ARE THE NO KINGS RALLIES JUST A WARM-UP? PLUS, AN UPCOMING SERIES THAT IS NOT COMPLETELY UNRELATED.

King David Playing the Harp by Gerard van Honthorst

You may have heard of the "No Kings" protests. They seem to think that President Trump is acting like King Trump. I personally believe its because he's doing what he said he'd do (politicians aren't supposed to do that, are they?) 

The biggest issues that are driving that are the views on illegal immigration and transsexuallism. Sorry, but mind translates these respectively as condoning law-breaking and as telling God He goofed in creating us. 

Before I go further, I don't consider myself a MAGA fan; I might even identify more with the label "Deplorable." I have questions on how Iran is being handled or some of his other policies. Like every other President between Washington and whoever we elect in 2228 (no, not a typo) he has both good and bad points. 

In reality, both major parties act like they're monarchs. We currently have a country divided, with both sides wanting their rights protected to the point it removes protection of the rights of their opponents. My opinion, but are any No-Kings crowd ready to stand up for me not using the right pronouns or not wanting my taxes to pay for Planned Parenthood or make sure that we keep the bad guys from crossing our border?

It hit me, though. The reality is President Trump is just a President, not a King, and answerable to the true King of all the earth, Jesus of Nazareth. Former VP candidate Sen. Tim Kaine argued that he felt better with rights coming from the Government preferable to being given by a creator. Could it be that a lot of our leaders as well as a good portion of U.S. citizens want to be accountable only to themselves and not the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

Yes, I ended on a question. I'm not sure I've got the answer. Do you have it? Please let me know.

But now, I'll look at my plans for the blog. Yes, it's mostly reviews and a few opinion pieces like this one, and I'm not finding time to do interviews. But I do have in my mind a series. It's inspired by a comment the Southern Baptist University's Presiden Al Mohler said on The Briefing, that many believe creating art requires transgression, both in their work and in their lifestyle. It crosses over into my interest in the arts, which is a major reason for me starting this blog, and thoughts on heroes (super and otherwise). So I'm going to hopefully have that possibly in May, or maybe in June or July (no later than that). 

Let me know what you think. I'm looking forward to writing the series, and hope you are to reading it as well.

MOVIE REVIEW - DIXNEY PIXAR "THE INCREDIBLES" AND "INCREDIBLES 2"

I'll confess - I haven't been interested in most Pixar films. So far, I've only watched three, two of which I thoroughly enjoyed, the third not so much ("Finding Nemo"). In case you can't guess, the two I liked were "The Incredibles" and "Incredibles 2."

"The Incredibles" came out in 2005, the same year as "The Fantastic Four," which was interesting because three of the Incredibles had power matches with the FF (super strength, elasticity, and invisibility). However, the two movies had nothing in common. The Incredibles not only has the action you'd expect from a superhero movie, but it also deals with family issues, plus some good philosophy: ... I was going to give a quote, but that would have spoiled it.

Fourteen years later, Disney/Pixar released "Incredibles 2." It had big shoes to fill, and succeeded, keeping the charm that was in the original. There are hints of being a formula movie comparing the plots, but they both have their unique emphasis. And most of the time, the original is better and more enjoyable than the sequel, but this is an exception.

One difference between these movies are that they're rated PG, no "13" added to it. The Marvel and DC movies are always rated PG-13, with a couple pushing the envelope for an R rating. One possible reason "the Incredibles" movies earned the straight PG is because it is aimed to be a movie that parents can feel comfortable bringing the whole family to. Now, as you'd expect, there are things that are aimed more at adults in both films, but if I had kids I would gladly watch the film with them. 

I thoroughly recommend both movies.

THE SPIRITUAL STATE OF EGGS AND RABBITS AND WHETHER CHRISTIANS SHOULD CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER

The rabbit gets enough criticism at Easter time, but I thought I'd add the Christmas controversy to the table. Photo by yours truly at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Park, Oct. 22.

It's that time of the year... well, one of the times. Let me share three concepts I saw on one FB thread, from different authors:

• Rabbits and Eggs are pagan.
• Rabbits and Eggs are Biblical.
• Christians should observe the Passover, since Jesus did.

If you're a regular reader of the blog, I have at least one installment each year dealing whether Christmas and Easter are holidays Christians should observe. Well, when I saw this, I thought it was time for another.

Anybody besides me crack up (pun unintentional) about the two statements about rabbits and eggs? Both hit the edge of credibility. 

Given, pagans use rabbits and eggs as fertility symbols. But does that mean they're pagan? Uh, no. Who created the rabbits and the eggs? Sorry, but I think it's ridiculous to call rabbits pagans. Same with eggs.

So are they Biblical? Well, if you look above, I gave all the Biblical references that the authors gave on the rabbits and eggs quotes. What? There aren't any Scripture references? No, they didn't give any. A commenter noted that the one who said rabbits and eggs were Biblical gave NO references to prove his point. My hunch is he's one of the troublemakers who make a ridiculous statement to start heated debate and disappears. (By the time I got to it, the comment option had been turned off for that thread.) 

I'm one who prefer using the term "Resurrection Sunday" instead of Easter. There is an instance in the KJV where "Easter" appears in Acts 12:4, but the Greek Word is pascha, the word elsewhere and in all other versions is translated passover. I also don't think Easter eggs and bunnies have a place in the church. However, Paul states that he who observes the day does so to the Lord, and the one who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. (Romans 14:6). Why can't we aceept those who disagree? Maybe because we like disputing doubtful things (Jubilee Bible says "doubtful discernment) (Rom. 14:1).

