speaking of comenius...'his house was pillaged and gutted; his books and his manuscripts were burned; and he himself, with his wife and children, had now to flee in hot haste..he had lost his wife and one of his children on the way..; he had lost his post as teacher and minister; and now , for the sake of his suffering brethren, he wrote his beautiful classical allegory, THE LABYRINTH OF THE WORLD AND THE PARADISE OF THE HEART...it is a picture both of the horrors of the time and of the deep religious life of the brethren..the whole land, said comenius, was now in a state of disorder. the reign of justice had ended. the reign of pillage had begun. the plot..is simple. from scene to scene the pilgrim goes and everything fills him with disgust. the pilgrim, of course, is comenius..the labyrinth is bohemia..the time is the early years of the 30 year war (1618-48).
..in witty, satirical language, he held the mirror up to nature. what sort of men were employed by ferdinand to administer justice..he called the judges nogod, lovestrife, hearsay, partial, loveself, lovegold, takegift, ignorant, knowlittle, hasty and slovenly; he..saw the moral world turned upside down. no longer..did men in bohemia call things by their right names. they called drunkenness, merriment; greed, economy; usury, interest; lust, love; pride, dignity; cruelty, severity; and laziness, good nature. he saw his brethren..cast into the fire; some were hanged, beheaded, crucified (surely a poetic exaggeration); some were pierced, chopped, tortured with pincers, and roasted to death on grid-irons.
he studied the lives of professing christians and found that those who claimed the greatest piety were the sorriest scoundrels in the land... he watched the priests and found them no better..some snored, wallowing in feather beds; some feasted till they became speechless; some performed dances and leaps; some passed their time in love makeing and wontoness.
for these..comenius saw one remedy only..the cultivation of the simple and beautiful religion of the brethren...thy religion, said the master to the pilgrim (the brethren church) shall be to serve me in quiet, and not to bind thyself to any ceremonies, for i do not bind thee by them.
for mothers comenius wrote a book, entitled the SCHOOL OF INFANCY. in england this book is scarcely known at all; in bohemia it is a household treasure. comenius regarded it as a work of first rate importance.
what use, he asked, were schemes of education if a good foundation were not first laid by the mother? for the first 6 years of his life..the child must be taught by his mother. if she did her work properly she could teach him many marvelous things. he would learn some physics by handling things; some optics by naming the colors, light and darkness; some astronomy by studying the twinkling stars; some geography by trudging the neighboring streets and hills; some chronology by learning the hours, the days and the months; some history by a chat on local events; some geometry by measuring things for himself; some statics by trying to balance his top; some mechanics by building his little toy-house; some dialectics by asking ?s; some economics by observing his mother's skill as a housekeeper; and some music and poetry by singing psalms and hymns.
as comenius penned these ideal instructions, he must surely have known that 9 mothers out of 10 had neither the patience nor the skill to follow his method; and yet he insisted that, in some things, the mother had a clear course before. her his advice was remarkably sound. at what age, ask mothers, should the education of a child begin? it should begin..before the child is born. at that period in her life the expectant mother must be busy and cheerful, be moderate in her food, avoid all worry and keep in constant touch with God by prayer and thus the child will come into the world well equipped for the battle of life. when must, of course, nurse the child herself. she must feed him, when weaned, on plain and simple food. she must provide him with picture books; and, above all, she must teach him to be clean in his habits, to obey his superiors, to be truthful and polite, to bend the knee and fold his hands in prayer and to remember that the God revealed in Christ was ever near at hand.
..comenius has been justly called the 'father of the elementary school'. it was here that his ideas had the greatest practical value. his first fundamental principle was that in all elementary schools the scholars must learn in their native language..he called these schoold 'mother tongue schools'. for 6 or 8 years..the scholar must hear no language but his own; and his whole attention must be concentrated, not on learning words like a parrot, but on the direct study of nature.
comenius has been called the great sense-realist. he had no belief in learning second hand. he illustrated his books with pictures. he gave his scholars object lessons. he taught them, not about words, but about things. the foundation of all learning consists..in representing clearly to the senses sensible objects. he insisted that no boy or girl should ever have to learn by heart anything which he did not understand. he insisted that nature should be studied, not out of books, but by direct contact with nature herself...he applied these ideas to the teaching of religion and morals. in order to show his scholars the meaning of faith, he wrote a play entitled 'abraham the patriarch', and then taught them to act it..his whole object was moral and religious. all men..were made in the image of God; all men had in them the roots of eternal wisdom; all men were capable of understanding something of the nature of God; and therefore, the whole object of education was to develop, not only the physical and intellectual, but also the moral and spiritual powers, and thus fit men and women to be first, useful citizens in the state and then sints in the kingdom of heaven beyond the tomb.
from court to court he would lead the students onward, from the first court dealing with nature to the last court dealing with God. it is our bounden duty to consider the means whereby the whole body of christian youth may be stirred to vigor of mind and the love of heavenly things.
he believed in caring for the body, because the body was the temple of the Holy Ghost; and, in order to keep the body fit, he laid down the rule that 4 hours of study a day was as much as any boy or girl could stand.
again comenius introduced a new way of learning languages. his great work on this subject was entitled JANUA LINGUARUM RESERATA ie, the gate of languages unlocked. of all his works this was the most popular...it became, next to the bible, the most widely known book on the continent.for one..read ..labyrinth, there were thousands who nearly knew the janua by heart. the labyrinth..religious..was suppressed..it is not the works of richest genius that have the largest sale; it is the books that enable men to get on in life...the janua..supplied..a long felt want.
it was a latin grammar of a novel and original kind. ..it was the language in which the learned conversed, the language spoken at all universities, the language of diplomat..and statesmen, thae language or scientific treatises. if a man could make the learning of latin easier, he was adored as a public benefactor. ..for years all patient students of latin had writhed in agonies untold. they had leaned long lists of latin words, with their meanings; they had wrestled in their teens with gerunds, supines, ablative absolutes and distracting rules about the subjunctive mood, and they had tried in vain to take an interest in stately authors far above their understanding.
comenius reversed the whole process. what is the use, he asked, of learning lists of words that have no connection with each other? what is the use of teaching a lad grammar before he has a working knowledge of the language? what is the use of expecting a boy to take an interest in the political arguments of cicero or the dinner table wisdom of horace? his method was the conversational.
for beginners he prepared an elementary latin grammar, containing, besides a few necessary rules, a number of sentences dealing with events and scenes of everyday life. it was divided into 7 parts. in the first were nouns and adjectives together; in the second nouns and verbs; in the third adverbs, pronouns, numerals and prepositions; in the fourth remarks about things in the school; in the fifth about things in the house; in the sixth about things in the town; in the seventh some moral maxims. and the scholar went thru this book 10 times before he passed on to the janua proper.
the result can be imagined. at the end of a year the boy's knowledge of latin would be a peculiar kind. of grammar he would know but little; of words and phrases he would have a goodly store; and thus he was learning to talk the a language before he had even heard of its perplexing rules. one example must suffice to illustrate the method.
the beginner did not even learn the names of the cases. in a modern english latin grammar, the charming sight that meets our gaze is as follows -
nom. mensa - a table
voc. mensa - oh table!
acc. mensam - a table
gen. mensae -of a table
dat. mensae - to or for a table
abl. mensa - by, with or from a table
the method of comenius was different. instead of mentioning the names of the cases, he showed how the cases were actually used, as follows -
ecce, tabula nigra - look there, a black board
o tu tabula nigra - oh, you black board!
video tabulam nigram - i see a black board
pars tabulae nigrae - part of a black board.
addo partem tabulae nigrae - i add a part to a black board.
vides aliquid in tabula nigra - i see something on a black board
with us the method is theory first, practice afterwards; with comenius the method was practice first, theory afterwards; and the method of comenius, with modifications, is likely to be the method of the future.
but comenius's greatest educational work was undoubtedly his GREAT DIDACTIC or the 'art of teaching all things to all men'. it was a thorough and comprehensive treatise on the whole science, method, scope and purpose of universal education. as this book has been recently translated into english, i need not here..while the 30 years war was raging..turning europe into a desert, this scholar, banished from his native land, was devising sublime and broad minded schemes for the elevation of the whole human race...he played no part in the disgraceful quarrels of the age; he breathed no complaint against his persecutors...when the 30 years war ended ..comenius began to look forward to the day when the brethren would be allowed to return to bohemia and moravia. but the peace of westphalia broke his hear. what provision was made in that famous peace for the poor exiled brethren? absolutely none.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
3.12.2010 MORAVIANS II (#1 AT 10.10.2010)
in 1554...while still retaining the oversight of a few parishes in east prussia, george israel, by commission of the council, set out to conduct a mission in poland. alone and on horse back, by bad roads and swollen streams, he went on his dangerous journey and...arrived in the town of thorn..as he was walking on the frozen river to try whether the ice was strong enough to bear his horse, the ice broke up with a crash. george israel was left on a solitary lump and was swept whirling down the river; and then, as the ice blocks cracked and banged and splintered into thousands of fragments, he sprang like a deer from block to block, and sang with loud exulting voice: 'praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps; fire and hail, snow and vapour, stormy wind fulfilling His word'. there was a great crowd on the bank. the people watched the thrilling sight with awe, and when at last he reached firm ground they welcomed him with shouts of joy.
we marvel not that such a man was like the sword of gideon in the conflict. . he..rode on to posen..began holding secret meetings and established the first evangelical church in the country. the roman catholic bishop heard of his arrival and put 40 assassins on his track. but israel was a man of many wiles as well as a man of God. he assumed disguises and changed his clothes so as to baffle pursuit, appearing now as an officer, now as a coachman, now as a cook. he presented himself at the castle of the noble family of the ostrorogs, was warmly welcomed by the countess and held a service in her rooms. the count was absent, heard the news and came in a tate of fury. he seized a whip, 'i will drag my wife out of this conventicle'..and burst into the room while the service was proceeding, his eyes flashing fire and the whip swinging in his hand. the preacher, cerwenka, calmly went on preaching. sir, said george israel, pointing to an empty seat, sit down there. the count..meekly obeyed, listened quietly to the discourse, became a convert that very day, turned out his own lutheran court chaplain, installed george israel in his place and made a present to the brethren of his great estate on the outskirts of the town
for the brethren the gain was enormous. as the news of the count's conversion spread, other nobles quickly followed suit...ostrorog became the centre of a swiftly growing movement; the poor brethren in prussia returned to poland and found churches ready for their use; and before 7 years had passed away the brethren had founded 40 congregations in this their first land of exile. (note: the brethren were often threatened in moravia and bohemia. this grew until the 30 years war 1618-48 drove many out.)
1621..he bade his friends farewell. 'i go in the garment of righteousness thus arrayed shall i appear before God'. alone in firm step he strode to the scaffold, stroking proudly his silver hair and beard. 'thou old grey head of mine, thou are highly honoured; thou shalt be adorned with the martyr-crown.
as he knelt and prayed he was watched by the pitying eyes of ..2 kind-hearted jesuits who had come to see him that morning. he prayed for his country, for his church, for his enemies and committed his soul to Christ; the sword flashed brightly in the sun; and one strong blow closed the restless life of wenzel von budowa, the 'last of the bohemians'.
and with his death there came the death of the ancient church of the brethren. from the moment when budowa's head fell from the block the destruction of the church was only a question of time. as budowa, so died others after him...nearly all departed with the words upon their lips, 'into thy hands i commend my spirit; how the drums beat louder each time before the sword fell, that the people might not hear the last words of triumphant confidence in God; how caspar kaplir, an old man of 86, staggered up to the scaffold arrayed in a white robe, which he called his wedding garment, but was so weak that he could not hold his head to the block; how otto von los looked up and said, 'behold i see the heavens opened'; how dr. jessen, the theologian, had his tongue seized with a pair of tongs, cut off at the roots with a knife and died with the blood gushing from his mouth; how 3 others were hanged on a gallows in the square; how the fearful work went steadily on till the last head had fallen and the black scaffold sweated blood; and how the bodies of the chiefs were flung into unconsecrated ground and their heads spitted on poles in the city, there to grin for full 10 years as a warning to all who held the protestant faith. in all the story of the brethren..there has been no other day like that. it was the day when the furies seemed to ride triumphant in the air, when the God of their fathers seemed to mock at the trial of the innocent and when the little church that had battled so bravely and so long was at last stamped down..
not, indeed, till the last breath of church life had gone did the fearful stamping cease. the zeal of king ferdinand knew no bounds. he was determined, not only to crush the brethren, but to wipe their memory from off the face of the earth...not a stone did he ..leave unturned to destroy them. they began with the churches. instead of razing them to the ground...they turned them into roman catholic chapels by the customary methods of purification and rededecation. they rubbed out the inscriptions on the walls and put new ones in their places, lashed the pulpits with whips, beat the altars with sticks, sprinkled holy water to cleanse the buildings of heresy, opened the graves and dishonoured the bones of the dead..
meanwhile the brethren had been expelled from bohemia. it is a striking proof of the influence of the brethren that ferdinand turned his attention to them before he troubled about the other protestants. they had been the first in moral power; they had done the most to spread the knowledge of the bible; they had produced the greatest literary men of the country; and, therefore they must be the first to go. what actually happened to many of the brethren during the next jew years no tongue can tell.
but we know enough...we know that 36,000 families left bohemia and moravia, and that the population of bohemia dwindled from 3 millions to 1. we know that about one half of the property -lands, houses, castles, churches - passed into the hands of the king. we know that the university of prague was handed over to the jesuits. we know that the scandalous order was issued that all protestant married ministers who consented to join the church of rome might keep their wives by passing them off as cooks. we know that villages were sacked; that ..hymn books, confessions, catechisms, and historical works of priceless value..were burned in thousands; and that thus nearly every trace of the brethren was swept out of the land. we know that some of the brethren were hacked in pieces, that some were tortured, that some were burned alive, that some swung on gibbets at the city gates and at the country crossroads among the carrion crows. for 6 years bohemia was a field of blood and spanish soldiers, drunk and raging, slashed and pillaged on every hand.
a clergyman of the day said, 'oh, to what torments were the promoters of the gospel exposed! how they were tortured and massacred! how many virgins were violated to death! how many respectable women abused! how many children torn from their mothers' breasts and cut in pieces in their presence! how many dragged from their beds and thrown naked from the windows! good God! what cries of woe we were forced to hear from those who lay upon the rack, and what groans and terrible outcries from those who besought the robbers to spare them for God's sake'..
let us review the story of that wonderful church. what a marvellous change had come upon it! it began in the quiet little valley of kunwald; it ended in the noisy streets of prague. it began in peace and brotherly love; it ended amid the tramp of horses, the clank of armour, the swish of swords, the growl of artillery, the whistle of bullets, the blare of drums and the moans of the wounded and the dying. it began in the teaching of the sermon on the mount; it ended amid the ghastly horrors of war.
what was it that caused the destruction of that church? (the author asks...note: it seems that there were several causes that stand out. 1. the church became prosperous and 2. the church, in having contact with others who did not have the same simple way of life and were enamored with education maybe were factors.)..even with all his $ and his men king ferdinand found the destruction of the brethren no easy task. he had the whole house of hapsburg on his side; he had thousands of mercenary soldiers from spain; he was restrained by no scruples of conscience; and yet it took him 6 full years to drive the brethren from the country. and even then he had not completed his work. in spite of his efforts, many thousands of the people still remained brethren at heart; and as late as 1781..100,000 in bohemia and moravia declared themselves brethren..
we marvel not that such a man was like the sword of gideon in the conflict. . he..rode on to posen..began holding secret meetings and established the first evangelical church in the country. the roman catholic bishop heard of his arrival and put 40 assassins on his track. but israel was a man of many wiles as well as a man of God. he assumed disguises and changed his clothes so as to baffle pursuit, appearing now as an officer, now as a coachman, now as a cook. he presented himself at the castle of the noble family of the ostrorogs, was warmly welcomed by the countess and held a service in her rooms. the count was absent, heard the news and came in a tate of fury. he seized a whip, 'i will drag my wife out of this conventicle'..and burst into the room while the service was proceeding, his eyes flashing fire and the whip swinging in his hand. the preacher, cerwenka, calmly went on preaching. sir, said george israel, pointing to an empty seat, sit down there. the count..meekly obeyed, listened quietly to the discourse, became a convert that very day, turned out his own lutheran court chaplain, installed george israel in his place and made a present to the brethren of his great estate on the outskirts of the town
for the brethren the gain was enormous. as the news of the count's conversion spread, other nobles quickly followed suit...ostrorog became the centre of a swiftly growing movement; the poor brethren in prussia returned to poland and found churches ready for their use; and before 7 years had passed away the brethren had founded 40 congregations in this their first land of exile. (note: the brethren were often threatened in moravia and bohemia. this grew until the 30 years war 1618-48 drove many out.)
1621..he bade his friends farewell. 'i go in the garment of righteousness thus arrayed shall i appear before God'. alone in firm step he strode to the scaffold, stroking proudly his silver hair and beard. 'thou old grey head of mine, thou are highly honoured; thou shalt be adorned with the martyr-crown.
as he knelt and prayed he was watched by the pitying eyes of ..2 kind-hearted jesuits who had come to see him that morning. he prayed for his country, for his church, for his enemies and committed his soul to Christ; the sword flashed brightly in the sun; and one strong blow closed the restless life of wenzel von budowa, the 'last of the bohemians'.
and with his death there came the death of the ancient church of the brethren. from the moment when budowa's head fell from the block the destruction of the church was only a question of time. as budowa, so died others after him...nearly all departed with the words upon their lips, 'into thy hands i commend my spirit; how the drums beat louder each time before the sword fell, that the people might not hear the last words of triumphant confidence in God; how caspar kaplir, an old man of 86, staggered up to the scaffold arrayed in a white robe, which he called his wedding garment, but was so weak that he could not hold his head to the block; how otto von los looked up and said, 'behold i see the heavens opened'; how dr. jessen, the theologian, had his tongue seized with a pair of tongs, cut off at the roots with a knife and died with the blood gushing from his mouth; how 3 others were hanged on a gallows in the square; how the fearful work went steadily on till the last head had fallen and the black scaffold sweated blood; and how the bodies of the chiefs were flung into unconsecrated ground and their heads spitted on poles in the city, there to grin for full 10 years as a warning to all who held the protestant faith. in all the story of the brethren..there has been no other day like that. it was the day when the furies seemed to ride triumphant in the air, when the God of their fathers seemed to mock at the trial of the innocent and when the little church that had battled so bravely and so long was at last stamped down..
not, indeed, till the last breath of church life had gone did the fearful stamping cease. the zeal of king ferdinand knew no bounds. he was determined, not only to crush the brethren, but to wipe their memory from off the face of the earth...not a stone did he ..leave unturned to destroy them. they began with the churches. instead of razing them to the ground...they turned them into roman catholic chapels by the customary methods of purification and rededecation. they rubbed out the inscriptions on the walls and put new ones in their places, lashed the pulpits with whips, beat the altars with sticks, sprinkled holy water to cleanse the buildings of heresy, opened the graves and dishonoured the bones of the dead..
meanwhile the brethren had been expelled from bohemia. it is a striking proof of the influence of the brethren that ferdinand turned his attention to them before he troubled about the other protestants. they had been the first in moral power; they had done the most to spread the knowledge of the bible; they had produced the greatest literary men of the country; and, therefore they must be the first to go. what actually happened to many of the brethren during the next jew years no tongue can tell.
but we know enough...we know that 36,000 families left bohemia and moravia, and that the population of bohemia dwindled from 3 millions to 1. we know that about one half of the property -lands, houses, castles, churches - passed into the hands of the king. we know that the university of prague was handed over to the jesuits. we know that the scandalous order was issued that all protestant married ministers who consented to join the church of rome might keep their wives by passing them off as cooks. we know that villages were sacked; that ..hymn books, confessions, catechisms, and historical works of priceless value..were burned in thousands; and that thus nearly every trace of the brethren was swept out of the land. we know that some of the brethren were hacked in pieces, that some were tortured, that some were burned alive, that some swung on gibbets at the city gates and at the country crossroads among the carrion crows. for 6 years bohemia was a field of blood and spanish soldiers, drunk and raging, slashed and pillaged on every hand.
a clergyman of the day said, 'oh, to what torments were the promoters of the gospel exposed! how they were tortured and massacred! how many virgins were violated to death! how many respectable women abused! how many children torn from their mothers' breasts and cut in pieces in their presence! how many dragged from their beds and thrown naked from the windows! good God! what cries of woe we were forced to hear from those who lay upon the rack, and what groans and terrible outcries from those who besought the robbers to spare them for God's sake'..
let us review the story of that wonderful church. what a marvellous change had come upon it! it began in the quiet little valley of kunwald; it ended in the noisy streets of prague. it began in peace and brotherly love; it ended amid the tramp of horses, the clank of armour, the swish of swords, the growl of artillery, the whistle of bullets, the blare of drums and the moans of the wounded and the dying. it began in the teaching of the sermon on the mount; it ended amid the ghastly horrors of war.
what was it that caused the destruction of that church? (the author asks...note: it seems that there were several causes that stand out. 1. the church became prosperous and 2. the church, in having contact with others who did not have the same simple way of life and were enamored with education maybe were factors.)..even with all his $ and his men king ferdinand found the destruction of the brethren no easy task. he had the whole house of hapsburg on his side; he had thousands of mercenary soldiers from spain; he was restrained by no scruples of conscience; and yet it took him 6 full years to drive the brethren from the country. and even then he had not completed his work. in spite of his efforts, many thousands of the people still remained brethren at heart; and as late as 1781..100,000 in bohemia and moravia declared themselves brethren..
