It’s quiet on the deck this morning. Water gurgles as it falls into the ponds. Birds sing to awaken the morning. I can’t hear it, but we know that “the whole creation has been groaning. . .” That’s what Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Roman Believers. And from my iPad Bradley Walker sings, “Sing me to Heaven. When it comes my time to go, Continue reading “Sing Me To Heaven”
NATE IS ON THE WAY
TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT
This morning on a local news program, I watched a compilation of reports on how people were preparing for the latest tropical storm. It will reach north from its American landfall all the way into Georgia and Tennessee. One reporter spoke with a man living on the coast who was buying plywood. Continue reading “B R E A K I N G N E W S”
Yesterday, a friend who is an epidemiologist for the CDCs said that the biggest difference between ebola and cancer is that ebola is viciously contagious. Basically, ebola, if left unchecked, will kill at least 6 out of every ten people in the world. While ebola is thought to be transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of a person showing symptoms, it’s clear that while wearing approved clothing it is being transmitted. We’re told ebola isn’t airborne, which is a good thing, but what we don’t know is how easily it can be transmitted one person touching a surface previously touched by a person showing ebola symptoms. This is why, in Dallas, TX, the ambulance that transported the first U.S. ebola patient, as well as his apartment, was sanitized. Now that two nurses are confirmed with ebola, one of whom flew on a plane while exhibiting minor symptoms (a low-grade fever), health officials are contacting each person on the plane. These people won’t be quarantined, but they will be asked to curtail direct contact with others, and monitor themselves for possible symptoms. But being contagious may not be the worst of the ways ebola is killing us.
The pastor in Liberia who shared with me that all commerce has been shut down, also said he’s running out of food. How long can you stay in your house without going out to get food? I’ve talked about this before, when talking about my pantry. In the last few years, during winter months, we’ve been shut down for nearly a week three separate times. I know folks that would be hard pressed to find more than a box of cereal in their homes, let alone enough to go a week. I don’t really know how they made it during those winter-weather shut downs. Here in the States, as in Europe and many large cities throughout the world, food is available stored in jars, cans, or dried. But in more rural towns in most places in the world, food is brought fresh to the market. Sure, rice and beans are available dry, and easily stored, but not so available are vegetables or meat. Shut down commerce and people starve. So sure, we can stop the spread of ebola by isolation, but that success doesn’t ensure that anyone will be alive after the epidemic. What’s left to do?
Well, stock something up while you can, if you can. A bag of rice, a bag of beans. Some water. Prepare to hunker down for awhile.
Pray. Pray, too, for the people of Africa that are in the middle of this nightmare.
Lord Bless, Keep, and Shine. . .
There is a simplicity to being “saved.”
The author of Hebrews addresses a Believing Jewish audience; an audience that believes in Y’shuaJesus as Lord, Messiah. In the first five chapters he writes at length presenting the arguments of Y’shuaJesus as the awaited Messiah. In chapter six the author writes:
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. . . Hebrews 6:1
He wants to move on to other things, but first he recaps the basics of Messianic Judaism: 1) repentance from dead works; 2) faith in G-d; 3) the teaching of ritual washings; 4) laying on of hands; 5) resurrection of the dead; and 6) eternal judgement. (Heb 6:1-3) It is my belief that a Jew does not “convert” to Christianity. Rather, a Jew simply becomes “completed.” I learned of this from Pastor Jeff Sheldon, of southern Oregon.
So then, the non-Jew, the “Gentile,” who doesn’t have a relationship with G-d, finds salvation in Y’shuaJesus in another way if the Gospel’s presentation. In the Billy Graham Training Center Bible, the normal condition of mankind means that there is a need to be “delivered from sin and it consequences to find true peace and fulfillment. An understanding is required of G-d’s purpose, which is salvation, John 3:16 There is a problem here though, as there is a separation from G-d, Rom 3:24. G-d has a remedy, which is the Cross, 1 Tim 2:5,6. We must respond through trusting Messiah Y’shuaJesus, John 1:12. We finally accept G-d’s assurance through His Word, Rom 10:13.
Henry David Thoreau wrote that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” This then is the man or woman who is separated from G-d. There is a struggle within the unsaved that often means pushing the Gospel away, defiantly. It is rebellion.
