Parts of Speaking Publishing

 I typically observe Lent and Advent with daily (mostly) posts. Today is the first day of Advent, which conveniently starts after Thanksgiving. Was that part of the reason the last Thursday in November was chosen for Thanksgiving? Side note: For years I've had a brass candle holder with places for five candles. This year I realized it was for advent calendars, which I forgot to be sure to have. I can still light them as prescribed. The ones I have are white and red. The three red ones can take the place of the purple, and the white ones the other two Sundays.  At my age, where I will go into my eighth decade of life soon, buying more Christmas ornaments and decorations has no appeal. I have plenty of them, and many are up now. I got an early start for once. This cold has laid me low, even making this typing difficult.  The first candle is for HOPE and is called the Prophet's candle. That is comforting. From Genesis 3 we are promised the Messiah; HOPE and PROMISE are words...

 I do not do pop music, or really any contemporary music.  There is just too much of it to keep straight, and it is focused on young people.  I recently watched/read the lyrics of "The Fate of Ophelia," which is interesting for its reference to the tragic young female. Ophelia is a stand-in for everything that can go wrong with in a young woman's life, especially at the hands of men who can manipulate her. She is manipulated by Hamlet, her own father Polonius, and the king. The woman who should help her does not (Gertrude has so little agency in the play, by my reading)* and her brother takes her for granted until it's too late and he can show off his grief.  Taylor Swift decries Ophelia's fate but makes it clear she has no part in it.  I watched a documentary last night on the temperament trait of Sensitivity (it's on Prime video and called Sensitive ). I am not one of the 20% of the population with this trait, for good or bad. But I can be touched by art. On...

 Very important article on  Men's Mental Health Toxic masculinity came from feminism, not an evidence-based, unbiased approach to men's problems. Also, psychology has been about deviance rather than health. I prefer positive psychology approaches. 

 I have started listening to Erick Erickson's podcasts. Today he had on Clark Howard, who runs a charity for foster care kids at Christmas to guarantee they all have gifts.  Foster care is one of those hidden problem in the U.S. Christmas gifts can't make up for not being raised by your real parents, but they do need our support in other ways.  Here is the link. I looked up four children in counties near by and donated a gift for each. There are different price levels and you can pick the child by age and gender.  Clarks Christmas Kids

  https://www.foxnews.com/us/ice-seeking-deport-criminal-illegal-immigrant-who-allegedly-threw-coffee-baby-mother-dog Why are crimes that concern people being reported as including a dog?  I see this a lot. I love dogs, but come on. 

 To start this discussion (one-sided thought it may be) I will quote a wonderful essay from the Dispatch Faith platform by Bruce Mattson. In context, he has just quoted N.T. Wright that the issue of the cross and gospel is fulfillment, not replacement, of the Jewish law and worship: ______ That last word is important. Christianity does maintain that national Israel’s covenant purposes and function have been put out of gear, retired, made obsolete in terms of  redemptive-historical significance , but this is not what is  often derided  as “replacement” theology. Properly understood, it is  fulfillment  theology. Wright, again: “[T]o distinguish between a signpost and the building to which it points is not to say anything derogatory about the signpost” (175). Much less is it to say anything derogatory about Jewish people. That anyone would abuse these doctrines in service of antisemitism is an affront to the Christian gospel, which, Christians believe, is for...

 November 24. The Bible is tied together. Did anyone ever do the “Walk Through the Bible” event? The value of such a thing is to see all the connections in the Bible. Almost everything stated in the Bible is tied to somewhere else. One of the least used study helps are those notes in the margins or middle, where there are references to other passages about that passage. So I am going to tie together three passages; the first two for about 10 minutes and then the last, going to my slides of Turkey to show the connections. II Chronicles 36 We already had this lesson the last time I taught, three weeks ago. Josiah the last good, righteous king, died in battle with Egypt. His son Jehoahaz became king, and a bad one. The King of Egypt took over in Jerusalem, carried off Jehoahaz (a trophy), and made his brother Eliakim king and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was evil. After years of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Chaldeans) was the military power and car...

