Bad Example

JUNE 23 2026  Bad Example
He wants to set you free. By becoming his willing servant, by becoming submissive to his will, by surrendering, by admitting your weakness, your powerlessness, you are truly free. He gave you a higher life, a better life, a life filled with joy and peace. You were cleansed when you gave your life to Jesus. Let his miracle-working power continue to work in your life, and the touch of his Spirit will set you free from whatever binds you. You will never be the same again, for he whom the Son sets free is really free. Let it happen to you.
 
If you join your body and soul to those who worship the
darkness then your light is going to fight to stay alive.
Deut 7:1-6; Judg 14:1-3; I King 16:30-31, 21:25-26;
Neh 10:28-30, 13:23-27; Rom 2:28-29

    Solomon set a bad example for those who would follow him. He worshipped the gods of his heathen wives, even after he had built a magnificent temple for the true God. When the Bible says that God's people served idols, it infers that they did all the things the heathen did. They practiced witchcraft, fornication, adultery, uncleanness, child sacrifice, and all the other things demons will drive people to do. Materialism is demon worship, plain and simple. If you're worshipping a star, or money, or a piece of flesh, you're worshipping a material thing, and satan is the god of this material world, so you're worshipping satan and self.

   God made Solomon the richest and wisest man on earth. There was peace and prosperity in Israel. As soon as God had given Solomon and the people relief from war, and victory over their enemies, they turned and served idols. It's the same way today.
-- excerpt from my book Kingdom Reality P. 135

Taste and Experience

JUNE 22 2026 Taste and Experience

Yesterday was the beginning of summer and also the longest day of the year. Plus it was Father's Day. I remember Dad. He passed away 19 years ago. It doesn't seem like it's been that long. I remember I was about 3 years old and Dad took my brother and I to the root beer joint. A&W's. It was an old fashioned drive in restaurant. You parked your car under a wooden awning and the young waitress would come out to take your order. Allen and Wright. That's what the A&W stands for. I didn't know that until just now when I googled it. It started in Lodi, CA in 1919. One of the first franchise restaurants in America. Well during the summer of 1960 in Joliet, Illinois I tasted my first root beer. I have memories like that going back to childhood. Taste is one of our most powerful memory triggers, along with our sense of smell. To this day I don't believe I've ever tasted a drink or a flavor that has matched the deliciousness of that root beer that day. I suppose that's why it's remained such a powerful memory. I imagine it was the fact that it was a hot day and we were hungry and thirsty little boys and that the ice cold mug of root beer had probably been delivered fresh that day. Who knows? But that flavor has never quite been matched. At least not in my mind. So the mind has something to do with it doesn't it? I wanted my Dad to tell me that we could live off that root beer for the rest of our lives if we wanted to. Do you remember? What is it you remember? I also remember Dad taking me and my brother to the zoo in Brookfield, Illinois when we were about that same age. I think it might've been the next summer in 1961 when he took us to the zoo. We would've been 3 and 4 then. But on the way back to our home in Joliet, Dad stopped at a restaurant. Another drive in place. But I think Dad went into the restaurant to order and then brought out the goodies. It was a White Castle. White Castle was founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1921. So 40 years later, somewhere near Chicago, Illinois 2 young boys got their first taste of a slider. I'll never forget that hamburger either. I don't know what they put in their burgers back then, but I became an instant fan of White Castle. There's a verse that says taste and see that the Lord is good. Now how can you "see" a flavor? Because the word "see" in this context means to experience. We don't put our tongue on God. He's invisible and not made of any material substance. So "taste" in this sense would mean to try or to test. When we see an article of clothing we don't like we say "it's not to my taste." But why don't you try the Lord and see if he's to your liking? Hebrews says you not only have to know there's a God but you have to know that he's good. Taste and see that the Lord is good. He's a good God. I could've lived on root beer and hamburgers as a little boy, but it might not have been good for me. I had to have my vegetables and onions too. I was a growing boy. Mom and Dad didn't want me living on fat, salt, and sugar. It's what's called a balanced diet. I had to have things I didn't find delicious to balance out what my body needed to grow on. And in some way, eating those vegetables made the good stuff taste even better. Isn't life funny that way? Yin and Yang, good and evil, sweet and bitter. Light and darkness. I've had root beer and sliders since that first time, but it's never quite matched those first tastes that I remember. Like how that 1st cigarette hits you after not smoking for a week. By the time you've had your 5th cigarette it doesn't feel the same. I remember when I smoked that I was just smoking to relieve the craving for more nicotine. That's all. If you finally do what the bible says to do, and you taste of the Lord and you find out that he's good, you'll want more. I assure you. Nothing else quite compares to knowing that I'm going to heaven. I don't have to be afraid. I can have peace. In heaven I'm sure, I'm convinced that everything will taste like that first root beer and that first slider. And I'll be able to have both whenever I want them and never have to taste beans again. Throw in some ice cream and we'll have a feast at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Real Soldier

JUNE 19 2026 Real Soldier

Today is Friday. On this day in history many years ago it was a Friday also. This is what happened (from my diary):

"Today our company split up into platoons and we went on a road march. It was supposed to be 7 miles but it was more like 9. I thought it was a lot of fun. We marched through woods and over hills and on roads. We were attacked with simulators and fake CS canisters. We walked and we double-timed. Everbody in the platoon was tired tonight. As I write this everyone else is asleep. Usually everybody talks and makes all kinds of noise even after lights out, but tonight everyone was quiet. The road march made me feel like a real soldier. Marching like that with your weapon makes you feel ready to be a fighting man. It's the first thing we did in basic that I actually enjoyed. When we finished the march the 2 male platoons took a break and waited for the 2 female platoons to catch up. We must have waited a half hour or more. When they finally caught up we made a company formation and all marched back together with our drummers."

