PARKS BROWN

One morning this past June I was on the front porch gazing at the pre-dawn sky. Seven bright lights were visible across the southern horizon from east to west in almost perfect alignment. I used an app on my phone to identify all the planets we were taught in elementary school. The app identified the location of Pluto (yes, Pluto is a planet) but the remaining planets were visible to the naked eye. I remembered how Aristotle believed the planets AND the Sun orbited the Earth. For one moment in June, all the planets wandering the sky came together in perfect alignment.

The word ‘planet’ is derived from the Greek word meaning ‘wander’. Many ancient and medieval cultures pondered the stars and planets but none rivaled the Greek philosophers and Aristotle in particular. Aristotle was a philosopher, scientist and one of the greatest intellectual figures of Western history. Although his theory about the planets and their orbits was eventually dis-proven, his intellect covered the spectrum from biology and botany to friendship. His teachings about friendship rings more true today than ever.

Aristotle believed there were three types of friendship. The first was friendship of utility where mutual benefit and convenience defined the relationship. Think about work relationships. When the situation changes so does the friendship. No great loss and the friendship serves us well while it lasts.

The next friendship Aristotle identified is based on pleasure. In my life this has looked like a golf foursome, bowling league or weekly pickup basketball game. I can’t tell you where those guys are today but I remember them fondly. Friendships based on pleasure can be more superficial and short lived as your interests change. These tend to be friendships enjoyed by 20 and 30 somethings.

Lastly, Aristotle believed the highest form of friendship involved a common pursuit of excellence and virtue. In this friendship, the people and the qualities they bring to the table form the interest and basis of what can be a longer lasting relationship. These friendships are often forged by fire and shared growth. These are the friendships that survive the 20’s and 30’s and take form as people mature. These friendships involve bonds of trust, affection and admiration. These are the friendships I crave, search for and value the most.

Covid has reminded us that too many friendships are like the planets wandering around the Sun. Occasionally they line up and last, but they are rare. Although we can make the most of a friendship based in utility and pleasure, I believe we need to strive for more. I want more than utility and pleasure.

I want to be surrounded by friends who are striving to be their best…to be virtuous and aim for excellence…to be accountable and to be the best they can be. As these friends aim high, they make me a better person. The writer of Proverbs put it graphically, ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.’ Proverbs 27:17…or not.

There are many ways to say it, but you are the company you keep….like attracts like. Therefore it always impressed me when Jesus called his followers ‘friends’ (‘I have called you my friends’ John 15:15) When the CREATOR calls me His friend, it allows me to look at another of my favorite Bible verses in a new light.

Hebrews 7:7 says…’And without a doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater.’ I want to be friends with people I can bless as well as those who have the capacity to bless me. I want symbiotic, complimentary yet challenging friendships. Friendships that strive to develop greater reservoirs of HEROIC virtue and excellence in each other. Virtues like courage, patience, humility, wisdom, forgiveness and unconditional love. Only then, can we sharpen each other and become the best God has created us to be.

The friendships pointing me to virtue and excellence have one thing in common. These people TRY and WANT their lives to orbit the Son of God. The reality may be like that rare morning in June when everything lined up together, but that is the goal. Friends that wake up each day living for something and some ONE greater than themselves can sharpen and bless me. I want to live beside people who are chasing the highest ideals.

Friends can be like planets that wander across the horizon of our lives…or they can be opportunities to stand close together and pursue the highest ideals. Weathering tough times, having different opinions and working through conflicts can make us better friends when our lives orbit the Son. I value all the types of friendships I have, but I covet the ones that make me more virtuous and a better person.

This weekend, I have the chance to see some guys that fit my ideal of friendship. They all possess attributes and virtues I value. They all accept me at my best AND at my worst, because they know my heart. These friends don’t care who I’ll vote for in November. They DO care if I’m loving my wife better today than last week. These guys don’t keep a record of every screwy comment or thought I’ve shared with them, but they do remember when I confess my failures and shortcomings.

Friendships can wander across the horizons in your life. When they are based in excellence and virtue, they will align to bless everyone involved. Aristotle got that one right.

‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.’

The under 40 crowd may recognize a few of these words but it’s doubtful they know the context….or author, place or time it was written. In America today, Shakespeare would be mocked for writing such hateful non-inclusive speech. If Marc Antony spoke the same words today, he would be immediately cancelled. He didn’t address women, minority groups, illegal aliens and limited his audience to those who were his countrymen. Obviously, he was the most dangerous extremist…a white male. Probably voted for the orange man as well.

