Have you ever noticed how few people who are accused of crimes (real or imagined) in the media actually have any cases brought against them in trial? Or if they do, we don’t hear about it. Or the person ends up being found “not guilty” after they’ve been drug through the mud and paid a hefty penalty for being falsely accused.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust the media as far as I can throw a cast iron Dutch oven across my front lawn. Modern media does a pathetic job of investigating, and then puts individuals on trial in their media outlets, convicting them publicly. The result is that people’s lives are ruined, their livelihoods decimated, and their reputations destroyed without any fair trial occurring in the court system.
Why I Stopped Watching the News
I’m so tired of it, I don’t even watch the news anymore. All the media cares about is money… selling ads. It’s all about the clicks, and the views, with no regard for the lives they destroy by releasing information that hasn’t even been properly investigated or brought to trial. They relate their opinions and judgements as if they were facts over and over and over again, as if telling nonsense ad nauseum makes it true.
Each of us needs to really consider what is happening rampantly in the media. It’s a kangaroo court. If we all stopped watching and reading their tripe and refused to believe everything they say, it’s possible that things might change. Imagine a world that the Founding Fathers envisioned where each person was innocent until proven guilty. Imagine a world where we all reserved judgment until someone is given a fair and speedy trial before a jury of their peers and a legal judgement passed!
Perhaps, then, the media wouldn’t be able to destroy people based on twisted facts, insinuation, jumping to conclusions, hearsay, opinion, framing, or pure fabrication. Have you ever for a moment put yourself in the position of one of these folks (regardless of who they are or what they believe) who is the target of a media slam campaign? Can you imagine having your good name run through the mud, your livelihood destroyed, and people you once considered friends turn on you?
Whether we’re talking about someone we like or dislike, whether it’s someone who seems to have witnesses stacked against them according to the media, they still deserve to be considered innocent until proven guilty! Why do we feel the need to take sides and pass judgement based on opinion, hearsay, accusations, or just because someone is being sued? Anyone can be sued for anything these days. Anyone can be accused and charged with anything. I have no idea if all the people whom the media has turned on are innocent or guilty. But I know this…I will stand behind the US Constitution which says a person is innocent until proven guilty. That is a hill I will die on.
And may we pray to the Almighty that our judicial system will deliver fair trials. That’s a whole other subject that needs to be addressed.
Recently, I read a moving tribute to a friend’s 17-year-old grandson written by his teacher upon the boy’s death. It seemed evident that this exceptionally loving and kind-hearted young man had taken his own life. The young man had been a light to the teacher during the difficult zoom days of 2020-2021. The boy was one of the few young people who showed up on camera, participated, and fully engaged. He was talented, creative, and a deeply loving and kind-hearted soul.
Even though no one suspected that this brilliant young man was struggling, the contention and hopelessness in this world was too much for him. Most of us look at the kind-hearted and loving people around us and assume they’re doing just fine. They often appear upbeat and happy even when they are experiencing difficulties. They don’t want to be a burden on others.
Many young people over the last few years have chosen to exit this world. It’s a shame what the contentiousness is doing to our loving young people. This young man’s death and others make me wonder whether our “insistence on being right” is worth destroying these young innocents. Is it worth destroying our ability to love? Is it worth sacrificing our inner peace?
This year I have disconnected from the “news” and focused on fundamental well-being, prayed fervently for more Christ-like love, and endeavored to look for the good in nature and the people around me.
Great blue heron over Mud Creek in Winneconne Wisconsin. I took this photo while canoeing with my husband in September 2022. Great blue herons, according to Native Americans, remind us that God is with us. Find more of my nature photos and God’s messages in nature at CreationGirl.com
The Lord has blessed me with an inner stillness and joy that I would never have thought possible in the world being portrayed “out there” in the media. So many adults and young people believe that the media is true… that things are hopeless, bad, and bleak. I suppose they are from a certain angle. But when I take my camera out in the world, I see colorful birds, flowers, and exquisite sunsets. I see the reflection of sunlight on water, the sunbursts through the clouds. I see little children and good people in my community. I see God in everything and everyone around me. There is so much beauty and goodness if we step away from the electronic devices and look at the REAL world outside our doors.
