On a personal note – more on my health issues..

As I know some of you are following my ongoing saga with my carpal tunnel and related arm pain, I figured you might be interested in this particular update – all the more so if you by any chance suffer from fibromyalgia or myofascial pain syndrome.   I have both now seemingly, having spent the last 12 years with just the former. 

If you read my last post on this topic before Christmas, you’ll remember I had a miraculous healing of my upper arm pain after my CTS surgery.  However, before that point a referral to a new pain clinic had been put in place, which really came about purely as a (Divine) mistake (there are no coincidences in God’s Will!!) – and I duly got an appt through 2 weeks ago.   I was almost going to either cancel it or put it back as I’d only had an odd night with any sort of minimal pain in the arm to contend with, and worried I was going to waste the appt, but after praying a lot about the situation, recognising that God had to have engineered the appt to start with, and having friends, family and my GP recommending I attend, I duly did so.   And as it turned out, it was absolutely His Will for me to do so given the outcome. 

This new doctor (a Dr. Pamela Bell of Musgrave Park Hospital for anyone in Ulster!) was wonderful – very empathetic, and let me outline the whole saga before examining me.   Within 2 mins or less, she found what she believes to be the source of all that trauma last year, and it’s so darned simple I’m at a total loss to understand why not only my Rheumatologist, but 3 other docs didn’t find it when I was on the ward for the whole month of August last year!!   Nothing more (possibly) than a simple myofascial trigger point.   Seems these differ radically from fibromyalgia tender points – something I’ve been blissfully unaware about all these years of synonomously (sp) using the two terms as if they were one and the same.  

At any rate, this particular TP is fairly extensive and deep, and certainly exquisitely tender when she was working at it, reproducing the same intense pain within seconds, so it does appear to indeed be the culprit.   And requires an equally simple fix too – an injection of local anaesthetic, which is going to be done on February 8 so not long to wait.  She’s hopeful this will sort out the problem, but if not, her last resort will be to use botox, which would relax the TP out but would also have a rough side effect of leaving me with a very weak upper arm for up to 3 months, so wouldn’t be rushing to have that one done.  

 However, it feels very much as if the Lord, having granted me His healing of this problem, is now just finalising things by granting me a medical closure on it too in a sense.  Certainly be interesting to see how it all pans out.  But it just goes to show that you truly cannot make the assumption that any specialist knows everything about even his own speciality, and to always seek other avenues, and pray continually about every step you have to take with your health.   Can’t remember if I said in my last post on this topic, but the most important lesson I learnt from Him through this trial is to ask HIM to heal me first, before expecting doctors to do so – my mistake had been to only ever ask God to grant the medics the skills required to sort me out, but not to ask Him Himself to do so – only defence I have (which is truly none at all) is that this was my area of control and I preferred to maintain it, plus I’ve come through a very rough patch of having to deal with a well meaning but utterly dangerous church I attended in the 1980s whose practices truly almost destroyed my faith completely – all over an illness I suffered at that time.   Many of you no doubt have equally suffered at the hands of such – those who try to demonise your illness, or you, if you don’t leap up dancing after they’ve prayed for you?  Sadly too many of them around still, but it’s been a hard road for me to overcome my natural instinct to run a mile when anyone so much as mentions praying for my healing, or attending a healing service etc.  But praise God – He has finally brought me out the other side of that one, and led me to my first healing service last year in my current church which is more solidly grounded, and from that night on, I knew He was working an awesome plan out for me, which culminated in my healing in December.  I’ve also learnt that healing isn’t purely just physical, and should never be viewed as such on its own – I’ve had far more mental and emotional healing than physical, but appreciate any touch from Him that strengthens me in every way to serve Him better. 

Spiritualist weirdness – St. Paul returns in disguise!

Yep the beloved Apostle Paul is apparently back on the earth alive and well, but in the disguise of one Ray Brown who lives in England, and is “taken over” by “Paul” almost continually in order to perpetuate a “healing ministry”!  Now if that doesn’t hit you between the eyes, then the rest will.   I just watched a documentary on said “healer,” and have to say it was utterly obvious to me that this was nothing less than possession every bit as real as that of the demoniac in Jesus’ day, and while Ray might like to think that “Paul” is the only one possessing him, I’d be highly sceptical of that.   Sadly, of course, Ray doesn’t consider he’s possessed in any shape or form, even though he openly states that he “leaves” his body, while “Paul” comes into it, thus often waking up with no knowledge of what’s happened during his “absence.” 

