I was reading some articles today and came across this. It struck me as rather bizarre:

I’ve had many discussions with Christian friends about [how Jesus walked on water], and I constantly run into a problem with how believers view biblical miracles. When I ask how Jesus was able to walk on the water, I’m often given the answer, “Jesus did it because He is God.” Another variant is, “Jesus did it because nothing is impossible with God.”

I strongly dislike this type of answer because it is not an answer at all. It’s an intellectually lazy way of dealing with a complex quandary. I’ve read dozens of articles on the subject of miracles, and in most cases, I’m frustrated by the authors’ lack of clarity. They speak of miracles in mythological terms, putting God on par with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. They could be more concise by just saying, “I don’t know how Jesus walked on water, but somehow He did it.”

Something obviously transpired to allow Jesus to walk on the surface of Lake Galilee. He could have changed the properties of water molecules so that they locked together with a bond that was strong enough to support Him. Or Jesus could have altered the gravitational weight of His physical body, allowing Him to walk with just the water’s surface tension as support.

I’m kind of shocked that anyone would be upset over this issue. I mean, seriously. With all of the problems that are plaguing the church today, THIS is what upsets you?

But there is a bigger problem. I side with the people who say “He did it because He is God”. The author of this piece seems to believe that Jesus was bound by the laws of physics, and in order to do miracles He had to somehow work things out within that system. That is not the case. Jesus is not part of the creation; He is its Author. That puts Him in an entirely different situation from everyone else.

In computer terms, He has administrative access to the system. Normal users have to live by the rules that the administrator sets. Administrators, however, can do whatever they want. They can change the rules. They can override them. They aren’t bound by the rules because they created the rules in the first place. The only reason the rules even exist is because they put them there. They don’t apply to administrators at all.

As a software developer, I can create complex systems that enforce certain rules. The people who use those systems are forced to live by those rules; the software doesn’t give them a choice. But, since I’m the developer, those rules don’t apply to me. I can change them, or override them, or force the software to do something completely out of character. I control the code, so I can make it do whatever I want – and I can do it in such a way that the change only works for me. I have Authority.

Or think of it in terms of an author writing a book. The characters in the book are bound by whatever the author writes, but the author isn’t bound by the text at all. If he wants he can insert a giant pink bunny into a scene, just because he can. His Authorship allows him to do completely impossible things.

I think it is an error to look at miracles in terms of physics. It is really a matter of Authority. The whole point of the “Jesus walks on water” passage is that Jesus was much more than a man; He was God. He had the Authority to change the weather, simply by speaking. He did not have to reach into the system and follow its laws, and find some physical way to disperse the clouds. His Authority supersedes it all – just as I can choose to override the software I write.

We know exactly how Jesus was able to calm them storm: He spoke, and the very elements obeyed. He created the Universe in the very same way – He spoke, and it was so. Jesus did not need to figure out some way to use physics to walk on water. He has Authority. He need only speak, and it happens.

Those who say “He did it because He was God” are much closer to the truth than those who look to physics for an explanation.

I don’t normally do news on weekends, but then I saw this:

Mitt Romney’s Gay Spokesman: A Milestone in Republican Politics

I had some hope, before I saw that. But now I realize it’s over. It cannot be denied: both parties – Republican and Democrat – not only support homosexuality, but they have embraced it and promote it. They are both on board with the gay agenda. Neither of them are going to fight it. Locally, yes, some people may oppose it. But on a national level – on a policy level – both parties have given homosexuality their stamp of approval. (You might say ‘Oh, this is nothing.’ But the whole point of the article is that this is a Big Deal. You can’t tell me that nobody thought the implications through. Yes, Mitt Romney supports homosexuality. I don’t care what he claims; his actions – as a candidate, and as a governor – are quite clear.)

This means that it doesn’t really matter who wins in November, because the larger battle has already been lost. Yes, perhaps Romney will destroy this country a bit more slowly than Obama would, but the long-term effects are the same. Not only are neither of them going to fight homosexuality, but both of them will actually promote it – as Obama has done in the past, and as Romney is doing now.

The reason this matters is because God has a big, big problem with homosexuality. There are a lot of sins out there, but there is just a short list of sins that leads to national judgments. Homosexuality is one of those sins that upsets God so much that He will not tolerate it. Once a culture goes that far He destroys it. It leads directly to the downfall of civilization.

