Tag: White House

Dear MAGA: 20190616 Open Topic

 

This very special
Did We Stop Too Soon? SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

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Holy Trinity Sunday

For some liturgical calendars this is the Sunday
when the focus is on the Holy Trinity.
JN994 Glory Be

May the grace of

the Lord Jesus Christ,

and the love of God,

and the fellowship

of the Holy Spirit

be with you all.

2 Corinthians 13:14
Rublev-Trinity-icon-from-cac-org

Did We Stop Too Soon? – A Question To Ask

When you hear someone only provide a part of the story, but without the rest of the details the entire meaning is lost? Did it bother you? This practice is rampant in our Mind Control Media (MCM) but has also entrenched itself so deeply into our culture that you might not realize how much has been undermined by it.
Everything from religion to law to government to science has been broken using this method. The horrific practice of reductionism in science particularly galls me. Nearly every paper I read in biology or medicine demonstrates that modern research is crafted to provide an intended outcome beforehand. A failure to review other possible mechanisms for a study’s results is so common, I doubt that peer reviewers or researchers even think much about it anymore.
It’s like using stick figures to illustrate a grand ballet and expecting everyone to just go along with the illusion. Most of the time the omissions slip by without much thought on our part, but a particularly glaring omission jumped out at me last week and I had to forgive the source as it was in the Liturgy of the Hours which is given to those serving in the Roman Catholic tradition to be read out loud/prayed each day throughout the year. It became part of my usual routine some years ago as I found it to be a good preparation for centering each day.
The omission in this case is the reading of only half of a sentence of scripture from the book of Acts, describing the event of Pentecost. Apparently this reading has been the tradition for some time as the teaching that accompanied it came from the 13th Century.
The picture of this event is completely changed when the entire sentence in verse 4 is given instead of stopping at the word “speak.” As you can see, verse 4 continues with “in other languages which the Holy Spirit made them able to speak.”
Acts 2 1-13
So, in the original text the story is about a group of local Jewish believers miraculously speaking in languages they were not familiar with and had not been taught. In the edited text (and I suppose thought of the Roman Catholic church) they were just empowered to speak. No hint of the supernatural gift described in the context given in the scriptures.
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Note, that anyone raised in that tradition might not even be reading the actual text of the Bible for themselves often enough to realize that it stopped in mid-sentence. To be fair, there is actually a time when Jesus is in the synagogue reading from Isaiah and only reads half a sentence, so it’s not without precedent. However, in Jesus’ case I believe the choice was to develop a prophetic focus. The motive for excising the miraculous from the text in Acts 2 could be more to avoid an awkward conversation. In the best possible light, the omission could be attributed to the earnest desire for the faithful to speak out the Gospel, but the violence done by the reading caused me some real anger. How dare they alter the text in this way!
This made me think of another way that using “short-hand” thinking on any particular subject opens us up to making judgements without a full understanding of the situation. When our thinking about something is missing key pieces we are open to error or deception. Like a gap in one’s armor, incomplete pictures of reality expose a weakness that can and does often lead to harm. Harm to not only our community, but also to the Kingdom of God.
When we think of “THE CHURCH” we often have a picture of people around the world that look like us, believe like us, sing the same songs as us, or read scripture the same way as us. And we are the poorer for this. Perhaps that is why I bring in images and practices from various traditions for my posts. When we see beyond our own culture we become better able to see with God’s eyes the world we are really living in.
The favored institutional churches of a particular locale have been persecuting their fellow Christians for a very long time. And rare is the church that doesn’t teach “against” some other faith tradition or other. How it must hurt the Father’s heart when the members of the Bride of His Son fight among themselves over non-essentials of the faith. And a house divided is weakened and Jesus says it cannot withstand adversity.
Maybe we could spend a little time thinking about who is edited out of our picture of “THE CHURCH.”
Do you think of the Chaldean Church in Iraq, 1533849163Native Americans in Alaska or Charismatic Catholics in Canada? What about small groups of believers among the tribes living in the Amazon jungles? Or secret believers that have come to faith in Jesus while surrounded by an Islamic, Buddhist or Hindu culture.
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As the oracle that is known as Q likes to say, “Expand Your Thinking.”
Think *3

 

Dear MAGA: 20190609 Open Topic

 

This very special
Shavuot & Pentecost SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

TRUMP-FLOTUS-UK-state-visit

 

cheese-blintzes-for-shavuot
  Shavu'ot (in Hebrew)     Shavuot – Feast of Weeks

You shall count for yourselves — from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving — seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days… You shall convoke on this very day — there shall be a holy convocation for yourselves — you shall do no laborious work; it is an eternal decree in your dwelling places for your generations. – Leviticus 21:15-16, 21

Origin of Shavuot

“Though various Christian denominations commemorate Pentecost, many forget that it was a Jewish holiday before the Church was established. The name Pentecost comes from the Greek word for 50, but the Jewish name is Shavuot (meaning weeks or sevens).” 
Shavuot was a way for our people to offer their best to the Lord. In Exodus, God commands His people: “The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God” (Exodus 23:19a; 34:26). Further instructions regarding this offering of firstfruits (grain) are outlined in Scripture in Deuteronomy 26:1–4:

And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.[1]

Following the presentation of the firstfruits or “wave loaves,” Jews would recite a prayer of supplication, describing the bondage of their ancestors in Egypt, their deliverance and their dependence on God, who brought them to “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 26:9).  Read more …

Other Traditions

Shavuot is celebrated by both Traditional and Messianic Jews. Roman Catholics and liturgical Protestant churches both celebrate Pentecost 50 days after Easter Sunday. Following an older traditional calendar, Orthodox Christians celebrate Pentecost with an all night Vigil rich with symbolism. The church in Greece makes it a 3 day party you will want to be aware of if you are traveling to Greece on that weekend.
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Think’s Thoughts

Trinity Icon

Considering the deep historical and spiritual meaning for this day, please ponder and think about celebrating our shared values for honoring the scriptures as given to Moses, the prophets, and teachers in the Judeo-Christian traditions.

