Review of the Movie "Stone"

Recently, I watched a newly-released-to-video movie called Stone.  I want to first say, as I do in any movie review I do, if you do not want the details of the movie spoiled, if you plan to watch it, then do not read this until after you've watched the movie.  Furthermore, I want to state that this movie is an adults-only movie.  Not only is there a violent stabbing scene, numerous calling down of curses from God and many profane words, but there is sexual content and partial nudity that is better off not seen by anyone.  

Wikipedia calls the movie a "box office bomb," stating that it brought in only a third of its production budget.  I do feel that this is a disappointment, because it has a message that most in our nation really need to grasp.  I have observed, though, that though I and a minute few others actually get something out of movies, most only seek to be entertained by the violence, sexual content, the looks of the actors and actresses themselves, etc. and do not really pay attention to the underlying MESSAGES that so many movies reveal.

The movie's four main characters are about-to-retire Jack Mabry, Jack's wife Madylyn, 20-or-30-something Gerald "Stone" Creeson, and his wife Lucetta.  The movie starts out with a non-introduced young Jack and Madylyn Mabry and their young daughter.  The woman carries her daughter to her bed upstairs and kisses her so that she can continue her nap.  She sits on the bed for a minute staring at a fly buzzing around the screen of the open window.  She then goes downstairs and tells her husband something to the effect of, "You're keeping my soul in a prison.  I'm leaving," to which the non-introduced Jack responds by jumping out of his chair and storming upstairs.

Obviously worried, Jack's wife runs up the stairs after he's gone up, shouting after him.  She finds him in their daughter's room, hanging his daughter out the window and threatening his wife that if she leaves him, he'll drop their daughter.  She says she won't leave and pleads for him to bring their sleeping daughter back inside.  After he lays the girl back on the bed, the wife hurries to the window and slams it shut on the fly, which kills the latter.  I think the fly's death is something most won't even think much about, but I find it interesting that it was included.  A creature with a nasty job, viewed as a nuisance was killed by the woman who saved her daughter from being killed.  It was if it was a just substitute.  The man had removed the screen, so the fly then had the opportunity it wanted to leave, but it must have swarmed around the room.  Before it could finally be free, it was killed.

Then the movie moves to the present, showing scenes of an Episcopalian (Protestant Christian) Jack Mabry and his wife attending church services; scenes of Jack, a corrections officer, in his office talking to Gerald Creeson; scenes of Jack and Madylyn in their home, often with prayer and devotionals at meal times, it being clearly evident that Madylyn is serious about her faith, whereas Jack is not so much; scenes of Jack driving in his car, usually listening to radio with Christian broadcasting; scenes of Lucetta calling Jack or meeting Jack; and scenes of Lucetta visiting Gerald in prison.

Toward the beginning of the movie, Jack meets with Gerald in Jack's office.  Gerald has served eight years of eleven sentenced for arson.  He's available for possible parole, so Jack is reviewing his case.  Gerald demands to be called "Stone," because that is what everyone who knows him calls him.  He talks with an attitude, and his language is heavily laced with profanity.  His hair is in rows of tight braids.  He tells Jack that he's ready to get out, and Jack asks him whether it's because he's reformed, to which Gerald says that he's paid time, and he's ready to get out.  He has not really gone through any change for the better, though he does say something interesting to Jack.  He inquired why he had to be in the prison and why Jack could be free, and Jack said that he hadn't "broken the law."  Stone (Gerald) basically said, "You mean to tell me you haven't done anything wrong in your life?"

Stone calls his wife from prison and urges her to talk to Jack and do anything she could to get Jack to give Gerald a good report so that he could be released.  Lucetta more or less stalks Jack, calling him at home and stopping him outside his workplace.   He finally agrees to meet privately with her.  She plays the sweet and seductive role very well.  Long story short, she persuades him to go to her house, and she gets him drunk and has sex with him.

Meanwhile, Stone is having a difficult time being in prison.  He desperately wants out.  He goes to the prison library and starts sorting through religious literature.  Poor guy.  There are so many things from which to pick, he's not sure where to start.  He finally chooses a pamphlet on a religion Zangkugor or something.  I can't remember the name of it, nor do I know whether it's a real religion or made for the movie.  It teaches a doctrine of karma and reincarnation and that humming a certain way will help you get in a certain zone where then you can hear a  natural sound, like a bee buzzing and find harmony or God in it.