There are few civilizations that have been as corrupt as ours. Throughout history, the only times other societies have been this bad was right before God destroyed them. We not only abort our children, but we have aborted them by the tens of millions – and churches are gathering to pray to encourage people to abort even more! We actually murder our children on an industrial scale, and we have a President who supports infanticide. I bet there are few other civilizations throughout history who have murdered as many of their own children as modern civilization has. We’ve probably beaten them all. Nazi Germany has nothing on us: they killed six million Jews, and America has killed 50 million children. We’ve got them beat 8 to 1.

We not only accept homosexuality, but we openly promote it, to the extent that anyone who opposes it is demonized. And churches have not only embraced it, but some have asked God to forgive them for having ever opposed it! We have even gone so far as to have Gay Pride parades, and gay marriage, and even gay armed forces. Our country is an enthusiastic backer of homosexuality in pretty much every way possible – even going so far as to promote it to children in schools.

The church, as a whole, is not opposing it. Both Presidential candidates in both parties support it. As a nation we are determined to go even further down this road. And it will be our doom. This really is the end – it is now just a matter of time. Our demise is certain.

Why? Because neither party is going to try to stop this trend. In fact, both parties are determined to encourage it. No one fears God anymore – not politicians, not parties, and not even the church. But God has not changed. The God who was enraged at the immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah, and who destroyed them, is the same God who is alive today. The God who ordered the complete genocide of the Canaanites and the Ammorites for their immorality is the same God who is alive today. The God who actually destroyed the entire planet with the Flood because of the wickedness of man is the same God who is alive today. His opinion on these things – and His response – has not changed. He will do exactly what He has always done.

Homosexuality is very much like a national cancer. Depending on how aggressive it is, it may kill slowly or it may kill quickly. But it is always fatal. Neither party is going to fight it, and so we will die. The only question is how long it will take. Maybe we’ll be lucky and we’ll live another twenty years. Or maybe God will kill us all by the end of the year. It all depends on His mercy – and this nation is going out of its way to anger God and call down His wrath.

I am not going to support either candidate. The choice comes down to two men: one will poison us quickly, and one will (in theory) poison us not quite as quickly. If two doctors are trying to poison somebody, I’m not going to support the slower poisoner on the grounds that the patient will live longer; instead I will oppose both of them and make it known that they committed their crimes without any help from me. Yes, that may mean the patient will get poisoned quicker. But at least it can be said that I firmly opposed it and refused to help them take innocent life.

At the end of the day, supporting the lesser of two evils means you’re still supporting evil. Are we so far gone that we are willing to support evil in the name of pragmatism? At what point does the evil become so bad that we will draw the line and say “No; this is too much”? Would it not be better to fight them both, and if we lose, at least have the dignity of knowing that we tried to fight it? Isn’t it sometimes better to lose than to sacrifice our principles and our honor?

“The manufacturing sector of Tikal is quite ingenious! I was expecting to find some sort of zero-point-energy plant that could create matter out of energy, like what we had back in the old underground city. Tikal, though, has something a thousand times better. We’ve discovered warehouses of enormous machines that can transmute one material into another. All you have to do is shovel in large quantities of any material – trash, for example – and tell the machine what pattern you want to apply. It then somehow converts that matter into copies of whatever you chose. You can turn household waste into diamonds, or rocks into copper wiring. It’s incredible! So far we’ve only been able to restore one of these amazing machines. If we can master this technology and repair the rest of them it will open up an entire new era for us!”
–Noel Lawson
June 19, 7243
 

The following morning Amy Stryker met the Sentinel at the bottom of Falcon Ridge. The morning was warm and humid, and the ground was covered in dew. A low mist hung in the air. Alex thought that the weather was perfect. The dog was rolling around in the grass and had become soaking wet. He barked excitedly at Amy, who smiled at him. You always did love playing in the water, she thought to himself. I’m glad you’re happy. You’re lucky, you know – the cares of this world haven’t gotten to you at all. You don’t have a single thing to worry about.

Above them was a wide blue sky. The sun was still low on the horizon, but it burned with intensity. Amy knew that it was going to be a warm day. The nanites shielded her from the heat and from the cold, so the weather would not have an effect on her. She merely noted the ambient temperature as an interesting piece of data.

“I see you’ve been busy,” the Sentinel commented. He watched Alex romp around in the grass for a few moments, and then turned at smiled at Amy. “I hope that you did not give Monroe Araiza too much of a shock last night. He is an old man, you know.”

“Oh, he’s fine,” Amy replied. “Sure, I startled him a bit, but he was more curious than frightened. I didn’t tell him anything, though. Well, I told him my first name, but that was it. He probably thinks I’m some kind of crazy person.”

