spreading 3 angels' messages
This won’t happen again for another 12 years.
In the Chinese/Japanese cycle of things, each year has a special animal assigned to it. As there are 12 animals, your “year” comes up every 12th one. I’m year of the bull, and today is my day.
Let’s see, the very first one (birth) was in Kansas, the 2nd in Tennessee, the 3rd in Georgia, the 4th in Japan, and now the 5th – back in Tennessee.
Sure hope Jesus comes before this cycle rolls around again……
Homegrown Nutrition Seminar March 22, 2009 Collegedale Community Church Fellowship Hall
Presenters Daniel Parson & Scott Arrington
The first presenter (i believe it was Mr. Arrington) is a Seventh-day Adventist, and quite a “big business is bad” incoherent speaker. The following man is not SDA, and was very calm and collected, and gave the impression that you do not have to be a little crazy to be interested in organic farming.
Following are some pointers picked up at this seminar i attended.
Most consumers will go up to 10 miles extra to buy fresh produce.
You can net 50% of gross.
You need land that is irrigated and deer-proof.
For example, in one project they worked on near Atlanta, they did something called “Community Supported Agriculture”. The basic idea, as far as i could gather, is that a developer will intentionally leave a parcel of land open for farming, and the people who buy into that community will have to pay a certain fee each month for the privilege of having that farm land near them. In return, they get first chance to buy the produce, and can walk their dogs or just relax or whatever in the “community space”.
Their income sources and yearly amounts in USD:
1. One acre Community Supported Agriculture 26,000
2. Once per week Farmer’s Market 13,500
3. Workshops 2,000
4. Farm tours 2,000
Gross Total 43,500
Don’t just throw stuff on soil to make it good, but think about what microbes need.
Throwing nitrogen on the soil makes the crops grow well, but increases nitrates in food.
Insects don’t eat healthy plants (really now?!)
Charles Walters wrote “Eco Farm”
We don’t like vegetarian bugs.
Be careful that your fertilizer doesn’t kill good bugs and fungus etc.
Don’t irrigate the whole field – just where you plant.
For a winter cover crop, buy a “deerfeed mix”.
The less you till the soil – the better.
Weed early and often. Weed shallow. Use a very long hoe with your thumbs pointing up, so you don’t have to bend your back.
If you must buy fertilizer for organic gardens, look for “OMRI” on the bag.
Cut and plow and mulch when the crop starts blooming (cover crops).
Avoid wood chips and straw for mulch because they take up nitrogen.
Mix green and brown matter together to make a good compost. Use leaves for carbon, grass clippings for nitrogen. A good mix is around 80% brown and 20% green.
You don’t need much lime, but if you do use it, get high-calcium lime.
Take soil tests every 2 years.
Have a map of your garden and measure it for crop rotation purposes.
Plant sequence-style. Instead of 100 heads of lettuce now, plant 10 now, 10 the next week etc.
Think of plant families when rotating.
Think of fertilizer, heavy and light feeders.
One of the most interesting things i got out of this seminar, is that we should think of ths soil as being alive, because it is the microscopic bacteria in it that really determines if you have good or bad soil. So instead of just putting something on the soil to make the crops grow fast or big, think first of what the microbes in the soil need to be healthy. When the microbes are healthy, the soil will be good, and you can grow good crops.
That’s my graduating class, at least all of them who came to the 30th reunion last Sabbath at Highland Academy in Portland Tennessee.
I arrived a bit early, and while signing up, was suddenly spirited off by two lively young ladies, one grabbing each arm. Whoops, forget the “young” part. This small gesture tho really made me feel at home, and welcome here in this place where i spent so much of my life growing up.
As usual, many of the people hang around in the foyer talking, while inside only a handful are sitting down. It used to be that the whole church would meet in the gym on Alumni Sabbath, and there would be probably close to 700-1000 people. But this year only the alumni were in the gym, so the number of people attending was much smaller.
One of our own class, Kevin Shelley, gave the sermon about complacency. Then most of the people ate lunch, while i went out searching for more people. I found the old P.E. teacher, one who used to treat us all very harshly, and we had a nice chat. One classmate told me a week earlier that this teacher remarked to her how he was sorry he treated us as he did, and of course i’ve forgiven him in my heart long ago. No doubt he was just doing what he thot best at the time, but to have the humbleness to admit he was wrong – that requires a heart that is rarely seen today.
