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TADPOLE RIDER BLOG REBORN
Just a quick note here to say that I made the decision to restart my TADPOLERIDER blog. I have all the tadpole articles I posted on this blog available on TADPOLERIDER now. And I will be adding more articles as time permits. So for those who are looking for this please bookmark TADPOLERIDER. Thank you.
DID GOD CREATE EVIL?
Did God create evil? Sounds like a fair question. And after all does not God’s Word say in John 1:3 … “All things were made through Him (Jesus Christ), and without Him was not any thing made that was made.”? (Also other verses say this … 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:16) It sure sounds like God created evil if you go by these verses and don’t bother to look further and “rightly divide” (interpret, understand and apply) God’s Word. Man gets into all kinds of trouble by failing to do so. Many things are misunderstood and as a result we can get all messed up in what we believe. The answer to the question is … NO. No, God did not create evil … but what He created was the potential for evil to come about. He originally created angels as free moral agents with self will. They had the ability to choose to obey Him or disobey Him just like we humans do. All was fine at first as the angels obeyed God, but after awhile one angel became prideful and decided he was going to disobey. He thought he could take upon himself God’s glory and position. This angel persuaded a third of all the angels to join him in this rebellion and attempt to overthrow God’s rule … to exalt himself above God. A war took place in which this angel and all the others quickly discovered they were no match for God after all. You can read about it in various passages of scripture …
Isaiah 14:12-14
12 “How you have fallen from heaven,
O [a]star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
13 “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’ ” New American Standard Bible (NASB)
This angel’s name was Lucifer. He was a special angel and was very pleasing to look upon. He was in charge of the worship of God in heaven. You can read more about Lucifer and how he became prideful which led him to rebellion which resulted in his becoming Satan (the devil). Some of the angels who joined him in this rebellion became demons and they serve him in carrying out his evil in our midst.
Ezekiel 28:12-19
12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings that they may see you. 18 “By the multitude of your iniquities in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you. 19 “All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; You have become terrified and you will cease to be forever.”’” New American Standard Bible (NASB)
We find more concerning the story of how Satan (the devil) came about …
Revelation 12:7-9
7 “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” New American Standard Bible (NASB)
This was the introduction of evil into God’s creation. When God created man and then woman Satan came in the form of a snake to the woman lying to her and deceiving her so that she chose to disobey God. She called out to man wanting him to join her in this disobedience. Man was not deceived but he did give into to the woman and went along with her disobeying God.
Genesis 3:1-6
3 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. ” New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Upon disobeying God all sorts of problems began and continue on to this day. This comic book style tract tells the story well …
So did God know all this would happen? Yes, He did! You might be thinking “Then why would He do this knowing what was going to happen?” That too is a fair question. I will state upfront that God knows what He is doing and has a purpose in all that He does. And everything He does will ultimately bring glory to Him. So what is His purpose in this? I just told you … to bring glory to Himself. “But how will allowing evil and all the horrible things which have happened, are happening and will yet happen in the future bring glory to Him?” He is in the process of proving to Satan and his fallen angels as well as to all of mankind that LOVE IS GREATER THAN ANYTHING ELSE. By this I mean He is showing that because He loves and first loved us there will be many who will love Him in return and live their lives in obedience to Him motivated out of love. Thus LOVE TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL! When we fully and truly understand His great love for us then we are greatly attracted to Him. We are all very special to Him.
God is bringing all of this to a close as we are living the the End Times. It won’t be long before some very horrific things happen as this age we are living in comes to an end. Satan knows his time is short and he and his demons are working hard to do all they can trying to thwart God’s plan and to accomplish all they can to deceive man and take as many with them to hell as they can. They will lose in the end and will admit defeat and that God is Supreme.
What about you? What have or what will you do with Jesus? There is nothing more important than this. Your eternal soul is at stake! There is no neutrality. We are either for Jesus or against Him. And being for Him is not just something we say from our mouths. Jesus Himself said that we must be born again. Otherwise we will all die in our sins and enter a Christ-less eternity in hell fire suffering torment and anguish forever and ever. It could not be anymore serious.
THERE IS NO JOY IN BONDAGE
I would think that anyone who has ever spent any time behind bars in a jail/prison would readily agree that it is not pleasant. Having your freedom taken away is not something anyone would enjoy. The key word is “enjoy” and in the word enjoy we see the word JOY. When God created man He created us to be free and enjoy life. That is His will … what He wants and has for us. He doesn’t want us to be in bondage. Yet many of us are for one reason or another. As a result there is no joy … no true joy … in our lives.
In life there are rules we are to follow and obey. Rules are usually good and sensible. Sometimes man’s rules are not sensible, but God’s rules are always sensible. Even if we don’t understand or agree with them it doesn’t take anything away from the fact that they are good, proper and very much needed.
There are two approaches when it comes to obeying God’s rules. One approach is “because we have to” (are supposed to or required to). I want to state upfront that there is no joy in this approach. People who are involved in religion are caught up in this approach. The other approach is “because we want to”. In this approach there is complete freedom and joy. People who know Jesus Christ and are in a personal relationship with Him have this approach. Therein lies the difference between religion and relationship.
I live near people of the Amish faith (religion). If ever there was a people who live in total bondage they most certainly do. They have a big long list of rules they have made which they require their people to abide by. Many of their rules are really ridiculous. And, like the Jewish people, they have managed to skirt around the rules considerably. They may use a small gasoline engine to do something most of us use electricity for. They may use air motors in place of electric motors. These air motors may be used to power all sorts of machinery … saws, lathes, drill presses, pumps, washing machines, etc. Many of their rules are to ensure that they don’t possess those things which are modern day technology … convenient and practical. And some of their rules are based on superstitious nonsense. They can use a cell phone but not a phone which uses a wire coming into their home. (The devil can come into their home thru the wire. … what utter foolishness!) Their lives are very controlled by their fellow man. In short, they are in bondage … a whole lot of bondage. They believe that if they live their lives depriving themselves of these things I speak of and live in a simple old fashioned way that it will somehow be pleasing to God and make them more acceptable to Him. Nothing could be further from the truth. God does not care about what we have. God cares about what has us! When we truly understand what Jesus Christ has done for us in taking our place dying a horrific death to pay the penalty for our sins then we can and will appreciate it and want to live our lives pleasing to Him … which means wanting to obey God’s rules.
God is a jealous God and He insists that we put Him first at all times. And He deserves to be first!
