David C. Alves's Blog, page 15
June 15, 2012
At the Middle of the End: No Way Out
The United States of America is reentering the dark ages.
Daily we grow closer to the final act.
In my opinion, we are at the middle of the end. The end of America as we have loved her is closer than ever. And there is no way out. No shining knight will arrive. No brilliant minds will extract us from our self-chosen end. There is no Plan B. Contingencies do not exist that will take us down a yellow-brick-road toward a new and brighter Emerald City.
We have consistently chosen darkness. We have chosen blind leaders who have taken us deeper into darkness, and God will let us have our way. It’s called free will. Our decline has been prophesied centuries before.
Mine is not the only voice of warning. Mine is not the only voice on the Titanic, crying “Iceberg ahead.” But our captain and crew don’t care. They’re too busy being impressed with the ship–texting their imagined progress and boasting of the speed with which they’re steaming us toward our end.
NOT TALKING POLITICS HERE
This is not an Obama-Romney thing. I believe that BOTH parties have ruined our nation. No President or majority of the House or Senate will be able to turn this ship in time. Only God can do that. And I believe that He has made up His mind to let the cruise continue along the line that the passengers have chosen. Granted, some of the passengers have not desired to continue steaming toward the coming implosion (see Joel Rosenberg’s important new book), but I believe their appeals to their leaders and to God to change our direction have received “No!” for an answer.
CHAMPIONS OF CHOICE
God honors our “choices.” We have made the choice by choosing blatant, in-your-face, immorality. By our spiritual decadence we have insured our demise. The unbelieving American people, for the most part, do not want God. They mock him. They consider Him a burden. They hate God’s people. They hate God’s values, or at best give them lip-service. And they will whore after anything but what’s true and pure. As a nation, we will have what the people have decided in their hearts. And many in the churches have embraced, and even championed, the decadence and decline.
God describes a similar scenario in ancient history:
“The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.” (Zephaniah 1:14–18, ESV)
LIFE RINGS
Understand, I am heartsick about this. I love my country. I have a deep love for the American people. I’m not one of those content to stand on the deck, watching the ship go down. In many previous posts, I have been throwing life-rings into the churning seas. Warning of the dangers of Islam. Warning of the worst that religion has to offer.
I’m in the prayer closet regularly. I have sought God’s mercy and favor for people–reminding Him of all the good our nation has done in the past. Reminding him of what a great people we could once again be with Him as our God. Reminding the Lord that He has many of His children on board the ship. That they have tried to warn the crew and ship’s company and passengers about the looming disaster ahead.
NO HEART FOR THE FUTURE
But the revelers would not listen. Instead, they silence our voices by demeaning us with mockery and closed, callused hearts. The unbelieving demonize the sons (and daughters) of God and think that they will escape God’s final justice. They have seared their consciences. They have sold their birthright for a morsel of stew. They know in the deepest places of their hearts that they have approved of this present wickedness. They love the darkness; it hides their sin. By demonic inspiration, our culture and its champions have helped them to soothe their defiled consciences. In their love of sin, they have even hated their own nation. We have professors, elites, and politicians who have no heart for future generations, no desire to leave a moral and spiritual legacy that would glorify God and usher in the true Kingdom. They spurn righteousness and revel in sin. But . . .
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34, ESV)
I’m afraid God would have to pardon Sodom & Gomorrah if he rescues America. Of course, the majority of Americans don’t even know about these two cities or what their sin was.
And a vast majority of the American people love and support the decadence of Sodom & Gomorrah–even so-called Christians (an increasingly meaningless term). Much like the word “gay”–which used to mean “happy”–”Christian” used to mean “follower of Jesus,” forgiven and “born-from-above” by God himself. Now, it mainly means “one who goes to church and believes things about Jesus and God.” Some even consider themselves “gay Christians.” Talk about an oxymoron. Rather than repent and allow God to heal, they parade their shame.
We have imported the perversions of Hades, baptized those proclivities, and called them “lifestyle choices.” And anyone who points this out is considered “hateful” or a hate-monger. The mob calls truth–the truth of God–”hate speech.” It’s almost too amazing for the mind to grasp. Human beings, created in God’s image, accuse the God of love of being hateful because–through his people–He warns them of the course they’re on, in order to bring them to their senses and repent, that they might know freedom, love and peace.
