Undeserving

Shorts

Why are men's shorts long?

Are long shorts the current style?

Why?

What if you want to purchase shorter shorts?

Can you? Are they readily available?

Who determines what is in the stores?

The "Fashion Industry?"

Who runs the Fashion Industry?

(Click to enlarge)

Do a search for "shorts images"...

Except for young women¹, shorts styles tend to be long. They tend to cover down to the knees.

Has it always been this way?

(Click to enlarge)

Here is a search for "1970s shorts images"...

Everybody wore short shorts then, including men. Our current culture even jokes about it. Why is that?

This is my wife and me with my mother (on the left) in Florida in 2016.

(Look at my poor wife's knees, and that is after she was prayed for in Jacksonville and the swelling went down. She was actually getting around quite well when this picture was taken.)

Notice we are all wearing long shorts, or capris in my mother's case. That's because we had been programmed to stay out of the sun.

My wife always wore longer pants. She looked nice in them, but they did not allow her to get much sun when she went outside.

She was in the house most of the time. She used her computer tablet a lot, doing genealogy, reading, shopping and social media. And the television was always on, except during the last year when we became disgusted with most of the fare.

She stayed inside, and when she went outside she sat in the shade. As I said previously, I believe this all led to her being deficient in "sun hormone," which led to her poor health.

To test my hypothesis, I have been intentionally spending time in the sun. I have been exposing my skin for 20 minutes per day when sunlight quality is good -- meaning the sky is generally clear. To protect my eyes, I have been covering them with a sleeping mask.

On days that were chilly or breezy early in the Spring, I shot baskets in the local park, exposing as much skin as was comfortable for the conditions.

I have been letting my bald head get the full treatment most of the time I am out. I used to always wear a hat.

I used to mow the lawn and work in the garden in the evening, to avoid strong sun, but I now know that is the opposite of what I should be doing. Now I am doing more of it when the sun is high -- when my shadow is shorter than my height.

The results? Wow!!! Absolutely amazing!

I am sleeping better, and waking up early ready to go. I always used to sleep until well after 09:00. Now I am awake at 06:30 or 07:00, and am absolutely full of energy. I am not having any digestive issues at night either, even though I have been snacking on carbohydrates shortly before going to bed.

I am also doing intermittent fasting, and am just eating one main meal per day, but that is not entirely new. My wife and I were doing it for a while, although we were eating a couple of times per day and not just once. It was easier for me to do than it was for her. She was always hungry. Poor thing.

When we started supplementing with iodine (Lugols) several years ago, I quit doing the "sunscreen nonsense" when I worked outdoors. I was confident that replacing my inventory of iodine would enhance my immune system and counteract any increased risk of cancer... and I got a suntan. Imagine that! I think my exposure to sun by working outside helped maintain my good health, whereas my wife did not get that. She would occasionally dead-head flowers, but not for long. Getting out and doing things was difficult for her.

She used to play softball when she was young, and in recent years I occasionally asked her to play catch with me. She never would. She hurt too much.

One other thing worth mentioning is how our living in Britain seemed to correlate with my dental health. My dentist laments that she doesn't make any money off of me (jokingly). I've always had good teeth (and so did my wife), but after we were in Britain for several years I ended up with bleeding gums. At the end of the second time we were there, I got my first cavity. I didn't know what it was and ended up losing the tooth. I have not had any dental issues since the mid 1990's when we moved back to Michigan.

Britain is in relatively high latitudes. Due to the low angle of the sun and frequent rainy weather they do not get a lot of good quality sunlight. People joke about the poor condition of people's teeth in Britain, but I am now sure it is due to the lack of sunlight -- and "sun hormone." I believe this is also the reason people get more respiratory illnesses in the Autumn and Winter. It is due to deficiencies in "sun hormone," not kids going back to school and "spreading germs," as I had always been told.

