Humorous anecdotes, stories of the dark woods, and country commentary
Author Archives: Mike K
Turned 66 in August of 2019, a little over a year into retirement. Now live on my farm in southern Missouri Ozarks. At this point I have 4 daughters and 8 grandchildren and 3 dogs.
Called, chosen, and faithful. When Christ finally drops the hammer on His enemies, He will be accompanied by His army of followers who will be called, chosen, and faithful. [Revelation 17:14] – They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
This is where we fit in, fellow believers. Remember, my beloved brothers and sisters who follow these posts in Malaysia, in Kenya, Myanmar, Mexico – all of you from the far reaches of the world and regardless of any former belief system you have held, you who seek to discover your place in the grand scheme in which Jesus Christ will be the Sovereign – this is how we get where we need to go. Isaiah 41:9 – [Isaiah 41:9] I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. Therefore, we are called by the Lord to come into His Kingdom. Yes, we have a standing invitation from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself – a calling – which we must not ignore! If we do not give our utmost attention to properly answering this call, we risk the most horrific eventuality that can come upon our souls, which is the dreaded fate of not being chosen for His mighty army.
When we take His invitation lightly, and are careless in our response, we become bound to a horrific and eternal fate. One fellow was observed at a reception who was not properly prepared to be attending, and this was his lot: [Matthew 22:13,14] “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are invited [called], but few are chosen.”
To be called, and chosen, are great honors bestowed upon us by the Lord Jesus, but the faithful part is all on us. Are we being faithful to the calling to which He beckons us? Are we being faithful to Him? In the big picture, nothing else matters at all. It doesn’t matter if our designated existence in this life requires us to be a woodsman in Bavaria or a rickshaw operated in Mumbai, a hairdresser in some New York salon, or maybe even an old hillbilly blogger in the Ozarks, our number one objective in this life should be to do whatever we can to please our God, our Creator. For by doing so, once He calls and chooses us, we satisfy that “faithful” part of called, chosen, and faithful.
Today is a blessed, rainy day here in the Ozarks. We’ve had hardly any rain for about six weeks or so, and things were getting dry enough around here that everyone was starting to worry about fires, but maybe that fear is allayed for the time being. One of my biggest fears, though, is looking at the state of the world we’re living in and realizing how many people are living with their attention turned to world events and away from the God to Whom we need to bring our cares for His consolation. As the golden hickory leaves become rain-sogged and drop to the ochre ground, so our fellow humans fall to the merciless swords of war, plagues, and all sorts of evil, souls bound for lesser places because they do not answer the call. For how can we be chosen if we do not answer the call?
[Revelation 3:20] – Behold, Istandatthedoor and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opensthe door, Iwill come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. It’s a standing invitation, all you have to do is open the door for Him and He’ll take care of the rest.
Sometimes I find myself battling against frustration over the things that are going on in the world today and I know I’m not alone. There is comfort to be had, though it might not be where we think, where we look. How can a person look at the horrible pictures of butchered children, young children intentionally injured and/or killed? Is this what humanity has become? My own answer to this is a resounding NO! At least for the humanity of humans, this is not who we are, nor who we were created to be, and we do not have to accept any presumption that we are part of the evil we see but cannot stop.
Of course, frustration ensues when we have to witness our whole existence turned upside down. The human psyche was not designed to accommodate this level of evil. Witness the soldiers who take part in it, coming home to live in drug abuse or even suicide! It’s too much for anyone with a shred of conscience to endure, but of course they don’t think about lying awake at night listening to the screams of toddlers being massacred, of mothers begging for their lives to be spared while they’re busy impressing their buddies with their ruthlessness. God did not create people to act like this, and many of the actors who play the roles of butchers of innocent human beings pay a steep price even before this life is over, but surely and forever in the next.
As I’ve written before, and shall continue to remind people of conscience, there will be a reckoning for all of this. The Almighty God sees every detail of what’s going on, and every drop of innocent blood is duly noted for the judgement of those who shed it. There is not, nor can there ever be, any justification or rationalization for the inhumanity of killing innocent people – especially children. I know our ancestors here in America were guilty of the same behavior towards the Indians, and I’d like to think I’d be of the same mind about their treatment as I am about the Palestinians and Lebanese today. In fact, I know I would – I don’t think that as a Christian, a true follower of the Covenant of Jesus Christ, anyone could believe otherwise, murdering innocent people is wrong! it’s a horror wrought by Satan himself, and people who commit such barbarism are undoubtedly possessed by the evilest of demons from the bottomless pit. But therein lies the rub – if we allow ourselves to be overcome by hatred and the desire for vengeance, the same enemy wins against us as the one who is in charge of the atrocities being committed.
Me too, my friend, me too
Frustration at the evil we witness in the world can overcome even the staunchest of believers, so it is imperative that we trust in God who has the power to – and undoubtedly will – bring justice upon the perpetrators. Satan uses this very frustration to serve his purpose – especially against believers – for many are sure to be overcome by hatred. We must not let this happen – the very evil we abhor is a powerful and multifaceted weapon – that hatred, because it ultimately has the same effect on our spirit as the evil itself. No matter how horrific their behavior, we must bear in mind that they are still human beings, even though for the duration of their barbarity they are under the control of Satan.