This was one of three feasts given to the people where they would take their harvest (produce from the land), travel to the temple in Jerusalem, and present it before the Lord.
Just to make sure this picture is complete, remember that their harvest was used in two ways, to feed the family (landowners) that came to present it, and some was distributed to the priests, the fatherless, widows, and temporary residents–those without land to provide for themselves. In this way everyone in the nation was able to use this time to enjoy God’s goodness.
Imagine, if you will, the value of these feasts. Creating a special event creates unity among the members of the family. Making it a vacation from regular work gives them time to rest and restore between seasons. Traveling to Jerusalem strengthens bonds with the rest of the people in their nation. Offering their first fruits focuses their minds and hearts on the appreciation they naturally feel for the gift of abundance, land ownership and freedom from the bondages of the past. Sharing with others who did not have land probably increased their gratitude for the land they now enjoyed.
Starting from the observance of Passover, they would begin the countdown to this extraordinary celebration. After the destruction of the temple, the focus for the Jewish people shifted from the focus of offering the produce of their land to the giving of the Torah. This is a a beautiful tradition where the night is spent reading and giving thanks for the scriptures, especially the book of Ruth. (This tradition is not found in the writings of Moses.)

Pentecost | Greendale People's Church - Worcester
Gift to the Believers in All Nations

It is in this context that the disciples were instructed by Jesus,–after the resurrection, and 10 days before Shavuot–to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, where they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. As Jews, they knew of the upcoming Shavuot Feast. Devout people from all over were gathering in preparation for it.
I can imagine on this day in that upper room the sounds of travelers greeting and the smells of food being prepared kept their minds on the significance of the time they were in.
In some way, you might see these men and women as the first fruits of the harvest given to Jesus by the Father. Thus, as they pray, Jesus presents them to the Father, who responds by sending fire from Heaven to baptize them.
The sounds from the streets of Jerusalem are replaced with the roaring sound of a rushing wind, the Holy Spirit, and then the loud voices of the believers as they begin to glorify the Lord. They are so loud that people on the streets stop and say, “What is this?” which prompted an explanation that led 3,000 more to believe and join this new community. What an amazing day!
Think *3


Extra servings of MIQUEDEM (whom I just found in my research for this post)… quieter song of Psalm 116 in Hebrew with subtitles… more rock style international concert in Jerusalem.

With strings in modern worship style in English from a rooftop in Jerusalem. I really like the visuals and the vocals in this one.

Dear MAGA: 20190602 Open Topic

 

This very special
Savoring Friendship SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

POTUS-FLOTUS-Trump-Japan-Dinner-Prime-Minister-and-Wife
President Trump & Melania share traditional Japanese dinner with Prime Minister Abe & wife.

Savoring Friendship Sunday

Our Lion, President Donald J. Trump, shows us how to do international friendship.

The Second American Revolutionary/Civil War, Part 22, by Rick Joyner

     Before digging deeper into what is happening, and why it is leading to the Second American Revolutionary/Civil War, I will interject a few things that we must do immediately to be prepared for what is unfolding.
     The most important thing we can do to be positioned and prepared for what is unfolding is to find our place in The Lord’s body, the church, and function in it. I have been preaching this for decades, but the longer we wait to do it, the more difficult it will be to do, and the consequences for not doing it will soon be greater. Knowing what is about to happen will not help us if we are not in the right place, doing what we were called and created to do.
     The church is still far from what it is called to be. Great change is needed, and great change is coming. However, those who are waiting for the change to come before they try to be a part of it will be in danger of being in the company of the foolish virgins who waited too long. Those who will play an important role in His body need to be part of the process by which the body becomes what it is called to be.
     To counter the spirit of this world that is bringing the darkness, we must move in an opposite spirit. We must resist the growing hatred by growing in love. We must resist the anxiety and fear by abiding in the peace of God and growing in faith. One of the primary ways we counter the spirit of division growing in the country is to grow in unity with The Lord and His people. It is not possible to be properly joined to The Lord and not also be properly joined to His body.
     A basic requirement to grow in a spirit of unity is learning to resolve disputes in the right spirit. Church is one of the primary places we are called to learn this. Those who leave the church because they got offended are usually the same ones who end up leaving their marriages, jobs, and just about any other commitment when things don’t go as they want. This is the symptom of the “spirit of divorce,” or “spirit of division” that we are warned about in Scripture. We must resolve that we will not let that evil spirit rule our life and thereby ruin our life. We must also resolve that we will not let it rule our country and ruin it.
     Divisions will come, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians and the Apostle John wrote in I John 2. Sometimes divisions happen even between the best people, such as when Paul and Barnabas had a sharp division and parted ways. However, it is when there is a pattern of division that we must be concerned. This is an indication that one is operating in a “spirit of division.” These are those that Jude addressed: “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts. These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit” (Jude 18-19).
     I personally moved in this spirit of division the first few years I was a Christian. I caused many divisions and was guilty of slandering leaders and other Christians. I was often right about my evaluation of the problems, but moved in a spirit that brought division rather than fixed problems. This was mostly because I was moving in a great amount of pride. My repentance started when I was shown that as I did unto the least of The Lord’s little ones, I was doing it to Him. I was then shown that what I was guilty of was far worse than anything those I criticized were guilty of.
     There is a saying that “any jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a skillful carpenter to build one.” Have you ever known of a critic that started a revival? Have critics ever built anything of significance? Do you know of any who are celebrated in history? Many that The Scriptures call “fault finders” will have accurate discernment and are right about the wrongs that they see, but they move in a foul spirit that only does harm to the work of God and His people. Jude reminds us that “the deep darkness” has been reserved for them. It would be much better to be wrong about a lot of things than to be a “fault finder.”
     When Jesus saw what was wrong with the world He did not criticize or condemn us—He laid down His life for us. That will be the nature of the true leaders that He sends. As we are told in Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time for everything. There is a time to build and a time to tear down. The Apostle Paul said that he had the authority to build up or to tear down the Corinthian church. He had the authority to tear down there because he was the one used to plant and build them.
     The point is that it is the builders who have the authority to tear down. It is the builders who have the heart for something, so they have the right heart to know what needs to be torn down. In the transformation that is coming, a lot will be torn down. There is a lot that needs to be torn down. However, we should not try to tear anything down without having a clear vision and a good plan for building in its place.
     The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:9, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.” “Real knowledge” and “all discernment” will only be found with the one whose love is abounding. For this reason, we will not have the knowledge or discernment that can help the church if we do not love it. Neither will we have the knowledge or discernment that helps our country if we do not love it.
 
