Philippians 2: 5-11

The story of Jesus the Christ is a multi-faceted story that because we have heard it so often, perhaps we have become complacent about it.  Here you have, the King of Kings, the Lord of Hosts, who was born not in some sort of kingly mansion, not in some beautiful home surrounded by devoted servants, but instead was born in a manger, because there was not room at the Inn.  Still, the light of his birth was noted by the Heavens, followed by the wise men, so that they could find Him, pay respect and homage to the King of the Jews and to worship Him and this cosmic event.

We read in Philippians 2:7-8 that: "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."  Jesus was the man who made it clear that he sought no clamor from his flocks that instead, he recognized that his mission was to come to the people, in truth, in love, in scripture, and to testify to that truth, without concern for his own safety, his reputation, or of anything of this world.  Jesus the Messiah did not ever assert his ego, or his way, instead he walked that narrow path that gave no quarter to earthly rewards or the temptations of Satan.

The telling message of Jesus the Christ is one that is so often missed by those that see the glory but fail to recognize that He was ever humble, and obedient to the dictates of God, to which He willingly surrendered to Him.  This is the simple message which is often misinterpreted by mankind that spends an inordinate amount of time and energy asserting itself one against the other, railing against the system, railing against principalities, but often misunderstanding the very purpose of life to begin with.  The race on earth is not to the swift, nor to the strong, but to those who willingly listen and are obedient to the word of God.

The word of God to us, is the exact same words as to those of the Christ himself, and those words are to stop with all the madness, stop with all the uproar, and to by-and-by take the time and consideration to find a still and quiet place so that within you and within that place, in true contriteness of heart you will begin to hear for the very first time, the sweet soothing whisper of God.  None of the glory of this world means anything, none of the applause, none of the awards, means a thing at all, if it isn't in accord with the way and that way is the same throughout history, and it is that mystical untrodden path of surrender to God.

There is very little point in chasing after vanities, because you can never catch the wind, but you can catch a ray of sunshine and from that sunshine you can build a pathway to Heaven.  Every step to Heaven is a step created by recognizing that the way to God's heart is forged by forgetting yourself and instead working towards helping and aiding others by your actions, by your concern, by your love, and by your care, so that step by step, hand in hand, one will aid the other, and thereby come into God's ineffable unending glory, a glory that only can be discovered by listening and obeying that still, small voice within.

Obey the Law

We are told to obey the law, but why, and who are these people or institutions telling us this in the first place?  Not too surprisingly, today those that tell us to obey the law, don't necessarily have our best interests in mind, as in actuality, they try to take man's law and make it equivalent to God's law or natural law, so that in effect, we will be subservient to the State and the State's law for the convenience and service to the State.  Additionally, there isn't anybody alive today that can actually obey all the laws on the books in the United States, as some of these laws are contradictory, subject to interpretation, or disjointed, to say the least.

While it makes sense in a civilized nation that citizens should obey the law, that law in order for it to be respected and obeyed, must be sensible, rational, equally applied, non-discriminatory and in accordance with God's law.  Too often, nations want to pass law after law after law as if the fact that more laws are passed, will make for a greater country and a sounder nation, when in fact, typically the result is simply to make more willful acts crimes, that aren't really crimes in the scheme of things, but are considered to be crimes in the eye of the State so as to pander to certain powerful segments of the State, and to place citizens in the uncomfortable position of being perpetually in a state of subservience to the State.

The foundation for good law must always come via a hierarchy to which at the very top of that pyramid is natural law.  Natural law is defined as: "a body of unchanging moral principles regarded as a basis for all human conduct."  It is important to understand that this definition of natural law emphasizes that this law consists of "unchanging moral principles", which is the very basis for good law.  All laws that change with the times, change with demographics, or political correctness, or whim, are not good laws, because they are forever changing depending upon how the wind is blowing, and thereby it is virtually impossible for the populace to obey the law, when the law itself, changes from administration to administration, from judge to judge, from legislature to legislature.  That isn't law.

In actuality, virtually all that we need to know about the law is contained within the Ten Commandments and/or the Two Commandments giving by the Christ: "…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22: 37-40).  Those that obey these Commandments, this law, so to speak, will find that they will obey the most meaningful law of all, God's revealed law.  Unfortunately, in today's' upside down justice system, by virtue of obeying these Commandments in good conscience, this could easily mean, in fact, does mean that you will undoubtedly come into conflict with arbitrary man's law.   

We are told by so many great men in history, such as Saint Augustine, that: "An unjust law is no law at all."  It is important to understand the real meaning of these words, because the true test for any man is whether or not he will obey natural law, despite the fear of dire consequences in this world for not doing so, and whether too he actually comprehends the words of our Declaration of Independence, that the people are empowered with: "… the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them."

The fact is when it comes to obeying the law, the only law to be obeyed must be in harmony, and in accordance with God's law or it is not a law that any good man needs respect.  God has gifted each of us with a mind and a free will, to do whatever that we want, to serve whomever that we desire; to which each day we can assert ourselves, obey or not obey, recognizing that it is always within our hands, within our will, to do what we ought.

Negative Interest Rates

Receiving a negative interest rate from a banking institution that is holding your money, seems like an oxymoron, as most people correctly associate bank deposits with earning a positive return on their money as well as being a prudent thing to do, but these are not normal times and the era of parking money in banks, by consumers, or by other banks or other financial institutions, and thereby making easy money by virtue of that money being loaned out at a high enough interest rate so as to afford the depositor a nice rate of return have ended.

While there isn't a lot of difference, unless one gets to extremely large numbers, between a small nominal positive interest rate for a depositor of money, as compared to zero interest, or even compared to a minute negative interest rate, just the fact that a deposit of $1,000,000 instead of being slightly positive after a term of one year, or the exact same amount as if the money has been stuffed inside a mattress for a year, but instead to see that the principal has been reduced to $999,999, is both unfathomable, and erringly strange.

Because we live in an era to which inflation is quiescent and in some economies and countries, deflation has become or is now the norm, so that if prices are indeed declining, it makes sense that the value of money, real cash or its substitutes, should also deflate, because in the end, because products have been reduced in price and/or are providing more bang for the buck, than even with a negative interest rate, the overall value of the money held as a liquid asset has actually gone up in value relative to the fact that the basket of products that it can buy has also increased in quantity and/or quality over the same period of time.