Jesus warns us of that very danger when He admonishes us to love our enemies, because even the vilest of people can turn away from their evil and repent, and if God can forgive them, then we must be able to do the same. No other religion outside of true Christianity teaches this level of forgiveness and even compassion for one’s enemies and this is one of the end products of Christ’s love for all people. He gives everyone every chance to come into His kingdom, and He sees both the evil of those who slaughter innocents, AND those of us who have allowed hatred to get the better of them, an act of submission to the same devil. He said the Father makes His rain fall on both the good and the wicked, and if we’d like to be in the same mindset as Him, we must learn to love our enemies. Love is the key to being a faithful servant of Jesus, and it is disturbing to hear public speakers from politicians to (even “Christian”) preachers advocating war and violence spurred on by the very hatred they should be condemning.
The Bible says in more than one place that God is love. If we could begin to fathom the depths of His love, we’d certainly have a better understanding – and appreciation – of Him. He is merciful beyond anything we could ever imagine, and when we would like to get close to Him, we must always remember to call on Jesus – no one can serve the Father who rejects the Son. That’s important to know, especially when you take into consideration that Jesus died on the cross of His own free will, so that we could be saved from the damnation of this world and that lake of eternal fire that ultimately awaits all who reject Him. This is as real as it gets, folks. The end is getting close, get to know Jesus and be prepared for what’s coming upon us. You’ll be eternally glad you did.
And don’t ever let the stranger cause you to hate people.
Pervasive helplessness – that seems to be what’s going on. We see injustice, evil in high places, yet we feel powerless to do anything about it. We watch leaders of nations speak out against the unspeakable atrocities of Gaza and now Lebanon and do nothing to stop it. Maybe one more sternly worded letter or one more denunciation of the IOF for bombing hospitals will serve to stop it.
Erdogan of Turkey keeps speaking out against genocide, so does Egypt’s Sisi, and Abdullah of Jordan, but when it comes down to actually doing something, anything, to help, well we just hear a bunch of empty words. The Middle East desperately needs a hero, but alas, none are to be found outside Yemen, Lebanon, and Iran. I guess Erdogan will just live in his Walter Mittyesque daydream of being the heroic sultan of an imagined new Ottoman Empire, though not lifting a finger to help those over whom he would reign.
The Zionist occupation entity has scored a lot of success lately. At least it seems like they think turning the entire world against them with their practice of mass murder is strategic success. I remember some of the WWII propaganda that was still around when I was a kid – we were still immersed in it even in the fifties and sixties. One of the things that stood out about the Nazis, in particular the SS, was one of their founding principles for membership and it went something like this: If a man cannot put a gun to the head of a young child and without mercy kill him/her, then there’s no place in the SS for him. When this was circulating back in the day, we all thought, as any human being would, that this was one of the most atrocious things we had ever heard of. That tidbit alone turned a big part of the world against the Nazis, yet we see the exact same attitudes happening in occupied Palestine with the habit of the IOF soldiers these days of killing Arab children with head shots and laughing about it. What’s the difference? When the Nazis did it, it was total horror, but when the IOF does it, it’s Israel exercising their right to “self defense”.
There’s no doubt some horrific behavior happening, but we’re not totally helpless. We have at our disposal one thing which will ultimately turn the tide of this atrocity, and it is prayer. God hears our prayers, and He will take vengeance on the perpetrators of this murder of innocents when He decides the time is right. Don’t waste your time writing letters to congressmen, they are bought-and-paid for servants of an evil regime and will do nothing to stop even the overt murder of children. Jesus Christ said it would be better for someone to have a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the ocean than for them to face the wrath of God for harming the little children, so they have theirs coming. That will surely apply to those who support this evil from the safety of their dens of iniquities in the Rayburn and Russell buildings and the white house, et. al.
Or more precisely
No, we must take our petitions to the Almighty God at His throne where our prayers fill the heavenly censers. Above all, we must tell Him we are not a part of this evil and we do not support it, even if we live in the country where the evil comes from. The serpents who purport to run this country are doing so because there’s a lot of money to be made in the service of Satan. That, or their name might just be in a certain little Epstein book. Either way, what they are doing is treason of the highest order against America and against God. Now, I do not for one second believe that they are working against God as a result of treason to America, for I do not think God holds America any higher than He does Somalia or Greenland. He is not a respecter of persons. No, the serpents in Washington just happen to be enemies of America in addition to being enemies of God. They will answer to God in due time.
When we pray for the children of Gaza, for the innocent people who are defenseless to the onslaught of powerful bombs being dropped on their homes, we are showing our compassion for the helpless. Just because He doesn’t act according to the timetable we desire – like right now – doesn’t mean he is ignoring the situation; He most certainly is not. God has an infallible plan, one which is not restricted nor constrained to the limitations or time constraints of this world. He knows of another life, another realm, one in which those children who have been martyred in Gaza and taken out of this world, now are in the care and indescribable comfort of the Lord Jesus Christ and the angels of Heaven. We who are left here shall miss them, but we must keep in mind that they are in good hands now, never to be afraid again.