It is critical, I think, that we understand the differing perspectives of a person with whom we come into contact. We must be able to respond the that person in a way that he or she becomes willing to shed defiance and rebellion. Thus, that person can be lead to submit to Y’shuaJesus.
These precarious times in which we live, these times of crisis, are also great times of opportunity. We may be called upon to assist people who recognized that the world seems to be unraveling and don’t know how to do anything about it.
We must be prayed up to respond. We must be alert, and sober.
Lord Bless, Keep, and Shine. . .
Being sober isn’t only the opposite of being drunk; it is used in a few other ways (from Wiktionary), such as: moderate; realistic; serious; not playful; not passionate; cool; self-controlled. A couple of examples: “No sober man would put himself into danger for the applause of escaping without breaking his neck.” Or: Which is the finest and soberest state possible.
While the King James Version uses “sober” in 1 Peter 5:8, the Holman Christian Standard Bible uses “serious.”
Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 1 Peter 5:8 HCSB
Paul expresses the need for this sober, seriously watchful attitude because we are not meant for wrath. (1 Thes 5:9). My wife has been watching a documentary on Bronisław Huberman, a Jewish Polish violinist who “founded the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (then known as the Palestine Philharmonic) and thus providing refuge from the Third Reich for nearly 1,000 European Jews.” (Wikipedia)
In the early 1930s, Jewish Germans were already being ostracized from German communities. Musicians were fired from their jobs in German orchestras. While there was a Jewish-only orchestra formed that accommodated some musicians, it did not last long. Mr. Huberman was able to gain support to build the Philharmonic, and filled its seats with Jews from not only Germany, but from Poland and other Eastern European countries. Some Jews did not want to leave Germany, however, even when the opportunity was provided. One of the chief factors was the attitude that “this is all going to blow over.” So many of the Jews could not accept leaving all they’d worked to build, believing if they simply played along, accepted some sacrifice, it would be alright. Once the musicians finally made it to Israel, then called Palistine, they found it quite different than they’d been accustom. One woman left the Philharmonic, returning to German. Another musician asked to be allowed to return to German to finish his PhD. The PhD. candidate stayed too long, and could not get out of German, as the border were closed. Both the musicians were sent to camps, and are presumed to have been murdered. All the musicians that accepted positions with Jewish-only orchestras were eventually sent to camps, were they, too, died. As we know, the sanctions against the Jewish community became an all-out war of terror against it. What began slowly rapidly turned evil, indeed.
So, fast forward from the years of Hitler’s reign of terror to the Twenty-First Century. What does this lesson teach us today? If we see persecution toward Christians increasing throughout the world, if we understand that it isn’t just going to go away, how do we proceed? One might say that there is really no place we may run, no place to hide. World War III may be the ongoing war against terrorism that has engulfed the world. Even if we perceive the threat to a Christian way of life, there really isn’t any place we may go for asylum. We are told by Y’shuaJesus directly that a time will come that we are unable to buy, sell, or trade. (Matthew 24) We are not appointed for wrath, but if we are not prepared, we certainly will be caught up in it. And we must not yield our souls to gain only a temporary life. Therefore we must be prepared. We must, like Joseph who helped Egypt, prepare for famine and plague and violence. We must become strong both physically as well as spiritually if we are to survive “underground.” Prepare Now!
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
In programming classes, during the dawning of the computer age, I recall the phrase, “Hello World.” It was used as the first statement a newbee programmer would have his first program write to a screen. This movie, “Goodbye World!” used a spin-off of that phrase as the last thing to be displayed on all cell phones as the computer age crashed into night. The movie, set in Northern California, centered on a group of old college friends, now middle-aged, that managed to get together as the world plummeted into chaos. It is explained that after college, after these friends went their own ways, two of the them, James and Lilly, were awakened to the fragility of the world, especially food production, electricity, and transportation. They not only saw that the modern world was headed toward an abrupt halt, they acted upon that vision. They left the city, heading to Northern California to build a self-sustaining home high on a mountain.
