France celebrates full-on Baal parade with Emmanuel present!

At the end of November, a government-sponsored and taxpayer-funded "Gate of Darkness" parade was held for Baal in Toulouse, France.

"This was no street festival. This was a public occult invocation dressed as art –and Brigitte Macron was in the VIP section wearing a custom black-and-crimson gown embroidered with the same serpentine Lilith sigil that adorned the main float," reports a Christian news site.

"The towering biomechanical hybrids were straight out of Genesis 6 Nephilim imagery, while the Minotaur float re-enacted offerings to the child-eating god Ba’al/Moloch. The centerpiece: a red-eyed 'Lilith' figure worshipped by black-robed performers (dancers in Baphomet-style horned headdresses) chanting reversed Latin."

Put on by France’s Ministry of Culture, the “Gate of Darkness” parade included:
• A 15-foot horned Minotaur resembling Ba’al/Moloch
• Upside-down crosses and pentagram structures
• A mock “sacrificial labyrinth” featuring a goat-masked priest offering a child mannequin to the giant bull-headed mechanical float

“French media outlets, including Le Parisien, reported that Brigitte Macron was present in the VIP section wearing designer attire inspired by the Lilith motif, confirming official involvement at the highest levels,” reports a Christian watchdog website.

“The parade’s towering biomechanical giants closely resembled traditional depictions of the Nephilim hybrid creatures described in both Scripture and early Jewish writings. The inclusion of Lilith—a figure associated with spiritual rebellion, forbidden unions, and demonic offspring—intensified concerns.

From another Christian website: “The Minotaur float, complete with a sacrificial labyrinth stage where performers in goat masks symbolically offered a child mannequin to the bull-headed god, was a direct nod to Ba’al and Moloch worship, the very deities the ancient Israelites were warned never to tolerate.

"And leading the esoteric charge? None other than a towering depiction of Lilith – Adam’s apocryphal first wife turned mother of demons – paraded as a 'liberated goddess' while flanked by transgender-coded dancers in Baphomet-style horned headdresses.

"Which brings us to the Macrons, who were in attendance at the mega-ritual funded by Emmanuel’s government.”

*****

Just this past Wednesday night we were reminded in the evening Bible study at my church that “the chief enemy we face isn’t all this stuff the politicians or Christian nationalists talk about. The chief enemy in that Bible is MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT.”

From the study:

Isaiah 13: [18] Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
[19] And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

The people who come in and destroy Babylon are going to give back to them just what they’ve been given. You can look at what the social religious cultural attitude of Sodom was and know Babylon is going to be destroyed exactly the same way.

[20] It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

Note, it’s never going to be inhabited by humans again. But look what will happen:

[21] But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
[22] And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

What’s going to inhabit that territory after the destruction—it’s going to become a place occupied by Revelation 18:2:

[2] And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

He’s talking about the city and it’s 'become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit.'

She’s going to be a 'glory of kingdoms' and then judgment comes and she turns into a zoo for demonic creatures.

We know there are places in the millennium that will be a zoo of demonic spirits. There’s going to be memorials to the destruction of the satanic policy of evil and Babylon’s going to have a place in that.

Here’s the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters:

[3] So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
[4] And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
[5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

(new article this evening. I had a spectacularly busy day at work yesterday with people making Christmas purchases galore, but have today off fortunately--my feet couldn't take another day)

'Yes, Virginia, Satan, er, Santa is an obvious counterfeit'

(new article tomorrow)

"Point is, there's not a single fictional character whose reputation is greater or spread more widely. Quite simply, Santa Claus is a legendary figure, and I couldn't imagine a better role model for all the kids around the world"--Top Ten Most Influential Fictional Characters In History

*****

"Someone asked me, 'Where's Santy Claus in the Bible?' " relays Richard Jordan. "Well, look at Zechariah 2:6. It reads, 'Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord.'

"This is God calling Israel back to Jerusalem (for Jesus Christ's return to set up His kingdom), and when He does, He says, 'Ho, ho.' He's excited about regathering Israel and putting them back into their land."

Santa (anagram for Satan) Claus is a false Christ who matches the true Christ in many of his features. In fact, his image is like that of Jesus Christ at the Second Coming.

"In what specific ways does Santa counterfeit the Lord Jesus Christ?" says David Reid. "Santa visits every house in the world on the same night. In order to do that, you have to essentially be omnipresent. Speaking about God, Psalm 139 says, [7] Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?[8] If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

"Santa sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good. He's essentially omniscient. He knows all those things. Proverbs 15:3 says about the Lord: [3] The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

"What does Santa do? He gives gifts. What does Matthew 7:11 say about what God does? [11] If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

"Santa has little children come unto him. What happened in Matthew 19? Jesus Christ says, 'Suffer the little children to come unto me.'

"Santa is a jolly old--he's always described as old. You know why he's always described as an old elf? Because God is the ancient of days. The Lord was before Abraham and thus He was old.

*****

"In Revelation 1:14, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, 'His head and his hairs were white like wool.' So what kind of hair does this guy have?" asks Jordan.

"Verse 15 says, 'And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.' So when this guy comes to your house, what does he come down? The chimney. Did you ever look up the word 'chimney' in the dictionary? It means 'a furnace of fire.'

"Come with me to Isaiah 63:2. This is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ coming. It says, 'Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel.' What color clothes does he wear?

"Look at what Deuteronomy 33:26 says about the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes back to establish His kingdom.

"And, by the way, if you notice verse 24, it says, 'And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren.' Asher is the name of the boy Leah had back in Genesis when she said, 'Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed.' Asher means 'happy.'

"So when the happy God comes to accomplish His purpose, verse 26 says, 'There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.'

"You know how He comes back? He's riding in the sky. 

"In Matthew 7:7, when Jesus Christ's speaking to the 'little flock' in Israel, talking about when He comes to say 'Ho, ho, ho' to the nation Israel—when He comes with that white hair and red garment, riding in the heavens to establish His kingdom—He says to that kingdom group of saints, 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.'

"You take your kids down to the mall and what do you tell them  to tell this other guy in a red suit and white hair? You say, 'Tell him what you want.' Because whatever you want, he'll give it to you.

"In Genesis 18, the question's asked, 'Is anything impossible with God?' Whatever you want, this dude will get you.

"In Matthew 28, Jesus said, 'All power in heaven and earth is given to me.' This other guy over here, we say, 'Well, he knows everything. He knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows when you're bad, he knows when you're good. He's making a list and checking it twice.'