The beginning of the end came with the legalization of abortion on demand–infanticide–murdering babies. Now our leaders are moving us toward selective baby murder. Joel Rosenberg, in his newsletter “FlashTraffic” wrote that the United States has almost murdered as many babies as the number of people who died in Nazi Germany’s Holocaust. And we are ramping that up. If that weren’t bad enough. A number of people in our nation couldn’t even tell you what the Holocaust was or who died in Nazi Germany.
Terrorism, the rise of Islam, as well as our decline and soaring financial debt may just be the harvest of the seeds of rebellion we’ve sown, as we’ve turned away from God and His Kingdom. I honestly believe that terrorism is a sign of the times. It is our wake-up call. We are receiving what we’ve invited. Only the most obtuse and historically ignorant in our midst would argue that ALL Muslims are radical jihadists; but, the vast majority of terrorists in the world today are Muslims. They delight in obedience to the Koran and obeisance to Allah (who is not Yahweh, the Father of Jesus Christ. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.).
First I thought that God might turn things around through another great revival or awakening. But I believe that we have passed the point of no return; we have crossed the middle of the end. We are not yet at the end of the end, but Joel Rosenberg calls that destination, the coming Implosion. His book is entitled, ”Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges In Time? (which releases on Tuesday, June 12th).”
RECOVERY?
Joel believes we can recover. I don’t. We have self-destructed. And the politically correct, etymologically incorrect, and philosophically illiterate, are so lost in their minds that they have played the biggest part in our Implosion and demise. Our societal amnesia arrived with Timothy Leary, LSD, free love, and has blossomed beneath the morally bankrupt within our public (and elitist private) university system. Where every man and woman’s opinion is equally valid, truth is banished. People calling evil, good. People calling good, evil.
Deceived professors taught the nonsense of “relativism” to gullible young minds for several generations. These young people, raised on a steady diet of video games, staring for hours at screens in darkened rooms, have become mindless zombies parroting these professors–professing what they themselves can’t live. Any wonder why people have lost their way, when there is no way to know the way? Several generations of public educated adults believe we crawled out of a primal ooze and developed from slugs, to Duck-billed Platipuses, to apes to human beings through an endless succession of mistakes for which no evidence exists. Think about how dark and fallen a mind has to be to entertain such a diminished, self-loathing, pseudo-scientific worldview. This nation has had its historic values and foundations ravished by people educated beyond their own intelligence. As a result, our nation as lost its collective mind. How can God let this American darkness spread any farther?
PRAYER WILL NOT SAVE AMERICA
How can we survive? We can’t. I actually have come to the place where I believe that not even prayer will save our nation. The prophet Jeremiah was told by God to stop interceding for a person because God had already decided his fate. His fate was sealed. No more prayer allowed, was God’s answer to Jeremiah.
God hears our intercession for America, but has already judged based on the blood of the innocents and the debasement of the doctrine of Creation in our flaunting of the basest views of humanity. Transhumanism, transexualism, transvestism, marriage between the same sex are all symptoms of a spiritual malady. The cure exists in God alone for those who will humble themselves and turn to Him. For those who justify their “lifestyle,” the future will be greater and increasing darkness and disease.
Based upon His character and revealed will, I believe God’s next move will be to allow us to have what we’ve embraced. This will mean great distress for the body of Christ. For a time, we will lose. Persecution will follow. We will be blamed. Because Satan always blames the truth-tellers. He is the Accuser of the family of God. When the culture implodes, no one who has not aligned with the darkness will be spared. The French Revolution has nothing on what I believe is in store for us. I wish it were not so. I desperately HOPE I am wrong, believe me.
A BLEAK PICTURE? YES.
This post paints a bleak picture. I wish I had a “7 Ways to Turn the Tide” list I could end with. Unfortunately, I believe that the Americans who do not want God to intervene in their lives will get exactly what they have been asking for. And when they finally cry out for Him, He will not answer. The problem is that many of the rest of us who saw the collapse coming, who tried to warn and turn people–and were mocked and ignored–may also be casualties along with the murdered babies. A culture that can murder its own children has no problem cannibalizing faces, shooting students, aborting its children, and unleashing its blood-lust and hatred upon those who long for righteousness.
The light is fading fast to a pin-point. This is the hour of darkness, when darkness reigns.
WAR ON THE HORIZON
War is coming to America. War in the middle east is inevitable. Putin was in Syria, China, and its former states. Russia is consolidating and shoring up its alliances. War will come to Israel and the United States. It will happen when everyone is saying, “Peace, peace.”
