Do I Read Fiction?

I am a list-maker. I have a list of all the places/houses in which I’ve lived since childhood, all the  trips we’ve taken, all performances I’ve done, all cats we’ve owned, etc, etc, etc. 

When it comes to books I began keeping a list of those I’ve read ever since high school days. That list got lost when I was in the Army. I started a new list in 1975 but with all the moves we’ve made since then, that got lost in the shuffle. So in 2004 I started all over again.

 

One thing I did was look at my list of all the books I used to own before that time and began making a separate list of books read prior to 2004; compiled from memory and book lists; but that list is very incomplete.  Some books I remember because I read them to my children!

So, someone emailed me a question—Do I read for fun, i.e. fiction? Well my pre-2004 list includes a lot of those that I remember from high school, Army, and since then. For all those wondering the same thing, here is that list (I’ve read lots of these to my wife and/or kids). You’ll see that there are some classics. (The “Cat Who” series was specifically read to my wife.)

1984, by George Orwell

A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute

Animal Farm, by George Orwell

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

Back Home, by Michelle Magorian

The Best Loved Poems of the American People

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham

Castles in the Sand, by Carolyn A. Greene

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Turned On and Off, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Saw Red, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun.

The Cat Who Played Brahms,    

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Played Post Office, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare, 

    Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Sniffed Glue, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Went Underground, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Lived High, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Moved a Mountain, 

    by Lilian Jackson Braun

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, 3 volumes - twice!

Chronicles of Narnia (7 stories), by C.S. Lewis

The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexadre Dumas

Three “books” from “The Complete Sherlock Holmes,” 

    by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Darwin Conspiracy, by James Scott Bell

Emma, by Jane Austen

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

The Flames of Rome, by Paul L. Maier

The Four Feathers, by A.E.W. Mason

Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

Heidi, by Johanna Spyri

The High and the Mighty, by Ernest K. Gann

Hiroshima, by John Hersey.

The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien

How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn

Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

The Inheritance, by Louisa May Alcott

The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells

The Island of Dr. Moreau, by H.G. Wells

Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo.

Little Lord Fauntleroy, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hannett

The Man Who Thought He Could Fly, by J.L. Pattison

The Mind Invaders, by Dave Hunt

Mr. Roberts, by Thomas Heggen.

Mrs. Miniver, by Jan Struther

Morning Star, by Marian Wells

Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christi

Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen

Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan

Persuasion, by Jane Austin

Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter

Pontius Pilate, by Paul L. Maier

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

The Railway Children, by E. Nesbit

Sanctuary of the Chosen, by Dave Hunt

Saving Kennedy, by Jerry L. Pattison [Time travel]

The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis

Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen

This Perfect Day, by Ira Levin.

The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

The Wall, by John Hersey (in high school)

The War Lover, by John Hersey

Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Wall, by John Hersey

The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells

Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

Thoughts About the Catholic Church

Praying the Rosary is not meditating on Christ. A person prays to Mary 10 times more than to the Father. 

Satan loves the Rosary. He doesn’t care that you pray to God as long as you also pray to another—especially if you’re praying to them 10 times more than you pray to God.

WWUTT?@WWUTTcom

Praying the Rosary is nothing but mysticism and paganism. Praying to Mary is useless—she is dead and is not omnipotent; unable to answer prayers of every Catholic in the world praying to her at the same time. She has no authority to even respond to prayer.

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In the sixth century, it was taught that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, and that error has continued to be believed ever since. It’s not true. No where does the Bible say this about Mary.

Do you know where that came from?

The Pope (Gregory).

WWUTT?@WWUTTcom

I’d like to know why Pope Gregory decided that Mary was a prostitute when the Bible doesn’t even hint at such a thing.

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To bow in worship before a so-called “altar” or a cross, or an image or picture o a saint, or before a real or supposed “holy” relic, or anything of the kind, is nothing but sheer idolatry!

Charles Spurgeon

Catholics bow to statues of “saints” and Mary. Where in Scripture does it even hint at such behavior as right and proper?!?!

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God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.

Pope Leo XIV

Okay, Mr. Pope, explain throughout the Old Testament God sent the Israelis into battle to destroy ungodly pagans, etc.? The Crusaders were fighting against the pagan and evil Muslims so as to stop their conquest of the world (which we should be doing now!!!)  Does Mr. Leo think God wasn’t blessing the Allies’ fight against the evil German and Japanese empires? What gives the Pope authority to speak for God?!?!?

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John Wycliffe’s first translation of the Bible from Latin Vulgate into English so angered the Catholic Church (because it bypasses priests) that it had his corpse exhumed and burned.

