tim_from_pa

Because it's not off subject IMO. People have been conditioned to be fearful and they respect authority. Scammers have used this to take advantage of people. It ought to make those in power very ashamed conditioning people this way. Of course if you rather I can go off on a Microsoft rant and why that operating system is about useful as using a noodle to buckle your kids into a car. But in this case, I was gracious enough to spare MS because indeed this is a phishing problem and has nothing whatsoever to do with any computer/phone security, but rather the people at the other end.

I did not make that up. That's what I heard, but it may have been in the context of down the road had it continued. I listen to right wing stations so I'll admit they extrapolate a little but in the spirit of Margaret Thatcher who said "The problem with socialism is that you run out of people to pay for it." Likewise... I joked that the problem with conspiracy theories is in 2 or 3 years we find they are true. So in a little while, it's not so nuts. My point in bringing that up is that the overlords in power seem to have glee to instill fear into people which is why people fear when they get these official sounding calls (e.g. the "IRS") they unquestionably comply and get ripped off. And despite government warnings not to fall for such scams, if it was a real IRS agent and you call him or her a scammer, rest assured they'd take serious offense and kick in your door with a SWAT team all around. That's the problem. It's sad that this supposed constitutional republic called the USA stooped down to the filth that Banana Republics and other two-bit nations not worth a darn do to their citizens. I thought the USA was special; maybe not.

The OP is correct. We should already be reading our Bibles regularly. To get through the bible in a year, one has to read all 1189 chapters at the rate of about 3.26 chapters a day. As many times as I have read through the Bible and also various translations, I wanted to try my experiment called the 3-3-3-4 plan reading 13 chapters in a 4 day cycle. So January 1 we read 3, then on the 2nd we read 3, 3rd is 3, and then the 4th we read 4 chapters and repeat the cycle. One will get through the Bible in 366 days (or read 6 chapters on the 365th). All one needs is a calendar to mark off the 4-day cycle and any paper bookmark to jot down what chapter is next to read the following day. Pros: No charts or bulky things to put into your Bible. Just a modest little desktop calendar and bookmark you will know where you are at all times guaranteed to complete the Bible in a year. Cons: This is with the understanding that some chapters are very long (like Psalm 119) and one will have heavy reading days. Other times one will have short chapters and a little reading vacation. I am completing this experiment now and it works but I have yet a simpler way: I asked myself, what is so special about a solar year? Just use a paper bookmark and read 3 chapters a day - you'll get through in about 13 months. With 4 chapters it ill be under 10 months; 5 chapters about 8 months and 6 chapters (very aggressive) will take slightly longer than a half year. With long reading days, one may want to break it up into a morning and evening time akin to prayer times. The 3-3-3-4 plan is just a "checklist-less" way to get through the Bible in exactly a year if a year means that much to anyone.

All is a form of phishing. But before we criticize people for falling for it, consider the fear tactics. Now consider what governments do to their citizens... fear mongering. Better get the shot. Some prime minister up North by the name of Truedope even mandates their citizens to get it under the threat of locking bank accounts. If so and so gets into office we will lose our Social Security etc etc. And then these same types turn around and say how we have to stop believing the lies while persecuting people who dare question them. So from a citizens' standpoint, what's the difference between scammers and those in authority if they act like thugs the same way and instill fear?

Being into what I am, I consider King Hezekiah my "sundial King" and at first I thought this passage was about the dial moving backwards 10 steps. Nevertheless, the Assyrian massacre by an angel is no less a miracle. As one preacher joked, when parents leave their kid in the hands of a babysitter, just remember this when telling him to be a little angel until they get home. They may find 185,000 slain neighbors when they get back. I'm not sure what caused the sundial miracle, but the Babylon envoys who visited Hezekiah due to his illness and recovery apparently saw the same thing (as the miracle attested to his healing and word got out) so this was no local miracle. This had to be global so the only thing I can say is that the Lord reversed the rotation of the earth slowly enough so that things would not fly off, and then set it back into it's proper motion again. (this gets into a similar concept regarding other posts of mine about passive creation and active creation. Passive is when Laws are made so the universe can more or less form something by itself over a long period of time. Active is more sudden and by direct intervention of a being. This does not imply breaking the laws of physics as active creation happens all the time) Besides the sundial miracle, there is a passage that others interpreted as tandem Sabbatical-Jubilee years and thus helps establish that cycle since we know that happened about 700BC. Between the Assyrian miracle and that of the heavens, I find this one of my favorite passages of the Bible.