If you or someone you love is heartsick over this world, I invite you to unplug from all the contentious media and look for the good. Your happiness, your peace… your life is priceless. Don’t let it be stolen by those who profit from contention and drama. There is so much beauty all around! Shift your gaze!
My love and prayers go out to the family, teachers and friends who knew and loved this young man and others like him. May we all be more aware that there are people around us who look like they have it all together, but who inwardly are struggling because of the contentious and hopeless narratives.
As I fell to my knees this morning praying for this family, I felt a deep desire to repent of the role I have played in stirring up contention in the name of “fighting for freedom.” For months now, I have felt convicted that tearing others down, snarky comments, rude judgements, making fun of our “enemies,” or demeaning conversation serve no useful purpose in the fight for freedom. I have tearfully asked God to forgive me for anything I have done to contribute to the despondency of sweet souls like my friend’s grandson. I aim to do better, and I ask you to forgive me as well for my role in stirring up contention.
There is a way to stand for truth and goodness without tearing other people down. There is a way to cheerfully and hopefully look for the good while bringing to light areas where we can improve. I know it can be done because I have watched my father do it his entire life. It’s time I followed his example.
I hope you will join me in this endeavor. If we can’t stop the contention for our own peace, let’s stop it for the young people – our children, grandchildren, and great-grands. They deserve a loving, nurturing world.
Featured sunset image taken by Marnie Pehrson Kuhns over Lake Winneconne, Wisconsin in September 2022. Photos in this blog post are copyrighted by Marnie Pehrson Kuhns, 2022. All rights Reserved.
A look at the U.S. Constitution and how it applies to the June 30, 2022 Supreme Court EPA ruling …sending power back to Congress.
“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”
Article 1, Section 1 of the US Constitution
ALL legislative powers – means ALL. Does that leave any legislative powers for the Executive branch? The Judicial Branch? Bureaucratic agencies? Absolutely not! ALL doesn’t leave crumbs.
On June 30, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling which limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to set standards on climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions for existing power plants.
The court ruled 6-3 that Congress, not the EPA, has the power to create a nation-impacting system of cap-and-trade regulations to limit emissions from existing power to push the nation to transition away from coal to renewable energy sources.
You’ll find nowhere mentioned in the U.S. Constitution the bloated bureaucratic alphabet soup we have today. They were first created as an extension of the Executive branch under Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930’s when he created the SSA, FSA and others. The easy way to remember that is FDR created all the acronyms … just like his own name has been abbreviated to one.
None of these agencies are constitutional. They are like branches of government that have largely been left unchecked, unbalanced by the three legitimate branches of government. They are like rogue vigilantes who have become gods unto themselves.
President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of the EPA on July 9, 1970. It began operating on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate to implement Congress-approved rules. Just because its creation was approved by Congressional committee, that doesn’t give it the ability to create new laws. Congress can’t delegate its law-making powers to an independent agency.
The Supreme Court’s ruling that the EPA doesn’t have power to create regulations is absolutely spot on. Even if you want to call these agencies part of the Executive branch, they don’t have the Constitutional authority to create law.
If you look in the Constitution, the only time the term, “regulation” is mentioned is in conjunction with Congress. When someone or a business entity can be punished (fined, imprisoned, etc.) for breaking a rule, that’s a form of law. Regulations are basically rules for implementing a law. The way regulations have been created by the Executive branch and the unconstitutional agencies is completely unconstitutional.
ALL LEGISLATIVE POWERS are vested in the Legislative branch (Congress). If you want a new law, it’s got to go through Congress. A board of un-elected bureaucrats or an out-of-control President don’t get to make edicts that make American citizens or American businesses pay fines or worse for the violation of their stipulations.
Finally, the Supreme Court is doing its job of upholding the US Constitution so that the Legislative branch can do its job which has been abdicated by varying degrees since the 1930’s! This ruling isn’t about whether you can protect the environment, it’s about who is in charge of passing laws regarding it – bureaucrats or Congress (elected by the people).
