George Orwell wrote a science fiction novel entitled 1984. There was movie made starring Richard Burton based upon the novel.
It showed how Big Brother ruled the lives of those who lived in bleak Oceania. They used extreme torture and mind control, listening devices and video observation in everyone's room and Big Brother was everywhere.
There was a scene in the movie where the torturer asked the tortured Winston Smith how many fingers he was holding up as he held up 4. He was tortured until he saw 5 fingers being held up. After the torture he was shone his ravaged visage in a mirror and told that it was his fault he looked that way. He was convinced that it was his fault. During the torture, he was told that eventually he would believe the way Big Brother wanted him to believe and he would love Big Brother.
Satan tried torture and the Church grew. Every time Satan tortures believers and makes it difficult for them to worship, the Church grows. What has decimated the Church and this country without the benefit of torture and war has been relativism. Whatever feels good, do it. I may not believe that way, but if it is good for someone else, it's okay. That feeling works until it comes to Judeo-Christian beliefs. Then it becomes intolerable to tolerate.
The United States has embarked on the slippery slope of legislating sin. It taxes liquor and bars. It taxes off track gambling. It taxes casinos. It taxes and it taxes and in at least one state, it taxes prostitution. Sin of all sorts is becoming socially acceptable as long as it can be taxed, regulated by the government in order to protect the participants from the evils of the particular sin they engage in. God is no longer allowed the authority of regulating sin, it has become a matter of the government. The government will soon tell you what you can and cannot do as far as worship goes and what parts of the Bible you may or may not believe in and preach to the congregations.
The far left is making incremental strides. It takes 2 steps forward, but only one step back. They convince us that they did not get what they wanted when in reality, they are slowly getting everything the Devil wants them to get. Slowly, we are losing freedoms under the guise of making us safe. Or perhaps it is to make others safe. We are gradually making evil the norm and making that which is Godly illegal.
I do not know if the Rapture is imminent. I feel that this country is headed in the wrong direction and is in for a rude awakening. We have spent ourselves into a deep chasm both morally and fiscally. We no longer own our country. We are so far in debt that there appears no way to solve it and if anyone does come up with a solution that requires sacrifice on the public's part, we will never go there.
I know what it is like to not have food to eat. When I was in my early 20's I got myself into a situation where I had no job and no money except what I could find enough soda bottles on the street and turn them in for the deposit. I did things then to eat that I would not do today. We are so afraid that we might have to do without something that we refuse to cut back on our wants and desires. We will soon find out that our inability to do without will cause us to do without necessities.
The world is in chaos. The French are freaking out because the government wants to raise the retirement age to 62. English students are irate because college costs are rising. War and unrest is everywhere. We have estranged husbands and wives killing each other and themselves. Crazy people open fire on unsuspecting citizens killing indiscriminately. Egypt is in a state of unrest. Israel remains the center hatred by most of the countries of the world.
Can we see a pattern here? Did not Scripture tell us that perilous times will come? That there will be wars and rumors of wars continuously? And we ain't seen nothin' yet!
Pray and watch.
Shalom. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Think Again
I remember saying it. I have heard a lot of people say it. I guess at this point you have no idea what I am referring to.
"I am going to wait until just before I die and make things right with the Lord." I heard that quite a bit when I was younger, much younger. I think it is probably because many younger people think that it won't happen to them for many years. None of us are guaranteed another breath.
December 17, 1992 (I think that is the correct day) was a Thursday. I was on my way home from work. I had plans for the evening. I would drive to my friend's house and pick her up and go to prayer meeting. It was a weekly ritual and I rarely gave it any thought. As I neared home, I had to pass an intersection that was know for it's accidents. As I neared that intersection I noticed a car start to pull out, but it stopped. In spite of the fact that they had a stop sign and I did not, the car started out into the intersection in my path. I had time to utter only one syllable before the impact. You would think that there would be more time. You would think that a person would have time for even a short prayer of pleading for help or repentance or something.
But that is not how it works. My one syllable word was shouted from my lips and lasted as long as it took to feel the impact. I shouted, "NO!" as if by yelling loud enough I could stop him from pulling into my path.
When I opened my eyes, I was facing 45 degrees to my left. The hood was partially blocking my view and my chest felt like it was going to fall out of my skin. It felt like the seat had moved and I was fortunate to be alive.
The man who pulled out in front of me after stopping at his stop sign was uninjured. The passenger in the car he was driving acted as his cushion. He was not wearing his seat belt. He also did not have his driver's license nor did he have insurance on the borrowed car. The passenger was injured but not badly. Things could have been much worse. I was going about 55 miles per hour when I hit the car. Either one or all of us could have been killed or permanently disabled.
It happened in mere seconds. We could all have been facing God with no time to repent. Fortunately for me, if it had been my time, it would have been a good time to die. My salvation experience and my relationship with The Messiah, Jesus Christ Almighty had already been solidified.
I was in intensive care for a couple of days and within the week I was home and able to go on with my life. It was a frightening experience, but it taught me that we have the time that is now. We have no guarantee that HE will call for us again. If we hear HIS voice, we need to heed it NOW. There may be no second chance. Now is the time for Salvation. Even the next moment may be too late.
Shalom. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
"I am going to wait until just before I die and make things right with the Lord." I heard that quite a bit when I was younger, much younger. I think it is probably because many younger people think that it won't happen to them for many years. None of us are guaranteed another breath.
December 17, 1992 (I think that is the correct day) was a Thursday. I was on my way home from work. I had plans for the evening. I would drive to my friend's house and pick her up and go to prayer meeting. It was a weekly ritual and I rarely gave it any thought. As I neared home, I had to pass an intersection that was know for it's accidents. As I neared that intersection I noticed a car start to pull out, but it stopped. In spite of the fact that they had a stop sign and I did not, the car started out into the intersection in my path. I had time to utter only one syllable before the impact. You would think that there would be more time. You would think that a person would have time for even a short prayer of pleading for help or repentance or something.
But that is not how it works. My one syllable word was shouted from my lips and lasted as long as it took to feel the impact. I shouted, "NO!" as if by yelling loud enough I could stop him from pulling into my path.
When I opened my eyes, I was facing 45 degrees to my left. The hood was partially blocking my view and my chest felt like it was going to fall out of my skin. It felt like the seat had moved and I was fortunate to be alive.
The man who pulled out in front of me after stopping at his stop sign was uninjured. The passenger in the car he was driving acted as his cushion. He was not wearing his seat belt. He also did not have his driver's license nor did he have insurance on the borrowed car. The passenger was injured but not badly. Things could have been much worse. I was going about 55 miles per hour when I hit the car. Either one or all of us could have been killed or permanently disabled.
It happened in mere seconds. We could all have been facing God with no time to repent. Fortunately for me, if it had been my time, it would have been a good time to die. My salvation experience and my relationship with The Messiah, Jesus Christ Almighty had already been solidified.
I was in intensive care for a couple of days and within the week I was home and able to go on with my life. It was a frightening experience, but it taught me that we have the time that is now. We have no guarantee that HE will call for us again. If we hear HIS voice, we need to heed it NOW. There may be no second chance. Now is the time for Salvation. Even the next moment may be too late.
Shalom. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
I am Third Generation In The United States
My grandfather was born June 24, 1896 in Grodek, Galacia Austria. He immigrated to the United States (legally) December 4, 1912 from the Port of Bremen, Germany aboard the S. S. Kronprinzessin Cecilie. His name was changed by immigration officials for simplicity (?). His father's name was Andrew Dunas and his mother's name was Ana Zagski. His mother died when he was six and his father died when he was nine. He had a younger sister that died within a year after their father. This orphaned child ran away from his uncle's home after the man worked him from dawn to dusk on the farm. He wandered across Europe, working where he could and saving money for his dream of going to the United States of America.
I always thought my father was Polish. It was only last month that I learned that his father was born in Austria.
My grandfather declared $26.00 on his person when he disembarked at Ellis Island. That was a lot of money at that time. What will that amount get you today? How about a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, a pack of sandwich meat, a jar of mayonnaise and a six pack of brand name soda? At that time it would probably keep you set for a month or longer with a room and meals while you hunted for a job.
According to family information, my grandfather's pocket was picked and he started in the United States of America with nothing. He made his way to Michigan where his knowledge of five languages gave him an edge and he became a foreman at a logging camp after a month on the job.
