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ANGELFIRE 3-4-06
Here's cheers for Lisa Billy, our state representative. Her House Bill 2831 to ban pictorial depictions of "sexually oriented business" along state highways is a needed stand for decency. Following similar laws already in Missouri and New Jersey, OK could keep our Interstates free from such visual corruption. Thank heaven for this bold mother who says that she believes one of their (legislators) most important roles is protecting the eyes of our children. Angelfire says "Amen" in hope that other states will follow the example of these three mentioned. Our heavenly Father sets angels to watch over young children, though the devil seeks to entrap them at the very outset. In Mt.18:6 the Lord Jesus foretold a terrible judgement upon "any who cause one of these little ones to stumble," as being better to have a mill stone around their neck and cast into the sea. For as in first Jn.2:16 "all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world."
Capitalism has been built on industry since the 18th century industrial revolution that began in England. Coal provided the power source and jobs were available for the commoners to go dig it from deep in the earth. Conditions were miserable, yet society gained wealth as steam engines took over heavy labor. Railroads began to be built to haul coal to steam powered saw mills. Everything went beyond muscle power. So investors launched other industries where a profit could be made: the more work, the more being paid and the more pocketed by the capitalists. Now industry has moved into every nook and cranny of our existence. It has no conscience, just an appetite for making more money. So we'd have an abortion industry if it were legal. The entertainment industry is perhaps our biggest, with gambling coming in close by now. Prostitution isn't legal either, but the girlie industry serves as a front, along with recreational drugs. Our pharmasudical industry's probably the biggest of all and it sells, sells, sells to the public with "ask your doctor" ads. Then when I see Phillip Morris ads against smoking, I consider "things really gone crazy." If they opposed it, would they be selling tobacco products? Lies just permeate the advertising so that Americans live in a daze. That's it, the "last daze" coming upon us. But here's a song for healing, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."
As it was coal that powered industry in the 18th century, so it was petroleum in the 20th. And in 1972 we struck a deal with the newly rich Saudia Arabia to sell their output only in dollars. That made us the reserve currency for a global economy and we've held it until now. If Iran opens their own exchange and uses the Euro instead of our dollar, we'll take a serious economic hit that could be as bad as the nuclear danger we now fear from them. If our dollar should loose out globally to the Euro, we're no longer number one, maybe not even the superpower anymore. China and Russia are in collaberation again and could just step into the lead, unless the Lord Jesus returns before hand.
ANGELFIRE 3-8-06
I talked about industry beginning in 18th century England but forgot to mention that it was a transition from tools to machines for creating products. Coal was the power source that I personally remember as a child in IL, where it was used everywhere in heating furnaces. And it filled the sky with black smoke. Dad was selling the stokers into which crushed coal would be loaded and then fed into basement furnaces for home heating fires. In high school, my brother and I had stoker routes of where we'd fill the bin each day and tend the firebox inside the furnace each day, using long metal tongs. That crushed coal was a basic then as gasoline is now. But it was truly a bane to the environment, though no one cared back then. Just getting through those cold winters was our only goal and the coal industry was a basic need for that.
Now there's an industry for everything, whether need or pleasure. Back then it seemed all so basic. Heavy industry was railroads, auto manufacture, cattle and beef, trucking and shipping, etc. Liquor became legal, but we called it a "traffic" because industry meant healthful to the nation. The giants of 19th century industry were still considered heroes. And the living Henry Ford was too, because of low priced cars he made available: model T, then model A, B and so on. But dad always drove a Chevy. As late as the fifties I can recall president Ike saying "What's good for General Motors is good for the nation." And that sounded great back then in our industrialized leading nation. But "industry" has lost it's honor as we now have smoking, booze, pornography, gambling, prostitution, and even advertising as industries (totally corrupting our media ). Industry once created jobs and prosperity but now it means gigantic corporations with no conscience and CEOs paid like they were gods. Even the media are industries mainly to make money. And public image is thus preserved in order to increase profits. So now "influence for sale" has become an industry in our nation's capitol i.e. Jack Abramhoff. And what of the sale of our ports to Arab nations? Fear of the LORD and dread of His judgement day return can be the power against wickedness still greater than all our coal or petroleum. But there's such a shortage of it in America. Now, each time we see gasoline prices juming higher, we should remember that Jesus is coming again in great power and glory. That reality is more basic than this "war on terrorism" which tends to see the world situation econmically. Just affirming friends as those who have great wealth and are willing to use it for our convenience is a false presupposition in my opinion. It the War on Terror is Armageddon, as ANGELFIRE sees it, then all those ranged against the state of Israel are our enemies too.