It is not within the scope of this review to deeply discuss such religions as Zangkugor or whatever it was called, and the true God does not call everyone to understand truth during this phase of his seven-step plan of salvation for mankind.  But, the main point is that Gerald did go through a spiritual change.  He finally felt guilty for burning his grandparents' house down.  He started asking questions like, "What is forever?"  He cleaned up his speech tremendously.  It was no longer filled with profanity, and he spoke more intelligently.  He got his hair out of braids (certainly not to say that braids are sinful).

At the same time, Jack feels convicted of his adultery with another man's wife and clearly feels very uncomfortable around both his own wife and around Gerald.  The tables have turned, and Jack is the one whose language is filled with profanity and yelling, where Gerald sits calmly and asks Jack questions out of concern, which only enrages Jack more.  Jack is obviously a tormented soul, and Gerald is at peace.  He said it didn't matter now whether he was in prison or out.  Gerald's spirit was free within him, where Jack's spirit was in tormenting bondage to his sin, because he really did believe there was a God but wanted to deny it in order to justify his sin to himself and so to avoid confessing his sin and apologizing to those he wronged and repent--change, get on the right track.

Jack's wife is visibly hurt but also disgusted with Jack's behavior.  She has her womanly instincts and wise discernment and asks Jack whether there is anything he needed to tell her.  He's very short and profane with everyone with whom he has contact now.

Jack decides he wants to change the good report on Gerald, even though now it should be clear to a wisely discerning judge that Gerald has true grounds to be released.  He's truly gone through a spiritual change, serving in liberty under some law in which he believed.

Madylyn leaves Jack, after burning their home down and getting away with it (the same crime Gerald had done for other reasons), and goes to their daughter's home.  The daughter says to her mother that she is so surprised that she waited so long and didn't leave a long time ago.  She said, "I tried once..." as she stares into another time, not answering her daughter's inquiry, "What happened?"  We're left to wonder whether Madylyn tells her daughter the story about her father hanging her out the window.

It also appears that Gerald left his whorish wife Lucetta.  I find it interesting that the name Lucetta was chosen for her character.  Her name means "light," but she's very deceptive and seductive, only appearing as a person of light.  In one scene she showed to be at work at a daycare or school, out on the playground with young children, and she was very patient and gentle-spoken.  She was sugary sweet when seducing Jack.  In truth, she was full of darkness.  She verbally expressed to Jack, upon being asked, that she did not believe in God.  She made her own good and bad, delighting in what she saw right in her own eyes.

Jack is driving down a street one night and happens to see Gerald walking.  He stops, takes a gun from his car, gets out of the car, and chases Gerald down.  He has him in a place of darkness and starts cursing him and pushes him up against the wall of a building.  He presses the barrel of the gun to Gerald's forehead and falsely accuses Gerald of ruining his life.  Gerald is calm throughout the whole scenario, which pisses off Jack even more.  He threatens, "You don't think I'll kill you?!"  Gerald calmly replies, "No, I don't."  He's right, as Jack eventually takes the gun away and leaves.  Jack (meaning "man") has an exceedingly sinful heart, but he does not want to break the PHYSICAL law of the land and so be imprisoned physically.  Nevertheless, he's in SPIRITUAL bonds, spiritually imprisoned, in bondage to his sin. 

A person can be free in God's eyes while in physical bondage (in prison), and a person who is physically free can be in spiritual bondage.  There are many who care about what man thinks and so will put on outward show of being righteous, but they are not fooling God who judges the heart and mind.  Many do not want to humble themselves and repent of their sins.  They have hearts of stone.  Gerald started out as "Stone," and he was indeed hardened.  But, he underwent a spiritual transformation, and his heart softened.  In the end, it was Jack who had the stony heart and chose to remain in tormenting spiritual bondage, rather than humbly confess his sins and repent.  There are many who sit in buildings made by man, imprisoned who are spiritually free, and there are many, many more who, although physically free, are imprisoned by their sin and their refusal to free themselves by humbly repenting.

