Position over passion

 Is it brave to live a life of passion?  To put yourself on the line and risk everything for a dream?  Is hard work directed to the things you love to do really the answer?

Maybe.  

The real question I think is what do we love?

Do we love being in charge of people?  Do we love making predictions in markets?  Do we love spending endless nights, weekends, weeks away from our family?

As for me, I will chose my position in Christ over any of my passions. My passions will lead me astray every time.  In the spring as the weather heats up, my all consuming passion and obsession is fishing.  I want to catch and fry as many fish as possible.  As autumn sets in, my passions turn to reading and then inevitably to firearms.  I have many passions, many things that I'm good at.  But I will never choose to follow my passions when I have such a wonderful position on my Foundation.

I will be possibly moving my thoughts here over to thehillstead.com soon.  I am working on a short book of our little homesteading journey and I will be posting more on that and whatever else I want to talk about there.  Perhaps in the future my wife and I will share some of our homeschooling story as well. 

Despair is not for us.

Christ is King and our hope of salvation has always been in Christ.  Trust His plan.

The Day of the Lord

1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 

2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 

3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 

4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 

5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 

6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 

7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 

8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 

9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Final Instructions

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 

13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 

14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 

15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 

16 Rejoice always, 

17 pray continually, 

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 

20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 

21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 

22 reject every kind of evil. 

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. 

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 

26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. 

27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. 

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Thessalonians Chapter 5

Carlos Roman

Those that make the rules will soon realize their actions will come back to haunt them. 

Those that take a stand for the people that follow them will become heroes.  Good on you Carlos Roman.

I'll just leave this here...

Joe Biden suffers a hairline foot fracture after slipping while playing with his dog...

 

If you don't see it, it didn't happen

Remember quantum mechanics people, observing the process changes the outcome.  

Officials “halted” mail-in ballot counting in Philadelphia following a court order allowing GOP observers to watch the vote count — a ruling that Democrats are now looking to challenge.

Philadelphia paused the count around noon Eastern on Thursday after Democrats took an issue with a court ruling allowing Republican watchers to stand six feet from those counting the ballots.

What is happening is precisely what Steve Bannon predicted in the following interview.  This is exactly why I have refrained from pulling my bet from Predictit.  I have no need to minimize my losses because I only bet discretionary money... that and the fact that I know Trump hates being a loser more than anything.

More convincing than ads

What do these images of boarded up businesses tell the local population?  

 

Though Goodwill has supposedly changed their mind, the images of Goodwill preparing for the leftist violence will be burned into memory of the liberal white suburban women who were thinking of voting for Biden.  I hear stories about how Trump will be winning 15% of the black vote as well, and while I think that may be a fantasy, if it materializes, the extra liberal white women and the minority population combined will all but guarantee a Trump landslide.  

Businesses are unintentionally sending a message and it's a clear message to vote for Trump. 

I have bet a small portion of my discretionary money on the election.  Most on a generic Trump victory, but I also put money down on him winning Virginia as well.  I recommend you prepare for the celebration with your favorite celebratory beverage and well maintained firearms. 

 

Equality vs Equity

Kamala Harris is pushing the narrative towards the lies of equality and equity.

“So there’s a big difference between equality and equity,” Harris said in a video posted to her Twitter account on Sunday. The video featured an illustration of two individuals about to climb a mountain. Each was given two ropes, which a white man used to begin climbing. The other man, who appeared to be black, was unable to reach the rope, as he stood several feet lower than the other man.

“Equality suggests ‘Oh everyone should get the same amount.’ The problem with that, not everybody’s starting out from the same place. So if we’re all getting the same amount, but you started out back there and I started out over here — we could get the same amount, but you’re still going to be that far back behind me,” the narration continued.

“It’s about giving people the resources and the support they need so that everyone can be on equal footing and then compete on equal footing,” she continued as the video showed the fruitful ground rising the man up to the original level of the white man, where he then grabbed the rope and climbed up to the peak.

“Equitable treatment means we all end up at the same place,” she concluded

How about neither.  The only thing the government should guarantee is that there is judgement for committing evil.  Both equal and equitable treatment wrongly assumes that you can do nothing without some sort of governmental action.  Since the churches have been so far converged,  they are unable to organize effective charity.  The best way to get a leg up is to stop listening to lies.  Repent, change your mind about your ways, and start working to show a glory that is not your own.

Sex on the radio

A writer at HuffPost attempts to convince that she is not trying to be salacious, just trying to convince everyone else to be.

In May of this year, we did an hour-long show about the porn industry. We featured a North Carolina artist working on a virtual exhibit that aims to normalize people’s varied sexual fantasies; a queer adult filmmaker who lets participants guide much of the erotic content they film; and the co-founder of a new audio erotica app.

