"A Woman Manager...."

 

"Stan Lee"

 Stan Lee would have been 99 today. Since his death three years ago, books have been written saying he was only the CO-Creator of the major Marvel heroes…as if being the CO-Creator makes you a “NO creator.” But here’s the thing…if he was only the CO-Creator of Spider-Man, The Avengers, The X-Men, The Hulk, and so on…doesn’t the fact that HE was the common denominator in all of them show that he WAS the “Father of Marvel Comics”?? This is not to diminish Kirby OR Ditko, but those guys did NOT have their paws in EVERY Marvel title like Stan did, and they couldn’t write worth a hill of beans!! People will attack Stan’s legacy now that he’s not here to defend himself….fine. Let them make a buck by exploiting him and BTW, I do know the guy WASN’T perfect!! But a CO-Creator of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four surely beats the SOLE creators of “Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth” (Kirby) and “Squirrel Girl” (Ditko)!! ‘NUFF SAID.

Chetitorial: “In Defense of Amy Grant’s New Christmas Album”

 

THIS WAS WRITTEN IN DECEMBER 2016.

I have had my issues with Amy Grant over the years, I even wrote to her once rebuking her when I learned she planned to record John Lennon's godless song "Imagine" in the 90s (and she never did, BTW!!) But when I learned last night that "Life Way Christian Resources," the large Southern Baptist retailer, refused to carry her new Christmas album because they say it's not "Christian enough," well, I was UPSET. You may recall a few weeks ago that I bought the CD and wrote about it here on FB, praising Amy for its HONESTY because she acknowledged how some folks (even Christians) struggle with sadness at Christmastime. Apparently, this is the very feature that Life Way does NOT like, and I believe that is an unChristian perspective. The album DOES clearly share Amy's faith IN THE MIDST OF THE ACKNOWLEDGED PAIN AROUND HER. What's "not Christian enough" about THAT??

David, the "man after God's own heart," was VERY honest about the sadness and pain he and others experienced, and he recorded those struggles right in God's Word...is LifeWay going to refuse to sell Bibles with the PSALMS in them?? Those Psalms almost always end on a note of triumph, of trust in God, and so does Amy's album, BTW.

As you may know, I, myself, in God's Providence am going through the extended trial of a slowly dying wife, as well as the sadness of the anniversary of my unsaved dad's death on Christmas Day...and my prayer list is filled with names of godly Christians who are suffering GREATLY this Christmas season. Interestingly, the Bible commands us to "weep with those who weep" but it never says we should celebrate Christ's birth. So why should we suspend our weeping with those who weep, simply because it's......Christmas?? Why is an album “not Christian enough” because there’s a song “Melancholy Christmas” on it?? I wish to point out that the last four letters in MELANCHOLY are H-O-L-Y and God often uses suffering to sanctify us, to MAKE us holy people. Isn’t the real meaning of Christ’s Advent that He came into the world to save sinners and make us.....HOLY??

If GOD doesn’t shield us from pain at Christmastime, why should we seek to shield others and ourselves?? Shall we not display Hope in Him, in the MIDST of the pain....rather than deny the pain exists?? Which glorifies God MORE??

I posted this as a Note on November 25th.... https://www.facebook.com/notes/chet-jelinski/chetitorial-dont-forget-the-lonely-the-depressed-the-grieving-this-christmas-sea/10154194398273196

It's about not forgetting the lonely, the depressed and the grieving, at Christmas.

Amy's album is RIGHT UP MY ALLEY because it sounds the same note, and if anyone thinks I'm wrong for that..................fine.

I answer to God alone.

Amy's "Tennessee Christmas" is something the Lord MINISTERS to me through. "But Chet, she was DIVORCED...and so was VINCE GILL...they both left their spouses to marry each other, and they sing a duet on that album, how can the Lord MINISTER to you through.....THAT??"

A: It is not my place to judge them, I don't know WHY they got divorced and Jesus DOES allow divorce in the case of adultery. All I can say is I like this album SO much that I bought the SECOND version ALSO...the "Target" exclusive, with the two extra tracks.

