Nov. 5, 2009

I had a great time in Alabama for a couple of weeks.  Now I’m back in Southern California.  This afternoon, I had an enjoyable walk through one of my favorite greenbelts in Irvine, which I miss if I am away from it for too long.

       

Irvine is my favorite city in Orange County.  There are city ordinances against things such as telephone or electric wires above ground, as well as billboards.  Plus, there are several nice parks located in various places.  So the whole city is aesthetically pleasing.

Also, there are bicycle lanes and paths everywhere, and I have had some great rides here.  My favorite route is University Avenue, past UC Irvine, to Eastbluff Drive in Newport Beach, then Back Bay Drive along Upper Newport Bay, down to Jamboree Road and across to Balboa Island.

By that time, I am ready for the relaxing ferry trip over to Balboa Peninsula.  Then I ride along the beach to the pier, and all the way back to Irvine again, the same way I came.  It is hard to beat the scenic views on that outing.

I used to have a dog, Penny.  For several years, she walked with me along this greenbelt.  After she was gone, I didn’t grieve or miss her for too long, mainly because I regularly funtion being dominated more by my brain than by my heart.  I am not emotionless; however, I do every thing I can, primarily, to see things logically and, secondarily, to feel them emotionally.

A few people I know either have lost pets this year, or they presently are dealing with sickly pets, who may check out at any time.  If I give my advice, it is to say what I would do, personally, which is not necessarily what they should do.  For me, the expense (food and vet bills), the invasion of my freedom and independence (such as having to find someone to deal with my pet when I am away), plus the loss when the pet is gone, all far outweigh any “good times” or “emotional bonding” that I would have with my pet.

Also, I pretty much love all animals equally.  I always can enjoy being around other people’s pets, in case I need a “pet fix.”

I cannot and will not attest to the validity or reliability of either of these dreams/visions.  I know nothing about the people who wrote them.  I only am including these here because if my 70th Week hypothesis is correct, and if there is going to be a sudden, unexpected intervention by God at the midpoint of that interval of time, these accounts would seem to corroborate this.  If so, presumably this intervention would take place on or around the Feast of Firstfruits 2010 (that is, Resurrection Day or Easter Sunday), about five months from now.

Rather than there being an immediate catching up of some believers, there might be a supernatural “infusion” or “impartation” of power and indestructibility onto these believers at that time.  Then, like Jesus, they would remain on the earth for forty days (Acts 1:3), doing the bidding of God, until taken up into heaven.  Believers remaining behind still would have the opportunity to be caught up at the main Pre-wrath Rapture, at a later time.  If anything, all of this is something interesting to contemplate.

Nov. 1, 2009

We had a tasty dinner, Chicken Fried Rice, which was purchased at Aldi food store.  After leaving the package out of the freezer for about 5 hours to thaw, it was incredibly easy to prepare.  The pre-cooked chicken was heated in a frying pan for 2 minutes.  The rice and vegetables were added, stirring frequently, for 6 minutes.  Then the sauce was added and stirred in, and voilà it was done.

   

Best of all, it cost only $3.99 for 4 servings.  For other examples of that store’s awesome prices, check my October 25 entry.  By the way, last time I was there, I got a bag of semi-ripe bananas for only 20¢.  How can they afford to do that??

The only thing I don’t like is that all of those pumpkin seeds will go to waste.  I would have been happy to clean up that entire mess myself.  I would have rinsed off all of those seeds, toasted them, and eaten every one of them.  I think it’s about time to go to the store and buy one so I can do that.

By the way, standard time begins early in the morning.  So if you live in a location that observes daylight time, turn your clocks back an hour before you go to bed.  When I fly back to California soon, I will be gaining two hours.  Essentially, the time change will make it three hours.  Gaining time is always one of my favorite things about flying west.

Oct. 30, 2009

There is a tree in this neighborhood that was struck by lightning a few months ago.  You can see how a strip of bark was ripped off from the top of the trunk all the way to the bottom.

Wow, I would have loved to have been around when that happened.  I bet it was REALLY LOUD.

Considering where we may be in prophesied history, I have to contemplate the possibility that this is just one example of wild beast attacks, as part of Fourth Seal events (Revelation 6:7,8).  I have heard of numerous other animal attacks in the past couple of years by bears, lions, cougars, sharks, alligators, and other “wild beasts.”  If my 70th Week hypothesis is correct, watch for a marked increase of such attacks in the near future.

Oct. 28, 2009

I haven’t made lasagna in quite awhile, but my cousins like the way I make it.  So I made two lasagnas this afternoon.  I used extra lean ground beef (I drained off all the grease), onions, lots of garlic, mushrooms, yellow crooknecked squash, spinach leaves, broccoli, low-fat cottage cheese, mozarella cheese, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  The second lasagna was bigger and the cheese in the middle wasn’t browning very well, so I had to put the oven on broil for a few minutes after I had removed the first one.

 

When it came time to boil the lasagna noodles, I noticed that they were “oven ready” noodles, meaning they do not need to be boiled.  I’ve never seen those before.  I was skeptical, because they looked and felt like regular lasagna noodles.

 

So I made one lasagna with those noodles and the second lasagna with regular noodles, which I found in the cabinet and boiled.  I had one piece of each lasagna; amazingly, they tasted the same, and the noodles in each had the same texture.  I think I’m sold on “oven ready” noodles.

In any case, I was very satisfied with my dinner.  Ted Montgomery’s lasagna: M-M-M!!! 

Oct. 27, 2009

My cousin’s cat, Brat, has been limping around for a couple of days.  Somehow, he hurt his right/front paw.  We don’t know how it happened.  In each of these photos, you can see how he has that paw retracted.

   

Normally, Brat is not allowed on the dining room table.  But since he is injured, he is being extended leniency.  Nobody eats on that table anyway.  I hope Brat the cat’s paw is better soon, or he will have to be taken to the vet.  He is a good kitty. 

On another topic, I cannot stand to see food go to waste.  When I am home, I waste virtually nothing.  Here is dinner tonight: some really good vegetable soup that my cousin made, and on top of that some salad, scrambled egg, turkey bacon, and potatoes.  All of it was leftovers in the refrigerator.

My cousin thought it looked “yucky”; actually, it was quite yummy.  Anyway, I just wanted to get rid of leftovers, in case I get motivated to make a lasagna tomorrow.

Oct. 25, 2009

I am visiting my cousin in Alabama.  Typically, I do not link to commercial websites from mine, but I am making an exception.

My new favorite grocery store is Aldi (http://www.aldifoods.com).  The 6 bananas were 50¢, the 4 pears were 50¢, and the big bag of fruit (4 green apples, 4 red apples, 4 oranges) was $4.99.  All of those, along with raw oats and a little nonfat milk, compose my afternoon meals for 4 days.  The fruit is very fresh and, obviously, inexpensive.  I add toasted corn tortillas with peanut butter.  And, yes, I do eat the orange peels.

   

The chocolate cake was one of the tastiest I've ever made.  The mix (at the Aldi store) was 89¢, and the frosting was $1.19.  Unlike in California, there is tax on food here.  But with prices like that, I don’t really mind.

It makes me wonder if this could be a strategy, by Solana, to ingratiate himself to Israel.  Perhaps he has future personal dealings with Israel in mind.

For another thing, if we truly are near the very end of the age (as I suspect that we are), cataclysmic events, worldwide, are going to begin taking place relatively soon—during the “day of vengeance.”  I believe that, most likely, this will be throughout the seventh year of Daniel’s 70th Week.

Just before that period of God’s vengeance, but soon after the Sixth Seal of the heavenly scroll has been opened, people will experience and witness a colossal earthquake that evidently will shake the entire earth, supernatural cosmic disturbances in the sky (Revelation 6:12-14), and “the face of Him [Jesus] who sits on the throne” (6:16).  At that time, anybody with any sense will know that God has thrust Himself, forcibly, into our sphere of existence and should understand that all of the calamities subsequent to that point are a direct result of His wrath (6:17).

By that time (I suspect beginning in late 2012), it should be quite obvious to everyone that “climate change” has nothing to do with the upheavals and catastrophes that are taking place.  Rather, a righteous God will be judging the world before His Anointed One comes to rule and reign over it.

I was in the Phoenix airport a few days ago, about to return to San Diego.  I was doing some things online with my laptop computer.  Not paying attention to the gate, I looked up and my group was boarding.  I hurriedly unplugged my laptop computer and stuffed the AC adapter into my backpack while my computer was shutting down.  However, I failed to put my computer into my backpack, leaving it behind.

When I discovered this fact on the plane, I panicked for about 3 seconds.  Then, I thought about how strongly I believe that predestination and free will are both 100% true, and that they have an “if and only if” relationship, mathematically and philosophically.  That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence, or an “if and only if” relationship, between destiny and free choice; there cannot be one without the other.