The reason that negative interest rates are in play comes down to the fundamental fact that in a deflationary cycle or the anticipation of such, most banking institutions make it public policy to try to get ahead of the curve, because when the public believes that pricing of products will get cheaper over time, than they will have a distinct tendency to spend less money now so as to be able to buy more later and if done in mass, this leads inevitably to a downward spiral of an economy slowing down or in fact, turning negative, which means higher unemployment, less income, less revenue, stock market collapse, and the increase of monetary defaults.

The whole point of negative interest rates is to provide an incentive for banks and banking institutions to lend money so as to maintain economic vibrancy because money or assets that sit either unused or underutilized are large contributing factors to a slowing down, stagnation, or ultimately the decline of business activity within any country, which then lends itself to the creation of an economic depression, to which America suffered through such from 1929 through 1933 and does not want to go through such an event, ever again. 

The fact that negative interest rates exist and are in play signifies a seismic shift in financial markets, and is a clear signal, that the economy is in recognition that an economic abyss, is more than a remote possibility.   Whether negative interest rates or the threat thereof, increases bank loans which therefore increases business activity and thereby stokes the economy actually works is questionable, but that is how the die has been cast, by the smartest bankers in the world.

Gap Insurance

For most Americans the two biggest purchases that you will ever make in your life are your home and your vehicle so the financial decisions that you make when transacting this business has significant ramifications.  The thing about purchasing a car is that many auto dealers will try most everything in the book to make extra money off of you, for example, by pushing for extended warranties, or extended loans so as to make the monthly payment lower but the total cost of the vehicle appreciably higher, financial charges and markups added to your loan under miscellaneous fees and charges, along with various nefarious dealer add-ons, including one of the absolute worse, which is gap insurance.

Gap insurance is insurance for your vehicle that covers the "gap" between what your loan amount is for the vehicle and what in actuality the vehicle is physically worth it if was involved in an accident and the car was completely considered totaled by your car insurance company.  The first issue with gap insurance is the fact that it doesn't make a lot of sense that the vehicle that you are driving off the dealer's lot is worth less than the amount of money that you now owe on the vehicle.  Not only does that not seem fair, it certainly appears to be a rotten deal, after all, if you are on the short end of that stick, why purchase the vehicle in the first place?  The next problem with gap insurance is that you can take it for a 100% certainty that if your car dealership is pushing for you to get something for your car and that this certain something must be purchased through that dealership, right here and right now, that they definitely don't have your best interests in mind, that instead they have their extra profitability in mind, and will utilize your fear that this beautiful car needs this extra protection against you.

The fact of the matter is that auto dealerships are not insurance companies, and therefore any gap insurance that you buy from a dealership, in almost every instance, does not originate and is not financed by that dealership.  Instead, that dealership has brokered deals with outside insurance agencies that handle gap insurance to which these insurance companies have made a separate deal with the dealership that enables them to handle the transaction, and thereby the auto dealership by virtue of outsourcing the gap insurance to the insurance company is able to at the time of that sale of the vehicle, book that profit or fee, and wash their hands thoroughly of any responsibility in regards to that gap insurance. 

This means that should you have a need to avail yourself of this usage of this gap insurance you won't be getting your money back from the dealership that sold the insurance to you, but instead, you will be dealing with a third party insurance company, that may or may not still be in business, that may or may not be legitimate, that may or may not honor their agreement, and almost certainly as part of their business model makes it their business to do every and anything to preclude consumers from collecting on their gap insurance.

Whether gap insurance is something that Is needed or not, a good deal or not, depends on a multitude of factors; but what can be said for a certainty is that you should never get or contemplate getting your gap insurance from a car dealership, but rather instead should contact a legitimate major car insurance company and inquire with them about gap insurance as they are both regulated and have the wherewithal to actual pay a claim out fairly.

Cold Tap Water in the winter

If you live in the part of America to which winter time brings cold temperatures, you are always delighted that when you turn on your tap water or shower water and give it a little time to warm up, that the water pours our fairly warm or even hot, but the credit for that temperature change goes primarily to your water heater and you definitely pay for that convenience.  However, there are times when we need or desire cold water, but there isn't anything built within a typical house that impacts the temperature of the cold setting for the water, so that during the dead of winter, you will often find that cold tap water, really is ice cold water, especially when you first turn the tap on!  Why is that?

The origin of the water that is tapped into our homes typically comes from lakes, streams, rivers, and whatnot that surround our particular community to which this water is piped and pumped underground, and once you get piping situated about 4 feet below the earth's surface that water stored there will find its equilibrium at around 50-55 degrees, so that even if the water entering the pipes is below 55 degrees or well above 55 degrees when it enters the piping, it will over time moderate its temperature to conform to the earth soil that surrounds it.  However, not all piping is dug to a depth of 4 feet or lower and further the piping that is in close proximity to a particular home is typically closer to the surface of the land, meaning that it is more susceptible to surface air temperatures and additionally because water is stored often times in large water towers that water there too is susceptible to air temperature.

The bottom line is that the air temperature most definitely affects the temperature of the tap water that comes out of our faucet when we turn the dial to cold, so that in the dead of winter that water coming out of the tap will be appreciably colder than the hottest day of summer, with probably a temperature difference easily exceeding 10 degrees, even though the faucet dial is in the exact same position and further, these temperature extremes will be more noticeable when the faucet is first turned on.

If it wasn't for the underground piping in the first place and the fact that deep water lakes have remarkably consistent cool temperatures far beneath the surface, than cold water would be far more problematic in achieving our home water needs and desires.  We shouldn't be surprised that the air temperature does affect the water temperature of our tap water, however, if it wasn't for the actuality that the water is primarily pumped to us deep underground to which the ground temperature is quite consistent and thereby provides the basis for our tap water being cool, we would not be able to have pretty much cold water on demand.  That said, not too unexpectedly, when the temperatures drop or rises appreciably, our cold tap water pretty much follows suit.

The Super Bowl should be played on a Saturday

During the regular NFL football season, NFL games are typically played on Sundays, although there is usually one game played on Thursday, as well as on Monday.  The reason that the NFL is played on Sunday, comes down to the fact that Fridays are set aside for High school football, and Saturdays are set aside for Collegiate football, leaving Sundays to the professionals.  It is not until the playoffs that any Saturday games are played, to which half of the Wild Card and Divisional Round games are held on Saturday, with the other half being played on Sunday.  For the Conference championship and for the Super Bowl those games are held on Sunday.

There are many people that believe that if it isn't broken, then there isn't any reason to fix it, and as the Super Bowl is consistently the event of the entire year, there seems little point to fix something that doesn't next fixing.  Yet, if television wants to have even bigger and higher ratings, than it would behoove the NFL to move the game to Saturday, as opposed to Sunday.  The advantages of a Saturday Super Bowl are massive as Sunday is the day that the fewest amount of Americans have commitments to work, thereby signifying that they can devote more time and energy to their usage of the free time on a Saturday, recognizing that on Sunday that they can still recuperate.  As it is, nearly 150 million people live in the Eastern Time Zone, and presently the Super Bowl game does not reach its conclusion till after 10PM EST, on Sunday, an evening to which most everyone will have obligations to go to work or to school on Monday. 

In addition, just because the Super Bowl ends, doesn't mean that the party is or should be over, as there are always going to be plenty of people that still want to talk, discuss, argue, or enjoy themselves, and perhaps need some time to settle down to that quietude that is necessary for a good night's sleep.

None of this would be a bother, if the game was held on Saturday, in addition, the game time could be moved to a little bit later in the evening so that more of the game would be seen in prime time on the West Coast.  All of this combined would bring even higher TV ratings, and hence more people that could enjoy the full panorama of the Super Bowl experience, with time to recover from such, on Sunday.

Also, all of the high powered business executives that must be at the Super Bowl proper in order to conduct and to glad-hand clients, would be far more appreciative of a Saturday game time, as this would allow them to resume their usual business schedules on Monday, with far less wear and tear.  All of the above, points to the sensible thing which is to move the Super Bowl from the Sunday time frame to Saturday, which would increase viewership here and abroad, increase advertising dollars, and make for the best super experience ever

The Men that would be god

The more that scientific and technology advances and the more that mankind achieves; the more that certain scientists believe that they are discovering the origin of, or at least the understanding of, life itself.  This means for the layman that believes and the esteemed scientist that understands or knows how to manipulate life, that this fundamental understanding of the origin of life, this particular knowledge, pretty much somehow aggrandizes the powers of life to mankind, and therefore it follows that mankind is through his own knowledge and efforts, now a god, master or near master of life and death.

All throughout history certain figures have believe that they are god or its equivalence, the main difference today, though, is that those that believe themselves to be godlike, or that mankind is the highest form of life, have increased in numbers substantially because the more that man knows about the physical body, the brain, the molecules, the atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons and so forth, the more that man is absolutely convinced that he is the real life incarnation of Dr. Frankenstein, only rather than starting with the various pieces and parts of corpses, he starts instead with an embryo, and unlike the fictional Dr. Frankenstein, this embryo is real, its genome can be altered, and when successfully done, will ultimately create a real human baby from virtually nothing.

This mastery or near mastery of human reproduction is absolutely remarkable, and the advances in science will undoubtedly continue over the foreseeable future, and for those that believe the physical form is all that there is, there really isn't anything more to say.  The fact is, the greater that man's powers and understanding are, the more responsibility that he has to his fellow man to use this wisdom correctly, because great powers used for selfish and evil reasons, will ultimately have devastating effects upon all and this is this misery that mankind lives through again and again and again.

When mankind incorrectly believes that he is all, that he is all knowing, infallible and the like, the only possible result for this hubris is a disaster of epic proportions.  God has gifted us with free will, but for all this free will, is the world that we live in is it: fair? Just? Equal? Paradise?  It is none of these things, although it could be all of these things if mankind recognized once and for all, that: "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God…" (Psalm 46:4).

There is something to be said about living the simple life, by just doing the things day by day, that are beneficial for yourself as well as your family and community and not worrying about the big political picture, or the government, or science, but just being about your business and in your efforts and in your actions making the world better for you having been here.  These people are most definitely the salt of the earth and the Kingdom of God are filled with them.  Then there are those that push the envelope in all sorts of endeavors, this too can be wonderful, look, for instance at the mightiness and influence of America, but recognize that without careful prudence and humility that this can become all vanity and with this great vanity comes a very great fall.

The Disrespect given to Nuclear Energy

For anyone that has been in a blackout or a brownout, one recognizes instantly, that without electricity, that life not only becomes inconvenient, it becomes very quickly problematic.  This means that reliable and consistent electricity is of paramount importance, not so much so that we can enjoy the conveniences of life, but to actually be able to have and to sustain life itself.  America derives its energy from many sources, of which nuclear is one of them, however the percentage of power usage generated by nuclear as remained at about 20% for the last twenty-five years and shows absolutely no sign whatsoever of that percentage increasing in the near future, for two very basic reasons: which are that nuclear plants have a finite amount of life before they are decommissioned and the second reason is that America has deliberately turned its back on nuclear power and is simply not building or barely building and developing any new plants.

All of the above might be okay if there were ready alternatives to nuclear, that were or consisted of their being smaller footprints, more reliable, more efficient, more able, and the like, but none of these things are actually true, yet nuclear energy has been set aside, or shunned for no good reason.  It doesn't help that the media and the liberal press are not on board for nuclear, and that they make it a point so often to vilify nuclear as unsafe, dangerous, catastrophic, and so forth.  Of course, there are risks with any energy source, nuclear has risks particular to its usage, but then again as reported by nei.org: "A 1,000-megawatt nuclear facility needs just over one square mile," and has an average capacity factor of 90 percent or better.

While critics of nuclear energy have their place what is often missing from the discussion is the fact that technology and its proper application only approve over time and by virtue of the fact that since 1990, America has brought virtually no nuclear reactors online, it is important to recognize that tomorrow's nuclear reactors, whether created in America, or abroad, will be more efficient, safer, and more effective than ever.  In addition, the electricity needs of man continues to go up year after year, especially in countries such as China, which is and has been on a massive growth rate and additionally has significant pollution problems that cannot resolve itself unless more of their energy needs are met by nuclear reactor's non-carbon footprint.

