Friday, August 7, 2015

The Grass Withers and the Flowers Fade



Just a few days ago we took our daughter to a Science Museum and I captured this image and the bubble she is blowing reminded me of the fragilness of life, but more about that later. We had lots of fun looking at all the exhibits and Mary's most favorite was the bubble room.  There were bubble walls and large bins of soap solution on tables with large wands to make ginormous bubbles!  While we were there an older couple was in the room with us with a little girl.  The man made a statement, like a tongue in cheek thing, about us having our daughter with us, as they did.  I smiled and thought at first that he was serious and said, "Yes, I was 46 and my husband was 51 when we had her."  I seen the expression on his face change and said, "Oh, this is our granddaughter and we thought that was your granddaughter too.  I am so sorry."  I smiled and said, "Oh don't worry about it, we get that all the time." 

Later when I thought about it and remembered other times that has happened how people apologize to us like they have offended us.  Which they have not.  Neither Rich or I dye our hair trying look younger.  We feel it is healthier and more natural to let your hair do as God intended it to do.  Also we are not trying to hide our age as Mary is a wonderful gift to us.  We were not the people who were so busy with our lives that we didn't have time for children when we were younger and now were pushing the envelope to have a family late in life.  We also were not ones that thought of her as "oops, I guess we will make the best of it" either.  She was greatly wanted and we had asked God for a child, if it was His will.  We both desired a child or children in our youth.  We longed to be married and had some very lonely years in our lives but we both wanted to keep the Lord's word and marry a follower of Christ and one that was not divorced.  This was a tall order in our culture as we reached into our 30s and early 40s.  Most people thought it just wouldn't happen for us, but God in His plan and great love and mercy, seen fit for us to meet later in life, fall in love, marry and 4 years later bless us with a child.  I was 46 when I had her and I conceived her naturally with no medical intervention.  That was a great gift to us. 

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Family Devotions: Peter Walks on the Water with Jesus

Today Rich read out of Matthew 14:22-33 of how right after feeding the 5 thousand, Jesus sends the disciples in a boat on the Galilee and he goes off to pray, during the night a storm comes up and Jesus walks on the water to the boat.  The disciples were frightened thinking he was a ghost.  Peter calls out to Him asking if he can walk on the water too.  Jesus calls him to come and he walks on the water until he starts looking at the waves and wind and becomes afraid and begins to sink.  The Lord lifts him up and takes him to the boat.  What a powerful lesson that was and we then thought of Peter and John going through the Gate Beautiful after the resurrection and infilling of the Holy Spirit and telling the lame beggar, silver and gold they did not have but in the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk and he went leaping and walking and praising God.  We thought of all the lessons they learned from Jesus and how many we can learn too as we read the Gospel stories.  

We found this cartoon clip on You Tube that Mary really liked and she watched it twice.


Here is the link: https://youtu.be/K2t3-S6eSUU

Mary loves the reading and talking about the story, but for her it really comes alive with the little movies.  If you have anything you would like to add to this devotional and tell about a devotional you do, just tell us in the comments below.  Have a very blessed day!  You all are in our prayers.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Whose Disciple Are You?

The other day I Googled, "Who discipled the Apostle Paul?" and came up from this quote by Charles Stanely.  It sounded really good until I clicked on the link that said, "About Charles Stanley".  I was saddened.  Here is what I read:


"After Paul’s conversion, he disappeared into the desert for three years, during which time the Holy Spirit instructed him in the ways of God. He emerged, ready to communicate divine truth.

The Lord speaks to believers so that they will comprehend the truth, conform to the truth, and communicate the truth. These same steps form a road map to discipleship. What happened during Paul’s desert years was only the beginning of a life-long process—God renewed his mind and transformed him into the image of Christ. For the apostle, that change began with connecting his rich biblical knowledge to the revelation that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

Paul knew Scripture thoroughly, but the truth that Jesus was the promised Messiah made him reconsider the foundation he’d been trusting. Everything he knew about God had to be reevaluated in light of this new information. Paul had a history of wanting to please God, so the Holy Spirit no doubt found him a willing pupil.

The apostle’s spirit had to be shaped according to the Father’s will. And the Lord kept working on him long after Paul left the desert and began his ministry. Every person who reads his letters is a witness to the work of God in a submissive man.

