LILY WEATHERFORD

Lily has crossed over Jordan as of last night. This will be a work in process. There is so much to be said about this amazing woman of God and the influence she had on the gospel music industry. As I get around to it I will continually add to this and I don't think I'll be done until I pass over. Jordan too. 

I had some friends introduce me to Lily and I almost wept with joy knowing the influence she had on my music. I know it sounds like bragging but I am an amazing musician and obviously part of that has to do with her. Later Gators.

OCTOBER THE 7TH VERSUS THE CONTRACT

Israel lost .012% of its population in one day. If the USA lost the same amount percentage-wise that would amount More than 1 million 600,000 in one day. The doctrine of anti-Semitism is a spawn of Satan himself who hates God's plan and God's creation. The reason why he is still active is the same reason why the Jews and Israel are still alive. God made a covenant or as we would like to think of it in modern English, a contract. God the Father made a contract with Lucifer and Lucifer accepted the responsibility of supervising humanity. That contract expires soon and may actually be shortened a little bit so that Satan can't accomplish his goal of stirring up humanity into destroying itself. To be continued. 

THIS SOUNDS LIKE BRAGGING

Since I am bipartisan and I think that might have the Lord's blessing, may I comment on the increasing frequency of the 8 to 0 supreme Court votes. What's up with the 9th one? Is that the numbnuts that couldn't define a woman so she's abstaining? Anyway, back to bipartisanship, it's looking more and more hopeful for bipartisanship to be openly expressed. As I have said before, it's already hyperactive in the tunnels underneath because I have seen first hand the combination of businesses and government guidance the last count I had of hospice businesses in my area is 31. There's also a broad name of home nursing. Of course it's heavily regulated and everybody has to cross their t's and Dot their eyes but it's working. Who knew that could happen? Actually I did but that sounds like bragging so I won't say it. Later Gators.

WEEK THREE, JUNE, 2025

Wednesday. 702 a.m. 

The clarification of what I am going to continue doing continues. The cat is stretched out on the bed next to me purring like a diesel motor. My next item of business is another bowl of raisin Bran with extra raisins, heavy cream, and maybe a dash of yogurt. In keto world this would be called a fat bomb. 

Speaking of bombs, the latest episode of the very dangerous and explosive story is the unfolding of the Israeli Iran conflict. 

The Bible says or maybe I should say like Billy Graham my Bible says there shall be wars and rumors of wars. This definitely is not a rumor. I could give you a more detailed history since 1979 but I'd really like to go eat breakfast so I will have to excuse myself by saying.. later Gators.

THE AYATOLLAHS VERSUS THE CHRISTIANS AND JEWS AND PEACEFUL MUSLIMS.

I am a deep diver into definitions, which would explain my evolution since the years of 2000 as I finished up my ministry at FAMILY BIBLE FELLOWSHIP. 

I have been married twice, widowed twice, ordained twice, and of my own free will and volition decided to go independent for personal family reasons and no animosity whatsoever between me and the lovely denominations that I pastored. 

I began publishing short sermons due to pressing personal responsibilities since both of my wives suffered long lingering illnesses and my first wife was my constant support even to the end as my wife and even my secretary. 

Which brings us to our current very current and very interesting political news. 

Our current president is trying to peel the ayatollahs away from their grand ambition of destroying Israel with a nuclear bomb. 

My current research project shows that this ambitious project and war is between president Trump, Israeli leader netanyahu, and a gang of criminal thugs that claim to be the religious leaders of Iran. 

Our current president has dealt with criminal gangs all his life best illustrated by building towers and Parks in the very corrupt and violent natured New York City then stepping up to the plate with a very corrupt and criminally based United States of America. 

Sometimes I am a very accurate guesser starting with a 90% average in high school and sometimes frighteningly accurate in particular situations. 

I have great grace pressing down on me that restricts me from doing some things that other people are allowed to do. One of them is that I am not allowed to wager any money on bets. 

