Monthly Archives: September 2024

When You Hike in the Ozarks Be Prepared

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Courtesy Pinterest.com

The hill was steep and for a while I wondered whether or not I could make it to the ridge without having to stop for a break and when I had begun looking for someplace to rest, I heard voices coming from somewhere up the hill. It sounded for all the world like a couple of old hillbillies, probably rattling on like they often do about rural issues or the ignorance of young people, but something about this conversation was different – way different – from the typical woodsy talk you’d expect, so I sort of eavesdropped on their conversation as I struggled up towards them.

It seemed as though I heard one of them ask, “Could this early encroach of cheerful autumn clime be mayhap a dire result of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation becoming weaker due to the fresh water being released from the Beaufort Gyre?”, queried one of the old-timers to my utter astonishment. The other quickly and sternly replied, “Fie on’t, ah fie, ’tis an unweeded garden…” as he wiped the snuff spittle from his chin with his shirtsleeve. By this time, I began to wonder if the hill I was ascending was leading me into a parallel universe, such was the unexpected tenor and topic of their conversation. ” Whither by chance or cosmic nuance, frost shall burst forth soon, for today seems ’tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature possess it merely.”

A scroungy hound could be heard snorting and complaining of his being relegated to tick food during the exchange as at last the participants emerged into view, sure enough, two elderly hillbillies clad in flannel shirts and bib overalls were there, sitting on ancient hewn blocks of white oak in front of an equally ancient log cabin – all the trappings one would expect of a homestead in this neck of the woods. “Forsooth, yon misty plumes across an indigo cosmos shall later descend upon unsuspecting populace bearing particulates of aluminum, barium, and other such damnable constituents as may cause harm, yet none be concerned, nor shall they come to be forthwith, so it seems,” remarked the eldest of the two as he lifted a large jug to his mouth for a drought.

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“Yea, for henceforth that which blooms upon the earth in fields once blessed of provident grace shall come to naught also and alas for farmers those rank weeds assail. Moreover, today few men of stature possess dignity perchance to allay our concerns, giving thought to such perversity as allowing said maladies to thrive for pecuniary gain.” followed the other. By now I was getting close enough to be seen and the old dog let out a half-hearted bark to apprise the old fellows their conversation was being interrupted, and their tenor suddenly changed. “Howdy young feller” the older one, who I came to know as Willie, said to greet me as he pointed to an unoccupied stump. “Take a seat right thar and git a load off.”

At once the world I was travelling through returned to what a hiker would have expected, leaving me even more dumbfounded than when I was listening to their earlier conversation. “Did I just hear you guys quoting Shakespeare?” I nervously queried. “Shake who?” queried Willie as he looked confusedly at his buddy Tom, then back at me.

“No really, I just heard you discussing scientific subjects such as the Beaufort Gyre, and in a totally unexpected vernacular,” I replied. “Looky here young’un, I know it was a hard traipse up that hill, but you need to just sit here and rest a few minutes and try to get your marbles back. We ain’t ever heard of nuthin like that. Here, have a swig of this product, maybe it’ll clear your head.” as he reached the jug over to me. I must admit, I was beginning to question whether the climb up the hill had indeed affected my “marbles”.

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Tom slowly fetched a pouch of chewing tobacco out of his overalls pocket and stuffed what looked like a coffee cupful into his yapper as Willie eyed me suspiciously. “Seriously, have you fellows ever read about chem trails and their potential to damage crops and people?” I carefully asked, trying not to rouse any more discomfit than I already had. “Nope, nary a bit of it, and you need to take a pull off that moonshine cause you keep a’soundin’ like a idjit.” By now I was convinced that it was me who was rattled, and I “took a pull” even though the stuff inside was reminiscent of stale kerosene. Needless to say, I shuddered violently as the draught went down which gave the old timers a good laugh. In fact, Tom laughed so hard he ejected half of his chew. The effect of the “shine” on my senses was almost immediate and I rapidly calmed down, assured by now that the exertion of the hike coupled with what may have been the effects of x-ray bombardment from recent solar flaring probably caused me to hear things.

I sat a while and took another swig or two and came to enjoy the conversation and even petted the old hound, but soon I realized it was getting late and I needed to get where I was going. As I stood up to leave, my head was a little cross threaded and I reeled a bit, which of course gave the old hillbillies another laugh, but I steadied myself with my walking stick and after heartfelt farewells, resumed my journey through the Ozarks.

