Veteran’s Day always brings to mind that LIFE cover photo of the sailor kissing the nurse. I was too young at the time to be much interested in kissing girls but I sure remember all the bells ringing, horns blowing and people pouring out of their homes at the announcement of Japan’s surrender that meant the end of WWII. Edith Shain may have been that nurse as she claims, but whether or not what she is quoted as saying about the photo and that moment in time is certainly true: "As for the picture… it says so many things -- hope, love, peace and tomorrow. The end of the war was a wonderful experience, and that photo represents all those feelings."

Those years between the attack on Pearl Harbor and V-J Day were hard ones for us here on the Home Front. What with so many loved ones being killed and maimed in the war, the rationing and other hardships it had seemed a very long and never-ending saga of bad news interspersed with stories of heroism and victories. But with the announcement of Japan’s surrender most of us were of the same mind as Edith that the end of the war would bring “hope, love, peace and tomorrow.” These feelings were shattered by the growing realization of how our government had lied to us about the events of WWII, the Korean “conflict” a short time later, the Cold War, Vietnam, and a stream of unrelenting wars since with all the war profiteering going on. Looking at what America has become, I have to question what all the sacrifice of WWII and the following wars has really been about? If the dead that were sacrificed could arise, what would be their judgment in view of what America has become?

Quite candidly, our government lied to us back then during and after WWII and has never stopped lying since. As I grew older and began to study the many variations of “official” proclamations by our government concerning WWII and all the wars thereafter it became obvious the whole is filled not only with the lies but mysteries as well, a prominent one being why we got the bomb before Germany or Japan? The answer for me in light of the many obstacles working against such a thing ever happening is Israel in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

The PBS presentation “Journey to Palomar” was a marvelous tribute to the genius and perseverance of George Ellery Hale. Few of us are not fascinated by the mysteries of the universe, but solving some of these may prove to be as intractable as some mysteries on our own planet such as those of the Sphinx, the great pyramids of Giza, JFK, RFK, and 9/11. You would at least think the mysteries on our own planet, particularly those of recent history would be easier to solve than the mysteries of the universe, but now the mystery of Barack Hussein Obama who given his shady and mysterious background, the MSM adoration without any of the hard questions being asked would seem a fairytale, something so fanciful no one in their right mind would have believed possible!

While we are told a DNA test has proved Steve Fossett was killed in that crash the mystery surrounding it remains, such as the ELT not being activated by the impact and what he was doing in that area? There are his various connections to those in power, that as with JFK, RFK, and 9/11 leave many questions unanswered; and the lack of incontrovertible answers leads naturally to conspiracy theories; but these aside few of us who lived the events of WWII only to discover how our government lied to us then and thereafter are very likely to believe “official” stories like the Warren and 9/11 Commissions. If it comes out of government, we now take it as lies to cover up the truth and protect the guilty. And who does not shudder at the pronouncement “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.”

And now as I haul out the aluminum foil, if there had been no Hitler there would be no modern State of Israel; but what a horrific price to pay for a homeland for Jews! But when I consider the hellishness of those atomic bombs, had Hitler or Tojo gotten the bomb first there is no doubt these atomic weapons would have been used on America and there would be no Israel!

But there it is; the miracle of Israel bearing testimony to the faithfulness of God’s promise to Abraham. There are ominous portents on the horizon for America, and the fact our government lies to us to protect the wealthy and their bought politicians does not bode well for the immediate future. And without hope of anything really changing for the better who has hope for the long term welfare of our nation? I watch what role Israel is playing in current affairs; and from this I believe we can discern what the future holds for America and the world. What I don’t see in these portents is the euphoria of the “hope, love, peace and tomorrow” that picture on the cover of LIFE represented to us at the end of WWII.

Fortunately those of us who talk to our furry companions are not threatened with being hauled off to the Loony Bin for doing so. And while some of us are convinced Fluffy and Fido understand what we are saying few of us expect them to communicate in turn with articulate speech, though “feed me” and “pet me” come through very clearly, especially in the case of cats. Yet, when I stroll about outside the cat seems to actually enjoy my company and strolling with me just like the old dog I had on the mining claim here in the Kern River Valley when I was a boy. Why? I don’t know.

