Petit PoisHarvest

28 June 2016 AD

After Pam Baker mentioned how she liked Petit Pois peas in a comment at this blog, I tracked down some seeds and planted one of my raised garden beds with them. Specifically, I planted two rows down the center of the 30" wide bed (x 15' long). The two rows were 4" apart and the seeds were planted 1" apart in the rows. That planting scheme worked very well. It has been noted in my Whizbang Garden Journal, and I'll repeat it in future years when growing "bed peas," (as opposed to trellised peas).

I planted the seeds on March 24. We harvested the peas yesterday. 

It's worth noting that we have had a long stretch of hot and dry weather here, and I did no watering of the plants. Nevertheless, they grew vigorously, produced an abundance of pods, and the pods all matured at pretty much the same time. Had I planted the bed more intensely, I suspect the plants would have had a difficult time getting adequate moisture from the subsoil.

My wife, Marlene, pulled all the vines and brought them to the patio behind our house, where we have shade from the sun. We then picked off all the pods, before commencing to shell them.

We hand-shelled together for nearly an hour and a half.  The pleasure of hand-shelling peas started to wane after about half an hour. I was glad when that job was done.

Marlene will freeze the peas and we will enjoy them through the winter.

I'm wondering if anyone reading this has used a pea-sheller  device of some sort to shell English peas, like these. If so, what kind, and how well did it work?

Hotter Than A JulyTwooooo-Mayyyyyyy-Toe

Dateline: 20 June 2016 AD

It's not July yet but, as Greg Brown sings in his classic down-t0-earth song, "Canned Goods," it's been hotter than a July Twoooooooooo-Mayyyyyyyyyyy-Toe here in upstate New York.

Deliberate Agrarian blog reader, Elizabeth, from out in the future free state of Jefferson, California, reads my Whizbang Gardening Facebook Page, and she saw the recent post I made there about the above YouTube clip. After which she wrote the following...

"Well, I wanted to make a comment about the "Canned Goods" song by Greg Brown, and wanted to make it on your blog...Thanks so much for that touching song. It's almost like my theme song for your blog, Herrick. The song and this blog mean a lot to me. I feel like I'm part of a family, so many names of people who comment have become familiar to me, and precious, as you and your family have become to me as well. That's what that song churned up in me, gratefulness, the good life, relationships!!!"

That's beautiful, Elizabeth. Thank you. I'll get back to writing at this blog soon, I hope.

As for the song, I recommend that everyone watch the YouTube clip above. At 38 seconds into the movie you will see some potatoes in a basement. That picture happens to be of my potato harvest from years ago. I posted it here to this blog. I was so surprised to see my picture there, and that's how I happened to mention it on my Facebook page.

If you like the Canned Goods song, and you want to hear a  long, rambling, version, check out this link: Canned Goods by Greg Brown (the delightful long version).

Strawberry Season

Dateline: 12 June 2016 AD

Berries picked this morning.
(click the picture for a delicious close-up view)

Hello Dear Readers,

I'm not blogging much these days. Life is just too busy. 

But I am keeping the strawberries picked, and we are certainly enjoying them, even if they are a bit on the small side this year.

I hope everyone's summer is off to a great start.

If you haven't yet entered Planet Whizbang Giveaway #3, please go check it out.

TTFN,

Herrick

Summer ReadingMemories

Dateline: 5 June 2016

Nostalgia is defined as a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The older we get, the more we experience nostalgia. And it is hot summer days that evoke a particularly sweet nostalgia in me. 

I have relatively few truly good memories of my younger days, growing up in a suburban neighborhood outside Syracuse, New York. But there were days in the summer when I would set myself up in the back yard, under the shade of a birch tree, on an old rattan chaise lounge, with a pile of books, and a cool drink, and just read. 

That chaise lounge was like a boat in the ocean. It took me to places where I was not. Just me and my books. I was an avid comic book reader early on. Then came the Hardy Boys and Brains Benton mysteries. From there, I graduated to more grown-up reading interests.

The old chaise lounge came from my stepfather's family. It looked very much (but not exactly) like this one...

The chaise had four old, sturdy purple cushions made with a short bristley fabric. It had wheels just like in the picture. But the arms were different in that they had a rattan cup holder and a place to store reading materials.

When my family moved out of the suburbs to an old farmhouse in the country (I was in 9th grade), the chaise went upstairs into the barn, where it only occasionally was brought outdoors in the summer. 