As I walked away, but before I got out of earshot, I thought I heard Willie say, “Mayhap thine opportune drought moored the sensibilities of that stalwart youth, though he may have been taken amok from the effect of ultraviolet radiation of recent solar flares, particularly that of number 3985 with its attendant Coronal Mass Ejection.”

“Perhaps, yet I say “fie on’t!”

I just kept walking.

Have a wonderful day.

MK

Election or “Selection” – There is a Monumental Difference

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America is being duped again – right out in front of the whole world. We are being led to believe there is an election coming up in which a president will be chosen to “lead” our country and media headlines far and wide are digging in their heels to present this foolishness as being something real. The war in the Ukraine is being relegated slowly to the back burner, and at least what’s left of news stories on the conflict are being shifted to appear as though the events being reported that are related to the war now have some influence on this all-important upcoming election. The piteous events of the Middle East are even being considered now in light of how the conflict(s) will affect – or be affected by – the upcoming American election. In other words, narratives on all of today’s significant, newsworthy events – including wars – in which real people are really dying – are being reshaped to make them seem as merely coincidental to, or at most having influence on, the all-important, all consuming – election.

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Americans are once again being fooled into believing that their opportunity to choose between two candidates who have already been thoroughly vetted by political action committees – in service to the wealthy – is somehow a free and fair election. Whoever is elected to fill the position will operate the office at the behest of oligarchs with the nation’s wealth, and regardless of how the candidates bluster and threaten, at the end of the day they will do as they are told. They will staff their cabinet with whomever they are instructed to hire. They will send the nation’s wealth to whatever foreign country they are told to give it to. Remember JFK? Remember Jeffrey Epstein? Do you even know who Epstein is, or what his schtick was all about? I didn’t think so. Americans need to turn off their “reality” TV shows and get themselves educated – otherwise their kids are going to become slaves.

As our captive media once more turn our national attention to this recurring sham to which the oligarchs (undoubtedly laughingly) refer to as a national election, we could know, if we desired, that they have everything prepared in advance to usher in their choice and impose him/her upon us. Shake the scales off and pay attention – you might just accidentally learn something – the criminals in charge couldn’t care one iota which of the candidates “win” the election!! Both – or in rare cases, all three – candidates have already demonstrated absolute fealty to their owners, and concern for the well-being of America has nothing to do with their being chosen by “the people”. The only exception to this is when a third candidate who might not be on board with the “program” is allowed to pretend to be running, and his chances of getting elected are nil, but by stealing votes from one or the other chosen candidates, ignorant voters of the losing side can prove the depths of their ignorance by getting mad at him. Remember Ralph Nader? I didn’t think so.

One of the more poignant aspects of our electoral process that reveals it’s shamefulness is the way certain elements of a candidate’s platform are used to divide the electorate. I’ll use abortion as probably the most striking example. Before the torches and pitchforks come out, I’ll admit up front I do not support abortion as a method of birth control. I believe, as a Christian that a person’s behavior that leads to an abortion even being considered is the root of the problem, but that is seldom mentioned, even by the staunchest of anti-abortion politicians. The very mention of abortion brings out the wrath of most who identify as “conservatives”. Think about it now, how many years has it been since Roe v Wade, and what have any or all of those anti-abortion candidates once they got into office, done to eliminate it? I’ve listened to too many drug-addled, sinful by every standard, hypocrites emphatically denouncing abortion as though that’s the only prerequisite God demands for entry into heaven and of course, by denouncing it, they have their ticket into the pearly gates. Way too much of this going on, but it’s a great way to divide the electorate and keep ignorant people thinking there’s a difference in whomever they choose.

Although this post is not intended to be an argument for or against abortion, I can’t leave the subject without observing that the most ardent anti-abortion types typically consider themselves to be conservatives, but their hypocrisy invariably reveals itself when it comes time to help feed that hungry child they insisted be brought into this world. As conservatives, they always reject the notion that, even as Christians they have an obligation to provide for the needs of the child. By doing so, they reveal that the humanitarian aspect of saving a child need not be of the same consideration as the importance of trying to control someone else’s life and that’s where they’re really coming from.

Back to the election. The only reason I saw fit to write this post was because of the Groundhog Day behavior of the country at election time. Everyone is supposed to miraculously forget the sins of the nation and join together for this pathetic ritual where we all can pretend that all the ills of the world will be eliminated if we can just get “our candidate” into office, and afterwards, no matter which one wins, we get the exact same results again, and again, and again… But it was fun to pretend we actually accomplished something. Right?

