ANGELFIRE 8-4-09 I see that our national CDC (center for disease control) has gone back to it's policy of school closings for dealing with the swine flu. It's a reversal of the relaxation made back in May, when only about 700 schools across the land had taken the costly option of closing for a time. Now it appears the fall flue season will amplify any epidemic dangers of H1N1. So a "better safe than sorry" attitude prevails, even though the down time has to be made up later, which is expensive. With the high cost of health care, that's so much in our news, it shows this good sense at preserving the health of our young citizens. I hear the claim that we spend far more caring for our elderly, even providing life support for those terminally ill; also reports of officials asking them not to seek such aid in a government system (when their families would not be paying for it). Rationing of services will be inevitable if they become public expenses. This recalls to ANGELFIRE that expression "compassionate conservativism" which had such appeal to me back eight years ago. It actually meant kind hearted individuals helping those in need rather than any public entitlements. In the latter case, no compassion is needed or shown but just put on the waiting list. Somehow this virus flu can be a sign to us that greed is the worse virus of carnal man. All we who are born of the flesh are material beings. Maybe our IYA2009 discoveries out across the Universe can now show us the fallen state of matter and materialism. Thus man was created from a first primal angelic state the same as the angels had been. He was placed in the Garden of Eden which was still pure as the early or pre-plasma stage of moral perfection had been, before the angels fell. Then the rebellion leader came into Eden, and subsequent humanity was corrupted with sin/greed, i.e. as Satan and his legions of ange defied the LORD God. To me, the shift from electromagnetic force to gravity in expanse/firmament or "Big Bang" continuing Creation was a depiction of evil gaining so much control in GOD's marvelous handiwork. Yet it will be finally overcome with our Lord Jesus returning to reign forever, as He brings all the righteous departed spirits and the innumerable company of Holy angels with Him. Even the dominant force of gravity will submit to Him as we shall all be caught up together into the air. It gets it's name from the "grave=gravity", which can no longer hold down those who have been true believers. SoLong/Shalom, Josepha@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 8-07-09 Right now it's back to school talk for all the kids, but as I write, it's a calendar day after the first atomic bomb ever used in war. Little Boy was the name it had been given all those years ago. Through these sixty four years since, that name has always sounded strange to ANGELFIRE. I was stationed at the Gulfport Naval Training Center studying electronics back then. There was a loud speaker system that constantly gave us directions with announcements each day. But I'd heard about it first in our quonset hut from a shipmate's small battery radio. Then the voice of president Harry Truman came on telling us that "The powers which light our sun above have been unleashed against the enemy of this nation." Next, I can recall standing in the usually long chow line with no appetite after earing the news. Yet the good part was that it meant the war would soon surely end, and that surely promised happier days ahead. It didn't occur to me that our leader was turning Japan's own title "Land of the rising sun" around against them in his announcement. Such word manipulations were not often used in those days. (We only had radio, not "the media) It was '46 then, yet we knew that Japan had tricked us five years before in '41, with their sneak attack from the sky upon Pearl Harbor. I was a high school freshman when that happened and could vividly remember the assembly where loud speakers mounted on the stage carried FDR's radio address to us declaring war on Japan. Their strike would subsequently provoke an awesome final reply. The 80,000 killed at Hiroshema was many times the toll taken at Pearl Harbor. But since Japan made a full surrender, we've been their allies ever since. And they have been an anti-nuke state. too. I see them as much like Israel, "not having the Bomb" but quite able to produce it quickly or buy one if ever needed. They've certainly been an economic power also. Bill Clinton's trip made to rescue those two reporters from N.Korea surely was timed and staged right before Hiroshema Day. Since N.Korea's Kim Yung Il has gained his own nukes right across from our allie Japan, there are strained relations. Our US glory hound and former president, who performs for all the world to see. may yet turn out to be the Antichrist of Rev.13. For a while now he looks like the wonder man of world statesmanship. But watch out as money keeps flowing to him globally. We live in a world where everything is bought off by showing favors to special interest. And Satan is this world's greedy king of such interests. Big things are so fake that suicide is on the increase everywhere. Even in our mlitary it's become a problem. The Japanese once considered it their ultimate weapon, yet have officially rejected hari-kari now. And in the Bible, it's taken by Israel's first king Saul who fell upon his own sword (to save face) as he feared defeat, thus becoming thereafter an anti-hero. Oppositely, we look up to Christ Jesus, Who gave His life for us, but will finally return and overthrow such planetary godless corruption, though things grow more and more deceptive until then. Jesus accepted the Cross but not as suicide. It was the sacrifice of Himself to save lost souls; a payment for sins of souls trusting in Him. So here's a Hebrew word for keeping the faith, SHALOM (peace with God that's been bought by the Blood of his Son), JosephA@webtv.net