Let's move from Resurrection Sunday to Passover. I read that in the Nicene Council one other item decided on was to separate the dating for Easter from the Passover, in spite of the fact that they're connected together. But should a Christian celebrate the Passover? Or should he abstain? Or is it another of those things that we shouldn't divide over?

I'll definitely go with it not being something to divide over. But let me deal with some arguments.

First, dealing with those who say Christians should observe the Passover. I heard a conversation where someone used 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 to say it commands Christians to observe the feast. Here's the passage: "Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

To me, it's obvious it's not talking about the official celebration of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened bread. Thus, it's not a command for Gentile Christians to act like Jews. 

Now, Christians often say that Passover has been replaced with the Eucharist/Communion/The Lord's Supper. Sorry, I don't see that in the text. They are two different events observed differently. Passover is an annual event, starting a week of celebration. Communion is offered with differing frequency. Becky and I both grew up in churches that observed communion weekly. When we got into Baptistic Churches, it was observed on the first Sunday of the month. I attended a church that at first had communion irregularly, but realized it was so rare they celebrated it on the first Sunday. Another decided to go from monthly to quarterly. None of those options are commanded or condemned in Scripture.

A couple of years, though, I was reading through Exodus, and there was something that hit me when God was giving instructions for the Passover (Exodus 12:43-49). Participation was limited to households where all the men have been circumcised. Is that a law we should observe? It does make me question whether Gentile Christians are to observe the Passover. On the other hand, one can try to argue that in the Age of Grace it refers to the circumcision of the heart, though it sounds like the argument of someone who wants to keep the Passover because he has the freedom to.

But I will again put in a plug for Easter caroling. One book suggested it, and I thought it sounds great and uplifiting.

BOOK REVIEW - "CHRISTMAS K-9 PATROL" (DAKOTA K-9 UNIT BOOK 9) BY LYNETTE EASON AND LENORA WORTH

Who has placed a bounty on Dakota K-9 Unit's Tech Specialist Cheyenne Chen? Can her co-worker and friend Jack Donadio and his K-9 keep her safe? Meanwhile, back on the ranch, how will U.S. Marshal Lorelai Danvers and her Austrailian Shephard K-9 partner survive the triple threat of a blizzard, a murderous fugitive, and a crochety widower who isn't sure he wants a pretty law enforcement official interfering as he faces a familiar foe?

As usual, December sees a two-novella edition to give a denouement to Love Inspired Suspense's 8-novel, multi-author K-9 Unit series. "Christmas K-9 Patrol" fills this role for the Dakota K-9 Unit series with "Deadly Christmas Trap" by Lynette Eason and Lenora Worth's "Dangerous Holiday Manhunt." By the way, is it my imagination, or does the first of the two novellas feature the tech analyst? (Well, one of the four I've read technically deals with the rookie sister of the tech, but still...) 

Both stories have their twists and thrills, as well as compelling main characters and adorable K-9s. If you're a mystery lover, neither are who-dun-its, but the first is one where you see the chess game between good girl and bad guy, and the latter has you guessing the motivation until the climax.

The Dakota K-9 Unit was the best series I've read. These stories - especially "Dangerous Holiday Manhunt - seem to be tied only by common characters but not by plot. Still, they are enjoyable, and I recommend both the series and this pair of novellas.
 

BOOK REVIEW AND CRITIQUE - "THE THIRD CONVERSION" (A NOVELETTE) BY R. SCOTT RODIN

 

Were Fundraiser Walter  Rodgers' apprehensions about the new employee he was training relevant? Was the completely different approach Rodgers and the ministry Hands Of Love International promoted something Carl Burns could comprehend, let alone accept?

R. Scott Rodin poured out his heart and convictions in the  novella "The Third Conversion. He clearly had the aim to win the reader over to his conclusions, and he made a good case. Rodin wrote two other novelettes "The Million-Dollar Dime" and "The Seventh Key." He also has written and co-written non-fiction books dealing with the same subject.

The scenario is a worker nearing retirement is training a young man in the fund-rasing part of a Christian ministry, and is more concerned with the development of the lives of the donors to the ministry than on getting sizeable contributions.

This is a thought provoking book. It does have some preachy parts in this book: this novelette is clearly written for a Christian audience. The title "The Three Conversions" is from a quote by Martin Luther: "There are three conversions necessary for every man: the head, the heart, and the purse."

I recommend this book for those looking into fundraising and an overall one-kingdom theology (as opposed to a two kingdom view where an individual has one set of standards for Sunday and another for the rest of the week).

Allow me to also offer up a critique. When reviewing fiction, I usually award the author a five star review, because they have put in a lot of work developing characters, plot, and maybe going a little deeper. However, I struggled reading this book, and partly because there are certain practices usually done that Rodin didn't do. None of this takes away from his theme in this book, but it could be difficult for readers.

The first thing is point of view. I've learned through my studying in writing that the preferred approach is to have a single point of view character. It could be a first person or third person narration, but in the latter, the author would keep everything from the perspective of a character until either the end of a chapter or a line dividing up the chapter. Sometimes, we would see the perspective change from Walt's to Carl's without a dividing line.

A second thing are tagline when people are speaking. You may see tags like "said," "thought," "declared," "questioned," etc. Rodin used these and others. In writing classes, however, I've seen two basic views: 

1. The only acceptable tags are "said" or "asked." Anything else is an unnecessary elaboration.
2. The only acceptable tag is "said." If the sentence ends with a question mark, "asked" is redundant. 

With such a limited choice, writers often use non-verbal tags to help identify the speaker. So you have characters drinking coffee, rolling eyes, scratching their heads, and things like that to make things more interesting. 

One problem I see in Rodin's writing -  a common problem among authors - is telling instead of showing. For example, once Carl says something that suprised himself. What does that look like?