If all we have is a big long list of “do this” and “don’t do this” that we feel we must abide by then we will be most miserable and not at all living our lives in the liberty that is available thru a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Anyone who is familiar with the board game, Monopoly, knows about “go to jail” and “get out of jail free” cards. Jesus is our “get out of jail free” card. He alone can set us free!
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, …” Luke 4:18
So if you find yourself living in bondage I invite you to use the “get out of jail free” card God offers you. If you remain in bondage all your life you can be sure that you will personally be the one who pays the wages of your sin … eternal damnation. And I guarantee you that there will be no joy in that either.
BIG BANG? … SORT OF!
We have all heard of the Big Bang Theory. No, I am not talking about the stupid immoral television show. Wikipedia shows this:
“The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the early development of the universe. The key idea is that the universe is expanding. Consequently, the universe was denser and hotter in the past. In particular, the Big Bang model suggests that at some moment all matter in the universe was contained in a single point, which is considered the beginning of the universe. …Georges Lemaître first proposed what became the Big Bang theory in 1927.”
There is very little of man’s theories that I buy into as most don’t line up with scripture. However, the Big Bang Theory does line up with scripture … sort of! The single point where it all started is none other than God. Scripture tells us that He spoke everything into existence.
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” Hebrews 11:3
“For He spoke, and it came into being; He commanded, and it came into existence. ” Psalm 33:9 Holman Christian Standard Bible
“The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.” Psalm 33:6 NLT
“Let them praise the Name of the LORD, for at His command they were created” Psalm 148:5
“But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.” 2 Peter 3:5
So when I read God’s Word I visualize Him speaking and commanding everything He created into existence. The words leave His mouth and travel out from Him … expanding into the vastness of His creation forming all that exists just as He commanded. So, yes, I believe in the Big Bang Theory … as I have described it. And I believe that God is still creating so it makes sense that His creation is expanding. There is much we don’t know about God and all that He has done and is doing. His Word tells us this … now we see as thru a darkened glass, but eventually we will see and understand all (my paraphrase). (see 1 Corinthians 13:12) God has only revealed certain things to us. He has told us all we need to know for now. Most of us know and understand very little of what He has already told us. This is tragic as He will hold us accountable. I am reminded of the billboard message …
FIRE! FIRE!
These are U.S. Navy firefighters. I spent 8 years in the Navy and among other things I was a firefighter. I was a shipfitter/hull maintenance technician. I was well trained in firefighting and damage control and taught many others aboard ship. Fortunately during those 8 years the only fires I had to deal with were relatively small. Another one of my jobs in the Navy was welding. It is very common for welding operations to create fires so we had to always be alert and act quickly to extinguish the fires before they grew out of control. I have been a weldor thruout my civilian life as well so I still had to deal with fires. Fires are a very serious matter and even more so aboard ship. Although it is true there is no shortage of water available (saltwater) there is the matter of placing water inside of the ship as it can only hold so much before it affects the ship’s buoyancy and stability. And besides, there is a whole lot of stuff that any water and especially salt water can destroy. Another factor is that unlike dealing with a fire on land there is no place to escape to so the fire must be contained and conquered quickly as the personnel aboard are in grave danger.
When I look at these pictures it is almost too much for me to fathom as it wasn’t like this when I was in the Navy. We had no special firefighting clothing or high tech equipment. All we had is our work uniform and an OBA (oxygen breathing apparatus). Today navy firefighters have pretty much the same equipment and protective clothing as civilian firefighters.
Here is the old technology. Now they use compressed gas cylinders as seen in the images above.
I was usually either the number one OBAman or the Scene Leader. The number one OBAman is the one who is actually most upfront dealing with the emergency at hand. The number two OBAman is directly behind him and his job is to provide protection for the number one OBAman. The number one OBAman is more less in charge of dealing with the scene of the fire since he is the one there. The Scene Leader is in charge overall of the entirety of the scene, but he remains back where it is safe until such time as the actual scene of the fire has been made safe for others to go to without special safety equipment such as wearing an OBA. He can send in orders and suggestions to the number one OBAman so that is why I said the the number one OBAman is more less in charge at the actual scene. Obviously since he is the one right there dealing with what is going on he has to call the shots according to his training, knowledge and best guess. And obviously sometimes someone who is further back has a different perspective than someone who is right on top of things. There is also a number three OBAman whose job it is to help handle hoses and assist on the scene in anyway needed including running messages back and forth to and from the scene leader. The scene leader, although in charge of the scene, is functioning under the authority of the Damage Control Assistant (DCA) who is an officer. The DCA is under the authority of the Damage Control Officer and he is under the authority of the captain. So as you can see there is a chain of command.
Anyway, my Navy training helped me considerably in civilian life as I have had to put it to use more in civilian life than I did in the navy. Fire which is under control can be a real friend but out of control it can be a horrible terrifying enemy.
A basic fire consists of three elements … fuel, oxygen and heat. All three must be present in order for a fire to occur.
Firefighting consists of removing one or more of these three elements. If you remove the fuel source the fire will go out. Physically removing flammable materials, shutting off fuel (liquid fuel flowing thru piping or leaking tanks, etc.) are means of removing fuel sources. If you remove the oxygen the fire will go out. Displacing the oxygen with CO2, Dry Chemical, Steam, etc. are common means of dealing with the element of oxygen. If you remove the heat the fire will go out. Water removes the heat. Of course, once the fire is out it is important that the source of fuel be totally removed or extinguished as otherwise the fire can restart. Any remaining “hot spots” need to be eliminated. This is done by raking apart embers and using water on them to further cool them so they won’t reignite. Obviously there isn’t much that can be done about the presence of oxygen since the atmosphere is about 21 percent is oxygen.
Aboard ship there are special fuels and concerns which go beyond a simple basic fire like I have been talking about up until now. Magnesium is one of those special fuels that pose a very serious threat. When magnesium burns it produces it own oxygen and so it burns intensely. It can literally melt steel and burn it’s way thru … going thru bulkheads (walls) and decks (floors) … sometimes one after another. Theoretically an intense magnesium fire could burn thru the hull of a ship and possibly sink it. Magnesium which is on fire can not just be sprayed with water like a common fire. To do so would cause it to explode violently and cause much further damage and threat including great harm to personnel. Burning magnesium requires huge amounts of water to put it out. The best thing is to toss it overboard into the ocean … submerging it is a large quantity of water. I don’t know if it has changed or not, but when I served in the Navy helicopters had a lot of magnesium in their construction. Our training in firefighting a crashed helicopter was to lay down fire fighting foam up to the burning helicopter to try to control burning fuel on deck and then quickly approach it wearing a special aluminumized proximity suit to rescue personnel from the helicopter. The priority of rescue was always: pilot first, co-pilot second and others afterwards. Then the helicopter was to be shoved over the side of the ship into the ocean.
