Where Have I been? (The Battle That I’m In)

I’ll try to keep this article short but I have so much to say and it might not be so gentle. Some of you may be wondering why I haven’t written any articles lately. Well, I’m in a battle. What do I mean by that? I’ve had various health problems (I’ll spare you the details) in recent years which has been a real struggle physically, emotionally, financially etc for me and my family. The first two I can deal with “ok manage” -I’m used to pain by now- but the financial is what has been getting me down in so many ways, and I’m tired. Trying to work has not been easy either in this economy, even for healthy people (one of which I am not). I feel at this point in my life that Allopathic Medicine has just let me down time and time again; where all doctors want to do is pump me full of their potions (oh Big Pharma getting rich on us poor folk aren’t ya?) or just cut on me. And my Health “Care” is turning out to be a big expensive waste of money that I just can’t afford. I’m going to doctors for them to tell me what I already know! Nice.

At this time, I’m putting all my research into natural medicine (being a Vitalist) and learning a lot about the healing properties of herbs and general nutrition. But hey, there’s not much money to be made on natural things that God gave us! You can’t patent Valerian Root, Echinacea, Cilantro, Oregano, Milk Thistle, a Strawberry etc. That’s why these natural remedies for all sorts of aliments are considered “alternative” medicine and take the back seat to the neurotoxins they prescribe us. In the past I’ve taken lots of antibiotics for my various infections that would go away for a time but would come back with a vengeance. Recently, I’ve learned the true value of Garlic (a natural anti fungal/antibiotic) that has done a better job and without lowering my immune system. Am I against all medicine? No I am not, it has it’s purpose (it’s keeping my mom alive) but in the Western society I feel people are abusing it when there are better/safer avenues in various instances. Keep in mind that I’m not giving anyone medical advice either. You do your own research and make your own health choices, but make sure your decisions are informed ones. I hope to start writing some more articles in the future -I have a lot of research in my melon that needs to get out- but for now I need to really focus on my health and financial situation. I appreciate your prayers and unashamedly your donations. I don’t want to beg (not my style, it’s annoying) but if you have some spare change or even a dollar that needs a home, I wouldn’t turn it down. God bless.

Note: Here’s a great radio show that teaches about natural medicine. It’s a bonus that she’s a Christian too.

Free The Lemming

To mix things up a little bit I decided to throw in some poetry from time to time. It’s not apologetic of nature per se but does have thinking elements to it. My caveat, I have a tendency to write darker poetry from a lamenting point of view through my struggles. You chronic pain sufferers know what I mean.

 

Free The Lemming

The walls divide worlds collide

How can you not see what ails?

Resurrect from the disconnect

Usual popularity is what sells

 

Opinions are many available to the masses

Go ahead feel free ask your questions

As long as they jibe within the conventional status

You will fit fine as a commodity

In our comfortable assets

 

So you see you really are free?

Take the reigns go your own way

Just don’t pursue desires of individuality

Corralled by those that hate

The detesters of the monopoly

 

Am I the only one seeing this?

Fighting this uncontrollable nemesis

There must be others that surely exist

Resist

Paranormal Experiences Part 6

That’s Not Mars

A few years ago I had my girlfriend (now wife) over to watch a movie with me. While she was actually watching it, I started staring outside the window admiring how bright Mars was but it seemed awfully close. The planet was flashing back and forth from solid red to solid white. After about fifteen minutes I asked her if she thought that Mars looked pretty tonight. She promptly replied “that’s not Mars”. I disagreed with her saying that it was since I had been watching it for over fifteen minutes and it hadn’t moved. I knew for a fact that it hadn’t, because I was looking through the screen and using the “grid” of it and the tree line as a reference point to prove it wasn’t moving. Her and I debated about if for awhile as we were observing it.

Next thing I know, the light started moving! The total elapsed time from when I first noticed it to when it started moving was approximately 30 minutes. Yes I checked the clock. It started slowly moving away then made a quick reverse heading right towards the apartment complex! We both ran outside to get a better look at it. It flew right over the complex not making a sound! It was black and triangular in shape with multiple red and white lights under it. We both were exhilarated and curious to figure out what it might have been. I checked the news and there was nothing on about it. I was curious about not seeing any news reports but in time I let it go. Only recently have we come to a conclusion of what it may have been. Some months ago I came across a Youtube video of what looked like we had seen years earlier. As I played the video my wife shrieked “that’s what we saw! that’s the UFO!”. The video was of a TR-3B Astra, that to date, doesn’t exist. I’m not convinced that what we saw was paranormal in origin (likely a secret government craft) but it sure was an interesting sight to behold.