In a crazy world it continues to make some kind of sense to us and makes us feel warm all over when we see a TV segment of baby ducks being rescued and returned to their anxiously waiting momma duck. Part of that warm feeling is being aware the momma duck seems to be aware that the humans involved are trying to help her and her babies, that there is no intent to harm her babies. When kittens and puppies, any baby animals are rescued by humans we get that warm feeling that there is goodness to be found among us; and few things so stir our anger as to discover someone has been cruel to baby ducks, somehow we know those that would do such a thing must be some kind of monster, something distinct and apart from a human being. Jesus leveled the direst of warnings against those that would harm a child, and we seem to know intuitively that those that would be cruel to harmless little creatures like baby ducks will have the same satanic trait toward people, a diabolically inhuman trait that is not subject to any kind of “rehabilitation.”

It may be fortunate for us that the resident cat or dog cannot speak our language; we have the advantage of being able to talk to them without fear of a negative response. It doesn’t work that way talking to people where we often have to be very guarded and circumspect in our speech. Over the many years I have often found myself talking to some critter, much as I imagine my Cherokee ancestors did, giving vent to my innermost thoughts knowing the animal though being attentive would not betray my confidences. Very seldom do you find a person you can trust in like manner. This is one of the reasons animals figure prominently in many religions, why so many try to endow animals with human, even supernatural characteristics.

But I have never tried to communicate my thoughts about the hereafter with the resident cat or any other such creature. While I believe all life returns to the Creator of life, I just don’t expect animals to understand my thoughts on the subject. Perhaps because my many years of dealing with forest and farm animals never resulted in the kind of communications I would have with people it hasn’t crossed my mind that I should be looking to animals for answers to the many questions I have concerning the supernatural. In this I find myself departing from those like the ancient Egyptians for example; but I won’t attempt to disabuse those whose beliefs include things like cats being “familiars.” In some cases, people are having fun with such a thing and I wouldn’t think of intruding myself on the fun.

My son Michael and my friends like Mike and Byron know what I mean about living with “ghosts” and they are as likely to talk to the resident cat as I am when they visit. But I would understand their concern for me and couldn’t fault them if they called for the boys with butterfly nets if I ever told them that my ghosts or the resident cat were having real conversations with me; much as I have always avoided people who declare “God told me” and expect people to believe them. Whether it is God, ghosts, or the cat those of a rational mind are going to demand such claims be supported by incontestable evidence and rightly so.

But God does speak to me through the Bible and his Creation, and while I find these to be a far better resource even if Nancy Reagan did engage in séances I wouldn’t be finding fault with her, and if some believe in astrology that is their affair. Believers in such things are often among the best and brightest, the most well educated and are often trying to make sense of the lunatic world they find themselves in. It is only natural for people to reach out to the supernatural in an attempt to make sense of the craziness surrounding us, and I find comfort in lighting a candle and communing with my loved ones gone on before me. That I haven’t resorted to a Ouija Board or crystal ball doesn’t mean I have no sympathy with those who do credit such things, and we would be all the poorer without Abbott and Costello’s “The Time of Their Lives.”

Many of us reach out to the supernatural in an attempt to find comfort in our grief, to find a source of guidance, of understanding and hope in an evil world that makes little sense. What might be considered a milder form of lunacy among those who credit charms and amulets, séances, astrology or crystal balls can be entertaining, even bringing comfort to some. It is when such things become extreme and impinge on the lives of others adversely there is cause for real concern. Few would want to return to the Dark Ages of burning witches and heretics, though the Biblical warnings against things like witchcraft remain.

I really enjoy the old black and white movies of Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man; I even enjoy the Mummy films of Brendan Fraser, but I do not like the blood and gore in full color of the senselessly violent films. I like things that stir the imagination without the computer generated splatter of blood everywhere, and one of the more obvious signs of the end of this age to me is the growing violence against women and children, both in film and in reality.

If people are having fun with their beliefs or finding comfort in them without harm to anyone more power to them. If those of us who talk to our furry companions are not causing any harm by doing so, why would any complain? But since I believe we are now facing a new Dark Age one of the things I am growing increasingly sensitive to is the way people abuse animals as well as the way women and children are being abused.