ANGELFIRE 3-9-06
I showed Thursday's front page to a couple of our WW coaches as I passed the Sr.Hi.School: "Authorities want to now who served 20 year old alcohol." They both agreed it is illegal, so I affirmed my desire for the culprit to be found and punished and they were both in accord. With the battle against all kinds of illegal drugs (meth right now), it's tempting to ignore alcohol, which has become so widely accepted. Some call it "the drug of choice in America." Every little town has a liquor store or two. Yet it wasn't very long ago that OK was still legally a dry state. That was several decades ago and we were the last hold out in the nation. Howard Edmondson was elected governor ('59-63') on the promise to enforce prohibition until our legislature would vote to repeal it. Since it was in our state Constitution, that took a huge majority vote. But his sever enforcement ended the easy compromise we'd endured of having the law one way and practice the other. Bootlegging was just standard operation as was the paying off of sheriffs in every county. So to be rid of it, we accepted legalization of alcohol with the promise that it would be strictly controlled. But that soon wears off because firmness is scarce anywhere in today's world. I think that nick name for N.O. "the Big Easy" applies from coast to coast anymore. So we've seen several recent lethal consequences of drunken driving here in Garvin county. And I hope authorities won't be soft on whoever furnished the liquor causing this last underaged fatality. It makes us cry out for a penalty. Yet a great blessing from that word "easy" is found in answer to our Savior's call: "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am meek and lowly so My yoke is E A S Y and My burden is light. Any you will find rest for your souls. (Mt.11:28)
ANGELFIRE 3-15-06
So there's a spring break event at our Toy and Action Figure Museum tomorrow evening, 5 to 7. Just the name of it stirs my imagination, "Toys Gone Wild." Since Kevin Stark says it will happen each year hereafter, I'm guessing that's how long it will take to calm them down again. Wow! With the new reconnaissance orbiter that Jeff Moore helped to get circling Mars last Friday, I feel that my favorite PV toy might just "go wild" and take off for the red planet too. As a teen, I'd stand and look up thinking "Sure wish this was a space ship with me on board." I could imagine each of it's four legs turned into rocket jets to lift us skyward. But the only models then were V-1 and V-2 that Hitler was using to bomb London. They were his toys and he had gone wickedly wild. But in the dictionary there's only fun related to toys: trifles, baubles, trinkets or playthings for children (like dolls). I can still remember a toy dog my grandmother gave me on my 3rd birthday that played when you'd squeeze it: "O where O where has my little dog gone, O where O where can she be? With her tail cut short and her ears cut long, O where O where can she be." Don't know what ever happened to the toy, but maybe it was a premonition of our Critter, so important to us here at the Pinkhouse. Toys can teach so much. Though I'd never set my heart upon them, I toy with the new ideas about this universe. We thought matter was the basic stuff. But quantum mechanics has show us it's only etherial. Sub-atomic physics now sees strings as foundational. They're more energy that they are matter. Words just won't define what's been detected down there in the microcosm. One term I've seen to replace quantum is "wavicle," since energy is waves and matter is particles. And particles are being seen as strings instead. Their rate of vibration determine what particles they seem to be. But our very scientific CONSCIOUSNESS is the most basic determination. These ultimate units become whatever we perceive them to be. It's a mysterious realm mankind has entered in this 21st century turning from astronomy to sub-atomic inquiry, where every thing interconnects with the whole physical universe. Remember when that particle collider was to be built down in TX? Now there's one in CERN built so huge that it has a global network to process it's data, which may show that nothing down there is objective reality, but only in the mind of researchers. What toys we play with anymore. P.S. Today is the 127th birthday of Albert Einstein, who came from Germany to the USA before WW II. His relativity theories helped foster the new quantum leap into 21st century science & thought.
