Stephen... The one we wait to meet

Some moments in life become etched in our memory like a eternal photograph,  never fading with time.  Every glance at it in our minds eye brings feelings just as strong as the day it was.  I have many of those,  many sad.  Such is the moment I saw my oldest,  my first son,  laying lifeless in a metal pan.

It was in the last month of pregnancy.  The baby was already a part of our life.  An excited but overwhelmed father feels the life inside kicking and moving and a heart melts.  "This is life"  a voice whispers inside,  this is purpose.

But alas,  one evening a frantic call,  terror begins.  Alone in our unfinished home,  she lay on the floor of the bathroom.  Phone to my ear,  heart racing,  I talk to the emergency people.  They walk me through a birth process,  early,  but something is not right.  Nothing makes sense. There is no Baby.

Placenta previa they called it later .  At home,  little chance for survival.  Just me,  her,  and the phone.  Prayer.  Terror.  The realization that something is horribly wrong.

Later at the hospital Dr had explained what had happened to a shaking,  alone,  young man of barely 20. In an instant it was all over.  Purpose gone, nothing makes sense.  I ask where my child is.  He tries to redirect.  I persist.  I must meet this little life that I knew.  He hesitates,  but finally gives in.  Walks me into the er room. 

It is surreal.  A light shines over a metal pan.  We stop,  him asking if I am sure.  Yes.  We slowly walk over and all i see is that pan,  glowing in the light.  Everything else fades.  Life fades. 

Stephen.  

My first.  I loved you.  I say goodbye. Life goes on,  touched by your presence.  Your job done here.  You may rest.

Someday we will all be together,  I pray.  All.

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The most important thing I have done in life

My life s been full to say the leasGt. It has been full with a wide variety of things. Yet there is a common thread through it all,  a common purpose,  a calling,  a reason to drive on,  a reason to breathe. One thing that stands over and under all else.

Being your Dad.  That is my calling,  my main,  my heart.  All the rest is just noise along the path.

Sure,  there have been interesting things,  good things. 

Saving lives and property as a fireman.
Building million dollar business's and technology from nothing but an idea.
Teaching dozens to hundreds of people how to farm for health and profit.
Patenting new ideas around technology.
Preaching to groups of people hungry for the truth.
Walking in God's power to heal the sick instantly.
Seeing angels and hearing the voice of God.
Standing up for truth and right in a world upside down.

I could go on and on with the things Gods grace has allowed me to accomplish through his blessings...  But no.  None of that is life.  None of that is who I am.

I am first and foremost your Dad.

My heart constantly rejoices and bleeds for you,  each and all of you. Not a day has passed when you were not on my mind (except for a few years in insanity on my part).  Every major decision was made with your best interest in mind.  Every compromise in my own life was for your benefit. 

Have I been perfect? Of course not.  I failed at so many things,  missed so many opportunities.  I may not be a great Dad,  I am human and weak,  constantly making mistakes.  But I can assure you,  my child,  there is no greater weight on my heart than you. 

I have no ambition to accomplish great things myself.  That's all noise.  My heart is to enable you to do what God has for you.  For you to find your path in his will. For your life to be all that he wants you to be. 

That is my prayer.  I don't always do the right things,  say the right things,  but I always,  every second of my life...  Hold you as the most precious gift,  and responsibility.  If I had done nothing in my life but you...  It would be enough.

I love you.

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Don't marry the one you can live with

One of my dad's sayings:

Don't marry the one that you can live with,  marry the one you can't live without.

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Thoughts on interracial marriage

There was a day I felt negative towards interracial marriage.  Probably due to two things: growing up in South Texas culture and secondly some rated scripture.

Growing up in South Texas,  there was a heavy Mexican culture. Many if not most of the kids I knew were affected deeply by it.  For the girls,  it wasn't bad,  but for the boys there were obvious negative aspects.  Two things were prevalent....  They had to be "macho"  and they treated anyone weaker with disrespect and insult,  even control.  This was especially true of their female friends.

I remind you reading this,  I am not stereotyping,  but rather relating my own experience.

Women in that culture were possessions to be won,  then stored away.  It was a hunt.  Not to keep,  not to cherish,  but to win.  After the win,  the female meant little to nothing,  even a negative if they hung around.   I watched this consistently over and over.  Worse,  it was especially true of white girls.  The Mexican culture boys saw white girls as the ultimate prize to win,  first place.  Especially blonds. 

It wasn't just what I saw,  they admitted as much.  Bragging about getting this one,  or that.  Bragging how close they were to "having that one"  but also Bragging about how quickly they could get rid of them after the conquest.  This wasn't individuals,  this was culture.  And the girls more often than not fell for it.

That experience surely soured me on interracial relationships.  All I saw was negative aspects of mixing cultures.  One culture (race?)  invariably saw the other as less worthy,  or prizes.  It was rarely if ever about the relationship itself.

Now mix that life experience with the scriptures that speak of a pure isreal.  There are plenty speaking of not taking wives from other cultures.  Taken literally,  it seems a reproof against interracial relationships.

But,  I always stopped short of saying it was "wrong"  even though the notion made me uncomfortable.  Today,  I see the issue more clearly.

Yes,  there are challenges to interracial relationships.  It requires either one to give up their own culture for the other,  or a complex and somewhat delicate blending of culture.  This is especially true when children come along and culture becomes more evident in lifestyles.  So yea,  there are specific challenges to interracial relationships,  especially marriages.  But....

Scripture does not prohibit it.  It does point to the difficulties faced,  but never a blanket rule against it.  The scripture about isreal staying pure are speaking of believer / unbeliever mixes,  which is what the races represent.  Isreal was God's nation,  everyone else was not.  Saved vs unsaved...  Light vs dark. 

But race itself can not be a bad thing...  Here's why: there is only one race!  The human race.  We are all the same,  all one family,  children of two individuals.  This used to be perplexing,  but now is simple.   The way genetics work is clear,  although highly distorted by evolutionary thought. 

Genetically,  information is never added through breeding.  When things reproduce,  the offspring are products of a subset of mom and dad. The offspring never has more genetic information than the two parents combined.  (one basic reason why evolution as a rule is a lie).  Sure there are mutations,  random mistakes in the existing information,  but even mutations are a change,  not additional complexity.

What does this have to do with race?  Simple...  All the colors of skin,  bodily characteristics,  mannerisms,  etc that define a race....  They all existed with Adam and eve.  I breed animals...  Take chickens.  A "pure bred"  chicken is one where all variations in the genetic code are removed,  so offspring duplicate the parents.  This is a removal of unwanted genetic info,  not the addition of new info.  There is no way to add info!  A "natural"  chicken,  or "mutt"  is a mix of lots of "breeds"  and the offspring can pick up any combination of variations.  But only if those variations already exist in the parents.

So in humans,  all characteristics  existed within Adam and eve,  created by god for variety just like animals were.  Consider that...  Their children could have been white,  black,  Asian,  Arabian,  etc ..  Their family,  the first family was today what we would call interracial! Our God,  our creator,  embraces variety all throughout nature,  and also in humans.

Interracial relationships can be difficult due to cultural differences,  and that must be accounted for in making this choice.

But

There is no prohibition to interracial marriage,  in fact it would seem God embraces and celebrates the variety.

However

Marriage between believers and unbelievers is prohibited by scripture.

That's where I ended up as of today.  Multi Race variety is in God's design,  man has corrupted the notion of variety, and really the issue is more one of post tower of babel experience. 

The salches and the thompkins

All stories have two sides,  sometimes more.  This is one of those stories that may well have other views,  bbu I know not of.  What I relate here is what I was told and perceived personally.

Back in the 1960s we lived on grandpa's farm.  While farming my dad toyed with electronics,  radios specifically.  He was always into ham radio and such. 

He had a best friend,  a family named Thompkins in refugio. I believe the dad's name was Charles.  Lets assume for simplicity that Charles is correct.  Him and my dad were best friends in  personal life as well as church.