At the age of 18 I was charged with credit card fraud across interstate lines.  When I was 20, I was served papers by the Secret Service and a U.S. marshal and summoned to court a U.S. district court to enter a plea.  I entered a plea of guilty.  I had shown a complete turnaround.  In the end, I was not convicted of the crime, though I was guilty and had pled guilty.  I received GRACE upon my repentance.  Many looked down on me with great judgment for one of the lesser sins of the Ten Commandments, one of the only sins that did not require the physical death penalty if physically transgressed.  Those same people were guilty of greater sins and great sins of the heart, sins of which they do not repent.  But, those physical sins and those greater sins of the heart are not punished by the law in place by man of this land.  Though those same people claim to be Christians, they care more about the law of man and what man thinks than what God thinks.

Which are YOU?  Were you a Stone that is now changed, or are you a Jack who is physically free and looked upon through the eyes of man as "a good person" but are in spiritual bondage to your sin and "wicked" through the eyes of God?

Books, Courses, and Documentaries of 2010 and a Look at 2011

This post lists the books, documentaries, and courses I read and watched during the course of the last Roman year, and then I'm posting my planned books-to-read and courses-to-watch for this Roman year.  This does not include the various scientific and historical studies and articles I've read, scientific magazines, things read to the children, nor any other educational reading, nor does it include my bible readings and studies.  This kind of post each year is helpful to me and is not necessarily helpful to anyone else. 

Books I Read in 2010:

Finished reading Nature Got There First: Inventions Inspired by Nature by Phil Gates

What a Difference a Daddy Makes by Dr. Kevin Leman

DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Dr. Rick Strassman

Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels

The Truth Shall Set You Free:  Herbert Armstrong's Empire Exposed by John Tuit

Women in the Church:  A Biblical Study on the Role of Women in the Church by Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi

The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality by Catherine Blackledge

The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Jenkins (does not include reading all the recipes included)

Almost finished with Married for Life by Bill Morelan (reading along with Nathan)

I wrote and published the book God's Law of Love:  The Perfect Law of Liberty

Courses I Watched in 2010:

Linguistics:  The Science of Language by Professor John McWhorter

The Story of Human Language by Professor John McWhorter

The History of the English Language by Professor Seth Lerer


and part of Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution by Professor Richard Wolfson

Documentaries I Watched in 2010:

11th Hour

Love, Hate, and Propaganda

Botany of Desire
  
Collapse

I.O.U.S.A.

Constantine's Sword

***************************

Books I Plan to Read in 2011:

To finish Married for Life by Bill Morelan (reading w/ Nathan)


In Search of Dad by Charles Newbold, Jr.

DNA and the Criminal Justice System: The Technology of Justice  edited by David Lazer

Adam, Eve, and the Genome edited by Susan Thistlethwaite

Girls! by William Beausay & Kathryn Beausay

Faith Training:  Raising Kids Who Love the Lord by Dr. Joe White

And re-reading the content of what is about to become the book The Biblical Prophets for Today  by Keith Hunt

Courses I Plan to Watch in 2011:

 To finish Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution by Professor Richard Wolfson

Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality by Professor Robert Sapolsky

Understanding the Brain by Professor Jeanette Norden

Understanding Genetics by Professor David Sadava

and The Joy of Science by Professor Robert M. Hazen


Documentaries I Plan to Watch in 2011:

I AM (will be released in theaters Feb. 18)

and whatever else I decide through the coming months

Some Miss the Rebellious Years in the Prison School System

Recently, I've been carefully meditating on the prison school system and the adolescent rebellion that is common in mainstream society, as well as the difference between those who are glad those years of sin and rebellion are behind them and those who miss them with a yearning to be able to go back.

These reflections are a result of a lot of comments over the years by various individuals about missing public school. Well, I am one who can't imagine what is wrong in the head of someone who would actually miss being locked away in an institution for eight plus hours a day, five days a week, where you are made to sit in desks and be force-fed information you may or may not care about or of which may or may not be true, where you are punished for talking or questioning and for needing to visit the toilet, where you are not allowed to keep water or chew gum or eat a snack or, or or...

I've noticed a common theme, though, among most people who miss those days. They miss things like the memories of cheating on school work, sneaking this or that, and getting away with numerous other things. In other words, they miss themselves and their fellow peers all acting in rebellion with each other and getting a kick out of it. Interesting, I thought. Then I thought of the many in prisons who actually enjoy being there, because they have criminal minds, and they enjoy fighting, stealing, doing drugs, engaging in fornication, etc. inside the prison walls. These are the same things that are increasing in public schools. Even when locked away, they get away with evil.

I chose to do a quick research on people who actually enjoy an adult prison, and a blog with an article on the child and adolescent prison school system caught my eye. I agree very much with his post.

I've for many years called the public school system a prison. There is no freedom and no joy in learning, and so the love of learning dies in most people by the time they finish their sentence. Thank God I survived. I always loved learning and exploring, and I feel as if I was VERY robbed of precious time during those years. I also was not spending my adult-training years learning beside my mother how to be an adult woman. Instead, I spent my time being force-fed repeated basics and then nonsense that I would never use in my life, and then getting in trouble with my peers, both in and out of school.

So then I was thrown into the world with a major handicap, plus I'd been morally defiled. By God's grace, I chose to live as a truth-seeker, ever-growing in knowledge, and I chose to keep my children at home where they can function normally, learning in a normal environment.  They learn the basics of reading, writing, and math, and they learn everything else by asking and exploring and reading.  They learn to follow the law of God, and they go with me to places so that they can learn how to do things in the real world.  When they enter their teen/adolescent years, they should be ready to start their adult training, beside the parent of the same sex. 

My adolescent years, just like the adolescent years of most people in this nation, are stained terribly by SIN and REBELLION.  I remember in my elementary school years, my best friend and I were called "Goody Two Shoes" and were often persecuted for being studious and well-behaved.  As we entered our adolescent years, things became much more difficult.  We were under tremendous pressure to "be cool," and to be cool among your peers, you had to be bad.  Adolescents dishonor their parents, fight and say hateful things to others (some even kill others), abuse food and drugs, engage in sexually immoral behavior, steal, lie and cheat, and are never satisfied with what they already have. 

Oh, I feel just AWFUL about my adolescent years.  It's a time I want to ERASE from my memory.  I sure do NOT want to return to those days of imprisonment and sin. 

The public school system really is much like the prison system, even down to the poor quality food.  Just as criminals in our society are looked upon as "cool" if they've done time in prison, and the more they've done, the "cooler" they are, adult sinners of my generation and the one that followed crave the time of crime once again.  They look on those days as "the good ol' days," but most of us who have turned to God look back on those imprisoned and sinful years and loathe them.  We remember our sins, and we remember being locked up, and we are glad to have been set free.

By Grace We Are Saved, Not by Works: A Lesson to My Son

This week when the children and I went to the market, my seven-year-old firstborn son exhibited behavior with which I was displeased.  He is usually my superstar helper when we go to the market.  I had to repeatedly remind him to do his responsibilities as he should and to not fool around. 

I told him after we left that I was going to give a bad report on him to his daddy.  It's close to an hour's drive back home, and when we were about twenty minutes away from home, Will said, "Momma, if a person does bad works, and then if he does more good works, does that [cancel out] the bad works?"

I knew why he asked.  He had been sitting back there formulating a plan to get out of the probability of being punished by his father.  He wondered whether he could get home and do all sorts of good works to get me on his good side, and then I would just cancel out his bad works with the good works of which he would have more, and so then he'd be saved from punishment.

I responded to his question, "No, sweetie, it doesn't work that way.  That would be salvation by works.  A person cannot be saved from punishment for bad works by doing more good works than he did bad.  Salvation from punishment can only come from grace."

I continued, "However, a person who does not stop his bad works and start doing good works won't receive that grace, but the fact remains that he did bad works.  Think of it this way.  Say I go out and murder someone.  I say to the judges that I am sorry, and I'll now do only good works.  I'll do the good works of not killing anyone else and will do all manner of other good works.  But, not killing other people doesn't and cannot make up for the person I did kill.  Only if the people who were hurt by that person's death gave me pardon, gave me grace can I be saved from punishment.  But people don't give grace to a murderer who feels no remorse and clearly has the mindset of murdering again."