LORD's Day 8-09-09 A month from today will be a string of nines for the date. OKC's art festival will include the strange movie entitled "9", whatever that means. I'm thinking we will reach the heart of this special year by then, IYA2009. As I drove past 403 N.Walnut in PV, which I pass quite often recalling my grandmother Hightower whose Room and Board place was there, I remembered it was where I first heard of astronomy. So driving around to see the back yard, I recalled as a five year old being all alone out there and looking at the sky. It was growing dark and the stars were starting to shine when Gram called out for me to come inside for supper. She asked "Were you trying to see God and all the angels." Before I could answer, my uncle John, her youngest son who also lived there, said to us "Joe may grow up to study astronomy some day." It was a new word to me so I came in and asked Gram it's meaning. "Oh thats a study of the stars" she said. "Maybe you'll become an astronomer." I wanted to know if stars were the same as angels, or were something else. And asked why I couldn't see God, if He was up in the sky. So Gram explained that "God and the angels" were even higher than the stars; and that we could see them too after we died and went to heaven. That began a special interest in astronomy for me. I later learned some constellations and even how to locate the Norht Star. But when I was seven, we moved up to Mt.Vernon IL. That was 1935. A year or so later I got hit riding out on the hard road in front of a car full of teachers. It was a day school was out and I had just learned to stay up on my older brother's bike, but had not learned how to stop or use the brakes. So when I as I rode right in front, a voice inside me said "Going to see God and all the holy angels." Now I consider those nine words symbolic of this IYA2009 that I was spared to see, though I did suffer a fractured skull, was hospitalized kept in bed for a month thereafter; then had to be fitted with glasses and needed to wear them until just several years ago. So seeing 2009 is a major miracle in ANGELFIRE's life. Shalom
ANGELFIRE 8-11-09 A heavenly Shalom to those of you who read this column. It's the PEACE word said in Israel as a greeting or also as a parting blessing there in the Promised Land. When I was returning in 1980 from my second tour, our pilot said "We'e over the Isle of Rhodes and now turning north." Then the plane tilted over and I saw it out my widow looking so small down below. It made me think of little Israel which we'd just left behind. I said their greeting word to that tiny Isle and prayed that it be spoken as "peace" to all Earth's people. These many years later, here in IYA2009 we sense how very small our Isle of Earth home truly is. Even the Solar System seems small as we've grown aware of this Milky Way galaxy with myriads of such stars with planets around them. Now let me share more I've learned about the International search beyond Earth(for ultimate Shalom--peace & prosperity in perpetuity):
Mounted on a telescope in Chili, the Dark Energy Camera will peer deeper into the sky and unveil more galaxies at greater distances than any previous project, including the Sloan digital Sky Survey. It will collect data on (1)the distances of galaxies from Earth; (2)the large scale clustering of galaxies, (3)the abundance of massive galaxy clusters, (4) and the bending of light caused by galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Scientists use these 4 methods to determine how fast the Universe has been expanding and the rate at which galaxies and clusters formed over cosmic time. Two of these methods will yield answers which are independent of gravity...and the other two will provide answers that depend on the theory of gravity...If all 4 measures show the same result, it means that our current ideas are correct...The US, Brazil, Spain and UK will use CCD charge-coupled devices to "see" light from fast receding galaxies that have shifted to longer wave lengths. Through this chain of inferences-- from redness to fastness, fastness to oldest etc. we can come billions of years closer to the Universe's infancy. ANGELFIRE says SoLong/Shalom
ANGELFIRE 8-14-09 What a glad feeling it brings to see all the schools back in session as we drive past them. They're such a vital sign of life and our search to gain it's fullest meaning. Mt.24 was my Bible text this morning, where Jesus departs from the Temple and His disciples admire the site with so many magnificent buildings around it.(the handiwork of Israel). He responds "I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." They were trusting in "things" seen rather than eternal realities that are unseen. Within a few decades after His return to heaven, that Temple (and most of Jerusalem) was destroyed by Roman legions and the Jews had to flee elsewhere That surely proves how temporary our earthly plans can be, though they have to be made. An education is just essential in this day and age. Yet there's another dimension of meaning that will take far longer to comprehend. In school and beyond, the Lord Jesus is our Teacher for this school of life (that has now been so extended for more and more of us). As His instruction was perfect, so was the example He set in unselfishness. And as He lives, so we should continue to learn as we take in all His being. A brief definition I've kept in the back of my mind about our human existence says "The meaning of life is to LIVE and the purpose of human beings are to BE human." That's not Scripture and might be questioned, yet it has stuck in my brain from those hippie days when our next generation were asking whether life was worth the struggle. Too often then their answer was suicide, which is no longer seen as an option, thank GOD. Jesus is the Everlasting One come down to teach us the Way, so He was fully human, a model the Father had given to humankind. He told the Apostles that this world would grow worse and worse, but promised to come again to take His own out of it into an everlasting Kingdom. Making preparation for that ultimate "graduation Day" is what life's all about. To ignore the suffering and self sacrifice He endured in revealing the Way is to let the devil have control of our existence, never reading the Bible nor giving a hoot about heaven. The Book ends with Satan and all his followers being cast into a lake of hell fire that burns forever. Since evil is also a spiritual reality, it takes that long to burn such trash to a final destruction. But now is the hour to be making ready, for Christ might return this very day. SoLong/Shalom, JoesphA