Paranormal Experiences Part 5

Prostrate Before The King

At the age of 18, I became a Christian much to the relief (and surprise) of friends and family. After becoming a born again, I joined a church that I actually wanted to be a part of, one that I wasn’t forced to attend. I enlisted in the choir and started playing drums for the youth. One Sunday, where I was praying backstage with the worship team, something interesting happened to me that day. Keep in mind that I was a new Christian trying to figure God out (still am hehe), and looking for an excuse to do it my way despite my conversion. Just as we were finishing up in prayer, my whole body started to feel really heavy and my legs just decided that they were not going to work. In the only way I can describe it, I felt as if I was carefully being laid down to the floor but in super slow motion, like a parent gently laying down his/her infant into a crib.

Intrinsically I knew God was doing something (hard to describe in words) but at first I was doing my best to resist this but at the same time I was not quite afraid yet concerned. I remember my cheek being flat on the floor and actually not being able to lift it up. Trying to get up was up was useless. I was both amused and frustrated at what was happening, to what I couldn’t explain. Yes something similar happened to me before but this episode was a little different. What really pushed it over the edge for me was that I heard God speak to me. It was not in an audible voice but it might as well have been because it was not my own. The voice distinctly said “you’re on holy ground, you can’t stand in my presence. Don’t try to figure me out nor try to calculate me or my ways. Know that I love you and desire the best for you”.

As this was happening, I thought of the scripture where Joshua met the “captain of the host of the LORD” and fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped (Josh. 5:13-15). Of course the dynamics of my experience were different from his, yet a similar outcome. Years previous when I was “slain” -I wasn’t even a Christian then- I fell backward but this time I fell forward but without going boom. Looking back now, this was one of the distinctive moments in my life where I knew/experienced/realized that God was indeed real and not just some fairytale concept! It has been in the dry times (years afterwards) where I have reflected on experiences like this to remind me that I serve the living Lord, the Great I AM.

Paranormal Experiences Part 4

Get out of my kitchen!

I wouldn’t call myself a UFO hunter by any means but I’ve personally seen four. Some years back when I was living in an overcrowded apartment-there was four of us living in a two bedroom and I shared the living room with a friend, I saw my first UFO. My then girlfriend (now my wife) came over to hang out with the boys to watch movies with us. She ended up crashing on one of the couches due to being too tired to drive home. Later in the early morning around 3am I was startled from a deep sleep feeling very terrified. I remember trying to pray Jesus Jesus, but all that was coming out was “J…Je…Je…Jes…”, and I couldn’t say his name. Once I fully awoke, I looked into the kitchen and saw a rather large ball of light in the corner. I remember thinking, we don’t have a nightlight there, so where’s that coming from? The light lingered there for a few minutes then slowly condensed getting smaller and smaller -as I walked towards it- and then finally disappeared.

With the analytical mind that I have, I started to rationalize what it could have been. There were no lights on inside the apartment and no windows near the kitchen. We had a window by the front door, but the blinds were completely closed and there wasn’t an outside light close to that window anyways. I remember thinking that even if the blinds were open, we’re still on the second floor and car headlights don’t come in here, not even by reflection. Also to note is that the light in the kitchen condensed and disappeared rather than panning away like a car headlight would have done. But once again the blinds were closed so none of that would have played into the equation. After exhausting all of my ideas I went back to sleep. Later in the morning I asked my girlfriend how she slept and she said “ok, but what was that bright light in the kitchen?” I didn’t realize that she had seen it too! I wasn’t hallucinating! I figured that she had just slept though the whole ordeal as I was investigating the kitchen and apartment.

Some months later, my roomates and I had discovered that one of my roomates (living downstairs, by the kitchen) was involved in some serious drugs and those interesting looking women that he brought over on occasion, were not friends but prostitutes. On a side note, after we gave him enough warnings about not bringing prostitutes home, we finally had to kick him out. We gave him enough chances. A week later I had detectives calling and informing me that he had been arrested for robbing a 7 Eleven. Sadly, he was an actor and I’m afraid to say that Hollywood got the best of him. After pondering my former roomate’s actions/dealings/associations, I put two and two together, a moment of discernment. I think that he invited in some principalities and some territorial spirits that I couldn’t discern at the time. It’s possible that what I possibly witnessed was the tail end of some spiritual warfare going on. There were some other paranormal things e. g. shadowy figures running up and down stairs, there was rapping on walls (only in his room; no one lived in the unit next door),  etc that I and my girlfriend witnessed.

