Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is over whelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. When I am weak, then I am strong.
When [Peter] saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched our His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” <> In you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.<> He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. <> The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. <> [Be] strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power.
Ps. 38:10; Ps. 61:1-2; 2 Cor. 12:9-10; Matt. 14:30-31; Prov. 24:10, Isa. 40:29; Deut. 33:27; Col. 1:11
Available online at numerous sites. Please also consider May 14 Morning for “The fellowship of His sufferings.” as these readings offer a much needed perspective for moving forward after the prior Beth Troyer blog. I highlight these in followup to this devotional originally compiled by Samuel Bagster (1772-1851) family of London, England during their daily family devotions.
Now, for the rest of the story: It was Jonathan, their tenth child, who was mainly responsible for the idea and the method by which Daily Light was compiled while he himself was a husband and a father. In preparing for daily family worship, Jonathan selected a Scripture text that the family joined together in prayer and were asked to illustrate by further applicable Scriptural texts. He was editor and his daughter Anne assisted. The resultant Scriptural texts “were carefully considered, discussed and arranged by common consent of all those present, after which the manuscript would be laid aside for prayer and meditation to see if there would be any guidance for further improvement. Sometimes it would be weeks before it was felt that the reading for a particular day could not be improved and then sent to the printer. Each day for two years the readings were compiled, corrected, and improved in this way.
I contrast the above family’s lifestyle and culture to mine. Oh, how the Mighty in the Land (planet earth) have fallen! “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their selfish (wicked) ways, THEN will I hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin (iniquity) and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14. Honestly, I’ve experienced and can testify to the “forgiveness,” segment but this “heal their land” phrase for our planet today is far beyond my infantile comprehension of God’s judgement via His grace and mercy.
Reiterating Beth Troyer’s final two paragraphs in her Section 10 (not eight as stated yesterday!) consider “passing over the free will of an individual for the believed benefit of many is not something God ever taught. If an individual chooses to sacrifice themselves, that is different. But forcing that choice on others is the farthest thing from “loving our neighbor as ourselves.” Jesus never disregarded what was best for the individual as a clause on how to love our neighbors. Even for the greater good is no validation for us to demand that people do what we think is right. Jesus is truth. He made a way for us to be saved from sin. This is the greatest (opportunity for) good humanity has ever (been offered to be) experienced. And yet He never lied. He never coerced or manipulated or tried to control anyone. Imagine, the greatest good, the gift of heaven, and still He never forced it on anyone! (And neither should we!) The truth is clear. It is straightforward. You can take it or leave it. It’s not about control. You certainly don’t have to base things on lies to get the truth out. The end never justifies the means if the means are based in lies, and I refuse to live by lies!”
Go Forth in His Presence Inspired Serving and Loving Humanity! merlin
Posted on 11/13/2021 on https://informed.health.blog/2021/11/13/the-covid-vaccines/ Several days ago I came across Beth Troyer’s article in the magazine “Sprigs Life” which prompted discovering her blog’s website if you are interested. I resonated with her extensive 74 footnote researched links embedded throughout this article enabling you to click on the number and then be promptly connected to that website. You will find all 74 websites listed at the end of the article.
I really apologize for not locating this article for you earlier. I do realize this is not your casual feel good reading; but by now, you certainly know that is not my mission in this blog. Rather, it is all about being prepared! But in this moment, I do strongly invite each of you to invest the minutes needed to read the two introductory paragraphs and the final five paragraphs in section 8 to better understand the under-girding principles which drives Beth Troyer’s Informed Health blog and very likely provide you a future point of reference. There is even a link to writing a request for an exemption. Words underlined without a footnote number lead to her blog articles on the subject. The frosting though, on this celebratory “Cake For Life” is viewed by clicking on the very last three words in the article, live by lies, at the end of the paragraph five. I need say no more. Blessings on your journey for truth. merlin
Here is Beth’s article titled: The Covid Vaccines
How does one go over the risks and benefits of the covid vaccines? Where do you begin? How do you choose what to share and what to pass over? What are the most important things to be aware of as we make decisions for our future and the future of our children?
Well, here is my list. I’ve decided to limit myself to 10 problems or concerns I have with these products because I know this will be incredibly long even if I limit myself, but please know that this is the tip of the iceberg and there is so much more I could say. I tried to be thorough but also concise. I have not strayed into “conspiracy theories”. All of this is easily verifiable, concrete, and based in the scientific data. If you want a glimpse at how much deeper I could have dived, check out these well written arguments here and here.
Small disclaimer: I will be talking mostly about the mRNA jabs and lumping things together instead of breaking down each one by type. For the sake of clarity (if you don’t already know this), there are two mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer), and two main viral vector vaccines (Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca). The mRNA jabs have the same formulation (for the most part) and certainly the same mechanism of action, as do the viral vector vaccines. I go over how they are made in connection to abortion here and have a little discussion on religious exemptions here.
1. They don’t work
First of all, the clinical trials were not designed to measure anything but mild infection. We don’t know if these products save lives, decrease hospitalization rates, or stop severe disease from the clinical trial data. They were designed to measure mild infection and were decided based on less than 200 people. [1]
And then we come to evidence of either extreme sloppiness or intentional skewing of data. The Pfizer trial, who makes a claim of 95% efficacy also notes that there were “3,410 cases of suspected but unconfirmed covid 19 in the overall study population, 1594 occurred in the vaccine group vs. 1816 in the placebo group.”[2]
It doesn’t say “negative PCR test with symptoms of covid.” It says “unconfirmed”. Why would that be? Why were they not tested? Why are they left unconfirmed? Unfortunately, we don’t yet have answers to these questions.
And now we have a whistleblower from the Pfizer trial saying this was the sloppiest clinical trial she’s ever been a part of. She has a list of data integrity issues including skewed data, no follow up with patients who had severe adverse events, unblinding of the data early on in the trial, and failure to test people with symptoms. [3,4]
We must also take into account the difference between absolute and relative risk. Relative risk is what the trials tout as 95% efficacy, but that only tells part of the story. Absolute risk measures the risk with and without the vaccine, and considers the entire population. Measuring the absolute risk takes your immune system into account and doesn’t pretend that we are all dependent on a product to save us. The ARR for Moderna was 1.2% and 0.84% for Pfizer. [5] Not as impressive, but more realistic.
Highly vaccinated populations in real life are proving that efficacy simply does not hold up. Click here for a fun video of headlines that start with 95% efficacy and slowly devolve into the 20s before they switch to talk about boosters.
Israel is one of the highest vaccinated populations in the world. Their efficacy had dropped to 39% by July, [6] and they are now seeing another rise in cases even since they’ve rolled out boosters. [7]
Even if these shots start out at 95% effectiveness, they stopped measuring that in trials March of 2021, so we can’t tell how long we have until immunity begins to wain. Some studies have shown drops in immunity that are “considerably lower” than what we have been told based on the trials. [8]
According to a study from Israel, “In the vaccinated population, we observe higher initial antibody titers, but the titers quickly drop, decreasing by 40% each passing month. Conversely, in the convalescent population, initial titers are lower, but the titers decrease much more slowly, by ~4% every month.” [9]
A recent study out of Sweden showed “Vaccine effectiveness of BNT162b2 (Pfizer vaccine) against infection waned progressively from 92% at day 15-30 to 47% at day 121-180, and from day 211 and onwards no effectiveness could be detected. [10] That’s less than 50% in a little over 3 months and zero effectiveness in a little over 6 months. Johnson and Johnson has dropped all the way down to only 3%. [11]
To make the claim that they work, we would at least need evidence of a drop in cases after mass vaccine campaigns take place. The opposite has occurred in every single location as far as I can see. We actually had more deaths from covid by June 2021 than all of last year combined. [12] I know there are many factors involved, but one would expect some improvement after millions have been vaccinated, if they do actually work.
