Season 3 Episode 18

Spirituality vs Religion

THREE BIG Differences Between Each

​Greetings Everyone from the Great State of Texas! Sidney St. James here. You’ve probably heard people say they’re “spiritual but not religious” when describing their faith, and wondered what it truly means. Actually, this morning my wife and I were talking about what I was working on in my podcast show for the week and I told her it was a puzzle about solving to help me with the writing of my detective series. Then she made a comment and followed it up with, “Maybe it’s spiritual… then after a pause she said, no it’s religious.” Then as I was walking off, she said, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe there’s not a difference.”

Her last statement is not unlike what a majority of us often say when using the words “religion” and “spirituality” and use them interchangeably… but, my dear friends, the two words are not interchangeable and are entirely separate concepts.

Ahhh, so I can hear you saying in my mind, “Sidney, you’re so smart…  what is the difference between religion and spirituality?In my podcast today, we will define both and explain just how they are different. So again, thanks for being here…

Season 3 Episode 17

LIST OF CLUES

1.  A Canadian lives in a beautiful house with Orange walls.

2.  An Australian has a bunch of hamsters chasing each other in  a cage.

3.  A Frenchman drinks Remy Martin Louis XIII Brandy.

4. The home that has the Yellow walls is just to the left of the home that has the violet walls.

5. Now, go back and check out the house with the green walls. The owner of it drinks Jim Beam whiskey.

6. The man who smokes Camel Cigarettes has a bunch of rabbits as pets.

7. The owner of the house with the PINK walls smokes Camel Cigarettes.

8. The man in the house in the center or the third house, drinks Scotch.

9. The Irishman lives in the first house.

10. The man who smokes KENT Cigarettes has a neighbor who has  Turtles for pets.

11. Then there is the man who smokes Winston Cigarettes also drinks Vodka. Some say he is a Russian.

12. The man who keeps Donkeys lives next to the man who smokes CAMEL cigarettes.

13. The Scottsman smokes Marlboro Cigarettes.

14. The Irishman lives next door to the house with the Indigo colored walls.

15. The man who smokes KENT Cigarettes has a neighbor who drinks Jack Daniels Black.

Stories play a huge role in our lives, larger in fact that many of us know. Sure, we love to read stories, we love to see our favorite stories on the big screen, we love to tell stories, and some of us even like to make up our own stories. But stories serve a much more significant role in our lives than simply to entertain us, they have a much greater significance.

We as human beings are story-shaped creatures. We are born into stories, raised in stories, and live and die in stories. Whenever there is a time that we have to answer a BIG question, like, “Who am I? Why am I here? What in the world should I do? Or, what happens to me when I die?... Great questions. So, what do we do? We go and tell a story.

Do stories have a place or do they play a role in the Christian life? The answer is… Absolutely! It is largely through stories, through Biblical narratives, that God chooses to reveal Himself to us. When we were born, did God give us an instruction manual or a step-by-step “Dummy Guide to Knowing God” to understanding your deity? When God want to reveal His character to us, He plunges us into a story about the time when Moses asked to see God. When He wanted to show us His power of creation, He planted our feet along the banks of the Red Sea and told the story of how He made a road right through the middle of the sea!

Welcome, everyone. Sidney St. James again with Part II of "Growing Up in a Small Town!" This may seem a little funny, but it was the simple things of growing up in a small town I grew to appreciate about my alma mater, Eagle Lake High School. I loved when the sunset turned the sky into a canvas of pinks and purples. I was excited when local events, like the crawfish festival or the Rotary or Lions Fair, had their annual parades. I smiled when the cashier at the grocery store was friendly, asking how my family was doing and if I had a chance to try the new restaurant that had just opened out on Highway Alternate 90.

However, when it was finally time for me to pack up and move away, I felt overwhelming sadness about leaving. It was weird to graduate high school and say goodbye to my classmates who I quite literally grew up with. I dreaded every goodbye, no matter who I was saying it to. Although both the front and back of my High School Eagle Yearbook had signatures from almost every one of my classmates. I didn't understand why I felt uneasy about leaving for the longest time, but now I realize that I felt emotionally confused because I planted such strong roots in the town where everyone knew my name. I knew that no matter where I lived next, Eagle Lake would always be the town I would always call HOME.

