If you have a weak stomach or feel squeamish at the sight of blood, you probably should not read any further, nor look at the photos below.  I had been keeping a small amount of fruit on the (enclosed) back porch because there wasn’t quite enough room in the refrigerator, and it is cooler out there than in the house.  The fruit was on top of a large plastic cooler.

One day last week, it appeared that small bites had been taken out of a couple of apples and a pear.  I also saw tiny bits of something that looked like grains of brown rice, but I knew I did not have any rice out there.

So I looked closer and realized that it was poop from a small animal or animals.  I figured it probably was from mice, although I couldn’t figure out how they had crawled up the side of the cooler, which is a large, tall one.

This weekend, I bought four basic mousetraps at WalMart.  I put a small glob of peanut butter on each, as recommended on the package.  However, I could not figure out how to set a trap, as the instructions were kind of vague.  So I went online and found a page with a photo showing how to set it.  It was simple.

I put the four baited traps on the back porch.  When I looked again several hours later, I saw that two of the traps had been tripped by mice, both of which were dead.  Interestingly, the peanut butter had been eaten off the other two traps, but they had not sprung.

Even more strange was that only one mouse was still in its trap; the other one was a few inches from its trap  I still don’t know how the latter happened.

I have a good friend, and we like to “freak out” each other sometimes.  My advantage is that I have a very strong stomach, and he usually does not.  In particular, he doesn’t like dead animals or blood, so I figured the following photos would do the trick. 

         

         
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Not only is today a new moon, it also is Rosh Chodesh Nisan or Nisan 1—the first day of the Hebraic or Jewish month of Nisan.  Furthermore, it is the beginning of the Jewish holy or religious year.  Long ago, God proclaimed it as such with this declaration:

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.” (Exodus 12:1,2)

I haven’t assembled my vitamin supply since Dec. 24, 2013.  The vitamins and supplements I take everyday are a daily multiple; vitamins A, B complex, C, and E; magnesium, selenium, zinc, fish oil, saw palmetto, glucosamine and chondroitin.

A 5.1 earthquake struck in La Habra, California, tonight at 9:09 p.m. local time.  La Habra is in the northwestern corner of Orange County.  This is about 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.  There is about a 5% chance of a larger quake occurring in the next few hours or days.

Power outages were reported for about 2,000 customers.  The quake was felt over a wide area, including all the way down in San Diego approximately 90 miles to the south.

The L.A. Dodgers and the Anaheim Angels were playing an exhibition game at Dodger Stadium.  Although they felt the queke, the game continued.

In the past, I have received numerous emails from advocates of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible who have insisted that the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, which I prefer, is inferior and inaccurate.  I have addressed three of these emails here; the first one is the most recent:

• Was the word "homosexual" intentionally removed from the NIV translation of the Bible?
• Why do you use the NIV, rather than the KJV, for the Bible references in all of your commentaries? Isn't the NIV negligent in showing whom Jesus really was?
• In John 3:16, isn't "only begotten" Son in the KJV the correct translation, whereas "one and only" Son in the NIV is an inaccurate translation?

This year, Passover is April 15 (beginning at mid-afternoon on April 14).  I plan to attend a regular Jewish Seder at that time.

However, a local church had a Messianic Passover Seder tonight.  A Jewish representative from Chosen People Ministries conducted the service.  He was Dr. Rich Freeman.  Since he conducts other services, the only night he was available to be at this church was tonight.

Normally, I would not attend a Passover observance unless, at the very least, it was during the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  However, I “rationalized” attending it tonight because it was Friday night, which is the beginning of my Sabbath.

According to Leviticus 23:3, properly observing the Sabbath involves being part of a sacred assembly or convocation with others.  So, for me, being part of the group attending the Seder tonight satisfied that condition.

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This is the first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere and the first day of Fall in the southern hemisphere.  I remembered to stand a raw egg on both ends, which for some reason is easy to do on the Vernal and Autumnal equinoxes.

