ANGELFIRE 2-02-09 I just watched Russia's president Medvedev talking about the recession over yonder and an urgent economic summit to meet there in Saint Petersburg. Seems the lower price of oil has hurt them badly. So their prospects look better as the price creeps up again. In contrast, we can't even keep making cars over here, not to mention the cost of gasoline to run them. Two of our Big Three are already into chapter eleven, with Ford the only one still solvent. At least ANGELFIRE is glad to be driving a Taurus, with no Federal Aid stigma. Who would have thought that the world's first auto maker for less wealthy folks would become America's surviving top car maker. There'll still be a General Motors, but no longer as the giant of that industry. With government a 60% owner, some say GM will actually be nationalized. But perhaps that will finally get us more m.p.g. at the pump. More shock in store as Monday marked the start of hurricane season, which is enough to endure without sky high gasoline. Yet, hurricanes yield a fuller vision for ANGELFIRE here in this IYA2009. We can now see them as swirling galaxies of stars far off in outer space via The Hubble Space Telescope now that it has been restored. It's only 350 miles out from Earth, but the James Webb Space Telescope launched by 2013 is to orbit a million miles out (almost like around the sun). And the light it will detect is from billions of years ago, when the Universe was new and before matter as we know it had been created or developed. That form is designated as plasma, the original state of matter. Though ANGELFIRE wonders if it wasn't angel stuff instead, or the fabric of heaven. That would account for another realm of reality which these carnal minds in material brains simply cannot comprehend; a pre-existence before the fallen state of created affairs, where not even gravity had yet developed. If you look for Satan by name in the Bible, you have to go a third of the way through to find it, 1 Samuel 21.1. There's the first time that word for "adversity" becomes personified. The serpent back in The Garden of Eden is only called a snake, though always seen as the devil by believers reading Gen.3. But his full personal name comes in Scripture much later. It mean's The Adversary, as he brings his adverse influence even over king David. Remember David is still considered Israel's greatest king by contemporary Jews. The sign of Judaism has today become the six pointed Star of David. They know that his name, David, means "beloved". Yet a greater BELOVED SON was Christ Jesus, who bore the Cross for mankind´s redemption. If you´ve seen the IYA2009 insignia, then you noticed two parents and a child drawn to be looking up at stars in the sky. But did you see the very brightest STAR in the upper right corner? It could also be the Cross? That´s how ANGELFIRE interprets it. And the new astronomy also includes invisible filaments, or fiery connections between all the heavenly bodies (much like the tongues of fire seen at Pentecost). Thus we inhabit an inter-connected Universe where there's celestial weather filled with spinning galaxies, plus channels of electro-magnetism (that we call lightning here in Earth´s atmosphere). Now let me alter just a word in the famous song, How Great Thou Art, as I sing "Oh LORD my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hand hath made. I see the stars, I hear g-a-l-e-c-t-i-c thunder. Thy power through the Universe displayed..." You know the rest so go ahead and sing it through to "When Christ shall come with shout of acclaimation...!" Any day now!! SoLong and Shalom, JosephA
ANGELFIRE 5-05-09 Sunday was fifty days past Easter (Passover), thus designated Pentecost on the liturgical calendar. It echoes the Jubilee season of Judaism in days instead of years. That special Old Testament time was for release of prisoners, forgiveness of all debts of fellow Israelites, and celebrating the LORD's grace with tambourine and in dancing to honor His presence every 50 years. A visible sign that He was near was SHEKINAH. It was the divine light or holy fire that had been kept burning atop that Ark of the Covenant during the 40 year wilderness journey; and seen first by Moses in the burning bush. Shekinah in the N.T. is the HOLY SPIRIT, who first came upon the Apostles in visible tongues of flame; then in subsequent audile utterances "with tongues of fire." Most basic is this link between Old and New Testaments. It verifies that the 66 books of our Bible are written by G-O-D above (Great father, Our savior, Diving guide). Thus to hear a world leader quoting from some other source seeing to gain support for his leadership is quite troubling to ANGELFIRE. And also to hear him commend Congress for allowing a member to take his oath of office on that alternate book is equally disconcerting. We have been a nation of The Book where the GOD we've worshipped is known. To stray away from that Scripture allegiance (though not set down in national law), surely hastens the coming downfall already looming before us in so much red ink of our