It was a cloudless Christmas night around 6:30 pm, just after sunset, when I was driving to my mother’s home in Florida. We had come from seeing family for Christmas, and straight ahead in the windshield view, towards the southwest, I saw one very bright star shining above the horizon near the sunset glow. Since it was Christmas, I thought about the Wise Men following the star to Bethlehem and wondered what this star was in the sky. It was the only one visible at the time (see recreation below).

Later at home, I checked Stellarium, a very good, free astronomy program, on the computer and saw the star was actually Jupiter (see screenshot below), which I remember from Ernest L. Martin’s book, The Star That Astonished The World, where he showed with very convincing evidence from his stellar research, the “star” he believed the Wise Men followed to Bethlehem was also Jupiter, which actually did hover over Bethlehem on 3 or 2 BC, exactly when Christ was born.

Even more interesting, I saw in Stellarium that Saturn and Venus were making a line with Jupiter on Christmas night, in a similar way to the stars of Orion’s Belt (see screenshot above). I couldn’t see Saturn or Venus at sunset, though, because of the sun’s glow.

This alignment peaked my interest further, so I looked at time-lapse views of the alignment for the following days and saw that Venus would go out of alignment with Jupiter and Saturn, but was quickly replaced with Mercury in a similar alignment (see below).

I’m not an avid astronomer, so I don’t know how often an alignment like this happens, but from my limited experience with the stars, I know it is very infrequent, and my being in the right place at the right time to see the Christmas Star while driving home was another instance of God’s perfect timing to inspire me, much like the moon constellation I saw on a December 2008 night that inspired me to name my ministry 3rd Compass (see Predestined).

God truly did make the moon, planets, and stars to give signs and appoint times, for He said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and they shall serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years; and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the heavens..." (Genesis/Bereishit 1:14-15).

My being in Florida to help with my mother’s retirement home for Christmas this year played a critical role as well. If I were back home in Minnesota, I very likely would not have seen the Christmas Star at sunset, since I usually stay in the house on holidays. Time and place played important roles, and now I saw a very unusual double-alignment of the stars happening in the near future on the sunset horizon.

I felt God was telling me to investigate this, so like the Star of Bethlehem pointed to a place, I went to a map and tried to see where the 2021 Christmas Star was pointing when I first saw it while driving. There weren’t that many options since I was in Florida, close to the coast, and would quickly run to the Gulf of Mexico on the map. My best guess was the star pointed somewhere in between Crystal Bay and Homosassa Bay, which was interesting, because just a day or so earlier, I was sightseeing near where the star was pointing, an area called Kings Bay.

This is another unusual alignment. Was this year’s Christmas Star pointing to Kings Bay, like the Star of Bethlehem pointed to our King Messiah? Another odd thing about King’s Bay was I already knew about it because of researching the area for my mother’s retirement.

I found it strange there was a King’s Bay in Florida where we were going to travel when I had named a bay in my Irish adventure novel the same thing many years ago, except I used the Irish version – Bá Rí (pronounced “Bah Ree”). This would be another very non-coincidental alignment with my path in Irish culture and creative projects (see Predestined for more “wonders on the earth” God gave me related to Ireland).

And if you read my last updates, you’d know the Lord gave me another reminder of Ireland with the cell phone I recently got, and some big reminders to stop working so much and find happiness and remember my creative, romantic days. This new link with a real Christmas Star to Kings Bay and my creative and romantic work in the novel seem to be God’s continued reminder towards personal pursuits.

When I realized the Christmas Star I saw made unusual alignments with other stars, I felt like one of the Wise Men journeying to Bethlehem. Except, I’m sure their journey was planned well in advance, while I seemed to stumble on this very unusual alignment of stars in what is God’s serendipity and predestiny – not simply a fortuitous, happy accident, but something with God’s predestined plan in it. It would have all been hidden to me if the Lord had not timed everything so perfectly for me to see it. Praise Him for His wonders!

I feel the Lord is telling me to go see what's on the horizon when Venus is replaced with Mercury at sunset, which happens on January 8th or 9th, 2022. The moon also comes very close to lining up with the planets on the same dates, as well, though it does not seem to be a perfect alignment, and it is likely the lower stars on the horizon will not be visible at all when I go see them, because as the sun sets, the stars also move lower and may disappear under the horizon before they become visible as the sky darkens. We’ll have to see what happens in a couple weeks’ time.

It's been about a week since I first posted about finding the Christmas Star alignment with Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mercury. I've been out a few times to photograph the alignment, and thank the Lord, the skies have been cooperative (mostly) and also yielded a lot of nice ocean sunsets (more photos and information are available in the Aching Prosperity journal).
The first night for photos, I went out to a bay at Ozello, Florida close to a point I thought the Christmas Star was pointing to. It was a warm, breezy day, but cloudy so I was worried I wouldn't be able to capture the alignment. The first photo shows the Christmas Star (Jupiter) coming out.


After waiting a couple hours to catch all the stars in the alignment, I gave up and went home after only seeing one or two of them showing at the same time. There were too many clouds in the way.
That discouraged another Christian photographer from Michigan, as well. She arrived at the site shortly after me, but she was there to photograph a comet near Venus. We didn't see it when I left, but I still felt satisfied being able to see all the stars I was looking for, even though they weren't all showing at once.
However, when I got home and checked the photos on the DSLR camera, I found I actually did capture all the stars of the alignment at once (below). The top star is Jupiter, then Saturn and Venus, and if you look really close, near Venus to the left, you can see Mercury, which will replace Venus in the alignment in a couple days.


The next time I went to capture the star alignment, it was the New Moon on January 2nd. This time I went to the place where I feel the Lord is leading me in this Christmas Star alignment - a point as far west as I could go, where the ocean begins going inland to form Kings Bay. The photo below shows all the stars of the alignment, from top to bottom, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and Venus. Mercury is moving to line up with Jupiter and Saturn more in the coming days.


By now, Venus is getting very low to the horizon when the sun sets, so in my next trip to the beach Venus won't be visible anymore. However, on January 5th, the waxing crescent moon (photo below) was near the alignment, so I went to get photos.



The next update will be for photos on the 8th of January, when Mercury replaces Venus in the alignment, and for the "when" I believe the Lord is telling me to really note in this alignment. Hopefully, He will reveal that night what this unusual alignment of stars and circumstances is meant to point to.

Yesterday, the 8th of January, was when the final alignment of Mercury replacing Venus took place in the Christmas Star alignments I've been tracking. The alignments started last month around the same time I was traveling to Florida, but I only noticed them when I saw the Christmas Star on Christmas night (see the first post).

For the final alignment, I went to the same beach as the last few times, since I felt that was where the Lord wanted me to go. This time I went early because I wanted to enjoy a nice, sunny Florida beach day. The waxing moon was at about 42% full and easily seen in daylight (photos below). It was far above, though, in the afternoon, but I thought it might move low enough to capture with the Christmas Star alignment after sunset.

The sky was dark enough after sunset at about 6:14 pm for me to see the Christmas Star, which is Jupiter (photo below). The rays coming from the sunset in the photo are not lens flares, but "God rays" in the sky. The sunsets at this beach often produced interesting God rays, and the Lord gave wonderfully textured glows with the clouds on the nights I went to get photographs.

At 6:35 pm, I could see all the stars of the alignment, and tonight, the almost half moon was also almost in alignment with Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury (photo below). As far as stellar alignments go, Jupiter (the top star), Saturn (middle), and Mercury (lowest star) looked to be in a perfect line.

If I had tried to capture the alignment again tonight, Mercury might still be in alignment, but the clouds at sunset tonight were much thicker than they have been, even on the cloudy night of December 29th when I first went to get pictures. I don't think I would have been able to get good photographs tonight, and the moon would have been too high to photograph with the stars.

It was barely in frame with the stars when I took photos last night. The glowing in the top left of the picture below is the moon, and at 6:46 pm, a few more stars were visible. The photo below gives labels for the moon and stars of the alignment - Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury (wait for the labels).

I also believe I got what God wanted me to see at the beach last night related to this alignment, so there was no point in going back tonight. Was there a person, like I suspected I would find? Or did God have something else?

