LORD'sDay (only here on Internet) I've pondered why ANGELFIRE was led to comment on that solar powered plane last week, that flew from Switzerland clear around the globe and back on sunlight. It seemed a sign of hope with the whole world so dependent on petroleum. If cars use the stuff in abundance, just think what those huge super airliners devour. It's been just a pollution high up there out of sight, but about the greatest user. So a skyfull of solar planes would be heartening indeed, as well as making an example for ground travel too. There'd be plenty of other non-fossil fuels put into ground travel if we began seeing what a benefit it was to the whole Earth. ANGELFIRE wants to point this out to show that our looking for the Lord's imminent return is not an excuse for ignoring present problems that can be ameloriated. So while we wait, we keep working to protect the heaven and earth our Lord God created. and entrusted to our care. Strangely, I'm seeing the SORC site which may soon to be discontinued as a model of renovation of heaven and earth. If it could be remodeled for use as a Shalom Center, it would demonstrate the observation made above of divine activity to all mankind. What a notion! Shalom is PPP:(peace, preservation& prosperity) JosephA@webtv.net Think of "There is sunlight in my soul today" from that ole time song we used to sing.
ANGELFIRE 7-11-10 It seems that America's attention keeps turning down toward the Caribbean over and over. Six months ago it was focused on Haiti, that suffered so much storm destruction. Reports are of very slow recovery, so little rebuilt and thousands of children still orphans. Only a tenth of the financial help promised by other nations has been delivered. Eighty-four days ago it was an off shore drill site explosion that has since consumed our attention. Both fishing and vacation industry in the Gulf has nearly ceased, though today BP claims to have finally capped that huge leaking well at the bottom of the Gulf. Now, Cuba's former dictator Fidel Castro has appeared on TV once more to accuse the US of economic wrongs. Add to that the mini-hurricane Alex, which also came and went. It was the first Tropical storm of 2010. Also, President Obama's moratorium on drilling in the Gulf has been repealed by a Federal judge. So he's trying another tactic; while BP might withdraw and go elsewhere to drill, taking so many jobs along. Obama seems stalled, just as in another downward look, at our Mexican border. AZ is being sued by the Federal government for passing a law questioning suspected illegal immigrants. But now in D.C. the AZ law has been ruled as unConstitutinal. Yet AZ's governor is standing firm for it and seeking to get more of that wall built to control the flow in from Mexico. And across the border line the drug cartels are waging a bloody conflict against Mexico's legitimate government of president Philipe Calderone. And on down in Columbia they are into full warfare. So that expression "going South" truly does convey a collapse into chaos and defeat. The Bible speaks of God's throne as being in the far north, and science has long shown that this planet has North and South poles. Since that involves magnetism, there has to be a positive and a negative. Need I say that North is the positive pole. This touches on symmetry, which cosmology has shown so basic that it explores a super-symmetry. Such stretches from the subatomic world clear up into all of physical Creation: particles and anti particles, positive and negative polarity, (good and evil too?) Our reach upward in Christ Jesus takes hold of a righteous North pole found through the Word/Bible. Shalom, JosephA
ANGELFIRE 7-15-10 PV's fireworks display Sunday night seemed like the most intense ever. Niece and I had been to Elmore's a couple of weeks earlier and they were magnificent over their lake. But clouds on Wakcer Park's north horizon with lightning flashing in them was an addition to PV's. I kept wondering if a thunderstorm might yet hault the show. So that's what made the magnificent display seem intense to ANGELFIRE (with rockets launched as groups). In fact the last few minutes were a sky packed full of more beauty, wonder, glory and fireworks than I've ever seen. It even expelled the threatening clouds so full of lightning. I had compared man's handiwork to God's in my mind. We all know that the thunder follows a flash of lightning, though both are the result of the same splitting of the air. We see it first because light travels so much faster than sound. It takes the thunder several seconds to reach us, even though both happened simultaneously. I told Niece how I liked to hear the great thud that followed each explosion of light, though it came after the beauty had spread out in the sky. She said the noise was not as enjoyable to her. And I knew the very loud bangs were unpleasant, even shocking. So I pondered why I felt that way about mere bams. And this thought came: the plumes that bust represent achievements that we humans get