And honestly, all we need to do to answer this question is look at the talk surrounding boosters. We went from “very efficacious” and bizarre claims of the vaccine having better immunity than actually catching and surviving covid (such a claim would need extremely strong evidence; artificial immunity seeks to MIMIC natural immunity and has to this day never succeeded in being stronger or more long-lasting than natural immunity) to needing a third dose, to talk about needing a dose every five months [13] and they’re discussing a fourth dose even though it’s doubtful most people have even gotten their third one yet. [14]
Boosters this early in the game are not a sign of a “highly effective” vaccine.
Side note: Have y’all noticed the immunocompromised are the first ones getting rejabbed? The argument that we’re supposed to get injected to protect the vulnerable doesn’t hold up anymore since we’re injecting the vulnerable first.
2. There is no Transparency
Scientists have been asking for the raw data to the clinical trials from the beginning and the information was not released until after the vaccines were being taken en masse by a trusting public. [15]
Even now that the Pfizer vaccine has been granted approval (even though the approved version is not available to the public yet here in the US [16]) despite multiple promises for full transparency, the FDA has redacted one of the ingredients. [17] An ingredient, that incidentally, makes up 22% of the formulation. [18] There is currently a lawsuit underway to try and force them to actually fulfill that promise. [19]
On top of the aforementioned whistleblower alluding to severe adverse events being ignored within the trial, and trial participants coming forward with stories of injury and being ignored (more on that later) we have Maddie. A heartbreaking story of paralysis and severe suffering of a 12 year old girl who was a trial participant that was completely swept under the rug by Pfizer. Her adverse event was entered in the data as “functional abdominal pain” and not investigated or followed up on. [20]
3. Language is changing
So far I’ve counted 5 changes of definition by major public health officials:
Vaccine:
it used to be: “a preparation of killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organisms that is administered to produce or artificially increase immunity to a particular disease” [21] (the mRNA jabs would not have qualified as vaccines under this definition, just FYI)
It is now (changed Jan 2021): “a preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body’s immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease: (please note: stimulating the immune system is not the same thing as producing immunity) such as b: a preparation of genetic material (such as a strand of synthesized messenger RNA) that is used by the cells of the body to produce an antigenic substance (such as a fragment of virus spike protein)” [22] (oh good, the mRNA gene therapy is now a vaccine. Voila!)
Click here for an interesting exchange of emails at the CDC that precipitated this change.
Gain of function:
As recently as Oct. 19, the NIH defined “gain-of-function” experiments as “a type of research that modifies a biological agent so that it confers new or enhanced activity to that agent.” The NIH noted that “This research poses biosafety and biosecurity risks,” and warned that “these risks must be carefully managed.”[23]
The new definition downplays the concept of gain-of-function and largely focuses on “enhanced potential pandemic pathogen” (ePPP) research. “While ePPP research is a type of so called ‘gain-of-function’ (GOF) research,” the revised definition explains, “the vast majority of GOF research does not involve ePPP and falls outside the scope of oversight required for research involving ePPPs.”[24]
Anti-vaxxer:
“A person who opposes the use of vaccines” is the description used by most but
“…or regulations mandating vaccines” has recently been added to the Merriam Webster dictionary. [25]
Herd Immunity:
The World Health Organization used to describe herd immunity as follows: “Herd immunity is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.” [26]
It has now removed the part where it can be achieved through natural immunity which is worse than a lie because herd immunity has yet to be proven attainable through vaccination at all. To pretend it is only achieved through vaccination is the worst kind of bias. But they now say, “Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. In other words, herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it.”[27]
Breakthrough Infection:
This is an entirely new term that used to be called “vaccine failure”. It’s a positive spin on something that is obviously not the desired effect. The definition of a breakthrough infection “is defined as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen in a respiratory specimen collected from a person ≥14 days after receipt of all recommended doses of an FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccine.” So if you’ve been twice vaccinated and get COVID and test positive, you are not a breakthrough infection and will be labeled as “unvaccinated” until you get that third shot, and so on as more and more boosters are required to be able to attain the term “fully vaccinated.” [28]
As of May, 2021, “after thousands of reported breakthrough cases” the CDC stopped counting anything other than hospitalized and dead breakthrough cases. They rely on “voluntary reporting from health departments through passive systems” to get these numbers right. [29]
Spoiler alert: they are not accurate. Many hospitals don’t even document vaccination status. (And when they do thoroughly document, they find results like this.) So all the stories in the media and those memes counting patients by vaccination status are not only discriminatory and ugly (imagine doing that with obesity, for example, which is also a personal health choice that people make), they are suspect and utterly meaningless unless we can prove that hospital is counting accurately and thoroughly.
Do you see how hard they have to work to prop up the narrative? They have to redefine words and make up new ones, just to explain away the truth. It’s what happens when you tell one lie and the truth keeps tripping you up so you have to pile lies upon lies until the whole thing starts teetering and people see through the holes.
4. We are not following the data
There are so many examples of this. I’ve covered some of it in previous posts. I’m not going to go into great detail here, because if you’ve made it this far, you’ve probably noticed the inconsistencies as well, plus this is already getting long.
The data on lockdowns is clear. We kill more people than we save. [30] The evidence that they do more harm than good is overwhelming.
Masks don’t make enough of a difference to be worth the risk. Especially to children. (No reference here, it’s too big of a topic, but this is the conclusion I have reached after much research, especially the research of reading the studies the CDC uses as proof that they do work. I highly recommend with starting there if you’re curious about this topic. Keep this rule (picture below) in mind as you go, along with actually looking at the percentages of statistical evidence that they cite.)
We’re deliberately killing small businesses while all of our money gets shunted to men who are already billionaires. [31]
PCR testing is extremely faulty. “…if someone is tested by PCR as positive when a threshold of 35 cycles or higher is used (as is the case in most laboratories in Europe & the US), the probability that said person is actually infected is less than 3%, the probability that said result is a false positive is 97%.” [32] Yet this is the very basis of most of the pandemic.
We ignore the data on medications like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and have yet to form a protocol that includes early treatment. Instead, if you go into the ER with a positive test and shortness of breath, you will likely be sent home until you are sick enough to be hospitalized and ventilators are still being pushed early in care despite evidence that they increase your risk of death. [33]
In a bizarre demonstration of either extreme ignorance or bias, the FDA ignored the fact that ivermectin won the Nobel prize as a medication for humans in 2015 and told people not to use it “because you’re not a horse”. [34] (If that’s their best argument against it, their grounds must be weak indeed.)
Could it be the skepticism and adamant denial of any medication that actually works is because if we had a cure, we wouldn’t need a vaccine?
From the beginning we have ignored the data on the actual risk of covid 19. It is now very evident what that risk is. Here are the latest numbers (age and survival rate): [35]
0-19 = 99.973%
20-29 = 99.986%
30-39 = 99.969%
40-49 = 99.918%
50-59 = 99.73%
60-69 = 99.41%
70+ = 97.6% (non inst.)
70+ = 94.5% (all)
And now we are moving forward to vaccinating children despite the danger of covid to children being “so low as to be difficult to quantify.” And “an unvaccinated child is at less risk for severe covid than a vaccinated 70 year old.” [36] Even long covid is almost nonexistent in children. [37]
But still, we move forward with recommendations to get them all vaccinated. This is not following the data.
Mandates forcing everyone to get vaccinated are also not following the data. More on transmission later.
5. We will never know the risk of the vaccines
I already went over the sloppy work in the clinical trials when it comes to efficacy, but haven’t focused on the safety aspect other than the people coming forward with eye witness testimonies. If you would like to see some interviews of clinical trial participants and others who have been injured and their interaction with the pharmaceutical companies, you can watch a few here, here, and here.
On top of them seemingly ignoring and sweeping any severe reaction under the rug in the clinical trials, after a mere 6 months, they started vaccinating the placebo group. [38] This effectively takes away any scientific group we can measure against. You see, the only way to truly establish a causal connection between a product and an injury is through a randomized placebo controlled clinical trial. Once a vaccine is added to the recommended childhood schedule by the CDC, a study of this nature becomes “unethical” (because we cannot withhold a life saving vaccine from a group of children who would obviously drop dead without it). So we are left with retrospective studies which can only prove correlation. And then we enter a maze of denial and obfuscation and smug quotes of “correlation doesn’t equal causation” and we will be stuck in that cycle forever. No matter how many studies show a causal link or mechanism of action, no matter how many people come forward with injury stories. The science wasn’t done and then it’s unethical to do it. Maybe that’s what they mean when they say “the science is settled?”
