JG Wentworth Theory of Faith

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Far too many people think that somehow if we “have enough faith” we can boss God around the universe. You hear stories from time to time, including from the pulpit, about people who essentially “had enough faith” that they got exactly what they wanted. It sort of implies that people who don’t get their prayers answered have less faith, and it kind of implies that we have a say in what we get and when we get it if we just have “enough” faith. That’s what JG Wentworth offers us. He tells us that “They’re your blessings; use them when you need them”. Of course, it comes at a cost if it works. All blessings are predicated on obedience to the laws to which they are associated. Unless your faith is as Christ taught, it’s not faith; it’s wishful thinking.

The Period of Waiting. Some blessings have timing facets. There is no point in blessing you with a spouse if you are 12. There is no point blessing you with a lot of money if you are not in a place where you can put it to good use. The children of Israel were not allowed to enter the Land of Promise until forty years in Sinai, but Sinai can be crossed in a matter of days if you know where to go, even on foot. In Egypt, Joseph prophesied that they had seven years to prepare for famine and that if they spent the time well they would survive.

The Period of Suffering. Often blessings don’t come immediately because we would not appreciate them. The woman that grabbed Christ’s robes had been inflicted for YEARS with a blood issue. It was dramatic to her because she had been living with it so long that her faith was ready to be validated. If we got everything we wanted when we wanted it just for the asking, we would become dependent on God and just ask Him whenever things arose to complicate our lives. The suffering invites us to be submissive to God’s will and timing.

The Period of Action. Most blessings and miracles seem to come only when we follow God’s direction. Far too many people flaunt God’s commandments and then get upset when He ignores theirs. Naaman of Syria was very disappointed that, in order to be healed, he had to bathe in the Jordan River when his own country had better rivers. The Red Sea didn’t part until Moses put his foot into the water. Even the lepers cleansed by Christ were only healed when they followed His instructions to go shew themselves to the priests.

My point in all of this is that blessings do not come, answers are not had on the JG Wentworth theory. We don’t own the blessings; we don’t control the timing. We are not gods, and all that we have comes because God says let it be done. I don’t know why He makes us wait. I just know that sometimes He makes me wait longer than I like for things I know that I deserve. It took two years to find a new dog, but when Courage came, he was perfect. Maybe like I have you have prayed for years and not seen rescue. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. CS Lewis wrote that many of God’s best children have gone through longer and deeper trough periods than anyone else.

The world concludes, erroneously, that if you are not being blessed you must be evil. Job’s friends did the same thing. They concluded that he must have offended God and that this was the reason why God allowed the devil to deprive him of everything. Then we know God arrives and says, “Who is this that darkeneth counsels by words without knowledge? Arise, gird up thy loins and answer thou me.” It is a cruel lie that the blessed are righteous and that the unblessed are wicked, but the world always construes according to its wits. Not attempting and not succeeding may look the same in the end, but they take very different paths. If you judge only on the outcomes you will MISS THE MARK. It is easy to feel that God is ignoring you because He doesn’t bless you the way you want in the timing you prefer. That is not the way of faithfulness, and we know that those who see signs often wane in faith immediately after the signs end. How many people stopped following Christ when He stopped feeding them?

The faithful are always vindicated in the end. If you are not blessed yet, it’s not the end. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. There were no storm clouds in the sky when Elijah called down fire. Mideon had a giant army; Gideon’s 300 men had God. Abraham’s wife was over 90 when she finally got pregnant. Jericho was impregnable until Israel shouted. Obedience is tough. Faith is tough. Often it’s difficult to see where the road may lead. Israel was reticent to follow Moses into the desert, but they reached a Land of Promise. None of these people were wicked, but they had to wait a long time before they say the blessings, and you may also find yourself wandering in a wilderness of Sin waiting to arrive in your Land of Promise.

If you’re not getting blessed, hold on a little longer, and I promise the light will come. I say this, and I have never been promoted, I have never found a wonderful woman who loves me and appreciates my love, and I am just a Sunday School instructor at church. I run a 5K or more every day, and I’m still fat. I have not reaped what I have sown, but I still believe that God will bless me. I believe He will bless you too. CS Lewis wrote that the devil’s cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do God’s will, looks around at a world from which all sign of Him seems to have disappeared, asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

My beagle is a sign that God has neither forgotten nor forsaken me. I don’t think it’s an accident that his previous owners named him Courage. God told me to “take courage”. And Courage crawled into my lap when he first met me and was comfortable. I have someone who is always glad to see me and who doesn’t care that I’m not rich or hot or of status. He just cares how I treat him.

If you’re not getting blessings, continue to have faith. Sometimes when you are walking in the dark, you can only move forward so quickly because the lamp you carry doesn’t light everything everywhere. Just step forward and find the path lit a few more steps in front of you. Remember the last Indiana jones movie where he reaches a chasm without a bridge and realizes that “Only in a leap from the lion’s head can he prove his worth”. Sometimes a leap of faith is required. It’s not a single second. It’s about whether or not you are ready to leap. One of my religion instructors told us once to act in faith and trust that God will stop you if you are headed in the wrong direction. Thermodynamics teaches us that objects in motion are easier to change direction than objects at rest. Eventually, either you will arrive in your land of promise or find God change the vector of your actions to somewhere that bears fruit.

I don’t know what God has for me. But I know it will be spectacular. It just might not be what I prefer. I know God loves us. I know He will bless us. I don’t know how or when or with what, but a loving God in the end will bless you with everything you have earned and everything He possibly can.

Pollution and Poverty

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The debate over "climate change" ignores, whatever your feelings one way or the other, a major bone of contention. It's not about the location of pollution or the virtue of human endeavor. It really comes down to a question of priorities. From ancient times to the present day, people have polluted, and the biggest polluters are those who are poor either in information or in resources, because those people don't usually live long enough to care. In truth most of us won't live long enough to see the world end from pollution, if pollution actually persists, but pollution is a concern of the first world. The rest of the world is full of people just trying to make it through the day without dying.

Everyone pollutes everywhere. Just today, the lid on my cup blew off and I didn't go running to fetch it because I was encumbered. In 2020, my friend and I found piles of plastic waste across the road from a cocao plantation in the jungle in Belize. You might not know that Jeru and Salem were separate cities that are merged because they built atop a large garbage pile between the two hills and conjoined the cities. Some people don't mean to pollute. Some people do. In 2017 I confronted three men (who turned out to be Federal Marshalls) for littering on Mt Charleston right in front of me. Those are the ones I detest, but most people have no idea what the consequences are, and many more don't know. My neighbors are pretty affluent and probably have no idea that, if they dont' clean up after their late night parties, the food they leave out back attracts rodents. And the trash blows over the fence into my yard. nobody taught them until me, and the man is 36 years old.

In antiquity nobody worried about it. There was always more land. If you polluted an area, or depleted it of resources, you moved away. The natives of North America knew this and would actually rotate their settlements to allow the land to recover. However, you can find videos about the large pottery trash pile in the middle of Rome where everyone just threw their broken pots and bowls. It was simply someone else's problem, and ancient governments were too brief usually to tackle things long term. Most people in antiqity were concerned with subsistence agriculture, and so there was no time for education, innovation, or preservation of anything but the lives of their families. It's not a dig. It's simply a fact of their lives.