Biden and the Green-New-Dealers can pout all they want about the Supreme Court decision, but the fact is that the United States of America is a REPUBLIC, not a democracy or a bureaucracy – or at least the Constitution is a document of a REPUBLIC. Not that anyone has really been following it closely for decades. Republic means RULE BY LAW .. not rule by oligarchs, bureaucrats, Presidents, mobs, majorities, or world organizations.
With this decision by the Supreme Court, we can say a massive, “SCORE ONE FOR LIBERTY!” Now, if they will rein in the other nonsense being done by these agencies to the American people.
While the Supreme Court is concerned about bureaucrats making sweeping decisions that impact our economy, I’d love to see them look at the Federal Reserve next … which is not even Federal. It is a private group of bankers who control our entire economy! No checks, no balances, no audits… just free reign over our economy!
And the list goes on, and on, and on… this could be fun!
Featured Image Copyright: oersin / BigStockPhoto.com
In 1909, Sarah Lawson was a widow and mother of 9 children. She’d already lost her husband and four of those children. She ran a boarding house in McMinn County, Tennessee to make ends meet. There was a telegraph office nearby in which men came to work, and Sarah’s boarding house stayed full.
Sarah’s daughter, Sally, was 20-years-old at the time, living at home with her mother. Sometime in 1909, a man named Everett, began boarding at Sarah’s boarding house. In December of 1909, he “took advantage” of Sally, and the young woman ended up expecting a baby.
The men in Sally’s family took out the shotgun and were ready to make the man “do right by Sally” and marry her. But Sally had no desire to be married to the man who had pushed himself on her. In September of 1910, Sally gave birth to a little girl who she named Thelma. Thelma was a spunky little girl who took to the piano at age 3 and taught herself how to play.
In 1914, Sally married a telegraph operator named Adolphus who became the only father Thelma would ever know. With Adolphus, Sally gave birth to a son and two more daughters.
Thelma grew up to be quite the adventurous soul. She learned to drive at 12-years-old, had her own car in her later teens, and played ragtime in a local silent movie house. She loved the great outdoors and cooking delicious food. She fell in love with a handsome young man named Eugene, and they were married in 1929.
Thelma gave birth to my mother – Betty Jean in 1933 via c-section with no anesthetic! She also had a son and three more daughters.
Thelma was a kind and gentle soul, who I never heard say a bad word about anyone. In fact, I never heard her say a bad word … period! She worked at American Uniform in Cleveland, Tennessee for 25 years, sewing aprons; and Eugene ran his own shoe repair shop. My grandfather, Eugene, passed away suddenly of a heart attack in 1970, at only 65 years of age.
Thelma (my Granny) never remarried. She spent her later years cooking big Sunday dinners for her children and grandchildren. We’d cram 40 people, eating in shifts, into her little single wide trailer. There was a lot of love and delicious food in that tiny trailer! I always said Granny had flavor in her fingertips.
In my opinion, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better soul than my Granny. I have fond memories of her visiting our home and playing ragtime piano while we gathered around, mesmerized by her stylings.
A lot of good people have come through my Granny’s lineage … a lot of people who simply would not exist if Sally had been born a few decades later and made the popular choice of terminating a rape pregnancy. Among us, we have dozens of loving fathers and mothers, nurses, a forest ranger, a physicist/inventor, businesspeople, several artists and teachers, an accountant, medical techs, preacher’s wives, an author, numerous missionaries, singers, musicians, nature-lovers and more.
I often wonder how many people are not with us on this planet because so many babies were never given the chance at life. How many scientists, doctors, inventors, and more are we missing?
Would we have a cure for cancer by now if someone hadn’t been snuffed out of existence? Would we have solutions to the world’s most pressing problems if some little girl or boy was allowed their turn on earth?
Just something to think about…
Photo: Thelma with three of her grandchildren: The artisan, the physicist/inventor, and the author (me).
Shortages, supply chain disruptions, packages that never arrive, worker shortages… Are you wondering what’s really causing them and how long they’ll keep using the COVID excuse? Here’s the real root cause of it all.