So since we can’t do the science required, we must rely on post marketing surveillance and this is mostly contained by a passive system called VAERS. The website itself is rife with disclaimers and admissions of underreporting being a problem. In fact a study funded by the CDC found that less than 1% of vaccine adverse events are reported. [39] This study notes the CDC basically ghosted them after they realized how bad the reporting was and the system was never automated as the goal had been when the study was first started. This was published over a decade ago and nothing has been done since so I assume they concluded less than 1% is good enough for government work.
There is evidence of extreme underreporting with the covid vaccines today. For an example, anaphylaxis is an extreme reaction that would result in death if immediate medical help is not administered. The reaction usually occurs within 17 mins of administration of the product causing the reaction and it is the most easily recognized adverse event. It is impossible to miss and nearly impossible to pass off as coincidence because it usually happens so quickly after the product is given. So if any reaction were to be thoroughly documented, it would be this one, right?
The CDC strongly encourages and even notes that doctors are required by law to report adverse events to VAERS even if they don’t know if the vaccine caused the reaction. [40] And this is now the only way we are monitoring the safety of these products, so who wants to guess how well we’re doing with anaphylaxis? A recent study in JAMA notes that VAERS data shows the rate of anaphylaxis is 2.5-11 per one million doses. Their independent research outside of VAERS showed the rate is actually 2.47 per 10,000 doses. [41] Now, I’m not very good at math, but even I know there’s a huge difference between 10,000 and one million.
If we can’t even capture anaphylaxis, no one can convince me we’re capturing anything else. Plus, doctors are coming forward with statements of having no idea that they were required by law to report injuries, and when they do, they get told in no uncertain terms to stop it by their bosses, because we wouldn’t want to do anything that could possibly add to vaccine hesitancy (scientific integrity be damned). [42]
But even with this crappy system, we currently have over 18,000 reported deaths, 88,910 reported hospitalizations, and in all, 856,917 reported adverse events. [43] It is a fact that all vaccine injuries in the past 30 years combined do not equal the carnage we’ve seen in 2021 alone. [44]
This is death per million doses, so it cannot be argued that we’re seeing more death because more vaccines are being administered.
As far as the $science goes, I don’t think we’ll ever have clear admissions of causal injuries (and when we do, they still recommend the vaccine, but more on that later), so we are left with combing through the evidence available, and listening to people’s stories.
Which brings us to censorship and the fact that social media platforms are across the board, silencing, shadowbanning, and outright deleting people’s accounts for simply sharing stories of their injuries. And despite this difficulty, we have these people finding each other in groups of thousands.
When we step outside of VAERS, to look at independent data there is evidence that the death count from February to August 2021 alone ranged from 146K to 187K. [45] This study also notes that “VAERS deaths are underreported by a factor of 20”. But despite multiple independent studies with similar findings, the CDC is still holding strong that no deaths at all can be linked to the vaccines.
So my conclusion based on this evidence is that any risk based on VAERS data is much larger than they are admitting, and there are many unknown risks that will never be admitted or proven in any official capacity. And that includes menstrual changes and miscarriages after vaccination, which they are now finally looking into because of the absolute clamor being raised by the public. [46]
5. Myocarditis
I’ve seen disturbing evidence of a fanatical, almost cult like belief in vaccines from our health authorities that is willing to push aside any risk in a single minded devotion to vaccines as the only possible solution to all of our problems. From the FDA helpfully hiding an ingredient for Pfizer, to the CDC pausing the Johnson and Johnson Vaccine to see if it was causing blood clots (based on VAERS data), admitting that it does cause them, and then reinstating it despite that fact. [47]
But nothing makes this more clear than myocarditis in young people. The CDC has admitted that the available data (again from VAERS) “suggest an association of myocarditis with mRNA vaccination”. [48] And we now have evidence that the vaccine is actually up to 6 times more dangerous (for the risk of myocarditis alone) than the risk of hospitalization from covid for this age group. [49] The observed rates of myocarditis for these age groups are much higher than what is expected post vaccination:
Please watch this video for a cardiologist’s perspective on the claim that myocarditis is “mild.”
For this behavior to actually make sense, the risk from covid would need to be extremely high for this age group. It’s not. Not even for hospitalization, never mind for death or lasting disability, which myocarditis can cause. Athletes around the world are collapsing in the middle of games and others are losing their careers over heart problems post vaccination. The world record holder for static breath hold in free diving is one of many. [50] This hockey player died. [51]
And still it is recommended. It’s even recommended if the first dose causes myocarditis. The second dose is to be deferred until the “heart has recovered” (whatever that means since heart muscle does not regenerate). I can find no scenario where the risk is too great to completely contraindicate this product.
6. Spike Proteins
As far as I know, all of the vaccines are based on the spike protein portion of the virus. We have recently discovered that the spike protein is actually the part of the virus that is causing damage. A study from April explains, “The researchers created a “pseudovirus” that was surrounded by SARS-CoV-2 classic crown of spike proteins, but did not contain any actual virus. Exposure to this pseudovirus resulted in damage to the lungs and arteries of an animal model—proving that the spike protein alone was enough to cause disease. Tissue samples showed inflammation in endothelial cells lining the pulmonary artery walls.”[52]
The original claim was that the vaccine contents would remain in the arm of the recipient and not circulate too much, but circulating spike protein has been found in plasma, [53] kidney, liver, and spleen, and large amounts in the ovaries. [54]
There is new evidence that the spike protein takes up to 15 months to clear for some people post infection, which explains long haul covid. [55] But what happens when your body is actually making the spike protein and it is replicating over and over by your own cells? And what happens when you’re getting another booster every few months? If it takes over a year for some people to clear the spike protein after the virus, what will happen if we need to be injected with that same spike protein every 12 months?
It has been shown that injected spike protein can cross the blood brain barrier in mice. [56] And a recent study from Sweden talks about how the spike protein inhibits DNA damage repair. They say, “Our findings reveal a potential molecular mechanism by which the spike protein might impede adaptive immunity and underscore the potential side effects of full-length spike-based vaccines.”[57] One of the genes that is impeded by the spike protein is called “the guardian of the genome.” Its name is 53BP1 and it is a “key player of DNA damage response with critical functions in cancer.” [58] Another reason it is so important for long term studies to be done on how these vaccines effect cancer rates, but we don’t do that with any vaccine. (Check any insert)
Interestingly, when I shared a doctor’s take on this new study on my Instagram, my story was flagged and fact checked with this article linked as proof. Despite the fact that the article is talking about birth defects and really doesn’t apply to this new study, it is still used as proof that this new information is “false”. Their exact words are “The mRNA in COVID vaccines does not enter the nucleus of human cells, where the DNA is, and does not alter the DNA…” What’s fascinating is that this new study (citation 57 above) states, “Mechanistically, we found that the spike protein localizes in the nucleus and inhibits DNA damage repair by impeding key DNA repair protein BRCA1 and 53BP1 recruitment to the damage site.” Oops. The fact checkers are wrong again.
So if the spike protein is the culprit and we now know it can cause all of the symptoms of covid without even having a virus to go on, does that not beg the question whether commanding our bodies to become little spike protein factories is a good idea?
This explains all the blood clots, strokes, menstrual problems, pulmonary embolisms, and heart attacks post vaccination, by the way. It also explains brain fog and the blood clotting problems for covid itself. I do realize that the spike protein is part of covid. So all of the problems listed could be evidence that covid is dangerous. I have no problem admitting that. I’ve never had a problem with that. But it does not follow that the solution should then be the vaccine. The vaccines are essentially injecting that exact problem into ourselves, and could potentially be worse. Just think about the mechanism of action. Our cells are being commanded to make this spike protein. More on how they have to bypass the immune system later, but even if this virus was lab made and tampered with by humans, I think my immune system, in its natural state will have a better chance of dealing with a spike protein on a virus I contract naturally versus having my body being made into a spike protein factory.