The fact is, in the suburbs, I had pretty much nothing to do in the summer. I mowed the lawn, but that was it for responsibilities. So I would read for hours on end. There were, after all, no computers or video games in those days. And I am thankful for that.

But when we got to the country, there was so much else to be doing that I never read for hours under the shade of a tree in the backyard like I once did. And I've always missed that about summer.

The old barn at my parent's place gradually fell into disrepair. The roof leaked in places. I would often go up into the barn and check on the old chaise lounge to make sure it wasn't getting wet. Then in the late 1980's a big wind blew most of the roof off the barn and it partially collapsed.

Upon hearing of the damage, I went up to see for myself how bad it was. My main concern was the chaise lounge. Had it survived?

Part of the upper floor where it was had collapsed. And portions of the roof had fallen in. The chaise was buried but it was in a pocket of jumbled lumber pieces, completely unharmed. I considered it's preservation from destruction to be something of a miracle at the time. With considerable effort, I got it out of there and brought it home.

I made space for the antique in my shop. My thought being that someday I would have the time to spend a whole summer day in my back yard doing nothing but reading books. The nostalgia was powerful.

Then, around ten years later, I did something with that chaise lounge that I never expected I would do..... I sold it. I really needed the space in my shop, but, more than that, I needed the money. 

I couldn't find any pictures or information about the chaise online back then. So I listed it on EBAY with a minimum bid of $100. The single winning bid came from a couple in Maine. They drove all the way to central New York to get the piece, and they were delighted with their purchase.

It so happened that they collected and restored antique rattan furniture. They knew the history of the chaise. It was made in Massachusetts in the 1800's (my stepfather's family was from Massachusetts). The man told me it was in remarkably good shape. "They're hard to find in this condition."

I smiled and waved good bye as the nice couple drove back to Maine with my chaise lounge. I regretted what I had just done, and I regret it even more to this day.

Then I went in my house and checked out the web site the couple had given me. It showed several nice houses on the Maine coast that they rented out in the summers. The pictures of the interior of the houses looked like pictures out of a magazine. They showed beautifully decorated interiors with an abundance of restored antique rattan furniture. Ocean views could be seen through the windows. 

I needed money at the time. That couple apparently had an abundance of it. And they also had my beloved old chaise lounge. I felt pretty low.

It was just a piece of furniture. I can't take it with me when I leave this realm. and it would have no meaning to my children. But still.... the nostalgia.

###

These days, my summers are not for lounging and reading. I typically work at my business, in my garden, on my land, or around my house (I'm still trying to get the roof finished) every day from morning to dark, or until I "hit the wall," as we say around here.

My work is not too laborious, and I take small breaks when they're warranted. But I'm persistently slogging away at several projects every day, until my brain or my body are spent. I like to work. I like to be exhausted at the end of a day. I like it when my arms and hands and back and shoulders ache from use. I feel better about myself, and I sleep better.

###

So, yesterday, a Saturday in June, I worked in my garden for awhile, before getting my Planet Whizbang mail-orders packaged. Then I worked for awhile at making Classic American Clothespins. Then I worked for awhile on handles for the Whizbang Wheel Hoe kits I sell. Then I hit the wall.

It was late afternoon. Still fairly early. And I remembered that I got an old gardening book in the mail. Marlene's anti-gravity chair was empty in the back yard.....

It's far from a vintage rattan chaise lounge, but close enough. And for a little while I was a kid again.

Mama Kitty likes the anti-gravity chair too

Interview With Jean-Martin Fortier

Dateline: 1 June 2016

Jean-Martin and his wife, Maude-Hèléne.

Jean-Martin Fortier's book, The Market Gardener, really impacted the way I garden. First, his use of 30" wide permanent planting beds with 18" walkways is the ideal size for me to work with. I had experimented in years past with wider beds and narrower walkways and I wasn't happy with any of them. But 30" and 18" is just right.

And it was Fortier's book that broke down my 30+ year bias against black plastic in my garden. His use of heavy plastic as an occultation cover makes so much sense that I had to give it a try, and I'm glad I did. 

So it's no wonder that the current Planet Whizbang Giveaway is for a DVD documentary of Jean-Martin's 1.5 acre farm in Quebec. There are 6 days left before the contest ends. There will be three winners.

Besides the new documentary, I want to let the avid gardeners among my readership know about the recent interview with Jean-Martin. I highly recommend it. Here's the link:  J.M. Fortier on Six-Figure Farming With The Market Garden.