"Revelation 20:12 says men are going to stand before God and the books are going to be opened, and they're going to be judged out of the things written in the books. God's got a list.

"Gets kind of spooky, doesn't it? Think somebody's trying to counterfeit something along the way here?"

*****

Reid continues, "What is Santa's profession? He makes toys, right? Santa is in his woodworking shop making wooden toys. Do you know any famous carpenters? I know one. It's not a coincidence that Santa makes wooden toys, don't kid yourself.

"Where does Santa live? Why is he at the North Pole and not the South Pole? The reason why is in Isaiah 14, where there's a description of what is said to Satan when he's cast into hell and mocked by people. Verses 12-13: [12] How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

[13] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

"The universe has to come to a point where it can't go farther north, almost like the earth has a northernmost point and that's where Santa supposedly lives. He lives in the North Pole just as God sits in the sides of the north. 

*****

"Santa is known as 'Father Christmas.' Jesus Christ is specially called the 'everlasting Father,' isn't He? You can see it in Isaiah 9:6: [6] For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

"What is Santa's other name? Kris Kringle. What does the word 'Kris' mean? It's an abbreviation of Christopher, a name that means 'bearing Christ inside.' It's a derivation of Christ. In other words, Santa, by his very name, is a false Christ!

*****

"Santa Claus is a counterfeit of the Lord Jesus Christ specifically with regard to the Second Coming. Everyone knows the tune, 'Santa Claus is coming to town.' The issue with Santa Claus is his coming! You look forward to it, you wait, you set out cookies so the fat man can steal one. You're anticipating he's going to be there, just as the world waits for the return of Jesus Christ, doesn't it? 'Behold, I come quickly.'

"Santa's always pictured with white hair and a beard. Did Christ have a beard? He apparently did, according to Isaiah 50:6. [6] I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

"Revelation tells you something about what Christ's going to look like when He returns. His head and His hairs were white like wool. Isn't that what Santa Claus looks like? See, he masquerades as what the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be at the Second Coming.

"What does Santa wear? He dresses in red and white. What does Jesus Christ wear, according to Revelation 19, which describes the Second Coming?

"Verses 13-14 :[13] And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. [14] And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

"Guess what color it will be--it's going to white and red. It's going to be blood-stained. You would think about Santa differently if you thought that what he was wearing was a blood-stained garment.

"You know what Santa does? He comes surreptitiously, suddenly, unannounced in the middle of the night. You know good and well who that is. I Thessalonians 5:2: [2] For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

"In Revelation 3:3 is Jesus Christ speaking: 'I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.'

"Revelation 16:15: [15] Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

"But there's more. Santa makes a list, doesn't he? What I would suggest to you is that in Revelation 20 the Lord Jesus Christ has a list as well. Because the Lord keeps both the books of the works that men have performed and what does He also keep? The Book of Life.

"Santa checks his list twice. If you read Revelation 20, it seems to me that what happens is before anyone is cast into 'the lake of fire,' just to be safe, the Book of Life is opened and it's confirmed that their name is not in there.

"By the way, does God know who's saved and lost? Of course He does, but He sort of double-checks. He confirms that they're not in the Book of Life before they're cast into the lake of fire. That's Santa checking his list.

*****

"Is Santa designed to be a counterfeit of the Lord Jesus Christ at the Second Coming? This is Satan's deception: Just as it is childish and foolish to believe in Santa when you're grownup, it's childish and foolish to believe in the Second Coming. Doesn't even II Peter say, 'Where is the promise of his coming?'

"You've been told you should teach your children this deliberate lie, that there's this Santa Claus character, and then what happens is someone at school or otherwise tells the kid that it's fake. So they learn that the whole Santa thing is a joke; it's not real, it's just a game children play.

"I believe it's a way to teach people not to believe in the Second Coming. What Satan wants to do is condition people to outgrow their faith in Christ and outgrow their faith in His return.

"The world gets excited when Santa's coming because Santa's bringing toys: 'Isn't this going to be great, we're all going to have a jolly Christmas.' What actually happens at the Second Coming?

"Revelation 6: [15] And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

[16] And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

"There's men who are crying out that they want rocks to fall on them because they're looking up into heaven--they see the sign of the Son of man coming in heaven and think, 'I'd rather be crushed by a large rock because otherwise He's going to come get me.'

"They're not looking for toys; they're in abject fear. Verse 17: [17] For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

"Of course, among the lost, the answer is no one." 

All the world's being staged

You hear commentators refer to it as "disinformation warfare." Either way, the hints are being dropped and the stage is being set for World War III.

"It isn't just your neighbors; it’s the principalities and powers in heavenly places,” says Richard Jordan.

“Satan's angels are all watching us (Bible-believing Christians) and seeing the manifestation of the ‘manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose He purposed in Christ Jesus.’

You're just destroying the ‘wisdom’ of the Adversary. How do you think that makes them feel?!

*****

When Bach wrote Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, he incorrectly assumed the “desire of all nations” from Haggai 2:7 was a reference to Jesus Christ.

The passage from Haggai reads: [5] According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
[6] For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
[7] And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

“Haggai is not talking about Believers! Think about it, what nation has there ever been that desired Him?! Look at John 5:43 to see what the nations desire:  [43] I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

“Jesus Christ’s saying, ‘I came in my Father’s name, you didn’t want me. Another is going to come in his own name and you know who that is? The Antichrist.’

“You know who the nations really desire? They desire the Lie, not the truth. And when the personification of the Lie, the Antichrist, the 'man of sin,' the 'son of perdition,' shows up as that ‘Wicked,’ what do they do? They receive a lie because they didn’t have a love for the truth. So, what the world does is they receive the Antichrist, believing and trusting in him.

“There’s never been a time in human history, in all the world, that the nations of this world have desired the God of the Bible. They desire ‘the god of this world.’

*****

“Today, the internal strength of character necessary to be who we have been as a nation is GONE. It still exists somewhat in the older generations, but the younger generations, for the most part, while you find little nests of people around, when you go out there in the culture . . . 

"All the things God puts in a culture to de-savage and discipline it and give people the capacity to be strong, Isaiah 14 says what Satan does is he weakens the nations by taking those things out. That’s what’s going on in Haggai; it’s already happened.