Byram Bridle, a viral immunologist, sums it up like this, “We made a big mistake. We didn’t realize it until now. We thought the spike protein was a great target antigen, we never knew the spike protein itself was a toxin and was a pathogenic protein. So by injecting people we are inadvertently inoculating them with a toxin.”
7. There is no liability
I think this is pretty well known by now so I’m not going to bother with references. Please note that there is no product on the earth more “take at your own risk” than these. If you are injured, the pharmaceutical companies will not chip in to pay for your medical bills. Even insurances are turning down claims if the vaccines are mentioned. Your pro-mandate friends will likely turn on you (one of the reasons many will not go public with their stories of injury: the fear of being ostracized by their friends), and people online will label you an “antivaxxer” even though you obviously took the vaccine so that label does not apply. If you lose your job due to injury, there is no one who will step in to pay your bills.
One of the injured in the interview above (a surgeon) says there is one word to describe how he felt as he suffered through his paralysis and the loss of his job and health post vaccination: “abandoned”.
8. Transmission is not stopped
Let me be very clear. None of these injections stop transmission. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Anyone pretending there was evidence that these products stopped transmission in the beginning were being scientifically dishonest. There may have been hope that they stop transmission. But as the clinical trials did not measure this, the basis for such claims was nonexistent. The recommendation for the vaccinated to continue wearing masks should have been a clue that the health authorities knew this from the very beginning. But now we have clear evidence of the head of the CDC making the statement that vaccination does not effect transmission. [59]
Here is the current wording on the cdc website: “If you are fully vaccinated and become infected with the Delta variant, you can spread the virus to others.”[60]
Viral loads in those vaccinated and unvaccinated are the same. [61]
I feel like the entire conversation could start and end on this one point. This is a personal decision and if I myself am not scared of covid, and I see the risk of the vaccines as greater than the risk of the infection for myself, then no more thought needs to go into this. No manipulative coercion about loving my neighbor, nothing about “doing the right thing”; that’s it. Because all those controlling, bigoted arguments are based on lies.
No vaccine that does not stop transmission will ever achieve herd immunity. Even vaccines that do stop transmission cannot achieve herd immunity, [62] so again, that claim is extraordinary and would require extraordinary evidence.
It’s not even skeptical to refuse to believe baseless claims. It’s just common sense. When people make extraordinary claims (even if they are wearing a lab coat or frequently seen in the media, or labeled an expert), they need extraordinary evidence to back it up. Otherwise, it’s just hopeful conjecture at best, and lying at worst.
9. We are ignoring natural immunity
We have mountains of evidence (or at least 123 studies as of today—it was 102 last week) proving natural immunity is “durable, broad based, long term, and effective.” [63] We have found the reinfection rate for those with severe disease is less than one percent. [64] Natural immunity is being called “super immunity” because it protects across different variants/strains. 23 of them, in fact, and natural antibodies also exhibit an “absence of selection pressure” which actually decreases the risk of “escape mutation acquisition and subsequent development of resistant viral variants.” [65] There is even evidence of immunity through other coronaviruses (like the common cold) through T cell immunity. [66]
Discrimination is running rampant and it’s (mostly) based on vaccination status. Why is natural immunity being ignored? It’s crazy that people who caught the dread disease and survived are being discriminated against simply because they might not want to take on the added risk of a medical product that is too late for them.
You see, when you encounter a virus in the wild, you breathe it in, and from there on, your body is learning it, and fighting it off. You will experience this virus (the entire virus, every sequence, every minute particle) with every single layer of your immune system. You will likely get sick as this occurs (but for a large, healthy majority, this sickness will be of short duration and easily overcome—disclaimer: not denying that some find it more difficult to overcome, not denying that some die), but if you do survive, your body will boast immunity the vaccine could never touch.
Plus you will actually be adding to the protection against more virulent strains, whereas the vaccines do the opposite. [67] In fact, a recent study actually showed that “fully vaccinated were more likely than unvaccinated persons to be infected by variants carrying mutations associated with decreased antibody neutralization.”[68] (This study is huge. It’s evidence that the vaccinated actually pose a greater risk to society as a whole than the unvaccinated. The opposite of what we’re told by the media. It’s also another study that notes the vaccinated and unvaccinated have the same viral loads.)
Here’s a fun little bunny trail on how the vaccines reprogram our immune systems: on Moderna’s website, under the heading “Overcoming Key Challenges”, they note, “Using mRNA to create medicines is a complex undertaking and requires overcoming novel scientific and technical challenges. We need to get the mRNA into the targeted tissue and cells while evading the immune system. If the immune system is triggered, the resultant response may limit protein production and, thus, limit the therapeutic benefit of mRNA medicines.”[69] I read that last year and immediately wondered how they figured out how to “evade” the immune system since isn’t that the very thing we’re targeting with these vaccines?
Well, it looks like the way to “protect the mRNA from the body’s immune defenses” is to “ablate the immune system” by “changing the code” that then subsequently “affects the toll like receptors.” [70] (The definition of ablate is “to remove or destroy the function of” just to anyone else who found this a new word.)
Turns out, mRNA technology actually reprograms both your adaptive and innate immune responses. [71]
But back to toll like receptors. What do they do? What happens when we ablate them? They are the gatekeepers that empower the immune system and do things like:
Recognize native vs foreign mRNA
Distinguish healthy cells from cancer cells
Put viruses in check so they remain dormant
Which may explain why we are having reactivation of varicella, [72] shingles, [73] (lymes disease flare up, anyone?) autoimmune disease flare ups, and aggressive cancers or returns of cancer post remission, all occurring shortly after vaccination. [74]
10. I cannot align myself with lies and control
There are simply too many lies swirling around out there. Even the accusation of misinformation is usually a lie (which is really ironic) and simply a phrase used to attempt to silence someone. Many times, the general narrative is actually the exact opposite of the actual truth. The truth is important to me. I truly believe that aligning myself with a lie has the power to tarnish my soul. The more lies a person defends, the more they will lose the ability to tell the difference between truth and deception and the faster they will move to the realm of calling good evil and evil good. An example of this is calling discriminatory legislation that mandates vaccines “for the greater good”.
The greater good argument is frequently used for vaccines and I often think “the end justifies the means” would be a more accurate description of what’s going on here. Have you noticed that the greater good argument always comes back to control? The push for certain behaviors is always cloaked in seemingly good intentions, but the end goal is still compliance to certain requirements being instigated largely by people who have no understanding of God or Christianity or Truth. The same people who tell us they’re following the science believe that we came from monkeys, that gender is fluid, and that abortion isn’t killing a human being.
I’ve seen so many “love your neighbor” posts by well meaning Christians but they always seem to forget that Jesus finished that command with two more words: “as yourself.” It’s understandable they want to leave that part out since the logic follows that if I believe a product to be harmful for myself there is no biblical basis for taking it for my neighbor. Sorry. That’s once again, twisting things into a lie to further an agenda. And twisting Jesus’ own words is dangerous ground, if you ask me. You don’t have to lie to people to get them to do what is right. The truth stands on its own and people have to make their own choices. If you cannot respect that, I would dare to say you are not loving your neighbor at all, but are caught in the throes of worldly ideology.
A more loving approach (if extremely condescending) is one I’ve seen on Facebook that claims those who refuse the vaccines are like the weaker brethren in Romans who don’t want to eat meat offered to idols even though that was part of the law Jesus had set them free from. I’m fully willing to accept that label if it means those who apply it to me will then also obey the following command that states the weaker brother is to be supported in heeding his conscience, for to do otherwise, is not faith, and is thus, sin. To try and convince him otherwise would be to encourage someone to sin, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?