In modernity the people who pollute the most are those who have the least to lose from pollution because they are concerned with basic survival. Most people on the planet to this day are poor and barely eke out a living each day enough to afford food for tomorrow. Even in the time of Dickens, it's clear that most Londoners were hand to mouth, which is why so many were in debt to Ebenezer Scrooge. Without banks or pensions, most people worked until they died, of disease or age or warfare. It was simply not a time in which most had the luxury, even if they knew or cared, to take care of "the planet". It was also, particularly in Christian nations, exceptionally arrogant to presume that you could do a better job at that than God, even as men scarred the land looking for treasure or power. What kept the human population in check was food. Now that we have enough, we have time for inventing and vacationing and relaxation and to sit in the jungle with plastic bottles that we leave behind because we're too lazy. It's not the way they say. If the climate is changing because of man, it's not because man is evil. It's because most men don't care because they don't have time. Someone has to manufacture and ship that crap you buy from Temu, and they don't earn much to do it.

Concern about "manmade climate change" is a luxury afforded to the affluent nations of the earth. If you consider the pollution output of most industrialized nations, the ones that are reducing their output are in no way keeping pace with those whose output is increasing. This is due to "men" but not for the reasons they proscribe. It is done because most of the nations who are the biggest polluters have burgeoning populations of mostly poor people whose concern is not "saving the planet" but "not dying today". Although the website mentioned in this video has been taken down, it is interesting to note that these nations have always been this way. It might not be politics. It might simply be poverty.

Marijuana Migraines

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Nearly everyone I know who was excited about the legalization of pot has told me that it "doesn't hurt anyone" and "has no side effects". Trouble is that I know that's not true. I worked in a clinical reference research and development lab about 20 years ago and learned that there is a 1/1000 chance that a patient will have the exact opposite reaction to a pharmaceutical/chemical. In this case, I'm the exception.

Most people smoke or consume marijuana to assuage pain. It also tends to increase appetite, open their minds to asinine conversations, and calm them down. For me, I learned it gives me migraines, makes me lose my appetite and get agitated. I first noticed these things at university where I must have had neighbors who were smoking weed, but since I wasn't doing it and didn't know any of them personally to see them do this, I didn't make any connections until after I moved into my house. One spring, my neighbor's teenage son started sneaking out his window in the middle of the night to smoke weed, and the smoke would waft into my open bedroom window upstairs and I awoke in pain. This disappeared during quarantine and then returned when new people moved in on the OTHER side of me. Apparently they smoke pot in the middle of the night between the houses too.

A few weeks back, I told this to my class, and one of my students admitted that he suffers the same issue. I usually bring it up to aspiring medical professionals to prepare them for the eventuality that a treatment they are sure will work fails completely. Some people get cramps from muscle relaxants, get hyper from sleeping pills, and feel MORE pain from cannaboids. It's simply a function of how the chemicals interact with each other, and apparently if the receptors are aligned incorrectly you get the exact opposite response. He is the first student to manifest the exact same issue as I.

So, when you smoke to "alleviate your pain" it does hurt others. It might not hurt many, but it does hurt. Unfortunately, based on the other behaviors of these neighbors, I don't think there is any way to alleviate this. They have shown over the past two years that they don't respect me or care about what I think. They park in front of my house so I can't, try to bury irrigation lines on my property, throw beer bottles into my back yard, play music into the wee hours of the night. In almost every way these people are a headache.

I'm not sure if they're better than the squatters they replaced.

Online Dating: Worthwhile or Wasteful?

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Today marks the end of a four year experiment trying online dating. I joined four different apps and four other websites. I laughed a lot. I cried a lot. I found a lot of it absolutely crazy. I did not find that it was worth my while except that now I know of my own experience that for men like me, it's a complete waste of time.

One of my coworkers found out just a few weeks ago that I was doing this and shared up her experience before knowing mine. She complained that, even on the LDS sites, men only contacted her in order to have bedroom fun. When she asked me what my experience was like, I told her that on those sites, I had no activity at all. Only two LDS girls even matched with me, one of whom never responded, and the other of whom said she never wanted to have bedroom fun. Ever. In fact, it was the worst experience because, within 10 days, I had been through all the profiles within 500 miles of where I lived and exhausted my options. Since women of my faith (of all ages and marital stati) constitute only 1% of the US population, it has the lowest refresh rate. This means that, although more matches were possible, they would come at an ever diminishing rate. If they came at all that is.

I kept stats and data along the way and put it into spreadsheets, but only one statistic actually bears reporting. How many dates did I go on in the last four years from dating online?

ZERO

The only profiles that would talk to me didn't actually have any intention to meet up. I believe most of them were either women who 1. wanted affirmation 2. women who were bored or 3. con artists, some of whom were probably not women or at least not the women in the pictures. In fact, I know some of the profiles were using pictures they stole from other people, because I could find those pictures on the internet elsewhere despite the fact that the "women" were claiming they were recent pictures.  Several of them tried the romance scam on me, but I have already learned to be wary even with women I know who are attractive if they have ulterior motives.

Years ago my best friend opined that "Most of what you find on the internet is pretty useless, which is probably why it's free" and in my experience dating online is completely useless. The only people seeming to have any success are the players- the top tier of men who have so many options they do not have any inclination to actually pick a woman since they can have their cake and eat it too and still have more women lining up hoping for their shot.  I had the time; I wanted to give it a serious go. I am a scientist, but that's probably what turns women off.

What did I learn? I learned that I am not considered attractive by women. Except for the least attractive women. I forget who coined the 80/20 rule, but it says that 80% of women are chasing the top 20% of men, and given my experience, I am definitely not top shelf in the appeal department. I know women IRL who think I am amazing, but none of those women would date me anyway (particularly since some of them are already married), and so I must rank in attraction somewhere near Sloth from "The Goonies" not because I believe I'm unattractive but because that's how women regard me.  If it were not so, some of them would have at least consented to meet up with me and give me a chance.

I have had women find me attractive, and the three women I can think of were also women I found attractive. Trouble is that those women were forced to get to know me for some other reason and then decided that I was sufficiently attractive for them to give me a shot. Unfortunately, none of them worked out, and one of them didn't actually end up dating me because she hates all members of my religion. The only women who will date me now are obese and/or single mothers, and I'm not sure the single mothers are attracted to me or my wallet.

If you are having success as a man in online dating, it means you are highly attractive. Unless you are highly attractive, you won't get much screen time. I have watched obese women flip through profiles of men far more attractive than I without giving them a single second of consideration. Ironically, highly attractive people don't need the internet to date. Women are already attracted to them. So, if you're just an average guy or worse, like I seem to be, I suggest you get off the internet and spend time with people who appreciate you even if it's not romantic. It will be far more fulfilling, and you might just even have some fun.

Why I'm Still Here

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I don't talk about this much, but something tells me that someone needs to read what I have to say, so I'm going to tell you why I'm still here. I don't mean on the internet or writing this blog. I mean why I'm still alive.

The story begins back in the UK where, at the age of 6, I died for the first time. We were t-boned at a blind intersection somewhere in the countryside. Since we were in an American car, the passenger was killed instead of my mother. The car didn't have rear seatbelts, so I was apparently thrown from the car and died in the street. While emergency personnel responded to the scene, I remember standing on the curb with an old woman, who turned out to be the disembodied soul of my late great grandmother who had died just before we went to the UK. I didn't recognize her or realize for many years what happened. I do remember that she told me that she was there in case I wanted to leave because I didn't have to stay unless I wanted to.

Obviously I chose to stay, and I remember waking up in the street where paramedics resuscitated me wondering how I got from the sidewalk to the street. I know now that I chose to stay so that my mother, who lost a child that same year, would not lose two children. I don't know how it would have affected her.

My kid brother is now lost to my mother. He is married to a woman who doesn't want their family to have any contact with us. Last year at Christmas, they were there, and I flew in back from my vacation in Poland to be with them Christmas Day in time to see her throw a fit and pressure my brother into cutting off all contact with our family.