federal budget, marriage being compromised by more and more of our states, growing gambling profits by some Indian tribes along with the Vegas crowd, default to atheism in our public schools and criminal conduct of citizens and illegal immigrants; though here in Garvin county we've been blest with solid officials such as Sheriff Roady and now his successor, Steve Brooks. I love the verses 4 and 5 of Ps.30: "Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.". That heavenly "morning" ends our earthly mourning, and depicts the Day when the Savior will appear. He'll finally come in His full glory and majesty, King of kings and Lord of lords. As we see past statements by public officials played back on TV, we can be sure that the Savior meant what He said about our giving account for every deed we've done or idle words spoken. Thank heaven for His precious Blood that takes away all sin when we turn and truly repent; then we keep living to serve the heavenly King Jesus. He will bring a final "one state solution" for the Middle East delimma, the Kingdom of Heaven that we seek in The Lord's Prayer. Hallelujah and Amen! SoLong/Shalom, JosephA@webtv.net
LORD'sDAY(online) 6-07-09 Today is the birhday of my dear wife, Niece. So she and her friend Lynda are on a mini-vacation over into Arkansas. They plan to see the Passion Play and sites at Eureka Springs. I'm meditating on the Hebrew name for divine Light, shekinah. Surely it's taken in the N.T. as the Holy Spirit. The heavenly baptism of Acts 2, (when the Spirit came upon those twelve Apostles by dividing upon each as a tongue of fire) is not so much seeing "Light" as Paul must have when stricken blind on the road to Damascus by such blinding glory in the Risen Lord. Before then, there was that Transfiguration appearance to Peter, James and John on Mt.Tabor, when the Lord's attire became like blinding lightning on top of the mountain. Also, shekinah, is the name of that glory cloud that the Children of Israel feared to behold during their wilderness journey. It sounds also to me like the word "shimmer" (of Light), which is very small or weak instead of blindingly bright for humans to behold. Yet the monks sought to glympse It in their lives at the monastery ("to see the Light.") They called it the UNCREATED LIGHT, meaning GOD to those of the Orthodox Church. We of Western history equate shekinah with the Son more than with the Holy Spirit. Their women also often see a blue flame on their foreheads. But we don't literalize shamayim like the Orthodox do, so as to avoid any superstition. But IYA2009 makes me long to behold such Light.
ANGELFIRE 6-09-09 For our service at LARC Sunday evening, our Bible teacher Glen Simonsen taught from Ephesians 6, which is about putting on the whole armor of God in order to fight the enemy, Satan. I usually listen and try to prayerfully select an invitation song that fits with his theme. So the one given me was #393, "Onward Christian Soldiers." Since it's number was semmetrical, I was caused to pause and tell the inmates about symmetry that's in the Creation. It seems to be a key factor of the Creator's handiwork, I told them. Yet the enemy has moved now into cosmology with his lies about the Big Bang, saying everything has resulted only from the four basic forces in this Universe i.e. thus no God that created it. Just as we could see symmetry in that hymn number, it's surely embedded in the Maker's handiwork for astronomers to behold. Since Monday would be the beginning of hurricane season, I wanted to compare our origin to a ground zero spiral nebula's formation. But there was no time to elaborate on that comparison. So I'll say it here: "big bang" is inadequate terminology. Fuller TSM (TheStandardModel) now views that Event as a flat spread which began everything (instead of a fire ball). Scripture calls it the firmament, which artists have taken to mean "dome" of the sky. Yet a shallow dome can be a vast upside down saucer can't it. And the "spreading of the stars" is mentioned over and over. So instead of an explosion, it was a gentle, elegant, harmonious, artistic spread of the Creator's own tablecloth. And rather than a blast that immediately slows down as it expands through time, it has stretched from that peaceful/shalom beginning(with angelic beings) out into an almost infinite expansion of galaxies galore. And supersymmetry, in which every particle gained it's anti-particle, may signify the dominion that Satan stole in his rebellion against the Father Almighty. I have other considerations that have come to me in this IYA2009, that the Lord Jesus has not allowed me to write about yet. But He always directs me to mention His parousia, or appearing again on Earth, to take the Church that has been faithfully waiting to become His BRIDE. It's a 'wedding' to consummate all meaning for this Universe, which GOD the Father Almighty has made and yet been remaking for that glorious Day. Every time we take Communion, we are re-affirming this blessed hope. And each meal should recall that He's our heavenly Food, thus be a little