The Sea of Death (Yam HaMawet)

This story is about the "Sea of Death", but these first few pictures represent the modern day Jordan River Valley in Israel, and show us what the area of the "Dead Sea" might have looked like before its destruction approx. 4000 years ago. In Genesis we see a description of the whole area of the Dead Sea before its destruction:  Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah)

like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.

The area of the Dead Sea that was once a beautiful river valley, is approx. 10 mi. wide and about 30 miles long moving South towards the Arabah.

The surface area of the lake now measures approx. 230 sq. mi. or 600 sq km.  A very large area that encompassed the five thriving cities that are described in Genesis, including Sodom and Gomorrah.

Apparently the river valley being extremely productive like the Nile valley in Egypt, could have sustained an immense population. Some estimates of ancient river valleys like in Egypt are as much as 8000 people per sq mi, but conservative estimates put the figure around 2000-4000 per sq mi.

Which means there could have been a population of around one million people inhabiting the area of the Dead Sea before its destruction.

Genesis 13:12 says: "Abraham settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom".   But the cities of the valley were not destined to be there much longer.  When the Angels visited Abraham, the cities only had a few hours left, but they did not know it.

Genesis 19:24-25  Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

Genesis 19:27-28  Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.

Peter wrote: He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter.

Also Jude writes:  Just as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

It is estimated that the Dead Sea area contains approximately 37 billion tons of salt, and it could be argued that most of that salt was deposited at the time of the valleys destruction, essentially God rained fire(molten salt) mixed with brimstone(burning sulfur) creating a large scale salt bath furnace.  

Salt bath furnaces are used in today's industrial processes to quench and temper different kinds of metal, it is a valued process because of heat distribution, temperature control, and permeability.  It is estimated the amount of salt in the Dead Sea area would have created a Salt Bath Furnace 300 sq.mi in area, and 120 feet deep.  Essentially a "Lake of Fire".  (Abraham beheld the smoke of the Valley ascending as the smoke of a Furnace).

Perhaps this is why Jude writes that they "underwent the punishment of "Eternal Fire".  It not only would have utterly destroyed every thing on the ground, but would have lowered the level of the valley, while at the same time making it impossible for anyone to inhabit the area permanently.

After all it does record that when the Lord was raining judgement upon the valley, Lot's wife stopped, and looked back, and the destruction overtook her, and she became a pillar of Salt. Was this an example of actual Hell fire?

Four thousand years later it still remains an absolute waste land, nothing grows there, and nothing lives there, the only ones that go there are tourists, and those who harvest minerals like salts, and potash for fertilizers and such. We can see why it was named Yam HaMawet by the people that lived in that region.  The surface of the Lake is approx 1400 ft below sea level, and the deepest part of the Lake is about another 1000 ft, so its around 2400 ft below sea level at its deepest point, whether the valley was a lot higher than the entire rift originally or if it was blow torched down further into the earth at the time of its destruction is impossible to know. But in order for there to have been a beautiful river valley like there was, the river would have had to continue on southward instead of just stopping in a dead lake surrounded by hills. 

Many companies sell the "Dead Sea Salts" as health products, like San Francisco Salt Co. The thought of the residents of the "self proclaimed homosexual Capital" of the nation, smearing on their skin the ancient residue of incinerated homosexuals, definitely puts a dark ironic twist on the end of the story. But is this the end of the story of the "The Sea of Death"?  No, actually it is not the end.  The Bible tells us that when Christ Jesus returns to reign over the earth from His Royal City of Jerusalem for a thousand years, there will be a river of life that comes from His throne and it heals everything wherever it goes, and it says that it will go through the area of the dead sea and continue all the way to the ocean, and it will make all the waters fresh, and it will be teaming with creatures, like all the creatures of the great seas. It will once again be a lush fertile valley, to be lived in and enjoyed by all those that make Jesus Christ their King.