“I would not be so sure about that. He is a wise man and he excels at thinking rationally. It is possible that he learned more about you than you intended to reveal. He is far more perceptive than most Adrastans.”

“I guess. It doesn’t really matter, though. It’s not like he can stop me or anything. The key point is that the city isn’t all bad. While it is mostly bad, there are a few people there who care about the tribes and are trying to stop General Maldonado from killing everyone. The big problem is that Monroe and his friends don’t have any public support and aren’t in positions of power. All they can really do is stand to the side and protest, which isn’t doing much good. They mean well but they’re completely ineffective.”

“So the majority of people in Adrasta wish to see this genocide completed. There is only a small minority that is acting as the city’s conscience. What do you intend to do?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Amy replied. “I’m definitely going to stop them from bombing any more tribes. That much I know. But I want to stop the general in an unobtrusive way, so it looks like he’s just having a series of accidents or a run of bad luck. I don’t want him to know that he has an opponent.”

“Why not? What do you gain by doing it that way?”

“Well, the main thing I gain is time. I know you’ve been working on a cure, but right now we don’t know if our efforts are going to pay off or not. I’d like to know how things are going to turn out before I decide what to do with Adrasta. What I’d like to do is stall the bombing campaign long enough for us to find a cure. Then I’d like to give that cure to Monroe, so he can present it to the city and use it to turn the tide of public opinion. If the Adrastans are presented with another option they may rethink what they’re about to do. After all, it’s one thing to murder a bunch of so-called ‘subhuman savages’. It’s quite another to murder a group of people who can be cured and returned to their right mind. The existence of a cure might help the city see the tribes as actual human beings. It may give them a bit of perspective. At the very least, it’s worth a try.”

“I suppose it is possible,” the Sentinel agreed. “But I still do not understand why you need to keep yourself hidden.”

Amy sighed. “It’s because I want to give Adrasta a chance. I mean, look. I want to know what the city will do if they know that the savages can be cured. Will they have a change of heart? Will they renounce the general’s plan? I honestly don’t know. If they think that the cure came from Adrasta itself then their reaction will be honest, and I’ll be able to see who they really are. But if I walk in as this all-powerful person and force them to stop, then I lose the chance to see their heart. At that point dropping the bombing campaign wouldn’t mean anything because I forced them to do it.”

“I understand,” the Sentinel replied. “You want to know if Adrasta is worth saving.”

Amy winced. “That sounds kind of harsh, but I guess you’re right. I’ve got to find out if I should intervene and heal them of their infertility problems, and that means I have to test them somehow. I don’t want to heal them if they’re just going to use their offspring to kill millions of people. I don’t want to be the person who allowed them to dominate the galaxy and enslave billions of planets. The consequences for making the wrong decision here are really, really large. If the Adrastans show a change of heart then that’s one thing, but if they don’t then I see no compelling reason to rush to their aid.”

“There is a lot riding on this, then,” the Sentinel commented. “What they decide to do with the savages will determine whether or not their city has a future.”

“Yes,” Amy agreed. “Speaking of the future, how is the cure attempt going?”

“It is still in its early stages. I have noticed that your observation was right – it is indeed the children who are responsible for the more civilized aspects of their society. The damage is still there in the young but it becomes progressively worse as the child ages, and once the child reaches adulthood the madness has fully set in. I do not know this for certain, but it may be possible to cure the children before the damaged genetic code has caused too much mental disruption. A cure while the damage is still limited is far more feasible than attempting to repair a brain that has succumbed to chaos.”

Amy nodded. “I guess we can start there, then. I mean, I’m still hoping to cure everyone, but we have to start somewhere. I guess if we had to we could cure the children, then move the cured children to another planet and let the Stewards take care of them. They could then grow up as civilized people. I really don’t want to do that, though. Children need their parents. A computer program is a poor substitute for a mother and a father.”

“I agree, but it may be all that we can do. It is a last resort, but at least it would end the disease and it would only affect one generation. As the adults died off the disease would die off as well, and the cured children would have children of their own who were sane and rational. It would mean the loss of the entire adult generation, but subsequent generations would not suffer any ill effects.”

Amy nodded. “True. But at this point we’ve only been studying this for one day. I’d like to do a lot more work before we write off all the adults as a lost cause. Besides, we don’t even have a cure for the young yet!”

“Agreed. But we now have a starting point and a potential plan. I will keep you informed as I make progress.”

