True Love Resurrects

There, in the middle of the pot, sat a clump of tiny bulbs, sprouting white tips of newness. Beneath the surface, life was resurrecting, and to me, a miracle that had previously been hidden out of sight, was taking place.

I am an ignorant suburban, city dweller. I was never taught the ways of the earth, and if I was, perhaps in grade and high school, it meant nothing to me, because food wasn't something my family grew in the garden, food was something served up to me on a plate, that I didn't have to think about, or contribute to in any way. Plate, knife, fork, food in mouth - what a sad state of affairs, when I think about it now. 

I am a budding human being, learning to grow. I am an accidental gardener, schooled as I go. Some people grasp concepts by reading about a subject, I understand experientially, and as I stated a sentence ago, accidentally. Those lily bulbs sprouting threw me for a happy loop, when I discovered them protruding, and readying themselves for their next gorgeous, winter display of purple splendour.

The bulbs were dormant for a time, and I know I risk sounding like a citiot (this word is a combination of city and idiot: put the two together and you get what country folk, call citiots - people that haven't a clue about nature) when I type this way, but hear me out, dear one. Lately, I feel like I am autumn dormant; lately, I feel as though the quiet of nature outside my kitchen sliding doors, wants me to comprehend, that when the cold infiltrates the house, it doesn't mean all growing stops, it means I get to embrace a different pace with less urgency: in other words, dominant doesn't mean dead. 

It is a strange thing that with the fall, we feel more sleepy, and lazy like the dying bees that land listlessly, losing their flight strength, and children are made to get up early without the presence of the sun, to go off to school and sit still, or listen attentively, for hours on end. September is a time of cooling, and our bodies respond in kind, but we go against nature in so many ways, that we feel utterly guilty for not being "productive" continually. 

What about being fallow? Here is the biblical meaning of the word fallow:

Fallow refers to unplowed, uncultivated, or idle land that has become hard and overgrown, yet holds the potential for a rich harvest once it is broken up and prepared. 

The formula can look like this:

1 Rest

2 Break up dry ground that can become hard and packed tightly with weeds

3 Prepare the earth by ploughing

The Bible talks about having childlike faith, and as an adult, I feel as though all that I am learning, is delightfully happening via discovery of the natural world. No one could have prepared me for the ugly truth, that iridescent, stunningly beautiful Japanese beetles, were the life force sucking enemy, for a variety of my precious trees, plants, and garden flowers. Ahhh, the Devil in disguise, showing up as a creature of de-light, makes sense to me in so many ways! I drown hundreds of those beetles this year, seeing them as a detestable, useless nuisance. and annoyance. Die buggy die, is something an old friend said once, when she killed a creepy crawler with a shoe slam, on a hotel wall in Mexico... but I digress. 

All of the above, is to say this: true love, always resurrects. The calla lily that was given to me by my childhood best friend at Valentine's last year, went limp and lifeless, and I thought I had somehow killed it with my ignorance. The pot I had replanted it in remained as I had left it, outside, without water, without care. When I decided to plant something new in the very same pot, imagine my surprise to see the sprouting. It makes me weepy to write the metaphor, that while my friendship with my childhood bestie had remained dormant for over a decade, it was resurrected a couple of years ago - it hadn't died, it was just sleeping. 

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light (Ephesians 5:14).  

Awake, thou that sleepest

Arise from the dead

Christ shall give thee light

Dormant isn't dead... sleepy isn't half gone... love, dear one, always resurrects, with the newness of life everlasting.

May the light that is Christ, awaken your sleepy soul. 

Too Healthy for Onion Rings

The onion rings got me. I bit, I chewed, I swallowed, and I felt the oil slick at the back of my throat, sliding its way into my stomach, where it decided to make me nauseous the next day. It only took one onion ring to have that grossed out greasy feeling, but just to make sure I should never eat them again, I ate another offender to confirm my suspicions, that it was a sickening culprit. Yes indeed, that second deep fried onion ring coated in batter and fried in canola oil (I just looked up what kind of oil Harvey's uses to fry - no wonder my stomach started a revolt!), was just as naughty as its previously consumed circular friend, and the tandem pair of trouble makers helped me understand, that I am just too healthy to eat fried pretend foods - my tastebuds, the back of my throat, my stomach, my sensibilities for goodness sakes, are refined at this point, and it is sheer stupidity to force the issue with franken-foods, that act like invested promoters for antacids. 

