My Polio Story

 

It all started shortly after the start of first grade. I had a horrific headache and rigid neck and was sent home from school. This was in 1947, several years before the polio vaccine was available. My mother was a registered nurse and likely had an idea of what was going on with my body. I don't remember much until the next day but Mom said that she took me into her bed that night and I think she said I was burning up with fever but I can't remember. 

The next day I had a spinal tap that didn't hurt amazingly enough. It was performed by dr. Paul Kilmer who was my mother's boss as she worked in his office for years. Well it was polio so the next thing I was in an ambulance taking a 70-mile trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was taken to Blodgett Hospital and subjected to a second spinal tap this time I very painful spinal tap. I remember there was a window washer and he heard me screaming in pain and looked so compassionately up through the window. 

Later in the day or early evening I was nearly undressed and two nurses or therapist put me through a series a physical test. I had total movement of my body. They had me bending over and doing turns and such. At that point there was no paralysis. I slept that night and the next morning my mother was visiting and had a friend with her. I was laying in bed and I remember picking up my left wrist and telling my mom I can't move anything on my left side. My left arm and left leg were totally paralyzed. Years later I sent for some of my records and found out that after two weeks I could walk with help, however, I was supposed to be on complete bed rest. 

 As I recall, I spent two weeks at Blodgett Hospital during what would have been considered the more contagious part of the disease. After two weeks I was transferred to a children's Rehabilitation facility called Mary Free Bed. There I had the sister Kenny hot pad treatment. The packs were so hot they nearly seared my skin but they did keep my muscles from seizing. I remember I had a cold and at that time penicillin was far more viscous than today and had to be given every 3 hours. I was having a hot pack session and I thought a nurse was coming towards me with a blue pen in her hand. No pen, it was a hypodermic needle and I got a shot of penicillin in my posterior. I don't remember the rest of the shots but they did hurt. 

While we were mostly children's at Mary Free Bed there was a woman there who was really bedridden and she had polio once before and then contracted again and it just wiped her out. It's funny even at 6 years old I felt sympathy for her. I remember one little girl who did not have polio, rather she had lost her 2 feet and I'm not sure how much of her legs. She had a doctor helping her with learning to use her prosthesis. The doctor had two artificial arms possibly from the war. I remember this courageous little girl wrote a tricycle and I think possibly roller skated. 

Like I said we were supposed to be on bed rest but after three months I found out I could walk, not only could I walk I could run. Although my left leg still has a few minor effects of polio such as a little bit of a drop foot and downward turning of the ankle, I was ambulatory. My left hand and arm were a different story. Even after four reconstructive surgeries the best part of my hand is my little finger which is almost normal. My thumb literally sticks out like a sore thumb but I'm very protective of it. 

I had a few small victories while at Mary Free Bed. I'm not sure what I did both times but I actually was restrained because I was being rather naughty. One of my fondest memories is getting ahold of a roll of toilet paper and getting to the third floor of Mary Free Bed. I looked down the stairwell and holding on the toilet paper, I let it unroll all the way to the first floor. I don't think the nurses were too mad at me but I remember being restrained in a chair until I settled down. 

Being in Michigan, we had a number of snow storms. Family was only allowed to visit once a week, on Sunday. I was told I had a phone call and it was my mother telling me the weather was too bad and she couldn't make the trip. I cried and I said I just knew you weren't coming today. I don't know who was more broken hearted of the two of us. I don't remember the occasion, possibly Christmas, we were sending cards to our mothers. I wrote the word mother on the envelope with the card and gave it to the nurse to mail. By the time Mom received it in the mail mother had been crossed out in the proper address was added. I don't know why the mailman wouldn't know where Mom was I sure did. 

 The Shriners were good to us kids in the hospital. One time they took us to the circus and I had two cotton candies and threw up. At Christmas time they gave us Toys and mine was a little Kewpie doll. After I was released from the hospital I was playing with the Kewpie doll at my friends house. Her father was the local Baptist pastor and by mistake he stepped on my doll and of course felt really bad for breaking it. Strange the things you remember

Dave Hunt’s Book, MP3 "A Woman Rides the Beast"

Here we are in 2025 and a new Pope so time to revisit my posting from 2017. "Good Reading, Dave Hunt’s A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days"

Revelation 17:3, “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns."

Dave Hunt’s “A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days“ opens with "To the nearly billion Roman Catholics misinformed by their hierarchy; to the 400 million Protestants equally ignorant of the facts; and to the genuine martyrs on both sides, this book is dedicated.”

