https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_astra_(phrase)
I don't know who's going to check this on Christmas, but I thought I'd post anyway. I'm behind on posts as it is. I've been thinking about making two a week until I get caught up. I can't afford to skip a week.
SpaceX landed a rocket this week. I love space, so I was super excited about this. If I could go into space, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Here is the full video of the webcast. The landing's not long after 32:00. A helicopter filmed it, too. That's here. It landed right on the X. Like a boss. ;)
Since the landing was 8:30pm local time, I got to watch it live. It was awesome. It was epic. This was the first time in history anyone has ever launched a rocket to space and landed it back on the ground. Normally, the rockets are thrown away. This will drop the cost of going into space by a huge amount. Here is a post with actual details on the lowering of the costs. They're almost at the bottom of the article.
If SpaceX can reuse rockets for 15 or 20 launches, going into space will become a casual thing. Something to keep an eye out for is an announcement by or some kind of news involving Bigelow Aerospace. No, there's been no word that they're going to announce anything at all. I've just been watching them for years. With lower launch costs coming, I would naturally expect something involving them to happen.
On a more Biblical note, there are interesting verses about space.
Nehemiah 1:9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
The word heavens can mean the atmosphere or the universe in general. An interesting thought comes up. Are pagans allowed into space?
2 Corinthians 4:4 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.
If Satan is the god of this world, it implies his authority goes no further this planet. Are his people limited to this planet?
Psalm 115:16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
When Adam turned over authority to Satan, it doesn't seem to have included anything beyond earth. Would God allow people who don't belong to him to leave earth? Are only God's people allowed to leave earth? Is the moon considered part of earth? It'll be interesting to see how this new SpaceX development plays out. Will the Tribulation be timed to prevent pagans from leaving earth? Or will God arrange events in such a way that his people are the only ones with authority in space? For example, pagans might be allowed to go, but the leaders would only be God's people.
In the book of Daniel, an angel tells Daniel that his answer to prayer was hindered by the forces of Satan. We can assume that happens all the time to greater and lesser degrees. If we go into space, will that hindrance vanish? Since we don't know if the moon is considered to be under the authority of earth, let's talk about Mars. If we went to Mars, would we be able to talk to God face to face or otherwise hear his voice without any hindrance? Would angelic visitations be normal there?
If the devil is bound to earth, Satanic temptation wouldn't exist on Mars. Going there could literally open up a spiritual paradise where man could commune with God free of the hindrances and temptations that are normal on earth.
Even if you're not excited about space, if you're a child of God, the spiritual possibilities of going there should be beyond exciting.
Friday, December 25, 2015
Friday, December 18, 2015
Like a Boss
There was a news article this week that lets us know Putin is a boss. If you're not familiar with the "like a boss" meme, the definition of it is sort of this: "Like A Boss is a catchphrase often used in image macros or GIFs that feature a person completing an action with authority and finesse. Similar to Haters Gonna Hate, the characters in the macros have an air of superiority and do not care how others perceive them."
It originates from an obscene song I've never heard and had never heard of until I searched for the definition. I'm not recommending the song at all.
A few examples of doing things like a boss:
Mugsy the cat slaps alligators like a boss.
This rooster's a boss.
Riding an alligator like a boss.
Trimming bushes like a boss.
Another cat that's like a boss.
Fighting fires like a boss.
Refusing to salute Hitler like a boss.
Parallel parking like a boss.
That's kind of the idea. A cow that eats lunch at a steak restaurant would be a boss. :)
The like a boss meme comes up keeps coming up. It's nearly always funny. This week there was a news story about the way Putin walks. I kid you not. It was a real news story, and it was supposed to be serious. To me it was funny but not because of what it said. If the way Putin walks is actually newsworthy, it means he's a boss. I read down to the KGB training part, and I thought, "Yeah, he walks like a boss."
I'm ignoring the negative news reports about him. I'm not endorsing any of that if it's true. This is about Putin the boss.
Putin the scientist.
Putin the submarine driver.
Putin ahorseback.
Putin the martial artist.
Putin the 8th-degree black belt.
Putin the fisherman.
Putin the hunter.
Putin laughs at a reporter.
Putin: man of action.
Give me back my pen. HAHA The guy he was talking to is a billionaire with a B. Bosses aren't impressed by that.
Putin being cool.
Playing the piano and singing for charity.
Shedding tears at his national anthem.
There's tons of this stuff online. Putin has been in the news quite a bit in the U.S. A lot of it is stories like the one of his riding a horse with no shirt on with 6-pack abs and chiseled muscles. It's funny, but at the same time Putin comes across as a man's man. He's always doing something manly and adventurous. Whatever he's doing, he's doing it like a boss. And, sure, most of that is staged.
Aside from all that, I think he actually is a boss. He's a strong, articulate leader in a time when leadership is sadly lacking in the west. In the U.S. we don't have that kind of strong leadership any more. I could make an argument that Ronald Reagan was the last truly American president. All who have come after him have proven weak. Political correctness is a cancer in American society that saps leadership. I have the impression Russia doesn't have that.
I grew up during the Cold War. Putin reminds me of the old Soviet leaders. I could envision him negotiating with Reagan in the 80s or fighting against Hitler in WWII. Despite the negative press, he has a certain class and statesmanship. He would make a good James Bond.
We need leaders in America like Putin. Not the negative things reported in the press. The good things. Putin is a patriot who loves his country. He works hard. He wants Russia to succeed. He's a statesman. We need leaders like that in America but guided by American values and principles.
From what I've seen, the United States is trying to provoke Russia into a war and possibly WWIII, because Putin is standing in the way of the new world order. My advice to the administration is not to mess with him. He's a boss.
It originates from an obscene song I've never heard and had never heard of until I searched for the definition. I'm not recommending the song at all.
A few examples of doing things like a boss:
Mugsy the cat slaps alligators like a boss.
This rooster's a boss.
Riding an alligator like a boss.
Trimming bushes like a boss.
Another cat that's like a boss.
Fighting fires like a boss.
Refusing to salute Hitler like a boss.
Parallel parking like a boss.
That's kind of the idea. A cow that eats lunch at a steak restaurant would be a boss. :)
The like a boss meme comes up keeps coming up. It's nearly always funny. This week there was a news story about the way Putin walks. I kid you not. It was a real news story, and it was supposed to be serious. To me it was funny but not because of what it said. If the way Putin walks is actually newsworthy, it means he's a boss. I read down to the KGB training part, and I thought, "Yeah, he walks like a boss."
I'm ignoring the negative news reports about him. I'm not endorsing any of that if it's true. This is about Putin the boss.
Putin the scientist.
Putin the submarine driver.
Putin ahorseback.
Putin the martial artist.
Putin the 8th-degree black belt.
Putin the fisherman.
Putin the hunter.
Putin laughs at a reporter.
Putin: man of action.
Give me back my pen. HAHA The guy he was talking to is a billionaire with a B. Bosses aren't impressed by that.
Putin being cool.
Playing the piano and singing for charity.
Shedding tears at his national anthem.
There's tons of this stuff online. Putin has been in the news quite a bit in the U.S. A lot of it is stories like the one of his riding a horse with no shirt on with 6-pack abs and chiseled muscles. It's funny, but at the same time Putin comes across as a man's man. He's always doing something manly and adventurous. Whatever he's doing, he's doing it like a boss. And, sure, most of that is staged.
Aside from all that, I think he actually is a boss. He's a strong, articulate leader in a time when leadership is sadly lacking in the west. In the U.S. we don't have that kind of strong leadership any more. I could make an argument that Ronald Reagan was the last truly American president. All who have come after him have proven weak. Political correctness is a cancer in American society that saps leadership. I have the impression Russia doesn't have that.
I grew up during the Cold War. Putin reminds me of the old Soviet leaders. I could envision him negotiating with Reagan in the 80s or fighting against Hitler in WWII. Despite the negative press, he has a certain class and statesmanship. He would make a good James Bond.
We need leaders in America like Putin. Not the negative things reported in the press. The good things. Putin is a patriot who loves his country. He works hard. He wants Russia to succeed. He's a statesman. We need leaders like that in America but guided by American values and principles.