Then, after the darkness has appeared to win for a season, Jesus will return. And the Father has given all sorting out into His hands. He will make all things right. Those destined for fire will go to fire. Those who loved righteousness and longed for His coming will be swept into His new heaven and new earth.
One way or the other, I believe that we are the generation that will see the immanent, bodily return of the Savior. No man knows the time, the day, the hour–but He said that we will recognize the season. The axe is at the trunk of the tree. History is winding up.
I leave you with Joel Rosenberg’s questions:
We must not kid ourselves. The evidence suggests we may very well be aboard the Titanic, heading for icebergs and inexplicably increasing our speed toward disaster. So many on board are unaware of the dangers fast approaching and not concerned in the slightest. We haven’t hit the icebergs yet, but if we don’t make a sharp turn fast, we soon will, and we will sink. Who will serve as our captain and crew going forward? Will they understand the gravity of the threat and have the wisdom, courage and speed to take appropriate action before it is too late? What is our role as passengers? Are we to succumb to decadence, indulging ourselves in amusements and entertainment and alcohol with no regard for our own safety or the safety of others aboard? Or will we rise up, sound the alarm, and take action [while] we can?
This quote was from his post: http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/updated-version-cultural-implosion-cannibalism-mommy-porn-gay-marriage-drive-u-s-headlines-whats-going-on/
QUESTION: What does history tell you? Reawakening or Implosion?
Related articles
UPDATED VERSION: CULTURAL IMPLOSION? CANNIBALISM, “MOMMY PORN,” GAY MARRIAGE DRIVE U.S. HEADLINES: What’s going on? (flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com)
The Devil’s Arithmetic (1988), by Jane Yolen (karynskidlitreviews.wordpress.com)
Amazing Christians who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust; From Bibles for Israel (terri0729.wordpress.com)
Time to prepare is almost over. (hearhisheart.wordpress.com)
Filed under: Bits and Pieces, Consider It, In the News, Signs of the Times
At the Middle of the End: No Way Out?
The United States of America is reentering the dark ages.
Daily we grow closer to the final act.
In my opinion, we are at the middle of the end. The end of America as we have loved her is closer than ever. And there is no way out. No shining knight will arrive. No brilliant minds will extract us from our self-chosen end. There is no Plan B. Contingencies do not exist that will take us down a yellow-brick-road toward a new and brighter Emerald City.
We have consistently chosen darkness. We have chosen blind leaders who have taken us deeper into darkness, and God will let us have our way. It’s called free will. Our decline has been prophesied centuries before.
Mine is not the only voice of warning. Mine is not the only voice on the Titanic, crying “Iceberg ahead.” But our captain and crew don’t care. They’re too busy being impressed with the ship–texting their imagined progress and boasting of the speed with which they’re steaming us toward our end.
NOT TALKING POLITICS HERE
This is not an Obama-Romney thing. I believe that BOTH parties have ruined our nation. No President or majority of the House or Senate will be able to turn this ship in time. Only God can do that. And I believe that He has made up His mind to let the cruise continue along the line that the passengers have chosen. Granted, some of the passengers have not desired to continue steaming toward the coming implosion (see Joel Rosenberg’s important new book), but I believe their appeals to their leaders and to God to change our direction have received “No!” for an answer.
CHAMPIONS OF CHOICE
God honors our “choices.” We have made the choice by choosing blatant, in-your-face, immorality. By our spiritual decadence we have insured our demise. The unbelieving American people, for the most part, do not want God. They mock him. They consider Him a burden. They hate God’s people. They hate God’s values, or at best give them lip-service. And they will whore after anything but what’s true and pure. As a nation, we will have what the people have decided in their hearts. And many in the churches have embraced, and even championed, the decadence and decline.
God describes a similar scenario in ancient history:
“The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.” (Zephaniah 1:14–18, ESV)
LIFE RINGS
Understand, I am heartsick about this. I love my country. I have a deep love for the American people. I’m not one of those content to stand on the deck, watching the ship go down. In many previous posts, I have been throwing life-rings into the churning seas. Warning of the dangers of Islam. Warning of the worst that religion has to offer.
I’m in the prayer closet regularly. I have sought God’s mercy and favor for people–reminding Him of all the good our nation has done in the past. Reminding him of what a great people we could once again be with Him as our God. Reminding the Lord that He has many of His children on board the ship. That they have tried to warn the crew and ship’s company and passengers about the looming disaster ahead.