Lucie Winborne, Mature Focus newsletter.

Wow! Does the Catholic Church think that was a proper thing to do? I know from history that the RCC was totally against translating the scripture into the vernacular of the people. Why? Because when people can read the Bible for themselves they see that the RCC does NOT speak for God. Jesus would not have condemned those who translated the O.T. into the common vernacular since the whole idea of Scripture is to learn about God and His Gospel!

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At Loyola, Pride Month is a time for celebration, education, and visibility for the LGBTQIA+ community. Explore resources and learn about the history of Pride Month here: [redacted]

Loyola, in Chicago, is a Catholic University. The Catholic Church is supposed to be the true church with a Pope who supposedly speaks for God. And yet here they were supporting and promoting what God calls an abomination!

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Did you know that the idea of Jesus’ mother, Mary, being sinless didn’t become a “thing” until the 4th century? But nothing in the Bible even hints as such a thing, rather it says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). But then the papists had to come up with a way that Mary could be sinless and decided she had to be “immaculately” conceived—i.e., without original sin. Again, this is just man adding an idea to give credence to their previous idea. It was debated in medieval times and in 1854 Pope Pius IX declared it dogma with absolutely NO evidence.

If Mary had to be conceived without original sin to be able to give birth to Jesus, then why wouldn’t her mother need the same thing to be able to conceive a sinless daughter? 

Just some thoughts for the day, questioning the validity of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican Loves False Teachers

Why were these heretics and corrupt people invited to speak?!?!?!?

I sincerely doubt that Jesus would have invited them.

 

Credentials, Part 13--Last

Way back in Parts 1 and 2 I gave a summation of the training/schooling I have received (since I have no college education) and the teaching/training I have done. Some comments have wanted more specifics for proof of my qualifications regarding schooling and teaching. So I hope this will satisfy my detractors. While much of my schooling has been technical training, I would have to say my main education outside of technical and apologetics was in management-supervision/leadership and Instructor courses.

Education/Training

U.S.Army 6/17/70 to 2/27/75

6/17/70 to Ca.8/15/70: Basic Combat Training. 10th Bn, 2nd BCT Bde (1st Plt)

Combat Engineer Training (technical training):

Ca.8/31/70 to Ca.9/12/70: A Co, 1st Bn, 1st EAIT Bde  (1st Plt)

Ca.9/13/70 to 9/25/70: Leadership Preparatory School, HHC Leadership Academy

9/27/20 to 11/21/70: B Co, 3rd Bn, 1st EAIT Bde (1st Plt)

Ca.11/29/70 to 1/25/71: Jump School

Permanent Duty at Ft.Bragg, 1/27/72 to 2/27/75:

1972: Basic Leadership Course, Distinguished Graduate (2 weeks?)

Pilot Training (technical training):

Private Pilot from 4/16 to 11/6/71

Commercial Pilot from 12/2/71 to 10/19/73

Multi-engine Airplane from 11/20/73 to 3/10/74

Instrument-Airplane from 6/16/74 to10/24/75

Helicopter from 11/5/75 to 3/18/76

Air Traffic Control (ATC is technical training)

Chicago Air Traffic Control Center, Aurora, IL 

9/78 to 12/78: FAA Academy in Oklahoma City for fundamentals and simulations.

1/79 to 2/81: OJT at Chicago Center for Non-Radar control.

2/81 to 8/81: Radar training with simulations.

DuPage Airport, West Chicago Control Tower

8/81 to 4/82: Trained in tower control operations.

4/82: After becoming certified on the tower position I volunteered to train new people coming in, and I had to take Facility Instructor Training.

3/84: Promoted to Acting Manager for a few months. Took 150 hours of FAA Fundamentals of Supervision course.

4/86: I was promoted to supervisor and was sent to take Phase I FAA Management Training at a college in Lawton, OK. (A month)

2/2-12/87: Sent to Phase II FAA Management Training at a college in Lawton, OK. (Three weeks)

8/21-30/90: FAA Management Training at FAA Academy, Oklahoma City.

12/91: Attended two courses at Chicago O’Hare Airport: OJT Teaching for ATC Instructors and OJT Teaching for ATC Examiners.

1/6-9/92: Management Training at the FAA Center for Management Development in Palm Coast, FL.

1/6-10/93: Went to Chicago O’Hare ATCT for classes on Managing Change.

7/11-16/93: Went to Chicago O’Hare ATCT for classes on Labor-Management Relations. 

Cedar Rapids, IA Control Tower

12/95 to 4/08: Trained in local tower procedures and then trained in RADAR separation.