All, however, is not lost. We can accomplish something – something extremely important to the future of our nation – seriously! Look into the movement, Our Country Our Choice. There exists promise for America, but it’s going to take a concerted effort to get back on the right road. The CEO of OCOC is one retired Colonel Douglas MacGregor, an upstanding patriot who sees and tries to help others see what problems we’re facing, and more importantly, how we can begin to deal with them. This is not another sham election, this movement has the potential to actually change the direction of our nation. I joined the organization, and although I don’t necessarily agree with all they stand for, I do agree with their willingness to honestly debate issues without lying or dodging questions. For people of faith, the spiritual arm of OCOC is led by one Pastor Casey Butner, a righteous man of impeccable spiritual credentials. If we can get OCOC on track, Jesus Christ must be involved, and Pastor Casey can keep us on moral compass.

This post was not intended to be a promotion for OCOC, but this group is certainly an alternative to allowing ourselves to believe some fake election is going to change anything. I’m not saying don’t vote, I’m just pointing out the futility of believing a sham election is the answer.

God Bless all.

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MK

Anticipating the Ozark Autumn World

Little stream not far from our farm

This is the time of year that readers of folkpotpourri know to expect the psychological disorder which I call OCPA, obsessive, compulsive prose of autumn, to overtake this writer again. By now y’all know autumn’s my favorite time of the year, so far surpassing other seasons that it would be unfair to even compare them. I understand that I’d be hard-pressed to render a tribute with even a modicum of word smithery, but this is a free website after all, and everyone knows you get what you pay for, so just indulge me. Besides today is the last day of summer, so it’s technically not fall yet – things are just getting warmed up (to cool down). Anyways, we need something peaceful to think about with all the bad things going on in the world. Here goes:

Random early dogwood leaf

Fallow hickory breezes blow through silent dales as the Celestial palette again waxes encumbered neath thickening shades of pastel grown prepared to cloak brooding gum trees now grown weary of their verdant apparel of yesterday’s springtime blessing. Blissfully now the normally irascible crow cheers this scintillation of the whispered taste of autumn being offered, generous harbinger of the temperate weeks of summer’s wan from haze and endless days of imposing heat. As fall expires, however, this same cantankerous bird will be among the loudest of those carping of the cold.

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Waiting for spring

Great white oaks undulate in joyful dance upon azure heavens as they beckon a north wind to bring forth splendid new autumn attire, eager to don whichever hue the Master has granted for what surely will become another fete of autumnal majesty, held but for another day, another week perhaps, but soon, nevertheless. The dogwood has already begun to loudly emerge from the sylvan dressing chamber, cloaked in another gown of magnificent copper and abundantly bespecled with crowds of bright red berries clinging to her laden branches.

Late summer dogwood getting changed – not quite dressed yet but beautiful nonetheless

Such is their eagerness to display this year’s boisterous scarlet, poison ivy wends among hickory tops, singing loudly their familiar, red-shaded aria to herald fall’s arrival. As his leaves become gilded with a tint of gold that only the Master artist could produce, the hickory patiently and silently awaits his turn to sing his fallow song – and sing he will, but anon as crisp wind flies upon the hills. Soon icy fingers shall grasp tender green branches intent upon splashing autumn colors on all.

These are from last year – scenes like this aren’t here just yet.

Halls of indescribable splendor will soon grace somber hills of misty silence, all decorated by the same Master whose unmatched attention to beauty and peaceful serenity of a perfectly decorated hillside compasses this sylvan world. The gaudy black gum and sumac are the appetizer, sufficient themselves to sate any hunger for magnificence, yet they only tantalize – fallow hickory and shades of red and rust of stately oaks, and the highly prized yellow and pastel orange of the maple are the main course. Thank God for the beauty He has bestowed upon us!

Maples adding their touches of color to the painting

He created this excellent world of color for our eyes to enjoy – then he created our eyes such that we can enjoy it!

Spring fed pond with late summer wildflowers

Enjoy autumn as y’all are able to get out, and may God bless all.

MK

The Best We Could Do – Nuclear Armageddon

As I write this post, it appears the world is really close to the edge of the proverbial cliff and as a lot of observers and commentors are enunciating at an uncomfortable volume, it would only take a slight mistake or one false flag to initiate the nuclear conflagration we all dread. How did we get here? Of course there is no simple answer, but rest assured we all played a part.