Oversized meals make for oversized children and adults, and fast food is oversized everything; too much of this, and all too much of that ... it isn't food you are buying when you saunter into a fast food joint to make a purchase, or hand over cash through your drivers window in exchange for a suspicious looking bag... you are spending on slop no where near good enough for you, and you may resemble what you eat, if you have been eating fast food consistently, for any length of time. 

Lean fit bodies are no accident. Form follows function, meaning what you do to and with your body, affects how you look and feel in it. You know you are reading truth right now, and perhaps you have been considering taking your health into your own hands, and reigning in some of your not so helpful activities and indulgences. 

When once in a while becomes frequent and then a habit, good, and alternatively  bad, things happen: 

When once in a while workouts become three days a week scheduled events, you will change your body composition and mind set over time.

When once in a while trips through the drive through become three days a week events, you will change your body composition and mind set over time. 

Frequency increases the likelihood of a behaviour becoming habitual, and dear one, the evidence of clean eating and active living, is undeniable; then again, the evidence accumulates rapidly as body fat and sluggishness, with extra calories and inactivity. You may think me cruel speaking this way, judgmental even, as a fit person, but I tell you this, I have had to work really hard to change my eating and exercise habits, and I tell you this too, that it is easier to open a bag of chips and mindlessly munch through the lot, or devour a chocolate bar, then it is to plan, prepare, and cook meals, that my body craves and appreciates. The chips and the chocolate taste great, but make me look bad... and feel worse: options are endless for wholesome foods, and you and I can happily forgo fast food for the rest of our lives, if we so choose. 

I have a client that is transforming her body with every work out and with every meal she eats. While tracking calories, this client was astounded when she realized just how many were in a Tim Horton's bagel breakfast sandwich, and ice cappuccino. Shocked, she made a decision to not purchase and eat so many calories in one sitting. If you consume fast food, and have yet to look at how many calories are in some of your favourite and frequently eaten items, perhaps now is the time to start doing some math, and figuring out just how many pounds your calories will add up to by the end of 2026. 

Let us do a little math together, shall we?

One pound equals 3500 calories.

A breakfast bagel with bacon, egg, and cheese = 450 calories

A medium ice cappuccino = 330-360 calories

That's 780-810, just for breakfast; and if you are like most people, you have three meals a day. An average female that is moderately active does not need more than 1600 calories daily, and it is really easy to overeat, especially when calories are not counted, and especially when drive throughs are used as a quick way to get a meal prepared for you. 

Most people that hire a personal trainer mean business: they want results, with proof that their hard work, their sweaty efforts, are paying off. My client got a scale that measures BMI, and as she continues to train and count her calories while staying within her weight loss range, she is enjoying the progress she is making, and the charts that measure her muscle gain, and fat losses, are very satisfying for both of us to review. O, and she is steadily losing weight, and her clothes aren't hugging her body the way they did not that long ago - how exciting!

You can do this too dear one! You can take your health seriously, and start the process of transforming, one meal, one workout, one app entry at a time. You can choose to change for your own good, and wouldn't it be fun to see the fast food restaurants replaced with health food stores that compete with one another to entice customers to eat their wholesome, earthy, health enriching produce and products? 

We have a vast variety of fast food restaurants for a reason: they are making money in exchange for consumers health, wealth, and well-being - the cost is exorbitant for eaters, and big business owners know that if they can get people hooked on their pretender foods, they may have an over-consuming cash cow customer for life. 

When once in a while becomes frequent and then a habit, good, and alternatively  bad, things happen. Choose the good, dear one. Work out, count calories, choose real food that fuels your body, and in no time, you will feel fantastic, and confident in your abilities to do yourself a good turn, by taking control, and getting healthy. 

You can, do this. 

Challenge:

1. Weigh yourself. Using a scale increases accountability and is an honesty check - you can accuse your scale of lying to you, but the darned things are only capable of truth telling. Record your weight using a tracking application. I recommend MyNetDiary - the free version is fantastic, and for detail fanatics, I am confident the premium version will satisfy their cravings for trackable stats. 

2. For one week, eat food that you have prepared. Buy fresh produce, meat that does not have additives or preservatives, and other items with short ingredient lists, that haven't been tampered with, and look like they did when they were growing into their edible state. 

