Sunday, December 21, 2014

Rapture, the Day of Christ, and the Day of the Lord

(All emphasis is mine)

There is a difference between the "day of the Lord" and the "day of Christ".

In the Old Testament, the day of the Lord is God's wrath poured out on Israel. The NT expands it to the whole Earth.

In the New Testament, and specifically only Paul, reveals the phrase the "day of Christ". It is marked with a rejoicing for the saints. Wrath is not appointed.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 

Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come.
I Thes. 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

We are present with Jesus Christ at His coming.
I Thes. 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?

Jesus Christ comes with all of His saints.
I Thes. 3:13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Jude makes a similar pronouncement:
Jude 1:14
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

We are alive in His coming. If we are alive at His coming, and we are with Him at His coming, then we are raptured before He comes. The sense here is that we are coming with Him, not to Him. He gathers before He comes. We who are alive are not preventing those who are asleep from coming with Him, but they rise first.
I Thes. 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Cross reference Corinthians for the Rapture:
I Cor. 15: 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

We are going to meet Christ in the air and the clouds, not on Earth.
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Paul does not use the day of Christ here, he uses the day of the Lord, along with wrath.
I Thes. 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Paul makes it clear we are exempt from the wrath.
I Thes. 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Paul then hopes our triune humanity is preserved until the coming.
I Thes.5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Onto the next book! The day here in verse 10 is the day of the Lord, not the day of Christ.
II Thes. 1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
Look at the verses beforehand. Remember, the Lord comes with all of His saints.
I Thes. 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:


9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

This is where it gets tricky.

Paul makes a distinction between His coming and His gathering of the saints. They are not the same thing.
II Thes. 2:2 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

Paul says the day of Christ will come before the day of the Lord. Or else how can we comfort each other? In other words, he's telling Christians not to worry about the day of the Lord, as the day of Christ is coming before the day of the Lord.
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

The day here in verse 3 is the day of the Lord, not the day of Christ, because the antecedent is not the verse beforehand, it is in the chapter before it. "As that" means "because".
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

The KJV is correct in saying the "day of Christ" rather than "day of the Lord". This is how the verse means in the KJV:
Do not be troubled by the day of the Lord (1:7-10), because ("as that") the day of Christ is coming.

Modern translations that change the day of Christ to day of the Lord because of their ignorance in grammar make the following translation mean:
Do not be troubled by the day of the Lord (1:7-10), because ("as that") the day of Lord is coming.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Thoughts on Bible Dispensations

The following is not structured well, I will fix that in a future post:

Salvation
1. Old Testament Salvation: Faith in what God said as shown by and resulting in works (Noah to John the Baptist, as shown by James, Hebrews Hall of Faith resulting in works. It's not faith automatically in the coming Son of God, but what specifically God said to that specific person, which included statements of the coming Son of God. For example, Noah was saved not because he believed specifically on Jesus the Messiah, but he believed God's pronouncement of the Flood, faith, and built an ark, works resulting in faith.)
2. Before Jesus was on Earth: Faith shown by water baptism of repentance by John the Baptist
3. When Jesus was on Earth: Faith in His physical Person, and water baptism (his disciples baptized)
---
The believing dead on times before this went to Paradise, Abraham's bosom under the Earth (Lazarus and rich man)
~~~ Jesus' Crucifixion ~~~
The believing dead on times after this went to the Third Heaven, above the Earth
---
4. When Jesus resurrected but before the Pauline letters were written: Faith as shown by water baptism of repentance (Acts)
5. TODAY: Pauline letters written until the Rapture: Grace through faith, works need not to be shown, no water baptism needed (Romans and rest of Paul's letters)
6. In the Tribulation: Faith as shown through keeping the commandments and refusing the mark of the Beast (most like the ten commandments, 
Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 
22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.)
7. During and after the Millennium: Allegiance to the physical Son of God that can be seen. There is no faith in the Millennium or afterwards, as "faith is the substance of things not seen". This only applies to the Gentile nations who are left after the Tribulation. (refer to Old Testament prophecies of the Kingdom and the judgment of Sheep and Goats, a judgment of nations, not the Church)

I Corinthians 1:22
For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

Signs and Miracles and the Word (Wisdom)
1. Old Testament before the Law: God appeared Himself, with all the trappings of miracles (Creation, Flood, plagues, pillar of fire and cloud)
2. Old Testament Israel: God appeared to the High Priest in the temple and prophets did miracles
3. Intermission, Silent Years (Malachi-Matthew): No Biblical records of signs or miracles
4.. Gospels: Jesus showed miracles to Israel, and made exceptions to only two Gentiles (the woman and the centurion)
5.Pentecost: Tongues and other miracles primarily a witness to the Jews
6. Pauline Letters: Tongues and other miracles started to cease, being replaced by the witness of charity/love (I Cor. 13)
7. Once Revelation was written, and the canon set: Wisdom was fully written down
8. TODAY: The entire Bible spreading this current Church age: God's primary mode of showing Himself is through the Word of wisdom. Where the Bible is, it takes precedence over miracles. Once a society is saturated with the Word of God, miracles completely cease. That's one reason why formely "Christian" nations today turn atheistic and secular, once the Bible is plentiful, overt spiritual activity that can be seen ceases, and secularism is a threat. (2 Pet. 1:19) False science tries to replace godly wisdom (1 Tim 6:20) 
9. The Rapture, Tribulation, Millennium: Signs and wonders, both holy and devilish, come back in full force primarily for the salvation of Israel, and to turn the Gentile nations into aiding Israel.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Postmortem: Thanksgiving Turkey Tower Toss #IndiesVSPewDiePie



Thanksgiving Turkey Tower Toss was the game I made for the 72 hour Indies VS PewDiePie game jam at Game Jolt. Here are the good, the bad, and the ugly that came out of it.

Time Management: Even though I was relatively more busy that weekend, I did get a good chunk of the time I did have to make the game. Unfortunately, I did waste some time here and there, and sometimes, I think I spent too long testing. I only divided my tasks effectively halfway through the 72 hours.

Game Design: A (light) physics-based was a bit of a gamble, but i think it paid off in originality. What didn't make it in the game jam version was the Garden Gnome Carnage mode I really wanted to put. That will come to the post-competition version. I really should have focused more on designing and implementing the level generation, and designing the enemies. The Thanksgiving theme was the only one I could think of. Planning this game was better off than my previous games, thus the level of finish that it has, but not by much. The achievements was almost an afterthought, but made the gameplay substantial.

Gameplay: The gameplay was a lot better than my previous jam games and a bit more intuitive, too, using only arrow keys and Space. I also had my best final boss (in the form of a mecha PewDiePie) coded, with missiles and a machine gun. I plan to do a whole game with just bosses and complex enemies, because they are so interesting. The GCC component did not get in, yet. The SSB style to eliminate enemies didn't seem as compelling to me. Will have to change that. 

Sounds: After this jam, I now believe sound effects can make or break a game. I had a lot of sound effects and music. Since I didn't get to collaborate with anyone, I used random music generators and voiced my own sound effects using Audacity. I don't regret using 

Graphics: Graphics should have been a bit bigger. Or at least zoomed in enough to see the details. I did get some auto-tiling done, which made the game so much better to look at. I don't think anyone could tell those were Pilgrims, because they were so small!

Overall, it was better planned and better implemented than my previous jam games. And I think it's the only jam game I want to really expand further.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Seven Reasons Why I am KJV Only

by Samuel Garcia

This is an old post from a forums.

1. 
Translation, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is superior to the originals. 

The law of first mention in scripture bears witness to this fact. 

II Sam. 3:10
10 To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba.


As David's kingdom was superior to Saul's kingdom, the KJV is superior to the original.

Hebrews 11:5
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.


As Enoch was superior to the original Adam, the KJV is superior to the original.

A perfect God can take a perfect Book and make a perfect Translation and will. And all evidence points that it being the KJV. 

A study of the KJV translators is amazing. They far exceed all our language(and other subjects) scholars of the day. It's been said that they debated about Greek in Latin (while speaking Latin). And yet they were the most humble men. Humility is sign of the Holy Spirit.

One can see this truth by reading the Prefatory and Dedicatory remarks in the Authorized Version. These men didn't believe they were handling "God's message" or "reliable manuscripts." They believed they were handling the very words of God Himself. As I Thessalonians 2:13 says, they ". . . . received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." 
Like the serpent of Genesis 3:1, modern translators approach the scriptures in skepticism, saying, "Yea, hath God said?" This was the first recorded sin in the Bible, and it still runs rapid through the hearts and minds of most scholars and new versionpromoters.


2. The KJV is the only translation that fulfills the prophecy of the seven purifications:
Psalms 12:6
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

As any student of English Bible history knows, the Authorized Version of 1611 was not the first Bible to be translated into English. But even though hundreds of complete Bibles, New Testaments, and Scripture portions have been translated into English since 1611, it is obvious that the Authorized Version is the last English Bible; that is, the last English Bible that God "authorized."
...
And thus we have our answer. The seven English versions that make the English Bibles up to and including the AuthorizedVersion fit the description in Psalm 12:6 of the words of the Lord being "purified seven times" are Tyndale's, Matthew's, Coverdale's, the Great Bible (printed by Whitechurch), the Geneva Bible, the Bishops' Bible, and the King James Bible.


3. God does not respect the originals.
Jeremiah 36:22
Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.


In this passage, the originals of what is today the book of Jeremiah and Lamentations were destroyed by the king. And there were added many like words! And the originals were not.

And also, no one knows where the originals are. All our Hebrew and Greek manuscripts are simply copies. Anyone who tells you they are studying the original Hebrew and Greek is a liar.

That is to say, practically every Bible language class of the Greek and Hebrew are based on the corrupt 5% manuscripts, not the established 95%. This is where our new translations come from, the Bible scholars of our day are scholars of the very corrupt eclectic texts of Wescott and Hort. If they make claims to have studied the originals, run. Run far away.

4. The power of the KJV across time and space.

Jesus said that every good tree will bring forth good fruit, and we can know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:17-20).

The KJV is the Bible of the Great Awakenings and the revivals after that. It is the Bible of our Founding Fathers and the American Revolution, a direct offspring of the Great Awakenings. Only with the KJV did we see great missionary movements. 

When the first English Revised Version in the 1900s, much revival work stopped. The ERV was made into the American Revised Version and the New American Revised Version, which is the root translation of the ESV. This was the start of the translation craze where we get all new versions. The chief editor of the NASV writes after the process:

I must under God denounce every attachment to the New American Standard Version. I'm afraid I'm in trouble with the Lord...We laid the groundwork; I wrote the format; I helped interview some of the translators; I sat with the translator; I wrote the preface. When you see the preface to the New American Standard, those are my words...it's wrong, it's terribly wrong; it's frightfully wrong...I'm in trouble;...I can no longer ignore these criticisms I am hearing and I can't refute them. The deletions are absolutely frightening...there are so many. The finest leaders that we have today haven't gone into it new versions of Hort and Westcott's corrupted Greek text just as I hadn't gone into it...that's how easily one can be deceived...Are we so naive that we do not suspect Satanic deception in all of this?
....
If we could hear His voice we would have no trouble learning His Word from the Authorized Version. Let me tell you this: You might not be able to answer the arguments, and you won't be [able to]. I can't answer some of them, either. Some of these university professors come along and say, What about this; what about that? They go into areas that I haven't even had time to get into.

As I said to you a couple of minutes ago. You don't need to defend yourself, and you don't need to defend God's Word. Don't defend it; you don't need to defend it; you don't need to apologize for it. Just say, "Well, did this version or this translation come down through the Roman stream? If so, count me out. Whatever you say about Erasmus and Tyndale, that's what I want."

And besides this, we've had the AV for 362 years. It's been tested as no other piece of literature has ever been tested. Word by word; syllable by syllable. And think even until this moment no one has ever found any wrong doctrine in it, and that's the main thing. He that wills to do the will of God shall KNOW the doctrine.

Well, time is up. Let's be people of the Book. It took my mother to heaven; and my dad, my grandfather, my grandmother. It was Moody's Book; it was Livingstone's Book. J.C. Studd gave up his fortune to take this Book to Africa. And I don't feel ashamed to carry it the rest of my journey. It's God's Book.

"Our Father, we thank Thee and praise Thee for Thy Word. Help us to love it, and preach it, and teach it, and tell everybody we can the Good News through thy Word. In Jesus' name. Amen."

Dr. Frank Lodgson


1 Corinthians 14:33
33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.


And what is confusion but many versions running around?

The King James Bible was not translated during the apostate and lukewarm Laodicean church period, like the new translations. The Laodicean period is the last church period before the Second Coming of Christ. It is the last of the seven church periods in Revelation chapters two and three. One can clearly see that we are living in the Laodicean period today by simply comparing modern churches to the church of Revelation 3:14-22. This lukewarm period began toward the end of the 1800's and will continue until Christ returns. The new versions fit well into the lukewarm churches, because they are lukewarm "bibles."


5. The KJV is the only one that claims full inspiration and preservation and infallibility.

What other version of the Bible can say this? None. There are no defenders of (insert corrupt version here) of its inspiration. Only the KJV boasts such members.

As one points out, all new translations compare themselves to the KJV first. Just the fact that the KJV is mentioned brings great emotional response. And emotional responses are a sign of spiritual warfare.

All apparent "errors" in the KJV can be explained through prayer and a careful study of the scriptures. 
...
Ninety-five percent of all evidence SUPPORTS the text of the King James Authorized Version. The new versions are supported by the remaining five percent evidence.

I vouch for this. There is no other book I can feel the Spirit living within its pages. All "errors" I have now seen promulgated in the libraries of man I can easily show not to be an error by simply cross-referencing.

6. The English language dominates the world. The KJV was translated in the most perfect form of English.

God's Word is always primarily in the language His people will use it.

In Israel's time, it was in Hebrew, for it only applied to them.

In the apostle's time, it was in Greek (both OT and NT). In the fulness of time when Greek was the trade language did Jesus come.

Today, what is the prevailing language of God's people? What is the trade language of the world?

This is why you shouldn't fear Chinese nor another language overtaking English. It is our Bible that holds that barrier.

Those that are scholars of Greek and Hebrew set themselves up as priests and interpreters and scribes. We have a living, breathing English Bible right here! It's alive, brother!

There is a common misconception that the KJV translators used the English of their day to translate the Bible. That is not true. "You" already replaced "thou". Words and usages in it were already archaic in their day(1611). In other words, the English of the 1611 Bible is not from 1611.

A serious, deep study of it leads to the fact that it is indeed the most perfect translation of the Hebrew and Greek in English. For example, "Thou" is a singular pronoun. In modern day English, we replace it with the word "you", which can be both singular and plural. However, in the Hebrew and Greek, there are singular pronouns, and "thou" is the correct translation.

Sounds trivial? NO! "You" can mean groups of people. When it replaces "thou", it removes individuality of a passage, and will lead to serious doctrinal errors.

Luke 22:31
31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

The Greek is plural for you in 31, while thou is singular in Greek. In that light, we know that Satan was desiring of all the disciples, not only Peter. This passage is fulfilled in Acts when Peter rises up as the leader and indeed strengthens his brethren.

Exodus 4:15
15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.

Thou refers to a singular Moses, but ye refers to Israel.

7. The KJV is the only translation which magnifies Him, Our Lord Jesus Christ, fully. 
There is no question that new translations always question the Deity, Virgin Birth, Death, Resurrection somewhere

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: And they are they which testify of me. John 5:39

With that I have no time left, I have to get to church. I still have more material to post. :D I have written why the KJV is superior to other translations, and partly why it is superior to the originals, and I shall touch on more on the latter.

If the KJV is indeed the Word of God, and since it is the power of God in the Awakenings and the great Philadelphian Church Age of yesteryear, it would be more conducive to the Church to set it back on its rightful place. Of course, that will not happen in this lukewarm Laocidean Church, where people are forced to compromise for the sake of "fellowship". Having no rifts and no division sounds mamby-pamby, kumbayah, everyone loves everyone, and all that, but it's not the best, especially over a very, very important thing, which is the Bible and doctrine.

Matthew 10:34
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.


That sword is God's Word. God's Word must divide. And indeed it will divide, divide us in doctrine, which gives rise to different denominations; and it will divide us in its words, which gives rise to opinions of translations. We must be divided on these issues because they are the roots, and without them, whatever we are means nothing. If we compromise on these things, corruption is quick to take over as leaven in bread and whatever peace we achieve is pointless. 

Over other non-important things we shouldn't be divided, but since in this issue, there is only one true Word and only one true doctrine. The only time we are to be united is under one true Word and one true doctrine. And history shows that the Church was indeed united under the King James Bible only for about 300 years. And those were the best years of the Church until He comes.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Short Story: November the Fourth

November 4th.

Democracy Day.

The elections are coming! Partisan warfare is heating up. Third parties seem to be a bit popular this year. Unfortunately, they don't survive very long in the cycle.

The campaigns of both parties seem concentrated on the traditional battleground states. Ohio, mostly. District lines are drawn.

The political climate is practically the same every time. Conservatives and liberals taking potshots at each other, almost at a standstill.

Even then, government grows and grows. The eyes of Big Brother Uncle Sam are everywhere. The Federal Register is bloated beyond imagination. Anything you do, might do, think to do is cataloged and might break at least a some policies and a few laws, creating a profile for your arrest at any time.

The winner-take-all system has its critics, but our founding fathers had their reasons. It brings out the best and the worst.

Every vote counts.

November 4th.

D-Day.

The district parties send in their conscripted soldiers for this proxy war. The campaigners are out on force. Their signs and emblems cover the file and rank marching in the neighborhoods. You can see crack teams canvassing the streets.

Many just want to be left alone. So they huddle in their bunkers.

Each district is commanded by a Gerrymander, a veteran of past electoral wars. The conscripts pledge their votes.

Each one vote routes power and resources from each locality to the ongoing war effort. Illegal votes are deleted by the FedReg, as the FedReg itself routes the legal votes to each war machine.

The Democratic army from Cleveland and the Republican army from Cincinnati meet just outside the Columbus Quantum Uplink Hub to see if once can hack it and secure it before the other does, opening a floodgate of votes. Similar battles rage on the other states, but this swing state is the most important.

The Columbus Uplink is interesting, because it has a realtively large concentration of the Green Party and Libertarian Party militias already infighting amongst themselves.

The almost impenetrable fortress White House is bombarded by special operative candidate teams to remove the current President, and install their own. The Democrat snipers fire upon the hovering craft. One goes down.

The Republican commandos jump out of the craft many feet onwards the House. Don't worry, they are cybernetically enhanced.

"Watch out for the Secret Service!"

Anti-air flak take down the incoming SS drones. The old President will not give up the protocol so easily.

After the President is installed, almost literally, he/she/it uploads the new protocol. Whoever owns the protocol, owns the nuclear weaponry. They call it, "The Football".

Presidents must be natural born programs. The SS drones that guard the surrounding area only recognize protocols native to the national cyberspace.

Any independents are slaughtered and beheaded. There's nothing civil about a civil war, even one that is scheduled every four years. The more organized third parties have safehouses, or is in disguise of a larger national major party-corporation.

The real winner is the FedReg, the almighty Artificial Intelligence that runs our mask that is the government. It is Big Brother Uncle Sam's German shepherd. The more votes that circulate, the more laws that can be passed to entrap the poor humans.

So really, even the President-program is just a puppet, eternally constrained by the laws passed every millisecond, calculated by the SuperCongress.

Luckily, we have the Constitution.exe. It will delete all traces of all the tyrant. We just need the virus to activate in all the major mainframe hubs. It is old, ancient, perhaps, but its very fundamental core programming is antithesis to the bloat. The assembly code will never be the same.

If it will not work, we shall use the prohibited nanoweaponry. It is our right to bear arms. Our rights are written down in our very code.

The Federal Electoral Commission appendage of the FedReg has banned nanotechnology type-based weapons. The danger of gray goo is something AIs even fear.

We shall be free.

Every vote counts.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Short Story: Flattime

This, in essence, is supposed to allude to Flatland, except in explaining the many dimensions of time. This time elements in the story was inspired by a Facebook discussion, but the whole of it is a true story. The reference to the girls and a conference in the story was what prompted me to my fascination of time travel, and actually happened seven years ago. It is implied that the author believes them to be time travelers for some odd reason or another.
And I seriously did believe they were.

I can make things go backwards.

The steam from my coffee this morning coalesced back to its liquid.

That isn't supposed to happen. Steam goes up and scatters like all gases, not collect back to its source. Or at least gases that are not heavier than the earth's atmosphere.

I shake my head. It is rising out, not coalescing. Am I dreaming?

No, it isn't a dream. I pinch myself. My mind probably just wanted to rewind it. Maybe it's those memory supplements I've been taking? Is this almost video-like feedback the side effect?

Cool.

Huh, not really appear and disappear, it's more like rewinding time and remaining conscious. Interesting. Oh, my imaginations!

I saw three of them look at me interestingly. Three girls. They looked at me quizically. They looked eerily familiar and not familiar.

Even though they did not look out of place in this conference, they were striking. To me, at least.

Not attraction, no. A little bit of it, yes. Deja vu, perhaps? Probably rather my self-consciousness.

The feeling disturbed me enough to get out of my seat and go elsewhere.

The future is a the gravity of time.

You know how that if you jump, you fall back down? Gravity pulls us down to the Earth's core, unless impeded.

Time travel is like that. Even if you go backwards in time, once you arrive, time will automatically go forward.

Like gravity, the future affects those with more mass. We know at the speed of light, photons practically have no mass, and time is still for the photon.

So even though you can rewind to an extent, you will eventually have to go forward again.

The question is though, how do you jump?

Oh, everyone can rewind time and traverse through it. But only a few can remember, and even fewer, less than a handful, are conscious of doing so. Our memories, too, are held by time.

For example, if you rewound time for yourself, would you remember the future? Of course not, those memory of the future never existed, because they didn't happen for you to remember yet. Make sense?

Though, rarely, the imprint of energy is strong enough that they leave traces.

You know, dreams of days past? Of days never materializing? That is the trace of semi-conscious time travel. Most time travel is unconscious. Or rather, instantly forgotten as it rewinds.

After a couple hours wandering the conference, I chanced upon those three girls again. One of them asked me something. I think it was the blondish one.

I shrugged it off. I  muttered something about going to my friends. I don't know why I was feeling this way toward them. They're just girls. Of course, I have to impress them a little.

Yet, time, as we experience it is only a ray, not even a line. The ray points to the direction of the gravity. It is still only one dimensional, even if we go backwards.

But time also has more than one dimension, as space as three.

Some call it alternate universes. The branching universe theory. The reality, actually, is not made up of branches, but a width. If time is a line with length, it's width are the alternate choices we could have made at every given moment.

We too could traverse the width. Every choice we make, we could make. And we remember. And we see what could have been. Will I sip my coffee? Will I not? Will I have tea instead? That is the width of time in the moment.

You could see your reflection in this house of mirrors of yourself, making different choices. The farther you look at the horizon of time, the more radical and improbable your choice were. Width can be measured!

However, interestingly, the gravity of time affects our choices, and our choices in turn affect it. While we can ponder the choices we could have made, we are still dragged along the same ray, never completely getting out of the stream. Our free will is intact; not that we could change it, but it is we that made the change. We don't make all possible choices at the same time.

The rest of the day was inconsequential.

I left the conference a bit mellow. We boarded on a bus back to our school. I don't think I will see those girls ever again. Who are they? Why do they look so familiar?

What is the height of time, then? What is the third dimension of the temporality? Are we on a sort-of timesphere as humans are on a sphere called Earth in space?

Total alternate universes with different preconditions. A radically different time plane.

While the universe in the second dimension of time, more or less, have the same preconditions, the third does not.

This is the plane of stories. Universes with varying creation myths, alternate histories, revisionist histories, future histories of those histories, and whatnot. They all exist in the planes apart from this objective reality plane.
So if the future is the gravity of time, and if time is a sphere like Earth is in space, what is the core of this sphere? The end of time?

So if the drive to the future is the gravity of time, and time is like a sphere as Earth is a sphere in space, then what is the core of this timesphere? The end of time?

No.

God. Eternity.


Thursday, October 16, 2014

The VA Cathering


What a great gathering! This was the first CPNC organized gathering in the Northeast/Midwest region. God saw fit to change our original camp reservation plan into a more homely gathering, and we are grateful for it.

October 1st, Wednesday:
Thursday was the official start of the great VA Cathering (more on that title later), but due to some logistical shifting, people arrived the day before. Carrie and Amber Thompson picked up Faith Burnside and I in their truck. College Plus road trip! The only incident we had with the trip was picking me up, there were some construction going on which confused Garmin, our GPS. Everything else was smooth sailing to the McFarlands. We had a surprise on arrival. With God working behind the scenes, He directed the Stotts' planes from Florida after some airport shenanigans. Previously, they were supposed to arrive at the Charlotte-Abermale airport hours away, but instead they arrived at the nearby Dulles airport a day early, as well.

Our host location was one of the most inviting places I have ever been in, to say the least. You could see that this wasn't just a quick backup location alternate the camp, this was meticulously planned and prepared for us. We even had personal questionnaires that we hung on the wall when we were done.

We had a devotional where the ground rules were set, a time of prayer, and all of us headed to a good night's sleep. The girls were up talking - we boys could hear them.

October 2nd, Thursday:
The official start of the gathering was supposed to be only a laid-back planning day. It was more of a random game playing time. Games of Apples to Apples, Settlers of Catan, pool, and whatnot. We also had a bit of dancing in the basement and the culdesac. We learned the Virginia Reel, the Electric Slide, the Golden Slipper, the Broom Dance, and the California Waltz.

Evan Strite and Elyssa Ranck arrived during dinner. We were expecting them much later, so it was a very nice surprise.

October 3rd, Friday:
Time to head to DC! After we were dropped off at the Fraconia-Springfield station of the DC Metro, we got our tickets and boarded the subway.

The security at the attractions are overbearing, but understandably so. We shed our belts, devices, wallets, etc. into TSA-like conveyor belts... to get into a library! (Well, it was the Library of Congress, but still.)

In the Library was a Civil Rights exhibit, and Thomas Jefferson's personal library exhibit. In the center of Jefferson's library was the best echo/amplification chamber under the dome, and we started lowly humming, and the hum got louder and louder. Needless to say, we entertained ourselves quite a bit.

I've always wanted to see the inside of the Capitol. One must usually make a reservation to do so, but luckily, Faith had her Congressman Todd Rokita on call, and we got a staff-led tour! Highlights were the Magna Carta, the Rotunda, and various statues of the Presidents and patriot heroes. Our tour guide, a staffer from Congressman Rokita's office, guided us through the underground tunnel and all the rooms.

The Holocaust Museum was a sobering experience. No photography was allowed inside the exhibit, which lent to its pensive atmosphere. The very next day was Yom Kippur, the only time the Holocaust Museum closes in the year, so to have gotten in was a treat. To see and hear the horrible stories of God's chosen people, it truly put our lives in perspective.

October 4th, Saturday:
Another day traveling to the Capital. Carrie proceeded to teach us the "signs" game. Basically, it uses hand gestures in a subtle manner to pass signs around, as in code.

Right after we came to the entrance of the National Air and Space Museum, Carrie notified us that she has lost her phone in the subway. After some panic, her phone was texted just in case someone may find it. We gathered in a street corner to pray so we could find it. Right after praying, someone texted back. Our group split off so that Carrie could retrieve her phone, and we stayed at the museum. And a couple hours later, they come back, phone in hand.

The National Air and Space Museum was definitely filled with aviation and airplanes and things. One of the CPers in the group, Bailey, is going to be a helicopter pilot, so he was the focal point of the trip. We didn't get to see much of the space part, because by then, it was time for lunch!

After the museum, we walked the National Mall of monuments towards the Lincoln Memorial. We passed along the Washington Monument, some of the World War (I and II) memorials, and the Vietnam War memorial. Since apparently there was no love for Lincoln in our group (bunch of Southerners, I tell you), we just posted for our group picture facing the Washington Monument.

October 5th, Sunday:
All things must end, even gatherings, even the great VA Cathering. Evan proceeded to cook us one last breakfast. Packing our things, we gave our goodbyes and hugs, and we rolled out. The others headed out throughout the day .

There were so many stories and inside jokes and mannerisms and conversations and little things that only those that attended could understand and cherish, like all gatherings do. The Kiss & Ride, the Aaron Theme, Mommy Cat, monkeys in the brain, slap happy theology, the cube of Rubik.... Things that wouldn't make sense. But that's okay.

I want to thank the McFarlands, and especially Catherine, for hosting the gathering. If you didn't notice, the Cathering title is a reference to her. I want to also thank fellow CPNC organizers Faith Burnside, Evan Strite, Cassie Porath, Bridget Proffitt, and especially Jillian Heersink, who sadly couldn't make it, but was instrumental in everything. I also want to thank the Thompsons for the transportation and going out of their way to pick some CPers up, including myself. A thanks to everyone that came, and most of all, to our Father in Heaven for guiding us and making this a reality.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Short Story: When Foolish Words Are, For The Sake of A Friend

Probably my first foray into "heavy" science fiction storytelling.

When Foolish Words Are, For The Sake of A Friend
by Samuel Garcia

In the bubbles which are not bubbles between the universes (universi?), the foam of the Void, the multiform of dimensions, which are, in a way, mini universes (universi definitely sounds cooler) themselves, a stray bubble which was not a bubble touched upon another bubble, and that both bubbles went POP!

Except that it was not POP, it was more like both universes crunched and entropied and shifted to a zero energy state, BUT THERE WAS NO POPPING SOUND, FOR THERE ARE NO SOUNDS IN SPACE WITHIN THE UNIVERSE, AT LEAST MOST OF THEM, in accordance to each of their laws of physics. Howbeit, the point is, both were annihilated, because each of their personal bubbles intruded upon the privacy of each other.

I kid, for what was beside the point is actually important. If you recall, the sword does not cut always with its point, but its blade. Their annihilation were in accordance to the laws of physics of the universi (multiverse? Or is that too technical?). This led to a variety of doomsday apocalypses.

The most common laws of Universi Annihilation included that in the common tongue, a Universal Big Crunch, in which all stars, asteroids, planets, cheese, your grandma's mailbox, and multitudes of alien civilizations and their colonies and hermits outside of those, crunched into a single point of singularity. And not the cybertechnical singularity, but the event horizon one. I think. A cousin to this Universal Death is the Universal Big Quack, in which the universe is squashed, not into a singularity, but a singular all-encompassing duck. When it quacks, it croaks.

Alternatively, if the variables and constants were correct, instead the Universal Heat Death would happen, in which all stars, asteroids, planets, cheese (melted by entropy), your parallel universe grandma's mailbox, and multitudes of alien civilizations and their colonies and hermits outside of those, lose all heat and energy and atomic movement and probably subatomic and Planck motion as well, plunging everything to absolute zero and even colder.

Even less common was the Universal Death through Integalactical Bureaucratical and Brutal Tax Auditry, in which the laws of physics of that universe send it to its graveyard by a rapid exponential growth of desk jobs and paper work and deterministic desk workers that encompass the universe. Any conceivable and inconceivable and aconceivable subatomic movement and photonic energy and any quantum fluctuations are heavily regulated, taxed, accounted, interviewed, mortgaged, sent for coffee, shredded, made redundant copies, passed on to the next call representative, and legislated. This slows down the universe afflicted with this death to near zero time relativity, in which the speed of light is simply, practically zero miles per hour. If light decides to speed, then whoa, whoa, whoa, it will get ticketed. The call tree of this universe is in the degree of septillions, so much so that the music of the spheres literally is call music that you hear when you are rerouted to India. When that bubble finally bursts, it is seen by the relatively smaller void dwellers (and yet the void does not have nor recognize the concept of size!) as a shower of paper trail confetti.

Yet an even rarer Universal Death is through Universal Death through Hologram Spam. Think of a universe where your spam came to life as holographic characters, no, persons and races. There would be phishing spam, insurance spam, random spam, chain letter spam, creepypasta spam, canned spam, all represented as ghostly embodiments, rightly called hologram spam. Schroedinger's Cat is viral Nyan of the lengths of stochachistic numerals of rainbow super strings. This is fine and dandy, but when trillions of spam are spawned,there are only so many cans to go around, and the universe that fills up with the spam afterlife disintegrates like an email going to the Trash Folder. Luckily, most universes have spam filters and firewalls.

I've gotten carried away, haven't I? Well, it just brings me to a universe, that is probably not our own, or rather quadrillions of centuries in to the future, or some other distant conjecture through time and space and inbetween and nowhere and nowhen. In this universe, the apocalypse was of the constant, eternal invasion of shadow hyperspace entities that are closest shaped to puppies. Except they were beings of pure vacuum darkness. Not an evil darkness, but simply darkness that drains the light into its bowels. Instead of a common Big Crunch however, the pups of annihilation invade the edges of this universe, expanding space at dangerous planar lengths that are equal to imaginary radical numbers and letters of the alphabet. In doing so,

In the awareness of this Pupocalypse, the Spanning Imperial Omnidemocradoms of the Constellation Stovansglow, residing in the edge of the universe, almost to  thesoapy  surface of said bubble not bubble, grew restless.

You see, in the Omnidemocradoms, which only was truly a democradom by false pretense, and not by any solid or relevant nature, like the misnaming People's Republics of the communists of here yonder universe, had the High Imperial and Only Ever Powerful Servant of the Omnidemocradom and its Rightful Heir of its Manifest Destiny Beyond the Constellations and Even Beyond That declared an infinite eulogy to be sung in his name. The civilizations of this universe prized eulogies, for the longer the eulogy, the more immortal one is, a goal in many universes. So there was this hope of immortalizing the narcisstic ruler in the end of time (and space).

A call was heard throughout the stars, and the stars covered their ears as the bellowing signal rang for the best singers, poets, drama artists, pantomimes, radio announcers, and even beeping melodious doorbells and electronic card musical silicon chips. The logic is, that the sound would attract the narcissm of the ones who ply the trade of performance so that they can correct it. Thus many planets lost their Grand Poet Laureate, and galaxies their great Oratorious Maximus. Even the long dead alternate universe counterpart of Shakespeare and Lincoln was raised from the dead, and those who were time traveling and had a lick of singing ability was plucked out of the 4 dimensional time vortices by the bellowing signal.

And thus the High Imperial and Only Ever.... oh, you know who it is was pleased to see the best of the best performers eulogize his deeds and misdeeds (and mostly because the horrible signal was psychostatic in their brains, meaning that they have to sing and sing and sing to block it out of their minds). Verses rang out in the auditorium that is the space between the stars.

Oh, Mighty Servant of the Cosmos.
Ruling guiding hands we all feed on.
You invented the coffee thermos!
He who bites you be cast to the sun!

Each atom is pleased by your humility,
The quarks, and Higgs boson, too.
You make Stovansglow tranquility.
With your aid the cows go moo.

Though the darkness bark,
Literally.
You will make your mark,
Eternally!

The Andrimedia, woman of the seven nebulae, who sang to swirl the plasmic gases in a harmony, beautiful in face, heart, spirit, and song, was taken from her place, to the sadness of her prince and her people.

Resist, my love, the bellowing!

But she could not, for the treble the universe was in was disharmonious. The seven nebulae held what basically was a funeral procession for their Lady.

Even the best of the best could not hold entropy at bay, the traitorous pups of of annihilating doom. They babbled and grumbled and foamed and fell, for they were tired, and the High Imperial you-know-what didn't really have that much to be proud about, even made up redenkulous ones. (In that universe, that is how ridiculous is spelled, don't ask how this universe English can be translated otherwise)

Even the Andrimedia was muted, vocal chords strained. She lost her identity in a song, not of her own praise, but to one who did not deserve so. And she ebbed away and faded into vibration... she dissolved into a song! A pretentious song indeed!

Off with their heads! the ruler cried. Find me more performers! I shall live beyond the death of the universe! A lone pup started barking.
Oh, but what is this?

A hunched, hooded figure stopped the people's fuming autocrat. With a raspy voice, he cried, Sir, o sire, do not cut off their heads, for it is their heads that sing. If they cannot sing, they cannot turn the canine tide and make thee live beyond the inevitable death.

Go on, the skeptical Servant of the Constellation raised after declaring a proxy war against the canes of his empire. Apparently, the canes were conspiring to make old people fall in nursing homes by failing their structural integrity, thus making the grown children amass huge lawsuits against the ones responsible for making the canes, that is, the cane megafactories, and thus collapsing the Imperial Omnidemocradom's economy. A whole department of spies, called the Cane Intelligence Agency, sprung up from the declaration (that is, they literally grew and stepped out of the paper of the declaration of war the Servant just signed), and arrested all canes within the palace premises about, and three star systems away. Never mind that when they did the arrests, the old people who were holding on their canes fell and broke their bones. Thus the canespiracy theorists point that out this very day.

My solution, sire, is that I will build thee a great singing machine in the model of thyself, for who other than thou, knowest what you have done of all infinity? Then that yonder statue machine likeness will be set in the point of relativity where the center of this universe is, for then all the universe shall hear of thy greatness, and the Cerebus dogs of the hades would stop in their tracks and flee to nether regions unknowable.

The High Imperial Servant stroked his chin, and muttered, yes, yes, splendid idea! Thus his highness commissioned that nothing shall be withdrawn from the hunched-back man's requests, and gave his word.

O Ruling Servant, I beg of thee only a few things, that all the canes you have arrested become part of my workforce to build said statue, and all those that are performing here shall lend their vocalistic trembelutions and throaty sonic shrills and poeticrastic cerebellums.

Go! Go! Said the proud ruler. May his immortality ring throughout the bubble bath multiverse.

The hooded man went away as mysteriously as he came, like a singular quantum fluctuation in the sea of chaotic random-pseudorandom generation. Except that there were a flotilla of battleships and transports and space galleys full of canes and performing artists traversing to the CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE!

The CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE was boring, only filled with boolean alien civilization hive mind who held its consciousness in a neural net of celestial bodies like neurons, who were decimated quickly with death rays to make room for the statue.

What is it to me, an annihilation of a civilization, a species, the greatest supercomputer of all, for the memory of myself woven in the fabric of infinity and beyond!

In another universe, a certain toy spaceman felt a disturbance in the force.

In what seemed to be no time at all, but in reality, a very 7ZIP compressed recursive time/chrono loop with a terminating program, a colossal statue of (fool) gold, (glass) diamond, and other (fake) precious stone of the Servant was erected by the cane workforce. The cane workforce feudalized, democratized, unionized, communistized, splintered, outsourced, WAHed*, and globalized within the compressed centuries time loop.

In a separate subroutine within the time loop, a great tubular musical instrument was being assembled. The statue's mechanical arms were to play the flute to memorialize him!

So it was done after the program terminated and set into a self-sustaining orbit.

The end was nigh. The dogs were nibbling the edges and cutting swaths with their paws!

With no time to lose, the hooded figure invited the Ruling Servant inside the instrument. It was explained that all the performers voices and speeches and playing were in record here and perfectly amplified. All the Servant had to do was to enter this chamber, complete with a throne magnificent, think happy thoughts about himself, and the telepathic circuits would translate it into a universe shaking song.

Happily, the Servant sat himself down. The figure left the throne room, along with a parade of canes in ships to bunker down.

But it was all pretense, for you see, it was not an amplification chamber for a song. But for something else.

Neither was it exactly a musical instrument.

The time loop inside the instrument was restarted as the High Imperial Servant whistled, trapping him.

And the puppies of the universal darkness heard the eternal canine whistle, and rushed back to the CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. Colliding and barking and colluding and scratching and chasing tails, their gravitational spin increased.

It became what is known today as the Dog Star. And the orbiting statue with the trapped Servant keeps the Pup-ocalypse contained to this very day.

For you, Andrimedia, and our people, and the universe.

Thus the mysterious hooded figure raised his mysterious figure hood, and revealed the prince of the seven nebulae underneath with eyes of sadness.

And the high pitched whistles in the air and space had a tinge of melancholy, when foolish are words of the proud, but vengeance will come for the sake of a friend.

(The prince resurrects Andrimedia and they marry in the far, far future, using a string, a epigenetic recreation machine, timeline disperser, sound bounce container, and some cheese, but that is yet another, entirely different story)

*WAHed is the process in which outside work is completely turned into a house activity. It is an abbreviated form of "Work-At-Home - ed"