NO HEART FOR THE FUTURE
But the revelers would not listen. Instead, they silence our voices by demeaning us with mockery and closed, callused hearts. The unbelieving demonize the sons (and daughters) of God and think that they will escape God’s final justice. They have seared their consciences. They have sold their birthright for a morsel of stew. They know in the deepest places of their hearts that they have approved of this present wickedness. They love the darkness; it hides their sin. By demonic inspiration, our culture and its champions have helped them to soothe their defiled consciences. In their love of sin, they have even hated their own nation. We have professors, elites, and politicians who have no heart for future generations, no desire to leave a moral and spiritual legacy that would glorify God and usher in the true Kingdom. They spurn righteousness and revel in sin. But . . .
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34, ESV)
I’m afraid God would have to pardon Sodom & Gomorrah if he rescues America. Of course, the majority of Americans don’t even know about these two cities or what their sin was.
And a vast majority of the American people love and support the decadence of Sodom & Gomorrah–even so-called Christians (an increasingly meaningless term). Much like the word “gay”–which used to mean “happy”–”Christian” used to mean “follower of Jesus,” forgiven and “born-from-above” by God himself. Now, it mainly means “one who goes to church and believes things about Jesus and God.” Some even consider themselves “gay Christians.” Talk about an oxymoron. Rather than repent and allow God to heal, they parade their shame.
We have imported the perversions of Hades, baptized those proclivities, and called them “lifestyle choices.” And anyone who points this out is considered “hateful” or a hate-monger. The mob calls truth–the truth of God–”hate speech.” It’s almost too amazing for the mind to grasp. Human beings, created in God’s image, accuse the God of love of being hateful because–through his people–He warns them of the course they’re on, in order to bring them to their senses and repent, that they might know freedom, love and peace.
The beginning of the end came with the legalization of abortion on demand–infanticide–murdering babies. Now our leaders are moving us toward selective baby murder. Joel Rosenberg, in his newsletter “FlashTraffic” wrote that the United States has almost murdered as many babies as the number of people who died in Nazi Germany’s Holocaust. And we are ramping that up. If that weren’t bad enough. A number of people in our nation couldn’t even tell you what the Holocaust was or who died in Nazi Germany.
Terrorism, the rise of Islam, as well as our decline and soaring financial debt may just be the harvest of the seeds of rebellion we’ve sown, as we’ve turned away from God and His Kingdom. I honestly believe that terrorism is a sign of the times. It is our wake-up call. We are receiving what we’ve invited. Only the most obtuse and historically ignorant in our midst would argue that ALL Muslims are radical jihadists; but, the vast majority of terrorists in the world today are Muslims. They delight in obedience to the Koran and obeisance to Allah (who is not Yahweh, the Father of Jesus Christ. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.).
First I thought that God might turn things around through another great revival or awakening. But I believe that we have passed the point of no return; we have crossed the middle of the end. We are not yet at the end of the end, but Joel Rosenberg calls that destination, the coming Implosion. His book is entitled, ”Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges In Time? (which releases on Tuesday, June 12th).”
RECOVERY?
Joel believes we can recover. I don’t. We have self-destructed. And the politically correct, etymologically incorrect, and philosophically illiterate, are so lost in their minds that they have played the biggest part in our Implosion and demise. Our societal amnesia arrived with Timothy Leary, LSD, free love, and has blossomed beneath the morally bankrupt within our public (and elitist private) university system. Where every man and woman’s opinion is equally valid, truth is banished. People calling evil, good. People calling good, evil.
Deceived professors taught the nonsense of “relativism” to gullible young minds for several generations. These young people, raised on a steady diet of video games, staring for hours at screens in darkened rooms, have become mindless zombies parroting these professors–professing what they themselves can’t live. Any wonder why people have lost their way, when there is no way to know the way? Several generations of public educated adults believe we crawled out of a primal ooze and developed from slugs, to Duck-billed Platipuses, to apes to human beings through an endless succession of mistakes for which no evidence exists. Think about how dark and fallen a mind has to be to entertain such a diminished, self-loathing, pseudo-scientific worldview. This nation has had its historic values and foundations ravished by people educated beyond their own intelligence. As a result, our nation as lost its collective mind. How can God let this American darkness spread any farther?