So, without further ado, let's get on with the final episode in "Growing Up in a Small Town!"

A healthy weight loss and health plan that really works. "You don't become what you want, you become what you believe!"

Hello everyone. Sidney and Barbara here today to talk to you about losing weight and getting healthy… all at the same time. Those of you who have followed my blog site for years have listened to how I have always struggled with weight gain. I once played Pickleball three days a week, racketball twice, and usually a softball tournament on the weekends. Very active, to say the least. Then, I stopped smoking to hopefully add some years to my life.

Well, it did. But what happened was I mushroomed. After that, all foods had a fantastic taste to them… even plain ole lettuce. And then, I gained almost two hundred pounds. That’s right. I’m not kidding. I couldn’t bend over and pick anything up. I definitely couldn’t chase a softball on the ballfield or rush up to the net in Pickleball any longer.

It got awful. I did accomplish sitting in my chair all day and writing books. But, where I celebrated milestones in my writing, I didn’t observe any milestones in weight loss.

I had to stop the book signing. I had to stop going out to social functions. I had to stop doing almost everything I loved to do. So then, a decision was made to have a gastric bypass.

I did that. I lost almost 200 pounds. I looked so good. I compared myself to Sean Connery when I looked into the mirror after getting out of the shower.

And Barbara has this to say.

Hi, This is Barbara. I’m here to give you my story. For most of my life, I managed to keep my weight under control. Until we quit smoking. I wasn’t going to be that person who quit smoking and then gained a ton of weight. But… I did! Over several years, I gained about 40 pounds. It took quite a few years to realize my version of eating healthy and getting in lots of exercise wasn’t going to work. So, I decided to continue the exercise and follow a really low-carb intake diet plan.

That did get about 20 pounds and lots of fat to go away but hit a brick wall that stayed for about 10 more years. And then, we met our amazing neighbors and joined their program to lose weight and become way healthier. In only seven weeks, I’ve lost 15 pounds, lots and lots of stored fat, and gained lots of energy… and a healthy, happier life. I love this program, and it works!

Vincent Van Gogh once said, “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint’ then by all means paint… and that voice will be silenced!

SEASON 3, EPISODE 13

Greetings to everyone on this Memorial Day 2022. Sidney St. James, with you for the dramatic conclusion to my Memorial Day Tribute to the USS Houston in World War II. Before continuing where I left off, I should mention that today's idea came from my earlier podcast about Superheroes. Well, in that broadcast was a mention of Dr. Strange in the newest movie coming out. In that episode, I talked about not the magical powers of that superhero but how you wonder how in the world he could climb back up time after time after being left for dead so many times. He had the nine lives of a cat! Well, so did the USS Houston. While the Japanese reported it sinking more than once, it was hundreds of miles away, still floating… still fighting. Knowing this, let me continue where I left off…

It's been a very long day, and it was nearing sunset as I watched the sun sinking into the waters of the Java Sea. The sea's surface was covered with clouds of black smoke, which made it difficult for us to spot the enemy. However, it was discovered that Japanese cruisers were closing in on us from every direction, and our destroyers were ordered to attack with torpedoes to divert them and give us time to reform. Although no hits were reported, the effect of the attack did what it was supposed to and turned the Japs away. At this point, the engagement was broken off. The daylight battle had ended with no decisive results; however, there was still the convoy, which we would attempt to surprise under cover of nighttime darkness.

A word from Winston Churchill and then the rest of my story. God Bless Our American Soldiers Around the World!!!

What’s that? A radio is being broadcast across the entire ship. Not a man is moving as everyone has their ears listening closely to the announcement from President Franklin D. Roosevelt from radio signal coming in from CBS and NBC Radio.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT DECLARING WAR

ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1941 AFTER JAPANESE EMPIRE BOMBED PEARL HARBOR ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1941

I rushed back up to the place I had landed my time machine, and was quickly lifted away until I found myself nestled in the bed in my quarters on the USS Houston. It was near sunset on February 28, 1942

The ship I was on, the U.S.S. Houston, Admiral Tommy Hart’s former Asiatic flagship, had vanished off the radar without a trace somewhere off the Northwest coast of Java. The mystery of this great warship remained complete until the war ended and small groups of survivors were discovered in Japanese prisoner of war camps, scattered from the island of Java through the Malay Peninsula, the jungles of Burma and Thailand, and northward to the Islands of Japan.