I’ve posted Rick’s recent article in full as it seems to be a timely message. I don’t read it to say people need to find a traditional church (as in, an organization with a building) as much as it is saying we need to look around and see who we are developing deep connections with in the context of our whole life, including our faith.
There is a lot about to happen in this season. My prayer is that we will have done the inner work necessary to be able to handle the visible assignments that will be upon us before we can even blink.
Think*3

 

Dear MAGA: 20190526 Open Topic

This very special
Stripping Away the Veils SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

TRUMP_Schumer_SocialistNation

Let’s Begin by Giving Thanks for Our Military Forces

“Today, as we unite in eternal gratitude for the sacrifices of these extraordinary Americans, let us also offer a prayer for lasting peace.”

Link: Proclamation on Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2019 on WhiteHouse.gov

Proclamation of Peace p1Proclamation of Peace p2

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Stripping Away the Veils Sunday

A conversation yesterday on the Open Thread turned to observations on how America ended up where we find ourselves today. A faint shadow of the free people we became after throwing off the shackles of Britain and pioneering a new life in the New World.

We appear to have just avoided a point of no return outcome and now must not only fight out way back but engineer the safeguards to preserve that hard won place of restored freedom.

Most people do not understand the true nature of conspiracy. They will think “everybody knows everything, or nobody knew anything”. They have been made to think like CHILDREN by the Cabal.
— from comment where Wolfmoon points out we have been blinded.

The reply from Kalbo summed up so many important points, I’m quoting it all.

It’s a whole new paradigm being exposed, or some better word…perhaps as simple as TRUTH coming to LIGHT for all to see.
At the behest of Globalists, politicos with their adoring MCM have been feeding everyone well orchestrated BS for decades.
President Trump was drafted expressly to end the US’ slide into oblivion…but a memory or footnote in history.
MCM, Globalists, Uniparty knew this and tried to sabotage his campaign, and Presidency. Pure lies foisted on us from the highest levels. Truth comes out. MCM and Uniparty BUSTED. Half of America, seemingly shocked. But they now know the truth about muh Russia.
For three years President Trump has been extolling the sheer ignorance of trade deals forced on us by crooked complicit Presidents – Papa Bush, Slick Willy, Baby Bush, and hussein. President Trump blatantly calls out the STUPIDITY of trade agreements and climate BS…
The truth is obvious, we were sold a line of sh!t. And America was taking it all as gospel. America was sliding away…there is no magic wand, no more manufacturing, we’ll be a service economy…
Wars are not necessary to win. The US does not need to interfere militarily around the globe to gain positive results. Let countries take ownership and their fix their own issues to secure their future. Allow regional countries to leverage their influence.
MIC has been exposed and has lost great influence. Thankfully no name is toast. MS Lindsey and her ilk are throttled back a bit. No longer is the US footing the massive defense bill for countries we protect.
Globally, the US has the greatest leverage of all. Economic. President Trump is wielding that economic club with brilliance and precision. Winning across the spectrum of of the economy and broader issues.
More Internationally, countries around the globe are waking up to Nationalism and associated pride. Driving their focus to their roots. US, Britain, Australia, Italy… Many, many more countries. Nationalism is contagious.
The EU is thankfully disintegrating. Germany will be cast aside for the damage they’ve inflicted. France is waking up.
Inquiring minds may wonder…back home.
With all of the economic winning, in every category, why has the MCM not trumpeted (no pun intended), how utterly stupid and destructive trade agreements were. America First is the obvious answer.
Economic leverage the obvious answer to encourage other countries to behave, be fair…
MIC destroys lives, countries and is a perpetual self licking ice cream come of destruction.
— Reply to Wolfmoon by Kalbo

The warning could not be more emphatic.

BEWARE THE SIGNS OF BEING MADE INTO AN UNTHINKING PATRIOT BY FAKE NEWS. THEY DID IT BEFORE – THEY WILL TRY IT AGAIN.
— from comment where Wolfmoon describes how our pride was used to blind us.

We must not miss this warning!

“See to it that no one takes you captive
through philosophy and empty deception [pseudo-intellectual babble],
according to the tradition [and musings] of mere men,
following the elementary principles of this world,
rather than following [the truth—the teachings of] Christ.“

Colossians 2:8, AMP

3 monkeys. See no evil. Hear no evil. Say no evil.

“‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.“

Matthew 6:13

Our protection against deception is to ruthlessly reject any and everything that is not 100% true. No matter who says it. Not even our favorite Christian leader. Not even our favorite governmental leader.
It’s something you set your mind to be. Choose to love the truth even when it leads where you do not want to go.

Dear Lord, I say yes, strip away the veils over my eyes. I say yes, grant me the grace to see with Your eyes all that is truly around me. I say yes, draw me ever more deeply into Your truth every day. In Christ’s Name. Amen.

When we choose to open our eyes and see the reality around us we will not be popular. It may become uncomfortable to be around us–even when we don’t open our mouths. And I say, bring it on.
Think*3

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Dear MAGA: 20190519 Open Topic

This very special
SAFETY & SECURITY SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

trump-Immigration-safer-stronger-greater

Safety & Security Sunday

While our Lion, President Donald J. Trump, fights for our safety and security here at home, the very same media that was fully outraged by (maybe) shootings in mosques in New Zealand is giving absolutely zero coverage of oppression on a scale we may find difficult to comprehend.

New Attack in Burkina Faso—Christians in Hiding, Schools and Churches Closed

A day after militants ambushed a church and killed six, another attack in northern Burkina Faso targeting Christians has left four dead, including a church leader. These attacks on the church in the West African country, as well as others in the last few weeks, have invoked a state of panic among Christian communities in the region.
:
In the last 12 months, the increasing violence across Mali and Niger, as well as Burkina Faso, has led to a five-fold rise in the displacement of the local population. More than 330,000 people have left their homes, in addition to 100,000 refugees —creating what some news outlets have called an “unexpected humanitarian crisis.”

https://twitter.com/winmatt53/status/1122296929122123777
trump-dark-to-light-removing-veil

What a marvelous mystery.  How can it be, for those who believe, that both our Nation’s security and the horrors endured by the persecuted church around the world, the path from darkness to light is the same? Prayer. Turning our hearts to God to find the courage to live true to our convictions and His leading.

