Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Gabriel's Chalice - Frank A. Ruffolo, Author

 
Oven Potatoes with Fennel
(One of Frank's Favorites)

20 ounces Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut in 1/2" cubes
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and cut in 1" slices
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced finely
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste


Preheat oven 400 degrees. Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, fennel, onion, parsley, oil, salt and pepper. Arrange mixture in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake, turn occasionally, until potatoes are crisp on all sides, 30 35 minutes. Then Serve.

 
Basil Butter
1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup (or 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
 
Stir basil leaves and lemon juice into butter in a small bowl. Spoon into serving container. Store, tightly covered, in refrigerator.
Spread on bread or place a pat on grilled steak, grilled chicken or hot vegetables.
 
 
Gabriel’s Chalice – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish
 
“This is CNN…good morning. We have an abundance of international news to cover today. We will start with Fred Wallace, just outside of Yellowstone National Park. Fred?” “Good morning. As you may remember, Yellowstone Park Rangers closed the park to the public last week. Increased seismic activity, the silencing of Old Faithful, and the sudden draining of Yellowstone Lake have volcanologists very worried. They are monitoring the buildup of underground pressure at the Old Faithful site and also at the now empty lakebed. They fear that an eruption is imminent. They have moved all reporters fifteen miles away from the park.” “Across the globe, things are far from quiet. In Iceland, Eyjafjallojokull is still erupting, and Mount Pinatubo and Mount Fuji in the western Pacific also continue to be active. The Illyinsky Volcano in Kamchatka, Russia, is now spewing ash, and just this morning, Mount Erebus in Antarctica came alive, sending yet another large pillar of ash into the upper atmosphere. With Vesuvius threatening to erupt in Italy and the increasing seismic activity in South American and Africa, we may be in for a very long winter due to all the ash in the sky.”
 
The year is 2028 and these are just a few of the problems earth seems to be experiencing. The CDC has been dispensed to Russia where a fungus that started by infecting the potatoes has not gone airborne and is now infecting humans. The CDC estimated that over 50,000 people had contracted the disease with a death rate of 40% of those who are affected. This figure will eventually rise into the millions. Then start the miracles. At the space moon lab, Dr. Raphael (Matt) Matteo who holds of a double doctorate in geology and volcanology with NASA, along with fellow crew members from the Moon Base Challenger find themselves involved in the discovery of a cave with an alter that has a chalice sitting on it. As the Angel Gabriel appears to them, they know that the chalice must be taken to earth in hopes of bringing its people together before it’s too late.
 
 
I received this book several months ago but when my computer was hacked I thought it was lost. Last week I finished a great accomplishment that took me 2 ½ years to complete. I had promised God and myself that I would read the Bible from beginning to end and Wednesday I finished. On Wednesday morning before I finished reading the Bible I found Gabriel’s Chalice. I picked it up and read the 1st page. It was Revelation 21:10-11 “In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God. It had all the glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond.” The 21st chapter was the chapter I read on Tuesday night before picking. As I read page after page of Gabriel’s Chalice I remembered more and more of what I had read in the Book of Revelations. It was almost as if this book was explaining what I had read and it was meant to be read after my Bible reading.
 
 
I would like to make a suggestion to everyone. Read Revelations and then read Gabriel’s Chalice. I truly feel that both books will give you a message that you just might need to complete your own life.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Until Today: Stories and Poems on Life as I Know It - Jerry M. White, Author


Corn Bread Pie
(One of Jerry's Favorite Dishes)

1 lb. ground beef
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 t salt
1 T chili powder
1/2 chopped green pepper
1 lg. onion, chopped
11/2 c water
3/4 t black pepper
1 can whole kernel corn (12 oz.), drained

Brown beef & onion well. Combine ingredients in skillet. Mix well and let simmer 15 minutes. Turn into greased sasserole. Top with corn bread. Bake in moderate oven 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Corn Bread Topping

3/4 c cornmeal
1 T flour
1 egg
1 T bacon
1 T sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 c milk

Mix all well and pour onto top of beef mixture. It will sink into mixture but will rise as it bakes and cook crispy.

This is a treat to try.

