Telegram is going to be my major social platform moving forward.
Uh oh....
"If the tech censors go after Telegram (that dodges bullets because it's a "messaging app") successfully, the next natural step will be deplatforming from phone service for text messages, and ISPs for posts etc. That's where we're headed."
"If the tech censors go after Telegram (that dodges bullets because it's a "messaging app") successfully, the next natural step will be deplatforming from phone service for text messages, and ISPs for posts etc. That's where we're headed."
Made an offer on a house with some acreage out in the country. Ready to get out of the city.
This passage from Theodore Cuyler’s God’s Light on Dark Clouds came to mind as I prayed from friend and dear sister Suzanne.
Her nine year old cousin tragically passed away for reasons that still aren’t clear. Such occasions deserve tears and mourning. But our tears aren’t those of the hopeless. Death will be thrown into the fire forever. And even until that day, God is working through these crosses and losses to prepare us for unending celebration with Him in eternity.
For those under dark clouds, listen and be strengthened by the words of Cuyler:
“In a musical instrument there are some keys that must be touched in order to evoke its fullest melodies; God is a wonderful organist, who knows just what heart-chord to strike. In the Black Forest of Germany a baron built a castle with two lofty towers. From one tower to the other he stretched several wires, which in calm weather were motionless and silent. When the wind began to blow, the wires began to play like an aeolian harp. As the wind rose into a fierce gale, the old baron sat in his castle and heard his mighty hurricane-harp playing grandly over the battlements. Just so, while the weather is calm and the skies clear, a great many of the emotions of a Christian's heart are silent. As soon as the wind of adversity smites the chords, the heart begins to play; and when God sends a hurricane of terrible trial—you will hear strains of submission and faith, and even of sublime confidence and holy exultation, which could never have been heard in the calm hours of prosperity.
Oh, brethren, let the winds smite us, if they only make the spices flow! Let us not shrink from the deepest trial, if at midnight we can only sing praises to God. If we want to know what clouds of affliction mean and what they are sent for, we must not flee away from them in fright with closed ears and bandaged eyes. Fleeing from the cloud is fleeing from the Divine love that is behind the cloud.
In one of the German picture-galleries is a painting called "Cloudland"; it hangs at the end of a long gallery, and at first sight it looks like a huge repulsive daub of confused color, without form or loveliness. As you walk towards it the picture begins to take shape; it proves to be a mass of exquisite little cherub faces. If you come close to the picture, you see only an innumerable company of little angels and cherubim! How often the soul that is frightened by trial sees nothing but a confused and repulsive mass of broken expectations and crushed hopes! But if that soul, instead of fleeing away into unbelief and despair, would only draw up near to God, it would soon discover that the cloud was full of angels of mercy. In one cherub-face it would see "Those whom I love—I chasten." Another angel would say, "All things work together for good to those who love God." In still another sweet face the heavenly words are coming forth, "Let not your heart be troubled; believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions. Where I am—there shall you be also." Today my lonely room is vocal with such heavenly utterances.
God's ways are not my ways—but they are infinitely better. The cloud is not so dense but love-rays shine through. In time the revealing "winds shall clear" away the dark and dreadful mystery. Kind words of sympathy steal into the shadowed room of suffering. If Christ does not come in visible form to our Bethanys, He sends His faithful servants and handmaidens with words of warm, tender condolence.”
Her nine year old cousin tragically passed away for reasons that still aren’t clear. Such occasions deserve tears and mourning. But our tears aren’t those of the hopeless. Death will be thrown into the fire forever. And even until that day, God is working through these crosses and losses to prepare us for unending celebration with Him in eternity.
For those under dark clouds, listen and be strengthened by the words of Cuyler:
“In a musical instrument there are some keys that must be touched in order to evoke its fullest melodies; God is a wonderful organist, who knows just what heart-chord to strike. In the Black Forest of Germany a baron built a castle with two lofty towers. From one tower to the other he stretched several wires, which in calm weather were motionless and silent. When the wind began to blow, the wires began to play like an aeolian harp. As the wind rose into a fierce gale, the old baron sat in his castle and heard his mighty hurricane-harp playing grandly over the battlements. Just so, while the weather is calm and the skies clear, a great many of the emotions of a Christian's heart are silent. As soon as the wind of adversity smites the chords, the heart begins to play; and when God sends a hurricane of terrible trial—you will hear strains of submission and faith, and even of sublime confidence and holy exultation, which could never have been heard in the calm hours of prosperity.
