Joseph Conlee: From Methodist Pastor to Drunken Beggar to Pentecostal Educator — Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center

[I found this repost from AG History touching, enlightening, and encouraging. L-RD Bless. . .]

This Week in AG History — December 19, 1936 By Darrin J. RodgersOriginally published on AG News, 17 December 2020 Old Joe Conlee (1853-1929) was a dirty, ragged drunk. He spent every penny on liquor and begged on the street corners in Los Angeles for money to feed his addiction. Then, in 1897, a man […]
Joseph Conlee: From Methodist Pastor to Drunken Beggar to Pentecostal Educator — Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center

Supplementing Church Services

While pulling a flatbed for Arrow Trucking out of Tulsa, OK, I covered 125,000 miles and 46 states during my first year over the road. It was a blessing to attend many churches across the nation. Some I thoroughly enjoyed, others I found lacking. Not always was it possible to park near a church, however. There were many truck stops that allowed a pastor to conduct church on Sunday. Sometimes these services were in the truckers’ lounges. Others were held in converted semi-trailers. Several times a local church would send out a van or small bus to collect truckers, taking them to the services at their churches.

There were other ways to listen to church services too. As most of the newer trucks had CD players incorporated in the AM/FM radio, many preachers made CDs of their services and left them at truck stops in their areas. Not always was the quality “state of art,” so to speak. But mostly they worked well enough to hear a Sunday service.

It seems today, with churches still either under mandatory lockdown, or voluntarily suspending Sunday services, that this might be a way to reach those with no other means to hear their local church service.

As Pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out a sermon from 1964, this is only a supplement to actually attending church: Why Preaching. In this sermon he says that many feel they can simple read the Bible and not need to attend church. Pastor Lloyd-Jones points to Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, as written about by Luke in Acts 8:26-40.

²⁶Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south^[a] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. ²⁷And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” ³⁰So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³²Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he opens not his mouth.
³³In his humiliation justice was denied him.
    Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
³⁴And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”^[b] ³⁸And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:26-40

It is the preachers role to preach Jesus, and to expound upon the meaning of the scriptures, according to Pastor Lloyd-Jones. He furthermore is adamant that one must actually sit in a seat in an assembly of other Christians to fully receive this teaching.

This brave new world in which we live has brought new problems, and old solutions might well be something G-D might wish for us to consider as a supplement to gathering in an assembly of Believers. Hearing the sermon, whether online or from a recorded CD is at least a valid supplement.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Quick [video] introduction to shortwave radio listening

Peter Parker, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, today posted a video primer on Shortwave Radio Listening: Quick introduction to shortwave radio listening.

In his video, Peter explains the basics of the shortwave bands, how radio waves get from the transmitter to the receiver, and shows a few ideas for outside antennas. Peter also demonstrates what broadcasts sound like when received. As you’ll see, the audio is not like a local FM station.

In writing about shortwave listening, my thoughts generally have been about Christians receiving Christian broadcasts with out internet or local stations broadcasts. In a quick trip across the bands, I mentioned a programs featuring talk radio and music. There are other ways that shortwave broadcasting is used today, as it has been for many years. This article, while a bit technical, explains how pro-democracy groups are beaming broadcasts to Chine, to citizens that are generally not able to hear anything but China propaganda: How Dissidents Are Using Shortwave Radio to Broadcast News Into China.

Then there are the Pirates. Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license–Wikipedia. There are some famous, or infamous depending on one’s viewpoint, pirate stations. While the name pirate may sound sinister, not all are such.

“Pirate radio in the UK first became widespread in the early 1960s when pop music stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio London started to broadcast on medium wave to the UK from offshore ships or disused sea forts. At the time, these stations were not illegal because they were broadcasting from international waters. The stations were set up by entrepreneurs and music enthusiasts to meet the growing demand for pop and rock music, which was not catered for by BBC Radio services.” Wikipedia.

BBC pretty much had a monopoly on radio in the UK then. And the Brits wanted to listen to Rock Music. I can’t imagine being in London and not even being able to listen to the Beatles. Stranger still, the British government required citizens to have a permit to receive broadcasts, even if those broadcasts were from the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). If that isn’t enough, the permits excluded listening to certain stations, such as the pirate radio stations.