But my investment predictions are so far 100% to the third or fourth decimal place, but I must warn you I am 77 years old and past performance cannot guarantee future outcomes. 

In other words I have no idea just what the outcome of this war will be but I am comforted by God's word actually direct from the mouth of Jesus. 

You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars but don't allow yourself to be troubled by this for the end is not yet. This gospel must be preached unto all nations and then shall the end come. 

JIT Just In Time Wisdom

I was scrolling through my drafts and found this one that I could finish rather quickly that I first started on in 2014. Wow. You're welcome America.

When I first became passionate about the Word of God, Solomon was my favorite character to study.
Later in life, (unfortunately MUCH LATER!) I began to see the danger of classroom wisdom.
Classroom wisdom is the wisdom acquired in large doses before it's applied.
The danger for me is pride. Much of the resistance I had in my younger years in the ministry was from people who sensed a deep streak of pride in me.
God had given me a very large dose of wisdom (all the glory goes to Him!) on how to raise my family in the fear of the Lord. The casualty rate of "preacher's kids" or PKs is high. It broke my heart to think that my children could lose their souls in a fiery hell because I had chosen the ambition of preaching the gospel.
God's gracious answer to my pleas for wisdom later resulted in the same trap that Solomon fell into as the result of his great wisdom, the trap of pride! (By the way, all my children, grandchildren, son in laws, to this point, are born again, serving God, and all make me rejoice!)
Much later in life, I began to yearn for grace, supernatural, overflowing grace that could change hearts and lives without the massive human intervention that seemed to be necessary for deliverance nowadays. Grace came from humility, but wisdom resulted in pride. Yet without wisdom or true knowledge, we, God's people, PERISH!
That's when God revealed to me the concept of JIT (just in time) wisdom. Let me illustrate.
I was involved in manufacturing spark plug wires for 20 years. Our raw materials were fiberglass, kevlar, copper wire, silicone, plastic, ink.
It is NOT good when it was time to make wire and no raw mateials were there. But it is almost as bad if we had an abundance of raw materials, for raw materials had to be purchased and stored at a hefty expense.
The ideal situation ws when we could arrange for our suppliers to ship us what we needed just in time, hence the acronym JIT.
I needed wisdom, but I had to trust that God would deliver the wisdom just in time. Since God's goal as well as mine was for me to attain humility, God had no intentions of making me flawless. Part of God's strategy is for us to fail every so often so that we can learn.
God's strength is perfected in our weakness. His Wisdom is perfected in our ignorance.
 Education often creates as many problems as it solves. Walking with God keeps us humbly informed, not arrogantly educated.
When I entered the dating world very late in life, God made it abundantly clear that I would make some embarrassing mistakes. My daughters can say a very hearty amen to the fact that I made mistakes! I had some very important lessons to learn.
I had determined that internet dating was dangerous and foolish! No wise Christian should meet their potential mates on the internet. WRONG!
Now I am happily, joyously married to a godly, passionate woman who is a delight to me 24/7. We met on the internet.
God is VERY good at JIT. Elijah was fed daily by ravens. Later, on a daily basis, the widow's cruises will filled daily or JIT. The Hebrew children collected manna daily. JIT!
Just when the wine ran out, Jesus had more brought in, miraculously made out of water, JIT! When the crowd was hungry, they were fed with the miraculous fish and loaves, J - I - T!!!
Don't forget the upper room, or the colt for the triumphal entry, or the gold coin found in the fishes mouth, all of them miraculously produced JIT!
When it comes to wisdom, we want to be fully informed before we start out on an adventure, and we stay in the waiting room of fear. We have itching ears, looking for the perfect teacher, mumbling and whining about the flawed pastor we have, distressing our pastor and angering God. We all LONG to be teachers, contrary to the wisdom of James, who said not make teaching our main goal, but instead our goal should be to introduce our charges to THE TEACHER!
Step out in faith! Let the adventure begin! Don't wait for a road map! Start walking with the MAPMAKER!
He'll furnish what you need, including and especially wisdom, just in time!

