Ron And His Stories

Man, I really wish he hadn’t died like this, and the same with Haran, one of his sons (but he fathered Lot, by whom I do not know). I wish neither had died, period. Too bad that’s what was introduced when Adam and Eve sinned in chapter 3, so we all experience it in one form or another, just as it is written in James 1:13-15. We need to remember this dynamic for when life seems like a cake walk, and even when life gets tough.

I don’t have much to say on this passage, but I will go to church tomorrow morning, for the first time in weeks. I want to pay attention to any godly messages that are still in that church. I want to move with the Spirit in what He’s doing. I want to get connected to my friends who go to the Awaken ministry with me. You can message me on Facebook why I hadn’t gone much in recent months, but for the most part, I think I can trust the church again. I just wish we could take Jesus’ Name beyond the doors and into the outside world without stopping. Oh, by the way, this passage is found in page 6 of my NKJV Bible, page 8 of my NASB Bible, page 13 of my VOICE copy, and pages 13-14 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I don’t know what I’ll hear tomorrow morning during the service, but I’m thinking it’ll be good. I don’t think God’s Name was popular in Abraham’s family before he left his relatives behind (he took Sarah, his wife with him), but read the following chapters and books of what goes down after this. He must’ve really hated idolatry a lot because Hebrews 11:8 says he knew nothing of where he was going. Legend has it that he destroyed the idols in his father’s (Terah’s) idol shop in Ur when he was young. But thank God that He’s more powerful! It must’ve been a very brave thing Abraham did that day; I don’t know how his family reacted. But I want to get connected with other people in my church more often because this blog can only do so much. I’m still reluctant to put it on my Instagram bio, but I don’t want to get counsel too infrequently about this. I’d like to discuss it with others, first.

So Abraham is found on his way to Canaan in verse 31. A few readers may know about him arriving there, but I’ll explain it as I go through these books. This marks the cusp of Israel about to start… but for the record, God doesn’t plan for Israel or any nation to be conservative in politics, but He loves each nation, Israelites and non-Israelites alike. But He wanted Abraham to be a blessing to everyone, and also his descendants. But I won’t get into this anytime soon, for I want to be sane. I think I can learn a lot from many of the people in Two Rivers. I wasn’t drawing from it indefinitely, you know, and I don’t plan on doing this from any Christian.

See you in the next section of this book!

Hey, friends, I’m glad to be writing on here today. If you missed the last few posts, I’ve written on Babel (Babylon) in contrast to other empires throughout the ages (especially the most recent one), but don’t worry about it, for Jesus was certainly up to something with Abraham as he was growing. It’s called: he hated the evil Chaldean system as a child. I’ll write some more about that on my next post later this week, and also what example we should follow, but today, I’m thinking this was recorded so that the Israelites would know which son of Noah they came from (see verse 10, the VOICE edition). By the way, this passage is located in page 6 of my NKJV Bible, pages 7-8 of my NASB Bible, pages 12-13 of my VOICE copy, and page 13 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

Have you been curious of your own ancestry before? I have. For a long time I thought my dad had genetics from Germany and Holland, also Ireland, all from centuries ago, but as it turns out, he had Scandinavian genetics. That means my last name is from that area, specifically Sweden, for what I don’t know. It’s pretty cool how that probably explains why I’ve loved northern Europe for a long time. Too bad I’ve never actually been there, but if you’re reading this from Europe, I’m praying that you get to have Internet freedom forever. I just found out earlier this week about Article 13 passing, and let me tell you, I hate it. I really wish I could pwn any kind of hateful attacks against freedom (as opposed to the whole license to sin thing) from this corner of the world no matter how far away it is, but I think that’s really up to Christ, and I believe people need to rely on Him to preserve and introduce liberty to any people group. And let me tell you, it’s quite disgusting how often it’s hated in this world. Sometimes people attack you in the name of freedom, which I’m not willing to pull off. And don’t worry about me not knowing a lot about any foreign language (including even Spanish, for I was born in Phoenix), you can translate this into any language you are fluent in. If you don’t know anyone nearby who speaks English in any format, don’t worry, you can find friends who might know someone to translate it for you.

Ok, I’m done attempting to explain how this can be translated because you guys aren’t even listening anyway, so I’ll finish this for now and I’ll see you in the next post 😎

This passage is found in page 6 of my NKJV Bible, page 7 of my NASB Bible, page 12 of my VOICE copy, and pages 12-13 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy. From it, I can only guess why so many people were interested in building a tower reaching to the heavens. But it doesn’t matter because they wouldn’t have been able to breathe when they got to a certain altitude, 25,000 feet above sea level, as a matter of fact. Keep in mind this was before the invention of oxygen tanks and airplanes.

Anyway, you can read my previous note I made on here two weeks ago concerning my thoughts on this. In the meantime, though, do you think the same is happening today? I can’t imagine if it is or not, but I do know that our world is falling apart, and because people don’t trust Jesus, they’re relying on politicians instead, especially in the horrid religion of Trumpism… and what many other prominent people in power have done in the past. The U.S. is the new Babylon indeed. While I pray for revival here in this nation and across the world, I don’t think I can prevent the civilization from going up in arms, and even if Bernie Sanders gets elected next year, it will be too late, seeing that the antichrist spirit will have already taken the church so that more people would reject Christ — I’m reminded of Revelation 18:4. I wrote about that last fall in my notebook; it’s saying the same thing I’m writing on now. But I didn’t know that house churches would spring up like crazy, yet I’m glad they have been. I’ve wanted to go to a house church in northeast Phoenix called Relentless Love Church, and I had gone periodically over the last three years — though it shut down last year, it’s now back in operation. But it looks like it’ll be even more important, because the traditional church format is on its way out. I can go there after I age out of the Two Rivers Awaken ministry in a few years (the 30-somethings don’t normally go there). They meet on Thursdays, but I might be able to make it out there once a month or so.