Thursday, March 10, 2011
3.10.2010 THE PERSECUTED CHURCH
voice of the martyrs, 9.2010 director's commentary..the jhmu are the original inhabitants of laos..many laotians look down on them as culturally bqackward. sometimes people call them kha, meaning 'slave', an insulting reference to a time when the khum were taken captive by invaders.
the khmu, of course, resent being called slaves. but the greek word for 'slave', doulos, is also the 2nd most common word used to describe christians in greek manuscripts of the new testament. the work doulos occurs more than 100 times in greek manuscripts of the new testament...it is 2nd in use only to mathetes meaning 'disciple'.
it is difficult to find the work 'slave' in most translations of the bible...it has become the more socially acceptable 'servant'..in I peter 2.16, the apostle writes that although we are 'as free', we should live as douloi, or fully committed slaves of God.
...references to freedom in the new testament do not imply freedom from Jesus but rather freedom from sin or religious customs of men. in one sense, even Jesus was not 'free' to do what he wanted. in john 8.29, Jesus says that he came to do the will of His Father. we, His douloi, are commanded to follow in His steps. although Jesus calls us His friends in john 15.15, He lovingly and jealously regards us as His committed slaves. Jesus uses the doulos metaphor notably and powerfully in matt. 20.27 and25.21, mark 9.35 and john 15.20...
during my time with the khmu, katin, hmong and bru christians, i asked them how they felt about losing homes and being beaten because they are christians. ..many of the khmu told me these sufferings encourage them. they told me that their own suffering proves that Jesus is God because He told them in the bible that christians would be persecuted.
i wonder if these kha, loyal slaves of Jesus Christ, know that Jesus Himself took the nature of a slave. Jesus became a kha for us all, submitting to the Father with unquestioned obedience in order to secure our salvation (philippians 2.5-11)...
whenever we christians are insulted in the courts, in the press or in the classroom, we - like the kha - are free to rejoice that these attacks from the world prove that Jesus is God. we are free to ignore seemingly terrible consequences in order to share His saving grace and love with more passion. as douloi of Jesus who were paid for with the price of His blood, He owns us. we are His. He is our Lord.
LAOS..a young khmu..'my villagers still hate me and mock me like they mocked Jesus on the cross. it is the world's right to hate us or love us. but for me, i will follow Jesus because i read in the bible what He says, that the world will hate you'.
others in laos...'when we became christians, we were evicted. 2 times they kicked us - 17 christian families - out of the village where we lived. i am the khmu pastor of the group. i am also a farmer...i tell..our group, 'all people in the world have sin and they cannot help themselves; only Jesus can help us. we are committed to Jesus, so when persecution comes don't be scared...later i encouraged them..'do not have regrets, because we do not stay on this earth long. we will leave the earth someday so we can endure it like this'...
the second night..the police forced us off the truck..we said, 'we don't know where to go because none of our relatives are here'. then the police and the soldiers kicked our things off the truck onto the ground..the truck left. we stood there waiting. then we sat down in the yard for 2 days...finally the local police came..after one police officer read the accusations against us, he took his gun and hit it on the table. 'why did you disobey the government and leave what the laotian people believe?' he shouted. i replied, 'we do not know what we are going to do. they left us here, so i guess we will have to stay..'
they put us on a bus and took us to an area by a river. we lived in this place for a few years; then we moved again. they gave us land to plant rice, but it is bad land. many times they came to cheat and steal from us.
we took a truck back to our home village and moved the heavy wood beams of our old church building. we brought it to our third location. we rebuilt it in 2 days...we reopened it and worshiped there. then we put the cross on the roof...the police came and put me and 2 others in the district jail..we were jailed because we didn't take the cross down from the church. last year the police tore the cross down...then the officials came and tore down the entire church building...
this year i went back to our old village and baptized 12 people. we baptized new converts 2 times, at our old village and in the new village. we are very strong in faith. we are now meeting in an enlarged house. in the beginning of our evictions when they forced us to move, we had 108 believers. now we have 203 christians'.
..by the end of our time in laos we had accumulated 117 pages of testimonies like the one above, including that of pastor bin, who was thrown out of his village and now preaches to 2 house churches every sunday using his cell phone...evicted 3 times, pastor ta's church continues to grow...'they can tear down our bamboo church, but they cannot tear down the church in our heart'..
VOM, 10.2010 INDONESIA...pastor palty was on his way to their newly constructed church on christmas..as he passed the local mosque 'i heard the loudspeaker announce that men and women should gather at the mosque and then march to the church after assembling..he knew that forced church closings by muslim s were common in bekasi. and when he arrived at the filadelfia batak christian protestant church, he was greeted by 50 police officers in riot gear and 6 soldiers armed with light weapons. they had surrounded the church to protect the christians from an approaching mob of about 1000 muslims. most church members had already arrived, but police had to escort latecomers thru the angry mob blocking the church entrace. the mob banged drums, shouted taunts and harassed the christians already inside the church.
some threw stones and were shouting 'allahu akbar' (god is great)..others were calling us kafirs (infidels) and pigs and yelling obscenities. some carried sticks and others shouted 'burn the church! close it down!'
once inside the church, pastor palty was still frightened. but he was careful not to show his fear before the congregation. their backs were to the church entrance, so only he could see the crowd growing larger outside.
'when i saw the mob getting bigger, i prayed in my heart, Lord, please strengthen me to face this situation. the muslims were yelling and mocking and trying to frighten the christians inside the church. many of the believers turned their heads (to look) and i said, do you want to see them and become afraid or do you want to see me and not be afraid?
tears streamed down the cheeks of late arrivers as they joined the other worshipers, who were already singing christmas carols. people were singing and crying, pastor palty recalls sadly. joyful christmas songs turned to tears.
although the believers were clearly upset, pastor palty urged them to persist in their worship..the holy communion that day was the best for us because it was the first time we got closer to the Lord, pastor palty says.
1.2011 LOVING THE UGLIEST director's commentary...richard wurmbrand, the founder of our mission, suffered terrible persecution in romania. you would think that after moving to america at almost the age of 60, he would have wanted to live a comfortable life and hear no more about suffering. but while liven here in the west, he wrote, love all men..but bestow the greatest part of your love on the ugliest souls.
the Holy Spirit brings each believer to one or more points - thru a challenge, a bible verse or a moment in prayer - at which he decides to move forward with God or to sit comfortably in one place...
in EGYPT last year, i met a truck driver we call 'ahmed'. he had been interrogated, beaten and tortured...for bringing many muslims to Christ. the police in egypt have a special division that focuses on Christians who have a burden for lost souls..muslims...the police try to learn where ahmed's christian converts live; his last interrogation occurred only 2 months before we met..
ahmed drives out into the wilderness at night to feed 42 christian converts who sleep on cardboard mats in a small house. may of these former muslims, whom ahmed brought to Christ, were part of a radical islamic organization called the muslim brotherhood. now they are hunted by police for converting..
here are some details of ahmed's ministry...'i give them food, i give them bibles, i give them everything. i care for them because for now, most of them must hide. they can't work..i feel humbled when i meet them because they are eating the bible. they have finished the bible more than 8 times. when i return to them. i find many ?s waiting for me. i tell them, 'i will go back to the church leaders and will come back with answers. i can never answer them all...
ahmed also..helps the new believers find 'tent making jobs so they can share Christ. then he described how he is tortured by the egyptian police. 'i was shamed. i was naked, totally naked, hanging upside down with ropes on my legs...'
2.2011..PAKISTAN.. there is a picture on the director's page, with pakistani women singing with one hand raised to God and the other grasping the from of their necks, with the subtitle 'pakistanis sing, even if they hang me, i will follow Jesus, based on revelation 2.10 - be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life'.
director's commentary.. one of these courageous evangelists i spoke with approached a church official in lahore and asked about the christian presence in the northwest provinces where radical muslims operate. the official turned to him and said, why would you want to go up there? we don't have any churches up there. the eroding spirit of religion had transformed the official into a weak ghost, perhaps a shell of his former self.
richard wurmbrand,the founder of our ministry, once shared a similar thot about souls standing before the judgment. to paraphrase the message..he said, perhaps when we are taken up to heaven and Jesus leads us thru the gate, He will stoop and introduce us to a very shining, beautiful soul who is receiving great honor. we will curiously ask Jesus, 'who is this person? they are certainly remarkable. what did they do with their life?' then Jesus will turn to us with a tear in his eye and whisper, 'this is you. this is what you could have been'.
i know this illustration does not follow scriptural teaching and i don't remember whether this applied to the redeemed or unredeemed (maybe both). yet hearing it as a young man, the story was always a personal challenge to me.
in my opinion, corruption is not the main killer of christian endeavor. we all recognize corruption and sin in our war with the devil. but just as high blood pressure is considered a silent killer ..the silent killer of the gospel is mediocrity - or, in biblical terms, being 'lukewarm'. a mediocre life is one that is neither good nor bad. mediocre christians may enjoy life simply because it is there, believing that as long as they have faith and are 'good' people, they don't have to accomplish much of anything.
when i had various stomach cancer surgeries in my twenties, i would be given a shot of demerol. wow! that stuff was great. no pain, no problems. yet when my brother flew in from new york to sit by my hospital bedside, i could not talk to him - i simply 'floated'. if i had continued to spend every day under the influence of demerol, the greatest tragedy is that i would have erased the potential of who i might have been.
this week i returned from northern vietnam after visiting with the hmong along the chinese border. a few hundred thousand hmong have become christians in the last 2 decades. we published the first complete hmong bible (still illegal) in 1997 and we have oprovided them thousands of shortwave radios so they can hear the gospel. their homes have been burned, they have been beaten, they have been imprisoned and some have been killed, but they remain faithful witnesses..
i also visited with a christian girl from central vietnam who went to jail when she was 14 years old. her crime was teaching the children in her village about Jesus.
this young woman did not miss what she might have been at the age of 14, she served Jesus in jail and 7 years later she continues to be a witness. the same is true of gao feng. after chinese christian gao feng returned from a 3 year prison sentence, his friends lamented his 'lost time'. gao replied, 'i would rather go to prison for three years for doing something for Jesus than sit at home and do nothing for Him'.
before richard wurmbrand passed on 10 years ago, he left us with a challenge. it was not a bible verse or a long philosophical talk; it was simply 2 words: BE AGGRESSIVE. i am sure that i am not the best i could ever be. but the persecuted church, like saints i have known since i was young, calls me to be better, to push the envelope more than my flesh desires.
don't be satisfied to live under the influence of spiritual demerol, accepting the mediocrity of the easiest path and reaching out to no one because you 'deserve' a rest. instead, remember that from his prison cell, the apostle paul wrote to the church at ephesus, 'now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that wors in us..' (eph. 3.20). every day is a gift. what will you do with it?
the khmu, of course, resent being called slaves. but the greek word for 'slave', doulos, is also the 2nd most common word used to describe christians in greek manuscripts of the new testament. the work doulos occurs more than 100 times in greek manuscripts of the new testament...it is 2nd in use only to mathetes meaning 'disciple'.
it is difficult to find the work 'slave' in most translations of the bible...it has become the more socially acceptable 'servant'..in I peter 2.16, the apostle writes that although we are 'as free', we should live as douloi, or fully committed slaves of God.