Stellar alignments in history often pointed to significant events, like the birth of kings, and the coming of the Messiah (read The Star That Astonished The World for examples), so this alignment could have announced a similar event. If that was God's intent, He has not guided me on it yet.

But what I did get last night was yet another reminder from the Lord about things He started to remind me of before I went to Florida. After the sun set last night, but before all the stars of the alignment appeared, a young girl, no more than five years old, came near me to play on the beach. Her sisters soon joined her, and I heard their mother following and calling to that little girl.

Her name was Ireland, and when I heard her name being called repeatedly, I wondered, "Is that what the Lord brought me here tonight to find?" It was the only thing that stood out last night that made any sense, though it was ambiguous as to what I should do with the guidance.

Why would the Lord go through so much aligning of events, places, objects, people, and even the stars in an unusual double alignment like this to remind me yet again of Ireland? Before I left for Florida, He had given me very strong guidance linked to Ireland, stopping self-neglect, and remembering my past artistic and romantic personality with the numbers 272 and 273 (for details, see The Lord said, Let no one argue and let no one rebuke).

Since it's obvious the Lord is ultimately pointing to Ireland with the stars, is He calling me to focus more on ministry with Ireland now? I've already gotten guidance years ago related to being like St. Patrick. He was forced into a path with Ireland when he was kidnapped and enslaved by Irish pirates until he escaped. Many years later, when he was a bishop, the Lord called him to go back to Ireland where he became Ireland's most famous patron saint.

The Lord timed all my recent guidance related to Ireland and seeking personal happiness with this stellar alignment to coincide with stopping my primary ministry goal of bringing God's people out of sin and false teaching. I've since then been reminded of continuing to work too much, especially for the benefit of others - continued reminders of neglecting myself, so the Lord can't be calling me to focus on more ministry with Ireland yet.

Though, He did remind me of my role to continue ministering and teaching people on an as-needed basis. This happened just a few days ago, through a very unusual link with physical things (a friend's Bible) and the IMEI number of the phone I recently got that linked to Ireland (for details, see The Lord said, Let no one argue and let no one rebuke). Its IMEI number begins with 353 (photo below), which has reminded me of Ireland because their phone area code is 353.

I noticed on January 2nd, a friend posted about a Bible verse and highlighted words she was wondering about (screen snapshot below with names and comments masked). But what I found very strange, was that her Bible was on page number 916, which I recognized as the very last number in the phone's IMEI. Obviously, the Lord was linking these things deliberately, and I knew it was related to my role as a Teacher of Christ.

I needed to help this Christian understand what her Bible translation was saying, so though there is love and personal happiness in God's guidance here, He reminds us all that the time we're in is not full of peace, just as Jeremiah 8:11 quotes God saying, "[False prophets and teachers] have healed the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace" (Jeremiah/Yirmiyahu 8:11). God's people, then as well as today, have no idea why they suffer, for He said, "My people do not know the judgment of Yahovah" (Jeremiah/Yirmiyahu 8:7).

Some of it is for idolatry (Jeremiah/Yirmiyahu 8:2-3), which I recently talked to a couple about when they told me about their empty fortune cookie. I told them fortune cookies can bring people to the sin of divination. And isn't it interesting that incident was timed just as my friend on Facebook made her post. Fortune cookies seem like harmless things, as many think that differing Bible translations are also harmless.

But like said in Jeremiah/Yirmiyahu 8, today, God's people don't understand what they do wrong or why they're suffering (Jeremiah/Yirmiyahu 8:7) and it's partly because they listen to false teachers and prophets who tell them lies of peace and prosperity, and only give superficial remedies (Jeremiah/Yirmiyahu 8:11). Much false belief and bad teaching comes from bad interpretation of scripture as well, which goes with my friend's post here about her Bible verse because she zoned in on that translation's use of "black," very likely because she is a Black American.

Her friend told her that she didn't think the Bible was talking about ethnicity, but about sadness, which I commented on as being correct. I asked what Bible translation she used because its translation was not very good compared to ones I recommend that have much better translations of the original words of scripture (see Choosing a Bible for more about good and bad Bibles). Having good translations of scripture is essential to learn from, because bad and false interpretations are the foundations for false teachings that can be very harmful to people.

