Do you mind?
I was thinking about Jonah and the whale because a recent bible lesson story coincided with a depiction that I had seen and interpreted as a whale on my timeline. I believe that the mysterious “container” of all that we see, is God, so no matter what, we are being held by a good force. I wondered if the whale I saw above, was representative of Tarshish, like the whale in the bible lesson..trying to eat the “broad” who is doing good and casting bread, as she is in opposition to what the whale is broadcasting lol.
The bible lets us know that Jonah was going to go to Tarshish, because he had decided not to listen to what God was asking him to do. So Tarshish is described as that place where one is removed from God.
Because he had not listened to God he knew that the stormy sea was a response to his disobedience and so he asked for the people on the boat to throw him over and the sea would cease its storm. That was when the whale got him.
In the depiction I saw, the whale also represented loss of freedom, an impressive seeming power, and lots of strong voices (the media). So to me, being in hell, would be similar to giving an audience to the media, making myself a prisoner to their fear inducing opinions, and listening to the alarmist voices they project to us that are not God’s voice to us. Hell is basically jumping right into the whales mouth ON PURPOSE.
Um no…just no. Thank you for “hearing me” Big star ford, Conroe VW, GMC JEEP. =) Texan GMC hears me too. Demontrond Conroe says they have me covered. YAY.
But if you research people who were hearing taunting voices (that cannot be from God because they then shoot up a bunch of people), you will find lots of places that seem to be the location Tarshish. So I looked on Google maps for Tarshish and it said that it has uncertain location. But the bible is pretty clear that Tarshish is hell. Oh and there is a restaurant in London that calls itself Tarshish… Geeze.
The 19 year old kid who started world war 1 On 28 June 1914 when he shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, because he thought Serbia should control Bosnia instead of Austria, must have been in Tarshish.
And the Prime Minister of Sweden Olaf Palme who was shot because of his methods of rule, also must have been looking for Tarshish, being an atheist himself.
Pope Pius X11 must have been looking for Tarshish when he avoided confronting Hitler and failed to save Jews, while instead choosing to protect Roman art. Yet on the flip side, the Jewish immigrant Sidney Gottlieb, who was in charge of MK-ULTRA in the USA must have been in Tarshish when he choose to do to people here, many of the same mind control and human rights violations that were done to his own ancestry of people in Hitlers Germany.
Unit 731 in Japan must have originated in Tarshish, and all of the human forms of torture against the chinese handed out probably kept them in Tarshish a long time. But the Chinese government, who For 35 years — from 1980 to 2015 — maintained a one-child policy, subjecting millions of women to forced contraception, forced sterilization, and forced abortion, must have been living in Tarshish with no remorse, all that time.
And then there is the wrong imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize winner and former leader in Myanmar, by a scorched earth military junta who continue to incur increasing death tolls of its own people, who are trying to flee to Thailand, as the junta fights just to maintain its power and prevent democracy. The Junta is in Tarshish.
There is Tarnish in the treatment of people in North Korea, Of Africa, Of many of the Muslim countries and on and on…. Tarshish is not hard to find.
The more I looked, the more I realized that it is really common to find people who have landed in Tarshish. So, instead of looking FOR Tarshish, which apparently is very easy to do, it would be wise to find ways to AVOID Tarshish which we are told is not difficult when a person accepts God and turns to God in times of trouble.
The irony is, that so many people who think of themselves as noble and of good purpose, who wish to have a utopia… Well, Yup, they end up in Tarshish. That is because it is evil to deny people their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
“Utopianism postulates free self-expression by the individual and at the same time absolute social cohesion. This combination is possible only if all individuals agree. All individuals, however, do not agree. Therefore, if you expect unanimity, there is ultimately no escape…”
Utopia it appears is a myth. That is why we depend on God. And when we live within the directives of God’s laws, there is miraculous transformation of hearts and minds that were once locked by the chains of hate, fear, and manipulation.
I thought about this sermon I heard where Joel Olsteen was talking about how your mind is valuable real estate. And along that line of thinking, when you mentally give space to Tarshish, you are letting evil be a squatter in your mind. It is kind of hard to avoid Tarshish if you have it as a neighbor.
We all have people in our lives telling us to do the opposite of what is God like and what is good, saying that this is “our truth”…but unfortunately truth is not relative it is absolute. And good is always good and bad is always bad.
Someone telling you that there is no such thing as bad because each person gets to decide what is good or bad for themselves has a REALLY GOOD roadmap to TARSHISH. Obviously there is such a thing as good and bad, and that is why God gave us directives or laws or commandments.
So with regards to real estate of the mind being valuable property that is capable of peace and harmony when it is tuned in to God…I decided to rewrite the song this land is your land…replacing the value of the word “land ”with “Mind”.
Your mind is your mind
My mind is my mind
From the moment of conception
From the beginning of time
From the little children
To the oldest Father
My mind can choose to do what’s right.
If you are walking
or in a Tesla
Does not matter
Ain’t no dilemma
If all around you
a voice is taunting…still
My mind can choose to do what’s right
Your mind is your mind
My mind is my mind
From the moment of conception
From the earliest time
From the little children
To the oldest Father
My mind can choose to do what’s right
Might roam and ramble
or buy a house in Dallas
might be near desert
or in a palace
NO matter where though
God’s love surrounds me
My mind can choose to do what’s right.
Your mind is your mind
My mind is my mind
From the moment of conception
From the earliest time
From the little children
To the oldest Father
My mind can choose to do what’s right
I have a little mailbox in my bedroom. Seven year old Eevie found it when we were thrift shopping and wanted to put it by my bed so she could leave me notes and surprises.
This is what she just left me yesterday…a note and a little bear.
If nothing else, her family has taught her that God loves her no matter what and God is good. Her mind can choose to see the light, do what is right, and I am so grateful for little children and their receptivity to good.