There is so much for a home gardener to consider in the interview. Jean-Martin discusses his gardening system, including bed/walkway widths, and  the use of occultation plastic. But I learned something new when he discussed the use of a broad fork (his favorite tool). It turns out that the fork is NOT used to turn or seriously disrupt the soil in his garden beds. It is used only to aerate the beds. Check out the interview.

One more thing... The Farmer to Farmer Podcast (where the interview can be found) is an exceptional web site and resource for people who are interested in gardening and small-scale agriculture.

I've listened to several of the interviews at that web site and another good one that I recommend is Karl Hammer on Microbes, Carbon, and The Compost Connection.   That title may sound a bit esoteric but, WOW, I really enjoyed listening to Karl Hammer. He has a way with words and the man is passionate about soil biology, manure, compost, and all of that. 

For those who don't know, Karl Hammer owns the Vermont Compost Company. The compost-based seed starting mix he makes is legendary. 

The Lee Reich Compost Bin Design

Dateline: 30 May 2016

(click on pictures to see enlarged views)

There it is. Thank you, Lee Reich!
(click the picture)

Back in 2007 my family went to the Pennsylvania Renewable Energy & Sustainable Living Festival. While there, I attended a presentation by the garden writer, Lee Reich. In the course of his talk, Lee showed a picture of his compost bins. Someone asked how he made them, and Lee provided a verbal explanation of how he made the interlocking side boards.

Shortly after I got home, I figured out how to make the  sides and built a couple of the bins. The pictures below give you an idea how the bins go together. 

Lee uses 1 x 12 boards to make his compost bins. I used 1 x 8 boards. The finished bins ended up being kind of expensive but they have lasted 9 years and will likely last quite a bit longer. 

The secret to getting maximum lifespan out of your boards is to not leave them outdoors, full of compost, year round. If you take the bins apart at the end of the garden season, let the boards dry out, and store them out of the weather in the winter, they will last. 

Click Here for an article showing how Lee Reich makes his compost bins.

This pile of old boards will fit together to make my compost bin.

I attached the end cleats with Gorilla glue and three wood screws. Two screws through one side and one through the other. None of the cleats have come off in nine years.

This picture shows how the boards interlock at the corners.

I made two bins nine years ago. One is bigger than the other.

Yesterday I mowed and raked up a truckload of grass and weeds to fill my compost bins.

I layered in the fresh-cut greens with some comfrey. I'm not using any animal manure because of  a bad experience I had with herbicide residue in horse manure a few years ago. I think the fresh-cut weeds and comfrey will have enough nitrogen and moisture to compost without manure.

Full compost bin, for now. It will settle considerably, of course. I filled the other bin after taking the picture.

A well-tended compost bin should be covered.

This is the desired final result. I sifted this compost from the remnants of last year's compost pile.

Interview WithEliot Coleman

Dateline: 28 May 2016

Eliot Coleman
(photo link)

My introduction to Eliot Coleman came back in the 1970's when he was featured in Organic Farming & Gardening magazine (I still have that issue somewhere). Eliot is now 77 years old, and is the elder statesman of American organic gardeners.

If you're any kind of a gardener, you have at least one of Eliot Coleman's gardening books. Click on the photo link under his picture and you'll find a "fertile dozen" of vintage gardening-related books (besides his own) that he recommends. I just tracked down a couple of the less expensive ones and ordered them.

Better yet, if you want to listen to a great (and fairly recent) interview with Eliot Coleman, click here: Eliot Coleman on the Importance of Observation and Making the Soil Work For Your Farm.

I enjoyed the interview so much that I've listened to it twice.

Planet WhizbangPocket Cultivator Giveaway...With Four Winners!

Dateline: 16 May 2016

It's a downright handy tool for any gardener!
(click picture for enlarged view)

Among the best of ideas in my Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners is the homemade Whizbang pocket cultivator, an example of which you can see in the picture above. 

Don't let the obvious simplicity of this tool deceive you. My own Whizbang pocket cultivator is one of the most useful gardening tools I own. It is perfectly suited for light cultivating of garden soil up close to plants, and in other areas that are too small to get into with a hoe. 

There are three "secrets" to making a most useful pocket cultivator. First, the length of the fork must be just right. Second, the handle end of the fork must have a bulbous shape to it. This swollen end makes it so much easier to grasp and work with the fork. In my book (page 69) I reveal the ideal pocket cultivator length and I tell how to make the bulbous end.

The third secret to making a really good pocket cultivator is to choose the right fork. While any dinner fork will do the job, a heavy-duty fork with long tines is so much nicer than a fork with short tines made of lightweight metal.

