Here are some random thoughts for today. Fish were a great creation! They are tasty, and they provide us with some essential omega 3 oils while also being a good source of protein. When we lived in England in the village of Eynsham near Oxford, we had a favorite little fish and chips shop. The fish was delicious, and was served with french fries (chips) and had  vinegar drizzled over it, all wrapped up in newspaper.

In Revelation we read of the end-times process of people accepting a “mark” in their forehead or right hand in order to be able to buy and sell in the “beast system”. In our day, the mark would seem most likely to take the form of a chip embedded beneath the skin, something many are already doing with pets, and a process that some companies are encouraging their employees to adopt. All we can say here for sure is that if you wish to avoid an eternity in hell, don’t take it!

The fish was also the symbol of early Christians, and the design is seen on vehicles today. Despite what some say, America was a Christian nation, as the first thing the Pilgrims did at Plymouth was to plant the Christian flag on the beach. The first act of our first president, Washington, was to lead Congress to a little church to dedicate the new nation to God. Some of the first universities were established for the purpose of  “spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ”. (Harvard, Princeton, Yale) Our first Supreme Court Chief Justice (John Jay)  declared the U.S. to be “a Christian nation”, and he also stated that we “should prefer and elect Christians to office”.  Obviously, the church and our government were partners back then. The nation’s children were for the first 100 years taught to read using the Reverend McGuffey’s “Readers“.  America needs to return to Christ today to have any hope of being “great” again.

Vinegar is mostly composed of  acetic acid and water. The other day I got out some old 8 mm movies that my father had made back in the 1940’s. Our family used to have home movie nights at our house on W. Cherry street. Well, much of the ancient film has been undergoing decay, the worst of which is called “vinegar syndrome”, as you can smell the odor of vinegar from the chemical destruction of the acetate film. I have sent off a 200 foot reel to a lab in Canada that can often retrieve images from old dry, brittle, curled film, even some that has been partially eaten away.  I’ll let you know how this turns out. Meanwhile, I still like vinegar on my spinach and Brussels sprouts!

Blessings!

Dr. J