The Kingdom of Never-Neverland

The last time I checked, Disneyland in California has not yet reopened. However, Downtown Disney with its shops and restaurants has been steadily reopening. That would include the Disney store.

In Orlando, things are different. Along with the free access to shops and restaurants at Disney Springs, Epcot, The Magic Kingdom Park, and other venues have reopened with varied restrictions. So time to open those billfolds and use those credit cards!!!

Not me. Aside from the free access places connected to the Disney parks, I’m not supporting the agenda-driven pretense to be the “happiest place on earth.”

My un-happy feelings began in paying exorbitant park entry fees. That amount is now $109 per day. Those feelings worsened when I discovered the typical closure of several rides for complete upgrades or repairs. (No discounts on tickets, of course.)

Covid-19 has significantly changed the environment for visits as well. No need for me to describe. But one thing hasn’t changed: the social agendas. You find it in the steady modifying of several formerly popular theme park attractions.

For example, three years ago, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was modified so that a woman (formerly known as a wench) once sold as a bride has now become a pirate herself! I’m sure real pirates would be surprised at this progressive move. About a year ago, the Splash Mountain flume ride got a makeover. This attraction had a story line inspired by Song of the South—an earlier Disney film now considered outdated. In fact, Disney no longer makes the film available. Apparently, we can’t have any positive perspective post-Civil War plantation life depicted.

Ever taken a ride on the Jungle Cruise? Recent modifications remove what the “woke” culture considered “negative depictions of ‘natives.” New elements were added for a better impression and timed well for a new summer movie release!

Then, of course, there’s been Disney’s growing affection for LGBTQ lifestyles. Come June, they usually set aside a week for “Gay Days.” But alas, this year’s “celebration” has been postponed until 2022! Probably because of the limitations on attendance.

But never fear! Disney has found a way to be the social advocate and still get your money! Recently announced was the Mouse’s new Rainbow Disney Collection. We are NOT referring to God’s covenant with His creation. Rainbow t-shirts for kids and adults for just $29.99! A plush rainbow Mickey for $24.99. Rainbow face masks to wear your “pride” out and about–2 for just $12.99!

On the website, one picture with two pride-filled people tells you “Pride is Magical!” Another encourages you to wear your gay feelings “Loud and Proud.” And, of course, you can’t miss the purported “love” messages on several items.

So your trip to Disney puts all of this in your face while you take the children and spend bookoo bucks to supposedly buy a dose of happiness. Don’t kid yourself! If a trip to Disney is what it takes to be “happy” you definitely have the wrong Kingdom in mind.

I may have to re-think getting those older good movies once produced by Walt & Company and now on the Disney channel. Their cartoon series The Owl House included a bisexual main character. Last year, the Disney-Pixar animated film Onward included a character who was a lesbian.

No one can deny we are living in a rapidly changing world. The influences on us to bend our convictions on matters of sin is ever growing. It’s a huge challenge to help our children and grandchildren understand this. It’s even worse when we spend the resources God entrusts us with to support the messengers of evil.
As the apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For this you know with certainty, that no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, which amounts to an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Ephesians 5:5 (NASB)

Followers of Jesus must decide–with which Kingdom do you stand?

That’s Forward Thinking. Click on the link to the right to connect via Facebook.

You can find a number of YouTube episodes and podcasts of Mark’s program, Moving People Forward at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosyuBzdSh1mXIas_kGY2Aw?

For more information on the Elfstrand Group, please visit www.elfstrandgroup.com

Articles of interest:

https://www.christianheadlines.com/columnists/denison-forum/rainbow-disney-collection-will-honor-lgbtq-pride-month.html?utm_source=Crosswalk&utm_campaign=Connecting%20through%20Crisis%20-%20Crosswalk.com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=4759556&recip=551193271

Optimist?

Optimists have a lot going for them. Much more than people realize. I count myself as one. And I enjoy the fellowship of those of like mind.

Bestselling author and business leader Harvey Mackay said, “An optimist understands that life can be a bumpy road, but at least it is leading somewhere. They learn from mistakes and failures, and are not afraid to fail again.”

It was Helen Keller who reminded us, “No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.”