I don't have a lot of ambition or passion. I lost my muse and the best chance I had at a life of my own back in 2013. Since then I haven't found anyone I like who appreciates me. I don't have much expectation for my life having any real purpose. Next week will be ten years since a woman who was not a single mother was willing to go on a date with me. I am here so that my mother will not have to lose another son.

I'm not suicidal. I am in no hurry to die. I just am tired of plowing and sowing and reaping while other people get to enjoy the fruits for which I labor, even when they don't do a thing. I am not ready for death; I am ready for life. But since I don't have what I like, I keep mine so that my mother's will be better.

Sometimes people ask me why I live where I live. I am here for my parents. I may not be their favorite son. I may not be the best son. I am however the only one who was willing to put down roots somewhere they were willing to live. When my dad had surgery, I did most of the labor on their yard. When my parents leave town I watch their house. I'm here for my parents.

It's mutually beneficial. They watched my dog when I went to Poland. My dad speaks German with me. We go camping and share the outdoors, and I go over for dinner most Sundays. I'm here because my family loves me, and I don't want my mother to lose another son.

If you have spent any amount of time reading my blog or watching my videos, you have noticed I am pensive, dour and critical. The only thing I have that gives me any kind of life satisfaction is my new beagle. They took me off teaching status at work and robbed me of access to students (their loss). The Forest Service is discontinuing the program of which I have been part since 2015. But my mother is still there, and during quarantine when we were not supposed to touch people, she took the risk and would hug me knowing that I had nobody else. Family is the only thing in this world that is truly worth a damn.

I thank God for my family. In my younger and foolish years I opined that things were not as I wish. Then I grew up and realized I was pretty lucky and blessed to have the parents I have, to grow up when I did, and experience what I know. Some things were disadvantages, but I like the advantages enough to trade for them, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I hope that you have someone in your life that you love and who loves you. I hope it's your mother. I hope your mother is one of them anyway, because I hope you have many people who care about you. What makes this life really meaningful is three fold. The knowledge you gain, the character you develop, and the relationships you nurture. That's what keeps people here and makes those of us who are still here look forward to seeing those who matter in the afterlife. If you are still here, I hope you know that even if I never meet you or talk to you or sit under a pine tree with you or travel Europe with you that I love you. I chose to come back, and I know that's a rare privilege.

Self-Made Purgatories: Infidelity

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When most people see a single mother, they presume that the man abandoned his roles and responsibilities. Often, this results from infidelity. However, it also excuses the woman from any responsibility or involvement in the maintenance of her own relationship. Sometimes people create their own purgatories and set the stage for bad things to happen to them. Such is our story today, a story of infidelity in which the wife denies any role but in which she arguably has one.

I once knew a woman about a decade ago that we’ll call Lisa. Lisa complained a lot about her husband neglecting her and her daughter to chat online, play online games after work, and play poker with his buddies rather than interacting with them or tending to responsibilities around the house. I consider that a legitimate grouse. However, rather than discuss it with him, confront him with the reality of what was happening, Lisa lighted on a different strategy. She decided to ignore him completely in return.

Her logic in making this choice to return quid pro quo was that this would show him how she felt and inspire him to pay more attention to her. It had the exact opposite effect. Dinner was never ready when he came home; he had to prepare it himself. No gifts were given to him for birthday, anniversary or Christmas, but she expected them of him. And she cut him out of the marital bed completely and refused to be intimate with him. While it was possible that he would up the ante and work to repair the relationship, he retreated further from her instead.

At first, I’m sure it was mostly platonic. I imagine he gamed more, complained to his poker pals, and watched more streaming shows online. Eventually however, he found a sympathetic female ear who first was just kind but eventually one that was welcoming enough to offer him what his wife refused, and he decided to act on her invitations, or maybe he brought it up. If you ask Lisa about her story, she’ll just say her husband cheated on her, and she won’t tell you about the decisions she made that paved a perfect path that made it easier for him to make the choice.

While I disagree with Lisa’s husband, I also disagree with Lisa. Ultimately she did not force him to cheat, and he made those choices to ruin his marriage. It did not have to end that way. She could have made other choices. I know this because my own ex wife also cut me not just out of the bedroom but out of her life entirely. She would just leave whenever she liked, spend money whenever she liked, and even invited strange men into the master bedroom, where I was forbidden. A sympathetic female coworker listened to my plight, but I did not indulge in that behavior. Ultimately I found a different solution and dissolved the marriage through divorce.

I confronted Lisa about this one day. She of course refused my spin on her life. Eventually I got tired of her playing the victim all the time and ghosted her essentially. I could not escape the fact that she played a role, and she refused to accept that was even possible. You can’t argue with idiots.

People paint themselves as the protagonist in their autobiography. They are seemingly never to blame. However, I know that Lisa’s decisions helped make it more likely and more possible for her husband to chart a new course. In a sexless marriage, without any concern let alone intimacy, what did you expect him to do? He was a husband without benefits. Rarely however do people seem to ask the woman what led to the infidelity or how she ended up a single mother. They are simply supportive of the woman, molly coddling her even if she was in the wrong, and the man is slandered and libeled. So was I. People just presumed that I was responsible for destroying my marriage, but if you ask my bishop at the time, maybe he’ll remember that I was the one making an effort and that she never welcomed them.

It takes two people to make a marriage work and it takes two people to destroy one. If we only assume that the husband and his other lover are the two who destroyed it, sometimes we’ll be wrong. And people who are innocent will be convicted in the court of public sentiment. That makes us wrong twice.

Collusion and Tow Companies?

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Just before I left work on July 1st, University Police called me to tell me that my car was at a local towing company. This was in direct contradiction to what the detective told me I could expect. Police procedure means that they are supposed to scan the VIN if there is no plate (which there was none) and then contact me before calling a tow. I found that nothing happened the way I expect it.

The car was not how I expected. The only things missing were the contents of the glove box. I suppose they took the 1995 Saturn Owner's Manual as a trophy. Everything else they put into the trunk, including a tshirt that isn't mine and probably belongs to the thieves. All the parts were there except they tore up the ignition module. They only drove four miles. They probably couldn't start the car, because I couldn't start it with a screwdriver. So, it was always a loss as soon as it disappeared.

According to a sticker on the window, North Las Vegas PD found the car abandoned on the street on 20 June 2024. Apparently they did NOT run the VIN. Only after the tow company received the car did they contact UPD who called me.

I'm the victim here. Twice. My car was stolen. Then I had to pay money to either recover a car I couldn't start so I can find out if I can repair ir or pay money to let the tow company keep it. If the police had called me, I could have towed the car to my house for $50 on my own. Instead, I had to pay hundreds of dollars and didn't even keep the car.

This looks a lot like a scam between police and the towing company to generate extra revenue. I should have known on the 20th of June where the car was and had the chance to move it. Instead, they just put a sticker on the window and then let a towing company come get it so that I would have to pay for work that was completely unnecessary.

Something smells bad. IN any case I signed over the title and paid for the privilege of letting them keep my car. Twice the victim. THe only winner here? The Towing Company. Sus.

Dude, Where's My Car?

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I stuck around last night a few hours after work talking to a coworker waiting for it to cool down before I ran errands only to go out in the parking lot and find that someone stole my car. I was out near the car only four hours earlier, and I'm trying to figure out how they stole it without breaking the window. There is no evidence there was ever a car there. And they got a full tank of gas.

I feel violated and disappointed. I was never planning to drive it forever, but I liked having a Saturn, because I thought they showed I had nothing worth taking. Except of course for the car itself. I told the responding officer that I was trying to look like I had nothing worth taking but evidently failed. The car was a tool- to get me to work and back, and I liked having a beater car basically to just get me to work.