Family Devotions - Names of Jesus

Last month we shared a thankful activity called the thankful pumpkin for the days leading up to Thanksgiving.  Today we want to share an activity for the days before Christmas that our daughter just loves.  We found some sparkling green felt at our local thrift store that we bought for about $1.  I cut out a Christmas tree with it and then decorated the back ground with snow flakes that we made from coffee filters and made packages for the base, out of origami paper and bows.  We used large tee pins to hang things on the Christmas tree.  I decided it would be great to learn the different names of Jesus and read the scriptures they were used in.  So I looked up a list on the internet and then had our daughter make construction paper candles to write the names on and pin them on the tree.  It has really helped her knowledge of the Bible and she has become more familiar with the New Testament as each day she looks up a scripture and reads it to us.  As you can tell we love to use art and hands on learning.  This also brings up wonderful opportunity to talk about the scriptures.

The Lesser of Two Evils

Seventy four years ago, on December 8, 1941, the day after a surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, the United States Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan.  Immediately Japan's allies, Germany, and Italy declared war on the United States.  Five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Congress formerly declared war against the governments of Germany, and Italy.  In less than a week we were formerly at war against the governments of three powerful nations and their allies.

The United States was being attacked from east, and west.  Our people, and allies were being eliminated in the Atlantic, and Pacific.  The "Axis Powers" were bent on the destruction of the United States, and our allies.

At the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor there was astonishment, fear, and anger.  There were no words to describe the level of outrage, and the collective trauma that the country felt.  When President Roosevelt gave the "Infamy Speech" the next day after the attack. His words, and courage crystallized, inspired and galvanized the resolve of the American people.  What followed was the greatest mobilization of technology and resources that any nation has ever accomplished.

The last part of the original declaration of war reads:

 "The President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States."

All three declarations of war ended with that statement and all of the country's resources were brought to bear.  Immediately President Roosevelt secured the aid of the country's industrial magnates, and almost overnight the nations factories were retooling and stocking for the manufacture of military vehicles, airplanes, ammunition and hardware.

President Roosevelt asked all citizens to join the war effort to build a "Great Arsenal of Democracy." He assured the nation that this unified effort to build ships and airplanes would out-produce and overwhelm the enemy.

Very soon the combined industrial force of the entire nation would be focused on creating everything that all the branches of the military would need to launch their concerted campaigns throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, Europe, and every place that they were so desperately needed.

In the days and weeks that followed the attack at Pearl Harbor, many men immediately joined the military and the rest of the able-bodied men would eventually be drafted into all of the branches of the service.  The nations forts and reception centers would swell with recruits ready for training.  These events would cause a desperate shortage of workers for the existing factories and those that were being hurriedly built everywhere in the country. Production was in full swing, all the factories, the other essential businesses and community services were all gearing up for "round the clock" operation.

The men who lost their factory jobs in the 1930s Depression Era, were now either joining the branches of military service or getting new high paying war effort jobs in all of the new factories, hour by hour the country was becoming more powerful.

In the 1930s women were discouraged from working outside the home, in fact 26 states had laws prohibiting women from working factory (male) jobs, and said that those women would be "destabilizing homes" and  "stealing" jobs from the men who needed them to support their traditional families.  This dynamic was about to change drastically in the 1940s.

The women who held very low paying "women" jobs during the 1930s Depression Era, were now being welcomed into the higher paying factory jobs of the war effort.  Also the men who did not qualify for military service (too young, or old, physically handicapped, or "didn't like girls") were getting the factory jobs too.

But with all the available people going to the factory jobs, there was still a tremendous shortage of workers.  Because of the bigotry of the Industrialists and Politicians, the minorities were purposely overlooked, and the industrial war propaganda machine set its sights on the white homemakers.  A finely tuned assault on the moral core of the nation was about to begin.

One can't help but think that if the industrialists and the government would have abandoned their bigotry, and sincerely welcomed all the minorities into the high paying factory jobs at the outset, the common bond of the war effort would have been sanctified in that respect, and would have greatly aided a natural integration, and the healing of old wounds, maybe even making the pain and suffering of the time, and even the eventual Civil Rights Movement unnecessary. 

At first the Homemakers resisted the call to the factories because they knew how important their role was.  They were the heart of the country, the guardians of the wisdom of the ancients, the Champions of temperance, and Truth.  They were the very anchors of the psychological and moral health of the nation. 