PRAYER WILL NOT SAVE AMERICA
How can we survive? We can’t. I actually have come to the place where I believe that not even prayer will save our nation. The prophet Jeremiah was told by God to stop interceding for a person because God had already decided his fate. His fate was sealed. No more prayer allowed, was God’s answer to Jeremiah.
God hears our intercession for America, but has already judged based on the blood of the innocents and the debasement of the doctrine of Creation in our flaunting of the basest views of humanity. Transhumanism, transexualism, transvestism, marriage between the same sex are all symptoms of a spiritual malady. The cure exists in God alone for those who will humble themselves and turn to Him. For those who justify their “lifestyle,” the future will be greater and increasing darkness and disease.
Based upon His character and revealed will, I believe God’s next move will be to allow us to have what we’ve embraced. This will mean great distress for the body of Christ. For a time, we will lose. Persecution will follow. We will be blamed. Because Satan always blames the truth-tellers. He is the Accuser of the family of God. When the culture implodes, no one who has not aligned with the darkness will be spared. The French Revolution has nothing on what I believe is in store for us. I wish it were not so. I desperately HOPE I am wrong, believe me.
A BLEAK PICTURE? YES.
This post paints a bleak picture. I wish I had a “7 Ways to Turn the Tide” list I could end with. Unfortunately, I believe that the Americans who do not want God to intervene in their lives will get exactly what they have been asking for. And when they finally cry out for Him, He will not answer. The problem is that many of the rest of us who saw the collapse coming, who tried to warn and turn people–and were mocked and ignored–may also be casualties along with the murdered babies. A culture that can murder its own children has no problem cannibalizing faces, shooting students, aborting its children, and unleashing its blood-lust and hatred upon those who long for righteousness.
The light is fading fast to a pin-point. This is the hour of darkness, when darkness reigns.
WAR ON THE HORIZON
War is coming to America. War in the middle east is inevitable. Putin was in Syria, China, and its former states. Russia is consolidating and shoring up its alliances. War will come to Israel and the United States. It will happen when everyone is saying, “Peace, peace.”
Then, after the darkness has appeared to win for a season, Jesus will return. And the Father has given all sorting out into His hands. He will make all things right. Those destined for fire will go to fire. Those who loved righteousness and longed for His coming will be swept into His new heaven and new earth.
One way or the other, I believe that we are the generation that will see the immanent, bodily return of the Savior. No man knows the time, the day, the hour–but He said that we will recognize the season. The axe is at the trunk of the tree. History is winding up.
I leave you with Joel Rosenberg’s questions:
We must not kid ourselves. The evidence suggests we may very well be aboard the Titanic, heading for icebergs and inexplicably increasing our speed toward disaster. So many on board are unaware of the dangers fast approaching and not concerned in the slightest. We haven’t hit the icebergs yet, but if we don’t make a sharp turn fast, we soon will, and we will sink. Who will serve as our captain and crew going forward? Will they understand the gravity of the threat and have the wisdom, courage and speed to take appropriate action before it is too late? What is our role as passengers? Are we to succumb to decadence, indulging ourselves in amusements and entertainment and alcohol with no regard for our own safety or the safety of others aboard? Or will we rise up, sound the alarm, and take action [while] we can?
This quote was from his post: http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/updated-version-cultural-implosion-cannibalism-mommy-porn-gay-marriage-drive-u-s-headlines-whats-going-on/
QUESTION: What does history tell you? Reawakening or Implosion?
Related articles
UPDATED VERSION: CULTURAL IMPLOSION? CANNIBALISM, “MOMMY PORN,” GAY MARRIAGE DRIVE U.S. HEADLINES: What’s going on? (flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com)
The Devil’s Arithmetic (1988), by Jane Yolen (karynskidlitreviews.wordpress.com)
Amazing Christians who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust; From Bibles for Israel (terri0729.wordpress.com)
Time to prepare is almost over. (hearhisheart.wordpress.com)
Filed under: Bits and Pieces, Consider It, In the News, Signs of the Times
June 10, 2012
Lust, Love, or TRUE Love? pt.2
So what characterizes true love? Practically speaking, what does it look like? You may ask, “How will I know if I am truly loving someone with the third type of love you mentioned in Pt. 1–agape love?”
For centuries, western men and women have had one major source for their definition of true love. That source is the best selling book of all time and tops every list today–selling so many copies that the New York Times bestseller list doesn’t even list it anymore (otherwise, it would always be at the top). That source is the 66 books of the library known as The Bible.
