REPLY AWL

In last week's edition of the online Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, Karen Crowter wrote an article about storms. I personally think thunderstorms are really cool. It's fun to see the lightning and here the thunder, especially when a thunderbanger hits right over your head (as long as the power doesn't go out.) One of God's truly beautiful spectacles.

In the same magazine Bob Branco's op-ed piece is about blind people not being able to do certain things they should know how to do and people thinking their lack of skill in this area is because they are blind. In a way, this is often the case. Many times blind people don't get adequate training in life skills and fall through the cracks.

The April 9-16 issue of Maclean's has an article about gas sniffing on a northern Ontario reserve, rare in scope and depth for magazine articles these days. The piece really shows that social programs don't work.

HOW I KEEP THE SABBATH

I have a holy convocation, usually consisting of listening to "Coffee With The Radio Ranch Ranglers" on SFAWBN in the morning or listening to recordings of sermons I have. I try to attend Christian events taking place on Saturdays so I can keep the sabbath with fellow Christians.

I try not to do anything having to do with money. I don't roll change, try not to take money for sales, and try not to buy or sell anything on Saturdays. This includes patronizing any businesses, although if I'm at a Christian event and a fellow Christian who isn't a sabbatarian pays for something I will let them.

I just generally try to rest. I look upon this day as a day where I don't have to do anything I don't want to do.

I try not to think about my jobs.

I find if I do work for pay on sabbath I don't feel rested the upcoming week, but if I attend a Christian event, even if it takes up the entire day, I still feel rested.

Update 7/22/2019: Reading this post now, it sounds so legalistic and crass.

Since that time, I have relaxed my attitude about the sabbath considerably. While I still honour Saturday as the Lord's Day and try to minimize my dealings with making money, I don't have the strict attitude to the sabbath I had before.

This change in outlook started shortly after I began attending a Bible study at my local Pentecostal church a few years back. It is more of an informal Bible study and functions a lot like we see the early church's times of assembling functioning in 1 Corinthians 14, with everybody contributing, both teaching each other, selecting songs and giving testimonies. It was a couple months after I first started going to these Bible studies I realized that, for all practical purposes, I was assembling with the saints in more or less the manner God intended on Tuesday nights. I'll still listen to Christian music or teaching on the sabbath and am glad when I can attend a good Christian conference on a Saturday, but for all practical purposes, I keep part of the sabbath Tuesday night.

I actually quite regret my strict attitude toward the sabbath because it ruined my twenties and early thirties. I could have gone for coffee with Christian friends and had fellowship on a few occasions but I had that legalistic stricture in my mind about not buying or selling on that day. That attitude also hampered my going to clubs and other events at commercial establishments on the party nights of the week. Maybe if I hadn't had that attitude I might have found a girlfriend or at least some meaningful interaction with the opposite sex, something which has alluded me all my life and continues to this day.

Now my attitude is, "I sought the Lord this Saturday for a period of time; that's all that's required, whatever else I do with this day." I am by no means saying I do the bare minimum of worship, but I am saying I now recognize the point of the sabbath is, on the one hand, that man should commune with God, which we should do everyday, but if the busyness and requirements of life get too much the other six days, even if you have to work on Saturday or Sunday or whatever day you are satisfied in your own mind is the sabbath, the Lord's Day, then make sure to carve some time out of that day to exclusively focus on and exalt Christ.

This of course means I've also changed my attitude to having to work for pay on Saturday. As of right now I am totally unemployed, but if by a literal miracle I got a job and it required working Saturday, I would work on it but regard the day in the manner I advised in the above paragraph.

Paul told Timothy a man who doesn't provide for his family is worse than an infidel so, all you Seventh-day Adventists, that would today amount to, "He who does not provide for his own family is worse than a Catholic." You need to provide for your family so if you absolutely have to work on sabbath in order to accomplish this, do it.

That, of course, was the other big kicker about my attitude to sabbath observance. I finally realized that, since I don't work, not even the nickel and dime work from home stuff I was doing when I first wrote this post, there was no point having a strict attitude about the seventh day if I didn't work the other six.

A VERY HEALTHY MAN

Warning: The following is juvinile. I first came up with the genus of it when I was thirteen.

One day, a man heard a knock at his door.

"Good day, sir," the official-looking man on the other side of the door said, "I'm from Lord Soetoro's healthcare czar. I'd like to ask you a few questions about your health."

"Sure," the man responded, "come on in."

The man seated the government official in his favourite chair and took a seat on the worn couch.