Most men did not want their wives working outside the home, nevertheless because of the great need for workers, the propaganda to get them out of the homes, and into the factories increased. Television, movies, newspapers, magazines, books, and radio all joined in on the propaganda effort,  1942 would see stories and songs about women answering the call like Rosie the Riveter. The stage was being set, and the minds of a entire generation of young people was about to be unwittingly poisoned with the apple of Industrial Feminism.

One by one the Homemakers of the country were leaving for factory jobs, the children were given over to the institutionalized public school system, or the newly created factory day care centers. In just three years there would be 18 million women (40% of the female population of the country) working outside the home.

Because the war lasted several years the mass media industry tried to keep the morale high, and the USO was doing its part to help out too.  Many of the women succumbed to loneliness, and found love at work or at the USO clubs.  Over the years many servicemen would receive "Dear John Letters".  Many men would come back to a empty home.

September 8, 1943 the Italian surrender is announced, on May 8, 1945 the Germans would unconditionally surrender to the Allies. On August 15, 1945 the Empire of Japan would unconditionally surrender several days after atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.  A concerted effort by America, Britain, Russia, and all of the Allies brought about the end of World War II.

Victory was finally achieved, but the cost for America, and the allies was extremely high.  In the end with all tolled (people killed in war or murdered by the Axis Powers) would be over 61,000,000 worldwide.  Both America and Britain each suffered approximately half a million of their people killed in the war.

After the war was over, 5 million women would have to be let go from factory jobs to make way for some of the almost 10 million men that would be released from military service over the next two years. The women that had to leave the factories immediately went into the lower paying, more traditional female jobs like Nursing, Commercial Service jobs, School Teacher, Textiles, etc.

The Industrial Feminism of the 1940's would evolve into the socialistic political feminism of the new-age, the moral core was damaged beyond repair.  The young men and women that survived the war, and the ones that grew up during the war would become the dysfunctional "baby boomers" of the short-lived Golden Age of the 1950's, and the turbulent decades that followed. Like in Tolkien's novel of the time, the shepherds of the forest were so influenced, and distracted by their duty, the Ent Wives became lost, and were never found.

The Homemakers of the 1940's were made to think that they were choosing the lesser of two evils, but the ramifications of their wrong choice would resonate increasingly through the following decades, and the women that made up the moral core would eventually pass into history, and the legacy of the godly Homemaker would almost vanish completely.

The religious organizations had failed to dissuade racial bigotry and feminism in the 1940's.  Their coffers were being filled with 1940's war bucks.  Because of their building and financial agendas they would continue a legacy of failure in the 1950's, not speaking out against feminism and materialism.  The 1950's would see a dramatic increase in divorce, and other social disorders. The social practices of the institutionalized, secularized public school system would unwittingly add to the dysfunction because the children would be conditioned for divorce by having multiple "dating" relationships during their teenage years.

Because of their turbulent history and extreme losses during the war, the collective paranoia, and irrational distrust that would be deeply seated in the Soviet Union would prove to be extremely contagious and last for decades.  More young men would die during the Cold War Era, the Commiphobic leaders in the US Government and military, utilizing the weapons and equipment left over from World War II would wage the Demofrenetic wars of the 1950's, and 1960's, which would cripple the morale and psychological health of an already damaged nation.

The 1960's would see an astounding increase in feminism, abortion, secularism, divorce, substance abuse and other gross immoral behaviors.  Because of compromise, the Religious Organizations would continue to decline, and develop heretical doctrines concerning feminism, materialism, divorce and remarriage (religious adultery).  Also because of the early baby-stage psychological damage brought on by the dynamic of non-cognate, indifferent, abusive, or missing fathers, many young boys and girls would have their lives destroyed by extremely adverse psychological behaviors, like homosexuality or immoral heterosexual behavior.  Because these behaviors were developed at a very young age by the dysfunctional dynamics of the damaged society, most of the young people would be led to believe that they were actually born that way, and the impotent, dysfunctional Religious Organizations, because of their financial agendas, would turn a deaf ear to millions of children who were crying in the dark.