I have nothing else to say on this passage, so I’ll be back soon with another post on this chapter 😁

I have several things to say on this chapter, and I think you’ll benefit from them — starting with the tower of Babel thing. But first, let me say that this chapter I can read on page 6 of my NKJV Bible (remember that it had been given to me by someone who thought it would help me on my walk with Christ — DM me on Facebook or e-mail me on ron.outland4727@gmail.com for any questions regarding this), pages 7-8 of my NASB Bible, pages 12-13 of my VOICE copy, and pages 12-14 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

Anyway, we read of a tower, another genealogy, and a brief account of Terah and his sons. (Terah is a man descended from Noah’s firstborn son, Shem; see the post about people groups from a Biblical perspective for more interesting information about his family tree — I know, I’ve posted it before; see an earlier post for where I first mentioned it; I think it’s Genesis 6-9; I have no idea.) The tower is what the people wanted to do because they wanted to make a name for itself. You might ask why (I find nothing wrong with that), but I don’t have a concise answer to this, yet I’ll ask a question of my own: why would anyone use this passage or other parts of the Bible to give this view of God as if He were constantly displeased that people exist? Well, let me be frank: I think those people are trying too hard to be teachers of the Word (see 1 Timothy 1:7). For my part, though, I don’t offer a lot from any of the passages I’ve written on so far. Yet I know the truth set people free (John 8:32) and just as I want it badly for myself in everything, so I desire the same for any person, whether they read this or not. I’m not even trying to become famous from this, though; in fact, fewer than 20 people know I do this, unless you count those who have read any of my posts but haven’t followed me on here. But those people are trying to become teachers of the Word of Christ because they know they can manipulate pretty much anyone who listens to them on something, and they believe that biblical literacy is diminishing rapidly. I don’t really think it’s the case, but I do wish the Bible was taught in churches more often, my reason for this being the fact that they follow man’s tradition from churches that had existed in the past instead of Christ’s words. It’s the problem of the Pharisees in Matthew 15 all over again. It’s not worth it to cross paths with someone like this, because it puts you at risk of disobeying the words of 1 Corinthians 5:11 when it says not to partner with a false believer. Too bad most people who do claim Christ as Lord and Saviour are willing to poison Him, though (see 2 Peter 2:2).

But on the tower, Jesus decided to give people many languages so that they’d rely on Him according to their mother tongue, but He knew that not everyone would listen to Him, and it wasn’t yet the right time for Him to come down to the Earth to bring salvation to everyone. Still, He thought it’d be impressive that people could learn more than one language and be fluent in each of them (though He never expects anyone to learn all of them). Unfortunately, though, the tower is probably where Babylon was built later on, so that they could destroy Judah and all Jerusalem in 586 B.C., for even though the people who lived in Israel in those days didn’t deserve God, it was incredibly unfortunate that someone could get them to assume He was defeated. (Spoiler alert: you’ll see me comment on that a lot.) At least we can learn languages much easier with mobile phone apps (I have two, one for learning Filipino and one for learning Japanese, though I think I should get a textbook for both). It’s been nearly five thousand years in the making, but we can now edify each other in multiple languages, going across some dynamically different cultures. Paul even said we can speak in tongues to eliminate confusion in this manner (read 1 Corinthians 14). I can do it quite well, but I don’t often think to because my head is not very high in the game on language barrier elimination. But I’ve often spoken in angelic languages by Christ’s Spirit, as a friend of mine had said to someone in the LoveASU tent in late 2013 once. I haven’t seen him in a few years, but I pray he’s doing well — he speaks in tongues a lot, or at least he did at the time; I don’t know if he’d still do this… you can message me (see above) about my history of using spiritual gifts in any setting and ask if anyone found it weird — here’s a hint: they’re not taught in the churches in this world often enough, especially not in the U.S. for some reason.

The languages were created as Eber had his son Peleg (for in his time, the earth had just been divided into many languages, according to the VOICE translation of the Bible; the Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) says a similar thing; see Genesis 10:25 in both versions), but that didn’t stop him from marrying into another family, and eventually Abraham (who was then known as Abram) and his two brothers were born (Terah had fathered them). Lot was his nephew. I want to have a good relationship with my niece as Abraham did with Lot. Too bad Lot was pretty whacked out from the Sodom thing (Genesis 19; 2 Peter 2:7-8 — read on to discover some weird stuff). But before that happened, the people’s lives were gradually getting shorter and shorter with each generation, and it was primarily because the water in the Earth’s atmosphere was gone (the UV rays were getting the best of them, I think; see some posts I made on Genesis 6-9). But from the account of Shem and his family, he was 98 years old when the flood happened; see verse 10. Adding the years to each retrospective age between Shem’s age during the flood and Terah’s birth (2+35+30+34+30+32+30+29=192), Noah was still alive (see Genesis 9:28-29), and so were each of the men who would eventually be Abraham’s ancestors between them. But I don’t think Noah was interested in the building of the tower of Babel here. Also, I’m not sure if Nahor (Terah’s son) is his firstborn or if he thought it was clever to name him this after his grandfather, but maybe I can find an answer later in this first book of the Bible, I don’t know. Please don’t judge me, friends, for I think the problem is that when you read so many Bible verses in different translations, you can’t remember them very easily, even if you have Christ’s Spirit in you. Most of them I’ve read in English, but I did read four different English translations front to back over the years, the latest of which being the NRSV (August 2012 – October 2018). But on the three translations I haven’t finished yet, I’ve finished the book of Romans in the NASB (message me on Facebook for what I believe on it), I’m up to Amos 6 in the Amplified Bible (Classic Edition), but I’ve only read up to Genesis 11 in the VOICE. I’ve read many passages in that translation, but as explained in my second post, I haven’t read through any of the four I’m using for this round of Bible notes except one. I do hope some things in the NKJV refresh my memory, though.