However, it was interesting to me when “Paul” was asked more about why he’d decided to come back to the earth again after all this time, and he just stated “because I was asked to”, and “healing is more acceptable now” – again – just points to a demon masquerading as Paul, given how healing has been more than acceptable since Jesus’ day, and when the real Paul was actively healing people himself during his lifetime?   While Ray would absolutely contest that “Paul” is real, and I’m not denying that the personality is real in some sense, and certainly most likely manifests himself to Ray in some manner that would be fairly tangible, thus keeping the delusion feeling very real to the host.

But some other aspects of this so-called “ministry” were highly disturbing.   Firstly that this demon (lets not call it anything other than what it is!!) decided to not only call itself Paul, but happily states he came to Ray because he was welcomed there – since Ray openly calls himself a medium, that’s certainly a huge mechanism for possession to begin with.  I can categorically without any concerns state that this is absolutely not Paul of Tarsus in any shape or form, for Paul went to huge lengths to warn people about not meddling with mediums or witchcraft or spiritists etc, given it was an express command from God not to do so.  Paul certainly never compromised either his faith or his Lord while on the earth, and in death is absolutely in no position to return to this earth for any reason, nor would he want to even if he could, because he stated he longed to be with the Lord knowing it was a much better place to be, than here on the earth.   While no doubt Ray would try and state that “Paul” has deemed to do otherwise, that in itself shows very clearly he (Ray) is sadly deceived, and heavily so.   The other major problem I found was when they showed “Paul” and Ray’s wife leading some kind of church service, supposedly dedicating some church or other to this spirits “ministry”, I was shocked to see most of the audience including Paul/Ray and wife all wearing “dog collars”!!   Now either the spiritualist church is actually able to do this because they’re somehow recognised as a legit church which is scary, or worse still, these were all conventional pastors and preachers from local churches supporting this mediums work and happy to be filmed doing so.   Don’t know which scenario is worse – to me, they’re both utterly dire. 

I was both saddened and shocked by the documentary – saddened that so many people had so little concern for their spiritual welfare as to go to this guy despite what they knew about his ministry i.e. “that a dead guy does the healing”, and shocked at the fact that neither Ray nor his wife had any qualms about showing their wacky life on a documentary, contending that once you’d watched it you couldn’t deny the “truth” – sadly for them, the truth is a lie, and Satan is absolutely the only one benefitting from it all.  He’s not called the “Angel of Light” for nothing – if he was obvious in his true nature, few of us, if any would have anything to do with him, but deception is at the root of his being.  While God may indeed allow illness, and is absolutely always in control (as shown with Job and the real Paul!), Satan is the author of sickness and as such has the power to remove it also, particularly when he is provided a means of deceiving others while doing so.   And God has stated that when people follow the lusts of their own heart, He will just give them over to their evil desires, and that’s precisely what we see in so many of these instances sadly.

For anyone who is unconvinced or worse, thinks there’s no harm in mediums, or seeking to know your future from the dead, rather than God, please, please rethink your position.   You can’t afford to wait until you die and are facing God in judgement to discover the real Truth, which He has already provided for you in His Word – just read it NOW and know it for sure before you too, are led astray!

References:

Isa 8:19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? Luke 24:5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

Paul (the real one!) says..

1 Cor 10:20-22 (NIV). I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Rom 6:16 (NEB) … if you put yourselves at the disposal of a master, to obey him, you are slaves of the master whom you obey; and this is true whether you serve sin, with death as its result; or obedience, with righteousness as its result.

1 Tim 4:1 (TEB) The Spirit says clearly that some men will abandon the faith in later times; they will obey lying spirits and follow the teachings of demons.

For a more comprehensive in-depth article on the topic which points out that even born-again Christians can be deceived just as easily – head to.. Deception in the Church, or just do a search on the topic online.  Stay safe!