He saved his money and went to Barber College in Detroit, Michigan (he did not get a student loan). He worked as a barber and saved his money. Before long he saved enough to buy out one of the partners. He gradually owned the largest barbershop in Detroit. He was 31.
We have lost sight of some things in our quest to become educated and enlightened. My grandfather never attended school, not one day in his lifetime. He spoke five languages, attended barber school and became a successful business man. He wanted my father to go to Harvard and if the stock market had not crashed, the desires of my grandfather may have been fulfilled.
My grandmother was twice widowed when she met my grandfather. She was an excellent seamstress, owned a candy store and two grocery stores prior to the crash. She was a hard working woman with an unquenchable spirit and an undying belief in the American Dream.
My grandmother went to the fourth grade and then was sent to work at the age of nine in a shirt factory. She worked ten hours a day, six days a week in Reading Pennsylvania. It was 1897. Times were different. In many ways they were better. You rapidly learned the value of hard work or you did not eat. That is a very Biblical object lesson. It was learned fast and hard.
So now, we have child labor laws to protect children and some never learn the value of work, much less the value of hard work. The government has stepped in to feed the poor with no assumption of repayment or working to pay it back. Any idea of having a work for welfare type program is met with angry protests by people who don't know any better; people who do not understand the value of working for what you get. I have been at the mercy of the government services and it SUCKS big time. It is degrading and demoralizing, but that is just my opinion.
When my grandparents and my father were growing up if a person suffered hardship, it was looked upon as something to be struggled through and learned from. Everyone had some sort of problem in their life.
In today's world, too many who start to suffer any kind of hardship are put into counseling immediately. There is definitely a place for counseling, but does everyone on the planet need counseling for everything? Can we not just wallow in our misery for a time while waiting on the Lord for guidance? Is it not possible to work (and I mean work) through our trials? I sometimes I think that the reason we have so many problems is that we do not have enough physical labor to make us just tired to the bone, too tired to think about our state of affairs. People now substitute exercise in a gym for the physical exertion of hard work or maybe just walking to work.
We no longer sleep well because we have not exerted ourselves. We have clogged arteries and migraines because we have desk jobs and watch too much TV. I sometimes wonder if the invention of electricity was a good idea. I like my indoor plumbing and have no desire to go back to walking to the outhouse, but do we really need electricity? It was just a thought. I obviously do like my internet and other electrical things.
Back to the point.
My grandparents immigrated to the United States of America legally. I enjoy the results of that legal immigration as did my father. Some of the requirements of citizenship was that they learned to speak English and learned about the Constitution of the United States and how the Government of their new country works.
I am hopeful that when people learn what it means to be a citizen, a legal citizen, of the United States of America that they will have more desire to immigrate legally with a drive to do what it takes to become a citizen.
Every country has its problems and I do feel that the freedoms we have may have contributed to the loss of some of them. We found out that we could legislate money to us. We could put people in Congress that would give us stuff and that is where we began the escalating debt and a decline in morality. If no matter what you do, the government will take care of you, why bother even trying to keep the family together? If the government will take over the obligations of the church, why support the church? Why even go to church if the government is going to supply all your needs and attempts to take the place of God?
We have taken the dreams and blood, sweat and tears of our forefathers and thrown them away for a dainty from the king's table. We have voted ourselves stuff and dug ourselves a fourteen trillion dollar hole. What were we thinking? We are now dying from over-abundance, excess and sloth.
Shalom. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
I always thought my father was Polish. It was only last month that I learned that his father was born in Austria.
My grandfather declared $26.00 on his person when he disembarked at Ellis Island. That was a lot of money at that time. What will that amount get you today? How about a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, a pack of sandwich meat, a jar of mayonnaise and a six pack of brand name soda? At that time it would probably keep you set for a month or longer with a room and meals while you hunted for a job.
According to family information, my grandfather's pocket was picked and he started in the United States of America with nothing. He made his way to Michigan where his knowledge of five languages gave him an edge and he became a foreman at a logging camp after a month on the job.
