Acts 20:32

32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Matthew 18:20

20 “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Revelation 4:11

Revelation 4:11

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

Great Dog!

DIVORCE

                God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16), yet he provided a procedure for it that would protect the divorced wife (Deuteronomy. 24:1-4); this, said Jesus (Matt. 19:8), was “because your hearts were hard.” The natural way to understand his teaching in Matthew 5:31-32 and 19:8-9 is that marital unfaithfulness (the sin of adultery) destroys the marriage covenant and warrants divorce (though reconciliation would be preferable); but he who divorces his wife for any lesser reason becomes guilty of adultery when he remarries and drives her into adultery in her remarriage. In this Jesus is simply stating the principle that all cases of divorce and remarriage involve disruption of God’s idea for the sexual relationship. He answered the question, When is divorce lawful? by saying that divorce is always deplorable (Matt. 19:3-6), but he did not deny that hearts continue to be hard; so that divorce, though always in itself an evil, may sometimes be permitted on a lesser-evil basis.
Paul says that one who has become a Christian and then been deserted by an unbelieving partner is not “bound” (1 Cor. 7:15). This evidently means that he or she may regard the relationship as finished. Whether this should be held to confer right of remarriage has been disputed, and Reformed opinion has long been divided on the matter.
The Westminster Confession (XXIV.5-6) states with cautious wisdom what most Reformed Christians, reflecting on the Scriptures quoted above, have down the centuries found themselves agreed on regarding divorce:
In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out [secure] a divorce: and, after the divorce, to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.
Although the corruption of man be such as is apt to study arguments unduly to put asunder those whom God hath joined together in marriage: yet, nothing but adultery, or such willful desertion as can no way be remedied by the church, or civil magistrate, is cause sufficient of dissolving the bond of marriage: wherein, a public and orderly course of proceeding is to be observed; and the persons concerned in it not left to their own wills, and discretion, in their own case

You Never Know

You never know when someone
might catch a dream from you.
Or something you say may open up the windows
of a mind that seeks light;
The way you live may not matter at all,
But you never know, it might.

And just in case it could be
that another's life, through you,
might possibly change for the better
with a better and brighter view,
it seems it might be worth a try
at pointing the way to the right;
Of course, it may not matter at all,
but then again, it might.

Creation

Recently I was talking with an evangelical pastor about his view on creation. Please understand. Creation is not the only Biblical teaching I care about. There's more to Christianity than creation. But often it signifies one's attitude toward the Bible in general.

Unfortunately, the pastor's attitude toward creation is typical of many evangelicals today. "Oh, I don't get into that. It's too controversial. Besides, science has proven millions of years. It doesn't matter what one thinks about creation and the age of the earth. There are other parts of Scripture which are more needed today. Let's just talk about Jesus." This may sound spiritual, but creation doctrine is foundational to the rest. It really can't be ignored without damage to the others. The next question asked could be: "What other doctrines will you ignore, too?"

Creation is the "worldview" concept which places God as the sovereign Controller over all. His role as Creator gives Him the authority to set the guidelines for life and the penalty for breaking His law. Just as the manufacturer has the right and responsibility to author the owner's handbook dictating how to properly operate and repair a manufactured device, so the Creator of mankind has authority over our lives and choices.

By the way, the Manufacturer's handbook identifies Jesus, Himself, as the Creator (see, for example, Colossians 1:16). One cannot "preach Jesus" while denying His role as Creator. As Creator He taught the doctrine of marriage as coming from creation, not from modern convenience. He spoke of the recent creation,of the worldwide Flood, of the separate kinds of animals, etc., creation teachings all. He also based His teachings about His Second Coming on the facts of creation and the Flood.

The thought that creation is not in favor among many scientists should not concern us, for the opinions of some scientists have often been at odds with true science, commonly reflecting an anti-God agenda. Science has shown that the virgin birth is impossible, as is the resurrection. Are we to erase them from our teaching as well?

Creation is the foundation for the worldview of Christianity. Without it we lose the logic of the doctrines of God, of sin, of man, of the penalty for sin, of salvation from sin based on the Creator's death on our behalf, of His coming Kingdom, and others. If we can so easily abandon the doctrine of creation, the basis for the others, which of the others are we prepared to ignore?