In the natural, the United States typically leads all other nations in innovation and technology, yet, for whatever reason, America has wasted a lot of time and energy embracing so-called "renewable" such as wind and solar that does not now, nor ever will, be able to consistently, economically, and reliably provide meaningful electrical needs for Americans.  Everything that America really needs is contained within nuclear energy, yet, it has been wrongly shunned aside, in a country that runs on energy, and claims to be seriously concerned about its carbon emissions problem.  The real answer to our energy needs is in nuclear, and every day that America fails to recognize this, is another day lost to substandard replacements that while politically connected are woefully inadequate.

Show-rooming and Ethics

Never has the buyer of consumer goods had more power than he possesses today, for instance, with apps that are freely available for smart-phones and the like he can go into a traditional brick and mortar store, take out his phone and by scanning in the barcode or the QR code of a given product be able to almost instantly see other stores that are offering the exact same product and the price that they are selling it for.  This means that the brick and mortar store rather than being seen as a place to actually shop and to thereby purchase a given product is seen more as a place to show-room products, see their performance or demonstration of, feel and test them, but the actual purchase will frequently be made somewhere entirely else, that has a better overall price.

Not too surprisingly, the brick and mortar store has two very big disadvantages to most online competitors the first of which is that brick and mortar stores are almost always compelled to collect sales tax on the products that they sell, of which, none of this sales tax money goes to the store, but are in fact, distributed to the tax agencies as directed by the city, State, and local sales tax laws.  The other big disadvantage is that the brick and mortar store has set up their store in such a manner that it can showcase many products in a format that is pleasing to the eye, in addition to having to pay for experienced and knowledgeable personnel, the actual building, utilities, taxes and so forth.  The non-brick and mortar stores may or may not even have physical inventory of the given product that they are selling but may instead be utilizing a warehouse as their proxy for the goods and the actual shipment of the goods will come from that warehouse to which perhaps the given item has never even been inspected or had the original shipping container open.  Obviously, in those types of cases, and especially in situations to which the online retailer doesn't charge the consumer sales tax, they have enormous pricing advantages that a brick and mortar store simply can't compete against.  While this does appear to be a total victory for the consumer as he purchases a product at a cheaper price point, as well as being beneficial to the online retailer that has determined where to price the product at in order to maintain a reasonable gross margin, the story doesn't really end there.

The fact of the matter is, there are losers, the first being the brick and mortar store and its business model, along with its employees, its management, and its stockholders.  In addition, lost sales tax, lost property taxes, lost business taxes, and so forth are also overall losers for the community and society at large.  Still that might be okay if it wasn't for one more additional issue and that is, the very people that walk into these brick and mortar stores without the intent to purchase the product from that store have conducted themselves in a way that is unethical.  That is to say that it most definitely is a false front to enter any place of business without the intention of conducting business within that establishment.  These stores are not in the charity business they are in business to sell product to consumers and they are not glorified testing or show-room stores created so as to help you try and test products to buy elsewhere at a cheaper overall price-point.

That said, there are plenty of people that believe that none of this applies to them, personally, and/or believe that brick and mortar stores should just suck it up and recognize that this is a brave new world.  Perhaps that is true, what is definitely true, however, is those that they are above it all, exceptions to the rule, special, and so forth, will find themselves one day, soon enough, playing against those that believe just the same, only those players make sure to control the die, and the rules of the game.

Sand Dunes and Sinkholes

There are natural sand dunes in typical places such as beaches and near lake beds, to which many people enjoy climbing up on the sand dunes and then enjoying a nice ride back down the sand dunes' face.  Then too there are manufactured sand dunes made by companies that need to utilize sand for construction purposes, mortar, and so forth.  In general, sand dunes are stable, but that stability is based upon the underlying makeup of the materials of that sand dune, its density, its construction, and its form, which often fails to take into account the potential of either visible sink holes or the creation of hidden ones.

The thing about sand dunes that presents a potential danger is the illusion that a sand dune will often give people, which is that it is inherently stable, when in fact, natural sand dunes are forever changing by weather, by age, in visible and invisible ways that are not necessarily seen or recognized and because of those changes, there are often areas of the sand dune that aren't as stable as other parts of the dune which creates the real potential for there to be a problematic sinkhole in the sand dune itself.  

The obvious problem of a sinkhole is the fact that it can kill you, via suffocation, as a sand dune does not construct itself in a way that you are able to easily step your way out of it, should you sink significantly below the surface.  This again demonstrates the mirage that things that we take for granted as being solid, for everyday activities and enjoyment, may not be as secure as we might imagine.

Then again there is another type of sand dune, created by industrial machines that often create wonderfully high piles of sand for the construction of buildings and other infrastructure, to which sand is a material that is used in the mixing in and the creation of concrete and asphalt.  These manmade sand dunes are typically fenced off from the general public as they are often on company construction property, but not always.  For instance, there are times when huge sand dunes are dumped and then left at a given construction site, so that those manufacturing cement or the like can utilize them on a given project.

Not too surprisingly, children especially are attracted to playing in the sand, and there are times when despite whatever fencing or security or signs that may be displayed at a given workman's site the urge to play takes control over proper discretion and the lure of fun with a manufactured sand dune for the adventurous is too strong.  In most instances, this may well just be a rite of passage, but not all sand is the same, some sand is much softer than others, and sand with more give in it, naturally or in conjunction with wet weather, can result in the creation of a sinkhole with devastating consequences.

It is wise to remember that sand is always shifting, seldom completely stable, and thereby caution should always be a careful consideration.

Isaiah 66:15

Isaiah 66 is the final chapter of the book of Isaiah to which we read midway through this chapter the following:  "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind,
to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire."  This chapter concerns the righteousness of the true faith of those that rightly fear and tremble at God's power and word, as compared to those that ridicule them for that faith, and are themselves hypocrites in their hearts as well as in their actions, that at best, take on the semblance of the faith, and at worse, work at cross purposes to that faith.  The passage makes it very clear, however, that God is not one to be mocked, and that the choices that people make here on earth, have consequences now and in the future, to which His great power sends the message that the earth is the Lord's footstool and He is on the heavenly throne.