I had the opportunity to visit with a gentleman today who as a young man, fresh out of college, spent some time in communist Poland in the 80’s before the iron curtain fell. He intentionally went there to live for a few months because he wanted to see for himself what living in a communist country was like.
He worked at a bank. His co-workers at the bank didn’t dare talk about the things they dealt with because they were too afraid of negative consequences. But there was one gentleman who simply didn’t care about the fall-out. He sat in a room in the bank, alone with the young man and told him all about what they dealt with in communist Poland.
When a couple married in communist Poland, they put their name on a list for an apartment. They lived with their parents while they waited, waited, and waited for the apartment to become available. They didn’t shop for their apartment. They didn’t look around and decide which one they wanted. They were assigned one by the government.
When Polish citizens reached a specific age where they were allowed to buy a car, they put their name on a list to apply for one. If accepted, they made payments toward the car, and when the car was finally paid off, then they would be able to obtain the car.
Once someone became the owner of a vehicle, they were able to buy a certain number of credits for gasoline. But the amount of gasoline you could buy was very limited. You were never able to purchase much gas … especially not enough to drive across the border to escape.
When this young man went to a store, he walked right in and everyone fussed at him, “You can’t do that! Get back here and get in line.” Stores paced how many people were allowed in at a time. There was a finite amount of products, and they had to control how many people they let in to acquire those scarce commodities.
“The Marxists use shortages to control people,” he said. “They are masters at creating shortages.” The man I spoke to today went on to say that the shortages we are experiencing in the U.S. are symptoms of Marxist policies. These shortages are designed to control us.
What kind of shortages do Marxists like to create? Why, the ones that really get your attention and hit you where it hurts – labor shortages, food shortages, fuel and energy shortages, supply chain issues, transportation shortages (chips and parts for cars).
After leaving this man’s office, I reflected on the number of shortages I’ve seen lately. A girl I know can’t get autobody work done on her car until the fall because there are shortages of supplies. My son has had his name on a waiting list to purchase a car for a few months now. He had to put down $250 to be put on the waiting list.
My father-in-law paid for a dishwasher that didn’t get delivered last week. When he called the store, the man said, “Your dishwasher didn’t show up on the truck it was supposed to.” My father-in-law can’t get a straight answer on when or if the dishwasher will ever arrive.
A friend has been waiting for an outdoor shed that he ordered months ago. The store claims it was delivered, but the last I heard, it still hadn’t arrived. My son ordered a computer from HP that never arrived, and we finally had to file a police report to get our money back.
Store shelves are barer than I’ve ever seen them. Businesspeople I meet complain that they can’t find people to work jobs.
All these bizarre shortages and disruptions are signature tell-tell-signs of Marxist policies.
Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Wake up, Americans. The writing is on the wall.
Featured Image Copyright: HalfPoint / BigStockPhoto.com
My fourth child was due in November of 1994, and I had the usual morning sickness. Then one Sunday at church a friend asked me how I felt. I told her the morning sickness had stopped and I felt great. The next day I went to the doctor for my 16-week checkup. When the nurse did the ultrasound, she couldn’t find a heartbeat. She brought in my doctor and he, too, found no heartbeat.
My doctor sent me next door to the hospital for a more thorough intravaginal ultrasound. No heartbeat. I was sent home to wait for a few days and see if I miscarried on my own.
The days passed, but I never went into labor on my own. My doctor scheduled an induction, and I went to the hospital. The nurse came in to give me the medications to start labor. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that my child was dead. I pleaded with her to perform one more ultrasound… just to make sure that the baby was not alive before the procedure started. She kindly understood and immediately brought in the equipment.
I had already given birth to three other children, but I’d never seen a baby as young as sixteen weeks. In a few hours, I gave birth to an ashen-gray baby boy. I was shocked to see that he was larger than I expected – fully formed, just not as chubby as my other babies. An autopsy was done, and no cause could be found. Later, with my subsequent pregnancy, my hormone levels were tested, and results showed I had low progesterone. The doctor prescribed progesterone with my next baby and she was born healthy. She recently graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Georgia and completed her Masters.
