Never Enough for Pols      
    
   We have a gigantic national debt, huge financial needs, and citizens wanting free healthcare, education and livable wages, if they want to work at all. 

   So, what's wrong with raising taxes on millionaires and (immoral) billionaires? No more loopholes. They won't miss it. 

   Tempting as it is to play Robin Hood, here's what to remember. 

   Every two years House members need to appeal to voters. Every six years, senators must do the same.

   Suppose leftist politicians in 2020 gain enough control to confiscate every penny of income over $10 million. Sounds like a winner to envious voters. 

   Will 2022 candidates on the left be satisfied with that? Never! They'll need to sway voters with more taking and redistributing, election after election, or risk losing their coveted status. Meanwhile, they - left and right - won't touch entitlements, for the same reason. 

   Election 2024 - we know you. 2026...2028...2030...Get the picture?

   Where will it end? In socialist mediocrity, at best. 

   There are wealthy people who open foundations and otherwise act in benevolent ways. We wish they all did likewise. 

   God of the Bible encourages those with more to do more for others...voluntarily. 

   But even if the hundreds of extremely wealthy gave most of it away, voluntarily or in taxes, there wouldn't be enough to satisfy the wants of 330 million people.  

   Remember Winston Churchill: "Democracy is the worst system in the world, except for all the others." 

      Jimmy




   

Going to Pot?     
   
   Just what the world needs - more people losing contact with reality. 
More delusions ... hallucinations.

   This isn't about marijuana for medical purposes - pro or con. 
It's those "recreational" users who experience psychosis.

   A new study of 901 patients in 10 European cities and one city in Brazil, along with 1,237 control subjects, finds that daily use of high-potency marijuana increases the likelihood of psychotic disorder. 

   Those who used cannabis every day were three times more likely to have an episode of psychosis. This increased to five times for those using high-potency cannabis every day. 

   THC is the psychoactive ingredient. In Amsterdam with its cannabis cafes, the odds of daily users having psychosis was nine times greater in the study.

Two thoughts

1. We assume those regularly getting high on alcohol, pot and other drugs aren't contented with their lives. And they've never experienced the peace and joy of knowing the Lord.

2. Millions (billions?) in the last years of the great tribulation will suffer plagues, yet refuse to repent and glorify God - and be healed. Revelation 16-18. They will be deceived, and we guess that many or all will be too high..."the maddening wine" of Babylon's adulteries...to recognize reality. 

      Jimmy

Brother Lawrence, the monk:                                                    

"I try to keep myself in God's holy presence
         by simple attentiveness and a loving gaze upon him. 

I receive such peace and spiritual joy.                   

You would think it rude to leave alone a friend who came to visit you.

    Why then, leave God alone? 

To think about him often is the business of a Christian."

Prediction and Omen       
    Part 2 of 2

        Dennis Prager quotes German poet Heinrich Heine (1834): "Should...the cross be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors...will once more burst into flame. This talisman (the cross) is fragile, and the day will come when it will collapse. Then...a play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll."

   The "play" opened 100 years later.

   Prager: Nazism and communism were born in the West, but they were anti-Western. As for Muslims welcomed into Western culture, he writes, "Islam has not been nearly as kind, tolerant, open, medically or scientifically innovative or intellectually curious as Western civilization." 

   So, why are secular intellectuals like Obama and Clinton...and Islamists now joined at the hip? 

   "European Christians persecuted European Jews," Prager reminds us. But, "It took secular Nazism to produce Auschwitz, and communism to produce the gulag, the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Ukrainian and Cambodian genocides." 

   He adds, "the left's belief that secular reason can replace God and the Bible (is) completely wrong. The alleged citadels of secular reason - the universities - are the most irrational and morally confused institutions in the West." 

   He concludes, whatever or whoever set fire to Notre Dame Cathedral, "what matters is the omen: Europe is burning." 

   See you in church?

       Jimmy



   

Western Civilization Burning?   
   Part 1 of 2

   Along with his Sri Lanka comments (see yesterday's Views), Dennis Prager sees the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral as symbolic of Western Christendom. And with it, Western civilization.

   "Every major Western social and intellectual force has conspired to rid Europe of Christianity and the civilization it produced," he writes. 

   "The French Enlightenment - intellectual basis of the French Revolution and the modern West - sought to replace Christianity and religion in general with secularism rooted in reason. No God, Bible or Ten Commandments is necessary for morality or meaning," intellectuals contend. Reason and science prevail. 

