All sin feels good

All sin feels good,  but all that feels good is not sin.

Sin must advertise itself.  Just as when it all started with an innocent girl in a perfect garden,  enticed to make things better than perfect",  sin always advertises itself as positive,  fun,  pleasurable,  beneficial,  admirable,  etc.  Bottom line,  the beginning of all sin feels good.  

But,  it's nothing more than an advertisement,  a bait and switch,  a trap.  How does one bait a trap?  With something irrestible. But it's still a trap.  Soon the irrestible will turn to entrapment in one way or another,  and then devastation.

This is true for all sin.  It is tempting only because the first parts of sin feel good,  feel right,  are desirable.  If sin presented itself as what it is,  there would be no temptation.  Drugs don't come offering a life of lonely misery of addiction and loss.  No,  they come with a very true promise of pleasure,  relief from pain,  escape to the weary.  Pleasure.  Goodness.  A new friend.  They appear to be just what we desire at the time.  But that's the bait. 

Don't fall for it.  Be skeptical of anything that feels good up front.  If it feels good,  explore,  look deeper and beyond.  Where does this lead?  What about tomorrow?   Never trust what feels good at face value.  All sin feels good.

The sin isn't in feeling good,  the sin is in bypassing God.  The sin is in the substitute.  Our creator and father wants us to find peace and pleasure in his presence.  And we will,  but all else that promises peace or pleasure is a lie,  a substitute,  sin.  God is our sole source of goodness.  He is the only source that truly leads to eternal goodness.  All other is a trap, leading to death and despair. 

So be careful,  be most wary of that which appears fun,  pleasurable,  easy,  comforting.  Be skeptical of the good things. 

All sin feels good,  but feeling good is not sin.  Find the true source.  And live.

And the blind shall see

"And these signs shall follow them that believe.... And the blind shall see"

My dad took those words of Jesus seriously...  He often pointed out that Jesus didn't say" might" or "could"  but a definite "shall".  We are to expect those following in Jesus footsteps (his church)  to walk in miracles such as returning sight to the blind.

Sure,  analogies can be made to sight as wisdom, understanding,  salvation...  Ok.  But the words themselves are meant in context to mean what they say...  Physical miraculous healings.  We are to walk in those.

One night that particular point was tested in dad.  I remember it well.

This happened while we were meeting weekly at an old Presbyterian church building in woodsboro,  long since torn down.  Our family would often walk the 6 or 8 blocks from home to the church.

This particular night I remember watching strangers drive up. 2 or three people got out of the car and helped an elderly lady inside.  She was obviously blind,  walking with assistance and cane.  I watched on the front steps as they helped her slowly update steps.

The small group sat near the front,  on the right side.  I sat several rows back as was my custom.  The message I do not remember,  nothing in particular.  We followed the usual prayer,  singing.  Speaking.  Then at the end...  As he always did,  dad ask the entire congregation if anyone had special needs for prayer. 

The elderly lady motioned.  Either herself or her companions explained that she had been totally blind,  walking with a cane,  most of her life.  I do not remember if they said why.  She had heard that here miracles happened,  and so she came.  She wanted her sight back.

Now,  later I recall dad admitting that he was a bit apprehensive.  There is always something that we think is too big for God,  too much.  Blindness was this for dad.  He doubted.  But faith is not the absence of doubt,  faith is the ability to press forward in the midst of doubt.   And so he did.

In front of the church,  openly,  he prayed for this poor lady and asked Jesus to restore her sight as his words promised.  Nothing spectacular happened,  no lightening bolt or thunder.  But after praying she turned around and screamed!  She could read the bulletin posted at the rear of the church.  Just like that,  calmly and suddenly,  her sight was restored.

The amazing thing to me,  is that miracles were so common in those days,  that this night was not even astounding.  It was "above average"  in excitement,  but only slightly.  People were being healed and delivered weekly. It wasn't a surprise when God moved in this way,  it was a curiosity of "what miracle shall we see this week". 

So yes,  these signs do in fact follow those that believe.....  The blind do see. Even today.

Formula for the girls... How to rate a man

Here is a simple but reliable way to rate a man's true strength. In a word..  Don't!  Instead..  Look at how he rates himself.  I can guarantee that he does!

There is a phenomenon in the animal kingdom that I, as a farmer,  deal with constantly....  We call it the "pecking order".  In every little "society" of animals there is a natural order of top to bottom.  The top is the most dominant   strongest,  most capable,  boldest  ones.  They get to eat first, best spots to sleep,  and mate most.  Natural leaders and followers emerge. It always happens,  100%of the time in every society. 

The same thing happens with men.  We as men naturally find our order in society,  or place.  We are pushed down from above and still dominate what is below.  Every man's natural ways establish this quickly in life.  In fact,  at every stage from toddler hood onward, men fall into and fight for their place. 

Want to rate a man?  Simple...  Look at who he dominates and submits to.  Not so much individuals,  but classes of other men.  What type in man dies he identify with..  His  comfort zone?  Who does he complain about?  Those are above him.  Who does he feel compassion for?  Those are below him.  Who does he relax with?  Those are peers. Who does he stand up to?  Challenge?  Those are just above him.

This is reality and it works.  She,  through their lives men climb up the pecking order gradually...  But their starting point and therefore their reasonable end point week be set at an early age. 

It works for any man,  anywhere. You can both tell what kind of man he is,  and what kind of life he will lead.

Don't rate a man.....  Instead perceive how he has already rated himself.

What is love

Love is at the heart of all human experience. But what is true love?

True love is not what the common notion says it is.  True love had nothing to do with romance,  nothing to do with words or feelings.  It is not an emotion at all.

True love is simply a commitment to do what is best for the other person regardless of the pain it might cause us,  and expect nothing in return.

Read that again.  Let it sink in.

Love is an action.  It hurts the lover to help the one loved,  but the lover rejoices in being able to provide for the loved.  It is a sacrifice.

Love is measured not by feelings nor words,  it is measured by the level of sacrifice a lover is willing to provide to the one loved, expecting nothing in return.

Love creates feelings of love in the one loved.  Feelings of gratitude,  trust,  comfort,  and a desire to commit to the one loving. The acts of love a lover does is what creates feelings of love. 

Cheap love,  fake love,  is when one person matters the art of creating those feelings in another with no sacrifice,  no commitment.  That is just a lie.  It is not love,  it is self centered manipulation.  And it happens all the time. It seems in the one that falsely feels loved being hurt deeply.

Feelings can never be trusted.  Look beneath the feelings and see the sacrifice,  the attitude of gifting that sacrifice freely,  to see love.  Without sacrifice there is no love. 

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Christmas 2014

Life is not found in a box wrapped with bows,
Life is found in a feeding trough of hay in a barn.

Peace is not found in a bottle or a pill,
Pease is found in the touch of one's creator.

Joy  is not found in a game or toy,
Joy is found in the face of a child who adores you.

Prosperity is not found in a bank account nor investment,
Prosperity is found by trusting in the king of all creation.

Live my friends,  feel life at its core, find the peace of a reality beyond the 5 senses,  find prosperity of the universe. This Christmas find the truth of life,  in a manger.  Only through his life can we live.  Only through his death can we be free,  only in his victory can we find prosperity.

Christmas is where life begins.
Easter is where peace is fulfilled.
Pentecost is where the fire of life ignites.

There is no other name,  no other truth,  no other way,  than through the simplicity of the manger and the one who lay there.  All else is but dirt by comparison.  It's through Jesus that none will fail.  He knocks at your heart tonight.  Will you open the door?

"they have their reward"

I remember dad walking down the Isle of a beautiful church building,  seeing little plaques on the end of the pews,  and sadness overtaking him.  It broke his heart.

He explained,  "they have their reward".  If we seek compensation for our good acts here,  in this life,  then we have no reward for that in heaven.  We don't get both,  it's either here or there.

How said to trade an eternal blessing for a plaque,  a mention,  a few people thinking highly of us?   How sad indeed.

Don't seek recognition,  reward,  compensation here.  Do what you should do,  ad to provide for your needs,  and that's it.  This is peace.  Never demand recognition,  instead trust.  Reward from the creator of the universe is so much more valuable than a reward from man.

Besides,  the true reward comes in not seeking a reward at all!   We should do what we do because it serves God,  fills his heart with joy.  Not for any personal reward here or there.  Life is about giving,  not getting.  Seek to give,  in service to our creator.  Then trust and find peace. 

They have their reward....  How sad.

The more you invest, the bigger the return

When investing money,  the principle is obvious. "the more you invest,  the bigger your potential return".  This is a universal concept. It's not just money though,  this also works with your health.

We have met two different mindsets concerning health:

1. Those that ask how much do I need to do in order to see benefit?

2. Those that ask what all can I do that might help?

Those in #1 rarely see benefit through diet and lifestyle changes,  and end up criticising the ability for these to work.  They become the numbers who say "it doesn't work enough to be worth while".  Why?  They have invested so little that the potential return is tiny.