Even when applied to vaccines that do stop transmission, passing over the free will of an individual for the believed benefit of many is not something Jesus ever taught. If an individual chooses to sacrifice themselves, that is different. But forcing that choice on others is the very farthest thing from loving your neighbor as yourself. Would you want to be forced to choose between a job and something you find morally wrong or physically risky? No, don’t pretend that you would. We all want what we think is best for ourselves. Jesus never disregarded what was best for the individual as a clause on how to love our neighbors. (More on that here)
Even the greatness of the good is no validation for us to demand that people do what we think is right. Jesus is truth. He made a way for us to be saved from sin. That is the greatest good humanity has ever experienced. And yet He never lied. He never coerced or manipulated or tried to control anyone. The greatest good, the gift of heaven, and still He never forced it on anyone. The truth is clear. It is straightforward. You can take it or leave it. It’s not about control. You certainly don’t have to base things on lies to get the truth out. The end never justifies the means if the means are based in lies, and I refuse to live by lies.
THE REVERSAL OF OUR DESIRES GONE AMUCK IS ONLY ACCOMPLISHED BY:
Seeking forgiveness at the Cross from King Jesus by submitting our heart, mind & soul for the cleansing of all our past FEARS, FAULTS, & FAILURES thereby invoking God’s sustaining power into our reality (our real time presence) by re-aligning our desires with His gifts to all Christ Followers known as the Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, & Self Control.
In coaching language, perhaps we can begin by “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13-14), by He exchanging our fears, faults & failures into an abiding faith of His ultimate provisions, elevating us to assist all those we meet by inviting them into His Presence, empowered by Holy Spirit, demonstrating the Fruits of the Spirit, and the satisfaction of witnessing their becoming the best possible version of themselves.
Yesterday after church I began writing a conclusion to a coaching exercise wherein persons are given nine minutes to list the top ten fears, faults, and failures that are holding them back from becoming the best possible version of themselves. They are allowed three minutes for each. The two paragraphs above were designed to focus on the undergirding needed to accomplish such best possible versions.
Clinical diagnostic writings for a universal audience usually couch their encouragements and admonitions by such sterile unoffensive paragraphs as the following, perfectly acceptable and understandable to persons unfamiliar with living their life by faith.
For example, consider the following definition of The Higher Force. “The higher force that drives all of life expresses itself in relentless Forward Motion. The only way to connect to this force is to be in forward motion yourself. But to do that, you must face the pain and be able to move past it. The reversal of desire lets you do this. Once the tool connects you to the force of Forward Motion, the world is less intimidating, your energy is greater, and the future seems more hopeful.” Derived from the book “The Tools” by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels
Appropriately, the mantra for the above definition is “Bring it on, I love my fear, my fear sets me free.” And believe me, this system is performing well, and I am very glad it is, because there are literally billons today paralyzed by their fears, faults and failures, living impoverished lives.
However for me, as I was basking yet on Pastor Carl’s sermon several hours prior, that I’ve retitled “Being a Worshipful People,” with his 4 bullets being 1.) Called (bringing God joy); 2.) Confusion (having no other gods before me); 3.) Clarification (comprehending who God is & who we are); 4.) Consequences (how worshipping God transforms us – So, how will I worship next week?); I was eventually drawn to Robert’s writing’s, having just completed a writing assignment for a friend of mine about the life and times of Robert Rogers. So this 3000 word document is my off the cuff summary today of his 26000 word book Rise Above: How God Can Heal Your Hurts and Overcome The Worst, a likely primer for Christian leadership including pastors, SS teachers, coaches, mentors, counselors, etc.
Robert lost his wife and four children August 30, 2003 in a flash flood on Kansas Turnpike at mile marker 116 when a seven foot wall swept their van off the road drowning them all except him. I have also produced two summaries of his first book “Into the Deep: one man’s story of how tragedy took his family but could not take his faith.”
Actually, the lights really went on when I realized Robert’s mantra for Rise Above was simply so on target for this coaching exercise, that regardless whatever our fear, fault, or failure may be, we as Christ Followers, are called to worship Him by: “Face It, Embrace It, Replace it;” all under the auspices of God’s divine healing according to scripture, and the removing of “me” in the equation and depending more on “Him.”
In a straightforward and practical way, Robert Rogers strove to answer how to Rise Above on our road to freedom and recovery. What follows below is virtually all in Robert’s words taken verbatim from the book.
1st Step to Rise Above: Face It. Yes, admit it happened. Even T.S. Elliot said, “The only way to alter the past is to accept it.” So accept it. Don’t pretend it never happened. Rather than tell God how big your problem is, tell your problem how big God is. Joy and misery are both options. Just as no one can make you happy, neither can anyone make you miserable. It’s up to you. Choose life. Choose joy.
To choose life means to surrender the past. For new growth to come forth, a death must often occur first, just as the birth of spring follows the death of winter. “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives.” (John 12: 24) Through your agonizing death experiences, God can bring forth abundant life.
Just as Noah chose to build the ark, we also need to fortify the ark of our faith, requiring we first accept Him as our Lord, fostering our faith daily through a deepening relationship with God and His Word. Yes, it may cause us some additional pain to FACE IT! However, realize the pain of regrets weighs tons. If you don’t face it now, you will likely regret it exponentially and immensely more forever. God wants to release from the pain and power of your past. So, “let all who are discouraged take heart.” (Psalm 34:2) Choose life. Take heart. Choose to FACE IT!
When we refuse to face and deal with issues, then negative consequences – from our actions or inactions – can hurt even those around us, in ways we might never fathom. Conversely, when we choose to face a situation and tackle it with God’s grace, then we can give Him liberty to work through our mess and bring forth divine mercy and healing amidst it all.
2nd Step to Rise Above: Embrace It. Yes, dive in head first. Jesus surrendered to the cross to which His Father had appointed Him. He embraced it. So should we. In the profound words of St. Augustine, “Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending.” In order to Rise Above, you must first descend below and utterly Embrace It.
“Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” (Psalm 23:4) I no longer live in fear since the forgiveness of Christ at the foot of the cross swept thru my mind, body, and spirit freeing me from all past encumbrances, addictions, unforgiveness, hostilities, profanity, perversions, etc.
Until we get to Heaven, pain is a part of life in a broken world. So Embrace It enthusiastically, and “don’t be surprised by the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad – because these trials will make you partners with Christ in His suffering.” (I Peter 4:12-13) He will not permit you to be stretched beyond your breaking point. “But God keeps His promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you a way out.” (I Cor 10:13 GNT) God will indeed make a way when there seems to be no way.
Character and faith are forged in the fiery furnace called suffering. Just as muscles don’t strengthen from laziness and lethargy, so our faith is fortified by exercising it diligently as we embrace the daily struggles of everyday life. Although these confusing paths are often thorny and rocky, trust God that His ways are indeed right. “If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.” (Isaiah 50:10) He has you right where He wants you, for your greater good, and for His greater glory and honor. You may never fully understand or make sense of it, this side of Heaven. “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything in perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me completely.” (I Cor 13:12) We don’t see the full picture now. If we could, we probably wouldn’t like it or couldn’t handle it. Trust God to reveal just enough to illuminate your next step.
“You must accept whatever situation the Lord has put you in, and continue on…” (I Cor 7:17) Don’t stay stuck in your scars or paralyzed by your pain. If you do, you’ll remain ineffective for God. If God brought you to it, He’ll bring you through it. Don’t stay parked in the valley. Keep walking, keep trusting, keep thanking, keep moving. It’s hard to steer a parked car. Keep your vehicle, your life, moving forward. Then at least God has a chance to guide you in the right direction. If you remain immobilized, God can’t very well direct your paths.
Robert Rogers tells how his father often reminded and motivated him as a boy with the words “getting started is half done.” Even now the same principle still guides him. He rarely ever feels like climbing on his stationary bike; however if he just begins to pump those blasted pedals, he finds that he can then commit to thirty minutes. The first step is always the hardest. The same is true with embracing it.
