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Families Separated by the STATE
Your worst nightmare: your children have been forcibly abducted, and you're helpless to help them. We explain how states' "child protective services" snatch kids every day from good, loving parents — and why it continues... (New American, July 23, 2007.)
Why and how has the State gained such boldness over the past couple of decades that they can boldly march into homes and forcibly remove children from under their parental care?
Let us look first at the "why" of the State's unabashed war against the family — that is, its determination to destroy the family.
The family is clearly central to the Biblical way of life, and it is the family under God which has this centrality.
But it must be added that this Biblical perspective is alien to the Darwinian world-view. Evolutionary thought concedes the centrality of the family, but only as a historical fact. The family is seen as the great primitive institution, now rapidly being superseded, but important for studies of man's evolutionary past. The family is seen as the old collectivity or collectivism which must give way to "the new collectivity." As the old collectivism which is resisting change, the family is steadily attacked by evolutionary social scientists, educators, and clergymen. ... (Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, vol. I, p. 159. The Craig Press.)
Religion, thus, is seen as a projection of the family, and the family must therefore be destroyed in order that religion may also be destroyed. But this is not all. Private property is similarly seen as an outgrowth of the family, and the abolition of private property requires the destruction of the family as a prerequisite. ... (Ibid, p. 161.)
First, Evolution holds that the family is a primitive instruction that must be done away with as society evolves. The origins of the family is in man's primitive past, not in God's creative purpose. Thus, as man moves "up" the evolutionary ladder, the Biblical family must be left behind. The family is now redefined as anything except a man and woman united as one through marriage.
Second, Religion, especially Biblical religion, "is seen as a projection of the family."
Third, private property is also "seen as an outgrowth of the family."
Furthermore, Rushdoony also points out:
Fourth, in order for the State to control the future for the benefit of the State in opposition to the future benefit of the Kingdom of God, the family's Biblical mandate to educate its children must be replaced with Statist education. People must be convinced that Statist education is acceptable.
Fifth, in order for the State to have despotic, or total, control, the authority of the family, as required by the Fifth Commandment, must be undermined and destroyed.
"The family is to all practical intent abolished whenever the state determines the education, vocation, religion and the discipline of the child. (P. 164.)
It follows then, that in order for the Christian religion and private property, among other things, to be removed from our society, and the State strengthened, the family must be destroyed. Moreover, in order for the State to replace the parents in a family, and thus able to control the future, the Christian family must be undermined a little at a time, and then completely destroyed.
There is a total warfare against the family, led by the "social scientists, educators and clergymen."
I believe Scripture teaches that the first thing that must go wrong is the clergymen. Only after the watchmen who occupy his pulpits have been silenced can the "social scientists" and "educators" do their dastardly deeds.
Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
The watchmen fail to warn God's people of what is taking place. They fail to equate the evils around them with God's word. They do not apply God's law either to themselves, to their people nor to the surrounding society.
Some time ago, I advised someone to read Daniel 4, to see that the Lord ruleth in the kingdom of men, and exalts whomsoever he will, vv. 25, 34, 35, 37. (Romans 9 sums up the doctrine illustrated in Daniel 4.) The response was that that chapter was for Nebuchadnezzar only, and we were not to think that what God told Nebuchadnezzar (total control over everything, every one and every event) is true today. We will not get into Divine Sovereignty at this time, but check The 1689 London Baptist Confession, chapters 3 & 5.
The reason I point that out is that the following passage in Ezekiel 7 will be dismissed by many as simply God's word for that period of time, and is not to be taken seriously in our "age of grace."
However, there is still a remnant left who believe that all scripture, referring particularly to the Old Testament, is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. If you are part of that remnant, the following doctrine and instruction is for you. However, if you are not, then you might as well skip the following, for you will not believe it anyway.
Ezekiel gives a sad warning in 7:3, 8, 9, 24-27. The warning there was not to the pagans, but to his own people. The problem was that his people were acting like pagans, so he was going to treat them like pagans.
1) Now the end is come upon thee, O Israel. You are "God's chosen people," called to represent him in the midst of the pagan world. Who would have thought that a nation so high would come so low?
2) send my anger from heaven in the form of a pagan nation with the sword that will punish you for your departure from my ways.
3) judge thee according to thy ways according to all your abominations; after many years, you will start reaping the results what you have sown.
4) I will shortly pour out the payment for the abominations of his people, e.g., Proverbs 6.
5) God's payment will not be pleasant, but it will be earned. The sin has gone beyond repentance and mercy, so there will be no pity.
6) The judgment will be by the hands of not just any heathen, but the worst of the heathen.
7) Those being judged will seek peace without success.
8) V. 26 is what caught my attention: then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients
but the law shall perish from the priest; whose lips should keep knowledge, and from whose mouth the law, the doctrine and interpretation of it, might be expected; but now either there would be no priests at all; or such as were would be ignorant and unlearned, and incapable of instructing the people: (Gill)
But the law shall perish; Heb. and, rather than but. When they consult the priest, their ordinary director by the law, alas! if any remain, they are ignorant of the law, nor have they sacrifices to bring to them to offer unto God. Religious men can afford them no comfort, nor shall their senators know what to advise. (Poole)
But the law shall perish from the priest.] Not only prophecy, which is an extraordinary gift, shall fail them, but also the ordinary preaching of God's Word, and all good advice and provision of human wisdom. And yet this foolish people were wont to soothe up themselves and say, The law shall not perish from the priest, nor wisdom from the ancient. {#Jer 18:18} (Trapp)
Stroke upon stroke does the ruin come; and it is intensified by reports, alarming accounts, which crowd together and increase the terror, and also by the desperation of the spiritual and temporal leaders of the nation-the prophets, priests, and elders-whom God deprives of revelation, knowledge, and counsel; so that all ranks (king and princes and the common people) sink into mourning, alarm, and horror. That it is to no purpose that visions or prophecies are sought from the prophets (v. 26), is evident from the antithetical statement concerning the priests and elders which immediately follows. The three statements serve as complements of one another. They seek for predictions from prophets, but the prophets receive no vision, no revelation. They seek instruction from priests, but instruction is withdrawn from the priests; and so forth. Toorâh signifies instruction out of the law, which the priests were to give to the people (Mal 2:7). (Vv. 25, 26. Keil-Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament.)
According to Ezekiel, God's judgment against his people includes withholding a proper understanding of his law from those who should be able to give that understanding. That lack of proper understanding leads to his just judgment against their lawlessness.
Are we not facing God's righteous judgment against our lawlessness today as we see families forcefully separated by the State?
We must say that the church is doing its part in destroying the Biblical family.
Some time ago, a family with several children from Kansas visited us while we were in Linden, IN. The problem was that one of the pastors (the "youth" pastor) of the church they were attending was very sympatric to one of their daughters who was discontent in the home. Among other things, she could not agree with their standards, which were quite different from the church's. He encouraged the young lady to move out of the home, assuring her that she was old enough to be on her own, and that she could place herself under the "church's protection."
The daughter moved out, and did her best to wrongly influence the remaining children who were still in the home. The parents saw moving out of reach of that church as their only option, if they were going to protect their other children from that ungodly influence. We had to sadly agree with their option that they either had to persuade their daughter to move back home, or they had to move out of her reach so they would not lose their other children to the church that was undermining their authority.
They moved, and are now living in Florida, and are publishing a small family paper.
What does the Bible say about a daughter's place in society? Consider God's law as found in Numbers 30. God makes no provision for, nor even mentions, a Biblical position for a young lady "on her own."
How many pastors read Numbers 30 with no practical application in mind. "It is part of God's word, but it is Old Testament, so it does not really concern us." Thus, he does not offend the single, career ladies in his church.
The Spirit tells us that God only recognizes three states for a lady: 1. Under her father. 2. Under her husband. 3. Under God as a divorced or widowed woman. There is no place in Scripture for a young lady to place herself under the protection of a "church," or in the Old Testament, under the leaders of the Tabernacle or Temple –that is, the Levites, or the teachers of God's word, as identified in Ezekiel 44:23 & Nehemiah 8:7, 8. However, a father and daughter can come to an agreement on her activities outside of the home, while he still retains his proper authority.
Charles Hodge, commenting on Ephesians 6:1,
Children, obey your parents. The nature or character of this obedience, is expressed by the words, in the Lord. It should be religious; arising out of the conviction that such obedience is the will of the Lord. This makes it a higher service than if rendered from fear or from mere natural affection. It secures its being prompt, cordial and universal. That kuriov here refers to Christ is plain from the whole context. In the preceding chapter, v. 21, we have the general exhortation under which this special direction to children is included, and the obedience there required is to be rendered in the fear of Christ. In the following verses also kupiov constantly has this reference, and therefore must have it here. The ground of the obligation to filial obedience is expressed in the words, for this is right. It is not because of the personal character of the parent, nor because of his kindness, nor on the ground of expediency, but because it is right; an obligation arising out of the nature of the relation between parents and children, and which must exist wherever the relation itself exists.
"No evil can become an excuse for more evil." RJR, 123
I tried to find some kind of information concerning the history of the parent's authority over children, and this is really the only thing I could find:
"The general state of Jewish society shows us parents as fondly watching over their children, and children as requiting their care by bearing with the foibles, and even the trials, arising from the caprices of old age and infirmity. Such things as undutifulness, or want of loving consideration for parents, would have wakened a thrill of horror in Jewish society. As for crimes against parents, which the law of God visited with the utmost penalty, they seem happily to have been almost unknown. The Rabbinical ordinances, however, also specified the obligation of parents, and limited their power. Thus a son was considered independent whenever he could gain his own living ; and, although a daughter remained in the power of her father till marriage, she could not, after she was of age, be given away without her own express and free consent. A father might chastise his child; but only while young, and even then not to such extent as to destroy self-respect. But to beat a grown-up son was forbidden on pain of excommunication ; and the apostolic injunction (Eph. vi. 4), "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath," finds almost its literal counterpart in the Talmud (Moed K. 17 a). Properly speaking, indeed, the Jewish law limited the absolute obligation of a father to feed, clothe, and house his child to his sixth year, after which he could only be admonished to it as one of the duties of love, but not legally constrained (Chethub. 49 b ; 65 b). In case of separation of the parents, the mother had charge of the daughters, and the father of the sons ; but the latter also might be intrusted to the mother, if the judges considered it for the advantage of the children." (Sketches of Jewish Life in The Days of Christ, Rev. Dr. Edersheim, Vicar of Lorders, Dorset. London: The Religious Tract Society. Pardon and Son, Printers. 1876. Pp. 99, 100.)
Marriage in New Testament times was considered a religious duty, and took place at a much younger age than today: men were expected to marry at ages 16-17, and no later than 20. The high priest was to marry a maid who was no older than 6 months past puberty. Marriage was considered better than study, and was a religious obligation. (Ibid, 147.)
Accordingly, the daughter remained in her father's home under his power and care until marriage, which is reflected in the marriage ceremony. However, it was common for marriage to take place much sooner than it does today. Covetousness, as well as the unholy emphasis on "education on the part of young men, and young women, has hindered marriage as a duty (to raise a godly offspring), and marriage at an early age. We as parents have, generally, failed to teach the responsibility or the importance of early marriage. Rather, the emphasis is on "study" and making money.
Consider the change of thinking since New Testament times – now marriage is considered a prison to keep one from doing his or her own thing, and children are seen as a curse rather than a blessing.
According to Scripture, the daughter remains under the father's protection, authority and care until she marries. If a young lady is not under her father's authority until marriage, then why does the father walk his daughter down the aisle in marriage? Are you not being inconsistent with your stand that the father no longer has that authority when the young lady reaches a certain age?
From my personal involvement in the "Mega Church" movement (which I have been out of for 25 years), I found that those "Mega Churches" sought to replace the family. I sat in more than one staff meeting where the topic was how the church can be everything to everyone, because to leave the young people to themselves and to their families would lead to their misuse of time. The "Mega Churches," from my experience, sought to replace the parents. For a pastor to claim that a church can replace the Biblical role of a father in protecting his children is to claim that the church has God's commission to replace the family. Those offering any idea that the Scriptures even imply that a church can replace the father as the legitimate authority in a single person's life, particularly a young lady, are adding a man-pleasing doctrine to Scripture.
Yet the same men will complain when the State moves in to replace the parental authority with its own. Why is God permitting the State to usurp that authority? No doubt, Christians are reaping what they have sown, as over the past years (30 of which I was involved) they have worked at having churches replace the parents in the lives of the children of the families. (At what age does a person cease being a child of a particular set of parents?)
The feminist, sodomite, humanist agenda is succeeding because it has gained the "Christian Colleges" and "Christian Pulpits" of even the best churches of the land. Can we separate enough from our humanist upbringing to rethink and reform the very basic area of the family?
As we have mentioned, we were commissioned by Pastor Lloyd Sprinkle of Providence Baptist Church in Harrisonburg, VA, to start a church here in the Moorefield area of WV. We are The Providence Baptist Church of Moorefield, WV. (2141 North River Rd, Baker WV. 26801)
The Sunday meetings are holding their own, and the Wednesday evening meetings are doing fine. It draws several people who attend other churches on Sundays, but who like the informal, serious and honest Bible study we have.
We have been studying the book of John since the first of this year, with a few side tracks, such as the 4th commandment, election, &c.
A couple of weeks ago, one of the WN men asked who the Pharisees were. As I examined the history of the Pharisees, I found an interesting point. I will skip lightly over the common things about the Pharisees, and point out the one characteristic.
There were three parties in Christ's day – the Pharisees, the Sadducee and the Essenes. Since the Essenes are not mentioned in the Scripture, we will not deal with them.
The Pharisees
A sect that seems to have started after the Jewish exile. In addition to OT books the Pharisees recognised in oral tradition a standard of belief and life. They sought for distinction and praise by outward observance of external rites and by outward forms of piety, and such as ceremonial washings, fastings, prayers, and alms giving; and, comparatively negligent of genuine piety, they prided themselves on their fancied good works. They held strenuously to a belief in the existence of good and evil angels, and to the expectation of a Messiah; and they cherished the hope that the dead, after a preliminary experience either of reward or of penalty in Hades, would be recalled to life by him, and be requited each according to his individual deeds. In opposition to the usurped dominion of the Herods and the rule of the Romans, they stoutly upheld the theocracy and their country's cause, and possessed great influence with the common people. According to Josephus they numbered more than 6000. They were bitter enemies of Jesus and his cause; and were in turn severely rebuked by him for their avarice, ambition, hollow reliance on outward works, and affection of piety in order to gain popularity. (OLB, Greek Lexicon.)
The Pharisees were a non-Biblical association of men, or a school of thought, which functioned basically as a political party. Though popular and respected, they had no political power. Rather, their power was persuasion.
According to the McClintock & Strong's Cyclopedia (Ages Software):
There were two essential conditions required of those who wished to become a member of the Pharisaic association. Each candidate was required to promise in the presence of three members that —
(i) He would set apart all the sacred tithes on the produce of the land, and refrain from eating anything which had not been tithed, or about the tithing of which there was any doubt; (Matthew 23:23, Luke 11:42.)
(ii) He would scrupulously observe the most essential laws of purity which so materially affected the eating of food and all family affairs. (Matthew 15:2, 11, Mark 7:3.)
There were a great number of Mosaic Tithing, Dietary and Ceremonially pure laws, which included Sabbath keeping, and the Pharisees prided themselves in keeping them all. Their method of keeping the Sabbath was interesting, particularly when it came to the Sabbath-day's journey:
The distance which they had sometimes to walk to join a company in the social meal was more than a Sabbath-day's journey; the carrying from one place to another of the things requisite for the solemnities was contrary to the enactments about the sanctity of the day. Hence they contrived the ideal connection of places, which was effected as follows: Before the Sabbath commenced (i.e. Friday afternoon), an article of food was deposited by each member in the court selected for the social gathering, so that it might thereby become the common place for all; the streets were made to form one large dwelling place with different gates, by means of beams laid across on the tops of the houses, and doors or gates put in the front; and meals were put in a house at the end of the distance permitted to walk, in order to constitute it a domicile, and thus another Sabbath-day's journey could be undertaken from the first terminus. By this means the Pharisees could evade the law, and, like the priests, meet together in any place to celebrate their social meals on the Sabbath, and carry anything that was wanted for its sacred festival, as they had three common meals on the Sabbath.
It is not hard to follow Christ's confrontation of the Pharisees and their laws:
"not that which goeth into the mouth [i.e, untithed food or edibles handled by Levitically unclean persons] defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man" Matthew 15:11
Phariseeism developed after the return from Babylonian captivity, particularly during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, 175-163 BC. Even today, it is the national faith of the orthodox Jews, as it develops and adopts itself to the ever-shifting circumstances of the nation.
As a people of priests and kings (the nation of Israel as a whole was called to be such a people, Exodus 19:6), the Pharisees considered themselves the guardians of the divine law and the ancestral customs, trusting implicitly that he who selected them to be his peculiar people would protect and shield them and theirs from all outward dangers which threatened the state. They were firmly permeated by the conviction that as long as they were faithful to their God no power on earth, however formidable, would be permitted successfully to ravish his holy heritage. Hence they repudiated the time-serving policy of the aristocratic Sadducees, who maintained that a man's destiny was in his own hands, and that human ingenuity and statecraft ought to be resorted to in political matters.
The Pharisees lead a temperate life, renouncing both excessive riches and immoderate pleasure. They strived above all to acquire a knowledge of that law and to practice those precepts which would fit them for the life to come.
The Pharisees of Christ's day were popular with the people, for the Pharisees put mild interpretation upon some of the rigorous Mosaic laws, and adapted them to the ever-changing circumstances. In other words, they "understood" the law according to changing social conditions, and gave meanings that pleased the people. (Mark 7:9-13.)
The Pharisees had multitudes of detailed rites, ceremonies and rituals attached to the Mosaic law, which led to formalism, outward religiousity, self-complacency, superstition and hypocrisy. The Pharisees must be regarded as having been some of the most intense formalists the world has ever seen. Our Lord found plenty of occasion to expose and reprove their externalism. However, not all Pharisees could be branded as self-righteous, superstitious or hypocrites, no more than every modern church can be branded with the infirmities and extravagance of which individual members are guilty. In fact, the language which the Pharisees themselves used to denounce the proud, formalistic, self-righteous hypocrites in their own sect was as strong as the language used by our Lord.
Though the influence of the Pharisees has been strong in world history, we will not go into their theology.
The term "Pharisee" is commonly used today, but I have never heard it used in the full sense of the word.
Certainly, the Pharisees made a show of keeping the law. However, they did not keep the law as it was given through Moses. They had the people deceived into thinking they were very religious, while their "inside" was full of dead men's bones. (Matthew 23:27.)
They held themselves up as proper interrupters of the law, yet they gave unBiblical meanings to the law—meanings that would please the people. Mark 7:11. Though the Pharisees professed to love God and his law, and considered themselves the protectors of that law, they changed it from its God-given intent to man-pleasing doctrines, as we see in places such as Mark 7:9-13
Accordingly, we have many Pharisees today — men who claim to love God and his word, and claim to believe and teach his law-word, yet they change God's unchanging law-word to something more acceptable in current social conditions. I will not say their messages are Politically Correct, for they may preach strong Politically Incorrect messages. Rather, their messages are "Socially Correct" messages—messages that will not offend the career women of their congregation, nor those who support the public school system, among other things. Thus, their messages are basically "anti-family." (The statist education is clearly anti-Christian, as is the career women movement, which started with WW II.)
These preachers "interpret" and teach God's word in a manner that will permit the people to fit into what is socially correct for the day, e.g., the feminist agenda, humanism (self-centered rather than Christ centered lives, http://www.jcn.com/manifestos.html), self-acceptance, statist education, &c.
The Feminist Agenda can be summed up as any teaching that is contrary to Numbers 30, 1 Timothy 5 & Titus 2, including the aversion to children, which is very common among even Christians, Psalms 127.
The Pharisees interpreted the law and added many traditions to the law, so the people could think they were obeying the law without having to follow its God-intended meaning.
The modern Pharisees accuse those who try to apply God's word according to its proper meaning of "Legalism," e.g., Titus 2. The modern Pharisee teaches the Scripture in such a way that "Christian Liberty" means "liberty" to follow one's "Christian" conscience, rather than liberty from the power of sin, so one can live according to God's well-established standard as found in his total word. (See chapter 21, The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689.)
We realize that all men are given to seek righteousness by outward actions, so the Pharisees were not unique in the problem of outward religion and traditions replacing genuine, redeeming faith and Godly good works.
There are clearly more Pharisees in the pulpits today than there are Godly men who will hold the people to a proper understanding of the law-word of God.
[Please note: I am not, nor have I ever, advocated keeping the Mosaic law for salvation. Salvation is only available though faith alone in Christ alone through grace alone. Then it is his grace working in the people that enables them to obey and that obedience acceptable to the Father. Hebrews 11:6.]
Years ago, an Indianapolis preacher was at church when he received a phone call from his wife that his daughter was very sick with a fever. He left work and stopped at the nearby K-mart pharmacy to get some medication.
He got back to his car and found that he had locked his keys in the car. He didn't know what to do, so he called home and told his wife what had happened.
His wife told hin that the fever was getting worse. She said,"You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door."
The Preacher looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been left on the ground, possibly by someone else who at some time had locked their keys in their car. He looked at the hanger perplexed and said, "I don't know how to use this," not being ever associated with mechanical things.
He bowed his head and asked God to send him some help. Within five minutes a beat up old motorcycle pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head.
The preacher thought, "God, this is what you sent to help me?" But, he was desperate, so he was also very thankful.
The man got off of his cycle and asked if he could help. The preacher said, "Yes, I am a preacher, and my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?"
He said, "Sure." He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute the car was opened
The preacher hugged the man and through his tears he said, "Thank you so much! You are a very nice man."
The man replied, "Rev, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour."
The Preacher hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, "Oh, Thank you God! You even sent me a Professional!"
He then turned to the man and asked him if he would not do an interview on his TV program, regarding the government's treatment of its prisoners.
Isn't GOD GOOD?
Where has all the time gone? Though I have had time to put this issue together, we have not had the funds to make the mailing. The postal increase "killed" us, raising our mailing expense by about $400. That is a good amount for any group who does not use the "Not For Profit" stamp, and especially bad for very small mailers like us.
If you receive a blessing from this publication, please support it, for we do not mail until we have the finances. The income we receive for the Examiner goes right to the printer, and when we have sent enough to him to pay the printing and postage bill, we mail. If you want to keep up with what is going on, you can check the web site. It costs nothing to update it. (Those who send checks can see the printers stamp on the back of them. We can also use checks made out to Providence Baptist Church, for the printer has no problem depositing them after we stamp them. Though we do not encourage the practice, you can mark off donations from your taxes.) The printer does everything. All I do is send a PDF file to him, and then pick up the extras that I have printed for those who want several copies.
So here we are, having missed the Summer edition. We are selling a house, and I had hoped to have it sold during the Summer to pay for the Summer issue, but... The worst thing about moving was that we had to give up the best address one could have, Stonewall Jackson Highway. Please pray with us about the sale of the house. It is a very unique house—passive solar, with an auxiliary diesel generator, as well as a good many new updates. In the four years I lived there, we had no heat bill. It is an ideal house for telecommuting. (It is about an hour from the DC beltway.) The Lord has been in the move and the church starting here. Please pray with us that the Lord will complete our move by sending a buyer to us who will appreciate the unique house.
We are settled in West Virginia, and the church is holding its own. The Sunday services are doing well, while the Wednesday evening Bible Studies are "prospering." We get several folks on Wednesday evening who go to church elsewhere on Sundays, but enjoy the informal midweek Bible study.
Sadly, though we are a couple mountain ranges away from DC, we are still close enough to DC for the DC crowd to buy up as much land as possible, thus raising property tax.
We are joining with some "social" groups in order to get to know our community.
Many things have taken place this summer. We are still trying to fit into this smaller house, among other things.
As we have mentioned, the web site, ww2color.com is our web site. It now contains almost 7,000 WW II original color images, mostly "WarBirds." I still have about 10,000 WW II and Korean images to scan. If you would like to see some of our images in "action," check in any large book store.
* "The World at War" by Richard Holmes, published by Random House, 2007, used several of our images. It is a printed version of the TV series, The World at War, first broadcast in 1973.
* Reminisce, a subsidiary of Readers Digest, has just released a 3 DVD set, Reminisce *Through the Decades* The 1940s. Almost all of the color shots in this set, particularly disk 1, are from our collection.
* And the November issue of Aviation History contains one of our images on the inside of the back cover.
Overseas publishers particularly like our images. About once a year, a Japanese publisher does a "Famous Airplanes of the World" issue, for which we furnish most of the color images. This year they did one on the B-17, with a good amount of our images of B-17s. I wish it were in English. It is a very attractive publication.
Someone loaned us some passes to the Creation Museum last summer. It was well worth our time to go. Bettie's youngest daughter lives within a couple of hours from the museum, so when we go see them, we can go on to the museum.
Really, the highlight of the summer has been my wife's surgery. Bettie had her right knee replaced. The procedure went well, but the pain has been quite "sharp." Her right leg was shorter than her left because of the degenerated right knee. When the knee was replaced, it lengthened the leg, and stretched the muscles. The stretching muscles and swelling has been very painful. We understand it takes several months for the pain to recede, and the swelling to go down. But she can now walk without a limp, as well as stand up straight.
She has two children expecting babies next year. That will make 20 grandchildren.
Winter is here, with the first snow Friday the 9th, and this mountain top is windy.
Jennie Chancey, Bettie's oldest child, has just coauthored a book with Stacy McDonald, Passionate Housewives Desperate for God, published by Vision Forum. <www.visionforum.com>
Passionate Housewives Desperate for God
Have you struggled to reconcile God's vision of virtuous womanhood with worldly myths that marginalize and mock the role of the homemaker?
Do you wrestle with cultural messages that demean the homemaker's calling and exalt instead the emotionally androgynous power-woman — the wife whose worth is measured only by the degree of her ambition, the shape of her body, or her money-making skills? Such is the image of the "desperate housewife" that the modern media, culture, and feminism are promoting with great energy.
In a delightfully fresh and honest way, this book addresses these issues head-on and provides fresh vision for the hopeful homemaker. Hear a former "Christian" feminist share how she went from a die-hard homemaker-in-training to a dedicated career woman and then back again — after God gripped her heart. See the hollow counterfeit of whitewashed feminism and "me-ology" destroyed. And consider the beautiful picture painted in Scripture of the truly fulfilled homemaker who glories in the hopeful calling God created for her.
Pull up a chair, dust off the cookie crumbs, and join Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald as they lay aside stereotypes like the "Stepford wife" and dispel such myths as the 1950s "perfect homemaker." Laughter and tears will flow, and hopefully you will be infused with a renewed vision for victory as a wife and mother. Discover what it means to be a passionate housewife "desperate" for God alone!
Passionate Housewives Desperate for God is an exceptionally well written book. Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald do not pretend to be the perfect wives, mothers, and homemakers, but they do have a heart for God and His glory.... This book will make you think, will convict you, and will.... give you a "fresh vision for the hopeful homemaker." —Martha Peace, biblical counselor and author of The Excellent Wife
"Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald have spoken the Truth with a capital T in their wonderful book Passionate Housewives Desperate for God. Totally grounded in Scripture, this book winsomely presents the true picture of a godly homemaker. Prepare to be stimulated, challenged, and encouraged as a woman. This book is a real gem!" —Vickie Farris, wife of Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association
"Jesus came that we might have life abundant. Passionate Housewives reminds us where we might find that life: in submitting to our husbands, in serving our children through loving and training them, and in believing the Word of God." —Denise Sproul, wife of Pastor R.C. Sproul, Jr.
"Passionate Housewives Desperate for God challenges women to enthusiastically embrace our high calling—that of wife and mother. Be encouraged as Jennie and Stacy reveal God's truth and expose the lies that lead to disillusionment. May you come away empowered by God's grace to love and honor your husband and to joyfully lead your children by example to love God and serve others." —Michelle Duggar, wife of Jim Bob Duggar, whose family story has been featured on Discovery Channel's "Raising 16 Children"
"As a mother of eight, I am encouraged to see this book published to help women who desire to walk as passionate servants, who want to ‘do the right thing' and who love the natural yearnings which God created in them. We all have a longing to create, cultivate, and faithfully nurture the gifts God has given us. When the gifts come in the form of family, we would do well to listen to the biblical wisdom of Stacy and Jennie to counteract the Western culture's strident cry for self-assertion. I gladly recommend this book for all women who want to honor Him and help others (even a two year old!) to glorify Him by dying to self with joy and thanksgiving. He is worthy of our efforts, and these two authors cheer us on to biblical femininity." —Valerie Shepard, wife of Pastor Walt Shepard and daughter of Elisabeth Elliot
"Hope! Hope! Hope! This book gives hope to Christian women who desire a Christ-centered vocation of victory as wife, mother, homemaker, and woman of God. Jennie and Stacy expose the fraud of Christian feminism and provide practical wisdom for all who aspire to be women of God." —Beall Phillips, wife of Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum
The Monstrous Regiment of Women.
Now Available! – The Monstrous Regiment of Women, The Gunn Brother's second documentary, goes all out to demolish the feminist worldview. From a consistently Christian perspective, they show how feminism has had a devastating impact on the church, state, and family.
Starting with the infamous 16th century essay written by the reformer John Knox against the reigning female monarch, the Gunn Brothers find plenty of application to America's political landscape; where feminists vie for every possible office including the presidency.
Featuring an all star, all female cast, the Gunn Brothers prove that feminism has in fact restricted choices for all women, brought heartache to the lives of many, and perpetuated the largest holocaust since the beginning of time. (Winner! Best of Festival, San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival) <http://www.monstrousregiment.com/>
The Golden Compass
The 2007 film The Golden Compass is based on a series of books with anti-religious themes.
There will be a new Children's movie out in December called THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It is written by Phillip Pullman, a proud athiest who belongs to secular humanist societies. He hates C. S. Lewis's Chronical's of Narnia and has written a trilogy to show the other side. The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope that they will buy his trilogy where in the end the children kill God and everyone can do as they please. Nicole Kidman stars in the movie so it will probably be advertised a lot. This is just a friendly warning that you sure won't hear on the regular TV.
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
What a mess.
Giuliani:
Gays for Giuliani. http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/9805-gays-for-giuliani-releases-their-first-ad
Lying again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLH2Eo6JgVw
9/11 Corruption. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZFkh8tFumI
Fred Thompson:
Reform Group: Thompson Would Hike Taxes, 11/8/07. By: Ronald Kessler
When it comes to taxes, Fred Thomson is the "worst" of the Republican presidential candidates, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, tells Newsmax. <http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/?s=al&promo_code=3CA4-1>
Clinton:
Mash-up, Hillary Clinton, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo
Christians Need To Beware Of Mike Huckabee
In spite of Huckabee's proven big-government, big-spending, and pro-amnesty record, however, some Christian conservatives are falling for his conservative rhetoric. It seems that all a Republican candidate has to do is start talking "pro-life" and "pro-marriage" and he or she will gain the support of certain Christian conservatives.......
http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin411.htm
Obama:
Who knows? From what I have been able to gather, his father and step-father were both followers of Mohamad, and his first schooling involved radical Mohamadism. His name has been changed from Barry Soretoro, and he was enroled in his school as a Muslim. His father was involved in one of the most corrupt and violent organizations in Africa. Only the Lord and Obama know the truth about him. But we do know that he has kept his family heritage very well hidden. Furthermore, his rise out of nowhere certainly raises questions.
The picture of his public regard for the American flag says more than we can say. Where is his allegiance?
(I must admit that I have a problem "swearing allegiance" since I heard John Weaver's message on the "pledge." However, that certainly is not Obama's problem with the flag. <http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=730611024>)
<http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/14/1887/>
<http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2006/10/is-barack-obama-lying-about-his-life.html>
Ron Paul:
Ron Paul at the Values Voters Debate, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRi8tswSkB4
Ron Paul on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. http://youtube.com/profile?user=RonPaul2008dotcom
Ron Paul is really the only one a Christian can support. There is no "lesser of two" evils to vote for this year without Paul. How can we vote for evil, even voting against a woman or against a Muslim?
Report from India, Bro Joel Saripalli
Bro Saripalli had planned to come to the US to raise support. However, his father fell desperately ill, and needed surgery. Bro. Joel felt it was his responsibility to remain in India and care for his dad.
Here are some notes from him.
Aug 17, 2007, Dear Bro. Need,
Greetings once again in the Precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hope this finds you in good health and in the midst of rich blessings from our Lord.
I had written to you a couple of weeks ago informing you of what has been happening here. Since I last wrote to you, my father has fallen seriously ill. He is completely paralyzed from his hips downward. He had been complaining of severe backaches for over a month now and on the 1st of August, he suddenly lost his walking ability and is now bedridden.
We had rushed him to several hospitals and the doctors performed several tests and MRI scans and found that there is a lesion in his spine which caused pressure on the nerves and resulted in his losing his legs. The doctors wanted to operate, but when they tested his heart they found that the lower lobe on his heart is not functioning and thus operation would be too risky, since they need to put him on general anesthesia. He had a biopsy done on his spine and is now waiting to have a biopsy done on his marrow. He is in severe pain and is suffering much.
Due to this unfortunate family emergency I had to alter our plans of coming to the U.S. Since my mother has limited help, I thought as a son, it is my responsibility to attend to this emergency. I hope you understand. We are looking to the Lord as to when He would have us to come back to fellowship with you all.
Do continue to pray for us and know that you are in our prayers. May God bless you.
October 30, 2007, Dear Bro. Need,
Just yesterday I was checking the Examiner online and wanting to write you an update concerning the developments here. But I was called away on a medical emergency by one of our church members.
My father's operation was successful, however, he has not recovered his walking ability. We are wondering if he ever will. He is still needing a lot of care. In the meanwhile, my wife and I are also being handicapped financially in progressing with the Gospel work.
I have not been to the mountains in a couple of months, but we do have a trip planned starting on the 10th of November. The tribes are frustrated with our absence but they have kept the faith. Our preachers from that area have come and spent time here in Hyderabad reporting of the developments, and have been beseeching me to go with them as there are some new developments there.
We praise the Lord for one church in Texas that has come forward to support us at $55 a month. [Also, a deacon] had sent a $100 our way this month and has written to us that their church is considering taking us on for support on a monthly basis.
We are praying about my coming over to the US and wondering if it would be feasible. Do let me know how you feel regarding this. How is everyone at Providence Baptist Church in Baker? Kindly convey our regards to all and also to Bro. Lloyd Sprinkle. You are always in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you for your love and support.
November 6, 2007, Dear Pastor Ovid Need,
Greetings to you and all at the Providence Baptist Church. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ has sustained us thus far in the work that God has called us to and we are confident that it will be grace that will lead us home. We again thank and appreciate the love and the confidence that you have shown in our ministry, by sponsoring and supporting us.
Despite the fact that the lack of support has greatly limited our work (such as halting the T.V. ministry) we have been able to continue and the churches that have already been started are progressing and growing not just in numbers, but in Spiritual maturity.
As you are aware, we have been working extensively among the tribals in Andhra Pradesh for several years now. I and a few men from our ministry will be heading up to the mountains on November 10th in order to encourage the churches that we have been able to start amidst the tribes there and also to venture into new areas with the Gospel. We will be gone a couple of weeks, so do pray for us regarding this treacherous trip. The tribes there view the Gospel as being a hindrance to their spiritism, which many times makes them unfriendly toward us.
Over the past 10 days, we have traveled to other villages, namely Govindraopet, Hanmakonda and Karmanghat. Here also, we have seen a great Spiritual hunger and have been able to sow the precious seed of God's Word and proclaim His Redeeming Grace to many who are bound by their Idol-Worship and Myths. I know that in God's time we will reap a good harvest in these places. We are being invited back by these folks to come and spend more time with them declaring unto them the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do continue to pray for us and also certain special needs. We are looking to the Lord to supply the need of Hymn books for our congregations and also the ever pressing need of transportation, since I had to dispose our only Van in order to meet certain other financial needs. We are looking to the Lord in regards to our coming to the U.S. Thank you again for Christ-like love shown toward us. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
By His Grace Alone, Bro. Joel Saripalli
India
India has a staggering racial, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity. Hindu 79.83%, Muslim 12.50%, Christian 2.40%
In recent years several of India's states have faced religious violence, as radical Hindus have become increasingly open in their conflict with Christians. In the last five years, there have been reports of pastors and priests beaten, nuns harassed and raped, and other violence directed at Christians. In 2006 more than 200 acts of violence were reported against Christians. Several pastors and evangelists were martyred. The remains of Yesu Das were discovered in a gunny sack that had been dumped in bushes near a paddy field. His attackers had used an axe to slice his body into pieces. Police reported they found a blood-stained Gospel tract in Yesu's hand; he had offered it to his murderers. Anti-conversion laws are still on the books in five Indian states. They impose prison terms and hefty fines against anyone who converts Indians by force, fraud or allurement. Christians say their mission to serve the sick and needy is threatened, because any gift or material benefit received by Christian converts can be considered an allurement to convert. (Voice of the Martyrs, Special Issue, 2007. www.persecution.com)
Foreign missionaries are forbidden in India, but Brother Joel is a national. Thus, he is permitted to spread the gospel, which brings persecution from the Hindus.
It is indeed sad that he had to discontinue the T.V. ministry, which was over a Hindu T.V. station. Many Hindus and Muhammadans, especially women, were able to hear the gospel in the privacy of their own homes while their husbands were out and around.
I realize that some may not like the idea that Bro. Joel is a "Sovereign Grace" preacher, and maybe some other things, but he is preaching a gospel that we all should be able to support; that is, the free grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
As the economical well-being produced by Christianity continues to deteriorate (gold is well over $800, and silver over 15. [a silver 1964 dime is now worth $1.30 in paper money. Inflation created by the Fed's book keeping entry. The Federal Reserve has nothing to do with the Federal Government]), the money for discretionary spending is greatly reduced. However, as times get difficult, tithing to God-honoring, Kingdom-building causes is even more important.
Bro Joel is worthy of our support. If you would like more information, let me know. I will send the addresses of the churches mentioned above, and you can "check him out" with those who know him better than I. You can also contact him directly, Joel Saripalli <joelsaripalli@msn.com>
You may send funds to him through Mr. Shawn Barnett, 135 Cedar Lane, Dobson LA 71422. It costs $15 for each funds transfer from the US to India, so please keep that in mind. Or you can send funds through us here at Providence Baptist Church of Moorefield.
Iran
There is a continued drumbeat of propaganda from certain elements of the Christian Right, demanding that America attack Iran as soon as possible. All we need now is a good reason for such an attack, which might have the result of plunging the world into World War III.
One proposed reason is that "We have to attack Iran now before they have the chance to nuke us." The problem with this reason is that Iran has no nukes. No intelligence agency has alleged or provided evidence that Iran has a program to manufacture nuclear weapons. Even if Iran did have nukes, they do not have any missiles capable of striking America with any such weapons. Iran poses no conceivable military threat to America.
The case is made that "Maybe Iran poses no threat to us now, but they may pose a threat at some timein the future, so we have to attack them now." This reasoning could justify an American attack on any nation in the world, since every nation, even those who are friendly to us now, might turn against us and become a threat at some point in the remote future. So, to feel perfectly safe, we have to attack everybody. That may take time, with our forces currently overburdened and bogged down in the quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We have to attack Iran because the President of Iran has denied the Holocaust." So this gives us the right to bomb Iran and kill millions of Iranians, just because their President made some idiotic remarks? (And in his recent appearance in New York City, President Ahmadinejad for all practical purposes retracted his earlier remarks and admitted that the Holocaust did happen).
"We have to attack Iran because they have threatened to wipe Israel off the map." It is not true that Iran has threatened to wipe Israel off the map, as has been pointed out previously in this periodical (March 2007 issue) and other publications. The remarks by Ahmadinejad were translated incorrectly. All he said was that they hope that Israel will someday disappear from the pages of history - Iran has not threatened to attack Israel, unless it is attacked by Israel first. For the Iranian President to express the wish that Israel will someday disappear is not a cause for war, any more than Nikita Khrushchev's "We will bury you" threat against America forced us to attack the Soviet Union.
"We have to attack Iran because they are making trouble in Iraq and Afghanistan and interfering with our occupation of those nations." However, the pro-American heads of state of those nations (al-Maliki of Iraq and Karzai of Afghanistan) have both publicly declared that Iran is friendly to their nations and governments, and is not causing problems for them.
"We have to attack Iran because they are out to destroy Judaism and Christianity." But Jewish synagogues and Christian churches are freely and openly operating and meeting in Iran today. This is in contrast with the pro-American regimes of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan - there is not a single church or synagogue openly functioning in either of those countries. If we don't have a problem with that, then what is the big deal with Iran?
"We have to attack Iran because they are anti-Semitic and are out to kill all the Jews - it is our duty to kill them before they can kill the Jews." However, Iran is still the homeland to the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside of Israel. No one in Iran is killing the Iranian Jews. Why do we have to bomb Iran to protect Jews in other parts of the world, when they are not killing their own Jews, who live under the protection of a decree by the Ayatollah Khomeini forbidding persecution of the Jews?
Somehow the idea has gone forth that the Iranian government and people are innately and fanatically anti-Semitic, but this is not true. During World War II, when Jews in Germany and Eastern Europe were being slaughtered, Iranian Jews were not persecuted at all and were left undisturbed. Also, the Iranian ambassador to France helped to save the lives of Iranian and non-Iranian Jews in Europe.
"In June 1940, embassies were transferred from Paris to Vichy which had become the capital of the new French Government. Nevertheless in each embassy residence in Paris a caretaker was left behind. Uncle Abdol Hossein Sardari . . . who was in charge of consular affairs remained in the former French capital, now occupied by German Nazi military forces.
"At that unfortunate time many Iranian Jewish families lived in Paris. My uncle who liked to entertain, established close contacts with the German authorities and at the outset made it clear to them that Iranian Jews were Iranians since the time of Cyrus the Great and therefore fell under the protection of Iranian laws like any other Iranian. He added that it was the reason why religion was not mentioned in Iranian passports. A letter was sent to my uncle by the German ambassador in Paris assuring him that no Iranian citizen would ever be harmed. As a result, the Iranian Jews of Paris were not subjected tothe special Nazi measures against the Jews.
"When in 1942 round ups of Jews started, and news regarding the `final solution' began to spread, the head of the Iranian Jewish community contacted my uncle about his French co-religionists who were in danger of being sent to concentration camps. My uncle had in his office a good supply of blank Persian passports. He took upon himself to also issue them to non-Iranian Jews who were facing deportation."
A recent Associated Press article reports that the current
Iranian government has produced a movie entitled "Zero Degree
Turn" based on the exploits of the diplomat Sardari in saving
the lives of Jews in France during World War II. This movie, which
is clearly sympathetic to the plight of the persecuted Jews, is
now being shown on state-run TV in Iran.
Iranians are no more anti- Semitic than other peoples of the world.
We just may need to be on guard against racism ourselves. Three
members of the British Parliament have stated that on September
11 of this year, Debra Cagan, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Coalition Affairs, told them, "I hate all Iranians."
If that is the real reason for the attack on Iran, that is simply
not good enough, folks!
US MILITARY COMMANDER SAYS THERE SHOULD BE NO WAR WITH IRAN. Admiral William Fallon, commander of US military forces in the Middle East, told Al-Jazeera on September 21 that "I expect that there will be no war [with Iran] and that is what we ought to be working for. We should find ways through which we can bring countries to work together for the benefit of all. . .. It is not a good idea to be in a state of war. We ought to try and to do our utmost to create different conditions.. . . This constant drum beat of conflict is what strikes me which is not helpful and not useful."
AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN IRAQ - STILL FIGHTING FOR ISLAM? "We thought the Americans were going to bring us freedom and democracy. Instead, they are promoting Islam. We do not understand it. . . . We do not want their effort to be a failure [which it would be] if the dictatorship of Saddam is replaced by the dictatorship of Islam." - Robert, a 31-year-old Iraqi, as quoted in New American, July 2004.
Editor's comment:
Why the big push for war with Iran?
The apparent reason is because Iran is insisting that Japan begin paying for Iranian oil in yen, instead of dollars. Iran also successfully pressured China to begin paying for Iranian oil in euros, not dollars. Bush will bomb Iran because Iran has stopped accepting dollars for oil. He will protect the Saudis because they accept dollars. (Is this why the dollar is sinking to record depths?)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56965
The New York Times, August 15, 2007
U.S. Weighing Terrorist Label for Iran Guards
By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 — The Bush administration is preparing to declare that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is a foreign terrorist organization, senior administration officials said Tuesday.
If imposed, the declaration would signal a more confrontational turn in the administration's approach to Iran and would be the first time that the United States has added the armed forces of any sovereign government to its list of terrorist organizations. ...
[I]n recent months, there has been resurgent debate within the administration about whether the diplomatic path is working, with aides to Vice President Dick Cheney said to be among those pushing for greater consideration of military options. ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/15/world/middleeast/15diplo.html?ei=5065&en=a2ff8e7f7b47bd5c&ex=1187841600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print
If Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is listed as a "terrorist organization," will not that permit Bush to start another unprovoked war against "terrorists," bypassing Congress' constitutional authority to declare war?
China signals dollar swap
By Patrice Hill, November 8, 2007
China roiled financial markets around the globe yesterday when it asserted that the dollar is losing its luster as the world's reserve currency and that Beijing will swap some of its $1.4 trillion in reserves out of U.S. dollars and into stronger currencies like the euro and Canadian dollar. ...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071108/BUSINESS/111080086/1001
Oil, Oil and more Oil
Here are the official estimates of the oil in Colorado:
* 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
* 18-times as much oil as Iraq
* 21-times as much oil as Kuwait
* 22-times as much oil as Iran
* 500-times as much oil as Yemen
More than 2 Trillion barrels, untapped. "That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today," reports the Denver Post. And the least-publicized, we must add.
owned land. The reserve has been known about since early in the 20th century. The problem has been the cost of extracting it from the shale. However, the price of crude now is causing the big oil companies to again develop ways to extract the oil at a reasonable cost.
(http://www.rinf.com/columnists/news/the-us-governments-secret-colorado-oil-discovery)
Of course, the vast sums of money Bush has spent and is spending trying to secure oil in the middle-east would have more than paid to develop good technology to extract the "shale oil."
Dear Bro. Need
Attached is a check. I was surprised and gratified to read your May 2007 position on the law.
This seems to be a forgotten Bible Basic today. The most pernicious theology of "Fundenmentalism" is the too-oft repeated statement "We are no longer under the law; we are under grace."
This is not only false, but is a major factor in the neutralizing of the Church's mission: to proclaim the law as the foundation of God's relationship with man. It is, also, a convenient excuse not to "get involved."
We are, have always been, and will always be under God's law. 1. The law defines sin. 2. The law convicts of sin. 3. The law establishes the need of grace. 4. No law, No grace.
Keep up the good work, and don't pull your punches.
Regards,
Ted... West Chester, PA
Dear Bro. Need:
1st-thanks for one great work you do with the Examiner – I've been receiving it for a few years now and never stopped to express appreciation. The thoughts are great. Bro. John Weaver introduced your paper to me. He is a neighbor (as we country folks define the term) and a good friend.
Also–enclosed is a check for the Martyrdom in Missouri book you've been offering. I'll look forward to it.
Thanks & God Bless
(Pastor) Land, Jacksonville GA 31544
Dear Rev. Need,
I really appreciate your publication & look forward to reading it.
The reason I am writing you is to encourage you to write an article addressing the situation so prevalent in the world today. In all the years I have lived, I don't believe I've ever seen things as bad as they are today. I do believe we are in the "last days" leading up to the rapture of the church and the beginning of the end time events.
Even the churches which are supposed to be evangelical are not teaching the people anything. We were attending a Baptist church but I chose to go elsewhere because I was taking 4 teens to church & S.S. and the Baptist church had no young people.
I didn't want them to get discouraged & not go so ...we started attending a Brethren Church. (After problems with the Baptist church they were attending.) I don't know why they call it a church. They have the Contemporary music & they have a new "pastor" starting this week. They only had one candidate & I asked the man who was head of the pulpit committee why they didn't have more candidates & he said all the others who sent resumes wanted 80 to 90 thousand in salary. This one will get over 50 thousand with benefits. It s a small church 50-60 people. He is young & more of an entertainer than a pastor.
... People, even Christians, are more interested in money & things than in preaching the gospel. Even with missionaries, they do not go to the remote areas. Most go to the big cities. We had a missionary to the Philippines & I asked him afterwards if they had a work on Mudanas(?) (he lived in Manila). He said "No, it's too dangerous there." Menhanao(?) Is where we work.
The whole situation is very troubling. I know Christians need a living wage, but when they put money and the "things" of this world ahead of serving the Lord, where is their faith & trust in the Lord.
God bless you.
Sincerely in Christ,
Naomi Durik
Comment: In the book, The Law Unsealed; or a practical Exposition on the Ten commandments, by James Durham. Published in 1802. With introductions by John Owen and William Jenkyn. Jenkyn dated his words 1765. It is interesting that Mr. Durham complains abut the decay of religion in his day. He points out that genuine religion changes the hearts and lives of men. Every generation feels that their's is the worst and that things cannot degenerate much more. We can only imagine what Christians felt like during the French Revolution, when it was really bad. Modern "Western Style" Christianity, generally, does not produce much, if any, change in dress nor actions. The vast majority of Christians dress and act like the world around them. Such a sad commentary concerning a faith that changed the world at one time. The world has now changed the faith.
Posted By SharperIron On 24th September 2007
by Dan Burrell
For too many churches, the youth pastor has become little more than the spiritual equivalent of an activities director on a cruise ship. He plans "events" and activities, hangs out with the kids, entertains, and provides some semblance of oversight in order to keep the kids reasonably safe and occupied. Many churches have designed "youth programs" that allow their teens to grow up with a sense of "entitlement" wherein they expect to be amused, indulged, and isolated from the adults with most every whim of appetite and interest being met by the church. They have separate services—sometimes to the point that they never even have an opportunity to go to the adult service, which is often described as "dry" and/or "irrelevant" to what they need. (Think about this: Many children are growing up in a church culture where they never sit under the pastor's teaching or with their parents and family in a church service from infancy through adolescence because of nurseries, children's programs, and youth programs.)
Parents frequently demand that the church hire a youth director or pastor whose primary job description is to keep their kids "engaged" in church. This engagement takes place preferably through weekly activities, contemporary music, activities, and youth centers equipped with video games and comfortable lounge areas exclusively reserved for teens. Youth pastors are expected to be "hip," accessible, relevant, and responsible. They need to be masters at keeping teens "occupied."
Thus, many teens develop an "us" vs. "them" mentality toward the older generation in their church (those of their parents' and grandparents' ages). Many of the "older" generation are quite fine with this scenario because—let's face it—teenagers can be rowdy, messy, and ornery. They become compartmentalized apart from the church "body" with their own facilities, program, ministry leadership, music, and calendar. They aren't encouraged—nor sometimes even permitted—to be integrated into service opportunities generally reserved for adults—opportunities like serving as ushers or greeters, participating in the adult choir, or even working in various aspects of the children's ministries. Over time, they buy into a "consumer" mentality of church and expect to have their "needs met" rather than to find their role and function within an overall body life.
Today's youth ministry has been dumbed down for a variety of reasons. I offer a limited list here:
1. We have created an extended adolescence. Western culture has normalized a premature adolescence and a delayed adulthood that have extended puberty into a nearly decade-long process. It begins with little girls wearing makeup in elementary school and ends up with 30-year-old college grads living in their parents' basements with moms still doing their laundry.
2. We do not believe teens listen to or have a thirst for strong scriptural teachings. By listening to our culture, we have bought into the fallacy that kids can't or won't tolerate "deep" stuff and that we must "keep it real" by offering them intellectual and spiritual junk food. We fear challenging our students with meaty subjects that might bore them or turn them off to spiritual interest.
3. We have bought into an entertainment mentality that sees keeping teens occupied as an adult's obligation. The mantra of today's teens is often "I'm bored." Angst-ridden parents with an inflated sense of guilt seem all too willing to rush to provide more activities and distractions for their precious progeny.
4. We fail to recognize the raw potential most adolescents possess. When we study the culture when Jesus walked the Holy Land, we discover that most of His 12 disciples were probably in their late teens to mid-20s. Children were expected to put away much of their childhood once they reached maturity, which is age 13 in Jewish culture. From that landmark age, apprenticeships and jobs soon followed, and many got married in their mid-to-late teenage years. Today's teens are no less capable of acting maturely and of making an impact even in their youth.
5. We have low expectations and even lower accountability for teenagers. Many parents have surrendered their kids to an extended period of foolish behavior marked by rebellion, antisocial (toward adults) behavior, irresponsible conduct, and a lack of accountability. During this time, parents "expect" them to experiment, to sow their "wild oats," and to push the limits. Today's parents expect too little from their teens and seem more than willing to shrug their shoulders and to roll their eyes at behavior that could threaten their health and heart for many years to come.
With these causes in mind, what steps should youth pastors consider to bring sanity back to our strategy for spiritual development among adolescents? Here are some thoughts:
Emphasize Teaching, Not Activities
Expectations need to change as far as what parents and their teens expect from youth ministries. If youth ministry is about drawing a big crowd, then build a huge lounge, order the PS3's, buy a pizza oven, and hire a band. If it's about training young people in the Scriptures and equipping them for ministry, let every parent know upfront that the church's responsibility is not to provide recreation, entertainment, amusement, and a weekly complimentary buffet. Kids need to spend more time at home, not less. Mom and dad would be smart to park the cars in the driveway for a few years, to turn their garage into a family "rec center," and to invite their kid's friends over to their house. Let the church be used for biblical equipping. That doesn't mean that at church teens won't have the occasional fun activity or food. It just means that it is the occasional treat, not the expected norm.
Provide a "Grownup" Youth Pastor
Kids don't need their youth pastor to be their "buddy." He needs to be their pastor. He doesn't need to dress like a mortician, but he shouldn't pretend he's 16 either. (Few things in this world are more pathetic than adults who refuse to grow up. Neither real grownups nor real teenagers respect people like that.) Balance is essential in being an effective ministry leader. The youth pastor must be mature enough to know what his objectives should be, where his boundaries should lie, where his authority should reside, and how to move students forward spiritually.
Challenge Teens Toward Maturity
Our Western culture exalts values that promote rebellion—from hard-edged rock ‘n' roll to extreme sports to uncensored expression. Rebellion has almost become synonymous with being "American." Fast cars, loose morals, and risky business in all its permutations have been the generational mantra from James Dean to Tom Cruise to Britney/Lindsay/Paris. But even many teenagers are now becoming aware of the soulless vacuousness of such a lifestyle. They desire something more substantive, more concrete, and weightier. Certainly not every teenager is sick of low expectations, but a core is ready to get a jump on their peers and to start taking life seriously.
Spotlight Prioritizing
Youth leaders can train teens by teaching them to comprehend and establish priorities in their lives. What role is authority going to play in their lives, and where is that authority found? Every teen should be confronted with the principle of "first priorities." Are we willing to give the Lord the first and the best in what we do vocationally, with whom we will spend our lives (marriage), in how we will spend our money, and in how we will use our talents and gifts?
Teach Doctrine, Apologetics, and Rhetoric
Many within Fundamentalism have bought into an "isolationist" mentality that encourages them to withdraw from the world rather than to engage it with truth. Without a doubt, it is foolish to shove our kids into a world system intent on ignoring and countering spiritual truth without adequate preparation. Today's youth ministries have an opportunity and an obligation to equip our next generation of leaders with a sound grasp of biblical doctrine, the education to tell people "why" they believe what they believe, and the skill to fluently articulate truth and its logical defense in the public forum.
Encourage Service and Ministry
In a generation that's "all about me," Christian teens can make a difference by living out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. By this author's definition, service means using our skills and talents to be a blessing to others; and ministry means directly bringing the souls of men and women into contact with the Word of God. Our teens can learn and practice service and ministry at an earlier age than most give them an opportunity to do so.
Promote Cross-Generational Interaction
Rather than isolate our kids from the older generation, we should integrate generations. There is much older generations can teach teens, and there is much teens can do to inspire and encourage older generations. This integration means that those of us in the older generation must accept the fact that today's teens aren't quite the way we were at their age; we must be patient with them as they grow into maturity. It also means that teens must be taught respect and consideration for those who have traveled a few more miles down the road than they have. Our current approach of inflexible isolation is making generational transfers of ministry and leadership difficult and at times impossible.
Include the Pastor in the Ministry
The lead or senior pastor needs to be plugged in to the teens of his church flock. He needs to spend time with them, to preach to them, and to get to know them. He should be their cheerleader. Too often, teens view their senior pastor as some out-of-touch stiff who wears a suit and prays in the King James English. No wonder he makes little, if any, impression on them. Most surrender to go into the ministry in their teens with a vast majority doing so by the time they are 14 years old. Any pastor who spends time with his teens is using his time wisely. The youth pastor isn't a substitute for the senior pastor; he should be an extension of him.
Create a Positive Spirit Toward the Youth
It's long been a sport to trash-talk teenagers. Sure, they are pimply, hormonal, gangly, and unpredictable messes in sneakers. But they are also witty, gifted, vibrant, gregarious, curious, and reflective gifts from God. Let everyone else put them down and diminish them in word and in deed, but let the church and her leadership be their cheerleaders. When we project love, enthusiasm, interest, and confidence in our teens, we create a positive spirit and relationship that benefit both sides of the generational divide.
Train and Equip Parents, Not Just Teens
Today's parents of teens often grew up in dysfunctional homes. These are the parents who experienced the consequences of the 50 percent divorce rate. These are the parents whose parents tuned out during the free-love, drugs, and rock ‘n' roll craziness of the 1960s and '70s. Consequently, many of these parents didn't have a stabilizing, spiritual role model during their formative years. The church has an opportunity to train and equip them as the parents of their teens. Church youth pastors and ministries ought not to be a substitute for parents but rather an extension of them. We can serve teens by serving their parents and by helping them to adopt healthy leadership strategies and biblical values in their God-given roles.
Today's ministry leaders need to smarten up and to counter the dumbing down of youth ministry. An unfathomable well of opportunity is at hand. Wise pastors and spiritual leaders must recognize the opportunities, and alert and conscientious parents should anticipate them as they work together to see teens come of age into the leaders God created them to be.
http://www.sharperiron.org/2007/09/24/the-dumbing-down-of-youth-ministry/print/
[May God see fit to deliver us from "Youth Directors."]
After the terrible bridge collapse in Minneapolis (8/1), plane loads of federal officials rushed to the site to do "a full forensic analysis to see what caused the collapse." In July 2006, a falling ceiling panel in Boston's $15 billion "Big Dig" fell, killing Milena Del Valle. After many months of investigation on Aug 8, the NYT reports charges of involuntary manslaughter against Powers Fasteners Inc., the glue maker.
However, Mr. Powers said that
"The only reason that our company has been indicted is that unlike others implicated in this tragedy, we don't have enough money to buy our way out."
His remark was apparently a reference to continuing negotiations over costs associated with the collapse involving the state and other companies, including Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff (Bechtel is a branch of Halluberton, Cheney's old company), which managed the design and the construction of the Big Dig.
The Powers statement said the company filled an order for standard-set epoxy to be used in the tunnel ceiling and was unaware that fast-set epoxy was used. The cost of epoxy for the project was $1,287.60, it said.
The statement said that Powers had informed state officials before the ceiling was installed that the fast-set epoxy had failed a "creep test," and that when it was called to the tunnel in 1999, a Powers engineer came ready "to do the very test that the N.T.S.B. now states should have been done," but that it was not allowed to conduct that test.
The charge against Powers carries a penalty of $1,000, which Ms. Coakley said "does not seem to be even close to an appropriate punishment."
She suggested, however, that a criminal conviction might assist prosecutors in civil efforts to recover damages, and that companies involved might face additional punishment by being temporarily barred from doing business with state agencies.
The state is investigating other companies involved in the tunnel construction, and a wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed by Ms. Del Valle's family against the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and eight other companies.
However, after the twin-towers collapsed (9-11), planes load of demolition crews rushed to the site to haul it away before any forensic analysis could be done to see why these buildings collapsed. The same thing took place when the Federal Building was blown up. Why did "they" not research the structures of those collapsed buildings to see why they so easily collapsed? I smell a large pack of rats. Strange indeed.
(The NYC Firefighter union has made a strong documentary against Giuliani. 9/11 Corruption. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZFkh8tFumI 9/11)
MICROWAVE COOKING is Killing You!
By Stephanie Relfe B.Sc. (Sydney)
[Some material from this article has been redacted for the sake of brevity. The complete article may be viewed here: http://www.relfe.com/microwave.html]
Microwave cooking is one of the most important causes of ill health. It is certainly one of the most ignored.
There was a lawsuit in 1991 in Oklahoma. A woman named Norma Levitt had hip surgery, but was killed by a simple blood transfusion when a nurse "warmed the blood for the transfusion in a microwave oven!"
Logic suggests that if heating is all there is to microwave cooking, then it doesn't matter how something is heated. Blood for transfusions is routinely warmed, but not in microwave ovens. Does it not therefore follow that microwaving cooking does something quite different?
A little evidence of the harm caused by microwaving cooking was given by the University of Minnesota in a radio announcement: "Microwaves ... are not recommended for heating a baby's bottle. The bottle may seem cool to the touch, but the liquid inside may become extremely hot and could burn the baby's mouth and throat... Heating the bottle in a microwave can cause slight changes in the milk. In infant formulas, there may be a loss of some vitamins. In expressed breast milk, some protective properties may be destroyed.... Warming a bottle by holding it under tap water or by setting it in a bowl of warm water, then testing it on your wrist before feeding, may take a few minutes longer, but it is much safer".
There have been very few scientific studies done on the effect of eating food microwaved food. This is rather surprising when you think about the fact that microwaves have been with us for only a few decades - and that in that time the incidence of many diseases has continued to increase.
Two researchers, Blanc and Hertel, confirmed that microwave cooking significantly changes food nutrients. Hertel previously worked as a food scientist for several years with one of the major Swiss food companies. He was fired from his job for questioning procedures in processing food because they denatured it. He got together with Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of Biochemistry and the University Institute for Biochemistry.
They studied the effect that microwaved food had on eight individuals, by taking blood samples immediately after eating. They found that after eating microwaved food, haemoglobin levels decreased. "These results show anaemic tendencies. The situation became even more pronounced during the second month of the study".
Who knows what results they would have found if they had studied people who ate microwaved food for a year or more?
The violent change that microwaving causes to the food molecules forms new life forms called radiolytic compounds. These are mutations that are unknown in the natural world. Ordinary cooking also causes the formation of some radiolytic compounds (which is no doubt one reason why it is better to eat plenty of raw food), but microwaving cooking causes a much greater number. This then causes deterioration in your blood and immune system.
In addition, they found that the number of leucocytes increases after eating microwaved food - something which haematologists take very seriously, because this is often a sign of highly harmful effects, such as poisoning.
Also, after eating microwaved food, cholesterol levels increased. Hertel said "Common scientific belief states that cholesterol values usually alter slowly over longer periods of time. In this study, the markers increased rapidly after the consumption of the microwaved vegetables." He believes his study tends to confirm new scientific data that suggest cholesterol may rapidly increase in the blood secondary to acute stress. "Also," he added, "blood cholesterol levels are less influenced by cholesterol content of food than by stress factors. Such stress-causing factors can apparently consist of foods which contain virtually no cholesterol - the microwaved vegetables."
The results were published in "Search for Health" in the Spring of 1992. How was this research greeted? A powerful trade organisation, the Swiss Association of Dealers for Electroapparatuses for Households and Industry somehow made the President of the Court of Seftigen issue a `gag order'. Hertel and Blanc were told that if they published their findings they would face hefty fines or up to one year in prison. In response to this, Blanc recanted his findings. Hertel, on the other hand, went on a lecture tour and demanded a jury trial.
FINALLY, in 1998 the Court `Gag Order' was removed. In a judgment delivered at Strasbourg on 25 August 1998 in the case of Hertel v. Switzerland, the European Court of Human Rights held that there had been a violation of Hertel's rights in the 1993 decision. The Court decided that the `gag order' prohibiting him from declaring that microwaved food is dangerous to health was contrary to the right to freedom of expression. In addition, Switzerland was sentenced to pay compensation of F40,000.
In Summary: Blanc and Hertel found that eating microwaved food:
* Increases cholesterol * Increases white blood cell numbers * Decreases red blood cell numbers * Causes production of radiolytic compounds (compounds unknown in nature)
RUSSIANS BAN MICROWAVE OVENS
After the World War II, the Russians also experimented with microwave ovens. >From 1957 up to recently, their research has been carried out mainly at the Institute of Radio Technology at Klinsk, Byelorussia. According to US researcher William Kopp, who gathered much of the results of Russian and German research - and was apparently prosecuted for doing so (J. Nat. Sci, 1998; 1:42-3) - the following effects were observed by Russian forensic teams:
1. Heating prepared meats in a microwave sufficiently for human consumption created:
* d-Nitrosodiethanolamine (a well-known cancer-causing agent)
* Destabilization of active protein biomolecular compounds
* Creation of a binding effect to radioactivity in the atmosphere
* Creation of cancer-causing agents within protein-hydrosylate compounds in milk and cereal grains;
2. Microwave emissions also caused alteration in the catabolic (breakdown) behavior of glucoside - and galactoside - elements within frozen fruits when thawed in this way;
3. Microwaves altered catabolic behavior of plant-alkaloids when raw, cooked or frozen vegetables were exposed for even very short periods;
4. Cancer-causing free radicals were formed within certain trace-mineral molecular formations in plant substances, especially in raw root vegetables;
5. Ingestion of microwaved foods caused a higher percentage of cancerous cells in blood;
6. Due to chemical alterations within food substances, malfunctions occurred in the lymphatic system, causing degeneration of the immune system's capacity to protect itself against cancerous growth;
7. The unstable catabolism of microwaved foods altered their elemental food substances, leading to disorders in the digestive system;
8. Those ingesting micro-waved foods showed a statistically higher incidence of stomach and intestinal cancers, plus a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues with a gradual breakdown of digestive and excretory system function;
9. Microwave exposure caused significant decreases in the nutritional value of all foods studied, particularly:
* A decrease in the bioavailability of B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotrophics
* Destruction of the nutritional value of nucleoproteins in meats
* Lowering of the metabolic activity of alkaloids, glucosides, galactosides and nitrilosides (all basic plant substances in fruits and vegetables)
* Marked acceleration of structural disintegration in all foods.
As a result microwave ovens were banned in Russia in 1976; the ban was lifted after Perestroika.
Standing in front of a microwave is also highly damaging to your health. Perhaps you have already felt this intuitively? We know that cells explode in the microwave - just fry an egg in your microwave. We are made up of trillions of cells. So work out how many are getting damaged if you stand in front of your microwave for 5-10 minutes.
In the past I had been told that it was important for people to stop eating microwaved food, but I did not pay too much attention to this because I had been microwave cooking for years. I never thought much about it but I suppose that I figured that if something was so bad for us, then there wouldn't be so many people using it. Little did I know.
When I first began seeing clients for sessions of kinesiology, I did not worry too much about telling them to give up eating microwaved food. However, I kept a record of all of the corrections that were needed for each client when they came in. Now, once a correction is made, it is to be hoped that the correction will stay in place for a long time to come, hopefully months if not years. People often ask me "How long will it last?" My answer to them is "That depends on your lifestyle".
Most of my clients came back to see me after about two weeks. In the early days I found that many who came back were not much better. I found that they were again `out of balance'. That is, their electrical circuits were not working correctly (which is common for many people). It was therefore not surprising that they were not much better, because the body does not begin to fully fix itself until the electrical circuits are in balance.
The question was, why did their electrical circuits go out of balance? The answer had to be something that was highly stressful, to affect the body in such a short space of time. Once that answer was remedied, the client would begin to get better. Using muscle testing, I went through the process of testing if the cause was electrical, chemical/nutritional, emotional or structural. Again and again the same answer would come up - electrical. When I then went through a range of possible electrical causes, the same answer again came up again and again - the person had eaten microwaved food! Incidentally, this answer never came up when a person had NOT eaten microwaved food.
I began to tell all of my clients on the first visit that under NO circumstances were they ever to do microwaved cooking again. I gave this a higher priority than any of things that are normally considered as health risks, such as cigarettes or alcohol. Immediately I began to get a marked improvement in the results I was getting. Long-term problems such as headaches, backaches and emotional instability went away within a few weeks.
Other kinesiologists can confirm these results. David Bridgman, who has years of experience as a kinesiologist, said "Of all the people I test for allergies, 99.9% so far show severe sensitivity to any microwaved food".
I experienced the effect of eating microwaved food for myself one time. I had been doing quite a lot of kinesiology and feeling on top of the world when for no apparent reason I began to feel rather `gray' and rather low. I realised that I needed a balance from a kinesiologist. Sure enough, I was out of balance. When the kinesiologist used muscle testing to see why my body had gone out of balance, the answer came up ... microwaved food! The trouble was, I couldn't remember eating any. Until I remembered a particular vegetarian restaurant I had been to. When I went back to the restaurant and asked them if they microwaved their food, they told me that they did.
So be warned! Many restaurants use microwaved cooking, even `health' restaurants. Ask if the "steamed vegetables" are in fact steamed - or are they microwaved? I have sent meals back when they have not been what they were described on the menu, much to the surprise of the restaurant owners.
The alternative to heating up or defrosting food is to place it in a saucepan with a little water and lid. Or use a convection oven.
MICROWAVED PLASTIC WRAP HAS 10,000,000 TIMES FDA LIMITS OF CARCINOGENS!
Sent to me by a reader:
Hello Folks. Hopefully all of you are already well enough informed so as to avoid the use of a microwave oven due to the many detrimental effects consuming microwaved food has upon our health, but "just in case", here is some interesting info sent to me by Ron Scanlon -- many thanks, Ron! Cheers, Doug
University of California, Davis Medical Center 2315 Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento, California 95817
As a seventh grade student, Claire Nelson learned that di(ethylhexyl)adepate (DEHA), considered a carcinogen, is found in plastic wrap. She also learned that the FDA had never studied the effect of microwave cooking on plastic-wrapped food. Three years later, with encouragement from her high school science teacher, Claire set out to test what the FDA had not.
Although she had an idea for studying the effect of microwave radiation on plastic wrapped food, she did not have the equipment. Eventually, Dr. Jon Wilkes at the National Center for Toxicological Research agreed to help her. The research center, which is affiliated with the FDA, let her use its facilities to perform her experiments, which involved microwaving plastic wrap in virgin olive oil.
Claire tested four different plastic wraps and "found not just the carcinogens but also xenoestrogen was migrating [into the oil]...." Xenoestrogens are linked to low sperm counts in men and to breast cancer in women. Throughout her junior and senior years, Claire made a couple of trips each week to the research center, which was 25 miles from her home, to work on her experiment. An article in Options reported "her analysis found that DEHA was migrating into the oil at between 200 parts and 500 parts per million. The FDA standard is 0.05 parts per billion."
Her summarized results have been published in science journals. Claire Nelson received the American Chemical Society's top science prize for students during her junior year and fourth place at the International Science and Engineering Fair (Fort Worth, Texas) as a senior. "Carcinogens – At 10,000,000 Times FDA Limits" Options, May 2000. Published by People Against Cancer, 515-972-4444
So, it's up to you. One point to bear in mind is that our society runs pretty much on money. The multinational companies who make microwave ovens make a lot from the sale of them. There is no money in telling people to stop microwave cooking. There is, however, the satisfaction of knowing that you are saving people's lives and future happiness by spreading the word to stop eating microwaved food.
Irradiation of Food: (Note: Irradiation is not the same as microwaving, but they are similar in that both use unnatural frequencies to alter food).
The Cornell University in 1977 irradiated some sugar and fed it to rats. The type of cell damage shown on post mortem was the same as if the rats themselves had been irradiated!
Irradiation of Food: Public Citizen has released the English translation of a recent German study revealing that a chemical formed in irradiated food can damage DNA.
The study confirms what safe-food advocates have known for more than thirty years: that exposing food to ionising radiation can lead to the formation of bizarre new chemicals called "unique radiolytic products" that can cause serious health problems.
One such chemical, known as 2-DCB, caused "significant DNA damage" in the colons of rats that ate the substance. The chemical - which, ironically is a well-known "marker" for determining whether food has been irradiated" - has never been found naturally in any food on earth.
The study was conducted in 1998 under the auspices of two prominent pro-irradiation organizations. It was performed at one of the most prestigious food irradiation labs in the world: the Federal Research Centre for Nutrition in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Public Citizen released an English translation of the study at a meeting on 13 February at the US Food and Drug Administration in Washington DC.
So, it's up to you. One point to bear in mind is that our society runs pretty much on money. The multinational companies who make microwave ovens make a lot from the sale of them. There is no money in telling people to stop microwave cooking. There is, however, the satisfaction of knowing that you are saving people's lives and future happiness by spreading the word to stop eating microwaved food.
ALTERNATIVES
You can heat food quickly in a convection oven. It's just an ordinary oven with a fan.
You can also easily and quickly heat up food, even frozen pasta, by using a saucepan with a lid and a little water, to moisten it from the steam.
If someone is coming home late, and you want to give them warm food when they arrive, put a saucepan lid over the food while it is on a plate. Put the plate of food on a simmering saucepan of water. It will stay warm without drying up.
If you want to cook food, do it the old fashioned ways - it tastes much better that way!
Much of the above information is from an article in the 1994 edition of Acres Magazine, USA, by Tom Valentine.
PO Box 8800, Metairie, Louisiana 70011, USA. (504) 889 2100
INFORMATION ON IRRADIATED FOOD and LABELING LAWS at:
Public Citizen <http://www.citizen.org> www.citizen.org <http://www.citizen.org/>
Disclaimer: This information is not medical advice. Because every person's situation is different, the author of this article will not be held responsible for any negative results, which come from reading or acting upon the information in this article. Use at your own risk. Copyright ©: Stephanie Relfe - 1998 - 2010
Permission is granted to reproduce this article as long as you acknowledge the author and quote and link to www.relfe.com <http://www.relfe.com>
GMO
The REAL Reasons You Want to Avoid Genetically Modified Foods
(see http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/11/06/)
In this lecture, Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception, summarizes the contents of his book, which explains how genetically modified foods cause health problems, and their potential for creating a vast array of unforeseen and surprising illnesses. He also sheds light on how the corruption within the U.S. government, the FDA, and the GMO industry has allowed, and perpetuated, the cover-up.
Dr. Mercolla's Comments:
Genetically modified foods are, from my perception, one of the largest threats that we have against the very sustainability of the human race. Let's face it, how long can your descendants survive if there isn't any food to eat?
Although Monsanto doesn't believe this is a possibility, their shortsighted focus on profits is blinding them to the very real threats that this technology is posing to the viability of the human race.
Jeffrey Smith does a great job of summarizing his main findings in this fascinating video series, recounting how GMO health problems have indeed been recorded as far back as 1989. At that time, several people started seeking medical attention for severe and puzzling health problems such as:
* Severe pain * Hair loss * Memory loss * Muscle weakness, and uncontrollable muscle spasms * Hardening of the skin
Through a series of events, these symptoms were traced back to genetically modified strains of L-tryptophan. Up to 10,000 people were affected and some 100 of them died. Uncovered documents revealed that the FDA knew about these health problems for about five years prior to the "epidemic," which only became known as an epidemic after the story was published in the New York Times, and people began coming out of the woodwork displaying these symptoms that no one had been able to diagnose before.
To illustrate this point – that GMO's may very well be wreaking havoc with your health and you don't even know it's the source of your problems – is the fact that the toxic L-tryptophan was only discovered because its symptoms were acute, rare, and had a very fast onset. These things are what get doctors curious about unearthing the cause. But as Jeffrey Smith points out – what if the damage doesn't occur overnight? What if the symptoms are milder?
Thousands of genetically modified products are now on the market, creating potentially life-threatening problems, but no one knows what to look out for.
Why?
Because no one knows the full extent of what happens to the end product when you splice in new genes. The only thing that is guaranteed is that it will create surprise side effects… However, according to Smith's research, what we do know is that between 1994 and 2001 – at the same time as GMO's flooded the market – food related illnesses DOUBLED.
GMO foods can be:
* Allergenic * Toxic * Carcinogenic * Anti-nutritional
It may also create brand new diseases that we've never seen before, in addition to spurring on the disease rate of some we already have, such as cancer.
Although the major food giants are carrying on with their claim that GM foods are no different from conventionally grown varieties, the research begs to differ. Here is just a sampling of the unsavory findings associated with GM foods:
* GM peas caused lung damage in mice
* GM potatoes may cause cancer in rats
* Bacteria in your gut can take up DNA from GM food
* They may be spurring the creation of weed-killer-resistant superweeds
Smith mentions the superior work of Arpad Pusztai, PhD, a (formerly pro-biotech) scientist who was hired to evaluate the safety of GMO food, and then fired for his negative findings and his outspoken criticism of the industry's shoddy science.
Fortunately, he finally managed to get his animal feeding study published in the journal Lancet in 1999 (see the Lancet October 16, 1999;354(9187):1353-4 for the full PDF article).
Despite the efforts of concerned scientists like Pusztai, you may be surprised to learn that you have a 75 percent chance of picking a food with genetically modified ingredients in the United States. This is because at least seven out of every 10 items have been genetically modified!
Many of you probably try to avoid genetically modified foods, but very few know what they really are, since there are no labeling requirements identifying GMO ingredients. To get an idea of how widespread these ingredients are, I recommend taking a look at The GMO Food Guide I published a couple of months ago.
Jeffrey Smith's website www.seedsofdeception.com also gives you a more in-depth overview of GMO laced products, but the four main culprits are:
* Soy * Corn * Cottonseed * Canola
The offspring of these products include items such as maltodextrin, soy lecitin, and high fructose corn syrup. Other GMO products include:
* Some varieties of zucchini, crookneck squash, and papayas from Hawaii * Milk containing rbGH * Rennet (containing genetically modified enzymes) used to make hard cheeses * Aspartame (NutraSweet)
What Can You Do?
Along with using the GMO Food Guide and avoiding the products mentioned above, there's other tricks you that can use to figure out if something is genetically modified in your fresh produce aisles:
* Examine produce stickers on the fruits and vegetables you buy. The PLU code for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers; organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine; and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.
* Buy organic produce as often as you can. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all GM organisms.
Stay away from all processed foods, as most of these contain corn and soy ingredients.
Fortunately, as a consumer you do have power. You can choose not to be a victim of deception, and you can choose what you feed your family. Large portions of Europe have already succeeded in squashing GMO's out of their food supply, forcing food manufacturers to use real ingredients in their European product lines. But here in the U.S. we're still stuck with it to a very large degree.
You can be the change you want to see in America, by educating yourself, spreading the word, and refusing to buy GMO products.
Share this article with your friends and family, and if you haven't yet taken the time to watch The Future of Food, please do so now. It is perhaps one of the most important videos on this subject, and one that everyone in American should watch and pass on to others.[Go to the web site mentioned above, and watch the 50 min video.]
America's Pastors
Once again, the burden of responsibility to help maintain America's liberty rests upon the shoulders of the men in the pulpits. That should not surprise us, because it has always been this way. Part of what made America great was old-fashioned, tell-it-like-it-is, no-nonsense preaching. Most of what we hear today is a bunch of mealy-mouthed, pussyfooting, ear-tickling, don't-offend-anyone preaching, which has largely contributed to America's current slippery slope into the sewer. But if you thought it could not get any worse, guess again.
A startling television news report from Shreveport, Louisiana has revealed a sinister plot hatched deep inside the diabolical brain cells of the Bush administration to use America's pulpits as promoters of tyranny. That is a strong statement, I know. But it is true.
According to KSLA television in Shreveport, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to use America's preachers to help pave the way for martial law in the event of another terrorist attack upon the United States.
The KSLA report begins, "Could martial law ever become a reality in America? Some fear any nuclear, biological or chemical attack on U.S. soil might trigger just that. KSLA 12 has discovered that the clergy would help the government with potentially their biggest problem: Us."
Terror Chief: We Will Be Hit Again
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 9:30 PM
Another attack by al-Qaida on the United States is "inevitable", the head of the National Counter Terrorism Center says.
Retired Vice Adm. John Redd told Newsweek magazine that al-Qaida is actively plotting to hit America, but intelligence sources don't have enough information to issue a precise warning or raise the threat level. )
The report continued by saying, "[G]un confiscation is exactly what happened during the state of emergency following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, along with forced relocation. U.S. Troops also arrived, something far easier to do now, thanks to last year's elimination of the 1878 Posse Comitatus act, which had forbid regular U.S. Army troops from policing on American soil.
"If martial law were enacted here at home, like depicted in the movie, The Siege, easing public fears and quelling dissent would be critical. And that's exactly what the 'Clergy Response Team' helped accomplish in the wake of Katrina."
The report went on to say: "[C]lergy response teams would walk a tight-rope during martial law between the demands of the government on the one side, versus the wishes of the public on the other. 'In a lot of cases, these clergy would already be known in the neighborhoods in which they're helping to diffuse that situation,' assured Sandy Davis. He serves as the director of the Caddo-Bossier Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
"For the clergy team, one of the biggest tools that they will have in helping calm the public down or to obey the law is the bible itself, specifically Romans 13."
Dear Reader, are you getting this?
In order to convince American citizens to surrender their firearms to the government during a time of martial law, DHS is enlisting the assistance of America's pastors. According to the DHS, my job as a church pastor, is to tell my congregation that, according to Romans 13, they must surrender their firearms when the government asks them to do so.
Of course, faithful readers of this column know that I have already addressed the Romans 13 question.
For those who are ignorant of Romans 13, let me address the issue bluntly: According to Romans 13, every citizen is only bound to obey his or her governing official to the degree that the governing official does not violate the duty of the citizen to obey the "higher powers" which, for Americans, are God and the U.S. Constitution. In other words, no Christian can be ordered to disobey God, and no American citizen can be ordered to disobey the U.S. Constitution. Properly understood, Romans 13 teaches that each and every governing official (including the President of the United States and all those under him) must submit to the U.S. Constitution.
Article VI, Paragraph 3 of the U.S. Constitution states, "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution."
