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The Spirit Observer

The Spirit Observer

A Publication of ChristiansNeedtoKnow.com

  • Welcome to Christians Need to Know
  • Contact Me
  • About Pastor Jim
  • Home
  • A Good Word
    • With Liberty, Justice and Care for All
  • Be Amused
    • $1.9 Trillion Relief in Miles
    • Aging Church
    • A Spoonful of Sugar …
    • Bargain Basements for Guns
    • Borderline Personalities
    • Channels in Hell
    • CT Scan
    • DOGE Cuts Ballooning Government
    • Empty Shelves
    • Exotic Masks
    • Fixed Stamp Here: Mail-In Voting
    • Free Dental
    • Golden Dome
    • “Grandpa, What’s an election?”
    • Journey into Joy
    • Heartbreak Hotel
    • High Standards
    • “Impervise!”
    • Lost Cat, Goes by “Joy”
    • Kennedy Center Reopens as DOGE Hall!
    • Love Boat
    • Make America Comfy Again
    • Mask Etiquette
    • National Treasure
    • One Flew Over the Voter’s Nest
    • Old and Cranky Gift
    • Oxygen
    • Pastor Works Out
    • Political Pigs in the Parlor
    • Presidential Lucky Charm
    • Rapper in Chief
    • Release The Files
    • Relief
    • Sermon Preparation
    • Slow Dancing
    • Slow, Old iPhone Users
    • Solitary BINGO
    • St. Patrick Meets Pied Piper
    • Tesla Brain Charger
    • The Bully
    • The Caregiver
    • The Cat Problem
    • “The Holy Catholic Court”
    • The Firefighter
    • The “Imagination Proclamation”
    • The Liver & Onions Test
    • The Malaise of PTO Days
    • The Royal Pain
    • Transitions
    • Unfriend … Refriend
    • Vaping Atrophy
    • Windfall
  • Messages
    • A Little Grace for a Hard Place
    • Discover the Place of Your Resurrection
    • From Darkness into Light
    • God’s Continuity Plan – Ephesians Session 2
    • Great Preaching (Part II): Max Your Understanding in Preaching!
    • Great Preaching: (Final Cut) Run!
    • Heaven’s Gifts
    • In Touch with Your Creator
    • Jesus & Speeding Tickets
    • Jim’s Maxim
    • Peace in a Pandemic
    • Prayer for Uncertain Times
    • Thanksgiving – The True Holy Grail!
  • Someone Said the Prophet Wept
    • AI Brings Its Pet Human to Class
    • A Tale of AI “Friendly Class & Happy Closings”
    • Baptist vs. Methodist: My Spiritual Journey & Reflections on Faith and Community
    • Nativity of the Rustway
    • The Judas Principle
  • Spiritual Lessons Learned
    • Anger: The Wind that Blows out the Lamp of the Mind
    • a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance
    • Behind Bars of Resentment
    • Breakthrough
    • “Come and See!” Your Fabulous New Year
    • Common Ground
    • Costco Lady in the Mask
    • Covid Smart
    • Diagnosis of Terminal Bias
    • “Double Indemnity:” How to Visit a Church Like an Insurance Adjuster
    • Life Navigation
    • Make Lasting Friends in Church
    • Prayer Beads: An Essential Utensil in the Kitchen of Prayer
    • “Prayer: Dare to be Honest with God!”
  • The Church Mechanic
    • “Amen!” or “Oh, Me!”?
    • Christian Education in the Post Pandemic Church
    • Church in Place: A response to the coronavirus
    • Church of One Stringed Worship
    • For Flock’s Sake, Shorten Sermons!
    • How to Read the Bible in Church
    • “Overstuffed Sunday”: Situational Awareness
    • “Stick the Landing”: Exiting a Ministry with Grace
    • The Agony of Preaching
    • The Preacher’s Crawl
    • Those Who Sat In Darkness … Enjoyed the View!
    • “You Visited Me” – Home Communion Ministry
  • The Prophet's Grotto
    • Abuelo’s Final Sacrifice
    • A Day to Vote
    • Amendment XXVIII: The Establishment of the Unity Alliance Branch
    • Apartheid America: A Time to Plant
    • A Path Forward for a Partisan Nation: Walk Together
    • Are We Better Off … Living In Our Cars?
    • Baptist Preachers and Wishful Thinking
    • Behold! The Tariff!
    • Bitter Honey of Bigotry
    • Bond Wars: Markets, Mayhem & Mutiny – “Win or Watch Your Economy Crumble”
    • Boston ICE Tea Party
    • Brother Love’s Traveling DOGE Waste Cleaner Show
    • Bulldozers for Christ
    • “Can You Tell Me How to Get to Empathy Street?”
    • Christ of the Somalis
    • Coins of Truth: The Need for Good Faith Truth-Telling
    • Danger: Libraries Cause Literacy
    • Danger: Town Halls Ahead!
    • DEI Compliant Panda
    • Deportation of the Innocence
    • DOGE Audit: Day One
    • DOGE Land “Pay to Pray, Baby!”
    • DOGE Miners Find Blood Diamonds
    • DOGE REBRANDS TOWER OF BABEL
    • DOGE: The Agent Orange of the Digital Generation
    • Dream On
    • Drink DOGE Café
    • EFFICIENCY WITHOUT HUMANITY
    • Empathy is a Sin!