No matter WHAT "Life Way" says, it's "Christian enough" for ME.

“Don’t Forget the Lonely, the Depressed, the Grieving this Christmas Season”

THIS WAS WRITTEN IN DECEMBER 2016.

Even though we’re now into The Christmas Season, my Aunt Jo is going to be very sad this month. You see, her calendar has many painful reminders of losses she’s endured...December is the anniversary of when she married RAY, her beloved late husband...in fact it’s also his BIRTHDAY that same day. The following Sunday is HER birthday, which helps a little, but a few days later it’s the 55th anniversary of when she lost her mom. Oh, I pray that Jo will get SAVED and start attending that good church near her...it will help an awful lot with the loneliness she feels!! But even if she DOES get saved, chances are she’ll still get sad quite often as she was happily married...and widowed...TWICE before.

Jo is alone from a marital standpoint but she is NOT alone in terms of being sad, for one reason or another, during The Christmas Season.

I’ve been a Christian for almost 42 years but as the anniversary of my unsaved dad’s passing, on Christmas Day, approaches again I, too, struggle with grief. And there are many people like this who will never tell you, verbally, that they’re hurting for one reason or another. We have to LOOK for them with a heart that wants to see, and help. Sometimes just letting them know we care helps.

Their pain is often compounded when they see “everyone” else in “The Christmas Spirit” and they feel left out, isolated, and, frankly, sometimes MISUNDERSTOOD. You see, everyone who’s not in a super bubbly mood this time of year isn’t necessarily a “Scrooge” or a “Grinch.” They might just be someone who is HURTING....someone who we should be reaching out to if we really want to honor The Lord Jesus Christ’s birthday.

But, sadly, sometimes it’s just easier to judge people as Scrooges rather than reach out and try to help them.

See, Jesus wants us to care for others more than He wants us to remember His birthday....that’s why His Word is filled with commands to reach out to orphans, widows and “the weak”, to “weep with those who weep,” etc. but there is not one mention of remembering His Birthday each year. No, not one.

We are commanded in Scripture to remember His DEATH for us...but never His BIRTH and that’s because He focused on OTHERS (those of us who have repented and believed), and not Himself. Let us go and do likewise, to honor Him!!

I close with a poem I wrote recently, from the perspective of one who is hurting this time of year (not me at PRESENT, though I was like this when I was a TEEN, and very lonely at times.) I hope it makes you think.

“I’M SORRY THAT I’M SAD”

I’m sorry that I’m sad

at this special time of year

when you all have Christmas Cheer

and I feel bad.

I’m sorry, so sorry that I’m sad.

I’m sorry that I’m sad

this month brings me such pain

as I relive, again

the good times that I had

with loved ones who’ve passed on

and joy just all seems gone...

I’m sorry that I’m sad..................................and can’t explain.

"The TherMOMeter"

When I was a kid, we were so poor that we couldn't afford a thermometer. When I felt sickly, or, Lol when I was FAKING sickness to try to stay home from school, my mom would feel my forehead with her hand. I look back on those times fondly now, referring to her tiny hands on my forehead as "The TherMOMeter."

For whatever reasons, my mom was not one to hug me or kiss me on the cheek or even pat me on the back when I brought home good grades from school. Maybe that's why the "TherMOMeter" days are such a good memory to me now, and why I'm glad we WERE too poor to afford a real thermometer!!

 

"The Real Meaning of Christmas"

 My letter got printed in our local paper...it explains itself....

https://www.jerseyshoreonline.com/opinion-commentary/christmas-a-time-to-forgive-others-even-those-who-steal-van-parts/

"Is The Devil Trying to Distract American Minds From JESUS This Christmas?"

 The other day, I was in a "stationary" store looking for a 2022 schedule and I drifted into the Magazine section. You see, recently I've been collecting these "Tribute" special edition mags, mostly of MUSICIANS (Lennon, Harrison, Dylan, The Beatles but also I bought one of of REAGAN). And I was hoping to buy ONE new magazine that day if one was "in." I was shocked to see the GLUT of NEW tributes on the rack!!