I have not come across a better definitinon anywhere than the one given in the “First Letter to the Corinthians,” by the Apostle Paul. What many people do not understand is that the apostle was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In effect, what Paul has given us is God’s view of true love. This love is the love that was built into us. We don’t know why, but all of us long for true love. We are moved by romantic movies and brought to tears when the handsome prince sweeps the servant girl up in his arms and proposes to her. Why? What’s being touched inside us? Our response, if our hearts are still soft, come from deep within, from the place where we are made in the image of the God who has declared Himself to be LOVE.
“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16, ESV) [emphasis mine]
Love and the Creator of agape love are intimately indivisible. So what does God list as the characteristics of true love?
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.” (1 Corinthians 13:1–8, ESV)
More specifically,God says, through Paul, that true love is:
More important than language (human and spiritual)
More important than supernatural attributes like:
prophetic powers
understanding of all mysteries and all knowledge
More important than faith
More important than charity and sacrificial giving
Patient
Kind
Glad to see the best for others
Humble
Gracious, and well-mannered
Not self-seeking; does not insist on its own way; lays down its life for the other
Not irritable
Not resentful
Does not take joy in what is wrong or in the suffering of others
Joyful with what is true
Willing to bear all things (carries the load)
Willing to believe the best in every situation
Always hopeful
Always persevering, enduring
Everlasting, never-ending
Impossible? No, this description defines true love . . . and this love really exists. But the only way we can love in this way is if our hearts are transformed by the God, who created us to love in this way. He is the One who can heal us to love deeply from the heart.
In Him, all our damage can be healed. We can be delivered from self and filled with His Spirit of love. If true love is possible, would you want to live even another minute without experiencing what you were created for?
This is the love God has for us. And this is the love He floods our life with . . . if we’re open. And if we’re willing to invite Him into the center of our love and affection. If so, He fits us to be filled with divine love–agape–and loves others through us.
I can tell you–from having experienced love apart from Him, and true love for another with Him at the center–that there is no comparison.
Because God has loved me, I can now love selflessly with the love I have recieved from Him.
My wife loves Jesus first and loves me with the love that fills her life from Him. This is a love beyond human effort. This is the same love God loves me with. And by it, I am healed and whole. This is true love and after 33years of marriage, it unfolds to be deeper every day.
I hope that you will not settle for less than is possible. I hope you are better able to recognize and evaluate what kind of love you are giving and receiving.
QUESTION: Have you given or received true love? Tell us about it.
Related article:
Lust, Love, or TRUE Love? (davidcalves.com)
Filed under: Bits and Pieces, Consider It
June 8, 2012
Encourage a Fellow Writer
I’m practicing in public. I’m writing with thousands of others today who have taken Jeff Goins’ 15-day challenge. As a part of this challenge, I made the aquaintance of a sister who is writing an important memoir about adoption and the challenges faced by broken families. I believe in the spirit of what Jeff is doing. I also have read some of my new writer-friend’s work. So I’m doing something that those of you who know me know that I seldom do (or have done). I’m pointing my readers to her and her memoir. You can begin by visiting her website/blog. You’ll find an assortment of rich writing there.
Her name is Carole Smith (as far as I know, her real name). Her address is: http://caroleasmith.blogspot.com/ Especially pay attention to her post, “The Power of an Unsent Letter.”
Because I BELIEVE in what Carole is doing, I am going to INITIATE this post so that we can PRACTICE writing by commenting on her blog. I bet it would be thrilling for her to have this sudden upsurge in commenters. And I KNOW Jeff would say, we’re catching on.
Enough said? Oh, by the way, Carole doesn’t know I’m doing this, so don’t let on. Just surprise her. Someone might do that for you sometime. You never know.
Be generous and let others know about her too. Thanks. I’m glad to be engaged in this challenge with people like those I’ve met so far. Every blessing be yours.
Related articles
15 Habits of Great Writers Challenge – Day 3 (rachelleharp.com)
I Am a Writer (jsbandura.wordpress.com)
Long-liners and Writers: Declare (davidcalves.com)
You are a Writer: So Start Acting Like One by Jeff Goins (Book Review) Reviewed by Tammy (iwokeupyesterday.com)
Filed under: Books, Consider It, FOR READERS, FOR WRITERS, Recommended Resources, Social Networking
June 5, 2012
Long-liners and Writers: Declare
I’m participating with fellow traveller and author, Jeff Goins.