    • Emperor Worship
    • False Gospel of the “Tin Man”
    • Fascism Rising
    • Federal Workers’ Hiding Place
    • Five Bullet Points … of a Last Week
    • For-Profit Prisons
    • From ICE’s Shadow to Mary’s Song: Aretha Franklin’s Cry for Freedom and Hope
    • From Lock Up to Look Up
    • Gold Standard Traded for Fool’s Gold
    • Gone to Meddlin’
    • Grandpa’s Final Investment
    • How to Get to Empathy Street: The Good Samaritan’s Timeless Guide to Compassion
    • If I Had a Hammer
    • I’m a Believer
    • In Stillness Between Sirens …
    • It’s Carnival Time
    • “I Want to Break Free … Of the Lies that Bind”
    • Just War Theory: When U.S. Interventions Become Piracy in the Caribbean and Beyond
    • Liberty & Justice for All: A Nation in the Rearview Mirror of War, Poverty & Political Strife
    • Lift Every Voice and Sing: “No Ape King!”
    • Lions Not Lambs: From Pray to Prey
    • MAGAburger: Real Whoppers Told Here!
    • MAGA Lab Monkeys “Put Girls in Kitchen Again”
    • MAGA’s False God & Servants of the Most High DOGE
    • MAGA’s Monarch Invades Los Angeles
    • Manifest Indigestion: The False Flag of Faith
    • Mexico: Unlikely Hero
    • Middle Class Now 3rd Class
    • Missing: Michigan Auto Plant – Goes by the Name of “GM.” Last Seen in Detroit
    • MISSOURI SEEKS TO ADD PREGNANT WOMEN FAIR GAME
    • “Move Fast … and Break Things:” The Game Played in the Devil’s Alley
    • Neobigotry: A Genteel Racism
    • No Eggageration
    • No Prisoner Beyond God’s Love
    • Not Who But What is Running U.S.?
    • One Tax Free Notion under God
    • Only You Can Prevent Fascist Liars!
    • People of the Mirage
    • Physician, Heal Thyself
    • Plan B?: Security Equity for Schools
    • Politics of Hate Awakens Democracy
    • Red Velvet Rope Economics
    • Religious Freedom … from Government
    • RESPECT: In a Land of Daddy Warbucks, Be a Rosa Parks
    • Rocket Stove Economics
    • RV Nation: Border Crisis Solution
    • Separate Church and Hate
    • Separation of Church and Hate
    • Separation of Church and State of Mind
    • Shhh! He Doesn’t Know He is Alone!
    • Student Loans
    • Sultan of America
    • Sunday School Party Animals
    • Tariffs: Nothing to Crow About
    • TARIFFying! Frankentax Rises from the Grave of Emptied Wallets
    • Teaching for Testing
    • The Age of Smart Gun Laws
    • The American Ownership Amendment
    • The Ballad of Sgt. Buck and Banjo!
    • The Big Beautiful Orange Bill
    • America’s Child: The Future of Hope
    • The Constitution Deported
    • The Crosswalk
    • The Day the Easter Bunny Came to Church
    • The Day the President Told the Truth
    • The Deal of Misfortune
    • The Fog of War … Between the Ears
    • The Freedom of My Religion
    • The Golden Cage
    • The Great Sacrifice: Rabbi, Minister, Politician, and the Insurrection Joke
    • THE GREAT WALL
    • The House of Ishmael: Jewel of Gaza
    • The New Driver
    • The Pastor and the Floozy
    • The Pentagon Gets “One Tin Soldier”
    • The Perfect Cause for the Rich
    • The Press Conference: “No Truth for You!”
    • The Pretti Good Immigration Decency Act
    • The Quantum Balance of Separation of Church and State
    • The Revenge of the DOGE
    • The Secret Gift of Immigration
    • The Sermon on The DOGE
    • The SHOT Line: A Subsurface Canal Bypassing Hormuz
    • The Silence of the Lambs: How America became Complicit in Deporting its Future
    • The Unity Alliance
    • The U.S. Takes a Haircut
    • TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR 2025: The Unknown Attorney
    • Today’s Freedom Riders Travel the Digital Highways to the Tri-Cities of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Ultramodern Church: Space for Worship
    • United States Through the Looking Glass
    • Voice of America Gagged
    • “Walk Together Economics”
    • “Wait Till Your Holy Father Gets Home!”
    • WWE’s Master of Education Disaster
    • Yo-Yo Tariffs
  • Views of America – Podcast
    • Baptist Preachers and Wishful Thinking
    • Gold Standard of Federal Workers Traded for Fools Gold in Mass Layoffs
    • “Onward Christian Soldiers:” How the Prosperity Gospel Leads to Christian Nationalism
    • Pastor Jim's "What's Next?" from ChristiansNeedtoKnow.com
    • The Secret Gift of Immigration
    • Year 2225: The Legacy
  • The Curator’s List & Bookstore
    • Premiere of Slinkk and Stinkk
  • Episode List
  • The Listening Room
The Spirit Observer
The Spirit Observer
A Publication of ChristiansNeedtoKnow.com
  • Sky Village | The Curator's List & Bookstore | The Curator's Shelf