...references to freedom in the new testament do not imply freedom from Jesus but rather freedom from sin or religious customs of men. in one sense, even Jesus was not 'free' to do what he wanted. in john 8.29, Jesus says that he came to do the will of His Father. we, His douloi, are commanded to follow in His steps. although Jesus calls us His friends in john 15.15, He lovingly and jealously regards us as His committed slaves. Jesus uses the doulos metaphor notably and powerfully in matt. 20.27 and25.21, mark 9.35 and john 15.20...
during my time with the khmu, katin, hmong and bru christians, i asked them how they felt about losing homes and being beaten because they are christians. ..many of the khmu told me these sufferings encourage them. they told me that their own suffering proves that Jesus is God because He told them in the bible that christians would be persecuted.
i wonder if these kha, loyal slaves of Jesus Christ, know that Jesus Himself took the nature of a slave. Jesus became a kha for us all, submitting to the Father with unquestioned obedience in order to secure our salvation (philippians 2.5-11)...
whenever we christians are insulted in the courts, in the press or in the classroom, we - like the kha - are free to rejoice that these attacks from the world prove that Jesus is God. we are free to ignore seemingly terrible consequences in order to share His saving grace and love with more passion. as douloi of Jesus who were paid for with the price of His blood, He owns us. we are His. He is our Lord.
LAOS..a young khmu..'my villagers still hate me and mock me like they mocked Jesus on the cross. it is the world's right to hate us or love us. but for me, i will follow Jesus because i read in the bible what He says, that the world will hate you'.
others in laos...'when we became christians, we were evicted. 2 times they kicked us - 17 christian families - out of the village where we lived. i am the khmu pastor of the group. i am also a farmer...i tell..our group, 'all people in the world have sin and they cannot help themselves; only Jesus can help us. we are committed to Jesus, so when persecution comes don't be scared...later i encouraged them..'do not have regrets, because we do not stay on this earth long. we will leave the earth someday so we can endure it like this'...
the second night..the police forced us off the truck..we said, 'we don't know where to go because none of our relatives are here'. then the police and the soldiers kicked our things off the truck onto the ground..the truck left. we stood there waiting. then we sat down in the yard for 2 days...finally the local police came..after one police officer read the accusations against us, he took his gun and hit it on the table. 'why did you disobey the government and leave what the laotian people believe?' he shouted. i replied, 'we do not know what we are going to do. they left us here, so i guess we will have to stay..'
they put us on a bus and took us to an area by a river. we lived in this place for a few years; then we moved again. they gave us land to plant rice, but it is bad land. many times they came to cheat and steal from us.
we took a truck back to our home village and moved the heavy wood beams of our old church building. we brought it to our third location. we rebuilt it in 2 days...we reopened it and worshiped there. then we put the cross on the roof...the police came and put me and 2 others in the district jail..we were jailed because we didn't take the cross down from the church. last year the police tore the cross down...then the officials came and tore down the entire church building...
this year i went back to our old village and baptized 12 people. we baptized new converts 2 times, at our old village and in the new village. we are very strong in faith. we are now meeting in an enlarged house. in the beginning of our evictions when they forced us to move, we had 108 believers. now we have 203 christians'.
..by the end of our time in laos we had accumulated 117 pages of testimonies like the one above, including that of pastor bin, who was thrown out of his village and now preaches to 2 house churches every sunday using his cell phone...evicted 3 times, pastor ta's church continues to grow...'they can tear down our bamboo church, but they cannot tear down the church in our heart'..
VOM, 10.2010 INDONESIA...pastor palty was on his way to their newly constructed church on christmas..as he passed the local mosque 'i heard the loudspeaker announce that men and women should gather at the mosque and then march to the church after assembling..he knew that forced church closings by muslim s were common in bekasi. and when he arrived at the filadelfia batak christian protestant church, he was greeted by 50 police officers in riot gear and 6 soldiers armed with light weapons. they had surrounded the church to protect the christians from an approaching mob of about 1000 muslims. most church members had already arrived, but police had to escort latecomers thru the angry mob blocking the church entrace. the mob banged drums, shouted taunts and harassed the christians already inside the church.
some threw stones and were shouting 'allahu akbar' (god is great)..others were calling us kafirs (infidels) and pigs and yelling obscenities. some carried sticks and others shouted 'burn the church! close it down!'
once inside the church, pastor palty was still frightened. but he was careful not to show his fear before the congregation. their backs were to the church entrance, so only he could see the crowd growing larger outside.
'when i saw the mob getting bigger, i prayed in my heart, Lord, please strengthen me to face this situation. the muslims were yelling and mocking and trying to frighten the christians inside the church. many of the believers turned their heads (to look) and i said, do you want to see them and become afraid or do you want to see me and not be afraid?
tears streamed down the cheeks of late arrivers as they joined the other worshipers, who were already singing christmas carols. people were singing and crying, pastor palty recalls sadly. joyful christmas songs turned to tears.
although the believers were clearly upset, pastor palty urged them to persist in their worship..the holy communion that day was the best for us because it was the first time we got closer to the Lord, pastor palty says.
1.2011 LOVING THE UGLIEST director's commentary...richard wurmbrand, the founder of our mission, suffered terrible persecution in romania. you would think that after moving to america at almost the age of 60, he would have wanted to live a comfortable life and hear no more about suffering. but while liven here in the west, he wrote, love all men..but bestow the greatest part of your love on the ugliest souls.
the Holy Spirit brings each believer to one or more points - thru a challenge, a bible verse or a moment in prayer - at which he decides to move forward with God or to sit comfortably in one place...
in EGYPT last year, i met a truck driver we call 'ahmed'. he had been interrogated, beaten and tortured...for bringing many muslims to Christ. the police in egypt have a special division that focuses on Christians who have a burden for lost souls..muslims...the police try to learn where ahmed's christian converts live; his last interrogation occurred only 2 months before we met..
ahmed drives out into the wilderness at night to feed 42 christian converts who sleep on cardboard mats in a small house. may of these former muslims, whom ahmed brought to Christ, were part of a radical islamic organization called the muslim brotherhood. now they are hunted by police for converting..
here are some details of ahmed's ministry...'i give them food, i give them bibles, i give them everything. i care for them because for now, most of them must hide. they can't work..i feel humbled when i meet them because they are eating the bible. they have finished the bible more than 8 times. when i return to them. i find many ?s waiting for me. i tell them, 'i will go back to the church leaders and will come back with answers. i can never answer them all...
ahmed also..helps the new believers find 'tent making jobs so they can share Christ. then he described how he is tortured by the egyptian police. 'i was shamed. i was naked, totally naked, hanging upside down with ropes on my legs...'
2.2011..PAKISTAN.. there is a picture on the director's page, with pakistani women singing with one hand raised to God and the other grasping the from of their necks, with the subtitle 'pakistanis sing, even if they hang me, i will follow Jesus, based on revelation 2.10 - be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life'.
director's commentary.. one of these courageous evangelists i spoke with approached a church official in lahore and asked about the christian presence in the northwest provinces where radical muslims operate. the official turned to him and said, why would you want to go up there? we don't have any churches up there. the eroding spirit of religion had transformed the official into a weak ghost, perhaps a shell of his former self.
richard wurmbrand,the founder of our ministry, once shared a similar thot about souls standing before the judgment. to paraphrase the message..he said, perhaps when we are taken up to heaven and Jesus leads us thru the gate, He will stoop and introduce us to a very shining, beautiful soul who is receiving great honor. we will curiously ask Jesus, 'who is this person? they are certainly remarkable. what did they do with their life?' then Jesus will turn to us with a tear in his eye and whisper, 'this is you. this is what you could have been'.
i know this illustration does not follow scriptural teaching and i don't remember whether this applied to the redeemed or unredeemed (maybe both). yet hearing it as a young man, the story was always a personal challenge to me.
in my opinion, corruption is not the main killer of christian endeavor. we all recognize corruption and sin in our war with the devil. but just as high blood pressure is considered a silent killer ..the silent killer of the gospel is mediocrity - or, in biblical terms, being 'lukewarm'. a mediocre life is one that is neither good nor bad. mediocre christians may enjoy life simply because it is there, believing that as long as they have faith and are 'good' people, they don't have to accomplish much of anything.
when i had various stomach cancer surgeries in my twenties, i would be given a shot of demerol. wow! that stuff was great. no pain, no problems. yet when my brother flew in from new york to sit by my hospital bedside, i could not talk to him - i simply 'floated'. if i had continued to spend every day under the influence of demerol, the greatest tragedy is that i would have erased the potential of who i might have been.
this week i returned from northern vietnam after visiting with the hmong along the chinese border. a few hundred thousand hmong have become christians in the last 2 decades. we published the first complete hmong bible (still illegal) in 1997 and we have oprovided them thousands of shortwave radios so they can hear the gospel. their homes have been burned, they have been beaten, they have been imprisoned and some have been killed, but they remain faithful witnesses..
i also visited with a christian girl from central vietnam who went to jail when she was 14 years old. her crime was teaching the children in her village about Jesus.
this young woman did not miss what she might have been at the age of 14, she served Jesus in jail and 7 years later she continues to be a witness. the same is true of gao feng. after chinese christian gao feng returned from a 3 year prison sentence, his friends lamented his 'lost time'. gao replied, 'i would rather go to prison for three years for doing something for Jesus than sit at home and do nothing for Him'.
before richard wurmbrand passed on 10 years ago, he left us with a challenge. it was not a bible verse or a long philosophical talk; it was simply 2 words: BE AGGRESSIVE. i am sure that i am not the best i could ever be. but the persecuted church, like saints i have known since i was young, calls me to be better, to push the envelope more than my flesh desires.
don't be satisfied to live under the influence of spiritual demerol, accepting the mediocrity of the easiest path and reaching out to no one because you 'deserve' a rest. instead, remember that from his prison cell, the apostle paul wrote to the church at ephesus, 'now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that wors in us..' (eph. 3.20). every day is a gift. what will you do with it?
