Grateful for Starbucks in midst of power outage from Hurricane Helene

I just left work and am at a Starbucks, using their Wifi for the first time in a few years. It's a weird reunion because I was the Starbucks queen for many years, always going to one to update my blog, etc.

Living in Manhattan (1999-2007) I became like a Rain Man with my knowledge of all the Starbucks in Manhattan, so much so that friends suggested I write a book giving my critique of them--everything from ambience to customer base, experiences I personally had, etc.

I even have a short list of celebrities I've seen at various ones--Chelsea Clinton, Jackie Mason, Helen Mirren. One time I even sat near Leslie Stahl and watched for over an hour how she put together a story, listening to her tape recorder and scratching notes in pen onto an old-fashioned paper notepad! For those who don't know, she is a long-term reporter for 60 Minutes.

I've also had sightings of celebrities from the windows, either walking right by me or walking through a crosswalk. This list includes Phil Donohue and his wife Marlo Thomas, Harvey Keitel, Alan Alda and Charles Osgood (I lived near CBS studios and would often be in this particular Starbucks near 10th and 58th).

Well, that was a rabbit trail, all to say I've had no internet connection since 4:40 P.M. yesterday due to a power outage that continues here in Dayton. We got the remnants of Hurricane Helene and, from what I was just told, there are still 82,000 homes without power in our close vicinity. Wouldn't you know our neighborhood was one of the worst hit, with majorly HUGE old trees downed by the 60 mile per hour winds.

So, I am in a hurry to get home and rescue my 87-year-old mom, who's been shut-in thanks to electric garage door being closed. I can tell from calling her that she is down after sitting alone all day, not to mention our super quiet night last night.

She doesn't read much anymore and relies heavily on the TV, especially FOX News, Food Network and a few other cable stations, to keep her company. She, like my later father, has NO interest in sports. Like me, she is very lonely with very few friends, none of which live anywhere nearby to do anything with.

I will post new article as soon as we get our power back, which I am praying is soon, as in sometime tonight. In the meantime, I will take my mom out to dinner, something we never do. 

Here is old post in the meantime:

“If you want to talk to the Father, if you listen to how He talks to the Son, and the Son talks to Him, and the Spirit talks about what they have to do, wouldn’t you want to talk with them they way they talk to one another instead of talking with Him like a lunatic? Like you don’t know anything about what they think or say?

“The Spirit searches your heart and He knows what the will of God is; He knows what the Father says to the Son, the Son says to the Father. When you talk to God, God searches you.

“That passage in Hebrews 4 says: [12] For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
[13] Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

“God knows every thought, every intent of your heart, and when you think it, He knows it. He knows your intent, even when you don’t.

“When you talk to Him, the idea is to be intelligent; be a son, be someone who knows what the Father says to the Son, and the Son to the Father, and what’s their will.

“Colossian 1:18 says, [18] And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

“The Father loved His son before the foundation of the world; loves Him supremely, finds all of His joy in Him. It’s to our advantage to be able to understand how the Father feels about His Son and to talk to the Father about His Son the way He does and appreciate Him the way He appreciates Him.

“To me it’s a joyful thing to be able to be an adult in the family and talk to the Creator of all things intelligently, understanding how He thinks, and fellowship with Him around the joy He has in His Son and the purpose and plan He has in His Son.

“And when the Father and the Son talk about these things, they talk about what they’re going to do and to me that’s fascinating. I can talk to Him intelligently about it too.

*****

"When you believe God’s Word rightly divided, just read it and believe it, it becomes internalized compulsion. It energizes in your inner man. That’s how God the Holy Spirit works in your life.

"Paul’s praying for the Ephesians, for members of the Body of Christ in Ephesians 3:16: [16] That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

“How rich is that? That never ceases abounding. That’s where your sufficiency is. Christ dwells in you; He settles down and is at home and lives His life in you when your faith trusts who God says you are, what God says He’s doing, and the Spirit of God strengthens you with might," explains Richard Jordan.

“That word ‘might,’ you go back in the gospels and it’s the miracle-working power. There’s the might of God where He parted the Red Sea, where He raised the dead, where He heals.

“All those mighty works, that same mighty-working power of God resides in His Spirit who resides in you and He’ll strengthen you will all of the capacity you’ll ever need to be everything God has for you to be and it’s in your inner man, and it works when you believe it.

“You know, faith is the foundation of everything because it activates the operating of the Spirit of God in your life.

"Have you ever felt that you hit a plateau in your Christian life? You know, everything’s kind of normal, nothing real exciting? You don’t have much vision and you don’t feel like you have any victory? In fact, you feel just the opposite?

“People with a problem come to me and ask, ‘What should I do?’ Well, have you been reading your Bible? Well, no. What’s your prayer life been like? Not so much.

“You understand, you study your Scriptures and you see, ‘There’s the will of God.’ You take prayer and you take what God’s doing and apply it to your life. If you want to know how to do the will of God in your life, first, don’t worry about you, think about HIS will."  

