RECOLLECTIONS (bold type below) of my late sister, JANE(Hazlitt)ODEN: her name's taken from our great grandmother Hightower of Altus, who was born in 1827 and moved to PV as a widow to live here till '03. I've recalled Jane Oden's birth in '31 on page 100:
angelfire.com/or/hazlitt/index100.html
LORD'sDAYextra 6-29-08 I'd like to have that fine obituary on here that was in the Daily Democrat. Tal told me it was composed by his kids instead of himself. One thing Bishop Hayes mentioned concerning Jane was her strong conviction about taking action on issues. He said he'd consulted her a couple of years ago while getting to know this Okla UMC Conference. He'd realized back then how she really meant business. (I can recall her wondering if she had pushed too hard on that matter).Thus, all the causes she'd supported were seen in her obituary. I got to listen to his visit with Tal at the funeral dinner while I sat across the table right beside my brother-in-law. They discussed the upcoming Jurisdictional Conference in Dallas and even considered when OKC might have one someday, where Bishop Hayes would have the job of hosting it. Of course they'd both been at Ft.Worth just last month for UMC's General Conference, so another one at next door Dallas did seem somewhat crowded. But the service had left me in a pensive mood not attune to temporal things. I had a feeling of "angels all around," some for blessing and others reproof. It's an awareness that comes with advancing years I guess. Little incidents become angelic interventios, so that chance or luck are no longer part of my experience. And that day in Altus seemed full of such coincidece, including my prompt departure after the meal. Niece was surprised at how early I got home on that decisive day, when Jane was laid to rest down at the Altus cemetery.
ANGELFIRE 7-01-08 I have not see the new cartoon movie about a robot, but it's called WALL*E, which stands for Waste Alignment Load Lifter--Earth-class, and is the name also of it's central character "living" six centuries in the future. Instead of a person, he's a big eye'd robotic dumpster left all alone on Earth, clearing up the rubble left behind by humans who fled the total trash contamination. From what Niece told me, they had gone to another place far across the galaxy to escape that pollution which had destroyed their life here. She said it was a cartoon that must have been made mainly for kids, but many adult viewers had also come. Then some humans returned and left EVE, another robot to search and notify of any sign of life; and both soon fell in love, found a sprig of green life and took it to show the long gone and far away humans. The fat and lazy human beings were so elated that they came back to Earth with that sprig of green, where it was planted here to spread all over the planet, turning everything from metal gray back into living color, surely to signify the Garden of Eden getting restored? Being only a cartoon, it should not be taken too seriously. But it sounded to me like a child's story with a happy ending. We plan to rent the video when it comes out later this month, so I'll see what's more to the story. My late sister Jane was buried last week down at Altus and I'm grateful for their expressions of sympathy there as well as so many received here. Green reminds us of cemeteries, which are often kept as beautiful grounds to demonstrate Ps.23, "He makes me lie down in green pastures." One of the movies I recall as a child entitled "Green Pastures" was about the LORD's wonderful heaven above. It was so dramatic, though that was before any scenes could be made in color. Nor was there any depiction of outer space and cosmic vastness. We just got to view only black and white back then then. Yet the life beyond time and space keeps gaining more and more color as we grow older. Thus this world's contamination is overcome by a heavenly green of eternal life, when we follow Christ Jesus, the Savior and Lord. Shalom, JosephAllen
ANGELFIRE 8-08-08 I've just read from Jeremiah 50 & 5l about the coming fall of Babylon, which had been such a mighty power. It would be divided between the Medes and Persians, who were both helpful to the Israelites; even allowing them to return and aiding in getting Jerusalem rebuilt (which the ruthless Babylonians had destroyed). But Jeremiah foresaw great wrath upon Babylon, which only now appears to have been fulfilled. We call it Iraq today and Baghdad has long ago replaced the great Babylon of antiquity (that stands in ruins today as only a tourist sight). Cyrus of Persia is recalled with favor in the Bible, as well as Darius the Mede. Both served the LORD's divine purpose in caring for heaven's Chosen people. Esther is the book that never even mentions GOD, yet demonstrates His protection of them through their so-named queen. Global attention continues to focus more on the Middle East, now that N.Korea has been removed from the list of rogue nations. And Iran's determination to have it's nukes is a rumbling of their ancient Persian pride. And Israeli air strikes taking them out could well lead to WW III we all know. So Jeremiah's prophecy isn't finished yet. In fact, his Lamentations could well depict all mankind instead of ancient Jerusalem after it's fall (or later the Crucifixion, as seen by Christians). It would thus describe those opening scenes (first 40 minutes) of WALL-E, the "children's" cartoon movie which begins from a post apocalyptic perspective of this lifeless planet Earth. Now such is quite another way of viewing the Parousia (if any comparison at all be dared). You can punch up a review in the N.Y.Times that even sees rescue for human life on this planet. But it comes from some enormous Buy Low agency that might be compared to Wal-Marts. Or it could be purely satire, like most of the show seems to be. SoLong/Shalom, JosephA
ANGELFIRE 8-11-08 Wednesday's issue of the Oklahoman had a couple of photos by a Matt Taylor of Claremore, who is an astrophotographer. They depicted the depth of outer space with color, instead of the black and white we've long been shown. The second one looked to me like a small galaxy flowing into the bigger one. I recalled seeing recently on the History channel a two hour program about the billions of galaxies in this Universe. Just looking at one will blow your mind. But the Cosmic Web is what astronomers now call them, because they're all interconnected in what our late Carl Sagan used to call The Cosmos. Back in the 80's I'd watch his TV show by that name, never supposing that he rejected the truth of a Creator. It was a shock for me to learn when he died that he'd been an atheist, though I should have sensed it from that name for all creation that Communism used. Even their spacemen were not astronauts, but cosmonauts instead. And the first one ever to orbit Earth, Yurie Gegarin, came back down and boldly reported that he'd seen no God nor angels up there. His cocky words set on course the Soviet Union's collapse two decades later, in my opinion. I find life to be a journey into sensing GOD and all the holy angels around this world of people and politics here on terra firma. Matt Taylor's photo of a galaxy looked so much like the aerial views of a cyclone/hurricane in our daily and hourly news coverage. So when I pray to the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, I'm profoundly grateful that the Lord Jesus came to live as one of us (as well as die to redeem us). Without such an incarnational Link, how could we ever relate to the awesome Living GOD of such vast realms as heaven and earth; in Hebrew, Shamayim and Eretz. In His teaching, Jesus used temporal realities to illustrate the far greater things out there beyond. Maybe there are other intelligent material creatures like us yet to be seen, but we know already other spiritual beings exist from outside this physical Universe. The Bible calls them angels and they are not of psychic origin. Larry King's show last night about such "gifted children" was not in accord with Scripture. The gift to us from Jesus and His Father of the Spirit, enables us to see the holy angels. It's not just some carnal sixth sense that this perishing and unregenerate world applauds. Come Lord Jesus, JosephA
ANGELFIRE 7-16-08 "In my Father's house..." is the text for me today. It's John 14, so often read at funerals, sacred words spoken in the Upper Room by our Savior to the faithful Eleven. Judas had already departed from that Passover meal, on his sly and devious mission. So our Lord Jesus was explaining how He would leave this world by being sacrificed as the Lamb of GOD. He would go to prepare places in Shamayim (contrasting to place set up by His betrayer) for them and all others who would stick to being Followers of the Way. His Father's house was so vast that there would be plenty of room even though holding all the holy angels too. We need to be aware of that transcendent realm beyond this physical universe (known in Scripture as the third or highest heaven). A little song I re-wrote years ago says, "Glory be to GOD on high, hallelujah; on His throne beyond the sky, hallelujah. Praise the Father praise the Son, hallelujah; Holy Spirit, three in One, hallelujah!!!" Then the Son has promised us that "If I go... I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am you may be also." So each time we take Communion we are claiming His promise to return. St.Paul said "For as oft as ye do drink this cup and eat of this loaf, ye do show forth the Lord's death until He comes." There are signs in the news every day that human history is close to the finish line. That color photo I saw in the Daily Oklahoman of a galaxy in space looked so similar to Katrina here on Earth three years ago. And now we're beginning yet another hurricane season. What will it take to awaken our hearts? Jesus used the weather to describe spiritual realities, and Earth's climate has now grown into an alarming concern about global warming. Yet we don't see near that much care about the hard hearts of men being warmed by the Father's divine love. In the face of so much lust, avarice (money greed), crass worldliness and wicked sin, let's get ready for Christ's soon return, "at Whose coming in glory and majesty to judge this world, the bodies of those who sleep in Him will be raised and changed like unto His own glorified body. And so we shall ever be with the Lord." How often I have spoken these words of final committal over graves at the cemetery. I keep longing for that Day to arrive, even while I'm still here on Earth. I watch the Lord each night as "the Bright and Morning Star" of Rev.22:16, and then so often pray to end the day "Come Lord Jesus" 22:20. JosephAllen
