesus' values - love people, care for the poor, steward Creation, etc, etc. Some Christians think we do this best through liberal and socialist political philosophies and other Christians say, no, that makes it far worse ---look at Detroit. Ultimately, because of the nature of man, it'll take the return of Jesus to right every wrong. Until then, we do our best.
I wonder if anyone has done a regression analysis to see if right wing nut job predictions of impending doom/end of the earth/second coming greater when a Democrat holds the White House than when a Republican holds the White House?
Here is one of his sources http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/04/03/lunar-eclipse-april-15-blood-moon/7210901/
Well I'm glad to hear "end of an age" is more theologically precise. Now if everyone would stop hoping for a Rapture and the destruction of our world, that would be great. Let's start solving some problems down here and stop expecting Deity to solve them for us. God gave us hands, after all.
Does this mean that the libbie socialists don't have to repair the sound barrier as Mr. Kopp a while back claimed was in the works?
"a good guy, a real good guy. Whether you agree with his political philosophy or not, his integrity is impeccable and he's upstanding in every way. And he's obviously a Christian, a committed one."
I've know lots of folks I could say that about, but it sure wasn't an immunization against their being as dumb as a rock....
Hollywood seems to be mirroring some of this end of the world stuff with the movies they've put out these last few years. People like me would say they sense it's only a matter of time and they know many people are thinking about these things as we watch headlines day after day. Blame climate change forecasts if you want, or take the Bible seriously -- BOTH forecast catastrophic earth events, earthquakes, droughts, famines, wars and rumors of war as countries position for security, energy resources, wealth. You can make fun of Christian preppers if you want but the freaking government of Obama is buying up billions of bullets and storing armored vehicles in weird places like Chicken, Alaska?!?! For what? What they heck are they doing? What are they bracing for? Apparently the present Administration is just as apocalyptic as these Crazy Christians.
I'm going back to the Sermon on the Mount and hope you join me. Gandhi wasn't a Christian and he based his government on the principles of the Sermon on the Mount. War hasn't worked in my lifetime or made anyone safer. I'm not a full-on pacifist, but it's is high time we address violence in all it's forms and go about the work of making society better.
OK, Rep Hickey. I will stipulate that Rep Kopp is a "nice guy." It is a difficult statement to prove or disprove. Some of my Science students are also "nice" people, but they do not earn passing grades for committing basic errors like confusing (apparently) astronomy with astrology. And that was just one of the more laughable Kopp-isms. But you are correct Mr. Hickey, one can be both a buffoon and a "nice guy" - even a "real nice guy."
Please let the astronomy/astrology thing go. I know it's funny. I personally know the bill was drafted by the LRC, not Rep Kopp and most of the House of Representatives didn't catch the error confusing the two words until it was broadcast on a national comedy show.
I'm not just saying he's a nice guy. My statement was that he was a GOOD guy, a really GOOD guy-- nice and good are not the same.
I wouldn't be surprised if Jesus came and the devil disappeared and none of you even noticed. Wouldn't be surprised at all.
Rounds is a nice guy.
Really Rep. Hickey? The LRC is responsible for the astronomy/astrology screw up? I'd like to see evidence of that. If I remember right from my days as a legislator LRC drafted bills from concepts or ideas legislators might have. Often legislators show up with the language already drafted, especially if it's an issue some outside group is pushing. The astronomy/astrology deal was a resolution not a bill. Resolutions are essentially the Legislature pitching a fit and writing it down and sending a copy to Congress. Usually it's language the legislator shows up with and the LRC prints. The staff there is too busy drafting actual legislation to waste time drafting resolutions.
Well hot damn!
One lunatic is dropping out of a state representative race and we have another "Christian" lunatic joining the U.S. Senate race.
Press release blog reports that kitty murderer Gordon Howie is running for the Senate as an independent.
Republican politics in South Dakota is good.
I'll agree Kopp SHOULD be commited. I have no idea whether he IS commited.
I don't see a whole lot of difference between people who predict the End of the Age because of Biblical teachings, those who predict it based on the Precession of the Equinoxes, or those who predict it based on Computer generated climate change models. Change is inevitable. It is the epitome if Human arrogance to believe that the global conditions which nutured us as a species is "Normal" for the planet. It's not, it's an aberration. Looking back to the Jurassic period, the earths atmosphere contained 10x as much carbon as it does today. More oxygen too, and the dinosaurs flourished. There is no evidence that the current conditions will continue indefinitely. The world as we know it will come to an end. How individuals choose to explain the how and why of that change is up to them. But one thing is sure : if you think this world is going to last forever, YOU are the one who is crazy!
Well darn, guess I'll burn in hell, I don't buy any of it and I still think Kopp is nuts.
I say it again!!!!! Tsitrian,Nemec for governor, lt.governor in either order and heidelberger as there chief of staff!!!!!
Common sense,intelligence and can see both sides of the
aisle!!!!
" You can make fun of Christian preppers if you want but the freaking government of Obama is buying up billions of bullets and storing armored vehicles in weird places like Chicken, Alaska?!?! For what? What they heck are they doing? What are they bracing for? Apparently the present Administration is just as apocalyptic as these Crazy Christians."
...
The NRA(!) has even debunked this hooey:
http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2012/federal-law-enforcement-agencies-buy-ammunition.aspx
What is womb envy? Why faster, baby, faster?
When Kopp and others suffering from pathologies own guns seeing god on ones own terms in eighteen months doesn't seem like such a long time to wait.
Inoperable glioma, my guess.
It is unfortunate that, when a Christian utters folly (and however nice or even good Mr. Kopp may be, his statement is folly), it is used to attack everything even remotely connected with Christianity, morality, truth, church, and of course the integrity of the one uttering it.
The foolishness of others does not elicit such a response. Is that because our expectations of non-Christians are so much lower? It certainly isn't because they utter folly any less frequently.
Nick N. - predictions of impending doom tend to increase on whatever side feels it is out of power. It's amazing how much worse poverty, unemployment, homelessness, disease, climate change, and all the other horribles are when a Republican is president, and how quickly such concerns evaporate when a Democrat is in charge. People are people, and neither Republicans nor Democrats have a monopoly on fools making brash predictions of impending doom.
So Rep. Kopp is not running again because he doesn't think he'll be around to finish his term. What's the bumper sticker say? "Warning! In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned."
Roman Catholicism and Christianity are not the same thing. Christianity is properly defined by certain doctrines that are revealed in the Bible. It is not defined by simply saying that as long as you believe in Jesus, you're a Christian. Mormons believe in Jesus, but their Jesus is a brother of the devil in the pre-existence. The Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses is Michael the Archangel. So, just saying you believe in Jesus doesn't make you a Christian. This is why the Bible tells us who Jesus really is, God in flesh, creator of the universe. Likewise, there areessential doctrines, and if any of those essential doctrines are violated, then a church would only appear to be Christian but not really be Christian.
What say you Steve? Are all these other guys heathens? Or are they misguided sailors on the emerald pond south of the house.
The Blindman
P&R-if wingnut christians keep getting elected,the terrorists win.
SDPB-TV broadcast yesterday or last evening a "LOCAL" program on the TEA party in Pennsylvania. It was both hard to watch and hard to leave it. The ideas they were pushing were so paranoid and nuts it was hard to understand their delusions. Everything good or bad for one guy was evidence from God about his mother's health, about his daily political activity, about Romney's unforeseen loss, etc.etc.
Atheists, agnostics, plain old drunks, red, white, brown, yellow all can make incredibly ignorant statements, but mostly they don't blame God for their statements or actions. Those with God on their sleeve seem to escape all responsibility for anything said or done in their minds.
That is downright frightening.
Anne Beal, the global conditions that nurture us as a species will continue as long as the world survives the end of this age. Consider the improbability of this planet maintaining that narrow homeostasis over past millenia a sign of positive interference.
It is a bad time period for fanaticism of any kind, Wiken.
Bree, while I personally believe that the present aberrant climate which sustains our species is evidence of divine intervention, I realize others do not believe that, and that is their problem. They can choose to believe that climate change is caused by humans, in spite of all the evidence that the planet went through significant changes repeatedly for billions of years before human occupation. Both beliefs require faith and neither will hold up to scientific scrutiny because the results are Irreproducible.
Mr. Howie is coming back. I will vote libby and personally pound libby signs in the ground before I vote Howie again.
Careful grudz,
The only real difference between Howie and Dr. Bosworth is that she is prettier.
Mr. Cornelius. You may be righter than you have ever been to me before.
But the big difference to me is that the young Dr. doesn't owe me money.
Mr. Howie does.
grudz,
Good luck collecting from Howie. He's probably broke after he had to pay a fine for killing that kitty.
Killing kitties should not be fined, but overgodding should. I will get my money back through double coffee-cupping and using extra condiments every time I go to Mr. Pankratz's joints. And I flush the toilet a dozen times and pound wads of the expensive paper towels down the porcelain throne as well. I will get my payback before I am permanently prostrated by the agonies, will I.
I talked to the Wing-Nuts a coupla three years ago about therapeutic use of cannabis. Kopp asked: "If my wife suffered from something and used marijuana and I was taking her to the hospital, could I be arrested for having marijuana in my system?" Only someone as twisted as Kopp would worry about a misdemeanor charge that would almost certainly never happen while his wife was in an emergency situation that might mean her life. His myopia was so..., well, adjectives fail me, but it was pretty fucked up. Nice guy? Fine. Batshit crazy? That's close, but inadequate.
Mr. Newland. You are insaner than Sibby's step sister only with a hat that is more swell. Did you get the pizza I sent you?
And Grudznick, your comments are as valuable as ever. May you rest in agony.
grudz,
What fine establishments does the Godly one own?
Bree, a convergence of eclipses and Jewish holidays arouses me about as much as whatever it was those Mayans were saying when they ran out of calendar tablets at 2012.
And Bree: " Let's start solving some problems down here and stop expecting Deity to solve them for us. God gave us hands, after all." Did you just say that? We might end up in the same pew....
A convergence of eclipses and Jewish holidays is interesting. Doesn't mean its gonna start raining blood.
Steve, haven't end-of-the-world movies always been with us?
Let's get something straight: there is an enormous difference between scientists who look at data about climate change, sea levels, extinctions, and conclude, "Hmm, this could be bad," and people like Don Kopp who cobble together coincidence and mysticism and pretend they have proof that Jesus is coming. A world of difference.
Anne, I understand perfectly well that our planet, our star, heck, our whole universe will end in entropic death. I understand that change is inevitable. But that does not mean we should shrug at all change and let it happen, not if it's bad and not if we can find a way to stop it. Why don't I argue to you, "Change is inevitable, Anne, so just give up on fossil fuels and accept electric cars"?
And yet even though everything is supposed to crumble and fall apart with the passage of time, becoming less complicated and more disorganized - scientists believe all of these complex organisms and marvelously organized systems have appeared as a matter of chance occurrence after chance occurrence. With such luck we should all be gamblers.
You missed the "Mayan thing" Cory? I thought it was a good night.
Bree, am I supposed to connect that last comment with the existence of a new bundle of joy?
As for chance, life, and entropy: it's like the casino. Entropy is the house; it always wins. But the universe is a big house, and you always find some lucky individuals taking home a jackpot. Welcome to earth, an island of luck, remarkable, beautiful, but statistically explicable in a big enough game. Entropy is statistical, not invariably and individually deterministic.
Beal is apparently ignorant of real science.
Hahahaha! This is fun! Geez, I miss one lousy day and religious posts and comments abound!
I never knew Hickey was into far right conspiracy theories. No wonder he is so entertaining and no wonder he likes to focus on fundamentalist Bible dogma.
I always find it so interesting when religious types try to get a step on God. It's even better when they think God can't carry out God's own will without their help.
What I'm thinking of especially is the Zionists who think they need to maintain and even enlarge the nation of Israel and so enable God to activate their end times scenario. Crazy.
Quick reminder: nature bats last:
http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/commentary/west-is-eden/nature-bats-last.html
full moon clear and cold: same as it ever was.
Yup, Cory, that's what it sounded like to me.