Because it's always too soon to quit

Paul writes to Timothy, giving one of the most widely known Bible phrases in history:

[10] For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
[11] But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
[12] Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

"Notice verse 12 doesn't say "fight the good fight of THEE faith," meaning the doctrine, says Richard Jordan. There's a struggle you have every day to take the truth you know and make it applicable in your life.

Circumstances come up and you have a struggle--"Do I take what God says is truth and obey it there, or do I just go on my previous resources?"

Sometimes you go on your previous resources and realize, "Oops, I didn't take that into consideration," and you have to back up. But it's a struggle of the application of truth to your life.

Timothy walked through Paul's life and saw him do that over and over and over again! That's a valuable kind of thing.

Paul writes, "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love." I love that verse in Corinthians that says "the more I love the less I'm loved."

When you practice Ephesians 4:32 nobody can insult you: [32] And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

It's a matter of faith. It's a matter of the good fight of faith in the face of insult, injury. That works. Endure affliction. When the C&S Gang (circumstances and situations) come and start beating on you, your endurance is in Christ. It's going to come. Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of your ministry.

That's saying, "Don't stop. Don't quit." In Colossians 4:17, Paul says, "Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it."

It's always too soon to quit. Might not seem like it; circumstances might not agree with that, but it's always too soon to quit.

Accountability is what grace allows you to be. The idea that you're responsible without accountability is not grace. If you can't look at your failures honestly, you can't put them off. 

How you will be dealt with at the Judgment Seat of Christ is on the basis of faith; not condemnation, not shame, not reproach. You'll be able to look at it the way God looks at it through the blood of Christ.

When you learn to do that daily in your life, then the Judgment Seat of Christ won't be something you fear. When you see people fearing it, it's because they don't understand the grace life. You CAN be responsible; that's how you grow.

*****

In the Cross of Christ I Glory, written by John Bowring in 1825, is generally considered to be one of the finest hymns ever written on the subject of the Cross.

Englishman Bowring, considered one of the greatest linguists who ever lived, was said to have been able to converse in over 100 different languages before his death!

"The tune for this hymn was composed 24 years after Bowring’s text by an American organist and choir leader of the Central Baptist Church of Norwich, Connecticut," explains on online summary.

"The composer, Ithamar Conkey, was sorely disappointed at one Sunday morning service when only one choir member appeared, a faithful soprano by the name of Mrs. Beriah Rathbun. Before the evening service, Conkey composed a new tune for this text and named it after his one faithful choir member."

 1. In the cross of Christ I glory,

Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

2. When the woes of life o'ertake me,

Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me;
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

3. When the sun of bliss is beaming

Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.

4. Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,

By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.

Where love reaches its completion

"The greatest happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves, or rather loved in spite of ourselves.

"The door to the human heart can be opened only from the inside . . . Out of biology, anthropology, sociology, history, economics, psychology, the plain common sense is--the necessary mandate of survival is that we love our neighbors as ourselves."

*****

Always remember, our ambassadorship is INSIDE of us living out THROUGH us. It can NEVER be carried on by our outward man, says Richard Jordan.

Because there isn’t any kingdom to bring in, God dumps all of this stuff on us upfront so that right now we can get used to operating in it, working in it, living in it. We’re operating in His mind and thinking, so that when we get to heaven, we’ll be ready to get on with the program.

Where obedience exists, it’s the completion and perfection of love. Love reaches its completion, it’s filling up, by being obedient to the will of God. Love is never complete without obedience.

*****

The thing God is most concerned about for you is freedom. That’s what faith is all about. Faith is the ability for you to have the absolute complete freedom in your inner person to do exactly what you choose to do. Without that personal privacy, you can’t make a free choice and God loves freedom. He loved it so much He was willing to risk it—risk His whole plan in creation by giving you freedom.

You know what He wants from you? Your trust. He wants you to believe Him; to rely on Him.

The whole problem with Adam and Eve is they came to the place where they didn’t trust God. As Genesis 3:22 says, "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:"

They didn’t know good and evil because they were TRUSTING God to know it! But they no longer trusted God’s Word about it.

God wants you to rely on Him. That’s why Paul says, [28] Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

Romans 16:25 says, "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began."

It’s HE who has to be related to! You see the relationship is to Him; I’ve got a relationship with HIM!

Galatians 4:19 says, [19] My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.

What’s Paul want to live in you? Roman 4:16 says, [16] Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; 

The dependence is to be on who God has made you in Christ. That is, your TOTAL dependence is to be on Him—that’s what faith is all about!

*****

Paul warns in Colossians 2:8, [8] Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Truth in the Bible is reality and you’ve got the ONE PERSON who IS the truth. What is the source of ultimate reality?

Paul says, "We look at things not seen because things seen are temporal" They’re not what’s real. The things that are NOT seen are eternal. How do you get in touch with that? The only way is by faith. But you have to have faith in what ultimate reality is and that’s who Jesus Christ is.

