Month: June 2015

This is a screen grab from Caleb Wilde’s Faecbook page. I have followed him for some time, I respect him, and I appreciate his blog (although he normally gets a ton of pushback for speaking about death from the perspective of a mortician from Philly) .. Nonetheless, his point on Joel Osteen is taken. The article linked is written by Lynda Fell. It was published in THE BLAZE a few days ago. Fell’s point and criticism of Osteen revolves his belief that you need to ‘get go of grief’ within only a few months of the reason for grieving occurs. She writes,

Shame on you, Pastor Osteen, for lecturing us to shake off the self-pity, change the channel, and dwell on the good things God has done in our life. To ignore the suffering victim who suddenly had his right arm severed would be cruel. To instruct him to look past the agony and instead focus on his remaining left arm is devastatingly ignorant.

I do have empathy for your shortcoming on this issue, for you haven’t lost a child. But let me help you understand why your depiction of Phil and Judy to make a point about self-pity is not only incredibly insensitive but, truth be told, a bit tragic coming from an esteemed person like yourself.

Wilde believes that we should stay away from Osteen.

I have long believed that.. When I see his smarmy mug on my Sunday morning TV, I became slightly enraged for no real reason. I don’t leave the giant sports stadium-filled church service on long enough to get a point. I don’t want his point.. 

He may be a perfectly fine man. 
But I have decided to remain Osteen-free in my life.

Not a ghost tale, but perhaps even scarier

I read a fascinating article–thank God I am not the victim here or it would not be fascinating at all–today about a family in New Jersey fleeing their new ‘dream home’ because of frightening letters they were receiving from someone who called himself ‘The Watcher.’  

According to the article, the previous owners never told the new ones about this strange person.. 

A lawsuit has been filed.

From CBS NEW YORK:

As CBS2’s Valerie Castro reported, the large six-bedroom home in Union County is being watched – according to a lawsuit filed by its new owners.

They paid $1.3 million for their “dream home” in the picturesque town of Westfield. They claim the previous owners were aware of a man who calls himself “the Watcher,” but they never said anything.

“I would be pretty upset if I bought a house and found out that the previous owners knew about it,” said Robert Hagen of Westfield.

Since moving in, the owners said they have received numerous letters from the mysterious person. “The Watcher” claimed the home “has been the subject of my family for decades,” and “I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming,” Castro reported.

The new owners have several children, and other letters asked, “Have they found out what’s in the walls yet?” and “I am pleased to know your names now, and the name of the young blood you have brought to me,” Castro reported.

The bone-chilling letters were enough to send the new family packing. The incident was so unnerving that Westfield Mayor Andy Skibitsky addressed the issue at a Town Council meeting Tuesday night.

There have been frightening ghost stories, such as the Amityville Horror, supposedly chasing a family from their abode. I don’t think I have ever heard of a story quite like the one linked here.. 

This sounds like the plot of a movie..
People are scarier than ghosts..

A former White House executive chef Walter Scheib found dead in the mountains of New Mexico drowned, according to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.

A former White House executive chef Walter Scheib found dead in the mountains of New Mexico drowned, according to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.

CNN:

Scheib, who served under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, had been absent since June 13 when he left to go for a hike alone on a mountain trail in Taos, New Mexico. He was later reported missing by a family member.

On Thursday, investigators tracked Scheib’s cell phone signal to a mountain in Taos, the Department of Public Safety said.

His body was found submerged “in a mountain drainage flowing with surface runoff” about 25 yards off the Yerba Canyon hiking trail, hidden from view by vegetation and a steep decline off the trail, the statement said. There was no indication of foul play.