The car also had memories. My dogs travelled with me in those cars. I worked on repairs with my dad. And of course it's a great litmus test for people. It was part of who I am, and they stole it.

No word yet, one way or the other, and although I may never drive it again (they at least have to damage the steering column to get control of the car) I can't help wonder if it ended up scrapped for parts, taken on a one way road trip, totalled, burned, or hidden in a garage None of those are fitting ends for a faithful friend. Many people and things that mean something to us end up with inauspicious ends. This is not the one I imagined for my car.

Amidst the shock, I surprised myself by, once I arrived home at 9:45PM, I uttered a prayer aloud that I have only ever said one other time, when someone special was taken from me. "Thank you, Father, for this blessing. I know that thou lovest me and wouldst not allow this to happen if it were not for my eternal best good." I don't know how it will be to my good. I am hoping.

For now, I'm glad I didn't just get new tires on Memorial Day weekend or change the oil yet. Sunk costs into what will probably come back, if I ever see it again, as a vehicle no longer serviceable for the road. It's the "end of an era". To the thief, I have only one thing to say: Dude! Where's my car?

Gasoline and Prosperity

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In January 2020, my friend and I spent a week in Belize. We rented a car so we could get off the coast for our second trip and see the ruins, the jaguar preserve, Amish country, etc. He paid the car rental, and I paid for gas. At first, he thought this would be in my favour until he discovered the prices at the pump. Even more suprising was the reaction of the people in Belize when I arrived for gas.

In Belize, someone pumps your gas for you. It took me a few times before I noticed the look of surprise on their faces when, after they asked me how much to put in, I told them to fill it up. You see, back in 2020 the average annual salary in Belize was $10,000 so they only bought as much gas as they needed. My friend and I drove 1200 miles on that car in a week and used a fair amount of gas, and we didn't want to have to stop to get a few gallons here and there. I realized then that this showed them I was "wealthy" at least by comparison.

Contrast that to yesterday when I went to the gas station to fill my car in Las Vegas. The pumps tell a story of desperation. Despite reassurances that Bidenomics is working, people were buying 1.2 gallons, 5 gallons, and except for one other pump, nobody spent more than $20 on gas, and these people were putting it directly into their cars, not a jerry can for a lawnmower or something (which I also do sometimes). Granted, my Saturn only holds 12.125 gallons, but I put 11 gallons in the car and DIDN'T BAT AN EYE at the price. I'm upset it's this high, but I'm apparently prosperous enough that I don't have to actually ration money for gasoline.

Let's face it- driving is a privilege. We take it for granted in our society that we can jump in a car, go for a drive, and see the world. Most of our ancestors either walked everywhere or rode a horse. In the last 18 months, I have flown to Europe thrice, trips which would have taken a year in total if I had to go by ship. We are so prosperous now that we don't even know it, but the degree to which people do drive does indicate how prosperous our society actually is.

If you like me are over 40, you probably remember being able to fill your tank for $20 and burn a tank in a day and not worry. Back in 2007, I would fill my car every Saturday and drive as far as a tank would take me and back. Most I ever spent on gas was $30 and that was when I had to buy Chevron or gas in the middle of nowhere. It was a cheap day of entertainment. I used to drive around at night for fun. Now I don't. I only drive to things I really care to do, and I sometimes even walk my errands (the grocer is a mile each way).

Personal prosperity is reflected in our gasoline consumption. When times are good, we drive a lot. When times are dire, we only put in as much gas as we need. Apparently many Americans are living as if they have the standard of living of your average Belizean, and only putting in enough gallons to get to their next paycheck. On the one hand it's good because it means they are not wracking up credit card debt. On the other hand it's bad, and I feel for them because cars equal freedom.

I found a graph that I think is interesting showing inflation of fast food over the past ten years.

If you consider the actual inflation rate, it tells an interesting story. The rate of inflation increased significantly in 2021, coinciding with a change in which party leads this nation. I do not think it is a coincident. Our prosperity is down as a rule. I'm just doing well enough that I didn't notice the gasoline asymptote when I was in Belize, and I haven't felt it until yesterday. I still stay under my gasoline budget for the month, but that's because I don't drive anywhere "just because I feel like it" anymore. When I break the budget, I'll know even I'm impacted by Bidenomics, something of which Kamala Harris is very proud.

Food for thought.

Most Christians Are Actually Heretics

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People all around me like to call me heretic because I don’t subscribe to traditional catholic (or other Christian) dogma. However, I recently lighted upon a traditional belief that is far more heretical than anything I believe because it is actually a way in which we deny the Christ. Most Chrisitan faith alleges that God is no respector of persons while teaching that He is. That is not a merciful God, nor is it a Christian principle.

While serving as a missionary in Neumarkt am Wallersee Austria, we tracted into the Andexer Family. They invited us in because their son, who was probably around 20 at the time of his death, had not been baptized as a child. The local pastor told them that, because their son was not baptized as an infant, he was condemned to hell. We shared with them our dogma, it gave them hope, and while they never embraced our Faith, they from that time forward were friendly towards us and would wave when they saw us in town. He gave them wrath; we gave them hope. And whosoever beleiveth in God might with surety hope for a better world. Another chance.

You see, the teaching that only those who are baptized as children can be saved means that God is a respector of persons. Only those appropriately baptized as youth while alive can be saved by Christ. This denies the Christ, not that He exists, but that He is the Christ came to rescue and redeem ALL men. The catholic dogma, and in fact most Christian religions, make no provision for posthumous ordinances despite the fact that Paul asked “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:29). This seems to imply that there was provision in the early church for those who had not the chance to accept Christ while alive to accept it once they passed out of the mortal realm.

It's not just Christians who are condemned to be cast by God’s wrath to hell by this heresy. This means that all people all over the world, either blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, or kept from the truth because they know not where to find it, are condemned, because they were BORN UNABLE TO HEAR ABOUT CHRIST. No Dane, nor Iriquois, nor Magyar, nor Selucid, nor Berber may be saved by Christ because they were not blessed by God to be born in a place and time to hear about Him. How can Christ be the Savior of Mankind if most of mankind is not allowed to be saved because they were not baptized Catholic, particularly as children? This is heresy. Worse, it is anti-Christ.

Regardless of where or when someone lived, all can hear and accept the message of the Redeemer and Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice through the sealing powers made possible in the Lord’s House. For Christ came not to destroy but to fulfill, and what does He fulfill, the promise that all mankind MAY be saved, if they wish to be. Now modern Christians teach how all you must do is accept Christ and let Him in, and then they shut the door and bar any of the Pagans from entry and don’t even give them a chance to hear and accept. This message gives men hope. This message brings the Good News of the Gospel. It also comforts Christians who are fearful, selfish, lazy or timid enough that they fail to either come to Christ themselves or invite others WHO ARE ALIVE to join us. Who are we to decide who gets to hear about Christ? Who are we to decide who gets to be saved by Christ because we decide NOT to preach of Him to them and thereby condemn them forever to hell by our bias? Through proxy ordinances, those who died not having the privilege of knowing about Christ may accept Him, follow Him, obey Him, magnify His name, and partake of His mercy, grace and love.

No man must be condemned by circumstance or choice forever to hell. That does not sound like a loving God to me. Rather, He made provision that all mankind may be saved and exalted by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, regardless of their location in space or in time, even those who are beyond the grave. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoso believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Even if they died before Christ or before they got a chance to hear about Him.

The simple fact of the matter is that we do not know who will be saved by Christ. Everyone CAN be, but that’s between them and Christ, and we have very little if any say in that. The catholic church has made it part of its dogma ever since anyone knows to deny the Christ and claim that they know who can and will be saved, but we don’t know that. In truth, I suspect myriads of Christians will awake on resurrection day not only surprised where they end up but also by those in whose company they find themselves.