After this miscarriage, I was kept overnight in the hospital for monitoring and recovery. I was put into a private room and left largely undisturbed. I had time to pray, read, and reflect on my child… my son, Samuel, who I would never nurse, never sing to, nor see reach adulthood.
If Samuel had made it, he now would be 27 years old. I often wonder what he would look like, what his interests would be. Would he be smart like his siblings? Would he be funny? Would he be a spiritual giant? Would he be quirky and random? Would he be really tall like two of his brothers? Would he be a musician like the siblings on either side of him? What impact for good could he have made on the world?
There is one thing I know… the answer I received in those hours I spent alone in the hospital… is that Samuel was too good for this world. For whatever reason, he did not need the experience of mortality that I or his father or his siblings did.
I don’t know how things work, but I know Samuel was and is a real, distinct human being. And I know that he is in heaven with a loving Father and that one day I will be reunited with him and get to know him.
Nobody can tell me that my son was not my son. He wasn’t a growth, a tumor, an appendage to my own body. He was my child and is my child forever.
Featured Image Copyright: Jennifer Davis / BigStockPhoto.com
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn Roe vs. Wade, after nearly 50 years of Federally legalized abortion. This definitive Constitutional move is a return to the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which clearly states:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”
10th Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution
Since abortion is nowhere discussed within the U.S. Constitution, this subject is being rightfully returned to the states and to the people. This has never been, and should never have been, a subject for the Federal government to be involved in.
Rioting, Looting and Protests In Response to Roe vs. Wade Reversal
Ironically, many of the states which already legalize abortion at the state level have citizens who are rioting, looting and threatening to attack various churches and pro-life facilities in retaliation. People in cities like Los Angeles are destroying their own communities in response to a ruling reversal that does not even impact their states. Constitutional ignorance plays a forefront role in the responses to this ruling.
Following the Science
Of equal import is simple science and human dignity and compassion. While abortion might have been deemed acceptable when modern ultrasound was not available, it is reprehensible that people would pitch violent tantrums because they cannot kill babies who are clearly distinct individuals, viewable in detail with modern ultrasound technology. I’m not sure what happened to the cry to “follow the science,” but it’s clearly not happening on this subject.
The question that is uppermost on many people’s minds is WHY? Why would people feel they have the right to kill other human being? Science has provided us with plenty of evidence that these babies actually back away from the utensils and vacuums sent in to dismember them. Via ultrasound and other scientific technologies, we see that these babies cry out in anguish and pain as they are being slaughtered. Many medical experts have testified that unwanted babies in hospitals are left to die while those who have loving mothers are given every heroic measure necessary to help them live.
How could people be so heartless?
Some say it’s all about choice. Pro choice is what they call it. My question is: What about the choices of the 48 million babies per year who are snuffed out of existence and permanently lose their power to choose?
The term “pro choice” is an oxymoron. Those who support abortion aren’t pro choice. They are only for providing endless, continuous ability to choose without reaping consequences. They don’t care at all about the children’s ability to choose.
The biggest lie is that you can have choices without consequences.
The nature of choice is that when you choose liberty and life, more choices are afforded you. When you choose captivity and death, your choices dwindle. You don’t get endless chances to cover your detrimental choices.
You don’t get unlimited choices to cover your tracks. At some point you pay the piper. The flip side of the coin of Choice is Accountability.
There Can Be No Freedom without Personal Responsibility
We live in a society that is losing its freedoms because we do not understand that freedom can only be maintained as people take personal responsibility for their own actions. Only people who stand accountable for their own choices can remain free. Those who seek to disconnect choice from accountability self destruct.
Not taking personal responsibility for your own sexual acts and then expecting God and society to condone the mutilation and death of an innocent child (who was created BECAUSE of your choices) is the ultimate in the abdication of personal responsibility. It is the ultimate in myopic selfishness.
Debunking The Suffering Myth
I often hear the excuse by those who support abortion that the children will just suffer if they are allowed to live. Or the mother will suffer if she can’t get an abortion. Her quality of life and future options will suffer. The child will be homeless, hungry, or uncared for.