So, what does the Constitution say regarding the disarmament of American citizens? The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution could not be clearer: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Did you get that? "[T]he right of the people to keep and bear Arms, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED." [Emphasis added]
Therefore, any attempt to disarm the American people must be viewed as an act of tyranny and must be resisted.
The right to keep and bear arms is rooted deep in American history. I remind readers that it was the attempted gun confiscation of the colonists' arms, which had been cached at Concord, Massachusetts, that directly precipitated the beginning of America's fight for independence.
America's founders were clear on this subject. Our first President, George Washington, called our firearms "the people's liberty teeth." Our third President and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, said, "No free man shall ever be de-barred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain their right to keep and bear arms is as a last resort to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
America's founders spoke unanimously on the subject. Patrick Henry said, "The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun." Samuel Adams said, "The said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
And what did the Lord Jesus Christ tell His followers on this subject? Jesus said in Luke 11:21, "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace." Did you see that? Jesus said that in order for a man's goods to be "in peace" it was necessary that he be ARMED. Now, I don't know about you, but I will take the word of Jesus over the word of a DHS official anytime.
Furthermore, Jesus told his disciples in Luke 22:36, "[H]e that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."
Upon hearing the words of Jesus, Simon Peter responded by saying, "Lord, behold, here are two swords." (vs. 38) That means at least two of Jesus' disciples were armed with swords (the 1st Century equivalent of a modern handgun, something used for personal protection), and Jesus did not rebuke them or ask them to surrender their swords. He merely said, "It is enough."
I realize that after Simon Peter used his sword to cut off the ear of the man as soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told him to "put up thy sword." But notice, He did not tell him to "give up" his sword; he merely told him it was not time to use it, because it was in the plan and providence of God that Jesus be taken to Pilate, that He might be crucified for our sins.
Don't tell me that the Bible teaches pacifism, because it doesn't. I am a Christian, and I am a pastor. And I agree with Charlton Heston who said that they could have his guns "over my cold, dead hands." If DHS believes that I will ask my congregation to give up their firearms, they are grossly mistaken.
It also needs to be pointed out that, apparently, DHS must already be planning to declare martial law in the United States or else this kind of advanced strategy would not even be necessary. Why would they already be asking pastors to be prepared to request their church members give up their guns if they did not intend to declare martial law?
Now, what every single church-going Christian in America should immediately find out for themselves is, What does my pastor intend to do? Will he ask me to surrender my guns, or not? I highly encourage every reader who currently attends church to ask your pastor this question RIGHT NOW.
Of course, the next question Christians need to ask themselves is, What will I do if my pastor says he would ask me to surrender my guns to the government? I suggest that every church member in America settle this matter right now. And if you discover that your pastor would indeed ask you to surrender your guns (or equivocate by saying he would have to "pray about it") if asked to do so, you should immediately leave that church and find a pastor who believes the Bible and supports the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, if you do not currently own a firearm, you might want to heed the words of Jesus and go buy one.
So, once again, the burden of responsibility to help maintain America's liberty rests upon the shoulders of the men in the pulpits. Will we be preachers of truth or promoters of tyranny?
August 23, 2007
Chuck Baldwin [send him mail] is a talkshow host and pastor. Here is his website.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/baldwin2.html
Copyright © 2007 Chuck Baldwin
Does it matter if it hurts no one but me?
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
None need to be miserable. By submission to Jesus Christ, trust in him, and obedience to his commands, all may be happy in life, in death, and for ever. (Family NT Notes)
Their sense I take to be this, that a man must first make a profession of his faith in the God of Israel, and then live conformably to his law: agreeably to this, Christ exhorts such persons who come to him for rest and happiness, to profess their faith in him, to embrace the doctrines of the Gospel, to submit to his ordinances, and to walk according to those laws, commands, and orders, which he, as king of saints, has made, and requires obedience to: so those who come to him for life, and believe in him, as the Saviour of their souls, though they are not to trust in, and depend upon any duties performed by them; yet they are not to sit still, or lay aside the performance of good works, or live a licentious course of life, but are always to be doing the will and work of their Lord. And this he calls "his yoke," in distinction from the yoke of the law of Moses, and of the traditions of the elders. (John Gill)
and ye shall find rest unto your souls; referring to #Jer 6:16 and which shows the rest he speaks of in the preceding verse, to be not a corporal, but a spiritual one; and which is to be enjoyed "in," though not "for" the observance of Christ's commands; whose "ways are ways of pleasantness, and all" whose "paths are peace". (John Gill.)
[My yoke.] So The yoke of the law: The yoke of the precept: The yoke of the kingdom of heaven. (Lightfoot)
Yoke... A symbol of subjection and servitude. "The Lord invites the believer to take his yoke upon him, and learn of Him; that is, give up self-will, to be in submission to the will of God, content to be in the lowest place; and such will find rest to their souls. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Mt 11:29, 30. (Concise Bible Dictionary.)
In Jeremiah 5:5, yoke is a figure for "the law of God." (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.)
Accordingly, yoke as used by Christ means taking on the genuine Christian religion, and following its laws as found in commandments. (John 14:15, with Proverbs 7:2, &c.) Though the unsaved consider the yoke of the law binding cords and bands that must be broken, (Psalms 2) the yoke of the law is a joy to the believer. (Psalms 119.)
Christ did not offer anything new when he said, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. He simply referred back to Jeremiah 11:29.
I mentioned to a fellow pastor some time ago that an Old Testament passage that was being quoted by a New Testament author had to be understood in the context of its Old Testament usage, which made the New Testament usage mean something other than what the pastor was using it to mean. (That was years ago, so I do not remember the passage, only the pastor's answer.) In other words, the understanding of the Old Testament passage in its entire context had to be brought forward in order to get the proper New Testament understanding. He told me that the New Testament author did not use the Old Testament meaning of the passage, and that the passage would stand on its own; this allows the modern "teacher" to change the clear understanding of a New Testament passage where the speaker is quoting from the Old Testament.
In 1846, Charles Bridges said on Proverbs chapter 2:1-6:
All fundamental errors and heresies in the Church may be traced to this source—"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." (Matt. xxii.29.) They are mostly based on partial or disjointed statements of truth. Truth separated from truth becomes error. But the mind prayerfully occupied in the search of Divine truth—crying and lifting up the voice—will never fail to discern the two great principles of godliness—The fear and knowledge of God. (Emp. Added. Proverbs, p 15, 16. Banner of Truth Trust.)
Here we see that separating a passage from its Old Testament meaning when bringing it forward into the New Testament is the basis of all errors and heresies in the Church, and there are a great many today.
We must also apply this in the opposite direction: The same thing applies to Old Testament passages being separated from their New Testament explanations. There are some serious errors and heresies prevailing today because the New Testament explanations of those Old Testament words and passages are being ignored, e.g., circumcision.
Our concern at this time is the phrase, rest for your souls. Christ took the phrase from Jeremiah 6:16.
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
When Christ used the phrase, the people clearly understood what he was saying. Let us examine the context, and thus the necessary meaning, of Christ's words.
Jeremiah 6:16-21 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. 17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. 18 ¶ Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. 20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. 21 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.
This passage shows us that "judgment cannot be turned aside by mere sacrifice without a change of heart"—that is to say, there must be genuine conversion of the mind, will and emotions, a life-style change. (Keil-Delitzsch), which is what Christ was teaching in Matthew 11.
The Lord through Jeremiah is saying to his people:
1. Look back to ancient history, and see how success and prosperity forsook our fathers (1 Corinthians 10:1) when they left the God directed way, and followed the way of the heathens. However, his people refused to consider and change.
2. God raised up prophets from among his people, sounding the warning of impending doom if they did not return to the Lord's laws in their thoughts. However, they refused to hear and change.
3. He calls to his congregation to hear and know, understand, what is about to come upon them for their sins, and for rejecting his plea to come to return to them for their rest.
4. God calls the entire earth to witness: He is going to bring evil against his people for their opposition and rejection to his law. Notice that God's action against them is not in response to their actions. Rather, it is in response to their thoughts—Fruit of their thoughts. (See Matthew 12:35, Hebrews 4:12, &c.)
5. There was no shortage of sacrifices in the temple, but those sacrifices were mere outward service. The hearts of those offering the sacrifices were in rebellion against my words, ... my law. The judgment was not a result of not doing, but of not converting the heart. To obey is better than sacrifice, 1 Samuel 15:22.
6. Stumblingblocks case people to fall. The Lord himself puts things before them that will cause them to fall. They would not fall if their hearts were stayed upon him, (Isaiah 26:3) but their hearts were set and hardened in their own ways.
7. Note the length and depth of God's judgment:
Jeremiah 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? 20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Every area of creation suffers for man's sin.
Jeremiah clearly tells us that the Lord offered his people rest for your souls, if they would return to him and walk in his ways. They refused. He sent prophets to sound the warning, yet they still refused. His call to return was more than simply bring their actions into conformity to his words and law. Rather, it was a call to convert the thoughts and intents of the heart, which they refused to do. It was the unlawful, secret things of the heart that was causing God to move against his people (Ecclesiastes 12:14.) by placing stumblingblocks before them.
Christ brought the entire thought forward when he offered rest
for your souls. The rest Christ offered can only come
from genuine heart conversion from hating and rejecting
the Lord's yoke, the word and law
of the Lord. Is it too late to turn God's judgment aside?
Probably, for even those called by his name love the prophets
who prophesy falsely, as pointed out by the Spirit before he gave
the words of chapter 6. Jeremiah 5:31. The stumblingbloocks are
all around us, and his people are falling victim to them like
flies.
Do the secret things matter? Certainly they do, just as much as
the things done openly. The difference is that people see unlawful
deeds, and the Lord sees the unlawful thoughts of the heart. It
is the Lord who brings judgment upon individuals and upon nations.
The secret things, things out of public sight from the thoughts
and intents of the hearts that never see action, to the actions
"behind closed doors" have social consequences. The
unsavory fruit of the thoughts will come to pass. (Proverbs 19:22,
Matthew 5:28, 15:19, Luke 12:3, Philippians 4:8.)
"I am harming no one but myself" is the enemy's lie. We not only harm ourselves, but all of society pays the price for the secret rebellions against God's word and law.
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
First, let me define righteousness as used in this verse: Basically, it is conformity to the ethical or moral standard established by God in his word. (Righteousness: Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament)
A righteous life conforms to the standards established by God's word. However, a righteous life does not result in eternal life, for that comes only through the applied righteousness of Christ.
Job had a righteous life, chapters 29-31. In those chapters, we see how righteousness is worked out into society through an individual. We also see that Job was not depending upon his outworking righteousness to result in his salvation. He was at all times looking toward his Redeemer.
TWOT continues:
Whether by nations or individuals, righteous conduct can only be secured by plowing up fallow ground, [that is, plucking up or plowing under the wicked and worldly affections of the heart] sowing in righteousness, and reaping in mercy, i.e. making a new base for righteousness. {#Ho 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you}
All must become new persons whose actions are governed by the law of God. Righteous conduct issues from a new heart [that only Christ can produce]. {#Eze 36:25-27 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.}
Habakkuk puts it another way: the just shall live by his faith. {#Hab 2:4 [if one has the faith in Christ that makes him righteous, he will have righteous actions Again, Job 29-31 gives excellent examples of righteous actions.]}
{#Isa 32:15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Isaiah 16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. 17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.} Here Isaiah couples righteousness with the work of the Spirit, all resulting in peace and therefore eternal, assured quietness. It is possible that this thought lies behind the figure in #Ps 85:10 [H 11], ‘Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.'
Because there has been reconciliation between man and God [through Christ], peace comes to bless his way. Isaiah apparently refers to the state of these people: ‘thy people shall all be righteous.' True ethics derive from imparted righteousness. (TWOT)
In other words, true morality in individuals or nations comes from the righteousness of Christ placed in individual hearts through faith, and then lived out in lives. The final quote here is from:
Isaiah 60:21 Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
Isaiah prophecies concerning the Gospel Church. He speaks of the indwelling Spirit of God through faith in Christ, and that Spirit working out in His people's lives, righteous actions that glorify God. If righteous actions are missing, then we are allowed to assume that the righteousness of Christ is also missing.
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
The second part of the verse says, any people. Thus, this verse applies to both a nation and to any individual.
In 1846, Charles Bridges made this observation:
If it be not beneath statesmen to take lessons from the Bible, let them deeply ponder this sound political maxim, which commends itself to every instinct of the unsophisticated mind. Indeed it would be a strange anomaly in the Divine administration, if the connection between godliness and prosperity, ungodliness and misery, established in individual cases, should not obtain in the multiplication of individuals into nations.
In other words, on the individual level, God in his Word has clearly linked godliness with prosperity and ungodliness with misery. Because nations are made up of individuals, nations are also linked to the same things.
The Scripture records however — confirmed by the result of impartial and extended observation—clearly prove this to be the rule of national, no less than of personal, dispensation. The annals of the chosen people, as they were a righteous or sinful nation, are marked by corresponding exaltation or reproach.
Biblical history proves that godliness and prosperity as well as ungodliness and misery is the fate of nations as well as individuals. Godly nations prosper, and sinful nations shall suffer misery. We read Deuteronomy 27 & 28 the other day, which clearly spells out the blessings and curses of glorifying God or failure to glorify him.
Not the wisdom of policy, extent of empire, splendid conquests, flourishing trade, abundant resources — but righteousness—exalteth a nation. It is both the prop to make it subsist firm in itself, and a crown to render it glorious in the eyes of others. Greece in her proud science; Rome in the zenith of her glory—both were sunk in the lowest depths of moral degradation. Their true greatness existed only in the visions of poesy, [that is, in the dream-like stories of the empires] or the dream of philosophy.
A nation is not great because of its political wisdom, its conquests of its enemies, its excellent trade policies that make other nations debtors to it, its manufacturing abilities, its natural resources, nor anything that men consider greatness. Both Greece and Rome were considered great nations, but they were overrun with degradation. Their greatness only existed in fanciful stories and dreams.