From what I've seen, the United States is trying to provoke Russia into a war and possibly WWIII, because Putin is standing in the way of the new world order. My advice to the administration is not to mess with him. He's a boss.
Friday, December 11, 2015
Searching for a Motive?
If I wrote a detective novel, the only reason my investigator would search for a criminal's motive would be if his identity was unknown or if there was a list of suspects. If the investigator had all the facts of the crime, a murder for instance in which the victim was shot in the back multiple times that multiple people witnessed all caught on video, knowing the motive would be irrelevant. The facts would stand on their own merit. In the real world, a criminal's motive isn't always known. Here in the U.S., a lot of murderers take the motive to the grave with them. It's their way of making the family suffer. In those cases the facts spoke loudly and clearly. The motive was irrelevant for the murderer's conviction. Knowing the motive would have been nice but wasn't necessary.
In the time between the Muslim terrorist attack in San Bernardino and the FBI's announcement that it was terrorism, the official story was that they were searching for the "motive" to determine whether it really was terrorism. Finally, at some point it was officially announced that the massacre was indeed an act of terrorism. I never heard a motive other than terrorism. But we already knew it was terrorism. Making it official changed none of the facts of the case.
Let's go back to my detective novel. Imagine me writing a story in which the murder is clearly murder, victim shot multiple times in front of witnesses all caught on camera, but my investigator spends the first half of the book searching for the motive only to declare that the motive was murder. It wouldn't make any sense, would it? That would be a pretty bad story. Imagine that the reason for his search for motive was because his boss ordered him to do it in order to make sure the motive fit a tricky legal definition. That was the reason for the FBI's search for the "motive". They had to make it fit a very narrow legal definition of terrorism that the FBI uses.
Basically, the entire search for motive appears to have been a fictional event presented as reality. The night of the attack the Joint Terrorism Task Force was activated. The JTTF was investigating the event as terrorism the entire time the FBI was "searching for the motive" to determine if the massacre was terrorism or not.
The whole incident should strike fear into Americans. The government suppressed information from the very beginning of the attack. It presented a narrative with holes in it. If there hadn't been so many people involved and so many witnesses, would we ever have officially found out the "motive"? Would it ever have been terrorism, or would it have been whitewashed like Fort Hood?
I haven't heard much from the survivors. It's like they're being encouraged to stay off camera or only say certain things during interviews. I have a huge question that needs answering. Did the terrorists shout allahu akbar during the attack? Because if they did, the "motive" was known within about five minutes of the attack. It took police 4 minutes to reach the scene. Survivors were telling them what happened when they went in the door.
Book Stuff
Despite all the challenges in real life, I've been trying to get the YA spy novel finished. I can see the end in sight. (I've gotten some things done for the next B'vellah War book, too, even a tiny, tiny bit of the first chapter done.) If I can get the ending right on the YA book, I think it's the best book I've done yet. For the Messenger series, I ignored the "rules" and wrote the kind of thing I wanted to read. The unpublished mystery/romance had more of a structure to it. The YA novel has even more to it. All that experience is going into the next B'vellah War book. It feels unbearably delayed, but hopefully it'll be worth it.
Amazon FBA Stuff
I've sold a little bit more, but it's really slow getting off the ground. In January I should be able to afford to import a real product from China. I have a post planned about my first feedback. It was negative, and it wasn't my fault! Amazon had to fix it. It was more hindrance.
In the time between the Muslim terrorist attack in San Bernardino and the FBI's announcement that it was terrorism, the official story was that they were searching for the "motive" to determine whether it really was terrorism. Finally, at some point it was officially announced that the massacre was indeed an act of terrorism. I never heard a motive other than terrorism. But we already knew it was terrorism. Making it official changed none of the facts of the case.
Let's go back to my detective novel. Imagine me writing a story in which the murder is clearly murder, victim shot multiple times in front of witnesses all caught on camera, but my investigator spends the first half of the book searching for the motive only to declare that the motive was murder. It wouldn't make any sense, would it? That would be a pretty bad story. Imagine that the reason for his search for motive was because his boss ordered him to do it in order to make sure the motive fit a tricky legal definition. That was the reason for the FBI's search for the "motive". They had to make it fit a very narrow legal definition of terrorism that the FBI uses.
Basically, the entire search for motive appears to have been a fictional event presented as reality. The night of the attack the Joint Terrorism Task Force was activated. The JTTF was investigating the event as terrorism the entire time the FBI was "searching for the motive" to determine if the massacre was terrorism or not.
The whole incident should strike fear into Americans. The government suppressed information from the very beginning of the attack. It presented a narrative with holes in it. If there hadn't been so many people involved and so many witnesses, would we ever have officially found out the "motive"? Would it ever have been terrorism, or would it have been whitewashed like Fort Hood?
I haven't heard much from the survivors. It's like they're being encouraged to stay off camera or only say certain things during interviews. I have a huge question that needs answering. Did the terrorists shout allahu akbar during the attack? Because if they did, the "motive" was known within about five minutes of the attack. It took police 4 minutes to reach the scene. Survivors were telling them what happened when they went in the door.
Book Stuff
Despite all the challenges in real life, I've been trying to get the YA spy novel finished. I can see the end in sight. (I've gotten some things done for the next B'vellah War book, too, even a tiny, tiny bit of the first chapter done.) If I can get the ending right on the YA book, I think it's the best book I've done yet. For the Messenger series, I ignored the "rules" and wrote the kind of thing I wanted to read. The unpublished mystery/romance had more of a structure to it. The YA novel has even more to it. All that experience is going into the next B'vellah War book. It feels unbearably delayed, but hopefully it'll be worth it.
Amazon FBA Stuff
I've sold a little bit more, but it's really slow getting off the ground. In January I should be able to afford to import a real product from China. I have a post planned about my first feedback. It was negative, and it wasn't my fault! Amazon had to fix it. It was more hindrance.
Friday, December 4, 2015
Who is the Assyrian?
The other day I mentioned in passing that the anti-Christ could have a Muslim father but didn't have room to explain why I thought that.
I've seen two camps on this on Christian TV. One side of prophecy "experts" believes the anti-Christ will be Muslim. The other "experts" say that he can't possibly be Muslim because Jews will never ever accept a Muslim messiah. There's even a teaching that Islam will be destroyed and be irrelevant in the Tribulation. That's a beautiful thought, but I'm not holding my breath.
I'm not one of the experts, but this is my thinking. Of course, the anti-Christ could be Muslim, and here's how. When Muslims wage jihad, they rape the enemy's women. This is going on in Europe right now. In their minds they're creating more Muslims, because in their culture Muslim identity passes down through the father. Women don't matter to them. They're property like a camel.(Google what happens to American women who marry Arab men and then move to the Middle East. It's not good.)
Because of things like jihad, in Jewish culture Jewish identity is passed down through the mother. The reasoning is that you can't always tell who the father is, but you can always tell who the mother is. In spite of a long, patriarchal history, the father doesn't matter when determining Jewish identity. It's all about the mother. Google "who is a Jew" and take a few years off to read. :)
Neither camp in the prophecy debate seems to know anything about this aspect of Muslim and Jewish culture.
So, the Muslims are looking for the mahdi, their messiah figure. Jews are awaiting the Messiah. A man with a Muslim father and a Jewish mother would match both cultures's expectations. Muslims would focus on his father and know he's a true Muslim. Jews would focus on his mother and know he's Jewish regardless of the father. Imagine a peacemaker who understands both sides. That's how he would be presented to the world: "understands both sides". "If he can't bring peace between the Arabs and the Jews, no one can!" When talking to Muslims, he'd talk to them as a Muslim. When talking to Israelis, he'd speak as a Jew. Both cultures would see what they wanted to and be deceived.
There's a fascinating theory that certain verses with the phrase "the Assyrian" refer to the anti-Christ. These are only found in the KJV. I suspect the anti-Christ will be a Palestinian of Syrian descent.
Micah 5:5-6 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.
It's too much to go into here, but those are a couple of verses.