“In the 1960s there was a national radio guy, Carl MacIntire, who had The Twentieth Century Reformation Hour, and he used to say, ‘Remember, the Communists want peace--a piece of this, a piece of that, until they have it all.’ I used to think, ‘That’s a great saying. They want peace, but they spell it different. When they have it all, then there’s p-e-a-c-e.’ Well, that’s what this crafty guy wants.

*****

“What you’re seeing going on will really happen when the Antichrist arises.

"The Antichrist's going to come in and stop war, have the answer for peace, and flatter everybody into thinking, ‘He's the guy!’

“Daniel 11:21-22: [21] And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
[22] And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.

“He’s going to come in, deliver Israel, make them rich and gain their loyalty. Verse 25: [25] And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.

“The Antichrist's going to go out and there’s going to be another big war and verse 27 says: [27] And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.

“You look at that and you think, ‘That just sounds like modern American politics,’ but what goes on in America goes on everywhere else. Listen, every country is the same way to one extent or another.

“Now in the middle of all of that mess, verse 31 says: [31] And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

“You see there the daily sacrifice and the sanctuary? He has reestablished Judaism. One of the things the Antichrist does is rebuilds Israel’s temple and lets them have back their Mosaic system.

“Verse 32: [32] And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

“There are going to be some people who understand what’s going on. Verse 35: [35] And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

“So there’s going to be some wisdom among some people and they’re going to have an awareness. Where are they going to get the awareness? Out of these books (of the Prophets) that we’re reading!

“And Hosea says, ‘Who is wise? He’s going to understand. Who’s prudent? He’s going to know.’ The way they know it is because God gave it to them in a Book. These books!

*****

“You see that thing, ‘Who is wise?’ Isaiah says, ‘Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.’

“How they’re going to know is they’re going to get it out of God’s Word. The Book of Hosea is the 28^th book in the Bible. There’s a strange thing about the Book of Isaiah.

“How many books are in the Bible? 66. How many chapters in Isaiah? 66. Isaiah begins, ‘Earth, earth, earth, hear the word.’ The Bible begins in Genesis with, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’

“Isaiah 66 ends with a new heaven and a new earth and the lake of fire. The last book in the Bible, Revelation, concludes with a new heaven and a new earth and the lake of fire.

“How many books are in the Old Testament? 39. The first book in the New Testament, the Book of Matthew, quotes Isaiah 40 with, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness.’ John the Baptist shows up in Isaiah 40 just like he shows up in Matthew. Strange thing. If you read Isaiah, you’ll discover that each chapter in Isaiah, the thought patterns match that chapter of the Bible.

*****

“It is true of the people who see Israel’s religion re-established, and who’s going to establish that? The Antichrist is. That’s what the book of Hebrews is all about.

“When you see that sacrificial Mosaic system and the temple rebuilt and somebody sitting in that temple professing themselves to be God, run! That’s not God; that’s the enemy!

“One of the first things he does, it won’t take but 220 days after he signs that covenant with Israel that their temple worship will be restored.

“It’s going to be a fast-moving thing. When they see that happen, instead of saying, ‘Wow, he’s the Messiah,’ it’s going to be, ‘Ooh, he’s the Wicked one we’re going to have to run from!’ "

Crossing the great divide

Here are the lyrics to the old hymn "It Will Be Worth It All" by Esther Kerr Rusthoi:

Oft times the day seems long, our trials hard to bear,
We're tempted to complain, to murmur and despair;
But Christ will soon appear to catch His Bride away,
All tears forever over in God's eternal day.

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.

Sometimes the sky looks dark with not a ray of light,
We're tossed and driven on, no human help in sight;
But there is one in heav'n who knows our deepest care,
Let Jesus solve your problem – just go to Him in pray'r.

Life's day will soon be o'er, all storms forever past,
We'll cross the great divide, to glory, safe at last;
And we'll all share the joys of heav'n – a harp, a home, a crown,
The tempter will be banished, we'll lay our burden down.

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.
Till we see Christ

“Life’s a lot tougher in its reality than most evangelicals and the Charismatics want you to believe it is. If you think you’re just going to thank God for all the (troublesome) things in your life, you’re nuts. I’m sorry. God never told you to be grateful for all those things that come into your life. He says in them, in all things, give thanks. How do you do that? You look away from yourself to who God’s made you in Christ.

“Whatever you depend on to give you purpose and meaning and life, that’s what’s going to control you.

“Really the only real sin that you constantly have to deal with is the sin of unbelief. The sin of not trusting the sufficiency God has given you in Christ.

"All the other things—all the sins of the flesh Paul names— adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings—all of those are really symptoms of your lack of faith in the sufficiency of who God’s made you in Christ.

“The way you cure depression is not by focusing on the symptoms, it’s focusing on the source. The battle’s in your mind, first and foremost.

“Imaginations are designed to be programmed by our conscious mind and it’s the things in our imagination that effect our emotions.

“The devil doesn’t program them, you program them. Or you allow them to be programmed by the intake your mind is having. They can be re-programmed, re-directed by your conscious thinking. So you cast down all this uncontrolled involuntary thinking that comes into your mind. Cast it down, ‘bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’

“The way you re-program your imagination is through the conscious application of sound doctrine. That’s the objective of sound doctrine. And that’s the only way you’re going to control what Paul calls our ‘vain imagination.’ ‘Vain’ means empty, useless thinking. Not based on truth, but based on error.”

*****

“The radio has FM and AM dial and we can choose which band we’re going to listen to:

“The one band is error, and it says, ‘Worry and worry early.’ God says, ‘Be careful for nothing.’ Don’t be anxious or worried about anything. Which station do you listen to? Truth or error? 

“God says He’s perfected forever all those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. How are you going to get any better than that? You’re complete in Christ, ‘blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.’ This is who God’s made you.

“Which are you going to believe? You say, ‘But look at what I’ve done,’ and God says, ‘Yeah, I know, look at what I did.’

“Where are you looking? What station are you listening to? He says, ‘Reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God.’ ”

“Bottom line, godliness with contentment is where it’s at. As Paul says, ‘I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.’

“You can’t worry and trust God at the same time. So when you’re worrying, you’re not trusting God. It’s impossible to be depressed and thankful at the same time. All you need to get out of depression is to be thankful.

“Understand that neither height, nor depth, or anything can separate you from the love of God and say, ‘I’m going to be thankful to God, in whatever happens, for who I am in Him.’ You bring those thoughts into captivity to the reality of truth, and that’s a depression-buster. The path to freedom is first you decide you want to be free.”