6/08-2/10: Contract Instructor..

3/31-4/7/09: Took Facility Training Administration course in Oklahoma City’s FAA Academy.

Civil Air Patrol

I was a member from 10/87 until Spring 1995. On 6/92 I was promoted to captain as the Deputy Commander for Cadets, which required me to attend Squadron Leadership School at the College of DuPage: Level l on 12/11-12/93 and Level II on 1/30-31/94.

Apologetics

1974 to current. Self-taught through reading hundreds (possibly thousands) of books. My apologetics and biblical studies have been in depth, studying materials by some top-notch biblical and/or apologetics scholars. I also attended classes in these conferences: 

(Note: PFO conferences and the EMNR conference had multiple scholars, including Ph.D theologians, teaching classes from Thursday evening, all day Friday and until noon on Saturdays. From 2002 to 2008 PFO were held at a church in Florissant, MO but had to move to St. Charles for the other two.)

5/98: Evening conference with Roger Oakland at Believers In Grace Church, Marion, IA.

4/00: St. Louis Biblical Discernment Conference, by Personal Freedom Outreach Ministry.

4/02: St. Louis Biblical Discernment Conference, by Personal Freedom Outreach Ministry.

11/02: Biblical Counselors’ Conference, Fairview Heights, IL (Friday PM, Saturday all day.)

4/04: St. Louis Biblical Discernment Conference, by Personal Freedom Outreach Ministry.

2/05: Evangelical Ministries to New Religions (EMNR), Kansas City, KS.

4/05:  Biblical Counselors’ Conference, Fairview Heights, IL (Friday PM, Saturday all day.)

4/06: St. Louis Biblical Discernment Conference, by Personal Freedom Outreach Ministry.

4/07: Biblical Counselors’ Conference, Fairview Heights, IL (Friday PM, Saturday all day.)

4/08: St. Louis Biblical Discernment Conference, by Personal Freedom Outreach Ministry.

4/09: Faith Bible Church, Robins, IA Spring Bible Conference with Ron Sauer.

4/10: St. Louis Biblical Discernment Conference, by Personal Freedom Outreach Ministry.

4/12: St. Louis Biblical Discernment Conference, by Personal Freedom Outreach Ministry

2/15: Intelligent Faith Conference, Cedar Rapids (Frank Turek, John Stewart, J. Warner Wallace) (2 days)

4/16: Intelligent Faith Conference, Cedar Rapids (J. Warner Wallace, Alycia Wood, Gary Habermas (2 Days)

5/16: EMNR Conference, Palatine, IL

I would say the hours and hours of teaching/training I have received would at least equal a college associate degree and perhaps even a bachelor’s degree! And if the Army, FAA, and CAP all saw me as a good leader, who am I to argue!

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Army

10/73 to 10/74: Training Sergeant for the 27th Engineer Battalion.

10/14/74 to 2/26/75: Training Sergeant for B Company, 27th Engineer Battalion.

These positions required ensuring all unit members met all Army training requirements; I updated training standards for the units. 

FAA

8/81 to 2/82: Being at a VFR (Visual Flight Rules—no radar, just looking out the window) tower, I learned that aircraft recognition could be important. I knew military aircraft and civil counterparts as well as types I had flown, but when using binoculars to help separate and control the aircraft it was much easier if you knew the types. So I went to the library and checked out issues of “Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft” and taught myself what I needed within the week. I was still new in training on the tower position (after certifying on Ground Control) and one day it got busy with lots of different types (we were 3rd busiest airport in Illinois, behind Chicago O’Hare and Chicago Midway airports but we were only general aviation — no airlines. Lots of corporate, freighters, flying clubs, training schools, and 500 airplanes based, including WWII aircraft). The supervisor training me that hour said aircraft recognition training was not useful, so to test me he pulled all my strips (tiles with aircraft call signs) into a pile and told me to put them back in order. Now, normally strips got mixed, everyone would just ask every plane their position and this took many transmissions. To prove my point I used the binoculars and as I found each aircraft I aligned all the strips but two; two aircraft were the same type so I asked one to rock his wings and that was that—one transmission to sort out 12 aircraft. The supervisor training me just said, “Fxxx You” and laughed. 

The manager then asked me to teach a/c recognition to the rest of the controllers, who were anxious to learn! So I developed a slide program with a text (I was given carte blanch on the field with a radio to photograph all the types based and then I went to other airports on my off time to get more). It worked so well that my manager told other tower managers in the area and soon I was making copies for not only the Chicago area, but by managerial word-of-mouth I also made copies for Oklahoma City and Las Vegas as well as some other Illinois towers. I then expanded the course a bit and entered it in the FAA suggestion program; the FAA selected it and paid me $1000 award. 

09/85 to 11/95: Appointed as an Accident Prevention Counselor; I met with pilots and pilot clubs to teach safe aircraft and airport operations.

1986: Designed an instrument approach to DuPage Airport for Microwave Landing System (MLS) but it was adopted for an Area Navigation (RNAV) approach.

1986 to 1995: As Supervisor my administrative duties included accident/incident investigations and facility training. I wrote all classroom lesson plans as well as taught them in the classroom.

4/82 to 12/95: I trained controllers at DuPage Airport until I transferred to Iowa in December 1995. During this time I was also selected to teach pilots about ATC procedures at annual FAA Aviation Education Seminars; Illinois Department of Transportation annual Airman Recurrency Seminars; numerous flying club, EAA Chapter and pilot association meetings. In addition to the meetings, I was responsible for writing Letters of Agreement between the tower and the four pilot schools on the airport. Finally, I was selected to teach at Aurora, IL Public Schools’ American Education Week, teaching high school students about aviation.

10/26/92: I taught about ATC to the IDOT Aviation Education Workshop.

1996 to 2008: Trained new controllers at Cedar Rapids, IA airport on Ground Control and Tower Control in classroom (along with my updated recognition course) and OJT position.

4/5/97: Attended a Civil Air Patrol Flight Clinic in Cedar Rapids to teach about the various types of ATC.

5/97: Attended Cedar Rapids Linn-Mar High School Career Day to teach about ATC as an occupation.

6/08 to 2/10: As contract instructor: Cedar Rapids’ training program hadn’t had a full update in years, just “jerry-rigged” with newer stuff, and of the 20 radar simulation problems no one knew what was in them and what was supposed to be learned, only that the higher numbers were more difficult—no scripts available, having been lost long ago. So I completely revised the training program to make it up-to-date and then ran all 20 problems two or three times each so as to reverse-engineer scripts for them. I also conducted all classroom training and radar simulation training.

Civil Air Patrol: 

10/85 to Spring 1995: Aerospace Education Officer (1st LT) and that had me teaching the cadets what was essentially ground school. (it was a composite squadron, seniors and cadets.) With cadet interest I ran my recognition course for them and then I did another course with military aircraft. I also took cadets on familiarization flights so as to teach them about aircraft operations.

Sunday School

1988 to summer/92: Taught Junior High Sunday School at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Batavia, IL.

Summer/92 to 11/95: Taught High School Sunday School at Trinity Lutheran Church, West Chicago.

Apologetics

1992 to 1995: Taught High School Sunday school basic apologetics at Trinity Lutheran Church, West Chicago, IL.

1/97 to 11/98: Taught High School Sunday school basic apologetics at Maranatha Bible Church, Cedar Rapids, IA.

2000: Taught adult Sunday School apologetics and cults at Cedar Rapids Bible Chapel.

2003 to 2016: Book table ministry in Iowa City. 

https://watchmansbagpipes.blogspot.com/2009/12/public-apologetics-evangelism-ministry.html

2005: Taught adult Sunday School apologetics and cults and general discernment.

2005: I was asked by a friend to team with him in writing a seminary paper describing biblical problems with the field of clinical psychology and its associated disciplines. This research was the basis for several articles posted on this blog in 2011.

10/07: Began using a blog to teach apologetics.

2008: After providing to Personal Freedom Outreach ministry my research on Beth Moore’s horrid DVD series “Believing God,” I was asked to co-author an article for their Quarterly Journal. It was published in the January-March 2009 (Vol.29/No.1).

2009: I was asked by a homeschool group to write an “Introduction to Apologetics” course for high schoolers. I completed the course in 2010 and many copies were requested. Much of this course has been converted to articles on my blog.

2020: I was contacted by Personal Freedom Outreach about writing a feature article for their last Quarter Journal (the were shutting down after 40 years). The article I wrote was titled: “The Influence and Success of Hillsong Church: Exploring Brian Houston’s Controversial Religious Empire,” and was published in the October-December Quarterly Journal (Vol.40/No.4) 

Counseling

Counseling is a form of teaching. My wife and I have done pre-marital, marital, and family counseling off and on since 2002.

Other:

I have been teaching bagpipe lessons since 2003 and currently have two students!

I’ve always enjoyed teaching and if I had ever gone to college it would have been to be a teacher.  After all, along with my wife I homeschooled our children!