Astrology and Reincarnation

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Revelation 22:1-3

Good News Translation

22 The angel also showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, and coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² and flowing down the middle of the city's street. On each side of the river was the tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times a year, once each month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. ³ Nothing that is under God's curse will be found in the city. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.

 

Beryl (name changed) phoned Sylvia up and invited us to share a meal together at a local restaurant. It’s wonderful to not have to worry about COVID-19 right now and still feel safe. Beryl got us a booth, and we chatted as we waited for our orders. She spoke of the times we live in and how everything is falling apart. With fear written all over her face she spoke of multiple conspiracies and how dark the future looked.

She had been born in Italy and grew up in the Catholic church. She loved its pomp and ceremonies. Then she became an Adventist, and married an Adventist. Later her husband had drifted away from her and the church and become quite bitter about the church. She had come to believe in reincarnation and pitied a mutual friend of ours who is now dead, possibly from suicide. Now the friend will have to start the life process all over again working the way up towards nirvana. She explained how her life was like climbing a ladder towards better and better things—first Catholic, then Adventism, and now an even higher status. When she learned my birthday, she commented that I was Aquarius-born and what my personality was like.

She told how she had recently listened to the Book of Revelation again. After a long account of terrible troubles, she remarked how the book ended from chapter 19 to the end. She mentioned how the Mark of the Beast was introduced in chapter 19. And then the glorious description of the New Earth where only peace, happiness and joy reign, [I resisted telling her the Mark of the Beast is actually introduced in chapter 13, and the description of Paradise starts in chapter 21.] I thoroughly enjoyed the hope and faith she was expressing and didn’t want to spoil it.

She admonished: “You must listen to the book of Revelation again. It really gives you a lot of hope.” Then her mood darkened as she thought again about all our current troubles and dismal future. With a silent prayer for wisdom, I encouraged her to keep her eyes focused on Christ. Each time her worries take over, she must look at Christ and what He has done for her. As she ascends this ladder of hers, she must always have Christ with her. She brightened up again at this suggestion. She agreed that this would work.

As we parted, she thanked me for the words of encouragement I had given her. Please pray for Beryl.

Lord, as time runs down, Satan is redoubling his efforts to take all mankind into hell with him. Please redouble the power of Your Holy Spirit in our lives to resist him.

 

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[i] https://www.psephizo.com/revelation/can-the-book-of-revelation-help-us-engage-with-culture/

 

He Is Risen!

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Matthew 27:65-66

Common English Bible

⁶⁵ Pilate replied, “You have soldiers for guard duty. Go and make it as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ Then they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.

 

During Easter time this year, I thought again about the burial and resurrection of Christ. Interestingly, Jesus enemies remembered clearly that Christ had predicted He would rise again on the third day—None of the disciples remembered it. His enemies went to Pilate and persuaded him to post a guard around the tomb of Christ. Even Satan himself wanted Christ to be forever entombed. He was hurting worse than ever before in his long evil history because he knew Christ had totally and irrevocably defeated him. Satan posted his demons around the tomb. The Sanhedrin and Pilate posted 100 soldiers of the most powerful nation on earth about the tomb. They sealed it with a Roman seal. There was no way on earth that Christ would ever see the light of day again.

But the rules of battle had changed. Things were no longer restricted to Christ’s humanity alone. One mighty angel of God showed up in full battle garb and nudged the massive stone cover aside. The soldiers all fell as though dead. The invisible demons from hell fled in chaotic disarray. Christ came forth from the tomb resplendent in divine power.

I am reminded of an experience on a miniature scale. In rural East Africa driver ants, each about a quarter of an inch long, can be found. They make “roads” through the bush and travel these roads by the thousands. They have been known to strip the flesh off an animal in a night. One evening they chose to go into the Conway’s home and clean it out. John Conway came to ask me for help. By the time I got there, there were several thousand ants milling around wildly on their concrete back porch. They must have been three-quarters of an inch thick, and they kept coming by the thousands. I went in and sprinkled kerosene on them and lit it. The whole floor burnt for some five minutes. When the flames went out, the ants continued to pour onto the porch. The Conways had to keep sweeping them out of the kitchen and back onto the porch. In their vast numbers, the ants calculated that they had us beat.

And they did—except for one thing: fire from above! I repeated the sprinkle-with-kerosene-and-light-it tactic, time and time again. This went on for most of the night. We must have burnt several hundred thousand ants that night. Since the colony of driver ants is not infinite, eventually we destroyed them. We stood there and laughed as they were completely incinerated by this fire from above, for which they had no defense.

The Psalmist describes the heavenly reaction to puny human and demonic attempts to keep Christ in the tomb: “From his throne in heaven the Lord laughs, and mocks their feeble plans” Psalm 2:4 (GNT).

Thank You, Lord, that You have beaten the devil, and Your triumphant and vigilant army is protecting me and everyone else who asks You to do so.

 

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[i] https://www.funeralwise.com/digital-dying/death-by-ants-from-africa-and-australia-to-florida/

The Golden Rule and the Law

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Matthew 7:12 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

¹² Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets.