Somehow through the early 60s a gadget was invented.  I do not know who actually invented it,  but out of this a business partnership was formed between the friends.  It was a gadget called a tunaverter.  This thing would plug into the back of a car am radio and be the equivalent of a one channel tunable police scanner (which didn't exist yet).  The user could tune the tunaverter to the proper channel and listen to police / fire / ambulance radio calls through a regular am radio.  It was a brilliantly simple device.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/tompkins_tunaverter_1564.html

The partnership was simple...  Tompkins would build the device and the salches would market and sell it.  They put in a manufacturing "plant"  at their house and our home was taken over with printing,  mailing,  shipping.  Growing up I remember learning the states while sorting outgoing mailings in a huge 50 hole box,  a necessary step to lower mailing costs.

The plan worked.  Over the years sales increased, the device was sold all across America and some foreign countries.   The business that began in dad's office soon took over the garage forcing a new garage to be built,  and then took that in also.  There were several employees on our side that doubled as farm work when needed.  Many more products joined the line,  expanding into wireless speaker adapter,  aircraft receivers,  etc.

But,  there was a problem.

Apparently early on the decision was made to structure the partnership between families so that the salches would "buy"  the product from the Thompkins to fill sales orders.  That way manufacturing costs were covered up front,  and the Thompkins had a steady income from day one. The salches then paid for all marketing,  advertising,  shipping,  etc,  bought the devices at wholesale,  and sold them at retail.

The story I got was this...  The agreement worked fine in the early years when sales were slow.  Thompkins apparently made enough money to satisfy all needs and prosper.  The salches struggled under the cost of marketing. But after a while that changed.  Sales grew and the salches started making money.  Apparently big money,  or at least big enough to raise issues.  Charles became envious.  My dad said that they had many conversations and arguments about their original agreement,  and how they profit was going to cover their expense already laid out by then salches in worldwide advertising. 

Tensions rose.  As the businesses prospered,  the friends and partners fell apart.   What my dad called greed destroyed it.  And in their end,  could not be resolved the salchs needed to stick to their original agreement to be able to cover their debts incurred in advertising,  while they Thompkins had already covered their debt of manufacturing through their wholesale sales.

Lawsuit.  Charlie filed against our family.  He sued for what he perceived as his share of the profit the salchs were making by buying wholesale and selling retail.  There friendship ended in adversaries.  Dad struggled.  Lawyers told him he should fight it,  that he had the winning legal grounds.   Yet after much prayer and contemplation he agreed to pay out there lawsuit without a fight.

Why?  They scripture plainly says "do not take a brother to court"  do not let them heathen decide between you in matters of the world.   Thompkins refused to negotiate so in their end dad said ok without a fight,  and the salchs paid out there lawsuit amount over there next 10 years or so.

The business dissolved,  tunaverter ceased to exist other than some large boxes full of them and parts in our storage building.  The era ended and digital scanners replaced them. The families separated fully,  and there was years of bitterness between them.

One good thing that came out of all this was that dad realized his salesmanship and marketing skills.  We moved to town,  rebuild an old funeral home into a retail store and print shop,  and salch company was born.  It became a mini mall with a wide variety of things offered until Walmart finally moved in and kill small town business (a different story)

The better thing that happened is dad kept his integrity.  He paid the price for following scripture,  we were poor for years.  Struggling to eat while we paid off their lawsuit.  But integrity is worth more than cash.  From what I heard the Thompkins family ran into all sorts of personal problems.  They seed of greed planted,  it grew and prospered,  destroying them more than the financial drain hurt us.

I remember as a young boy,  maybe 8 or so,  walking through the then abandoned manufacturing plant.  A room there size of a 2 or 3 car garage,  empty and ghostly.  It was in the Thompkins back yard.  Perhaps the house was empty and for sale,  I do not know,  but that is my sole memory of a family that hurt ours so deeply.

Mom spent years angry and somewhat bitter.  She could not speak of them without bitterness in her voice.  She never really trusted people again after that.  She had to write and mail them monthly checks before buying food for her own family,  every month,  for years.  It ate at her.

So I grew up in their shadow of a partnership,  friendship,  fouled by greed.  Poor,  struggling,  but living up to decisions made,  and holding integrity higher than profit or even sustenance.  It molded and shaped me to see the value of intangible things over there tangible.  It showed me that my dad was dedicated to live the scriptures,  even at great personal harm,  not just read and preach them.

You don't take a brother to court,  period.

Your place in the world

Dad was,  by his own account,  a selfish,  proud,  even conceited young man in his early days.  It took years for God to "empty him of himself" '.  This story is a big step along the way,  a simple moment in life that stuck with him forever.

One day great grandma moody had enough of his conceit and complaining. (they often go together) so she took dad out back and sat him on the bench.  Then she got a bucket full of water and sat it down next to him.

"ok herbie.  Hold up your thumb"

He did

"your thumb represents you.  This bucket of water represents the world.  Now,  stick you thumb in the water and see what happens to the world"

As he did,  there were a few ripples.  They floated back and forth but soon grew still again

"that's the difference you make in the world while you are in it.  A few ripples here and there,  some space taken up,  and that's it.  Now pull your thumb out"

He did again ripples,  but soon the water went back to stillness as before he touched it.

"that's the world after you leave.  You make a few ripples,  then it's like you were never here"

And with that she walked away leaving him staring at the bucket of still water,  a little less big on himself.

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Catch that cow

Dad was a sick young man.  I don't remember the list of illnesses but there were several including severe digestive issues forcing him to often eat only baby food.  Pretty sure there was severe asthma preventing things like running. He wore leg braces for some reason. Apparently as he got older he got worse.

He said many times that he just didn't understand why anyone else would come to his grandma for prayer and leave perfectly well,  but she prayed for him and he just got worse.

This continued until he was maybe mid 20s. I only guess at the age. He was discouraged,  thinking he would die young.  Then...  Life changed one afternoon.

He had been seeking god.,  making the proverbial promise,  "if you help me I will serve you forever".  Bargaining with the creator of the universe.  Years of that had led him nowhere but depressed and sicker.  Finally he had enough.

This afternoon,  alone on his back porch,  he gave in.  His Bargaining was over.  His spirit broken.  He prayed from his heart "I give up.  Whether you heal me or not,  I will serve you as best I can,  sick or well.  I am yours." 

Immediately he heard an audible voice say " herbie (his nickname)  of you mean that,  catch that cow".

He looked up and just as he did,  the family cow leaped over the fence and took off running.  Truth is,  he did mean what he prayed,  and if this is what God wanted then he would try.  He decided to take off hobbling after the cow best he could. Add his foot hit the ground,  life changed in an instant.! He was perfectly healed just like that.

He kept on running and the leg brace flew away,.  He was breathing and running!  A true miracle.  He caught the cow and brought her back.

Overjoyed he ran into the house and started eating.  Whatever he could find.  Things he could never eat before.  Sure enough,  he was healed.

Why?  Apparently god needed dad to give up.  Much like Abraham sacrificing his own son,  my dad had to reach a place of total obedience regardless of personal cost.  God does not bargain.  It is foolish and presumptuous to try to bargain with the master of the universe. Once we realize that and submit to his will no matter what,  he can bless us.

If he would not have taken the first step in faith,  I am sure nothing would have happened.  Faith is the beginning.  Sterling of into the unknown,  knowing we can trust God,  is what he wants.

Not by might,  nor by power,  but by my spirit says the Lord.

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Great grandma moody and the fire

The salch family almost disappeared. We,  you and I,  almost didn't happen.  This is the story of how God preserved us.

My great grandma was a godly woman (seperate post about her life).  She had settled in new York for a time,  which is the setting of this passed down family history story.  I relay this as accurately as I can remember.

She was living in an apartment building of some sort with my grandpa and his brother.  The boys were still small,  I perceive preteens but am unsure.  As the story goes,  she returned home one evening to find her apartment building ablaze in fire.  The fire was so intense that the fireman has abandoned it and we're just watching it burn trying to prevent the spread.

She frantically searched around for her boys,  nowhere to be seen.  Upon ascertaining that they must be inside,  in her upstairs apartment,  she bolted for the front door.  The firemen tried to hold her back from entering,  telling her that it was too late.  But she refused and broke free of them. 

