How To End Terrorism

                  Fundamentalism = Terrorism

      This is one of the scariest words in the world today.  The reason is that the true definition of the word is Fanaticalism.   It is blind belief that one’s point of view is right and trumps all other points of view.  Some groups carry it to the point of the destruction of all that oppose their particular point of view.  That goes totally against what the Bible, the law and common sense teach us.  It is an attitude of I am right and you are wrong.  All who do not see the sanctity of life are missing what God is saying in his Word. It is what God shows us in the very act and story of creation.

     It may just be my point of view and I can live with that, but the main problem with fundamentalism is that it is fundamentally wrong.  It is like going through life with horse blinders on.  They can see no point of view but their own.  That goes for Christianity, Islamism, Judaism or any of the other religious groups that populate this planet.  Their common denominator is there intolerance of other points of view.

     Fundamentalism is not limited to religion either, it can be influenced by race, politics, nationality and a host of other beliefs that make one feel they are better or different than those around them.

      That goes against what God gave us eyes and a brain for.  He gave them to us to use them and to use them for his glory.  The mind is made to be inquisitive. We are made in God’s image. We should want to create things, not destroy them. He put us here to make the world a better place to live, not to tear it apart and remake it as we see fit.

Genesis 9: 4-7 makes pretty clear that God puts value on life. He did not create it for man to destroy it.  One of the first commandments or statements after the flood and while Noah was still alive was given in the following verses, it reads “4But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 7And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

      God called on and commanded man to multiply.  One of the next events where God speaks to man or to a man is when he addresses Abram in Genesis 12 and commands him saying. ‘1. Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

     Three of the major religions in the world all claim to be descended from the teachings of Abraham.  That makes us all Sons of Abraham. We are all family and of the same blood, if not through Abraham, through the blood of Adam the first man. At some point we were and are all brothers and sisters and children of God. All three religions claim there is one God, well I claim there is only one way to know God and that is through His Word the Bible.  When your faith calls you to or allows you to kill your brothers and sisters it is a perversion straight from the pits of hell. Regardless if it is Jewish, Christian or Islamic any of these faiths that allow it to happen have been hijacked by terrorists who have twisted and perverted the true faith in God to their own purposes.

     What is needed is a new group called the Sons of Abraham that recognizes the fact that there are those who pervert and twist the Word of God.  When the woman caught in adultery was taken to Jesus he did not judge her, and he did not allow those who bought her to him to judge her, without judging themselves first. The Bible makes clear all judgment is the responsibility and right of God only.  Man has no right to judge another man, which is exactly what terrorist do all the time. 

     The leaders of the Islamic faith need to step up and take their faith back from the terrorist.  Just as the Christian faith did when Hitler tried to pervert and twist what it said to his own aims and desires.

   We must all stand up and make those who profess to have faith in God, act and behave in accordance with the commandments given in the Bible. Especially those that are pre Abrahamic, which means they are commandments that even Abraham honored and respected.

     Abraham told lies and told the leader of Egypt that his wife was his sister.  It is a lie that has festered and been a thorn in the side of mankind since that time.   Mankind is harvesting from the evil seed that was sown.  Abraham did not trust in God to protect him in that circumstance. Again Abraham did not trust in God to give him and heir and slept with his servant Hagar. Yet in Genesis 25:9 his sons came together to bury Abraham. Since that time there have been conflicts between the Sons of Abraham and only when mankind acknowledges the commandments of God’s Word will they receive the blessing promised to Abraham that all the seed of mankind would be blessed by his, Abraham’s seed.  That will only happen when mankind finally gets victory over those who twist, change and disobey God’s Word as it is proclaimed in the Bible, by Abraham, Moses and all the Prophets.  Not as it is proclaimed by men who have only bits and pieces of the truth.  The Truth requires knowing the whole Word of God.  Not just those parts that fit ones needs or ideology.

      It is my hope that I will be meeting and hearing of great works by the Sons of Abraham that stand up and demand that the Whole Word of God be proclaimed and adhered to.  Especially those parts calling for Love, Peace and Respect for the lives of all who believe in God.