Sunday, March 6, 2011
3.6.2011 DO I HAVE ANY SPIRITUAL PULSE?! IS THE LIFE OF GOD WITHIN?
taken from 'the puritans' by martyn lloyd-jones, p189
the apostle paul reminds the elders of the church at ephesus of how he preached 'with tears'. and whitefield used to preach with tears. when have you and i last preached (note: or talked to an individual)with tears? what do we knwo, to use the phrase of whitefield, about preaching a 'felt Christ'?..how can we get out of this cold and arid and mechanical type of worship and christian living?...let me read a ..statement from the 'life of christmas evans'...he says..'i was weary, weary of a cold heart towards Christ and his sacrifice and the work of His Spirit. i was weary of a cold heart towards Christ and His sacrifice and the work of His Spirit, of a cold heart in the pulpit, in secret prayer and in the study. for 15 years previously i had felt my heart burning within, as if going to emmaus with Jesus. on a day ever to be remembered y me as i was going from dolgelley to machynlleth and climbing up towards cader idris i considered it to be incumbent upon me to pray, however hard i felt in my heart and however worldly the frame of my spirit was. having begun in the name of Jesus i soon felt as it were the fetters loosening and the old hardness of heart softening, and, as i thot, mountains of frost and snow dissolving and melting within me. this engendered confidence in my soul in the promise of the Holy Ghost. i felt my whole mind relieved from some great bondage, tears flowed copiously, and i was constrained to cry out for the gracious visits of God, by restoring to my soul the joys of His salvation, and that He would visit the churches in anglesey that were under my care. i embraced in my supplications all the churches of the saints, and nearly all the ministers in the principality by their names. this struggle lasted for 3 hours; it rose again and again like one wave after another, or a high flowing tide driven by strong wind, until my nature became faint by weeping and crying. thus i resigned myself to Christ body and soul, gifts and labours, all my life, every day and every hour that remanied for me; and all my cares i committed to Christ. the road was mountainous and lonely and i was wholly alone and suffered no interruption in my wrestling with God.
from this time i was made to expect the goodness of God to the churches and to myself. thus the Lord delivered me and the people of anglesey from being carried away by the flood of sandemanianism (the belief that salvation comes with the mere intellectual assent to the facts of the gospel). in the first religious meeting after this i felt as if i had been removed from the cold and sterile regions of spiritual frost into the verdant fields of divine promises. the former striving with God in prayer and the longing anxiety for the conversion of sinners which i had experienced at lleyn were now restored. i had a hold of the promises of God. the result was, when i returned home the fires thing that arrested my attention was that the Spirit was working also in the brethren in anglesey, inducing in them a spirit of prayer, especially in 2 of the deacons who were particularly importunate with God, that God would visit us in mercy and render the Word of His grace effectual amongst us for the conversion of sinners'.
that is our only hope. 'ALL COLDNESS FROM MY HEART REMOVE.'
the apostle paul reminds the elders of the church at ephesus of how he preached 'with tears'. and whitefield used to preach with tears. when have you and i last preached (note: or talked to an individual)with tears? what do we knwo, to use the phrase of whitefield, about preaching a 'felt Christ'?..how can we get out of this cold and arid and mechanical type of worship and christian living?...let me read a ..statement from the 'life of christmas evans'...he says..'i was weary, weary of a cold heart towards Christ and his sacrifice and the work of His Spirit. i was weary of a cold heart towards Christ and His sacrifice and the work of His Spirit, of a cold heart in the pulpit, in secret prayer and in the study. for 15 years previously i had felt my heart burning within, as if going to emmaus with Jesus. on a day ever to be remembered y me as i was going from dolgelley to machynlleth and climbing up towards cader idris i considered it to be incumbent upon me to pray, however hard i felt in my heart and however worldly the frame of my spirit was. having begun in the name of Jesus i soon felt as it were the fetters loosening and the old hardness of heart softening, and, as i thot, mountains of frost and snow dissolving and melting within me. this engendered confidence in my soul in the promise of the Holy Ghost. i felt my whole mind relieved from some great bondage, tears flowed copiously, and i was constrained to cry out for the gracious visits of God, by restoring to my soul the joys of His salvation, and that He would visit the churches in anglesey that were under my care. i embraced in my supplications all the churches of the saints, and nearly all the ministers in the principality by their names. this struggle lasted for 3 hours; it rose again and again like one wave after another, or a high flowing tide driven by strong wind, until my nature became faint by weeping and crying. thus i resigned myself to Christ body and soul, gifts and labours, all my life, every day and every hour that remanied for me; and all my cares i committed to Christ. the road was mountainous and lonely and i was wholly alone and suffered no interruption in my wrestling with God.
from this time i was made to expect the goodness of God to the churches and to myself. thus the Lord delivered me and the people of anglesey from being carried away by the flood of sandemanianism (the belief that salvation comes with the mere intellectual assent to the facts of the gospel). in the first religious meeting after this i felt as if i had been removed from the cold and sterile regions of spiritual frost into the verdant fields of divine promises. the former striving with God in prayer and the longing anxiety for the conversion of sinners which i had experienced at lleyn were now restored. i had a hold of the promises of God. the result was, when i returned home the fires thing that arrested my attention was that the Spirit was working also in the brethren in anglesey, inducing in them a spirit of prayer, especially in 2 of the deacons who were particularly importunate with God, that God would visit us in mercy and render the Word of His grace effectual amongst us for the conversion of sinners'.
that is our only hope. 'ALL COLDNESS FROM MY HEART REMOVE.'
Friday, March 4, 2011
3.4.2011 CURRENT THOT
quotables, worldmag, 3.12.11, p. 20
'he thinks you're fools'. the atlantic blogger andrew sullivan to 'all those under 30 who worked so hard to get this man elected' after president obama submitted a budget bluprint to congress that failed to address the country's debt problems. 'either the u.s. will go into default because of obama's cowardice, or you will be paying far far more for far far less because this president has no courage when it counts'.
'as you watch the region, remember not to watch the demonstrators. watch the men with the guns'. analysis of 'revolution and the muslim world' by the global intelligence firm stratfor. 'the problem with revolutions is that the people who start them rarely finish them. the idealist democrats around alexander kerensky in russia were not the ones who finished the revolution. the thuggish bolsheviks did'.
'christians are like bed bugs, who hide under the guise of so-called missionary work, and drink the blood of the innocent vulnerable people, and bed bugs should be killed or else they will continue drinking blood'. unidentified speaker at a hindu nationalist event held last month in madhya pradesh, india, and attended by an estimated 2 million. volunteers distributed literature in the region calling on christians to convert to hinduism, and in some cases forcing them to sign declarations of their intent to do that.
the revival of localism, p. 40
newspaper editor gene roberts once noted, 'many important stories don't break. they seep, trickle and ooze. lets be sure we are covering the ooze'.
here's some ooze: local idiosyncrasy is in, uniformity is out. locavores emphasize foods grown nearby. microbreweries create locally crafted drinks. in politics, voters strike back against one-size-fits-all obamacare. in skyscrapers and ballparks, postmodernist structures with nooks and crannies have replaced boxy buildings and cookie-cutter stadiums.
breaking stories are easy to cover because they are action-oriented events at specific times and places. ooze is harder because it requires juxtaposing changes that initially may not seem related. here are 7:
1. baby boom generation (born 1946-64) pioneered divorce rates and 2-career couples. many among the baby bust..generation x (born late 60s and 70s) rebel against that.
2. many commercials seem less focused on achieving prominence in the world and more on the satisfactions of family and community.
3. the media movement 2 decades ago was toward more centralization, with usa today and networks riding high. now the hot area of interest is localism and hyper-localism, with new journalistic websites aimed at small geographic areas popping up and nationa media like aol, cnn and msnbc seeding neighborhood publications.
4. the average american drove less in 2010 than in 2000.
5. an american's 19th century ? upon first meeting another was often, 'who are your people?' the 20th century ? was 'what do you do?' the ? in the 21st..is 'where do you live?' many people put roots above shoots,choosing to live in a place rather than moving to advance a career.
6.an emphasis on local control of government, local production and consumption of goods, and local culture is popular among young christians. their favorite author is often..kentucky farmer, 76 year old wendell berry. berry praises reverence for God and life, the pleasures of good work, good food, and frugality. he says those joys are more likely to be found in healthy rural communities that value small farms and don't overdose on technology.
7. may christians used to coalesce politically through national organizations like the moral majority, the christian coalition and focus on the family, but some of them went out of business or lost steam. the big political story of 2010 was the growth of the decentralized tea party movement.