. . .let us keep awake and be sober. (1 Thes 5:6)
It is in this home that the old college friends gather. It’s not a movie with “we all lived happily ever after.” Right from the start the group finds it must deal with diverse personalities and perspectives. Ever the pragmatist, James has collected a sizable cache of food and medicine, and developed a large truck garden. He has a filtered well and solar panels providing power not only for the well, but also for the house. Lilly, on the other hand, would rather not think about tomorrow, and simply eat, drink, smoke dope, and be happy for the moment. James and another, more pragmatic friend, head into town to the small grocery store to pick up some supplies. They find that a motorcycle gang has taken over the store, and raise the prices a thousand percent. They pay with cash and a gold watch. Once outside the store, the witness three men taking groceries away from another man, and they leave without helping him. On the way home, they stop at a neighbor who often has sold them meat and things they don’t raise. They buy it at the same cost, added to their “tab,” that they’d always paid. They are neighbors, after all.
Internal tensions rise in the house as they learn of the extent of civil breakdown in the United States, and that two members of this old-college group, have contributed to the meltdown of society through their computer-hacking and virus-creating activities. Then the neighbor who’d sold them some meat comes by the house to ask for spare medicine. Someone from town has an infection and the motorcycle gang took all the drugs from the store when it left town. James says he doesn’t have anything to offer.
Next major event is that many of the neighbors from lower down the mountain have gathered at the home below James’s. Along come two armed National Guardsmen. They are told they can’t stay at James’s home, that the Constitution forbids it. They don’t leave the area, but settle in with the now larger group living in the home farther down the mountain. Trouble brews when that group is stirred up by these “soldiers,” when they learn of the large food cache and medicines that James and his friends have in their home. These soldiers come to James’s home, and at gun point, declare that James will not only share the food cache, but give all medicine to them. James sees no recourse, and agrees. The next day, James takes food down the hill, but not the medicine. He says that he will share the medicine, but the ill must come to him. It is his preparations, after all. One of the soldiers, a man named Damien, decides to kill James to make a point that to all not to defy Damien and his authority. That group does nothing. Just as Damien is about to kill James, he is shot by one of the old college friends, a woman, who’d come down behind James. She then makes a speech that begins with one spoken by General George Washington:
“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.” (Address to the Continental Army before the battle of Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776.)[Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/w/washington_george_ii.html#x4CP8VkwaPuVvH70.99]
Someone yells, “Who’s our enemy?” To which the woman says, “We are are own enemies.” She then goes on to say that we need to work together, for if we are are going to live free, we must work together.
What strikes me from this movie is that the character James is a hippie sort, yet wants to maintain control of that which he has stored, without sharing beyond his own household. Additionally, while wanting to maintain his home as his, to maintain his freedom and liberty, he is unwilling and unable to fight for it. It is the woman who ends up shooting the soldier Damien, that is willing to not only share, but to band together to form a cooperative, to work together for all their common good. And obviously she is willing to fight for that freedom, that liberty.
This soldier, Damien, represents the reign of tyranny an individual can inflict upon a community. These tyrants are not leaders, not rulers, not raised by G-d to serve people. They only wish to dominate, to control, to live at ease at the expense of humans for which they have no respect, no love. They gather others around them who’d rather join them than be against them. They suck the lives out of those they attempt to control. They are bullies. They deserve nothing more than to die. This is my opinion. As Christians we have a moral obligation to work toward righteousness, keeping always an eternal perspective. What does that mean? I think the meaning includes that the righteous have nothing to do with the schemes of the devil. I think the schemes of the devil include using willing humans to bring chaos and slavery to the lives of the righteous. If we fail to be on guard, fail to watch, we are going to sleep and darkness will fall upon us and we will be enslaved, economically, socially, morally. We will lose the rewards that we’ve gained, we will lose our crowns. If, as so many believe, the time is short, we must be doubly sure that we fall not into the devils way.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine . . .
There’s really nothing new under the sun, as King Solomon was inspired to write. So it is with the idea that we should always be prepared for the end of the world as we know it.