He saved his money and went to Barber College in Detroit, Michigan (he did not get a student loan). He worked as a barber and saved his money. Before long he saved enough to buy out one of the partners. He gradually owned the largest barbershop in Detroit. He was 31.
We have lost sight of some things in our quest to become educated and enlightened. My grandfather never attended school, not one day in his lifetime. He spoke five languages, attended barber school and became a successful business man. He wanted my father to go to Harvard and if the stock market had not crashed, the desires of my grandfather may have been fulfilled.
My grandmother was twice widowed when she met my grandfather. She was an excellent seamstress, owned a candy store and two grocery stores prior to the crash. She was a hard working woman with an unquenchable spirit and an undying belief in the American Dream.
My grandmother went to the fourth grade and then was sent to work at the age of nine in a shirt factory. She worked ten hours a day, six days a week in Reading Pennsylvania. It was 1897. Times were different. In many ways they were better. You rapidly learned the value of hard work or you did not eat. That is a very Biblical object lesson. It was learned fast and hard.
So now, we have child labor laws to protect children and some never learn the value of work, much less the value of hard work. The government has stepped in to feed the poor with no assumption of repayment or working to pay it back. Any idea of having a work for welfare type program is met with angry protests by people who don't know any better; people who do not understand the value of working for what you get. I have been at the mercy of the government services and it SUCKS big time. It is degrading and demoralizing, but that is just my opinion.
When my grandparents and my father were growing up if a person suffered hardship, it was looked upon as something to be struggled through and learned from. Everyone had some sort of problem in their life.
In today's world, too many who start to suffer any kind of hardship are put into counseling immediately. There is definitely a place for counseling, but does everyone on the planet need counseling for everything? Can we not just wallow in our misery for a time while waiting on the Lord for guidance? Is it not possible to work (and I mean work) through our trials? I sometimes I think that the reason we have so many problems is that we do not have enough physical labor to make us just tired to the bone, too tired to think about our state of affairs. People now substitute exercise in a gym for the physical exertion of hard work or maybe just walking to work.
We no longer sleep well because we have not exerted ourselves. We have clogged arteries and migraines because we have desk jobs and watch too much TV. I sometimes wonder if the invention of electricity was a good idea. I like my indoor plumbing and have no desire to go back to walking to the outhouse, but do we really need electricity? It was just a thought. I obviously do like my internet and other electrical things.
Back to the point.
My grandparents immigrated to the United States of America legally. I enjoy the results of that legal immigration as did my father. Some of the requirements of citizenship was that they learned to speak English and learned about the Constitution of the United States and how the Government of their new country works.
I am hopeful that when people learn what it means to be a citizen, a legal citizen, of the United States of America that they will have more desire to immigrate legally with a drive to do what it takes to become a citizen.
Every country has its problems and I do feel that the freedoms we have may have contributed to the loss of some of them. We found out that we could legislate money to us. We could put people in Congress that would give us stuff and that is where we began the escalating debt and a decline in morality. If no matter what you do, the government will take care of you, why bother even trying to keep the family together? If the government will take over the obligations of the church, why support the church? Why even go to church if the government is going to supply all your needs and attempts to take the place of God?
We have taken the dreams and blood, sweat and tears of our forefathers and thrown them away for a dainty from the king's table. We have voted ourselves stuff and dug ourselves a fourteen trillion dollar hole. What were we thinking? We are now dying from over-abundance, excess and sloth.
Shalom. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
Friday, January 21, 2011
A Matter of Choice?
There will, unfortunately, be many who read my three-part series on abortion and become incensed that I would take away a woman's right to choose. And to that I say, HOGWASH!!!
First, I would like to point out that no one has ever been denied the right to choose anything. Regardless of what law is passed, no one has ever been denied the right to choose anything except those incarcerated individuals and those in mental institutions.
Jeffrey Dahmer exercised his right to choose as did Charles Manson. Just because there are laws which are there to protect the citizens, sometimes against themselves as in suicide, does not mean that the freedom to make illegal choices has been removed from a group of people. All you have to do is choose to look at a newspaper or watch the news programs.
There are women that choose to kill their children by strapping the children in their car seats and pushing the car into lakes and rivers. Some would try to argue that she was simply having a retro-active abortion. Some even think that you should have the right to end a child's life until they are two or more years old. Countries that have enforced limitations on the number of children per household have no trouble strapping a woman down and forcing her to kill her child.