   Prager says the final deathblows to Christianity in Europe were the world wars: "Christianity, already weakened by the Enlightenment, was further damaged by World War I. German, French and English Christians were killing each other." (Kings went to war for gain and pride; we don't know that drafted soldiers were so enthused.) 

   World War II produced even more death and destruction on the continent, with the failure of Catholic and Protestant churches to offer even minimal resistance to the Nazis' persecution of Jews. 

   Europeans emerged from war with new, moral and intellectual confidence in multiculturalism - a doctrine that all cultures are morally equivalent. Assuming that everybody else was a secular multiculturalist, they invited Muslims into Europe. 

   They had no idea that most Muslims wanted to replace Christianity with their religion, not secularism, Prager writes. 

   "As a result," he says, "secular leftism and Islamism each sought the end of Christianity and the West." (The left equates Western civilization with white supremacy.) 

   Is the American left a spin-off of European thinking? 

Continued tomorrow

       Jimmy

   

Those 'Easter Worshippers'      
     
   Why Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton - both out of office - needed to comment on the Easter mass murder in Sri Lanka, we don't know. But comment they did, clearly exposing ideology of the left.

   First, Obama: "The attacks on tourists and Easter worshippers in Sri Lanka are an attack on humanity." 

   Hours later, Clinton: "On this holy weekend for many faiths, we must stand united against hatred and violence." She mentioned "horrific attacks on Easter worshippers and travelers in Sri Lanka.  

   "Worshipers" is the common spelling, but both referred to "Easter worshippers," an unknown label, regardless of spelling. They may have had the same input from someone, or Clinton just piggy-backed on Obama's message. 

   Neither used the name "Christians." 

   Despite the bombing of three Christian churches, Clinton did not mention church or churches, or the global Christian community. After the recent massacre of Muslims in New Zealand, she said her heart broke for "the global Muslim community."

   Obama also grieved with "the Muslim community" over the "horrible massacre in the Mosques" in New Zealand. He made no mention of Christians or churches in Sri Lanka.

   Our political "left has essentially forbidden mention of all the anti-Christian murders and desecration of churches" writes Dennis Prager, radio talk show host, himself born to Jewish parents. 

   Clinton condemns "Islamophobia," he writes, but says nothing about widespread hatred of Christians, virtual elimination of Christian communities, murder and kidnapping in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

   Never mind Obama and Clinton. They're just two voices on the left, which intends to drive Christian influence entirely out of American institutions of power and education. They're well on the way.   

       Jimmy

Happily Trapped in Ruts     
    
   Several days of severe winter in my hometown, Main Street in 1943 essentially was unforgiving ruts in thick ice. Drivers went where the ruts took them.

   Greetings, fellow American travelers. We are cruising in (welcome) ruts without an off ramp. 

   Medicare will be insolvent by 2026...seven more years. So, why are Democratic candidates touting "Medicare for all?" 

   Medicare's rut leads to hospitals, nursing homes and other medical providers receiving even less than their negotiated fees, which are low already. 

   Social Security recipients after 2035 will receive cuts in benefits, especially worrisome for those without pensions or other sources of cash. 

   Congress must act, both sides agree, or both programs will need to be trimmed...and taxes raised. But Congress will never act (until there is no choice), because corrective action leads to political suicide. Can't have that! 

   Social Security disability will be solvent until 2052, government says.  

   Social Security, our largest federal program, cost $853 billion last year. Medicare costs were about $740 billion. These two programs count for 45 percent of the budget, not including interest payments on national debt. Social Security disability payments were $147 billion. Add it up.  

   Is this what Jefferson & company had in mind? 

   We are going broke on promises to citizens (voters), not to mention other government priorities. We the people welcome these ruts, which definitely help seniors, and who cares what future taxes and other remedies may be in store for children and grandchildren?   

   A "trust fund" invested in markets, even with recessions, would far exceed the value of today's budget item. 

       Jimmy

   The 400-Page Report   

Levin

   If you missed the Liberty & Levin show Sunday night, we have a short review of a most interesting hour.  Levin worked in the Reagan administration, was chief of staff for AG Edwin Meese, is chairman of Landmark Legal Foundation, and author of seven books. 

                        

  

Mueller

      Levin called the 400-page, $35 million report 

"an impeachment report" written for liberal media

and House Democrats. It could have been given in one sentence, he said: "There was no collusion." 

