Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.
America's Export (Yeah right.)
[For Feb. 18, 2012]
Perhaps you already knew, but I myself only learned of late that Mary Ann Lamb, sister of Charles Lamb and co-author of Tales From Shakespeare (1807), stabbed her mother in the heart with a kitchen knife. The Wikipedia article on her attributes this to Mary's suffering from Bipolar disorder. Hmmm. Myself, I am more inclined to think criminal spirit people played a part in inciting and inducing such an act. But then as you know, discussing spirit people scientifically, in light of the enormous and billion dollar profits made from "Harry Potter," rabid fantasy, and serial killer movies, is forbidden. For more on Mary, see http://studymore.org.uk/ylamb.htm
Success may be due to merit, yes. But it may also be due to the devil. And to the degree it’s the devil, there's no merit in it.
Home
The world is only so fallen as we permit.
And if the world is fallen,
It is because we let it.
And instead of climbing up out of the hole,
We confuse our deluded part for the whole.
You can't say there is no point,
Because if you do, then
What is the point of your saying so?
But evidently your kingdom is not of this world.
You who reject God, the One
As either the beginning or the end,
And instead explain our motivations
By how psychologically wends.
However, pray, did a utopian like you
Ever end up in this world you rue?
After what happened all was quiet,
And no one was left in the silence.
At one time it was home,
And they left abandoning it,
And won't come back again.
And yet now the house alone
Was never itself to blame.
It had for happiness been framed.
Would that God will love it;
Now that they are given up and gone.
It sank into the night's sleep.
Yet the winds wildly whirred,
Whisperings secret thoughts
Which only the trees heard;
Thrashing roofs, walls rattle and shake,
Battering, rattling at the door;
Leaving the leaves to shudder in its wake.
How quiet for a moment it all is
Until the wind returns again.
In its revels like spirits who cannot
Bring good yet who will chide our wrong,
Vagrant demons lurking
Where they should not be.
There the poor thing was left;
Alone, abandoned, still such a child.
She did know what happened.
Someone was supposed to've loved her.
Instead she was thrown away;
And for me to find her mad.
So I tried.
But she died.
In error, in error,
Going down, down, down.
And thus many are forgot,
Known only to the Lord.
Was life, thanks to evil,
Ever worth living?
Maybe not.
Even so, you are in no position to judge.
Yes, perhaps you are right in your despair.
Yet because life is in motion,
How can you rightly know say?
Can you know Time the way God knows it?
While today lies fallow,
Tomorrow's another field,
In which to grow and live.
Fire warms, earth holds,
Water carries, air lifts.
Love seeps in.
Not the way you want or need it now,
But it seeks to reach you all the same.
Looking out from the place everlasting,
And to know those who've died are safe;
Where no strife can touch them more.
Life as they say is a journey.
You can say this, you can say that.
But whatever you say,
You still have to go it.
We do what we can;
We can't hold ourselves to more
Or fuss about what can't be helped.
And yet there is hope in honest truth;
Which devils cannot darken or liars dampen.
Be then in it calm and still as the moon
And proceed majestically like the stars.
When Abram left the Chaldeess,
Moving past the desert sea,
What was he fleeing?
Could he have foreseen
His effect on what was to be?
All he knew
Was that he was striking out
To something new.
A new place to live
Where he could be true
By all means.
The ideal is all that's real. All the rest,
Including even Nature, are its flimsy shade;
Ever manipulated by others or ourselves.
Flesh dies, but the Spirit will go on.
You are not the Light. But be as a mirror,
And reflect it to others, and this retain:
Somewhere someone joys in the peace you crave;
Be patient then your soul to save.
Sure, at first and originally he was a human being. But that was a long time ago.
So you arrive at the proverbial pearly gates, and the proverbial St. Peter asks you to list the ten commandments, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and all of the twelve apostles. Can you do it?
This song came up, but I just had to find something different...And didn't I!
["Cher- Fire & Rain"]
Can't wait for the premiere of the soon to be released "Billionaire Bum." (Now how's that for politically incorrect?)
Deny him his assumptions, and if you are as obdurate and intractable as he is, you can sooner or later take the wind out of the demonist's seemingly imperturbable self-assurance.
