Not Quite Right

I received a pamphlet the other day from a church, if I remember right was in Kentucky. It did attract my curiosity being as I live near Memphis. Nonetheless, I started reading it. I found a list of things they believe.

As I started out, it did seem reasonable. Then I arrived at the statement that said that we are saved and remain saved as long as we remain faithful to the end. At that point, I immediately threw the package away. I determined that it was all counterfeit, the church and the writing and likely their teaching.

I must admit that it does sound reasonable but God said there is a way that seems right to man but the end of it is destruction. (Loose quote. You are welcome to look it up. If you can’t, ask someone to help you.)

The problem is that the statement is simply not biblical. You can look it up for yourself. The fact is that when a person is saved, the Holy Spirit puts His seal on you and it cannot be removed by anyone but God and God will not remove it. He promises eternal salvation not salvation until you mess up. He takes on all your sins: Past, Present and future. He is well aware of all of them. He was well aware of them as he began to lay the foundations of the world. Not the least of them nor the greatest of them will surprise him at all.

Moreover, the god that is presented in the pamphlet is pretty mean. Can you imagine him saying to someone who was saved, Sorry. Can’t let you in. Five minutes before you died, you lost your salvation.”

The idea also assumes a person might be saved multiple times. If not, once a person lost his salvation, he would be forever lost. I don’t think my God is like that. My God saved me when I was 13 years of age and He will not lose his grip on me, though I live to 140. (or even a thousand and forty) He can do that. He promised that He will. It is but one reason why he deserves our faith, our love, our respect our thanks as well as our worship and our devotion. Why would anyone want to turn his back on a God such as that. Strange as it may seem, none lose their salvation, though they may lose the joy of their salvation. Moreover, for many reasons, he just might take such a person home early.

Oh. By the way, one more thing. God does not chastise those he has not saved, only those to whom he has given eternal life. If you can do things you know are sinful and not feel the rod of God, you just might not be among those He has saved. You might want to think about that.

Just a Little Speculation

With all the prophecies, we can really get carried away with what the future holds. Most of the prophecies have or soon will be fulfilled. One only need open his eyes to realize it is true.

However, recently something occurred to me. Hardly anyone considers the past. To be sure, some have considered what Salomon’s home looked like, let alone the Temple. But my imagination has longings to go back farther than that; before the original sin.

By inspiration, Moses gives us a short glimpse of just what it might have been. Maybe I’m wrong. God did speak to Moses. Maybe God told him what it was like. Perhaps he even provided a quick vision of it.

Yet, we are told only that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and approximately where it was. Beyond that, we know very little of it.

I have seen places and I have seen photos of places that are grand and beautiful. I have seen photos of the a waterfall near the Grand Canyon that seemed to be as nice and as beautiful as the garden must have been. However, by logic we know it was nowhere near the equivalent.

God turned over the garden to Adam and Eve, not to just sit and admire it, but to work it. Yes, even back then man had to work. I would guess, however, it was Adam’s a work love. Oddly, some men today like to work on gardens so it’s not that much of a stretch to believe. However, when he worked the garden, there were no weeds. The weeds and thistles we are told did not occur until after the fall.

My best guess is that everywhere Adam looked there was food. We are also told that water came up from the ground to water the garden. It would appear that Eve did not have to carry a sprinkling bucket to water the flowers.

I would expect the world was a whole lot different back then. Even so, I would expect that it underwent the greatest change during and after the flood. I am not being all that speculative when I say that it may not have rained before the flood. First there others that have suggested it might be. After all, the rainbow apparently did not occur until after the flood.

At this, my imagination goes wild. I will not know how accurate these speculations are in this lifetime. In a way, I am looking forward to finding out if I am right.

My vision of the earth before the flood is one where most of the water was underground. There were far less extremes of mountains and valleys. Likely, there was no ocean. I am not saying that was the way it was. It just is that, in my mind it fits. There would be far more land and I also suspect the atmosphere was thicker, perhaps twice as thick.