Again, fortunately we never had to deal with this scenario. It is a good thing to as many times the helicopter came and left before we could even get ready as a firefighting team. We were not given sufficient notice to “set the helo detail”.
Yes, fire is a most serious thing. It can be a real killer. At the very least it can do tremendous damage and we can suffer great loss. We should always be on guard and careful as a fire is all too easy to start and get out of control quickly. Many years ago when we lived down in Georgia we were awakened early on a Sunday morning by someone banging loudly on our front door. I got up and went to the door but no one was there. I looked over to the other side of our home (a mobile home) where a sliding glass patio door was at and had vertical blinds installed. I noticed it was sort of a bright orange in color … unusual. It caught my attention so I went over to it and peeked out between the vertical blinds. I was not expecting what I saw. Our next door neighbor’s mobile home was on fire and as mobile homes go it was spreading quickly. I yelled at my wife to alert her so she could get dressed and be prepared to do whatever we needed to do ourselves as certainly it was possible for the fire to spread to our home. The firefighting training kicked in and after quickly dressing I ran outside and grabbed our garden hose. It isn’t sufficient to fight such a fire but it would help until the fire dept. arrived. I turned on the valve and nothing … no water. I couldn’t believe it … as in this can’t be happening. So I couldn’t do anything as far as fighting the fire. The police showed up first and made us move further back away. The fire dept. showed up and fought the fire and got it under control and eventually put it out. The mobile home was a total loss. The saddest part of it all is that our neighbor died of smoke inhalation. She was an elderly widow. We had just had her over to our home a few days before this for Thanksgiving. There is good news in the midst of this sad story. She got saved just a couple of weeks or so before her death. She gave her heart and life to Jesus. She was ready for death even though I am sure she was not expecting it that morning. We never know what a day will bring forth. It could be our last day … any one of us could suddenly die. Are you ready for death?
I have been talking about fire. There is another fire God’s Word speaks about …
HELLFIRE !!!!
This fire is eternal and cannot be extinguished. The billions of souls who will spend eternity there will be in great torment and anguish. The fire of hell will not burn out like those here on earth we deal with. And those who go there will not be destroyed (burnt up). The torment will be everlasting. No one has to go there however. God has provided the means to escape such a fate. All we have to do is come to Him on His terms. Truly it is better to turn than burn!
NOAH’S ARK 2014
Currently, much to my surprise, the brand new movie, Noah’s Ark 2014, is available to view on YouTube. I watched it a couple of weeks or so ago. I was extremely disappointed by it as it was not only ridiculously dumb as it was not at all scriptural, but it made God out to be some kind of an incompetent fool Who didn’t know what He was doing and had regrets over His decision. I could not recommend this movie to anyone. Those responsible for its creation will answer to God for what they have done. God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows he will also reap! (Galatians 6:7) It was bad enough that they smeared the good character of Noah and his family, but to portray God as a fool is simply intolerable. I could not help but wonder if whoever wrote this script was on drugs.
I was just thinking … Noah’s Ark was built by amateurs while the Titanic was built by professionals. The major difference was that the builders of the ark didn’t mock God. The builders of the Titanic made the boast that even God could not sink the Titanic. Having spent 8 years serving in the U.S. Navy aboard a total of 7 ships and one large boat (some very short term and one pier-side no longer used for going out to sea) I know what it is like to sail the ocean waters as well as Lake Michigan. The dimensions God gave to Noah for the ark were later discovered by man to be the most stable ship design.
A full-size Noah’s Ark will be built in Kentucky biblical park. Builders of a Noah’s Ark in Northern Kentucky put faith, painstaking detail into $50 million tourism project. And it’s to be big. Five hundred and fifty feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high. You can read about it here as well as view a video.
As I have spent a few hours looking thru websites, YouTube videos, etc. looking for ark related stuff to share here I found a whole lot of very critical commentaries, etc. of people who reject the biblical account of Noah’s Ark and the global flood. I guess that doesn’t surprise me, but it does sadden me. We are living in the End Times and God has said that people will be the same as they were back in Noah’s day. They laughed at Noah and his family and rejected the warnings. When the water level got deep enough they finally realized too late that there must be something to all this. Only 8 people were spared. They were safe in the ark. Everyone else drowned. Jesus Christ is the “ark” of salvation and only means of escaping what is coming upon the earth … when God pours out His wrath upon sinful mankind. Only those who are in this ark will be spared. What will you do with Jesus?
BUMBLEBEES CAN NOT FLY!
BUMBLEBEES CAN NOT FLY! Most of us have probably heard that this is what science proclaims. As is often the case it is not the full story. This scientific proclamation turned out to be a “faulty analogy between bees and conventional fixed-wing aircraft. Bees’ wings are small relative to their bodies. If an airplane were built the same way, it’d never get off the ground. But bees aren’t like airplanes, they’re like helicopters. Their wings work on the same principle as helicopter blades — to be precise, “reverse-pitch semirotary helicopter blades,” to quote one authority. A moving airfoil, whether it’s a helicopter blade or a bee wing, generates a lot more lift than a stationary one.
The real challenge with bees wasn’t figuring out the aerodynamics but the mechanics: specifically, how bees can move their wings so fast — roughly 200 beats per second, which is 10 or 20 times the firing rate of the nervous system. The trick apparently is that the bee’s wing muscles (thorax muscles, actually) don’t expand and contract so much as vibrate, like a rubber band. A nerve impulse comes along and twangs the muscle, much as you might pluck a guitar string, and it vibrates the wing up and down a few times until the next impulse comes along.” — Cecil Adams
aerodynamically impossible for bumblebees to fly
Man doesn’t have all the answers after all. If he eventually comes up with the answer oftentimes God’s Word had it all along and if man would have just read, understood, believed and applied what God had said he would have known these things much sooner and greatly benefited. One example of this which comes to mind is the practice of “bloodletting” that used to go on. Many people died as a result of purposely removing blood from the body in the attempt to “cure what ails ya”. That was such a foolish and dangerous thing. George Washington, the first U.S. President, died after having 3.75 liters of blood removed from his body within a 10 hour period as treatment for a throat infection . If scientists had only looked into God’s Word and understood what God had told man all of this could have been avoided. God’s Word says that “life is in the blood” (Levitcus 17:11). When a person or animal loses too much blood they will die … as life is in the blood!