   "We all knew there was no collusion from Day 1,"

Levin told his TV audience. "Bob Mueller certainly knew that a year ago, a year-and-a-half ago or even before that." 

   "There was nothing in his report the general public didn't already know," Levin argued. "There were no findings for a special investigation. It was a pathetic joke."

   He continued, "This was an abuse of power, a report under justice department regulations. In any other form, he (and his handpicked Obama/Clinton donors) would be disbarred." 

   Levin said the second half of the report, regarding obstruction of justice, was "completely contrary to civilized society and a constitutional system." 

   He noted that Mueller knew all he needed to know while Republicans ruled the House. He held off closing the matter until Democrats took the House in January, then wrote a report that liberal media and Democrats can use as fodder for the 2020 election campaign. 

   The Dems are doing that very thing, using the word "impeachment" to keep their own donors engaged, but declining to confirm they will take that political risk. 

   Meanwhile, what has Congress accomplished?

       Jimmy

Quotes for Today        
   
   "Popular applause is, of course, gratifying. But there are times when a man's own satisfaction with his conduct is a better criterion of real merit." 

   - Pres. Grover Cleveland


   "You rebuild trust by doing what you say you will do and being responsible and holding other people responsible."

   - Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson 


   "There is one big key to having a closer relationship with Jesus - Time!

   You can't be close to anyone - friends, family, spouse, even Christ - if you
are never with them. Only by spending quality time with someone can you talk with them, learn from them, share your heart and grow close in intimacy."

   - Coach Brian Williams


    
  

A Substitute for 'Happy Easter'

        

On the Friday of crucifixion, 

Jesus spoke three words just before He gave up his spirit. 

- John 19:30 -

What did He mean when He said, "It is finished?"

Christ declared that our sins are forgiven once and for all...

their price paid by his sacrifice.

Of course, we have to accept his work on our behalf.

We know this...in our heads.

Do we have it embedded in our hearts?

Try speaking, "It is finished" while believing wholeheartedly

that your sins are forgiven.

Do you have a hard time with the truth? Are others forgiven,

but maybe God has not fully accepted you?

Our shame and guilt clouds our understanding.

Write down the words. Say them again and again...

until your heart stops condemning you.

Destroy the lies. Experience peace and joy.

Dayspring

Wishing others "Happy Easter" is traditional 

and well meaning. We can substitute - or add -

                      "It is finished."

Jesus said to his disciples,

"If anyone would come after me, 

he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Matt. 16:24

Later...                                   

Carrying his own cross, he went out to 

The Place of the Skull. Here they crucified him.

John 19:17

Scary Protectors?    
   

   Among other concerns, some people in Paris worry about the fate of "beloved" stone gargoyles on Notre Dame, following Monday's destructive fire. 

   We've heard about "a face that only a mother could love," but gargoyles?

   So, we worked up the courage to investigate these hideous creatures - hundreds of them - adorning the world-famous cathedral. Outside of Catholicism, who would have guessed? They're the good guys, protecting congregants from evil.

   Medieval churches used their frightening appearance to scare off threats to worshipers...good vs. evil. 

   For a thousand years there was superstition, 
darkness and fear about these threats. Stone by day, gargoyles were considered warriors by night, menacing and purposely ugly and frightening. They also portray an image of a dammed afterlife, should anyone forget the price of sin. 

   They also have a practical purpose. They were added to Notre Dame in the 19th century to project rainwater away from the building. Gargoyle comes from the Latin for gullet, drain or water spout.

   Forerunners were placed on temples of Egypt, Rome and Greece. We think something similar appears on the Mormon Tabernacle.

   Notre Dame has chimeras as well, but they are decorative only.

   So far as we know, all gargoyles survived the fire. They protect themselves too, you know. 

       Jimmy
 
PS. Notre Dame is French for Our Lady, in this case, Our Lady of Paris. She, of course, is the virgin Mary. 

A 'National Emergency'   

   One million tourists per month.

   A great cultural treasure. A UNESCO World Heritage Site. Artwork. Holy objects. Stained glass windows.

   President Macron declared a "national emergency."

   It's cornerstone laid in 1163 AD, Notre Dame became a symbol of Christianity in France and in the world. 

   This is a marvel of architecture from the 12th and 13th centuries, when buttresses were needed to keep tall buildings upright. Many cathedrals were built during the Middle Ages in Europe by exceptional architects and wealthy financiers.

   In old Jerusalem, Solomon's temple was a holy building to the Jews. It was destroyed by the Babylonians, and its successor by the Romans.