    One of the last things prophesied in the book of Revelation is pretty simple and sums up all I have said here in just one verse.  Revelation 11:18 makes it pretty clear,

     And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth

       If you have comments, or opinions, on this post, please contact me at sclaus2u@hotmail.com  I appreciate both positive and negative as it helps me understand how my writing is being understood and if I am getting out the message I desire to get out. Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

Overwhelmed by Life

             Overwhelmed by Life

       Sometimes in the course of life our priorities become challenged.  July was just such a month for me.  My daily routine, or at least my preferred daily routine, is to get up, get a cup of coffee and spend time reading the Bible.  Last month my whole life got out of control.  Meeting the demands of others and what they expect from us is one of the easiest ways to get out of our routine.  There is nothing wrong with that as long as we remain conscious of what our priorities are.

    As a Christian our absolute first priority should be remaining grounded in our faith. Joshua 1:8 lays that out pretty clear, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”  That does not mean we have to spend all our time reading the Bible, but we have to meditate and stay focused to live a life that will keep our lives God centered.  Not doing what Joshua tells us to do will allow us to slide into a life of complacency.  Living a life and trying to being Christian enough, is a scary place to be.  Just defining, Christian enough is a challenge.

     When I started blogging I really had no direction as to where I wanted to go, or what I wanted to do with my blog.  My daughter Angel had a blog for a school project she did to get her degree and I really liked it.  She suggested I start one and write stories about my life.  Then my grandkids could read the stories my children heard from me when they were growing up.  That was fine but I have found it has transitioned to writing things that I hope helps others to grow in their walk with the Lord and to learn from my mistakes so they do not have to make the same ones.

    The Bible says a head of gray hair is a sign of wisdom.  As I have a half a head of gray hair, the other half is gone. (I have to wonder if my mind is falling out along with the hair.) My comment on the matter is usually, “As I only learn from my mistakes and my hair was gray before I was 40, it might say something about the life I lived.”  That comment is only made half-jokingly as there is a lot of truth in it.

    

       My slide started the last week in June when I moved my brother back to Indiana from Illinois.  It worked out he had to stay with me for almost a week. Then my wife and daughters went off to Florida.  My grandson Gabe who lives with my wife and I had been at my daughter Angels for the week before the girls left for Florida.  So we had to catch up by mowing all three of the yards we maintain.  Finally on the 3^rd of July we took my brother back to Logansport.  The fun was just starting as I ended up moving four people in the course of the month. We also mowed the lawns two more times, moved my niece from here old house to her new house and tore apart and rebuilt two decks.  Oh yeah I forgot the screen doors we hung and landscaping we did. 

       It was a month which seemed to be in perpetual motion as a tsunami of projects to help others overwhelmed Gabe and I. We hopefully are safe at home as we finished the month of activities by working in a booth at the Indiana State Fair for two ways.  At some point this fall I have to replace a floor in the house I grew up in and hang three doors on the rooms.  I also need to help my niece replace five windows in her new house before cold weather hits. Then to cap it off we need to finish a greenhouse on my property, build a garage, and cut up a bunch of tree tops from the trees my daughter Christina had cut out of her yard. 

     Being retired and having the means and the health to do it is nice.  The main thing I learned over the last month is to take the time and spend time with the Lord every day.  Not doing so will cause one to lose their closeness with God.  Toward the end of the month I started to feel spiritually drained.  There was no time to spend just reading the Bible or working on my blog, which usually requires me to do some serious Bible reading and spending time with the Lord. 

     Once I finally realized the problem and spent some time in the Bible it became clear to me that if we do not spend quality time with the Lord every day we will start to become worn out and tired.  Some people tell me that at sixty- seven I should not have to do all the things I do.  Something I learned long ago though is that the more you give the more the Lord blesses you.  Not just spiritually and monetarily, but physically also.  The Lord teaches you to pace yourself to get those things done that need to be done.

     So if you are feeling down or burnt out it may be time to examine our daily walk and make sure we find time to spend with the Lord.  Not as an afterthought but as a first thought.

    In conclusion I apologize for not writing more in July, but I hope the lesson I learned and shared will help others as much as it has helped me see the need to stay focused on the center of our life, which should be the Lord.

WARNING, An Apple A Day May Kill You

           Apple Cider Diet, Warning

     When you have died once and been bought back your views and opinions tend to change.  In 2003 I started the Apple Cider Diet after reading about it. It seemed like a simple enough system.  What was amazing is that I actually lost 90 pounds while on the diet.  As the diet progressed I noticed patches of blister like sores on my feet and then they started on my hands. I just blew it off as a side effect of my diet, I had changed my whole way of eating also. Then January 22, 2004, I had a major heart attack. They put five stints in me.