Well, I 100% agree with you. I am sorry if I stepped on anyone's sacred cow or even its utter. That must really hurt. But yeah, I was going to mention September or October. However, it still occurred to me that if people were as crazy even then, do you think that illness would decrease or remain the same? I seem to think when celebrations are held closer to summer (e.g. Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day and the like) I don't see the number of illnesses mainly because some of that is held outdoors. Buy maybe if people were just as frantic and otherwise crazy as in the winter, then maybe that theory would not hold up if they are all stressed out. IN the summer we tend to gather around the grill with a few beers (unlike in December) so that releases tension. I am not sure.

Well, Walter and Deborah: I think you know my persuasions. Christmas to me is a secular holiday, likened unto the 4th of July. but that said, I take advantage of the fact that people are off from work then (as is the case in the summer) so I can visit my family. Right now there's flu that's preventing that; it's not me as I don't really get sick that often. I said to my son that the day does not mean anything and our gathering is not called off, but we can get together later: it matters not. But that all said, I really wonder if the problem is stress (as "experts" point out) or if it's simply because the seasons changed and people get sick as soon as the summer ends? I get a bit indignant when they talk about stress; does that not mean people are under bondage and let the stress of the times dictate their health? That does not happen to me (and we can both relate as to why) I don't know for sure. Blessings to you.

AS I always joke, whenever Thanksgiving or Christmas comes, somebody in the family is sick: either throwing up, sniffling, hacking, coughing, the flu or whatever. Here's my question: If we could do it, does anyone here think that changing the time we celebrate these things (e.g. nearer to summer) would result in less illness OR... is it perhaps because of the stress that we have people get those illnesses and they'd be sick regardless?

spaceweather.com My favorite site to watch the sun's and solar system activity:

The ancient Jewish calendar went by observation, so the months correlated with the seasons as the calendar does now. The present Jewish calendar is an algorithm that approximates (quite well) the position of the lunar cycle. It's not radically different in other words. As for the Gregorian calendar, I would not even consider that, as it is a Gentile Solar calendar that does not consider the lunar cycle.

The Scripture says of a crown of 12 stars on her head. There's been a lot of conjecture about what that means: e.g. 3 planets and the 9 stars of Leo etc etc. I just take that as meaning the 12 zodiac constellations that it's a clue we are looking at the stars. Some may ask, "well, there are 12 constellations, but Virgo is one of them. Would she be wearing herself as a crown?' Actually, there are 13: Ophiuchus. We know that most 'Jewish' years have 12 months but some have 13. So if we are trying to make a candidate year for something, then maybe it's a leap year.

I think most good astronomy programs use the Julian date. The Gregorian or whatever is converted to that so it just counts days -- no BC or AD dates in the calculations; just conversions. For example, the Julian date here when I typed this message was 2459935.16667

Yes, that too. That arrangement with the sun and moon happen quite often at the feast of Trumpets. Some years the woman is "clothed" a bit better than others, but generally the same.

Mr M and Marilyn C had some good answers. The Bible does talk about a Star out of Jacob, and apocryphal sources mention Daniel in Babylon teaching them. I would also add about God's Word in the Stars. The Bible says He calls each one by name. Job mentions Orion and Arcturus so the constellation names were very old coming from a common source (due to the general consensus as to the meaning of each constellation). This gets into other sources one hears about regarding Adam and Enoch being inspired to also proclaim their names (I forget where I read it but Enoch was compared to Atlas). The zodiac circle, starting with Virgo and ending with Leo tells the redemptive story of Christ, a Bible in the heavens so-to-speak. I truly believe that Revelation 12:1 is astronomical code as to when Jesus Christ was born, besides the accepted meaning of the symbols as well. You can read a free online book (copyright no longer applies due to age) by E. W. Bullinger called the "Witness of the Stars" Just type that in a search engine and if you want it as a document to put on a tablet follow the title by .pdf -- There's links all over the place.

Yes, I read this from "Got Questions". The difference between decorating a Christmas tree and making an idol is just skipping the carving step. So as I jested, if we "skip one step" does that make it any better? And there's still the question that needs to be asked, if there's no power to do good nor evil in this thing, then what's the point of having it? Frankly, I don't care if anyone has one or not as most people think it's just a pretty decoration and nobody I know of prays to it, either. Rather, it's understood to be secular.