Scientist tell us that a meteor hit the planet somewhere in Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps. God just might have sent it. Nonetheless, a major change occurred. The water came up out of the earth. The valleys depend and the mountains rose, perhaps the result of the meteor shattering the crust of the earth.

Thinning of the atmosphere might have occurred at this time. After all, we have found evidence of huge dragon flies. That would only be possible with an atmosphere that is rich in oxygen. Insects breath through their skin, not lungs as reptiles and mammals.

Now there I go, speculating and I’m not supposed to do that. Nonetheless, we know three things. Before man’s fall, man lived in a paradise. Because of man’s fall, we live in a world where evil is attempting to overthrow God’s creation. One day, God will set it straight again. I suspect it will be better than before.

We, God’s most prized creation, are given a choice. Do we spend our eternity with him or do we spend eternity in pain and suffering. This is not speculation. If you chose Christ as your savior, you will spend eternity in a place better than The Garden of Eden. If you don’t, your punishment awaits you.

The men in Noah’s time did not believe him that a flood would come. They were given years to repent, all the time that Noah spent working on the ark. When God closed and sealed the door on the ark, perhaps millions of men died. They were given their chance and they mocked Noah, and in effect God too. Today, they are still suffering for their decision. The suffering did not stop with their death. The real suffering only stated.

God is patient. He loves us very much. But when He decides close the door of salvation a person, He will punish those who have chosen to turn from Him.

It’s Just Not the Same

Many people like like to point out the migration that took place on Ellis Island and try to equivocate it the avalanche of those coming across the Mexican border. Even as they speak, they know it’s not nearly the same, that is unless they have less of a brain than a nail on the wall.

For those unable to figure out the difference, let me explain it.

First, no one who was sick was permitted into the country. Indeed the hospital where they were kept still stands and, though I might be wrong, it can still be toured. It was where the diseased were kept until well. Those who were not curable went back to where they came from. Had AIDS been a disease back then, no one would have been permitted in with it. However, today it is a political disease and people with AIDS are permitted in regularly, which likely resulted in the loss of many lives. Because there is no desire to do any tracing, there is no way to tell how many. There is no way to make a reasonable guess.

Secondly, it was highly organized. All who tried to enter were interviewed and if they were considered undesirable. they were returned to their country. Certainly, those who had a desire to overthrow the country were not permitted in. Those who had no money or a desired trade were turned away. It was not intended that we should be the welfare state of the world. Finally, those who were criminals were returned to their own country. To be sure, we were not perfect in this regard. Apparently, many criminals did make it through. However, they also turned many away. On the Mexican border, none are turned away.

Third, there were limits, quotas for each country. The obvious attempt was to keep any one nation from overwhelming our civilization. Even though most did separate themselves somewhat into groups, they eventually did assimilate. Until recently, we spoke one language in the schools businesses and our government. Now, when school meetings are held, it is not uncommon for them to be held in three languages. Worse, children are in our schools who don’t know the how to speak English, let alone read and write. They are not the only ones affected. All the learning is hampered.

And, by the way, it makes it more expensive too. Many who of those slowing the learning should not be in the classroom. They are there illegally. If ten illegal children are in a class, that means two-thirds are paying to educate three-thirds. That is not right.

Fourth, many who come over the border are criminals. It causes the crime rates to go up and it increases the cost of enforcing the law. Many communities that were reasonably peaceful now have a meaningful population of criminals who are not Americans.

Fifth, back in the day, cartels did not control our borders. Nowadays, they do control the Mexican borders. The US would be completely right to send in troops and wipe out the cartels. The US is under their attack. However, no one, but not one will do that, though they fire across the river nightly.

If things were now as they were then, I would not mind the immigration. Somehow, I don’t think there are many who will pay me any attention. They are afraid of someone saying something in the social media, which would force them out into the Outer Limits.

So instead, they watch as our nation falls into oblivion.

OH YES! ONE MORE THING. BACK THEN WE DID NOT HAVE THE FLOOD OF DEADLY DRUGS OVER THE BORDERS.

BUILD THE WALL!!