  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-announces-resignation-from-congress-after-president-trump-withdraws-endorsement Most people will not care, but she is my Congresswoman, so I do.   Her speech is interesting, although self-aggrandizing. She wants us to feel sorry for her being away from her family while being in Congress. Sorry, what did she expect? She doesn't get points there. Everyone does it. It's almost like she ran for Congress without knowing the job.  Her antics have sometimes been an embarrassment.  https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/21/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-resign-in-january The reasoning: She doesn't want to lose her election because Trump is going to primary her, so she quits. I guess we'll have a quickie election. Who will it be? I'm sure the party leaders has someone in mind. They aren't happy with her anyway. My son worked with leaders in the carpet industry here and that was clear. There was a billboard here in Dalton as...

 https://www.foxnews.com/us/larry-summers-steps-public-roles-house-release-epstein-correspondence Okay, I know I am  not supposed to read Fox News. Who says? It used to be listed on a graph of reliable and questionable sources for students to use in college.  But I'm not using it for a research paper, it really has a better news organization than it's given credit for (but still too pro-Trump) and this particular story is from another source.  Larry Summers and Bill Gates were two of the non-politicians affiliated with Epstein. He really, really made some bad decisions here.  I don't usually get into conspiracy theories and scandals, but this one matters. 

 As one of her "constituents," (never voted for her but live in her district), I'm elated.....I think. I hope that she gets voted out. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-drops-marjorie-taylor-greene-endorsement-calls-her-ranting-lunatic-hints-backing-primary-rival But she wants back in... https://www.foxnews.com/video/6385175423112 There is resistance to her here, even in the Republican party. She needs to be replaced with a non-drama-queen candidate.

 The cross is the greatest possible being expressing the greatest possible virtue in the greatest possible way. Romans 5:1-8. I saw this quote on an advertisement for the Colson Center Conference, given by a former Muslim. I believe the only thing that will reach Muslims is love; their religion is devoid of it.  *** I heard a podcaster saying the other day that a political ad had pictures of a bunch of random black people to impress constituents.  People can not be random.  Randomly chosen, perhaps, but not random. Although I have been guilty of saying things like "There were a bunch of random people there..." random cannot apply to people, only their actions or the actions done to them.  And really, very few things are random, when you dig into it.  **** Add your own random thoughts (!)

I watched the first episode last night. I will at least watch one more.  I don't want to give it away, just to say it's about a virus that zombifies the world's population for a while and then has its permanent effect on all humans because victims make sure they infect everyone by licking kissing, breathing, etc.. All humans except a dozen who don't know each other. The protagonist is one of the immune ones. She's a negative, pessimistic person, now one of twelve in a world with a hive mind of . . .  it's hard to tell what after one episode. Reviews say happiness, but it's a shallow happiness so far.  I enjoyed it because the pessimist is a best-selling author who knows her books, a series, have become crap, but she makes a lot of money at them.  I also wondered if it is a parody of cult members (evangelicals, Mormons).  Or if, even deeper, it's a desire for something closer to that hive mind.  It's well produced to give creepy thrills, and I like th...

I can't say I've heard many sermons on this passage, or the rest of Romans 15.* We then who are strong ought to bear with the  [ a ] scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  2  Let each of us please  his  neighbor for  his  good, leading to  [ b ] edification.  3  For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written,  “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”   4  For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the  [ c ] patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.  5  Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,  6  that you may with one mind  and  one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is not preached on much because it is hard thinking, believing, and living.  1. If you are a str...

 And like what you read, please consider my novels and other books on Amazon and some on Barnes and Noble. They are linked at the website, https://www.barbaragrahamtucker.com

 Why anti-semitism? I have to confess that this is a prejudice I have never understood. I can see, on the fringes of my understanding, Some prejudices and group hatreds come from recent, or not so recent wars and genocides. The Armenians and the Turks, for example, make some sense.  But Jew hatred, the real meaning of anti-semitism (see below) seems to come from hatred of difference and envy of their financial and cultural success. And, to less extent, the medieval mythologies of the Catholic Church about Jewish crimes.  I listen to at least one "Jewish" or "Jewish affiliated" podcast, the Commentary Magazine podcast, and to others that are pro-Israel--Christianity Today, the Dispatch podcast, Breaking History, and some others. Evangelicals of my stripe are pro-Israel as far as American support for Israel's defense, but we are not anti-Arab or anti-Muslim. That doesn't mean we like everything the State of Israel does. Israel might say they have freedom of re...