When I lend my ear to the topics discussed in 2022, all I hear is ridicule and derision. The Constitution and Founding Fathers are mocked. Historical figures like Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington are derided. Martin Luther King is mocked when his accomplishments are ignored and America is called more racist than it ever has been. Men are mocked for having toxic masculinity. Women are mocked when a Supreme Court nominee plays politics and won’t say what a woman is.

At the core of everything happening in the world in 2022 is…GOD is being mocked.

The writer of Psalms is pretty succinct identifying the low hanging fruit in mocking God.

‘It was you who opened up springs and streams: you dried up the ever flowing rivers.’ Ps. 74:15. God is in control of the earth and it’s climate. Men mock Him by pointing to themselves and others as being responsible for drought.

‘The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and the moon.’ Ps.74:16. We mock God by ignoring what we see in the heavens.

‘It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.’ Ps. 74:17. We mock God by ignoring the weather.

‘Remember how the enemy has mocked you, Lord, how foolish people have reviled your name.’ Ps. 74:18. We mock God when we act against people and places of worship that bear His name.

Pastors mock God when they preach against racism but call themselves pro-choice. Churches mock God when they let priests and pastors abuse their congregants and try to protect the denomination (Southern Baptist are the latest to be accused) instead of HIS creation. EVERY time a Christian, you and I, choose to support/give money to a company that spends our money to promote gender bending drug treatments to 6 year old children, give bonus dollars for an employee to get an abortion and flagrantly groom children to change how God made them, we mock the entire KINGDOM of God.

What else do our ears here today? We DON’T hear enough outrage and action from our leaders. Silence is not golden, it can be sin. ‘If ANYONE, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.’ James 4:17. ‘The one who does what is sinful is of the devil…The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work’ 1 John 3:8. Not speaking up while the work of the devil is encouraged and accepted, mocks the life and death of Jesus.

‘Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but expose them.’ Ephesians 5:11. Is that too direct for you? I’ll keep it short and close with this reminder. ‘Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.’ Galatians 6:7. What you and I sow today, WE will reap, not just future generations.

If you checked out on Marc Antony’s speech after the first line, listen for the hook that comes next. “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is often interred with their bones.”

Our words and actions mock the Bible when our choices override His explicit Word. The extent we mock the Creator is epidemic. The evil we tolerate each day builds into acceptance tomorrow. God help our kids and grandchildren.

What does a red sky at morning look like and what does it mean?

There are times I wonder what we did before smart phones but EVERY day I wonder what we did before satellite weather and The Weather Channel? Being a farmer, I watch the weather like an old man. OK, being both, I am obsessed with the weather.

At this point 50% of readers check out because they’re not interested in the weather. If a topic doesn’t serve as confirmation bias for your interests, what purpose does reading serve? Since Covid started, the length of attention between mentally checking in and checking out has been drastically reduced. If I mention climate change, 50% more check out because they make assumptions and don’t ‘need’ to go further. Now, we have 25% of the people who started reading still engaged. This is about to change like the weather.

There’s so much noise and competition for the weather these days. A few years ago there was not as much banter so people watched, listened and paid attention to the weather, and everything, a lot more. Take away the distractions from TV, radio, internet, ect…. and the weather has a much louder voice.

The oldest and most reliable document of truth, says the One who made this planet did so by creating, then controlling elements and in turn the weather. God invented climate change and weather. Take 5 minutes and read some Genesis. He started by making light, land, planets and you can’t get out of the first chapter before He defines and creates male and female human beings. Yes, He must be a biologist as well.

Don’t miss the 6th chapter of Genesis where God changed the climate by creating rain to flood the earth. After the deluge, He followed it up with some wicked winds and dried the whole mess up. Suffice it to say, if you watch the weather, you’ll see what HE is up to. Climate change can be the Creators way to get your attention. Are you listening?

In 2022, the weather has so many competing noises. Have you heard about the megadrought across the U.S.? Are you keeping up with the early wildfire season (the season is only 10 months of the year), the floods AND the ‘rare Haboob’ just the other day? Google some pictures of a Haboob or call your friend in Iowa. Tell me you don’t think Exodus, Leviticus?

If you watch the weather on mainstream media it can be difficult to stay engaged before they get to the weather forecasts. The weather is what keeps anyone checked-in during local or national news. Who knows if the news is true or propaganda but EVERYONE knows the weather forecast is a truthful endeavor. Weather is the ONE thing we should all be listening to for that reason alone. But, don’t rely on the weatherperson, just step outside and pay attention.

When you go outside tomorrow and look around, you will see a red sky in the morning. There’s a food shortage caused by fertilizer costs and bad weather. There’s a health crisis caused by bat flu or a bird flu and a man-made flu. Food prices are increasing and millions of chickens are being slaughtered. Raw materials that come from the elements are in short supply. The weather is effecting corn and wheat production, energy prices and the list goes on. Even baby formula must be influenced by the weather because no one can figure out why that’s in short supply.

There’s a Haboob about killing babies and what defines a woman. A huge thunderstorm is in Ukraine and a flurry of gender confusion is making many question the ability of 6 year olds to make their own decisions. Things seem apocalyptic across the board. Now that I think about it, what does the FORECAST look like?

The last book in the Bible (Revelation) forecasts some wicked weather and climate change. Fire falling out of the sky, thunder, lightning and earthquakes. ‘Hail and fire mixed with blood’, ‘a third of the earth’ is burned up and ‘a third of the sea turned into blood’. ‘A great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers…’ In fact, the sun, the moon and the stars get partially blacked out. Suffice it to say, if the Bible is truth then what we see now is a mild preview of what’s to come.

God has ALWAYS spoken to people through simple ways they can understand, so don’t ignore the weather or the climate. Don’t think climate change is man made either. God controls the climate, man only effects it to a degree.

With all that’s going on, it looks like a red sky at morning to me. If you don’t know this one please look it up ASAP. In fact, look it up on Wikipedia because they always do the best job. Spoiler alert. The definition is an accepted ‘concept over 2000 years old”.

Weather stands the test of time.

Red sky at morning.

The weather doesn’t lie…and it’s not man made.

“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda, it is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” Gary Kasparov, the former world chess champion and Russian democracy advocate currently in exile in Croatia. (Twitter 2016)

We live in a time where deception and the annihilation of truth is at the root of almost everything in our society. Deception is facilitating the collapse of our culture, decreasing our intellectual abilities and causing spiritual death. The war in Ukraine is the latest chapter in deceit and suffering but our attention is being diverted from another agenda.

The church has not always done the best job of teaching a ‘ministry of suffering’, but Christ followers know it is a very real part of our faith. Contrary to some who push their followers to ‘live your best life now’, Jesus constantly reminds His followers this world is full of trouble (‘ “…In this world you will have trouble.” ‘ John 16:33). Truth is, God actually allows deceit and troubles as a way to mature our faith and give us the chance to turn to and trust HIM to deliver us.

One of the least talked about truths is that our faith in God can be tested the most through our health and finances. The Bible repeatedly talks about how trouble gives us the opportunity to persevere by trusting Him (‘Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.’ James 1:12) When your health disappears and your money runs out, people turn to a higher power for help.

One of the toughest books in the Bible to read is the story of Job. ‘This man was blameless and upright: he feared God and shunned evil.’ Job 1:1. Read the next few verses when you get a minute because they describe how righteous and rich Job was. In fact, ‘He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.’ Job 1:3. God allowed Satan to test Job and the enemy went straight for his health and finances. Job lost ALL of his possessions AND his health.

To understand current events you must KNOW history and not be deceived by the current attempts to re-write what has happened in our past. Ever since Jesus ‘ “…saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” ‘ Luke 10:18, the devil has wanted to be God. ‘You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God;…I will make myself like the Most High.” ‘ Isaiah 14:13-14. In 2022, evil is trying to tempt mankind to turn everywhere other than the Creator to care for himself.

It is a page straight from hell that a virus was manufactured to destroy the health of mankind. Next up, is your money.

Notice the war in Ukraine has quickly turned to a new ‘nuclear’ option by removing Russia from the SWIFT banking system. Most people don’t know about the SWIFT system and the implications, but we all know that financial problems can be the most devastating. WHAT IF that’s part of the plan? Stay with me.