Defending the faith

I ran across the following exhortation from that great “prince of preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and I would like to share it with you. I don’t know where it first appeared over a hundred years ago, but it is so relevant to the modern situation that it could have been written yesterday. Here it is:

We must defend the Faith, for what would have become of us if our fathers had not maintained it?... Must we not play the man as they did? If we do not,are we not censuring our Fathers? It is very pretty, is it not, to read of Luther and his brave deeds. Of course, everybody admires Luther! Yes, yes, but you do not want anyone else to do the same today.... We admire a man who is firm in the Faith, say four hundred years ago;... but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those ages past Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their compeers had said, “The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers,put on our night-caps and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up, things would have grown better.” Such conduct upon their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. These men loved the Faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on. Note that we owe them, and let us pay to our sons the debt we owe to our fathers.

To the same effect is that stirring statement from Martin Luther, which I have kept in the flyleaf of my Bible for about forty years.

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest expression every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved,and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace, if he flinches at that point.

The world and the devil are focusing their attack today on the great truth of biblical creation more than on any other doctrine. If we refuse to defend this component of God’s “everlasting gospel” (Revelation 14:6-7), it matters little what we do about the rest. Unbelievers attack all the Bible, of course, especially the miracles and prophecies, but they always direct their most passionate attacks against the truth of recent creation and its corollary doctrine, the global cataclysm of the Flood. If they can destroy these two doctrines, the rest will fall eventually. That is why the apostle Peter stresses these two great facts of history as the real antidote to the naturalistic worldview, the notion that “All things continue as they were fom the beginning of the creation” (see 2 Peter 3:3-6). He calls it “willful ignorance” to reject or ignore the two great biblical truths of special supernatural creation and the global cataclysm of the great Flood.

The sad aspect of this conflict is that so many “evangelicals” are trying to force the evolutionary ages of geology into the Genesis account of creation. Instead of defending our biblical Christian faith,they are trying to accommodate it to the unbelieving worldview of evolutionary naturalism. They will affirm their belief in the resurrection of Christ and His imminent return,and these are indeed vital doctrines, but they are not defending the true Christian faith when they dilute the historical authenticity of the foundational chapters of the Bible.

Some will even refute Darwinism and do an excellent job of it. But then they still try to accommodate the evolutionary ages of the naturalists, which in turn requires rejecting the worldwide cataclysm of the Flood. They seem indifferent to the fact that this means accepting a billion years of a suffering,dying biosphere before Adam’s fall brought sin and death into the world.

It is even sadder when they feel that this compromising approach will convince the scientific establishment to accept Christ and the gospel. They may use various terms to soften the concept—such terms as “intelligent design,” “process creation,” “theistic evolution,” and the like—but it will not make a dent in the worldview of the naturalists. They will continue smugly in their unbelief,regardless of the accommodations “some Christians” make to their system.

For example, an official policy statement of the National Association of Biology Teachers on teaching evolution said:

Explanations employing non-naturalistic or supernatural events, whether or not explicit reference is made to a supernatural being, are outside the realm of science and not part of a valid science curriculum.

One of evolution’s most articulate and influential spokesmen, the late Dr. Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard, rejected one of the best-written books of the “intelligent design” school, in scathing words such as the following:

Johnson’s current incarnation of this false strategy, Darwin on Trial, hardly deserves to be called a book at all....The book, in short, is full of errors, badly argued, based on false criteria and abysmally written.... Johnson is not a “scientific creationist” of Duane Gish’s ilk—the “young earth” Biblical literalists who have caused so much political trouble of late,but whom we beat in the Supreme Court in 1987. He accepts the earth’s great age and allows that God may have chosen to work via natural selection and other evolutionary principles....The book is scarcely more than an acrid little puff.

Now Gould’s review is grossly unfair, and Phil Johnson wrote an excellent reply to it (which Scientific American refused to print), but it did not change Gould’s opinion at all.

The point is that no dilution of the creation/Flood record of God’s inspired Word, no matter how well-motivated and persuasively written, is going to budge the evolutionary establishment in science or education one iota. They hold their position for religious reasons, not scientific,and scientific arguments for “intelligent design” are rejected just as vigorously as arguments for recent creation or a global flood.