The Christmas tree controversy comes from within the Church, not the politically correct and progressive viewpoints we see going around these days. As a matter of fact, they rather ban the nativity but everyone still tolerates the Christmas tree if we take notice. I divided the decorations of Christmas into three main categories: 1) commercial, 2) traditional/cultural and finally the 3)"true meaning". The first is Santa Claus, elves, toys North Pole and all that stuff based on a convoluted view of some Saint whose day was really early December but got mixed in with Christmas somehow. The reindeer and some objects are also merged from the next category, the traditional. The traditional category are the trees, the evergreens, the garlands, ribbons (which represent that) and maybe even a few nice choir people and a church thrown in as a decoration. Much like Halloween, some of that has ancient Celtic ties. This in itself has to do with biblical prophecy about the house of Israel doing such things, but that's another story. Lastly there is the "true meaning" and needless to say that is about the birth of the Lord, shepherds, wise men, a star and any form of light. Now that all said, some churches have an issue with the first two and the dating as December 25th was around a solstice. The Christians, so it is said (but not universally agreed upon) merged such celebrations of the sun god with the Son of God. That's what this thread is about. Some churches in the middle more denounced part of all that, namely category #1. These are the "Jesus is the reason for the season" folks as they try to minimize excessive gift-giving and Santa Claus in favor of nativity sets and greenery and worshiping Christ, which is commendable. Now as for those erasing anything to do with Christianity, They would not tolerate category 3 at all, but would allow category 2 and for sure category 1. To keep up with the times, Santa is even depicted lately as coming from various backgrounds to make all the kids supposedly comfortable. This makes Santa a substitute Christ. This is what I would expect from a worldly system. The whole subject is complex with many facets. And this particular thread about the tree was going on for hundreds of years - not from the charged issues against Christianity of today.

Yes, a gnomonist is into sundials. It can be both theory and/or making of them. I can calculate sundial hour lines for weird shapes (such as one placed on a crooked roof) without the use of the sun doing it empirically. That's part of my interest in things involving time. I don't think Newton was a typical Christian at all. He kept much of what he believed to himself lest he'd be deemed a heretic. I'll say this one thing, whether he was right or wrong or anything otherwise, he put much thought and study into the subject at hand so he did not say things lightly. Thus his observations are worth looking into and consideration. Nobody really knew he was a learned theologian until his notes were found in the 1930's - there's this sense that he had them hidden to be deliberately found later which was genius in and of itself.

Yes that is a great article. As I always taught, that there are Earth ages. Between Genesis 1:1-2 is the first Earth age. The Earth and Universe is very old (the stars were compared to spiritual children of Abraham which indicates their eternalness like the stars). The present or second Earth age was a "recreation" for Adam and Adam was not the manlike creature in Satan's age when he was once over the Earth. The Bible teaches that after the millennium is the final Earth age i.e. new heavens and Earth. I teach "passive" vs "active" creation. God did not need billions of years to make anything, but for whatever reason He allowed this long, long time. Passive creation is when God makes Laws of nature. Gravity causes matter to condense, It heats up, nuclear reactions take place, we have a proto-star and eventually a star that all takes a long time like putting a clock in motion. But where scientist err is that they think life SHOULD form slowly the same way. No it does not. An example is that in all this universe you won't find a Seiko watch. That takes DIRECT intervention of a conscious being to create it. I call that "active" creation. The watch does not take many years to form, but quickly. However, active creation does not imply a transgression of the Laws of physics that allow for passive creation. As a matter of fact, a watch USES the laws of physics to work. The same with life. It's possible for a powerful Being to (re)create life in Adam in a short time without breaking the laws of biology He created. If Christians would realize what I say, then the scientific, agnostic mouths would be stopped. And the end result would be no contradiction of scientific laws whatsoever but yet support well the Biblical account. The fossil account was in the first Earth age when some living beings were similar to today. And again, scientists make the error that the first Earth age and the present age is one and the same.

The typical reaction of most is to criticize the dates, but I can see by this post and others (e.g. your posts about the sacrifices and their meanings) shows you are putting great thought into this so I wish more (Holy Spirit) power to you. Remember, even if we are wrong abut something such as a date, then that date may be correct for something else that leads up to it. As Sir Isaac Newton once said The design of God was much otherwise. He gave this and the Prophecies of the Old Testament, not to gratify mens curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and his own Providence, not the Interpreters, be then manifested thereby to the world. In short, we will know the prophecy once it occurred and thus showing God's hand in everything. We need to know what's going to happen, but the order of some of those events and the details may not be clear until they happen.