“Thanks,” Amy replied. “In the meantime I’m going to be babysitting Adrasta. I can think of a lot of other things I’d rather be doing, but someone has got to do it and I’d rather it be me than you. You need to stay focused on the cure.”

“Couldn’t you set up a Steward to watch the Adrastans?” the Sentinel asked. “Is it really necessary for you to personally monitor them?”

“Sure I could, but you tried that before and it was a colossal failure. Remember what happened when you used security bots to control Star City?”

“That was indeed an epic failure,” the Sentinel admitted. “I see your point. But perhaps that could be corrected for.”

Amy shook her head. “The last time I let a computer watch over a city, every last person in that city died. There’s no way I’m doing that again. This time I’m going to handle things myself. I don’t want to lose another planet – or another tribe, for that matter.”

“Very well,” the Sentinel replied. “I see the wisdom of your course. I will return to my work, then. If you need me simply let me know.”

“Thanks,” Amy replied. “I appreciate it. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Alex looked over at Amy and barked. “Does this mean you’re going to go now?”

“I’m afraid so,” Amy said. “I’ve got some work to do. But I’ll be back soon, all right?”

“But I don’t want you to go,” Alex whined. “Can’t I come with you? Please?”

Amy sighed, and then smiled. “Oh, all right. I’m going to be monitoring the city from a distance anyway. You and I can find a safe spot in the mountains and camp out. If you promise to be good I’ll let you come. How does that sound?”

Alex barked excitedly and ran around in circles. The Sentinel looked at Amy curiously. “I would be more than happy to watch him for you. He is not a bother.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! He is my dog, you know, and I haven’t had a chance to spend much time with him lately. If I have to run an errand or something I may ask for help, but I’m sure he’ll be fine. Just focus on the cure – that’s entirely riding on you. I really can’t offer much help on that.”

“I will do what I can,” the Sentinel promised.

Amy nodded. A moment later, all three of them disappeared.

I’ve modified my title generator to expand the possible options for generating Tom Swift titles – the vocabulary and prefix/postfix lists have been enhanced. With that in mind, here is a run using the program’s normal settings:

TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY COSMISPACEPLANE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SPACE DYNASCOPE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS LUNAR POWER PLANT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SOARING GAS
TOM SWIFT AND HIS FUSION COSMIROBOT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ORBITAL PLANET
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MYSTERIOUS ALLOY
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MYSTERIOUS PULSER
TOM SWIFT AND HIS CONTINENTAL BIOJAMMER
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SILENT CIRCUIT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING XENOSTATION
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MAGNETIC TRUCK
TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIOADAPTIVE SEISMOREPLICATOR
TOM SWIFT AND HIS DIGITAL ORBIPLANT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS HOVERING ELECTROCOPTER
TOM SWIFT AND HIS INVISIBLE SHOTGUN
TOM SWIFT AND HIS TELEPATHIC AUTOALLOY
TOM SWIFT AND HIS PLASMIC POWERTORPEDO
TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING MISSILE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS GLOBAL HYDROCRUISER
TOM SWIFT AND HIS RACING BIOCOMMUNICATOR
TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIONIC ULTRAFUNGUS
TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHANTOM SECTOR
TOM SWIFT AND HIS CONTROLLED ELECTROPLANT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOLECULAR STELLARREPLICATOR
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBATOMIC STELLARFARM
TOM SWIFT AND HIS STRATEGIC POWERPLATING
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ROVING GAUGE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS NEUROLINGUISTIC COSMIELEVATOR
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ADAPTIVE AEROTRUCK
TOM SWIFT AND HIS HYDROLOGICAL PACIFIER
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ROBOT AUTOCRUISER
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SOLAR CORE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRONIC STAR
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SOLAR DATASPACEPLANE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING SUBELEVATOR
TOM SWIFT AND HIS RACING COSMIJAMMER
TOM SWIFT AND HIS EXPERIMENTAL POWERSKATEBOARD
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBTERRANEAN ORBITURRET

And, just for fun, here is a run using the program’s more relaxed “anything goes” setting:

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ORBITAL CERTIFICATE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SPACE BUCKET
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MYSTERIOUS ARTIFACT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS METEOR MISSILE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BEARSKIN
TOM SWIFT AND HIS CONTINENTAL CAGE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOLTEN SHOTGUN
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHELF
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOLTEN CERTIFICATE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY MUSICAL
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY TOMBSTONE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOLTEN BLOWGUN
TOM SWIFT AND HIS INVISIBLE LACE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS INVISIBLE VIAL
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY ARTIFACT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MAGIC MARIONETTE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MAGIC SKATEBOARD
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SOLAR COPYCAT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS RACING STATUE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MAGNETIC IDOL
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ORBITAL VACCINE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY WOLVERINE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS CONTINENTAL ASTEROID
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SOLAR ALBINO
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MAGIC GRAVESTONE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS GLOBAL AUTOMATON
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MAGNETIC BOUNTY
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MAGIC UNION
TOM SWIFT AND HIS INVISIBLE BOOKPLATE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS METEOR BREASTPIN
TOM SWIFT AND HIS RACING BOMB
TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING TALISMAN
TOM SWIFT AND HIS RACING CESSPIT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MYSTERIOUS EMPIRE

And there you have it!

I bought my house about two years ago. It was a foreclosure and it was in terrible shape, but it was a great deal. One thing I did not realize, though, was that the previous owner owed people money and he had left without telling people where he was going. So ever since I bought this house I have been receiving lots of mail that was meant for him. I’ve even had people come to my front door, demanding to talk to him because he owed them money.

Anyway, I finally got tired of receiving his mail, so I took the most recent letter I’d received down to the Post Office and talked to them about it. They told me that they understood and they would take care of it.

The next day I checked my mail, and there, in the mailbox, was the very same letter I had just given to them yesterday. They took care of it, all right – they delivered it right back to me. Just as I had asked them NOT to do.

Thanks, Postal Service.

I Peter 4:7: “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”

Peter said this nearly two thousand years ago. If the end was at hand in his day then it is certainly much closer now! Things are not going to simply keep on going forever. One day Jesus Christ will return and radically alter this world. That day is nearer now than when we first believed, and it draws nearer with every passing day.

Notice that Peter says that since the Second Coming is drawing near, we should therefore be sober and pray. He doesn’t say “Well, the end is near, so just do whatever you want; it doesn’t matter anymore.” Instead he says quite the opposite! The fact that the end is near should instead motivate us to watch and be sober. It should encourage us to pursue holiness, not sin.

Why? Because the Master is about to return. What do you want Him to catch you doing when He comes back? What kind of life will you be leading when He returns? Will you be ready, or will you be caught unprepared?

A Ned Steele Space Explorer adventure!

I Peter 3:20: “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”

Here is another Great Flood reference. Modern scholars claim that this was just a local flood, but notice that Peter clearly says that there were only eight survivors! Everyone else in the entire world died. Moreover, the Genesis account is treated as a historical account, not as some myth that contains spiritual truths. As I have detailed elsewhere, the evidence from the text of the Scriptures supports a historical, global flood, not some local or mythical event. The Flood really did happen, and it really did wipe out all of mankind save for eight people.

As you may have guessed, the “News” posts are going to be an irregular feature. They will appear when two criteria are met: I see something interesting, and I have some time to talk about it.

 

Is Fukushima’s Doomsday Machine About To Blow?

The article boils down to this: the damaged Fukushima reactor has a pool that is full of spent fuel rods. If a 7.0 earthquake was to strike the reactor, the coolant would leak out, the fuel rods would overheat, and a really massive amount of radiation would be released – somewhere around 85 times more than Chernobyl. Depending on how things played out, it could put the entire ecosystem at risk. In other words, if a strong enough earthquake hits the reactor before the pool is stabilized – and there’s no telling how long that will take – civilization itself might not survive. In fact, the ecosystem itself might not survive. One earthquake, at the wrong place, could doom life as we know it.

The reason I mention this is not because I think this is likely; it’s because the truth is that doom is always a single slip away. Back in the 19th century there was a huge solar flare that released a massive amount of radiation; it even set telegraph lines on fire. If that flare hit last week, instead of nearly two hundred years ago, we might not have a civilization anymore. The flare would have cooked our electronics and, with it, the Western world.

What people don’t realize is that there are always dangers just like that. An undetected asteroid could hit and pulverize us all. A major earthquake could wipe out most of the East Coast. The Yellowstone megavolcano could erupt and kill us all. The list of purely natural things that could kill us all is quite long – and then there are man-made disasters, like a nuclear war breaking out or biological terrorism.

What amazes me is that, despite our gross sin and depravity, we have not been wiped out. Our society is still going. Western Civilization is teetering on the edge of destruction, and yet it has not been destroyed. It is rather remarkable. I think, if anything, God has actually been acting to preserve this world. If He had wanted to wipe it all out He could have done that long ago. There was a time when a flock of birds tripped the wrong sensor in Russia, and made them think the US had launched their nukes at Moscow. The reason the world wasn’t destroyed that day was because the Russian on duty at that time thought the data didn’t make sense, and disobeyed protocol and refused to strike back. If a different person had been on duty we would all be dead right now.

