Saturday, May 29, 2010

Mayflower, 1620



Last night I was watching the History Channel. There was this program about the history of the United States. They were showing the founding of Jamestown (1607) in Virginia and Plymouth Colony (1620) in Massachusetts. The narrator said that ten percent of the population of the United States can trace their ancestry to the fifty people that survived the winter of 1620-21 at Plymouth Colony. Sounds like a mustard seed of faith in God: the Lord blessing and multiplying the work of His faithful saints--or the Lord working through his saints.

The Pilgrims that came on the Mayflower from England to America wanted relgious freedom--freedom to worship God. Ten percent of the population of the United States would be thirty million people who can trace their ancestry to the Mayflower and Plymouth Colony.

"Seek the Kingdom of Heaven first . . ."

*****

A Journey to the New World:
The Diary of
Remember Patience Whipple
Mayflower, 1620


October, 1620

“The reason for our journey is our religion. You see, we are not the Pope's people nor the King's really, but God's people. We are Saints of the Holy Discipline. ‘Saints’--for short. That is what all of us English who went to Holland are called. And if we go to this New World, free from old King James and all the fancy church rituals that are not to our way, we can worship as we want. You see, we believe that the church is in our heart and not in a building. So tis our hearts that lead us.”

A Journey to the New World

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Branding Calves and the California Outback



A week ago I hitchhiked from Mount Vernon, Oregon to Cedarville, California. John and Susie were happy to see me again. I had been gone for a week.

A couple of days ago, John, Susie, four of their friends and I drove from Cedarville to a ranch between Burney and Fall River Mills, California. The ranch is forty miles north of Mount Lassen (Lassen Volcanic National Park). John and Susie have a cow-calf herd there; the calves needed branding.

Two guys on horses would rope the calf--one guy roped the calf's neck and the other guy would rope the hind legs. They would drag the roped calf close to where we were standing and then John and I would grab the calf and flip it on its side. One of us would loop the rope around the calf's front legs just under the hooves and make sure it was drawn up tight. We would do the same thing to the back legs. The guys on the horses would then take up the slack in the ropes, so that the calf would not move.

John would then notch the ears and castrate the bull calves. Susie and her daughter would inject the calves with Vitamin E, there was an 8-Way shot, and there were shots for pnemonia, scours and pinkeye--they had two syringes each. I would then take the hot branding iron and brand the calves high on the flank. We used the same brand for all of the calves except three.

We ended up branding around eighty head. We then walked to the house, had a steak dinner and then headed back to Cedarville. We left Cedarville at eight in the morning; we got back at six.

This morning John and I drove out to a piece of ground they own. It is around eighteen miles north and east of Cedarville. There were lots of sagebrush and Juniper trees. This is high desert country (Cedarville is 4600 feet in elevation): they call this the California Outback. This country is much different from the Fall River Mills neighborhood which has a lot more trees, good pasture and some farm ground.

We dug (or tried to dig) a couple of post holes on this ridge--we brought a couple of railroad ties with us. John wants to build a gate that leads out to his property. We also brought a couple of gate panels. There were a lot of rocks in the ground, so we weren't able to dig down very far. We will come back later and pour concrete around the end posts. After the concrete is set up, we will hang the gate panels on the end posts.

The Nevada state line was a mile away on another ridge. It was pretty muddy driving out there. We had to put John's rig into four-wheel drive. They have had a lot of rain and snow this spring. It is supposed to rain off and on for the next few days.

Fixing Fence on the Emigrant Trail

__________


24 October 2017

Yesterday I was helping some friends work some calves here in the Surprise Valley.  I was in the corral running the calves into the chute when this calf kicked me in the face.  That was the first time I had ever been kicked in the face. 

It was a really beautiful, sunny day; I think it got just over 70 degrees F with no wind.

Does this mean that I could take a punch from Mike Tyson or Conor McGregor?  Probably not.  I really don't want to find out.


Kicked in the face by a 400 lb calf 

Monday, May 24, 2010

Prophecy Against Moab


You could also say that Jeremiah 48 is a prophecy against Babylon (spiritual Babylon) or the Godless world system. Babylon is a spiritual city and Zion is a spiritual city. Those who are in bondage to Satan dwell in Babylon; those who abide in Christ dwell in Zion (the Presence of God).

I still believe that the United States is the most blessed nation on earth, but there is a lot of sin in this nation. People are still fighting for abortion rights and homosexual rights; we have too many people who live off of other people's taxes; the United States is 12 trillion dollars in debt; evolution is being taught as a science, when it is really a religion; people worship the creation more than the Creator (Romans Chapter 1).

So what is the Son of God (Jesus) supposed to do? Smile on the United States and say keep up the good work? No. The Lord is judging the United States (or aspects of the United States) for sin. The Lord is a God of love and a God of judgment. The Lord chastens those whom He loves: "He who spares the rod [of correction] hates his child."