Yeah I hear ya and been saying the same thing for awhile (with Scripture). Traditions like the tree die hard, though. I laugh at a similar instance where the Jews don't know where that Passover eggs somehow crept into their Seder as well. And coincidentally that Easter Bunny seems to have visited both Christians and Jews. People then justify it by making nice sounding stories about it, but the truth is there is no justification. It's secular... just like the 4th of July so when I gather for the holidays with family, it means the same type of thing to me. Everyone is off and I don't consider it sacred other than to be with family like summer holidays. I must confess that the decorations are pretty, though. And besides, when was the last time (even with Christians) one really hears them talk about Jesus on the supposed birthday of the King except for maybe a quick eulogy type speech how we should be thankful for the babe (when talking about Jesus nobody says a baby but a babe). Then they rapidly go to the gift opening and celebration worldly style like the 4th of July. Like I said, secular and nothing else. Now for the actual birth date of Jesus Christ, I believe the Bible does tell us that in astronomical code that we (Sir Isaac Newton types) love. We know it's found in Revelation 12:1. A woman, a man-child, this nasty, hungry dragon, the sun and moon and all sorts of things that have symbolic meanings. But besides that, the description of a solar-lunar position in a "woman" (there's no woman in space except with some astronauts, but of course John did not mean that). The woman can also have other meanings but that same meaning is depicted in the constellation. Now there's only one woman in the Zodiac the sun passes through. And the moon is under her feet (i.e. new moon and the start of a month). And that woman was also depicted as a virgin in which the Revelation passage is flashing back to the time of Christ's birth. To me it's clear - why describe this astronomical position at Christ's birth if the sun would be, say, at the winter solstice? But I understand that someone who does not click with astronomical language and code would not see that at all in a similar fashion an unbeliever does not see the work of the Holy Spirit nor believe the Bible (it's all 'coincidence' they say). So then they claim (especially theologians who are traditionally poor astronomers and mathematicians) the Bible does not say for sure the timing of His birth. But whatever Jesus did, then and future, always centered around the feast days outlined in Leviticus 23. And why's that? Because those dates are God's appointments, determined astronomically, when He wanted to meet with mankind as well as was a shadow of things to come dealing with various stages of the redemption of mankind, and that redemption has the main character of Jesus Christ. Now if you want a good laugh, search on youtube for these churches that have singing human Christmas trees. But laugh to yourself. There may be those who are spiritually young yet that actually believe that a singing human Christmas tree is pleasing in God's eyes. Then tell them the truth in love without saying otherwise about their trees. A spiritual person will catch on.

LOL. I always watched Mr Magoo as a kid. He could never see right but somehow still avoided dangerous situations anyway. He thought the situations were something else. I guess there's a profound lesson here when we can't "see" right and think the situation is something altogether different. His safety nonetheless seems to have implied a divine protection in spite of his foibles.

Grant it, I did not mention the age, but beforehand there was claim that those who had vaccinations had less deaths per capita, now it's more per capita. Beforehand more people (young and old) had vaccinations and now less (young and old), but everything is now reversed. Here's something regarding the age and boosted statistics. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-deaths-high-booster-shots-low-over-age-65-rcna59437

Good Job posting this! I was going to post a similar article here that I saw today in Zerohedge. But y'all beat me to it. For those who want to throw statistics in our faces, I think it's hard to deny these figures. Obviously this is the start of the long term effects, or maybe more accurately, the same thing is happening as what would happen if someone tried to make a shot for the common cold - useless and probably more trouble than its worth. Citing statistics, since only the minority now receive booster shots, let's pull a number out and say 20%, then if the shot HAD NO EFFECT either good or bad (i.e. statistically zero correlation), then I would expect 20% of the boosted people to die and 80% of the un-boosted from whatever sample size of deaths we have. The fact that the boosted now rate slightly higher in deaths when there's less of them tells me that this is somewhat of a reverse effect, and there are studies going on now by the drug companies responsible regarding myocarditis in younger people who received the shot, particularly young men. It's all coming out in the wash now and those who shamed or forced others to have the shot in the name of science are now having the chickens come home to roost.