Thursday, April 30, 2020

New Blog Address

New Nanaimo Info Blog address
www.NanaimoInfoBlog.com

The url for this blog has now been changed to www.NanaimoInfoBlog.com which is basically the same without the hyphens as it used to be.

Why you may ask........... long story short between Google and Godaddy it became impossible to renew the hyphenated title so I finally changed it to this one.

Most of my attention is being devoted to my new effort 'The Canadian Sentinel' which has a much broader scope than my Nanaimo Info Blog site. The current pandemic and Canada's handling of it are my main focus during these most unusual times.

I note, that times in Nanaimo, while unusual in the pandemic sense, is still pretty much the same at City Hall. The 'Tax-n-Spend' council is operating true to form and fearing they won't be able to continue their spending spree under the current economic cloud, have opted to borrow up to $52 million if they find the taxpayers simply can't afford their spending habits.

At a time when fiscal uncertainty is the only certainty, prudent managers might consider pulling back on some of their spending and focus the taxpayers resources on what is critical to the operation of the city. But, that would not be consistent with the current city council who have decided to spend nearly half a million tax dollars turning Front Street into a more bicycle friendly road.

In the meantime most of downtown is boarded up and if you do ride your bicycle downtown, if you don't watch it every moment it just as likely to be stolen as not.

You can check out The Canadian Sentinel at www.CanadianSentinel.com which is currently dominated with the Covid-19 pandemic, the origins of which seem to be a lot different from the original story about bats in a wet market. Sounds more like it came from a petrie dish in a Wuhan laboratory.

allvoices

Monday, April 13, 2020

Covid-19 Pandemic of Panic

What has gripped the nations with such fear?

For a certainty this coronavirus is a nasty little bugger and many lives have come to an end as a result of it's effect on some bodies.

The fear that was associated with this unseen enemy seems unmatched in memory with people flooding stores and depleting supplies, with some peculiar interest in toilet paper.

A few short years ago over 60,000 people died in the USA as a result of the seasonal flu that year, with little or no fanfare at all. No mass quarantines or hording of supplies or increase in gun sales. It just came and went, for the most part unnoticed, except by those it has affected.

This invisible little bug seemed to spread at light speed around the world, which likely added to the press coverage and ramped up fear associated with it.

As contagious as it is, and as vulnerable as those already in poor health were to it's attack the level of response seems excessive to some. The idea that nations are willing to risk the complete collapse of their economic systems and the ensuing civil unrest that would undoubtedly result testifies to the fear this virus packed.

There is wisdom in the statement that the cure can't be worse than the disease. None of us living in the West can imagine how chaotic life would become if our economic systems collapsed. Rioting and looting would just be the order of the day. We had a taste of that with fist fights breaking out over toilet paper during this recent event. Now imagine the chaos when it is the last can of beans people are fighting for. It didn't take long for an otherwise civil society to break down into a panicked mob. Now, imagine that same scenario, not for days, but for months and even years. That is what is at stake.

What are people really afraid of?

Most of use are not really afraid of getting a cold or flu and putting up with the physical distress for a week or so, but it was the fact this bug seemed to pack a far more lethal punch than just a regular flu that fueled the fear.

But what are people afraid of? No, it is not getting sick that packs a punch, it is the fact that we are now face to face with our own mortality and the fact we will all die one day. When people have no assurance of life after death, the reality of their own death becomes terrifying.

We have just celebrated the most holy time on the Christian calendar which should in fact give blessed assurance to one and all of their eternal lifetime that can be spent in heaven, with God their Father.

The gospel is the gospel of good news, and that good news is the fact that God is not angry with any one of us, regardless of how we have behaved. By putting to death His only Son, He removed the stain of our sin that has caused us to want to hide from Him. We can never be good enough to get into heaven, which is why Jesus paid the price for our sin with His own death. That is the depth of God's love for all of us and the only thing that is keeping any of us from the blessed assurance of heaven is 'us'.

All that is required to have the assurance of life everafter in heaven is the bowing of the knee and turning our faces to God, asking His forgiveness and the newness of life that can only come by accepting what Jesus has done for all of us.

To know you have this blessed assurance all that is required is a simple prayer, prayed honestly and earnestly is all it takes, "Jesus save me, a sinner". That's all.

allvoices

Sunday, April 12, 2020

What Is This Gospel??

The word Gospel simply means "Good News"

Anyone living in North America surely has heard the term 'Gospel of Jesus Christ'. But what does it actually mean?

The gospel of Jesus Christ could also be said this way: the Good News of Jesus Christ.

What is this good news associated with Jesus Christ? Simply put, it is the best news that any person can ever hear. The good news is the fact that in spite of what we think, God is not the least bit angry with any of us and in fact wants nothing more than for each and every one of us to come into a loving Father child relationship.

