More about the accident I told you about in the previous post.

I’d like to finish my story about my accident; the one I told you about in the previous post.

Back to the scene of the accident: The first highway patrolman who started pursuing the person who almost hit me never got a chance to catch that person. He heard the crash and turned around at his next available pass-through and came back to check on us to see if we were all OK; which we both were. More cops showed up very quickly. It was the second cop who recorded all our stories, even whatever the first cop had to say. The second cop was the one who gave us both tickets. I didn’t get mad or say derogatory things to him. I just told him my story as best I could. When I took out all the things I thought contributed to the accident, I was legally at fault; I failed to yield the right of way. I did not obey the law. And that was that.

I had two options with my ticket. I could pay the ticket and this accident would stay in my driving history for a long time, or I could take a Drivers Safety class. I opted for the class.

Here I was in Tyler at my brother’s house, 240 miles from home, constantly praying for help with the many decisions we needed to make with mom, and now I needed to figure out what I was going to do about getting another vehicle. It just so happened that my brother had a spare vehicle for me to use until I figured it out.

One thing I want to say about mom’s passing. She always said that when it was her time, she didn’t want to suffer long with pain. I believe that the Lord did keep her from that. Only once did I hear mom complain of pain and that was near the end. Mom was diagnosed on November 14, 2013 and she passed away February 1, 2014; not quite the couple of weeks she was originally given.

The accident was Jan 27^th, the insurance totaled my truck on Jan 30^th, I bought a new truck there in Tyler on the 31^st, and mom passed away Feb 1^st. I returned home and we started making preparations for mom’s funeral which included moving her body from Tyler to Moulton, 260 miles away.

There were so many things to deal with after mom’s death; getting death certificates to various places, probate court, deciding what to do with all of moms stuff, yada, yada, yada. During all this after death stuff, I forgot all about the Drivers Safety class.

I got a letter from the Municipal Court in Troup, TX with information of what I needed to do and a time to complete and send back proof of completion of the class. This first letter was sent to my home address about a week or two after the accident; right in midst of all the after death stuff. There were two things I needed to do right away which I did complete. I thought the document said I had 6 months to send in proof of completing the course so I put it into the back of my mind.

After a couple of months, I received another letter from the Municipal Court ordering me to appear before the Judge for failure to show evidence of completing the Drivers Safety class. I searched for but couldn’t find the original document to see how long it gave me.

I went ahead and completed the course and took my document of completion with me to see the judge. I arrived early and first talked with the court clerk and gave her the document verifying that I had completed the course and she directed me to the court room. It was not at all what I expected. The court room was very small with just a couple rows of folding chairs in front of the judge’s bench. I was the first person there so I sat down in one of the chairs and waited. One other person came in. The judge entered the court room just wearing his street clothes. No formalities when he entered; he went right into business. The other man was first to talk with the judge. The judge completed working with him then it was my turn. I went up to his bench and waited for him to read over the charges and then he started to question me. He saw the document of completion and asked why I did not complete the course when I was supposed to. I explained about all that was going on with our mom at the time. He asked more questions and then gave me his judgment. He dismissed the charges and had the accident erased from my records. You can imagine my glee. He had every right to charge me but because of his kind heartedness and compassion, he pardoned me instead.

I tend to think that more often man judges by the letter of the law. What I mean is this; if you disobey a law, there are no excuses. Another thing is that they can only judge by the evidence given to them.

With God, it is different. His judgment is sure, perfectly true. He knows everything about each one of us; he even knows what we think. Who is better to judge than God himself? God has already rightly judged me guilty of disobeying His laws and my punishment is death. My and your life stories have already been written in books. God knows everything even before it happens. What is amazing and beyond words is this: His son, His only Begotten Son who knew no sin, has taken my place of the punishment. God didn't pardon me, He took my place. He didn't do this just for me. He did this for everyone; the whole world. He died so that we could live; so amazing. Can you imagine anyone having more loving-kindness and compassion than our God?

John 12:44-50 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

⁴⁴ Yeshua declared publicly, “Those who put their trust in me are trusting not merely in me, but in the One who sent me. ⁴⁵ Also those who see me see the One who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who trusts in me might not remain in the dark. ⁴⁷ If anyone hears what I am saying and does not observe it, I don’t judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ Those who reject me and don’t accept what I say have a judge — the word which I have spoken will judge them on the Last Day. ⁴⁹ For I have not spoken on my own initiative, but the Father who sent me has given me a command, namely, what to say and how to say it. ⁵⁰ And I know that his command is eternal life. So what I say is simply what the Father has told me to say.”

Why do you and I judge?

Why do we judge something that we are not even a part of? It is hard enough to judge even if you are involved or if you are charged with the responsibility to judge. 

All of us have this tendency to judge or form an opinion about who was right or wrong just by what we see in the news or read or hear from others. The only thing we do when we voice our opinions is to contribute to the unrest and fuel the hate.