The book ends with appendix I: "The Lutheran – Catholic Joint Declaration Justification," subject of another Discussion. The joint declaration (JD) was signed on October 31, the same day as in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle chapel.

Dr. Hunt’s book is well written and is thoroughly documented. Although I started reading Dave Hunt’s book several years ago I haven’t read it in order, rather I've skipped around and watched Mr. Hunt’s video, The Woman Rides the Beast. I also have the two MP3 set, "Kingdom of Blood." The first MP3 is recorded by Dr. Missler and is titled "A History of the Church." The second is recorded by Dr. Hunt and is titled "The Woman Who Rides the Beast." Both are very informative and, again, well documented.

Listening to the MP3s, watching the video, and reading about the woman who rides the beast caused me several years ago to take a closer look at the book of Revelation most notably Chapter 17. I grew up Protestant with Catholic friends and never paid much attention to the differences in doctrine. Were it not for my concern for Catholic friends and family members and exposure to Dr. Missler's teachings I would not have dug as deeply into the subject of the modern-day version of the Church in Thyatira as I have.

The RCC promotes a works based salvation basically calling Jesus a liar, John 19:30, “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” Ephesians 2:8-9, “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

A few of the work based perversions (sacraments) of scripture by the Roman Catholic Church includes the belief in the transubstantiation of the bread and wine during mass, that indulgence can be brought, the existence of purgatory, the Marian worship, and the claim of papal authority. Vatican II states 'If anyone says that the sacraments of the new law are not necessary for salvation...... And that without them men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of Justification... let him be anathema." Anathema can be something/ someone denounced and/or are cursed.

And in addition to corrupting biblical truths and promoting sacraments the church was also extremely morally corrupt as well. There was great evil committed during the grand Inquisition. Millions were hunted down like animals, and tortured and brutally murdered in these dark days of the Papacy. The grand Inquisition was pretty much an evil alliance between the Spanish government and the Papacy to rob victims of their land and wealth and ultimately their lives. A possible equivalency to 1 Kings Chapter 21. As an aside, it didn't end well for Jezabel, 2 Kings Chapter 9.

Dr. Hunt brings out example after example of popes being appointed by Kings, popes appointing kings and purchase of clerical office. In addition to this marriage of the church to the world, the church has a dismal record of sexual improprieties. In just one example a Bishop Rathurio complained that if he excommunicated unchaste priests "there would be none left to administer the sacraments, except boys. If he excluded bastards, as canon law demanded, not even boys would be left."

Is the woman who rides the beast in the last days the Roman Catholic Church as the One World Religion! Revelation 18:4-5, “4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”

The Pope's Red Shoes meets The Wizard of Oz

 Another decade, another Pope. While I'm not particularly interested in Catholic affairs, I respected former Pope Benedict's intellect. That said and full disclosure, I can have a very convoluted sense a humor at times and see patterns were perhaps none exist.

Years ago when Pope Benedict resigned I was half-way listening to the bloviating about the pope’s departure. I heard a comment about his red shoes. I was not aware that the Pope wore red shoes as one of the symbols of his office. I thought about the comparison between the Jesus and the regalia of the Pope. Rather than special red shoes and royal vestment, Jesus walked about in a pair of sandals and homespun and served as our propitiation before a righteous God.

Now where else were red shoes of such importance as at the Vatican? The Wizard of Oz comes to mind. Like me, most of you have probably watched the Wizard of Oz any number of times. After Dorothy's house was flung by a tornado into Oz crushing an evil witch, Dorothy was presented with the witch's red shoes.
I started to make a mental inventory of the primary cast of characters in the story. There was sweet innocent Dorothy who was just trying to get back to Kansas. There was a scarecrow looking for a brain. There was the immobilized tin man looking for a heart. It was amazing how much a few drops of oil enabled him to move his joints. Completing the trio of Dorothy's new friends was the lion looking for courage.

What does all of this have in common with the Catholic Church? Perhaps Dorothy could be compared to the millions of Catholics hoping to go home/ heaven and placing their reliance on church clergy. Accepting the gift of salvation through Jesus to me would be as simple as Dorothy clicking her red shoes together. Given the history of the Catholic Church, popes such as Innocence the third certainly could have used a heart as could the tin man. The requirement for oil by the tin man brings to mind the five foolish virgins who had no oil and were "frozen" in place and not allowed into the Marriage Feast. Like the lion in the Wizard of Oz, there is certainly no comparison between the Catholic Church and the coming Lion of Judah. As for the scarecrow wanting a brain, I would again compare this to those who don't seem to be able to think for themselves and/ or are lacking in Discernment of spirits.