One of the better articles on this subject I’ve read recently is titled, “Why Positivity Matters.” The author, Ginny Graves, is a self-described pessimist. Perhaps that is why she chose this subject to learn more about.

Simply put, optimists tend to believe that good things happen. They are prone to having “rose-colored glasses.” The possibility of negative outcomes does not dominate their thoughts.

The questions we must ask are, “Does it matter? Are optimists any better off?” Apparently so.

Ginny’s article cites a 2019 study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Researchers there discovered that optimists, in general, “are exceptional agers.” One of the study’s authors reported, “We controlled for a number of factors that we know can affect health, like socioeconomic status, underlying health conditions, depression, and health behaviors—and optimism was still correlated strongly with living to be 85 or older.”

Another source, Dr. William Chopik, works as director of the Close Relationships Lab at Michigan State University. He tells us, “Studies show that optimists have longer-lasting, deeper, and more supportive friendships, even though they don’t necessarily have more friends than less optimistic people. They’re better at solving problems with friends and loved ones too.” Ready to start looking up?

How does this optimism contribute to a better work life? Two other researchers on the topic of optimism discovered that “so-called visionary work optimists—those who scored in the top 25 percent on an optimism assessment—were 40 percent more likely than pessimists to get promoted in the coming year, six times as likely to feel highly engaged at work, and one-fifth as likely to burn out.” These results were determined after their study included professionals at hundreds of companies.

Michelle Gielan, one of the researchers of that work study, explained: “Optimists don’t just believe that good things will happen; they believe their behavior matters and that they have the ability to change things, so they’re more likely to take action and make progress toward their goals.”

Another interesting item I found in “Why Postivity Matters” involves exercise. German researchers have determined that 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise increases life expectancy by between 0.4 and 6.9 years. I put in 30 minutes a day, every day, on my exercise bike. It’s probably my least optimistic time–but I press on.

Can a pessimist become more of an optimist? Ginny Graves thinks so. Her researchers offer this advice. Send a short email to someone every day–praising or encouraging them. Setting and achieving goals will prove you are indeed a “can-do” person. And Ms. Gielan added, start the day with gratitude. I’m sold on that!

The apostle Paul tells us this, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8 (NLT)

The novelist L.M. Montgomery who wrote the Anne of Green Gables series gave us this bright insight: “Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

This bottom line advice I embrace from an unknown source: “Everything will fall into place, just be patient.”

In Chicago, we have a simple definition of a true optimist. It’s the one who says, “THIS year the Bears will win it all!”

That’s Forward Thinking. Click on the link to the right to connect via Facebook.

You can find a number of YouTube episodes and podcasts of Mark’s program, Moving People Forward at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosyuBzdSh1mXIas_kGY2Aw?

For more information on the Elfstrand Group, please visit www.elfstrandgroup.com

No More Monkey Business

I like the line, “What a strange breed we are” when it comes to humans. But it’s getting stranger. There’s some monkey business going on.

In case you missed it, scientists in China (wasn’t that where the coronavirus originated?) have fertilized eggs extracted from cynomolgus monkeys and grown these bad boys in culture. Simply put, these not-so-divine embryos are part human and part monkey.

According to a Nature story, “Six days after fertilization, the team injected 132 embryos with human extended pluripotent stem cells, which can grow into a range of cell types inside and outside an embryo. The embryos each developed unique combinations of human and monkey cells and deteriorated at varying rates.”

Why do such research? The playful minds at work on this hope that the hybrid humans could maybe…a) be used to test drugs and b) be used to grow human organs for transplants. They call them “chimaeras.” (Now I’ve got Dick Van Dyke singing some absurdity from Mary Poppins in my head!)

The monkeys, though, are new territory. Four years ago, a series of other hybrids were reported, These included “pig embryos grown with human cells, cow embryos grown with human cells, and rat embryos grown with mouse cells.” Seems like there’s a country song in the making.

Developmental biologists are not so sure about this latest development. That’s because the monkey primates get a little too close to home in some respects. And the rules for playing the breeding game get very different with homo sapiens. I’ve long had suspicions about Planet of the Apes!