Science lesson circa 4500 AD!!

Following on the hidden info in Genesis, and in part related to that, I discovered there are science lessons within the bible and given to some famous names too!   Job got the best one coming towards the end of his trials, but David had a few too given the incredible information held in some of his psalms.   We read so many of those superficially without thought of the reality of what we’re reading about.

The following is taken from Chuck Missler’s teaching on Genesis where he outlines God’s science lesson to Job better than I ever could.

Allusions Included in Job 38:

• The rotation of the earth 12-15

• The springs and pathways of the sea 16

• The breadth of the earth 18

• The travel of light 19

• The dividing of light 24

• The source of rain, and ice 28-30

• The universal nature of physical laws 33

• Electrical communications 35

Scientific Insights

• Hydrological cycle (evaporation, circulation, precipitation ): Job 28:24-27; how do clouds stay aloft? Air, wind, have weight; water weighs more than air; how is it supported?

• Space/Time/Mass universe: “He stretcheth out the north over empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7). The “morning stars singing” at the foundation of the earth? (Job 38:7).

5] Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6] Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7] When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“…foundations”: Even today we only beginning to understand the fabric of space, the nature of matter, and space-time, etc. “Sons of God”: These were not “the lines of Seth!” Bene Elohim, is always used of a direct creation of God; here, angels.

Now God turns to the most prominent feature of the planet: the sea (75% of the earth’s surface…).

8] Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9] When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
10] And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11] And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

What controls the tides within bounds? (The greatest geophysical upheaval ever was the flood of Noah. We’ll review it in Gen 7-8). By another geophysical upheaval, He “braked up” for the flood waters a “decreed place” and they were forever “shut up” in the deep ocean beds opened up to receive them: The earth’s isostatic balances now preclude another global deluge (Ps 104:6-9).

12] Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; The precession of the earth causes the sun to rise in a different place each morning according to the seasons.
13] That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14] It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
15] And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
16] Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

There are fresh-water springs in the sea… how did the writer know this?

17] Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

Death is still a mystery to us. Science has not really made a dent there

18] Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.

Thanks to satellites, this one has been cornered.

19] Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,

What is light? It’s nature is still illusive (wave? or particle?).

20] That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21] Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
22] Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23] Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

Is this a reference to the role of eschatological hailstones (Josh 10:11; Ex 9:22-26; Isa 30:30; Ezek 13:11, 13; 38:22; Hag 2:17; Rev 16:21) or is this also a hint of some physics yet to be discovered? By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth? How is light diffracted? Why are stars “red shifted”? All meteorological phenomena are derived from the light from the sun: the evaporation of water, the clouds, and photosynthesis, etc. Even our most elaborate computer models fail in this area.

24] By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
25] Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;

Fractals and Chaos Theory are topics in advanced mathematics…

26] To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27] To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

Why is there beauty in the desert? Or in the depths of the sea where there is no light to see it? Why are flowers beautiful? (They serve no teleological purpose: bees are color blind!)

31] Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
32] Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33] Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

Pleiades: or, the seven stars: Heb. Cimah; Orion: Heb. Cesil? There are only two constellations in the heavens that are actually gravitationally linked: the Pleiades and Orion. The other groupings are of stars that are actually quite distant from each other and only appear to be a grouping… How did the writer know this?

34] Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?
35] Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
37] Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38] When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?

And so on…   So for anyone who wants to deny God’s Hand in creation perhaps you’d like to equally answer ALL these questions – answering a few is no more than Chuck has shown our current scientific knowledge is capable of, but answering all of them requires the One who determined them to do so.  Someone made a comment recently about how those in Jesus’ time couldn’t have known anything about science, yet Job was penned a couple of thousand years before Jesus arrived on the scene, and again I maintain that in both times God was absolutely communicating with His people – in Old Testament times through the prophets, but also to ‘ordinary’ people like Job, Abraham, Jacob etc, and then through Jesus while He walked the earth.  