to accomplish in life, but the following thud is a call to accountability. It's like the gavel in that divine Hand, which comes down in judgement. I just carried the interpretation I'd had of lightning in the clouds over to overhead fireworks. And those we saw last Sunday were like the paradox of Judgement Day when Christ returns: grand and glorious for believers, but fearful, deadly and terrible for those yet unsaved. I think of this song ANGELFIRE first heard out there at the park. It was sung by First Baptist choir---The market place is empty, no more traffic in the street. All the villages are idle, no more time to harvest wheat. Busy housewives cease their labor. In the court room no debate. Work on earth is all suspended, as the King comes through the gate. THE KING IS COMING, THE KING IS COMING! I can hear the trumpet sounding and now his face I'll see. THE KING IS COMING, THE KING IS COMING. Praise God, he's coming for me. (Fireworks portend this eventual reality that surpasses any kind of earthly show that man can create here below) SoLong/Shalom, JosephA,AoP
LORD'sDay (only seen here) I've been reading the center Psalm of the Bible, 119. It's divided into the 22 letters of Hebrew, so I read one letter's worth each day. Since this is right in the middle of 2010, it seems "timely" to me. Ps.119 s also the longest chapter and the one with numbers in reverse of that horrible day, 9/11. I know 118 is just between the shortest (117) and longest (119). So it's usually considered the midde of Scripture. But Ps.119 is very great to read, and I've memorized the Hebrew alphabet in recent years. Looks like the Greyhound bus line is getting a downtown site in PV. Hooray! It still uses old highway 66 to get to CA. And 66 is the Bible total number. It's also the exit off I-35 that comes onto #29 and into WW (which is a Bible believer's town). I recall Greyhound from childhood days. It was the main way to travel back then (as bus travel gains again now). So having a downtown depot is good news to ANGELFIRE. I even wish that PV might become the national headquarters for that famous bus line. Our Toy Museum has already put us on the national map and having Greyhound based here would add more status. Then HT could regain it's place as a marker. If you've forgotten, I mean Historic Tower that was built in 1903 (when it was the tallest thing on the prairie). It still says "Hightower" to me, recalling my grandmother Amy and her room & board house, 403 N. Walnut. She died in '68, but her spirit ever lives in the Commuion of Saints that Jesus will bring with him for a glorious return. Even the completion of PV's new water procession plant fits the parousia vision of Rev.22, "He that is athirst, let him come and drink freely." Halleluhah! JAH
ANGELFIRE 7-19-10 Psalm 119 is the longest one and is divided into parts by the 22 letters in Hebrew's alphabet. Remember vs.105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." ANGELFIRE sang it to the inmates. Then the Bible lesson Glen Simonsen taught at LARC's chapel service was from 2Thess. chap2. Paul says more than ever about the last days working of Satan and the coming of a "lawless one" who will use every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing. Because they refused to love the truth and so be saved...God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false. Thus, we got into consideration of the Antichrist, so Glen read other texts describing what that was. Of course the guys made mention of Rev.13:18, "This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of a person. It's number is six hundred sixty-six." I said that it might refer to a giant supercomputer, since they can already out-do mere humans. And computers act more like persons with every generation man makes. But the inmates saw it as some powerful world leader who would take over when all this earth's nations have gone bankrupt. And then someone exclaimed, "Yet we'll be outta here and caught up with our Savior." They are devout believers who come to services. So Glen, Dallas and I agreed with that inmate's claim. We know things are growing more unGodly both in and outside of prison. yet the blessed hope is for a final coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Satan will be bound thereafter for a thousand years and then cast with all his servants into the hell that burns forever and ever. Rev.20.10. Be sure right now that your name is written in The Lamb's Book of Life, by trusting in Jesus as your Savior and Lord. There's no debt owed there nor punishment to bear in his Eternal Kingdom, because he paid our way in with his blood on the Cross. As the inmates all look for the day they go free from their cells, just so that will be our day. We come to the heavenly Father through him as we pray as Jesus taught us, "Our Father who art in heaven." The Son is with us in that prayer he taught to Christians and that's why it begins "our" instead of "my father." Even when praying in private, it begins with "Our Father."
