Category: Deception/Deceivers

Filthy

Filthy is such a, well, filthy word. Even when it’s not associated with dirt, like filthy rich, it still sounds so negative. I like the word feculent. It sounds so upper crust, don’t you know. One could say “Oh, I love your feculent hair,” and one whose vocabulary was normal, would consider it a compliment. Deceptive, isn’t it?

It’s easy to smile at someone and say something that sounds nice but it isn’t really what is meant. I’ve heard a lot of folks talk about people who seem to feel the need to ask questions such as, “How does this blouse look?” What’s a good response: 1) “Oh, very nice, dear.” or 2) “Well, it’masquerades a nice blouse, but it looks a bit tight on you today.” There are some people who would handle number two. And then there are some that would be offended and respond curtly, “What? Are you saying I’m fat? I know I’ve gained fifty pounds but I’m stressed and what right do you have to accuse me of being fat?”

Continue reading “Filthy” →

Provoking Fear

As I’ve followed more closely current events and reporting over the last several months, I see three broad divisions in news reporting originating here in America. The first is what has become to be known as the mainstream media (MSM). These include corporately owned outlets such as CNN, Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, and the major newspapers and magazines that publish online, such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and my favorite, the Christian Science Monitor. While there are hundreds of television networks and print media, I’ve read that all are owned by only six corporations. Interesting, if true.

Generally, all media in this division report the news in a journalistic fashion, using a variety of sources, are written in a news-reporting style, and, unless in an opinion column, leave out opinions except where quoted by a source. Can these news outlets slant the news? Of course. How a report is put together, the various sources and what they say, and IF an event is even reported, all work toward a particular self-interest.

The second group are not outwardly owned by corporate media, are relatively well written and well reported, yet occasionally contain some reporter opinion within the main articles. An example would be Breitbart. These sites offer their own take on the news that is reported in the mainstream, as well as adding news that isn’t generally covered, or is covered in a limited way.

Then there are the individuals and small teams that say they report the news that the mainstream media isn’t telling us. They know something that the mainstream either doesn’t know, isn’t paying attention to, or doesn’t want you to know. At least that’s what they’ll tell us. This group is collectively referred to as “conspiracy theorists.” Yet while they aren’t corporately owned, many are heavily sponsored by one company. My favorite in this category is Steve Quayle. Most of the articles are links to other, similar, news sources. Of those written by Mr. Quayle, I read that he’s a Christian, believes that satin with come to Earth through a stargate, and will do so very soon, perhaps in September during the final blood moon. Many in the category of news quote each other. Mr. Quayle becomes an expert that is quoted by the All News Pipeline, for instance.

The_Scream

These news outlets have in common a lack of journalistic style, poor grammar, dubious sources or un-named sources, and after an article or two, leave me wanting to run, not walk, for the hills in abject fear of any of a hundred very horrible things that are about to happen, and happen especially to me. Often, we are called “shepple,” and ridiculed for not believing in what they write, by believing the mainstream media, whom they say are liars. We all, we are told, are being lied to by government officials. One of these websites that foretells of the fall of money, that the banks will soon close their doors along with our access to what we though was our money, will sell us silver and gold. Mostly they give away fear.

The thing about these sites, another common bond, is that there is a thread of truth to their writing. Take the simple fact that our own government is spying on us, has set up fake cell phone towers to listen in on our phone conversations and read our texts, and does have a very large database that tracks us. This we know, if we are any bit an American citizen, is completely against our rights under the Constitution. From this simple fact of spying conducted against Americans by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), these blogger newsies tell us our names are compiled into a “red list.” They say this list that will be used this summer to raid our homes and drag us all off to concentration camps. They say there are thousands of “disposable coffins” stashed for ready use. Wait, disposable coffins? Does that mean there are also reusable coffins?