Then there is Malachi and the Prophecy of the last pope... recall the Wizard was exposed as being little more than a puppet master operating the gears and pulleys of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.  When Francis became the 112th Pope the question of his name came up, Francis not Petrus. Interestingly and convoluting enough the name Peter is somehow in Francis' line.

So what of Malachi and the Prophecy of the Popes. The prophecy concerning the 112th and final pope states: “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Petrus Romanus, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The end.” 

Revisiting "A very blessed colt of a donkey," originally posted April 6, 2018.

 Pastor Bruce, former pastor of our local Assembly of God Church, inspired several of my blog posting including his Palm Sunday, 2018 message and the donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem.

First a little background. Daniel 9:25, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

This was a timeline brought to Daniel by the angel Gabriel; from the time Nehemiah was sent to Judah to rebuild the walls until The Triumphal Entry and when the “Messiah be cut off.” This prophecy was hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus and His crucifixion.

But I digress, back to the colt. Jesus sent two disciples to find a tethered donkey, and a colt with her and bring them to Jesus. If the owner asked why, they were to explain that the Lord needed the animals. Jesus would ride into Jerusalem to the cheering of the crowd as they spread palms before him.

Matthew 21:5, “Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” This was in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

Pastor Bruce’s points concerning the colt:

1. Jesus choose the younger colt

   a. It was not brainwashed

   b. It was ready to be used

2. The colt was prophesied {Zechariah 9:9)  

   a. Are we, like the colt, the generation to fulfill prophecy?

Joel 2:28-29, “28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29  And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” 

3. The colt had to be loosed, men had him tied up

a. Like the colt we are too often tied up by the cares and expectation of the world. We need to be set free (set aside) to follow Jesus. Recall that after Jesus called Lazarus forth from the grave he told the people to remove his grave clothes. Are we wrapped in "grave clothes" that restrict us?

b. Lesson learned, don't let the world (fresh) tie us up.

4. The colt was tied up, but Jesus knew where he was.

a. Jesus unties us as we accept His gift of grace, confess our sins, and repent.

b. The colt obeyed Jesus

c. Jesus turned Jerusalem upside down.

5. More lessons learned.

a. If God can use the colt of a donkey He can surely use us.

b. The colt received no recognition, nor should we, it’s all about Jesus.

As an aside, there is another donkey, a talking donkey, mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Numbers. Balaam was a soothsayer, a “prophet for profit,” for hire. He agreed to use his ability contrary to God’s will.

Balak, king of the Moabites, feared the Israeli so he sent messengers to Balaam and asked him to curse Israeli. God intervened. Numbers 22:12, "And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed."

At first Balaam refused to curse Israel and eventually traveled to Moab but not until after a conversation with his donkey. Numbers 22:28, “And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?” Numbers 22:31, “Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head and fell flat on his face.”  

Balaam did suggest a way for Balak to corrupt Israel through the flesh. However, there was a final blessing, Numbers 24:17, “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.:

There is an earlier reference to a scepter, Genesis 49:10, “The sceptre (H7626) shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (H7886) come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

H7626, to branch off; a scion, that is, (literally) a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.) or (figuratively) a clan: -  X correction, dart, rod, sceptre, staff, tribe.

H7886, Shiloh, an epithet of the Messiah: - Shiloh.

Build the wall with one hand and a sword in the other hand

 After the Jews came back to Israel after the 70 year captivity a few attempts were made to rebuild the Temple. Progress was nullified by the fact the wall was in very bad shape. So Nehemiah was in charge of rebuilding the wall against great pushback. Lessons learned, build the wall and have weapons at hand if need be.

Nehemiah and the men working on rebuilding the wall and the gates pretty much worked with a tool in one hand and a sword in the other. Nehemiah 4:17, “They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.” So some stood guard as others work and the men slept where they worked. Nehemiah worked out a system such that should a work area be under attack a warning would be sounded and those in other work areas would join in their defense.

Remarkably the wall be finished in less than two months. Nehemiah 6:15, “So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.”

So where am I going with this... fast forward about two and a half millenniums. Descendants of Nehemiah were eliminated like fish in a barrel.

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” the ultimate victim of replacement theology revisited

 Having recently revisited the unconditional covenants made by God with Israel... on an related topic... time to revisit my post from 11 years ago "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas," The ultimate victim of Replacement of Theology.