Contrast the influence of righteousness, bringing out of the most debased barbarism a community, impregnated with all the high principles, that form a nation's well-being. Thus to Christianize, is to regenerate, the community ; to elevate it to a more dignified position ; to exalt the nation (Deut. xxvi. 16-19), and that, not with a sudden flash of shadowy splendour, but with solid glory, fraught with every practical blessing. But sin is a reproach to any people.
Contrast the influence of ungodliness which produces suffering and misery with the influence of Christianity which produces peace and prosperity. Sin is a reproach to any people; that is, there is no individual nor nation who can escape the misery of sin, nor is there any who can escape the peace and prosperity of godliness.
Deuteronomy 26:16 This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. 17 Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: 18 And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; 19 And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.
No nation is so low, as not to sink low under it ; while to the mightiest people, it is a blot in their escutcheon, [protective covering] that no worldly glory can efface [remove]. What an enemy is an ungodly man to his country ! Loudly as he may talk of his patriotism, and even though God should make him an instrument of advancing her temporal interest ; yet he contributes, so far as in him lies, to her deepest reproach.
Ungodliness removes the protective covering that only God can provide. (Proverbs 21:31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.) Men and nations can invest all their resources in "National Defense," but only God can protect. Bridges then makes this important observation:
What an enemy is an ungodly man to his country ! Loudly as he may talk of his patriotism, and even though God should make him an instrument of advancing her temporal interest ; yet he contributes, so far as in him lies, to her deepest reproach. (Charles Bridges. Proverbs. P. 194. The Banner of Truth Trust. Carlisle, PA. 1981 Reprint.)
The ungodly man is an enemy to his country, no matter how loudly he proclaims his patriotism, nor how much he might advance his nation's interests.
RICK TYLER, is the Press Secretary to Newt Gingrich who is considering a run for the president. Mr. Tyler was writing about the politicians who are pressing for the amnesty bill. He said that those pressing for the amnesty bill are committing political suicide, June 22, 07:
Wanting to be first off that cliff was Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who told The New York Times that "talk radio is running America" and "we have to deal with that problem."
Blaming talk radio is like blaming the fact that you're broke on your banker who loaned you the money that you spent.
Further depleting the account earlier this week was White House press secretary Tony Snow who appeared on the Sean Hannity's radio show to try to explain the inexplicable.
Snow, having for several years hosted a national talk radio and TV show himself, is about as good a communicator as you could hope for, certainly the best in this administration by a long shot. But not long into the interview, he sunk into a conspicuously condescending tone as Hannity, who on most days would be on the front lines fighting for the administration, tried to explain to his friend why this bill was simply not doable.
Snow then sunk deeper with accusations that Hannity was putting out misinformation. But when asked to "name one thing" that he had said that was untrue, Snow came up empty -- empty as the administration's political capital account. ...
Posted on ABC news, June 23, 07. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3304541
Those in authority who are wanting to remake America after their own image are against "Talk Radio." They are blaming "Talk Radio" for hindering their plans, so they want to stop it as much as possible.
Now, as much as I appreciate the truth presented by "Talk Radio," especially short-wave and computer radio, these hosts are enemies of this country. They present answers to this nation's ills that have nothing to do with righteousness as defined by God's word.
They are violating the First Commandment as they make and trust another god – a god after their own imagination. They are convinced that by getting enough people to understand the Constitution and live by it, they can salvage America.
Preachers are just as bad. They believe that if they can get enough people to profess Christ with their mouths, they can rescue America.
However, no "Talk Radio" hosts, and very few if any preachers are calling on individuals to repent of their ungodly ways, and live righteously as defined by the total of God's law-word.
The recovery and exaltation of this nation depends upon people like us who believe the gospel of Christ, and live a righteous life, as defined by Scripture.
We are in the midst of a flood of infidelity, immodesty, lawlessness and ungodliness, while few call for righteous living.
Bridges closes his comment on Proverbs 14:34 with this statement:
Let the little remnant in the midst of thee [that is, Britain, though it applies to our nation] remember their high responsibility. (Matt. v. 13.) Let them take care, that their personal and relative profession add to the righteousness, not to the sin, of the nation. Let them plead for their country's true prosperity with humiliation, faith, and constancy. Let them labour for her exaltation with more entire union of heart.
Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me," means also "Thou shalt have no other powers before me." "Thou shalt have no other hope other than righteousness before me."
Is our hope in the imparted righteousness of Christ? Is our hope for exaltation in the lived out righteousness that we claim to have in Christ?
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
Authoritative Parent
Posted May 14, 2007, by Anna Sofia
We received a letter recently asking about the balance between a father's authority and a daughter's independence. Knowing that this question is a common one among girls making the transition from childhood to adulthood, we have decided to post our response to this family.
Dear damsels thinking yourselves in distress,
Your parents have both written to us to ask us our advice and encouragement on your situation (parents and maturing daughters striving to understand the balance between authority, liberty, maturity, submission, and responsibility.). What we would mostly like to do is share some of our thoughts on family dynamics in a household of adults.
Many stay-at-home girls believe that, as they become adults, their fathers' jurisdiction over their lives will lessen. They feel that, in order to mature into individuals able to think and act for themselves, they must be "liberated" from another's input into their lives. This is because we're drowning in a culture that doesn't understand what the Bible says about individualism vs. unity, autonomy vs. authority, or license vs. liberty.
Dear girls – don't be afraid of losing your "individual personhood" or the ability to think for yourself, and don't think that those are the signs of an adult. Any two-year-old girl has a mind of her own and most certainly thinks for herself. Every woman knows her own mind – it's part of being Eve's daughters. It's not a sign of maturity to struggle for autonomy – that's toddler stuff. The sign of our maturity and adulthood is when we willingly submit ourselves to God-given authority and therefore to God Himself. This is a struggle, and it requires strength, wisdom, responsibility and spiritual maturity.
Here is the difference between a child and an adult: a child has to be told what to do. An adult should have the intelligence and maturity to take the responsibility to pro-actively look for ways to further the father's vision. From a child, a parent can't expect much more than obedience. An adult son or daughter in a household should have a lot more to contribute to the family mission than mere obedience. An adult daughter, raised well by conscientious parents, will be able to think, will know how to live sensibly, will be discerning and self-controlled and self-disciplined, and will be wise and have understanding that may, in some areas, exceed that of her parents.
The sign of maturity isn't that we simply "obey" our parents' commands, but that we understand deeply what our parents' hearts and goals are, and can /anticipate and even exceed /what they expect of us. A mature, adult daughter who deserves her parents' trust most certainly isn't the one who says, "I'm not a child anymore, Dad! I'm an /adult/! I'm old enough to decide for my/self/ when to get up, and it's not something you have authority over anymore!" (Literally, "I'm mature enough to demand my own way, and throw a tantrum and threaten to run away if I don't get it!") But she also isn't the one who says, "Ok, ok, Dad, I'll get up when you tell me to." The mature daughter is the one that takes the initiative and says, "Dad, what time would you like me to get up? I know that spending time with your family before you leave for work is important to you, and I love that about you… so how can I help make it happen?" This is one thing that makes us different from mindless automatons with no wills of our own (which some girls seem mortally afraid of becoming.)
Once we're adults, we shouldn't always need to /ask/ our parents what they want us to do, but that's not because we shouldn't care what they want; it's because our judgment should be grounded in an understanding of their ultimate desires. However, Proverbs tell us that it's a sign of wisdom to seek counsel from others wiser than ourselves. Even the most mature adults still make mistakes, which could have been alleviated through "a multitude of counselors." (Proverbs 11:14)
As we become older, we shouldn't become more independent of our families; we ought to become more /involved/ with our families. After all our parents' years of investing in us, we finally have something substantial to contribute to their mission. Now is when we need to throw ourselves, our minds, our skills, our gifts, our passions, and our identities behind our parents' success. (For a parable about the duties of those under authority to carefully steward the best interests of those over them, see Matthew 25:14-29. To those girls who have unbelieving parents: for an example of a young believer dedicating himself to the success of the pagan authority God placed over him, see Genesis 39:1-6, and for an example of another discerning young believer who understood his duty to zealously advance his King in everything except his unbiblical decrees, see the book of Daniel.)
In our household, five of our seven children (all unmarried and living at home) are adults; four of us are in our twenties. Three of us have written books. Four of us have begun our own business. Two of us have our "own" ministry. Five of us speak at conferences. All of us have education and expertise in areas that exceeds that of our parents in multiple areas. But we don't use these facts as an excuse to "outgrow" our parents. We use these things as tools to advance our parents. To build on their vision. To establish their authority. To proclaim their names in the gates. We all have taken our father's vision and made it our own. This knitting together of our minds, hearts, and gifts has forged us together into one powerful weapon for Christ's glory and Kingdom. Together, we are ten times more fruitful and effective than we each would be, separated from our parents' unifying vision.
Giving glory to our parents, of course, isn't our ultimate goal. We do all this for the purpose of giving glory to God. We only invest time in developing those gifts that will render us most useful to our Creator and King. This means dying to ourselves; it means sacrificing our personal interests and agendas. Ultimately, it means losing our lives so that we may find them. But that is the Christian life.
We need to see the liberty inside this grand vision, rather than looking for license outside it. Instead of repining all the things we may have to give up (e.g. "/my/ life," "/my /space," "/my /time," "/my /dreams," "/my /schedule," "/my /way," "/my /friends," etc.), we should say "good riddance" to useless, selfish, autonomous "adulthood," and mature into loving the joy, productivity and adventure that /is /life in a Christian family unit.
*Communicating with our fathers*
Your mother mentioned that communication is an issue. This is an issue in every family, including our own. Women need to have a realistic understanding of how men – even the best men – communicate. It's not the way women do. It's not the way women expect them to or want them to. Every father has a hard time knowing how to communicate with his daughter. But there are ways that a daughter can help her father communicate with her.
Observation one: Daughters often need to initiate, especially at first.
Observation two: Daughters need to be really, really careful about the tone in which they pour out their hearts to their fathers. A father's protective, shepherding instinct will make him naturally feel that every problem distressing his daughter is his fault. Daughters have a tendency to think sharing her heart = dumping all her frustrations and burdens and emotionalism and accusations on the shoulders of her poor dad, and then feeling even more emotional and distraught when he responds by acting bewildered and defensive. This doesn't actually nurture the father-daughter bond.
Observation three: A father can't communicate properly with a daughter he cannot fully trust in. His heart can't fully trust in you until he knows he has your hearts.
*Giving our hearts to our fathers*
You've probably heard many times that you need to "give your heart to your parents." What does it actually mean to give your parents your heart?
The heart, called "the seat of the affections," is the source of all passions, desires, loves, interests, likes and dislikes, convictions and opinions. Proverbs 23:26 says, "Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways."
God wants our hearts and all that they contain to be surrendered to our parents – and ultimately to God – to be molded and directed. Making yourself vulnerable in this way requires Trust. You must trust your parents, that they ultimately desire what is best for you, and that they are qualified to lead you and guide you simply because they are your parents chosen by God to raise you.
It also requires Faith. Faith that God will lead you through your parents, imperfect though they are. And faith in God's promised blessings for your obedience.
When your parents have your heart you will truly "delight in their ways." You will love what they love, hate what they hate, and desire their approval and company and even "think their thoughts after them."
This is called "seeking after the hearts of your parents" just as King David was "a man after God's own heart."
Similarly, your parent's hearts should be able to trust in you, as it says in Proverbs 31, "/The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her…/" This means that they will have confidence in your obedience, when they are watching and when they're not, that you will demonstrate loyalty to them and to every thing they have taught you, in what you speak and do, in public and in private.
"/My son, keep your father's command, and do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually upon your heart; tie them around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you; when you sleep, they will keep you; and when you awake, they will speak with you. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life/…" Proverbs 6:20-23
*Preparation for Marriage*
Don't be impatient for Prince Charming to rescue you from your father's "heavy hand," thinking that once you're married to your perfect husband, your authority problems will vanish. /It's folly to think it will be easier to respect and submit to a husband than a father. /
We're not ready to consider ourselves eligible for marriage until we've learned to trust an imperfect individual with our lives. To communicate with a man, which will always be a struggle. To submit to an imperfect man's "whims" as well as his heavy requirements. To order our lives around another person. To accept the burdens a man places on us cheerfully. To esteem and reverence and adore a man whose faults we can see clearly every day.
These are things we will face every day as wives, just as we face them every day now as the daughters of our fathers. We need to practice now, trusting our heavenly Father to lead our earthly fathers, and our earthly fathers to lead us, even though we know they're not perfect.
Dear girls, if you have a father who wants to be your Christian authority and protector, and lead you in paths of righteousness, you are three of the most blessed girls in America. Most the girls who write to us after having read our book beg for help because their fathers still don't have the vision, and aren't really comfortable with their daughters trying to live the biblical model at home; or that their fathers don't have their own businesses and don't have anything for their daughters to do; or that their fathers are indifferent to them, and uninterested in their lives. You have a father in a million. Let him know how grateful you are for him.
We hope this email will be helpful. If you have any more questions for us, don't hesitate to send them!
God bless you and your family.
In Christ,
Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin
<http://visionarydaughters.com/2007/05/authoritative-parents-adult-daughters-and-power-struggles>
* In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb"
* Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
* The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
* Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S.Treasury.
* Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.
* Coca-Cola was originally green.
* It is impossible to lick your elbow.
*The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
* The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...)
* The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
* The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
*The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour: 61,000
* Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
* The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
* The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
* Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David, Hearts - Charlemagne, Clubs -Alexander, the Great, Diamonds - Julius Caesar
* 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
* If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
* Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
* Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace. [I know this is true in WV.]
* Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?
A. Obsession
* Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?
A. One thousand
* Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All were invented by women.
* Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
* Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of the year?
A. Father's Day
* In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."
* It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
* In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England , when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down."
It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"
* Many years ago in England , pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.
* At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!
Don't delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of th huan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
[I know the above is true. I was taught the "look say" method of reading. If the first and last letter of a word looks the same as another, I will normally say the wrong word.]
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2007 when...
1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are goin to forward this message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.