Hunker Down, It's Survival Time!

Hello Everyone,

It's time to shift our focus to survival mode as we approach a more serious look at Covid-19.  I will post more shortly on tips for minimizing life costs, the cost of daily habits, and how to be better for this crisis. 

Comment below if you have specific topics you would like me to cover on Pandemic Survival.

2084359ea2fa6b4b9510f4da309ca2d31c7d124b5d4f056132

Congressman Mike Rogers' opening statement on Health Care reform in Wash...

A Project Comes To A Close

     On June 1st, a project was finished and the twelfth grade accomplished.  After completing The Thomas Sowell Reader by Thomas Sowell,  75 Bible Questions Your Instructors Pray You Won't Ask by Gary North, and multiple other projects, my parents signed off on my certificate of graduation.  Homeschooling wasn't always easy, to the contrary, it challenged me in ways the public system never could.  Take personal responsibility for instance.  As I progressed to higher levels, more subjects and assignments were left to me to do on my own until I was responsible enough to manage almost everything but the grading of tests, and even that I could have done on my own as I never saw anything to gain by cheating.  A year ago, I had accomplished all I needed to graduate grade 12 but I was not ready at 17 to start full time work or to move on to College or University.  So my parents, primarily my Dad, came up with the criteria for a blogging project that would heighten my writing skills while teaching me about freedom, corruption, government, apologetics, and so much more.  The key to becoming more than just a good writer is to write.  Write, write, write, and write some more.  The contract between my early posts and my last ones are proof enough that the more one writes, the more fluent they become in the art.  The more one learns, the better they are at learning.  If we could just break away from the masses and the ideals most people have for what an education should look like, there would be an outbreak of learning, and an epidemic of genius.

"I've concluded that genius is as common as dirt.  We suppress our genius only because we haven't yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women.  The solution, I think, is simple and glorious.  Let them manage themselves."

- John Taylor Gatto

75 Bible Questions – 74

 1 Peter 2:9-10  “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Jesus instructed his disciples to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” [Mark 16:15] because through his sacrifice, righteousness was made available to all people, which is why the good news was preached to the Gentiles, thus fulfilling many Old Testament prophesies like Isaiah 49:6 “I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'”

The last 27 chapters of the book Isaiah are similar to the 27 books of the New Testament because they proclaim the hope of the New Covenant, for which there are many fulfilled prophesies; how then can we, “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his [God’s] own possession” deny these prophesies were completed or that they were prophesies as dispensationalism does?

Anyone who enters into the kingdom of heaven having shunned even the smallest portion of the Bible and having taught others to do the same “will be called [the] least,” so open your hearts and minds to the wisdom of God while there is still time.

Matthew 5:19  “Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

NOTE: Question 75 was covered back in Question 25 so the 75 Bible Questions are now complete.

75 Bible Questions – 72 & 73

Didn’t the Prophets Foresee the Church Age?

Acts 3:24 “And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.”

Peter is very specific here that Samuel and “All” the prophets after him were given revelations about the Church Age, the age beginning on the day of Pentecost, so there is no way to reasonably think that the Church Age just came to pass at random or that God did not know exactly when and what was going to happen.

Nevertheless, it is a dispensationalist teaching that the prophets knew nothing about what was to come when there are fulfilled prophesies strewn throughout the Old Testament about Jesus, the New Covenant, and the Destruction of Jerusalem.

Is it ignorance, denial, or immaturity that keeps curtain church denominations from understanding such principals as this that have a firm scriptural foundation?

 Prophecies Jesus - 44 Messianic Prophecies Jesus Fulfilled

75 Bible Questions – 71

Doesn’t God Want His “Heirs” to Inherit Everything?

Romans 4:13  “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”

The promised blessings of Abraham are free to all who accept them, as we are heirs and offspring through faith in Jesus Christ for it says in Galatians 3:14  “So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Even when God has made a covenant with Abraham that we are a part of, many Christians resent that we are heirs of this world and that our Heavenly Father who loves us would want to shower us with prosperity.

I know many Christians struggle with finances, work, family life, and even their relationship with God when they could step out of their self dependence to trust in the Lord’s divine provision.

Philippians 4:10-13  “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.  Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Genesis 28:4  “May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”

75 Bible Questions – 70

Doesn’t Christ’s Kingdom Expand Over Time?

Matthew 6:10  “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

What does “Your kingdom come” mean in the Lord’s prayer when the kingdom of heaven came through Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:7

 ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’)?

If it means the final judgment, then why are we to pray that it happens when God is not bound to the areas we lift up in prayer, so I do not believe the kingdom coming in Matthew 6:10 is the final judgment.

What if this is a prayer that the kingdom of God, His church here on earth that is described in many of Jesus’ parables, and the progression of all things coming under Christ’s feet [read previous posts for more on this topic] will come to pass quicker, or that the work of others to bring worldly things into submission will be strengthened? 

 Matthew 10:7

And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

If you have different beliefs on this topic, please leave me a comment below with verses to back it up.  I would enjoy getting feedback.

TTSR Glimpses Of Academe

The Chronicle of Higher Education gives us a look at the life of college professors in America, providing useful statistics that parents and their young adults will find most interesting when considering the next steps after high school; statistics like only 24 percent of professors agreeing “That most students are well-prepared academically” and as little as 12 percent thought that most of their student were “very bright”.

Maybe the apparent dissatisfaction academia have for their students is why they have so many conventions and conferences in tropical locations like Hawaii while staying in 5-star hotels, or resorts in the Caribbean, all paid for by someone else.

It’s no wonder two thirds of profs spend 12 hours or less in a classroom each week, 35 percent of whom spend less than 9 hours; even with added prep time, it still amounts to the effort of a part time job, one of the highest paid ‘part time’ jobs in the States I would guess.