Trust God

The two words seem so simple. Yet, we all know that when it comes time, it is about the hardest thing a person can do. To be sure, trusting God is perhaps one of the best ways to please Him we know of. To be sure, the Bible says that Abraham believed God and God counted it as righteousness. Put another way, God forgave him of his sin because Abraham believed him. It tells us that trust in God is very powerful.

It reminds me of the story that President Reagan told about a man that fell from a cliff. He quickly grabbed onto a limb. So there he was with no way to go up and looking at a 300 foot fall if he let go.

Out of desperation, he called out, “Is there anyone up there!?”

Clouds formed and from the clouds he heard, “This is God. Are you willing to do anything I tell you?”

“Yes God, anything. Just tell me and I’ll do it.”

God told the man, “Let go of the branch.”

The man looked down. Then he looked up. Then he looked down again. Finally, he yelled, “Is there anyone else up there!?”

I don’t remember how old I was when I first heard that story. I might have been in high school. My immediate thought was that, if I were in the man’s position, I would immediately let go. The older I get and the more times I think it over, I’m not so sure. It is easy to say I would trust God but at this point, I simply don’t know. I would very much like to be able to know I would, but none of us really know it until we face the situation head on.

Three Israelites were thrown into a fire for following the Lord. Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den. That’s trusting in God. Moreover, it is more than a story. It really happened. I like to think that I would do the same. The fact is, I don’t know.

To be sure, I have taken stands that have cost me. God did not always intervene for me, leastwise not that I saw. Nonetheless, I do trust Him, that is to say as much as I can. Now, would I jump out of a plane on His instruction. I don’t know if I would, even with a parachute. It just is sometimes we don’t know our faith until it is tested.

To be sure, it is sometimes why he tests our faith… that is, so we will know. He doesn’t need to find out. He already knows. On the other hand, sometimes he wants to strengthen our faith. Every time we go through a trial, it can build our faith. Then again, should we fail, we will learn that too.

Ultimately, we all do need to trust Him for one thing. We must totally and fully trust in Jesus as our savior. We must not try to add a thing to it. If we do, then we don’t really totally trust him. It means we think we need to help. To totally trust in Jesus for our salvation, God counts our faith as righteousness and his reward is to save us from our sins.

Don’t trust in any other faith. Don’t trust in any church or religion. Nothing else can save you. It is what God tells us in the Gospels and it is what he wants us to do. That means we let go of everything else, including our own abilities and we trust in Jesus and Him alone.

John 3:16 does say:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

If you don’t believe it, you are calling Jesus a liar. Unless you change your mind, you will pay for that sin in hell forever, regardless of any good or bad you ever did. The instant you believe, your salvation is immediate and forever. God is the only one who can revoke it. If he does, He will not be keeping His promise. So, your salvation is instant and forever.

So. Whatever it is that is keeping you from accepting Christ as you savior, let go of it. It can’t save you. In the end it will do you no good. Stand on the words of Jesus himself as John quoted. Trust Jesus, the living Son of God and He will save you.

Big Brother & Waste

I was listening to an interview of Robbie Starbuck who is running for 5th district in Tenn and he brought out some points that bear repeating. I won’t repeat his words but I will rather barrow his thoughts

First he came up with a suggestion. The FOCs want to be able to look into our bank transactions. No problem… if they let us look into theirs. In return for passing the law, the law should require them to post all their bank transactions over $600 on a web site the following day.

Incidentally, most do not realize, that $600 dollars as a percentage of income will decrease with inflation for both the FOCs and for us. Today, what we pay $500 dollars for, will soon be $600. Hence, as the years go by, the snooping factor will increase. I am sure they were well aware of that when they came up with the idea.

The other thought he had reminded me of was a store that provided unsold produce to charities at no charge. It went on for a while until one day someone got sick. He sued the store and won the suit. Therefore, the produce that had been going to the charities is now going into landfills. ( I call that wasteful)

It is the nature of the FOCs. Whatever they touch produces waste. The bigger the national budget, the greater the waste. Whereas it is true that the FOCs did not directly cause the waste as above, they are really good friends with the trial lawyers. I am sure some trial lawyer made a bundle on the above.

