Even Jack Nicklaus Went Back To His First Teacher To Begin Every Year!

                This is probably one of these posts where the reader really roles their eyes. You can't make this stuff up folks. I came into the house for a break from mowing the lawn....and I Googled....60's Instrumentals....just for some music to listen to while I closed my eyes....and I did listen for ten or fifteen minutes. I'm sure you are familiar with this....below the selection....(I'm on an iPhone).....are other website offerings....and the one directly below the one I was listening to do was the popular television show....American Idol.
                I'm trying to go a little slow here....for I don't want you to leave right away. I clicked on it....and watched about five or six.....contestants....and then walked away with the intention of continuing with yard work....but it nagged at me.
                I came back in and had to Wikipedia American Idol. I take it that there were twenty-two seasons of this. Is it still on? I guess that it is. I watched the four judges....Simon....I've seen his face in the news a lot....and three others who I did not recognize. I do understand that the judges have changed often. OK....Wikipedia says this..."It holds the distinction of having the longest winning streak in the Nielsen annual television ratings."
                I am being somewhat facetious here....I know that it will sound absolutely ridiculous....but there is a dark truth somewhere in what I am going to say. When I watched this twenty or so minutes....and saw the crowd reaction....and actually thought about the concept of this television show....something that I had never done before....as I never saw the show in all twenty-two seasons....just like I never saw a minute of....The Apprentice....in its long run....I saw one glaring reason why Americans....(most Americans).... can no longer think seriously....or analyse....and therefore why they are so easily taken in.
                 Neil Postman was the professional folks....the academic....I'm just a ploughboy....but I read his book way back....along with Marshall McLuhan and others. Folks there were at least a half dozen books in the 90s alone....on retail bookshelves....actually bought read....they paid real money for them....where they could have been reading Clive Cussler.....(I just picked that name out of the blue)....that blew the trumpet in warning about where the culture was going....as far as becoming meaningless and easy marks for anyone with a twinkling lure.
                 I really didn't need to write this post. It's just that it is so sad to see what occupies our minds and fills up our schedules today. By the way....as always I'm listening to some sermon while cutting the grass or doing other errands....using my headphones....from as I always describe it as...."preachers from the past....or preachers today who preach like preachers of the past." Today it was Spurgeon....and the sermon title was....Three Sights Worth Seeing....but one comment sticks in my mind....as he described why pastors....(this in his day but it the same or worse today)....why they were not seeing conversions. (real conversions folks....born again conversions....not just recruits for the megachurch.) It was a simple little statement as he said that the pastor cannot fill the cups of the people with water....until he first fills the pitcher he is holding.
                  That is a water pitcher....but let me use the word as it relates to a baseball pitcher. I have tried many times over the years to encourage pastors to go back and listen to the great preachers of the past....that they might glean from them and understand why they are considered great preachers....and what they themselves might be missing...take the time and listen to Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones....listen to John Piper if they don't have too much pride to seek help from others....and as far as I can tell....I have struck out every single time! They simply do not want any advice....even from teachers that God had blessed so extraordinarily....they're not going back to being a student again....but I would bet....if I were a betting person....which I am not....that they watched more than their fill of....American Idol....over these past twenty-two years....along with having a conversational knowledge of every professional sports team from their city or the closest city to them!