But wait, there’s more. To continue the Orwellian nightmare, the military exercise this summer know as Jade Helm 15, has train cars with shackles in the floors traveling to the southern states, foreign troops being smuggled into America through our southern border, and lots of stuff is being stored in closed-down Walmarts in several states. There are even tunnels beneath most Walmarts we are told, that lead to airports and connect other Walmarts and military bases. All of this so troops can freely move about. (Back in the day I used to shop at the Post Exchange, but maybe Walmart is under contract.) And the reason for the military exercise coming up? Well, if we wouldn’t bury our heads in the sand, if we’d wake up, these newsies tell us, then we’d know that the military is practicing for martial law and confiscation of our guns. Well, confiscating guns somebody’s, that is. Can’t get guns from homes where there are none.

NOTE TO NSA, or to whomever: See, I’ve just been doing some research. Really. Please take my name of the Main Core watch list now. Thanks in advance. Yours Truly, Wil Robinson.

Seriously, though. There are things happening that aren’t explainable. There are wars and rumors of wars. There are earthquakes and Tsunamis. Fish are dying in the Pacific Ocean, chickens and turkeys in several northern states of America. There are riots and there is lawlessness in the land. And don’t forget the desertification of my home state of California, the once-great Republic of California that we so affectionally called the ROC. And what about the spiritual forces, dark forces, that are moving gullible men and women to commit acts, or support them, that are abominable in the eyes of our Lord Y’shuaJesus. Certainly we are on the eve of destruction, and the Second Coming is, well, coming.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

—Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats

For some interesting notes and links to “end time” fulfillment of Biblical prophesy see Running from Babylon.

Let us pray that we not fall prey to fear, that we look to the Lord and to His Word, which is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. The lamp that shows us where we are, where we stand; the light thats illuminates the path upon which we are to journey.

Let us pray we look not to the hills to rescue us, but the Lord of Heaven, the Creator, the Father of our Lord Y’shuaJesus.

Let us pray we have the strength and wisdom to act in accordance with the will of our Lord Y’shuaJesus. We are not to simple stand by, watching and waiting, but we are called to some action, or will be soon.

Let us be prudent and store up that which is appropriate against the day in which there will be nothing left in stores, or that we are not allowed to buy (see Revelation 13.)

May G-d have mercy upon us in these troubled times.

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Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope
A Kaleidoscope (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Kaleidoscopes used to be a big thing for kids, yet I’ve not seen one in a while. As described by Wikipedia, “A kaleidoscope is a cylinder with mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors. Coined in 1817 by Scottish inventor Sir David Brewster, “kaleidoscope” is derived from the Ancient Greek καλός (kalos), “beautiful, beauty”, εἶδος (eidos), “that which is seen: form, shape” and σκοπέω (skopeō), “to look to, to examine”, hence “observation of beautiful forms.”

The Basic Elements of a kaleidoscope are: Colorful Images; Moving Images; Beautiful Images; Symmetrical Images. And if the technology had been available to Sir Brewster, he might have added soothing music to the collection, music for meditation. But the music isn’t necessary; it’s the bursts of color, constantly changing as the tube is rotated, that satiate the visual sense to such a point that the other senses are less acute, less active, less attention paid. In ways this is what television does to us as we watch. I remember when my parents brought home their first television. The actual viewing screen, the tube, was small, but the cabinet was very big. It was black and white, and we could watch one or two channels. I remember one night when I awoke from a nightmare and stayed up for a while watching the Phil Silvers Show. It was captivating enough that my nightmare fell away quickly into the hole of forgetfulness. And that was in black and white. It wasn’t until many years later that we had our first color television. Now that drew our attention. And for me it still does.

It happens when I’m at peoples homes who are unaccustomed to silence. Entering their homes I’d find a television in centrally located in the main room. In more than one home, I’ve found televisions strategically located throughout the house, even the kitchen. For me, the presence of a television, regardless to which station it is tuned, is a magnet for my attention. Sitting in a living room with several others having a conversation, I’d find myself constantly drawn to the TV, and I noticed so did the others in the room.