The American Scientific Affiliation has been advocating a compromise between evolution and creation for years. Their widely distributed book, Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy, was a collection of well-planned essays designed to encourage such a middle-of-the-road system for classroom teaching. The result was a series of bitter attacks by the evolutionists. The Science Teacher magazine,for example,published a series of essays by leading scientists repudiating it,entitled “Scientists Decry a Slick New Packaging of Creationism.” One of the authors, Dr. Lynn Margulis,called it “treacherous,” a polemic designed “to coax us to believe in the ASA’s particular creation myth.”

The excellent book Of Pandas and People was written to present biology in terms of “intelligent design,” without any reference to God,the Bible,or creation,hoping that it could be adopted as a high school biology textbook. Again,nothing doing! It was merely a sneaky way of getting creationism into the schools,said its opponents,and they won. The Creation Research Society textbook Biology: A Search for Order in Complexity, published in 1970 with a similar goal, had already met the same fate.

I don’t believe any sort of compromise on this issue will ever get a fair hearing,let alone be adopted for public use, so why repeat the same old mistakes? Do we really believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God? Do we believe that God speaks clearly? Do we really think that current scientific majority opinion is always right?

Another very popular advocate of compromise says that teaching recent creation and worldwide Flood views will keep people from coming to Christ. “Because of the implausibility of such a position,” says Dr. Hugh Ross, “many reject the Bible out of hand without seriously investigating its message or even reading for themselves the relevant passages.”

Dr. Ross does not document this statement,and he is wrong. Many scientists do accept the biblical record at face value,and there are now thousands of scientists who have become young-earth creationists, not to mention multitudes of non-scientists.

What the compromise approach does, however,is not to bring the lost to Christ,but causes many who are already Christians to doubt their Faith as they go down the slippery path of compromise.

We do want urgently to win people to Christ (and many have come, through the biblical message of the great gospel of creation and redemption). But it is even more important to be true to God’s clear revelation.

In six days the LORD made heaven and earth,the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. (Exodus 20:11)

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made;... For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. (Psalm 33:6,9)

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. (Mark 10:6)

...by man came death. (1 Corinthians 15:21)

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. (2 Peter 3:6)

How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him. (1 Kings 18:21)

Yes, we must defend the faith; for what would have become of us if our fathers had not maintained it? Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.

Why is there evil and suffering in the world?

The curious as well as the critics of Christianity ask this question. If God is all-powerful and all loving, then why does He permit evil and suffering in the world? Various answers have been given but permanently settling the issue is impossible because so many of our answers raise further questions. Nevertheless, our lack of ability to answer the question perfectly does not mean that we cannot offer solutions. Of course, I do not assume to be able to answer these questions definitively, but I can offer some solutions.

First of all, it is possible that God has reasons for allowing evil to exist that we simply cannot understand. In this the Christian can have confidence in God knowing that His ways are above our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). As the Bible says, the just shall live by faith (Hab. 2:4).

Second, God may be letting evil run its course in order to prove that evil is malignant and that suffering, which is the unfortunate product of evil, is further proof that anything contrary to God’s will is bad, harmful, painful, and leads to death.

God gave Adam dominion over the world (Gen. 1:28). When he rebelled against God, he set in motion an entire series of events and changed the very nature of man and creation. Both were affected by sin. Creation was no longer a paradise, but bore thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:17-18; Rom. 8:22). People became sinful (Rom. 5:12;Eph. 2:3), who were haters of God (Rom. 3:9-12), etc. The only conclusion to such a situation is death. Jesus said, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened" (Matt. 24:22).

Sin is rebellion against God and His created order, but God has not left us alone in this fallen world. He continued to enter this world, pointing us to Himself, to truth, to morality, purity, and love. He used the evil of the world (liars, perjurers, the envious, etc.), to bring His Son to the cross so that we might have the opportunity to obtain eternal life. In this, God has not stepped away from fallen creation, but has stepped into it by becoming Jesus. God works within the fallen world to effect change and He uses fallen people to accomplish His will. In this, He is proving His sovereignty over evil, suffering, and rebellious people, proving that sin and evil are utterly futile, and that He is worthy of honor and glory.

A third possible reason that God is letting evil occur is so that on the day of judgment, the condemned will have no right to say that their sentence is unjust. God is not stopping people from exercising their free will. Think about this: If someone said that God should stop evil and suffering, then should God then stop all evil and suffering? If God only stopped some of it, then we would still be asking the same question of why it exists.