Racing into the front door,  the fireman testified that they saw angels holding the flames back from her as she entered the building. She ran up stairs,  found her boys,  and brought them both out.  As she exited,  again the firemen saw angels holding the fire back from her.  When she stepped out the door and off the porch,  the building collapsed behind her in a heap of flame.

She was not burned,  not singed,  she didn't even smell of smoke she had been totally protected from the fire to rescue her boys.  God had miraculously preserved our family.

As an interesting note....  She was again protected by fire after her death.  I remember as a young boy my grandma,  "nana",  coming into my room early one morning proclaiming that her house had burned down.  She was right.  I went with my dad later to see and her house in the country,  that my dad and grandpa had built,  was gone. 

Oddly,  there was one thing left.  In the back bedroom closet,  under the collapsed and charred roof and walls,  was a cedar storage chest.  Inside that chest among other things was great grandma moody's bibles. They were untouched by the fire,  not even smoke damage.

Miracle?  I don't know.  But I like to think that in a small way God reminded us that he preserved us,  our family.  Those bibles represented her and her brave faithful action to pull our grandfather from the impossible flames.

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The voice

This happened one evening in church.  My dad had rented a local older church building,  and we would meet there once a week in the evening.  I remember walking with my family the 7 or 8 blocks to church in the dark,  which was about halfway across town!

This particular evening was not special in any way I can remember. I don't even recall the message preached nor the songs sung.  But I do remember the voice.  This was the only time I have ever heard such a voice to this day.

We were singing from the hymn book,  standing in the pews.  There were people beside and in front of me,  but not too close.  Maybe 50 to 100 people came that night. 

As we sang,  this voice rang out loud and clear.  It was louder than the singing,  but not yelling,  just loud as if amplified.  It was a strong male voice.  There are a few words spoken in a sentence of another language.

At first I looked around thinking someone was talking to me.  But everyone was singing as if nothing was happening.  A strange feeling came over me.  Several seconds later the voice spoke again,  repeating the exact same phrase as the first time,  but in a very insistent tone.

Again I looked around,  all singing,  no one paying any attention to me not the voice.  Somehow I knew that I was the only one hearing this voice,  but the words were foreign.  I knew that the voice wanted me to repeat the words,  I just knew.  But I was scared.  What did it mean? 

The words sounded sort of German but not any thing I could recognize.  Then a few seconds later,  a third time.  This time even more insistent the same words were spoken. It was maybe three or four words only in a definite phrase.

I quietly spoke the words as best I could one time,  surely fumbling the pronunciation.  And that was it.  No one around me knew what had happened,  the song ended  and it was over.  The voice never returned. Never to this day.

What are those words?  I have no idea.  The words themselves are long forgotten,  and I never told anyone what happened. Perhaps I will never know what the voice had me say so insistently. 

What was that about? I have no idea.  Seemed no purpose,  not that I can perceive.  Nothing happened before not after the event.  Nothing significant.

Should I have said the words?  I can't be sure,  but I knew in the moment that it was expected for me to say it. No doubt at all.  Who was it speaking to me? I have no idea.

Sometimes life gives more questions than answers.

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The night to remember

What I am about to relay to you is true.  I am an eyewitness. I was there.  It is perhaps the most dramatic proof of the existence of a world much bigger than the eye.

First,  some background.

Late 70s, early 80s. The initial revival was calming.  What was left was prayer.  Every Monday night the men of the church in woodsboro would gather in dad's study to pray.  2, 3, 4 hours of steady prayer.  Those were amazing times! 

Often visitors would join.  In this story the visitor was a new Lutheran pastor.  He had moved to town,  taken over the church,  met dad,  and joined our prayer group.  He was young,  late 20 s maybe.

After several weeks he shared with my dad a difficulty he faced.  For some odd reason he just couldn't preach in this church.  The messages and power of God's words just would not flow.  Things would constantly happen,  interruptions,  problems,  etc.  Something was causing this to be a deep struggle for him.

We prayed,  on a typical Monday night. There was dad,  the preacher,  myself, my dad's cousin,  and daryle.  I think my brother might have been present also.  In response to prayer,  dad gave a prophesy...  God spoke.

He told us that a demon had been invited into that church by previous leaders,  and was hindering the work of God there.  This demon was behind the difficulties.  It was strong one,  but we could stand up to it and it would leave.  There were specific instructions given as to how to do this.  We were to walk over (it was across the street)  right then,  enter the front door of the Chapel,  and drive it away through the authority in Jesus name given us. Then the new preacher would be free to do God's work.

So.  We agreed to go.  The small group prayerfully walked across the street and approached the church.  We walked up the steps to the Chapel door,  and it was locked.  The preacher said he would go around the side to enter and open the door.  By God's instruction we should wait to enter the front door.

My dad got proud,  and impatient.  The constant string of miracles had left him a little bigger than he ought be. The preacher disappeared around the left side of the building, and my dad turned to follow.

We all followed,  quietly walking around the side to enter the side door after the preacher. But it was not to be.  Our simple act of disobedience gave the demon an opening. What may seem small to us,  was in fact disobedience,  that which gives power to the enemy.

I watched the preacher enter the side door.  My dad was in front of the group,  maybe 20 feet from the door.  I was behind dad,  dad's cousin walked next to me. I remember passing the tree on the side walk when it started.

As the door closed behind the preacher.  Something left the building. My dad suddenly was hit in the center of his chest,  just as if a ramming log had hit him a a running speed.  He was forced back,  feet scrambling ahead of him for a hold,  arms flailing out front as the invisible post pushed him backward with great force. 

A second later he was pushed backwards between his cousin and me.  Not knowing what else to do in the moment,  our natural reaction was the same...  I grabbed one arm and he grabbed the other.  I remember being surprised at the force I encountered.   My hand slipped past dad's watch and I lost a grip,  never really had one.  Same with his cousin,  a burly farmer.  Neither of us could hold dad back from the invisible force driving him backwards.

Then the tree.  A couple seconds  behind us was the tree.  Dad hit the tree flat against his back with a loud thud.  Then slowly slipped down as the force driving his chest back let go.  It was surreal.  Silence.  What happened?  We were all too shocked to move.

After a few seconds dad tried to move.  He basically slumped down,  face down on the ground.  Fear hit me.  Was he ok?

But then the incredible happened.  He stretched out flat on the ground as someone lays out a shirt on an knowing board.  And he rose.  His whole body rose about 3 feet off the ground,  straight,  floating. Then the spinning.   He body started spinning,  fast.  As he spun he started drifting off across the grass.  No one was touching him,  he was so ply laying flat but floating and spinning.

His arms were flailing out,  as he later recounted,  as he spun he passed a water hose laying in the grass.  The crazy notion hit him to catch the hose to stop the spinning.  His arms and fingers reached but the spinning was too fast.  He looked helpless.

We were silent,  not knowing what to do.  Dad spun and drifted maybe 50 feet across the grass and then stopped spinning.  In an instant he was thrown face down,  straight into the grass,  hard.  It was over.

Took a while for his recovery,  he could barely walk after.  But it was over. 

The next day I remember he went back to investigate,  and there was the impression of his body spread eagle,  smashed into the dirt and grass. It was real.

What happened?  Disobedience.  Pride.  Later praying about it,  God revealed that the problem had been his decision to make his own way,  kissed of entering the church as instructed.  He did his own thing in a seemingly insignificant way.  But that was enough disobedience to allow the demon to attack him.

It left,  sure enough,  but dad was hurt in the process because of pride.  He suffered from what appeared to be bruised kidneys and other internal organs.  An expensive lesson.

God has a path,  a plan.  This life is not our own. Following his path is the only safe way to be successful. There is more here than meets the eyes and what we can't see is most real.  We must trust.

The enemy is real.  He has no authority over us,  no power greater than us,  as long as we walk with God.  In Jesus name,  according to the fathers will,  we can do anything,  go anywhere,  stand against anyone.  But only so long as we follow his will.

I shall never forget that night.  The scene plays in my head often as if it was yesterday.  I was there,  it is real.

