Bruce Allen Geistlich sehen (Deutsch)

Elul and the Eclipse

Solar eclipses always occur on a New Moon. That is just the mechanics of astronomical motion.

New months on the Hebrew calendar always begin on a New Moon. It's a lunar calendar, so… yeah.

Therefore, it is not unexpected that on the day of the recent eclipse, a page was turned on the Jewish calendar and the month of Elul began. What might be surprising, however, is how perfectly matched the traditional associations of Elul are to what ought to be our response to the signs in the heavens.

Elul is the last month of the rabbinic Jewish year,¹ so Elul naturally becomes a season for taking spiritual inventory and reflecting upon how far we've come, or perhaps, how far we've fallen. The point of reflection is to take a mindful look at how things came to be the way they are, either good or bad, and to repent for the things gone wrong. 

Another tradition of Elul is the blowing of the shofar. The sounding of the horn awakens the consciousness from the spiritual slumber that's beset by sin. Then with fresh eyes and ears, one can more easily recognize our Creator and hear His direction for moving forward into the times that lie ahead.

The Apostle Paul, on more than one occasion, encouraged the Believers to examine themselves. In fact, his letter to the Corinthians went beyond ordinary encouragement and into strong admonition, writing that their failure in this area had resulted in deaths (cf 1 Corinthians 11:30)! 

Although on the surface Paul was referring to examining oneself before the act of taking Communion, this scripture has layers of truth that refer to other aspects of relationship as well.  If one calls God "Father," then there is an obligation to respect that relationship in all of our communications and familial bonds with Him.

Paul had to repeat this advice in another letter to the Corinthians:

Examine yourselves whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Or do you not recognize yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are unapproved?  (2 Corinthians 13:5, Berean Literal Translation)

 

So, what does this have to do with the Solar Eclipse? 

 

During the Eclipse Event there was a melding of cards. There was the religious card, the esoteric card, and the science card. Each one was announcing their values, whether prophesying an apocalypse, proclaiming a tryst between the sun god and the moon god, or debunking anything that cannot be quantitatively classified.  Some were saying that this sign in the heavens was a divine judgment upon the United States because of its transit from coast to coast. Others were scoffing at that notion because, they said, the eclipse is no more than a predictable occurrence that primitive cultures explained with superstition before mankind developed astrophysics; their implication being that if you believe Acts 2:19, "I will show wonders in the heavens above," then you're a Neanderthal. 

So clearly, in this swirl of voices, there is a need for examination, consideration, and discernment in regard to any meaning of the eclipse. Whether you attribute it to divine providence, happy serendipity, or random coincidence, it is hard to miss that, at the very least, it is poetic that the eclipse fell at the beginning of Elul, a time of introspection.

Chabad.org says, "The theme of Elul is return to your essential self—a.k.a. teshuvah² —helped along by prayer and charity. 'The King is in the field,' they say, meaning that the G‑dly spark within you is much more accessible, as long as you search for it."

Just as the eclipse traveled through different stages, Teshuvah is also a process: Recognizing the rupture where we've missed the mark, forsaking the sin, regretting the breach, confession and the making of amends, and finally, accepting forgiveness necessary to "return to our essential selves" as they put it. For if we cannot accept forgiveness for our soul, it will torment our faith.

It is a "Seek the Lord while He may be found"³ kind of thought. In the parable told by the rabbi, the King of the Universe goes out to the countryside during the month of Elul. He is in the field now, accessible to the common people, but come Rosh Hashanah He will be on the throne, goes the story.  The point being that it is easier to build a relationship with God now when He is in your field than later when you are face down in His Throne Room. 

Genesis 1:14 clearly states: God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years."

During totality in a solar eclipse, the separation of day and night is not quite as distinct as usual.  And through the millennia we seem to have lost the knowledge of interpreting signs.  But the stark awe of a solar eclipse was undeniable. If one could not see the design of the Creator in that event, then his heart has grown dangerously stone-like. 

Sometimes God can seem silent and remote. That was not at all the case during the eclipse, for the eclipse was a multi-sensory event. Not only were there dramatic visuals, but also tangible changes in ambient temperature and aural changes of evening sounds. The Master Designer had His creation on display, inviting us to experience it, and I think also taking pleasure in watching what we do with it—much like any good father likes to see how his kids handle a new toy, tool, concept, or instruction. 

As a cadet here on the Bootcamp Planet, my takeaway from all this is that Earth has entered a new phase of our basic training. An eclipse crossing America at the start of Teshuvah has significance in both its geography and its timing.  Teshuvah is a season of turning back to God, and America has been given a season to turn back to God.

 

¹ There are different "new years" on the Jewish calendar. link to Hebrew calendar info

² Teshuvah (lit. “return”); repentance, return to a Jew’s true essence; Chabad is a Hasidic Jewish ministry. Hasidic Jews skew toward more individual asceticism and less ritual than the reform or orthodox branches of Judaism.

³ Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.  Isaiah 55:6

Beethoven's 9th

Beethoven's 9^th Symphony is a classic of Classical music.  Originally titled Symphony in D minor,  № 9, it is also known as "The Chorale" and "Ode to Joy."

This blog is largely about contemporary culture with a dabbling of politics, so why am I writing about classical music at the Bootcamp Planet on the 7th of July?
  1. Partly because my writing got stuck on my July 4th post — real life happened, I didn't get it finished, and it still needs edited because the draft is long and rambling. It is my personal story of immigration during the era of America's founding and I'll post it when it is ready.
  2.  Because the news today is about the G20 meeting in Hamburg, and the Daily Mail reported that "German Chancellor Angela Merkel treated her G20 guests to Ludwig van Beethoven's 9^th Symphony hoping to spread her vision with 'a hymn to humanity, peace and international understanding'."   It turns out that the last part of the symphony, sans words, is the European Union's official anthem, which I did not know.
  3.  Serendipitously, I am actually a little bit familiar with the words for this chorale. And if you read to the end, you will find out why they do not use those lyrics for the EU's anthem.

G20 at the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall

The words? Yes!  Beethoven's 9^th was the first major symphony to include voices along with the instruments! The fourth and final movement includes four solos and a chorus. The words come from a German poem written by Frederick (Friedrich) Schiller, "Ode to Joy."

I am guessing that Ms. Merkel liked the part about all mankind becoming bothers:

Alle  Menschen  werden  Brüder.
All    mankind     become brothers

The problem with that is it's only half of the sentence. The full text is:
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Using a translation that aims to keep a sense of poetry rather than being compulsively literal, we get:
All men shall become as brothers
Wherever your gentle wing hovers.

And earlier in the poem, we are told exactly where that Wing is hovering: Elysium.
To the ancient Greeks, Elysium was the paradise afterlife. Only the gods and heroes would make it in; the commoners ended up in Hades.  Pindar describes is as a place where those who gladly kept their oaths enjoy a life without tears.  In Virgil's Aeneid,  Elysium is on the path to the right whilst the  road to the left leads to Tartarus.  I have always imagined Elysium to be similar to the Undying Lands of Valinor, which are inhabited by immortals in Lord of the Rings.

So in the chorus to the 9^th Symphony, the glorious joys of brotherhood are restricted to immortals? No one at the G20 meeting qualifies yet!  (There is hope that some will make it someday.)

The part of Schiller's poem that really floored me, after I learned what the words meant, comes closer to the end of the section of the poem used in the Chorale. In English it reads:

Brothers, above the starry canopy
a loving father must dwell.
Can you sense the Creator, world?
Seek Him above the canopy of stars!
He must dwell beyond the stars.

I was stunned by the word "Creator," although, given that it was written in the 1700s, perhaps I should not have been that surprised.  Evolutionary theory only began to catch on in the last half of the 1800s.

I was amazed because the words closely reflect my own experience and beliefs. When I stand alone under the canopy of stars and gaze upwards, this is when my Creator is easiest to sense. In looking at the greatest distance, He seems nearer than ever.  Yes, He dwells beyond the stars, but He also dwells in my heart. I will travel those stars someday. And those that travel with me will be my brothers.

When I read that the last part of the 9^th Symphony is the EU's official anthem, I had to laugh. And I think that I laughed with God's sense of humor on this one!  Unsurprisingly, the EU anthem is instrumental only—no words. That makes sense since they are an unlikely bunch to acknowledge a Creator in public. In fact, some of the representatives there, such as France's Macron, are... just check the footnotes.  I need to stay on-topic.