    My goal for losing weight was to get back into my favorite sport, skydiving.  I knew at 350 pounds my knees could not take the landing impact.  Most of the standard equipment on the market is designed for a maximum canopy weight of 220 pounds. My ultimate goal was 175 pounds which is what I weighted when I got out of the Army. This would make me only half the person I was when the diet started. All went well for a while.

     Being fair and honest the other things I was doing and changes I made may have been responsible for the weight loss. My daughter a nurse advised me to start on what she called The Way Down Diet” A Bible based diet that views excessive eating as gluttony. We should understand the effects of what we consume.I liked it for its common sense and simple routine.  It was probably responsible for most of my weight loss. It is very simple. You always try to cut your portion sizes a little each time you eat.  For example if you are used to getting two platefuls at the all you can eat buffet, you cut back to one and keep going from there.  You only eat when you are hungry, but you eat whatever you want to eat.  You just watch your portion size.  You never eat after 6PM and you try to consume as much water as you can each day. No calorie counting or anything like that.  You know what you eat and you have to be responsible enough to follow the guidelines.

     At the same time I started walking every day.   I started at ten minutes and by the time of my heart attack I was up to forty minutes every time I walked.  Actually I got up to an hour and then cut back to 40 minutes as it seemed the point at which I was most comfortable.  I did not speed walk, I just walked.

    After the heart attack and especially after the second one when they installed a defibrillator in me I quit my diet routine.  My commercial driver’s license was terminated.  It meant I had to sell my truck and all my equipment plus half of my land just to keep the bills paid till my disability started.

     Having lost my license I assumed my chances of skydiving again were over.  Then in February of this year I spent a week or so in Zephyrhills, Florida which is the skydiving equivalent of Mecca.  Jumpers come there from all over the world to participate in jumping.  They are definitely geared up for handling large numbers of jumpers and they have first rate facilities as well as staff.

     In the course of my time there I met some people from the Ontario, Canada area and they advised me that they knew Canadians who had a defibrillator and still jumped. After seeing my doctor, he said he could see no reason I couldn’t jump.  It inspired me and I went back on my apple cider diet. I had heard warnings about the diet, but blew them off as it had worked for me.  Then about a month into the diet I started noticing the same blisters I had when I first used the diet.  It caused me to do more research on the diet.

     As I researched I found that the warnings against the diet were based on the fact that many countries use arsenic for pest control.  It was banned in America years ago.  The problem is many American companies use imported apples to make their products.  As I was dieting I cut out soda pop and started drinking fruit juices instead, especially apple juice. 

 

      When I discovered the issue of arsenic I read up on the symptoms and there was one site that had pictures of people with arsenic poisoning, follow the link to see the pictures.  Sure enough the sores in the pictures were very similar to the sores I was getting on my hands and feet.  Needless to say that was the end of my apple cider diet. Dr. Oz might not have been out there as it seems. Going up against the major food companies is the equivalent of going up against big oil, the big three automakers or even the government bureaucracy.

     Then recently I had a discussion with my daughter and she said she knew tons of people who are on the diet.  Basically she told me I was full of it, but I think my own experience is sound proof.  Yes I lost a few pounds again, but I also started watching my diet.  I did not start walking though and looking back on it, that may have been the real reason for my previous weight loss.

     When you are dieting it is easy to seek the miracle cure, especially the one that requires less or no effort to get the job done.  I reminded her of the Fen-Phen craze of a few years back.  She told me that was different.  Personally I do not think so. It is easy for me to see the obesity problem in America as a side effect of eating all the foods we eat that are treated with growth hormones to make them grow bigger and quicker. 

     Recently I subscribed to Mother Earth News and their focus on organic and natural food sources made that connection even easier to see.  Remembering the DDT scare back in the fifties it is not such a stretch.  They proved in that study that the fish the Eagles were eating was effecting their egg production and endangering them with extinction.  Today with the rise in autism, it might be good to look into and see if we are suffering the same effects that the Eagles did.  It is not only possible, it is highly likely. We eat a much more varied and definitely more polluted food group than the Eagle and probably with effects we are just beginning to see.

      I would appreciate hearing comments from anyone using either diet.