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Sex and marriage

Marriage is an Institute created by the creator.  He designed the state of institution of marriage as the glue that binds a family and provides a safe place to raise children.  His goal as stated in Early scripture is to multiply and fill the earth.  He created people to reproduce.  In order to do so successfully,  he designed the family.  And the family starts with marriage.

But something has gone horrible wrong with this foundational truth.  As with most truths,  the enemy has slowly morphed the simplicity of the creator into something that appeals to the selfish nature of man.  Marriage has been fundamentally redefined,  to destroy God's family structure.

No,  I am not referring directly to gay marriage.  That is a symptom,  not a problem.  We may touch on this later.

I refer to the institution of marriage.   Simply put,  marriage is not something that a government,  nor society can define. Marriage is not something that you decide to do and the state "blesses"  it to make it official.  The notion that the state or society controls the definition of marriage Is the problem.

So let's go back to the beginning.  What exactly is marriage in God's eyes,  how     did the creator design this as the basis of a family?  Simple.  Marriage is what happens at the act of sex.  Period.

In the old testament times,  we see the model that God created,  fundamentally different from marriage today in America.   Back then a man and woman had sex,  And they were married in God's eyes.  The "wedding"  or ceremony was then a party to celebrate what had happened already,  the act of marriage.   If the ceremony came first,  the marriage was not "consumated" or complete  until sex took place. You see,  marriage does not begin when someone says "I now pronounce you man and wife",  no....  Marriage takes place when 2 people have sex.

Think about this,  what would happen in society if marriage was defined as beginning at the act of sex?   Sex before marriage no longer exists!  Any act of sex legally binds the man to keep the woman as his wife,  forever. The price of sex for him is support and companionship to her,  for the rest of his life. That would change everything,  for the better.  The problem with "abstinatance"  movement today is that it isn't based on truth of scripture.  You shouldn't wait until marriage to present yourself pure. You in fact always wait until marriage because marriage happens at sex!

This is true in how we are.  During the act of sex,  two become one.  This happens on all levels.

Physically two become one in a child,  the result of sex.  One child created from the two genetic pools of mom and dad. But also two become one with each other,  meaning a transfer of physical life between two.  Microbes of all types transfer between the sexual participants and whatever one has,  the other has.  For better or for worse.  The two have become one.

Emotionally there is a bond created with a single act of sex.  Once it happens,  the two will forever be closer,  more likely to repeat,  more open to admit" we already did it once... ".  There is a closeness that lasts forever,  but can be deepened or lessened over time.  Men and women both think about those they have had sex with differently than those they haven't. This is the reason we call it" making love" because the act of sex does create the feelings of love.

Spiritually two become one in God's eyes.  He expects the two to stay together and form a family from a single act of sex onward.  He sees the two as one with all the moral,  spiritual,  and legal obligations that accompany it.  This is obvious with a read through the law of moses concerning sex and marriage.

So bottom line,  sex IS  marriage.  If the couple chooses to have the state recognize them as married for financial benefit,  fine.  But regardless,  they are married once they have sex. Simple,  and powerful.  The notion that the government,  society,  people,  control and define marriage is a usurping of God's purpose and intent.  We didn't create it,  so we can't change it.

Which is why gay marriage is invalid...  Because two of the same sex can not mate for reproduction as God intended,  therefore can't be "married".  Two of the same gender having sexual relations is prohibited clearly in the Bible,  meaning God will not recognize those two as married.  The state may,  that's up to them.  But it isn't a true marriage because only God recognizes marriage.  Let the state recognize who it wants as "one"  but don't call it a marriage.

In fact the only God approved alternative to the one man one woman marriage is polygamy.  One man,  multiple women.  Each unmarried woman that a man has sex with,  he is obligated to from that moment on.  This is clear in scripture as ordained by god.  So reality is,  the world has twisted God's design so that the only alternative he approves of is rejected by man,  and the only alternatives man approves of is not recognized by god. 

So it's simple.  Marriage is when man and unmarried woman have sexual relations,  and God expects them to then stay together and make a family.  He is responsible for her for life.  He may do this multiple times,  but binds himself to each woman. The government has zero say in this.  It's God's domain,  not man's.

If we could return to this simple definition,  society would prosper,  sex outside of marriage would lessen,  along with it the damage and trauma of it.  Sex would become beautiful and meaningful as the basis of a family, instead of a selfish act of recreation.  Sex is beautiful,  and the basis of life on earth.  Dig into the scriptures and you will see that what we have today is not only twisted,  but exactly opposite of what God intended.  Only a return to the creators design will fix society.

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Reaching brokenness

Brokenness is the state of dispare...  Of man realizing he had no control,  and has no control.  His circumstances are beyond hiGs own abilities to change,  and he is at another's mercy.  A broken will results...  Broken Heart.  Giving up of the attempt to fight.

While this sounds horrible...  It is also uniquely liberating.  It is at the moment  when we give up control...  The very thing God is waiting for in order to change is. 

You see,  God is much more interested in the state of our heart than our circumstances.  He could change any circumstance for better or worse in the blink of an eye.  What he waits for is for us to reach a point of giving him authority to change our heart,  by turning to him.  By realizing that life is nothing without our creator,  that we do not posses the ability to make our own heart clean,  only he does.

So he uses circumstances to bring us to the point of Brokenness....  That moment where we give up trying under our own power and ask him to take over. That's what he wants.  God respects or wishes and as long as we think we can do it alone,  he stands back and watches us with tears in his eyes for our self inflicted pain.  He builds hedges around us to protect us from unseen catastrophes.  But he leaves us to our own devices until we reach Brokenness.  We have free will.  He honors that.

So when things look black,  bleak,  impossible,  there is but one things to do...  Realize that we can not fix what is really wrong (the condition of our heart)  and turn to God's grace,  mercy,  and power to take over. Recognize that man is hopelessly deceitful and evil,  and we need our redeemer to change that. 

Then,  our darkest hour of Brokenness becomes our greatest victory.  Then pace,  maturity,  strength,  true cleanliness from God comes in and fills us from the inside out. 

Or...  If we don't reach Brokenness...  We just have trouble.  And it will get worse.  God let's us go through waves of trouble,  each greater than the last,  to bring us to Brokenness where he can save us. At any wave we can either turn to him,  or keep trying ourself.  We either admit Brokenness or just have more trouble.

God is good,  he loves each of us,  more than we love ourself.  He is working with and waiting for each of us to reach a point where we turn to him with no conditions,  no demands,  nothing left but openess to his love and direction.

Brokenness...  Embrace it,  let it be the victory we so desperately  need.  Let the darkness turn into light in the leave that only God can give.  He waits,  even now.

UPDATE:after writing this,  I ran across this blog from one of the few preachers I respect fully...  David Wilkerson.  It speaks on this subject well.  Copied in here from this link

http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/zh-hans/node/30272

“For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills . . . a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it. . . . Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God . . . lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses . . . and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied . . . then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage . . . and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:7-14, 17)).

The Lord is speaking here not only to Israel but to us today. The purpose of their test in the wilderness was never in doubt: it was “that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He had to teach Israel how to handle all the goodness He was about to pour out upon them. And God will test us the same way He did them.

You see, although the children of Israel were blood-secured and delivered, supernaturally guided and the object of God’s love and miracle-working power, they lacked one thing: They were not dependent upon God!

The blood can cover your sins, but it does not make you dependent on Him. Miracles can deliver you from Satan’s power, but they can’t make you dependent. You can be led by God and still not lean wholly upon the Lord.

God has to strip us of all self-assurance and destroy all that remains of self-righteousness, spiritual pride and boasting. He must (and He does) humiliate all who are destined to inherit His great spiritual blessings.

He will take a Saul of Tarsus—self-assured, self-righteous, consumed with a knowledge of the Scriptures, full of God’s zeal, ready to die for Jehovah—and strike him blind! Saul had to be humiliated before the world, led around like a child and waiting helplessly for days, until God moved. He was humiliated to a point of total dependence!
  http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/zh-hans/node/30272 

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Same fact, different interpretation

Evolution vs creation as the origin of life...  The classic battle between good and evil. This post is not about the debate itself,  but rather the mindset of each side  and HOW they debate.