[ch. 8]...Let it be granted, then, that, as in the case of Job, the Father first delivered up the Son to the opposing powers, and that then they delivered Him up into the hands of men, among which men Judas also was, into whom after the sop [i.e., dipping in the cup, John 13:27] Satan entered, who delivered Him up in a more authoritative manner than Judas. But take care lest on comparing together the delivering up of the Son by the Father to the opposing powers, with the delivering up of the Saviour by them into the hands of men, you should think that what is called the delivering up is the same in the case of both. For understand that the Father in His love of men delivered Him up for us all; but the opposing powers, when they delivered up the Saviour into the hands of men, did not intend to deliver Him up for the salvation of some, but, as far as in them lay, since none of them knew “the wisdom of God which was hidden in a mystery,” [1 Corinthians 2:7-8] they gave Him up to be put to death, that His enemy death might receive Him under its subjection, like those who die in Adam; [1 Corinthians 15:22] and also the men who slew Him did so, as they were moulded after the will of those who wished indeed that Jesus should become subject to death. I have deemed it necessary also to examine into these things, because that when Jesus was delivered up into the hands of men, He was not delivered up by men into the hands of men, but by powers to whom the Father delivered up His Son for us all, and in the very act of His being delivered up, and coming under the power of those to whom He was delivered up, destroying him that has the power of death; for “through death He brought to nought him that has the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivered all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” [Hebrews 2:14-15]
[ch. 16] But first we may expound it in simple fashion. One, expounding the word of the Saviour here after the simple method, might say that, if any one who is a man mortifies the lusts of manhood, putting to death by the spirit the deeds of the body, and “always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus,” [2 Corinthians 4:10] to such a degree that he has the condition of the little child who has not tasted sensual pleasures, and has had no conception of the impulses of manhood, then such an one is converted, and has become as the little children. And the greater the advance he has made towards the condition of the little children in regard to such emotions, by so much the more as compared with those who are in training and have not advanced to so great a height of self-control, is he the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. But that which has been said about little children in respect of lustful pleasures, the same might also be said in regard to the rest of the affections and infirmities and sicknesses of the soul, into which it is not the nature of little children to fall, who have not yet fully attained to the possession of reason; as, for example, that, if any one be converted, and, though a man, such an one becomes as a child in respect of anger; and, as is the child in relation to grief, so that sometimes he laughs and plays at the very time that his father or mother or brother is dead, he who is converted would become such an one as little children; and, having received from the Word a disposition incapable of grief, so that he becomes like the little child in regard to grief. And the like you will say about what is called pleasure, in regard to which the wicked are irrationally lifted up, from which little children do not suffer, nor such as have been converted and become as little children. As, then, it has been accurately demonstrated also by others, that no passion is incident to the little children who have not yet attained to full possession of reason; and if no passion, clearly fear also; but, if there be anything corresponding to the passions, these are faint, and very quickly suppressed, and healed in the case of little children, so that he is worthy of love, who, being converted as the little children, has reached such a point as to have, as it were, his passions in subjection like the little children. And with regard to fear, therefore, similar things to those spoken might be conceived, that the little children do not experience the fear of the wicked, but a different thing, to which those who have an accurate knowledge of questions in regard to the passions and their names give the name of fear; as, for example, in the case of children there is a forgetfulness of their evils at the very time of their tears, for they change in a moment, and laugh and play along with those who were thought to grieve and terrify them, but in truth had wrought in them no such emotion. So too, moreover, one will humble himself like the little child which Jesus called; for neither haughtiness, nor conceit in respect of noble birth, or wealth, or any of those things which are thought to be good, but are not, comes to a little child. Wherefore you may see those who are not altogether infants, up to three or four years of age, like to those who are of mean birth, though they may seem to be of noble birth, and not appearing at all to love rich children rather than the poor. If, therefore, in the same way as according to their age children are affected towards those passions which exalt the senseless, the disciple of Jesus under the influence of reason has humbled himself like the little child which Jesus showed, not being exalted because of vainglory, nor puffed up on the ground of wealth, or raiment, nor elated because of noble birth, in particular are they to be received and imitated in the name of Jesus, who have been converted as the Word showed, like the little child which Jesus took to Him; since especially in such the Christ is, and therefore He says, “Whosoever shall receive one such little child in My name receives Me.” [Matthew 18:5]
[ch. 21] But if any one seems to be called a disciple, but yet is of the world, because of his loving the world, and the things therein—I mean, the life in the place round about the earth, and the property in it, or the possessions, or any form of wealth whatsoever—so that the saying, “they are not of the world,” [John 17:16] does not fit him; to him, as being really of the world, shall come that which happens to the world, the “woe, because of occasions of stumbling.” But let him who wishes to avoid this woe not be a lover of life, but let him say with Paul, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” [Galatians 6:14] For the saints while “in the tabernacle, do groan being burdened” [2 Corinthians 5:4] with “the body of humiliation,” and do all things that they may become worthy to be found in the mystery of the resurrection, when God shall fashion anew the body of humiliation not of all, but of those who have been truly made disciples to Christ, so that it may be conformed to the body of the glory of Christ. [Philippians 3:21] For as none of the “woes” happen to any of the disciples of Christ, so does not this “woe, because of occasions of stumbling;” for, supposing that thousands of occasions should arise, they shall not touch those who are no longer of the world. But if any one, because of his faith wanting ballast, and the instability of his submission in regard to the Word of God, is capable of being caused to stumble, let him know that he is not called by Jesus His disciple. Now we must suppose that so many stumbling-blocks come, that, as a result, the woes extend not to some parts of the earth, but to the whole “world” which is in it.
[ch. 23] Next we must test accurately the meaning of the word “necessity” in the passage, “ For there is a necessity that the occasions come,” [Matthew 18:7] and to the like effect in Luke, “It is 'inadmissible' but that occasions of stumbling should come,” [Luke 18:1] instead of “impossible.” And as it is necessary that that which is mortal should die, and it is impossible but that it should die, and as it must needs be that he who is in the body should be fed, for it is impossible for one who is not fed to live, so it is necessary and impossible but that occasions of stumbling should arise, since there is a necessity also that wickedness should exist before virtue in men, from which wickedness stumbling-blocks arise; for it is impossible that a man should be found altogether sinless, and who, without sin, has attained to virtue. For the wickedness in the evil powers, which is the primal source of the wickedness among men, is altogether eager to work through certain instruments against the men in the world. And perhaps also the wicked powers are more exasperated when they are cast out by the word of Jesus, and their worship is lessened, their customary sacrifices not being offered unto them; and there is a necessity that these offenses come; but there is no necessity that they should come through any particular one; wherefore the “woe” falls on the man through whom the stumbling-block comes, as he has given a place to the wicked power whose purpose it is to create a stumbling-block. But do not suppose that by nature, and from constitution, there are certain stumbling-blocks which seek out men through whom they come; for as God did not make death, so neither did He create stumbling-blocks; but free-will begot the stumbling-blocks in some who did not wish to endure toils for virtue.
~ Origen (185-232 A.D.), Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Book XIII