*****

Here’s an inspirational story of a blind teen-aged girl’s testimony at a Bible youth camp:

“She’d been blind from birth. Had never seen the light of day. She’d heard the gospel and gotten saved. The last day of youth camp, we were having a camp fire, and all the teens were giving testimony for what they thanked God for.

“One was thanking Him for the trees, and for getting him up that morning, and all that stuff, and somebody was thanking God for this and that, and this young girl got up and said, ‘You know, I want to thank God.’

“Everybody was looking at her, thinking, ‘What could this blind girl be thanking God for? Blind from birth and has to live all of life blind to all around her.’

“She said, ‘I’ve been listening all week, and I’ve learned about how much God loves me. I’ve learned what He’s done for me in Christ, and what a wonderful future He’s assured me, and how He’s equipped me right now to live a resurrected life in its details.’

“She added, ‘You know, I thank God I was born blind. Because that means I have virgin eyes. The first thing I’ll ever see is the one who loved me and gave Himself for me.’

“When I heard that story, I thought, ‘You know, there’s a girl who’s got it!’ She’s so filled with the love and grace of God that self-pity is turned to thanksgiving, turned to joy unto a ‘peace that passeth all understanding.’ That’s how you have victory every single day.”

Patience will sustain me; 'In Jesus for peace I abide'

I have to admit I have been struggling with anxiety/depression for the last week or so, brought on mostly by the return of feet problems and being told I have plantar fasciitis in my other foot—the one that was my “good foot” when I wore a medical boot on the other foot for five straight months last year. In fact, it was mid-December 2024 when I finally got out of it!

The “mental” conditions have taken a toll on me physically where I have to fight off tears and have even had several “anxiety attacks” at work where it’s hard to breathe and I have a rush of heat over my body even though the surrounding temperatures don’t warrant it. In these unsettling spells I find myself fighting to “stay in the game” with all the things that are being asked of me in a demanding retail job just ahead of Christmas.

The bottom line is if I didn’t have my full-time job, which requires constant physical labor on a cement floor, my foot problems would most likely go away almost overnight.

Tonight, in my sadness that I have a worsening, painful corn on my second-to-last toe on the new “bad foot,” I got out an old cassette tape of my dad’s that he regarded as a favorite in his last years.

Roger Williams is at the piano along with an orchestra and a full-blown church choir singing old-fashioned hymns, including my personal favorites of “Abide with Me” and “Fairest Lord Jesus.”

The lines I love so much from the latter go:

1    Fairest Lord Jesus, 
ruler of all nature, 
O thou of God and man the Son, 
Thee will I cherish, 
Thee will I honor, 
thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

2    Fair are the meadows, 
fairer still the woodlands, 
robed in the blooming garb of spring: 
Jesus is fairer, 
Jesus is purer 
who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3    Fair is the sunshine, 
fairer still the moonlight, 
and all the twinkling starry host: 
Jesus shines brighter, 
Jesus shines purer 
than all the angels heaven can boast.

4    Beautiful Savior! 
Lord of all the nations! 
Son of God and Son of Man! 
Glory and honor, 
praise, adoration, 
now and forevermore be thine.

*****

The BIG thing I forgot to include in my post about my return to my hometown last week (December 11)  is that my dad always played hymns in his doctor’s office. This is what he was known for along with being a “diet doc,” etc., etc.

Here is a post from 2012 explaining this very thing:

My big Christmas present this year from my mom was an old-fashioned Crosley turntable and speakers in a wooden box. I had been without a working record player since I moved to Alabama and found my expensive Sony system broken inside the 12 ft. Budget truck I had rented.

The first record I wanted to hear upon setting the new machine up on top of my kitchen table was not what I thought I would when I opened the gift on Christmas morning at my mom’s house.

I thought I wanted to hear this bootleg Paul Simon LP I have from when he performed live in L.A. in the late ’70s and did all this incredible guitar and piano instrumental stuff with the live audience in the background.

What I ended up yearning to play most were some of my dad’s old vinyl records that I inherited when he died. What got me was looking at the old LPs and seeing his little stickers he had put on the labels with his handwriting in this red ink pen he bought by the dozens and used on everything from prescriptions to greeting cards.

Seeing the word “ALL” in all caps and underlined made me cry. That was meant for me, as his cassette-tape maker for his doctor’s office, to know I was to use any of the songs on that side of the record for my homemade compilations.

Playing these songs was SO important to him. He was compelled to make them part of the psyche of his children as well as every single patient who spent any time at all in his waiting room or on the examining table, etc.

They were such an integral part of his lifeblood as a family doctor that, before he caught on to making cassette tapes from the music, he would personally stop what he was doing to flip the side over on the LPs when it was time!

By chance, the first record I picked to break-in my new record player was one by Tennessee Ernie Ford, entitled, “Nearer the Cross.” I lifted my brand-new record arm for the first time and the first song on the A-side was, “Sweet Peace the Gift of God’s Love.”

The lyrics began with, “There comes to my heart one sweet strain,

A glad and a joyous refrain,

I sing it again and again,

Sweet peace, the gift of God's love."

The hymn ended with, “In Jesus for peace I abide, And as I keep close to His side,

There's nothing but peace doth betide.

Sweet peace, the gift of God's love"

*****

“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 in a study from Romans 12.

"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 was worth it all.’

He went on, “We sing that song, ‘It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.’ Because it’s the glory of God that makes that possible. 

II Corinthians 4: [17] For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

[18] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

"There’s that affliction. There’s the patience in tribulation. You see, the hope that sustained Paul’s joy in the afflictions--He said, ‘I’m rejoicing in hope; that makes me be patient in tribulation. I can endure because these afflictions are not meaningless. They’re not absurd. They’re not cruel. They’re not pointless.'

"No, it’s working for me an experience of the glory of God that will outweigh every moment in every degree of suffering in this life. They work for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

“Patience is something that sustains you; keeps you there. Paul doesn’t just tolerate tribulation. He says, ‘God takes this tribulation and makes it serve you.’

“That passage in Romans 8 is right down to the level of the things you suffer because He left you here and didn’t take you to be with Him the moment He saved you. Some of that is bodily suffering. Some of it is the calamities of life. Some of it is the assaults of others. Some of it is your own stupidity.