Jeremiah 48: 1: "Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed."

Jeremiah 48: 4: "Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard."

Jeremiah 48: 11-12: "Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles."

Jeremiah 48: 14-16: "How say ye, We are mighty and strong men for the war? Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts. The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast."

Jeremiah 48: 20: "Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled."

Jeremiah 48: 25-26: "The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord. Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the Lord: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision."

Jeremiah 48: 29: "We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart."

Jeremiah 48: 33: "And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting."

Jeremiah 48: 36: "Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished."

Jeremiah 48: 38-39: "There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the Lord. They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him."

Jeremiah 48: 42-45: "And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the Lord. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord. He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones."

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Quotes from Thomas Jefferson



These are some quotes from Thomas Jefferson. It looks like Jefferson is describing the United States in 2010:


"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe."

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."


Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property--until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

The International (2009 film)

_____

The motto on New Hampshire license plates reads: "Live Free or Die." I wish we all had New Hampshire license plates.

Shays' Rebellion and the U.S. Constitution
Keep Your Powder Dry
The Battle of Athens, Tennessee
Born Fighting:  How the Scots-Irish Shaped America by James Webb
The Mystery of the "Stranger" at the Signing of the Declaration
Facts in Five
A Dream about Donald Trump

Monday, May 17, 2010

The Sermon


Moby-Dick or, The Whale
By Herman Melville

Chapter IX
“The Sermon”

Pages 51-52: “Father Mapple rose, and in a mild voice of unassuming authority ordered the scattered people to condense. ‘Starboard gangway, there! side away to larboard—larboard gangway to starboard! Midships! Midships!’

“There was a low rumbling of heavy sea-boots among the benches, and a still slighter shuffling of women’s shoes, and all was quiet again, and every eye on the preacher.

“He paused a little; then kneeling in the pulpit’s bows, folded his large brown hands across his chest, uplifted his closed eyes, and offered a prayer so deeply devout that he seemed kneeling and praying at the bottom of the sea.”

“Nearly all joined in singing this hymn, which swelled high above the howling of the storm. A brief pause ensued; the preacher slowly turned over the leaves of the Bible, and at last, folding his hand down upon the proper page, said: ‘Beloved shipmates, clinch the last verse of the first chapter of Jonah—“And God had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.”

“‘Shipmates, this book, containing only four chapters—four yarns—is one of the smallest strands in the mighty cable of the Scriptures. Yet what depths of the soul does Jonah’s deep sealine sound! what a pregnant lesson to us is this prophet! What a noble thing is that canticle in the fish’s belly! How billow-like and boisterously grand! We feel the floods surging over us; we sound with him to the kelpy bottom of the waters; sea-weed and all the slime of the sea is about us! But what is this lesson that the book of Jonah teaches? Shipmates, it is a two-stranded lesson; a lesson to us all as sinful men, and a lesson to me as a pilot of the living God. As sinful men, it is a lesson to us all, because it is a story of the sin, hard-heartedness, suddenly awakened fears, the swift punishment, repentance, prayers, and finally the deliverance and joy of Jonah. As with all sinners among men, the sin of this son of Amittai was in his wilful disobedience of the command of God—never mind now what that command was, or how conveyed—which he found a hard command. But all the things that God would have us do are hard for us to do—remember that—and hence, he oftener commands us than endeavors to persuade. And if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves; and it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.’”

Pages 56-57: “‘Shipmates, God has laid but one hand upon you; both his hands press upon me. I have read ye by what murky light may be mine the lesson that Jonah teaches to all sinners; and therefore to ye, and still more to me, for I am a greater sinner than ye. And now how gladly would I come down from this mast-head and sit on the hatches there where you sit, and listen as you listen, while some one of you reads me that other and more awful lesson which Jonah teaches to me, as a pilot of the living God. How being an anointed pilot-prophet, or speaker of true things, and bidden by the Lord to sound those unwelcome truths in the ears of a wicked Nineveh, Jonah, appalled at the hostility he should raise, fled from his mission, and sought to escape his duty and his God by taking ship at Joppa. But God is everywhere; Tarshish he never reached. As we have seen, God came upon him in the whale, and swallowed him down to living gulfs of doom, and with swift slantings tore him along “into the midst of the seas,” where the eddying depths sucked him ten thousands fathoms down, and “the weeds were wrapped about his head,” and all the watery world of woe bowled over him. Yet even then beyond the reach of any plummet—“out of the belly of hell”—when the whale grounded upon the ocean’s utmost bones, even then, God heard the engulphed, repenting prophet when he cried. Then God spake unto the fish; and from the shuddering cold and blackness of the sea, the whale came breeching up towards the warm and pleasant sun, and all the delights of air and earth; and “vomited out Jonah upon the dry land;” when the word of the Lord came a second time; and Jonah, bruised and beaten—his ears, like two sea-shells, still multitudinously murmuring of the ocean—Jonah did the Almighty’s bidding. And what was that, shipmates? To preach the Truth to the face of Falsehood! That was it!