Will said, "I need grace!  Momma, will you please give me grace and not tell Daddy?"

I told him that I knew he was usually well-behaved and that he needed to make sure it didn't happen again; next week when we go to the market, he'd better act the right way.  I added that he also needed to make sure he walked the path of righteousness for the remainder of the day, to the time his daddy would get home.  I ended by telling him that I forgave him and that I wouldn't bring charges against him to his daddy.

Well, much to my disappointment, Will let his own will get out of control for the rest of the day.  He can be so wonderful, but that day was not one of those days.  I told him he'd be getting a bad report.  I did give his daddy a bad report, and it included the market details.  The promised grace was no longer valid, because he had fallen from grace.

Our relationship with our Holy Father and with our Lord Brother, Salvation, is no different.  We are saved by grace, because we have all sinned, and the Perfect Firstborn, Salvation, sacrificed for us.  Big Brother took the blame for our wrongdoings.  He took the punishment from Father.  The punishment did not belong to him.  Salvation did no wrong in Father's eyes.  He was Father's Perfect Firstborn, playing a life out in human flesh without sin.  Salvation is Number 1 in Father's eyes, his most beloved Son.  None of us will ever come close to comparing, and certainly no number of good works is going to cancel out any bad works.  ONE bad work, ONE sin, and we come SHORT of God's glory, and Salvation, the Firstborn, is Father's glory.  We should all bow the knee to Salvation, because he's EARNED his right to be Father's Top Son.  None of us have EARNED anything...but death.  We all have at least ONE sin.  Salvation had NO sin.  We had better all bow to Salvation and do our best to be like him, and he'll give a good word to Father.  Father will see that we are trying to be like Salvation, though knowing we'll never be as good as Salvation, and honor Salvation before Father. 

That is how we get GRACE.  We have to have the heart of wanting to do everything right and trying to walk on the path of righteousness the way our Elder Brother Salvation did.  If we are not even trying to obey Father's household law the way Salvation did and do not care or only care about some commandments but not others, then we shall not get grace from Father.

It's interesting to me that most of those who call themselves "Christian" shout to those who keep Father's commandments and do not play the whore in Father's household but keep themselves as a virgin in his Royal Household, "We're not saved by works!  We're saved by grace."  Well, those of us who keep Father's commandments are not seeking to be saved by works.  We are seeking to be saved by grace.  We truly were remorseful that we had broken Father's commandments--all ten of them--and we turned to good works.  No matter how many times we don't steal, it won't make up for the time(s) we have stolen.  No matter how much we do not murder, it won't make up for the times we did (even in heart).  We're not saved by works.  But, we know we're not going to get covered by that promised grace through Salvation before Father's throne if we do not change our ways. 

If Will acts up at the market next week, he'll really be in trouble, because it is known that he can conduct himself properly and make me very proud, and so if he does not even try to do what is right and instead acts out of line--off the right path--he won't receive grace.  It'll be even worse.  It's pretty bad when someone gives a transgressor grace, and then he goes back to the evil deeds he had claimed to be remorseful for and turn away from.

So, those saved by grace won't be those who shout loudly to Father's righteous sons that they're "saved by grace, not by works," but those saved by grace will be the ones who sought grace and then stopped breaking the commandments.  Most of those "saved by grace" shouters agree that one should not murder, steal, commit adultery, lie, etc.  It's mostly the fourth commandment with which they hate.  They prefer to fornicate--to play the harlot in Father's Royal House--by keeping pagan-originated holidays, like the weekly "Sunday" first day of the week and the annual holiday feasts of Easter and Christmas, etc.  They do not want to walk as Salvation did, keeping the commanded holy days of Father that outline our plan of salvation.  Father and Salvation are not pleased that those who claim to be in their Household do not keep Sabbath on the seventh day of the week, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and 8th Day.  This reveals the true Salvation, the true Christ. 

Oh, how I LOVE the TRUTH...how I love and meditate daily in Father's royal law.  I aim to please him daily. I cry when I fail miserably to compare to my Brother Salvation.  Oh, but I then THANK Father for his grace and Salvation for his name, because he is my Salvation.  I have FAITH that I am under the loving GRACE of my Holy Father, because I invite him to search my heart so that he knows I love him and aim to please him and follow Salvation's footsteps and because I honor Salvation as the rightful TOP HEIR and am just thankful that I even am called worthy enough through grace to co-inherit my Father's possessions. 

