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Wife and mother, nature lover, Floridian yearning for the mountains.

Joined March 2020
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After one week of rains, this is my morning walk, right behind our home. Needless to say, the sunshine state.
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Good Morning, Please join me for a daily scripture break. Matthew 12:43-45: “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Luke 11:24-26) is a similar account of the passage above.  Today’s passage is a clear directive from our Lord. There is a moment of vulnerability described by the Lord that we must steadfastly address.   Our enemy does not just leave us alone when an “impure” spirit is expelled from our lives. (In Job 1:7 and Job 2:2 Satan describes in his own words how he relentlessly roams the earth.) That is what he does constantly searching for victims so until Jesus returns this is our reality.  Today’s passage eloquently describes how this expelled spirit goes off, regroups, and comes back with reinforcements.  Now, that doesn’t mean these evil spirits will prevail. What I want to explore is how do we prepare for their return. Let's begin. What is the condition of the house that has been freed from the impure spirit?  The house represents our spiritual condition. 1. The house is unoccupied. 2. The house is swept clean. 3. The house is put in order. The next question is how are the eight spirits able to re-enter the house?  Look at the condition of the house.  It is unoccupied.  This reveals a spiritual law that non-believers do not understand.  A human being in their own strength is not capable of resisting evil spirits without God.  The notion that humans can repel impure spirits on their own is unadulterated hubris.  This is why no matter how well intentioned, how principled, or how “good” we believe we are, without God our circumstances on earth will be ruled by the devil and his cohorts.  There is no human philosophy or belief that can defeat God.  Without God, we are also incapable of resisting evil.  Let’s return to the condition of the house.  If the house is unoccupied the evil spirits will return and occupy the house.  Consider the other two conditions.  Without God, the house is swept clean and put in order - that’s window dressing with no defenses. So, the house is unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order but without defenses.  That’s how the eight evil spirits can re-enter the house; there are no defenses. Let’s pause for a moment and consider the nature of the evil spirits. The evil spirits are represented as a thief in John 10:10, it says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Evil spirits: 1. Steal what is not theirs. 2. Kill what gets in their way. 3. Destroy whatever they possess. So how can the Christian prevent the return of the evil spirits?  We have been studying the answer to that question for months.  The answer is that we must follow the instructions God laid out for us in the Word of God. When the evil spirits return seeking whom they may devour, what will they find? (I Peter 5:8 - "Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”) I once heard a pastor say, “The devil isn’t a roaring lion he just acts LIKE a roaring lion." When the evil spirits return to the house from which they were expelled, what will they find? In our case, these impure spirits will find a faithful Christian blissfully living a life in pursuit of holiness. The life of an obedient child of God will exhibit the following characteristics. 1. Evidence of a redemptive salvation gifted to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. ( References: Ephesians 1:7-8, Colossians 1:13-14, I Peter 1:18-19, Hebrews 9:12, and Titus 2:14) 2. The Holy Spirit indwelling in them.(References: I Corinthians 6:19, Romans 8:9, John 14:17, and Ephesians 1:13-14) 3. The Word of God acting as a two edged sword in their life. (Hebrews 4:12) 4. The full Armor of God donned, armed and ready daily. (Ephesians 6:10-18) 5. The gifts of mercy, grace, and love operating in our life. (References: II John 1:3, Ephesians 2:4-5, II Timothy 1:2, Jude 1:2, and Romans 12:8) 6. As a member of the Body of Christ; we witness the gifts bestowed by God for the benefit of the Body operating in us. (I Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11-12, and Romans 12:6-8) 7. Fruits of daily scripture reading and prayer in full blossom for the world to witness - a sterling example of Christian civility. (Romans 12:16-18, James 3:13-18, Ephesians 4:31-32, Romans 15:4, James 5:16-18) 8. The fruit of the Holy Spirit in full view to the world. (Galatians 5:22-23) These impure spirits will find an OCCUPIED house, surrounded by a hedge of joy, hope, and love - an impenetrable boundary. (Romans 15:13)  The lesson here is two-fold. First, the nature of the impure spirit compels them to return to the house from which they came to seek whom they can devour - that is their nature.  The second lesson is it is deadly to be a lazy Christian. In order to circumvent that moment of vulnerability I mentioned at the onset, a faithful child of God is obedient to the instruction we find in the Word of God. Jesus taught us in just a few sentences one of the major keys to abundant living. Praise God. Have a blessed day. Peace and be prepared.
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That magic moment when we celebrate the sunrise. 🙏
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Sunset over the everglades.
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We shall never forget.
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I get this is funny but: In both marriages I've done most of the shopping and at least half of the cooking. This is what Miriam would be like if she was doing the shopping. (The one texting.)
Yeah this is accurate
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You could be forgiven for thinking that Stairway To Heaven was originally a country song - and that Dolly Parton wrote it...
An apt day to remember that Dolly Parton once recorded a cover of Stairway to Heaven - and, in defiance of every moral law in the universe, she absolutely owned it.
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What a total shit storm to wake up to! I’m guessing Harry’s Visa status was becoming unravelled. This is going to be absolute hell for The Royals. They will be absolutely everywhere, attempting to overshadow everything.
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Do this for me, @grok
My profile according to Grok:
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This is in Waterton, Canada. The fires were everywhere. Why can't we prevent it from happening?
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On a road trip to Glacier National Park, Hidden Lake. Montana.
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I often watch you on the interview room. Interested in your work. @DrGaryBrucato
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Glacier National Park, paradise.
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The Harder They Fall…. The saga of Anthony Fauci is a now all too familiar example of narcissistic and bureaucratic insiders who start with a classic rise only to fall into utter destruction. Think also John Bolton, James Comey, Jack Smith, and now Anthony Fauci. Fueled by media flattery, and their over the top rhetoric, they posture as consummate “professionals.” These egomaniacs convince themselves they are our untouchable defenders of the established Washingtonian order, as supposedly sober and judicious custodians of the government. And when warned where they are ultimately headed, and to tread lightly, they instead interpret such sound advice as the jealousy of the envious. In the current decade that arrogance is best manifested as crusading against public enemy number one, Donald J. Trump. So insidiously they up their Trump derangement rhetoric. They cite their titles and degrees as they vaingloriously skirt the law. Finally drunk on leftwing media adulation, they delude themselves into believing that their megalomaniac behavior is exempt from any consequences. And then what? At the apex of their hubris, Nemesis strikes. And they fall hard by their own overweening arrogance. John Bolton could not just be content and thankful that he finally got a cabinet-level appointment without the need for Senate confirmation, and thus show some deference to his savior Donald Trump. Instead, almost immediately like some rookie intern he began sending classified information over unsecure email—writing an on-the-job, tell-all book, timed to appear during the 2020 election and to sandbag his own president. After all, who would dare to question much less cross the expert John Bolton as he rushed heading into felony convictions and self-implosion? In 2016 FBI James Comey acted as if he was the godhead of American law enforcement. As investigator, prosecutor, judge and jury he alone would adjudicate whether the classified document destroyer Hillary Clinton committed a felony. Comey alone would launch a Steele-dossier witch hunt against Donald Trump, and crown himself the veritable arbiter of presidential elections. And now? His rendezvous with Nemesis rendered him a disgraced leaker and fired FBI director, claiming amnesia or ignorance 245 times under oath before a House committee. Comey was finally reduced to the role of a social media pop philosopher. His final curtain call? Comey was posting seashell “8647” infantile threats—and then denying as a former FBI Director that “86” had anything to with violent acts of expulsion. Jack Smith was an obscure liberal fixture in DOJ circles for years—until he was coronated as special counsel—coincidentally three days after Trump, on November 15, 2022, announced he was running for president in 2024. How strange that the same day, Letitia James was for some reason in the White House. Nathan Wade, Fannie Willis’s paramour, was too, meeting with Biden’s White House counsel. And on that day too Merrick Garland’s number three prosecutor Michael Colangelo (freshly hired from James’s prosecution team) announced he was leaving his billet, soon on spec to join Alvin Bragg’s lawfare. The left began thinking Smith was godlike, a veritable new and improved Robert Mueller, similarly tasked with delivering the federal knock-out blow to Donald Trump. Within months of his appointment, Smith became a holy crusader to the leftwing media. That adulation and his hubris drove Smith to rush his absurd 44 indictments to get Trump as recklessly and quickly as possible—worried that Trump first might be elected and thus by Supreme Court case law immune as a sitting president from prosecution. So the more the media deified him, the more maddened Smith became. Smith finally was reduced to tapping the phone records of U.S. Senators and grabbing National Archive records of Trump’s text messaging, where he was surveying the private correspondence of more U.S. senators. And now? Nemesis reduced him from the heights of would-be Trump slayer to a failed, and unscrupulous prosecutor, omitting to report free and untaxed legal services from his own firm, abandoned by his media toadies, and soon to be facing criminal referrals. You can add John Brennan, James Clapper, Mark Milley, and Robert Mueller to the same cast. They too became intoxicated with government power, and believed they were divinely appointed to end Trump. And so they played out a Greek tragedy, consumed by hubris (overweening arrogance) that drove them to atê (mindless recklessness), only to end in Nemesis (cosmic retribution and destruction). These egos never learned that the amoral leftwing media is a fickle flatterer (remember they even once deified the Stormy Daniels con artist and soon to be felon Michale Avenatti as presidential timber.) These unelected legends in their own minds confuse their enormous government granted powers at their disposal as bureaucrats with some sort of regal right that will exempt them from any consequences of their lawless arrogance. And so soon they lie under oath to Congress, or call up Chinese generals to warn them about their own president, or sign patently false affidavits attesting that the Hunter Biden laptop was the work of the Ruskies, or tap senatorial phones—or almost anything that would ensure their inevitable fall from grace and utter humiliation. So too with the once celestial and now laughingstock Anthony Fauci (who once compared himself to Albert Einstein). The common denominator? The greater their arrogance, the harder they certainly fall.
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Shoffm2 retweeted
🎶COUNTRY ROAAAAAADS TAKE ME HOMEEEEEEEE 🎶
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The fix was in and we beat the fix.
The Spanish broadcast of Malik Tillman’s free kick MAJESTIC 🇺🇸
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Shoffm2 retweeted
David Attenborough narrates the Gaza Flotilla activists getting absolutely humbled at a Spanish airport ✈️🦍🇪🇸 Entitled rodents meet Spanish security mammals. Nature is healing. Enjoy the documentary. 📺
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Why does Mary look younger than Jesus in Michelangelo's Pietà? The answer is one of the most beautiful in art history... Mary is holding the body of her 33 year old son, but she looks 20. Critics noticed it the moment the sculpture was unveiled in 1499. The mother of a man who has just been crucified would have been in her late forties or early fifties. Michelangelo had carved her as a girl. His own biographer, Ascanio Condivi, was the one who finally asked him why. The answer Michelangelo gave is preserved in Condivi's Life of Michelangelo and has been repeated for centuries: "Do you not know that chaste women stay fresh much more than those who are not chaste? How much more in the case of the Virgin, who had never experienced the least lascivious desire that might change her body?" Most modern critics treat this answer as a half-serious deflection. Michelangelo was famous for his sharp tongue and refused to explain himself to people he considered beneath his intellect. The deeper answer is older, and it lies inside one of the greatest poems ever written. In the final canto of Dante's Paradiso, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux begins his prayer to the Virgin with one of the most extraordinary lines in Italian literature: "Vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio." "Virgin mother, daughter of your own son." Michelangelo, who knew Dante by heart, was carving that line into stone. Mary is younger than Jesus because Jesus is older than the universe... because she gave birth to her own creator. But there is another reading, simpler than either of those, and it is the one I find myself thinking of today. Every mother who has held her child has held them at every age at once. The infant is still inside the toddler. The toddler is still inside the teenager. The young man on her lap, even dead, is also the boy she nursed and the baby she first carried home. And maybe that's why Michelangelo did not carve Mary as the years had aged her. He carved her as love had kept her: outside of time, outside of grief, holding her son the way she had always held him... Happy Mother's Day. -- -- -- If you enjoyed this, I write a weekly newsletter read by over 50,000 people who love rediscovering the beauty of the past. You can join us here: James-lucas.com/welcome I write about beauty in all its forms. If you'd like to support my work, a paid subscription is what makes it possible.
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