The pilots who drop those bombs on innocent civilians, as well as the snipers who murder the women and children will face a special place in hell. These are the most cowardly of all – the drone operators who slaughter people as though they are playing video games will especially answer for their atrocities. All the people up the chains of command including to the pentagon and the white house will answer to God for their support and participation. There is no justification or excuse for this evil being perpetrated on defenseless children. This includes intentional starvation and those who shut off the water.
Take whatever comfort you may: [Isaiah 41:17, 18]
“The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, Their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers in desolate heights, And fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land springs of water.
God is watching. He’s watching the perpetrators of the evil of Gaza and all who support it. Bot don’t forget – He’s watching you too. How will you react to these days of iniquity? Pray without ceasing.
Folks I think we’re being had – again. Maybe we need to take a closer look at the “intelligence” leak that supposedly gave everyone a heads-up as to what the IOF was planning to do vis a vis Iran in the much-anticipated revenge attack for the Iranian missile strike.
When you see something, some big event get this much press, alarm bells should be going off nonstop. Think about it. If something like this actually happened, the governments involved would in reality be working frantically to get it covered up ASAP. Can’t embarrass the spook agencies, or at least they wouldn’t if it was a real event.
Every time something like this happens that gets continuous press, you can almost guarantee it is something that has been planted. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is going off the rails about this “leak” and it’s happening on purpose. Even all the alternative media sites are even caught up in it – as is supposed to be happening. For some reason, the governments of US and the occupying regime need the world, most likely Iran in particular, to believe that someone went to the trouble to release a target list so maybe Iran would go to great pains to try and protect the items mentioned. Would that possibly be to take their attention off other targets, which would of course be the actual intended targets?
I personally have no faith whatsoever in the competence of western spook organizations to be successful at anything they try to do except for coming up with more and more devious ways to kill people – oh, and lie – but they generally tend to be able to keep secrets. It’s a big part of their compacts with Satan. I don’t believe that some lady who works for the spooks would have access or the ability (or motive?) to expose some idiotic hit list – which if you think about it, would be something with which all parties involved would already be intimately familiar – any more than I could believe a party of Ukrainians on a sailboat would be able to blow up underwater pipelines, but stories like this are the kind of products our “intelligence” communities thrive on. And they only succeed in selling this kind of garbage because we citizens can be propagandized into buying it.
Get your heads out of the sand and think it through. There is absolutely zero doubt that Iran would not already know which of their assets are in danger of attack. Why then, would some pathetic intelligence document that enumerates them be of such preeminent importance? Why are they twisting themselves into pretzels trying to sell this “breach” of security when we all know they would be sweating blood trying to cover something like this up if it were real.
I might be wrong, but I really don’t think I am. We’ve all seen other iterations of this same propaganda technique enough that we should at least be open to questioning it. Somewhere, sometime down the road, and probably in the not-too-distant future, the truth of this matter will emerge. Probably after it’s intended purpose has been accomplished, some new shiny object will pop out of Karl Rove’s magic hat, and we will instantly forget this all-consuming issue of all-consuming importance. Of course, the lady who will be prosecuted will be in jail, but that’s just one of the many prices people have to pay for not being morally selective in their associations.
“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors… and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” – the inestimable Karl Rove
Buy into this if you will, but it would take a lot more than CIA-originated headlines to get this old hillbilly on board. I’ve seen this act too many times, and by now you should have, too. The only thing secretive government organizations like the CIA know how to do well is to lie – never forget this, they can devise lies in many ways. They can spend days, weeks, month, and years developing a lie, or they can lie on the spot, just watch Miller, Kirby, Sullivan, et. al. in any press conference.
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.
Rejection. Wow – what a desolate feeling! It’s probably the most damaging blow to human pride of all the many depredations we can experience. Rejection affects different people in different ways, some people deal with rejection by doubling down, working harder, and sometimes this is the correct response, others simply cannot endure it and turn to drugs or booze, and some even take the permanent way out, but most of us learn somehow to cope and thus become able to endure the damage to our psyches. It can have a marked influence on our lives though.
There are examples before us to learn how people have dealt with rejection, such as when a young Adolph Hitler was turned down by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He was an aspiring young artist and had submitted some of his work for consideration, but the acceptance committee didn’t think he had what it took. Needless to say, he didn’t take it so well, but what if? What if he had been accepted – he was a pretty good artist, and who knows how good he might have turned out to be? Could you imagine walking into an art exhibit with expensive Hitlers for auction? How the history books would be different today! But he was rejected, and that very rejection could have well been the seed of all the death and destruction of WWII.
Painting by Hitler
Consider that beautiful girl back in high school that you would have treated like a princess if only she would have responded to your advances. What a bummer to see her hooked up with some nerd from the debating team who obviously could have never given her half the affection you were prepared to lavish upon her. The fact that they eventually married and had half a dozen kids and stayed together for scores of years notwithstanding, she would have been much better off with you – right?
Rejection takes many forms and none of them are in any way desirable, at least for the time being, but sometimes if we look at things from a different viewpoint, we might see that we’re better off for the way things turned out, even if we had to spend some time buffing out the dings to our pride to get over it. Think about famous people. There’s that human envy in which we often find ourselves immersed that says we’d like to be able to sing like Elvis before adulating mobs in great auditoriums, and it does seem like it’d be quite the trip, but maybe God gave us the voice we have precisely so that we wouldn’t ever get rich or famous because He had other plans for us. Maybe the less than perfect eyesight that prevented us from becoming a fighter pilot was bestowed on us so that we’d never have to give an account of ourselves for mass-murdering innocent people during some “war”.