So, if we want God to stop evil and suffering, then He must stop all of it. We have no problem with this when it means stopping a catastrophe, or a murder, or a rape. But what about when someone thinks of something evil? Evil is destructive whether it is acted out or not. Hatred and bigotry in someone’s heart is wrong. If it is wrong, and if God is to stop all evil, then He must stop that person from thinking his own thoughts. To do that, God must remove his freedom of thought. Furthermore, which person on the earth has not thought something evil? God would be required, then, to stop all people from exercising their free will. This is something God has chosen not to do. Therefore, we could say that one of the reasons that God permits evil and suffering is because of man’s free will.

Fourth, it is quite possible that God uses the suffering to do good. In other words, He produces patience through tribulation (Rom. 5:3). Or He may desire to save someone through it. Take for example, the account of Joseph who was sold into slavery by His brothers. What they did was wrong and Joseph suffered greatly for it. But, later, God raised up Joseph in Egypt to make provisions for the people of that land during the coming drought of seven years. Not only was Egypt saved, but also his family and brothers who originally sold him into slavery. Joseph finally says to them, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" (Gen. 50:15-21). Of course, the greatest example of God using evil for good is the death of Christ. Evil people brought him to the cross, but God used that cross as the means to save the world.

But then we must ask, if this is true, are we working against God by working against evil and suffering? No, we are not. God says he does not want us to sin and suffer. But it is simply true that God can use evil despite its apparent despicable nature.

God is in the world using the world and its failures for His glory and the benefit of those who listen to Him.

But then, what about those who seem to suffer innocently with no benefit resulting? What about the woman who is raped, or the innocent bystander who is killed by a stray bullet. In both cases, the victims and families suffer nothing but pain and loss. What good can this possibly be?

I think that the answer is two-fold. One, ultimately, no one is innocent. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). There is none innocent. Though this is biblically accurate, it does not satisfy the question emotionally. Why do little babies suffer for things they have not done? I must acknowledge that I do not know. Ultimately, we must trust God who knows the beginning from the end and sees the grand picture. He will have the final word and He will be vindicated.

Conclusion

Suffering is the result of human sin. The world is not the way that God created it and because of that, all are vulnerable to the effects of sin in the world. Why does one person suffer and another does not? Why do catastrophes happen to some and not to others? It is because sin is in the world. But there will come a day when the Lord will return and cleanse this world of all sin and all suffering.

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away,"
(Rev 21:4)

Some fun facts about the 1500s:

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children-last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. That posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence. Maybe the phrase “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying “dirt poor.”

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a “thresh hold.”

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.”

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man “could bring home the bacon. “They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and “chew the fat.”

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or “upper crust.”

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a “wake.”

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a “bone-house” and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the “graveyard shift” to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be “saved by the bell” or was considered a “dead ringer.”

Did the Great Flood of the Bible really happen?

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights." - Genesis 7:11-12

In Genesis 6-8,the Bible describes a flood of global proportions. The fountains of the great deep exploded out of the ground. Something happened to that great firmament that God created to divide the waters above from the waters below, and water came crashing down on the earth after hundreds of years of dew watering the earth without the help of rain. During the Flood, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and the waters rose high enough to cover the tops of the mountains(however tall they were at that time). It was a devastating, catastrophic event that destroyed all the land-dwelling creatures on the planet, except for those protected on the ark that Noah built.

The Bible is not alone. Around the world, legends can be found of a global flood. Many of the details are different, but the essential elements tend to be there; a massive flood wiped out everybody but a particular righteous man.Often boats and animals are involved. The use of animals and birds to check there ceding of the waters, and the violence of the flood are common themes.

Gilgamesh: The most famous flood story outside of the Bible is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, discovered in the ruins of Asurbanipal's library in Nineveh. Gilgamesh may have actually been areal person; he is listed in the Sumerian King List in the first dynasty of Uruk (and apparently reigned for 126 years).