The fascinating point is that both sides see the exact same evidence.  Both sides evaluate the exact same evidence.  The battle is not about "evidence" at all...  It is about interpretation!

The evolutionist looks at layers of sedimentary rock and sees evidence for millions of years of slow deposits.

The creationist looks at the same sedimentary rock layers and sees a catastrophic world wide flood depositing materials in a year that buried every living thing and formed rock.  Creationism must be true!

Same rock...  Same evidence. 

This is true for every piece of evidence that exists.  Both sides interpret the fact of present evidence as supporting their version truth.  That is why this will never be solved through science.  Each side will see the evidence as proof   of their proposal.  Since the past can never be tested in the present nor future...  It can not be solved through science. Science itself,  by definition,  can never prove what did happen,  only what can happen.  The scientific method is based in testing,  testing can only prove possibilities. But just because something "could have happened"  does not mean it "did" in the same way that just because something "can happen " does not prove that it "will ".  Just add science can not predict the future,  it can not prove the past.

Now true,  if science understands all of the variables at play in a scenerio,  all of the aspects of a natural law,  then predictions can be made confidently in that scenerio.  This works both forward and future.  But wait...  How do we know that all variables have been accounted for?  Only because both "it makes sense in light of presently testable experiments"  and time had shown the predictions come true.! Time...  Going forward.  You can't then go back in time the same way unless you know the past conditions.  There are assumptions here based on Uniformitarism....  The assumption that what is,  always was.

So to go back in time and build models to explain why something happened or how...  Requires a huge assumption,  that conditions have always been the same.

Herein is the rub...  The Bible clearly states that conditions have changed dramatically.  People used to live a thousand years.  Before that people could live forever,  here in earth.  Things were different then.!  The creationist assumes this to be correct and interprets the evidence seem today in light of the described changes.  The evolutionist,  because he purposely seems to ignore and discount biblical teachings,  assumes the bible history is false and that things were always as they are.

Two different foundations upon which to interpret the same evidence,  two different sets of assumptions,  brings two different conclusions.

So bottom line?  Science can't solve this one,  because of the nature is science based on testing in the present and the assumption that works today worked in the past,  because nothing ever changes.  Science seeks to build a story based on the assumption that there is no god. Based on an assumption.... Not fact.

It is the mindset of the interpreter that determines the conclusion reached on the evidence.  Same evidence,  two conclusions.  The assumptions made before interpretation that determine the outcome.

If one assumes that there is a god,  that a global flood happened,  and that the history left to us is correct,  all of the evidence we see today fits.  All of it.

If one assumes that there is no God,  that no world changing flood happened, and the bible is myth,  most of the evidence fits evolutionary theory.  Most,  but not all.  Holes are left that can not be explained.

But...  The same evidence is used as proof in both cases.

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Can there be a savior with evolution?

In a simple answer,  no.  If evolution was the true origin of life,  man is doomed.  Religion is nothing more than a way to make life easier for a fleeting moment.  There is no purpose,  no reason,  only display and frantic avoidance of death. 

Jesus came to pay for our sin.  He paid a debt he did not owe out of his voluntary love for us.  He opened a path for us to be with our creator,  forever.  To live.

But if man evolved from lower life,  we are truly nothing but an animal.  The whole premise of the Bible is that man was created differently,  originally perfect,  in God's own image.  We are not animals,  we are man. But man sinned,  voluntarily walked away from god,  tried to be his own God,  demanded to be master of his own destiny. 

There is simply no logical way to reconcile the story of Genesis,  original sin,  perfection lost,  and the need for a savior with evolution.  Without a literal garden of eden,  an Adam and eve as first man,  original sin through a single act of rebellion,  without these pillars of understanding...  There is no savior. 

What did Jesus save us from?  If not the consequences one man's rebellion,  our father Adam.

I urge you to run from any church authority that even tries to mix the evil of evolutionary thought with making history and meaning.  It is impossible.   Mixing man's thought with God's truth is dangerous disrespect to our creator.  It destroys the foundation of truth and leads one down a path of gradual delusion.  No..  Run. 

There is no science that conflicts with Bible history.  None.  (another post).  If the bible is true,  all of it must be true.  If any is unsure,  all is untrue.  There is no room for middle ground,  compromise.  Truth is absolute,  real,  singular.

Evolution is a replacement for God and the savior.  Intelligent evolutionist even state so. Truth is one or the other.  With evolution,  there is nothing but a teacher of better ways,  no saviour,  no hope for the future.  Only with seeing the truth behind the first 5 books of the Bible does one realize the need for a savior.  All else is folly.

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Multi generational families

The Bible always exists as an example of God's design,  purpose,  and will for today.  This works becasue "there is nothing new under the sun". So when looking at families,  the example of God's design for families is in there.

The aspect I refer to in this post is the multi generational aspect of families.  Studying Bible families,  especially in the early days,  you see that they were usually multiple generations living together or in close proximity.  This was the norm. 

More than just living together,  there was a built in respect level for the elderly.  Age was recognized as wisdom.  The assumption was that age was right until proven wrong. I do not refer to specific stories,  rather the overall trends across the families recorded.

This is in stark contrast to the general notion today.  Society today praises youth,  even villages age.  Watch any TV show and you get a feel for kids,  teenagers,  being the mature ones,  setting rules,  making right choices,  controlling things.  This idea of youth rule is in cartoons,  sitcoms,  movies,  books,  etc.  Children are empowered to make their own choices,  lead their own lives,  be critical of elders and expecially family. The general trend is exactly opposite to God's design in the Bible.

Why is this important?  Well to start,  the family is God's design for wisdom and prosperity.  The structure of family,  not school,  is God's plan for raising new generations.  The family is the original society structure designed by god.  Even Church coming much later. School,  as we know it today,  was not designed by god.

In a family there is identity.  Bible days,  people identified themselves by their family,  their father.    Their family was who they were.  Common beliefs,  traits,  lives all revolved around family.  Ask a jet who they were and you get a family history line and a location,  not a school and career.

Today our families are split geographically and more importantly generational.  The wisdom of parents is suspect,  even rejected.  Grandparents are forgotten,  pushed aside as non productive. Each new generation has its own way of doing things,  it's own identity.

But there is nothing new under the sun.

God designed a family to have multi generations leaning on each other.   The young bring energy,  life,  brightness.  The middle aged bring solid foundations,  work,  success,  structure,  drive.  The old bring wisdom,  openness,  boldness,  history.   The energy of youth is directed into the right paths by middle aged and kept in check by elderly.

How much have we lost today by splitting family generation in seeking each a private and better life?   We see it constantly.  So much wisdom and history is lost.  The elderly had it,  but that was rejected,  replaced by self help books and modern science.  Direction and purpose in life is tough to find among the youth,  who are floundering in a sea of self directed discovery through trial and error.

What if life wasn't this hard?  What if children,  teenagers,  young adults would rely on their parents for advice and direction?  What if grandparents were the daily rock,  wisdom,  teachers that brought experience to life without trial and error?  What if finding the right path was as easy as asking someone who has been there?

Society can only offer substitutes.  No one will ever love you and care about your future more than family.  No teacher,  scientist,  politician,  boss,  etc will ever replace those of your own flesh and blood who have a self preservation based drive to see you succeed.  They can't.  It isn't God's design.  A parent,  Grand parent,  great grand parent...  They understand.  They know.  They love with all their heart.  They sacrifice willingly and happily for the young.  They year to pass along family wisdom,  skills,  history.

Breaking from modern lies about family structure and value is where wisdom is found.   Where life is easier.  Where each generation builds on the success of the one prior instead of starting over.

Why do the young want to start over?  Why start from scratch figuring things out?  Why not start wise and experienced by listening to those who have already done this,  and love. If every generation starts fresh on this journey,  all the pain and suffering of learning is for naught.  It repeats.  The future is doomed to repeat itself and no generation can ever get ahead,  they are always playing catch up.

Family.  That's God's design for success and easy life.  The very fact that it is attacked today is a strong sign that it is right.  Family.  God's school of the ages. 