I am convinced that getting appropriate amounts of direct, overhead, high-quality sunlight is crucial for our good health, and I am heartbroken I did not learn the importance of this until after my dear wife died. God lets me understand things when He is ready. His ways are not our ways. I am sharing this in honor of her, and to help others. I think she would be happy to know that her death is resulting in good.

All glory to God.

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UPDATE, July 19, 2022...

(Click to enlarge)

¹I see crop tops are back, .... not that I'm complaining! 😃

Bare midriffs, halter tops, low-rise jeans, hot pants, and mini skirts all blessed my eyes in 1971 when I was first learning to deal with my hormones. Oh boy. It was absolutely wonderful!

Crop tops reappeared in 2003, right when my girls were becoming teens. My wife made sure they wore appropriate clothing. Thank you, my dear!

Why does the Fashion Industry do this? Yes, they want to churn the market to drive sales, and there are only so many ways to cover people's bodies. Ideas get recycled. But are there other reasons for the choices available?

I have discussed in other posts how we are all programmed. Clearly, young girls are being programmed to behave in certain ways, as are young women.

When I wrote this post last year I was focused on our lack of Vitamin D and how the available fashions seem to contribute to that situation. I mentioned that young women's clothing was the exception, but I did not elaborate because I wanted to stay on topic.

Clearly, the culture pushes sexualization of young women, which is obvious, but I think that is just a "shiny object." I think there are other things actually going on. Dark things. Very, very dark things.

In my Deprogramming post, I talked about some very disturbing realities that go on in the shadows. Unfortunately, I have become aware that the hole is even deeper than that. Much deeper. It involves human trafficking, and all of the roads that can lead to. It is about black markets and the demands of those markets. What is the worst kind of thing you can think of that might be happening? It's actually worse than that.

I think Vitamin D (sun hormone) is a big, big key, and the visible markets are shaped to meet the demands of the black markets. Sun hormone is a building block for other hormones in the human body. Adrenaline is a hormone. Suppression of sun hormone leads to poor health, and the need for medical services. Cultivation of sun hormone leads to healthy bodies and plentiful hormone production. In addition, people of a certain gender and certain ages are more easily frightened, and terror produces certain chemical responses in the body. (I'm being coy because I want you to think about this and come to your own conclusions.)

Just like many things in Hollywood and the Media, the movie MONSTERS, INC is probably based on more truth than people are prepared to accept. God knows about it, however, and I tremble for those who are part of that global industry.

We all need to wise up and protect ourselves and our families. And we need to pray for justice, mercy and faithfulness, and do what we can to bring those things about.

(Do you suppose MONSTERS, INC might be a MUNICIPAL corporation? Interesting... )

UPDATE, August 6, 2022...

Today was hot (92°F/33°C) and I wanted to wear some "short shorts," like the ones we all used to wear back in the 1970's. I'm sick and tired of the long, baggy things I've had draped over my thighs for years.

So, I went to a thrift store and found some Levi's^® 511 32/34 jeans, tried them on (they fit), exchanged them for seven (7) Federal Reserve Notes (FRN), brought them home, consulted the Interwebs, found my wife's sewing gear, measured where I wanted to cut them off, and actually cut them off about one inch longer to allow for possible mistakes and eventual fraying.

Then I went for a walk. It was wonderful and felt like when I was a kid.

I did the same thing with a pair of my faded Lee^® jeans when I was about seventeen. It's easy.

Men, ... Testosterone is a hormone, too. It's one the Darkness is terrified of, and they have good reason to be. Cultivate yours. 😉

Contradiction

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14 NIV)

The Holy Spirit had me rewatch the movie God's Not Dead. It's a feel-good movie targeting Christian audiences. Its main focus is on a young college student who stands up for his faith in class. The professor is an atheist who demands his students profess in writing, "God is dead," before he commences with the class term. The student can't do that because of his faith and the professor ridicules him. Because the student stands his ground, the professor challenges the student to defend his ideas in front of the class. The student proposes the class judge the results. It's the kind of thing Christians wish would actually happen in college classrooms, but doesn't.