How-to: Green Enough to Save the World

          Green Enough to Save the World

This car runs entirely on air and can go 120 miles on a tank at 70 miles per hour.

If the compressor runs on electricity that is solar or wind power generated it is

as green as it can get.  A totally green car. View the link in the story to 

see the car in action.

     Sometimes I get frustrated when I have an idea and people tell me, “it can’t be done.”  When someone says that to me they have just destroyed any credibility they may have had.  If everyone had that view of things we would still be living in Europe and the world would be a completely different place than it is today.  Whether that would be good or bad is a hard question to answer.

     Would I be able to even write this had that attitude prevailed?  Certainly Ireland would be a different country without the potato that was bought from South America.  A world without potatoes is almost as unthinkable as a world without cars. The discovery of oil may have saved the whales from extinction, but it might lead to the end of mankind if an alternative is not found.  That alternative is what lead me to write this article to start with. 

    It is a coincidence of history that the automobile was invented at about the same time as the discovery of oil and gasoline.  Gasoline was actually a waste product when the first wells were developed.  Oil was the ingredient that was needed to replace a diminishing supply of whale oil for lamps and industry.  While that may have been a lucky coincidence, it is time for the world to grow up and wean ourselves from our gas and oil addiction.

     There are a lot of green and renewable alternatives to oil.  It was in the course of trying to create a green and renewable powered compressor that I found out that "can’t" is part of the vocabulary in American business today.  I called a company in California wanting an air compressor that I could run on solar and wind generated electrical sources.  The salesman told me it can't be done.  It seemed that the energy needed to start the motor would take more energy than those two sources of energy could produce.

 

     Well after a little thinking and searching I remembered that many trucking companies use compressed air starters to start the diesel engines on semi-tractors. Once running the diesel engine generates enough air to refill the tanks.  At the end of the trucks use cycle the remaining air is stored in the tanks till it is needed again.  Then it is tapped to start the cycle over.  Now I just need to find me an expert that is more close at hand and can actually help me build my compressor.

      So why do I need the compressor so bad.  Well the reason is that I want to build a totally green and renewable energy powered vehicle.  The vehicle already exists and can be seen in a short eight minute video on You Tube by clicking the link I have provided. The problem for me is that I do not want a compressor that runs off of the energy grid.  Doing that would be like having an electric car.  An electric car is not a green vehicle.  It is simply using fossil fuel via an extremely long tailpipe called an electric line.

       If you build a compressor that runs on electricity generated by wind and solar powered sources you will have a truly green machine.  Of course building this system would require the world to wake up and admit there is a better way of doing things.

      Americans have a habit of reinventing the wheel, if you followed the link I provided earlier you will quickly understand why this second video is totally irrelevant.  It does show how far behind we are in this area of technology.  Having lived all over the world in the military in the sixties and seventies I realize many of the things we pride ourselves on were available in Europe long before they came here.  I could buy gas in Europe after midnight with the station closed long before the technology came to America.  They also had on demand water heaters way back then.  Yet one foot was still in the stone age, as the apartment I rented in Germany required me to build a fire to heat the water for my apartment.  While it was a pain to do, it beat cold showers. If things don't change cold showers are going to be the standard, not an option

9/11 Déjà vu

                                      9/11 Déjà vu

    With the recent explosion of terrorist activity in Iraq it is easy to get a déjà vu feeling.  It was only recently that I realized how dangerous fundamentalism is. Many people got a déjà vu feeling on 9/11 thinking back to the original attack on the World Trade Center in February 1993.  The truth is that 9/11/2001 was not the first time Americans had been attacked on 9/11 and massacred by religious fanatics.  On 9/11/1857 a wagon train passing through Utah was massacred at a place called Mountain Meadows, Utah and ended in the death of over 120 men, women and children.  Most of them were from Arkansas. A group Mormon militia tried to make the massacre look as if the Mountain Meadows Massacre was done by Native Americans. It took almost twenty years before anyone was punished for the crime.  In February 1877 one man was shot by a firing squad after being tried for the crime.

     Another act of religious extremism was the Oklahoma City Bombing in April 1995.  It occurred on the second anniversary of the Waco Massacre conducted by Federal Agents on 19 April 1993.  Again many innocent victims were killed.  While the bomber was later captured, tried and given the death penalty for his deeds.  The government tried to say it happened because of the acts of people who felt the Federal Government was or is out of control. The real question is was the government out of control.  Many people did not followup on those events.  When taken to court the Branch Davidians were acquitted of any crime.