“‘This, shipmates, this is that other lesson; and woe to that pilot of the living God who slights it. Woe to him whom this world charms from Gospel duty! Woe to him who seeks to pour oil upon the waters when God has brewed them into a gale! Woe to him who seeks to please rather than to appal! Woe to him whose good name is more to him than goodness! Woe to him who, in this world, courts not dishonor! Woe to him who would not be true, even though to be false were salvation! Yea, woe to him who, as the great Pilot Paul has it, while preaching to others is himself a castaway!’”

“‘Delight is to him, who gives no quarter in the truth, and kills, burns, and destroys all sin though he pluck it out from under the robes of Senators and Judges. Delight, --top-gallant delight is to him, who acknowledges no law or lord, but the Lord his God, and is only a patriot of heaven. Delight is to him, whom all the waves of the billows of the seas of the boisterous mob can never shake from this sure Keel of the Ages. And eternal delight and deliciousness will be his, who coming to lay him down, can say with his final breath—O Father! —chiefly known to me by Thy rod—mortal or immortal, here I die. I have striven to be Thine, more than to be this world’s, or mine own. Yet this is nothing; I leave eternity to Thee; for what is man that he should live out the lifetime of his God?’

“He said no more, but slowly waving a benediction, covered his face with his hands, and so remained kneeling, till all the people had departed, and he was left alone in the place.”

The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex
Billy Budd
The Jerry Shey Family
The 100 best novels:  No 17--Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)
The Rejection Letters:  How Publishers Snubbed 11 Great Authors

Monday, May 10, 2010

Men Plan and God Laughs


Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
19 April 2010

For the past few nights I have been staying at Kim and Pat’s place in Stites, Idaho. Kim and I have been cutting up a number of logs on his portable band saw. We have been cutting up white pine, yellow pine and red fir and making it into boards for himself and for some of his customers.

Today I noticed in the Sunday Lewiston Tribune (18 April) these headlines on the front page: "Ash may hover for days over Europe"; "Volcanic eruption in Iceland continues to snarl world plans."

In today’s Lewiston Tribune: "European airlines are becoming impatient"; "Hundreds of millions of dollars being lost each day as volcano in Iceland continues to disrupt air traffic."

The Lord really knows how to slow people down. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts; our plans are not necessarily His plans.

Here is an old Yiddish proverb: "Men plan and God laughs."

[I first saw the above Yiddish phrase on Digihitch.com. A guy named Redford had it on his posts.]

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)


Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
8 November 2009

"I am a vet of the new 'War on Terror'. I came home in 2003. I was in 10th mountain division. We would kick down doors and secure bagdad. We interviewed over 3000 prisoners in northern Afghanistan. Which by the way for the record 45% of those I interviewed I deemed a non-combatant. But each one was taken as if they were Al-Qaeda. We were in 40+ firefights and I and my brothers killed hundreds of combatants. I still cry for each and every one of them. I served as a marksman and was constantly deployed on missions with a spotter to scout ahead of my group by a days travel. We were sitting tight in a hole that we dug behind a ruined structure (pre-war damage) and we were very well covered. At around 2100 we recieved word that a group of mortars and 15 or so combatants were rallied inside the small village we were watching. While we were aware of the combatants wandering around the town earlier we didn't not know about the mortar team. Around 2130 a UAV flew overhead at around 1500 feet which is rediculously low for standard flight. Later we would learn that supposedly the craft was having trouble with its throttle/speed controler. Well needless to say it brought some attention to the skies and excited the people in the village. We figure they must have figured they were surrounded and being attacked because of the unfriendly craft. They immediately began to pound the skies with bullets trying to hit the craft as it passed overhead. They also began to randomly fire mortars to evoke a reaction from a hidden enemy that wasn't there... except me and Chris in our hole. at around 2215 The mortars started getting a touch close to our position and we radioed for clearance to relocate. No such movement was allowed as it would endanger the suprise of our quickly advancing column of tanks and humvees and loose infantry. well we held tight as best we can but it wasn't tight enough... We were terrified... We knew that at any minute a mortar was going to hit close by or right on us and that would be it. The column was still 45 minutes out. I was at one end of our 4dx3wx5l hole and Chris was at the other watching our right flank. All of a sudden a loud WHOOP hit and I could feel the heat of the blast but I was dizzy with the concussive blow I just suffered... The WHOOP was a mortar that had hit the ruined building in front of us and muffled the explosion. I was blasted by small bits of concrete and sand. I turned to grab the radio and call in our dilemma to command but to my horror I found Chris sllumped forward at the edge of the hole. I scurried over our equipment to him and pulled him back to me to see if he was just unconcious or worse. It was worse... He had evidently been hit square in the face by a chuck of concrete with rebar in it. The concrete had hit him and a piece of rebar had punctured his head from just below the temple. It was still bleeding when I held him in my arms watching his life leave him. I cried, I screamed internally knowing out loud would get me killed. I was terrified and alone. I have to admit that I had bowel problems that night... It was more than terrifying. I got back to most post breathing heavily after crying out to command for help and an answer. The column didn't arrive for 3 hours because of a fake IED. It was me and the body of my partner alone thousands of miles away from home. If I got hit we would perish in the rubble potentially never to be found by troops. In that desert there's no where to run even if I could. I had no options but to be as strong as I could and hold the vigil down until help arrived. Because of the column being stuck and all air support having been shifted far to the west I couldn't even get an evac and because it was blind fire command felt we weren't in enough danger. Hold your posisiton and wait for Battle group sigma to arrive. I was brought back to the greenzone debriefed and sent to the field hospital for evaluation. I couldn't stop shaking and I cried every moment I was reminded of what happened. Eventually they classified me as having PTSD. I was ordered to take some stupid scripts (that they still haven't covered) for the depression and PTSD. I often times am caught staring off into space oblivious of whats around me because I am lost in dreamlike memories. I once in a while see flashbacks of our battles like dreams overlaid on reality of what Im seeing right then. I don't wig out or go crazy... I sometimes will shed a tear for no apparent reason or tend to sign deeply a lot. It still feels like a part of me was ripped out and so I think my sighing is a bit of depression or from the sense of loss... I dunno...But if you speak to anyone who has served as a marksman or even as infantry your spotter and you squadmates are your brothers... closer than anyone could possibly be. We knew eachother down to the craziest details... what color crayola I prefferd for instance... He was closer to me than any woman has ever been... And don't even give any brokeback BS... it wasn't like that... He was my brother... an extention of me... He held my head when I got hit by flying debris back in Afghanistan. I had a concussion for 3 days and he spent every meal break he had those three days to come sit with me and talk and make sure I recovered. I miss him more than most people Ive ever known. Im sure that my brotherhood with him is quite akin to what it must be like for two travelers on the rails or roads. I have never stopped truly blaming myself for not switching posts when we were supposed to. He was brought home and his family recieved a paltry sum of 5 grand to cover the burial... He was cremated because his parents couldn't afford a burial plot or head stone and wanted to keep him with them safe rather than bury him in an unfamiliar plot away from his family. His mother says she will be buried with him that way his family is close together the way it should be. It should have been me... But it wasn't and I owe it to him to live a life thats more than sitting in an office. If he wasnt sitting there where he was I would have most likely taken the hit. I live today and he paid for my right to live today. He was well traveled and loved his homestate of Texas. I owe it to him to do what he can't.

"He used to talk for hours about riding his motorcycle for days through Utah and Nevada and South dakota... He loved to camp and he could party with the best of them. He was always kind to everyone he met even our enemies over there. He respected and appreciated the cop that would pull him over... He got a ticket but his outlook was that if he got it then maybe the next guy would miss the cop... I know that if he and my grandfather were alive today me him and my grandfather would have already been hanging around with you guys out an about the world... So when you meet me out there and I'm a bit sullen at times or I shed a tear in the most beautiful of moments just remember its just me visiting with ghosts who couldn't physically be there. But to that same reasoning.... When you meet me... you'll be meeting me and the memory of two others who would have loved the travel life and I'm gonna share their compassion and appreciation of travel with all you whome I meet (that aren't dangerous)."

"I've rambled on long enough... if you've read it this far... thank's for the time to listen... be well and I'll see you sometime soon and we'll have a drink."

--30 November 2007
Author: flysouth (Digihitch.com)

(The preceding passage was published on Digihitch.com)

Tears of a Warrior
Freedom to Bear Arms

_____

flysouth is an American hero. I am grateful for the great work of U.S. Military personnel in fighting Muslim terrorists (the Taliban and Al-Qaeda) in Afghanistan and Iraq. Sometimes you have to kill a lot of bad guys to free the slaves of Muslim extremism. God bless President George W. Bush and the U.S. Military.

_____

"An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior."
--Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl M.D., Ph.D., World War 2 Holocaust Survivor
_____

My commentary on the film FIRST BLOOD (1982):

Sylvester Stallone does a great job of portraying someone who is suffering from some serious battlefield trauma and the effects of torture. Look at his thousand-yard stare: classic PTSD. He serves his country in an unpopular war and comes home where people spit at him and call him “baby killer”. He goes through hell in Vietnam and is rejected by so many in his own country.

The last scene with Colonel Trautman at the sheriff’s office where he is weeping before being taken into custody: a very powerful and moving scene. The war is not over for John Rambo. Painful memories persist. All of his friends are gone. A stranger in a strange land. I don’t know why Stallone did not get nominated for an Academy Award.

