D-Day and Divine Intervention.

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D-Day and Divine Intervention

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Tom Robinson

“On this 75th (now 80th) anniversary of D-Day, a crucial event in the push to Allied victory in World War II, we look back on the remarkable miracle of its success—an answer to prayer and the fulfillment of destiny.

Imperial War Museum

With the Normandy beachhead secured, vast numbers of Allied troops and military vehicles flood ashore.

It’s been 75 (now 80) years since D-Day, June 6, 1944, when Western Allied forces during World War II launched the largest invasion in history with nearly 7,000 ships of all sorts and more than 11,000 planes, crossing the English Channel and landing more than 150,000 troops (and more over the days that followed) on the beaches of Normandy to free France and the rest of Europe from Nazi tyranny.

German leader Adolf Hitler had prepared a vast defensive network of artillery, gun emplacements, mines and other deadly obstacles stretching from the west coast of France up to Norway. This “Atlantic Wall” had to be breached for the Allies to press forward and defeat this evil, genocidal regime that with its Axis partners was intent on continuing the carnage of many millions while trying to conquer the world.

Famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle, who arrived at Normandy the day after D-Day, noted that the Allies achieved victory “with every advantage on the enemy’s side and every disadvantage on ours.” Yet, as he wrote, the total Allied casualties “were remarkably low—only a fraction, in fact, of what our commanders had been prepared to accept.” Pyle concluded, “Now that it is all over, it seems to me a pure miracle that we ever took the beach at all.”

What was miraculous about D-Day, and why would God have intervened?

The weather and other surprises—flukes or God’s handiwork?

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander (and later U.S. president), said later on the 1952 anniversary of the operation launch: “This day eight years ago, I made the most agonizing decision of my life. If there were nothing else in my life to prove the existence of an almighty and merciful God, the events of the next twenty-four hours did it . . . The greatest break in a terrible outlay of weather occurred the next day and allowed that great invasion to proceed, with losses far below those we had anticipated.”

The Allies had tried to plan for every eventuality, but they had no control over the vital weather. They hoped for good weather to make the 100-mile sea crossing to Europe, as had miraculously occurred in the mass evacuation from Europe at Dunkirk early in the war. What they didn’t realize was that bad weather—the windiest in 20 years—would hand them success beyond all expectation.

D-Day was originally scheduled for June 5 and could only be postponed for the short term to the 6th or 7th, while the tides were still low and the moon was full for visibility (along with clear weather), especially for clearing or avoiding mines in the surf. Otherwise it would have to have been put off a good while later.

With the terrible weather that sprang up on June 5, it looked like the operation was a no-go, but meteorologists reported a break was about to occur in the weather to allow the 17-hour crossing, though there was as yet no sign of any calming. Eisenhower made the agonizing decision for the ships to launch on the 5th (to arrive the next day) in the face of severe winds. As it turned out, the weather was only marginally better on the 6th, yet enough for the invasion to succeed even with weather-related losses.

What really helped win the day was that the Germans could not believe the Allies would cross the English Channel in such awful weather, and they were caught completely unprepared. They had stood alert at low-tide and full-moon days in May, but they now did not see the need. Half the German division commanders and a fourth of the regiment commanders left for war games exercises in Brittany. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, in charge of the Normandy defenses, decided to travel 500 miles to Germany to celebrate his wife’s birthday. He came back at word of the invasion, but it took him all day—by then too late.

Also, Adolf Hitler and other leaders under him were convinced by Allied ploys and their own theories that the Allied invasion was going to be further east. And when it arrived they assumed it was a diversion, with the real landing to take place elsewhere—a belief that Hitler bizarrely clung to up through August!

Meanwhile, most of the Luftwaffe (German air force) planes based in Normandy had been relocated to Germany to defend against increasing Allied bombing. With that and the bad weather, German planes were not patrolling the English Channel. Moreover, this was the only night the German U-boat submarines did not patrol it. So the Allies encountered hardly any enemy forces on the way.

Confusion among German defenders

A key early step in the invasion was for paratroopers to come in gliders at 100 mph with no guiding lights and to land secretly next to two critical guarded bridges and secure them—to keep the Germans back and prevent the Germans from destroying them so the Allies couldn’t use them. The weather helped in this too, hiding the gliders in the low clouds as they flew by stopwatches until they dropped out at 200 feet, when the pilots could then see.

The first paratroopers to land were stunned, British platoon leader Maj. John Howard later stating: “When we came to our senses, we realized there was no firing. There was no enemy firing. It all seemed quite unbelievable.” The 22 paratroopers trotted over the bridge, the terrified guards dove into the bushes, and the garrison was taken in 10 minutes. But two German tanks arrived, with four more on the way. The paratroopers had only a single anti-tank gun, and with one chance succeeded in hitting the tank right in the middle, setting off all the ammunition inside—the burning tank now blocking the German advance and enabling lost paratroopers to be reoriented.

The Germans were not then able to counterattack there or across the wider area. They now had only two panzer (or tank) divisions near the Normandy landings. Early in the morning, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt ordered these to move in, not believing such a large-scale invasion could be a deception.

But he had to get approval, as these forces were under the German high command. Approval was not given, as Hitler had to give the order, and he was still sleeping—and he didn’t awaken until noon. Hitler’s approval did not come until 4 p.m., and by that time the weather had cleared and Allied aircraft ruled the skies over Normandy, smashing anything that moved on the ground. (Much more could be said of Hitler’s terrible blunders, which some speculate may have resulted from disease or drug and chemical interactions affecting his brain.)

Many remarkable things happened on D-Day. The landing at Utah Beach was actually in the wrong place, but this worked out in the Allies’ favor, as the beach was less defended there. Of course, other places saw far worse fighting. The taking of the Normandy beaches was still horrific, with thousands dead or wounded. Yet the casualty count had been expected to be many times higher. And the victory allowed the liberation of Europe to follow over the next year.

The weather that seemed poised to thwart the Allied cause in reality greatly helped it. And the Nazi leadership was in many ways confounded. Eisenhower and many others saw this as clear help from Almighty God. In fact, newspapers at the time declared the events of D-Day, Dunkirk, El Alamein, the Battle of Britain and a number of other battles to be miraculous, particularly in the wake of widespread prayer to God for deliverance.

U.S. and British leaders and people look to God

Gen. Eisenhower told the troops embarking for Normandy: “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you . . . The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery had told the troops, “Let us pray that the Lord, mighty in battle, will give us victory.”

As the forces approached Normandy, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt took to the airwaves with this call: “In this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer.”

He publicly prayed: “Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity . . . They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard . . .

“They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate . . . They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

“And for us at home . . . help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

“Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts . . .

“And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade . . . With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace—a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

“Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.”

As word of the invasion spread, prayer vigils were quickly organized throughout the country. Many businesses closed for prayer.

“This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes”

Britain’s King George VI said in a worldwide radio address on D-Day: “Four years ago our nation and Empire stood alone against an overwhelming enemy, with our backs to the wall. Tested as never before in our history, in God’s providence we survived that test . . .

“Once more a supreme test has to be faced. This time the challenge is not to fight to survive, but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause . . . That we may be worthily matched with this new summons of destiny, I desire solemnly to call my people to prayer and dedication.

“We are not unmindful of our own shortcomings, past and present. We shall ask not that God may do our will, but that we may be enabled to do the will of God; and we dare to believe that God has used our nation and Empire as an instrument for fulfilling His high purpose.

“I hope that throughout the present crisis of the liberation of Europe there may be offered up earnest, continuous and widespread prayer . . .

“If from every place of worship, from home and factory, from men and women of all ages and many races and occupations, our intercessions rise, then, please God, both now and in the future, not remote, the predictions of an ancient psalm may be fulfilled: ‘The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will give His people the blessing of peace.’”

Did God answer this great outpouring of prayer? Many are justifiably convinced that He did.

After the Allies swept triumphantly through France in 1944, Gen. Montgomery felt compelled to say: “Such an historic march of events can seldom have taken place in such a short space of time . . . Let us say to each other, ‘This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.’”

A God who intervenes and answers national prayer

The Bible reveals that God cares about what happens in the affairs of nations and intervenes in working out His overall plan. “For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings” (Daniel 2:20-21)—sometimes to punish sinful nations and rulers (compare Genesis 15:16; Isaiah 10:12)—and also to protect His servant people from annihilation.