   Under the New Covenant, our bodies are the temple of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Jesus never said, find him in a building. Rather, For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them. - Matt. 18:20 NIV. 

   In 1948, we awoke one Sunday in January to learn that our large, 1800s  church was on fire. Fire hydrants were frozen. 

   Like the spire of Notre Dame, our bell tower collapsed into the rubble. Smoke rose from the ashes for three weeks. 

   Jesus was not there. He was in the faithful who started over, and packed out the new building during the 1950s, before the jobs left town. Our symbol: a large cross up front. 

Tomorrow: If you have the courage, 

we'll tell you about Notre Dame's gargoyles and chimeras.

Taking from the Rich   

   Where do we go from here? 

   Mayor Bill de Blasio: "There's plenty of money. It's just in the wrong hands." 

   Rep. Ocasio-Cortez: "A system that allows billionaires to exist" is immoral.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: "We are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world - of course we can afford these investments." (Never mind, $20-plus trillion in debt.) 

   Progressives could raise $4.7 trillion for fiscal year 2020 by confiscating all income from the wealthiest Americans. 

   Starting at the top, that requires all the taxable earnings of more than 35 million Americans, all those earning over $65,000/year (which would include all members of Congress and mayors such as de Blasio). 

   Or, they could outlaw billionaires, starting with the Forbes 400. Trump's proposed 2020 budget would spend $13 billion/day. 

   Jeff Bezos could forfeit his net worth, $160 billion, to fund the federal government for 12 days. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet could get us to January 27. 

   Taking all the wealth of the Forbes 400 only funds government to mid-August. 

   These "former" billionaires would become a welfare expense, rather than a revenue source. And we've bankrupted state and local governments that depend on the success of wealthy Americans. 

   Progressives say corporations are not paying their share. Some deserve criticism, and reforms are worth exploring. But corporations provide income to working Americans who in turn pay individual income taxes.

   Stocks and bonds of corporations are the core of pension, investment and college funds for many citizens. 
 

Stephen Patton, WORLD magazine

   Painting the wealthy as Ebenezer Scrooges may sound right to low-information voters. Plundering those who know how to create wealth will indeed achieve income equality - everyone equally poor, as in Cuba.

       Jimmy

And One More Thing     

   We had posted Sunday's blog about "the presence of God" just two hours earlier when our pastor began his sermon about...the presence of God. 

   Based on the Lord's "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem, the sermon theme was praise. Whatever our circumstance, favorable or worrisome, praise comes before his presence. 

Pearls Before Swine  
   Also Sunday, in the comics, the first block has a little, bald man with a white beard, holding a lantern. 

   Next, he addresses the people: CITIZENS...CITIZENS. CAN I HAVE A WORD WITH YOU? They ask, WHO ARE YOU? 

   TRUTH, he answers. AND I'VE TAKEN A REAL BEATING LATELY. They ask, WHAT HAPPENED?

   TWEETS. SOCIAL MEDIA. TELEVISION. PEOPLE EVERYWHERE ARE LYING MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN EVER BEFORE. The people, now including Mouse (a regular character in this comic) ask, WHAT DO WE DO, MR. TRUTH? 

   QUESTION THINGS. QUESTION SOURCES. PAY FOR JOURNALISM. READ HISTORY. THINK CRITICALLY. BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T, THINGS ARE GONNA GET MUCH MUCH WORSE. 

   Next block. The people all look at each other.

   Last block. Mouse tells Pig, THEN WE YAWNED AND BEAT HIM WITH HIS LANTERN. Pig responds, THE TRUTH HURTS. 

       Jimmy

   Abundance of Life   

       

Central promises in the Bible include: 
forgiveness, life after death and God's presence. 

He made this last promise to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah,

Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Amos, Mary, Paul and others.

And...

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
I will fear no evil, for you are with me... 

Psalm 23

Jesus was given to us as Immanuel, (God with us).

Jacob, a man without merit, found God in an ordinary place, Bethel.

We too can experience God in ordinary places.

Jacob's ladder was not for humans to climb - as the song is written.

It is a symbol of God coming down to us.

He is available to you and me anywhere, at any moment.

Spiritual growth is: increasing our capacity to experience the 

presence of God.

~

   God Is Closer Than You Think

             by John Ortberg

The Elected Branch    
   Part 3 of 3

   Women excel in many occupations. Then there are those who rise by convincing people to vote for them, like men in the political world.  

   By the 1970s, women were becoming political actors. 

   In 1980 for the first time, women voted in greater numbers than men, and began to form blocs of political power. Just 56 women have served in the U.S. Senate, and 358 in the House, all time. 

   Today, a record 131 women are serving in Congress, one of them House speaker, and five have announced plans to run for president in 2020. Mrs. Clinton was the first to win her party's nomination.

   So, what do we at Views By the Sea see in all this?

   Women built the bombers and fighter planes that helped win WWII. Now they're flying Navy jets and going into space. 

   Women excel in science and engineering, in business, the military, national security, high tech and many other occupations.

   That said, there is more to our culture and national well being than personal achievement. At what cost do we cheer success for individuals, while we struggle in relationships and other issues of community? 

   If political women can make America - or even government itself - more honest, moral, etc., let them assume leadership. But, we don't see it. As with men, consider the individual. 
 

   There is Eve: She saw. She desired. She took.

   But Mary: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." 

   Go take the White House, ladies. When you get there, it will be a crowning achievement after two centuries of women's suffrage. Nothing more. 

      Jimmy

Law, Not Reality     
   Part 2 of 3

   Difficult as the battle for rights had been, imagine what would have happened to aggressive women in many other countries. 

   Here in the U.S., despite passage of the 19th Amendment, some states disenfranchised women - especially blacks and immigrants - with poll taxes, literacy tests and registration rules. Many women still didn't see themselves as having a roll, or say, in the public sphere.

   History-making women in the mid-1800s included Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. In 1902, Anthony wrote to Stanton, "We little dreamed...that half a century later we would be compelled to leave the finish of the battle to another generation of women." These included:

   Mary Church Terrell, a black champion for women's rights, said she belonged to "the only group that has two such huge obstacles to surmount." 

   Ida B. Wells helped found the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs and crusaded against lynching, disenfranchisement, etc.

   Zikola-Sa of the Lakota nation, an essayist, founded the National Council of American Indians in 1926 to advocate for cultural recognition and citizenship rights for Native peoples.

   Lucy Burns was arrested and jailed six times for picketing on behalf of women's suffrage. She was among those on hunger strikes, enduring force-feeding.

   As a child, Mary McLeod Bethune picked cotton. As an adult, she was an educator and a fierce advocate for racial and gender equality, braving attacks during voter registration drives. 

   Tomorrow, we post some numbers, and discuss the special women advancing in politics. We wonder whether they are much different than the men with whom they collude. 
  

Smithsonian

      Jimmy

   

Women's Suffrage        
   Part 1 of 3

   We are a country that others, tired and poor, desire to call their own. We also have a history that many of our own found discriminatory. Take women's suffrage, with emphasis on RAGE.

   Women in the old photos look peaceful enough, but they were fierce - braving ridicule, arrest, imprisonment and treatment bordering on torture, writes Liza Munday in Smithsonian magazine. The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, but the movement began back in the 1840s, when married women had no right to property or ownership of their wages. 

   Women were shut out of most professions, and the idea of casting ballots was alien even to those who battled for rights. Ladies wanted the right to divorce abusive husbands, and to be represented in government. 

   Two decades later, the end of the Civil War produced a new obstacle: racial division. Attention shifted to the "Negro's hour," and women were told to stand aside while black men got to the polls first. Black women were just ignored. 

   The 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote. 

   Marches like we've seen in recent years are nothing new. In 1913 young women paraded down Pennsylvania Ave. appealing for a constitutional amendment. There were some 5,000 marchers, bands, floats and mounted brigades. 

   Spectators threw slurs and more; scores of women went to the hospital, but the event gave women the publicity they needed. Women later picketed the White House.

   Some were arrested on charges like "obstructing sidewalk traffic." Nearly 100 were taken to a workhouse. Some went on a hunger strike and were force-fed by a tube jammed into the nose. 

   In 1918, the first woman in Congress opened a debate on the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, which eventually prohibited states from discriminating against women in voting. 

   Not everyone cared. Many who had a newfound right to vote never did. 

Tomorrow: After the amendment

   

Body of Evidence    
    
   A man in the Seminole Heights section of Tampa shot and killed four strangers over a period of a few weeks. Security cameras helped authorities observe the gait of his walking motion, one of several methods now being used to identify criminals and certain other individuals.  

   While the Tampa man's own miscue led to his arrest, human gait is used in Beijing and Shanghai with cameras up to 165 feet away.  