And unlike the previous mags I'd purchased, one at a time, these mags pictured above are all of  "action" stars. Admittedly, I'm a fan of all three above but it AMAZED me to see three of these at once for sale!! Yes, I bought all three because two of  them were down to only one issue left, and I didn't want to miss these collector's items altogether. But I am reading them SLOWLY...it'll probably take me till the end of December (maybe early January) to read all three.

Without a doubt, the impending CHRISTMAS holiday is the reason why there's this "flooding" of the Tribute mags....they make great stocking stuffers, for sure. But Christmas is SUPPOSED to be the time of year when we celebrate the coming of The Lord Jesus Christ, and it almost seems like the devil is trying to distract our minds from the REAL hero...JESUS...in a concentrated way this year. Look, I love Rocky, Spidey and Clint but they CAN'T COMPARE to Jesus my Savior!!

WHENEVER GOD IS FOCUSED ON, WORSHIPPED OR REVERED Satan is always busy trying to turn people's attention elsewhere. The mags in the picture are innocent in themselves and so are a million OTHER distractions in our entertainment-based society, but Satan will use ANYTHING to turn our minds from the fact that Jesus came into the world to save sinners!!

May all of us remember the REAL meaning of Christmas this year in spite of the gluttony, covetousness, and yes....IDOLATRY of people and things that keep so many from Jesus, "The Reason for the Season"!!

"Once Again: Yoko Off The Hook For The Beatles' Breakup"

                            

THIS BLOG WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN FEB. 2020 AND THEN REPRINTED HERE IN AUGUST OF THIS YEAR. THE RECENT, NEW BEATLES' DOCUMENTARY CONFIRMS AGAIN THAT OTHERS, NOT YOKO ONO, WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN THE BEATLES' BREAKUP BUT JAMES TAYLOR'S ROLE WAS NOT ADDRESSED THERE. ................THAT'S WHY I'M REPRINTING THIS AGAIN!!

Singer JAMES TAYLOR has released a new memoir where he claims he was "a bad influence" on the Beatles by giving the group's founder, John Lennon, Opiates.  (That's Taylor and Lennon above, when they both lived in The Dakota apartment building in New York, in the '70s.) 

Read this link...


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/james-taylor-beatles-john-lennon-drugs-opiates-022015931.html

For 50 years now, MOST people have been blaming John's wife Yoko Ono SOLELY for the Beatles' demise. She and Lennon became an item in 1968, but that's when Taylor now said HE was hanging around Beatles' recording sessions (for "The White Album"), ALSO.  The link goes on to affirm that Lennon had a "Heroin addiction" around that time, and claims it led to a rift in the band that couldn't be healed.  TAYLOR had a Heroin addiction, AS WELL but all the media could do was blame John's "addiction" to YOKO for the Beatles' split-up, in 1970.  

And, for fifty years I've been hearing things like "Yoko made John CRAZY" (and there's no doubt that she is "out there" and DID influence him), but never let us forget that JAMES is the one who actually went into a mental hospital shortly after when, he now admits, he gave John drugs that he wasn't sure John had ever used before.

This all leads me now to three questions.

     1.) Is James saying all this in a memoir NOW because he's in his 70s and wants to clear his conscience of something, "set the record straight" while he can? (If so, "better late than never.")

     2.) Is this new confession of his ONLY intended to help "Sweet Baby James" sell his new memoir AND his new album that's coming out soon? (I hope it's NOT for this reason....only JAMES knows.)

     But most of all, Question # 3.) Has there been BIAS AGAINST YOKO ONO, unfairly blaming HER ONLY for the Beatles' breakup and hiding TAYLOR'S possible role in it?? 

"Loco" Yoko:   Talentless Japanese WOMAN who screeches and thinks it's "singing."

James:  Gifted Caucasian MALE with a smooth, silky voice that has led to a very successful, 50 year career.

BOTH of them got their "start" as "stars" via John Lennon / The Beatles.  And, I now think that BOTH of them share equal blame for The Beatles's DEMISE....though only YOKO has been blamed for an entire half-century.