 "Barbara, I found it.!"     My brother called me from across the lush, overgrown grass and mostly obscured grave markers of Fort Lincoln Cemetery.      For the past twenty minutes he and I had been on a hunt in this long-established resting place in Brentwood , Maryland, right outside the District of Columbia.     I looked up from the marker where I stood, scraping several cuttings-worth of dried grass from its face with my shoe, trying to find the name. So far I'd cleaned off dozens of markers with my foot, adn a few with my hands, quietly disappointed by each. A few swipes showed it either included letters that didn't fit my query, or dates of birth and death that didn't apply. Meanwhile, my brother searched as well, while rush hour traffic sped by on the other side of the iron fence, mostly moving east into Maryland's Prince Georgie's County suburbs or further into Ann Arundel and Calvert counties.      Satisfied and relieved to...

 Is He Worthy, by Chris Tomlin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkRiYsTN7KY&list=RDFkRiYsTN7KY&start_radio=1 And it's sometimes a different line. This morning it was: Is it good that we remind ourselves of this? It is.  That is why we sing.  This passage is the text for the song, Revelation 5  And I saw in the right  hand  of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.  2  Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?”  3  And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4  So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open  [ a ] and read the scroll, or to look at it.  5  But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the ...

 Until the last few years, I used the term "spiritual growth." It was what I had heard all my life as a believer, but I wondered about the "growth." Our faith was to grow, Peter says (II Peter 15:  But also for this very reason,  giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue  knowledge....and II Peter 3:18  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.) We are to grow into the likeness of Jesus, to grow into his character, etc. But "to grow spiritually" in those terms? Not sure.  And how did we know if we grew enough? Galatians 6:1 -  Brethren, if a man is  [ a ] overtaken in any trespass, you who  are  spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of  gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Apparently we were supposed to know....but in humility, which would be a sign of it. The term "spiritual formation" is perhaps more ap...

 Headline on the PBS News: Will this new test on TikTok tell you something about you and your relationship? My response, "It tells you you should get off of TikTok!" But here it is:  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/what-the-bird-theory-test-may-reveal-about-your-relationship The "expert" says we talk to and touch our little boys less than girls. Interesting. I believe children need a lot of intimacy, touch, hugs, and talk. My son and granddaughter get that!

I am talking about the Bette Davis movie, The Letter , and the Ann Sheridan film, The Unfaithful.   You can watch both on TCM or YouTube. They are posted now on YouTube.  Both involve a woman who kills a man she had an affair with and goes to trial. She is married, and she does a lot to keep her husband from knowing the truth, including lies.  Other than that, they are very different because of their time period, the supporting actors, the motive, the actress, and the morals the director wanted to show.  Bette Davis: set in the 1920s or '30s in the tropics on a rubber plantation. The murdered man is married to a native woman who is pretty spooky.  Ann Sheridan: set in California after WWII. Her husband was away for two years and has come back to build a successful business. Their marriage was a quickee-going-off-to-war matter and they do not really know each other.   Bette Davis: None of the other actors stick in someone's mind much. Herbert Marshall p...

 My dog Nala is dying.  She is fifteen. She has been the family dog for over fourteen and a half years. I will add to this post in the future. She eats, but she is very picky and wants softened food that is as close to human as she can get--she likes gravy, bacon grease, and tuna on top of her kibbles. She eats enough to not be as bony as she is, and she is close to skeletal. She pees and poops in the house sometimes because she cannot get out the doggy door. She sleeps a lot, and getting up is very difficult for her on my non-carpeted floors. We have to pick up her back legs sometimes, and she sometimes eats in a sit position. She doesn't seem to see or hear well, and walks around until she stands exactly in my path, not knowing what to do.  I feel like I am watching a precursor of myself in  . . . how many years? Although my husband says she is his dog and Butter is mine, Nala is more my dog. She and I have walked probably a thousand miles together. She used to rid...