Jack Kevorkian and others like him would have gladly helped me commit suicide if I had even hinted to them that I was depressed and thinking about it. Depression and anxiety pass. Death lingers on. Funny how that works. It really is a permanent solution to a temporary event.
Now there is the possibility of the Death Squad lingering over the heads of the aging population here in the United States. So named because after a certain age, if your quality of life is below a certain scale that is determined by a committee, then there will be no further expenditures for your condition except to provide one with a permanent sleeping pill if so desired. One side said that is the way it will be. The other side said that is preposterous. Who to believe? Frankly, I choose to err on the side of caution. Let us not give the government even a hint of that capability.
There are those who would prohibit surgery to children born with debilitating conditions that exorbitantly priced surgeries and years of therapy would overcome. How could anyone refuse surgery for a child simply because some limited thought process thinks that child may not contribute to society someday? The Shriners and Saint Jude Children's Hospitals provide help for children with horrid conditions every day and most is done absolutely free of charge. Yet there are those who would do away with extraordinary measures for a mere child.
During the course of a day, we make many choices. We have never been NOT free to choose. We just know that some of those choices have dire or life-long consequences.
I was asked in court once if I would force a child to become a Christian. I told them that there was no way that I could do that, but the child would go to church with me if I got custody because the child was too young to stay at home alone.
We have a choice as to whether or not we become a Christian and no one can force you to be one. That is totally voluntary (no, I am not getting into pre-destination). We can choose to follow God and accept Jesus Christ as Saviour or we can continue to follow Satan. We all have to make that choice.
Shalom. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
First, I would like to point out that no one has ever been denied the right to choose anything. Regardless of what law is passed, no one has ever been denied the right to choose anything except those incarcerated individuals and those in mental institutions.
Jeffrey Dahmer exercised his right to choose as did Charles Manson. Just because there are laws which are there to protect the citizens, sometimes against themselves as in suicide, does not mean that the freedom to make illegal choices has been removed from a group of people. All you have to do is choose to look at a newspaper or watch the news programs.
There are women that choose to kill their children by strapping the children in their car seats and pushing the car into lakes and rivers. Some would try to argue that she was simply having a retro-active abortion. Some even think that you should have the right to end a child's life until they are two or more years old. Countries that have enforced limitations on the number of children per household have no trouble strapping a woman down and forcing her to kill her child.
Jack Kevorkian and others like him would have gladly helped me commit suicide if I had even hinted to them that I was depressed and thinking about it. Depression and anxiety pass. Death lingers on. Funny how that works. It really is a permanent solution to a temporary event.
Now there is the possibility of the Death Squad lingering over the heads of the aging population here in the United States. So named because after a certain age, if your quality of life is below a certain scale that is determined by a committee, then there will be no further expenditures for your condition except to provide one with a permanent sleeping pill if so desired. One side said that is the way it will be. The other side said that is preposterous. Who to believe? Frankly, I choose to err on the side of caution. Let us not give the government even a hint of that capability.
There are those who would prohibit surgery to children born with debilitating conditions that exorbitantly priced surgeries and years of therapy would overcome. How could anyone refuse surgery for a child simply because some limited thought process thinks that child may not contribute to society someday? The Shriners and Saint Jude Children's Hospitals provide help for children with horrid conditions every day and most is done absolutely free of charge. Yet there are those who would do away with extraordinary measures for a mere child.
During the course of a day, we make many choices. We have never been NOT free to choose. We just know that some of those choices have dire or life-long consequences.
I was asked in court once if I would force a child to become a Christian. I told them that there was no way that I could do that, but the child would go to church with me if I got custody because the child was too young to stay at home alone.
We have a choice as to whether or not we become a Christian and no one can force you to be one. That is totally voluntary (no, I am not getting into pre-destination). We can choose to follow God and accept Jesus Christ as Saviour or we can continue to follow Satan. We all have to make that choice.
Shalom. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
Abortion - Part 3 of 3
This is a re-post of one of my first posts. January is Sanctity of Human Life Month, please remember the murdered and the ones they left behind. The following is a true story. It is my story.
