Old Man’s Dreams

Last night, I dreamt that a storm was coming and that the Lord’s children prayed that the storm waters would be blessed by God and become the Holy Water that washes upon the face of the earth to cast out evil that is in and upon it. The air would become pure and you could breath in the holiness of the moment.

I woke to find a fine layer of snow upon the ground and I pondered the dream.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament promised to give old men dreams:

Joel 2:28 says, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions.” Luke reminds us of this in Acts 2:17 when he writes, “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

But for the mater of interpretations, Genesis 40:5 says, “They said to him, ‘We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.’ And Joseph said to them ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me..” And yet, in 1 Corinthians 14:28 says, “But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.” And yet, the memory of the dream remains.

Will You Be Sleeping?

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple
13 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Signs of the End of the Age
3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

The Abomination of Desolation
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18 Pray that it may not happen in winter. 19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. 21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.

The Coming of the Son of Man
24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree
28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

No One Knows That Day or Hour
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 13:1–37.

Olivet Discourse 

This is totally shocking….

That is one of the many titles we see on YouTube or any other news sources.  When have we become a society where all of our social media becomes click-bait?  Everyone is battling for attention, “click here, click here”

I find myself moving beyond sensational headlines.  I don’t know anywhere that I feel I am getting the truth, because all the media does is feed us crap.  I know, I know, crap is a four letter word; but it is hard to call it anything else.

We have become such a society of disinformation that it is becoming impossible to discern what is truth.  I am starting to believe that it is becoming increasingly difficult for truth-tellers because lies deliver more clicks.

I harp on the notion of integrity; but I am quickly learning that integrity is becoming extinct.

Laws

As humans, we face a multitude of laws.  The first law that is presented to us is natural laws. When we begin to learn about walking, we discover gravity.  Moral laws are harder to grasp and might result in a spanking, or two.  Around school age, we learn about herd laws; as we break into two groups: bullies and non-bullies.

These three laws seem to follow us through life and the definition of each law becomes more sharply defined.  Natural laws seem to hold firm while herd and moral laws become more polished or eroded.

Over the past several years, herd law has separated the world into woke or non-woke groups.  Liberal or conservative.  Unlimited genders or two genders.  Men allowed in women’s bathrooms or not.  You see the point.

Some moral laws seem fixed, but many of those laws, that we once held close, have been redefined, some would say eroded.  The more that I think about men sharing public showers with young girls causes me to accept that the herd laws simply break down to perverts and non-pervets.  Sorry, that is a sensitive issue with me.

During the last Presidential speech to Congress, many of the Democrats wore pink in support of women.  Yet, those same people supported allowing men to play in women’s sports.  Herd law gets complicated.  It is so much easier to associate with conservative views… things are simpler.

Moral laws are available to us in the Bible, if we choose to read it.  And here is where we discover that herd law just breaks down to two groups (again), those who believe and those who don’t.  In the end, that is all that it amounts to.

Doctrine

Doctrine is those things that you hold firmly.  It is the thing that you build your principles upon.  Sadly, it is also the thing that divides us.  False doctrine is something that erodes us.  It goes beyond faith, it becomes who we are.

Every animal shelter would have a principle for how we treat the animals in our care.  That doctrine should insure that each animal is receiving adequate care.  That principle should also extend to how we treat the animal when an animal is suffering and we are unable to provide it with the care that it needs.

Animal shelters need to document these principles so that everyone in the organization will understand our doctrines.  Many times, our doctrines are what paves our path to humane treatment of the animals in our care.  It is upon these doctrines that we submit our annual budget request.

Being on the Right Side of Animal Rights

As much as I lambast animal rights organizations for bullying animal shelters for not adopting aggressive dogs so as to meet a 90% statistical number; I find myself on the same side wth them when it comes to wild animals.  I think all roadside zoos should be shut down.

Although my college background is in wildlife resources, I am against State laws that require that trappers only have to check their traplines once every three days.  I can’t imagine an animal being stuck in a leg hold trap for three days.  I can’t imagine an animal having to be in a leg hold trap for even three hours.  Whenever I am given the opportunity to update a city or county animal ordinance, I always work in a prohibition on leg hold traps. There is no use for them in populated or unpopulated areas.  They are a danger to domestic pets and they are intended to harm another living thing.

While I am bandstanding, wild species should never be a backyard pet.  For a while idiots were allowed to purchase ligers, half lion and half tiger.  There are probably still people keeping these animals in their backyards.  The real dumb ones probably have them running around in their houses.  The problem with natural selection is that instead of wiping out the person with deleterious genes (for stupidity) is when a child becomes injured due to someone else’s gene pool.

I worked with someone conducting college research on taking coyote puppies and attempting to domesticate them.  They hand-raised them from birth; only to find that the animals were coded from birth to be wild.  The human species is not smart enough to figure out that wild animals are coded with DNA to be wild.  It is inhumane to make them any different than what they are coded for.

Lost Words

I was reading a Marc Cameron novel, and he used “stalwart”, “forthright”, and “chivalrous”; words, that he calls “dusty-book words”-that seem to have disappeared from our culture.

Our culture is degrading; but thanks to Marc, maybe we need a reminder or two of a few words that used to mean something.

Respecting the Dead

I’ve always said that how you treat a dead animal indicates how you treat a live one.  I bring up this issue today when several of our local police officers were discovered cutting up a dead homeless person.  Pretty outrageous.  They didn’t even cut off their body cameras; pretty stupid as well.  I have a lot of respect for police officers, but these guys do not measure up to the level I expect of their position.

Revelations

“If private revelations agree with Scripture, they are needless; and if they disagree, they are false.”   J.I. Packer.

The Bible constantly warns us about false prophets.  Many religions today claim that they are handing down prophecies from God.  John the Baptist was the last Prophet.  The prophets were paving the way for the Christ.  Once He came, there was no need for prophets to keep telling of His coming.

The Bible

The Bible takes on a whole new meaning when you realize that it isn’t just a great book, but that the author was writing to you.