There was no Juneteenth then so we didn't get the day off.

Suffering Will End

JUNE 17 2026 Suffering Will End
    We were not designed to suffer, which is why it is so abhorrent to us, and why we naturally seek to avoid it. God never intended we should suffer and he never arbitrarily commissions it. We permit it by our own sins and God allows it to be, so we might seek the life he wants us to have, which is why Jesus said suffering is not an evil thing. God is wise and he is good, and so all things work together for good to those who trust and love him. Suffering is not God's best for mankind, but because we live in a godless world, God uses it as a tool to benefit mankind. It pains God to see us suffer, but sometimes suffering is the only thing which will eventually relieve our pain. When his goodness won't bring us to him, perhaps suffering will. God is smarter than we are, so there's no use trying to figure out what God is up to. As soon as the believer accepts suffering, the grace is there to triumph over it.
    The man who fears God will come out of all suffering, because the man who fears the Lord will have the aid and help of the Creator to guide him in all his decisions. The man who fears the Lord can laugh at suffering. The man who knows God, knows God is greater than all the dark forces men fear. He has no need to be afraid, even in the face of pain and death. Once the Kingdom of God has arrived on the earth and the Eternal Empire of the Elect is here for all time, our suffering will be no more.  In the Kingdom of God, everything will be as it should be. Suffering will end, because believers won't be persecuted for their faith anymore, people won't be ignorant and cruel to others any more, and disease and pain will be eradicated once and for all. God conquers all, and even suffering will bow its' knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

 -- excerpt from my book Kingdom Chronicles P. 102

NO Regrets

JUNE 16 2026 NO Regrets

Come and rest with me. Matt 11:28-30

   In love he preserved us. He didn't have to, but he did anyway. We have felt the power of his mighty hand. We have seen the thunder and the lightning. In an instant, we could've been incinerated, never to see the light of day again. The Lord will go to extreme lengths to get us to listen to him, to get us to open our eyes, to get us to believe in his love. He will strike the earth with fire, and he will roar with his voice and shake the ground. He will turn the wind into a whirlwind, and make the waves rise in a tempest. His voice is loud and strong, and by his power and might he says, "Don't worry! Trust me!" We must not worry about what we want. We must not be anxious about our selfish desires. We must know that God loves us, that he has given us life, and that he will take care of us. And we must be reminded of these facts, until it becomes a way of life to live without worry. Trusting him has to be a way of life, if we expect to have the good things God promises us in his word. Love, joy, and peace come simply by trusting in him.
   If we spend our entire life worrying about what we can get for ourselves, our life will have been wasted and we will know the true meaning of regret. -- excerpt from my book Kingdom Reality P. 96

Ate Up

 JUNE 15 2026 Ate Up

The world is ate up with lust. The world is corrupted, like a rusty old bucket which cannot hold water and is good for nothing. Everything good in this world has been polluted by ungodliness. There is little clean water left, to refresh those weary of sin. Demons of lust are prevalent everywhere. They hover in the air around us. The atmosphere is so thick with lust, we can cut it with a knife. The most magnificent, crowning achievement of God's creation has been the one thing the devil and the world has corrupted the most. Intimate relations were meant to be thought about, engaged in, talked about, discovered, explored, and enjoyed in one place and one place only--the private chambers of a husband and a wife. And that's the truth. When a child is old enough to ask, the truth should be told, but now little children are given sex instruction in kindergarten. This world is engulfed in filth. The very airwaves are filled with corruption. Sex was to remain the most holy and sacred of knowledge for the very reason it was created; as the highest pleasure known to humanity. If sex is treated as recreation, then why aren't people happy all the time? The truth is that without the bond of love between a man and woman sex has little value and we are no different than the animals who lust as an instinct for survival and we are no happier for our passions. Is there any chance for anyone in this life to have an actual happy, fulfilling and proper relationship without it being tainted by the world? Is there any cleanness left in this wicked world?--excerpt from my book "Kingdom Reality" P. 90

Dreaming of Trees

JUNE 12 2026 Dreaming of Trees

Once in a dream or vision I saw those who were going before me. I've already written this down somewhere. This was several years ago when I lived in Arizona, but the vision was of Illinois. Doug, Mark and I were in the vision. We were walking the trail that I used to ride my bike on all the time when I lived in Moline. The trail starts in Colona just outside of Rock Island. I spent many hours on that trail. I was thrilled that I had just arrived for my new federal job. I stayed with my cousins Larry and Karen for a few days in Davenport. They call that area the quad cities. Davenport, Bettendorf, Rock Island, and East Moline. I found a small apartment in East Moline to live in and it was maybe 10-15 minutes to Colona where I used to ride my bike. My habit was after work to drive down to Colona and go for a ride every night. The first time I discovered that trail it was still winter. I got the job December 27, 2004. My last day of Govt work was December 6, 2019. 15 years later. But sometime in the winter of 2005 I discovered there was a trail and I remember walking there in my jacket. It was a cold day but the snow had melted enough where I could walk. From then on and especially in the warmer months I spent my evenings and weekends on that trail exercising and killing time. I made it through the year and a half I spent there riding on that trail. But after I got to Arizona I saw this vision and in the vision Mark and Doug were walking ahead of me on the trail just talking. We were on the part of the trail that was grass where there were evergreen trees lining the trail. I was behind them walking to catch up. When Doug and Mark both went home to be with the Lord, it was then I realized that it wasn't a dream of us all being retired. No. It was a dream that they were going on before me and I would follow sometime after. But I wasn't very far behind them. I'm still here. I also realize that in the millennium we will find that trail and the three of us will walk it. Together. Forever. With the Lord always there and watching over us. Ever green.