Replacement theology promotes the concept that when Israel rejected her messiah she forfeited the promises/ covenants made to her by God and these passed to the Church which became “spiritual Israel." Replacement theology marginalizes Israel and the Jewish people making it easier for the world to turn its back on the Jews, most notably during the Holocaust. For the Christian, it implies that God can't be trusted to honor our salvation.

The movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is set during World War II and involves the growing friendship between two 8-year-old boys separated by a fence in a concentration camp. Bruno is the son of the commandant of the concentration camp where Shmuel is imprisoned for the crime of being born a Jew.

Months earlier Bruno is living in his home in Berlin playing with his many friends while being impervious to the Jews being loaded into a transport truck. Playtime done, Bruno goes home to learn that his father is being transferred to the country. At first the family members don’t realize that what they call a nearby farm is really an extermination camp and Bruno’s father is the commandant.

One night several high-ranking officials of the Nazi party are shown a propaganda movie depicting how well the Jews were being treated in the extermination camp. Bruno watches the propaganda movie and believes it.

Bruno has no friends so he hikes through the woods to what he thinks is a farm and meets the boy in the striped pajamas. They become friends separated will by a fence and far more than either one of them knew

One day Bruno asks his little friend in the striped pajamas about all the kids in the camp and all the fun they had. Shmuel had no idea what Bruno was talking about.

A few days later the boys arrange for Shmuel to bring an extra pair of “striped pajamas” for Bruno. The upshot is that Bruno sneaks into the concentration camp. Shmuel and Bruno search the camp looking for Shmuel’s father who disappeared a few days before.

The back story to this fateful search for Shmuel’s father is that earlier Bruno betrayed his friend Shmue who was cleaning crystal glasses in the commandant’s house. Bruno stops to talk to Shmuel and asks if he wants something to eat. They are discovered by one of the Nazis and Shmuel told the officer that Bruno gave him the pastry. With the Nazi screaming at both the boys, Bruno denied even knowing Shmuel. Guilt over his betrayal was part of the reason Bruno later offered to help Shmuel find his father.

That guilt leads to the tragic conclusion of the movie.The boys make the mistake of entering a building that is holding dozens of men about to be herded into the gas chamber.

Meanwhile back at home Bruno’s mother realizes that he is missing and breaks up a meeting between the commandant and his minions. Ironically they are discussing the status of the ovens. The commandant and his subordinates start to back-track Bruno to where he had crawled under the fence to get into the concentration camp.

The movie ends with the door to the gas chamber being sealed and crystals being dropped into the chamber as Bruno’s father frantically looks for him. Sad as the ending of the movie is, Bruno’s father was about to learn the deadly efficiency of his camp of extermination.

Time once more to review the unconditional covenants made by God with Israel

 Time once more to review the unconditional covenants made by God with Israel. 

February 2016 I posted, “As for the United States, again and again the POTUS and his minions fail to support Israel and actually undermine her in mockery of God’s Word. Isaiah 5:5, “And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:” So much for the hedge of protection around America. As America has done to Israel….”

We had a four year reprieve during the Trump Administration which was very supportive of Israel. Just one accomplishment was to finally move our Embassy to Jerusalem.  Now the election of 2020, questionable as it was/ is, removed God’s Warrior Jehu from office.  

2 1/2 years of a Biden/ Harris /Obama administration, what of Israel? At least our Embassy remains in Jerusalem. That said, the Biden administration has been less than supportive of Israel. 

So it is time once again to review the Four Unconditional Covenants made by God with Israel:

The Abrahamic Covenant:

 “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting  covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:7-8).

The Land Covenant:

In Genesis 15 God instructed Abram to construct an offering and then caused Abram to enter a deep sleep. God foretold of the time that the Israelites would be strangers in a land not theirs, however, when they would come out of a period of enslavement they would be given an unconditional title to land as described in verse 18 through 21. This was a unilateral land covenant granted to Abram and his descendants.

The Davidic Covenant:

Nathan the prophet told King David God’s unconditional covenant. 2 Samuel 7:12, “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.” 2 Samuel 7:16, “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.”

The Everlasting Covenant:

God promised Isaac in Genesis 26:3-4, "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."

Now with the current administration have we lost God’s blessing? Genesis 12:3, “ And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” 

What a wild ride the last few years have been. A pandemic and experimental "vaccines," iron control of many on the planet, friends and family turned on each other over wearing masks and vaxxed vs the unvaxxed. Economical ruin, churches closed many not to be reopened. Globalists talk of a reset.

My concern, we've just seen the tip of the iceberg.