Pivot to Asia?

It seems to me that Obama is quite agressive and provocative in his foreign policy, not weak as it is often implied. His actions is the South China Sea are an example and Ron Paul talks about it in his program. 

Highway Patrol

I used to watch this as a kid after school. Now you can too! 

Another False Prophet

Here is another false prophet trying to defend his falseness.



What I found interesting is that the psychological approach is to attack those who were right as a way to defend yourself when you are wrong. The technique is to combine those who disagree with date setting with those who think that things are going fine. One can be against date setting and at the same time be concerned about future of the US. I am. This is a smoke screen designed to confuse. 

The issue was, did anything happen on Sept 23. The answer is no. So someone who said that something would happen, even covered by mealy-mouthed words like "I am just speculating," is a false prophet.

The appeal to Matthew 24 was typical, and standard operating procedure for this type of person. Are things bad economically? Sure. Are there wars? Sure. Is there religious persecution? Sure. But are the wars as bad as WWII? No. Are they even as bad as WWI. No. Are the health issues of today as bad as the Black Death, where 1/3 of Europe died? No. To even mentioning people eating sugar in the same prophetic context as plagues shows a very odd mindset. Is there a problem today with bad diet. Sure. Does this have any relation with the return of Christ? No.

Could this be the beginning of the return of Christ? Sure. Does it have to be? No.

Yes, I think that we as individuals should get our houses in order. This is just common sense prudence, but this has nothing to do with the ultimate return of Christ. The use of the scriptures that warn of false prophets...to defend a false prophet...is rather amusing. 

But he does have a great beard.

Week 2: The Unexamined Food

As Aristotle should have said, "The unexamined food is not worth eating." We really do not know what we are eating. We coast through our dietary day without thought. 

I suggest you think. I know thinking is hard, especially about something we are not used to thinking about.  

The reason I know that diets don't work is from hard personal experience. I actually went on the medically supervised fast that Oprah went on--Optifast. I basically ate nothing but drank 600 calories a day for months. I lost 80 pounds. But of course I gained most of it back. The Optifast program tried really hard to teach us the right way to eat, but it did not work. 

But one of the most interesting, and for me helpful, memories from that period was that on the first week we did not fast. We ate normally. The only requirement for that first week was that we write down everything we ate. I am not sure why, maybe I was embarrassed to discover what I was really eating, but I lost the most weight that first week eating whatever I wanted. I lost 8 pounds. 

So the first step on our journey is to write down everything we eat. Yes, I hear what you are grumbling to yourself right now. I am not saying it is easy, but with modern technology with an iDevice or Android it is surprisingly easy. Here is a tutorial for the program I use, FitnessPal. 

FitnessPal does have some issues. Some of the entries have typos and are not complete in the nutrient information. But personally I have found no tool as helpful as keeping track of what you eat. If you don't have a portable device, the same thing can be done on the website. 

Do not at this time try to limit what you eat. The goal for the next week is to know what you are eating right now, to know what your problem areas are. Just set a higher level for your calories, and try to ignore FitnessPal's dietary recommendations as they assume you want to eat high carb/low fat. You may, but we will talk about this later.  

Knowledge is power. 

(If you have not yet gone to your doctor, do so.) 

Oops: THE SHEMITAH

The Original Way Back MachineWhat do you do when you make a false religious predication?

Some people who do this retire from public religious life and apologize. This seldom happens. Some rewrite history, but in the modern Internet era this is more difficult, as the Internet seldom forgets with tools like the "Way Back Machine."

In my one and only podcast (yeah, podcasting is hard) I discuss such a prediction. It failed. In the podcast I talk about this failed prophecy and such date setting in general. The beloved editor of this blog, Pam Dewey, also wrote about this episode, focusing on the devastated people deceived by such silliness: When Prophecy Fails. 

In the church I attend an elder predicted that Jesus would return in AD 2027, 2000 years after the beginning of Jesus' ministry. (I will talk about this later.) Why? He gave an elaborate scenario about the prophet Daniel that I doubt anyone in the audience actually understood. This was combined with the idea that we humans have had 6000 years to prove ourselves, or as the theory usually states it, prove we can't do anything right. The main problem with such a prophecy is that we humans have already been here far longer than 6000 years.

The message had the usual disclaimers. "I could be wrong," and so on. The technical term for this is CYA. ("Cover your ***") Often, the speaker is indeed sincere about his uncertainty, as this man was. But sometimes it is just a ploy. The false prophet is thinking, "I can say all these things, increase my donations, sell more books, and I will not be held accountable."

I recently talked about the hubbub about the Shemitah, which is the Biblical seven year debt release cycle, which was then connected with fall festival lunar eclipse or the blood moons, and their supposed prophetic significance. Those that advocated such things were wrong. Oops. I was accused by one reader of just "having a bad day" because I was griping about this on my blog. Maybe so. But another explanation might be that I am tired of such false prophets and the lack of accountability that the public demands of them.

Here is one fake rabbi's explanation on how he was not really wrong. (He does have a great beard, however.)



Yes, I am sure he covered his original prophetic pronouncements with the appropriate caveats and disclaimers like pharmaceutical ads that warn, "This drug may cause blindness."  Since false prophets usually know in advance that nothing is going to happen, such disclaimers are a normal part of the false prophet biz. Too bad these prophetic heroes do not give real disclaimers: "Warning: listening to my message may lead to spiritual blindness."

In conclusion let me clarify what I mean by "fake rabbi." Almost all prognosticating fellows who call themselves "rabbi" are not actually Jewish, in spite of using the Jewish term "rabbi" instead of the English term "teacher." Often, but not always, they wear what they think to be Bible-times-looking robes, so they can look "authentically prophetic." Actual Jewish rabbis in the 21st century seldom wear Bible era-style robes. Real orthodox rabbis of modern times look more like the image on the left.

Of course growing a good "Jewish-looking" beard is a plus. Do they think that God tells them to dress this way? Or do they assume, probably correctly, that many naive Christians will be under the impression that a Jewish person is somehow more in tune with Bible prophecy than a gentile? And a Jewish person who looks like a Bible-times prophet from a Hollywood  movie will seem even more "qualified"!

One telltale sign self-appointed rabbis are fake is the lack of any discussion about their rabbinical credentials. In Judaism, a person becomes a rabbi by studying at a traditional rabbinical seminary for many years. Fake rabbis can just skip that step, do a little personal Bible study, and hang out a Rabbi shingle on their door. (If a local congregation declares that someone is a rabbi, does that make them one? Maybe it does, for that congregation, but I am not a member of that congregation.)

A few years ago some of these fake rabbis realized their credibility problem. So several of them got together and formed a fake seminary for fake rabbis. Most people will not do as I did and research the supposed school. When you hear "Rabbi So And So" pontificating on a Youtube video, it is totally fair to be suspicious about his supposed rabbinical degree, just like you can legitimately question how a "Christian" teacher got to be a "Doctor of Divinity." Like "Dr." Jack Van Impe. (Yes, there are fake "Christian" divinity schools too.) 

So did I get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? No, I am just warning you that when you support the ministries of fake rabbis, buy their books, or recommend their YouTube videos, you are empowering them to deceive others.

Grow up.