Why I Oppose Student Loan Forgiveness

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I first started teaching university classes in 2008, and let me tell you I have learned a lot about the university system from being part of it this long. I have learned that some of the rumors are true that you believe and use as rationale to think that college is a scam. I have also learned a few other things. I learned that the first student loans the Biden administration forgave were for the ART institute. I asked the president, or whomever is impersonating him on Twitter, why no STEM loans were paid off and postulated it was perhaps because those people could find jobs and pay their own loans. Everyone should. If I was not consulted in the terms of the loan, why should I be obligated to pay the debt? Especially if the debtor is not. Nevada's students are not the highest grade ore you can dig up, and so we have tons of people attending university in Nevada who are not ready to actually achieve, succeed and prosper, and it puts a burden on the taxpayer and the professor to bring them up to snuff. Also, I don't know where the extra money went. It certainly doesn't make it into the classroom or my bank account. We have some professors who do extremely well and a horde of officers that waste our substance and harass us at our work, but that's another topic altogether.

Students are not ready to be here. A few weeks back, I went out to exercise my second amendment rights with a family friend who retired from the county school district. Among other interesting things, he confirmed that the Clark County School District did indeed force him while he was still teaching to pass students if they came to class a sufficient number of times. You don't have to pass the tests, submit the homework or even participate. Just attend, and you can get a C. This means that we have college students in Nevada who learned the square root of squat who are able to get into classes in Nevada Higher Education because our graduates have special privileges in college acceptance. I can't find an electronic copy of the article, but I share with my students an old copy of the Review-Journal that shows that 71% are not college ready, and that was in 2009.

Students abuse funding. Last summer, I noticed that every student in my Chemistry 108 (Nursing chemistry) class had two of the following items at least: an iPhone, an apple watch, and an iPad. When I asked how they could all afford those things, they unabashedly confessed that they bought them with their student financial aid. They were all hoping that, after getting student loans, they could buy frivolous and tangential things with that money and then have Biden forgive their student debt. I heard from the finance office that people are cheating the system by taking out credit cards in false names, paying for classes, pocketing the financial aid and never paying off the cards. I dont' know how widespread it is, but I know it happens. And it sickens me.

College degrees are a qualification for a job but no guarantee of a lifestyle let alone a position. Unless you are going into STEM or something highly specialized that requires collegiate training, college is a luxury rather than a good choice. How many English majors do we need? How many business majors? How many of these things have I actually learned while working for a PBS affiliate, for a rental car company, or in a logistics warehouse that were never taught at university? You can in many cases earn significantly more money learning a trade instead. In fact, statistics show that men are less likely to finish on time (if they ever graduate) than women, and that 71% of college students (female) in Nevada finish on time. Now I could tell you that most of my female students are still in traditionally female roles. Most chemistry students of the feminine persuasion are headed to teaching or nursing or some related health care support role. Very few of them are going to medical school or into laboratory science. I can name some, and they are spectacular, but most of the female students are not in STEM. Therefore, they are wasting their time getting a degree for a job that pays less per hour than Panda Express.

My paternal grandfather always believed that he was stymied by not having a college degree and insisted on his children earning one. My father never uses his and did quite well. I think that college degrees give you OPTIONS. But what they don't give me is a return on my investment. Politicians constantly cry that "education is an investment in our future". Well, investments pay the INVESTOR, and if I have to pay off THEIR loans, that sounds more like a long con than an investment. As long as we have unprepared students learning irrelevant programs and spending money on unrelated items, they should have to pay off their own loans. You should have to do your own homework. Unless the job you seek actually requires a degree, a degree is probably a waste of time, effort and money, particularly the more you have to retake classes, and I see tons of people retake classes who don't finish the second go around either.

Too many of our students are cheating their way through life and themselves out of a good life. Several years ago, a student came to me one night and told me she would do ANYTHING in my class to get an A. When I asked her why she didn't do the homework I assigned, I understood that she didn't mean what she said. Her lab partner, who overheard this, confirmed that this young lady was cheating her way through university and found me unexpectedly formidable. If we do not ask them to do their own work, pay their own bills while at university, who will do the work and pay the bills after they leave? It is hard to tell students no. I am frequently accused of bigotry, sexism, or inappropriate conduct, but only because students are trying to game the system. Often it would be less work and more fulfilling if they did the actual work required and actually earned it. That's why I don't think their loans should be forgiven. Ever. Most of the ones who default have no intention of paying anyway, and if you lead with loan forgiveness, we'll have even more students come here who are unprepared to succeed, unwilling to work, and unable to make anything out of our charity. And costs will go ever higher, financially, ecumenically, and psychologically. Mark my word.

Why I Oppose Abortion

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As a scientist, I get to discuss growth, development, and reproduction every semester, and yet the internet likes to remove any of my posts on these topis because I'm not a celebrity. However, there are some things I learned. I tell my students at the end of every term that all the things they learn all semester build up toward the entire point of a biological entity- to make a copy of itself and reproduce. Cells reproduce for growth, repair, replacement, and reproduction, because we need new cells to replace old ones and new organisms to replace those that are no longer capable of repairing themselves. Respiration, cell organelles and structure, macromolecules, membranes, all of these topics exist to help us understand how a brand new cell becomes ready to make a new one, or how young organisms prepare to replace themselves. Technically, the issue where we disagree lies in the fact that nobody wants to talk about when life actually starts. I'm not sure I know the answer, but there are some things you should consider when making that decision.

At conception, the embryo is a unique organism. As soon as the egg is fertilized, it constitutes an organism genetically different from either the host or the other donor. Half of its DNA is foreign to the host. It has some in common, but it is unique and distinct. It is also dependent on the host, but we all know some humans who are still dependent on their parents until the age of 26 or 80. However, they are visually distinguishable as different, behaviorally divergent, and intellectually unique. As soon as the embryo forms, it's a different entity. Is it alive?

Several stages then exist to help the host determine fitness and viability of the potential offspring. At any point in these stages, if the organism is found to be unable to reproduce or survive out of utero, the fetus is terminated automatically by the mother. This is not because it doesn't want offspring; it's because it wants the offspring to be worthy of the toil, effort and sacrifice put in by the host bringing the offspring to term.

As the baby grows, it gains increasing autonomic functionality. Although it still relies on the mother for food and oxygen, its own circulatory system begins to work, its stem cells make oocytes (if female), and its neurons control its movements in dependent of the mother. Is it capable of surviving on its own? Can it reproduce? Many babies never make it to term because they cannot function on their own without relying totally on the mother, but those who survive still depend on the mother for one thing.

Do you want to actually have a child? Does the mother actually want her child to survive?  We do not talk enough about intentional parenting, or intentionally becoming a parent. It seems like throughout time too many babies are "oops babies" or accidents rather than intentional outcomes of choices, and that's probably why so many people are so insistent on being allowed to abort ad libitum. We do not talk about abstinence enough. We have even gone away from talking about contraceptives. Never in my adult life have I heard talk until recently in the "manosphere" about choosing wisely the person with whom you actually want to have a family. Mate selection, since conception is so consequential to how our lives play out, is exceptionally important. If you don't want children with that person, why are you spending time with them let alone lying with them? Why does it have to be abortion? Have you considered adoption?

I think a lot of people make mistakes, but babies are not mistakes. They are miracles. They are the consequences and reminders of choices that we make. They are innocent. They don't get to decide who their parents are, and they don't get to decide if their parents want to keep them. There are so many other options in our lives. We don't have to mate and multiply because of a biological imperative. We don't have to cover up our mistakes by taking life. We can choose so many things. I am not anti-choice. I am anti-abortion. The entire "pro choice" movement is about neither being choice nor having the chance to make any choice. It seems to revolve around a single choice- the right to abort a baby. Even after birth. Why is that the only choice you will consider?