Oh, brethren, let the winds smite us, if they only make the spices flow! Let us not shrink from the deepest trial, if at midnight we can only sing praises to God. If we want to know what clouds of affliction mean and what they are sent for, we must not flee away from them in fright with closed ears and bandaged eyes. Fleeing from the cloud is fleeing from the Divine love that is behind the cloud.
In one of the German picture-galleries is a painting called "Cloudland"; it hangs at the end of a long gallery, and at first sight it looks like a huge repulsive daub of confused color, without form or loveliness. As you walk towards it the picture begins to take shape; it proves to be a mass of exquisite little cherub faces. If you come close to the picture, you see only an innumerable company of little angels and cherubim! How often the soul that is frightened by trial sees nothing but a confused and repulsive mass of broken expectations and crushed hopes! But if that soul, instead of fleeing away into unbelief and despair, would only draw up near to God, it would soon discover that the cloud was full of angels of mercy. In one cherub-face it would see "Those whom I love—I chasten." Another angel would say, "All things work together for good to those who love God." In still another sweet face the heavenly words are coming forth, "Let not your heart be troubled; believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions. Where I am—there shall you be also." Today my lonely room is vocal with such heavenly utterances.
God's ways are not my ways—but they are infinitely better. The cloud is not so dense but love-rays shine through. In time the revealing "winds shall clear" away the dark and dreadful mystery. Kind words of sympathy steal into the shadowed room of suffering. If Christ does not come in visible form to our Bethanys, He sends His faithful servants and handmaidens with words of warm, tender condolence.”
Some thoughts on the difference between a dreamer mindset, loser mindset, and a winner mindset...
We are under contract on our 1st home.
Just 3 1/2 years ago we narrowly escaped bankruptcy after a catastrophic business loss.
Things can change real quick.
God is kind.
Just 3 1/2 years ago we narrowly escaped bankruptcy after a catastrophic business loss.
Things can change real quick.
God is kind.
Here’s the connection I see between the false prophets in Jeremiah and Qanon....
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An acquaintance of mine got arrested this morning for entering the Capitol. He just had a daughter a month ago.
Some thoughts...
LARPing can cost you...
Traditionally, LARPing is when a bunch of geeks get together in a field or pasture and beat each other up with foam core swords. In the internet sense, it refers to people who put on a façade and lie about having lives that are far more interesting than they really are.
An example of modern day LARPing would be people trying to live out a Little House on the Prairie fantasy or a Reformed guy acting like we live in Calvin’s Geneva. It’s playing out a “role” that fits in a 1) fantasy land or 2) bygone age.
Qanon advocates, especially the ones that got deep in it, were playing a game and following clues. They didn’t think of it that way but that is what was happening. Q was like a dungeon master in DnD or game designer. So these people ignore all the signs that this was fake and rush to DC believing that the cabal would finally be exposed in dramatic fashion like in a movie.
This sort of stuff has consequences. My acquaintance is a great guy with a beautiful wife and daughter. And now he is facing some significant jail time.
Some thoughts...
LARPing can cost you...
Traditionally, LARPing is when a bunch of geeks get together in a field or pasture and beat each other up with foam core swords. In the internet sense, it refers to people who put on a façade and lie about having lives that are far more interesting than they really are.
An example of modern day LARPing would be people trying to live out a Little House on the Prairie fantasy or a Reformed guy acting like we live in Calvin’s Geneva. It’s playing out a “role” that fits in a 1) fantasy land or 2) bygone age.
Qanon advocates, especially the ones that got deep in it, were playing a game and following clues. They didn’t think of it that way but that is what was happening. Q was like a dungeon master in DnD or game designer. So these people ignore all the signs that this was fake and rush to DC believing that the cabal would finally be exposed in dramatic fashion like in a movie.
This sort of stuff has consequences. My acquaintance is a great guy with a beautiful wife and daughter. And now he is facing some significant jail time.
In Persecution in the Early Church, Herbert Workman expertly explains how state-led persecution sprung up through "red tape" regulations and on the basis that Christians were lawless rebels against the government.
A few quotes:
"But Julius Caesar, on political grounds, suppressed all [religious societies] except those of ancient origin, while Augustus placed all religious societies under the strictest control."
“The imperial idea that Christianity was a danger to the State and civilization itself, an anarchist institution, was maintained with varying insistence, some modification in detail, and occasional intervals of toleration, from the days of Nero to the final victory of the Church under Constantine.”
"A wise recognition of local usages was one thing, provided always that the interests of the State were duly conserved; a toleration founded upon the claims of conscience and the rights of the individual soul was a matter too absurd even for philosophers to discuss."
“The charge of anarchism exposed the Christians to one peril in special. It put them outside the law and brought them under the arbitrary executive jurisdiction of the magistrates and police superintendents. These, as Mommsen has pointed out, were with large powers of immediate action (coercitio), on their own responsibility, against all persons whose conduct was likely to lead to political trouble. Just as in modern Russia the Nihilist or the innocent reformer can be arrested and sentenced, even banished for life to Sakhalien, on mere ‘administrative order,’ without the presence of trial, or the need that the bureaucrat quote any law at all, so with the early Christian.”
“In theory, Christianity was a hateful thing, a danger to society, and the State, to be crushed out wherever found. In practice, vigilance varied considerably; there were spasms of enforcement of the law followed by reactions of indifference on the part of both Government and people. Persecution was also to a large extent a local matter; an outburst of popular hatred driving the magistrate to put into force enactments that would be distasteful to some if only because of the extra work that they involved, to others because of their consciousness of their futility. A modern illustration may make the matter clear. The Christian was looked upon much as an Anarchist or Nihilist is looked upon by the police of Paris or St. Petersburg. He is kept under strict observation; the police can proceed against him any day without formality or delay. But because of that very fact the Anarchist is only arrested when popular feeling or his own doings demand. If he keep quiet the police do not trouble him. So with the Christian.”
“Another of this main argument should be noted. Christianity, as we have seen, was put down as a police measure by ‘administrative order' rather than by formal laws, or stately trials.”
It's hard to not see such a scenario being set up once again but this time under the guise of a "pandemic."
A few quotes:
"But Julius Caesar, on political grounds, suppressed all [religious societies] except those of ancient origin, while Augustus placed all religious societies under the strictest control."
“The imperial idea that Christianity was a danger to the State and civilization itself, an anarchist institution, was maintained with varying insistence, some modification in detail, and occasional intervals of toleration, from the days of Nero to the final victory of the Church under Constantine.”
"A wise recognition of local usages was one thing, provided always that the interests of the State were duly conserved; a toleration founded upon the claims of conscience and the rights of the individual soul was a matter too absurd even for philosophers to discuss."
“The charge of anarchism exposed the Christians to one peril in special. It put them outside the law and brought them under the arbitrary executive jurisdiction of the magistrates and police superintendents. These, as Mommsen has pointed out, were with large powers of immediate action (coercitio), on their own responsibility, against all persons whose conduct was likely to lead to political trouble. Just as in modern Russia the Nihilist or the innocent reformer can be arrested and sentenced, even banished for life to Sakhalien, on mere ‘administrative order,’ without the presence of trial, or the need that the bureaucrat quote any law at all, so with the early Christian.”
“In theory, Christianity was a hateful thing, a danger to society, and the State, to be crushed out wherever found. In practice, vigilance varied considerably; there were spasms of enforcement of the law followed by reactions of indifference on the part of both Government and people. Persecution was also to a large extent a local matter; an outburst of popular hatred driving the magistrate to put into force enactments that would be distasteful to some if only because of the extra work that they involved, to others because of their consciousness of their futility. A modern illustration may make the matter clear. The Christian was looked upon much as an Anarchist or Nihilist is looked upon by the police of Paris or St. Petersburg. He is kept under strict observation; the police can proceed against him any day without formality or delay. But because of that very fact the Anarchist is only arrested when popular feeling or his own doings demand. If he keep quiet the police do not trouble him. So with the Christian.”
“Another of this main argument should be noted. Christianity, as we have seen, was put down as a police measure by ‘administrative order' rather than by formal laws, or stately trials.”
It's hard to not see such a scenario being set up once again but this time under the guise of a "pandemic."
Why Black Swans, Volcanic Ash, and the Revenge of the Nerds give me hope and make me chuckle...