The final thing I want to say is that Abraham’s wife (also his half-sister for some strange reason — apparently this was encouraged by God in the past due to a lack of people in those days, I have no idea why, but I wouldn’t do it even with my future in-laws or their stepsisters or stepcousins, since I don’t think God really wanted that to happen) was also renamed as he was (see Genesis 17:15) — she was called Sarah, and I think that’s a pretty awesome name, for it means “princess” in Hebrew, just as Abraham means “father of [many] nations” in that same language; I think that’s what they were speaking. Yet apparently, Aramaic was spoken before that. A college professor that had taught on religions of the world said it came from Sanskrit (a language of India) but someone later told me that never happened. Maybe they were all created at the same time? I have no idea. But I want my friend, Sarah, to take heart in knowing she’s got an awesome and lovely name — this one’s for you 💝😊

I’ll write three more notes on this chapter, one on Babel, one on Shem to Abram and his brothers, and one on their families. Ciao!

A note in my VOICE copy tells me that according to this book, the world’s first known cultures are established. I don’t know what it was like in Noah’s time before the flood, but we’re a lot like his world is now. But more of that later. It’s interesting that Noah’s people scattered all over the world, but first, they made a tower in which everyone tried to go to the heavens — God split them apart because He knew they’d do anything to become Him, yet I do believe some people from each generation were saved in the meantime (see Isaiah 51:8). This chapter is found in pages 5-6 of my NKJV Bible, page 7 of my NASB Bible, pages 11-12 of my VOICE copy, and page 12 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

It’s pretty cool how there are so many languages existing in the world today (many more have been made since the time before more people groups went to Australia, New Zealand (it’s probable there were no humans before 1300 A.D.), North and South America), but it’s a shame all of them fell into idolatry in various forms soon after this. But thank God that His plan of redemption was still in operation. As a result, Jesus was born, and there were many things that happened that prepared the way for Him, especially John the Baptist (see Mark 1:2-3). We’ll get into them over time. I still find it funny that so many people are following demonic influence today. Many of them know about God, but they deny Him by their deeds of misfortune, and this only drives people further and further away from Christ until they reject Him just as their mentors did.

At least Abraham was the one to father several nations, though. We’ll see more of that in the next chapter, but first, I’ll comment on the tower of Babel. In the meantime, I’m bouncing out!

I’m reading the last 12 verses of Genesis 9 (which is found in page 5 of my NKJV Bible, page 6 of my NASB Bible, pages 10-11 of my VOICE copy, and page 11 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy, by the way) and I noticed some strange words Noah was speaking. I think it was a prophecy of the people that Noah made, all from each of his sons. But I think he desired freedom for all of them. I know I wouldn’t enslave anyone even if I did meet someone descended from Canaan. But dang, do I want to live in the South Pacific one day, though I’d rather stay here while paying off my debts, which I know can take many years. I still want to pay them off as fast as I can, though.

Anyway, Ham’s ridiculous deed of seeing Noah naked is why I think he uttered this curse upon the land of Canaan. But Noah was drunk that day because he had too much wine from his vineyard, so I think it was good his other two sons, Shem and Japheth, decided not to look at him while he was nude. I don’t think it’s a good idea to walk naked, you know? But if we’re honest, I think we’ve all done some shameful things in our lives. There’s no reason God wouldn’t forgive you, though. If He didn’t forgive others, who could stand before Him? (See Psalm 130:3.) Yet He doesn’t leave injustice unchecked. I don’t know why Ham looked at Noah naked, but I forgive him.

What I cannot accept, though, is the idea that slavery is what someone deserves, as if the words from verses 25-27 here teach this. We do see the unholiness of creation spiraling out again from this passage, though. Maybe if Noah hadn’t gone stark naked, the idolatry wouldn’t have been so popular. But I suppose God waited another three thousand years until Jesus was born… for reasons I do not know. In my last post, I spoke mostly about how the people groups are supposed to get along, and also on how extreme poverty is going down over time. But today, I’m writing to say this: you must have a heart for blessing your sons/daughters, and other young relatives. For what I’ve been hearing for a long time is that many who rear children are also trying to deceive them into something resembling the Proverbs but in reality is a dangerous threat to justice everywhere… at least that’s what I can see when I read between the lines when the people quote the Scriptures. I don’t think the Bible is being used correctly. But I do know one thing: Noah was predicting Canaan’s downfall; he wasn’t trying to enslave anyone, and it’s not like he wanted slavery to happen anyway. Remember that he had been righteous for many years (Genesis 6:8).

But from this story, I think many who call themselves Christians say it’s good to curse an entire generation based off a single and/or common misconception. The 30-somethings and under who want to bless others and do good without hypocrisy have faced too much “divine” hate from these evil creatures, for too long. Some of them don’t even sound like humans. Jon Foreman was right in his song Blinding Light when he said of the U.S., “we’re the nation that eats our youth,” and again in Where I Belong when he sang twice (also of the U.S.), “until I die I’ll sing these songs on the shores of Babylon.” Both songs are found in the Vice Verses CD, Switchfoot’s eighth album released in 2011. Paul can even attest to this truth in 1 Timothy 4:12 when he says to his protége not to let other people look down on him because of his age (he was in his mid-20s at the time), and I don’t want to do that, either. God has planned something amazing for each person in this world, and Jesus can be the One for them to give credit to. I saw on a PewDiePie video (I was watching that at my brother’s house last Christmas) that a teenage girl was going crazy but she wanted to do good for the people around her — we all thought it was awesome! I then mentioned that everyone was born to do good works and that they want to do good in any scenario. My brother agreed with me, and I’m sure you would also if you saw a kid being publicly recognized on TV for his/her charitable deeds. The culture says to keep your children in line and made them do what you tell them to do. I say different! I think you should introduce them to Jesus and His love for them as early as you can manage, and not decline something good they want to do, like volunteering at an animal shelter, work in a kitchen to feed homeless people, or even something as simple as playing Legos with them. (Disclaimer: Legos have small parts, and it says on each box that no child under three years should play with Legos that small.) Whatever it is, instead of giving them shame, pour the greatest love you can have for them, especially telling them Jesus. Do this and you won’t need to see them walk out on you later, especially if you don’t punish them or train them hatefully (for punishment ruins everything, including connection). I do believe the punitive people don’t deserve their descendants, though.