I just watched possibly the greatest statesman and leader of the twentieth and probably the twenty-first century, Vladimir Putin being interviewed by a foreign journalist. He spoke as always, rationally and without the rabid venom to which we in the west have become accustomed from our frothing leaders. For his remarkable patience and wisdom, Mr. Putin deserves that new peace medal, The Tolstoy Award that is now being offered to replace the long-desecrated Noble Peace prize that was shown for its real value by its being bestowed on a recent purveyor of drone deaths upon Afghan peasants who had the audacity to talk on a cell phone. During the said interview he spoke of some dreadful things that are about to happen if the west doesn’t back off. As opposed to all western leaders and their spokespersons, I trust what he says.

We have existed as a species on this planet for a short time, geologically speaking. Our presence here on earth has been marked by inhumanity toward each other since Cain killed his own brother, and for the last several thousand years, and since then things have continued to go downhill. Today we, as creatures who purport to be civilized, possess enough nightmarish weapons to literally destroy the earth! Even the savage dinosaurs walked the earth for hundreds of million years. We might have been here a couple of hundred thousand, yet it seems we are on the verge of destroying our planet.

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If we could only project our thoughts onto what it might be like as a rare survivor of a nuclear holocaust, we might begin to explore ways we could possibly have helped to stave off such a horror. Just look at pictures of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and imagine that destruction across the entire landscape as far as you could walk on your feeble legs with whatever dwindling strength you might have left – being totally and absolutely obliterated. There are no words to describe the destitution, the terror that would overwhelm your heart.

At first, you consider yourself to be fortunate to have survived the horrendous bombardment of practically the whole nation, indeed, there are a few left who weren’t vaporized and haven’t succumbed to the agonizing radiation – yet, and those people naturally seek each other out to share their misery. Small groups of people, mostly with grotesque injuries, burned, broken, bleeding and scarred, begin to gather although they don’t have any idea where to go or even have much to say to each other – they’ve all experienced their own versions of the same terror. Among the scraggly and destitute groups of people, there can be heard moaning and wailing of common pain, both physical and psychological. Darkness gathers, both emotional and literal darkness of a kind never experienced by humanity. As the reality of where you are and what has happened begins to sink in, you start to realize that you aren’t one of the fortunate ones after all – the lucky ones died in the blasts.

What’s left of humanity, including your children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, grandparents, and your beloved pets are now microscopic particles of ash drifting around in the frigid wind, it hits you like a speeding train – you will never again see those you love; you will never even know whether or not they “survived”. A million “what ifs” swarm through your fading thoughts as you retch between your knees, vomiting up most of the poisonous water you drank from a noisome, dark puddle, so great was your need. What if we could have formed some kind of movement that could have worked together to depose the madmen who brought this about? Why didn’t we just remove them from power? What if we had not been afraid to speak out for fear of the corrupt leaders and their psychopathic law enforcement people who either didn’t care or weren’t smart enough to see this coming.

You finally realize, now that it’s much too late, that those people you considered to be (especially western) leaders were in reality the most corrupt of all people on the earth, and this was their plan all along. Their cognitive mediocrity would not allow them to understand the implications of where they were taking us and what the results would be. You see, oh so painfully, the results as you try to make out any semblance of civilization around you now. The truth is, and was, that they were wealthy people who, with their vast financial resources, literally controlled the world, and they were not about to give that power up. You can twist this basic truth any which way you like, you can dance around it, you can point into a myriad of other directions as to the causes of the world’s ills, but that little nugget is still the absolute truth – they were willing to destroy the world rather than give up their dominance, and that cop banging you on the head at the protest could never had less of an impact on events other than to help them along – he and his family are now most likely among those ashes flying around, but breaking up protests by well-intentioned people was all he contributed. Who knows, maybe he is one of the “lucky” survivors, sitting somewhere on an old five-gallon bucket with his skin hanging off – wondering what he could have done differently, but probably never would realize how he “helped”.