That’s why it’s not a thing and a theology and something you’re doing. It’s something outside of you—it’s in a PERSON. It’s in God HIMSELF. And when God stepped out of heaven and took upon Himself humanity in the person of Jesus Christ . . . when the eternal God become the God-man in the man Christ Jesus He gave you the ability to reach out and make God tangible and get a hold of Him and He’s the BRIDGE.

Paul’s favorite subject was the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word in the Bible is called edification. It’s building up that doctrine in your understanding that really is the mind of Christ. If you want to know somebody, you really need to know their mind, don’t you?

You know, you can’t look at somebody and tell what they’re thinking. I know you think you can, but you really can’t. Until a person speaks their mind, you don’t know their mind. You have the mind of Christ. If you’re going to know a person, that’s how you know him/her.

I Corinthians 2:15-16 says, [15] But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
[16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

How do you have the mind of Christ? It’s in His Word. Paul says it is "God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." How does He work in you to will and do His good pleasure? By having Christ be formed in you.

*****

Seth Sykes was a tram conductor in the U.K. who resigned in 1929 so that he and his wife, Bessie, could travel to mission churches with their barrel organ, singing and preaching, telling Bible stories with lantern slides.

Seth wrote the lyrics to the hymns while Bessie wrote the music. The 1940 song, Thank You Lord, was created by the couple while they were traveling by railway carriage between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

1)   Some thank the Lord for friends and home,

For mercies sure and sweet;

But I would praise Him for His grace

In prayer I would repeat:

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul,

Thank you, Lord, for making me whole;

Thank you, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so rich and free.

(2)   Some thank Him for the flow'rs that grow,

Some for the stars that shine;

My heart is filled with joy and praise,

Because I know He's mine.

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul,

Thank you, Lord, for making me whole;

Thank you, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so rich and free.

(3)    I trust in Him from day to day,

I prove His saving grace;

I'll sing this song of praise to Him

Until I see His face. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul,

Thank you, Lord, for making me whole;

Thank you, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so rich and free.

Ace in the hole

The ultimate hope of our heart is not simply forgiveness, or simply justification or even heaven, but it’s really the glory of God. You and I, in Christ, are meant to savor and to experience God’s glory," says Richard Jordan.

That’s the ultimate thing that will wipe away every tear, rectify every wrong. That’s the ultimate thing that in the end will let you sing that song, "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus."

Because it’s the glory of God that makes that possible. I can look out there and say, "My ace in the hole is in the end it’s just glory!"

*****

Paul writes in Galatians 1: [21] Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;
[22] And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:
[23] But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
[24] And they glorified God in me.

“Paul went out among the Gentiles where he’d lived and was ‘unknown by face,’ meaning they didn’t have enough contact with Paul to really know what was going on with him to know what he was preaching. They just had heard, ‘Well, he used to be persecuting the followers of Christ and now he’s out preaching that Jesus is the Christ.’

“What does Paul say they did? ‘And they glorified God in me.’ Paul’s saying, ‘They saw God’s Word working in me and they said, ‘Woo-hoo! Praise the Lord! This is good!’ and they glorified God. They saw that God had changed things and they honored and praised the Lord.

“For God to be glorified in him, that is other people seeing God’s word working in Paul (and that glorifies, or honors, the Lord), is what’s going on in II Thessalonian 1:10: [10] When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

“The Word of God working in people that believe produces the life of Christ, and the purpose and plan of God working out through them, and when He comes, He’s going to be glorified by being admired in the saints.

“By the way, you notice the parenthesis in verse 10? If you read the verse without the parenthesis, it helps you get the timing of this. It’s not that you believed in that day; it’s that He’s going to be admired IN you in that day.

“In other words, we’re talking about the future exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he says ‘because our testimony among you was believed,’ you’re going to get to participate in the exaltation and the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ in the ages to come BECAUSE the testimony of Paul includes us and we believe what Christ through Paul has shown to us.

“Ephesians 2:7: [7] That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. That’s how He’s going to be glorified in us and admired in us. We’re going to be set out (one preacher said, ‘We’ll be trophies of His grace’) and people will be able to look at the Body of Christ and be instructed.

“By the way, not just people, but the angelic host. Look at Ephesians 3: [9] And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
[10] To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

“We have a testimony about the wisdom of God and the angelic host is going to be able to admire Him and glorify Him when they see the outworking of His wisdom through us! Now that’s a fantastic . . . that’s the issue of glorifying Him in that day.

“Ephesians 3:20: [20] Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
[21] Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

“You see, that’s not just be glorified now but to be glorified in the Body of Christ through all ages, world without end.

"Not just that it happens now, but that it happens forever. And that’s brought to fruition when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, sweeps away His enemies and establishes His reign in the universe.