     
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Strangely, I had only one egg in the refrigerator, and I did not want to go to the store to buy more.  So rather than put two eggs side-by-side, one on the wide end and one on the narrow end, I stood the same egg on both ends.

One of the names of the Messiah is Poretz, which means “the One who breaks through.”  Poretz sounds similar to Perez, who was one of the sons of Judah and Tamar.  His twin brother was Zerah.  Here is the story:

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.  As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.”  But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!”  And he was named Perez [breaking out].  Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Zerah [scarlet or brightness]. (Genesis 38:27-30)

Perez was an ancestor of Yeshua/Jesus, the Messiah/Christ (Matthew 1:3; Luke 3:33).  Just as Perez broke out, Yeshua will return and “break out” of the standard, worldly, routine definitions of how to serve God and how to worship Him.  No Jew or Christian really knows how to serve and worship the Father as He truly wants to be served and worshipped.

Ultimately, the Messiah, when He sits in Jerusalem as King over the whole world (Zechariah 14:9), will redefine right and wrong within Judaism, since Judaism’s “right and wrong” religious, man-made practices will not apply to Yeshua.  He will have full authority to redefine not only the proper meaning of the Torah but also to redefine Judaism and its proper practice.

“I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.  I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.  One who breaks open the way [Yeshua, the Poretz] will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out.  Their king [Yeshua] will pass through before them, the LORD at their head.” (Micah 2:12,13)

This is the day each year that everybody is Irish even if they’re not.  I actually wore green today, even though I usually don’t on St. Patrick’s Day, since I’m not Catholic.  I also don’t mind getting pinched.

 
 
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Purim began last night at sunset.  Today is the first of two days of Purim.  It also is a full moon. (See the Calendar of Hebraic Holy Days 2012–2021 for dates of other Hebraic feasts, festivals, and holy days.) 

Had it not been for the great Queen Esther, the Jews might have been destroyed millennia ago.  She was bold and wise enough to inform her husband, King Ahasuerus of the Medo-Person Empire, of the plot against them by the evil Haman.

Read the Book of Esther to see the wonderful story of a very brave and heroic lady.  Also, you can read my brief summary here:

I attended a Purim festival, which was a blast.  The Megillah was read.  It is a biblical narrative of the Book of Esther, traditionally read in synagogues to celebrate the festival of Purim.  Several people were dressed up as characters in the chronicle of Esther, such as Esther herself, Haman, Mordecai, and King Ahasuerus (to whom Esther was married).

The Megillah can be read here:  Megillah (DOC file)  |  Megillah (PDF file)

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Two popular views of the Rapture are the Pre-tribulation view and the Post-tribulation view.  The Pre-trib view insists that the Rapture will take place at the very beginning of the 70th Week, while the Post-trib view is adamant that this catching-up event will happen on the last day of that period.

Actually, both of these views are extreme, polar opposite views that make numerous invalid assumptions.  Here is an email response I’ve written to someone who maintains that the term “last day” in prophetic passages must refer to the literal last 24-hour day of this on which Jesus will return to earth, with which I disagree:

• Since the resurrection will be on the last day, how can there be any resurrection prior to the day that Jesus returns?

In most locations in the USA and in a few other parts of the world, Daylight Saving Time begins early tomorrow morning at 2:00 a.m., local time, when the time will become 3:00 a.m.  Hawaii, parts of Arizona, and most overseas territories, are exempt from this.

It is a good idea to set your clocks ahead an hour before going to bed.  I plan to hit the sack an hour earlier than usual tonight, since we will lose an hour of time by tomorrow morning.

We will be on Daylight Time for 35 weeks until Nov. 2 (two days before the national election), when we will revert back to Standard Time.  I prefer Daylight Time because I like how the sun both rises and sets an hour later than with Standard Time.

During the time that the federal government was shut down in Oct. 2013, my favorite online clock at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) stopped working.  Recently, though it has been updated and works fine.  It also has larger numerals than it did before, which I like, plus it keeps extremely accurate time.