Of the 1,008 officers and men who manned her, including myself, approximately 350 escaped from the sinking ship, only to be captured in the jungles of Java, or as they floundered helplessly in the sea. Of the original survivors, only 266 lived through the ordeal of filth and brutal treatment brutally handed out to them in the Japanese prisoner of war camps.

To me the story of the U.S.S. Houston, especially during the last three weeks of her valiant battle against overwhelming odds, is one of the greatest epics of the United States Navy, yet historians of World War II seem to have neglected it almost completely. Not only that. In 1970, my mother was given a typewritten manuscript from my Uncle who was one of the 266 who lived through the ordeal of… as I put it… filth and brutal treatment. My story today is long overdue. In 2016, I wrote a novel called “The Galloping Ghost from the Java Coast,” which finally told the story of the brave and gallant 266 men, but I was asked not to publish it.  It still sits quietly on my computer, but I have decided to tell part of the story in the 2-Part Podcast as a memorial to all the brave men on the USS Houston during World War II.

My time machine comes in really handy but I could have been killed just as easily as any other man on that fateful night back in ’42. What happened to the USS Houston that night was a nightmare of many years standing, yet each incident of that wild battle still lives on in my mind as vividly as though it happened only a few minutes ago. In reality, it actually did, but jumping from one time to another can be very exhausting as you have heard in previous podcasts.

So, thanks everyone, from me, Sidney St. James, author of “The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast, and your host TODAY of this Part I of II podcast as I tell my Memorial Day story that has been passed by historians around the world for a very long time!

SEASON 3

EPISODE 6

1375-1300 BC

Samson and Delilah's Shocking Love Story

From the Book of Judges in the Bible

Hello everyone. Your host Sidney St. James with you today. I had been "clicking" up a storm on my novel No. 51, a murder mystery called "Murder in the Prairie Edge Museum," when suddenly, a thought hit me. I don't understand why this occurs, but I was way up in the present day in my hometown murder mystery when I thought of another loving relationship from way back in 1350 BC. I know… how in the world could a romance mystery novel written in 2022 have anything to do with a romance so far back in Biblical Times. Right? Well, I think of all sorts of romances when writing a book and the one I wish to talk to you today about is a duzzy. And you think Judas was an awful betrayest. You've got another thing coming today.

In my first episode of Season 3, I mention that most of my novels have some sort of input from the Bible. Maybe it's only a prayer, dream, or thought before pulling a trigger, but there's always something. Oh, and yes, even Satan and Archangel solving a disagreement in my Storm Lord Trilogy Series. So, when I finish the novel, you will see something in "Murder in the Prairie Edge Museum,"scheduled for release in the Fall of this year, that brings out a specific scene from something from the Bible.

My story comes today from taking my infamous time machine back… way back to the 1300s before the birth of Jesus Christ. I've never gone so far back before, but I think I'm ready for the test.

(TICKLE. TICKLE. TICKLE)

We have stopped. The sun rises on the Book of Judges, which can be difficult to understand sometimes about how Righteousness in a World Without Rights or Wrongs can possibly exist.

When we point to wholesome examples of relationships in the Bible to strengthen our own relationships or marriages, we obviously don't mean to talk about the so-called "love story" between a man and woman known as Samson and Delilah. However, until this broadcast, I didn't know that.

For those unfamiliar with the story...

Samson, a judge God had appointed over Israel, decided to disrupt every rule in the book. Even though his family took a Nazarite vow, he didn’t follow the guidelines by any stretch. Instead, he wreaked havoc and revenge on the Philistines in often violent ways, but worst of all…he fell heads over heels in love with Delilah.

Operation Magic Carpet was the most extensive combined air and sealift ever organized during wartime. Elmer A. Struss, my father, was an officer in the Navy, one of many assigned this task and helped bring back home millions of soldiers at the end of WWII. It was called… by all the servicemen and women as the scope expanded worldwide as “Home Alive By ’45!”

My special presentation on this Memorial Weekend is of the First Nighttime Torpedo Drop in Naval History, Operation Magic Carpet, and action in the theater of Northern Africa. Today, my words are a tribute to the patriotism about Eagle Lake, Texas’ Three Musketeers, as they were known in school in the 1920s and 1930s… Robert Jack “Coogie” Ney, Elmer Struss and Freddie Frnka..