“As George Orwell pointed out, people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

–Richard Grenier


The Kingdom of Heaven


Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
8 November 2009

Two very important kingdom Scriptures:

“The kingdom comes not with observation.”

“For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.”

The Kingdom of Heaven is primarily a spiritual kingdom, but it does greatly benefit the soul and the body of a man (man is tripartite: spirit, soul and body). The Kingdom of Heaven is perceived (felt) in the spirit of a man—it is not observed by the eyes of the flesh. The people of the world (unbelievers) and carnal Christians cannot perceive the Kingdom of Heaven because they are not spiritual.

The people who work in the Kingdom of Heaven are peculiar in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of carnal Christians. If the Kingdom of Heaven is not observed by the eyes of the flesh, then the work of the Kingdom cannot be observed by the eyes of the flesh: e.g. intercession/spiritual warfare.

There are different levels of intercession. The intercession that I am involved in is absolutely predicated on OBEDIENCE to the Lord. Paga is the Hebrew word for intercession.

People can preach with words or pray with words (praying in their own native language or in another tongue [praying in the Holy Ghost]). People can preach or pray with their lives. A man’s life is the best sermon: a man’s actions (life) speak louder than words. Francis of Assisi once said, “Always preach the Gospel and sometimes use words.” If the Word of God (the Lord Jesus Christ) is engrafted into your spirit and is dominant in your life, then your life is preaching not in word, but in power.

New Testament Circumcision


Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
24 June 2009

Genesis 17: 10-11: "This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you." (Old Testament Circumcision)

Mark 1: 23-26:  "And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,   Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.   And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.   And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him."

Mark 9: 25-26:  "When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.   And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead."

Acts 7: 51: "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye."

Romans 2: 28-29: "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

Philippians 3: 3: "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."

Hebrews 4: 12: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Revelation 2: 24: "But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden."

(The physical in the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of the spiritual in the New Testament)

Delivering someone from demons or casting out demons is New Testament Circumcision. I have gone through at least six deliverance sessions where demons were cast out of my body. Within a week or so, my body (or parts of my body) became very sore. This soreness may last from twenty-four hours up to three weeks, in my experience. When you obey the Lord, demons sometimes will come out of your body. The Lord may glorify (rapture) your body and then demons may come out of your body.

Rapture is spiritual, NOT physical. There is no such thing as a bodily rapture out of this planet. Rapture is when the Lord glorifies your body--it is an intense Holy Fire or Presence of God. In my case, this glorification is so intense it feels like my eyeballs are going to burn out of their sockets; it is almost painful.

Demons can dwell in your body and in your soul (i.e., soul ties and generational curses). I do not believe that a demon can inhabit the spirit of a Christian. The spirit is the Holy of Holies of a Christian. The soul and the body are the inner court and outer court of the Christian, respectively. A Christian can be demonized, but NOT possessed by a demon.

The more the Christian dies to self, the more the Christian becomes purified. Demons hate selfless Christians. Demons do not want to dwell in the body of a Christian who obeys the Lord.

Obedience:  The Bondage Breaker

A Nation in Sin



Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
15 March 2009

Last night I had a dream where I saw this news anchorman. He said, “We are losing Iraq and Afghanistan because President Bush is not in power.”

I’m not sure what this means, but I don’t think it means that Iraq and Afghanistan will revert back to a dictatorship. It may mean that the United States will lose influence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If the United States is now in a time of God’s disfavor, then it makes sense that many things foreign and domestic will be in disarray. Barack Obama is the second coming of Jimmy Carter. The United States is now perceived as being weak by our enemies and there may be another tragedy like 11 September 2001 or when the Iranians took over the U.S. Embassy in 1979.

When a man is in sin, he projects weakness. When a nation is in sin, it projects weakness and invites invasion or attack (God’s wrath).

Sleeping on a Stack of Lumber in Columbus, Montana



Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
2 January 2009

Yesterday I hitchhiked from Belgrade to Columbus, Montana. I slept on a lift of lumber in a shed at the Timberweld place last night. The stack of lumber I slept on was three lifts high; the stack in front of me was four lifts high, so I was well-hidden from anybody at ground level.

This morning around eight o'clock I heard some people talking in the shed that I was in. There were two men and one woman. They were taking inventory. When they got near to where I was sleeping, this one guy climbed up a ladder to read off the numbers to the lady below.

Then the guy on the ladder saw my shaving kit and my shoes. “Hey, I see something,” he said.

“What is it?” the other guy asked.

“I don't know. Let me get my flashlight.” He shined the flashlight on my things and said, “I see a pair of shoes.”

The other guy asked, “Do you see a blanket? We had a guy sleeping in here a while back. If you see anybody up there, apologize [for waking him up] and move on to the next stack.”

That's when I spoke up. “Hey, I'm up here. I'll get out as soon as I can.” I had been eating some bread and peanut butter for breakfast.

The guy on the ladder said, “That's all right.”