(heres a few gen xers) caleb stegall is 39 and has spent about 90% of his life within 20 miles of the place in northeastern kansas where he was born, a radius that includes the state capital and a state university...after graduating from law school stegall had job offers from all over the country. he and his wife 'thot really long and hard about going and there was a lot of attractiveness, no the least of which was the starting salary, but in the end we decided to stay or stay committed to our place. i took a job in topeka'. why? they had 2 sons at that time..and wanted a good place to raise kids, but also a good place to raise themselves: stegall says, 'we lose and leave behind a lot when we conceive of society as this great ladder to climb. our eyes are always on the next rung up and what is left behind never gets a backward glance. this has led to a tremendous amount of dispossession and displacement; spiritual angst, and also real world destruction and exploitation of different places and people. i didn't want to have any part of that, so we made the decision to stay.'
stegall has seen dislocation and disruption in the lives of kids he grew up with who headed to the bright lights: most 'have been very dissatisfied'. stegall himself became dissatisfied with his work in commercial litigation at a topeka law firm, where he represented 'large corporations suing each other most of the time'. he didn't want to be 'just a cog in this economic machine', so after a few years he returned to his rural county, hung out a shingle, and practiced law in a town of 900 people, 'using my tools to fix problems. that's gratifying and that's what it means to be part of the community'.
stegall recently did take a job a few miles down the road as chief counsel to new kansas governor sam brownback, who himself was coming home after 14 years as a u.s. senator. stegall has no washington plans, though: 'the powers of a centralized economy and state are so great that your chances of effecting change are much greater in a place where you actually wield some influence, as opposed to just being a small, small piece in the big machine'.
victoria cobb, 32, offers a similar comparison of washington versus state capitals. as a college student in richmond..she was excited about an internship in (washington) where power now resided: 'it's a glitzy thing: you think, 'wow, everything happens in d.c.'. but in the last semester of her senior year she worked for the family foundation of virginia, a state level affiliate of focus on the family and 'saw the tremendous difference between what happens in washington, d.c. and in richmond.'.
cobb is now president of the family foundation but still recalls that difference: 'in washington you trail a lobbyist to wait, to wait,, to wait, to get to an aide of an aide of an aide of a congressman. as an intern in richmond i'm walking in a state senator's office and we're talking about substantive issues. i leaned that if you're a person who really wants to make substantive change, you ought to start at the state and local level. there may be more that you can accomplish there'.
ned ryan, 38, is another young leader with washington experience who does not approve of conservative groups' 'thinking they have to go to dc to beat dc. many become very bureaucratic, very much like what they came to change. i don't believe the answers to our problems are in dc'. ..he views his calling as a long-distance run: 10 tears ago he was answering correspondence in the bush white house, but now he heads american majority, which encourages people to run for school boards, county commissions and so forth with the goal of 'creating a groundswell from the bottom up'.
indiana's governor mitch daniels, p47..daniels' fervor is directed against a ballooning, centralized government, what he calls statism. 'our morbidly obese federal government needs not just behavior modification but bariatric (control/treatment of obesity) surgery..you'd be amazed how much government you'll never miss'.
he describes federal government as necessarily incompetent: 'you simply can't make things work on that scale through central planning'.
but daniels is also a believer in limited government because of its compassionate effect on individuals: the dignity and fulfillment that comes with taking responsibility for oneself or for one's neighbor. he looks at europe, where many nations have transferred their resources to the state. he sees a withering commitment toward others - europeans use their high taxes to justify an unwillingness to make charitable donations.
you chancesof succeeding are higher where people are directly involved, acting from their hearts'..'when in doubt, do the duty nearest you', echoing..thomas carlyle.
among other things he has worked to develop oaks academy, a ministry of his downtown indianapolis church, tabernacle presbyterian. daniels loves to show visitors the fully restored large, rectangular, stained-glass windows. they have returned to their original place on either side of the main entrance leading to the school's grand front hall. their inscription is from john 8: 'ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free'.
'from 1895 to somewhere in the 1980s, thousands of young people came to school every day, to public school and passed between those familiar pieces of scripture and no one thot that was strange'. the school has taught him that high expectations, love and an environment infused with character and faith can overcome the handicaps often placed on disadvantaged youth.
is he interested in running for president? he is not obsessed with public life but he is testing how his views play on the national stage...daniels, when i asked whether he would spend the political capital necessary to nominate and confirm a conservative like antonin scalia to the high court, was adamant that he would saying 'strict construction' of both federal and state constitutions 'is as important as any issue i can think of. it runs far deeper than any one topic a court might deal with; the ? is whether the people rule or will be ruled by an unaccountable few'.
during daniels' time as white house budget director, president george w. bush nicknamed him 'the blade'. today daniels call the nation's debt the 'new red menace..he beleives the debt is a mortal threat to all americans..it is a problem he is not afraid to blame on his own generation. 'we have been self-centered, self-absorbed, self-indulgent and all too often just plain selfish'..it's been a blast; good luck cleaning up after us'.
daniels is willing to take on publicly many of politics' third rails: he supports raising the retirement age, ending social security checks to the wealthy and cutting defense spending . in testing the presidential waters, he wants to see if americans are ready for such medicine: 'people say we will never get the consensus together and that nobody can get elected arguing for these sorts of things. i'm not so sure, but somebody better find out'.
..daniels took officed after 8 years of unbalanced budgets with the state facing a $200 million deficit. by the end of his first term, indiana enjoyed a $1.3billion surplus and a triple-A bond rating. on his first day as governor he rescinded an executive order giving collective bargaining rights to state employees. today the number of state employees has fallen to 1982 levels.
he generated nearly $4 billion by privatizing the state's toll roads, he cut property taxes by an average or 30%and he created health savings accounts for thousands of low-income residents. now he is trying to cap off his governorship by implementing a statewide voucher system for school choice and by pushing for tax refunds when state reserves hit a certain level.
do conservatives have too much media influence? p50 yes, according to mark lloyd, chief diversity officer of the federal communications commission - and emphasizing a version of localism is the way to combat it.
lloyd, who co-wrote ..'the structural imbalance of political talk radio wants the fcc to reduce conservative influence in talk radio...his analysis shows that news/talk stations in the top 10 radio markets provide programming that is 76% conservative..let's look at the politics of 3 other major media.
1. major television networks with news programming: abc, cbs, nbc, pbs, fox, cnn, msnbc, comedy central. one of them is mostly conservative.
2. most influential newspapers and magazines: new york times, wall street journal, losangeles tiems, time, newsweek. none of them is conservative in news coverage. (the journal has a conservative editorial page, so let's count it as half-conservative).
3. most read internet news sites, according to alexa: yahoo, bbc online, cnn interactive, new york times, huffington post. none of them is conservative. so let's see: in these 3 media, plus talk raio, conservatives have 12.5%, 10%, 0% and 76% influence. that averages 25%..
hmm. some folds probably do get all their information from talk radio and some eat all their meals at mcdonald's. but we don't require mcdonald's to changeits menu or pay fees to support local salad bars, because most of us believe that a. we sholdn'tpenalizemcdonald's for serving what people want, b. most people don't eatall their meals at mcdonld's and c. it's a free country. (isn't it?)
we used to have a suffocating sameness in mass media, so conservative talk radio, despite its excesses, is a breath of fresh airtime. if we do have a lack of political diversity in media, its because liberalism is still overrepresented, but that just means conservatives should compete more effectively..
manhattan bible church, p52..mbc, a congregation of about 400..in a neighborhood where 31% of residents live in poverty..houses 40 ministries..how can one congregation sustain so much activity? pastor bill devlin said he flattens the usual ecclesiastical bureaucracy to increase ministries and decrease complaining. when church members come to him with either a passion or a gripe, he tells them they're now in charge of meeting the need; ' i love being here because we're right in the middle of chaos'. devlin, who founded urban family council in philadelphia, sleeps on the floor of his office 3 days a week and commutes from pennsylavania the rest of the week. 'you've got to enter the chaos..i always saythat this is God's country here'.
'he thinks you're fools'. the atlantic blogger andrew sullivan to 'all those under 30 who worked so hard to get this man elected' after president obama submitted a budget bluprint to congress that failed to address the country's debt problems. 'either the u.s. will go into default because of obama's cowardice, or you will be paying far far more for far far less because this president has no courage when it counts'.
'as you watch the region, remember not to watch the demonstrators. watch the men with the guns'. analysis of 'revolution and the muslim world' by the global intelligence firm stratfor. 'the problem with revolutions is that the people who start them rarely finish them. the idealist democrats around alexander kerensky in russia were not the ones who finished the revolution. the thuggish bolsheviks did'.
'christians are like bed bugs, who hide under the guise of so-called missionary work, and drink the blood of the innocent vulnerable people, and bed bugs should be killed or else they will continue drinking blood'. unidentified speaker at a hindu nationalist event held last month in madhya pradesh, india, and attended by an estimated 2 million. volunteers distributed literature in the region calling on christians to convert to hinduism, and in some cases forcing them to sign declarations of their intent to do that.
the revival of localism, p. 40
newspaper editor gene roberts once noted, 'many important stories don't break. they seep, trickle and ooze. lets be sure we are covering the ooze'.
here's some ooze: local idiosyncrasy is in, uniformity is out. locavores emphasize foods grown nearby. microbreweries create locally crafted drinks. in politics, voters strike back against one-size-fits-all obamacare. in skyscrapers and ballparks, postmodernist structures with nooks and crannies have replaced boxy buildings and cookie-cutter stadiums.
breaking stories are easy to cover because they are action-oriented events at specific times and places. ooze is harder because it requires juxtaposing changes that initially may not seem related. here are 7:
1. baby boom generation (born 1946-64) pioneered divorce rates and 2-career couples. many among the baby bust..generation x (born late 60s and 70s) rebel against that.
2. many commercials seem less focused on achieving prominence in the world and more on the satisfactions of family and community.
3. the media movement 2 decades ago was toward more centralization, with usa today and networks riding high. now the hot area of interest is localism and hyper-localism, with new journalistic websites aimed at small geographic areas popping up and nationa media like aol, cnn and msnbc seeding neighborhood publications.
4. the average american drove less in 2010 than in 2000.
5. an american's 19th century ? upon first meeting another was often, 'who are your people?' the 20th century ? was 'what do you do?' the ? in the 21st..is 'where do you live?' many people put roots above shoots,choosing to live in a place rather than moving to advance a career.
6.an emphasis on local control of government, local production and consumption of goods, and local culture is popular among young christians. their favorite author is often..kentucky farmer, 76 year old wendell berry. berry praises reverence for God and life, the pleasures of good work, good food, and frugality. he says those joys are more likely to be found in healthy rural communities that value small farms and don't overdose on technology.
7. may christians used to coalesce politically through national organizations like the moral majority, the christian coalition and focus on the family, but some of them went out of business or lost steam. the big political story of 2010 was the growth of the decentralized tea party movement.