Either one of the following links should show the clock.  But if one does not work on your computer, the other one should.

Another clock at the NIST that I like, which is smaller, also keeps accurate time.  It is called a “widget” and I display it on my home page, about halfway down on the right.

The following link should display the small “widget” clock:

At a friend’s house a few days ago, I saw a quotation of Mark Twain hanging on the refrigerator.  I thought it was clever, and it made me laugh.  He emailed it to me, so I will post it here:

I do not fear death.  I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. — Mark Twain

Troubles between Ukraine and Russia have been escalating for weeks.  As world leaders met in Paris today, Western powers increased the pressure on Russia to withdraw forces from the Ukraine’s Crimea region and to have talks with the new government in Kiev, Ukraine.

So far, though, Russia has snubbed the West on this issue and has rejected all requests to leave Ukraine.  I expect Russia to remain in control of Crimea for awhile.

I receive semi-frequent emails from people trying to convince me that God is not a Trinity and that Jesus was/is not God.  Of course, it would be impossible to persuade me to believe these things, since I am absolutely convinced otherwise.

Others simply do not understand how God can be a triune Being and how Jesus, a man, could be the Son of God.  These email responses that I wrote to two people address these issues:

• Jesus was and is not part of a trinity or even a duality of God, so why do you believe that he was/is?
• Why is God like a man that he had to have a son? How could the son of God be God? Was Mary the wife of God?

I don’t know anyone who enjoys being bombarded by useless, worthless spam emails.  I detest it.

For well over a year, I have received continual garbage email advertisements from three email addresses in particular.  These have sent me more spam than any other addresses: support@indiadz.com, support@mobilegb.com, and support@xmodo.com.  All of them are registered with the same company: Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc.

Here is a complaint page I have written to let others know about the huge volume of rubbish I have received from these three annoying and irritating email addresses:

Here is a list of all the emails I have received from those three email addresses just since Dec. 29, 2013:

Some of my favorite things were on sale at the grocery store, so I bought a lot of each.  I also had a coupon for $2.00 off of a bag of salad mix.

I baked several seasoned chicken breasts; steamed yellow squash, zucchini squash, green beans, and broccoli; and made whipped potatoes.  That plus a slice of whole wheat toast would have made for a yummy and healthful dinner, but a close friend called and invited me out for spaghetti at the last minute.  So I saved my plates in cellophane bags in the refrigerator for tomorrow night.

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, have come to an end.  We watched most of the coverage every single night, and it has been very exciting and enjoyable.  I don’t really care that much about most of the events, but I like watching the best athletes in the world performing them.

Overall, the Russian Federation received not only the most gold and silver medals but also the most total medals.  The USA placed fourth in the number of gold medals and second in total medals.

On Feb. 10, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai went public with plans to monitor the news reporting at TV and radio stations.  Since then, there has been a loud outcry against this by an outraged public.

Ajit Pai applauded the decision, indicating that the federal government would have been thrust into newsrooms across the country, where it does not belong.

Mikaela Shiffrin, from the USA, made Alpine skiing history today by being the youngest ever winner of an Olympic slalom gold medal.  She is only 18.

Midway through her second run, Shiffrin almost crashed and burned before making an astonishing recovery.  She briefly lost her balance as her left ski rose too far off the snow.  Somehow, though, she stayed upright and kept her skis moving—all the way to the gold.

       
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Tonight, Maddie Bowman (20), from the USA, has won an Olympic gold medal.   It is the first Olympic gold medal won in women’s freeski halfpipe, which is a new Olympic event.  This is after David Wise won the gold for the USA in the same event for men on Feb. 18.

       
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U.S. skier Ted Ligety (29) won the Olympic gold medal today in the giant slolam event.  This is his second Olympic Alpine gold medal, the first being in 2006.  He is considered by many to be the best in the world in this event.