Voices I tend to trust on such issues include friends at the Discovery Institute in Seattle. In describing their organization’s philosophy, they state, “Mind, not matter, is the source and crown of creation, the wellspring of human achievement. Conceived by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Christians, and elaborated in the American Founding, Western culture has encouraged creativity, enabled discovery, and upheld the uniqueness and dignity of human beings.”

Note that important last line…upholding “the uniqueness and dignity of human beings.” In writing about this human-monkey hybrid experimentation, Discovery’s Wesley J. Smith has gripes. For one thing, he doesn’t like it that U.S. and other Western scientists who could not get funding for such research instead flew to China to conduct the experiments.

His second objection was that he feels the work “cuts across crucial moral boundaries.” The cells being bred go beyond having “bone or kidney tissue, but also brain neurons.” Smith asks, “What might result from such a combining? I don’t think we should find out.”

Thirdly, there’s the lax policy on regulations internationally on this research. Scientists are unwilling to commit to strong restrictions. And Smith notes the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) only offers general guidelines which are way too lax–essentially deeming them worthless.

In fairness, it’s a very premature form of research. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, director of the Salk gene expression laboratory, led the research effort. He explained that the human-monkey chimeras can’t survive longer than 19 days. At present. And Dr. Izpisua Belmonte said, “It’s never been our intention and never will be to create a living chimera in a monkey host.” 

In reporting on this development, the Wall Street Journal recalled some earlier experimentation: “In a glimpse of the potential effects, researchers at the University of Rochester in 2014 transplanted human fetal brain cells called astrocytes into young laboratory mice. They discovered that within a year the human cells had taken over the mouse brains. Moreover, standard tests for mouse memory and cognition showed that the altered mice were smarter.”

It certainly causes us to question, “Are you a man or a mouse?” Hmmm.

In God’s creation story, the Bible says, “God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 (NIV)

God didn’t mix them up then. And we shouldn’t mix them up now.

No more monkey business.

That’s Forward Thinking. Click on the link to the right to connect via Facebook.

You can find a number of YouTube episodes and podcasts of Mark’s program, Moving People Forward at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosyuBzdSh1mXIas_kGY2Aw?

For more information on the Elfstrand Group, please visit www.elfstrandgroup.com

Articles of interest:
https://www.discovery.org/human/2021/04/16/scientists-make-human-monkey-hybrid-embryos/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/creation-of-first-human-monkey-embryos-sparks-concern-11619442382

Trickle Down Kindness

Oh, to be rich. So rich that you can walk away from royalty. And still make plenty of moola.

So rich that you can escape to anywhere in the world you wish and leave the problems of others behind. So rich that you can avoid prison time or serious fines because of the influence your wealth affords. So rich that your children can attend the finest of schools and are taught by the world’s best educators. So rich that you can afford to be rude to others and they still must treat you like the king or queen you pretend to be.

What???

We would all benefit by having our eyes opened a bit more to the reality of working with the wealthy. A recent Huffington Post article articulates the pathetic nature of this well. It’s titled, “I Work in a Ritzy Restaurant and I've Seen Some Unbelievable Behavior During COVID.”

What we learn from the writer is exactly what we expect. She lives in a wealthy ski community, but not in any extravagance. Her place is a simple studio apartment. She works in a restaurant helping create “a luxurious dining experience for the guests who walk through our door.” And make no mistake, these guests are among the super-wealthy of our world.

The patrons where she’s employed have frequently asked for more than they should. But the pandemic made things worse. One middle-aged woman was seated in an outdoor tent created so the establishment could stay open amidst restrictions. Apparently, the disgruntled customer said she didn’t care “for the ambience” where she was seated. Our server found her an inside corner table. The diamond bearing “queen” instead asked for something unattainable – a center area placement. When told that was not possible because of restricted seating, she and her mate walked out the door.

Our “always try to please” server said many of her guests fail to make eye contact as they make their demands. Some drop names of celebrities they know to get favors. Or they’ll ask for “the best table in the house,” presumably because they deserve it! She notes one customer threatened to get her fired. The poor man’s drinks weren’t strong enough and he knew the resort owner, a fact he used to try and intimidate her.