“But what the hope in Christ does is He says He can take even that and, as He promised Israel, ‘give beauty for ashes.’ I can look out there and say, ‘My ace in the hole is in the end it’s just glory!’ And I can rejoice in that hope. Then I can abound, and when you’re abounding, you don’t think so much about hoping. You think, ‘I already got it, man!’ 

*****

“I once asked a guy in the airport if he knew where he was going to spend eternity and he answered, ‘I’m having too much trouble getting through today to worry about eternity.’ But that’s a mistake of thinking that that kind of future orientation, that future thinking process, limits the present usefulness in reality of life.

“Listen, understanding that you rejoice in hope, liberates you right now! If your future is glorious, if your future is sure because of Christ, you don’t have to live for money. You don’t have to live for power. You don’t have to live for fame. You don’t have to grasp and stash and chase for pleasure and for excitements that just slip through your fingers.

"You’re free to live for others. You’re free to serve the Lord by serving others. You’re free to let your love be genuine, let it be radical and sacrificial because of the joy that you have in Him. To let it sustain you, and it’s our prayers that allow us to see and savor the greatness and the preciousness of our hope.”

Life lived on His thinking process

(new article tomorrow)

“You know why you walk in love? Because you know what it’s like to be loved. That’s all there is to it. You know what it’s like to have someone love you when you didn’t deserve to be loved; when you were, of all things, unlovable.

“He said, ‘I didn’t love you because you were lovable; I loved you because of the will of my Father, and He loved you and gave Himself for you.’ I love that verse. Christ has given Himself for us for a sweet-smelling savor.

"Paul writes in Ephesians 4:16, [16] From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

“ 'Joined together and compacted by' is that, ‘You can’t get a molecule between us,’ ” explains Richard Jordan. “There’s this harmony and solidarity and it’s held together ‘by that which every joint supplieth.’

“The Christian life isn’t me having the brains to run things; it’s, 'He’s the head.' You got all these members in your body that work in harmony and, in what I think is the most fascinating thing, the more you go into creation the bigger creation becomes.

"You talk about looking at the stars and how vast it is. I’ve always been fascinated by how the more you get into the molecular level of stuff, where the atoms and molecules are, there’s a big world there, too.

“What they’ve discovered with your molecules is every molecule is like a little factory. It’s got an intelligence center; it’s got an action center, a motor center. It’s got mechanisms in it and they all function; they all tell each other what to do and respond.

“Imagine if all the different molecules that make up your body decided to do what they wanted to do and not what the head says. You see, this is where disease comes from.

"Most of the time disease is some kind of blockage that keeps the proper information from coming down to that gland or organ made up of the cells, and it starts working on its own thinking process. It will gang up with a few others and work on that thinking process and make a tumor or whatever.

“But the brain is what controls it all. It’s the boss; it tells it what to do. And when the brain is in control of everything, it works and functions in harmony.

“By the way, the head also supplies the power to do it. You see, your Christian life isn’t lived on your thinking process; it’s lived on HIS thinking process. It’s not lived in your power; it’s HIS power. It’s ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’ It’s the working of HIS power IN us."

'Golden Age of America' roaring into view

Last Thursday, the same day Trump signed his executive order detailed in my last post, TIME magazine was the official featured guest of the New York Stock exchange with TIME's CEO Jessica Sibley ringing the opening bell.

On the same day, the “Architects of AI” were named TIME’s person of the year, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view” with no turning back.

“For delivering the age of thinking machines, for wowing and worrying humanity, for transforming the present and transcending the possible, the Architects of AI are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year,” TIME said in a social media post.

From the Associated Press wire story: "The magazine was deliberate in selecting people — the 'individuals who imagined, designed, and built AI' — rather than the technology itself, though there would have been some precedent for that.

"One of the cover images resembling the 'Lunch Atop a Skyscraper' photograph from the 1930s shows eight tech leaders sitting on the beam: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the CEO of Google’s DeepMind division Demis Hassabis, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, who launched her own startup World Labs last year."

*****

No one in the media will tell you this but the term “golden age,” as Trump applies it, was made popular by occult favorite Helena Blavatsky in the 1800s.

In her writings, she notes, “Saturn, Mars, Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus, are the same celestial bodies that form the Mithraic ladder to heaven."

An essay on Blavatsky's teachings informs: Saturn as the king of the golden age, In many different traditions there is a direct relationship between the awakening of the higher mind and the emergence of golden ages. In Buddhism and other religions, gold (or yellow) is a symbol of pine ;consciousness and spiritual soul. Any golden age is an age of buddhi manas, or spiritual intelligence, and there is a direct connection between this higher mind and Saturn.

In the twenty-first century, Saturn's influence and lessons help us recover at least parts of the golden consciousness that leads to a golden society. In our present cycle, it means the awakening of the sixth, intuitive subprinciple, within the fifth, mental principle, or simply the rebirth of a spiritual intelligence, a higher level of consciousness from which the next civilizations must emanate.

Saturn, "the father of Gods," must not be confused with its namesake—the planet of the same name . . .the two—though in one sense identical, as are, for instance, physical man and his soul—must be separated in the question of worship. (Collected Writings 14:334)

So the material planet Saturn is the vehicle of the mythological Saturn. Although there is a clear difference between the material and spiritual aspects of this planet, the interaction between them is much like the relationship between physical man and his soul.

This planet is the master of karma, time, and structures.

Master of concentration, Saturn has an important role to play in the ladder to heaven taught in the Mithraic mysteries of ancient Rome. It is said that this ladder has seven steps. The first one corresponds to "the sky of Saturn," that is, the spirit of that planet.

In any sacred ladder, the first step upward presides over the transition between the lower ground and the way to heaven. The first step makes us confront the borderline between the material and pine dimensions of life. Thus, astronomically, Saturn is the planet of the rings and establishes the limit between the "domestic" and the "galactic" sections of our solar system.

Mythologically, this planet spirit also corresponds to the Jewish Christian god Jehovah. Chronos/Saturn, the stem god in the Paradise's golden age, tries to preserve spiritual life by preventing the personal ego from prematurely separating itself at the end of the first races.

*****

Here is an assessment of the "Golden Age" from a YouTuber in London, England who is a King James Bible Believer while not a dispensationalist:

The thesis, the antithesis, and the synthesis. The thesis is the starting point, then you have the antithesis, which is the opposite of the thesis, working through to the synthesis where they’re both merged together in a so-called higher truth. Two opposing things become merged as one.

