Opus 2022-294: Not Now

I have become a difficult student in my grumpiness.  I don’t think I was always this way but I have a hard time just accepting all that I hear.  As a case in point the pastor recently made a statement about the “chosen” which didn’t feel right to me.  It had something to do with how the word was always used in the Bible.  I felt like I could come up with a few exceptions off the top of my head.  When I get like this I bite my tongue, reign in my spirit of know-it-all and learn to wait for a better time to argue with the top dog.

That does not mean I ride quietly into the sunset.  It means that I start thinking about the possibilities.  There are many options to keep in mind
    He may be wrong
    He may have not expressed his thought correctly
    I may have heard him wrong
    With time my memory may have changed what I heard
    Research may show that there are different understandings and he expressed one
    There may be no right answer
    And of course, the least likely, I might be totally wrong

This is called research before we even do research.  Each different option requires a different response.  You may find that it isn’t worth addressing.  If your wife is telling the story of how you met and you wonder what husband she is talking about then it might not be the most fruitful pursuit of truth.  If your boss is exaggerating the great job you did, let it go.  If someone claims it is their turn to take the last cookie, you might want to go to the mat on that.  

I guess the most important thing to do is to accept that you might be the one that is wrong, even if you don’t really believe it.  Pick your battles and your battlefields.  And remember that old bit of wisdom, “He who fights and runs away sometimes doesn’t make it.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-293: The Year of the Lord

One of the old fashioned expressions that you used to hear was “The year of the Lord”, usually preceded by the current date.  It is where we get the A.D. in our dates.  We would consider this AD 2022.  The “AD” comes first because it is the abbreviation for the Latin phrase Anno Domini, which means “year of the Lord.”  BC came after the date.

It is more than out of date; it is now out of favor.  I don’t know if you have noticed but the academic world has changed to using CE, common era, for AD and BCE, before common era, instead of BC.  This is part of the movement to push Christianity to the sidelines.  If you are reading a book that gives dates that way it could be the author expressing his rejection of the primacy of Jesus.  It could also be that his editor requires it and he is bound by contract so he goes along.  Or it could have been changed after he sent it to be printed.  Be aware of the change in the world around you.

For me it is still AD, year of the Lord.  Actually that expression could be every year in the universe.  They all are under the eye of the eternal God.  It is good to remember little things like this.  They help us to think, make us more aware and can renew my mind and soul.

Being aware is important.  It is a side issue, but people who know about keeping themselves safe say that being aware is your greatest protection.  If you are in a parking lot and there is a thug near by he will watch to see it you are alert or just cruising on neutral.  If you are aware, looking around and paying attention he will probably go looking for some easy meat.  The same principle applies in our reading and listening.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-292: Cynic or Skeptic

I am not a cynic even though my Pollyanna friends might use the term.  I am a skeptic and there is a difference.

A cynic is negative, a skeptic neutral.

A cynic rejects everything, a skeptic questions everything.

A cynic sneers; a skeptic raises an eyebrow, if they can.

A cynic mocks, a skeptic listens

Cynics reject just about everything out of a spirit of superiority.  A skeptic is open to any truth but wants to make sure it is truth and not deceit.

It is possible that the cynic and the skeptic may be in the same lifeboat leaving the same wreck but for different reasons.  When the Salvation Army went woke the cynic laughed in delight and says, “I knew it all along.”  The skeptic sheds a tear because he has done his homework and knows that this organization at one time was one of the good ones and now has been destroyed from within.  Both walk away.  One struts looking for the next to fall and the other plods, glancing back over the shoulder hoping there is some mitigating circumstance they missed.

A skeptic is not a pessimist, nor negative.  A skeptic faces life with their brain engaged and their baloney meters on full gain.  

The world needs more skeptics.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-291: Assumptions

I was praying for my friends and their children.  I found myself making assumptions about where they were in life.  There is a good chance I was spot on but I need to be a bit more careful in thinking I know how God is dealing with people.  

