MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I don't find the celebration of Christmas to be separate from the reality of my heritage in the house of Israel.
I also don't find the information about the feasts and celebrations still celebrated by those brothers and sisters of mine in the house of Israel who have not yet embraced the Messiah to be a problem.
They celebrate THE LIGHT.
Although the house of Israel has been scattered through the diaspora which was prophesied, there is within us a common thread.
We seek the LIGHT.
Though that search takes many forms, the end result WILL be the same. To those who are willing to see the truth and follow the way, the LIGHT will be revealed in the form of the Only Begotten Son.
From the earliest memories of my childhood, I remember learning about the feast of lights, the prayers for the coming messiah and the songs and hymns that were sung. I remember thinking that the lighting of the candles over the days of Hannukah was so very much like our twining the electric lights in and on our home as we prepared to remember the birth of THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
Now, we have become over time a people separate as if time makes who we really are less important.
We are all heir to the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. The blessings of the promise are available to us all.
Yet, too many reject the light simply because the source didn't come in the way we expected it to come.
When the prophecies of the birth of Jesus Christ were made through the record of the prophets in the scriptures, there were those who decided it would be a military coup since the house of Israel had long been treated with disrespect and scorn.
Indeed, at the very time of the birth of the Son of God into the world, the Romans occupied a large segment of the Holy Land as conquerers and as rulers. It was assumed that the Messiah would come and sweep the 'enemy' off the earth.
But that wasn't the plan, because the Romans, and indeed all mankind, are not our enemies in the strictest sense of the word. The plan instead was to unite men in the bonds of love through the birth of an innocent and helpless babe who would grow to be the Son of Man and take upon Himself all of our sins.
It wasn't what was wanted.
I wonder when the House of Israel will WANT to see the Light for what HE truly is.
MERRY CHRISTMAS.
I say it with all of the feeling of my heart because only when we rejoice in the Light that has come can we truly be saved.
December 20, 2008
December 10, 2008
Free to choose
Liberals.
Can't live with them . . .
People who espouse an attitude of liberal thinking don't want their rights trampled, whatever it is they deem to be 'a right'.
But they are, by and large, the worst OFFENDERS when it comes to trampling the rights of others simply for having and supporting a difference of opinion when it comes to what is 'a right' of expression.
I believe we have opposition in all things as a way to help us choose which side of the fence we will pasture in and which voice we will list to obey - that of the Good Shepherd, or of the rapacious wolves who would disguise their voice in order to draw the lambs close enough for a slaughter.
While I might not like or approve of another's use of their agency, I will defend to the death their right to make an ass of themselves in whatever way they choose. We fought a war in heaven to have the chance to do so.
Satan had other plans. He wanted us to be subject to him through a cattle mentality where we would be herded and driven toward the finish line without making choices - or mistakes.
But through the mistakes we make, we learn. Some are just slower than others to heed the lessons.
Satan wanted to use force and cooersion to keep everyone moving along toward the ultimate reunion with our Father.
I don't think we would have been very happy to have that reunion if everything was done according to someone else's schedule.
Jesus Christ wanted us to have the opportunity to WILLINGLY choose to follow Him. To WILLINGLY desire a joyful reunion with our Father.
He knew some would be lost through their own choices. But that others would learn and make wiser choices and come back into the fold of the Good Shepherd.
Is it fair that some will be cast out?
You betcha.
The feel good mentality of 'everyone is a winner' is a gross lie.
Without true effort on our part, we don't learn. And sometimes learning a lesson IS painful.
Just ask the kid who burned his fingers touching something hot after repeated warnings to "Stay away".
Some lessons are only learned the hard way.
I'd like to say I only had a few of those experiences. But there have been many.
The current economic downturn reminds me of a painful financial lesson of my own sans governmental bailout.
Dumb choices reap painful rewards. Creditors called. Payments were demanded. Choices were changed and bills finally got paid.
No one stepped in to make it all better.
I had to learn to make better choices.
So it is with all sorts of choices and expressions.
No one can decide who gets to say what is on their mind and who gets to be told to 'shut up' because their opinion isn't viable.
You can indeed be free to choose, to speak, and to accept the consequences of the choices and speech that you are responsible for doing.
