As an atheist, I was aware Prophecy doesn't work. Nobody sees the future, just like nobody talks to the dead. But I'm reminded of Stephen Fry's QI anecdote on injustice regarding the execution of George Spencer in Connecticut in (April 8th) 1642. Spencer was an ugly man with piggy ears and one eye and a sour disposition. He seemed openly contemptuous of God, echoing modern attitudes. One day a piglet was stillborn that looked like him, with one eye. The puritan community took it as a sign he had committed bestiality. He was charged and tortured into confessing. Told he would receive mercy if he confessed, he confessed. But realising that he might be condemned to death, he retracted his confession. The community decided that his confession and the dead piglet were sufficient to meet the two witnesses protocol for a death sentence and the sow was put to the sword and George was hanged.
And the Connecticut community in their diligence in serving God, respected the biblical law. They were acting through prophecy and the word. But we know that George had not fathered that piglet. And we know he was convicted on an injustice. And such injustice is something that is repugnant to God.
The NZ pastor admitted that prophecy (forth telling) was not perfectly applied by people and he took great care to bind it through three streams. It needed to be based on the word of God. It needed to be for the community, rather than the individual. It needed to be based in love (not romantic love, but love as God for the family of believers). Clearly the Connecticut community had failed that with George Spencer. But even so, there is no perfection with this tool.
When it comes to fore telling and forth telling the Bible provides examples how words are spoken to enact the miracles. The Lord speaking the world into existence. Abraham literally speaking his promise of a child into being with his name and with Sarah's name. The Apostles speaking Jesus's name for their miracles. Words and prophecy are related. Words have power. Jesus' life was foretold. His resurrection was real.
My fellowship friends illustrated the issue for me several years back. A young woman was the centre of a number of prophecy statements for an interested young man. I was dismissive of prophecy, but felt uncomfortable because I had hopes for the woman too. If I pray for something, I want it to be true. So, I tried to change the atmosphere and was sidelined and left the group. I approached the woman and told her how I felt and what was happening. She told me we were alone and 'could talk like adults now.'
Years have passed. I have longed to talk with her and share time together, but she has not been interested. I've been told she isn't interested. And my question of God is what does He want? I'm old and not fit, and I believe if God wanted me to have the life I can see, I'd need to be fitter. There is no forth telling prophecy for me. But it illustrates what forth telling is for. Because Gods kingdom is not of Earth, yet through forth telling, we can see our way home.
https://rumble.com/vaj151-about-prophecy.html
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell rock
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bell chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle...
David Daniel Ball calls himself the Conservative Voice.
I'm a teacher with three decades experience teaching math to high school kids.I also work with first graders and kids in between first grade and high school. I know the legends of why Hypatia's dad is remembered through his contribution to Math theory. And I know the legend of why followers of Godel had thought he had disproved God's existence.
I'm not a preacher, but I am a Christian who has written over 28 books all of which include some reference to my faith. Twelve blog books on world history and current affairs, detailing world events , births and marriages on each day of the year, organised by month. Twelve books on the background to and history of Bible Quotes. One Bible quote per day for a year. An intro to a science fiction series I'm planning, post apocalyptic cyber punk. An autobiography with short story collections.
I'm known in Australia for my failure as a whistleblower over the negligence death of a school boy. ...
In Tanami’s red sands where spinifex grows,
Where waterholes gleam ‘neath the sun’s golden glare,
Lived Yaparla, sweet maid, with a heart pure as snow,
Her kindness a light in the desert so bare.
Her father, a wise man, kept songs for the land,
To guard the soak’s waters where life held its sway.
But drought gripped the earth with a merciless hand,
And he sought a new spring to ease their dismay.
Deep in a gorge where the rocks hid the sky,
He found a clear pool with fish dancing free.
But a voice shook the stones with a thunderous cry,
“Who steals my sweet water without leave of me?”
Out slid the Wanyarra, half-man, half a snake,
His scales flashed like opals, his eyes cold with pain.
“For your kin’s life,” he hissed, “one price I must take—
Send Yaparla to me, or your land drinks no rain.”
The father returned, his heart heavy with woe,
And told his dear daughter the serpent’s demand.
“I’ll go,” said Yaparla, her voice soft and low,
“For my people, my country, I’ll walk that red sand.”
She came to the gorge with her digging stick strong,
Singing songs of her kin ‘neath ...
AI adapted
To adapt the story of Bambi to the Dreamtime of Warlpiri culture in the Tanami Desert, we’ll reimagine the tale with respect for Warlpiri storytelling traditions, cosmology, and the desert environment. The Dreamtime (Jukurrpa) is a sacred framework where ancestral beings shape the land, law, and life, so Bambi’s journey will reflect Warlpiri values like kinship, connection to country, and survival in harmony with nature. I’ll keep the essence of Bambi—a young creature’s growth amid loss and discovery—while grounding it in the Tanami’s ecology and Warlpiri worldview. Since Bambi is a specific narrative, I’ll translate its core themes rather than reproduce the original text verbatim, ensuring cultural sensitivity. The story will be concise yet vivid, as requested.
Bambi in the Jukurrpa of the Tanami
In the Jukurrpa, when the Tanami Desert glowed under the first stars, the ancestral beings shaped the land. From the spinifex and red sand, they formed Jampijinpa, a young red ...
Created with Grok, Pictory, And Topmediai
Content from listening to podcasters Hunley and Groubert of America's Untold Stories. They tell it better than me
Folk Song: "The Ballad of Lee Harvey Oswald"
Verse 1
Oh, Lee Harvey Oswald, a man they did frame,
The deep state and CIA, they tarnished his name.
They said he went to Mexico, a lie they did spin,
While he fought for his service, his honor within.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 2
On that dark day in Dallas, they said he shot Tippit,
Left a wallet behind, but the tale didn’t fit.
Arrested with his own in hand, the proof was right there,
But the deep state kept spinnin’ their web of despair.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 3
They trained him in Russian, sent him off to the East,
A ...