To give you an example of how our judgements can be faulty; have you ever watched a football game and thought a referee made a wrong call. From the angle of view that you saw on TV, there was no way that he was right. But as you saw the many different angles from other cameras, you came to agree with him; he judged correctly.  

What I am referring to right now is what’s going on between black people and white cops and our judicial system. I live in Texas and the big news right now is about what happened to Sandra Bland, a black woman, and a white cop who threw her in jail. Yes, I can not understand how anyone could get pulled over for failing to put on their turn signal while changing lanes and then get thrown into jail. I don’t understand it but I was not there and I don’t read minds.

I want to tell you a true story about myself. I was involved in an accident last year up in Tyler Texas which totaled both our vehicles. A young white man broadsided me in an intersection. By the letter of the law, it was my fault because I did not yield right of way to oncoming traffic when I made the left turn. I felt sorry for the young man for a number of reasons. He did not have insurance; the license sticker on his car was from another vehicle, which the cop noticed right away; and he was just starting a new job. Like I said, I took full responsibility however, we were both ticketed.

I want to tell you about the things that happened leading up to the accident. 

I was staying in Tyler with my brother because our mother was dying of cancer. I was on the way to pick up some things for mom. The highway I was traveling on was two lanes both ways with a center lane used for turning. I was in the inside lane anticipating the left turn I needed to make in about a mile. There was a vehicle slightly ahead of me on the outside lane. I must have been in their blind spot because they came directly into my lane. To keep from getting hit I slowed and moved into the center lane. There was a highway patrolman following some distance behind who saw this. He sped up, came around me on my right and positioned himself between me and the car that almost hit me. All three of us stopped in the left turn lane waiting for the light to turn green. The lights turned green, the car that almost hit me turned left. The highway patrolman started flashing his lights and followed the car turning left. I thought it was OK and I followed. I got almost all the way through the intersection when the young man who was traveling in his outside lane of oncoming traffic, broadsided me just in front of the right rear wheel. I didn’t even realize that it was my fault until, while waiting for a wrecker, I studied the lights and saw the yield sign. There was a protected left turn arrow but it came on at the end of the cycle and not at the beginning. With all the green lights, our mom in hospice care, and two cars just in front of me turning left, I just assumed it was OK for me to turn too.

Now let me get back to the Sandra Bland incident. Did something similar happen here? Did Sandra almost hit someone when changing lanes? What was going through Sandra’s mind leading up to this incident? What happened in the cop’s life leading up to pulling Sandra over. Sandra's attitude may have just been the straw that broke the camel's back, as the saying goes and contributed to the cop making a bad decision. We just don’t know. God is the only one who completely knows the truth.

Now it is up to the judicial system to make a decision by the evidence presented to them. I feel for the judge and jury who will have to decide. With all the unrest, there are going to be a lot of people who will not be happy no matter what the findings are.

The Bible says that we are not to judge at all but if you do chose to judge something or someone; God will judge you the same way as you judge. I believe that the way He does this is by allowing us to see something we’ve done, maybe like the one we judged, which will lead to shame, guilt, and sorrow.

Matthew 7:1-5 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

7 “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. ² For the way you judge others is how you will be judged — the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you. ³ Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye but not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you have the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye!

Each one of us has a story already written and recorded in books. God knew everything about us even before we were conceived. God doesn’t just leave us to the bad choices we make. He has a plan for each one of us.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
¹² Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
¹³ And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

To those who kill for their god

What I am about to say is not to put down the Muslim faith at all. I know that there are many groups within all faiths who interpret their Holy book differently. To those of you who believe that your Allah desires you to go and kill people, I wonder if you are serving the One True God? I can’t understand the killing of people just because they are Jews or Christians or Muslims or Palestinians or Americans or blacks or whites or whoever it is that you justify killing. This post is for all people who believe killing others is the answer to the world's problems.

You can't force others to believe what you believe. Many convert out of fear. When you gain a convert to your way of thinking, it doesn't stop there. Soon you start to suspect those converts and make up tests to see if they really have converted. When you decide someone has failed your test and that they really have not converted, you will kill them; that is if they are lucky. History has shown that just killing is not enough. One thing leads to something more gruesome. This has happened even in the Christian faiths. Early Christians have been known to burn people alive and torture someone to get them to confess to something they believed them to be guilty of.

I call myself a Christian but I believe that the One True Living God is the God of peace and love. He gave us laws knowing beforehand we wouldn't obey them. Then instead of enforcing them or even pardon us, He did something beyond comprehension. His Son took our punishment willingly; He took our place. Jesus knew the horrible pain and suffering He would go through but He went through with it anyway. He didn't have to do that. Father God could have enforced His laws and all of us would be destroyed.   