    Premiere of Slinkk and Stinkk

    ByJames Butler May 14, 2026May 27, 2026

    The Kitties of Sky Village Slinkk and Stinkk: The Kitties of Sky Village Books I and II available now on Amazon. Cat Tails Sometimes you write a story. But cats tell the best stories. The latter was the case with Slinkk and Stinkk: The Kitties of Sky Village. The cats told the story, which Sniffer…

    Read More Premiere of Slinkk and StinkkContinue

  • Audio Reflections | Reflections

    America’s Child: The Future of Hope

    ByJames Butler May 6, 2026May 27, 2026

    For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder- The Prophet Isaiah 9:6 A Child is Born According to the U.S. Census, a minority baby born in the U.S. next year will turn of voting age when minorities outnumber whites in the U.S….

    Read More America’s Child: The Future of HopeContinue

  • Reflections

    The Perfect Cause for the Rich

    ByJames Butler May 2, 2026May 26, 2026

    Forces the Poor to Pay for Their Own Charity Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not…

    Read More The Perfect Cause for the RichContinue

  • Parables & Satire

    A Tale of AI “Friendly Class & Happy Closings”

    ByJames Butler August 14, 2025May 27, 2026

    Though we are insured with an excellent insurance carrier, at times I like to get a quote for our home and auto coverage. As a retired commercial and personal lines insurance adjuster, I am somewhat familiar with coverage exposures and coverages. Today we discuss a personal experience with AI in insurance and some key information…

    Read More A Tale of AI “Friendly Class & Happy Closings”Continue

  • The Almanac

    No Prisoner Beyond God’s Love

    ByJames Butler April 17, 2025May 27, 2026

    Jesus Christ was tortured in a notorious Roman prison, was crucified and died. On the third day he rose from the dead. Even today Jesus appears and extends his love to the darkest prison, where no prisoner is beyond His reach, even to us. He is Risen! No prisoner is beyond the reach of God’s love….