If you can understand that you can understand their methodology, so this whole thing is a completely Hegelian battle and something that really woke me up was thinking of the "Lion King" movie and seeing exactly the method they’re using to deceive people, even the “truth movement.”

They want people to think that the New World Order is satanic. They want you and the masses to believe that this system needs to be disbanded; this system is wicked.

So Scar, in his song "Be Prepared,” is singing about this New World Order and posing as a Hitler-type figure, Nazi soldiers, and that’s what they want you to think.

This is why the controlled “truth movement” are pushing and pushing, saying, “This is satanic. The elite are satanic. They are evil. This system is evil.”

"Why is that? Because they want you to accept the son, as in the "Lion King", as in the false love and the false peace. They want you to root for whatever good comes along to defeat this evil system.

So at this stage in the game it’s the externalization of the hierarchy. They want you to know that they are satanic and this whole thing is satanic because the so-called Messiah, which is the false messiah, will come along, at whatever stage of the game it happens, and say, “Here’s the answer. Peace, unity, love.” But it’s the same thing.

There’s many in the New Age Movement who think the “golden age” is a good thing. Listen, New Age, think about it. This is what the New World Order is; it’s the NEW AGE. You’re just playing into the Luciferian lie—black vs. white.

It’s like the alchemy of it they want to lead into gold. It’s the defeat of the dragon by the false Jesus. They want you to think that by the onset of this New Age lot, world unity, they want you to think that that is the victory over Satan. Satan is a masquerader as light. So, it’s literally the defeat of the black by the white, but it’s the same beast.

Every religion across this world is going to accept the Antichrist as being the defeat of the dragon, but it isn’t. In fact, “love shall be the whole of the law,” said Alistair Crowley, but if you stand against their wickedness, or their plans, or their agenda, you will be see as disrupting the only hope we have of true peace of earth. If you don’t love their plan and their Luciferian ideologies, then you will be seen as the one not loving and you will be put to death.

So, as I’ve said, this has been in our faces for ever, ever so long. There’s a clip they removed from the "Lion King" that was a pilot that didn’t make it into the final thing and Scar even sings of the Golden Age: “Prepare for the Golden Age. Be prepared for the bright dawn of age.”

So what’s he singing in "Be Prepared"?

So, prepare for the chance of a lifetime
Be prepared for sensational news
A shining, new era
Is tiptoeing nearer

And where do we feature?

Just listen to teacher
I know it sounds sordid
But you'll be rewarded
When at last, I am given my dues
And injustice deliciously squared
Be prepared!

It's great that we'll soon be connected
With a king who'll be all time adored

Of course, quid pro quo, you're expected
To take certain duties on board
The future is littered with prizes
And though I'm the main addressee
The point that I must emphasize is
You won't get a sniff without me!

So prepare for the coup of the century
Be prepared for the murkiest scam (Ooh, la, la, la!)
Meticulous planning (We'll have food!)

*****

Personal notes for book:

For two summers in college, I worked at Wally's Camp Resort (yes, it preceded Wally World from the movie by decades) outside Loudonville, OH that had a waterslide and Putt-Putt with a concession stand. I often helped out at the waterslide and was a co-manager of the Putt-Putt where I ran a Sno Cone machine as a part of my duties.

When I squirted the different syrups on top of the scooped ice in front of the customers, including little kids, I often had to deal with bees coming around, and whenever one would land on the Sno Cone as I was about to serve it, I would instinctively flick it off with my index finger, sometimes even getting "oohs" and "ahhs" from the bystanders.

Vincent van Gogh, who to this day I can say has been a tremendous figure in my life, no matter how flawed he was, probably even saving my life in a way. Shortly after I moved to Chicago, I hit a real hard place where I was struggling with depression.

What really kicked it off was learning that my childhood dog, a Shih-Tsu we took in from a mall pet store who I treated like a baby, died at 12 years of age. It was like the straw that broke the camel's back for me, already super lonely from moving to a big city where I knew no one (accept my friend who moved with me from Ohio) and had to drive 30 miles through traffic to Naperville every day for my job.

On Saturdays, having the day off, I would walk to the lily pond inside The Rookery of Lincoln Park Zoo and sit by the water's edge and read Vincent van Gogh's letters to his brother, compiled in English by Irving Stone.

I would also go to the lakefront and read the letters, sitting on the stone slabs near the Diversey Street entrance. I read them so thoroughly that the old paperback had pen lines drawn under sentences on almost every page and then highlighter pink and blue under so many, many passages throughout.

This is what I was up to shortly before I was introduced to my church by a virtual stranger!

Tech bro rulebook for all, says Trump

(Sorry for delay in new article and will post this evening. We had a rare all-day snowstorm that seemingly brought out half the city to purchase last-minute items to weather the 4-6 inch event that began around noon.)

In meantime here’s an Agenda 2030 news update:

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that “blocks states from enforcing their own regulations around artificial intelligence and instead aims to create a ‘single national framework’ for AI.”

“We have to be unified. China is unified because they have one vote and that’s President Xi [Xinping],” Trump argued inside the Oval Office. “We have a different system, but we have a system that’s good. But we only have a system that’s good if it’s smart.” 

From the news outlet The Hill: “Trump argued in a Truth Social post that there should be ‘only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI.’

“The Trump White House and its Silicon Valley allies have argued that preemption is necessary to prevent a patchwork of state AI laws that could disrupt innovation amid fierce competition with China.”

Here’s commentary from a YouTuber:

“Trump just signed an executive order federally protecting AI companies from state law violations. That’s federal protection from any state law violations on the tech bros; the PayPal mafia, including Peter Thiel who doesn’t even know if humanity should continue or not.

“This places the AI robber barons, quite frankly, above the state and essentially they’re creating this new technocratic nobility class. Donald Trump has and all these MAGA entities are completely on board, hook, line and sinker and telling their crowd that this guy’s still the greatest thing since sliced pickles.

"It’s very disturbing what’s happening, and I hate the fact that the left vs. right paradigm lie has literally made mush of people’s brains.

"For example, at one time if the Democrats were in power, there was a whole group of conservatives (you know, team MAGA, the GOP, Team Red, Team Republican) out in force against Agenda 2030.

"But now that their guy’s in office pushing Agenda 2030, under the new technocratic AI elite leadership and the surveillance and control grid, then all of a sudden it’s okay."

*****

"Our problems arise from the huge concentration of wealth in our society. The billionaire class gets its way on everything. They buy elections, they buy legislation. Ultimately, it’s a problem of the maldistribution of wealth in spectacular ways," says a national political analyst.