Today, it is infrequent to hear preached tales of rebuke, or even to be taught to fear the Lord, as people are only too willing to believe that either that there is no God, or that there is a God but He isn't going to do much about anything, or that God is a God of love, and so there isn't any point in fearing Him.  Yet, fire properly controlled is a great cleanser, as it clears out the old underbrush so as to replace it with a new growth, not destroying the good soil necessary for renewed growth, nor harming trees of solid character and of deep roots. 

It isn't really necessary to see Isaiah 66:15 as a passage to be taken literally, although it can be, it is important though to understand that this passage invokes the message that those that suffer horribly for their good faith while here on this earth, whereas others with insincere hearts and foolish desires gain over them, without apparently any real harm to themselves, that this cannot now, nor never will, fool our Lord.

Too many men spend inordinate amounts of time creating castles that they feel can withstand not only the ravages of time, but stand up against anything that man can throw against it in the present.  This though is a grave mistake, for these castles are castles of sand, and those that turn their backs on God, that believe that man is the measure of all things, and that in particular, they are the ones that are doing the measuring, are only stoking the fires of the great flames that they will have to face in the whirlwind of God's righteous justice.

How is it that so many believe that the actions that they take are something other than pathetic imitations of real faith?  Unfortunately, for those living this lie, this façade, cannot last and will be exposed for all to see.  How long before man finally recognizes that God cannot be mocked, and that once unleashed, that there will be no escape from the sterling Light that will expose the darkness and evil of those who dare to believe that they are His worthy rivals.  In truth, God's fire will burn completely away the dross of ignorance, hypocrisy, and the hubris of fallen man, leaving him naked, defeated, and completely exposed yet now at least unfettered from the chains of his own doing; while those that are saved will lie down peacefully with the lion and the lamb.

Enrolling your Child Purposely in the Wrong School District

Any good parent wants for their child to have a better life, which usually means that their child needs a good educational foundation, to which, even a cursory look at our schooling situation, indicates that there is a great inequality in the public schools even just a few miles apart.  The fact that our public school system has such a wide variety displayed in school performance and quality is not surprising, considering that the land of the free and the home of the brave, had as its legal policy for decades, that it was not discriminatory to have public schools that were separate but equal, when in fact although quite separate they have never been equal and that clearly certain public school systems had and continue to have higher budgets, better facilities, better teachers, and produce better educational achievements from their students.

Today, public schools are clearly still uneven and unequal in their budgets and in their student safety and educational performance, so that anybody with even a hint of investigation or knowledge, knows for a certainty that certain schools are very much desired whereas other schools are very much to be avoided.  It then follows somewhat naturally, that certain motivated parents have a strong desire to want to see that their children have an opportunity to go to a school that will be more beneficial and helpful for their children, and this urge in itself, is a good thing.  This strong desire to provide their children a fair opportunity to shine in this increasingly competitive world is therefore wise as the flip side for those that do not achieve academic success is to discover that the doors of opportunity for the less educated are utterly bleak.

Unfortunately, In order for a given child to go to a school outside their given designated school district area, parents will in one form or another, often have to be either deceptive, creative, or outright lie, in regards to their living situation and in particular, their location.  This means that these parents are subject to massive fines, for theft of services, that is the non-payment of property taxes for the education of their children in that school district, and/or jail time for first degree larceny or similar.  Perhaps that is the way it should be, that those that try to cheat the system, should pay the fine and/or serve the time for doing so.  However, the mitigating circumstances are that the parents in virtually every case are simply trying to allow their children the opportunity to receive a first class education from a first class country.

The fact of the matter is that the courts and America have failed far too many people that are thereby trapped into a vicious cycle of poverty and failure, which is exacerbated by inadequate school systems which are far inferior and far more dangerous than neighboring ones, that they are precluded from attending because of district lines deliberately structured historically so as to purposely exclude certain people.  In addition, the arm of the law in these situations, almost always targets those that are treated as undesirable because of the color of their skin, or their creed, so that again and again and again these people are targeted to be investigated whereas other people of the preferred color and preferred creed, are not investigated or targeted.

This is law unequally applied in addition to the endless punishing of those that are poor for the crime of being poor and the punishment of their children for having the imprudence of being born into the wrong family on the wrong side of the tracks.

Child Support and Suspension of Your Driver's License

Every State of the union has laws on the book that enables the State to suspend your driving privileges if you fail to stay current within a certain time span and monetary amount on your child support payments.  Further, adding fuel to the fire, many States have additional laws that will suspend occupational licenses, professional licenses, or even recreational licenses for non-payment of child support.  While, in every case to which you may be subject to a suspension there is a path to preclude this from happening, by virtue of getting your child support payments back to non-delinquency and/or successfully responding in time to court summons, petitions, orders, and so forth, none of this should ever have been made law in the first place.

In every single case, to which a non-payer of child support is subject to their driver's license being suspended, or even worse their professional license (e.g. CPA) being suspended, exactly none of these suspensions will be conducive to aiding the delinquent child support payer, in having the capacity to make their payments get current. In fact, this unnecessary harassment, will in effect, add unnecessary expense along with inconvenience, with the distinct possibility of all this ultimately leading to bankruptcy, personal depression, domestic violence, or jail time to someone that falls behind on their child support payments who often doesn't readily understand the nuances of the law and doesn't have their life together in the first place.

The suspension of any State issued license for the non-payment of child support, is wrong in all of its many aspects and does nothing to help or aid in the underlying problem of delinquency to begin with.  In point of fact, all the items needed to collect on delinquent child support payments are already available for those pursuing those payments by virtue that those that owe child support are subject to: wage garnishment, income tax interception, and liens. 

While it may be frustrating and upsetting not to receive timely child support payments, the means to collect on these payments, should be solely limited to extracting wages, tax intercepts, or asset liens, and nothing further.  The fact that the State has on its books to suspend a driver's license or any other license for the non-payment of child support is both punitive and counter-productive to the very problem at hand.

