77 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 4-22-17”

  6. Good morning, wanderers….
    Scott is headed to our ranch shortly….it’s supposed to be beautiful this weekend and he wants to get some outdoor chores taken care of before it becomes unbearably hot. It’s supposed to drop to 49 in the morning–while yesterday’s high was 89 with 98% humidity (I’m afraid we are in for a brutal summer). Lindsey will spend tonight with Megan, the horse trainer for whom she works, as they have a show Sunday morning. Becca is also spending the night with a sweet friend–so I was going to be all alone….But, when Connie learned this, she offered to come spend the night with me.

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  7. Not sure where to put this. QOD: have you heard of the New Apostolic Reformation? I am seeing its influence, even here in Ukarumpa. It is spreading rapidly. A friend in my church, Glenn Murray, has researched it. He calls it “an erroneous end-times theology. They believe that God is restoring the office of Apostle and Prophet and has given them authority to govern, (rule over) a unified one-world church.”
    Bethel Church in Redding, California is part of this movement.
    Glenn has sent me a copy of the five page paper he wrote on this, which has a full page of links so others can research it them selves. To find out who he is, he has a blog at glennmurray dot net.

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  8. I am willing to send this paper to anyone who asks, as Glenn gave me permission to share.
    Here is a quote from the paper: “These self-proclaimed ‘restored apostles and prophets’ vigorously proclaim their allegiance to the Bible but often place an equal and sometimes an even greater emphasis on dreams, visions and extra-biblical revelation than they do on the Scriptures. Many of the leaders claim to have had extraordinary spiritual experiences like physical visits to heaven. Some claim numerous face-to-face conversations with Jesus and discussions with angels. They boldly state that the revelations they receive are ‘Present Truth’ for today and refer to Biblical truth as ‘Past Truth’.

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  9. Matthew 24:24King James Version (KJV)

    24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

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  12. Within the church, everyday Christians, it has become quite common to hear people say “God told me to do this.” Marry this woman, quit this job, even buy these shoes. So we aren’t really in a good place to discern “This man claims to have heard new revelation, so therefore he is a false prophet.”

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  13. And, “God told me to divorce this person, or sleep with that person, or take from the other person, or…..”

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  14. The bird originally at the top is a chipping sparrow, our smallest sparrow. Now, in Nashville I knew we had real sparrows (not house sparrows), but I didn’t really get a close enough look at them to know what varieties or to tell them apart.

    This little guy is a “chipping” sparrow because as he hops from limb to limb, he does it vocalizing a constant stream of “chip, chip, chip.” It is only here in summer months, but would seem to breed in great numbers here, on our block. We probably have a nest in our blue spruce based on the behavior of one bird, and this may be one of the pair. It seems that they have nested in our yard, but close to our neighbor’s apple trees so that they can dart over, find worms among the blossoms for their young, and go back to the nest quickly. His cap is reddish brown and pretty, but otherwise he is a very plain looking bird.

    Our neighbor has a few dozen apple trees, which were in full bloom all week, so I took breaks from work for five or ten minutes to go stand at the back fence with a camera and see if I saw anything worth photographing.

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  15. At the top now is a red admiral butterfly among lilacs. Last weekend we went to visit a brother who had a house to himself (with his wife) for the week. Lilacs were in full bloom in the front yard, and I got lots of photos, but with no insects. When we were about ready to leave the next morning, I ran out to the abandoned barn on the chance of finding nesting birds (I found nothing special), and as I was about to go back to the house I saw this butterfly land on lilacs in the backyard. I was so busy getting good photos of the butterfly I failed to notice that these lilacs were pink, not the pale purple of the ones in the front yard.

    The red admiral overwinters as an adult, so it can be one of the first ones out and about in the spring. This was the first one I saw this year, though we have them plentifully around our own house.

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  16. Good morning from the office.

    I do not remember hearing about that, Jo. Although I did read one Christian type book for review that was approaching that line of thinking. I don’t remember it discounting Scripture, but it has a vision the author had of the future.

    I believe the Holy Spirit brings to mind Bible verses that help guide us in life choices. I have felt that when I ask for help in a creative effort to glorify God that He gives me impressions of things that would be pleasing to Him. I don’t equate that with visions, but I do feel it to be a type of divine help.

    I met some nice homeschool moms who worked the registration desk with me yesterday at the event where the florist from Washington state who is being sued over the gay wedding issue spoke. She is a super nice lady. The black Atlanta Fire Chief who got fired (for his outside the job Bible study teaching) was there, too. It was so touching to see how these two persecuted Christians have befriended each other.

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  17. I disagree. I think the Church is always in a good position to be discerning. We all say silly things now and again, but that doesn’t mean we cannot call out those who proclaim false teaching. That would be like saying that because the Church struggles in the matter of divorce, she has no right to insist marriage is between one man and one woman. Besides, the real members of the Church are indwelled with the Holy Spirit, who guides us into all truth. Christ told us repeatedly, and his Apostles echoed his warnings, that the wheat of the Church would grow with the tares. We can expect those who teach error to be always present in one form or another, which is why we can never cease to walk in the Spirit, so that he can alert us to the error. This is the essence of the message of I John:

    They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.
    But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. (I John 2:19-21, HCSB)

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  18. Roscuro, I wasn’t saying the church “shouldn’t” be discerning, but that it “isn’t” being discerning on this very matter, extrabiblical revelation. In a day that Jesus Calling is a best-seller with best-selling sequels, of course we are going to have even worse false prophets find followers. In a day when “I went to heaven and saw Jesus’ rainbow-colored horse” is sold in Christian bookstores, we can’t be too surprised if someone else says, “Well, God told you that, but He told me this other thing, and what’s more, the Bible isn’t even important anymore at all.”

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  19. To answer Jo’s question directly, I have seen something about the New Apostolic Reformation. Things like that blur so quickly into mainstream charismatic teaching – which itself claimed to have new revelation in its beginning – that it is hard to keep track of all the different branches. Many of the televangelists regularly claim new revelation. I understand, when it comes to the gifts of healing, etc. that there is some leeway and solid Christians may disagree to disagree. I would lean towards the cessationist viewpoint, but also understanding that God can still work miracles of healing, just not through as clear agency as in the Apostles’ day; and that while foretelling the future as the prophets did is gone, there is some prophetic proclamation in applying the word of God to current situations to show what will be the natural consequences of actions taken. But all that is different than claiming entirely new revelation, particularly when the content of that revelation contradicts the Bible.

    Sadly, such claims have a draw for those who have come out of animistic religions, as it appeals to their old superstitious ways of having spiritual gurus/marabouts/mediums/etc. who communicated with the supernatural. It feels natural to them, a comfortable old habit. I saw that in West Africa, when a group of Christians tried to exorcise the ‘demon’ from a man who had a stroke, using the name of Jesus. They were used to going to powerful marabouts to cure their ailments, which are often attributed to demons. The name of Jesus was just being used as a powerful charm. I realized then why Jesus warned his disciples against rejoicing that the demons were subject to those who believed in Christ (Luke 10:20). The spiritual power of the Holy Spirit is not to be used as those in the world wield spiritual power. Peter’s terrible warning to Simon the Magician is still applicable today (Acts 8:18-24).

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  20. Cheryl, the Church is always the Bride of Christ, but there is always going to be tares mixed with the wheat. Obviously, there are some in the church who are being discerning about this new movement, since Jo quoted one of them. Yes, we always must guard against error, but our position as Christians is always one of victory.

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  21. For movements such as the New Apostolic Reformation, it is helpful to remember Gamaliel’s wise words to the Sanhedrin, as they discussed the problem of the Christians, “…if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing…” (Acts 5:38). That isn’t to say the elder’s of the Church shouldn’t warn the flock, but a movement which gives itself the label of Apostolic, and Revelation is doomed from the beginning. The Apostles were given their designation, they did not take it themselves, and the Reformation was only named after the event. Those who seek to gain a following by borrowing historical terms are the proverbial prideful headed for a fall.

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  22. I’d not heard of the movement, Jo, but I haven’t kept up with some of these church movements in recent years (though it looks like this goes back a ways, and it is a compilation of a host of movements with which I have been familiar, including the Kansas City and Latter Rain movements).

    This is from a website called Berean Research (which I’m not familiar with but it seemed to provide a concise overview, if accurate):

    New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)

    _________________________________

    “…NAR, the New Apostolic Reformation. … It is like Grape Nuts – it’s not grapes and it’s not nuts. It’s like Christian Science – it’s not Christian and it’s not scientific. Well, the New Apostolic Reformation isn’t new, it isn’t apostolic, and it isn’t a reformation. But it is a rapidly expanding movement being generated by some of the same old troubling false teachers and false leaders that have been around in Charismania for decades, always dishonoring the Holy Spirit, always dishonoring the Scripture, always claiming miracle signs, wonders, visions, dreams.” ~ John MacArthur

    Fast Facts:

    * Also known as Dominionism, Third Wave, Latter Rain, Kingdom Now, Joel’s Army, Manifest Sons of God, Charismatic Renewal, Charismania.

    * Its founder was C. Peter Wagner who claims that the Church of the 21st Century will be ruled by Apostles and Prophets. Wagner has anointed himself NAR’s “Presiding Apostle.”

    * Linked with the Kansas City Prophets “who brought grandiose claims that a ‘new breed’ of super prophets were beginning to arrive on planet earth who would change the world forever”; likewise Word Faith and Pentecostal movements.

    * Not governed by an official denomination, it is led by alleged apostles and prophets.

    * Teaches that the new apostles and prophets are to be the government for the emerging “New Order” church.

    * Claims there will be a reformation greater in scale than the Protestant Reformation.

    * Claim direct revelation from God and many allege that Jesus and angels visit them in person.
    Some of them declare that they have visited heaven many times and had conversations with Jesus as well as the Prophets and Apostles.

    * NAR’s extensive mission outreach throughout the globe has caused the astonishing church growth that’s happening in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

    * Denigration of the Bible and Sola Scriptura.

    * Experience oriented theology and based in emotionalism.

    * Steeped in mysticism.
    ______________________________________________

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  23. Nothing new under the sun. It’ll come and go in time (and be replaced by something no doubt similar); but good to be aware of these movements that can wind up influencing churches with passing doctrinal “trends.”

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  24. When I worked as a waitress for a non-denominational Christian resort centre, we had some interesting groups. I remember one women’s group, who had a ‘prophetess’, dressed in fringed white robes, a la Aimee Semple Macpherson (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30148022). She held forth for some hours in tongues, much to our disgust, since the room in which we were staying and trying to catch some rest in between the long, heavy work in the dining room, was close to the chapel where her service was being held. As someone who enjoys listening to another language being spoken (I can gradually pick up words and then syntax the more I listen), the tongues were utter nonsense to me.

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  26. Mumsee, there was no interpreter. I’ve been present in a church service where someone did speak in tongues with an interpreter, but in most of my experience with the phenomena, an interpreter hasn’t been present. When I said the tongues were utter nonsense, I meant that there was no evidence of the structure of a true language. It was just sounds.

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  27. Roscuro, I’ve long suspected that the “Leave them alone; if it isn’t from God it will fall apart” was recorded as one man’s stated opinion (and the means used not to further persecute the apostles) and not necessarily wisdom from God. False systems can in fact flourish for centuries, as we have now seen with the Mormons. There has also been less serious error, but real and deep error, within the Roman Catholic church (and the Orthodox church) for hundreds if not thousands of years. (Why didn’t the RCs vanish from the faith of the earth after Trent, if not before, if this was an actual prophecy and not just one man’s truism?) The Muslims are most definitely another example–deep and profound error, even error that claims some connection to the God of the Bible, that has caused much pain and suffering–but it has been around for centuries and is if anything flourishing as never before.

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  28. Roscuro, I think Mumsee was making the same point, but with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek.

    I was once at a camp for beginning the work on a college yearbook, and at the same facilities that week, sharing the cafeteria-style dining room, was a New Age group. One very large woman (tall, heavy, imposing) wore long white robes, and one day I was in line behind her to pick up our meals when I heard her say to another adherent, “In a previous life, I was a belly dancer.” I was really, really good–I did not laugh aloud. But it was all as silly as it was sad.

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  29. Cheryl, a non-Christian can utter wisdom from God even if they are unaware of it – recall Caiaphas’ prophecy that Christ would die for the people in the same Sanhedrin. The question is, is Gamaliel’s wisdom backed up by the rest of Scripture. Christ promised he would build his Church and the gates of hell would not prevail. Everything from Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of The Image and the Stone, to the final proclamations in Revelation show that the only thing that will ultimately last is the Church of Christ. II Peter and Jude warn against the false prophets, even as they predict their destruction; while John reassures his audience that they will hold to the truth despite being surrounded by error. The very fact that historic events such as the Reformation occurred, though it also gave birth to some serious errors thanks to opportunists who jumped on the bandwagon, is evidence that the Church persists despite prevalent errors. The survival of the Church is, like the Resurrection, a vital witness to the deity of Jesus Christ.

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  31. Absolutely, the church will survive, and absolutely unbelievers can speak church. But recorded dialogue in Scripture is not necessarily a record of truth–sometimes it’s a record of error. And I think the “If it is not of God, it will fail” is generally true, but not a prophecy and not always true. We know from Jesus Himself that sometimes the tares will grow among the wheat until the end. And then, ultimately truth will prevail.

    In the meantime, we can’t say “If it isn’t truth, it will just die out.” (I’m not claiming you said that.) Especially not based on this recorded statement, because it is one man’s opinion recorded in Scripture rather than a scriptural truth recorded as fact. Lies sometimes flourish and don’t get sorted out until eternity.

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  32. I would add, speaking historically, that heretical movements have been crushed. Yes, they rise in a different form, as Satan’s methods do not change. However, although beliefs which resemble Gnosticism and Arianism still raise their ugly heads, no one goes around quoting Arian to prove their point and those who hold Gnostic-like philosophies generally do not refer to the Gnostic gospels, which are mere curious artifacts of more interest to sensational novelists like Dan Brown than to any false prophet who wants to make headway amongst churchgoers. Arianism and Gnosticism were defeated. The same ideas get remade, as the false teaching in church history can be roughly divided into movements which seek to return to animistic superstition (such as Gnosticism) and movements which deny the deity of Christ (such as Arianism).

    Actually, the two movements nearly always occur together, for example, I’ve been struck by how much Mormonism’s weird supernatural ideas resemble what Irenaeus describes Gnosticism to have been, but Mormonism also reduces Christ to less than the Creator of all things (actually, Gnosticism did the same thing). Yet, Joseph Smith never read the Gnostic Gospels (they were discovered in 1945). Mormonism also bears a strong resemblance to Islam (an Arian-type error) in many areas, including the origin story; and yet again, Islam was merely a far-away exotic religion in the region where Smith came from – reading popular literature from the time period makes it evident that most people in America knew very little of what Islam was about and a small-time con-man wouldn’t be an expert. The resemblance is due to, as John said, the spirit of antichrist (I John 2:18). The errors never deviate from the criteria John laid out on how to detect error, “Who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denies the Father and the Son” (I John 2:22). That should be an encouragement. I would have thought that Calvinists would be the last to assume defeat. If we believe that man is depraved, then the prevalence of error is simply what happens when Christians live in a fallen world. The people of the world like to shelter in the branches of the mustard tree (Matthew 13:31-32).

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  35. Roscuro, I am absolutely not assuming defeat. Not even close. Now, I’m not a Calvinist in the stripe of “the world will get better and better until the end,” but I absolutely believe that Christ will be–and is–victorious.

    I’m saying that the “little” errors we accept (which, today, most definitely includes believing in “a word from the Lord” as an everyday occurrence) leave us vulnerable to large errors. Why do the Mormons get most of their converts from among Baptists, for example? Maybe it is because Baptists tend to be allergic to creeds and to scholarship and leave their people wide open to someone who can defend his faith well, even if his faith is erroneous, because many of them have little understanding of theology and almost no understanding of church history. Obviously that is not true of all Baptists, any more than all Presbyterians are scholarly; but since I grew up Baptist, all of my siblings (with one possible exception) are still Baptist, and two of my siblings are in full-time ministry and fairly well known in their Baptist circles, I’m not “picking on” some group I know nothing about.

    We also have come to decide it’s nasty and not very Christlike to “contend for the truth,” preferring to give the benefit of the doubt to false teachers. That too leaves us very vulnerable. When the Christian Research Institute of all places sees no real difference between Orthodoxy and Protestantism, we probably are not in a good place for scholarship.

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  36. So, did I mention how the escapee returned to being an inmate? Apparently, he had a car delivered by an accomplice. He took off in the car while being moved between buildings. He was seen driving north and then seen exiting his car at a baseball field where there was a game going on and a bunch of children and parents, about sixty miles away. Then he jumped into a really cold river and went into some brush. He entered a barn and wrapped himself in a grill cover and piled into some hay. The next morning, when the farmer went to feed the animals, he piped up, saying he was unarmed, freezing, and wanted to turn himself in. The farmer obliged.

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  37. This movement is spreading rapidly. Our church had to cut off a missionary who had joined Bethel church and would not listen to the elders on their errors.
    Please pray as I may need to talk to someone today who, I believe is involved. I just heard this week of some meetings here among the expats promoting this.
    If anyone would like Glenn’s article, I am happy to send it.

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  40. Cheryl, them’s fightin’ words. I’m smiling, but I’m tempted to say something about converts to Presbyterianism from the Baptists who get all superior about their knowledge. It is a phenomenon I’ve experienced personally, in my own family, as eldest sibling used to say, “You Anabaptists…” in a condescending way. We’ve pretty much leveled out the differences, but the superiority was galling while it lasted. Actually, my critique of those who rely on creeds and catechisms is that they are weak in teaching the work of the third person of the Trinity – a criticism shared by Pastor A, the venerable retired pastor, who was a Baptist with Calvinist convictions, had no use for charismatic movements, and taught the best series of lessons on the Holy Spirit I have ever come across. Creeds are a valuable historical record of orthodoxy, but their existence is evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit, not a substitute for it. Also, the Baptists do have their own Confession of Faith, the first edition of which (1644) was written two years before the 1646 Westminster Confession. Pretty much every Baptist church or agency I’ve looked into has a confession of faith, including the tiny church my family attends. So enough about Baptists being allergic to creeds.

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  41. My reference to Calvinists not admitting defeat was an oblique reference to the last of the five points, Perseverance of the Saints, which holds that the elect will never lose their salvation and are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and that those who become apostates were never of the elect in the first place.

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  42. I encountered people from almost every denomination, including Presbyterians, within ATI. That experience makes me very reluctant to say one denomination is more prone to being led astray than another.The Catholics, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Congregationalists in Canada all were complicit in the wrongs done to the First Nations. Just as there is no such thing as a perfect church to attend, so there is no such thing as a perfect denomination to join. My mother often quotes the verse when we discuss how problems within Christianity have developed, “Let he that thinks that he stands, take heed lest he fall” (I Corinthians 10:12).

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  44. Roscuro, I guess I’m not a good Presbyterian, because I don’t “rely on” creeds. But I do think they’re helpful. Yes, some Baptists do pay attention to creeds or systems of doctrine, but the ones in my experience do not. One of my closest friends is a pastor’s wife, and she’ll readily say they “only believe the Bible” as though any system of doctrine is automatically suspect. And she has no interest in conversations about theology. That was pretty much my experience growing up, up to and including Bible college, and at least the PCA is a bit different. I’m not at all meaning to be haughty . . . but I’ve been on the other side, and when I was a Baptist, we all tended to think those Presyberians and Lutherans were practically Catholic and they probably weren’t saved. And there was pretty much no accountability (and no support) for the pastor; I believe a session of elders is more biblical and healthier.

    I didn’t remember you as being Anabaptist, and that wasn’t meant as a slam, just as an observation that Mormons get an awful lot of converts from Baptists, and that fundamental Baptists (the stripe with whom I am most familiar) tend to be fairly unknowledgeable. You know, “the King James is good enough for me; don’t you dare talk about original languages or ‘textual criticism’–only heathens criticize the Bible.” My brother’s church mentions the KJV as one of the first things mentioned about their church–that isn’t a healthy thing to have as one of your “fundamentals.” (I could argue for the KJV with the best of ’em when I was a teenager, though. I still like the beauty of it, but it saddens me to meet people who think that an important criterion in choosing a church, since they are limiting themselves to churches that are deliberately avoiding deep study.)

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  45. Oh, and Roscuro, my denomination certainly has problems. It was “one of our own” who wrote one of the books I used as an example of heresy within he church earlier today. We’ve had some scandalous bowing to famous people and overlooking apostasy or sin. My husband is grieved by some choices within our church, and I know enough to see our warts. So I won’t be putting out an ad campaign anytime soon.

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  46. Our denomination — the Orthodox Presbyterian Church — says it really stands for “Only Perfect Church.” Yeah, it’s a joke 🙂

    Where I am in Southern California the Calvary Chapels were the ascendant “born again” church for many years — and still are quite prominent. CC was founded on the beaches here by Chuck Smith who had an outreach to surfers and hippies in the 1970s.

    A good number in our church have come through CC’s.

    Calvary Chapels disparaged the entire idea of a “denomination.” But oddly, as they’ve grown, they have become essentially are a denomination themselves.

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  47. Cheryl, I’m not Anabaptist, eldest sibling somehow confounded the Baptists and the Anabaptists (they have never been the same thing). I was raised in a Baptist church, since my father came out of the United Church – where he was baptized as an infant – without hearing the gospel, and came to the Lord and was baptized as an adult in the church my mother and her family attended, where they soon afterwards met. My great-grandmother was a founding member of that particular Baptist church, so all my maternal relatives were solidly Baptist, with several being pastors, until my cousins (and sibling) scattered throughout various denominations.

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  50. Actually, I also, via the tiny family church (before and then after Pastor A) come from the fundamentalist branch of the Baptists. That little church had strong ties to all things fundamentalist, including being KJV-only before Pastor A came along (some people were upset that he, though he preferred the KJV, would not declare it the only translation) and then reverted to the same position under the subsequent pastor who resigned. Youngest sibling-in-law, who came from a more mainstream Baptist background, is very attracted to the fundamentalist line of thought – and he has a university degree. I can only say that I’m concerned there. Ironically, the people before Pastor A, and the pastor after him, though fundamentalist in leaning, really liked the Free Presbyterians of Northern Ireland – proving that the denominational lines blur in the oddest places.

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  51. Calvi-Con. 🙂

    Chickadee, with the McKs, has been to San Diego’s ComicCon (several years ago), & they all go to the much smaller version in Hartford – ConnectiCon – every summer. She has some pretty wigs that she has bought over the years.

    Cosplay is kind of strange to me, but I try not to be judgmental about it, as different people have different hobbies & interests.

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  53. Kizzie, Eldest Niece has only been to a local version of Comic-Con. She is very creative and good at sewing, so she loves to make costumes. I love seeing her enjoy herself with harmless pursuits as a teen – she also works hard at a part-time job, her school work, and her writing. It wasn’t our parents’ fault, but our teen years were so dark with the “thou shalt not’s” of ATI that we missed out on those harmless pursuits. I would have loved to have made costumes (only I would have gone to Renaissance Fairs instead of Comic-Con), but I was afraid that was wrong and so I never tried. Eldest Niece is a lot like my siblings and I were, and I see that the socializing she is doing is helping her to mature in ways that we were delayed in by being so isolated.

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  55. Mumsee, I know she isn’t always fully in control of her mental faculties and she has a lot of trauma in her history, but I also know that sometimes when people are in a mental tailspin, they need to be stopped – cold. I’ve come close to losing it with those symptoms that resemble OCD, and the best thing that my family did was to tell me in no uncertain terms to stop it. It seemed hard, but I knew they were right even as I sobbed that I couldn’t. Their advice has stuck with me whenever I’ve felt tempted to start gibbering (inside) from the thoughts that make me anxious. Praying that you’ll have wisdom. Even the mentally ill have to take responsibility. I don’t think they are responsible when they are in full blown psychotic break, but they can be responsible for what they do when they feel themselves begin to slip.

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  56. That is where we are trying to get her to take control. She is doing much better. I have stopped her in the past, physically, but that became too dangerous so I no longer do it. The other day, my hand ended up pouring blood all over her room, and I don’t even know how. I do not touch them anymore when they are having these moments. Interestingly, when I stopped physically restraining her (and the other fifteen year old) they both stopped resisting so much. Like they just wanted me to hug them, so I did. I hugged her a few minutes ago, but then she started screaming again, and rather than sit on her or something, I just left. So she continues to yell in a quieter voice.

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  57. No, physical restraints are too dangerous, for both of you. Though, I did take non-violent crisis intervention training, which taught a much safer method of physical restraint than sitting on the person. However, it would be better for her if she could stop herself. My family simply told me to stop, but then, words, tone of voice, and facial expression have always been very effective for me.

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  58. Mumsee – I know this is not the same thing, but Little Guy sometimes says he doesn’t like me, or some such negative thing. But I know he doesn’t really think that, as I am the one constant in his life, next to his mama. I am always here, I always stop to listen to him when he comes down to tell me something, & let him hang out with me for a while. When he has been out somewhere, he always has to come in & tell me what he’s been doing. (“Has to” as in he wants to, not that I make him do so.) I am “safe” to unleash to.

    Of course, I tell him that it is not nice to talk to me that way, & I remind him of how much I love him, & that I know he loves me, too.

    You are your daughter’s safe person. I doubt she really even means the horrible things she says. (At least, that’s what I’d like to believe is the case.)

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  60. Oh, I know she loves me and all of that. But she has issues. And I don’t sit on her. In the past, I have had her sit close to me, and kept her from running away and from throwing things.

    Actually, we had just been sitting in the other room talking, but as soon as I left, she started yelling again. She wants a private room (which she has) but not one with a wall and not the one she has.

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  61. But, allowing her to walk through the house knocking things over and yelling is awfully hard on the younger ones. They find it scary.

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  62. She told the doctor she can control it and it appears, when other people enter the house, that she can. But how to get her to do so is the thing that has eluded me. Though, as I said, she is not outside throwing eggs at the window or rocks, or glass jars. It is an improvement.

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  63. Mumsee, I’ve sure you’ve observed that when most people get upset about something, they hide it from outsiders, and end up letting those whom they trust the most feel their emotions the most.

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  64. Ok, quiet at last. I have found one way to get her to subside is to toss her stuff out the window. It gets her mind centered back on what is important to her, rather than just yelling and screaming. I told her, when she sits down and stops screaming, I stop tossing. About three quarters of the way through her room, she stopped. That is an improvement over times in the past when the entire room emptied. I try to do it gently so nothing gets broken but I am afraid I am not so gentle when she is throwing rocks at me. She stopped. I stopped. She is now bringing her things back in. Troublesome to her? Yes. But it takes the pressure off the rest of the family. I did manage to get the younger ones upstairs to watch Gilligans Island for a bit as they get quite disturbed by her antics and want to hug me and hug me and try to make up for it. Not their job. They need to be little children.

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  65. She brought all of her stuff in, I gave her a hug, she apologized and commented that she was acting like a maniac and she does not understand herself. I reminded her that I can usually tell when she is headed that way and she needs to find ways to cut it off. Or try the meds.

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  66. Mumsee, do you ever tell her when she is headed that way?

    It may seem like an obvious question . . . but when my sister was a teenager, it was very, very obvious to everyone in the family when she had PMS. She was grumpy with a hair trigger. Sometimes Mom would say something like “Must be that time of the month again,” but my sister told me years later that no one ever mentioned to her that this is PMS, it’s hormonal, it’s temporary; basically, take a deep breath and do the best you can for a couple of days and you’ll feel better soon (and so will we!). I assumed she knew that, and I think Mom must have, too. But no one had ever actually said it to her–or she didn’t hear them, if they did.

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  68. Yes, Cheryl, I do point it out to her. I can usually tell about two to three weeks in advance that she is derailing. I try to get her to stop and think about where she wants to be in a week or two. As mentioned, she is doing better and we have not yet resorted to the pills she has been prescribed, in case she decides she cannot control herself. But it gets rugged at times.

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  69. Mumsee, you’re in a hard situation. I imagine that maybe after time she will begin to trust your perception. Sometimes one doesn’t learn all at once!

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  70. The most recent two photos: one is proof that even a fungus can be lovely. My husband pointed this one out, and I thought it quite pretty. It wasn’t close enough to the trail to get a shot from above, but this one likely ended up better than that might have, anyway.

    And two is a photo of the purple/blue lilacs from the front yard of the house. When I pulled this one up on the computer when I got home, I saw it had quite a “soft focus,” as thought I had used some sort of filter, different from the usual feel of my photos. It really seemed appropriate for the subject matter and so it ended up as one of my favorites from that day.

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  72. Good morning at church, then I took a really long nap this afternoon before going to the dog park. Guess I needed it.

    Jerry, driveway boss, is getting ready to head to Gallup for 60 days, they’re trying to save a refinery there with some new oxidation technology. He had a phone call from an MIT prof who’s part of the team while we were at the park tonight and he said later she told him his projections & figures were better than hers.

    They still need to put the silicone sealer on, that’ll happen later in the week, and Craig, his sidekick will call regarding the garage job. So everything’s moving.

    Now it’s on to Monday, but I’m looking forward to a full week off after this week.

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