ANGELFIRE 7-18-08 In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus gives us that exemplary model of how to pray which we designate as The Lord's Prayer. It comes after His call for secrecy about such a practice: "But when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut your door pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly...do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do...your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." Then the model prayer climaxes with "deliver us from evil," more exactly translated "THE EVIL ONE" (whose name is Satan). We certainly need to pray that fuller way in this age of deception. Our spiritual enemy completely hides himself from keen minds in this post-modern era (in our Pattern Prayer too?). But there's clearly no doubt that Jesus knew the devil as a monster He had come to eradicate. Of course we give our main attention to the Living GOD in gathered worship. And we may not even mention the enemy by name. We gather instead to celebrate Good News that Christ brought victory over his wicked, deceitful and subtle dominion which controls the worldliness all about us. Even before the Hebrews had included Satan in their belief, they saw how vile and unclean it was to serve false gods (devils). After their war with the Philistines, they become aware of such an evil power standing against them. So the devil's not a reality for children nearly as much as for adults, where economics, politics, world affairs and even religion can become polluted with his poison. The serpent in Eden"s Garden is equated with Satan in fuller theology revealed to the Israel of later generations. So those sophisticated teachers who ignore him today are actually spiritual simpletons who pose as intellectual believers. Listen to Jesus instead. He underwent hard testing in the wilderness, before beginning His ministry. Or to the Apostle's Creed: "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried." Pilate was the agent of that day's great satan, a Roman Empire that called Caesar it's god and demanded total allegiance. So the devil's included in our Evangelical creed, though he's sly to hide (as always). I think of this world's Nobel Peace Prize, considered such an honor. Yet it was established with money made from selling dynamite, the deadly explosive Alfred Nobel invented before WW I and which made it so terrible (plus super big bucks for him). This prize shows how the Sly One operates in this world. Or look at the tobacco industry's damage to human health in the 20th century; so now benevolent financial foundations have been set up from profits gained by the unscrupulous owners to "do good works" (making amends?). Satan appears such a nice guy that you're liable to show him respect instead of the deserved revulsion, disgust and reproach. Yet if we'll keep "looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith" in Heb.12:2, He will eventually return and cast out the devil with all his fallen followers, forever and ever. Shalom (not the peace from dynamite sales but as a fruit of the Holy Spirit poured upon us). JospehAllen
ANGELFIRE 7-23-08 Yesterday (Tues) was also the 75th aniversary of Wiley Post cmpleting the first solo flight around the world. He arrived in NYC at 11pm July 22 from nearly eight days of soltary air travel. I was a studet at Lee Elementary, where we were told of this new hero from Maysville by our principal, Miss Perry. I think that's when I started reading Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordon in the funnines. What excitement the future held for us then.
Hurricane season has arrived and this #4 storm is called Dolly. Makes us think of that delightful musical "Hello Dolly" doesn't it (basic also to that movie WALL*E). Yet these devastating storms are quite the opposite of entertainment. Maybe "con-tainment" is a better term, and "con-trary" designates the kind of weather. Katrina was the worst thus far, destroying half of New Orleans. And now Houston TX could be Dolly's target, GOD forbid. We can all recall how that great city opened up it's housing for thousands of refugees during the N.O. disaster. So that makes us want to pray along with them, for Houston's safety now. Angelfire has compared such awesome cyclones with the galaxies being seen out beyond our own Milky Way from observatories. They make us wonder at the Creator's purpose in this vastness of His handiwork. I now sing HOW GREAT THOU ART with "galactic" instead of "rolling thunder," with the verse ending "consider all the worlds Thy hands have made." Cosmology has been the part of astronomy most sacred to me. So I was able to fit in the Big Bang theory accepted during the 20th century with my own faith in the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. But now there's another view called Plasma Cosmology, that repudiates the Big Bang. It sees our Universe built on an electromagnetic basic force, rather than on the gravity base. So the cosmic web that links everything together in it provides circuits for such energy to flow between galaxies. Having been an electrician, I see that it could be a wiring system. We've long known that matter is is three forms: solid, liquid and gas. Now plasma is yet another form being studied. We've known that all matter is compacted energy, of which light is the most primary form of energy. How significant that it's what GOD created on that very first day. And cosmology's new name "plasma" was first used for mankind as the basis of all human blood (a sign of our unity as creatures) during WW II. As Angelfire has shown you a sign in Earth's weather, another is also seen here, where the Creator puts His Own Blood on the line, from the very outset. Plasma Cosmology links with His supreme plan for redemption from His very` starting to create Shamayim and Eretz (Gen.1). Shalom, JosephAllen