When I walk out in the woods in the fall and immerse myself in the breathtaking beauty of autumn – an exercise in which I delight more than anything else – I sometimes wonder where else I might have ended up if I had been “successful” in some of my early endeavors. If I had become a famous artist, would I be somewhere I could walk in the woods and enjoy nature like I do now, or would I be ever on the run from unwanted people, ducking for cover when the mobs of newspaper reporters and paparazzi photographers found out where I was, all the more so if I was in some personal setting? I guess most of those folks who have to live like that either enjoy the attention, or at least have learned to tolerate it, but for me, I couldn’t imagine an unhappier lifestyle, never mind the wealth.
I believe that success also comes in many forms or iterations, and most of us don’t have a clue what “success” actually is. We hear the word used a lot when people discuss a person’s financial status, but we only accept it as such because that’s what we’ve been trained to think. When you get to the truth of the matter, success has to be whatever makes a person happy – be it those things which can be experienced or owned in this life, or be it the satisfaction we experience in the knowledge that we are prepared to enter into the next life fully enlightened and that the Lord will approve our conduct in this one. That satisfaction only comes as a result of determining to seek God and live according to His judgements and that of course, will entail an endless stream of “rejections” – both of us and by us.
We will be rejected by the world because our interests are different than those taught by the world – different because there is a Spirit who guides us that does not guide those who reject Jesus Christ. We are rejected by our fellow humans when we write posts they don’t want to read – too much going on for them to bother with learning about Him who created them. We are constantly rejected, as mentioned earlier by those who could inject wealth into our lives, ends up for our own good, although that’s not why they reject us. Those kinds of rejections are normally the result of financial considerations.
There was a funny song by a musician/comic named Jerry Reed about a guy who was a talent scout who rejected this aspiring musician who called himself the Tupelo Mississippi Flash (a reference to Elvis) and the musician went on to become famous and the scout got canned for rejecting him. Sometimes the person doing the rejecting might be making a mistake, but that’s beside the point. The financial consideration was the reason for the rejection, and only through hindsight he learned of his mistake. If the person who suffers whatever rejection for whatever reason were stop feeling sorry for himself long enough to apply hindsight similarly, he might understand how his rejection served to benefit him. Look at all of the folks who became famous in their pursuits living decadent and immoral lifestyles or that came to tragic endings.
Perhaps the most well-known rejection of a human being was that of Jesus Christ. His rejection served to benefit humankind, but it must have been a desperately humiliating experience for Him. How painful it must have been to look out at the people He had been teaching, loving, and healing as they now chanted for Pilate to release Barabbas, a criminal, rather than Himself as they scorned, spat, and beat upon Him. He knew and understood that what He was doing was something that had to be done to save the world, but still the despondence must have been immense. Can you imagine how painful it would be to endure having big nails driven into your hands and feet, watching through tears and blood in His eyes as His “friends” turned away? He died an extraordinarily painful death, hanging on that big, magnificent cross – an incredible act of selflessness during which His concern was not for Himself, but for the souls of the men who were doing this to Him. As His precious life ebbed, He pleaded with God, HIs Father for forgiveness for those men. How is that for responding to rejection?
Now I don’t know about you, my friends, but in my book, Jesus Christ has suffered enough rejection. That horrible day on the cross was enough for all eternity, and no one in their right mind should ever choose to reject Him anymore. From today until the end, however, there are people who still opt to try and live without Him, to their eternal shame and damnation. There is still time, though no one knows how much, to get things right with Jesus; do it, whatever it takes, just get on your knees and let Him know you are sorry for the life you have lived and are willing to hand Him the keys to your life. He knows where you need to go and will gladly take you there.
When and if you decide to accept His generous offer of eternal life, you can expect rejection from the world, but that’s okay – that’s Satan’s doing and it’s worth all the rejection the world can throw at you to know Jesus has your back and that you will ultimately be with Him in paradise for all of eternity. You will also be doing some rejection of your own – you can reject a world in which innocent people continue to be murdered, you can reject immoral lifestyles and those who relish hatred and malevolence. You can reject those who continue to reject our Lord Jesus – you are in no way obligated to conform to their ways. Once you make up your mind to join Christ, you become free with a freedom that the human mind can scarcely imagine!
I don’t think there are many who would argue that time is growing short for us. The world as we know it will never be the same as it was yesterday, last week, last year. This chaos is the new normal. There is still some time though. Time to give a hungry person something to eat. Time to help a child by donating to a reputable charity. Time to walk in the woods, enjoy the colors of fall, and thank Jesus for all He has done for us. If you are not already in touch with Him, I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to find Him – He’s not that far away, right at the very door of your heart. Call on Him before it is too late. No more rejection.
Hopefully some scientific minded reader will see this post and provide some answers to a layman’s questions. Any takers? Please respond.
