About Me

If you want to contact me, then please leave a very brief note on the individual post that moved you to initiate contact, thank you. 

This page includes information about the following:

  • My Beliefs
  • My Walk
  • My spiritual history and developmental issues that influenced me and brought me to this point in life
  • My Reasons for Starting This Blog.

Today [7-16-23], I added one more section that will help readers get a better sense for ‘where I am coming from’ in my posts: Other relevant Facts about Me and Personal Values, it is the section below my spiritual history. 

This blog contains very little of my opinion. It is intended to be educational; teaching basic doctrines of the faith and study helps (via seasoned preachers); introducing readers to biblical teachers and to false prophets that discernment might be developed; furthermore, there are many posts on matters of propaganda, censorship, fraud, etc.; my rationale for that is explained below.

[November 2022 – I have recently quit posting on political issues, however; but there are many examples of the aforementioned, cited via reliable news sources. That could be of aid to anyone who has been depending upon big media’s propaganda machine.]

I am sharing the biblical truths I have learned on my journey thus far; also, I have many things yet to learn, some of the posts reflect my own struggles and needs. I have found that it is much more difficult to apply God’s word to my life than in is to study it. But studying is a necessary first step.

My Beliefs:

I think that the Bible is the inerrant word of God and that it is sufficient for all of our needs. I subscribe to the doctrine of the reformation, the 5 solas…. (Watch the movie Luther, staring Joseph Fiennes and Claire Cox for a quick understanding of the reformation and confessions of faith based on their discoveries.)

I came to the above by reading the Bible and studying it. I sought out a reformed church after having read through my Bible the first time. (I believe that all new professed believers should make it their first priority to read through a good study Bible; I used the NIV; the ESV is more literal and reportedly the most accurate to date. See, Categories, New Christian Orientation, for other essentials for new believers.)

My Walk:

During the first decade of my Christian walk, I poured myself into Bible reading and study; and although I have only scratched the surface, I have learned a lot more about God and about myself. It is clear to me that the Holy Spirit is progressively opening my eyes to my own sin; a lot of that happened while studied Psalm 51, 119, and the Beatitudes, for several years. And although I still tend to return to those areas of scripture, I am spending more time on application of God’s word to my life.

In addition to the understanding I have been given, via study, prayer, hearing preaching, attending the Lord’s supper; church, etc., I have learned a lot about failure because of sin. Therefore, I emphasize the following things in my posts:

  • The fight with sin is a daily battle
  • Most times, we do not see the half of our sin – but it is necessary to examine our sin and the motives for pursuing it (see Categories, Jonathan Edwards, Glimpses into his spiritual walk; those posts show how he did such things, the records from his journal entries indicate such self-examination and much more)
  • Most times, we do not want to acknowledge and confess our sins to other humans; we are great at blame shifting, minimizing, rationalizing and pretending to be innocent of wrongdoing — all of these are obstacles to Christian maturity, especially the pretending to be innocent (Adam and Eve were our models for these behaviors, but God is holding us accountable for dealing with sin responsibly, He gave us the gospel and He said more than once that He does not acquit the guilty: one remains in his guilt if he does not acknowledge sin and confess it)
  • There is no sense trying to hide or play off sin in our interactions with God, as He knows us better than we know ourselves and knows our thoughts before we think them, so scripture states
  • It really is human to err, but afterwards, those who are born again can get up, out of the proverbial gutter, by the grace of God and keep walking with Him by confessing, repenting, praying for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and enablement
  • When I begin to think I am a good person and am doing well, I usually fall into sin very quickly thereafter, the Bible even has a couple of verses to describe that in Proverbs: …pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall — It took me a couple of years to realize that it was pride tripping me up, and it still does, but not as frequently
  • Being that I am human, I know that other believers have similar problems (God says they do); therefore, when I see Christians pretending to be perfect…I strongly suspect that they are not dealing with their sin, or they have redefined “sin.”
  • Hence, I am driven to write about it often, as I continue to fight, and fail, and learn to depend upon God’s Spirit that I might know greater holiness

Posts on propaganda, censorship, fraud, political intrigue… in the religious and the secular realms; are also part of this blog because in my quest for truth, I have come to hate lies and desire to expose them. 

Lies and propaganda are insidious in this world, they are everywhere in every aspect of our lives; in our relationships with ourselves; family; coworkers; government….