God’s Word says that man is made in the image of God. God is the ultimate in intelligence and wisdom. With the exception of man He created everything that exists out of nothing. (Scripture tells us that He created man out of the dust of the earth and woman He created out of the rib bone of man.) Being made in the image of God man also creates. However, we have to have something to work with. We can not create something from nothing like God can and did. Man has managed to create some awesome things thruout history and in our generation man has truly accomplished some amazing things.
So when man doesn’t understand or have the answer … when we would say it is impossible for such a thing to happen or exist or work … we should always remember … “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27).
There are always those who come up with things like … can God create a rock so large He could not move it? There is an answer to that. God is a God of logic, of order and common sense. He is not stupid and would not do something like this and so such a question is absurd.
Science eventually comes up with many of the correct understandings including how a bumblebee can fly. The bible is always in full agreement with true science and true science is always in full agreement with the bible. The key here is the word TRUE science. There is usually disagreement between the bible and pseudoscience. By definition pseudoscience is a claim, belief or practice which is presented as scientific, but does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status. In other words pseudoscience is not science at all! It is a false science.
We can fully trust in God’s Word as it comes from God Who is trustworthy.
By the way, contrary to what you might have heard … pigs and elephants still can’t fly!
GOD LOVES AND GOD HATES
One of the search terms someone used resulting in visiting my blog was “God hates”. I Googled this and when I looked thru the search results I was quite saddened by much of what I saw. There were so many people who have grossly misquoted and misapplied Scripture and in thus doing have painted a very wrong picture of Who God is. They will be held accountable for doing so, but it concerns me greatly the damage people like this can do in influencing others. For instance, when people say things like God hates homosexuals they are most definitely guilty of misquoting and misapplying God’s Word. God does not hate homosexuals. He loves homosexuals. What He hates is the sin of homosexuality. There is a difference … a major difference! Nowhere in God’s Word does He say that He hates anyone. He loves everybody. He does, however, hate all sin. This is such a key thing. People are good at taking God’s Word out of context and misusing it. Another often misquoted passage of scripture is 1 Timothy 6:10 … “for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”. We often hear/read “money is the root of all evil” … leaving the “love of” off. Again, there is a big difference.
God is love! That doesn’t mean He can’t and doesn’t hate. What it does mean is that He is just and fair in all things. We hear people say that they can’t believe in and follow a God Who would send someone to hell. All I can say to them is … “you don’t have to”. However, if you continue to take your position on this, you will be the loser as your ignorance and stubbornness comes at a very high price. You will stand before Jesus Christ in judgement and have no excuse … at least none that is acceptable. First of all it is not God Who is responsible for anyone going to hell. We are! God in His great love for us has done all He can do to keep us from ending up in hell. He loves us so much that He left heaven to come to earth to show us His love and to take upon Himself the punishment we deserve. He suffered and died on a cruel cross … the most terrible form of death devised by man. Yes, I said “we deserve”. You see, that is the problem! With the position some take concerning God they are not willing to own up to the fact that they are responsible for themselves … for their sin … and accountable to Him. They want to blame God and make Him responsible for their sin. That is ludicrous! It ain’t gonna’ happen!
God is holy and perfect in every way. We are sinful and our sin separates us from Him. He can not allow sin in His presence. That is why we must deal with the sin problem. We have nothing to offer Him other than ourselves. All of our own efforts are unacceptable to Him. We must come to Him on His terms. He requires of us that we acknowledge our sinfulness and that we are willing to turn from sin (repent) showing Him that we desire to follow Him and obey Him … to give ourselves in total surrender to Him. This is the only way we can receive His pardon and the death sentence over us. In doing so we not only receive His forgiveness, but we are adopted into His family with full benefits including eternal life with Him. That is a great deal! That is the ultimate expression of a loving God. He did not have to do this for us. Our sin condemns us and He could have left us in that state … without any hope … assured of eternal damnation in the lake of fire and anguish and torment forever and ever.
Here is another excellant video 28 minutes in duration which you can watch if interested:
I encourage you to READ what Jesus went thru to provide salvation for you and I so that we don’t have to go to hell. If after reading this about what God did for you I would ask you … do you still hold the same view and position? And if you do I would further ask you … how can you?
Yes, God loves and God hates but we need to understand things right. Sin is sin, however God calls some sin an abomination before Him. There is much difference between the word sin and the word abomination. SIN VS. ABOMINIATION
Solomon spoke of the things that God hates, and the things that are an abomination unto Him in the book of Proverbs: “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes (a proud look), a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” (Proverbs 6:16-19) “A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is His delight.” (Proverbs 11:1)
The Greek word for sin is HARMATRIA or HARMARTANO. The meaning is “to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong; to wander from the law of God, and to violate God’s law”. The Hebrew word for sin is CHATA and means “to miss the way, to err, to miss the mark, to wander from the way, to become unclean”. Another Hebrew word used for sin is PESHA and means “transgression and rebellion”. It refers to those who rebel against God’s intended way in their lives.
The word for abomination in the New Testament, it is the Greek word BDELUSSO or BDELUGMA and means “to abhor, a foul thing, a detestable thing, to stink, smell bad, odious, wickedness, and to turn one’s self away from on account of the stench”. In the Old Testament there is more than one word used for abomination. The main word used is TOWEBAH and means “a disgusting thing, a thing of wickedness”. God hates all sin but there are certain sins which God has listed as an abomination before Him. Certainly the sin of homosexuality is one of them. Sexual perversion is an abomination in the sight of God. There are many forms of sexual perversion and mankind is involved in all of them. Most, if not all, are found in the church. God spoke to Moses, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Leviticus 18:22 Homosexuality and lesbianism are abominations in the sight of God, a stink in His nostrils, that He will turn His face away from. All types of sexual sin defiles a society and will incur God’s judgement and wrath. We tend to forget Sodom and Gomorrah … two cities and their citizens God totally destroyed because of sexual sin. It is only by God’s grace that we too are not destroyed … yet. We live in a day and age where those who practice this wickedness boast about their disgusting sin. We even have the term “gay pride”. As a society we not only tolerate this in our midst, but a very large percentage of the population fully support the idea of such sin. How sad this all is. We even have homosexual churches and ministers. What an oxymoron!
Homosexuality is not the only sin going on in our midst that God is extremely displeased with so I don’t want to come across as singling out this sin and ignoring all others. And truthfully God is far more upset with sin among those who call themselves Christians that He is those that make no such profession.
God has made the difference between sin and abominations very plain in His Word. Sins are those things in our lives that cause us to miss the mark of the high calling in God. Abominations are those things that are an abhorrence unto Him, and a stink in His nostrils.