What brought this into focus was a passage of scripture I recite daily, I Corinthians 13.  It is about love, how it is defined, how it operates, what it looks like.  What jumped out at me this morning was the last phrase of verse 4.

(1Co 13:4 NAS77) Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

It occurred to me that my view of the spiritual needs of people I had not seen in years, based on second hand information, was little less than arrogant.  It quickly become a matter of judging, in the bad sense.

Judging is necessary in life.  We must make decisions.  We never have all the information.  We must give it our best shot.  That is judging.  The Biblical condemnation is toward the kind of judgement based on arrogance.  The KJV translates it “puffed up”.  That might have the idea of looking down on others instead of looking for the best.

Pray with love.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-290: Put It on Account

The day will come when it is time to pay the piper, or at least I hope so.  The public and closet elites that have been working toward a totalitarian America just keep pushing.  They will not be happy until they duplicate the Stalinist police state with everyone below them living in poverty and fear.  They have been pushing.  They are pushing.  They will continue to push.  Eventually they will come for you and me unless we as a people stand up and make a change.  I believe it will happen.  I hope that we as a people are different than the Russian population that went quietly off to the Gulag.  The question is how will it happen and will the cure be only slightly better than the disease or will it solve the problem.

There is a spectrum of payoffs:  Civil war chaos to jury trials.  And there are many steps in between.  The worst case scenario is that all restraint breaks down and violence erupts.  It may come to that, but I hope not.  Civil wars and revolutions rarely bring the kind of society that people really want.  Often it is just a way of getting vengeance on the cabal that has inflicted so much damage on us common citizens.  Most people are aware of the French Revolution and how it led to the Reign of Terror.  That is much more typical historically than the American Revolution.

I am hoping for the rule of law to be reestablished and to see these criminals brought to what the Constitution calls a speedy trial.  I don’t want it so speedy that history will label it “Kangaroo” but the slow poke style of today cannot be tolerated.  If it can be done with due process and without abandoning who we are as a people, I want the guilty to pay for their crimes.  I want the punishment to take into consideration all the days that innocent people have sat in jail cells, for all the emotional damage to the accused and their children of false arrests, for the loss of income and property and a sense of well being.  The price for that should be very high and no appeals to our emotions should be involved.

I want to be on the jury when the currently unknown communist comes up for trial.  I think I can separate facts from a frame up.  I remember the times I have been called for jury duty.  I rarely made the cut because most cases were drunk drivers and I don’t drink.  That made me anathema to the defense lawyers.  That should not be allowed as a reason for dismissal.  Just because I don’t drink does not mean that I can’t tell the difference between being legally drunk and below the limit.  The same goes for abuse of power by the elites.

We need to understand the difference between vengeance and justice.

We need to be able to purge our land under the rule of law.

That means that we allow due process, have fair trials under the law and if the accused stands guilty, apply the justice demanded by that law.  We need to make sure that we don’t follow the Stalinist pattern of the J6 committee.  Keep in mind that the Constitution allows the death penalty for treason.  That means that the death penalty does not come under the rejection of cruel and unusual punishment.  If we have the duty of peer jurors we need to be ready and willing to apply that consequence.

The elites are generally spineless bullies.  Bullies always pick weak targets and then scream when they get caught.  The only way to deal with this is to make the punishment fit the crime and follow through.  After the trial we can get the Queen of Hearts to tell us what to do.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-289: Thanks Thoughts: Yard Work?

This morning I found myself in a strange position.  I was grateful for being able to push the lawn mower.  That does not make sense.  I have never enjoyed yard work and have been able to avoid it most of my life.  Now suddenly I am thanking God for the task.

It is amazing what a little thinking and change in perspective can do for you.  I just had my annual physical, excuse me, wellness check.  In the waiting room there was a good example of people in my general demographic.  There were obviously a lot of problems present that I did not have or expect to have.  Or picture going to the grocery store and seeing the people in the electric go carts.  Every morning when I go for a walk the first thing I do is thank God for my mobility.

I think we all have a lot to be grateful for if we stop to consider.  I am not yet to the point of being grateful for the ability to get down and scrub a toilet, but the day may come.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-288: Headlines: Sad as Opposed to Tragic

I am not going out trolling for samples of death.  Honestly.  I can’t help but notice them when they come up.  Today one of my early clicks was at the Gateway Pundit.  It tells of a talk show host dropping dead on the air.

This death is sad because he was only 55 years old.  To me that is a young man but it is not totally unexpected for a 55 year old to have a heart attack.  When teens and twenty-somethings die it is a tragedy, even more so with children and infants.  My sympathy to his family, friends and fans.  Everything I read about him was positive.  The world is less today.

What is of interest is that this time there was a statement that he had been vaccinated.  Two companies are mentioned but it is not clear if he had more than one or it was a collective statement of the family.  Did the vaccine make a contribution?  We will probably never know.  All we can really see is that it was part of his health regime.  

Make your own choices and accept the results.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-287: You Can Call Me John...

Labels help.  I am a fan.  They are shortcuts that aid in our thinking and decision making.  They also can be useful in assisting us in being empty headed and lazy.  

One of the big problems in our post-modern society is that the people who control the information keep changing the meaning of words.  At one point a Liberal was someone who believed in the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, the worth of the individual and the almost sacred nature of property.  Twenty years ago that would describe a conservative.  Now that we have the Never-Trumpers ravaging the landscape it seems to be restricted to the far right.

As a Christian I have noted this most frequently in the words we have used to describe people who genuinely believe in Jesus.  A good place to start used to be in asking if someone was a Christian.  There was a time when saying you were a Baptist meant something.  Once we could have called ourselves born again and known what it meant.  Then the used car industry started using the word.  Evangelical used to mean people who were serious about spreading the good news about forgiveness from sin.  Now it means you have a book to sell and want people to think you are spiritual.  Now I almost need a paragraph to explain what it means to be a devout follower of Jesus.

In theology labels are sometimes useful but weak.  Take the difference between Calvinists and Arminians.  That is handy but it really isn’t John Calvin vs Jacobus Arminius.  The majority of Christians don’t know what they believe so the labels go over their heads.  The difference comes down to a couple of starting points and branches out from there.

It is focal doctrine.  The two camps separate early in the debate.  It is Sovereignty of God vs the Image of God.  

It is Predestination vs free will.

If you like big words, it is antinomianism vs legalism.  

Everything flows from there.

For one branch the total sovereignty of God trumps and neutralizes all other considerations.  This is a good point to start because it is true.  God is all the omni’s, omni powerful, omnipresent, etc.  No one on the other side would question that but they understand it in terms of the image of God.  The Bible tells us that when He created us He made us in His image, the Imago De.  That makes us unique in creation.  We are not just products of heredity and environment.  We make choices and those choices are real.  That leads you to free will.

The problem with labels is the same problem we are having with science.  Honest, sincere people can work with either one and make life better.  Hypocrites and frauds can distort either one to advance their agenda.  As usual, the problem is in the people not the program or organization.

Label me skeptical.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-286: Headlines: Surprise Party Parting

By now I am sure you have seen a clip about Xi having his predecessor hauled out of the Chinese Communist Party convention.  I keep reading all the voices shocked that he would do such a thing.  To be honest I am not shocked or surprised.  It is the Marxist Model at work.

Read the definitive literature about how communism works.  Read 1984.  Read The Gulag Archipelago.  Arresting, jailing and executing is just another day in the Party to these loyal appratchiks.  This is what all those American socialists have in store for them.  The only question is will it be public like this one, clandestine like Trotsky or totally quiet like it has been for millions.  What was amazing to me were the number who went to their graves happy that they could serve the Party this way.  It won’t make me happy when I am led away to the American Gulag but at least it will give me company.