Alcoholism isn’t helpful to the scenario, but some wine in moderation isn’t a bad thing if you’re above the legal drinking age in your area. But I stay away from it entirely because it’s not worth it to see someone think you can get wasted like Noah did. Again, I don’t know why he did it, but this is a good passage. This drunkenness may have been the forward motion for depravity to resume among mankind after Noah died, though.

On to chapter ten!

I won’t comment on the genealogies themselves too much — I have a link that shows some interesting details on the skin color on Noah’s sons and their descendants over time — but I do believe it’s pretty interesting in which the people from Japheth (many of whom in this day and age reside in Europe, North and South America, and Australia/New Zealand) get to share in Shem’s spiritual blessings. I pray revival in Ham’s family tree who are alive today, too. I don’t think it’s right that the people are enslaved due to some twisted beliefs that abuse this Scripture, though. That’s not what Genesis encourages, nor does anything else in the Bible.

This passage is located in pages 5-6 of my NKJV Bible, pages 6-8 of my NASB Bible, and pages 10-13 of my VOICE copy (including notes) and Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

For the life of me, I can’t tell why anyone would judge someone based on their skin color, but I must say, it’s not good. The black people have been abused too many times in the U.S. and in many other places around the world. I don’t think prejudice is supposed to happen, and the color of your skin doesn’t make you superior or inferior to the next guy. It’s not right that anyone would practice this. Someone can argue that a Christian can behave like this, but I disagree completely, to the point in which I would even argue that such behaviour is a way to reject the Lord Jesus, whether they profess Christ as Lord and Saviour or not.

It really sucks that diversity isn’t often celebrated, though, and knowing that the tribes have fought with one another for about as long as Noah’s grandchildren had been around (along with all of their descendants). It’s really weird that Ham went into Noah’s tent and saw him drunk and naked once, though. Thank God his brothers went inside and put a blanket on Noah without looking at him, while he was yet asleep. But Noah’s prophecy was about the lands, mostly, but many have been completely dumbfounded over his words. But they have power, as a note in my VOICE copy of Genesis 9 says. We have too often regarded this as meaningless, but words are either helpful or detrimental, just as it says in Proverbs 18:21: “Death and like are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (NASB).

But seriously, though the United Kingdom (what we now know as Great Britain) put conquest as the forefront of their people several centuries ago, it’s at least helpful that colleges and universities exist in many places, now. Europe was once the intellectual capital of the world, but nowadays, many people are signing up for college, and that’s pretty awesome. Too bad most of us still have student loans to pay off. I’m working on mine, but at least I’m still able to only need to pay a small amount each month due to a rehabilitation program I’m in. But next June, my bill for that will climb much higher, for next May is my tenth and final month of the program. And sadly, I still don’t have a job that can help with that (though I love my position at Fry’s). But I might pay off at least one month of this if I still have some money from my tax returns. I don’t have it yet, but I pray wisdom in my financial decisions even now.

Many of us in the U.S. are descended from people originating in Europe, and God has brought together many people in great ways in differing cultures. It’s a shame that Puritans were the ones who have made such a false image of God since before the 1600s when colonizers first tried to kill the natives who had people living here thousands of years ago. But I think they originated from Shem, and so did other indigenous peoples across North and South America, and even Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc. — much of that was in Christ’s Name, though. It’s very frightening that a lot of people would band together to poison Christ’s Name as if it were something exercising political force. Jesus didn’t come to judge the world but to save the world (John 12:47). If anyone tried to do that today, it’d be a lot easier for other people in different parts of the world to see it, and many would discourage it. But I don’t know who among us would still approve of it. I think it’s ridiculous that our teachers didn’t tell us that our ancestors tried to wipe out the natives and erase them from the history books. I have a friend who is completely Native American and works at the online shopping department at my store. My niece is half-Filipino, and I’m not interested to see her discriminated against; I pray this doesn’t happen. I honestly don’t think me and all my friends in Two Rivers can do enough against the discrimination, though. But if reconciliation between the two parties happens, that’d be awesome! Too bad this nation has already passed the point of no return, though.

I honestly wish I could get more people in Asia and in the Pacific nations saved, but I know I can’t go anywhere right now due to having such a low income, with or without any debts. I honestly think those who have tried to stop me from doing this in the past are like the white supremacist jerks. This may be the reason I still haven’t been on foreign soil, even after nearly ten years of being Christian. I honestly don’t know if I can seek mission trips like this in my church, and my church is pretty missions-minded compared to most of the others around the entire world. I think I need a miracle to both get to a nation like Indonesia or Papua New Guinea and back while still keeping my job. And my week-long vacation for late this May, if it’s approved — even that won’t be enough for me to go anywhere out of state, much less in somewhere other than the U.S., including Mexico, though I could get to Rocky Point if I wanted to. I’ll need a car, though, and I have no means to get one. If that doesn’t occur, and likewise any job that gets me out of debt before I’m dead or even in my mid-40s in about 15 years, I think I’ll be finished. I don’t know where to start in believing for one any stronger; I think I need Jesus’ help for that, and even then, I don’t expect one because prosperity is never guaranteed. Indeed, if you’re struck with poverty in some form, like, you’re screwed. I do believe it’s an injustice, though, especially extreme poverty. Glad to hear that the rate of extreme poverty is much lower now than it was 200 or even 75 years ago, though (see graph below).