The Lord’s discipleship road map looks similar for every believer. Like Paul, you are the Holy Spirit’s student, and the knowledge you reap from Scripture should be changing your life. Be like the apostle in this way to become a disciple maker by sharing what you learn with others."  by Charles Stanley

About Charles Stanley: "Dr. Charles F. Stanley is the founder and president of In Touch Ministries, whose In Touch radio and television programs have been translated into more than 100 languages. He has also been senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia since 1971.

Dr. Stanley received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Richmond, his bachelor of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his master's and doctor's degrees from Luther Rice Seminary. He has twice been elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention and is a New York Times bestselling author. Charles has written more than 50 books, including In Step with God, Landmines in the Path of the Believer, Living the Extraordinary Life, Finding Peace, Into His Presence, Success God's Way, The Handbook for Christian Living, The Source of My Strength, and How to Listen to God."


My question:  Dear Mr. Stanley why didn't you follow Paul's example? You tell people to dig into the Word and read it for yourself and your list and boast all the people who taught you but I don't see any mention of the Holy Spirit in you great list.

Philippians 3: 4-11
"If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of  knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." 
(I added the underlining)


What is the power of His resurrection?  I think this scripture will shed some light.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Beatitude Series, What Is A Disciple?


1. Poor in spirit.

Disciple:   A person that subjects himself to the disciplines of another.
There are many religions in the world today, and all of them have specific beliefs, and practices that make up all of their own disciplines that they must adhere to in order to achieve what they seek.  In this series we are primarily concerned with the disciplines of Jesus Christ, so we will not list all of the false religions, and their disciplines.  We are going to explore the disciplines of Jesus Christ, which are the primary principles that a follower of Christ must adhere to in order to be considered as a true "Disciple of Christ".     Matthew 5:1 is the beginning of Jesus' explanation of the key attributes that He considers as essential components for Believers that are endeavoring to be His disciples:

"When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him."  Matthew 5:1

Because of the miracles that He was doing, and the things that He was saying, news of Him spread quickly, many people were curious, and came to see Him.  Also there were many who wanted especially to hear what He was saying, because they wanted to be His disciples, and they drew near to listen.  We are going to do that in this series, we will examine the Beatitudes, and see exactly what He was/is saying.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Family Devotions - The Beatitudes

Rich read Matthew Chapter 5. Mary followed along in her Children's Bible and then we had her read several of the Blessed are..., at the beginning of the chapter.  We found this wonderful song on You Tube and sang it several times.  We got out Mary's bucket of percussion instruments and we each took one and played along with the song the second time.  Mary really like the "shake, shake, shake, of the salt of the earth" part of the song.  It is so great to do impromptu music.  Kids love it!  Here is the link to the video to the song and a pic of Rich and Mary playing along.  Have a blessed day as you follow Him.  We are so very happy to see all those following along with us!



Here is the link: https://youtu.be/5yxs5wFpnGg


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

River of Life

This morning we read from Ezekiel 47 about the river flowing from the 3rd temple.  How it started out small and without any tributaries it got bigger and bigger.  Whereever it went, it brought healing and life.  It had trees on it's bank that bore beautiful fruit.  Mary painted us a picture that I thought was so precious.


We sang a couple of songs:


Here is the link: https://youtu.be/s-pvjjvgxFY



Here is the link: https://youtu.be/yK51tdxYpNs


Our family devotions are simple but very meaningful.  Rich asked Mary the next morning questions about the passage in Ezekiel 47 and she answered them all correctly.  We don't always have a set day for our family devotions and a lot of it is spontaneous, letting the Spirit lead.  We are always encouraged and edified.  Such a great family time and a true faith builder.  God bless you today as you seek to follow the Lord and help your family to do the same!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Lesser Of Two Evils

Seventy four years ago, on December 8, 1941, the day after a surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, the United States Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan.  Immediately Japan's allies, Germany, and Italy declared war on the United States.  Five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Congress formerly declared war against the governments of Germany, and Italy.  In less than a week we were formerly at war against the governments of three powerful nations and their allies.

The United States was being attacked from east, and west.  Our people, and allies were being eliminated in the Atlantic, and Pacific.  The "Axis Powers" were bent on the destruction of the United States, and our allies.

At the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor there was astonishment, fear, and anger.  There were no words to describe the level of outrage, and the collective trauma that the country felt.  When President Roosevelt gave the "Infamy Speech" the next day after the attack. His words, and courage crystallized, inspired and galvanized the resolve of the American people.  What followed was the greatest mobilization of technology and resources that any nation has ever accomplished.


The last part of the original declaration of war reads:

 "The President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States."