When serving at private functions, the host and guests often failed to do the basics to keep the virus away. Obeying the county, state, or federal mandates didn’t seem to apply to them. After all, they’re rich! As one couple dined outside, one fur-coat-draped woman got cold, prompting her husband to offer a bribe to the server to seat them inside–against all policies.

There were plenty of other examples. But to be fair, our oft-mistreated server explained that she had an ample share of gracious and concerned well-to-dos. And during the worst of times, several left extravagant tips and asked how she was faring in life. Wealth does not need to come with arrogance or lack of caring.

A few of her concluding observations:

• “I’d like to think this pandemic might teach us all something about humility; that we might be humbled by the unpredictable way this virus has shaken our lives.”
• “I’m thankful to have had a job during the pandemic ― I know many people did and still do not.”
• “I’m choosing instead to focus on the generosity and empathy I’ve witnessed some of our other guests offer. They’ve inspired me to make my own much smaller acts of giving when I can. Maybe that will set off a kind of trickle-down kindness.”

Wealth and power can breed some bad habits. Perhaps why Proverbs 30:8 makes this bold request, “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” (NIV)

Oswald Chambers said, "The most exacting test of all to survive is prosperity."

I think we need more biblical wisdom to trickle down. 

That’s Forward Thinking. Click on the link to the right to connect via Facebook.

You can find a number of YouTube episodes and podcasts of Mark’s program, Moving People Forward at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosyuBzdSh1mXIas_kGY2Aw?

For more information on the Elfstrand Group, please visit www.elfstrandgroup.com

Articles of interest:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/restaurant-indoor-outdoor-dining-wealthy_n_606878ddc5b6c00165c1a398 

The Slow Death of Commitment

Here we go again.

The good people of Gallup have determined that church membership continues to decline. According to their researchers, the number of committed faithful members has dropped below 50 percent. This is noteworthy as it the first time that low number has happened since Gallup first asked the question in 1937. Back in those golden-olden days, church membership was 73 percent.

Specifically, those who report belonging to a church, synagogue, or mosque is now at 47%. We might say that the news gets worse! Those claiming that “religion” was very important to them dropped to 48%! That also is a new low.

What is the breakdown by ages? The Gallup report reveals 66 percent of American adults born before 1946 belong to a church, compared with 58 percent of baby boomers. Then it drops to 50 percent of Generation X, and 36 percent of millennials. One observer suggests that church membership is perceived as a “relic of an older generation.”

I think it’s a deeper issue. And I say that in sensing a correlation to marriage. Consider another Gallup report from December of last year. Their study was featured in an article titled, “Is Marriage Becoming Irrelevant?” Yikes!

Notable from the research: “Fewer U.S. adults now than in past years believe it is ‘very important’ for couples who have children together to be married. Currently, 29% say it is very important that such a couple legally marry, down from 38% who held this view in 2013 and 49% in 2006.”

And now it gets really serious. Gallup tells us, “Sixty-six percent now believe it is morally acceptable to have a baby outside of marriage, an increase from 53% the first year the question was asked in 2001. Moreover, 72% percent—up from 53% in 2001, consider sex between an unmarried man and woman morally acceptable.”

The numbers continue… “Another 31% of U.S. adults currently say it is ‘somewhat important’ for couples with children to be married, bringing the total to 60% who consider it important to some degree. Meanwhile, four in 10 say it is not too (18%) or not at all (22%) important.”

Do you see what is happening? One of the core, fundamental building blocks of a healthy society is families. Statistics about children raised in two parent families leans indisputably toward better lives for all. Less crime, less divorce, more well adjusted kids…just about any cultural stability category you can find.

This mindset shift on the importance of marriage is tragic. The price is an increased risk to a stable society. Warning signs are literally everywhere.

What is the common denominator I see between the decline of marriage and church attendance? Commitment. Or better said, the lack of same.

Without committing in marriage, you have the freedom to walk away. Without making the decision to belong to and be involved in a church, you have no attachment or sense of obligation. In both cases, “freedom” is your principal value. The freedom to abandon.

Try telling this to your kids. “We birthed you. But we’re not obligated to care for you or about you.” Or say to your church brethren…”I may come here but I want no commitments to help or serve. I only do what works for me.”