Paranormal Experiences Part 3

Interesting Police Officers

I was driving home from work one day and I was in the turn lane getting ready to take a left. I had a green arrow and proceeded into the intersection. Just before I was about to turn, I heard sirens and saw flashing red lights on two cars approaching me from the oncoming traffic. They beat all of the other cars and got into the intersection first. These two cars stopped in tandem, one right in front of the other blocking me from turning. What I then realized was that even though I had a green arrow in my lane to turn, the oncoming traffic also had a green light to go straight! The oncoming traffic proceeded through the intersection towards me and then through the light.

As I was studying these two cars I made some observations. There was one guy in each car, their cars had only flashing red lights with sirens blaring, however no cars from the oncoming traffic were stopping, but just kept on driving! Both cars had no license plates, no external identification writings/markings anywhere, no antenna in the back (like you normally see on police cars used for their CB radios). All police cars that I’ve ever seen have had some mix of red/blue/amber light combination but never solid red, especially in Nashville where I was at. Fire department vehicles do, but aren’t people supposed to stop when they see emergency lights and hear sirens?

Now onto the two policemen. This sounds weird but both guys had long blonde hair, they wore police looking uniforms -grey; not the color Nashville Police wear- but with no badges or anything to identify them. They both just sat in their car and each one stuck a hand out of the window motioning for me not to turn. As they looked at me they didn’t seem to have much emotion, but just kept their eyes targeted on me while waiting for traffic to pass. Once both traffic lights turned red, these officers just drove away with lights flashing and sirens blaring with no one following them. I waited for the next rotation to turn left. Once my arrow turned green again, I took a very cautious left and parked by the sidewalk.

I watched that intersection’s lights for quite a few rotations, looking to see if they would malfunction again but they didn’t! They did only that one time, when I was in the turn lane. The police spared me a head on collision. Who could’ve predicted this was going to happen, and only ONCE? Some have tried to explain this situation as a procession of some sort but the cars going through the intersection went every which direction like normal rush hour traffic would. Some got onto the freeway, some took right and left turns onto other roads etc. As I asked earlier, aren’t cars supposed to stop when they see emergency lights and hear sirens? Isn’t this a logical question to ask?

Paranormal Experiences Part 2

Stay In The Car!

Some years ago I was driving home from a band practice with my friend Doug. It was late at night and fairly cold outside. As we were driving down the freeway, I saw a woman dressed in shorts and a tee shirt walking on the shoulder of the road, which I thought was odd since we were in the middle of nowhere. The distance to the next city was tens of miles away and the area where we were consisted of  nothing but fields, cattle, and rolling hills. I felt compelled to stop and pick her up. This wasn’t unusual to me as I was rather used to picking up hitchhikers in order to tell them about Jesus. Once she got into the van I made the usual small talk “how are you, where you headed?” etc. She told me that she was headed to such and such town, which happened to be where I was going. She was very soft spoken, rather shy, and I was doing my best to make her feel comfortable. While talking to her, I was looking for a good opening to tell her about my Lord and savior.

My buddy Doug caught onto where I was headed in my conversation and started to say “Now when Paul was on his way to Damascus….” and he was cut off by this evil, dark, and deep voice. The voice exclaimed “OH I GET IT, YOU’RE ONE OF THOSE, YOU’RE GONNA WITNESS TO ME, I DON’T LIKE YOU…”, among other things. As I looked in my review mirror, I saw her eyes rolling back in her head and her whole body was swaying back and forth like a snake does with one of those charmer dudes. She was also kicking at my seat screaming “I CAN’T BE HERE! I CAN’T BE HERE SOMEBODY HELP ME!” over and over. This soft spoken woman had changed into something and somebody entirely else. Before I could react, she started pounding everywhere in the van looking for the door and a way out. I remember being very scared, thinking that if she finds the handle faster than I can pull over, she’s going to jump, and we’re going to prison. It didn’t look good, two guys abduct a woman, and throw her out of their vehicle, thus killing her. This news headline was playing out in my head.