And televisions are appearing every where these days. They’re in restaurants. They’re in waiting rooms. They’re on buses and metro trains. I imagine them to line the streets some day. Oh, wait, that’s already happening with moving images on bill boards along highways. This reminds me of the child-care/pre-school up the road. It was only the second business to be opened along the rural road, and started with a small sign. Just this last year, the sign was replaced with an electronic bill board that scrolls various advertisements and slogans in bright lights. Even the schools and churches are putting up these electronic bill boards with bright scrolling advertisements crossing the sign. I wonder how many near-accidents have occurred while drivers tried to read the bill boards.

Maybe the reason there aren’t kaleidoscopes around any longer is that the world has become one big one. Everywhere we go, every where we turn, colorful images, moving images, beautiful images abound. There’s a saying, “can’t see the forest for the trees.” Today, we can not see the forest, we cannot see the trees, for all the images thrust before us, grabbing our attention. Aren’t we missing something through all this? Just like the kaleidoscope, our visual sense is overloaded to the point that our other senses are dulled. What would we feel, what would we hear, if we focused away from the images bombarding us?

In the second chapter of the Book of Proverbs (v.2), we are instructed to:

. . . make your ear attentive to wisdom.

The commentary in my Jewish Study Bible describes two lady personifications. One is Wisdom, the other the “strange woman,” that is Lady Folly, the symbol of wicked counsels and a figure for heresy, of foreign wisdom.

Like the television that is magnet for the eyes, images daily inundate our senses–we miss the call of Lady Wisdom and are seduced by the sensual pleasure offered our flesh by Lady Folly. We are being deceived. G-d is being undermined by fast-paced images beconing us toward the abyss.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Deflated Balls, other Controversies

Okay. I’m more a cynic than a skeptic. I admit it. Preceding last night’s Super Bowl American Football game, the Media Attention focused on an examination of footballs alleged to be underflated. Is underflated a word? Under-inflated, is that correct? The controversy became heated over alleged improperly inflated balls used in another recent game between the same Super Bowl contestants. It even got the attention of the President of the United States.

What else was going on during this past week? Don’t know. All the news, seemingly all the people, were concerned about air. Air pressure, that is. When this happens, I envision a giant magician waving a scarf with his right hand capturing his audience’s attention. And with his un-noticed left hand? I wonder. A little slight of hand? Distraction.

But then there’s the other way these things often work. Controversy stirs people up, and it sells. It used to sell newspapers; but those are mostly a thing of pre-internet days. In the past, controversy sold books, or so Mark Twain thought. He published “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in America in 1885 and it immediately became embroiled in controversy, with the Concord Public Library banning the book. When Mr. Twain heard of the book banning, his response was that it will sell 25,000 more books. There you have it. Not only do controversies distract attention from something, but they focus it toward something else.

What’s the point? There isn’t any point. That’s the point. It’s hype. It’s drama. It’s also irrelevant. And it’s okay. . . at least it’s okay if we understand the point.

So we enjoy the Super Bowl game. We enjoy the action. Some of us loved the end of the game with an interception of a pass that could have made the winning touchdown. And after the game, while being interviewed, the player who intercepted that near-winning pass said he was blessed. He was blessed.

In the end let us say of our plays, or lives, that we are blessed, and let our hearts. . .

Be Established with Grace. . . (Hebrews 13:9)

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Channel or Channeling

Channel and channeling are words that makes me shutter. Unbelievably, I heard my wife say something about so and so channeling so and so. Probably too quickly I expressed my distaste at its usage, which was interpreted as a rebuke and she felt offended. Oh, well. That word offends me.

Well, she only meant that the person was imitating another person in the tone or way of speech. And that’s sort of how the word is being used–I think misused–in America. For instance, recently in an article on a country singer, the lead read: “This Oklahoman channels the hip-shaking fifties and more on his sophomore release.”

Here’s my objection: Yahoo! dictionary defines channeling as “The act or practice of serving as a medium through which a spirit guide purportedly communicates with living persons.”

Alright. Common language changes over time. My kids say things like, “Wow. Sick!” Taken on face value, sick means being ill, or having a disease. But in common vernacular of kids it means the same as my generation did when we said, “Cool, man!” To us, forty or more years ago “cool” wasn’t measured in degrees Celsius; it wasn’t temperature related. Neither was “hot,” which is like saying “really cool.” Confused yet?