3. Refrain from purchasing packaged "snack" foods, like chips, chocolate, cookies, candy, ice cream etc. We are talking one week - you can live without these items for one week, isn't that right? O... and forgo pop and alcohol - they do nothing for you but rather, impede progress. 

4. Do the math. Count calories eaten and calories burned by tracking them. Check in on yourself and see how you are feeling and what changes you are noticing with your tastebuds, your satiate, your energy levels, and moods too. The shifts may be subtle at first, but by the end of the week, it is possible that you will notice great and measurable changes, that let you know that your efforts are worth while. 

5. Do the other math: you will spend less money when grocery shopping, and when you are out and about during the day. Put aside the money you normally would spend on fast food, or drinks made at a restaurant, and see the dollars piling up. You can save for a tropical vacation, and some gorgeous swim wear that you feel great in, with all the cash you are saving yourself! 

6. Consider hiring a personal trainer that is an expert with weight training, and understands how to navigate your current and perhaps de-conditioned physical state: an expert trainer will establish a progression plan, as you become stronger, and more co-ordinated. Three months worth of training is bench mark, with  changes being noticeably obvious - just image the six month, the nine month, the twelve month benchmark moments, dear one!

One meal, one workout at a time. 

You can, do this. 

Post Script: If you are considering hiring a trainer, look for one that actually looks like they lift weights. The best trainers live a fitness philosophy, and model a lifestyle conducive to good health. 

Sidewalk Statues

He caught my eye with his stock-still frozen in time, locked into place, positioning. I took my eyes off of the road several times, to look at the man, all the while, willing him to move, hoping against hope to see an arm lower, his head swivel, or perhaps, witness a foot taking a step forward. I left him behind last night, but this morning, I think of him with deep sorrow, a man relieved of living, publicly beyond reach and help, because whatever he injected or inhaled, made him a prisoner in his own body. 

Hate, hate has humans wanting to maim and kill and murder alive. Xylazine - from what I have read - is a powerful veterinary sedative that is often mixed with opiates: men and women can be seen dotting sidewalks after taking these, or similar chemical combinations, in what is referred to as a fentanyl fold, hovering in space while somehow existing, without twitching or showing signs of life. When the alive but dying death grip is released as the drugs wear off, these broken souls re-animate with one goal in mind: they want to relieve themselves of actually living, and over and over again, they misuse their bodies via a drug induced coma of sorts, so that they do not have to think, feel, or suffer their physical existence. 

Seeing a human statue, or many of them, littering the streets with the visible demeaning of their natural state, is disconcerting, and devastatingly sad. A demonic grip on the soul has these lost ones temporarily frozen in time for bouts of nothingness, and nowhere to be found emptiness - shells of themselves, they see not, hear not, know not, and are susceptible to the elements, while making everyone around them extremely alarmed and uncomfortable.

Hate is the fuel that spills from drug dealers: it just so happens that the government of Canada sponsors with taxpayer money, the killing of the living dead, Avarice coupled with malicious intent, turns humans into monsters, and monsters devour prey minus conscience. 

The drug induced stock still statues play a massive role in their own demise, and they care not the burden they put on citizens that soulfully suffer on their behalf, or pay for them at the hospital til: but they had help along the way, each time they had easy access to the substances that numbs and dumbs them out of actually living. The druggies are walking talking evidence of things gone horribly wrong in society, and when the streets become dangerous with homeless people wandering in and out of moving traffic, hoping to get a handout for their next fix, we are headed in a direction that does not bode well for future generations. The median beggars, with their cardboard signs asking for help, get money from passers-by, and this is a form of aiding and abetting a criminal act against the soul of the beggar that wants to yet again, fry his brain with ingestible's that ought never to enter in. 

I think of the man, frozen for a time, in time and space, on a busy downtown street, and I cannot help but weep anew. There is a God crafted soul in that body of his, and I wonder, will he ever know how precious he is to the one that made him? Will he ever be set free from the demons that have him locked in a sick holding pattern of dying while never really living? Will he die this day, because his heart could not take one more dose of poison? Will this be the day that he leaves the earth to go into permanent torment, without one more chance to be redeemed by the Saviour? 

What help can there be for these poor beggars, dear one, except from God? 