The dramatic increase in divorce during this time would continue to see huge numbers of divorced parents vying for the affections of the children, all the while running down one another to justify their actions, creating a spoiling atmosphere of non-accountability. The children would be permanently damaged psychologically by this poisonous hypocritical environment, and they would act out the frustration, anger, and pain throughout their lives in various adverse behaviors.  Also the nation's prisons would fill with angry, abused, and neglected youth, who had turned to crime.

In the 1970's, and the decades to follow, because of the psychological damage done to the young boys, millions of them would be eagerly drugged into submission by the medical industry, so they would fit nicely into the institutionalized, secularized, federalized, unionized, feminized public school system.  This would be instrumental in creating a generation of resentful, feminized, chemical dependant new-age dysfunctional males.

For the next 40 years, because of cowardice, and the compromise with wealth, materialism, feminism, and adultery, the clergical religious organizations would become completely apostate, being little more than religious social clubs, that could scarcely be called Christian.  Because of the hypocrisy of the religious organizations, almost an entire generation of young people would abandon the organizations to search for Truth.

During this time the secularized US government, would sacrifice more American lives trying to stabilize the oil-rich Middle East. Struggling with the power of Islam, they would once again understand why their Roman Republican ancestors coined the phrase "Hubris brings Nemesis" (Arrogance brings enemies that cannot be defeated).

Whether or not this is the beginning of the final confrontation of the North, and the South (Greco-Roman civilization vs Islam)  is difficult to ascertain.  Some milestones have been reached, while others have not.  In any case the solution to the spiritual problems of this nation has not changed.

Women entering the workforce of men in the 1940's causing them to abandon their vital role as Godly Homemakers, has proved to be the single most destructive thing that has ever happened to this nation.  Feminism, divorce, abortion, and the resultant apostatizing of the American religious base, have altogether effectively  destroyed more people than all of the wars combined.

Although difficult, the solution is, and always has been, very simple.  People must acknowledge the Truth, humble themselves, and subject themselves to it, and repent.  Only then will they find forgiveness, deliverance, and healing.  Jesus once said "If your right hand makes you sin, cut it off, and throw it from you".  I think this particular scripture applies to our sin as a nation today.

Knowing, as the scripture says, that the road to Hell is large enough for all of the nations to fit onto it, we should try very hard to acknowledge what has happened, so that we will understand how dire our situation is.  As a nation, May the Lord Jesus help us find repentance.

The Velvet Main

The world is she!

The radiant light of life resides within her warmth

This gleaming love surrounding me that smiles and knits her heart to mine

For through the water we have shared a deep abiding love that binds

And soul to soul it pours within creating heart and limb and mind

This faithful bond, this thread of love that weaves itself within my frame

Moves back and forth with peaceful waves of life for me on velvet main

And though my life, it somehow hangs upon the balance of her fears

The thread I hold within my hand will not erode away with years

For when the sound of life breaks forth from me with voice so small and fine

Then pulls the thread tied to the heart and brings her shining face to mine

Two loving hands I've yet to feel will hold me close and cup my head

And ever shall she stir in me the warmth of water and the thread.

Rich&Elena

Being Thankful

 I just wanted to share a quick post on a great family devotional for the weeks before Thanksgiving.  This year Mary made a construction paper pumpkin with a pocket.  I had her take note cards and write something she was thankful for on the front and then write a verse from the Bible on the back.  We bought her, her first full Bible for her birthday this year.  So, I am teaching her how to look up verses and read them.  So we look up the verse, she reads it and then she puts it in her pumpkin.  Another fun thing we have been doing is making flash cards of the books of the Bible and she has been scrambling them up and then putting them in order.  She has learned the New Testament books already!  There are so many wonderful things you can do with your kids to teach them about thankfulness and learning about the Bible.  If you have any ideas to share, leave us a comment and I will publish it for others to enjoy.  It is wonderful to share ideas. 

 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving

What Would Jesus Do?

