Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear special people.

I have a lot to do and gather before taking off to Gaston, over an hour away, to set up my sawmill and take on a bunch of logs. At least the weather is supposed to be compatible. I finished up a tree job yesterday and brought the boom truck back home. But before leaving this morning, I want to deliver the boom truck to a mechanic so he can be repairing a few things.

Everyone is full of something—all the time. I think I like my last phrase below. Hmm. If I’m not full of a HEART AFTER GOD, what’s left to be full of? That’s kind of scary—and sobering.

Anyway, be blessed—and full of the right kind of stuff.

Love, Dad/Ray.

To Him Who is THE BEGINNING AND THE END, computer-generated animation video presentations are really nothing new at all. He, of course, IS the Sovereign COMPUTER Who computes EVERYTHING—and permits humans to dabble in some computers and computing of their own. Many humans become so enthralled and obsessed by their figuring out some principles and precepts of computing that they arrogantly think they are the actual creators of the whole reality, when, in fact, all they do is compute with computations that the Sovereign COMPUTER has already computed. Duh! Anyway, He has been using such computer-generated POWER-POINT video clips for a long time in His dealings with men. The Bible calls them DREAMS and/or VISIONS.

From some brief notes in my own study Bible, I was reminded that many or most Bible scholars compute the “stern-faced king” (“king of fierce countenance,” KJV) to be Antiochus Epiphanes. So I took a few minutes with this computer to do a Google search of “Antiochus Epiphanes.” Interesting stuff. I could spend days with this fascinating information. Suffice it to say, he was a cruel, ruthless, deceitful, bad dude—branching out of the Greek Empire which became the premiere world power under Alexander the Great. I note that Antiochus Epiphanes is generally regarded to be a type of THE ANTICHRIST. Listen again to this description: “He will become very strong, but not by his own power…he will destroy mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior” (8:24-25). Do you see any present-day comparable signs emerging?

Antagonists toward God and Biblical revelation will never be convinced of their legitimacy to predict and compute the future. In this regard, allow me to do something rare and offer a quote from one of the resources I found online. It’s from a work by Robert D. Wilson.

OK—Daniel viewed this video clip, and he was given some meaning and explanation from the angel Gabriel, but did he even then understand it all? Nope. He ends up the whole disclosure by saying, “I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding” (8:27). I take that to mean that these prophetic video clips are good to view, read about, study, and contemplate, but not intended to be fully understood until their fullness of time—which will play out to be fully good for those full of a HEART AFTER GOD.