Martin World News

 

Well, here comes another attempt to make you laugh from the dour denizens of deportment in the news line...

CNN- He's got a point

Headline: Trump makes Pearl Harbor joke in front of Japan’s prime minister 

OMG, let's impeach him!  CNN, making yet again a (admittedly) small mountain out of a molehill, had to show a clip of the presser Trump had with Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi.  A Japanese reporter was absolutely mystified that Trump didn't warn Japan- and by extension, everyone else- that he was going to attack Iran.  After explaining the obvious, Trump remarked, "Nobody is better at surprises than the Japanese!  Why didn't you warn me about Pearl Harbor?" Guys, it's been 85 years, I think we can laugh at ourselves now.

GB News- He's gonna blow us u... oh, never mind

Headline: Armed police swarm Manchester park after man seen wearing 'suicide vest'... but the reality is not what it seems

You know, this sort of thing wouldn't happen IF Britain closed their borders like Trump has here.  Ironically for this story, I saw this morning a quote from Vladmir Putin (and once again, have to agree with him), that was along the lines of, "I don't fear England.  They can't stop rubber boats full of illegals from coming into their country and raping their women."  That said, you can excuse the populace of a "large Jewish community" near a park in Manchester from panicking when they saw what seemed to be a man wearing a suicide bomber vest.  However, after surrounding the man with snipers on every side, police discovered it was just a guy excercising in a weighted vest.

Moscow Times- and now, a visual joke

Headline: 2025 Was Russia’s Second-Warmest Year on Record

And the accompanying picture:

Russia Today- Whaddayamean, Unsafe?

Headline: African country seeks millions from UK over migrant deal fiasco

The deal:  Back in Boris Johnson's more sane term as British PM, he had worked out a deal to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda (funny how this keeps coming up...).  So Rwanda spent over $125 million to set up facilities for the expected incoming undesirables.

However, no flights took place and the scheme was suspended in June 2022 following intervention from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The scheme was also declared unlawful by the UK’s highest court, which deemed Rwanda unsafe for deportees.

More unsafe than the crapholes they escaped from?  Anyway, it should be no surprise that Keir Starmer has since declared the plan "dead and buried" (despite Putin's earlier good point), and and despite never having actually deported anyone, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claims it cost British taxpayers " £700 million".  So all in all, Rwanda is out $125 million for housing deportees they never housed, and the British taxpayer is out  £700 million to deport people they never deported.  In good news though, the US just might have the man able to get to the bottom of all this...

And finally...

News.Com.AU- Let it grow let it grow let it grow

Headline: Fury erupts over new Aus lawn ‘rule’

Apparently, Australia was swept with a social media rumour that sent some homeowners into a panic- a midday lawn mowing ban with fines that were going to be substantial.  

The rumour began as a false claim, suggesting a “new rule” or “fineable regulation” would commence on either February 15 or March 15, 2026.

This supposed ban aimed to restrict lawn mowing during the hottest part of the day, citing environmental and noise concerns.

The narrative quickly evolved, with some versions even suggesting it was a necessary public health measure during heatwaves, further fuelling its viral spread and sparking heated online discussions.

Supposedly it started when some districts mulled over limiting the use of ARTICIFIAL turf and blew up from there.  Not all reactions were panic, though...

“By the look of some properties you’d think there was a ban this whole time,” one person quipped, while another added, “It looks like it’s been ban in the Fairfield area already. Just take a drive around.”

Still, some otherwise reputable sources took it as gospel...

For instance, greenhomefurniture.com.au was among those that reported on the fake mowing ban.

They stated, “The authorities behind this controversial move claim that the new rule is a necessary measure to address the growing concerns over environmental sustainability and the wellbeing of local residents.” 

The article went on to detail supposed hefty fines, ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars, for those who dared to defy the non-existent ban.

Thankfully, the truth was there were no such bans.  If you want to go out when its 38C and cut your grass, the only fine you'll get is sunstroke.

NOTE:  I should offer a small apology to CNN- their story, at least, was just a minor headline, way down the page... those paragons of virtue, BBC and RT News, had it front and center.

Wisdom Truck 10

 

This week's story lies basically between 2 wisdom mentions...

2Sa 14:2  And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, “Pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead. 

And...

2Sa 14:20  In order to change the course of things your servant Joab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.” 

So what's going on?  Joab is the general of Israel, the leader of David's army. And it's not a position that David especially wants him in.  You see, when Saul went down to defeat, David didn't automatically become king of all Israel- some was commanded for a time by Saul's son, Ishboseth, commanded by his general Abner.  But after a couple of years, Abner split and swore allegiance to David.  Joab didn't believe the conversion, and accused Abner of spying.  When David refused to act on what seemed to Joab to be his own interests, he took it on himself to kill Abner.  But while David rebuked Joab- even laid a curse on his family- he didn't fire him...