Of course every rule has exceptions. If you were a victim of forcible intercourse or in the case of incest, I leave that to you. I even leave it to you, should you choose, to pursue an elective abortion. I simply think it's the wrong choice, and it's certainly not a choice choice. It's a quick choice. A seductive one. But it comes with dark risks. What if they botch the procedure and you can't reproduce when you wish to? What if the perfect man refuses to date you because you had one? What if you change your mind? You have to live with that choice like all of the rest. I don't want anyone crying as Hamlet did "Out, out damn spot!" when they cannot remove the blood from their hands.

I claim the right to choose my own adventure, so I allow you yours. I think you should consider other options. I think you have a choice to not put yourself in a place where the option of an abortion necessitates contemplation. I think you should follow the admonition of Sir Thomas More: "You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds." Rather, "you must seek and strive to the best of your power to handle matters tactfully. What you cannot turn to good you must make as little bad as you can." Choose the best option you can wherever you are, and if you have no other options, I hope you will choose better next time. That's the hope of Christianity and should be our message to you all. Improve when you can; hold your ground when you get there.

Called a Heretic

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Over the past month, since my last post, I have been called a heretic for my religious beliefs several times. Each time has been from other Christians. From time to time irreligious people will also criticize me, but I find it ironic that my greatest oppostion comes from those who claim to follow Christ. Is that what Christ would have us do? Slander each other with denotations? No, He taught us to use gentleness, meekness and love unfeigned. Periodically, "believer" friends cut ties with me because we differ on interpretations of scripture, but that's usually because they want to treat the doctrine as a buffet and only adopt the parts they like. Meanwhile, Kanye West is out there claiming to be God. I know that's crazy, but I'm the heretic. Perhaps this is a sign of the times, a separation of the wheat and chaff. It is certainly a call to arms for Christians to bind together and live like Christians, particularly towards each other. After all, we have far more in common with each other than with people who despise us just because we aspire to Christian values.

Christians Must Bind Together

I am struck sometimes when Christians attack one another. On my recent trip to Europe, I realized that it's little short of a standing miracle that Islam (or whatever beliefs the Huns and Mongols followed) didn't already overrun Europe. History is rife with petty infighting between Christian kingdoms of Europe who didn't understand that they need to hang together or they will hang separately. I take issue with other Christian denominations, but my Faith's leaders do not, and now i know why. They know that if we work together to bring people to Christ, we'll do more good for more people than if we look for the motes in each other's eyes. I don't have to agree with them in their dogma. I don't have to wage war against them for it either.

You don't hear as much about heresy in other religions as you do in Christianity because we are probably the most self-righteous group of believers. It's a heads I win tails you lose world where we are always competing it seems to eradicate each other rather than resisting wickedness and the world. The whole point of a congregation, besides authority to administer the sacraments of Faith, is to provide us with the opportunity to surround ourselves with people who will uplift and inspire us. Instead, it seems we gather together to tear down and disparage one another. I too am guilty of this, reproving betimes with sharpness without afterwards showing forth an increase in love towards those I reprove lest they esteem me to be their enemy. I don't feel TOO bad about this because I'm just a Sunday School teacher. Most people don't take my reproof too seriously. However, I think it might please Christ more if I apply the Pollyanna Principle and look for the good in them expecting to find it. That will bind wounds, even the wounds I opened. I think we need to bind together, to bind each other, to bind ourselves to Christ, to bind up the wounds between us, and focus on the Christ we all claim to revere and Follow Him.

Christians Must Speak of Christ More

My father shared a thought with us one Sunday night as we met together over Skype to discuss the chapters we were supposed to study and consider that week. He made an interesting observation which helped me immensely feel justified about my belief system and reject the notion of heresy. He pointed out that the scriptures are not really about the people in them at all. Those books feature those people, but the story is really the Saviour's story and His dealings with His children. Is that the response of a heretic? Heretics are usually anti-Christ. How is our belief system, our dogma, our narrative anti-Christ when it leads men like my father to distill all the doctrine down to this simple synopsis? You see, he's right. It's not about Sam or Nephi, Samson or Napthali, Paul or Baalim. It's about people who were either denying Christ or drawing closer to Him.

How do I know I'm not a heretic? Because I speak of Christ, I rejoice in Christ, I prophecy of Christ, and I write according to my prophecies that my childen, if I ever have any, may know to what source they should look for a remission of sins. Yes, sometimes I talk of other things. Money, politics, romance, but if you look at my videos, my blog, or my life, you will find Christ there ad libitum. Two years ago, a student walked into my office and was surprised to see a Greg Olsen calendar hanging on my wall where my "yay me!" wall (with my diplomas and awards) would be. The painting hanging for March is of John the Baptist baptizing the Christ. She could not believe that her Chemistry professor was a Christian. I asked, "Why can't I be both?" Yes, it doesn't come up much in class, and when it does it's the doctrine without mention of the Master, but when I can I talk of Him and how I pray and worship and read and believe, because I know many of them do but are too scared to admit it in academia because the rest of my colleagues are clothed in the black robes of a false priesthood and worship the devil over the divine. I'm tainted, but I'm trying.

Christians Must Live as Christ Would Have Us Live

The trick with this is twofold. First, the world competes with distractions. It wants to keep us too busy to "have time" to do the things that matter most. The second is that the world competes with din that drowns out our ability to receive and act on inspiration. A man I revere once taught "You want to be good and do good? That is commendable, but the greatest good that can be attained in this world is to be completely under the influence of the Holy Spirit. He will tell you what is truly good and necessary for YOU to do" (F Enzio Busche, emphasis added). We need to live as Christ would have us live so that we can maintain Christ in our lives.

Our world's problem is not one of stone and steel, of specie or equality. Our problem is that people have drifted away from Christ. We took Him out of our schools. We took him off our buildings. We removed Him from our worship services. We don't speak about Him or to Him enough in our homes with our families or on our knees. We trust in the UN to restore "Human Rights" and ignore the inalienable rights bestowed on us by our Creator.  For the past four years, the world has driven full speed ahead to a life devoid of Christ and distracted us with vaccines, war, and government largess. In our time it will not be possible for us to survive, either the spiritual onslaught against our souls or the mortal onslaught on our livelihoods without a significant and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Only He knows what your purpose is. Only He knows what's truly good and necessary for YOU to do. Only He can speak to you in a way that you will understand. Only He won't be able to speak to you if you don't want to listen. That's what a Christian life is all about. It's not about a scale of your good versus your bad or getting into heaven with works. It's because when you live the commandments you qualify for the presence of the Holy Spirit who guides, comforts, teaches, directs and sanctifies you. No matter what happens then, if you were guided by the Spirit it will be counted for good, at least to you and God the Father.

I am blessed to have time, opportunity and discipline to kneel by the couch each morning and pray before I leave work. Often the prayer is the same. However, it is a prayer all the same. It is time I take every day before I go into the world to do things of the world to ask the God of the World to protect me from the World. I don't say it like that, but I think I'll start doing it that way. To ask Christ to protect me, guide me, forgive me, and make my work useful to someone somewhere. I begin my day with my dog and with Christ, and I don't feel bad about the Dog, because he's the best approximation of what I think God would be like in my life if I could see Him. And because the Dog is a reminder that God has neither forgotten nor forsaken me. So I should not forget nor forsake Him.