For the last few days we have been seeing on facebook all kinds of comments about Starbucks holiday cups being solid red and not saying Merry Christmas on them. A friend posted an article that was written by a person that was upset at Christians for being upset about the cups.  Here is the link to this article: https://nathanielscottlake.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/why-merrychristmasstarbucks-is-everything-wrong-with-american-christianity/

After reading the article some thoughts came to mind that I wanted to share:

I could count the times on one hand that I have even been in a Starbucks none the less even bought something there. Not that I care what they say about Christmas, it is so very expensive and I just can't see it. What about Jesus saying blessed are the poor in spirit (those who willingly embrace poverty) for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In reading both the  yea and nay of this subject it seems both sides are painting their version of Christ. The guy that was promoting meekness was saying that Jesus would invite the gal (a worker at Starbucks) to church instead of being upset about the cup logos. I thought to myself would Jesus be doing that? I don't think so, when the  organized churches are ignoring Christ's words and not following His words especially in moral issues and materialism. Also he said nothing about the need of repenting to the girl when presenting to her God's plan of salvation. He just talks about God's grace and mercy. The fact that we are able to repent and turn from our sin and Christ forgives us, is his grace and mercy. They seem to leave that part out of their presentation.

Jesus would not care about a holiday or how it is celebrated, he would care more about rescuing this girl, ie Starbuck's employee, from her sin if she were an unbeliever. He would know every detail about her and lay it out to her what she needed to do. Just like the women at the well. Jesus walked in super natural power, just like we should be able to but most cannot because we are ignoring Christ's words and not being true disciples of Christ. Jesus says in Luke 12:29 And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. 33 “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I had a person respond to my statement on facebook saying that it was OK to be wealthy and wasn't a sin because David, Job, Solomon and Abraham were wealthy and had great faith.  They also said that poor in spirit did not mean willingly be poor.  My answer was this:

Well I disagree with you on your interpretation of poor in spirit. Jesus was our highest example that is greater than all those that you listed. When he was born in a stable and born to poor parents without great education and position, it was for our example. The apostle Paul was wealthy, he had to be to be highly educated and on the Sanhedrin and he counted all that as loss. He gave it all up for the gospel. As you know he was persecuting the believers because they were saying to give up having the land and their position (Zionism). That is why the Jews plotted to kill Jesus, because he was telling them that they were to give it up and they didn't want to. Paul told believers to follow him as he followed Christ.




 Solomon said:
"There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; and one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches." Proverbs 13:7

And James says:
"Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" James 2:5

And John says:
"He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked."
1John 2:6

And the Lord Jesus Himself says:
"So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:33


I did not hear back from this person. It is hard for people to see the truth of what Jesus Christ taught.  It is tough being a missionary here as we live in such an effluent society and culture.  Our family lives on an income that is considered below the poverty line but in no way do we feel poor.  We continue to work at letting go of things, sharing, and enjoying the simple things of life.  We pray each day for the Lord to help us make the right choices and most of all we want to see Him glorified, we want to be a part of His kingdom, we want to follow Him and walk as He walked.  

The Law of the Lord is Perfect

This morning we had Mary get her Bible that she got for her birthday just recently.  She had children's Bibles with collections of stories but this is her first complete Bible.  She was so excited to get it and we have been teaching her how to look up scripture verses in it.  We will also be working with her to memorize the books in the Bible so she can find verses even quicker.  Anyways when we were thinking about what passage to read she opened her Bible and on the title page a verse was posted and it read:

"If you accept my words and store up my commands within you...and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."  Proverbs 2:1, 4-5

After reading it we had Mary turn to Proverbs chapter 2 and we read the whole chapter.  After talking about that and what it would be like to go mine silver and the patience and work it would be to do that, it gave us a reminder and insight in what it is to search out God's truth and find wisdom.  We then went to the internet and found this wonder scripture song of Psalm 19.  It has great illustrations and we were all lifted up and encouraged as we sang it all together.  We liked it so well that we sang it twice through.  Here is the song if you would like to sing it too.

Here is the link:  https://youtu.be/oHde_AqJHtI

Count Your Blessings

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.  The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.     Philippians 4:7-9

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/IJb-DSKAuMA

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/9fMjgS4vu4o

For our family devotions we felt led to concentrate on remembering the good things that God has done.  For us not to be distracted or to despair over the dark things around us that are happening. Always remember those who obey Christ have a bright future in Him and have wealth beyond anything in this world.   

Candidate Musing, Could a Revival be Coming?