“Ephesians 1: [15] Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
[16] Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
[17] That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

“When He’s going to be glorified in us, the glory that He gets is the glory that God the Father determined. There’s this plan that the Father has developed to honor and exalt His Son. When He’s exalted in us, it will be the outworking of the Father of Glory’s plan.

“It’s fascinating to see the titles of God as you go through these things. The God, the Creator, the Head, and the Father may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

“You see, learning what God’s doing is not an issue of just learning a
bunch of doctrine. Somebody told me just the other day, ‘Well, were in this predicament and we’re just glad to have the doctrine work.’ Now that’s true, but it’s not just the doctrine working.

“In the Scripture, it’s really the Word working effectually in you, and when that happens, you know what’s really working in you? Christ is working in you. So when you talk about, ‘Well, it’s the doctrine working,’ remember it’s really the life of Jesus Christ working.

“There’s that personal intimate understanding, and when you come to Ephesians, you’ve come to the place where God says, ‘Come in and let me have access with you; let me bring you into access to understand.’ What’s going on here is the Triune God.” 

Ripe old testimonies of peace

There's an old hymn popularly sung in the Philippines that goes:

The mercies of God What a theme for my song
Oh I never could number them o'er
They're more than the stars in the heavenly dome
Or the sands of the wavebeaten shore

Chorus
For mercies so great, What return can I make
For mercies so constant and sure
I'll love him, I'll serve Him with all that I have
As long as my life shall endure

Jeanne Calment, a French woman recognized as "having the longest confirmed human lifespan," died in 1997 at the age of 122 1/2.  She is said to have joked soon before her departure: "I've been forgotten by our dear Lord." Another quote: "Death doesn't frighten me; now I can think peacefully of ending a long life."

In a YouTube video of a 105-year-old Scottish woman, Jessie Jordan, celebrating her 105th birthday, the tag line reads, "What she credits her longevity to." You watch for 5 minutes and then hear her give her one-word answer: "Peace."

The camera pans out on her little nursing-home room to reveal an open Bible on a table. She goes on to give the gospel and encourages others to enjoy the health gift of forgiving and understanding God's forgiveness.

A story I found online reveals that Jessie Jordan's life (she died in 2011) was "marked with a profound Christian faith and she really lived that faith. Her faith brought her peace, and she recognized how precious peace of heart is in life. Even in her advanced age, she easily recited a handful of Bible verses."

*****

When Ruth Hilliard of Northhampton County, N.C. turned 106 years old in 2019, the national Christian media picked up on it. On TV, radio and in Christian publications, the career school teacher and Sunday School teacher readily credited her longevity to faith in God. News spots pointed out that while Hilliard’s vision "is not as good as it once was, she still recites Christian scripture on a regular basis."

Ruth named Psalm 91: 14-16 as her favorite Bible passage: [14] Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
[15] He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
[16] With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

*****

When you renew your mind daily with Scripture, it transforms you; it has to do with focusing on who God’s made you in Christ, says Richard Jordan.

When you do that, here’s what happens--I Thessalonians 2:13 says, [13] For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

To be transformed, that is, there’s something inside of you which comes out. Jesus went up on the mount of transfiguration and who He was inside shined out of Him and that’s that word ‘transformed.’

By the way, I’m always interested in that "to will is present but how to perform." How do you do this, Paul? Well, that’s what he said in Romans 7:18: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not."

He said, "I want to do, to will is present with me, but I can’t figure out how to do it." Then he gets over to chapter 12 and he says, "You know how you do it? Be not conformed." You’re transformed by the renewing of your mind.

What is it about that? It’s the doctrine renewing, causing you to think like God thinks. The life of Christ is in that doctrine. Jesus said, "The words is speak unto you they are spirit and they are life."

Paul says in Ephesians 3:16, "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man."

Who wrote the Word of God? The Spirit of God. You know how the Spirit of God works? In the song, “Blessed Assurance,” it says, "Angels descending, bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love," but we say, "We don’t believe that!"

We don’t have any angels descending, bringing from above echoes of mercy. Where do you get the echoes of mercy, whispers of love? It’s in the Book sitting in front of you! You don’t have an angel descending, bringing you that. God the Holy Ghost wrote about it and preserved it through history and has got it sitting for you in your own language in your lap. You’re not living some experience; you’ve got it already!

You see, you’ve got the information, and when you BELIEVE it, it becomes the energy and the life and the transforming power down in your soul that His life then works out through you.

You go back to Romans 12:2 and you see the purpose for the renewed mind is that "we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." The purpose of the renewed mind is so you can properly evaluate life and determine in the details of your life what it is God would have you to do.

*****

I don't think Believers appreciate near enough the fact that just by taking God at His Word--truly believing the Bible, dispensationally considered, contains absolutely everything God wants us to know about Him and our relationship to Him--lends real power. It's internal power that shatters anything the world has to offer.