“They called the apostles in, had them whipped, and ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus; and then they set them free. As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus.”

Acts 5:40-41

For the first couple hundred years of the Church the persecution was intense. There were no “career clergy” looking for a comfortable job with nice benefits. In fact, those dedicated to obedience to Christ in a leadership role were the first to be arrested. To be physically harmed. To be killed.

And so it is to this day in most of the world we live in. Even in America those who live by their convictions are the first to discover the cost of standing by them. And so we come back to our courageous world-changer President, Donald J. Trump.

He stands tall and fights even when he knows it’s placed him in danger of experiencing all of the above. Thank God for this man who lives by his convictions and is not afraid to enter into the battle space we find ourselves in.

Not only to fight, but to WIN a victory we all need dearly.

Think*3
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Dear MAGA: 20190512 Open Topic

Image of lightening outside and inside dark clouds erupting out of a snow-clad volcano

 

This very special STORMY
and yet very MOTHERLY MOTHER’s DAY
SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

POTUS meme

Stormy Sunday!

And yet very MOTHERLY MOTHER’s DAY

While the focus here may be on volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and weaponized weather, there is a cozy place to go where reflections on the incredible mothers and other significant women in our lives has been launched by none other than our own amazing Daughnworks247.
Join in the fun here: Happy Mother’s Day to Doctor Lynn and Miss Lily.

What in the World is Going On?

For many decades the U.S. Military has been seeking to understand how to weaponize the weather. A paper written in 1995, Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025, stated this in the abstract:

In 2025, US aerospace forces can ‘own the weather‘ by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war fighting applications. Such a capability offers the war fighter tools to shape the battlespace in ways never before possible. It provides opportunities to impact operations across the full spectrum of conflict and is pertinent to all possible futures. The purpose of this paper is to outline a strategy for the use of a future weather modification system to achieve military objectives rather than to provide a detailed technical road map.

A high risk, high reward endeavor, weather modification offers a dilemma not unlike the splitting of the atom While some segments of society will always be reluctant to examine controversial issues such as weather modification, the tremendous military capabilities that could result from this field are ignored at our own peril. From enhancing friendly operations or disrupting those of the enemy via small scale tailoring of natural weather patterns to complete dominance of global communications and counterspace control, weather modification offers the war fighter a wide range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary. …

Technology advancements in five major areas are necessary for an integrated weather modification capability: (1) advanced nonlinear modeling techniques, (2) computational capability, (3) information gathering and transmission, (4) a global sensor array, and (5) weather intervention techniques. Some intervention tools exist today and others may be developed and refined in the future.

It would be wise to keep our hearts prayerful concerning our world’s weather. Since the election of President Donald J. Trump, we have seen some extreme and even bizarre hurricanes, wildfires, and other phenomena that one can only hope were not expressions of unconventional and unusual covert warfare.

Psalm 29

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
A psalm of David:

Give Adonai his due, you who are godly;
give Adonai his due of glory and strength;
give Adonai the glory due his name;
worship Adonai in holy splendor.

The voice of Adonai is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
Adonai over rushing waters,
the voice of Adonai in power,
the voice of Adonai in splendor.

The voice of Adonai cracks the cedars;
Adonai splinters the cedars of the L’vanon
and makes the L’vanon skip like a calf,
Siryon like a young wild ox.


The voice of Adonai flashes fiery flames;
the voice of Adonai rocks the desert,
Adonai convulses the Kadesh Desert.
The voice of Adonai causes deer to give birth
and strips the forests bare —
while in his temple, all cry, “Glory!”

Adonai sits enthroned above the flood!
Adonai sits enthroned as king forever!

May Adonai give strength to his people!
May Adonai bless his people with shalom!

What Does This Mean?

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and extreme weather have always been given spiritual meaning by those affected by them. These forces, when experienced up close and personal have a way of bringing into clarity how very small we are.

And that is just about the time we begin to look beyond ourselves for something bigger, anything that can help us give meaning to our suffering and regain some sense of safety.

Revelation 16:17-21

The Message (MSG)

The seventh Angel poured his bowl into the air: From the Throne in the Temple came a shout, “Done!” followed by lightning flashes and shouts, thunder crashes and a colossal earthquake—a huge and devastating earthquake, never an earthquake like it since time began. The Great City split three ways, the cities of the nations toppled to ruin. Great Babylon had to drink the wine of God’s raging anger—God remembered to give her the cup! Every island fled and not a mountain was to be found. Hailstones weighing a ton plummeted, crushing and smashing men and women as they cursed God for the hail, the epic disaster of hail.

Not even insurance contracts are atheistic with their “Acts of God” exemption clauses. Right or wrong, is it any wonder that we blame God?

But things are likely far more nuanced than this simplistic perspective. There is also a reason for “Acts of War” exemption clauses and a reason why warfighters talk about collateral damage.

definition of collateral damage

A quick search at Qmap.pub on the keyword, “weather” appears to only have 3 hits, and most likely for all three the term weather is a euphemism for warfare activity. However, it would be interesting to review the weather conditions following this post last June.
Qmap.pub post 1448

What Then Should We Do?