Just sayin' out of something interesting ...Has anyone noticed how much Donald Trump looks like Caesar Augustus and Trump's daughter, Ivanka, looks like Augustus' daughter, Julia?  Here are a few images I pulled off the internet the other day to compare.  To me, Trump and his daughter, Invanka look Claudian.

  

I found some more statues of Cesar Augustus that reminded me of Trump. Granted, politicians and leaders do a lot of pointing but the bottom 2 are pretty interesting in that the finger held up is very Trump and Cesar Augustus was commemorated in a statue with the same pointing hand. 









Comparing Trump's similarities to Augustus is not me saying that I think he is going to be a king, but that he is demonstrating strong leadership qualities. All I thought of Trump before this campaign was that he was a rich playboy that had a funny hairdo. When I saw the statue of Augustus standing with the little cupid, which is the Roman god Venus' son, at his feet, I read that his patron God was Venus. His great uncle, Julius Caesar claimed to be descendant of her. When I read about Venus, this is what she stood for in the Roman culture: love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity and desire. Hmmm, that sounds a lot like Trump too. Could be what some people may find distasteful about him, 3 marriages with "trophy wives", cheated on his wives, super wealthy etc. Well Augustus had 3 wives, cheated on them and was very wealthy but he was a great leader and made Rome very powerful. He used his vast wealth to help the people and he forgave a lot of taxes so they could build their farms and business again. He was extremely popular with the people and was a military genius. He made Rome's armies very strong and was the first to give their soldiers the benefit of retirement.  He really didn't want the position, but the people made him the first Emperor of Rome.  


Rome had been a republic for about 500 years and it was failing and their was lots of crime and financial troubles.  Under his rule he brought peace and prosperity to the nation.  I realized you don't have to be sexually moral to be noble and care for a country.  He did see that the extreme sexual immorality of the ruling class was destroying the people.  He did try to legislate a moral reform, but was unsuccessful.     I found this article very interesting and informative:


http://www.challies.com/…/the-history-of-christianity-in-25…




After reading this article I realized what Augustus did for Rome, aided in the early spread of the Gospel. He united the empire, calmed the civil unrest and made Rome great. Our country is in a lot of civil unrest and disillusionment with how the government is being run.  

Family Devotions - Backyard Camping

Have you ever done backyard camping with your kids?  We never had until this last weekend and had a blast.  Rich wanted to get Mary and our little dog used to camping out in a tent and he figured it would be easiest and most reasonable to do it in our back yard.  We are having glorious weather here.  We always have Indian summers here with cool nights and warm days.  This weekend weather was true to form!  After we had made the plans, I noticed it would be one week before the Feast of Tabernacles would be celebrated and we decided that we would do a family devotion teaching Mary about the Feast and what it symbolizes.  No, we do not keep the Feasts of Israel or any Jewish Holidays.  We just love the symbolism and wanted to share it with Mary and bring out some wonderful scriptures in the Old and New Testament.  I have included some still shots and a slide show that gives more explanation of the Feast.  It is a fun holiday where people live outside in booths or tents and remember the wandering of the Israelites in the wilderness before coming into the Promise Land.  The Feast is very Messianic and it was when the Jews of Christ day had the highest hopes of the Messiah coming to physically rule and reign on the Earth from Jerusalem.  One of the practices of the Feast is to wave palm branches and say, Hosana!  Also you decorated your tent with the fruit harvested from your land and light your area with beautiful lights.  Also on the last day of the Feast water was fetched from the Pool of Siloam and brought to the temple and poured out.  This was a symbol of the rain to come but more importantly the out pouring of the Holy Spirit.  So we had all of these elements in our camp out and had a time in the evening where had Mary poured water out into a bowl, wave branches and sing, light candles and talk about how living in a tent is like our earthly bodies that will fail and one day we will have a new body and be with the Lord.  Also sleeping in a tent makes you more appreciative of your house and all the luxuries we have become so used to.

Flowers and herbs from our yard.