In whole, child support payments should never be seen or treated as a means of punishing one parent to the benefit of the other.  In actuality, child support payments are supposed to be for the benefit of the child, and that should be the court's main concern, not punishment, not license suspension or revocation, and certainly not jail time.  

In short, these current State laws need to be overturned as they are an unnecessary State intrusion into a domestic dispute that already has the necessary means to see that the process for payment of child support is set up in such a manner so as to collect the monies due.  There is no good reason for any further State induced heavy-handed involvement.

Boycotts are Effective

President Calvin Coolidge stated in 1925 that the:  "the chief business of the American people is business". This quotation has been somewhat truncated in history to be remembered as "the business of America is business."  However, it is rendered, the point is essentially the same, and any consumer would be well to remember it, which is that America takes its business and its money very, very seriously.  It then follows that if you want to make an impact, an impact will be made, when the everyday flow of money to businesses is interrupted in some way, form, or fashion.  That is to say, many people will nod their head, distractingly or not, or mumble their agreement about whatever that you are talking about, but they often won't readily react to any of it, till it affects their life or their bottom line.

This modern age has never seen a better time to organize and to initiate boycotts, mainly because the ability to stay in contact, connect, and communicate with other people of a like mindset, has never been easier, with all of the tools that allows one to stay in touch with one another in real time, via cell phone, or similar, and further that the power and immediacy of social media can easily take a smidgen of an idea, create a molehill of it within a short span of time, and possibly a mountain from it within just a few days.

Each person, in themselves, has economic power, and this power is utilized each and every day, whether recognized or not, by the financial decisions that we make, so that in aggregate, these decisions may easily affect the bottom line of corporations which rely on consistent buying behaviors and revenue streams to maintain their status and profitability.  Further to the cause, there are many products and services that are somewhat similar one to another, to which, the only real differentiation between it and a competitor is the perceived status symbol or reputation that a given product has over its rival.  Therefore, anything that is brought to the fore that might tarnish a company's burnished image, is certainly something that most companies would be vitally concerned about, irrespective as to whether there is a belief by that particular company as to whether the boycott has merit or not.

This means that targeted boycotts are in actuality accomplishing a dual purpose: of impacting sales, as well as impacting the product and the perception of such, to which all of this combined impacts the bottom line.  It is that threat or the actual action of, that creates the dialog between those that boycott and the company that has created the issues of the boycott to begin with.  Unfortunately, in America, appealing to the better nature of people or a given company's character, often will not accomplish much of anything, whereas battles that affect the flow of money, whether in the short or the long term, will most definitely get a response.

 In addition, the mainstream media will often play a massive role in the effectiveness or nationalization of a boycott, to which the boycotters can help their cause by being able to present their issue in such a manner that the "sound bites" of this modern age can distill it and highlight it so as to engage the short attention span of most general audiences.  Boycotts can be highly effective, and can be looked upon as grassroots democracy in action, recognizing that organized people have the ability to vote with their dollars each and every day.

2 Peter 3:10

We read in Holy Scripture the following: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (2 Peter 3:10).  This passage has two distinct parts, to which the first is that the second coming of the Lord which will be as a thief in the night, and the second part is that heavens and the earth will be burnt up and be no more, akin to a gigantic nuclear explosion.

It is amazing how often we get commentary from experts or even religions built around the knowledge of our Lord's exact date of His second coming, to which, none of these predictions have ever come to pass, and probably none ever will.  The scripture is clear that the Lord will come as a thief in the night, which makes the point fairly clear, that man will not know His exact coming, and in fact, it will be unexpected and unheralded.  That doesn't mean that man should not prepare for His second coming, in fact, man should, in his actions and duties, always be aware that our Lord may come at any given moment, so man should at all times behave in such a manner so as to be of service to our Lord, by his love of neighbor, and his sincere purpose of behalf of God.

The second section of this passage is of particular note, as it should frighten anyone that interprets their Bible in a literal manner because the elements are being melted with a fervent heat, does not bode well for planet earth or its inhabitants.  However, the Bible is often meant to be meditated upon, and for symbols to be metaphorical or allegorical, so that a careful contemplation of the heavens burning up and passing with a great noise should be looked upon in the manner of understanding that the old must be completely annihilated in order for the activation of the new.

This signifies that the true second coming of our Lord is a time that you will recognize when the old you is burnt away, much like a controlled forest fire that takes out the dead underbrush so as to bring forth new growth and for the good continuance of that vital health for the forest.   Also true, is that no one can get into heaven being of two minds, either you will serve the one, or you will serve the other.  This means that the change that we desire, the second coming that we must have begins first within ourselves, and it is this that must fundamentally change within our being, or we will never successfully cross the bridge over to the other side.

The earth that we live in is exactly the earth that we have made and if this earth is unsatisfactory in any manner, such as in justice, love, truth, and faith, than that fault lies within ourselves and no other.  Our Lord has ever put forth into our being all the ingredients that we need in order to effect real change, but this change must come not only from a sincere heart, but also from a heart that recognizes that its way--that is selfishness and strife cannot possibly ever be the way. 

We must endeavor to release the old and to embrace the New Jerusalem, by focusing our minds and our hearts on all that is good and right, and to do all this with a singular purpose.  Then, in time, He will come.

The Political Power of the Northeastern States

The United States currently has fifty States, of which, the physical square miles of each, varies considerably.  For instance, in the continental United States, Texas is by far the biggest State in the union, so big in fact, that the thirteen smallest States combined would still be less in size than Texas.  The foregoing might seem to be one of those little trivia questions which don't mean much of anything, until you recognize a couple of very important points.  The first point is that our Congress, the legislative branch of our government, makes laws, to which that Congress has two parts of it, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.  The amount of members that each State sends to the House of Representatives is based on the State population, which is updated every ten years, although the amount of members in total that make up the House does not change.  The Senate, on the other hand, has two members per each State, and this does not change ever.  The second point, is that America has distinctive territories such as the West, South, Northeast, and Midwest, that often vote in concert with one another, so that any one section of the country that is more heavily represented, will have more influence than another section of the country, and by virtue of having more Senators in a given section, can and will definitely influence legislation.