He chose the people of Israel to fulfill a very special destiny. In prophesying of the Israelites in the last days, God promised to make Joseph’s descendants through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh the most blessed nations in the world and strengthen them against their enemies (Genesis 49:22-24), declaring that their descendants would “push the peoples to the ends of the earth” (Deuteronomy 33:17). He further said the Israelites would be “like a lion . . . Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off” (Micah 5:8-9).

Other verses show that God would also discipline the Israelites through losses to enemies. But He promised that if His people would humble themselves in prayer, He would forgive them and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

All of this plays a huge part in what happened at D-Day and the various other instances of divine intervention during World War II and in other conflicts. For, as incredible as it may seem, the prophecies regarding end-time Israel have been fulfilled primarily through the United States and Britain and other nations of British descent. In fact, these nations are in large part actually formed of the descendants of Joseph! (Be sure to read our free study guide The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy for the proof of this identity and heritage.)

Though this truth is unknown to most, many over the last few centuries have had a sense of the promises to Israel applying in some ways to these great Bible-believing nations.

Leaders who recognized the hand of God at work

Observe what Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister at the time of D-Day, said in his memoirs of the First World War regarding an encounter with Scripture just after he took charge of the Royal Navy:

“That night when I went to bed, I saw a large Bible lying on a table in my bedroom. I thought of the peril of Britain, peace-loving, unthinking, little prepared . . . I thought of mighty Germany . . . wave after wave of valiant manhood . . . of the sudden and successful wars by which her power had been set up. I opened the Book at random, and in the 9th Chapter of Deuteronomy I read—

“‘Hear, O Israel: Thou art to . . . possess nations greater and mightier than thyself . . . a people great and tall of whom thou hast heard say, who can stand before the children of Anak!

“‘Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goes over before thee; as a consuming fire . . . Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart . . . but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’

“It seemed a message full of reassurance” (The World Crisis, Mentor edition, 1968, pp. 58-59). Indeed it was.

During the Second World War, the same Churchill, now prime minister, gave a message in 1942 stating: “I sometimes have a feeling of interference. I want to stress that. I have a feeling sometimes that some Guiding Hand has interfered. I have a feeling that we have a Guardian because we have a great Cause, and we shall have that Guardian so long as we serve that Cause faithfully.”

At the victorious conclusion of the war, Churchill led the British House of Commons to “give humble and reverent thanks to Almighty God for our deliverance.”

Harry Truman, U.S. president at the end of World War II, later remarked in 1951: “I do not think that anyone can study the history of this nation without becoming convinced that Divine Providence has played a great part in it. I have the feeling that God has created us and brought us to our present position of power and strength for some great purpose. It is not given to us to know fully what that purpose is.”

Will we continue to look to God?

While these men did not grasp the big picture of what God was working out, they and others at the time still realized who had saved them and seen them through. Do we?

It’s heartrending to contemplate, but it will not be long before the world is plunged into the worst time of trouble ever—far worse than World War II. America and Britain will not then succeed in beating back the enveloping tyranny but, having drifted far from God, will experience devastating defeat and destruction.

Yet, thankfully, a great deliverance will at last come—from the same God. The Father will send Jesus Christ to return to the earth in awesome power. Descending with the hosts of heaven, Jesus will come in divine war, crushing the armies arrayed against Him. Overthrowing the tyranny of wicked men and of Satan behind it all, He will take over the governing of the whole world, then bringing an end to war and guiding mankind into the way of peace.

As we remember D-Day, let’s be grateful for God’s great intervention then and at other times and, humbling ourselves in prayer, continue to trust Him now and for the future deliverance He will ultimately bring.”  From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/d-day-and-divine-intervention

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What was Pentecost in the Old Testament? Pentecost Proves the Sabbath. Can Pesticides Be Rinsed Off?

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What Does Pentecost Mean?

“Pentecost, (Sunday, May 28th, this year) has special meaning for people of all nationalities and backgrounds. It marks the beginning of the Church, the gift of the Holy Spirit and more.

Pentecost is a festival observed by Catholics, Protestants, Jews and the Church of God. Many people don’t know the background of this holy day or why these groups often celebrate it on different days.

Within mainstream Christianity (Catholics and Protestants alike), many congregations recognize the biblical teaching that Pentecost was the day the Holy Spirit was first given to Christians. They consider it, in effect, to be the birthday of the New Testament Church.

Some congregations, however, give no special attention to this festival. The reasons some within mainstream Christianity choose not to observe Pentecost vary.

Some suggest that there are so many events in church history and on church calendars that it is hard to know which ones to observe. Others don’t celebrate Pentecost because of an uneasy feeling about anything connected with charismatics, who mistakenly believe it is necessary to recreate the supernatural events of the first Pentecost today.

In this article, let’s consider what the Bible teaches us about this day and some of the questions surrounding it.

What was Pentecost in the Old Testament?

Pentecost is one of the annual holy days God revealed to the ancient Israelites.

The seven feasts of the Lord are found in Leviticus 23. They are Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks (called Pentecost in the New Testament), the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day.

Some people refer to these observances as the feasts of the Jews. But, while God did indeed give these to Israel, including the Jewish people, it is important to note that God says, “These are My feasts” (Leviticus 23:2), and that Moses referred to them as “the feasts of the LORD” (verse 44).

What we note from these passages is that Pentecost is a feast of God. These festivals do not belong solely to the Jews. They are God’s feasts and are to be observed by His people, no matter what their nationality or ethnic background might be.

What does Pentecost mean in Greek?

Pentecost holds an interesting distinction among God’s commanded holy days. Of all the annual observances given by God to the ancient Israelites, this is the only one that has been commonly known to Christians since the first century by its Greek name—Pentecost, meaning “the fiftieth day” (Thayer’s Greek Definitions).

“The fiftieth day” is related to the name of the festival in the Old Testament—the Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22; Numbers 28:26; Deuteronomy 16:10)—and the way the date of its observance was determined. God’s instructions were to “count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath” and that day was to be proclaimed “a holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:16, 21).

The Feast of Weeks was also called “the Feast of Harvest” in Exodus 23:16, because it was associated with firstfruits—the early part of a harvest and the first harvest of the year in Canaan.

As Numbers 28:26 says, “Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.”

Pentecost: what happened?

Consider the events that led up to the momentous Pentecost of Acts 2.

Three days and three nights after His crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead, and during the next 40 days He appeared multiple times to His disciples (Acts 1:3).

In addition to talking to them about the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ told them to wait in Jerusalem because “you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4-5).

Just a few days later, as His disciples assembled in Jerusalem to observe Pentecost, Christ’s promise that they would receive “power from on high” came true (Luke 24:49). As the Holy Spirit descended upon His faithful followers, it appeared as tongues of fire, and His disciples began to miraculously speak in foreign languages (Acts 2:3-4).

These awesome events on the Day of Pentecost in A.D. 31 launched the New Testament Church. That same day an additional 3,000 people responded to a moving message by the apostle Peter. They repented of their sins, were baptized and then received the Holy Spirit.

From this amazing beginning, the Church of God began to rapidly expand throughout the Roman Empire.

What Pentecost means today

Pentecost is an annual festival commemorating the beginning of the New Testament Church of God. Even more important, it is a reminder for each of us that God’s Holy Spirit is now available to all who repent of their sins, are baptized, and continue to follow and obey Him (Acts 5:32).

As Peter explained almost 2,000 years ago, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

There is still another meaning to Pentecost that is overlooked by many because they don’t understand that God’s plan of salvation for mankind has several stages.

The concept of firstfruits—the first part of a harvest—was an integral part of the Old Testament observance of this festival, and it continues to have meaning for us today. God must first call people before they can repent of their sins and receive the Holy Spirit, which identifies them as Christians who will receive eternal life.

Jesus emphasized this point, saying, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44).

Those who are called by God during this present age and who respond to God’s call are the “firstfruits” of His plan of salvation for mankind. They have a part in preparing for an even greater harvest of people to follow.

Our merciful God, who wants all to be saved, has planned more than one time or age for humans to be called and have their opportunity for salvation. God determines when each person will be given the opportunity for salvation.

How is Pentecost calculated?

Although many religions observe Pentecost, albeit with different names and meanings, they celebrate it on different dates.

• Judaism observes Shavuot on Sivan 6, according to the Hebrew calendar.
• Mainstream Christianity observes Pentecost on the 50th day after Easter, inclusive of both days.
• The Church of God observes this holy day on the 50th day starting with the Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Why are there so many variations in calculating this festival?

How most churches calculate Pentecost

The reason for mainstream Christianity’s date for Pentecost is pretty obvious to students of history. It’s connected with the change from the biblical Passover to Easter.

The misguided, breakaway version of Christianity, which separated itself from the original Christianity founded by Jesus and His disciples, changed Passover to Easter (the name of a pagan goddess of spring and fertility). At the same time, they also changed its date and meaning.

Those who celebrate all seven feasts of the Lord and rehearse their meanings each year continually find deeper meaning in them. Although there is no biblical directive to observe Easter, the leaders of this church decided that they would observe it to honor the resurrection of Jesus—rather than observe the biblical Passover to commemorate the death of Christ.

This version of Christianity set the method for calculating Easter so it could not fall on Passover.

Although this may not have been the direct intent of the calculation, other decrees by the Catholic Church clearly show that anti-Semitism was a driving force behind their reasons for abandoning worship on Saturday and the traditional, annual observance of Passover on the 14th day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar (Leviticus 23:5). Their founders despised the Jews and didn’t want their religion to look similar to that of the Jews.

How most Jews calculate Pentecost (Shavuot)

In the first century, when Jesus’ followers observed Pentecost and received the Holy Spirit, there is no mention in the Bible of any concern or disagreement over the date. Yet there were multiple Jewish sects—including the Sadducees and Pharisees—who had differing beliefs and practices.

The Sadducees, who were members of the priestly sect, were in charge of the temple and the worship that occurred there. But, as the Encyclopaedia Britannica explains, “The Sadducees and Pharisees were in constant conflict with each other, not only over numerous details of ritual and the Law but most importantly over the content and extent of God’s revelation to the Jewish people” (“Sadducee”).

In addition to their disagreements over whether there could be a resurrection, angels and spirit (Acts 23:8), these competing sects differed in how they understood the instructions for calculating Pentecost found in Leviticus 23.

The Encyclopaedia Judaica says, “The Sadducees (and later the Karaites) understood the term ‘Sabbath’ in these verses [Leviticus 23:11, 15, 16] literally, hence, for them Shavuot always falls on a Sunday” (1971, Vol. 14, p. 1319, “Shavuot”).

But after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70, the Pharisaic beliefs became the predominant teaching of Judaism. The way most Jews now calculate Shavuot is to count 50 days from the annual Sabbath of Passover (as the Jews call the first day of Unleavened Bread). This leads to a fixed calendrical date of Sivan 6 each year.

How the Church of God calculates Pentecost

The Church of God carefully follows the biblical instruction in Leviticus 23:16 to “count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath.”

Since the word Sabbath in this verse clearly refers to the weekly Sabbath rather than an annual Sabbath, we understand that the Sabbath that comes before the count to 50 must also be a weekly Sabbath—not an annual Sabbath.

The Church also notes that if God intended the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, as it is known today, to be observed on a fixed date (Sivan 6), He could have inspired that date to be recorded in Scripture. All the other holy days have fixed dates, and Pentecost could have been designated on a fixed date as well—if that were God’s intent.

Instead, the scriptural account emphasizes that Pentecost has to be counted each year. The reason is that the day of the week when the Days of Unleavened Bread begin varies from year to year. By counting 50 days beginning with the Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread (as designated by Scripture), we always come to Sunday.

What does Pentecost mean for you?

Those who celebrate all seven feasts of the Lord and rehearse their meanings each year continually find deeper meaning in them. You can find the dates for Pentecost and other festivals according to the biblical calculation on our “Festival Calendar.”

What will Pentecost mean for you this year? Study more in our article “The Miracle and Meaning of Pentecost.”

What Is Pentecost to the Jews?

In Judaism the festival is called by its Hebrew name, Shavuot. This means weeks or sevens, which alludes to the instruction to count 50 days. This feast occurred during the first harvest of the land, and Jewish tradition says that this day commemorates God giving the ancient Israelites the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.

Jews often read the book of Ruth at this time of year. Their reasons for doing so “are that the book takes place at the time of the barley harvest, that Ruth’s assumption of Naomi’s religion reflects the Israelites’ acceptance of the Torah at Sinai, and that King David, who is alleged to have died at this time of year according to rabbinic tradition, is mentioned at the end of Ruth” (“Shavuot 101,” myjewishlearning.com).

What Is Pentecost Sunday?

Pentecost Sunday is the Sunday that many Catholic and Protestant congregations observe as the beginning of the New Testament Church and as the day the Holy Spirit was given. Unfortunately, they do not always do so on the biblically authorized date.

As previously noted, the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, was to be determined by counting—beginning with the day after the Sabbath—“fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:15-16).

Since the biblical Sabbath has always been and continues to be on Saturday, the 50th day after counting seven Sabbaths will always be a Sunday.

Although mainstream Christianity gets Pentecost Sunday on the right day of the week, it does not follow the biblical instruction to begin the 50-day count to Pentecost with the Sunday that falls during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Instead, mainstream Christianity begins its count from Easter. Some years (such as 2020) these dates coincide, but many years they do not.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/plan-of-salvation/pentecost/what-does-pentecost-mean/

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Pentecost Proves the Sabbath

“In Leviticus chapter 23, God revealed a series of celebrations to be observed throughout the year. One of them is called Pentecost. It also goes by other names such as Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, and First fruits (of the wheat harvest). It is a unique festival in two aspects. Firstly, it is the only holy day that does not fall on a specific day of the Hebrew Calendar. Instead, we must calculate its timing. Secondly, we must know when the weekly Sabbath occurs.

The verses about this celebration are found in Leviticus chapter 23:15-22. We will look at a few of these verses: “15 And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord…21 And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.”

Notice that Pentecost is the day after the seventh weekly Sabbath from Unleavened Bread. This means it always occurs on the first day of the week. Any church body who celebrates Pentecost on Sunday is acknowledging that the true Sabbath is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. This includes the Catholic Church. Some of their authors and clergy have admitted this!

John Laux, an author of textbooks for Catholic schools, wrote: “If we consulted the Bible only, we should still have to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is, Saturday, with the Jews, instead of Sunday…” (Laux, p 51).

John Gibbons, a Catholic Cardinal, wrote: “But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify” (Gibbons, pp 72-73).

The Catholic Church acknowledges the timing of the Biblical Sabbath. Any church that celebrates Pentecost on Sunday reflects the same belief. Pentecost proves the Sabbath.”  From: Pentecost Proves the Sabbath – The Sabbath Sentinel 

Kelly McDonald, Jr, BSA President   www.biblesabbath.org

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Can Pesticides Be Rinsed Off?

“Researchers measure the impact of eating organic on the levels of pesticides in our children.

Produce can be contaminated by manure runoff, and conventional produce may be contaminated with pesticides. We’ve known for years that the 800 million pounds of pesticides used annually in the United States—herbicides, fungicides, insecticides—have clear-cut detrimental effects on farm workers and their families. That’s uncontroversial.

We can even do what are called hand-wipe studies to actually measure the pesticides in the hands of kids in California’s Central Valley. The planes come down and spray this fog. How much exposure urban and suburban and children are getting from food, however, has been unclear, until now. Twice daily, urine samples were taken from 3- to 11-year-olds for more than a year to see how much pesticide is flowing through our kids. These children were nowhere near farms, or fog-spraying planes. And to single out pesticides that were coming from the diet, as opposed to a lawn treatment or something, for two weeks of the year, the kids were put on organic diet. Guess which two weeks those were? So the two times during the year when they ate organic foods, there were undetectable, or nearly undetectable, pesticide residues in their urine, while their little bodies were basically swimming in it the rest of the year.

In my 2000 update, I told everyone about this disturbing study. Vegetarianism during pregnancy associated with having sons with a specific birth defect of the penis called hypospadias. They thought it might have something to do with the phytoestrogens in soy, but that didn’t make any sense since Japan, with the highest per capita soy consumption in the world, did not have high rates of the defect. I guessed that it might be low vitamin B12 levels leading to high homocysteine, which has been related to other birth defects, but we were all wrong.

Finally, though, the mystery seems to have been solved. The researchers reanalyzed the data for clues as to what could be found in the diets of vegetarians compared to meat eaters—other than more good things, like more fruits and vegetables. Unless, there is an endocrine-disrupting fungicide, called vinclozolin, that is sprayed on most of our conventional crops, which we now know causes hypospadias. So, researchers went back and split up the vegetarian moms into two groups: those eating organic produce, and those eating conventional produce. And while the vegetarian women eating conventional produce during pregnancy had indeed higher birth defects rates, there was not a single case in the organic group.

So it seems the hypospadias wasn’t due to vegetarian diets; it was that they were exposing their fetus to more pesticides. Can’t we just rinse our produce off? Well, it’s better than nothing, but this new study looked at three pesticides on apples. Levels start out at 100%. Rinsing seems to take off only about 15% of the pesticides. The only way to really cut down our dose is to peel the apple, eliminating about 85% of the pesticides—but also eliminating much of the nutrition.

So, eat organic foods whenever possible. Organic produce has more vitamins, more minerals, tastes better, stores better, and you get to not be complicit in poisoning farm workers and their families.”  From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/can-pesticides-be-rinsed-off/

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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America’s Uncertain Future. Prophesied War in the Middle East. HOW NOT TO DIE.

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America’s Uncertain Future

“Our world is changing before our eyes, and in ways that are highly dangerous for the current world order and the United States in particular. You need to understand why.

Mohammad Ismail/Reuters/Newscom

Afghan soldiers inspect some of the thousands of U.S. vehicles abandoned in the American pullout from Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in July 2021.

As this issue of Beyond Today was going to press, the last U.S. combat troops were being withdrawn from Afghanistan. Only a token force of several hundred will be left to guard the U.S. embassy compound in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Perhaps nothing encapsulated the moment more poignantly than the U.S. withdrawal from the sprawling 30-square-mile Bagram Air Base, epicenter of America’s war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda for the last 20 years. The base was in reality a sizable city, built from the ground up on a large plain about an hour’s drive from Kabul.

It boasted American pizza and fast-food chain restaurants, air-conditioned fitness centers, a library, post office, a 50-bed hospital and a two-mile-long runway capable of handling dozens of U.S. fighter jets, reconnaissance aircraft and huge transport planes ferrying troops, weapons and supplies. At one time it was home for some 100,000 U.S. personnel.

In ironic timing, just before the July 4 Independence Day holiday, the last American occupants of the base shut off the electricity and slipped away into the night. Nearby looters arrived before Afghan soldiers and helped themselves to anything that wasn’t nailed down. Among items left behind were thousands of civilian trucks and vans and hundreds of armored vehicles, plus weapons and ammunition the Afghan soldiers would need to fight off the Taliban in battles sure to come.

Strategically, Bagram Air Base was a crucial military asset, located 500 miles from Iran and 400 miles from China, with runways that could handle any U.S. military aircraft of any size. But as is the case with so many critical American strategic assets in recent decades, it is no longer in U.S. hands—and will likely soon be in the hands of America’s enemies.

It’s the sad end of a 20-year saga that began with a highly coordinated terrorist assault on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. In righteous indignation America, with a coalition of allies, went to war against terror-supporting governments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But after 20 years, more than 60,000 U.S. casualties, and a fortune of almost $6.5 trillion in borrowed money squandered, American forces quietly withdrew, the nation no longer having the will to fight.

If you pay close attention to the news, you may have heard that America is said to now be facing more threatening and dangerous enemies. On June 9 U.S. President Joe Biden declared that global warming is “the greatest threat facing America.” Ironically, he said this as he arrived in Europe seeking support from allies against Russian hacking attacks that have devastated U.S. businesses and to combat Chinese secrecy over the origins of Covid-19, which has plagued the entire world.

Meanwhile, America’s true geopolitical opponents such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea grow ever more dangerous. They’re not focused on teaching their military a rewritten “woke” version of their nations’ histories; they’re training their soldiers, sailors and pilots how to destroy and kill their enemies—with the United States at the top of the list.

The uncomfortable truth is, America has lost another war, and appears to not be any wiser. The last significant war America truly won was World War II, more than 75 years ago. In Korea the United States fought to a draw and agreed to a truce, leaving tens of thousands of troops there for two-thirds of a century now. Vietnam was an ugly defeat at the cost of nearly 60,000 American lives, and after the U.S. withdrawal communists in Vietnam and Cambodia murdered some 1.5 million of their own people. America and its allies did defeat Iraq in the first Gulf War after Iraq invaded Kuwait, but Saddam Hussein was left in power, leading to the second Iraq war and another slow, painful retreat for U.S. forces, to be completed by the end of this year. Folly reigns in the halls of power.

These wars collectively cost trillions of dollars and more than 100,000 American lives, and what do we have to show for it?

Our world is changing before our eyes, and in ways that are highly dangerous for the current world order and the United States in particular. You need to understand why."

From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/americas-uncertain-future

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Prophesied War in the Middle East

Daniel 11:40

““At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.”

Bible prophecy describes a key end-time conflict between a “king of the South” and a “king of the North” that is part of a chain of events leading to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Here is some of the background to this verse from our post “End-Time Prophecy Jigsaw: The Pieces Are Falling Into Place!”

The book of Daniel tells us that in the last days there will be an influential person ruling in the south, that is, in the Mediterranean area and generally south of Jerusalem (Daniel 11).

Historically, this king of the South was the dynastic leader of the Ptolemies, or the Egyptian branch of the Greek Empire. The king of the South battled it out for over a century, as the Egypt-based Ptolemies struggled for supremacy against the Syria-based Seleucids, another branch of the Greek Empire. This took place in the third and second centuries B.C., after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. (Daniel 11:3-4).

Yet this same prophecy suddenly takes a huge leap to ‘the time of the end,’ when we find a latter-day king of the South provoking and fighting against the king of the North (Daniel 11:40). …

Daniel’s prophecy tells us that once this end-time king of the South has provoked the king of the North, the latter will swoop down on him with massive military force, and invade and conquer much of the Middle East (Daniel 11:40-43).

Elsewhere in Bible prophecy, the king of the North is referred to as ‘the beast,’ the name assigned him by the apostle John in the book of Revelation (Revelation 13:1-10; 17:3-17). We know from history that the heart of this massive end-time power will be in central Europe. In fact, much of the history of the Middle Ages reflects the struggle for dominance between Catholic Europe and the Muslim world, a struggle destined to reappear just before the second coming of Christ.”

For more details about this prophecy, see the articles “The King of the South” and “The King of the North.””      From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/prophesied-war-in-the-middle-east/?

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HOW NOT TO DIE – The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, & Reversing Our Top 15 Killers

“In this “best-of” compilation of his last prior four year-in-review presentations, Dr. Greger explains what we can do about the #1 cause of death and disability: our diet.

Excerpts from transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/P_fBTiqCnNI

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

“Allow me to begin on a personal note. This is a picture of me, right around the time that my grandma was diagnosed with end-stage heart disease and sent home to die. She had already had so many bypass operations, basically ran out of plumbing at some point, confined to a wheelchair, and there was nothing more they could do.  Her life was over at age 65. But then, she heard about this guy, Nathan Pritikin, one of our early lifestyle medicine pioneers.

And what happened next is chronicled in Pritikin’s biography. My grandma was one of the “death’s door” people. Frances Greger arrived in a wheelchair. “Mrs. Greger had heart disease, angina, and claudication; her condition was so bad she could no longer walk without great pain in her chest and legs.  Within three weeks, though she was not only out of her wheelchair but was walking ten miles a day.”

This is my grandma at her grandson’s wedding 15 years after she was given her medical death sentence, and thanks to a healthy diet, she was able to live another 31 years on this earth—until 96—to enjoy her six grandkids, including me.

That is why I went into medicine.

When Dr. Ornish published his Lifestyle Heart Trial years later, proving with quantitative angiography that coronary artery disease could indeed be reversed in the majority of patients without drugs or surgery—just a plant-based diet and other healthy lifestyle changes, I assumed that it was going to be a game-changer. My family had seen it with their own eyes, but finally here it was in black and white, published in one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals on the planet.

But, nothing happened— leaving me to wonder if, effectively, the cure to our #1 killer could get lost down some rabbit hole and ignored, then, what else might be in the medical literature that can help my patients? I made it my life’s mission to find out.” 

“(Last year, Dr. Kim Williams became President of the American College of Cardiology. He was asked why he follows his own advice that he gives to patients, to eat a plant-based diet. “I don’t mind dying,” Dr. Williams replied. “I just don’t want it to be my own fault.””)

Lots more to see in the video or read the transcript at: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/flashback-friday-how-not-to-die-the-role-of-diet-in-preventing-arresting-reversing-our-top-15-killers/?

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The Lessons We Didn’t Learn From 9/11. Is America Mentioned in the Bible? Upate.

The Lessons We Didn’t Learn From 9/11

“Today a brand-new World Trade Center stands in the spot where wreckage smoldered 19 years ago. We’ve rebuilt, but what have we learned?

I was 11.

Mr. Dean and Mr. Blackwell had a clunky old CRT television mounted to the wall in the corner of their shared classroom. It was silver, I think, and had a VHS player.

We were in the middle of a lesson when a teacher rushed in and turned on the TV. There was smoke rolling out of a building I’d never seen before. People were panicked. They were saying someone had flown a plane into a building.

It was … surreal. I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. How could I? I lived in America. America. That sort of thing didn’t happen here. It happened in other countries, or in movies, or … somewhere that wasn’t here.

Memorializing 9/11 while forgetting the lesson

For the United States, 9/11 was the day the world stopped turning—the day we were reminded that, yes, that sort of thing can happen here. That we are vulnerable. That we can bleed.

Four years ago, I visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum with my wife and parents. One of the larger exhibits focused on the events and aftermath of 9/11. There, in a circular room, stood a warped and twisted support beam salvaged from the wreckage of one of the towers. Screens set into the wall were playing time-stamped news footage on a continuous loop—the same footage I had watched in my sixth-grade classroom 19 years ago.

There’s a new World Trade Center now. It’s taller, more impressive and more imposing than before. One of the new support beams bears an inscription from President Obama: “We remember, we rebuild, we come back stronger!” But that gnarled beam in the presidential library was a sobering reminder:

It happened.

We can rebuild, but we can’t undo. We can come back stronger, but not invincible. We can remember what happened, but still forget the lesson.

Could something like 9/11 happen again?

For an extremely brief window of time, the collapse of the World Trade Center towers prompted many Americans to reexamine their lives and ask some probing questions. But it didn’t last. After 9/11, Gallup reported that church attendance in the U.S. jumped from 41 percent to 47 percent. Less than two years later, that percentage was down to 38 percent. Last year it hovered around 34 percent, with 79 percent of Americans agreeing that religion is losing its influence on American life.

For an extremely brief window of time, the collapse of the World Trade Center towers prompted many Americans to reexamine their lives and ask some probing questions. But it didn’t last. The effect faded with the shock, and nothing since then has left enough of an impact to replicate it. We’ve had mass shootings, we’ve had political and civil unrest, we’ve faced multiple moral issues contentious enough to divide the nation into staunch, unyielding camps—but through it all, our nation’s churches have only become emptier and emptier.’    Continue Reading at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/blog/15-years-later-looking-back-on-9-11/?

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Is America Mentioned in the Bible?

“I just got off the phone with a friend from Portland, Oregon. He was describing to me the extent of the wildfires that are raging out of control in that state. You may have seen the pictures of reddish orange skies from the many fires, smoke and ash. Last night I heard one commentator call the scenes “apocalyptic.” That’s biblical language!

On top of the riots and political unrest in the country we still battle such natural disasters. It raises the question, “What is God saying to the nation?” Bible prophecy shows God does send waves of warning upon a nation before judgment falls upon it. Is that what we are seeing from God? Are we seeing warnings of a coming time of judgment?

Many students of the Bible have asked, “Is America mentioned in the Bible?” The answer is no, not directly by name. But when you look at the warnings to turn and obey God or face a time of trial and judgment, you realize the message of the Bible applies to all nations, but especially to America because it has been blessed by God. America has been blessed with the physical promises God made to Abraham. America has been great because God made America great.

This adds deeper meaning to all history for all people. It gives not only understanding but hope. It draws you deeper to the Word of Truth that God gave, "That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life." God has not only fulfilled the spiritual promise through Christ but also the physical part of the promises as well. The two are part of the true gospel of God. We may say that we are a nation trusting in God but the reality is that we are far from a nation truly under God living by God's teachings.

What should you do? 

You should do what Scripture says to do. You should save yourselves from this crooked generation (Acts 2:40). It may be too late for America but it's not too late for you. You can do something. You can turn to God. Pray to him, ask Him questions, thank Him for the blessings in your life and tell him about the things that worry you.

There's a passage from the 18th chapter of the book of Ezekiel where the prophet records the words of God to the nation of Israel. It has bearing upon our time and our people today. In verse 26 it says, "When the righteous man turns from their righteous behavior and starts doing sinful things, they will die for it. Yes, they will die because of their sinful deeds. And if the wicked people turn from their wickedness," God says, "Obey the law and do what is just and right, they will save their lives… Oh people of Israel, repent. Turn from your sins. Don't let them destroy you. Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, oh, people of Israel? I don't want you to die," says the Sovereign Lord, "turn back and live." 

This is what God wants! And it is a decision that you and I can make.

A recent Beyond Today program asks the question, “Has God Given Up on America?” (YouTube:  https://youtu.be/oUrg8PhCakg )    I think you will find this program compelling in light of what we are currently experiencing in our land. I hope you will take a moment to watch it.”    From:  https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?e=72c729d811&u=1d04480cefc2e7c4492fe4a04&id=788a418aa4

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Update.

Like most folks, I remember 9/11 very well.   My Johnnie was in his last days, but sick as he was, he was appalled.  What we were watching that morning was unbelievable.   It wasn’t long after that, that he didn’t really know what was going on around him, he died of cancer, eight weeks later.  But we will never forget…..

Another trip to the doctor here in Navasota to get a referral to see a podiatrist to get corns removed from the bottom of my feet.  I don’t know why I get them, but I have to get really thick foam insoles from Dollar Tree so that it doesn’t me hurt to walk.  I need to walk more, I have put on about 4 pounds.

My central AC did it’s thing again, or rather it didn’t, because it quit working. I had turned it off so that cold air wouldn’t blow on my newly washed hair, but then it wouldn’t turn back on again. I tried and tried to make it turn on but had to call the office.  At least we have a maintenance man again, and he checked the thermostat.  But with a lot of moving the switch back and forth, he got it going again, and has ordered a new thermostat.  Next time I wash my hair I will just move the temperature, not turn the system off.

A new neighbor moved in across the walkway to my apartment.  Boy, when I moved in I was teased for having so much stuff, but she beat me.  She introduced herself and we started talking, so it was soon discovered that we are both Sabbath keepers.  She said she wanted to go to Sherry’s on Friday morning and join our Sabbath school study in preparation for the study with the congregation the following day.  Neither Sherry nor I had a spare current study book, so I texted the ladies from the church who were handing out veggies and fruits at an apartment complex not far from ours, they do that every other Wednesday, to see if any of them had one in their vehicle.  No, no one had one, so I helped them distribute the food, and then followed them back to the church to get the study book. 

So, on Friday morning my new neighbor, June, and I walked down to Sherry’s and we went over this week’s study together.  On the Sabbath, I tried to get the Zoom thing going on my computer for the Sabbath School, but it didn’t do right, so the three of us went over to the church in my van and participated there.  The church is only 1.2 miles away.  June said that she enjoyed it and it was very interesting. There was a laptop hooked up to a TV so we could all see the others on Zoom.  Things are loosening up here, and there were more folks at church today.

Will There Be Another World War? Peace on Earth? VE and VJ Days. Update.

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Will There Be Another World War?

“In the 75 years since World War II, have we learned how to avoid another world war? Or are we headed toward a worse one? Will there be a World War 3?

On Sept. 2, 1945, on the USS Missouri, Japan signed an unconditional surrender, formally ending World War II.

This concluded the greatest cataclysm the world has ever seen, with estimates as high as 100 million dead.

As bad as World War II was, are we now forgetting the horrors and the lessons of history? Will there be another world war?

History is the story of war, and though each war has unique roots and causes, they all are evidence of man’s inability to govern himself. And history gives no assurance that another war—an even more destructive one—will not come.

Remembering World War II

In Europe World War II began on Sept. 1, 1939, when the German army invaded Poland. The war in Asia began two years earlier, on July 7, 1937, when Japan invaded China.

In both Europe and Asia, the aggressor nations were driven by a desire to expand their territory and control or eliminate peoples they considered to be weak or inferior.