"The three people standing behind President Trump at his inauguration were Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Three individuals who controlled more wealth than half of our country.

"You see the charts of distribution of wealth and the top 1/10^th of 1 percent control 15 percent of the wealth. The top 10 percent control about 30 percent of the wealth. The bottom 50 percent control 2.5 percent of the wealth in our country."

Time element

(new personal info tomorrow for certain)

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"--Ecclesiastes 3:1

From Science Digest: "Each of us has two time scales. Society divides time linearly into hours, days and years, while our internal scale follows logarithmic laws. For example, a year is 20% of a 5-year-old's life so far but only 2% of a 50-year-old's. Therefore, the perception of time depends on not only the number of neural 'events' in the brain but also the internal nonlinear way in which we measure time."

*****

Sometimes Believers talk about how Jesus Christ "left eternity and stepped into time." What is meant by that is He stepped out of the domain where God is--the dimension where He is--into creation. But the reality is there is time where God is when He’s just God.

Time is the measure that you give to sequential events. If you have no time, it would be like . . . time is really where there’s a sense in which it always exists, or you can’t have any phenomenon of life.

Well, the godhead have an eternity (a constant, never-ending existence) where there are things happening, so there’s a technical sense in which you would say, "It isn’t true to say there’s no time in heaven or eternity because how do you measure whatever you measure in the nanoseconds of eternity?" You’re not trying to deny there’s a sequence of events.

But when you start talking about creation, time takes on the dimension of events in creation and the difference between time and eternity is eternity has no beginning and no ending; it’s infinite.

Time in creation, while it may not have an ending, it certainly had a beginning; a point at which, in the beginning, before which there weren’t any of whatever was after the beginning began.

Philosophers just get it all wound up because, you know, Plato had ideas about this and reality and . . . then there’s St. Augustine . . . and pretty soon you go, "Oh, man, I think I’ll just get a Dr. Pepper, eat a Moon Pie and go to bed!"

In Scripture time is associated with creation. The fullness is associated with bringing it to its ultimate conclusion. What is the phenomenal experience of creation ultimately for? Ultimately, why did God create a universe in which people would experience that universe? What’s the ultimate purpose of time?

Isaiah is very clear. Psalms is very clear. Proverbs is very clear. God created the universe to have a place for Him to manifest Himself and dwell among a creation who would enter into His life; think like He thought and live for one another spontaneously like He lives and like the members of the godhead live for one another (in which He could share the glory of His life; experience it, rejoice in it, glory in it).

Well, that’s what happens out there when Christ becomes "the head of all things." We now know that the way He’s going to do that, the mystery of it, is He had the plan to do it in the heavens—the whole of creation and not just the earth.

It’s the "dispensation of the fulness of time." So there’s a time element associated with all of this. In my mind I say, "I wonder what that time element is? How long is that supposed to be?"

And you hear people say, "Well, He created the heaven and the earth in seven days." So why did He create it in seven days? Well, a day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day.

*****

There’s a principle when you study prophecy, especially studying the Old Testament, one of the most important ways to describe dispensational Bible study to people is to point out the issue of progressive revelation.

When you study dispensationalism, you’re studying a time line. As the time line goes on, people know more than they did before.

Progressive revelation says there’s things back there they didn’t know that now we do know. The basis of dispensational truth is understanding the differences between that. Well, when you understand that principle, then the idea of typology becomes a fascinating subject to you.

“What happens with typology is you have things happen that you get over here, and you begin to understand something, and you’re able to look back at history back here and see how God did things, said things and taught things that at the time you didn’t know what they meant, but now you do know what they mean and can look back and see, "Oh, look! There’s a picture of this reality PRE-WRITTEN in the text!"

“In modern terminology we talk about prototypes. It’s a pre-picture of the reality that comes over here. A prototype demonstrates to you that whoever is writing this and organizing this, knows the future so when the reality comes, and it tells you what it is, He can say, "See, I had this planned all along. Look how I did that and look how I did this."

My very own 'near death experience'

(Editor's note: The New Balance 990 tennis shoes mentioned below aren't working out and I now, as in it's just popped up in the last two weeks, have plantar fasciitis in what was my "good foot" and have no idea what I will do--my foot doctor just had back surgery--but it doesn't look good for my job pounding a cement floor for 40 hours a week.)

Going home to Loudonville, OH recently on a day trip (October 17) after a 24-year lapse (when I helped clean out our family house after my dad's unexpected death in October, 2001) couldn't have come at a better time. I figure I might as well have driven through the Rockies.

In fact, I thought to myself as I drove the roads inside the Mohican Forest (the same ones I constantly bicycled as a teenager and college student), "My day-long odyssey drive inside the Grand Canyon, including a gorgeous sunset, wasn't as special as this!"

At long last, I was reunited with the super-hilly roads I knew by heart as a cyclist. Fortunately, everything came back to me in the most rewarding way, truly bringing back childhood and who I really am.

Now, I have to remind you from a previous post (October 19) that I had just read an article about near-death experiences and told myself, "I have to live like my life is really close to almost being over if I'm ever going to accomplish the things I want for myself before I die."

Anyone who counts me as a friend knows I've been FOREVER working on a book about teachings from the King James Bible. The reality is I was "writing" this book even before my dad died very suddenly one month after 9/11 in 2001.

In fact, my second to last phone conversation with him (one I actually borrowed a friend's landline to make as I attended a birthday party inside his SOHO loft in NYC) was the SAME Saturday night he later fell in his home and proceeded to treat his broken hip with injectable shots of the heavy-duty painkiller Talwin.

My dad, a medical doctor with his own private practice in Loudonville (1974-1994), kept all kinds of hard-core medicine on the lamp table and bookshelves nook next to his reclining chair. He wanted to be ready for anything I guess.

He asked me that night, "Are you working on that book?"

My last conversation with him was only a few hours before his death! It lasted for three minutes tops. It was just before he was being prepped for surgery and I said, "I'll be praying for you." He said, "Do that." That was our end!

*****

Okay, now I've got to break in with this detail from my visit to Loudonville. I turned left onto Loudon Avenue from the same stretch on Route 60 where we lived at 525 Union St. and could not believe that next-door to the spot where my dad's old office, since torn down, sat is now a cannabis dispensary!!! 