Remember that the left eats its own.  Today’s socialist hero is tomorrow’s lunch.  We wait to hear if the world has been made a better place.

Choices, like elections, have consequences.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-285: The Cous Cous Dilemma

I once made the mistake of being courteous.  It had to do with couscous.  

I don’t know what you think of when you hear “couscous” but the Cape Verdians I worked with made a very unique version.  They would take corn meal and pack it in a small clay flowerpot, turn it over and steam it over boiling water.  No salt.  No spices.  Nothing but corn meal.  When they served it they would douse it with something like Karo syrup and that was it.  Being courteous I complemented it when it was served and I was locked in for life.  They always made me couscous.  It wasn’t disgusting, just incredibly boring.

I tried honesty with the pulled pork.  It didn’t work any better.  My wife was experimenting with making a new dish.  When she thought it was done she had me try some and asked me to tell me what I thought.  She still has not forgiven me for my honesty.  I guess she didn’t really want to know but my question is how can you improve if you don’t know the facts.  

I realize I am in a minority.  If I cook something and ask your opinion, I really want your opinion.  If my chili has too much curry then I want to know.  I can always reduce the curry in the next batch or, if I like it the way it is, warn you before you try it again.  It is not necessary that I embrace your opinion but if it isn’t honest it is worthless.

I realize that in regard to other people I need to be more circumspect.  That is a fancy word for not telling the truth.  I keep in mind that we need more truth today and if the people and organizations around it won’t supply it we still have a standard to live up to.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-284: Headlines: The Daily Horror Continues

Another one dead and gone.  Read about it at Daily Wire.

A young man with no symptoms or issues suddenly collapsed while doing a recital.  He was pronounced DOA.  The article quotes the local coroner as telling the family there was nothing wrong with the boy.  Really?  Then why did he die.  Something must have been wrong.

As is common practice today, no one asked the $64,000 question:  Had he been vaccinated? and the other question, when and how often.

Until they start asking those questions we live in fear of our medical practitioners and in suspended belief with the news media.

Pray for the family.

And as I read I came across another one at the Gateway Pundit.
 

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-283: Some Days

Just as a reminder let me share again that each morning I read the chapter of Proverbs matching the day of the month, a chapter in Psalms which takes me through every five months and an undetermined amount as I read through the Bible in a constant cycle.  

I have noticed that there are a good number of chapters that I could probably skip and not feel I had missed anything.  I expect that in the book of Numbers but I have also noticed it in the Psalms.  There are other places where the lessons are important but not burning issues for me.  Usually in the three places I am reading something will reach out and say, “Hey, listen up!”

In spite of that, my point is don’t get too worried if reading a lament of David in Psalms does not set your heart on fire or reading some of the trick questions that the Pharisees through at Jesus doesn’t ring you bell.  It happens.  It doesn’t mean that there nothing worth reading.  It could be that you are in a section that most people skip.  It could be that your brain is like a day old coke, lost its fizz.  Keep at it.

There is a benefit in getting the big picture of what is in the Bible.  Read with your mind engaged and you will see connections and find that you don’t need a fancy commentary to understand.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-282: The Non-Buck Starts Here

I keep seeing headlines and click bait about how much inflation and deficit spending has reduced my net worth and/or income.  I accept it as true but I also know it is nothing new.  This has been going on all my life.  Whoever is in office keeps trying to buy me off so they can continue skimming into their portfolio.  It works.  

Since I don’t see a source listed on any of the posters I am going to assume that Benjamin Franklin’s quote is apocryphal,

“When people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

Franklin or not, it still is a great truth.  People still seem to believe that money from the government is free.  It isn’t.  It is either printed, thus reducing the value of the paper it is printed on, or it is taken from others who have earned it.  When you start using the coercive power of the state to take from others to reward yourself, the end is beginning.