ANGELFIRE 7-22-10 Weltanschauung is a German word that we've tried to translate as "world view" in English. But we realize it's more profound than we can express. Germany has had some of the greatest thinkers, yet we seem to sky away. Maybe it's because deep things need to be expressed in art rather than science. At least that was what kept ANGELFIRE from seeking to learn their culture. I was satisfied to know that our favorite carol, Silent Night, came from them (plus Santa Clause). But for all my interest in poetry and drama, I always stuck to William Shakespeare or England rather than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe of Germany.
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LORD's DAY on Fri. Oct.8. Yesterday marked the 9th year of America's longest war in Afghanistan. We went in to oust the Taliban, got it quickly done and then slid back into fighting them again. Now we have Afghanistan's president Karzi to work with as only a weak ally there. So we have to go around through Pakistan to get our troops into Afghanistan. And that causes friction with the Pakistan government as well as tribes. Just no end to the compliations and perplexities of that rotten situation. So ANGELFIRE is looking back home, to Garvin county right here in Oklahoma. We face a vote to allow the sale of liquor by the drink, and it's been four years since we turned it down the first time. Now our Chamber of Commerce and many civic leaders are favoring it as the way to go forward for economic reasons. Our former editor at The PV Democrat, Jeff Shultz, came in The Democrat's office yesterday and I spoke to him. He seemed eager to talk to Berry Porterfield, so I went on to get the papers out (which were very late being available). I just could not recall his name. so I just shook his hand with no utterance of it. Up until writing this, it's been a blank for me. He was our top dog editor for a number of years and I had respected him a lot. But during these past two, his stand on this issue has looked suspicious to me. He started a county weekly paper, The Garvin County Star, after leaving us. So he does seem like a rival. And I've aways assumed that his wife is from a wealthy family, because it takes big money to do what he did. After moving to Maysville to publish it, he's gained sources in every county town. So now he's the county leader for getting liquor by the drink passed passed. I'm sure there's a big pay off somehow, but can't figure just how. Maybe he wants to finally take over The PV Daily Democrat too. But I'm hoping his help to the liquor crowd will cost him lots of his rural following instead. Their vote is what defeated it last time, and the average country person's heart is still uncorrupted by this huge social evil, I hope. Pastor Joel Downing is having a rally at his HIGHER GROUND church several miles out east of PV. It's Tuesday night to build opposition based on hard facts instead of feeling. I pray for it's big success. The PV Ministerial Alliance decided to stay out of the issue after being against it 4 years ago, but Kive Kerr made his position loud and clear several weeks ago opposing it. Then there was a Killebrew who spoke up at the big Chamber meeting for abstainece. God bless them both and hopefully the vote will fail again on Nov.2. I talked to the owners of a couple of cafes I frequent about it and was told that they would never serve liquor, even if they lost customers to places that do. "We'll just shut down before doing that." Think what pressure it will put on non-participants to sell whiskey. Should they be sacrificed to the Liquor god. Our "tower of power" still stands in PV, though appearing old and rusty. It was built in 1903 when Theodore Roosevelt became our first president to stand against the liquor traffic. It led to am 18amendment for prohibition in America that was repealed by a 21st when FDR became president some years later (both Roosevelts). But that first Roosevelt's kind of moral power is still represented by HT, our historic tower. Take a look at it again before you vote on Nov.2.