Over my entire life growing up, I heard some pretty wild stories of these three men who fought for our country during World War II. The stories I heard and some treasured pictures from the 1920s dug out of Antonio & Cleopatra cigar boxes go way back before the War. As a matter of fact, before relating their wartime contributions, I want to talk about something else amazing between the three… their FRIENDSHIP with each other.

Let’s first talk about friendship and the differences in levels of friendship.

Good friends are those that care for each other…close friends really understand one another… but ladies and gentlemen, TRUE FRIENDS, stay forever…beyond all words and beyond all distances, beyond all boundaries… wherever they might move to and between one another and absolutely beyond time itself…!

You know, speaking from personal experience, we all have made friends in our lives over the years. I suppose I got started in Mrs. Mina Kveton’s Kindergarten Class in 1956, and still to this very day, some of those friends I made then as a six-year-old are true friends… even though we lost contact with each other as we grew older. We make as adults and stay in touch with other friends as long as we live close to, and it’s convenient to stay in touch, but then over time, one moves away, or busy schedules slowly pull us apart, and we start to lose touch.  Those friendships fall into what I call the good friends' category.

But then, there’s that last group of friends – those we all call our true friends or, in my granddaughter’s language of today, BFFs – they are those we have a mutual caring about. We understand each other’s hearts, and where bonds are formed between us that span any distance in proximity… from one side of the world to the other and where the bonds run so deep that no amount of time apart or lack of words being said between us, will change the way we feel about those friends. These, my loyal listeners, are our true friends, and when one comes into your life, cherish it for all its worth!

Season 3

Episode 8

Who Really Shot Abraham Lincoln at the Ford Theater?

Bam!!! The other shot heard around the world. The Civil War in America had just ended, and all the major newspapers around the North and South began printing their stories. However, when the dust cleared enough to see, John Wilkes Booth was designated the fall guy of this historical event.

Hello everyone, Sidney St. James here with my podcast on writing the Abraham Lincoln Assassination Series several years ago. Some of you have learned that I have got this niche of being able to go back in time "in my virtual time machine" and put myself in peoples' shoes. I did this many times in my genealogy studies and did this when I wrote the five-book series on the Lincoln Assassination.

It was the evening of April 14, 1865. According to the Northern newspapers, the War Between the States had ended, and Washington City celebrated. President Abraham Lincoln entered the balcony at Ford's Theater to a standing ovation: a sign of a return to everyday life in America.

The following morning, just a few minutes before 7:30, President Abe Lincoln was dead, and assassin J. Wilkes Booth became one of the, if not THE most, infamous figures in all U. S. history.

But now, 157 years since the one-shot from a derringer pistol, conspiracy theories still abound in America. I suppose you can say it was one of the most egregious "fake news" cover-ups in all of American history.

"What if I were to come right out and tell you John Wilkes Booth didn't fire the gun that killed President Lincoln? What if I was to say to you he actually died in Oklahoma many, many years later? What if I tell you the Secretary of War was secretly in on the plot to kill the President? What if I were to tell you the Catholic Church was knee-deep in all of it from the start?

All these questions come from the writing of the actual court transcripts and autopsy reports, and other items of interest in a five-book series, "The Lincoln Assassination Series." Since going to college in my early days, I have been a historian. I love history, either from the Bible or our own American History. Although I majored in History at A&M for a few semesters, I graduated without a degree in that field, but I still remain very interested in the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. My 5-book series, which would be 6 books, began at President Lincoln's bedside when he passed away on April 15, 1865, at 7:22 in the morning.

I know you might go out and find that there is not a sixth novel. This is because I elected to not write the one on the conspiracy theories. However, I will say there is much evidence in all the digital archives that will make you think that there was more to only one man pulling the trigger on a single-shot derringer pistol!

In my review of the piles of digital archives when investigating the President's death and going over eyewitness reports to write the original five novels, there are actually pieces of this evidence that going reveals a "secret shooter" and cover-up that stretches from Washington City all the way to the Catholic Church.

So, thank's for joining me today as I discuss briefly the many areas that don't make sense… there's still more to the story!