There are other characters in the movie who experience similar challenges. There is the foreign student who has never heard about Jesus before, the hostile reporter looking for the "gotcha interview" who learns she has cancer, the self-centered businessman who has no time for God, the Christian girlfriend who is "unequally yoked," and the Muslim daughter who secretly listens to teachings about Christianity. There are also a couple of pastors who walk around experiencing miracles and repeatedly saying, "God is good, all the time." In the end, several of them end up at a Newsboys concert and enjoy a mosh pit experience with hundreds of other concertgoers.

Once again, there was nothing about repentance in this movie. It's another "Jesus loves me" story.

Are concerts like this biblical? Is this how Jesus did things? Is this a "wide gate"?

When things are easy, they are cheap. When trouble comes there will be no root.

I attended a number of Christian concerts early in my walk, and we took our kids and their friends to some of them. We also sent them to camps where the "gospel" was preached.

That is always a feature at these events, typically near the end. The audience is led through a "sinner's prayer," or something similar, followed by some sort of altar-call or other form of commitment. That's what I was exposed to at first, and I struggled to find faith through that route. Thankfully, my early "I believe" experience planted seeds of curiosity about Scripture in me, and my persistent nature of studying things was useful to the Holy Spirit. He led me through the Biblical Gospel summarized at the top of this blog¹.

Unfortunately, what we exposed our children to during their formative years was the "altar-call" stuff, and I am afraid it did not lead to faith with roots. As they go through this season of losing their mother, they are hurting terribly like me, but they seem to be turning to the world for comfort rather than God. They are running away from me and I don't know why. They won't talk to me. They seem angry, and I understand that. So am I. Anger is part of the grieving process. I am confident we will eventually get through this, however.

What concerns me most is how the Church has handled our situation. To be frank, they really haven't. Close friends and family offered some support, especially at first, but that is to be expected, even from the world. The Church is supposed to be different. I am convinced my kids see no value in the Church at this point because it has done nothing to demonstrate it is even relevant.

My grandmother died when we were part of a church group. Many from that group came to visit my family, brought food, listened to stories and gave hugs. That was for the funeral of someone they did not know. I remember the love they showed truly impressed people. The person who died this time was formerly one of their own, and the response has not been the same. It is very sad.

Some will say that I get no support from the Church because I have turned my back on them. My response is: That's not the Church. The various denominations and religious clubs scattered around Midland are not Jesus' Church. They are something else. God specifically pulled me out of those things and set me up in the center of town to plant a flag and demonstrate what is right. And I am standing firm because that is what Jesus has called me to do.

There is one Church in Midland, just like there was one Church in each of the cities listed in Revelation: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Each "Church" was the assembly (ἐκκλησίας) of true Israelites in each of those communities, and the same holds true today. What visibly exists is unbiblical.

My physical needs are met. As I said previously, God is taking good care of me. What I crave is fellowship. I would like to talk about my wife, our life together, and most importantly about what God is doing. I know I am being tested, but so is the Church. Jesus' Church. Where are they? Jesus commands his disciples (apprentices) to love each other. Not the world. Each other.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17 NIV 1984)

[To his disciples:] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:9-17 NIV)

He said it twice, so it must be important.

I tremble for those who live in my community who call themselves "the Church." I am not their judge -- Jesus is. And these are His standards...

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"

The King will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."

They also will answer, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?"

He will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matthew 25:31-46 NIV)

Losing a lifelong spouse is one of the most heartbreaking and awful things that can happen to a person, especially when it is sudden, unexpected, and traumatic. I've lost grandparents, a parent, and newborns. Nothing compares to this. Nothing.

My sincere hope is there are some who seek the "narrow gate" in my community who will make themselves known. I suspect some do not know what to do, and may be afraid of going outside of the established structures they are familiar with. I believe Jesus wants to help them. I will try to do the same.