God saves. God is merciful and kind. We are required, it is our duty, to pray, and pray often, for the salvation of souls. I don't know who the man was that I saw last night, but I do know he was created in the image of God, and that somewhere along the way, he swapped out his purpose for nothingness: God can redeem him, and rescue him from the dark dungeon in which he currently resides, and it is my job to think of him as a lost lamb, and to pray for his return to the fold. 

Luke15:3-7

And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing, And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

NOTE: The fentanyl fold is telltale. I am not at all well versed in the drug ingesting world, all I know is that people are on substances that demean and dehumanize them, and they need prayer. 

Resisting the Truth - Full Circle

Those who resist the truth are guilty of folly, yea, of egregious folly; for magna est veritas, et praevalebit - Great is the truth, and shall prevail. Though the spirit of error may be let loose for a time, God has it in a chain. Satan can deceive the nations and the churches no further and no longer than God will permit him: Their folly shall be manifest, it shall appear that they are imposters, and every man shall abandon them, Matthew Henry, Acts to Revelation, Volume 6, page 680. 

The paragraph above was plucked from Matthew Henry's commentary on a letter sent to Timothy from Paul, instructing him regarding how to live and preach the gospel, and what to look for in men that attempt to corrupt the minds of others, to draw them away from Christ and the truth. There are amongst us, resisters of the truth, and spotting them is getting easier and easier, isn't it, dear one?

Satan is an imposter and runs a school of sorts for deceivers. Satan can, and does, deceive the nations and the churches, but only for so long, and only to a certain point - Satan is, on a chain - think canine in a backyard, with a dog collar around his neck, linked to an invisible fence boarder that shocks when the boundary is crossed - Satan can only go so far, before God yanks the chain hard and eventually nullifies the evil one, for all eternity. Before we go off on a tangent blaming the Devil for wreaking havoc as a solo act, note that it is his spirit of deception, his desire to stir up chaos, that is welcomed into humans that not only resist the truth, but diligently practice the art of trickery. Satan is a spirit and to do his dastardly best, he requires humans in the flesh, to perform the duties he assigns them, thus the deception we see in the nations, and in the churches too. 

I feel the fullness of the circle, the closing of the gap happening, with the two ends meeting up. What was globally experienced during the cv assault, was utter depravity coming to fruition - people had denied the truth, denied God's word, long before they were tested and tried, long before 2020, when they were instructed to don pretend self-preservation masks, long before they fell for the social distancing nonsense, long before they were wreck-less enough to not only get injected, but go out of their way, by standing in lines, or waiting their turn, to have strangers insert sharp and pointy objects into their arms, to shoot in manmade toxins meant to harm. 

Explain to me, dear one, how this happened, en masse, globally?

My explanation, is the vapid, vain, unreasonableness of non-thinkers. I type this and I know how harsh it sounds, but this, dear one, is exactly how propaganda works. People purport or pretend to be professionals, and authorities, and other people decide, Well I just don't have to research or think about this issue, since the experts, scientists, and doctors, have done this for me... The Bible makes it very clear that we are to use our judgment in decision making; it is also clear that there are many deceivers, and that we are to use our discernment for self and soul preservation. The Bible describes deceivers, their tactics, their slick and slimy antics and activities in detail, and it truly is foolish to ignore the book of wisdom - it is folly, egregious folly, to resist the truth. 

The full circle feeling I have comes from witnessing the loudness of the truth that is prevailing on social media. The monsters that manipulated the masses are mercilessly mocked and muted, by those that saw the truth, heard the truth, and spoke the truth, even when it was dangerous socially and economically, to do so. It isn't only the truth tellers that are being heard, the liars are turning viciously on one another too - there is no safety, when you are numbered amongst a pack of thieves, liars, cheats, and murders; the wicked can count on their colluders to ditch them as soon as the heat is turned up on their own burner. 

I sometimes try to resist the low lying fruit of Trump's idiocy, but I have to use him as the perfect example, of a wicked man, that resists the truth, and is now seen as the clown he always was. I lost friendships when I spoke what I saw about Trump, and I admit, I have some satisfaction in being RIGHT about him. Let us clear up a tightly held misconception about rightness and wrongness here and now: there do exist in reality, a right and a wrong, because we do have, truth and lies. I am more than comfortable saying when I have been wrong, and when I am right. I was right about Trump, and it would please me immensely to get a couple apologies from people that denigrated me for being bold in my pronouncements about him, and that fiercely protected this reprobate man. 