communion (to say "stay ready"). Here's the clock song that comes to my mind whenever it strikes in PV: CHRIST WILL BE HERE, LET'S GET READY. SOON HE'LL APPEAR. SO HOLD STEADY. SoLong/Shalom, JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 6-12-09 I write with knowledge that this is the day of transition from analogical to digital TV throughout our fifty states. It's a big switch that is to put high definition on our viewing screens; like the difference in talking with clear facts instead of using figures of speech. Since ANGELFIRE tends to get philosophical, I compare it to the transition in physics during the 20th century from classical to quantum mechanics. That's been a shift long in the making that is still not complete. The old physics of Sir Isaac Newton had to yield to Plank's discovery in 1900 of a smallest units of measurement, the "quanta." Nothing can be shorter or longer than a certain number of quantum. Yet it took another 27 years for Heisenberg in Germany to prove that having such an undividable unit of measure took the absolute exactness out of measurement. So he pronounced " Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty." It ended that era of mechanical perfection that England's Newton had launched two centuries before in science. Thus people of faith had to begin looking elsewhere to find certainty. I was born the year that principle was stated to the world and fell in love with science in my youth. No one told me of Heisenberg, or that he worked for Hitler. So in high school I craved to read my general science text and to see the experiments conducted in class to prove facts. But out teacher at Mt.Vernon always told us to keep our religion to ourselves. I sensed a gap and felt it had to close. I only recall a student making mention of God, an the teacher sad "Save that for Sunday School." Later he apologized because of what the chemistry teacher had said to him. Next I took chemistry class. At. PV the teacher was Ms.Erwin, who was so faihful at church that there was no issue. At OU, when WW II ended, I enrolled as a veteran to study philosophy and got a text that listed three areas: aesthetics, things ethical and scientific reality. It was so vague that I switched to psychology, a science. Found no closing of the gap there, so finally decided on theology. That called for my going to seminary and becoming a minister. There I learned that even the science of theology wasn't' comprehensive enough, though it was once considered "the queen of sciences." I found that Christians can have a personal contact with their heavenly Father which is like this switching to high definition TV. We were given a Book that's the high definition of heaven and we should stick to it. Amid all our reading and watching TV, it must have priority. Open it first thing each day. Get the clearest Gospel view from it's pages, a symmetry between heaven an earth. JESUS didn't have TV, so He used parables that made the link for those with ears to hear. They were not forced into the shift, but made it from the heart. Now with eyes to see so much reality than ever before even more clearly, may we behold the glory of GOD in what we choose to watch. Entertainment is not enough. Our first concern is to seek the Kingdom both inwardly and in world affairs. And on this same calendar day, we're seeing the huge nation of Iran make it's choice between leaders. The Ahyatola's still at the top, but If they don't get a new president, then Apocalypse stays on the agenda for the Middle East and the world. JESUS told us to "watch and pray." He will guide our TV viewing if we ask it, and increase the awareness of how near we are in history to His glorious appearing (parousia). Signs in current events happen daily, like that guard's cruel murder in the Holocaust museum, just after he'd opened the doorway to that wicked 88 year old Jew hater. So let's keep watching prayerfully each hour and not be sucked into the sordid swivel that Satan seeks to feed our minds, even though it gets loud acclaim. This is a perishing world that cold care less about GOD's purpose in human affairs. We thank Him for the faithful, and also for those that may not seem at all religious, yet show His love in deeds of kindness. That's why final judgement will be His in the last DAY when He comes for His Church/Bride. C.L.J. SoLong/Shalom, JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 6-16-09 The elder George Bush celebrated his birthday again by once more sky diving (as done in WW II when shot down) now at the ago of 83. That's keeping a young and bold spirit, especially since he's promised to do it once more when he turns 90. He promised that to the young female reporter, Robin Mead, who'd also wore a chute and taken the dive with him. Seven years from now, if alive, he might be bed fast; but I hope not. It's an exciting venture to us senior citizens seeing such boldness; especially since one report headlined it "A Leap of Faith." That was a phrase which beatniks made popular in their defiance of conformity right after WW II. They were considered