Before the show even hit the airwaves, we began to hear from listeners concerned that the topic was “inappropriate for the middle of the day.” While we still got some notes of concern and disapproval after the show aired, there were also responses like this one from a therapist: “I’m sure that today’s show resonated with many people, and that many of those folks might still be embarrassed to write or call in with their support. But on behalf of myself and so many of the clients I work with to disentangle their sexuality from their experiences of shame, THANK YOU.”

I have no desire to throw the listeners who do not like my content under the bus, nor do I aspire to change anyone’s mind about pornography or sexuality. But what I wish they could hear is this: The reason I want to have conversations about these topics in the middle of the day on live public radio is not to be salacious. It is because I firmly believe that the longer that we keep conversations about sex, relationships and health in the realm of “not for public discourse,” the longer we’ll stay locked into singular narratives that keep us from really knowing ourselves and each other more deeply. If we can recognize that humans are sexual creatures who are wired to have desire and seek pleasure, we can have meaningful dialogue that could serve to integrate aspects of our identity without contributing to the harm of other people.

While she may not be trying to be salacious specifically, she is absolutely trying to normalize a worldview full of salacious, sexually deviant ideas.  Society used to keep this content under wraps, anything explicit was private for a reason.  The writer's intent is to change your society and to change your behavioral patterns.  If she is successful in doing that, she will have brought us yet another step closer to losing ourselves to a bastardized culture that embraces the wicked and perverse.

Instead of shilling for tolerance incessantly, it's time that Christians start preaching repentance again.

Fauci waffles again

Regardless of the varying degrees of belief in the novel coronavirus I've seen in my peers, the degree of belief bestowed upon the establishment officials has dwindled.

So “if people are not wearing masks,” Fauci concluded moments later, “then maybe we should be mandating it” (video below. Relevant portion begins at 3:49).

As for CNN’s later claim that the doctor called for a federal law, perhaps this is wishful thinking. Or maybe the station was reading Fauci’s heart and mind, and such a divination certainly wouldn’t be fanciful. More likely it was sloppy reporting in which the writers’ own statist assumptions influenced their interpretation.   

But more damaging is the deceptive and deceitful reporting underlying this whole issue. First, Burnett in her interview lent the illusion — which Fauci happily capitalized upon — that the doctor has been a prudent, steady hand issuing sage counsel and sober warnings that went unheeded by the dastardly Donald Trump.

In reality, on January 21 and February 29, Fauci said the virus was not a major threat and that Americans didn’t have to change their behavior; moreover, he then claimed in an Easter Sunday interview that he’d advised the government to impose social-distancing measures in February. So he was either lying then or lying on February 29.

...

You’ll note that Sweden’s positive-case number did spike upwards beginning mid-September and has continued rising. So the media touting that are telling the truth — just not close to the whole truth.

As the second graph shows, the number of China virus deaths has remained constant, not spiking one iota, since July 31. Sweden had zero deaths Sunday and zero on Saturday. In fact, the week beginning Oct. 19 was the nation’s best since the “pandemic” began, with only two COVID deaths recorded (weekly charts below).

If you’d ask, “Why worry about increased ‘infections’ if the death numbers remain low and constant?” go to the head of the class. All Americans become infected with cold viruses (also in the corona category), and the WHO informs that 67 percent of people worldwide carry herpes simplex type 1, the “cold sore” virus. Yet we don’t worry about this because it’s health and life that matter, not whether our bodies carry microorganisms. That’s normal.

It'll be good to have four more years of swamp draining.  We can always do with fewer parasites.

 

The governed vs the ruled

Are you being governed, or ruled? 

Karl Manke, a 78-year-old barber in Owosso, Michigan, who has been cutting hair for 59 years, can rest a little easier. Charges for violating local health orders and defying Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID mandates were dropped last Friday.

Manke gained national attention and notoriety as a “folk hero” among many who saw that Whitmer’s edicts went far beyond the law. When she shut down the state initially, Manke complied. But after she unilaterally extended her mandates beyond April 30 without gaining approval from the legislature to do so, Manke reopened his barbershop, saying at the time, “I feel the governor is not my mother, never has been.”

When reminded that he was violating Whitmer’s mandates, Manke said, “I could care less. If they want to put me in jail, put me in jail.… I will be governed … but not ruled. This is a police state action.”

Be careful of what what stands you take and be sure you're not fighting on the wrong side, however keep confidence.  We know what side ultimately wins.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.  For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?  Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. 

Romans 13:1-4a

Let them govern but never let them rule you.  The state exists to punish evildoers, not to exert tyrannical influence.