Perhaps James Taylor should apologize to Yoko for not telling his story SOONER.  I am SICK of women getting all of the blame for things while MEN HIDE!! 

"Sunday: Spiritually Spaced Out"

 I WROTE THIS ON FACEBOOK BEFORE GOING TO CHURCH YESTERDAY. Thankfully, AFTER church, I felt "re-tuned" thanks to the teaching, preaching, fellowship, singing and prayer!!

I’m going to be very honest here, as always. I did not overindulge with FOOD this Thanksgiving, but I watched too much of The Beatles all at once!! All 3 parts, over 7 hours, on three consecutive days. Mistake. Now, it’s not my BODY that feels sluggish…it’s my SOUL, as I get ready to go worship the LORD this morning.

I feel spiritually LAZY this morning.

It’s not that there was anything that BAD in the “Get Back” documentary, mind you. I even wrote favorable things about it the other day (see previous blog)!! It’s just that I spent all of that time “hanging out” with 4 very gifted guys who NEVER ACKNOWLEDGED THE TRUE GOD ONE SINGLE TIME. And I didn’t know how it would affect me until TODAY.

But I’m going to church with a prayer to be forgiven for my overindulgence and that the Lord, Himself would quicken me to be as excited as I usually am, to enter His Gates!! I should have used wisdom and SPACED OUT my consumption of the documentary. I didn’t, and that’s why I feel spiritually SPACED OUT. Amen!!

"The Beatles' 'GET BACK' Documentary"

 The 3 part documentary "GET BACK," about events leading up to and culminating in The Beatles' last live concert (1969), debuted on Disney-Plus this week. I wrote these notes after watching Parts 1 and 2 (Thursday-Friday) and BEFORE Part 3 streamed, just today...

"Tracts!"

 

My newest tract has been published this week, and it's been modified a bit from what I previewed here on 9/29. For starters, the COVER (above) has been changed!! There were also conceptual changes I made after seeking input from several, and it was professionally edited for spelling, grammar and punctuation as well.

....And the Tract BEFORE that, which used Shohei Ohtani as a springboard to mention the Gospel, got a BIG boost this past week!! You see, Shohei was named the American League's Most Valuable Player!!

To read (or purchase) these or my other tracts, go to the following page.....www.mwtb.org and search my name, chet jelinski.

As tomorrow is the anniversary of JFK's assassination there's a tract springing off of THAT, but the John Lennon tract, in English AND Spanish versions, has been deemed "controversial by Moments With The Book and they've hid it on ANOTHER page....

"Injustices: ---1.) Done TO Muslims and ---2.) Done BY a Muslim"

1.) Injustice done TO Muslims....

I am in total agreement with the full exoneration of Kyle Rittenhouse yesterday!! Based on the evidence, Justice WAS done!! But just two days ago, ANOTHER legal case, which happened 56 years ago, was officially found to be NOT fair and two innocent men were falsely convicted of murdering Malcom X (in center of the photo). Their names are Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam and they were exonerated the day before KYLE was....without the same media attention he received, I might add.

One of these falsely accused men died since the erroneous conviction and one is now 83, his life was ruined. I hope the fact that these guys were Muslims doesn’t prejudice anyone from admitting THEY WERE WRONGLY CONVICTED, and that that’s terrible and unacceptable.

2.) Injustice done BY a Muslim...

Singer-songwriter Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) is AT IT AGAIN!! For the past few years he's been re-recording and reissuing his albums from 50 years ago, BEFORE he became a Muslim. His new lyric video for his most commercially popular song ever changes the wording of this 1971 hit from "springing fresh from The Word" (meaning the Lord Jesus Christ) to "springing fresh from THE WORLD." And yes, Cat DOES understand that "The Word" refers to Jesus Christ, in the Bible!! Because on ANOTHER song from that same album, "Changes IV," he mentioned "The Word" as being "Him" (Jesus). That song also referenced a PREACHER preaching to him, by the way.

As I mentioned yesterday to Yusuf in a comment that will probably be deleted, I can understand that he, as a Muslim now, does not want to acknowledge JESUS as he did 50 years ago. But he has no right to alter those lyrics, he did NOT write THEM!! He should have avoided doing a LYRIC video for this song.

"Morning Has Broken" was taken from his 1971 album "Teaser and the Firecat." In the album BEFORE that, "Tea for the Tillerman" (1970), his song "On The Road To Find Out" originally said we should "pick up the Good Book now" (meaning the Bible). When he re-recorded that album last year, he altered it to "pick up ***A*** good book now." In that case, he has the right to alter his own lyrics but he has NO right to alter the lyrics of the late Eleanor Farjeon!!

BELOW: THE ORIGINAL 1971 "TEASER" ALBUM QUOTED FARGEON ACCURATELY, USING LANGUAGE THAT'S FOUND IN MILLIONS OF HYMNALS AROUND THE WORLD....

AND AGAIN, ANY CHRISTIAN HYMNAL WITH "MORNING HAS BROKEN" IN IT HAS "THE WORD" IN THE LYRICS. IT'S CENTRAL TO THE POINT OF THE HYMN!!

It's a very well-done video except for that INJUSTICE to the one who wrote the lyrics....

YOUTUBE.COM

Yusuf / Cat Stevens – Morning Has Broken (Official Lyric Video)

"Roger Tory Peterson"

 ROGER TORY PETERSON was the world’s foremost birder, I just finished the book about him!! GOD USED HIM to call attention to the amazing birds He created!! He certainly inspired ME, as a kid!!

Before Peterson, Scientists SHOT birds to study them and books describing them were overly technical and bulky. Peterson FILMED birds, did TERRIFIC paintings and always emphasized a FEW distinct traits of each bird. His bird books were thus smaller and easier to take out into the field, aiding in rapid identification and making birding ACCESSIBLE to common folk.

When I was a kid, you were called names if you dared to admit you liked birds. I wanted to be an Ornithologist when I grew up, but got discouraged when the grownups around me didn't know what it was. Now, last I looked the Sunday section of our state newspaper carries a weekly page about Birding, it's so popular!!

Peterson painted birds in “ordinary” poses which were much more realistic while AUDUBON (for example) did overly DRAMATIC poses, perhaps to try to instill “life” in his paintings as he worked from DEAD models. All I can say is I hope that, after so many years studying, painting, filming and writing about birds, that Mr. Peterson knew the One Who created them!! After all, Jesus taught lessons using birds as examples, I hope Peterson knew the Creator as well as the creations!!

"The Real-Life Inspiration For POPEYE, My First Hero as a Very Young Kid"

Popeye was my first hero as a very young kid and I just learned that his real-life inspiration was Polish, like me!! A good friend sent me this...

His real name was Frank "Rocky" Fiegel. He was born in 1868 in Poland and, as a child, immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled down in a small town in Illinois. 

As a young man, Rocky went to sea. After a 20 year career as a sailor in the Merchant Marines, Fiegel retired. He was later hired by Wiebusch's Tavern in the city of Chester, Illinois as a ‘Bouncer’ to maintain order in the rowdy bar. Rocky quickly developed a reputation for always being involved in fighting (and usually winning). As a result, he had a deformed eye ("Pop-eye"). 

He also ‘always’ smoked his pipe, so he always spoke out of one side of his mouth. In his spare time as a Bouncer, Rocky would entertain the customers by regaling them with exciting stories of adventures he claimed to have had over his career as a sailor crossing the ‘Seven Seas.’ 

The creator of Popeye, Elzie Crisler Segar, grew up in Chester and, as a young man, met Rocky at the tavern and would sit for hours listening to the old sailor’s amazing ‘sea stories.’ Years later, Segar became a cartoonist and developed a comic strip called ‘Thimble Theater.’ He honoured Fiegel by asking if he could model his new comic strip character, ‘Popeye the Sailor Man,’ after him. Naturally Fiegel was flattered and agreed. Segar claimed that ‘Olive Oyl,’ along with other characters, was also loosely based on an actual person. She was Dora Paskel, owner of a small grocery store in Chester. She apparently actually looked much like the Olive Oyl character in his comics. He claimed she even dressed much the same way. 