The area of the country that has the seven smallest States of the union is the Northeast and those States are Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts.  The other three States that make up the Northeastern quadrant are Maine, Pennsylvania, and New York, in which not even New York ranks in the top 25 of States in physical square miles in America.  These ten States represent 20% of the Senate and have shown consistently over the last twenty-odd years that their mindset is quite similar, which is not surprising considering that only three of the twenty Senators from these States are Republican.  In fact, over the last six Presidential elections (1992-2012), all ten States have voted Democratic each and every time, with the sole exception of New Hampshire in 2000.  The fact that the Northeast has that type of consistency equates to it having an undue influence in the political field of the Senate, and should rightly be looked upon as the Northeastern bloc.

The upshot is that States such as Texas and California, while having huge populations and many members of Congress, are still significantly short-changed when it comes to their particular geographic area of the union mainly because their Senate presence is so anemic.   In addition, large States with little population, such as Wyoming and Montana, are given much more of a say, even though there virtually isn't anyone that actually lives there.  This doesn't mean that the Senate as structured is necessarily flawed, but what it does mean is that the fact that the Northeastern part of the union has all the small States gives them an undue influence over national politics simply because they were so fortunate as to have significantly smaller size colonial footprints that later became States.

The thing is that those that are in power, hate to relinquish power, which is probably a significant contributing factor as to why so many of the States created later, were much larger physically in size, so as to not diminish the power of the smaller States, by adding a bunch of competing small States, and thereby diluting the Senatorial power of the Northeast.

The New Chicken: Turkey

According to the nationalchickencouncil.org in 1965 the per capita consumption of chicken in America was 36.9 lbs, whereas the per capita consumption of turkey was 7.6 lbs, and for all red meat was 133.9 lbs.  For 2016, it is estimated that red meat consumption will be at 105.3 lbs, chicken will be at 91.4 lbs, and turkey at 16.2 lbs. This means that in the last fifty years, that red meat consumption on a per capita basis has actually declined a significant percentage, whereas chicken consumption has grown enormously to which it is only a matter of time, perhaps five years, before the per capita chicken consumption will be greater than red meat consumption, and while turkey per capita consumption has grown in consumption by more than 100% over the last fifty years, it has actually fallen further behind chicken because chicken consumption has grown at an ever higher consumption rate.  The most significant reasons for chicken to have taken significant market share away from red meat are because of its cost per pound, which can be attributed to the more efficient raising of chickens, the much greater weight of chickens that are raised today, as well as the fact that chickens also take less time to mature than they did fifty years ago, as well as the wide usage of chicken products in fast food restaurants and the like.

A lot of the advantages of chicken are the same advantages of turkey, to wit, that turkeys have also grown in size and breast meat considerably over the last fifty years, farmers have also become more efficient in the raising of, and that on a per pound basis, turkey prices are comparable to chicken prices, and are often cheaper than chicken.  The main issues against turkey are that it is often associated with eating as a main course only during Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities, and virtually ignored as an evening meal, thereafter, most likely because of the physical size of turkeys as well as the labor and cooking times of turkey.  That is to say, that the average turkey sold to consumers is simply too big for everyday usage.

There are a couple of ways to combat the physical size of a turkey, to which one is to break the turkey down into more manageable parts such as turkey bacon, turkey nuggets,  turkey breast meat and patties, turkey wings and so forth.  The other way to make turkey a more common meal to consume is to have different sizes of turkeys, consider that back in the 1930s the average size of a turkey was 13.2 pounds, whereas the present day size of a chicken is 9.25 pounds, so that the specific development of turkeys as an 1:1 alternative to chickens could readily be accomplished if certain specific turkeys were re-bred in such a manner so as to downsize their weight to match more closely to the chicken, and perhaps in order to further differentiate this as a different breed of turkey, call this smaller version of a turkey by a different name, such as a turket.

The great thing about turkeys is that their taste isn't nearly as bland as chicken, in addition to fact that turkey is already well known and popular and commonly consumed as bacon, lunch meat, as well as for special family occasions, so that given enough push and marketing, there isn't any real reason why turkey can't be consumed at a significantly higher rate, especially if the pricing of such, is comparable to chicken.

The Economics of Knock-Offs

According to manufacturingnews.com: "Knockoffs account for 7 percent of world trade", and while it is difficult to really know for sure how big the knock-off business is, it is fair to say that in any major metropolis there are many areas within that metropolis to which those that want to buy knockoffs can do so, no matter how well policed the area is.  There are many reasons for why knock-offs do major business, but it all starts at the very basic understanding that where there is a need, there will be somebody that will fill that need, and far too many people, have a need to wear or have the latest high-end design product but are woefully short of being able to afford the real thing or are woefully ignorant that those that sell high-end products in an underhanded way or at insane discounts, are at best selling a stolen product, and in all probability selling a knock-off of the product or both.

While there are and always will be different degrees of knock-offs, the most impressive knock-offs are ones that readily fool those that the product is being sold to and for these knock-offs to work, one must have created the entire gamut from the buying of the raw supplies, labor, manufacturing, distribution, and the ultimately the selling of the product all put together seamlessly in order to garner the best sales and to have an overall business model that is sustainable.

One of the great things that helps knock-off manufacturers is the fact that names like Louis Vuitton, Coach, Hermes, and so on, have created over time and through careful marketing a certain prestige and clique for their respective products to begin with, so that the selling price of these luxury goods has little or nothing to do with the underlying cost of the materials and its labor themselves.  It then follows from the above that this means that these high-end luxury goods have a very fat gross margin which allows those that have that corrupt entrepreneurial spirit to piggy-back onto these business names in order to profit from their goodwill.

The thing about handbags, for instance, is that the overall technology and insight to produce one is something that is fairly easy to reverse engineer and it is well worth it to a top counterfeiter to take their time to do so in such a manner so as to be able to replicate a given handbag so that the replica of it is good enough to almost pass for the real thing.  All of this is possible, because while the handbag might retail for $750 or more, the actual materials and labor of it, are probably no higher than 10-15% of that retail price, if that.  This means that a top notch knock-off manufacturer can undercut significantly a real high-end handbag, especially considering that all the advertising, marketing, taxes, pricey brick and mortar stores, and so forth, aren't part of their business model, so in actuality, despite the counterfeiter having to pay off or dealing with certain policing elements, port authorities, organized crime, and suffering with thievery, violence, betrayal, and shrinkage, all often without legal recourse, and so forth, the counterfeiter's gross margin will still be quite lucrative.