ANGELFIRE 7-25-08 "NASA SOLVES NORTHERN LIGHTS MYSTERY' is the first headline on our Web-tv this Fri. morning. Remember those THEMA probes sent into Earth's surrounding magnetic field a year ago? They were five dishwasher sized separate satellites, which enabled NASA to detect the source of magnetic storms (called by astrophysics "the weeds of outer space.") Now we know that seemingly erratic magnetic storms are a result of the Sun's magnetism getting closely aligned to trigger these electrical space fireworks which we Earthlings know as aurora borealis. I saw it once during my boyhood in Mt.Vernon IL and some years later another night in PV. Both were long ago and we only hoped then for a scientific explanation at some future time. Now it's come to pass as NASA's spokesman, named Angelopolis, reports to us. Doesn't that sound like a message from Someone's heavenly city? But down here in the muck and mire of human relations, the TX oil man named T.Boone Pickens is pushing Congress to join his dream of capturing the wind for the sake of more energy. He's already started a wind power electricity plant down near his home and wants us to have a corridor of such "wind-farms" going clear up to Canada. Of course OG&E's been doing the same out west in our state. In fact the power lines across to OKC are causing legal turmoil in some counties they'll come through. So it's a huge undertaking just for out state. How much more vast if Pickens gets the Feds into it too. But what an energy resource! Previous generations hadn't thought of it as such when they sang "Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains." Now we're putting wind along side the natural gas our state has to offer, one for homes and the other for cars. And T. Boone Pickens is now the MAN WITH A PAN-acea, who was born up here in OK rather than down in TX.
The new paradigm of Plasma Cosmology calculates that 4th stage of matter (plasma) as constituting 99% of the entire Universe. As I'm groping to grasp it--the solid, plus fluid and also all gaseous states of matter are only 1% of the entire Creation. Thus those huge magnetic fields of Sun and Earth are plasma, (in which electricity flows). So there's overwhelming energy available. It just has to be tamed onto Earth's power grid. As I heard Oral Robets, formerly famous evangelist, declare in that first energy crisis of the seventies: "There are no shortages in GOD's Universe." Remember then how president Jimmy Carter told America that we'd never increase our oil imports by a single barrel? Then he lost the election and imports kept rising. So now the call is back to drill, drill, drill and finding alternates of every variety. I saw where General Motors had an electric car on the global market (Swedish made), then bought the little things they'd sold all back to be crushed down and forgotten. Why was that? If Pickens could be straight and honest, he just might live up to his name and become a great boon to America (up alongside our frontiersman, Daniel). SoLong/Shalom, JosephAllen
ANGELFIRE 8-29-08 July is nearly gone with recollection of two grand fireworks that we got to see again this year, Elmore City's and PV's. Since there was a week in between, it wasn't an overdose but very enjoyable both places for ANGELFIRE to have seen them. We learned from Jim Richardson that Lindsay has their own, and that he had provided music for it. He sings both patriotic and sacred songs just as all America needs to hear. Most likely, our other county towns also have their smaller displays. So Garvin county is fireworks country during July. And Ps.33:12 comes to mind: "Blessed in the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chose as His own inheritance." I was impressed by seeing no smokers at the two celebrations Niece and I attended. It seemed a sign of reverence along with the absence of any profane language being heard. So many American pleasures have been corrupted with carnal behavior that Garvin county seemed like "the people He has chosen as His own inheritance." Don't believe we even noticed any beer consumption and certainly no drunks. So here's a county that counts for the Kingdom, beyond religious and over into civic affairs. I'm glad we've had Jeff Shultz running this paper the past five years, and that he'll still be here (after his last Exit 72) owning several other papers in Garvin county. Maybe we'll become the OK fireworks county. Now that science has finally explained what causes those northern lights, we can show the world how heaven's super strong magetic field will re-light our whole land with an aurora of patriotism plus Godly faith. Oh that it might shine clear to the Olympics! The Chinese have begun to turn away from Godless Communism and we can point them to the Living Ghrist of the Bible. I've seen reports that Jesus has become a folk hero of so many in that land. As the old materialistic view of history gives way to new revelations from cosmic plasma, and their dialectic materialism (Marxism) is discounted, Lord let the people of China see more of Thy light. Of all the "I AM"s that Jesus ever spoke about Himself, the final one is Rev.22:16 "I am...THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR." May His glory shine in Beijing during the Olympics of Aug.'80, and Satan be bound. Come Lord Jesus, maranatha!! 1Cor.16:22
SoLong/Shalom, JosephAllen