I have no doubt that judgment will come eventually. Revelation is full of truly awful things, and those things will come to pass. It just amazes me that we have been allowed to go on for so long. Technological civilizations are fragile; it doesn’t take much to wipe them out. It is relatively easy to destroy a space-age society; it is all-but-impossible to wipe out a stone-age civilization.

“I’ve tried to convince Miles to lend a hand in the reconstruction, but he has turned me down every time I’ve asked. I’m not too surprised, of course; he is unbelievably old, and he has earned the right to be retired. Still, his knowledge of energy systems would be invaluable. There simply isn’t anyone on my team who has even a tenth of the knowledge that he possesses. The power systems in this city are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I would love to get his advice on some of the more tricky problems.”
–Noel Lawson
June 18, 7243
 

After Conrad Forbes ended the meeting the debate hall emptied fairly quickly. Monroe saw no reason to linger, so he rejoined his friends and the left the auditorium. He noticed that the strange black-haired girl was already gone, but he decided not to mention it. After the defeat he had just suffered it didn’t seem very important.

The corridors around the auditorium were packed with people who were standing around in small groups, excitedly discussing the city’s future. Doyle wanted to stay and chat but Monroe told him it was too loud. “This isn’t the place. Come, follow me.”

Monroe then led him down several alleyways to a deserted section of the city. When the crowds were finally gone he began to relax.

“Aren’t we going the wrong way?” Doyle asked. “This sector doesn’t have a subway entrance. I think we need to turn around.”

“The subway isn’t the only way to get around town. Walking home is an option too, you know. I’m not in any particular hurry and there’s nothing waiting on me at home. Besides, this will give us a chance to talk.”

Most of Monroe’s supporters had already dispersed, but two or three of them had lingered. When they understood that Monroe intended to walk home they bade him goodbye, and Monroe and Doyle were left alone.

“Tonight Evan achieved total victory,” Monroe announced dejectedly. “The council gave him everything he asked for. He now has the manpower, the funding, and the political support to carry out his genocide against the savages. I see nothing that can stop him.”

“There must be something we can do,” Doyle replied. “It’s not over yet. It’s still going to take him three months to assemble the bombs. That gives us a window of opportunity.”

“I’m telling you there’s nothing we can do! This is over, and we lost. The council and the public both support him. We have only a handful of people on our side and none of them wield any power.”

“Well, we’ll just have to persuade the public that Evan is wrong. If large numbers of people start to put pressure on the council they will respond. That’s how things have always worked. Sway the city and you sway the council.”

“And how do you propose to do that? The public knows exactly what the savages are like. It’s very difficult to create public sympathy for a group that really is composed of actual mindless savages! The people we want them to save are not cute, or heartwarming, or particularly nice. We are asking the public to continue to live in Adrasta and cede the world to mindless savages simply because it is the right thing to do. We are asking them to not retake the planet, even though it is within their power to do so. Evan and the council rejected that argument, and the public does as well.”

“But there must be something that we can do,” Doyle insisted. “We can’t just let this happen. We have to stop it somehow.”

“I am open to suggestions,” Monroe replied. “I have tried arguing our case on multiple occasions but it has not made a bit of difference. If you can think of a concrete step that we can take I would like to hear it.”

The two men continued to discuss the situation on the way home, but were unable to come up with any viable ideas. Doyle continued to remain optimistic but Monroe believed it was a lost cause. When they finally reached Monroe’s apartment the elderly man turned around and looked at his friend. “We have done all that we can, and we have taken every opportunity we’ve had to fight against this. At this time there’s simply nothing else we can do. Our only course of action is to pray that, perhaps, God will have mercy on us and divert the city away from this path of destruction. Perhaps He will intervene and come to our aid. Otherwise I fear that the savages will be lost.”

“There is still hope,” Doyle replied. “I know things look bleak but we still have ninety days. Something may turn up, or the situation might change. We will see what tomorrow brings.”

Doyle bade his friend goodbye and then walked off. Monroe unlocked the door to his apartment, walked in, and closed the door behind him. He reached up to turn on the lights and saw that the lights were already on. Puzzled, he turned around to see what was going on and saw that there was a stranger in his living room. The shock of seeing someone there made him gasp, and an intense fear shot through him. Then he saw that the stranger in his house was the teenage girl he had seen earlier in the debate hall, and his fear was replaced by scientific curiosity. The girl was seated in his favorite chair, reading one of his books.

