God, Aliens, and Other Stuff

According to the dictionary, a sophistry is a kind of reasoning that is misleading or unsound, but it sounds clever and plausible. Paul talks about such reasoning in Colossians 2:23,  "Such regulations (Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!) indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."  Note, "appearance of wisdom" and "false humility" do not a perfect Christian make. Paul was addressing the problem of Christian leaders, one of which was James the brother of Jesus, who wanted to "Judaize" the emerging Christian church. Circumcize your male children, avoid pork, keep the Sabbath, do not marry, do not drink wine, wear this, don't wear that...The Jews had hundreds of laws beside the Law of Moses to keep. The veil in such religions between earthly ritual and objects and the unseen interdimensional ...

  If you don’t have a Bible at home and want to check out the scriptures cited here, go to biblegateway.com and use the search box. Opt for NIV or NKJV (translations). Or just google the passage. Predictions are confusing and risky We take wonderful neighborhood walks here on Whidbey Island. I can often be seen going down the beach road with my neighbor, waving my arms and ranting about Donald Trump and the false charismatic prophecies that supported him for five years. Finally, my friend asked, “How do you tell a false prophecy from a true one? I would have no idea.” After all, I’ve had a few predictions myself about Trump, and mine actually came to pass. I am not an ordained minister. I’ve seen no angels, have not been translated to heaven or hell, and I’m not an international speaker, but in times of national crisis, I have been given some astonishing revelations, either in dream form or in words spoken. That would include the resignation of President Nixon, the defection of...