Satan has his hot button issues some of which are homosexuality, pedophilia, child molestation, marriage and family, the Bible, moral standards, civilized manners and speech and the servants of the Evil One will quickly organize to attack all those expressing views about these things contrary to the Devil’s. “Hath God said…?” And this is how the cunning serpent in the Garden approached Eve, to call into question the word of God. Eve’s mistake seems to have been in not only paying attention to the serpent but allowing it to go even further and actually contradict God, telling Eve she would not die as God had warned, but would become like a god herself.

As a daughter of Eve, Governor Sarah Palin should have taken heed and not listened to the serpent. While I applauded Governor Palin and voiced my support of her as a glimmer of hope on the political scene, knowing she was the only bright spot in McCain’s campaign and the wisest choice he could make under the circumstances this did not detract from the Biblical injunction due to Eve’s part in The Fall that women are not to have power and authority over men.

Jesus warned the true prophets of God do not wear soft clothing and live in kings’ palaces. Paul warned women about adorning themselves with jewelry rather than a quiet and humble spirit. The proper roles of men and women are carefully delineated both in Scripture and nature, and whenever either departs from their proper roles there is a price to be paid. When it comes to politics or any position where either men or women seek power and authority over others invariably there is a hearkening to the serpent rather than to God. Whenever anyone attempts to pass themselves as a child of God while patently ignoring those things that should be the distinguishing characteristics of their purported divine parentage we are warned to be wary of such people.

From the very beginning when Caesar Bush pronounced he needed no other advisor than God I knew he was certainly not divinely anointed to the White House, but rather a false prophet. No real prophet of God seeks power and authority over others, but is commanded to live in a way as to be an example to others of God’s way of working in the lives of his children; and seeking power and wealth is a characteristic of the children of the Devil, not the children of God.

The Devil moves in the very best circles of the world. While the works of the Devil are evident in the most heinous of crimes against women and children especially, he seems most comfortable among his own of the most elite establishments of this world system, among the inner circles of power and wealth, and though his servants often flaunt such things as riches and fame the most powerful remain in the shadows lest their evil deeds as Jesus pointed out be exposed.

Emerson was quite correct in pointing out individuals like Socrates, Jesus, and Washington leave no class. While they may leave disciples, such individuals are unique not only to themselves but to history. Many may take of their example and teachings, but invariably when the schools are founded and followers begin to multiply the unique genius of the originals becomes lost and those that presume to speak in their names too often become only caricatures of those whose philosophies they espouse. However, with the loss of the originals we are left with their recorded words, but apart from the Bible there is just no way of making sense of a crazy world, one in which the historical record is that of continuing violence.

We are told in the Bible that a meek and humble spirit is the most prized of God, and are warned that “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” If Satan’s fall was occasioned by his pride it is not to be wondered at that his servants, the children of the Devil, would be heir to this same weakness. It’s a hard thing at times to live honestly before both God and men in a world under Satan’s dominion, to live in such a manner as not to give offense through the hypocrisy of unbelievers that would try to have it both ways having one foot in heaven and the other in hell; but such is the requirement for the children of God.

I do believe the struggle on the part of the children of God to be against the world, the flesh, and the Devil, that the warfare is a spiritual one waged in the spirit rather than the material weapons of this world system, but rather the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. The children of God are warned not to give place to the Devil, to resist the Evil One and not to be ignorant of his many devices by which he attempts to ensnare the unwary, but there is a place of safety in keeping our hearts with all diligence, knowing in the words of Jesus that where our hearts are, there will our treasure be also.

But having been designated by many a member in good standing of the aluminum foil hat crowd through my writings expressing my belief there is in fact a Devil and the Bible is factual in many instances and trustworthy in making known the thoughts and the will of God toward humankind, that God has in fact spoken to us through his prophets in the Biblical accounts I have nothing to lose by further pointing out there are many claiming to be God’s children just as willing to call me mad.

As the world churns in unrest on many fronts it is good to have a place to draw apart, a quiet place in which to commune with your own heart and find peace of mind. As with me, it is good if you have departed loved ones and friends with whom you can have sweet communion, knowing we are only separated briefly from these loved ones by the thin and fleeting veil of our mortality. Such is the hope the world cannot offer us, but only God.

