Author Archives: DrE

Sunday Devotional: He shall be peace

Posted on December 19, 2021 | 2 comments

Micah 5:1-4a

Thus says the LORD:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne,
and the rest of his kindred shall return
to the children of Israel.
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
and they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
he shall be peace.

Today is the last Sunday of Advent before Christmas.

How fitting it is that our reading is the passage from the the Old Testament’s “Book of Micah” — one of many passages in the Old Testament foretelling the incarnation of the Second Person of the Triune Godhead.

Those prophetic passages include the following:

  • Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
  • Jeremiah 23:5: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.”
  • Numbers 24:17: “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.”
  • Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”
  • Psalm 22:16: “they pierced my hands and my feet.”
  • Psalm 22:18: “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
  • Wisdom 2:12, 17-20: “The wicked say: Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”
  • Zechariah 9:9: “behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”
  • Zechariah 11:12: “So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.”

And yet so many Jews at the time and after simply refuse to believe that Jesus Christ indeed is the foretold Messiah, such is the obdurate hardness of the human heart.

May the peace and love of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior be with you,

~E

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Thursday Cuties

Posted on December 16, 2021 | 4 comments

Too cute for words!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AARzwyDf5dI&ab_channel=TheDodo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gw3CB2v2Fo&ab_channel=PetLoversZone

~E

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Dogs prevented 135,000 suicides of autistic people in UK

Posted on December 16, 2021 | 3 comments

Dogs are more than human’s best friends.

They literally save lives.

Joe Pinkstone reports for The Telegraph, Dec. 8, 2021:

Pet dogs have prevented more than 100,000 people with autism from taking their own life, according to a new study.

Scientists from the University of Lincoln studied the relationship between people who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and their pet dog….

Six of the people in the study (16.7 per cent) said their dogs prevented them from ending their own lives. Around one in 100 people in the UK have autism, and a quarter of all adults own a dog.

Based on these assumptions, dog ownership would be responsible for preventing around 135,000 suicides among autistic adults in the UK alone, the researchers state in their study, published today in Scientific Reports….

The research team, which included visiting professor and TV personality Chris Packham, found close dog-owner interactions (cuddling, walking, being in the dog’s presence etc) were the activities most often linked to improving a person’s mood….

Ana Maria Barcelos, a PhD student at the university, led the research and told The Telegraph: “Around 17 per cent of our participants were thinking about suicide and because of the dog, they did not attempt suicide; they stopped themselves because of the dog.”

She added that the autistic dog owners felt it “wouldn’t be fair” of them to end their life and leave the dog behind because their pet loves them and they feel a sense of responsibility to look after the animal….

There was no impact of dog age or breed on its influence on a person’s happiness, the scientists say, as it was the indefatigable affection of which all dogs are capable which seems to be the most pivotal factor.

~E

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You’ve got a friend

Posted on December 15, 2021 | 7 comments

“And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them.” -Isaiah 11:6

I’m convinced that once food is removed as a factor (motive), different species of animals can coexist peacefully together.

The video below is proof.

~E

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Biden presidency in disarray: plummeting approval numbers; at war with VP

Posted on December 12, 2021 | 5 comments

According to Buddhism, karma is supposed to work after death, but sometimes karma is visited on deserving people when they are still alive.

Joe Biden may have won the 2020 election (see a Brookings Institute analysis of judicial votes on 2020 election irregularities), but his presidency is, predictably,  an utter disaster.

That disaster is even being acknowledged by Democrat useful-idiot voters as  Biden’s poll numbers continue to plummet (NewsMax):

  • In the latest NPR/Marist national poll released three days ago on December 9, a majority (51%) of U.S. adults disapprove of the job Biden has done, with just 43% still approving.
  • Biden fared even worse in other polls:
  • Just one-fifth (20%) of Americans in a recent (Dec. 7) I&I/TIPP poll say they want Biden to run again for president in 2024.

Biden’s Vice President Kamala Harris’ poll numbers are even worse:

  • A USA Today/Suffolk poll, released on November 7, had Harris’ approval rating at only 28% — an historic low for vice presidents, even lower than Dick Cheney’s all-time worst.
  • Only 12% of Americans in the I&I/TIPP poll say they want Harris to run again for vice president in 2024.

Not only has Kamala Harris been strangely MIA on her job, she is described as a “soul-destroying” “bully” by staffers, four of whom had quit in the space of two weeks, with more “eying the exit” (Daily Mail).

The New York Post reports:

Vice President Kamala Harris is described as a “bully” in a new report that brands her as the “common denominator” behind a recent exodus of high-level staffers.

Harris’ allegedly “soul-destroying” management style was revealed by staffers to the Washington Post just days after spokesperson and longtime aide Symone Sanders announced her departure….

[F]ormer Harris aide Gil Duran…said Harris’ “destructive patterns” were behind the recent turmoil and exit of Sanders and communications director Ashley Etienne….

One former staffer claimed the vice president fails to read briefing materials, then lashes out at others when she’s unprepared.

“It’s clear that you’re not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work,” the staffer said. “With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you’re constantly sort of propping up a bully, and it’s not really clear why.”

Oblivious to his own failings, Biden has grown hostile toward Harris and shows signs of dumping her as a VP running-mate for the 2024 election.

The New York Post reports that according to a CNN report, based on interviews with nearly three dozen insiders, Biden is “sidelining” Harris “amid growing tensions” and that the two have a dysfunctional relationship that has reached an “exhausted stalemate”.