Those in #2 see huge benefit.  While they might "do more than necessary",  they achieve the results desired and live healthy without pharmaceuticals.  They become the poster child of natural health.

Why the difference?  It's all in the principal. If you only do what you think you must,  you will fail to see much. Holding back,  holds you back.  How would a doctor respond if you negotiated which parts of his cancer treatment plan you participated in?  "I really only want the chemo twice,  no more,  it's just too much".  What would he say?  And yet we do just that about natural healing constantly.  "do I really need to eat o ly organic in everything,  all the time?".  If you need to ask that,  don't bother.  It won't work for you with that small of investment.
Oddly,  this same principal is what prevents most "studies"  from showing benefit.  These studies,  by design,  usually only study individual changes.  They see small benefit if any,  because individual changes are pointless by the principal.  If you attempt to cure the flu by taking one herb, yo7 will fail.  The study that tries to prove effectiveness will fail.  Because herbs are not chemicals designed to bring an instant relief of symptoms,  herbs heal.  But only in combination with large investments in healthy choices.

I can assure you personally that it is possible to cure most modern degenerative diseases,  simply through 4 basic nutrition / life / environment principles.  We have done it.  Our family of now 6 has gone from monthly Dr visits with long deep down times for sickness,  to no Dr visits necessary in over 2 years.  Many many ailments are j7st gone on their own.  Herbs now heal effectively where 5 years ago they had no effect.  The list of benefits is astounding,  and it is reproducible in others and holds true over time.

But the key is....  Large investments.  It's truly all or nothing.  If your not willing to do everything possible to make health self supporting,  you simply won't be able to.  We have,  we jumped in with both feet.  When we started,  we went through the kitchen and removed everything that came in a box,  bags bottle,  can.  Gone all at once.  Then we learned to cook. We replaced all normal drinks with water and fermented drinks only.   We replaced all fruits and vegetables with ligands,  all meats with our own heritage,  soy free,  pastured,  organic non processed,  antibiotic free meats.  We filled our medicine cabinet with detoxing vitamins,  minerals,  and herbs.  We threw out all wheat and sugar,  and any product that contains either.  We only ate vegetables fresh or fermented,  never preserved without bacteria.  All dairy was based on our own raw goat dairy.  We threw away all personal care products like soap,  shampoo,  toothpaste,  creams,  gels,  sprays,  etc.  We removed any materials from the house that would off gas (had a smell)  from man made compounds.  Wev threw away all pharmaceuticals and medicinal chemicals,  gels,  sprays,  and etc.  We stopped all alcohol,  all caffeine.  We poured out all vegetable oils,  replaced with good organic well fed animal fats and coconut oil.
We made sure all spices and herbs were organic or beyond organic. We started regular detox baths and treatments.

All that and more,  it was a complete life change.  But it worked better than we could have ever expected.  We as a family are alive again,  healthy,  cured of things that Dr say you can't be cured of.  Life is good.

So please,  save yourself,  save your children (born or not yet born).  Reject modern wisdom and return to God's ways.  They work.  But only if your fully committed.  Don't pray for health,  or deliverance from disease caused by our own actions. Life right,  and God will provide the healing,  usually through the processes he already put into place for us.  He designed our world,  our lives,  our bodies to be long and healthy.  The choice is ours.

Why a manger for the king of the universe ?

This post is written Christmas eve.  I lay here contemplating one of the greatest mysteries of all time.

Jesus the Christ,  King of Kings and Lord of Lord's,  creator of the universe,  firstborn son of the living God,  the highest of the high,  and yet when he came to earth to live among us,  his life was anything but royal in man's eyes.  His life is exemplified in this....  Born in a manger.

The manger represents the lowest possible position in life. Kings are born in palaces of gold,  silver,  ivory and laid on only the best linens,  soft beds,  in expensive soft clean clothes.  Jesus,  rested his first night in the stray and hay,  surrounded by manure,  filth of animal pens,  wrapped in old ripped cloth strips.  So why?  How could this be?  Did God the Father not care about his only son?  Did the angels not protect and watch over his prosperity?  Why was Jesus born a pauper,  not a king?

Simple,  to show us how useless,  cheap,  undesirable the riches of this world are.  Riches around us are but the dust of the earth.  Prosperity,  power,  position,  ....  Those are the manure in God's Kingdom.  Jesus came to life by example,  to show us that none of that stuff matters.  He started out the poorest of poor.

Seeking worldly riches,  valuing them,  is a lie.  It is THE lie.  The lie of the serpent was to seek life here above life of heaven.  To be satisfied with the pride of life,  the comfort of our present existence,  the riches of a fallen world. It's all the same lie... It caused death and misery then,  and it still does today. 

There is nothing here,  of here,  by here,  that fills the heart. No house,  no car,  no recreation,  no bank account,  no pleasure of this earth can truly satisfy.  It's all manure when compared to heaven and the riches to be found with our father who art in heaven.

Great grandma moody said that she saw heaven once.  When asked what it was like,  all she would respond with is.... "it's so beautiful that if you saw it you would kill yourself to get there and thereby miss it".  That says volumes.

Why worry and fret over things here,  that the eye can see,  the body feel?  Instead,  fix our eyes on true riches,  true joy,  true prosperity of our mansion over the hilltop.  It is real,  it is there waiting for us.  The scriptures,  Jesus himself says.  Our real home is waiting.

That's why a manger for the ultimate king.  Why not?  It's everything as good as being born in the most beautiful Palace.  It doesn't matter.  If we have the breath  and spirit of the God of the universe living within us,  our earthly position means nothing.  Jesus lived that.  He walked among kings as easily as he laid in the manger. 

Live.  Don't compromise your time here by seeking...  Here.  Seek true riches,  true success.  No scale on earth can measure true success.  It is only found in God's own heart.  Seek him.  Live. Straw or gold.  Just live by his grace.

The basics of nutrition

Forget the "food pyramid"  and "the four food groups".  It is all misguided understandings or outright lies.  It will kill you.

This is the basic truth about nutrition:

1. Saturated fats are good,  necessary,  and should be our primary fuel source.  Mostly animal fat.  This is not only the best fuel for our bodies,  able to be utilized as a nice slow burn,  slow release of energy that lasts for consistent energy levels.  But also the cholesterol inside is vital to our health,  required by healing and brain support.  Low cholesterol,  low fat diets are hugely damaging to the body.

2. Probiotics are necessary on a steady,  daily basis.  Bacteria and such are responsible for our health,  our moods,  our future.  Sterile is not a state of nature,  it is death.  Bacteria are all about balance.  The traditional diet of health involves preserving foods thorough fermentation,  not refrigeration.  Fermentation provides billions of different bacteria and yeasts to support health.  We vitally need these probiotics daily to maintain a healthy balance and avoid disease.

3. Low carbs.  Carbs or flash energy,  like throwing gasoline on a fire.  It is so dangerous in the body that God gave us a builtin control mechanism....  Insulin.  Without insulin,  carbs would kill us quickly.  It is the constant consumption of carbs that  are at the root of most
health issues.  Modern thought has replaced fat with carbs as an energy source,  and that is the start of death and suffering.  Carbs are to be consumed in moderation,  infrequently.

4. Minerals are necessary but nonexistent. Our modern soils have little to no minerals.  Plants therefor contain none. Without minerals our bodies don't work right.  There is a list of these that must be supplemented or disease occurs.  The easiest ways to supplement minerals is through bone broth,  sea algea,  and true unrefined sea salt.  Some,  like iodine,  are necessary at much higher concentrations than even these sources allow. 

5. The source of any of this is critical.  For meats and fats and broths,  it must come from heritage breed,  pasture raised,  organically and nongmo fed animals.  Any other source is so full of toxins that it becomes a negative instead of a positive.  Know your farmer,  buy local.  With vegetables,  the same  applies.  Organic,  from a knowledgeable local farmer.   Source is everything.

6. Cook from scratch.  Foods must be properly prepared.  Anything that comes in a box,  can,  or jar is suspect.  Preprocessor,  prepackaged foods are death. Cook from scratch,  with good sourced ingredients. 

7. Eat what is in season.  Don't try to change God's plan for nutrition by refrigeration and overseas shipping.  Eat what is local in season,  and ferment to eat when none is in season.  Meat serves as a good winter source,  vegetables the summer source.  Follow nature,  don't fight it.

These rules will start you down the path to health.  There is much to learn from the past.  Seek it out. 