As I wrote about it at the time Jeremiah Wright may have prophesied better than he knew in condemning America. When the thought first suggested itself to me some years ago that the seed of America’s destruction may have been sown in slavery, something this election has served to confirm, I resisted the impulse to pursue any inquiry into this. I was born into a generation in which the Founding Fathers were held in such high esteem approaching veneration that to question their motives leading to the Revolution and thereafter was truly unthinkable to me. But with the passing of years and much study of American history I gradually began to sort things out in my mind, realizing that trade does indeed curse all it touches, that those nations that increase wealth based on slavery also increase sorrow whether such slavery be that of North or South leading to the attempt at national suicide: Lincoln’s War, a war from which America would never recover.

As mind-numbing as it is for some because of the laborious attention to many details, Professor Claude G. Bowers’ exhaustive “The Tragic Era” remains the quintessential scholarly work defining what led up to the Civil War and that period called “Reconstruction” immediately following the assassination of Lincoln and resulted in a Federal Triune Dictatorship. But to try and go back in time and attempt to understand those circumstances that led to slavery in America can be a mind-numbing task, and not something I was willing to undertake. However, the place of slavery throughout history can be summed up in one word: Profit.

To take by force the bread earned by another has been one of the Devil’s most successful methods of establishing tyranny and supporting despots. That America has been enslaved through taxation without representation, ruled by the wealthy and the politicians they have bought is a direct linear result of the failure of the Founding Fathers to exclude slavery by our Constitution. By the time of Emerson and Thoreau the abolitionist movement was gaining ground, but both men realized trading a southern overseer for the wage slavery of a northern one would only perpetuate the profit driven evils of slavery. And from the very beginning with the introduction of slavery into America, the failure to deal with this early on because of profit America now stands in peril of God’s judgment.

In retrospect, the disastrous reign of Caesar Bush during which he became hated by so many together with a cadaverous McCain too closely aligned to Bush and Governor Palin seen as a threat doomed the GOP. But in the beginning of this long and painfully drawn out election cycle it seemed utterly preposterous that the Democrats would choose Obama, and that once chosen he could possibly win the election. That is, it was preposterous unless God was determined to bring judgment against America for having turned away from him and delivered our nation up to Satan.

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” As Job suffered the torments of Satan he maintained his faith in God and remains a testimony to all believers. I believe the election was in God’s hands, and as he gave Satan leave to torment Job so I believe he has given Satan leave to torment America leading to the judgment of Babylon in Revelation. But as in the case of Job, the children of God will suffer afflictions that try their faith, the righteous entering into life through much tribulation. However, those nations that turn away from God will be destroyed.

If as I expect Obama will prove to be an Ayers/Wright surrogate he will be the tool of Satan and only hasten God’s judgment of America. Millions are hoping for a new day to dawn under an Obama presidency, but like the prophets of old sent to warn Israel I consider the very evils of slavery that have culminated in this election and have a foreboding of what the future holds for our nation as the weed of slavery for the sake of profit bears its inevitable bitter fruit.

I’m an old man with a Biblical view and interpretation of history. Some have been generous and charitable in allowing me the latitude of speaking as coming from a past Norman Rockwell America now forgotten to most, one most people not of my generation have only learned about from books, films, and TV. But in fairness to myself what could have been more preposterous than to even entertain the notion of what has transpired over the last couple of years culminating in a Negro as President of the United States? I have to ask myself how something so seemingly preposterous could be explained in any other way than to see God’s direct intervention in the affairs of America. Obama has said “We have laid our hands on the ark of history,” but if he was referencing the Ark of the Covenant to lay hands on that meant certain death.

President Clinton was a charismatic well liked liar, but President Bush lacking any charisma seemed to go out of his way to lie and be hated. This has much to do with Obama’s success, but while “Out of Africa” was a very good movie a Jeremiah Wright presidency would not suit most Americans though it would have U.N. approval.

Getting the popcorn and kicking back for the circus today doesn’t take away from the serious issue that if Hussein wins we will find ourselves suffering the reign of a surrogate Ayers/Wright. But no matter who wins, the reign of Caesar Bush has put America in a very dangerous position and it is problematical how any leadership, even a good one rather than the corrupt one entrenched, can resolve the issues threatening our nation. However, Hussein as an Ayers/Wright surrogate and disciple is virtually guaranteed to tear America apart.

It isn’t too difficult to compare this election to a Roman Circus with Hussein promising free bread to everyone and some can enter into the spirit of his pronouncement “It will be fun to see how the story ends,” but with him in the role of Caligula having been the recipient of the “longest wet kiss in history (Gov. of Miss.)” by the MSM complementing the madness of it all there is definitely an air of throwing Christians to the lions and burning them at the stake for the amusement of Hussein and his worshippers. Of course, if you belong to the Ayers/Wright/Hussein court you might be spared. However, once Jeremiah Wright pronounces Ayers god-damned and exposes him as just another southern overseer several of whom I knew in Watts and the universities pretending sympathy for Negroes, this would bode ill for any Caucasians in that camp no matter their Roman salutes to a Hamite Caesar no different than that of Aryan Brothers in prayer.

As I found myself struggling to open my bottle of Centrum Silver from the bottom this morning I was reminded of a couple of things. For those familiar with plastic bottles having both cap and bottom very similar you understand how this can occur. But if you find yourself struggling to open the bottle from the bottom for some length of time before your brain kicks in and alerts you to what is happening you may be in serious trouble. If you begin cursing the thing and get out your Channellock pliers and start using them in an attempt to unscrew the bottom of the bottle you are in very serious trouble.

It’s a simple metaphor for how politicians are promising to fix the problems in America; their brains do not seem to be functioning and they have gotten out the Channellock’s and are trying to open the bottle at the bottom; but those strong pliers can burst the bottom of the bottle and the pills will go flying all over. The more politicians are trying to “fix” things, the more they appear to be trying to open that bottle at the bottom with Channellock’s.

Of course my experience with the Centrum Silver bottle this morning could have been a senior moment, but one in which my brain successfully functioned and quickly apprised me of the problem rather than resulting in reaching for my Channellock’s. However, it was no senior moment some time ago when I began to consider the seed of America’s destruction was sown in slavery, and while I fervently hope otherwise this election may prove that premise.

It is an ongoing debate among scholars how much of the migration of humans and the beginnings of modern civilization depended on climate and how much depended upon innovation, the tools by which people were not only able to survive but to build cities. A curious statement in the Bible, Genesis 4:26 where we read that with the birth of Enos the son of Seth “then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” would lead me to believe much of innovation is of Satan, and cities would become places where evil flourished, one of the main reasons for this being that merchants did not produce the food that sustained life but would supply it for a price at a profit to those who neither sowed nor reaped by the labor of their own hands.

I have long supposed some innovations like nuclear energy to be the work of Satan, and I believe we would be better off without explosives of any kind. But there is no doubt in my mind that trade, as an innovation, curses all it touches. Invariably collectivism of any kind will succumb to those evil that will take advantage for the sake of power and profit. And I’ve often wondered what would be the case of churches today were the Holy Spirit still slaying those like Ananias and Sapphira?

But the earliest chapters of Genesis describe a time of growing violence and perversion resulting in the Deluge, and Noah was the only man left God found righteous. When the perversion of his son Ham is recounted in Genesis we read that Noah pronounced a curse upon Ham and his descendants. That Noah is actually pronouncing such a curse standing in the very place of God in judgment of wickedness we get a pretty good idea of the closeness of the relationship between God and Noah in the same way as that of Abraham and Moses to follow.

One of the greatest advantages I enjoyed as a child was being taught the great stories of the Bible, so that like Timothy I knew the holy scriptures from childhood that are able to make one wise unto salvation. But not everyone receives the “engrafted word” unto salvation, as the Bible makes clear.

In Romans the Apostle Paul points out the Jews had a great advantage, in fact he says it is of chief importance, having been given the “oracles of God,” the very words God spoke to people from the time of Adam and Eve and eventually committed to the writings contained in the Bible. But Jesus and Paul made it very clear that the outward forms of worship including that of circumcision would not save either Jews or Gentiles, but only the engrafted word of God made to live and grow in our hearts by the spirit of God whereby we are made children of God and rightly call him our heavenly father.

While the beginnings of Modern Man and civilization remain shrouded in mystery, I take the book of Genesis at face value in describing these things. The Adam was a special creation in the image of God that came to be known as Modern Man, the Deluge caused the continents to appear as a result of the breaking up of the fountains of the deep and the waters receding. But the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent would cause continuing enmity between the children of God and the children of the Devil.