Through the years, Segar kept in touch with Rocky and always helped him with money; giving him a small percentage of what he earned from his ‘Popeye’ illustrations. WHO didn't love the cartoons??? We watched them religiously ... so funny, so moral ... each story had a good ending ... wonder if kids these days even KNOW who Popeye is??? Who knew he was a real man?

"THE ETERNALS, Despite Their Name, Won't Last"

 

Marvel’s newest movie, “THE ETERNALS”, debuted today and is being banned all over the world because it has openly gay superheroes. I love Marvel movies, but I won’t see THIS one because of what it promotes. On the other hand, I do NOT want the U. S. to ban it!!

I believe in free speech even when it contradicts what I believe. Sadly, most Homosexuals want to ban all free speech that opposes what THEY believe....that's how insecure they are about their position. (But, I digress).

I want this movie AVAILABLE in American theaters and I want it to utterly FLOP at the box office.

BANNING it will only BACKFIRE, it will create a “well, I want to see it now” reaction. Marvel Mastermind Stan Lee died 3 years ago this month and if he were alive, I hope he’d tell the Studio that a gay superhero movie is a dumb idea, but this younger generation has to learn....you can’t force IMmorality on people just like you can’t force MORALITY.

See, Straight People are tired of looking at COMMERCIALS with 2% of the population featured as if they were 98%, and if they can't tolerate one minute COMMERCIALS, or TV SHOWS with the LGBTQ agenda being forced on them, they're NOT going to pay money to see gay MOVIES. Anyone notice that when DC's new "Gay Superman" title was announced last month, there's no follow-up regarding how well the comic is SELLING?? Marvel's "Eternals" will suffer the same fate, in my opinion. Anything less than a 60 million dollar first weekend for a Marvel movie is a flop, and any Marvel TEAM (like X-Men, The Avengers, Guardians) that doesn't produce sequels is a total failure.

I'm aware that the movie is projected to earn 75 mil as the weekend starts, but, like THIS writer, I say the numbers are inflated....

https://cosmicbook.news/eternals-box-office-estimates-sound-too-high

In my opinion, The ETERNALS, despite their name, won't last!!

"Things I'm Thankful For, #6"

Starting on the 25th, a month before Thanksgiving Day, I've been listing Things I'm Thankful For on my Facebook. This is today's entry...

THINGS I’M THANKFUL FOR # 6—“The Abundance, and Easy Availability, of God’s Word Here in America”!! (Bear with me here, this will need a little “setting up”)!!

Okay....each morning, as part of my devotional exercises, I read TWO versions of “Our Daily Bread.” One is the version with 3 month’s worth of readings mapped out for, currently, October-December 2021. (That’s the version most are aware of). The SECOND version is the “90 Day Introductory Edition” which just goes from readings #1-90, you can read it ANY time of the year. I presently use both editions, along with DEEPER devotional material as well (and, of course, I recommend a good translation of THE BIBLE, ITSELF as the ultimate means of spiritual edification)!!

In the photo are my two versions of “Our Daily Bread” opened up side-by-side. On the left is yesterday’s reading. And on the right is TOMORROW’S reading (I read ahead on Saturdays). THEY ARE BOTH DEALING WITH THE SAME SCRIPTURE PASSAGE, though they are by different AUTHORS with slightly different PERSPECTIVES. To me, the way my mind works, it’s a reminder of how abundantly available God’s Word is to us here in America...we have an OVERFLOW of opportunities in this nation!! Not one, but TWO devotionals on an obscure passage like that one!! Let us never forget that To Whom much is given, much WILL be required, by God The GIVER of it all!!

As the celebration of The Reformation is tomorrow, let’s remember that God’s Word the Bible has NOT always been accessible to the common folk like it is to us now. And, let’s be thankful and SHOW our gratitude by using the resources we have at our disposal!! I do thank God for ALL the good materials, starting with BIBLES, that we can obtain legally and *****cheaply***** here in America!!

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