He has challenged his tribe and fellow bloggers to put into practice “15 Habits of Great Writers.” Coincidentally, this is also the title of his most recent book. If you haven’t purchased it yet, you owe it to yourself . . . if you consider yourself a writer . . . and if you believe that you can learn from fellow writers . . . to buy it, read it, and put it into practice.
DECLARE
The word for today, the first day of the challenge, is: DECLARE.
The idea is to declare to others (and more importantly, to yourself) that you indeed are a writer.
MY DECLARATION
Long-liners are much like writers. They fish for something they know exists but can’t be seen, swimming in the depths below. They catch a fish on line and pull it in careful to ease it in and not to lose it. Then, when it’s close enough to reach, they gaff it and together pull it aboard, shouting and rejoicing. What was once invisible below is now visible on their deck.
I declared myself a writer, a fisher of the invisible, more than a half-century ago. I write because I’ve got something important to say to a particular group of people. I write because I want to communicate. I write because I have a vocation to write that is God-given. I was created to be a writer. I was created to speak publicly what I hear in private. I was given stewardship over a gift to hear and see what is invisible.
Writing is making visible the invisible so that others can have a share in it. Shakespeare described the process of creative writing:
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name..
“Gives to airy nothing, a local habitation and a name” Is this what you do? Then you, along with me and others, are a writer.
The characrter of Billy Tyne (Captain of the Andrea Gail) , in the movie “The Perfect Storm” described what it was to be a sword boat Captain. At the end of his description he stares straight ahead at the sea in front of him and says, “Is there anything better in the world?”
I would have to answer “Yes . . . to be a writer.”
QUESTION: What about you . . . Have you DECLARED that you are a writer? When? How?
Related articles
E-Book Review: You Are A Writer by Jeff Goins (fantasyfic.wordpress.com)
Book Review – You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) by Jeff Goins (bookshelfontilt.wordpress.com)
Filed under: FOR WRITERS
June 3, 2012
Mastering the Habits of Great Writers | Goins, Writer
via Mastering the Habits of Great Writers | Goins, Writer.
Filed under: FOR WRITERS, Recommended Resources
June 2, 2012
Lust, Love, or TRUE Love?
Lust, love or true love . . . do you know the difference?
Though our modern culture has lost touch with how to recognize true love, my modest hope is that by the time you finish this post, you will be able to clearly see the difference between, lust, love, and true love and recognize true love when you see it.
As a foundation–a place to start–let’s look at a language other than English to help us out with this. Let’s look at Koine Greek. Why? Because in English, when he says “I love you,” but is only interested in your body, it’s not about love at all. It’s about eros.
The noun eros is equivalent to the English noun “lust.” Lust is a strong desire to possess or own; it is an extreme or insatiable desire “to have.” From eros we get the English word–”erotic”–which has nothing to do with true love. Rather, it is “love” which wants to own or possess you as an object of its desire. So eros may be a form of love, but not love for YOU. His profession of love shows more about self-love and lust, than about any desire for real intimacy with you or commitment to you. You are his object, his toy. You fulfill his need and desire. Of course, eros can be her motive as well. It works in both directions. When eros is through desiring its object, it turns its focus elsewhere–met him/her yet?
Relationships based upon eros (the majority of rap, hip-hop, and Hollywood romances) end in failure, human pain, and worse. Eros invites the wrong spirits into the relationship and bodies of those who “love” in this way may even house those wrong spirits. (More on spiritual connections or “soul ties” in another post).
And guys, when she says she loves you, but she’s unwilling to commit and that she wants to be your friend, you better understand that she’s not talking about true love, or eros, but about phileo. This word is love of a fellow person–as in brotherly love. Phileo–brotherly love and Delphos–city–is the are the word roots for the English word “Philadelphia”–”city of brotherly love.” But phileo is not TRUE love either. It is a friendship, companionship kind of love, which is important in a serious love relationship, but is not of itself “true love.” Not that phileo is a bad thing. Brotherly love is never bad, just not enough to build a life-long, lasting relationship upon.
Perhaps it’s phileo that best describes the majority of those short-term relationships built upon things like enjoying sports, or liking the same foods or music, or disliking the same people. But brotherly love usually lacks true, long-term commitment and self-sacrifice–the two values that are the basis for the third and final type of love under consideration–agape.