So why do I object to the world channel? I object to trying to make what is a connotation of evil into being acceptable in common speech. And that’s different from “sick” or “cool” or “hot.”

But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. 1 Corinth 10:28

Paul’s words are not merely about eating meat. There’s more here to what he’s talking about. It’s about doing something that may cause someone to stumble. Let me spell it out. If you don’t see anything wrong with using the word “channel” in common reference to imitation of a person or a type of music–for instance–then you’ll likely be drawn into other people’s usage of channel when speaking about a demonic spirit. If you take a step, you’re more likely to take two or more.

Psalm 1, in the first verse, shows us that we are to guard ourselves from evil, and its progressively taking us down the slope.

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Psalm 1:1

If you begin to walk with evil, you’re more likely to stand with evil, and then you’ll likely find yourself sitting with evil.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

A Christless Christianity

In his article, Thomas D. Williams writes:

“So much for taking Christ out of Christmas. New efforts propose the more radical agenda of taking him out of Christianity altogether.

“Every year, it seems, an attempt is made, usually around the Christian holidays, to debunk some aspect of Christian belief— usually involving the Virgin birth, or Jesus’ resurrection, or his relationship with women. This year features an effort to depose Jesus as the founder of the Christian church, replacing him with the apostle Paul.

“Millions celebrate the birth of Jesus without realizing that it was the Apostle Paul, not Jesus, who was the founder of Christianity,” writes James D. Tabor in The Daily Beast.

“As innovative as this proposition sounds, it is a reheated version of an old theory that has been exhaustively debated, and basically put to rest among serious scholars of Christianity.”

Well, while Mr. Williams would like to put us at ease when he says that such arguments have been “put to rest among serious scholars of Christianity,” there remains a lot of sheep left to lead astray.

Thinking of deception, not long ago I came across a book that explores the historical evidence that Jesus didn’t even exist. Basically, the author says it was all a great myth to subdue the population of Jerusalem and the occupied Israel and take away the people’s will to revolt against Rome.

It seems to me that this coming year will find us very much in the middle of lots of “proof” against the traditional teachings of the Bible, refuting all that we’ve come to know as Gospel. We must remain ever close to the source of our faith, our Lord Y’shuaJesus.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine . . .

namaste

In her letter to the Light House Trails blog, a lady says, “Deception and the wiles of the evil one care not whom they lead astray, as long as His people are hurt by those they love.” She refers to a Christmas greeting she received from the wife of a church elder that concluded in “namaste.”  Read the post.

Oprah-WinfreyYou can also read an article about Oprah and her new age workshop, as one commentator described, ending with a “new age alter call.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Ice Bucket Challenge

It’s the rage, lately, to do the “Ice Bucket Challenge.” Here’s a perspective that I brings truth into what seems like a simple, harmless, activity.

Why I can’t participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge
By Nathanael King

Recently, I’ve received a few “ALS ice bucket challenges,” which I cannot accept. I don’t fault any of my friends for giving me this challenge. Thanks for thinking of me and trying to include me! Really. You guys are awesome, and it was really fun watching you shiver!

Amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more popularly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a horrible neurodegenerative disease affecting everything from speech and swallowing to basic mobility. I personally have friends whose parents have languished and died from this disease, and experts estimate that 30,000 Americans suffer from this disease. It’s as good a place as any to focus medical-research efforts.

But I cannot accept the challenge, and I hope you’ll understand why. It’s not because I’m afraid of cold water. (Although that’s true). My concern is where the publicity and money might go. Specifically, I’m concerned with the kind of research that might be financed by my hypothetical promotional activity. (For those who don’t know what this is, you’re supposed to dump a bucket of ice water on your head, and video it, and then challenge others to do it. If you don’t do it, you’re supposed to give $100 to the ALS Association, and if you do do it, you either don’t have to give any money to the ALSA or you’re supposed to give $10 to the ALSA, depending on the version).