Jesus said, I am the Light of the World

Here is the slideshow

Free picture slideshow customized with Smilebox

Here are some scripture references we read during the different activities:

The Feast of Tabernacles established: Lev. 23:39-44

The Water being poured out: John 7: 37-38, John 4:13-14 and Isaiah 55

God is our Shelter: Luke 12:22-34 and Isaiah 25:4

Jesus is the Light: John 8:12 and John 1:1-9

Waving the Palm branches: Lev.23:40 and Psalm 27

We hope to some day be with other believers on a simple camp out this time of year, remembering what God has done for us and sharing in the produce of our gardens and hands and looking forward to our Messiah coming again and being with Him forever!  God bless you all and if you have any questions about our celebration please leave us a comment or e-mail us.  We would love to hear from you! 

Creational Perception Ratio

Prov. 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. 

Mankind loves to explore, to seek the truth about everything, and there are many things to discover.

When we are seeking the truths of the universe, whether it be Physics, Philosophy, Religion, or any of the specific sciences, we need to understand that these things are discovered through our personal perception of the facts of the matter, whatever it may be. They are unlocked so to speak with logic, complete logic.

A mans logic is only as good as the accuracy of his perception.  So lets have a look at perception and see how it can be influenced.

Lets say that I am looking at a beautifully hand crafted table that is approximately five hundred years old.  To me the table is beautiful, it has the appearance of age, and I have been told that it is five hundred years old.  These are the obvious facts of this situation.  I am not a highly skilled master craftsman, nor am I a expert dealer of antiques,  so I readily accept the information that I have been given as being true.

The real truth of the matter in this situation is that the table was created by a highly skilled master craftsman just one week ago, a master craftsman who is highly skilled in creating replicas.  To me the table looks old, and I had no specific reason to doubt the information that I was given.

Also in this situation there are other factors that can influence my perception, like maybe I am looking to buy a old table, or maybe this table matches some chairs that were handed down to me by my family, whatever the reason is, it creates an agenda that can adversely affect my perception because it creates a need, so that I am more apt to believe that the table is old because I want to believe it, because it fits my agenda.

This example was of an inanimate object, but what about a living example? How can our perception be altered, or manipulated by a living thing?  Let us use a human example, actually the first human example which would be Adam.

The Bible says that the first man was formed out of the dust of the earth, and God breathed life into him, and he became a living soul.  Although we have never seen this actually happen, we can certainly understand this explanation, essentially God made him, and then animated him, so that he was a living man, he was not a baby, he was a fully formed grown man.  He may have looked like he was twenty five years old, I don't know, in any case he was an adult male.

So knowing this information, if we had been standing there two minutes after Adam was created, we would be looking at an adult man, and if we say that perhaps he looked twenty five years old to us, that would mean that in our perception we would think that he looked twenty five years old, but in reality he was only two minutes old.  So we see that time is relative to perception.

In other words, in this situation, because Adam appeared to be twenty five, but he was only two minutes old, we could say that he appeared to be 6,570,000 times older than he actually was, because there are 30 two minute increments in one hour, times twenty four hours in a day, times 365 days in a year, times 25.

So we can see that if our logic does not contain the essential ingredient, which in this case would be the actual Biblical account, we would naturally think that Adam was a lot older than he actually was, and this fact uncovers a ratio, a perception ratio that helps us understand that something (that is a created thing) can have the appearance of great age.

The Bible says that the universe is a created thing, in all its beauty, wonder, and vastness, it is still just a created thing.  The Bible also says that the entire universe exists inside God, and that He maintains it from moment to moment.  It also says that He created the Heavens and the Earth quite literally 6000 years ago, if we apply the same ratio that was demonstrated with Adam, we could say that the earth and the universe appear to be 39.4 billion years old, but in reality it is just 6000.

Also if we add the fact that the original world was destroyed by water, tectonic action, upheaval, and mass volcanic action, we see that these things can affect the logic of those that are trying to sort out the facts of the matter, without having all the pieces to the puzzle, and actually leaving out essential portions of the equation.

So we see that if perception is lacking essential factors, then it is flawed, and can never achieve the correct answer, or in this case the ultimate truths of the universe.

What are some of the other aspects that can affect someones perception that is trying to see the truth in this situation? What are some of the negative aspects that could adversely affect a persons perception causing their logic to be distorted?

If a person did not want to believe that God created the Universe, this would definitely create an agenda that would adversely affect their perception, and damage their logic, considering the fact that it is very obvious that the universe and everything in it was wonderfully engineered and created intentionally.