In a recent article published in The Trumpet, the author, Joel Hilliker, praises James Wesley, Rawles, and Survival Blog, and his compassionate approach to preparing for any calamity. The author wrote:
“Survivalist thinking is often associated with paramilitary activities, racism and religious extremism. But as global stability deteriorates and threats to civilization increase, it is becoming more mainstream. For his part, Rawles is avowedly anti-racist, and apparently moderate in his religion. He emphasizes preparing in a way that enables a person to fulfill the “moral imperative” of charity, giving to the needy in times of crisis.
“There is something to be admired in the clear-eyed pragmatism of those taking steps to face calamity. Unlike the far more common head-in-the-sand approach, it acknowledges the seriousness of the times, and recognizes the need to do something—to work while it is day, since the night is coming.”
In the article, Mr. Hilliker spends some time and citing scriptures that say that we should be aware of the potential for disasters, especially the End Time Tribulation period, The Last Days. He rightfully urges us to “to condition our minds for catastrophes, because they [The Last Days] are coming. It is because of the human tendency to ignore such realities that Jesus Christ warned,
[T]ake heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day”—that is, the period of destruction just ahead of us—“come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
(Luke 21:34-35).
That said, Mr. Hilliker goes on to totally disagree with practical preparedness, citing various scriptures beginning with this one:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal,” Christ instructed. “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also
(Matthew 6:19-21).
In his conclusion, Mr. Hilliker states, “In a 1966 article, “Don’t Store Up Large Quantities of Food,” Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, “Do not spend extra money on foodstuffs above your normal supplies and perhaps some few ‘staples’ which could carry you through a temporary food shortage on a vastly curtailed and reduced diet, in a severe and temporary emergency, for only a few WEEKS! … If you ever store more food than the normal laying up in summer for winter—you’re hoarding, and God Almighty may well withdraw His protection from you!” [emphasis added]
Wait Just One Minute, Please! Take a look at Israel living off G-d’s handouts in the desert waiting for an entire generation of Israelis to die off before it can cross over into the Promised Land. Mr. Hilliker uses that experience in his justification for Faith Alone as the key to Being Prepared. He says Spiritual Preparedness, not physical, is Being Prepared. I disagree. I respect the view that being right with our Lord Y’shuaJesus is all that is required to physically survive in a long-term survival situation, a situation where help will never come from any human. G-d can intervene. G-d can provide. We can trust G-d. But did Israel leave Egypt with nothing? And did Israel plan to spend forty years in a desert with no provisions? Israel left Egypt with wealth given to them by the people of Egypt. Israel left fairly well off for a trek though the desert to the Promised Land. It was disobedience that resulted in an extended stay in the harsh conditions of the desert. It was disobedience that required G-d to provide sustenance to prevent the all the people from dying off in the desert.
It seems to me we need a more balanced approach, and we need to look at a few other scriptures. How about starting with Y’shuaJesus’s parables for instance that tell us that we are to be practical in our approach to live. It was the foolish bridesmaids that didn’t come prepared to wait for entrance into the festival hall for the Feast of the Groom. It was the the man who failed to invest his “talent” that was chastised by the Returning Lord of the Land.
And let us not forget that it was Joseph who had Egypt store up seven years of grain for the seven years of famine that would come about. And it was stored up in preparation for Israel to come down to Egypt to live, though Joseph didn’t realize it at the time.
There was a pretty good movie that circulated in the mid-1980s that pitted the Spiritual with the Totally Practical, the peaceful protest with the armed protest. I don’t recall the name, but it was set during the time of the Spanish conquest of South America. Two priest, two friends, each choice a different approach to protect the inhabitants of a village. One priest gathered villagers to pray, the other trained villagers to protect themselves. In the end both priest died as the Spanish conquest of the land was completed. The end left the viewer to decide which priest took the most appropriate defensive strategy. In a purely rational view, neither priest failed, neither priest succeeded. Both died. It leaves one understanding, however, that each is judged later, by the Lord. That each did what he thought right. There was a special moment at the end of the movie that showed the two dying priests crawling toward one another, to grasp hands. I, as a viewer, felt there was no judgement of one toward the other for his way of protest. They did what they had to do.