That reminds me of the many WWII movies I’ve watched that included as scene in which Nazis confiscated radios. And if radio transmitters were found, well, the owners were murdered.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Are You Filled. . .

. . . With Sap and Green?

A Psalm (92). A Song for the Sabbath.

1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,

3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.

4 For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

5 How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!

6 The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this:

7 that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;

8 but you, O LORD, are on high forever.

9 For behold, your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.

10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over mea fresh oil.

11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.

14They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,

15 to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Questionable Broadcast Content

This evening I hung a wire indoors between two windows and wrapped one end around the antenna on my amateur radio hand-held radio–the one that also receives shortwave broadcasts.

I tuned around and found a lot of Spanish-language stations, a women interviewing another woman about Jazz with a Chinese element added, and then an Adventist Radio broadcast. I looked for some of the Christian broadcasts that I’d read about. Then I came to an announcer talking about tomorrow’s rally in Washington, D.C. I looked up the frequency that I’d tuned on shortwave station locator app on my android cell phone. It was from WWCQ, broadcasting from the State of Maine. This broadcast was on 7420 KHz (7.420MHz).

I’d heard a bit about this broadcaster; mostly that air time was reasonably priced and open to anyone who wants an hour on the air. The website for WWCQ posts its broadcast schedule. The program I’d tuned into turned out to be Jeffrey Daugherty’s UNidoctrinate Yourself. According to his website, which is subtitled “The Christian Whistleblower,” Mr. Daugherty is a former Christian minister of twenty years as well as a graduate of a Bible College. He also, according to the website, has over 100,000 hours of studying the Bible.

Mr. Daugherty’s experience and study “bring credibility to his stating that the bible keeps people locked in a Fear & Guilt Blood-Magick Mind Control Matrix. Mr. Daugherty will help “UNindoctrinate regarding Religion, ‘Scientific’ fallacies and the accepted Historical record–and to CREATE YOURSELF and live the life you’ll love through White Dianetics.”

Y’all see any red flags?

Pretty obvious, I’d say. But not everyone is so openly non-Christian. That’s exactly why Pastor Li (see previous article on JonahzSong Christian Fellowship is Booming; Zooming) said “there could be problems as believers became increasingly reliant on online materials that had been shared by sources from around the world. There had been cases in which believers “wrongly interpreted” certain concepts or became misled by cults that had elements of Christianity.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Making Waves; Warming Clouds

When I was a kid, my family headed to Fort Leavenworth where Dad was to attend the Command and General Staff College. Crossing the desert we went many miles with nothing but static on the AM radio in the station wagon. It’s not that way anymore. Any one with XM satellite radio can listen to a wide selection of music, talk radio, news, and the Family Radio (Christian broadcasting) channel from coast to coast without interruption.

There was a time in the States when cars had another band in addition to AM called MF, which is a shortwave band. That ceased in the early 1950s when, allegedly, politicians didn’t want Americans to easily be able to listen to broadcasts from Communist Russia. Unlike the AM and FM radios, shortwave radios are able to receive broadcasts from around the world.

As technology changed giving us the internet and satellite radio, many people thought that shortwave broadcasting would drop off through disuse. It hasn’t. What I’ve noticed is that over the past year, with folks staying at home, there’s been a renewed interest in shortwave reception.

One of the first shortwave broadcasts I listened to is HCJB. “1931–On Christmas Day, the HCJB Radio Station begins transmitting with 200 watts of power from a remodeled sheep barn north of Quito. The broadcast was a combination of Spanish and English, and the program christened the HCJB Radio Station “La Voz de los Andes”, and included the hymn “Grande es Tu fidelidad,” according to its website.

In addition to expanding it’s transmission of the Christian message, it provided small receivers to enable people to listen to the broadcasts. Today, HCJB has a global reach in many languages, assists other organizations in establishing broadcast stations, and trains broadcasters. Unfortunately, from what I was able to find, HCJB no longer has English-language broadcasts to North America. It does have one in Australia, which might be possible to receive as the sunspot cycle returns to its highs.