Earth phenomena intrudes on the “just and the unjust alike.” May I propose that for those of us that are drawn to pray for peace for the people of the earth–especially in the context of earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, extreme weather and related phenomena–that we learn to discern not only God’s heart, but also utilize available research material to develop our awareness of what is going on and how it all might be connected.
Image of slide showing 2 photos of toridal fields lines around a sun and a planet.
There is a large body of scientific work available for the curious mind–thanks to the internet–that past generations would never have had access to. And some citizen-analysts have used that access to not only become deeply informed, but to develop astute alternative working hypothesis about how things work, along with new predictive models. And–based on the push back–public access to their work might even be a threat to the controllers of the world.
As a prime example, may I recommend DutchSinse for not only big-picture, earth movement observations in near real-time, but also for his highly informed analysis.
https://twitter.com/dutchsinse/status/1125425034724556800
For almost a decade now Dutch has been finding correlations between not only solar activity and deep earthquakes, but earth movements and major wildfire activity, and also how deep earth movements lead to surface earthquakes with strong predictability, especially where there are breaks in the earth’s crust. He also gives basic disaster preparedness tips near the end of most of his videos. I find his passion for educating others along with his passion for accurate reporting of sensor data both engaging and entertaining.
If you would like to sample his work without taking up an hour or more for an entire video, the 8:30 min point on this May 6 video is a good place to start. Also, don’t forget, you can use the settings gear to change the playback speed to 1.5x (or higher). I often run his videos to the side of my main work so I can pay attention when I catch him saying something new or interesting about our earth’s current activity.

Apparently his observations make some of the FAKE SCIENCE shills uncomfortable. He’s had the typical harassment we have been seeing so frequently online including the demonitization of his YouTube channel.
I wonder who would NOT want us pray with understanding about what’s happening in and around our planet?

armored warrior kneeling with sword

Dear MAGA: 20190505 Open Topic

 

This very special 5:5 Darkness to Light SUNDAY
open thread is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

D4ecSyZWsAAyOGE

We are on the Offensive, 5:5?

Darkness to Light

Our Lion is on the move and leading our Patriot nation on multiple battle fronts.

E Pluribus Unum

Finding a way to demonstrate the #WWG1WGA spirit of #MAGA during the National Day of Prayer observances at the White House this Thursday.

“…the way we react to DARKNESS is with LIGHT…” — Rabbi Goldstein

Calling Out the Mockingbird Media

Yes, he did say that!

And that!

And retwitched that!

Cybersecurity

Thursday the President signed his Executive Order on America’s Cybersecurity Workforce. There are some interesting/innovative directions being worked on. Some here will be wanting to pay attention to this NICE Framework and how it will be utilized towards improving our cyber security posture as a nation.

American Meddling in the Americas, Really?

Just when your mind has been blown a thousand times by how many non-notable players have been effectively serving the darkness, the back story on Venezuela points right back to American mainstream politicians.
Venezuela-fights-for-democracy
https://twitter.com/40_head/status/1123368239558381568
https://twitter.com/40_head/status/1123368243316396033

Those tweets are just a small sample from a very long thread. I recommend you take the time to read it all if you have the time. Thank God the Patriots have a 40,000 sky-high view and laser focus on taking down that which enslaves our world today.

https://twitter.com/ActingSecDef/status/1123718265082134528
https://twitter.com/ActingSecDef/status/1123718266004938756

Thirty Days of Prayer

So many times when we read of the outrageous things certain individuals or groups have done to the harm of others or to threaten all that is good or right, our impulse is hate, anger and the desire to take strong action, to come to grips with “flesh and blood.”

The apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians a reminder that the evil we see is a manifestation of evil we can’t see, and we are to come to grips, in prayer, in that dimension, with the Lord’s strength, wisdom and power.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

— Ephesians 6:10-12 (KJV)

We are also informed that the “flesh and blood” people that are manifesting the desires of the evil one on the earth have a problem. They are blind. Again, the strategy is prayer.

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
— 2 Corinthians 4:3-5 (KJV)

And so it has been the practice of millions of Christians around the world to take 30 days each year–during the period set for special times of spiritual seeking and devotion by islamists–to pray to have the eyes of their heart enlightened and to turn to the true freedom found in the forgiveness of their sins and a real hope for eternal life in Christ.

This is what spiritual offensive moves look like. Taking on the source of the problem.

30 Days of Prayer 2019

 

Be Like Lions, Not Lambs

The shooting at the synagogue in Poway has interesting details
that we might want to keep discussing as we ponder
the aims, successes, and yes, failures of the puppet masters
behind these despicable attacks.

Synagogue First Responder

Combat Vet Who Stopped The Synagogue Shooter: ‘I Scared The Hell Out Of Him’

Rachel Stoltzfoos | Staff Reporter at DailyCaller.com

The man who fired a semi-automatic weapon inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego on Saturday froze, dropped his gun and sprinted to his car when he saw Oscar Stewart come barreling toward him, yelling so loud the priest at a neighboring church could hear.

“Get down!” Stewart yelled, according to his wife and others who were at the scene. “You motherfucker! I’m going to kill you!”

Others who were there later told him it sounded like four or five people were shouting. He thinks maybe an angel was standing behind him and speaking through his voice. When the shooter ran, he immediately gave chase.

Stewart, 51, told The Daily Caller on Sunday he doesn’t remember any conscious thought from the moment he heard the gun shots until it was all over — he just acted on instinct to stop the shooter and prevent him from leaving so he couldn’t hurt more people somewhere else. The Iraq combat veteran said his military training kicked in.

“I knew I had to be within five feet of this guy so his rifle couldn’t get to me,” Stewart said. “So I ran immediately toward him, and I yelled as loud as I could. And he was scared. I scared the hell out of him.”

Stewart served in the Navy in explosive ordnance disposal from 1990 to 1994, then enlisted in the Army in 2001 because of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

“Looking back, it was kind of a crazy idea to do, but I did it.” He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and left the military in 2004, as a staff sergeant. He’s now in construction work.

When the gunman opened fire, he was in the back of the synagogue. By the time he got to the lobby, the shooter had killed one woman, blown the finger off of a rabbi, and injured two others.

“I heard gunshots,” Stewart said. “And everybody got up and started trying to get out the back door, so I — for whatever reason — I didn’t do that. I ran the other way. I ran towards the gun shots.”

“When I came around the corner into the lobby area, I saw the individual with a gun, and he fired two rounds. And I yelled at him and I must have yelled very loud, and he looked at me, and I must have had a really mean look on my face or something, because he immediately dropped his weapon and turned and ran. And then I gave chase.”