It's that ability God gives in the inner man, strengthened with might. It's an energy in your inner man to endure. That's spiritual power. There's something about that strength, that power that God gives. No great open physical displays and things that make everybody "ooh" and 'ahh,' but that "patient continuance in well doing."

He's saying not only can we know something about the breadth, length, depth and height of Jesus Christ's love for us, but we can truly know it and its power to work in us. The power is in the faith in it.

Through knowing the measurements, dimensions and parameters of exactly what God is doing today, there's a maturing of the relationship that is extremely intimate and lends deep, deep communion.

You can not just know about His tremendous love, but KNOW it, appreciate it, enter into it and find out how it passes knowledge. Just as it is in a momma's touch with a newborn baby, there's a love there and a communication there that passes any ability to understand and explain it.

It's that kind of a bond, that kind of a connection. It's as though it were a mother's touch that reaches down and assuages the hurt and salves the wound and dispels the fear and gives untold strength and stability.

*****

"To study the Bible, you take all these little pieces that take 30-45 minutes apiece to study and work out and get into your understanding; that’s a piece. It takes time. I spend at least 20 hours a week just to study, not to prepare and get ready to teach and preach. I usually can get ready to do that in a couple of hours. It doesn’t take a lot of time to do that when you’ve done all the other study. My biggest problem is to cull stuff out, to pick the stuff I want to use out of this big pile of stuff.

“When I lost my Bible, I spent a long time in just a grieving process, not because I lost my Bible, but because I lost YEARS of notes and answers. You work through things and you work it out and you spend a day or two working out a problem and it’s a knotty thing but you work through and get to a conclusion.

“You write the references down and you write a note that explains it and I can read that little note and all that information will pop back up on the screen in my mind.

“When I lost the Bible what kept bothering me is I’d go start studying something, just like I turned to Isaiah 14, and all that study that I’d done in my other Bible where I’d make a note or something.

“What that note does is sort of capsulizes maybe two days of research in a note you’ve made that you can read in 30 seconds and be reminded about. It just sort of summarizes two days of thinking and research and stuff and you’ve got it capsulized down.

“What happens when I lose a little crib note? Well, I can remember most of it, but sometime maybe you didn’t think about that stuff. Maybe you don’t think about it again for two years. And then you come back across that passage of Scripture and study it and you’re trying to figure out something and that stuff you studied two years ago is going to be the key to understanding what you’re trying to figure out today.

“You get there and you say, ‘You know, if I could figure out that little piece of information there, I could answer this and, you know, I figured that out a couple of years ago and it’s written in the margin of that Bible I lost and then you’re depressed again. You’re ready to go kick the car.

“It doesn’t mean you can’t restudy it; it’s an issue of efficiency and time. I don’t like to do something three times. I like to do it once, get it right and then move on. Build on that. That’s what we do when we study.

“You might think, ‘What’s that got to with anything?’ Well, later on that little piece out there that you didn’t know had anything to do with anything, later on you’ll find that it will be a key for you somewhere else and that’s the way you put the Bible together.

“You just keep adding the information, and the bits, and pretty soon it all kind of fills in. When you study something, don’t get discouraged because you can’t right that minute see some practical application into what you already know. Just remember you’re just putting information on the shelf that later on you’ll be able to pull down and use.”

(note: I am working on my life story and will post some of it tomorrow)

Drawing whole population into her false religion

Genesis 13: [12] Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. [13] But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

What Lot did was he looked out there and saw Sodom and it looked like the Garden of Eden. It was a beautiful, prosperous going place, explains Richard Jordan.

When you think of Sodom, the idea of the pride in their wealth and all the things they had; the fulness of bread, the abundance of idleness, how they didn't strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. No concern about the needs of others; just focused on themselves and their own pleasures. Social consciousness wasn't there.

Ezekiel 16: [48] As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

[49] Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
[50] And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

When He talks about abominations, that's where the homosexuality comes in. An abomination in Scripture is a perversion of God's design. This prosperous, liberal-minded society where anything goes is the kind of culture . . . These verses are telling you the kind of culture that allows the sexual perversion to exist and take over the culture. And that's one that forgets God, has no interest in God.

Genesis 19: [1] And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

Lot pitched his eyes toward Sodom, then he pitched his tent toward Sodom and now he's in the government of Sodom. It's that progression into the world. II Peter says Lot was a just man and had a righteous soul and he vexed his soul with the filthy conversation of the wicked. He was a Believer living a culture completely filled with unbelievers and their activities.

Genesis 19: 2-5: [2] And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

[3] And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
[4] But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
[5] And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

That's not, "Let's have a question and answer session and get to know one another." That's like Genesis 4:1: [1] And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain. This is where Sodom gets identified with the sexual act.

Verse 24: [24] Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

One of the slur words for a homosexual is the word "fag" which is shorthand for the word "faggot," which is a bundle of things that are burning. It comes from what happened to Sodom when God rained down fire and brimstone down onto them.

Verse 33: [33] And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

[34] And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our Father.
[35] And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
[36] Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
[37] And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
[38] And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

Each one of Lot's daughters goes in and commits incest with their daddy. Later on, when you see the Moabites and the Amorites fighting Israel, they are really Lot's kids by his daughters. The perversion of the society that would produce that kind of unequivocal--I mean these girls aren't saying anything that wasn't common in their thinking; this is the culture they came out of.

Deuteronomy 23: [17] There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

[18] Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

When Ezekiel talks about the abominations, this is the kind of stuff he's talking about. Every time in the Bible that sodomy comes up, the context is fascinating; it's the spiritual apostasy of the nation Israel into Baal worship.

In connection with Baal worship was a lot of sexual perversion because the idea in Baal worship is to attack the creation and to assault the purpose of the Creator in His creation. It's a spiritual battle on an advanced level.

I Kings 14: [22] And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.

[23] For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
[24] And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

Deuteronomy 32: [29] O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

[30] How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
[31] For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
[32] For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
[33] Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

When he talks about the wine, he's talking about what in Revelation 17 is the fruit and the intoxication produced by this false religion: [1] And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

[2] With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

She's able to deceive, to intoxicate the whole population and draw them into her false religion.

Revelation 11:8: [8] And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Jerusalem has been captured by Mystery Babylon the Great, the satanic policy of evil, and so much so that they've become identified in that.

My point is when Ezekiel is talking about these sexual perversions, it's not just the physical thing; it's the spiritual thing that's producing the physical activity.

So when you talk about sexual perversion, no matter what kind it is, you're talking about more than a physical thing; you're talking about the spiritual battle underneath it. Sodomy is the manifestation of a spiritual problem. It's not a genetic problem; it's a spiritual problem. There's a satanic policy of influence that makes this a special spiritual issue.

'AI, AI, AI, That's all folks!'

"Bill Gates and his ilk have the God Complex going on. They all possess this thing; they really truly believe they were divinely placed to make the decisions for the rest of us."

*****

An official trailer released a few weeks ago, appearing on YouTube, is for a new five-episode Netflix series called "What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates."

As a promotional blurb for the show says, "The former CEO of Microsoft takes a look at various aspects of humanity’s future and how currently emerging tech will affect those aspects, both for good and bad . . . We see him meeting with the most influential people in tech, and he interviews many of the experts in each episode.

"Gates also speaks to James Cameron, who likens how we’re dealing with the warnings about AI to what happened to the Titanic. But he also co-wrote The Terminator, the uber-tale of AI out of control, way back in the early 1980s, so he is actually a good person to talk to about this. He admits to Gates that he takes the more dystopian view of the technology, which balances out Gates’ more optimistic view, which examines how it will help humanity if deployed correctly.

"The other episodes in the series talk about the preponderance of conspiracy theories, the ability of technology to help us slow climate change, the potential of combating communicable diseases with technology, and the implications of the income gap. Given the fact that Gates is heavily involved in this series, there are plenty of famous faces interviewed amongst the experts, like Lady Gaga, Bono, Senators Bernie Sanders and Mitt Romney, Dr. Anthony Fauci and more."

In the trailer, they literally show AI turning into a monster and laugh about it. You can see from the images given it's literally one of the Lovecraftian Great Old Ones.

Geordie Rose, when talking about AI: "These things that we're summoning into the world now are not demons, they're not evil, but they're more like the Lovecraftian Old Ones. There are entities that are not necessarily going to be aligned with what we want."

From Wikipedia: "An ongoing theme in H.P. Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of humanity in the face of the cosmic horrors that exist in the universe, with Lovecraft constantly referring to the 'Great Old Ones': a loose pantheon of ancient, powerful deities from space who once ruled the Earth and who have since fallen into a death-like sleep.^[3]

"Lovecraft named several of these deities, including Cthulhu, Ghatanothoa, and Yig. With a few exceptions, Cthulhu, Ghatanothoa, et al., this loose pantheon apparently exists outside of normal space-time. Although worshipped by deranged human (and inhuman) cults, these beings are generally imprisoned or restricted in their ability to interact with most people (beneath the sea, inside the Earth, in other dimensions, and so on), at least until the hapless protagonist is unwittingly exposed to them. Lovecraft visited this premise in many of his stories, notably his 1928 short story, 'The Call of Cthulhu', with reference to the eponymous creature. However, it was Derleth who applied the notion to all of the Great Old Ones. The majority of these have physical forms that the human mind is incapable of processing; simply viewing them renders the viewer incurably insane."

From the trailer: "It's getting hard to write science fiction. With conspiracy theories we underestimate how creative Americans are: 'Bill Gates is a part of a reptilian race that includes Tom Hanks and Lady Gaga.' "

Commentary on this: "You got to love how they reveal themselves, hiding in plain sight and then mocking you about it, because they really do look at themselves as a different species. They're not on the same playing field, and you have to understand that. They take counsel with the powers and principalities in spiritual wickedness in high places. That's who they serve."

