On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 2:12
PM
Hey
John
The Joshua idea sounds good.
Send me what you can as soon as you can, and I'll get busy on it. We've
got rain here, so not too much vineyard activity the rest of the week, so maybe
I can get some thoughts down on paper. We picked three varieties yesterday
A-L-L D-A-Y L-O-N-G...and night, but at least we got them in before the
rain hit, so that's a plus, but today I'm like the walking dead.
Dana
++++++++++++++++++++++++
John
answered at 4:13
PM on Tue, Aug 29, 2017
Hey
Dana
I am continuing to read Martyn
Lloyd-Jones book Revival. He uses
scripture with each new chapter, as an introduction for what is to follow. In Chapter 10, the scripture is:
21 And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When
your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these
stones?
22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel
came over this Jordan on dry land.
23 For the Lord
your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed
over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before
us, until we were gone over:
24 That
all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty:
that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever. Joshua 4:21-24 (KJV)
This reminded me of what’s been
going on in cities and towns around the nation for the past several weeks. As
you know, I am a Southerner by proxy. While I admit I settled in Northern Virginia, none-the-less, I
lived below the Mason-Dixon Line for about seven years. I went to school (elementary, junior and
senior high schools) in the era when state and national history was taught in
almost every grade up until graduation. How could I know what it meant to be an
American, if I didn’t know about America and Americans?
In the on-line publication Townhall,
on 10/22/11, Daniel Doherty wrote about the disturbing decline of the teaching
of American history in the American school system in his article titled “The
Decline of American History in Public Schools”:
The
notion that American history -- a once a valued subject -- is no longer a
priority in public schools is profoundly disconcerting. The denigration of
history, in my view, will have dire ramifications as children grow up ignorant
and unaware of the essential beliefs which have guided our nation for nearly
three centuries.
The below is from a news blog
published in the Rocky Mountain Collegian written on 4/10/15 by Hallie Gardner, titled “Is American
History Even Taught in Schools?”:
Before
writing this blog, I did a little follow-up on the decline of American history
being taught in schools. An article on Townhall.com writes, “A new report shows
that students anywhere from high school to fourth grade are solely lacking in
their knowledge of American History. Results from the 2010 gold standard of
testing, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 13% of the nation’s high school seniors showed
proficiency in their knowledge of American history, and only 18% of eighth
graders and 22% of fourth graders scoring as well.”
I have been greatly disturbed by the
PC police, the Liberal Left, and ignorant and cowardly politicians who have succumbed
to (at the very least) misguided pressures to erase America’s past, or worse
yet, who try to re-write it. Just as we have today, the good, the bad, and the ugly
who make up America, that is who we were and where we came from.
While
I don’t condone riots, we can’t remove our past, because that’s who we were and
or are. While the mayor of Baltimore says her under-the-cover-of-darkness
removal of the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson was to “The mayor
has the right to protect her city,” she said. “For me, the statues represented
pain....” As President Trump recently said (paraphrasing), “Where will it
stop?”
As you have said in the past Dana,
this is not a political platform, so let me move on, and get back to our
scripture. Lloyd-Jones feels that a failure to remember what God has done in
the past is one of the reasons the Church in America is not seeing revival
today. I don’t remember who gave it, but I have a previous message on my mind.
It was titled “Your God Is Too Small.” I think these few verses in Joshua point
to this. We serve the Almighty and Creator God. The Lord of Lords and King of
Kings. And yet due to our humanity it is too easy to forget what God did for me
yesterday, let alone about 3000 years ago.
More
Later
John
***************************
Dana’s Reply on 8/30/17
Hi John,
After the events in Charlottesville,
(which I believe were staged events, as more and more eye witnesses are saying
that things weren’t necessarily as the mainstream media reported them) I was
wondering something. I grew up in the
late 1950’s and 1960’s. One of the most
vivid memories I have is of the struggles of the Civil Rights movement and Dr.
Martin Luther King. His speeches are now
a part of the American lexicon.
Something I do not remember however, is any emphasis on, or criticism of
the Confederate flag or Confederate monuments spoken of by Dr. King or any of
his followers, including Rev. Jesse Jackson.
In effect they were non-entities in the struggle. One would think if said flag and monuments
were, in actuality, symbols of white bigotry and hate, they might have figured
into the objectives of the Civil Rights movement.
Dr. Walter E. Williams, noted economist
and educator, and also a black man, once spoke of the Civil War. He was quick to point out that America had
never experienced a civil war in its history, and that event we refer to as the
“Civil War” was anything but. Civil wars are wars fought between two competing
entities, both vying for the same objective.
The Southern states in the 1860’s were never trying to take control of
the government of the United States; they simply wanted out of the Union and to
be self-governing. When the South
seceded, it was the North that went to war to prevent it.
Only a tiny fraction of Southerners were
slave owners, as the South was largely agrarian, and most of the people were
too poor to own slaves. President
Abraham Lincoln didn’t issue the Emancipation Proclamation, the executive order
that freed the slaves until January 1, 1863, well into the war, which would
better termed the War Between the States, instead of the Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant, the Union general credited
for defeating the South (and later President of the US) was a slave owner
himself. So the inflammatory rhetoric
condemning the South of fighting the war over slavery is historically
incorrect.
The aforementioned Dr. Williams in his
talk about the War Between the States also told about the first black soldier who
was commissioned as a military officer was done so in the Confederate army, not
the Union army.
Pol Pot, the brutal Communist dictator of
Cambodia christened his takeover of the country by declaring time was to begin
over again for that country starting at Year Zero. That is the same mindset among the new
Communist left trying to erase our own history. Erase a people’s history and culture, and then
they’re easier to control.
As Hitler shored up his own power base by
creating a “boogey man” for people to demonize and hate in the Jews living in
Germany at that time, the same tactic is being employed in our own
country. Now it’s the white, (and
predominantly) Southern, Christian who is the bad guy.
I’ve said it before, and I stick to it,
the Obama administration’s championing of gay marriage had little to do with
the rights or well-being of the homosexual community. Instead it was a shot fired across the bow of
the Christian Church. If you go back to
the news of that time, the next day the rainbow colors were off the White
House, but that’s when the lawsuits began against Christian businesses opting
not to serve homosexuals.
There’s a highly orchestrated move afoot
that, as far as I can see, cares nothing for the rights or welfare of Black
Americans, Hispanics, homosexuals, transgenders, or Muslim immigrants. Those people
exist simply as a tool in the cloven hoofs of the “orchestrators” to cause
division and strife, with the end game of assaulting the Church—the real enemy.
Once
the flags and the monuments are gone, are we so naïve to really think that that
will signal the end to protests and hostilities in this country? Watch, the crosses on the top of church
steeples will be the next symbols of hatred and intolerance that will have to
go.
OK, some you might be tempted to think
that as I write this, that I’m sitting in my well-armed, well-stocked bunker,
comfortably adorned up on top of my head with a shiny tin-foil fedora, daily
communing with Elvis, and waiting for the end.
Think me insane; you won’t be the first so to do, but speaking of
“boogey men,” the real “boogey man” for Christians isn’t the liberals, or the
PC crowd, or the Bilderberg Group, or the New World Order, or space aliens, or
Black Lives Matter, or LBGTQ, it is antichrist.
I won’t go as far as saying it is THE ANTICHRIST of the end times—I
don’t profess to know. But the Apostle John
wrote in his first epistle:
“Children,
it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now
many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” (1John
2:18 ESV)
It appears that “the last hour” has
indeed been a long one, and is still with us.
If a day is as a thousand years to the Lord, then should we be surprised
by long hours as well? The forces
causing all the trouble in our land and world are not political or social in
nature—they are evil! They oppose Christ
and anyone who follows Him. They will
stir up and exploit anyone and everyone to apply pressure to the Church, if not
outright destroy it. There are (thankfully)
a few obstacles standing in their way, but it is coming.