For true self-knowledge and understanding; and for relationships based upon truth, one must start seeing the lies that influence him, as the Psalmist prayed (Ps 119:29 [KJV]) Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously. 

If you study that verse, you will discover that it refers mostly to the lies he believes – that includes propaganda.

There are many verses in the Bible where the writer prays for understanding; to be delivered – from trouble, sin, lies….

God’s word is truth, it makes discovering lies possible. God’s Spirit, opens the eyes of those who are born again. Ps. 119:18 is a prayer for illumination; other psalms express a desire for various forms of deliverance. 

My spiritual history; and developmental issues that influenced me and brought me to this point in life:

Two devastating life-events changed the course of my life. The first was my mother’s death when I was 22, it moved me to begin searching for truth about God and the afterlife. I just thought about these things for 5 years or so, then decided to enroll in college and seek answers in comparative religious studies and philosophy. I did not begin my search in Christianity because my childhood experience of the church exposed me to many self-righteous and critical people – I could easily recognize them because my father was such a person. 

Going to college was a huge decision for me, as I planned never to do that.  I searched 15 years, and then gave up because I found no answers. I was unable to distill the information I had acquired from studying eastern religion into an acceptable manner of worshiping God. I had searched for the right way to worship God all my life, and it had eluded me. I began to wonder if such a thing existed. I certainly did not find it in Hinduism, Baha’i ism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, spiritism; yoga; philosophy; psychology….

After giving up in my search for God, I returned to my former pursuits, hedonism…materialism; a decade later my life crashed when I had to retire to settle the estate regarding my third divorce. I did begin praying to God again, but also drank alcohol daily for a year and a half, trying to alleviate my emotional pain to no avail. However, it turned out that these things resulted in my making a very weak commitment to God to try to live the Christian life; this was a last ditch effort to answer the questions that still caused me spiritual unrest. A year or so later, I realized that He honored that weak commitment: I found myself attending church and having read through the Bible for the first time in my life. Moreover, I was born again during that read; I could see, for the first time, that in my former quest to find God, I had been spiritually lost.

However, my long vain search for God and truth in eastern religion was not a total loss; it gave me a skill set that has enabled me to easily see error in those forms of Christianity that incorporate aspects of other religions. The NIV Study Bible calls that syncretism; and states that God does not accept such worship. Yet it is happening everywhere in Christianity. For example, Christian yoga; centering prayer to empty the mind; lectio divina; these all are very similar to Hindu meditation which is unbiblical. (See the post on that topic.)

Hence, it is very important to me to provide information that might help Christians discern error in their world views, resulting from how they see themselves, God and worship. And to encourage them to abide in scripture, as it is the source, and the foundation of such knowledge. 

Other Relevant Facts about me and Personal Values:

  • I grew up on a farm that raised beef cattle
  • I was taught a strong work ethic
  • I was born in the early 1950’s and am in my early 70s
  • My work history: managed a gas station for several years; was a steel worker for about 5 years, until they closed the plant; worked with violent juvenile offenders for 22 years; worked as a part-time security guard at a local college for 11 years and am now retired
  • I attended college, enrolling in my early 30s; after that, I was promoted to a counselor position with juvenile offenders
  • I began blogging to express views on the Baha’i Faith based upon what I have learned about the Bible, which they believe to be part of their faith’s unfolding revelations (see my spiritual history for other relevant information)
  • I am moved to write about false systems of religion because they abound and the way to heaven is very narrow which many do not understand due to ignorance of God’s word
  • I am a student of the Bible and have read through it at least a couple dozen times; although I did not read through it since the 2020 election, I have been backsliding somewhat, but am reading through it again, and am on reading number 48 of my daily reading plan
  • That election taught me that I was placing my hope in ‘man’ and not God; since then, I have been more discerning about this matter of trust
  • Although I voted for Trump, I do not have a Trump sticker on my vehicle… because I do not want to invite a violent reaction from one of his many haters
  • I did not begin to develop conservative values until after I was born again
  • I didn’t begin to oppose the Democratic Party until I had sought to understand what they are about, that began when I heard Obama talking about abortion and promoting it worldwide, cheering about it as though he were a football fan and his team just won the super bowl
  • I also oppose the Democratic Party because of their Marxist beliefs; they oppose the existence of the middle class in America and they are actively seeking its eradication
  • I also oppose Democrat leftist Marxists because of their strong arm of ‘political correctness;’ they play us against each other with pc; that works well because via education, they have turned our children against us with via Marxist indoctrination (CRT, political correctness, Atheism, Paganism…)
  • I did not care about politics until after I became a Christian
  • I do not support LGBTQ, but I have no need to hate them; I believe their lifestyle is sinful and that they need the gospel and forgiveness, just like me; I have been guilty of many types of sin in my life, and still am; God’s word helps one more clearly see and repent of the sins in their own life; all who call themselves Christians are to live a lifestyle of repentance and are forgiven for the sins they repent of; God calls homosexuality sin; just as He calls adultery, fornication, lying, stealing…sins
  • I did not know that our news media and movie industry were so political and leftist until Trump; I know now that they are politicized and support leftist, anti-American, anti-Christian values
  • Since 2020 election, I have begun to place my trust in Christ and have progressively become more detached from politics
  • I agree with John MacArthur’s assessment of the Democratic Party, that they run on a ‘platform of wickedness,’ writing laws that opposed God’s word, legislating evil and punishing righteousness…
  • I cannot place my trust or give my money to the Republican Party; I saw that they are a bunch of cowards, based on their response to all the corruption that occurred during 2020
  • I think that Christians cannot justify voting for democrats, because they stand for things that God hates
  • I believe in 2A rights and carry most times; as I know what it is to wrestle with strong violent youth and know I would be victimized if such an incident occurred today
  • I respect the police and am a law-abiding citizen
  • I believe that people have a right to their own views and am not trying to change yours, you will suffer the consequences for them at the hand of God in a short time, unless you turn to Christ for forgiveness
  • I believe that the only truth to be found in this world is God’s word: that is based on many years of seeking God via religions other than Christianity; studying philosophy; living in this world
  • I was on FB and Twitter for a very short time a few years ago, no longer
  • IF YOU READ THROUGH SCRIPTURE REGULARLY, THEN YOU HAVE LEARNED TO DISCERN BETWEEN TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD, THAT WILL CERTAINLY HELP YOU ASSESS WHETHER OR NOT MY POSTS ARE ABOUT TRUTH
  • As I have said in many posts, the church at large is about 90% unbiblical; reformation doctrines are the most biblical that I have found, but even ‘reformed churches’ are leaving the Bible an inch at a time, just look at the SBC to see a current example of that
  • End of addendum

Lastly, a dear friend of mine asked my why I started a blog, and I thought I ought to include that information here. 

My reasons for starting this blog:

I never saw myself as a blogger, nor did I have such aspirations; but after I spent 6 months writing a 22 page document for some Baha’i friends, it occurred to me that more Baha’is could possibly see the document if I posted it on a blog site. Hence, I became a blogger after a couple of weeks of struggling to set up this site. Thereafter, I decided that I would write a few posts about the false teachers and trends in Christianity; and some posts to encourage Biblical literacy, because in the 15 years since I was born again, I have seen that there is a great need for such information. 

I consider the Baha’i document an act of love and hope some of them see it that way too. At least, reading it could help them understand the Bible more fully. 

Free 22 page document pdf download:  Covenant with Bible refs.pdf 4.2.20

I have read through the Bible more than once a year since my conversion; after having examined all the above religions and their writ; I believe that nothing compares to it. The Bible’s truths are so interwoven and its writings span a period of 1500 years; the topics began in Genesis are concluded in Revelation….

I have told many people that the most wonderful thing I did in my life was my first read through the Bible, and that is still true. By the way, my spiritual questions were answered in that read. It is my prayer that you might read through the Bible and become familiar with its wonders.

EXPLORATION OF THIS BLOG is most easily accomplished via the ‘categories.’ For example, if you are a “New Christian” that category holds posts that I considered essential to you. 

Exploration of that category would best be done by going to the last page, which holds the earliest posts, the foundational posts for that category. Those discuss, via 3-5 minute videos, foundational doctrines of the faith such as justification, faith, sanctification….

Categories on spiritual topics, should be viewed from the earliest post, the last page, as it contains the posts upon which that category was established. 

Other topics, such as CRT, can be viewed in any manner. But that category also contains posts aimed at providing essential understanding, or basic information that will enable a person who is unfamiliar with the concepts to understand them.