Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.
For those of us who have been so "honored" to meet him, they will perhaps
find amusement in the
close resemblance of the figure on the far left,
sans wings, horns, and tails of course, with "Gyro" (i.e. "Jehovah Jira.")
The good is fine. Indeed, too wonderful even to express. No, it's the bad that kills you and makes you wish you were never born. And what is the bad? He is nothing more than this rich, fat oaf who keeps getting away with murder yet whom we are always encouraged to believe is helping everyone; but who also always has to do the wrong thing (a certain way), and this last because years and years ago his "inspiration" came down with a very, very bad case of envy.
That is why (as I told him) in all those old serials, and westerns, James Bond and the Man from Uncle, etc. did the hitherto hidden or disguised villain invariably have to reveal himself and his full plans to the hero (despite obvious seeming logic against it) -- that is, because if he didn't do so, he technically would not really be a player, and hence not exist; and as a puppet (or as I personally refer to it "Winchell-Mahoney Time") it would not be necessary to take him all that seriously.
Some do or might resent prayer because it somehow implies or suggests that they are weak. And yet if a person isn't actually infinite and omnipotent, the simple and practical fact of the matter is they are weak (whether they like it or not.)
"Mark Well the Doctrine"
If the devil attacks you inside your body (and persists in doing so) what then you need to do is attack him in his soul.
The Friend Forgot
For a hundred years or more,
The giant holly stood next door.
And though the sun comes up today
That motherly tree is no more.
While all trees, like all people,
Are wonderful in their way,
There are some trees,
Like some people,
That are even more so.
Its branches extended many yards;
The trunk nigh a hundred feet high.
By my home it stood close by
Shading us from the burning sun.
But now, alas, it's gone!
It's as if an old friend had died,
Yet whom I did not know before;
And only now when it's not there
Do I realize how much I cared.
I remember how on some days
There the birds would flit and play;
Or high up its limbs
Secrete their nests
Where baby birds are loved best.
In that winged congregation,
How they cackled and made song!
What must that tree have felt
To've been host to such a throng?
Then just yesterday morn I awoke to hear
The chainsaw's grind bringing us tears;
The ancient trunk sawed off
By branches then into blocks.
And now all that's left
Is a stump forlorn
Clinging to the rocks.
While certain rare and unusual occasions may permit some amount of latitude, if it is honest, rational, and forthright it is Christian or of Christ; if it is not honest, rational, and forthright it is and cannot be. Therefore all things that are of honest, rational and forthright truth are Christian and of Christ, and those things that are not fundamentally honest, rational and forthright are not -- no matter how many angels, no matter how many miracles, no matter how many churches.
The purpose of sophisticated criminal spirit people, like the magician, is to devour you heart and mind whole; so that in time your own judgment may be replaced with his.
If they play that game then they are even stupider than me for being bothered by their doing so.
Condemnation
People, but even more so animals,
Know when God isn't present,
And will flee where peace is gone.
From the lowest plane
To the loftiest prospect,
Whose spirit alone
Is truly great and best?
There is none but his.
But only in faith, truth or reason
Can our souls know this is.
Then there is a monster;
Whom people placate and appease.
To buy false peace
They feed the angry demon
Who fills the air with stress.
He is angry --
So must you be too.
But at who?
Let me think of someone
To hurl my disapproval at,
Or scorn for imperfection
-- as if the only way to live
Is not to live in peace.
The condemnation of demonism --
There it is in black and white
For all to see and hear.
When we contemplates the spectacle of a society of people sick with demonism (and among such people might be included ourselves; and, naturally, people can be afflicted in different ways by spirit people as to make them "sick"), our reactions tend to vary depending on various factors, including specific circumstances and context in which we encounter or find ourselves dealing with such folk. Sometimes we might understandably react or recoil in scorn or contempt, or feel apprehension, distrust, alarm, or annoyance of such people, and prefer to avoid, if not quarrel, with them.
But in more calm moments of reflection, it is much easier to see that they are, after all, people who are really and medically ill. And though they might be a source of grief to others, they are themselves victims of these spirit people (I talk about), and who may even and in a given instance have had their entire lives shaped and molded to be one of torment and misery, or utter folly and foolishness. In this regard, I think many of those Hollywood people and others in various sectors of entertainment these days (except for music) do have do have some real gift and talent. Only such talent ends up getting warped or stifled from being under the influence, and this as as result of their being used and messed up by spirit people -- so that it makes them obnoxious and dead in the heart and spirit (at least as far as art is concerned); which, of course, is (to say the least) very unfair to them because that problem isn't actually or really theirs.
The subject of angels and spirits and fallen angels (when taken literally) will (and does), as can and could be expected, mystify and frighten people; however, one thing worth remembering about "Satan," the magician, and all such persons is that there is much about and in their characters and manners that you are already familiar with from elsewhere; so that to know or have contacted with these people personally you come to recognize what we think of as some, very "human" traits; for example, he puts on a cover or disguise to hide his real attitude or intentions; he is a total asshole (like you wouldn’t believe), a full-of-himself hypocrite, con-artist, bully, cheater, etc.
Yes, but what if the Identity Theft protection company itself is a fraud (i.e. or having identity theft perpetrated on them?)
In the New Testament "letters" of 2nd Peter, ch. 2, and Jude, we encounter the following two interesting and parallel passages:
from 2nd Peter, ch. 2:
"4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and condemned them to the chains of Tartarus, reserved for judgment....;
9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.
Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong."
from Jude:
"Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed."
Note two of the main points brought out in the above:
1) There are bad "angels" who have left their proper dwelling (and are not supposed to be here.)
2) There are people who, out off foolishness and ignorance, revile "angels."
I think what we see in this is an acknowledgment that there are bad, and powerful, spirit people, but that it is imprudent and unwise to mock or revile angelic spirits generally. (Note how someone was reviling angels in any case. How could such an occurrence have arisen, and what were these writers harking to in making this criticism?) Yet if there are bad angels, what is wrong with reviling them? The answer it seems is that the authors of these epistles were in awe of spirit people in either case, and perhaps felt it was a) better to not be ruled be anger (whether towards angels or anyone), and b) better to err on the side of respect for spirit people than to not be respectful toward them.
Clearly, these authors themselves had only an imperfect idea of quite who and what they were talking about when it came to angels, and they seem, notwithstanding their attitude toward bad spirit people, to have looked upon spirit people as super human. And yet how can such distinctions be made? Again I think they were grappling with issues that were far in advance of their own or their time's scientific capability (at least for most people of their time), and yet, understandably, felt the need to arrive at some comprehension and understanding of such other worldly people, even if only of a tentative nature. That, despite their recognition of the existence and censure of bad angels, they still seem to view such as somehow superior to ordinary human beings perhaps reflects a fear of offending or else a fear of the risk of offending should they adopt a position that views spirit people, as God created beings, are not inherently superior to ordinary or flesh and blood regular people. Again, what it seems we have here are instances of attempts to grapple with the issue and question of spirit people without having a more full and proper knowledge of the subject to quite do it justice; so that they erred on the side of deference; yet based on a practical need to come up with guidelines of some kind for believers to go by -- in the meantime.
(How they must have, and been made to, suffer! Perhaps an apt -- but far more mild -- comparison would be Mdme. Curie dieing from radiation poisoning.)
I just finished transcribing a copy of a history of the U.S. 22nd Aero Squadron, by Artur Raymond Brooks (and some others) as it appears in Cross and Cockade Journal, Summer 1963; and little did I anticipate how moved by it I would be. Really, at one point reading I was almost in literal tears. For those then who might be interested, here is the same (with scanned photos) in .pdf, "History of U.S. 22nd Aero Squadron."
Brooks, incidentally, only died fairly recently, at the age of 91 on July 17, 1991.
Last -- for what some may find suitable musical accompaniment to the reading (and as an extra -- I myself had listened while I typed), here's (.mp3 at 11.4 MBs, right click-save as) Gaylord Carter with a portion of his organ score from "Wings" (1927) -- which film, you may recall, we'd recommended a few weeks ago.
If it's a game or sport in earnest, or else if your cause is especially just, the way to contend is to keep fighting even though, despite all your efforts, you still will lose. For even if you do lose there is still merit in your continuing to fight and making your opponent strain to win. Now these people, in fairness to them, know this principle, and a person who would combat them without realizing this insight will only find their task that much more indescribably difficult.
If you have the patience to let it cook, it will turn out like it's supposed to.
The iron mask hides someone's beauty against their will.
He can't do it himself; so he ruins it for others who can, then spends all his time talking about it.