Sometimes God sits in the heavens and laughs at mankind's folly. The scripture for that is Psalm 2:2,4 —  The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and His Anointed One... The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them.

God surely has laughed at this group of rulers who, in some ways, have conspired together to set up a Tower-of-Babel ideology that rebels against the Lord's purpose. God is not a globalist. He is the God of the Nations.

So, what will become of the meetings at the G20 summit?  I do not know. It is my hope that some would sense their Creator and seek His wisdom before time runs out. In the next verse, after God is done laughing, He speaks with anger and wrath.






Footnotes

• Photo credit: Reuters, used solely for educational purposes.

• In 1907, American Henry van Dyke wrote a new set of English lyrics set to the Ode to Joy music. Published four years later, his lyrics are more commonly used in American churches now. More information at wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hymn_of_Joy

• The full text of Schiller's original poem is here: http://raptusassociation.org/ode1785.html
Not all of it was used in the chorus, and some of it was changed to better fit the 9^th Symphony.

• This is a link to photos of the G20 dinner following the concert:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4675832/G20-leaders-enjoy-performance-Beethoven-s-Ode-Joy.html#ixzz4mCESTw8Y

• French President Macron has displayed signs of demonic influence. He recently declared he will govern France like Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods.  Modern society calls Jupiter a myth, but the ancients were worshiping a demonic entity.  Italian psychologist Dr. Adriano Segatori has said, "Macron est un psychopathe," and you don't have to know Italian to know what he meant. He calls Macron a remorseless elitist who is particularly dangerous because he will make decisions to support his fragile ego, not in the best interests of the French people.   The point being made in this blog is that those who have globalist and/or Luciferian goals are not going to acknowledge the Creator.   

Why the Paris Climate Accords are Bad Rubbish

It's BAAAaack!

As much as I'd like to be able to say 'Good riddance to Bad Rubbish,' the Paris Climate Accords are going to be in the news again. 🙄

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (And how does she pronounce the g in her name anyway?)¹ is already gaining international press coverage for her thinly veiled Anti-Trump remarks. As of today, 29 June, she is in a European version of a pow-wow to draw up a battle plan. Here's a LINK

Why the Paris Climate Accords are Bad Rubbish

A. The Climate Accords are based on two false assumptions.

    1. Contrary to the tenor of many globalist voices, the United States does not want a dirty environment or a crashing climate. No sane person wants the climate to go haywire. But submission to coercion from greedy outsiders is not the way to get the best result the quickest and for an affordable cost. We do not need a treaty that tells us to do the right thing the wrong and expensive way!   We do not need a treaty to tell us to do the right thing period.

    2. The so-called science is bad. Really bad. I had the good fortune of earning my university degree in Earth Science prior to Al Gore's 1992 Earth in the Lurch publication,³ so the curriculum had not yet been hamstrung by political correctness. Mankind cannot affect the environment as much as the fear mongers are claiming.
Global climate change is affected primarily by the activity of the Sun. Forces way beyond human control, such as sun spots and magnetic fields, play the greatest role in determining the climate.
A lesser secondary cause, tectonic activity related to volcanism is equally uncontrollable.
Real science says that we ought to be preparing for:
        a. Electromagnetic Pulses (EMPs) from the sun, and 
        b. Tsunami waves that could wipe out coastal urban areas.
These are realistic dangers, scientifically demonstrable, and they are something that we could actually if not ameliorate, at least make more survivable with proper planning.

B. The Climate Accords are based on political power, not science.

    1. Bigger National Government - Implementing the accords would entail a dramatic expansion of the administrative state.
        a. More rules, more regulations = more bureaucrats.
        b. More bureaucracy = less efficiency in both time and spending of tax dollars.
        c. Higher taxes across the board, many hidden in retail costs.
        d. Intrusive data-collection agencies.

    2. Global Government – Not only will the countries that sign the accords experience increasing burdens on their national bureaucracy, but they will also become subservient to unelected global administrative boards. These boards or commissions will not be made up of scientists who understand the factors of climate or who have genuine concern for the environment, but those positions will be filled by elitist power brokers.

C. The accords are structured on the basis of economic power, not verifiable scientific results.

    1. "The agreement basically made the U.S. economy and Europe’s strongest economies sacrificial lambs to the cause of climate change." ² This is true because there is nothing enforceable about the accords. The Paris Climate Accord is basically a dry run that depends on the 'honor system' for cooperation. BUT… cooperation is not really the main goal, not yet. It is designed to have the United States and progressive European nations implement climate change rules, then in a year or so, claim that this is unfair and say they need an international enforcement mechanism. The UN will agree and the pathway will be clear to set up a global enforcement agency.

    2. Carbon Tax. 'nuf said. (Well, maybe it is not enough said, but to say it all would take up an entire new post.)

D. What is wrong with an 'America First' approach anyway?
It is not as selfish as the rhetoric makes it seem, and I can give you two quick illustrations of why an America First approach is the smart thing to do.

    1. Have you ever flown on an airplane? If so, you have been instructed that I the event of an emergency, you should put on your own oxygen mask first before trying to help others. If you don't, you will quickly pass out and both you and the person you wanted to help will be dead. Similarly, a weakened America is not going to be able to help other countries as we have in the past; the strong are the ones able to offer help, not the crippled.

    2. It is Biblical; God teaches us to take care of our own house first. "If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8. 
        a. The regulations necessary to implement the Paris agreement would have cost the U.S. industrial sector 1.1 million jobs, (U.S. Chamber of Commerce). Bureaucratically eliminating this many jobs in the cement, iron and steel, and petroleum industries, the very ones needed to BUILD infrastructure, is not taking care of one's own.
        b. Driving small family-owned companies out of business is not providing for America's households; it is promoting power-grabbing globalism. "(T)he backers of the climate deal reads like a “who’s who” of big American businesses: Apple, General Electric, Intel, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, General Mills, Walmart, DuPont, Unilever, and Johnson & Johnson." ²
        c. The Paris Climate Accords have the potential to reduce U.S. GDP by over $2.5 trillion and eliminate 400,000 jobs by 2035. (The Heritage Foundation study) This, of course, would make more people dependent upon government and stress America's social security funding/payments. This explains why the so-called conspiracy theories are so popular: This is exactly the kind of weakening that an enemy would want to do before attacking a strong country directly.
Or… maybe not even a hostile enemy. Maybe it is the posturing of a jealous "friend." A true I-have-your-back kind of friend always wants the best for you. But America has many high school girl friends; a "high school girl" friendship is shallow. You don't have that much in common outside of high school stuff, and you won't hang out after graduation. And even though you do a lot of stuff together now because you go to the same school, you'll indulge in cattiness if you think it can put you in a better position— it's bitchy-lite. Not quite as cruel, the motivation is more likely to be either insecurity or envy rather than meanness. America has some foreign leaders who are the kind of "friend" that stops short of wishing we were dead, but who would get a certain satisfaction out of seeing us suffer the way they are suffering.

In the final assessment, climate catastrophe has not been averted,⁴ jobs are lost, middle-class families are further damaged (and in some cases destroyed) by burdensome taxes that will enrich the elite, freedoms are restricted, and power is shifted further away from the average person. Pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords was the right thing to do, but...

Those are the pragmatic reasons—actual facts, not some theory about the future based on imperfect computer models. But what about the Spiritual dimension— how should the cadets of the Bootcamp Planet view the Earth's climate?

First, I would suggest remembering that Earth is a created dimension, the work of a Creator God. He is ultimately competent.  Time wasted worrying about the environment is time that we are not spending glorifying Him, which happens to be the chief reason He created us in the first place.

 ⁴ In Christ he chose us before the world was founded, to be dedicated, to be without blemish in his sight,  ⁵ and In his love he destined us such was his will and pleasure to be accepted as his sons through Jesus Christ, ⁶ in order that the glory of his gracious gift, so graciously bestowed on us in his Beloved, might redound to his praise. ⁷ For in Christ our release is secured and our sins are forgiven through the shedding of his blood. ⁸ Therein lies the richness of God's free grace lavished upon us, imparting full wisdom and insight. ⁹ He has made known to us his hidden purpose—such was his will and pleasure determined beforehand in Christ— ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the time was ripe: namely, that the universe, all in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ.
Ephesians 4:1-10, The New English Bible

I have used two different colors of highlighting here to make two different points:

1. pre-planned
2. at His pleasure

Our existence here on the Bootcamp Planet was pre-planned at God's pleasure. He has a purpose for us. We are the only ones who can screw that up by rejecting Him. It is human arrogance and a grave insult to our Creator to presume that God now needs a few elitists to boss others around because He lost control of Earth's climate!  To the contrary, signing the accord is rejecting God's plan for mankind. 