Lady Gaga in the trailer: "Entertainment and information are a lot closer together than they ever have been before. There's no way to stop it."

Commentary: "What they're telling you is that through the censorship and the internet identification systems and everything they're putting in, your information will essentially be the entertainment because you will be censored from being able to obtain your own information in order to discern a matter for yourself.

"Things like Antisemitism Awareness Act Bill 6090 from 2023 will essentially ban things from your access and be criminalized. Things like Scriptures in our Bible, for instance, because that's the main target of their censorship program. They will eventually literally ban the Word of God and come up with a new Bible--one that's correct, created by AI."

Commentary: "Bill claims he doesn't have a solution where, in fact, they know EXACTLY what they're solution is and they're applying it right before our eyes.

"Now, a lot of people have figured this out by now, but when Bill Gates and the like make statements such as, 'We have to eliminate all hydrocarbons,' they're essentially saying, 'We need to destroy creation,' because these are the building blocks of creation.

" 'We'll eliminate human population.' That's what all of this really boils down to. They're openly declaring, intending to destroy God's creation so they can Build Back Better. 

"They say, 'Absolutely we can usurp God and form an insurrection against Him because He was flawed in His creation. Therefore, we must destroy it and rebuild it back better in our own image, meanwhile deceiving the nations and hunting their souls.

Of course, you've got to have the emotional manipulation. You can't have a good con job without some emotion there.

Bill: "We've got a lot of work to do; the sooner the better."

Bono from U2 in trailer: "If Bill Gates didn't exist we'd have to make him up and no one would believe the character."

*****

At a Bible conference in North Carolina a few years back, Richard Jordan spoke of a young man around 30 who was in a federal penitentiary out West. He had been saved about four years and graduated from my church's Grace School of the Bible.

Jordan recalled, "I got a letter from him recently telling me it's the third time he's been beaten up and literally put into the prison infirmary by Muslims who want to stop him from preaching the gospel. They corner him and say, 'You need to recant, deny Jesus and confess Allah or we're going to beat you up.' He keeps saying, 'I won't do it,' and they keep beating him up.

"I asked him, 'Has the thought entered your mind, oh maybe the fourth time they're going to beat you up, that you could just say to yourself, I'm not going to lose my salvation if I say I'll deny Jesus?' He answered, 'How can I do that?' I said, 'Well, that's the right answer, but we've all got flesh, weaknesses where those thoughts come into the mind.'

"He said, 'You know, when I learned about the grace of God and how to rightly divide God's Word so it wasn't confusing . . . There was a time when it was so confusing that if those guys had approached me, then I would have given up, because it was so confusing I didn't know how to answer it for myself. Now, I have a clear understanding and when they come, I've got an answer.'

"That young man in the penitentiary doesn't really have much of an expectation of ever getting out, and yet in it, he has a ministry. It keeps him going: 'I'm doing it for the Lord Jesus Christ.' It was the same thing with Paul, who said, 'I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ.' That's who he's doing it for; he's not doing it for himself, for religious notoriety.

"How did Paul become the Apostle to the Gentiles? Romans 11:

11] I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
[12] Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
[13] For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
[14] If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

"Paul begins Ephesians 3 with, [1] For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Notice it says he's a prisoner OF, not FOR Jesus Christ. He realized the reason he was a prisoner in Rome was because he was preaching the message of the gospel of the grace of God.

"He prays in Ephesians 6: [19] And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, [20] For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

"He knew why he was where he was because of who he was serving. Ephesians 3 continues, [2] If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward:

[3] How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
[4] Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

"How often do people read that passage and not even see what it says? Paul says, 'I just got a revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ, from God the Father to me, and that's how I got to be an apostle. I'm an apostle by the will of God. God is doing something that's different than what He did in time past. It's part of His secret program.'

"You know, [5] Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; [6] That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.

"The thing that strikes me more often than not when I think about this passage, when the Apostle Paul went out and preached Christ, he preached to a pagan world that had never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ. At least at the synagogue in Acts they knew who the Messiah was, because they knew the Scripture, but Paul went out and preached to completely unattached pagans.

"The world that has come upon us right now, and the reason things are happening the way they're happening right now in our culture, is that we're going into a world exactly like the Apostle Paul lived in.

"Our country, you know, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'

"Can you think of a verse that matches each of those? Sure. The social impact of the Protestant Reformation is the source of the underlying philosophy that produced the founding documents and the founding thinking of our country.

"That influence of the Protestant Reformation, that social impact and the social compacts produced because of that in a new world--the things that produced the foundation of all that, they're gone!

Where 'river to the sea' comes from

Here's an outtake from tonight's study at Shorewood and will post article I've been working on tomorrow for sure:

In Genesis 15, when God gave Abraham the Promised Land, it was from the Mediterranean all the way over to the Euphrates River. The Nile River on the south, the Mediterranean on the west and the Euphrates on the east.