There is no telling how much food is wasted every year because the Friends of the Criminals. The stores don’t dare donate food being as the lawyers wait as ravenous wolves waiting to pounce. The example that Mr. Starbuck pointed involved a bakery where they tossed the unsold doughnuts daily. None of them went to homeless shelters.

Speaking of which, I wonder just how much the federal government wastes. $600 would not even be noticed. Actually, the FOCs likely skim $600,000 in one month. Some of it goes here. Some of it goes there. Nobody seems to notice. No one seems to care.

By the way, has anyone noticed that Biden’s son is still working for China. It’s true. Seems to me to be a good reason for impeachment. It’s not going to happen though. Biden has a D after his name.

On the other hand, you will not find many capitalists wasting things, for obvious reasons. It is another good reason to promote capitalism.

As a side note, I vote that all people who hold public office should have to work in a restaurant for 6 months. There they will get an education far more effective than any college. They will learn such things as work ethics, profit margins and plain hard work.

For those who would like something to read, check my “about” page. I have a list there of 35 books I’ve written… all fiction.

On the Wrong Side of Things Maybe

This is a very rough paraphrase of something I heard Christina Bobb say about the abortion bill they just passed in the house.

Point 1. The bill would make abortion legal just about any time any place for any reason.

Point 2. The church of Satan highly favors the bill.

Question: Do you really want to be on the same side as the church of Satan on anything?

This is my little thought I have added on.

In the first chapter of John, the Bible speaks of evil as dark. It also says that the world prefers the dark over the light. This is just another example of just how truly true it is. It is sad when people prefer death over life. How tragic that a nation does not respect life… or that they prefer dark to the light that God provides.

Counterfeit

In Matthew 17, Jesus told Peter to catch a fish and take a four drachma coin from its mouth. I was young the first time I heard the story. It seemed odd to me. Jesus did not need the fish. He could have made dozens of the coins with his spoken word. I suppose he could have also used many other methods as well. But, he told Peter to get the coin from the fishes mouth.

In the musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” we could hear the whimsical song, “If I Were a Rich Man.” I totally enjoyed the song long before I saw the movie or play. To be sure I identified with it. Actually, I still do. I’m not greedy. I would be very happy with a million or two. I would not turn down five or six. It would not solve all my problems but it would solve most of them.

What does the one thing have to do with the other? Although God can make money, He rarely if ever does. On that day, when Jesus was asked about the taxes, if Jesus produced the money out of thin air, that would have been an act of counterfeiting. The money He would have made would have been produced outside the authority of the government and Jesus recognizes authority, even human authority.

I don’t know how that works completely, but had he made that coin, that would have been a sin, and Jesus does not sin. It does go beyond that. Let’s say God took pity on me, and maybe a few thousand others. He spoke the word and instantly, we would all have five million dollar bank accounts. That would not only be counterfeit in mass, but it could be very damaging to our economy.

That money represents work, skill and knowledge. When it is just given to me, it short circuits the system. It can and would likely negatively effect our economy. Suddenly, there would be millions more money in circulation and hence, each dollar would be worth less. Therefore, God would be improperly taking the representation of the work of thousands and giving it to me. I would benefit from the work of others wrongfully, as would the others.

So now, the government, in all its wisdom has decided it is okay to redistribute wealth. I get to benefit from the sweat of your brow and you get to benefit from the sweat of mine. Never mind the product of our work. Never mind my laziness. All those who have worked so hard to build those apartments. Never mind them. Let them go into debt while those who refuse to work live in the fruits of the work of their landlords.

God does not redistribute wealth because he knows it is not right. Why should the government know better.

Communism is a relatively new economic system. Capitalism is as old as trading. I will give you so many of these if you give me so many of that. I will help you build your home if you will provide food and clothing for me. If you provide me a boat, I will provide fish for you.

The coinage only made it all simpler. At first it had no government backing. However, over time, only the governments coined the money. At least that is the way it was supposed to work. Then they started taxing to pay for mutual defense and roads and such. Now it has gotten into a tangled mess, but it works the same.