Notice I said, “It works.”  I did not say, “Shame on you.”  That is because I can find areas of my life where I have been bought off.  I got the GI bill.  Sure, I served in Vietnam but does that justify years of subsidy?  For three years in college I received what was called the California State Scholarship.  Sure, I qualified but the money had to come from somewhere.  There are probably more places where I took the man’s bribe and should be ashamed.

I am a Trump supporter.  I think he was a great president.  That does not mean he was perfect but we are not comparing him to Jesus, just other presidents.  One bone I would pick with him was his willingness to spend money that we did not have.

If we are serious about recovering our liberties then we may need to stop taking liberties.  We need to stop the handouts.  It must start with us each saying “No” and trying to get the politicians to go along.  No I don’t also believe in the tooth faerie but I still put my tooth under the pillow.

It has to start somewhere.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-281: The Priority of Love

What does it mean to love God?  I claim it all the time.  Today I am wondering what it means.

The Greek agape doesn’t do it.  

The Hebrew chesed does not express it.

God’s love for us fits both those words.  Our love for each other also works.  Those are the expressions of mercy, lovingkindness, patience, etc, toward people on our level and below but it doesn’t work going up.  There is no way I can have mercy on God.  I might express them toward a parent when I am a child but as Paul said, “When I became a man I did away with childish things.”

Yet we are told to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

This has to be more than the “love” a dog expresses toward almost anything that moves.

I am remembering some teacher at one point in my mind saying that agape love means expressing preference for the other person.  Here I go to the second chapter of Philippians.  After including agape in the opening verses, he comes to verse 3,

(Php 2:3-4 KJV)  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

So loving God means putting Him and His desires before myself.  He has priority.  We exist for Him and His glory.  To accept that and live that means I am loving God.  

And remember that Biblical love is always a choice, not an emotion.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-280: Headlines: Numbers? What Numbers?

Lew Rockwell runs a libertarian site that publishes a variety of articles from the libertarian perspective.  You might check it out to see some different views on issues.  I don’t read everything.  I don’t even come close, but I check it out periodically.  

Recently I saw a headline that got my attention.  It referenced an article suggesting that 20 million people have died so far from the vaccine from Hell that is supposed to protect us from the monster virus.  It is worth a read.  These kind of estimates need to be read with a skeptical but open mind.  The number does not include a large number of categories that should also be tied to the total.

Several things I find disturbing about the reports I keep seeing.  First is the aggregate of deaths and serious physical destruction that seems to be strangely linked to people taking the cure.  Every day I see a new headline about some young, fit person dropping dead or collapsing.   Second, the authorities, be they government, media or your next door neighbor keep lying about what we can see with our own eyes.  They think up new conditions.  By now you have heard of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome and you are aware that children can have strokes.  Third, when they are not lying about the situation the powers that be are ignoring it.

Most of what we as citizens can know is anecdotal.  The pastor at our church remarked on how unusual it was for two people in a small group to come down with the same unusual cancer.  He did not mention the vaccine but I could almost guarantee that both had taken the jab.  Coincidence or cause?  Always keep in mind that correlation does not mean causation.  

Until we can get facts and accurate reports the best thing we can each do is what we feel right about.  For me that is based on a trust in God and His providential provision of an active immune system, super-enhanced by years of teaching middle school and being around two grandchildren.  Add to that all the things your mother should have taught you about washing your hands, flushing and covering your mouth and you are a long way toward being worry free.

But that is up to you.  If you feel that a CDC approved shot is the answer then go for it.  Please make sure it is a reasoned choice and not knee jerk fear.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-279: Ode to Old: Fat and Sappy

Which is better, a Sabbath or retirement?

Both are types of rest.

I got off on this tangent because of God threatening to withhold the hardhearted from His rest.   

(Psa 95:10-11 KJV)  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:   Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

After a bit of thought I decided this referred to eternity.  Eternal life was being referred to as “rest”.  It is a synonym for what people think of as heaven.