Historically, there's no such thing as an Arab Palestinian. Palestine is a Satanic counterfeit for Israel. The anti-Christ is a counterfeit Messiah. One of the Greek meanings of the word anti is "in place of" or in other words a replacement. I think it makes sense that the replacement Messiah would come from Satan's replacement nation.[Psst: Replacement Theology is taught in the "in place of" or anti-church.] And if he's going to be the best counterfeit possible, he will had to have been born in Bethlehem(Micah 5:2), a city with an ample supply of Muslim fathers. Why Bethlehem? Satan has to fulfill as many prophecies as he can. If could fulfill that particular one, the anti-Christ's messianic claim would be far easier. And it would be a slap in God's face.
To sum up, I expect the anti-Christ to be a Palestinian of Syrian descent born in Bethlehem to a Muslim father and Jewish mother. However, this is simply my opinion based on things I've learned over the years. It may not work out exactly that way because the Bethlehem prophecy would take some effort to fulfill, but I expect the Muslim/Jewish parents and some kind of Syrian/Assyrian connection to be there.
I've seen two camps on this on Christian TV. One side of prophecy "experts" believes the anti-Christ will be Muslim. The other "experts" say that he can't possibly be Muslim because Jews will never ever accept a Muslim messiah. There's even a teaching that Islam will be destroyed and be irrelevant in the Tribulation. That's a beautiful thought, but I'm not holding my breath.
I'm not one of the experts, but this is my thinking. Of course, the anti-Christ could be Muslim, and here's how. When Muslims wage jihad, they rape the enemy's women. This is going on in Europe right now. In their minds they're creating more Muslims, because in their culture Muslim identity passes down through the father. Women don't matter to them. They're property like a camel.(Google what happens to American women who marry Arab men and then move to the Middle East. It's not good.)
Because of things like jihad, in Jewish culture Jewish identity is passed down through the mother. The reasoning is that you can't always tell who the father is, but you can always tell who the mother is. In spite of a long, patriarchal history, the father doesn't matter when determining Jewish identity. It's all about the mother. Google "who is a Jew" and take a few years off to read. :)
Neither camp in the prophecy debate seems to know anything about this aspect of Muslim and Jewish culture.
So, the Muslims are looking for the mahdi, their messiah figure. Jews are awaiting the Messiah. A man with a Muslim father and a Jewish mother would match both cultures's expectations. Muslims would focus on his father and know he's a true Muslim. Jews would focus on his mother and know he's Jewish regardless of the father. Imagine a peacemaker who understands both sides. That's how he would be presented to the world: "understands both sides". "If he can't bring peace between the Arabs and the Jews, no one can!" When talking to Muslims, he'd talk to them as a Muslim. When talking to Israelis, he'd speak as a Jew. Both cultures would see what they wanted to and be deceived.
There's a fascinating theory that certain verses with the phrase "the Assyrian" refer to the anti-Christ. These are only found in the KJV. I suspect the anti-Christ will be a Palestinian of Syrian descent.
Micah 5:5-6 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.
It's too much to go into here, but those are a couple of verses.
Historically, there's no such thing as an Arab Palestinian. Palestine is a Satanic counterfeit for Israel. The anti-Christ is a counterfeit Messiah. One of the Greek meanings of the word anti is "in place of" or in other words a replacement. I think it makes sense that the replacement Messiah would come from Satan's replacement nation.[Psst: Replacement Theology is taught in the "in place of" or anti-church.] And if he's going to be the best counterfeit possible, he will had to have been born in Bethlehem(Micah 5:2), a city with an ample supply of Muslim fathers. Why Bethlehem? Satan has to fulfill as many prophecies as he can. If could fulfill that particular one, the anti-Christ's messianic claim would be far easier. And it would be a slap in God's face.
To sum up, I expect the anti-Christ to be a Palestinian of Syrian descent born in Bethlehem to a Muslim father and Jewish mother. However, this is simply my opinion based on things I've learned over the years. It may not work out exactly that way because the Bethlehem prophecy would take some effort to fulfill, but I expect the Muslim/Jewish parents and some kind of Syrian/Assyrian connection to be there.
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