Roots of war in Europe

In Europe Adolf Hitler’s brand of grievance politics and charisma was the driving force for his push for more lebensraum or living space. Hitler applied the Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest to the different races. He believed that the Germanic or Aryan race was superior to all others. Therefore, he believed they should dominate and needed more space.

In particular, Hitler coveted Russia, with its vast territory and natural resources.”  Continued at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/prophecy-in-the-news/will-there-be-another-world-war/?

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Peace on Earth?

“A World War II vet considers how the days of infamy and victory remind us of this world's crying need for peace.

“A few years back I called several newspapers on December 7, and asked if they knew what day it was. The reporters didn’t know it was Pearl Harbor Day. Of course, even fewer remember Victory in Europe (VE) Day or VJ Day or other days of remembrance.

How contradictory that the world seeks peace by waging war. The horrors of war were made painfully clear with World War I and World War II. But the world continues to seek peace through conflicts and armed battles. Aren’t we all looking for the day when the whole world will have a truly peaceful environment in which to live a happy, enjoyable life?

Rather than relying on peace treaties, what if all the world followed the Golden Rule? It certainly appears there would be a much, much more peaceful world if all the “war lords” would use the Golden Rule as a daily guide and settle their differences in more peaceful ways.

General Douglas MacArthur understood the answers to these questions at the end of World War II when he spoke aboard the USS Missouri September 2, 1945: “Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.”

He declared: “We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, our Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence, an improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.”

In all, we need to honor God on these days of remembrance—Pearl Harbor Day, VE Day, VJ Day, Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day and Armistice Day—because of His giving us victory. We also honor the tremendous sacrifices Americans have made to try to bring about peace and keep America and the rest of the world free. Each time we remember these days of war and victory, we can remember the words of General MacArthur and the fact that war doesn’t really make a peaceful world. More than that, we can look to the Book that teaches the Golden Rule and the true way to peace.”      

From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/peace-on-earth   Written by Dean Rammelsberg who served aboard the USS Goshen in the Pacific from December 13, 1944, until the end of the war.

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Update.

I remember VE and VJ Days. 

“VJ Day, or Victory over Japan day, comes three months after Nazi Germany surrendered in Europe, and generally receives less attention than Victory in Europe, or VE Day, on May 8.

But more than 30 million soldiers and civilians were killed in the Pacific theater during the war, compared with the 15 million to 20 million who died in Europe.

Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing 100,000 to 200,000 people.”

I was only a kid, but I knew that we rejoicing something big, so I put ribbon streamers on my bicycle handlebars.  I didn’t know anything other than wartime, rationing and the bombings there in London.  Each morning going to school and finding out which of my friends had been killed by the bombs during the night, was normal for me.  I was very fortunate, I just had a crushed foot.

We all went to bed in our “Siren Suits” , I guess you would call them romper suits, because we would have to go down into the bomb shelters when the siren went off, and when the “All Clear” siren sounded we could go outside to see what had been damaged.  (During World War II, Churchill became well known for his 'siren suits', or, as he preferred to call them, 'romper suits'.)  But we made it, and I can still hear Winston Churchill's voice on the radio telling us that it was all over.   P E A C E was just a word that didn’t have any meaning for me until I was older. 

Well, this week has been busy but has mostly been studying, and trying to find homes for 5 pretty little calico kittens and their mom.  Now I am taking care of a very sweet, spayed, declawed, 9 year old cat. Her person died and the people who took her in couldn’t keep her in a ‘No-Pets’ apartment.  Still trying to get her medical records or she will have to be re-vaccinated and re-tested for FIV and FeLu all over again.  That could be hard on her.

One doctor’s office visit has spawned more doctor visits at specialists for this and that.  The first specialist that I saw said he didn’t know why they had sent me there, because I am fine.  I told him I wondered too.  I guess it’s all about the money !!

Our church was distributing fruits and veggies at a nearby apartment complex, so I went to help them.  There was so much food that I was able to bring some back for me and my neighbor Sherry.  I am steaming potatoes, apples and carrots as I write. We each got a watermelon and I cut mine up into finger food sticks, where there is just a little bit of rind on the end to use as a handle. https://lifehacker.com/cut-a-watermelon-into-sticks-perfect-for-kids-and-part-1603562078    .

On Friday, we, Sherry and I, had our usual Bible study from the church’s study book, but because of the heat wave, we knew that we wouldn’t be going there for the Sabbath, today.

75 Years After Hiroshima. Repentance: What Does Repent Mean? Update.

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75 Years After Hiroshima, Real Peril, Real Hope

Seventy-five years ago, the United States waged the world’s first nuclear war. Since then, eight nations have detonated 2,056 nuclear weapons, a shocking number. As one analyst warns, nations seem “willfully blind to the peril.” Will humanity survive?   

RomoloTavani/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Jesus foretold a time of great upheaval that only the use of nuclear weapons could bring about—a time shortly before He returns!

As the world marks the 75th anniversary of the ending of World War II with the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and then Nagasaki, what have we learned?

Consider this disturbing account concerning a nuclear test explosion nine years after Hiroshima. On the open Pacific Ocean, it resembled a mystical apparition arising opposite the morning sun. Roused from sleep, the Japanese crew of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru tuna boat crowded on deck to witness a bizarre fireball expanding over the western horizon. A short time later, as the radiant cloud billowed higher into the morning sky, a puzzling fine chalky material began raining all over the ship and the crewmen. The baffling precipitation lasted three hours, sticking to human skin and piling up on deck.

The fine dust, known later as shi no hai (“ashes of death”), was highly radioactive coral debris, which had been pulverized and blasted into the atmosphere by the then-secret 15-megaton Castle Bravo test (America’s largest thermonuclear weapon at the time).

Covered with the deadly ash, the entire crew fell ill with radiation sickness. Seven months later, the ship’s chief radio operator, Aikichi Kuboyama, died of complications from the radiation, becoming the first victim of a next-generation hydrogen bomb. Nine years after Hiroshima, a Japanese citizen was again the victim of atomic weapons.

Since the first test explosion in July 1945, an astonishing 2,056 nuclear devices have been detonated by nine nations. What has this produced?

The Castle Bravo nuclear detonation described above caused the worst radiological disaster in U.S. history—worse even than the former Soviet Union’s Chernobyl accident—raining radio-active debris nearby and in lower levels over much of the world.

In 1961, Soviet military nuclear scientists exploded the largest device in history—the incomprehensible 50-megaton “Tsar Bomba”—chilling even the hardiest of people at the height of the Cold War. Test after nuclear test has blasted massive earthen cavities and heaved multiple tons of radioactive debris into the atmosphere.

Today some 15,000 nuclear weapons exist, with about 9,400 in military arsenals (the remainder are retired or technologically obsolete, awaiting dismantling). Russia holds the most at 4,300, with the United States not far behind at about 4,000.

And what about other nations with operational nuclear weaponry? Besides Russia and America, publicly known nuclear weapons are held (or capable of being produced) by the United Kingdom, China, France, Israel, Pakistan, India, North Korea and possibly Iran.

All this raises the specter of the unthinkable happening—a worldwide nuclear holocaust. Experts estimate that between 100 million and 270 million people would horrifically die within the first hours of a full-scale mutual thermonuclear exchange between Russia and the United States—to be followed by the complete extinction of humanity within a few years.

This leads us to consider: How in the world did we get here? And, more importantly, where do we go from here? Do we face the future with despair or with hope?

Technology arms race—75 years ago

Here’s a short history.

The sailors who caught a glimpse of the enigmatic metal box being welded to the deck of the U.S.S. Indianapolis on July 16, 1945—the same day an atomic bomb was first successfully tested 1,100 miles away in New Mexico—had no idea what its mysterious contents held. As they sailed out of San Francisco Bay, few knew that onboard was a high-tech weapon that would instantly incinerate some 70,000 people in Hiroshima 20 days later.

The weapon was the result of an unprecedented technological, industrial and manufacturing leap. Six years earlier, a letter written by Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard and signed by Albert Einstein changed the course of human history. In early 1939, German scientists had formally confirmed the discovery of nuclear fission. By literally “splitting the atom” in a sub-atomic chain reaction, enormous energy could be released.

Alarmed, several European and American physicists and other scientists were deeply concerned. After a delay caused by the German invasion of Poland, the now-famous Einstein letter finally made its way into the hands of President Franklin Roosevelt on Oct. 11, 1939.

Roosevelt understood the gravity of the situation immediately. The Nazis could not be the first to develop an atomic weapon.