When the traffic cop shoots his radar at your car as you come whizzing by, there are assumptions that must be made that need consideration, for instance, was he sitting still? If so, then whatever the display showed would be your speed relative to his – in this case, zero. If he was moving, his computer has to know what his speed was relative to yours – if he was moving towards you, his speed relative to the speed limit sign (ground) must be subtracted from the radar total, which the patrol car’s processor can easily do. I guess the point my premise which will be of significant importance to this discussion, is that speed can only be determined, or assumed, by relativity of two points. The object moving and a separate object of reference that determines the apparent speed the moving object is going.
All my life I’ve heard that Albert Einstein produced those cosmic speed limit signs posted throughout space that say the speed of light cannot be exceeded. Mr. Einstein was undoubtedly a brilliant mathematician, and I would never attempt to debate his propositions, but there are nevertheless some questions.
1st question: You are travelling through space minding your own business at say, 99.99% of the speed of light (relative to an imagined “stationary” point in space). One of Einstein’s stellar traffic cops is whizzing in the opposite direction towards you at the same speed, relative to the same presumed stationary spot. The only way your speed and his can be determined is by their relativity to each other, because in reality that stationary point doesn’t exist. If the actual speeds of both objects relative to each other was measured without subtracting his own speed, what does his radar readout say? Put another way, if you had a head-on collision with him, what would the impact velocity be? Are you, relative to him, exceeding Einstein’s cosmic speed limit, and if so, how is this possible?
We have no way of knowing how fast nor in what direction our universe is going – the whole thing. Scientists are discovering that space itself is expanding, and that all points in the universe are moving away from all other points. (Let that sink in – according to this theory every point in space is the center of its own universe). Some objects in the deep universe appear to be moving away (from us) at speeds exceeding the speed of light – if this is so, how do we see them? Maybe we’re just seeing where they were billions of years ago, but if that’s the case, how do we know where they are now? If we don’t know where they are now, how do we know how fast they’re going? If the whole universe is moving, how can any speed of any object in the universe be determined with no stationary point with which to reference it? We can only determine cosmic speeds of objects as the results of their relativity to other objects. If you are cruising through space at what you think is 99.99% of the speed of light and your drag racing buddy is cruising along at 99.98%, will you overtake him and wave as you go by? After all, you only know your and his speeds relative to each other. In reality you might be going as slow as snails, with no other reference point than each other. Or you might be going a thousand times the speed of light!
As the universe expands, what is filling the void that is being created at some unimaginably phenomenal rate? I’ve not read of any discoveries of new matter appearing to fill these, so one would presume empty space is being created, but then empty space is something. Right? How, then, is something being created from nothing? Distance, at the very least, is being created if the expansion theory is correct. The known observable universe is thought to already be in the neighborhood of 90 odd billion light years across, so if we assume the expansion theory is correct, some scientists believe there will come a time somewhere down the road when no objects, not even atoms, will be within billions of light years of each other. Now if you have bothersome neighbors like some of us, that might not seem like such a bad thing, but borrowing a cup of sugar is going to be a real pain.
I guess the whole premise of this post is just to point out that though we have been nurtured to believe in the infallibility of science, unfortunately due to the new revelations they discover almost every day – revelations that often refute the “laws” they held dear, indeed revelations that absolutely disprove the “laws” of physics as we have believed them to be, then how on earth (there’s a pun there somewhere) can they be so absolutely sure that our God doesn’t exist? Wouldn’t that be a much simpler explanation for how things can be created from nothing? Why couldn’t “Let there be light” account for the sacred “big bang”? And no, “What was going on before the big bang?” is not an invalid question – that’s a weak cop out of an answer.
These science guys are undoubtedly some brilliant people, but I believe that when they get to the point (which they invariably do) where they begin to argue against the existence or the Supremacy, of the Almighty God, their theories come unraveled. I also believe this will continue to be the case. I also believe there are many in the scientific community who do actually believe in God, but even many of them have determined (imagined) that using their science, they might be able to develop ways to undermine Him – see folkpotpourri post on CERN.
In the grand scheme of things, science, improperly applied, can just be another of the many tools of Satan. The apostle Paul uses the terminology, “science, falsely so-called”, to describe those scientific efforts that attempt to disprove or defy, or even to put man on some kind of equal footing with God. The sad part is all of those brilliant minds being wasted pursuing nonsense that could be applied to doing the work of Jesus Christ. What an army that could be gathered to resolutely affirm and spread knowledge of the divinity of our Creator! If only they could open their eyes and see how they could direct their efforts to the benefit of mankind by – among other things – improving the moral foundations of humanity.
As it stands, science and technology have become a kind of sorcery, the understanding of which only comes by years of study, and at intervals throughout, accepting “laws” and doctrines that seem to invariably be disproven somewhere down the road. In the end, the Almighty God will show His Omniscience, and I do not relish the idea of eventually being an ignorant old hillbilly in a position to say I told you so, for then it will tragically be too late for so many smart people.
There may be perfectly reasonable answers to the queries this post postulates, and if so, please respond. Although by design, there are no logical scientific explanations, neither is there an argument (at least for us believers) that Jesus Christ is who He says He is, and that our God created this universe. If there was any valid argument to disprove that, it would have already been made long ago. Outside of that absolute truth, that void being created by the expansion of space could well be filled by my own ignorance of science. But then, maybe that’s a good thing.
