I have many happy memories of my Belfast childhood……none more than lying in bed on a Sunday morning with the smell of sizzling bacon wafting it’s way up the stairs from the kitchen where my mom was preparing our once a week Ulster fry (she wisely knew any more than that would take us to an early grave!) while from my parents bedroom, as my father was getting ready for church, we got to eavesdrop as the radio waves carried in another weekly treat, “Alastair Cooke’s Letter from America.”
From the trivial and not so trivial Americana this sagacious British gentleman would every week, weave together an intriguing story that was both amusing and instructive.
These tales from a far off land by one of our own (well not quite – he was English) added for me to the sense of awe that surrounded that “great” nation, who sneezes, and “we all catch cold”!
I never dreamed that as a young lad back then I too would be dispatched here, not by the BBC but by the GLA (Good Lord Above) with a wife and 7 children! Neither did I imagine I would have the opportunity to try my hand at “Paul Kyle’s Blog from America” once a week (not so much as a sagacious British man but as a sagging Ulster man : – )
I am being lead one step at a time. Last week I blogged about the death from a fentanyl overdose of an earthly American Prince – one of the (celebrity) ‘kings’ described in Psalm 2:1.
This fed a shocking statistic….that the life expectancy in America is for the first time for many years, falling! One of the reasons, is an ‘epidemic’ of opioid related deaths.
The bible speaks about this. In Jeremiah God says:
“Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it……‘Behold, I will….. give them poisoned water [rosh, “poppies”] to drink.(Jer.9:13-16)
This rebuke is given in the context of a culture where the corrupt priests who were also the doctors of the day were accused of saying “‘Peace Peace’ but there is no peace”. (Jer.6:14) This is similar to the “allopathic (literally ‘other than suffering’) medicine” commonly practiced today and in which I was trained where the focus is on alleviating symptoms rather than honestly seeking and dealing with the underlying root of the illness.
God rebukes them saying, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of My people been restored?”(Jer.8:22)
A recent headline on the BBC news site read. “Doctors issue New Year detox health warning.”
The writers of the paper in the prestigious BMJ said, “The concept of the new-year ‘detox’ with all-natural products is appealing to those less concerned with evidence-based medicine and more with complementary medicine.”
The article then focused on one lady who became “critically ill” – essentially because she drank too much water!
The deaths from prescription drugs in the US have more than quadrupled since 1999 with 91 deaths daily from opioid overdose.
So what is the evidence pointing to? It would seem these ‘Doctors’ in the room who are issuing the warning are calling out,
“Forget the elephant…Look! – there’s a fly on the wall!!”
The “balm of Gilead” was an essential oil, for whose benefit there is now abundant scientific “evidence“. These oils are God’s medicine cabinet provided by his plants used by Jesus mother (frankincense and myrrh!) and foundational for Hilary and my excellent health over the last 20 years.
In this instance the BBC (representing mainstream media) is not an objective ‘news’ source but rather a propaganda outlet.
I was watching a documentary, recently and thought the opening shots of a lough at dawn with a lone kayaker looked familiar. Then came the commentator’s voice with a Belfast accent. That seemed familiar too! I was amazed when the kayaker on Stangford Lough proved to be one of my longstanding Irish friends!
Michael had recently, like ourselves been lead on a journey of discovery to America where he had uncovered the same sort of God given truth about true healing that we have found.
The documentary contained a nugget of gold (Truth) that we were looking for that very night to find healing in our own family.
Five hundred years ago Ponce de leon was the first European to set foot in Florida. He was searching for gold, and for the “fountain of youth” Maybe there’s a place for Irishmen like Brendan the Navigator and Michael the Documentary Maker to come to this “land of opportunity” and bring forth ‘truth’ treasure from THE King, whom they follow and whose kingdom they are seeking!
The reason this blog is a day earlier this week is because Michael’s documentary is up for free viewing until 11th of this month…and I wanted to give you more time to catch it. Here’s the link:
https://thatvitaminmovie.com
On a final note, if you ever come to visit us in Rivendell on a Sunday, I can’t promise the smell of bacon, but everyone says they catch the whiff……of both the spiritual and the physical oil : – )