The basics of health

Health is one of the most important aspects of life,  right up there with efficient time use.  If health starts to fail,  our life is less enjoyable and less productive.  So where does good health start?  With some basic understandings:

1. Man was made to enjoy good health.  Believing God is the creator gives us a mindset that says "'man started off perfect by design".  Evolution teaches the opposite,  that man today is the end result of millions of years of improvement.  There was no design,  no purpose.  That is all a lie.  Man started perfect,  our bodies designed to life forever.  But due to sin,  forever became a thousand years,  the due to more sin,  about a hundred years.  But the design never changed. 

2. Modern medicine is designed to hide symptoms,  not cure root problems.   Therefore modern medicine does not heal,  but mask problems.  If root issues heal,  it is in spit of medical treatment,  not because of it.

3. Prevention is always easier than cure.

4. Modern science know little to nothing about prevention.  Becasue of #2, modern science has shifted focus and even the understanding of disease is superficial or even wrong.

5. Good Health is measured by the absence of need for medical attention.  The more frequent and/or severe medical need is,  including consuming medicine,  the lower health is.  In America we have a healthcare crisis only because of a health crisis.  America is dying, we spend more on healthcare than any other nation,  we suffer from more lifestyle based disease,  and require more medical assistance than any.
6. How you approach healthcare determines how healthy you will be.  Trusting in "the system",  "the training",  "the common knowledge"  leaves one dependent on those things.  Each intervention insures further intervention.  It is a vicious cycle, spiraling into a dependent life of suffering.  For example,  each medicine causes side effects requiring more medicine. 

7. Because of #1, traditional age old wisdom brings best health.  Modern man has no monopoly on wisdom.  For thousands of years man has existed and prospered.  Only in the last hundred years or so has health deteriorated so badly.  Look to the past to understand what we have lost.

8. Health starts with nutrition,  and environment.  The good things we consume as food nourish all the system, s God put in place to keep us healthy. Toxins in our environment do the opposite,  they weaken those same systems and tax them health is a balancing act between consumer, ING what we need and avoiding what will harm us.

9. Genetically are at the heart of every disease and no disease.  Our level of health,  susceptibility  to all diseases,  is determined by our genetics.  But very few diseases if any are genetics alone.  Genes are affected by nutrition and toxins,  they switch on and off throughout life.  They set a starting point,  not an end point.

10. Health is a gift from God.  He designed it,  and he can change it.  B7t he works normally within the rules he laid out.  If you eat potato chips every day,  you will have health issues.  Praying to God for healing while planning on continuing to consume potato chips every day is a slap in his face.  It is a repeat of original sin.  I5 is saying "I want to choose,  you need to change the creation to accommodate my personal desires".  He rarely does that.  First do all that we can to return to his design,  then pray for his help to overcome the rest of the problem.  He might,  or might not.  We will all die some day of something.  But never ask for health while doing what causes the problem to begin with.  That is disrespectful to God himself.

11. Children suffer from the actions of parents.  This is God's design.  We leave to our children a better or worse world,  directly affecting them.  It is our right to harm or help them.  Many health problems today are occurring at younger and younger ages.  Things that used to be only old people diseases are already down to prevent teen children commonly.  It is sad,  but within your ability to change for your offspring.  Start today,  clean up your life,  and your children will benefit.  Ignore this,  and you will see them suffer.

This list sets a mindset,  a way of thinking.  More details on specifics in coming posts.

How to live

Grandma moody would say:

"Plan like you will live forever,  but live like you will die tomorrow."

Solid advice.  Too often we get those backwards.

death

"You start to die the minute you are born,  it's only a matter of time"

That is words of wisdom from great grandma moody. And it's true.  Ever since Adam and eve received the judgement of the curse for disobedience,  life is the process of death.  We are all on limited borrowed time.   None of us knows when we will die,  but we know for certain that we will.  Coming to terms with this reality is the best way to live.

Why is this?  Surprisingly....  Many point only to disobedience.  In fact this is one of the complaints of atheists....  "How could a loving God and father give such a harsh punishment for a single act of disobedience? " they ask.  It leads them down a path of rejecting such a notion.   But the reality is,  it wasn't just an act of disobedience,  it was so much more than that....  And it was what we do so often today.

The" apple" in the story represents the desire to be like God,  without him.  To usurp his position of creator and owner of the world,  and of our own life.   Think about the implications of "the knowledge of good and evil".  Knowing good and evil serves only one purpose,  choose for yourself.  To be the master of your own destiny.  To life your own life.  To judge whether something...  Everything...  Is good or evil.  To play God.   That is the "original sin".  It represents a lack of trust,  lack of respect,  desire to be in control,  to decide for ourselves,  to run things our way,  to do what we want with our life.

Go back to the analogy I use of us being God's computer program.  We are a runaway program,  a piece of software that has "gone off in the weeds"  by leaving it's designed purpose and is off unproductive doing its own thing.  Consuming resources with no benefit to the purpose it was built for.  Infinite loops,  memory leaks,  etc.  That's us.  Amazingly....  God didn't stop the program,  instead he ONLY said " ok,  here is what you asked for". 

You see,  God granted us our wish.  We wanted to be our own boss,  run things,  decide for ourselves,  and he granted that wish.  It must of broken his heart to let Adam and eve,  and each of us,  go from his garden.  We demanded to be on our own,  and he let us.  Death is not a punishment....  No...  Death is what we asked for.  Adam knew he would die,  and he wanted to ge on his own anyway.  He thought he could cheat death.  His pride made him believe that he could be like God and live forever without God.

Oh Adam....  We got your wish.  But it's all of our wishes.  We each have rejected God and desired to eat that same apple.  We are all individually guilty.  We all are the prodigal son,  demanding inheritance to go off and live our life our way.  In other words,  we each have demanded death for ourselves.

It wasn't a punishment,  it was a consequence.  "please don't do that...  If you do,  you will leave me and die.  I will miss you horribly,  I love you.  Stay in the garden,  I will give you everything,  just don't leave."  but...  We left.

We should perceive death as what we asked for.  In essence,  Adam took the chance that he could figure out how to beat death on his own.  He failed.  Everyone has failed.  They are all dead (except perhaps for the anomaly of Enoch,  another story)  we,  will fail.  Our bodies will die.  Period. 

The lesson here....  There are so many.  Death is real and unknown.  Death is not as much a punishment as the result of.  "the wages of sin are death".  God didn't decided to kill us,  no....  He pleaded with us not to choose to try to beat death on our own.  He wanted us to live forever with him.  So much so he gave us a second chance.  Through Jesus we can live.  He died in our place,  paid our debt,  beat death for us,  and we can live.

Death.  It is only a matter of time.

We are managers, not owners

When God created everything that is,  he made man in His image,  uniquely different from every other living thing.  Man is the only thing made this way,  like Him. Why did he do this?  There are perhaps many reasons,  but one is in our purpose.  We are made to manage.

Good designed the earth with many forms of life that follow natural laws.  He defined the laws,  the way things follow through generations,  the way everything interacts.

I think of this much like a computer program.  It runs,  following the logic built in. It does predetermined things,  according to its own logic.  Each aspect of the program fulfils is purpose following the "rules"  of logic.  This is just like all forms of life having a purpose and being bound by natural laws of logic.  Animals,  plants,  insects,  bacteria,  all these things follow the logic of earth's "program ".

And then there is man.  Uniquely designed to manage all that is in his world.  We are the manager,  the zookeeper,  the gardener,  the supervisor.  God made everything and put us in charge of it all.  We have a free will,  the ability to reason,  the drive to be more than our own tiny person,  and the proper to manage His things.

He didn't give us this planet as our own,  no...  He put is in charge of his things.  They belong to God,  not man.  We are tasked with keeping things in order and prospering.  Remember the parable of the talents?  Look it up.  To him is given much will much be required....  We,  man,  have been given the earth.

Every man,  in his natural god given frame of mind,  had a drive to own land.  (own in the sense of having the ability to freely control).  They is a deep instinct inside man.  The size of land that we own,  control,  is part off the responsibility fulfilment of our commission.  Whatever land each of us owns,  it is our responsibility to see that it prospers during our life.  They is our watch,  or chance to show our father and creator what we will do with his stuff when left in charge. It is the original calling of man.

I give you no direction on  HOW To succeed at this highest calling,  but rather to impress upon you the gravity of the calling.  This,  all that we have,  is HIS  stuff and some day he is returning to reclaim it.  What will He find with the portion that we had control over?  That is the question!  Each of us must answer individually.

The "stuff"  I refer to its things like :

The land itself in an ecological sense.
The animals and plants under our control
The children he granted us
The time he grants us
The influence we enjoy
The capabilities we experience

On and on.  Everything about life is temporary,  a job,  a calling.  We don't own this for our own personal enjoyment,  life isn't about being happy and finding as much pleasure or recreation possible,  no....  Life is a job.  We are created to watch over his things while he is "away".

What will you do with your day?

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

Dad had a lot of "sayings".  This was one I remember :

"praise the Lord and pass the ammunition "

Wests often called to do things,  to stand up for things,  that are against the common understanding.  This that are perceived as unusual or even crazy by the world.  Sometimes things don't even make sense to us.  Nevertheless  we are called to have faith.  If god says to do it  then do it!  Take the fight,  dive in with confidence.

Examples are times like :

David in the Lions den saying "I know God CAN save me,  let set of he WILL."

Young david standing up against goliath with nothing but a slingshot.

Joshua commanding the israelites to war against city after city too big,  to heavily armed,  to much for them to capture.

Another truth that's hidden in this saying is that there is usually a fight in store for us.  God doesn't always make the enemy fall over before us.  More often than not,  we are called to endure the battle,  to  fight.  Faith says we fight regardless the odds.  But it is a fight.  We need ammunition.

Yes,  when you are sure that god said to go....  Then praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

Have you forgotten?

Few days change a life forever. Fewer change many lives forever. Yet each generation has it's defining moment. That moment when things get real.  For my generation, that was September 11, 2001. That was MY generation's Pearl Harbour.

I remember that day well. I had just dropped kids off at school and was heading home when it came on the radio. I rushed into the house and on the TV, there it was. Amazing footage.

This video is a well done, actual footage recording of the facts and emotion of that day.

Here is the source of the video and proper credit.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205008294791857

What I would like to stress is this...  This day, as bad as it was, was but a warning. If america does not change, if YOU as the next generation do not turn to God and repent of selfish idolatry, then what you see here will only be a foreshadow of things to come.  This is not a threat, but a warning of reality.

America is NOT isreal .  But still America is a nation that publicly says it is founded on God's principles, and trusts in that same God.  Look at your money... "In God We Trust". That means something. Even if it doesn't bring shudders into your soul, it means something to God Himself, and He will hold us accountable.  As long as we proclaim that we are trusting in God, we are bound to Him and His justice. To expect any less is foolishness.

This day, September 11, will either be a turning point or a shadow of real horror. the choice is totally our. You can turn off the video, but you cant turn off reality of the message it brings.

Quoting scripture

I consider quoting scripture...  Dangerous.  Most cults are based on scripture,  but a subset.  Most fallacies are based on truths,  but half truths.  Most errors start with truth. 

Truth is in concepts,  not phrases.  The Bible is a set of stories and letters,  not verses.  Dividing a letter or story into collections of sentences and then using those selectively is..  Dangerous.  It bypasses all context.  Contact is the beginning of understanding,  the protector of truth.  Context provides  a framework of understanding.  Otherwise,  what is really happening is the person quoting scripture out of context or without regard to context,  is using a single item to create their own context.

Think about this...  Take a sentence from a story,  and build your own story around it.  Does your new story have anything to do with the original?  Is there any tie between the original story and the ideas presented there and the new story created around a new context?  Not necessarily.  This is danger,  it is using an obvious truth (Bible verse)  to further what may be ones own thoughts.  But the thoughts are not based on the context of scripture.

An example is when a person quotes a scripture that begins with "for"  or "then"  or "therefore"  etc.  These words themselves build a bridge between verses that provide contact,  meaning.  Taking a second verse with out the first is taking a half truth. That is danger.

The Bible stories and letters are written for a reason.  They are not collections of verses (except perhaps proverbs),  they are stories.  Consume the entire story,  look at historical context,  get inside the author and understand what he was thinking when writing,  what question,  problem,  topic was he addressing,  what was his goal.  Then you are beginning to understand  in the safe confines of context.

I could give dozens or hundreds of examples.  But I won't.  This truth is so obvious once you see it that it becomes overwhelming.  You won't be able to listen to most preachers or commentators without asking "what's the rest of the story".  Dig,  let the holy ghost guide you into truly understanding the big picture.  Be skeptical of any teaching based on a single verse. 

Instead of reading verses collected to prove a point or provide meaning,  read the Bible as what it is.  Forget verse or even chapter.  Read it as a letter,  in entirety.  Or a story in entirety.  Ask questions.  Think broadly.  Only then do individual verses provide meaning,  in the context they were authored.

One reason I trust David Wilkerson as a teacher is that he seldom  uses verses in isolation.  He usually gives a complete thought from the Bible,  and then provides historical context behind it,  before making his point.  This is safety,  protection for heresy.

So be safe,  think broadly,  read more.  Ask questions,  dig deeper,  before you accept any truth.  True and complete truth will stand any level of investigation.

Even if it "could" doesn't mean it did

People stretch so far beyond logic and reason in their attempt to prove that God doesn't exist.  But the more amazing thing is,  other people blindly believe the lies and half truths without a second thought!  Amazing.

One such logic error is this...  In the evolution supporting thought process is a grave fundamental logic error where they claim "if it could,  it did".  Meaning...  If any process for evolution can be proven that it could happen,  it must have happened.   That is an outright lies there are two burdens of proof here,  not one.

First prove that something COULD happen
Then prove that it DID happen

The first in no way proves the second,  only allow the second to be considered.  The first on its own only present opportunity,  not incidence.  But that fact it totally ignored in evolutionary thought.  The scientists behind evolutionary thought are not seeking the truth,  they have already made the assumption that evolution is how life began,  now they are searching for ways to prove their decision,  which was not based on fact.

Take darwin  himself.  He was on a personal to prove that there is no God (becasue of the experience with his daughter) ,  so he goes on a life mission of looking for an alternate reality.  He must find a way that life could have began without God.  His goal is to disprove God,  not find truth.  He is already skewed. What he comes up with is a plan of how life "could"  have evolved without God.  But he never took one step to prove that what could have happened by his theory  actually happened.  He just assumes that if he presents another possibility,  it will be blindly accepted as fact.

And it was.

To this day,  not one scrap of evidence exists for what "did"  happen,  only theories of how it "could have"  happened.  In fact,  a logical look at the historical evidence brings one to the conclusion that only the biblical view is supported.  But even when you twist this evidence by a foundation of no God,  you only arrive at "if god doesn't exist,  here is an alternative that makes some sense".  But that doesn't prove that the alternative happened,  only at best an alternative.

So be wary of these sort of illogical assumptions.  They are rampant in science today. 

Even proving what could have been,  wouldn't prove that it was.

But..  By the way.  Science is falling further and further behind in even proving what could have been,  as more and more evidence refutes the possibility of evolution.  But that's another blog post.

Grandma and I

This happened one weekend while I was staying with my sister at grandma and grandpa house out in the country.  It surprised me,  in a good way.  I was probably 2nd or 3rd grade at the time.

I was in the garage with grandma,  nanna we called her,  my dad's mom.  She had a ladder and was trying to get something down from up high. As she came down the ladder she slipped!  Fell several rungs right down to the cement floor.  Somehow in the fall her ankle twisted hard. 

I tried to help her up,  but she couldn't stand,  the ankle was too hurt.  I was scared,  she seemed calm though.  Without missing a beat she told me " David,  pray for me". 

Now I was scared....  I had seen dad pray for lots of people,  it was becoming common to witness instant healings,  but this was different...  Me?  Right here?  Right now?  Really?

She repeated " pray for me"  in that insistent matter of factly grandma tone.  "ok"  I hesitated.

In some nondescript timid way I came up with the words I had heard dad say.  "in Jesus name be healed"  or something to that effect.

"ok,  thanks" she said as she easily stood up,  without the slightest hesitation or pain,  and walked out of the garage.  I stood there,  amazed.  What had just happened?  She was hurt bad,  but she just walked out perfectly fine,  no limp.  Nothing.  I looked at the ladder,  and the now empty room.  

Really?

It's only you

This is a story I heard at a seminar once,  from a very trustworthy source. 

A missionary was down in Haiti,  (or a similiar Satan worship/ black magic filled area).  He had been preaching and meeting with great opposition.  The forces of evil were strong in that area.

He awoke one night,  laying alone in his tent.  He lay still on his cot,  facing the tent wall....  But something was wrong.  He wasn't alone.  He could feel the presence,  an evil presence in the tent with him.  There was a sense of darkness,  death,  oppression all around.  The air seemed thick with dread,  foreboding death. 

As he wakened,  and realized this was no dream,  he rolled over in his cot,  not knowing what to expect.  Sure enough,  he wasn't alone.  In the doorway of the tent,  inside,  was evil itself.  It appeared to be Satan standing there,  sucking . all the light and life out of the room.  The tent was filled with evil.  Satan had found him,  and was opposing him with all the forces of hell.

But,  this man was a child of the most high,  walking in God's promise and purity.  His heart was safe.  In the midst of evil itself,  the missionary simply said "oh,  it's just you"  and rolled back over to sleep.

Satan has no power over us,  when we walk in God's way.  There is no reason to fear. None is greater than our God.

There is always, and rarely, a conspiracy

Conspiracy theories....  Everywhere.  Any major event and many minor ones are quickly attributed to a conspiracy theory.  Often the fact seem convincing,  even TV documentaries are made to sway your thinking.  Some people always assume there is a conspiracy behind everything,  other assume that is all silliness.  How can you know the truth?

Look deeper.  Both are true.  Is there a conspiracy of people secretly working together to bring about a secret agenda?  Rarely,  but maybe,  but no matter.  The deeper truth is this,  there is always a conspiracy of unseen forces working to deceive and destroy us.  Always.

The Bible is clear,  we do not need to fear man.  No man,  no collection of men,  no government,  no king,  nothing.  No conspiracy of men can hurt us.  This is because the true enemy is not our fellow man,  but the unseen forces and entities of the air.  There is a devil,  he has a band of fallen angels,  and they are constantly out seeking to deceive and destroy.  That is the conspiracy.  It is an unseen army constantly and wisely fighting against us.

But,  they have no authority over us,  except to deceive us first.  It is only through our falling to their deception that we one the door to problems.  They bring lies wrapped in half truths,  they bring darkness disguised as light,  they bring evil wrapped in a thin vel of good.  Just like eve and the apple,  they use craftiness to test us,  tempt us,  try us.

Our job is to stand firm on the absolute truth of scripture and God's own words.  Resist the devil and his conspiracy of temptation and he will flee.  That is the promise,  he will flee.  But oooo his craftiness.  He brings what our flesh most wants.  He brings promise of comfort,  success,  pleasure,  ease,  power,  all the things that he can make good on!  All the things our fleshly nature craves.  He brings us what we most want.

The conspiracy is that he promises the desires of the flesh,  knowing that if we fall for the bait,  we will live for the flesh,  consumed with world passions, desires,  and dreams,  and in the process find ultimate misery and pain,  and separation from god.  Living for self,  for pleasure,  for things of this world separate us from god and his mercy,  grace,  and goodness...  Separate us from his love and protection.  That is our choice today,  everyday.  Obedience or the "apple",  that forbidden fruit of promise and pain.  

There is a conspiracy,  behind every turn,  but not of man,  of our true enemy,  Satan and his cohorts.  Sometimes men are involved,  sometimes not.  No matter,  the enemy is within them,  in their hearts,  not their manhood.  Find Paul Harveys discourse on what he would do if he was the devil.  It is brilliant,  and so true.

The devil,  Satan,  the servant,  is your enemy and mine.  He will use everything in his crafty wit to tempt us with the desires of our flesh.  He has zero power over us except given him by god or ourselves,  but he has deep knowledge of how to tempt and deceive you.  Resist with the unchanging wisdom of God.  Stand on the truth of the ages.  Resist his notions of pleasure,  self worship,  self seeking life,  and he will flee...  Leaving you peaceful and close to our creator....  Until the next time.

Conspiracies are nothing.....  We are children of the most high.  It is only our own nature that will lead us into destruction....  And Satan knows that well

We are not alone

We are not alone in the universe.  Of that we can be sure.  But our companions are not little green men with telepathic powers. Reality is not in alien spaceships  and highly advanced civilizations on far off planets.  Reality,  our reality,  is something much closer to home.

The Bible is full of supernatural events and visitors.  Angels,  demons,  beings in heaven of all different sorts.  Read     through revelation and you quickly see that God is a God of variety.  Just as there are millions of different forms of life on earth,  heaven is filled with that same variety.

Our companions in the universe are spiritual beings,  created before this particular universe was created.  They are not bound by the physical laws of our universe.   What laws they are bound with we may not know for sure,  but we can be sure they are not exactly like us.

These beings, can be divided into at least two general sets...  Good and bad.  Those that serve God and those that rebelled against him. Both sets are roaming the universe and earth.  They occasionally interact with man on various levels. 

This is separate from the souls and spirits of people who have died.  Whether those are also roaming is yet another debate not easily resolved. 

So rest assured that we are not alone,  the air is filled with beings,  some for us,  some against us.  Sometimes they influence,  sometimes control,  sometimes watch. We are never alone.

Also rest assured we are safe.  Man was given dominion over the earth.  We are in control here.  Man was further given dominion over the spirit world through Jesus name.  We can walk in his service and thereby be his proxy exercising his authority over all.  No reason for fear in our hearts.  No created being is greater than Jesus,  and we carry his authority in legitimately using his name.

So no aliens.  Not in the Hollywood sense.  But we are not alone. 

It's my life

Common phrase from the young "it's my life,  I have a right to live it as I want".

Really?  What a selfish lie!  Nothing of the sort is true.

Certainly we each have free will to make our choices.  In fact,  we have a responsibility to decide the course of our life.  But the notion that" I can do whatever I want with MY life" is horribly wrong.  No man is an island.  No one life is independent.  Every one of us make decisions that affect many people around us significantly.

What parent has not suffered greatly due to the teenagers "demand to lead their own life"?  Parents care.  They are always there to pick up the pieces of failure.  Parents often invest their hard earned retirement to cover their children's refusal to listen to wisdom.

Children often suffer at the hands of parents.  Job change,  career,  personal ambition,  all these have dramatic affects on children.  It is incredibly selfish for a parent to "follow their own dream"  at the expense of their children.

A young person takes up smoking.  30 years later gets cancer.  He turns to government assistance,  or family resources to cure it.  The need to have insurance itself is due to constant selfish actions of a few.   The nation as a whole suffers at the hand of the one saying "it's my life,  I can do what I want".

Well no you can't.  You would only have that right IF you never returned to society when things go bad.  You would have to live with no friends,  no coworkers,  no family,  no outside reliance on healthcare or funds.  Be an island and sure...  Its your life.  Live in society and no,  it's not only your life.

Everything you do affects all those around you,  even those you don't think would be affected.  They care.  You are loved,  so you have a responsibility to those who love you.  It's not your life,  it's theirs also.

No man is an island. 

The health care crisis

One of the biggest problems facing America today is the health care crisis,  meaning the high cost of healthcare,  insurance,  and the universal need for insurance. I have seen lots of "debates"  about cause,  needs,  fixes,  etc....  But all are missing the most important and most fundamental point.  It's really very simple,  but people just don't think today!

Why is there a healthcare crisis?  One simple answer,  there is a steeply rising need for healthcare,  because America is sick and getting sicker.  Think about this...  If people didn't need healthcare,  there would not be a crisis!  If people were healthy,  they would not need healthcare!

But you answer "wait,  everyone needs healthcare"  and I say "exactly my point".  There is an assumption that people are supposed to be,  or normally,  in need of healthcare because sick is normal!  Hogwash.  If that was true humans would have never made it for thousands of years with virtually no healthcare (by today's standards). 

There are two disturbing trends not being talked about...

1) the falling average age that particular ailments affect people compared to decades ago

2) the rising rate of certain ailments affecting only the young

During my own lifetime I have seen both of these astronomically increase.  Diseases that in my childhood were "old person diseases" are now rampant among the young,  the age of diagnosis falling every decade.  Diabetes and cancer are examples of this.  They used to almost never affect people under 50. 20 years ago it was noticed among my peers,  today it's childhood onset.   The age of diagnosis could easily be charted against time to see this trend.

Likewise with childhood only disease.  Things like autism rising a thousand times within my own lifetime.  Diseases that represent severe development challenges,  now rampant at varying degrees in virtually all children.  This wasn't so in my childhood!  These things were rare.

Put these two trends together and you get a health crisis,  which leads soon to a health care crisis.  America is dying,  and it is the children paying the highest price.  To stop and reverse this trend does not take treatments.  That's just silliness.  You don't watch a noncuminicable disease spread like wildfire and try to stop it by treating the sick.  No,  we have to look for why these things are spreading,  what is the root cause. Reverse the root cause and the trend reverses.

So what is root cause?  I have a suggestion... Instead of carefully looking for the one thing that might be responsible,  let's take a new approach.  Lets reverse everything that "might!  Be a cause,  immediately,  and then search for the one truly responsible!  Doing this stops the damage first,  learn second.  Put children over science.  Why would we not?

So many say" no,  can't be that,  there is no proof.  I won't change until you prove it".  What they are really saying is "I value this thing more than my child or my health,  so I won't change until you prove I have to".   Selfish,  childish,  immature behavior.  How does that person then go to God and say "heal me of this thing,  I refuse to change my own life...  Either you heal me or I will wait for the magic pill".   Ridiculous.

So,  here's my advice.  Change everything that might possibly be cause for failing health and don't restart unless absolute proof is given that there is no harm. Therein is wisdom,  and it works. 

What causes autism?  Poor health...  A combination of toxins,  lack of nutrition,  genetic weaknesses,  etc.  They will never find one thing responsible because it is not caused by one thing,  but rather a state of being.  Same with diabetes,  cancer,  alheizemers,  etc.  For any particular individual you can point to one thing that "put them over the edge"  and caused the visible start of these diseases.  But even then it isn't one thing responsible.  Many things led them to the brink,  any one of many could have pushed them over.

So please...  Do everything possible to protect health.  Be willing to "sacrifice"  a little pleasure,  inconvenience,  to achieve health. Then rely on God for the rest.  He will honor that type of dedication and sacrifice.  Do all that we can and he will complete the rest.

Health is not in a pill,  health is in a lifestyle.

What do we deserve?

What do we deserve?  Simple.  Death.  No more.   As humans we have all sinned against God and thereby are guilty of the punishment of death.   Harsh?  No.  Simple justice.  The wages of sin are death,  we have sinned,  we are guilty. 

The push in this generation seems to be to combat that simple notion,  to convince people that they "deserve"  better,  they they should "love themselves".  But it's a lie.  While it is possible to fool yourself for a while/ few people can be so shallow as to fall for this lie for a lifetime. Sooner or later they realize that they are guilty,  they are evil,  and they can't change that.  Then depression sets in,  desperation,  suicidal thoughts.

But,  the beauty of being guilty is so much greater than the short term benefit of making yourself feel good.  The good news,  the gospel is this.  Even though we are miserably and eternally evil,  we are loved anyway just as we are.  We are guilty but Jesus stepped in and paid our guilt.  He died for us.  So we have no sentence against us.  We are free,  loved,  without having to change.  We don't have to be better!  We are loved just as we are.   That is the good news!

So...   Embrace our depravity as mankind.  Embrace our guilt,  because that opens the door to truly feeling loved,  accepted.    Don't try to be worthy,  to be good.  Instead just relax and let Jesus do what he died for...  To redeem us. 

Embracing the notion that a man can be "good"  is foolishness and leaves one empty and despairing sooner or later.

Embracing the reality of man's hopelessness brings joy unspeakable and peace.  

The choice is ours....  We have free will.  Pay for our own mistakes,  or let Jesus pay for us out of his immeasurable love for us.

Raising children to be adults

When raising children,  there are many many approaches to  everything. Before diving into any of these details,  I think it is important to establish a foundation.  That foundation is the fundamental truths that sit under all the "processes"  of parenting.

One important foundation is this.  Raise children to be adults,  not children.  Peers offer little to nothing towards this end.   Peers (same age kids)  actually hold maturity back.   The goal is to gently bring the child forward in maturity by pulling them to act slightly older than their natural tendencies.  Show them how to be adults,  expect them to act as adults.  Set the goal.

If the goal is set for them to act as children,  with no expectation for maturing,  then they do exactly that....  Grow into old children.  

Children naturally want to emulate parents.  Use that natural desire,  encourage it.  Show them how to be you.  Reward behavior beyond their age.   And limit exposure to children the same age or younger unless specifically as a teaching / serving opportunity. 

Expect them to grow up and they will.  Expect them to be children and they will.   They will mature as much as required,  no more,  no less.

Happiness vs joy

Many today seek happiness. Many say the ultimate goal of life is happiness.  Many say that only you can make yourself happy.  Many say that all they want is to be happy.  People say a lot of things....  But saying does not make it so.  All these are lies,  compromises from God's best. 

Happiness is based on happenings.  What happens to you makes you happy or sad.  Happiness is a feeling,  based on the body and soul.  Trouble is,  you are not in Control of happiness because you can not control happenings.  You can not control your own happiness,  because that would require controlling the world and how it treats you.  You can't.  Even if you could,  happiness is fleeting,  undependable,  and unsatisfying.  It is a feeling and feelings do not last.

Joy,  now that's different.  Joy is in the heart,  the spirit.  It is a state of being,  not a feeling.  It is deep,  lasting,  dependable,  solid.  Joy comes from knowing truth,  from walking in the right path.  Happenings make no difference,  they can not shake joy because joy is not based on the world,  but on your relationship to God.

Man was made for God.  Our purpose in being is to please him.  Our design is to be connected to our creator and thereby find meaning and joy.  We are complete only when walking with god on a daily basis,  and only then are we at peace. There is a hole,  an emptiness inside each of us,  deep in our hearts,  that can only be filed by God's spirit and only by invitation. We must invite him in.

Then the hole is filled,  we are complete,  we are at peace,  we find joy,  and nothing in the world can change that. Period.

Money,  sex,  popularity,  recreation,  friends,  spouse,  children,  things,  all these bring happiness for a time,  a short time,  but they can not fill that hole in our heart.  They are things of this world and can make our body and soul happy for a time.  They can not touch our heart that is reserved for our creator.

Seek joy,  enjoy happiness.  Know that happiness comes and goes over time.  Joy is constant.  Enjoy happiness when it is present,  but don't depend on it,  don't base your life on it.  Find the joy that God is waiting to bring you as a free gift from him.  Depend on that to carry you through this life and the next.  Joy...  Is the goal of life.

Health in America put on deep freeze

Why is modern America so sick?  There are lots of "reasons"  but really j7st a few root causes.  By root cause I mean those unique moments in history that changed the course of health in America.

One of these moments,  is the invention of refrigeration for food.  Yep..  The fridge is one of the primary root causes of failing health today.  Sound absurd?  Follow this logic.

Health is heavily dependent on probiotic life...  Bacteria,  molds,  fungus,  viruses that build up instead of destroy.  These invisible entities can not be substituted by any other means.  Their benefit lie in their action (digesting and attacking enemies),  their by products (the complex beneficial chemicals and such that they leave behind),  and their genetics (the part of their genetic code that they impart into their environment).  These three simply can not come from any other source.  Health demands the real deal.

Where do these invisible health sources live?  Fermented foods!  They are the forces that turn fresh foods into preserved foods.  That is,  until refrigeration.   Look around you today...  Who ferments things?  Today,  because of refrigeration among other things,  Americans want to extend Netherlands fresh period of food and not have to ferment to store.  No more root cellars,  no crocks of saurkraut and pickles,  no more hanging meats and clattering milk. etc.  Today we have fridges and freezers. These devices have fundamentally changed human experience by removing the need to ferment,  and thereby removing one of the  3 pillars of health.

Another aspect is the ability to live outside the seasons.  Seasons of planting,  growing,  harvest,  rest have been supporting mankind for thousands of years.  Only very recently have we been able to fridge and freeze things for long periods,  artificially extending that "season".  This thereby throws of the natural cycle and balances of what we consume. Transportation has some blame here,  but without refrigeration it wouldn't be possible to transport most foods very far.

A third aspect of refrigeration is the ability to not grow food.  Not many years ago everyone grew some food.  It was necessary and expected.  Without refrigeration stores could not carry fresh foods long.   This again fundamentally changed America so that the average person could choose to stop making food themselves and instead leave that to others completely.  This disconnects the individual from their sustenance and thereby their health.  Disconnected individuals loose control and oversight.  All sorts of evils crop in unnoticed.  Health declines.

Refrigeration.  It is one of the evils that is killing us.  Until we realize this,  health care in America will continue to be in crisis.  Our families will suffer,  our children suffer higher and higher rates of disease.  It's certainly not the only root cause,  but a big one.

The older you get

Another Grandpa saying...

"The older you get, the more you realize how little you know"

I agree with this 100%!  It is only age and experience that brings a heartfelt appreciation for the vast array of of the unknown. Young people can say they "understand" that we don't know everything, but thats not what this refers to. This saying refers to the realization that we don't really know ANYTHING. Life is not a process of learning as much as a realization of how little we CAN learn.  There just isnt enough time in the human experience to truly "get smart".

Now, before the flood, when man lived close to 1000 years, didn't have children till almost 100,  this may not have applied.  Back then, "maturity" was defined totally differently.  No one was "old enough" to have children, start a family, live on their own, until they were close to 100 years old. That means by today's standards... only the elderly are wise enough to START out in life.  They are at the point of wisdom that allows them to understand enough, to start learning.

Wow, what a difference.  To think that those people started life where we end it! That's a comparison to the amount of knowledge and wisdom amassed. Even if you argue that things "moved slower then", the rate of learning, of life, is constant. They absorbed wisdom for 100 years, then began a family, then lived their lives for 700 to 900 years more, constantly learning and maturing.  Today, we start our families at the equivalent of  their "child" stage, and our life is over just at the point where we are old enough to begin truly learning.

So... yes, the older you get, the more you realize how little we know.

Based on this.. be cautious. "Experts" do not usually know nearly as much as they make out. Science itself just knows enough collectively to get us into real trouble. We have some knowledge, but almost no wisdom, speaking as a society.

Desire wisdom? Seek the elderly. Seek those who have seen a few more sunrises than yourself. The most dangerous source for advice of any kind is from those the same age or younger than yourself.  Age brings wisdom.  Period. There are no shortcuts short of a miracle from above.

This too, will make sense when you are older.

Do I know everything?

Of course not.

But...

I know the one who knows everything.

