The Morning Star Rising on the First Day
One of the important traditions our family kept was our frequent visits to my grandmother’s house. I remember one such occasion when I was probably three or four years of age. For some reason my uncle set out to test my intelligence. To accomplish this, he held a new shiny dime in one hand and a new 1943 penny in the other. The unique characteristic of the 1943 penny was that it was made of steel, not copper like other pennies, apparently due to the shortage of copper during the war. These pennies when new were just as shiny and bright as a new dime. Here is a picture of one of these penny’s that will give you an idea of just how much they looked like a dime.
He held the dime between his right thumb and forefinger and the penny between his left thumb and forefinger. He carefully explained that the dime was much more valuable than the penny (although I was not sure of what this meant.) He then placed them both directly in front of my face and asked me to choose the
one I wanted.
Initially, I reached for the dime based on what he told me. But when my hand moved toward it, he moved the penny closer to me and then jiggled it back and forth in front of my face. The penny flashed streams of light before my eyes when he did this. My thoughts were that the penny seemed to be much more fun than the
dime. I picked it out of his hand.
He rushed to proclaim my stupidity to everyone else in room, stating that I would never amount to anything. I felt duped and betrayed. I became extremely angry at my uncle. In fact, I wanted to punch my uncle right in the nose and teach him a lesson about playing such a cruel trick on me. But then, somehow I knew that it would do me no good, so I held back.
In retrospect, this event was just a precursor to the truth that life would always present me with choices. Some bad choices would look good and some good choices would look undesirable. It would be up to me to discern the truth and make the right choice and receive the best possible reward. I was beginning to find out that poor choices would result in paying the consequences. As you read on you will find that much of this book is dedicated to communicating the horrible consequences of my poor choices as well as the wonderful rewards for the wise choices I made in my life. These stories communicate the spiritual truth of the world around us.
Please note that even Jesus was tempted and had to make choices that were pleasing to the Father.
Jesus is Tempted on the Mountain
So the lesson here is that there are misguided people in the world that will
attempt to deceive the children of God and destroy our creditability. In order to protect ourselves we must have spiritual discernment because the proper choices in life are critical to our overall welfare, our relationship with God and ultimately, our salvation. Anyone seeking guidance in this regard, may find the following series of hyperlinks very helpful. I pray that Jesus enlighten your pathway.
Love,
Papa Joe
Jesus the Light of the World is Transfigured before His Disciples
SEEKING JESUS 