Here, it's from the Mediterranean and the Nile to the Jordan River. So this is only the small swath of land from the river to the sea. You see how He says it in Ezkiel 47:

[18] And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.
[19] And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
[20] The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.

This is where the phrase "the river to the sea" comes from. These dudes today protesting Israel and calling Israel to be destroyed from "the river to the sea," have no idea they're quoting Scripture.

If you told them they were, they'd spit in your face. But it's just the way the Lord works things out. You wind up quoting His Word when you're trying to deny it.

In the Millennium, that's where's that piece of ground. The final inheritance, from the sea all the way to Euphrates, comes after the Millennium. Today we're still in the transition into it.

It's fascinating down in verse 21: [21] So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.

Again, I emphasize, He's laying out their possession of the land. It's extremely important you realize it isn't just Israel; it's the land. God's intention with Israel is to restore His authority over the LAND; the planet.

This is where Jehovah is going to dwell. If you look in the last verse in the book, it's His city. He says, "The name of the city from that day shall be, 'The Lord is here.'

Jerusalem is going to be where Jehovah dwells. He's going to come and live here and He's never going to leave again. That's the whole point in Ezekiel.

Here's a post from March, entitled "Fear of losing," that's suddenly gained a lot of traction:

"The Pharisees minded what God spoke, but not what he intended. They were busy in the outward work of the hand, but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart. So God was served in the letter; they did not much inquire His purpose; and therefore they were curious to wash their hands, but cared not to purify their hearts."--quote online

*****

John 12:42-43: [42] Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: [43] For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

The chief rulers were among the elect of the Jews, probably members of the Sanhedrin. At this point in Christ's ministry, the gospel was having inroads even among the leaders. But because of the Pharisees the leaders would not confess Christ. Knowing it would mean expulsion from their religious circle they were afraid of being ostracized and shunned.

“Being put out of the synagogue was a fearful thing for these Jews. In Luke 9, when Jesus began to tell His apostles about His going to the Cross, one of the things He says is He’s going to be rejected of the elders," explains Richard Jordan.

“That’s saying, ‘You’re not a part of Israel.’ When you did that to a Jew you completely cut off his whole hope; his whole identity. All of his connection with his family and his heritage; you cut it away. I mean, that favored nation held together. They struggled together; they stayed together. They were going to put these guys out.

“Then He says, ‘Not only will they put you out of the synagogue, thinking they are doing God’s service (‘We’re serving God by putting you out’), they’re going to kill you!’

“That’s not just hatred and rejection; that’s a physical attack that winds up in your death, and before they get you dead, they do all the things necessary to get you dead. They didn’t come up and shoot people because they didn’t have guns back then. They stoned them.

“It takes a little bit of time to stone somebody to death. I was reading an article the other day about how difficult it is to kill somebody by strangling them. You can shoot or knife somebody, but to strangle them isn’t just that you have to physically overpower them, which you do, but you literally have to hold them until their very life ebbs out of them.

“It takes more than physical strength; it takes a psychological toughness, meanness, hatred, anger, passion, whatever it is, because you have to hold them to the point where they don’t breathe anymore. In your hands you literally feel it and you literally feel it go away.

“You see, killing people is not…modern American Gentiles have made killing so easy. We send an airplane at seven miles up into the air and drop a bomb on somebody. Where the bomb lands is terrible but the dude that dropped the bomb goes back home and eats supper and goes to bed and never thinks about it.

“If that same guy had to put his hands around the neck of the woman that his bomb destroyed and squeezed the life out of, well there’d be a different kind of situation I bet.

“One of the things the Gentiles do is they constantly become better and better at killing people. We’re talking about modern science and the improvement of things, and you know what, every modern advancement and technology has been used, not just for the good of mankind, but to make it easier to kill people.

"You name it! In fact, most of the technological advancements that trickle down to you and me in life comes from military advancements where they were trying to stay a step ahead of the other guy so, ‘He can’t kill me; I can kill him first!’

*****

“But these guys are doing this because they thinking they’re serving God; this murderous rage where they’re going to kill you. You’ll see it in the Book of Acts.

Acts 5: [26] Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.

[27] And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
[28] Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
[29] Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
[30] The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

“Because Peter and John had healed that man at the temple in Acts 3 they got called before the religious leaders and told, ‘Don’t do that again; you filled the city with this man’s doctrine,’ and because they kept preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, they get called in again.

“If the rulers tell you not to do something God says to do, and you go ahead and obey God, that means the rulers might come down on you. You’re not doing it to be rebellious against rulers; you’re doing it to be faithful to God. Duties don’t conflict. And when God tells you to do something, you do what God tells you.

"But boy, when you break the religious rules of people . . . There’s no hatred like religious hatred, and be it a pope or a Protestant or an Imam, there’s no hatred, no persecution so fierce as that fired by a zeal for God and a zeal for ‘what’s right’ as you want it to be, as your religion says.”