8-18-09 I saw just now that my page views were up to 64 for this column yesterday. That is gratifying since it must be readers beyond WW or PV. Of course being in the Gazette and Daily Democrat are my main target audience and I'm grateful to both papers for allowing me space. That's said only here, since this is being written too late for publication in either paper. I don't have a spell checker for here on my page this way. Still, ANGELFIRE is like a middle name to me. It burns to be expressed. I'm so glad to use it because it sounds Biblial. At least it describes the flame that Moses saw in that burning bush. When reported in Stephen's sermon of Acts 7, it's called an Angel instead of fire. And it didn't burn up the bush either. Rather it got Moses to listen the the Voice of YAHWEH by calling his name and saying "Take off your shoes for you are standing on holy ground." When Moses obeyed, the Voice went on to issue GOD's call to him about leading the Twelve Tribes out of captivity in Egypt. That was truly Angelfire I'd day, and my prayer is for the Holy Spirit to speak in my column. Perhaps you know that Muslims take off their shoes before entering a Mosque and it's from Moses's example. They do donsider him one of their eight prophets, leading up to Mohammad as the geatest and final one to them. But Christians stand on yet higher ground when we meet together in the name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit binds us together and we feel (or should feel) the Angelfire in our midst during church. Since fire has ancient associations wth light, there's a Hebrew term for holy light that Moses saw and then all Israel thereafter. It was the glory cloud that hung above the priests leading those Israelites through 40 years of a wilderness journey. Another name for it is the shekinah. That's the glory from Yahweh's face. A year or two ago I started using my first name combined with my middle initial, JosephA; hoping that the middle "Allen" can also signify Angelife. I have a great grandfather buried at PV's Mt.Olived named Charles A. Allen. Got my middle name from him (and through my grandmother, Amy Hightower who was his oldest daughter). He was a prominent citizen in early day PV affairs until his death in 1928. I've never heard what the middle A. in his name represented; but like to believe it was Angelfire. SoLong/Shalom, JA
ANGELFIRE 8-21-09 I'm looking at Malachi this morning, last book of O.T. Scripture. The prophet is calling for purification in Israel, starting with the priesthood, then Temple, Jerusalem and nation. Then in Mal.3 he describes John the Baptizer "And behold I send My messenger. And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple...Behold, 'He is coming,' Says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming...For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderers' soap...Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the LORD." That was centuries before the preaching of John in the wilderness reawakened the chosen people to hear Christ Jesus, the One from heaven. Present day culture has become so contaminated that we need purification more than then to be ready for His final coming. There was another John in 18th century England whose last name was Wesley. And he issued a call to back to holiness which also impacted our new nation over here. And then in the 19th century a newspaper man in South Africa named Andrew Murray rekindled piety in the Protestant world through his published articles. As I've already mentioned, this Swing Flue scare, is surely a call from above toward spiritual health. Our humanity is obviously contaminated by sin & greed. Listen to Murray in chap.29, With Christ in the School of Prayer: To have life in Himself is the prerogative of God alone, and of the Son, to whom the Father has also given it. To seek life, not in itself,but in God, is the highest honor of the creature. To live in and to himself is the folly and guilt of sinful man; to live to God in Christ is the blessedness of the believer. To deny, to hate, to forsake, to lose his own life, such is the secret of the life of faith. "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20); "Not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Cor.15:10)--this is the testimony of each one who has found out what it is to give up his own life and to receive instead the blessed life of Christ within us. There is no path to true life, to abiding in Christ, than that which our Lord traveled before us--through death.....(for such) He lovingly points them to His cross. He tells them that as there, in the faith of His death as their substitute, they found their title to life, so there they will enter into its fuller experience too. He asks them if they are indeed willing to drink of the cup of which He drank--to be crucified and to die with Him. He teaches them that in Him they are indeed already crucified and dead---all unknowing, at conversion they became partakers of His death. But what they need now is to give a full and intelligent consent to what they received before they understood it, BY AN ACT OF THEIR OWN CHOICE TO BE WILLING TO DIE WITH CHRIST. Andrew Murray's writing was in newspapers around the world back then giving Godly guidance from Capetown S.A. where he lived. Divine light shines through his writing even yet. SoLong/Shalom, JA