Try to imagine the impact to human history if this one man – Joseph – had grown bitter in prison and wasted his time, wallowing in his pity. “Until the time came to fulfill his word, the Lord tested Joseph’s character.” (Psalm 105:19) Joseph embraced that difficult time of testing with a good attitude and allowed God to develop him. He could have taken the easy road and complained indefinitely. The high road requires being “thankful in all circumstances” (I Thess. 5:18), regardless of how unfair. Jesus, too, was wrongfully accused and betrayed by those closest to him. Yet, He never complained. Instead, He embraced suffering, torture, and even death on a cross. And as with Joseph and Jesus, realize the attitude you assume inwardly, you also display outwardly, exerting a profound and lasting impact on countless others, often in unimaginable ways. They are watching to see how you respond. Remember, only God knows how long your difficult season of embracing may last. Joseph spent upwards of twelve years in prison. “There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.” (Ecl. 3:1) Bask in that agonizing season. Don’t try to cut it short. “For God has made everything beautiful for it’s own time.” (Ecl. 3:11)
In preparation for the 3rd Step, Replace It, as with the Israelites going into their wilderness to worship, so must we worship while Facing and Embracing. “Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.” (James 4:8) Robert’s words verbatim “ Offer your tears up to Him as the woman did at Jesus’ feet. Just as she held nothing back, but poured every ounce of expensive perfume upon Jesus, don’t hold onto your loss or loved ones. Offer them up to God as your gift back to Him. Our loved ones came from God. They belong to God. Don’t try to cling to the past. Don’t try to continually love your lost ones back as they were. Love them now as they are, where they are.
When she fully emptied and exhausted her perfume, this dear woman didn’t stop there. She offered her tears to Jesus. Do the same. Don’t hold back. Jesus was so taken by her gift He called it a “beautiful thing” and declared that, “wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” (Mark 14:6,9 NIV) God used her tribulation and sinful past for repentance and transformation. Your tears, too, can be a “beautiful thing” when you embrace them and offer each one to God as your priceless gift. Like this woman’s supreme sacrifice of costly ointment, the fragrance of your precious tears offered in worship to God can change the atmosphere all around you. Similar to your deeds, your testimony may be told for countless generations to come, impacting many people, helping them Rise Above.” “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” (Rev 12:11 NIV)
Never waste a wilderness journey. When you are brought to nothing, then God can do something with your life beyond anything you can possibly imagine, if you invite Him. Much like the woman with the shattered alabaster box, sometimes we have to allow God to crush us in order to exude the sweet fragrance within us. You may never know what God has planted within you, until you’re first broken, then prepared for worshipping Him, enabling your service to Him is not only Replaced, but also Released into the lives of others, preparing us for the satisfaction of witnessing others becoming the best possible version of themselves in His Kingdom.
3rd Step to Rise Above: Replace It. Yes, God has a marvelously divine exchange program. Right now, ask God to replace your pain with praise, your despair with joy, your ashes with beauty. He can and He will. Pray boldly to God. Blend the passion of your pain with the power of His Word. As miserable as your past was, pray that God will return at least as much goodness to you. “Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good.” (Psalm. 90:15)
Let God replace who youwere, with now, who you are in Him. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away ; all things have become new.” (II Cor 5:17 NKJV)
Mary Englebreit says “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, then change the way you think about it.” Adjust your thinking and let God renew your mind. Ask and allow Him to alter your thought patterns, “for we have the mind of Christ.” (I Cor 2:16) Intentionally “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (II Cor 10:5 NIV)
Realize some people are so traumatized by their past that they never replace yesterday’s sadness with today’s promise of joy. Understand your past can either be a hitching post you never leave, or better, a guidepost to help direct the remainder of your life.
Even if you’re trudging through the valley, still bask in the glory of His Presence. It will transform your attitude and your very countenance. “Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.” (Psalm 34:5) Gaze upon God for your source of help. In doing so, you will become more like Him.
If you need a blessing, healing, or joy, then take the first step and sow it. Life is all about seedtime and harvest. You have to plant good seeds in order to reap a fruitful harvest. What I discovered from giving my life away is that the more you surrender and relinquish, the freer you become. Travel light on this planet. Heaven is our home, not earth. “Whatever you keep dies with you. Whatever you share lives on.”
Truth is, many people are not ready to live again because they are not ready to die. Don’t permit death to paralyze you. Fear of death doesn’t have to hold you back. Jesus’ resurrection broke “the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves in the fear of dying.” (Heb 2: 14-15) Don’t live in fear. Live in faith. Dwell in Christ. I was taught FEAR stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear is faith in reverse.
Out of your story, God can bring great glory. From your mess, God can bring forth a mighty message. You can choose to let God turn your mess into a miracle, your misery into ministry, and your test into a testimony. The choices are yours. You can choose death or life, curses or blessings, trials or triumph, tragedy or charity, mishaps or miracles, tribulation or transformation, whining or worshipping, adversity or advantage, disability or opportunity, pain or growth, mourning or gladness, complaining or rejoicing, griping and grumbling, or gratitude.
“I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.” (Jer. 31:13)
You can choose resentfulness that turns rancid or mourning that turns into dancing. You can flip what happens to me, to what happens within me. You can choose to be pitiful or to be prayerful; to be sour or reflect the Savior. You can run to the TV or to the Almighty, run to the world or to the Word, run to the iphone or Thy Throne, run to Facebook or to the Good Book. You can choose to lose or win, to cower in pity or conquer through praise, to be resentful or be grateful, to wallow in self-pity or worship in His Presence, to be overwhelmed or to overcome, to remain stagnant in pain or to rejoice in praise, to descend below or Rise Above.
“And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” (I John 5:5)
You choose.
“You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You will restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again.” (Psalm 71:20-21)
I suggest sometime soon you slowly savor the richness of this I Corinthians 15 passage from The Message translation.
[1-2] … Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I’m assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you’re in this for good and holding fast.)
[3-9] The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence.
[10-11] But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven’t I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn’t amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it’s all the same: We spoke God’s truth and you entrusted your lives.
[12-15] Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it-if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ-sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.
[16-20] If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.
[21-28] There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up until the last enemy is down-and the very last enemy is death! As the psalmist said, “He laid them low, one and all; he walked all over them.” When Scripture says that “he walked all over them,” it’s obvious that he couldn’t at the same time be walked on. When everything and everyone is finally under God’s rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God’s rule is absolutely comprehensive-a perfect ending!
[29] Why do you think people offer themselves to be baptized for those already in the grave? If there’s no chance of resurrection for a corpse, if God’s power stops at the cemetery gates, why do we keep doing things that suggest he’s going to clean the place out someday, pulling everyone up on their feet alive?
[30-33] And why do you think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work? I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I’d do this if I wasn’t convinced of your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus, hoping it wouldn’t be the end of me? Not on your life! It’s resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that under girds what I do and say, the way I live. If there’s no resurrection, “We eat, we drink, the next day we die,” and that’s all there is to it. But don’t fool yourselves. Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. “Bad company ruins good manners.”
[34] Think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like these. Aren’t you embarrassed that you’ve let this kind of thing go on as long as you have?
[35-38] Some skeptic is sure to ask, “Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this ‘resurrection body’ look like?” If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a “dead” seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don’t look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.
[39-41] You will notice that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies-humans, animals, birds, fish-each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies-sun, moon, stars-all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we’re only looking at pre-resurrection “seeds”-who can imagine what the resurrection “plants” will be like!
[42-44] This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body-but only if you keep in mind that when we’re raised, we’re raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that’s planted is no beauty, but when it’s raised, it’s glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural-same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!
[45-49] We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual-a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we’ve worked from our earthy origins, let’s embrace our heavenly ends.
[50] I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don’t in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very “nature” is to die, so how could they “naturally” end up in the Life kingdom?
[51-57] But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die-but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes-it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three-sin, guilt, death-are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!
[58] With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing that you do for him is a waste of time or effort.
Many Christ Followers (CF’s) do not know how to say “No,” and consequently are constantly over committed and the “greater things” are left behind, never even comprehended, visualized, and certainly, never remotely experienced!
Suggestions to avoid such disasters:
1.) Just say NO. That is a complete sentence.
2.) To be more polite, say “I’m sorry, but I simply cannot at this time. I have a personal policy, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to, but if anything changes, I’ll be sure to let you know… It looks like I’ll have to pass this time.. I just cannot fit it into my schedule….. That is such a good cause but I’m already supporting other good causes.