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why is it true?

The things found in the Bible are true.  That we know.  But here is an important question :

Are the things in the Bible true because they are in the Bible?

Or

Are the things in the Bible because they are true?

A subtle but significant and foundational difference between these two.  Ponder this a bit.  The answer here sets the tone for bible reading,  and for life.

I submit that the second is the truth.  What is in the Bible had been put there by god and maintained there by god through inspiration of man because those things are the truth god wanted us to have.  In other words,  god took turn and placed it in his written word for us as few keeping and easy access.

Why is this important?  Because if you just assume everything in the Bible is true just because it is in the Bible,  it changed your mindset to be accepting or following of man. That mindset opens the door to deception.  We should never "assume"  that anything is true blindly.  God gave us reason,  he expects us to use it to seek truth.

So we shouldn't blindly follow a man,  not a book,  because of itself.  We follow truth itself. We know that everything in the Bible is true ( not withstanding translation errors)  because god put the truth there for us.

"Come let us reason together " is one of my favorite scriptures.  The creator,  our father,  calling us to himself to explore the truth of the universe,  the wonders of his world.  What higher calling could there be in life than this.

Trust the bible as god's word to us,  realize that it had been sent to us,  preserved for us,  but it is the message inside and the author that is important,  not the book itself.

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The old and new testaments

We all know that there are two parts to the bible,  old and new testament.  There are lots of sources expounding on the theological similarities and differences of each.  I would like to share what I see as a fascinating point about their existence.

Many people would say that the old testament is "done away with"  or irrelevant for today.   That since Jesus came to earth we have the new covenant or new testament.  They want to concentrate on the new and neglect the old as outdated.

But here is the deal...  The writings of the new never existed during Jesus day.  In fact none of the new testament apostles had anything But the old testament.  Scripture for them was  only the old testament!  Jesus himself relied exclusively on the old testament scriptures to build the new covenant because that's all there was!

Therefore the old can not be irrelevant,  it is foundational scripture that Jesus used and studied.

Embracing this leads us to the conclusion that the old testament is scripture.. And the new is writings about scripture! Of course the new is also to be considered scripture also but the focus is different.  The writings by the apostles are there explaining the old testament scripture,  things people of the day should have grasped.

While all scripture is good,  each pay had different purpose,  different application.  It's beneficial to keep this in mind while journeying through the wisdom within those pages

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Religion vs faith

The ultimate battle over mankind started in the garden of eden and still rages on today.  It is the battle of good vs evil in the form of religion vs faith. Religion and faith are not synonyms,  they are bitter enemies.

Religion can best be described as man seeking to please God.  It is a system of rules,  teachings,  life styles,  ceremonies,  etc that promise to make man acceptable to God.  To make man good enough.  To allow man to improve himself. 

Faith is the opposite.  It is the realization that many can never make himself "good"  but rather man mustered totally on God to do this.  It is God seeking man.  It is man stopping his labor to be good and having faith that God will perfect him.

In the garden there was 2 choices.....  Rely on God for the basic understanding of good and evil,  rely on God through faith to accept us,  to perfect us,  to love us just as we are,  day by day.  Or...  Choice 2 was to take on the responsibility of knowing good and evil,  to do the work of choosing ourselves,  being good,  day by day,  of our own effort.   That is the classic battle of religion (become like god)  and faith (trust in him to accept and love us as is). 

This is the same choice and battle we face today.  All religion  presents a set of rules (good and evil)  that we must understand and follow...  Day by day.  All in an effort to improve ourself,  make us acceptable to God,  worthy,  make us like God.  It is man taking that apple once again to make himself as God,  by rejecting God.  Demanding the right to fix ourself,  we are enough,  we don't need God.

The Christian faith is opposite.  It is an acceptance that man is horrible broken and evil at heart.  We can never make ourselves clean,  acceptable.  No rules,  no ceremony,  no revelation will ever cleanse our evil hearts.  And that's OK because as God instructed Adam in the garden,  "trust in me"...  Have faith.  God himself wants to be our guide post,  our leader,  our measuring stick for good and evil.  In the garden Adam didn't have to choose good and evil,  he trusted God to guide him.  Jess said he would write God's laws in our hearts,  fill us with the wisdom of the comforter,  to speak to us from within,  to be our guide through all things,  and most importantly,  he would personally cleanse us.  We do not need religion...  Because through faith in jess we have been made perfect. There are no rules,  no ceremonies,  no revelations required to make us perfect.  He does it for us.

It was religion that crucified jesus,  it was the rules and laws of religion that put him on the cross.  And religion today,  of any flavor (Christian,  Islam,  atheistic,  deistic,  humanistic)  will kill us.  Religion fails because man can not be changed from the outside in.  To ge truly clean,  and at peace with our creator,  requires a new,  changed,  purified heart. 

Faith works inside out,  change the heart and the rest of man will follow.  Religion works outside in,  act certain ways and ignore what is deep inside.  Religion doesn't work.  Man can not redeem himself through his actions.  Man can not repay his debt on his own.  Faith forgives that debt and sets us free.

We have the same choice today,  each of us,  to live by faith and let God himself redeem us through jesus or eat the Apple of religion and be responsible to be like God on our own. Only faith can succeed.  Only the humility of admitting "I can never be perfect inside" and turning all trust to God.

Through faith we return to the garden,  where man started.  We live day by day through the wisdom and comfort of the Holy Ghost.  Rules,  laws,  ceremonies,  are all gone.  All that remains is truth,  rest,  peace,  clean.  Faith,  in jesus as our savior,  in the Holy Ghost as our daily guide.  In our creator who loves us dearly and is patiently waiting for us to stop...  And let him love us.

Faith,  not religion.

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The nature of vacuum

A vacuum is a very dangerous thing! Nature at every level hats to fill a vacuum,  with anything it can.  What it is filled with does not matter,  whether good or evil. 

Dig a hole in the ground,  leave it alone,  and it will eventually fill in.  First with water and then with whatever the water can carry in.

Strip a plot of land of all vegetation,  and it will slowly become a weed bed.  Opportunistic weeds taking their chance to fill the vacuum.

Move air by any means,  and the space is quickly filed with whatever gas,  liquid ,  or solid is available to rush in.

This principle works outside of nature also,  nature being the visible evidence of truth unseen.  For instance,  any vacuum created in human relations is filed,  with availble available something.  Needs are a vacuum,  a home,  that will be filled by the nearest available entity.

In the realm of government,  vacuums are filled with laws,  control.  A need is perceived,  everyone rushes to fill that need.  The long term consequences are usually ignored in the haste to fill the need.  Most of the laws that remove freedom were originally intended to be good,  too fill an immediate need,  like water rushing into a hole.  But just as that water carries dirt,  trash,  contaminants,  whatever....  The law of together to fill only an immediate need will carry in garbage,  control,  loss of freedom,  oppression.

Create a void,  a vacuum,  in a child's heart and they will fill it.  It must be filled at all cost.  If not filed with good,  then with compromise of with evil. But it will be filled.

Create a vacuum in society and it will be filled...  Remove a proper purpose,  motivation,  reason,  and society will fill the void with whatever it can.  Remove the creator and other gods rush in.  Remove the Bible and other writings rush in.  The void will be filled.

This is why nutreaulity is a myth.  American society today seems to eliminate any reference to God.  It seems to be neutral.  Not just neutral but silent.  This is impossible because silent is vacuum and vacuum will be filled. 

Take the scopes "monkey trial"  as example.  Creationism won that trial overt evolution.  Officially the judicial system upheld that teaching of creation instead of evolution could be mandated at a local level.  But..  Unofficially the teaching,  even the belief of Creationism lost in the public eye.  Bible believers poverty fledgling science theories are ridiculed and scoffed at.  People pulled back.  It became a "private matter"  to believe one way or another.  A vacuum was created...  And as always it was filled.  Because believers stipped talking
,  living their belief in the Bible,  schools slowly transformed to teaching evolution.  The vacuumed created by winning the trial but losing the desire to be public,  was filled with the opposing view.