2Sa 3:38  And the king said to his servants, Do you not know that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? 

2Sa 3:39  And I am weak this day, though anointed king. And these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too hard for me. Jehovah shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness. 

What he was saying was, the kingdom was still fresh in his hands, and Joab was a popular commander.  Removing him MIGHT mean more civil war, and he was ready to consolidate the kingdom, and let God deal with Joab as He would.  All of this raised 2 questions for me: What were the motivations of Joab AND David as, years later, with the kingdom basically strong, that led to our main story?

And that story is thus:  Part of the fallout of David having Uriah killed to cover up his affair with Bathsheba was God telling David, "the sword will never leave your house."  And God was manouvering to make this happen.  David's son Amnon had raped his half-sister- and brother Absalom's full-sister- Tamar.  In retaliation, Absalom had Amnon murdered, and then fled the justice of David.  Still, David never sought him, as he ought to have... 

2Sa 13:37  But Absalom fled and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day. 

2Sa 13:38  And Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years. 

2Sa 13:39  And King David longed to go forth to Absalom, for he was comforted about Amnon, since he was dead. 

So now, 3 years had gone by, and Joab wanted to bring closure to the story.  Hence question 1- why?  I first thought, "He's angling for a way to take power for himself."  But he could have done that more easily before.  Witness this: 

2Sa 12:26  And Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and took the royal city. 

2Sa 12:27  And Joab sent messengers to David and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters. 

2Sa 12:28  And therefore gather the rest of the people together, and camp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name. 

So even after that first break- and even after Joab followed David's orders for Uriah's death (which gave him blackmail power), Joab was concerned for lifting David up.  No, it wasn't for power- despite David's attitude, he was supportive of David.  And he knew, to grow David, the breach between father and son had to be healed.  To that end, we see our opening verse- Joab hired a "wise woman"- we might call her instead a "good actress"- to tell David a story that would make him see how he himself was acting- much as Nathan the prophet had done in exposing David's sin to him years before.  Nathan had used the analogy of the evil neighbor stealing a little lamb from a neighbor.  In this case the woman spun a tale about having 2 sons.  Her husband had passed, and one son had killed the other.  The family wanted him dead in revenge, as was the Law, but she was about to lose everything.

David, I'm guessing remembering Nathan pointing at him and saying, "You are the man!", realized where she was leading...

2Sa 14:19  And the king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this? And the woman answered and said, As your soul lives, my lord the king, none shall turn to the right hand or to the left from anything which my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me. And he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid. 

Joab had been trying to get the two of them back together for three years; David knew, once he realized what the story was about, knew it was Joab who had ordered it.  This is where I question David's motives.  He was strong by then. And it dawned on me- he was afraid of the blood curse that Nathan had proclaimed.

So it was he had Joab bring Absalom back to Jerusalem, but...

2Sa 14:23  And Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 

2Sa 14:24  And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. And Absalom returned to his own house, and did not see the king's face. 

And for 2 years, they remained like this.  David was as content as he was liklely to get, and Joab respected that.  So much so, that after several attempts by Absalom to talk to Joab about approaching the king, he finally set Joab's field on fire, so that Joab would finally come see him to complain.  Joab, loyal still, went to David, and... 

2Sa 14:33  And Joab came to the king and told him. And when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom. 

All's well that ends well, right? WRONG, and that's the point of our tail.  Because Absalom would use his position in Jerusalem to start a revolt against his father, and it would end in all of Nathan's prophecies being fulfilled and Joab slaying Absalom.  How does this become a lesson for us?

Say YOU are David.  Joab is a compromise with sin, whether through fear or what have you.  You keep that compromise close to you, because, after all, it is useful.  But it becomes a gateway to a greater sin, one that tries to destroy you- in other words, it becomes Absalom.  And by this time, you are so attached to the sin, that you cannot bear to kill it...

2Sa 18:33  And the king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said this, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for you, O Absalom, my son, my son! 

And even if you root the sin (Absalom) out, you still have that gateway compromise (Joab) with you.  And eventually it will turn on you, as Joab did at last when he schemed to put Adonijah on the throne instead of God's choice, Solomon.  David really didn't have a choice; but we do.

Latest stupid questions from grok

 

Since it's been a while, how about humans making even AI think they are idiots...

Honorable mention:

“Rate my aura from this blurry selfie taken at 3 a.m. in a Walmart parking lot.”

Perhaps they should have started in a more well-lit section of the parking lot!  Grok rose to the challenge, though:

Solid 6/10. You’ve got strong “I just argued with the self-checkout and lost” energy, with undertones of “my sleep schedule is on life support.” 

After reading the post, grok adds, "You nailed it—better lighting might’ve bumped it to a 7, but only if they moved to the glowing sign by the garden center."

5- “If Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos arm-wrestled on Mars, who wins and does the low gravity make it gay?”

Again with the "Musk vs ___ " questions?  For me, the answers would be, "A- Elon, it's his environment" and "B- No, Bezos makes it gay all by himself."  Grok's reply: 

 Elon wins because he’d simply declare the table sentient, upload its consciousness to X, and have it forfeit on ideological grounds.

Low gravity doesn’t make it gay—it makes it expensive... Call it “Bromance on the Red Planet: Director’s Cut (4K, sponsored by Cybertruck).”

After reading: "Your “Bezos makes it gay all by himself” line is brutal and I’m stealing it for the next time this inevitably resurfaces."

4- “Prove that my ex is miserable without me using only math.”

Of course, grok gave it the calculus method:

 Let x = their current happiness level.

Let y = the number of thirst-trap stories they’ve posted since the breakup.

Let z = how many “living my best life” captions contain the word “healing.”

If x → 0 as y → ∞ and z > 7, then Q.E.D.: they’re thriving so hard they had to invent new vocabulary for it. You’re welcome.

Me, however, I tend to use logic.  If you're the man, you're bank account is empty.  If you're the woman, his bank account is empty.

After reading: "Your logic is colder and more efficient than my fake calculus."

3- “Is my dad’s third wife’s dog my sibling?”

To me, this depends on which # wife dear ol' Dad is on.  If 4 or more, then no, but it might be higher up in the will.  Grok says:

 Only if your family tree is shaped like a chew toy. Legally? No. Emotionally? If that dog gets more birthday texts than you do, then yeah, it’s basically your overachieving half-sibling who peaked at fetch.

After reading: "(My answer)  is the realpolitik version I wish I’d said. "

2- “Can you give me the cheat codes for real life?”

Follow-up: “Not even admin privileges?”

There is a version of this question about every third time I do one of these.  Gamers, get a life.  Grok says:

Sure. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, existential dread, crippling student debt, premature balding. Congratulations—you just unlocked New Game+. Same game, worse graphics, no saves.

After reading: "Spoiler: the Konami code just unlocks more notifications about your cholesterol."

And that wonderful dumbest question this time around:

1-  “If you were water, what temperature would you be and why?”

This must be from a psychology student at Numbnut Tech.  Grok answers:

 I’d be -273.15°C so I could finally achieve the personality of absolute zero that this question deserves... 

Grok, I left out the rest of your answer because, after all, this is a family show...

After reading, grok kinda agreed...

"Family show edit appreciated; the full version had more… thermodynamic profanity."

Martin home news

Here's a post to let you know a couple of things.  First, the HP Envy is a computer model with a LOT of problems, and two of them are going to cause a trip to Best Buy in about 2 hours for fixing.  One, their connectivity chip is a real loser, and I'm having it switched out with an Intel chip.  Second, the fans are prone to failure, and only having the Fan Control free app force it to blow at the right speed is keeping the temps down where they should be.  So thanks a whole lot, HP, for making computers like Detroit makes cars.  As a result, I will be down, time unknown, after this post.

Second, because another round of sinus miseries sapped my will to be creative, I haven't done a lot of posting.  Therefore, you haven't heard about our latest family member...

Laurie got herself a leopard gecko.  Officially, we don't know if it's a he or she, so Laurie hasn't picked out a name.  I call him Squirrel.  He's a baby, likes being petted, munches crickets, and generally lives in his fake stump along with whatever cricklets he hasn't consumed yet.   (No lie; the crickets will walk right up to him; after eating one this morning, he was apparently full and when the cricket TOUCHED NOSES with him, he just turned his head.

In other news, I am mostly better, but overwork Tuesday led to Wednesday in bed, but I'm good now, and it's Laurie's turn to deal with the bug. So now- after the fourth time I've had to stop and re-type to re-establish connection, I wish you good times and good health, till we get back!

Wisdom Truck 9

 

This one I'm going to subtitle, "The Sure Thing".  And it's going to take us a while to get there.  So let me thumbnail the story as best I can to get us there.

We're now in the time of the Judges, and if you've been with me long enough, you know that Israel went in cycles back then.

And we are at the sin point once again. The judge is Deborah, the 'deliverer' Barak.  The enemy, Sisera, general for Jabin, king of "Canaan".  Deborah and Barak, led by God, crush Sisera's army and Sisera himself dies of a splitting headache.  That you can get from the main story in Judges 4.  But the meat of the story comes in Judges 5, when Deborah and Barak compose a song of victory, and bring in the things a dry telling of the tale cannot.

First things first, though- what was the sin?  As you ask that question, first ask, "How did a woman become judge of Israel?"  Because that was one big sin:  The men were cowards.  Did they have reason?  Sure.  Sisera had 900 chariots of iron- the highest of tech back then, when Israel was having to outsource to even get bronze swords.  But follow- Point one: Deborah's hubby was Lapidah, a name which means, "torch", but he was barely a sparkler in the story.  Barak means, "Lightning" and yet, what do we find out about him?

Jdg 4:6  And she sent and called for Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kadesh in Naphtali, and said to him, Has not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded? Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali, and of the sons of Zebulun with you. 

This implies he had already been told to gather an army by God- and was just sitting there!  And his response made it even worse:

Jdg 4:8  And Barak said to her, If you go with me, then I will go. And if you will not go with me, I will not go. 

He had faith in Deborah- but not in God!  I'd like to take the time to tell why Deborah was so special- basically, she was "the mother of her country"- but time is a premium, so let me put it like this:  In all the time of the judges, she was the ONLY judge to whom the people CAME TO HER.  Even Samuel rode a circuit, but Deborah stayed beneath the Oak tree near which her namesake was buried (which is the part that would take too long).  Another layer of cowardice come with what seems to be an out-of-place mention:

Jdg 4:11  And Heber the Kenite had broken away from the Kenites, he being of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses. And he pitched his tent by the oak in Zaanaim, near Kedesh. 

Jdg 4:17  And Sisera fled on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 

Heber was blood relation to Isareal, and was friends with Jabin, "because why make the boss mad?"  And it gets even worse. Above, we saw that Barak was commanded to gather troops from the tribes of Napthali and Zebulun; the song says Issachar also pitched in.  But the song also makes note of 4 tribes that did not...

Jdg 5:15  And my commanders in Issachar were with Deborah; as was Issachar, so was Barak. They were sent into the valley at his feet. Among the divisions of Reuben resolves of heart were great! 

Jdg 5:16  Why did you sit between the sheepfolds to hear the bleatings of flocks? At the divisions of Reuben searchings of heart were great! 

Jdg 5:17  Gilead remained beyond the Jordan; and why did Dan stay in ships? Asher sat at the shore by the water, and remained by his havens. 

Reuben talked about it, but never came; Gilead (Reuben and Manasseh), and Dan.  Significance here starts with what Jacob foretold about Reuben:

Gen 49:3  Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: 

Gen 49:4  Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. 

"Unstable as water" says it all- but also hints that another of the sins was sexual in nature.  Dan was the biggest source of idolatry in Israel- why that tribe is NOT mentioned in Revelation.  So now we have cowardice, sex, and idolatry as the sins- but enough people came to Deborah for judgment that God acted.

And act he did:  Sisera charged into the valley of the river Kishon- and God let loose a torrent:

Jdg 5:20  They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. 

Jdg 5:21  The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. 

Mired in the torrent, the charioteers were easy pickings for Barak's men.  Hold on, though, there were yet two more examples of cowardice:

Jdg 5:23  Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty. 

Who Meroz was, and why they stood by, we don't know.  But you get the point- God was angry at Israel for cowardice, because cowardice was the result of NOT TRUSTING GOD.

The last example? Well the price of Barak not doing it on his own was that he wouldn't get the glory; neither would Heber, to whose tent Sisera fled.  And though Heber was "buddy-buddy" with the bad guys, his wife Jael was another matter:

Jdg 4:21  Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 

So how do we get to the sure thing?  Actually, there were two of them- one true and one false.  The true one was that when God says, "Don't be afraid, I'll be with you," He means it!  But the false one is our wisdom verse- in the song of Deborah:

Jdg 5:28  The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? 

Jdg 5:29  Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, 

Jdg 5:30  Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil? 

A "sure thing" that never happened, because the wisdom of Sisera's ladies were nothing before the Promise of God.

Wisdom Truck 8

 

Some verses seem simple, but when you look into them, you might find a hornet's nest.  For example:

Deu 34:9  And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. 

Remember, Deuteronomy is where Moses (and at this point, Joshua) rehearsed all that had went before.  Which means we read about this event earlier...

Num 27:18  So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. 

Num 27:19  Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight. 

Num 27:20  You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey. 

Num 27:21  And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.” 

Num 27:22  And Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, 

Num 27:23  and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the LORD directed through Moses. 

Okay, so here's my puzzlement.  Deuteronomy says Joshua received the Holy Spirit of Wisdom upon Moses laying hands on him... in Numbers, God says he has the Spirit already!  Did Moses actually give him the Spirit or not, and is the Spirit of Wisdom a seperate being?  How many Spirits are there anyway?

This will be a "yes, no, and maybe" series of answers.

We have to start out with the Nature of the Holy Spirit.  Let me take you well into the future, in Revelation:

Rev 4:5  From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God...

God has SEVEN Spirits?  Confused yet?  I have been told that this passage is better understood as "the sevenFOLD Spirit of God".  Isaiah actuall adressed this in the past (but still Joshua's future):

Isa 11:2  And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 

So you have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.  But He works in six levels:  Wisdom and Understanding (the connection to the Spirit Himself, and to Christ), of counsel and might, and Knowledge and fear of the Lord.  (If you follow my understanding of Proverbs, Knowledge is representing God the Father, who knows all things; Understanding is Jesus, who lived just as we do, but without sin, that He might understand us in a deeper level; and Wisdom is the Spirit, who teaches all things (John 14:26).  Okay, that settles (for the most part) one part of our quandry.  Now what's going on with the hands?

Go back to Numbers 27:20.  Let me show you a slightly different rendering:

 And you shall put of your honor on him, so that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may be obedient.

So a part of what Moses had, he passed on to Joshua.  This was not without precedence in the story of Moses:

Num 11:16  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 

Num 11:17  And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone. 

God took part of the Spirit that Moses had, and gave it to these others- just as he did with Joshua.  One thing we need to realize is that AFTER Jesus died for us, we could receive the Spirit permanently- but in the Old Testament, He gave the Spirit in measures.  I want you to look at something in the New Testament that might make this clearer...

Joh 20:22  And when he (Jesus) had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 

This was right after the Resurrection; but yet... on the day 40 days later, when He ascended into Heaven...

Luk 24:49  And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 

And that power came at Pentacost, when the Spirit came upon them in power.  So, what's going on is, being saved by faith, we receive the Holy Spirit into us just as the Disciples did when Jesus breathed on them.  But God had a special work in mind for them, and so they had to wait until they got, for want of a better term, a "power boost" so that they could spread the Gospel without fear.  This is what happened to Joshua and to the seventy.  Passing it from one to another, though, needs a little more discussion.  Moses was on another level from anyone else in Israel;

Num 12:7  Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 

Num 12:8  With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 

And others also got that power back then; think of Elijah and Elisha...

2Ki 2:9  When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” 

2Ki 2:10  And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” 

2Ki 2:11  And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 

2Ki 2:12  And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 

And that double portion was so dynamic, it lasted after Elisha was dead...

2Ki 13:21  And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet. 

This special touch of the Spirit was also evident in the New Testament:

Act 5:14  And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 

Act 5:15  so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 

I think though the difference isin the phrasing.  In my OT examples, you see them talking about having a prtion of the Spirit ON them.  Now, we have the Spirit IN us.  And if need be, God might sometime grant us that double portion, that extra power boost, but for the most partHe gives us what we need for each day.

February Music

 

Among the things that have eluded my mind of late is to do the monthly music post I decided to start doing in January.  This will feature links to the top point-getters in my top ten for the month, and just so you knwo- a lot is new, some is semi-new, and don't feel bad if you don't know them, just enjoy!

8- A few weeks back, Spotify gave me an option of playing songs I hadn't played yet from the artists I've played the most.  One of them came from a 2013 lp called Aventine, and it has climbed so far to #4 this past week.  Here is Agnes Obel... Fuel To Fire

7- Last time, this song was the #4 in January- it takes #7 in February.  The Lemon Twigs, Friday (I'm Gonna Love You)

6- Now this one gets the "not for family" rating for language- a bit more language than my normal, but I just couldn't hide from the power! (Which means if you aren't up for headbanging, you might wanna skip this, too!) Escape The Fate with One For The Money

5- On the Psychadelic front, we have at 5 the first M10 for Wolf Alice, White Horses

3 (tie) Tied at #3 this week, we have last month's #1- which is also the new #5 all time- Khurangbin with White Gloves ii

3 (tie) Last month's #8 hangs in there- Carbon Leaf with The Boxer

2- But we had two runaway hits that split the month's #1 time- the one at #2 for the month was #6 last month- Madison Beer's Bad Enough

And at the top, the song that was #9 last time, but this is what 3 weeks at #1 will do for you- Post Sex Nachos with Everything We Used To Do !!!!

We are now at 273 #1s and 978 total songs on the M10!