I was more scared of going to prison and for her safety than the actual manifestation that was slithering around in my back seat. As I was playing the “lock the door unlock the door” game with her, I was trying to pass a semi truck so I could pull over to the shoulder on the right. I was so scared it didn’t dawn on me to just slow down and pull over. Soon as I passed the truck and merged right onto the shoulder, I hadn’t even fully stopped when she swung open the door, jumped out of the van, ran down the ditch, and jumped a fence into a field screaming ”SOMEBODY HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME! I CAN’T BE HERE!” Keep in mind that it was the middle of the night and in the middle of nowhere. My original plan was to pull over and pray for her, hoping to bind what was manifesting, yes a demon. She took off so fast running, she was gone before I could even unbuckle my seat-belt; running away like a trapped animal being let out of a cage. Sorry for the bad analogy but you get the idea. There’s no doubt in my mind that I had just witnessed a demon possessed women manifest before my very eyes. The obvious sign, being that once we started discussing the Bible, this was the catalyst for her sudden change in behavior, it was instantaneous. Why such a reaction? Her reaction to the message of Christ, was exactly the same as what can be read about in various accounts in the gospels, from those that were demoniacs.

Paranormal Experiences Part 1

This is a subject that I’ve put off from writing about for various reasons. As this is a new blog, I’ve been trying to keep things out of the “taboo tavern”. One reason is that I do not want to alienate my empirical minded readers (and perhaps others), ones, that will use such material as a means to disregard everything I have to say on anything. I do realize that my research and study on philosophy, science, formal logic etc might not be viewed in the same light (even if sound arguments are presented) if I start to write about the paranormal, on things I have witnessed. I however, am not a people pleaser and cannot deny my testimony. I want to be empathetic to people and meet them where they’re at, but nevertheless I must follow my conviction -with the encouragement from a friend as well heh- to share things that led me to my conversion and recognition/understanding of the paranormal. So with that I unapologetically say, oh well…que sera sera. Those that know me know that I’m naturally a logical, rational, and skeptical person but I (and friends) have seen/experienced things in my life that just haven’t been easy to grasp from a naturalistic worldview. Some experiences that I’ll share are from before my conversion, and others are after. As you read through this series, I ask you to keep an open heart and mind to what you read. Now, release the arrows!

Drunk On New Wine

While still in high school and yet unwilling to accept a “god” that exists or loves me, I was sent off to various church camps. Ahh yes, the girls, the food, but dang even more religious B. S. (so I thought at the time). Towards the end of the week when one camp was wrapping up, there was a service where people were falling down like flies. Growing up in a Pentecostal houshold, I was accustomed to the spectacle of “holy rolling”, shoe kicking, tongue blabbering etc so this was nothing new, just another day in the “Jesus roller coaster”. I was jaded and numb to this silliness. However, for some reason this time seemed different though I had seen this a thous no a million times. Out of curiosity or perhaps to get closer to that cute Brunette in the second row (joking lol) I went forward to check it out.  I remember thinking, “God, if you’re real, let that happen to me”. My stipulation was that if a pastor tries to push me over I’m gonna deck him. I gritted my teeth waiting for that to happen so I could share a “highfive” with him.

The next part is a little fuzzy but was described to me by some friends that saw what happened. I remember one moment waiting to be “blessed” then the next moment wondering why I’m on the ground flat on my back “booger crying” for no apparent reason. Conviction? Conversion? Nah, but no one touched me, “ok who has the stun gun”? I tried to get up but I was “drunk in the spirit” -as drunk as I have ever been, which is saying a lot- as they say and I needed assistance back to my seat. As I was being helped back by two friends, my feet were dragging like uncle Bob’s when coming out of the saloon after “last call”. Though it had seemed like only a few minutes, I had actually been laying there for hours! Did this experience “convert” me and my “heathen” ways? Nope, I was a hard sell for that “Jesus juice”. Was this experience a mere power of suggestion? The falling down, perhaps, -I say no but I’ll consider the possibility- but what explains the warm sensation of “electricity” (think finger in light socket) throughout my entire body and the enrapture and loss of time? Hypnotism? Hardly.

10 Signs That You’re In A Cult

1. Your sect has it’s own Bible translation

2. Your hierarchy of leaders claim to be God’s only channel/representative on earth

3. There is no salvation outside of your organization

4. Your group claims to be a restoration of Christianity

5. Your organization has inspired books -and study aids- which contain revelations/information that only your sect is “aware” of

6. Date setting concerning end times events has been an integral part of your organization’s history

7. Differing exegesis of scripture/doctrine is not allowed, uniformity is the order of the day

8. You need your organization to understand the Bible, independent Bible reading/study is not encouraged

9. Former members of your group are demonized, shunned, and off limits for association

10. Your standing/status in the organization is dependent upon works

Have Mormons And JW’s Read The Bible For Themselves? (Video)

Description: I have never met a Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness that had read the Bible cover to cover before joining their religion. Is that alarming to you like it is to me?