Our privileged society has a massive misconception about suffering. Freedom actually comes on the other side of suffering. Facing your own demons, your own trials and challenges, and taking personal responsibility leads to freedom, true freedom of the soul.
Continually doing everything you can to keep from being responsible for your own choices, actions, and emotional baggage is enslavement.
It seem that many who choose abortion are trying to avoid suffering at all costs. They are not choosing to abort because their own life is in danger, but because they don’t want to be inconvenienced. They want to avoid what they deem will be their future suffering, so they choose to end another human life. They justify murder by extrapolating that the child will lead a life of suffering. They assume that this child’s suffering will be endless and that the child’s life is not worth living.
Proponents of the “suffering excuse” have no faith in the human soul or its growth and development – theirs or their child’s. Better to kill the child than risk that the baby — or the parent — might be unhappy or suffer.
Every major growth and progression people make comes as we face adversity and rise above. One could say that it is one of the major reasons for living. To live your whole life and kill others to avoid suffering yourself (or pretending you’re saving the victims from suffering) is foolish at best and selfishly cruel at worst.
The wholesale lack of personal responsibility and dehumanization of others has untold rippling impacts and very well may lead to the destruction of mankind and our liberties.
What About Women Whose Lives Are In Danger?
No one is going to tell a mother with an ectopic pregnancy that she has to carry a baby to term. In fact, the natural consequence of this will be a miscarriage. No one is going to tell a mother whose life is in danger that a pregnancy has to continue. Likewise for rape or other sexual crime victims. These extreme cases are not why people who have fought against abortion all these years are fighting.
We’re fighting for the lives of innocents who have no voice. We’re fighting for the innocents who are discarded and left to die simply because women — and men — don’t want them or are afraid of the consequences of having a child. This is about the millions of babies each year who are murdered simply because they are inconvenient. This is about the millions who are murdered because the women carrying them — and yes, the men who fathered them — are sexually irresponsible and use abortion like birth control.
What About the Woman’s Feelings?
A woman on Facebook recently posted that she was feeling all the disappointed “feels” pro-abortion women are having over the Supreme Court’s ruling. For some time now, my husband and I have been feeling for the 48 million babies/year who are snuffed out of existence and/or torn limb-from-limb and left to die.
I can’t tell you how many times we’ve prayed in tears for this nightmare to end, and for forgiveness and healing for our land. Unlike many who were enraged when Roe vs. Wade was finally overturned, we wept in gratitude. Praise God! This is one step in the right direction. I’m not expecting that it will stop abortion completely. But at least it may save some lives in some states.
“Let your mouth be open for those who have no voice, in the cause of those who are ready for death. Let your mouth be open, judging rightly, and give right decisions in the cause of the poor and those in need.”
Proverbs 31:8-9
National Sins Bring National Calamities
In light of choice and accountability before God, this shift in responsibility to the states and the people will lay the responsibility on those specific geographic areas (aka states) who condone and support crimes against humanity.
While advocating against slavery (another instance where groups of people were dehumanized for the convenience of others), George Mason, on the floor of the Constitutional Convention, warned:
“As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this by an inevitable chain of causes and effects. Providence punishes national sins by national calamities.”
George Mason, ConStitutional Convention
If God’s wrath is poured out on this land through national calamities, it will be a bit easier to see which states — and which people — valued life and which didn’t. Perhaps there will be a bit more mercy given to the citizens in those geographic areas — those state governments — who had mercy on the innocents.
Photo Copyrights
Featured Image Copyright:ZF_foto / BigStockPhoto.com
Currently before Congress is H.R. 4980 which calls for a permanent no-fly grounding for the unvaccinated. H.R. 4980 directs, “the Secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that any individual traveling on a flight that departs from or arrives to an airport inside the United States or a territory of the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID–19, and for other purposes.”
I believe in health freedom. You know your body. You know what’s best for it. If you feel that the vaccine is best for your body, great. If you don’t, that’s great too. I believe this is a personal choice. Our Founding Fathers believed that the individual’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were worth fighting for, giving their all for, dying for.