Yes, God loves but He also hates. Understanding the truth about both is essential. Acting upon that understanding of the truth is also essential.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH _____________?
The internet and search engines have become so very handy to look stuff up. Of course, just because one finds something on the internet does not make it factual trustworthy truth. I had a pastor once many years ago who used to say “you can make your mouth say anything”. When it comes to scriptural truth God has made it very clear that there are those who mislead others. God has instructed us to search the scriptures diligently and to properly understand and apply God’s Word. We are not just to accept any and everything that is presented. Many many things come to mind when I think about this subject. Getting back to the internet and search engines one of the popular means of searching is to type in “what’s wrong with _____________?” (fill in the blank). I have done this many times.
I just checked the “stat” page of this blog and noticed that somebody visited this blog as a result of an internet search for “has anybody went to purgatory”. I would assume that they are Catholic as Catholics are the only ones I know of who believe in such nonsense. In the Tom Cruise movie, “Jerry Maguire”, a line has become well known … “Show me the money”. To anyone who believes in “purgatory” I say “show it to me in the bible”. Therein lies the problem … people believe all sorts of falsehoods accepting these things without ever checking it out for themselves. God has said “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge“. (Hosea 4:6) We get caught up in false teachings and if we believe and follow them we greatly endanger our eternal souls. God has given us His Word. We are responsible to study it and are accountable to Him. We should never just accept something we hear or read as truth without checking it out against what God has said in His Word.
What I am writing about here may come across as unloving but actually just the opposite is true. If I didn’t care about the eternal soul of others I would just keep silent. It is not loving toward others to allow them to walk down a path of destruction. It is loving to warn them and try to rescue them from destruction. If you were sound asleep in bed at 2:30 in the morning and I was driving by your house and noticed it was on fire would you want me to just pass on by and let you sleep or would you want me to stop and try to awaken you and your family so that you could escape the danger?
Have you ever looked at and thought about the word “PROTESTANT”? … PROTEST & ANT which is one who protests. So what are they protesting? Martin Luther started it all. He was a Catholic who dared to look into the bible for himself to see what it says. Upon doing so he realized how messed up the Catholic religion is … how it has so many things very wrong … not in accord with what God has said in His Word. Martin Luther could no longer just sit back and continue on with the teachings and practices of the Catholic church. He could not just remain silent. He protested these false teachings and practices he had discovered by reading the bible.
When I first got out of the Navy I went to work as a maintenance weldor at Kraft Foods. Shortly before I hired in something happened which I was told about. Two maintenance mechanics were up on the roof of the building walking along during the night when it was quite dark and they couldn’t see very well. The area of the roof they were walking on had multiple levels and no kind of railing along the edge of the roof to keep someone from stepping off the edge and falling down onto the level of the roof below. They were walking along one in front of the other when the lead man stepped off the edge and fell onto the roof level below. The man following him did the exact same thing. You might say it was a case of the blind leading the blind. Fortunately neither of them got seriously hurt. Why they didn’t have flashlights with them and use them I don’t understand. Many laughs resulted of the telling of this story. In the image below you can see the various levels of the roof. The dark areas are higher than the lighter areas and there are even different levels among the dark areas.
I share it here because it illustrates exactly what is going on in any false religion. The only difference is those who step off the edge plummet into eternal damnation. How tragic … especially since we have God’s Word to light our way. Like these two maintenance mechanics most people walking along are not using the light to help them avoid tragedy.
My sister and her husband as well as my wife used to be Catholic. My brother in law did as Martin Luther did. He looked into God’s Word for himself and found the truth and saw the great falsehoods of the Catholic church. Many people have left the Catholic church as a result of discovering the truth and understanding the deception and danger of the false religion that they had been a part of.
Let’s look at some of the things people believe that are not in accord with God’s Word. I am not going to take the time and go to the effort to type all this out as there are numerous resources available already …
What’s Wrong With Roman Catholicism?
Why Catholics Are Going To Hell
Are Roman Catholics Christian?
Much of this not only applies to the Catholic church but it also applies to other false religions.
GOD HATES RELIGION!
“Religion is the opium of the people”. This is a well known quote attributed to Karl Marx. From what I read he did not actually say these exact words, but they are credited to him anyway. Regardless I want to go on record saying that I could not agree more. Religion is something most dangerous. I want to further go on record saying that GOD HATES RELIGION! Satan, on the other hand, loves religion. You see, Satan is all about deceiving people and keeping them in spiritual darkness and ignorant of the Truth. His goal is to ensure that people end up in hell. He is a master at it. He doesn’t care what church organization a person belongs to although most certainly he prefers some over others. I say this because some preach and teach the Truth according to God’s Word while others do not. Obviously Satan would much rather see a person be a part of a church which does not present the Truth than one that does. Being in a church where one is exposed to the presentation of the Truth just might result in that person coming out of spiritual darkness and into the Light.
Yes, God hates religion. Religion is something contrived by man and Satan. Satan is quite guilty of leading people astray and keeping them lost. But we need to be careful not to give too much credit to Satan. Man is quite capable of accomplishing this all by himself. We have churches full of people who warm the pews (seats) on a regular basis who go thru all the motions and feel good because they have done their duty or spiritual service unto God (at least that is their thinking). They might even be very involved in their church serving in one capacity or another. They might be involved in community service and affairs. There is nothing wrong with any of these things and, in fact, more of us should do so. However, if we are only religious and not BORN AGAIN as God requires then it is all for nothing. We will remain lost and eventually die in our sins and spend eternity in torment of hell fire. God hates religion. He is “into” and is all about PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP. He wants us to know Him personally and be “in relationship” with Him.
I can say that I knew various things about President Ronald Reagan, but I never met him and established a personal relationship with him. Knowing things about someone is not the same as knowing them personally. A lot of people know things about God, but they have never met Him and established a personal relationship with Him. We must come to God on HIS TERMS.
I mentioned earlier that Satan is a master deceiver. It stands to reason that he will always try to thwart God’s plans and God’s ways. When someone attempts to share about being BORN AGAIN you can bet that he will try to explain it away and convince people who are trapped in spiritual darkness that they are ok and that they are or will be BORN AGAIN when they are not. This is very prevalent in the Catholic church.
In closing I just want to say that we can hear and read lots of things from many different sources. They may sound good, convincing, authoritative, etc., but if these things are not in accord with God’s Word (and a proper understanding and application of it) then it is all very dangerous poison we should steer clear of. Everything needs to be carefully examined in the light of God’s Word. Our eternal soul is at stake.