    The point I am trying to make and not doing it very well, is that a small group of people with a twisted view of the fundamental values of a religion may perform acts that go against the views of the majority of people in that religion and society in general.  Fanatical Fundamentalist often hi-jack and pervert the religion they say they believe. They then twist those beliefs to justify any number of crimes.  Claiming they are performing all the acts in the name of religion.  In reality they are simply using their religion to try and put themselves above the law they claim to believe. 

     This has happened in any number of religions over the history of mankind.  At some point the true followers of the faith have to stand up and take their faith back and take on and punish those who are trying to commandeer their faith.  The question is when will those forces rise up in Islam and rein in the terrorist who say they are speaking for the majority.

      Our involvement in Iraq was initiated under what has proven to be faulty grounds.  In January 1961 shortly before leaving office President Eisenhower warned America about the rise of a potential military industrial complex that would endanger our government and our way of life.

       It certainly seems America has reached that point in time.  The reduction or shutting down of the military industrial complex would or will lead to widespread unemployment.  Providing supplies for the military creates jobs.  The question is have we reached a point where our Congress has been bought by the financial interests of those industries.

        Our interest in the Middle East is certainly nothing new.  Remember the verse from the Marine Corps Hymn, the line that goes “Shores of Tripoli.”  That goes clear back to the 1700’s and the fact that after we gained our independence from England they no longer protected American shipping in the Mediterranean Sea.  It was that very fact that led to the creation of our Constitution and our Navy, not the revolutionary war as many believe.  They both happened in response to actions in the Middle East. A very good book that makes that clear is Power, Faith and Fantasy by Michael B. Oren.  This book gives the history of the U.S. in the Middle East and it is not boring reading.  It is one of the best books on the subject I have read.

       My post of January 18, 2012 called, "Iran, The Whole Story" gives a summary, which is mostly based on the book. It attempts to explain why we find ourselves in the middle of the Middle East mess.  In my opinion we need to return to the Monroe Doctrine and exit the Middle East.  A policy that Nikita Kruschev used to his advantage in the confrontation with America during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Which was a classic chess type move that made the U.S. agree to remove its missile bases from Turkey. Is it any wonder Russia is upset we are trying to put the missiles back in Europe and on their doorstep.

     

       In an effort to get down off my soap box I would like to end the matter with this statement.  American Christians need to rise up and take our nation back from the forces that are slowly tearing it apart.  We also need to encourage those who follow the faith of Islam to stand up and take their faith back from those forces that have perverted and hijacked their faith.  If both groups fail to do so we are headed towards the end of the world as we know it.

      The Bible says the truth will set you free.  It is time for people to stand up see the truth of the situation in the world in which we live.  Then they need to demand the changes that will defuse the situation.  Without that happening we are doomed and we are living in the time that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 16:4.  In simple laymen’s terminology, “It is almost time to go home.”

     In Hosea 4:6 it says,” My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge”

It also says people will turn their back on God’s Word and in turn he will come to a point where he will turn his back on mankind and let them have what they have earned.

An Ex-Truckers Writing Tale

                                  The Conference

    The difference between a fairy tale and a truck driving story is in the way they start. A fairy tale begins with, Once upon a time.  A truck driving story begins with, You ain't gonna believe this.  The difference is that the fairy tale usually isn't true, but the truck driving story is, though it may be embellished a bit.

      Having just returned from my third trip to the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference my goal is to share how it is and has changed my life. Just attending the first time was an act of providence.  My intention had been to go to a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  I discovered that conference in Writer’s Digest magazine.  It took me two years to get the money together for it.  The trip to the conference was 1500 miles one way.  In my van that would have been over $700 in gas round trip.  I had to have the deposit for the conference mailed in by June 1^st. 

      While looking on twitter I found a link to a site run by Keiki Hendrix that supposedly listed Christian authors.  Well it did and it also listed writer’s conferences.  One of them was the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference or BRMCWC for short.  It started on the 20^th of May and this was on the 15^th of May.  In the morning I called and checked on it.  It had a lot of things going for it. First it was less than five hundred miles.  That saved me almost two thousand miles in gas alone which almost paid for the BRMCWC. On top of that the conference was only $730 for room, meals and classes which was cheaper than just the conference in Wyoming.  As they say, it was a no brainer.  The next few days were hectic.