Grandpa used to say " it's not what you know,  it's who you know".   The notion that you must know everything yourself is a modern education notion,  and false.  Know where the answer lies and you don't need to carry it with you.  You can't.  And thats ok.

Who is the best source of answers?  Well the creator of course!  And he is just waiting to discuss the mysteries of the universe,  or the difficulties in your life.  Ask him.

Do I know everything?  Nope.  And that's perfectly ok.  Sometimes people think that I do,  or think that I think that I do.  But neither are true.  If someone asks,  then I have an answer.  Sometimes from my own accumulated knowledge,  sometimes through study,  and sometimes through direct revelation from God.  Just because I can provide an answer does not in any way mean that I "know"  everything!  What a silly notion.   But I do know the one that knows everything.  Often times I am learning as I speak.  God speaks and I listen along with the question answerer.  I do not "know"  more than them,  I am learning alongside. 

No human knows everything,  but every human can find all the answers in the creator who loves to share truth.  Ask him,  expecting an answer.  Seek him,  open up to him,  share with him,  and you can learn everything and anything.

Know the one that knows and you will never be without.

The Prophet that lives still

All religions have one or more prophets.  There is also a beginning,  an individual or individuals that start a line of thinking,  a revelation,  a new truth.  So how can you know which is really truth?

Here is a simple difference to consider....   Only one prophet still lives.

Every prophet of every religion is...  Dead.  They were men just like you and I.  They lived,  touched the world,  and died.  Gone.  Only teachings left behind.   Except one...  Jesus.  He IS alive and well as ever,  because he is God.  Death had no power over him.  He is unique.

Others may even claim that "the spirit of the Prophet has / will return"  but no..  Still different.  Jesus is alive IN THE SAME BODY HE WAS IN ORIGINALLY ON Earth.  It's not that his spirit rise,  his BODY rose.  His tomb is empty.   No one else in all of history can make that claim.  No other tomb is empty.

Jesus said himself,  he leaves only one sign that he is the true son of God....  He would die and rise again on the third day.  It is the empty tomb,  and only the empty tomb,  that validates his identity.  When looking at other religions,  other prophets,  ask to see their empty tomb. 

Jesus resurrection was witnessed by hundreds,  perhaps thousands,  soon after.  It is a validated point in history.  And it is still true today.  Jesus is alive today knocking at your door.  Whether you see him physically,  spiritually,  or any other way is up to him and you.  I can tell you that I KNOW he lives.  Zero doubt.  I have met him.   So can you.

One of the best evangelist had a unique method of introducing Jesus to another person...  His approach? 

" jimmy ,  this is Jesus.  Jesus,  meet jimmy" and he walked away.

Jesus isn't a system of rules,  teachings,  truths,  paths,  etc.  Jesus is an individual,  like you and I but also God.  He is alive,  today.  Here.  Now.   THAT is the difference,  the empty tomb.  An eternally empty tomb.

To be better, be different

A fact of life...  You can not be "the same" and "be better" at the same time. 

You can not do whatever everyone else does and have a better outcome.

You can not follow the crowd and lead at the same time.

You can not blend in and avoid normality at the same time.

Being different is the secret of success.  While not every difference brings success,  the lack of difference always brings failure to excel.   This is a truth destroyed by the mindset controlling education.  They teach in general that the optimum is to follow the rules,  fit in,  follow the prescribed path,  do what they say,  etc.   But it is a lie.  That is the route to normalcy,  or slavery. 

If all you wish is to be one of the masses,  in descript,  unaccomplished,  work for a living and enjoy the weekend on your own pleasures,  then yes,  follow their example.   Modern education builds a working class,  individuals intent on living for others happily (slaves).  

If you wish anything more than that,  the first step is to be different  being different is not a problem,  it is a requirement.  It is the first step.  Embrace it,  enjoy it.  Being different is what opens the world for new possibilities.  It is the escape from servitude.  Being different is liberty.

Jesus even spoke of this,  he stressed how we must "come out of the world"  "be transformed not conformed"   " be in the world but not of the world"  "be the salt of the earth" ...  Etc.   Much of the new testament Bible speaks of being different as a requirement for peace,  for success.

I wise man once said,  "if you have to tell someone your a Christian,  don't bother".  If we are not different enough in our everyday  life so that a cursory look shows "oh wow,  they must be christian" ,  then we are not.   It is being different that is the measuring stick.

Not all differences are good of course,  but only difference is good.  That is the key.  Only difference is good.

SAD is the basis of disease, not somewhere to go

SAD is "standard American diet",  and it is the basis of most modern diseases.  There are many reasons for this,  but that is not the point of this post.  This is about destinations,  not explanations nor causation.

I often see people saying something to the effect of "I wish there was a cure for the disease of xxxxxx so that I could eat normal".  What they mean is they want the consequences of eating bad to go away magically so they can return to eating bad.  That just makes no sense.

If SAD is the cause of disease,  then it is totally inappropriate for us to seek a cure,  pray for a cure,  wait for a cure,  if the purpose of being cured is to return to the evil that caused the disease to start with!  Doing so is not asking for a cure,  but asking for the rules of life to be changed so that we may live as we want without consequence.

For instance,  what if a child demanded to eat only ice cream.  Nothing else.  Three or four times a day,  ice cream.  How many years could they go without running into a health problem or three?  Not many.  When they fall to a problem,  do they seek a cure so that they can return to ice cream three times a day every day until they run into another problem or three?   This is nothing but a spoiled child demanding God to change the rules to fit their selfish desires.  The end result?  They would live miserable,  chasing health problem after health problem as their body struggles to stay alive.

Ridiculous?  Perhaps,  but that is what the average American does.  Lives on SAD every day,  eating and drinking whatever they wish,  and running to modern medicine to mask symptoms of their impending death as the symptoms arise.  No difference!  Just a spoiled adult demanding God change the rules of life to fit their own selfish desires.

Simply put...  SAD kills.  It is worse than starvation,  it is starvation plus toxicity.  SAD is based on man's desire to be God,  to do whatever he wants in a never ending push to serve his own physical pleasure,  and to eliminate God's natural laws about life.  Man seeks to change nature through medicine to allow himself more pleasure. 

God does not honor that,  and it does not work.

Do not seek to find healing through any means in an effort to return to or continue SAD....  Instead reject SAD as the problem and accept nature's laws as given by god.  Seek to learn what health is,  and how to achieve it.  Do not seek to find a way to live with SAD.  Seek to find how to truly live!

Interpreting Prophecy

Be cautious how you interpret prophecy (prophecy being god's word spoken directly).  My dad told me that he would often ask his grandma moody "when will the world end" and she had two answers for him...

1. The year 2000 but not quite
2. The year 1988 will be very important to you

How to interpret this?  All I can say at this point is.. Dad died in 1988.

Grandpa... The silent one

I never really knew my Grandpa except through stories from my dad and vague memories of him from when I stayed the weekend at their house as a youngster. 

I know a few things:

He was relatively quiet and private

He was a farmer

He was unusually bright and inventive

He grew up seeing the power of God first hand through his mom, Great Grandma Moody

He walked in the calling of God as the one in his generation so called

He loved johnny carson on late night tv

My only memories in person are  falling asleep while he watched johnny carsen sitting on the floor a foot from his tv. And once, after prostate surgery, he was laying on our couch in our home with a bag by his side.  And one time a memory of sitting at his table one weekend when grandpa came running into the house with a bloody towel wrapped around his hand.. he had cut off a couple fingers in the lawnmower. That's pretty much it in person. 

I wish I knew him better. I saw him on home videos building the farm, working the crops, working with people. He carried a very authoritative, but gentle air about him. He was creative on the farm, he worked year round on different crops and income sources while other farmers "took the winter off".  

He was also a drunk for many years, diving into the bottle for whatever reason he had. Then one day.. he quit. Just like htat. never touched it again.  A man of strong will.

He was the source of my dad's wisdom and admiration. Quite often after grandpa's death my dad would express how he so wished he could just sit down with grandpa one more time to ask his thoughts. Apparently that was the usual way of finding a way in life for dad while grandpa was alive. 

I also know he killed himself with ice cream.  Yes. When grandpa retired, he retired, fully, completely, never worked another day after. He spent days lounging in bed with the newspaper, watched johnny carson, and ate a full bowl of ice cream every night, It was ultimately the ice cream that got him. After a few years his heart valves were so tough that he needed open heart surgery but didnt make it through. The surgeon said the valves were so brittle with plaque that when he removed them the usually soft pliable valves  cracked and broke in his fingers.  He never woke up from surgery.

There are stories that grandpa could and would pray for animals, or do whatever he did, and they would magically become well.  He was relied on (after his drinking days were over) for help in the poor farming community of bonnieview. 

But yet, he never preached. Sure he followed God, believed the bible, but never walked openly in his calling. Perhaps he was scarred by his mom being chased around 2 countries for her vocal beliefs.  I do not know his reasons. We all have a personal choice.  I will not fault him for his. 

