My Little Corner of the Universe

I was just watching Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, the classic Twilight Zone episode where William Shatner plays a guy that just got over a nervous breakdown and is flying home, i think. Anyway, whenever he looks outside the window of the plane, he sees on the wing in the rainy and windy weather, this horrible monster! And he's ripping the wing apart! Dun-dun-DUN! Actually it's a man in a fur costume with a creepy mask. It took me back to my experience on the way to North Carolina.

If you haven't already got your bookmark for the study of the Revelation book, here is one I found. It can either be downloaded as a doc file which opens in Microsoft Word or you can download it as a pdf file which opens in Adobe Reader. Whichever your itty bitty heart desires. When clicking on the download link, it will take you to a page where you will see "Download File" at the top left of the page. Click and it will download as a zip file.

Download doc file

Download pdf file

cold (kōld), noun
A viral infection characterized by inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the upper respiratory passages and usually accompanied by malaise, fever, chills, coughing, and sneezing. Also called coryza, acute rhinitis, common cold, coryza.

That is what I have. That is what I HAD the moment I got to North Carolina. (Actually, it didn't get bad until I get back to S.A., but still.) Especially that 'malaise' listed in the definition above is what sums up how I felt. That's interesting. If you want to leave someone impressed, you can say, "Man, I really hate getting acute rhinitis.".

Anyway, it was a good 5 days over there. We met Jonathan's awesome family, which are also our spiritual brothers and sisters. We attended his brother's wedding. And we slept in 3 different houses in 3 different cities.

Among the mishaps of the weekend was (1)our flight on Thursday, which made us wait about 6 hours in the airport in Memphis, Tennessee. We were "all shook up". (2)When we got to N.C., I got the sniffles. And (3)the wedding started late, but that's pretty much expected.

But the good news is that we were there and spent time with Jonathan and friends. It's always a pleasure to meet new brothers and sisters, especially in Clinton.

Anyway, here's a couple of shots of us and of the happy couple.

Me, Jonathan, and Gerardo


HAPPY COUPLE + 1 (Nedinia and Daniel + Jonathan)


ok, i'm gonna go rest now.

o

Regrettably, the red-shirts always get it.

I'm here at work. It is 10.52pm. I'm on-call. Need I say more?

Well, maybe just a little bit.

I'm currently waiting on someone that needs my assistance every so often and I can't leave until he is done. So here I am writing this and there you are reading this. No fun waiting when I could be packing. Yes, my mild-mannered friends, you heard correctly. Thursday, by 1000 hours I will be in the air, with the birds, on my way to North Carolina. Jerry and I will be heading out there to hang with Jonathan for a few days. It should be most most exhilarating.

Well, my wait is now over.

[Oh, just adding a bit to the previous post, the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained was published in 1958. The book Revelation... It's Grand Climax at Hand! was published in the late 80s. The change described in the previous post shows how Bible understanding is like 'the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter', for as time goes by, we are better understanding and comprehending God's Word.]

[Thanks for that observation, my brother in the Lord.]

I found this interesting picture in the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained. Here, it shows 5 horsemen.



But the book Revelation... It's Grand Climax at Hand! shows just four.



So, this started to baffle me. A little bit of searching took me to Revelation 6.8 that says: "And I saw, and, look! a pale horse; and the one seated upon it had the name Death. And Ha´des was closely following him. And authority was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth."

So does this mean that "Hades", on his own horse followed "Death" in the pale horse? Or does it mean that "Hades" is on the same horse as "Death"? Or is it that "Hades" simply does not have a horse, but is following "Death" either way?

The Watchtower, January 1, 1981, Questions from Readers (which was about 10 months and 3 days before I was born (just a Roy Reyes factoid) answered this question. It mentions that no one can say for sure which possibility is the correct one. What we can say for sure is that, according to the apostle John, he saw four riders on the white, red, black, and pale colored horses... (maybe that had a itty-bitty influence in L. Frank Baum novels of horses of a different color...)

Anyway, back to reality, the article also mentions how it's not necessary, though, to be dogmatic if there was really a fifth horse or not. John's description tells us what he considered more important, on how closely "Hades" followed "Death". That saying that those people that die prematurely -in war, hunger, or plagues- are collected by "Hades", the common grave of humankind (Revelation 20.13)

Interesting, huh?

Proverbios 4.18 "Pero la senda de los justos es como la luz brillante que va haciéndose más y más clara hasta que el día queda firmemente establecido."

I found this picture brother Cedres had posted up. I thought it was pretty cool, so here it is!

I get a kick out of this show.



Do you have any imaginary friends?

[Dedicated to the President and Vice President of the NLFC (Nacho Libre Fan Club), Jonathan and Jerry, and Rigo, the #1 fan.]

Another wonderful thing about this year's circuit assembly is that my lil bro Rey simbolized his dedication to Jehovah in baptism. Here he is with my mom.

by brother Gordee (gordeee.dwsilver.com)

We had our circuit assembly this past weekend that was about puting Kingdom interests in first place and avoiding the snare of materialism. Our district and circuit overseers, as well as all of the brothers and sisters that gave their excellent talks, demonstrations, and experiences, as well as all of the brothers that worked at the assembly so that it all functioned well did a great job. Well, yeah, even the brothers in the accounting department did a good job...

Anyway, here's a picture of my brothers (Ross, Ruben, Rey) and some of my cousins Lisa, Priscilla, Gabriel).



It was cold out there. It was so unbelievably cold it wasn't funny.





Have a great day.

Have a great weekend!

1Corinthians 15.58 - "Therefore, whether YOU are eating or drinking or doing anything else, do all things for God’s glory."

Man, it's cold out there!





it feels good

"If you were thinking, you wouldn't've thought that." - Michael 'Squints' Palledorous, The Sandlot

We visited the South Spanish Congregation last night due to their great privilege of being the host congregation for the Circuit Assembly. The district overseer, brother Greg, gave his talk called ‘Llevemos una vida sencillo e equilibrado’ (‘Living a simple and balanced life’). He brought out beautiful points and illustrated very well the need for a balanced and simple life.He illustrated it with a balance. According to Matthew chapter 6, we first place on one plate of the balance spiritual things. Then, to balance that off, Jehovah puts the needed material things on the other plate. So now it is balanced. Oh no, but wait! What if we start adding more material things on the material plate? Again, it is now unbalanced. As the brother emphatically expressed, it is up to us to put more on the spiritual plate to even up the scale, not Jehovah. So in that case, we would be adding to our load, not easing it up. So the main point of it all is that if we have a simple and balanced life, we will obviously enjoy it more fully.

And we got to meet our new circuit overseer, brother Lopez, who is another great brother from what I hear.

Anyway, there were many other points and illustrations he used, but this is the main theme of circuit assembly this weekend that will talk about “[storing] up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes, and where thieves do not break in and steal” and keeping the eye simple (Mat.6.20, 22). We’ll be looking forward to that, no doubt.

Ok, now here’s a joke: A duck walks into a bar…

Jerry (or Gerard as he likes to be called) doesn't have an ordinary pet. Instead he owns a wooden dog. It doesn't even have a real name, poor thing. It is called 'Jerry's Dog'. BUT it does have an interesting characteristic that likens it to the real thing. He can take it for a 'walk' due to that it has wheels and a leash. So, there you have it, boys and girls. If you don't want the responsibilities that come with a pet, get a wooden one.

And THEN, you can do what you can't do with a real dog, enjoy the thrill of riding it!

How is everyone doing this fabulous Friday morning?

Now check out these 62 interesting facts:

1. A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.

2. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

3. A snail can sleep for three years.

4. All Polar bears are left-handed.

5. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.

6. Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

7. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

8. Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

9. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

10. Butterflies taste with their feet.

11. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, dogs only have about ten.

12. Cat's urine glows under a black light.

13. China has more English speakers than the United States.

14. Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

15. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

16. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.

17. Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

18. February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

19. "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

20. If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall and have a neck twice the length of a normal human's neck.

21. If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

22. If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

23. If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white.

24. If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

25. In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.

26. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

27. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

28. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

29. Marilyn Monroe had six toes.

30. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

31. More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.

32. No word in the English language rhymes with month.

33. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

34. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

35. One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the '30s lobbied against hemp farmers, they saw it as competition.

36. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

37. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

38. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.

39. Shakespeare invented the word "assassination" and "bump."

40. Starfish haven't got brains.

41. Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

42. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

43. The average human eats eight spiders in their lifetime at night.

44. The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.

45. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

46. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

47. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

48. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

49. The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

50. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."

51. The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

52. The sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language.

53. The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

54. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

55. The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

56. The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.

57. There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

58. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.

59. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

60. You are more likely to be killed by a Champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.

61. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

62. You share your birthday with at least nine million other people in the world.

[You are now about 4.7% smarter for reading this.]

This was during the district convention last year. Well, not "during" the convention, but at the hotel. We have always liked mid-air pictures, especially Ruben here, leaping on the unsuspecting and totally clueless poor fool we call Ross.

This past weekend we went to Ft. Worth, Texas for my dad's wife's mom's sister's daughter's son's uncle's wedding, or simply my mom's cousin's wedding.

It was a lot of fun, seeing that part of my family again. Seeing my cousins that are now much older. This is one of my cousins, the beautiful Veronica.



Ross was especially happy.


[more pictures soon!]

Prevaricate (prih-VAIR-uh-kayt), intransitive verb:
Def: To depart from or evade the truth; to speak with equivocation.

[Previous Wonderful Words:
Plethora, Pervicacious, Neoteric, Malcontent, Cognoscente, Multifarious, Propitious, Luminary, Felicitous, Implacable, Optimism, Assiduous, Serendipity, Serene, Loquacious, Duplicitous, Mellifluous]

Mi hermano, el Chulo!

The question was: What would happen to Satan and his demons if Jehovah decides not to (although he will) destroy them after the millennium?

Well, first we have to ask ourselves, "Who is the source of life?" Psalm 36.9 states that Jehovah is that source. Obviously He has severed that source from Satan and his angels. And since spirits are a higher and more powerful form of life than we are, they live longer. But without Jehovah being that source of life for them, they would eventually die. They are not immortal. It's interesting that other than Jesus Christ, 144,000 humans will be given immortality; they will be self-sustaining. Jehovah won't be their source of life anymore. Jehovah is THAT convinced that they will remain faithful for eternity! And that shows the great humility of the billions of angels, who have been around far longer than the anointed, to see these humans get immortality.

What would happen to Satan and his demons if Jehovah decides not to (although he will) destroy them after the Millenium?

My brothers and I visited the second half of the Circuit Assembly today. Ours is scheduled for the beginning of December. So we got a taste of what is to be mentioned in this year's program. It was, as always, very encouraging. We got to see and listen to our new district overseer and the visiting circuit overseer, which is, by the way, an MTS grad. It was very awesome. And the talks were about storing treasures in heaven, and not on earth (Matthew 6.19). The public talk was about how we can survive Jehovah's Day of fury by storing and accumulating treasures in heaven, doing His will, staying away from the spirit of the world, imitating Jesus, who imitated his father, Jehovah.

What about the campaign? The worldwide campaign of distributing the message "The End of False Religion is Near!" ended today. Eagerly we await to hear all of the experiences that brothers and sisters from all over the world have had on this special work. It's interesting that we are starting to hear a lot on the topic of the 'end'. This tract, the talks given by the c.o.'s in the congregations, the main theme of the District Convention we had last year along with the new publication, and the year text for next year show that the Governing Body are very much convinced that Jehovah's Day is very near.

Year text for 2007: Zephaniah 1.14 - "The great day of Jehovah is near. It is near, and there is a hurrying [of it] very much."

Texto del año para 2007: Sofonías 1.14 - "El gran día de Jehová está cerca. Está cerca, y hay un apresurarse muchísimo [de él]."

Sí señor!
Give me an 'S'. "S!"

Give me a 'P'. "P!"

Give me a 'U'. "U!"

Give me an 'R'. "R!"

Give me an 'S'. "S!"

Oops. I kinda forgot that I haven't posted the answer to the question.

The question was: When will faithful humans be granted immortality?

Actually, that was a trick question.

The Greek word for ‘immortality’ is a·tha·na·si´a, which basically means “deathlessness”. According to the Scriptures, only a certain number have or will have the gift of immortality. Of course, Jehovah would be one, since He is the “source of life” and cannot die (Psalm 36.9; Psalm 90.1,2; Habakkuk 1.12).

Jesus was granted immortality after his resurrection (Romans 6.9).

And finally, the 144,000 Kingdom Heirs are granted immortality when they die here on earth (1Corinthians 15.50-54).

So that is a total of 144,002 who will ever be immortal.

Faithful humans (who are not of the anointed) will never receive immortality, but everlasting life here on an earthly paradise (Psalm 37.29; Revelation 21.4).

Today's text was beautiful, wasn't it? (Well, they all are, actually.) The "faithful and discreet slave" comments: "God is responsible whenever one true worshiper helps another." So when we extend our hand to help another of Jehovah's servants, it is Jehovah who is using us to strengthen and encourage that one in need of it at the time. Truly, our "help is from Jehovah" (Psalm 121.2).

This was after the meeting one night. I went to say hello to Oseas, one of the Muñoz kids. I sat him down on the seat and he kinda ‘slid’ to the floor, in a slow-motion fashion, face down. It was the funniest thing. I thought about picking him up, but he looked too funny. So he just stayed there, long enough for me to make a ‘kodak moment’ out of it. Then I picked him up, naturally.

When will faithful humans be granted immortality?

Ok, so I changed the template again. The other one didn't really do it for me, I guess. So I'll see how long this one lasts....

[I was looking through my stuff and found this that I had made when I was a wee lad of 15 años old. It was dated June 21, 1997.]

"'Jehovah' (Heb., יהוה, YHWH), God’s personal name, first occurs in Ge 2:4. The divine name is a verb, the causative form, the imperfect state, of the Hebrew verb הוה (ha·wah´, ‘to become’). Therefore, the divine name means ‘He Causes to Become.’ This reveals Jehovah as the One who, with progressive action, causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises, the One who always brings his purposes to realization." – New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Rbi8) p. 1561 Appendix 1A, The Divine Name in the Hebrew Scriptures

Jehovah’s name teaches us much about who He is and how we can trust and confide completely in His Word, the Bible. How sad it is that so many versions of the Bible has omitted that great name.

Have a great weekend (1Corinthians 10.31) and don't forget to turn the clock back one hour before going mimis on Saturday night.

"And Jehovah proceeded to say to A´bram: 'Go your way out of your country and from your relatives and from the house of your father to the country that I shall show you'". - Genesis 12.1

Like A´bram, (Abraham, Gen.17.5) these girls have made themselves available so that they could serve where the need is great. For a few months, they will go to the Dominican Republic and preach the Good News, where, awaiting them, are the loving brothers and sisters, and many, many blessings from Jehovah.

Of course, this is just one of many ways to serve Jehovah. There are some that cannot move to another country a few months at a time. Or, it may be that one's circumstances don't allow them to serve as pioneers or go to Bethel or attend the MTS school. Whatever the case may be, what counts is that each one serve our Creator whole-heartedly and even change our circumstances, if possible (Galatians 6.4, Matthew 22.36-40).

So, no matter what we have done for Kingdom interests, we must always remember Jesus' words at Luke 17.10: "So YOU, also, when YOU have done all the things assigned to YOU, say, 'We are good-for-nothing slaves. What we have done is what we ought to have done.'"

This past weekend there was a QuickBuild of a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in San Anto. Sadly, I didn't get to help out as much as I wanted , but I did get to go check it out Saturday night .

One of the brothers told me an experience that happened there: There is this club in the block across the KH. The owner of the club came over to talk to someone in charge. He offered to donate close to 40 sheets of plywood to us (pretty expensive stuff). The brothers graciously accepted it. It turns out that plywood was needed to finish the C.O.'s apartment and the donated material was a bit more than enough to finish what was needed and then some. The beatiful windows were also donated, and the limestone for the outside of the building was given at a very low price, saving the brothers A LOT of green. And, wonderfully, this is just one of many similar experiences.


The last one I had been to was just awesome, as this one was for the brothers that volunteered for it. The wonderful thing about this is that the building goes up and is completed in just 3 days, and it's all done impressively well, and all by volunteers. Something that is done only in Jehovah's organization. And every brother and sister around the world that participates in these Quick Builds can all agree that 'happiness' is what describes these experiences. It's the 'spiritual paradise' that Jehovah promises those who live by his principles.

Gives us a hint of what is to come in the new system of things (2 Peter 3.13).

[Oh, and thanks M.Haley for "lending" me the pics .]

Exodus 9.15,16 - "For by now I could have thrust my hand out that I might strike you and your people with pestilence and that you might be effaced from the earth. But, in fact, for this cause I have kept you in existence, for the sake of showing you my power and in order to have my name declared in all the earth."

Check out these references:
*** w05 5/15 p. 21 par. 8 Coming to Know Jehovah’s Ways ***
"Because of what would be done with hardhearted Pharaoh, Jehovah purposed to demonstrate his power in a way that would serve notice on all who defy him."

*** it-2 p. 1181 Wickedness ***
"The Ten Plagues visited upon Egypt, climaxed by the destruction of Pharaoh and his military forces in the Red Sea, were an impressive demonstration of Jehovah’s power. (Ex 7:14–12:30; Ps 78:43-51; 136:15) For years afterward the nations round about were still talking about it, and God’s name was thus being declared throughout the earth. (Jos 2:10, 11; 1Sa 4:8) Had Jehovah killed Pharaoh immediately, this grand display of God’s power to His glory and for the deliverance of His people would not have been possible."

*** wt chap. 7 p. 62 par. 6 What We Learn From God’s Permission of Wickedness ***
"What Jehovah said to the ruler of Egypt in the days of Moses further indicates why God has allowed the wicked to continue. When Pharaoh forbade the departure of the sons of Israel from Egypt, Jehovah did not immediately strike him down. Ten Plagues were brought on the land, demonstrating Jehovah’s power in amazing ways. When warning of the seventh plague, Jehovah told Pharaoh that He could easily have wiped Pharaoh and his people off the face of the earth. “But, in fact,” Jehovah said, “for this cause I have kept you in existence, for the sake of showing you my power and in order to have my name declared in all the earth.”—Exodus 9:15, 16."

[THANKS E.GONZALEZ AND E.CRUZ.]

What was the reason for Jehovah permitting Pharaoh’s heart to continue obstinate or hard after every plague that was thrown at him?

Well, today we begin our new campaign, with the Kingdom News No.37. Of course, the message we are going to give is not new. But it is very exciting to see what happens. It’s exciting to see how people will react to it. It’s either gonna be good or bad or in between. It might even kinda scare us a bit. But we want to remember the daily text for Wednesday, October 4, 2006, based on the w05 1/7 issue. The last comment it gives is this: "With Jehovah’s help, may we continue to meet all challenges as we carry out the God-given commission to preach the good news of the Kingdom to people of all nations." It would be good to read again that comment from the 'slave' and the article it was taken from. And we want to follow exactly the instructions we received in the km 09/06 to have Jehovah’s blessing and spirit.

It’s all very exciting, isn’t it? It’s more proof that Jehovah’s Day is very near.

And Jehovah's organization is really taking this message seriously, because of the times in which we live. That is why this campaign is being done worldwide, in diverse languages, even sign language! Go to http://www.watchtower.org/asl/article_01.htm to take a look at it, or visit the main page.

Check out Ruben's "vita ut ego specto is".