unconventional and weird during the fifties when they patronized coffee houses all over America and Europe; as they were discussing existentialism, the new philosophy of living each present unique event(moment) to the very max; thus taking a risky leap out of one's familiar past into another new moment of being. Existence was moment by moment as if each might be the last ever. Such radical individualism led some guys to withdraw from society and become hermits i.e. I knew one when I served as the Methodist pastor at Stilwell OK. He was a veteran of the Korean War, and was writing a novel about it ("While Ignorant Armys Fight"), having built himself a nice residence out in the woods away from town. Peaceful reality was what they were seeking and the words to a beatnik song were "All I am saying is GIVE PEACE A CHANCE." I can recall hearing it in their rallies, when crowds would be swaying and singing that song during the fifties, before any hippies, who appeared later in the sixties. (The hippie craze produced groupies who provoked public disgust instead. Hippies didn't need rallies, since they were already gathered into colonies. And they mistook "feeling the beat" for their kind of music instead of a pensive attitude) The leap of faith for a beatnik was out from their despair just hoping for a better present moment of meaning. The beat feeling was from meaninglessness. That world view is brought back to ANGELFIRE by today's presidential sky diving. Couldn't figure why Bush did it. What meaning? But I've found each daily leap as trusting in the Savior. Far greater moments are the glimpses we gain of His glorious return getting so near, in the world events that we are beholding. Iran's election has shown Satan's final deceptions working for ruin, especially toward Israel. If Iran doesn't get a new president, then military action to take out their growing nuclear program will have to be on Israeli president Daniel Netanyahu's urgent agenda. As the new president, he's agreed to a Palestinian state. Hopefully it's pleasing to the majority of Iranians. Yet hard line Islamic president Ahmedinejab still wants to wipe the Israelis off the map i.e. build nuclear missiles in Iran. Our hope is in the soon coming of Christ Jesus for His Bride. All of us who are part of her, the church, need not despair. World affairs may darken, but we see that He is coming amid the clouds. C.L.J. SoLong/Shalom, JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 6-19-09 In our family, dad taught us to listen to the news. That was on radio to start with. Then it became TV and now Internet (Twitter). So we've seen last week's election in Iran challenged by Moussavi with such a surge that something's got to give. ANGELFIRE compared Ahamadinejab to that comic strip cave man Allie Oop when he was elected four years ago. Then I felt it necessary to apologize to Oop. But now it looks like most of Iranians agreed with my original assessment; most of Iran also glorifies Moussavi like a Rock Star. How do they have time for all those demonstrations? Or means enough to dress up for them i.e. wearing green, then black and probably orange next. As I try to recall the turmoil there 30 years ago, in '79, seems it was mostly black and white. Or maybe that was just before color TV. We got drawn in because of foreign students, some Americans, were held hostage at Tehearan University. Yet without the Internet and I-Pods in so many hands, we couldn't see it as fully as now. Wasn't that amazing how much we were shown from unofficial sources, even when Iran's government tried to block media coverage. The public has become a sea of reporters. So their government's deceptions are being exposed. It it can happen nowadays, maybe here also. Makes me recall a naive notion I once held as we moved from radio into the TV age: that we'd soon be able to see things instead of taking the word of reporters. So communication technology would finally prevent deception of the public. I'd been an electronic tech in the Navy, where it was first used for WW II; but was hoping it would bring great blessings during the coming age of peace. Well I learned that "seeing is believing" just can't apply any more because the devil is a magician that can make you take more things wrong than right even when seen. But it leads us to the other kind of eyes that we gain in Christ Jesus. We're able to see the true Light from above. In Mark 9 we read how He took Peter, James and John up on a high mountain to witness His transfiguration. Moses and Elijah joined him in that theophany in which the Shekinah covered them together (glory Cloud). It combined Israel's sacred past into the fulfillment of His presence. On Father's Day we need to see that light of our Heavenly Father. Eastern Orthodoxy calls it the Perpetual LIGHT. Their monks would go into monasteries seeking it through prayer and meditation. Yet each of us can do likewise as we pause from the pace of business. Scripture says "For as GOD who in the beginning caused light to shine out of darkness, hath now shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of GOD in the face of Christ Jesus." That's the Uncreated Light which artists often depict as halos around holy beings. To me it's a fifth dimension of MEANING. A song comes to my mind: "Face to face with Christ our Savior. Face to face how can it be? When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Chris`t who died for me. CHORUS Face to face shall I behold Him far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory I shall see Him bye and bye. Only faintly now I see Him, With the darkling veil between, But a blessed day is coming, When His glory shall be seen. CHORUS What rejoicing in His presence, When are banished grief and pain! When the crooked ways are straightened, And the dark things shall be plain! CHORUS ending. It uses "rapture" which many believers take for the name of His return. Or it can mean the joy beyond this life that greets our earthly departure. Also "a blessed day is coming" points to His glorious return. And the worrds "starry sky" connect to this InternationalYear of Asronomy2009, at least it does for ANGELFIRE. I see that the Shuttle lauch to that SSI is put off until July. That means some more outer space advenure following our patriotic HERITAGE DAYS again right here in PV with our huge 4th celebration July 4th. SoLong/Shalom, JosephA
LORD's DAY 6-21-09 As I lay awake reflecting on the crisis in Iran, another reason for stopping their nuclear program came to mind: because they might use atomic bombs on each other. Now that may seem ridiculous, but it's such a huge nation and so radically divided that there may be a grain of truth in that danger. Thus, the other nations have a right to intervene. Right now it looks a little like our American fight over separation of church and state a century or so back. Islam and democracy don't mix very well, though we've considered Turkey as an example of it's success. Though the current situation there may have become theocaratic again. I heard that president Netanyahu of Israel is seeking to stay out of the Iran issue for the same reasons our Obama has given. But he's so much closer and with far more at stake. Don't see how that posture can last very long. But the women of Iran seem so determined that they'll be unstoppable. Brave ladies indeed. SoLong/Shalom, JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 6-23-09 I'm sure you've heard of Ed McMahon's death by now. He made it to 86 after considerable financial difficulty in his later years, plus a couple of divorces. So why is ANGELFIRE even making mention of the guy. Well I'm not sure myself. Maybe he looks like another Job in modern dress. Even his home was being taken in foreclosure. But the Donald, who holds a Trump card in finance, offered to rescue him, and I suppose he did. The lady announcer said he'd "passed away," using that funeral home euphemism. But a guy then said he was now "known to be dead." I guess I never saw the show he hosted named "Star Search." With a passion for astronomy, seems I should have tuned in. But it surely was Hollywood type of stars instead. Yet I do recall McMahon on the Johnny Carson show, and how he supplemented Carson's appeal to the public with the intro "And now, h-e-r-e-'s Johnny." Though Christ was never mentioned, it did make me want to be that way for my Savior: to live presenting JESUS each day. So that's the why of these previous lines written here. Our Lord was "known to be dead" and placed in a tomb (mausoleum), but then He arose and ascended to the Father UNTIL HE COMES AG`AIN. We, the living, have that blessed hope in this Gospel we hold dear. We don't have to accept that the show ended when our Lord was crucified, dead and buried. It has gone on with greater glory as each Lord's Day is a little Easter/Resurrection. Thus all First Days point to the Final DAY of His coming in glory and majesty to judge the world, when the bodies of those who sleep in Him will be changed and made like unto His own glorified body. And we shall all be changed, with the twinkling of an eye, in the moment of His appearing. The divine Light of that Dawning DAY is more than photons of this earthly visual electromagnetic spectrum (from infra-red on up to ultra-violet light). It will shine from heaven in meaning that's over and above physical radiant energy. The divine purpose in all of Creation will become manifest with the ways of GOD completely justified forever, as the crooked places are made straight and the rough ones smooth. How very central in our existence is that exemplary life that GOD lived among us earthly creatures to be the pattern for eternity. Thus JESUS is our victorious Prince of Peace(shalom). It was the first word He spoke to the gathered Apostles, after His resurrection (Lk.24:36). When we greet another with Shalom it re-presents Him like "Here's our Lord, linking us eternally in this very moment of time." I think of it when beholding PV's historic tower. All the rust on it shows vividly how soon this world will pass away. But Shalom with GOD lasts forever and ever in Christ. AND NOW, HERE'S JESUS!!