In Tablet 11, after a variety of adventures, Gilgamesh meets a man named Utnapishtim who survived the Great Flood. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh his story, which parallels the Biblical account in many ways. There are differences, of course. In Gilgamesh, multiple gods are involved, the flood lasted just a week, and the boat landed on Mount Nisirrather than in the mountains of Ararat. However, there are a significant number of details that are the same between the two accounts. In the Gilgamesh epic, Utnapishtim describes how he was ordered to build a large boat, which he coated with pitch and into which he brought "the seed of life of everything." The flood wiped out everybody but righteous Utnapishtim and his family, and while they waited for the waters to drain away, he sent out adove, a swallow, and then a raven to check for land. Later, Utnapishtim made a sacrifice.

The Biami: Missionaries made their way to the Biami people of Papua New Guineain the late 20th century and discovered that this cannibalistic people had Creation and Flood myths already in their culture. While their Creation myth was fairly vague, their Flood myth had many similarities to the Biblical account:

The Biami tell about a great flood that came and killed everybody on the earth except for their ancestors. There is no boat in the story, but the Biami ancestors climbed into a Gobia Tree, and they took with them all their animals and the things they needed for planting crops. Once the waters receded, they came down and repopulated the land. Until the missionaries came, the Biami didnot know that other people existed on the earth aside from themselves and thetribes around them.

Andaman Islands: After the British arrived on the Andaman Islands,a place isolated throughout much of known history, they found people who spoke strains of very old Asian languages. In the local mythology, a flood came upon the earth as a result of the wickedness of humanity. According to the myth, the Creator Puluga found that humankind grew disobedient, and he sent a flood that covered the whole land. Only two men and two women in a canoe were saved from the flood. When the waters sank, they landed. Then Puluga recreated the bird sand animals, and created a fire in the damp world.

India: In the Hindu flood myth, a man named Manu met a fish that warned him that a great flood was coming. The fish asked Manu to protect him in a clay jar andthen a pond until the fish grew large enough to be safe in the ocean. In return, the fish would save him from the flood. Manu built a boat like the fish told him to. When the fish was fully grown, a great big ghasha, Manu took him down to the ocean. Then he got into his ship. When the flood came, the ghasha pulled him to a mountain where Manu was able to slowly walk down as the floodwaters receded.

North America: The Chippewa have a story in which a hero, Nanabozho, followed the Great Serpent to the deep lake where it had dragged and killed Nanabozho's cousin.There the Great Serpent lived with all his evil spirits. In order to kill the Serpent, Nanabozho told the sun to shine on the lake and make it boil so that the Serpent would come out. After the Serpent emerged, Nanabozho shot him and fatally wounded him. Before he died, however, the Serpent caused the waters of the lake to boil out and flood the land.

"Madly the flood rolled over the land, over the tracks of Nanabozho,carrying with it rocks and trees."

Nanabozho and other men, women and animals climbed to the tallest mountain,where Nanabozho built a raft from timber. The people and animals on the raft watched even the tallest mountains disappear. Then they floated there until slowly the mountains and hills began to appear again as the waters receded.

The Ottawa tell of the prophet Kwi-wi-sens Nenaw-bo-zhoo, whose name means, "the greatest clown-boy in the world." The prophet sought revenge on the sea-god for killing his beautiful wolf-dog. He waited until the god came on land, and then shot him through the heart. In revenge, water monsters sent mountains of water after him "which swept down the forests like grass before the whirlwind." According to the account: He continued to flee before the raging flood, but could find no dry land. In sore despair he then called upon the God of Heaven to save him, when there appeared before him a great canoe, in which were pairs of all kinds of land-beasts and birds, being rowed by a most beautiful maiden, who let down a rope and drew him up into the boat. The flood raged on; but, though mountains of water were continually being hurled after the prophet, he was safe.

After a time, the prophet sent a beaver to swim down and check and see how deep the waters were.The beaver nearly drowned. Then he sent a muskrat, and it nearly drowned, but it brought back a handful of dirt. The prophet tied that ball of earth to the raven and sent it to fly over the waters to make them recede. When the world dried, the prophet and the beautiful woman repopulated the earth.

One Choctaw version of the Flood story tells about Oklatabashih(People's mourner), who lived in the distant past. The Great Spirit grieved because the people of earth had become so wicked. He told Oklatabashih to build a large boat and take on it his family and one male and one female animal of all the animals on earth. Oklatabashih collected all the animals, except for some particularly quick birds, and then went on the boat. It rained for a longtime and thousands of animals and people died, but there were still groups found here and there. Then a raging wall of waters crashed down on those that were left and killed everybody except for Oklatabashih and those in the boat.The boat floated safely for many moons. Oklatabashih sent out a dove, which returned with grass in its beak. Finally, the waters receded and those on the boat went out to repopulate the earth.