Until Today: Stories and Poems on Life as I Know It – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

My Honor to be His

The more I see in this life of mine
The more I see that nothing is mine
The more I see in this life I live
The more I see how much I can give

My life is honored by who owns the glory
My life is owned by who writes the story
I go where I’m sent; I go where I’m led
I want only to say what He wants said

I really try to do everything I should
It hurts me inside to not even do the things I could
My life feels, and is, sometimes out of control
It is so very hard to always be so very bold

What honor I give Him through my life every day
It is an honor to give it every way
He honors me with love and His forgiveness is mine
But the honor and the privilege to serve Him is all mine

It is through this service that my life has meaning
It is on this honor my salvation is leaning
My price has been paid by His life laid down
I will do the things I should without a single frown

Jerry M. White wrote this poem in 2004 and it has to be one of my favorites.  In so few words he really says it all. 

Until Today isn’t your typical book of poems.  Jerry White starts each poem(s) off with a little story explaining not only what they are about but what prompted him to write them.  He takes us through his spiritual world with poems like the one above.  We go through his family world with poems such as Audacity.  This is the story of his grandmother being rescued from a mental hospital.  His poem What Have We Done (another one of my favorites) brings to light what has been lost with the changes of time.  He walks us through the loss of his grandchildren to cancer and the true meaning of family through Grandma’s Apron.  He takes us on through life in the world of work with poems such as Light the Fuse and then through memories with The Last Day of School.  And to tie it all up he gives us the world of the Living and the Dead as he points out the problems in Nameless Numbers and concludes with Pillaged which leaves no doubt that our government is breaking.

I’ve read and written reviews for Author Jerry M. White before and have to say that with each he gets better and better. Seldom do I read one that doesn’t hit a cord from my own life and own feelings.  I thoroughly enjoy his works of art.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

The Knowledge of Good and Evil - Glenn Kleier, Author


 












Vodka Sauce
(A Glenn Kleier specialty)

Ingredients
1 stick butter
1 jumbo yellow onion, quartered
1 lrg clove garlic or 2 small ones
3-28 oz cans Dell’Aple crushed tomatoes
2-29 oz cans Hunts tomato sauce
12-oz prosciutto
½ c vodka
¼ t. crushed red pepper flakes
1—7 oz container heavy cream
4-oz grated Asiago Cheese

Directions
·         Put onion, garlic in Cuisinart and pulse until finely chopped. 
·         Melt butter in lrg heavy pot and add onion/garlic.  Heat stirring occasionally until sweating.
·         Put prosciutto into Cuisinart & pulse until extremely finely chopped.
·         Add red pepper flakes to onions/garlic.  Then add prosciutto over medium heat about 7 minutes stirring occasionally.
·         Add ½ C Vodka, mix and reduce heat slightly and let cook another 7 minutes stirring every minute
·         Simmer for 45 min, then add cream, stir and turn off heat immediately. Add Asiago Cheese

Notes
Serve with penne pasta.  Sauce freezes great.  Helps to open all cans first.


The Knowledge of Good & Evil - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds

‘He stared into his empty glass, unsure where to begin or how much to reveal.  He didn’t want to frighten them into paralysis, but he couldn’t mislead them.  The sad part was, despite his best efforts to
hide and protect them, their odds of survival were next to none… Meeting their anxious eyes, he began, “I don’t know if what you do is sinful or not, these experiments of yours with Death and Hell.  I’m a
soldier, not a theologian, I leave the moral calls to God.  But there are some who see such things as grave violations of God’s Will.  And unfortunately, they take it upon themselves to intervene.”  Ian
nodded.  “The man with the tattoo was a religious extremist.  Do you know who he was?”  “Not who.  What… I must ask your oath not to repeat what I tell you.”  They gave their words.  “This tattoo, it’s the
symbol of a very old sect.  A brotherhood of militants cast off from the Church centuries ago, known as Ordo Arma Christi.”  Ian translated, “The Order of the Weapon of Christ.”  “Yes.  Christ’s Weapon.  Ordo Arma Christi dates to medieval times.  There’s virtually no history of it outside the Bibliotheca Secreta –“ he clarified for Angela, “-the Vatican Secret Archives.  And once you hear its checkered past, you’ll see why the Church keeps silent.”