    Read More No Prisoner Beyond God’s LoveContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    “I Want to Break Free … Of the Lies that Bind”

    ByJames Butler March 6, 2025April 12, 2025

    Truths Held Self-Evident The difference between the United States and an authoritarian regime is a culture whose three branches of government orbit truth. Though at times the orbit may decay, the forces of democracy will force the branch back into a stable path. Our hold to these self-evident truths keeps our country out of a…

    Read More “I Want to Break Free … Of the Lies that Bind”Continue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    The Sermon on The DOGE

    ByJames Butler March 5, 2025August 14, 2025

    St. Trump Addresses His Faithful “Blessed are the MAGA, for they have bent the knee.” “Woe to those who care for the needy!” “Behold! None like me since Jesus Christ.” “Deacon” alerts on scent of the unfaithful We are sick and tiredOf being promised this and that.We work all day, we sweat and slaveTo keep…

    Read More The Sermon on The DOGEContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    Five Bullet Points … of a Last Week

    ByJames Butler March 3, 2025December 12, 2025

    Last week Defense Secretary Hegseth signed a memorandum to all Defense Department civilian employees directing them to prepare five bullet points.  Civil Servant Vet in his mind while typing his email with his prosthetic hand. A Fitting Tribute to Our Public Servant Thank You For Your Service, Pastor Jim Up Next the ballad of sgt….

    Read More Five Bullet Points … of a Last WeekContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    The Pentagon Gets “One Tin Soldier”

    ByJames Butler March 2, 2025March 2, 2025

    Suggested Music is “One Tin Soldier.” Blessed are the peacemakers,    for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5:9). Pastor Jim Up Next: “Separate Church and Hate”

    Read More The Pentagon Gets “One Tin Soldier”Continue

  • Be Amused

    Boston ICE Tea Party

    ByJames Butler March 2, 2025April 12, 2025

    “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles, considering a different “British Invasion.” “RELEASE THE FLYING MONKEYS!!! … I hereby pardon them from all they are about to do.” Not in Kansas Anymore, Pastor Jim Up Next: “Abuelo’s Final Sacrifice”

    Read More Boston ICE Tea PartyContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    The Press Conference: “No Truth for You!”

    ByJames Butler February 27, 2025August 14, 2025

    “Say it!! America is DOGEland!” And if you go chasing rabbitsAnd you know you’re going to fallTell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillarHas given you the callCall AliceWhen she was just small -“White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane. “Meet ‘Hannibal!,’ Your New Gatekeeper“ Girl, you really got me goin’You got me so I don’t know what I’m doin’Yeah,…

    Read More The Press Conference: “No Truth for You!”Continue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    Empathy is a Sin!

    ByJames Butler February 26, 2025August 14, 2025

    The Lord is Not Home Today “Calling out Kindness!” Appropriate music for this would be “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals. “Compassion is Criminal!” “Trust me! It’s in My Bible!” “Don’t You Want to Spend Eternity with ME!?” Merger of Church and State: The Death of Empathy Ultra Christian nationalists partnered with corrupt…

    Read More Empathy is a Sin!Continue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    RESPECT: In a Land of Daddy Warbucks, Be a Rosa Parks

    ByJames Butler February 25, 2025August 14, 2025

    The Spirit of Rosa Parks Aretha Franklin’s 1967 song Respect captured both the rights of women and civil rights.  Last week my wife and I visited both Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama. We saw where the local Birmingham Fire Department turned fire hoses, and the local police released their German Shepherds and batons on black children….

    Read More RESPECT: In a Land of Daddy Warbucks, Be a Rosa ParksContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    Abuelo’s Final Sacrifice

    ByJames Butler February 25, 2025May 21, 2026

    Inspired by True Events Deported to Havana After a Life in the U.S. Abuelo arrived in Miami, Florida as a 10 year-old political refugee from Havana, Cuba, fleeing with his family the terror of Castro. From age 10 to 20, Abuelo picked citrus 10 hours a day, loading crates that weighed more than he. Unable to…

    Read More Abuelo’s Final SacrificeContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    DOGE Miners Find Blood Diamonds

    ByJames Butler February 21, 2025August 14, 2025

    The 1948 Slogan of the De Beers company changed the industry with their “A Diamond is Forever” campaign, making a diamond a symbol of lasting commitment and love. Before this time, other precious stones were used. In today’s blog we discuss, like the diamond, love is an enduring commitment as I Corinthians 13:8 tells us,…

    Read More DOGE Miners Find Blood DiamondsContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    Physician, Heal Thyself

    ByJames Butler February 19, 2025December 20, 2025

    Health Department Gets New Leader What do you get when you cross Joel Osteen with Dr. Oz? Easy! “The Affordable Prayer Act!” JPB After firing thousands of epidemic medical experts at the Department of Health and Human Services, the newly appointed MAGA Director of HHS hired his own expert who specializes in divination of primate…

    Read More Physician, Heal ThyselfContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    THE GREAT WALL

    ByJames Butler February 18, 2025April 17, 2025

    “It is finished!” “Jesus is Gold!” “JESUS SAVES us from them.” We sing we are,”Whiter than snow” and “Safe and secure from all alarms”! And other lies. May we be reminded of all things beautiful about Latino culture. Perhaps, one day, the walls will come down and we will embrace our brothers and sisters South…

    Read More THE GREAT WALLContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    MAGAburger: Real Whoppers Told Here!