ANGELFIRE 10-11-10 Sunday's date was three tens and Monday(today) is four ones, with a couple of zeros. But tomorrow's is the remembrance called Columbus Day 10-12-10, which evokes heroic memories from that voyage in 1492 by the three ships--Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. Most of us feel he was out to find a new route to India, but others say it was just seeking gold like the royal couple Ferdinand & Isabella who aponsored his voyage. Maybe that's a way to see those 33 miners who've been trapped a half mile down in Chilie's gold/copper mine for over two months. Their gold seeking was shifted to seeking life itself, so their coming up this week will match the wonder of Christopher Columbus finding a new world. Or that's my reading on it. Everyone on Earth has marvelled at their rescue, set to happen this week. One at a time they'll take the 20 minute ride up that hole drilled at 28 inches in diameter. And the last one will get a global cheer from earthlings when he steps out. That's turned around the lineup order being sought, from which one's first to who will be the final one. Oh yes, there's also a paramedic/group control expert going down to join them. So the count is 34 instead of 33 to to come out. Seems he should get that glory. Back here in the US it's all about election count, where 51 is the magic # for control of our Senate. On Sept.23 Republicans released a Pledge to America that compares to their former Contract with America in 1994. This one was even longer on addressing unemployment, taxes, health care and government spending than in 94, but it also pledges to fight taxpayer funding of abortion, and stands up for "traditional marriage." It's much longer since it does address moral issues; though some have criticized it for not being more specific. But again ANGELFIRE can sense evil powers at work in our national politics which tend to break all boundaries of behavior, even those set by God Almighty. Maybe Halloween adds the spooky dimension that I sense even in our LBD vote Nov.2 here in Garvin county. There was a column in the American Perspective insert, "Peeking behind Halloween's mask", that I liked. Here's some quotes: Ancient Celtic people hid themselves in ghoulish disguises on Oct.t 31, our scariest night, so that any malicious spirits they encountered wouldn't recognize them as human. Trick or treat as we know it today became popular between 1920 and 1950. The jack-o-lantern evolved from a medieval Irish tradition of using carved-out, candle-lit turnips as lanterns, The turnips were placed on gateposts to ward off evil spirits. Irish immigrants in America began using the more easily carved native pumpkin for their jack-o-lanterns. It was the 1978 movie Halloween that associated the holiday with with violence and horror. But ANGELFIRE must add that it was from the middle ages a day to celebrate the unity of our spirits with those in the bosom of Christ, as we await his final appearing. It's the communion of saints. And since that truth is part of the Apostles Creed, it should still be proclaimed until he returns and new bodies are given to all the saved spirits (on the great Resurrection Day of the holy universal church living&dead) of all who sleep in him. . Shalom, JA
ANGELFIRE 10-14-10 All the glorious news of that successful rescue in Chile of those 33 miners and 5 paramedics has made ANGELFIRE recall a novel that moved me deeply many years ago. It was called VALLEY OF THE BLUE MOON, and began telling of the young reporter leaving this native land and going to Asia to cover the war between China and Japan. His airliner went strangely down in a mysterious region of China, where the passengers were stranded in a place the inhabitants knew as Shangra-La. It was the most peaceful place on earth and no one there ever grew older because years were like blue moons, extremely far apart. After learning he would not be allowed ever to leave, he fell in love with a beautiful Chinese girl that everyone else regarded most highly. And she responded to his advances as though he was a prince. Thus he never wanted to leave the marvelous place. Shangra-la it seems, meant endless life. Nothing ever went wrong as time seemed to stand still. But then disruption came abruptly from jealousy over their love and the Valley with went amuck in everything. The reporter escaped with a few others, but the rest were exterminated by conflict, as I recall. So he went the rest of his life yearning to return and wondering if it had all been in his own mind, instead of real. As I watched the St.Jose Mine rescue down there at Santiago, I knew it was for real and that those 33 miners would have speaking invitations all over the world for the rest of their lives. Also that the marvelous Chilean president Sebastian Pinera would most likely get an invitation to address the United Nations, bringing along with him those gallant five paramedics who sent down to aid the miners with getting out safely. It wasn't just make believe like Valley of the Blue Moon, but a heaven sent sign after 69 days of prayerful waiting. ANGELFIRE concludes thus from there being 33, the same number of years our Lord Jesus dwelt among us as a human being. And mention must also be made of Luis Arnez, the last one out. He had become their reliable father figure who gave direction to all the rest, just as our Savior gives guidance from God the heavenly Father to all who accept the Father's only begotten son. Now let's seek to be ready for the Day of Resurrection surely near at hand. C.L.J. SoLong/Shalom JosephA@webtv.net