All glory to God.

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UPDATE, July 13, 2021...

¹This was the heading text at the top of the blog when this post was written:

I do not deserve the mercy nor the grace extended to me...

Repent and believe, be immersed in water in the Name of Jesus for the remission of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!

This is the true Gospel.
If there is anything good in me, it is from Above.
If I have any knowledge or understanding, it is from the Holy Spirit.

If I have any confidence in myself, I am a fool.

Yeshua is my King!

UPDATE, July 26, 2022...

I believe many people confuse their "neighbors" with their "brothers and sisters." We are commanded to love both, but is there a difference between those two categories of people and should we be treating them differently? I believe the Bible gives us the answers.

Jesus teaches us about our "neighbors" by telling The Parable of the Good Samaritan. He was conversing with a religious professional. The story illustrates that loving our neighbor is showing mercy to those who are truly in need. Those in need can be anyone, even our enemy or those who are very different from us. Samaritans and Israelites did not get along with each other.

Many ministries have been set up to cater to the needs of our neighbors, and that is fine. Sometimes those neighbors abuse the generosity they receive. God will deal with them in his own way and in his own time. Our job is to make sure the truly needy get help, and we are to exhort everyone to repent. We must remember that our "neighbors" are still of the "world." They are not yet in the Kingdom, and sadly may never be.

Jesus taught his "brothers and sisters" in private to love each other. The quotation from John 15 in the main text, above, was from his discourse during his Last Supper with his disciples. The crowds and the religious professionals did not hear any of that discussion, only his guys. Jesus was talking about a different kind of love, a love that is through the Holy Spirit and something the world cannot understand. He was talking about building each other up to be more and more like His example. All of the New Testament writings after the Book of Acts are about building up brothers and sisters to be like Jesus. Those writings are not addressed to the "world" or to "our neighbors." They are only for our fellow saints. I discussed this elsewhere (here and here).

As I said in the main text, above, we are not to love the "world." James summarized it well...

You adulterous people,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us^[b]? (James 4:4-5 NIV)

^[a] An allusion to covenant unfaithfulness; see Hosea 3:1...

The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” (Hosea 3:1 NIV)

^[b] Or that the spirit he caused to dwell in us envies intensely; or that the Spirit he caused to dwell in us longs jealously

I find myself being jealous for the love of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I want to spend time with them, special time. But many of them are busy serving the neighbors, and the neighbors take up a lot of their energy. I discussed that in a more recent post.

Envy and jealousy are not the same thing. Envy is wanting something that doesn't belong to me, or that I cannot have. Jealousy is wanting what is, and should be, mine. Am I jealous? You bet! And so is Jesus.

We need to discern the difference between our neighbors and our brothers/sisters, and treat them appropriately.

UPDATE, October 10, 2022...

I think "spiritual siblings" is a more precise term than "brothers/sisters." It can help us avoid becoming deceived about and entangled with false brethren.

UPDATE, December 17, 2022...

😢

Sap

I believe many Christians see themselves as separated from the Jews. Some believe God abandoned the Jews because they killed Jesus. But are those notions true?

I don't think they are, and am convinced that kind of thinking is grave error. You can consider my reasoning by reading my posts about Paul's Mystery.

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter, "to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people" (Romans 1:7 NIV, in part). He told non-Jews how they could become part of Israel through Jesus, and he used an olive tree as a metaphor...

...if the root [of the olive tree] is holy, so are the branches.

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! (Romans 11:16-24 NIV)

Isaiah used the olive tree metaphor when he talked about the coming Messiah...

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. (Isaiah 11:1 and 11:10 NIV)

Jesse was King David's father. David was the second King of Israel. When Israel sinned and adopted the practices of the peoples of the land, God sent them into exile. He cut back "the olive tree" to a stump. Jesus is the Branch that Isaiah said would come from the "stump of Jesse."