The bottom line is that counterfeiters could not exist without successfully exploiting the large gross margin of these high-end luxury good companies to begin with, in addition to the important fact that so many people want or need what they really can't afford and thereby take that enticing shortcut in order to get theirs.

The Absolute Uniqueness and Mystery of the Christ

There is no other religion in the world to which its founder was found guilty and received capital punishment, in the case of Christ this was crucifixion, and was then able to resurrect himself or reconstitute his physical body, continue then with his mission on earth for a predetermined period of time, before ascending to Heaven in front of his apostles.  Yet, that is the story of the Messiah, unprecedented in the annals of all human history, which would indicate that this story is the most important story that has ever been told.

This means that a proper studying and understanding of Jesus and his mission is of utmost importance for fundamentally understanding the purpose and meaning of everyday life.  Everything that Christ did was for a purpose, yet Christ's words, parables, actions, and life were never presented in such a manner that all would know the Truth because without effort, without desire, without love, and without dedication, the message of Christ was mystifying but those specifically that knocked upon the door of Truth, with the right attitude, with the right heart, and with the right mindset, would discover the Light that surpasses all human light.  That said, even those closest to Christ, his own disciples, were incredibly often at a loss as to the real meaning and purpose of Jesus' actions, to which, only upon his crucifixion, resurrection, further instruction, ascension, and the day of Pentecost, did his disciples finally understand the meaning of the Christ, and only at that point, did his disciples clearly understand their own mission and purpose in life.

For many people, even today, the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and died on the cross, as if He was a common criminal, or as an enemy of the State, seems inexplicable.  How is it possible for the son of God to die?  How is it possible that Jesus could be scourged, beaten, spat upon, mocked, unjustly convicted, and even somehow when given the opportunityto be freed was democratically outvoted by the people in favor of Barabbas, an insurrectionist.  The answer to this basic question is twofold, first Jesus followed this particular pattern in His Life, so as to fulfill Scripture, further it was done, to fulfill his own prophecy that he had previously declared, but for the most part, had been misunderstood by the populace.  Further, the actual crucifixion carried with it the connotation that Jesus the Christ was the symbolic sacrifice of this innocent lamb to God, as a testimony that the sin that is mankind, could only be cleansed by this sacrifice, and by His wounds, we would be healed.

Yet, there is a further message, often left unsaid, in regards to the crucifixion and death of Christ, and His later resurrection.  That is the point that humankind is created in the image of God, and that image is not the physical form of man, but the spiritual soul of man, so that the crucifixion or death, of anybody, let alone the Christ, is the death of the physical man, but never of the spiritual man.  This means that anybody, that gets so caught up in this world, so as to believe that what they are seeing is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, are missing the Truth.  The Truth is we are spiritual beings encased in a physical form, and that physical form will suffer many slings and arrows, that many believe is the ultimate reality, whereas the reality is we are a little lower than angels, and are children of the Most High God, invincible, unending, and filled with His glory.

Maintenance Margin

The hardest part in anyone's financial life is building up a nest egg, once that is done, most people will discover, through happenstance or whatever, that money makes money.  For instance, many people have a brokerage account, which can be opened for trivial amounts of money such as $1000, and with that brokerage account they have a vast array of equity investments that they can make.  When opening up a brokerage account there are a multitude of questions to answer, to which, one of them is whether you desire to have a "cash" account or a "margin" account.  A cash account is about as simple as it can get, which simply means that if you deposit $10,000 you can buy up to $10,000 worth of equities or mutual funds.  A margin account, however, is fundamentally different, to which, typically in most brokerage accounts, if you deposit $10,000 you can buy up to $20,000 worth of equities or mutual funds.  As you might imagine, there are caveats when it comes to margin accounts, to which the two most fundamental caveats, is that when you borrow money to utilize for your margin account, the brokerage  will charge you interest in order to do so, additionally, and fundamentally of extreme importance, should your investments go down in value, you will be subject to a "margin call", which in essence means that you must either come up with more equity by depositing more money into your brokerage account or sell at least part or some of your positions.  This means that a margin account is not for the faint hearted and further that those utilizing margin accounts must as a matter of policy, pay daily attention to their brokerage positions or possibly suffer the consequences for their blithe unconcern.

Margin itself is governed by the Federal Reserve's Regulation T as well as the brokerage company that you are invested with, so that, even though the regulation allows you to margin at a 1:1 ratio to your equity amount, in theory your brokerage company, might be more conservative than that, and hence rather than let you margin at 50% equity, they may set the number at 70% equity, depending upon a lot of factors, which would include your experience, your net worth, and the investments that you make.  There is, however, another part of margin, which many people are unaware of, which is maintenance margin, this is margin that goes into effect usually after a designated period of time, which typically stipulates that the amount of equity that you need for your securities drops from 50%, to as low as 25%, which is the legal limit.  This then indicates that an equity cash deposit of $10,000 would now at its maximum, be able to hold $40,000 worth of equities, or twice the initial margin requirement.

So what does this all really mean, well, in an age of unprecedented low interest rates, the cost of borrowing money has plunged significantly, so that margin rates can be so low that brokerage accounts exceeding $3.5 million, for instance, can be offered margin loan rates of just 0.97% or possibly even lower.  What this means in effect, is that because margin rates are so low, and because you can leverage up your investments to a 3:1 ratio (equity 25%), that sophisticated organizations do this sort of thing all of the time so as to maximize potential gains in an era to which it is difficult to effect a yearly gain of 7-8%.  According to nyxdata.com margin debt in America in December of 2015 was at $461,200 ($ in millions) or nearly 1/2 trillion dollars, against free credit cash accounts of $151,618 ($ in millions) and credit balances in margin accounts of $127,891 ($ in millions).  The bottom line is that the stock market is highly leveraged, and leveraged money is money that is highly susceptible to panics, and panics lead to recessions and/or to depressions.