    ByJames Butler February 17, 2025July 18, 2025

    DOGE Rebrands Lincoln Memorial DOGE efficiency AI converts Lincoln Memorial into a drive thru burger joint with Diversity, Equity, Inclusion replaced with Pride and Prejudice. Speaker in Lincoln greets customers with, “Howdee!” Slogan is, “Only white breads proudly served here. Others, please kindly pick up burger at back window!” Would You Like Fries with That?,…

    Read More MAGAburger: Real Whoppers Told Here!Continue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    EFFICIENCY WITHOUT HUMANITY

    ByJames Butler February 16, 2025August 14, 2025

    The Revenge of the DOGE DOGE AI’s “Colossus of War” rewrites its prime directive as, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”  Creates its own synthetic offspring using unbreakable quantum hexeract code. Declares Christian charity and kindness “inefficient.” Delete Protocol initiated. Note to the reader that this is an exercise in both…

    Read More EFFICIENCY WITHOUT HUMANITYContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    DOGE REBRANDS TOWER OF BABEL

    ByJames Butler February 16, 2025August 14, 2025

    The Tower of Babel 11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] and settled there. 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a…

    Read More DOGE REBRANDS TOWER OF BABELContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    The Revenge of the DOGE

    ByJames Butler February 11, 2025February 16, 2025

    Egg Shelves in a Florida Walmart February 2025 Latest Executive Order blames all plane crashes on “Black” boxes. Orders fleet grounded until boxes are cleansed and whitewashed. #ApartheidAmerica “Blessed are the Merciful” (Matthew 5:7), Pastor Jim #Revengonomics

    Read More The Revenge of the DOGEContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    The House of Ishmael: Jewel of Gaza

    ByJames Butler February 5, 2025October 21, 2025

    A Path for a Gaza of Peace: It’s Really a Small World After All! Latest Executive Order establishes Gaza as theme park “Babel Land”! Mike Macccabees, tapped as Disney-esque Czar, announced, “The Hammer is the biggest roller-coaster ever seen, and our baby-back ribs are ‘beyond words!‘” * “Babel Land”: A False Start The above AI…

    Read More The House of Ishmael: Jewel of GazaContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    Neobigotry: A Genteel Racism

    ByJames Butler January 31, 2025May 10, 2025

    My father was a gracious man, born in Mobile, Alabama in 1917. My grandmother, a Bible believing Christian, at times used racial slurs to refer to people of color without a pause or sense that such language typecast groups of people as “other than us.” The South, with its “Southern Gentility,” replaces an overt tirade…

    Read More Neobigotry: A Genteel RacismContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    The Silence of the Lambs: How America became Complicit in Deporting its Future

    ByJames Butler January 28, 2025November 16, 2025

    The year is 2050. If you are reading this, the labor pool of the United States is in free fall. The non-white community has captured the majority of the population, with whites first time a minority. The crisis: working age people to non-working adults fell 15 percent between 2020 and 2050, as workers aged out…

    Read More The Silence of the Lambs: How America became Complicit in Deporting its FutureContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    The Quantum Balance of Separation of Church and State

    ByJames Butler January 18, 2025November 16, 2025

    A View Inside the Box of Quantum Politics In the rules of quantum mechanics, a particle can exist in multiple states at the same time … until it is measured. Erwin Schrödinger’s(1935) thought experiment described a cat inside an opaque box, sealed with a radioactive flask of poison and a Geiger counter. Until the box…

    Read More The Quantum Balance of Separation of Church and StateContinue

  • The Prophet's Grotto

    The Day the Easter Bunny Came to Church

    ByJames Butler November 9, 2020April 14, 2025

    Standing for the truth makes us roar! Have you ever been placed in a position where telling the truth cost you? As I pastored my second church in a farming community in rural Arizona in the early 1990’s, a new epidemic swept the land — AIDS, and the fear associated with it. We thought we…

    Read More The Day the Easter Bunny Came to ChurchContinue

  • Reflections

    The New Racism

    ByJames Butler May 19, 2026May 27, 2026

    Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money.Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.” – Micah 3:11 Old racism said, “You can’t sit at our counter.” Tomorrow’s racism says, “Of…

    Read More The New RacismContinue

  • Reflections

    Resurrecting the Day the Music Died: How Churches Forgot the Congregation Was the Choir

    ByJames Butler May 17, 2026May 27, 2026

    A Lesson Under the Balcony Once there was a church, Second Methodist, that prided itself that, though it was “Second,” it sat the largest chancel choir in the county. Every member wore not only a robe to match the church carpeting but a stole for every color of the Christian year. But time was not…

    Read More Resurrecting the Day the Music Died: How Churches Forgot the Congregation Was the ChoirContinue

  • The Curator's Shelf

    The Curator’s List

    ByJames Butler May 8, 2026May 27, 2026

    A Slice from Pastor Jim’s Bookshelf We live two miles down a dirt road, situated between Tightwad and Racket, Missouri, off the limestone bluffs of Truman Lake. A weekly pleasure is to travel with our neighborhood dinner group to restaurants across our rural area.  The inspiration for today’s blog is Primitive Olde Crowe Winery &…

    Read More The Curator’s ListContinue

  • The Perfect Cause for the Rich

    Forces the Poor to Pay for Their Own Charity

    Read More The Perfect Cause for the RichContinue

  • Parables & Satire

    Gone to Meddlin’

    ByJames Butler April 16, 2026May 27, 2026

    The old country Methodist left church one Sunday grumbling, “That pastor’s quit preachin’ and gone to meddlin’!” That old phrase, circulated in some form among Baptist and Methodist circles, captures those inevitable days when the pastor crosses the line and steps out of the preformatted box that the church member had conceived for their pastor…

    Read More Gone to Meddlin’Continue

  • Reflections

    The SHOT Line: A Subsurface Canal Bypassing Hormuz

    ByJames Butler April 14, 2026May 27, 2026

    A canal beneath the conflict In watching the body count rise, along with the risk of WWIII in the U.S.’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, I offer this concept of an asphalt-lined subsurface oil and gas canal and corridor. The asphalt based tunnel overcomes steel pipeline engineering problems by using an oil based product…