The two men and the woman continued with their work.

After I packed up my things in my backpack, I jumped down from my sleeping berth and walked over to the man and woman doing inventory—the other guy had walked off to some other place. We spoke for a little while; the lady said that it had gotten down to 18 degrees F last night. I stayed nice and warm on the stack of lumber. I then walked across the railroad tracks to a convenience store to get a cup of coffee.

I will head south to Red Lodge later this morning and then mosey into Wyoming.

Paga (Intercession)



Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
10 December 2008

INTERCESSION (Strong’s 6293 Paga)

Paga: Hebrew for “intercession,” has many different meanings which help us to understand intercession. Listed below are six different ways paga is translated which help in better understanding intercession.

1. Paga: (Judges 8: 21; I Samuel 22: 17-18; II Samuel 1: 15; I Kings 2: 29)

In all these verses, the Hebrew word paga is translated “to fall upon” meaning to kill or destroy. These verses all refer to obedience to “fall upon” the King’s enemies at the King’s command.

So we are called to “fall upon” the King of King’s enemies (which are demon powers) and destroy their works.

2. Paga: (Genesis 28: 11, 16; Job 36: 32)

In these verses, paga is translated to “light upon”, meaning to hit the exact place God intended. The first example is Jacob, who just happened to “light upon” (paga), the exact place God wanted him to. After God had spoken to him, he confesses to the fact that God is in this place, and he didn’t know it. God had caused him to “light upon” a certain place where Jacob could be spoken to.

The second example is in Job and should be read in many translations. The New International Version states “He fills His hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark.”

The New International Version translates paga to “strike its mark.” This means it hit exactly where God intended.

God-causes are paga, intercession, to hit the exact place needed. Like Jacob, we might not know we are in the exact place God wanted us to be in, we might have just prayed in a certain way or spoke in the Spirit. Then we find God has caused us to (paga) hit the exact mark. Compare this with New Testament verses: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8: 26-27)

3. Paga: (Exodus 23: 4; Joshua 2: 16; I Samuel 10: 5)

In these verses, paga is translated “to meet” as in contact. The first time paga is translated “to meet” is when a lost animal is met, the finder should return it to its owner. We in intercession contact lost souls and pray them back to their Creator.

4. Paga: (Joshua 19: 11, 22, 26, 27 & 34)

In these verses, paga is translated “reaches” referring to boundaries set up for each tribe of Israel. The land they were given reached from one point to another.

God-causes are paga, to “reach” all of the appointed blessings He has in store for us. When we are restricted from our God-given blessing (possessions), we should intercede (paga) and the intercession will deal with the restriction.

5. Paga: (Judges 18: 25)

Translates to “run” upon and destroy. In this verse, you see the violent force of intercession (paga).

6. Paga: (Isaiah 53: 12; 59: 16; Jeremiah 7: 16; 27: 18; 36: 25)

In these verses, the word paga is translated “intercession”. God reveals in these verses what to pray (intercede) for and what not to pray for. (Jeremiah 17: 16)

Intercession is a combination of understanding prayers and spiritual praying or praying in the Spirit.

Conclusion: The word paga translates many ways and when taken together, a powerful type of intercession is seen.

1. An intercession that destroys the King’s enemies.
2.
An intercession that hits the exact mark.

3. An intercession that is involved with praying for the lost.
4. An intercession that sets boundaries.
5. An intercession that is violent against the kingdom of darkness.

[The preceding information regarding intercession was provided by Lou Somerlot]

Intercession



President McKinley's Dream




















Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
16 November 2008

“As President he relied for such knowledge upon John Sherman, and God (who appeared to McKinley in a dream and told him to keep the Philippines).”

Joseph Philip Lyford
Ensign U.S.N.R.
Port Aransas, Texas

--TIME
   15 March 1943

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"McKinley had other concerns behind his decision to go to war. He was constantly being criticized by Theodore Roosevelt and other warmongers for a 'lack of backbone'. (Of course, in the hysterical frenzy of 1898, not supporting war was actually a very brave stand.) McKinley also was afraid that not going to war would give the Democrats and his arch-nemesis, William Jennings Bryan, a campaign issue to use against the Republicans in 1900. McKinley knew that if he refused to send in the troops after Congress declared war, the Democrats would use this fact to destroy him in the 1900 election. Finally, a highly devout Christian, McKinley claimed to have been commanded in a dream to send the country to war. Conveniently, the religious experience coincided perfectly with the various pressures forced on McKinley at the time. And even at the same time as he committed the US to war because of a belief in democracy and a religious experience, he still couldn't help but hope that, 'perhaps it will pay.'"


U.S. Goes to War:  1898

["Finally, a highly devout Christian, McKinley claimed to have been commanded in a dream to send the country to war."  This reminds me of what T.S. Eliot wrote about John Milton:   "The civil war of the seventeenth century, in which Milton is a symbolic figure, has never been concluded. . ."  Essentially, the English Civil War in the 1600s is still being fought today throughout the world through Anglo-America (Christian) influence.