The president promptly set in motion what became known as the “Manhattan Project,” eventually employing more than 120,000 people, to build the first operational nuclear weapon.

Nearly six years later, the New Mexico test with a dense sphere of 13.6 pounds of plutonium-239 heralded in the nuclear age. On July 16, 1945, the “Gadget,” as the test device was called, produced a destructive 22-kiloton blast that shattered windows more than 100 miles away in America’s sparsely populated Southwest.

20th-century nuclear war

The first use of an atomic weapon in warfare commenced a few weeks later on August 6. A modified B-29 Superfortress bomber dropped the first such bomb (named “Little Boy”) on Hiroshima, a Japanese city of some 340,000 people with industrial and military significance.

At 8:15 a.m., 141 lbs. of uranium-235 explosively slammed together, blazed supercritical and detonated at 1,900 feet above the city. Around 30 percent of the populace, 70,000 people, were instantly killed by the blast and radioactive fire. About 70 percent of the city’s buildings were annihilated, even though only a fraction of the uranium (1.7 percent) actually reached critical mass. Thousands more later died painfully of radiation poisoning, burns and related injuries.

The next day President Harry Truman confirmed both America’s new nuclear capacity and the bombing. In a radio broadcast, the president said: “The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima … We knew that our enemies were on the search for it. We know now how close they were to finding it. And we knew the disaster which would come to this nation, and to all peace-loving nations, to all civilization, if they had found it first … We won the race of discovery against the Germans.”

“The danger of total destruction”

Yet, even then, the American president recognized the deadly threat such weapons posed to all of human civilization. He warned: “The atomic bomb is too dangerous to be loose in a lawless world. That is why Great Britain, Canada and the United States, who have the secret of its production, do not intend to reveal that secret until means have been found to control the bomb so as to protect ourselves and the rest of the world from the danger of total destruction” (emphasis added throughout).

Two days later, loaded with the plutonium-fueled “Fat Man” bomb, a second B-29 flew over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The 11 lbs. of plutonium went supercritical at 1,650 feet. At least 35,000 Japanese civilians died instantly in blazing radioactive horror.

Japan formally surrendered a few days later. In his broadcast of capitulation, Emperor Hirohito recognized the new nuclear threat’s potential of the “total extinction of human civilization.”

The Soviet Union then quickly accelerated its nuclear research program, aided in part by Soviet spies who had infiltrated U.S. top secret research facilities. Four years later, the world reeled in shock on Aug. 29, 1949, at the first successful Soviet nuclear test. Three years after that, the United Kingdom, as a joint participant in the American Manhattan Project, independently detonated its first nuclear weapon in a remote area of Australia.

The deadly nuclear arms race was on.

Importantly, ominous words from the Bible now powerfully came to life. Jesus Christ had foretold a “time of calamity” so destructive that, if not stopped, “not a single person will survive” (Matthew 24:21-22, New Living Translation). The potential expressed in these ancient words had now become reality!

What now?

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, many were gripped by anxiety over the threat of nuclear devastation. Millions of school children practiced survival drills. Public “Fallout Shelters” were stocked and openly marked. Families built bomb shelters. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev almost daily threatened potential atomic war. The United States and Soviet Union faced down each other in a war of words and of nuclear deployment. Missile sites with operational nuclear weapons were established in Turkey by America, then in Cuba by the Russians. Nerves were frayed. Live nuclear exchanges were barely avoided.

Today, the perceived threat of nuclear war has faded. Even the fabled Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has been shifted in some of its focus to the threat of climate change.

Even though many express grave concern about the potential threats of nuclear terrorism and atomic saber-rattling by small nations like North Korea, others seem more worried by pandemics like the coronavirus or economic recovery. As Foreign Affairs magazine recently declared, people seem “willfully blind to the peril” of nuclear-fueled extinction.

But the threat certainly remains. The international Union of Concerned Scientists issued a new call for peace for the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima. It formally reads in part: “Nuclear weapons are the ‘weapons of the devil.’ They could wipe out the human race and all other creatures. They could destroy the environment and turn the globe into a dead planet.”

The short-term threat is real

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Jesus was teaching His disciples from the Mount of Olives overlooking the Kidron Valley and the magnificent Jerusalem temple. As He presented His longest recorded prophecy (Matthew 24), He had much to say about our present age.

He outlined a critical sequence of events that would lead to global disruption and cataclysmic upheaval, as noted earlier. But it certainly wasn’t all bad news. This coming traumatic time, rendered in some English translations as “the great tribulation,” would be resolved by the spectacular establishment of the long-awaited Kingdom of God.

Indeed, this Kingdom, the ultimate hope of all humanity, will be ushered in with the open triumphal return of Jesus—then as King of Kings and Lord of Lords—to the very mountaintop from which He was then speaking.

The events Jesus described, as well as many other dramatic statements throughout the Bible, tell of tumultuous and massive upheaval, even the death of billions of people. Only the use of nuclear weapons matches the horrific scope of what is often described.

Why is this important? These times are ahead of us. If trends continue and nations and people continue to move away from the revealed truth of God, life will grow very difficult—even to the point of literal human extinction. But you and whole communities, even whole nations, can seek to turn their lives around, focused on what God has revealed. (See “Can a Nation Turn Back to God?” on page 26.)

Difficult times lie ahead. But there is real hope—hope beyond a nuclear doomsday. May God speed His coming Kingdom!”  From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/75-years-after-hiroshima-real-peril-real-hope

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Repentance: What Does Repent Mean?

“A major message of the Bible is a call to repent and change. This isn’t popular, but it’s vitally necessary. What is repentance? Why does God require it?

According to the apostle Paul, God “now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30 ).

Repentance is not a popular subject in most of the religious community. Seldom is a modern-day religious audience exhorted to repent.

Yet Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, vigorously preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and told his audience to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:2, 8). Soon after John’s martyrdom, Jesus Christ continued the same theme by preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

Within weeks following Jesus’ crucifixion, the New Testament Church was founded. Peter’s inspired words to an audience of thousands of devout Jews were, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

What does repentance mean? Is it required for salvation? How important is this subject to you? Read more about what the Bible says about repentance in the related articles.”  More at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/change/repentance/

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Update.

We are still like the Lone Ranger, or bank robbers, with our masks on when out in public.  The lady who lived in the apartment across from me was taken to hospice.  It is such a shame when folks take chemotherapy (chemicals) for cancer when there are better ways with more quality of life. It’s all abut the money.

My health insurance nurse came for her annual visit and declared me fit as a fiddle, and wished all her patients my age (85 this month) were as healthy. 

On Tuesday the apartment manager designated me Official Cat Wrangler and I have their trap.  All the tenants are now faced with eviction if we feed these stray cats. Some of the adult cats were born here and they are not about to leave home.  I have permission to feed them so that they can be trapped, and I caught a silver grey cat that first night.   But Navasota Animal Control wouldn’t take it, they said to take it to a vet and have it PTS at my expense, or dump it in the country.

Neither option sounded right to me, so I found that one a home as a barn cat.  I also have my own trap here, but I don’t dare set the traps because what to do with the cats?  The next few days were taken up with the usual chores and writing to every local rescue and shelter that I could think of.   Finally, I think I have found places for all the cats, so I will start trapping again next week.

The real skinny white one won’t need to be trapped as he will come to me, and I managed to get some Revolution (for fleas, ticks, ear mites, mange mites, heartworm, etc), on him.  I hope that it will make him more comfortable.  I think he must have been someone's pet at one time, such a shame.

On Friday my church neighbor, Cherry, and I studied this week’s Bible study as usual, even though we will not be going to the church for the Bible study on the Sabbath.  I have also been studying with the TV program “Through The Bible” each weekday morning for the last 10 years.  Never can have too much studying, and my main interests are the Bible and nutrition.  “You are what you eat, and what it ate” and  “Let Food be Your Medicine.”

Then I got a phone call from my granddaughter saying that my daughter, Wendy, was in an accident and had been thrown off her golf cart. Because of this Covid thing, no one can go see her in the hospital.  She is basically OK, cuts, bruises and sore head, no concussion, but will have surgery on her mouth today.

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Could Biblical Laws Have Prevented Coronavirus? Let Jacob Rejoice. Forgiveness According to the Riches of His Grace. Update.

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What’s Behind the Coronavirus Outbreak?

Had human beings respected and obeyed the Bible’s food laws, the coronavirus outbreak would likely never have occurred.