There are other stations with broadcasts in English, and that are located in the States. One is WWCR, broadcasting from Nashville, TN. An example of a program it broadcasts is Truth For Life with Pastor Alistair Begg of Parkside Church. That program is broadcast at 8 am CT on 15.835 MHz (That’s in the 19 meter shortwave band.)

What does it take to receive these shortwave broadcasts? Looking on Amazon, for instance, there are still a number of reasonably priced shortwave receivers available. The cheapest at around $50 probably won’t work well. For $149 and up to $200, there are some that may work well. Like most electronics the sky’s the limit as far as cost. While the higher end receivers are going to be better in receiving, they also have many “bells and whistles” added.

A quick introduction to using one of these receivers. While many have short antennas attached to them, similar to the old AM-FM radios we used to take to the beach, they won’t really work all that well. Like the days of rural living and trying to get a TV station from the big city, it takes an antenna outside the house to work best. It can be a simple wire connected to the receiver and strung outside through a window stretched to a tree, for instance.

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Notes:

If interested in shortwave broadcast listing, called Shortwave Listening (SWL) there are a number of websites devoted to it. SWLing is but one of them.

Here’s a Wikipedia article: Shortwave Broadcasting in the United States, that may be of interest. I contains a listing of broadcasters, including some Christian.

With one of my hand-held amateur radios I was able to receive a few stations using the antenna on it. They were weak. I hope to find some time, perhaps use some saved during daylight savings time, and toss a wire out the window for a go at it. I do hope the HOA board doesn’t see it and complain.

I mentioned some ideas for local, small-church pastors to connect to their congregations apart from the internet. I’m working on that. Sorry.

Church in the Time of Covid

Church services, as well all know, have been disrupted for most of this year. While the internet certainly has offered a wonderful way for Bible teaching and preaching, it is not the only one. Additionally, watching or even listening to a church service via the internet is not available to all.

Pastor James, SlimJim, wrote about the need for equipping church members with the means to receive internet church here: Donate Electronic Device so At-Risk Members can have Church service online.

How have other churches reached their members apart from the internet? I’d like to hear about it. Please comment.

When Parkside Church began limited services at the end of August, it did so outside. Church was on the grass, with families physically distanced (don’t you like that term better than socially distanced? Courtesy of a Minnesota Epidemiologist.) Those who chose could simply park in the parking lot and listen. What, open windows and try to hear? No. On their car/truck radios.

Using a very low power FM transmitter is legal for use in the United States. Not all low-power transmitters on the AM and FM broadcast band that are sold on Amazon are actually legal, as they are not “Type Accepted” by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC regulates broadcasts over the air in America.

Parkside’s transmission of a Sunday evening service to the parking lot was probably stretching the distance for which these low-power transmitters are useful. Of course, that’s the idea. License-free broadcasting is designed for a very limited use, also limiting its interference capabilities.

Some American manufacturers claim their products reach much farther, even a couple miles. However, this is pretty misleading, as the specifications by the FCC are such that the transmitters are not capable of such range. In fact, they must produce only the most minimal received signal at even 200 feet. Parked in a car under 200 feet from the church, the service might be heard, if the transmitter is legal in the US.

So Parkside, for instance, isn’t going to be able to broadcast throughout its community using its FM transmitter.

Pastor James might be able use a transmitter like this to reach at-risk members of his congregation, but only if they park in front of the church. This is possible. However, during the Spring, in Michigan, just parking in a parking lot was “illegal,” and subject to law enforcement action.

So, any other ways to reach out without internet?

The FCC has opened up a pathway for community broadcast stations. The licensing fees aren’t cheap, but much cheaper than commercial broadcast licensing, which is hard to get and can cost in the millions of dollars. Unfortunately, these community broadcast licenses aren’t all that easy to obtain either. From what I’ve read, the application process and review by the FCC is difficult, usually requiring experienced legal teams. And then there is the FCC review process, making it more difficult.