This story also includes stories about why the dove coos and how those three quick birds developed forked tails because of trying to keep above the dancing waves. These birds delighted the Great Spirit and were made the guardians of the red men.

Brazil: The Indians of Brazil had various versions of a Flood legend when they were discovered by Europeans. In the story, only two brothers and their wives survived a global flood that destroyed everybody else on earth. In some accounts the brothers survive by climbing the tallest tree on the top of the tallest mountain. In others, they rode on a canoe.

The Frenchman André Thevet related a story by the Indians about Cape Frioin the 16th Century. The Indians told about a great medicine-man named Sommay who had two sons called Tamendonare and Ariconte. Tamendonare was the righteous brother who took care of his wife and children and worked the ground. Ariconte just wanted to subdue the people around him, including his brother. One day,during an argument over Ariconte's violence and pride, the village they lived in was transported to the sky. The brothers remained on the earth. Then Tamendonare stamped the earth and a great fountain of water sprang out and shot higher than the hills. The water continued to spout until it covered the whole earth. The two brothers climbed the trees on the tallest mountains and pulled their wives up with them, and were therefore the only ones to survive the great flood.

After the Tower of Babel incident,humanity spread across the face of the earth and took the memory of their ancestor Noah's great escape with them. There are certainly stories about local floods among tribes –floods that took place long after The Deluge. However,the theme of a massive flood that destroyed all living things can be found among tribes and peoples all over the world.

The Bible's version of the story, however, goes into the greatest detail. It describes the dimensions of the ark, names of the survivors' descendants for several generations, and gives dates. It gives a constant notation of the events' dates. These are facts that cannot be easily dismissed. "And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth dayof the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen"
Genesis 8:35

Luke 16:8

The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

Luke 16:8       

Courage

GOD DOES HIS GREATEST WORK THROUGH UNSUNG HEROES.

The book of Acts deals with the history of the Christian church and its expansion in ever-widening circles touching Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, and Rome-the most influential cities in the Western world. Acts also shows the mighty miracles and testimonies of the heroes and martyrs of the early church-Peter, Stephen, James, and Paul. All the ministry was prompted and held together by the Holy Spirit working in the lives of ordinary people-merchants, travelers, slaves, jailers, church leaders, males, females, Gentiles, Jews, rich, poor. Many unsung heroes of the faith continued the work, through the Holy Spirit, in succeeding generations, changing the world with a changeless message-that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord for all who call on him. Today we can be the unsung heroes in the continuing story of the spread of the gospel. It is that same message that we Christians are to take to our world so that many more may hear and believe.

Jeremiah 17: 9-10

Jeremiah 17:9-10  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Have ya heard this one?... A man goes into a barbershop

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: “I don’t believe that God exists.”


“Why do you say that?” asked the customer. “Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize...

that God doesn’t exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children?


If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can’t imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.” The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument.. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.


Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt.. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: “You know what? Barbers do not exist.”


“How can you say that?” asked the surprised barber. “I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!”


“No!” the customer exclaimed. “Barbers don’t exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.”


“Ah, but barbers DO exist! That’s what happens when people do not come to me.”


“Exactly!” affirmed the customer. “That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist! That’s what happens when people do not go to Him and don’t look to Him for help. That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.

Just A Few Drops

  Author Unknown

It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through. Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying t...

o get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn't see some rain soon... we would lose everything.

It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes. I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort...trying to be as still as possible.

Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches, thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour. He would walk carefully to the woods, run back to the house. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen...as he was obviously doing important work and didn't need his Mommy checking up on him).

He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked, being very careful not to spill the water he held in them...maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site. Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him...he didn't even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn laying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand.

When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree. I followed him back to the house, to a spigot that we had shut off the water to. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his little back. And it came clear to me. The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him.

It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His little eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said.

As he began his walk, I joined him...with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job.

I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops...and more drops...and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride.

Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. That miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't argue with that...I'm not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm...just like the actions of one little boy saved another.

I don't know if anyone will read this...but I had to send it.... To honor the memory of my beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too soon.... but not before showing me the true face of God, in a little sunburned body.