I don’t mean to sound like such a downer about much of the world, U.S. or otherwise, but I know a lot of people would agree with me on this. I still pray that people are saved in this nation, though. But as for colonization, that’s not something Abraham would have wanted. I know I don’t want to do this to any people. I want to honor God with everything instead.

I’ll make more notes based on this long passage over time. See you then!

I really love this promise here. I’ve seen many rainbows before, after it’s rained on the ground, and I think they look awesome. Sometimes a double rainbow appears; the colors are inverted. You probably know about rainbows and how they work; I don’t need to explain a whole lot on the colors, but in the Rainbow Road tracks in each Mario Kart game, Nintendo mixes up two of the colors. Still, the rainbows are pretty cool. By the way, this passage is found in page 5 of my NKJV Bible, page 6 of my NASB Bible (Old Testament; it’s been this way since the beginning; it has separate page numbers for the New Testament), page 10 of my VOICE copy, and page 11 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.

I’ve seen flags of rainbows that have only six colors, while promoting LGBTQ stuff, but I’m thinking we shouldn’t talk about this because, for the most part, people in and out of the church are constantly gossiping about the homosexuality controversy and no one can endure the mindless bickering. But it’s not as though God wouldn’t accept someone who would hold to those views. If they still want to hold to them, it’s up to them; it won’t keep them from going to Heaven. I’m actually more afraid of those who would refuse them entry to seek Jesus or go to their church. When I found out the church I grew up in would do that, I decided it wasn’t worth going to. I had been unchurched for quite some time anyway, and I didn’t want to attend another service. But Two Rivers Church is excellent (a friend brought me there in February 2015), though I don’t often attend their services besides the Awaken meetings — I actually think house churches are generally better. I’ve been attending Relentless Love, a house church that once operated by the Holy Spirit but later shut down, yet it’s back in action! I’ve even wanted to make wholesome, unadulterated Bible talks in a bungalow in the South Pacific (I would prefer living in one). Wow, that was off-topic… Anyway, I don’t know why the homosexuality thing is so highly concentrated on, but I don’t think we shouldn’t love people with other sexual preferences. It’s not as though they can’t change their minds anyway; indeed, God doesn’t punish anyone for such a thing. I know I wouldn’t.

Also, I didn’t know that Hillsong Phoenix would be born, because I decided to keep a low profile on my faith in July 2014 after some awful stuff had happened. Yet I don’t feel as much of a need to talk about it now as I did five years ago when I could gain a friend’s trust. Still, I think I have many things to learn before I can try to undo the legacy that made the awful stuff happen. But Hillsong Phoenix was founded in February 2016, and I’ve seen some of the messages on TV and even Cafe Theology with Terry Crist (the main pastor of that church) on the Hillsong Channel. Also, while I don’t mention anything spiritual overtly at work, I do sometimes share the Gospel with a coworker, usually in the break room. I pray they accept Jesus, the ones I’ve shared the word of Christ with so far. But I still feel no need to say anything most of the time. I read a quote one day a few years ago, “Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.” I believe it often shows with deeds of kindness and justice, both promoting freedom in every level, even in unusual ways.

And since God didn’t make any worldwide floods happen after Noah and his family, together with everything else, stepped out of the ark, I can remember His promise of Jesus that much easier, since He didn’t kill anyone, either. But imagine how some people think that He doesn’t keep His promises due to large floods that sometimes happen. I do pray that the weather in each country is good, though.

See you in the final section of this chapter!

I once heard a New Testament professor at Arizona State (I took a class with him one semester; it was in late 2012) say that the Church doesn’t often talk about Matthew 19:10-12 about being eunuchs for the Kingdom… I’ve contemplated that before, I’ve tried to pursue a friend to be my wife, but that didn’t work out too well… but I won’t get into it now. Maybe once we’re farther into this journey, I’ll explain it to you, but for now, I’ll just say I don’t think I did enough for her. And I’m not even in it for reproduction or sexual activity… but I do pray I can find a wife one day. But I consider Jesus more important to me than even myself, so there’s that. I think while we try to start families, we need to exalt Jesus, for reproduction without Him, even inside a marriage, is pretty detrimental, seeing that most parents never carry the love of Jesus for their children and their children’s children… and so on. But it’s pretty awesome to see the world’s population grow. I don’t know what the issue is on how many people can live on the earth before provision isn’t even possible from the earth’s resources, but there’s still a lot of places yet previously untapped. There are things we can do and places to go! I know I want to take myself and two of my friends to Bali for a week some time later, but that’s for another time, should I have the means. But I don’t think we need to worry about the future, for they can have the challenges ready when we get there. Jesus said that today’s trouble is enough for today (Matthew 6:34 (NRSV)), so I think we should listen to Him, as God later said in the Transfiguration in Matthew 17.

There’s my final post, sorry I delayed it so much because it’s so close to midnight in Arizona, I looked up You Tube videos of the Harlem Shake and some Mario Kart 64 songs, mostly 😂 see you in the near future for another Genesis 9 passage!

There’s a lot in the Bible about kosher stuff, and there’s nothing wrong with following that diet. But I don’t think anyone should burden others with imposing that kind of diet, because it’s really strict, and we as Gentiles (non-Israelites) shouldn’t worry about what foods we “should eat” in a “certain order” to be “more right with God.” I don’t believe Jesus requires a certain diet out of any of us. It’s not as though He had declared any foods unclean, either, for it doesn’t enter our hearts when we eat them (see Mark 7:19). When I first started walking with Jesus, I began eating anything I wanted. I was 18, so basically, I couldn’t get any dietary restrictions imposed on me 🤣🍕🌮🍛🍧 (the shaved ice emoji is because I would love to enjoy a relaxing sunset somewhere in the Tropics, on an island with some friends) — count me crazy, but I really don’t think we should impose anything on someone they’ll later regret.