The ALS Association funds a number of different types of research, and among these is embryonic stem-cell research. For those who don’t know what this is, it is when scientists take a female egg and a male sperm and fertilize the egg in a lab, and then after the new life begins to form, they remove the building blocks of life—embryonic stem cells. This is the same process that occurs when people struggle with infertility and then get in-vitro fertilization. The important difference is that instead of implanting the fertilized embryo into a mother so that it can grow into a baby, these embryos are experimented on, and then discarded. They are created for the express purpose of destroying them for medical research.

The ALS Association website says this: “Adult stem cell research is important and should be done alongside embryonic stem cell research as both will provide valuable insights. Only through exploration of all types of stem cell research will scientists find the most efficient and effective ways to treat diseases.”

Sometimes, stem cells are harvested as part of in-vitro fertilization as described above, and other times they are harvested as part of an abortion procedure. For example, one clinical trial, which was supported by the ALS Association with a $500,000 grant involved “stem cells … from the spinal cord of a single fetus electively aborted after eight weeks of gestation.”

At eight weeks, a baby has its own unique DNA, is 2 centimeters long, has tiny fingers and toes, and a heart beat of about 160 beats per minute.

Some might argue that life does not begin at conception. But the other options seem entirely subjective scientifically and unsupported biblically. Some say life begins not at conception, but implantation or even birth—as if the location of the embryo should determine when it is alive. Some say that it’s when the embryo is viable, but this point is completely subjective and would mean that now life begins far sooner than it did a few years ago when we didn’t have the technology to save early preterm infants.

At conception, a baby has a unique genetic code, and all of the necessary building blocks for life, and the Bible attributes the properties of personhood to us from conception (see Ps. 139:13-16, Job 10:8-12, Jer. 1:5, Ps. 51:5, Luke 1:39-44, Ex. 21:22-24).

The reason this is important is because as a Christian, I believe that no human life is intrinsically worth more than another human life. All humans are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27, 9:6), and therefore are uniquely valuable and have distinctive worth.

We’re not all born “equal” in the sense that we’re all able to run equally fast or complete math problems equally well, but we are all equally created in the image of God, and this is where we derive our worth and value.

The problem with embryonic stem-cell research is two-fold: First, it is morally reprehensible to anyone who believes that life begins at conception. Imagine the outrage that would happen if scientists proposed we grew infants and children for the express purpose of performing lethal experiments on them, no matter how scientifically helpful the results would be.

Secondly, if there is a breakthrough involving embryonic stem-cell research, then the resulting treatment would involve mass harvesting of embryonic stem cells, and therefore mass abortions. In short, embryonic stem-cell research involves the destruction of innocent human life. And therefore, I cannot promote donations to this particular organization when it thinks that infanticide is a legitimate way to save other human beings.

Now, I don’t think our response as Christians should be to just throw up our hands, check out, and not do anything. Instead, we should lead the way in helping those who are suffering with ALS and work toward finding medical treatments that are ethically researched. So, I would ask anyone who is making a donation to consider donating to an ethically focused organization, such as the John Paul II Medical Research Institute.

Finally, as one blogger on this issue said: “This is a good time to consider the effect that social-media activism is having on our culture—and ourselves as actors in it. … I very much believe in this medium’s capacity for acting as a vehicle for good, yet I also recognize how instant connectivity is a double-edged sword, making it much easier for a ‘herd mentality’ to develop. Which is all fine and good when the herd is headed in the correct direction, right?

“But peer pressure blows perspective out of the water, as we race to belong without first stepping back and considering each and every dimension before clicking ‘Like’ or share. How many of you stopped and investigated HOW your money would be spent before emptying the ice-cube trays? Exactly. You shouldn’t feel bad about it! That’s not my point. You should feel a little weird and more than a little prone toward caution in the future.

“So don’t look at this as a call for inaction. I’m asking you to be as active as ever and creative, too; what we’re looking for is a higher level of self-awareness the next time a Facebook buddy tags you with the best of intentions.”

Nathanael King is an associate pastor at Temecula Hills Christian Fellowship in Temecula, California. This article originally appeared on the author’s blog, which is at nathanaelk.com.