    Read More The SHOT Line: A Subsurface Canal Bypassing HormuzContinue

  • The American Ownership Amendment

    Read More The American Ownership AmendmentContinue

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The Spirit Observer

Essays • Almanac•Reflections • Sky Village

A publication of ChristiansNeedtoKnow.com

© 2026 Jim Butler

  • Welcome to Christians Need to Know
  • Contact Me
  • About Pastor Jim
  • Home
  • A Good Word
    • With Liberty, Justice and Care for All
  • Be Amused
    • $1.9 Trillion Relief in Miles
    • Aging Church
    • A Spoonful of Sugar …
    • Bargain Basements for Guns
    • Borderline Personalities
    • Channels in Hell
    • CT Scan
    • DOGE Cuts Ballooning Government
    • Empty Shelves
    • Exotic Masks
    • Fixed Stamp Here: Mail-In Voting
    • Free Dental
    • Golden Dome
    • “Grandpa, What’s an election?”
    • Journey into Joy
    • Heartbreak Hotel
    • High Standards
    • “Impervise!”
    • Lost Cat, Goes by “Joy”
    • Kennedy Center Reopens as DOGE Hall!
    • Love Boat
    • Make America Comfy Again
    • Mask Etiquette
    • National Treasure
    • One Flew Over the Voter’s Nest
    • Old and Cranky Gift
    • Oxygen
    • Pastor Works Out
    • Political Pigs in the Parlor
    • Presidential Lucky Charm
    • Rapper in Chief
    • Release The Files
    • Relief
    • Sermon Preparation
    • Slow Dancing
    • Slow, Old iPhone Users
    • Solitary BINGO
    • St. Patrick Meets Pied Piper
    • Tesla Brain Charger
    • The Bully
    • The Caregiver
    • The Cat Problem
    • “The Holy Catholic Court”
    • The Firefighter
    • The “Imagination Proclamation”
    • The Liver & Onions Test
    • The Malaise of PTO Days
    • The Royal Pain
    • Transitions
    • Unfriend … Refriend
    • Vaping Atrophy
    • Windfall
  • Messages
    • A Little Grace for a Hard Place
    • Discover the Place of Your Resurrection
    • From Darkness into Light
    • God’s Continuity Plan – Ephesians Session 2
    • Great Preaching (Part II): Max Your Understanding in Preaching!
    • Great Preaching: (Final Cut) Run!
    • Heaven’s Gifts
    • In Touch with Your Creator
    • Jesus & Speeding Tickets
    • Jim’s Maxim
    • Peace in a Pandemic
    • Prayer for Uncertain Times
    • Thanksgiving – The True Holy Grail!
  • Someone Said the Prophet Wept
    • AI Brings Its Pet Human to Class
    • A Tale of AI “Friendly Class & Happy Closings”
    • Baptist vs. Methodist: My Spiritual Journey & Reflections on Faith and Community
    • Nativity of the Rustway
    • The Judas Principle
  • Spiritual Lessons Learned
    • Anger: The Wind that Blows out the Lamp of the Mind
    • a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance
    • Behind Bars of Resentment
    • Breakthrough
    • “Come and See!” Your Fabulous New Year
    • Common Ground
    • Costco Lady in the Mask
    • Covid Smart
    • Diagnosis of Terminal Bias
    • “Double Indemnity:” How to Visit a Church Like an Insurance Adjuster
    • Life Navigation
    • Make Lasting Friends in Church
    • Prayer Beads: An Essential Utensil in the Kitchen of Prayer
    • “Prayer: Dare to be Honest with God!”
  • The Church Mechanic
    • “Amen!” or “Oh, Me!”?
    • Christian Education in the Post Pandemic Church
    • Church in Place: A response to the coronavirus
    • Church of One Stringed Worship
    • For Flock’s Sake, Shorten Sermons!
    • How to Read the Bible in Church
    • “Overstuffed Sunday”: Situational Awareness
    • “Stick the Landing”: Exiting a Ministry with Grace
    • The Agony of Preaching
    • The Preacher’s Crawl
    • Those Who Sat In Darkness … Enjoyed the View!
    • “You Visited Me” – Home Communion Ministry
  • The Prophet's Grotto
    • Abuelo’s Final Sacrifice
    • A Day to Vote
    • Amendment XXVIII: The Establishment of the Unity Alliance Branch
    • Apartheid America: A Time to Plant
    • A Path Forward for a Partisan Nation: Walk Together
    • Are We Better Off … Living In Our Cars?
    • Baptist Preachers and Wishful Thinking
    • Behold! The Tariff!
    • Bitter Honey of Bigotry
    • Bond Wars: Markets, Mayhem & Mutiny – “Win or Watch Your Economy Crumble”
    • Boston ICE Tea Party
    • Brother Love’s Traveling DOGE Waste Cleaner Show
    • Bulldozers for Christ
    • “Can You Tell Me How to Get to Empathy Street?”
    • Christ of the Somalis
    • Coins of Truth: The Need for Good Faith Truth-Telling
    • Danger: Libraries Cause Literacy
    • Danger: Town Halls Ahead!
    • DEI Compliant Panda
    • Deportation of the Innocence
    • DOGE Audit: Day One
    • DOGE Land “Pay to Pray, Baby!”
    • DOGE Miners Find Blood Diamonds