But therein lies the rub.
Liberals want to be free to do and say and act any way they see fit.
But they don't want an accountability phase.
It's okay to bully, intimidate and extort those who don't buy into THEIR views, but it's considered a hate crime to return the favor to the many viewpoints and people who espouse ideologies that are just 'out there'.
The train has not only jumped the track, but it has jumped the shark.
Lunacy can't ever be a substitute for public policy. When it becomes so prevalent that society is bowing to the will of one thought or mantra, we have most certainly lost our way.
Just rambling through the pain meds this morning...
Can't live with them . . .
People who espouse an attitude of liberal thinking don't want their rights trampled, whatever it is they deem to be 'a right'.
But they are, by and large, the worst OFFENDERS when it comes to trampling the rights of others simply for having and supporting a difference of opinion when it comes to what is 'a right' of expression.
I believe we have opposition in all things as a way to help us choose which side of the fence we will pasture in and which voice we will list to obey - that of the Good Shepherd, or of the rapacious wolves who would disguise their voice in order to draw the lambs close enough for a slaughter.
While I might not like or approve of another's use of their agency, I will defend to the death their right to make an ass of themselves in whatever way they choose. We fought a war in heaven to have the chance to do so.
Satan had other plans. He wanted us to be subject to him through a cattle mentality where we would be herded and driven toward the finish line without making choices - or mistakes.
But through the mistakes we make, we learn. Some are just slower than others to heed the lessons.
Satan wanted to use force and cooersion to keep everyone moving along toward the ultimate reunion with our Father.
I don't think we would have been very happy to have that reunion if everything was done according to someone else's schedule.
Jesus Christ wanted us to have the opportunity to WILLINGLY choose to follow Him. To WILLINGLY desire a joyful reunion with our Father.
He knew some would be lost through their own choices. But that others would learn and make wiser choices and come back into the fold of the Good Shepherd.
Is it fair that some will be cast out?
You betcha.
The feel good mentality of 'everyone is a winner' is a gross lie.
Without true effort on our part, we don't learn. And sometimes learning a lesson IS painful.
Just ask the kid who burned his fingers touching something hot after repeated warnings to "Stay away".
Some lessons are only learned the hard way.
I'd like to say I only had a few of those experiences. But there have been many.
The current economic downturn reminds me of a painful financial lesson of my own sans governmental bailout.
Dumb choices reap painful rewards. Creditors called. Payments were demanded. Choices were changed and bills finally got paid.
No one stepped in to make it all better.
I had to learn to make better choices.
So it is with all sorts of choices and expressions.
No one can decide who gets to say what is on their mind and who gets to be told to 'shut up' because their opinion isn't viable.
You can indeed be free to choose, to speak, and to accept the consequences of the choices and speech that you are responsible for doing.
But therein lies the rub.
Liberals want to be free to do and say and act any way they see fit.
But they don't want an accountability phase.
It's okay to bully, intimidate and extort those who don't buy into THEIR views, but it's considered a hate crime to return the favor to the many viewpoints and people who espouse ideologies that are just 'out there'.
The train has not only jumped the track, but it has jumped the shark.
Lunacy can't ever be a substitute for public policy. When it becomes so prevalent that society is bowing to the will of one thought or mantra, we have most certainly lost our way.
Just rambling through the pain meds this morning...
December 5, 2008
Rejoicing in the Light
I often check the upcoming movie listings online to see if there is anything suitable for family viewing coming to our local theater.
While I am not too interested in a great deal of what is being offered simply because it doesn't interest me, I am concerned about an alarming trend of movies that are created for the sole purpose of removing the light from our lives.
Celebrations of evil fill movie houses to the rapacious appetite of audiences which care nothing for goodness, but rather spend money to be shocked, horrified and offered a full plate of garbage from which they feast as if the offering were worthy.
Satan walks the earth arm in arm with the Holly-weird crowd and helps them along the pathway to destruction most willingly.
That they and others sell themselves so cheaply is so sad.
That they believe the pernicious lies that are presented as 'truth from a certain point of view' is nothing short of pitiful.
I don't want to take my family to see filth.