The teenager looked up at him. “So there you are! You kinda took the long way home tonight, didn’t you?”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting company,” Monroe commented, as he sat down in a chair across from her. “Had I known you would be here I might have taken the subway. I’ve seen you before, you know. You were at the meeting tonight.”

She nodded. “Yes, I was. You put up a good fight, by the way. I just wish the council had listened to you. You were right and they were wrong. They’ve made a really bad move and it’s not going to end well for them.”

Monroe sighed. “I agree with you, but none of them seem to care what the consequences of this might be. As far as I can tell no one is thinking this through – although, if they are, that makes the situation even more frightening. Evan wants a great deal more than simply the extermination of millions, as horrifying as that is all by itself. What Evan really wants is the establishment of a new Empire. He intends to retake not only this planet, but the stars themselves, and the first act of his new civilization is the murder of millions who stand in their way. Our genetic problems should end our nation before he can get that far, but if I am wrong and he succeeds we will end up with a galactic tyranny that has no respect for life. This is a very dark road. I would rather have no civilization at all than recreate the horrors of the Spanish Empire.”

“Well, at least someone here has sense,” the girl replied. “When I saw the bomb go off I thought that all of you were psychopaths. I’m glad that’s not the case. But you don’t have to worry. I’m not going to let Evan succeed. He caught me off-guard with his first neutron bomb but he won’t be able to do that again. His plan is going to be defeated, and if he insists on clinging to it then he will be defeated as well. I hold him responsible for the 416 people that he murdered this morning. He’s going to have to answer for that.”

“I quite agree. But – and I do not mean to be rude – how do you propose to do that? Evan’s support is quite significant. No one is going to prosecute him for carrying out the will of the council.”

“Let me worry about that,” the girl replied. “The reason I’m here is because of this book that you wrote. You mentioned your genetic research during the debate and that got my attention. You’ve done a lot of research on mutations, haven’t you?”

Monroe sighed. “I have, and it has all been ignored. People simply do not take my findings seriously, even though I can prove them beyond any reasonable doubt. The truth is that our city is doomed. Five hundred years ago a million people lived in Adrasta, and now there are only eighty thousand. Among those who are left there are extremely few children, and couples find it all-but-impossible to conceive. How can people be so blind? Even without my research it ought to be plain to everyone that there is something seriously wrong with our ability to reproduce! Less than ten percent of the Adrastan population is under the age of fifteen. Of the few children who are born, half of them die in infancy. If things do not change there will be no Adrastans left a century from now. Who does Evan think is going to repopulate the planet?”

“Honestly, I don’t think Evan is thinking at all. He’s too wrapped in himself. But tell me something. What work have you done on finding a cure? This book outlines the problem but I don’t see a proposed solution.”

“That’s because there isn’t one,” Monroe said flatly. “We don’t have the technology to reach into our DNA and fix it. What we need to do is increase our genetic diversity by breeding with other groups. The only other available group are the tribes, but we can’t breed with them until they’re cured and there’s no cure for them either.”

“Are you completely positive that your genetic code can’t be fixed? Has Evan tried? Has anyone tried?”

“I guess it is more accurate to say that I cannot fix it,” Monroe admitted. “In fact, I don’t even know where to begin. According to my research no one has ever attempted such a thing before. It may be possible to fix our genetic problems, but despite all my attempts to raise awareness no one is even trying.”

“Do you want the problem to be fixed?”

“Of course I do!” Monroe replied, irritated. “Do you think I want to see Adrasta die out?”

“I don’t know,” the girl replied. “You told me earlier that Evan was planning on restarting the Spanish Empire and conquering the stars. The last thing I want to do is give him a cure and enable him to carry out his dreams of conquest. Given the choice between a galactic tyranny and the disappearance of this city, wouldn’t you rather see the city die out?”

“I do not want to see this city die,” Monroe said firmly. “What I want is for it to regain its senses and return to the principles of the Founders. I want Adrasta to be a light on a hill, the way it was intended. I want to see us band together and cure the savages, not exterminate them. I want to see us bring light to the galaxy. I don’t want anyone to die out. I want to see us changed.”

“Good,” the girl replied. “That’s what I want too. But you have to understand that this is a tricky business. Curing the savages is no easy matter. I’m not sure if it can be done or not, but I’m going to try. Now, that being said, curing your people is a whole lot easier. I’m pretty sure I could do that, but I’m not going to do anything until I know what this city would do if cured. I see no reason to help Adrasta if you’re just going to use your power to conquer the stars and rule them tyrannically. If that’s what this city wants, and if it cannot be turned from that path no matter what, then you’re on your own.”