ANGELFIRE 3-18-06
Predictions are for rain, with all those prayers at First Presb being answered, at least in a measure. Our first united pleas brought such a small amount that the devil made it seem a futility. But now the prospect is much brighter (or cloudier). LORD let it rain, and rain. We'll even be glad to see some pour down in Texas, where all those poor cattle burned to death in fires just this week. And with the start of spring, we seek the refreshing of our lives in Thee, the fount of being. As this parched earth responds to showers from the sky, so our souls can be restored by that living water of the Holy Spirit. It's described in the Bible's final chapter, Rev.22: "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of the street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations...And he said to me, 'Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, FOR THE TIME IS AT HAND...And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.'" I like to sing this rewrite I've made: "Lord let Your river of life flow on out through me, that makes the lame to walk and the blind to see; opens prison doors, sets the captives free. Lord let Your river of life flow on out through me. Spring up O well within my soul. Spring up O well, make others whole. Spring up O well and give through me, new life eternally."
College students by the thousands are going down on their spring break to help rebuild N.O. That's a sign of such a supernatural river flowing through history, as I see it. Up here we're wanting more water, but down there they had way too much of it in Katrina. Yet that heavenly water sustains us in separate areas. What a figure of life is H2O. In fact, one of the main things the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will be seeking is if it's ever been there in sufficient quantity for living organisms to develop. And the same search is also being made on moons of Jupiter and Saturn plus some other planet I can't recall. How blest we are here on Earth in OK to anticipate in faith this much needed rain! Glory be to GOD on high, hallelujah!
ANGELFIRE 3-22-06
When I stopped at the Toy & Action Figure Museum to ask about "Toys Gone Wild," they said that nearly 500 kids showed up for that first one last Thursday. What a launch for an annual event! It was still spring break when I went by and I saw dozens of children there even before noon. So that's really been a success thus far, and it's still a long time till Christmas. What's that classical piece we all love to hear then? Oh yes, "March of the Toys."
But talking about things gone wild, that new president of Iran even looks that way. His first name is Mahmoud but I can't spell the long last one. When I see his picture I think of Allie Oop wearing a suit and tie. Surely our "Operation Swarmer" up north of Baghdad was meant to sent a signal to him as well as the Iraqi insurgents. I'm so eager for us to get out of Iraq that I sure don't want us going on into Iran. Maybe the finish of Saddam's trial could be our day of departure. Certainly not to be announced, but just an opportune moment. That's the land of ancient Babylonia where the Israelites were carried off from Jerusalem into seventy years of captivity. We sure don't want to get stuck that way, especially since we chose to go in. I still feel that was right because we'd be like Chamberlain was before WW II if we hadn't taken Saddam out. He flew to Munich and signed a treaty with Hitler. Then back claiming "peace in our time." Winston Churchill finally took charge as fighting began and it was almost too late for the Brits by then. They barely survived until Hitler declared war on us and we went all out to win as we got on our knees at home to seek divine aid. Maybe Katrina was serving notice that we'll have to do like that again with Iran now getting fed into the equation: GOD + US=power to stand firm. That means shucking off so much unGodliness that's in our culture. If terrorists ever succeed in a nuclear strike on any of our major cities, I'd expect it to be Hollywood first and then Las Vegas. They'd do it to show the wrath of Allah, for whom they are so ready to die. We'd see that as Satan instead. But even the devil may be an agent of divine punishment for crass worldliness and gross wickedness. Our Bible tells how the LORD spoke to His people before the Babylonian captivity "I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant." Jer. 9:11(nine-one-one) Unless we repent and seek first GOD's Kingdom, things will get wilder and this war against terrorism just keep getting worse. "Come, Lord Jesus." Rev.22:20
ANGELFIRE 3-25-06
One saying that resonates with me is about our perceptions in general: "attitude is everything." I get so many forwards online in which the sender tries to project his own view through the words of someone else. So most of them go unopened unless I look just because of the sender. Notice I said "look" because reading even a few just wears me out. Ever since president Kennedy made speed reading so popular, I've tried to do it. Now I think he was doing what I call a scan, though speed readers claimed to get the full content and retain it better. I call my method "scan the scam." That's what most stuff in print is these days. If I want to ponder for profound perceptions, I read the Bible. It's the oldest book in my life, yet always new and refreshing. I've seen most of the English translations, but like the New King James that still sounds like it did long ago. It's properly called "the Book of books" because there are 66 books enclosed in the one volume (but 80 for Catholics). At the Reformation those 14 called "apocryphal" (questionable) were dropped from the O.T. because Jews had never accepted them as Scripture. Yet I also treasure my Jerusalem Bible which is Catholic. Though it includes the other 14, I don't read them devotionally but just for extra information.