What if the financial destruction and removal of Russia and her allies from the world settlement systems is just a deception to usher in a new banking system…and currency? For decades, the dollar has been King among currencies but what if you systematically started crashing all other currencies in the attempt to move towards a world digital currency? Russia, China and India all have alternate systems in place. But, how do you start destroying everyone’s finances without a catalyst to justify and begin the destruction? Punishing the bad actors sounds like a good place to start, huh?

Crashing and building back the banks and financial systems might be more easily accepted if it is served with the mantra of punishing evil empires that start wars. Build it all back, better!! Catchy little phrase sound familiar….is this the next act?

To those who believe the Bible is truth, the book of Revelation tells of the end times and a mark of the beast that is given to people. The mark is simply the mark of an economic system representing one world government under the control of one evil person. You need the mark to buy and sell anything and do business in the coming new world order. But first, you need to destroy the systems in place and build them back…better of course.

Follow the money in the latest chapter of world events. Follow the currencies, the cash and the systems to see what is really the war behind the headlines. Be ready to choose where and to whom you will turn.

There is good news regardless of when this happens.

‘ “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ‘ John 16:32-33.

“The decrees of God are birth and death. In between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God.”

Pick a side and live with the consequences. The ensuing division is not always bad.

The past few years I have spent too much time lamenting the division that has engulfed the world. I have decided to let go of my frustration and lovingly accept the choices my friends and others make to separate and divide. I am doing this because I believe the division we are witnessing is God’s plan. God has been separating things from the get-go and it is late in the game.

‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…And God said, “Let there be light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” Genesis 1:1-4. Mankind was created in the midst of an epic heavenly battle. The Earth is ground zero where HE alone determines the beginning and the end. Between creation and destruction, birth and death, division is inevitable AND part of His plan.

We think of division as bad because we believe there is more strength and power in unity. The problems come when unification is based in wrong and evil choices. Choice is a freedom that comes with great exhilaration and even greater consequence. History is replete with proof that division can create a breakdown in God’s order and the results can impact generations.

Eve chose to buy a lie told by Satan while Adam chose to keep his mouth shut and go along. Germans chose to give the reins of power to Hitler and not fight back. On the other hand despite many wrongs, America chose to fight racism with a civil war and years later with laws for civil rights. Division and picking a side is wired into our DNA AND God’s plan for mankind.

We have a tendency to think of division as wrong, or evil, but I propose we remember it can be divine. Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law — a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.'” Matthew 10:34-36. Christ came to divide but He didn’t divide based on whether you were a Republican or a Democrat, black or white, Russian or American, vaccinated or not.

Christ reminded us there always has been and always will be an underlying division in the world. The division lies in our choice to follow the God of creation or…not. Everything and anything that comes before or in place of Him is wrong. The maxim to submit every choice to Him is difficult but fundamentally essential. The whole, ‘no other gods before me’ can manifest in love of anything, even family. “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me;…” Matthew 10:37.

Every choice can create a division and dilemma to follow God’s way or the way of the world. James grew up in the same house as Jesus and lived out the division between an earthly kingdom and God’s Kingdom. After Christ died, James emphatically identified the choice of picking a side when he said ‘…don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.’ James 4:4.

The world is a stage in the final act of division between good and evil, God and Satan. This division has manifested itself in choices for generations. When people pick a side based on anything other than God’s Word on a subject they often try to identify why they made the choice they did. Placing blame anywhere other than with ourselves is a weak and lame attempt to shirk the risk and consequences of a possible bad choice.

The headlines are replete with examples of blame for bad decisions. Riots and property destruction blamed on a systemically racist people or country. Hatred of a media network and the people who watch it because of a bias towards opinion they don’t agree with. And the always contentious, abortion is a choice because it’s my body (Jesus said our bodies belonged to Him, not us).

The division, ensuing anger and hatred in our world is felt and seen by many people. I believe the anger we currently see is a result of choosing the way of the world and not God’s way. We must remember, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as it’s own….That is why the world hates you.” John 15:18-19.

As for me, I cannot change anyone’s mind and I will not try. I respect the right for everyone to pick their own side and make their own choices. I ask you to respect mine as well and not mandate what sides I pick.

The next time ANY of us find ourselves bending towards division with a person or position, seek and acknowledge where it originates. Determine if it is the side of the world or of God. If we profess to be a Christian, remember the letters in red…”This is my command: love each other.” John 15:17.