Believing that things happen the way they are planned to happen, by God, from before the creation of the universe, helps me not to worry too much about inopportune events.  In the case of my computer, it was meant for me to choose, inadvertently, not to slide my laptop into my backpack.  And that was because it was determined, before the beginning of time, for that to happen.  Therefore, there was nothing I could have done to prevent it.  That is what I believe, anyway.

So I thought, “If God already had this planned out, then maybe this is a test to see how I will react to this situation: blow up, get mad at myself, get mad at God, pout...or else, trust Him fully.”  So I remained completely calm and content and just asked, if I never saw my computer again, that He would prevent anyone from stealing my identity.  The rest was up to Him, knowing that it would be no problem for Him to get my computer back to me, if He wanted to.

The short version of the rest of the story is that my computer was found and FedExed to me.  I received it today, completely intact.  So God came through for me.  In fact, in His honor, I changed around the buttons on my home page.  I made the links to my Bible-related and prophecy information be in the first column.  I moved the link to my eye site (which always has claimed first-place at my website), plus links to other sections, to the last column.  That is how the buttons will remain indefinitely—unless it is predestined for me to rearrange them again, at some point.

It has been suggested to me that if sacrifices and offerings are begun in this replica of the temple, and then stopped at some point, this potentially could qualify as fulfilling the prophecy in Daniel 9:27.  Hmmm...maybe so.  I guess we’ll see.  What I would be interested in knowing is whether or not the new sacrificial altar stone (see my July 30 entry) will be placed in the temple replica at the school.

Every mountain and island will be removed from its place.  Wow.  That sounds to me like that great earthquake will shake the entire earth.  In case my proposed seven-year time frame is correct, this will take place in the Fall of 2012—less than three years from now.

Without a doubt, the world’s socio-economic and political systems are deteriorating rapidly.  Coincident with but independent of this, I suspect that the earth itself is becoming increasingly unstable and seismically active.  Let’s watch and see if the frequency and magnitude of global quakes and volcanic eruptions continue to grow.

I suspect that Iran is stalling on inspections, for as long as it can, to “straighten up” its nuclear facility and hide anything that would raise the suspicion of IAEA inspectors.  Javier Solana said that there will be further dialogue, between the six global powers and Iran, before the end of the month.  Presumably, Solana will be representing the “big six,” just as he did at the Geneva talks.

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the following.  Then I felt compelled to write it down before I went back to sleep.  I don’t know why I woke up with it in my head, and I don’t know why I felt that I needed to write it down...just did.

Idealists seem to think that things should be, and wish that they could be, the way that they want them to be (see Idealism vs. Realism).  Inevitably, though, this leads to heartache and pain, because often their thoughts and wishes do not conform to reality, and reality trumps everything, eventually.  A sudden jolt of realism vaporizes their dreams and fantasies, leaving them crestfallen, discontent, and depressed.

God is the ultimate realist, not an idealist.  Jesus was God, in flesh, and He had no illusions about the mission He was appointed to carry out.  He did not have false hopes and aspirations that caused Him to believe that He could save the entire world, simply by making everyone in it conform to His way of thinking and doing things.  That was not part of His Father’s perfect eternal plan.  Jesus would have been the ultimate tyrant if He had forced all of humanity to abide by His wishes: that all would be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3,4).  Such idealistic notions would have been the epitome of irrationality, though Jesus may have wished it and wanted that with all of His heart.

So when things do not go our own ways, we should not wish, hope, and dream that they could.  Jesus didn’t.  He knew that He was destined to die (Matthew 16:21), via one of the most excruciatingly painful deaths imaginable—on the cross.  Yet, He was positive, confident, and content virtually all of the time.  He had no false illusions about what He had to do to be able to save certain elect members of the human race, the ones that the Father had given Him (John 17:9,24).  And He knew that these would be special, intimate treasures and precious gems throughout eternity—thus making the cross worth every bloody, anguishing, agonizing moment for Him.

If you are reading this, I hope that you are one of Jesus’ elect treasures and gems, who will experience eternal bliss and gladness with your glorious, realistic Savior.  If so, now is the time to understand that neither this world, nor God Himself, are not going to conform to your unrealistic expectations of how things should be.  In fact, this foolish, idealistic world is about to be turned upside-down and inside-out, before our very eyes.