We are too proud to pray I think. We don't need Christ. We don't want Christ. We don't acknowledge Christ's hand in our lives. We don't want Him in our business. We know that we are proud and that makes us ashamed to invite Him. But that's exactly the right recipe for redemption. Maybe I'm not right about some things, but I know that if I encourage people to come to Christ, I'm giving good advice. If I inspire them to turn to Him, I'm setting a good example. And if I teach about Him I'm passing on a good message, the only one that really matters. Nothing heretical about that unless of course you are a closet Christian, a jacket Mormon, who puts on his faith only when it suits him.

We need to support one another better. We need to love one another better. We need to be better about making Christ the centerpiece of our homes, our hearts, and our honour. Then, even when we err, for Christ knew we would, we are centered on Him, and a house built on that foundation cannot fall even when it gets damaged or neglected or assaulted. Christ is the only sure foundation. It is all the rest that is truly heresy.

How I Became a Republican

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At the age of 12, I inherited $2000 from a distant relative who shall remain nameless. I invested that money in a mutual fund. At the age of 13, I discovered that, because I earned money in capitol gains, I had to pay capitol gains tax. I was 13. I didn't have a job. I wasn't even old enough to legally earn any money, but I had to pay the US Government $40 at the age of 13 because they taxed capital gains at 15% regardless of your income as a way to "tax the rich" who were using "loopholes" to avoid paying taxes on investments since they had no income from jobs. I will never forgive Bill Clinton for that.

Denying The Christ

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People say we cannot judge them because they are sinners without realizing that our endeavors to call them to repentance are not about the sin. It’s about the lifestyle that results if you continue in sin. Sin is at its core simply missing the mark, but if you persist, you are not missing the mark, but you are deciding to go somewhere else, to follow someone else’s commandments. Sin is situational; lifestyle is about choices that we make about what we do with information we gain and challenges we face. You deny Christ essentially by remaining in your sin, and that’s why we go out to rescue them. And they deny Christ in one of three ways. They can first deny Christ by refusing to turn to Him and remaining in their sin. Secondly, they can deny Christ by persisting so long that they believe that Christ cannot save them, which denies His power and divinity. Finally, they deny Christ because they are trying to redefine the terms of our mortal probation, and that is usually the reason why we reach out to reclaim them.

Much of the aberrant and abhorrent doctrine preaches that fallen man is the natural state of man. It is not The nature of man is as a son or daughter of the Almighty God. God is not fallen, and so a fallen state is not our natural state. It is a state to which we are subject and towards which we are drawn because of the conditions of the crucible in which the human experiment occurs. From abortion to promiscuity to drug use to LGBTQ doctrine, all of these deny the Christ because they deny the relationship between God and man and render the man unrescuable by the atoning sacrifice of the savior because they cannot or will not feel after Him. They are past feeling when they persist in these lifestyles. Men are not animals, even when they behave like them, but some natural behaviors are animalistic and establish enmity between man and his Father God.

The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not their sin. It was that those cities embraced a lifestyle, a lifestyle that justified the natural and instinctual urges of the mortal man so that it denied the very definition of who man was and why God would want to redeem him. When men came to Lot and his family, they demanded pleasures, and they had neither shame nor hesitation in so demanding it. That is why pornography, pedophilia and the LGBTQ movements must be condemned by every Christian. They destroy shame and see no fault in demanding the pleasures and preferences of the flesh on the auspice that man is simply a beast, that he was “born that way”. If he was born that way, then he CANNOT overcome it, and God would not create a man who could not follow His commandments. The lifestyle of Sodom is what drove God to destroy them Himself. Lot could not even find 10 people who were repentant, who were inclined to consider that man might elevate himself, not out of pride but out of recognition of his true eternal identity.

Men and women were created in the image of God, after the manner of His body and put here to glorify Him. The baser animal instincts glorify master Mahan who seeketh that all men might be miserable like he is. His enmity towards God leads him to a desire to deny Christ access to as many souls as he can possibly steal like a player denies another a successful shot in the championship. Make no mistake. They are playing for keeps, and he seeks to drag all men DOWN. The unrighteous lifestyles decried by prophets and scripture and the faithful do not elevate anyone. Notches in your belt from the number of people you bed might be a stat in which you can rise, but it is not a stat that improves anyone it touches. Contrariwise, the gospel of Christ is preached as the “good news” because it shows that any man who turns toward Christ and allows Him to save them can be saved. Christ comes to uplift and lift up as He was lifted up. Lasciviousness and licentiousness always ultimately drag civilizations down. Just as in Noah’s time, we are approaching a time when men follow the admonition of Cain and take what they like, who sin not only because they drag down and kill their brothers but because they are destroying the souls of God’s children. You cannot long offend a God and expect to live.

In America, we see an ever increasing effort to embrace the lifestyle of Sodom, passing such laws to not only protect but to ensconce animalistic behaviors. This cannot long endure before our nation, and the civilization of which it is currently the keystone, collapses under the weight of our own unrighteousness. It is not sin that we are decrying, for we all have them, but the notion that legalization is license for licentiousness. Making a thing legal does not make it moral any more than banning a thing renders it immoral. Men who do this are simply essentially begging the rocks (or stone tablets as they were known in antiquity since that is the medium on which laws were published to the masses) to fall upon them and hide them from the presence of God.

The common thread of all civilization collapse came when those countries legalized and rendered as mainstream a lifestyle which is contrary to the true identity and destiny of man. Gender is an eternal characteristic. Fidelity and chastity is an eternal requirement. Temperance is an eternal practice. The innocence of children is an eternal responsibility. Modesty is an eternal attitude. Every nation that abandons these things is punished by God. Even when that nation was ruled by a king anointed by God Himself. Saul, David and Solomon in turn all essentially allowed a lifestyle among their people that denied Christ by denying Him access to people to save their souls, telling a man that whatsoever he did was no crime and leading the way with their own lifestyle that embraced sin over the Savior.

As Christians we cannot accept such lifestyles that deny the nature of man, his identity and his relationship to his Creator. We can love the people, pray for the people, reach out to rescue the people who persist in these notions, but we can never allow them to direct the dogma of the church. It is not our dogma to change. It is Christ’s. We cannot deny Christ by rewriting His teachings, His laws, His words, and His requirements to satiate our own selfish and self-serving sociopathy. Church leaders who say to embrace and tolerate and ensconce their lifestyle are no longer in service of the Master Jesus of Nazareth. And for God sake, we should not incorporate their practices into the sacraments and services of the church. TO them we say, “come and worship with us and repent as we all must of our sins as well”, but we cannot allow them to set the standard for what Christ’s church does. It is His church, and I will not deny Him that leadership.

Are Visitors Really Welcome?

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On the outside of most church buildings in my Faith you can see the phrase "Visitors welcome". On 17 December 2023, I attended church in Gerasdorf bei Wien (Formerly the Vienna V Ward) in which I served as a missionary for 12 weeks back in the beginning of 1999. Granted, I don't remember many of the people from that time, and I was only there briefly, but it was telling that, for the most part, people only came to talk to me because I sing. The service opened with "Es ist ein Rose entsprungen" to which I not only know the tune and words but for which I also sang the Tenor part, and they have zero tenors in that congregation. It was immediately evident to people who had not noticed me, most of which because I arrived ten minutes early and was already seated in the rear of the chapel, that there was someone behind them who is not normally there. I am still not sure if I felt welcomed by the congregation.

Who greets you tells you a lot. Neither of the missionaries assigned to the ward ever talked to me, despite the fact that they were standing in the entry when I walked into the church. I don't know if they decided since I knew my way around and the language better than they that I must be a member already, albeit from a different congregation, but even after learning I was a visitor from the United States, they still didn't speak to me. Maybe it was because they were female. THe first person to greet me was Brother Hegedusch, whom I don't remember, but whose name I remembered. A counselor to the bishop, who was absent, came to greet me; turns out I did know him, but he was 16 when I was there (I was 19 at the time) so we didn't recognize each other (Brother Mayrl). A few other people greeted me and shook my hand, but they did not give their names.