WHAT TO DO TO GO TO HELL
WHAT TO DO TO GO TO HELL
Apparently you scrolled down here so I assume you are looking for something. You didn’t see anything further up for a very good reason. There isn’t anything anyone needs to do to go to hell. Every human being who has reached the age of accountability or has the mental capacity to be held accountable is going to hell. It is a sure thing. Why not? We have all earned it. We all deserve it. And God most certainly has given us ample warning and instruction concerning the matter.
In this modern day of technology we have the common term “by default” or “default setting”. Using either of these terms is fitting here … by default we are all going to hell upon our death. This is because we are all sinners and God can not allow sin in His presence for He is holy. Our sin separates us from Him. We have a problem here … a very big problem. And there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. We are doomed! Between man and Satan there have been and are numerous concepts about trying to remedy this situation, but none of them work. We can try and try to be acceptable to God but nothing will work for us. God says that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. We have nothing to offer Him which is acceptable to Him.
So what can we do? Is there hope? Is there a way … a means of our being acceptable to God? It should be obvious that no one in their right mind would want to go to hell. This puts us in a most desperate situation. We need help! God knows this and He in His great love for us provided what we need. “While we were yet sinners Christ Jesus died for us.” (Romans 5:8) “But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name…” (John 1:12) We are “by default” children of Satan (because of our sin), but God wants to adopt us and have us join His family. It is not complicated. In fact, it is as simple as ABC …
A = Acknowledge before God that you are a sinner and need His forgiveness and salvation He alone offers.
B = Believe on and accept Jesus as Savior and allow Him to be Lord of your life. This means we must repent of our sin … turning away from it and desiring to follow Jesus Christ in total obedience.
C = Confess with your mouth what you embrace in your heart concerning Who Jesus is … Savior, Lord and soon coming King. Tell others about Who He is … share about His love, goodness, grace, faithfulness, and this salvation He offers.
Nothing is required of us to go to hell, but something is required of us not to go there. We must come to God on His terms. We have no assurance of our next breath or heartbeat. If we die in our sin our fate is sealed. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. You may not have another opportunity.
AWESOME CREATION FROM AN AWESOME CREATOR
As gifted, skilled and talented as many people are there is no one who can begin to compare to the Creator. Man can paint pictures and take photographs of that which God created, but they don’t begin to measure up to the real thing we see with our eyes. I have seen so many beautiful sunsets and sunrises, especially out at sea aboard ship while I was in the Navy. I have taken photographs with various cameras of them hoping to capture what I was seeing with my eyes only to be greatly disappointed with the results.
Earlier this evening while looking up another subject I came across a YouTube video of a bird. We have all seen and heard parakeets, magpies, and other talking birds and I am sure we have been impressed by them. They are indeed awesome! This video was about the Lyrebird. According to Wikipedia … “A lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds, that form the genus, Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. As well as their extraordinary mimicking ability, lyrebirds are notable because of the striking beauty of the male bird’s huge tail when it is fanned out in display; and also because of their courtship display. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral colored tail feathers and are among Australia’s best-known native birds. …The lyrebird is capable of imitating almost any sound and they have been recorded mimicking human caused sounds such as a mill whistle to a cross-cut saw, chainsaws, car engines and car alarms, fire alarms, rifle-shots, camera shutters, dogs barking, crying babies, music, and even the human voice. “
BBC used to do a TV series entitled BBC Wildlife hosted by David Attenborough. Here is the amazing video of this amazing bird …
Pretty impressive, huh? All of this out of a bird brain! It makes man look like an amateur when it comes to sound effects. Sometimes I ponder over things like this … did God create such a creature just to humble man? Truly all glory belongs to God alone!
P.S. – In all fairness it needs to be explained that this video is not totally forthcoming. It is shot as if it is out in a forest and the bird is in it’s natural surroundings where it picked up these man made sounds to mimic. It is not so. Certainly some of the sounds are legitimate and would be learned in the forest, but two of the birds used in filming this are birds in captivity where they were raised from chicks learning noises they were exposed to. Certainly the camera clicking and the motor advancing the film is not something the bird would hear out in the forest nor is the car alarm. (http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/lyrebirds_mimicking_chainsaws)
GOD DAMN IT!
We hear it all the time. Just for your information, God’s last name is not Damnit. Many people use God’s Name in vain. God gave man ten commandments and told us to obey them. The third commandment clearly says, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” As a Christian I am very offended when I hear people use God’s Name in such a manner. Why do people use God’s Name in vain? I have mixed emotions and thoughts when I hear this coming from the mouths of others. It angers me. It bothers me greatly. It frustrates me. But most of all it saddens me. I realize that those who do this don’t truly understand what they are doing. Have you ever thought about it? Interestingly we don’t hear people use the name of allah, buddha, or any other so called deity. (I don’t capitalize these names as they are not worthy of being capitalized for they are false gods and not deities at all.) No, people only use the Name of the true God … God (the Father), Jesus Christ, Jesus, Christ, Lord. As to why this is true I think we need to look into why someone would want to use the Name of God in vain. Certainly saying “G-D it” is only a one way God’s Name can and is used in vain.
The Name of God is exalted above every name. There is a point in the future where at the Name of God (Jesus Christ) every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He alone is LORD. Since there is no higher Name it is God’s Name that mankind uses to express himself to his fellow man. By that I mean man uses God’s Name to try to impress upon others that he is exalted instead of God … that he is exalting himself above God. In reality God sits upon His throne and man by his words attempts to pull God down off of His throne and place himself upon it instead … making himself to appear more in control of what it being said … standing out to those he is speaking to and demeaning and disgracing God in the process. He does so in an attempt to impress others concerning himself because in reality he knows he is inferior to God. How sad and tragic it is to do this.
Man all too often says stuff that ought not be said. Telling someone to “go to hell” is an example. If we really understood what hell will be like and how terrible it will be why would we say to someone that we want them to go there? There has to be something very wrong with someone who would do so. I would think it would be far more appropriate to say “go to heaven”. Of course, since they say go to hell they obviously do have something wrong with them … and only God can remedy it.
Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is the most deceitful thing there is and desperately wicked. No one can really know how bad it is!” (Living Bible). We need God … we need His help … we need a Savior … we need the Savior! And His Name is Jesus Christ.
THIS WAS YOUR LIFE!
I am sure many of us have seen the Chick tracts before. They are often found laying around here and there. They are the comic book type tracts. I used to see them laying around aboard ship when I was in the navy. I looked at a couple of them while aboard ship but I didn’t pay much attention to them and really didn’t have much interest in them at that time. There is a reason for that which I won’t go into at this time. Chick has many very good tracts but there are two or three that really stand out in my mind. One of them is what I write about today. I invite you to read this tract now. It might be your last opportunity as we have no assurance of our next breath or heartbeat. It would be most tragic to die without ever dealing with the most serious problem we all have …
This Was Your Life
©2002 by Jack T. Chick LLC
TADPOLE TRIKE CONSTRUCTION – THE SCIENCE OF TADPOLE TRIKE STEERING
For those who want to build a tadpole trike it is imperative that they understand the science of the steering and ensure that they “get it right”. The “center point steering”, camber and caster settings, “Ackerman steering principle” and “toe in setting” all must be correct. Otherwise there will be “trouble in River City” and it could even lead to serious endangerment for the rider. At the very least handling will be greatly effected and tire wear will be a serious problem. When I first bought my Catrike Trail the dealer had the toe in off considerably and my brand new front tires wore out in only 30 miles of riding.
In the first video below this man says toe in should be 1/8 inch. That is too much for most trikes. 1/16 inch is preferable and is what is recommended by most trike manufacturers. Actually zero toe in maybe the ticket for some trikes including mine as with my weight on it I end up with about 1/16 inch toe in. There in lies another matter … it is best to set the toe in with the rider seated. This usually means a second person is needed as the mechanic to do the adjusting. It is not imperative that it is done this way, but it does work best. The more the rider weighs the more the toe in will change as the rider is seated on the trike. The closer you can get to zero toe in the better as long as the handling is ok. Never have toe out however as the handling will greatly suffer as a result.
Here are a couple of video illustrating and explaining about these things.
THE STORY OF JESUS
It is Easter Sunday so it is only fitting to share THE STORY OF JESUS.
I came across an audio narration produced by Zondervan telling the story of Jesus Christ which I have been listening to and enjoying. It is dramatized and well done. I often listened to the audio bible on this same website but had not seen this offering before. Most of it is the reading of the text from the NIV bible. They have added some additional wording here and there to help tell the story. This would even be good for children to listen to. I encourage you to check it out. HERE is a link to this audio story of Jesus.
There are 7 parts to it …
1) The birth of the King
2) Jesus’ ministry begins
3) No ordinary man
4) Jesus, the Son of God
5) The hour of darkness
6) The resurrection
7) New beginnings
In addition to the story of Jesus there are also several other readings available to listen to. You select from this same window (media player) which will appear:
Addiction – By My Spirit
Comfort In Affliction
You Were Called To Be Free
Fixing Our Eyes On Jesus
Now Is The Day Of Salvation
Our Help Comes From God
The Issues Of Life
Light Shines In The Darkness
Justice & Righteousness
Forgive As The Lord Has Forgiven You
You Are Loved & Of Great Value
Hearts That Are Healed
Fullness Of Joy
Finances – Then You Will Be Prosperous & Successful
God Loves You
In Everything God Has Supremacy
Rest In The Lord
The Work Of God
Find Hope
Guard Your Heart
The Word Of Life
Love The Lord
Wisdom & Understanding
We Are God’s Fellow Workers
Love One Another
Trust God
The Joy Of The Lord Is Your Strength
Peace – My Peace I Give You
Fear Not
I Will Give You Rest
Righteousness, Peace & Joy
Angels
Straight Paths
Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled
The Tender Mercies Of God
The Blood Of Christ
By His Wounds We Are Healed
Quietness & Trust
Take Refuge In The Lord
Love One Another
Humility & Gentleness
Witness The Bible – Genesis To Jesus
Welcome
Creation, Genesis 1
Adam & Eve, Genesis 2
The Fall, Genesis 3
The Flood, Genesis 5, 6, 7 & 8
Abraham’s Calling, Genesis 10, 11 & 17
From Abraham To Boaz, Matthew 1, Ruth 1
A Family Reunited, Ruth 2
The Kinsman Redeemer, Ruth 3
Ruth’s Royal Line Of Redemption, Ruth 4
David & Goliath, 1 Samuel 17
From David to Jonah, Matthew 1, Jonah 1
In The Belly Of The Great Fish, Jonah 2
The Second Chance, Jonah 3
Angry Unto Death, Jonah 4
A Greater Than Jonah Is Here, Matthew 12: 38-41
Gabriel Visits Mary, Luke 1: 26-38
Mary’s Prayer, Luke 1: 39-56
Return To Bethlehem, Luke 2:1-7
The Shepherds, Luke 2: 8-20
Wisemen, Matthew 2:1;12
Conclusion, John 3:16
Witness The Bible – Mark (readings from several chapters of the Gospel of Mark)
Witness The Bible – Joseph & Judah
Now Israel Loved Joseph
Potiphar
The Butler & The Baker
And Pharaoh Also Dreamed
Zaphnath-Paaneah
You Are Spies
Set On Meat!
The Silver Cup
Then Judah Drew Near To Joseph
You Sent Me Not Here
Land O’ Goshen!
Ephraim & Manasseh
Jacob Prophesies
ending with 5 cute songs by children
Morning & Evening Devotions by Charles Spurgeon for every day of the year
HOME BUILT RECUMBENT TRIKE, DETAILED PLANS AND CONSTRUCTION STEPS
I came across this video and thought it might be of interest to others. As a retired weldor/fabricator who has made my own tadpole trike it interests me. As some of you reading this know I previously had another blog I called tadpolerider. I made the decision to end it and when I did I chose to entirely delete the blog. Now I am somewhat regretting it as I had put a lot of time and effort into it and had I left it available it would have provided resources for various aspects of tadpole trikes. But it is gone … history … and I can’t bring it back. All I can do at this point is go forward from here. I don’t intend to turn this blog into another tadpolerider blog but I do intend to include various things about tadpole trikes periodically. Without further ado here is the video entitled:
HOME BUILT RECUMBENT TRIKE, DETAILED PLANS AND CONSTRUCTION STEPS
FLYING CAR
Here a cute little jalopy I think would be neat to own and operate … only about $300,000. At that price I think I will get two of them … one for me and one for the wife … and maybe a third one for a spare. You understand that I am kidding, right?
Here is the YouTube description:
This week the Dutch company PAL-V announced the first flights of its prototype “flying car”.
This unique vehicle is called the PAL-V One, or the ‘Personal Air and Land Vehicle’, and It marks the start of a new era.
On the ground the vehicle drives like a sports car. Within minutes its rotor is unfolded and its tail is extended: then it is ready to take off thanks to the advanced gyrocopter technology.