The Lord destroyed the Spanish Armada in 1588, so that England would be free of Spanish Catholic Slavery and so that the English would be free to propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Great Britain and the rest of world through their future empire.  The Lord told President McKinley to go to war against Spain in 1898 to free Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam and Havana from Spanish influence.  (I guess McKinley could have also invoked the Monroe Doctrine)]

John Milton:  Writer and Revolutionary
English Civil War
The Miraculous Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Monroe Doctrine
A Dream about Donald Trump

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"An incident well worth space here is that just before the shooting, at the reception, the President stooped to pet a little girl and to speak a kind word to the child's mother. The next person in the line was the assassin, Czolgolz. Two shots were fired, and when the President perceived the fury of the crowd toward his assailant, he cried : 'Let no one hurt him.'

"To those who bent over his death-bed, including his invalid wife, the dying President's last words were:

"'Good-bye all. It is God's way. His will be done, not ours.'"


[William McKinley was President of the United States from 1897 to 1901; he was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt after his assassination. McKinley fought the Spanish-American War and later annexed the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam and Hawaii; he set up a protectorate over Cuba.]

William McKinley
Wikipedia

Barack Obama and the Media


Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
18 September 2008

Last night I had a very strange, violent and disturbing dream about Barack Obama. In the dream, I was staying at this homeless shelter in Riverton, Wyoming (whenever I was hitchhiking through central Wyoming I would stay at that shelter from time to time). There were several people at the shelter. Then Barack Obama showed up—he was smiling, shaking hands with people and campaigning for the Presidency of the United States. It must have been nighttime because I laid out my sleeping bag on the floor to get some sleep.

Then there was this commotion in the other room. It sounded like there was a struggle between two people. I ran into the other room and Barack Obama had a rifle in his one hand and had grabbed Diane Sawyer (a well-known journalist) with his other arm. Diane Sawyer was struggling greatly and was trying to cry out, but Barack Obama had his hand over her mouth.

Then Barack Obama forced Diane Sawyer outside where they got into a car—it was a convertible. There was this homeless man nearby who looked like he wanted to help Diane Sawyer, but he was not able to because Barack Obama was holding a rifle. Then Barack Obama forced the homeless man into the car at gunpoint.

The last scene: I ran outside after Barack Obama, but he pointed a .44 magnum at me as he drove past in the convertible. I crouched behind another car as he drove past. Barack Obama was full of hate and anger and violence.

_____


"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed:  everything else is public relations."

--George Orwell

Obama Will Leave the White House

A Ride in Nebraska, Blue Highways and William Least Heat-Moon


Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
22 May 2008

Yesterday, I was somewhere between Bridgeport and Alliance, Nebraska when this car pulled over to pick me up. There were three guys in the car; I got in the back seat. As we started to drive down the road, the guy next to me asked, “Aren’t you from Ames, Iowa?”

I looked at him with a surprised look and said, “Yeah. How did you know that?”

He said, “I picked you up hitchhiking a few years ago and gave you a ride to Alliance. You made a photocopy of your book [High Plains Drifter] and gave it to me.”

I was stunned. We shook hands and then he said, “My name is Harold. I read your book and really enjoyed it. I passed it around to some friends of mine.”

It’s a small world. I remember making a photocopy of High Plains Drifter in Alliance for somebody, but I think it was more than a few years ago. I told Harold that he probably picked me up in 2001 or 2002.

So they drove me to Alliance and took me out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. The guy who was driving was Doug. Doug owned a junkyard nine miles from town; he let me and Harold stay at his place last night and Harold bought me breakfast this morning.

While we were eating breakfast, Harold told me that he was hitchhiking in Missouri back in the 1970s and William Least Heat-Moon picked him up and gave him a ride to Iowa. William Least Heat-Moon later wrote the book Blue Highways. I believe Blue Highways was a bestseller in the early 1980s. While I was living in Venice, California in the spring of 1984, I read Blue Highways and thought it was a very good book. I wrote William Least Heat-Moon a letter telling him how much I liked his book; he wrote me back, but I no longer have a copy of this letter.

An American Pilgrim:  Some Reflections on High Plains Drifter

A Hitchhiker, a Knife and a Piece of Paper



Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
18 May 2008

Yesterday, I was walking on U.S. 83 just east of Rexford, Kansas and this young lady named Becca picked me up. She drove me to Oberlin. Becca and I had a real good talk about the Gospel; she was a believer.

Becca told me about this Christian man and woman who picked up a hitchhiker. They took the hitchhiker to some town, bought him supper and paid for his own motel room. The couple was also staying at the same motel as the hitchhiker.