In a way, and I'm in no way endorsing marijuana, etc., nothing could somehow be more ironic. In our time in Loudonville my dad gained a major reputation as a "diet doc" who would dispense medicine to help people curtail their hunger, reduce stress and anxiety, etc.

Patients would drive sometimes from 70-90 miles away just to see my dad and have him send them home with pills.

*****

I prayed that I would have my own near-death experience to make me realize in the most penetrating way that my life is close to being over and could even only be a few years away if I am fortunate enough.

When I neared the town limits of Loudonville, coming down that last big majestic, forested hill on Route 3 as you near Mohican State Forest, I knew I was truly, truly home, as in, if I can request one last road to drive on, this forest would be it. (If I had one last physical activity, it would be swimming in the Atlantic at South Beach, Miami, just at the same stretch I first swam in at the age of 5.)

Nobody but me and my Savior know exactly what it meant to me all the bazillion times I rode my bicycle through the forest. I remember times when I was so sad climbing those hills I didn't know how I would go on with life. I remember all the dreaming and imagining, too.

Making the turn onto Route 97 was one thing for my emotions, but then when I turned onto the forest road leading to the Clear Fork Gorge and the Fire Tower my soul was fully engaged. I might as well have been at the Grand Canyon, or inside Big Sur, or cycling the Blue Ridge Parkway--all things I've done by myself and found very memorable.  

Seeing the heavy pine needles on the berm, just exactly like when I would climb that first initial hill in the thick heavily dark woods on my bicycle, I was transported back like a soothing balm from heaven to my high school years when I first discovered my addiction for riding all through this forest.

Of course, I could hardly contain my excitement to reach the gorge, recognized as a Natural National Landmark. As the historic site sign at the place where you first see the amazing landscape informs, the gorge, filled with white pines and towering hemlocks, is 1,000 ft. wide and 300 ft. deep.

"The seclusion has preserved a rare forest community," says the sign. "The gorge has changed little since pioneer legend Johnny Appleseed tended his apple orchards nearby."

Oh, yes, my old "secret friend" Johnny. Unlike during my youth, now many of the highways in and around Loudonville have official road signs that read "Johnny Appleseed Scenic Byway."

Absolutely nobody knew that I used to regularly think about Johnny as I rode my bike all through the territory. I knew it was THE territory he covered!!!

Definitely more to come on Appleseed and how he became a real disappointment.

*****

Here is my post from November 4:

The biggest takeaway from my trip to my hometown of Loudonville, OH on October 17 is that I knew I was really going home--like no other place I've ever lived.

After all, having moved there from Akron at age 10 and not leaving until going away to college at 18, it’s where I really became me--my personality, my convictions, my affinities, my dreams, on and on.

Getting off at the Sunbury exit of I-71N is when the journey home, after a 24-year absence, really started to take hold of me.

Despite all the retail and housing development, I knew old Route 36 from the many, many times I’d traveled between Loudonville and Columbus over the years, most especially after I got my first car (a used Plymouth Horizon hatchback) my junior year at Ohio State and could drive home whenever I wanted.

The first town to grab me was Centerburg, which still has the sign at the village limits to tell you it’s the “Geographical Center of Ohio.” More than a few times I rode my bike all the way to Centerburg before heading back home on a real hilly Route 3. This was soon after I first got serious about cross-country cycling my senior year of high school.

Next up was Mt. Vernon (settled in 1805), “America’s Hometown,” as recognized on its town entry sign. I remember when there was an entry sign letting you know it was the “Home of Paul Lynde,” a comedian (Uncle Arthur from Bewitched and the “center square” on The Hollywood Squares game show) who always portrayed himself as being effeminate. Among many historical buildings in downtown Mt. Vernon is an opera house that is the oldest of its kind in America.

I was near-mesmerized the closer I got to Loudonville and the sentimental emotions washed over me when I saw the little old stone Zion Lutheran church that sits on a hilltop right next to the road near Jelloway, OH, which is 9 miles from Loudonville.

How many times I would ride my bike to this church as my intended destination before turning back home. I would often get off my bike there and sit on the front stoop, drinking water and resting.

*****

Here's post from October 19:

I was reading the results of a study on people who faced difficult aftermaths following an NDE (near-dear experience) and I thought, “But I would love to know what that’s like.”

(Note: The journalist in me can’t resist giving you at least a few findings. From Study Finds: “More than one in five participants said their relationships with family, friends, or people in general got worse after the experience. Another 22% reported a divorce or breakup . . . Researchers describe the period after a near-death experience as ‘reentry problems,’  a kind of culture shock. Imagine tasting perfect peace and love, then waking to traffic, bills, and petty arguments . . .  Many wrestle with what one researcher called ‘the perceived triviality of their life or the problems they were facing before the NDE.’ The sense of unconditional love becomes a sharp contrast to ordinary life. Some feel anger or depression at having returned to what felt like ‘home’  only to find themselves back here. ‘I just feel awake to reality, but alone in that knowledge,’ one participant wrote.”)

With a couple of days off work last week, I knew I needed to get a pair of New Balance 990s that my foot doctor recommended. I had already gone to our neighborhood shoe store (an official dealer of New Balance) to learn they didn’t have my size (11 ½) and that it would be two weeks if they ordered them, so I looked online and saw there was a New Balance factory outlet store in Sunbury, OH.

This was the little town we always looked forward to getting to by car during my childhood growing up an hour north in the little resort/farming village of Loudonville, OH.

It’s where we finally could get on I-71 S and know we were almost to Columbus. We would sometimes stop at the giant McDonalds just below the interstate's entrance ramp and go to the bathroom and buy a sandwich and drink on Sunday afternoons following church (the old First Baptist in downtown Loudonville) and quickly going home to change out of our dress clothes before getting on the road. All there really was at the time besides the McDonald’s was a Wendy’s and a few gas stations. Now, as I was astonished to see, the town is a bustling bedroom community for Columbus commuters.

Just the week before, celebrating my brother’s birthday at a seafood restaurant, he and his wife told me and mom all about their trip to Loudonville for its annual free street fair (ongoing since 1876) and a high-school reunion by my brother's Class of 1979. My sister-in-law wanted to know when I ever planned to go back to Loudonville. The last time I was there was when my dad died in October, 2001 and I was charged with helping clean out our family home.

To be continued tomorrow. I am finding it hard to get back into writing about myself since I’ve pretty much let the “muscles” atrophy but, trust me, this is all leading somewhere . . .