An Old Fogies Stroll Down Memory Lane

[Dennis1209]

This present heat alert brought back memories. From my youth and first memories, so much has changed that reflection should boggle our minds compared to all previous generations. The upward swing of human longevity and creature comforts in our age is staggering. If I had to name one invention that stands out, it would be the harnessing and distribution of electrical energy. If we did not have dependable electricity, where would the world be?

A former Thomas Edison employee, Nikola Tesla, had Tesla not won the A.C vs. D.C. electrical war, most would still be backwoods. Hands down, Tesla was the most significant human inventor of all time. But, my musings for this thread are things I experienced from my earliest memories, compared to today's luxuries. The excessive heat warnings in my area for the near term remind me of how people got by yesteryear.

We were a lower middle-income family; mom was a traditional stay-at-home mother. Only the well-to-do could afford automobiles, televisions, and air conditioning. I remember ice boxes and ice delivery and shared telephone party lines. We were watching Dick Tracy cartoons and his wristwatch audio video communicator. My, how times have changed; science fiction is now our reality!

My dad surprised us with our first black and white RCA TV around 1957. With three whole television stations available, adjusting the "rabbit ears," waiting for it to warm up, and continually adjusting the vertical scrolling knob. All broadcasting ended at 2:00 A.M. and was replaced with a Native American test pattern.

I was an avid baseball player when our Atom league games were canceled for two weeks because of temperatures of 107-110 degrees daily, and I was devastated. But it did not stop me from going outside in the heat and playing with neighbor friends.

I remember a fan blowing outward in the dining room for nighttime use. In our bedrooms, we had the window cracked no more than 4-5 inches to get "cooler" air passing over us. My dad surprised my mother with her first automatic washer agitator, with the wooden roll pins to ring out the clothes—converting the existing coal furnace in the basement to natural gas. In retrospect, living in a major city (St. Louis, MO.) had technological and service advantages compared to country folk.

Oh, as a kid, one word and event sent chills down my spine: "dentist." Seeing and smelling smoke, fire, and brimstone proceed out of my open mouth, getting cavities filled. The 220-volt lightning pain when that drill bit sunk into a tooth nerve. What a blessing we now have in dentistry, healthcare, and pain management we have today. I should have listened better to Mom and the commercial, "you wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent." Imagine the quality of life before modern dentistry with toothaches all your life. I am sure some of the following had nothing to do with it 😊

I vividly remember collecting discarded soda bottles and cashing them in for 2₵ each to support my sweet tooth and dentist. Bazooka bubble gum sold for two for a penny, baseball cards with gum for five cents, Indian Head pennies and 90% silver coinage, and fifty-cent bleacher seats at Sportsman Park (St. Louis Cardinals). Taking street car trollies to the Mississippi River watching the Gateway Arch being built. Streetcar and bus tokens, tax tokens. During gas wars, nineteen cents a gallon of gasoline with Eagle Stamps. Getting everything from glasses to Funk & Wagnal encyclopedias with purchases.

The time and scenery it took traveling from St. Louis to Indiana, Pennsylvania, using two-lane highways because Eisenhower's Interstate system was just being implemented. Image, most of our roads originated from someone cutting and forging paths and crude bridges and ferries.   

Though too young to remember a flight on a TWA four-engine prop, the acceleration, and take-off of a new TWA Boeing 707. That flight convinced me I wanted to be in aviation and a pilot one day. For millennia, the fasted a human could travel was around 35 MPH by horse. In our generation, the sound barrier was broken, we broke the confines of the earth, and the nuclear bomb was developed and used.

The changes in modern technology and creature comforts we old fogies have lived through are nothing short of amazing. When in history has a generation experienced and witnessed such drastic changes (save for Noah & Lot)? I might also mention that societal morals and values have kept pace with the times.

With a humid 97 degrees outside, sitting in a 72-degree house, I just reached into my electrical refrigerator and poured a cold Coke over ice. I am about to press a mouse button and send information somewhere close to the speed of light. I may turn on the cable T.V. this evening, with 500+ channels to select from. Since it is too hot for a heavy meal to heat the house up, we may pop a frozen meal into the microwave and piping hot in only a few minutes. Imagine having no a/c and an indoor wood-burning cook stove in this weather preparing a meal. Then eight hours later, getting out of bed for the bedpan or a lovely trip to the outhouse 100 yards away.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I am dependent, soft, and spoiled in the lifestyle I am now accustomed to. Losing power for even a few hours here is almost a major crisis.

What impresses you today compared to when you grew up?

 

[farouk]

7 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

This present heat alert brought back memories. From my youth and first memories, so much has changed that reflection should boggle our minds compared to all previous generations. The upward swing of human longevity and creature comforts in our age is staggering. If I had to name one invention that stands out, it would be the harnessing and distribution of electrical energy. If we did not have dependable electricity, where would the world be?

A former Thomas Edison employee, Nikola Tesla, had Tesla not won the A.C vs. D.C. electrical war, most would still be backwoods. Hands down, Tesla was the most significant human inventor of all time. But, my musings for this thread are things I experienced from my earliest memories, compared to today's luxuries. The excessive heat warnings in my area for the near term remind me of how people got by yesteryear.

We were a lower middle-income family; mom was a traditional stay-at-home mother. Only the well-to-do could afford automobiles, televisions, and air conditioning. I remember ice boxes and ice delivery and shared telephone party lines. We were watching Dick Tracy cartoons and his wristwatch audio video communicator. My, how times have changed; science fiction is now our reality!

My dad surprised us with our first black and white RCA TV around 1957. With three whole television stations available, adjusting the "rabbit ears," waiting for it to warm up, and continually adjusting the vertical scrolling knob. All broadcasting ended at 2:00 A.M. and was replaced with a Native American test pattern.

I was an avid baseball player when our Atom league games were canceled for two weeks because of temperatures of 107-110 degrees daily, and I was devastated. But it did not stop me from going outside in the heat and playing with neighbor friends.

I remember a fan blowing outward in the dining room for nighttime use. In our bedrooms, we had the window cracked no more than 4-5 inches to get "cooler" air passing over us. My dad surprised my mother with her first automatic washer agitator, with the wooden roll pins to ring out the clothes—converting the existing coal furnace in the basement to natural gas. In retrospect, living in a major city (St. Louis, MO.) had technological and service advantages compared to country folk.

Oh, as a kid, one word and event sent chills down my spine: "dentist." Seeing and smelling smoke, fire, and brimstone proceed out of my open mouth, getting cavities filled. The 220-volt lightning pain when that drill bit sunk into a tooth nerve. What a blessing we now have in dentistry, healthcare, and pain management we have today. I should have listened better to Mom and the commercial, "you wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent." Imagine the quality of life before modern dentistry with toothaches all your life. I am sure some of the following had nothing to do with it 😊

I vividly remember collecting discarded soda bottles and cashing them in for 2₵ each to support my sweet tooth and dentist. Bazooka bubble gum sold for two for a penny, baseball cards with gum for five cents, Indian Head pennies and 90% silver coinage, and fifty-cent bleacher seats at Sportsman Park (St. Louis Cardinals). Taking street car trollies to the Mississippi River watching the Gateway Arch being built. Streetcar and bus tokens, tax tokens. During gas wars, nineteen cents a gallon of gasoline with Eagle Stamps. Getting everything from glasses to Funk & Wagnal encyclopedias with purchases.

The time and scenery it took traveling from St. Louis to Indiana, Pennsylvania, using two-lane highways because Eisenhower's Interstate system was just being implemented. Image, most of our roads originated from someone cutting and forging paths and crude bridges and ferries.   

Though too young to remember a flight on a TWA four-engine prop, the acceleration, and take-off of a new TWA Boeing 707. That flight convinced me I wanted to be in aviation and a pilot one day. For millennia, the fasted a human could travel was around 35 MPH by horse. In our generation, the sound barrier was broken, we broke the confines of the earth, and the nuclear bomb was developed and used.

The changes in modern technology and creature comforts we old fogies have lived through are nothing short of amazing. When in history has a generation experienced and witnessed such drastic changes (save for Noah & Lot)? I might also mention that societal morals and values have kept pace with the times.

