So I Had A Plan...

 “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” 

Proverbs 16:9

I was getting comfortable. There was an opening for a promotion, and I hoped it would be enough that my wife could go from a hard job to a harder line of work—stay-at-home mom. 

Especially with the cost of daycare. I had a plan. 

Then I got a phone call. The owner of the house we rent(ed) wanted to put it on the market. Right now, it’s a seller’s market with house values skyrocketing into another housing bubble. 

I feared this day. I checked to see if the call was legit. 

It was. 

So I calmly told my wife about the call and then had a two-day-long panic attack. 

I preached Matthew 6:33 to myself. Immersed myself in worship music. Blew up a lot of phones and groups with prayer requests. 

Thoughts of being evicted and homeless within a week danced like soured sugarplums in my head. 

Then we met the realtor with the bad news. She turned my worry knob down to Defcon 4. So we wouldn’t be holding signs on the street corner after all. 

I’m writing this on June 29. Homes in our price range are hard to find. It’s like the Hillsong Worship song, Oceans. 

You call me out upon the waters

The great unknown

Where feet may fail

And there I find You in the mystery

In oceans deep

My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours

You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters

Your sovereign hand

Will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You’ve never failed

And You won’t start now

It’s not fun when going through the unknown, but I do feel better. Hopefully, by the time you read this, we’ll be in a new place that is all ours, and I’ll have a higher-paid position.

Leveling Up

 In another lifetime, I wrote scathing social and political commentary. In fact, it’s still viewable on this site when it began in 2010. Then, I was a part of prideful, independent critical thinkers. Wolves compared to the unthinking sheep of the world.

I imagine everyone thinks along a similar line…

I’d written two books about it: one a compilation, the other all me. For fun, I went back and talked to my younger self about what he wrote. Young Ronin wasn’t completely wrong. 

He just hadn’t gone on the journey I had.

2010-12: political and social commentator. When Ronin (younger me) was born. I look at the Facebook commentators and conspiracy theorists online now; even the language is the same as I used then.

Thanks, Facebook Memories, for the reminder.

2012-13: armchair warrior. Read all the defense books, taking martial arts classes—”Expert.” The Dunning-Kruger Effect was in full swing these three years. 

2013: I grew into my name: Ronin, Stoic, and Prodigal. Ended the year as a Samurai. (I think of it as starting out in Avengers like armor with Ronin kanji on the shoulder pads the previous year, to a simple t-shirt with it on the sleeves, to no branding) That’s just my mental image.

Then my life fell apart, and I started following Jesus. However, I never lost this knowledge and experience. 

2014: Gap-filling servant, apologist, student, and evangelist. What I studied shifted. Cracks in my knowledge were filled. 

2015: I searched for a purpose: to help the broken, challenged, and the unsure to live for Jesus. I’ve focused more on the last two in hindsight. My personal goal was loving people and actually making friends.

2016-2019: I focused on leadership, becoming a better one, yet never feeling like one. I usually don’t feel competent enough for a long time with my personality, but when I do, it feels effortless. 

Now my focus is being a dad. 

As I age, I feel like I’m less than I was. The 2014 version feels like the best version of me. Actually, so far the 2021 version is the best. I keep leveling up. I was a know-it-all, all-mouth back then; then experience came to me. The knowledge is applied and now second nature, so I don’t realize it.

The late 2013/2014-2015 version was very hungry for God, though. I miss that.

The thing is, you don’t lose what you were. It’s there to be tapped into. Except now, with experience, it’s become wisdom. 

So if I don’t take a course of action, it’s not because I’m an unthinking sheep. It’s because I’ve thought it through and decided against it. I can’t die on every hill or fight every battle. Nor can I waste energy being outraged and offended, or waste the time to fact-check every person’s opinion or news story.

Pastor Tim Keller put it like this: “Your future self will always see your present self as unwise and immature. That means, by your own standards, you are currently a fool right now.”

Chew on that.

Vance vs Ronin Part 1

Vance vs Ronin Part 2

The Portent; A Book Review

 The sequel to Michael S. Heiser’s Facade follows almost immediately after the first. It’s called:

The Portent (Façade Saga #2)

“Ancient conspiracy. Relentless evil. The hunt for answers continues.

The climactic ending of The Façade left Brian Scott and Melissa Kelley with only each other—and the terrible secrets they carry. The Portent finds them living under new identities, their future clouded by constant fear of being exposed. By the time Brian and Melissa learn they’re being watched, their carefully constructed lives will be over.

Follow Brian and Melissa into the center of an unthinkably vast, centuries-old conspiracy, conceived to turn the faith of millions against itself. Revelations from ancient tombs, long-forgotten Nazi experiments, UFOs, occult mythologies, biblical theology, and godlike technologies converge in answer to a terrifying question: Now that “they” are here, what do they want?”

Still pursued by The Colonel, Brian and Melissa cross paths with another mysterious group of people. I spent a while trying to figure out who they are and the leader I was way off about. 

This book is also heavy on exposition and follows the same pattern as the first, wrapping up theology, thriller, the paranormal, and actual conspiracies that were proven (like MK Ultra). 

It ends in a direct confrontation with The Colonel, a new mystery, and a riddle. 

The book was hard to put down, and Heiser is finishing up the third one now. I have no idea where he’s going with it next. 

Five stars.

The Big Picture

 I have a pet peeve. 

It’s one-verse devotionals that are either twisted out of context or don’t even apply. I’m not surprised at Biblically illiterate nonbelievers; it’s when believers don’t have the big picture of the Bible and where we fit in it.