       
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The amount of snow falling on the Olympic events in Sochi, Russia, today was amazing.  I don’t know how some of the athletes were able to see what they were doing.  Furthermore, dense fog delayed some of the events.

These things did not hamper David Wise (23) from the USA, though.  He took first place, and the gold medal, in the first ever freeski halfpipe event.

       
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Today, Meryl Davis (26) and Charlie White (27) captured the first ever Olympic gold medal for the USA in ice dancing.  They have been skating together since 1997 and currently are the longest-lasting ice dancing team in the United States.

Davis and White became the first ice dancing team to receive level fours on all their elements.  They also are the current world record holders in the short dance, free dance, and total combined score.  They even made the Bing.com page (my preferred search engine) for a day.

       

       
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At WalMart today, Valentine’s candy and cookies were 50% off.  I don’t eat all that much candy and other sweets myself, but I like to have it around for others.

The USA swept the podium today in the first-ever Olympic men’s ski slopestyle competition.  Joss Christensen (22) won the gold medal, with Gus Kenworthy (22) winning the silver and Nick Goepper (19) the bronze.

In the women’s halfpipe competition, U.S. snowboarders Kaitlyn Farrington (24) and Kelly Clark (30) won the gold and bronze medals, respectively.  The silver went to Torah Bright (27) of Australia.  Kelly won gold in the 2002 Winter Olympics in this event.

       

       
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San Diego finally has a new mayor-elect, Kevin Faulconer, after Bob Filner resigned on Aug. 22, 2013.  Faulconer, a Republican, was victorious over Democratic Councilman David Alvarez 55% to 45%.  Faulconer now is the highest ranked and highest profile Republican in California.

Most of the emails I receive from people who visit my website contain questions about God, the Bible, or biblical topics.  My responses to many of these questions are located on my Bible Question Emails and Ted’s Responses page.

Occasionally, I answer questions about the human eye and vision, from people who have visited the Anatomy, Pathology, & Physiology of the Human Eye section of my website.  I prefer not to answer questions about the latter, though, since I have been away from the eye care profession since 1991.  However, I made a rare exception in this case:

• Can you answer my questions about the eye and vision?

Americans should be very concerned about a new initiative proposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  If implemented, researchers would be sent to television and radio broadcasting stations to monitor how their stories are selected, the perceived bias of the stations, and other details about the stations and their reporters.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai has gone public with this information and is considered by some to be a “whistleblower.”  He is against this move by the FCC and has come out with the following report:

The very first gold medal of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, has gone to 20-year-old Sage Kotsenburg of the USA.  The event was a category of snowboarding known as slopestyle.

Furthermore, in the women’s division of slopestyle, the gold medal winner was 23-year-old Jamie Anderson, also of the USA.

       

       
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The opening ceremony for the 2014 Winter Olympics took place tonight in Sochi, Russia.  It lasted over 3½ hours.  We watched all of it and felt it was spectacular.  A good summary of pictures from the opening ceremony can be seen on this page:

The suffering, afflictions, and misery that Job had to endure were greater than those of most people.  In the Bible, Job is a shining beacon of how someone, enduring the greatest agony and anguish of his life, never blamed or cursed God for any of it.

Job’s experience should be an example to all of us whenever the troubles of life befall us.  For believers in the God of the Bible, we know that something great and wonderful awaits us when the the Messiah appears.  I wrote these responses to two emails with inquiries about the book of Job:

• Why did God ask Satan if he had considered His servant, Job? And did Satan choose to obey God in not killing Job?
• In the book of Job, how was it possible for God and Satan to hang out together? How could God be so casual in allowing Job's children and servants to be killed?

I think this short video is hilarious.  A 4-year-old kid yells up to heaven in frustration, “Jesus, make it warm!”  I easily could have been him at that age, since I’ve never liked snow or cold winters too much.

In one of the greatest upsets in Superbowl history, Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks overwhelemed Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.  The final score was 43 to 8.