With a humid 97 degrees outside, sitting in a 72-degree house, I just reached into my electrical refrigerator and poured a cold Coke over ice. I am about to press a mouse button and send information somewhere close to the speed of light. I may turn on the cable T.V. this evening, with 500+ channels to select from. Since it is too hot for a heavy meal to heat the house up, we may pop a frozen meal into the microwave and piping hot in only a few minutes. Imagine having no a/c and an indoor wood-burning cook stove in this weather preparing a meal. Then eight hours later, getting out of bed for the bedpan or a lovely trip to the outhouse 100 yards away.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I am dependent, soft, and spoiled in the lifestyle I am now accustomed to. Losing power for even a few hours here is almost a major crisis.

What impresses you today compared to when you grew up?

 

@Dennis1209 Maybe Christians losing basic amenities for a few hours or days would drive them back to their Bibles and to quality time spent in peace and quiet before the Lord, with a renewed zeal for the moral and spiritual basis of Acts 2.42 activities...

[AdHoc]

40 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

What impresses you today compared to when you grew up?

For my pensioning I bought a nice long-range car and my wife and I tour Europe - preferring to shun the security checks that we  suffer at major airports. My wife likes history and architecture. This means that I get to visit nearly every Catholic Church where we overnight. What occupies me mostly is what God saved me out of when I became born again at age 28.

I was raised, eldest of 7 children in post war baby-boom Catholic family. I was raised in the old British traditions of an all-boys school, accumulating just under 1,100 cuts with a cane between age 7 and 17. This, not counting the very justly administered hidings I got from my father. There was a good side to this education like boys opened doors for girls and the reputation as a bully was to be avoided, it being akin to cowardice.

But every time I enter a Catholic Church since 1982, when I formally resigned from it, the musky smell of dark cold walls and incense takes me back to what I was in, and takes me forward to what I was saved from. I am well aware that most Catholics are law-abiding people. I've seen the poverty in Rio de Janeiro and make no comment of the pitiful Macumba on the beaches. Who can accuse these victims of the world's greatest hoax. Who can when the very seat of supposed Christianity has purgatory to deal with your sins instead of the blood of Jesus.

Yes, my youth was defined by "Christian brothers", who were mostly good teachers, but my present is defined by an eternal thankfulness to my Lord and Saviour Jesus for His great and expensive salvation - expensive, not because it cost me anything, but because I was not worth one nasty word or one blow to the Darling of Heaven - yet He took it all for me.

[Dennis1209]

1 hour ago, AdHoc said:

For my pensioning I bought a nice long-range car and my wife and I tour Europe - preferring to shun the security checks that we  suffer at major airports. My wife likes history and architecture. This means that I get to visit nearly every Catholic Church where we overnight. What occupies me mostly is what God saved me out of when I became born again at age 28.

I was raised, eldest of 7 children in post war baby-boom Catholic family. I was raised in the old British traditions of an all-boys school, accumulating just under 1,100 cuts with a cane between age 7 and 17. This, not counting the very justly administered hidings I got from my father. There was a good side to this education like boys opened doors for girls and the reputation as a bully was to be avoided, it being akin to cowardice.

But every time I enter a Catholic Church since 1982, when I formally resigned from it, the musky smell of dark cold walls and incense takes me back to what I was in, and takes me forward to what I was saved from. I am well aware that most Catholics are law-abiding people. I've seen the poverty in Rio de Janeiro and make no comment of the pitiful Macumba on the beaches. Who can accuse these victims of the world's greatest hoax. Who can when the very seat of supposed Christianity has purgatory to deal with your sins instead of the blood of Jesus.

Yes, my youth was defined by "Christian brothers", who were mostly good teachers, but my present is defined by an eternal thankfulness to my Lord and Saviour Jesus for His great and expensive salvation - expensive, not because it cost me anything, but because I was not worth one nasty word or one blow to the Darling of Heaven - yet He took it all for me.

You're growing up, education, and experiences were much different than mine. I can only speak of America and what I think I know. My best friend growing up living right behind me, went through private all boys' Catholic schools. Discipline was much stricter than in secular public schools. For misbehavior, the students often got whacked on the back of the hand hard by hefty rulers, to the point of swelling and bruising.

For significant offenses at public school, corporal punishment of a few whacks on the behind. Few would dispute that a private Catholic education surpasses a public-school education.

I envy you a bit. I was in Germany for two weeks of training in January of 1986. We had the middle weekend to go anywhere in Europe to see what we wanted to see. Are you kidding me? A whole weekend! Long story short, I did not want to leave; I tried to figure out a way to stay there longer. I was the company's First Sergeant, which was out of the question.

I am not Catholic bashing; I know some are genuinely saved in the church. As we know, the personal letters Jesus wrote to the seven churches were literal churches of the time, now all within the borders of modern-day Turkey. I also firmly believe those seven letters to those churches are the history of the church age written in advance and are dated.

Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Increasingly, I suspect the church of Thyatira and Revelation chapter 18 symbolizes the Vatican and RCC. The unclean storks, basket, transport, and lead lid is also an interesting study. Considering what we see developing today.

[Neighbor]

All the gains in technology are indeed fascinating. Yet a core value seems to be lost to many, if not most all of us on planet earth. That key value  is community.  Community with a unique identity and sense of belonging is lost to a world of universal offerings, kind of a Walmartization of all aspects of life. 

[AdHoc]

12 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

You're growing up, education, and experiences were much different than mine. I can only speak of America and what I think I know. My best friend growing up living right behind me, went through private all boys' Catholic schools. Discipline was much stricter than in secular public schools. For misbehavior, the students often got whacked on the back of the hand hard by hefty rulers, to the point of swelling and bruising.

For significant offenses at public school, corporal punishment of a few whacks on the behind. Few would dispute that a private Catholic education surpasses a public-school education.

I envy you a bit. I was in Germany for two weeks of training in January of 1986. We had the middle weekend to go anywhere in Europe to see what we wanted to see. Are you kidding me? A whole weekend! Long story short, I did not want to leave; I tried to figure out a way to stay there longer. I was the company's First Sergeant, which was out of the question.

I am not Catholic bashing; I know some are genuinely saved in the church. As we know, the personal letters Jesus wrote to the seven churches were literal churches of the time, now all within the borders of modern-day Turkey. I also firmly believe those seven letters to those churches are the history of the church age written in advance and are dated.

Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Increasingly, I suspect the church of Thyatira and Revelation chapter 18 symbolizes the Vatican and RCC. The unclean storks, basket, transport, and lead lid is also an interesting study. Considering what we see developing today.

Ever before my eyes are the two Women of the Bible, Jerusalem above - mother of US all, and Mystery Babylon the Great Whore - mother of Harlots. The offspring of these two women are found in Matthew 13 in the parable of the Wheat and Tares. In many circles they represent the Believers and the Unbelievers. But a number of factors make this an incomplete understanding.
1. The first is the title "The Kingdom of Heaven IS LIKE ... ." Now, the heathen and their fruit is plain to see. Voodoo, murder and dishonesty reign. That is, the present heathen are NOT LIKE the Kingdom of heaven. Presented to us here in this parable is something more subtle - and dangerous. You're a soldier. You know that an enemy seen is not a tenth so dangerous as the unseen enemy.

2. The Middle Eastern Darnell (zizan - Lolium temulentum) is hidden when among Wheat. It looks exactly like wheat in all phases of growth except the fruition. The Master of the field was wise. No harvesting the Darnell lest even his best workers mistake the Wheat for Darnell.

3. The Darnell is not like the invasive Bramble with its duel seeding method and thorns. It looks harmless until you make a tee with is fruit. Then comes dizziness and disorientation and finally death. Extreme care must be taken in a field with both crops. If the Darnell lands among the Wheat both cattle and man are endangered when they eat

And so, slowly, but with relentless acceleration, in three distinct phases, the COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIANS mingled with the true. Satan used the time when the Canon was written to produce seed that could agree with and even live out Christian doctrine. Then came the dark ages, and the Roman Church locked the Bible away and paraphrased it in Catechisms. It looked LIKE the real thing but was not. Finally, the Reformation was so hard fought that whole nations were polarized - and still the Roman Church proliferated. And today we have this grand establishment with 1,3 billion adherents - all claiming Christianity and to a large extent, living it too.

The so-called Christian nations boast of their works. But in the end it is not about works. It is about what happens when you take it in. Wheat nourishes and is healthy. Darnell kills. The True Wheat (Jn.12:24) transmits the Nature of God and the other promotes God's great enemy - death.

But I should close with the end of the parable. It is most instructive. Three things usually get missed;
1. The Darnell is harvested and burnt FIRST. In the minds of many Bible students this is an anomaly. Is not the rapture before Armageddon? Does not judgment BEGIN in the house of God? And now it becomes apparent that the Tares are not there to depict the unbelieving world. They are there to showing something LIKE God's KINGDOM. And for the Beast to command universal worship ALL ESTABLISHED FORMS OF WORSHIP MUST GO! And Revelation 17 shows it all. It is the ten kings who give the Beast his power that destroy the WHORE. With that, the gathering, judgment and burning of the Tares are completed.

2. Matthew 13 then shows the harvest of the Wheat - and a sobering picture emerges. The harvest goes into the Lord's BARN. All through the Old Testament the one harvest was divided into 1. Firstfruits, 2. General Harvest and 3. Gleanings. The Firstfruits belong to the Lord. They go INTO HIS HOUSE. The Gleanings are LEFT IN THE FIELD. The General Harvest GOES TO THE BARN (Lk.12:18). The Lord of the harvest MAKES A DISTINCTION HERE! Only the general harvest is addressed. By adding the destination - the barn, our Lord Jesus differentiates between classes of Christian - WHEN THEY WERE RIPE! This harvest pertains only to those Christians who were NOT FIRSTFRUITS. The Firstfruits must already BE GONE!

3. In His explanation of this parable in verse 36-43 our Lord closes the matter of the Tares. They are burnt. Then in verse 40 our Lord makes a startling claim. He says; "JUST AS the end of the Tares was, SO THERE WILL BE A BURNING AMONG THE WHEAT. This time the Lord does not say; "The Kingdom is LIKE ... ." He says the judgement of the Wheat will be like the judgment of the Tares. And what was the manner of the harvest of the Tares - BUNDLES! (v.30) This time it is the judgment of HIS KINGDOM. That is, there are NO TARES present. Only the Children of the Kingdom are present MINUS the FIRSTFRUITS and the GLEANINGS. A Judgment IN HIS KINGDOM tales place in which evil works comes to light among the children of the Kingdom. And like any judgment by WORKS there are two groups - the RIGHTEOUS and the UN-RIGHTEOUS. And before the King the UNRIGHTEOUS must be held accountable for their actions.

The unrighteous experience FIRE and show the signs of deep distress. The "righteous" (according to THEIR WORKS) are given positions in the Kingdom.

[AnOrangeCat]

1 hour ago, Neighbor said:

All the gains in technology are indeed fascinating. Yet a core value seems to be lost to many, if not most all of us on planet earth. That key value  is community.  Community with a unique identity and sense of belonging is lost to a world of universal offerings, kind of a Walmartization of all aspects of life. 

I've noticed this too. I was born in the 80s and look at the decade through rose colored glasses. It seemed to me that there was a lot of optimism in the era, and from my perspective as a kid there was also a lot of emphasis on doing the right thing, common sense, courage, and friendship as well as a strong anti-drug message that's stuck with me throughout my life. Then in the 90s and beyond that seemed to fall by the wayside. Optimism gave way to pessimism and there seemed to be a cultural shift toward dark and edgy entertainment. I can appreciate certain elements of that but it's important that it's not the bread and butter of media intake. It was also during the 90s that the family dinner was phased out of the two very distinct households I grew up in. My younger and more worldly parents gave up on it first, and then some years later my grandparents did as well. Everyone just went off to their own corner to eat. By the time I was 15 it was a thing of the past. Being 200% loner and a dedicated multitasker from an early age I was okay with that and welcomed it, but I also noticed it and it felt profound. I strongly believe that what was good for my outlier hermit self probably wasn't and isn't good for society at large.

For the most part I love our technology. I embrace it, and I've been an internet citizen since my mid teens. It's been great for me since I'm a shut in and physical/logistical reasons play into that as much as my social anxiety. But again, what's good for me isn't necessarily good for everyone else in all cases. I very strongly believe that it's contributed to the current state of affairs, with another factor being financial pressures. Combined they seem to facilitate a rushed sort of existence and instant gratification. There's a whole lot I miss about the 80s and 90s (including better health!). Some of what I miss is my family being the people they were instead of the people they became.

 

[tim_from_pa]

18 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

This present heat alert brought back memories. From my youth and first memories, so much has changed that reflection should boggle our minds compared to all previous generations. The upward swing of human longevity and creature comforts in our age is staggering. If I had to name one invention that stands out, it would be the harnessing and distribution of electrical energy. If we did not have dependable electricity, where would the world be?

A former Thomas Edison employee, Nikola Tesla, had Tesla not won the A.C vs. D.C. electrical war, most would still be backwoods. Hands down, Tesla was the most significant human inventor of all time. But, my musings for this thread are things I experienced from my earliest memories, compared to today's luxuries. The excessive heat warnings in my area for the near term remind me of how people got by yesteryear.

We were a lower middle-income family; mom was a traditional stay-at-home mother. Only the well-to-do could afford automobiles, televisions, and air conditioning. I remember ice boxes and ice delivery and shared telephone party lines. We were watching Dick Tracy cartoons and his wristwatch audio video communicator. My, how times have changed; science fiction is now our reality!

My dad surprised us with our first black and white RCA TV around 1957. With three whole television stations available, adjusting the "rabbit ears," waiting for it to warm up, and continually adjusting the vertical scrolling knob. All broadcasting ended at 2:00 A.M. and was replaced with a Native American test pattern.

I was an avid baseball player when our Atom league games were canceled for two weeks because of temperatures of 107-110 degrees daily, and I was devastated. But it did not stop me from going outside in the heat and playing with neighbor friends.

I remember a fan blowing outward in the dining room for nighttime use. In our bedrooms, we had the window cracked no more than 4-5 inches to get "cooler" air passing over us. My dad surprised my mother with her first automatic washer agitator, with the wooden roll pins to ring out the clothes—converting the existing coal furnace in the basement to natural gas. In retrospect, living in a major city (St. Louis, MO.) had technological and service advantages compared to country folk.

Oh, as a kid, one word and event sent chills down my spine: "dentist." Seeing and smelling smoke, fire, and brimstone proceed out of my open mouth, getting cavities filled. The 220-volt lightning pain when that drill bit sunk into a tooth nerve. What a blessing we now have in dentistry, healthcare, and pain management we have today. I should have listened better to Mom and the commercial, "you wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent." Imagine the quality of life before modern dentistry with toothaches all your life. I am sure some of the following had nothing to do with it 😊

I vividly remember collecting discarded soda bottles and cashing them in for 2₵ each to support my sweet tooth and dentist. Bazooka bubble gum sold for two for a penny, baseball cards with gum for five cents, Indian Head pennies and 90% silver coinage, and fifty-cent bleacher seats at Sportsman Park (St. Louis Cardinals). Taking street car trollies to the Mississippi River watching the Gateway Arch being built. Streetcar and bus tokens, tax tokens. During gas wars, nineteen cents a gallon of gasoline with Eagle Stamps. Getting everything from glasses to Funk & Wagnal encyclopedias with purchases.

The time and scenery it took traveling from St. Louis to Indiana, Pennsylvania, using two-lane highways because Eisenhower's Interstate system was just being implemented. Image, most of our roads originated from someone cutting and forging paths and crude bridges and ferries.   

Though too young to remember a flight on a TWA four-engine prop, the acceleration, and take-off of a new TWA Boeing 707. That flight convinced me I wanted to be in aviation and a pilot one day. For millennia, the fasted a human could travel was around 35 MPH by horse. In our generation, the sound barrier was broken, we broke the confines of the earth, and the nuclear bomb was developed and used.

The changes in modern technology and creature comforts we old fogies have lived through are nothing short of amazing. When in history has a generation experienced and witnessed such drastic changes (save for Noah & Lot)? I might also mention that societal morals and values have kept pace with the times.

With a humid 97 degrees outside, sitting in a 72-degree house, I just reached into my electrical refrigerator and poured a cold Coke over ice. I am about to press a mouse button and send information somewhere close to the speed of light. I may turn on the cable T.V. this evening, with 500+ channels to select from. Since it is too hot for a heavy meal to heat the house up, we may pop a frozen meal into the microwave and piping hot in only a few minutes. Imagine having no a/c and an indoor wood-burning cook stove in this weather preparing a meal. Then eight hours later, getting out of bed for the bedpan or a lovely trip to the outhouse 100 yards away.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I am dependent, soft, and spoiled in the lifestyle I am now accustomed to. Losing power for even a few hours here is almost a major crisis.

What impresses you today compared to when you grew up?

 

Those are some great memories.  I'm a tad younger being born just after your first BW TV set but my older brother (9 years older) could relate.  However, we did not have color TV until the late 70's when I started college and we all still took baths (as opposed to showers) LOL.  Nikola Tesla was ahead of his time being a great enthusiast of oscillatory motions and AC.  If it were up to Edison, we'd have a power station every 3 miles dues to the inefficiency of DC.  As you know, you can't transform DC so the voltage level at the house is that of the power station unless you have a voltage divider circuit - but that's all resistance and thus extra loss (maybe use it for some form of heating or something).  At least with capacitance and inductance the line voltage can be transmitted high and transformed down to something useful thus being able to go large distances with little loss. Of course radio and TV technology is all based om AC as well.

Tesla, Einstein and especially Sir Isaac Newton are my favorite scientists. Only Sir Isaac Newton identified with Christianity.  From my knowledge the other two believed in a God, but more impersonal.  The universe, by virtue of it being orderly and mathematical, was seemingly their God. In short, the universe behaves as if it can think and reason regardless of the existence of mankind, thus, some sort of "mind" behind it.

[FJK]

18 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

What impresses you today compared to when you grew up?

Indoor plumbing.

A true miracle of modern civilization.

[Dennis1209]

2 hours ago, AdHoc said:

And Revelation 17 shows it all. It is the ten kings who give the Beast his power that destroy the WHORE. With that, the gathering, judgment and burning of the Tares are completed.

I think you would agree there is a convergence of everything prophetic, shaping up and aligning according to scripture. Said another way, I highly suspect the confirmation of a seven-year treaty with Israel and other prophetic events are on the horizon. Based on the generation that witnessed Israel reborn as a nation once again.

If that thought is accurate, we should see the formation of precisely who or what these "Ten Kings" are. These kings have something the Lawless One needs to control global commerce, buying and selling, and control of it. These Ten Kings precede the official arrival of the A/C in power and authority; thus, they are the ones in charge of controlling something, giving that control over.

What are your thoughts on who the Ten Kings are?

Many traditionally believe these kings are from ten European nations, which could very well be. However, I do not imagine ten European countries (European Union) with that kind of power. Economics, trade, money, and their control of them are the earmarks of ambition and the global Beast system. All global free trade revolves around dozens of free trade agreements, with thousands of documents and pages outlining free trade. Shortly, when the great reset is agreed to and signed, U.N. law and regulations will supersede individual countries' laws and our own U.S. Constitution.

The United Nations represents "the world" in stature and power. It is gaining strength and intensity and is about to initiate its socialist control Agenda 2030 and all it entails. The 1973 Club of Rome divided the globe into ten economic trading zones. If or when implemented, it would require ten leaders to be appointed over them, a possibility with teeth.

I propose looking at something condensing and forming, egged on by never wasting a good crisis (false manmade global warming/climate change, disparity of individuals and nations, COVID-19, values, and inequity). I see oligarchies strengthen in governments, banking, news media, computing, social media, surveillance, manufacturing, the retail industry, and even privatized space programs. At present, Elon Musk would be a good candidate for one of the Ten King positions.  

I see a pattern of condensing of that mentioned above to ten CEOs or leaders governing the control of world commerce, manufacturing, entertainment, communications, and business. Why have hundreds of companies suddenly gone woke, not worried about their bottom line, but are positioning themselves for a seat at the table? Many no longer listen to their consumer base, voluntarily support, and stand behind a minority of their consumer base.

One of the current examples is the king of beers, Budweiser, now the queen of beers, losing billions of dollars because they just went woke and refuse to back down. That makes no business, stockholder, or logical sense unless there is a strategy and agenda. Why does an evil spirits beer company take a political and social stance, destroying its former reputation and losing billions of dollars in the process? Not to mention Disney and hundreds of others.