"Now," the official said, "according to Canada's Food Guide, which we are using for our guidelines as well, you need five to thirteen servings of grain products a day. How many servings of grain products do you currently consume?"

"Well," the man said thoughtfully, "I drink a twelve pack of Molson Bohemian a day and a whole bunch more if I've managed to sneak into a tour of a microbrewery."

"Good for you. Now, according to this same food guide, you need six to thirteen servings of fruit a day."

"How much would a serving be?" the man interrupted.

"Oh, not very much, I should think," the official replied.

"Like a glass?"

"What?"

"Well, I think I drink about thirteen glasses of wine a day, around three bottles," the man said, "but if you think I'm going to drink thirteen bottles of wine a day you're out of your bucking mind."

"I should say you get the recommended amount, sir. Now, how many servings of milk products do you have a day. You need three to six, you know."

"Oh, I eat six bars of cheese a day," the man replied.

"I think that's a serving. I wish I hadn't kept dozing off in the briefing sessions. Stupid bucker only wants to talk about his bucking basketball scores. ... Oh, where was I? Yes, how much meat do you consume a day. You need two to four servings of that."

"Oh, I eat four packages of bacon," was the man's proud response to this last question, "even cook it sometimes."

"Well," the official said, a huge smile coming over his face, "I would say you are very healthy. First one today."

"Wanna do Jell-o shots to celebrate?" the man asked.

"Sure," the official replied.

MUST SEE

Hi all,

Last Thursday (June 21st) I watched this program – Silence at the Heart of Things – on TV Ontario. It is about the music, life and death of Oliver Schroer.

I had the privilege of meeting Oliver a couple of times and loved his music. This program blew me away; I recommend it very highly to all of you. I was speaking of it today to one of my clients in Toronto and checking it out on-line, discovered to my delight, that it is available to see on-line at the following link:

http://ww3.tvo.org/video/162720/silence-heart-things

It is 1 hour and 12 minutes long. Well worth the time.

Any of you who have heard Oliver will know what I’m talking about. Ann Lindsay and others of his students have played in Madoc at the Amazing Coffee.

Don’t miss this. It is delightful.

James

•

NEW EP COMING SOON FROM ECHOREV--THE MERMAID & THE ASTRONAUT

ECHOREV is an international duo that blends two unique voices into one. Johnny Nicholson and Jörn Bielfeldt craft a new breed of indie rock: electrified folk songs propelled by organic hip/hop and electronic beats with "anthem quality and many a sing-a-long moment" (The Owl Magazine). Having performed over 40 shows across Europe and the U.S. this past Fall in support of their debut album, Find North(September 2011, Monkey Rock Records), and with the release of their new EP - The Mermaid & The Astronaut (June 2012, Monkey Rock Records), ECHOREV takes you on a journey from the light into the darkness and back again. (full bio)

The Mermaid & The Astronaut - EP is an introduction to a modern fairy tale, a prelude to a seemingly impossible love story. From the dark side of a distant moon, to the deepest canyon in the ocean floor, The Mermaid and The Astronaut travel alone. This collection of songs chronicles the beginning of a relationship between those two lovers, but it also tells a more universal story of two people, two animals, two stars, two atoms, two worlds, or any two entities that either co-exist or collide...

After their Find North Tour 2011, ECHOREV took a little over a month to sit still before packing the van and heading to Baja, Mexico where they set up shop during March and April 2012 in Todos Santos. With NY based producer and engineer, Jeff Fettig, they tracked the new EP and rehearsed for another tour June-October 2012 across the US and EU. After playing a string of dates between L.A and the Bay Area, Johnny and Jörn are now part way through the first leg of their German tour this June and July 2012. (read more ECHOREV adventures in their journal...)




Review of the ep coming soon.

REPLY AWL

In The April issue of Readers Digest, a writer laments the only disturbing event recorded in his memoir is that his parents had his dog put down and then said the dog went to live on a farm. Not every memoir has to be miserable, but "misery memoirs" do an important job of showcasing certain segments of society.

There is an item in the March 26 issue of Maclean's about how Tory Stafford's mother got criticized for letting the little girl take the five minute walk to school on her own. It was only a five minute walk. We are way too safety conscious in this society.

The April 2 issue of Maclean's has an article about girls going on YouTube and replying to videos while wearing revealing clothing. This is unfortunately due to the fact these girls have realized baring your body is how you get ahead in our world today.

REVELATION SPEAKS PEACE-PART FOUR-SESSION TWO

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE AND THE SEVEN SEALS




The first horseman represents the coming of the beast.