(heres a few gen xers) caleb stegall is 39 and has spent about 90% of his life within 20 miles of the place in northeastern kansas where he was born, a radius that includes the state capital and a state university...after graduating from law school stegall had job offers from all over the country. he and his wife 'thot really long and hard about going and there was a lot of attractiveness, no the least of which was the starting salary, but in the end we decided to stay or stay committed to our place. i took a job in topeka'. why? they had 2 sons at that time..and wanted a good place to raise kids, but also a good place to raise themselves: stegall says, 'we lose and leave behind a lot when we conceive of society as this great ladder to climb. our eyes are always on the next rung up and what is left behind never gets a backward glance. this has led to a tremendous amount of dispossession and displacement; spiritual angst, and also real world destruction and exploitation of different places and people. i didn't want to have any part of that, so we made the decision to stay.'
stegall has seen dislocation and disruption in the lives of kids he grew up with who headed to the bright lights: most 'have been very dissatisfied'. stegall himself became dissatisfied with his work in commercial litigation at a topeka law firm, where he represented 'large corporations suing each other most of the time'. he didn't want to be 'just a cog in this economic machine', so after a few years he returned to his rural county, hung out a shingle, and practiced law in a town of 900 people, 'using my tools to fix problems. that's gratifying and that's what it means to be part of the community'.
stegall recently did take a job a few miles down the road as chief counsel to new kansas governor sam brownback, who himself was coming home after 14 years as a u.s. senator. stegall has no washington plans, though: 'the powers of a centralized economy and state are so great that your chances of effecting change are much greater in a place where you actually wield some influence, as opposed to just being a small, small piece in the big machine'.
victoria cobb, 32, offers a similar comparison of washington versus state capitals. as a college student in richmond..she was excited about an internship in (washington) where power now resided: 'it's a glitzy thing: you think, 'wow, everything happens in d.c.'. but in the last semester of her senior year she worked for the family foundation of virginia, a state level affiliate of focus on the family and 'saw the tremendous difference between what happens in washington, d.c. and in richmond.'.
cobb is now president of the family foundation but still recalls that difference: 'in washington you trail a lobbyist to wait, to wait,, to wait, to get to an aide of an aide of an aide of a congressman. as an intern in richmond i'm walking in a state senator's office and we're talking about substantive issues. i leaned that if you're a person who really wants to make substantive change, you ought to start at the state and local level. there may be more that you can accomplish there'.
ned ryan, 38, is another young leader with washington experience who does not approve of conservative groups' 'thinking they have to go to dc to beat dc. many become very bureaucratic, very much like what they came to change. i don't believe the answers to our problems are in dc'. ..he views his calling as a long-distance run: 10 tears ago he was answering correspondence in the bush white house, but now he heads american majority, which encourages people to run for school boards, county commissions and so forth with the goal of 'creating a groundswell from the bottom up'.
indiana's governor mitch daniels, p47..daniels' fervor is directed against a ballooning, centralized government, what he calls statism. 'our morbidly obese federal government needs not just behavior modification but bariatric (control/treatment of obesity) surgery..you'd be amazed how much government you'll never miss'.
he describes federal government as necessarily incompetent: 'you simply can't make things work on that scale through central planning'.
but daniels is also a believer in limited government because of its compassionate effect on individuals: the dignity and fulfillment that comes with taking responsibility for oneself or for one's neighbor. he looks at europe, where many nations have transferred their resources to the state. he sees a withering commitment toward others - europeans use their high taxes to justify an unwillingness to make charitable donations.
you chancesof succeeding are higher where people are directly involved, acting from their hearts'..'when in doubt, do the duty nearest you', echoing..thomas carlyle.
among other things he has worked to develop oaks academy, a ministry of his downtown indianapolis church, tabernacle presbyterian. daniels loves to show visitors the fully restored large, rectangular, stained-glass windows. they have returned to their original place on either side of the main entrance leading to the school's grand front hall. their inscription is from john 8: 'ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free'.
'from 1895 to somewhere in the 1980s, thousands of young people came to school every day, to public school and passed between those familiar pieces of scripture and no one thot that was strange'. the school has taught him that high expectations, love and an environment infused with character and faith can overcome the handicaps often placed on disadvantaged youth.
is he interested in running for president? he is not obsessed with public life but he is testing how his views play on the national stage...daniels, when i asked whether he would spend the political capital necessary to nominate and confirm a conservative like antonin scalia to the high court, was adamant that he would saying 'strict construction' of both federal and state constitutions 'is as important as any issue i can think of. it runs far deeper than any one topic a court might deal with; the ? is whether the people rule or will be ruled by an unaccountable few'.
during daniels' time as white house budget director, president george w. bush nicknamed him 'the blade'. today daniels call the nation's debt the 'new red menace..he beleives the debt is a mortal threat to all americans..it is a problem he is not afraid to blame on his own generation. 'we have been self-centered, self-absorbed, self-indulgent and all too often just plain selfish'..it's been a blast; good luck cleaning up after us'.
daniels is willing to take on publicly many of politics' third rails: he supports raising the retirement age, ending social security checks to the wealthy and cutting defense spending . in testing the presidential waters, he wants to see if americans are ready for such medicine: 'people say we will never get the consensus together and that nobody can get elected arguing for these sorts of things. i'm not so sure, but somebody better find out'.
..daniels took officed after 8 years of unbalanced budgets with the state facing a $200 million deficit. by the end of his first term, indiana enjoyed a $1.3billion surplus and a triple-A bond rating. on his first day as governor he rescinded an executive order giving collective bargaining rights to state employees. today the number of state employees has fallen to 1982 levels.
he generated nearly $4 billion by privatizing the state's toll roads, he cut property taxes by an average or 30%and he created health savings accounts for thousands of low-income residents. now he is trying to cap off his governorship by implementing a statewide voucher system for school choice and by pushing for tax refunds when state reserves hit a certain level.
do conservatives have too much media influence? p50 yes, according to mark lloyd, chief diversity officer of the federal communications commission - and emphasizing a version of localism is the way to combat it.
lloyd, who co-wrote ..'the structural imbalance of political talk radio wants the fcc to reduce conservative influence in talk radio...his analysis shows that news/talk stations in the top 10 radio markets provide programming that is 76% conservative..let's look at the politics of 3 other major media.
1. major television networks with news programming: abc, cbs, nbc, pbs, fox, cnn, msnbc, comedy central. one of them is mostly conservative.
2. most influential newspapers and magazines: new york times, wall street journal, losangeles tiems, time, newsweek. none of them is conservative in news coverage. (the journal has a conservative editorial page, so let's count it as half-conservative).
3. most read internet news sites, according to alexa: yahoo, bbc online, cnn interactive, new york times, huffington post. none of them is conservative. so let's see: in these 3 media, plus talk raio, conservatives have 12.5%, 10%, 0% and 76% influence. that averages 25%..
hmm. some folds probably do get all their information from talk radio and some eat all their meals at mcdonald's. but we don't require mcdonald's to changeits menu or pay fees to support local salad bars, because most of us believe that a. we sholdn'tpenalizemcdonald's for serving what people want, b. most people don't eatall their meals at mcdonld's and c. it's a free country. (isn't it?)
we used to have a suffocating sameness in mass media, so conservative talk radio, despite its excesses, is a breath of fresh airtime. if we do have a lack of political diversity in media, its because liberalism is still overrepresented, but that just means conservatives should compete more effectively..
manhattan bible church, p52..mbc, a congregation of about 400..in a neighborhood where 31% of residents live in poverty..houses 40 ministries..how can one congregation sustain so much activity? pastor bill devlin said he flattens the usual ecclesiastical bureaucracy to increase ministries and decrease complaining. when church members come to him with either a passion or a gripe, he tells them they're now in charge of meeting the need; ' i love being here because we're right in the middle of chaos'. devlin, who founded urban family council in philadelphia, sleeps on the floor of his office 3 days a week and commutes from pennsylavania the rest of the week. 'you've got to enter the chaos..i always saythat this is God's country here'.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
3.2.2011 LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
dear President Obama,
as a would be slave of the Lord Jesus Christ i want to thank you for every littlest thing you do as the servant of the God of the Bible, for does He not say that rulers are servants of God in romans 13.6a? He is worthy to be feared, worshipped and obeyed for He is a living God...hebrews 10.31 says 'it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God'...and again in hebrews 12.28-9 He says, 'therefore since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire'...the scripture says in I peter 2.3-4..'if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. and coming to Him (this refers to Jesus!) as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God'.
His reign over all is eternal for we read in psalm 2 His response to those rulers who will one day seek to 'rule' apart from His revealed will in the bible:
why do the heathen rage and the kingdoms imagine a vain thing. the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed (Jesus again!) saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. then shall he speak to them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. yet have I set My king (Jesus!) upon my holy hill of zion. i will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art My son (JESUS) this day have i begotten Thee. ask of me and i shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shal break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. be wise now therefore oh ye kings; be instructed ye judges of the earth. serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. kiss the Son (J E S U S), lest He be angry and ye perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little. BLESSED ARE ALL THEY THAT PUT THEIR TRUST IN JESUS.
i plan to die a natural death. i'll only be here as long as the God of the bible provides nourishment and water. actually as larry norman said, 'i'm only visiting this planet'. this world is not my home. i'm just passing thru. i am a stranger and an alien here and am longing for home.
if at some point i can no longer pay for any special, needed, physical care, i will die a free man at that point. or i may still have some $ to allocate to special care but decide not to spend the time, $ and effort, but rather focus totally on just seeking first God's kingdom and His righteousness until the last breath i breathe in His providential care.
i once was a slave but now Jesus has made me free! He used to just be a religious symbol, not much more than a whispy concept. now Jesus LIVES within me. He has also given His never-to-end Life to me, so i really won't, in a sense, die. i'll just kind of fall asleep at some point, secure in His eternal love, and wake up in heaven! (i hope it's soon!i can't wait to see Him, kiss and embrace Him and then live with Him forever worshipping and praising Him for His inconceivable love to me!!)
\
i want you to know that i support the government in anything but only as long as it does not keep me from obeying Jesus' words.
i submit freely to the government's power just as Jesus did , even when they nailed Him to the cross when He hadn't done anything against God. the government i allow to do anything it wants to me. i completely submit in imitation of Jesus and in obedience to the Living God. for does He not command in His word, the bible, 'let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established byGod. (romans 13.1) He further warns that if i don't do this then i am condemned by Him. 'therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves'. (romans 13.`1) He commands me to 'render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor'. (vs.7) may He help me so to do at all times.
it matters little what happens here for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain! so i will obey the government up to my physical 'death' in those areas Jesus has given it authority over.
i will die when i want to, that is at the time Jesus has determined for me in His eternal providential care...whatever may happen to me or anyone wants to do to me. i may suffer...that's my business. may He do what He knows is best.
my death is precious to Him for He longs for us to be with each other forever. psalm 116.15 says 'preciou7s in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints'. He captures my heart exactly on this when the scripture says, 'Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to:
-be born again to a living hope (through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead)
-obtain an inheritance (which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you)
....who are protected by the power of God..
in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (now comes the good part when i get to be with Him forever) AND THOUGH YOU HAVE NOT SEEN HIM, YOU LOVE HIM, AND THOUGHYOU DO NOT SEE HIM NOW, BUT BELIEVE IN HIM, YOU GREATLY REJOICE WITH JOY INEXPRESSABLE AND FULL OF GLORY, obtaining the outcome or your faith, the salvation of your souls. (I peter 1. 4-9)
God bless you richly, President Obama. my prayer is that He may, moment by moment, lavish His Fatherly love upon you so that from sheer joy your heart returns the love-filled Abba (father) to His hovering area.
i wish for you to be as i am, blameless, before the judgment seat of Christ and to never hear those horrid words from His lips, 'depart from Me for I never knew you'.
sincerely, stephen paine
as a would be slave of the Lord Jesus Christ i want to thank you for every littlest thing you do as the servant of the God of the Bible, for does He not say that rulers are servants of God in romans 13.6a? He is worthy to be feared, worshipped and obeyed for He is a living God...hebrews 10.31 says 'it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God'...and again in hebrews 12.28-9 He says, 'therefore since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire'...the scripture says in I peter 2.3-4..'if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. and coming to Him (this refers to Jesus!) as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God'.