At the funeral for Bob Dole at the U.S. Capitol last Thursday, behaving like immature high-schoolers, Biden did not acknowledge Harris as he walked past her. Both Biden and Harris did not make eye contact and averted their gaze. Then Biden asked his wife Jill to switch seats so he wouldn’t have to be next to Harris.

https://twitter.com/Knesix/status/1469039920115335174?t=eB8Qzxx5OldempU1ilimpg&s=09

~E

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Sunday funnies!

Posted on December 12, 2021 | 5 comments

~E

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Posted in cats, dogs, Funnies, God's creation

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Sunday Devotional: Be joyful!

Posted on December 12, 2021 | 4 comments

Isaiah 12:3

With joy you will draw water
from the fountains of salvation

Zephaniah 3:14, 17

Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem! […]
The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a mighty savior,
Who will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
Who will sing joyfully because of you,
as one sings at festivals.

Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The Bible is replete with injunctions that we be joyful; the above three passages are examples.

What is joy?

The dictionary defines “joy” as “a state of happiness or felicity.”

Joy is different from happiness in that happiness is a fleeting emotion, but joy is a”state” — the condition of a person — of happiness. As someone once said, “Joy is not a season, it’s a way of living.”

Joy is not based upon whether things are going well or not. Joy is an emotion that comes from the anticipation, acquisition or expectation of something great or wonderful.

Joy consists of at least two components, gratitude and optimism, both of which are beneficial to our health (see my post of October 24, 2021, here).

Have you noticed how what God instructs us to do always turns out to be good for us?

St. Paul tells us joy is one of the fruits or results of having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 1:6; Romans 14:17), which is why we can be joyful even in the midst of great trials and suffering.

I recently was subjected to malicious rumor-mongering from three nieces-in-law, which reminded me of two aphorisms: (1) No good deed goes unpunished; and (2) Never underestimate the human potential for evil.

Instead of getting angry, I thought of what our Lord Jesus had endured — betrayal by a beloved disciple, abandonment by His friends when He needed them the most, followed by torture and death by crucifixion, the most extreme form of execution that the Romans reserved for the worst criminals.

How can any of our trials and tribulations ever compare to His?

At that thought, I became joyful.

Joy even helped our Lord Jesus Christ endure the cross: “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

So be joyful!

Praise the Lord, and let your heart burst with joy!

May the joy and peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

~E

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Newsmax White House correspondent: Pope Francis is dying

Posted on December 8, 2021 | 4 comments

John Gizzi, formerly a writer for Human Events, is currently the chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.

Yesterday, Dec. 7, Gizzi reported for Newsmax, “Vatican Preps for Conclave as ‘Pope Is Dying“.

The brief article is behind a paywall, which you can access for $1.

According to Novus Ordo Watch:

Gizzi writes that a “secretary of one of the most powerful Vatican Cardinals” told him straightfowardly: “Pope Francis is dying.” Furthermore, Gizzi asserts that sources inside the Vatican do not expect Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) to see the end of next year, 2022, and are in “pre-Conclave mode”.

Without more details, one can only speculate as to what exactly the situation is, but apparently Francis is said to be terminally ill and not expected to live another 13 months for that reason. A diagnosis has not been revealed or rumored, but colon cancer would be a possibility, considering Bergoglio’s colon surgery back in early July. At the time, some Vaticanists expressed concern that this surgery had not been announced days or weeks in advance, as would have been customary….

The question at issue, then, is whether it is Francis and the Vatican public relations machine that are downplaying the reality, or whether certain officials in the Vatican are exaggerating it, perhaps due to wishful thinking. Time will surely tell.

Last July 7, Luis Badilla Morales of the Francis-friendly and well-connected Italian Novus Ordo blog Il Sismografo reported that Francis’ condition was more serious than the Vatican was letting on: “the disease that has struck Pope Francis is severe and degenerative. It could also be chronic.”

~E

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Wednesday Funny: Family photo

Posted on December 8, 2021 | 5 comments

When taking a family photo, there’s always one member who won’t cooperate!

H/t John Molloy

~E

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Posted in cats, dogs, God's creation

Sunday Devotional: Advance secure in the glory of God!

Posted on December 5, 2021 | 2 comments

Baruch 5:1-2, 7-9

Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery;
put on the splendor of glory from God forever:
wrapped in the cloak of justice from God,
bear on your head the mitre
that displays the glory of the eternal name….
For God has commanded
that every lofty mountain be made low,
and that the age-old depths and gorges
be filled to level ground,
that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.
The forests and every fragrant kind of tree
have overshadowed Israel at God’s command;
for God is leading Israel in joy
by the light of his glory,
with his mercy and justice for company.

The above passage from the Book of Baruch in the Old Testament applies not just to the biblical Jerusalem and the Israelites, but also to the new Jerusalem of the new Chosen People of Christians.

That is because the Second Person of the Triune Godhead incarnated Himself as man to make a new Covenant with not just Jews, but with all who believe in Him — Jews and Gentiles.

As St. Paul put it in Hebrews 9:15, “He is mediator of a new covenant,” and explained further in another letter:

Ephesians 1:3-5, 7

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,
as he chose us in him,
before the foundation of the world,
to be holy and without blemish before him.
In love he destined us
for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ….
In him we have redemption by his blood….

So, by exercising our God-given free will to follow Jesus, we are the new Chosen People.

We are chosen! We are selected as a favorite out of “many [who] are called” (Matthew 22:14) “out of the world” (John 15:19). What a privilege! We are God’s choice to bear His name, represent His cause, and share His glory throughout eternity.

Heeding the words of Baruch 5:7, let us not be intimidated by our enemies —  political, cultural, spiritual — but instead “advance secure in the glory of God“!

And may the peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you,

~E

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