  

Romans 1:20  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

An agenda that purposely excludes God is completely ridiculous, and yet men continue to resist accountability to God, or even acknowledge that fact that there is a God that is actively involved in every single persons life on the entire planet in the sense that He is graciously drawing all people to Himself despite their resistance.

We can see that if a man tries to use the creation to disprove the Creator then that man has become completely foolish in his logic, and has adopted a science of failure, because his calculations can never achieve truth, being twisted and skewed by agenda, and lacking the primary portion of all equations.

Considering the facts of creation, to believe that the Universe was somehow brought into existence by some kind of mindless organizing constructive explosion could only be formulated by someone that is one click above a drooling fool, and yet the most prestigious colleges have professors that practice this kind of false knowledge because of their agenda.

Speaking about Mankind in general, the Apostle Paul said:   

Romans 1:21-22  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools.

So we see that it is possible for men to be extremely intelligent, and knowledgeable, and yet be extremely mistaken and foolish because of adherence to an agenda.  Even though a man may be very sincere in his beliefs, at the same time he can also be sincerely mistaken, and this is what Paul experienced on the road to Damascus, and it is the same lesson that all men must discover in order to see the light of the truth, and find their way out of confusion.

In order to discover the truth one must never leave out the main ingredient to the equation of the universe, and that main ingredient is Jesus Christ, He is God, and always has been.

Polychrist Syncretism

The founders of our nation were not perfect, but they were very intelligent men that understood human nature, and history. They had the benefit of hind sight, they were able to see the noble attributes of the civilizations of the past, and also the failures. They chose to pattern their new government system after the noblest, and most successful system that they could find throughout history, the one that had been perfectly tailored for liberty and freedom, and their choice was the old Republic of Rome, before it became an empire. 

Rome did not start out as a republic, but rather a monarchy. It was a monarchy for 250 years, and then a republic for about 500 years, and then a empire for the remaining 450 years until it was dismembered by turmoil.

It was the republic system that made Rome extremely strong, but the conversion to an empire started its slow decline, and the founders of our nation considered this when they wrote the fail-safes into the foundation so that it would be impossible for a popular political figure to acquire that much power in a constitutional atmosphere. 

Even in Rome's beginning as a monarchy it was strong, and it grew, but when it became a republic it was practicing representative government, and syncretism in its religious system which made it extremely cohesive,and alluring, which created a very conducive environment for solid growth. 

But what is syncretism? Why is it so important for creating a stable National System? 

A Family Devotion on the Miracle of Creation

This summer we have been raising some Monarch butterflies.  We have been learning a lot and it is a wonderful thing for our daughter to see the miracle of creation right in the house.  We have raised 2 successfully so far.  The last one we have is in a chrysalis.  This one I found on accident as I was taking the mail out to our mailbox and noticed that we had wild milkweed growing along side our driveway.  As I was standing there I saw a Mama butterfly lay her egg.  I picked the leaf with a bunch of the milkweed and brought it into the house and put it in our butterfly cage.  In a few days it hatched and was so very tiny.  I had to look at it with a magnifying glass it was so small.  It ate it's egg casing as it's first meal and then began working on the leaf.  The guy was an eating machine, only taking time out to shed his skin and then eat his skin.  After 2 1/2 weeks, he had reached 2700 times his original weight when he hatched and found a good spot and hung upside down in a "J" shape over night and then when his skin split a chrysalis came out.  Then for 10 days it completely rearranges its molecular blocks and forms a beautiful butterfly.  Then once it drys off it flies South.  Four generations fly South with the 4th generation reaching Mexico, there it lives for 8 months.  It lives in the trees and only comes down to drink water.  They then lay eggs and that 5th generation will begin to fly North to find the milkweed and it takes 3 more generation of each flying North and then repeats the process each year.  Now who taught that little creature to do that.  It has no parents to show it what to do.  It is all in the programming of that creature.  

This fun family activity will always be remembered by our daughter and is a living example of the miracle of creation.  This brought to mind, Romans 1:20 

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen,being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

O Lord you are the great miracle worker and all creation shouts of it!