The coronavirus is causing fear throughout the world. What’s behind this disease epidemic? Is there a solution to it? Will disease epidemics ever end?

Medical workers in protective suits help patients diagnosed with the coronavirus in a temporary hospital in Wuhan, China (Chinatopix via AP). 

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse represent four major trends the world has faced for centuries, but which will intensify to their maximum level in the end times (Revelation 6:1-8).

The fourth horseman is described as riding a “pale horse” (verse 8). This horse is associated with death. By comparing Revelation 6 with Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (found in Matthew 24), we can identify this pale horse as “pestilences,” or plagues (Matthew 24:7). To learn how Jesus’ Olivet Discourse aligns with the four horsemen of Revelation, read “What Are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?”

The pale horse represents disease epidemics that have killed millions of people throughout history and that will afflict the world on an unimaginable scale in the end time.

Disease epidemics are a major issue in the world right now because of the spread of the 2019 Wuhan coronavirus (currently being called 2019-nCoV). Although China is the epicenter of the outbreak and the most affected country, the coronavirus has already spread to other countries in Southeast Asia, and cases have also been detected in Europe and America.

In the age of the plane, nations no longer live in relative isolation. Now a possible disease carrier can infect people in another country or continent thousands of miles away, all in a matter of hours. As of Feb. 11, there are at least 1,016 confirmed deaths and over 42,000 confirmed infections. The numbers increase hour by hour, which has health officials around the world on alert.

The troubling origin of the coronavirus

Initially, it was believed that this coronavirus originated from bats and was transferred to people through bat soup. Scientists researching the origin of the virus believe it can be traced back to a particular “wet market” (a Chinese marketplace specializing in fresh seafood and other meats).

According to Health.com, “researchers studied the genetic code of 2019-nCoV and found that it’s most closely related to two SARS-like coronavirus samples, suggesting that it, too, may have had a bat origin. But when researchers looked deeper, they discovered that the protein codes of 2019-nCoV were most like those used in snakes.”

The current thinking is that the virus could have been transferred to snakes from bats (snakes often eat bats in the wild), and then transferred to humans through snake meat sold at a particular wet market in Wuhan, China.

A recent article in the Journal of Medical Virology found: “Snakes were also sold at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market where many patients worked or had history of exposure to wildlife or farm animals. Taken together, snakes could be the most probable wildlife animal reservoir for the 2019-nCoV.”

Though consuming reptiles and bats is repulsive to many in the Western world, these and many other unusual creatures are commonly eaten in many Asian cultures.

Could biblical laws have prevented the coronavirus?

Though largely ignored in our world today, the Bible contains dietary laws that tell us which meats are designed by God to be eaten and which meats are not. Many have found that these laws benefit human health.

Both bats and snakes are labeled “unclean” in the Bible, that is, not fit for human consumption (Leviticus 11). As is often the case, had human beings respected and obeyed the Bible’s food laws by not eating snake or bat meat, the coronavirus outbreak would likely never have occurred.

To learn more about the biblical laws of clean and unclean meats, read our article “Clean and Unclean Animals: Does God Care What Meats We Eat?”

Another example of a biblical law that can prevent the spread of disease is the Seventh Commandment: “You shall not commit adultery.” This law forbids all sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and woman (Exodus 20:14). This simple law is insurance against contracting the many sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that are carried by so many people today—HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis, human papillomavirus, genital herpes, etc.

(Of course, not everyone who contracts an STI is guilty of breaking this law. Unfortunately, sometimes these diseases are passed to children by a parent or by unsanitary practices at hospitals. Sadly, people’s sins often have repercussions that impact other innocent people.)

God also told the Israelites to bury their bodily waste (Deuteronomy 23:12-13), instead of disposing of it in rivers, lakes and oceans as is often done today—especially in the developing world. This simple preventive measure, if followed, would virtually eliminate the threat of devastating waterborne diseases, such as dysentery, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis and others.

Sanitation, cleaning and quarantine were also emphasized in the Bible. Procedures were also given for the treatment of people with various types of sores and infections (Leviticus 15). Virtually everything the person touched was considered contaminated, including dishes, clothing and even where he or she sat.

These laws were given to help Israel stay healthy and show love to each other. When these laws are applied in the modern world, they can have the same effect!

The ride of the pale horse will be ended

Hopefully, the current coronavirus will be brought under control and its spread will be stopped. But we still know from Bible prophecy that even more serious and deadly disease epidemics are ahead of us. The “pale horse” is already riding—and will ride with more strength and speed during the coming Great Tribulation.

The good news is that Jesus Christ will return to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. When that happens, God’s laws will be implemented throughout the world (Isaiah 2:2-4), which will result in a healthy world—both physically and spiritually!

Jesus Christ, who will return on a white horse, will overpower and destroy the four horsemen of Revelation, including the “pale horse” of pestilence.

The sins that led to the pale horse’s ride will be corrected when humanity repents and starts obeying God’s good and beneficial laws. Human beings will no longer eat unclean meats or do any of the other things that have historically contributed to disease outbreaks.  Had human beings respected and obeyed the Bible’s food laws, the coronavirus outbreak would likely never have occurred.

Pray for those suffering from the terrible coronavirus—and for the return of Jesus Christ to earth to stop disease epidemics!”    From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/blog/whats-behind-the-coronavirus-outbreak/?

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Let Jacob Rejoice

Psalm 14:7

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD brings back the captivity of His people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

“The story of the Bible reveals a cyclical history of God’s people. God loves His people, gives them His good laws and His blessings, but too soon the people forget to thank God and forget His laws. They begin doing things the way that seems right to them, but which He knows will result only in suffering and death. The people bring negative consequences and even captivity on themselves, only to cry out to God for rescue.

In Psalm 14 David looks to the end of this recurring history and cries out for the ultimate salvation that God desires to give. Many prophecies refer to a great end-time exodus of the descendants of Israel back to the Holy Land (Isaiah 11:11-16; Jeremiah 30; etc.).

The physical peace and prosperity are only a foretaste of the true spiritual salvation God offers to those who repent and commit to permanent faithfulness to God and His ways. This salvation, made possible by God’s incredible mercy through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our stead, is the source of the eternal rejoicing that David longed for.”   From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/let-jacob-rejoice/?

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Forgiveness According to the Riches of His Grace

Ephesians 1:7

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

The word redemption means “‘buy back’ or ‘ransom.’ In ancient times, one could buy back a person who was sold into slavery. In the same way, Christ through His death bought us from our slavery to sin” (NKJV Study Bible, note on Ephesians 1:7).

The incredible love Jesus showed in being willing to pay our death penalty for us is described with the Greek word charis—grace. “The Greek word for grace is probably equivalent to the Hebrew word chesed meaning ‘lovingkindness,’ a word frequently used by the psalmists to describe God’s character. In the [New Testament], the word charis usually signifies divine favor or goodwill, but it also means ‘that which gives joy’ and ‘that which is a free gift’” (NKJV Study Bible, Word Study: Grace, p. 1737).

Another way to express the meaning of God’s grace is that it refers to God’s great love in action toward us. Grace describes all of God’s wonderful free gifts, from forgiveness of sins to the gift of eternal life.

For more about forgiveness and grace, see “What Is Grace?”   From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/forgiveness-according-to-the-riches-of-his-grace/?

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Update.

We decided to study all the Philippians lessons in that series, last Sunday at the Bible study.  Then on Mondays we have been having the weekly “Strengthening Families of the Brazos Valley” meetings here at the apartment club house. Tuesday was Bingo, and on Wednesday, Amerigroup put on a Valentine Party for the residents.

By Thursday, somewhere, somehow, I had put my back out, so it has been difficult for me to bend over to put the leash on the little dog.  Oh, how I wish I had a fenced yard!  My doctor doesn’t believe in chiropractors so he ordered therapy for me.  As soon as I walked into the Therapy building I started sneezing and coughing. 

The therapist didn’t do much for me.  Timed me walking around the corridors of the building six times.  I did one lap per minute.  No massage or any hands-on treatment. Maybe that will be another time.  The sneezing and coughing continued into the next day, and got worse during the Friday morning Bible study.  By Saturday morning, I knew that I didn’t need to go to church to sneeze and cough, disturbing the service, so I took some allergy meds and went to bed.

Finally, I stopped sneezing and coughing, so I went to the afternoon Bible study about Revelation on Sunday.