Footnotes

¹ The American and Brit English pronunciations of Chancellor Merkel's first name are different. Americans use a soft g that is voiced more like a j, making "Angela" sound more like an 😇 angel, but British news sites frequently use a hard g, giving the impression of an ∠ angle. I will let you figure out the humor of the opposing pronunciations on your own. 

² John Carney, 31 May 2017. "Every Bad Thing We Will Avoid By Rejecting the Paris Climate Accords." Breitbart.

³ Okay, so the real title is Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit. But Rush Limbaugh nicknamed it Earth in the Lurch, which is closer to the truth of the book's message, so that is how I think of it.

⁴ Again, and leaning a bit to the conspiracy theory side, any junk science used to sell the need for regulations to avert the climate catastrophe has a built-in outcome of "proving" the regulations "worked" when the catastrophe never happens.  

Spiders spinning stories

One would have thought I was roaming the forests of Mirkwood¹ this morning. Here, on the day of the Summer Solstice, the overcast really was that dark.² My normal routine at this time of year is to jog through the woods in the cool of the early morning. Usually dappled sunlight refracts through bejeweled dewdrops, and it takes only a tiny bit of imagination to pretend that I am running through a fairyland.

But today…   🕸 Spider webs and darkness lie afoul!


I had been doing pretty well avoiding the spider webs this year. The dark clouds probably contributed to the invisibility of the one that snared me. This one must have been huge because it covered me head to hip and wrapped around my back as I ran through the place it had been spun. It felt like I was coated with bandage residue.


And how does this misadventure relate to the Bootcamp Planet?

Certainly as a metaphor. Webs of one sort or another are always strung across the path of life. But today, particularly being the solstice when daylight begins growing shorter… did it portend evil?  
(cue dramatic music in a minor chord)

I do believe in the supernatural. God is supernatural.  But I am not so much of a mystic that I would consider a spider web on my jogging path as a bad omen or evil sign.

Unfortunately, the church that I grew up in had almost completely pushed out the supernatural. They tried to explain God by using science, and that does not work very well. God is the author of true science, and He has declared that knowledge obtained by that means is incomplete. Unsurprisingly, while my family attended that church, I never saw a physically supernatural miracle, and I saw very little of God's Power and Glory.  That is because…
Well, there are two other elements that must be understood first, just as long division cannot be explained without first covering multiplication and subtraction!


First
First one must understand that Jesus Himself said that there are some things we cannot know by human knowledge alone. Jesus had just asked Peter who He (Jesus) was and Peter correctly answered that Jesus was the Messiah (the Christ), the Son of the living God. Jesus' response: Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah (Peter), for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. Matthew 16:17. This was immediately followed, as we read in Matthew 16:18 by the statement: I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

The "rock" that Jesus was standing on at that point was physically the base of Mt Hermon, next to a grotto of Pan. Pan is the Greco-Roman god of the wild. He plays a flute. Pan has the horns, hindquarters, and hooves of a goat— in other words, Jesus' true identity was revealed supernaturally in the very spot that the Romans were physically worshiping the demon Pan. The fact that Jesus immediately referenced the Gates of Hades ought to draw attention to the multi-level meaning.  Jesus is speaking of both natural and supernatural events simultaneously. This happens often in scripture.

Secondly
God's 'children' are human beings. We do operate in the natural world. We were born here. Yet our 'Father' is supernatural and communicates through spirit, not through physical (flesh and blood) methods. For the longest time, no one could explain to my why Jesus had to die—and to be resurrected, in order for humans to be "saved."  I now realize that part of the difficulty was that it was a multilevel or multidimensional problem, needing a multilevel or multidimensional answer. 


One level is spirit — the part of us that can connect to dimensions outside Earth's space/mass/time.  It is our ageless, non-physical part.  It is bound to the soul. If the Holy Spirit does not reveal the spiritual part to you, you are pretty much sunk. The good news is that he has promised to be found when sought for, to answer when asked, and to save when the heart confesses Jesus as Lord. We must actively participate in the communication; sitting around waiting to get zapped from on high won't get you connected.

Another level is physical — the part of us that connects to the tangible world through sight, sound, touch, taste and aroma. It is the housing for our personality and our mortality.  For whatever reason, this verse from Hebrews 2:17 never made it into the formal instruction from church. I eventually read it on my own: Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. And it wasn't the word "propitiation" that snagged me either. True, it is not used in everyday English, but it is simply an action meant to regain someone's favor and make things right again.  In hindsight, it seems like somebody should have been able to explain that a human sin needed a human to fix it, but I don't remember anyone ever making it that simple for me. 

And then there is the soul level — the part of us that can reason, detect, produce, and respond to emotion, make choices, have a conscience, and is the essence of our personality.  This is where the real work of our purpose on this planet takes place.  We have to connect our physical with God's spiritual at the soul level.

Successfully connecting involves both work and wisdom.  We have to be in touch with and develop a sense of the supernatural if we are ever to hear God clearly and consistently. That instruction was missing in my childhood church, but it is critically important for life on out Bootcamp Planet.

I never saw a physical miracle at my childhood church and I saw very little of God's Power and Glory there because they were either closed to or disconnected from the the supernatural side of God. We will miss out on so much if we presumptuously put boundaries on God and refuse to acknowledge the supernatural. 

So maybe, supernaturally, that spider web was not there by random chance. My childhood church would have called it random chance, but perhaps the spider was directed to spin her web in that physical place and time so that I would have a story to tell about the supernatural. I would not put it past God to have a spider on his side when he has a message to get out. We may struggle to connect with His spiritual reality, but He has no problem connecting with our physical one.



¹ Mirkwood is the Anglicized form of the Norse name Myrkviðr. JRR Tolkein chose it as the name for a dark boundary forest in his fictional writings set in Middle Earth. For the real-life Norsemen, Myrkviðr was the densely forested boundary between the Goths and the Huns. Mirkwood is prominently featured in The Hobbit where the dwarves are captured and bound in giant spider webs for use as future spider dinners.

 ² My camera always sees more light than the human eye, and if I try to edit it darker, the brightness and the contrast start arguing and it all looks fake. The woods was much darker than it appears in the photo.

Promised is Promised

Anyone who has taken a proper class in English literature will have read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), and perhaps will have read the sequel as well, Through the Looking Glass (1871). Both books were authored by an English mathematician writing under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.

But you needn't be a scholar to have heard of the story or to be familiar with the plot line. Within four years of publication it was popular enough to have been translated into both French and German. At last count, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has now been published in 174 different languages. Walt Disney chose the story and shortened the title for a full length animated film that was released in 1951, which meant that even non-readers became familiar with this classic. And more recently, Tim Burton stretched artistic license for both titles in directing his CGI films (2010, 2016).

The story is now over 150 years old. I learned it from my dad who had memorized some of the poems in the book when he was a child. He read it to me as a bedtime story. He owned a 1946 special edition that reprinted John Tenniel's woodblock illustrations from the original publishing. Those pictures, one of which is used here, acted as cornerstones from which my imagination could fill in the details; I am glad that I never saw the movies first. 

As you probably know, the story begins with Alice falling down the rabbit-hole. That was me, in real-life, last summer. Except in a Looking Glass reversal, I wasn't falling; I was stuck in the doldrums. No air ever rushed by, just a lull in life. I was in my own Land of Wondering if I would ever reach my God-given destiny.

Since this is the Bootcamp Planet blog, my posts here are rooted in the idea that the purpose of life on Earth is largely training for the afterlife. You have to graduate bootcamp to make it to heaven. Graduation is based upon accepting Jesus Christ. But beyond that, once you accept Him and receive admittance into Heaven, your rank in Heaven depends on how well you've obeyed His will during your bootcamp days. (It can be proven from scripture that "hearing and obeying" God is more important than how many "good deeds" you've done. But that will have to wait for another post; trust me and accept that premise because I don't want to get sidetracked now. The alternative, rejection of Christ, leads to hell.)