We need to understand that forcing people to get a vaccine is different than the vaccine itself. You can be pro-vaccine. You can think it’s the best thing in the world. But forcing it on people is an entirely different matter. Whether you’ve had the vax or not, it’s important that we all stand up for freedom.
Of all the things we can own in life, our bodies are the most central. Our bodies were given to us by God at birth. That’s an inalienable right bequeathed to us by our Creator. Our bodies do not belong to society or to government. Just ask the Jews in the Holocaust or the people experimented on by that heinous regime. They had no say in the matter.
Forcing an entire populace to take a foreign substance into their bodies is morally wrong. This is a dangerous precipice. We set a precedent by doing this which will wreak havoc on our liberties. You might say, well this is just the same as making children be vaccinated before they go to school. It is NOT. At least parents can choose to homeschool. And nothing prevents parents from taking their unvaccinated children or teens on a plane or being able to buy or sell or go in public (like would happen with the vaccine passport).
(a) In General.—The Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, shall take such actions as are necessary to ensure that any individual traveling on a flight that departs from or arrives to an airport inside the United States or a territory of the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID–19.
(b) Exception.—In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure there is an exception to the requirement described in such subsection for an individual who is ineligible or medically unable to be fully vaccinated against COVID–19.
(c) Definition.—In this Act, the term “fully vaccinated against COVID–19” means receiving all recommended doses of a COVID–19 vaccine that is licensed under section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262) or authorized for emergency use under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb–3).
I’ve been learning about and praying about the concept of Christ-like love. As you know, Jesus told us to love our enemies and to be kind to those who despitefully use us and persecute us. I’ve often thought that I can see where I could be that way with ordinary people, but some politicians… hmmm … that’s a tough one for me.
This morning I had an interesting dream. I was in Washington, DC and had submitted my resume for a job in an office setting. I was immediately called in and hired on the spot. At this point I knew I was going to be working in Nancy Pelosi’s office. There was some confusion over where they would be moving her office.
Finally, an address was settled on, and I went inside a government building with long, steep stairs that were rickety. I could feel them shaking a bit under my feet. Ahead of me I saw Nancy Pelosi, walking upstairs to her offices. I marveled that they would put an old woman with such a prominent position in this rickety place.
I understood that she had just spoken on the main floor and was now going upstairs. When I reached the next floor, the person who hired me greeted me at the office door and had me come into a small office that had a desk that ran along three sides of the room. As I stood inside the room by the door and faced the desk, there were two other people seated along the first wall on the left by the door. There was an open desk for me on the right side of the far wall.
“You’ll be editing videos of Mrs. Pelosi’s speeches,” the person explained.
I thought it interesting that they had hired me for video editing since it wasn’t anything particularly mentioned in my resume. I hadn’t mentioned any particular software programs on my resume – even though I am good at video editing. Glancing at the first monitor I could see a Camtasia icon.
I said, “Oh, I see you have Camtasia. That’s good.”
At the second desk sat Joe Biden. He had an article on the screen in front of him. He was using Camtasia for a word processor. I was surprised because Camtasia is not a word processor. I wondered why he didn’t use Word or something like that. They explained that they edit the videos of Nancy Pelosi’s speeches, and then they put the articles at the end of the video.
Strange, but okay, I thought.
I asked who recorded the speeches. The person explained that would be my job to record them as well.
I began to recap what I thought they were hiring me to do so that I was clear on my duties. “So, I record her speeches and then edit them and write articles to go at the end?”
“No, you don’t write the articles. Joe writes the articles.”
At this point, Joe Biden stood up and turned to face me.
I felt rather upbeat. I could do this job. I had the skills, and I could probably finish my work early and have time to spare if this was all I was expected to do.
After I was clear on what I was doing, everyone left the room, but Joe Biden stayed behind. He became serious and said, “I know who you are. You better not let your beliefs interfere with the job.”
I assured him that I was professional and that I would honestly and ethically record the videos and edit them properly.
He asked me if I could do that considering how vocal I had been against them and their party during the election. I said, “It’s not like I’m working on your campaign. What’s done is done. You’re here. I’ll do my job professionally.”
“You are very principled,” he observed as if he actually admired that about me.