I believe we must be grafted into Israel if we are to be part of the Kingdom of Israel. The "root" supports us. If we are not part of the "Israel tree," we will not receive the nourishment we need, and we will eventually die spiritually.

Dead stumps and branches can look alive...for a while. I cut down and dug up this buckthorn plant from my property, and I set it out by the street for the city to haul away. It sprouted leaves while it sat by the curb, completely uprooted. It appeared to be alive even though it was dead.

Twenty years ago, I was at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C., right after I read the book about Paul's Mystery. While standing there, I left¹ my US citizenship (in my heart) and became a citizen of spiritual Israel. (I am not talking about the secular State of Israel.) It was the hardest thing I had ever done, and it changed me. I had to live someplace, so I retained my US passport and other credentials, but in my heart I was an Israelite. Still am.

Shortly after that, I left my job and had my Burned Toast experience. Years later, I was set free.

Recently², I learned:

A citizen is actually someone who is obliged to serve the government.
Most Americans have been tricked into identifying as a US Citizen and/or citizen of the US.
Those people actually have no rights under the Constitutions (plural).
They are a subject of the British Monarch and/or a slave of the Roman Catholic Pope.

This all happened after the American Civil War, which was not actually a declared war, but was instead a mercenary conflict between two government services corporations. Most Americans should be considered sovereign state nationals, but the government presumes they are citizens in order to secretly mistreat them. Apparently, being a "citizen" has lots of disadvantages in the current situation. I alluded to the effective "slavery" in my Larvae and Placebos posts.

I now feel pretty good about my decision at the Tomb, and realize the Holy Spirit led me to do something I knew nothing about twenty years before it became known to me. I believe that action spiritually set me free from some things, and it grafted me into some authority most people do not experience.

I am telling you this because I love you and want you to experience the amazing things and freedom I seem to have... by the grace of God. I believe I am grafted into the stump of Jesse and I am receiving the πιότητος (piotētos, meaning "fatness" or nourishment) from that tree. Many people I encounter have faith and knowledge of Jesus, and some have discovered they have access to incredible spiritual power as they heal the sick and cast out demons, but the Darkness persistently seems to prevent them from understanding the things I try to proclaim about Paul's Mystery. Do people not understand this because they are not grafted into the Israel Olive Tree?

Please take these ideas into your prayer closet and ask God what He thinks about them, and what He wants you to do. I believe it is critically important.

All glory to God.

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UPDATE, September 29, 2021...

²I corrected some things in this paragraph after spending some time learning about actual history and the real American government.

UPDATE, October 13, 2021...

I will make further corrections, as necessary, as I learn more.

UPDATE, December 11, 2022...

¹Altered this word to be more precise and to avoid any misunderstandings. I had previously used the word "renounced," but have since learned that word has lawful and legal implications that I did not know about nor consider at the time I was standing at the Tomb and when I originally wrote this post. My intentions were, and are, in line with this...

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29 NKJV)

As I discussed in the Paul's Mystery posts, one of Jesus' names is Israel.

Nothing was ever put onto the public record, and as I stated I had no intention of officially changing anything in the temporal world. I remain at peace with everyone and consider michigan to be my home while I live and breath on this earth.

My spiritual identification with Israel is my religious belief, one of my unalienable rights.

Renumbered the second footnote to maintain correct order in the main text.

UPDATE, January 14, 2023...

the dispersion of the Jews after the Babylonian exile.
the Jews thus dispersed.
in the time of the apostles, Jewish Christians who lived outside of Palestine.

I am a Jew, one who believes in and follows Jesus but does not practice Judaism.

I am clarifying these things because I believe God intends for me to serve in the Michigan Assembly as a State Citizen, which does not allow dual citizenship. At the same time, I still believe in and identify with Spiritual Israel, of which Jesus is the King. He is the King of kings.

