An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 29, 2022
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We can pass laws and make rules ultimately, it’s God’s design that plots the course.
A Soap Opera That Never Ends Will Finally End Then What? November 28, 2022
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All my life I’ve been in love with History. I learned at an early age that if you love reading you can live a thousand lifetimes and if you’re wise you have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others. I’ve certainly experienced the former while unfortunately not doing much of the latter.
My love of History metastasized into a love of Political Science. These two intellectual “Loves of my Life” have given me countless hours of joy lost in reading, mired in thinking, and entertained by speculation.
Now as I enter what are called the golden years, though I believe they might be made of brass, having spent several decades teaching both subjects I feel a need to share some insights not on particulars but instead on something that is usually disparaged and often dismissed, generalities.
Though most have never heard of him many can misquote the writer and philosopher George Santayana who is reported to have said, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” What he actually said was, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” There is a subtle difference there for learning and remembering are two different things. This sounds so wise. It even appears self-evident. And it apparently, at least to my observation, it’s an oxymoron. After a daily study of History for sixty years the only lesson I’ve learned is that humanity never learns the lessons of History.
In my classes I tell my students that History is nothing more than the stories of people just like us who lived at different times in what were essentially different worlds. They had the same bodies and minds that we do. They felt the same emotions. They lived, they died, and now it is our turn. I also tell them that if we don’t learn anything from History that helps us in our everyday life we might as well pick up a good fiction book and at least enjoy some good writing.
I know that most people study History because they have to. I know most people find it boring. As an exercise in memorizing dates, names, and facts to be later regurgitated on a test and forgotten I can well understand the boring part. There are so few who can see through the process to the stories that make History so exciting. Few can lose themselves in the narrative, imagine themselves on the deck of that ship, in the palace with the king, or in the hut with that peasant. They only see dates, and names, and facts. BORING!
And Political Science who cares about that? I tell my students who don’t care about it at all that it’s the science of who gets what and if they don’t care about it someone else will and then they get to make the decisions. What do you want? You decide.
Now after decades spent following politics through the lens of History attempting to share with others the insights gained, I must tell you all that it’s essentially the equivalent of an ant studying a castle made of sand. He spends his life telling other ants how wondrous the castle is, how imposing its turrets are, how deep its moat, and how formidable its defenses then the waves come in the castle is gone and the ants have disappeared.
I recently taught a class on American History from 1877 until the present to a class full of millennials. We used a textbook that was more than a thousand pages long. It wasn’t until the last few pages that we reached anything the students could remember as having happened since they became aware of the world around them. That last twenty minutes of the semester really had an impact.
To most people History begins the day they’re born. For all of us it ends the day we die. And Political Science ends up being the science of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
In the 4.5 billion years of this planet’s existence, in the fifteen billion years since the Big Bang the history of humanity doesn’t even take up the last few paragraphs. It would fill perhaps part of a sentence, a few words such as……………. All things will pass only those things done in Christ will last.
That’s it, the sum total of all I’ve learned, all I’ve discovered, and all I’ll ever know. No Christ no peace. Know Crist know peace. For those who seek to gain their life will lose it and those who lose their life for Christ will find it. He is the truth, the light, and the life and without Him there is no truth, or light, or life.
Stop fighting a war that’s already been won. Stop spinning your wheels running in a race that goes in a circle. Step out of the darkness and into the light and let this be the first day of the rest of your life.
The stories of those who have gone before teach us nothing if they don’t lead us to Christ. The politics of this world are an endless loop, a tempest in a teacup, a soap opera that never ends. It may be engaging to watch like a slow-motion train wreck. It may be exciting, exhilarating, even entertaining but for most of us in a hundred years no one will even know we were here. In a thousand years no one will remember the compelling arguments of today, the all-important bitter debates about whether we place the deck chair here or there. Yet in an eternity from now heaven will know whether or not we acknowledged Christ as our Savior, for if we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead we shall be saved.
This is an excerpt from the book Faith by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 27, 2022
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Some roads look perfectly safe, but they’re really made of quicksand.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 25, 2022
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Freedom is responsibility. It is our vehicle to either choose the truth or to embrace the lie.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 23, 2022
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When it comes to the ultimate decision in life, we have free choice, and no one can take that away from us. We can either choose God or choose the world and God is so fair we get exactly what we choose.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 22, 2022
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God drops no one into Hell, people jump.