All three declarations of war ended with that statement and all of the country's resources were brought to bear.  Immediately President Roosevelt secured the aid of the country's industrial magnates, and almost overnight the nations factories were retooling and stocking for the manufacture of military vehicles, airplanes, ammunition and hardware.


President Roosevelt asked all citizens to join the war effort to build a "Great Arsenal of Democracy." He assured the nation that this unified effort to build ships and airplanes would out-produce and overwhelm the enemy.


Very soon the combined industrial force of the entire nation would be focused on creating everything that all the branches of the military would need to launch their concerted campaigns throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, Europe, and every place that they were so desperately needed.

In the days and weeks that followed the attack at Pearl Harbor, many men immediately joined the military and the rest of the able-bodied men would eventually be drafted into all of the branches of the service.  The nations forts and reception centers would swell with recruits ready for training.  These events would cause a desperate shortage of workers for the existing factories and those that were being hurriedly built everywhere in the country. Production was in full swing, all the factories, the other essential businesses and community services were all gearing up for "round the clock" operation.

The men who lost their factory jobs in the 1930s Depression Era, were now either joining the branches of military service or getting new high paying war effort jobs in all of the new factories, hour by hour the country was becoming more powerful.

In the 1930s women were discouraged from working outside the home, in fact 26 states had laws prohibiting women from working factory (male) jobs, and said that those women would be "destabilizing homes" and  "stealing" jobs from the men who needed them to support their traditional families.  This dynamic was about to change drastically in the 1940s.


The women who held very low paying "women" jobs during the 1930s Depression Era, were now being welcomed into the higher paying factory jobs of the war effort.  Also the men who did not qualify for military service (too young, or old, physically handicapped, or "didn't like girls") were getting the factory jobs too.


But with all the available people going to the factory jobs, there was still a tremendous shortage of workers.  Because of the bigotry of the Industrialists and Politicians, the minorities were purposely overlooked, and the industrial war propaganda machine set its sights on the white homemakers.  A finely tuned assault on the moral core of the nation was about to begin.


One can't help but think that if the industrialists and the government would have abandoned their bigotry, and sincerely welcomed all the minorities into the high paying factory jobs at the outset, the common bond of the war effort would have been sanctified in that respect, and would have greatly aided a natural integration, and the healing of old wounds, maybe even making the pain and suffering of the time, and even the eventual Civil Rights Movement unnecessary. 


At first the Homemakers resisted the call to the factories because they knew how important their role was.  They were the heart of the country, the guardians of the wisdom of the ancients, the Champions of temperance, and Truth.  They were the very anchors of the psychological and moral health of the nation. 


Most men did not want their wives working outside the home, nevertheless because of the great need for workers, the propaganda to get them out of the homes, and into the factories increased. Television, movies, newspapers, magazines, books, and radio all joined in on the propaganda effort,  1942 would see stories and songs about women answering the call like Rosie the Riveter. The stage was being set, and the minds of a entire generation of young people was about to be unwittingly poisoned with the apple of Industrial Feminism.


One by one the Homemakers of the country were leaving for factory jobs, the children were given over to the institutionalized public school system, or the newly created factory day care centers. In just three years there would be 18 million women (40% of the female population of the country) working outside the home.


Because the war lasted several years the mass media industry tried to keep the morale high, and the USO was doing its part to help out too.  Many of the women succumbed to loneliness, and found love at work or at the USO clubs.  Over the years many servicemen would receive "Dear John Letters".  Many men would come back to a empty home.


September 8, 1943 the Italian surrender is announced, on May 8, 1945 the Germans would unconditionally surrender to the Allies. On August 15, 1945 the Empire of Japan would unconditionally surrender several days after atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.  A concerted effort by America, Britain, Russia, and all of the Allies brought about the end of World War II.


Victory was finally achieved, but the cost for America, and the allies was extremely high.  In the end with all tolled (people killed in war or murdered by the Axis Powers) would be over 61,000,000 worldwide.  Both America and Britain each suffered approximately half a million of their people killed in the war.


After the war was over, 5 million women would have to be let go from factory jobs to make way for some of the almost 10 million men that would be released from military service over the next two years. The women that had to leave the factories immediately went into the lower paying, more traditional female jobs like Nursing, Commercial Service jobs, School Teacher, Textiles, etc.


The Industrial Feminism of the 1940's would evolve into the socialistic political feminism of the new-age, the moral core was damaged beyond repair.  The young men and women that survived the war, and the ones that grew up during the war would become the dysfunctional "baby boomers" of the short-lived Golden Age of the 1950's, and the turbulent decades that followed. Like in Tolkien's novel of the time, the shepherds of the forest were so influenced, and distracted by their duty, the Ent Wives became lost, and were never found.