My old 6th grade teacher saw me, and caused my eyes to water a bit. She told how she always prays to God to take care of her “little lambs”, and as i had been in the first batch, she always had something special for that first group. After answering her question about how people respond to the 1858 Great Controversy book, she confided: “Most people will never understand people like you and me.” That shook my heart to its core….so true, absolutely true. She is planning to retire this May after teaching at Highland for 36 years, and i really thank God for leading her to this place at such a time in my life – when i was just 12 years old.
Most of the time i spent with one classmate who i had gone to one of the junior-senior proms with. She has had a rollercoaster life, but is still wanting to have that deep walk with Jesus. Hopefully i can meet her again in the remaining part of this month while in America.
Around 4pm we all met in Ponce Hall, and went around in a circle explaining what has happened in each of our lives. It started out with a lot of laughter, but got more serious, then dragged a bit long. For some reason i had lots of butterflies in my stomach when i saw my turn approaching, but once started, all those butterflies flew away somewhere, and i had lots of clear thinking (that’s why i didn’t eat lunch) and talking, and could give one of these 1858gc books to everyone. Someone asked me to speak some Japanese, so i said John 3:16. Yes, that felt a little prideful maybe, hehe. Actually, i do still love Japan very much, but God is calling in different directions now…
The evening ended with me giving away some coins from various countries. One classmate has two sons in Pathfinders, so they should enjoy them.
The gravesite of my parents, with my name listed among the children on the back, of course brought tears to my eyes. The place is so peaceful, in an open field, with cows grazing nearby. If Jesus doesn’t come back soon, it would be nice to rest there, but as i won’t know anything anyway, it really doesn’t matter does it?
Next week i’m scheduled to go to Uchee Pines and give studies of the 1858gc with the people there. Please remember me in prayer.
My plan is to go to my old SDA high school (Highland Academy) for our 30th year homecoming this Sabbath. I hope to introduce these 1858 Great Controversy books to my old classmates.
I’m old!!
I just got a email from a man i met in Okinawa for the first time just 3 weeks ago. He was super-supportive of this 1858 Great Controversy book in Japanese, one of the very few people in the whole country who are, it seems to me.
BUT,,,,while he was once a pastor for the SDA church, he is now a member of the Reform Movement. After a study of the 1858gc book on Saturday evening, he asked me what i thot about the Reform Movement. I had them read from Ezekiel 9, and asked “Where are the people who receive the seal, and what are they doing?” They replied: “In Jerusalem, sighing and crying for the abominations done in it”. Then i asked: “What is Jerusalem?” They replied “The Seventh-day Adventist church”. I added: “So if you want the seal of God, you must be IN the SDA church, and must sigh and cry for the abominations it does”.
I then said that while the zeal with the Reform Movement is much greater than in the SDA church, God does not want us to make any new organization – the Seventh-day Adventist church is his last church.
The leader/former SDA pastor, mentioned one man we both know in Korea who came out of SDA to join the SDARM for a couple of years, but has now returned to the SDA fold. He said: “That man told me he could have a better chance to witness to those in the SDA church if he was IN the church.” I agreed wholeheartedly. After being asked what to do, i replied that they must pray, follow God’s revealed will, and could perhaps continue meeting as they were, but as a SDA home-church.
Well just this morning i got a email saying that one member purchased 25 1858gc books, and that several members left SDARM.
Praise God!!!! I’m so, so happy, and hope and pray that the little flock there will be kept from the wolves sent by Satan. Please Lord, watch over your torn and bleeding sheep.
Well, i’m not sure this is necessary, but in looking over what i wrote for 2008 and earlier, it gives some kind of focus to what i’m doing in life, so decided to do this again this year, albeit, a bit late. Of course all the following is “Lord willing”. I sure don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but God does, and i want to follow his plan, even if it is very different from my own.
1. Start producing the 1858 Great Controversy book in 3D animated form. This will require me to get training somewhere, as i have no artistic talent, and also no concept of what is needed to do a complete movie. Fortunately, powerful software – TrueSpace – has been made free, so the money factor is much less than first anticipated for this project (Maya costs around 3,000usd per copy). Currently the dream is to go to India, train 4 or 5 young people (and myself), and get cracking on this. Hopefully it will be done within 2 years. But while i’ve been thinking about and dreaming about this – over a year has gone by, and there is absolutely nothing to show for it, except i’ve downloaded the software, and realized i have no clue what to do.
Last year i did find a nice 3D animation on youtube called Pilgrim’s Progress, that jump-started me into seeing that something simple can have a big impact, and LOOKS like it might be something within my realm of talent/knowledge.
2. Help get the Romanian 1858gc into print and distributed. This book is translated now, and after proofreading, will need to be printed and promoted.
3. Help if necessary for the Thai and Burmese 1858gc books. Probably this will not be necessary, but noone knows for sure.
4. See my brother in America. I haven’t been to America in 5 years, so it will be nice to see my brother and other friends. I especially am eager to visit people who are interested in this 1858gc, and study with them. I believe Agatha Thrash is, and know of one person in Illinois who is also.
5. If possible, go to Europe and try and find translators for other languages, like Spanish, French, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Italian, Czech etc. Also, i wish to see Ukraine, as this 1858gc book was supposedly the evangelism book of the year there in 2005, but there has been no reports of what happened.
6. If possible, it would be nice to spend a while in the Caucasus region again, pushing forward the 1858gc book there, and meeting friends i made last time there who have fallen away from the truth.
7. Find out what happened to the Chinese translation that got abruptly terminated in Malaysia last summer.
8. Pray more
9. Discern God’s leading.
10. Study the prophecies more.
Well, that is 5 points less than last year. Let’s see….. of the 15 points last year, i could do #9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, & 15. Not a very good percentage……But i did get close on #3. Oh well, at least that was the goal. Hopefully i can do better this year.
Dear Jesus, Please come back soon. This life has nothing for me. I appreciate the friends and Brothers and Sisters you have led me to, and i pray that i have been a savor of life unto life for them. Please save them all in your kingdom, and myself too. Please keep your promise to “add all these other things unto you” if i keep your kingdom and righteousness first. I want to keep my eyes off of things of this earth, and on you, and want to show you to others.
The Himalayan Medical Missionary Centre director held an evangelistic meeting in the beginning of February in the Doars – Plains area of India. Praise God that 20 souls were converted to the truth. They were thankful to be able to rent a generator, whose noise helped keep the elephants away!
To read the short article and see the pics, please look in the bar at the right under “evangelistic results”.
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Also, today he sent a email saying that he was busy working on the first ever SDA-owned church in the strongly buddhist state of Sikkim 🙂 How i wish i could be with him to help him and his evangelists do more gospel work to fight the powers of darkness in high places.
I had been asked a long time ago to put up the big pics instead of just the thumbnails for the pics listed on the left side of this page, but i was afraid it would eat up too much of my allotted disk space. But in checking my disk space usage on Godaddy, my hoster, i saw that i’m not using even 1% of the allotted space! So i have now uploaded all the big pics for the thumbnails, so if you see something interesting, feel free to click on it to see “The Big Picture” 🙂
Which pics do i like best?
Well, to choose one from each page:
Turkey-Nepal give-me-your-burden or wearing-jacket-sent-from-japan
London-Greece bible-areopagus-akropolis
India goateed-driver or dedicated-sdas-pune-india
Sri Lanka hiking-guide
Burma tiger-makeup
Vietnam kool-k
Cambodia b-i-b-l-e or phnom-penh-shack
Philippines travelling-selling-books
Malaysia 1000-voices-selling or stack-of-gc-mirajin-printing-kk or super-bright-borneo-flower
Thailand red-hot-chili-peppers
Laos vientiane-roadside-lunch
Thailand 2007 asi-booth-with-hope-bangkok or sign-us-up-for-the-harvest
Thailand living 2008 where-the-melon-goes
Traveling SE Asia w-baptism-day-hmong-pics or fearsome-creature
Proofreading myanmar-1858gc-proofreading-g
What’s your favorite?
Until the end of January at least.
I’ve been bouncing around from place to place, spending a nite here, 3 nites there etc. etc., but yesterday a former English student in Katano let me come to an unused house next to her place. It is small, but very nice for me with a kitchen and bath and s.i.l.e.n.c.e. That is what i’ve needed – no TV or other distractions. Also, while i appreciate my former homeless friend letting me stay with him, it is very uncomfortable, with mold and mildew everywhere, and the scum of 3 years hanging around in the bathroom, and with his bottle of urine and tobacco smell and sake and numerous grumblings about how i inconvenience him……. So very glad to be away from there. In going to the new place yesterday tho, i carried about 6kg in my backpack, and another 5 or 6 in a backpack hanging in front of me, and walked around 1:30. My neck became seriously painful, and still not quite recovered as i type this today.
Sure am glad my former English student took me in. Actually, i did take it as a sign from God. A different student told me about this lady being willing to take me in, but i kept looking for something else, especially hoping to find a place where the people are interested in studying the Bible and Great Controversy book. But…..no leads. Then last Friday while walking the 2 hours from one friend’s place to another in Osaka, i hear “Danny!” coming from a car. Huh? What? I go closer and sure enough, it is this lady i was told who had an empty house who could take me in. She seemed even more surprised than me, and we both took this as a sign from God. Why would she be driving about 20km from her house, on just the street at just time i was walking there, when actually i wasn’t even planning to be on that street at all? And Osaka is a big, big city. Quite amazing 🙂
On Sabbath in went to Settsu-Tonda SDA meeting place. About 10 people showed up. Two ladies greeted me at the door, and when one said she was the “pastor”, i said that the Bible says that women should not be pastors. But no one got angry, and if fact, we had a very very good talk over lunch. We could talk deeply about the apostasy in the SDA church, and what needs to be done, and i could even read a bit to them from the Japanese Great Controversy book. The “pastor” lady was quite humble which was a surprise to me, and said she knew that the SOP books have been changed and massaged. The lone man at the place told me that they had offered me to stay at that little meeting room, but he told them i didn’t need it. I thanked him for telling me, as that was true, but was surprised he refused their offer before even asking me….. He did give me 4 nice apples tho!
Well, i still hope i can find someone who wishes to study the Bible and 1858gc. Otherwise, i wonder what i’m doing in Japan. On the 31st i’m supposed to give a study at Himeji church, to which i’m looking forward to very much. I hope to have the Japanese study guide for the book ready by then – maybe my friend in Thailand can get it printed and sent here by then. To print 30 copies here in Japan is outrageously expensive – 300usd or so, and i will not spend that kind of money.
Now to go to the supermarket and buy something to eat. It will be fun seeing old places and familiar faces (i hope) as i stay here until the end of the month.
My former homeless friend and i went to church near Tsuruhashi on the first Sabbath of January. This is about the only SDA church i know of in Osaka where they are not openly defying God. But how disappointed i was when the pastor gave the same sermon i’ve heard so many times – that agape love is God’s special love, and that it is “unconditional”. During the meal after the sermon i told the pastor, who is a young man sent from Korea, that he should repent and teach the truth. He asked for more information, so i sent him a detailed thing about how agape doesn’t have anything to do with some kind of special love, and how God does hate some of his created beings. There has been no response. Funny thing, in reading the new year’s message from the Western Japan Conference president, i see the exact same thing written. Lord, how long will you allow your people to be lulled to sleep like this? How long will we desire smooth things spoken to us? May we repent and follow you Jesus, to the cross.
My former homeless friend was very happy to have me come to his little one-room mansion at first, but slowly started letting out how i’m in his way by complaining when he smokes in the room, and asking him to do something with his large bottle of urine that he usually uses as getting up to walk the 3 steps to the bathroom is too bothersome. But really, just seeing that bottle about 2 feet away from you while eating is gross.
It’s so sad to see how this 75 y.o. man has digressed in the 3 years i’ve been gone. When i left Japan in 2005 he had stopped smoking and drinking, and was seriously considering following Jesus. Now, he is back to living like he did when homeless – like an animal – except now that he gets money from the govt. every month so has enough to eat and drink and smoke. I believe one reason he digressed, is that he used to be very, very careful about saving money. He would eat just white rice with maybe one vegetable for his meals. Over a couple of years, he saved more than 5,000usd. But the govt. official found out about that, got angry, and took all that money plus cut off his welfare from the govt. for 4 months. After that my friend says “use it all up, as much as you can”. So he buys around 3 or 4 cups of sake or beer a day, plus some other junky stuff that he doesn’t need at all, just to get to zero at the end of the month to keep the official happy. What a waste!
His place is very small, and full of mold and mildew and sometimes cigarette smoke, so i try to spend most of my time outside. It is fun walking around, seeing old sights, and once in a while with the right angle of the building and shadows etc., it really hits me in a nostalgic way – bringing back lots of old memories. I do see tho that some of my old memories are not really good ones that will help lead me to heaven. Perhaps one reason is that of all the girls i’ve ever liked, all of them were ones i met here in Osaka…..
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As a pilgrim in this world, i’m getting ready to move to another friend’s place. He used to be homeless, but a friend and i helped him get welfare from the govt. He is 75 years old, and while he doesn’t have much interest in things of God, he is very nice to me. Yesterday after church we walked to Osaka castle and enjoyed that little bit of nature in the big city. It was kind of sad walking past the building where i lived from 1990-1997, and see it torn down, but that is progress i guess.
Please keep me in your prayers Yesterday i had to rebuke the pastor sharply for preaching about unconditional love. That seems to be the most popular teaching in the SDA church these days……
Hopefully i’ll stay here about one week, then move to the house where i lived about 7 years from 1998-2005. The owner of the house is overcoming depression, and is really wanting to see me again, even saying we should have a “tempura party” – yummm!
T! Thanks to you and your mommy and daddy for letting me be so close to you for much of this past year. God has given me a very precious experience to be with you, and help you come closer to Jesus, and to learn the difference between right and wrong. It is so fun to see you grow up, and deciding for yourself what you want to believe, what you want to do, what you want to read and see. Probably i will never be a physical daddy to anyone, but i got quite a deep experience by taking care of you.
I hope you will gain a love for reading more than goofing off with drawing or playing games. Those things will lead to nothing, they are gone with the doing, but in reading, you will gain a lifelong friend, and of course, you will gain a love for the words of God, words of eternal life, that you will never have to be ashamed of.
I already miss going to the garden with you, seeing how close you can throw the coin to the wall, your monkey climbing, getting water, teaching you typing and reading, your simple laugh, your quick smile, your quick way you forgive others etc. I’m glad to see you not telling so many lies. I really want to see you in heaven, and since the Bible says that no liars enter heaven, i know you want to stop too, as you want to enter heaven.
Please learn more and more to try and help your mommy and daddy. Remember to always think about Jesus, and do what he would do. If you do that, you will always be safe. And then when you see Jesus coming in the clouds, you will be able to say “This is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us”.
Rejoice always
Pray without ceasing
In everything give thanks
Amen
Recent events….Sunday last week i made a great soup, and then went to bed. The husband of the place here and i were the only ones to eat it, and both of us had a spewing party all nite. With some charcoal and grape juice and raw eggs, we mostly overcame it, but still had a fever and nausea until Thursday, when, thankfully, just a day before taking a trip, we both got well.
On Friday morning we got up and left at 4:30 to walk 20 minutes to bus #77 to the northern bus terminal – Mo Chit. We caught the 6:30 bus and arrived in Tak around 1:15pm. Our friend met us, and we enjoyed a nice weekend in the countryside with the cows and chickens and birds and grass etc. My friend seemed so happy to have someone to be with him, as he is the only Seventh-day Adventist there, and he talked and talked and talked with the Thai speaker in our group from Bangkok.
I was able to have a 2-hour talk with the owner of the place (Avoda) on Sunday nite, going over some of the Bible texts showing that once-saved-always-saved is not correct. With some of the places he commented that it was “Old Testament”, and even eliciting smiles from me twice, once when he said Judas was not in the dispensation of the church, so he was lost, and also by saying that even people who hate God totally and would be miserable in heaven will have to go there if they ever once in their lives accepted Jesus as their Saviour. I didn’t tell him then, but it is putting the attributes of Satan onto Jesus, to say that no matter what you wish, once you do one thing you can never repent of it – in this case – once you accept Jesus, you must go to heaven even if later you regret your decision. Of course i believe that if your works do not live up to your profession, you will be found “wanting” in the scales when Jesus weighs your heart. But to think that there is no way to escape salvation if you once name the name of Jesus, even if you are like Satan who believes, you must go heaven – really strange doctrine!!!
But the stories this man has are really interesting, and i can see how the Lord has led him very far. He doesn’t want to just follow man’s ideas. He has started to believe that the Sabbath is a rest day, but still worships on Sunday. He doesn’t allow Christmas or Easter celebrations on his property either, angering many of his fellow Christians. I sure hope and pray he can come up to follow all the 3 Angels, and not just the 3rd.
Monday we had another 2 hour meeting, and i was bowled over to receive an envelope with money in it before i left – wow! even very few SDAs treat me this well! Please Lord, watch over him, and may he fully, completely, take hold of the truth. In my human understanding, it looks to me like his place could be a great center for training young people from all over Thailand to be strong Christians, and this country could really change. His dream is for 1,000 kids, and centers also to help the displaced Burmese people living in Thailand. It would be wonderful if we could join forces somehow. Lord, please work it all out to your glory. Break Satan’s power, and open up this man’s understanding to follow you completely.
On Saturday nite there i had a dream. I dreamt i was sleeping – sleeping in a big room with a high, long window, and my brother sleeping in a bed just a few feet away. There was a horrible, suffocating, dark, oppressive feeling over me. I could only choke out the sound “Jeeee”. Then a litte freer “Jesus!” Then i felt freer, and said “Jesus, save me!” Instantly i was totally free. What a great dream 🙂 Thank you Jesus, and always be near me. Thank you for hearing me when i call. And keep me from the attacks of Satan.
The bus back to Bangkok was uneventful, but travelling 6 hours without a stop is not much fun. I ate bread and raisins and fruit and peanuts on the bus for lunch, and then after changing to #77 at Mo Chit, ate basically the same thing again. Thai food stalls serve stuff that only looks like crap to me. I mean really, most of it doesn’t even resemble food to me – little fried somethings or round shape somethings in some unintelligible broth that looks more like something already digested and going to the waste treatment plant, rather than something about to be processed by a human.
Now i’m back in the high-rise apt. looking out on the 14th floor over the high-rises of Bangkok, reading about the Tower of Babel to the little girl who lives here. Seems a bit surreal. Still helping on the translation of the Thai and Romanian 1858gc books. Next week, Lord willing, i will be going to Myanmar to print this precious book there. Your prayers are requested.
In the hands of those with nefarious ideas…..
Well, one good thing about the article read yesterday, is that it got me to thinking who are the most influential people in my own life. So while sitting up waiting out one of my weekly or bi-weekly sneezing attacks in the wee hours this morning, i made up this list. Notice that this list does not include any dead people whom i have never personally met. If you would include that group, then Ellen White and the Bible writers would gather all the top spots.
Jesus Christ – everything to me
Mom – taught me to love the truth
Dad – taught me how to live
M – brother, always there for me
Dew – best childhood friend
La – best highschool friend
Alan and David – best college friends
Kawakita – Japanese tutor
Yuki – Japanese friend
Sumiko, Nao – girls i really liked
Hiroko – best friend
Yoshiko – 2nd mom
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updated sep.11
In thinking more about this, i thot of some people whom i have never met personally (or don’t remember), yet thru their writings have had a profound impact on my life.
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Bible authors – favorites are Moses, David, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, Matthew, John, and Paul
Ellen White – inspired prophetess of God
Robert Brinsmead – teacher of the Awakening in the 1960s – still love Australian accents today
Herman Hoehn – proved changes in Spirit of Prophecy (compare first 5 words of 1858 Great Controversy “Spiritual Gifts Volume 1” with the corresponding part in Early Writings)
R.E. McMaster – defined meaning of “money” (= time, energy, and 3rd party’s valuation – must have all 3 to be “money”)