DON'T FORGET TO SMILE!

A little girl walked to and from school daily. Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school. As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning. The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she herself feared that the electrical storm might harm her child.
Following the roar of thunder, lightning, like a flaming sword, would cut through the sky. Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child’s school. As she did so, she saw her little girl walking along, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up and smile. Another and another were to follow quickly and with each the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.
When the mother’s car drove up beside the child she lowered the window and called to her.
“What are you doing? Why do you keep stopping?”
The child answered, “I am trying to look pretty, God keeps taking my picture.”
May God bless you today as you face the storms that come your way.

An Interview With God

I dreamed I had an INTERVIEW WITH GOD.

"So,you would like to interview me?" GOD asked.

"If you have time," I said.

GOD smile. "My time is eternity... what questions do you have in mind for me?"

...

"What surprises you the most about humankind?"

GOD answered...

"That they get bored with childhood,that they rush to grow up,and then long to be children again."

"That they lose their health to make money... and then lose their money to restore their health."

"That by thinking anxiously about the future,they forget the present,such that they live in neither the present nor the future."

"That they live as if they would never die, and die as though they had never lived."

GOD's hand took mine... and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked,"As a parent,what are some of life's lessons you want your children to learn?"

GOD replied,"To learn they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved."

"To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others."

"To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness."

"To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love,and it can take many years to heal them."

"To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most,but is one who needs the least."

"To learn that there are people who love them dearly,but simply do not yet know how to express or show their feelings."

"To learn that two people can look at the same thing,and see it differently."

"To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another,but they must also forgive themselves."

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.

"Is there anything else you would like your children to know?"

GOD smiled,and said... "Just know that I am here. Always."

"Are You Still Drivin' Nails"

My house at Christmas

GOD BLESS THE USA!

Lighthouse Everything Skit

Tim Hawkins - The Government Can

God of Wonders by Third Day

"America-Why I love her" John Wayne

GEORGE STREET WITNESS

THIS WILL TRULY LIFT YOU UP SPIRITUALLY.

This is a story written by a doctor who worked in Africa.
One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).

We also had no special feeding facilities.


Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.


Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates)..


'And it is our last hot water bottle!' she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa
it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles.


They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.


'All right,' I said, 'put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.'


The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough,mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.


During prayer time, one ten -year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. 'Please, God' she prayed, 'Send us a hot water bottle today- It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.'


While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, 'And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?'


As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say 'Amen?' I just did not believe that God could do this.


Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. However, there are limits, aren't there?


Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the verandah was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.

I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.


Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the...could it really be?


I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried.


I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.


Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, 'If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!'


Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!


Looking up at me, she asked, 'Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?'


'Of course,' I replied!


That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator.


And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it 'that afternoon.'


'Before they call, I will answer.' (Isaiah 65:24)

Nikolai Khamara - U.S.S.R. - 1970's

"What kind of men are these?" wondered Nikolai Khamara. "They show joy while suffering. They sing in very dark hours. When they have a piece of bread, they share it with someone who has none. Morning and evening, they fold their hands and speak to someone whom no one can see. As they do, there faces shine."

For months Khamara had watched the Christians who shared his cell in the Communist prison. Unlike the believers who were in prison for refusing to deny their faith in Jesus, Khamara was there for crimes he had committed. Arrested for robbery, he had been sentenced to prison for ten years. He described himself as "a man with no conscience."

One day, two of the Christians asked Khamara, "Suppose somebody loses a gold ring. What is the value of that gold ring when it is lost?"

"What a foolish question!" Khamara replied. "A gold ring is a gold ring. You have lost it, but somebody else will have it."

"Then what is the value of a lost man?" The Christian asked. Answering his own question, he continued, "A lost man, even one who is a theif or an adulterer or a murder has the whole value of a man. He is of such value that the Son of God forsook heaven for him and died on the cross to save him."

Khamara understood.

The Christian said to the robber, "God loves you. You are valuable to Him.

"When Jesus met drunkards, robbers, prostitutes, or other who had committed great sin, He never asked them what they had committed. Instead, He told them, 'Be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven.' I also tell you, Khamara, that your sins are forgiven becasue Jesus died for you. You only have to believe."

Khamara became a Christian.