Do you think it should be legal to have an abortion?
Do you think it should be legal for a woman to choose abortion?
Do you think it should be legal to kill unborn children?
Each of these questions means the same thing. They are phrased differently and evoke different emotions in each individual but it means the same thing. You are asking if murder under special circumstances should be legal. Murder should never be legal. The rallying cry has been that you cannot legislate morality. There are laws against stealing. There are even laws against murder. Those are both moral issues.
There is also the idea that it is keeping women safe. How do you think abortion legalized or not keeps women safe? Most modern abortion clinics are not even required to pass any state health department inspections. In many high schools and grade schools a girl can ask for birth control or an abortion and no one HAS to tell her parents. In many states a perverted step-father, uncle, neighbor or teacher can take an underage girl to get an abortion and no one bats an eye. There are many things about the Abortion Industry that are appalling. The fact that tax dollars have gone to planned parenthood to promote the killing of children is equally appalling.
Why is the United States of America in such dire financial straits? Could it be that since 1972 we have killed 40 million children who might have grown to adulthood and produced another generation? Has it occurred to anyone in politics that we have killed off our tax base? Is there anyone in government who can sit down and work the numbers and realize that what is killing this nation is the fact that we allow, no we PROMOTE this genocide?
On a national scale, we are oblivious to the destruction. We think we are immune to repercussions. This country, in general, still thinks that if it feels good, do it. The people of the 60's revolution are now governing. And it appears that they smoked way too much pot back in the day or they are still hitting the weed. After seeing all that has transpired in DC in the years since President Reagan, it is painfully obvious that we have left our spines in the nursery. We have ceased rational thinking. We have given ourselves over to being green when, in fact, we are mainly yellow with a big hint of RED. Communism is not dead! Neither is Socialism!
The nation is politically correct and morally and financially bankrupt. And what are we worried about? Our morals? No. We are concerned about our declining finances. I propose that if we get our moral house in order that the financial side will follow. Morally stable people work and take care of business. They take care of their neighbors and they give to the poor.
This has been a bit of a rant but sometimes you have to rant. Not only does it do a body good, sometimes is is essential.
Do you think it should be legal for a woman to choose abortion?
Do you think it should be legal to kill unborn children?
Each of these questions means the same thing. They are phrased differently and evoke different emotions in each individual but it means the same thing. You are asking if murder under special circumstances should be legal. Murder should never be legal. The rallying cry has been that you cannot legislate morality. There are laws against stealing. There are even laws against murder. Those are both moral issues.
There is also the idea that it is keeping women safe. How do you think abortion legalized or not keeps women safe? Most modern abortion clinics are not even required to pass any state health department inspections. In many high schools and grade schools a girl can ask for birth control or an abortion and no one HAS to tell her parents. In many states a perverted step-father, uncle, neighbor or teacher can take an underage girl to get an abortion and no one bats an eye. There are many things about the Abortion Industry that are appalling. The fact that tax dollars have gone to planned parenthood to promote the killing of children is equally appalling.
Why is the United States of America in such dire financial straits? Could it be that since 1972 we have killed 40 million children who might have grown to adulthood and produced another generation? Has it occurred to anyone in politics that we have killed off our tax base? Is there anyone in government who can sit down and work the numbers and realize that what is killing this nation is the fact that we allow, no we PROMOTE this genocide?
On a national scale, we are oblivious to the destruction. We think we are immune to repercussions. This country, in general, still thinks that if it feels good, do it. The people of the 60's revolution are now governing. And it appears that they smoked way too much pot back in the day or they are still hitting the weed. After seeing all that has transpired in DC in the years since President Reagan, it is painfully obvious that we have left our spines in the nursery. We have ceased rational thinking. We have given ourselves over to being green when, in fact, we are mainly yellow with a big hint of RED. Communism is not dead! Neither is Socialism!
The nation is politically correct and morally and financially bankrupt. And what are we worried about? Our morals? No. We are concerned about our declining finances. I propose that if we get our moral house in order that the financial side will follow. Morally stable people work and take care of business. They take care of their neighbors and they give to the poor.
This has been a bit of a rant but sometimes you have to rant. Not only does it do a body good, sometimes is is essential.
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