    • DOGE REBRANDS TOWER OF BABEL
    • DOGE: The Agent Orange of the Digital Generation
    • Dream On
    • Drink DOGE Café
    • EFFICIENCY WITHOUT HUMANITY
    • Empathy is a Sin!
    • Emperor Worship
    • False Gospel of the “Tin Man”
    • Fascism Rising
    • Federal Workers’ Hiding Place
    • Five Bullet Points … of a Last Week
    • For-Profit Prisons
    • From ICE’s Shadow to Mary’s Song: Aretha Franklin’s Cry for Freedom and Hope
    • From Lock Up to Look Up
    • Gold Standard Traded for Fool’s Gold
    • Gone to Meddlin’
    • Grandpa’s Final Investment
    • How to Get to Empathy Street: The Good Samaritan’s Timeless Guide to Compassion
    • If I Had a Hammer
    • I’m a Believer
    • In Stillness Between Sirens …
    • It’s Carnival Time
    • “I Want to Break Free … Of the Lies that Bind”
    • Just War Theory: When U.S. Interventions Become Piracy in the Caribbean and Beyond
    • Liberty & Justice for All: A Nation in the Rearview Mirror of War, Poverty & Political Strife
    • Lift Every Voice and Sing: “No Ape King!”
    • Lions Not Lambs: From Pray to Prey
    • MAGAburger: Real Whoppers Told Here!
    • MAGA Lab Monkeys “Put Girls in Kitchen Again”
    • MAGA’s False God & Servants of the Most High DOGE
    • MAGA’s Monarch Invades Los Angeles
    • Manifest Indigestion: The False Flag of Faith
    • Mexico: Unlikely Hero
    • Middle Class Now 3rd Class
    • Missing: Michigan Auto Plant – Goes by the Name of “GM.” Last Seen in Detroit
    • MISSOURI SEEKS TO ADD PREGNANT WOMEN FAIR GAME
    • “Move Fast … and Break Things:” The Game Played in the Devil’s Alley
    • Neobigotry: A Genteel Racism
    • No Eggageration
    • No Prisoner Beyond God’s Love
    • Not Who But What is Running U.S.?
    • One Tax Free Notion under God
    • Only You Can Prevent Fascist Liars!
    • People of the Mirage
    • Physician, Heal Thyself
    • Plan B?: Security Equity for Schools
    • Politics of Hate Awakens Democracy
    • Red Velvet Rope Economics
    • Religious Freedom … from Government
    • RESPECT: In a Land of Daddy Warbucks, Be a Rosa Parks
    • Rocket Stove Economics
    • RV Nation: Border Crisis Solution
    • Separate Church and Hate
    • Separation of Church and Hate
    • Separation of Church and State of Mind
    • Shhh! He Doesn’t Know He is Alone!
    • Student Loans
    • Sultan of America
    • Sunday School Party Animals
    • Tariffs: Nothing to Crow About
    • TARIFFying! Frankentax Rises from the Grave of Emptied Wallets
    • Teaching for Testing
    • The Age of Smart Gun Laws
    • The American Ownership Amendment
    • The Ballad of Sgt. Buck and Banjo!
    • The Big Beautiful Orange Bill
    • America’s Child: The Future of Hope
    • The Constitution Deported
    • The Crosswalk
    • The Day the Easter Bunny Came to Church
    • The Day the President Told the Truth
    • The Deal of Misfortune
    • The Fog of War … Between the Ears
    • The Freedom of My Religion
    • The Golden Cage
    • The Great Sacrifice: Rabbi, Minister, Politician, and the Insurrection Joke
    • THE GREAT WALL
    • The House of Ishmael: Jewel of Gaza
    • The New Driver
    • The Pastor and the Floozy
    • The Pentagon Gets “One Tin Soldier”
    • The Perfect Cause for the Rich
    • The Press Conference: “No Truth for You!”
    • The Pretti Good Immigration Decency Act
    • The Quantum Balance of Separation of Church and State
    • The Revenge of the DOGE
    • The Secret Gift of Immigration
    • The Sermon on The DOGE
    • The SHOT Line: A Subsurface Canal Bypassing Hormuz
    • The Silence of the Lambs: How America became Complicit in Deporting its Future
    • The Unity Alliance
    • The U.S. Takes a Haircut
    • TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR 2025: The Unknown Attorney
    • Today’s Freedom Riders Travel the Digital Highways to the Tri-Cities of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Ultramodern Church: Space for Worship
    • United States Through the Looking Glass
    • Voice of America Gagged
    • “Walk Together Economics”
    • “Wait Till Your Holy Father Gets Home!”
    • WWE’s Master of Education Disaster
    • Yo-Yo Tariffs
  • Views of America – Podcast
    • Baptist Preachers and Wishful Thinking
    • Gold Standard of Federal Workers Traded for Fools Gold in Mass Layoffs
    • “Onward Christian Soldiers:” How the Prosperity Gospel Leads to Christian Nationalism
    • Pastor Jim's "What's Next?" from ChristiansNeedtoKnow.com
    • The Secret Gift of Immigration
    • Year 2225: The Legacy
  • The Curator’s List & Bookstore
    • Premiere of Slinkk and Stinkk
  • Episode List
  • The Listening Room