Jesus often said NO. Our first priority is to fulfill our Father’s will by implementing:
1.) Love God.
2.) Love those around you.
3.)Love Yourself.
Then he suggests you arm yourself with the clarity of Prov 3:13-18
During the years of ’68-73 I traveled US Rt 30 through Ft Wayne frequently and knew of David Jeremiah from being on Moody Radio and seriously considered stopping by to see him in his double wide church in a field… but I never made it a priority. My loss of just one more another “greater things” in my life!merlin
David Jeremiah’s personal testimony verbatim near end of Ch. Three.
“I entered the ministry nearly 50 years ago in a startup church in Ft Wayne, IN. And I was focused. Man was I focused. I wasn’t necessarily aiming to be a spiritual success, I just didn’t want to be a miserable failure. All my friends knew I went to FT Wayne to start a new church. I wanted to prove to them and myself that I could build a church from scratch. So I was knocking on doors every night, Saturdays and Sunday afternoons; I was gone all the time. I was doing the work of God; what could be better?
But at that time, we had two small children. Jan was a toddler and David was 13 months younger. While Donna was at home, I was out on my white horse winning people to Jesus and building the church. When I came home for dinner each day, Donna would say to me, “Are you going to be gone again tonight?” I was struggling to balance my responsibility to my family and to the ministry. And then I’d go out and knock on some more doors and come home later to the hurt look on my wife’s face. I thought I was doing God’s will, but I was really doing David’s will. I just didn’t want to fail.
One day Donna set me down in the kitchen, “Honey, I just want to tell you I’m never going to ask you again, are you going to be gone tonight? I’ve been thinking and praying about this, and the fact is you are the priest in this family, and one day you are going to have to stand before God and give an account for how you led us. And if you believe led us by being gone all the time, then I’m not going to argue with you. This is all in your lap now. You are responsible.” That was a turning point in my life.
I realized there are no ultimate conflicts in God’s perfect will. He doesn’t call a man to be both a father and a pastor in such a way that those two roles constantly war against each other. I began to pray God’s priorities back into my life. Soon they became crystal clear to me. I organized them into the following four statements: (Note I edited the fourth to meet my situation. You write yours accordingly that reflects your current activities)
I am a person with a responsibility before God
I am a partner with a responsibility to my spouse. (if applicable)
I am a parent with a responsibility to my kids.
I am a PT entrepreneur heading toward retirement and a FT Ambassador for Jesus Christ with a responsibility to either coach or to refer appropriately and responsibly.
Folks, I believe we’ve all been hanging around long enough! Grab onto the life lines of God’s priorities and move forward in His design for your life always abounding with His momentum and with His Blessings.
I’ve not always lived up to these four priorities. Whenever I feel myself straying, I find these four principles pulling me back into line. That’s what priorities do……”
The above words met me head-on once on the interstate of life (guess then I was going the wrong direction since interstates always imply traveling in the same direction?) And yes, spiritual re-freshers are good! Not sure “re-fresher” applies though to the current Broadway Plays that I heard recently are stuck big time in the rut of predominately only “doing over” their past successes. Evidently their audiences are also ok with living in the security & shadows of their past good times rather than to look forward to and trust in new performances. Perhaps not unlike many CF’s stuck today in the rut of past successes when Christ is really calling us to, as Jeremiah’s book is titled, Discovering God’s Presence and Purpose in Your Tomorrow, not your “wispy past.”
A few minutes ago I just viewed the clip of Ron and Sue Wenger sharing their journey with Sue’s cancer during the Fairlawn Easter service. Such events and the deaths of the two youth days earlier near Fredericksburg remind us of our priorities. Please pray for these families as well as for your own during the fleetingness of life as we enjoy it.
“He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (Mark 9: 9)
As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you – until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth. When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them.
Our Lord doesn’t hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12) We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus?
The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don’t have His Spirit. And our unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. But our insensible thinking will end immediately once His resurrection life has its way with us.
“…tell no one…” But so many people do tell what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration – their mountaintop experience. They have seen a vision and they testify to it, but there is no connection between what they say and how they live. Their lives don’t add up because the Son of Man has not yet risen in them. How long will it be before His resurrected life is formed and evident in you and me?
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers:
“We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered,but only by commitment.”
The question on the table now begging to be asked as we approach Easter and witness the re-awakening renaissance that is spreading across our country and around the world, who or what am I committed to now? Has Christ yet arisen in me? Is there any fact checking verifiable proof that there is a connection between what I say and how I live? No secret to many of you that I for years was simply an obnoxious noisy gong or clanging cymbal (I Cor. 13:1) having seen a vision and testifying to it, but without a oneness with His risen life. Therefore, I was chasing more out of the kingdom than attracting any in! For as was said above, until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth, you’re simply an appliance that is not plugged in; looks good but not useful as intended. But then, once so dominated, or plugged in, you’re simply amazed you hadn’t grasped the truths earlier… And you’ll soon transition to becoming fearless, ready then for service because you are plugged in and empowered.
Go Forth Today Enjoying Your Identity In Christ Being Simply Present-In-The-Moment,
to Dispense His Love Among All You Meet>>>>> merlin
Keith Gunta continually puts forth truth in dimensions for Christ Followers (CF’s) a quantum leap or two above where we have too often have “settled for” and are maintaining our comfortable lodging. I suggest you read the following against the backdrop of John 1:3-5. “All things were created by God, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness can not “master it.” Note The Message paraphrases it as couldn’t put it out; the NKJV says did not comprehend it; KJV comprehended it not; Amplified is unreceptive to it; LNT can never extinguish it; RSV has not overcome it.
Therein, may I add that CF’s must never forget that the real battle is against Satan, not mere men’s ideas and theories for it is he who brings such evil into their lives and tempts them to sin. Believers who view other people as the enemy will not be able to vanquish the real foe. Spiritual battles must be fought with spiritual weapons. God’s people do not fight with arguments or violence but with truth as found below and in abounding in scripture including righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the word of God. God promises that such weapons will defeat the enemy. (Eph. 6:17)
In addition, a study of OT wars reveals that when the armies of Israel fought in their own strength, they always lost. But when they cast themselves upon God’s mercy, victory always followed. Supplication means to ask God for whatever one needs. Asking is the rule of the kingdom (Matt.7:7-11) and the rule of the church (see I Thess. 5:17; James 4:2; I John 3:22). Significant for us today to overcome this “mass psychosis brainwashing?”
Be prepared for an awakening within your Contagious Renewed Mind” (CRM) as you read what is a human and GO FORTH TODAY in HIS PRESENCE>>>>>merlin
This blog has in the past dealt primarily with encouraging you to prepare for the inevitable spiritual transitions in life we all will face. I realize I’m perhaps preaching to the saints here, but that is going to radically change as I’m compelled to now steer you in the direction of your personal food production.
FYI, much of the chatter we were aghast to hear from the independent media years ago has now occurred or appears imminent. It appears now one such fracas buried by the deep state in July ’20, was when Hunter Biden’s laptop surfaced and was given to the deep state authorities for possible prosecution but it all got buried; until last week that was, when apparently now, it appears perhaps the deep state will bring out the evidence from the laptop and who knows where else, as their excuse to change leadership in the current regime as the White House is becoming increasingly embarrassing and a liability at home and around the world; understandably with food and energy prices escalating, the imminent midterm elections, the possible collapse of the dollar, and now, a war between Russia and the Ukraine.
Apparently, this scenario was set into motion decades ago by corrupt US agencies and politicians collaborating with corrupt Ukrainian officials in Russia’s front yard and Putin in time, became aware of it. Putin, being Putin, and looking for an excuse to show his muscle, and especially so when these corrupt US and Ukrainian actors provided the emotional stage to hopefully capture the world’s attention. The prolific propaganda being spewn forth by everyone now is beyond confusing and I certainly have nothing to add except I’ve heard the war is what the corrupt US and Ukrainian officials, perhaps even some Russian officials also, were actually desiring to accomplish.
Perhaps my sources are entirely wrong, or just half correct. The significance here though, is regardless, the world is in a pickle, and it appears we may all be eaten for lunch!