Succinctly stated, this mindset says, “It’s all about me and my convenience.” That is a sure way to make a sick world. And that is where we are heading.

God, on the other hand, offers a different path. Hebrews 13:5 reads, “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, ‘I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.’” (NLT)

Stories of true love are built on sacrifice and commitment. It’s what marriage vows are all about. It’s what membership means in a church.

Pitiful are the people who mainly take—offering little of substance in return. And noting the Gallup statistics, we are witnessing the slow death of commitment.

That’s Forward Thinking. Click on the link to the right to connect via Facebook.

You can find a number of YouTube episodes and podcasts of Mark’s program, Moving People Forward at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosyuBzdSh1mXIas_kGY2Aw?

For more information on the Elfstrand Group, please visit www.elfstrandgroup.com

Articles of interest:

https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2020-04-29/us-marriage-rate-drops-to-record-low 

https://news.gallup.com/poll/316223/fewer-say-important-parents-married.aspx

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/03/29/church-membership-fallen-below-majority/

Opinion or Persecution?

In my late teens, I remember reading a joke about a man who was on his deathbed. A chaplain came to the hospital room to pray with the man. Seeking to ensure safe passage to heaven for this gent he asked him, “Do you renounce the devil and all his works?” To which the dying man replied, “At this time, I prefer not to make any enemies.”

It seemed funny at the time and I’ve repeated the joke on several occasions. But I’m finding it less humorous in the age in which we now live. Especially when I consider what Christ followers may be asked to renounce in life and work in America.

This was crystalized even more clearly for me in a recent editorial that was published in the USA Today. The opinion piece was titled, “Oral Roberts University ORU) isn't the feel good March Madness story we need.” The author is a woman named Hemal Jhaveri.

Ms. Jhaveri’s beef with the Oklahoma based school should clearly and properly be defined as anti-biblical bias. She argued that ORU didn’t belong in the NCAA Basketball Tournament because of their spiritual perspective on human behavior, specifically human sexuality.

In her words, “That Oral Roberts wants to keep its students tied to toxic notions of fundamentalism that fetishize chastity, abstinence and absurd hemlines is a larger cultural issue that can be debated. What is not up for debate however is their anti-LGBTQ+ stance, which is nothing short of discriminatory and should expressly be condemned by the NCAA.”

Rather than simply recognizing that we do not all agree on many moral issues of our day, she lobbied to have voices she didn’t like banned from the tournament! Again, in her words, “The fact is, any and all anti-LGBTQ+ language in any school’s policies should ban them from NCAA competition.” And she added that ORU is a “hotbed of institutional transphobia, homophobia with regressive, sexist policies.”

Talk about bitter. One sided. Control driven. Spiteful. (I could keep going.)

As one person who responded to her editorial property noted, “And are you so naive to think that there are not other young men and young women playing on the other teams in these tournaments that believe the very same way because they too identify with Christ and were raised in a Godly home?”

Of course there are. And on top of that, plenty of parents, who sent their kids to schools also competing, hold the same views. And very likely a handsome number of professors, administrators, and other employees within secular schools hold those views.

But now here’s the rub. Are all those voices allowed the freedom to express those views without being sentenced to exclusion? Or as we prefer to say in this age, being “cancelled?”

The devil’s gameplan in this is sinister, as is his style. Most dedicated Christ followers if asked to deny their Lord would absolutely refuse. Likely the devil knows that. BUT…will these same followers be willing to stand up in defense of biblical truth on morality if it costs them worldly gain? Or rejection? Even being mocked for their faith?

If people like Jhaveri have their way, exactly what will churches face as a result? No zoning permits to worship? No right to raise children and disciple them as we choose? No private or home school curriculum that teaches biblical values unapproved by the state?

Shall anti-biblical bias be given the privilege to destroy the dreams of our young?

Jesus gave His followers advice on this. It applies to all who claim His name. He said, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

Persecution has a truly ugly face. And we’re staring at it in commentaries like Ms. Jhaveri’s, which the USA Today should have readily rejected. Opinions to deny freedom of thought are simply not worth hearing.

That’s Forward Thinking. Click on the link to the right to connect via Facebook.