Amazingly, Manning, who is one of the best quarterbacks ever, was not even able to score until the third quarter.  In addition to that touchdown, there was a two-point conversion for 8 points.

Without that touchdown and extra points, the Seahawks would have shut out the Broncos.  I’m sure that tens of millions of viewers were as amazed as I was at the outcome.  No doubt, most Broncos fans were.

After the Seahawk’s surprise upset, I looked at Wilson’s Wikipedia page.  He has accomplished a great deal in only 25 years.  I was interested to discover that he became a devout Christian at age 14 after seeing Jesus in a dream.  He also posts daily Bible verses on his Twitter feed.  Good for him.

I bet that the majority of people on earth do not believe in the devil, that is Satan.  Here is a brief description of him in the Bible:

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

Originally, Satan was created as Lucifer, a wise and enlightened angel.  Now, he only masquerades as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 1:14).  My explanation of how I feel he made the transition from Lucifer to Satan is summarized in this email response:

• Are Jesus and Lucifer the "morning stars" in Job 38:7? How and when did Lucifer become Satan?

Most people are oblivious to, or at least are unmindful of, the evil spirit realm around us.  Each day, supernatural things happen that cause people to scramble to explain them in natural terms.  They fail to understand that some events do not have normal, ordinary explanations.

Here is a lengthy and detailed account about the demonic possession of a family in Gary, Indiana, in 2012, when the chief of police and child protective service agents made visits to the family’s house.  Many of them have stated that they believe the house was infested with demons, who possessed a mother and her three kids.

Global stock markets experienced a decline this week.  The U.S. market dropped 3%.  It was the Dow’s worst weekly performance since mid-May 2012.

At the same time, Barack Obama’s job performance ratings are dropping as well.  Various polls show different amounts, but his job-approval has been well below 50% for quite awhile.  For one thing, the unfolding of Obamacare has been disastrous for him, not to mention seven major scandals during his 5-year term.

I’d like to share what I think is a very funny animation that my cousin sent me.  I perceive it as the perpetual falling of Mr. Obama’s ratings even though, in his own mind, he is “on top of the world.”

Click on the image to see the animation.  If he gets stuck and stops falling, you can click and drag him to get him going again.  You will need to have an updated version of Adobe Flash Player for the animation to work.

Exactly two years ago, on Jan. 20, 2012, I wrote about the decline of nations, including America, due to their refusal to acknowledge God and to turn away from their unrighteous ways.  As a result, it may be that the prophesied periods of the Great Tribulation and the “Day” of Vengeance are much nearer than most people, including Christians, realize.

In that entry two years ago, I highlighted Jonathan Cahn and many of the things he has pointed out in linking the 9/11/01 tragedy, Isaiah 9:10,13, and the nine harbingers.  Here is a more recent video in which he discusses why—based on the idea of the shemitah or sabbatical year—there could be a major U.S. stock market crash on or near Sep. 13, 2015 (the first couple of minutes is Bill O’Reilly):

Interestingly, there are six solar and lunar eclipses on Hebraic/Jewish feast and holy days in 2014 and 2015.  One of them happens to be on Sep. 13, 2015, on which the Feast of Trumpets will begin at sunset and continue through the next day.  A chart of the six eclipses can be found here, in my “End of the Age: 2020?” commentary:

I think there is a common misconception that all Hebrew or Jewish months are composed of 30 days.  These months are based on the cycles of the moon, with a new moon occurring on the first day of each month: Rosh Chodesh or the “head of the month.”

Each lunar cycle runs about 29½ days, so the length of some Hebrew months is 29 days, while the length of other months is 30 days.  Here is a good article explaining all of this:

I enjoyed hearing Diane McNeil a couple of years ago on God’s Learning Channel.  She has sent out a recent email talking about the incorrect name of God used in many translations of the Bible.  I agree with her about this.