God would continue his conversations with a few like Noah, men like Abraham and Moses together with later of specifically chosen prophets. And there would never be any lack of false prophets, those purporting to speak for God then even as they do today causing Jesus, together with some of the writers of the New Testament, to warn of wolves in sheep’s clothing. But there is a royal thread that runs so true throughout the Bible that is unmistakable to the children of God, and like that royal thread is found by those to who these scriptures ring true in their hearts. Take the story of the Tower of Babel for example; I find no better cause through science than the story of the confusion of tongues as given in Genesis.

As the work of God continued through the earliest ages of humankind he would choose Abraham to carry out this work. But following the Exodus that generation of Israelites would perish in the desert leaving a new generation to occupy the promised land of the chosen people. Over time the northern kingdom of Israel would go into captivity because of disobedience to God, and the southern kingdom of Judea would follow not long after; and after the destruction of Jerusalem following the crucifixion of Jesus not until 1948 would Israel once again rise as an independent nation.

But the new nation of Israel came about in fulfillment of God’s promise there would always be a remnant as a testimony of his faithfulness to the covenant he had made with Abraham, not the faithfulness of the Jews. However, it is remarkable this tiny nation should figure so prominently in world affairs, something I actually find miraculous and brings the full force of Paul’s statement about having received the oracles of God being of chief importance to Jews into view. As People of the Book the Jews have not only distinguished themselves and survived, but have made themselves the “football of the world,” hated and despised by the nations of the world. This situation has only been exacerbated by Israel becoming a modern nation, but also by its very existence depending on America as the only friend it has. And at some juncture in time, Israel is going to be betrayed.

However, there is a new covenant God has made with his children found in the New Testament, those grafted into the tree of life, the legitimate children of God and the seed of the woman following in the line of Seth and Noah to whom both the Old and New Testaments speak in that royal thread that runs so true throughout.

In the twilight of life my mind seems to naturally turn on the many issues God has shared with men and women, the things recorded in the Bible that speak to my heart and together with communing with my loved ones gone on before me to be with the Lord bring comfort to my soul in these desperate times, and in the words of Scripture I find myself in the place of that scribe bringing forth from his treasure things both old and new, things not only of reverie and contemplation, but things exciting as well since in the course of my life I have attempted to keep up with the pace of our modern world and how it relates to the Scriptures.

I know for example the earth cannot possibly continue to support anything approaching any quality of life for the increasing billions of mouths demanding bread, earned or not. That innovation such as nuclear weaponry that can empower the most evil of Satan’s servants cannot come to a good end. In just a few days we will learn who the next president will be, and while I know Barack Hussein Obama is a servant of Satan the axiom of Scripture remains; “When the wicked walk on every side, what can the righteous do.”

Governor Sarah Palin has said this election is in God’s hands, and I certainly agree. But there is Jeremiah Wright calling down the wrath of God upon America because of the way he perceives God should be taking vengeance on Caucasians. But I know he is only speaking for himself and those like him that demand government continue supporting unproductive mouths be fed by the productive. We know the vast majority of Negroes will vote for Obama because he is “one of their own,” a strictly racist vote, while Caucasians voting for McCain/Palin will be accused of “racism.” The whole thing has made this election a hellish, witch’s brew of racial and Marxist hatreds and opportunism, one in which the Devil’s MSM has already enthroned their messiah.

But there is always the unexpected, and it is in this realm of the unexpected where the miraculous intervention of God in human affairs is most often displayed. It is for this reason some of the greatest minds of history have willingly accorded the works of God supersede the works of men whether it be of God’s wrath and judgment, or of mercy. Whatever one’s thoughts about the subject, there is the sober warning of Jesus that only a few are going to be saved out of this evil world system that is presently Satan’s domain, one in which the children of God are beset on every side and everywhere they turn by the Devil and his servants.

The war that started back in the Garden at the time of The Fall continues, but it is a spiritual war not fought with worldly weapons, but those supplied by the spirit of God. And the oracles of God working through the Holy Spirit indwelling those who are saved bear witness to the truth of this to the children of God. No matter what the Devil does, each night as I commune with my heart upon my bed my assurance of God being in control of my life is the thing that speaks peace to my soul. And this should be the assurance of every child of God.