The Homemakers of the 1940's were made to think that they were choosing the lesser of two evils, but the ramifications of their wrong choice would resonate increasingly through the following decades, and the women that made up the moral core would eventually pass into history, and the legacy of the godly Homemaker would almost vanish completely.


The religious organizations had failed to dissuade racial bigotry and feminism in the 1940's.  Their coffers were being filled with 1940's war bucks.  Because of their building and financial agendas they would continue a legacy of failure in the 1950's, not speaking out against feminism and materialism.  The 1950's would see a dramatic increase in divorce, and other social disorders. The social practices of the institutionalized, secularized public school system would unwittingly add to the dysfunction because the children would be conditioned for divorce by having multiple "dating" relationships during their teenage years.


Because of their turbulent history and extreme losses during the war, the collective paranoia, and irrational distrust that would be deeply seated in the Soviet Union would prove to be extremely contagious and last for decades.  More young men would die during the Cold War Era, the Commiphobic leaders in the US Government and military, utilizing the weapons and equipment left over from World War II would wage the Demofrenetic wars of the 1950's, and 1960's, which would cripple the morale and psychological health of an already damaged nation.


The 1960's would see an astounding increase in feminism, abortion, secularism, divorce, substance abuse and other gross immoral behaviors.  Because of compromise, the Religious Organizations would continue to decline, and develop heretical doctrines concerning feminism, materialism, divorce and remarriage (religious adultery).  Also because of the early baby-stage psychological damage brought on by the dynamic of non-cognate, indifferent, abusive, or missing fathers, many young boys and girls would have their lives destroyed by extremely adverse psychological behaviors, like homosexuality or immoral heterosexual behavior.  Because these behaviors were developed at a very young age by the dysfunctional dynamics of the damaged society, most of the young people would be led to believe that they were actually born that way, and the impotent, dysfunctional Religious Organizations, because of their financial agendas, would turn a deaf ear to millions of children who were crying in the dark.


The dramatic increase in divorce during this time would continue to see huge numbers of divorced parents vying for the affections of the children, all the while running down one another to justify their actions, creating a spoiling atmosphere of non-accountability. The children would be permanently damaged psychologically by this poisonous hypocritical environment, and they would act out the frustration, anger, and pain throughout their lives in various adverse behaviors.  Also the nation's prisons would fill with angry, abused, and neglected youth, who had turned to crime.


In the 1970's, and the decades to follow, because of the psychological damage done to the young boys, millions of them would be eagerly drugged into submission by the medical industry, so they would fit nicely into the institutionalized, secularized, federalized, unionized, feminized public school system.  This would be instrumental in creating a generation of resentful, feminized, chemical dependant new-age dysfunctional males.

For the next 40 years, because of cowardice, and the compromise with wealth, materialism, feminism, and adultery, the clergical religious organizations would become completely apostate, being little more than religious social clubs, that could scarcely be called Christian.  Because of the hypocrisy of the religious organizations, almost an entire generation of young people would abandon the organizations to search for Truth.

During this time the secularized US government, would sacrifice more American lives trying to stabilize the oil-rich Middle East. Struggling with the power of Islam, they would once again understand why their Roman Republican ancestors coined the phrase "Hubris brings Nemesis" (Arrogance brings enemies that cannot be defeated).


Whether or not this is the beginning of the final confrontation of the North, and the South (Greco-Roman civilization vs Islam)  is difficult to ascertain.  Some milestones have been reached, while others have not.  In any case the solution to the spiritual problems of this nation has not changed.



Women entering the workforce of men in the 1940's causing them to abandon their vital role as Godly Homemakers, has proved to be the single most destructive thing that has ever happened to this nation.  Feminism, divorce, abortion, and the resultant apostatizing of the American religious base, have altogether effectively  destroyed more people than all of the wars combined.


Although difficult, the solution is, and always has been, very simple.  People must acknowledge the Truth, humble themselves, and subject themselves to it, and repent.  Only then will they find forgiveness, deliverance, and healing.  Jesus once said "If your right hand makes you sin, cut it off, and throw it from you".  I think this particular scripture applies to our sin as a nation today.

Knowing, as the scripture says, that the road to Hell is large enough for all of the nations to fit onto it, we should try very hard to acknowledge what has happened, so that we will understand how dire our situation is.  As a nation, May the Lord Jesus help us find repentance.