LORDS DAY extra As I think of that execution at MacAlaster last Thurs. I'm wondering about the inmate's conversion to Buddhism. He was in a jovial mood from reports, and died content in a couple of minutes after claiming his innocence to the end. Seems that the mantra being chanted about peaceful death by fellow Buddhists worked for him. It was about ultimate forgiveness the report said, which his karma would allow by paying up for any wrongs he had done, as taught by Buddah. So he must have been good in the 14 years since murdering that Laotian guy, ha; as Oklahoma law says he did. All of which connected for me with the novel I'd written about previously, "Lost Horizon." Even that correct name came back from memory rather than Valley of the Blue Moon. And the issue cause which disturbed the peace in that valley was love, as shown between the reporter and his resident sweet heart. Jealousy had never been felt by any one there until they showed such joy as a couple in their true love. So it became the downfall of those who stayed behind down in the Valley. Maybe the courageous concern of all those Chilean miners for each other and of their leaders also, caused jealousy in this writer too. But now I'm starting to hear of ugly things that were a part of what seemed a flawless rescue. It's more realistic for sure. But since the headline given that ANGELFIRE was "Special meaning in the number 33", I'll go on from the years of our Lord Jesus lived on earth as one of us, to the entire Bible's count of 66 books. That's double 33 because it's all about him, both OT and NT. Though the actual counts are 39 and 27, the double of 33 is also 66: Since reiteration means perfection in Hebrew, that could be the word"shaom" repeated as shalom-shalom. Such could also be why Genesis has 66 chapters, and Isaiah also. The latter is a sort of little bible aince it divides like the Old & New Testaments into First Isahiah and Deutero Isaiah. Finally the Hebrew alphabet includes 22 letters, so times three makes another 66. Nuf said. SoLong/Shalom JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 10-20-10 I saw a headline on TV saying our Marines in Afghanistan feel that they are fighting ghosts over there. That may sound like Halloween but it's got to be deadly for them. Deceptive, treacherous, cunning and sly as Satan hismelf; that enemy they face is becoming more sneaky all over the globe. We quoted previously how it was a Hollywood movie of 1978 that brought violence and cruelty into the observance of Halloween. Thus, it was the very name of the movie. ANGELFIRE can recall early on when turning over a privey or letting the air out of someone's tire was about the limit on misbehavior before WW II. Then in the fifties "trick or treat" became the standard pay off for children so that they would keep it controlled. Getting candy was lots more fun too. But since that trend, some behavior has still grown worse by finding fun in just raising hell. Now we've seen that more money is being spent on this whole season than all of Christmas shopping. Old fashioned spooks have also been outpaced by exftra-terrestials or weird automated freaks to do the haunting. Such infatuation with wickedness points toward the coming of that colossal monster called Antichrist, as foretold in Revelation. That's when Satan (whom so many dismiss as mere superstition), will openly show his power until Christ Jesus finally appears/ He's the real King of kings and Lord of lords. I guess modern Halloween serves to alert and keep us wary of tricks by the evil one. He and all his fallen angels will finally be cast into that lake of fire in Rev.20:10. But chap.18 is about the fall of Babylon's commercialism, whidh typifies the secular urbanism engulfing our world today: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit...for all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries...the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries... When the kings of the earth...see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand afar off..."Woe, woe, O great city of Babylon...in one hour your doom has come"...The merchants who sold her things and gained their wealth will stand afar off, terrified at her torment." Then see Rev.19: "After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven...Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God...He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries...Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." All the saved are included within the Bride as Christ Jesus takes them for his own beloved one. Doesn't that show how sacred is true marriage? Our souls are joined with the Savior & Lord to go into his millennium of perfect peace. Then all is finally turned over to the Father forever & ever. SoLong/Shalom, JA