The next morning, the man and woman walked to their car and on the front seat was a knife on top of a piece of paper. On the piece of paper, the hitchhiker left a message and he said that he was planning on killing them, but since they gave him supper and a motel room, he didn’t want to kill them. The hitchhiker thanked them for their hospitality.

The hitchhiker giving his knife (a potential lethal weapon) to the man and woman was an act of repentance.

Abraham from Macedonia - Hitchhiking in Nevada



Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
27 March 2008

This morning I walked around five miles east on I-80 and finally got a ride to Fernley, Nevada with a Christian. I was broke, so he gave me a ton of change—nickels, dimes, quarters and pennies—and I got a couple of sandwiches and something to drink in Fernley. From there I walked two or three miles and got a ride with a truck driver named Abraham. We had a great talk. Abraham was originally from Macedonia. He has been in the United States for eight years. He asked me a lot of questions about my Christian faith. Abraham told me that he was a Muslim. We talked a lot about Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael.

I told him that it was important to know that Isaac was the son of promise (faith) and that Ishmael was the son of the flesh (non-faith). The Messianic Line came through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Twelve Patriarchs. Abraham (the Macedonian) was very receptive as I spoke to him about having faith in Christ; how His blood cleanses us from sin and that the Kingdom of Heaven is a spiritual kingdom. I wanted to tell Abraham that he was not far from the Kingdom. It was a very edifying conversation and I am very grateful to the Lord that Abraham gave me a ride. He dropped me off here in Winnemucca and was going to take his tractor-trailer all the way to Lewiston, Idaho.

The Titanic and the Hand of God



Last night I was in the kitchen watching the film Titanic (1997, directed by James Cameron). I probably watched the first hour of the film when Susie walked in. She said that she had seen the film before. Susie then said something very interesting. She said that John's (her husband) grandfather was in England in 1912 and had bought a ticket to America. He was supposed to leave on the Titanic, but at the last moment, he gave his ticket to someone else. Wow! And, of course, that individual probably perished when the Titanic hit the iceberg and sank. The Lord obviously preserved John's grandfather for a reason.

John's grandfather was a French Basque and he eventually made it to America. He ended up here in the Cedarville, California area. He was sponsored by a rancher and worked as a sheepherder. In my hitchhiking travels, I know that there are a lot of people of Basque descent in Nevada and Idaho.

Back to the Titanic film. There was this scene at the beginning where this wealthy family was getting ready to board the Titanic. This young man was bragging about the greatness of the Titanic and said that God himself couldn't sink her. A few days later, the Titanic was lying on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Pride comes before a fall.

God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. In God's economy, some vessels are created for honor and some vessels are created for dishonor. Example: Moses was created for honor, but Pharaoh was created for dishonor or destruction; Jacob was created for honor, but Esau was created for dishonor; more recently: Winston Churchill was created for honor, but Adolf Hitler was created for destruction. What comes into play in all of this is a tension between God's sovereign will and man's will.  Will man submit to the will of the Father?

The Basque Museum & Cultural Center in Boise, Idaho
Titanic, the Movie:  What God Showed Me
The Titanic, the Church:  A Comparison

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God is Sovereign

2 October 2022

I was watching a video on Operation Barbarossa (World War II) earlier today. At the beginning of the video, the narrator says something very interesting. He said that in July 1944, Winston Churchill was planning on parachuting a sniper into Nazi Germany and have him take out Adolf Hitler. Churchill soon put an end to the plan because he knew that Hitler was a mediocre war leader. Hitler in power was the Allies' best weapon. (Hitler was a corporal in the German Army in World War I, so maybe he did not have an understanding of the strategic aspects of war.)

Operation Barbarossa: The Invasion That Doomed Germany (the first minute ten seconds)

I saw another video a few days ago with David Nino Rodriguez and Gene Ho, the Editor in Chief of George Magazine. Gene Ho said that Joe Biden as the "leader" of the United States has united so many people against the Deep State Democrats and Republicans because he is so incompetent. Everybody knows that Brain Dead, the fake president is a puppet of Barack Obama and George Soros--and they want to destroy the United States.

Gene Ho - Behind the Scenes with Trump

A year or two ago, I saw this documentary Sheep Among Wolves. There is Volume One and Volume Two. It is an excellent documentary of the fast growth of the Christian church in Iran. They interviewed this Iranian who said that when the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in 1979, radical Islam became the greatest evangelist for Christianity. Why? Because the people of Iran could see the true face of radical Islam. Now in Iran, the mosques are mostly empty and the Christian church in Iran is the fastest growing church in the world.

Sheep Among Wolves: Volume II (12:10 - 12:50)

If we know the ways of God, sometimes we have to let evil take its course. In time, evil will expose itself and then evil will kill itself. In our daily lives, we continue to live for the Lord and be a witness to those around us, but the Lord has the big picture under control. Satan is on a very short leash.

Psalm 34:21: "Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate."

Isaiah 55:8-9: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

God's Sovereign Power Over All People - Zak Poonen