None of the above makes much sense to me as I’m definitely not a historian; perhaps, though, it does to you. I only tell you because the bottom line is many millions of people are currently suffering. And it appears, if this war continues, the whole world will suffer. Personal food production and access to good water will be paramount, likely even in the US. In the future, I may share such statistics as many experts are now agreed we have passed the tipping point of returning to stability.
Now, that was enough of the negative to set the stage for what’s next. Spring is here and many of you have gardens and have always canned and frozen your produce. Gardening year around here in Ohio is likely a new concept for many. I strongly suggest though that everyone view at least the first video (21 min) to be exposed to the simplicity of growing your greens year around. Combining this downspout gardening with sprouting in quart jars for protein sources could make all the difference for you and your family.
Loretta and I will be experimenting too as we’ve not done this form of hydroponics prior. The beauty of beginning our research now is that we can do it all this summer in the great outdoors with abundant natural lighting. Doing it under the new LED grow lights during the fall, winter, and early spring, is entirely another matter. Don’t be fooled just because the equipment is cheap and easy to come by; the intricacies of effective hydroponics, though simple, does have a learning curve to achieve. And then there is always the matter of the grid possibly going down, which doesn’t impact sprouting as much, but does mean utilizing windows, skylights, natural gas generators, or most desirable, solar with back up batteries.
There is so much that could be said. But for now, just watch the first video and consider the possibilities for you. Experts are saying there will be severe food shortages. Don’t count on the grocery stores being as they are now. Even Biden said last week there will be food shortages.
I do not ever recall a time in my history when so much is at stake, and that we’ve been the worst prepared! The Cuban Crisis, the Berlin Wall, the Vietnam War, the Oklahoma City bombing, and 911, were all a walk in the park compared to what is on the table tonight. These are the days we need to be searching our souls in prayer for God to reveal to us, first, what we need to be doing to get prepared for this spiritual battle, in that the conflict today may not be with guns and in uniform being traditionally non-resistant or as conscientious objectors for us this time, but rather, more like a mass psychosis or a brain-washing deception of the nation, perhaps even the church, even congregations, perhaps even ourselves, our families, our friends, neighbors, peers, etc. Paul says it so well in Ephesians 6: 12-13 “For we do wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
The Message paraphrased it this way: “Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so when it’s all over but the shouting, you’ll still be on your feet.” Going on through verse 18: “Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.
Christ Followers (CF) must never forget the real battle is against Satan; he is the one who brings evil into their lives, and tempts then to sin. The world is his stage, as is every leader in every nation including our beloved US. CF’s who view other people as the enemy will not be able to vanquish the real foe. God’s people do not fight with arguments or violence but with truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the word of God.
I am reminded of my blog from March 24, The Genius of Jesus, where Erwin R McManus speaks of the old adage of “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He disagrees as God has absolute power and He is incorruptible. We could even say absolutely incorruptible! McManus says rather, “Absolute power REVEALS completely. Power gives freedom to what has been hidden within the human heart. Power tells the truth about who we are. Power sets free what has been imprisoned within you. It is why you can live in a free country and still be captive by the condition of your soul.” I’m not sure I’ll live long enough to have all the deception of the prior decades up to the present revealed, but rest assured, truth always does prevail.
Blessings as you Go Forth Empowered with the Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self Control. Remember also, it’s been said “it’s what you read when you don’t have to, that determines what you will be (or do) when you can’t help it.” Perhaps this has special significance to CF’s?
Henry David Thoreau once stated, “I regret that I was never as wise as the day I was born.”
Once, not so long ago there was a little boy who grew up simply wanting to collect glass bottles to take to the grocery store to turn them in for pocket change to buy ice cream for his friends and to give the spare change to the homeless man on the corner who always offered wisdom. There was so much love, happiness and smiles.
He didn’t know he wasn’t in Heaven.
He would then go home and throw paper airplanes with his sister until their arms got tired. Then, he would sit by the pool and save bugs. There was so many smiles and so much love back then. When his mom came out, she would say “what are you doing?” He would say “I’m saving bugs so they can get home in time to have dinner with their families.” Occasionally, he would find a dead one and try and blow on it to make it come back to life. When this didn’t happen, he felt so sad, but he didn’t know why. He had empathy. There was so much love, happiness and smiles.
He didn’t know he wasn’t in Heaven.
Occasionally a new person would move into the neighborhood and the little boy would take them fresh cookies and smiles to make them feel welcome. He made so many new friends. There was so much love. Occasionally they would find stray animals and instinctively care for them. He was so caring. Nobody taught him that. He didn’t know there were words called stress, anxiety, overwhelmed or competition. There was so much love, happiness and smiles.
He didn’t know he wasn’t in Heaven.
One day his mother announced it was time to begin school.
The little boy learned the “BEST” kids played something called sports; that there was something called competition, and that there were so many kids that were better than him. He learned he was less. He got picked last for teams and was laughed at every day. He learned something new called anger. He then used this anger to kill bugs so he could be better than something.
He learned he wasn’t in Heaven.
The little boy then learned that the people who had the best cars, clothes and homes were the happiest. He wanted his happiness back so he became part of the machine. But none of those things made him happy. He then went around thinking he was broken because those things made everyone else happy, or sure at least, it seemed so.
He knew then he wasn’t in Heaven .
He was in the rat race that produced horrible results; Over 50 % divorce, millions of deaths from addictions, and thousands of murders, all committed by people who weren’t in Heaven.
One day when he was all grown up and so very miserable, his wife told him he was bringing a new life into the world. His daughter Kaylee was born. At his rock bottom on his 36th birthday, his daughter made him a birthday card telling him he was the best dad in the world and how much she loved him.
He knew fulfilling this mission of becoming the greatest dad in the world had to become the center of his life, right after Jesus and his wife. He is now fulfilling this mission.
How?
By showing people they are still in Heaven.
How?
By being forgiving, loving, caring, empathetic and compassionate.
Now, there is visibly more love, happiness and smiles. Caring about following the noise of the world simply fell away.
The groundswell of “The Contagious Renewed Mind” (CRM) momentum is producing infinitely more love, happiness and smiles in the neighborhood.
So, why are you here?
To show more people they are still in Heaven via CRM; especially to the ones who are the hardest to love.
Written 04/01/22 and submitted by Jonathan Dunn, Dream Leader Institute
P.S. And by the way, Thoreau was not a credential theologian. Neither is DLI.
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment. The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days. “The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.” The older lady said that she was right that her generation didn’t have the “green thing” in its day.
The older lady went on to explain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so they could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. But, too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then.
We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day.
Back then we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
Back then, if we were lucky, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which now costs twice what a whole house did before the “green thing.”
Back then, we had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint, or even to open the front door, or adjust the lights.
But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were, that actually lived through the depression, some even today are known as hoarders, just because we didn’t need the “green thing” back then?
Actually, the generations that did give birth to creating the need for this misdirected although well intended “green thing,” perhaps all visibly started with the boomers after WW II; First, in the form of rampant consumerism, second, a small scale practice run “moral reset” beginning in the ’60’s and still building, third, Nixon then removing the gold standard and opening trade with China, and after that, for the next 50 years, what didn’t contribute to insuring this generation adopts this this “green thing” mentality hook line and sinker?
Bottom line, we are all guilty of creating this “green thing, ” except for maybe, those who lived through the depression. Problems today are easily identified; solutions – not so much! The impending worldwide “reset” will eventually, likely clear the air. But as the children of Israel while wandering in the wilderness, remembering the fruits and vegetables they enjoyed while in Egypt those 400 years during their “lock down,” we too may long for the good old days, when we could virtually have anything we wanted, even as soon as the next day, after Amazon once appeared!
So let me ask you, what do you think the odds are of manna suddenly appearing if we ever need it? Or even better, water from a rock? Makes me think of a sermon I heard once titled “Set Apart Before Being Sent Off.” Actually, in His perspective, the current dilemma of our world is no big deal for Him. He knew it was coming and He knows its end. Our assignment simply is :
Just Be His People, Do His Practices Accomplish His Purposes