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The cop was a human being, just like everyone else, trying to survive and provide for his family. His part in all of this was foreordained long before it happened. The wealthy who brought all this about were the ones who decided who his boss would be. Somewhere up that ladder, I guarantee you, someone made a lot of money to support the interests of the wealthy, and the strategy was established whereby the methods of “law enforcement” were calibrated to benefit the elite by providing them protection. That protection was purchased in the form of things like civil asset forfeiture, whereby the cops were given permission to practice armed robbery on the citizens without ever charging them. You can bet the responsible legislators for such unconstitutional claptrap were paid handsomely to purchase the police to act as armed bodyguards for the wealthy. Police departments around the country were also gifted lavishly with tactical military equipment, drones, armored vehicles, etc. So much for Barney Fife and his corroded bullet. They were also gifted with a form of authority that was never intended by our founders, but the net effect was that the efforts of the elite paid off tremendously by effectively shutting down any type of organized resistance that might have averted this hell on earth you now witness.

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As you look around, all you can see is death and destruction. Along the muddy remnants of what used to be streets you see huge piles fragmented concrete with rebar sticking out in all directions. Closer to the “ground zeroes” even this stuff was vaporized. There are no birds, no animals of any kind. Those guys who used to brag about surviving by hunting and fishing – at least the few of them who are left – are finding out there aren’t enough game animals left to satisfy the needs of all the people who anticipated the same tactics. What few deer out there in the mostly burned-out forests are dying from radiation poisoning or starvation. This wasn’t a very good strategy, but neither was pushing Mr. Putin and Mr. Jinping until they had no other choice than to resort to this madness. They didn’t want to do it, but neither did they want their nations to be subjugated by mad men. Vladimir Putin, whether still alive or deceased, can rest knowing he did everything in his power to avoid this catastrophe. In your heart of hearts, you either already knew this about him, or by looking back at how things unfolded, you’re just now figuring it out.

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The world is dark now and it’s an impenetrable darkness in which no sane person wants to be. The nuclear winter that scientists warned us about is upon us. If there were any greenery, you wouldn’t be able to see it for the mind-numbing dark, but there is no greenery anyway. You don’t have long to live, and you realize it, but strangely that fear of death is no longer a bother for you – at this point, you would welcome the long sleep. At least now you don’t have to listen to those absurdly ignorant politicians and military guys talking about a “winnable” nuclear war. You knew as well as anyone that was sheer idiocy, but not enough people stood up when there was time, a group of people among which you are counted did nothing but watch football and go shopping while the minutes ticked away. Now you must live for whatever time you have in the agony of knowing you’ll never be with loved ones again. You’ll never again sit on the riverbank listening to beautiful songbirds in the exuberance of nature. There’ll never be another cup of coffee poured at your favorite cafe, and the people with whom you shared such times are gone from your life forever.

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We can sit by and let the servants of evil do this or we can speak up against it – it’ll be painful, but if we don’t act, it’s going to be too late. This terrible thing is coming folks, it’s just a matter of when. Mr. Putin is on the very edge of his patience. In all of our years on this planet as human beings it looks like our destruction is nigh. Is this the best we can do?

There’s a way to avoid, or to endure, the ever-nearing disaster. Get yourself baptized and get Jesus Christ into your life. Once you realize the hope He offers, you’ll be forever grateful you did.

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May God our beloved Creator protect and bless us all.

MK

Certainty Of Death, Taxes and the Hereafter

While strolling through the late-summer countryside yesterday, as I looked over the lustrous patches of early goldenrods, several thoughts simultaneously bombarded my aging senses, not the least of which were things us folks alive regard as certainties. Some of them are indeed certainties, but many we regard as being so may not actually be. As interesting as it would be to hop a ride on that train of thought, maybe for the sake of brevity it’d be better to stay with those we know to be things that will happen. For instance, we have every reason to believe the sun will set this evening, and every other evening for that matter, and as this autumn weather coalesces around the foliage in this holler, we’re going to see some beautiful colors. As most of the readers of this site already know, autumn is an event which stirs the affinity for this aging soul’s eternal attempts to describe nature’s botanical metamorphosis with my own version of insane prose, which as you know will also be forthcoming, although I wouldn’t categorize that obsession with subjects of the degree of certainty to which this post attempts to allude.

As surely as we know the deciduous hardwoods will turn into immaculate subjects of magnificent beauty, some of us also know that an event of even more grandeur, of indescribable splendor will soon grace our senses with an experience we’ve been blessed to KNOW shall transpire. That event will be the glorious return of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We can know this will happen because He has bestowed on us the faith to believe He’s coming back. When folks decide to believe in Him, the process of growing into that very faith begins – and will until we meet Him.

Before I started this post, I prayed that our Marvelous Creator would afford me with words, with thoughts that could accomplish two purposes. The first would be to encourage the brothers and sisters who might, as a result of the horrible, depressing events happening in the world, find themselves becoming discouraged in their own faith, seeing the rampant and overt injustice being perpetrated upon innocent folks, and just generally experiencing the hopelessness with which the stranger visits our souls. To those of you who find your hopes flagging, remember what He told us about having patience. [Rev 14:12] “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.“ and [2 Thessalonians 3:5] “Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.” Patience is therefore important for believers – those who choose to keep the commandments, and as hard as it is to practice, we must remain patient, otherwise we leave open another door to the machinations of Satan.

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The second purpose of this post is to speak a truth to nonbelievers, to encourage those who do not know Christ to look into that thing which we believers KNOW to be a certainty. The thing of which I speak is the return of Jesus Christ to gather His children and to take up His sceptre, that symbol of Kingship and justice which we anxiously await. To you I say He was here in human form performing miracles unheard of, both in His day as they would also be in ours today – that history of all the things He accomplished during His appearance alone should be sufficient to pique the curiosity of the staunchest agnostic, and give people cause to look into His teachings. Another aspect of His life’s experience is His unassailable wisdom – the human race could probably continue indefinitely just by practicing the humanity, the love and generosity He taught, as opposed to continuing as we are to the cataclysmic ending we can all see coming.

We plainly see the evil that has overtaken the world – we know it’s evil because one of the few decent human traits we all possess is that conscience that allows us to differentiate between good and evil. While it’s true that we as humans are by nature far short of attributes that separate us from spiritual virtuosity, if we but open our eyes we can still understand that human evil, greed, immorality, ad infinitum, are direct causes for our impending demise. Therefore, we should, simply as a matter of the continuity of our species, be able to comprehend the source(s) of our destruction and avoid those behaviors. But it goes deeper than that – without Jesus Christ in our lives we are forever bound to repeat those accursed things. They are the essence of human behavior – behavior that identifies that which we must strive to overcome, which is impossible without His guidance.

There are things we fear will happen that may or may not come to pass, things like the nuclear holocaust most of us fear that could indeed happen if we stay on this trajectory. Just plain conventional war on the other hand, may be one of the practices we humans can’t avoid, although I hesitate to say it has to be a certainty. This site has proposed before, and I see no reason to change that belief, that Satan is at the pinnacle of his power when there is war in our world. War breeds all kinds of sinful behavior – hatred, greed, immorality, and others. We often hear justifications for war – resources, and other forms of wealth, territorial disputes, etc., but these are incorrect – these excuses are among the many lies birthed to accommodate war. Such justifications get the means and ends of war swapped. The reason for war is war. Satan doesn’t need resources – he needs people to be killing each other. When you understand that people always lie to justify throwing a war, you see what the Lord was talking about because Satan was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Jesus had some choice words for such followers, [John 8:44] “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

War itself may not necessarily be one of the inevitable things this post is about, although in reality because of our human fallibility, it sure seems to be. We hear the old saw about death and taxes and for all practical purposes they may be correct, but one thing is for sure – Jesus is coming back for us. He said He would.

[Revelation 14:14-16] Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Some of us are trying hard to stay on the leading edge of that sickle, making sure everyone knows they have an invitation to the Kingdom. To those who see themselves there, keep up the good work. To those who hear the invitation, don’t let it pass. RSVP now! Get to know Jesus, you’ll forever be glad you did.

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May God bless all.

MK

Deplorable Addictions in the World

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We get addicted to many things in the course of our lives, and I’m pretty sure not many people are aware of just what all kinds of things there are out there to get hooked on. We look with disdain on videos or pictures of tent villages in our inner cities full of people addicted to fentanyl or heroin, and those folks are indeed in dire straits, but there are countless other addictions which take more forms than one might realize.

If we’re not careful, us folks who write posts or do videos on social media can get ourselves hooked on views or clicks or comments on our work. I suspect this phenomenon is more widespread than we might realize, and although those who are monetized have good reason to want as many viewers as possible, it’s likely that we also enjoy being heard, watched, or read to an extent which we might not want to admit, simply because of our attachment to the world and a desire to be a voice in it. That’s just the beginning. I’m saying this because I’m not monetized, and I still relish views and comments more than you’d think should be normal, so I think there may be more than just the monetary reward at play for the “feel good” of view counts. Therefore, it seems like there’s some kind of compulsive behavior involved in being a voice in social media, I might be wrong, but it’s easy to get plagued with self-doubt when I go for days on end with no likes or comments on my posts so I could imagine what it might be like if money was involved, at least I think there’d be a difference.