Stewart said he chased him all the way out to his car and began pounding on it — the shooter had managed to lock himself in. When Stewart saw him reach for a rifle, he punched the side of the car as hard as he could, intending to figure out a way to drag him out of the car. That’s when a Border Patrol agent who attends the synagogue came running out to the parking lot, yelling for Stewart to get down because he had a gun.

Stewart says this man may have saved his life and pointed to his use of a civilian’s gun as evidence that gun control isn’t the answer to these kinds of tragedies. Stewart was off-duty and was apparently handed the weapon by someone else on the scene.

“It takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun,” he told the Caller.

The agent fired several rounds into the lower part of the vehicle, intending to disable it, but the shooter managed to drive away. The two of them then grabbed a phone from someone and called the police to report his license plate. The shooter later turned himself in.

After he sped off, Stewart ran back into the synagogue and found a woman he knew, 60-year-old Lori Gilbert Kaye, unresponsive on the floor in the lobby. He began CPR and continued trying to bring her back to life as a couple of doctors arrived and began to assist him. She didn’t make it. The two had talked occasionally, and he remembers her as a passionate and kind woman.

“She had different political views, so we had interesting discussions when we talked,” he said. “We didn’t just talk about the weather. It was kind of cool. She was a very loving woman.”

Stewart considers her the real hero. Eyewitnesses said she jumped in front of the rabbi to save his life.

“People in the aftermath here have been saying it’s important to be strong and defend ourselves. I also think it’s important to know that being strong and defending ourselves requires a lot of sacrifice too.”

“I don’t know if I consciously made the choice to potentially sacrifice myself,” he added. “But I did. And this lady, she stood and she jumped in front of the shooter and she saved the rabbi’s life. When somebody said I was a hero, I’m like, she was a hero. I just did it instinctively, like an animal. There was no conscious decision. I just did it.”

He may not call himself a hero, but Stewart believes his actions effectively stopped the shooter. He doesn’t think reports of the shooter’s gun jamming as the reason he fled are likely to be true, because he was using a semi-automatic rifle. “Full automatic weapons will jam,” he said. “Semi-automatic weapons do not jam.” He thinks maybe the shooter had emptied his magazine. Whatever the case, the shooter let the slung weapon drop and fled.

“He was in the act of shooting when I saw him,” Stewart said. “When I yelled at him he turned and looked at me, and he like froze. And then the look on his face was one of amazement at first, and then one of fear. He saw me coming, and I was ready to do whatever I had to do to stop him.”

For his part, Stewart doesn’t attribute the shooter’s actions to a larger agenda and was reluctant to connect him to a larger political context. He doesn’t blame President Donald Trump and expressed hope that people don’t try to blame anyone else for the man’s actions. “He was an individual acting alone,” he said.

“If you’re ignorant and you don’t know what people are like, you don’t know that I’m a person just like you. I go to work every day in a manual labor job. I’m not some, you know – supposedly he said in his manifesto that the Jews control this and that — I don’t control anything. I go to work just like you every day. He didn’t know that.”

“If he had gotten to know me, he would know that I’m a great person, that I’m a nice guy, that I’m a very caring person,” he continued. “My apprentices — they all love me. They say that I’m the best teacher in the world, you know, that I care, that I try to teach them, and if he had known any of these people, like the lady Lori who died. She would go give Easter baskets to kids and that’s not even a Jewish thing, you know. … She was just a warm person.”

If anything’s to blame, he says it’s social media and the increasingly disconnected world we find ourselves in. “The whole media thing — people don’t get to know people, and they get to sit in a cocoon, and sit and make opinions on what somebody writes. It’s not good. We need to interact more.”

“The most important thing I want to share is that we need to know each other,” he said. “If you make an opinion on anyone, you need to know what they’re about, and who they are. You can’t generalize and say every blue person is evil because they’re blue. That’s ridiculous.”

The funeral service for Kaye is on Monday. He expects the synagogue will be totally packed.

 


https://twitter.com/45_Schedule/status/1122860395985866753

POWAY, California — Jonathan Morales, an armed off-duty US Customs and Border Patrol agent who recently discovered his Jewish roots, was among the worshipers at Chabad of Poway on Saturday when John Earnest entered the synagogue near San Diego during Passover services and began shooting.
The 19-year-old gunman killed Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, and wounded three people: Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 8-year-old Noya Dahan and her uncle, Almog Peretz.
“Morales recently discovered his Jewish roots. He would travel three and a half hours from [the California town of] El Centro to pray with us at our shul,” Goldstein told media at a Sunday press conference outside the synagogue. “He felt this was his house of worship. And many times I said, ‘Jonathan, you work for the border patrol. Please arm yourself when you are here; we never know when we will need it.’”
US President Donald Trump spoke with Goldstein on Sunday and took to Twitter to praise the rabbi and Morales, writing: “He may have been off duty but his talents for Law Enforcement weren’t!”

As for why there weren’t any active duty guards at the synagogue, in an earlier interview with CNN Goldstein said, “Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford to have an armed security officer at every service, so whenever we had extra help, we were grateful for it.”
In a moment that Goldstein referred to as “miraculous,” Earnest’s gun jammed, and congregant Oscar Stewart, a 51-year-old Army veteran, and Morales attempted to subdue the gunman. Morales was also able to open fire and give pursuit.

After Earnest fled the building, Morales followed in his own vehicle and shot and hit Earnest’s car. Earnest soon turned himself in to law enforcement.
On Sunday, Goldstein, his two hands in fresh blue bandages, gave a detailed recounting of Saturday’s harrowing shooting in Poway, a suburban town just north of San Diego.
“I was preparing for my sermon, I walked out of the sanctuary and into the lobby and I saw my dear friend Lori Kaye,” said Goldstein. “I walked into the banquet hall to wash my hands, walked two or three footsteps and I heard a loud bang.”
That bang was the sound of the first shots fired by Earnest, a college student who entered the Chabad House undetected amid a flow of mourners who were gathering for Yizkor, the traditional memorial service held on the final day of Passover.
“I turned around and saw something indescribable,” Goldstein continued. “Here is a young man standing with a rifle pointing right at me. He had sunglasses on. I couldn’t see his eyes, I couldn’t see his soul.”
The rabbi said that when he saw the shooter he initially froze, then raised his hands to cover his face. Two of his fingers were blown off; one was reattached by surgeons at Palomar Medical Center in San Diego late Saturday.
Gilbert-Kaye, whom relatives and friends on Saturday described as a woman of unconditional love and unbounded generosity, was the only fatality of Earnest’s mass shooting.

Goldstein took several minutes to thank San Diego County law enforcement and to praise the wellspring of warmth and support that the local community has offered in light of the tragedy.

A chain of miracles

In a remarkable series of events, the rabbi and a handful of congregants were able to save a group of children playing in the adjacent banquet hall, preventing a full-fledged massacre.
“I ran [to gather the children],” Goldstein says. “My granddaughter, who is four and a half years old, saw her grandpa with a bleeding hand. She saw me shouting, ‘Get out! Get out!’ She didn’t deserve to see her grandfather like that.”
Aided by Peretz, an Israeli war veteran who was also at Chabad of Poway with his family Sunday, Goldstein was able to usher the children out of the banquet hall with the shooter in pursuit.
But in what Goldstein referred to as a “miracle,” Earnest’s gun jammed. Even while Morales was still on Earnest’s trail, congregants — who had been gathered in the sanctuary and would have made easy targets for Earnest had his gun not jammed — fled to Chabad’s front entrance.

Goldstein’s hand was bleeding badly and his two fingers were dangling by cartilage. “I grabbed a prayer shawl,” he said, wrapped his wounds, and stood on a chair to address his congregation.
“I said, ‘I gotta do something,’” he said. “I said to our congregation: ‘Am Yisrael chai [The People of Israel live]. We are a Jewish nation that will stand tall and we will not let anyone or anything take us down.’”

Farewell to an ‘angel’

“Lori took the bullet for all of us. She died to protect all of us. She didn’t deserve to die,” Goldstein said.
Gilbert-Kaye was one of the congregation’s oldest and most devoted members, the rabbi told media. A former employee of Wells Fargo, she was instrumental in helping Chabad secure the loan for the building in the early 1990s. She and her husband Howard were so close with the rabbi and his wife that two weeks ago they flew to New York City for Goldstein’s youngest daughter’s wedding, and danced together with the bride.

Roneet Lev, friend of Chabad of Poway
shooting victim Lori Gilbert-Kaye,
April 28, 2019. (Debra Kamin/Times of Israel)

Her generosity and kindness was lauded on Sunday by Roneet Lev, who was at the Chabad of Poway to mourn. Lev described herself as Kaye’s best friend.
“Lori Kaye is an angel on this planet,” Lev said. “She’s touched many lives in her own life. Not just in this community but throughout the entire world.”
Describing a woman who always carried gifts cards and greeting cards to offer as presents and who would regularly purchase extra coffees and donuts for homeless people on the street, Lev explained that Kaye was at Chabad of Poway to say the first Kaddish mourner’s prayer for her mother, who had recently died.
Kaye’s daughter Hannah lives in Los Angeles and had driven down to be with her mother for the service.
Lev offered hope and optimism as she spoke of her friend.
“Even in this horrible, painful event, we know good will come out of it,” Lev said. “Lori is known for bringing out the good in people. And look at these flowers. Look at this law enforcement. Look at the good people of San Diego. Lori is now bringing them together.”

 

Rabbi-speaks-after-shooting-at-synagogue

p.s., another article about the shooting from a local paper was originally posted with some odd wording that cast some shadows on the synagogue’s use of DHS funds to strengthen security. The second and third versions fixed this gaff and added a quote from the local ADL spokesperson.

RELATED: Trump Praises Off-Duty Border Patrol Agent Who Engaged Synagogue Shooter
RELATED: Democrats Use San Diego Synagogue Shooting To Push Gun Control

Oh, VERY IMPORTANT!
The “AR” in AR-15 stands for ArmaLite, NOT assault rifle. This is a point we need to be making with everyone that we talk about such things with. Continue reading “Be Like Lions, Not Lambs” →

Dear MAGA: 20190428 Open Topic

This very special ORTHODOX EASTER SUNDAY
open thread is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

2019-TRUMP-at-easter-egg-roll-event.jpg

He Is Risen!

orthodox-icon-resurrection

Orthodoxy and Calendars

We are here to rejoice in solidarity with our Orthodox brothers and sisters as they celebrate the resurrection of our Savior today. But first, let’s spend a moment thinking about why calendars were so important that two of the oldest sects of Christianity are unable to pick the same date for Easter?

While the issue is somewhat complicated, it may be summarized in the two factors at work that cause this conflict in dates:
1) The issue of the calendar; and
2) the adherence by the Orthodox to the early practices of the Christian Church.

— Why is Orthodox Christian Easter later than the Catholic one?

For the last week I’ve been pondering this. I’m not an expert on anything, but it seems that it has to do with the character of each stream of the faith. I’m thinking about that in the context of the God’s gifts to the Church.

And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, or building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,to the extent of the full stature of Christ…  Ephesians 4:11-13

The early Fathers of the Church that stood their ground against every heresy. Those following in their footsteps would be expected to default to standing their ground against suggested changes to the traditions. This is a good thing. It could be seen as the role of the Prophet in the Church. I’m seeing the Orthodox church as more strongly inclined to resist change. (Of course, there could be geopolitical reasons too.)

But consider if they have been gifted to stand like the prophets of old. Those who were willing to stand by the truth–from God–against every attempt to change it no matter what. If this is true, it would not surprise us that traditional methods for determining where Resurrection Sunday falls on the Calendar each year continue to be strictly followed in the Orthodox tradition. Also, the reasoning makes a lot of sense. The resurrection necessarily follows AFTER the Passover which is the foreshadowing of the sacrifice of God’s own Son to redeem us all from sin and death.

Most divisions between Orthodox and Roman Catholic are not emphasized in our day, but the calendar issues are the ones that seem to create the most visible separation.

While I might be understanding of how the Gregorian calendar came about, I also have a great deal of respect for the Orthodox Christian’s devotion to tradition and honor for the early practices of the Christian Church.

T*3
Eastern-Orthodox-calendar-of-Saints

What Is Eastern Orthodox Easter?

Customs, greetings, and foods by Mary Fairchild from LearnReligions.com

Easter season is the most significant and sacred time of the Orthodox Church calendar. Orthodox Easter consists of a series of celebrations or movable feasts commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Orthodox-Easter-lighting-of-candles

Observances of Eastern Orthodox Easter

In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the spiritual preparations begin with Great Lent, 40 days of self-examination and fasting (including Sundays), which starts on Clean Monday and culminates on Lazarus Saturday.

Clean Monday falls seven weeks before Easter Sunday. The term “Clean Monday” refers to cleansing from sinful attitudes through the Lenten fast. Lazarus Saturday occurs eight days before Easter Sunday and signifies the end of Great Lent.
Next comes Palm Sunday, one week before Easter, commemorating the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, followed by Holy Week, which ends on Easter Sunday, or Pascha.
Fasting continues throughout Holy Week. Many Orthodox churches observe a Paschal Vigil which ends just before midnight on Holy Saturday (or Great Saturday), the last day of Holy Week on the evening before Easter. Immediately following the vigil, Easter festivities begin with Paschal Matins, Paschal Hours, and the Paschal Divine Liturgy.
Paschal Matins is an early morning prayer service or part of an all-night prayer vigil. Paschal Hours is a brief, chanted prayer service, reflecting the joy of Easter. And Paschal Divine Liturgy is a communion or Eucharist service. These are the first celebrations of Christ’s resurrection and are considered the most important services of the ecclesiastical year.

After the Eucharist service, the fast is broken, and the feasting begins.

Orthodox-Easter-Bulgaria-Cover

Orthodox Easter Traditions and Greetings

It is customary among Orthodox Christians to greet one another during the Easter season with the Paschal greeting. The salutation begins with the phrase, “Christ ​is Risen!” The response is “Truly; He is Risen!” The phrase “Christos Anesti” (Greek for “Christ is Risen”) is also the title of a traditional Orthodox Easter hymn sung during Easter services in celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

In the Orthodox tradition, eggs are a symbol of new life. Early Christians used eggs to symbolize the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the regeneration of believers. At Easter, eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross for the redemption of all men.

greek-orthodox-easter

Eastern Orthodox Easter Foods

Greek Orthodox Christians traditionally break the Lenten fast after the midnight Resurrection Service. Customary foods are a lamb and Tsoureki Paschalino, a sweet Easter dessert bread.

Serbian Orthodox families traditionally begin the feasting after Easter Sunday services. They enjoy appetizers of smoked meats and cheeses, boiled eggs and red wine. The meal consists of chicken noodle or lamb vegetable soup followed by spit-roasted lamb.

Holy Saturday is a day of strict fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians, while families stay busy making preparations for the Easter meal. Usually, the Lenten fast is broken after the midnight mass with traditional Paskha Easter bread cake.

Orthodox-Easter-church-service

 

Male & Female

This very special MALE & FEMALE thread
celebrates Heaven’s original blueprint for
both the male and the female genders.

Adam-and-Eve-eat-the-fruit

An African Cardinal Speaks

I believe this Cardinal, Robert Sarah, brings a beautiful moral clarity to many of the topics discussed here at Wolf’s Q Treehouse, but let’s to focus on the gender issue for a moment.

Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, says that the spiritual crisis that currently blights “the whole world” has its roots in Europe, because Europe has rejected God:

“Western people are convinced that receiving is contrary to the dignity of human persons. But civilised man is fundamentally an heir, he receives a history, a culture, a language, a name, a family. This is what distinguishes him from the barbarian. To refuse to be inscribed within a network of dependence, heritage, and filiation condemns us to go back naked into the jungle of a competitive economy left to its own devices. Because he refuses to acknowledge himself as an heir, man is condemned to the hell of liberal globalisation.”

Cardinal Sarah links this idea of the rejection of humanity’s inheritance to another that he says is at the root of current malaise: the rejection, in the West, of the idea of fatherhood.

The two rejections, he explains, are intimately bound up with our rejection of God.

“From Him we receive our nature as man and woman. This is intolerable to modern minds. Gender ideology is a Luciferian refusal to receive a sexual nature from God. Thus some rebel against God and pointlessly mutilate themselves in order to change their sex. But in reality they do not fundamentally change anything of their structure as man or woman. The West refuses to receive, and will accept only what it constructs for itself.”

He continues: “Because it is a gift from God, human nature itself becomes unbearable for western man… This revolt is spiritual at root. It is the revolt of Satan against the gift of grace.”

— Excerpt, Interview of Cardinal Robert Sarah, The Tablet

Adam-and-Eve-silouette.jpg

We ignore the gift of grace found in gender differences to our great loss.

However, I’d like to redirect our attention to something else about the Divine blueprint. There are two versions of the creation story in the book of Genesis. The first is more like a requirements specification, the second is more like an elaboration process.

So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

— Genesis 1:27

woman-out-of-man

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.

“This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
because she was taken from ‘man.’”

 

24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.
— Genesis 2:18-25

Have you ever considered that Wolf’s famous BOTH logic applies to God? In the first reference the term human beings (Hebrew ’ādām) is the generic term for humankind and does not imply gender. In the blueprint, humankind is created in the image of God, BOTH male and female. To truly defend and honor gender, we must first respect this reality. There is the biology AND the spirituality.

John Eldredge’s writing have captured the power of celebrating the qualities of gender for the most recent generation. And recently a theologian has pointed out that section in that corresponds to the governmental portion of the Mosaic law in the Ten Commandments is, “honor your father AND your mother.” Talk about revolutionary. There have been patriarchal cultures and matriarchal cultures, but a culture of honor for BOTH???

What if we’ve been duped into looking at the wrong thing (again). What if true leadership and authority and inner peace flow out of embracing the partnership of two very powerful and very different genders, BOTH made in the image of God?

To be honest, I’m just scratching the surface of what feels like an intense and very deep reality here. I don’t think I’m even close to where we need to be on this. There is something here that we must understand in order to prevail in the culture/spiritual war we are dealing with. But it seems this needs to be put out there for discussion.

Wonder Woman - 2017