The original reference to rest is at the end of creation.  God used that as a reminder that He would provide for us, and you will find that the Sabbath rest is the reward for a week of work.  I am thinking that eternity might be an alternating series of work and rest.  What will be different from now is that the work will be fulfilling and filled with joy and the rest will always be refreshing.

Sabbath is restoring break because it is followed by more productivity.  Retirement is different.  It can fool us into becoming despondent.  It can be destructive if it makes you feel you are not longer useful.  This is a common feeling among older men.  

If you believe what the Bible has to say then you know you don’t have to rust away.  Notice that the KJV and NASB have one difference in the English.  One says “full of sap” and the other says fat.

(Psa 92:14 NAS77) They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green,

(Psa 92:14 KJV)  They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

Maybe we could do a take off on “fat and sassy” to “fat and sappy”.  No?  Okay.

Retirement does not need to be a time of stagnation.  I am looking for ways to continue to yield fruit.  Join me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-278: Mind Dancing

Yesterday when I went shopping I was whistling and grinning at the world at large.  I must have looked like a fool.  I don’t really care.

It is a good thing not to consider the difference between what we think we look like and what actually is seen.  I have times when alone that I put on some moves that would make Michael Jackson jealous if he were still alive.  I would make a video and it would go viral if I could tape what is happening in my imagination.  I am awesome.

In the light of day, not so much.

Until you learn to read my mind you will just have to take my word for it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-277: Beyond the Tube

I am going to expand my understanding of the term “Boob Tube”.  I have habitually thought of it as TV but since the old format of TV is rapidly withering it needs to be expanded to anything that comes across on a screen.

Maybe I can change the spelling to reflect the variety, The Boooob Tube.  This would still include the residue of broadcast TV but would expand to include what people watch on their phones, pads and laptops.  I am amazed at all the startling information that people share with me.  What disappoints me is that they seem to have no more discernment about what they hear on You Tube than they did with CNN.  For a time I took notes on what they were telling me but eventually realized they did not want to be reminded.

People absorb what they watch.  People are like computers in the sense of GIGO, for the uninitiated that’s Garbage in, Garbage out.  It makes me wonder about what I have stored away in my own mind.

Never stop thinking.  Question everything.  Remember what was said yesterday.  

One of the examples of this has to do with the conspiracy to manage the weather being developed by the big players.  Did you know that the latest hurricane was directed and manipulated by these players.  What I find amazing is that these same worry warts used to be telling me that the world was too big for mankind’s carbon footprint to change the climate.  You can’t have it both ways.  Either our cars and farting cows are heating up the planet or you can’t micro-manage hurricanes.

Since I believe God designed the planet knowing cows pass gas, we don’t need to worry about either problem.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-276: Shower Thoughts: Life Is a Bowl of Chili

I have seen people pick up an onion and take a big bite out of it, like I would eat an apple.

I think I have seen people chomp down on garlic cloves too.

I would never....

I can eat sliced green pepper but it is never my vegetable of choice.

When I was a kid I used to eat salt out of my hand but it does not appeal to me any more.  Black pepper?  Never.

I have dipped cheap white bread in tomato sauce and I don’t mind tomatoes.  

I have never tasted straight cayenne or chili pepper.  

By now you probably see that I am giving away my mysterious chili recipe.  You might be wondering why.  It is because I was thinking about life while I was in the shower.  I was thinking about how blessed I am at this point and how I have not always felt that way.

I am sure you have decisions you wish you could change.  You may have been deceived by someone you trusted.  Tragedy may have struck.  You can’t go back and change any of them.  By themselves they were horrible.  But life is a stew, not a bowl of unsalted popcorn.  It is the mixture and blending that gives it the current flavor.  Just as there are a multitude of great recipes for chili there are many paths to a great life.

Rejoice in your recipe.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-275: Keeping Trim

Is it unhealthy to trim nose hair?