I have made a study of dinner forks at thrift stores and antique shops and I've discovered that ideal-pocket-cultivator-grade forks are surprisingly hard to find. There is an abundance of cheaply-made lightweight forks to choose from, but there are far less of the better quality forks.

With that in mind, you might imagine my delight at finding 18 assorted vintage dinner forks that were just right for making pocket cultivators at an antique shop a few days ago. I sorted through a box with hundreds of pieces of odd cutlery to get the 18 forks, and I paid a whopping 70 cents each for them.

This recent discovery is what has prompted me to launch this Whizbang pocket cultivator giveaway. I've made four pocket cultivators like you see in the picture above. These are deluxe Whizbang pocket cultivators because I have given the handles a coating of Plasti-Dip rubber.

I'm using Rafflecopter to compile the names of everyone who enters this giveaway. And Rafflecopter will choose the four winners at random. This should save me a lot of time and trouble.

However, Rafflecopter is new to me and I'm still kind of figuring it out. I hope everything goes smoothly. I hope you will bear with me if there are any glitches.

To enter the contest, you need to click in the appropriate spot in the Rafflecopter box below. Rafflecopter will need either your name and e-mail address or your Facebook identity. After you enter that information you will be asked to visit the Whizbang Gardening Facebook page. Then click "I visited" in the entry box, and you will be officially entered in the contest. 

Winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter on May 24th and announced here shortly thereafter. 

Terms & Conditions

No purchase is necessary for this giveaway. There will be four winners, chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. Each winner will receive a homemade Whizbang Pocket Cultivator, like shown in the picture at the top of this page. The contest is for US residents only. If you win, you will be contacted by e-mail. You have 48 hours to reply to the e-mail with your mailing address. If you don't respond in that time, another person will be chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

P.S.

There is still time to take advantage of the unprecedented 2-fer sale on the Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners. Two books for the price of one ($21.95), and shipping is included. The sale runs to the end of this month. CLICK HERE for details and to order.

Good News From"Further South"

Dateline: 15 May 2016

For those who don't already know, David the Good and family, formerly of Florida, have left America. David revealed this in his Blog Post a couple days ago. As explained in the short YouTube video above, they are renting a cocoa farm at "an undisclosed location near the equator."  

Those who have read this blog for awhile know that I've mentioned David several times. We "met" back in 2013 when he purchased a Whizbang Wheel Hoe kit from me and reviewed it at his blog. Later, when I came out with my Classic American Clothespins, David bought some and reviewed them too (Here is the Review Link).

And David is, like me, a self-published gardening book author (see his books Here). He also has a slightly zany sense of humor that is frequently manifested in some of his YouTube Videos. For the most part, I get the humor and appreciate it. 

When you move your family from Florida to a cocoa farm in an undisclosed location near the equator, taking all your stuff can be expensive. So you just don't take all your stuff. You take only the most essential and valued items. Which means, of course, that if you are a "survival gardener" you take your Whizbang wheel hoe, and I was very pleased to hear that is exactly what David has done. 

At this point, I don't know if the clothespins and David's Planet Whizbang Hat were deemed necessary and worthy enough to make the journey.

Now, as I pondered this move, it occurred to me that David would have at least one problem moving to an undisclosed location near the equator. That problem being that his blog is titled Florida Survival Gardening. 

But I just looked, and it's now titled The Survival Gardener. So I guess that little problem is solved.

David and family (his wife and a number of children) are among a growing number of American expatriates. It's an exciting idea to consider, and I wish this family all the best in their new tropical homestead.

###

P.S. I've been privileged to know about this planned exodus for some time, and I actually know where the undisclosed location near the equator is. But I've been told it is Top Secret (for now), and I'm very good at keeping a secret.  

Who knows... I might want to head down there myself someday. Wouldn't that be something! And I'll change the name of this blog to The Deliberate Tropical Agrarian.

It's A Down-To-Earth,Theological Tour De Force(Joel Salatin's Newest Book)

Dateline: 5 May 2016 AD

I'm in the midst of a little blogging break but I'm returning to tell you about Joel Salatin's newest book, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs, which I am in the process of reading. 

Don't let the title mislead you. It isn't a book about pigs. It's a book written directly to professing Christians on the subject of responsible creation stewardship. In short, The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs is a well reasoned, much needed theological slap upside the head of modern mainstream Christianity.

I must confess that I've only read up to page 68 thus far (189 pages yet to read). But I can tell you I haven't enjoyed a book as much as this one in a long time.  It is insightful, thought provoking, spiritually convicting and, occasionally, kind of shocking. The book makes one powerful point after another. Here are a few random quotes that give you a little bit of the "attitude" of this book....

###

The fact is that the religious right has neglected earth stewardship and given it over to creation worshippers instead of owning it as Creator worshipers.

###

I would suggest that a culture that views its pigs as just mechanical objects to be reprogrammed and manipulated will view its citizens the same way, and ultimately God the same way. A deity to be manipulated and formed into something of our liking.

###

We're the first culture in the world that routinely eats things that have never lived. In spiritual parlance, we're ingesting things that are an abomination to our bodies—and then requesting prayer for the ailments that result.

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In many ways, GMOs are far more insidious and destructive than alcohol or tobacco...

###

I find it fascinating that sexual abstinence is front and center on youth Bible study agendas, but junk food orgies are perfectly fine.

###

For Christians to make jokes about Rachel Carson and the definitive understanding that DDT created infertile frogs, three-legged salamanders, and a dead zone the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico is simply unconscionable in light of our creation stewardship mandate. The earth is the Lord's, not ours. If we took care of our employers' physical interests the way we take care of God's physical interests, we'd be fired and probably put in jail.

###

The world we live in is holy. The life we embrace is holy. My dad used to say, "To us, every bush is a burning bush."

###

There is so much more to this book than those few quotes convey. If you are a Christian and an agrarian (as many readers of this blog are)  there isn't a doubt in my mind that you will enjoy The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs.

Some ThingsFor The End Of April

Dateline: 28 April 2016

Well, April is almost over and things are getting busy around here, what with the garden and Planet Whizbang sales ramping up. Besides that, tomorrow I'm going to launch into phase-two of my three-phase (three year) house re-roofing project. Back in the day, I could have re-roofed my house in a weekend. Now it takes me three years.

And I'm still making Classic American clothespins, or trying to. I'm now up to customer #44 on my waiting list of 376 people.  

So I'm going to take a little break from this here blogging for a week or so. In the meantime, here are some things to read, and think about...

Everett In The News

Everett Littlefield, a frequent commenter on this blog, was in the Block Island Times recently. You can read about him and his 48 x 30 greenhouse at this link: A Satisfying and Self-Sufficient Life.  It was a pleasant surprise to see my Garden Idea Book mentioned in the article. Thanks, Everett. 

Oh, and for those who missed it, Everett sent me a picture of himself wearing his Planet Whizbang hat. I've posted it at the bottom of This Web Page. I dare say, Everett looks better in his Planet Whizbang hat than John Wayne does.

~~~

Hernando Presbyterian 

Links To This Blog!

As far as I know, this is a first... Hernando Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Hernando, Mississippi, has added this blog to it's Links page under the "Creation and Family" category (Click Here to see). My thanks to Pastor Gary L. Jones for doing that.

I thought it might be interesting to see if there were any Presbyterian (ARP) churches around me. It turns out there are only a handful of them in the whole state of NY, and none anywhere near me. 

I'm curious... does anyone reading this knows of another church that has links or articles related to Christian agrarianism on their web site?

~~~

Why The Amish Don't 

Pay Into Social Security 

(Or Obamacare)

The Amish don't pay into Social Security and they don't have to deal with the government-enforced socialized health insurance scheme (a.k.a., Obamacare) currently being perpetrated onto the rest of America. 

How can they get away with that? Well, it's an interesting story. You can read the history at this link: Valentine Byler vs. The IRS.

I'm delighted to see that the Amish do not have to participate in such foolishness. You would think that more Americans might think about becoming Amish to escape the onerous Social Security tax. But the Amish don't let just anybody into their sect. Besides that, precious few American families would really like to be free from the responsibility of taking care of themselves and their own family in old age, without collecting a monthly Social Security check.

~~~

The Pension Crisis Deepens

Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. That familiar phrase certainly applies to American pension systems, private and public. They're all in trouble, but some more than others. This ZeroHedge Article on the subject is well worth reading. Even if you are not personally connected to a pension, you will be affected by this crisis. 

~~~

Middle Class Crisis

I read The Secret Shame of Middle Class Americans this morning.  The secret shame is that they are broke, or nearly so. The article is a lengthy but interesting story of one man's upper middle class struggles.  A quote...

"I never wanted to keep up with the Joneses. But, like many Americans, I wanted my children to keep up with the Joneses’ children, because I knew how easily my girls could be marginalized in a society where nearly all the rewards go to a small, well-educated elite. (All right, I wanted them to be winners.)"