“Just who are you?” Monroe asked. “Why do you think you can do such great things? I don’t believe I even know your name.”

“My name is Amy,” the girl replied. She placed the book back onto the end table and stood up. “You’re not the first person to doubt me, Monroe, and I don’t blame you for it. Noel doubted me too, but he doesn’t doubt me anymore. Time has a way of proving me right. Just wait a few weeks and then see what you think. Evan has an opponent now, and things are about to change.”

As she began to walk toward the front door Monroe quickly spoke up. “Are you leaving so soon? Please, there’s no need to rush off! I still have plenty of time.”

Amy smiled. “I know. You have a whole lot of questions and I haven’t answered any of them. But don’t worry, I’ll be back. Listen to your friend Doyle – there is still hope. Oh, and incidentally, I wanted to apologize for scaring you earlier. I’ll try to knock next time, or something. Anyway, I hope you have a good evening.”

With that, Amy left the apartment and closed the door behind her. Monroe quickly got out of his chair and yanked open the front door, but saw that the hallway was empty. Amy was already gone.

Most curious, he thought, as he closed the door. Could it be that the Rangers have returned at last? She seems a little young to be one of their emissaries, but perhaps her youth is an illusion. Regardless, I look forward to our next meeting, Amy from the stars. May your people succeed in bringing hope to this city.

New Bible Translation ‘The Voice’ Causes a Stir

The heretical Emergent Church has finally come up with its own translation of the Bible. I thought that the modern gender-neutral translations were bad, but this version is in a class all its own. Avoid “The Voice” like the plague! It is as inaccurate and terrible as the translation that Jehovah’s Witnesses use. I think there is a special place in Hell for people who do things like this to the Bible. Once you have abandoned translating in favor of “editing the Bible so it promotes my heretical doctrines”, you have crossed a very serious line. God has very severe curses for those who dare to deliberately and knowingly edit His Word.

 

India test launches Agni-V long-range missile

The part that I thought was interesting was this: “Only China, Russia, France, the US and UK have such long-range missiles. Israel is thought to possess them.” Apparently many nations have nukes, but very few have long-range ballistic missiles. North Korea wants to be in that elite club very badly, but I think they are doomed to fail.

I Peter 3:9: “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.”

This is a hard thing to do – to bless those that curse us; to be a blessing to people who take advantage of us, despise us, and seek to harm us. Yet that is God’s will for our lives. We are not to return evil for evil or rail against those who rail against us; instead we are to bless those that hate us and pray for those who curse us. We are commanded to seek the welfare of those who would kill us if they have the chance.

Is that a hard thing? Absolutely. But God has given us a promise:

Proverbs 25:21: “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
22 For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.”

It may be that in this life the person will never show the slightest sign of regret. We may not live to see the “coals of fire”. Yet, they will come, for God always keeps His promises. The Lord has promised to reward us for this – and He will.

A Ned Steele Space Explorer adventure!

I Peter 3:3: “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”

This passage is not saying that braiding one’s hair is evil. What it is saying is that a woman’s beauty should be inward, not outward. What counts is not beautiful hair but a beautiful heart. That is what God prizes – a meek and quiet spirit.

Our culture does not prize meekness; it is equated with being weak and wishy-washy. Society rewards people who force their will on others and who keep pushing until they get their way, no matter who it hurts or how many lives are destroyed. And yet what God wants is for us to have a meek and quiet spirit. That is what we should be striving for. Love “seeketh not its own”, as 1 Corinthians 13 tells us. Jesus said that we should have the heart and attitude of servants, not dictators.

It is a very difficult thing to not seek our own good and to not do our own will. It is quite hard to seek God’s will and to seek the welfare of others – especially at our own expense. But that is precisely what God has called us to do.

Matthew 18:12: “How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”

Here is a wild idea: what if the 1 sheep that went astray is actually the human race, and the 99 that did not go astray are the angels? It’s an odd interpretation, but I think it fits. After all, the whole human race went astray, not just a very small part of it. Jesus came to save mankind – which, here, is represented by that one sheep. What did Jesus leave to go find that sheep? Heaven – where the angels are.

It all seems to fit. The shepherd left his home and the 99 good sheep to go after the 1 sheep that went astray. Jesus left Heaven and the unfallen angels to go after the human race that went astray.

It makes sense to me.