Again, none of these complaints take away from the value of the book. I highly recommend it.

MOVIE REVIEW - "LINCOLN"

 

This is the 13th Steven Spielberg movie I've seen. True, most of the ones I saw were the typical summer blockbusters with this and "Schindler's List" being the only Oscar season historical films I've seen. But I find it one of the most unique and unforgetable. 

First, I left feeling like I just had a history lesson. In High School history, the 13th through 15th amendments were covered basically in a paragraph, leaving me to think these passed post-Civil War. In watching this movie, I realized that it passed Congress as the Civil War was ending, before the Southern states were able to block it. The movie made it clear that Lincoln was trying to end two things (slavery and the War) at the same time without sabotaging the other. 

Second, while there were plenty of characters that could be labeled antagonists, there wasn't anyone who would be designated as a villain, in my opinion. 

Daniel Day-Lewis deservedly won an Oscar, but he had a cast of peers to work with including Sally Fields and Tommy Lee Jones, both of which earned at the least the Oscar nominations they received.

Again, not a typical Spielberg movie. But one I feel better off having watched.

BOOK REVIEW: "DVORAK'S PROPHECY, AND THE VEXED FATE OF BLACK CLASSICAL MUSIC" BY JOSEPH HOROWITZ

 

You might be familiar with Dvorak's Symphony "From The New World" (9th). With luck, you might even be aware that Jeanette Thurber established a National Conservatory to encourage a uniquely American classical music, other than parroting the German style. She considered Czech Antonin Dvorak and Finn Jean Sibelius (composer of Finlandia, which is the music for the hymn "Be Still My Soul"), both cultural nationalists, and selected Dvorak. Besides his "From the New World Symphony," he's best known for His Slovenik Dances, capturing the Bohemian sound of his homeland.

The composer created "From the New World" while in America from 1892-95. The debate is if the 2nd movement Largo was an African American gospel song given a classical arrangement or if Dvorak actually composed which had lyrics set to it. The third movement also had American influence - in this case, native American influence. In New York City, they loved the symphony because of the African American and Native American influence, and in Boston, they hated it for the same reason.

The focus on this book, though, was not on Dvorak's stay here but on the composer's thoughts about the future of classical music in America: "I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called the negro melodies. This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be develped in the United States....These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are American."(p. 7).

Horowitz observes that "Dvorak's prophecy" did not come to pass, and the rest of the book deals with the issue. The classical community did not, for the most part, welcome the African American influence, and musically the African Americans focused more on popular music, including jazz. The author deals with several influences on the culture, such as Frederick Douglas, Mark Twain, and Gershwin.

I found the theme and direction of this book interesting. For those who have an interest in the evolution of music styles, I would highly recommend this book.

WHICH TRANSLATION DO YOU READ? AN ARTIST'S LOOK AT TRANSLATIONS.

 Q. How many English translations of Scripture are there?

How many shouted out, "Too many!"

I'm not going to disagree. But allow me to share my thoughts.

First, let's fly to Fullerton, California of almost 60 years back. I forget when I received it, but I was given a Revised Standard Version from the Disciples of Christ church I attended. I was curious on what "Revised Standard Version" meant, both as individual words and as a combination. I wasn't aware what a translation was, nor was I aware there were any others.

Then, I moved to Skull Valley, and there received a Christian Life New Testament and Psalms, King James Version from Skull Valley Community Church, which was followed by the Gideons visiting the school I attended, where I got another KJV, this time New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. 

I'm not sure if it's when I moved from Skull Valley to Prescott and attended a Free Methodist Church, or if it was sometime later, but I then received a Bible that did not use "Bible" in the title, but rather was titled "Good News For Modern Man." I eventually figured out it was a Bible (make that New Testament), and that it had interesting stick figure illustrations. I wasn't aware the real name for the translation was "Today's English Version" (TEV).

Another move, another treanslation. I spent most of Junior High and all of High School in Cottonwood, Arizona, and while there I received first the Living New Testament (titled "Reach Out) and then the whole Bible (or "The Way").  I also picked up a Spanish version of "Good News for Modern Man."

After graduating high school, I spent a year at community college, and mostly studied art and writing, but also took a class on "Literature of the Bible." There were a lot of new things I never heard of (e.g. JEPD method, 2nd Isaiah), but what makes this part of the story is that I received yet another translation, this one being "The New English Bible."

Allow me to interject a thought. I still wasn't clear that the Bible was translated from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. I didn't really know what the differences between them, let alone if those differences had any affect on theology.

Hallelujah! I started going to Southwestern Conservative Baptist Church. My first sememster included a class titled "Doctrine of Scripture and God," and learned how off the JEPD method was. I learned that the Living Bible was not a translation but a paraphrase. I got introduced to more Bible translations: The pastor of the church I attended did a series on the 23rd Psalm, each week dealing with half a verse, and he selected a different version each week where the translation brought something out of the text for the week. By the way, that Pastor could be called "King James Only. 

When I started, I never heard of the New American Standard or the New International Version, which were fairly recent. In my first year, the New King James Version came out (my KJV Only pastor, unlike most KJV Onlys, had no problem with the NKJV - his concern was more textual than keeping the Thees and Thous). I saw parallel Bibles, and I saw the "New Testament from 26 Translations," which gave the text in the KJV and then shared variations from the other translations.

At this point, though, I looked at translations as an artist. I liked having a lot, so I can compare them. But then I discovered that for the most part, what the text says in Translation A is what it says most of the time in Translations B-Z. As I matured, I realized that's the way it should be. If it was paraphrases, that would be a different story, but translating done right basically agrees.

But why are there so many translations? And how do I find which one to use? 