True love (as in the Princess Bride–”twoo love”) is expressed by the word agape. Agape is the divine love of classic literature. And yes, it truly does exist. This kind of love is the love that is generated by moving from phileo through self-motives, and beyond, into a true and real desire to give. This is true love.
When a group of children were asked what they thought love was, one little girl answered, “Love is when your mommy reads you a bedtime story. True love is when she doesn’t skip any pages.” [even though she's dog-tired]
Agape love is generous. It gives of itself. Agape is self sacrificial and committed. This is the love that will not take from the beloved. This is the love that lays its own life down to fulfill the life of the other.
Agape is not a 50-50% love–that’s phileo. Agape is 100-100%. In marriage seminars, Marcy and I share that true lovers give 100%. This love is the kind that characterizes great loves–that lasted through decades of difficulty, suffering and separation. Our quick-fix, fast foods–give-it-to-me-now–society and culture knows very little of this love. Any surprise we have the highest divorce rate in American history?
Knowing what true love is frees you from all other forms and forgeries. You can be a true lover and be truly loved. As a human being, you were predestined to be truly loved. So what characterizes true love? Practically, what does it look like? How will I know if I am truly loving someone? For sake of word length, and your attention, I answer this in my next post–Part 2.
Filed under: Bits and Pieces, Consider It
May 28, 2012
What Apple and Google are not Telling you About Mobile Device Security
mobile devices (Photo credit: Hands On Support)
What Apple and Google are not Telling you About Mobile Device Security (infographic) – Forbes.
I found this post & infographic very instructive and helpful. Some simple actions to take to be more secure on your mobile device.
Filed under: Bits and Pieces, Consider It, Recommended Resources, Social Networking
May 25, 2012
My Creative Spaces
In a previous post, My Places to Be Alone, I shared some photos of places I like to go to be alone. These are creative spaces that draw me back and refresh me. These spaces inspire my creativity. They include . . .
The rocks at Scarborough, RI.
Writer’s heaven
My writing space at the Mt. Flyer in Ludlow, VT
A college garden.
A private library.
QUESTION: Where are the creative spaces that you most like to be alone?
© 2012, David C Alves
Filed under: Bits and Pieces, FOR READERS, FOR WRITERS
May 23, 2012
Beach Cure
For me, there’s no cure like the beach. Such a variety of things combine here to relax and refresh me. The wind, the water, the sand, the sun, my slow pace, all combine to restore my joy and refocus my attention. Even if I sit in the condo and simply listen to the sounds while I write or reflect, I enter a new frame of mind and heart.
This morning it was overcast and cool as the tail end of last night’s storm cleared out. But there’s nothing sad about the lack of sun. It’s simply another mood.
Only at the beach do I totally let down. In the morning, I’m sitting with a coffee. Watching all the movement around me. Hearing a constant, distant roar of high tide under a nine knot Northeast wind, settles me into the rhythm of nature. Every few seconds, gusts hit the balcony door. Since it’s not tightened down, the wind moans past it into the sitting room briefly rustling the fig tree’s long, slender leaves. The blinds sway and clack–some wind-inspired conversation I’m not privy to.
I smell coffee, sea spray, and wild roses. These are the smells of my experience here at the shore. I remember the smells at the shore when I used to go as a teenager to West Dennis, Cape Cod, every summer. There I smelled salt water, sun-tan lotion, beach plum, scrub pine, and clam flats. Sometimes I was treated to the smell of an old fashioned New England clambake.
Along the beach, spume and spray lift with every crash of the white topped waves as they spend their energy down the shoreline. Colorful jackets and sweatshirts here and there make their way along the paths over dunes to disappear beyond. Then minutes later they reappear far out along the waterline. I sit and watch. I listen to the quiet in my spirit, undisturbed–at rest and grateful.
Later afternoon, the sun returns and I sit out with a tall, cold, Iced tea or juice–ice cubes clinking and sweat dripping down the glass onto my coaster. Listening to my favorite playlists of Brazilian bossa nova and smooth jazz or of the beach songs I recall from my past. No agenda. No conditions. No schedule. Just plain laziness and rest. I’m not a tourist here. I’m planted. The perfect atmosphere to inspire a creative spurt and perhaps a stray post.
I believe I’ve found my cure.
QUESTION: What does the beach do for you? Is it a cure for you?
©2012, David C Alves
Filed under: ON THE JOURNEY, REFLECTIONS