Who talks to you afterwards tells you a lot. No women said anything to me until afterwards. THe choir director tried to rope me into coming to choir practice, but since I was going to be in Berlin on Christmas Eve that made no sense to me. She wanted to hear the Tenor part to the songs they were singing. Most of the women were obsequious with their praise of my voice as well as my pronunciation and vocabulary, which I know to be pretty much a load of bullshit actually. I even told them I have unlearned much, but I think they are just so shocked that after 25 years I know what I know when I clearly don't speak German to native speakers on a regular basis. My accent is atrocious, but I participated, and I was a single male. THe woman beside me was first; her husband had been in the ward, but she was a convert, and she was very interested, having been baptized only shortly after my departure. I mentioned some members I knew by name, several of whom were dead and others of whom were absent, and then one man proclaimed to one name, "That was my father." He invited me to dinner with his family and has since kept in contact with me even though he remembers Elder Dodge (the Zone Leader) and not me (at all).

Who remembers you tells you a lot. During the meeting, a man across the aisle kept looking at me. I remember Brother Schmuck well, but he didn't stay for Sunday School, so I didn't get to talk to him. He is the only person there that I recognized immediately. Some were grown up from the children I had known, and some were individuals I knew by name, but nobody who stayed seemed to remember me. Granted, twelve weeks isn't very long, but apparently I made no inroads with them at all, at least not with those who were there. Maybe if the Husz family had been there or the bishop himself I might have had a better experience, or if I had been there in 2017 instead when others were still alive. Too late now in any case.

I attended church in this congregation because it took as much time from Wien HBF to Gerasdorf on the S1 train as it would to get to any other building using the buses, and because there was a chance I might know someone. It was disappointing to not "come home" as it were to a ward in which I had lived once upon a time. The other places in which I served, excepting Neumarkt am Wallersee, are too inconvenient to be easily reached on vacation for church, and so I didn't go there; most of them were pretty small congregations anyway. Innsbruck had barely 30 members at the time. I felt welcome, I just didn't feel "welcome back" let alone "welcome home". I might as well have attended any congregation in Vienna and had similar experience, since the members in attendance either didn't remember me or didn't want to. I still wonder why Brother Schmuck looked at me because he said nothing. The Dospils, who invited me for dinner, invited me back, which was nice, but I really knew his late father better than he, which is a shame. I guess I put the work first rather than the relationships. I don't know that it was a mistake, but it definitely made me just another visitor, albeit one who rode the train to the end of the line to attend where visitors probably rarely ever attend.

God Gives Only Good Gifts

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Sometimes I complain about blessings disguised as trials. One of the speakers on 17 December 2023 during church in Gerasdorf Austria made a comment about how some gifts come "batteries not included" and it made me think. As a child, I was never disappointed about a gift that didn't come with batteries, because I knew it COULD be fun as soon as I had them, and I knew that my parents would buy me batteries because that's the kind of parents they are. If we truly believe that God loves us, even if he gives gifts that don't seem to be the gifts we like, we know that he will make sure that the gifts will eventually bring us joy. Whether they are ready to use or not, He only gives good gifts.

Sometimes batteries are not included. We often have to put energy into things on our own before they can rise to their full potential. Maybe God gives you a talent or an opportunity, but you don't get the job if you don't apply and you don't learn a piece of music if you don't practice. Sometimes the blessings God gives us require our own effort.

Sometimes assembly is required. Not everything we receive is ready right out of the box. Maybe we need other pieces from other people or other experiences in order to fully assemble it. Not everything can be assembled with an allen wrench; not all of God's blessings can be found in an Ikea. However, like the Good Father he is, God will also help us put things together if we ask, especially if we are working to make it so and putting in the work required to show we value the gift.

Sometimes gifts are not immediately valuable. Jogging shorts make less sense in the winter than flannel pajamas. Savings bonds take time to mature to their face value. Sometimes God's gifts are not something that we can use right in the very minute that we get them. And of course they come when we actually need them.

Sometimes the gifts are not for us. An emergency gift may not be something you ever use. First aid kits may not be exciting, and you may never use them, but it is better to have one and not need one than need one and not have one. You may never have to use it for or on yourself, but you can be a blessing in the lives of other people. In fact, a plurality of God's gifts are given for the edification of others. Tongues, healing, teaching, etc., are all gifts of the spirit that are used to bless OTHER PEOPLE. But you get to be a blessing, to be God's hands in their lives, and other blessings come from that too.

In rare instances, blessings are conditional. You may have to qualify. We know from reading about tithing that God will open the windows of heaven and pour you out blessings, but if you don't pay tithe, don't expect God to shower you with blessings. We know from Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that if you don't eat what God prescribes you can't expect to live a healthy life with a perfect body. Every blessing is predicated on obedience to the law on which it is predicated, which means God's blessings come most often to those who are obedient to God's law. He typically doesn't bless wicked people over those who would have him to be their God.

A gift from God is always something that can bless us and bring us joy. Just because some assembly is required or batteries are not included does not make the gift unworthy. These kinds of gifts are invitations to make them everything that we are willing to make of them. God is willing to make everything of us, and we will get out of his gifts what we are willing to get out of them. We may receive some, or we may receive few, but everyone receives at least one gift and nobody receives all gifts. The gifts are to improve our lives and help us improve the lives of others around us. And sometimes God blesses us so that we can bless others in his name. Whether you wanted flannel pajamas or not, if God gives you them, it's because he knows that in some way at some point it will be for your good. And eventually God will give you the batteries too.

Looking to the Stars

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While traveling in Europe last month, I ended up having to change my accomodation in Vienna and ended up in a mixed dormitory room with five strangers. The second night, we got involved in a discussion, and we ended up talking about the stars. Some of my roommates were critical of particular belief systems that rely on or draw reference to the stars, which prompted some unexpected thoughts from me. It has always been a human thing to look at and to the stars, religiously or not.

As soon as men began to travel, men began to use the stars for guidance. At least in the Northern Hemisphere, constellations, in particular Ursa Minor, were used in order to orient yourself for travel. Ursa Minor contains the North Star, which is used as a major reference point. Even if you didn’t have that or couldn’t use that, you could orient yourself and know your direction and in some cases your location based on what time of year and what constellations appeared respective to your position. From Odysseus to Magellan, explorers in all ages used the stars to find themselves and to find their way.

In cultural practices, including religion, men use the stars for guidance. Visiting any of the Mayan ruins, you can plainly discern among the stele still extant that the Mayans used the stars and the celestial sphere as a guide. From planting crops to calendar events to religious rites, the positions of the stars relative to stones on the plaza told the Mayans where they were and when they ought to act. For many cultures, the stars are representations of their deity. Even Paul the apostle spoke of bodies celestial in his letters.

Today, we still use the stars for guidance. Unfortunately, too many of us turn to movie stars for guidance, but religion and navigation still play a part in the lives of many people. Religious or not, we watch the skies for eclipses, meteor showers, and other celestial events that inspire us and help us mark the passage of time. Of course the stars appear each night and disappear during the day, which helps us mark each day of our lives. Some of us still find inspiration in the heavens and look to the actual stars.

No matter how you look at it, the stars have always shown people their place in the universe. One star in particular, Sol, which you call “the sun” gives us the light and heat necessary to maintain our existence on this planet. Minor shifts in our distance from the star would snuff out life as we know it. The rest of us use the stars as a reference to move ourselves from where we are to where we would like to be. Whether religious or not, we look to the heavens to find our place. Stars help us to find our place still and find our way to where we would like to be.