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courtesy Clipart Library

I’ve known people in my life, and still do, who seem to have an inexplicable need to drive around. They like to go – anywhere – and seem to have an aversion to staying home. Some of them sit around trying to think of somewhere they need to go just to get away from home. I’m just the opposite and really enjoy being at home, in fact, maybe wanting to stay home all the time is an addiction of its own. Is that what agoraphobia is all about? For me, it’s a combination of liking my home environment and being with my four-legged family as well as a nagging discomfort of being around people I don’t know. God has blessed me immensely with the expectation to spend my remaining years out here in the country where it’s peaceful and I’m immersed in the wonders of His creation. That may or may not be an excuse, I don’t know.

The Folkpotpourri Leaf

One of the saddest of addictions is that of excessive eating. With almost all other forms of compulsive behavior a person can just walk away from their addiction, albeit with varying degrees of difficulty, but no one can just stop eating and survive. Thankfully to the Almighty, and from one who’s never suffered this malady, I can only imagine how hard it would be to try and moderate your food intake when every cell in your body is screaming for you to take another bite beyond what you know you should.

We all know those folks who talk too much. Seems like they always have something to say beyond what comes out of their mouths and that makes it really hard sometimes to decipher where they’re coming from. It’s almost inevitable if we’re not careful, we get to the point where we don’t even listen to them because of their incessant babbling, and that’s sad because lost in the yammering there’s always the possibility of a grain of something that’s important to them, and we often miss it. Excessive talking might be less of an addiction and more of a personality trait (or defect), but it would take someone with more education than myself in psychology to make that distinction. Maybe there is no distinction.

It was mentioned in the introductory paragraph, but drug and alcohol addiction are generally the most destructive to addicts and those around them. The severity of the addiction also varies from person to person, but there is an overwhelming need for endorphins or whatever chemical makes them feel good, possibly as a method of escape from the routines or the vagaries of life. Some folks have reasons to want to get away, but most of the ones I’ve encountered simply need endorphins, and again, I don’t know why this malady is so prevalent, but it’s a serious problem when it gets to a point where people no longer have the capacity to stay (or even to get) sober. Drugs and alcohol addictions have wreaked immeasurable devastation to people, to families, to entire cultures.

In my humble opinion, the greatest addiction of today is by far the addiction to one form or another of social media, but the cell phone in particular, and I believe this one has the propensity to destroy us as a society simply by enslaving our minds. Maybe it’s just me, but I get depressed to see someone walking down the aisle in the store with a phone stuck to their ear. I also get a bit concerned when I see someone trying to drive and text.

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I only see my grandkids once a year when they gravitate to the Ozarks for the Fourth of July. It’s one of the highlights of my life anymore – I love all of them dearly, but when they’re here, if myself or some other adult doesn’t guard against it, there will be a living room full of people, mostly kids, but some adults too, not talking nor visiting, all with their faces in their cell phones, not even talking to loved ones with whom they seldom get the opportunity to visit. Their families could be sitting right beside them or out in the orbit of the moon, and there would be no cognitive difference. I know I’m running the risk of sounding like an old geezer grandpa, but when I was a kid, the family sat around the living room getting to know each other. The fact that we already knew each other fairly well had no bearing on our ability and desire to be close, to form and maintain family bonds that have endured all of our lives. Of course, as we got grown and moved into different settings, we spend less time together, but as a result of those early experiences in family life, we still love each other and share fond memories when we’re together. Cell phones have the potential to completely destroy the family units of societies worldwide and we all need to reconsider our extensive use of – and terrible addiction to – our phones. They get my vote for one of the top couple of threats to society’s well-being, for even though they brough us great convenience, they are the number one tool being used (especially by young folks) to separate us all and cause us to maintain an unhealthy connection to the malevolence of the world. Wonder what kind of world we’d have if all those folks were walking around with a Bible in their hand instead of a cell phone.

There are other, better, essays in life we should be pursuing. The most important one by far, we have to make sure our kids learn about Jesus Christ so they will have His help to overcome the threat of addiction in all of it’s forms – for at the heart of the matter, most addictions are insidious weapons of Satan.

May the God of Heaven bless all,

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MK