the devil is indeed a liar

If a man say, ‘I love God,’ and hateth his brother, he is a liar:
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him,
That he who loveth God love his brother also.
John the Apostle

(Satan from the Passion of the Christ)

I’ve often heard folks state, “the devil is a liar”…
and I honestly think I’m beginning to see this expression much more clearly
with each passing day…Satan is indeed the master of lies.

He coerces, massages and manipulates what we think we know..caressing it into
something all together entirely different,

And you may or may not have figured it out yet, but we are living in the midst of
his lie.
The current rending of our nation’s very being is case in point.

Divide and conquer is his modus operandi—divide the fold…
send in the wolves to disrupt the heard…
send the fold scattering…scattering in every which way…
and then…begin to devour…one by one.

I recently picked up Bob Woodson’s (Robert L. Woodson Sr) book,
RED, WHITE, AND BLACK
Rescuing American History
from Revisionists and Race Hustlers

I’ve referenced Mr. Woodson before.

Here is Mr. Woodson’s dedication:

No nation is perfect, but America–more than any other–
is a place where people from every imaginable background have been able
to pursue their dream and realize their potential.
Americans have never met a problem we are afraid to tackle or a challenge
we can’t overcome.
I fact, those of us who have faced the most formidable challenges in life
often become our strongest leaders and our greatest patriots.

This is as true of black Americans as it is anyone else.
During the worst of Jim Crow, we built thriving communities full of families,
churches, businesses, and countless civic institutions.
On the very soil where we once toiled in forced labor,
we found the seeds of our liberation.
At a time when many are trying to pull us apart by stoking grievances
and sowing discord, the overwhelming majority of Americans remain
devoted to our founding principles and to one another.
This book is dedicated to this countless millions who love our country,
despite it’s flaws, and long to live together in peace.

Mr. Woodson’s words…”at a time when many are tying to pull us apart by
stoking grievances and sowing discord, the overwhelming majority
of Americans remain devoted to our founding principles and to one another…”

Mr. Woodson speaks of Americans…those of all races and backgrounds.
He does not believe in the lies of divide and conquer.
He does not believe in the lies of critical race theory.
He does not believe the lies of separating and belittling
one race over another.
He does not believe in the lies of rewriting what once was into
something much more palatable.

Rather Mr. Woodson extols us all to cast aside those same lies.
Seek the betterment…seek a collective and unified sense of hope…

We are one nation under God…no matter how much Satan wants us to
believe the opposite…that we are a divided nation while there is no God.

Hold fast America…do not believe the lies.

Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.
Psalm 25:5

calling turkeys

The life of a Christian is to be different than the life of the unbeliever.
Like all human beings, Christians need certain things of this world to live,
but Jesus calls us to be primarily occupied with living for the kingdom.
If we do this, He promises that the things we need for life on this earth
will be given as well.
Ralph Martin
from Fulfillment of All Desire

(Cades Cove, wild turkeys /Julie Cook/ 2015)

I may have mentioned this before but my husband is an avid outdoorsman.
He’s been this way ever since he was a young boy.

Such is the predisposition of anyone having grown up in a more rural
area of the state.

And despite my having been born to a city a dwelling family, I too love the outdoors.

Now my husband has hunted and fished his whole life—
and I must say that one of the more colorful seasons of hunting is that of turkey hunting.

The other morning we were outside on the back deck, grabbing our first cup of coffee
for the day, when I heard that unmistakeable wobbling echoing from deep within the woods…

Gobblegobblegobble…

If you’ve never heard a real turkey gobbling–do a quick youtube search in order to hear
that worbbly gobbling because it really is quite humorously unique.

Being the ever-ready hunter, my husband had his turkey call mouthpiece within arms reach.

With a glint in his eye and turkey call ready to pop in his mouth, he tells
me to “listen and watch”…

My husband then proceeded to make that lovely musical sound for any and
all male turkeys…that chirping sound of a female hen looking for amore.

Sure enough—there was an echoing return, a gobbling that was louder—
and I could tell the sound was closing in.

My husband “putted” again (that’s what you call a female’s response).

The responding male, or tom turkey, was now louder and much closer.

Turkeys crack me up.

They aren’t the smartest birds in the wild.

The male gobbler, or tom, will literally come in running, puffed up, tail unfurled,
strutting his stuff, in an attempt to look as attractive as possible
for his “lady”, when he hears the call.

(a tom turkey’s tail / Julie Cook / 2014)

Sadly however during hunting season, that ‘lady’ is often a hunter looking
to put a turkey dinner on the table.

And so it is with this thought of calling in turkeys that my thoughts have turned toward
Washington D.C as our capital seems to be rife with its fair share of turkeys…
both toms and hens.
A rafter of turkeys—with a rafter being what we call a flock of turkeys.

Washington is plumb full.

It’s kind of how I feel when I see a certain youthful and prideful politician wag her finger at
the camera all the while extolling the issues as to why the opposition dislikes her.

Despite being a female, this particular politician puffs up for the camera much
like a tom turkey, with a most youthful and prideful zeal, much like that of
the tom turkey—
all the while acting more like a jake…a jake being a young male turkey who
lacks that old tom wizened wisdom.

She’s too young and too inexperienced to understand what makes wisdom what it is…
She falls prey to what she has perceived as real but in actuality is false.
Something that an old and wiser turkey would know to be false.

The older birds are not lured in as readily to an initial call as
are those younger more eogtistical birds.

Falsehoods such as a farce of some far fetched expensive new Green Deal—
or that of polarizing Socialism.

She has temper tantrums, screaming as loud as possible, popping her head back and forth
in an effort to silence what is Truth…a display indicative of a younger,
more inexperienced turkey.

The Henny Penny, the sky is falling lunacy that now besieges us…
The world will end in 12 years.
The Republicans amended the constitution to end FDR’s run.
The methane resulting from a cow’s excessive flatulence will kill us.

On and on she rants…puffing up ever grander and larger while feeling her oats
in hopes of luring in the unexpected.

But what of the other turkeys…what of those who now demand that convicted felons
should be allowed to vote–when a key component to breaking the law is to lose that
same right to vote…
a repercussion, a consequence, of not following the rules…

Yet turkeys find repercussions passe…

Just like allowing illegal aliens the right to vote in a country of which they are not citizens..

May the dead now recast their votes.

Or what of all the chatter over reparations?

What of those turkeys…turkeys who puff up all feathery for those unseen voters promising that
slave owners and businesses that profited from such, albeit it now 200 years past, must
repay those of some sort of slave heritage…

How might that ever work???

Turkey’s don’t care care how things work… not as long as they look puffy and pretty
for those luring calls

And what all turkeys must remember…someone is always patiently waiting
in the wings, waiting on having a naive turkey over for dinner.

(a poor tom turkey who was looking for love in all the wrong places / Julie Cook / 2014)

Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him, actions are weighed.
1 Samuel l2:3