In Christendom, there is the prevalent belief that God has a triune nature.  Some describe God as being three “persons” or even as three separate “individuals.”  I have a problem with this concept, as it leads to the notion that there are three Gods, which is false.  God Himself said, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

Also, throughout most of Christendom is the belief that Jesus was God.  I believe that, indeed, Jesus was the physical manifestation or “body” of God on earth.  I believe this for many reasons, one of the main ones being that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins would not enable us to attain eternal life if He merely were a “good and righteous man,” as some teach.  Here are a couple of email responses I have written discussing these two related issues:

• How do you know that God isn't three distinct individuals?
• How can God be One and Three at the same time?

Ariel Sharon, the 11th Prime Minister of Israel, died today at age 85.  He had been in a coma for eight years, following a stroke.

Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, gave a news conference this morning that lasted 107 minutes.  It pertained to the closure of three lanes of the George Washington Bridge for four days in September 2013.  This bridge, connecting Manhattan, NY, and Fort Lee, NJ, is arguably the busiest bridge in the world.

Christie announced that he had fired Bridget Anne Kelly, his deputy chief of staff who sent an email requesting the lane closings.  He also said he had asked his two-time campaign manager, Bill Stepien, to step down as a consultant to the Republican Governors Association and to withdraw his name from consideration to lead the state’s Republican Party.

I love almost all vegetables, but I haven’t been eating as many as I should lately.  So I made a huge batch of steamed broccoli, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, and whipped potatoes, along with baked chicken.

       

       
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The last entry I made about “black eyes” was on Jan. 14, 2013.  I included two emails from those claiming to have seen people with black eyes—that is, eyes where the white parts had turned black.

The most recent such email is from a Christian lady who implies that she has seen multiple cases of black-eyed people: “mere dull, endless, bottomless pits of blackened darkness.”  She describes a dying, comatose man who, after being prayed for, bolted up with black eyes and stared at her and the person praying with her.

I used to smoke cigarettes in the 1970s.  My last puff on a cigarette was June 28, 1978; I quit “cold turkey.”  Since then, I have had dreams in which I was smoking.  In the midst of thinking what an idiot I was to do that again, I’ve woken up being very relieved that it was just a dream.

I also have become extremely sensitive to the smell of cigarette or cigar smoke.  Even outside, I can smell a few molecules of the smoke of people who are nearby, and I move away because I can barely stand it.  I’ve heard other ex-smokers who have said they also are very sensitive to other people’s smoke.

A friend has smoked regularly for 35 years.  Recently, he stopped smoking cigarettes and began “vaping”—inhaling the vapor of e-cigarettes (that is, electronic cigarettes).  This is a battery-powered device utilizing a heating element that vaporizes a liquid solution composed of nicotine and flavorings.  He has three e-cigarettes.

   
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In only three weeks, his wife (who never smoked) says he is “sexier” and more fun to be with.  He says he likes being able to take a couple of puffs without being concerned about where to flick the ashes.  They both like how there is no lingering smoke smell in a room or in the car after vaping.  Here are other advantages and improvements that both of them have reported:

very convenient		breathing is easier		no smoke smell on clothes or person
much calmer		less anxiety		more even-tempered
whiter teeth		clearer whites of eyes		clearer complexion
no circles under eyes		more quality sleep		quicker recovery time after exertion
no smoker’s cough		no second-hand smoke		heightened sense of smell

Happy New Year.  Below are links to my annual calendar and list of 2014 holidays and observances that many like to download and tape to a wall nearby.  That is what I do, with the calendar on one side and the holidays/observances on the other side of one piece of paper.  Both are in .doc and .pdf format.

Click on each image below and print out the two pages (.doc files) on either side of one piece of paper.  Just change my name, at the top of the calendar page, to your name before you print it.

 

Or else you could print out these two pages (.pdf files), with no name on the calendar page:

 

If you’ve never read the Bible straight through, from cover to cover, you might want to do it in 2014.  Go to the following page, print out the pages in either .doc, .pdf, or .html format, and check off the passages as you read them: