Review: The Complete Guide To Dream Interpretation - by Marsha Trimble Dunstan

My latest review for Chosen Books (and maybe my last), from whom I receive a free copy, is about developing a solid spiritual approach to interpreting dreams. The author contends, and I agree, that although most dreams are the result of things going on in the body or the mind (or even from the evil one) certain dreams are "gifts from God" and as such we would do well to try to discern what God may saying to us. The first 40% of this book contains the author's views about the different ways dreams come to us, practical advice on how to go about understanding the scenes and symbolism in dreams from God and she does so using many real life examples of dreams had by her and others.

The last 60% is a reference manual which divides into categories different images that may be found in a God given dream. The author references Scripture for each one because that, along with prayer, seems to be the way the Holy Spirit likes in leading us to understanding what the Father is saying. These categories include General Symbols, Places, Body Parts, Animals and Creatures, Transportation, Colors, People and Beings, Numbers and Actions.

One interesting thing I found browsing through the manual is that many images have more than one meaning and that some images may have either a positive or a negative meaning. Thus as the author says at least a half a dozen times throughout, one must always approach dream interpreting with prayer and an ear open to the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Everyone should be able by prayer, searching the Scripture and listening to the Holy Spirit, to be able to figure out what God may be saying to them in a dream. But sometimes they need to hear from another who is more mature in this area. God will then use another person to confirm what the first person suspects. This book then should be seen, not as the last word about what a certain symbol may mean, but rather as a practical tool, a useful resource for both the individual as well as for the person who is lead by the Holy Spirit to grow and mature in this type of prophetic gift.

My Take On Immigration

Pausing from my current obsession with writing poetry I decided to make a few comments regarding our immigration policy.

First I must tell you up front that like most people I don't watch CNN or MSNBC, neither do I see the news on what use to be the three major networks, nor do I avail myself with New York Times articles or opinion. At one time there use to be a semblance of balanced reporting (MSNBC excepted) but no more and not in a long time. Now there is agenda driven reporting which is highly coordinated by the powers that be (usually taking their lead from the NY Times), this is reflected in most of the online news links (because Google, Twitter and Facebook executives are almost entirely in the Progressive camp), and in the last few years, although I would not have thought it possible, their outright bias has gotten 10 times worse.

So maybe I am a little bit behind on the curve in understanding that I hate children (especially darker skinned ones) and that the world as we know it might just end tomorrow when Trump sends in the brown shirts to destroy our democracy.

Let me then review a few things about the roots of the "crisis" that is going on regarding immigration.

One group does not have a monopoly over another on loving kids, families, the poor or the needy. Nor does any caring person want to see children "ripped from their mother's arms". We should all agree that every loving person "just wants to see something done about this". To say otherwise is the worst type of demagoguery, done for political purposes in an attempt to achieve another, bigger goal.  Even though I believe that atheistic Progressive social policies had and will have negative social consequences I am willing to believe that with the exception of the few at the top and behind the scenes the majority of people supporting those policies have true concern for the poor and needy.

All countries have laws and policies regarding immigration and have had so for hundreds of years. It has always been considered to be part of how each nation determines their own self interest. It is only in very recent history that there has been a call for what is known as open borders, or unlimited movement of peoples groups from one region to another. This is a Progressive idea, highly funded by a small group of international leaders (ultimately to enhance their own power and pocketbooks), designed to weaken national identities and to increase the scope and influence of each State and then to unite these States together. Part of the purpose here is income redistribution (because this is actually an idea for world Socialism), but that is too simple. In the end it is not about caring for the masses but in obtaining wealth which leads to the real goal - power - attained and maintained by the few. 

Our country's current immigration laws were proposed and passed by Democrats. When the game plan changed previous administrations chose to ignore enforcing those laws. The Obama administration found a loop hole in the law and started sending plane loads of children from certain Central American countries not accompanied by parents to be resettled here (I have talked with people who were involved in the process and they explained how these kids are trained to say the right things and that many other people are involved who were getting paid to do their part of the deal). The plan of course is to get these kids established and then have whole families follow later.

The Trump administration did not create new law but they are declared racist for trying to enforce them. And yes, President Trump does not do himself any favors by a lot of what he says and how he says it. Yet to focus on that is just a smokescreen to avoid having a logical and truthful conversation on our immigration policy. Apart from the memes you may have read, Conservatives that he represents are not against immigrants or immigration, no child of legal immigrants have or would have been taken from their parents and placed in special camps and there is no religious litmus test (except for the attempt for a temporary ban for specific national security reasons from certain Muslim countries) for immigrants.

Here are some things to consider and questions to ask.

Children were being separated from their parents at a greater pace under both Bush and Obama. Parents have been paying "coyotes" large sums of money to bring their children alone under great risk of harm, slavery or death to sneak them into the U.S. yet just this last week there has finally been a great outcry. Was that outcry prompted by true moral outrage or perhaps it was part of the media crisis of the week we have seen ever since Trump was elected? With unreported record growth in the economy and under reported record unemployment statistics and the historic movement concerning North Korea and dare I finally say it, the falling of the house of cards of corruption at the highest levels, could that have something to do with the timing? Excuse me for being cynical but there is something going on when it has been widely documented that over 90% of the coverage of President Trump and his administration by the tradition news outlets has been negative and here we have something, as bad as it is, not new but now a crisis.

If we forget open borders for a minute and instead talk about a more robust level of immigration then there should be reasonable discussion on the positives and negatives that will have on not only our economics but on the character of who we are as a nation with respect to laws, to our most cherished  traditions, to our sacred freedoms, to the future for our offspring and finally to being able to freely express our faith. These are being challenged every day on every front.

One last word. Congress at this time will not be able to pass reasonable immigration legislation. Progressives rule the top positions of the Democrat party and they control the purse strings for their party in Congress. No loyalty, no money for reelection. They have no desire to see a solution other than legalizing the 20 million illegals now in the country (they hope the majority will vote for their party) and having open or mostly open borders. To have this unsettled is to their advantage. There are Progressives in the Republican party as well, some very influential, and they also have no desire to see anything get done. Make no mistake about it, they and the international elites see President Trump as a clear and present danger to their bigger plans and they all hate him for it.

Dune Buggy Ride

Six open bench seats
although no one else sits with the driver

big wheels, raw but brightly painted metal
you feel as much as hear the engine's voice
rum, rum, RUMMMMM

and off we go down a two track sand path
through beech, hemlock, poplar and cherry
round a tight walled sandy curve then higher
turning right then left then down with arms high
sand making it's way into our mouths as we laugh

we work our way to the top of a mountain of sand
which overlooks Goshorn Lake, once twice it's size

winds began to fill it in at seven feet per year
until grasses planted on the dunes by University students
started taming a growing beast, who once set free
by the lumberjacks to rebuild Chicago after it's fire, buried
the bustling town of Singapore in only five years

from here we overlook seven hundred rolling acres
and should see on a clear day Lake Michigan to the West
with blue waters out for twenty-eight miles
but today a haze just off shore blocks our view

shade for us now is a clump of eight cottonwood trees
which ii is actually actually only one
it's base buried by hundreds of feet of fine white
each extension created new roots, now exposed

there is a dead branch with a round woodpecker hole
home to a mother finch feeding her babies
and not so happy that we are parked below

a turkey buzzard floats above in the stiff breeze
waiting for some small rodent or snake to make a mistake

memories are framed on the hot sand then we find our places
trekking wildly down into a hidden woods ten degrees cooler
then back to a shop that sells ice cream, post cards
and shows displays of lightening fried sand