Vacuums in our heart are also filled . Being empty inside is not a natural state,  and we will fill it,  either with good or evil.  We will either invite the presence of our creator or can that hole with other things.  The problem is,  nothing else lasts.  The vacuum inside us will constantly empty of all else ornery than our creator.  Addictions,  recreation,  happiness,  pleasure,  money,  friends,  all that stuff we try to fill the hole with never lasts.  The vacuum persists,  drawing more and more in to fill itself.  But only one thing fits and lasts....  Our creator. 

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Democracy? Never!

America is not a democracy.  Never was,  and hopefully never will be.  History shows that democracy fails miserably.  Democracy is nothing more than organized mob rule.  Power to the masses is really power to the few.  Democracy is oppressive,  manipulative,  controlling.  It is the will of the mob imposed on the rest.

America is a constitutional Republic.  Totally different in fundamental ways.  Both of those words are equally important. Let's look at them :

Republic : unlike a democracy where people vote on issues directly,  s Republic is a system where people's choose a representative to go,  look closely at issues,  and decide for them.  It is representation,  not democratic voting.  The masses never vote on issues,  they vote on people to vote on issues.  It is a recognition of the fact that the masses will never be truly deeply informed so they need to appoint someone trustworthy to do the deep investigation. It is this middle layer of Representatives that makes a republic different from a democracy,  and what makes one work where the other fails.

Constitutional: this is sooooooo important!  Or Republic is bounded, contained,  limited,  protected,  defined by perpetual document,  the condition.  Herein is the basics of government defined and controlled so the no one man nor even group can change it fundamentally. The constitution defined the rights of the individual so that the masses can not violate them.  It is protection to man  and limitation on the feed of those in charge.  Sure the Constitution may change,  slowly,  obey time,  with neat total agreement of the individuals,  but it insulated the individual from the whims of power hungry parties.

Democracy is doomed to fail,  as history shows over and over.  Republics bounded by constitutions not only prevail but can promote freedom to the individual over time,  across generations.  This is our great nation.

Protect this with your life.  The more democratic America becomes over time,  the less individual people are,  the less free,  the more pawns of the state.  Protect the constitutional Republic that god has granted you through the deaths of many brave selfless men and families.  Becoming nothing more than an outside mob ruling the individual would dishonor or post and endanger our future.  Protect the uniqueness of what God created here,  publicise it,  practice it,  fight for it.

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Truth

One of the most important principles in life is simply this....  There is truth.  Truth is based in facts,  not feelings.  Truth is absolute.  Whether we agree with it or not,  truth still stands.  Truth is true not because we think it is,  but because it is.

While Thai may seem  obvious,  many who read that paragraph would object.  For them,  truth is what one thinks it is.  What is true for one may not be true for another.  For them,  truth is based on belief in the truth,  on personal experience.

It is life the old joke...  If a tree falls in the woods with no one around,  does it make a sound?  My point here is...  Of course it does.  The physics of sound are true regardless of a hearer. The sound happens.  It is a fact,  a truth.

The skeptic says,  there are lots of ways to do the sound of a tree falling,  so this is not an absolute truth!  But that's shortsighted.  Fact is,  there are circumstances,  conditions,  to every truth,  but each of those is true absolutely.  Just because we don't understand all the variables doesn't affect the absolute nature of truth.

So it is with life.  For instance,  it is common to hear "this religion is truth for me"  but that is impossible.  All religions can not be equally true,  especially when they conflict.  If Islam is true,  Christianity is a lie.  They can not Co exist. They both proclaim one god supreme over all,  but both assign this good opposite characteristics.  He is either one of the other,  not both.  Who he is,  is not in any way dependent on what man thinks.  Either way,  God is who he is.

Why does this matter?  Is everything!  Life is not about "finding a way to be happy by finding the right religion for oneself" .  There is no notion of "is what works for me".  That is all a lie.  Truth is,  regardless of our understanding,  so life is about finding the one truth and following it.  Life is about testing truth,  seeking it   understanding it.  This has nothing to do with what works for us,  what helps us,  what we desire.  No....  It has to do with a journey to discover the facts. 

So in the end,  we need to change to find and accept the facts,  not the other way around.  Truth is not subject to our desires  not understanding.!  Truth is true,  always.  Or future depends on finding it,  understanding it,  and embracing it.

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4 visitors with a promise

My most memorable angelic visit is a fond one.  This happened 3 nights in a row when I was about 10 or so. First a little background...

When we moved to town in 1979, I received my first private bedroom. Prior to that I slept in a room with my two sisters.  In my own room,  the bed was in the opposite corner from the closet,  which was shallow wide closet.  There was a 4 panel accordian style door on the closet.  To the left of the closet was a shelf about head height.  At the time of this vision /visitation  I was suffering from a slight cold.  My dad had placed an old ozone generator/ air purifier on the shelf.  Not like those today,  this generator worked on light to purify,  uv light.  It cast a dim blue light from the top grill against the ceiling,  a few lines from light shining through the top grill.

On these particular 3 nights,  I woke up sometime in the dark.  All was quiet but a strange light filled the room.  Not a bright light,  but very noticeable.  Turning over in my bed I saw the source of the light.  In front of the closet there was a moving heavenly scene!

There were 4 angels,  dressed in white robes. They glowed with a soft light that filled the room.  All 4 stood in front of the closet facing away from me and towards into the closed closet door.  There was no sound,  only light.

As I watched,  a white glowing box about a foot square floated up from the floor where it just materialized by fading in. It slowly floated up into the waiting hands on the first angel.  In a smooth motion he caught the box,  shifted left,  and handed the box to the angel to his left.  That angel took the box and in a smooth motion twisted to his left to repeat the handoff.  The first angel twisted back to the right and caught the next box floating up from the floor.  It was a flowing constant assembly line or bucket brigade.  The boxes smoothly flow up from the floor across the waiting angels one to another,  towards the one on the furthest left.  He would twist to his left and let go of the box in mid air.  The box would then float up to the ceiling and disappear.  Interestingly it would fade out right at the spot where the light from the air filter hit the ceiling.  The light from the grills had changed  to form a face on the ceiling. 

The whole scene was transfixing to watch.  These glowing white boxes,  all identical, fading in at the floor, floating up, flowing across from angel to angel,  and floating up to the face on the ceiling. The face was as the face of God himself.  No pause,  no change in motion,  smooth and constant. It seemed as though the boxes were coming one after the other and being delivered to God himself.

Now....  I was calm inside seeing this but at the same time terrified. So terrified that I couldn't move.  My whole body including my voice was paralyzed in fear ,  yet I was calm,  not panicky. I wanted to speak,  but couldn't. I could only watch,  laying still in my bed.

I remember the crazy notion that I should grab my flashlight,  sitting on the nightstand by my bed,  and shine it on them.  But all my willpower could not move a hand,  not even a finger.  The third night I seem to remember finally moving my hand a little,  but not enough.

How long did this last ? I do not know.  Was it a few minutes? An hour? Longer?  I can't say. It was a while,  perhaps long enough to count 20 or 40 boxes slowly floating each night.  The scene never actually ended,  I simply drifted back to sleep after a while as  I watched. 

At first I was too terrified to tell anyone what had happened,  but maybe a week later I just had to.  After bible study at our home,  my dad teaching,  I went to him and told him about it.  He listened intently  then took a moment to pray before saying anything.  After praying for God's meaning in this thing,  his voice changed slightly as it always did when he was prophesying  (a regular event in our bible studies). 

The explanation went something like this...  I do not remember the exact words,  only the meaning...

"this revelation was to show you,  David,  the blessing of God that await you if you only follow my words and my way "

In my heart it felt right.  Those boxes were each a promise,  a blessing,  granted and given by god to me,  if I choose to follow his ways. I had no idea for the longest time what they could be  but years later I realized that at least some of them are my children,  you.  Each of you and your spouses are a special blessing,  a gift of God. As life turned out...  I am the only one to pass along or family genetics.  My sister's had no children,  my brother had two but one died childless and the other decided to not have children. So literally I alone was chosen to carry forward the family.

I do not know why,  do not claim any special privilege,  and certainly am not worthy.  But the visitation from those angels is something I hold dear in my heart each day.

Angels are real,  and I can assure you that each of you has a set of blessing boxes waiting for delivery...  If you only choose to follow his ways.

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Angels

Angels are real.! There is more to life than meets the eye.  In fact,  the supernatural is more real than the natural world we live in. This world will fade away someday,  the supernatural,  heaven,  Angels are with us today and forever.

I have many times seen or been visited by angels.  Does this make me special?  No.  Certainly not.  They are all around us,  everyone of us.  Even those of us that deny their existence. 

What are angels?  Many churches would teach that they are past people or future people not in bodies for one reason or another.  This can certainly be true as it is even recorded in scripture,  but not always the case.  I would offer not usually the case. 

When we look at the vast range of variety in this world...  The thousands and millions of different life forms on this planet all created individually and purposefully by god,  we see that our creator is a God of variety.  Why would we expect heaven to be devoid of that same variety?  There must be all sorts of angel beings in heaven and amongst us. This is also recorded in scripture,  especially in the book of revelation.

We must never discount the supernatural world and is inhabitants.  We must also never fear them.  Respect is due,  fear is not.  These beings are either on our God's side,  working with us   or they are the enemy already defeated and under Christ's dominion.  Respect,  but not fear.

I will relate some of my personal experiences with these beings,  both good and bad.  These are for your encouragement and understanding.  They come with one warning,  never crave or seek after these experiences.  They mean nothing in the long run.  They do not change nor define us.  They fit in the class of things scripture calls signs and wonders.  Adam walked with god face to face,  and yet sinned.  Isreal saw Jesus work many miracles and yet crucified him.  Signs mean little.  Appreciate them,  do not seek them.

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Lost in the weeds - part 2

Weeds must be controlled in order to produce fruit.  The weeds compete with fruit producing plants for water,  nutrients,  sunlight,  all the stuff of life.  Left alone the weeds will overtake a fertile plot of soil and render it useless.

But still,  wisdom must be applied to the removal of weeds.  Indiscriminately plucking weeds out of the ground can do much more harm than good.  So a wise Gardner will watch time and technique.

Before planting,  one must remove as many seeds as possible by sprouting and killing them.  This is a process of cleaning the ground before planting.  The process of tilling,  sprouting weeds,  tilling,  is carefully controlled to pull out as much of the weed seeds as possible to protect the plants that do not even exist yet.

Then seeds are planted and watered.  Careful timing again can bring another round of weeding before sprouting.  Weeds sprout first,  so knowing the rate of germination for the wanted seeds allows a round of wedding just before emergence.  But be careful,  only non invasive methods work here.  Disturbing the ground at this tender stage brings disaster.  The seeds must be left untouched as they take root.

Then seedlings,  both good and bag.  The work to this point determines the balance.  Lots of outside influence brings more weeds than seeds,  lack of preparation  before sprouting brings more weeds.  Overzealous work in the crucial window destroys the seedlings.  All must be in the proper proportion and timing. 

Then waiting.  Some weeds can be removed now,  if they are far from the seedlings and small enough.  Care is important to know which weeds can be removed and which are to close to seedlings.  One mustn't remove all weeds,  for doing so well uproot the tender seedlings. 

As seedlings grow,  weeds grow faster.  Great wisdom and experience is required to know where the balance is between weeds left that will choke out growth and damaged done during weeding.  Ultimately some weeds are left to grow alongside the plants. Some loss of good growth is accepted to prevent loss of crop. The bad is nurtured,  watered,  just like the good.

This balance,  is parenting.  Children are that fertile ground.  Utmost care is needed to know when and how each plant is nurtured.  No general rules apply fully,  Herein is the need for wisdom,  watching.  Sometimes bad traits are tolerated to avoid over werding of their delicate souls.  The family they are placed in is the fertile ground where they grow.  Proper preparation is necessary to remove as many weed seeds possible.  Tilling and planting is timing controlled.

But also this garden is God's world.  We are his garden.  The are weeds among us,  left to grow and suck life from us.  Not all weeds can be removed without destroying us.  The ungodly prosper alongside the godly,  the rain and sun falls on both. Such is life.  Only an understanding of the highest calling and purpose explains the prosperity of the unjust.  Yet,  a day comes when the weeds are removed and tossed aside.  When the fruit is harvested.

We have great control over the weeds in our life.  It is always easier to remove sprouts than mature plants.  Pulling out large weeds causes damage.  Cutting off weeds at the surface lasts but a while until they regrow.  The more outside exposure we allow ourselves,  the more weed seeds are deposited in our garden.

Gardens are so full of wisdom.  It is life,  us.  We have much to learn.

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Lost in the weeds - part 1

Weeds,  the name of every gardener.  These plants are seen as the enemy.  They are tough,  fast growing,  resilie,  overpowering,  constant. But...  They are also a series of deep life lessons. 

Are weeds truly bad?  Should we eliminate them from the face of the ground to increase food production?  It might seem so at first glance...  But herein is our first lesson.  The value of difficulty.

Consider for a second the origin of weeds.  We think of them as useless pests to be driven away at all costs.  But their true origin?  God.  The ever loving,  ever knowing,  ever capable creator said "cursed be the ground for your sake,  thorns and thistles shall it grow".

Hmmm.  So weeds are,  a good thing!  A curse is a positive thing!  How can that be? 

Modern thought would say that happiness,  recreation,  fun,  success,  are the purpose and goal of life.  But god said weeds are a blessing,  he gave them for us!  Weeds don't foster happiness,  recreation,  ease of life.  Weeds represent work,  hard constant work.  Left alone weeds will overtake the ground and make food production,  life,  stagnate. What gives?

Modern thought is wrong,  that's what gives.  The purpose of life is work,  not play.  Weeds are given to make us toil for our food,  the basic of life. That is the blessing....  Hard work! We are to embrace work,  overcome,  every day of our life. It is where life and happiness come from.

Weeds will never be eradicated.  Modern agriculture teams up with science to finally rid or life of these pests ,  but instead of relaxing nirvana we very super weeds!  They do not die off ,  they get stronger,  more prolific,  more troublesome. All man can do is make weeds worse. All his technology,  brilliance,  in fighting God's original curse...  They fail and backfire.  Man is not above god.  Creature is not above creation.

So weeds in our life are a blessing.  They teach us   prevent us from becoming complacent.  They allow us to succeed,  to battle and win.  The most dangerous time for any man is during rest and success. Without an enemy,  man drifts into the pleasure of the flesh,  the tempest and useless side of life.  Time is wasted,  muscles weaken,  the mind dulls.  Weeds in our life keep us going,  keep us straight and focused. Weeds are here for us.

Oddly,  even the ungodly know this in part.  As America shifted to a sedentary existence behind desks,  health clubs sprang up everywhere.  Man needs to be physical,  to fight,  to stay strong.  Man needs weeds.  When there are no weeds to fight in our own gardens,  we heaf to the club to stimulate fighting weeds,  or we get soft and weak.

So instead of cursing weeds in our life,  embrace them as a gift of God to us.  Work,  trials,  troubles are all weeds.  They are good for us.

Cursed is the ground,  for your sake.....

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In the garden

Dad was a farmer at heart.  When we moved to town in 1970, he created a huge garden from the the empty lots next to our house.  This garden grew lots of food for sure,  but more importantly it was the source of many life lessons. 

Working in the garden became a higher education in life.  Every simple act of gardening had meaning,  a metaphor of some life truth.  He would casually share these truths,  to my amazement.  It made sense.  Life made sense.  Through his simple lessons I could clearly see things that were invisible moments before.

The garden,  where it all began.  Not unlike the garden where man began. In eden,  man was assigned his first purpose for living,  for having been created.  A garden.  That garden was planted by our heavenly feather,  God himself,  but given to Adam to tend.  Man,  all of us   are at heart a gardener.

It is no wonder that the garden yields so many truths so plainly,  that gardening mirrors life.  It is our birth and our destiny.
So I will share with you some of the lessons I learned as a young man in the garden. Previous memories I will always hold dear,  hoping they will also touch your heart.

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