Is Thanksgiving All About Receiving? November 21, 2022
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In millions of homes throughout America families and friends join to together to celebrate a cherished holiday, Thanksgiving. In countless homes people go through various types of rituals and traditions including taking time to share what they’re thankful for. If we listen to those often hastily prepared statements, we’ll find most of them refer to what’s been received.
“I’m thankful for my family.” “I’m thankful for health.” “I’m thankful for peace, prosperity, safety, security, a home, a car, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, etc.”
It’s good to give thanks for all we’ve receive. It’s even better to give thanks for the Giver and to recognize that it’s all a gift.
The greatest gift of all is Jesus. God gave Him to us as our Savior. It’s through His stripes we’re healed. It’s through Him making Himself poor that we became rich. And it’s through the indwelling Spirit of God that we have access into the wisdom of the ages. And that wisdom teaches us that it’s better to give than receive.
This Thanksgiving as we share what we’re thankful for perhaps we should be thankful for all the opportunities we have to give. The Word of God tells us plainly, “If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms.”[1] In another place it says, “Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way.”[2]
All around us a world in need of God stumbles through the inky void of uncertainty not knowing why bad things happen to good people, why evil seems to triumph over good, or where they’re going when they die. And we have the answer. His name is Jesus.
So how do we share what isn’t just good news but the best news ever with the lost and broken around us?
It isn’t by trying to shove a Bible down their throat. It isn’t by beating them up with doctrines they don’t know repeated in religious speak. It isn’t by trying to scare them to death with stories of what will happen when they die. When we use these time-tested mistakes while trying to share the most beautiful truth in the world, that Jesus came to bring us life, our success rate is perfectly expressed by my favorite band, Casting Crowns, “Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth’s become so hard to see. The world is on their way to You, but they’re tripping over me.”
It’s not about who we are it’s about who He is. It isn’t about what we’ve done it’s about what He did. And it isn’t about what we get it’s about what we give.
I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! May the Lord bless you and keep you may He make His face shine upon you. As we gather with our loved ones on a day set aside for giving thanks instead of offering a litany of what we’ve received let’s give thanks for opportunities to give.
This is an excerpt from the book Faith by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
[1] Luke 17:33 MSG
[2] Luke 6:38 MSG
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 20, 2022
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If we deny God, He will deny us.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 19, 2022
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The world says, “God helps those who help themselves.” The Bible teaches God helps those who realize and admit they can’t help themselves.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 18, 2022
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To say there are no absolutes is absolutely foolish.
A Childless Father Who Has a Son November 17, 2022
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I am blessed. My wife gave me a son. He was hers before he was mine. Then he became ours. In my heart he is always mine and I feel as if I am his dad. But it often feels like a homerun record with an asterisk, an almost. You see, I’m a stepfather. That’s as close as I will ever come to experiencing the life of a father and for that I am forever thankful to God for I am a childless father who has a son.
I know the pride of watching my son play little league. Together we experienced the joy of victory and the agony of defeat. I encouraged him to play music. I helped with homework. I watched him march in band. I raced against the stop lights time after time to make it to events and meetings with teachers, doctor’s appointments, and birthdays. I watched him graduate grade school after driving him from one town to another so he could remain in the same school with his friends after we moved. I blessed God when he graduated high school and earned scholarships to college. I was happy when he chose the girl my wife and I prayed for long before we ever met her, enjoyed being the father of the groom, and I love my grandchildren with all my heart. I am truly blessed. My wife gave me a son.
But there are four other children I have never known. Four other children blood of my blood and bone of my bone that I never had the chance to know.
These are my aborted children.
They were aborted without my consent, told by the women involved and the courts that it was none of my business, murdered within the law, slaughtered beyond the pale. They are still alive within my heart.
Let me say in defense of the women who aborted my children, before I gave my life to Christ, I was a snake. As a matter of fact, I’ve always said that before I was saved snakes would cross the street when they saw me coming. I was a drug addicted; drunken scheming dreamer convinced I should be something I wasn’t and equally convince I wasn’t what I was.
Any young woman who learned they were pregnant and that I was the father could not be blamed for deciding I was a waste of space, a self-indulgent loser, and a disaster as a potential father. And although none of the three young women involved ever told me why they aborted my children, that’s what I have always thought was my addition to the equation.
Once I gave my life to Christ. Once I sobered up, straightened out, and stood in the light of His love I knew he forgave me for any part I played in the deaths of these innocent children. I know He forgives everyone who lays their sins at the foot of the cross.