But what I do find really fascinating is the fact that God alone provides wisdom and knowledge to man, and has always done so, while allowing vain, arrogant and sinful man to suppose it comes from himself or the stars or the earth or wherever (so long as its not God it will do!).  And here we are in this generation seeing the biggest explosion of knowledge almost ever since the beginning of time, which makes me once more look up in awe at the magnitude of the One True God who is interested in His creation and continues to provide for our needs but also our enjoyment.  And we know from scripture there’s probably a fair bit yet more knowledge He will permit man to learn before calling it a day on this sinful planet and closing the door for redemption.  

Many people when faced with the Gospel message often ask about those who will never hear it because of their location or language barrier – God states that creation itself with indict them, so perhaps you should also start looking a little closer at it.  And finally for those who still insist on clinging to evolution and man made theories (as well as every other reason to reject the Gospel) – God has a word for you too:

Matthew chapter 13 verses 11 & 12 : “Then He (Jesus) explained to them, “You have been permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others have not. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them.” 

Comments anyone?

Evolution is dead – evidence finally available to prove its demise :)

Bet that caught your attention eh?   Well, ALL Christians already know this fact – evolution is NOT a proven theory in any shape or form, nor is it a viable one given the vast diversity and volume of creation on the planet.   But there’s a specific reason for my title and it’s not just to be reactionary.   I have been watching a lot of David Attenborough’s (who’s a hardened atheist) nature programs lately, and while he’s blethering on about some aspect of creation having “evolved over x billion years” I’m awestruck at the beauty of the animal, bird or fish (or indeed insect!) he’s describing.   But he lets himself get equally caught up in that beauty when he then goes on to describe the creatures “design” as ever ascribing such “design” to evolution.   Now excuse me – but where else on this entire planet or in history has anything that has “design” come into being without a DESIGNER???   Have houses evolved from mud huts all on their own?  Have ships evolved from canoes on their own over x billions of years?   Can anyone think of anything else that has a form of design that wasn’t brought into being by a designer of some type or another (whether human or computer!)??   Because if you can, please enlighten me.   And if you can’t then please also explain why it is that only with creation is the Designer removed from the equation, and we’re told to believe that the awesome, incredible, inspiring, unique beings we share this wonderful planet with all started off as some amoebic goo (who designed the ameoba or the goo!?) and somehow over eons of time with nobody watching it, each managed to become the incredible creations they are today?  

Ultimately, it follows that the primary reason is because of what God Himself said – that creation testifies to Him as the Designer and Creator, and thus those who try to state otherwise, do so because they are rebellious and refusing to acknowledge His existence, and feel this is the easiest way to do it.   Sadly they’re mistaken, because no matter how hard they try they can never come close to understanding a zillioneth of the secrets of this planet.   For instance (sticking with the said atheist), “why is it that there is marine life living in the darkest and deepest depths of the ocean that defies all known logic and science as they do so in many cases without light or even oxygen”?   There are volcanic type “chimneys” way down there that are as hot as 400 degrees C yet are supporting life in multiple forms quite happily – poor David A is at a loss to explain how.   And he pointed out that there are some new species of fish and marine life that even defy classification because as yet they don’t know exactly what they are e.g. plant or fish.   My favourite remains the “Dumbo” fish – so named after its flapping “ear” fins ( see this post).    

It’s not that I don’t believe in dinosaurs or many of the other ‘ancient’ life that is no more on this planet – just that I don’t believe they existed billions or even millions of years ago.   If (as all Christians should!) we take Genesis as a true account of creation, then God created the dinosaurs and all other long lost fauna and flora on the 5th Day, and Adam thus quite likely even named them!!   Thus their existence most likely ended with the flood in Noah’s day, which is extremely plausible given the evidence out there that they became extinct quite suddenly and not gradually.  Ken Ham is the absolute best person I know around for his brilliant explanations of the errors of evolution and truth of creation – check him out at this link and listen to the talk – one of a couple available there.   If you’re into torrenting, then you should be able to find some of his even better talks floating around on some of the religion torrent sites. 

Please also note we’re talking about evolution here – not natural selection or other variabilities that do occur in nature and are well documented and proven.  I’m making one tiny point that a rational, sane person with a willingness to be objective, can see causes a huge problem for evolution theorists – and if you as a Christian have sadly bought into their errant theories, perhaps it’s time to rethink your viewpoint.   Personally, I don’t believe you can call yourself a Christian, and then deny the actions of the One you’re supposed to be serving – scripture states that Jesus created everything:

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. 

