Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Metamorphosis~  In perusing Facebook this morning I was accosted by a meme that was stunning in its implications: "The metamorphosis of Jesus from a humble servant of the abject poor to a symbol that stands for gun rights, prosperity theology, anti-science, limited government (that neglect the destitute), and fierce nationalism is truly the strangest tranformation in human history." There is so mu...

The Checklist for Truth~ Truth can be amorphous, sometimes indistinct and slippery. You might hear a political candidate say something and claiming it is true, but it just doesn't feel right. A friend posts something on social media that piques your curiosity, and you know this person would never purposely lie to you, but you just aren't sure of his source, so you check it and find that it cannot...

Life and Prosperity~ "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live." Deut. 30:19. The distinction between the  political Left and the Right has never been more clear than it has become in the past few months. It truly seems that "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (Comedy/Adventu...

Things change~ One of the axioms of life is that 'nothing stays the same'. No one likes change, especially in the realm of ideas. Older people don't like change any more than do younger people, they just have had their noses rubbed in it more often and for a longer time, and have become used to the idea that 'nothing stays the same'. The young rail at change; the older people just thumb their nose...

Left and Right~ There is a question that is ubiquitous in the collective consciousnes of people that are confused about why they see so much violence and mayhem assiciated with society today. That question goes right to the heart of why some people believe that they have no only the right to protest certain actions that have taken place that they feel are irresponsible (which they do, as long as i...

Censorship~ Our country today is seeing something today that has never been seen before to this great an extent, and that is the open censorship of opposing ideas. This is happening in public discourse on social-media platforms such as Twitter, Youtube and Facebook, and even in the Main Stream News. People will express an opposing point of view to the established and validated version, and their p...

Acting~ Have you thought about what it would be like to be an actor? Now I know what we mostly see in public about famous actors is their fabulous life styles; the money, cars, houses, and 'hanging' with the A listers. This is the reward for being a successful actor, but it is NOT acting, except in the loosest sense. Having been a child actor (playing roles under age 18) I, as with most actors, ha...

I read a short article this morning on Facebook that decried the lack of reseach of people that believe whatever is posted on Facebook. I agree wholeheartedly with this concept. Facebook is NOT a valid source for truth. That is not to say that there is no truth promoted on FB, but truth is not the primar reason that people post there. One of the respondents to this article was an associate pastor...

Defunding Truth~ There is a lot of talk today in the news about certain mayors and Governors wanting to 'defund' the poiice. They are doing this at the behest of another group of people that are angry that they cannot achieve a social goal of proving that slavery in one form or another still exists in the modern society of the USA, so they 'protest' and riot in order to advance their particular fo...

Except as a Child~ "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven". Matt. 18:3. There are two, and only two states of being in the being of a Human Being. These two states have nothing to do with biology, i.e. the gender of that human being, or the biological processes that sustain life, whether male or female. It has nothing to do...

Hot Times~ It is going to be HOT today where I live. We are experiencing a mini-heat wave in SoCal, that will see temperatures in the 103 to 107 deg. range today and tomorrow, and in the high 90's through Tuesday, then cooling slightly. Palm Springs Ca., a town in the desert about 40 minutes to the east of us, will be 116 deg. today, and in the 100's for all of next week. This weather report is br...

Politics and Religion~ My parents taught me that when in a social situation there are two subjects that are forbidden, politics and religion. The reason is that there is no one that doesn't have a heart felt opinion about either one or the other, and you will almost always alienate someone no matter what you say about either. It used be be that you could escape this conundrum by sticking to sports...

Plum Galette~ Have you ever noticed that the first time you try to make a recipe it does not look like the picture of the recipe in the cook book? This happens to me every time I try something new, as was my experience this week when I made a Plum Galette for the first time. It is not really a complex recipe if you have already learned how to make a single crust pie. The most difficult thing for m...

Impersonations~ Rick Little and Jonathan Winters were two of the best impersonators of my era. I remember Rich Little being on the Jonny Carson Show (late night comedy of the 1970's) and acting and sounding more like Jonny than Carson himself. It was amazing, accurate, and hilarious all at the same time. When I closed my eyes I really couldn't tell the difference. Impersonations can be funny,  but...

The Right Way~  There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. Prov. 14:12. God gives everyone a choice of two roads that they will follow, the Life Road, or the Death Road. No one is exempt from this choice. Ancient Israel was given this choice two times, and both times they chose the Death Road. The result of their first choice was that they went into captivity in Ba...

DYI Repair~ Well, it's fixed. If you read my note yesterday you know that I was in the process of fixing my dishwasher. Rather that paying for a professional repair person to come to the house and fix it I used the knowledge and skill developed over the years to learn how to fix it myself. So I went to the appliance parts house and asked for the thermal fuse I needed in order to affect the repair....

Dishwashing~ Our dishwasher stopped working last Sunday. It just quit. Now I am not one to call a repair man the instant an appliance stops working. My natural reaction is to want to figure out what went wrong and fix it myself.  There are two reasons for this; 1) I just love the challeng of the 'hunt' for the solution, and 2) the cost of an in home repair by a certified technician is prohibitive...

Protest~ There is only ONE country in the world that has the RIGHT innumerated (not granted) under it's Constitution to PEACEFULLY protest, and petition their government for Redress of Grievances, and that country is the U.S.A. Included in the First Amendment is this RIGHT, but that also includes that in order for a protest to be peaceful the protesters cannot bring weapons, otherwise it is not pe...

Progress~ America, and indeed the world, is having a crisis of perfection. We see this crisis manifested in riots and protests that have caused death, destruction, mayhem, and anarchy, because a small faction of 'citizens' have declared that since their countries are not perfect that we must 'burn it all down' and start over in order to achieve equality of result for everyone. What these people ar...

Do Not Be Afraid~ In 1776 Thomas Paine gave a speech that encouraged the people of the Colonies to through off the shackles of Britain that started with the iconic phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls." It seems that this is still true today, although if he were alive today he would certainly have said 'the souls of men and women'. In Matthew 24:6 Jesus said, "You will be hearing of w...

Truth Humbles~ Have you noticed that in the news lately there are a lot of people that are absolutely, positively sure they are RIGHT/correct about whatever it is that they are saying? The reporting of the news has taken on a new identity in that whatever certain people say is reported as fact just because they said it, and other people are dismissed as unworthy of notice simply because the go aga...

Peace in the time of Turmoil ~ Turmoil and rage are not unique to our time. These two 'imposters' have reared their ugly heads from time to time throughout the history of the human race, from Cani and Abel to Covid-19 and the current rioting of Antifa and BLM. There is an underlaying identity that causes people to lash out in reacton to events outside of their control (seemingly), and that is impl...

I found this today on Facebook: Deuteronomy 24:16 says that no man can die for another man's sins. How come Jesus died for my sins?" This is a GREAT question that actually plagues Christians that actually THINK about their salvation, rather than just feeling that they are 'saved by faith through grace'. This question was asked on a forum, where lots of people gave their impressions and understandi...

I am going to take a slightly different tack in my comments today, because of a rather pessimistic article I read that details why the author thinks that Unity in the USA and in the world can and will never happen.  He laments the loss of our central identities as Americans that have traditionally united us, even though we are the most dirvers country in the world. You can find the article Walsh o...

Never Never Land~ We are now living in Never Never Land. Whether you live in America, or anywhere else in the world, it appears that the worst of fiction writing has come to pass in real life. You can't make this up! Those of us that have lived  in the 50's, 60's, and 70's would never have believed it if someone told us that we would live in a time when every cultural norm in which we grew up (for...