I'm thankful to Dr. Dennis Wretlind, who taught a class on Biblical Criticism, where I learned about inspiration, canonicity, textual criticism, translations, and Bible tools. On the translation, he gave 5 things to look for.

1. Number of translators. Some are done by a committee, to make sure they have the translation correct. Others are translated by one person (e.g. Ken Taylor's Living Bible). 
2. Text used. This is more an issue for New Testaments. There are two major types of texts - those that resemble the Textus Receptus used for the King James, and those which are based on two nearly complete Greek texts dating from the 300's. The former have more texts, the latter are closer to the original. Most translators take the latter. Reality? No major and no minor doctrine is affected by thse differences.
3. Type of translation. There are formal (word for word) equivalents like the KJV, NKJV, ESV, and NASB. Others are dynamic (thought for thought) eqivalents. A verse to find the difference is Luke 9:44. Formal equivalents say, "Let these words sink into year ears." Dynamic equiavelents are more like "Listen carefully to what I'm saying." Both say the same, but one is more like how we talk today. There are also paraphrases, which the author is putting the text into his own words.
4. Modernity of text. The biggest complaint against the KJV is that me and thou speakest not in the manner our fathers didst speak in sixteen hundred and eleven.
5. Theology of translation. The Geneva Bible was an English version that come out before the King James, but a lot of church leaders felt it was too Calvinistic. More of an issue was when modernism crept into the Church in the 1800's, which is when the number of translations equipped. One example of a verse affected is Isaiah 7:14 - the King James says, "The virgtn shall conceive. The Revised Standard and others read "The young woman shall conceive." There claim is that "young woman" is a more accurate to the text, claiming there was no Hebrew word which meant virgin. The counter is that the original audience saw "young woman" and "virgin" as one and the same. It may sound like it's a textual issue, but belief in the Virgin Birth was all over this.

So now I've focused on a handful of translations when I'm studying: the New King James Version (my go to for almost 45 years), the Legacy Standard Bible, the Christian Standard Bible, the Complete Jewish Bible, and the Jubilee Bible 2000, translated into English and Spanish by a missionary to Columbia, whose goal was to go back to the reformation era.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Hope you were blessed and that it gave you something to think about.

MOVIE REVIEW - DISNEY'S "THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE"

 

It was 1986, and the summer saw not one Disney cartoon, but two. The latter was the famous (or infamous, depending on your view of it) "The Black Cauldron," the first animated non-musical with a tone quite different than what comes out of the house of the Mouse. 

Squeaking... or speaking of mice, the first of the pair was "The Great Mouse Detective," based on the Basil of Baker Street series written by Eve Titus (books 1-5, published from l58-'82). A little over three decades after the movie came out, Catherine Hapka revived the series with new stories between 2018 and 2020. No, I haven't read any of them... yet.

However, I finally watched one of the Disney movies that fascinated me the most. Two reasons. First was the mystery angle. The other was to hear Vincent Price's voice bring life to Professor Ratigan.

Does this movie reach the ranks of Disney classics like "Snow White," "Bambi, "Peter Pan," or "The Jungle Book?" No. However, I found it enjoyable. I enjoyed seeing the character development in Basil. And Price definitely sounded like he was enjoying that role. (By the way, for side trivia,  the actor associated with Holmes and Vincent Price played in at least two movies together: 1940's "The Tower of London" where Basil Rathbone had the lead, and "Comedy of Terrors" in which Price starred with Peter Lorre as his henchman - Boris Karloff also was in both movies.)

I would recommend this movie.

BOOK REVIEW - "THE FEASTS OF REPENTANCE: FROM LUKE-ACTS TO SYSTEMATIC AND PASTORAL THEOLOGY" (NEW STUDIES IN BIBILICAL THEOLOGY BOOK 49) BY MICHAEL J. OVEY

Does Christianity require repentance, or can we have faith without turning from sin and forgiveness?? Biblically, is the root sin we need to repent of idolatry, and if so, is that a problem that is relevant today?

When I saw the main title of Michael J. Ovey's book "The Feasts of Repentance," my first thought was this concerned the feasts God commanded in the Law, such as Passover, Pentecost, and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). However, the subtitle mentions the Biblical focus is on Luke's contributions to the Canon: Luke and Acts.

One debate in Christianity is the role of repentance. Is repentance merely a change of mind, or does it involve turning to God and thus turning from evil? The first chapter of this book introduces the puzzle of how the call to repentance can be universalized, and deals with the Greek words associated with repentance and turning.

Chapter 2 focuses on the book of Luke, with particular attention to six feasts that take place in this Gospel. These feasts often include someone considered a sinner who is repentant, as well as the Pharisees who not only are unrepentant but aren't happy when someone does. In the next chapter, Acts carries these issues from the Jewish church founded on Pentecost to the Gospel's spread into the Gentile world.

 The final three chapters take the concepts learned through looking at Scripture and applies them to identity and idolatry (Chapter 4), faith and faith and salvation (Chapter 5), and forgiveness and its importance in the lives of God's people (Chapter 6). 

I found it very intriguing when Ovey mentioned that idolatry is the main thing we need to repent of. Additionally, the dialog about the views of Calvin, MacLaren, and Barth was invigorating.

This was the 49th book in the New Studies in Biblical Theology. These books are definitely intelectual, but some help your head knowledge while others offer a challenge into a deeper relationship with God. This is one of the latter. I highly recommend this book. 

BOOK REVIEW - "FINAL SHOWDOWN" (DAKOTA K-9 UNIT BOOK 8) BY VALERIE HANSEN

 

Who is the target of the drive-by shooting at a murder victim's house? ATF Special Agent Daniel Slater, who's looking for a lead in stopping a gun ring? Crime Scene Investigator Aurora Martin? Or Aurora's look-alike DA cousin? Is Slater's fortress of a home guaranteed to keep his grandmother, a young girl he's adopting, and Aurora safe, or are their enemies able to breach that sanctuary?

I am still catching my breath from the nail biting conclusion to Love Inspired Suspense's Dakota K-9 Unit series. This collection is full of surprises, twists, strong and courageous heroes, and adorable K-9s and kids, but the climax is the most exciting I've read of the 7 K-9 series I've completed, and maybe of any Love Inspired Suspense book.

Yes, it's the end of the series. (Technically, as always is the case, there are 9 books in these K-9 series, but the final book is a pair of novellas that take place after the major story arcs have been completed.) I usually address whether you'll feel lost if you haven't read the previous stories or spoil any of the action in the preceding novels, but this is the end! If you haven't read previous books, read them first! You won't regret it.

This is the seventh multi-author K-9 series I've read, but this one is my favorite, and definitely the best. I highly recommend this book and the rest of the series. Now if only I can catch my breath.

BOOK REVIEW: "AMISH COUNTRY HIDEOUT" (PLAIN SECRETS BOOK 1) BY MEGHAN CARVER

After 20 years in the Witness Protection Program, how did the killer of Veronica Williams' parents locate her days after  escaping prison? Could Amish bookstore owner Matthew Yoder and his sister Esther save the young women from a vengeful murderer and her accomplice? 

"Amish Country Hideout" is the first in Meghan Carver's Plain Secrets series. Carver does an excellent job of keeping you turning pages, ready for the next plot twist,  and at dealing with the different worlds her main protagonists are living in, Matthew an Amish man who lost his parents in a farm with a bad leg as a reminder, and Veronica a 30 year old who spent 2/3 of her life with a new identity but always ready to run when needed.

 I normally don't read Amish fiction, but I'm looking forward to the next installment of this series.

I received an ARC provided by the author; all opinions are my own.

THE ONES I LOVE TO HATE, TO CHEER THEM ON TO DEFEAT - MY FAVORITE VILLIANS IN BOOKS, MOVIES/TV, AND COMICS

 

Conflict is an important part to an interesting story. A tale where everything goes right for the main character is basically BORING. What propels things is conflict. Maybe it might be a 100 year flood threatening a community, or an asteroid about to destroy the earth. But more often, it's an antagonist, with the villain being a typical form.

You probably realize it, but while all villains are antagonists, all antagonists aren't villains. In legal dramas, the opposing attorney and maybe the judge are effective antagonists, but they aren't bad... they're merely doing their job. For an example, attorney Mitch Taylor is the main protangonist in Randy Singer's second novel "Directed Verdict." After that story, Taylor becomes a prosecutor, and while keeping the characteristics you liked about him, he is a frustation to protagonists in later stories. Not at all a bad guy, but you're not rooting for him anymore. You don't want to see him hurt. You just want him to lose this trial.

But we find villains interesting, with it is an evil killer like Freddy Kruger or a cheater like Dick Dasterdly. In fact, as in the case of Batman or Dick Tracy, the hero is more bland while it's the villains that get the attention. 

What are my preferences in dealing with villains? One thing is I like seeing villains survive the story, and maybe even be reformed. Sometimes, the bad guy needs to be taken out, but I am not always satisfied seeing the villain getting his case before the Ultimate Judge of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart getting sped up (or in other words, the villain getting killed). In fact, I've been bothered in several James Bond movies where it seems more like the criminal gets murdered as opposed to executed, such as when he destroys Blofield's control tower using a solo passenger sub as a wrecking ball, with Blofeld inside the sub in "Diamonds Are Forever."

Another thing I like is when the villain has a sense of humor and seems to enjoy being bad. The Batman villains fall into that category. On the other end, I often find villains lack any redeeming value; if I didn't want a villain who's human, I would focus on sharks as being the foe. One movie like Jaws was fine, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

One more observation. Most villains fall into those who are in their right mind doing wrong things and those who are not in their right mind. The former are dangerous because their evil is well planned and thought out, the latter are dangerous because they're unpredictable. My preference is the former, but that's me. (I've never been a Joker fan.)

So now, let me give my list of favorite villains. They come from various sources: Novels, Movies, Comic Books, and TV. Some of these villains have appeared in different formats, and it's one form that puts him (or her - there's a couple of "ladies" in with the "gentlemen") on my list, and I'll point that out.

So are you ready for me to bring out the baddies? And I'll do this as a count down.

20. Jaws. No, not the movie. This Jaws was a henchman/assassin of the main villain (Karl Stromberg) in "The Spy Who Loved Me." Unlike most Bond bad guys, Jaws survives and returns working for Hugo Drax in "Moonraker." In the end, Jaws turns against Drax, and survives the adventure with his girl friend.

19. The Rhino, a Marvel supervillain who was introduced as a Spiderman foe and later faced the Hulk. In Hulk #102, we see him out of costume saying it was hard finding a job for someone who used to be the Rhino. He may have been meaning a job with a villain (and his old bosses rehired him with an acid proof costume), but my impression was that he was looking for a legitimate job, and I felt sorry for him. That put him high on my list. Looking at his bio, he later reforms.

18. Antonio Salieri, from "Amadeus," played by F. Murray Abraham. Won a well-deserved Oscar for this role.

17. The Gladiator, aka Melvin Potter, not to be confused with Kallark. Both Gladiators were Marvel characters. I am not familiar with the latter, whose main contact is with the X-Men. Potter appeared 11 years earlier, in '66, and was primarily a foe of Daredevil. He reformed, though he had some hiccups in his life since then.

16. Khan Noonian Singh, aka Khan. Yep, the superhuman villain introduced in the episode "Space Seed" of Star Trek, the Original Series, and returned in "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan," played in both by Ricardo Montalban.

15. Flat Top Jones. I was introduced to him as one of Dick Tracy's best known villains, and in Chester Gould's comics, he also had a son (Flat Top Jr.), a daughter (Angeltop), a brother (Blow Top), and other relatives. But I'm focusing on his appearance in the Warren Beatty movie (1990), played by William Forsythe. One of my favorite scenes was when the main villain with his two henchmen Itchy and Flat Top tried to bribe the hero, who refused. So they rigged the boiler to blow up. As the bad trio left, Flat Top stopped, turned to Dick Tracy, and said, "You sure you don't want to change your mind?"

14. Fraer, villain/musician of Janalyn Voigt's "Tales of Faeraven." An example of a villain who had a sense of humor.

13. Muttley (snicker snicker), the henchman of Dick Dasterdly in Hanna Barbara's Wacky Races and the sequel (or prequel?) "Dasterdly and Muttley and Their Flying Machines." He actually was introduced as "Mugger" in the movie "Hey There, It's Yogi Bear," a little more menacing but exhibiting all the Muttley behavior.

12. Mad Madame Mim, from Disney's "The Sword and the Stone."

11. Javier Beck, from "Act of Valor", True Blue K-9 Unit Book 3, by Dana Mentink. I've read over 100 Love Inspired Suspense novels, and the villains are mostly evil people without a strong unique personality, with some who are just creepy pschotics. Beck stands out. His drug dealing was observed by the heroine of the novel, so his mission was to kill her to impress his higher-ups, and he seemed to have a ball in being a bad guy.

10. The Wicked Witch of the West. Cue in the evil music as she flies by on her broom, accompanied by flying monkeys. Do I need to tell you this is Margaret Hamilton's portrayal in 1939's "The Wizard of Oz?" I didn't think so.

9. The Catwoman. Of course, as a boy watching the Adam West/Burt Ward Batman series who also loved cats, it's logical for the character to be my favorite. Also of course, looking back at the three who had the role in the series and the multiple catwomen on the big screen, the one that rises to the top would be Julie Newmar. 

8. The Mirror Master from 1990's Flash series, played by David Cassidy. Yep, Keith Partridge plays a villain, and I loved that portrayal. (Not the only atypical choice for a villain - Mark Hamil played the Jokeresque Trickster, which helped him get the role of being the Joker's voice in the cartoon series from the 90's.)

7. Marv from Home Alone, played by Daniel Stern. More fun than his boss, Harry (Joe Pesci)

6. Darth Vader (body of David Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones), Star Wars. 

5. Scaramanga, played by Christopher Lee in "The Man With The Golden Gun." Another bad guy who seemed to be enjoying himself, including a duel with James Bond.

4. Blow Top Jones. Brother of Flat Top (see above). I got to see him in action in the 50th Anniversary story, where Dick Tracy and his unit ran into several of Tracy's old foes, including Blow Top. As you'd guess, Blow Top would lose his cool frequently, though only on trivial matters; he listened when it was a serious issue. And unlike his brother, his niece, and his nephew, Blow Top reformed.

3. Riff Raff, a thug of a badger and regular foe of Underdog.

2. Harry Mudd, played by Roger C. Carmel. I'm a Carmel fan, and enjoyed him play various bad guys, but the remembered role for me and probably most people was his two appearances in Star Trek, The Original Series. He also voiced Mudd in the cartoon series. Another villain who seems to be having the time of his life.

1. Riddle me this. Who do you think is the top of my favorite villains? If you say Frank Gorshin's portrayal of the Riddler on the Batman TV series, you'd be correct!

Would any of these be on your favorite villains list? Any you'd disagree with? How about ones that you're disappointed I didn't mention?

MOVIE REVIEW - JUGGERNAUT (1974)

 

In the mid '70's, I was introduced to one of my Marvel supervillains, the Juggernaut, who is most associated with the X-Men. At the same time, my dad got me a book on the films of Boris Karloff, who starred in a non-horror role in a 1936 suspense movie with this title. Neither of those have anything in common with each other, nor with the 1974 movie "Juggernaut," which I'm reviewing (though both movies are suspenseful and are British movies).

The 1974 Juggernaut fits neatly into the disaster movies of the '70's, and like those, it has a large cast of good actors: in this case, it's Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, Anthony Hopkins, Ian Holm (received a nomination for supporting actor for "Chariots of Fire," though is probably better known for his role in the original "Alien"), Julian Glover, and one of my favorite actors, Freddie Jones ("Firefox," "Dune, "Firestarter," "Krull"). 

The plot is typical for this type of movie. The owner of the ocean liner Britannic gets a message from someone who calls himself "Juggernaut," stating that he has seven barrels with high exploves on the ship, and any attempt either to disarm them or failure to pay five hundred thousand pounds will mean the ship with the 1200 passengers and crew will go boom.

If you enjoy end-to-end suspense and action, this movie will deliver. It is a definite PG. The worst part is one minor story that the captain is seeing a married woman. Other than that, I would unconditionally recommend this movie.

BOOK REVIEW - "JUNGLE FIRE" BY DANA MENTINK

 Why did a soldier open fire on the bus that furlough-bound missionary Nina Truman was riding on? Who is the mysterious green eyed woman urging her to run instead of helping her fellow victims? And why is Shaw Wilder so reluctant to donate him and his bomb sniffing dog to help her get to safety?

I have read several of Dana Mentink's Love Inspired Suspense K-9 novels, but this is the first full length novel I've read by her. It is as action packed as I expected it to be, as well as several unexpected plot twists. 

Nina and Shaw are compelling leads in the story, as well as other interesting characters that you're not sure if you should trust or not.

I highly recommend this story.

THE FAMILY THAT SINGS TOGETHER...

Clockwise from upper left: "Worship and Service Hymnal;" "The Baptist Hymnal (1991);" "Songs for the Church;" "Praise! Our Songs and Hymns;" "Hymns of Grace;" "Gospel Hymns Nos. 1-6 Complete."

In 1997, Becky and I were listening to Elizabeth Elliott on the radio, and she mentioned singing hymns together as a family. We took her up on it and have been singing hymns together since then.

Several people suggest that couples and families pray together, and maybe read the Bible or a devotional. Singing is not as common, I'm guessing. But this is an enjoyable part of our life. As you can see, we have a nice little collection of hymnals, and that is not complete. 

Our go-to is the "Worship and Service Hymnal." When my parents divorced and I moved to Skull Valley where my grandparents were, this was the first hymnal that made an impression, mainly by having several "Amens" on the back inside cover. This came out in '61, old enough to miss including songs like "Victory in Jesus" and "How Great Thou Art." (It also lacked "Be Thou My Vision.")

I was there from February '69 to the fall of '90, when we moved to Prescott. In June, '71, I moved in with my Dad who remarried in Cottonwood, Arizona. We went to Verde Baptist Church, where I glanced at the back of the hymnal and saw the familiar Amens. We used that hymnal until '77  when we replaced it with the Baptist Hymnal 1975. 

In August '78, I started attending Southwestern College. During chapel hour, I picked up the hymnal. Yep. The Worship and Service Hymnal. 

What's interesting is that when we started, there were songs Becky was familiar with in growing up with Church of Christ hymnals, such as "Songs of the Church" (upper right hand corner) that I was unfamiliar with, like "O To Be Like Thee" and "My Jesus, As Thou Wilt," hiding in the hymnal I grew up with.

Two things happened. One is we got more hymnals. The other is some of the songs that we didn't have in "Worship and Service Hymnal." There are are three hymnals that we added to our singing time roster, though the new songs were limited.

First, there is "Praise! Our Songs and Hymns, which we used while members of Hunter Road Bible Church. It had some new hymns, and a lot of songs from John W. Peterson. In '74, I joined the camp choir which did a contata called "Jesus is Calling," and when we performed, we were conducted by Mr. Peterson himself. So with this hymnal I got to learn Peterson songs like "Come, Holy Spirit," "Springs of Living Water," "Heaven Came Down," and "Surely Goodness and Mercy." It also had "Victory in Jesus," "Be Thou My Vision," and "How Great Thou Art."

Second is the 1991 Baptist Hymnal. That had a great collection of Christmas songs (though it didn't include "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen," as well as a number of black spirituals like "Were You There?" and some contemporary songs like Maranatha Praise choruses (e.g."Seek Ye First," "Open Our Eyes, Lord) and tunes like "Shine, Jesus, Shine" and Twila Paris' classic "We Will Glorify." That hymnal had old songs I missed out on like "Brethren We Have Come To Worship," and songs by other writers like B. B. McKinney such as "Have Faith in God," which Becky and I regularly sing.

The last of the hymnals we regularly use was not pictured above. It is called "Songs Christians Sing Vol. 2", and was basicly a smaller version of the Church of Christ's "Songs of the Church." Becky was familiar with a lot of songs, but three caught my eye because they were written by hymn writers I knew but were not in any of our other hymnals - "I'm Not Ashamed To Own My Lord" by Isaac Watts, "More Holiness Give Me" by Phillip Bliss, and "Give Me The Bible" by Priscilla Owens, the lyrics writer who also wrote the more familiar "We Have Heard The Joyful Sound" (aka "Jesus Saves!) and "We Have An Anchor."

There are other hymnals I'd like to mention which are in our collection. These are: 

• "Inspiring Hymns," used during my first year at Cactus Baptist Church, my first year at Southwestern. It introduced me to a little known but much convicting "He Was Not Willing" (which is why I kept it). It introduced me to another of my favorite hymns, "And Can It Be That I Should Gain," though I later learned this version butchered it, using only 3 of the 5 verses, and dropped the 5th and 6th lines of two of the three verses it kept. Ugh!
• "Trinity Hymnal," which Becky picked up from a Reformed Church while she spent a month at a journalism institute put on by World Magazine. That's one hymnal I want to learn more of.
• "Gospel Hymnal Nos. 1-6 Complete" is probably the oldest in our collection, dating to the late 1800s and early 1900s. A lot of these songs were from the Dwight L. Moody days, including writers like Phillip Bliss, Ira Sankey, and my favorite hymn music writer, James McGranahan, who chose to use his musics to bring the  lost to Christ rather than getting into Opera.
• "Hymns for the Family of God" is one I'm including though we gave it away. This hymnal has a large number of Gaither songs.
• "Hymns of Grace" is the hymnal used by Grace Community Church, where the late Dr. John MacArthur was pastor. The book is large but it actually has fewer hymns than some of the others. One thing that struck me: I will mention four hymn writers, who combined wrote 80 songs. I'll start with Fanny Crosby, often considered the best known hymn writer. Only 6 songs of hers were included. Two of my favorites, Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley fared what seems reasonable, with 18 and 16 songs respectively, totaling... 40 songs? Who wrote the other 40 songs? Keith and Kristyn Getty (with Stuart Townsend). It included 10 of 12 songs from an album I enjoyed, omitting... of course, my two favorites.!