Over the years He has ministered to my heart, my spirit, and my soul as I have cried tears for who could have been. I am healed for when He said, “It is finished,” sin was defeated. When He rose from the grave life conquered death, and since He ascended into heaven where He took His place at the right hand of the Father together, we all live in Him. I am healed.
But there is not a day I don’t miss those children. There is not a day I don’t think of what might have been. There is not a day that I don’t imagine seeing them in Him.
I struggle sometimes knowing that two of the women who aborted my children later had other children. They’ve had an experience they took from me. I don’t begrudge them the joy of parenting. I have forgiven them. But sometimes I’m jealous of what they have and of what I shall never have and for this I repent. I also struggle sometimes watching other women I know have had abortions and later had children. I know God has forgiven them. I don’t have anything against them but at times I struggle with my own emotions.
All of this is the burden of this forgotten father. I was forgotten in the decision to abort my children. I have been forgotten in all the years since.
I may be forgotten but I cannot forget.
My children died. Four lost lives in the American holocaust of millions. They are four souls whose blood cries out to God, four cracks in my broken heart, four children of God I long to know, four tears I shall cry till the day we meet.
A stepfather is like a used shoe. It may look good, it may wear well, and at time it may even feel good. But it’s still a used shoe.
However, my stepson may feel about me I know how I feel about him. He is my son. I may have lost four, but I have gained one. I am blessed. My wife gave me a son.
This is an excerpt from the book Faith by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all of his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 16, 2022
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The foolish say there is no right or wrong. They are wrong.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 15, 2022
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If we spend time playing with demons, we will never defeat them.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 14, 2022
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A life following God leads us home, a life following sin steers us right into the ditch.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 12, 2022
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We may not be able to see how God will pull us through, but we can trust that He will.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 11, 2022
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Without a dream we will achieve nothing. Without love we feel nothing. Without God we are nothing.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 10, 2022
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The same God who created the world in six days can change ours in one.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 9, 2022
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When our prayer life goes to sleep, our past life wakes up.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 8, 2022
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Don’t ever give up on God. He never gives up on us.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 7, 2022
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The hardest thing to expose is the glaring evil everyone chooses not to see.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 6, 2022
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Peace isn’t found in the absence of strife … it is found in the presence of God.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 4, 2022
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No matter who is President Jesus is King.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 3, 2022
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People on earth hate to hear the word REPENT! People in hell wish they could hear it one more time.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 2, 2022
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We are never the same once God lays His hand on us.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 1, 2022
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Over thinking will steal your peace, pray, and leave it in God’s Hands.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 28, 2022
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The world is changed by our example, not by our opinion.
Dr. Owens’ Next Book Signing Event October 27, 2022
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When:
Friday Oct 28 4 PM – 8 PM
Saturday Oct 29 9 AM – 5 PM
Sunday Oct 30 9 AM – 3 PM
Where:
National Cattle Congress
Mc Elroy Auditorium
257 Ansborough Ave
Waterloo, IA 50701
Dr. Owens published three new titles in 2022.
There are more on the way.
Bring in a book to be signed or purchase one new. All Twenty-nine of Dr. Owens’ titles will be available. His books include: Five novels in the America’s Trojan War series, America’s Odyssey: You Can’t Go Home Again, America’s Odyssey II: You must Go Home Again, America’s Steel Brigade, and America’s Armageddon. Six books on Political Science: The Constitution Failed, Constitutional Philosophy in Action, Then Came Trump, Drain the Swamp, Make America Great Again – AGAIN a book that chronicles Thirty-three of the positive accomplishments of President Trump’s first term that the media buried and the Biden Administration is erasing from History books, and America I’m Glad I knew Ya. Five, History Books: America Vol. One: Colonial History, The Azusa Street Revival, The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same (describes how the elites in America use presidential assassinations to create and sustain a secular political religion), America Won the Vietnam War! and, Skid Marks in the Sky: The Legendary Life and Hippie Adventures of Bobby Backstreet. A book on Leadership: COGIC History: The Dark Years. Three books designed to strengthen and encourage Christians called Faith, Hope, and Love. The first two in a series of five books in a commentary on the book of Ephesians. A book of poetry Every Farmers Got a Gas Pump that took him sixty years to complete, New Old Sayings, and New Old Sayings Volume Two books of 1,000 proverbs each compiled by Dr. Owens over a period of sixty years, and The Complete Encyclopedia of Socialist Wisdom.