With these successful test results it is proven that it is not only possible to build a flying car but also that it can be done within existing international rules for both flying and driving.
Having passed this important milestone the company is now inviting investors to join them in creating the future.
The next step will be the design of the first commercial production model of the PAL-V, and first deliveries are expected in 2014.
For 100 years people have dreamed of a flying car, and many attempts have been made to realize this dream, but now it has truly become a reality.
CATRIKES IN FLORIDA
I ride a Catrike Trail recumbent tadpole trike and take a considerable interest in tadpole trikes. Here is a picture of me sitting on my trike …
I just stumbled across a YouTube video which I thought I would share here. It is of a few Catrike riders out for a ride down in Florida. Tadpole trikes are a lot of fun to ride and extremely comfortable. Since they sit so low to the ground they handle great. Some compare riding one to driving a go cart or sports car. I would not go so far as to say that, but they do handle great. Catrike tadpole trikes are manufactured in Orlando, Florida.
Every year Catrike sponsors a rally for Catrike owners. I would love to go and participate in it. It is open to everyone regardless of what brand of trike or even bicycle they ride. Here are some videos of the 2014 rally. They show many trikes up close as they are gathering to go for a group ride on one of the local trails near Orlando. They also show the many trikes and bikes riding on the trail.
And here is another video of the 2014 rally. This one is considerably longer but well made and interesting …
In addition to the organized and unorganized rides there is also a factory tour available. Being a retired weldor/fabricator taking such a tour would greatly interest me. I built my own recumbent bicycle and tadpole trike before buying factory made ones. Here are pictures of both:
I never got the bike painted as I ended up cutting it up to use some of the parts to make the tadpole trike.
There is also an annual Catrike rally held in Austin, Texas . And there are a few other rallies held in various locations for other brands or for all brands. One is held in Oregon which is for “recumbents” … both bikes and trikes.
Tadpole trikes are also known as reverse trikes since there are two wheels in the front and one wheel in the back. This makes for a more stable design. Although they are becoming more and more popular and sales are up considerably they are still not all that common in many places so when people see them they often don’t know what they are seeing and show an interest in them. Certainly many people comment about how neat they are and that they really like them. Lots of questions are asked about them as people know and understand very little about them. A few of the most asked questions are:
“How do you steer it?”
“Is that comfortable to ride?”
“How fast will it go?”
“Does it have a motor?”
“How much do they cost?”
and the one that I am always amazed when I am asked …
“How do you balance it?” … Yes, I have been asked that a couple of times.
I highly recommend Catrike as I think they are one of the best made and designed tadpole trikes available and they are the only** brand name trike totally made in the U.S. Most come from China/Taiwan. Some come from England, Germany, and a couple of other European countries and from Australia.
Anyone interested in checking out these Catrikes further can view their website … http://www.catrike.com/
** There are a small number of trike manufacturers who also make their trikes here in the U.S., but their sales are quite low so I am not counting them as part of the factory produced trikes. TerraTrike manufactures one of their models here in the U.S. but most of their models come from Taiwan.
GOODNIGHT OR GOODBYE
I think one of the most powerful Christian tracts I ever read was one entitled “Goodnight or Goodbye”. It is a story about a man about to die who is spending his last moments of life on earth with his family at his side. One by one he speaks to them. I could relate the story paraphrasing it from my memory, but instead I will simply post it here exactly like the tract shares it.
***************************
“A devoted Christian business man was struck by an automobile and rushed to a hospital. He was informed by the doctors that he had only about two hours to live. He had implicit faith in the goodness of God and in His Word, so to him death was only a gateway leading to the glory of heaven and the presence of God. He had his family called to his side, and thus addressed them:—
“Goodnight, my dear Wife. You have been the greatest woman in the world to me. Through sunshine and shadow we have walked together. You have been my inspiration in everything I have undertaken, especially in my walk as a Christian. Many times I have seen the Spirit of God shining in your face. I love you far more than on the day you became my bride. Goodnight, dear; I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Mary. Mary, you are our firstborn. What a joy you have been to me! How glad I am that in face and spirit you have always reminded me of your mother. I see in you the sweet, beautiful, young woman who left her home to be the builder and keeper of mine. What a Christian you are, Mary! Never forget how your father loved you. Goodnight, Mary, goodnight.”
He then turned to his eldest son:
“Goodnight, Will. Will, your coming into our home has been an incredible blessing. You were a manly boy, and you have become an exemplary man. You love the God of your father. How proud I am of such a son! May you grow in every Christian grace and virtue. You have my love and blessing. Goodnight, Will, goodnight.”
Charlie was the next. Charlie had fallen under evil influences and grievously disappointed his father and mother. The dying man skipped him, and spoke to the youngest child, a beautiful young girl.
“Goodnight, Grace. Grace, your coming was like the breaking of a new day in our home. You have long been a song of gladness and a ray of light, filling our hearts with music. When you surrendered your life to Christ, my cup of happiness was filled to overflowing. Goodnight, my little Grace, goodnight.”
He then called Charlie to his side:
“Goodbye, Charlie. Charlie, what a promising boy you were. We believed you would develop into a great and noble man. We gave you all the opportunities we gave to the other children, but you have disappointed us. You have followed the broad and downward road. You have not heeded the warnings of God’s holy Word or hearkened to the call of the Saviour. But I have always loved you, and love you still, Charlie. God only knows how much I love you. Goodbye, Charlie, goodbye, goodbye.”
Charlie seized his father’s hand and between his sobs he cried out, “Father, why have you said ‘goodnight’ to the others and ‘goodbye’ to me?”
“For the simple reason that I will meet the others in heaven. But all the promises of God’s Word that assure us of a reunion also tell me I can have no hope of seeing you there. Goodbye, Charlie, goodbye!”
Charlie, realizing his lost condition, fell on his knees by his dying father’s bed and cried out to God in the agony of his soul, praying for the forgiveness of his sins and the hope of meeting his father again.
“Do you mean it, Charlie? Are you in earnest?”
“God knows I am,” said the brokenhearted young man.
“Then God has heard you and saved you, Charlie. It is goodnight and not goodbye. “Goodnight, my boy.” With this the father was gone into eternity.”
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My eyes tear up just reading this story as it is so powerful and so true. There is no hope without Jesus Christ! Oh what a blessed Savior! I cannot keep silent. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! I am redeemed, I am redeemed! Praise the Lord! Redeemed by His infinite mercy! His child forever I am!
I hope to see you in the morning!
Steve's Mixed Bag 