See my discussion in the September 3, 2022 update of the Authority post about what appears to be "Israel" today in the part of the world called Palestine. There is no land/soil jurisdiction of Jesus' Israel right now, and most adherents of Judaism would probably agree with that.

I presume Jews are welcome to serve in the Michigan Assembly along with Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Mormons, Scientologists, Pagans, Atheists, etc.

Hush

Who is this?

What is he known for?

Did he have any spiritual beliefs?

Did he believe in a supreme being?

Where is his left hand?

Is it hidden?

What does that mean?

Who is this?

Where is his hand?

What about this guy's hand?

First US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay.

Was Lincoln surrounded?

What happened to him?

President Rutherford B. Hayes.

President Harry S. Truman.

What is he wearing?

Where is his left hand?

What did he do to end the Second World War?

Who won that war?

Who really won that war?

Holding hands? Were they both part of it?

Where is Speaker Ryan's hand? Is he a Republican?

Where is President Obama's hand?

It's so awkward that it looks forced.

Why is he doing that?

Another Republican.

Look who else is in the club.

So, it's international.

And includes musicians.

And actors.

And royalty.

Is he showing more than one symbol?

What does that mean?

Who is this?

Karl Marx?

What is he known for?

Where is his hand?

Who is this?

Vladimir Lenin?

What is he known for?

Where is his hand?

Who is this?

Joe Stalin?

What is he known for?

Where is his hand?

Who are these guys?

Is that Hermann Goering on the left?

What is he known for?

Where is his hand?

Who has his hand in his pocket?

Is his hand hidden?

What kind of a handshake is that?

What symbol is that?

What does it mean?

Who is this?

Where is his hand?

What does that mean?

Is he part of the club, too?

Even bureaucrats appear to be in on the secret.

What do these people believe?

Can they be an atheist?

What do they think of atheists?

Whom do they serve?

Whom do they really serve?

Back to the original picture...

Could this man have been an atheist if he was part of this group?

What have we been taught?

Is that true?

Given who he was associated with, should we believe him?

Have we been deceived?

Who runs the world? Atheists?

If atheists ran the world, wouldn't they simply laugh at and ignore all religious people? But that doesn't happen.

The establishment that runs the world despises Jesus Christ and does everything it can to oppose those who believe in him. Why is that? What are they afraid of?

Who ARE these people. What do they believe?

Whom do they really serve?

All glory to God.

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UPDATE, August 23, 2022...

The man with the grey beard at the top and bottom of this post is Charles Darwin, author of "On the Origin of Species," the book proposing the Theory of (macro) Evolution. Be careful what you believe about what is in Wikipedia. Remember, you get what you pay for.

UPDATE, October 25, 2022...

Don't believe me? Watch this video.

This video is "Altiyan Childs Exposes Freemasonry." If it disappears, just search for it elsewhere. It's long (over five hours), but worth watching.

Possessions

...A man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:16-26 NIV)

In 2006, we downsized houses and got rid of a lot of things. Later, we sold and got rid of even more, but we still had a lot left. We also acquired items from relatives as they moved on with their lives -- photographs, photographic slides, slide projectors, artwork, and various things our mothers did not have room for in their senior-living apartments. We also had a lot of things from Britain, and various keepsakes.

My wife was given a lot of "family history" records from relatives on both sides of the family. She enjoyed researching and figuring out connections. In my view, pursuing genealogies can turn into an endless endeavor, and it doesn't do much to expand the Kingdom of Heaven, so I had asked her to wrap it up. She said that she would, and was working on it because she respected my request. I often told her, "I got me the best one," and she often quoted from the movie Oblivion, "We're a more effective team."

Photographs. We collected a lot of them over the years, and with technology they are very easy to create. Many of them are stored electronically, either on our computer devices or on cloud services, but I told her I prefer having prints that I can hold in my hands and put into physical albums. She printed a lot of them, and they are sorted into boxes.