All of Dr. Owens’ books are available in paperback and kindle at: https://www.amazon.com/author/drrobertowens
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 27, 2022
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The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law. The people who killed Anne Frank were following the law. The law is not a moral compass, it is a social weathervane.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 26, 2022
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When the law does not apply to lawmakers we aren’t being governed, we are being ruled.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 25, 2022
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Reality does not cease to exist just because it is ignored.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 23, 2022
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We learn from History that we do not learn from History.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 22, 2022
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Before we ask God for anything we should thank Him for everything.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 20, 2022
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Reading the news may tell you what’s going on in the world. Reading the Bible will tell you why it’s going on in the world.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 19, 2022
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Stand for what is right even if you have to stand alone.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 18, 2022
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God didn’t remove the Red Sea, He parted it. Sometimes God doesn’t remove the obstacles in our path, He makes a way through them.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 17, 2022
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Salvation is a personal experience. You can’t inherit it. You can’t buy it. You can’t earn it. And you can’t give it to anyone else.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 16, 2022
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When the world knocks you down, God will pick you up.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 15, 2022
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Sin wouldn’t be so seductive if the wages were paid immediately.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 11, 2022
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Life is short. Death is sure. Sin is the cause. Christ is the cure.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 9, 2022
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If we can’t trust God for what’s here and now, how can we trust him for what’s eternal?
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 8, 2022
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If the lack of a heartbeat signifies death, why doesn’t the presence of one signify life?
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 6, 2022
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Though we deserve nothing God gives us everything.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 5, 2022
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When we give our life to God in and through Jesus, He doesn’t hold our past against us, He holds our future before us.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 4, 2022
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We can spend so much time trying to provide for your wife and family that we lose our wife and family.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 3, 2022
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If everyone who thinks they know everything really knew everything There wouldn’t be so many people who seem to know nothing.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens October 2, 2022
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Those who seek God in Christ have no lasting city here nor do they seek to build one. Their true home is a shining city on a hill for they are citizens of heaven.
Dr. Owens’ Next Book Signing Event September 30, 2022
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When:
Saturday Oct 1 9 AM – 5:00 PM
Sunday Oct 2 9 AM – 3:00 PM
Where:
Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds
2815 Locust St
Davenport, IA 52804
Dr. Owens published three new titles in 2022.
There are more on the way.
Bring in a book to be signed or purchase one new. All Twenty-three of Dr. Owens’ titles will be available. His books include: Five novels in the America’s Trojan War series, America’s Odyssey: You Can’t Go Home Again, America’s Odyssey II: You must Go Home Again, America’s Steel Brigade, and America’s Armageddon. Six books on Political Science: The Constitution Failed, Constitutional Philosophy in Action, Then Came Trump, Drain the Swamp, Make America Great Again – AGAIN a book that chronicles Thirty-three of the positive accomplishments of President Trump’s first term that the media buried and the Biden Administration is erasing from History books, and America I’m Glad I knew Ya. Five, History Books: America Vol. One: Colonial History, The Azusa Street Revival, The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same (describes how the elites in America use presidential assassinations to create and sustain a secular political religion), America Won the Vietnam War! and, Skid Marks in the Sky: The Legendary Life and Hippie Adventures of Bobby Backstreet. A book on Leadership: COGIC History: The Dark Years. Three books designed to strengthen and encourage Christians called Faith, Hope, and Love. The first two in a series of five books in a commentary on the book of Ephesians. A book of poetry Every Farmers Got a Gas Pump that took him sixty years to complete, New Old Sayings, and New Old Sayings Volume Two books of 1,000 proverbs each compiled by Dr. Owens over a period of sixty years, and The Complete Encyclopedia of Socialist Wisdom.
All of Dr. Owens’ books are available in paperback and kindle at: https://www.amazon.com/author/drrobertowens
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens September 29, 2022
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Don’t let braggers’ hot air mess with your head and don’t envy the success of the wicked, before you know it, they will wilt like grass clippings after a mow and shrivel like cut flowers in the sun.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens September 28, 2022
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Swift to hear and slow to speak is wise, swift to speak and slow to hear is not.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens September 27, 2022
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Some people think it is more spiritual to be poor. Others think it is to be rich. Neither is true. We might be walking in the flesh if we ty to live a life of poverty that God has not called us to, or vice versa. The fundamental truth regarding poverty and plenty is being in the will of God and keeping a steadfast devotion to Him whether we are rich or poor.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens November 26, 2022
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Satan’s original sin was to want to be God. Humanity’s continuing sin is the same one.
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 