Join the Realm

      Some of my friends on Facebook have recently gotten an invite to play Realm of Empires, henceforth called here -  ROE.  Those invites, if you choose to accept, will put you somewhere near one of my villages in Realm 10 and give you an invite to join my clan as well.  Yes, I did get something for inviting you and if you choose not to accept, no hard feelings.   While you're mulling over the decision, I'll tell you a little about the game.


     It is an online strategy game where you are given a village that you can grow into a great empire and rule the world...  Not really the world, just the area around your village.  You have a silver mine which gives you money that can be spent on anything from building a wall to recruiting troops.  You can command your troops as well, to attack enemies or support your friends, if they are under attack.  You will have the opportunity to join a clan because there is always safety in numbers.   Your clan has officers & diplomats, who hopefully will keep you out of war.  ROE is a fighting game so battles are inevitable.

    

     What would you learn by playing the game?  Actually the same things you would playing soccer down at the park, but with much less physical effort and fewer bruises.  You'll make new friends because communication is a must.    You will find out there are wonderful people in the world, as well as some who need to be on another planet.  You will have the thrill of capturing new villages, fending off enemy attacks, and that the game can put hurtles in front of you just like life itself.  Overcoming obstacles usually makes you stronger and wiser, again just like real life.  You'll learn fiscal responsibility making important decisions such as, do I upgrade my silver mine or build a stable?

     One caution though, do not forget your real life responsibilities.  It is just a game!  If you are supposed to take out the trash or cook lunch you'll have to prioritize.  Your wife or husband may eventually expect some attention as well.  So take a break every now and then and get those points back up.  Actually, ROE can be played with as little as 15 minutes/day.  If nothing is going on, just hit a few upgrades, recruit some troops, and come back tomorrow.

     When you start, there is a grace period before anyone can attack you.  You'll go through a short tutorial learning the basics.  Also, each clan has a forum for learning the game quickly and for clan communication.  ROE, when starting out, can be like a romantic comedy - a little slow.  Hang in there and just keep upgrading your village.   Eventually you'll have multiple upgrade opportunities and even a different village view.  That's when things get fun! 

 http://www.realmofempires.com/

 

Is it Because I'm White?

     I want to preface this blog with the fact that I am not a racist.  I personally know some wonderful black people.  My wife and I hosted a wedding in our backyard for two close black friends.  Now, with that clarified somewhat, read on…

     One morning last week, on my way to work, I scanned the radio onto an NPR station.  I rarely if ever listen to them and have always believed they are a waste of government money.  But anyway, I stayed for a moment and they began a report on the fact that segregation in America was taking such a long time.

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/18/133848837/segregation-in-america-dragging-on-and-on

They lamented the fact that whites just would not move into black neighborhoods to become the minority there. 

     Let me try to explain that to them, using a nearby city.  In the Birmingham News today (2-20-2011) there is an article by Eric Velasco entitled “7 Men to Blame in 25 murders”.  They are all black except one.  Birmingham, Alabama is a mostly black city.  It’s longest ever stretch of going without a murder is 28 days!  According to Neighborhoodscout.com, Birmingham’s annual crime rate per 1,000 residents is 94.13.  A Birmingham resident has a 1 in 75 chance of being a victim in a violent crime.  Why would any white person want to move into that kind of environment. Actually, that's where the term "white flight" came from, we moved away!

       I came across this great statistical analysis of a white family in a black neighborhood.  Check it out here…

http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/hood.htm

The last sentence says it all, “the likelihood of a white being victimized within a year becomes a virtual certainty.”

     I know this has happened to you…  You’re in a check out line at a store and the clerk is black.  He/she is unfriendly if not outright rude.  The person behind you in line is black.  How many times have you seen the clerk’s attitude completely change to overtly friendly to a member of their own race?  Let’s face it, they hate us!  They have been taught by the Jessie Jackson’s of the world that we are evil.  We made them pick cotton in the hot sun and have their babies in the fields. 

     Hey folks, it wasn’t me.  No one in my family has ever owned a slave.  Neither has my father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc.  So how long will you keep this hate-thing going?  Not only that, if you’re black, you have to go way back in your own genealogy to even find a cotton field. 

     Our problem is one of the heart.  Blacks and whites alike should work on loving their fellow man.  Long past history is no justification for any crime against any person created in God’s image.  NPR and American academia arranged their multicultural cart before the horse.  It just won’t work.  There will always be nationalities and cultures that will not assimilate especially if they are taught lies by the media! 

     I need to leave you with a Bible verse and John 3:16 is excellent. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

     God sent Jesus to die for everyone, even the people you don't like!

What If ...? :(

     Probably one of the greatest questions of all time, complete with a myriad of endings.  What if I had made another choice?  A different decision changes everything doesn't it?  What if I had...
finished school     took that job     applied for work     divorced     not divorced     tried harder     spend more time with family     loved deeper     not aborted     said I was sorry     only paid attention     saved more money    kept my mouth shut - the list can be endless!
     We are all trapped in a time line that marches constantly forward.  Choices present themselves daily with inevitable paths of good or bad.  Usually, decisions that seem to be unimportant at present time, carry tremendous regret later.   Time has a way of making them almost like antiques, priceless.  And the especially bad ones have ever increasing consequences!  It also seems to me that bad decisions were usually the ones I didn't pray about.  I let my own instincts or desires lead the way.
     Many argue that prayer is useless.  That God doesn't answer questions or shine a light along the correct path.   Sometimes thats right.   But other times, oh, those other times when after praying the phone rings, or there's a knock on the door, and the answer is there.  I believe God wants to help us, especially when our desires line up with His.  How can we know His desires?  He gave us a book, ever read it?  Actually, the more you read the Bible,  decisions come easier and easier.  Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."  Now, listen to Psalm 1:1-3, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked... his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water...and whatever he does, he prospers.
     Hey, God also allows some "do overs" on those bad choices.  Consequences aren't always permanent.  Why not pray about it?