I have a lot to say on what I’ve experienced in my childhood and how I later developed so many convictions I now hold stupid-well to concerning the freedom I believe everyone should have (sorry for saying “I” so much 😜😅🤣), but for now, I’m thinking it’s crazy that so many people in the U.S. would rebel against the truth that all food is good. (For more information on convictions like this and how we should handle them, look at 1 Corinthians 8-10. Note: it is wrong to slander someone for giving thanks to God for a burger, a Subway footlong, or other things you don’t normally see. I give thanks to God for those things I just mentioned, like, 24/7.) I don’t believe we should be offensive on these convictions, but when so many are willing to give offence in the name of good health or something that might be helpful, I can’t really reconcile any of that with the Scriptures or even Christ Himself. It is written, “the correction of fools is folly” (Proverbs 16:22 (NKJV)). I looked up the Hebrew for it some time ago; I can paraphrase this to say that hateful correction should never happen. Yet it happens all the time. But you can see that I can now say I have biblical evidence against it because I discovered that less than three weeks ago. I hope more people embrace this truth I’ve learned.

I’d like to continue this post with something you might enjoy. I’ve decided I should write two top 10 lists for this blog post, one for my favourite foods to eat, and one for the ones I really don’t enjoy seeing. This doesn’t go against my conviction about all food being good (Jesus believes the same thing, you know), but though it wasn’t well known in the first century A.D., the discussions of which and the answers provided are now canon to the Scriptures, and they should not be disregarded in the name of refraining from offence. Yet I know there are some foods we don’t enjoy eating — there’s nothing wrong with that. So first, I’ll do a countdown of the top 10 best foods for me!

(#10) – Who doesn’t love pizza? 🍕🍕🍕 This stuff is so good, I can’t even begin to explain how much I love this stuff! There are so many pizza parlours in this world (some are too greasy for my taste 🤢🤮) — I’ve eaten at so many of them across the Phoenix area, and in 2002 one time with my family on vacation, Luigi’s Pizzeria in San Diego, California. I find it weird that Congress declared pizza as a vegetable in 2011 — cheese on it is dairy 😂 — but there are entire aisles in grocery stores dedicated to pizza! (Sidenote: I wish there was a Mario and Luigi pizzeria somewhere in this world; that’d be the most absolute craziest thing, since I am a huge fan of the Super Mario series.) I ate pizza at least once each week in college, I think; I don’t remember most of what happened, it’s all a blur. And you may be asking me, why is pizza so low on my list here? Well, it’s not always healthy. I’ve come to appreciate healthy foods a lot, but I still think it’s weird to discount something you enjoy. If money’s an issue, though, I understand that.

(#9) – Seafood is delicious. I don’t often get it because it’s so expensive, but salmon is my favourite. It’s even better than the tuna I sometimes buy at a store, and I really enjoy that with some lemon pepper and steak seasonings. But salmon is a rarer thing I can grab — speaking of which, I pray that all the fish in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are healthy so that the fisherman can grab entire schools of thousands of fish in gigantic fishnets… it’s not cool that radiation has been in the ocean since the earthquake/tsunami in Japan that caused a nuclear fallout eight years ago this month. But I think someone might be able to start cleaning the Pacific sometime soon, I have no idea. Anyway, I really wish I could get more salmon; it’s so expensive at restaurants everywhere, so that’s why it’s not so high on my list. But when I can get seafood, my God, is it satisfying!

(#8) – Sometimes you can’t beat the classics. I’ve loved ramen noodles since I was a kid, the first time I remember enjoying them was when I was 8. There are many kinds of noodles out there, and to my dismay, I haven’t tried a lot of different kinds, but I really love Japanese noodles, so that’s why it’s on my list. My favourite of the many flavours of ramen is the oriental one. It’s not found in noodle cups, but Top Ramen and Maruchan Ramen both make them, and I sometimes take more flavour packets for them than I should, but I would’ve bought them from the store beforehand. I really wish I could get more, but money’s an issue, yet I do get different kinds of noodles sometimes 🍜

(#7) – There’s something about Chinese food I’ve always loved. I heard the reason these kinds of restaurants are in the U.S. is/was a shady one, but thank God the food is here; it’s so delicious! 🥟🥠🥡🍱🍘🍙🍚🍛🍜 Once I went to the 32nd Street and Cactus Road Chinese restaurant near where I lived at the time (it’s been less than five years since then) I’ve wanted to get some of that each week. But I’ve never bought Chinese food on my own, yet I have been to YC’s Mongolian Grill multiple times since 2012 when some friends and I ate out there. I’ve been hooked on that since as well. Most of those occasions I went by myself, but I think I’ll return there some time later this week (it’s Sunday as I write this — I should put the date — Jonathan wanted to see the beginning of this, so I scrolled to the top and I wrote today’s date on there; I’m writing this in the dining room this time). I always get three or four takeout boxes full of meat, veggies, and noodles, with several herbs and a bunch of sauces of differing tastes — I never go higher than eight, but they said it would’ve been too much one time if I had put in ten sauces on there.

(#6) – Pizza is good, but what’s better to eat (either by themselves or with the pizza) are the hot wings! When I was little, I really enjoyed the buffalo-sauced hot wings with the pizza, and I wanted to eat them more frequently. I wasn’t able to, but I hadn’t asked for some odd reason; I figured it would’ve been too much for my mom or dad to afford, and I think I was right. Even at the grocery stores, they can be pricey, but I love them anyway. A bit off-topic, I really wish food was cheaper in the U.S., for inflation on everything has been much higher than the average pay increase for each profession one might undertake. But while I can enjoy provision from the Lord Jesus, I don’t mind. I really wish I could eat hot wings every time I get pizza, but I’m not making it tonight; I have meatballs in the freezer I should put to use, for they’ve been sitting inside it for weeks.