Blame! One Word Sermons

Introduction to this one word sermon which used to be my specialty appears to be written obviously before things have started to settle down just a little bit although they still look pretty wild and the sermon still applies. You're welcome, America

God was walking through the garden. Adam and Eve were hiding. They had sinned, missed the mark, disobeyed, and did the one and the ONLY thing God had instructed them and warned them NOT to do. Eat of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. They were in a hurry to grow up. So they both ate and death entered into the story. Is this the end of the story? 

Not yet. Guilt came hammering down in their newly awakened hearts like a mechanical pile driver. Overwhelmed by this new experience of guilt, shame, and fear, they realized they were naked and quickly innovated  sewing fig leaves together to cover themselves. When they heard the sound of their heavenly Father strolling the Garden, their pile driver guilt hammered their heart again, and in terror, they hid.

I'll cut to the chase on this compelling saga. What happened next is still echoing the halls of cicilation millineau later. BLAME! Blame. blame

The man said The Woman Whom THOU gavest me, SHE gave to eat. The woman The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. The serpemt mumbled under his breath, I thought these clowns You created would mess up.

See how this all supposed falls back on God. Hmmm.

Civilization is still blaming God... for everything! Imperfect Churches. Flawed pastor. Hypocritical leaders. Double minded men in a hurry to get ahead. Silly or angry or lonely women. Troubled, destructive  children. 

Every where people are lifting the middle finger up to a supposedly distant God. Ungrateful when things are going right, they are nervously worrying, waiting for things to go bad, letting fear suck the joy out of their lives.

This is both a sermon and a confession. The mistakes that I list are also my confession for I too have blamed others and also God for my mistakes and my failures.  

Now our political arena is so heated  that it appears like it will explode. Each side blames the other for the slowness of progress out of the morass of problems we have found ourselves in. Rising violence and prices, eroding values.

Stay tuned.  We'll continue later.

GIVE GOD PERMISSION TO BLESS YOU

May I suggest we start our day by blessing God so that he then has permission to bless us. 

There is an instruction manuals that we don't pay much attention to and yet it is life and death important.

In Matthews book about the life of Christ there's a section, highly regarded, as the sermon on the Mount. 

I found that I have to take the initiative and not be a lazy bum in making the beatitudes work. 

If I want the creator to bless me, in a sense I release him to do so by blessing him. 

We have an overly high expectation of random events and expect every one of them to follow our way and sometimes we get angry and quit trying to put in the work that releases success survival and sufficiency in our relationships. 

I was challenged to try a different approach which seems to line up with some of the great teachers of the Bible. I came across a book and I don't remember the name but it challenged me to be thankful in every circumstance including and this is a tough one boys and girls when I had a flat tire or when something really frustrated me such as illness or adversity. 

I decided to enter or sign up for the lifetime class of praise and Thanksgiving 101. 

I don't have a perfect score in this class but every time I slip up I decide to get back in the class and thank God he doesn't grade on the curve. 

One of the things that I put into practice and it earned me the reputation of being fearless in a tough environment was my habit of saying I LOVE MY JOB! I started that way everyday even though sometimes I came into a disaster because that's how factory work is and it became kind of like a mantra like something that you act out to the point where you actually begin to feel it. 

I won't bore you with a success and the blessings I received at that job but I credit it to the power of God's word and the holy Spirit and the help of friends. 

Now to the sermon on the Mount and the beatitudes and the first is possibly the most difficult, but you cannot live in life without something being taken away that you dearly love. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Applying this principle of releasing God by blessing him that sort of gives him a blank check then to do whatever blessing he chooses. 

Before you run off all excited and start blessing everything everyday all the time let me give you a word of warning. Life is dangerous, and people get jealous when you are blessed and when forces beyond your control and yes I believe there's a spiritual adversary who gets disturbed if God is blessing you and the first thing he does is bring trials your way like Job was persecuted just because he was greatly blessed and smart and wise and worked hard and was loyal and generous. May I suggest that sometimes we experience loss through no fault of our own other than God was blessing us. 