If we wanted to view garbage, all we need do is bring our chairs out and sit by the large rolling trash bin which is emptied by an automated lift each Wednesday morning.
It too is filled with sickening things, but I can guarantee that as unpleasant the aroma and as unpalatable the contents, the household garbage is better fare than what lights the marquees at many a theater in our communities.
While we can wash off the accidental filth of handling household waste, our minds are not so easily cleansed from disturbing and evil imagery sent out to titillate, entice and influence.
That is why advertising is SO effective.
The whole point is to sell something to a consumer.
Movies have become, not entertainment and diversion, but long play advertisements for the dirt, the smut and the filth that we would not have considered handling just a few short years ago.
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Old Testament Proverbs 29:18)
What kind of vision is being offered to us? Is it something that will help us keep the law, or does it discourage our view from anything that is good?
Society isn't so sick that it can't be healed, but too many feel there isn't any need to cure the disease that runs rampant.
The Great Healer must indeed be weeping. He holds the cure for the ills of the world, but His children run from it seeking only to do their own will and not that of the Father.
Happiness is not a subject for debate, yet the media has attached that name to things that defile, degrade and destroy. There isn't even a long span of temporary happiness in doing wicked.
Satan knows this, but it isn't in his nature to tell the truth or he would let us see him for who and what he REALLY is.
The funny thing about the irony of circumstance is that Jesus Christ and God the Father have never hidden who they are and what their mission is all about. They want to be there for us, with us and help us come home - if only WE be willing.
Satan wants to drive us like cattle, herd us like dumb animals and compel us to eat from the trough he wishes to feed us from and all the while, he knows - HE KNOWS - that what he offers is poison.
It isn't accidental.
The family is the biggest target simply because the loss of the family is the loss of everything.
When filth can be peddled to the family, they become people who just live together instead of people who love each other and do for one another in a selfless and open manner.
Satan wants us to believe that the Light is out of our reach.
Christ has a different message:
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(New Testament Matthew 11:28 - 30)
Jesus Christ invites ALL to come to Him. He didn't say that only a select few could come, but all.
I believe Him when he says I can bring my burdens to Him. I have done so on many ocassions. I will do so on many more.
The Light that fills me with understanding a love removes the darkness that Satan would have me believe is 'reality'.
The Light of Christ helps me see the other people in the world around me and understand that their needs are as important as mine and in some cases, should come first - even ahead of my own agenda.
What a blessing to have that Light and love!
When I look at the movie listings now, I am looking for movies that are about love the way Father in Heaven shows it. Love the way that Jesus Christ shows it. Love of family as ordained by God.
Without those elements, no amount of pre-release hype can make the movie worth any price.
I don't want my soul to bear a "For Sale sign". And certainly not for so cheap a price.
While I am not too interested in a great deal of what is being offered simply because it doesn't interest me, I am concerned about an alarming trend of movies that are created for the sole purpose of removing the light from our lives.
Celebrations of evil fill movie houses to the rapacious appetite of audiences which care nothing for goodness, but rather spend money to be shocked, horrified and offered a full plate of garbage from which they feast as if the offering were worthy.
Satan walks the earth arm in arm with the Holly-weird crowd and helps them along the pathway to destruction most willingly.
That they and others sell themselves so cheaply is so sad.
That they believe the pernicious lies that are presented as 'truth from a certain point of view' is nothing short of pitiful.
I don't want to take my family to see filth.
If we wanted to view garbage, all we need do is bring our chairs out and sit by the large rolling trash bin which is emptied by an automated lift each Wednesday morning.
It too is filled with sickening things, but I can guarantee that as unpleasant the aroma and as unpalatable the contents, the household garbage is better fare than what lights the marquees at many a theater in our communities.
While we can wash off the accidental filth of handling household waste, our minds are not so easily cleansed from disturbing and evil imagery sent out to titillate, entice and influence.
That is why advertising is SO effective.
The whole point is to sell something to a consumer.
Movies have become, not entertainment and diversion, but long play advertisements for the dirt, the smut and the filth that we would not have considered handling just a few short years ago.
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Old Testament Proverbs 29:18)
What kind of vision is being offered to us? Is it something that will help us keep the law, or does it discourage our view from anything that is good?