(#5) – Bananas have been my favourite fruit for decades! I wish I could eat lots of watermelon every day, but I don’t often see a lot of opportunities to take even some small ones home; they can be pricey. But I love bananas because they’re so affordable nearly everywhere 🍌😊😋 — yet the only downside is that I can get bad BM if I have more than one each day, but I’ve eaten a lot of other snacks during my breaks each time I’ve gone to work, so I want to move back to bananas, at least for now. I love eating banana popsicles, but I’m not sure if I’d drink any banana juice or milk. Regardless, banana cream pie is good, and once a couple of years ago, I had some banana caramel pie — I was blown away! I wish I could have more of those. But watermelon juice is excellent; I sometimes get that at the store.

(#4) – Another classic I’d like to bring to the table is the PB&J (peanut butter and jelly sandwich)! I usually don’t think to get those things, but it is a good backup if I want something I’ve enjoyed since childhood. I remember in high school, I would eat, like, four of those, before I went to marching band practice on many occasions. But though I feel weird about eating too many of those in one day, I still enjoy the sandwiches a lot! I never request those in restaurants (we don’t do this as adults, but kids can ask for them; that’s fine with me 😊), but I do like to at least see them in menus sometimes.

(#3) – Yet another thing I’ve really loved since childhood is my mom’s tuna casserole. I’m thinking that as I’m writing this I want to buy some peas and tuna on top of my only box of mac n cheese (you can do corn or green beans to replace the peas; that might work), but I’d like to buy some YC’s food, too. I think I should get some cheap snacks at work, too, but I can’t afford all three foods for the next 11 days — hang on, I’m ordering Chinese food with Jonathan (it was his idea; this post is being written in real time), so I’ll skip the YC’s for now 😊 Anyway, I’m interested in making tuna casserole again. I have a box of mac n cheese, I can get peas and tuna, but I don’t think I can do it for now due to bills. Oh, well, two out of three ain’t bad.

(#2) – I can’t get over how much I LOVE Chipotle food! I can’t really narrow it down to just one item from that place, because everything there is good! I actually encounter God when I eat their food pretty much every single time because I enjoy it so much. The pulled pork, steak, and barbacoa burritos or bowls are six things (remember, two times three is six) I can enjoy every single day for life! 🌯🌮 (I forgot to mention tacos, but that’s ok.) Everything there is so juicy, and I can probably bathe in it in Heaven once I get there, not to mention gather with like 60 other Christians and feast on that stuff like kings once we’re all in Heaven — I think that’s occurring in Heaven now; you can’t limit what God has created! They may know about Chipotle food up there, too, so there’s that 😋 The only downside is that there are two ingredients I don’t really want to see, but those are optional there; you can eat pretty much anything they serve you in any format. It’s a free country, right? But I think Chipotle is really good at being responsible with their ingredients, and I don’t think they should be criticized for any food options they present. In 2016, apparently someone sabotaged the Chipotle food with E. Coli across the world. I did get sick after eating from a restaurant from that same house I spoke of earlier (back in the #7 entry), but I just ate the burrito too fast that day, so I was sick for two days. Nevertheless, I’m glad they’ve recovered since then.

Before I get to the top entry on this list, here are some honorable mentions: chili, pulled pork sandwiches, spaghetti and meatballs/Italian sausage, popcorn, mint chocolate chip ice cream.

(#1) – When I first saw green spaghetti as a kid, I immediately fell in love with it. And it’s been my favourite food since! For over 20 years, I’ve always wanted to have some so frequently, but I still don’t know how to make it, for it’s not an easy recipe (though you can just put pesto on your cooked pasta and serve it as such) — it requires basil and spinach, and I’m not sure what other ingredient… but I’ll hold off on the rest of the post for now, for our Chinese food came in just now 🥠🥡🍱🍘🍙🍚🍛 (Later… (in a SpongeBob narrator voice)) I ate some food, but couldn’t finish it, for I had some popcorn and drank an entire 2-liter of RC cola in the last few hours. Yeah, my decisions can be pretty weird, but please don’t count me as someone who wants to eat in an unhealthy manner… Anyway, it’s funny how my most favourite food entry has the least to say about it. But yeah, here’s my top 10 best foods to eat. I apologize if this post is too long for you to read, but I’m loving this post, yet you don’t have to read it 😅😜😎 now it’s time for the other top 10 list… this is going to be nuts.

(#10) – I liked pancakes when I was a kid, but since seeing them so much in 2016 (you can Facebook message me for why this is on the list; my name is Ron Outland), I’ve really had a big distaste for them. This may sound surprising to you, but I’ve always been a Belgian waffle kind of guy, and seeing so many pancakes in just a few days can really leave me feeling sick 🤢🤮 especially if I see any syrup. I think it’s because my taste buds have become less accustomed to sugary foods over the years I don’t like seeing this anywhere. But at least I’m living with two friends, now, and we never eat pancakes, but if I want to, I’d eat some again.

(#9) – I don’t know what halal meat tastes like, and I don’t think it’s a bad food (unless it’s from a dog or something), but someone can be offended if I go to a market where any is served, because it’s usually eaten by Muslims. I never try to go to where a lot of people are who share a different faith with each other, but I pray for salvation in each of them. Yet I know I wouldn’t have a lot in common with them. I don’t know a lot of Middle Eastern culture (for many Muslims reside between Israel and India), but I don’t think my countrymen back here in the U.S. would like it if I ate any halal meat with others. If it’s not from something you can keep as a pet or wildlife (especially if it’s endangered), I wouldn’t mind it, but I don’t know for sure, so I can’t say anything about it. Maybe I can look up more information and see if halal meat has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but I also want to take the time to do some research to see which creatures they come from. But I don’t think Islam will take over the U.S.; I’m more freaked out about evangelicalism winning, the dangerous cult that has deceived so many people so well that revival and salvation doesn’t seem possible, even if the person has never been to a church or has heard of one, regardless of theological background.

(#8) – I haven’t really minded cheese a lot, but I don’t really like having so much dairy in my system, especially if I eat it too fast. I never want to eat it in bigger bites than how a rabbit would eat something 🧀🐇🥕 — I might actually feel sick. But I don’t mind it on pizza as long as cheese isn’t the only topping 🍕 and I do sometimes eat cheese pizza, but I usually go for a one or two-topping pizza, which is something I should’ve mentioned in my other top 10 list for this post, sorry. But cheese is on a typical pizza, yet I still don’t mind it; I just wish not to make myself lactose intolerant too soon; I think I’m becoming less and less of a dairy guy over time.

(#7) – Oh, man, I really don’t like this one. Grapefruit is a weird thing to me because I get too much tart and not enough fruit 😒 I don’t like anything with grapefruit in it, really, including grapefruit soda — I don’t remember if I’ve actually had it or not. But at least you can choose any food you want in this world. Too bad if your parents force-fed anything to you and even though you told them repeatedly you didn’t want it, they still gave you a horrifyingly nasty taste in your mouth — things like this should never happen. I understand that each person should have a healthy body, but if you’re force-fed anything, no matter how healthy it is, I’d say living apathetic to any diet is better because at least you don’t need to think about the diet plan when the one who is forcing you the food isn’t around. If you’re punished for it for any reason, though, it’ll only amplify the pain. Like I said, hateful correction should never happen.

(#6) – Ew! Cottage cheese is disgusting to me! I tasted one some time a few months ago and I hated it! It was expired, though, and I know a lot of food we don’t like to see we don’t need to eat, but that sucked! I actually think it’s like seeing paper form from trees. On a sidenote, I’d love to see more trees in this world; it’s really lovely with more of them around. I don’t even think Heaven has any shortage of them. Oh, earlier, Jonathan had said there’s work to do in Heaven, but I’m not so convinced we need to do anything in the second creation when it unfolds but enjoy Christ and what He gives. It’s not some continuation of life on Earth. But there’s room for discussion; I just don’t want anything to get heated. Sorry, that was off-topic… but anyway, I don’t want to eat cottage cheese today. I didn’t like it as a kid, and I don’t like it now.

(#5) – This will also sound surprising to you, but I really have hated guacamole for as long as I can remember. Avocados aren’t really tasty to me, either, and I think you can count me weird because I’m a Millennial who doesn’t like avocado toast. I did like the Florida toast I ordered when I went to a breakfast & lunch cafe one day, though. But I really don’t think I can enjoy guacamole at this point. I see it at Chipotle and at many restaurants I’ve been to in the past, but I don’t want to eat any. People see me as weird for not eating avocados 🥑 but they’re expensive and unreliable when you see them at the grocery stores.

(#4) – As much as I love Super Mario, I really hate eating or even seeing actual mushrooms 🍄 (though this emoji looks pretty cool) — I’ve tried them before on several occasions, and I never could enjoy them because they don’t have any flavour to me. It came in my Chinese food order (I got beef and curry sauce; I’m saving what I didn’t eat for later), but mushrooms were something I did not anticipate. I think I might get beef and broccoli 🥦next time, but I’m always up for beef and curry sauce on any occasion.

(#3) – Sour cream is just disgusting to me. I never could enjoy it in the past, and I don’t like it now, even in my Chipotle burritos. At least I never need to put them in my food, yet I really wish not to eat it anywhere… although there is one Mexican dish in which I had some and was really good. But elsewhere, I, like, shut off when I see it. The good news is, though, it has some nutritional value, and I don’t mind others enjoying the food. The bad news is, though, I can’t put it on salads and still enjoy them, even with salad dressing. But I imagine not a lot of people would actually put sour cream on salads, so whatever.

(#2) – Lettuce is something I can never enjoy by itself. And people know it’s never a tasty experience when it’s made, but they still make it anyway! At least there’s a load of salad dressings you can choose from to put on lettuce and other leafy vegetables to actually give them taste, but because lettuce tastes so bad, that’s why salad dressing even exists! There was an entire pallet at St. Vincent de Paul dedicated to salad dressing when I was volunteering there; it’s probably still there… I don’t know, I want to spend a day there again to do work at the food reclamation center. But people put lettuce on everything: salads, burgers, even my Chinese food, probably. At least you can put some sauces on them to give it flavour, but otherwise, I don’t have a good time eating it.

Before I unveil my most hated food of all time, here are some dishonorable mentions: onions, tofu, ranch dressing, cabbage.

(#1) – I’d like to see your opinion in the comments: who actually likes lima beans? Granted, they’re not a very popular vegetable, but when I see them, I get a lot of bad memories flooding my brain. I ate lima beans before and I wanted to vomit 🤢🤮😫😖😤 I actually think it might be the blue shell of foods worldwide. (If you’ve played Mario Kart, you’d know what I’m talking about.) I cannot accept this food as something I should enjoy, though I don’t mind if others do; I still don’t think it’s unclean. But you can’t put salad dressing on them, you can’t put Asian sauces on them, and the seasoning you can put in them is a pathetic excuse of an improvement of taste if that’s what you’re going for. The nutritional boosts they give also deserve to be ashamed to call themselves one! I actually wish you could use them as a currency if they’re freeze-dried for a church activity or curriculum, or maybe have them removed from mixed vegetables if you get them at the grocery store. Then, I can see some potential. But apparently, that never crossed the farmers’ minds. Even before I left home for my first time, I had this as my #1 hated food item because you couldn’t really do anything with them. I mean, really, have you ever seen anyone hope for lima beans to be on their diet? Of course, some people get a kick out of feeding their children that stuff because they’d listen to them. But what about your experience with them? You’re not the other person, and if it’s on your dinner plate, are you happy? I know I’m not.

Wow, that was a huge relief for me! And if you have any different opinions, I’d like to see your top 10 best and worst foods for each of you! I’ll be back tomorrow night for a short post on reproduction, also based off of Genesis 9:1-7, just as this was loosely based on that passage. See you tomorrow!