And so it is with us, today. Pray now before the coming collapse of our delicately intertwined society, which is dependent upon a fragile supply chain. We must, as Mr. Hilliker points out, repent and trust in G-d. G-d will provide! It is for you to decide if G-d will provide your sustenance now or later. If now, so be it. If later, okay. In the end, we it is our mandate to trust G-d and follow what He places in your heart.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Friday night’s basketball games were terrific. The girls went up against a team from Savannah, Georgia. Those girls came well prepared to win, and at one time in the game nearly took the lead. In the end, however, my daughter’s team prevailed with a fairly nice margin. It was the boys’ game in which the score fluctuated rapidly from leading to trailing to leading. Back and forth like a tennis match it was. In the end, a three-point shot and and a lay-up into the bucket nailed it for the boys. Victory! Both the girls’ and boys’ basketball teams will compete Saturday in the state finals. This is a first for the high school. The boys and girls did a fabulous job.
And I found myself once again transfixed by the action. One thing I’d noted to myself before is the stance many of the girls use defending their goal. One girl in particular, on Friday night, really stuck out. As she approached an opponent who held the ball, she’d stand with a wide-footed stance, arms spread out from her body. Her eyes seemed to loose focus, her head and eyes pointed straight, but it was obvious to me she was looking left and right with her peripheral vision. Her head never moved. Her eyes never moved. She starred straight ahead glued to the ball, yet seemed to soak in all around her. As the girl with the ball moved, the defender moved along by shifting her entire body to follow the ball. It was really rather enchanting, like a snake following the charmers flute.
It occurred to me that with with our chief adversary, our opponent, running loose, we might well adopt a defensive basketball stance in that we need to be fully aware of our surroundings, of the situation in which we place ourselves each and every day. We fall when we act upon temptations. Better we are aware of them as they sneak upon us, and flee them before we are ensnared in them.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
In earlier posts I spoke of how, while living in rural ranch country, a snow storm could come through causing the main highway to be closed for a week or more. I spoke of preparing a nice pantry and storing it with things to eat. I spoke in another post of my recent rebuilding of my pantry. It’s funny, ‘cuz it has less in it now than before I started to redo the shelves. We intentionally used a lot so we didn’t have to deal with it while my slow rebuild was in progress. It will get back up to a nice level as soon as I shop again at CostCo.
Since writing/blogging about preparing for storms, stocking pantries and such, the eastern United States has been struck with a hurricane and a Nor’eastener. Two back-to-back storms that have played havoc on millions of people. A neighbor here in Georgia finally reached her sister, who lives in Long Island, and evacuated to a place that was safe, but didn’t have electricity. She was hard to reach, as she’d left her cell phone off to conserve power, having no way to recharge it. This brings to mind a communications plan. My aunt once posted a contact list to our family’s website/Yahoo! group. She was traveling and wanted us all to know who to contact “just in case.” It’s a pretty good idea. Make a Plan. Share the Plan.
Okay. So here’s a parable told by Y’shuaJesus, recorded for us by Matthew:
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Matthew 25:1-13
There are two types of people spoken of in this parable: wise and foolish. If the parable were set today, there might be three types. The third being the doormat Christian. Think about it. I’ll get back to you.
In the meantime: Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . . and help you prepare for the night that comes before the dawn.
. . . turns to what can only be thought of as the desolation of winter, I trust that Spring is just beyond. Hope in spring makes winter more tolerable, even enjoyable. And fall means that winter is soon to come.
Trust is a gift of G-d for those who will believe in His Son, Y’shuaJesus. Trust. Faith. In the midst of winter, spring is yet unseen except through the eyes of faith. In the midst of seeming desolation, there is hope for those whose names are written in the book of life. In Messiah Y’shuaJesus, there is life.
There are other types of winters. One is the winter of disaster. It is not bound by a set number of months, and occurs often without warning. Earthquake is a great example. It affects regions of a country. And there is the winter faced by only one or more families when paychecks end after layoffs from jobs. To weather these calamities we must trust in the LORD.
The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
Psalm 34:22
And:
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment. . . . Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Matthew 6:25, 27
There are practical considerations to be made as winter approaches. I’ve written about these before. While we are to trust and have faith, we are also called to be prepared. Please check out From the Lighthouse blog for a very balanced article on this subject. Then visit our government’s preparedness website READY.GOV. It’s not too late to “Be Informed; Make a Plan; Build a Kit.”
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Jonah’s Song 