The New World Order, and everyone associated with it, will be supremely idealistic and reckless.  Unwisely, they will believe that the world can be run successfully by compelling everyone to conform to their foolishly wild imaginings of how things should be.  But, fortunately, this imprudent, destructive regime of terror will be overturned and shattered to pieces (Daniel 2:34,35), when the King of Realism returns to overthrow it and set up His own Kingdom (2:44).  He will rule and reign over the world, forever, in absolute justice and righteousness.

We all are idealistic, to some degree, because we are human beings and not little gods.  But let us strive to be like Jesus, whose God component overcame His human component—that is, His Spirit overcame His Flesh—at all times.  And, at His resurrection, He was propelled to infinite heights of joy and happiness, which He also will share with believers in Him when He returns for us in the clouds, at the Rapture.  What a glorious, magnificent, realistic hope we have in Him!

At sunset this evening, the festival of Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles (or Feast of Booths), began.  Tomorrow continues the first day of Sukkot, on which there always is a full moon.  I believe that Jesus was born on the first day of Sukkot.  Thus, He was born on a full moon, and He also died on a full moon (Passover).

Sukkot (Leviticus 23:33-43; Deuteronomy 16:13-17; Nehemiah 8:14-18) is a week, each year, in which Israelites (and, I feel, believers in the God of Israel) are to construct booths out of branches in their yards and spend time in them.  It is a time to commemorate the forty-year period in which the children of Israel, led by Moses, wandered in the Sinai Desert, with God supplying all of their needs: food, water, shelter, clothing, guidance, light, and heat.

Each family had to live in a small, temporary dwelling, or sukkah (plural, sukkot), as the Israelites wandered in the desert.  They were encouraged to look up through the thatched roof at the stars in the night sky, reminding them of the promise God made to Abram (Abraham): that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens (Genesis 15:5, 22:17, 26:4).

It also is probable that the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-13) took place during the Feast of Tabernacles.  Peter offered to put up three shelters or tents—one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah (17:4)—most likely a reference to three sukkahs or sukkot.

Jesus celebrated, and even taught at, the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:1-44).  After Jesus returns back to earth, the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) will be celebrated, in that year and in every year thereafter, in Jerusalem.  Representatives from all the nations of the world will go to Jerusalem, at that time, to worship King Jesus and to celebrate the feast; otherwise, those nations will have no rain (Zechariah 14:16-19).

When people from the nations of the world gather together in Jerusalem to worship Jesus on Sukkot, I see this as the biggest birthday celebration of all time.  Best of all, it will be an annual event.  I hope Jesus’ favorite flavor of birthday cake is chocolate.

Oct. 1, 2009

Today, Javier Solana hosted talks in Geneva, Switzerland, referred to as “Geneva Talks 2.”  He appeared to be the main representative and spokesperson of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Germany, and China in negotiating with Saeed Jalili, representing Iran, concerning Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.  Mr. Jalili promised that Iran would allow inspections “soon” and within “a few weeks.”  He also stated, “The Islamic Republic would by no means be dissuaded of its certain rights.”  I will believe that inspections of Iran’s newest nuclear facility have been made only when I hear that this has been done.  That is, I will believe it when I see it.

         

If you would like to see a 3¼-minute video of Javier Solana and Saeed Jalili arriving at the conference in Geneva, click here (although you will need RealPlayer to view it).  In the video, Solana emerges from the back seat of the first limosine and Jalili from the back seat of the second limo.

After the talks, Solana held a press conference.  Watch a video of some of that conference, or go here to read a few of the remarks that he made (it is a PDF file):

Introductory Remarks by Javier Solana

These “talks” remind me of the “Geneva (1) Talks” of July 19, 2008, also between Solana and Jalili (see my July 20, 2008 entry).  Absolutely nothing was accomplished then, and I seriously doubt that anything substantial was accomplished today.

Besides this, what mainly concerns me is Solana’s apparent presumption that he is representing my country, the United States, as he did back on June 14, 2008, in other talks in Tehran.  As far as I am concerned, Solana is being given way too much authority and influence in world affairs.  His importance in the world is evidenced by some of his 170 videos with leaders, foreign ministers, and ambassadors; these are available to be viewed on his You Tube page (bottom/right and up one section).  Of course, he continues to press fervently for a two-state solution in Israel, in accordance with one of the foremost objectives of the European Neighbourhood Policy (see also my entries for July 13 and July 12).

See Ted’s Remarks for July-Sep., 2009