The problem is that that there are a number of things that throw things out of kilter. There is, of course robbery. As mentioned a fore, counterfeiting. Then there is gambling and lotteries. In the blink of an eye, gambling can transfer the equivalent of large amounts of work from one to another. Such things throw the capitalists system out of kilter.

The man that loses all his wages cannot pay his rent. The gambling sites draw crowds of unsavory types. And then of course, those that own the “house” live on the fruits of the labor of others without adding one thing to society. Indeed, they become the “rich men” as sung of in the above song.

The work they do is a counterfeit work. But they are not alone. Those in government know how to counterfeit their contributions to society too. They tax some while they give to others… all the time skimming some off for themselves. It is the most important reason to keep government small. It is one of the most important reasons to limit the power of government. It is the biggest reason FOCs get involved in government.

It is one of the biggest reasons that governments fail.

What Happened to Speedy Trials

It was on January 6 that people ran into The Capitol Building. I know. Every day the FOCs remind me. They keep wanting a highly democrat controled committee to study what happen. I can save them the money. I can tell them what happen but what’s the use. They aren’t about to listen to me. Besides, they have their mind made up already. They will discard any piece of evidence, regardless how small, that counters their foregone conclusions.

However, I want to address a different matter. It is a waste of time to say anything about the committee. As I said, the outcome is already set in rock. The thing I want to address are a number of questions about those arrested. I don’t have any idea why others aren’t asking them.

It is now June, almost July. Where are the speedy trials? What are the charges? Do these horrible people have lawyers? After all, even murderers and kidnappers get lawyers. Have any trial dates been set yet and are they going to be in this decade? For that matter, has anyone figured out what horrible things they have done? I mean, trespassers are generally released on bail inside a day or two. Where are these people? Does anyone know or have they just disappeared.

And there is one more question. Why aren’t the real criminals, the ones burning down stores and court buildings charged with crimes. Why aren’t they required to stand before a judge and plead guilty or innocent.

Then, of course, why weren’t they given a speedy fair trial…then thrown in prison with the rest of the criminals. That way our streets will be safer. Then again, because their friends, the dems are in power and the only people charges of crimes have Rs after their names. The criminals are free to roam the streets where they can beat old men and smack old women in the face. Why shouldn’t they do such things when they know they can get away with it?

Foretelling the Future

When the latest version of ”The Titanic” came out, I saw a one frame cartoon that was not only humorous but also thought provoking. I would suspect most paid little attention to the thought provoking part but I have considered the cartoon many times over the years.

There was a line of people waiting at the box office where the “The Titanic” was playing. Some adults were talking among themselves and two kids. One kid said to the other, “Oh, great. They ruined the movie. Now we know how it ends.”

I know I will be insulting almost everyone’s intelligence, but please let me explain. Clearly, one of the adults was discussing the movie and thereby spoke of the sinking of the ill fated ship. The kids were apparently not aware of the tragic event.

So, according to the cartoon, the kids found out how the movie was to end. This got me to thinking, what if we could know how things are going to end.

There are those who call themselves fortune tellers who supposedly can tell the future. Sorry if I insult you if you believe that such people exist, they don’t. However, God has given us some ability to predict the future. We know the sun will rise each morning. In fact, nowadays, it can be predicted to the second. Hence, to some degree, we can tell what will happen from what has happened. Farmers know when to plant crops and the folks that drive the snow plows know when it is time to make sure the equipment is ready.

It is not due to some supernatural knowledge. It just is that we know it will happen because it has been going on throughout history. Some people tried to take advantage of this. They spoke of themselves as priest of gods because they knew when it would become hot or cold. In Egypt they predicted the times the Nile would overflow its banks and a few other things. Actually, the so-called priests simply learned to read the signs that God provided for us.