Full circle... we are seeing full circle, and I pray that everyone that was covid coaxed into believing lies, now is willing, with God's strength, to embrace and live, for the truth, which will, set them free. God always forgives the contrite in heart, and God willing, you will resolve with him, what needs to be resolved, for the everlasting benefit and blessings, of your soul.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Believe this, seek his face, and you will have the peace of Christ wash over you, dear one.

Dead Dolly

At eighty, Dolly is dead, five years after her Moderna injection. Wise doctors predicted deaths at the five year mark for many of the injected, and this is precisely what we are witnessing: granted, thousands of the potion filled died before the five year mark, and many will die within the ten year mark, and anyone reading this might be inclined to argue that people die all the time, and not necessarily from cv shots, but then again, the death rates have skyrocketed since the covid extravaganza of yesteryear, and people are still getting injected, to their peril. 

I take exception to the likes of Dolly Parton and Cher, who publicly, and proudly, funded and promoted cv shots, supplying one million dollars each, to aid the poor and unfortunate, that could not afford to get poisoned from their own pockets. 

I watched who did what during the massive global assault on our senses and autonomy, and I promised myself that I would go after anyone and everyone that promoted the injections foisted upon an unsuspecting populace. Dolly changed the lyrics to her song Jolene, and she called people "cowards" during her injection video, saying "So I just want to say to all you cowards out there, don't be such a chicken squat, get out there and get your shot". 

"I know I'm trying to be funny now, but I'm dead serious about the vaccine."

Here are the lyrics to Vaccine:

Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I'm begging of you please don't hesitate

Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, cuz once you're dead then that's a bit too late

Dolly was dead serious about the vaccine. Dolly was dead serious about other people getting the vaccine. Dolly got her verbalized death wish come true, and by using her popularity and celebrity influence, along with her accumulated wealth, she attempted to verbally bully followers, using a chastising tone, to call people cowards or chicken squats, if they didn't do what she was telling them to do, and what she had done to herself. 

Dolly was a sellout. Dolly tricked herself, and then with an embarrassing excess of hubris, dared to tell other people what to do. She got a great shot in the arm that Moderna day, and wanted everyone listening to follow suit, to get things back to "normal". 

Dolly isn't a hero, she was a player in what was popular back in the early 2020's, and she will be infamous in my books, for having promoted mass injections to the naive and susceptible. What a wicked woman she was. 

Cher... are you next? 

We are seeing the tumbling from pedestals. Humans were never meant to worship, adore, or look up to other humans, as heroes. We are meant to worship and glorify God, and Dolly is a perfect example of an iconic celebrity gone rogue, seeing her status as powerful enough to browbeat those that did not go the route of the road most travelled. Dolly fell hard into the grave, and she really did take death seriously, when she chose to believe she would be spared sickness and death, via liquids transferred from a vile vial, into her arm - she did not trust God with her life, and she proposed vigorously and vehemently, that others follow her lead.

All the viciousness recorded for time immemorial, can be reviewed, if you question what I am saying here. 

My concern is for the innocent and vulnerable people in our world that are preyed upon by the thoughtless, vain, pleasure seekers, that care not for souls. If they cared... they would speak gospel truth, not medical tyranny. 

This Know Also

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-4). 

We are indeed, in perilous times, dear one. We are to know the times we are in, and when the signs become evident, and glaringly obvious, we have indicators of the day of the Lord fast approaching. 

... lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God

I want to ensure you understand my intentions, prior to continuing our time together. I want everyone to be redeemed through Christ the Lord; I want everyone to go to heaven; your soul resides in a body, and when you die, it is your body that expires, but it will be picked up once more for eternal use, on judgment day, and it will either be glorified in the presence of God because you believed on the one whom he hath sent for your salvation, namely Jesus, or be a stinking heap of raw and rotting hideousness. Our souls reflect our future state, and if you are godly, you will be like God in all his glory once you are judged; alternatively, if you are like one of Satan's crew of corrupt and cankerous criminals, you will look and sound and smell, rotten, on that final day, before eternity begins for you, outside the gates of heaven, far and away from the One that made you to worship and adore him. I want the best of the best for everyone: how very wonderful it would be, if all humans that currently walk the earth, started loving each other, caring for one another, sharing their plenty and even the little they have, like family members, living lives of service, rather than self-indulgence. God incarnate, took on flesh, to model godliness for us, but we are warned, that in perilous times, people would behave in ways that are far removed from all that Jesus modelled and taught. 

Do you see what I see? Can you add names beside each of the behaviours?

Our behaviours and the words we speak, shout loudly, of who we are: 

Lovers of their own selves

Covetous

Boasters

Proud 

Blasphemers

Disobedient to parents

Unthankful

Unholy

Without natural affection

Trucebreakers

False accusers

Incontinent

Fierce

Despisers of those that are good

Heady 

Highminded

Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God

It was while reading Matthew Henry's commentary on these verses that I learned that men who gave up their Bibles to persecutors were called traditores, meaning traitors. This, we saw happen figuratively. when churchmen did the wicked bidding of governments all over the world during the cv assault: these weak willed men forsook the assembling of the saints, in favour of securing their future status as employed pastors and preachers - in other words, they were traitors, hirelings that didn't have Shepherding skin in the game, and they quickly and easily rolled over, when told to by persecuting, godless governors. 

Dear one, it is treacherous, pure treachery, to forsake the living God in word, in deed, in your very being. If someone wanted me to hand over my Bibles, I would refuse at the risk of losing my life: the Word of God is more precious to me than my bodily existence. The Bible is the one item I count as more valuable than anything I can place my hands upon within my home. The Word of God does not rust or rot; I will never find it empty and hard to bear or carry. It is manna for my soul when I read what is written there, and it makes me weep to think of all the men, women, and even children, that have been martyred because wicked men, are despisers of those that are good. Chinese Christians risk life and limb when they dare to disobey government authorities, by owning, studying, and sharing God's Word. By comparison, many of our society members risk their very souls, by electing to go under the knife or needle, in an attempt to beautify their features, or extend human existence, with potions and poisons, that men have mustered up to make oodles and oodles of cash, at the expense of their paying customers.  

I have had a hard time looking away from the train wreck that humanity has now become. Souls are in peril; we are in perilous times, and people are encouraged to just be themselves, do what is right for you, you do you boo, but this is dangerous, ill-conceived, misguided advice. A friend of mine wondered, What is our purpose, and this ought to be the question on the lips of every human being, at one point or another. The answer: We are here to believe in the one whom God hath sent, and with our whole soul, glorify God the Father, with every ounce of our God given energy. It is in gratitude for life that we turn to the one that made us and say Thank-You, I owe you my everything. 

Now we turn our gaze to you, dear one. You are a contributor in this one life you live. You have a say and a way, and others see you, whether you believe this to be true or not. God made you, as you are, and he made you with reason, and with a purpose in mind. What you think, say, and then do, or do not do, has impact on your own soul, and influence out in the world. Who you are is reflected in how you interact with those around you, and dare I say, you will be known as godless, or godly, depending on the you that shows up, when you are alone, and when you are in company. It is purity of heart that makes a Christian: not perfection, not yet, but a desire to be just like Jesus, that matters the most to God. 

God loves cheerful children that love his Son, and I ask you, Do you love Jesus? If you love Jesus, will you live your life in a way that makes your love for him, most evident? 

Dear one, would you rather die, than hand over your Bible, to persecutors? 

I was told, years ago, and repeatedly, that if I did not stop talking about Jesus, I would no longer be tolerated. I chose my Saviour over the person that could not stand my love for the Redeemer. My eternal soul is more valuable to me than any one person, any one keepsake, any dollar in my pocket, or any property I currently reside on. My Bible is worth all the silver and gold in the world, and there isn't a person on this planet, that can convince me otherwise. 

How about you? 

What, pray tell, matters to you more, than anyone, and any thing? 

Self-Obsession Becomes Ugly Vanity

The way of error is down-hill; one absurdity being granted or contended for, a thousand follow, Matthew Henry, Acts to Revelation, Volume 6, page 676. 

I lift words from Matthew Henry's commentary on The Bible, and today, I use them to suss out the downward-dropping, the head-long falling, that is occasioned by thinking errors embraced, and acted upon. 

Absurdity is a standout word in the sentence about. Imagine contending, or fighting, for what is absurd? 