The short version is the world was perfect, and then it went to crap. That’s a theological term, by the way. Jesus fixed it and is giving everyone a chance to join him before it’s all made perfect and new. 

Bible history is full of humans messing up, and God punishing them and restoring them. 

In the Garden of Eden, mankind tried to be like God, and they were exiled, and it went downhill from there. 

Heavenly spirit beings mated with humans, evil spread, and God had to flood the place. But he rescued Noah. 

Then there was the Tower of Babel. Man, in his hubris, decided to try to reach God and pull Him down from the throne. 

God scattered humanity, dividing the nations between His subordinates in the spiritual realm, giving them admin permission. 

Then he called Abraham out of modern-day Iraq to go to modern-day Israel.

Famine drove that family to Egypt. After that generation died out, they were enslaved. God rescued them, working mighty miracles and showing Egypt’s gods who was boss. 

During the exodus, factions rebelled, were punished, and in the end, only Joshua and Caleb were left of the first generation. 

The second generation did well, but after Joshua died…well, read the book of Judges. 

Rebellion->punishment->restoration. Repeat.

When Israel became a monarchy, it only made it through two kings before falling back into the pattern. Solomon started worshiping his wives’ gods, his kids continued, and the kingdom was split into two. 

The two nations rebel against God, are punished, then restored when a good king brings reformation until God ends up exiling everyone to Assyria and Babylon. 

They get to come back to Israel, and then God gets quiet for 400 years. That’s the Cliff Notes version of the Old Testament. 

Then John the Baptist comes and says the Messiah is coming. Jesus hits the scene, and the restoration process begins for the final time. 

People are exiled from the Kingdom of God because they don’t follow the king, but the king is calling them back. When all who would come back have returned, the rebels will be locked away and everything made new. 

That’s the Cliff Notes version of the New Testament. 

Personally, it feels like we’re in the time of Judges. Everyone is so tribal, and people do whatever they want because they don’t answer to anyone. 

Adam Savage from Mythbusters once quipped, “I reject your reality and substitute my own.“

People have taken that concept to heart. Anything objective or transcendent is rejected if it doesn’t fit their desires. Subjective relativism rules the day. 

It’s not a new thing, though, as we’ve looked at in this post. One day we will all get the ultimate reality check when Jesus returns. 

The Way, the Truth, and the Life will burn away all that is false, and everything will be exposed. 

Where are you in this cycle?

The Façade; A Book Review

 It’s rare for me to read fiction. I’ve reviewed quite a few of Michael S. Heiser’s nonfiction works, fascinated with his work on the rebellious spirit beings from the Fall. In a podcast, he said his fiction told the story of one way the world could be manipulated by the spiritual forces of evil. 

So I had to read it…

The Façade (Façade Saga #1) by Michael S. Heiser

“Haunted by his parents’ death and his career failures, Dr. Brian Scott has begun to settle for the life he’s been given.

Until he’s “recruited,” that is.

Kidnapped by military insiders known as “The Group,” Brian joins a team of world-class scholars working on an above-top-secret initiative. Their mission? To prepare mankind for a new reality. “They” are here.

Among Brian’s fellow recruits are the beautiful yet hostile Dr. Melissa Kelley and the enigmatic Father Andrew Benedict, whose prophetic nature clashes with Brian’s paranoia. As the team is briefed on the government’s involvement with extraterrestrials, strange things begin to happen. Disappearances. Visitations. Murder. Something isn’t right.

The closer Brian and the team get to the truth, the more they realize that no one is safe and no one can be trusted.

Unpeeling layer after layer of deception and counter-deception, Brian moves toward a shocking revelation that will forever alter how mankind sees itself.”

It’s fiction, so no highlights. However, I used to be utterly fascinated with conspiracies, UFOs, aliens, and cryptids. I often scared myself silly as a kid, and I hate to admit, a young adult after watching the movie Signs.

This blends together theology, science fiction, along with what Heiser calls “small c conspiracies” that have been proven.

One reason I probably liked it so much is it is heavy on exposition and figuring out the deal with the Colonel and the mysterious “Adam.” It’s part of a series, and I’ll review the latest one next. 

Satan's Strategy

 In planning, you always have a strategy and the tactics to make something happen. So whether it’s life, work, politics, warfare, or even spiritual warfare, you’ll have a strategy to be successful. 

I was taking the scenic route to work when a thought struck me right between the eyes. Satan’s current strategy is the same as initially.

“He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1

That’s aimed at believers. If you don’t believe in God, then you shouldn’t care what He says. However, if you do care, that’s the Holy Spirit working on you. God is after you to bring you to Him. 

I digress. Rationalization is a powerful tool, even with black and white issues. We play with the meanings of words to rationalize what we want.

Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself. He was then asked, “Who is my neighbor?”

“Did God really say…?”

Progressive Christianity is the latest result of the question “Did God really say?” Reworking what they don’t like based on feeling.

We do it daily, usually with our pet sins. I have a sharp tongue, but God says I cannot praise Him and curse my neighbor.

“Did God really say?”

Looking at culture now, it seems to be the answer is “no, He didn’t” or “I don’t care.”

Individuals can’t change culture, only themselves, but that person joins a group of like-minded individuals to make some waves. 

It starts with me and you looking at our pet sins or personal idols and asking the Devil’s question.

Did God really say?

Then if the answer is “Yes, He did,” turn away and ask forgiveness because God said a lot of things. Such as you’re a new creation, and new creations aren’t trapped in the old ways. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

That’s what God said of believers.