His two girls went to private schools, and expensive colleges. Another quote...

"I don’t ask for or expect any sympathy. I am responsible for my quagmire—no one else. I didn’t get gulled into overextending myself by unscrupulous credit merchants. Basically, I screwed up, royally. I lived beyond my means, primarily because my means kept dwindling. I didn’t take the actions I should have taken, like selling my house and downsizing, though selling might not have covered what I owed on my mortgage. And let me be clear that I am not crying over my plight. I have it a lot better than many, probably most, Americans—which is my point. Maybe we all screwed up. Maybe the 47 percent of American adults who would have trouble with a $400 emergency should have done things differently and more rationally. Maybe we all lived more grandly than we should have. But I doubt that brushstroke should be applied so broadly. Many middle-class wage earners are victims of the economy, and, perhaps, of that great, glowing, irresistible American promise that has been drummed into our heads since birth: Just work hard and you can have it all."

The author is a professional writer. He and his wife have no retirement savings because, in his own words...

"...because we emptied a small 401(k) to pay for our younger daughter’s wedding."

And then this insight...

"But lack of money definitely ruins everything. Financial impotence casts a pall of misery. It keeps you up at night and makes you not want to get up in the morning. It forces you to recede from the world. It eats at your sense of self-worth, your confidence, your energy, and, worst of all, your hope."

When I read those three sentences, I stopped, and read them again. And again. I've been there. I know that feeling. Thankfully, it is behind me. I hope never to go back there. I feel sorry for the author.

~~~

The Appearance Of Affluence

The Millionaire Next Door is a book worth reading. I no longer have my copy but one thing I remember very well was the part about how there are many people who live an upper middle class lifestyle and really can't afford it. It looks like they have a lot of money, and they may even make a lot of money, but they live beyond their means, just like the guy who wrote the  Middle Class Crisis article above.

And surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly) many of these upper-middle-class-in-appearance-only people are sustaining their lifestyle habits with a regular influx of monetary help from their affluent parents.

Which makes me think that if you ever visited my home you would realize very quickly that I do not have the appearance of affluence, and for good reason. Thankfully, that has never been important to me.

~~~

I Agree With Franklin

Jonathan Cahn's Harbinger book, along with John Hagee's blood moon prophecy are so "last year," but we really shouldn't forget them. Not because of what they predicted with such certainty, but because they are such perfect examples of what Christians should avoid buying into when the next Christian "authority" comes out with another solved mystery or a new revelation about some soon-and-coming event that will rock the world.

My history with such books goes back to my teenage years, when I read Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth. I swallowed that book's message hook, line, and sinker. And followed similar authors in the years ahead. Then came  Edgar Whisenant's insightful little book: 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be in 1988. 

It's a wonder I'm still a Christian when I consider all the dire predictions from Christian "authority figures" that I believed  back then, and that never materialized. I'm sure it's the grace of God that has preserved my faith, and the eventual realization that these biblical prognosticators were all perpetrating "another gospel." 

When I read my Bible (the New Testament in particular) it is all about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who willing gave his life to pay the penalty for the sins of those who would believe on Him. That penalty is death and separation from God. But because of Jesus Christ, there is personal salvation (from the consequences of our sin) and life eternal. That's the good news.

But there's more... also in the New Testament, I read a tremendous amount of instruction about how followers of Christ can and should live an authentic Christian life. 

As an interesting aside, I find almost nothing in the New Testament about the importance of, or need for, evangelizing and proselytizing (a.k.a., "soul winning") by the average Christian believer. 

This matter of living an authentic Christian life is all through the New Testament teachings of the apostles (read I John if you'd like an example of what I mean). 

With those thoughts in mind, I firmly believe that any preaching or teaching that veers away from the message of Jesus Christ and the pursuit of authentic Christian life is a shallow religious diversion. And this is especially the case when such teaching revolves around some gnostic insights about the future.

I'm rambling here, and I've probably upset a few people (again). All of this  has come to the forefront of my thinking after reading Franklin Sanders's excellent review and analysis of The Harbinger. He wrote it in January of 2015. But I just read it the other day. I strongly recommend Franklin's book review to fellow Believers: The Great Evangelical Distraction.

~~~

Last Words

"Tis well."

Have you ever wondered about the last words uttered by America's presidents? Well, it's downright interesting to read them, and you can do so At This Link. I must confess, I got a lump in my throat when I read the last one (Ronald Reagan).