Dr. Angela Weber and former priest Ian Baringer make up the team for L.A.’s #1 Late-Nite Talk Show Probing the Paranormal.  If there appears a mystery, they investigate and solve it.  Angela and Ian have
been lovers since he left the priesthood, but due to information acquired regarding the death of his parents, Ian has decided he must go back and set his mind and heart straight regarding his beliefs.  He proposes to Angela and promises that when he returns he will be a completely new and level headed man.  Nothing could make Angela happier, but her dreams are put on hold after receiving information as to what Ian is really doing.  It appears that Ian has tracked information regarding Near Death Experiences (NDEs) which will allow him to step into the depths of hell to rescue his parents.  Their sin? Ian can only surmise that when they wrapped themselves around his 9 year old body to prevent him from burning in the wreck that took their lives, God judged it suicide . . .


Following Ian as he proceeds with his self-inflicted NDEs will bring a few questions to your mind, at least it did mine.  Are these events real or is it the mind playing tricks on the mind?  Science will give us one answer, but religion may have another.  Is there one TRUE religion or do all of them hold truth?  The answers to these questions and many more are answered with double answers.  One answer is the way Ian sees it through his NDEs.  The other answer is the way Angela sees it through science.  You be the judge of what is true.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Seventh Messenger - Carol Costa, Author




 Bean Cheese and Egg Casserole
(a Carol Costa favorite)

1 16 oz. can cut green beans
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 Tbsp. chopped pimento
6 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1/4 cup buttered bead crumbs

Drain green beans, reserving 1/2 cup of liquid.  In a bowl blend the liquid into the soup.  Stir in onion and pimento.  Spoon half of the sauce into a 1 1/2 qt. casserole dish.  Alternate layers of beans and eggs on top of sauce, reserving a few egg slices to garnish.  Cover with remaining sauce and sprinkle with bread crumbs.  Bake uncovered in a 400 degree oven for 10-20 minutes.  Garnish with egg slices and serve.

The Seventh Messenger – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘Like obedient children the people formed a circle around Benjamin.  He closed his eyes and raised his hands to pray, but instead of the comforting words that the group expected, an agonized cry forced itself from Ben’s mouth and he fell to the floor.  Suddenly Benjamin seemed to go into a convulsion.  As the people gasped in fear, Mary ran forward to help her husband.  Her efforts to grab hold of him failed as he was rolling around thrashing his arms and legs and moaning and yelling words that could not be understood.  Mary was frightened and began to cry.  Then, as suddenly as the convulsion started it ended.  Ben lay quietly for a few seconds and then with the help of Jacob and Silas rose to his feet.  His face was streaked with tears and fresh tears were spilling from his dark eyes… Finally, he spoke.  “I was seized by the Spirit of the Lord, so that His truth could be spoken through me.  For the Lord revealed to me that Michael Mills is indeed a false profit, a heretic, and I, Benjamin Franklin Purnell, am the true Seventh Messenger.  It is I who will lead God’s people to the Millennium.  It is I who will lead you out of the strife of these awful times and into the light of peace and prosperity.  Michael has blasphemed and we have followed him, and God’s displeasure has silenced our voices and made us afraid to venture into the sunlight.”

Benjamin Franklin Purnell, along with his wife Mary, had joined the religious group that called themselves “Flying Rollers.”  But after the conviction of their leader Michael Mills for raping several of the group’s young girls, another leader was needed.  With his gift for talking, preaching and steering people to his way of thinking, Benjamin became that leader.

Benjamin moved his people to Benton Harbor, Michigan in 1903 and created what he would call “The House of David.”  The facilities grew with the addition of an amusement park, zoo, hotel, restaurant and even its own baseball team.  And as The House of David grew, so did the treasury which allowed Benjamin and Mary to live true to the names the people gave them which were King Benjamin and Queen Mary.

To become a member of the colony, applicants turned over all earthly items of value to The House of David.  They were to eat no meats and married couples were to live as brother and sister.  In other words, no sex was allowed.  But Benjamin was the king so his own laws didn’t necessarily apply to him.  He created what he called the Inner Circle which was made up of girls no older than 16.  These girls were to live under the roof of his home and he in turn would “purify them.”  After the age of 16 they would be sent to work in other areas of the compound.  Most of the girls kept their “purification” to themselves but one who found herself pregnant decided to bide her time while committing herself to the destruction of King Benjamin. 