This is my favorite subject and I could rattle on forever but as my brother would say I think it's time for me to shut up now. Later Gators.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Now I understand why your humor makes me laugh loudly in my favorite mental health club. I believe our heavenly father is orchestrating events. Malachi 4.6 is seen clearly through the lens of Revelations. The place of safety for both the church and Israel in the Americas or more properly Murica is now understood. The importance of the world's most powerful man and the world's richest man and the world's most powerful nation and the transition from The powerful Democrats to the even more powerful Republicans and the amazing coincidence of the birthday of Donald J Trump, flag Day, the 250th birthday of the US army is clear. Later Gators.

THE JOY OF INTRODUCTIONS

I take great joy in making introductions. 

May I introduce you to Tim and Vicki Gates? 

Tim is the lead pastor of the ONE CHURCH of the Nazarene in Kokomo, Indiana. 

Vicky is his faithful, gracious, skilled, and may I say gorgeous? wife.

I met Tim in the district youth camp where we were part of the camp counselors. 

I was the night watchman. No surprise there. I also hustled cold pop after the afternoon sports. 

Tim was home for the summer from Olivet College. I don't remember all of Tim's duties but I'm sure they were extensive and all day long. 

At the end of the day in the dark cool of the evening after the evening evangelistic service or worship service we were relaxing sitting together when some flirty and silly high school girls came up to say hi to Tim and giggle. 

After they left, Tim sighed, rolled his eyes, and said quietly... I wish I could meet a serious girl. 

I knew just who he was looking for. 

Rebecca, Lynne, and I were called to Clinton Church of the Nazarene in the summer when it was just the three of us. Lynne and I were a tag team and frankly the oldest youth pastors on the Illinois district. I loved having fun. Lynne kept me grounded and she also remembered all the names, which is why I am in music and not a scholar. 

Our first Wednesday Bible study at the parsonage The kids all sat in a circle. I was so bad with names I used the crutch of calling all the girls by a male name like Ralph or Bob and they would always protest and say their name. 

The kids all introduced themselves one at a time and gave their names very clearly. The next week they wanted to test Lynne. Lynne pointed to each one gave them their full name then pointed to where they sat the week before. She was my incredible helper. 

Sometime during that first year we went for dinner to Vicky's house. Her dad was a farmer. Her mother was an awesome cook. At the end of a delicious meal while Lynn and I talked with her parents, Vicky graciously got up by herself without being asked and started to clean the plates and take them out to the kitchen. Lynne had always done the same thing and that struck me very pointedly that like my lovely wife Vicky has a servant's heart. 

I won't bore you with the rest of the details. But now you know the rest of the story. 

I also worked with the bus because I was a devoted follower of the Jack Hyles bus ministry in Hammond Indiana. I loved it and loved also calling door to door because it gave me quite a few opportunities to introduce people to Jesus, which gives me even greater joy. 

I think that's enough for now. Later Gators. 

Incidentally, Wendelyn, my youngest daughter, was born in Clinton although actually it was Decatur.

WHY THE RAIN PARABLES?

The strange math of friendship: my friends multiply my joy, but divide and lighten my sadness.

Today is Saturday, June 7th, 2025. It's. All. Set. Up. These are the last four words that I received from upper management who has exceedingly blessed me to the point where some people are a little jealous, but I'm going to speak less and less about the spiritual world and more and more about the reality of this world. We are now in the era of the 47th president of the United States, and God has answered my prayer of a president that has a deep financial understanding according to the story of the Lord Jesus Christ instructing a disciple to go to the Sea of Galilee and catch a fish and pull the gold coin out of its mouth and then explained the priorities of finances for nations. 