Society isn't so sick that it can't be healed, but too many feel there isn't any need to cure the disease that runs rampant.
The Great Healer must indeed be weeping. He holds the cure for the ills of the world, but His children run from it seeking only to do their own will and not that of the Father.
Happiness is not a subject for debate, yet the media has attached that name to things that defile, degrade and destroy. There isn't even a long span of temporary happiness in doing wicked.
Satan knows this, but it isn't in his nature to tell the truth or he would let us see him for who and what he REALLY is.
The funny thing about the irony of circumstance is that Jesus Christ and God the Father have never hidden who they are and what their mission is all about. They want to be there for us, with us and help us come home - if only WE be willing.
Satan wants to drive us like cattle, herd us like dumb animals and compel us to eat from the trough he wishes to feed us from and all the while, he knows - HE KNOWS - that what he offers is poison.
It isn't accidental.
The family is the biggest target simply because the loss of the family is the loss of everything.
When filth can be peddled to the family, they become people who just live together instead of people who love each other and do for one another in a selfless and open manner.
Satan wants us to believe that the Light is out of our reach.
Christ has a different message:
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(New Testament Matthew 11:28 - 30)
Jesus Christ invites ALL to come to Him. He didn't say that only a select few could come, but all.
I believe Him when he says I can bring my burdens to Him. I have done so on many ocassions. I will do so on many more.
The Light that fills me with understanding a love removes the darkness that Satan would have me believe is 'reality'.
The Light of Christ helps me see the other people in the world around me and understand that their needs are as important as mine and in some cases, should come first - even ahead of my own agenda.
What a blessing to have that Light and love!
When I look at the movie listings now, I am looking for movies that are about love the way Father in Heaven shows it. Love the way that Jesus Christ shows it. Love of family as ordained by God.
Without those elements, no amount of pre-release hype can make the movie worth any price.
I don't want my soul to bear a "For Sale sign". And certainly not for so cheap a price.
December 4, 2008
Rain, cold and Arthur
Rain, rain, go away
Come again some other day...
Rain didn't bother me when I was a kid. At best, it was a momentary joy to stomp in the puddles splashing less than pristine water on my sister's white socks and shiny Mary Jane's while my tongue lolled out of my mouth like a dogs to catch the rain drops in an attempt to gather them all.
At worst the rain meant that a planned outing was cancelled and that the traipsing in and out through the black screen door was halted to keep the muddy footprints from tainting the freshly mopped green and white flecked vinyl floor tiles that had so recently been mopped.
Now, rain comes and brings both an addition to the level of the water table and an addition to the level of pain.
I have to exercise because I made a pledge to myself to do so. I even promised the smiling countenance of Denise Austin, who doesn't even know me, that I would do 'just one more' of whatever unnatural position she is encouraging my beat up body to assume.
And, I have to exercise because, for whatever reason, my best friend Beth tells me that it's a good thing to do. I agree. It IS a good thing to do. On the days I am not dreaming of a big whopping smoothie made of Demerol and morphine…
But, then on the days that everything hurts and I'm spending my time with Arthur Itis and his aches and pains, I'm not too convinced that it is so much 'good for me' as it is a way to help my dog Gyspy inherit my earthly wealth. Won't she be surprised when the read the will only to discover it is actually a forgotten grocery list written on the back of the last direct mail envelope that I received last February!
Today was a rainy, cold day that made me question just why it was that Christmas is celebrated in the winter and why on earth we hadn't made better plans to live near the Equator.
I sympathize wholeheartedly with those who suffer the pains of life. And I empathize with those who require a steady diet of pain pills to get to sleep without moaning.
The sad realization came to me one day when I discovered that I hurt when I do my exercises and I hurt when I DON'T do my exercises. Who knew?
There could be new lyrics in there somewhere, but I'm not sure which country singer would sound better singing about Icy-Hot, Ben-Gay and ThermaCare wraps. I'll have to ponder that.
I think a shower that simply sprays a fine mist of pain relieving emollients would be nice. And a full time masseuse to make everything feel better or at least make the screaming stop...oh wait, that screaming was ME!