This I believe with all my heart. If this killing you do, is for the One True God, then you will receive blessings. But if not, curses. This is in this life, not the next one. Are you willing to waste this life believing someone who tells you that your next life will be better?

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God ((Hebrews 10:30-31, Devarim (Deuteronomy) 32:35-36)).

I look forward to God’s Day of Judgment. I see no other way to fix things. Everyone will see the truth about themselves; just as Father God sees each one of us. The Bible talks about receiving crowns for the good things we do but when we look at ourselves as a whole, those crowns will look small in comparison ((Yeshayah (Isaiah) 64:6))

I had something odd happen with my grape harvest this year. At first, here were full clusters of green grapes but as they ripened, most went from beautiful green grapes to dried up things yielding nothing for me this year. The ones that did make were very good and sweet.

This years’ grape harvest is the way I view how Judgment will be. There are some of us who have become good fruit, but so many more of us have become noting but shriveled up things.

The thing I would like you to realize is this. Even though you or I are that shriveled up thing, the seed is still there. If that seed goes into good ground, it will produce a vine; in other words, this is not the end.

Malachi 3 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

3 “Look! I am sending my messenger
to clear the way before me;
and the Lord, whom you seek,
will suddenly come to his temple.
Yes, the messenger of the covenant,
in whom you take such delight —
look! Here he comes,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
² But who can endure the day when he comes?
Who can stand when he appears?
For he will be like a refiner’s fire,
like the soapmaker’s lye.
³ He will sit, testing and purifying the silver;
he will purify the sons of Levi,
refining them like gold and silver,
so that they can bring offerings to Adonai uprightly.
⁴ Then the offering of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim
will be pleasing to Adonai,
as it was in the days of old,
as in years gone by.
⁵ “Then I will approach you for judgment;
and I will be quick to witness
against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers;
against those who take advantage
of wage-earners, widows and orphans;
against those who rob the foreigner of his rights
and don’t fear me,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.

⁶ “But because I, Adonai, do not change,
you sons of Ya‘akov will not be destroyed.
⁷ Since the days of your forefathers
you have turned from my laws and have not kept them.
Return to me, and I will return to you,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
“But you ask, ‘In respect to what
are we supposed to return?’
⁸ Can a person rob God?
Yet you rob me.
But you ask, ‘How have we robbed you?’
In tenths and voluntary contributions.
⁹ A curse is on you, on your whole nation,
because you rob me.
¹⁰ Bring the whole tenth into the storehouse,
so that there will be food in my house,
and put me to the test,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
“See if I won’t open for you
the floodgates of heaven
and pour out for you a blessing
far beyond your needs.
¹¹ For your sakes I will forbid the devourer
to destroy the yield from your soil;
and your vine will not lose its fruit
before harvest-time,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
¹² “All nations will call you happy,
for you will be a land of delights,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.

¹³ “You have spoken strongly against me,” says Adonai.
“Yet you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’
¹⁴ By saying, ‘There is no point in serving God.
What good is it to obey his orders
or to walk about as mourners
before Adonai-Tzva’ot?
¹⁵ We consider the arrogant happy;
also evildoers prosper;
they put God to the test;
nevertheless, they escape.’”
¹⁶ Then those who feared Adonai spoke together;
and Adonai listened and heard.
A record book was written in his presence
for those who feared Adonai
and had respect for his name.
¹⁷ “They will be mine,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot,
“on the day when I compose my own special treasure.
I will spare them as a man spares
his own son who serves him.
¹⁸ Then once again you will see the difference
between the righteous and the wicked,
between the person who serves God
and one that doesn’t serve him.
^19 (4:1) For the day is coming, burning like a furnace,
when all the proud and evildoers will be stubble;
the day that is coming will set them ablaze,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot,
“and leave them neither root nor branch.
^20 (4:2) But to you who fear my name,
the sun of righteousness will rise
with healing in its wings;
and you will break out leaping,
like calves released from the stall.
^21 (4:3) You will trample the wicked,
they will be ashes under the soles of your feet
on the day when I take action,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
^22 (4:4) “Remember the Torah of Moshe my servant,
which I enjoined on him at Horev,
laws and rulings for all Isra’el.
^23 (4:5) Look, I will send to you
Eliyahu the prophet
before the coming of the great
and terrible Day of Adonai.
^24 (4:6) He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children
and the hearts of the children to their fathers;
otherwise I will come and strike the land
with complete destruction.”

[Look, I will send to you
Eliyahu the prophet
before the coming of the great
and terrible Day of Adonai.]

Tired

I’ve gotten tired of reading on Facebook all the negative comments associated with President Obama; mostly from Christians. Have Christians forgotten the scriptures?

Romans 13:1New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Be Subject to Government

Romans 13:1New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Be Subject to Government

13 Every ^[a]person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except ^[b]from God, and those which exist are established by God.

