I gasped at the size of this spider. Then I remembered the pest control guys told me two weeks ago this kind is my friend. “You want this one in your garage… even in your house. They eat the brown recluse spiders, and other unwanted insects.” OK, I breathed and decided to take this picture. I wish I had laid a quarter beside him so you could see the size!

The light on my phone startled ‘my friend’, and he scurried toward the glue board nearby.  “No, no, you don’t want to go there,” I whispered. For a minute he was caught on the edge of the sticky board with other unlucky bugs; miraculously, he pulled himself away… probably because he was big and strong. Whew, he was safe, on his way to eat the dangerous recluses.

“Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights You most, to value what is precious in Your sight, to hate what is  offensive to You. Amen.”  Thomas a’ Kempis in Little Book of Prayers  

Without seeking the truth or hearing first hand from those who ‘know’ spiders much more personally than I, I could not know the truth that this large spooky spider is, in reality, good for me and good for my household.

How often I think wrong; my opinions are baseless. How can I possibly know when a ‘spider’ is good or evil?  How can I convince you this spider is good— or bad?  I cannot. It is not my position to do so.

I have been lifelong simple, trusting naively in all things good and pure. To a fault, for sure. Until NOW. These past months I have wondered why such varied political opinions among us—family members, friends, co-workers. We are fighting those we are to love; some are learning to hate. Recently I came to understand the why of this.  We each read exactly what we already believe; we listen only to those who spout what we want to hear reinforcing stronger opinions. How has this happened?

I am a bit media challenged, I admit, but when I watched SocialDilemma, (you can watch it on Netflix) I learned the word algorithm. It answered my questions immediately. Algorithms tell us how to think, and this frightens me.

“The ability for an elite to instantly alter the thoughts and behavior of billions of people is unprecedented.” Someone knows you—knows what you are thinking, what you are reading, how you will respond, what you are watching—even what you are eating.  And it is NOT God!  Well, He may be, but I am writing of something much more invasive, potentially evil. I realized when watching that documentary, I am being manipulated; you are being manipulated.  And this serves to divide us.  When we are on social media, we daily “receive our own mass personalized feed, rationed by the machines” (How to think for yourself when Algorithms control what you read by Marc Zao-Sanders, March 08, 2018)

None of us knows which spider is good or bad. Do we want to know?  

“A spiritually minded man will never come to you with the demand—“Believe this and that;” but with the demand that you square your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One Whom the Bible reveals. We are called to present liberty of conscience, not liberty of view. If we are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty—the liberty of realizing the dominance of Jesus Christ. Always keep your life measured by the standards of Jesus.” My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” John 5:39-40

Zao-Sanders goes on to say that the consequences of being fed by these machines is serious and wide-ranging. Fake news and misinformation are pervasive. He gives five practical steps I, you… can take NOW to learn what we need to do to survive manipulation. Please read the article above or respond to this blog, and I will give them to you. Doing your own research is the first and most important responsibility you have. Reading other opinions confuses the algorithm and forces the system… AI… artificial information … to work harder. Can you imagine which spiders know  you? 

Jesus said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd (as wise) as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16. Well, he didn’t say spiders, but wolves… you get the idea.  We can’t be wise unless we know… 

… these days I have reviewed my school history.  My mind is filled with facts of the Fabian Society founded in 1884 to promote equality of the wealth; the beginnings of the theories of the Frankfurt School, Antonio Gramsci, Bill Ayers, Saul Alinsky—need I read more.  I recalled that in 1963 … the year Tom and I graduated from high school  the 45 goals of the Communist Party were read in Congress as a warning to be heeded. This has been fifty seven years.  When you read these, you will discover that many of these goals have been accomplished while we were having babies, sending our kids to school, living normal lives.   https://www.marxists.org/subject/art/literature/children/ref/gov/gov1.html

Millions and millions and millions… MILLIONS have been killed in the name of Socialism>>>> Communism. Unless you research  history, you may not realize this. We hear daily of more being killed in Communist China. I am so grateful we have chosen to get our news at China in Focus – NTD on Youtube. (I couldn’t drop the link here.) 

I am here at this computer… not knowing what to write, what to share out of my yearnings, my cryings, my fears, my questions… but I do know, I want to…

… learn how to walk wisely among  ‘spiders’…  

Please don’t debunk me here–unless you watch China in Focus for a week, read the goals of Communism for the downfall of America and bone up on your history of socialism.