Over the years, over the centuries, Christianity has gotten a bad rap. Our predecessors were fallible human beings, as we all are, and as such were vulnerable to attacks from the enemy. Obviously, they didn’t always win. In order to be able to gain some appreciation for the power of evil that has ever been arrayed against us, it would be prudent to understand that this enemy has a plan – a plan that has been developed and fine-tuned for millennia, and he is wise and cunning. Things that are happening today are not happening by any kind of coincidence, they’ve been planned out for ages. We’re temporary beings who are playing our parts in only one act of the great play. There were others yesterday. There were others in the first millennia, the first century, but the plan was in progress for the whole production.
Satan obviously took control at various times through the years in order to give Christians a bad name. The Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, and other times and efforts were perpetrated so that in the end days there would be people who could point out those eras to disparage Christianity. He’s been working on this for a long time. Although one of the goals of his plan seems to have been to alienate the Islamic faith from the Christian, God has maneuvered events so as to bring believers together, and ironically, if we look closely, we are finding it possible to be able to see God through each other’s eyes. Many of us Christians see the devotion of Moslems with their daily prayers and the way they teach their children in righteousness and wish our fellow Christians would do likewise. Islam also teaches of Jesus Christ, some sects say He was a prophet, but some recognize His Divinity as the Son of God. This is important – we’re not all that far apart. Conversely, Talmudic Judaism teaches that Jesus was an imposter, and His soul is in torment – that’s way apart from what Christian Gospel or Islam teaches. Christianity is no threat to Islam, we believe differently, but neither religion teaches that murder is acceptable, although some of our predecessors on both sides have ignorantly thought it acceptable to kill to “protect” our faith. Come on, y’all – if our God is indeed Almighty, He doesn’t need any of us to kill someone to defend Him. Especially when Jesus Christ Himself teaches us not to harm others.
Today’s iteration of humanity is currently being inured to death and destruction on a scale not witnessed since the last world war, but this time things are different. When people become sufficiently apathetic to this genocide, they will be prepared to accept anything, no matter how evil, although one would be hard-pressed to expect anything any more evil than the murder of children. Today’s Christians are being asked to accept the notion that the deaths of innocent people on this incredible scale is somehow justified so that we can rationalize an acceptance of it taking place. For the Christian who reads and understands the Gospel of the New Covenant, for the few who seek the narrow gate, the murder of innocent people cannot be justified, period.
Those defenseless victims who are undergoing this inhumane slaughter are obviously hard-pressed to connect the barbarism levied against them with the will of God, but as with all things that happen in the course of mankind’s occupation of this earth, God knows what’s happening. It is of utmost importance to understand and believe that the Almighty God who created us has not abandoned us! He is intimately aware of each wound, of each drop of blood of every child, and His wrath on the Day of His vengeance will be a terrible thing to behold! Imagine the very heavens being shaken with His fury, His immeasurable anger at those who have perpetrated this unspeakable evil upon poor and innocent women and children. The “leaders” who send bombs and death shall be horrified, seeking holes in the ground, rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from His face, but on that Day, they will face their reckoning.
It is also of utmost importance to bear in mind that there is another life after this one. This is the one concept that can make our suffering bearable so that we may endure the evil that is upon us. Those innocent peasants who are being mercilessly slaughtered will undoubtedly be greeted and welcomed into a magnificent kingdom of peace and joy, unimaginable joy in which the tribulations of this life will be forgotten. Mothers who have lost their children, be comforted in the knowledge that those little ones are in a new home of serenity and that God shall wipe the tears from their precious little eyes. Only God knows the pain and despair you are undergoing, but God does know – believe that! The day of reckoning approaches, and justice will be visited upon those who brought this horror upon you. Jesus Christ will Himself lead an army that will utterly destroy those servants of evil who actually think they are in charge now.
When this conflict is rightly seen as a great battle between good and evil, and when the parties involved are rightly identified as to which is good and which is evil, it is interesting to observe who Satan is going after. He doesn’t seem to be worried about any of the great American megachurches – none of the “faithful” or false prophets of the congregations appear to be having any abnormal conflicts, the government isn’t bothering them. Of course, the wealthy seem to be living high on the hog – no earthly conflicts to deal with. People who profess to be atheists or even Satanists aren’t being bombed and massacred. Why is the devil assailing the poor Palestinians? Could it be that they are the true Semitic peoples? Are they the last ancestors of Abraham and Moses, et. al? Are the few Christians among the Palestinians all that remain of the true Church? After all, some of the oldest Christian churches in the world were in Palestine and Syria. I don’t know the answers to those questions, but anyone can see that for some reason, Satan is intent on destroying all that are left of those people.
Jesus gave us the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5. Read them and see if you can see the Palestinians – I can:
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed arethose who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed arethe meek, For they shall inherit the [a]earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Do not give up hope – it’s one of the greatest gifts we have. Trust in the grace and mercy of the Almighty to see us through these troubled times. Allow Jesus Christ into your heart and experience the faith that you need to look forward to a better time. Tears are abundant now, but they will not always be. Christian people who have Jesus in their hearts cry for you – pray for you. There’s a better life beyond us. Do not give up on love – it is the greatest of all gifts, for God is love.
[1 John 4:8] He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
May God bless all whose hearts are broken – may Jesus Christ give us strength to endure.
Van Nathan Kitchens Junior. We just laid him to rest Saturday. It was about as glorious of an autumn day as you could ask for and the military honors were a solemn and well-appreciated addition to his departure. He would have been pleased to have seen it, and somehow, I’m pretty sure he did.
He had turned eighty-six years old in May and his health had been on the decline for the last several years, but he stayed on his feet as long as he could, although someone in the family told me he had at last resigned to forego deer-hunting this year due to his physical condition. That would have been welcome news for the local deer herd, because even at his advanced age, he was ever a yearly threat to them.
The eldest of a family of ten kids, he grew up with his hands full helping his mom and dad with his younger siblings. His dad worked at odd jobs before settling into being a butane (now days it’s all propane) delivery man, which didn’t pay much, so Van Junior, known as Rip to his family, grew up in a poor family. Once he got grown, he didn’t seem to particularly like talking about his childhood nor adolescence, and that was probably why. Not having an abundance of provender on the table when he was young could also account for his love of hunting and fishing, as it was an extraordinary welcome bounty for the family to bring home some venison or fish – it was mostly catfish back in those days, caught out of a lazy meandering old silt-laden river, the Neches, in East Texas where he spent most of his early years. He became exceptionally good at hunting and fishing; in fact, he was among the best I ever knew. He knew how to cook it up, too.
All of his brothers and sisters remember sitting around the old house late in the evenings as he told them stories – he was especially good at it, and the kids listened attentively to each yarn he would tell them, hanging onto every word. This was in the days before cell phones, neither were there TVs in every home, and certainly not in the Kitchens household, with the much-beloved Pentecostal Matriarch, Billie Jewell who would not even think of allowing a “hellivision” into the house. Looking back, those old Pentecostal believers were right about the TVs. Back when we were having the discussions about the morality of TV, harmless shows like I Love Lucy, and Leave it to Beaver were the staples, but look what it’s morphed into today.
He left home to join the Army while he was still a kid, it had to be an exuberating venture, especially to finally pass the demands of big-brothership on to younger siblings, who I’m sure were ill-prepared for the baton – Rip had grown up with it, so he undoubtedly stepped into great freedom when he put on the uniform. Rip became passionate about his service to the Army and was more loyal to its mission than most.
He grew up with a very special sister, Verna, with whom he had a special bond – more so than with his other siblings, but I guess that sort of thing happens in families, some kids become partners in crime and have closer relationships with each other than with other siblings. As youngsters Rip and Verna together experienced travails that were common to post-depression children. Especially those who happened to be children in families that were another level of poor. They both did well as adults and were able to rise above their meager beginnings. Verna passed away back in 2013 while living in Colorado, and it was a terrible loss to the whole family, but it was easy to sense it being extra tough on Rip.
His first marriage lasted long enough for he and his wife to raise a daughter, Kim, and a son, Van III, but eventually the marriage would fail, and he would go on to meet his special love, Becky, with whom he absconded to Missouri and set up a nice ranch in the Ozarks. After a while he received the tragic news that his son, Van Nathan Kitchens III, had been killed in an automobile crash out in the Colorado mountains. The son was known to the family as Bubba, and everyone in the family knew and loved him. He served in the Army and did a tour in Iraq in at least one of the operations over there. Before the accident took him, he had married and had his own son, Van Nathan Kitchens IV, who I had the pleasure of meeting at Rip’s funeral. Number IV has a son of his own, a handsome, happy toddler and of course, his name is Van Nathan Kitchens V. Rip took Bubba’s death especially hard, as would be expected, a tragic episode in life which only a parent losing a child could know.
Rip spent a lot of his time in Missouri raising beef cattle as long as he was able, then as the late autumn stage of life closed in and age began to catch up with him, he gave up tending the herd, spending his hours reading, or with Becky and occasionally with family members. He had a couple of brothers who also came to Missouri with whom he visited as often as they came by, or he could get up their way. Van was serious about the church business as well. He was a devout Sunday school teacher and was dedicated to the work of the Lord; a stalwart Christian, and he will surely awaken from his rest no longer clad in the decrepit old carcass he wore out here on earth, but in the new eternal form the Lord will bestow upon him.
The blue jays are out this time of year in Southern Missouri, and everything is peaceful as dry autumn breezes waft through gold-gilded hickories standing somberly against the indigo October sky. I go out into the woods a lot in the fall, it’s my favorite season and it reminds of days gone by long ago – an innocent time in life when Rip would take a little scamp, fifteen years his junior, with him to hunt squirrels. That little tag-along was me. He was – and ever will be – my beloved big brother.
We will see him again soon in the company of Jesus.
May God bless all and may you Rest in the blessed Peace, Van Nathan Kitchens Junior.
Special condolences to Becky and Kim.
MK
P.S. Some of the numbers, i.e., junior, senior, IV and V, were mistakenly out of order in the earlier versions they are hopefully corrected in this edit. Sorry.