So, back on topic, at the end of last summer I felt not only stagnated in purpose, but also pressured by time, as if it was running out for me to reach God's goals for my life and improve my heavenly rank. I felt like I had achieved only half of what God has for me, and like Alice, I could not see where my feet were headed.

Tenniel woodcut

Another way that I identified with Alice was that it seemed as though the help that people did offer to me wasn't really meeting the need. When Alice was to play croquet with the Queen, she was given live hedgehogs for balls and a flamingo for a mallet. Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed; I understand her reasoning perfectly. Her tools did not fit the task, and I was questioning if mine did.

While I never cried an ocean of tears the way Alice did, there were moments when I felt that swirling, drowning hopelessness of not being able to see a way out. And that was when my very own Storybook Hero appeared on the page. He said only three words, "Versprochen ist versprochen," but something deep within my soul leapt up from the watery deep and clung on for dear life. "Promised is promised." It was a fresh breath. It changed everything. 

I remember sitting there looking at the words. Promised is promised. That was when the tears came, but unlike Alice's sorrow, these were tears of joy. It was as if God had said it Himself. But instead He used a person who didn't know me, who I will probably never meet this side of Heaven, and who didn't even say it in English!  You have to admit, that is as curious as anything you'd ever read in Alice in Wonderland.

Cares that mattered a moment before didn't matter anymore. God had reminded me that His promises are solid, and that there was a least one other person in this would who understood the value of a promise. I had begun doubting if anyone did.

Three words changed my entire perspective. They were a heaven-sent gift, and ten months later I can say that never reverted back. Not for a moment. Instead it has grown in its new direction. Some days I will walk through the woods and think, "Wow, I'm really happy. Deep down happy!"  When stuff happens that would try to steal my joy, I let go of it a lot faster now.  I am able to see the Big Picture concepts and not get so easily stuck in the minutiae of the details.  Faith comes more fully now: God's got this! His promises are promised. 

I re-read sections of Alice in Wonderland last night to be sure that I remembered the story correctly. (I did!) But what struck me for the first time was that Wonderland was Alice's own bootcamp.  Her experiences there prepared her for the life that lay ahead. The book ends with Alice's older sister, who was babysitting when Alice slept and dreamed her dream, realizing how—

… this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.

The differences are that Alice's Wonderland was a dream of long ago. My wonderland is a vision of the future. In Alice's after-time, she will be ripe in years. In my after-time, those who sought the Lord will be vibrant and full of life. Although I can remember many happy summer days of childhood, I am convinced that my happiest summers are still ahead. The 'simple' sorrows will get left behind on our Bootcamp Planet, but as long as I am here, I will not forget the messenger who reminded me that Versprochen ist versprochen; Promised is promised.

God has promised this in Jeremiah 29:11—
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
And I can believe it now.


illustration credit: John Tenniel - public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=629700

Kat Kerr talks about Heaven

Govern and rule at all levels


click for YouTube ↑

Okay, so Kat tends to come off as a bit of a flake, but you probably need your stuck-in-a-box mind expanded, and she can make that happen. She begins with a fun and lighthearted approach describing heaven.

Her teaching about ruling and reigning (governing) begins at the 30:00 minute mark. She explains that everyone has a natural gift that they share with others.    Your gifts will be used in heaven to bless others, and the degree to which you exercise your gift determines your level of authority. If you want more authority, then use the gift God has given you.

At the one-hour mark, she begins her testimony about declaring and decreeing. This is a practical application in which she expands on one way to use your gift to rule over darkness (by declaring - to vocalize). 

You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; 
And light will shine on your ways. 
Job 22:28

To "decree a thing" involves more than just saying it aloud. It includes making a quality decision.  

I watched another video where she gave a similar teaching message to an American audience first, but (1) the audio was fuzzy, and (2) she rambled off-topic. The audio was so distracting that I went in search of a better copy, which is when I found this.  Maybe it is because she has to work with an interpreter, but Kat does a much better job focusing on the message in this video and the production values are much better, so those are two reasons why I chose this version.