Part of my Sunday grooming ritual is to trim my mustache, nose and ears.  I don’t remember these needing constant care when I was younger.  Maybe it is part of wisdom and grey hair.  It could be part of the phenomenon of hair on your head decreasing but on other parts of the body it gets heavier.  

My mind goes on tangents at the strangest times.

Is nose hair a result of the fall or part of God’s system for keeping our bodies secure?

Did Adam and Eve have nose hair when they were in the Garden?  Did Eve shave her legs?  Did Adam need deodorant?  Were these part of the original blueprint or a result of the entrance of sin into the world?

God usually has a purpose for things in our body.  I imagine that nose hair is to filter out dust and other pollutants.  Which brings me back to my tangent.  When we trim our nose dusters to fit in with our culture are we allowing more diseased bodies to enter our lungs?  It could be that the entire cause of the latest virus is trimming nose hair.  Maybe it even causes obesity.

Just something for you to ponder if your internet connection goes down.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-274: Assumptions

Do you pray for anyone?  Is it regular or sporadic?  An even more important question would be, “How well do you know the person you pray for?”

In many of my prayer concerns I sometimes pray that I would be totally wrong and off base.  By that I mean there may not be a problem, just a lack of information.  I was sharing a concern about a young man who seemed to be treading water spiritually and my son pointed out that he could be very active but keeps it quiet.  Good point and I had no reason to think otherwise.

My thinking was generated in regard to a young family I know of.  I assume, based on what I have heard third hand that they are far from where they should be spiritually.  As I pray for their eternal destiny I pray also that I would be totally wrong.  And it could be.  I am not sure how reliable my sources are.  Many so called “prayer chains” become nothing but gossip clubs.  It is possible that I could be forming my own person one man gossip network.  

How many of our concerns would fit into that category?

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-273: Headlines: Boo

The click bait on Gateway Pundit was “Here We Go” and reported cholera outbreaks.  I am guessing they can’t get us much stirred up about Covid any more so they need something else to terrify the ignorant.  Cholera.  It sounds scary.  It is.  Historically it has been one of the big killers and actually does kill many with deadly regularity rather than scaring them to death and causing suicide rates to rise by isolation and fear tactics like the Covid “crisis”.  

Cholera is a problem, or it has been.  The thing about cholera is that we know how to prevent it and how to treat it.  

The second paragraph reports that there have been outbreaks in 26 countries.  Is it time to start locking down, buying cholera masks and avoiding our friends and family?  If you keep reading you eventually come across this tidbit,

“In a typical year, cholera outbreaks are recorded in fewer than 20 countries.”

It also says that two thirds are in Africa.  At the very end of the article, literally the last sentence, it says,

“Cholera outbreaks can be prevented by ensuring access to clean water, basic sanitation, and hygiene,...”

Floods and drought both contribute to those problems.  They are harder to remedy in third world countries but not totally out of the reach of any well run government.  

Do numbers scare you?  They scare a lot of people when they don’t stop to think.  The article breathlessly reports,

“An estimated 39,857 suspected cholera cases and 114 deaths have been reported worldwide since August 24, 2022.”

114 deaths in the last month.  Most people overlook the word “worldwide”.  They think that these death happened on their block.  While each death is a tragedy to the dead and their families 114 deaths out of a world population of almost eight billion is not something to terrorize the 169 countries that have not had an outbreak.  That is billion with a “B”, 8,000,000,000.

And to add to your terror is the spectra of “climate change.”  You knew it had to be in there somewhere, right?  The part that had me laughing my head off was the sentence,

“Barboza said massive climate-induced floods in Southeast Asia also have resulted in large outbreaks of cholera in Pakistan and Bangladesh.”

I will concede that there might be a dam failure or a water main breaking that could cause some flooding but can you think of any flood in history that was not “climate-induced”?  Noah’s flood we can blame on God so it doesn’t count.

I could not see anything about the treatment.  According to a quick search it seems that most people are simply treated with hydration.  In severe cases antibiotics are used.  With all the doom and gloom being forecast for us it might be good for you to think about how you will get clean water in the case of a breakdown.