Those false beliefs often make people blind to why God brings judgment on them and the world, and so they continue on in the same paths that bring them great harm. So as God taught me to be a more discerning minister and not so unrealistic (overly romantic) about how the world and His kingdom work, we all need to remember to keep our focuses in check and try to see everything as the truly are.

The phone's IMEI and my friend's Bible give more physical links to my role to minister related to Ireland (more links can be found in Predestined), and this guidance was also in the middle of things related to personal happiness and romance, which I got on New Year's Day.

On January 2nd at the same time I saw my friend's post, I was writing about how this New Year, 2022, has the triplicate 222, which means True or Full Love, and how the Lord gave me a nudge related to romantic things on January 1st, and that 2022 has true love in it.

If we look at the timing of my friend's post, which was posted on January 1st at 1:35 pm, we see she posted it at nearly the same time I was in Sarasota worshipping and speaking with the Christian couple I met there and talked about divination to. The husband suggested I couldn't miss a local attraction while I was in town.

I was only in Sarasota for the afternoon, so I went to see what the local was talking about. It turned out to be a giant sculpture of the famous end of World War II kiss between a sailor and nurse. That made me wonder if the Lord was giving me another nudge about romantic things.

I could tell He brought the Christian couple to the beach in Sarasota to meet me, just at the right time, because he told me their fortune cookie didn't have a fortune, and the Lord knew what I'd say about it. My friend posted on Facebook at the same time this Sarasotan told me to go see the giant statue, which celebrates the end of war with hopes of renewed love and life... Or does it?

When I went to Marina Jack, the statue in Sarasota, I found it was a huge sculpture of the famous kiss photo between a sailor and apparent nurse on V-J Day^[1.1] (Victory over Japan Day) in 1945 at announcement of the end of World War II. The photo is a famous depiction of an incredibly romantic rejoicing for a war battered soldier and his nurse who was also returning from the war. At least that's what most Americans were led to believe.

As I grew up, that was the image popular media gave of the iconic photo. It was life renewed to America after years of horrible war, and many Americans imagined that sailor and nurse go on to live a happily-ever-after in the years afterwards. However, it wasn't until recent years that I heard a radio show segment about a researcher who investigated the true identities of the sailor and nurse and told the real story behind the photo that day.

What I found out about the iconic photo came to be a disappointment. The sailor, George Mendonsa, kissed the nurse or actually dental hygienist, Greta Zimmer, because he was on a drunken escapade in Times Square, kissing many women until Life Magazine's photographer snapped the famous photo^{[1.1, 1.2]}.

George and Greta didn't know each other, and in fact, I remember the researcher said both had romantic partners at the time. George's girlfriend was trying to follow him in Time's Square as he ran about grabbing and kissing all kinds of women. The instant captured in the iconic end of war photo turned out to be a very unromantic drunken romp through a massive crowd. Definitely not the sentiment I grew up with that photo.

And so, God reminds me, and all you, too, once again, as He has throughout my many years in ministry, that the world and believers, too, are always hyping up love and romance when the reality of things is often very different. That translates directly to God's love story with the peoples and His own people. Believing sects everywhere focus so much on the wonder and romance with renewal in God that they completely dismiss and cannot see that they are very much like that drunken sailor who was celebrating the end of war, though inappropriately, and their "picture perfect" moment really isn't perfect or what they thought it was.

Real life and love with God and God's love work very differently than is told by popular preachers, churches, and sects. So may you remember the lessons that God gave with the number 222 that includes much more than the incorrect romantic notions people have about spiritual things. They do much more harm than everyone realizes. See the Valentine's Countdown and other testimonies for more about what God gave with 222.

All this seems to be coinciding with my own guidance, which does have a lot to do with the spiritual war and more focus on personal happiness. The Lord has given me more reminders to look towards Ireland now with this Christmas Star alignment, and even though Irish culture has been a big part of my life in years past, I've never been able to travel there.

Whatever focuses I am to have with Ireland now, I will let the Lord lead. Truly, the Lord works in mysterious ways, and even though He has taught me much towards greater discernment so that I may teach better, He has always reminded me, as He did Apostle Paul, we will never know perfectly in this age, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then [when He returns, we will see] face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Praise the Lord! For He knows us fully in our imperfect states and shows His perfect love shine for us, on earth and in the heavens. May His lovingkindness shine upon all our lives through these dark times, through Mashiach Yeshua (Christ Jesus). Amen.

[1.1] "V-J Day in Times Square". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2024 Sep. 25.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-J_Day_in_Times_Square>

[1.2] Lawrence Verria, Captain George Galdorisi, U.S. Navy (Retired). "The Story Behind the Famous Kiss". 2012 Jul. Retrieved 2024 Sep. 25.
<https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2012/july/story-behind-famous-kiss>

I’m back home in Minnesota now and settled in, so it's time to write about further happenings with what the Lord gave me related to Ireland when I was in Florida. In my last update, I talked about keeping our focuses in check, and it might seem with all the guidance pointing to Ireland that God is sending me there to focus ministry, like He did with Saint Patrick.

But to clarify what the Lord intends, like with the link to the Bible page and my phone IMEI number I spoke of last time, He reminds me I'm not one who is sent only to Ireland.

On January 11th, I used my last free day in Florida to take photos. I was driving on a busy highway in an area south of Orlando when I got strong spiritual feelings to turn around and check on someone I saw begging for money on a cross street. When I got there, I saw it was a teenage girl with her family sitting nearby. What surprised me the most, though, was they said they were from Dublin, Ireland.

I then knew it was no coincidence the Lord had me speak with this family, which was a Catholic family consisting of the older mother (a widow), the teenage daughter, and two younger siblings (a brother and sister). Because the Lord had guided me a lot about Ireland in recent months, I told them about that and tried to give them hope for the future, but because they said they were immigrants leaving Ireland to settle in the States, I knew the Lord was giving me and others perspective related to my recent guidance with Ireland.

I’ve often felt like Saint Patrick in my life’s redirections towards Ireland. You might think the Lord is planning to move my focus there entirely, like He did with Patrick. In years past, I had sometimes wondered if that was God’s plan, but over time He never gave me anything to state that.

My anointment from the Lord was always for His kingdom as a whole and not for any particular people or region, and because this Christian family I met was originally from Hungary and they left Ireland after 15 years because they did not feel welcome there and wanted better lives in the United States, I felt the Lord connected me with them to remind me that my ministry role continues to be for everyone and the recent guidance related to Ireland I got did not change that.

That was reinforced by the friend I helped to understand Jeremiah 8:21, which I talked about above, and the real, physical links the Lord gave with the Bible page number being the same as the last numbers in the cell phone’s IMEI. My role to teach for the Lord is not meant to be centered on Ireland – I remain a teacher and minister of Christ for everyone.

But obviously, the Lord made Ireland a big point recently, that also went with personal happiness and creative works, so I need to find where that path goes. I have to admit I have not had much time to get back to romantic creativity or much else related to personal happiness yet.

People’s and the world’s troubles constantly take my attention, and the state of affairs in Ireland is no different. God had me notice that in the Christmas Star over Kings Bay in Florida, because it connected to my creative work and Ireland. The many connections He gave me conveyed the state of Ireland and other nations are in a decay or "anbobracht," an Irish medical term for a wasting sickness or wasting away, because of their bad focuses and sins.

This connection began many years ago when I worked on my creative projects which included much Irish culture. I had not intentionally orchestrated these links to sin and ways that are destroying the peoples everywhere, but God did it through extraordinary means to align these themes with many real things in the world. And obviously, because of His bringing up romance, God is also reminding me of a love story that is similar to His own love story for people everywhere; that He is trying to guide and move people who believe and live in the wrong ways, including Christians and other believing sects, to try and save them from the anbobracht or real-life decay they're in because their morals have erroded too far.

God showed me that Ireland, like the rest of the nations, is in the wrong path and suffering for it, wasting away in an "anbobracht." And seeing how the immigrant family I met did not feel they could have a decent life in Ireland, it reminded me that countries everywhere have many problems to address; the United States included. I’m afraid many problems this family fled in Ireland will confront them here, as well, but I pray they find the peace and prosperity they search for, through Mashiach Yeshua (Christ Jesus). Amen.