In our neck of the woods we have more smoke rolling in and extremely low visibility.  Even Cherry Hts. less than a mile away is a blur.  And still triple digit temperatures.

The hikers in the Gorge have been rescued, unharmed.  However, the small community of Cascade locks has had 150 homes evacuated and the rest of the community is on orders to be ready to leave at any time.  And the fire keeps growing.  As does many of the fires throughout the western states.

More devastated lives, more endangered emergency workers.

Carla made and canned her tomato ketchup over the past couple of days, it is a long process, but well worth the time and energy!  It is SSSOOO much better than store bought stuff.  What surprised me was how it doesn’t separate like the ones in the store.

We will be canning more tomatoes and products now that we are getting some hanging on. 

The peaches should be ripened enough to can tomorrow.  Thinking of getting some more tomorrow to can later in the week, our stock is almost gone.

My dentist commented that they use honey as a sweetener; so, Carla checked the Ball Blue Book, (we don’t do any canning without consulting that book, or a college extension site – ‘normal’ internet ain’t the place to go to for ‘safe’ canning procedures) and shore ‘nuff, there IS a recipe using honey.  Gotta try it.

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John 18:35-36  KJV Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

³⁸ Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

Gossip.  Ever played the game?  A small group gathers, although the larger the group the more ‘impressive’ the game becomes.

A written statement, with some details but not too complicated, is given to one person, he is asked to read it to the next person; that person then repeats it to the next person as best as they can remember it.

The last person then tells the group what he heard.  The statement is then read and, low and behold, it isn’t the same as it was in the beginning.  Many times it is just the opposite in message than intended by the writer.

It is a good example of how people can twist things around, even unintentionally knowing, that they will be ‘tested’ at the end.

Gossip can even be more devastating than this game suggests; depending on motives, attitude, memory retention and a myriad of other human traits and frailties even a truth can be corrupted into dangerous lies.

Back in the 70’s I worked with a man who loved to start rumors, just to see where they would go and what they sounded like when it got back to him.  They weren’t malicious, but, they were lies none the less.  It was basically harmless, but as far as I was concerned, not a good thing.

Back then everything was word of mouth; oh, occasionally people would put something in writing, but it didn’t travel very fast.

Jump to 2017, there are people out there just like my co-worker, they love to start something.  Only, most of them are not harmless, it done maliciously.

AND they use the foolishness of people on the many social media programs AND the media who feel they must post something before their rivals do and don’t do the ground work to make sure it is correct information.  The last two years this problem has been escalated beyond our wildest nightmares, and it is just getting worse.

There have always been con artists and scammers, now they have taken it to a whole new level, even stealing people’s phone numbers so we will pick up the phone and they can try and ‘sell’ a good deal.

Viruses imbedded in e-mails and web sites to steal our information and steal our funds and sometimes even our reputation are common, “every day” problems.

AND what is far worse, we have people who would steal our very souls.  Again, it has been going on since Adam sinned, but the modern technology has amplified the danger thousands fold.

“Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?”

John 17:17 KJV “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

When Jesus talked to the scribes and leaders of the Jewish nation He told them to search the scriptures, that His being and mission had been foretold in them.

Some did just that and came to the conclusion that He was who He said He was, the redeemer, the Son of the Living God.

Others chose NOT to research it, either thinking they knew the scriptures so well they didn’t need to go back through it, or were lazy and didn’t want to take the time, or, maybe they were too arrogant and didn’t want to be proven wrong.

Today, even more than in years past, people are searching for answers, they want peace in their hearts, they want to live without fear of dying, of the unknown, and satan is well aware of these struggles and capitalizes on them.

He tricked Eve, who tricked Adam (with satan’s help) and the world has never been the same since.

Satan works hard at trying to destroy God and His creation, He wants to keep people from reading His Word, from accepting the fact it is truth and there is a Savior that loves and cares for us.

And even those of us, who have accepted that truth, are vulnerable to his lies.

Mark 13:22-23 KJV “ For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

²³ But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.”

Our children are becoming more and more targets of the world’s desire to destroy God and all He stands for.  They are so involved in the world of social media they are perfect marks for the scams and lies of satan.

“to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

²³ But take ye heed:”

We need to continue reading God’s Word.  While devotions and aides are nice, and like good preaching they can help enlighten us, they should not be used as substitutes, (the writers are not always right in their interpretation,) for the actual scriptures. 

Just because it is written by a person we admire, doesn’t mean that it takes the burden of making sure that person is correct in their interpretation of God’s Word, it is incumbent on all Christians to study His Word and see for ourselves.

Our eternal lives demand it.

Be safe, keep studying His Word!

Later, Art (-: