Category: <span>National Interests</span>

  David spoke, “I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord.” Psalm 26:6  David desired and sought the presence of God. However, Cain didn’t, much earlier in history. “Then Cain left Adonai’s presence and dwelled in the Land of Wandering, east of Eden.” Genesis 4:16   Our life presents these two choices; we can wander or we can seek the presence of God . “When thou saidst, seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”  Psalm 27:8   “Who may go up on the mountain of Adonai? `Who may stand in His holy place? One with clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully.” Psalm 24:3-4 Job_17:9 teaches: “The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” But Cain, built a city.…

  “Not one time will the believer ever face condemnation.” “Don’t Ever let Satan detach your self-image from the kingdom of God’s finished work.” God says, “I’ve not only taken care of everything you’ve done, but I’ve taken care of everything people have done to you. I’ve taken care of everything you are …I’ve taken care of everything Satan has done.” Dr. Carl H. Stevens This year we must know who we are in Christ. This year we must draw nigh the mercy seat. This year we will be challenged to doubt, to question, to fall into “second-rate citizen” status. Steve Gruber, conservative talk show host, comments on 2019: “This will be a political war like you have never seen because in the end it is really about the heart and soul of America … about the future of the republic and whether America will be a nation of individuals…

  I’m learning “speed reading” by a self-taught course. Requirements include expanding peripheral vision since time wastes when eyes have to dart back and forth on the page. So, we focus, like a magnifying glass focuses light, on the exact center of the column, then we move down the page without losing our fire-point. I’m reading several books now, (5), and getting through them quickly; but do I know what I’m chewing on? Not yet. But, because we can theoretically read 3 times as fast, we can go over the same book 3 times in the same time frame which it took us to read it once — theoretically. After reading it two or three times we ought to get some understanding. What reads have my fire point found? “The Vanishing American Adult,” Ben Sasse; “Crisis of Responsibility,” David  Bahnsen; “Jeremiah and Lamentations,”J. Vernon McGee; “The Book of Jeremiah,”Jerusalem Bible;…

  And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals…” “…Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?…” “…And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Revelation 5:1-2, 9 “And when he had opened the seventh seal, (of the book), there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour…” “…Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and flung it to the earth, and there followed peals of thunder with its rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.””And the seven angels with the seven trumpets…

The great significance of the Gettysburg Address, then, “is that it restates and reaffirms another great expression of the American mind, the Declaration of Independence—the opening “Four score and seven years,” in fact, points directly to the year 1776. There is one important difference, however, between our foundational political document and the Gettysburg Address: the Declaration of Independence asserts the “self-evident” truth that “all men are created equal,” whereas Lincoln refers to human equality as a “proposition.” What was self-evidently true to the men of 1776 had been challenged and even rejected by later generations, leading to a renewed defense of slavery, the great sectional divisions within the Union, and the hostilities then engulfing the nation. Likening the nation’s founding principle to a mathematical theorem, Lincoln suggests that the truth of this “proposition” is not immediately self-evident for all, but must be demonstrably proven to be true.”  historyplex “By insisting that…

Grief stricken, a person isolated their psychological pain. Strong willed? Strong minded? The current generation harnesses many soul powers like “isolation”. Coping mechanisms or defense mechanisms can hold back the flood tides sometimes. Where do these come from? “A well-known categorization of defense mechanisms by George Vaillant in 1994 differentiated between immature defense mechanisms, such as projection (blaming others) and denial, and mature defenses, like humor and sublimation (turning your unconscious motives into productive activity).” Sounds like we have grown more sophisticated? Not just yet. Here are some other “modern” mechanisms: Isolation — keeps yourself clueless about your flaws and missteps. Self-Compensation — your attempt to find an external outlet to feel better.  Dissipation — you turn all of your anxieties onto some idealized version of yourself. Interesting, however, “The criterion for evaluating the effectiveness of a defense mechanism, in the Nanjing authors’ model, include whether it (a) distorts the individual’s self-representation (self-image), or (b) causes poorer relations with others.”…

“Drug addiction is another possible effect of powerlessness.” “The basis of addiction is ‘a lot of weakness’ and ‘a blocked anger.’” “The weakness takes the form of ‘I can’t meet the demands of my family.’ ‘I can’t get a job,’ ‘I am sexually impotent,’ ‘I am a no person.’” “The anger takes the form of the addict’s revenge upon his family and the world for forcing him into this painful position of powerlessness.” “The heroin wipes away all the discomfort of perpetually feeling weak.” “No more inferiority, no more worry about being a failure in the working world, no more fear of being a coward in battle, no more disappointing one’s parents — all of these oppressive feelings evaporate.” Rollo May from his book, “Power and Innocence.” The 70’s were the experiential background for Dr. May’s observations. Feelings of being “no person” and anger toward family were the familiar tune…

“For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. … And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…” Hebrews 9:26=28 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth Romans 10:4 “But the end of all things is at hand.” 1 Peter 4:7 Have you ever thought about life this way: it ended before I was born? It ended 2000 years ago when a man shouldered it to ultimate oblivion. That man was Jesus Christ. What ended? — the cursed life, sin’s nature, death’s reign, the shadowy perspective, the religious searching for God. These all ended at the judgment, the one…

    Jonah slipped outta God’s directive and wound up jailed, in a fish; cried out for God’s help, became fish-disgorge,  bleached and beached, opted to go preach, saved the Ninevites nation. What can we learn? Folks squirm outta life daily only to enter self-incarceration; self-reproach, fright, despondency. These we try to lighten with encouragement; sometimes these hide away, we lose touch with them. Through probation, prison, parole, or local jail,  6.7 million Americans wear the dregs of cement and bars — 2.7% of adult population or 1 out of every 37 Americans have been sent “up the river,” (as of 2015). What’s up with these?  — Scott Rasmussen reports. Some questions crop up: did not God throw a mighty tempest toward Jonah’s run-away boat and sailor friends? Did the bloody blokes not become suspicious of Jonah? Did they not, in turn,  throw the fugitive overboard? Let’s review: So far,…

  “The truth, however, is that Job was suffering for others, that he was, by the grace of God, a martyr… ” “The righteous sufferers, the martyrs, what are they? Always the vanguard of humanity. Where they go and the prints of their bleeding feet are left, there is the way of improvement, of civilization, of religion. In contrast, the most successful man, preacher, journalist or statesman, is popularly supposed to be leading the world in the right path. Where the crowd goes shouting after them, is that not the way of advance? Do not believe it. Instead, look for a teacher, a journalist, a statesman who is not as successful as he might be; he will, at all hazards, stand for the true. The Christian world does not yet know the best in life, thought and morality. He who sacrifices position and esteem to God’s righteousness, he who will not bow down to the great idol at the sound of sack-but and psaltery, observe where that man is…