“I am very strong in my principles, but I am fluid about people,” I said. As I said it, I had an epiphany. I knew this was important … that I could stay strong in my principles while allowing my perception of people to be open.
At this point I became excited that I might find some good quality… some humanity in these two people. I hoped that while being around them a lot, I might find some goodness in them. Just because I didn’t agree with them on principle, didn’t mean they didn’t have some aspect of them that was likeable.
I then told Biden, “If I find something good in her or in you, I will be the first to admit it. I will be the first to write about it.” His eyes lit up at the prospect.
I thanked Joe Biden for helping me discover an answer I had been seeking … that I could be strong and hold to my principles and still look for the good and be loving and kind toward people who are opposed to my principles.
As the dream ended, I realized that perhaps I could be of service to my country in this place… here among people I had considered my enemies… perhaps I might have some greater influence for good by being myself, being loving, and by staying principled. Obviously, I would have to move on soon. I couldn’t possibly work on their campaigns with the principles they held. But perhaps I could have a positive influence in the meantime by looking for the good.
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Quantum physicists have discovered that the universe and nature are not separate entities from us. We aren’t victims of circumstances in a universe where things “just happen” to us. We are intertwined and connected with everything and everyone in the universe. We are both the artists and the art. We create our own worlds through our emotions, beliefs, observations, and expectations.
From a spiritual point of view, God created us to act for ourselves and not be acted upon. As Jesus repeatedly taught, “all things are possible to those who believe.” In quantum physics, scientists discovered that by simply observing photons in experiments, the scientists literally changed the outcome of how the photons behaved. They learned that simply observing changes reality.
“Confirmation bias” is an example of this. Confirmation bias is when you go around seeing evidence of what you believe. The real danger in our world is less about carbon footprints or desolating sicknesses and more about the fear, hate, victim energy, and gloom and doom that pervades our societies. We’re literally creating what we expect. By observation we shift the world toward our deepest fears or toward our greatest faith.
In his book, “The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits,” Gregg Braden says, “Widely held beliefs of hate, separation, and fear can destroy our bodies and our world faster than we could have even imagined. Maybe all we need is a little shift in the way we think of ourselves in order to recognize the great truth that we are, in fact, the architects of our experience. We are cosmic artists expressing our deepest beliefs on the quantum canvas of the universe.”
Studying these concepts from both a scientific and spiritual perspective has led me to consider that perhaps the greatest threat to our world is actually mass media, mass communication, controlled by fear-mongering, division-creating voices who shift the beliefs of millions toward fear, negative expectations, scarcity, violent reactions, angry emotions, and destructive behavior.
You’ll find this same fear-mongering divisiveness on either side of the political spectrum. It doesn’t matter how well-meaning or how much we cling to our principles, if we do so with angry, bitter, blame-centered, us-vs-them emotions, we subvert any positive ends we say we are seeking.
Our fate lies in our own ability to shut out the divisive voices of hate, fear, bitterness, and hopelessness, and instead, choose compassion, faith, hope, connection, understanding, light, and truth.
Jesus truly is “the way, the truth and the life.” He is the WAY for a multitude of reasons, but in context of this topic, He is the WAY because His “gospel” is the “good news” … not the bad. His message is “fear not, doubt not… BELIEVE.” His message is “love one another… love your enemies.” His counter-intuitive admonitions require a completely different state of being than we’re seeing at large in society.
The answer to the challenges we face as a nation and as a world lie, not in the fearmongering, hatemongering, divisive labeling, and victim-creating-energy of the world, but in He who said, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Jesus understood that our emotions and our observations CREATE … if we want to CREATE good outcomes, we must focus on the good, the uplifting, the hopeful, the life-giving, the liberating, the compassionate and the believing.
Perhaps this is why if the Spirit keeps telling me anything … it is to DISCONNECT from the noise, opinions and tumult of the world. No answers lie there. Ultimate truth lies in our constant connection to the Divine! That’s where the answers are! The Spirit keeps reminding me that my time is better spent in meditation, prayer, positive thoughts and uplifting books than in wrangling and contending over every news item of the day.
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