   Yesterday we focused on DNA. Today, other methods of identification: 

   Face. A camera measures eye socket, nose, chin and other features, sometimes in 3-D. Airport security, marketing firms and smartphone features use facial recognition. 

   Ear. Sound rays and light rays map the shape and size of the outer ear. Ears someday may replace employee badges and hospital bracelets.

   Iris. Near-infrared light reveals patterns in the iris, even through eye glasses and contact lenses...as used by security and border control at airports. India is collecting iris data on all 1.3 billion citizens.
   

What would you think of the USA doing that?

   Retina. Infrared light shows retinal blood vessels in patterns that can't be faked. The FBI and CIA verify insiders with retina scans.

   Veins. Near-infrared light reveals veins in the hand or face, and blood flow can be tracked. This and other methods - voice, odor, hand scans - are not particularly effective. 

Smithsonian

      Jimmy

Your DNA Doesn't Lie    

   Recently in California, police went to the crime scene and swabbed it for DNA. This practice, once limited to high-profile crimes, is now routine with local cops and ho-hum burglaries.

   A crime lab can use relatively inexpensive equipment, affordable to smaller police forces. Within minutes, the California lab produced a match to a local man.

   DNA has gone mainstream. California authorities used it to identify victims of recent wildfires. DNA also helps solve an old problem: How do you prove people are who they say they are?  

   This trend, leaving fingerprinting somewhat behind, has implications for your privacy. You can leave DNA on everything you touch - good for crime fighters -but the government can track you more easily.

   Early in the last century, authorities began to believe they could solve social problems with pure reason and precision. A law professor says, "It was tied in with ideas of science and progressive government, and having archives and systems for tracking people." 

   If facial recognition wasn't possible, fingerprinting was the solution. But that method is also prone to error and sloppy work.

Smithsonian

Tomorrow: More methods for identifying you.

      Jimmy

When God Seems Absent     

   Where is God when we are suffering? 

   Long ago, Satan challenged God, asserting that Job loved the Lord only because of his many blessings. Satan gets permission to harm Job, who shortly loses every possession and blessing - including his sons and daughters - except for his wife.

   At first, he responds, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Then to his wife who told him to curse God and die, "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?"

   Then as dreary days come and go, Job begins to complain - big time - to his three friends. He doesn't understand why God doesn't explain himself, or do something...anything.

After God Speaks     

   When the griping had run its course, God addressed Job. He doesn't mention his conversation with Satan. He just lists dozens of reasons Job has to be in awe of God's creativity and power. 

   Humbled, yet thrilled that God knows and God cares, Job responds, "My ears have heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you." That's enough. 

   In ancient times, it was all about the men, and the sons. After Job experienced the presence of God, he was a changed man.

   The Lord restored Job's life, and gave him seven sons and three daughters. Acquainted with Genesis, we would expect the writer to name the sons. No.

   Only the daughters. The Hebrew names mean "dove," cinnamon" and "horn of eye-shadow." Makeup? 

   Experiencing the Lord. It can be almost hilarious! Joyful. New life.    

      Jimmy

Yes or No     
The Human Body     
       
   Spirit or matter? Many on earth might say, matter is all that matters.

   The Spirit, Creator, by his will built the material universe...light, darkness, water, material, lights in the sky, creatures...all that we know about. 

   Then He took some matter aside and formed a man in his image, to rule over the earth He created. He breathed special life into Adam, uniting biological life with soul, the immaterial that sets the material apart.*

   Ancient philosophers considered the human body to be of little purpose.

   Contemporary intellectuals conclude the soul does not exist, and the body is an accident. Therefore, they also despise the body.

   Some of us average types don't think much of the body either, abusing it with alcohol or drugs, tobacco or poor diets. We avoid exercise and routinely take chances on the highways. 

   Some of us, not satisfied with the looks our Creator gave us, present ourselves with tattoos or makeup. (It's not a sin.) 😏 Credit, or blame the person who invented the mirror.

   When God created Adam, He knew that one day He himself, in Christ, would occupy a similar body - by the way, with no beauty or majesty to attract us. (Isaiah 53:2) 

   Then He allowed himself to be tortured beyond recognition, even to death, all to redeem us. There is no greater love, Jesus himself had said. 

   On the third day, resurrected and glorified, He showed us the eternal body of our future, if we will stop listening to the world and heed the Lord and King. 
 

   * Janie B. Cheaney, WORLD magazine

      Jimmy