In the event that I become one of the Publisher's Clearinghouse winners, I pledge here and now to spend the money on a personal trainer and massage therapist. I'll keep them on retainer.
Right now, it's time to take my chilled body and find a blanket to slip under. At this point, I'd be willing to slip under the influence of a pain pill as well. So far, my will conscious dog Gypsy hasn't brought me anything for the aches and pains. I've been willing to overlook that shortcoming until now.
If she expects me to be lucid enough to create an acutal will naming her as the rightful heir to all of my dog treats, bones and liversnaps, then Gypsy needs to be more cooperative when I am praying that the tub will be filled with Icy-Hot so I can just marinate in it...
It wouldn't hurt her to bring around a few pain pills in a little barrel around her neck, or maybe use those cunning teeth to open up a few hundred tubes of Ben-Gay?
Instead, she is curled up in a tight ball oblivious to my battered body - unless the batter we are referring to has 11 herbs and spices. Then she is all mine with her undivided brown-eyed, dinner seeking attention.
Time to get a blanket. Arthur is making me ache.
Come again some other day...
Rain didn't bother me when I was a kid. At best, it was a momentary joy to stomp in the puddles splashing less than pristine water on my sister's white socks and shiny Mary Jane's while my tongue lolled out of my mouth like a dogs to catch the rain drops in an attempt to gather them all.
At worst the rain meant that a planned outing was cancelled and that the traipsing in and out through the black screen door was halted to keep the muddy footprints from tainting the freshly mopped green and white flecked vinyl floor tiles that had so recently been mopped.
Now, rain comes and brings both an addition to the level of the water table and an addition to the level of pain.
I have to exercise because I made a pledge to myself to do so. I even promised the smiling countenance of Denise Austin, who doesn't even know me, that I would do 'just one more' of whatever unnatural position she is encouraging my beat up body to assume.
And, I have to exercise because, for whatever reason, my best friend Beth tells me that it's a good thing to do. I agree. It IS a good thing to do. On the days I am not dreaming of a big whopping smoothie made of Demerol and morphine…
But, then on the days that everything hurts and I'm spending my time with Arthur Itis and his aches and pains, I'm not too convinced that it is so much 'good for me' as it is a way to help my dog Gyspy inherit my earthly wealth. Won't she be surprised when the read the will only to discover it is actually a forgotten grocery list written on the back of the last direct mail envelope that I received last February!
Today was a rainy, cold day that made me question just why it was that Christmas is celebrated in the winter and why on earth we hadn't made better plans to live near the Equator.
I sympathize wholeheartedly with those who suffer the pains of life. And I empathize with those who require a steady diet of pain pills to get to sleep without moaning.
The sad realization came to me one day when I discovered that I hurt when I do my exercises and I hurt when I DON'T do my exercises. Who knew?
There could be new lyrics in there somewhere, but I'm not sure which country singer would sound better singing about Icy-Hot, Ben-Gay and ThermaCare wraps. I'll have to ponder that.
I think a shower that simply sprays a fine mist of pain relieving emollients would be nice. And a full time masseuse to make everything feel better or at least make the screaming stop...oh wait, that screaming was ME!
In the event that I become one of the Publisher's Clearinghouse winners, I pledge here and now to spend the money on a personal trainer and massage therapist. I'll keep them on retainer.
Right now, it's time to take my chilled body and find a blanket to slip under. At this point, I'd be willing to slip under the influence of a pain pill as well. So far, my will conscious dog Gypsy hasn't brought me anything for the aches and pains. I've been willing to overlook that shortcoming until now.
If she expects me to be lucid enough to create an acutal will naming her as the rightful heir to all of my dog treats, bones and liversnaps, then Gypsy needs to be more cooperative when I am praying that the tub will be filled with Icy-Hot so I can just marinate in it...
It wouldn't hurt her to bring around a few pain pills in a little barrel around her neck, or maybe use those cunning teeth to open up a few hundred tubes of Ben-Gay?
Instead, she is curled up in a tight ball oblivious to my battered body - unless the batter we are referring to has 11 herbs and spices. Then she is all mine with her undivided brown-eyed, dinner seeking attention.
Time to get a blanket. Arthur is making me ache.
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