Now, we have weathermen and they predict the weather far more accurately, for about 5 hours. With all the modern equipment they predict when a tornado might hit and they watch as the hurricanes make their way ashore. Even then, they can do little more than guess at the trajectory of the storms for the next 24 hours. So, when the storm threatens, everyone boards up everything within a hundred miles of where the storm might hit. And then, if the storm decides, it takes a right turn and hits somewhere else…or goes out to sea.

God has provided science for us so that we know how things will behave. If you drop something, it will fall 32 feet per second per second until it reaches what is called terminal velocity (more or less). Water boils at 212 degrees at sea level…unless it is in a pressure cooker. It happens every time. You don’t have to be a soothsayer to know it will happen.

Also, God has provided prophets for us. Daniel predicted what is called the triumphant entry into Jerusalem to the day. It wasn’t because he could tell the future. An angel told him Daniel was what we call a prophet. Prophets have a very high degree of reliability and they have high requirements. If they are ever wrong, they are not prophets. They must be right 100% of the time or they are not a prophet, no exceptions.

The reason they are so accurate is that they receive their info from God. God is never wrong.

Let’s go back to the cartoon. The day that the Titanic set sail, He knew what the outcome would be. He knew who would survive and who would die. He knew what mistakes would be made and he knew exactly where that ice-burg would intercept that giant ship. Not one part of the whole thing surprised Him.

Actually, He knew all that would happen from the time they started the planning of the ship. Actually, he knew it from the time He started building the world.

It is, perhaps one of the biggest questions of the Bible. Just what all does he foreknow and what all does He causes. To be sure, he foreknows it all. I guess the real question is, what does He cause and what does He allow.

Going back to the Titanic. He could have intervened in dozens of different ways. He could have delayed the departure. He could have used a wind to slow the ship or move the ice-burg. And yet He allowed it, knowing all the death and suffering it would cause.

Here is the hard part. It is conceivable that he might have caused it. He might have prepared the ice-burg just for the ship. Now that is something I have a hard time wrapping my mind around. I would like to know about it but God does not answer to me. He doesn’t answer to any of us.

However, God has given us a little look into the future. He has given us the Bible. In the Bible is a book called Revelation. In that book, He reveals many things that are to come. He knows what is going to happen and He has revealed some of it to us.

However, despite all he has told us, most have not read the book. Most have not availed themselves of the future facts. I don’t know the reason. Maybe most are like the kids, they don’t want to know how it ends. Fear makes most turn their eyes. Pride makes some avoid the subject. However, whether they want to know or not, it will happen. It is as sure as the rising sun. We just don’t know when.

At that point, those who encouraged the killing of innocent babies, those who practiced deceit for the purpose of gaining power and all those who have killed more than humanly possible to count will be confronted with what they have done. It is not that I am a prophet. I don’t have to be. That’s what it says in the Bible. You might not want to believe the Bible now, but you will.

Debate Points

It’s as I have said all along. It is all about the power.

People are being killed in Israel and the Gaza Strip and the Dems have decided to debate the mater, to decide who can draw the better news reviews. Bottom line, the dems don’t care about the loss of life, as long as it furthers their cause.

They keep crying out for a cease fire, cease fire! This when they were very much responsible for the outbreak. Some can’t wait to take advantage of it. They say they want peace. Then just why did they take part in financing the war that the Palestinians are waging to destroy Israel. In deed, if the Palestinians succeeded at their efforts, they would kill over 7 million Jews. That is more than Hitler killed.

The truth is that the dems don’t want peace. The loss of life means nothing to them. And by the way, why did the dems encourage aliens from Central America to trek thousands of miles, risking their lives and the lives of their children. It’s not a walk in the park for them and the dems know it. Their goal is power and they don’t mind the suffering and the loss lives. Any time the subject is brought up, they quickly change the subject. Invariably they will not answer the question asked but the one they want to answer. It is their methods. It is the way they debate.

A little note. I would suspect an airplane ticket from Central America to to the US cost around $800 to $1000, about the price they pay to walk. If the aliens did it legal, they could ride in a nice comfortable airplane seat, which would be far safer. But that would not fit the dems purpose.

That would not give the dems their precious debating points.

So…. While the dems debate, people die and they don’t care.