PRAISE you, Father, Most High, and my Beloved Lord Salvation.  Blessed are you both by those in your Royal Household who LOVE and SERVE you in SPIRIT and in TRUTH!

Amen!

Does Christ's Name on Something Make it His?

It's the Christmas time that a huge number of people in the world observe.  I'm not an observer of this time myself, as God my Father condemns such an observance.  There are a lot who call themselves Christians, though, who observe the time and day.  They'll say the most senseless things when confronted with the truth. 

For example, upon someone saying that Jesus is the reason for the season, I stated the truth of the matter, that he is NOT the reason for this season; he has absolutely NOTHING to do with it and hates it. 

That person said that the scriptures talk about Jesus' birth, and she thought Satan trembles because people observe his birth at Christmas.  Well, yes, I said, the scriptures do talk about Salvation's birth, but it has nothing to do with the winter celebration people observe, nor was his birth commanded to be observed. 

Another person said that she'd "always been taught" that Christ was the reason for the season, hence the name of Christmas. 

Yet another person said pointed it out to me in all caps, as if I was physically blind to the spelling:  He's the reason for the season, because it's called CHRISTmas. 

Wow, do people REALLY  honestly think that just because people call the day Christmas that it is all about Christ and that he's okay with it?  What if our government decided to rename the atomic bomb the "Christ Bomb?"  What if the ammo used in military guns were renamed "Jesus bullets?"  Would that somehow make the wars U.S. wages Christian?  Would the bomb and bullets be okay to use against fellow human beings then?  Would it automatically get Christ's approval, because someone put his name on it?

If we meditate on this, we see clearly that it is great folly to to believe something like this.

There are homosexual groups out there who put the name of Christ on them, like the Gay Christian Network, for example.  There are those out there who have created "Christian porn" sites.  There are "Christian" abortionists.  The notorious partial-birth abortionist George Tiller "The Baby Killer" who was recently shot and killed was done so as he was walking out of his church on "Sunday" morning.  I could go on and on, but surely the point is made. 

Christmas, which comes from two words--Christ and mass--means "dismissal of Christ," which doesn't make sense, seeing as it's supposedly his birth being observed.  The fact is that Christmas is the old Dies Natalis Sol Invictus (Birthday of the Invincible Sun), a day of worship to the false sun god.  Rome gave it a new name.  The church in Rome fornicated truth with pagan doctrines and observances. 

The truth is that Christians should have nothing to do with "Christmas." It's a deception from Satan himself.

Further reading:

The History of Christmas by Keith Hunt


Naughty or Nice, Someone is Coming to Town?  mine

The Truth About Santa Claus by Keith Hunt

Son of God or Sun of God:  Which Christ Do You Worship? mine

Link between Christmas and abortion mine

The Tree of Life:  Symbolic Representation or Object of Worship?  mine

Real Love vs. Lip Service

I like writing things under the topic of spiritual vs. earthly, and this is yet another entry dealing with this topic.

For awhile now, I've really been pushing hard for my two older children, young sons of 7.5 years and 3.5 years, to learn the difference between lip service and true love and faithful obedience. This is something on which all of us in God's Church should also meditate carefully.

I've always been a really loving person, very family-oriented. I value family time more than increasing in wealth. I would always want to talk and play games with my family when growing up, though I never got nearly enough. Ironically,I ended up choosing to spend more time by myself in my bedroom or outside in the woods, either reading or enjoying nature and meditating, rather than watch fruitless television shows. That was their idea of spending time together, day after day, hour after hour, and it never made sense to me, because although I don't mind watching interesting movies with my family now, it's because we watch things that we can talk about, and we do discuss them. We also spend only a small portion of our time doing such things. Watching hours of tv each evening together is not the same as interacting with each other.

My mother always told me that I told her, "I love you" too much and that the meaning lost its luster, because I wore it out. I certainly was not thinking in those terms. I really did just love her and wanted the same kind of love back.