So I respect a man I know mostly from stories and movies and pictures. My dad had the utmost respect, and so shall I. I only wish I knew him better. 

The Basics of Health

Health can be defined most accurately as the absence of the need for medicinal attention, support, advice, and medicines. The better health we are in as individuals, the less we "need" for healthcare. Perfect health would mean no medicine, no treatments, no doctors, period.

Towards that end, there are two things to discuss, the process of finding health and the basic understanding of maintaining health.  These two together provide a primer on the art of being healthy.

The process of achieving good health. 

This is rooted in using symptoms as signposts, pointing the problem, not as something to be cured. Modern medicine is focused primarily on relief of symptoms, not resolution of problems. They are very good at resolving symptoms, but doing this generally lowers the patient's overall health.  Symptoms appear because of something, something wrong. some underlying cause.  The cause must find a weakness. Some area of the body that is less capable of thwarting that cause. Then, a symptom is born. The symptom is NOT the problem. The problem is two fold: 1)a weakness and 2) a cause. Only in addressing both of those will true health be gained and in most cases the symptoms resolves itself. Understanding this process is what modern western medicine lacks, and what is at the root of the failing american health care system and public health.

Understanding the maintenance of health

This is rooted in an understanding of Gods design for nature and biology. It requires the acceptance of a few basic principles that together build the case to how to stay healthy:

1. God created life good with an overall design that allowed for man to live forever, in his present body.  Even after the fall, man was designed to life for 1000 years.  That is the goal.

2. At the flood, things changed dramatically, so that the lifespan of man reduced by about 10 times.  100 to 120 years is the max lifespan that we dropped to within a few generations of the flood. We can assume that this is all our current environment will support.

3. God provided all the elements necessary for man to live healthy for 100 to 120 years.  It is built into nature. It is our job to preserve that wisdom.

4. Food, environment, microbes, genetics work together to produce health. It takes a careful balance of all four to maintain good health.

5. A system that is supported by sickness will never bring proper health, it would be suicide. This is at the root of why modern healthcare does not provide for health, only sustaining sickness.

6. prevention is significantly easier than curing. But often they are the same treatment, just in different proportions.

7. america is dying from malnutrition. The food of america is devoid of minerals, vitamins, as well as the other stuff of life and full of toxins from poison based agriculture. It has been so long since a healthy individual was the norm that "normal" today is a state of deficiency.

8. Modern medicine has much wisdom about treating disease, but little if any in preventing. In fact, modern medicine is responsible for causing the bulk of disease it must then treat. This must be taken into account when treatment decisions are to be made.

9. Each generation of america has become sicker. The last 2 generations especially. Children today are riddled with diseases that were once rare. The "sins of the fathers" are being passed on and magnified in the children.  This will continue until a set of parents individually rises up to protect their family, goes against the tide in america, and creates health from within. Then the trend for that family changes and children become more healthy than parents.

10. God did not intend us to be sick and suffering.  While not all suffering can be eliminated in this world, MOST is self inflicted by america's intense drive for convenience, recreation, pleasure and ease.  These work together in a aura of selfishness that prevents god from bringing health. Consider the person that smokes, contracts cancer, begs god to heal them, but continues smoking. What is HE to do? If he heals the cancer the person feels justified in continuing to cause obvious and willful damage to their body to gain physical pleasure. The person puts pleasure over proper and god can not honor that.  The same analogy can be used to cover those who eat sweets, inorganic food, fast food, processed food, etc. All these are rooted in selfishness on the part of the individual and that both created disease as well as ties gods hands to help.

If you know not, he has mercy and removes the consequences. Once you know, or have opportunity to know, you are without excuse and must pay the price for willful mistakes even if done in willful ignorance.

In upcoming blog posts I will explore the details of what we have learned about health, how we have avoided doctors for about 2 years in a family of 6 to 8, mostly cured autism and adhd without drugs, prevented and healed cavities,  stopped the aging process and reversed the clock, etc.  There are definite lessons here, but first the ground of your understanding must be prepared to hear.  The points above must fall into place or the wisdom I have to share will fall on deaf ears.

God gives us a free will, for better or for worse. We should never use that free will to disrespect his enduring love by asking to fix a physical problem for which we are not willing to change our lifestyle.

Function over Form

As you browse through these posts, you will notice something.. there are "problems" here and there. Misspellings, phrases not grammatically correct, layout issues, etc.. I'd like to take a moment to explain... because yes, there is a lesson here also.

Function Over Form.  A principle you would do well to adopt.   That functionality of something is much more valuable than the physical characteristics of it.  In writing... that means that the technicalities of writing are lees important then the content of the writing. If you as the reader, can grasp the meaning, if light hits your soul and understanding hits your thoughts... then  the delivery method is really not that important.

When I write, the words and thoughts flow. Usually much faster than I am physically capable of committing them to paper.  Therefore.. mistakes happen.  I write as I think. It is not the formal process of "outline, rough draft, editing, final copy"... no.. its "write about this", and as the thoughts flow the fingers type.  If I was to pause to correct each and every mistake, or even most of them, the flow of ideas dwindles and the clarity wanes.

That said, I do often go back and correct obvious mistakes, sometimes (depending on the nature of the writing and the audience) I will re-read, edit, and correct things.  But rarely.  WHY? time. Time is the most precious commodity under our control, and I choose to not spend my correcting small mishaps in life that dont matter so much anyway.  My goal is to convey as much thought to you as possible with the time I have left here on this earth... I am not concerned with the mechanics of how that happens.

So my advice is.. endure. complain if you like, but learn to look for the truth and value in the noise. That in itself is a valuable skill. There is value everywhere, but you have to look for it.  Think of this blog as practice.

3 parts of man

This is perhaps one of these most important foundational principles of life.  Grasp this truth,  understand it fully,  and life makes sense.  It has implications into every,  without fail,  every aspect of life.

Mankind is made in hte image of God.  We are not animals as evolutionists claim.  We are not so ply higher evolution,  more advanced.  We are fundamentally different.  The whole theory of evolution destroys this truth and leads into misunderstanding about human nature itself.  Man is different from all animals,  designed to rule over there earth,  then animal kingdom,  and community directly with God. 

Just like God is a 3 part godhead (father, son,  holy ghost)  we are a 3 part being.  We have corresponding components to God's 3. We are body,  soul,  and spirit.

The body is obvious.  It is there physical and biological part of man.  This includes the body itself,  the physical part of the brain and the 5 senses. Instinct,  cravings, physical drives like hunger,  sex,  self preservation,  physical addictions,  all reside in the body. The Bible refers to this as 'THE FLESH'  or "carnal man".   This is the component that all animals possess.  The brain itself reacts to environment in rudimentary and instinctive ways,  animalistic. The body is made temporary,  subject to decay and disease in this world since the fall.

The spirit is the innermost part of man.  The heart,  the inner drive, the subconscience. The spirit has no physical component,  it is ethereal in nature,  like God's spirit.  It is not bound by physical laws. The heart,  put simply,  is "who you are"  it defines and controls your overall disposition and function.  It holds your conscience that reprimand and commends you for good and bad by its own definition.  The spirit is made to be eternal and live with God.

The soul is the intersection of body and spirit.  It is composed of part physical part spiritual.  It is basically the mind,  will,  and emotions.  These things that are not purely physical and not purely spiritual.  The soul is what makes you distinct in this world, and distinct from animals.  It is what appreciates art,  kindness,  social order,  self sacrifice,  etc.  The part of man that transcends Instinct and animalistic behavior. 

The easiest way to envision this is a graphic of 3 circles,  outside is body,  inside is spirit,  and middle is soul.

 

The proper way to think of a human is :

We are a spirit
That has a soul
And lives in a body

Grasp that,  and you have the meaning of life.  All makes sense in this understanding. 

At salvation,  our spirit is made alive, one with God.  Our soul starts to be molded to be like God,  and our body is how we interact with the world. 

At death,  our body ceases to exist,  returning to the dust it came from,  our spirit goes on to paradise or hades to await final judgement,  our soul sleeps,  awaiting our day to be raised and United with our spirit in an new body to stand final judgement.

Addictions can live in the body,  or the soul. 

Who we are is defined by our spirit,  what we do is controlled by our soul,  how we interact is in our body.

Man can and often is in battle with himself,  his body warring against his spirit,  the battleground is the soul.  We feel remorse for bad actions and decisions,  when the body wins with its self serving desires.  We achieve culture,  refinement,  beauty,  when we let our spirit drive us to live beyond the physical nature,  a place animals can not go.

Dive deep into this one.  It is the basis of life. Until this is understood well,  the Bible seems contradictory and disjointed.  With this,  all is clear. 

You are a spirit,  that has a soul and lives in a body.