John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

So you really can’t follow Jesus and believe in evolution in any shape or form.  Or do you disagree?   Feel free to debate the point !

“Evolution – a hurricane passing through a junkyard having the good fortune to assemble a Boeing 747!”

NB – haven’t forgotten that this post was supposed to be a follow-on to the last.  Just finalising the sequel later today d.v., so should have it up sometime tonight.

(Image from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/biology/evolution/)

Hidden knowledge in the bible!

Happy New Year!

Ok – so if you’re a DaVinci code fan and thinking that’s what this is going to be about, then move on as it’s not. But if you’re a bible lover or curious about hidden codes in the bible then do read on. And no – I’m equally not going to work through those other hidden codes that have become infamous – who died and how, and who’s going to die up ahead ones – no, this is something I think is much more fascinating and truly declares the Glory of God from verse 1 of Genesis onwards.

About two years ago I had been praying hard for God to provide me with some enthusiasm for His Word, and to drive me into it, as like many Christians I’d become somewhat stale in my scripture reading – pretty much nonexistent at that time. One day I found myself on a website I’d bookmarked some time earlier, but for some reason hadn’t really bothered much with, but this time it proved different. The site was called K-House - some of you probably know it well (as I do now), and I started listening to a guy called Chuck Missler talk about various subjects that took my fancy at that time. I got to like his style so much I decided it might be worth listening to him talk about the whole book of Genesis (until then I’d just listened to the 60/40 half-hour talks), and that’s when the whole world changed for me in respect of reading my bible! Never before in my Christian walk of 35 years odd, had I spent the guts of a week studying ONE verse or at most two, but that’s what happened in this particular case.

Ok – so you know Genesis 1 no doubt – even those who aren’t Christians know the basis of Genesis 1, if not the verses, but did you know what lies below those verses in terms of additional evidence and meaning? I didn’t. Now, before you worry that I’m going to take you verse by verse through them all, don’t panic – if you want to know the LOT, then I suggest you also go and work through the study with Chuck for yourself – way more fun than what little I’m going to share with you.

One of the most incredible insights I personally discovered was that within portions of the Torah (the Hebrew scriptures) there are loads of codes that testify to creation. One notable one in Genesis was located by a Dr. Rips – a Hebrew scientist using a computer followed on earlier research that Rabbi Weismandl had done revealing the hidden names of trees found in Genesis 1 & 2. These were:

Tamarisk (2), Terebinth, (-2). Thicket (or Dense forest) (-3), Citron (-3), Acacia (-3). Almond (5), Wheat (5), Date Palm(5), Cedar (-5), Aloe (6), Grape (-6), Boxthorn or Bramble (7), Cassia (7), Pomegranate (8), Gopherwood or fir (8), Thornbush [Crataegus] (9), Olive (-9), Pistachio Nut (13), Hazel (-13), Willow (-15), Oak (17), Vine (-18), Barley (-28), Chestnut (44), Poplar (-85).

Pretty extensive list and fascinating in my view that such information lies beneath the surface in that book more than any other. While many argue the reliability of many codes, and the way in which they are sometimes presented or their possible meaning, but they do appear to have some significance in my view, and are at the very least highly intruiging.

However, what Chuck also did with Genesis was to tie it in to many other books of the bible showing how many other scripture ‘authors’ testified to what was stated in what we now consider to be the first book of the Bible (although in reality was written later than Job for instance). Chuck takes you on a biochemistry, astronomy, botany, astrophysics, atomic engineering, history tour in a whole new and captivating way.

Next post will pull on some other fascinating aspects of scripture that you maybe haven’t either been aware of or haven’t thought about in the way they’re presented in scripture.

 

NB – for the purists among you, this is NOT the same as Kaballah where mysticism is used extensively to delve down into what is deemed by Christians to be an occultic means of obtaining codes and information in scriptures. What Chuck presents is readily and openly available to anyone with a computer and software to discover for themselves – no mysticism involved .