The Seventh Messenger has been one of the most intriguing books I’ve read in a long time.  When I read that the story was inspired by the true story of Benjamin Franklin Purnell I had to check it out for myself so I Googled the name and found events and places just as they are depicted in the book.  I don’t remember the downfall of The House of David being publicized here in the south but I do remember another colony that did make the papers here for doing a lot of the same things.  It’s wonderful that a person can bring men, women and children to God but when they do it with selfish desires, it hurts those who are doing it just for the good of God.  This is a great book and I highly recommend it for interesting reading.  I totally enjoyed reading this book!

2011
227 Pages
Anaphora Literary Press
ISBN# 9781463561024

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Torah Codes - Ezra Barany, Author

 









Egg Drop Face
5 cups of water
2 jars of peanut butter
1 egg
1 vintage army tank

While bringing 5 cups of water to a boil in a pot, disassemble the army tank. Spoon out the peanut butter into the boiling water, stir until the peanut butter loses its appeal.
Arrange the pieces of army tank on a cookie sheet and pour the watery peanut butter mix as a coating over the tank pieces.
Place in the oven preheated at 350 degrees. Wait for 20 minutes. Remove the tank parts and let them cool.
Place the coated tank parts in a large bowl and place the bowl on the kitchen table.
First one who asks what the heck it is, hit 'em with the egg.

P.S. I'm not much of a cook. :)

Alternate recipe:

Pizzawiches

2 slices of sourdough bread
1 jar of your favorite flavor of spaghetti sauce
1 packet of shredded cheddar and jack cheese blend

Spread the spaghetti sauce on the slices of bread. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top. Place the slices on aluminum foil. Put in a toaster oven until the cheese is melted, or preheat the oven at 350 degrees and place the slices in the broiler for 10 minutes. Eat!

The Torah Codes – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘I needed to walk around someone, so I had to step on the dirt of one of the tree plots that lined the street.  As I stepped on the soft dirt, my heart grew cold.  I nearly threw up.  A body had been cut up and recently buried underneath the dirt.  A man with dark hair, a pin-striped suit, a golden wedding ring on his finger.  I knew this.  I knew this like I knew my own name.  There was nothing to indicate such a thing.  A million reasons could be given for why the dirt was soft.  But I knew there as a body down there.  And that I was next…’

‘My eyes voted for the bed.  Two hours later, it was 8:12 p.m. and I realized I hadn’t let my bladder vote.  I headed for the bathroom and turned on the light.  My eyes complained.  I turned off the light.  I leaned against the mirror above the sink and reassured them that the light was off and that they could now open again.  I opened my eyes expecting the typical picture:  round face, brown hair, brown eyes, long neck, but all close up since my forehead was leaning on the mirror.  But it wasn’t myself I saw.  I saw a room.  A room filled with cameras.  Photos were taped to the wall.  I cupped my hands to the mirror and saw the room more clearly.  All the cameras were pointed straight at me.  But the room was dark and no one was there.’
Nathan is bi-polar and when he gets busy and forgets to take his meds he does have a tendency to imagine things.  Could this be one of those times?  The best thing for him to do is get out of his landlord's duplex and find a place where he is safe.  But that’s kind of hard when no matter where he goes he feels someone is following.  Someone wants to harm him.  Then he runs into Sophia as she gives tarot readings at a table set up outside a bookstore.

Nathan invites Sophia back to his apartment but not for what she thinks.  He wants her to look into the mirror to assure him he isn’t hallucinating.  And after confirming that what he sees is real, she talks him into going to the police.

As the police search the owner of the unit next to Nathan’s they discover pictures of not only him in the unit but of him on the outside as well as pictures of his mother and father while on their honeymoon.  But why?  How?  He only knows the owner of the unit, who is also his landlord, due to renting from him.  He had never met him prior to renting the unit.

In The Torah Codes Nathan’s travels take him to a Rabbi who explains how the codes are actually a part of the Bible.  He makes Nathan aware that there are 36 people who are directly connected to the codes and he, as well as Sophia, are apparently connected in some way.  Then he meets the creator of MEG (Motionless Electromagnetic Generator) making the puzzle even more confusing.  This becomes just the beginning, as his journey leads him to Israel in search of answers.

So, are the Codes real?  In The Torah Codes, Author Ezra Barany has included some very interesting statistics that will make the mind wonder.  At least it did mine.

2011
375 pages
Dafkah Books
ISBN# 978-0-9832960-1-0

 
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