    The drive to the conference was an adventure in itself.  During the conference I finally realized I do not really want to write books.  My goal is to have a meaningful blog where I can share things I have learned from life and many hours of studying the Bible.  My blogging started before the conference but had little direction.  My daughter Angelica had gone to Costa Rica to get her certification to teach high school Spanish classes.  She started a blog to keep us up to date on what she was doing while she was gone. I really loved it and told her so.

      During my last year in the Army in Panama I had been a photo/journalist for the command newspaper.  She suggested I start writing some of my life experiences so they could share them with my grand kids when I am gone.  It seemed a good idea to me having had a heart attack and been bought back in January 2004.  My youngest daughter Glenda fought a seven year battle with a brain tumor.  She went home to be with the Lord in August 2010.  One advantage of being on disability during that time was that I was able to spend a lot of time with Glenda taking her to appointments and running her around as she could not drive.  Starting the blog in March 2011 helped get me out of a bit of a low point in my life.

     Arriving at the conference and signing in was an adventure.  You meet so many people it is almost overwhelming.  Arriving early a couple of the first people I managed to meet were Alton Gansky  and  Edie Melson, later I would discover they were and are the ones in charge of making things happen. They are both really nice people to meet.  The chance meeting with them helped me realize I was definitely where I needed to me.

    The next morning I met a real nice person at breakfast. He is from California and was on staff.  I told him I was from Indiana and he said he had grown up in Indiana and gone to Vincennes University.  Over the course of our conversation we found out we both attended the same years and may have actually crossed paths at some point. The thirty plus years since then made it hard to be certain.

 

    An hour into my first day of classes the schedule I had made for my self was history.  It modified as the conference progressed.  Finding what you really need and what will benefit you at the level you are at is one of the learning experiences you will go through at your first conference.  Writing was something I already felt comfortable with.  How to develop and market my writing was my interest.

     The classes I took taught me that many of the things that I had taught myself were not the best way of doing things.  Most of the teachers stressed that blogs should be short and no more than three to five hundred words.  My posts were and are much longer than what they recommended.  To me it is determined by the purpose of your writing.  Short is nice if you want to break things up and post often.  My style is to post four to six times a month and while my blog is not growing as fast as some I have heard of.  It is doing okay for me.  It has had over thirteen thousand hits and been read in over seventy countries.  That made me proud until I realized that those numbers were about what one might expect from accidental hits as big as the web is. Eventually I would like to start doing travel stories and maybe ones on crafts, especially ones done with recycled materials.

     What is fun and makes blogging worth it is when one of your blog posts takes on a life of its own.  A couple of my older blogs have suddenly started getting hits from all over the world.  They received far too many hits for it to be a random accident. 

    One incident happened the first or second night and set a tone of things that has continued happening to me since the very first conference.  My room at the first conference was in the Mountain Laurel East building on the third floor.  In the evening I decided to have some Pepsi, but the ice machine on the third floor was not working.  So I went down to the second floor to get some ice. As I did two ladies were sitting in the hall and signing books.  When passing I said, “Hi” and continued on to get my ice. While waiting on the elevator to come back we made small talk and one lady said it was her book she was signing. I said that was nice and proceeded to get on the elevator and had a sudden and overwhelming desire to know what her book was about. I stuck my foot in the door as it closed.  It was about the loss of her daughter Megan. It was something I could definitely relate to having lost my own daughter.  We talked a few minutes and Marcia gave me an autographed copy of her book.  It really touched me and I realized it was not only my cross to bear, but that many others had been through the same thing.

    The conference went well and way to fast.  On the way home I pondered all the things I had heard seen and experienced.  Stopping for gas and coffee at a truck stop in Leavenworth, IN in the wee hours of the morning I saw a man come in with one leg and on crutches.  I assumed, which is a bad thing to do, that he was riding with someone until I watched him go out and start sliding the tandems to make his truck legal. It would never have hit me that what I was watching was a story before the conference, but now I was seeing stories everywhere.