ANGELFIRE 8-25-09 The crew of seven astronauts aboard our Discovery Shuttle was delayed by bad weather early this Tuesday. morning. It's mostly the widespread lightning, which also caused delays in July for that shuttle launch. I can't recall when electrical storms have been so prominent, and am guessing that the new consciousness which has come into Astrophysics is playing a part clear down to meteorology. It's a realization that electromagnetic force has a greater role in the Universe than even gravity, which once seemed to rule everything. A book entitled "The Electric Universe" has been popular during the past several years, which echoes the vision way back in the eighties of a radical physicist named Hannes Alfvin. He predicted that stellar science would disclose how inter-connected is everything in the whole cosmos. Like most folks back then, I considered him a quack. But studies of deep outer space have found that it's not just empty, as Einstein taught. Rather, space is filled with invisible lines of connection which link all material bodies together: planets, comets, asteroids, stars, galaxies, etc. They're called filaments, the same word Thomas Edison used to complete his invention of the electric light. Filamentation imlements an energy flow clear across the Universe (like capillaries do for bloodflow in our bodies). IYA2009 is teaching us that man is linked to all of it. And NASA has joined with other nations in a Joint Dark Energy Mission that will soon launch the huge Dark Energy Camera. It's to peer clear back nearly to Creation 13.7 billion years ago. Discovery's trip to the International Space Station carrying eight tons of supplies will offer the world a sign of such human interconnection, since the first ever Mexican astronaut in in it's crew. His name is Jose Hernandez, a US citizen born in California. The president of Mexico has already sent him congratulations on being one of Discovery's crewmen, and citizens of Mexico are very proud of him. So astronomy is having a deep impact on the citizens of planet Earth. ANGELFIRE's mission is to keep proclaiming the Lord of heaven and earth, who will soon be seen gloriously returning as KING of Kings and LORD of Lords. Accept His rule over your heart now and be ready for his coming again with all the holy angels and spirits of departed saints. Let prayer to Him become your eternal connection. SoLong/Shalom, JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 8-28-09 Funerals are worship services that reach across all dividing lines of faith. Though we never seek after them, the most profound moments of life may show forth therein. Thursday's service at Coffee Stuffelbean Chapel for Leta "Ilene" Ross was such an occasion as we gathered with her faithful husband Paul for an earthly parting. Rev. ME Sellars brought a strong message of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul and I had graduated from PV High School together during WW II. I shared a few recollections, including one of his wedding which I missed because of obligations down in Seminary at Dallas. He had asked me to have a part and I've always regretted that I put schooling ahead of our friendship. But Ilene's funeral made me see how deep a tie was being started between Paul and his wife for all those 58 years. The decline of marriage has weakened the moral fabric of American society to the uttermost. And if the "I do" isn't said out loud before witnesses, there's little possibility of "till death us do part" being the result. Male humans should not exploit their female partners. Woman was the finishing touch of GOD's creation, and His judgement will fall heavy on those who betray His most marvelous handiwork. The "mother of us all" was given the name Eve just to show that reality. And Paul Ross has shown Pauls Valley what Adam failed to show in Eden at the outset. He's been a devoted husband right up to that final day.
Now we've learned in IYA2009 that every particle of this material Universe has it's own spin. Rotation is universal, though the degree of inclination does vary for different particles: bosons, fermions, quarks, glueons, masons, electrons, neutrienos, pions, muons, protons, atoms and molecules ... planets, suns, galaxies, clusters of galaxies. Yet the Bible tells us that "In the beginning was the Word. Jn.1:1." The Almighty Creator (Father) puts a special spin (meaning) on each detail of it. So there is symmetry between the micro-verse and macro-verse which displays His glorious artistry; though some of it gets warped by asymmetry, which intrudes from angelic rebellion resulting from the heavenly disloyalty of some angels. Along with the original symmetry, the Creator included an allowance for freedom. To ANGELFIRE, The tale of Lucifer and his legions is implied in The Standard Model for formation of everything after gravity took control. That resulted in a grabby population among the heavenly bodies of particles: nebula, novas and stars as they formed. Creation was filled with material greed, each massive unit pulling smaller material bodies into it own orbit and spin. The science of astrophysics is ignoring this "fifth dimension" (of meaning). It seeks only a cause and effect explanation, with divine purpose ignored and Satan completely unmentioned. But here on tiny Earth we've been made aware of One who came from the very beginning to convey to mankind (and any other intelligent beings here in the Universe) that life eternal can be found in the Incarnate Son, Christ Jesus our LORD. He came to us as a man and is coming again with His new heaven and earth for all who accepted His first appearance. Then it was in meekness and humility. But He will be KING of kings this time and bring along our departed loved ones who trusted in Him, plus all the holy angels that have existed from the very first of Creation. COME LORD JESUS SoLong/Shalom, JA