Now some of you are very well acquainted with my anointing, although I would rather just say I'm just a factory worker who was also voluntarily a preacher of a small church called FAMILY BIBLE FELLOWSHIP. 

During my last segment of ministry which started during that historic year that Da Bears won the Super Bowl in 1986, I had been gently trained and disciplined by upper management on how to have God answer specific prayers and the starting point was farmers insisting that I pray for rain. 

This happened not once but twice and I explained that completely In my book THE RAIN PARABLES. 

This is all I need to say for now, and it appears that I will probably post this not only in Don's substack, but the shepherd's Journal, both on substack and blogspot and Facebook. I'm also active on X.

My full name is William Michael Dittmer Jr but if I'm in a coma my name is Mike ditmer, 2 t's and a capital d, and revmaddog1948 for internet search. 

That's all for now. Later Gators.

WAIT... MICHIGAN HAS A CAR INDUSTRY??

Yes it does, and my second wife Mary was deeply involved in it along with her son and dead husband. Ford was his employer until they had a better idea and laid him off and replaced him with Indian, the country, engineers, which only lasted for 6 months, but by then my stepson had found first a job designing headlights for a XYZ, no I don't know the name actually, in Austria, and then later a headlight trim company headquartered in Taiwan and the owner who may be no, probably is a multi-millionaire came over to hire him. My stepson also worked 6 months for Elon Musk in California, and also the other stainless steel electric car company called Fiskar. Coincidentally, my stepson's name is Don, and because for a period Fiskar of 6 months he was down to 12 employees and one of them was my stepson Don he is personally acquainted with fisker and can introduce you at the Detroit Auto show if you so choose. There is also a hamburger place in Austria that makes American style hamburgers and one of those that's on the menu is called the Detroit Don. This XYZ? Company also hired and fedded veted feted six high ranking Mexican officials from their factory in Mexico but they got thrown out of the country because their interpretation of borders is a little loose. Hopefully, that will change in the next decade. And now you know why I love Donald, the Donald, because one time, because the Taiwan company had to open a factory in the Detroit area, my stepson got in the car blathering that Donald Trump is the best president ever because he made the Taiwan company move a factory to Detroit. You're welcome.

WHY I'M CALLED MAD DOG

As usual I'm reversing my thank you by saying it before I read the next awesome blog by my hero Don. I like to do a lot of things back asswards. 

I also have gotten into the habit of praising the Lord before the experience which I do on a daily basis. I would actually go to work even though I was tired and grouchy saying I LOVE MY JOB! This brings to mind a workplace story that will partially explain why I am called MAD DOG. Later Gators.

THE STORY OF THE GOLD COIN IN THE FISH'S MOUTH AND JESUS

821 a.m. I'm sitting on the side of my bed. I finished my first cup of coffee. I don't think I'll post this on Facebook. I'm enjoying our friendship and mutual support and a little bit of privacy so I can talk about my personal life a little bit more open way than I can even on Facebook. 

Briefly, I not only voted for this, but I also clearly see God's providential hand in this and an answer to my specific prayer which may have happened after our company moved to Mishawaka and we brought assembly back from Mexico, but I don't remember the specific year other than it was after possibly 2000? Somewhere in that time period it dawned on me that the story of Jesus instructing one of the disciples to go fish and bring back a gold coin to pay for the temple tax was actually a heavenly hint on how to run our finances as a nation. Also, although I had fallen into the trap of thinking every president needed to be as smart as a lawyer or in the case of George Bush Jr well never mind but he was able to get everybody on board for the midterms of his first term in office. I've said enough and I take it back I am going to put this in the shepherds Journal blog but not in substack. Unlike my friends nobody shuts me up they just hide me or block me we're ignoring me until they're ready to talk me to me. I just got into a rant with a liberal friend on Facebook and I'm still not blocked or warned. It's a gift but then I have to hide a lot and either small churches or third shift or I have to be married as in my first wife who took all the black slack flack silly AI but she's cheaper than a third wife. Later Gators.