This article in Atlantic outlines how the political fault lines across our culture have made their way inside our churches. Scott Dudley, senior pastor at Bellevue Presbyterian church, is just one voice of experience we hear from. “Many people are much more committed to their politics than to what the Bible actually says,” Dudley said. “We have failed not only to teach people the whole of scripture, but we have also failed to help them think biblically. We have failed to teach them that sometimes scripture is most useful when it doesn’t say what we want it to say, because then it is correcting us.” Dudley notes that he has heard of people leaving a church because it doesn’t align with their politics but has never heard of someone changing their politics because they did not align with their church’s teaching.

Of interest to pastors and ministry leaders will be the first hand accounts of small groups within larger congregations using misinformation to build followings and take down leadership. Many have left not just a church but sometimes denominations or ministry altogether. There were a number of things Michael Spencer saw on the horizon when he wrote a series of posts on The Coming Evangelical Collapse over a decade ago. We may be seeing a rapid acceleration of what he predicted, almost like the fulfillment of prophecy coming to pass.

Click here to read Peter Wechner’s article in The Atlantic. I do recommend it. (They will strongly suggest purchasing a digital subscription but you can read three articles per month at no charge.)

Michael Spencer’s posts on the Coming Evangelical Collapse can be found on the iMonk archive site here, here and here. This series led to Spencer’s 15 minutes of fame and drew national attention from Christian media.

Here’s some good news to prove such a thing exists… and possibly common sense as well. Last month I wrote about the plight of Joseph Slobotski who was facing felony charges after underpaying for a single 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew. (The promotion offered 2 for $3.00 but that did not mean they were $1.50 each.) Since it was Slobotski’s third offense, in a three strikes and you’re out state, felony chargers were automatically brought against him. The felony theft charge has been dropped altogether but Sloboski still faces charges for driving on a suspended license.

But in the wacky lawsuit department we have Anita Harris of Illinois filing a class action lawsuit against Kellogg’s because Strawberry Pop-Tarts do not contain enough strawberries. The claim is that most of the fruit is actually pear and apple and that bright red food coloring is added to make consumers think there is more strawberry than there actually is. Per the ingredients label dried strawberries, dried pears, dried apples and red 40 all come after the statement “contains 2% or less of the following.” Harris’s attorney says this isn’t about her wanting $5 million. What she really wants is more honesty on food labels. While the ingredients are listed on the back of the box, she claims that consumers rely on the large print displayed on the front of the package to make decisions. “Strawberry Pop-Tarts” makes a unjustified claim that the product is filled with strawberries. Hopefully common sense will prevail here as well. Meanwhile I’m thinking about filing my own lawsuit after realizing that grape Kool-Aid contains no grapes whatsoever!

You probably know that James Michael Taylor, best known as Gunther on Friends, passed away at the age of 59. Perhaps unnoticed in your news feed was the passing of Peter Scolari at the age of 66. He is perhaps most recognized as the other half of Bosom Buddies which also starred Tom Hanks back in the 80’s. He also played the Rick Moranis role on the syndicated television series of Honey I Shrunk the Kid, but I don’t imagine too many people remember that one.

Rob Manfred would like you to stop saying “the MLB.” It’s just Major League Baseball. It might make sense to say the NFL (National Football League) or the NBA (National Basketball Association) but the combination of words that comes out the Major League Baseball is nonsensical.

Speaking of the MLB, Atlanta leads Houston 2 games to 1 in the World Series. Game 4 is in Atlanta tonight at 8 PM on Fox. Not in prime time, the undefeated #1 Georgia Bulldogs play the unranked Florida Gators this afternoon at 3:30.

Long before Veggie Tales there was Lollipop Dragon. Filmstrips from the 1970’s and two televised specials, one a Christmas movie, in ’85 and ’86 is all that most people remember of Lollipop Dragon; if they remember anything at all. I remember Lollipop Dragon being used to promote Vacation Bible School in the 80’s as well. I don’t know what publisher had the rights to the character but I was part of the Lollipop Dragon Club one summer. I can find no evidence today that such a thing existed so if anyone can corroborate it would be much appreciated.

No Shave November and Movember are not the same thing. Both raise awareness and money to support causes related to men’s health. You can read about the history of each and how to participate by reading this article in Cnet. My father passed away at the age of 66. Despite being very fit and in great health previously, he ignored the classic warning signs of melanoma and by the time he finally went to the doctor it was too late. November is the month of the year we remind men to visit the doctor, get screened for things like colon and prostate cancer, and not to ignore signs and symptoms when they present.

Okay, I’ve got a prayer breakfast to get to. I need to get things ready this afternoon for church in the morning so I can stay up and watch the Braves. Even the Saturday and Sunday games are in prime time.