 

Daniel 2:20-21New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²⁰ Daniel said,

“Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,
For wisdom and power belong to Him.
²¹ “It is He who changes the times and the epochs;
He removes kings and ^[a]establishes kings;
He gives wisdom to wise men
And knowledge to ^[b]men of understanding.

 

Psalm 75:1-7New American Standard Bible (NASB)

God Abases the Proud, but Exalts the Righteous.

For the choir director; set to ^[a]Al-tashheth. A Psalm of Asaph, a Song.

75 We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks,
For Your name is near;
Men declare Your wondrous works.
² “When I select an appointed time,
It is I who judge with equity.
³ “The earth and all who dwell in it ^[b]melt;
It is I who have firmly set its pillars. ^[c]Selah.
⁴ “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn;
⁵ Do not lift up your horn on high,
Do not speak with insolent ^[d]pride.’”

⁶ For not from the east, nor from the west,
Nor from the ^[e]desert comes exaltation;
⁷ But God is the Judge;
He puts down one and exalts another.

There are more but I will stop here and would like to ask you something. Do you pray for President Obama? You don’t like the decisions he’s making; have you prayed for God to lead him? How do you know that he is not doing the will of God?

This brings me to something else. Can we change the will of God? Think about what I am asking. God is all powerful; no one else can come near His power, not even Satan. He has a will, He desires for certain things to happen. Is there anything at all that I can do to thwart His will?

We pray the Lord’s Prayer but I don’t believe we understand the part about the will of God. We say it as though we ask God to do His will, but it should be an acknowledgment that God does His will on earth as He does in heaven.

There is so much wickedness going on in the world today. It makes one wonder; where is God? I believe that all that has happened in the world and all that will happen has been ordained by God before He created it; even the fall of Satan and the other angels. What if Satan hadn’t decided to be god but Adam went through with disobedience. Satan wouldn’t be here to give us all that grief to nudge us back to God.

This brings me to another attribute of God. He is all knowing. The Bible says that there is nowhere at all we can hide to keep Him from knowing what we are doing. Our thoughts, our unspoken words he hears; this is all of us; so amazing. I believe He knew everything about everything when He formulated His great plan. When I think about it, God had two options; not create at all or orchestrate everything to have the best possible ending.

When I think about God and His work, I picture an orchestra. I didn’t know much about an orchestra but when I studied about it, it sounded so much like God and His plan. God has a beautiful piece of work in mind and when all is ready, He, as the director, will bring it all together into something that no one will forget.

Question

Here it is 3:00 AM in the morning. So often I awake at this time when it has something to do with Father God and His work.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Satan and the other fallen Angels lately. Satan was created with such great powers. God had to have known before-hand that Satan and the others would do what they did and yet He let them go. If God ruled like Satan does, they would have been gone long ago. I really do believe God still loves them and they have been in His master plan to save us all, His whole creation, from the beginning.

Satan, you probably don’t remember me. Back in 1999, I think was the year, I had just started trading in the stock market. I was on the Yahoo stock board, mostly just watching what others said about stocks and to get pointers on how to do things. There was so much scheming and conniving going on there that it was almost useless to a lot of us and a number of us moved over to the Bull board. I bounced back and forth between the two boards a lot because I wondered why there was so much demonic activity going on.

I believe that you were trying to gain control of the stock market. I have a feeling that you succeeded but it was probably not as easy as you thought it would be.

Early one morning, much like today, I woke up feeling the need to check the two boards. I went to the Yahoo board first and again I found one of yours pretending to be someone else and trying to get people to sell a stock. I think this was the only time I ever posted anything but one thing I said was, “I plan to be a thorn in Satan’s side.” At the time I said this, I did not understand the boldness of these words nor did I understand the power of the one it was directed at.

After exposing this person as a fake and warning others not to sell, I went over to the Bull board. It was here where you gave me the fright of my life and made me understand the magnitude of those words that I said. You answered me with this one post, “So you think you are going to be a thorn in my side. Now feel my pain.”

This brings me to the recent thoughts and questions I have about you. After those words you said to me, I waited for some kind of pain to happen but it didn’t, at least not at that time. I wrote it off to you just trying to scare me, which I can truthfully say that you did do that. Over the years since then I have experienced pain and am experiencing it now. I have arthritis all down my spine, spinal stenosis which is pinching my spinal cord and sciatic nerve, and one of my vertebrae is not in the best of shape.

Before I go on, let me explain something about myself. I can’t understand something unless I can picture it in my head. I study the Bible and I ask Father God to paint the picture of my understanding clearer. He does do that but I’ve gotten two totally different pictures with different futures for you and the other fallen angels. If you will tell me something truthfully, I believe I will know which one is correct. The question is this; are the things that are going on with my spine and the pain I’m suffering caused by you? After all, you did say, “Now feel my pain.”