We have lots of stuff from our early marriage days. People used to have a set of fine china dishes for entertaining people and special occasions. We received ours as wedding presents. We also collected different sets when we were in Britain. So did our mothers. We have it all now, and nobody wants it. Young people just don't use fine china these days, so it all sits in boxes.

We also have ceramic figurines, ceramic houses, thimbles, and love spoons. Many of them are displayed in a curio cabinet, a china cabinet, on the fireplace mantle, or hanging on the wall. I have a large grandfather clock that I bought after my grandfather died in 1983. Our walls have many different pictures, many from Britain. There are lots of memories and emotions tied up in all of those things.

All of this household stuff is a burden to me. The house, the car, my mother's car, my mother's affairs, the garden and yard, the bills, the property taxes, the computers, the DVD's, and all of my wife's Kindle books are all worldly and they distract me from what I really want to be doing: chasing after the Kingdom. My spirit wants to do what Jesus says in the Scripture quoted above, but my flesh wants to hang on to everything. I was trying to lead my wife in that spiritual direction, and she was trying very hard to follow me. She was emotionally attached to all of our things, too. If something had been easy to get rid of, it was already gone.

This home was ours, but in my mind it was hers. She found it, she designed the landscaping and she decorated the interior. I contributed, of course, and I did most of the physical work, but in spirit it was her household. Am I supposed to move? I do not know. The place is too big for just one person. Cleaning up and getting rid of things should be easier now that she is gone. The dynamic has changed. Perhaps I can make some progress.

I was doing the best I could, and thought my wife and I had more time to be together. We make our plans, but God determines our steps. Jesus will be her judge and my judge, nobody else. This is His project and His Game¹. In chess, it is sometimes necessary to let your own queen be captured in order to ultimately win the game. There is also a way to get a queen back on the board. (I actually hope it's her.) We'll see what happens.

All glory to God.

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UPDATE, July 10, 2022...

This post triggered a rift in my family. My girls still will not talk to me, more than fourteen months later. I strongly suspect the strains were already present well before my wife's death, and I am certain she did what she could to hold relationships together. Once her influence was gone, however, reality appeared and things came apart.

I love and adore my children, and this situation continues to break my heart. I am sure their hearts are broken, too. It's been a very tough and difficult loss. I know God is in control. He wants reconciliation, and I want to do anything and everything in my power to bring it about.

My first eleven months of widowhood were very solitary. Looking back, I needed that time alone. Then I found some new friends to share with, and have had opportunities to talk about my wife, our life together, and what God has been doing.

This past week I learned my "Myers-Briggs" personality type, through the help of a friend. I had heard about that particular tool before, but in all of my professional years it was not an evaluation I ever did. I have now, and I discussed the results and implications in updates to my Engineer post.

This morning, I read through the fifteen other personality types and believe I've identified my wife's description. I believe she was an "ISFJ." You can read about it under the other post. This has given me more insight into my relationship with my wife and the dynamics between us. Despite what anyone may think, or what any psychological tools may say, we loved each other with our entire hearts and I am still heartbroken that I lost her. I know God brought us together, kept us together, and produced through us the "fruit" He wanted to produce... and that includes our children.

... This is how I continue to process things. After all, I'm an "INTJ"!!!

UPDATE, July 11, 2022...

¹Added "and His Game" to clarify this paragraph.

I love metaphors, similes, parables, etc. I guess that's how I'm wired. Maybe this is part of the reason my kids don't understand me. I wish they could just love me like their mother did. She loved me anyway, even if she didn't understand me.......

😢

UPDATE, October 14, 2025...

Milestone

Twenty two years ago today, I was baptized by immersion into Jesus Christ. It was a Sunday, just like today is a Sunday...

I found this with the certificate. It is the "testimony" I spoke to the church audience before I went underwater.

I talked about my baptism in an early post.

All glory to God.