His reign over all is eternal for we read in psalm 2 His response to those rulers who will one day seek to 'rule' apart from His revealed will in the bible:
why do the heathen rage and the kingdoms imagine a vain thing. the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed (Jesus again!) saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. then shall he speak to them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. yet have I set My king (Jesus!) upon my holy hill of zion. i will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art My son (JESUS) this day have i begotten Thee. ask of me and i shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shal break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. be wise now therefore oh ye kings; be instructed ye judges of the earth. serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. kiss the Son (J E S U S), lest He be angry and ye perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little. BLESSED ARE ALL THEY THAT PUT THEIR TRUST IN JESUS.
i plan to die a natural death. i'll only be here as long as the God of the bible provides nourishment and water. actually as larry norman said, 'i'm only visiting this planet'. this world is not my home. i'm just passing thru. i am a stranger and an alien here and am longing for home.
if at some point i can no longer pay for any special, needed, physical care, i will die a free man at that point. or i may still have some $ to allocate to special care but decide not to spend the time, $ and effort, but rather focus totally on just seeking first God's kingdom and His righteousness until the last breath i breathe in His providential care.
i once was a slave but now Jesus has made me free! He used to just be a religious symbol, not much more than a whispy concept. now Jesus LIVES within me. He has also given His never-to-end Life to me, so i really won't, in a sense, die. i'll just kind of fall asleep at some point, secure in His eternal love, and wake up in heaven! (i hope it's soon!i can't wait to see Him, kiss and embrace Him and then live with Him forever worshipping and praising Him for His inconceivable love to me!!)
\
i want you to know that i support the government in anything but only as long as it does not keep me from obeying Jesus' words.
i submit freely to the government's power just as Jesus did , even when they nailed Him to the cross when He hadn't done anything against God. the government i allow to do anything it wants to me. i completely submit in imitation of Jesus and in obedience to the Living God. for does He not command in His word, the bible, 'let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established byGod. (romans 13.1) He further warns that if i don't do this then i am condemned by Him. 'therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves'. (romans 13.`1) He commands me to 'render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor'. (vs.7) may He help me so to do at all times.
it matters little what happens here for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain! so i will obey the government up to my physical 'death' in those areas Jesus has given it authority over.
i will die when i want to, that is at the time Jesus has determined for me in His eternal providential care...whatever may happen to me or anyone wants to do to me. i may suffer...that's my business. may He do what He knows is best.
my death is precious to Him for He longs for us to be with each other forever. psalm 116.15 says 'preciou7s in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints'. He captures my heart exactly on this when the scripture says, 'Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to:
-be born again to a living hope (through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead)
-obtain an inheritance (which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you)
....who are protected by the power of God..
in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (now comes the good part when i get to be with Him forever) AND THOUGH YOU HAVE NOT SEEN HIM, YOU LOVE HIM, AND THOUGHYOU DO NOT SEE HIM NOW, BUT BELIEVE IN HIM, YOU GREATLY REJOICE WITH JOY INEXPRESSABLE AND FULL OF GLORY, obtaining the outcome or your faith, the salvation of your souls. (I peter 1. 4-9)
God bless you richly, President Obama. my prayer is that He may, moment by moment, lavish His Fatherly love upon you so that from sheer joy your heart returns the love-filled Abba (father) to His hovering area.
i wish for you to be as i am, blameless, before the judgment seat of Christ and to never hear those horrid words from His lips, 'depart from Me for I never knew you'.
sincerely, stephen paine
3.2.2011 CAN YOU JUST 'GET SAVED' WHENEVER YOU WANT?
i guess that depends on 1. what you mean by 'whenever you want' and 2. if you are still alive when 'you want'.
watchman nee in 'the spiritual man' in the section 'a believer's will writes..'let us realize, then, that except a man receive God's new life and serve him therein, every bit of service for God is but the work of the flesh. his intention to serve and even to suffer for Him is vain. before he is regenerated, his will even though it may be inclined towards good and God, is futile. for it is not what fallen man intends to do for God but how he himself wishes man to do fo Him that really counts in God's eyes. man may devise and initiate countless notable works for God; nonetheless, if they do not originate with God they are nothing more than will worship.
this is true with respect to salvation. when man lives carnally even his desire to be saved is not acceptable to God. we read in the gospel of john that 'to all who received him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God; who WERE BORN, NOT of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor OF THE WILL OF MAN, but of God' (1.12-3). man is not regenerated because he wills it so. he must be born of God. nowadays christians entertain the incorrect concept that if anyone wishes to be saved and seeks the way of life he undoubtedly will be a good disciple of Christ, for nothing can be better than this desire. God nonetheless affirms that in this matter of regeneration as well as in all other matters related to him, the will of man is totally nonefficacious.
many children of god cannot understand why john 1 asserts the will of man to be noneffective whereas revelation concludes by saying, 'let him who desires take the water of life without price' (22.17), as though man himself is entirely responsible for his salvation. and does not the lord jesus himself give as explanation for the Jews not being saved the following declaration: 'you refuse to come to me that you may have life' (john 5.40)? here again, the responsibility for perdition apparently rests on man's will. can the bible be contradicting itself? is there any special meaning behind these apparent inconsistencies? a comprehension of this matter will help us to appreciate what God requires of us in our christian life.
we will recall that god wiches no one to 'perish but that all should reach repentance' because He 'desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth' (II peter 3.9; I tim. 2.4). no problem arises concerning whom god wants to save of whom he will let perish. THE PROBLEM BEFORE US IS, rather, WHAT IS THE SINNERS ATTITUDE TOWARDS GOD'S WILL? if he decides to be a christian because he is naturally inclined towards 'religion', naturally contemptuous of the world or naturally influenced by his heredity, environment..family, he is as far from God and his life as are other sinners. if the sinner chooses to be a christian at the moment of excitement or enthusiasm, he may not fare better than the rest. it all reduces itself to this; what is his attitude towards God's will? GOD LOVES HIM BUT WILL HE ACCPT THIS LOVE? CHRIST CALLS HIM, BUT WILL HE COME? THE HOLY SPIRIT WQANTS TO GIVE HIM LIFE, BUT IS HE WILLING TO BE BORN? HIS WILL IS ONLY USEFUL IN CHOOSING GOD'S WILL. the question now is and solely is, how does his volition react towards God's will?
have we noticed the difference here? if man himself commences the search for salvation, he is yet perishing. (note: i believe that this statement fits my experience.) various founders of religions belong to this category. but IF MAN, UPON HEARING THE GOSPEL, IS WILLING TO ACCEPT WHAT GOD OFFERS TO HIM, HE SHALL BE SAVED. IN THE ONE CASE, MAN ORIGINATES; IN THE OTHER, HE RECEIVES. the one does the willing himself while the other accepts God's will. john 1 speaks of man himself willing, whereas john 5 and revelation 22 refer to man's accepting God's will. hence no contradiction exists between these two..
watchman nee in 'the spiritual man' in the section 'a believer's will writes..'let us realize, then, that except a man receive God's new life and serve him therein, every bit of service for God is but the work of the flesh. his intention to serve and even to suffer for Him is vain. before he is regenerated, his will even though it may be inclined towards good and God, is futile. for it is not what fallen man intends to do for God but how he himself wishes man to do fo Him that really counts in God's eyes. man may devise and initiate countless notable works for God; nonetheless, if they do not originate with God they are nothing more than will worship.
this is true with respect to salvation. when man lives carnally even his desire to be saved is not acceptable to God. we read in the gospel of john that 'to all who received him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God; who WERE BORN, NOT of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor OF THE WILL OF MAN, but of God' (1.12-3). man is not regenerated because he wills it so. he must be born of God. nowadays christians entertain the incorrect concept that if anyone wishes to be saved and seeks the way of life he undoubtedly will be a good disciple of Christ, for nothing can be better than this desire. God nonetheless affirms that in this matter of regeneration as well as in all other matters related to him, the will of man is totally nonefficacious.
many children of god cannot understand why john 1 asserts the will of man to be noneffective whereas revelation concludes by saying, 'let him who desires take the water of life without price' (22.17), as though man himself is entirely responsible for his salvation. and does not the lord jesus himself give as explanation for the Jews not being saved the following declaration: 'you refuse to come to me that you may have life' (john 5.40)? here again, the responsibility for perdition apparently rests on man's will. can the bible be contradicting itself? is there any special meaning behind these apparent inconsistencies? a comprehension of this matter will help us to appreciate what God requires of us in our christian life.
we will recall that god wiches no one to 'perish but that all should reach repentance' because He 'desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth' (II peter 3.9; I tim. 2.4). no problem arises concerning whom god wants to save of whom he will let perish. THE PROBLEM BEFORE US IS, rather, WHAT IS THE SINNERS ATTITUDE TOWARDS GOD'S WILL? if he decides to be a christian because he is naturally inclined towards 'religion', naturally contemptuous of the world or naturally influenced by his heredity, environment..family, he is as far from God and his life as are other sinners. if the sinner chooses to be a christian at the moment of excitement or enthusiasm, he may not fare better than the rest. it all reduces itself to this; what is his attitude towards God's will? GOD LOVES HIM BUT WILL HE ACCPT THIS LOVE? CHRIST CALLS HIM, BUT WILL HE COME? THE HOLY SPIRIT WQANTS TO GIVE HIM LIFE, BUT IS HE WILLING TO BE BORN? HIS WILL IS ONLY USEFUL IN CHOOSING GOD'S WILL. the question now is and solely is, how does his volition react towards God's will?
have we noticed the difference here? if man himself commences the search for salvation, he is yet perishing. (note: i believe that this statement fits my experience.) various founders of religions belong to this category. but IF MAN, UPON HEARING THE GOSPEL, IS WILLING TO ACCEPT WHAT GOD OFFERS TO HIM, HE SHALL BE SAVED. IN THE ONE CASE, MAN ORIGINATES; IN THE OTHER, HE RECEIVES. the one does the willing himself while the other accepts God's will. john 1 speaks of man himself willing, whereas john 5 and revelation 22 refer to man's accepting God's will. hence no contradiction exists between these two..
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