Lately I have been watching videos on facial and body surgeries, or what is branded as, "enhancements". If one wanted to, they could spend endless days on absurdity, watching women, and men, in their own self-obsessed staring role, of cut, bruised, swollen, self-administered healing, and alternatively, botched or brutalized, talk talk talk videos, giving countless details about their surgical experiences, and the ones they plan to have, to compliment the ones they have already suffered. Minimizing the suffering seems a common practice for many, and I ask you this: When did everything we do, become so important, that everything we do, must be recorded and then publicly posted, for anyone and everyone, to witness? 

Subtly and discretion with a touch of feminine mystique, have gone the way of the dodo bird. The in your face big lips, over blown breasts and baboon sized booties, are grotesque; couple these with caterpillar like tattooed brows, stuffed full with filler cheeks, and botox foreheads and frown lines, that no longer present themselves as telltale facial expressers of feelings, we have ourselves cartoons that haven't a clue, that the way of error, is down-hill, and one absurdity granted and contended for, has a thousand foot soldiers of folly, at the ready, waiting to take their destructive turn. 

I learned what a 360 is the other day. A person that wants a Brazilian butt lift must have enough fat on their body to have it sucked out, and then redistributed to the buttocks. Weight gain must take place, so that fat can be removed from arms, abdominal areas, thighs, the back, in other words, all around the body, to have enough fat to inject in the backside. This is monstrous, and this process is repeated by the self-obsessed, despite the risks involved: the people that have these wicked procedures, go back for more, sometimes three to four times, or until they die. It is a dangerous route to abuse the body thusly, and yet there appears to be fearlessness in the approach to sedation, knives, cuts, necrosis, long term suffering, surgery gone wrong, and surgery to fix what got damaged the first or second round. The mentality, and the hope, is that the results after recovery, will be worth it, and Hey, bad things happen to other people, until of course, they happen to me... 

Vanity is defined as: excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements. 

Vanity is self-obsession. Vanity is a display of inner workings. Vanity is vapid and catastrophic to the well-being of the soul. It is a killing of character, a destruction of any possibility to course correct to Christ. Dear one, you cannot love God when you destroy his handiwork. You cannot thank him for your blessings, when what he has given you is cursed by you, and criticize to the point of wanting to alter it all. Our faces and bodies change daily, and these are reminders that our time in the shell we are in, is limited: we are mortal and beings unto death. Wanting to be perfect - our what a sickened mind perceives as perfect - to the point of being cut and reconfigured, does not adjust the fact that aging happens, and death is inevitable. The holy grail of facial and body enhancements is clearly, not the foundation of youth, that spares a person of the inevitability of getting old, and looking old too. People are paying for facial construction and scaffolding, that eventually, drops, droops, and will need repairs, just like a house that needs maintenance, to remain intact. 

The Devil is having a plastic surgery heyday with the vain, the proud; with those that admire their appearance so much, that they believe everyone in their social media feed, is hanging on their every word and every action, to the point of them sharing far more than is healthy for their own mental and emotional state of being. What, pray tell, can strangers do for you, when you tell them too much? and when you are just one of many people they "follow" and like, or chasten, or criticize, and make fun of? 

I have had my fill of watching "enhancement" videos. The line, If it makes you feel better about yourself, then do it, is such a crock. It encourages bad choices that can be lethal; immoral choices that temporarily make us feel good, or choices based on pressure from friends, family, or the government, such as getting the cv shots, that excuse thoughtlessness, regarding long term outcomes and consequences. In a godless society, meaning God's commands are not considered prior to choices that impact individuals and whole families, feeling good about bad things we do, is marketed heavily, and it is a shame to witness the time, money, and health expenditures on nothingness, on ugly vanity, that a consumer society indulges. 

Vanity is hideous, dear one, and it is trendy to be utterly lost in self-obsessed grandiosity. People are dying in droves or being permanently maimed and disfigured, at the expense of their very soul... they are dying whilst living, without knowing the Saviour, and this, is a sad state of affairs for thousands upon thousands of lost and wandering humans, that take to the knife to fix, what ain't  broke. 

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:4). 

We belong to the One that made us. Mutilating the body is a sin against God. We do not own ourselves, and it is the soul that suffers when we take liberties that he does not approve, with the bodies we reside in. We are designed to glorify God, and this is just not happening for the masses as they thumb their fake noses, at the One that gave them life. 

We owe God a debt that Jesus paid in full. We do not have the right to destroy his property, and you, my dear, are his property.