Later, I married my husband, and the strangest thing happened. He told me one time that I say, "I love you" too often. He said something like, "You just told me a few minutes ago." This was TWICE I'd been told this by two different people. I was hurt. I have always been sincere in my love, and I didn't think anything of my frequent vocalizations of it.

Fast forward a few years later. My younger son, 3.5 years of age now, is a Jekyll and Hyde. He can be very sweet and loving, or he can be very raging and hateful. I'm working very hard to teach him to tame his spirit, to "have control" over it.

Well, he says, "I love you" a lot. Sadly, he also has many times screamed "I hate you," and that is something none of the rest of us ever say (and hopefully not think). In his case, he does a lot of lip servicing. He'll say that he loves, but he won't obey. Now, I did a lot of rebellious moves in my teen years, so my vocalized love toward my mother would have been in part lip service, but it didn't have to be that way. Neither of my parents made any moves to be close to me in my teen years. Neither of them had any interest in being my friend. I thought my mother was my enemy; she certainly acted like it. They had no problem sending me to a public school where I was surrounded by other rebellious teens who hated their parents, and some even told me that my mother was a bitch.

Looking back on it all now with a lot more knowledge and wisdom, my parents, whether knowingly or unknowingly, actively supported my dying love and disrespect for them in my adolescent years by approving of the system and setting me in it and never making time to have a deep meaningful relationship with me, because watching fruitless sitcoms was more important. They never even talked to me about the books I read, the music to which I listened, the friends I had at school, or what I was learning at school.

My son Trusten's constant vocalizing his love for me, when it stands with obedience, isn't botheresome to me. The number of times he says it does not aggravate me when he's being well-behaved. However, when he's in a streak of evil, and he tells me that over and over, I feel angry.

I meditated some on my own habit of frequently speaking words of love. I needed to be sure that there was no lip service going on. When I realized that I was clear of any guilt, I used the difference as a teaching tool for my children. When I ask them how they know that I love them, I say:

"Is it because I tell you many times in the day that I love you?"

At first, the answers were affirmative. So I asked something like:

"What if I said that I love you all throughout the day every day, but I called you awful names and beat you and hurt you, and I didn't feed you or I just let you as a child eat whatever you wanted even if it was junk, and I didn't care about you taking a bath and brushing your teeth, and I didn't care about you learning anything, and I let you play with knives, and I let you go wander off in the woods by yourself....

"Would you believe that I loved you, even though I said it?"

The answer, of course, was a NO!

So I asked how did they know I really love them. "Hugs, kisses, reading, toys, clothes, food, etc."

I explained that I also knew that I was loved back by hugs and kisses and trust and obedience. Whereas a parent shows love in providing basic needs, protection, and law, a child shows back that love by trusting and obeying. I remind my children of this over and over. It's a long process in making sure that when they reach adulthood, they will be fine neighbors, fine citizens in society.

Through all my meditation, I realized that vocalizing the words, "I love you" is another one of those things that fall under "physical reminders," this particular thing being a reminder to others, though if you show the love, it's not nearly as important to say it. A person can say it, just use lip service, but show that they do not by their deeds. Another person can show their love and never even say it, but others will know they're loved by that person. For more on outward show vs. the real deal and how it relates to the old carnal covenant vs. the new spiritual covenant, read my study Old Covenant Carnal Showings.

I don't see myself ever ceasing to remind others that I love them, because I know how the human heart and mind is, and I know others like to be TOLD--reminded in this way--that they are LOVED. The more important thing, though, is that I never stop showing it with my actions. Saying it has benefit ONLY when backed by truly showing it, much like Paul said that circumcision of the flesh only has benefit when the heart is truly circumcised.

Our Lord Salvation does not even have recorded words of, "I love you" to any of us, but it is recorded that he said, "No greater love hath a man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." He did that for us. He showed his love to us. He never said, "I love all of you who will follow me in the years to come." We KNOW, however, that he does love us by what he did.

God provides us with all our needs, and He provided our brother, His Firstborn, our Lord Salvation to give us grace through the shedding of his blood. Those of us who truly love God back do so by trusting and obeying Him. Those who do things the way they see right in their own eyes, including worshipping God the Father the way they see fit, may love God to a point, but they do not love Him more than they love doing what they want. That is what I always tell my boys when they do something they were told not to do. Sometimes the excuse is even made that it was done because they love me, because it was a good act. But, if it SEEMS like a good act done for the parent, but it clearly transgressed a command, then it's not a good act.