A physicist named Mark McLaughlin wrote "The Final Theory" in 2003 that used expansion of the universe to unite the four basic forces. He rejected Newton's theory of gravity and said the downward pull was only an upward push from Earth getting larger. That means that the apple didn't fall on Sir Isaac Newton's head, but the Earth shoved that "father of physics" up to hit the apple. It blew my mind since I grew up on Newton's "Principa Mathematica," his book to explain everything physical. Only now have I learned that he went crazy over numbers and became obsessed with alchemy (changing metal to gold). He had no use for the arts nor anything but his Puritanical obsessions, which included hatred of the Catholics. And his book left us in a mechanical universe that ran like a clock. The new quantum physics repudiates that view and calls his book into question now. Remember those watches in Salvador Dali's art that drooped over the edge of a table? That was surrealism as a preview to this 21st century. It delved into the dream state of our collective unconscious, which fits this new reality found in physics even better than objective awareness. But that "Final Theory" book falls short of unifying the four basic forces, especially since it just denies the most basic one, gravity. From way back, the Bible admits that things fall. It even shows the downward pull of evil toward the ground and under it, though Christ has conquered that pull in His resurrection and ascension to glory. Maybe that's what the expanding universe shows. And instead of slowing, it continues to accelerate. Gravity should be slowing it down, but new power is being added from somewhere as our Hubble telescope sees the rim of this physical universe recede with ever increasing velocity. It's approaching the speed of light (or C) which is the one constant in all of Creation (GOD said "Let the be light and there was light.")
ANGELFIRE 3-28-06
I've watched those gigantic demonstrations in our major cities(half a million in L.A.) against the House bill that would criminalize "undocumented immigrants" or even aiding and abetting them But seeing those multitudes caused me to guess that they were the very subjects of that bill. If such is the case, they've shown us how big a problem we have. That arouses as much sympathy in me for us as for them in one way of thinking. Nearly twelve million can sink our ship of state and no one could then be rescued. Anger, outrage and a hot head can't cope with such a dilemma, but rather calm and caring hearts full of prayer.
Maybe PV's 7am sunrise service at the Wacker Park bandshell on Easter morning will also afford us a peek at Rotary's refurbished rose garden. Our Lord has been called "the rose of Sharon" and that title sounds like Resurrection Sunday, when we sing "Up From the Grave He Arose;" or the Apostles' Creed which says "On the third day He arose from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of GOD the Father Almighty." And the dark red of that flower recalls that blood He shed when crucified as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." The deepest red is where He bled, then as He said, rose from the dead, to take away our fear and dread. So lift your head! It's life instead!!
Something in the news I've heard about that expansion theory of creation is how size of our universe "exploded" in that first trillionth of a second from microscopic to a magnitude that included even the galaxies; so matter traveled hundreds of times the speed of light (or c) from that first instant, though now nothing can go faster now than c, the "constant" in all creation of 186 000 m.p.s.. Some photos from the Hubble space telescope show verification of such an anomaly, pecularity or "singularity" (miracle). The gospel of John says "In the beginning was the Word...All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made." Thus there truly is an intelligent design in all existence for those who will look for it. ID has stood for the identification document that we must carry to prove who we are. But now it can also refer to showing our place in the whole cosmos where we're part of the Creator's ID (intelligent design). "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." Jn.1:4&5 How's that to carry in your wallet spiritually?. Hallelujah and Shalom