You can find a number of YouTube episodes and podcasts of Mark’s program, Moving People Forward at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosyuBzdSh1mXIas_kGY2Aw?

For more information on the Elfstrand Group, please visit www.elfstrandgroup.com

Articles of interest:

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/03/oral-roberts-ncaa-anti-lgbtq-code-of-conduct

https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/michael-foust/ncaa-should-boot-oral-roberts-due-to-biblical-beliefs-on-lgbt-issues-usa-today-columnist-says.html?utm_source=ChristianHeadlines%20Daily&utm_campaign=Trending%20Now%20-%20ChristianHeadlines.com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=4536176&recip=528672413

Getting Chippy

On March 27th, I joined the league of immunized Americans who have received the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. You can research what exactly the vaccine contains. Frankly, I’m not able to discern whether it should concern me or not. For now, I’m thankful for some protection from the nasty virus.

My cardiologist and my primary care doctor both advised getting immunized. Both my wife and I had some reservations. There has hardly been enough time to determine both the effectiveness and the possible consequences of getting the vaccine. But now, we’re both covered.

One thing of which I am quite confident. no one injected a microchip into my body. I know, many find that idea absurd. But not everybody.

In June of 2020, the one-time-possibly-then-crazy-minded candidate for US President—Kanye West—declared he had contracted the coronavirus. Here is what he said: “It’s so many of our children that are being vaccinated and paralyzed. So when they say the way we’re going to fix Covid is with a vaccine, I’m extremely cautious. That’s the mark of the beast. They want to put chips inside of us, they want to do all kinds of things, to make it where we can’t cross the gates of heaven.”

Hmmm. Kanye, please, lie down here on my couch.

Where would he get such an idea? From those who fear Bill Gates! Bill has all kinds of ideas on how to best save the planet. One of those involves tracking our health. So rumors began to spread that Bill supported the idea of having that done through implants under the skin. 

Maybe Bill does like that idea. But Reuters news service apparently got from “the horse’s mouth” something different. They reported, “Bill Gates foresees the use of ‘digital certificates’ with health records, but did not say these would be in the form of microchip implants. There are no plans to use this future technology during the coronavirus outbreak.” Whew.

This is not to say we’re not heading that direction. In fact, the countrymen of my Swedish ancestry are already feeling “chippy.” In that country, some 4000 Swedes have adopted the technology with microchips inserted into their hands.

According to an NPR story, “The chips are designed to speed up users' daily routines and make their lives more convenient—accessing their homes, offices, and gyms is as easy as swiping their hands against digital readers…They also can be used to store emergency contact details, social media profiles, or e-tickets for events and rail journeys within Sweden.”

Call me a technophobe, but that sounds creepy. Invasive. None-of-your business kind of invasive. My dog doesn’t seem to care if you implant a chip in him, but Pepito isn’t concerned with identity theft.

And get this. Erik Frisk, who is a web developer and designer, uses the chip he had implanted in 2014 to unlock his office door. And when he moved into the house he began sharing with other roomies in 2018, Frisk organized a “chipping party” for the housemates. Yes, a chipping party! Perhaps one day you’ll be invited to a Pampered Chipper gathering!

I also admit to keeping a watchful eye on something I strongly believe to be true: the end game of that worrisome “mark of the beast.” In Revelation 13:16-17 we read. “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.” (NIV)

This Scripture may sound wacky, but you know a new national ID card was going to be required (or a passport) for air travel. And concerns over Covid-19 may also see airlines requiring you show your immunization card to fly. And what’s next? Just sayin’!

What…me worry? I’ve now received my two doses of the Covid vaccine. And I’ve not had any issues yet. Except for bizarre impulses to buy Microsoft products.

That’s Forward Thinking. Click on the link to the right to connect via Facebook.

You can find a number of YouTube episodes and podcasts of Mark’s program, Moving People Forward at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosyuBzdSh1mXIas_kGY2Aw?

For more information on the Elfstrand Group, please visit www.elfstrandgroup.com

Articles of interest:

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/22/658808705/thousands-of-swedes-are-inserting-microchips-under-their-skin

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/08/the-rise-of-microchipping-are-we-ready-for-technology-to-get-under-the-skin