When he finished his prison term and was set free, he joined the underground church even though it was in constant threat from the KGB. He became a faithful member of his local congregation.

Some time later, the pastor of Khamara's church was arrested. The authorities beat and tortured him, hoping he would tell the names of the church members and give them information that would help them stop the printing of Gospel booklets that had been circulating thoughout their province. He was tortured, but he told them nothing. If he had, thousands of his fellow believers would have been arrested.

After he had beaten the pastor repeatedly without success, the captain of then investigation said, "We will not toture you anymore. We have another method."

They arrested Nikolai Khamara. They brought him before the pastor and told him, "If you do not tell all the secrets of your church, we will torture Khamara in front of you."

The pastor could not endure someone suffering for him. He asked Khamara. "What should I do?"

Khamara said to him. "Be faithful to Jesus and do not betray Him. I am happy to suffer for the name of Christ."

The captain said. "We will gouge out Khamara's eyes." The tortures picked up a knife and started toward Khamara. The pastor could not bear it. He cried to Khamara, "How can I look at this? You will be blind."

Khamara replied, "When my eyes are taken away from me, I will see more beauty than I see with these eyes. I will see the Savior. You remain faithful to Christ to the end."

When he had finished, seeing that the pastor had not yet given them the information they wanted, the captain turned to the pastor again and said, "If you do not betray your church, we will cut out Khamara's tongue."

In despair, the pastor cried, "What should I do?"

Khamara's last words were, "Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. I have said the highest words that can be said. Now, if you wish you can cut out my tongue."

Khamara died a martyr's death.

DOG

Warrior Song

One Nation Under God - Jon McNaughton

Praise You In This Storm - Casting Crowns

ANOTHER YEAR IS DAWNING

ANOTHER YEAR IS DAWNING
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879)

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL enjoyed New Year’s Day. It was a day of promise, looking forward in faith to God’s blessing in the coming twelve months. She had such a positive spirit that when she entered a room, it was said she brought a “burst of sunshine.”

One New Year’s Eve, when Frances was twenty-three, she and her sister Maria sat together listening to the church bells. Maria said that her Bible verse for that year would be “As thy days, so shall thy strength be” (KJV). Inspired by her sister’s reading, Frances composed this poem: “As thy days thy strength shall be; this should be enough for thee. He who knows thy frame will spare burdens more than thou canst bear.”

New Year’s Day was also the source for today’s hymn, “Another Year Is Dawning,” which she wrote on a card she was sending to a friend.

Frances Havergal died when she was only forty-three. Even at the end of her life she remained steadfast in reminding Christians that “fresh glory” is just as important as fresh air and fresh water. We need to celebrate God’s glorious mercies each new day as well as each new year.
ANOTHER YEAR IS DAWNING
Another year is dawning:
Dear Father, let it be,
In working or in waiting,
Another year with Thee;
Another year of progress,
Another year of praise,
Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days.
Another year of mercies,
Of faithfulness and grace;
Another year of gladness
In the shining of Thy face;
Another year of leaning
Upon Thy loving breast;
Another year of trusting,
Of quiet, happy rest.
Another year of service,
Of witness for Thy love;
Another year of training
For holier work above.
Another year is dawning:
Dear Father, let it be,
On earth or else in heaven,
Another year for Thee.

Priceless

There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses.

One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no actual address. He thought he should open it to see what it was about.

The letter read:

Dear God,
I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had $100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension payment. Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with, have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope... Can you please help me?

Sincerely, Edna

The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few dollars. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected $96, which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman. The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends.

Christmas came and went.

A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady to God. All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened.

It read:

Dear God,
How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift.

By the way, there was $4 missing. I think it might have been stolen by those bastards at the post office.

Sincerely, Edna

Courage

Courage is the ability to act on what we know is right and good, to dare to do what we should or must. Fear paralyzes; courage is what helps us move ahead. Courage does not conquer fear, it simply renders fear ineffective. It gives us a confident assurance that we can succeed. Christians recognize that they have an extra resource in God’s promised help in time of need. This should bring about a boldness to face any situation that comes our way. It should be noted that sometimes the courageous thing to do is run, if that is what will bring about the greatest good. The Bible speaks of courage to stand firm against evil, to remain strong in our faith, to resist temptation, to do the right thing. The more we learn to rely on God, the more courageous we will become.