Mindset and the sanctuary

There is a verse in the Bible that I believe covers so much more than just spiritual things. Psalm 77:13 says, "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary." 

One of my favorite speakers recently brought this out, and I thought I would share some of what I'm learning with you. 

We hear a lot about mindset in many areas of life. Did you know that is exactly what the Bible talks about? 

If you look at the sanctuary furniture, you see 6 pieces of furniture. 

The altar of sacrifice not only points to Christ as our sacrifice for our sins, but can show us the first step to overcoming many things in our lives, such as negative thinking.  The Bible often speaks of denying self, giving our bodies as a holy sacrifice to God. 

Next, the laver points to Jesus' baptism, and the washing away of sin in our lives. It can also represent the cleansing of our thoughts of wrong ways of thinking, or of using water to wash away toxins in our bodies. 

Inside the sanctuary proper, we see the Table of Shewbread, which symbolizes Jesus, the Word of God. Putting God's Word in our minds, renews our brain, and causes our thoughts and habits to be transformed. 

The Altar of Incense, shows us Christ the intercessor, praying for us, and our prayers going up to God. It also can show us the need to focus our thoughts on Jesus and truth.

Then we see the candlestick, representing Jesus as the light of the world. We also are called to be lights, and to share Him and the truth with others.

In the Most Holy place, we have the Law of God. This is when the Law of God is written on our hearts and Minds, and when the mindsets and actions we have taken have become habits, and are now  automatic.

There are so many areas we can use this guide, but to me its just so awesome that God has provided us a map, to show us the steps to victory in all areas of our lives.

Anyway, thats just a little bit of what I've learned this week.

Notes for Cooking Class

I was making up my notes for the cooking class tomorrow that I am hosting for my neighbors. I don't have all the recipes printed up because a couple of them are taken from some of my favorite cookbooks, but I thought I would at least share the notes.

Hello, I’m glad you all could make it today. I’m Juliette, and today I’ll be sharing with you a few yummy recipes for breakfast. 

Did you know that you can increase your life expectancy by 11 years? Dr. Lester Breslow of Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA reported that it’s possible. 

1.     Avoid Tobacco

2.     Limit alcohol or don’t use it at all.

3.     Eat in moderation

4.     Get adequate rest (7-8 hrs.)

5.     Engage in frequent exercise

6.     Remain close to your ideal weight

7.     Eat a good breakfast every day.

(American News Service. “Seven Secrets to a Long Life.” Berkshire Publishing, February 17, 2000)

He used these seven principles in his own life and died at the age of 97 in 2012.  

Most of the time we tend to rush, or not even eat breakfast at all to get to our jobs or school, and it’s just easier to grab coffee or a protein bar rather than take the time to fix a meal.

The American Academy of Family Physicians reports that Americans need to eat breakfast more regularly. Eating breakfast can help improve children’s behavior and school performance. Imagine what it would do for us adults as well!  (“Poor Breakfast Habits Could Be Affecting America’s Health,” Rome News Tribune, January 24, 2005)

The recipes I’m sharing with you are fairly simple, can be made ahead of time and are cheaper than most prepared foods you would buy from the store.

The first recipe:

Granola. Most store bought granolas are expensive and full of sugar. 

Oats are high in fiber, contain vitamin B, calcium and iron, and help lower cholesterol while protecting the digestive tract.  They aid in digestion and depression, are highly recommended for diabetics and provide energy for hours. 

Oats are high in the amino acid building block of protein called Methionine, but lack Lysine.

Beans are high in Lysine, but lack Methionine, so this is why it’s important to eat a variety of plant foods each day. For instance, you could have oatmeal or granola for breakfast, and eat a taco salad with beans for lunch. Or eat tofu scramble for breakfast with toast.  

The second recipe: Apple Crisp

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. This statement is very true. Apples are high in vitamin C and potassium and fiber. Also, very high in phytochemicals like flavonoids which help the body heal, prevent cancer and fungus, as well as prevent inflammation. They also help keep cholesterol from sticking to the blood vessel walls. Apples are also rich in boron, which helps prevent osteoporosis by aiding in the assimilation of calcium and magnesium. 

The third recipe: Pancakes 

Whole grains contain many vitamins and minerals that help you body to function with the best energy levels, which makes it easier to make better food choices throughout the day. 

This recipe contains flaxseed, which contains omega-3 fatty acids. These essential nutrients aid in fighting inflammation, and autoimmune diseases, can reduce the risk factors for heart disease such as blood pressure and triglyceride levels, and can also improve brain function. 

Recipe number 4: Tofu Scramble

Tofu is made from soymilk. Soybeans contain more protein per gram than meat. 

They are high in b vitamins, high in minerals and phytoestrogens, which help balance hormone levels in the body. Soy has been shown to prevent cancer. 

Because tofu is made from soymilk, there is no fiber in it, hence the reason I like to add lots of vegetables to it, or eat it with other high fiber foods. Also, it is still a highly nutritious and healthful food to eat and one of our favorite breakfasts, or dinners even! We love to make breakfast tacos with tofu and potatoes, wrapped in a tortilla with some salsa or mayo. 

Cooking School ideas

This weeks post is going to be mainly cooking school theme ideas. Next week, I am hosting a cooking class in my kitchen for 7 of my neighbors. Since its the holiday season, the theme is Holiday Breakfast foods. I thought I would do granola, breakfast patties, scrambled tofu, and an apple crisp. I made Apple Crisp for Thanksgiving and it turned out really good. But I want to make another version and see if I can make it better. 

Victor is home this weekend so the boys are spending time with time with him, playing Minecraft, cooking lunch and also getting some yardwork done.

We also got to spend some time with friends eating pizza and pumpkin pie and watching movies.

I think another cooking class will focus on protein misconceptions and since many of the people attending are not vegetarian this will help those who are interested in eating less meat to change the way they think about it. I don't know what kind of recipes to pick yet.

Another thing I am hoping to do in the near future is to do videos on topics and cooking recipes. I want to put a bunch of my recipes into a cookbook and either offer it for sale, or just give it away to those who subscribe to a monthly newsletter. Just tossing ideas out there and hope some stick! I want to be able to help other people eat healthier and also possibly make some money on the side.

There are so many things floating around in my head right now and so much information I've been learning about blogging and course creation. I know it will come together, Lord willing, so I'm trusting that He will show me the best way to go about this. For now, I will write blog posts over here and do my cooking classes and learn what I can, incorporating it as I go.

Well, that was kind of here and there. Random things. Oh well! More next time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, I am thankful for life, for another morning, for family. I'm thankful for my kids who love to learn, even if it isn't always when and what I want to them to learn, for the internet that allows us to learn almost anything anytime. 

I'm thankful for love, for the messes my kids make, because they are there to make those messes. For the huge pile of laundry, because that means we have clothes to wear. I'm thankful for the weeks my husband is gone, because that means he has a job. I'm thankful for the weeds in the yard, because that means something will grow there and we have a yard. I'm thankful for aches and pains, because it means I'm alive. 

I'm thankful for the disagreements I have with my children, because it means they are using their brains to think. I'm thankful for the temper tantrums of my little ones, because it means they are growing and pushing their boundaries. I'm thankful for the little things because that means bigger things are coming. 

I'm thankful that God is still in control, and that He knows the endgame. 

This coming year, I am going to be more thankful for the little things. Each day during worship, my children and I are going to incorporate some time to "Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, 7

". . . be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;. . ." Ephesians 5:18b-20

WFPB ideas

The Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle, is something I have been trying to live more lately, especially since the inflammation in my body has been alot higher of late. So, one of the things I have been thinking about is using less processed foods. 

One of our favorite foods is tofu. Now, tofu is highly processed, even if it is organic and has no unnecessary ingredients. The process of making tofu, removes all the fiber and leaves only the milk behind. So some vitamins and minerals may be lost. One thing I want to try is making a tofu substitute out of beans, but not removing anything from it. Just whizz it up in the blender and then add tapioca flour or something to thicken it and then press it maybe. I don't really know.

Each new thing that I create if it's successful, will be recipized (my own word, there) and shared all of you, my lovely readers!

For lunch today, I was making lasagna, trying to use up the leftovers. Lasagna noodles, which we hardly ever use, leftover beans, homemade cashew cheese sauce, tofu ricotta, spinach, and thats it. I think. Hope it's good. It's in the oven now. Once the noodles are gone, I will try to use less of them, because they are very processed, and the wheat is a modern hybridized version.

Just throwing thoughts around, and hoping some of them stick and turn into blog posts! haha!

Until next post. Stay Sunny!

Colds and Onion Poultices

This week, my small son caught a cold. Or rather, his immune system broke down slightly and was overrun by toxins. I'm not sure exactly where it started, as there have been multiple things that contributed to the mess. Anyway, what with all the running around to various places, late nights and exposure to several other sick kids, he started having a very runny nose and trouble breathing through it at night.

The first night I used diffuser and diffused a couple different oils to help him breath. Both of us didn't sleep very well that night.

The second night I was also using Lavender every time he woke up because he couldn't breathe, to help clear the congestion.

The third night, I added onion poultices to the bottoms of his feet and his chest and back. He was practically coated with the stuff! The bed and pillow still smell of onion and garlic. On his feet he had garlic and onion poultices, while his chest and back were coated with onion only. We both sleep really well that night.

After that he steadily improved and now only coughs a little in the morning with very little trouble breathing except sometimes when nursing. Most of his runny noses now are very small, not like the waterfalls of the 2nd and 3rd day.

I believe God’s remedies are both inexpensive and simple. They are not always as quick as we think they should be, but they are efficient and help the body heal, not just mask or ease the symptoms.

For more information, watch this poultice demonstration by Barbara O'Neill here on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVLGsqysQcs&t=3163s

Better Living and consistency

I was going to exercise every day, or at least 3 or 4 times a week. I was going to get up at 5 every morning and have worship and then exercise before everyone got up so I could get it done. What happened? Did I lose my motivation? Did I get lazy? Did I forget? All of the above?

Does anyone else do this? I started out strong and then faded in two days. I am not sure what happens. No, scratch that. I do know what happens. When I wake up early, I love it for a few days, but then I get lazy, and a few days of late nights and I have to prioritize what I do first in the morning, which I usually try to get worship in first. 

Good points for me to remember as I write this are that the more I try to be consistent, the easier it becomes. I just need to pick myself up and try again. 

This next couple of months, the kids and I are going to work on reforming our health. The older boys and I seem to be struggling with some form of Acid Reflux or something. Plus, John was noting that we have all gotten rather out of shape. 

We spent several long hours helping this last weekend at Arizona Sonshine in Mesa. They provide free dental, medical and vision treatment among other things to various parts of Arizona about 3 times a year. We volunteered in the childcare department and the older boys helped with the kids ages 5-12 who were very active. They did a lot of running around and ended up feeling sore in various parts of their anatomy. 

So, I am getting back on the 'treadmill' so to speak, kind of like getting back on the horse. Again. For only about the millionth time. ☺️ 

This weekend we are camping with our church family and Pathfinder group up in Prescott and so I'm sure we will get a lot of exercise hiking around there. Then Sunday we are planning on starting our 2 month  health reform which begins with short 2 day fast from most foods, involves lots of walking, herbal teas and hydrotherapy.

 Anyway, I will post updates at various times during the weeks ahead. 

Here is to Better Living and consistency! 

The Gospel

I found another paper and thought it was of interest. This one I wrote when I was taking the class Pauline Epistles.



Hebrews 2:9, 10 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation through sufferings."

Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. What does this mean? It means he became a man. (Psalms 8:3-6)

How do we know that He did indeed become a man? John 1:1-3, 14 tells us. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was  God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. . . . .And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

Why did He come and suffer and die? Because He loved us and didn't want us to die. (John 3:16)

HIs purpose was to 'taste death for every man.' What would this accomplish? According to verse 14, 15 of Hebrews 2, he took part of our nature so that by dying he could destroy the devil, and deliver us from the bondage of fear of death. Death, to us, was the penalty of sin, (Romans 3:23) but He 'abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.' (2 Timothy 1:10b)

What is the gospel spoken of here?
Romans 1:1-5 "Separated unto the gospel of God (which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name."

So the gospel is about Jesus being sent to die, and resurrected again. Another good text that talks about this is 1 Cor. 15:1-4:
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."

This is the gospel in truth. The gospel is Christ crucified for our sins, buried and risen again. Christ rose just as Adam died. (1 Cor. 15:22)

Verses 45-49: "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural' and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall bear the image of the heavenly."

Christ was a quickening spirit to bring life s Adam sinned and brought death. We are to be remade into the image of God! Jesus said in John 11:25, 26. "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."

Here He is speaking of that physical death, both temporal and eternal. But we don't have to experience either one! When we experience Jesus we experience life! The gospel is power to bring change to our lives, and to change us back into what God intended us to be.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Romans 1:16,17

So the power of God when we believe reveals His righteousness and we live by faith. What does it mean to live by faith?

First of all, 'faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' (Romans 10:17)

And it is the "Substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not see." Hebrews 11:1 That word 'substance' actually means 'support' in Greek. And 'evidence' means 'proof'. So faith is the 'support of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen.' Without faith it is impossible to please God, but faith believes on His promises so that we know that He will finish the work in us. (Heb. 11:6; 12:2; Phil. 1:6) We look for the unseen, eternal things by faith! Things not seen are eternal things like God, Jesus, His love and heaven.

2 Cor. 4:18: "While we look not at the things which are seen, but a the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

By faith we look at the eternal things that are not seen by the naked eye. What are the eternal things? Himself and life eternal.

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 4:6

Chapter 3 verse 28 "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

So Christ died to change us into His image, from glory to glory to bring 'many sons to glory.' (Heb  2:9, 10)

2 Peter 1:3,4 "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

His divine power gives life through the knowledge of Christ who has called us to glory. He has also given us many promises that we can claim by faith and share in His diving nature. Faith, through knowledge of His Glory, which He shined unto us, believes His promises that He will change us and thereby we are 'partakers of the divine nature.' Without faith it is impossible to please Him, but we can claim by faith, His word that He will change us and His death and life as our own. When we claim His promises by faith, we are relying on Him. Thus without faith, we rely on ourselves which makes it impossible to please God.

So what is this 'divine nature', which we can claim as our own? It is Jesus own perfect life and death and resurrection. When we claim that life as our own, we are transformed into his likeness! (1 Cor. 3:18) Isn't that wonderful?

What does this have to do with the Everlasting Gospel of Revelation 14:6? The three angels messages bring forth the whole gospel in truth. The first angel as the gospel to preach to every one. The second identifies Babylon and the third gives a warning to those who follow her. There is a fourth angel who gives the loud cry. In Rev. 18:4, we read, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Babylon, see verse 2) This message is for all the gospels plays a big part in aiding us in following that command.

When we claim Christ's life as our own we are covered by His righteousness and He changes us into His glory. As we are changed into His likeness we come out of Babylon as a result. God Himself leads us to one out as He reveals Himself to us. Thus we experience the life that He has to offer when He comes to dwell with us.

It is so wonderful that God will change us and we don't have to worry about being good and holy ourselves, because it will be a natural result of His entering into our lives.

A paper: The Truth about Righteousness by Faith

I was going through a bunch of stuff and came across this paper I wrote back in college, in a church history class. So I thought I would share it here. I haven't read it in awhile, so some of what I understood back then, may have grown and deepened some since then. At the time I wrote it our campus was going through a bit of a debate on the subject and so I studied some on it. This issue is an ongoing one.

Anyway without further commentary......



The Truth about Righteousness by Faith

Righteousness by faith is a subject, which was a matter of concern to the Advent movement and was disputed and discussed at several conferences. Today, as then, it is talked and written about, this time to the other extreme.

Shortly after the Great Disappointment, two leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist movement began to advocate a move toward making Christ the center of the Gospel message and salvation, or righteousness by faith. The opposition then was that we aren't saved by faith, but by works. Today's stand is completely opposite. "We must not get legalistic, we are saved by faith, not works."

What is true? Is there a balance? What really is Righteousness by faith? This is what we are going to find out.

First, what is righteousness?  The word 'righteousness' comes from the the Tree word 'dikaios' which has several meaning.

NT:1342
dikaio, dikaia, dikaion
righteous, observing divine and human laws; one who is such as he ought to be
1. in a wide sense, upright, righteous, virtuous, keeping the commands of God.
  a. universally: Matt 1:19
  b. the negative idea predominantly : innocent, faultless, guiltless
  c. preeminently, of him whose way of thinking, feeling, and acting is wholly conformed to the will of God, and who therefore is needs no rectification in heart or life. Acts 7:52
  d. contextually, approved God, acceptable to God, Rom 5:19
2. In a narrower sense, rendering to each his due; and that in a judicial sense, passing just judgment on others. Titus 1:8
(Thayers Greek Lexicon, Electronic Database. Copyright 2000 by Biblesoft)


So righteousness is being right with God, or innocent and faultless. Now, what does it mean to be right with God, innocent and faultless? The word innocent means uncorrupted by evil or wrongdoing; sinless, legally blameless, and allowed by the law. (American Heritage Talking Dictionary, Copyright 1998 by learning Company Properties Inc.)

The reason we must be made blameless or innocent is because we have sinned and come "short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23  This sin is the result of the sin of Adam which we see here in Romans chapter 5: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." Romans 5:12-14   "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4

So because we have sinned, by way of Adam's sin, we have transgressed the law and must now be made innocent or pardoned. That pardon was made possible by Jesus death and resurrection. Jesus took our place and paid the price that we deserved so we could stand blameless before the throne of Grace. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

Now we know what the concept of Righteousness is all about. What about the faith part? What is faith?

Faith, by definition means "The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will."(American Heritage Talking Dictionary, Copyright 1998 by Learning Company properties Inc.)
Faith is trusting completely in God's guidance in everything that He does for us and in us. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Hebrews 11:1-3  
"If you take hold of the strength of the mighty Helper, and not reason with your adversary and never complain of God, His promises will be verified. The experience that you gain today in trusting Him will help you in meeting the difficulties of tomorrow. Each day you are to come, trusting as a little child drawing nearer to Jesus and heaven. In meeting with unwavering trust in God the daily trials and difficulties, you will gain strength to resist temptation, and when the harder trials come, you will be able to endure." (Our High Calling page 326, by Ellen G. White.)

By trusting that God has, through Christ paid the price for sin, justification is made possible. " As the sinner looks to the law, his guilt is made plain to him and pressed home to his conscience, and he is condemned. His only comfort and hope is found in looking to the cross of Calvary. As he ventures upon the promises, taking God at His word, relief and peace come to his soul. He cries, "Lord, Thou hast promised to save alll who come unto Thee in the name of Thy Son. I am a lost, helpless, hopeless soul. Lord, save, or I perish." His faith lays hold on Christ, and he is justified before God." Faith and Works p 100, 101 (Ellen G. White)

*Note: "Pardon and justification are one and the same thing. Through faith the believer passes from the position of a rebel, a child of sin and Satan, to the position of a loyal subject of Christ Jesus, not because of an inherent goodness, but because Christ receives him as His child by adoption. The sinner receives the forgiveness of his sins, because these sins are borne by his Substitute and Surety. The Lord speaks to His heavenly Father, saying: "This is My child, I reprieve his from the condemnation of death, giving him My life insurance policy--eternal life--because I have taken his place and have suffered for his sins. He is even My beloved son." Thus man, pardon, and clothed with the beautiful garments of Christ's righteousness , stands faultless before God." (Ibid, p 103)

"But what about obedience to the law?" I can hear someone saying. "Don't we have to obey to be saved as well?"

The law was in existence even before it was written down at Mount Sinai. It was a revelation of God's character to HIs people. ("The law of God given from Sinai is a copy of the mind and will of the Infinite God. It is sacredly revered by the holy angels. Obedience to its requirements  will perfect Christian character, and restore man, through Christ, to his condition before the fall. The sins forbidden in the law could never find place in heaven." Our High Calling p. 138)

As HIs children we are called to be like HIm. "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:13-16

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily best us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Hebrews 12:1-4

But that's legalism. Or is it? Let's find out.

A favorite author puts it quite clearly: "The Lord requires at this time just what He required of Adam in Eden-- perfect obedience to the law of God. We must have righteousness without a flaw, without a blemish. God gave HIs Son to die for the world, but He did not die to repeal the law which was holy and just and good. The sacrifice of Christ on Calvary is an unanswerable argument showing the immutability of the law. Its penalty was felt by the Son of God in behalf of guilty man, that through His merits the sinner might obtain the virtue of His spotless character by faith in His name." Faith and Works, p 89

"Is he now free to transgress God's law? Says Paul: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" And John declares, "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous." [Rom. 3:31; 6:2; 1 John 5:3]  In the new birth the heart is brought into harmony with God, as it is brought into accord with his law. When this mighty change has taken place in the sinner, he has passed from death unto life, from sin unto holiness, from transgression and rebellion to obedience and loyalty. The old life of alienation from God has ended; the new life of reconciliation, of faith and love, has begun. Then "the righteousness of the law" will "be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." [Rom. 8:4] And the language of the soul will be, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." [PS 119:97] "  (The Great Controversy p 468 by Ellen G. White)

What time is it? (Warning: long post ahead!)

So one of the things I've been thinking about lately is the time we are living in. Does anyone know what time it is? According to the clock it's about a quarter to eight pm on a Thursday night. Which reminds me, tomorrow is garbage day. Excuse me while I run and put out the can.

Time: almost 8:30. Well, that was longer than expected. Ran into my neighbor who was coming home from work and he is a single guy who gets lonely I think for someone to talk to, cause he sure can talk. He's older than us, I think, by quite a few years, talking about social security and stuff. Also, hates when people complain on facebook about the trash that gets left around the neighborhood instead of doing something about it, so he did something about it and its gone already.

Anyway, it's time for bed, but I just wanted to share a few thoughts about what time it is in history. Remember the statue in Daniel 2 that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about? That was the timeline from Babylon all the way to the Second Coming. How do we know this? Because that's what God told Daniel it was. If you look at the visions Daniel had after that, it gives more and more detail as to what kingdoms came next and some defining things that would happen in earth's history toward the end. Guess were we are now? In the toenails of the image. Right before the rock smashed the whole thing to smithereens. Totally. Like, dust. Nothing left to tell what it was.

So, if we are in the tippy toe nails of the image, what happens next? Details. Not just, Jesus comes, because that's obvious. To find out we have to do some searching because sometimes the answers aren't so obvious in the passage we are looking at. We have to go to Revelation because John was the one that was shown a prophecy about the book of Daniel being revealed. What John was shown in the book of Revelation is not a mystery. Duh! The name of the book means something that is revealed. It doesn't mean secrets, or mystery.

Check it out. Revelation 1:1. "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John."  God doesn't keep secrets.

So if we want to understand the book of Daniel better we need to compare it to the book of Revelation.  One of the things I noticed first is that in the books of Daniel and Revelation, there are similar timelines mentioned. This helps us identify who the prophecy is talking about. In Daniel 7 there is a vision of 4 beasts, which represents kingdoms just as in the image of chapter 2. The fourth beast is a great and terrible beast that has 10 horns and tries to take over the world and change times and laws. This beast is just like the one in Revelation 13. If you notice in verse 7, he also tries to overtake the saints and in verse 8 causes all to worship him. Now, here is an interesting point. Both visions describe a certain number of time given to him to have power. Daniel calls it time, times and half a time. John calls it forty and two months. Look up time in the Bible and in prophecy, you will notice that there are several places where it uses time to signify a year. So, Daniel says it is 3 1/2 years. Which is the same as 42 months. Now, in prophecy a day equals a year, which means 3 1/2 years is 1260 days or 1260 years. There is a lot more to this part of the prophecy which I don't want to take the time to go into at the moment. My point is to show you that the beast in Daniel is the same one in Revelation, which means we can compare the two and see what that last beast of the prophecy is going to do before Jesus comes.

Moving on. From history we know that the kingdom that took over the world after Greece was the Roman Empire. During the time of Jesus, that was who was in power. In fact, from Jesus time all the way up until the late 1700's they were the superpower of the world. When pagan Rome fell, religious Rome took over. From the time of the early Christians until the Reformation after the Dark Ages, religious Rome persecuted those who sought to bring the truth as it is in the Bible to light, and many people were burned at the stake for their faith.

However, towards the close of the 1700's, something happened. Reformers had been spreading truth for years and many rulers were starting to see that Rome needed to be taken down a notch, so they did something about it. The pope was taken captive and for a time Rome was no longer a superpower.

But guess what? Someone else took over. Because we see in the image the feet of clay and of iron. The beast wasn't completely gone. He had left behind some parts of him. Mixed in with the clay of men, is the iron of the beast. The influence of the beast is still there. Look in the last half of Revelation 13, we see the same thing. There arose another beast who causes everyone to worship the first beast. He deceives everyone into making an image to the beast who had been taken down.

What happens when you make an image of something? That thing then has power over you in some way. It influences you. When you worship something, it becomes a part of you, thus giving life to that something.

Now, I want you to think about that. Where do we see Rome coming back to life? Climate change anyone? Rome wants you to think that is all it is about. But it's not. Health mandates, anyone? The Second beast wants you to think they are just interested in controlling your life, or just interested in taking care of your health. But it's not. LGBTQ++, anyone? Rome and the second beast both want you to think they just want equality for everyone, but it's not.

I could pick almost any 'social justice' issue, or any 'religious liberty' issue, or any other issue and it would be the same. People on both sides of these issues are being played. Big time. 'Cause guess what? It isn't about these issues. Yes, these issues are important to speak up about, to bring out the truth on them, because there are many hurting people and things that need to be dealt with on these problems in our world.

What is beast trying to do? Get everyone to worship the image to the beast. How do you do that? You pit everyone against each other, then you bring in the big guns to try to control the masses, and then the masses are now pitted against the big guns and they unite to bring order. Does that make sense? It made sense in my head.

Let me be clearer, if I can. What I see happening is the masses are divided on many issues. One example is abortion. Some believe it's wrong. Others are for people to have a choice, while still others don't think its wrong. So, all sides are pushing for bills, ban abortion, preserve choice, etc. So, the government issues mandates. The majority of people, even pro-lifers, have a problem with government mandating anything, because it removes peoples right to choose their own care. So what ends up happening is then the people demand the government change their laws. So, the government does eventually cave to the people.

Now to bring this back around to the worship of the image. We know that the issue is worship, it says it right there in chapter 13 of Revelation. The biggest thing that Rome is pushing for right now is Climate Change. Many in the US of A are jumping on the bandwagon with that. The pope says we need Sunday rest, keep the Sabbath, to help combat climate change, global warming, or whatever you want to call it. Many people are agreeing with this too.

OK, some will say you would never get the whole world to agree to that. Well, maybe not at first. But think of it this way. You get everyone to agree the world is falling apart, and you now have them united on that. You get them to agree we need to do something, and now they are united on that. Get them to agree to one day a week, to help the world, and it s short step to pick a day. What ends up happening is the government can't mandate it because the people will rebel, so it has to be the people pushing for it to be mandated. So much can play into this. I don't know exactly how it will work, but unfortunately, the Bible is clear, the beast is creating this image, and will cause everyone to worship it. The first beast will rise, and its already rising.

There is so much more to these prophecies but this has already gotten to be such a long blog post, that I'm going to stop now. Share your thoughts below, lets discuss this.

Know this, we are in the last few moments of earths history. Who's side have you chosen? Who are you going to listen to? The beast or God? There is no middle ground. And the only way to know who's side you are listening to is to be in the Word of God.

God bless.

Ramblings and perspective

So, its been awhile since I posted. What I've discovered is that most of Forks Over Knives recipes are really good. Some of them, I don't like because they either use ingredients that can be more difficult to get, or ingredients I prefer not to use. Also, some of them are like gourmet style recipes, which is ok, but I'm more of a simple recipe kind of person so while some of them are delicious, I may or may not make them again, because they are more complicated.

One thing I have decided now is instead of finishing all the recipes in the book, I'm going to change my focus a bit.

Since baby Victor was born, I've been having quite a bit of inflammation going on in my back and in my gallbladder area. It has improved a bunch in the last couple of months, mainly because I stopped eating dairy again, for the most part. And the last few weeks, I've been fighting a sinus infection/cold that is hanging on. I know that the reason is the higher amounts of sugar that has been in my diet more recently.

So here is what is going to happen. I'm going to change up my personal menu a bit, add some more exercise, and try doing some more videos to document some stuff. I kind of really want to do more blogging, quit being so lazy and do more with Youtube and health videos, but what ends up happening is I try to make it good or perfect or plan it all out and then it never actually gets done, because I procrastinate and put it off because I haven't got it right yet. Forget that! I'm just going to do it! I figured out how to edit videos some, so I'm just going to do some and put them up and see what happens. I see all these people with their viral youtube channels and I wonder how they do that?!

There is this one guy, for instance, who is hilarious and yet it seems he just talks and is doing random things. Another young man, he's inspiring to watch. I've been binge watching his channel trying to catch up. He is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail to lose weight. Hiking 3-10 miles a day and now over 500 miles in. He actually has someone who edits his videos for him, he sends them from his phone.

Technology these days makes it super easy to start your own media based  programs, whether it's exercise channels, or cooking shows, or comedy central type shows, or whatever you want to do really. And all you need is a phone or computer to do it with. Editing software can even be free. It's an amazing time to live in, though it can get out of balance with too much technology sometimes.

This is one thing we struggle with in our family. Keeping the balance I mean. It's easy to get distracted in the scheme of things from what's really important. Even my kids already struggle with this in their own way. One of the boys, in particular, doesn't like the internet, but realizes its a necessary evil for some things. And he does like to play certain games with his friends and brothers online, so since most of their friends don't live close by, we have tried to have certain times when we play games. It's hard, because its so easy to get sucked in, away from reality and real life.

The biggest thing for me is that we are so close to Jesus coming, and the times ahead of us are going to be really hard. Our goal is heaven with Jesus and our focus should be in having our hearts and minds prepared for that. Keeping the goal in mind, helps us not get distracted by the things of this world. How do we want to be found when the Master shows up? Are we going to be found playing games, distracted by the world? Or are we going to be found serving God, sharing His love and salvation message with others?

Keeping our priorities straight is so important. If we allow God to work in us and through us, we will be a blessing and be made fit for eternal life with Him. If we love the world more than God, He's not going to force Himself on us. We have a choice. What is yours going to be?

Love and thoughts from this rambling mind tonight. Hopefully a little more interesting than usual. Now, I'm going to go plan my next posts and videos so I can have some idea of what I'm going to spontaneously, not procrastinatingly, talk about. 😁

Forks Over Knives post 11

We did a whole bunch of recipes this last round. I made some more cookies, but the same day I made them, I made two recipes of muffins. If you care to watch us make them, I took a video of us making them. I was thinking about editing it but I'm not quite sure what to use to do that, or how. If anyone has any suggestions, you can leave suggestions in the comments below this post or in the comments section of the Youtube video. https://youtu.be/89GpYOYJAok

Anyway, we made the Ginger Peach muffins on page 287 and the Whole Wheat Berry Muffins from page 289.
Both of them were made without baking powder or baking soda, so were not as light as if that were added, but were really not too bad as far as that goes. I never use vinegar in my breads so I don't even know what that would be added for. Maybe someone can enlighten me on why that is added to baked goods?
The Ginger Peach muffins called for apple cider vinegar, and maybe I should have added it, but I didn't. Plus it called for ground ginger, but I used fresh and maybe that would have changed the flavor some. Anyway, in our opinion, it was a flop as far as taste goes. No-one liked it at all.

The Whole Wheat Berry Muffins were much better, and were only sweetened with maple syrup and the berries. Pretty good, although I could have left them in a few more minutes. The texture was a bit doughy because of that.


I made a pasta dish using macaroni. The recipe on page 154 called for rigatoni, but I didn't want to buy a different pasta when I already had a bunch. This dish was really good. The kids liked it a lot. I think it could have been creamier, but a handful of cashews in the blender with the cauliflower sauce would remedy that really quickly.

Potato Samosa-stuffed Chard (page 200) is a little bit time consuming. It was pretty good, although I could have baked it little longer because I was using cabbage leaves instead of chard. The chard at the store wasn't that great. I bought some chard this week and will try it again. It's sure to be better. The filling was yummy and the kids liked it so thats a plus. In my house, if the kids don't like it, and mom doesn't like it, it doesn't get made again, because it's hard to deal with leftovers when no-one liked it the first time around.

I wasn't planning on making anything for Sabbath, except we had Pathfinder investiture, so I made a double batch of Hummus from page 139. One of my kids hates Tahini which is usually used in many hummus recipes that I've made in the past. However, he loved this one, because it didn't have it in the ingredients. I think it could have used a little more lemon, because I didn't have enough, but it was good anyway.

I almost forgot, earlier in the week we had macaroni with Lentil Ragu taken from page 158, which actually has spaghetti. We still have leftovers of that because I didn't have enough tomatoes and have too many other leftovers from Sabbath to eat.


Anyway, that's all for now. Let me know in the comments about the vinegar in baked goods, and if anyone has any ideas about how to edit my videos before I put them on Youtube, I would much appreciate hearing them!

Forks Over Knives post 10, Lunch foods!

I had huge plans for all kinds of soups and ended up just making 2 partly because I had so much produce I couldn't keep  up and another because half the time I couldn't remember what it was I was going to make. 

We did make creamy asparagus soup. (Page 88) I don't know what was wrong with this soup, except that maybe  I just like the flavor of not overdone asparagus and this soup made it too overcooked. Anyway, no one liked it at all, and I made too much so we froze it all to mix in carefully with other soups.  

I was going to make spinach soup from the same page but had to use up the spinach too quickly before it went bad and forgot to get more. Same thing with the zucchini bisque and the cream of broccoli soup on the next page. I will try again another day. 

Lentil soup with Cauliflower, potatoes, and spinach on page 103 was a definite hit. Pretty sure my kids like lentil soup. This recipe really upped the vegetables though more than my usual lentil soup.  We had almost no leftovers. 

For potluck, I made Chili with Jalapeños and Lime. Page 130. I think I didn't put enough salt but it 

wasn't too spicy, I only put one jalapeño in, instead of the 3 it called for. I think it could have used a bit more cumin and tomato too. But I will try again because it did have a good flavor. 

Also for potluck, I made Macaroni salad from page 142. I thought it was good, but it needed more mayo, mostly because I put in more pasta but didn't add enough mayo to compensate. The mayo recipe used from page 28 was very good and I didn't even  add the vinegar. 

I made Green Chili Rice and beans for lunch this week. Amazingly, Christina loved it and had two bowls, until she hit a piece of jalapeño that didn't get cooked enough in the beans, but otherwise everyone pretty well liked it. It disappeared quickly, so thats a good sign! 

Today we had Vegetable Stir Fry and rice. Page 169. I thing we have made this one before, but thats ok. I really like the chinese brown sauce from page35. Its a healthy yummy addition to homemade chinese food.

Next post, desserts!

Forks over Knives post 9 Breakfast foods!

The last couple weeks have been awesomely busy. With the end of the school year coming up, our Pathfinder club has been playing catchup on honors and classwork. My kids have been double-timing it, so to speak as we come closer to graduation for many of the kids. One son headed off for two weeks with dad in the truck, and the rest of us took the time to make yummy recipes for potluck at church in honor of the mothers.

Last time, I tried the Brown Rice pudding which was very good. This time, I tried the Fruited Barley on p. 53. Only I didn't have any barley, so I used some of the leftover rice and that turned out pretty good. Next time, I will try it with the Barley. I really like the citrus flavor though Jeffrey didn't so much.

Similar to the rice pudding was the Spelt Berry Hot Breakfast Cereal on p. 53. I didn't have spelt, but wheat is similar enough, so I used that. It was also very good. I ended up eating that two days because no one else seems to like eating cooked wheat berries. Oh well. I like it.

The third breakfast item was the stove top granola. Thats on page 42. It was very easy to make, and didn't require any baking but is rather sticky until it cools. I think I forgot to put in the raisins at the end but oh well. It was good. It makes a smaller batch then I usually make when I do regular granola but really isn't time consuming at all, any more than the larger baked versions. I think though, I will probably stick to the baked kind, just because I would rather make more for our larger family.

Finally, the last breakfast items we made were smoothies. Pumpkin Pie smoothie from p. 40 was good on its own, as long as you didn't just eat something slightly sweeter before hand. It is milder in flavor, but would actually make a good pie filling if you thickened it up and left out the ice cubes. The boys poured theirs over their granola. They didn't like it as well as the others, and neither did I. I think it would be better in pie.
Gingerbread smoothie, from page 41, is super yummy! It was more like gingerbread milk than smoothie, but I loved it! John wasn't sure he liked the aftertaste, probably from nutmeg and Sarah thought it was spicy, because of the ginger. I will definitely make that one again, just for me.
Spicy Tropical Green Smoothie would have been spicy and green, except I forgot to get more spinach and didn't put enough cayenne in. But it was good, and everyone liked that one. I couldn't really taste the  coconut water, so I might add coconut flakes to up the flavor, or something.

Next post! Lunch!

Forks Over Knives post 8

Last week, we made White Bean and Mushroom stew, page 117. It was very good! We didn’t have any white beans so I used pintos instead. So far, we like most of the recipes containing beans, but then we love our beans!
We also made Thai Vegetable Soup page 107. I couldn’t find any lemongrass or kaffir lime leaves so i left them out this time. Definitely recommend  less jalapeño if you don’t want it spicy. But this is one of my favorite recipes, as far as flavor.
This week was Creamy Asparagus Soup on page 88. I do not recommend this recipe if you like the flavor of fresh cooked asparagus that isn’t over cooked. The kids and I definitely prefer our Asparagus tender and still green not mush and almost brown.

It wasn’t planned but we did make Minestrone on page 87 using leftovers and that turned out really good too.

The other soup we tried this week was the Singles soup from page 81. That was a very simple soup but had a nice flavor.

For breakfast a couple mornings ago, I made the Brown Rice Pudding from page 51 and Jeffrey, my pickiest eater, has requested that one again. So I will probably make that tomorrow for breakfast.

Anyway, I think that was all for this time! Until next time, eat hearty!

FOK challenge part 7

We visited my parents for a bit over a week and so I didn't get a good chance to post. However, I did get a number of recipes tried the week before we left and my mom made a brownie recipe from the Forks over Knives website that was ok, but not as good as we would have hoped. 

I made Sweet Potato Pie oatmeal from page 49 for breakfast one morning. It was pretty good. I’m going to try it again. I didn't use enough sweetener last time, and used fresh ginger instead of ground because thats what I have on hand. I also didn't nave allspice, since I forgot to get some, but I used Nutmeg instead and that was ok. All in all definitely a good change from just plain old oatmeal. One of the main problems with this recipe though was I was afraid I would stick because it was thicker than regular oatmeal and so it ended up a bit sticky from over stirring. I’ll try not to do that next time. 

The next day I made some more Banana Almond Granola from page 44, and later in the week did a batch of Basic Baked Granola from page 43, making sure to follow the recipe this time. Turned out very good. I prefer more ingredients like some nuts or something, but the sweetening in both recipes was quite good, so those recipes are keepers as far as how they are sweetened. 

I made two of the smoothies. Very Berry Smoothie from page 38 was so yummy! I’m so glad I ordered dates in my last bulkfoods.com order. I used fresh strawberries as we had just bought a bunch. The Banana Cranberry Snoothie from page 39 tastes more like banana then cranberrie but it was good too. I had some frozen cranberries left over from Thanksgiving, so I used some of them. I think I will make that one again if I have enough cranberries left. 

The recipe my mom used for brownies is here. https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/outrageously-healthy-brownies/#gs.6yond6

She added some date sugar, I think it was, because it wasn't sweet enough, and she used walnuts for the nuts. She put them on top but said she thought she should have mixed them in because they kept falling off. The brownies were also slightly crumbly but thats ok. She said she preferred another recipe made with avocado instead of this one with black beans. They were plenty sweet in my opinion, but it was a different sweet than regular refined sugar so it was easier to eat more without overloading and yet because they were made with oats and black beans they were more filling than regular brownies. 

Anyway, thats all for this post. Till next food adventures! 

Food problems!

I have a problem with food! Well, at least certain types of food. Like ice cream, pizza and anything with sugar or dairy in it, I think. I didn't do very well this week in staying away from these foods.

On Friday I had ice cream, because I got some as a treat for the boys. I hadn't intended to eat any, so I had gotten a small container, enough for a bowl for each of the kids. Well, John, precious boy, was ahead in the health department and has more self control in that area than I do apparently. He served up everyone a bowl, including me. He was trying not to eat a lot, so all he left for himself was a smallish spoonful. He brought me my bowl, and I took it thinking he had served himself already and I didn't want to have him put it back (excuses, excuses!). Oh well.

Sabbath we ate lunch at home, so I was ok there. Sunday however was an outing that included pizza. Here again, John, I guess wasn't very hungry so he only at a couple pieces of fruit, and the other boys only ate a few slices of pizza which is not normal. I'm sure I had more than my share of pizza.

Then we had lunch out yesterday since we had to get little Victor a chest X-ray for followup. Which was totally clear, by the way.  Anyway, I ate too much Chinese food and had desert on top of it.

So, today is a new day! I had made some smoothies and had granola for breakfast. I did lose a pound over the last week, though, so there is progress and I managed to exercise 4 times with the boys using Biggest Loser Boot Camp and a lot of walking around when we went to the park on Sunday.

I'm planning on a lot more self control and praising God for lots of yummy veggies and fruits to satisfy my tastebuds, and the strength to stay away from those things that aren't good for me!

FOK Challenge part 6

So this week has been bit short. I didn't make as many recipes out of the Forks Over Knives cookbook as I thought I did. Oh well. I did redo a few that we particularly liked, such as the Banana Granola Parfait. Unfortunately, I used too much water when making the Banana Almond granola and it wanted to clump up too much, and then I baked it too hot for too long so it turned out very crunchy, almost hard. Not flaky enough but we soaked it good in milk and it still tasted good.

I also did my own variation on the Banana Almond Granola. I kind of combined it with the Basic Bake Granola on the page previous, page 44. I blended the dates up with the banana and added almonds to that as well. The recipe called for cinnamon and orange zest, but I didn't have any cinnamon and forgot the zest. I added nutmeg and coriander. I also added coconut to the oat mixture plus some corn meal to help it crisp up. I put it on low in the oven over night (170* for mine) and it turned out nice. I think it could have been baked a little bit longer than it was, which I think was about 10 hours. I never can tell, because my oven automatically shuts off if it is left on a long time, so  I've just assumed it shuts off about 10. Anywho! It was nice and flaky and yummy! I am going to try another variation of this next time and see how it comes out. 

Oh, yeah. We made Broccoli Rice Casserole on page 250. It was so good! But then, I am very fond of the cashew cheese sauces and gravies. Also, I love broccoli so the combo of that with rice was yummy! We were in a hurry so we didn't bake it, but I am going to definitely bake it next time to get the flavors to mix better. 

Anyway, that's all for now. Till next time, eat healthy!

Many Faces of Victor

I thought I would share some of the many faces of Victor! I just love his expressions.