LORD'sDAY It's Fri.night, and France has been in this week' news. To cut costs, that nation is going to raise the age for retirement from 58 to 62. Demonstrations all over the land are showing how the public objects. Of course their more socialistic society allows that much control, and it will probably get raised. Socialism breeds such a sense of entitlement, but costs more too. Yet 62 was the age at which ANGELFIRE retired, 3 years ahead of the usual time in 1991. So I've felt that they'd had an indulgent system that can no longer be afforded. It makes me sense the cost that we senior citizens are becoming here at home. So many have to have medical care at government expense. And I just saw that by age 83 (two more for me) the chance of Alzheimers is fifty-fifty. Now that's quite a threat. We seniors hate to become burdensome on the main population and ANGELFIRE is thankful the years have taken no toll as yet. And there are financia concerns too. I read another report that seniors are the target of so many scams. Seems that we are easy suckers. Obviously age doesn't gain us financial wisdom? America's senior care industry keeps growing and will surely be quite lucrative in years ahead. So all that uproar in France is making us take a closer look right here back home. Then I saw in the Oklahoman reports from the debate between the condidates for governon last week, between Miss Askins and Mrs. Fallin. Some talk of family life ensued, but 0ne main issue was how much the Dept. of Human Services is doing in our child welfare system, where there is a tide of neglect and abuse. That's an ugly issue getting more exposure on TV from so many hidden cameras. Some of the cruelty I've seen in families makes me feel that Satan surely reigns in many homes. Spouse abuse is disgusting and alarming. In fact there's a movie in PV showing now, called "Devil." Doubtless it will display plenty of this. Trouble is, that too many will go to see it for entertainment. Seems devilish enough, in itself. The married or single female for governor has had national attention. So the lady winner Nov.2 may even get into national politics. ANGELFIRE has wanted our state to produce a president since LBJ came out of TX and Bill Clinton from Ark. And wasn't Richard Nixon born in Kan? So why not the lady president of someday, be an Oklahoman!!! JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 10-25-10 November 2 is a national election day, so it is crucial to both Democrats and Republicans. I saw that there are five states where the race is too close to call. In the same coverage it said there's another five that have already legalized the sale of marijuana, but that CA just might not do it after all. The key word is for"recreational" use. Medical MJ has been allowed ever more widely. But ANGELFIRE sees most of it as a sequel to legal liquor. So our LBD vote for Garvin county might just open the door for wide open pot smoking in our future. Yet I don't hear any such sentiment expressed either. So even if some police think LBD would be a better and more enforceable law, it probably will bring other evils yet worse. If you saw that map of our state in the Oklahoman with counties in red that already have LBD, it made ours look lonely along what's called The I-35 Corridor that run's red from Texas up to Kansas. The promoters may have meant that color to leave Garvin county looking poor and pale in comparison. Thus, way behind the times. But red can also indicate debt, heat, explosives, bloodshed or criminal activity. So it might have tipped their hand. At any rate ANGELFIRE was glad to still be in the white, which is the color of angels. And you know who wears a red suit (along with horns and a tail). Seriously, I hope LBD is rejected again as it was 4 years ago. Here's the five "D" headline given me back then: DOLLARS DON'T DICTATE DECISIONS OF DESTINY. They didn't before & won't this time either. SoLong/Shalom, JosephA C.L.J. ANGELFIRE 10-28-10 Here's a Halloweenish bit of news: "Foreclosure Mess Will Take Years to Clean Up" said the Thurs.TV headline. And debt can haunt like a spook. To me. it sounds so much like the Gulf oil spill over again. That mess will be taking years too. Yet the oil leak was finally stopped so that cleaning up the Gulf could be actually done. And evil BP did hang in there to get the mile deep hole permanently plugged. So we would hope there's some hole to plug about homes that are being repossessed. The major misery will be legal battles that can cost even more than prices of the homes. And caring for those left with no place to live adds still more burden. There's a new mood of entitlement today that a decent income and residence are also guaranteed by the Constitution. What a different point of view from just gaining full civil rights for every American, which we've sought for up to now. As a minister I also sensed a modern spiritual entitlement, that all souls go to heaven when life ends down here. ANGELFIRE can't fine that in the Bible, but it seems to have become a widespread assumption. Yet our Lord Jesus said "Straight is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life eternal, and few there be that find it..while wide is the entrance and broad the road that leads to everlasting death in hell, and many there be that go therein." But looking at the debt hole for mankind's sin should compel us to reach toward the Cross as an atonement Christ made to save us. It becomes paid (by his sacrifice of a perfect.sinless life) when we accept him as our Savior and Lord. That old hymn sums it up: "Jesus paid it all. All to him I own. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow." The oil mess and mortgage mess are small peanuts along side humanitie's wickedness mess. Our Lord is cleaning up for believers. Even the US debt to China compares as tiny, though some pundits say that by 2030 they will own the USA by buying our debt. Now they've bilt the world's fastest train too. It goes 220 mph to connect main cities of China. But Christ is coming again, to finally take the Church he has bought, clear out of this world as his Bride forever. Be ready! JosephA@webtv.net AoP C.L.J.
LORD'sDAY 10-30-10 It's the day before All-Hallow"s Eve. So we get the name "Halloween" from that we've mentioned. In Catholicism tomorrow's Lord's Day is All Saints Day; and the day following is All Souls Day. Tomorrow's observance is Scriptural since those united in Christ Jesus are already saints. So the day after is a man made tradition which exhalts especially pious humans to a super sainthood. As ANGELFIRE sees it, all saints (born anew believrs) are united in the body of Christ both here on earth as well as those whose spirits are already with him. But souls are those beings that have both a body and a spirit. Thus the Communion of saints includes far more than living Christians. It It's the holy inclusive church of saved ones, with all who as spirits are still waiting for their glorified bodies. That will be on Resurrection Day when the dead in Christ will be raised as dwellings for their spirits which he is bringing back with him. And we who are alive on that day will be clothed with new glorified bodies that replace these earthly ones. So all of both living and formerly dead will become saved souls forever. Thus our soul is the whole self or totality of being that will then dwell with Christ for a millennium. If the All Souls Day described that prelude to eternity, then it would fit the Bible. But instead it promotes the notion that certain "saints" in heaven can pray for persons here on earth. So the notion of patron saints is a fiction derived from such a notion. We don't pray to any other than our heavenly Father, and then in the name of Jesus. Or to Jesus as representing to us the Father. Remember how he began that pattern prayer "Our Father." That meant we come in his name, but no other. If you wonder what happens after the thousand years, read the final chapters of Revelation. All will finally be turned over to the Father forever and ever. JosephA
ANGELFIRE 11-05-10 Now with the mid-term election over, we can speak of something other than politics. It was a disappointment for ANGELFIRE as my home county passed LBD, but majority rule is our law of the land. I had quoted five D words given to me four years ago, DOLLARS DON'T DICTATE DECISIONS OF DESTINY. So I prayed to understand why the vote approved it this time. Dollars may not seem sacred to most readers, but I'm aware of "In God We Trust" that's printed on each one. And I've felt that the God'seye on that Great Seal of our nation also means divinely watched. So that's why ANGELFIRE tried to avoid the notion that money is tainted with evil. The latter condition derives from it's use for any wicked purpose. Thus the devil (or d+evil) so often manipulates money toward his own goals of deception and ruin. When good and decent citizens are persuaded by clever deception, then barriers go down and he laughs as he dances with glee. So ANGELFIRE wants to see Garvin county prosper, as we await the Lord's soon return. Prosperity is his gracious gift; often even when we don't deserve it. But now that Halloween is past, we'll remember veterans on Nov.11, and be thankful for all of them at a special service in the Boza Center that day. Eleventh hour implies being "just before midnight." And it was used after WW I to date the Armistice that ended that huge conflict bet`ween nations. The eleventh day of an eleventh month in the second decade of 20th century history was used. And I think the signing of that Versaie Treaty was also at eleven oclock. The world called it Armistice Day but when American took it for ourselves, we just said Veteran's Day. But that sense pf being near the end of history still glows from the double-eleven-day that we keep. And for Bible believers it glows with the hope of our Savior's soon coming again. C.L.J.