Two long-standing ways to broadcast a sermon are “buying air time” on local radio and television stations. Radio is by far cheaper. In Susanville, CA, in 1985-86, Lassen County Christians made thirty-second public service announcements (PSA) to reach out Christian messages. Local churches aired their sermons on Sunday morning. And larger churches in more populated cities had their Sunday service broadcast on a local television station.

For the last twenty something years I’ve not watched TV over the air, having subscribed to either cable TV or Satellite TV. These days, my wife and moved entirely to internet use. Perhaps there are some Sunday church services that are viewable in your area. As for the local radio broadcast stations near me, there two FM stations that broadcast exclusively Christian content, one mostly music, while the other does broadcast syndicated content from the large ministries.

Would a local radio station broadcast a pastor’s Sunday service, like back in the days before internet? Might be worth asking. However, it’s not going to be cheap. It’s not going to be affordable to a small church pastor that just wants to make sure his people are able to at least hear the Sunday Word.

Any other ideas? Yes. Next time, L-RD willin’

L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Pilgrim Songs

In the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem, this arch commemorated a many-times destroyed Synagogue. It’s last destruction was in 1948 during the Arab-Israel War. After retaking the Old City in 1967, plans were made to build a new synagogue. The arch was erected in 1977. Finally, in 2010 a new synagogue was built and dedicated.
*by Wil Robinson. 1987*

For the last fifteen days, JonahzSong has looked at Psalms 120-134 collectively as the Songs of Ascent. In doing so, each has been seen from the perspective of The Temple service and Levites ascending the steps that led from the Court of the Gentiles upward toward The Temple, where Gentiles are not allowed.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Psalm 134 references this collection as the Pilgrim Psalms. Prior to the destruction of The Temple, Jews were to come up the Jerusalem for three Appointed Times. These are Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Weeks or Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles, Tents or Booths)

I infer from the JFB commentary that the Pilgrims would be singing these Psalms as they made there way to Jerusalem.

How wonderful such a pilgrimage would have been, too. The words of Psalm 133, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell in unity!” would echo through the hills. So marvelous!

I expect one day to make a final pilgrimage Jerusalem—to a New Jerusalem where King Yeshua reigns. Oh, to sing those song with Brethren, to come The Feast, to dine with our L-RD, our King. Oh, how good it will be, how pleasant it will be, to truly dwell together in UNITY with King Yeshua.

Song of Ascent: Fifteenth Step

At the Western Wall, upon which The Temple once stood, people gather to listen to a man’s prayers.
*by Wil Robinson. 1987*

Song of Ascent. Psalm 130

1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!

2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!

3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!

The final step, what a wonderful and joyous call! It’s an invitation. The call is for me. The call is for you. Are we not grateful we are called? Jew and Gentile alike. A call by our Heavenly Father made possible by His Son, our Savior, Yeshua Jesus! Blessed be His Name forever!

The pilgrim bands arriving at the sanctuary call on the priests, who stand in the house of the Lord—at the time of the evening sacrifice, to unite in praising God in their name and that of the people, using appropriate gestures, to which the priests reply, pronouncing the Mosaic blessing which they alone could pronounce. A fit epilogue to the whole pilgrim-book, Psalms 120-134. —Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Song of Ascent: Fourteenth Step

At The Western Wall, Jews and Christians gather during The Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles).
*by Wil Robinson. 1987*

Song of Ascents.
Of David. Psalm 133

1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brethern dwell in unity!

2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!

3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

The first verse is beloved by many, and contained in favorite praise songs.

How lovely if we could hear the joyous voices of Levites on this fourteenth step of their ascent.

“. . .unity among brethren, whether civil or religious, is productive both of profit and pleasure. Of profit, because therein consists the welfare and security of every society; of pleasure, because mutual love is the source of delight, and the happiness of one becomes, in that case, the happiness of all. It is unity alone which gives beauty, as well as strength, to the state; which renders the church, at the same time, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners, Song of Solomon 6:10.” — Horne, as quoted in Benson Commentary.