   In 2013 on my way to the Conference I decided to stop and see my daughter in Corydon, IN and watch my grand-daughter play softball.  Friday night I went to an oldies but goodies car show in Corydon.  Saturday morning we went to the game. Things went fine till I made a comment to my grandson about the pitcher having a real good arm.  Very sarcastically he looked at me and said, “Yeah she has a real good arm. Did you look at her Papaw?” It was then I knew where and why the sarcasm was in his voice. She only had one arm. In my defense she really is an awesome pitcher.  Anyhow I found out her father was the coach for her team.  She and a friend play in a traveling league.  She played with the 16 to 18 year olds but she was only 14 at the time.  There is a definitely a story here and if things go well I will get it.  Her Dad has been too busy to find time for me, but my daughter said he was just hired by the same high school she works for as a coach so the door still may open.  

   The second year was pretty nice and again I threw away my schedule.  It was a lot less hectic than the first year and I seemed to get a lot more out of it than the first year. While I had submitted several stories to publications I still had not had any luck generating revenue from my writing.  That was when I decided if my writing didn’t pay my way that I would not be back in 2014.

     

       A couple things happened in 2013 that I found strange.  There is a lady that goes to the conference and uses a walking stick.  I had wondered who she was and what her story was in 2012.  Well I sat down and struck up a conversation with and elderly lady and it happened to be her Mom. Thank you, Lord, for that gift of knowledge. Then later in the conference I sat at a table with Edie Melson who has a son who is a veteran.  Five of us sat with her and every one of us had lost someone in the last couple of years.  That had to be a God thing. Some very powerful testimonies were given at that meal

       Well 2014 came up kind of fast and I had to either admit I wasn’t a writer or lie and go to the conference anyhow.  So to justify going I had to use some “truck logic” to allow myself to go to the conference.  It certainly was not because of a lack of money.  Between 2013 and 2014 my income had quadrupled.  In 2011 I had gone to a 4^th of July get together at an old friend’s house.   His wife is a retired Lt. Commander from the Navy.  Well in the course of events I met a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel.  We got to talking and I shared how it had been my goal to lose weight and get back into skydiving which I did in the military and get my Gold Wings for a 1000 jumps.  In the course of the story I explained I had a heart attack, after losing ninety pounds and that they had implanted a defibrillator in me and that I doubted I could jump as they had taken away my CDL.  Well it seems he had worked in the compensation department and informed me that if I had a defibrillator and was a Vietnam vet I was automatically qualified for Agent Orange compensation.  That was July and I didn’t do anything till January, when I decided to turn over a new leaf and fill out the paperwork.  The worst they could say was no.  Well in October 2013 I was informed I would start receiving my compensation.  So having the money I had to justify my going to the conference.  I did fill out the papers and write all the forms they wanted me to write for the compensation and if I had not done so I would not have gotten the compensation.  So with a little stretch my writing did pay my way to the conference.

      Also I have enough money to do some serious traveling this year and hopefully by next year I won’t have to play games to justify my coming to the conference. It is nice to know that money is not the issue anymore.  In the course of events though I think I have stumbled on what the Lord is using me for as it seems I have met dozens of people like Marcia and myself.  It is a ministry which I had not counted on but which gives me peace each time I am able to talk with a person who is recovering as I was when I met Marcia.

     One evening I decided to stop at “The Cloud” and get a cup of coffee before going to my room.  I met a pastor named Dan Ellrick who was attending the conference from Japan. I mentioned I had a close friend that was Japanese that I had lost contact with over the years.  He asked me for as many details as I could give him.  Her husband, my best friend at the time, had been killed in a plane crash on his way to his first demonstration with the Golden Knights Army Exhibition Parachute Team.  The next morning at breakfast he handed me a sheet of paper with some info on it.  I had tried for years to track her down.  He had done it in one night.  When I called the number it turned out he was successful.  It had been only forty one years since I had contacted her.

     On the way home from the conference I had an experience that defies logic and kind of spooked me.  I stopped at the Wendy’s in Cherokee, NC and got me some lunch.  I got Chili, fries and a frosty.  When I got to the table and sat down I realized I only had three crackers.  As I pushed my chair back to go get some more a lady across the restaurant from me got up, picked up crackers off of her tray, walked over to my table and put her crackers on my tray.  Then she walked back and sat down.  Neither one of us said a word.  Kind of freaked me out till the next morning.  I being a creature of habit stopped at the same truck stop where I had met the one legged trucker.  I started talking to the coffee lady and started to get the wrong coffee and she straightened me out.  In the course of the conversation she revealed her Mom had died from a brain tumor a couple years before.  I told her my cracker story and she simply said, “You have some one looking out for you.” Yes I do and my prayer is that I learn to use it and walk in the power of it to help others.

Sign of Jonah, The only Sign given

                          The Sign of Jonah 

    If you have read the story of Jonah you know he was running from God for part of his life.  Mainly because he did not want to do what God told him to.  He was supposed to lead the city of Nineveh to repentance.  He did not think they were worth saving.  During my life I went through a similar situation.  The only difference between me and Jonah is that I realized I was not worth saving either. Eventually Nineveh did fall and cease to be a city.  Judgment did come, but it comes on God’s schedule not ours.

      The point I am trying to make is made pretty clear in the book of Amos.  It says God gave all the nations four chances.  I have found three mentioned in the old testament that refer to Israel.  So where is Israel’s fourth time?  Personally I think we are living in it. Biblical history can be divided in to three basic parts.  What I am about to say is based on the verse that says, “A day with the Lord is as a thousand years.” Based on that accounting, the period before the great flood which was almost two thousand years long would be the equivalent of two days.

     Then there were about two days(or 2000 years) after the flood until the coming of Jesus.  That would be a period of two days from the flood to the fall of Israel and the rise of the Gentiles using God’s timetable.  So basically we have accounted for a four day period.

     Jesus said nothing would happen until “the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled.” Well it has been almost two thousand days since Jesus. So if he gave the Gentiles the same time line as he did the pre-flood time and the time of the Jewish nation, our time is up.  Now we have used up six days and anybody who reads the Bible can understand that the seventh day is the Day of the Lord.

       I have heard many people argue Christ was not in the earth three days.  They can do so, but it will be as God proclaimed it. It will be on his time table not mans.  If that is the case, the time should be at hand. Jesus said we would not know the day nor the hour, but he did say we would be able to discern the time.  

      It has been two thousand years since Christ came or the equivalence of two days based on God’s time table.  We are entering the start of the seventh day, which is the Day of the Lord or the third day since Christ was crucified.  Jesus said the sign of Jonah would be the only sign given to an evil and adulterous generation.  That is in Matthew 12. 

      Jesus did spend his whole last night on earth describing what was to come.  It does not take a vivid imagination to know we are living in a time just like he described.  Simply reading the sixth chapter of Genesis lays it out pretty clear.

       In the course of many years of studying the Bible I discovered there are three periods of five hundred years in the Old Testament which deal with Israel.  Each period of time begins with a four hundred thirty year period and is followed by a period of seventy years.  As I said earlier, God made clear in Amos that he gave all the nations a fourth chance.  Therefore it seems pretty logical he would give Israel a fourth period of time also.

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       I could not find a fourth period in the Old Testament,  but when I was helping my daughter do a paper on Martin Luther it became clear to me that there was a fourth period.  It is just not Old Testament.  Martin Luther nailed his treatise to the door of the church in 1517.  Israel became a nation again in 1948, or so I thought. When I looked it up in the World Book Encyclopedia it said the matter was bought before the United Nations and voted on in November 1947.  That is a period of four hundred and thirty years just like in the Old Testament. 

     In Acts 1: 8-11, it makes clear that Jesus will come back in like manner as he ascended into heaven.  This is my interpretation of that statement, but I am comfortable with it.  Just as Jesus journey up began by his being nailed to the cross (wood), his return spiritually would begin the same way.  When His Word, Christ was the Word incarnate, was nailed to door he returned.  It was stressed in Acts that Hid Word would be shared with the whole world.  That is something that was enabled by all the events of the time shortly before Martin Luther, The printing press in the 1450’s and Columbus’ voyages opened the door to the fulfilling of prophecy.  Especially the words of Daniel

                                                  Chapter 12

1And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 2And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.  4But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

5Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.   6And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?  7And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.  8And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? 9And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. 11And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.   12Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. 13But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. 

    Use your own judgment, but mine says we are standing at the time of the end.  Based on the Old Testament and the seventy year periods we are standing at the door and should be looking up.  If you are curious about the four hundred and thirty year period or the seventy year period just type, either one in the search bar on my blog and you will find several articles dealing with the issue.