Wake up Paul Revere!

     For over a quarter century, Jeremiah warned the Jewish people that the enemy was coming.  There was nothing that could be done to stop them, except remove all the idols and repent.  If they did that, maybe God would change his mind on the coming destruction.  Needless to say, they did not repent and the nation fell to the Babylonian army.

  
     America is under very similar circumstances.  There truly has been a great falling away from God!  America was once considered a "Christian" nation.  We lost that battle when liberals studied themselves stupid.  They decided religious white Europeans were the problem here.  They started turning our children away from Biblical truths and toward humanism and other atheistic ideas.  The media saturated the airwaves with propaganda, all in an effort to weaken and tear down the American way.  It had to be destroyed because it was too interconnected with Christianity.  In the liberal view, the baby had to be thrown out with the bathwater.

     They took prayer out of schools.  Creation was no longer allowed to be taught because evolution was deemed the correct interpretation.  It became legal to murder babies in the womb so a mother could have "choice".  The ACLU fought religion in the courts at every turn and now, companies even worry about the legality of an employee saying "merry Christmas"!  Homosexuality is now popular, and there are actually arguments for same sex marriage!  This hasn't been a slow moral decline because it happened in my lifetime.  It's been a fast ride with no brakes!  We had no one to stand up and say, "Stop"!

     It's probably very much like what happened in Israel.  The people were having a good time.  Money was good, food & drink were great, what's a little compromise, right?  The majority wouldn't believe there was an army coming until they saw soldiers outside the city walls.  After all, they were God's chosen people!  He wouldn't allow such a thing, but He did!  God called the Babylonians!  "Hey, Nebuchadnezzar, have you noticed all the wealth in the land of Israel"?

     I watched The Third Jihad over the weekend and it scared me!  I knew it already, but they are coming!  We need a Paul Revere to shout, "the Muslims are coming, the Muslims are coming"!  Let me tell you a little about them.  Muslims do not believe in Jesus as the Son of God.  They believe it is okay to lie to anyone who is not a Muslim.  Martyrdom to a Muslim is a backstage pass to Heaven.  The media want you to believe there are only a few Muslim radicals.  Listen, they are all radicals!  In the movie, a mother encouraged three of her ten children to be suicide bombers.  She was hailed as a hero and said that she was willing to sacrifice the other seven for the cause!  They take over countries by immigration.  They flood into it and they have a tremendous birthrate.  It is three times higher than most.  Over time they just vote Muslim law into place.  Christians and Jews need not apply.  It is a statistical fact that Germany will be a Muslim country by 2050.  Europe will fall shortly after.

     Americans need to make a radical change!  We're too nice to defeat them militarily.  The liberals have indoctrinated us with so much tolerance, we'll welcome them in and try not to offend.  Our only hope is repentance and prayer!  Maybe God will spare us the coming "century of terror" if we'll put aside our idols and turn back to Him!  

     

Here Today - Gone Tomorrow

     Romans 13:7 says, "Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed."  That is an excellent verse that I could spend a good bit of time on, but let me add a couple more.  They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied.   Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.  Mark 12:16-17
     Yes, it is that time of year again.  When the King's henchmen show up at your door wanting your hard earned dollars.  No, I don't like it either but as Christians, we have to listen to the words of our Master and toss in the required coinage.  We really lost the battle about 235 years ago when no one put  "term limits for all" in the American Constitution.  
     God is ultimately and always in charge.  He "sets up kings and deposes them" Daniel 2:21  We should stay focused on the pilgrim aspect of our lives.  Here today - gone tomorrow... Your money & your life!

The World is Flat!?

            I watched part of the National Geographic special on the 9-11 truth’ers Monday night!  I managed to stay for about 30 of the 60 minutes.  It was pure propaganda, so I watched “Loose Change” afterward to balance it out.  You can watch that documentary for free on the internet and you will become angry over how our authorities murdered Americans!  Of course, sanctioned murder has been going on since the dawn of time and even continues each day through the abortion industry.  It doesn’t make it right and God will not excuse the perpetrators on judgment day!  Wrong is wrong regardless of popular belief.

            Popular beliefs have changed throughout history.  The world being flat, bleeding people to remove the “bad blood”,  baptism is necessary for salvation, etc.  It’s hard to let go of something that you’ve always heard as fact.  It can be one of those “kicks in the gut” when you suddenly realize that not just you, but a whole lot of people are wrong.  Then, it gets scary if you’ve been one of the big promoters of the incorrect agenda.  It’s a degree of sin thing, the teacher always carries more responsibility than the follower.

            Most popular beliefs that are followed religiously are due to a lack of examining all the evidence.  If you stay in the “village” and only read official village memos and news then your view is going to be skewed badly.  Be willing to do some “opposition research”.  See what the other side is talking about, at least listen to their argument.  Your pounding the table drowns out everything.  In the book of James, chapter one verse 19, it says, “You must understand this, my dear brothers.  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.”

            If you live in “the village” and refuse to look at an issue truthfully then it’s your own fault.  One day you’ll look around and notice the village population is much smaller…   not so many on your side anymore.  Yeah, there’s a reason for that, its called the truth, and "the truth will set you free".