Marvin (name changed) attended a picnic hosted by a military base for its troops and workers. Along with a lot of good food there was also plenty of liquor. Marvin enjoyed the camaraderie, the games, and the food. He went very light on the booze because he knew he had to drive home. As darkness came on, the celebration became less family oriented, and Marvin decided now was a good time to leave.

As he drove towards the gate, he noticed a pickup truck ahead of him. It was already dark, and the pickup seemed to swerve this way and that. At one point it reared up onto the side walk and nearly took out an ATM. Marvin became increasingly concerned about the pickup’s driver.

Exiting the base, the pickup stopped at a red light and then actually went part way out onto a vacant lot before running back onto the road. Finally Marvin’s concern propelled him into action. He called 911 and described what was happening.

At that point the truck pulled into a parking lot behind a fast food place. Marvin had stopped to see what would happen. A motor-cycle cop pulled up behind the pickup and parked. He went up to the driver and had her get out of the truck. Joanne indeed had had a lot to drink. She was naturally distraught, and the incident actually took her driving privileges away and cost her a considerable sum of money. But it may well have saved her life.

Marvin actually felt bad about his actions but felt that what he did for Joanne was probably for her best. I was on the jury that tried Joanne.

Lord, help us to indeed do what we can for others even if this may not be fully appreciated. If we are candid, we would also want others to help prevent us from hurting ourselves.

 

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[i] https://www.dummitfradin.com/can-i-lose-my-license-after-a-dui/

The Glory of the Stars

Psalm 23:4

King James Version

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

 

On his 85^th birthday, Grampa suffered a stroke. He deteriorated gradually until in his fifth week, he lapsed into a coma. He had become a very good friend of mine. Two years before, I had become very interested in the stars and astronomy. Dad taught at Helderberg College in South Africa, and the college librarian, Mrs. Gorle was a friend of our family, so she welcomed me into the library as a full-fledged member. I methodically read book after book in the astronomy section of the library. Grampa watched me reading these books.

Concerned, he said to me one day, “What are you reading?”

Enthusiastically I told him what I knew about the stars and planets.

“You know,” he said, “Stars are only balls of gas; they’re not really important to your life. You’re just wasting your time.”

This didn’t deter me; my interest had been piqued. One day I came home with a book entitled Astronomy and the Bible, published, if I remember correctly, about 1905. Interested, as usual in what I was reading, he picked it up and read the title. Then he leafed through the book. He had the habit of studying the Bible every day, and the title caught his interest.

“Mind if I borrow this?” He asked.

“Go right ahead, Grampa!” I encouraged him

He disappeared into his room and read it from cover to cover. The fascination of astronomy had caught him, too. Now he was competing with his ten-year old grandson to get the next astronomy book from the library. One day he came back with a brand-spanking-new copy of The Glory of the Stars, by Merlin L Neff, that the library had just put on their shelves. I was super excited and not a little jealous that he had found it before I did. We both read it and had a lot to talk about together.

Now, not much more than a year later, he lay in his bed dying. One morning he woke up from the coma. People gathered around, and visited with them on a one-by-one basis. Then he asked for me. I went in. He was as lucid as he had always been, although he was very weak. “Wilton, as you can see, I’m dying. Promise me that you will see me again in heaven.”

I promised. I was not yet a baptized Christian, but I promised and meant it. He died later on that day.

By your grace only, Lord, I am relying on You to help me keep that promise. And I ask you, Dear Reader, to make that same promise!

 

 

Wondrous Heavenly Things

 

[1]

Psalm 119:18 

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁸ Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things...

 

Brock Kidd in the July 10, 2020, devotional in Daily Guideposts 2020 pulled an unforgiveable punch with the quote as I wrote it above. Of course, if your mind thinks along similar tracks to mine it automatically fills in “out of Thy law.” Ignoring the inspired ending to the verse, he went on to describe a cabin his grandfather had built where he would retire to meditate. Allow me to prolong Brock’s abuse of scripture.

At four-thirty on the same morning I read Brock’s story, Katie, our beloved mongrel, and I went out to Doty Park near home. There was a promise of seeing Comet Neowise. The park was dark and silent. Across the sky in a magnificent arc of a circle stretched four naked-eye planets. Punctuated on the right (west) shone Jupiter, and on the left Venus outshone even Jupiter. Continuously social distancing herself wider and wider from Jupiter, Saturn followed, looking pale compared to her brilliant sisters. Racing towards Venus almost as fast as Venus was racing toward her was Mars. And in their very midst sat an almost pregnant Moon, brighter than all four sisters combined.

Immediately below Venus hunkered Aldebaran—the bull’s eye. With my binoculars I noticed a cloud of stars, the Pleiades, dancing around Venus. In ancient Greek mythology they were considered a troop of nymphs bringing rain. They would have to prance a whole lot livelier to bring us rain in this middle of the dry season.

We didn’t find the comet. A week or so later it had moved into the evening sky, so Sylvia, Katie, and I drove out into the desert where we had true night. Sure enough, we saw a wondrous, naked eye comet in the north sky under a magnificent Big Dipper. We sat there a while and then walked around in the warm desert evening marveling at God’s handiwork in the heavens.

Help me, Lord, to put similar effort into seeing wondrous things in Thy Law.

 

 

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[1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/10/21318478/nasa-f3-comet-neowise-see-watch-astrophotography-space