Hope I've challenged you. Of course, a lot of churches are no longer using hymnals (including the one I'm currently attending). Many of my readers might be more used to overheads and learning new songs on the radio. But I find this habit a blessing, and hope I've encouraged some to try this idea out.

 

OF MOST READ AUTHORS AND LOOKING AHEAD TO MY FAVORITES LISTS AT THE END OF THE YEAR

Favorite novels, each representing a different author. Not all the authors mentioned below are repre-sented here, nor are all the authors of above books mentioned below. List of titles and authors below.

 It's been a couple of years since I updated my list of most read fiction authors. Well, I found the list I started two years ago (which is one reason I didn't update it), so I'll do that.Allow me, though, to mention one of my favorite lists and how it's progressing. I'm speaking of my favorite songs list, which was the top 15 (in my opinion) the first year I did it ('22), and 20 each the following three years. Both last year and now this year, I have been setting aside new songs I like, and then trim it down. As of this moment, do you know how many songs are on that list? 22. So it will be a fun challenge putting it together. (BTW, I mentioned that I'm going to start cutting off the entries the beginning of December.)

Back to the novels. I currently have 36 authors on that list, and there's a few that I haven't tracked yet. But in the past two years, you know how many I have read books by? Twelve. True, I may have read multiple books by some authors - one jumped up nine spots, for example. But several seem to have hit a spot and stayed there. 

One factor is that I read a lot of Love Inspired Suspense, or more accurately, a few of the authors. This includes the multi-author K-9 series, so there's a group of authors who are basically guaranteed moving up a spot each year. One author, though, who moved up for the first time... oh, you'll hear about it soon. 

I'm debating raising the minimum on the lists from 5 to 10. Currently, I have 26 authors that have passed the 5 mark. But I only have 10 over 10, so I'll keep up what I'm doing. (In perspective, ten years ago, there were only 9 that hit the minimum of 5 and 5 of those had at least 10.) If there's much movement, I might raise it next year. We'll see.

One last comment. You may have noticed that I seem to read more women writers than men. True. Out of the 36 writers on my list, the ladies outnumber the gentlemen by 2 to 1 (24 compared to 12). But I learned in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Christian Fiction" by Ron Benrey that the vast majority of writers and readers of Christian Fiction are female.  

Okay, now with the list. I debated started at the top, because there are more suprises at the bottom, but I'll make it a countdown nontheless. So, you ready?

Tied for 22nd, 5 novels read: Maggie Black, Valarie Hansen, Dana Mentink, Frank Peretti, and Amy Wallace. The last two mentioned have been there a while, but Dana joined this group last year and Maggie and Valarie this year.

Tied for 17th, 6 novels read: Jackie Castle, Julianna Deering, Sandra Orchard, Ellery Queen, and Laura Scott. Laura is new to this spot, the others have been there awhile.

Tied for 14th, 7 novels read: John Otte, Janet Sketchley, and Jill Williamson. All these haven't moved.

Tied for 11th, 8 novels read: Sharon Dunn, Stephen King, and Terri Reed. This summer will mark the 40th year since I've read any King. 

10th, 11 novels read: Ian Fleming. The last Fleming novel I read was probably in '76 or so, until last year when I read "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." 

9th, 13 novels read: James Blish. I read a couple of his short stories a couple of years ago, but no new complete books, which consists of the first Star Trek novel and 12 collections of TOS novelizations.

Tied for 7th, 14 novels read: Kerry Nietz and Randy Singer. This tie will be broken this year.

Tied for 5th, 15 novels read: Allistair MacLean and Jessica Patch. MacLean, Blish, and Singer have all been in this 13-15 territory, with MacLean being the first to hit 15 in 2017. 

In 4th place with 19 novels read is Jodie Bailey. I discovered her in 2019, and she's been racing up the list.

3rd place? Nancy Mehl, with 21 novels read. 

And in 1st place? Agatha Christie, with 23 novels read. She has been towards the top for decades, hitting first place around 2011, where she sat at the pinnacle...

Except she's currently in a tie for 1st place. Dame Agatha is sharing the spot with another mystery author: Donna Fletcher Crow has reached the same goal. Now the question is if Donna's going to continue being at the top, or if I'll go on a Christie reading binge, as has happened a few times in my life.

Let me close by giving you the list of the novels on my shelf above, left to write:

• "The Clocks" by Agatha Christie. 
• "Where Eagles Dare" by Allistair MacLean. 
• "Ransomed Dreams" by Amy Wallace.
• "An Unholy Communion" by Donna Fletcher Crow.
• "Missing Mabel" by Nancy Mehl.
• "Undercover Colorado Conspiracy" by Jodie Bailey.
• "Dangerous Obsession" by Jessica R. Patch.
• "The Judge" (formerly titled "The Cross-Examination of Oliver Finney") by Randy Singer.
• "Judge" by R. J. Larson (pen-name for Kacy Barnett-Gramckow)
• "Amish Vampires in Space" by Kerry Nietz.
• "Numb" by John Otte (pronounced Ah-tee).
• "The Methuselah Project" by Rick Barry.
• "Daughter of Light" by Morgan L. Busse (pronounced Bus-see).
• "Ablaze" by Jackie Castle.
• "Burn" by J.M. Hackman.
• "The New Recruit" by Jill Williamson.
• "Heaven's Prey" by Janet Sketchley.
• "Big Bluff" by Jackie Zack.
• "Seeking the Truth" by Terri Reed..
• "Wilderness Defender" by Maggie K. Black. 

You know, I might do a series of my favorite authors, and maybe follow that with my favorite musicians. If I'm really bored, I might go to favorite actors/actresses, favorite athletes, and favorite politicians... okay, I won't go that far.