There is a man with whom I am quite unfamiliar. His name is Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj, supposedly
a converted Hindu, who is now preaching for Christ. I cannot vouch for or denounce the man or his
“ministry,” as I just haven’t had the time to investigate to see if he is the
genuine article or a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
But in an article I was reading, he was quoted as saying:
“The Lord spoke to me about this nation
[America], ‘What you need is not a revival. What you need is to put your house
in order.’”
And, on that point, he nailed it.
We have discussed the absence of revival
in our nation before on the blog. Devout and sincere people still pray for it.
I don’t believe they are wrong to do so, but I’m inclined to agree with Mr.
Selvaraj’s statement. I don’t know if God spoke to him or not—I wasn’t there,
and I tend to be on the skeptical side of things when someone says “God spoke
to me.” That phrase has been used a lot to justify all manner of things that
may or may not line up with the Bible. I
do not doubt that God communicates with His people, but outside of special or
particular guidance in difficult or perplexing
situations, the answers we seek as believers are all right there in the
Scriptures...if we take the time to look.
It would behoove Christians to be still a minute and reflect on just
why, when so many sincere believers have prayed and prayed for revival, just
why God hasn’t sent it. Perhaps God is indeed trying to prepare us for
something that’s coming, rather than give us revival, which for many who seek
it would be nothing more than Christian entertainment. He provides our needs, not necessarily our
wants. Jesus warned His disciples to get out of Jerusalem prior to 70 AD; is
another warning coming our way, but one we cannot, or worse, will not listen to?
If that is the case, we need to heed said warning, and become
“Spiritual Preppers.” Now don’t misconstrue
my meaning; I’m not saying that Christians need to get off the grid, and
stockpile firearms and canned food—not at all!
We neither fight with carnal weapons, nor do we live by bread
alone.
Instead we need to prepare for that which appears to be coming upon the
Church by getting real familiar with our Bibles—our only offensive weapon
according to Paul in Ephesians 6, and, we also need to get our spiritual lives
and “houses” in order. Fasting and
prayer might prove much more valuable tools in our Christian toolbox than an
AR15 and freeze dried meals.
Talk
soon,
Dana
+++++++++++++++++
John
answered on 8/30/17
Hey
Dana
Keeping the thought going of
remembering what God has done, I’m going to do that. (A minister once suggested
to his congregation that they actually go outside and pick up a number of small
stones to which they could attach memories of God’s goodness and provision. I
had seven or eight stones on my bookcase for several years.)
I’d like to thank God that He save
and delivered me from drunkenness.
I’d like to thank God for when,
before Carol and I were married, I prayed for her over the phone and He heal
her of lumps in her breast.
I’d like to thank God for bring us
together as husband and wife.
I’d like to thank God for the few
real friends that I have who have stuck with me through the years.
I’d like to thank Him for all His
provisions through the years.
I’d like to thank Him for providing
safe shelter even when I was homeless for a time.
I’d like to thank Him for the
several times, when we’ve had a falt tire or a car problem, we’ve broken down
in a safe place.
I’d like to thank Him for our church
and pastor and his solid teaching.
I’d like to thank Him that over the
past several years, in spite of the severe losses we have sustained, He has
been there throughout it and and has continued to bless us.
Thank you Lord for protecting Carol
when she fell recently. That could have been very bad.
Dana, I hope this is an
encouragement to our readers to begin to remember God’s goodnesses and thank Him
for them and His provision.
Grateful
for your friendship
John
PS
The home going of a good friend.
Dana
I
don’t think you knew Jeanie Nye. She was a bit younger than me and attended
Trinity A/G for years. She sang with a Gospel group when she was younger and
continued to sing for the Lord her entire life. She was always doing something
good for someone. When Carol and I were married 25 years ago, she did the
flowers for our wedding. One of the decorations was a bundle of wheat to
represent our place a a couple in the harvest field. She loved people and loved
God. This morning after an off again on again bout with cancer, God took her
home, peacefully. No more sorrows. No more tears. No more death. Just the land
of eternal Son. I’m sure she’s singing His praises and enjoying every minute in
the land where time will be no more....We’ll look for you when we get there
Jeanie. You can show us around....
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