This is how many who claim to love God do when they keep their seemingly good traditions, like Christmas, Jan. 1, and Easter, etc. It transgresses the law of God, and most of them KNOW it, but they love those things MORE than they love God, so all they can do is just use the excuse, "But, we did it because we love you," just as I've heard from my own children, (in this case,more from my firstborn), even when he or they knew it would break a rule that we have. A quick example would be my son helping me in the kitchen by using a knife to cut up a fruit or vegetable. We have a rule of NO knives without permission and supervision, and yet he has taken it upon himself before to take the knife and start cutting, but then he said, "But, I was being good; I was helping you." If it's against a command, it doesn't matter how good it seems to be. It's WRONG. That is what the Lord Salvation will tell the children of disobedience. The Firstborn knows what makes the Father happy, and we should follow in our Lord's footsteps.

Is it said of you by the Lord, "He/she honors me with his/her lips, but his/her heart is far from me?" (Matt. 15:3, 7-9).

I do honor God with my lips, but my actions back up what I say, and I openly invite him, as David did, to SEARCH my heart.

What about you, dear reader?

Evolution in Lizard's Birth Method Proof for Macroevolution?

I finished reading an article about the evolution in a lizard's birth method.

Fascinating knowledge I just learned. I never knew that the reptiles that give supposed "live birth" actually still have their embryos in eggs but within their bodies, unlike birds and fish. Those reptiles that lay eggs are laying them in the latter stages (in other words, ALL reptiles start with embryos developing inside eggs inside the mother's body) of development. The reptiles that give live birth kept the eggs within them the entire duration, and the eggs THIN over time so that the babies can breathe, and when they are born, what is left of the shells are thin membranes.

YES, another fantastic microevolution/ADAPTATION within one species in action. Yet MILLIONS are deceived by thinking this somehow proves that one species metamorphs into another.

REAL science, REAL knowledge is discovered when there is EVIDENCE. EVIDENCE, EVIDENCE, EVIDENCE. That's the key word. That's what makes LAW/KNOWLEDGE.

Some humans ADAPT to their environment by NATURAL SELECTING genes for darker skin color to protect from the hot blazing Africa sun. Those in less sunny places NATURALLY SELECT genes for less melanin, hence lighter skin, in order to be able to produce sufficient Vitamin D. People in Alaska ADAPT to the cold temperatures by being heavier, having more fat, without negative health consequences.

NATURAL SELECTION and EVOLUTION are SCIENTIFIC FACTS WITHIN A SPECIES. IT IS EVIDENT!!!!

CHANGING FROM ONE SPECIES TO ANOTHER IS NOT EVIDENT. There are SOME (very few) species that can breed naturally with other species, but the offspring are always, or almost always sterile. There is NO evidence of something up as high as a family, order, class, nation (phylum), and CERTAINLY NOT kingdom, CHANGING NATURALLY. There is NO evidence!!!!!!!!!

NO, human beings shall NOT evolve NATURALLY to a new completely different higher up being.

We have SEEN EVIDENCE that human beings can, with their intelligence, genetically engineer different kingdoms, mixing plant genes with animal genes, for example. BUT, we will not NATURALLY become anything else.
Human beings CAN evolve into a member of the God Kingdom (as opposed to man, which is like a mix of God and animal) ONLY through the genetic engineering of God Himself, and only the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST will make it, and I do NOT mean the way animals survive--through killing, fighting, stealing, sexing with multiple partners, fathers leaving their young for the mothers to raise alone, etc. NONE of this will make a person fit for the God Kingdom. NOPE, no way. Those fit for the God Kingdom will survive by repenting of breaking his law, so then be covered by the grace through Jesus Christ, get the God Spirit begettal, remain faithful and obedient to God's law, and then be resurrected with a NEW body--evolution that is SELECT by God.

There you have it, folks.  I put my faith in the things for which I see the overwhelming evidence, and I don't have very much faith in things that are terribly lacking in evidence.  I'm an analytical scientist at heart.