He never made us to go through life by ourselves, we were always intended to have a personal relationship with Him as did the first man, Adam. God and Adam walked together in the cool of the day, every day in the beginning.

Sadly, sin entered the world and because we know we sin, we think we have to hide ourselves from God. That is the last thing we should do and is what leads to all the misery and strife many experience during their lifetime. God never intended for His kids to suffer hunger or sickness or fear or addictions or any of the other maladies that afflict mankind.

The solution to our current condition is to accept the fact that Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection has completely forgiven our sin and there is now no reason to hide from God any longer.

If you want to know that this is true and applies to you, all you have to do is call out to God and ask Him to forgive you and take you into His family.

A simple prayer could be like this: Lord Jesus please save me a sinner

If you can earnestly, honestly pray that simple prayer, you will know in a heartbeat that God has heard your call and He will make Himself known to you.

That is the Good News of Jesus Christ ....... you no longer have to hide from GOD, He is waiting with arms wide open to welcome you home.

This Resurrection Sunday is the perfect day to put this to the test in your own life. Today, is set before you Life and death ............. choose Life.

allvoices

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Resurrection Sunday

Resurrection Sunday
A more fitting name

Looking at the celebration of eggs and rabbits which are both symbols of fertility on Easter Sunday it is not much of a stretch that the name has been polluted over time.

Resurrection Sunday is a more proper and fitting name for the most holy day in all of Christendom.

On Crucifixion Friday the LORD descended into the very pit of hell, being totally separated from God,suffering the fate of all those who reject the Gospel. Death is best described as being totally separated from God.

Those three days may as well have been an eternity as time stops in that horrible place. During that time the LORD was tormented by the devil and his evil hordes. 

He endured the same suffering and anguish that all souls will experience in that horrible place. Most certainly the devil believed he had triumphed over God, having moved sinful men to put Jesus to death.

Suddenly on the third day, as the devils laughed with glee over their victory all of hell was shaken as blinding light pierced the place.

Their glee turned to sudden shrieks of terror and fear as the Almighty Holy Spirit of God entered that place.

He declared to all in that place:

You can not have Him!
He has paid the price!
IT IS FINISHED
ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW

In that moment God's greatest demonstration of His love for mankind was finished.

The sin that has kept men from God is no longer a barrier, as God's only begotten Son paid the penalty for all of us. The only thing that is required of us is to simply believe what Jesus has done. It is no more complicated than that. We don't have to perform certain rituals or stop sinning before we are accepted by God, we are accepted, not because of anything we can do, but because of everything that He has done.

To make the power of Resurrection Sunday become reality in your life, requires no more of you than to bow your knee before God and ask Him to save you.

Sincerely and honestly prayed, the following prayer will cleanse you of all sin and usher you into God's eternal family:

Simply, sincerely, honestly pray:

Jesus,save me a sinner



allvoices

Friday, April 10, 2020

Crucifixion Friday and Resurrection Sunday

Crucifixion Friday and Resurrection Sunday
The most holy time
Where the term 'Good Friday' came from  is unclear, some believing it was a corruption of 'God's Friday' some place in time. That said there is no doubt that Crucifixion Friday is a more accurate expression.

For it was the day on which God's only begotten Son was beaten and nailed to a tortuous instrument of death putting on display the greatest demonstration of God's love creation will ever see.

What is disguised in religious symbolism is the depth of physical and spiritual suffering the LORD endured, paying the price for the sins of all mankind.

His suffering is usually portrayed with a sanitized depiction of a man with arms and feet hanging on a cross, perhaps with a crown of thorns on His head and a few trickles of blood on His forehead. Clothed in a clean and tidy cloth about His loin.

That image speaks nothing of the real horrors of that terrible day the LORD suffered for not only our forgiveness but for our complete and total healing.

Before the cross as we are told in the book of Isaiah  Many were horrified at what happened to him. But everyone who saw him was even more horrified because he suffered until he no longer looked human. He was wounded and crushed because of our sins; by taking our punishment, he made us completely well. (CEV)

Words can not properly convey what happened to the only sinless man to walk this earth on that day. He was beaten so badly that he no longer looked like a man. His beard had been torn from His face, one inch thorns had been driven into his head and his back had the flesh so badly beaten and torn, His ribs were exposed. His entire body looked like on massive bruise and He no longer even looked human.

Because of this vicious, horrible beating at the hands of wicked and sinful men, there is no reason that those who believe should endure or put up with sickness or disease. The LORD paid the price in full at the whipping post.

From that place He was forced to carry His cross outside the city to the hill of Golgotha (the place where Goliath's head had been placed). Along the way a man from the crowd was forced to help Him as He staggered under the weight.

Finally on the hill, he was stretched out and iron spikes were driven through His hands and His feet and His broken body was raised on the cross. The Roman cross was the perfect instrument of death, as a man would usually live for three tortuous days before wanting to die, to relieve the suffering it inflicted.

The LORD hung on that cross for six to eight hours as He became sin for all of mankind. He prayed to His Father to forgive those doing this to Him, saying they knew not what they were doing.

He also demonstrated to the thief hanging beside Him that believing in Him forgave the thief's sins and gave him admission to heaven.

Finally the moment of indescribable anguish came upon the LORD as His Father turned His face from Him and withdrew from Him. He cried out to His Father " Father, Father, why have you forsaken me", this being the first time Jesus was separated from GOD.

He declared 'it is finished' as He gave up His spirit into the hands of His Father as He descended into the very pit of hell.

That is what happened on Crucifixion Friday, otherwise known as good Friday.

allvoices

Thursday, April 09, 2020

Vimy Ridge True Canadian Heroes



The Battle of Vimy Ridge was fought during the First World War from 9 to 12 April 1917. It is Canada’s most celebrated military victory — an often mythologized symbol of the birth of Canadian national pride and awareness. The battle took place on the Western Front, in northern France. The four divisions of the Canadian Corps, fighting together for the first time, attacked the ridge from 9 to 12 April 1917 and captured it from the German army. It was the largest territorial advance of any Allied force to that point in the war — but it would mean little to the outcome of the conflict. More than 10,600 Canadians were killed and wounded in the assault. Today an iconic memorial atop the ridge honours the 11,285 Canadians killed in France throughout the war who have no known graves.

Comment: for our Prime Minister to compare what these brave souls endured to our current 'hardship' is an insult to their memory. Staying home, ordering pizza while binge watching netflix is hardly a comparable hardship.

This is what true heroes look like

allvoices

Tuesday, April 07, 2020

Who Is This Jesus of Nazareth?

Who is this Jesus??

This is the most holy week on the Christian calendar, although the marketeers would have you convinced it is Christmas.

This is the week when GOD Almighty puts on display his Love for all of mankind and puts to death all the lies His enemies tell of Him.

Jesus was the only begotten Son of the living GOD who was born of a virgin making Him fully GOD and fully Man.

He lived the first thirty years of life like those around Him during which time he grew in stature before his fellow man and before GOD.

He worked with His hands, He got sweaty and tired and hungry like anyone else. He also attended 'church' weekly as was also the custom. His knowledge of what scripture said astounded even the learned scholars of the day.

He walked as His Father had intended for all men to walk, in harmony with GOD Almighty all the days of His life.

He was tempted to sin, like all men are tempted, yet He was without sin, yielding to the heart of GOD that directed His steps. Those steps being the same one's all men can walk in, if they will yield themselves to GOD.

During His years of ministry He went about doing nothing but good, healing all people who were oppressed by the devil. It was never His Father's intention for anyone to become sick, or suffer any infirmity such as being blind, deaf or lame.

Never once did Jesus have a harsh word for those who came to Him. The only people He admonished were the religious leaders of the day, who had made people slaves to their religious traditions.

At the end of His earthly ministry He put on display the full expression of GOD's love for all of mankind. He did this by becoming sin for all mankind and paying the price that sin requires which is death. For all have sinned and fallen short of the righteousness that is of GOD and are separated from GOD because of our sin.

GOD hates sin, He does not hate the one entangled with sin, and through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son paid the price of our sin and has made the way for us to come into right relationship with Him.

GOD hates sin, because it separates us from Him. All of us know in our hearts that we sin and the knowledge separates us from Him. We do just as Adam did, we hide ourselves from GOD because of our sin.

The Good News of the Gospel, is that we do not need to hide ourselves from GOD because of our sin, for Jesus paid the price for our sin, opening the doors wide to enter into the loving arms of  our heavenly Father.

Deep in our hearts we know this to be true, but sin and our life's experience keep us from accepting this simple truth. We can make all manner of excuses for not believing the Gospel, but they all come back to our wanting to hide from GOD.

If you no longer want to hide yourself from GOD He is as close to you now as your next breath. To prove this to be true simply say this simple prayer, and if you pray it sincerely from your heart, you will KNOW that He hears you and His Love, Joy and Peace will flood your very being.

Simply, sincerely prayed, opens the doors of heaven:

"Jesus, save me, a sinner" 

allvoices

Monday, April 06, 2020

Gas Prices Coast to Coast

Victoria $1.07
Calgary $0.57
Saskatoon $0.59
Winnipeg $0.65
Toronto $0.69
Halifax $0.67

Once again British Columbia leads ALL of Canada. Thanks Mr. Horgan and Mr. Weaver.

allvoices