ANGELFIRE 6-26-09 Yesterday morning's TV was all about that governor of S.Carolina who had sneaked off to Argentina for a week to see his mistress down there. Such a sordid situation being exposed caused him to resign as Chairman of the Committee of Republican governors. But now Republican leaders are pushing him to resign as a governor too. Yet that affair was all absent form this morning's news as Michael Jackson's untimely death yesterday took center stage. There's no question that he was under great stress, and that it was surely the cause of his heart attack. ANGELFIRE just heard on Fox News a reporter saying that he'd been sure the gigantic concert in London set for next month was not going to happen. Michael had been much too withdrawn for the past decade to make a comeback as huge as was planned. It would have been the biggest of all time, costing millions and millions of dollars. And English investors who'd put up that much cash will be trying now to regain it from the Jackson estate. What a legal fight there will be. These many kind expressions being made by prominent persons will soon get torn apart in that wrangle, just as the former delight of`Neverland was so completely diminished out in CA by charges against Michael. In fact the autopsy may show that Jackson was taking some drug cocktail which triggered his heart failure. I suppose his funeral will be at Neverland out north of LA and his body buried there as Elvis Presley´s is in Nashville. His three children will be left well fixed if they don´t have to spend it all in legal fees. I heard Michael Jackson say that he believed in God, and I hope that meant JESUS too. Yet the false god called money ruled so much/most of his life. And Scripture tells us that the love of it (averice) becomes a root of all sorts of evil. If he was truly the kind and gentle person portrayed to us in the media, then that ugly battle over who-gets-what won´t be taking place; and he can rest in peace to await the Lord´s return. Though ANGELFIRE has grave doubts that everything´s going to end with any family harmony. Instead, I foresee even more of the stress that killed Michael. So here´s a chorus of family shalom. I used to love singing it to the FATHER (rather than the "River"): Peace I ask of Thee oh Father, peace, peace, peace. When I learn to live serenely, cares will cease. From the hills I gather courage, visions of the things to be; strength to live and faith to follow, all are given unto me. Peace I ask of Thee, oh FATHER. Peace, peace, peace. Here in WW there's less stress, perhaps from being a smaller place. In fact "hospitality" is in our town slogan and folks will wave back when you lift your hand. I pray the Lord to let my hand say "shalom," and wave at as many as I can. Brings back the feeling I had as a pastor pronouncing the beneiction: "May the peace that passeth all understanding keep you hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of Christ Jesus..." or "so long for now." SoLong/Shalom, JosephA
ANGELFIRE 6-30-09 As Niece and I watched the fireworks at Elmore City lake Sunday night, I felt a vast awareness of our whole Universe because of this International Year of Astronomy IYA2009. With each rocket's glorious burst in the sky (and above the water), I felt as a spectator at our Bible beginning (Genesis 1:1), where GOD's handiwork is described as being the creation of heaven and earth. Needless to say, the explosion each time seemed like an echo of that "Big Bang." The more I've learned from plasma cosmology, the grander the comparison seems to me. Verse one gives a summary statement, after which seven days become a scale on which to detail Events. That shows us the process Creation, which has extended on into subsequent time. But it isn't until day four in Genesis that He fills the firmament(sky) with moon, sun and stars. My thought, that it's when the original state of matter we call plasma, condensed to form solids, liquids and gases; thus bringing gravity into operation. My mind tends to perceive that previous interval as the angelic period before Lucifer's rebellion. So Satan showed up along with gravity, to pull things into self. We've long known that Sir Isaac Newton formulated the law of gravity, which rules all of matter. Now it's claimed that plasma was the "stuff" from which solid, liquid and gas forms developed. My view is that matter actually began with gravity, and in those three later forms. Plasma was (and still is) "angle stuff," or what philosophy labeled metaphysical. There really was a prior world of heavenly creatures existing (a priori) before our time and space realm came into being. So the "fall of Adam" in the Garden of Eden takes place only after this carnal Universe had become warped downward by that third of the angelic host which went after their own self seeking goals. They were given existence to glorify GOD and behave like Him, but had turned against His goodness to sieze a throne for their devilish leader, Lucifer. At Elmore Lake, each thud in the sky Sunday night I heard as a rap of GOD's judicial gavel, saying "guilty" over mankind's fallen material world (despite the beauty of each fire works display) It was like that verdict we've seen on TV for Bernard Madoff, who got 150 years of prison time for his financial frawd. As our troops now come home from Iraq, we are proud of the democracy they helped to establish there and the freedom it gives Iraqis citizens. A lot of American blood has been shed along with Iraqi for that to happen: yet only the Blood of the Lamb of GOD can give human souls freedom from THE TYRANT called Satan. And that's in the spiritual warfare continuing until Jesus comes to bring His new heaven and new earth in which dwelleth righteousness. May we be thus minded as we go to Wacker Park for PV's colossal display out there on Sat. night. C.L.J. SoLong, Shalom, JosephA@webtv.net