The second horseman represents war and the general increase in violence which will take place during the tribulation period. Yes, believe it or not, the earth will get even more violent than it is now.



The third horseman represents the famine which will take place during the tribulation period. This horseman contains one of the keys to why these four horsemen don’t represent periods in church history. How does Firerobin explain the verse about “a measure of wheat for a penny?”



At the time Revelation was written, a penny, or the Greek equivalent in their currency (an example of dynamic translation), was a whole day’s wages. It will be like Germany before World War II, where people would push wheelbarrows full of money down to the market to buy a loaf of bread.



The fourth horseman represents the increase in disease which will take place during the tribulation period. Again, how does Pastor Firerobin explain the verse about “to kill with sword hunger death and with the beasts of the field?” The Catholic church mainly burned people at the stake. It doesn’t say anything about fire.



“Sword” refers to war. We have created diseases for ourselves through war: everything from shell shock to Korean hemoragic fever to Gulf War syndrome to the depleted uranium poisoning the troops are coming back from Iraq with that the mainstream media hardly ever talks about.



Hunger points to all the diseases malnutrition creates.



Death could refer to diseases that come from rotting corpses left lying around.



“The beasts of the field” refers to all the diseases that come from animals, from mad cow disease to Hunta virus to lime disease to West Nile virus to bird flu to swine flu (not saying some of these diseases aren’t going to be helped along by certain people whom I talk a lot about on this blog.)



The fifth seal points to the persecution of Christians which will happen as a result of their refusal to take the mark.



The sixth seal represents events which haven’t happened yet. This passage can’t be referring to the Lisbon earthquake, Dark Day and meteor shower because if those events were really significant than every school child would know about them, I daresay even those being “educated” in the Ontario public school system.



You can’t put a gap between the events of verses 13 and 14.



The mountains and islands being moved out of place is similar to what happens when the seventh vial is poured out. These twenty-one judgments are stacked. That is, it isn’t seven seals followed by seven trumpets followed by seven vials. Rather it is the first seal followed by the first trumpet followed by the first vial, the second seal followed by the second trumpet followed by the second vial, etc.



The events of the seventh seal are also similar to events of the seventh vial.

REVELATION SPEAKS PEACE-PART FOUR-SESSION ONE-WHEN YOUR NAME COMES UP IN JUDGMENT

The Bible is quite clear the judgment takes place when Christ returns. Jude says, "behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment."

The Bible says that the blood of Jesus washes away all our sins. Thus, when God looks into the books of remembrance of all the righteous under Sins, he will say, "There's nothing here."

The judgment where the books are opened occurs after the millenial reign. We know this based on where it occurs in the Book of Revelation.

In 1 Peter 3 14 where it says that angels desire to look into these things, that doesn't mean the angels spend time going through all the books. It means that angels don't have a plan of salvation and they are curious about it. This is a twisting of the Scriptures on Sean Boonstre's part.

In Daniel 7 where it says "thousands ministered unto Him", that also doesn't mean the angels were looking through the books. It is meant to emphasize how great God is, a king with thousands of servants.

REPLY AWL

The March 19 issue of Maclean's has an article about how confusing parents are finding elementary school math curricula, with their myriad of alternatives for solving equations. Yeah, it's looking like home schooling.

In the same issue, their is an article about mobile phones being permitted during live theatre performances for the purpose of generating buzz about the show through social media. Is there nowhere anymore where people can get away from this kind of thing?

This week's edition of the online Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind has an article about a woman whose state-appointed homemaker was stealing things from her house. Under the law of God, the homemaker should give back the things, or make restitution in varying amounts depending on what she did with the stuff. If she did not want to do this, the homemaker could serve the woman until the next sabbath year (2015.) If the homemaker did not want to do that, she could be executed.

This week's Barnes & Noble newsletter announces the relaunch of Oprah's book club. Thanks for the bad news.

REPLY AWL

The March 5 issue of Maclean's has an article about a woman who has written a book on achieving proper balance when both partners in a marriage work. She says wives who don't work at all are twice as likely to get divorced. Sounds like a bunch of propaganda to me. All has to do with people having love for only themselves.

In the same issue there is an article about how couples are being more open about miscarriages. To a certain extent, a greater willingness of people to talk about miscarriages and stillbirths is healthy, but some women are taking it too far. For example, one woman mentioned in the article is still in deep mourning three years after loosing her child. That is not healthy.

In the March 12 issue of Maclean's Brian D. Johnson mentions how there really aren't actors coming up who are action heroes. This is because there are far fewer manly men than there used to be.