Meanwhile, pray for the effected families but don’t get too worried about yours.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-272: Venezuelan Gifthorse

Have you seen the reports that Venezuela is emptying their prisons and sending the inmates to infiltrate the United States.  To borrow from Princess Bride, you say that as if it was a bad thing.  Think about it.  It is possible that the kind of people in a Venezuela prison might be the kind of people we want.  They might be criminals but they might also just be political prisoners who spoke up for freedom and were jailed for their boldness.

It could be that we might send recruiting teams to the prisons of the Socialist countries and offer to ransom their enemies.  Maybe Texas could talk the federal government into releasing some of their political prisoners to the Lone Star State.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-271: Headlines: Gates the Republican

I found it interesting that there was an article in the Gateway Pundit linking Bill Gates to Republican members of congress.  Evidently he has been making contributions to their campaigns.

Prominent pictures of Donald Trump would make the Low Information Voter (LIV) think he was taking the dole.  In reality the only connection seems to be that he endorsed one of the candidates.  This is the kind of hack presentation that makes me start to wonder about The Gateway Pundit.  Are they closet Never Trumpers?

Of the names that were listed, the ones that I was familiar with were pretty much on my list of RINOs and semi-Rinos already.  I am supposed to be surprised that Gates is helping fund Graham, Collins and Romney?  Why does it not surprise me that Marco Rubio is on the list?  Why am I disappointed that John Cornyn, one of my senators, is on the list.  I am disappointed but not surprised because of the votes he has cast lately.

When the author gave a list of the congressmen by state it was not near as long as the article implied.  I counted 28 names.  When you consider there are around 500 members of the house and the Senate, this is not overwhelming.

Keep in mind that many people donate to both sides.  One reason is to buy influence.  A question that is not addressed, “Was this money given in primaries in order to defeat a MAGA candidate?”  Another objective might be to create the screaming headlines for articles like this.  They have money to throw away and what they are giving looks like peanuts compared to the slush fund Soros provides.  You and I might need to shepherd our donations because our incomes are limited.  People like Gates are not in that position.

Keep reading and listening but make sure that you never accept the line that is being cast.  Be skeptical, keep your brain engaged and your baloney meter turned up.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-270: Whom Do You Trust?

I am scheduled for my annual physical.  It will take place in a few weeks.  As I contemplate that event I think about the decline in respect that I have for the medical profession in the light of their refusal to stand against the Covid onslaught generated by Big Pharma, Big Government, Big media and small minds.  At my age I wonder why I am going in annually.  I am not sure I can trust the recommendations of a modern doctor.  

There are some areas that I think they are making progress, areas that don’t seem to have a political voice.  I have been treated for skin cancer twice in the last year and they act like they know what they are doing there.  I find myself looking more and more to “natural” remedies.  By that I don’t mean health foods, acupuncture and meditation.  I mean the built in immune system that God has given each of us.  It is really a miraculous process.  Think about simple devices like reaction to heat.  We have all had the experience of jerking our hand away from a burning surface before we even know it.  Think of the times you have ducked without even seeing what is coming.  Transfer that into your blood stream and all of the little beasties that converge on an unknown.  

I don’t know what the medical profession is going to do to win back confidence.  Of course there are all the people still wearing masks while alone in their cars and looking around in fear when another human being comes in sight.  They chose to live in fear.  I do not.  I hope you do not.

May you find a doctor that did not drink the kool aide or at least will admit they were deceived.  Meanwhile do the same things you were supposed to do when the world was panicking.  Wash your hands.  Cover your mouth when you cough.  Stay home when you are sick.  Get plenty of rest and exercise, not at the same time, of course.  Eat a well balanced diet.  Trust the Lord.  I mean really trust Him, not just mouthing the words.  You won’t live a day longer or die a day sooner than He allows.

homo unius libri