Wow! How clever they are! Their “intelligence” people developed a way to put explosives into cell phones and pagers that killed and injured a lot of mostly innocent people and managed to turn even more of the world against them without accomplishing anything significant towards advancing their cause(s). They have only one ally in the whole world, and it would be a safe bet that a growing majority of the population of that country, the US, are coming to realize and resent what their government is doing in this scheme of murder and criminality. The evil being supported by the US today is also working to give citizens reason to reflect on past odious behaviors of the US – American Indian genocide, Hiroshima, Dresden, Vietnam, Afghanistan – we have rarely been the good guys we were always led to believe we were. It’s turning out we are not the least bit happy about it, especially since it involves the wholesale slaughter of innocent people, of children who just want to play in their homes in safety – slaughtered by bloodthirsty savages with American bombs.
The pager murders only killed a few dozen people, and a plausible case can be made that few or none of them were enemies of the Zionist occupiers – at least enemies who may have been some kind of strategic threat to the IDF or citizenry of the occupation. If I’m a general or commander of resistance forces and some idiocy like this happens, I wipe the sweat off my brow with relief, because now I understand the “threat’ of the occupying forces’ “intelligence” is of much less concern than I’d feared because they spent a lot of their “genius” and resources for quite some time devising silly fireworks to try and scare people and produced no threat of any significance to my forces. In fact, I’m dumbfounded that these “invincible” enemies with unlimited resources would spend all that time and money on terroristic foolishness when there’s a conflict coming (that they started, the “started Oct 7” nonsense is unadulterated propaganda). Now I’m certainly not making light of the casualties nor the injuries that people sustained from the exploding devices, but in the grand scheme of wartime conflict, this idiocy accomplished nothing but making the vaunted IDF more enemies. Most of all, the leaders of the resistance can take some comfort that this “intelligence” isn’t all that intelligent after all. Sure, they got a lot of attention from all over the world, but attention doesn’t win wars, and stupidity surely doesn’t.
Somewhere along the way, the notion that making people fear your army was somehow a winning strategy became vogue. Shock value became a desirable method of accomplishing this and that’s just plain stupid. When the world found out that GITMO and Abu Ghraib torture was happening, it certainly shocked everyone, but it didn’t do our military guys any favors, because if you think about it, in a battle when the enemy is on the ropes and ready to throw in the towel, if he has reason to believe he’ll be treated decently as a POW (don’t even start with that “enemy combatant” nonsense) it stands to reason he’d be willing to surrender more readily. Take that same situation where the enemy soldier has reason to believe he’ll be tortured when he gives up and chances are he’ll fight to the death, thus killing more of your soldiers. Just plain stupidity and I don’t care if some cognitively challenged demons with stars on their lapels graduated from West Point (with honors) allowed this madness to happen, they should be castigated – whatever form that might take. It also makes you more enemies and gains you the enmity of more of the world – look at the success of BRICS today vs. the decline of the west.
Our genius politicians who were apparently all born yesterday look around at the tatters of the US flag, the tatters of the US reputation – and have the temerity to wonder why in the world everyone hates us. Think GITMO, Petraeus. Think Abu Ghraib and European black sites, Pompeo. A respectable General like Lee or Patton would have y’all up before a court martial for getting their troops killed because of torturing enemy soldiers.
The obvious madness behind all of this nonsense is that it is what the great deceiver, Satan wants them to do. When seen through that lens, it’s easier to see why the smarter guys with morals and honor have all resigned from our military. None, except possibly a small handful of representatives, are to be found in the US political crowd either. This exit of people of conscience (Josh Paul comes to mind) is also happening in the Zionist occupation forces. Only the most ignorant, least honorable, enemies of humanity hang with entities who practice such Cheney/Rumsfeld travesties as torturing and murdering civilians. This applies to our congressional leaders, presidents, presidential wanna be’s, and certainly to the IDF political and military leaders.
How they cry and moan when someone shoots back at them, for their specialty is murdering those who are weaponless, defenseless, hopeless. Onward they bravely march with rigged up pagers, thousand-pound American bombs, broomsticks with which to torture their captives, and loudly call on all through such benevolent mouthpieces as Ryder, Miller, Kirby, Sullivan, et. al. to all the resistance guys to please don’t shoot back at them when they murder your children, for that would be “escalation”. Note that it’s not escalation when the Zionists assassinate, trigger communications devices, carpet bomb Gaza and/or the West Bank, but when someone reacts to such barbarity by trying to defend themselves, it magically then becomes “escalation.” Note how it only becomes escalation when the resistance shoots back.
The servants of evil have had a long time to screw up the world as it is now, and only Jesus Christ will be able to sort it out when He returns. Satan has started playing his high cards for the world to see, and when you can see his behavior this plainly, see all of these servants falling in line for him, you should also be able to understand how powerless we, as humans, are to stop him – only Jesus is able to do what has to be done, we just need to make sure we are on the right side of things, Jesus’ side, when He appears and you can rest assured He’ll be bringing justice with Him. This thing can be, and will be won by the forces of good, but only by the army of Jesus Christ. I’m serious, folks – we all must get right with Jesus asap. There is no other way.
John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
May the blessings of the Almighty and Merciful God find and keep us all in these troubled times.
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.
“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”.
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.”
